Christianity – Page 7 – goodchristianfiction

The Water That Smooths Our Rough Edges

Posted on February 10, 2013 by Ramona Levacy Billingslea

A waterfall is a beautiful thing to experience, in part because it can appeal to all of your senses. You hear the roar of the water rushing over stones long before you can actually see the falls if you are hiking to one. You smell the clean, crisp scent of water that is always in motion, constantly renewed. You feel the spray of that moving water as you near the falls, the gentle mist like a caress. Finally, you see the water tumbling, foaming, cascading into an otherwise still pool. Depending on the situation and your fortitude, you might even decide to risk a taste of the pool’s “pristine” waters, imagining the clean snow from above you that has melted, cut through mountainside, and tumbled to the falls, its taste still cold to the touch.

It is one of the wonders of nature that stone, such a hard, ungiving surface, can be so easily defeated by the persistence of running water. Even a steady, slow drip can manipulate the hardest granite over time. If you have ever seen the Grand Canyon, which was formed in large part by the rush of water, you can truly appreciate this molding facility of something we humans need a bucket or glass to get a handle on. Have you, after all, tried to hold a handful of water?

Christ told us that in His kingdom, the weak are strong and the least greatest. Water, essential to life, is a wonderful example of this principle. At first glance, it may seem a very weak substance. There’s a reason young children look for puddles to land in, sending sprays all around them and making the puddle disappear. But, when you take water into account in its full force, as in a flood, it can be the most destructive force imaginable. Still further, it only takes a tiny drop at a time to form and cut away entire caves and canyons, given enough time.

It’s appropriate that Christ chose water as His medium for baptism. Not only does water literally wash us clean, we can see in its effects on stone that it also forms us. The forming is not always a violent one. More often than not, it is like the falls, water sweeping over stone through time until the rough edges are smoothed.

For those of us who walk with Christ daily in the baptism in water that continues through the Holy Spirit, we too are smoothed over time of our rough edges. As long as we do our work to allow the Holy Spirit to wash over us through our lives, as the water flows over the stones of a falls, our own rough edges will be hewn to a shiny mutuality that will help us appeal to others concerning the value of a life in Christ. Like a beautiful falls that appeals to all the senses, we can be the peaceful, restorative place for those who have not yet found Him.

The Bible is full of verses that flow like water and smooth away the parts of us that stand in the way of our full relationship with God. Pray to see His word in truth and according to His will, and you will find that your Bible study will reward you in ways you hadn’t even realized. The mist of God’s love is waiting in the pages of His word. Now is as good a time as any to begin your walk with God, to continue it, or to begin again.

I’ll meet you by the water.

Christian Living, Christianity

Walk The Line

Posted on January 19, 2013January 19, 2013 by Ramona Levacy Billingslea

The grace of God which comes to us through the love of Christ is so open that we often forget that a Christian life is full of boundaries. Instead of focusing on the discipline of a well-lived life, we want to adopt an attitude of “live and let live.” We want to give grace so much latitude that our actions require little or no reflection. As long as we are happy and no one else is hurt, we convince ourselves, whatever we are doing is OK–as long as we are Christians.

But, we are “dead to the flesh,” as Paul explains it, when we accept a life in Christ. We Christians are also the only Bible many people read, including people who feel they are living a Christian life, even though they do not spend time studying His word, praying, or participating in God-centered time with other believers, all disciplines that help us lead the kind of Spirit-filled life that Paul also emulated.

When we fail to acknowledge the boundaries of a Christian life, we harm not only ourselves, but so much more those who only know Christ through us. When we fail to acknowledge the boundaries of a Christian life, we increase the likelihood that we have created or are creating false idols–made things that mean more to us than God does.

In Isaiah 44, God draws a clear line between Himself and idols made of wood: “No one stops to think,” he says, “no one has the knowledge or understanding to say, ‘Half of it [the figure made of wood and worshipped] I used for fuel; I even baked bread over its coals, I roasted meat and I ate. Shall I make a detestable thing from what is left? Shall I bow down to a block of wood?’ Such a person feeds on ashes; a deluded heart misleads him; he cannot save himself, or say, ‘Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?'” (verses 19-20).

