She was wronged. She was misunderstood. She was disliked and even disowned. However, she no longer took her pain to the people, but The Promiser. That is growth. That is grace. That is the power of Christ Jesus! We already have victory, friends. We no longer need to fight for it! You are loved!
For life travelers longing for an analgesic to satiate the ache that feels as if it were born and branded into every beating heart, we search and scurry for a cure as if that longing is something to be erased and replaced with happiness when all along it is an immutable hunger for Home.
Friend, I know it is tempting to numb. The food, the television, the drink, the romance novel, the internet, the busy schedule, they all eventually fail us. There is not one possession or person under the sun that will complete us.
John Calvin said the human heart is a factory of idols. I will add to his observation that mine is no exception. Idols are the thieves of my soul, robbing me of peace and joy. They are dressed up impostures that pursue me, promising pleasure but ultimately never delivering the pacification they purport. They have an inferior half-life that leaves all partakers thirsty and longing for more.
I was sitting on my counselor’s couch Tuesday and as I was talking to her, staring out her big window in the sky, my words were interrupted. As it sometimes happens a memo from semmingly no where comes as if it is being spoken in my head. That day the message was, when you are only concerned with One none of the other stuff matters.
Too often that one I am concerned about is me instead of Jesus. When my eyes, ears, and mind are fixed on Him, I do not need to numb. I do not need to find satisfaction in secular things. But surrounded by my desirous heart for God is a deceptive flesh for gratification; and this is why I need Jesus every moment of every day.
Jesus secures me when I am splintered. He welcomes me when I am weak. He “feeds” me when I am famished. He lifts me when I am low; and Jesus desires me when I am disappointing.
If you have received the gift of God’s only son, you can replace every me in the sentences above with your name. Isn’t that a breath of fresh air! If you have not received His gift, right now is always the right time to make the right decision.
You are loved, friend!
The news is full of so much junk! I am determined to share light when I can because there are a lot of good people in this world.
Today wasn’t my best day. After a series of events, I drove into the Summit parking lot and pulled into a parking stall only to hit and side swipe a beautiful Land Rover right next to me. I have a newer car- so what. It is a car; an earthly thing, not an eternal treasure. I was an emotional mess, however, as I sat and waited for the owner of the other car to return. She finally came and hopped in her car ready to drive away as I was tearfully knocking on her window.
I was met with mercy! I was met with kindness, a smile, a hug and I was met with a person manifesting the character of Jesus. The relief I felt when I was excused from the guilt and shame of my offense was the essence of freedom.
We have all been released should we chose to be. We have all been acquitted if we only accept it.
It is only when we feel the weight of our offense that the ransom is so sweet!
Not knowing you will be received with love, not knowing you will be forgiven is a substantial weight to sustain as I did for a short time today. Don’t live with that burden for a life time. Let yourselves be freed, friends.
Lastly, it is where our treasures lie that determine our reactions when they are compromised. I am thankful that today I stared into eyes that are not set on the things of this world!
Be Jesus to someone today and tomorrow should it come. It is so much more about our walk than our talk!
Matthew 5:7 ~“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Good morning,friend! How you think today will dictate how you feel! Don’t feed on the lies of shame, feats on the love of your Savior. Reject the deceit of guilt and rest in the donation of grace. Train your thoughts to be huggers not haters. You are loved!
Yea, it is the end of one of those hard days when you feel beaten, battered and bruised, sometimes literally. Your heart has been spun up and wrung out. Emotions have swirled through your body like a tidal wave leaving you feeling washed out, weak and worn. You have been fighting all day for this person, praying like the persistent widow for that situation, enduring physical pain necessary for healing, and filtering waves of grief and gratitude that amidst it all, curiously still co-mingle.
There is finally a lull of silence with the parting of the sun; your soul settles slightly, and you know you must choose to either concede or conquer the day’s chaos. Then comes a gentle reminder that you aren’t in this alone. He’s in the midst of your pain. He is present with your people, and he is bigger than that situation.
