Its a typical fourth Thursday night here in Arlington Tx, last full week of school we are just moms, every day ordinary women. One of us has two boys and is a stay at home mom, one has two boys expecting number three she works part time her kids and hubs have been sick this week. One who is a mom to three she works full time fulfilling a dream and a calling she's had for a long time. One is a newly wed who works full time and she has just fallen in love with the simplicity that is our Thursday night every two weeks.
You see we are all tired, for various reasons, up late or all night with sick kiddos, up with a heavy heart for those God has called you to love, or simply because your hubs has slept super well and since its allergy season in North Texas he's been snoring. We all have other things we could be doing during this time. We each have a hundred reasons not to go. We all have excuses, better things...yet we come together.
Its simple really, sitting at the feet of those Jesus loves more deeply than we can fathom. Each one unique, each one with a different purpose and calling on their lives. Some who are broken, searching for something different, longing, some who love Jesus but they are just discouraged, others still who are leaning into Jesus and they are a light in the day to day life at a homeless shelter.
One of these precious ladies just had a baby, she is living in a shelter. She is just thankful her and her perfect little 10 day old baby have a place to sleep. We have had the privilege to walk alongside this mama through the last few months of her pregnancy. As I was searching for verses for this sweet mama I was reminded that... You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. Psalm 16:11 Give all your cares and worries to God for he cares about you 1Peter 5:7 Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken Psalm 55:22... Because of Jesus, I have hope, I have help. This truth. This Hope. That's what we long to bring where we serve. That's why we serve, despite the hundreds of reasons.
At a conference this spring the speaker said, what if we ran towards the danger, the unknown, the uncomfortable, instead of staying where we are. After all God calls us to him, he sends and equips us. He grows us, walks beside us and LOVES us so that we can Love others. Love them well. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. John 13:35
What is God calling you to? Where is he calling you that scares you and makes you question everything?? RUN TO THAT. Dwell there. Jesus will meet you right there. He will sustain you, carry you, He alone can make your burden light, He alone can be strength in our weakness. Share it in whatever way God uses because even if you never see the fruit of it God is working. Serve God and Serve others this summer. Love them well.
Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy. It does not boast, it is not proud, it does not dishonor others, it is not self seeking, it is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preservers. Love Never Fails... Three things will last forever-- Faith, Hope and Love -- and the greatest of these is Love. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8&13
Friday, May 27, 2016
Saturday, February 6, 2016
Here I am
There are several ways I'd describe myself, I love Jesus, I love my family and I love to cook. I'm passionate, I'm better at articulating words in writing than speaking and I really enjoy writing. I like having control or at least the illusion of it, I like surprises when I know what they are, I love sleep. I have the same lies that often play on repeat often times before I realize.
This girl...has carried these lies her whole life. You know the ones, we aren't good enough, we aren't pretty enough, our mistakes cost too much, our mistakes define us, our sin, our scarlet letters are who we are... I've been carrying around lies like this and a longing to measure up to gain approval, the approval I'm longing for I probably wont ever receive. No matter what I do right, no matter what I accomplish, it doesn't matter what my life will ever look like.
However, I was reminded this weekend at IF:Gathering that I don't have to carry this around anymore. I have the approval of my creator. I have been made new and those lies, that approval, that jar that I've been carrying striving to fill it and Jesus takes it. He looks me in the face, calls me by my name, calls me loved. He reminds me that no mistake costs too much, his grace is sufficient.
Life has been weird. God is doing something inside, He's moving in ways I don't understand. I can feel something big coming. There are big questions. I feel like more things are up than down. I feel like the things God is calling us towards are huge and beginning on them seems monumental. I have this quirk where when I face something huge I tend to freeze or run away. I want to hide.
I have this longing to simplify life, to get back to basics to meet with people in genuine settings, feed them love them and deep down in my soul I have a desire to just say Here I am... Even though I don't fully know what that looks like. I want to transform our home into a safe place for people to come where we can sit at the table and eat, and fellowship over dinner. I want to open our home for visitors more. I want to say No and not regret it. <-- can I say there aren't many times especially in this season that I have regretted saying no to obligations in this season of life and its freeing. I have this deep longing to just abide in Jesus, to let go, rest and GO. I want to obey in freedom, dwell in his peace and trust him.
So right now...I'm letting go and surrendering. As I pick it up I strive to lay it back down in the hands of my Father who knows me so well, who has gifted me with many talents, with a wonderful husband and two amazing boys and a BIG calling...
Praying forward...walking forward boldly (hesitantly) but abiding and trusting that He knows full well what lies ahead. Praying for you. That you would let go, that you will just dive into what God is calling you to do big or small, walk in obedience, its worth it. I challenge you to find that calling that thing that just lights a fire that keeps you up at night and give it your all. give 100 percent into it and God will supply.
This girl...has carried these lies her whole life. You know the ones, we aren't good enough, we aren't pretty enough, our mistakes cost too much, our mistakes define us, our sin, our scarlet letters are who we are... I've been carrying around lies like this and a longing to measure up to gain approval, the approval I'm longing for I probably wont ever receive. No matter what I do right, no matter what I accomplish, it doesn't matter what my life will ever look like.
However, I was reminded this weekend at IF:Gathering that I don't have to carry this around anymore. I have the approval of my creator. I have been made new and those lies, that approval, that jar that I've been carrying striving to fill it and Jesus takes it. He looks me in the face, calls me by my name, calls me loved. He reminds me that no mistake costs too much, his grace is sufficient.
