Sometimes Love Looks Like a Potty

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assumptions, christian walk, encouragement, family life, focus, getting the right perspective, God's love, God's practical love, having the right perspective of God's love, how God shows His love to us, love, perspective, practical ways to love, reality of family life, seeing God's love every day, seeing God's love for us, what love looks like

Yes, you read the title right. After 24 years of marriage, (I hate to break it to the newlyweds), love sometimes looks like a brand, spanking new, no clog, beautiful porcelain, name brand potty. Sometimes, love does look like you imagined growing up with all the candlelight, moonlight and any other light you can imagine, but oftentimes in the existence of everyday issues, a potty is involved.

Last week, we had an issue in our home and a new potty got moved from the someday list to the today list. After a few calls to my guy, he was able to buy, deliver and install said potty within a few hours. Wow! What a man! We teased each other about our “potty love” for the rest of the night. The really crazy thing is if he had brought me flowers that day and took me to a candlelit dinner I wouldn’t have felt as loved as I did with him installing our new potty. Love needed to look different from a fairy tale that day.

I wonder how often God shows me His love in practical ways every day, but because it’s not what I imagined, I don’t see it?

Believe me, the day of the potty I felt God’s love as well as my man’s. You see, my guy wasn’t even supposed to be able to come home until the next evening, but unexpectedly he finished what could be done on the job site and was able to come home…a whole day early! Our God is practical in His love.

If God had sent me a phone call from a friend that day when I really needed a potty, I wouldn’t have felt His love as much. He gave me what I needed and I was able to feel how loved and cherished I am to Him.

On other days, if a potty showed up at my door, I would have been thankful, but very confused. I’m sure those were the days that a call from a friend did come because that’s what I needed that day. You see? We need eyes wide open to see all the ways God shows His love to us just like I need eyes wide open to see all the ways that my guy shows his love for me. Some days, it’s candlelight and some days… it’s a potty.

Look around this Holiday Season and notice all the ways God is showing His love to you. Did your family’s favorite pie turn out just right? That’s God’s love. Did your pie get burned to a crisp, but your new daughter-in-law needed to see you’re not perfect? That’s God’s love to both of you. Did you have money to buy the ingredients for the pie? Did you have a stove to cook it in? All God’s love. Didn’t have any of that? Well, how about air to breathe? That’s God’s love. Water to drink? God’s love. A coat to wear? God’s love. A hug from a friend? God’s love. The ability to read this blog? God’s love. God shows His love in many, many ways we just need eyes to see it.

So, as you look around for all the ways that God is choosing to show His love for you over the next few days, pray that seeing His love becomes a habit. Pray that you will see and feel His love as you never have before and realize that sometimes God’s love looks like candlelight, but oftentimes times it looks like a new potty.

Seeking Hearts Ministries

My Story

 

 

What You Can Know

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basics of Christianity, Christian encouragement, christian walk, clinging to hope, devotional, encouragement, faith, faithfulness, family devotions, family time, focus, God, God's love, hope, joy, knowing, knowing God, life, love, our faithful God, perspective, truth

In a hymn by William Fullerton we see these words:

“I cannot tell how silently He suffered, as with His peace He graced the place of tears, or how His heart upon the cross was broken, the crown of pain to three and thirty years. BUT THIS I KNOW, He heals the broken hearted, and stays our sin, and calms our lurking fear, and lifts the burden from the heavy laden, for yet the Savior, Savior of the world is here.”

This beautiful hymn reminded me that even if life is intense and confusing, even if things around me are murky and unclear, there are many things that I do know. Many things that I can still trust. Many things to be encouraged by. Here are just a few:

God is love.

1 John 4:16 – “And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.”

Jeremiah 31:3 – “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, I have continued to extend faithful love to you.”

God is good.

Psalm 136:1 – “Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good. His love is eternal.”

God is light. No darkness dwells in Him.

I John 1:5 – “Now this is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in Him.”

God is my protection.

