Being Convicted of Sin in Our Lives is a Lot Like Getting a Deep Tissue Massage

I have a good friend who has magic fingers...I mean, she can find a knotted muscle in your neck, rub it, press it, kneed it until it hurts so good you have tears of pain and relief all at the same time.  Week before last I woke up with a terrible headache, and by the time I got to school I was just sick!  I was pretty sure it was tension, so during a break, I asked Susan if she would mind working her magic.  In just a few minutes she had found the sources of my pain and pressed and rubbed until the knots were gone.  By the time we broke for lunch my head was much better...by the time our meetings were over for the day, my headache was gone.  I did still have some soreness from the balls of tension that she had rubbed out though.

Later, and I mean LATER, that night I was thinking of how my body can become so tense and knotted and I don't even realize that it's happening until I am in real pain.  Then it came to me...a Christian letting sin creep into her life and realizing that she no longer has that peace that passes all understanding is just like a stressed out body in need of a deep tissue massage.

Consider this-life is tough. Between going to work, taking care of laundry, cleaning, cooking, spending time with kids, giving the hubby what he needs...our bodies can get tense, our sleep becomes restless and before you know it, we are a knotted mess!  That's just how sin creeps into our lives.  As we run ourselves ragged taking care of business at home and work, we may not even realize how we have started to gossip, cuss, daydream about someone other than our spouse.  Before you even have a chance to realize what is happening, your peace in your soul is gone and you are in need of conviction and repentance.

First, recognize you have a problem-knots/sin.  Seek healing-deep tissue massage/prayer.  Let the work begin-as the massage therapist works that stress and those knots out of our body, through prayer and repentance God shows us those things that need to change in our lives.  Sometimes a deep tissue massage is painful and sometimes we hurt for days afterward just like being convicted of our sins and turning away from them can be difficult for us to accept and take time to overcome...but thankfully, those knots of sin in our lives can be rubbed out forever by the healing power of the Great Masseuse Himself, Jesus Christ!

Don't stress, give it to God.  He is the one driving anyway!

WHAT DO YOU DO FOR FUN?

I heard someone close to me say, "I asked my husband what he does for fun."  You see, her husband seems to work all the time.  If it isn't his job, it is yard work or some kind of financial organizational plan or research.  Sounds like work, work, work to me!  Later I started to think about the lady who asked this question of her husband....what does she do for fun?  It seems to me that she is always keeping grand kids, taking food to someone, serving on a committee, visiting someone in need.....ok missy, what do you do for fun?

One online dictionary I looked at defines fun as a source of enjoyment, amusement or pleasure.  For some, what they do for enjoyment, amusement or pleasure is very obvious....softball, playing an instrument, making jewelry....but for others, we may have to look deeper.  Consider the definition above-a source of enjoyment-so fun really has to do with the person having the fun not the person watching the fun.  So, maybe, what I do for fun has more to do with me than anyone else....hummmmm.  Let's consider something else......

I Corinthians 10:31 says "Whether, therefore, ye eat, or drink, or whatever ye do, do all to the glory of God."  (Oh, yes, I did leave out that unfortunately some of us eat for fun.)  Colossians 3:23 says "And whatever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men."  WOW!  Doesn't that put a new face on FUN.  So can we play basketball for fun and give glory to God?  I think YES!  Can we have fun doing something nice for someone else and give glory to God? YES!

So, today I pray that you have FUN!  Do something that you enjoy, that amuses you, that brings you pleasure and give glory to God while you do it!

BACK TO SCHOOL..... BACK TO A SCHEDULE? Really?

I have enjoyed this summer so much, I really hate to see it end.  One of the best things about this summer is that my kids are older.  Don't get me wrong, I know they will be grown before I know it, but now they are old enough to do more for themselves...freeing up more of my time.  I have stayed up late, gotten up early, gone to breakfast with friends, taken the kids to movies and out to eat....pretty much anything I wanted.

I have felt more like myself this summer than I have in years and part of that is because my husband has encouraged me to do things that I want to do and let other things go.  So sometimes my floors have been dirty and my laundry piled up, but I have had a blast at a flea market or refinishing a piece of furniture. 

I am excited about going back to school though.  I have had a really creative summer-lots of sanding, stripping, painting, and playing-so I am pretty inspired about getting back into the art room.  I have some fun projects planned to get this year started, and I hope the kids think they are as fun as I do.

I am going to miss cleaning house in my gown and not showering til noon, staying up late watching tv, reading in the bathtub for an hour, and all of those things we can do when we don't have a schedule.  So, to all my teacher friends-set those alarms, take those vitamins and let's do this thing!!

My First Post

Well, I can't sleep tonight.  I spent half of the day in Little Rock and about an hour of that in Hobby Lobby.  I LOVE Hobby Lobby! So much creativity flowing in that place, I wanted to be home instantly and get busy on something....but that didn't happen.
Now don't get me wrong, I do not want to be a man.  I am very happy shaving my legs and showing my emotions, but being a woman does have its drawbacks.  As a wife and mother, I have a lot of people to take care of.  I am not griping, really, just stating a fact that sometimes it is stressful trying to make sure that everyone is at least a little happy.
But I guess that is also why we have sayings like "today is not your day" and "you can't always be first".

Well, goodnight, from my first blog............sleep tight from: Blogging Sister