Every moment of every day, we have decisions to make, from how we react to the person cutting us off on the freeway to how we respond to the person begging for money on the sidewalk. Do we turn to things of this world, made things like television shows or comfort foods, to help us cope with the state of being human? Or, do we choose to look toward the One thing that has always been and will always be?

Isaiah has the answer: “This is what the Lord says—Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God. Who then is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and lay out before me what has happened since I established my ancient people, and what is yet to come—yes, let them foretell what will come. Do not tremble, do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago? You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one” (44:6-8).

Boundaries keep us in our known places, but they also keep out that which would destroy in the name of goodness, even when it is not good. Like the serpent in the Garden tempting Eve to taste the forbidden fruit, the evil one is actively pushing against our defense line, trying to break through the boundaries set by God for our protection. Free will necessitates that our boundaries are only as strong as our faith, our worship and our discipline will allow. With God all things are possible.

But there is only one God, only one “Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” As He has been since the beginning, so shall He be. No where does He more forcefully proclaim His uniqueness than in the prophecies of Isaiah. Read them the next time you feel tempted to let someone else’s version of the One and Only rule your thinking. The God of the Hebrews declared Himself to be the only God. He made promises and fulfilled them. He was no block of wood or stone. He will continue for always. He is the only boundary we will ever need.

Christian Living, Christianity

Who Carries Your Burdens?

Posted on January 13, 2013January 13, 2013 by Ramona Levacy Billingslea

I’ll warn you up front that my title is a trick question. The obvious thing for me to write about when it comes to burden carrying is the way Christ will carry our burdens for us, if we’ll just ask Him. So, I’m not going to talk about the obvious. Let’s get real about burdens and how most of us unenlightened creatures cope with the day-to-day ones.

It’s more likely that we go down on our knees and offer up to God the things that knock us off our feet–death, major illness, total disasters–but what do you do with the burdens that you face every day, the burdens that we carry like a backpack every moment, from making sure food is on the table to helping out a neighbor in need?

We’re being honest here, so we have to honestly say what happens with the things we carry. Some of us swallow our burdens, trying to do everything on our list without asking for or even knowing when we actually need help. We fail often, and we subconsciously hate ourselves for failing. But we continue to stuff our backpacks to overflowing with our to-do lists and “shoulds” and guilt burdens.

Or maybe you’re of the variety who likes to share your burdens, not in a healthy, “we’re all in this together” kind of way, but in a defeatist or entitled posture that posits that you are either incapable of managing your own life or else the world at large somehow owes you homage. Your backpack is heavy with the manipulations and self-delusions that enable you to put yourself above others by getting them to do things for you that you really are capable of doing for yourself.

Because you are human and must work at living a life that bears fruit, you are bound to stumble. So, your burdens include all the emotions that go with being human–anger, lust, jealousy, judgment–all roiling around in your backpack like a pot perilously close to boiling over. Whenever your backpack becomes too heavy, if you aren’t doing your Spirit work, you’ll unzip your closure just enough to expel some of those roiling emotions, weighing down the backs of those closest to you with your excess. Or perhaps you’ll just dump it on an unsuspecting stranger.

Christ said that His yoke was light because when you grasp the concept that every morning is new with Him, you throw off the weight of legalism and look straight into your heart. Taking on the burden of the fruit of the Spirit means a lighter backpack. Love, joy, peace, faithfulness–these qualities are much lighter than the pain and crazy that we carry when we don’t let Jesus’ hand hold up our burdens.

So, how do we lighten the loads that we carry? Through prayer. Through knowing what the Bible says. Through observing our daily existence. When we feel the things we carry weighing us down, we have to practice taking them to the One who can truly carry them for us. Only through communication with Christ and His word do we really realize the fruitful existence we can enjoy with fellow believers.

No matter the things you carry, you can lighten the load starting today. Instead of barking at your spouse or kids, pray for patience. And if you must scream, scream at Jesus. He has the broad shoulders to carry your doubt and worry and fear. If you doubt it, read your Psalms for examples of other believers that brought everything to God, and were better for it.

