Integrity
If you only had one month to live you would want to review your character, your integrity. How have I acted? Have I been true to myself and others? You would want to learn from past mistakes,fix what you could ,and make peace with others. You would want your life to be whole and not settle for less than what you were made to be.
Integrity means wholeness ,not fractured. When you lack integrity you act one way at church and another way atyour job or school. A true sign of strength and character is to be the same no matter who we are with or where we are. Proverbs 28:6 says " Better to be a poor person who has integrity than to be rich and double dealing.
We can't put a price tag on integrity. When you have integrity it fills you with peace, passion, and a zest for life! It also brings extreme calmness in a crazy world!
Keeping up an image to impress people takes tremendous effort and endless amounts of energy. When what you see is what you get, that is integrity. Integrity is who you are when no one else is looking.
I have never been one to keep up to someone elses standards. But many people struggle with status in this world.
People lose integrity by lying. I have never tried much to lie as I didnt think I would be good at it. When you lie you have to rememeber who you told what and then make up another lie to cover the first one and on and on .I can't remember what I ate for breakfast let alone worrying about blowing my cover!
I know growing up my dad used to always say "Laura, dont you care what other people think?" I was a rebellious child and he was "someone" in town and I just did not care what people thought. Even when I was struggling , I wanted people to accept me for who I was.
Later in life when I truly thought I was living a life of integrity ,I know realize I wasn't as I would go out into the world and pretend things were perfect in church and our place of business while all the while I was living a terribly abused homelife. That is not integrity.
The real reason we lie is because we don't love enough. Lyingis an easy route for our own selfish convience. It's taking the easy road.If you risk loving , then you will tell the truth .The more you love , the less you lie. The more you love, the more you have the courage to tell the truth.
The great news is because the gift of the cross we have recieved a gift of a lifetime! We could never earn it or be good enough to get it on our own ! God loves us just because of who we are and not because of anything we have done. He can restore us and make our lives whole no matter how many times we have messed up!
Take a piece of paper and draw a large circle in the center of it, divide it into a pie with eight pieces, then label it with each section of your life, job, kids, hobbies, marriage , etc. Are you living out your values in each of these areas?
Some of these one month to live posts have exerpts from te book so what I write that applies to my own life will make sense, those that know me & how I write it is obvious what is mine and what is Exerpts, but I needed to add this , this applies to all my one month to live writings
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Saturday February 20,2010 Day 20
Building a Foundation that Lasts
This chapter speaks to my heart in extra loud volumes!
I feel like I have had more changes and "earthquakes" in my life than most people would have if they lived lifetimes , but I have weathered through lifes storms and came out on the other side! I have lived through many losses. I have been robbed at gunpoint and left for dead, been homeless for a year with two children, and been in a abusive relationship for many years. But I have come out of it a stronger, more viable woman!
I think the only reason I have been sane at the end of these changes is because I know, who i know, whose child that I am !
I was drug to church when little whether you were sick , tired, had sports, it did not matter, you were to be at church, I often have told the kids, I was taught if you went out and partied till 3am you were still expected to get up at 9 am and go to church , it was just expected, no questions asked, but it gave me a sense of who I was and whom I belonged to .
I was made fun of in school for my way out of control hair and a speech impediment from a cleft palate, kids are cruel, but it somehow never affected my self confidence, as I knew at the end of the day , my God loved me unconditionally.
I think in this anything goes world , where are children are so boldly against the things of God, that , that kind of foundation is missing terribly.
An unshakable foundation is is the key to building a meaningful life,a lasting marriage, strong friendships, and successful businesses. Matthew 27:24-25 even tells about he man who builds his foundation on a rock.
I know at times in my life I have built my foundation on men, money,cars, and many things that would not last. And in the end , I have turned right back to my Saviour, the only thing that truly lasts!
You can't always predict when storms will come, but you can build your foundation on solid ground, that when the storms do come, and they will, your center will be strong enough to hold things together.
