Liena's Prayer: Counting the Cost In Syria

Liena's children counted the cost to follow Jesus

This past week I was struggling with discouragement. I don't believe it is merely coincidental that personal trials become complex when we shift our gaze off of Christ. It's easy to blow things out of proportion and minimize how self-centered our struggles really are.   

I found my wakeup call through the testimony of a woman in Syria. Liena and her family turned down offers of asylum in Western countries after civil war broke out in Syria. They knew the cost that might be required, but they chose to remain as witnesses to their Muslim neighbors and as an encouragement to other Christians.

Contrary to Osteen's Humanistic Message, Bonhoeffer Calls Us to Die to Self

Deep within us there rages a battle to be like God. This self-made image in our hearts begs to be identified as master and lord of our universe. The flesh wants life to revolve around itself, Not Christ. But Bonhoeffer begs the Christian to realize, "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”

Victoria Osteen's message justifies my natural fleshly desires: "Just do good for your own self. Do good because God wants you to be happy. When you come to church, when you worship Him, you’re not doing it for God really. You’re doing it for yourself." 

At the very core of her message is a humanistic philosophy.

Victoria Osteen Preaches, "We're Not Doing it For God. We're doing it For Ourselves"

According to Victoria Osteen, wife of megachurch speaker and author Joel Osteen, “I just want to encourage every one of us to realize when we obey God, we’re not doing it for God—I mean, that’s one way to look at it—we’re doing it for ourselves, because God takes pleasure when we’re happy,” she declares in the undated 36-second clip with her husband standing by her side and nodding. “That’s the thing that gives Him the greatest joy…” 

Her sermon has gone viral as the Christian community protests its humanistic and scripturally antithetical message. 

Experiencing Rest in a Time of Busyness

"When we are crazy busy, we put our souls at risk. The challenge is not merely to make a few bad habits go away. The challenge is to not let our spiritual lives slip away." -Kevin DeYoung, Crazy Busy: A (Mercifully) Short Book About a (Really) Big Problem

My life is crazy busy. 

I wake up at 5:00am every morning and work 8-10 hours a day.  

When I'm not sleeping or working, I'm squeezing time in my day for my family, talk to my boyfriend at night, and meeting up with friends for early morning coffee chats.