Christian Living, Christianity, Faith

Jesus’ Birth

Posted on December 23, 2012December 23, 2012 by Ramona Levacy Billingslea

A birth is always a miracle of love and pain and blood. At least, I have to assume this to be the case having never had children. But, this month we celebrate a birth that was a miracle on more than just the human level. For the real miracle about a virgin giving birth was not so much how a virgin became pregnant and delivered a child, with all the usual love and pain and blood, but that the child thus born of Mary was actually God made flesh.

How can this be? Or, what difference does this make? I believe it is vital to accept Christ’s coexistent humanness and divinity to truly appreciate the magnitude and validity of His sacrifice.

If Christ were not human, how would His death on the cross be a sacrifice that covers the sins of the rest of us? If Christ were not divine, how could He claim the authority of His Heavenly Father?

For the Western mind, which likes to see all things in clear delineations, it can often prove difficult to see things in duality. Yet, cultures from the beginning of time have done just that, seeing no disconnect in a reality where a thing is sometimes or always two things at once.

The meaning of Jesus’ birthday, the birth of God coming to earth, is even more powerful when you realize He came to earth as a man knowing the full extent of what He would suffer and sacrifice as a result.

What a wonderful gift is the love of a God who once became man! If you have not already, this holiday is the best time of any to accept the grace of Christ that saves us all.

Merry Christmas and happy birthday Jesus!

Christian Living, Christianity, Faith, Self-Help

Legacy: Let’s Get Practical

Posted on November 11, 2012 by Ramona Levacy Billingslea

If you are going to sow seeds for the kingdom, you have to embrace not just the ideals of a life in Christ but also the practical, day-to-day actions you should and should not take if you are truly walking the narrow path to the kingdom of Heaven.

The best place to go to find practical ways to apply God’s truth in your life is the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus explains the Kingdom’s precepts and practices.

The practical matters of legacy are not exactly easy, which is why it is so important that we have the support of the Spirit in us to help us live in the light. For, Christ not only upholds the basic truths of the Old Testament law, He ups the ante on each of those truths.

Do not murder, He tells us, but also to hate is to do as much damage to one’s soul as to murder. Do not commit adultery, but to even lust after another is to commit adultery. Do not quarrel, but even seek forgiveness up to the point of turning your left cheek when your right cheek has been struck.

As I heard a preacher put it once, God sent His son to sacrifice Himself for us. Do we actually think He would expect less of us after that kind of giving?

Make no mistake. We don’t earn our salvation through our actions. Only by grace can we accept the belief in Christ’s resurrection that saves us. But once we accept that grace, our faith should compel us to want to grow in Christ.

Anyone who plays a musical instrument or a sport knows that there is no way to improve without consistent, disciplined practice over time. Even the most proficient musician still warms up with scales, the basic building blocks of music. And that proficient musician practices his/her art each and every day for several hours at a time.

Christianity has its basic building blocks as well, disciplines that those of us who limit our Christianity to church on Sunday quite frankly miss out on. Even people who approach their religion as a way of life need the daily, routine practice of the Christian “scales” in order to continue to grow in Christ.

What does this routine practice include? Again, look to the Sermon on the Mount. Do you pray every day, and not just the same prayer mumbled quickly before you go to sleep, but with your whole self, throwing your whole body into it? Have you ever fasted? Do you regularly reach out to those who do not believe? Do you have spiritual elders to whom you regularly report about your growth in Christ?

I am an academic. If I had chosen to stay in the college setting as an instructor, I could have easily fallen into the “ivory tower” trap of staying inside my head all the time, living in the world of ideas instead of the world of practical application. That’s a fancy way of saying that it is very easy for me to get caught up in my head instead of listening to what my body is telling me. Some days, it’s as if the two entities have never met.

In the past several years, I have been doing an exercise program that involves yoga, but not the kind of yoga that you are possibly thinking about. It isn’t a classroom filled with hot babes in skimpy clothes. It isn’t a torture chamber of hot temperatures. It certainly isn’t a metaphysical den of crystals and gongs.

Luckily for me, my yoga center is focused on the principles that help us understand how our minds and bodies work together to feel the energy that is all around us, the energy that makes up the planet, the energy we Christians know as the Holy Spirit.