Psalm 36:7 – “God, Your faithful love is so valuable that people take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.”

God is my sanctuary.

Psalm 55:22 – “Cast your burden on the LORD, and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.”

Psalm 71:3 – “Be a rock of refuge for me, where I can always go. Give the command to save me, for You are my rock and fortress.”

God is my portion.

Psalm 16:5 – “LORD, You are my portion and my cup ⌊of blessing⌋; You hold my future.”

Psalm 119:57 – “The LORD is my portion; I have promised to keep Your words.”

God is faithful.

Psalm 36:5 – “LORD, Your faithful love ⌊reaches⌋ to heaven, Your faithfulness to the clouds.”

Deuteronomy 7:9 – “Know that Yahweh your God is God, the faithful God who keeps His gracious covenant loyalty for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commands.”

1 Corinthians 10:13 – “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to humanity. God is faithful, and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation He will also provide a way of escape so that you are able to bear it.”

God is present.

Psalm 46:1 – “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

God is glorious and righteous.

Psalm 97:6 – “The heavens proclaim His righteousness; all the peoples see His glory.”

God is sovereign.

Psalm 138:8 – “The LORD will fulfill ⌊His purpose⌋ for me. LORD, Your love is eternal; do not abandon the work of Your hands.”

God is kind.

Romans 2:4 – “Or do you despise the riches of His kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?”

God is peace.

John 14:27 – “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Your heart must not be troubled or fearful.”

John 16:33 – “I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”

Philippians 4:9 – “Do what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.”

God is Healer.

Psalm 103:3 – “He forgives all your sin; He heals all your diseases.”

Luke 6:17-19 –“After coming down with them, He stood on a level place with a large crowd of His disciples and a great number of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon. They came to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases; and those tormented by unclean spirits were made well. The whole crowd was trying to touch Him, because power was coming out from Him and healing them all.”

God is trustworthy.

Romans 4:20, 21 –  “He did not waver in unbelief at God’s promise but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God because he was fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.

God is incomparable.

Psalm 40:5 – “LORD my God, You have done many things— Your wonderful works and Your plans for us; none can compare with You. If I were to report and speak ⌊of them⌋, they are more than can be told.”

God is greater.

1 John 4:4 – “You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”

God is FOR me.

Psalm 56:9 – “Then my enemies will retreat on the day when I call. This I know: God is for me.”

God is worth it.

2 Samuel 22:4 – “I called to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I was saved from my enemies.”

Revelation 4:11 – “Our Lord and God, You are worthy to receive glory and honor and power, because You have created all things, and because of Your will they exist and were created.”

So, be encouraged. Even when life is bombarding you with situations out of your control and you are struggling to keep your head afloat, cling to what you know. Cling to the God you know. He will not fail.

Fullerton went on to write in his hymn:“I cannot tell how He will win the nations, how He will claim His earthly heritage, how satisfy the needs and aspirations of East and West, of sinner and of sage, BUT THIS I KNOW, all flesh shall see His glory, and He shall reap the harvest He has sown, and some glad day His sun will shine in splendor when He the Savior, Savior of the world is known.”

Trust that today. Trust what you know. Trust in the One you know. God has never failed anyone throughout all eternity and He will not fail you!

Seeking Hearts Ministries      My Story

Confessions of a Closet Hoarder

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Christian encouragement, christian journey, christian walk, Christianity, devotional, encouragement, faith, family devotions, focus, giving, God, hoarding, hoarding blessings, Jesus, perspective, receiving, trust

This morning as I was eating my grapefruit, things became a little messy. I probably need to explain that I eat my grapefruit like an orange. I peel it and then I go a bit further than most. I continue on and peel the inner skin as well. It only leaves the pulp and all I can say is that it is super yummy. Strange to some of you, and yes, it’s a lot of prep work, but …mmmmm….only grapefruit pulp? Well worth it. As you can imagine though, it gets quite messy at times. (I actually won’t eat citrus in public so my family won’t crawl under the table in embarrassment.)

