Category: FemmeFuel by Bindu Adai-Mathew

Knock, Knock…

On By femmefuelIn FemmeBytes by Bindu Adai-Mathew, October 2011 (Devotions)Leave a comment

By Bindu Adai-Mathew

Today two things didn’t go as expected. Disappointment quickly set in like an evening fog, clouding my vision and blurring my future hopes and expectations. Soon worry ensued. 

But as JMathis challenged us yesterday, when guilt, pain, and stress came knocking, I fought those negative feelings by meditating on a verse that has brought me great comfort in the recent year.

 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.  Romans 8:28

 Lord, does that mean you can take my mistakes and still get me to where I need to be? And as if to answer that question, I am reminded of King David whom God established his bloodline despite David almost ruining his reign with adultery and then covering that up with murder.

 Lord, does that mean you can use situations where I feel like people are against me and use even that to benefit me?  I am quickly reminded of the story of Joseph who was betrayed by his brothers and sold into slavery but later rose to second in command of a Egypt.

 Lord, I’m middle-aged…if you were going to bless me, wouldn’t it have happened by now? I am reminded of  Sarah who gave birth to her promise well after her physical body would not have been able to conceive.

 In “all things” Lord? Really?

Really.

 But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:31

 Okay, Lord. As challenging as it is and as impatient as I am, I will wait upon you and your perfect timing.

 

 

 

 

 

One Day at a Time

On By femmefuelIn FemmeBytes by Bindu Adai-Mathew, October 2011 (Devotions)Leave a comment

By Bindu Adai-Mathew

“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring
its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” Matthew 6:34

Being in the moment, the “right now” can be one of our
biggest challenges, especially in today’s world. So many distractions. So much
to do. So much to worry about. Dinner to cook, bills to pay, kids to feed,
bathe, and put to sleep. But being in the right here, right now is all that God
wants us to focus on.

So how do we not worry when it goes against our very nature?
Learning not to worry takes practice. It requires us constantly reminding
ourselves that worry is truly useless…that it accomplishes nothing except
exacerbating our anxiety level. Often worrying works against us. It clouds our
thinking. It can drain our energy and most of all, it takes our focus off of
God who can truly help us and make a difference and puts the burden back on us.

Today’s challenge is for you to reflect on one thing that you are worried about. What is robbing you of your joy? Each time you think of it, say a prayer of thanks to God, acknowledging that He is in control and practice letting it go. Notice I said “each time you think of it.” Once won’t be enough, especially if it’s important to you.

Being Present in the Present

On By femmefuelIn FemmeFeatures by Bindu Adai-Mathew, October 2011 (Devotions)Leave a comment

By Bindu Adai-Mathew

Do you remember as a kid how excited you were for Christmas? As soon as Thanksgiving passed, my parents would pull the Christmas tree and decorations out of the attic and we’d start decorating the house. The local radio stations would begin playing all the traditional Christmas songs, and in my mind, I would start the countdown to Christmas. But I wasn’t alone…even the local paper would list the number of days left before Christmas, and all my friends and I would talk about what we hoped we’d be getting that year.

As each day passed, my anticipation grew, and on Christmas Eve, I’d be so restless with excitement, I could barely sleep. Christmas Day was probably the one day where my parents didn’t have to wake me up to get me out of bed. Like most kids, I was the one waking them up that morning. At our house, we couldn’t just immediately open gifts though. We first had to eat breakfast. Then my mom would pull out the Bible and read the Christmas story. We’d sing a carol or two, and then pray. As soon as she or my dad said “Amen,” I almost dove under the tree, grabbed my presents, and mercilessly tore open the painstakingly wrapped gifts. Often more than naught, my Christmas gifts often consisted of clothes, which when you’re in elementary school, aren’t your biggest priority. But even those few times when my parents got me something I actually wanted, a few minutes later, with crushed, torn wrapping paper surrounding me, I couldn’t help but feel…well, disappointed. Christmas Day hadn’t even passed yet, but my excitement for the day had completely vanished. Of course, even as a kid, I knew the real reason for Christmas was to celebrate the birth of Jesus, but come on, who are we kidding…I was a kid, and I was all about the presents.  But then I’d comfort myself with…well, there was always next Christmas to look forward to…although that seemed so, so far away!

