Are You Strange to Others?

Have you ever felt singled out for no apparent reason? If you're a reader of my blog, you know the criticism I face on a daily basis. The negativity multiplied last year when my book was released.

The things viewers have complained about the most, I changed. For instance, they complained about my pregnancies, I'm no longer pregnant. They complained about my weight, I've lost 60 pounds. They complained about my clothes, I bought new ones. They even complained about my long hair, I've donated it 3 times. Just last week, a lady called to inform me that the hair on the right side of my head was longer than the left side!

I once looked up the meaning of my name. Barbie is derived from Barbara which means in the Greek "stranger, an alien in the land". How fitting that someone once told me people are not criticizing you; they're criticizing the Jesus in you because you're different.

2 Timothy 3:12 says, "Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." Another way to put it: the anointing will not keep the criticism from coming, but the anointing will make you not care about the criticism.

If you find yourself being criticized by mean-spirited people, press on. You're a stranger in the land you are just passing through!

Here is a video I did with the Beacon staff on this subject. If your computer won't let you watch it, you can click here to see it: http://vimeo.com/17366631

Responding in the Spirit from Mississippi College on Vimeo.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

We all have decisions we're facing. They never seem to go away, do they? Some seem more urgent than others, but every decision you are facing is important to God. He wants to give you direction and guide you through the choices ahead so you won't make a mistake. If you're like me, you'd like to have a crystal ball so you could see 5, 10 or 15 years down the road BEFORE you made your decision.

In Acts 16:6-10, Paul was headed to preach in Asia Minor but the Holy Spirit spoke to him and stopped him. "They passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia; and after they came to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithunia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them; and passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. A vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him and saying, 'Come over to Macedonia and help us.' When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them."

Did God not care about those other cities? Sure He did; He just had a different plan in mind. He knew the direction He wanted Paul to go and redirected Paul and his friends. Paul would later travel though Asia Minor and many would be saved, but this wasn't the time for it to happen.

Timing is everything to God. He knows exactly when to hold us back and when to motivate us forward. However, to hear His guidance, we must surrender our plans and be willing to wait, perhaps indefinitely, until He leads us to the next step. Waiting is an active step of faith and obedience.

(Barbie will be speaking at the Mississippi Student Council Convention this weekend in Starkville.)

An Earthly Mind vs An Eternal Mind

I've been so surprised lately at the number of people, including some Christians, who are not living with an eternal mind-set. They are more concerned with living for the day and are not considering what God wants them to do. They haven't seen God's glory and goodness being poured out for them because of their earthly mind-set.

God cares for you or He would not allow disappointments to come your way. Ask any athlete and they will tell you victory comes with some pain. In a similar way, we are being trained to serve God and honor Him with our lives. He wants to teach us to be compassionate, to love and pray for those who have hurt us. Although when you hurt, He hurts, He will use whatever problem or adversity we face to draw us closer to Him.

1 Peter 5:6-7 says, "humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you." When God gives you strength to go through whatever it is, it is not a self-induced strength. Is is a God inspired strength that comes when we humble ourselves before God. This means we submit our lives to Christ, trusting Him to take care of every problem and trial we have.

God will always listen. He is committed to answer your cries for help. He see your prayers as faith in Him and He will move on your behalf! Go through your day with this in mind!

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March Comes In Like A Lion

It seems like I've talked more about weather lately than anything else! The old saying how March comes in like a lion seems to hold true as we could see strong thunderstorms today through Saturday.

A strong cold front will move closer to Mississippi later this evening spawning thunderstorms. These storms could contain hail and damaging winds. Here is a graphical depiction from the NWS (click the picture in order to make it larger):

Heavy rain is possible Saturday. Considering we ended February with a 2.60" deficit, rain will be welcome for most of the state. Storms could intensify again producing severe thunderstorms, hail and damaging wind gusts. At this time, the risk for tornadoes is small, which is good news. Here is the graphic depiction from the NWS for Saturday:

Temperatures will drop behind the cold front Sunday so don't go to church unprepared! Meantime, another cold front bringing storms to the area is expected next Wednesday, so this is shaping up to be a busy start to March!

As always, you can follow my weather updates on Twitter @BarbieBassett and "Like" my Facebook page called "Barbie Bassett WLBT". Please be sure to stay tuned to WLBT for the latest weather information and have your NOAA weather radio on.

A Great Day for Great Lengths

There are no words to describe how inspiring Great Lengths day was for me personally. Every hair donor had a reason for enduring months, even years, of growing their hair out for this cause. The women who will receive the human hair wigs will probably never meet her donor this side of eternity, but it didn't seem to bother the men, women and children who cut their hair.

I want to thank St.Dominic Cancer Services for sponsoring Great Lengths and for housing the wigs in their 'wig room'. And a great big thank you goes to the Mississippi Institute of Aesthetics, Nails & Cosmetology in Clinton for hosting the event.

I spoke with several cancer survivors who had lost their hair through cancer treatment and were able to receive a wig through the Pantene's Beautiful Lengths program. They all had one things in common: a grateful heart for those who donated hair for their wig. One cancer survivor even decided to give back for the gift she was given 3 years ago and had her own hair cut yesterday for someone else.

