My son lives like a son. Meaning, he takes all momma wants to give him. If I walk in with a plate of cookies, he dives into them. If I offer him a hug, he runs up to get it in full. If I sit down with him, he delights in showing me things. If he gets injured, he runs to me and asks how I might help. He takes what I give, eagerly and willingly.
Somehow he knows where he is –is safe. And, what I am giving – is good.
For the most part, Christians aren’t good at being children. It’s not because we aren’t loved, adored and chosen, we completely are, but it’s mostly because we grew up. We think we can’t accept all that – all that the Father wants to lavish on us.
I’ve been watching, us, his children shut down his love.
Here’s how it tends to go:
I say, “Need prayer?” They say, “Nope. But, I know someone who does.”
I say, “Are you struggling with anything?” They say, “Nope. Not at all.”
I say, “I’d like offer you a gift – God has put you on my heart.” They say, “Nope. I never take gifts from others.”
I say, “You are courageous.” They say, “I don’t want to talk about me. Let’s talk about you.”
Rather than living as needy children, we living as arrogant adults. To turn away the love of Christ is to turn down the greatest gift moving on earth. We do it often.
Why?
Maybe, because we don’t want to owe people things. Maybe, because we feel guilty or embarrassed. Maybe, because we feel undeserving. Maybe, we don’t even notice he wants to hand it to us.
The maybe’s don’t matter.
What matters is, like children, we open our arms up to hold the gifts God is outpouring through others. What’s important is we see all the ways he is trying to love us. What is vital is we let this love in, so we can let this very love – out.
God wants to hand us his best, yet so often, we either walk right past it or reject it. Then, we get angry that God doesn’t answer our prayers, or reach out to us in our time of need. Guess what?! He’s been doing that all along. If only we’d just open our arms and hold close all he is pouring out.
He made us worthy.
What have you denied? Held at an arms length? Shut down? Walked away from? Turned away? Sit down, look up and let in what love is pouring out from others onto you – receive what the Father wants to give you. You will be shocked at how it impacts your life.
Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. Jo. 16:24
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I walked. I not only walked, but I felt like I was in that place, that very special place, you only get to once in a while. It is that place where you mind stops thinking about the million and one things it has to do, and it starts thinking of Jesus. That is where I was. Each step was a movement with God and each prayer was one I knew he heard.
I turned the corner and walked next a fence. Still, I honed in on Jesus – his power, his life and his resurrection and what that meant in my life. Peace sat heavy- until, a bulldog scared the living daylights out of me. He was right next to me, moving along the fence, jumping and trying to attack. I jumped in fear. But, then I remembered, that dog can have a loud bark, but he can’t really touch me. A fence is between us. I am safe. As fast as I was fearful, I returned to being faithful.
Thank you, God.
The enemy jumps on us the same way. He’s ready to bite our heads off. But, what I’ve realized is – the enemy’s bark is worse than his bite when we trust God at his words. He can only bite us if we hop over the fence and enter into his territory. If we get caught up in the sound of his voice. Only then are we destructible and torn apart.
But, if we walk in God’s territory, in places of trust, hope and love, he can’t touch us. Try to scare us he may, but he can’t touch us.
We are protected. We are safe. God puts a shield before us. He puts his armor around us. He places the mind of Christ within us.
When we walk in the Spirit, the enemy can only destroy the flesh. What is spiritual can’t be touched by him, unless we allow it.
It releases us. We don’t have to walk around in fear, afraid of the next catastrophe ready to befall us or the next dog ready to bite our head off. No. We move in faith.
My daughter is afraid of dogs. I lift her high and hold her tight. Nothing can harm her when she is in my arms.
God is doing the same with us. We are lifted above the fray above the mania when we take his words and say, “By golly, I’ll believe those things.”
I’ve been working on this. What I’ve found is – if I can walk with God’s eyes to see, I’ll walk in a way where the enemy lets me be. Each step I take to thwart him, discourages him. Each move I make in faith, is like a fake – where I move left and he moves right and we don’t hit each other. I think it is working.
But, of course, upon reflection, I can see why: “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)
What if today, rather than living ready to run from attacks, we lived ready to run into the full and unwarranted favor of God? What would it look like if we grabbed his Word and let it work, as if we really believed it? How discouraged might we make the very opposition in life, rising up against us?
