Tag: Karol Ladd

The Rangers and TobyMac

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This past Sunday, I had the exciting opportunity to attend a Texas Rangers Baseball game with some of my family – and what a game it was!! Two home runs by the Rangers and a winning score was good enough for me, but in the eighth inning things turned a little ugly. Right before our eyes, a major brawl broke out, grabbing national attention. Personally, I’m not one that enjoys watching players throwing punches, but the fan sitting next to me was absolutely thrilled. He said it was his birthday, and seeing the fight was the best birthday present ever!

What caused this major fight to break out between the Rangers and the Blue Jays? There are many speculations, but the bottom line is that there is a good amount of pent up anger between the two teams which culminated in Sunday’s fighting match.  The feuding history between these rivals spurred on a bitter battle on the field.

Ironically, after the game there was a concert on the field performed by TobyMac – a Christian artist with a powerful message filled with humility, grace and forgiveness. You probably didn’t see that on the evening news. Fights are so much more exciting! But what is the message we want to get across to our children and to society at large?

Do we want to encourage the next generation to work out their anger and frustrations through fighting and revenge, or do we want to promote a better way? The Bible teaches us how to resolve conflicts and work through anger. In its pages, we learn how to love our enemies and forgive those who have hurt us. We learn about grace – grace toward others, because God has shown us grace through His Son.

As believers, let’s demonstrate to the world what God’s love looks like. Let’s be different. Sure we all get angry, but as Christ’s followers, His Spirit can give us the strength and wisdom to work through issues, let go of bitterness and live with grace toward one another. God’s Spirit loving through us can make a positive and powerful difference in this world. Let’s let HIs love be our signature.

It seems fitting that this morning I happened to read these words by the apostle Peter:

All of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude. Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and He will grant you His blessing. I Peter 3:8-9

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God’s Good Purpose

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It is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose. Philippians 2:13

Do you find it hard to believe that God has a good purpose for you? I know sometimes I do. In my small perception of God, I naturally assume He is too busy to plan out a good purpose for me. Yet throughout scripture we are reassured of His plans and purposes. Some people have trouble believing that God’s purposes are good. They tend to think of God as a cruel taskmaster or slave-driver with a whip, ready to lead us into the most difficult life we can imagine. Paul didn’t say that God works in us to will and to act according to His evil plan, or His cracked whip, or His never-ending demands.

No, God works in us to will and to act according to His Good Purpose. This little phrase can be translated as “God’s kind intention or good pleasure.” God not only knows what is well and good, but He has the intention or resolve to work toward that good. We see this same term used in the first chapter of Ephesians, “He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will.” Again, we find these words used later in the same chapter, “He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him.”

Paul wrote in his letter to the Thessalonians, “We constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by His power He may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith.” I’m also reminded of the well-loved Romans passage, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”

Do you get the feeling as you read these verses that God has an intentional plan and purpose for us, and it is good? These verses also remind us that it is by His power that He fulfills His good purpose. How wonderful to know that as believers in Christ, we are not alone to try to figure out how to live life. He equips us with His Spirit to both will and to act according to His good purpose. God uses even our difficulties and challenges for His good intentions and plan. It’s funny how so many temptations in this world seem to offer good pleasure, but they leave us less than satisfied. We search and hope to find happiness in people, things or substances and are left wanting. But God has a good purpose and a kind intention for our lives, and it begins with a relationship with Him.

Are you willing to trust His good purpose for you, even when you don’t understand why something has happened in your life? He is faithful and good. He will never leave you. Part of His good plan is His presence to help you and strengthen you each step of the way.

Check out:  A Woman’s Passionate Pursuit of God. It makes a great summer read or Bible study.

What’s Growing in The Garden of Your Mind

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Every spring, my husband Curt creates a beautiful arrangement of flowers for our table on the back deck. He always chooses a lovely variety of plants that simply make me smile when I look at them. Isn’t it amazing how colorful flowers can lift your spirits?  I can’t help but draw a simple analogy for us personally – just as Curt has a choice of what he will plant in the garden, so each of us has a choice of the thoughts we will allow to grow in the garden of our minds.

Neuroscience now tells us that the brain is able to think new thought patterns and shift from old destructive thinking. That’s good news!  We don’t have to stay in the rut of thinking thoughts of despair or anger or bitterness. We can choose to shift our thinking and plant new healthy, hope-filled, life-giving thoughts instead.

This may be a new discovery for science, but the apostle Paul wrote about these same concepts thousands of years ago. In Philippians we read, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

Obviously, Paul seemed to understand the power of the mind. He wrote to the Romans, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will.”

We can be transformed by the renewing of our minds! So let’s get rid of the weeds of fear, doubt, bitterness, unforgiveness, anger and despair, and replace them with faith, hope, love, grace, joy and strength.

Gardening is not easy. It takes hard work and constant care, but the end result is a beautiful bouquet which is a blessing to others and brings glory to the Father. Through the power of the Holy Spirit we can change our thinking. Just as it takes 21 Days to form a new habit, it takes about 21 days for neurons to form new pathways.

Let’s begin our gardening by recognizing the negative thought patterns that need to go, and begin the process of asking the Lord to give us faith-filled thoughts, through the power of His Spirit and the reading of His word. This is another reason why I believe scripture memory is so powerful, because it fills our mind with what is true and good. (Click here for a short video on Scripture memory).

