Hmmm....
Now that my life has slowed down just enough to allow me to realize what I'm doing...it feels really crazy! haha, you all knew that. But it all feels really blessed. I was between doctors and needed a form signed--bam! sit next to a lady at Bible study who supervises two doctors and gets you an appointment within a week. Whoosh! Need a place to stay? Put it on Facebook and have the perfect person answer within a day...lots of little beautiful miracles--and that's all I need to launch outta here.
I guess there are all ways and wiles to get yourself out of country. A lot of people hold a regular job and raise money for a year. For me, I am just being as honest as I can about what I need (hopefully making you laugh a little along the way?) and trusting that as I move in answer to His call, He also moves to meet me with provision. That's just how this relationship works and has always worked: Father meet Daughter, Daughter meet Father.
A privileged spot, being one of His own, with its own requirements and choices I must make, as well as behaviors expected of me. I am not on my own, trying to be enough (there is always the grace to become more godly, especially as you lean into Him for strength) and that's where I find myself always, leaning into Him. Especially in the middle of this journey, when it all hits me, the choices I am making and how final I know it is...it feels really wild when I stop and let it sink in.
It also feels...almost perfect. I think the words I am trying to find are: meant to be, essential, hopeful, totally worth it. I am making this an all-in thing, no holds barred, no turning back because I feel like that is the stance need. It's a stance Christians are going to have to take in the following months to get anywhere in this changing world and it's a stance I have always been afraid of. I need to have this stance because its the one the Father had as He sent Jesus, the stance the world can't understand or accept, the stance that lets the Son of God hang on a cross. It's an incredible, awful, gravity-defying stance that can only be accepted by those who are willing to give it all away.
And that's where I'm at: just wanting to let it all go, so I can have Him completely. So I am giving away my possessions to the poor (that's essentially what you do when you have a yard sale!), looking to sell my car and dumping my limited savings into this--and whoever longs to join me, jump in! It's hilarious and ridiculous and fun and more than you can handle and all in His control--a wild ride, like Tatsu.
I rode Tatsu at Six Flags magic Mountain with my little (big) bro this summer--the first flip, where you're flying through the air and suddenly looking up into space--that was the moment the Lord was like: "This is a picture of your season! It's going to be a wild ride and a lot people won't understand but it is not your job to worry about them. It's time for acceleration, so just hold on!"
It's a wild and seemingly reckless ride...but I knew He had this planned all along.
Showing posts with label beloved of God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beloved of God. Show all posts
Monday, August 3, 2015
Friday, May 30, 2014
That's a Marriage
My brother's getting married in a few weeks--astonishing really!
Not that he's incapable or unworthy of love--but just love, in itself, is an astonishing bit of joy. Sometimes its the craziest thing ever showing up in the middle of pain and the brokenness that can sometimes surround a life. Pouf!--bang!--something new happens and you're never the same! haha
I was working on the "Bride" chapter in my book yesterday--that call is on all of our lives. Heidi Baker puts it really well--I was reading one of her books the other day and she talked about how this love--loving our Father--will cost us everything, but why should we be surprised? That's what it takes to have a great love story. You truly have to give yourself up, completely, for the sake of the other person. At first it's easy because that love is so all consuming--you would literally do anything for them. And then, hopefully, it becomes a lifestyle for you--your life is about seeing this other person become well and whole (not in a co-dependent, "he needs me!" way, but in a "I love seeing Jesus work out His life through you" way that stays near and keeps hoping even in the roughest times), seeing them come fully to life in Him.
That takes a lifetime, a true commitment--and it's never easy. Falling in love with and then choosing to follow God is a lot the same--you must learn a steady commitment, faithfulness--and it's never going to be super easy. It's soul work--hard soul work--to stand by someone, to stand by God and see this journey through to the end. But that's the call on our lives--to live out our lives fully and completely before Him and each other, in this glorious, breaking, joyfully, painful, beautiful and vastly ugly way--all your flaws exposed and yet, at the same time, redeemed.
That's a marriage.
Not that he's incapable or unworthy of love--but just love, in itself, is an astonishing bit of joy. Sometimes its the craziest thing ever showing up in the middle of pain and the brokenness that can sometimes surround a life. Pouf!--bang!--something new happens and you're never the same! haha
I was working on the "Bride" chapter in my book yesterday--that call is on all of our lives. Heidi Baker puts it really well--I was reading one of her books the other day and she talked about how this love--loving our Father--will cost us everything, but why should we be surprised? That's what it takes to have a great love story. You truly have to give yourself up, completely, for the sake of the other person. At first it's easy because that love is so all consuming--you would literally do anything for them. And then, hopefully, it becomes a lifestyle for you--your life is about seeing this other person become well and whole (not in a co-dependent, "he needs me!" way, but in a "I love seeing Jesus work out His life through you" way that stays near and keeps hoping even in the roughest times), seeing them come fully to life in Him.
That takes a lifetime, a true commitment--and it's never easy. Falling in love with and then choosing to follow God is a lot the same--you must learn a steady commitment, faithfulness--and it's never going to be super easy. It's soul work--hard soul work--to stand by someone, to stand by God and see this journey through to the end. But that's the call on our lives--to live out our lives fully and completely before Him and each other, in this glorious, breaking, joyfully, painful, beautiful and vastly ugly way--all your flaws exposed and yet, at the same time, redeemed.
That's a marriage.
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
This is Really Long--Don't Read It Unless You Want to Believe in the Change Jesus Brings! :P
"As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God.
When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work
within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a
harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death. But now we have been
released from the law, for we died to it and and are no longer captive
to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way by obeying the
letter of the law, but in the new way of living by the Spirit."
(Romans 7:4b-6)
Excuse me for a moment whilst I process my year...
Twenty-four--that was not a year I missed saying farewell too...it seemed to all go on forever with no hope in sight. I think I learned, as Abraham had to, to trust in God's promises even when there seemed no end in sight...no land to journey to, no son to see grow up, no dream blossoming...
