Happiness from the Alabaster Box / Mrs Reese Fowler

Mrs Reese Fowler

Pastor's Wife

Columbus, OH

 

 

 Happiness from the Alabaster Box

By Reese Fowler

Let’s talk about being happy. When I was a little girl my parents bought me a pink Barbie bicycle for my 8th birthday and that made me happy. Then I became a teenager, and my parents gave me some money.  I went to the mall with my friends and bought a new dress and that made me happy. When I got married my husband and I bought a house and that made me happy. Then we had kids and that made me happy. On and on things were making me happy, but I learned over time that all these things brought me temporary happiness.

There is nothing in this world that can bring you joy or happiness. Your happiness shouldn’t be based on things.

 I believe that a Christian’s happiness is based on their relationship with Jesus Christ and totally surrendering their entire being everyday to God.

I came across these Bible verses a few months ago and realized what God was trying to teach me from the alabaster box. 

Mark 14:3-6  And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious, and she brake the box, and poured it on his head. And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of ointment made? For it might have been sold for more

than 300 pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her. And Jesus said, Let her alone, why trouble ye her? She hath wrought a good work on me. 

Lessons learned:

1. Jewish parents will give their daughter an alabaster box filled with spikenard oil when she comes of age. Then when she is married and becomes a bride, she will bring her alabaster box as her dowry (her families’ worth/value) on the night of her consummation/honeymoon. She pours it out on her husband’s feet. This symbolizes complete devotion, submission, and obedience to her husband. 

The lady in the Bible broke the box so that it couldn’t ever be used for anyone or anything else. It symbolized her complete love and devotion to Jesus. We need to offer ourselves and be completely broken to God every day.

2.  A hand carved alabaster box filled with spikenard oil can cost anywhere from $300-$3000.

We are of great value to God!

3. Alabaster is a mineral/rock made up of fine grained gypsum. It is mostly made of white marble which represented purity. The more expensive alabaster boxes

can be set in a window sill and the light will shine through it. 

When we become a child of God, He washes our sins away and makes us white as snow. We can also let God’s Light shine through us.

So what does the alabaster box have to do with being happy? Everything!

When we give Jesus all of us, total surrender, then we can only be one way, Happy!

Dear Father,

Today, I choose to be happy. Right now, I offer my alabaster box to You. I break myself open and surrender all of me. You say that I’m precious in Your sight, so I pour out my precious oil to You. Please take all of me, my stubbornness, my selfishness, my goals, my attitude. Please take all of me. I am Yours. Please control my words and actions. Help me to be a servant to others and exemplify You in everything I do. Amen

Let It Go! / Mrs Alicemarie Johnon

 

Mrs Alicemarie Johnson

Pastor's Wife

River Lake Baptist Church

Waverly, TN

 



 

Let it Go!

Let it go!!!  I know, I know; now some of you have that song in your head!  No, that is not what I am referring to here today!  We often hold on to things that we should not; things that will hold us back in life.  Often, our circumstances can become difficult, and we struggle to understand.  Perhaps someone has hurt us, and we want to become angry and bitter.  Perhaps an illness or a financial problem has loomed large in your life.  I have really struggled with some of this myself lately.  I have felt hurt, anger, disillusionment; but I also know that these things are poison to the victorious life God wants me to have.

Let it go—hurt, anger, bitterness.  “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you with all malice.”  Ephesians 4:31.  When we hold a grudge, we only harm ourselves.  Anger is an acid that eats away at our joy.  Bitterness binds us in chains; our freedom is to let it go! 

Let it go—frustration with the things that come in our lives out of our control.  I have questioned “Why?” in my life many times; then God reminds me in Proverbs 3:5 & 6, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding.”  When I let go of my own reasoning, and trust God and His will, then I can have peace in my struggles.   It is hard to trust, but when I do, God gives strength and peace to keep enduring.  

I know so many of us are going through difficult times.  Hold fast to the promises God gives us in His Word.  Hold fast to Romans 6:28: “And we know all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”  

Has someone hurt you?  Let it go!  God will handle the situation. 

Don't I Have Any Rights Around Here? / Mrs Eileen Abberger

 

Mrs Eileen Abberger

Pastor's Wife

Lakeview Baptist Church

Lakeview, MI

 

 

 

 

Don't I Have Any Rights Around Here?

I like pretty things. I surround myself with as much prettiness (is that a word?) as I can! 

My husband has given me great liberty to decorate and paint my home any way I choose!  I'm grateful and I try hard not to "girlie" it up too much!!!

The ladies at our church gave me a BEAUTIFUL geranium arrangement. It is artificial but it looks REAL; really real!  I had it proudly displayed on my dining room table.

My husband works from home from time to time. He chooses to sit at the dining room table!  As he would "bump" my flower arrangement, it would tip over onto whatever he was working. After a while he said, "Can you move this somewhere else?" I would respond, "It looks so pretty on that table, and besides our ladies bought this for me!"  This scenario went on (sad to say) for a few weeks. Finally, he became exasperated and said, "Can't you find somewhere else for this?  Don't I have any rights around here?"  I seized the moment!  I answered, "Yes, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be used against you!!!"  We both laughed, and I moved the flowers to another table.

