The Last Five Minute Friday 2011

This is it. We are at the end of the year. Where are those days gone by? I don’t know exactly the answer to that question, but I am sure each one of us have our own answer to it.

Today, it will be the last post of the Five Minute Friday in 2011. I know it’s been a while I didn’t write but today, I would like to share some things in 5 minutes. Yes, only in 5 minutes. No editing.

If you are new to this one, you can visit Lisa-Jo’s website, the Gypsy Mama, and link your post there. Here’s a little bit from it:

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.

2. Link back here and invite others to join in.

3. Most important: visit, comment, encourage the person before you.

 

Are you ready? Just in 5 minutes, you can share what is in your heart and mind….

Here’s the word of the day:

O P E N

Ready… Set…. Go!

Open. Being open is not my thing. It’s not what I wanna do in my life.

Being open is hard for me. But one day in 2002, God really changed me.

He opened my eyes to see, opened my ears to hear, and opened my heart to his.

Though, still being open is hard for me. Being open to God is different.

Hard, but POSSIBLE. The only question is:

“DO I WANT TO BE OPEN TO GOD?”

I did. I tried. And I still do it until now.

Being open to God is amazing! Nothing that I can hide from him, because he search each heart.

He search my heart, my mind and my soul. He knows and sees every single thing in my life.

He wants me to respond him, his calling.

Yes, being open to God is about to answer his calling, to respond to his voice in my life and yours.

So be open and you will see how wonderful his power of love touching you life and change your life.

STOP.

Godly Words

be the guide that our children need through our words everyday

But even as he spoke, a bright cloud came over them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy. Listen to him.”

Matthew 17:5 

In his book Raising a Modern-Day Knight (Tyndale House), author Robert Lewis points out that parents can gain some priceless direction from the way God the Father treated God the Son. These insights are particularly powerful in a father’s relationship with his son. Lewis uses as his starting point the several occasions in which God the Father made public pronouncements about his Son. Those statements include three ideas children need to hear from their parents: 1) I love you (“my dearly loved Son”); 2) I’m proud of you (“who brings me great joy”); and 3) you have skills (“listen to him.”) The third one requires extra thought because it is specific to each child, highlighting his or her skills. Read through each of these again and ask yourself when was the last time each of your children heard any or all of these from you.

Some people say, “Do not over praise your kids” but saying these 3 things to our kids are not gonna be an over-praise in their life. They need to know that God loves them much more that we do. They need to know that every single thing in their life is matter to us, even more to God.

Source: NLT Marriage and Family Devotional, A Parenting Devotional

Regardless Your Age

Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity.

1 Timothy 4:12, NLT

Timothy was a young pastor. It would have been easy for older Christians to look down on him because of his youth. He had to earn the respect of his elders by setting an example in his speech, life, love, faith, and purity.

Regardless of your age, God can use you. Whether you are young or old, don’t think of your age as a handicap. Live so others can see Christ in you.

Resource: Life Application Daily Devotional (11/22/2011)

This verse is one of the verses that encourage me in responding God’s calling in my life. At the beginning, I was so afraid and didn’t know what to do because of so many older people who are also older in their Christians life. I was young in age and a newborn Christian 9 years ago, who just started to step into the ministry and so in fire to do so.

Getting involve in a ministry at a church or even thinking to be a missionary is a big decision in my life at the time. This verse always a reminder for me wherever and whenever I do the ministry.

I hope that this wonderful verse also can be your reminder, that God can use you now, in your youth, and once He begins His work in your life, He will continue it until the end of time, more than that He promises to be with you.

Blessings!

What do you pray for?

…. many people question God for not responding when they prayed in faith…. but the question is whether they prayed for things God has promised. Often, it’s the un-promised requests that God answers with a no.

There’s is a huge difference between believing what God has promised and praying for things you’d like to be true…. Do not put your hope in what others promise or what you’ve been told you’ll “get” if you are a “good Christian” (e.g., a good job, financial success, the perfect spouse, healthy children, a big house, etc.). And ultimately, stake your faith in God alone, not in the gifts (good as they may be) that He gives. Do you trust God that when He says not or “not in this way” to you, you still believe He is good and doing what is best?

(Forgotten God, Francis Chan)

Why is it so hard to find a good time to read a book?

reading is fun

Lately, it is so hard for me and my husband to find a good time to read books. Later in the evening after doing our every day tasks, we feel so exhausted and are ready to go to bed. In the morning, we wake up just in time for my husband to go to work, but it is not enough time for me enjoying a good time to read because my girl is a morning person. So, we have been thinking what we should do to change this habit or why we cannot find a good quality time to read.

We think reading is also a good habit to develop in our girl’s life and we want her to know that reading is fun and a good way to enrich her knowledge, gain wisdom and a window to see the world. But we have to do that first to show her, then she will find out by seeing what we do, then she will do it. Kids are a the best imitator. They will do whatever they see what we do, instead of what we tell them what to do.

Michael Hyatt, a writer, posted this post 5 Ways To Make More Time To Read. In this post, he gives these suggestions that I think might help you and maybe you, too, in improving our reading time. Here’s what he says,

Life is hectic around our house. But I’ve somehow managed to make time to read in the middle of all that. And I say that not to pat myself on the back but to show that, even with a busy life, it is possible (and important) to make time for hobbies you’re passionate about.

Here are a few tips that have helped me:

  1. Sacrifice something. You’ve got 24 hours in a day. You spend 8–10 hours (hopefully not much more) working. You spend 6–8 hours sleeping. You’ve got family and friends to spend time with every day. All of this doesn’t leave much time for other interests, like reading. So your golf game, like mine, might take a hit. You might have to turn off the television after 9:00 p.m. But, if reading is a priority, you’ll make time for it. As Jon Acuff puts it: “Be selfish at 5 a.m.”
  2. Make a routine. If I say I’m just going to “find time to read,” then it will never happen. I have to make time to read. So here’s what I do: I read during my lunch break, and I read at night, beginning around 8:45, after family time, after the wife and little guy are in bed.
  3. Set a goal. You’ve heard this so much that it’s clichéd. But it works. My goal is to read 101 novels. Usually, I would’ve given myself a deadline, but I didn’t want to speed read through the books, so I just chose to read them as they come. At my current pace, I’ll reach my goal in three more years. Maybe you should set a goal to read one book a month. If that seems unlikely, then make it one book every two months. And take it a step further—tell someone about your goal. Or, if you’re crazy like me, start a blog about it. There’s nothing like that extra accountability to keep you moving.
  4. Have fun. You don’t have to read a book simply because a friend suggested it, you know? Think about your hobbies, interests, and passions—then go and read about those subjects. I once spent five months reading nothing but casual, behind-the-scenes books about restaurants and chefs. I’m a chef groupie, I guess. Once you’ve read a few “fun” books, then dabble into the more serious, thought-provoking stuff.
  5. Mix it up. Once you get into the flow of reading, branch out of your comfort zone. If all you’ve read is nonfiction business books, then relax a little and pick up a novel. If you’ve plowed through Stephen King’s entire catalog in a few years, maybe it’s time to give a leadership or inspirational book a try. The point is: If you read the same style of book over and over, you’ll eventually get burned out and go back to watching two hours of Brady Bunch reruns every day…unless you’re reading 101 books for some crazy blog, of course.
The more we read, the more knowledge we gain, the wiser we become.