The Best of What's Around

When we begin on a journey with God, it's exciting and freeing and promising.  There is so much to look forward to and nothing to fear because God is with us.  Then, the journey takes a turn we had not figured into the plan.

Five years ago, I was thrilled to be graduating college and moving into the next phase of my life.  I had a plan...ideas...a picture of what I deemed right and worthy for my life.  Once I had that set, I told God I was ready to put Him at the wheel and follow him where He would lead.  I was ready to follow.  I was ready to welcome HIS plan.  What I was not prepared for was that His plan was not the same as my plan.

My current prayer pattern often includes "God, this is not what I had in mind..." I had such a different picture for this moment in time.  A plan I thought was iron clad.  A plan that was mine...not God's.  It's not as easy to just "let go and let God" as it seems it should be.  Human nature recoils at the very thought of giving up the power to something unseen - uncontrollable...  Graciously, God has a way of making our feeble attempts at greatness pale in comparison to His sovereign will.

In church today, LT said something that really stuck.  It's been rattling around in my mind all afternoon...He said "God is at work, He is never tardy, and it will be the best in the end."  The thought that none of MY best laid plans are best is more than comforting.  It's freeing!  Freeing to know that putting it all together is not on my shoulders...it's on His!  What peace this provides!

I realize that this is roughly a carbon copy of my last post...but it's a lesson that God is continuing to teach me because I need continuous reminders.  As I continue to allow God to put the puzzle together (despite my attempts at taking over) I find my prayer pattern has changed to "God, make my mind like yours.  Make my will match yours.  Show me how to execute your plan to your glory."  I know that God has my life and purpose already written.  I know it's up to me to make the right choices to follow that purpose.  And, God knows that I'm going to try to take over again.  I am going to try to insert MY desires into HIS plan.  I am going to attempt to use my own power because that is what humans do.  But, God decides the end and in the end is when all things are at their best.

I still struggle moment by moment to reconcile my ideals to His will.  There are many things I think I am missing out on.  Many I have shared, and some I have kept between me and God.  And sometimes it's super hard to move on past those desires as I see the people around me thriving in pieces of a life I would have planed for myself...however, when the dark sadness of doubt and fear snakes its way into my thoughts, God is always there to remind me of the truth.  He is with me.  He is at work.  He is never tardy.  He will give the best in the end!  And the darkness fades and I am left with bright hopeful joy!  I am not missing out...I am holding out.  Waiting in Christ for the best of what's around!

The Face of England

On Christ the solid rock I stand!

 



With my feet on the cobbled streets of England, I began a journey I couldn't have anticipated.  I knew, of course, that embarking on my first mission trip, leaping out of my comfort zone, opening my heart and spirit to anything the Lord may have planned would have some lasting effect...though I'm not sure what I thought would happen.  Something groundbreaking and life altering I suppose.  The surprising this is that I got exactly what I thought I would, only it grew in a different way.  God blessed me with new friends, new family, and newfound joy!

 

One of my closest friends asked me what my biggest disappointment was...I had never thought about that...and of course after the fleeting regret that I didn't come home with some wonderful British love story I began to consider her question and was a bit surprised at my answer.  At first, nothing.  The beauty of the place, the warmth and openness of the people we met, the color of the ocean...all of it had me swooning!  As I continued to relive the experience, with my friend waiting for my response, I saw them.  I saw the faces od England.  Sad, dark, sorrowful faces...not a smile on anyone I passed on the streets...this is my greatest disappointment, and the reason (or at least partially) that God pulled a group of Americans together to storm the castle and share not the gospel in word but the gospel in joy.  In the simplicity of a smile.  And in that short bit of revelation God pieced together His lesson for me.

No matter where I go, no matter how far away or different or scary something might be, He is with me and so I carry with me joy and peace because Christ IS joy and peace.  More than that, I know that as long as I am doing God's will, I will be happy.  I will be satisfied.  I will be fulfilled!  And nothing can take that away!

