Tag: Faith

Wings to Soar

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 Isaiah 40:31, “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

Isaiah 40:31 is a verse I have heard all my life as it is one of my dad’s favorites. I wrote this post originally last year when I was thinking about strength due to the bad cold I had that had left me physically and even mentally weak. When looking at a particular Bible verse, I like to look around it to see what was said before and after. I love verse 28, “Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary..?” The Creator of the ends of the earth never collapses and never is tired. How amazing is that? “He giveth power to the faint: and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.” (vs 29) He gives power! He increases strength! Incredible.

Are you feeling faint? Are you weary? Wait on God. Pause. Linger a little while to listen for the still small voice. If we rush, we might miss something important and sustaining. If we wait, we are promised strength to renew, wings to soar, endurance to run, and courage to walk.

In reviewing this post from last year posted on Facebook, it is a great reminder to keep focus. He wants me to remain in Him to still my heart, to let His strength power up my faith, and to trust in Him to increase my endurance.

 

 

Setting Boundaries Is The Work of Grace

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Identifying our strengths and weaknesses guide us when to say no and when to say yes to relationships and to ministry/work/life opportunities that are perfectly good, but not perfect for us. Trust the still small voice.

Unloading burdens not meant for us to carry directs our focus on what God wants us to do and not what others think we should do. No one individual can be the answer for everyone and everything. Evaluate what is your responsibility.

Recognizing when the draw to please people is greater than the desire to please God steers us away from a place of confusion to the peace of God’s perfect direction. Leave the anxiety and care at the seat of mercy.

Setting boundaries is the work of grace. It affects our energy, our joy, and our ability to feel confident through the redemption of Christ.

I. Corinthians 2:5, “…Your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”

Leave the Safe Nest of Silence

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It is easy to let discouragement crowd our peace of mind.  I believe that comparison is a huge contributing factor leading to discouragement. For someone like me who is creative, comparison plagues me and I want to stop writing, stop sharing, stop creating due to feeling vulnerable. At times, I want to take off the creative cloak and hide it in a corner. Sharing a bit of yourself is scary no matter what it is- something you created with your hands..a meal, a card, a blog post, a testimony on Facebook or anywhere else. What if it wasn’t enough? What if I didn’t say the right words? The “what if’s” rob us of the willingness to extend kindness, a gift, hospitality. It can become quite comfortable staying in the safe nest of silence. But if we stop sharing, stop caring, the world gets darker. And we have enough of that already.

If you encouraged someone and you feel it fell on deaf ears, try again. Someone out there needs a good word.

If you helped someone and you feel it was unappreciated, try again. Someone out there still needs a helping hand.

If you loved someone and you just don’t feel the love in return, try again. Someone out there is hurting and needs a caring soul.

Putting yourself “out there” can seem all too much some days. But today, let’s put on the shield of faith and not fear.  Let’s leave the safe nest of silence to share encouragement. Let’s put to use our hands, our love, and our kindness.  Someone out there is in need.

Ephesians 6:10, “…be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.”

 

 

 

The Work of Spiritual Discernment

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Just like salvation through Christ cannot be passed down through another person, so it is with wisdom. It is a personal decision to seek Christ. It is a personal choice to seek knowledge and understanding. A solid spiritual life is not ‘just going to happen’ without any effort on the part of the believer.

Proverbs 2:3-5, “Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.”

I want to be a seeker of things that God cares for me to know about. I want to have the desire to search carefully and thoroughly for understanding as I would if I were mining for silver. Through crying out to God and digging through His word, spiritual discernment, understanding the heart of God, and knowledge of His faithfulness comes.

 

Our Own Courage

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“Every man has his own courage and is betrayed because he seeks in himself the courage of other persons.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Every person has their very own record of graces. Every page in our life’s story has sorrow and joy to different degrees. The same Author who wrote each of our stories has given us our very own time frame to heal, to rebuild, to see the hand of God through it all and the courage to keep turning the page to a new chapter, to a new season.

If you feel stuck on the same page in your life’s book, maybe you need more time than someone else. Your timeframe is yours and is precious time for God to be a loving Father, the guiding Shepherd. Give Him room on the pages of your heart to finish writing your testimony, to change the mourning into dancing, and to autograph it with His grace.

If you feel that you are not ‘moving on’ quick enough compared to what others in your situation are moving, maybe the quick route is not the path for you. Perhaps God wants to lead you to the still waters first to restore and refresh.

God gives every one of us the time and courage for our storyline to go from exhausted from sin, from bad decisions, from life’s blows to living encouraged. He extends enough time and courage to move from shattered to salvaged and useful for His glory. Every person has their short and long life-chapters and when we keep the focus that we all have the same Author who has His finger on the pulse and heartbeat of every individual, we can find through our life story our very own God-given courage written in red through Christ’s blood, signed and sealed by His grace.

Psalm 27:13-14, “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.”

The Balance of Grace

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HOLD ON when you are sorting out your wounds and hopes.