Romans 12:10 says, "Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly kindness:  in honor preferring one another."

Life offers us endless opportunities to become divided. We are different. He is very practical and logical. I am very emotional; oh, did I say emotional! Yup!  But God intended that our differences bring peace and order to our relationship. The way in which we accomplish this goal is through honoring and preferring one another. To honour my husband means to respect him, to place great value on him. It means to highly esteem him. We will always be different, but we must learn to be considerate of our differences. God made us to compliment each other's differences, not hurt each other.

Understanding each other is one of the keys to a good marriage. Good understanding requires listening and transparency.  

James 3:18 says, "And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace."

Proverbs 18:21 says, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue:  and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof."

How can I honor my husband?  How can I show him the value which I find in him?  How can I prefer him?  I will esteem him as I guide my thoughts and my words in a path that is guided by wisdom and unselfishness:  James 3:17 tells us that the wisdom that comes from God is:

1) Pure - clean and transparent
2) Peaceable - harmonious, absent of strife and defensiveness
3) Gentle - the ability to recognize when our mate is weak or frustrated
4) Full of Mercy - ready to forgive; without grudge holding
5) Good Fruit - Healing and for the benefit of others
6) Without Partiality- Arousing uncertainty (moving the flower arrangement before he's frustrated)
7) Without Hypocrisy - having a different measuring stick for yourself than you do for your husband.


Good marriages are not an accident. If we want a good marriage, we must intentionally work on it every day.  I love my husband. He is the greatest gift I've been given apart from my salvation.  It will only continue to be that way to the degree I esteem, honour and love him!  Let's get busy preferring one another!

Carpe Diem – Seize the Day! / Mrs Karen Caviness

 

Mrs Karen Caviness

Pastor's Wife

Victory Baptist Church

Roseburg, OR

 

 





Carpe Diem – Seize the Day!

I recently had yet another birthday. It seems like the older I get, the faster time flies by. It’s hard to believe that 2015 is now halfway gone. It should be our desire to make every day count. We shouldn’t squander away the precious time God has given us. He tells us in His word to “redeem the time”.
 Eph. 5:16  Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
 Col. 4:5      Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.
Instead of just floating through each day with a “Que sera, sera. Whatever will be, will be” attitude; we need to start each morning determined to seize the day! To do so, we need to:

1.  Rejoice in the day – Psalm 118:24  This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will     rejoice and be glad in it.
 Do you let the circumstances of each day dictate whether or not you will have a good day? Sometimes we start our day off frustrated and in a foul spirit because we are having a bad hair day. Do you really want something as silly as the protein growing out of your head to control what kind of day you are going to have? But it may be something much more serious that is trying to steal your joy: a serious illness, a broken heart or some other storm of life that you are facing. 
 To rejoice in the day we need to realize, first of all, it could be worse. Our trials seem so huge until we put them in prospective. I had a friend who was gloomy because her first child had left for Bible college and she would not see her for several months. I told her of another friend who just shared with me her broken heart over her daughter who has turned her back on God and is living in rebellion and sin with her lesbian partner. Suddenly she was thankful for her situation instead of gloomy. The familiar phrase, “I complained because I had no shoes, then I met a man that had no feet,” is a good reminder of this truth.
 Secondly, if we are going to rejoice in the day we need to remember - God sees the big picture. We can’t always see the reasons why God allows things to happen in our day. We just need to trust Him and rest in the knowledge that He knows what we need and what is best for us. After 911 I read of several different employees at the twin towers that were late for work that day because of frustrating circumstances. One person had a flat on the way to work, a lady could not find her keys, a man wore a new pair of shoes that day that rubbed a blister on his foot and he had to stop and buy band-aids. In each case the person’s life was saved because of the frustrating, delaying circumstance. We won’t know until heaven how many times God’s hand of protection has been on us and we were frustrated and grumbling over the very circumstances used to protect us.

2.  Prioritize the day – I Cor. 14:40  Let all things be done decently and in order.
 If we do not prioritize the day then we seem to do those things that are screaming at us to get done or that our flesh enjoys doing. This results in coming to the end of the day and
realizing that the laundry may be done and the dishes are clean but no time was spent with your children teaching and training them. You had no time to connect with your husband today. Or perhaps it is late and you are just too sleepy to have any time in your Bible and prayer now, but you did spend an hour on Facebook and who know’s how long on Pinterest. 
 Matt. 6:33  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
 The order of our life should be: God, family, ministry, occupation, recreation. Too many times that order gets totally flipped around. You may say, “But I am a faithful Christian busy serving the Lord.” If we aren’t careful we can even get out of order in our service. We become a Martha and neglect our Mary time sitting at the feet of Jesus. It doesn’t matter how many hours we pour into ministry, if we are not building a strong relationship with our own children and taking the necessary time to train them then we are out of order. Make sure to keep each day in priority.

Redeem the time. Make each day count. Seize the day!