I spend so much time trying to piece together God's plan.  I try to take the bits He's given me and arrange them into what I think makes the prettiest picture...what I think that outcome should look like...much like taking a 5000 piece puzzle and putting it together without ever seeing the picture on the box...there's just no way to do it.  ONLY God knows what His picture for your life looks like.  There is NO WAY to put it together yourself...but there's the beauty of it.  He KNOWS!  God has your life and mine already written in the heavens!  For as long as we try to follow His path, as long as we take the next step as He gives it to us, it's done.  And it's perfect!  No worry.  No fret.  No stress.  Just Christ and a lifetime of joy.

So, there it is, loves.  My take away is: I got my joy back!  The only thing left to do is SHARE it!  To SHINE the light God has strengthened into the lives of those around me...and pray every moment that I do well in His eyes.  Thank you to all of you who prayed for me and supported me and the team and the trip.  Please continue to pray for the people of Penzance and the wonderful family I have in the Light and Life church there.  They have such a beautiful thing started!  Pray for revival and renewed JOY!  Cheers :)

Easier Said Than Done...

Sometimes, God's purposes are made immediately clear. Sometimes we practice waiting and growing until His plan is revealed. Many times, we wait long enough that purpose either pops up unexpectedly or not at all causing the wait to be that much harder. I have experienced all of these in varying degrees, and I'd have to say the first scenario is my favorite. However long God has for us to wait, the part He hopes we will focus on is the journey, the process in the waiting. It is extremely easy, however, to become indifferent, complacent, and lukewarm when the waiting is long.
Revelation 3:14-22
"Write to the angel of the church in Laodicea:
“The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Originator of God’s creation says: I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I’m rich; I have become wealthy and need nothing,’ and you don’t know that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire so that you may be rich, white clothes so that you may be dressed and your shameful nakedness not be exposed, and ointment to spread on your eyes so that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be committed and repent. Listen! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and have dinner with him, and he with Me. The victor: I will give him the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I also won the victory and sat down with My Father on His throne. Anyone who has an ear should listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.”
Spent the day with a great friend today. During breakfast, we looked at this passage together. We talked about the choice to answer Jesus' call and open the door to Him...and, if we choose NOT to respond to HIM we are in fact responding to Satan. Satan will fill any bit of our heart that is left open...Choosing anything other than Christ to fill our hearts, is choosing Satan. We must, therefore, choose to look at ALL things through the lens of the Holy Spirit and listen for Jesus' knock on the door of our hearts because our actions, deeds, works, whatever, are NOT going to get us anywhere but tired. Jesus will not rest until we respond and when we respond, we are able to rest! It's when we are able to rest in Him that our works and deeds become a blessing rather than a trial. God provided the opportunity after breakfast to join another friend and volunteer our time and talent to put into practice His call to show Jesus to others...a task we are all called to as soon as we say "yes" to Jesus' knocking and welcome Him into our hearts. Throughout the day, I've reflected on the thoughts of the morning and God has granted me sight into His purpose for this day; to show me, I believe, that today is the day that matters! Yesterday is dead and gone. Tomorrow has worries of its own. Today is the day the Lord has made, His mercies are new every morning!!!
Not that this is a new thing...Popular culture tells us to live for today, for tomorrow we die...the point is, what will you DO with today? Will you use this day, this hour, this moment, to reach others for Christ?
Jesus calls us to boldly approach the throne of grace (Heb 4:16) so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us at the proper time. God fills us so that we may then boldly share His truth with others. As I come closer to my first overseas mission trip I am comforted and strengthened by this truth! I know that I can confidently and boldly approach the throne of grace so that I may be filled with grace to boldly share Christ with the people of Penzance, England! I see each day how God is preparing my heart for this trip. Not all is it is easy. There is some refining - a bit of fire to walk through along the way - which is never easy or fun. God's molding of my character has become a new joy every evening...just to look back on the day and choose to find the good that god has uncovered in my heart!
We are all a work in progress, and sometimes the waiting is long, but God is faithful to complete the work He started in each of us and calls us only to be faithful to follow His lead. We don't go blindly...He's with us always, even to the end of the age.