As I was eating my grapefruit, I had already grabbed two paper towels and thought it would be plenty, but this particular grapefruit was extra juicy. Juice was running everywhere! As that lovely grapefruit goodness was running down my arms, I felt like a sticky mess and I began to argue with myself about getting another paper towel. I thought one more would be excessive. I thought it would not be frugal to grab another. ‘What if I have three paper towels with every grapefruit? Wouldn’t my grocery budget explode?’ I thought. Finally, I got up to get another paper towel in order to finish my grapefruit in comfort. As I took hold of it, I thought, ‘God provided these paper towels. Go ahead and use them. He provided them.’ I realized that He had this paper towel roll sitting on the counter just for me for this very moment. He knew I would need extra and it was already there, but I was so worried about having paper towels for the rest of the month, I refused to use the blessing right in front of me. If my God counts the hairs on my head as Matthew 10:30 says, wouldn’t He care about paper towels that I need?

It made me wonder how many times I save, or even hoard, His blessings in the now because I am afraid He won’t provide for me in the future.  I don’t say that, but that’s how I live.

Jesus prayed to His Father in Matthew 6 to “give us this day our daily bread”. That’s how we are taught to trust. We need to trust Him for daily provision. But, if I have “bread” stored up for weeks, just in case some tragedy happens, who am I really trusting in? Am I trusting in God, or how smart I’ve been to prepare? I do believe in being responsible, but when God tells us to give, we need to give. That’s what I’m learning.

I’m finding that when I refuse to give as God directs, I’m telling Him that I don’t trust Him for my future. If He tells me to give a bag of beans to someone and I refuse because I only have one, not two, I am telling Him that I don’t believe He will give me that bag of beans tomorrow, or whenever I need them. When He tells me to give a certain amount to church and I only give a partial amount, I am showing Him (and myself) that my trust only goes so far. He knows my trust level, but this allows me to see clearly, to see that my faith may not be what I thought it was, or say that it is.

Psalm 65:11 says, “Thou hast crowned the year with Thy bounty, and Thy paths drip with fatness.” If I believe that Christ’s bounty is around every corner of this year, why would I hoard anything? If I know His mercies are new every morning as Lamentations 3:22-23 tells me, why am I hoarding mercy for myself and not extending it to others? Why would I not give that mercy to others today?

Deuteronomy 8:7-10 says, “For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; a land where you shall eat food without scarcity, in which you shall not lack anything; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. When you shall eat and are satisfied, you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you.” If I really believe He is bringing me into a good land, why would I hold anything back that He is asking me to give?

I’m finding that it’s all about leaving my hands open, not just to receive, but to give. Oftentimes I have only had my hands open to receive, but then I would quickly close them after receiving a blessing and hoard it for my family. Now, I am praying to keep my hands open to give as well as receive.

When my hand is laying open to give, I am finding that I am receiving more as well. I suppose it’s common sense, but I had never realized it before. As my hand lays open, I don’t decide whether I’m giving or receiving so now both can actually happen concurrently. As long as my hand is open to give, it is also open to receive and God allows this continuous flow to take place. Am I giving so I will receive? No! I am giving because I trust in His provision. He may choose to replace those beans I wrote about earlier, or He may choose to make me learn to like rice, or broccoli, or turnips. It’s up to Him and I trust Him.

Psalm 27:13 says, “I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.” We are in the land of the living and we will see the goodness of the Lord if we simply open our eyes and I believe, our hands as well.

So, grab a grapefruit today, get three whole paper towels. Eat it like an orange and rest assured that your God will provide. In fact, He is providing for you this very minute. He is designing your future. He is integrating relationships in your life that you never imagined were still possible. He is restoring your health and vitality. He is growing your business. He is crowning your year with goodness. It may be with daily bread, or cups running over, but His sovereign hand has you exactly where you need to be. He is here. What more do you need?

Seeking Hearts Ministries

Lonely?

Is Love Blind?

