Where is God's Army?

Who is the most respected and guarded human? For us Americans, it's the President. As an elected official, he gets paid well (maybe not as well as some), takes nice vacations, is respected (for the most part), and is highly protected by secret service agents. He has a hard job, of course. Now take that apply it to our spiritual lives.

For us Christians, what about our Lord and Savior? Do we pay Him well? Are we tithing like we should? Are we giving Him our time like we should? Do we support and help our church, His church, like we should? Do we love one another like He commands us to do? Do we protect his Word, His church, and his people like we should? The answer, in general, is No.

Imagine what it was like for Joseph and Mary to be responsible for the safety and care of the son of God, Jesus Christ. That's a tough job. But if God can use people like Joseph and Mary, who had very little, to take care of Jesus, imagine what He can do with us if we allow Him to. I know I don't allow Him to use me like I should. I strive daily to be the Christian He wants me to be but, flesh and the Devil can crawl in and tell you "No, He doesn't need all that. He's God. I can do what I want sometimes." 

What's it going to take for you to stand up strong for Him? Our church and church family have faced many struggles. We've had members leave. We've had people talk about us. We've had people verbally attack our Preacher and his family. I'm sure that's not so uncommon as we want to realize or believe. What does it take for us, as a congregation, to say, "Enough is enough. We will not allow you to take away from what God has done here. We will not allow you to bad-mouth and gossip about our Preacher and his family or any other member of this church. We will stand together strong and support each other. We will pray for those who fight against us and for those who need God's love and grace and mercy. We will continue to allow the Lord to bless us and use us and fight against our enemies for us."

Not only do we do this within our own churches, but we should do this within our community and throughout. You can't stay in your little bubble and expect things to change. We can't see the entire picture for our lives, but the Lord knows it. We just have to follow. Do what He wants you to do. 

God Rewards Faithfulness

If you've read my Facebook posts these past few months, you know that I've been job searching. I have a job but wanted to go elsewhere. Something happened in November and I wanted out immediately. I've come to realize it's not that easy when I help support our family and not everyone wants to pay me what I ask/deserve. I definitely ran to God for guidance. I wanted to follow his will for my life. I didn't want my "feelings" making decisions. 

I became somewhat discouraged after 2 interviews and 1 email response that didn't work out. The second interview made making a decision hard. Although, I wasn't offered the job, I was close to it. After the initial interview, I had 2 smaller follow-up interviews via telephone. After much prayer and fighting with myself, I realized that it wasn't the job for me. 1) I couldn't find peace with accepting the job if it were offered to me. As I've been told, God is not a god of confusion. 2) The Director kept asking me the same questions over and over. Was she even listening to me? In turn, was I even listening to God? Lastly, the salary she was offering wasn't even close to other organizations comparable to hers. For the position and my qualifications, it should've paid more. I don't have a Bachelors and a Masters degree for no reason. 

What the Lord told me next was not exactly what I wanted to hear. I have a job; I'm not desperate for one. So I kept searching and still am while keeping a lookout for that one job I'm willing to leave my current job for. I haven't found one yet, not even worth sending my resume to. I can't settle on something that seems right. In the meantime, work has been busy. I took on training a new co-worker and decided to take on new responsibilities. Whether or not I want to be there, I do the job to my best ability. In the end, my integrity is my own. With the workload keeping me busy, there was no idle time for me to sit there and feel sorry for myself or complain about how boring my job was. The Lord knew what I needed. 

Although, I don't understand it, he's kept me at my current job. He wants me to be there longer than I want to be there. There's a reason for it and I know it's to make me a stronger Christian. I'm His child and I should be doing for Him. My work environment is full of many different people with many different personalities, skills and beliefs. I went from an environment surrounded by Christians to this job where it wasn't that. No matter how I felt, I was to act like a Christian should. I can't say I've been perfect but I've done as he's asked. Today, he blessed me. My director decided to give me a bonus that not everyone was getting and it was the first time they've ever given a bonus to someone at my level. I got a lot of compliments on my performance but through all that, all I heard was "Well done!" from the Lord above. It feels good to know that your boss is pleased with you, but when the Lord is pleased, it's something far more. And on a human standpoint, I have a new-found outlook on my boss. I've noticed he's worked hard at righting the wrongs and making improvements. I know he's not a Christian and for me that's even more encouraging-my faith and my God has made a difference in his life whether he knows it or not. I've planted my seed.

I'm a pretty tolerable person and pretty patient. So when I asked God to help me be more patient, I surely had no clue what that meant. It's been tough but I've reached a point of patience that I've never had.

11 Random Facts

So...I don't normally do these kind of things.This one just reminds me of being a teenager and the middle school days. It's probably the equivalent of LMS and give me a number for TBH on Facebook. I don't care for those, of course, since that's what the teens are doing nowadays. Although, I don't have any followers (maybe I need to switch to blogspot), I'm going to do it. I hope you enjoy, Susanna. I will link this to FB, so my FB family can read and get to know me, too. Feel free to respond to my blog with your answers if you don't have a blog.

My 11 Random Facts

1) As much of an organizer and on-time type of person I want to be, I make organized piles in corners and I'm usually late for work. I hate that. Can I blame it on my busy wife-mom-employee-Church member life? Got any tips on how you balance your life? At least I'm still sane...I guess...

2) As a child, I wanted to name my daughter, Molly, after my favorite baby doll. I still have that baby doll and Valerie loves to play with her.

