Church about Racism- 5/31/2020

This morning in Elevation church was a collaboration of Steven Furtick and John Gray, and it was a sit down discussion within the community of believers about racism, sparked by what happened with George Floyd a week ago in Minnesota.

Parts with * are thoughts I included of my own.

I HIGHLY encourage you to go on Youtube to Elevation Church and experience this conversation yourself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7jTUfNyPkE

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Sometimes in order to take a stand, you have to take a seat. 

God sat with people in order to learn and to show them they were equally important as everyone else. 

I stand with Justice- 

if an animal is abused, someone would get jail time, it would be a huge injustice. animal rights groups would be all up in it. there would be years of uproar and there would laws and change and regulations, etc.

if a black man is abuse or killed, sure we get upset, we may have angry backlash, but after a short amount of time, we go back to our lives and nothing happens. "it happens all the time"

*why do we ALLOW It to happen all the time?! 

*why are we okay with that?

*but we aren't okay with a cat being crushed under a boot?

God tells us exactly how we are to treat others

Deuteronomy 10:19 "And you are to love those who are foreigners, but you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt"

Psalms 67:4 "May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you tule the peoples with equity and guide the nations of the earth."

Proverbs 14:34 "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin condemns any people."

Galatians 6:10 "Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers."

Learn how to step into the picture, and not just see it and move on. 

*stop, listen and learn. 

You have to extend the grace that you want in order to have grace cover your life. 

"My blackness is weaponized before you know the character of my manhood."- John Gray

You can't pass a law to change someone's heart. 

*This has to be something you allow to reach inside you and effect you. 

We become numb and accept denial, we become tolerant of things we should not tolerate. 

We are only 3 generations removed from people owning over people in this nation. 

*this may be why I don't understand why people would be treated this way. I myself am only 2 generations removed from immigration. my grandmother and grandfather traveled over to America when they were very young. I don't understand why immigrants could be treated this way. (african americans versus european americans.) 

The South and the North are separated Democrat and Republican. Jesus was not political, he was ethically and morally correct. 

*Political correctness is getting in the way of justice. 

Why are bad things in the Bible? (slavery, etc). 

Because God allowed the human emotion to be expressed without judgement. 

When you say you're color blind (you don't see black and white, you see all nationalities in one big melting pot, you don't a difference between them), that's a terrible thing. 

Colossians 3:11 "Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all."

We are to celebrate and see diversity! To noticed and to cherish the differences in cultures! To be together in brotherhood and sisterhood with all languages and nationalities. 

We have programmed Jesus to be like a pull-too. Repeating 5-7 things that we are okay with. 

*pull the string- "blessed are the peacemakers"

*pull the string- "respect your elders"

Personal exposure is so critical. 

*Like when I had the chance to be part of the touring music ministry team, I got to experience this TWICE! And being part of missions to Detroit, and being engulfed in the poverty in Romania. We have to have chances and TAKE opportunities to be in those places. How are we to learn and grow and change if we always stay in a bubble, hearing all the noise? We have to have personal experience in order to really know and understand.

Quiet is not a strategy, repentance is. Realizing that you need to make changes to your direction, and changing your mind and refusing to contribute to the indifference. 

THIS is a strategy. 

Gods gender- we were made in his image

Is God male or without gender?

• God Has No Gender. As a rough guess (based on no research), 90 percent of all monotheists believe that God is exclusively male. Even though most Christian and Jewish sects grudgingly admit that God created women in “his” image (Genesis 1:27 and 5:1-2), this has translated to fair treatment of women only extremely rarely.
  
  Genesis 1:27
  So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
  
  Genesis 5:1-2
  This is the written account of Adam's family line.
  When God created mankind, he made in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and blessed them. and he named them "Mankind" when they were created. (In Hebrew, this mean "man".. which is human, so humankind.)
  
  Why does God need a gender?
  
