Comfort

We sleep in the shade to hide from the scorching sun. But shade can be nothing more than a shifting shadow. So we pick up and move in hopes of finding the comfort we crave. Until we realize that true comfort, apart from the Comforter, is simply a mirage.


"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God."
- 2 Corinthians 1:3,4

Confidence

Confidence speaks loudly as she walks through crowded spaces. Her head held high asks strangers to open doors for her. "Prepare the way," she says silently.

But it is not the kind of confidence that speaks too loudly. Instead, it is just loud enough to invite others to turn their heads and look and listen.

It is an inner confidence. The stick to your ribs kind that mothers fed to their daughters before the world stripped it away...

until redemption rescued her. And confidence was restored.

"...for the LORD will be your confidence
and will keep your foot from being snared." -Proverbs 3:26

Starting Somewhere

We all must start somewhere, but I don't always know where that somewhere may be. The world tells me it should be as glamorous as somewhere over the rainbow, but I can't trust the world. I just know that when God is present, somewhere is a great place to start!

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight."
-Proverbs 3:5,6

The Days of Our Lives

These are the days that make memories. Days filled with purpose, not wanting even a minute to be lost to idle time. And so we lather our loved ones up in prayer before seeing them off to a day filled with adventure, knowing the Lord cares about every detail.

History

The sun sets in a city where history speaks richly through architecture's frame and photography's lens. And as the night sky darkens, the stars glitter brightly, reminding this city and its history of an even greater past.

"God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning-"
Genesis 1:16-19

Listening

Sometimes I feel as though God leaves me completely in the dark, unable to navigate my way through this life. But isn't that just like God to strip us of those things that keep us from trusting him?

And once my hands stop reaching for what might be in front of me, I become still. So that all I can do is listen.

It's in that moment that God reaches down from heaven to turn the lights back on as if to say, "Now do I have your attention?"

"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me." -Jesus (John 10:27)

In the Margins

On paper she lives her life somewhere in the middle among the well-dressed and the well-fed. And on most days that is good enough for her. But on the days when it is not, she scribbles her faith down in the margins of her life, trying to hold onto something bigger. But God is not asking her to squeeze him in the margins. He is telling her to keep him in the center.

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." -Jesus (John 15:5)