“God is always coming to you in the sacrament of “God is always coming to you in the sacrament of the Present Moment. Meet and receive Him there with gratitude.” Evelyn Underhill 

Such brokenness we see, such pain, such fear. Attend to Jesus — Lord, Savior, King — with all your honest thoughts and feelings, and let His power and love change you. Let Him form and re-form you into a help for the hurting, a bright spot for those in the dark, a presence for others to rest in. A ‘little Christ’ on the earth.

 ^ what I’m rehearsing to myself
Living life with the Holy Spirit — “you fulfil Living life with the Holy Spirit — “you fulfill the will of God through the inner influence of His Spirit instead of the outer influence of the law of God” (David Guzik).

This took me probably 15 years of following Jesus to grasp. It felt too easy, my willpower was my measuring stick, and the freedom was terrifying. 

But alas, God’s way is the best way, and there is no substitute for the Holy Spirit. I can’t muster spiritual fruit, but His goal, thankfully and marvelously, is vineyards and vineyards.

May we surrender this work to Him.
“The deeper our faith, the more doubt we must en “The deeper our faith, the more doubt we must endure; the deeper our hope, the more prone we are to despair; the deeper our love, the more pain its loss will bring: these are a few of the paradoxes we must hold as human beings. If we refuse to hold them in the hopes of living without doubt, despair, and pain, we also find ourselves living without faith, hope, and love.” Parker J. Palmer
I pose to you what the Holy Spirit posed to me rec I pose to you what the Holy Spirit posed to me recently: What if you made choices out of fear of missing out on God instead of fear of missing out on what others deem significant?

In all honesty, FOMO sneaks up on me not along paths of a friend’s travel adventures or home decor or even if friends hang out without me. My FOMO animal comes in the form of popular and effective Christian voices. Because of technology and social media, I have access, though not complete (because we’re not actual friends), to their lives and ministry, their work and the personality they choose to share online. While a good thing in many ways, it stops being good when it becomes an avalanche I can’t keep up with but am afraid to stop.

// new blog post: FOMO on God //
zoom zoom zoom zoom
Like Anna plays in my presence, like she comes to Like Anna plays in my presence, 
like she comes to me when she gets hurt,
like she wants to be held when she’s sick,
like she unashamedly + honestly feels any and every range of emotion with me, 
like she never corrects or censors or judges herself before coming to me, 
like she trusts me to love and care and accept her always... 
so it can be and is for me with God my Father. 

What a delightful way to be with Him! Don’t hold back — disappointment, confusion, happiness, sadness, longings. Give Him access to you, as you are right now, and find rest and love for your soul.
Just a girl bumping her New Years’ goal of wakin Just a girl bumping her New Years’ goal of waking up early to February as she reaches her 10th day of coronavirus quarantine.

I’ll keep the details to myself, but I do have to acknowledge the generosity and availability and kindness of our family and friends. They’ve brought us meals, groceries, medicine, and @maghjohnson, IN MICHIGAN, sent us a Door Dash gift card for a pizza. I could cry over the love. @audreyhealy5 @kgmartin521 @ansley.c.evans @nm_wilson @klb418

Also, even though today was the first day I had the energy to walk it, I’ve never been more thankful for our long driveway. Sunshine is the JAM. 

To everyone who has had COVID or will get it, our experience will of course be different, but— solitary, friends, solidarity. And grace upon grace.
Supplies of water, sustenance and shade in the wil Supplies of water, sustenance and shade in the wilderness are impossible without God. Miracles of change and help.

“The poor and the needy seek water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. I will answer them. I am the Lord, the God of Israel. 

I will not abandon them. I will open rivers on the barren heights, and springs in the middle of the plains. I will turn the desert into a pool and dry land into springs. I will plant cedar, acacia, myrtle, and olive trees in the wilderness. I will put juniper, elm, and cypress trees together in the desert. 

So that all may see and know, consider and understand, that the hand of the Lord has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it.” Isaiah‬ ‭41:17-20‬ ‭CSB 

It is the Spirit of God who changes hearts.
It is the truth of God that transforms + renews minds.
It is the Son of God who leads the way.
It is the love of God that heals and calls. 
It is the power of God that does the impossible.
It is the presence of God that makes a difference.

So I pray. Faithful to what + who He puts before me. Trusting Him to be faithful in being God.

So we pray.
Ruth Haley Barton writes that in silence we come t Ruth Haley Barton writes that in silence we come to God with what is true about us and let Him be in control. 

This is my personal prayer for this year and honestly for the rest of my life — that I would accept what comes, and what is. That I would welcome what God gives and allows for me. That I would grow comfortable in His presence with what is true about me, not what I feel *should* be true, or even what I wish was true. 

