True Love

Of all the New Testament writers, the Apostle John stands out a man who truly acknowledges and is amazed by the depths of God's love for humanity. In his Gospel and his Epistles, John doesn't hold back when he talks about the extravagant, boundless, incomprehensible love God has for us.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

"This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." 1 John 4:10

"See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" 1 John 3:1

And there's more. John can't write enough about the love God has for each one of us. Have you ever stopped to consider why? Have you ever wondered why John was so passionate about God's love? I have and here's what I found and what I want to share with you this weekend. John was so focused on God's love and he was so committed to telling people about the lavish and wonderous love God has for them because John witnessed that love in action.

And I'm not talking about the healings Jesus did or the miracles or the teachings. John was a first hand witness to the depths of God's love for humanity because John was the apostle at the foot of the cross. The Bible tells us that John stood at the cross and watched Jesus suffer and die. John watched helplessly as the Son of God, the Messiah shed his blood on an ugly cross, taunted, tortured and abandoned. John had hours to see in vivid, brutal detail exactly how much God loves His children. That Jesus would willingly suffer for the sins of the world, that God would allow His Son to endure the cross so that we could be saved.

That's love. Love beyond measure, love beyond comprehension, love without restraint. And that's why John wrote without hesitation, "God is love." 1 John 4:8.

I don't know what your plans are for this weekend, what you believe or think. But I know this...God is love and He loves you.

Holy Spirit Duct Tape

I have a long standing joke with a few of the ladies at my church about the importance of Holy Spirit duct tape. It's that oh-so necessary moment when you desperately want to say something, but God in His great mercy reaches down and slaps His hand over your mouth to keep you from blurting out the potentially hurtful, damaging or mean words that really, REALLY want to be said. Holy Spirit duct tape.

It's even Scriptural. True, it doesn't say duct tape, but it's pretty close. Here it is:

"Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips." Ps. 141:3

Sometimes the words we bite back deserve to be said. We might be totally, 100% right and absolutely justified in letting fly a big, giant "I told you so!" (Because we probably did tell them so). But those are the moments when we need Holy Spirit duct tape the most. When we have every right to point out someone else's flaws, foolishness, utter wrongness and put up a big neon sign advertising our brilliance, expertise and utter rightness.

Or when we're so mad, irritated and just plain fed up with someone that the defensive, hurtful or retaliatory words are practically begging to be given free reign. And we'd feel better. If we could just vent. If we could just give that person a piece of our mind so that we know that they know how annoyed we are...or how right we are (and by extension how wrong they are). If we could just express that then we'd feel so much better.

And the other person would feel so much worse.

Holy Spirit duct tape.

How many times has God had the right to point out our flaws, our foolishness and our utter wrongness? Who has more right than He to give us a piece of His perfect mind? But instead of reminding us of our failures and our mistakes, God gives us grace. He doesn't tell us that we're wrong, He tells us that we're loved.

So if God speaks with love, kindness and mercy to us, how can we do any less? Even if we're right. Even if we've been wronged. Even if we have every earthly right to put someone else in their place. Even then, we should look for, pray for and wait for...Holy Spirit duct tape.

Multiplying Forgiveness

Over the past few days, closer to weeks actually, I've been thinking a great deal about forgiveness. Particularly this passage in Matthew:

"Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven." Mt. 18:21-22

And I've had an interesting thought on it. Well, interesting to me. Usually when I read this passage or hear it, I think something along the lines of "well, if a person sins against me, I should forgive them. And if they sin against me again, I should forgive them again, and on and on." But recently, I had that usual interpretation flipped around a bit.

See, there's a person who has hurt me. And this person has never asked for forgiveness, has never even addressed the hurtful words and deed and pretty much just goes on as if nothing happened. And it hurts. And months ago the Lord pressed on my heart the need to forgive this person. Even if they never say a word or offer any kind of apology, I needed to forgive them.

And I did. I forgave them.

But then a few days later, the memory resurfaced and I was hurting all over again. Now what?