3) I'm not OCD but I come close to planning things out. Many times I overthink and try to plan things that aren't in my ability to control. 

4) I used to love the smell of gasoline as a child. Why? I have no clue. Even now as an adult, the smell of it reminds me of just being a kid, sitting in the back seat while mom/dad pumps gas. I guess, I like to be reminded of the simpler times...when I didn't have to be an adult :)

5) My maiden name...Savatisensei...was not my first last name... When my parents changed our last names from Pathamavong to Savatisensei, the court spelled my middle name wrong and left out a "y". So, not only was my last name changed, so was my middle name. Thank you, South Carolina. 

6) Out of all my grandparents, I only met one of them. I met my paternal grandfather when I was 11. That was the one and only time. He passed the same year my nephew was born in 2008. The rest of them died before I was born. 

7) I've always loved math, while everyone else abhorred it. I could sit and work on math problems all day. Weird? That's ok.

8) I've traveled out of the country 3 times: Canada, Italy & France, and Laos. I haven't been back out of the country since I was 12. I'd love to cruise to Japan one day.

9) I make a "commitment" to exercise more and get into shape multiple times throughout the year. I just can't seem to stick to it. I actually enjoy it but life gets at me and I can't get back on track.

10) I love all forms of art but am not at all artistic. I sing in the choir but don't count on me going solo and selling millions. I'm realistic--God just didn't give me the talent. I can draw simply, but I learned quick in college that I have a proportions problem. My milk jug was always too fat no matter how many times I tried to fix it. I don't play an instrument and I can't stay on beat when I dance.

11) Last but not least--- I've worn glasses since I was about 5 years old. I wear them due to an injury where I poked myself in the eye with a pencil. Warning: Don't jump off a church van with the pencil point sticking up.


11 Questions from Susanna ("Learning to See")

{1} Are you a reader? If so, when did your love for reading begin and with what book? I love to read. I wish I had more time to read an actual book. When I do read, most of the time it's an article. I love for reading began early in elementary school. I don't remember which book but I remember the accelerated reading program and taking the book tests on the computers.

{2} What is your favorite landscape? Sea, mountains, beach, city?  I love the ocean and the mountains. I prefer natural landscape over man-made.

{3} What is your favorite way to travel? Plane, car, bus, boat, train, bike, by foot? I love to travel by plane and see things from way up.

{4} What is your favorite app and why? I'm on FB a lot! I like to stay connected online. I prefer in-person connection, but our lives get so busy it's hard.

{5} What is the one home-cooked meal you turn to when you're under time pressure? That's touch because my husband is a picky eater. Non home-cooked---pizza. But home-cooked I like to bake chicken or pork chops. I'm not big on frying. If I know I'm going to be under time pressure far enough in advance, I like to put beef roast in the crock pot the night before. That way it's ready when I get home the next day. If I'm by myself---I'll create a noodle soup dish. I love pasta.

{6} What is the one thing in your home that must be organized for your sanity? My closet....I'm very anal retentive about it....My shirts are in order by color and by sleeve length. Then my pants by color. My skirts by color and length. On Nate's side....I don't worry too much about the color. I separate collared shirts from button ups.

{7} If you could learn any language what would it be and why?  Vietnamese- I'm part Thai, Laotion, and Vietnamese. Out of the three, I'm half Vietnamese and I speak Laotion. My mom tried to teach me when I was young but she thought it would be confusing to learn 3 different languages at once. My parents communicate in Laotion and mom was still learning Thai (self-taught with the help of my dad) when I was little. Thai is somewhat similar to Laotion, so I can understand some of it, not much but some. Vietnamese is alien to me. I've always wanted to be able to speak it.

{8} What is the one skill you hope to perfect? Hard question....I guess juggling the many things that go on with my life and still be strong, patient and level-headed.

{9} Describe your fashion style in three words {e.g. vintage. neutral. soft}. Emotional, conservative, and colorful

{10} Are you a morning person, night owl, nap enthusiast, or a survivor with alternating routines? Night owl...definitely not a morning person.

{11} Fess up. Are you a Downton Abbey fan. If so, what's your reason for watching? Heard of it, don't know what it's about and never watched it.

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Ok...Now I get to tag 11 bloggers at the bottom, but since I don't know 11 bloggers...if you're reading this, you can do this if you want to and let me know if you do. 
Here are the rules:
{1}  Each blogger should post 11 random facts about themselves.
{2}  Answer the questions the tagger has set for you, then create 11 new questions for the bloggers you pass the award to.
{3}  Choose 11 new bloggers (or with less than 200 followers) to pass the award to and link them in your post.
{4} Go to their page and tell them about the award.
{5}  No tag backs.

Here are my 11 Questions for anyone who wants to do this:
1) If you could be an animal, what would you be and why?
2)What's your favorite place in your home and why?
3)What did you want to be when you grew up? Did it happen?
4)Name a food dish you like that most people wouldn't.
5) What kind of games do you like (video, board, cards...) and which is your favorite one?
6) If you could meet one famous person, who would it be?
7) Many people would think Friday the 13th will be an unlucky day. Is it possible that there is no Friday on 13th through the whole year? How many Fridays at 13th can we have in a year at most? Can you calculate it out or do you even care?
8)If you could be anywhere, right now at this very moment, where would it be?
9) What is your favorite sport and team?
10) Are you right handed or left handed? Do you do certain things with the non-dominant hand?
11) At what age would you like to be able to reach before you die?