Reflections – Page 8

2014: The Year of Change

January 1, 2015 // by Nikol// Leave a Comment

2014 started off rough and was full of waiting and watching and wondering. In many areas, I felt displaced, disconnected, or discouraged, and right when I started to grit my teeth to just get through it, it did a 180 on me. It has been a strange and wonderful year. Memories I’ll carry with me are…

Best New Year’s Resolution:
Trying new foods, and by “new foods” I basically mean foods that normal people eat that I’ve never touched like yogurt…and blueberries…and key lime pie, for example.

Scariest Moment:
Crossing a (bleep)ing rope bridge on a zip lining ~~nightmare~~ adventure. I didn’t know if I was going to die or if I just wanted to die. Horrific.

Funniest Moment:
This really should be a top 10 category I have so many of these, but if I have to pick just one it would be almost flying off the back of a treadmill at the gym because I accidentally set the speed to 14 mph.

I was almost one of those YouTube video people, y’all.

Weirdest Month:
I’m not sure why this continues to be a category, but I like its uniqueness. So, I pick… August.

Biggest Obsession:
Dexter.

Does anyone find out that he was a serial killer?
Does he go to jail?
How does it all end?

Completely obsessed.
Go ahead…judge me.

Favorite Read:
ummm….I don’t think I read one single book in its entirety apart from Bible Study. I guess I can put that down as a 2015 resolution, huh?

Favorite TV Show:
Parenthood. And I have the t-shirt to prove it.

Favorite Bible Study:
The Power of God’s Names by Tony Evans

I can never, ever get enough of learning about the character of God. It brings me to my knees every time.

Best Vacation:
A weekend trip to Blue Ridge, GA to do absolutely nothing. GLORY!

Favorite New Experience:
Can yogurt count? I seriously love yogurt, but that feels like cheating since it was in a previous category. So, I’ll go with taking a calligraphy class. What can I say? I’m wild and crazy.

Best Spontaneous Decision/Best Purchase:
Deacon: Goodness this dog makes me laugh.

Biggest Loss:
Saying goodbye to my church home of seven years. The relationships formed were relationships I fought for. I miss seeing familiar faces, but sometimes, it is best to move on.

Biggest Accomplishment:
Running my first 5K trail run with everything I had and finishing 3rd in my age group. BLING! BLING!

A close second was surviving 3 months with a 19-year old roommate. (I love you, LC.)

Best Conference:
Hutchmoot. In all fairness, I only went to one conference. Apparently, learning was not high on the priority list for 2014.

Biggest Disappointment:
Getting a stomach bug while on a business trip in Chicago.

Biggest Surprise:
Ending up at a Presbyterian church. Whaaaa?

Most Memorable Moment(s):
Having a rat run around your garage with its head stuck in a mousetrap is pretty memorable, but let’s go with something more festive:

I was anxious before an event and I will never forget my friend’s face when she looked me dead in the eye (with crazy eyes) and said, “I’m gonna need for you to get your head right.” It makes me laugh every.single.time.

Most Embarrassing Moment:
Having to leave a date because I was having a panic attack.

Anxiety disorders are real, folks.

Biggest Blessing:
This man…because apparently anxiety attacks don’t scare him.

Favorite Gift:
A handmade quilt that was started in the 1950s by my great grandmother and finished by my mom. Isn’t it beautiful?

Thanks for the memories, 2014. You’ve been a little schizophrenic, but I appreciate the variety.

Definition

September 16, 2014 // by Nikol// Leave a Comment

I have learned that my definition of things are sometimes very different than God’s definition. For example, things that I consider as painful are things God calls “good.” Take discipline for example. No one that I know likes disciple.

It hurts.
It is uncomfortable.
It brings out dross in our hearts.

Yet the Bible teaches us that it is for our good that He disciplines us.

Last week, my Facebook feed was abuzz with the Osteen’s. Many Christians are coming down hard on them because of the prosperity gospel they preach. I even posted a link to a message about how the prosperity gospel isn’t Biblical. However, the trouble, it seems, is not in whether or not God promises us prosperity. The problem is in how we define it.

Could it be God’s version of prosperity it is not in bigger toys, better houses, expensive cars, and higher salaries? Could prosperity really be defined in terms of the spiritual and eternal achievable only through more Jesus, more Holy Spirit, and more God the Father?

Don’t Wait Until Wednesday

September 7, 2014 // by Nikol// 3 Comments

Back in 2013, as a New Year’s resolution, I decided to send a note of encouragement to someone every week. The idea was to hopefully brighten their day and to also instill a little more gratitude in my life. I kept things old school…with pen to paper and with a stamp through the mail. It was so much fun that I kept it up. So, every Wednesday I sit at my desk and draft a letter.