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Christian encouragement, christian journey, christian walk, Christianity, encouragment, family devotions, love, love is blind, love is not blind, loving our neighbor, loving people, loving smart, perspective, smart ways to love

Is love really blind? We’ve heard that phrase all of our lives. Actually, since Chaucer around 1405, generations of people have heard that “love is blind.” But, is it true?

Philippians 1:9-10 says, “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent [distinguish between things which differ] in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ.” Philippians tells us that love is not blind. In fact, it really tells us that love makes us smarter, more discerning, not less.

Vanna Bonta said, “Love is not blind. Love sees what is most true.” That’s right on, isn’t it? Think about our God. First John 4:16 tells us that “God is love”. We know God isn’t blind to our faults, so why would we think His love in us would make us blind? John 3:16 proves this. It says that God loved the world and then gave His only Son to die for us. If love made God blind to our faults, He would not have seen our sin. He would not have seen our need for a Savior. But, because His love is never blind He discerned the most excellent path for all mankind. Just as God’s love gives Him discernment, His love in us will do the same.

Maybe you guys are great in this area, but I confess that I have often held back my love from an individual because I wanted to “stay smart” and “keep a level head”. In actuality, I’ve been shooting myself in the foot. When I love people as God loves me and has empowered me to love, I get a discernment that I otherwise would not have. Loving people makes me smarter. I’ve had it backwards all along! Shocking! I know!

Loving people makes us able to see and think more clearly. It doesn’t make us blind. Verse ten of Philippians one says that love helps us to “approve the things that are excellent”. Romans 12:2 says that when we renew our minds we are able to “prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” That word prove is the same root word as approve in our Philippians passage. So, when we renew our minds from thinking that love makes us blind, we can receive the truth of God’s Word that love actually makes us more aware, more perceptive, more intuitive.

Matthew 22:39 tells us that we should love our neighbors as ourselves. Are we blind to our own faults? Usually we know them really well, but if we’re honest we still look out for ‘ole number one. We still want what’s best for us. Are we going to know our neighbors faults? Yes. The more we get to know them and love them, we will see their faults. But, through God’s grace He will empower us to see clearly and discern what our love should look like in every situation.

Do we need to be smart when it comes to loving people? Yes! But, what I’m finding is that when I am pressed in hard to the Lord He whispers things I need to know. When I love Him as I am supposed to (with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength) I can love others as He has planned. It doesn’t become co-dependent, or in a direction He never intended, it stays smart and active and pure. When it’s His love in me, it’s a love that is guaranteed to be smart, strong, invasive and very discerning.

Don’t be scared. Love is not blind. Love is all seeing, all knowing and ever willing to help us engage, discern and perceive the right way to cherish each individual as God has called us to. Let’s decide to love people as God intended for us to love.

My Love Story              Seeking Hearts Ministries

 

Spreading it Before the Lord

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anxiety, attacks, battles, burdens, choices, christian journey, christian walk, Christianity, encouragement, enemies, family devotions, focus, hope, hurts, laying our burdens down, peace, perspective, trust, walking with God

So, Hezekiah is an interesting figure in the Old Testament. I love parts of his story and I’m not crazy about others…the norm for any human, I suppose. In Isaiah 36 and 37, we see Hezekiah come up against a vicious enemy. This enemy had destroyed many kingdoms and was now after Hezekiah’s. Actually, the enemy was now coming against God’s Kingdom. So, Hezekiah had a choice. He could choose to freak out, or he could lay his issues at the feet of His King. I love that Hezekiah did both.

Isaiah 37:1 says that when Hezekiah heard what his enemy had threatened he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth. He realized the seriousness of the situation and acted accordingly. Then, the Word tells us he went to the house of the Lord. Isaiah 37:14 says, “Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the LORD.”

I can’t tell you how much I love this. Hezekiah took all the threats, all the accusations, all the hate and arrogance of his enemy and spread it before the Lord. Then, he prayed. He prayed about everything that was on his heart. He refocused himself by emphasizing God’s power, then he told God about what his enemy had said. He poured it all out knowing that His God was in control.