I know in 2000 our house burned, and we had lost everything .We had made more money in that year than ever before. Were we living "bad", no, but I certainly that year was not putting God first and foremost in my life. The fire happened twelve days after Christmas, and four months after adding on a room so that the oldest could have her own room. Losing a house and all your possesions is a very hurtful thing to go through. But i KNEW we would be okay. A friend of mine who was a fireman gave me a motel room for the night, and the first thingI did was get down on my knees at the end of the bed and thank God for my life and that we were all okay. My husband at the time was not saved and he was literally distraught. He did not have that solid foundation to pull from . I knew that I knew we would be okay. We would put one foot in front of the other and rebuild our lives.Unfortuantely for him, the loss was so huge, and our marriage of eighteeen years was not built on that solid foundation and ended in divorce the next year.
Did God cause that fire, I don't think so , but I do think He does sometimes knock us to our knees to show us whats more imporatant in life!
I describe it like this .I have always said no matter where my kids are what they are going through , I want my kids to always have God as their point of reference , to go to , and to seek advice, and weather any storm they may face! If you are committed to loving God and seeking a relationship with Him, he will hold you in His arms and never let you go!
What does you life revolove around right now? Who or what is at the center of your lifes wheel?
Describe the last time you have experienced the tremors of an earthquake in your life~your most recent trial.In what ways did it turn your life upside down? How are you different now and would you describe your relationship with God as stronger or weaker in the aftermath ?
This chapter speaks to my heart in extra loud volumes!
I feel like I have had more changes and "earthquakes" in my life than most people would have if they lived lifetimes , but I have weathered through lifes storms and came out on the other side! I have lived through many losses. I have been robbed at gunpoint and left for dead, been homeless for a year with two children, and been in a abusive relationship for many years. But I have come out of it a stronger, more viable woman!
I think the only reason I have been sane at the end of these changes is because I know, who i know, whose child that I am !
I was drug to church when little whether you were sick , tired, had sports, it did not matter, you were to be at church, I often have told the kids, I was taught if you went out and partied till 3am you were still expected to get up at 9 am and go to church , it was just expected, no questions asked, but it gave me a sense of who I was and whom I belonged to .
I was made fun of in school for my way out of control hair and a speech impediment from a cleft palate, kids are cruel, but it somehow never affected my self confidence, as I knew at the end of the day , my God loved me unconditionally.
I think in this anything goes world , where are children are so boldly against the things of God, that , that kind of foundation is missing terribly.
An unshakable foundation is is the key to building a meaningful life,a lasting marriage, strong friendships, and successful businesses. Matthew 27:24-25 even tells about he man who builds his foundation on a rock.
I know at times in my life I have built my foundation on men, money,cars, and many things that would not last. And in the end , I have turned right back to my Saviour, the only thing that truly lasts!
You can't always predict when storms will come, but you can build your foundation on solid ground, that when the storms do come, and they will, your center will be strong enough to hold things together.
I know in 2000 our house burned, and we had lost everything .We had made more money in that year than ever before. Were we living "bad", no, but I certainly that year was not putting God first and foremost in my life. The fire happened twelve days after Christmas, and four months after adding on a room so that the oldest could have her own room. Losing a house and all your possesions is a very hurtful thing to go through. But i KNEW we would be okay. A friend of mine who was a fireman gave me a motel room for the night, and the first thingI did was get down on my knees at the end of the bed and thank God for my life and that we were all okay. My husband at the time was not saved and he was literally distraught. He did not have that solid foundation to pull from . I knew that I knew we would be okay. We would put one foot in front of the other and rebuild our lives.Unfortuantely for him, the loss was so huge, and our marriage of eighteeen years was not built on that solid foundation and ended in divorce the next year.
Did God cause that fire, I don't think so , but I do think He does sometimes knock us to our knees to show us whats more imporatant in life!
I describe it like this .I have always said no matter where my kids are what they are going through , I want my kids to always have God as their point of reference , to go to , and to seek advice, and weather any storm they may face! If you are committed to loving God and seeking a relationship with Him, he will hold you in His arms and never let you go!
What does you life revolove around right now? Who or what is at the center of your lifes wheel?
Describe the last time you have experienced the tremors of an earthquake in your life~your most recent trial.In what ways did it turn your life upside down? How are you different now and would you describe your relationship with God as stronger or weaker in the aftermath ?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)