  Because we, as humans, have a hard time wrapping our minds around and believing in something we can't see. We are a visual species. So when we are presented with the idea of something that invisible but real, our minds can't comprehend it. Take, for instance, the wind. We cannot see the wind itself, but we can see the effects of; things that are moving (plants, clouds, material, etc), the tangible movement of air across our skin that creates physical reaction.
  So we create an image from the facts that we can physically gather in order to have "something" that our eyes can see, so we can believe it's real. If there is no gender, we cannot create a physical image that would interpret our mental processes. Therefore, we search for an answer to the question of identity. 

amen

What does it mean?

https://www.biblword.net/ending-prayer-with-amen/

https://bibleask.org/word-amen-mean/

Let it be so
I believe that what was said will come to pass
Faithful
Certainty in blessings

"Amen"- Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be holy in your sight.

When freedom of speech is not freedom of speech

when we say freedom of speech.. what are we saying?

are we saying "i can verbalize anything i want?"
because that's stupid
freedom of speech doesn't mean be an idiot
freedom of speech doesn't mean you're opinion is the only thing people should think of
freedom of speech doesn't give you the right to put other people down

freedom of speech is to have open discussions
freedom of speech is so we can congregate and bring ideas and different points of view to the table

check yourself and what you believe something means..
because just like in The Princess Bride-
"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

“all the good ones are taken”

we look around us and see men and women with rings on their fingers
and think
I wish that was me

"all the good ones are taken"

question for you
where are you looking?
or
the bigger question
what are you creating yourself to be?

if you aren't working on yourself to be the person you would want
the best version of yourself
you are nowhere near ready to be in a relationship with someone else

sure
self love is a life long journey
but at your core
who are you?
and who do you want to be with?
who you YOU want to BE?

sometimes.. the bad ones are taken too
you're just wishing you weren't alone

double check yourself
and think
what are you searching for?
and am I working on being my best self?
or do I want someone who wants to change me because I don't know who I am?

learn who you are first
work on loving yourself
and the right one will come

“I am who you say I am”

I’m not what the world says
-
imperfect
stupid
not enough
too fat
too odd
too weird
strange
picky
too old
too young

I am what God says I am
-
just right
-
loved
necessary
intentional
priceless
amazing


Elevation worship-
"I am chosen, not forsaken,
I am who You say I am!
You are for me, not against me,
I am who You say I am!"

put your ear plugs on and listen to your soul
not the noise around you
but the Spirit within you

affirmation VERSUS reassurance: the difference

Affirmation is something you learn to speak into your own life.
Things that help you walk through on your own.
I am strong.
I am a great mom.
This and that are good about me.
Speaking positivity into your own life.
Which is important!
You need to know your own worth, and being able to say these things out loud and believe what you're saying to yourself is powerful!
Words of affirmation from other people looks something like "you do such a good job at that!"
"i appreciate that you've been doing all the dishes lately"
"it makes things easier for me knowing that you're taking care of the kids"
"you're fantastic at communicating with people. i'm not, and that's helpful to me."

Reassurance is when other people tell us something that is good that they notice.
When I think about how hard being a mom is right now, someone can reassure me by telling me "you're doing a great job!", "you are keeping them fed and clothed and making sure they get rest! you're rocking it!".
When I break a nail.. reassuring me that it will grow back and i'm great at taking care of them, even if it sucks in this moment. :)
When my husband thinks he doesn't do enough for our family.. "you work so hard for us. you put in hours a day at your paying job, you keep up with cleaning and mowing the yard, you take time every Friday night to pour joy into us by making popcorn and watching a movie, you make sure we sit down as a family every other week to talk.. you're amazing."
Telling someone they were noticed when they put the cart back in the parking lot.
Saying that a choice of clothing or makeup was a good choice.
Reminding someone that you appreciate that they remembered to take out the trash and did it.

codependency

This will be coming partially from experience, and partially information that I've found.
The hardest part of this, for me it was anyway, was not realizing that I relied so much on someone and that it had taken away from time I meant to be spending on other, more important, life things. That I was putting so much into a relationship with another person that I didn't realize I was taking time away from what I NEEDED to focus on.

