Sunday Reflection March 25, 2012

What a wild and woolly week!  I feel a little overwhelmed with the amazing response this week to both this blog and to the Facebook page. This week we had over 1000 visitors to the blog and I cannot tell you how excited this makes me. Day after day the numbers began climbing and even with a late posting midweek, you came to read what was here. I am so thankful for that. And humbled. And more than a little in awe. 


I want to take time and thank Rashad McConico  for sharing his story with us. What a brave and precious thing to be so completely transparent and share such a personal story with the world. I shared this with Rashad all ready, but one of the stats I can see on this blog is what search words or phrases are being used to direct people to this site on search engines. People are looking for answers. They are searching for hope. "Stories about guys overcoming homosexuality" was searched at least twice and brought people to Rashad's testimony. God cares about the individual and if sharing his story helps one person, I know Rashad is happy to have done so. 


I also wanted to point you guys to a guest blog I wrote for Alan Knox's blog, The Assembling of the Church. I know that I have had to deal with offense before and as a Christian it was hard, but what about the people who are still without Christ, who are hurt by a something a Christian did or didn't do and now they lump that offense with the Church, and run from the congregation? What is our response to them? That guest blog was a blessing to write, but even more of a lesson for me. Thank you Alan Knox for the opportunity. 


What was the lesson I learned from the first guest blog post? Well, it is this, do what God told me, write, and let Him grow it to be what He intends. The bad habit I had fallen into was to over-think and obsess over how many people were or were not commenting on things and what did that say about me as a writer. Alan Knox, Jeff Goins, and other wonderful mentors of mine gave me wonderful advise and it was this: just write. So from that came How does your Garden Grow and Just Keep Swimming.  


Last week I shared that I had fasted my words. I shared the three things I had learned from that and I have to say I probably could have written more. If you did not get a chance to read that, click here for that. 


Then my week got turned upside down as we traveled an hour to Texas Children's Hospital with our youngest daughter, Connie-Lyn. She is battling health issues and we will be continuing to pursue answers this upcoming week for her. Please be in prayer about it. So because we were stuck in an ER with no service, I almost did not get to post for Thursday. This is what did make it: The Post that almost Wasn't. 


To round off this week's entries, I killed my "self" and wrote an obituary for her. I had hoped that you would join me and there is still plenty of opportunity to do so by taking the OBIT CHALLENGE.  Weird, I know, but I think it is so helpful in addressing the issue of obedience in our lives that I encourage everyone to do it at least once. 


So many other wonderful things happened this week, some I am holding close to my heart for now, but I do want to say something to my family who may be reading this right now: May God's grace comfort and uplift you in all you do as you mourn the loss of our dear Sister/Aunt/Friend Barbara Lou Green Frankum. Her funeral was one of the most amazing I have ever attended with laughter and joy permeating the room and even the sadness was tempered by hope. She was a no-none-sense woman with a heart bigger than Texas and she will be missed until we see her again in heaven. 


May the joy of the Lord fill you as you go into this week, may you be blessed by what you read here and I pray that you grow in grace and wisdom as you go from glory to glory. 


Dayna 

"Just Keep Swimming" The Lesson I Learned from a Cartoon.

Sometimes when I write these devotionals, I have no problem figuring out what to write. Sometimes, the words are pressing so hard against my heart and fingers they fly out of me like a geyser. Shooting into the air, my words become water on the page, at least for me, because as I write I am the student of God too. 

Then there are those days, like today, where I am sitting at my desk, praying, looking at the blank screen in front of me and wondering how am I going to come up with something edifying to say right now? What do I do when this happens? I write anyway. 

Why? How? 

Disney/Pixar all rights reserved

It is the lesson God taught me just recently as I babysat two very precious little boys I know. They wanted to watch a movie. After much deliberation, they settled on Finding Nemo, a Disney Pixar Film. As I sat there with them, cuddled under blankets, I heard something that sparked inside of me. Dory, said “Just keep Swimming”. 

I know it is crazy that a grown woman has anything to learn from a Disney movie, but God uses the foolish things to confound the wise. 

Her persistence in the movie spoke volumes to me. “Just Keep Swimming” 

I don’t know about you but I usually give up. If it gets hard, I walk away. If I got offended in the past, I left. If I started a book and got stuck on the story line, then I would scrap it, lie to myself and say “it wasn’t a good idea anyway” and be frustrated because I wanted to be a writer. 

I am a writer, and Dory was a fish. She swam. I write. “Just keep swimming” 

Persistence is important. 

No one knows this better than God. He is faithful. He persisted throughout time after man. He wooed us, He chastised us, and He loved us. 

Now it is our turn to be consistently faithful. To follow after God with our whole heart, our whole body, our whole mind, to love our neighbor as ourselves, these are the call of God for every man and woman in Christ. 

Persistence is defined as tenacity, holding firm in pursuit. We need to focus on what we are pursuing and then be persistent. 

Choose you this day whom you will serve. 

Jesus looked at Peter and said “Follow me” and Peter did. He made mistakes along the way, he even got so discouraged that Jesus had to re-enforce in Peter his calling: Feed my sheep. 

But Peter’s persistence lead him to be the one who preached on the Day of Pentecost and thousands came to the Lord. His persistence caused him to be faithful unto death. 

I want to be that persistent. I want to be told at the end of my life, as I stand before my Father, “Well done, thy good and FAITHFUL servant” “Just Keep Swimming!” 

Let the past go, press on into what is ahead toward the high calling of Christ Jesus and run your race! 

Be persistent and JUST KEEP SWIMMING! 

Can you share with us about a time you felt like giving up or giving in and you persisted anyway? How did that affect you? 

Be blessed and be a blessing and remember persistence is a noun.