Be The Change

The month of November has been a whirlwind of events in the Allen house. We will have had 4 different sets of people stay with us by the end of the month, I have 3 craft shows, and we made a trip to the Big Island for a church retreat. Whew, just writing that makes me feel tired. One perk of living far away from family and friends is we get lots of visitors. It doesn't hurt that we live in Hawaii which also is a pretty nice place to stay.
As I have mentioned in previous posts, I am interoverted through and through. Although, I have grown so much in the past 3 years of marriage to my very extroverted husband, I still would rather be with a small group of people than a large one, it makes me extremely nervous to speak to new people and I do not like to be in the spotlight. Having said all of that, I also struggle with having a positive outlook on hospitality. I love sharing our blessings with others, but the introvert in me gets nervous when people I have not spent a lot of time with come to stay in our home. But I STRONGLY believe when you push yourself outside your comfort zone to do something that God has commanded you will be Blessed. And blessed I have been.
Every new couple that has stayed with us over the past few years I have learned something from I feel. Our tiny one bedroom apartment leaves little room for alone time when we have company, making it a good enviroment to get to know our visitors. I could go through and talk about each guest we have had in our home and the impact they have had on us, but since that would be too long of a posts I want to just say a few things about the last couple in our home.
Last week Dave and Harmony Miller came to stay with us. My husband, Landry and Dave are friends from college and lived together after school for a little bit. I lived with Harmony one summer when I was dating my husband. The title of this post is from a quote Harmony told me one night when the boys went out and we stayed home. She said that she is always encouraging her husband to be the change. She was telling me she feels like we don't talk about God enough in our everyday relationships with people. She texts her husband when he left and reminded him to talk with Landry about how God has been working in his life lately. What a great challenge.
This thought really was an eye opener for me. Do I speak about God to those I come in contact with? Do my non-Christian friends know who is number one in my life? Do I check in on my Christian brothers and sisters and encourage them in their walk with God? My number one desire in this life is to please God.
Matthew 10:27-28
What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you her whispered, proclaim on the housetops, And do not fear those who kill the body, but can not kill the soul, Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Matthew 10:19-20
When they deliver you over do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. It is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
I want to be bold with my faith in Jesus. I want to not fear what others will think of me. I want to only fear what God thinks of me. My prayer today is to be the change, to be the person in my circle of influence who speaks the truth. Thank you Lord using me as your vessel. Speak your words through me.

 

The Church

I want to tell you a little about our friend Raheim. He is a 25 year old single soilder in the army. At our church there are not many single people and very few families without kids, so with Raheim being closest in age to us we gravetated to each other quickly. Landry and I have always been drawn to his zeal for God. He lives about 45 minutes from the church building and has a demanding job in the military and is taking classes online, but he rarely misses a service. He comes Sunday morning and evening and Wednesday night. Every time we hang out and go for a hike or something we discuss God and His word. You can't talk with Raheim very long and not here him say something about the Lord of his life. He is diligent in reading his Bible daily! He has a plan and he sticks to it. The other passion in his life is family. As we have grown to know him more, he has told us a lot of stories about him and his 2 brothers. He was raised in a single mom home and he always felt like a dad to his 2 younger brothers. He protected them when they were younger and as he has grown spiritually he has tried to guide them in that way as well. Raheim did not grow up going to church regularly, which I believe is where a lot of his enthusiasm for telling others about the good news comes from.
I tell you this small amount of background so you will understand the rest of what I am going to say. Saturday Landry called me from work to tell me Raheim's brother had been shot and killed. A friend of Raheim's from home called Landry to see if he could go check on him. Immediately I felt a strong pain in my heart for Raheim. Then I got an email from Jenni(a faithful prayer warrior who always emails out prayer list to everyone) at church asking for everyone to pray for him. When Landry got off work we met with Raheim to grab a bite to eat and talk. We had to wait a while before he could get free from all the military forms and things he was having to figure out to get a flight home. When he pulled up to the resturaunt we were sitting outside waiting on him. His eyes were bloodshot from tears and his voice shakey when he spoke to us. The first 10 minutes of conversation Landry and I did not know what to say or how to comfort him. Also we did not want him to feel as though he had to retell us all the details and stir up all his emotions again.
Landry asked if he wanted us to have a prayer and he said yes please. As we all three held hands, sitting at a table outside a burger place on a rainy cool night, I felt such a strong bond. As Landry began to speak I noticed his voice was softer than usual I turned to look at him and saw a stream of tears rolling down his cheek. I rarely ever see my husband cry and I new that our bond with Raheim was something special, something different!
Fast forward to the next morning during worship service at church. Raheim came as I knew he would. He always sits at the front by himself so he can hear good and pay attention. Landry went to sit with him and I sat with my family who is in town visiting right now. We were sitting a few rows behind them on the side so I could see them well. Every song that we sang stirred up strong feelings for me. As I sang the words to songs I have sung thousands of times I felt differently about the meanings. I felt Raheim's pain. With every few words I would begin to cry and I felt surprised at the hurt I was feeling. I have had friends and family members in the past go through hard times and I have felt sorry for them, but I don't think I have ever felt pain for them.
1 Corinthians 12:26 reads, "If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together" For the first time in my life as a Christian I truely understand this verse. We said goodbye to a family at church Sunday that has 4 children in the youth group that we were able to spend some time with. Although we did not get to know them too well, because they were only with us a short time I felt sad to see them go. As I watched our church family go forward to hug them in the closing song, as is our traditon, I thought what a joy it is to be a member of the Lord's church. As I have mentioned before in previous post I really feel like our small church here is unique. I have gone to church my entire life, but never really felt completely at home or like this truely is my family. But being miles and miles away from all the people I know has encouraged me to let go and rely on the people from church as I would my blood family. I think this is the way the church should feel everywhere. All should feel welcome and loved. Everyone should work together as a team for Christ fighting Satan hand and hand. It should feel like home...
This world is not my home, I am just passing through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. The angels beckon me from heavens open door, and I cant feel at home in this world anymore. Oh Lord you know I have no friend like you, if Heaven's not my home then Lord what will I do. The angels beckon from heaven's open door and I can't feel at home in this world anymore.
My prayer today is for Raheim and his broken heart. Please join me in praying for him and his family in this hard time.