Have you seen the new...?!

Well, it has been a long time, friends!  December seems so long ago.  God has done so much, yet it seems there has been so little to share...Sometimes floating through a quiet season waiting for an answer to prayer is  indeed an answer to prayer.  Much has been on my mind, and there have been several times I have sat down and opened this page and began to write...then something always stops me.  This blog has been an outlet in so many ways over the past two years (my first post was Easter Sunday two years ago!) yet I somehow lost sight of the true goal and purpose to WHY I write...To share the joy and peace and wonder of Christ with anyone willing to read along with me.  Today, God has burst through my personal wall with a small gleam of purpose.  Over the bast several months I have allowed the enemy to infiltrate my resolve and fill my heart with the blackest lies, fear, worry and doubt...the TRUTH is, I have overcome!  John 16:32-33 tells us that we may have peace.  Even though we will have suffering, we are told to be courageous, for Jesus has conquered the world!  The very power of Jesus name is enough to cast out every unwanted darkness and flood the mind, body, and spirit with healing light IF we allow it to come in!
I was watching Enchanted today...the princess movie where the heroine is tricked and falls into modern day New York and makes her dresses out of the curtains and a rug...Patrick Dempsey is there...anyway, it made me think about all the times I get excited to tell everyone I know about the new product I just discovered or the sale or deal I found.  And we all do this, right?  We gush over the new recipe we found or the new shop that just opened.  We share "deals" websites and how to get bulk items delivered to your door and the latest technological device and by the way, where did you get those shoes!?!  It's wonderful to be able to share new information with our friends and family, information that has in some way bettered our lives; we love to share it because we think we will have helped them and made their lives better in some way.  This sharing comes so naturally to so many of us...why do you think that is?  What information could be SO important that we are "pre-programmed" to share it!?!  You guessed it!  Jesus!  The One who died for us all to save our souls and cover our sins so that we might have relationship with the Father!
...p.s. I just did this with my Mom and told her about the wonderful new Greek yogurt with chocolate, it's Chobani and it's fantastic!...and now, I've shared with you!
If it's this easy to share about yogurt, or any other product, why does it seem so difficult to share about Jesus-the ONE who has TRULY transformed our lives?
I'm not saying it's wrong in any way to share the wonderful discoveries that have changed our lives.  It's NORMAL to share what we love!  The POINT is, do we think Jesus is one of those wonderful discoveries, and WILL we share Him?
So, with the goal in mind...to SHARE Christ, I wish to share with you a new season God has brought me to. I am headed on my first overseas mission trip in ONE MONTH from today!  I am going with a small group from my church to Penzance, England to share the gospel and help a growing church!  I am so excited for God to rip me out of my comfortable complacency and stretch me and grow me closer to Him and closer to His likeness.  There is still much to be done before the trip, still support to be raised, still meetings to have, still a passport to receive, and many other bits, but I leave all of this in God's hands because He is sovereign and He will take care of every detail to meet HIS expectations.  I look forward to allowing God to speak through me as I diligently seek to fill my heart with Him until He overflows into EVERY moment, relationship, and conversation in my life!  There's a challenge in there for me as well as for you!  Will WE diligently work to make Jesus the topic of conversation as we share the wonders that have changed the way we live our lives...HAS Jesus CHANGED the way you live your life the way your iPhone has?  Think about it.

Happy to be back friends.  God is SO faithful to bring us through hard times and into His time.  Have a great week.

