Control, to be or not to be that is the question!

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The whole idea of control is an interesting one - we need to feel we're in it yet don't relish the idea of being 'controlled'. It's good to set targets, goals to get things done and for the main that's cool because goals are helpful for time management and our sense of achievement. However as I've taken some time apart recently I've become aware of the danger of being so keen to bear fruit, be on target and productive we can strategize our world to the point of overload. The devil loves us to take ANYTHING to the extreme even good things. Because it's in this place we are certain to fail! The very structures we set up to keep control (e.g. prayer lists, religious formats, being on top of the ironing, or rota's) can become a block for the Holy Spirits agenda. There is a whole philosophical debate solely on the topic of control and if this is real or imagined which opens up way too many questions to deal with here. But let's think about how control relates to us; where are we within the meshing of our free will, our planning, meeting God's Sovereignty?

Flip I really don't make things easy for myself and first thing on a Monday morning too... Well the bible clearly tells us we have free will, (Gen 1:26) we have the power to say yes or no to all sorts of stuff. However God has the overarching authority in what happens anywhere and with anything (Jude1:25). We can choose how we will respond to life and work with God or without Him, it our choice. But our choices can't detract from His Sovereignty. I believe the Lord allows us a healthy sense of agency as we plan and work out our lives in step with Him. Proverbs (16:9) sums it up nicely we walk but the Lord positions our steps.  God is eminently practical; He knows we walk with a wobble and that if left to our own devices we'll go wonky. So He places guidance to help us get the balance between our need to feel in control and His overriding control right. He tells us to Rest (Mathew 11:28) when we're tired, He tells us to work hard after that rest (Col 3:23) He tells us not to worry but to cast our cares on Him (1Peter 5:7). He tells us to take responsibility for our own sin and not to Judge others ( Math 7:3-5) He tells us to forgive (Math 6:14).I guess for me to be in a place of productive peace is what I'm aiming for this year. I love to read your comments so do let me know how you feel about the whole idea of control.

Hugs Ruth x 

Makin ma Plans...

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I'm a planner, I love lists! I love setting goals and I love ticking boxes, I love completion. I love the feeling of drawing a line under what I'd hoped to accomplish so that particular 'box' can be set back on the shelf. Do you know it actually causes me stress to leave things unfinished! To me there is no greater joy than seeing, as Hannibal from the A team used to say, 'a plan come together'. For those of us box tickers I think there a sense of productivity or perhaps a need for fine detail in this process? We work well within structure, and are often creative as we work through. For this personality type evaluating how a project went and how it could be improved upon for the future will be totally satisfying. However if we were all like this teams wouldn't work. I have a friend who finds great joy in starting a project, growing a team and handing it over long before it's completed. He has started so many visionary projects which have born great fruit but has rarely been involved in their completion. He works in big broad brush strokes leaving the (for him dull) aspects of fine detail to others. Our Father in His wisdom has designed us to negotiate each other, to experience and work out what it is to do in team as modelled by the Godhead for His glory; to bring each of our gifts, idiosyncrasies, our 'us - ness' to the table for His glory.

This is all well and good but unless we act on our plans big or small they are well, useless... 2 Cor 8:11  Message version - encourages, 'The best thing you can do right now is to finish what you started last year and not let those good intentions grow stale. You're heart has been in the right place all along. You've got what it takes to finish it up, so go to it'. You see guys; the devil loves to distract us, so that we're big on good intention but small on doing. He will throw fear, doubt, discouragement anything he can, to stop us taking that first step from plan to purpose. But hear this this sweet cheeks, our gracious God takes the pressure off by the caveat found in proverbs ~ 16:9 which tells us 'we make our plans but the Lord positions our steps'. Isn't that fab? All God requires of us is to keep a pure heart get off our butts and He will sculpt His purpose out of the clay of our lives. 

• So what do you need to do to move from plan to purpose?
• When are you gonna do it (date/time)?
• Will you let me know how you get on?

see ya next week thanks for reading 

Hugs Ruth x

AMEN...! But do you agree really?

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You probably know the word Amen means 'I heartily agree'. I find as I catch the news, other people's conversations in coffee shops, or read things, I'm evaluating what's been communicated all the time. It sort of happens automatically probably because all these dynamics of communication are quite obvious and in the external realm. But what about the internal... I wonder what are you communicating with yourself? The start of a new year often carries with it a sense of personal audit, goal setting and self reflection. With this in mind I've been very aware of some of the internal agreements I've been making and some aren't so good.