I forgave them again.

And a few days later...I had to forgive them again.

Anytime that hurt threatened to invade my heart or my mind, I forgave them. Over and over and over again. And in the midst of this process, I kept asking God to help me be truly forgiving. I was afraid that I wasn't doing it right. If I had truly forgiven them, wouldn't that hurt be gone? Hmmmm, not necessarily.

I wanted not just to forgive, but to forget as well. To forgive this person so completely that the old hurt would never come back. But forgiveness isn't about amnesia, it's about grace. So when I remembered this passage in Matthew, I began to think of it in a new way. Maybe it's not just that we have to be willing to forgive someone who sins against us over and over again, though we have to be ready to do that...maybe sometimes we also have to be willing to forgive just one thing over and over again.

It's Not About Us

Last week was rough. It was one of those weeks when it felt like the hits just kept on coming. Nothing earth shattering, nothing tragic, nothing major. But it was a build up of small annoyances, unexpected issues and trying circumstances that had me ready to break something by week's end.

Then as I was grumbling and muttering and sighing repeatedly in long suffering fashion, I stumbled upon a verse in my devotions that changed my perspective. "His [God's] intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord."

How's that for perspective...what goes on in our lives has ramifications in heavenly realms. There are things that happen in our lives: trials, challenges, joys, sufferings that have a very real impact on us. These experiences shape and form how we live, what we say, what kind of attitude we have. They have massive power in our spiritual lives. How do we view God? How do we pray when we're in the midst of something painful? These experiences influence our friends and families and people around us. People see how we persevere (or fail to persevere) through the valley we find ourselves in or how we praise (or fail to praise) when we're blessed and that can change (for good or for bad) how they see God and the church.

And all of that is important and a part of our witness. But this verse in Ephesians reminds us that our actions, our lives and our attitudes also echo in the heavens. It is God's plan, His desire that through the actions and reactions of the church, and those of us in the church, that His wisdom will be demonstrated to the unseen forces that fill the heavenly realms.

Doesn't that give you goosebumps? Well, maybe not goosebumps, but it should give us a reason to stop and reconsider our place in God's plan. It's not just about us. God of course cares passionately and deeply about each one of us. He loves us in a personal way and with a depth we cannot possibly begin to understand. And He loves us so much that He allows us to face trials and tribulations so that we can know Him better, rely on Him more and become more like Him. But not only does He use the cares and challenges of this life to shape and mold and refine us, He uses those same cares and challenges to demonstrate something powerful to those who dwell in eternity. Isn't that amazing? Not only that He loves us (which is pretty amazing by itself if you stop to think about it), but that He entrusts us with a ministry of witnessing to angels.

Our life isn't just about us. It isn't just about how well we walk our spiritual path or how much we grow and mature in our walk with the Lord. It's not even just about how our life can influence people around us. We have a role in an eternal ministry. We have a part of play in the unfolding of God's plan for heavenly realms that we can't yet see. Our lives are manifestations of God's wisdom.

Wow. Lord, I know I'm not worthy of that call, but I want to be.

PS. Welcome Hoppers! Please come back again!

What's in a Name?

A few years ago I read a devotional book called "The Prayer of Jabez" by Bruce Wilkinson. I have long since given away my copy of the book, but the prayer has remained with me. I actually have it taped Rocky-style to my bathroom mirror for encouragement. The Scripture reads:

Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez,saying, “Because I bore him in pain.” And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested. 1 Chronicles 4:9-10

As I studied this Scripture, I was struck by the connection between Jabez's name and the cry of his heart. Jabez means pain. Consider that for a moment, his very name means pain. For whatever reason, his birth was surrounded by pain. It could have been the physical pain his mother endured or it could have had another meaning. Perhaps his father died before his birth and his mother was speaking of that loss. We don't know, and the Bible doesn't say. But we can see in his prayer, the only mention of this man in Scripture, that his name deeply affected him.

