Our Oikos

I had an extremely eventful weekend—boots in the house! cousins drove out for the day, Christmas program Sunday morning, and work at night. It was a busy, but extremely exciting!

Something we had to do while our cousins were here was go bowling—it’s almost become a tradition. But while we were on the way there—I cannot remember how it came up—but my cousin was telling me what she had been studying in their small-group Bible study at their church. She said they had been studying the word or the concept of oikos.

Oikos is a Greek word that, according to Strongs and BibleStudyTools.com, is defined as:

1. A house

2. The inmates of a house, all the persons forming one family, a household 

3. Stock, family, descendants of one

My cousin explained it to me as more of number two. She called it “the people you do life with”. She said they learned it was a group of usually 8 to 15 people that make up your every day, people you see, talk to, deal with, on a regular basis, and our big parts of your life (whether they’re “good” parts or not ;). I found a similarly minded article which I’ll add to the end of this post :D She went on to say how, yes we are to take the share the Gospel to our Judea and the “uttermost parts of the world” but also our Jerusalem, and our oikos is our Jerusalem. How we need to be impacting, loving, and leading/pointing the people in our oikos to Jesus.

It was a very interesting and new concept to me, and I really enjoyed learning about it. 

I usually work Sunday nights, and this last Sunday night, after they had our candlelight Christmas service, nearly our entire (yes, it is small ;) church came out to eat where I work. They filled up the lobby, gave me a hard time as I took their orders ;) sang a Christmas carol, and honestly rather made my night :D

After everyone was sitting down and fellowshipping, I was back behind the counter, cleaning up a mess, when I just tuned in to the conversation and laughter behind me. Sure, I hear this type of thing whenever I work, but this time it was familiar laughter, familiar voices. And I realized something: they were my oikos. That group of about 40ish people are literally the people I do life with. The ones I consider my family, closest friend, people I can trust for Godly counsel or simply encouragement; the friends I can be completely crazy with, but serious too; the ones I would miss extremely bad if I were to switch colleges and attend another out-of-state; the ones who love and accept me (and my family) for who I am.

They are my oikos.

And I love them and appreciate them very, very much!!

What about you? Who is your oikos at this stage in your life? What do you appreciate about them? :D How was your weekend? What random, awesome things has God been teaching you?

Merry Christmas, everyone! 

Here is the link I referred to earlier: I haven't read it thoroughly, so I'm not saying I agree with/condone everything it says, and it is taken from a specific church's site; just sharing it for interest and the sake of further study :) 

http://www.granitecreek.org/oikos-defined/ 

http://biblehub.com/greek/3624.htm 

http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/oikos.html

When God does the Unusual

So far, this has been a wonderful Christmas. Yes. Our family had "our Christmas" yesterday ;-), and we will be having it again tomorrow with my mom's side of the family. My brothers, sisters, and I have had lots of fun, eaten great food (thanks mom!), and received wonderful gifts... but perhaps, most wonderful of all, were the little gifts I received from Jesus (also known as special blessings :)

This past year has been one of anger and frustration for me. So. many. times. this year, I've cried out  to God, through tears of anger, in moments of raw honesty and asked,

why?!

Why God have you allowed this into my life, to happen to me? 

All I ever did was what was right! Why am I going through this {pain} when all through {this period of my life} I followed hard after you, loved you, served you, obeyed you, to the best of my ability, are others being blessed, and I am not?

First of all, you must understand, I know this is wrong. And I would tell God that. I would tell Him I knew I was acting as though I was entitled to His blessing and being utterly disrespectful, and I was sorry, but it was how I felt at the time, and He wants us to pour our hearts out to Him, so I was doing it! 

My dad always told me when I was little to 'talk to Jesus as though I was talking to my best friend'. I've been blessed with a few special friends. Friends I know I can trust implicitly and be brutally, ugly honest, and they will still love me, unconditionally, for who I am, who I can be through Christ, and will pray me through the bad times. 

And that's how I am when I talk to God. Brutally honest. He knows my deepest thoughts that even I don't understand, so He knows how I feel already. ;) 

But anyway. :) More than once I went through this. 

I felt betrayed.

Betrayed by the One who promised to never leave me nor forsake me. 

(Funny thing is, my head knew/knows waaaaaaay better. But emotions?? eh... not so much.) 

I felt betrayed. Like, since I had lived rightly before God, I should be rewarded for good behavior. But that wasn't what I saw happening. I felt my life falling into weird places I never thought it would, as I watched (over, and over, and agonizingly over again) all my friends lives fall (as i perceived it) neatly into perfect place. 

And I felt betrayed. Like I was being punished for having done the right thing. Like Joseph in the Old Testament. 

