If God Is Sovereign, Why Pray?

*This blog post is dedicated to all the people in the world who keep on asking questions.

So, if God already knows how everything is going to turn out, then why are we troubling ourselves with all this effort to pray?  And, if we are not informing God of anything new then what is the point?  Let’s look at Psalm 139:1-4:

O LORD, You have searched me and You know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue You know it completely, O LORD.


So, God has complete knowledge of my life.  Nothing I could say will surprise Him. He knows my heart better than I know it. He knows my thoughts, wishes, and prayers before I pray them. Matthew 6:8 says, “Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” Sometimes I pray for something I think I need not fully knowing what I really need.  Scripture encourages us to pray “…Thy will be done.”  And, our prayers should be with that intention; that God’s will is what trumps everything else we desire.  We may have to adjust our thinking to pray according to the plan He has already laid out for us and not necessarily making our plans come together outside of His will.

There used to be an old joke that was in the church years ago and the story would start out with the telling of someone being in dire straights or of some impossible situation and the people involved would have completely run out of options, so now they are “down to praying” as a last resort. I know this is often said as a joke, but in reality, prayer should be our go-to response as a constant conversation with God. It should serve as a simple reminder that in the end everything depends on God anyway and not on us.  Perhaps it is in the day-to-day praying that we express our total dependence on God and then He is in turn honored by our faith.


James 5:16, “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” So, let's not stop praying.  Let's lean in and really mean what we pray. Our prayers don’t have to contain flowery words or be long and dramatic. They just need to be genuine. God is listening and He cares about each of us!

-Paula 

Why Didn't God Make Us Robots?

Think about it! It would so much easier! We would not have feelings, tears, emotions, pride, thoughts or a will; all things that often get in the way of life. If God had only made us robots it would be so much simpler, right?

I am not the first to ask this question, but I have pondered this idea several times over the last few months. If God had only thought to make us robotic, then there would be no struggle between good and evil. Problem solved. Hello heaven!

But God in His omniscience saw ahead of time and knew that we would fail and fall and need Him. He wanted us to be able to choose Him. He wanted us to have the choice to love because He knew that love without choice isn't love at all. He gave us a free will so that we could choose to be in relationship with Him. I believe that God giving us a choice had more to do with His glory and satisfaction than it did with our liberty. After all, we were created in His image ultimately for His glory.

Doesn't the value of any good deed go up in our minds if we believe that it is done out of genuine love rather than out of an obligation or command? Of course it does! That must be how God feels about us when we choose Him.

Robotics is a popular movie theme, and in many of those kinds of movies, the robot starts out with little or no consciousness or self-awareness, but tends to evolve over time. Writers and producers can even create personalities for them and they can be "good" or "evil." In the real world, we are not quite that sophisticated, even though we keep relentlessly striving to create that perfect robot that could substitute as a person.  

Pictured to the left is a real, life-sized robot designed in Japan in 2005 that from a distance looks very human. (It is actually glued to the floor.)  "She" can spit out information, but "she" will never have a soul or mind or know God like we can.

A robot can be programmed to obey, but it cannot be programmed to love or to respond intuitively. So God chose to create people rather than robots to recieve that genuine love back from us.

We know God has emotions because the Bible uses words to describe God's intense feelings about us like "desires" and "loves."  He is actually pursuing us, so we must be worth having!

"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body

and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!

Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.

You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,

as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

You saw me before I was born.

Every day of my life was recorded in your book.

Every moment was laid out

before a single day had passed.

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.

They cannot be numbered!

I can’t even count them;

they outnumber the grains of sand!

And when I wake up,

you are still with me!"  Psalm 139:13-18 NLT

God thinks about us. He plans for us. He loves us. Robots could never replace the uniqueness of a human being. Simpler, yes. Rewarding, no.

*artwork by Harrison G. Barnett

Change Your Filter

Like the air filter or oil filter in our car, periodically filters must be cleaned or changed all together in order to maintain a good flow of air or oil.  Otherwise, your car could overheat resulting in an unnecessary breakdown and expensive repairs.