In verse 10, Jabez asks God to keep him from causing pain. That vocabulary is not a coincidence. Jabez knows the meaning of his name. He knows he was birthed in pain and he has carried that legacy through his entire life. As he cries out to God, he asks the Lord to help him rise above his name. He wants to be more than he has been told he can be.

Haven't all of us been there? We've been labeled, categorized, told what we're capable of or what we can be. The world wants to name us, to force an expectation (or lack of one) upon us, to tell us that the circumstances of our birth...our background, our income, our education, our job or any one of a thousand other external realities...will forever dictate who we are, and who we can be.

But that isn't how God sees us. God has a new name for us, a name that He Himself will give us. "To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it." Revelation 2:17

Jabez cried out to God and asked Him to change the identity the world had given him. His heart cried, "My name means pain, all my life that's who I've been known as, someone who caused pain. I don't want that. I don't want to live according to this name. I want something different."

We don't have to remain in the box the world says we belong in. We don't have to bend under the weight of the pressures the world lays on us. We are not limited, defined or relegated to the names the world gives us. Man, woman, stay at home mom, single father, abused child, convict, addict, victim, rich, poor...none of that matters. God Himself knows who we really are. He knows who we can become with the strength of His love and power operating in our lives.

If we cry out with a heart like Jabez, a heart that seeks something more, God will hear us and just as He did for Jabez, He will grant us our request.

The Potter's Work

I recently finished a devotional series that talked about Jeremiah 18. This passage of Scripture tells the story of Jeremiah visiting a potter's house and receiving a word from the Lord while he watched the potter work clay on his wheel.

"So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him." Jer. 18:3-4

I've read this passage many times and in the past I often focused on a relatively positive theme that we are the clay in the Lord's hands and He is shaping us according to His will. But this time, as I read this passage I was struck by verse 4. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. The potter was attempting to fashion the clay into something, but the clay resisted and the potter had to abandon his original purpose for the clay and make it into something else.

How eye opening that should be for each for us. God has a purpose for us, He has a design in mind for us and He is constantly shaping and molding us into that design. But if we resist His crafting hands, if we refuse to submit to His shaping, if we remain hard and stubborn, attempting in our own way to force the potter to shape us into what we think we should be, He may have to abandon His plan for us and allow us to be something less than we could have been.

We all instantly get the message when we hear something like, "can the clay tell the potter what to create?" And we think we get it. But how often do we resist the refining and shaping hands of God in our lives? How often do we question His techniques when the shaping becomes uncomfortable, even painful? Perhaps, we never come out and question His right to be the potter, but we certainly question His techniques.

But we are only the clay. We can't see beyond the spinning wheel we're sitting on. We may think the potter's hands are too hard, too demanding, asking too much of us. But the hands that shape and mold us, are the same hands that keep us from falling. God has a design for us, He has a purpose for His clay and if we submit to His shaping, then we will one day become something glorious for Him.

Don't Look for Miracles...Look for God

Our family is in a season of waiting, hoping and praying. We seem to be surrounded by uncertainty and we really don't know what life will look like in the coming months. And for me, being slightly organizationally and pre-planning obsessed, the uncertainty has the potential to throw me into a a state of panic. But it hasn't, and here's why...

Because I have decided to believe that God is in control. Even when it doesn't look like anyone is in control, I am choosing to believe that God is fully sovereign and fully in charge of everything that is going on around us.

I've spent more time than I should in my life saying I believed God was in control and then doing a lot of things that showed that deep down I really thought it was all up to me. But this year, as part of my resoluteness non-resolution I've decided to really let God be God in my life.

And part of that decision, for me, is to make a daily decision to seek God above all things. I still pray for our family's needs and the needs of others, but I'm not looking for miracles or answered prayers...I'm looking for God. I'm trusting God for miracles and believing Him for answered prayers, but that's not what I'm after right now. I'm after God. I'm after more of Him. A deeper knowledge of Him. A closer walk with Him. I'm still trusting God for miracles and believing Him for answered prayers, but that's not what I'm seeking...I'm seeking Him.