So when I separated from them, it felt like fresh air, it felt like freedom. Even though I truly loved and cared for this person, I was able to really feel like I had broken free from something and it felt like chains were falling off. I found myself with more time than I knew what to do with, and I had to struggle through to figure out how to redirect that energy in my life into things that I had neglected unintentionally.

"I pretend to be perfect because I think you'll leave me or hate me because of my flaws."- I decided unconsciously that I couldn't show them the real me because I didn't think they could handle it. Come to find out at the end, when I finally did break down and crack myself down to the core and tell them what I had found about my true roots, they didn't believe me and told me I was being self destructive and that I was being dismissive of them.

"I suck at setting boundaries but I can get really moody when others violate them."- This is a challenge for me in more than one way, because as an autistic, I have a hard time knowing about boundaries. I'm learning. I bought a book called "Boundaries" and read through it, learning about them, and starting to verbalize when something is a limit and/or something that I've learned should stop. For instance, in the last few years, I've told people to stop using one of my old nicknames and it's helped me feel more in control of who I am and putting the past behind me.

"I don't know how to love myself and I sometimes expect others to love me even thought I don't know how to love me."- This sort of goes along with the next one.

"I used to think taking care of others was good and that this was the way to feel good enough and I an pissed off because this is a lie I have lived my entire life."- I thought that doing what other people wanted was the right thing to do. But later on I found out, I didn't know what I wanted. I had a hard time even knowing who I was and what my likes and dislikes were/are. I'm still working on this. It's so hard. I've always found my value in other people, and I now I have to learn more about learning to value myself, and finding my value in God.

-----
I have found in my personal experience with codependency that I now have been able to put more energy into my family and into my home and i'm more in depth with my faith now, whereas before I was unintentionally ignoring these things, and giving them my second best.

I always thought I had to share everything about me and my life with them, and I struggled with the thought of not telling them something, but it also led me to constantly have my phone in my hand, too.
And I'm not blaming them for any of this. Because I was undiagnosed autistic for 36 years of my life, I didn't realize how much I depend on other people around me, and don't REALLY have my own legs to stand on. That if i'm "on my own", I have to have at least my spiritual strength, be able to have God with me. And when I was in college, I floundered a lot, and became dependent on people there, too. I lost my sense of direction, and I failed classes, and I hung out with people who I thought really got me.
The one thing I will put blame on my codependent relationship was the fact that I was easily manipulated in it, because I relied so heavily on them. I allowed myself to be ok with things that were not of God, things that didn't align with my faith, because this person told me it was ok to have these selfish parts of me override what I thought was "good and bad" and they actually questioned where my moral center came from. The good thing was that they told me I was the only Christian person from their past that didn't put blame and point fingers at that them.. I know now that it's because i'm autistic that I am so excepting of all types of people and I see things from all angles that I am non-judgmental. That's a positive for me. But it can also be (and definitely was) something that I unconsciously allowed myself to be stuck in. That influence was not good for me.

why I don’t ask God to heal me or take my sickness

God created me
perfectly
in my mothers womb

that means he created my collagen
to act differently
he created my nerve system
to work in a way that is different

he created me to be unique and different and rare

so why would i ask Him to take that away?

i'm fearfully and wonderfully made.

and my mission
is to share these things with others
to partner with my Creator
and use my physical voice
to create content that other people can see and hear
so His words can be spoken and used in more lives than just mine

I will not ask Him to heal me
because then I wouldn't be what He wants me to be

I will not ask Him to change my DNA
because this is what he wants for me

I will listen
and do my best to follow in his footstep
and go where He says I need to go next
I want to be what He calls me to be

an Autistic
medical zebra
who speaks His truth into my community

God's children- when he's pleased (acrostic)

P: He always provides for His children. Just because we may be looking somewhere else for what we need doesn't mean He isn't offering it to us. Look to the Father.