Endurance produces...what was that again? Hope? Ha. How I learned the truth of that extraordinary statement. I think I'm realizing evermore that so much of our lives must be lived out supernaturally, supremely apart from what we realize/think we are able to do. This new life of the Spirit--a completely new way of living--is really the way we must go if we want to have anything to do with Jesus and His kingdom. Because its all--backwards and not upside down, but illogical: gaining hope from being in a place of despair; forgiving when there is no earthly reason to; believing in resurrection for ourselves, these old bodies--it's all ludicrous in the best possible sense of the word. Love especially--love, especially, is a most insane, unimaginable concept. No, not romantic love that everyone is obsessed with--but that ability to continue to hope in and long for someone who completely shuns you again and again. Reaching out to that person over and over even while they reject you...that's love.
Isn't that insane?
But that's what Jesus is, that's what He offers. To every person that could possibly ever choose to follow Him (and that's all of us) He extends His love, His forgiveness, His very life--and He asks us to do the same.
It is insane--because if you try to do this--really love someone despite how they treat you--you will end up in abusive, co-dependent, broken relationships...and no one wants that! So no one loves that way--or do they?
See the trick is--the catch, the gist of it all, the way I have learned from my own Father--this centerpiece of all that encompasses a life giving away to Christ--is that we don't do the loving.
Hear it again--it's not your job to do the loving.
Well, God is love and if we know God then we know love and if you don't have love then you don't have love, so I have to muster up the love for this other person, right?
Wrong.
We love because He first loved us.
This is love, not that we loved God but that He first loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us.
Can we just live here for a moment? Catch that last verse from 1 John--as we love one another, God dwells, abides, lives it out through us and that love (which came from Him in the first place!) gets perfected in us.
I've needed to hear this every day of my life and live here and I will die here--waiting for God to come and fill up my life so that I quit scrounging and trying to show enough love...finally believing in the fullest sense that Jesus came not to perfect me, but to love through me and the change of me becoming more and more like His Son suddenly gets wrought as I go about the ordinary task of loving Him alone by loving all those around me as He lives through me.
I'm sure I'm off theologically at some point in the middle of this vast understanding that I am trying to pinpoint into a few words. Beloved, forgive me for it and move on. Just realize for a moment with me the grace that this Pharisee-ical little girl has learned and be in awe of the God who would take the time to wrought that change. I am not the same--all my perfecting and needing others around me to perform has slowly died away in the flame of being broken enough to just know Him. He loved me in the middle of my mess, when I had absolutely nothing to offer--and I will spend my whole life learning how to live out a life filled with a love like that--a life leaning into my Father's arms and feeding others out of the abundance of that embrace.
It's amazing the little places you'll go to--and the things that the Lord will teach you there. The endurance, hope, love--they don't get learned on the big stage when you're feeling really important. The hope of your life, the truth of it and who the Lord is creating you to be--they come out of small moments, lived in the presence of family and friends, completely mundane and totally treasured. Don't be ashamed or deride the big stage and shiny lights--but live your life not around those edges but in a way which proclaims that even if those things were never available to you, you know that your life is good, worth living, full of Him.
That's what I learned this year--the hope when everything is failing comes because of the strength I find in Him, the joy in the midst of pain is present because He abides with me, I can keep climbing up this mountain, painful as it may be, because He's offering His hand to me. I don't have a lot at this point in my life, but all I have finds its origin in Him and that makes it exceedingly worth more than all the riches I could recieve. And given the choice, He knows what I'd choose.
A friend made the comment when I was talking over a bit of my year, "You're in missionary training." I laughed a little, but only because its true. I don't think even I will understand the gifts He's placed in me by teaching me how to live out through this year.
Because I wanted to run and cry and quit--so many times. I couldn't. I had no options--I had to face the reality of my life as it came and be honest about it and keep moving forward even when everything in me wanted to leave. To be honest, I screwed up a lot. Hurt people. Would have left had I had any options. But He stayed me, rescued me time and time again, practiced forgiveness through me, taught me to be an intercessor, changed me, ransomed me from the dead and restored me. Who I am now is stronger, more hopeful than who I was when I began twenty-four.
I wouldn't live those years again if you paid me (or did anything for me! ha!) but I would never trade the character, endurance, presence...
"Now you have every spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ."
(1 Corinthians 1:7)
It's weird--I've never read this verse before, to my knowledge. But running across it this morning, the truth of it stuck in me--I have everything I could ever possibly need for every day ahead because of the access I have to Jesus and the truth of what He--the ever faithful one--is doing in me. I've only had a taste of the glory which is to come--and it only makes me thirst that much more.
like this song by Brooke Fraser says:
if i find in myself desires nothing in this world can satisfy,
i can only conclude that I was not made for here...
"He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be free from all blame on that day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns."
(I Corinthians 1:8)
There's something about the steadfast grace of God that keeps me running forward, with such hope! It makes me think of a vision I had once of me and my future husband (wherever you are!!!). We were running forward with all the strength we had, each of us with a hand in Jesus'...there was such joy in the exchange--I never even saw who it was on the other side of Jesus (I really didn't want to, yet) but I knew that our lives were about staying close to each other through our life in Jesus and He was the One propelling us forward. That no matter what came, He would link us together, enable us to keep running forward, joy and hope in our faces no matter the circumstances. Himself--so present with us...even in the middle of this terrible season, I somehow knew, deep in me past what anyone could say/convince me of, no matter how they spoke despair, no matter how stagnant it got--I just knew He was faithful--and it enabled me to keep going.
The dark night...all I had at times was a heart still burning for Him--and it was enough.
"Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit."
(Romans 8:5)
I think for some reason this verse became alive in a different way through this year--somehow or other I had always missed--or maybe hadn't had to live on close proximity with--people who were so willing to live in darkness, be dominated by what was controlling them and not see the harm it was doing. I learned compassion and forgiveness in a big way by seeing people through this--just being so aware that the reason they acted the way they did was almost not a conscious thing on their part--they didn't mean to damage you so bluntly, knife thrusts of words--they just didn't know any other way. So you had to learn not to be dead toward them, but to keep peeling back your pain and disappointment and see them anew each day. It's still a struggle for me--loving in spite of the pain they cause--but as I said earlier, Jesus' love has been shown to me so new...and I mean, just recently. There's a newness in me, a profound declaration wrought by the pain that the Lord is completely pleased with me as I do my best, working out of His supernatural love, to extend love to the broken. It becomes such a beautiful thing--and they often have no idea how to respond--but its not about them and me anymore--its about what Jesus wants to show off through His kids--and that's His love! He wants Himself, His beautiful character of seeing beauty in the pain and calling forth hope out of brokenness to become a part of all we do. I for one am jumping on board.