God, may we keep our eyes on you. May we keep our gaze steadfast. May we know that nothing can touch us with your armor around us. In you, we are safe. In you, we are full. In you, we are brought to life. Thank you that you are within us and He who is within us is greater than He who is in the world. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Sometimes, in the summer I get lazy. Real lazy. You see, when I go out to sit in the backyard and to soak in the summer sun, I just grab my books, my towel, my chair and my lemonade – and go. I forget the pests. I forget about those nasty mosquitos- that bite.
And, bite they do. It is usually the next day – I’m scratching my legs off.
If only I would have picked up that bottle of repellant so that I would have held up against the suckers. That would have been good.
Even more, with all this talk of Zika, I start to fear. What if I get sick? What if some disease is passed to me with all these bites?
Some days, I worry about mosquitos, most days I worry about something.
I don’t have a fight-plan either. Well, I guess by definition, if you have no plan, you do have some plan – its just a bad one.
Mine looks like this:
Kelly, stop worrying.
Kelly, do something to fix what is coming against you.
Kelly, didn’t I tell you to stop worrying?
My fight looks like me on defense, not Christ on offense. But, Jesus never told us to sit around like doormats anticipating a good stomping. He never told us hang out in the midst of blood-sucking mosquitos.
He gave us self-protection on the cross. Jesus shows us a way out. He gives us a plan to repel what is coming against us.
Do you know it?
It looks like an unconventional fight:
Take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Eph. 6
3 Point Offensive Fear-Fighting Plan:
Pick up. Grab faith so you can fight life-sucking fear.
Hold it up. Hold up faith founded on truth during spiritual, emotional and physical attacks. When you feel fear popping up, remember: God is for you. God is with you. God won’t leave you.
Blow up the fiery arrows of evil. Go forward in faith like it is your personal repellant to the enemy. You see him coming? Spray him with faith.
No spiritual attack can hurt you spiritually, unless you walk into life unprotected, uncertain, of God’s great love for you.
Take up your faith, hold up your shield and blow up every strategy that is trying to take down your trust in your first love. Fear Fight. Stand firm. Don’t back down.
If someone asked me a year ago who I was, and I was brutally honest, I’m not sure of my response. There’d be too much garbage to tell them.
All of these answers could have been true:
I am a life agonizer. I see my to-do list in the morning and then get spooked by it. I have this dreadful feeling I’ll never get everything done I need to. Suddenly, I see the family without laundry, my kids without dinner and my life swooshing down the drain.
I am an endless worrier. Every accident, incident and ailment is just on the verge of happening. I imagine a neighbor’s cough will leave me flu-ridden. I think a chair will leave my daughter’s head crawling with lice. I think my husband’s mistimed call means he’s gotten in a highway accident and will flat-line in ten minutes.
I am a constant doubter. I read the bible in the morning, I say my prayers at bedtime and I know what truth sounds like, but often I lose God when mini-catastrophes hit. I freak out – and then freak out, because I just freaked out. I forget that I am forgiven and live criticizing and condemning myself – over and over again – in my head.
I am a defensive blamer. If she has an opinion, I have a reason why my way is 100% right. If she has too many opinions, I start to believe she thinks I am stupid. If she disagrees, I think she is against me. All of this is – her fault.
I am a sizer-upper. If I see you dressed well, I decide, I look like a trash truck exploded on me. If I see you with great gifts, I think my gifts serve no purpose. If I see you succeeding, I hate you for it.
I am a controlling dictator. I tell my kids when, where and why – and expect them to move in line formation. I notice what my husband is doing wrong and then jump all over him for it. I get scared things won’t turn out well so I set rigid standards to keep things in my realm of comfort.
I am an avid-fretter. I remember the past and thinks it disqualifies me from good in the future. I see opportunities and decide they intimidate me too much to seize. I have a general sense in me that God isn’t happy with a woman as faulted as me.
A year ago, I was a walking nervous wreck. You would have had no idea because on the outside, I looked primed and mascara’d. But, inside, my heart wore a frown and my nerves wore an electric current, set so high, it made me sizzle with anxiety. I wanted more. I was tired of feeling tired and over feeling overwhelmed.
