"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:10
The Greek word that workmanship here is translated from means a work of art or masterpiece! That's something pretty incredible to think about! We are God's masterpieces! We're not just something that God created and just sort of did and okay job at. We are His masterpiece! That means we have incredible value and worth in God's eyes.
When I read that and found that definition the other day, it really got me thinking. If I'm God's masterpiece than I need to be treating myself as such. I started thinking about how we treat the incredible works of art created by human artists. They are given a high value and are placed in museums where they are protected or they are given places of honour in people's homes. If that's the way we treat a picture on a canvas, then how much more carefully should we treat our bodies since they are God's masterpiece?
This knowledge should change how we treat our bodies. We need to look after ourselves. This means we need to be paying attention to what we put into our bodies and what we do. We shouldn't become so consumed with our appearance and what we eat that it takes precedence over anything else. But we do need to pay attention to it.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
when your world is shaken
So . . . for those of you that have heard anything about what has been going on in my life in the past while you would know this . . . but the title of this blog really does describe what has happened so far in the month of September for me. My nice comfy, safe world has been shaken through a series of events, some not small and some big. Needless to say it's been a challenge. (My last two posts refer to the biggest and most world-shaking, for me, of these events. You can read those posts here and here.)
When your world is shaken, it's easy to start to wonder where God is in all that is happening. It's definitely a question I've asked a lot in the last few weeks. There are so many times when things just don't seem fair. I mean, is it really fair that my mom was in another accident? Or that a friend of mine lost her husband and their children will now never know who their father was except from pictures and stories? I wouldn't say that this is the first time I've ever wondered about the apparent unfairness of life, but it's the first time those questions have hit home quite like they have this time.
I've come through this with an even greater appreciation for many of the Psalms that David wrote. Many of them were written in times of great distress and trouble and they tell God that, but they also end with a declaration of his trust in God no matter what. It was obviously a choice that David made to trust God and it's a choice that I've had to make too. As these things have happened it would have been very easy to turn the other way and decide that God wasn't there or that He didn't care.
The words to a song that Jeremy Camp wrote really hit me the other day as I was driving home from work. I was singing along with the CD like usual, when I was struck by the words to the song. And I realized that those words described exactly what God had been doing for me recently.
As I look back over the past few weeks, that's definitely something I see now. The only way I made it through is because Jesus was carrying me.
When your world is shaken, it's easy to start to wonder where God is in all that is happening. It's definitely a question I've asked a lot in the last few weeks. There are so many times when things just don't seem fair. I mean, is it really fair that my mom was in another accident? Or that a friend of mine lost her husband and their children will now never know who their father was except from pictures and stories? I wouldn't say that this is the first time I've ever wondered about the apparent unfairness of life, but it's the first time those questions have hit home quite like they have this time.
I've come through this with an even greater appreciation for many of the Psalms that David wrote. Many of them were written in times of great distress and trouble and they tell God that, but they also end with a declaration of his trust in God no matter what. It was obviously a choice that David made to trust God and it's a choice that I've had to make too. As these things have happened it would have been very easy to turn the other way and decide that God wasn't there or that He didn't care.
The words to a song that Jeremy Camp wrote really hit me the other day as I was driving home from work. I was singing along with the CD like usual, when I was struck by the words to the song. And I realized that those words described exactly what God had been doing for me recently.
Carried Me (by Jeremy Camp)
Jesus You have carried me
When I could not stand
Jesus You have carried me
It's all been part of Your plan
Jesus You have carried me
It's Your footprints in the sand
Jesus You ave carried me
It was always in Your hands.
As I look back over the past few weeks, that's definitely something I see now. The only way I made it through is because Jesus was carrying me.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
prayer request
OK, so, a break of the silence to post prayer request . . .
Last night I got a phone call asking me to be praying for my friend Tara. She and her husband, Preston, and their two year old son had been driving from Oregon, where they lived, to the Okanagan to spend a week visiting her family. On the way, they stopped to help another motorist who had hit a moose. A car that was swerving around the moose and the other car on the higway hit Preston as he was phoning for help. Preston was killed by this car that night - leaving behind his two year old son and Tara, who is pregnant with their second child.
Right now, Tara needs prayer. Even though, as she has said, she knows that Preston is in the place he has always wanted to be - with his Savior - it is hard for her. She has lost an amazing man.
I was privileged to meet Preston only a couple of times, and other than that just to observe their relationship from a distance at Bible college, but what I know of Preston is that he was a great guy who loved his wife and his son and God with everything he had. From my observations of this man, I know that he died doing exactly what he always did - helping someone else in need.
So, please remember Tara in your prayers in this time; as well as, both Tara and Preston's families as they have also lost a loved one.
Thanks!
Last night I got a phone call asking me to be praying for my friend Tara. She and her husband, Preston, and their two year old son had been driving from Oregon, where they lived, to the Okanagan to spend a week visiting her family. On the way, they stopped to help another motorist who had hit a moose. A car that was swerving around the moose and the other car on the higway hit Preston as he was phoning for help. Preston was killed by this car that night - leaving behind his two year old son and Tara, who is pregnant with their second child.
Right now, Tara needs prayer. Even though, as she has said, she knows that Preston is in the place he has always wanted to be - with his Savior - it is hard for her. She has lost an amazing man.
I was privileged to meet Preston only a couple of times, and other than that just to observe their relationship from a distance at Bible college, but what I know of Preston is that he was a great guy who loved his wife and his son and God with everything he had. From my observations of this man, I know that he died doing exactly what he always did - helping someone else in need.
So, please remember Tara in your prayers in this time; as well as, both Tara and Preston's families as they have also lost a loved one.
Thanks!
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