L: There is no way to describe His love for us. Unconditional is truly what He is about. There is nothing we can do as His children that will make Him love us less or stop altogether. 

E: He gives us the strength to be able to His work. When we feel weak, all we need to do is ask. 

A: He affirms us constantly. He tells us through His Spirit inside us what we should be doing, and when we take the steps to follow His plan, He says "well done!". He shows us through other people, and through what He's called us to do, when we are doing what we should be. 

S: He saves us. That was the whole mission behind Jesus being born and having a 3 year ministry and dying the way he did; to save us. Therefore being in a relationship with Him truly is safety from hell. 

E: He esteems us. He constantly pursues us. He wants to know us intimately, and continues to pour into us and show us how perfectly and wonderfully we are made in Him. 

D: He delights in His children. He loves the joy and the peace and the community we find and the truth we own in our hearts; and this all comes from the relationship we have with Him. The knowledge of Him soaks into our lives and permeates our being. There is so much joy that God takes in His creation. He loves to bless us, He loves to see us happy. 

when God is telling you something that doesn't make sense.. yet

God's plan is not ours
god's plan is perfect
our plan gets us in trouble
and then we think "why didn't I follow Him?"
um, because we have a problem with control

we are not supposed to understand God.
if we understood what He is doing, there would be no need for faith, no need for a relationship with Him. He didn't create us to be able to flourish on our own, He created us to need Him.

God always wants the best for us
and we look at the world around us and think.. "but that will make me look weird and stupid"

so...?
what's your point?

would you rather look weird and stupid and find out that what you did made a huge difference in hindsight?

or would you rather do your own thing, not get results you're hoping for, and have God use someone else that has the guts to do His work?

if you're waiting for rain, and just standing their holding an umbrella, you're wasting your time.
you should be making sure you have rain boots and a coat, and maybe a boat.

who we used to be and becoming who we should be

we've come from a place
where we had to fight
demons
and angels
we had to fight the light and the dark

the person we want to be inside the person we are supposed to be
the person other people say we should be
and the person we don't know

the shift
is indescribable

one day
you see something you hadn't noticed before
and you get tired of what is
and think.. something else is possible
something else could be
there.. IS something else?
could I be part of THAT something else?
is it ME?

who am I?

the people around me don't seem real anymore
it feels like i'm floating in the middle of it all
not knowing where the ground is

I need to find the bottom
so i can reach for the top

but i find a reaching hand that is stronger than all of this
I grasp it
and follow it's strength
and find my footing on a path of steps that vanish in the distance
and i'll gladly keep going
because it's safe
I know it's safe, because it's touched my heart, and it gives my soul peace
even in the middle of the storm

nostalgia

above is a photo of my grandma's piano

she passed away in 2008

and i was giving birth in my hometown to my youngest child while her funeral was going on

she instilled a love of piano in me

she sparked a joy of music

and creating sound

beautiful sound

and every year when we saw her

she and I would play

so when she passed away

the piano came to me

and when i cleaned it with a wet soapy rag.. I noticed the color change too.. cleaner. whiter.

and it made me think of something. 

all those years of being in her home

and now it's in mine

getting cleaned up

getting tuned up

being loved again

thank you grandma

what is ableism

discrimination in favor of able-bodied people
:

why would you put an able bodied person in a role that someone with a disability would do best? 
IE giving a regular actor a role of someone who has a condition, rather than an actor who has that condition? 

why would you assume someone in a wheelchair would want you to roll them or assist them? asking them if they need help is so much better than assuming they want or need it. 

when the handicap bathroom stall is used by someone who is clearly not handicap, and there are plenty of other stalls left. PLEASE leave this for people who need the accommodations.