You see many of my close friends are women who've achieved great success in there various careers which is great and I genuinely admire and applaud them. I however do not earn an income for the work I do, blogging, writing, speaking, running self esteem courses. Recently a number of people in conversations have (totally unintentionally I'm sure) kinda dismissed what I do saying 'yes well, you don't work so...' I have to be real with you here guys, over the last few weeks I've been feeling like a failure. I've been working this through with my Jesus and He reminded me I am defined by how God sees me and who He says I am. So what - if the world looks at me and sees and I quote 'just a housewife' (if you're a stay at home Mum or house keeper I salute you)!

People, the power of agreement is well documented in scripture; when we agree with the wrong stuff it can seriously affect our spiritual health. Our enemy is alert, cunning and subtle in the strategies he uses to bring us down. Joyce Meyer says 'we need to agree with Heaven not Hell about who we are'. What have you been saying yes and amen to? Song of songs 2:4 speaks of God's provision and our identity found in His love - 2 Cor 5:17 reminds us we are new creations free from the past and Eph 5:8 tells us we are children of light. Deut 28:13 says we are winners not losers, the head and not the tail. Rom 8:37 tells us we are more than over comers / conquerors in Christ. Perhaps the most important area we evaluate this new year is the one between our ears.  Lets start this year agreeing with what God says - He's always right!

hugs Ruth x


p.s. If you're running an event you'd like me to speak at email me at lovedrops with your details and I'll get in touch love Ruth x

Finding Life in Limbo

I've been asked to preach on the 30th of December which is a funny old time to speak I think because Christmas has been and gone and new year hasn't arrived. I always think the week after Christmas can be a  non-time, a sort of limbo. Do you know what I mean? Times when you're just hanging about - like waiting for trains, planes or automobiles. Times when you can't start a project  but you want to fill the gap with something. Times when there is no protocol for what to do or any clear role for you to play. Life in these middle bits, can feel like a waste of time but I'm not sure that's necessarily the case.

Jehovah Shammah is one of the names God uses for Himself and it means the Lord who is there present in every moment. John 10:10 promises where God is there is life abundantly for us. So as Christ lives in us and He is the source of all life itself perhaps times of limbo can be a place of new experience, even growth. I guess this is dependent on how we respond when we find ourselves with no clear role and nuthin to do! My Mum used to say only boring people get bored. Often when our routine is on hold there are less distractions and we can take time to think and plan. We can connect with God and evaluate where we're at in the relationship of our lives. God is always present in the moment He is the ‘I AM’ steady faithful and unchanging yet adaptable and flexible to work within our mess for His glory. Perhaps the absence of routine could afford flexibility for God to help us see new ideas, new possibilities or new direction as we ponder in the wait. 

If you find yourself at a loose end over the Christmas holiday why not ask God who lives in you to show you life in your limbo.

hugs Ruth x 

( my blog will be back in January have a great Christmas!)

Lesson in love from a black Lab...

This is my dog Max, he's a surrogate child really and often get called names of affection like Maxi Maxamus or Maxi Moo Moo depending on how bereft of little children I feel (now being the mother of teenagers!) Max has an enormous appetite, he doesn't eat till he's full he'll eat till he's too tired to eat any more - actually that's a bit like my teenage son...

Max's love for me is exuberant and unconditional. If I get up he follows, if I sit down he lies at my feet, if I tell him to do something he gets on and does it. Max trusts that he is safe in my care and allows me to inspect an injured paw even when it hurts. If he's sick Max knows I'll look after him because he belongs to me. When our Kids dress him up in their clothes or wrestle with him, Max knows he's part of our family and joins in this daftness with the gusto that is the family Tong!

I wonder can we learn something from Max? What do we have an appetite for - our own will or God's? I find I usually loose my appetite because I've been filling up on rubbish and haven't taken the time to cook then savour my food. This is easy to do over the holidays when routines change, T.V.'s good and the house is busy. There are parallels between this and the spirit realm. When we take time to feed on the word of God, when we talk about it, pull it apart and find meaning in it, we develop a God hunger our appetite increases and we find ourselves wanting more. We find a new appreciation for the bible study or worship some one's prepared and set before us, it nourishes and blesses.