This is when I realized, God didn’t create me to live in panicked misery, he created me to live as a Fear Fighter.
This is why I wrote the book, “Fear Fighting: Awakening the Courage to Overcome Fears.”
Writing this book, with God, changed the story line of my life. Now I can declare, through the Spirit of the living Lord, I have found my path to freedom: I am a Fear Fighter.
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 2 Cor. 3:17
A Fear Fighter is a woman who pursues a life where, she is both, a victor and an overcomer!
A Fear Fighter is a woman who knows who God created her to be.
A Fear Fighter is a woman awakened to his greatest callings.
A Fear Fighter is a woman armed with strategies to beat the enemy’s defeatist tactics – on-the-spot.
A Fear Fighter is a woman who knows how to beat her heart palpitations by the power of pointed prayer.
A Fear Fighter is a woman who applies truth to her fears like an oxygen mask to a barely breathing life.
A Fear Fighter is a woman who is equipped with heart-calming courage-building habits.
A Fear Fighter is a woman who learns to step past her deep tremblings so she can walk sure-footed into God’s glorious callings.
A Fear Fighter is a woman who is not perfect, but who sees perfect Jesus – personified, in a way where she trusts his strength.
A Fear Fighter is me. Thank you, God! A Fear Fighter is me!!!
I don’t have to claim every fear is abolished. That wouldn’t be honest, but what I can claim is that I know how to fight what is coming against me. I know how to win when I used to wrestle for weeks. God has delivered my heart, much more, to lands of calm and clarity, peace and purpose, love and liberty.
Will you join me? To continue fighting, I need sisters like you with me. I need women willing to band together. Willing to live out the Fear Fighting journey with God. Willing to read the book. Willing to be loved. Willing to move closer to Jesus. Willing to pull in other sisters paralyzed in fear. Willing to move this movement out.
Pre-Order Fear Fighting here.
Shed fear and draw near to God.
Fight like a girl who knows God has her back!
In other exciting news!!! We’re putting together a launch team! Actually, I’d rather call it an overflow team. Sure, we will all be sharing, posting and Amazon reviewing. This will be a great part of it, for we are leading downtrodden women to the well of Jesus’ healing. This matters and it matters BIG. But, while we do this, we will most certainly breathe in and exhale the fullness of freedom, rather than the bondage of to-do’s. This is my hope for the team.
If you’re interested, you can join sign-up here.We’ve got only 200 spots (and 200 free copies of the book!) and would love to have you. We’ll get a lot accomplished in this group, have a ton of fun at the same time (including giving away some fun prizes as a thank you for your help!) and we’ll have tons of encouragement for you too. Make sure to sign up by November 17th! You can do that here!
In order to put on my ski clothes, I had to tug on long johns. Then, I’d layer super-tight, hard-to-get-on socks. One after another, I’d put everything on until my legs felt like they were the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. Only then, would I pull on my snow pants, the final covering that prevented all cold water from entering the warmth that was under the coverings.
There was a process to the putting-on. I couldn’t just start and end with the outer shell of snow pants. If I did, I’d go through the night freezing.
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Col. 3:12
Compassion. Kindness. Humility. Gentleness. Patience.
These are great things. We run after them. Daily we attempt to put them on, don’t we?
I know I do…
I wake in the morning and tell myself, today, I am going to be compassionate and kind. I am going to speak gently and tenderly to my children. Two minutes later, I blast them. Their faces look plastered with shock at my poorly chosen words. Sorry?
I also whisper to the Lord, “I am humble. I want to walk in low places with you.” Ten minutes later, I think, “I could have done that ten times better.” Whoops!
I try to move towards gentleness and patience, saying, “Watch out world!” Halfway through the day, I am tapping my toe and giving the evil eye to the car that’s moving at a snails pace.” Go figure.
What God calls me to put on – falls off halfway through the day.
Ever noticed this happens to you? Every wondered why?
I’ve noticed, I put on the shell of good acts, but what lays under is empty. Underneath, I have not layered myself up, with God, so I can endure the cold times of my day. This discourages us. It causes me to think, “I can never do this Christian faith thing,” “I will always fail” or “There’s no use for me.”
Do you feel like there is now hope for you too?
Like try you may, but you will always fail?