Not defending, not comparing, not berating, not promoting, not criticizing, not earning... being with Jesus with what IS, and receiving Him. Letting Him form and grow what is there, the real me. 

Accepting with joy. Because God is God, sovereign, wise, almighty, good and merciful, and I am His.
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faith · 01/29/2020

enjoy God because you can

God likes me. And I like God.

This wasn’t always true for me. (Rather, I struggled to believe it was true.)

Sure, I knew from the Bible that God loved me, but somehow Him liking me felt a little farther fetched. Mostly because I was an expert in coming up with reasons He would probably STOP liking me: struggles with sin, idols, failure to stay connected to Him, etc.

Why does it make a difference that God not only loves us but likes us?

I think one reason is because of how we understand relationships. We spend time with people we enjoy being around. We pursue friendship with people we like, who encourage us, who are there for us, who make us laugh, who make us better, who we like talking to. Friendship is also messy sometimes. We make mistakes, we ask for forgiveness, we hurt each other, we grow together. We are sometimes rejected or let down or gossiped about or discouraged. This is our framework for relationship, so it is challenging not to fit God into that same frame, especially since the Bible also tells us God desires friendship with us (1 Corinthians 1:9). When He created the human race, it pleased Him, and He called it good (Genesis 1:31).

We receive his communications and, by the Spirit, are made alive to them. We see them coming—his communications of himself, his character, and his work on our behalf—and we are awakened to them. We are made to admire them, to delight in them, and to be happy, hopeful, and encouraged. Then we return to him—likewise through the word, by the Spirit, and through the name of Jesus Christ—prayers, acts of gratitude, resolutions to fight the fight of faith, and acts of obedience. The result is that our lives are going Godward while his life toward us is coming manward. That’s the relationship. John Piper

I think another reason is because God is invisible, high and lifted up and also closer than our next breath. The God we read about and study is holy, meaning no aspect of His nature contradicts the other. He is perfectly loving and merciful while also being perfectly just and sovereign (1 John 4:10, John 3:16, Romans 5:1). He requires righteousness from us yet offers it as a gift through Jesus.

We can grasp that He loves us because of the great lengths He has gone to rescue us from sin and death – His Son lived perfectly, died bearing the weight of every sin and conquered every darkness when He rose to life. We can grasp (even lightly) the incredible forgiveness offered, the amazing grace given and the eternal life purchased (1 Peter 3:18, John 1:12, Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 6:22). He is God and this was His plan from the beginning (Ephesians 1:4-5).

He is an incredible, unreal, powerful God, YET He is also a highly personal, attentive, conversational Father. We continually struggle with sin, but His Spirit is sanctifying us, calling us up and into Christlikeness, the person He created us to be (Romans 8:8-10, Romans 5:5). And that delights Him!

Think about your best friend or your spouse or a close family member. Think about how spending time with them makes you feel. Think about how much joy it gives you to know them. Think about how you pursue them with questions and conversations. Think about how they care for you and you for them. Think about how it feels when they surprise you or take care of you when you’re sick or hurt. Think about how they make you laugh or how you know their favorite food or movie.

These are all things that make up a good relationship, right?

So. it. is. with. God.

And since He knows everything about you, past, present and future, and is invested in making you more like Jesus, it’s even more personal and sweet and intimate than your favorite friendship on this earth.

I don’t remind you of this to make you feel good (although it probably does). I remind you of this to take steps to know Him because He can be known. Make space in your day to worship Him because He is to be worshipped and it will change you. Talk to Him about the little things and the big things because He can be conversed with. Be quiet and listen to Him because He wants to talk to you. Treat Him like your favorite person because He is always the best choice. Share with Him your disappointments and frustrations because He is the one who can do something better with them. Invite Him into your chores and projects because He is the wisest, most creative and joyful helper. Obey Him with your choices because He makes it possible with the help of His Spirit.

“His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man, but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.” Psalm 147:10-11

Tremble at what grieves God. Believe in His love. Enjoy Him. Because you can! Because He made it possible. And because He delights in who you are in Him and who He is making you to be.

In: faith · Tagged: faith, God, love

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“God is always coming to you in the sacrament of “God is always coming to you in the sacrament of the Present Moment. Meet and receive Him there with gratitude.” Evelyn Underhill 

Such brokenness we see, such pain, such fear. Attend to Jesus — Lord, Savior, King — with all your honest thoughts and feelings, and let His power and love change you. Let Him form and re-form you into a help for the hurting, a bright spot for those in the dark, a presence for others to rest in. A ‘little Christ’ on the earth.