Purpose in the Waiting

As you well know, it's that time of year again!  Time for family gatherings and celebrations.  Time for busy malls and holiday deals.  Time for decorating and gifts.  Time for recognition and celebration of our Savior's birth into this world.  While contemplating this time of year, something seemed to click today.  It simply BLOWS MY MIND that Jesus would leave all His splendor in heaven to bind His infinite being in the form of a helpless baby.  A baby!  The most helpless and dependent of creation!  He came to grow up with His people.  To LIVE among us!  He could have come as a man.  He could have made a way to not have to come at all.  BUT, He chose to come.  He chose to leave glory behind.  He chose to be born into our world as a baby and grow for 30 years into a man before He began His service ministry.  ...that's what hit me.  He WAITED for 30 YEARS to learn and grow and mature as a human before He began His ministry to the masses.  And what was He waiting for?  What did He come for?  To teach for 3 short years and to DIE.  He was waiting to die.  To SAVE us from our sin!  To provide the ONLY way to the Father.  He waited until the time was right...until God's timetable told him to move forward.  Could He have stood that first night of His birth and preached to the shepherds, wise men, and His parents?  OF COURSE!  He was still FULLY God!  But, He waited.  He spent time with the people of earth experiencing all the things of life that we experience.  Making relationships.  Learning to walk and talk and read and write.  Falling down and scraping His knees.  Running to His mother when His brothers wouldn't share.  He struggled with our same emotions and faced our same trials...with one HUGE difference...He NEVER sinned.  He NEVER complained.  He NEVER gave up.

I am facing a season of waiting.  So far, this season has lasted 4 1/2 years...How long will my waiting last?  And there it is...Christ waited 33 years to fulfill God's plan for His life and never once complained or got mad at God or questioned His purpose...He just trusted the Father and followed the plan...  what do I have to complain about?  Jesus came to reveal the things of God. In His waiting, Jesus revealed that even the waiting has purpose.

Even the Waiting has Purpose.

Waiting can be hard.  Waiting can be torture.  Waiting can be annoying.  BUT, at the end of the waiting come RELIEF!  AND, the LONGER the wait, the BETTER the blessing.  I truly believe that!  Think about it.  The longer you wait for something, the anticipation grows and grows and the poof!  You get what you've been waiting for and it proves to be MORE that you ever imagined!  Praise God for waiting.  As I seek to draw nearer to Christ, to become more like Him, I will seek to embrace my wait and look forward to the end with anticipation and joy...NOT with complaining and a sour spirit.

May God bless your wait with more that you can ask or imagine!  May God grant you the peace of knowing in your heart and mind that there is purpose in all of it, even in the waiting.  May God grant you rest from worry, fear, doubt, and may He strengthen your faith and belief that He is who He says He is and that He can do what He says He can do!

Obedience

^"Though He was God’s Son, He learned obedience through what He suffered.  After He was perfected, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him, and He was declared by God a high priest in the order of Melchizedek." Hebrews 5:8-10

Hey friends!  There are no words for how much I have missed you these past months.  I'm not sure how the time has gotten away from me...then again, I guess as we get busy, some things get pushed aside...forgotten...re-prioritized.  I have been struggling to get myself back to the computer and back to the commitment I've made to you through Saturdays with Sara.  Not that this is something you have come to expect, but rather something I have been called to by God, He expects it of me...He expects my obedience...He deserves my obedience.  Recently, this is the last thing I want to give Him.

Obedience is an interesting thing.  Obeying one thing ultimately means disobeying another...Matthew 6:24 tells us "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other." Examples might include God and money (as indicated in the Matthew verse), good and evil, work and rest, diligence and entertainment...etc.  God requires our all...He requires our obedience for He sent His Son Jesus as the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him.  I have a confession.  I have not been obedient to God.  SO many times He has whispered and called me to His word, called me to His purpose, called me away from my distractions and every time I have turned away from Him.  PRAISE God He is willing and ready to take me back now!  What great forgiveness He offers!  No matter how far we have run...no matter if we keep on running, our Heavenly Father, our Emmanuel waits for us to turn back to Him.  He waits for us to confess our disobedience.  He waits for us to repent and turn away from whatever it is that has distracted us from His glory.  And He waits for us to RUN into His OPEN arms so He can welcome us back!  Thank you Jesus!

I am emptied.  I am humbled.  I am changing.

