Light of the World

He tames the darkness. He erases the night. He fills a room with his presence like the golden glow of a table lamp. The question is, does he sit at your table? Does he light up your life? If not, he wants to...

"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." -Jesus (John 8:12)

Faith

Sometimes I am not sure if I stand in the gap or stand in the way. So I offer up a prayer asking you to help me make sense of it all. But the lines determining where I should stand still remain blurred. Until I realize I should not be looking with my eyes....I should be looking with my heart.

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for."
-Hebrews 11:1,2

Forgiven

Sin seared her conscience like scarlet letters branding every transgression on her soul. But redemption dawns with the morning as the troubles of yesterday lay sleeping with the night. And the words, "HE IS RISEN. MY SINS ARE FORGIVEN." are now tattooed in scarlet on the deepest layers of her conscience and on every fiber of her soul.

"The angel said to the women, 'Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.'"
-Matthew 28:5,6

Mask

Perfectionism is a mask I wear to hide the woman I have become behind the woman I want to be. So I take my mask off and try to feel comfortable with the process of just becoming...even if that does not look perfect.

What kind of mask do you wear?

"And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns."
-Philippians 1:6

The Narrow Road

Loneliness marks the narrow road traveled by those who count the cost, and abandoned by those who cater only to themselves. It is a road less traveled. But somewhere along the journey, the pathway deepens and loneliness becomes just an illusion.

Which road are you walking?

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it."
-Matthew 7:13

Be the One

Her life has been sprinkled with very little opportunity. But she dreams in color. She longs for more. And a heart that dreams in color cannot live in black and white.

Will you be the one to change her world?

"And the King will say, 'I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!'"
-Jesus (Matthew 25:40)

Sinking

Every morning she waits for her ship to set sail. But every morning the winds of change refuse to blow. So her ship remains docked on the banks of reality without any hope of leaving the harbor. And as evening approaches, her heart sinks with the sun.

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life."
-Proverbs 13:12

Rescued

She's a worn out party girl with washed up dreams and a weathered heart. She carries more experiences than she dares to admit and more baggage than she cares to claim. And she is the woman I would have become had Jesus Christ not rescued me.

"Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire..."
-Jude 1:22-23

At a Crossroad

Do I step with my right foot or my left? Both directions call my name. Both directions call my heart. And still my heart remains divided. So I serve it up on a silver platter, waiting for you to show me which side should take it all. If I choose one over the other will you still walk with me? There are certain roads we were never meant to walk alone. This is one of them.

"Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you;
therefore he will rise up to show you compassion.
For the LORD is a God of justice.
Blessed are all who wait for him!
People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, 'This is the way; walk in it.'"
-Isaiah 30:18-21

Unbroken

She pours his coffee while he reads the paper. He opens his Bible while she prays aloud. He sits on the couch and waits for her to join him. Their relationship hinges on a supernatural kind of love.

But the foundations of these relationships can still crumble under the pressures of this life.
Relationships like these are eroding at their very core if their core does not keep Christ.

How is your relationship doing?

"A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken."
-Ecclesiastes 4:12

Like Grass

Nostalgia pumps through my veins with every beat of my heart. While my photographic memory keeps pictures hanging in my head they way they used to hang in the hall. But the footsteps of the past no longer echo through the halls of the present. And people who once darkened doorways in my life now remain in the dark corners of my memory. Still, life goes on...

"'All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of the Lord stands forever.'"
-1 Peter 1:24,25

Find Your Voice

She stands in silence seeking out someone who will listen. But the audience she seeks already listens anonymously. Their seemingly invisible presence is deafening as they sit silently waiting for her to find her voice. Still, the irony remains as the one who longs to speak believes she has no audience while her audience believes she has no voice.

Is their a message you have been waiting to deliver? Perhaps your audience is ready to listen.

"... speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work."
-Ephesians 4:15-16

Counterfeit Love

We all know love is something we cannot buy. Love is also something we cannot sell. And selfishness tells us it is something we can never have enough of. While our memories tell us love is something we can sometimes lose.

But do we know that love generated from ourselves is a mere counterfeit of God's love?

"...for love is as strong as death,
its jealousy unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire,
like a mighty flame.
Many waters cannot quench love;
rivers cannot sweep it away.
If one were to give
all the wealth of one’s house for love,
it would be utterly scorned."
-Song of Solomon 8:6,7

Picture Perfect

She lives in a crooked world on a crooked lane where the weeds grow tall, except for at her address. Her garden remains well-tended. Her door mat welcomes the wounded, the weary, and those bound by sin and suffering. The world may look at her home and not call it picture perfect, but all those welcomed here call it a picture of Christ.

"She opens her arms to the poor
and extends her hands to the needy.
When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
for all of them are clothed in scarlet.
She makes coverings for her bed;
she is clothed in fine linen and purple.
Her husband is respected at the city gate,
where he takes his seat among the elders of the land."
-Proverbs 31:20-23