Believe Anyway

When everything was hopeless,

Abraham believed anyway,

deciding to live

not on the basis of what he saw he couldn't do

but on what God said He would do.

Romans 4:20-21

Abraham didn't focus on all the reasons why He and Sarah could never have a child - even though they were valid points!  Age... infertility... years and years of waiting.

The promise seemed forgotten... hopeless.

Yet Abraham didn't waver in his belief that God would do what He said. He walked in faith daily, always trusting that eventually he would see the promise fulfilled.

God's promise to you is that He will never leave you, that He loves you, that His grace is sufficient, that He will supply all your needs, and that through Him there is victory. (And there are so many more!)

Does life look hopeless at times?  Yes.

Do we get tired? Annoyed?  Discouraged and Depressed?

Absolutely!

But I'm reminding myself to stop looking for the reasons God might be wrong... that He might somehow fail in His promises to you and I.

We cannot bank on our own resources and abilities.  Instead, we must plunge into a life of faith, always ready for God to do His good work through us.

Step out of your boat.

Believe anyway.

A Tangled Life

Its vines are tangled today – no signs of life visible from my perspective.  But I know it’s there.  Somewhere deep within.

The grape vine sits in my back yard… waiting… ready to explode with life… a fruitful life.  And it will happen soon.

I know, because it happens over and over again… year after year.  That’s what God created it for.

And the lesson I see repeated each spring, is that the vine doesn’t worry in the waiting… hoping against hope that God will remember… that the Creator will look its way once more… choosing to use it yet again – ugly, desolate though its appearance may be. 

No, it just waits... feeding on the nutrients of the moist soil below.

It doesn’t strive.  It doesn’t fret.  It doesn’t struggle to produce even one small grape on its own strength.  It simply waits, trusting in its Creator to stir up life once again within the tangled branches.

No matter how ugly, useless or desolate your life may appear to you, know that you are not forgotten.  Stop trying to live on your own strength.

Step out of the traffic.

Be still.

The One who created you has not forgotten you and He can bring a delightful harvest through you no matter how tangled and messy your life has become.

“Cease striving and know that I am God…”

Psalm 46:10a

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Be You

For who do you know that really know you,

knows your heart?

And even if they did,

is there anything they would discover
in you that you could take credit for?

Isn’t everything you have

and everything you are

sheer gifts from God?

So what’s the point of all this comparing and competing?

1 Corinthians 4:7&8

Who are you?

Who are you really?  What do you tell yourself about the person you see in the mirror? 

Don't let the knowledge of who you are convince you that you aren't good enough or strong enough to be who God has called you to be. Stop beating yourself up because your not like someone else.  

Trying to wear another's shoes may work well for a while... but eventually you'll probably find yourself stumbling about, uncomfortable and blistered.  

The life God planned for you is tailor made... and only you can wear it perfectly. 

Be you!  

Because when all is said and done, it's not about who you are or what you've accomplished that matters... it's whether or not you've used your custom fit abilities to lead others to the place where you yourself found the Source of abundant hope and endless peace... 

At the feet of Jesus.

be.you

Live. Care. Free.

He's got you in the palm of His hand.

Not one thing that happened yesterday surprised Him.

Not one thing that will come your way today will either.

Or tomorrow.

Or...

Or...

So...

Live.

Care.

Free.

Free of care.

Fall back into the welcome security of those nail-scarred hands.

Stop looking for stoops upon which to rest those fears-filled eyes.

Search no longer for worries to ponder.

Doubts to consider.

Wounds to poke and prod until in painful surrender, they ooze blood-red.

Look up!

Because death has been defeated,

we are on the offense!

We fight FROM victory!

Walk tall.

Breathe deeply.

Smile.

Sing!

Even if you sound terrible.

You, child of the King of Kings, are on the offense!

Live like it.

Lead Me to the Rock

Overwhelmed isn't a feeling I necessarily want or enjoy.  But it is something I experience often.

And today, as I flipped away the nearly empty pages of March with it's carefree days of vacationing in Florida's golden, albeit, slightly chilly, sunshine to April's packed full days of farming, baseball, travel, and.., the list goes on and on... 

I felt overwhelmed.  And, to be honest, overwhelmingly alone.

I ticked through the ever-growing mental list of family needs, events to plan, chores to do, prayers to pray, relationships to maintain, goals to meet... sigh.  

The list is long.  Each one, nearly as important as the one before and I find myself wondering how will I make it through.

Then the voice of the One my soul loves speaks.

"Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I."

I find the words quickly in Psalm 61:

From the ends of the earth I call to you,
    I call as my heart grows faint;
    lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

Yes, that's me.  My heart feels faint, but, He... He is my rock!

He is my place of refuge.  In Him, I find the comfort of One who is  strong.  Solid.  Immovable.

This Rock can see far beyond anything I can percieve from where I stand and He desires to draw me into the safety and security of His depths where I can fully experience His strength and protection.  

And there, in Him, I find rest.

There, in Him, I know I'll make it through.