Before yoga, I had prayed with my mind and my heart, but I had never prayed all the way to my fingertips. What I have also learned from yoga is that real change of any kind in our lives requires a commitment of our whole selves. With the guidance of a spiritual leader, such as the pastor at your church, you can learn the daily practices, actual things you need to do every day, that will help you meet your spiritual goals.

How many of us even have real, spiritual goals that we have committed to paper, much less to our hearts, when it comes to our service to God and our growth in the Spirit? Practical faith means practice.

As we have discovered over the past several weeks, legacy is not just a dreamy concept about what is left of us when we are no longer part of this planet. Legacy is about our partnership with God and making good on our faith in ways in which only He understands the potential impact.

Start putting the practice into practical this week. Maybe make part of your daily Bible study a re-read of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). And set down a list of daily actions you plan to begin for the next 21 days to reach a goal you have in Christ. Pray about it, share with fellow believers, and have faith that the Spirit will guide you where Christ would have you go. But go somewhere. No one leaves a legacy by merely standing still.

Christian Living, Christianity, Faith

Legacy: What will you SOW?

Posted on November 4, 2012 by Ramona Levacy Billingslea

As I have tried to explore over the past several weeks, a Christian’s definition of legacy should be very different from the world’s view of legacy. As always, the challenge is being in the world but not of the world. Being in the world, we look around and see people lauded for accomplishments like hit movies, amazing touchdowns, or making loads of money. It is so tempting to fall into the trap of defining our own success by these definitions, putting our emphasis on having a house that looks like the ones on HGTV or driving a car that is just as nice as the one in the driveway next door. Sometimes, these things in the world are so ingrained in the subconscious that we don’t even realize that what is driving us is world-like and not God-like.

But being in the world yet not of the world is something very different, the core challenge, really, of what it means to be Christian. Christians, in being Christ-like, are encouraged to be fruitful, to sow the seeds of Christ’s love in their everyday lives, in the world, in such a way that the Light that is Christ shines to show the way to a better kind of life.

In Galatians, Paul defines the fruit of the Spirit, which is actually a series of characteristics that together complete the picture of a Christ-like life, the qualities you should be able to see in a person who is really living according to the guidance of the Spirit within him/her, the Spirit Christ promised would come to us when we are baptized in Him. This person sows “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (5:22-23).

I don’t think it is an accident in duplication that Jesus’ many parables ask us to consider the fruit of the vine, encourage us to bear fruit, and even admonishes those who are unfruitful, and Paul’s description of the final result of the indwelling Spirit in a believer likewise using the concept of fruit. Even though we do not gain salvation by our actions but through grace, once we are Christians, we should want to leave a God-like legacy, at the core of which is living by letting the Spirit guide us.

Paul makes it clear where the Spirit will guide us, if we will only listen, as he tells the Galatians, “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another” (5:13).

A legacy that reflects Christ is a “hard row to hoe” as they say in my neck of the woods, but, fortunately, we are not meant to hoe that row alone. The Spirit of God in me gives me the strength and insight to fulfill the opportunities God gives me, if I will only let that Spirit work.

I have the list of the fruit of the Spirit posted in several places in my house, trying to remind myself of what I should be concentrating on. But, the evil one is always there to push me in other directions, make me concentrate on my inner issues instead of looking out toward other people, keeping me from letting the Spirit help me with my problems as I try to control my world all by myself. I needed Jesus to be saved, right? So, why do I think I won’t need Jesus to live out my salvation, including improving on things like being more patient, having self-control, and, of course, loving others.

Will your legacy be the fruit of the Spirit, not just for your own loved ones, but for every person you come in contact with? We will reap the Spirit only if we sow it, and we can only sow the Spirit with the Spirit’s help.

Christian Living, Christianity, Living

Legacy: what does the BIBLE say?

Posted on October 26, 2012October 26, 2012 by Ramona Levacy Billingslea

We are going to skip past the obvious aspects of legacy in the Old Testament, where a peoples almost wholly outnumbered in all directions struggling to survive in a harsh environment would naturally tout the begetting of offspring, see the blessing of children as a sign of God’s favor, and otherwise embrace the concept of legacy as equivalent to the concept of basic survival.