Relationships can be tough. Some of the toughest ones to navigate are family relationships; parents, spouse, siblings, and children. Our close friendships are not always easy either.

I have often found that the only way to get past an issue with someone is to "change my filter."  This idea simply means to change the way I think about them. For example, maybe I don't necessarily feel the love from someone or maybe I have even been genuinely hurt.  In an attempt to bridge the gap between us, I will eventually give them the benefit of the doubt in order to move on and try to think of them from a place of love rather than a place of disapproval. In essence, I am "changing my filter." It is a decision that I must consciously make. Love is not a feeling. Love is a decision. This thinking is a major mind shift that requires some healthy self-talk and some pushing down of pride. In other words, not an easy task.  And I have yet to master it because I am human and sometimes I just want to be "right!"

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 says, "Love is patient..."  and that is where I already have a problem. I am not a very patient person by nature, but I have learned the hard way that a degree of patience is needed in order to sustain permanent relationships. God knew He would need to spell out the exact requirements for healthy relationships, otherwise people like me would look for a loop-hole! The passage goes on to say, "not self-seeking" and "keeps no record of wrongs." These clauses mean "changing your filter" and that's exactly what I'm talking about.

Sometimes we want to be shown love in the precise way that we ideally receive it but ignore the failed attempts of the one trying to genuinely be a friend or make amends. We need to get to a place where we can accept people where they are. I'm not saying adopt their lifestyle, or agree with everything they say and do, but treat them with respect and genuinely show them love and receive  the love they offer.

This idea is a tall order, I know, but it is possible. I have seen people who interact with each other over the years fall into the same old trap of resentment about something that happened a long time ago. It is almost as if they are waiting on something from the other person, like an acknowledgement or apology, for that offense to be mended. The resolution they continue to wait for may never come. There must be forgiveness. Life goes on.

Let's not waste another minute trying to figure out how to change other people or how to persuade their thinking to be more like ours. Love them where they are and if necessary, change your filter.


-Paula

The 80/20 rule

You may have heard of the Pareto principle (also known as the 80/20 rule or the law of the vital few). This principle states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.

A business-management consultant suggested the principle and named it after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who observed in 1906 that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population; he developed the principle by observing that 20% of the pea pods in his garden contained 80% of the peas. It is a common rule of thumb that in business 80% of your sales come from 20% of your customers.

Leadership trainer and author, John Maxwell, has referred to this principle in a few of his books as it relates to business and leadership.

Some other examples of the Pareto Principle are:

• Reading: 20% contains 80% of the content
• Job: 20% of work gives 80% satisfaction
• Products: 20% of products bring 80% of profits
• Picnic: 20% of the people eat 80% of the food! 

It is also found that in most churches about 20% of the congregation does the work while 80% observes.

In life, you may also experience when you achieve a certain goal; graduate high school, college or other institution, get a job, a promotion, start a new venture or acquire any kind of success that the 80/20 rule may apply in this way. You may want to do the math. When you announce something that you are pursuing or have accomplished you will probably get mixed results for various reasons. Most people will offer their kind congratulations, but may not really believe you will ever make it. Yet, there is the faithful, positive 20% who will be with you, cheering you on all the way to the end!  (These people are sometimes called "parents.")

Our family has referred to the "80/20 rule" so often that we now find it to be humorous and have shortened it to just "80/20" whenever someone is negative in response to any of the type of situations listed above. 

The lesson:
-Be encouraging. Don't be in the 80% or the person who always states the reasons why it cannot be done.
-Be encouraged. If you have set a goal, go for it! Forget the naysayers. They will always be there. Opportunities will not. Carpe diem! Stay in the 20%.

"So speak encouraging words to one another. Build up hope so you'll all be together in this, no one left out, no one left behind. I know you're already doing this; just keep on doing it."
1 Thessalonians 5:9 MSG

-Paula

Less than or equal to?

Have you ever been in a situation where you thought you were not as good as the people around you? Or were you secretly jealous because someone else was getting all the attention? I guess that happens to everyone on some level. We are human. We all have insecurities. 

