THROUGH Him (Thanks Trish)

One thing that has me very torn is how much I am being influenced by our culture or at least by what is around me. For example, you go to Wal-Mart and you see pools, pool supplies, and other summer fun items. Then, as you drive by houses, many back yards have some sort of pool set up...So then, you get it in your mind that you NEED a pool and you know where to get one. When you get to Wal-Mart, you have many different choices for a pool. You can have a cheap $10 splash pool, but if you're willing to spend just a little more, you can get a little bigger pool with a slide on it, but if you're willing to spend even a little more, you can get a family size pool where your whole family can swim in. You can fulfill a lot of wants today because things are just very accessible. And so, you decide to spend a little more so that you can have a little more fun when really did you need to spend any money on a pool at all or could that money have gone to something more sacrificial, like to a missionary who has given up every kind of convenience to go to a foreign land to open up the Word to those who don't know it?

After our visit with our missionary friend in India my eyes have been opened as to how I am really influenced by what surrounds me and how easily I am influenced. And it's not just with materialism, but it's with ideas and thoughts too. I've somehow associated worldly thoughts about biblical living to biblical concepts and I've been feeling the burden of living up to these ideas.

Unfortunately, I KNOW that many times I am NOT doing for Him and I'm trying too hard on my own strength and wisdom to do. And from Psalm 127:2, I believe, that is why I don't get the rest that I need because I am doing it by my might.

The bottom line is, doing it THROUGH Him (a reminder given to me by Tah-Dah) and my hope is that He will show me how I can live here in this place He has put us in and not be influenced by what surrounds me, but be influenced by His Word... It's so easy to say...One thing DearHubby is always encouraging me to do is to pray. He is right!

Another thing I need to remember is to be THANKFUL because everything that I am and everything that we have is by His grace and everything we deserve that we don't receive is by His mercy. How GREAT is our God!