10. Murder – I was away from Ole Jus and the kids overnight
this week so that helped suppress the urge.
9. Keep the Sabbath Holy – I worshipped and napped. I think
that’s what God intended for Sabbaths.
8. Stealing – Didn’t do it.
7. Honor the mom and dad – So far so good this week.
6. Covet – I didn’t
covet my neighbor’s house, ox or donkey. I don’t think.
5. Idols – I didn’t worship any other Gods. Upon a deeper
more in depth review, maybe I idolized my iPhone or my husband…nah…not this
week.
4. Drink or use Drugs – I didn’t use any drugs. I drank in
moderation…this week.
3. Beating People – I didn’t physically harm anyone this
week…kids included.
2. Lie – I don’t lie. Ever.
I will say nothing before you hear a lie come out of my mouth.
1. Cussing – I don’t use foul language. Not sure why that’s
so easy for me, but we all have our vices and mine can be found elsewhere. I
stick with “poopy head” and “darn”.
I wanted to list my un-sins so I can build my credibility
before I divulged the lesson God smacked me in the face with this weekend.
I attended a Christian Women’s Conference called Women of
Faith with two awesome sisters in Christ. We all three come from the same town
with similar backgrounds and live the “mom and wife” life now. With a two hour
drive as part of the adventure there was plenty of time to play with the Fat Booth app and talk…a lot of
talk. I found that a lot of our
conversations were about people. Who’s having a baby, who’s getting married,
who got a haircut. I even found myself making remarks like, “Her husband is way
cuter than she is” and “She always lies…about everything”. I had an inkling of a thought or two about
the detriments to my spirit this kind of talk is doing. I’m sure the devil
finds delight in each and every one of those comments.
During the conference, Matthew West sang a few songs and one
of my favorites is titled Hello My Name
Is. During the song he showed pictures like the one you see below.
He spoke briefly saying, we all came in here with a name on
our nametag. What is the enemy telling you your nametag says? It hit me like a
lightning bolt. HELLO MY NAME IS…GOSSIP.
Well thank you Jesus for ruining the great time I was having and trying
to make me a better person! Good grief.
Another speaker talked about the baggage we all walked into American
Airlines Center with that day. She probed, “What would it look like if we left
all that baggage here and walked out empty handed; free and clear of the weight it bears on us?”
Some women came in with baggage that looks like divorce, depression, and complacency. There I was with a big ole suitcase on my
lap. I’m imagining it is dark brown with tan letters on it, but instead of LV’s
on the precious Italian leather (as in Louis Vuitton) it reads “GOSSIP”. Dang
it.
So I prayed. I made a new nametag and left my baggage in
American Airlines Center this weekend. I will likely encounter failure, but I have a new
name that empowers me to move forward and do better…FROM THIS SIDE OF THIRTY.