God allows trials in our lives to stretch us, to grow us, to challenge our faith and I believe that the trial  of disobedience is one of the most powerful testers of our faith!  God requires our obedience but He also gifts us with FREE will.  God is not a tyrant.  God does not wish to force truth and obedience on us.  He loves us and wants what is best for us and above all He wants us to make the choice!  To make a choice between obedience and following the pattern of this enemy world.  For a time, I chose the pattern of this world.  And what did I gain?  Trial.  Difficulty.  Battle.  True, the only thing I have gained for myself in my effort to embrace the world's pattern is a deeply rooted battle for my mind, my heart, and my soul.  Satan want's so badly for me to fail, and I've made it so easy for him to win.  Praise God for the Holy Spirit who nudges and leads and reminds and helps speaking truth into my heart all the while.  No, there is nothing to gain by seeking to imitate and fit into the world.  I count it all as loss.

As I turn back to my Heavenly Father, I feel him gently lift my head to gaze fully into His glory so that He might begin to fill me once again.  My prayer is this: that God would continue to empty my heart of the temporal pleasures I've used to replace Him in my life and fill the emptied spaces of my heart with His eternal mercy, glory, truth, and love!  I pray the same for you, friends.  What has distracted you from Him this week?  How have you chosen to disobey Him by putting off your obedience.  In what way will you choose to sacrifice yourselves and obey Him this week?  My commitment is to get back into the Word.  To fill my heart with truth once again and purge my soul of the lies I've welcomed.

As Christmas dawns and we begin  to reflect on the gift and coming sacrifice of Jesus Christ, what better time to recommit to truth and obedience?  Run into His arms loved ones!  He's waiting for you!

Forgiven

You know how people have a life verse?  Well, when I was in high school, I learned a song that has become a life song.  That song is "Take My Life" by Third Day.  The first verse of this song is: "How many times have I turned away?  The number is the same, as the sand on the shore.  But every time, you've taken me back. And, now I pray you do it once more. Please take from me my life, when I don't have the strength to give it away to you, Jesus."  I feel like this is all I say to God.  I know it's not true, there are other prayers I have, but this is the one constant.  I continually mess up and turn away from Him and EVERY TIME he takes me back into the same loving and healing arms as before.  He forgives me.  And, even though I left Him for a time, He assures me that He NEVER left me!  No matter how long I was away, no matter how bad I feel I've messed up, no matter what sins were committed, no matter WHAT, God WELCOMES me into His presence!  Now, I know that when someone has turned on me, i am not very willing to take them back...and even after forgiveness there is a time of dis-trust where the other person must somehow earn back my love and affection and community...until they do, they remain on the outside.  This is common in our fleshy relationships...isn't it?  When someone has wronged us, we lock them out for a time...sometimes forever...  I'm will to bet that you have someone in mind right now.  Someone who's done this to you...or someone you're doing this too.  It's natural.  When we are hurt, we want to protect ourselves.  

God is not like that.

No matter WHAT you have done, God loves you the same and holds you in his arms even while you kick and scream like a child to get away from Him.  And when it's over, He welcomes You back the same as before.  No love to earn.  No time to make up for.  Nothing to work hard to get back.  He just keeps on loving you.  Unconditionally.  What a great comfort and peace that truth is!  But, there's more.  Because God has modeled this love for us, because He continues to show us and teach us HOW to love, and because He created us in His own likeness...We are called to love the same.  God's desire is for us, His people, to love each other unconditionally as he has loved us.  We have the perfect model.  The triune God of the Universe has shown us how...Now how will we respond?

I wonder, how can one forgiveness be the same as another?  Perhaps what this person did to me is worse than what I've done to someone else?  No, hunny.  Forgiveness is forgiveness...there is none better or worse...it's forgiveness.  If God has forgiven us (His people), and welcomed us back into His glorious presence after we have caused His SON TO DIE ON A CROSS because of our sin, how can we not forgive another person (also made in God's likeness) for whatever thing they've done to us?  It's forgiveness.

Check out the song.  It's amazing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fP_uMWULQN0