It's all too easy for us in our prayers and in our faith life to take our focus off who God is and wants to be in our lives and put our focus instead on what God can do for us. We all need to ask ourselves...am I seeking a miracle or am I seeking the One who works the miracle? We may think that we really need the miracle, or the breakthrough or the answered prayer. But what we really need is God. To desire what God can do for us more than we desire God Himself is nothing less than idolatry. We end up giving our devotion to something God can do instead of to God, which is the same as worshipping a creation instead of the Creator.

Matthew 6:31-33 says, "So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

There's nothing wrong with bringing our needs to God, but there is nothing we need more than God. And once we get that right, everything else will follow.

Small Miracles

I know that God answers prayer. And I know that He works miracles, big and small, every day. But sometimes, when I actually come face to face with a real, tangible answer to prayer, it takes my breath away.

That happened to me last week. You may remember reading here, that I was battling my protective mommy instincts because Ella didn't pass her last figure skating test and it broke her little heart. Well, she had two private lessons between the test and the start of the next session and she really nailed the turn that had caused her problems. So I called the rink to see if she could take the test again...wait, wait, that doesn't qualify for banshee mom status. I was soooooo sweet and mellow and all "hey, it's no big deal." But no one was there so I had to leave a super mellow message.

Anyway, I failed to factor my new phone into my grand get-Ella-retested-plan. I thought my voicemail would automatically transfer from my old phone to my new phone. Alas, that is not how phone migration works. So, even though the skating director did return my call, my voicemail wasn't working so she couldn't leave me a message. Drat.

So last week the new class started. Since I hadn't heard from anyone, I figured the retest was a no-go and I told Ella she'd probably have to repeat the class. She understood, but she was still disappointed. Which made me sad. We prayed the night before the class that God would make a way for her to move up. Then the day of the class I prayed the whole way to the rink (oh, it's an hour drive by the way...so I prayed a lot) that God would step in and help Ella take the test again.

Are you getting the feeling that God did something mighty? Well, you're right, He did. When we got to the rink, I looked at the class assignments and guess what...they had moved Ella up! No re-test, no conversation, they just did it. I can't even describe the look of joy on Ella's face when she found out.

Even now I get all misty eyed thinking about it. She was so happy. And God did that for her. Seeing His grace and mercy and love at work in my daughter's life is just incredible. It was such a small prayer request for such an insignificant thing. But friends, there is nothing insignificant to God. He stepped in and worked a miracle in a little girl's life because He loves her so much. Maybe in the history of the world it won't be remembered as a "big" miracle, but it was huge in my daughter's life. And isn't that what God is truly after? Being huge to each of us personally.

God is.

I've been thinking and praying in this first week of the New Year about how to have a closer walk with the Lord. How to know Him more. How to seek Him first and above all things. And the first thing I've learned is that before you can know who God is, you have to know that He is. Not just an intellectual awareness, but a heart deep certainty that He is.

In Exodus 3 God appears to Moses in the burning bush and commissions him to return to Egypt and free the Israelites. Moses, who is understandably overwhelmed by the task, asks God for His name. Moses is afraid the Israelites won't believe that God sent him and he's looking for a word that will convince them. And God replies with one of the most amazing words ever given. "God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM.'" Ex. 3:14 (NIV)

And that very statement needs to be the foundation of our faith. God is. There is nothing missing from God. He is in no way incomplete or dependent upon anything else. He is. God is. It's such a simple truth, but if you really think about it, it will shake up your life. God does exist. God is real. God is.

We can't possibly have a lukewarm heart or ho-hum attitude about our faith if we really get a hold of the basic truth that God exists; unchanging, unconquerable and eternal. There's no time, no place, no situation without God. God is whether we acknowledge Him or not, whether we choose to obey His word or not. God doesn't need us to believe in Him. He is whether we accept it or not. But we so need to believe, truly believe, in Him.

