Session Notes

Humility That Attracts and Encourages :

“While we women exercise trust in God by waiting to be pursued, men exercise trust in God by risking rejection. Because of that, I always encourage my brothers in Christ to sow to godly masculinity and not passivity to be more concerned with their own actions and motivations than the outcome of their pursuit.”

Interesting points except the part about self-righteiousness. One just need faith in the dating season.

Stifled:

“I don’t have anything in common with those people, Professor Theophilus.’ ‘Do you mean you’re better than they are?’ ‘No. They’re the salt of the earth. But they’re different. I really miss having friends my age to go to church with. Almost all of the people there are at other stages of life, do you know what I mean? There are little kids, older kids, married people, working people, old people, that’s okay for them. But there aren’t any college students, or hardly any, and they don’t usually come. There’s no point in trying to start a college group because it would fizzle they’re only there for the summertime, like me.’ ‘Thank you. I think I’m beginning to understand.’”

This is a good article to discern motivation for choosing a care group. Yes it is important to have contact with friends who share the same kind of experiences for understanding. However it is also important to be interested in others who offer a different perspective as they are past the stage or just entering the one you are in presently. This is exciting because we can share kindness for love alone, expecting nothing in return.

Family.org %u2014 Focus Over Fifty %u2014 Coping When Your Spouse is Unemployed:

“Remind yourself and your spouse to take this one day at a time. Help your husband avoid catastrophic thinking (I’ll never find work!). Be positive in your attitudes and pray together every day for God’s provision %u2014 for your physical, emotional and material needs, and for your relationship. And keep talking! Deliberate communication mitigates the effects of depression and helps boost bruised self-esteem. Accept that you’ll have good days and bad days. On the good days, discuss what makes them good and brainstorm ways to keep up positive energy (going to bed at a reasonable hour, rising together, morning exercise, prayer time, etc.). Maintain a routine as much as possible. Be mutually accountable, setting a daily agenda for both of you: job interviews, personal appointments, chores around the house, etc. Unemployment can make people want to withdraw, but avoid becoming socially isolated. Continue to attend church and keep up social commitments during the week. Share what you’re going through with friends. You need support now more than ever, and contrary to what you might think, friends will be honored by your desire to confide in them. Plan activities together that will help you let off steam. Many big-city zoos and museums have occasional,free days. Get outside in the fresh air, take a bike ride, have a picnic. Plan time where you agree to put aside job worries and focus only on having fun.”

From the Heart:

” I feel spiritually dead when I don’t take the time to get in the Word or write in my prayer journal. I have a responsibility to be a mouthpiece for God when doing shows, so I know I need to be as spiritually stable as I can be. When Krystal is on the road, it’s easy to make up excuses for not spending time in the Word, but when she hasn’t taken that time, she says her shows are terrible. Without starting my day by asking God, How do You want to use me today? I walk around in a zombie-state, she says. I don’t want to play my guitar. I don’t have the drive to get up and practice, sound check or do my vocal warm ups. I feel like a vegetable. Describing herself as stubborn, Krystal says getting that motivation back sometimes requires God knocking on her heart, saying, I miss talking with you.”

After reading this point, I realized I felt this way the majority of my school and teen years. I also needed someone to encourage and challenge me in the faith.

How to Discourage Thumb Sucking – eHow.com :

“Children who suck their thumbs after around age 6 may become the target of teasing and criticism; they may also end up with dental and speech problems. Steps Wait for the problem to go away. Most children, but not all, outgrow the habit by the time their permanent teeth come in (about age 6). After this age, thumb sucking can cause dental and speech problems, but before then, many children still have a fairly strong impulse and need to suck. Start to work on kicking the habit a little while before you expect your child’s permanent teeth to come in. That way you can deal with it before it becomes a real problem. Try to keep your child talking, which will make it hard for her to keep her thumb in her mouth. Offer her activities to keep her hands busy: crayons or pencils and paper, squishy balls or toys to fiddle with, or models and puzzles to work on. Consider working out a reward or praise system, using stickers and a chart or calendar.”

Does God’s Nature Affect Our Fights? :

“The church reflects God, then, when it upholds unity in a body filled with diversity. The Triune God balances unity and diversity in perfection, and the nature of the Godhead changes how we understand the makeup of the church. God is never separated; in a way we cannot explain, He is perfect unity. Three distinct Persons who are one. And when God redeems a people for Himself, He makes them like Himself, bringing together diversity and unity. Granted, we are not God, and therefore we will never attain perfect unity in our fallen state. But as Christians who have the Spirit, we can pursue unity that reflects our Creator and Redeemer. “

I love the picture of a symphony that blends the diversity of tones and pitches to create one unified sound. This article is encouraging for marital and church conflict.

The Awesomeness of Humility – TrueU.org : Student Lounge:

“biblical basis for why we should be humble. He points out verses which show that God ‘opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble’ (James 4:6, NIV). God ‘guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way’ (Psalm 25:9). Scripture makes it clear that God wants us to be humble. Del then goes on to point out the humility seen in Jesus. In Matthew 11:29, Jesus states that He is ‘gentle and humble in heart.’ It also obviously took a lot of humility for Christ to die on the cross. In fact, Philippians 2:5-8 says:”

This is a really good article for married couples hurt by one another. We are to reconcile despite the hurt as long as it is physically safe/ show love/pursural in our hearts again. We do not wait until they change. Christ sacrificed for us while we were still sinners. Our love is to be long-suffering with the hope that one day we will benefit.

One Night With the King:

“One Night With the King, this onscreen story closely parallels the biblical account, but it doesn’t follow along word for word in the way that, say, the film The Gospel of John does. Esther 2:17 states, ‘Now the king was attracted to Esther more than to any of the other women, and she won his favor and approval more than any of the other virgins.’ But nothing is said of Esther’s feelings for the king, “

CitizenLink – Top Stories – Christian Films are Finding a Welcome in Hollywood:

“Most people look at a film like The Gospel of John and say, ‘It wasn’t a big release,’ ‘ Baehr said. ‘But they only released it in a handful of theaters, and its per-theater gross was so big that Garth Drabinsky, who produced it, was being courted by the major studios to figure out how they could do the same thing.’ Another film, Luther, was No. 1 in Germany and Italy %u2014 and did very well per-theater and in DVD sales, but was not released widely enough in theaters, Baehr said.”

The New Age Worldview: Is it Believable? – TrueU.org : Lecture Hall:

“The new spirituality cannot deliver on its promises. It cannot be harmonized with the reality of Jesus Christ, and it is flatly illogical to boot. Besides, this spirituality is not new at all, but ancient. It is all traced back to the original lie of the serpent in the garden, who promised a better life by disobeying God and making oneself the center of reality (Genesis 3:6-7). But the way out of that perennial snare is to follow Christ on the narrow path that leads to life eternal (Matthew 7:13-14; John 10:10).”

This is an incredibly stimulating article about the dangers of creating your own reality. It uproots us from any stable sense of objectivity. It creates madness/lunacy that takes one’s thoughts to be all there is to consider. If an idea is terrible it is evil. Evil does exist. This worldview cannot be harmonized with the reality of Christ. It is illogical. We are just to follow Christ. It can be confusing because we are also to walk His Spirit which can be counterfeited. However before the curse the enemy used this same tactic and still continues to this day.