Can you imagine the fear and anxiety that were running through Hezekiah? Can you imagine all the issues and scenarios running through his mind? After all, he could still smell the sackcloth yet He chose to trust His God.

So, I ask you, what do you need to lay before the Lord? What do you need to spread before His feet? Who has assaulted you? Who do you think is out to get you? Who still stirs up anger when you hear their name? Write their names on some paper. Write every situation down and spread it before your God. Pour it out before Him. Psalm 62:8 tells us that He is a refuge for us and that He wants us to empty our hearts out to Him. Stay before the Lord for as long as it takes and then take every scrap of paper, wad it up, toss it in the trash and accept the peace from your God that only He can give. Feel the anxiety leave, the fear give way and the fresh hope of your Lord consume you.

Only our God can do that for us. Only our God can replace fear with trust and anger with love. Let’s spread all of our anxieties before Him and allow Him to do His perfect work today.

My Story       Seeking Hearts Ministries

You are Glorious!

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a poem, adoration, Christian encouragement, christian poetry, devotional, encouragement, God, hope, Jesus, our God, perspective, poem of praise, poetry, praise, thanksgiving

Our eyes see You dimly,

But, You are still glorious!

Our ears hear only a tinkling charm of Your voice,

Yet, You are still the sweetest sound we have ever heard.

We have caught the slightest scent of who You are,

And it is still to us the most beautiful fragrance of all.

 

We have opened our mouths wide and You have filled them,

Yet, our hearts know there is so much more of You.

We have felt the slightest pressure from Your touch and fallen to our knees;

We know no mortal can feel more and live

Yet, we want more of You.

We want more of You, O God.

 

May this be our heart’s cry today and every day.

To God be the glory!

Seeking Hearts Ministries       My Story

It Might be a Sausage!

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a good laugh, assuming, assumptions, calling, Christian encouragement, christian journey, christian walk, Christianity, devotional, devotions, encouragement, expectations, family devotions, fixing our eyes, focus, gifts, God, God's plan, jealousies, Jesus, laughs with a lesson, perspective, perspective on spiritual gifts, spiritual gifts, trust

      For those of you who know my family well, you will not be surprised by the fact that as I was searching through my freezer last week I came across a bag of, well, let’s say, “unique, unlabeled weirdness”. My youngest son and I could not imagine what these items were, so we finally settled on the notion that they must be sausages. After all, they were gray, oblong, individually wrapped with care, no label anywhere, so (we decided) it must be my husband’s doing. If my husband cared enough to save it, that means it had to be meat. So, we deduced that these weird items must be sausages. I somehow recalled that my sweet man had come home with some kind of leftovers after a men’s meeting one night, so my son and I determined…this must be it. These sausages looked gross to us, but I knew my husband would be extremely excited. After all, how many times do you open a freezer and have sausages that you had forgotten were even there?

A few hours passed and my husband came home for lunch. I, of course, asked him about these sausages. He examined them and became quite excited (as perdicted). He couldn’t remember any sausages, but wow! He was not going to let that stop him from the enjoyment. He proceeded to take one to his office to microwave for a snack later. Let me tell you there was a bounce in his step as he went on his way!

I received a text just a few, short minutes later (his office is quite close) that read, “NOT sausages (frowny face) frozen bananas.” Yes, you read correctly, the offending “sausages” that had not been labeled were actually my cherished, frozen bananas. At one time I had big plans for these bananas, but alas… I forgot about them and now they just looked like a bunch of sausage.

My husband was sorely disappointed, but I was left laughing my head off and then, well, I was convicted. It made me think about how many times I have mislabeled things in my life. I have often looked at a gift from God and labeled it as a “sausage” when in reality it was a beautiful banana. I have often taken the talents that God has instilled in me and refused to look at them as He desires. I view them as worthless and meant for someone else when in reality it is my heart’s desire with a different look than I expected. I have often looked at my gifts as an offense when God sees the beautiful plan He has designed for just that ability.

