If only...

“Jesus sought me when a stranger…”

Some of the most beautiful words that have ever kissed my ears…

Come Thou Fount is one of my favorite hymns, if not my favorite. Each verse haunts me with its imagery.

Last week I felt compelled to start re-reading the Gospels and really look into Christ’s life while He was here on earth and His interactions with people.

One thing really stuck out to me…not only does Christ have genuine love for His people – He has compassion for them.

In Matthew 9, while Jesus was going through the cities and villages preaching the gospel and healing the sick, He felt “compassion” for the people, “because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.” (v. 36)

Matthew 14 tells us Jesus was met with a large crowd and because of the compassion He felt for them He healed their sick (v. 14)

In Matthew 15 Jesus turned seven loaves and “a few small fish” into a meal large enough to feed over four thousand people, because they had been following Him for three days with nothing to eat, and He felt compassion for them (v 32-38).

Jesus was “moved with compassion” in Matthew 20:29-34, when two blind men cried out to Him to have mercy on them and open their eyes. Jesus responded with touching their eyes and immediately they regained their sight.

I love the way Mark 10:21 writes, “Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him…” when talking about the rich young ruler…

The truth about me is that I am a sinner. But because of my sinful state…I will never wholly understand just how detrimental my sin truly is.

I will never completely understand how much I hurt God each time I sin.

And I will never know just how great a debt I had to God…or how truly sufficient Christ’s death on the cross was, to repay that debt of mine...

My sin clouds my judgment each day.

In every situation I carry a hint of a haze, causing me to be incapable of truly understanding the lost state of the world around me.

I think the sin of the world pains God much more than any of us will ever understand.

And yet – He pursues us…constantly.

“Ode to the One who knows who I can turn into at any time.

He delights in shining the sunshine into the places I want to keep dark.

And no one knows me like Him.”

(Ode by David Dunn)

He never gives up on us.

Instead of deeming us a lost cause – He did whatever He had to do to save us: He sent Christ to die for us. And He didn’t stop there. He incessantly walks with us and helps us and shows us how much better He could make us. He feels compassion towards us!!

“God looked into our world – the world he made – and saw us destroying ourselves and the world by turning away from him. It filled his heart with pain (Genesis 6:6). He loved us. He saw us struggling to extricate ourselves from the traps and misery we created for ourselves. And so he wrote himself in. Jesus Christ, the God-man, born in a manger, born to die on a cross for us. Behold who Jesus is, how he loves you and how he came to put the world right.” – Timothy Keller, Encounters with Jesus

If only we all saw people the way HE sees us…how differently we would behave…

Sing 'Lord, come soon'

I believe that some of the times that insecurities enter my mind, God allows them to momentarily take hold of the best of me…because it serves as an example of just how truly lost I am without Him. But other times when my insecurities start rolling in…He is right there protecting me. He allows His grace to flow down on me and remind me that He has already won.

There is a song by Josh Garrels called Farther Along.

It randomly revealed itself on my Spotify radio one day and I have been in love with it ever since.

The last line of the song restores my hope every time I hear it:

And one day when the sky rolls back on us

Some rejoice and the others fuss

Cause every knee must bow and tongue confess

That the Son of God is forever blessed

His is the kingdom, we’re the guests

So put your voice up to the test

Sing 'Lord, come soon'

“Every knee must bow and tongue confess…”

Every…single…one…

Just thinking about that day sweeps me away to thoughts of beauty that are too pure for this world to contain…

It feels like a dream…I have thought about it so many times that I feel like I have it painted out perfectly in my mind…but I know my thoughts and visions don’t even scratch the surface of how truly incredible it will be.

“Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth;
 For I am God, and there is no other.

I have sworn by Myself,
 the word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness
 and will not turn back,
 that to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance.

They will say of Me, ‘Only in the Lord are righteousness and strength.’
 Men will come to Him,
 and all who were angry at Him will be put to shame.” – Isaiah 45:22-24

Difficult...but necessary.

Yesterday my devotional was all about putting trust in God, and this morning in church both of the messages were filled with the same idea.

There have been PLENTY of times this past year where people have taken the liberty of telling me what the plan for my life should be…or their idea of what my life should be like.

Sometimes it was hard to hear that something…or everything…in my life was not aligning with what they deemed to be fitting.

This past year has challenged me in ways that I have never imagined. And it has definitely had some pretty rough spots…but if it weren’t for the hard times…I know I would not have grown in the ways that I have – and I would not be who I am today.

But it was when I started recognizing that everything happens for a reason and God IS CONSTANTLY at work in my life…even if it doesn’t seem like it at times…is when I just gave it all up and just trusted that whatever was going on was from Him…and that is when I started seeing some major change in my life.