HOLD ON when anxiety and worry knock on your door and tears can no longer be held back.

HOLD ON when the transition between grief and healing changes you and it feels like a new person is emerging.

HOLD ON because there are people who believe in you. There is good in this world because God is good. We will not always suffer. There is always dark and light to everyone’s story; the “balance of grace”, I read once. We can only hold on with both hands to one thing at a time. Either we will hold on to the branch of faith and hope and love and God and grace and all that entails and find mercy, healing, and life, or hold on to that which keeps us down in despair which will eventually silence our spirit.

What do we want? How do we want to live? What do we want our future to look like? All questions I ask myself when evaluating a troubling situation. It gives me a focal point. It gives me perspective on what I want to hold to and what I need to let go of.

Hebrews 10: 23, “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)”.

Embrace the Grace

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I will choose to listen to the wise who build and turn away from the critics who break.

I will choose to focus on faith in God and separate from those centered on faults and flaws.

I will choose to do the job God gave me and be untroubled about “keeping up” with anyone else.

I will choose to evaluate my worthiness by using God’s Word as my foundation and bypass the weighing measures of man.

I will choose to let go of the misconceptions, the broken trust, the self-imposed and others-imposed boundaries to embrace the grace. “Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.” – Hebrews 12:1b

Proverbs 3:31, “Envy not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways.”

Choose wisely.

Don’t Measure the Size of the Mountain

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 “Don’t measure the size of the mountain; talk to the One who can move it.” -Max Lucado

When we face a seemingly impossible task…

Before we get frustrated, be encouraged that God is not.

Before we lose our cool, be determined to breathe, pray, and wait.

Before we say or do something we might regret, be vocal with the One who knows all about it. He wants to hear from us. He is eager to help us. And He might actually have a purpose in mind, something great even… but we will not know unless we ask.

“Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” Jeremiah 33:3

Eternal Purpose

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John 15:4, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.”

ABIDE IN ME…

BE ALIVE IN ME when you struggle with life’s meaning and the effort to get out of bed in the morning is too much.

BREATHE IN ME when trials have punched you in the gut and leave you gasping.

CONTINUE IN ME when the pain of rejection steals your joy.

LIVE IN ME when you lose your sense of purpose.

PERSIST IN ME when you feel like giving up.

REMAIN IN ME when you want to hurry though I say, “Wait”.

REST IN ME when the noise, and the hurt, and the worry start to invade your peace of mind.

We have an eternal purpose through Christ. Don’t give up.

 

On the Hunt

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I am still looking for those “stray gifts” I have mentioned in a few posts. I wonder each morning what I will see, what will grab my attention. I feel that if God brings my focus to something specific, He is asking me, “Do you see?” I answer with a resounding “Yes” when I physically stop to observe.

I live in a city where everyone always seems to be in a hurry. Confession: I think it is hilarious when someone passes me (speeding, of course) and ends up at the same red light as I do. Is that mean? Not very grace-full, is it?  I always feel ‘pushed around’ when driving around town. I am a rule follower by nature and I have never received a speeding ticket. I think I might cry if I did! I did get a ticket for running a red light once. In my defense, I was behind a big truck and didn’t see the traffic light change until too late. The ticket came in the mail, so I was able to grieve at home in peace instead of in front of a police officer on the side of the road. I have become more aware of my need for these stray gifts in my day. They remind me to slow down. Just because everyone else seems to be going at a frantic pace, that doesn’t mean I have to be.  The unexpected gifts bring perspective. They bring focus to the important, to the beautiful. And I am sure it lowers my blood pressure. Quite sure.

I enjoy being on the hunt for these gifts. It can be anything from flowers, the sky any time of the day, rain puddles (rain is rare around here), to just enjoying some alone time. There is no specific guideline as to what qualifies as a stray gift. God knows just what we need; an answer to prayer, emotional relief from certain problems,  lost keys that now are found, a note in the mail from a long lost friend, an old photo which brings back good memories. To see, to know, to consider, to understand that God’s hand was in this is quite powerful and has the ability to change how we see. It matters to Him that we notice.

Anytime we consider God’s hand and His heart, we carve in the dirt and the muck of this world a pathway to greater faith.

Here is this week’s captured stray gifts.

Top Row (left to right): Roses that hide in the shade;  Stray gifts found in climbing potted houseplants. I had no idea it would climb like this. My dad has one that is stretching all the way around his room. He keeps it away from his bed so it doesn’t decide to choke him in the middle of the night. He is quite serious about this. ((Can plants do that???); Finding gold in my front yard

Middle Row: Morning Glory blooms are finally here! This is the very first bloom of the year on these vines; Again with the Morning Glories..they are seriously popping up everywhere. These are wrapping around the red rose barrel; Filtered sunlight through trees.

Bottom Row:  Stray gifts in blue skies and sunsets; not because they just “happened” to be there, but because I happened to wander outside to look.