I was also convicted because I have often caught myself looking at other people’s “bananas” with longing, but labeling my own gift as a sausage. I see their talents as beautiful, yellow, perfectly ripe bananas, but look at my own as a grayish, unappealing, unrecognizable concoction. I need to be reminded that I Corinthians 12:4 – 6 says, “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. And there are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons.” These verses tell me that no matter the gifts, we all have the same Lord. That’s what matters, our God. He is the One that sees us through, not our gifts.

Remembering this makes me unconcerned about someone else’s gift and not ashamed of my own because I know God is my God just as He is their God. My face is continually looking to Him and when His hand moves, or His voice speaks. I am enthralled because He is my all in all. I don’t see bananas, or sausages because my eyes are filled with Him. The psalmist says in Psalm 27:8, “When Thou didst say, ‘Seek My face,’ my heart said to Thee, ‘Thy face, O LORD, I shall seek.’” That needs to be us. That needs to be our focus…God alone; not whether or not our gifts look the same as someone else’s.

I was convicted in another way when I began to think about how often I have labeled experiences that God has given me as “sausages”. In reality, these experiences were in God’s plan to nourish me and to make me become a healthier person, spiritually speaking. Sometimes, I have taken God’s beautiful banana and frozen it with my bitterness so that it turned into something gray, gross and distorted. Instead of remembering that “His ways are not my ways and His thoughts are not my thoughts” as Isaiah 55:8 says, I deemed His ways as hurtful, unhealthy and not for my good. In reality though, He was molding me and shaping me into His beautiful likeness.

Hebrews 12:1 tells us to “…lay aside every encumbrance [think sausage] and the sin which so easily entangles us [think comparisons] and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith…” This verse tells us clearly to lay everything down, get on with our Christian race and fix our eyes on Jesus. He’s at the finish line and He’s with us every step of the way.

When are eyes are fixed on Jesus, whether He chooses our gifts to be sausages, or bananas we are thankful because we know He can be trusted. If He chooses our talents to be meaty, or a little fruity, it’s okay because we are not fixated on the gift, we are fixated on Him.

Let’s encourage each other today to re-examine the labels that we have place on things in our lives. Let’s re-examine the labels we have place on ourselves, our talents and our experiences. What you have deemed a “sausage” might be a banana after all. It might be the very thing that God has bestowed on you to reach this generation. So, fix your eyes on Jesus, unthaw your gift and finish your race.

My Story       Seeking Hearts Ministries

When God Doesn’t do what you Want

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burdens, can be trusted, Christian encouragement, christian journey, christian walk, Christianity, crisis of faith, devotions, encouragement, exhaustion, faithfulness, family devotions, focus, God can so why won't He, God's love, God's love for you, God's pursuit, hope, light, love, never failing God, no dark side, obsessed, obsesseion, our God, our good God, perspective, quiet time, quiet time thoughts, remembering who God is, struggle in the trusting, trust, trusting God, who God is

I’ve said for some time now that there is a certain crisis of faith that comes to every human when deciding whether they believe God can do what He says He can do. Can He really save me? Can He really heal? Can He really drop manna from the sky? And then, there is the crisis of faith that comes when you know without a doubt that God can move mountains, but He’s just not doing it for you. I mean, what is more frustrating than knowing that someone, anyone, can help, they’re just choosing not to? When that happens, a whole new crisis of faith occurs. Your mountain is looming large and you know your God can move it, but He’s choosing not to and you are left floundering with questions. Is my God really good? Can my God really be trusted? Does He really have a plan for my good? Do I really matter to Him?

I’m not going to pretend to know all the answers to why God is allowing certain things in your life. I’m not even going to pretend to know why He is allowing certain things in my life. I’m not going to pretend to have the answers as to why God would allow children to have cancer, rapists to go free, or even why food can’t be put on every table this week? But, I can tell you (and me) what to focus on when God doesn’t do what we want Him to do.

