Why I Hate Going To The Doctor

Today I had a doctor appointment to follow-up with the surgeon who did my surgery.  He’s a great doctor, I really like him.  He’s good at what he does, he’s got great bedside manner, he’s compassionate and kind, and he really listens to you.  However, I still hate going to the doctor.

• Filling out paper work.  They tell you to arrive 15 minutes early to fill out paperwork.  You do and then you get 30 minutes of paperwork handed to you.  You feel as if you have to rush to fill it out or your appointment will be delayed.
• You fill out all the paperwork ad nauseum, there are several sheets that ask for duplicate information and you make sure to fill it all out, answering all their questions.
• Your name is called, you think, “YAY, I get to go in for my appointment!!”  They sit you in a room, weigh you, check your blood pressure, take your temp, ask you several questions that you answered on your forms, and then send you back out to the waiting room.
• Then you wait, and wait, and wait.
• Finally you are called back to your appointment, the nurse only has two sheets of paper on her clipboard, they are blank.  You wonder where the book you filled out is.  She begins asking you questions that you know you filled out on the forms.  So, you answer them again and then she leaves.
• You wait, and wait, and wait.
• The doctor comes in, asks how you are feeling, checks you over, discusses your plan of health and tells you goodbye.

For this you have spent an hour and half of your day, not to mention the drive there and the drive home.  And this is why I hate going to the doctor!

"Your words were found..."

Reblogged from Ordinary Days:

I've recently been enjoying verse 16 from Jeremiah chapter 15.

"Your words were found and I ate them,

And Your word became to me

The gladness and joy of my heart,

For I am called by Your name,

O Jehovah, God of hosts."

What a wonderful verse.  Did you know that such a verse existed was in the Bible??  A verse that tells us to eat God's word??  

Read more… 586 more words

Throwing Out The Non-Essentials

People who know me well know a few things that I really dislike.  I would like more people to know me well, mainly because I would really like them to stop dragging me into conversations that I really hate having.

I dislike politics.  Politics is full of liars and cheats.  Being involved in politics ties you up and sends you down a chute of ass-kissing and lying to be liked or believed.  I don’t like it.  I weigh out my options when voting, pray about the candidates and vote with a clear conscience.  If I can’t do that, I don’t vote.  I don’t like to compromise my morals, politics tends to compromise everyone’s morals.  You never know who’s telling the truth because as I as I stated before, it’s all about being liked and kissing someone’s behind to be believed or get ahead.

I dislike any religion that places a heavy burden on people and I have found that most standard religions do just that.  Jesus said that his yoke is light, and that He will carry our burdens.  If religion were about Him it wouldn’t place heavy burdens on us.  I’m not talking about the burdens of the heart that move us to action, that is different.  I’m talking about the burden to behave a certain way, do a certain amount of study or work, memorize this or that, be so busy that we miss the relationship with God that is so vital to our existence.  I refuse to take part in that anymore.

What I really dislike is the combination of said religions and politics.  Preachers should not be in the pulpit or public forum giving us the run down about politicians.  They should be encouraging their flock to seek Jesus.  They should be teaching their people how to listen to God.  They should be all about bringing more and more people into relationship with God.  If they are in their pulpits and public forums telling me how to vote or why I should or shouldn’t like such and such candidate I plug my ears and stop listening.

I know about my “civic duty”.  It’s boiled down to this.  Love the Lord my God with all my heart, mind, and soul.  Love my neighbor as myself.  Do EVERYTHING as if I am doing it for the Lord.  That rules my civic duty, my marriage, the raising of my children, the treatment of my fellow-man, the way I do my “job”.  That is my civic duty.  Therefore it has nothing to do with politics or religion.  Those are empty pursuits because one day soon, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess, every crown will be laid down before the feet of Jesus, King of Kings, Lord of Lords.  Religion will fall away, politicians will be flat on the floor.  We will no longer have the Hollywood élite or the sports gods.  We will have the One, the Alpha and Omega and He is all that will matter.

We can either focus on learning His voice and training our hearts to respond to Him or we can waste our time and energy on false religion and politics.  I don’t know what you will choose, but this day I am choosing Jesus.  I am choosing freedom.  I am choosing something different.