"God will do this, for He is faithful to do what He says, and He has invited you into partnership with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."
(I Corinthians 1:9)
I mean, partnership with Jesus (perfect words for what it is) who wouldn't want that? Who wouldn't want the nearness, the darling blessedness of being one of His own and operating in His love? No more striving on my part to become all I was made to be, crying out of fear, "Use me, God!" lest He forget about me and all I did turned out to not be enough for Him. No, I have learned a new way, a reliance on His tender care and a darling hope into all of His promises--because a promise, unlike a contract, cannot be broken (read Romans 4 in the Message--it'll change your life!). I live in the risky faith embrace of trusting in the Son of Man, who loved me and gave Himself--for me. I don't count His grace as something which is to be taken lightly--its what saved me, sustains me and will bring me into my forevermore. He's faithful for that!
"So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: you died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead."
(Romans 7:4a)
A re-uniting...no, no, just a uniting--what you never had before because of sin becomes fully yours, fully possible because of what Jesus did for us. This year I proclaim His faithfulness, His power to release us from the grave, His utter ability to show up in whatever you called "dead" in your life and bring full life, better life than you could ever have proclaimed over it, to come springing up like a well-tended vine. It's all Him in you, no mustering up or being enough--but relaxing into what He is doing in the world and simply choosing to meet with Him there. Its such a more graceful way of life, its truly life--its what He has for you! Just seek...
"The message of the Cross is foolishness to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God."
(I Corinthians 1:18)
There was a moment, on the eve of my 25th birthday, when I lost it all. I mourned what had been, all the destruction, despair and hopelessness that had filled the year that was now behind me. I wailed, crying like I don't think I've ever cried, because this past year was just so hard to live through. Words can't describe and so that night the groans that Romans 8 talks about came out--deep anguish over what was lost, a grieving.
"And Christ lives within you so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you."
(Romans 8:10-11)
I woke up the next morning and the love of God--which I had been crying out for, longing for, had a desprate need for--because I knew that I did not have within myself the capacity to love as He did, did not even know how to go about loving in this way that He commanded all throughout 1 John 4--suddenly it was there. I was just wrapped up in the love of God in a way that cannot make sense unless you have known that full assurance, peace--I suddenly knew beyond doubt that I had all I needed, the full depths of who He was, like in a way that's past knowing. It was just a part of who I was (am) now.
"So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the worlds brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish."
(I Corinthians 1:20)
It was something new in me--God blessing and filling me up and reminding me that He is very present, ever present on the Earth--and that as I seek I will find, all I need is in Him, that even the worst that I can do will be covered by this love and that should I seek Him my whole life I will never come to the end of the goodness that is Him, all that he longs to pour out into me and through me. Like a good friend said last night, "We're not a pond, we're a hose." All that He is can flow out of my life and bless others as I rest and abide in Him allowing Him to reach out through me. It's good...and it won't make sense to anyone unless they are in Him! And He invites us into all that goodness, no matter where we are!
"So God did what the law could not do. He sent His own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sins control over us by giving His Son as a sacrifice for our sins."
(Romans 8:3b)
25 is a new year--beyond reaching a pivotal birthday into realizing that I can face anything from this point forward and it will be cake. I have hit and lived through the worst that a life can offer you. Jesus has shown up solid and become such a deep part of who I am that to separate would be to take the very life away from me--and you just can't do that! He rose from the dead--and so will I! It's bizarre how far this year has taken me--and I haven't traveled more than 8 hours from my home at any period during this time...
"But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God's weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength."
(I Corinthians 1:24-25)
Mexico was like a culmination of all that year--a chance to stretch my wings and realize that the cage I had been living in for so long was starting to rattle--God was on His way, up to something, whispering on the wind. I'm stretching my wings, dreaming, anticipating, so fully hoping in the God who has taken a little bird who might have always claimed she was only a songbird and declaring over her life that she is an eagle, she has great strength, that what she carries changes atmospheres, people's life directions, hope--she just brings it, a result of a deep connection and abiding in the Father who speaks such strength and grace into all His children. She will be His beauty on display in a way most people have never seen--and don't be afraid of it! Lean in ever closer, and carry my heart, O my daughter.
"Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God."
(Romans 8:13-14)
I will do whatever I will do, says the Lord, it matters not what you think I'm capable of or what you think I'm up to. I am the one who moves and breathes and gives life--the very life of the world. Any of you aligned with Jesus and living out this life in His life have no idea what you are in for! This life changed the world, gave wind to sweep under your wings (Holy Spirit) and went through (is still going through) the whole world. Do you think that has ended? Do you think that it could ever end?
Jump in--no telling what we'll see, only sure thing: Jesus is King and He does as He pleases.
What hope!!!
"Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world's eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God."
(I Corinthians 1:26-29)
I am so aware of how incapable I am--but monstrously absorbed in the fact that God can do as He likes through a life laid down. This is powerful, wholesome, stake-your-life-on-it truth...may it be the truth that changes your world as you walk through this life with Him, fully aware of His grace and how much hope He longs to bring into this broken world. If He can make me, in the middle of all my unknown circumstances and whatevers!!! trust--the one who used to be so fear-filled and worry haunted--if He can break me down enough to believe and fully walk in all He has for me--just think of what He can do in you! Never put the limits on Him--practice letting go! Letting go is having an insignificant faith--a faith that lays down all it has ever believed about what we think He can do and then laid down all that we think He should do in us or others and just chosen to have our vision expanded, our love (and ability) to love change and has been set free into believing that anything is possible and Jesus is at work everywhere. Do you live that way? Does your life proclaim an effortless, totally able God? Expand your vision of yourself, those around you and the Lord you serve! And if you have gone through utter brokenness--as I have this year--rejoice in it, for you know He is in the middle of it!