Insecurity is just a trick of the mind that has the potential to keep us from doing the things God has called us to do. There will always be people who are more talented, thinner, richer, younger, more beautiful or more entertaining than we are. We can't allow ourselves to be immobilized by knowing this as a constant fact. Being aware of the strong giftings of others, and knowing that our value does not come from our comparisons with others leads us to our actual self-worth.

This is true humility: recognizing our shortcomings but still maintaining a healthy dose of self-confidence. Insecurity is an emotional interpretation, not an objective evaluation, of our abilities. So, in theory, two people with the same abilities and skill levels can have different types and depths of insecurity. Scripture tells us in Jeremiah 17:9 (MSG), "The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out."

Our emotions are not reliable and our perspective is skewed.

Still there is hope! Insecurity can be overcome with time, patience and a gradual realization that our own worth is purely a matter of how God sees each of us. He loves you! He has a specific purpose in mind for you. Kari Jobe sings, "I know that You are for me!" Yes, He is! We can't see behind the scenes, so we have to believe and trust that God is for us. He is really working on our behalf all the time and we are, for the most part, unaware.

My prayer today is for everyone who has been wounded in such a way that may have left them feeling "less than." I pray we allow God the space and time to mend those places. If we can possibly believe that God loves us and will not leave us in our weakness then we might believe that He can also use us to affect others in a very positive way. Don't be intimidated by others. Let God be your support system. He is for you!

"Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don't be impressed with yourself. Don't compare yourself with others."

Galatians 6:4 (MSG)

-Paula

Mother's Day 2012

What a journey it has been! Often as I reflect on my life as a mother I am moved by the fact that I have a good relationship with my two daughters. How this came to be, I’m not exactly sure. I was far from a Proverbs 31 woman and to be honest, I went into parenting with no planning; basically ill-prepared to take care of any other human being.

I will never forget the day we were packing up to go home from the hospital after having our first-born (who is now a mother as well). I saw her lying on the bed and heard her softly crying. The thought crossed my mind that I didn’t have the faintest idea of how to console her. This was a problem! I was suddenly completely overwhelmed at the huge responsibility I had just signed up for.

Since that day, even to now, I have been amazed at how God can use our weak and ignorant places to teach us so much about Him! I firmly believe He allows us to learn about His love by experiencing first-hand the love of a child. We love and give and forgive because we are motivated by a desire to stay connected to this person who is an extension of us. We see their value. Which must be how God feels! We are an extension of Him, created in his likeness, and He is motivated to know us. He forgives without hesitation and loves us, forgetting all the wrong we have done and the pain we have caused. He sees our value. He is surely an amazing God!

I don’t know how it is that our children can often teach us more than we can teach them, but it's true!  I sometimes feel as though I am looking in a mirror and it allows me to see exactly the areas where I am weak or falling short. Our role as mothers will change over time, but as long as we breathe, we can learn to be more like Him.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers who keep getting up every morning to love, guide and protect their child!

-Paula

New Beginnings...

My name is Paula and I am a dreamer. Many of my days are filled with looking after the youngest members of our little family in the woods and oh, how we love a good adventure! I have been married to my college sweetheart for what has turned out to be the most thrilling roller coaster ride of all. I thank God for His continued faithfulness and grace as He leads me to become even more like Him. I’m convinced that the believer’s journey is more dynamic, more adventurous, and more fulfilling with time.

My hope in initiating this blog is to encourage fellow believers and rally like-minded people. I feel passionately about addressing the issues of family and Christian faith. I also feel strongly that the word of God should be applied very practically in our daily lives if we call ourselves followers of Christ. My intent is to marry the culturally relevant issues and the best possible response as a believer.

I have asked myself why I am even doing a blog and the best possible response is simply this: Can’t we all use a little shared knowledge? Wouldn’t life have been easier if we’d known yesterday, what we know today?

Too many days have passed leaving me feeling like I had many things in my heart still needing to be expressed. I will always hope that my personal revelations and experiences can benefit others, and so I have set out to share my heart infused with the truth of the Gospel as experienced firsthand. I pray that even just a few will lean in to find what they’re looking for here.

-Paula