February 2008
If you are living in the
SHINE 2008
Have you marked your calendar yet? The Shine conference is scheduled for October 4 2008. We already have some exciting things in the works including our keynote speaker, Lynn Austin. She is a popular Christian fiction author and if you want to find out more about her you can check out her web page www.lynnaustin.org.
Remember to check out our blog and leave comments or feedback! www.marla-shineministry.blogspot.com
We would love the opportunity to pray for you. If you have anything you would like us to pray specifically about please feel free to email us at shinewomensministry@yahoo.com Thanks!
Words of Wisdom?!
I was in high school when I first read the words to this poem and even as an adult I am often reminded of its message:
Keep On Swimming
Two frogs fell into a deep cream bowl;
The one was wise and a cheery soul.
The other one took a gloomy view
And bade his friend a sad adieu.
Said the other frog with a merry grin,
“I can’t get out, but I won’t give in;
I’ll swim around till my strength is spent
Then I will die the more content.”
And as he swam, though ever it seemed,
His struggling began to churn the cream
Until on top of pure butter he stopped,
And out of the bowl he quickly hopped.
The moral, you ask? Oh it’s easily found!
If you can’t get out, keep swimming around!
Author Unknown
There are two lessons that can be taken from this poem, the first and maybe most obvious is perseverance. You know, when things start getting rough, hang in there and don’t give up. That is a great lesson but not the one I want to focus on. Instead I want to take a look at perspective.
Perspective can be defined as how you view things; you know glass ½ empty or ½ full kind of thing. Well I think it is so important to keep a positive perspective on things that we are dealing with. Chuck Swindoll has been quoted as saying attitude is more important than facts, circumstances, failures, successes, education, the past, money and what others do or say or think. He suggests that life is 90 percent of how we react to circumstances and only 10 percent of what actually happens to us.” (Focus on the Family web page http://www.family.org/lifechallenges/A000002175.cfm)
So if attitude is everything, then maybe there are some things we need to adjust our attitude on. I remember several years ago when my family was really struggling to make ends meet. My husband had been laid off of work four times in three months and food for our family of six was hard to come by. I remember Jerry and I crying out to our pastor’s wife at the time, (feeling very sorry for ourselves I might add!) I remember saying, “It is so hard when your grocery list is your prayer list.” Her response was perspective shifting to say the least. She simply said, “Wow, isn’t that amazing that you guys get to see God work first hand? I mean how many other people have to rely on God just to provide a meal? But you guys get to see that happen day after day.” OUCH! Can I say that again, ouch! Talk about a shift of thinking, but it was so true!
I would love to say that since that day I have gotten so much better, but the sad truth is that God still has to remind me to refocus from time to time. So often in life we look at things with clouded vision instead of God vision. Even this year as I started this new job at the behavior school, I was really feeling sorry for myself that I couldn’t get a “real” teaching job. I looked at these kids as challenging and obstinate rather than as boys and girls that God created for a purpose. I forgot that God “knows the plans He has” for these kids also. (Jeremiah 29:11) That they are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Ps 139) even when they are telling me what they think about my “momma,” or sharing new vocabulary words with me that hurt my ears and my heart.
So is it just me, or is there some area or areas in your life that need God vision? Do you know anyone who is more concerned with the songs we sing in church than with the people that are living without Jesus? Are you looking at a situation that seems hopeless and forgetting that God is in control? Don’t let your circumstances keep you from resting in His promises.