Have you ever had a life moment where everything changed in a blink of an eye? Like someone just flipped a switch in your life, and it wasn’t in a good way. I have had those moments in life where you wish it was all a bad dream, and you could wake up and everything would be back to the way it was. I know some people that had these life-altering moments this week. It is as if your life just got flipped upside down, and it takes everything inside you to just keep putting one foot in front of the other.

These times are moments that really test our faith. Will we allow the trial to make us bitter towards God?

You know we have a lot of “firsts” in our lives. The day we are born is the first day separate from our mother’s womb. We have first days of school and first days of work. First days have to happen every time we do something new, and sometimes those first days can bring a flood of anxiety.

This week was the first day for my kids to go to public school. I am a homeschooling mom that decided to do something different this year. After much thought and prayer, my family and I decided to give public school a chance. I am for a good education. I have friends that homeschool, friends that send their kids to private school, and friends that send their kids to public school.

One of my coaches once taught me something that has been engraved in me ever since: Practice does not make perfect; perfect practice makes perfect. So practice making your practice perfect. In other words, challenge the way you think, the way you behave, and everything around you. Act 17:11 states, “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” When you change the way you think, you will change the way you view things, but we must be open to new interpretations. First Corinthians 13:12 reminds us, “For now we see through a glass, darkly.” 

Most days I wake up and wonder how we got to such a state! Before I can open up the latest issue of the Wall Street Journal, I can see images of a world with so much pain and a lack of love for thy neighbor, images of the latest bombing victims, mass shooting, etc., on the front page. “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). It’s become so common place that many of us are shocked when we turn on the news and we don’t hear about the latest mass shooting, mass bombing, murder, robbery, etc. How do we maintain our empathy and love for one another?

My biggest fear is to not reach my full potential according to God’s Word and His will. I believe full-heartedly that God’s will for each of us is to obey His commandments. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thy self” (Luke 10:27). I believe that there is a difference between knowing God and doing God’s will. My dad taught me that the difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is that successful people do what unsuccessful people do not want to do.

Do you ever have that moment where someone asks you for a favor, and you really don’t want to do it? Maybe you are tired, maybe you are just not in the mood, but there really isn’t anything pressing that would stop you from helping. The only thing keeping you from helping the person is, you just don’t want to.

When I find myself in these situations, I ask myself, “What would the Messiah do?” I know that my attitude isn’t right, and I can go straight to Scripture and listen to His exact answer.

Have you ever been around an angry person, someone that reacts to situations in a volatile way or harshly? Dealing with difficult people is hard. People can be downright mean. It may be tempting to desire retaliation. But, we are called to a higher purpose. We are to return cursing with blessings (Luke 6:28), hate with love (Luke 6:27), a harsh word with gentleness (Prov 15:1). We are to fight fire with water.

When we react to fire with fire, we can set the whole situation ablaze, making it far worse than it was in the beginning. Fighting rage with rage only creates more rage. There is no room for peace. Our society seems to be full of people who just want to keep the rage going.

The kids and I just returned on a long trip with some of our closest friends to visit their family in South Dakota and Minnesota. We had a great time. Beautiful weather, definitely cooler than Texas, and it was great to see everyone. Plus, the kids and I got to see a part of the United States that we have never seen.

We mainly stayed in South Dakota because that is where my friend’s parents live. One of the many things I admired during our stay was their garden. They have a real gift in raising one of the most productive gardens I have ever seen, rows and rows of all kinds of vegetables

I have found out in my life that nothing comes easily. I must push myself to reach any goals. If I wanted to make a great grade in school, I not only had to study, but I had to rewrite my notes from the class to reinforce what I learned. Sometimes it gets rather discouraging to always have to work hard to reach a goal. Sometimes I find myself wanting to give up because I’m tired of having to always climb uphill, never reaching the summit. It is also tempting to think that others have it easier, but I must not let the few who “appear” to have an easy life cause me to become frustrated with my own.

No one out there has an easy life. One guarantee we have, other than death, is that we will face tribulation in this life (John 16:33). We all will face various trials, especially when we are trying to reach our goals. The thing is, we cannot let trials and setbacks win. We have to be willing to work hard.

This one characteristic of love, to not take inventory of past evils, is really shown in the prodigal son story. I know that the majority of you know the story; if you don’t, it is found in Luke 15. I want you to notice the context that is going on when Jesus tells the story. Sinners and tax collectors were coming to hear His teachings, and the Pharisees and scribes were murmuring in the background, getting angry that Jesus was welcoming sinners. What were the Pharisees and scribes doing? They were taking account of the other people’s sins and holding it against them. So, Jesus rebukes their lack of love by telling them parables, and one of them is about the prodigal son.

Why are Christians so quick to judge the world? Why do some become even hateful towards the world? Don’t we realize that we are not perfect either, and that all of us “have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23)? Seriously, right now the world is ruled by Satan (1 John 5:19). It is not ever going to be a righteous place until God’s Kingdom overthrows the current ruler. Therefore, the world will do only what the world knows.

I do not think that it is healthy for us to get so wrapped up in what the world does. It is not our job to throw stones at the world.