At the end of days like this, I am so grateful that the Psalms are in the Bible. Many days I am living them as sure as I am breathing; crying out for relief, reassurance, direction, strength and forgiveness. Then, when the commotion begins to settle slightly I reach deep within to find despite it all gratitude, thanksgiving, worship, and redemption slowly start marching along to the beat of my broken heart. I take a breath, and each one becomes a little deeper, a little deeper, and finally I enter a state of ailing rest, remembering that tomorrow, should she come, holds new mercies, strength, grace and fuel for the road ahead.
Today must be released to the past, and it is then when I hear the soft but resolute roar;
I will try again tomorrow!
And you friend must courageously commit also to engage again tomorrow with a fresh mind and hopeful heart! You are loved.
Each one of us experiences a duplicity within ourselves. A Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde dwells within even the best of people. Romans 7 confirms this to be true. This reality could be doom and gloom, and it is for the person without Christ because it is a hopeless battle that cannot be won. However, for followers of Jesus, it is a hope-filled battle that cannot be lost.
I have semi-paraphrased the above message from a Tim Keller sermon I listened to this morning. If you would like to know more about this hope-filled battle that you cannot lose, feel free to contact me! It is not a fight for perfection, striving, trying or working harder. It is a freedom that offers rest, redemption, grace and salvation. You are loved!
Morning is breaking the day open full and rich with possibilities. Lord, I pray that I may think more about You today and less about myself. May the concern of my heart be to please You and not people. Fill my heart with a desire for righteousness not being right. Thank you for loving me when I am unlovely. I fail you every day, but You still call me your choice pearl. Thank you for your mercy and grace. Amen.
Jesus when loved ones are struggling, relationships are shaky, people are ailing, help me resist the desire to fix what is. May I remember that scrambling for solutions can become a form of control and unbelief. Keep me cognizant that it takes more courage and faith to release my most precious treasures to You, free of my clinging hands. Allow me to care without control, hold without hovering and support without suffocating all people and situations I encounter today and each day forward. Jesus grant me the grace that enables me to rest not carefree, but confidently in your sovereignty amidst the backdrop of a broken world. Amen.
It is not until I fully grasp the depth of my sin that I can be forgiving of the sins of others, and I tend to forget and need reminding of that. Forgiveness in some cases does not look like best friends or even a relationship, but it is the freeing of our hearts from the bondage of resentment, ill-will, revenge and all their destructive relatives. Do I do this perfectly? No, but I am seeking progress, not perfection.
I prayed A LOT leading up to last night’s debate. To be honest, there were moments I wanted to throw something at the television. However, those moments were less than the first debate, and this is why. My sins though they look different, at the root, they are the same. I have lied. I have been a hypocrite. I have said things I would not want other people to hear. I make mistakes every day. You might say, but you are not running for President, (and praise God for that!). Even if we had two different candidates to choose from, not one of them would be justified in picking up, much less cast a stone; and neither am I!
It is so easy for me to become a Pharisee by traveling this road, “well, at least I haven’t done what he/she has done.” That is the slogan for self-righteousness at its best, and I have been there. Jesus said, “I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.” Luke 5:32.
My prayer is that we can all lay down our stones and turn our prosecution into prayers. Unless The Lord acts in a mighty way, and He may, one of these two candidates will become the next president. We need to be accepting of that and fight in those difficult moments to remember that God will still be on the throne on election night.
Yes, both DJT and HC are very imperfect, but so am I. They are both sinners, but so am I. Here is the good news for me, and I hope for them and you, there is no sin too big that the grace of God does not cover in a heart in which He dwells.
Also, we can take ourselves off duty right now because we are not the judge of the state of one’s heart today, tomorrow or ever.
As our pastor told us if you cannot vote for a candidate, vote for a platform; the one that most aligns with your views. I am praying for our country, and you are all loved by me!
As Christians, we often struggle with condemnation from what feels like an incongruent reality that not one of us is all good; but we can learn to rest in the realization that we, every part of us, good and bad, are all God’s. May you find freedom in that this Friday, friend! You are loved.