Consistently Enough

Rev 1:8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Galatians 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Just like the seasons, things in my life seem to come on strong and leave in the blink of an eye. The latest fitness craze is usually the ‘season’ that I am in. The last three years I have been ALL-IN on the following things: CrossFit, Olympic lifting, running, Pilates, yoga, Cross Training, strictly cardio, only eating organically and taking 20+/- vitamins a day,  literally doing nothing fitness or nutrition wise, realizing I need to start again. Then repeat. Then repeat again. I feel like my life, in almost all areas, has been characterized by cycles such as this. I am all-in and one day, just as quickly as it started, I am all out. Hot then cold. Not purposely do I do this, it just kind of happens. When someone asks me about a hobby of mine, up until about a week ago I would say “Yes I really like ‘such-and-such’ but you know me, I am such an all or none person!” and I meant it. I know our words have power but this was one of those things that I didn’t even realize I said… much less that I said it a lot. So, my life followed my words and for months I was all-in with God and then like the flip of a light switch, I stopped. For no reason, just stopped.

Submissive Wife, Happy Life ?

Submission: leading with love, not controlling by fear

Ephesians 5:22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.  (NIV)

In my last post I discussed what God has outlined as part of the duties of being a Godly husband. The bulk of the scripture where I got my outline for a Godly Husband was in Ephesians 5. Before I continue on I want to let you all know that I know for certain that men and women are both of equal importance to God and God does not place one sex above the other. Although it is not a popular opinion, I happen to be of the belief of that God specifically designed and created men and women to fulfill different roles that work together in perfect harmony for the good of the Kingdom.  One word in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 22 in particular has turned out to be a hot button for many people…this word is ‘submit.’ Admittedly, this verse always made me raise an eyebrow, I never understood why God {seemingly} wanted men to dominate the household and wanted us girls to just go right along with whatever they say—this was me leaning to my own understanding and jumping to an uneducated conclusion of what Ephesians 5:22 meant. When you take the verse out of context, this seems to be the general consensus. The usual English connotation of submit is not pleasant and is typically the reason that the word, especially when pertaining to marriage, gets people up in arms. Even the definition of ‘Submission’ in the Webster’s dictionary backs those who say that women who choose to be submissive to their husbands are doormats and gluttons for punishment.
submission–yielding to the control of another. Webster’s dictionary

We first have to remember that the Bible was not written in English but in predominantly Hebrew and Greek. Because Hebrew and Greek are such complex and eloquent languages, a lot of the words in the Bible that have been translated to the English language can easily get taken out of context because of our own feelings or connotations rather than their original and perfect Biblical definition or reference. This turns out to be the case in Ephesians 5 submission. The Greek word used in Ephesians 5:22 for submit was hupŏtassō.

Ephesians 5 Man

From the time we were little girls, most of us have dreamt of our wedding day. It all starts when we play with our Barbie and Ken dolls and continues on when we have our first crush. In a world where romance and weddings are amplified by Pinterest dream wedding boards and fairytale romance shows like The Bachelorette where men fight for a woman’s heart and woo her with extravagant vacations, gifts, and in the end a huge engagement ring. {Provided for free by a jeweler in exchange for some national advertising,} We girls sort of have a ‘fill-in-the-groom’ mentality of our wedding day. We think about how we will do our hair and what type of dress we will wear, we wonder what colors will be the ‘wedding colors’ and almost every detail in between. Ask most girls what they want in a husband and they will say “Tall, dark and handsome” or maybe “Blonde hair, blue eyes and washboard abs.” My question to you is how often when you ask a woman what she wants in a man does she start with aspects that are not purely physical?

Daughters of a King

 

We are each unique individuals, an exceptionally diverse group of women with so many different variables and extremes. But the one thing that we all have in common is that we are loved beyond measure by our father, and our father is THE King. Therefore, we are royalty! So it is high time we put on our tiaras and start acting like the princesses that we are! We have got to start realizing our worth and value – and owning that worth and value!

Feeding the Spirit – Conditioning

Keeping up with your spiritual health is very similar to keeping up with your physical health. You’ve got to be dedicated and consistent. As long as you are maintaining those two things you can slip up a little and it usually won’t do much damage. We are not perfect, so small “cheats” and slip ups are to be expected. However, if we slack off too much there will be noticeable side effects.

1 Timothy 4:8
For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for present life and the life to come.

It is easy to get caught up in the routine activities of our daily lives. We have a tendency to get complacent in our faith. Life plateaus and we just let things drift off. There is nothing going on that is exceptionally good nor is anything bad happening. We forget to give God thanks, we forget to call out to Him, we forget to include Him in our mundane daily lives, and we forget to serve Him.