Let’s each ask the question personally, “What am I allowing to grow in the garden of my mind?”

 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Romans 15:13

Simply Radiant

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Sunny Sunflowers Oil painting on canvas.

When I first met a precious woman named Ellen, I was struck by her radiant smile. At first I didn’t notice her cane, but as she gracefully made her way over to meet me I could see that she walked with a slight limp.  Ellen told me that she was diagnosed with Spinal Bifida at birth, yet she was able to walk, and she was still thriving at seventy years of age.  Ellen is literally a walking miracle, because most children with Spina Bifida were not expected to live into adulthood. Ellen was able to be the recipient of an experimental surgery at a young age which enabled her to walk. When I told Ellen that I wanted to write her story she said, “Well make it all about Jesus, not about me.”

Ellen’s focus is not on herself; it is on the God who loves and cares for her and continues to shine His light through her.  Ellen views her physical limitations from a positive perspective. She recognizes that her challenges offer her an opportunity to reach out and serve other women who have disabilities, and we all have disabilities of some sort. Ellen is a beauty consultant and uses the platform of make-up and outward beauty to talk about the importance of inner beauty which comes from knowing the Lord.  Here’s her mission statement:

Making a DIFFERENCE in women whose lives have been touched by disability, assisting with their choice for their eternal destiny, one lipstick at a time!

Ellen realizes that no one is perfect, and our imperfections lead us to a perfect God.  It is in Him that we experience strength and joy in life. Ellen’s understanding of who God is, makes a significant difference in her life. One more thing I must tell you about Ellen is that she loves to pray. She looks to the Lord as her strength day by day, moment by moment as she visits with Him through prayer. Several times as I was engaged in conversation with Ellen she stopped to say, “Let’s go to the Father in prayer about this.” Right then and there she prayed.  And what a beautiful prayer it was, filled with love and trust and joy in her Heavenly Father.  Ellen is an example of a woman who lives with a confident hope in the Lord.  She lives with a perspective of thankfulness for the opportunity to serve God with her disability.  She also lives with a Heavenly focus, knowing that this world is not her home and that one day her earthly body will be transformed into a glorious one.

Perspective is everything, and it is a choice.  We can view our frustrations and our disappointing circumstances with anger toward God, believing that this life is all we have.  Or we can view difficulties from the perspective of “Lord, my eyes are on you. Use me in these circumstances for your glory.  Help me and give me strength along the way.”  With an eternal perspective we can live with confidence knowing that this isn’t IT.  We can look forward with confident hope toward Heaven and place our confident hope in the God who will care for us here. Ellen is a radiant woman with an eternal perspective.  I want to view the world like Ellen!

This is an excerpt from A Woman’s Secret to Confident Living

The Beauty of Grace

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This week at Positive Woman Connection Bible Study, we are talking about the power of forgiveness and the beauty of God’s grace. The apostle Paul calls us to live with grace that goes beyond our human inclinations – to show kindness to those who do not deserve  it, even our enemies. But isn’t that just like God’s grace toward us?

Grace is a short word with a big meaning. Often we use the word to refer to gracious behavior or graceful dancing or even saying a meal time prayer, but grace represents the very reason for our joy as believers. In the Old Testament, we find the Hebrew word chen meaning kindness or favor. It was first used in Genesis (6:8), “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”  In the book of Ruth, I especially love how we find the word chen used by Ruth as she speaks to Boaz (her kinsman redeemer), “Why have I found favor in your eyes that you should take notice of me, when I am a foreigner?” What a beautiful picture of God’s grace toward us. Why should we as sinners find favor in the eyes of an all-Holy God? One word: Grace.

In the New Testament the Greek word for grace is charis referring to God’s unmerited favor. There are many spiritual implications from this one mighty word and to truly grasp its full meaning is to embrace the essence of Christianity. Grace is not about us, it is about God. B. B. Warfield said, “Grace is free sovereign favor to the ill-deserving.” Free is a very important part of understanding God’s grace. Other religions are not based on grace, they are based on working to please and make amends with their god or gods. The Christian faith is different. It is not based on our merit, but on God’s goodness, love and kindness toward us.

Although grace is free, it is not cheap. We must never take the grace of God for granted, but rather live in thankful obedience as a result of understanding this amazing and unmerited favor God has bestowed on us. A. W. Tozer wrote: “Grace is the good pleasure of God that inclines him to bestow benefits on the undeserving.” Perhaps you have seen the acronym for GRACE: God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense, which is a great reminder of the high cost of God’s grace. John McArthur took it further by saying, “Grace is not merely unmerited favor; it is favor bestowed on sinners who deserve wrath. Showing kindness to a stranger is ‘unmerited favor’; doing good to one’s enemies is more the spirit of grace.”

Romans 5:1-2,6-8 describes our reason to rejoice:

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.…

…You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

For me personally, I find myself continually thankful and joyful because of this very passage describing God’s grace. Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found, was blind, but now I see! Because of His grace I desire to walk in fellowship with Him. Because of His grace, I am compelled to show grace to the people around me. What about you? How does God’s grace affect your daily life?

This is an excerpt from my book  Becoming a Woman of the Word