Wake up Call

Aloha! I am back. I have not written a blog post in more than 3 months due to the fact of how insanely busy our lives have been. I am in the process of making a job change(more to come on this later) and have been feeling like a crazy woman lately. I want to do a post soon and catch up on the last 3 months I have missed. But today I want to talk about how God has been working on me. A couple of weeks ago we went to a marriage seminar weekend at Honolulu Church of Christ. The speakers for the weekend were Glenn and Cindy Colley. We had just went to a marriage retreat with our congregations a few weeks before, but Landry heard who was speaking and said we should go here them.
 Landry's dad and granddad built his childhood home. He has so many found memories growing up there. His family moved when he was a sophomore in college and he has told me several times how he misses it. We live in a small world, because the Colleys actually bought that house. We went to grow in our marriage relationship and to learn about how to raise our future kids in the Lord. But we gained so much more than we expected.
We both took away a lot from the different lessons we heard in the group sessions and the split men and women times as well. Here is a list of some of the things that stuck with me and hopefully will be encouraging to you....
1. Teach your children that the definition of True success is living your life and going to Heaven.
2. Every evening you should have a time of Bible study with your family. Just bringing your kids to church is not enough.
3.T.I.M.E. spells love to your children.
4. Teach your children to obey you now so that later in their life they will be able to obey the Lord.
5. You NEVER get what you need in marriage if you deprive your spouse of what he/she needs. You must change yourself first.
6. The principles that make a person a great Christian also make a great spouse.
7. Decide to find something positive to say about your spouse everyday.
8. Let laughter, fun and sex be main stays in your marriage.
9. Have the attitude that I am going to love you whether or not you are good to me!
10. Speak to and about your husband in respectful words. Compliment your husband, especially around others.
11. Women don't nag, pout,manipulate or lie. Make the home a peaceful, loving sanctuary for your husband.
We both had to work part of the weekend and missed a couple of the lessons, but the ones we heard really made us reevaluate some things. We spent a time of study alone with the Colleys one of the nights they were on the island. Landry and I celebrated our 2 year marriage anniversary last February and the last couple years have been some of the happiest times in my life. Moving away a year ago from all things familiar in Tennessee to a whole new way of life here in Hawaii has been one of the greatest blessings to our marriage. We have completely depended on each other and grown so close as we stepped out together. But one area we have struggled in is studying our Bible and praying together as a couple.
In our time alone with the Colleys they really encouraged us to set aside a time everyday together to have a Bible study and the gave us some tips. They gave us their book "You're Singing My Song" and we have been reading it together at night. They also suggested to change it up. Some nights we read a book, some times we watch an encouraging video, listen to a sermon online or make a prayer list and spend some time in prayer together. We have been consistently having this time for about a month and it has been amazing to see God pulling us close to Him and to each other. You can check out some great resources on the colley's site http://thecolleyhouse.org.
Also for all the ladies out their check out this podcast http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=112808&cmd=tc. Once a month Cindy and some other ladies do a podcast on a different book of the Bible. The theme is Sanctification and this month's book is Daniel.
I am finding there are so many ways to daily draw yourself close to God. It just takes a conscience effort. James 4:7,8 "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you,...."
My prayer today is to never stop trying to draw near to God as long as I am on this earth, because I always want to feel Him drawing near to me.