What if we have it all wrong? I can’t help but think, God didn’t just tell us to “do”, there is a whole other component – a component I often forget about. Take a second look at the first part of that verse above: “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved…” (Col. 3:12)
First things first, friends.
Embracing the goodness of God, lets you live the goodness of God.
To feel embraced, you must layer up:
Layer 1: You are chosen. God picked you. He wanted you. He will use you. He has plans for you.
Layer 2: You are holy. His hanging on the cross, earned your holy status. Nothing can remove that from you.
Layer 3: You are dearly loved. You are loved from above and even when you act dumb, still, you are loved.
As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance… (1 Pet. 1:14)
As ones internally covered with God’s garment of grace, mercy and love, like children who need what God has, let us draw near to God’s warmth, so we may go to the cold places of the world.
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“Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.” Ephesians 4:2 (NLT)
Easy, right? Hardly. This is just about one of the hardest callings.
Imagine:
You toss potato salad at my face? I smile and speak in an angelic tone to soothe you.
You throw me under the bus with my boss and steal my promotion? I make allowance for your mistake and let go.
You con me out of all my money? I humbly confront you with words of kindness.
How is this possible?
Not by my own strength, I’ll tell you. My own strength would have you pressed up against the wall with a lesson stuffed down your throat. It is not easy to respond with humility, gentleness, patience and allowance for mistakes.
In fact, it’s pretty much impossible.
All our righteous acts are like filthy rags… (Is. 64:6)
It’s impossible by our own strength because we are weak. We either muster up humble-arrogance, which looks a whole lot like pious Christianity, or brute force, which ruins relationships. Either way, the result is not from God and it’s quite ugly.
…For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. Phil. 2:3
God works in us and God wills us to act out his good purpose. God moves then we move forward in love.
Yet, I often live backwards-grace. This is where I muster up good within myself and force it on the world. It usually ends up looking a whole lot like manipulation rather than ministry. Yuck.
Backwards-grace is fruitless. It leaves Christians dejected, demoralized and discouraged. It flat-out doesn’t work. What does work is getting with Savior. Seeking his heart. Letting him mend yours. Allowing him to grow you. Returning again to the wealth of his truth. Letting his grace cover your failings. And then, from the place of heart-change, allowing that very shift, within you, to work kindness, patience and humility into the world.
If you let God into your heart, you’ll find he changes it.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Ps. 51:10
I can’t get things straight with this person. I seem to bother them. I seem to aggravate them. I seem to be a burden on their life.
She who feelscondemns – condemns.
Have I been condemning?
The thought pressed closer to my chest, piercing my heart. Does their lack of approval regarding me, act like a boomerang, and move right back on them?
They seem irritated, so I get irritated because they are irritated and we stand at an impasse. They snap at me, later, I fear they’ll do it again, so I use a harsh voice. They don’t listen. I come down hard and demand to be heard.
Anger at myself settles. Once again, I’m the problem. I hate that feeling and its abysmal return.
She who is beating herself up can’t heal another one up.
More anger at myself settles in.
She who is not freed by grace can’t free others by grace.
More anger at myself settles in, except with it also comes the thought that if I really want progress, I really need to accept grace. Not just accept it in a way where I wear it on the outside, but instead, wear it, internally, like a stint that keeps the oxygen of my life flowing. One that keeps my heart beating and moving in ways that are transformational and life-giving to be both me and others.
Therefore let us [with privilege] approach the throne of grace [that is, the throne of God’s gracious favor] with confidence and without fear, so that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find [His amazing] grace to help in time of need [an appropriate blessing, coming just at the right moment]. (Heb. 4:16 AMP)
I am welcome to walk right up to God’s grace; I can approach the throne of grace with all confidence and no fear. When I walk up to it, I need not think, I will be turned away, but I may just know mercy will be mine. It will be mine for every failure and it will work for me in my time of need. It will be an “appropriate blessing, coming at just the right moment.” I like this.
With this, I may approach this person differently.
Grace lets me move forward with imperfections and with room for my mistakes, faults and failures in Christ Jesus.
God’s love removes my need for a defensive spirit.
God’s mercy covers my guilt with new life.
God’s forgiveness is not something I should feel shame for receiving.
I am being developed into this likeness of Jesus and this takes time.
