Proud of My Wife

Yesterday Macy jumped in her own "pit with a lion" (see earlier post Challenging Read & Challenging Read...Pt 2).

Yesterday she drove her dad to St Petersburg to the VA Hospital. That might not seem like a pit with a lion in it for most of us, but for her, this was a very big deal (pit). She does not like to drive anywhere out of Fort Myers (actually she doesn't even like to drive anywhere in Ft Myers). When we travel somewhere outside of Ft Myers by car, I do all the driving. So I was really proud of her for doing this.

Why did she do this? This is why I'm really, really proud of her. She is trying to reach out to her dad. She is trying to show unconditional love to him. You see, her dad left her mom and the kids when Macy was very young. It would be easy for Macy to be bitter. But she forgave him a long time ago, and although at times it is awkward, she is trying to show the love of Christ to him.

I love my wife. And I am so proud of her maturity in Christ and her willingness to follow Christ, even when it's uncomfortable for her. Way to go babe!!!!

Challenging Read...Part 2

Here's a few more snippets from Chapter 4 of the book In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day.

• Basically there are two types of people in the world: complainers and worshipers.
• Adversity is often the seedbed of opportunity.
• We may dream of zero gravity, but what we really need is a healthy dose of adversity.
• God wants to redeem the adversity you've experienced. He wants to recycle your adversity and turn it into a ministry.
• The more problems you have the more potential you have to help people.
• If you don't have any problems, you don't have any potential.
  
• Trials have a way of helping us rediscover our purpose in life.

What is God trying to teach you right now through your difficult circumstances?

Challenging Read

I mentioned a while back that I have been reading In A Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day with a group of guys I meet with. Not sure if I mentioned just how power-packed this little book was. Wow! It's one of the more challenging books I've ever read. And, it seems to be hitting me right where I am. Just to give you a taste, I've compile a few quotes from chapter 4.

• It's our past problems that prepare us for future opportunities.
• Sometimes the biggest problems present the greatest opportunities for God to reveal His glory and work.
• We should stop asking God to get us out of difficult circumstances and start asking Him what He wants us to get out of those difficult circumstances.
• Maybe our problem isn't our circumstances, maybe our problem is our perspective...Maybe prayer is less about changing our circumstances than it is about changing our perspective.
• Maybe we need to quit praying safe prayers.
• Don't let what's wrong with you keep you from worshiping what's right with God.
• The most important choice you make every day is your attitude. Your internal attitudes are far more important than your external circumstances.
• The worse days can actually turn out to be the best days if we learn the lessons God is trying to teach us.

I'm going to stop now before this post gets too long. I'll post some more tomorrow from chapter 4. But as you can see, pretty challenging stuff.