I was in Yosemite last Tuesday, reveling in sunshine, flowers and the delight of knowing my God. I went (for the first time in I don't know how many visits to Yosemite) into the little chapel on the valley floor and just had a moment of thankfulness and praise before the Lord. He has made my life come alight even in the middle of the crazy that was this year--I was even sitting in a pool of sunshine in that little chapel--and I know that that will continue to be the reality of my life in Him. No matter what we may be going through, we live our lives out in the sunshine of His love. That's where all this beautiful life comes through...
(Romans 7:4b-6)
Excuse me for a moment whilst I process my year...
Twenty-four--that was not a year I missed saying farewell too...it seemed to all go on forever with no hope in sight. I think I learned, as Abraham had to, to trust in God's promises even when there seemed no end in sight...no land to journey to, no son to see grow up, no dream blossoming...
Endurance produces...what was that again? Hope? Ha. How I learned the truth of that extraordinary statement. I think I'm realizing evermore that so much of our lives must be lived out supernaturally, supremely apart from what we realize/think we are able to do. This new life of the Spirit--a completely new way of living--is really the way we must go if we want to have anything to do with Jesus and His kingdom. Because its all--backwards and not upside down, but illogical: gaining hope from being in a place of despair; forgiving when there is no earthly reason to; believing in resurrection for ourselves, these old bodies--it's all ludicrous in the best possible sense of the word. Love especially--love, especially, is a most insane, unimaginable concept. No, not romantic love that everyone is obsessed with--but that ability to continue to hope in and long for someone who completely shuns you again and again. Reaching out to that person over and over even while they reject you...that's love.
Isn't that insane?
But that's what Jesus is, that's what He offers. To every person that could possibly ever choose to follow Him (and that's all of us) He extends His love, His forgiveness, His very life--and He asks us to do the same.
It is insane--because if you try to do this--really love someone despite how they treat you--you will end up in abusive, co-dependent, broken relationships...and no one wants that! So no one loves that way--or do they?
See the trick is--the catch, the gist of it all, the way I have learned from my own Father--this centerpiece of all that encompasses a life giving away to Christ--is that we don't do the loving.
Hear it again--it's not your job to do the loving.
Well, God is love and if we know God then we know love and if you don't have love then you don't have love, so I have to muster up the love for this other person, right?
Wrong.
We love because He first loved us.
This is love, not that we loved God but that He first loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us.
Can we just live here for a moment? Catch that last verse from 1 John--as we love one another, God dwells, abides, lives it out through us and that love (which came from Him in the first place!) gets perfected in us.
I've needed to hear this every day of my life and live here and I will die here--waiting for God to come and fill up my life so that I quit scrounging and trying to show enough love...finally believing in the fullest sense that Jesus came not to perfect me, but to love through me and the change of me becoming more and more like His Son suddenly gets wrought as I go about the ordinary task of loving Him alone by loving all those around me as He lives through me.
I'm sure I'm off theologically at some point in the middle of this vast understanding that I am trying to pinpoint into a few words. Beloved, forgive me for it and move on. Just realize for a moment with me the grace that this Pharisee-ical little girl has learned and be in awe of the God who would take the time to wrought that change. I am not the same--all my perfecting and needing others around me to perform has slowly died away in the flame of being broken enough to just know Him. He loved me in the middle of my mess, when I had absolutely nothing to offer--and I will spend my whole life learning how to live out a life filled with a love like that--a life leaning into my Father's arms and feeding others out of the abundance of that embrace.
It's amazing the little places you'll go to--and the things that the Lord will teach you there. The endurance, hope, love--they don't get learned on the big stage when you're feeling really important. The hope of your life, the truth of it and who the Lord is creating you to be--they come out of small moments, lived in the presence of family and friends, completely mundane and totally treasured. Don't be ashamed or deride the big stage and shiny lights--but live your life not around those edges but in a way which proclaims that even if those things were never available to you, you know that your life is good, worth living, full of Him.
That's what I learned this year--the hope when everything is failing comes because of the strength I find in Him, the joy in the midst of pain is present because He abides with me, I can keep climbing up this mountain, painful as it may be, because He's offering His hand to me. I don't have a lot at this point in my life, but all I have finds its origin in Him and that makes it exceedingly worth more than all the riches I could recieve. And given the choice, He knows what I'd choose.
A friend made the comment when I was talking over a bit of my year, "You're in missionary training." I laughed a little, but only because its true. I don't think even I will understand the gifts He's placed in me by teaching me how to live out through this year.
Because I wanted to run and cry and quit--so many times. I couldn't. I had no options--I had to face the reality of my life as it came and be honest about it and keep moving forward even when everything in me wanted to leave. To be honest, I screwed up a lot. Hurt people. Would have left had I had any options. But He stayed me, rescued me time and time again, practiced forgiveness through me, taught me to be an intercessor, changed me, ransomed me from the dead and restored me. Who I am now is stronger, more hopeful than who I was when I began twenty-four.
I wouldn't live those years again if you paid me (or did anything for me! ha!) but I would never trade the character, endurance, presence...
"Now you have every spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ."
(1 Corinthians 1:7)
It's weird--I've never read this verse before, to my knowledge. But running across it this morning, the truth of it stuck in me--I have everything I could ever possibly need for every day ahead because of the access I have to Jesus and the truth of what He--the ever faithful one--is doing in me. I've only had a taste of the glory which is to come--and it only makes me thirst that much more.
like this song by Brooke Fraser says:
if i find in myself desires nothing in this world can satisfy,
i can only conclude that I was not made for here...
"He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be free from all blame on that day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns."
(I Corinthians 1:8)
There's something about the steadfast grace of God that keeps me running forward, with such hope! It makes me think of a vision I had once of me and my future husband (wherever you are!!!). We were running forward with all the strength we had, each of us with a hand in Jesus'...there was such joy in the exchange--I never even saw who it was on the other side of Jesus (I really didn't want to, yet) but I knew that our lives were about staying close to each other through our life in Jesus and He was the One propelling us forward. That no matter what came, He would link us together, enable us to keep running forward, joy and hope in our faces no matter the circumstances. Himself--so present with us...even in the middle of this terrible season, I somehow knew, deep in me past what anyone could say/convince me of, no matter how they spoke despair, no matter how stagnant it got--I just knew He was faithful--and it enabled me to keep going.
The dark night...all I had at times was a heart still burning for Him--and it was enough.
"Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit."