Beyond the obvious, though, what does God’s word have to say about our legacy? What does legacy look like from a Biblical perspective?

We might begin in Ecclesiastes, chapter three, where the teacher laments, God “has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” We have a longing in our hearts for God and yet lack the ability to truly understand Him. How, then, might we comprehend His concept of legacy?

“I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live,” the teacher continues (emphasis added). “That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil–this is the gift of God.” Knowing that we cannot fathom the eternal, the teacher admonishes us to please God by concentrating on the present. “I know that everything God does will endure forever,” the teacher concludes. “Nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.”

So, the purpose of what is lasting, according to the teacher, is to further our reverence for God. In other words, the Bible ties legacy not to what may be lauded about men and women, but what may be credited to God.

The book of Isaiah furthers this understanding of legacy:

“‘The multitude of your sacrifices–what are they to me?’ says The Lord. ‘I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? Stop bringing meaningless offerings. . . . wash and make yourselves clean . . . . stop doing wrong, learn to do right!'”

God’s definition of right is spelled out quite clearly through the example given by the life of Jesus and His teachings, but Isaiah likewise elaborates on doing right: “seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.”

In the book of Mark, Christ explains it this way: “The foremost [commandment] is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The LORD our God is one LORD; and you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second [commandment] is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Christ’s parables are more examples to help define legacy: What of the mustard seed, the tiniest of all things that grows into a mighty plant, the example to us that even the smallest of our actions can be turned into big things by God? What of the seed which fell on good soil, “the man who hears the word and understands it, [producing] a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown” (Matthew 13)? What of the Vine and Branches of John 15, where God must cut off the unfruitful branches from the vine that is Christ and even prune those branches which are fruitful?

So, the Bible says that legacy is bearing fruit for the Kingdom of God. Next week, let’s discuss practical ways to bring forth the kind of fruit the Kingdom of God expects us to bear, for we do not want to “sow the wind and reap the whirlwind,” but rather to sow in Christ’s love and reap souls for the kingdom of heaven.

Christian Living, Christianity

Legacy: What does GOD want?

Posted on October 21, 2012 by Ramona Levacy Billingslea

Last week, I proposed that when someone brings up the concept of one’s legacy, what first comes to mind usually involves one’s progeny and worldly achievements.

This week, I want to consider the more important aspect of legacy, and that is from the perspective of how God defines the word.

It strikes me that perhaps the best way to approach God’s version of legacy is through the example that He offered when He came to earth to walk among us in the form of His son, Jesus Christ. Christ, after all, lived as a man in the world of men. If He had not been God made flesh, after all, the entire concept of salvation is turned on its head.

But Christ did live in human form, and in all ways possible we are admonished to follow the examples in living He gave us while He was on this planet.

So, from the perspecitve of Christ as man, what kind of legacy did He seem to be worried about?

The only record we have of anything Jesus did or said is through words He Himself did not write. (Those words, the Bible, being God-inspired, I take as a given and beside the point at the moment.) In fact, the only time Christ physically wrote anything of which we know anything about were tracings in the sand which sifted quickly away.

With a few notable exceptions, Christ healed and then usually admonished the receiver of His bounty not to tell anyone about it. Rather than grabbing the limelight, He taught disciples and sent them away from Him to go forth and duplicate the work they had been doing together, a sort of trial run for when He would have to leave them.

Even though when He came to the planet, He accepted the limitations and temptations of the human body, Christ didn’t define legacy from a typically human perspective. His priorities for legacy did not involve money or worldly success. Instead, His priorities revolved around love of God and the relationships that are essential between people when we love God first and others the way we want to be loved–the two commandments Christ explained entail all the rest.

Next week, I want to begin the biblical quest that offers proof of God’s definition of legacy, not in my own words but in the inspired words that are His alone. For now, I hope it is enough to know that legacy and love go hand-in-hand from Christ’s perspective.

In the end, is a life lived loving others such a bad thing? Last week, I quoted from Nicole Nordemann’s song, “Legacy.” Another line from that song is perfect for defining the kind of legacy a Christian should really concern him/herself with:

“In the end, just want to hear, ‘Well, done, good and faithful one. . . .'”