 ^ what I’m rehearsing to myself
Living life with the Holy Spirit — “you fulfil Living life with the Holy Spirit — “you fulfill the will of God through the inner influence of His Spirit instead of the outer influence of the law of God” (David Guzik).

This took me probably 15 years of following Jesus to grasp. It felt too easy, my willpower was my measuring stick, and the freedom was terrifying. 

But alas, God’s way is the best way, and there is no substitute for the Holy Spirit. I can’t muster spiritual fruit, but His goal, thankfully and marvelously, is vineyards and vineyards.

May we surrender this work to Him.
“The deeper our faith, the more doubt we must en “The deeper our faith, the more doubt we must endure; the deeper our hope, the more prone we are to despair; the deeper our love, the more pain its loss will bring: these are a few of the paradoxes we must hold as human beings. If we refuse to hold them in the hopes of living without doubt, despair, and pain, we also find ourselves living without faith, hope, and love.” Parker J. Palmer
I pose to you what the Holy Spirit posed to me rec I pose to you what the Holy Spirit posed to me recently: What if you made choices out of fear of missing out on God instead of fear of missing out on what others deem significant?

In all honesty, FOMO sneaks up on me not along paths of a friend’s travel adventures or home decor or even if friends hang out without me. My FOMO animal comes in the form of popular and effective Christian voices. Because of technology and social media, I have access, though not complete (because we’re not actual friends), to their lives and ministry, their work and the personality they choose to share online. While a good thing in many ways, it stops being good when it becomes an avalanche I can’t keep up with but am afraid to stop.

// new blog post: FOMO on God //
zoom zoom zoom zoom
Like Anna plays in my presence, like she comes to Like Anna plays in my presence, 
like she comes to me when she gets hurt,
like she wants to be held when she’s sick,
like she unashamedly + honestly feels any and every range of emotion with me, 
like she never corrects or censors or judges herself before coming to me, 
like she trusts me to love and care and accept her always... 
so it can be and is for me with God my Father. 

What a delightful way to be with Him! Don’t hold back — disappointment, confusion, happiness, sadness, longings. Give Him access to you, as you are right now, and find rest and love for your soul.
Just a girl bumping her New Years’ goal of wakin Just a girl bumping her New Years’ goal of waking up early to February as she reaches her 10th day of coronavirus quarantine.

I’ll keep the details to myself, but I do have to acknowledge the generosity and availability and kindness of our family and friends. They’ve brought us meals, groceries, medicine, and @maghjohnson, IN MICHIGAN, sent us a Door Dash gift card for a pizza. I could cry over the love. @audreyhealy5 @kgmartin521 @ansley.c.evans @nm_wilson @klb418

Also, even though today was the first day I had the energy to walk it, I’ve never been more thankful for our long driveway. Sunshine is the JAM. 

To everyone who has had COVID or will get it, our experience will of course be different, but— solitary, friends, solidarity. And grace upon grace.
Supplies of water, sustenance and shade in the wil Supplies of water, sustenance and shade in the wilderness are impossible without God. Miracles of change and help.

“The poor and the needy seek water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. I will answer them. I am the Lord, the God of Israel. 

I will not abandon them. I will open rivers on the barren heights, and springs in the middle of the plains. I will turn the desert into a pool and dry land into springs. I will plant cedar, acacia, myrtle, and olive trees in the wilderness. I will put juniper, elm, and cypress trees together in the desert. 

So that all may see and know, consider and understand, that the hand of the Lord has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it.” Isaiah‬ ‭41:17-20‬ ‭CSB 

It is the Spirit of God who changes hearts.
It is the truth of God that transforms + renews minds.
It is the Son of God who leads the way.
It is the love of God that heals and calls. 
It is the power of God that does the impossible.
It is the presence of God that makes a difference.

So I pray. Faithful to what + who He puts before me. Trusting Him to be faithful in being God.

So we pray.
Ruth Haley Barton writes that in silence we come t Ruth Haley Barton writes that in silence we come to God with what is true about us and let Him be in control. 

This is my personal prayer for this year and honestly for the rest of my life — that I would accept what comes, and what is. That I would welcome what God gives and allows for me. That I would grow comfortable in His presence with what is true about me, not what I feel *should* be true, or even what I wish was true. 

Not defending, not comparing, not berating, not promoting, not criticizing, not earning... being with Jesus with what IS, and receiving Him. Letting Him form and grow what is there, the real me. 

Accepting with joy. Because God is God, sovereign, wise, almighty, good and merciful, and I am His.
“May the urgency with which I approach my work n “May the urgency with which I approach my work never become anxiety. The world is not mine to save.” @justinmcroberts

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