I'm soooooo busy!

Well, kind of busy, yes. I've been taking 2 classes through my church that are once a week each plus my Celebrate Recovery class on Friday nights.

One is the Peacemaker class that's actually a whole church study. It's designed to help us work on our relationships and learn how to handle conflict in a Godly way. The interesting thing is that it doesn't mean running away or giving up to make peace as I might have thought before I was a Christian. Neither does it mean fighting back to win. I've only read the first couple of chapters of the book so far so I can't talk a whole lot on this one. I need to read chapter 3 this week and there doesn't seem to be any homework with this one so it slides in pretty easily.

The other class, however, is more hands on. It's Financial Peace University as done by Dave Ramsey.  If you've taken the class you know it can be eye opening. I'm taking a harder look at our money than I have in my entire life and we're only in the 3rd week. If I stopped now and used what I learned I would be so far ahead in one year it would be incredible, and I still have 10 more weeks of class. I can't wait to find out what I never knew. I was talking to my sister about it a little bit tonight and we agreed that we never really learned how to budget from our parents. Our parents still don't exactly live on a budget of any kind. Unless, "Is the money there for it?" is a budget.

Add to that a couple of friends that I'm trying to help. They're having a tough time of it right now. They attend C.R. class with me most Friday's now but missed last week. Then I heard that she has been using prescribed meds and possibly abusing them. The meds in question aren't known as something to get high on typically but if you take enough of most anything you can alter your mind. I'm only getting his side of the story right now so I'm going to try not to draw conclusions but I will probably seek some advice on this one. There's always the concept that you can't drag someone into sobriety so you have to let them fall sometimes.

I've been reading in Corinthians for a while now and I can tell you that the second is easier to read than the first! 1 Corinthians felt like a heck of a butt chewing through the majority of it! In it Paul is admonishing the church in Corinth for a number of things like divisions in the church and immoral behaviors. Lawsuits between church members were apparently common as well. This actually falls under my study in Peacemakers because we, as Christians, are encouraged to take our conflicts to the church for resolution. Yet how often do we do this in today's world? How many pastors are prepared to handle potentially legal issues between parishioners? These are the things that lead to the fall of churches, friendships, and businesses.

So, at this time, I encourage you the reader, if you're having an issue, be it money, marriage, business, or any other issue, take it to your church first. See if you can find a solution there before you turn to lawsuits, or gossip, or violence. God wants us to work together, to be resources for each other. He gave each of us unique talents and abilities to be used in His name and for His purposes. In a group of 20 Christians you will usually find a majority of the help you will need in any normal given situation. Through my church I have found resources beyond anything the state would give me. Would the IRS provide me with personal finance classes? Would the courts teach me how to reconcile differences with others? Would I have been guided to get assistance with my substance issues before I got caught breaking a law like DUI or worse, injuring someone in an accident? I say no to each one of these and many more. Your church is there for you to become a better Christian, and sometimes that means reaching out and helping a person up in a way the never knew they needed.

So, I'm busy, but in a great way!