Archive for February, 2024
Helping Relationships: Reflection Paper- Part 2
Have you heard the story attributed to Ernest Hemingway, when at lunch with other writers that he boasted he could write a novel in six words? He bet that he could, then penned, “For sale, baby shoes, never worn.” This story is understood to be an urban myth rather than a true account, but it has inspired writers and teachers to pick up the challenge! Think about what is most important to you. What is a key feature of your faith, life or character, or what you desire to achieve? This is challenging, but we are looking for creativity here! Here are a few examples that I could write and expand upon:
“Loving God and others, a blessing.”
“Music opens my heart and eyes.”
“Faithful to the end; can I?”
“Let me ask before I speak.”
Describe yourself in 6 words that tell the story of you. Expand this into a longer story that gives an explanation for each (1 page total). Then, describe someone else using the same method. Also, include an explanation. (1 page total) Consider sending the person who blessed you a thank you note.
I am describing my husband (with his permission)
Open honest pessimist that loves Jesus
My husband is a very open honest guy. I really do love that about him. He is willing to share his struggles, he tells you what he thinks, and unlike me, he does not struggle with people’s approval. However, he is also a pessimist! Despite being married to a forever optimist, he still seems to always see the glass half empty. We often joke that Jon always sees the grass as greener somewhere else. For example, I see Jon do this with how much or how little he works. If he isn’t working a ton, he starts wishing he had more work. He sometimes worries about the money part of that etc. If he is working a lot, he wishes he had more time off and time to himself (even though he is probably doing better money wise at the moment). We talk a lot about being content, and I really do see God working in his heart in that area. That leads me to the next point; Jon loves Jesus. I have seen Jesus grow and stretch him over our years of marriage in numerous ways. It is a gift for me to see him follow Jesus down the path of trust and obedience. Sometimes it takes a while, because Jon hates change, but what more beautiful thing can a wife ask for than to see her husband trusting Jesus with difficult things and praying for a renewed, softened heart? My prayer is that he continues to see the hope of Jesus- even through his lens of pessimism/realism. I want him to know Jesus deeper, and keep falling more and more in love with him as his relationship with Christ grows.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Helping Relationships: Reflection Paper 2, Part 1
Prompt: Have you heard the story attributed to Ernest Hemingway, when at lunch with other writers that he boasted he could write a novel in six words? He bet that he could, then penned, “For sale, baby shoes, never worn.” This story is understood to be an urban myth rather than a true account, but it has inspired writers and teachers to pick up the challenge! Think about what is most important to you. What is a key feature of your faith, life or character, or what you desire to achieve? This is challenging, but we are looking for creativity here! Here are a few examples that I could write and expand upon:
“Loving God and others, a blessing.”
“Music opens my heart and eyes.”
“Faithful to the end; can I?”
“Let me ask before I speak.”
Describe yourself in 6 words that tell the story of you. Expand this into a longer story that gives an explanation for each (1 page total). Then, describe someone else using the same method. Also, include an explanation. (1 page total) Consider sending the person who blessed you a thank you note.
Toiling for God; Freed to live
Toiling for God: My story is one of God’s work and hand consistently over my life. I was blessed to grow up going to church with my family. I learned about Jesus, God, and the Bible, and our family was very active in different ministries. I had little journals I kept in elementary and high school, and when I go back and read them, I genuinely was striving for holiness and righteousness. I look back on the Bible I had in high school, and some of the passages I had underlined were ones like 1 Peter 1:15-16- Be holy, for I am holy. I was a very busy high schooler, and I was involved in something every night of the week. Many of the things were volunteer positions or serving in the church somehow. Like many Christian teenagers who grew up in the early 00’s, I had very strong feelings about purity, dating, sex, and relationships. It’s actually funny because I have had this blog forever, and back in 2007, I actually posted the story about our engagement which talks a lot about our pretty “severe” views on love and marriage. If only I could show you our “boundary rules” we came up with while dating so that we could try and save ourselves until marriage. I think I still have a copy of them somewhere. I will try and find them and post a picture in this post! I was really “toiling for God,” and to some extent I believed that God was happy to have me on his team.
Freed to live: However, a huge changing point in my life was when I went to the Torchbearer Bible School in Germany called Bodenseehof. Within the first week, our main speaker said the words, “Stop trying to live for Jesus, and let him live through you.” His analogy was along the lines of, “What if Jesus was to ‘die’ inside of you today? What if he was to cease existing in you? Would you keep doing the same things? Or would there be an actual change in your behaviour and actions?” I was shaken up by this thought. I really started to see that a lot of my behaviour and who I thought I was was tied to what I was doing “for God.” It was not Jesus living through me, but me living for God. Those 6 months at Bible School really redirected my spiritual path, and it was there I began to understand who the Holy Spirit was in my life; how it was the Holy Spirit’s job to live Jesus’s life through me. Anything done in the flesh would not produce fruit, and it is only by Him and through Him that the Spirit produces fruit in my life and ministry. That was such a freeing understanding for me, as I strive to live this unique mystery which is, “Christ in me, the hope of glory.” -Colossians 1:27
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