(Romans 8:5)
I think for some reason this verse became alive in a different way through this year--somehow or other I had always missed--or maybe hadn't had to live on close proximity with--people who were so willing to live in darkness, be dominated by what was controlling them and not see the harm it was doing. I learned compassion and forgiveness in a big way by seeing people through this--just being so aware that the reason they acted the way they did was almost not a conscious thing on their part--they didn't mean to damage you so bluntly, knife thrusts of words--they just didn't know any other way. So you had to learn not to be dead toward them, but to keep peeling back your pain and disappointment and see them anew each day. It's still a struggle for me--loving in spite of the pain they cause--but as I said earlier, Jesus' love has been shown to me so new...and I mean, just recently. There's a newness in me, a profound declaration wrought by the pain that the Lord is completely pleased with me as I do my best, working out of His supernatural love, to extend love to the broken. It becomes such a beautiful thing--and they often have no idea how to respond--but its not about them and me anymore--its about what Jesus wants to show off through His kids--and that's His love! He wants Himself, His beautiful character of seeing beauty in the pain and calling forth hope out of brokenness to become a part of all we do. I for one am jumping on board.
"God will do this, for He is faithful to do what He says, and He has invited you into partnership with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."
(I Corinthians 1:9)
I mean, partnership with Jesus (perfect words for what it is) who wouldn't want that? Who wouldn't want the nearness, the darling blessedness of being one of His own and operating in His love? No more striving on my part to become all I was made to be, crying out of fear, "Use me, God!" lest He forget about me and all I did turned out to not be enough for Him. No, I have learned a new way, a reliance on His tender care and a darling hope into all of His promises--because a promise, unlike a contract, cannot be broken (read Romans 4 in the Message--it'll change your life!). I live in the risky faith embrace of trusting in the Son of Man, who loved me and gave Himself--for me. I don't count His grace as something which is to be taken lightly--its what saved me, sustains me and will bring me into my forevermore. He's faithful for that!
"So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: you died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead."
(Romans 7:4a)
A re-uniting...no, no, just a uniting--what you never had before because of sin becomes fully yours, fully possible because of what Jesus did for us. This year I proclaim His faithfulness, His power to release us from the grave, His utter ability to show up in whatever you called "dead" in your life and bring full life, better life than you could ever have proclaimed over it, to come springing up like a well-tended vine. It's all Him in you, no mustering up or being enough--but relaxing into what He is doing in the world and simply choosing to meet with Him there. Its such a more graceful way of life, its truly life--its what He has for you! Just seek...
"The message of the Cross is foolishness to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God."
(I Corinthians 1:18)
There was a moment, on the eve of my 25th birthday, when I lost it all. I mourned what had been, all the destruction, despair and hopelessness that had filled the year that was now behind me. I wailed, crying like I don't think I've ever cried, because this past year was just so hard to live through. Words can't describe and so that night the groans that Romans 8 talks about came out--deep anguish over what was lost, a grieving.
"And Christ lives within you so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you."
(Romans 8:10-11)
I woke up the next morning and the love of God--which I had been crying out for, longing for, had a desprate need for--because I knew that I did not have within myself the capacity to love as He did, did not even know how to go about loving in this way that He commanded all throughout 1 John 4--suddenly it was there. I was just wrapped up in the love of God in a way that cannot make sense unless you have known that full assurance, peace--I suddenly knew beyond doubt that I had all I needed, the full depths of who He was, like in a way that's past knowing. It was just a part of who I was (am) now.
"So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the worlds brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish."
(I Corinthians 1:20)
It was something new in me--God blessing and filling me up and reminding me that He is very present, ever present on the Earth--and that as I seek I will find, all I need is in Him, that even the worst that I can do will be covered by this love and that should I seek Him my whole life I will never come to the end of the goodness that is Him, all that he longs to pour out into me and through me. Like a good friend said last night, "We're not a pond, we're a hose." All that He is can flow out of my life and bless others as I rest and abide in Him allowing Him to reach out through me. It's good...and it won't make sense to anyone unless they are in Him! And He invites us into all that goodness, no matter where we are!
"So God did what the law could not do. He sent His own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sins control over us by giving His Son as a sacrifice for our sins."
(Romans 8:3b)
25 is a new year--beyond reaching a pivotal birthday into realizing that I can face anything from this point forward and it will be cake. I have hit and lived through the worst that a life can offer you. Jesus has shown up solid and become such a deep part of who I am that to separate would be to take the very life away from me--and you just can't do that! He rose from the dead--and so will I! It's bizarre how far this year has taken me--and I haven't traveled more than 8 hours from my home at any period during this time...
"But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God's weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength."
(I Corinthians 1:24-25)
Mexico was like a culmination of all that year--a chance to stretch my wings and realize that the cage I had been living in for so long was starting to rattle--God was on His way, up to something, whispering on the wind. I'm stretching my wings, dreaming, anticipating, so fully hoping in the God who has taken a little bird who might have always claimed she was only a songbird and declaring over her life that she is an eagle, she has great strength, that what she carries changes atmospheres, people's life directions, hope--she just brings it, a result of a deep connection and abiding in the Father who speaks such strength and grace into all His children. She will be His beauty on display in a way most people have never seen--and don't be afraid of it! Lean in ever closer, and carry my heart, O my daughter.
"Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God."
(Romans 8:13-14)
I will do whatever I will do, says the Lord, it matters not what you think I'm capable of or what you think I'm up to. I am the one who moves and breathes and gives life--the very life of the world. Any of you aligned with Jesus and living out this life in His life have no idea what you are in for! This life changed the world, gave wind to sweep under your wings (Holy Spirit) and went through (is still going through) the whole world. Do you think that has ended? Do you think that it could ever end?
Jump in--no telling what we'll see, only sure thing: Jesus is King and He does as He pleases.
What hope!!!
"Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world's eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God."
