Welcome Mat!!

Someone once said something that stuck in my brain - which is quite an achievement for me !!!

Christians are WELCOME mats not ............. DOOR mats.

It was and is something that I think I have to remember at all times.

We all know the pressure that life can put on you it may be family, work, friends, church or just day to day living. But what I found when I first become Christian I was a bit of a yes girl  - I felt I couldn't say no as that now seemed rude.
 If God loved me then who was I to say no when He had said yes to me.

Then I found I was being pulled in all sorts of directions and getting nothing done properly.
And then when you start thinking about things and you see that people take advantage of that nature too.

It is really hard to say no I find it much easier to say yes.

I think that we all want to be liked by everyone but then another wise friend said to me that "we will all come across people that will not like us" and the energy we spend on trying to make them like us we may be missing the person that God really wants us to befriend.

Its not a case I suddenly have to turn into a hard nose moo!! I just have to be sure before I do!!

God has made us who we are - what He wants to do for us is smooth out the rough bits and make us smooth like the potters clay so He can mould us into the most effective person we can be.

And if I am so busy doing things and just saying yes to everything and everyone then when will He be able to mould me.

Now this may be quite radical for a Christian - but it is OK to say NO. I have realised this now and when I listen to other friends most of the  tiredness and stress is caused because they just cannot say NO.
We all worry that if we do, we look bad but sometimes it is so empowering to say it.

About 4 years ago I pulled back from alot of things to give myself some breathing space and in this time started to study the bible. I had always struggled with the bible people in church would read a verse then talk about in such a way that I went back and read it and got nothing from it - it was just another paragrph in a book!!
But without all the distractions around me I was able to spend more time with God and study and suddenly the word on the page became alive I actually wanted to study a passage understand the thought behind it, the history of the time to put it in context it was so exciting!!. This from the girl that was just average at school suddenly I could see a picture in those words!!
The thing is if I hadn't take time out and said no to things I would never have had the time to study and spend uncluttered time with God.
 I would also never have had the confidence to talk to people about God in the way I do now.

So I know its ok to say no sometimes ............ and yes as well!!
Because welcome mats are ok ............but a door mat gets clogged up with all the mud people tread in on it and then it cannot absorb anymore.

Psalm 46:10   He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;