Let me start by assuring you that you do indeed have a good God. You have a God who does choose to move mountains for you. You have a God who wants you to look like Him and act like Him and love Him as He loves you. You have a never failing, never ceasing, never forsaking God who has a detailed plan for you since before the first molecule was on this earth. Know that because it’s true.

Lamentations 3:17-26 says, “My soul has been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is. Then I thought: My future is lost, as well as my hope from the LORD. Remember my affliction and my homelessness, the wormwood and the poison. I continually remember them and have become depressed. Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD’s faithful love we do not perish, for His mercies never end. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness! I say: The LORD is my portion, therefore I will put my hope in Him. The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him. It is good to wait quietly for deliverance from the LORD.” Verses 31-33 go on to say, “For the Lord will not reject us forever. Even if He causes suffering, He will show compassion according to His abundant, faithful love. For He does not enjoy bringing affliction or suffering on mankind.”

This passage is so great. We get to see the struggle that Jeremiah had with what was happening all around him and to him. He couldn’t understand it and he became depressed. He even admits in this passage that he lost his hope in the Lord. Then, he decided to remember who His God is. He decided to think about God’s faithfulness, His love and His mercies. He decided that The Lord was his portion for this life and his hope. He decided to rest in God knowing that His God would come through. God’s deliverance obviously wouldn’t look like Jeremiah thought it would. It obviously wouldn’t come at the time that Jeremiah thought that it should, but Jeremiah decided to look up, remember His God and trust. That’s the kind of faith I want, don’t you?

First John 1:5 tells us, “Now this is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in Him.” You can trust that. Our God has no ulterior motives. He has no dark side. He is good. He is holy. He is true and He. Is. In. Love. With. You.

Song of Solomon 7:10 says, “I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me.” God’s desire is toward you. God wants to be with you. He wants to be so melded with you that all people see is Him being uniquely displayed through your personality, your giftings and your sweet face. He has fashioned you for such a time as this and will not stop pursuing you until every fiber of your being is His. He is obsessed with you. Hebrews 13:5 says He will never leave us and Zephaniah 3:17 says He sings over us.  That is not a God who fails. That is a God who loves. Believe that today. Know it with every fiber of your being. If you have to be like the father in Mark 9:24 who said, “I do believe!” and then, quickly added, “Help my unbelief,” so be it, but keep pressing in to your God. He can be trusted. He will come through. He will strengthen you for the task and He is worthy of every fragment of faith you place in Him. He has you, precious one. He has you. Rest in that today.

Seeking Hearts Ministries          My Story

 

 

 

 

In Awe Today and Everyday

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Christian encouragement, christian walk, Christianity, encouragement, family devotions, focus, God, God is, perfect peace, perseverance, perspective, praising the Lord, who is God

O Lord, we are in awe of You today. You are majestic in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders and there is none like You.

You are beautiful beyond description and too marvelous for words. You are enthroned on high and You are God alone.

You are Sustainer, our Refuge and any perseverance that we may have. You are our very present help in times of despair and joy. You never leave us, or forsake us and You are the same yesterday, today and forever. You change not and O Lord, we confess we do not wish You to change. You are perfect and glorious, indescribable and all powerful. You are righteous in all Your deeds. Why would we ever want it any other way?

We are not worthy to unlatch Your shoes, yet you choose us to fulfill Your will on this earth. Make us worthy of that call, O God. Yet, in praying that I know that our righteousness will always be as filthy rags. We will always have an agenda, a selfish ambition to seek the praise of others. Not a lot Lord, just a little, when all praise, honor and glory should be Yours alone. Forgive us, Lord. Be our righteousness. Cover us with Your righteousness so all that others see is You.

Help us Lord to give You the praise You deserve. You are awesome. You are true. You are faithful. You are strong. You are glorious. You are all-encompassing. You are love and life and solidarity. You are the only truth and You love us. You are freedom. You are Creator. You are Sustainer. You are boldness. You are delightful. You are energizing. You are God alone and we are in awe of You.