The truth is – if it’s not pushing you TOWARDS Christ – then it is not worth being in your life.

I don’t care who or what it is.

If you are not glorifying God with it – or if you are disobeying God with it…get rid of it.

There are going to be people all your life who think they know what is best for you – but if they are not getting their “ideas” from God…then don’t allow what they say to discourage or sway you.

As Christians – I don’t think we are called to sit on the sidelines and watch who we could be pass us by. We are called to be that person TODAY.

If there is something distracting you from God – then get rid of it TODAY.

Trust that God knows what He is doing.

He doesn’t make mistakes.

He doesn’t “overlook” things.

And He doesn’t ask you to give up something that He won’t replace with something MUCH greater.

Sometimes it’s hard – trust me. I know.

But I believe that God is a miracle worker.

I believe that He can move mountains and part seas.

I believe that He can still talk through burning bushes and wrestle us in our sleep.

Maybe He won’t choose to do these things literally – but if we allow Him to…I believe that He will do things more powerful than our feeble minds could imagine.

When people tell you you are crazy for believing that God can do certain things…don’t listen.

Don’t allow their words to have weight with you.

This may come as a surprise to you…but much of the time…people really have no idea what they are talking about…haha…

Don’t put your trust in man.

But don’t become angry with them when they don’t understand God’s plan for your life either…

Just smile and nod and continue to go on your way.

They aren’t God. You don’t have to answer to them and you don’t have to prove yourself to them.

Just keep your feet on God’s path and watch what He does with your life.

“Our Lord never put His trust in any person. Yet He was never suspicious, never bitter, and never lost hope for anyone, because He put His trust in God first. He trusted absolutely in what God’s grace could do for others. If I put my trust in human beings first, the end result will be my despair and hopelessness toward everyone. I will become bitter because I have insisted that people be what no person can ever be— absolutely perfect and right. Never trust anything in yourself or in anyone else, except the grace of God.”

- Oswald Chambers

Come On, My Soul...

I have been wanting to write about this for quite awhile now, but I have not really been able to find the words…

Honestly, I am still not sure I have the words even now…but maybe that’s my problem sometimes…I just always want to wait for the perfect words…but, I am not always going to be able to have the luxury of waiting for these “perfect words” and there will be (and have been) times where I just have to say what I think right then and there…because if I don’t say it right then and there, then when WILL I say them….if ever?

If there were ever a time where I wished I had eloquent words, it would definitely be right now.

I could imagine I feel kind of like Moses lately…only my problem is not difficulty in finding the right words when talking to people (well…that is always a problem of mine) but my problem lately is finding words adequate enough to express my gratitude towards God for everything that He is doing in my life…and finding even one word that could even come close to BRUSHING how in awe I am of Him.

There have been so many times in the past five months where something has happened and the only thing I could do in that moment was just stand frozen in place…unable to even utter a simple “thank you” to God…because I know those two words do not even come close to my gratitude.

For the sake of sounding like a Taylor Swift song…my life lately…definitely could resemble a fairytale. It has it bumps and bruises and ups and downs, sure…but I have absolutely nothing to complain about because God is allowing me to see Him work in ways that I have never even dreamed of before.

In just these past five months God has taken my life and turned it completely upside down…I have written and taught my own bible study lesson (something I have prayed about doing and have wanted to do for years), I gained an incredible mentor (the SAME PERSON I have prayed about being my mentor for a few years), and now I am waiting on a start date for my dream job (a job that represents everything I have wanted to do pretty much)!!!

But those are just three of the main things that have happened. I have seen God work in so many ways. I have seen Him bring people into my life that I have prayed over for quite awhile and I have seen Him knit together amazing relationships. I have seen Him take what seem to be sticky situations and turn them into incredible opportunities. And I have seen Him orchestrate circumstances out of (what seems to be like) thin air…and work in ways that not even the most clever of storywriters could come up with.

I really don’t know why God works the way He does – or why He would want to use me the way He does…

And all the while I am just standing here in utter awe. Even my mind becomes frozen at times…because God TRULY IS GOOD and His goodness is far greater than anything the human mind can fathom.

I am so excited to see what God is going to do in these next seven months…

I know I am going to be challenged in ways that I have never experienced before…but I also know that God is going to work in miraculous ways…

And my prayer is that I never stop telling Him “thank you” for all He does…even if I know that a simple “thank you” does not even come close to the gratitude and astonishment I truly feel…

I guess these are times when I can just rest in the peace that He knows my heart and He knows the words my heart is searching for…

Come on, my soul

Come on, my soul

Let down the walls

And sing, my soul

Come on, Come on, Come on, Come on

It’s time to look up

Come on, my soul

Come on, my soul

Let down the walls

And sing, my soul

(Come On by Rend Collective)