Spilled Milk

Last night I had the privilege of attending the Joyce Meyer Ministries conference with my family at the Giant Center in Hershey, PA. I’ve been listening to Joyce since I got saved in 1992, and I attended her annual Women’s Conference with a friend in 2006. For those of you who are unfamiliar with her ministry, Joyce is a 60-something Christian author and speaker whose radio and television ministry reaches 3 billion people around the globe! Her ministry fully funds orphanages in many third-world countries where they feed, clothe and educate orphaned children. They’ve dug over 200 fresh-water wells in remote villages, providing clean drinking water for thousands of people. The ministry is debt-free, and 80% of every dollar donated goes toward helping others. There is no charge to attend one of her conferences.

One of the things I like about Joyce is that she is REAL! She often uses examples from her own life (often humorous) on how to deal with every day situations and become more Christ-like. Her examples are always backed with Scripture. Last night she spoke about the necessity of putting on the shoes of the Gospel of peace (Ephesians 6) — seeking peace, even pursuing it (1 Peter 3:10-11)! She said that living a life of peace is a decision where you say “I have decided that I WILL have peace in my life, and I’m not going to let anyone steal my joy!” She encouraged people to stop getting upset about things they can’t do anything about! Good advice, especially for this mother of 8 where there are a thousand things I could get upset about in a 24-hour period! Joyce brought up her classic example of “spilled milk!” She related how one day one of her kids spilled their milk, which seemed like a daily occurence. She was underneath the table wiping it up, getting kicked in the head and ranting and raving about the spilled milk. And God spoke to her, “Joyce, you can rant and rave all you want, but the milk will never run back up the table leg and jump back into that cup!” Hmmmmm! I think every mother (and father) can relate to that example! Maybe you don’t get irritated at spilled milk, but what about muddy shoes on the just-washed kitchen floor? Lights left on? The back door that always seems ajar? Toothpaste in the sink? The toilet seat up? Joyce later remarked, “We spend time trying to control our circumstances when we should be controlling ourselves!” Ouch! She said “You gotta put on peace! Do it on purpose!” Are you a peaceful person? Today I am going to try harder to “live at peace with everyone” as far as it depends on me (Romans 12:18)!