When Moses asked the Lord for His name, God gave him much more. God put words to the very essence of His existence. A word of encouragement for times of darkness and doubt. God is. Whatever happens, whatever trials come our way, whatever tasks are put before us...God is.

2010...I Did What??

Today's post is going up a little late...but for a very good reason. We were out running errands and trying to get the last of the 2010 to-do list done before it becomes the 2011 still-not-done list. Had some success, had some disappointment (why was everyone in town at Kohl's today???) Had to brave Walmart (eeek!) and barely made it out with my new contacts and all of my fingers and toes intact. There's nothing like a Walmart parking lot to make you appreciate your guardian angel.

Anyway, in the midst of the NASCAR-esque dodging and weaving, I was thinking back over the year and I was a little shocked by everything that 2010 brought our family. It started out with Major Dad deployed to Afghanistan and our first days as homeschoolers. So it basically started out for me with a potent combination of abject terror and blissful ignorance. And amazingly it is ending with real joy and peace.

Major Dad returned home safely and while our current long distance family life isn't ideal, we have found a way to make it work. And our homeschooling has become not only a great fit for our family, it has become a true blessing to me and I think to the kids as well. Ella is learning so much and Jack is so smart it kinda freaks me out. We have found an incredible support system in other homeschooling families and I even caught myself looking through 4th grade curriculum the other day and really getting excited about next year...and we're only half way through this school year!

I am truly humbled and in awe of the way God has led our family and blessed us in ways I could never have imagined. It hasn't been easy, but God has been faithful through it all. Isaiah 26:12 says, "Lord, You establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished You have done for us."

Lord, thank you for all that You have done for my family. I can't wait for 2011 because I know You're already there and that You have even better things in store for us.

Happy New Year, dear friends.

New Year's Resolute-ness

It's that time again. A time for looking back over the past year with hopefully more smiles than tears. And it's a time to make those big, lifestyle change decision we affectionately (or resentfully) call New Year's resolutions.

*Sigh*

Confession time...I'm not good at New Year's resolutions. Not good at making them, even worse at keeping them. So this year I've decided that instead of making a resolution, I'm going to be resolute. Resolute in my faith, resolute in following the Lord, resolute in my peace (oh, there's a big one) no matter what. I looked up the word and here are some of the definitions I found.

Resolute: firm or determined; unwavering; firm in purpose or belief; steadfast.

So as I was searching and pondering the meaning of "resolute" I started to think of Isaiah 52:12 which says, "for the Lord will go before you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard."

That's a great passage for the New Year because it reminds us that God never leads us to a place that He has not already been. Wherever we go according to His will, He has already prepared the way for us. He goes before us and His glory remains with us to be our shield as we follow. No matter how difficult things may be, God has already been through it first and He has made a way. We just need to trust Him and be resolute in following him.

So friends, whatever the New Year will bring, whatever happiness or sadness will come, we can step into it with confidence and joyful expectation because God has gone before us. There is no uncharted territory, no unknown land, because God is already there.

Christmas Isn't About Giving

Whoa there, what did that title say? Yep, you read it right...and nope, I'm not in a Grinch-y mood. But I have been entertaining deep and profound thoughts on the meaning of Christmas.

Let's start with the (hopefully) obvious, Christmas is about Jesus Christ. It's not about gifts or family or peace on earth...even though those are all good things. Christmas is about the birth of Savior of the world. Does Jesus bring joy and peace and incalculable gifts? Absolutely. But I still say Christmas isn't about giving. Or how about this...Christmas isn't only about giving.

Christmas should also be about receiving. God gave the gift of His only Son on Christmas. He gave us a Savior. He gave us His life. So, in this Christmas season, are we truly receiving those gifts? Or are we simply acknowledging their existence without any true, heart deep recognition of the beauty of the gifts we have been given? It's like someone handing us a beautifully wrapped gift that we never open. Did we receive the gift? Sort of. We looked at it, acknowledged it, probably even thanked the person who gave it to us. But if we don't open it we miss the whole point.