What might grace, seized with confidence and no fear,
look like in your life?
What form might God’s – “appropriate” and timely blessings –
take as you make space for them?
My heart is called today to be a grace-getter. Do you know what a grace-getter looks like?
It looks like a person who shoves fear down a ditch, then runs up to the foot of the cross. She waves her arms and says, “Hey God, over here. My ways aren’t working so well, God. I need you to relieve me of my pain.”
She who gets grace – gives grace.
She knows, in her time of need, God has things covered and the blood of Jesus is just enough.
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The boy stood there. Between him and the time of his life – was glass.
To move on to new adventure, he had to let go of reservations and fears and find a way around what stopped him. He had to submit to Father’s way, so he could find his way.
Often we get stopped. All the same, we peer out, uncertain about how to proceed, how to claim joy. We see the barrier – our fears, rejections and worries.
God doesn’t see barriers. God sees perfectly. He sees us. He sees our way. It’s crystal clear.
What is holding you back? Stop, and really consider this. It could make all the difference to your life.
Are you proceeding with the God
who removes barriers?
Or are you proceeding straight into a glass window
that gets you nowhere?
Here’s a quick test to tell…
Do you think:
With God, all things are possible. He will do what he will do, but no matter what he will get me through.OR
I’ve got to make a way or I’ll be left and standing here watching my dream take-off. I’ll be forgotten and worried and never to be loved.
We need add nothing to the perfect work of God.
Have you been adding stuff?
Stress? Anxiety? Plans? Opinions? A controlling spirit? Doubt?
I consider myself a know-it-all on this subject matter, for good reason, I bang my head on the window of my own self-preservation, self-seeking and self-righteousness all the time. But, here’s the kicker – when I do, when I actually turn around to find him – He is there. And, I find joy.
Mercy abounding, he waits. Love untainted, he restores his daughter. Grace unfolding, I access new hope.
He gives me a one-way ticket to new adventure and calling in Him, when I finally “re-turn.”
Do you feel too far gone – to get back?
Let me remind you of something important: the perfect Savior saves the imperfect people. This is the bottom line of the gospel. That’s me! That’s you!
Even more, the perfect savior empowers imperfect people. Imagine that!
That’s me! That’s you!
All that is required is, us, simple folk, like lost prodigal children, just “re-turn.” No shame about this friends, every disciple had to do it.
Will you?
God breaks the glass standing between us
and Him when we let him.
The weary get rest.
The tired get blessed.
Anxieties are less.
There is clarity to see.
Where we believe we could never go, God takes us. It isn’t by our efforts, for there was no way we could climb over the issues ourselves, but – with God – he can do it.
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The girl was acting bad in church. I couldn’t help but notice her. She jumped around, like a pent up puppy, giving no attention to the pastor. I apparently was acting bad too because I kept on watching her. She was cute. She didn’t much care for brother though, and with this, Mother shoved her over towards daddy…
To give you some background, I’ve felt unsettled lately. Unsettled in my mothering that seems a bit too intense. Unsettled in this adventure called book and how God will use it. Unsettled by people who have let me down. It feels like a bad cough. These feelings of insecurity rise up as a hinderance to faith. I feel it coming, I hate it too. Yet, I know there’s a cure.
Daddy picked her up and held her. Immediately her head rested on daddy’s shoulder. She looked to the side in a daze. Instantly, her arms that wrapped around him fell. Daughter relaxed. She became a wet noodle fresh out of a massage – all aggression, agitation and irritation vanished in the arms of her Father.
I watched closely. It was interesting. Nothing had really changed. She was still in the same place. She was still just as bored. She was still the sister of the brother that drove her nuts. She was still very much in the same problem she was 2 minutes ago, but actually, everything did change.
She was in daddy’s arms.
Her eyes closed.
She was nearly falling asleep.
Simply because she knew she was safe.
Loved. Cared for. Adored.
Do you know this?
You can relax. What is bothersome, burdensome and back-breaking is soothed by the power of love. It is love that pulls you close. It is love that holds you with arms of protection and dedication. It is love that will never break or fall or grow weary of your bad antics.