But last Sunday, my Pastor preached a sermon that, in a way, contrasted Jesus' birth and John's birth and the reactions to each. Not only did it help me to see Mary in a different way, but it was an encouragement to me as well. 

You see, when John was born? People rejoiced! When Elisabeth became pregnant with him, people celebrated! She and Zacharias were not supposed to be able to have children, and yet they did! There was joy for John. 

But except for a handful of people, there was no joy for Jesus. His parents were not married, and became the object of gossip and ridicule. His parents were poor and had to make the journey to Bethlehem, then flee shortly thereafter to Egypt. When Mary became pregnant with Jesus, people whispered behind her back, they did not rejoice with her. 

Then pastor made a comment about how "being in the will of God will bring contrast into our lives. 

God may ask us to do things, or allow things to happen to us, that MAKE. NO. SENSE. Things that very few people will understand. 

Just like when He had a virgin conceive and bear a son, and how Mary was ridiculed for the rest of her life... for simply bearing the son of God!!!! For being the Godly young woman after His own heart that He CHOSE to have His Son! Mary had done "everything right". So right, that she became the mother of the most high. But at times, when people would scowl at her in the streets, murmur behind her back as she traveled through the village with baby Jesus on her hip, make snide remarks about she and Joseph that were untrue-- untrue because God had done the unusual in her life-- I wonder if she felt betrayed. Lifted her eyes to heaven and whispered, "Why, Lord? All I ever did was serve you!" I am not trying to add anything to the Bible, I just wonder if Mary ever felt betrayed, too. 

But she knew. She knew, just like I knew, that even though I feel that way, it isn't/wasn't true. 

She knew that God had chosen to do something unusual in her life, and she chose to obey that call. 

I'm sure that often it made little sense to her, 

Just as though it makes no sense to us, when we go through what we see as useless pain. Pain so unbearable at times we cry out to God, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING??? How could you possibly intend to use this for your glory!?!?". But that's exactly what He tends to do. Use the unusual, the painful, the unbearable, the things in our lives that we and no one else understands, somehow. for. GOOD. 

So today, this Christmas, please dear friend. 

Don't lose hope. 

When God does or allows something not in your plans that seems to wreck your life, realize He's not betraying you. Remember He loves you, and somehow, He's going to work this all together for His good, for His purposes. (Romans 8:28) if we let Him. Mary let Him. I know this is hard :( Remember how Mary in the New Testament and Joseph in the Old did what was right, and it seemed as though they only got pain in response?? 
But the ending of those two stories?? 

God worked through Joseph to save many nations from starvation. 

and God worked, through Mary, to bring the Savior into the world who would redeem the souls of all mankind. 

What could He be doing with your pain today, sweet sister? 

Merry Christmas!!!

Picture Source: http://www.testimoniesofheavenandhell.com/Pictures-Of-Jesus/

Source of Post Title: was pastor's sermon title ;)

Finding Favor (Part One)

“Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: So shalt thou find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man.”  (Proverbs 3:3-4)

{found via Google Images}

If you and I, as young ladies, obey the advice laid out in verse 3, I will find FAVOR with God and Man. This is an actual promise from the Lord!

With Christmas so rapidly approaching, surely we've heard Gabrielle’s famous proclamation to Mary quoted at least once! Mary, at a young age, had not let mercy and truth forsake her. She had “bound them about her neck”. She had “written them upon the table of her heart.” Then, out of nowhere, an angel brings her the astonishing news that she of all women is honored with the privilege of carrying, giving birth to, and rearing the Messiah! After she voices her humble “why me!?” Gabrielle informs her that she had “found favor with God.”

Not by doing any huge extra-Godly act—but by a lifetime of humble, faithful obedience.

Sometimes, in trying to please other people and finding it impossible, we may subconsciously decide God is impossible to please as well. L

But thanks to the Biblical account of Mary we (you!) may rest assured, dear sister that just as Mary did it is possible to obtain favor with God!!!

AND! Before you even begin to even set up that ‘spiritual gymnastics routine’ to obtain that favor with God, let me stop you… (And stop myself as well). While we should strive to attain favor with God, there are no phenomenal, nearly impossible feats we must first accomplish in order to do this! (Ever notice that the SILENCE in the Scripture in reference to a detailed description of Mary or her spiritual “accomplishments”?? Maybe God left it that way for a reason!)

Perhaps the best way to “find favor with God” is by daily simple and humble obedience to God’s mercy and truth as written in His Word—not any type of ‘performance’ we must do before we can be ‘excepted’ or ‘a good Christian’.

So today, focus on that, dear sister. God loves you for who you are in and by Him—not because of what you do!!!!!