But back to Max... Do we follow our master's voice obediently getting on with what we're told to do? I see folks all the time who want to follow God without obeying His game plan; their lives are one train crash after another. This is so sad because God only wants us to do life His way for our protection and good. Do we go where He leads do we enjoy sitting at His feet, spending time with Him? There are so many ways to connect, through music, sermons, pod casts, fabulous blogs! However you seek to develop in your relationship with God doesn't matter what matter's is that you find someway of connecting which works for you.  Do you trust your Master even when life hurts? Do you know God will look after you, He will never abandon you. Do you know you are part of a huge wonderfully wacky family, the family of believers? Can I encourage you to join in with gusto into their antics don't play it safe - Max doesn't. 

love Ruth x

Feeling the fear - here's how I got on!

Well gang I left you with a cliff hanger last week didn't I? We were thinking about pressing through our fear and being a wee bit bolder. Which reminds me of a line from a brill kids song, 'if Jesus is de rock we should be a little boulder' - hee hee! Well after last weeks blog I thought I'd better actually think of something to step out in faith with now that I've committed myself on paper (albeit it the cyber variety). You know guys, one of the things about tapping away on your keyboard in your study is - you never know if anyone actually reads the stuff you write. There's an anonymity and an innocence to it really. My heart as a writer is  to bring the truth and encouragement of Christ into your world but something happened on a personal level which I really didn't expect.

For those of you who don't know I have battled with childhood abuse, depression, cancer and more and my ever faithful God has been with me through it all. We have danced and still do when a new level of victory is reached. So I know to some extent what it is to war and press through in the spirit (I love Eph 6)! Well the week started and I'm thinking right shall I do this or would that be better? Did a couple of things that took me out of my comfort zone but that's kinda where I live anyways so this wasn't a huge deal. Then wham... something happened mid week and as a result I found myself almost winded by a spirit of hopelessness and fear. I was blindsided and fighting for spiritual breath, ever been there? I wrestled until Saturday when I had the bright idea of calling a dear friend and asking for prayer. I'm warrior but one of my weaknesses is that I find it really hard to ask for help and don't like to burden other people. God reminded me of the power of two or more standing together in prayer - my perspective was lifted, my heart was stilled and reminded of the Truth that God was, is and always will be totally in control. I'm pleased to say from this position of 'remindment' and in His graciousness, on Sunday God did allow me to experience a situation which did scare me a little but after confronting it I felt empowered, encouraged and a little bit stronger... In our weakness His is our Big Beautiful and Ever Faithful God. 

Hugs Ruth x

Scared -de- cat?

A bunch of us were talking the other day about the well known author and speaker Francis Chan who says we shouldn't ask for safety in our prayers. He argues we should simply ask to be in the will of God and embrace whatever that is good or bad. An interesting debate ensued about prayers for protection in the the book of Psalms and the role of intercessory prayer and stuff. Which was great because this is the business of working out our salvation. I was thinking about Mr Chan's position. I kinda like the aspect of putting God firmly in the driving seat. This encourages us in the promise 'all things will work to good for those called according to His good plan and purpose' (Rom8:28), yet it requires scar-de-cats like me to embrace the uncomfortable. Embracing things like self-discipline, fear, rejection, suffering aren't on most people's top 10 things to do... Yet without these aspects of life we'd never know miracles, we'd never develop in faith or character or see the intervention of a loving God. We can however have had things so rough for so long we get to thinking God's will for us only involves difficulty and that's not true. Life will be rich in diversity and in the tough times clinging onto the promises of God can be the achievement! 

Hebrews 12:1 tells us we're surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses cheering us on - I wonder if in the midst of fear or frustration, if we actually heard angels shouting 'go for it, you can do this, there's so much more than you realise at stake' do you think we'd take more risks? I run a self esteem course for women called 'Shine' and in one of the sessions we ask 'what would you do if your life had no limits'? It's really interesting how difficult it is for the participants to get their heads round this idea, but it's a beautiful thing to see it when they do! Psychologist Suzan Jeffer's wrote a book called 'feel the fear and do it anyway' in it she posited in the West we are conditioned to take the safe, neat, low risk option suggesting this robs us of life. Do you agree? Are there things you'd love to do but you let fear, pride or risk of rejection hold you back? Do you look back  on your life and wonder if only I'd... 

I really believe God needs us more than ever to be risk taker's, to press through our fears, our comfort and be lions not scared-de-cats. I'm going to do one things this week that requires me to feel the fear and do it anyway - I'll let you know how I get on...

Hugs Ruth x