Tuesday, August 26, 2014

does God want us to enjoy life?

I know many of us enjoy Joyce Meyer’s teaching.  I’m not suggesting you stop listening, but I recently signed up for one of her weekly teachings with a bible study attached and was going through it when I hit the stop button.  
I have to point out that when listening to ANYONE you really need to let the Holy Spirit be a filter of wisdom to what you are hearing.  We are encouraged in Acts 17:11Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
To listen and then reason to see if what we are being taught is true.
If you aren’t already aware, there is a lot of concern over some of the things Joyce teaches.  I would be wary of any “name it and claim it”* or “prosperity”* teaching she shares.  *(hereinafter called Gimme Teachers J)
So, what I saw.. FAITH 101: New Life in Christ “Joyce University”God wants you to enjoy your life , and the only way you can do that is to discover and experience the abundant life Jesus gives.

JOHN 10:10 says: The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life , and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).

The bible does NOT SAY God wants us to enjoy life.  Joyce added this and she added it to scripture without a disclaimer that she was doing so (a rule of thumb I use when listening to teachers)  I did a quick word study** on this to see what the original language was and enjoy is not in the list.

What concerns me is this is a false teaching by others Joyce is associated with. Why is this an issue you may ask? 

The idea that God is primarily concerned with our ENJOYMENT or WEALTH or HAPPINESS is just not true.  Look at the fruit of the spirit:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, goodness and self-control (I always get a tickle in my throat on the self-control…)


If this is what God seeks to build in our lives, if this is the product of our loving Him and showing others who He is in our lives… I don’t see enjoyment on the list.
Is enjoyment possible?  ABSOLUTELY… but it’s not a biblical directive, it’s a potential side effect of living for God.  My argument with such teaching (and I’m referring to the Gimme Teaching as a whole here, not just Joyce) is that they treat God like a genie or ATM who wants to give us all good things and we just have to ask.

Moms… do we want to give our kids all good things?  Yes.
Is this all we give our kids?  No.
Are some of the good things we give our kids not considered good by our kids?
As parents we must look ahead to the ramifications of behavior.  We are training our children to be good, decent, contributing members of society and yes, we want them to enjoy life and we want to bless them in any way we can… but that desire to bless them is tempered with not spoiling them by giving them everything they ask for.

God identifies himself as our Father and uses this language repeatedly in talking to us about who He is.

I don’t actually put Joyce in the same camp as the other “name it and claim it” or “prosperity” teachers.  She is more biblically correct than they are.  I also think that she speaks really strongly to people with anxiety and fear issues and teaches boldly about these.  That’s why I don’t just cross her off my list of teachers.  I still think we need to “be Bereans” and be wise, checking what we hear with God’s word.

p.s.
** sources for easy word study online  (images of examples below:
  • Read NASB version of bible (I usually pull up paralell versions with NIV and NASB to ensure I understand what I’m reading.)
  •  Read the whole paragraph and if necessary the whole chapter.  Remember context is king.
  • Look up Greek word in Strong's Concordance (and don’t you just love technology?!! You can do that online with a few clicks HERE!)
    • Life:
    • abundantly
So it is obvious from this that God wants MORE for our lives and I truly believe that most of us live way below God’s plan for our lives, but I think we focus on temporal things and God focuses on spiritual things.






Tuesday, August 19, 2014

sad chickens?

I sent a friend at work this...
me:

friend:  has feathers

me: how does one know the chicken is unhappy?

friend:    he looks sad

me:  ha ha ha

friend:  cluuuuuck....sniff... cluuuuuck

I love my friends!!!


Friday, May 16, 2014

"overheard" office humor

T:  haha yes well
T:  I think you should make me a meal plan with recipes
T:  hahaha

E:  haha

T: you laugh
T:  but I'm serious

E:  I think you confuse our friendship with indentured servitude

Sunday, May 11, 2014

stubborn but learning

Have I mentioned that I love sugar?
I love sugar!

I will drive to another county for a Bob's Big Boy Hot Fudge Cake (with extra hot fudge of course).

For the past few years...I have been on this journey to feeling better and better health.
I have been kicking and screaming my way though it.  Whining... I've been pretty annoying.  
I don't want to give up anything, I want to eat what I want and still feel better.  Can't I just take a supplement? Why doesn't that work!  Hello!  Is anybody listening here?!!

So I have these "Magic Pills" (that's my name for them) and they have made such a difference in my life.
I gave up sweet treats for Lent this year.  It kind of plummeted my sugar intake.  When I added it back in, I found my taste buds had changed a bit.  It would now take a little work to accept the same sugar I was happy with before.  So I stopped and thought about that.  WHY would I do that to myself?  Honestly, it's just a habit of how I eat.  Boy am I stubborn.  I just did't want to give it up and yet I'd already been through the toughest part!

So I love sugar, but I hate being hot.  I am hot and sweaty and itchy ALL THE TIME!  The Magic Pills have made a big difference in my life in mitigating these symptoms.  I had a real epiphany today.  I knew this already, but I own it today.  Sugar makes all those things I hate SO MUCH WORSE!!!  They are the ultimate cause of all of it. I just didn't want to believe it.

I now realize... having experienced low sugar for several weeks and then binging* a bit the last 4 days... I AM HOT!  WOW!  It's so hard for me to own that, but I feel it clearly and you know what... I prefer not being hot to eating sugar!

