Texting with the Holy Spirit... Today at church I thought of this idea because I recently came out of a texting addiction. I keep going to all these church service type things where they keep talking about the Holy Spirit and how his presence is with us and we do everything with him and we can talk to him, and I think sometimes I forget it because I often feel alone and like I have no one to talk to. So I get addicted to Facebook or texting with a certain person when what I really should be doing is talking to God all day, so I started thinking maybe I could do it in a more tangible way, like I thought I could start "texting" the Holy Spirit on my phone for real. I mean I don't have an actual phone number for the Holy Spirit (obviously), but I started writing in the notes section of my phone as if I were texting. And the cool thing about texting the Holy Spirit is I can really tell him everything - everything I'm thinking and feeling and I don't have to worry about the relationship ending or him not caring or using something against me, it's pretty cool. Course it only really works if I really believe the Holy Spirit exists, but I think I'm starting to. And it's definitely easier to give up these other addictions when I have a good thing to replace them with, rather than just "trying not to text" or whatever. So there you go! This is my new idea - texting with the HS. Try it. Let me know how it goes.
John 14:15-17 - "If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever - the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you."
2 Corinthians 13:14 - "May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all."
Sunday, November 9, 2014
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Beauty and Judgment
God talks to me (in case you're wondering).
It's certainly helpful to stay in the Bible so I can tell which voice in my head is God's, and which ones are just myself or the world or Satan. Because when you know God's character, you can tell what's his voice by which one lines up with who he is. (John 10:27 - "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me" (ESV).)
But the point is, God gave me some instructions yesterday. (I love when he does this.)
I've been feeling pretty insecure lately. This happens when I haven't gotten an audition for a while or when the roles I'm getting picked for are "ugly girl," and "creepy customer," both of which happened this week. I must have looked at a mirror fifty-seven times yesterday, each time being like, "Ugh. Why are my legs so fat? Why am I so short? My bangs look hideous."
And what I've been noticing is I also judge other people in the same way I judge myself. It's embarrassing how often in my head I will notice people's flaws and compare them to my flaws, or if I see someone who seems to have no flaws, I want to keep staring at them like if I can just look long enough, maybe their good looks will magically rub off on me.
Why do I care so much about the way I look? Well, it's a visual industry, and even though God consistently reminds me that he likes to use unlikely people, I still wonder how I will ever really make it while looking like this.
I don't feel like this in any other part of the country or any other field of work. Anywhere but Hollywood I actually am pretty confident about myself, and I don't think about it that much. While here I get paralyzed at times and feel prisoner to my self-deprecating thoughts.
So yesterday, instead of God telling me all the ways I'm beautiful (or sending a guy to do that for me, which he's done before), he said this to me:
"Tracy, whenever you meet someone or whenever you're thinking about someone, I want you to think about what makes them beautiful. It can be an outward characteristic or a character trait or both. And do this for guys and girls, and watch how it changes who you are and how you think about yourself."
So in the car driving to Small Group last night, I started doing that, just thinking about people and what makes them beautiful. There's this one guy in my life that's a friend that I sometimes wonder if I could ever date, and in the past I've spent time pondering that idea and how it could or couldn't work. But I feel like that has been a waste of time, and so yesterday when I thought about him, I started thinking about what makes him beautiful. I am probably not supposed to be with him, but that doesn't mean I can't spend time appreciating the beautiful person God has made him to be.
So I just started this practice but I'm hoping to continue it. And as I continue to stay in the scriptures and pray and take control of my thoughts, I hope to also start thinking about myself in a more truthful and beautiful way.
It's certainly helpful to stay in the Bible so I can tell which voice in my head is God's, and which ones are just myself or the world or Satan. Because when you know God's character, you can tell what's his voice by which one lines up with who he is. (John 10:27 - "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me" (ESV).)
But the point is, God gave me some instructions yesterday. (I love when he does this.)
I've been feeling pretty insecure lately. This happens when I haven't gotten an audition for a while or when the roles I'm getting picked for are "ugly girl," and "creepy customer," both of which happened this week. I must have looked at a mirror fifty-seven times yesterday, each time being like, "Ugh. Why are my legs so fat? Why am I so short? My bangs look hideous."
And what I've been noticing is I also judge other people in the same way I judge myself. It's embarrassing how often in my head I will notice people's flaws and compare them to my flaws, or if I see someone who seems to have no flaws, I want to keep staring at them like if I can just look long enough, maybe their good looks will magically rub off on me.
Why do I care so much about the way I look? Well, it's a visual industry, and even though God consistently reminds me that he likes to use unlikely people, I still wonder how I will ever really make it while looking like this.
I don't feel like this in any other part of the country or any other field of work. Anywhere but Hollywood I actually am pretty confident about myself, and I don't think about it that much. While here I get paralyzed at times and feel prisoner to my self-deprecating thoughts.
So yesterday, instead of God telling me all the ways I'm beautiful (or sending a guy to do that for me, which he's done before), he said this to me:
"Tracy, whenever you meet someone or whenever you're thinking about someone, I want you to think about what makes them beautiful. It can be an outward characteristic or a character trait or both. And do this for guys and girls, and watch how it changes who you are and how you think about yourself."
So in the car driving to Small Group last night, I started doing that, just thinking about people and what makes them beautiful. There's this one guy in my life that's a friend that I sometimes wonder if I could ever date, and in the past I've spent time pondering that idea and how it could or couldn't work. But I feel like that has been a waste of time, and so yesterday when I thought about him, I started thinking about what makes him beautiful. I am probably not supposed to be with him, but that doesn't mean I can't spend time appreciating the beautiful person God has made him to be.
So I just started this practice but I'm hoping to continue it. And as I continue to stay in the scriptures and pray and take control of my thoughts, I hope to also start thinking about myself in a more truthful and beautiful way.
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