(I Corinthians 1:26-29)
I am so aware of how incapable I am--but monstrously absorbed in the fact that God can do as He likes through a life laid down. This is powerful, wholesome, stake-your-life-on-it truth...may it be the truth that changes your world as you walk through this life with Him, fully aware of His grace and how much hope He longs to bring into this broken world. If He can make me, in the middle of all my unknown circumstances and whatevers!!! trust--the one who used to be so fear-filled and worry haunted--if He can break me down enough to believe and fully walk in all He has for me--just think of what He can do in you! Never put the limits on Him--practice letting go! Letting go is having an insignificant faith--a faith that lays down all it has ever believed about what we think He can do and then laid down all that we think He should do in us or others and just chosen to have our vision expanded, our love (and ability) to love change and has been set free into believing that anything is possible and Jesus is at work everywhere. Do you live that way? Does your life proclaim an effortless, totally able God? Expand your vision of yourself, those around you and the Lord you serve! And if you have gone through utter brokenness--as I have this year--rejoice in it, for you know He is in the middle of it!
I was in Yosemite last Tuesday, reveling in sunshine, flowers and the delight of knowing my God. I went (for the first time in I don't know how many visits to Yosemite) into the little chapel on the valley floor and just had a moment of thankfulness and praise before the Lord. He has made my life come alight even in the middle of the crazy that was this year--I was even sitting in a pool of sunshine in that little chapel--and I know that that will continue to be the reality of my life in Him. No matter what we may be going through, we live our lives out in the sunshine of His love. That's where all this beautiful life comes through...
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Choosing to be Fearless
I need a....
I would love to have a...
If I could just pin it down and bend it to my will...
Sorry, I've never not had an opening line as I write. Usually I have my first sentence fully formed before I ever get to my blog page and then it just free flows from there (no, I do not write these ahead of time, edit them to death and then post them--surprised? Don't be...God knows I am a recovering perfectionist and if I didn't just get out all I was thinking and feeling--with no looking back--it would never appear on this page. Hence the sometimes too much information/slightly strange posts. Hey, you're the one reading it! I didn't twist your arm!) Back to real life...blog life...whatever! (throws her hands up in the air)
The point is, I want to understand love. I want to have it figured out to the "T" so I no longer have to obsess about it the way our freakin' modern culture does constantly. I want to pin it down, strangle it if I have to and understand it completely. I don't want it to be messy or unpredictable or not go my way--I want it mine and I want it now.
And that's why I have so many issues! I am being slightly ironic in this post, but the way I feel about love and how I wish it would behave just goes to show how far I must go in order to learn its secrets. I hate that I can't control--but that is loves very definition. No one has it pinned down or gets it right--we all stumble and mumble through it and a few of us (maybe they really are the lucky ones--or maybe they're just normal people with the same insane amount of issues who choose to be fearless) make it to the marriage altar and vow to stay together FOREVER!
Oh, man...I'm like one of those guys with commitment issues--except I'M NOT A GUY!! Haha, you just have to laugh.
But seriously, forever freaks me out. Maybe just because I overthink EVERYTHING constantly and can't help but analyze my life to death (I also pray, which keeps me from being a witless ninny--God helps me face life :)) but the idea of marriage is a LONG idea...it doesn't end (in my book) until one or the other of you keels over and dies.
See, that would be the end of my thought process--expect I started to fall in love once. The madness of that infatuation stage goes beyond what they show you in movies with the staring into your eyes deeply and never wanting to look away and the taking a walk by yourself for an hour and a half, just talking it out with God to try to get him out of your head only to having it destroyed by seeing him for fifteen minutes. Listening to his stories of his childhood (really, only got to hear one--wish there were more) and hearing his heart as he talked about the world and just wanting to be around him. I couldn't get enough.
But I was too afraid--and stuck on my own idea about what my world would look like--and I wasn't fair and I sent mixed signals all the time and never, ever did I want to keep him from his dreams--and I didn't think those dreams could hold me. (Cause I'm my own God, right, and I know.) I didn't choose to be fearless, to risk it all and see what could be--I let it go...
And I just want to know what love is...because I think I botched my chance at learning to love fearlessly and I need God in the middle of all of that.
I was reading Thomas Merton today and I just got stuck on one paragraph and then it made me cry:
"Let us, therefore, learn to pass from one imperfect activity to another without worrying too much about what we are missing. It is true that we make many mistakes. But the biggest of them all is to be surprised at them: as if we had some hope of never making any."
My theme for the year is both "Letting Go" and "Consecration". I don't know how those two could possibly exist in the same--universe? mind? sentence? They're diametrically opposed to one another--they'll never come into rhythm together. But maybe that's how God works--in all the ways we'd never expect Him to, except that we gave Him a chance. Maybe that's exactly what love is--facing the impossible with hope, knowing that you are not alone as you take this journey. Maybe the only way to love is to let go of all your thoughts and intentions and place them in the hands of another, trusting that they care enough for you to take the best care of you that they are possibly able to. I never understood that--my mistake...
I have to get used to my mistakes--forgive myself and move on and quit being so surprised at what they are and what they teach me. My small life matters--and He will keep loving me past my own insecurities and failures for the rest of my life--I never have to question that. Can you imagine the goodness of God?
Oh I needed to get that off my chest.
So...this year I will--choose life, mistakes and all, and learn to enjoy it for what it is. I will allow my heart to heal and continue to hope. I will stop trying to control all my outcomes and lean into love, His good, never-changing love. Whatever is around my corners is good.
I just want you (dear reader) to know that my feelings for that boy--ah, man!--have changed. God taught me forgiveness (for the poor dear had no idea what he was doing, his affect on me) and not to be ashamed of how I had felt ("How could you let someone you knew so little of get so far into your heart?" was the lie from the enemy that used to shame me). My heart goes on...(cue Titanic music)
Love will make its way to me, steadily, softly--in the meantime, God has shown me more love in my lifetime than many know in any marriage. I am not ashamed to say that He is all I need. My life is in His hands--horrendous mistakes and all--and there is always hope!
There is always hope.
Some more Merton, from No Man is an Island:
"It is, therefore, a very great thing to be little, which is to say: to be ourselves."
"A multitude of badly performed actions and of experiences only half-lived exhausts and depletes our being."
"It may happen that a man who is able to accomplish very little is much more of a person than another who seems to accomplish very much."
"A man who fails well is greater than one who succeeds badly."
"For we cannot make the best of what we are, if our hearts are always divided between what we are and what we are not."
"But, above all, we must learn our own weakness in order to awaken to a new order of action and being--and experience God Himself accomplishing in us the things we find impossible."