As I got older, I found myself doing the same thing, although the focus wasn’t just on Christmas. Often it was just waiting for my life to change. It was finding the right guy to marry/finding the right job that would fulfill me/ waiting to get published/ not being able to be happy until the “storm” in my life passed/etc. But just like opening the Christmas presents, even when I got something I had been praying for or waiting for, there always seemed to be something else. Something to rob me of my peace. Something to make me feel as if I were never meant to be completely happy or satisfied. And rather than enjoying what I did have, my focus was on the next problem.

Apparently, King Solomon struggled with contentment as well.

So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 18 I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. 19 And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Yet they will have control over all the fruit of my toil into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. 20 So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. 21 For a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. 22 What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun? 23 All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless. Ecclesiastes 2:17-23

Sometimes life does seem like a never-ending struggle. Our efforts and work sometime feel meaningless, especially when despite our hard work, things don’t seem to change or improve.

But one day when I was being particularly whiny about my life and how frustrated and unhappy I felt that I was still struggling with finding that work/life/family balance, a wise friend reminded that I was living a good life. I didn’t have to wait for it to be perfect to enjoy it. It was perfect in its flawed way. And it would always be imperfect. Perfection only lies in heaven, she reminded me.

King Solomon, too, recognized that hard work and struggle were part of our lot in life on this earth. But he also realized that despite the struggle, we should also enjoy our hard work.

24 A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, 25 for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?  Ecclesiastes 2:24-25.

Although it is natural to look forward to the future to the “Fridays” of our lives and want to avoid the “Mondays and Wednesdays,” be careful that you’re not so consumed that you miss the gift of the Present.

Questions: Do you find yourself almost wishing your life away as you wait for those Fridays or just live for special days like Christmas?  What can you appreciate right now about your life?  While there are some things you can’t control, what can you change to improve your life so you enjoy it more?  We’re all consumed by life and the hectic chaos, but challenge yourself this week to be present in the Present and focus on the blessings in your life.

Verse:  So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot.  Ecclesiastes 3:22.

Embracing Difficult Days

On By femmefuelIn FemmeBytes by Bindu Adai-Mathew, October 2011 (Devotions)Leave a comment

By Bindu Adai-Mathew

Challenge yourself to embrace both difficult and picture perfect days.  AbbyA

Embracing picture perfect days is easy, but are you, kidding me, AbbyA? Embrace difficult days, too? Surely you mean accept difficult days, right?  After all, who of us wants to embrace those dreary, overcast, “when is my life going to get better” days that we all have to endure? Have you not seen the economy or the job market? Embrace? Really?

Really. For AbbyA hasn’t just given us a challenge with those words. She has given us an invitation. She is inviting us to experience God at His greatest…when we are at our weakest. When He is our true sufficiency when we are at our most insufficient. When He is the only thing we can rely on, that is when we truly experience God.

I am convinced that the Children of Israel had the desert experience not as a punishment, but it was an invitation to have the most intimate experience with their maker. During their desert experience, God provided them with manna for food, but every time they tried to hoard it for the next day, it became filled with maggots. God was inviting them to experience His Sufficiency. He was trying to tell them to trust that He would provide them with their morning manna every day. Trust that he would continue doing what He promised.  He didn’t want them focused on the manna…He wanted them focused on Him.  Because He would take care of all their needs.

Yes, my friend…embrace your difficult days…It may be during those days, where like Children of Israel, you have the chance to be fed by His Manna by day and warmed by His Fire at night.  Let those difficult days be the days where God reveals His true power to you. Where you experience the “Peace that Passes All Understanding” despite your circumstances. Where you experience His Power over the most hardest of hearts. Where He opens up the impossible doors of your life like the Red Sea so you can walk through them. Those difficult, stormy days that you are hating and wishing would just pass may end up being the most defining days of your Christian walk. Because it is there, through the haze and fog of the storm, where you will see and experience the Presence of your Maker.

 

The Surgeon

On By femmefuelIn FemmeBytes by Bindu Adai-Mathew, September 2011 (Authenticity)Leave a comment

By Bindu Adai-Mathew

1While Jesus was in the Temple, he watched the rich people dropping their gifts in the collection box. 2Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two small coins.a

3“I tell you the truth,” Jesus said, “this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them. 4For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has.” Luke 21

The World looks and judges solely based on the exterior, but remember, our God is always focused on the Heart. It’s always the intention, the motivation, the “heart of the matter” that God sees.  And it’s in that place where He will continually test us and refine us.