Have we become so wrapped up in our giving, that we have neglected the Father's giving? I love the generosity and thoughtfulness that fill Christmas. It's wonderful that people want to give gifts and bless others during this season. I have gifts that are wrapped and waiting for my family and I can't wait to see them open each one. But I don't want to be so concerned with what I'm giving or what I'm doing that I forget, or worse, take for granted what God has given me.

Lord, help me to truly receive the gift of Jesus Christ into my heart and to be grateful everyday that You loved me so much that You gave Your own Son for me.

Waiting Like David

I recently studied the story of David and I was deeply touched by the way he waited for the promise of God to be fulfilled in his life. When he was still a young man, David was anointed by the prophet Samuel to be the future king of Israel. How incredible! King Saul had been rejected by God and David had been chosen in his place. As impossible and far fetched as it seemed David, a humble shepherd and youngest son, was to be the next king of Israel. And it happened. But it didn't happen until 15 years or more later.

David didn't become king over Israel until he was 30 years old. But he started acting like a king from that first anointing by Samuel. He wasn't yet sitting on the throne but he began to walk in his anointing as a king even before he saw the promise fulfilled. In the very next chapter of Scripture, David faces Goliath. Here is a true king, even without the crown and royal robes. He stands against the enemy of his people and defeats him. He is acting like a king without being a king.

God equips us for our destiny before we get there. It isn't the earthly achievement that brings God's anointing and strengthening for the task. It is God's anointing that brings the earthly achievement. God equipped David to be a king years before he he was actually crowned. And David walked in that destiny before it ever came to pass in human terms.

What God has called you to, He has already blessed you to accomplish. The blessing doesn't come once you've made something happen. Something happens because God has already blessed you.

Lessons from the Laundry Room

When a household chore teaches me something deeply profound about life, I'm usually torn between happiness at the "wow" moment and mild annoyance that it came in the midst of scrubbing, cleaning or ironing something.

Yesterday I went into the laundry room and suddenly realized that I forgot to put a load of towels into the dryer. Uh-oh. Clean towels were not so clean anymore. So I had to wash them again. And as I was starting the washing machine, a Scripture come to my mind.

"When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first." Matthew 12:43-45

My forgotten towels were reinforcing this Scripture. We can wash something, fix something or change something, but if we are not diligent in completing the process, the end result will be worse than the mess we started with. I took some dirty towels, washed them and then failed to finish the chore (getting them in the dryer). The end result could have been mildew and ruined towels all for lack of follow through.

And if this is bad with towels, just imagine how tragic it is when people are involved. Do we say we'll do something and then not do it? Have we left something undone...or unsaid. Even with all of our good intentions and noble motives, have we made a situation worse simply because we failed to see it through to the end? Truthfully, that thought makes me squirm a little bit.

Do you know what God calls this necessary follow through? Faithfulness. Faithfulness means being committed to our task and sticking with it. It means not giving up halfway or when it gets too tough or when we find some new thing that sounds better.

And here's the best part...God is faithful. That's one of His primary attributes. God is always faithful. That means He is committed to seeing us through to the very end. He will never give up on us, or cast us aside when someone else comes along. God is the "author and the finisher of our faith." (Hebrews 12:2) What He has started in us, He will bring to its perfect and glorious completion.

Beyond the Blessing

I've had a very specific prayer request lately and today is the deadline so to speak. It is a measurable, quantifiable request that is going to be measured and quantified today. I have asked the Lord to step in and take charge of this situation and today I'll see what God has done. And no matter what, I will still love Him.

As I have been praying about this situation I started to see that when God blesses us, the blessing isn't meant to stay with us. When God touches our lives, His work isn't just for us. It's meant to be shared. If the Lord has blessed you, in any way, you have the opportunity to bless someone else. Your testimony of God's faithfulness or patience or healing is a tool God wants to use to reach others.