That's love for me.
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Praise Him Through the Storm--I'll Say Yes!!!
"I take refuge in you, Lord"
This is definitely my verse today.
Haha, what do you do when everyone around you seems to be crumbling?
You have nowhere to look but up.
And boy am I glad!
I just had another of those emotionally exhausting moment with the fam (learning to pray my way through those--words just don't cut it sometimes) and then immediately tuned in to the International House of Prayer's Prayer Room (http://www.ihopkc.org/prayerroom/) and man--you can't even hold on to exhaustion or depression when you hear people really praising the Lord! So thankful that I could tune in--totally turned my night around. The situation with my fam has escalated and at first as I listened, I was like, "How can I say God is good?" as they repeated it over and over. Then I realized that it was just time for that sacrifice of praise. Fifteen minutes later, I was up out of my seat and dancing in my bedroom!
I think I'll choose praise every time I run into problems--who's with me?
This is definitely my verse today.
Haha, what do you do when everyone around you seems to be crumbling?
You have nowhere to look but up.
And boy am I glad!
I just had another of those emotionally exhausting moment with the fam (learning to pray my way through those--words just don't cut it sometimes) and then immediately tuned in to the International House of Prayer's Prayer Room (http://www.ihopkc.org/prayerroom/) and man--you can't even hold on to exhaustion or depression when you hear people really praising the Lord! So thankful that I could tune in--totally turned my night around. The situation with my fam has escalated and at first as I listened, I was like, "How can I say God is good?" as they repeated it over and over. Then I realized that it was just time for that sacrifice of praise. Fifteen minutes later, I was up out of my seat and dancing in my bedroom!
I think I'll choose praise every time I run into problems--who's with me?
Monday, January 6, 2014
Scared Straight
I've been scared all my life.
I would hardly try anything new as a child--thank God learning to read was super easy for me or school would have been an awful chore. I never learned to ride a bike, would sit it out at a skating rink and only learned to swim because my parents forced me to.
A whole life...lived out of fear.
It's wild to get perspective on your life and realize what has been controlling you and even punishing you throughout all your years...wild to stand up and start to see the patterns and then realize, "I sure as heck don't want to live that way anymore!" I didn't learn to drive until I was eighteen and got my license at twenty-two (after graduating from college!). I drove away/neglected people I could have loved because fear dwelt so deep in me--it affected me in more ways than even I can pinpoint at this time.
But the glory on my life--and yours!--is that He sees very well the way that Satan has tried to steal from, kill in and destroy us--and His remedy is near.
Let me tell you a story.
Once there was a beautiful Princess who lived in a large tower. The tower kept her safe, locked away from the world, but it was also stifling. As the Princess looked out the window, she became increasingly more frightened by all she saw. Villagers grinning up at her looked like terrible monsters. Handsome young men were giants ready to attack. Small children seemed like little imps out to do her no good. Her fears continually overwhelmed her until she wouldn't even look up anymore from the dark corner she cowered in. It was all too much.
One day a handsome young Prince, her intended, rode up to the castle gates. He gazed up at the tower she was trapped in with a searching, unexplainable look--everyone wondered what he would do. The villagers all knew the Princess was hopelessly lost in her fears, they'd spoken about it many times, but the Prince wouldn't be content with this. He knew there was something more for her, for them together, and he was willing to do whatever it took to capture her gaze, earn her trust and teach her to love.
He rode over the drawbridge, up to the castle gates and passed through, fire in his eyes and love in his smile. His graceful mien was glorious to behold. He knew what he was about to do: he asked the Princess to dance.
She, with groping fingers, could barely dare to touch his hand, but she gave in. At first she couldn't even look into his eyes...the fear was too close. He asked for one dance each day and then went on his way. In time, his gracious devotion stole her heart. She ventured to gaze up at this man who would choose to love her, tentatively at first but then with greater and greater confidence. Soon, she was laughing, loving, enjoying the dance. Finally the wedding day came and a much changed Princess entered the room. Fear was no longer around her eyes, lingering at her fingertips--it had been chased away by pure love. She knew that she was the Beloved and that nothing could change that. The faithful devotion on the part of her Prince had reached in and healed the core of who she was. No matter what anyone else had spoken over her life or the lies which tried to surface--all passed away as she was swept up in the dance, looking into the eyes of her Prince. This confident hope could not be shaken--and it never was.
The Prince and Princess dwelt in her kingdom for many years until it was time for him to ascend his throne. Under his love, she became a gracious, lovely woman who saw many through their hurts and hang ups and always called them into the dance. Every ball was a sight to behold! Many joined in the dance as the Princess and her Prince waltzed through the room. Their pure joy at being together brought joy to those who witnessed it--it changed the entire kingdom. Then one day, the Princess became a Queen, ruling alongside her Beloved. Her dreams had more than come true.
This story is not only mine--it belongs to many others. Wherever your life has brought you, whatever stage you are at with your Prince--whether desperately afraid, tentatively peeking into His eyes or rejoicing in the dance, I pray you continue ever more earnestly to look into His eyes. Truth, strength, joy, love--there is enough for you. He has promised to see us through to the end and if you will let Him, you will dance together through this life.
Look into His eyes.
Abide.
I've been scared straight into His arms.
I would hardly try anything new as a child--thank God learning to read was super easy for me or school would have been an awful chore. I never learned to ride a bike, would sit it out at a skating rink and only learned to swim because my parents forced me to.
A whole life...lived out of fear.
It's wild to get perspective on your life and realize what has been controlling you and even punishing you throughout all your years...wild to stand up and start to see the patterns and then realize, "I sure as heck don't want to live that way anymore!" I didn't learn to drive until I was eighteen and got my license at twenty-two (after graduating from college!). I drove away/neglected people I could have loved because fear dwelt so deep in me--it affected me in more ways than even I can pinpoint at this time.
But the glory on my life--and yours!--is that He sees very well the way that Satan has tried to steal from, kill in and destroy us--and His remedy is near.
Let me tell you a story.
Once there was a beautiful Princess who lived in a large tower. The tower kept her safe, locked away from the world, but it was also stifling. As the Princess looked out the window, she became increasingly more frightened by all she saw. Villagers grinning up at her looked like terrible monsters. Handsome young men were giants ready to attack. Small children seemed like little imps out to do her no good. Her fears continually overwhelmed her until she wouldn't even look up anymore from the dark corner she cowered in. It was all too much.
