Beautiful

I felt like looking pretty to soothe my weary nerves after yesterday kept claiming to know me. But there is so much about me today that yesterday has not been told. So I pulled my heart out of hiding, only to discover how wrinkled it had become. Then I opened it up and smoothed in out before pinning it on my sleeve. And once I did, you called me beautiful. "Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end." -Ecclesiastes 3:11

Pushing Perfection

Control caught me in a place where I did not want to be found, hiding halfway between the perfect and the immaculate, because the truth is that reality is hard to be friends with. So playing a game of hiding feels more familiar than getting found, especially when I struggle with trying to hide my heart in my own sense of perfection. Still, I have hope when I read what the author of Psalm 119 writes, "To all perfection I see a limit; but your commands are boundless (Psalm 119:96)." And I feel so thankful to know that God offers me freedom in Christ. How have you been hiding your heart from God?

Destiny

I think the idea of destiny is highly overrated. When held in the light of an all-powerful God who has a perfect plan, destiny merely leads us down different avenues that should not define us. Those avenues may shape us or sharpen us along the way, but they can never make us into who God intends for us to be. Instead, those avenues ought to be nothing more than pathways that are apart of our greater journey we take with Christ. Do you walk down avenues that leave you weary after chasing an illusion called destiny? Perhaps it is time to walk a different road. "Energize the limp hands, strengthen the rubbery knees. Tell fearful souls, 'Courage! Take heart! God is here, right here, on his way to put things right and redress all wrongs. He's on his way! He'll save you!' Blind eyes will be opened, deaf ears unstopped, lame men and women will leap like deer, the voiceless break into song. Springs of water will burst out in the wilderness, streams flow in the desert. Hot sands will become a cool oasis, thirsty ground a splashing fountain. Even lowly jackals will have water to drink, and barren grasslands flourish richly. There will be a highway called the Holy Road. No one rude or rebellious is permitted on this road. It's for God's people exclusively— impossible to get lost on this road. Not even fools can get lost on it." -Isaiah 35:3-10 (The Message)

Story

Story stands at every door of our hearts, waiting to be told and wanting to be heard. But sometimes we feel more compelled to embrace the story that simply goes riding off into the sunset rather than embracing the story that points people to Christ. Perhaps we do not feel like entertaining story in such a way that it could change us by softening our hearts or by opening our minds. But the truth is that a love story gets woven into every story that glorifies God. And that love story is one he has written for each one of us. So before we feel like turning those stories away, let's consider giving them a second chance. Is there a story you have been waiting to tell or wanting to hear? Perhaps you are like Paul who writes, "You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts (2 Corinthians 3:2-3)."

Opportunity

Discovering opportunities and deciding to either pick them up or to pass them by can be very difficult. I find it especially hard when opportunities are not only begging to be seized, but are also branded with a shelf life that will eventually expire. The idea of an opportunity having an expiration date means making a timely decision to either move toward that opportunity or to let that opportunity move toward someone else. Are you faced with decisions to make regarding opportunities in your life today? If so, let me encourage you with wisdom from God's Word, "So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do." -Ephesians 5:15-17

Happy Mother's Day

A Mother's love is soft like velvet. Her words are a sweet perfume. Knowing she has today, she embraces her child with visions of tomorrow, as she showers her little one with grace and truth. "Her children stand and bless her." -Proverbs 31:28

Courageous

Some of us live life on the edge, while others have a fear of falling off. But God does not call us to feel comfortable. He calls us to be courageous. And while there is excitement in adventure, there is not always a safety net. How do you live? By holding on to what seems safe this side of heaven? Or by holding on to the hand that holds heaven? "This is my command-be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." -Joshua 1:9