Did God answer YOUR prayer? Yes. Did He do it because He loves YOU? Yes. Did He want to bless YOU? Yes. But if you keep that blessing to yourself and lock it away in the vault of your heart and only pull it out when you need encouragement, then you're only getting part of the gift God gave you. We are called to tell about the great things God has done and invite others to know the power and majesty of our Lord.

And the amazing thing is the more we tell the story, the more powerful the blessing becomes. It may have been a one-time miracle in our practical life, but it becomes a never ending river of blessing in our spiritual life if we simply open our hearts and our mouths and tell others about it.

Just Enough Strength

I have been thinking a lot about part of my Pastor's message from Sunday. One of the things he spoke about was the way God is constantly giving us more of what we need. His presence, His gifts, His blessings are not a one time fill up, but rather a constant flow. The Scripture for this came from Ezekiel 47:12 where it describes the river of God flowing from His sanctuary that feeds the trees planted beside its waters. The trees are always bearing fruit and their leaves never wither.

The more I think about this passage, the more I find in it. God doesn't have a limit on how much He can, will and longs to give us. If we walk in humility and obedience He always gives us more. He gives us what we need, when we need it. And on the flip side, He never gives us too much.

Which might sound like a contradiction since I just said that God always wants to give us more. And He does, but He gives it in the right time. Think back to the Israelites in the desert. God gave them manna for the day. No extra (except for the Sabbath), nothing that could be hoarded or stored away "just in case." His blessing fell and it was exactly what they needed for that day. The Israelites needed to learn to rely on God daily for the blessing and strength to get through that day.

Perhaps we're not waiting for literal manna each day, but there is something we need every day. We need God's strength and guidance and mercy. There's a reason the Bible says His mercies are new every day. (Lamentations 3:23) We can't try to store up a bunch of yesterdays blessings and hope that will carry us through. If that were possible the temptation would be for us to lose our daily, intimate walk with God and only come back when our tanks were empty.

We need to wake up each day, commit ourselves to God's care and rely on Him to provide exactly what we need for the day. Then when we go to sleep we need to trust that God already knows what we will need for tomorrow and that it will be waiting for us in the morning.

Dream Big

Yesterday Ella told me she wants an internship. Preferably at the National Zoo in Washington DC, but she'll consider anything that involves animals. She was understandably very disappointed when I told her most internships are for people who are a little older. Then she said she'd be willing to sweep out stalls somewhere until she was old enough to be an intern. Because Ella wants to be a veterinarian...and a champion figure skater...and a mommy.

And I love that about her. She doesn't see any limits on her life. It made me remember that there was a time when I was convinced I could be anything and do anything too. At one time I wanted to be a dolphin trainer...and I wanted to be on Broadway...and later I wanted to be in the FBI. But as I got older, I stopped seeing my dreams and started seeing all the obstacles instead. I don't like to swim so the dolphins were forgotten. Broadway seemed to far away and the FBI said I was too short.

I'm not sure when it happened, but my dreams got smaller and smaller. And now that I see my daughter dream so big and believe so wonderfully in the absolute possibility of everything, I see how much I have given up in the name of growing up. Who says we have to stop having big, impossible dreams just because we reached a certain age? It's never too late to dream big. God is a God of miracles so really, there isn't anything too big for us because we have a God who is bigger than every obstacle. But instead of believing, we doubt and then we give up. And that's our own fault. It's time to start dreaming again.

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." Eleanor Roosevelt

So, what do you want to be when you grow up now?

Unexpected Answers to Prayer

God hears every prayer. And God answers every prayer. But sometimes we miss His answer because when it comes it isn't what we expected, or what we wanted. If we sincerely place our petition before God's throne of grace, then we have to be willing to let God be God. Our prayers are not offered in faith if we're telling God what His answer should be. It doesn't matter how many pretty religious words we use to dress it up, if we're not giving God the right to answer according to His will, then we're not asking for anything...we're trying to tell the God of the universe what to do.