One day a handsome young Prince, her intended, rode up to the castle gates. He gazed up at the tower she was trapped in with a searching, unexplainable look--everyone wondered what he would do. The villagers all knew the Princess was hopelessly lost in her fears, they'd spoken about it many times, but the Prince wouldn't be content with this. He knew there was something more for her, for them together, and he was willing to do whatever it took to capture her gaze, earn her trust and teach her to love.
He rode over the drawbridge, up to the castle gates and passed through, fire in his eyes and love in his smile. His graceful mien was glorious to behold. He knew what he was about to do: he asked the Princess to dance.
She, with groping fingers, could barely dare to touch his hand, but she gave in. At first she couldn't even look into his eyes...the fear was too close. He asked for one dance each day and then went on his way. In time, his gracious devotion stole her heart. She ventured to gaze up at this man who would choose to love her, tentatively at first but then with greater and greater confidence. Soon, she was laughing, loving, enjoying the dance. Finally the wedding day came and a much changed Princess entered the room. Fear was no longer around her eyes, lingering at her fingertips--it had been chased away by pure love. She knew that she was the Beloved and that nothing could change that. The faithful devotion on the part of her Prince had reached in and healed the core of who she was. No matter what anyone else had spoken over her life or the lies which tried to surface--all passed away as she was swept up in the dance, looking into the eyes of her Prince. This confident hope could not be shaken--and it never was.
The Prince and Princess dwelt in her kingdom for many years until it was time for him to ascend his throne. Under his love, she became a gracious, lovely woman who saw many through their hurts and hang ups and always called them into the dance. Every ball was a sight to behold! Many joined in the dance as the Princess and her Prince waltzed through the room. Their pure joy at being together brought joy to those who witnessed it--it changed the entire kingdom. Then one day, the Princess became a Queen, ruling alongside her Beloved. Her dreams had more than come true.
This story is not only mine--it belongs to many others. Wherever your life has brought you, whatever stage you are at with your Prince--whether desperately afraid, tentatively peeking into His eyes or rejoicing in the dance, I pray you continue ever more earnestly to look into His eyes. Truth, strength, joy, love--there is enough for you. He has promised to see us through to the end and if you will let Him, you will dance together through this life.
Look into His eyes.
Abide.
I've been scared straight into His arms.
Friday, December 6, 2013
How To Be Lovely
this was my soundtrack while I wrote this blog:
I think we've focused so much on being beautiful that we've forgotten how to be lovely.
I only noticed this because of the way that men have reacted to me lately.
It seems I have cultivated that "gentle and quiet spirit" that is of such worth to God and apparently--it's attractive.
People like to have a place where they can feel comfortable and secure--isn't that what most mothers offered?
We want to be safe and loved and cared for well--and truly, the only people who we can be safe and loved and well cared for by are those who have found themselves in turn safe and loved and well cared for. You cannot give away what you have never taken the time to receive.
I have received in abundance in the last few months--something beautiful. I didn't mean to end up in this place I am in--both spiritually and physically--but I have chosen into it. I have not turned my back or walked away or tried to distract myself from my reality. I chose, as I have chosen with every painful season that the Lord has had me in lately, to walk with Him through it. To see what He was saying and chose to take His kisses of love as they come.
Every once in a while it bogs me down (thinking back to just half an hour ago) but then I remember the goodness of my God and the way He has kept being faithful--the way He has taken such good care of me. It's astonishing, His faithfulness, and I will not fear anymore--even when I end up unemployed in Coarsegold--because God can take my deepest fears and turn them back around into something beautiful for His glory--and I'll never stop looking for that--and He knows it. He keeps asking me to trust Him and I just keep saying yes--because He loves me and I know it and that's all a human really needs.
That's what makes you lovely. That's how you can be lovely to the world--by knowing how well you are loved today.
Take that situation--wherever you find yourself today, whatever situation it is or relationship that you wish you could get out of or just the feeling in your head that you can't shake--and offer it to the Lord. Be honest with how you feel about it--cry a little (cry a LOT!) and then look Him in the face and recognize that this love is for you. We can all choose into being His children, being His beloved ones, being lovely. All it takes is a prayer, a turning to Him with all you are.
And doesn't our world need to be more lovely?
I think we've focused so much on being beautiful that we've forgotten how to be lovely.
I only noticed this because of the way that men have reacted to me lately.
It seems I have cultivated that "gentle and quiet spirit" that is of such worth to God and apparently--it's attractive.
People like to have a place where they can feel comfortable and secure--isn't that what most mothers offered?
We want to be safe and loved and cared for well--and truly, the only people who we can be safe and loved and well cared for by are those who have found themselves in turn safe and loved and well cared for. You cannot give away what you have never taken the time to receive.
I have received in abundance in the last few months--something beautiful. I didn't mean to end up in this place I am in--both spiritually and physically--but I have chosen into it. I have not turned my back or walked away or tried to distract myself from my reality. I chose, as I have chosen with every painful season that the Lord has had me in lately, to walk with Him through it. To see what He was saying and chose to take His kisses of love as they come.
Every once in a while it bogs me down (thinking back to just half an hour ago) but then I remember the goodness of my God and the way He has kept being faithful--the way He has taken such good care of me. It's astonishing, His faithfulness, and I will not fear anymore--even when I end up unemployed in Coarsegold--because God can take my deepest fears and turn them back around into something beautiful for His glory--and I'll never stop looking for that--and He knows it. He keeps asking me to trust Him and I just keep saying yes--because He loves me and I know it and that's all a human really needs.
That's what makes you lovely. That's how you can be lovely to the world--by knowing how well you are loved today.
Take that situation--wherever you find yourself today, whatever situation it is or relationship that you wish you could get out of or just the feeling in your head that you can't shake--and offer it to the Lord. Be honest with how you feel about it--cry a little (cry a LOT!) and then look Him in the face and recognize that this love is for you. We can all choose into being His children, being His beloved ones, being lovely. All it takes is a prayer, a turning to Him with all you are.
And doesn't our world need to be more lovely?
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