why would you think that a person with a cane doesn't need to use it? because they "look like" they could walk without it just fine? do you know why they're using it? 

why would you tell someone "you say that too much?" when it's something very prevalent to their life? like telling someone who is chronically ill that they ALWays give the response that they're tired? or that they have to cancel on something AGAIN for the same reason they did last time? do you think they WANT to be this way? 

where is the wheelchair ramp on the public building? 
how are people supposed to get in if they can't walk? 

https://www.mic.com/articles/121653/6-forms-of-ableism-we-need-to-retire-immediately

why would you say someone is retarded? or crazy? or .. you fill it in. 

what does left wing and conservatives mean?

i've never understood what political parties were all about. here's a bit of clarification.

https://www.history.com/news/how-did-the-republican-and-democratic-parties-get-their-animal-symbols

https://www.dictionary.com/e/leftright/

https://www.history.com/news/how-did-the-political-labels-left-wing-and-right-wing-originate

https://www.diffen.com/difference/Left_Wing_vs_Right_Wing
the chart below came from Diffen.com (visit the link above to learn more)

Comparison chart

L

eft Wing versus Right Wing comparison chart

	Left Wing- Dem	Right Wing- Rep
Political Philosophy	Liberal	Conservative
Economic Policy	Income equality; higher tax rates on the wealthy; government spending on social programs and infrastructure; stronger regulations on business.	Lower taxes; less regulation on businesses; reduced government spending; balanced budget.
Healthcare Policy	Believe that access to healthcare is one of the fundamental rights of all citizens. Support universal healthcare, the Affordable Care Act, expansion of Medicare and Medicaid.	Oppose government-provided universal healthcare and the Affordable Care Act. Favor competition to Medicare from private insurance companies; oppose Medicaid expansion.
Immigration Policy	Pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants; moratorium on deportations or prosecutions of undocumented immigrants who are young adults and have no criminal record.	No "amnesty" for undocumented immigrants; stronger border patrol and fence to check illegal immigration. Belief that illegal immigration is lowering wages for citizens and documented immigrants.
Education Policy	Favor expanded free, public education.	Believe parents who want to home-school their kids or send them to private school should be able to get vouchers for opting out of the public school system. Generally not opposed to public education.
Abortion	Generally in favor of unpenalized access to abortion and of both adult and embryotic stem cell research.	Generally against abortion rights, support only adult stem cell research.
Gay Rights	Generally support gay marriage; support anti-discrimination laws to protect LGBT against workplace discrimination.	Generally opposed to gay marriage; opposed to certain anti-discrimination laws because they believe such laws conflict with certain religious beliefs and restrict freedom of religion.
Gun Rights	In favor of gun control laws like background checks or waiting periods before buying a gun; banning automatic weapons; and disallowing concealed weapons.	Strongly opposed to gun control laws; strong proponents of the Second Amendment (the right to bear arms), believing it's a deterrent against authoritarian rule.
Environmental policy	Generally conservative, preferring to ban economic activity that may create jobs but could potentially harm the environment.	Generally more permissive, considering economic impact of environmental regulation. Believe the free market will find its own solution to environmental problems.
Voter ID Laws	Against voter ID laws citing (a) undue burden on lower income groups causing them to be disenfranchised, and (b) virtually no evidence of voter fraud actually occurring.	For voter identification laws to combat voter fraud.
% of U.S. population self-identifying	23%	38%
Associated Political Parties	Democratic Party, Green, Socialist	Republican Party; Constitutional Party
Associated Media	The New York Times, MSNBC, Washington Post, CNN	National Review, Fox News, Wall Street Journal, Washington Times
Ideologies	Social Democracy; Federalism; Socialism, Communism; Collectivism; Marxism	Capitalism; Conservatism.
Famous Proponents of Ideology	Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Einstein, Barack Obama, Francois Hollande, Barney Frank, Nancy Pelosi, Noam Chomsky, Warren Buffett.	Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, George Washington, Winston Churchill, George W. Bush, Mitch McConnell, Rupert Murdoch, Rush Limbaugh, Tony Abbott, Mitt Romney
Core Beliefs	Minority rights, economic equality, gun control, environmental protection, expanded educational opportunity, social nets for those who need them.	Limited Government at National or Federal Level. Local Governments should have the most control over decisions affecting local population. Individual freedom and personal property rights.