Take Courage

According to dictionary.com courage means the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery.

I have found that it takes courage to live this life and as I am reading “Waking the Dead” by John Eldredge, I am finding that I am right to believe that.  Since the fall of Adam and Eve we are ripe for the picking by our enemy.  He is constantly trying to invade each and every area of our life.  Unless we stand with courage, armed with the tools that God has given us we will fall prey to him.

I am seeing close friends battle with him right now and I am also in the midst of a raging battle.  God is trying to teach me new truths, He is trying to weed my heart, and bring me into something new.  Guess who doesn’t like that.  Thankfully God has given me a lot of tools and more importantly friends who know the struggle and are sharing the burden of prayer.

I did a search on BibleGateway.com for the word courage and these were the verses that jumped out at me.

Deuteronomy 31:6
Be strong, courageous, and firm; fear not nor be in terror before them, for it is the Lord your God Who goes with you; He will not fail you or forsake you.

Joshua 1:9
Have not I commanded you? Be strong, vigorous, and very courageous. Be not afraid, neither be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Nehemiah 4:14
I looked [them over] and rose up and said to the nobles and officials and the other people, Do not be afraid of the enemy; [earnestly] remember the Lord and imprint Him [on your minds], great and terrible, and [take from Him courage to] fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.

Psalm 31:24
Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for and hope for and expect the Lord!

1 Corinthians 16:13
Be alert and on your guard; stand firm in your faith ( your conviction respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, keeping the trust and holy fervor born of faith and a part of it). Act like men and be courageous; grow in strength!

My favorite is Nehemiah 4:14.  That verse spoke volumes to me.  We have to stand and fight for our family.  We have to be ready for the fiery darts of the enemy.  They will come.  If we are walking with God they will come against us more often.

I want to leave you all with a thought from Graham Cooke.  “I believe grace is the empowering presence of God that enables you to become the person you want to be regardless of what the enemy or life is throwing at you. So we are a people who are excited by the things that are coming against us because when anything comes against us, God automatically elevates us.”

Take courage my friends, we are not in this battle alone, God is on our side.

Salvation

Talk to 20 different people and you will most likely end up with 20 different stories about how they came to know Christ.  Every denomination has a different approach, a different check list.  They all have the central element as being Christ but man has added so many must dos, must haves, must not…It can all become confusing to a world watching it all play out before them.  I mean good grief, if the body of Christ can’t even agree on how you come to Him, what hope does a lost and hurting world have?

Well, I’ll tell you what hope they have, they have a God who sends out His Spirit to woo, comfort, romance, and reach those hurting hearts.  It doesn’t matter if you were laying in the gutter of your life and decided that no one but Jesus could help you, so you cried out to be saved.  You could have been a child, understanding for the first time what it meant for Jesus to die on a cross and accepted Him then.  I don’t care about the words you prayed or the place where you prayed.  If you had an experience that turned your life upside down and inside out with a unique love for Jesus that has changed you forever then don’t let anyone tell you that you didn’t do it right.  Only God can tell you that, only God can see your heart and judge your intentions and I truly believe that He does just that and if you are faithful in seeking Him and His word, He will guide you.

To boil down my faith into a set of steps is convenient for me.  It may help me to explain it to someone else but it does not, I repeat, it does not decide salvation.  I can tell someone the basic scripture, the basic prayer, but what matters is what is in their heart and the intention with which they prayed.  Beyond that it’s a bunch of man-made rules.

Ephesians 2:8-9 (AMP)

⁸ For it is by free grace (God’s unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation) through [your] faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [of your own doing, it came not through your own striving], but it is the gift of God;

⁹ Not because of works [not the fulfillment of the Law’s demands], lest any man should boast. [It is not the result of what anyone can possibly do, so no one can pride himself in it or take glory to himself.]

I’m only going to include this one scripture.  I really want anyone reading this to investigate it for themselves, the book of Romans is a great place to start, and if you are investigating, go to the bible, ask questions of believers that you know, ask God to show you His plan and open your eyes to understand.  Salvation is personal.  It’s a journey.  No man alive can tell you if you are or aren’t going to heaven, only God can decide that, ONLY GOD!