Life has been weird. God is doing something inside, He's moving in ways I don't understand. I can feel something big coming. There are big questions. I feel like more things are up than down. I feel like the things God is calling us towards are huge and beginning on them seems monumental. I have this quirk where when I face something huge I tend to freeze or run away. I want to hide.
I have this longing to simplify life, to get back to basics to meet with people in genuine settings, feed them love them and deep down in my soul I have a desire to just say Here I am... Even though I don't fully know what that looks like. I want to transform our home into a safe place for people to come where we can sit at the table and eat, and fellowship over dinner. I want to open our home for visitors more. I want to say No and not regret it. <-- can I say there aren't many times especially in this season that I have regretted saying no to obligations in this season of life and its freeing. I have this deep longing to just abide in Jesus, to let go, rest and GO. I want to obey in freedom, dwell in his peace and trust him.
So right now...I'm letting go and surrendering. As I pick it up I strive to lay it back down in the hands of my Father who knows me so well, who has gifted me with many talents, with a wonderful husband and two amazing boys and a BIG calling...
Praying forward...walking forward boldly (hesitantly) but abiding and trusting that He knows full well what lies ahead. Praying for you. That you would let go, that you will just dive into what God is calling you to do big or small, walk in obedience, its worth it. I challenge you to find that calling that thing that just lights a fire that keeps you up at night and give it your all. give 100 percent into it and God will supply.
Friday, January 29, 2016
wilderness
this season of life has been different, challenging, one of those where the biggest part doesn't make much sense. Its a season where a lot of things are up in the air. In bible study this week we studied Revelation 12 about how God protected the woman by preparing a place for her...in the wilderness.
I almost skipped it... I almost missed this epiphany...
because
I was running late... C wasn't feeling well... I had other things I "needed" to do..
but instead we went any way. I'm thankful I did. Life hasn't felt the same for a while. "securities" and comforts taken away one by one. Others pulled rather quickly from under our feet. Leaving us in the midst of "getting comfortable being uncomfortable" raw, real and seemingly alone. God has proven faithful around every turn, in ways beyond our comprehension.
We ended 2015 uncomfortable but finding our grips there, learning to dwell in the security that the Holy Spirit brings outside of worldly things. Coming into 2016 delving deeper...I don't know about you but deeper... feels harder than uncomfortable. It seems more inside out, all encompassing, unknown, surrender...
A year and a half ago God took our lives in a direction we never saw coming. God intertwined our lives with a country we cannot get off our minds and hearts. I cannot go to sleep without thinking about what I need to do. There is a passion, a fire that is burning us to do something from the inside out. The question now is...how?? when? open doors and we will follow...regardless.
wilderness: a wild uncultivated region, uninhabited, deprived of a place and protection of others, lonely, feel a lack, deprivation.
I've been fighting this season. I don't like it...but its where we are and if I just embrace it lean into it, dwell there God will show his abundance. He leads us to these places to take away our dependencies on the world and show us how big and great he is.
There are things in my life that just seem to be sitting in the same place and same condition I left them despite my pleading, there are other things that just aren't going like I planned, and still other things out there that are there and I don't know why. Despite me... Despite what I see... He is working... Having faith in the midst... Dwelling there... waiting there...
Striving each day to focus on the One who has already won. Victory is ours, the beautiful thing about the wilderness that God created...He created it just for her and no matter how long the war rages God will always protect us.
Remembering that...He has us safe and secure despite how we feel in the moment.
I almost skipped it... I almost missed this epiphany...
because
I was running late... C wasn't feeling well... I had other things I "needed" to do..
but instead we went any way. I'm thankful I did. Life hasn't felt the same for a while. "securities" and comforts taken away one by one. Others pulled rather quickly from under our feet. Leaving us in the midst of "getting comfortable being uncomfortable" raw, real and seemingly alone. God has proven faithful around every turn, in ways beyond our comprehension.
We ended 2015 uncomfortable but finding our grips there, learning to dwell in the security that the Holy Spirit brings outside of worldly things. Coming into 2016 delving deeper...I don't know about you but deeper... feels harder than uncomfortable. It seems more inside out, all encompassing, unknown, surrender...
A year and a half ago God took our lives in a direction we never saw coming. God intertwined our lives with a country we cannot get off our minds and hearts. I cannot go to sleep without thinking about what I need to do. There is a passion, a fire that is burning us to do something from the inside out. The question now is...how?? when? open doors and we will follow...regardless.
wilderness: a wild uncultivated region, uninhabited, deprived of a place and protection of others, lonely, feel a lack, deprivation.
I've been fighting this season. I don't like it...but its where we are and if I just embrace it lean into it, dwell there God will show his abundance. He leads us to these places to take away our dependencies on the world and show us how big and great he is.
There are things in my life that just seem to be sitting in the same place and same condition I left them despite my pleading, there are other things that just aren't going like I planned, and still other things out there that are there and I don't know why. Despite me... Despite what I see... He is working... Having faith in the midst... Dwelling there... waiting there...
Striving each day to focus on the One who has already won. Victory is ours, the beautiful thing about the wilderness that God created...He created it just for her and no matter how long the war rages God will always protect us.
Remembering that...He has us safe and secure despite how we feel in the moment.
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