Some weeks, the letter conveys my thanks.
Other weeks, it expresses my sympathy.

Some weeks, the letter is a prayer.
Other weeks, it is words of encouragement in the midst of a battle.

Some weeks, the letter contains my congratulations on a job well done.
Other weeks, it is meant simply to brighten a day.

Some weeks, I send more than one letter.
Other weeks, I struggle with writer’s block.

To avoid the latter, I started to keep a list of people that are noteworthy. This Wednesday, I sat down to write a note to the next person on my list. Tears welled in my eyes as I realized it was too late.

How can it be too late to send a note of encouragement?

Well, it just so happened that on Tuesday, I attended her funeral.

She didn’t know how I felt about her.
She didn’t get to smile when she opened something in the mail that wasn’t a bill.
She didn’t know she had touched my life in an extraordinary way simply by being who she was.

So, I’m chunking the list. Life is too short.

Tell someone that you love them today.
Encourage someone today.
Say thanks today.
Make someone smile today.
Send a note today.
Take a chance today.

Don’t wait until Wednesday.

The Registry

June 16, 2014 // by Nikol// 1 Comment

I found myself recently strolling through Buy Buy Baby with a gift registry in my hand. At some point in time some dear friends walked into the store, went down each aisle, and lovingly selected exactly what they wanted for their upcoming bundle of joy. I’ll save you the blow-by-blow of how I searched high and low for exactly the right nipple; how I combed through every bib imaginable to find the one with the little yellow bees; and how I wanted to slam my head into the wall while searching for no-skid, roll-down, ivory socks for a 0-6 month old. (Can we discuss for a moment why those things even exist? Is there some super baby that has been able to walk at 6 months and slipped because the socks didn’t have grippers on them. I mean….come ON!!!)

Anyway….

Did you know that God has a registry too? It is called The Book of Life (Rev. 13:8). John MacArthur describes this book as “the registry in which God inscribed the names of those chosen for salvation before the foundation of the world.”

Let’s think through that for a minute.

Before God decided to make the world He sat down and wrote a list. The list contains names of individuals. These individuals span the ages from the beginning of the earth until the end. They are the ones He chose. He selected them from every person that would exist through the entirety of history.

Many have walked this earth.
Some walk it today.
Only God know how many more are to come.

The thought that somewhere in Heaven there is a book so ancient it existed before time is pretty staggering. But to think that my name is written in that very book makes me want to fall prostrate on the ground in awe.

If you know Him – if you belong to God – He wrote down your name that day too.

He took a pen (or whatever you write with in Heaven) to paper, thought of you, and wrote your name.

He chose you.
He wanted you.
You are His.
And your citizenship lies in Heaven.

Amazing!

Yes?

May 27, 2014 // by Nikol// 1 Comment

God reminded me this week of the power of my words – not only to others – but to Christ.

Recently, I asked someone to do something. They agreed, but when the time came for them to close the deal, their response was, “Oh. I thought you were kidding.”

How many times have I done the same to God? I’ve told Him I would…

follow Him anywhere;
do anything He wants me to do;
pay any price.

Then, He asks me to…

do something uncomfortable,
or scary,
or outwardly foolish,
or embarrassing.

My palms sweat, and my heart pounds. I hope He is kidding, but it turns out, I’m the one kidding myself.

Lord, help me to heed whatever Your call. Help me obey with abandon. Change my heart into one that delights in service to You whatever the cost. Help to remember our covenant is real and binding with eternal consequences both for myself and others. Let my “yes” really be yes.

Shadowland

May 19, 2014 // by Nikol// Leave a Comment

This year, God has been fairly quiet. I’ve felt few promptings and whispers to my heart. At times, I’ve wondered…

…if God has left me,
…if I did something wrong,
…or if I’ve not done something that perhaps I should.

Then, I read in Revelation these words about the throne room of God:

The one sitting on the throne was as brilliant as gemstones – like jasper and carnelian. And the glow of an emerald circled his throne like a rainbow….from the throne came flashes of lightning and the rumble of thunder…In front of the throne was a shiny sea of glass, sparkling like crystal. (Rev. 4:3, 5, 6)

Look at the descriptions:

brilliant as gemstones…
like a rainbow…
flashes of lightning…
rumbles of thunder…
sparkling like crystal.

Y’all! I’ve been so caught up in hearing from God that I missed actually seeing Him.

Suddenly, the twinkle of a diamond on someone’s hand is a tiny peek at the glory of God. The beauty of a rainbow is now a glimpse of what encircles His head. The shimmer of a crystal vase in the sunlight is a trace of what rests beneath His feet. The fear and awe thunder brings is a whisper of His actual voice.

Are you looking for God? Do you see Him in what is around you?

We live in a land of shadows. Everything He created is a glimpse of Him.

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse (Rom. 1:19-20).