Perhaps you need to know today you can fall into the arms of a daddy that will not hurt you. You don’t have to resign yourself, any longer, outside of his arms because you are on the blacklist or because you are a bad church-goer. You don’t have to keep him at an arms-length because you are the the ugly step-child or because you are a failure.
Daddy’s pick up daughters. It is as simple as that.
In this place, there is no worry of what annoyances are around.
There is no focus on things that are about to ruin you.
There is no attention to the ways you’re life is breaking apart.
There is just – Him.
You.
Covered in affection.
Filled with security.
Embraced without requirements.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Is. 41:10
Have you trusted daddy to uphold you in his arms?
The cure to worry, insecurity and the silent jury in your mind, is getting unhurried as you lay in the arms of God.
I know this to be true. Me – the most unsettled of all unsettled people, finds refreshment in the deep-reaching arms of the father.
Daily, I fall there and fail there and it is okay. He accepts me. He accepts you to – in such a powerful way, you can let go of everything and just rest, body fully relaxed, in the arms of his love.
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I saw the truck driver out of the side of my eye from the sidewalk. He was unloading boxes. I shot him a side-smile, halfway knowing he’d get a kick watching me position my kids just right. It was going to be the Fall picture of all Fall pictures, mostly because the backdrop looked autumn-genius – pumpkins, mums and hay looked like artwork. C’mon, this was it! I balked at the beauty. Truck-man didn’t smile back; he just glared.
So, when he approached me, I got scared.
“Do you want to be in the picture with the kids?”
I sized him up all wrong.
You can’t measure a heart in a split-second.
Here he was: a good man breaking out of his timeline of delivering food to deliver us the perfect picture. I appreciated it. Did he know how badly I wanted things to feel perfect? How I wanted my kids to experience the warmth of this season? How I wanted them to see the colors and value in change? How I wanted to know – and remember – I was a good mother?
This picture, I imagined, would be the ones the kids gathered around. It was going to be me- looking cute and them – looking happy. It was going to be me – bringing them places they would love. It was going to be them – full of joy.
No one was going to forget it. Pictures are memorials of good times. And, random picture-takers are angels.
I shoved daughter up on the hay. She hated it. I pushed her up on a pumpkin. She toddler-cursed the seat. No matter where this angel-trucker stood – left, right, center – I sighed, there was just no money shot. Daughter was done with it. So was I.
Why is it whenever I try to orchestrate good, it goes bad?
And, why do good acts of service so often fail?
Not only did I feel let down, but I felt like I wasted someone else’s time. I burdened him for nothing. Guilt arrived.
What is your dream shot? Maybe it looks entirely different than expected?
Maybe you look odd? Less than? Or, maybe you feel guilty for wasting people’s time?
Embarrassed? Or, scared, even?
Sometimes, things just pan out – weird, ugly and wrong. And, what you’re left with are images blurred, skewed or haphazard. Ones that catch you with your eyes closed or with a double chin. They show the hatable things.
…The LORD does not look at the things people look at… (1 Sam. 16:7)
What we look at worthless, God calls worthy…
Our picture is earthly, but God’s is eternal. So, while we see a snip-it, God sees more. He sees past the clothes, the facades and the faces, straight to the heart. He sees all the images lined up, like framed pictures on a wall going up the stairs. He sees our growth, our progress and our love expanding. The pictures please him.
We can’t always see from his view. That’s our real problem…
We don’t see much. We see the here, the now, the tears and the Pumpkin-fits. God sees the gallery in the Museum of his Faithfulness. He sees how the image of mourning gives way to joy 3 steps ahead. He sees how the grief gives way to gladness a couple feet beyond. He sees how mayhem will work itself into peace when his love develops.
You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness... Ps. 30:11
Today, I am encouraged to know beyond the externals, God cares far more about the picture of the internals.
I am encouraged to remember there is a vision to the pictures of my life.
I am encouraged to focus my lens on eternity.
With the filter of eternity, in this picture I see:
We are all fighting to find our seat in life. Sometimes we just need another to come behind us to say it is okay to not know because God does.
There is no perfect picture unless you zoom in on Jesus.
What appears like a bad shot will be glorious, tomorrow.
And, with this, I smile and know – that picture I took? It is a memorial. It’s a marker of imperfection, an image of my growth and a pointer to the glory that awaits. I’ll hold it close and look back on it fondly.
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