It’s been over a year since I’ve spent much time in my personal Instagram feed. At the request of a friend I went hunting through it for a particular post she was referencing, and I was freshly encouraged by the handful of captions I happened to land on. Then I realized it could be sweet and cool to have the photos + words in a more ‘permanent’ place, since I’m not on there much and you never know the future of the platform. Not sure how many posts there will be, but every few weeks I’m going to comb through my feed and put them here on the blog. Whether you have read them before or the words are new, enjoy. :)
See the others here.
How marvelous that though my feelings are valid and God wants my honesty, they aren’t greatest authority or the truest thing about me.
The Bible speaks a more authoritative and inerrant and sufficient word over us. And it breathes a different kind of air. Disbelief puts space between us and God, and we know it’s good to be near Him. By accepting His Word as truth we stay close.
May we live more in His Kingdom than we do our tiny ones, prioritizing His words so they always intermingle with ours and lead the way.
In a funk, stuck in your head, overwhelmed, bored, worried? Your view of God is too small. Get more of Him in your vision and less of other things. Nothing is comparable to Him — all else can’t help but be pushed to the periphery.
“Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live.” Isaiah 55:2-3
The God-reminder of late: don’t make Anna into someone she’s not.
AKA, development, growth, pace, etc? Seek wisdom, love her well, put other voices in their proper place of importance and put your hope and trust most in God.
He knows her best and He’s shepherding me. I have what I need to be her mom. And you have what you need.
When I asked what one of his favorite things about being a dad was — “Home feels homier with a family.”
“We’re going inside if you don’t stop licking the house.”
File under: Words I Never Thought I Would Say
Public confession with the hope of creating space for you:
I’m tired of living to be the most awesome one, the strongest one, the most needed one, the kept-together one all the time. The temptation is real.
The simplicity of being a Christ-experiencing, grace-receiving one is drawing me in. To agree with John Newton that “without Him all is waste and desert.”
What a battle. But what a life to be had.
Newton prayed this for a friend, and I often pray it for myself — I wish you health, peace, and prosperity; but, above all, that your souls may prosper; that you may still prefer the light of God’s countenance to your chief joy; that you may still delight yourselves in the Lord; be daily hungering and thirsting after him, and daily receiving from his fullness, even grace for grace; that you may rejoice in his all-sufficiency.
I say I want an ocean amount of God but I only hold up a 5 gallon bucket for Him to fill. The more space we make, the more we can receive, the more we enjoy, the more we can pour out.
The spiritual habits (and dependence on the Holy Spirit) we cultivate will continually make room for more of God. The overflow of that ‘more’ is your ministry, discipleship, work and fun.
Is it crazy to say I want us to be people carrying around an ocean inside instead of just a coffee cup to offer refreshment to the thirsty world around us?
May our giving not exceed our receiving. May our pouring out never exceed our being filled.
Spiritual experience is a gift, not something to muster or manufacture.
If I ever find the guts to get a tattoo, it would be this. A constant reminder of true reality:
I am saved, kept and loved based on objective facts and grounded in a perfect person, Christ, never my subjective feelings and circumstances and abilities.
Tim Keller says, “what makes you a Christian is Jesus’ work, not what goes on inside you.”
Experiencing God is not a requirement to live life with Him, but it is a sweet gift and worthy of hungering for.
Grace through faith. Everything. Always.
“Do not be anxious about anything.” Phil 4:6
For any fellow recovering earnaholics out there, an encouragement:
‘Anything’ doesn’t only encompass what is outside our control — the future, loss, pain, etc. Anything also includes things regarding our life with God.
“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed (synonyms: unsettled, disheartened), for I am your God.” Isaiah 41:10
Fear not, He is in you. And happy to be there.
Fear not, He’s not changed His mind about you.
Fear not, you are right with Him even now because of Christ.
Fear not, He delights in you.
Fear not, nothing can separate you from Him. Even you.
I may not know you, but today I’m praying for you… that if you don’t already, God would gift you with good friends.
The kind you can text with during the middle of church and it not be disruptive, but comical and encouraging because the pastor is preaching exactly what one of us needs.
The kind who send you dollars for an energy boost during a full weekend with lots of responsibilities.
The kind you can send the most random and ridiculous or the most serious and difficult thoughts in the group message.
The kind who know you… who grow, fail, laugh, learn and cry alongside you. Are honest with you. And still want to be around you.
The kind you trust pray for you when you ask and share.
For a long time I didn’t have this depth of friendship, the regularity and the presence and the closeness, in my community, but now I do and they are pretty much one of the main reasons I survive and flourish in life.
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