What is reality?

Tomorrow I am supposed to be "teaching" my Junior High girls. I thought awhile about what it was that I wanted to address and decided I would discuss something that is very real to girls. Reality? The online definition is the quality or state of being actual or true. Ummmm. So to a girl what exactly does this mean?

I am twenty five and still struggle to gain a grasp of what this is. I do not believe it to be strictly a female issue though can attest to the fact that it can be a regular problem. Without saying to terribly much girls hormones react and affect things much different then guys. So I can tell you personally my struggle with sin and reality is very much attached to my emotions. If you are a guy and have grown up with sisters you probably have seen this often (or at least once a month : ) (That may help you out later in dating or when your married ;) I can relate to this as a problem in me.

It is very difficult to see through what you feel. Think about how strong emotions are. Oh, and did I add that mine can be slightly more extreme when I forget to take my medicine? (I am on a thyroid pill but forget it as often as I take it and since your thyroid regulates your hormones I can experience the rollercoaster affect slightly more extreme) So how do you deal and how do you answer questions? (Don't for a minute think I do not think this is a serious sin. I promise I do and I don't use it as an excuse I just spend lots and lots of time apologizing for being a dumb girl)

1. What is reality?

Reality would have to be what is factual. Even that is difficult to decipher. The world is round. That is a fact and that is reality. God created truth. Truth is also fact. What about the lies that we see as reality?

2. What defines it?

Is it our emotions, our minds, our world? What should define it? The world defines reality as something real but what determines what we believe to be real?

3. What determines reality?

I too often let the world have a say in what determines my personal reality. Think of what voices fill your head and which ones you listen to. I can think of issues with how I look, situations involving my standards with guys being attacked, the things I live for, the things I love and would die for. When I am overcome with an emotion I often need to be told the reality of the situation by someone a bit more stable then myself. It can be simple things that shake my world and fed by my own emotion they shake my world...at least for a second. I need the reminders scripture offers until I can see clearly again.

James 1:13-15
Let no one say when he is tempted, " I am being tempted by God,"for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and when it is full grown brings forth death.

Psalm 84:11
For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. NO good thing does he withold form those who walk uprightly.

II Peter 3:8-
But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

Jeremiah 29:11-14
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me. When you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord , and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

This is all something that really needs to be answered by scripture. My second parents and a guy from church discussed looking to scripture for truth. They were not talking to me but it has stuck with me. I know truth lies there in the promises, in what reality is. It is a way to have a solid foundation and this I am so thankful for. So really these are just things I am thinking about and trying to seek answers about. I love the calming truth of the gospel.



4. What shakes my reality?

Circumstances. Things people say. Things I do not do or things that I do. Fear. Not trusting God but rather fearing something can be outside of His plan. We are all in the refining process and so I admit I fall very short. I am so far from where I was yet still so far away. I guess no one is perfect. We are all in processing. So I need to not fear but rather live fearlessly.

So what is my reality?
I am 25, a girl. I love Jesus and fail him every day. I am 5'1"(until I get old and shrink " ). I love laughter, love, the sky. I love art and music and dancing though who knows what God will bring. I have a cat, a parrot, two ferrets and am back at home. I am somewhat social and busy. I have tattoos that are going to be there for awhile. I am single and may stay that way for awhile since I usually make it difficult for a guy to know that I really like him by often acting quit contrary. I work at a bank and am still in school. I write a lot, can talk a lot and play a lot. Let's let God continue to define my reality by trying to trust HOW HE WILL WRITE THE FINAL DRAFT.