At church and they have treats everywhere for Mother's Day.  Chocolate fountains, caramel fountains, donuts, fruit... NOT FOR ME!  I don't even want it because I don't want to be all hot and sweaty and itchy!  I am finally learning!!

*binge today is less than half of my daily intake of sugar would have been a year or so ago!!
 
Bridgette :)
“Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you can help them become what they are capable of being.”    Goethe

Thursday, May 8, 2014

aspartame

It started about 6 years ago when I had to stop using Equal cold turkey due to some pretty serious side effects.  I was a heavy Equal user.  I thought it was the best thing ever created!  I have a major sweet tooth and it demanded to be fed.  I put lots of Equal in everything I drank and ate.  Why not... no calories. :)
I'm not one of those rabid anti-aspartame people because I don't like them... and I didn't listen to them.  After all, I was perfectly fine and I used more Equal than the average person.  If any of these scary side effects would occur, I was the #1 potential person to display such side effects and I was fine.  So leave me alone!  

Until one day I wasn't fine.
I started having ocular migraines.  I would lose vision in one eye or lose the ability to focus.  It really freaked me out, but then, I found out what it was and since I get migraines, the ocular wasn't so scary and bonus... little to no pain (for me anyway).  Way easier to deal with than a traditional migraine.

Then I started getting these sharp pains and really bad headaches; then these headaches were combined with vision loss.  I would get vision disturbances.  Then my vision started going.  Let me tell you... when you start having eye problems; everything comes to a screeching halt!

What was happening to me?!!!

I booked an appointment with a neurologist (but had to wait a week for my appointment).

My vision got worse,  I started losing my field of vision and it was freaking me out.  The headaches were bad.  I wasn't feeling well and I'm sure the stress didn't help.

So... I turned to my best friend Google.
typed in:  sudden onset headache with vision issue (or something like that) and every single entry had to do with aspartame.

I've since done that search and you get results all over the place.  

So I thought... what have I got to lose?  I stopped aspartame that day and within 3 days all my symptoms were gone!!

I've tested this "diagnosis" a few times myself and each time aspartame is added back in I get  the headache back within an hour.  That is enough for me.

So, I don't use aspartame anymore.
I switched to "real" sugar (you know the white processed stuff).

Amazingly... my desire for sweets DECREASED!  I just don't understand that!
Maybe it has something to do with eating something real or caloric and processing that vs. pretend sugar?  

So... I won't go around shouting from the rooftops that aspartame is the embodiment of evil.  But... if you are having headaches all the time, you might want to look at this as a cause and make some changes.  :)

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Comment of the day

IM conversation...

J: Can you send me the itinerary for the Cincinnati trip?

B: I don't know,  how much cash do you have on you?

J:  I have about $3 mil in bit coins

Overheard...
S & T are talking about the lunch S made.

T: That was so good. What did you use? Double  virgin olive oil?

R: (pipes in from another row)
That's the kind I am.

B: LOLs Loudly!

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

sugar

I love sugar.

Seriously.  I tried to give up most sugary treats for Lent this year and I did OK, but man it was hard.

I slipped a few days before Lent was over.  Partially because one of the Catholics in the office told me Lend ended on Thursday and not being Catholic I was more than willing to believe her.  (It may have had something to do with the Oreo birthday cake she was offering me... it's a little fuzzy.)

So Easter Sunday... I binged on Mega Stuff Oreo's.  (for those of you who love Oreo's like I do, believe it or not, it's too much 'stuff.'  I prefer Double Stuff.)  I allowed myself to eat what I wanted for a few days and the bad news is... my health immediately took a nose dive!  I simply cannot allow large quantities of sugar into my body.  C A N N O T !

Before Lent, my vision was getting blurry and I had a hard time focusing.  Guess what was great while eschewing sugar for 40 days?  Yep, eye sight was doing fine.  Day 3 of sugar being in my daily diet and everything is fuzzy again.  

Ultimately this is good news because it gives me motivation to eat better.  

So today, I will go back to my Lenten ways.  I have decided to allow myself 1 treat per week if really necessary.  I will opt for fruit as much as possible.  (you know, when you don't eat a lot of sugar crap fruit is pretty wonderful).

I don't want to end up really sick.
I want to be healthy and live a life that is full... not condemned to illness and sitting on my sofa watching tv (though a little binge tv is good for the soul! ;) )

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Michael Malloy

Some people just don't cooperate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Malloy

You're welcome.

Friday, April 11, 2014

parenting

We are going through a tough time with one of my kids right now.
Our 16 year old son is really pushing boundaries and wants to be taken care of, but wants everything his way at the same time.  Sound familiar to anyone?

 










Thursday, April 10, 2014

potlucks


Years ago, a group of guys were getting together to put the info and schedule etc. together for a church softball league.
One of the wives (my friend) INSISTED her husband go pick up a couple pies from Marie Calendar's because all there would be avail was chips and soda if he didn't bring something else.

He argued that the guys would do better than that!

Their food that night?
chips
soda2 pies
 
 
 

Thursday, February 27, 2014

high maintenance


A group of people in my office regularly take turns doing a Starbucks run.

 

I want peach ring tea

If they don’t have that I want a very berry hibiscus refresher

If they don’t have that I want an orange spice iced coffee sweetened with a whisper of cinnamon

And if they don’t have that I want a dark roast with no room for cream

 

The name on her cup...

 difficult