what is prayer?

what is prayer to you?

a challenge
a two way talk
that most of the time, we just speak and don't listen

I want to hear the Spirit

sometimes I'm so exhausted all i can do is say "hi God, i'm still here. i haven't forgotten you. i still love you. i still need you. i'm just struggling."

sometimes i can talk to him and close my eyes and feel the wave of His mercy and love and sometimes His touch just wash over me.

excuses
that's what we do

prayer is a connection with God anywhere you are
as long as you remember to speak to Him
and to listen for His reply

Titus 2- self control and kindness

see, hear, speak
THIS REMINDS ME OF THE MONKEYS

Doing Good for the Sake of the Gospel

1You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine. 
2Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.
3Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. 
4Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, 
5to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.
6Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. 
7In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness 
8and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.
9Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, 
10and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.
11For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 
12It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 
13while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 
14who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
15These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.

The Apostle's Creed

Apostles' Creed - Prayer of Faith - Crosswalk.com

The Apostles Creed

I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth;
And in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord,
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, 
born of the Virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead and buried.
He descended into hell;
The third day he rose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost;
I believe in the holy catholic church, the communion of saints;
The forgiveness of sin;
The resurrection of the body;
And the life everlasting. Amen.

17 pounds

I saw this add on a page I was reading an article on.. 

um.. melting 17 lbs off.. the body on the left? 

Are you kidding me? 

There's not 17 lbs left to lose!

She already looks amazing! Almost too skinny to START with. 

Whether the advertisement is real or not, what the heck are we teaching people!?

foraging versus buying in the store

I have been learning more about plants and fungus lately, and I decided to try to forage my own mushrooms today.

I grabbed an empty ice cream bucket, tucked my dress into my SI belt, and went to it. I found some in my backyard, found out most of it i can't eat, so i just kept the one i could.

A little bit later, I went across the field into the woods and found some fairly LARGE pieces, and they are now drying on a towel on top of my washer.

I found it odd when I was chopping them off the trees and digging them up.. I thought it was gross and dirty.. but i'll buy them at the store and eat them just fine.
Goodness what times we live in.. where picking our own plants and fungus in the back yard seems gross, but we'll buy it from the store and put it in our mouths, no questions asked.

Even if I never forage mushrooms again, it's been interesting feeling and experiencing these things. And finding out what's edible and what's not.

church notes 5/24/2020 Elevation and Bethany

Staying Power-

exercise our faith-

our strength is found in weakness. 

the Paradox of God. 

in our weakness, He is our strength. 

unless we experience weakness, we cannot understand or receive the strength that He can give us.

God never stops blessing you, he just does it different ways at different times. 

Acts 27:20-32 (Paul in the Storm)

When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved.21After they had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up before them and said: “Men, you should have taken my advice not to sail from Crete; then you would have spared yourselves this damage and loss. 22But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed. 23Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me 24and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’ 25So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me. 26Nevertheless, we must run aground on some island.”
27On the fourteenth night we were still being driven across the Adriatic27:27 In ancient times the name referred to an area extending well south of Italy. Sea, when about midnight the sailors sensed they were approaching land. 28They took soundings and found that the water was a hundred and twenty feet27:28 Or about 37 meters deep. A short time later they took soundings again and found it was ninety feet27:28 Or about 27 meters deep. 27:28 Or about 37 meters deep. A short time later they took soundings again and found it was ninety feet27:28 Or about 27 meters deep. 29Fearing that we would be dashed against the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight. 30In an attempt to escape from the ship, the sailors let the lifeboat down into the sea, pretending they were going to lower some anchors from the bow. 31Then Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved.” 32So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the lifeboat and let it drift away.

the greatest stories usually happen during the biggest storms 

when we say we're gonna Start something, or that we are Leaving something, it sounds "sexy". it's appealing, it's alluring, it's worth celebrating. but the thing that works best is what you Stay with. 