Help us to bring You glory today. Help us to bring You glory tomorrow. Help us to bring You glory for the rest of our days. Clean our hands Lord so that we may lift them in praise to You. Draw us closer and closer each day so that Your presence is as normal to us as breathing. You are our Breath. You are our heartbeat. You are our Lord and we are in awe of You.

You are all wisdom, all knowledge, all power, yet You allow us to abide in You and touch the hem of Your garment. We are in awe of You.

Help us to worship You in spirit and in truth. Help us to know that You are worth more than anything this world can offer. Help us to love You as You alone deserve to be loved. Help us to know to the core of our being that You are the best and no other offer can compare.

Help us to know that we must see the mountain in order to see the miracle and help us to trust You to remove that mountain, or when the mountain is looming ever closer that You have already given us the strength to climb it. You are God and we are in awe of You. No words can explain You and nothing that anyone can say, or do thwarts Your plan. You are God.

We are in awe of You today.

 

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Lessons in the Blackberry Patch (Part Two)

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Christian encouragement, christian journey, christian walk, Christianity, devotions, encouragement, fields, fields of harvest, fruit, fruit in the field, fruit on the vine, harvest fields, Lord of the harvest, our field of harvest, perspective, salvation, some have watered, souls, sowing seed, surrender, white unto harvest

Last week I blogged about a lesson I was learning while in the blackberry patch behind our house. Something I didn’t explain was that if my husband hadn’t pointed the vines out to me, I would have never seen them. We were trekking along through the field and I was yammering on and on about something and he said, “Hey, look at this.” Lo, and behold, a few blackberries were ripe and sweet and quickly gobbled up. We looked around and realized that a lot more were starting to turn and this began my family’s blackberry journey for the season. If my husband hadn’t said anything, our summer would not have been filled with fruit. It would have just been business as usual.

Throughout the picking season, I have been so grateful to my man for seeing the fruit that I had missed. I never dreamed there were berries to be harvested in a place we had never tended. I didn’t even know where to look. But, he saw the fruit and helped me to see it as well.

As I’ve pondered this over the last week, I realized that our Savior points out the same thing to us in John 4:35. He says, “…Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest.” He is pointing out ripe berries that we would otherwise be oblivious to. This passage in John goes on to say in verses 37 and 38, “For in this case the saying is true, ‘One sows, and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

I didn’t realize there were berries behind our house because I hadn’t planted berries behind our house. I didn’t expect fruit since I had never labored in that field. I wasn’t ready for the harvest simply because I didn’t know the fruit was there. I didn’t see it.  Jesus is telling us that there is fruit to be harvested we just have to realize it and go get it.

Do you remember from last week that it was hard for me to see some of the berries until I was on my knees? I think no matter which lesson I am learning in the blackberry patch, that lesson will always apply. When my perspective is right, when I am on my knees, I see the fruit ready to be harvested. Otherwise, all I will see is briers and weeds. The entanglements of this world will always cloud my vision until I am in full surrender to Him. I need His eyes to see the fields that are ready to receive Him.

I know it’s hard to believe that there is fruit to be gathered from places that we have not labored, but we must realize that others have labored there. Generations have prayed, sowed numerous seeds and watered the fields. All we are being asked to do is bring in the harvest. I realize that the fruit is often hard to see. I realize that when we look into our own back fields, we often only see overgrowth, thorns and unripe fruit. But, when we are in full surrender, the Lord of the Harvest shows us just where to go and what fruit is ready. Let’s not let it die on the vine.

So, this is where I’m at. I’m asking God to help me to see the fields that are white unto harvest. I’m asking for business as usual to stop. I’m asking for laborers to work in those fields (Matthew 9:38).I’m offering myself for the work and I’m praying for others to see the fruit as well. After all, what good is a berry patch, a peach grove, or souls that are ready to accept Christ if there is no one is pick, gather, or lead? God assures us that the harvest is there, we just need to lift up our eyes and see it.