One 7 year old girl donated in honor of her classmate who has leukemia. Her classmate was supposed to cut her hair for her, but her friend was put back into the hospital yesterday morning. I watched as the stylist cut her hair for her instead, but you could see her friend weighed heavy on her heart. Here is kind-hearted Lauryn Jones after her cut:

I witnessed husbands cut their wives hair, children cut their mom's hair, and sibling get their hair cut in memory of another sibling who had passed away. Just when you think you've had a bad day, you see bald cancer survivors walk in and cut their friend's hair who are donating in their honor. Here are just some of the many pictures taken throughout the day:

Kendall Johnson donated his hair....

Teresa Allred from Brookhaven let me cut her hair (and she was all smiles

after I butchered it!):

Friends Stacy Seago grew her hair in honor of her friend Brandy Boyd who is battling a brain tumor removed. Brandy has already lost most of her hair, but she was gorgeous!

My hair tends to be highly criticized among our viewers (along with many other aspects). Several years ago, I decided to turn what is often talked about into something positive that could be used for others. It was also a teachable moment for me to my oldest daughter, Gracie, in how you're never too young to have a tender heart in giving when there is a need. Here are our before & after pictures:

My friend and cancer survivor Stella McNeer from Raleigh cut my hair. Stella lost her hair during her cancer treatments and received a Pantene's Beautiful Lengths wig. Her "chemo curls", as she puts it, have grown back and so has her hair. It was a humbling moment for her to have been a wig recipient and see the throngs of donors stream through the doors. Here we are after the final cut:

There were so many people who made this day such a success and it began with the hair donors. I honestly tried to take pictures with anyone who asked, tried to thank everyone personally and tried to listen to every story told to me. While I was being pulled in many different directions at once, I was still grateful to every single person who selfishly gave of their time. If I didn't get to speak to you, I sincerely apologize. Although my husband may totally disagree, I wish that I could've been cloned just so I could have had 15 minutes with every person, but that wasn't an option.

Although the poundage of hair is being weighed, at the end of the day we had 1,010 people donate their hair for Great Lengths. As far as we know, this is the largest number of hair donations in 24 hours to a charity. Thank you, Mississippi, for growing, cutting and sharing for your friends.

You Get a Second Chance

The day is drawing near--the hair cutting day for WLBT's Great Lengths, that is. This coming Monday, February 28, over 1,000 people and I will gather to have their hair cut to be made into wigs for women who have lost their hair due to cancer. You can watch the event throughout the day on WLBT. I look forward to having my own locks chopped during the 6pm news!

Lilly Faith has had her moments lately. I think she may be entering the "terrible twos" a bit late since she's getting close to turning three. I've become so predictable now in that she knows the consequences in not listening. She's beginning to understand if she doesn't listen to what I'm telling her to do, she will miss out on a possible opportunity and perhaps a form of discipline will follow.

Forty years after the children of Israel had turned away from the land God had given to them, He brought them back to the very same place. There are times in our life when we may refuse to do what the Lord has asked us to do. We may have missed it initially due to our own ignorance or perhaps we were disobedient. We may be focused on our own desires and wants, but He guides us to turn us in another direction. Just as He did with Israel, God will sometimes bring you back to the point at which you disobeyed Him, only to give you a second chance.

The closer you are to God, or the more intimate you are with Him, the greater your discernment of His will is. Isn't is amazing how a little adversity can get us more focused on searching God's will for our lives?

Psalm 32:8 says, "I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you."

If you don't learn the lesson you need to the first time, God will do what He did with Israel---He will bring you back to the same point at another time to see if you are willing to listen. All you need to do is to obey Him and go forward, without hesitation and by faith.

(Barbie will be the guest speaker at Oakdale Baptist Church's ladies luncheon Sunday, February 27.
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Waiting is an Action Verb

Tom Petty used to sing a song that said, "the waiting is the hardest part". In catching up with a friend last week, she said how she and her husband were hanging on waiting for God to move in their life. Sickness had run rampant in their home this year, her husband is still without a job after months of being laid off and she was exhausted.

Psalm 62:5-8 says, "Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour our your hearts to him, for God is our refuse."

There are season in our life when problems will come, many times with warning. It sounds as if David was in one of those spots when he wrote this psalm. David was about sixteen years old when Samuel anointed him king, but he was thirty when he took the throne. A lot of rough times happened in those years while he waited and he faced one difficult situation after another.

Most people's idea of waiting is just to sit around and do nothing. But from God's perspective, waiting is an action verb. We may think we aren't gaining ground, but we are. In God's eyes, we are gaining the most important ground because we're learning to trust Him in the darkest moments of our lives.

Waiting for God's best means you're willing to remain right where you are until you sense Him leading you on to the next step. Waiting is an act of obedience which always leads to blessing. There are also times when God will indicate almost immediately that you need to keep moving. However, at other times, it is imperative to wait for His hand to lead because He knows His plan for our lives. If we move without His guidance, we could miss His best and also end up missing a greater blessing!

(Barbie will be the guest speaker tonight at Copiah-Lincoln Community College's BSU banquet. Thursday she will travel to Gulfport to speak at the Women in Higher Education Conference.)