When people ask for advice, that't not generally what they actually want, they either want affirmation or attention. 

We don't always get to choose the transportation for our blessings. They will come in whatever way God knows is best.. because God knows what's best. 

and when we go through things that are breaking us, staying with the breaking produces the blessing. 

it's not the storm that matters, it's who you listen to in the middle of it. 

who are you listening to? 

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Balance and deposit- deposit in parenting. 

Psalm 127:3
Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward for him. 

*parenting discipline

we need to challenge our child. 

Proverbs 13:24
Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them.

challenge what they watch- PG 13 is what the world says it is, challenge it. 

challenge where they are going to hang out- physically and online. social media, mall, etc. 

who are their closest friends?

privacy- you live in my house. they have to earn their privacy. 

teach them responsibility- chores, cooking, taking care of their things, personal goals and needs.
Ephesians 4:29
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

challenge what they say- what are you saying? how are you saying it?
how are we communicating?
speaking and listening to each other

challenge how they listen- are they closed off (in their own heads, made up their mind already, etc) or are they open (available to feedback, opinions, changes if needed)?

challenge how they forgive- flipping out "i'm sorry" or thinking about what happened and realizing they're at fault and really saying "i'm sorry, i was wrong, i was and am at fault".

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
Two are better than one,because they have a good return for their labor:10If either of them falls down,one can help the other up.But pity anyone who fallsand has no one to help them up.11Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.But how can one keep warm alone?12Though one may be overpowered,two can defend themselves.A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

Church notes 5/17/2020 Elevation church

Isaiah 4:1+2
In that day seven women will take hold of one man and say, "we will eat our own food and provide our own clothes; only let us be called by your name. Take away our disgrace!"
In that day the branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of the survivors in Israel.

FLEX SPACE

God is using the shut down to show off..
Do you see Him?
Do you hear Him?

Bade news is a setup for a blessing.

when we say "God make a way"
we don't get to define the way He makes it- Steven Furtick

leave a space open to be flexible for growth.
if you don't have space to grow, you need to get rid of whoever'd taking up the flex space.

excuses keep us from expanding.
Psalm 22:3
Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Isreal praises.

God lives where praise does.
Just because you don't sing well doesn't mean God can't use you.
If you believe that, you've been listening to the wrong voices.

Captivity is an opportunity.
Being stuck where we are is a blessing.
Jeremiah 29:11
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

It may take our entire lives for us to make sense of things, but it's not wasted.
Philipians 1:20
I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.

You need to expand you expectations to include what you did not plan for.

Old song- the name of the Lord is
a strong tower
the righteous run into it
and they are saved.

Hail hail Lion of Judah
how powerful you are
glory glory to the Lamb
You take me into the land
we will conquer in your name
and proclaim that Jesus rains!

dreams? ideas and wants for my future?

I don't know

i used to have dreams
i used to want things for future me

i wanted to be a stay at home mom
i wanted to sew for a living

and now i've done that

i wanted to work at the Family Center
and I wondered what it was like to work at a dentist office at the desk

and now i've done that

i wanted to marry a guy that was who God made for me
and now i've done that

i wanted to have multiple kids
and now i've done that

i'm seeing myself pick up pieces from what i used to love
and start loving them again

find the passion for writing
coming back

my passion for research
and information
spiking

*shrugs
who knows
we'll see what happens
we'll see where God takes me
all i know is that right now, my life story is supposed to be told
as i live it