I had to re-learn that lesson this week. And it's amazing that no matter how many times the Lord has to humble me in order to teach me, He always raises me right back up. So here's my lesson: My husband got to come home for two weeks leave over Christmas and then at the beginning of January he had to return to his unit in Afghanistan. It was a very difficult goodbye for Jack who is old enough to know that Daddy is gone, but not old enough to understand why. Ever since my husband left, Jack has been having nightmares and trouble sleeping. And I think I have already admitted that I don't handle sleep deprivation well, so the middle of the night wake-ups were really wearing me down.

But I kept praying in faith that God would help Jack sleep. Then this week Jack decided to stop napping. And this did not make me happy. I like nap time. I need nap time. So I was praying really, really hard for Jack to keep taking naps. And I was really, really annoyed every day he didn't. Then I finally noticed something. When Jack didn't take a nap, he slept soundly through the whole night.

I had been praying for nearly two months for Jack to sleep peacefully at night. Now he does. But he doesn't nap anymore, which is a difficult change for me. But God didn't say that every answer to a prayer would be easy or painless. Sometimes God leads us into a temporary difficulty to bring us to a permanent blessing.

Snow Denial

More snow. Sigh. There is a snow shovel and a pair of gloves in my very near future. But for the moment I am in snow denial. Maybe if I just don't look at that thick blanket of freshly fallen, unflavored Slurpee stuff laying all over my car and driveway it will disappear all by itself. Ya think? Is there some loop hole in the laws of physics that I can exploit to avoid the snow shovel? No? Drat.

And to make matters worse, wouldn't you just know that there's a life lesson buried in the midst of all this cold white stuff falling from the sky. Here's a tip for any of my fellow Californians who may one day find themselves on the opposite coast...if you don't shovel the snow the same day it falls it will freeze overnight and turn to ice. And guess what, shoveling ice is way harder than shoveling freshly fallen snow. How do I know this interesting bit of weather related knowledge? Because I have in fact shoveled ice. And it was a back breaking, frustration inducing bummer.

So what is our life lesson for the day? If we don't deal with a problem when it first presents itself, not only will it not go away, it will freeze and turn into a bigger problem. It can be a problem that comes upon us, perhaps a health issue, or a broken relationship, or it can be a problem that comes from within, perhaps a secret sin or bitterness or anger that we are holding in our hearts. The longer we let it go, the harder it will be to clean up.

So for all of my current snow denial, I will indeed be outside in my jacket, cap, scarf and gloves making a path for the mini-van to escape our driveway. That's right, I'm bundling up like the Michelin Man...I have every intention of sacrificing my pride to keep warm.

Here's hoping you have a snow free weekend...or if that fails, then here's hoping that you find an enterprising teenager to do the shoveling for you.

It's a New Day

Yesterday was not a good day. There was just nothing to say in the midst of the colossal pile of ickiness that was yesterday. If I had written a post yesterday it would have probably looked like this:

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

So in the interest of sparing you, my faithful readers, from such a travesty of the written word, I hid from my computer instead.

Nothing horrible happened, there wasn't a major tragedy or natural disaster and I didn't run out of my secret chocolate stash. It was just a build up of one thing after another until I thought my head was going to explode.

But, today is a better day. And looking back on yesterday, I have been thinking about how the enemy of our faith sometimes slithers in like a snake. There are times in the Bible when Satan is described as a roaring lion, when he gets right in the face of our faith and tries to terrify us into doubt and disbelief. But he is also described as a sneaky snake. He slithers in with whispers of half-truths and plants seeds that we may not even notice until they've sprouted into thorny vines choking our hearts.

Yesterday was a snake day. It was a little thing here, a little thing there, one stress adding to another until I was bogged down in a mess of confusion, fear, doubt and anger.

Praise God for new days. Today I get to start over. No matter how bad our yesterdays were, they are already past. And if we made it through the night, then we made it through the trial and we can stand in the light of a new day.

"Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." Lamentations 3:22-23