Lessons of the Condo

So, I've been feeling kind of bad about my confessions lately, and more importantly, the attitude they are revealing. I want to be honest about our experience, but I don't want my emotions about the experience to detract from God's plan in having us here.

So I am going to start this new thing, along with the confessions, and call it "lessons of the condo."

All along, I have felt and believed that part of going through this experience is that God wants to teach us something. There of course is the learning to wait, and trust, and have faith that God will provide, but I think there is much more to it then that. Endurance is to be learned, and patience, and character will be developed from those things, but I think there is even more.

So here it is-my attempt to share some of the things God is teaching me as we go through our condo experience:

-As I contemplated and thought about what God might be trying to teach me, I asked him to help me see any things that may be keeping me from learning what he has for me to learn, or things that might be hindering my relationship with him. Faithful as always, it didn't take long for God to shed some light.

As I was listening to my podcast the next morning, they talked about the idea of not letting the world influence you more than it should and about protecting yourself and your mind from all the icky stuff that's trying to invade. He mentioned the idea of a media fast, and how influential just a few days of not having that constant bombardment can be.

Then it dawned on me. I have already felt convicted about choosing very carefully what I watch on tv, however, I had never thought too much about all the time I spend on the internet. I spend way too much time on the Internet. It's my go to when I am bored, or when I have a moment to relax and am trying not to watch tv. I even watch tv on the internet having convinced myself it is better than watching it live because I don't have to endure the commercials.

Our kids are growing up in this era of bombarding technology, and quite frankly, we are in the midst of it as well. How I choose to respond to it will have a direct effect on my son, and it is critical that I make some decisions now while he is still young about how I want to influence him in that regard. Now is the time for me to form and instill some really good habits that I can hold on to as he grows.

So...in light of that, I turned off my laptop and vowed to leave it off until the end of the month. They say it takes 21 days to instill a habit, and that won't quite be that long, but it's a start. As you can tell I am on the internet now as I write this, but I want to drastically reduce the time I spend on here so that is my goal over the next few weeks. I even hope to leave my laptop at home as I make a trip to Indiana in a few weeks. No checking facebook 15 times a day, no looking for houses on craigslist and qcfsbo incessantly, no browsing ebay just because I am bored.

Lesson learned: You can control what you let in your mind-and what you let in your mind will have a direct effect on how your children deal all that their presented with.

-If I want to learn what God has me to learn, I need to start searching. Could God just reveal to me one day what he has for me to learn? Sure he could. But does he want me to start searching? Yes! "Draw near to God and he will draw near to you," is what the Bible says.

How can I accomplish this you might ask? Well, for me, the answer is actually pretty simple: start reading. I read my Bible, but I have lots of books that will help me delve in even deeper and guide me in learning more about how I can apply the truth's of God's Word.

I used to read a lot, and I know that when I do, it really help me to grow.

So that is what God is teaching me right now-

Lesson learned: If I want to be closer to him and learn in this trial-I need to go searching.

-Another thing I am learning about or being reminded about is that I can choose whether to be ruled by emotions or by what I know to be true. With all the stress, lack of sleep and general uprooting of ourselves and all of our stuff, my emotions have been all over the place. I'm sure you can tell that if you've read some of the confessions. But that doesn't mean I have to lose sight of what I know to be true, if my feelings are guiding me elsewhere. I have post it notes all over my desktop on my laptop (which is now turned off so I can't see them) reminding me of the promises to those who wait on the Lord. I know I can hold on to those things, even when things aren't going the way I would have liked them to. Because he can see what we don't, we can trust that God always knows best, and that he always has our best in mind because he loves us more than we can imagine. I can also keep reminding myself of all the things he has done in the past in my life and in the lives of others that prove his faithfulness.

Lesson learned: I can choose not to be ruled by my emotions but by the truth of God's Word and the promises he has given us.

I'm sure I could come up with even more, but that is what's been on my heart this week.

Hopefully there will be more to come...

P.S. the book I am reading to this week is Living on the Edge-How to Become an R12 Christian (based on Romans 12). We've been studying this in our small group but I hadn't started reading the book until now. If you're interested in growing and maturing in your faith and helping disciple others towards the same-this is a great book to help you get on the right track.