Christianity, Faith

Illuminations

Posted on June 16, 2012 by Ramona Levacy Billingslea

I was privileged to see some actual illuminated prayer book pages from the 1450s in person recently, the only thing between me and the fragile texts a thin pane of glass. I have seen pictures of these types of things in history books and on television, of course. I’ve read about the meticulous care that went into their production, about the years of toil a scribe put into producing page after painstakingly-created page of the Holy Word, working on fine details only by daylight or dim candlelight.

But nothing prepares you for seeing these pages in person. The details are so fine, the colors so vibrant, even after hundreds of years, that you know you are viewing the work of a true artist. Besides the steady, consistent typeface that some unknown scribe was able to achieve, using a quill trimmed by his own hand and ink produced from fruits and other natural elements, the illuminations were equally beautiful.

Coming from an age of technology where many of us have such atrocious penmanship that we often cannot read notes we have written to ourselves, I was especially struck by the dedication and love that went into producing the pages in front of me. Not only would the words bring me closer to God, I thought, the beauty these pages reflect could not help but do the same.

This experience made me wonder at just how much time I take to really soak in and appreciate the pages of my own, mass-produced Bible pages. Being human, and even a human who loves words in and of themselves, I am still moved even beyond words when multiple senses are involved in any experience. Music can make a moment something more; ask any filmmaker. A page illuminated by a loving hand appeals to the eyes in addition to the words penetrating our brains.

How often do I read a passage in the Word while something else is going on in the back of my brain, like what I need to do that day or whatever the latest thing is that I am worrying about? How is it that I don’t appreciate the tender work that happened for centuries by anonymous believers to ensure that the word of God was not lost or forgotten?

So, I am determined to figure out a way to read God’s word as if it is one of those illuminated pages from centuries past, whether that be creating pictures in my own mind that reflect what the words on the page are saying to me or playing inspirational music as I study. I will seek Him in the quiet places as I have been instructed to do. I will do my best to be still and know that He is God.

I’m sure that this last was the place inside where the anonymous scribe dwelled in order to lovingly create the beauty on the illuminated page that so wonderfully reflects the awesomeness of God.

Christian Living, Christianity, Faith

Do You Live Like You Believe It?

Posted on May 20, 2012May 20, 2012 by Ramona Levacy Billingslea

This little pool of water may not seem like much, but at different points in time, it has actually served as the site where some were baptized into the family of Jesus. We all remember the moment when we ourselves were baptized and those fledgling years of our Christianity when everything was just a little brighter, when our zest for God fairly glowed.

But life has a way of catching up to us. If the race we are running were an easy one, it would really not be worth the effort of putting one foot in front of another. The glow of our early years of Christian faith can begin to tarnish with the cares of this world. We start to hold on to what is right in front of us instead of offering up the cares of this world to the Ruler of the next one. We let worry creep in, no matter what Christ told us about worrying, no matter that the Creator of everything knows the number of hairs on our very heads. We cling to treasures on this earth under the auspices of security, like the rich young man unable to sell all and follow the Son of Man.

Many years ago, my father-in-law asked a series of questions to a younger person he was counseling. This person was facing several family crises, depression, and budget woes. Knowing that she believed in Christ, my father-in-law began by asking her about her belief. When she strongly proclaimed her faith in God, my father-in-law asked her to consider if she were living like she believed Christ died for her and rose again.

How about you? How about me? What does it mean to live like I believe it? In the past several years, it has come to mean my spending more time doing and less time wringing my hands wondering if where I am and what I am up to is what God wants from me. I don’t mean that I have quit praying to God about His purpose for my life, or that I have quit aligning my actions to the principles of the Bible as best as I can. What I have started to do is to give my actions over into God’s hands, where they have really been all along. Now, however, my mind is recognizing God’s authority. If He wants me somewhere else or doing something else, I have to live like I believe and step forward in the faith that He will get me where He wants me to be.

This process is not easy, like all growing pains, but through the gift of the Spirit that God has granted us believers, we can make it through life’s challenges aided by the One and Only, proof positive that “His burden is light.” Living like we believe involves prayer time, worship time, helping others, and doing instead of worrying. The more I can live like I believe, the more God’s light will shine through me. And what more could any of us want than that?