An Epic Word

I was walking around our local Christian Bookstore the other day looking for a Bible small enough to carry in my purse so that I could have one with me all the time. I couldn't decide which one I wanted. I kept picking them up and putting them back.

There was one in particular that I kept returning to. It was a great size and the cover was pink and brown, which I thought was cute. It had Phillipians 4:13 engraved across the cover.

"I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength."

Now, this is a great verse. It has always been an encouraging one for sure. But, I found myself asking God what is it about this Bible, about this verse, that You want me to see.

The response I felt the Lord was giving me was epic really. I don't use the word epic often, but it will totally revolutionize your thinking if you let it!

For me, in the current season of life I am in, I didn't view that verse as a life verse, or a game changer for me. Not one worth having permanently on the front of my Bible. I have always thought of that verse in terms of actions or accomplishments, until God answered my question.

This was what He said:
"Everything, means EVERYTHING!!"

Now, that might not seem like a game changing statement, but hang in here with me for a minute.

Everything doesn't just include what we are supposed to be doing. It also includes all of the things we are supposed to not do. Things that, I'm just gonna be real, are hard for us females to not do.

Maybe you are in a season of waiting. Waiting is not easy... but you can "wait patiently" through Christ who gives you strength.

Maybe you feel very strongly about something but the Lord is asking you to hold your tongue and not speak about it right now. You can "keep quiet" through Christ who gives you strength.

Maybe there are situations going on in your life that you just want to grab by the horns and change. You want to do something about it, but there really isn't anything you can do.  It is completely out of your control. You can "be still" through Christ who gives you strength.

There are a multitude of times in our lives where God doesn't ask us to do anything, He asks us to do nothing. He asks us for the absence of things: the absence of speaking, the absence of doing, the absence of trying to fix it ourselves. He asks us to just be still and wait on Him. Those can be some of the hardest moments for us as women. Not because we don't trust God, but because we as women, are just wired to worry about and fix everyone elses problems. We mother everyone and want to make everyones problems go away. There are times when no amount of mothering can fix the problems we face... only God can.

In those times, know that you CAN step back and let God work without you trying to help Him out. And, He can give you the strength you need to wait patiently and quietly while He works.

50 Shades

I have read so many great articles this week about the movie hitting the big screen today in theaters around the world… 50 Shades of Grey.

It is quite clear that there are varying opinions on the subject and a variety of concerns and issues to discuss based around this one movie. I have read articles siting various elements of concern including the mainstream acceptance and promotion of bondage, abuse, rape, pornography, and more as the reason that this movie is so disturbing. Those things are disturbing, that’s true.

But then, this morning, I read this article over on “grace every day”.

I don’t know if the blogger at grace every day will ever see this post, but I want to publicly thank her. Not for being another person who is against this movie… but for understanding and publicly sharing the bigger concerns that we all SHOULD have with this movie.

I will not be going to the movie theaters this weekend. I will not go see this movie, ever. So, some people would want to know, why then do I care? “Just don’t go see it if you don’t want to and leave the rest of us alone". 

There is just one problem with that… 50 Shades is not leaving me alone!!

As a mom, I am opposed to this movie. I am not going to go see 50 Shades, but I can’t keep it out of my house unless we become a family who disowns their TV and gets rid of it completely. We don’t have cable or satellite TV at our house. We have an old TV with a digital converter box and an antenna on it. We get a limited number of channels with limited options of what to watch. I can turn the TV off, sure…

Here is my problem. Even if we got rid of our TV sets in our home, 50 Shades would still be infiltrating our lives… Because, my house isn’t the only house on the block… I have an 11 year old son. I can promise you, the other boys in his class have seen the commercials on TV for this movie. I can promise you, it is peaking their curiosity. And I can promise you, they will likely be talking about it. He rides a bus to school that is a mixture of elementary, middle school, and high school students. I can promise you, the older boys on his bus will be talking about it.

Even more disturbing, is the thought that when this movie comes out on DVD and Blue Ray, where it can be rented or bought… this movie will end up in my sons friends’ homes. Some of my son’s 11 and 12 year old friends will probably see this movie before the end of this year… That genuinely hurts my heart to think about.

As a wife, I am opposed to this movie. I have to tell you, you can be married to the most amazing, wonderful, Christian man in the entire world. One who will never cheat on you, never cross a line physically… That does NOT mean that he will never face an internal struggle to stay pure and faithful to you in his heart.

I absolutely hate commercials. I always have. Wish we could just skip them. There are certain commercials that should not be on local television stations, but are. Victoria Secret Commercials, the Hardees Commercial that came out not too long ago that sexualizes a hamburger (that one was just ridiculous), and others that I am sure I am forgetting in this moment. And now we have a commercial that is advertising 50 Shades of Grey; a visual enticement into a fantasy world of physically dominating and abusing women for a man’s pleasure.

The media is calling this “mommy porn” giving the impression that it is a movie for women. That is just a lie. It is pornography, period. There will be daddy’s who will become just as infatuated and just as trapped because of it.

I cannot speak for every man in the world and I am NOT speaking for my own husband when I say this… But it concerns me that our loving, faithful, Christian husbands, have to endure these commercials coming on TV every day. How many loving, faithful, Christian husbands will have to fight a battle of purity and faithfulness in his marriage because of this movie and it’s commercials that won’t leave us alone?? Not because they chose to go see the movie, but because the movie is being pushed into our living rooms every day.

Society today has this thing they do where they want Christians to stay out of their business. They want us to stay out of their way and let them do what they want to do, without trying to stop them. If we don’t, they start calling us haters. They tell us that we are trying to take rights away from them.

Where are our rights as Christians? Even non-Christians who don’t agree with 50 Shades, where are their rights? I can’t stop people from reading the books or watching the movie, but why do I have to deal with it showing up in my house, uninvited, and unwanted?

My main concern is not for the people who will go see this movie. I am concerned for them and I pray they will see it for what it is. But my MAIN concern is for my family and my fellow Christian families. My main concern is for our children and our husbands.

Satan uses whatever he can to attack families, and this is a major attack. So, whatever I can do to “fight” 50 shades isn’t about 50 shades at all. It isn’t about fighting those who are in favor of the movie. It is about taking back our families and fighting the schemes of the enemy. That is something that we must do as Christians every single day of our lives. This day is no different.