Rich or poor…

Beauty queen or Ms. Plain Jane…

Genius or Ms. Average…

Limp or no visible limp…

None of that makes a difference to our God.

For every time God looks at us, He pierces the exterior of us with His X-ray vision and goes straight to the heart. Like a skilled surgeon, he works his surgical magic, whether it’s just a little unclogging of some stubborn blocked arteries or a complete heart transplant, He is able to resuscitate and renew that heart of yours. Now isn’t it time for your annual checkup?

Louder Than Words

On By femmefuelIn FemmeFeatures by Bindu Adai-Mathew, September 2011 (Authenticity)1 Comment

By Bindu Adai-Mathew

So a few months ago, I started a new job where one of my co-workers is a very vocal atheist who also enjoys joking around and teasing everyone. Within the first two weeks, he began teasing me and another co-worker mercilessly about our Christian faith. Although I knew he wasn’t trying to hurt either one of our feelings and just making jokes at our expense, I knew he was also expressing his frustration towards a religion filled with followers who, in his eyes, sometimes could be the exact opposite of what the Bible teaches.

At first I was at a loss on how to respond, so I just smiled and shook my head when he teased me. I knew it would be pointless to argue with him, at least in the beginning, until I knew him a little better. Since he brought up the topic due to his teasing, I began asking him why he would even jokingly say some of the things he brought up to me, so I could better understand his perspective and why he was so adamantly against the Christian faith. I soon learned his “beef” was really with all “organized religion.”  He just happened to target my co-worker and me because he knew we’d be more forgiving about it, and if we weren’t, then, dangit, that just proved his point about our Christian hypocrisy!

Rather than arguing with him, I knew all I could share was why I had initially been able to take that leap of faith and why I continued to believe. I acknowledged some of his primary questions like “how can we really know if God exists,” but I also gave examples of how I see God in my daily life and how I believe He helps me overcome difficulties. As I shared my experiences, he didn’t argue but listened. He even nodded his head a few times. While I may have not persuaded him to my own perspective, he respected me more after our discussion because he realized I wasn’t just blindly following the Christian faith. I, too, had grappled with many of the same questions/issues he had, but I eventually came to a different conclusion than he did. While he didn’t agree with me, he slowly quit teasing me about my faith.

A few weeks later, he admitted to me that he did greatly respect the other co-worker whom he had also teased. They had worked over ten years together, and during that time, he had always known him to be an outstanding person. He was always the first to lend a helping hand to someone in need, always considerate, forgiving.

While neither one of us could argue with our co-worker’s atheistic beliefs, I also realized that no amount of words could speak louder to him than the actions of my co-worker and me. He was watching us, observing us, and that spoke volumes to him more than anything we could verbally articulate.

Authenticity. It’s often what you do and not just what you say.

Finding Your Voice

On By femmefuelIn FemmeBytes by Bindu Adai-Mathew, September 2011 (Authenticity)Leave a comment

By Bindu Adai-Mathew

I once had a friend who was afraid to pray in front of people. She didn’t feel like she sounded “spiritual” enough. “I can’t pray like people in church,” she complained. Finally one day to help build her confidence, I convinced her that she should give it a try and pray at least in front of me. She finally agreed, held her palms together dramatically and began, “Oh, Lord Our Most Holy Exalted Father…” She threw in a couple of “thee’s” and “thou’s” as well as some additional grandiose words that I didn’t even know the meaning of. After she was done, she looked at me, grimaced, and said, “I told you so…”

I laughed, reminding her that few people today could pray in King James English as well as she did, and that God, not surprising, could understand our everyday English. I reassured her by telling her that if you can talk and hold a conversation with someone, then you already know how to pray. It’s not a good sign, I reminded her, if you’re more preoccupied with how you sound than what you’re actually saying to God.

Spiritual authenticity is about finding your voice. Speaking from your heart. Because that’s the only one that matters to God.  And frankly, that’s what He finds beautiful.

“When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get. Matthew 6:5