Expect and Accept the Unexpected

     Wow, it feels good to be blogging again. I haven't had a lot of time to miss it until now. My life is in one of those crazy in-between places right now. I'm not sure where I'm heading. It feels a lot like  climbing the first peak of a roller coaster - the anticipation of reaching the top but not knowing what to expect after that. I'm finding myself surprised a lot lately by all the twists and turns - unexpected circumstances, unexpected friendships, unexpected ministry. Truthfully, nothing in my life has turned out like I expected it would. But I think that that is a pretty significant clue that God is working in your life. If everything plays out exactly as you thought it would, then where is God's grander plan? How would you know that He has a plan greater than your limited vision without a few surprises? I'm finding that I enjoy the unexpected more than I thought I would. It's still hard. I'm still learning to have faith in a future that I can't foresee or control and to trust God when things don't go the way I want them to. But my life has already become so different from what I thought it would be; I'm willing to trust that if I continue to wait for God's plans I will be happier when I enter Eternity.

I see God...
                  When His unexpected surprises remind me that He has a Great Plan.

Love based on Faith

     The truest, most sacrificial form of love is a choice. It is an action not an emotion. It is based on faith, not feeling, and not faith in the ones you choose to love (for they can still let you down) but faith in the One who loves all in spite of all.

What Bible verses about love does this statement bring to mind?

What verses about love mean the most to you?

"Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn't love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that." - Ephesians 5:2, The Message

I see God...
                   in love based on faith in Someone far more true and loving than myself.

Grace versus Evil

"God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant. So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." - Romans 5:20-21

Grace...

Wonderful grace.

Kindness.

Generosity.

Unfailing Love.

Goodness.

     This verse assures me that there is pure, absolute, concrete, universal Good that God has placed in this world - that existed before Evil and exists in spite of Evil.

Now God's wonderful Grace rules instead...

I see God...
                    when I see His goodness and grace reigning in the world.

1 Million Letters

     I've joined a group called the Teenage Life Club that's writing 1 million pro-life letters (one for each baby aborted in the U.S. each year) to the White House and the Supreme Court by the end of this month. That's only a week away and we've got a long way to go!

If you'd like to help go to the links below:

• Teenage Life Club Blog - Read more.
• Form Letter - Copy and print.
• TLC Facebook Page - Share away.

I trapped myself?

My friend posted this statement on a social media site:

     "Repeat something often enough and it will become you."

     The other day I wrote about feeling trapped by your past. This statement made me think - Do we sometimes trap ourselves? I believe that we do. I know that I do sometimes. What we say to ourselves, what we choose to let ourselves think, is just as dangerous as our tongue can be to others. And it's just the foothold Satan needs to get you to believe more and bigger lies. This is where God's promises come in.

      "His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires." - 2 Peter 1:3-4

What you think, if you let it in long enough, will become your reality whether or not it is true. In the battle for your mind, be careful what tell yourself and what you let yourself believe about yourself. God promises freedom, love, victory, protection, guidance worthwhile-ness, purpose... I'm learning to measure every negative thought by the truth of His promises not by culture or even my own standards - especially when I get that trapped feeling.

I see God...

                 when I reject the lie and claim the promise.

Kony 2012 Video

     I'm still reading the literature, but from what I've read and seen so far, I fully support Invisible Children's KONY 2012 campaign. I've watched the video, and I'm going to a IC event on Wednesday. I'll post more about it after that. In the mean time, if you haven't already done so, watch the video. It's PG-13, but it's a story of hope not of despair. Joseph Kony and his rebel group have been committing war crimes, abducting children and forcing them to become his army, for decades. Now people know his name and have demanded that the African and global communities fulfill there promise to capture and try him for his crimes. Kony will be stopped in God's timing as He wills it, and I will do my part to raise awareness of IC's mission and support the restoration of those affected by Kony and his rebel leaders.



For more information:

• Invisible Children Homepage
• History of the Conflict
• "Who is the LRA?" - Video about Kony's rebel group
• IC's responses to some important concerns and critiques

Prayers for a Friend / Drama

Praying hard for a friend tonight.

It seems like we are always looking for drama. We look for it in the lives of our friends. We look for it in our own lives. We always have to have something to talk about, brag about, complain about, until we run it in the ground. Our culture craves it; some of us even become addicted to it.

Until something happens out of our control, something that might not go away after the evening news  or next printing of the tabloid. Then we've had enough of drama and can't pray it away fast enough.

That's got nothing to do with my friend and what he's going through. It's just something I've noticed about society. And myself.

Next time you find yourself caught up in drama that's not all that important, try taking a moment to pray for someone, even someone you don't know, going through actual trials, injustices, and heartache. See if it changes your perspective. See if God shows you something more eternal.

What happened to my friend is unfair, and I'll keep praying for him. God's already had a hand in protecting him, and I expect to see more of God in this situation.

Trapped

     There are some days when it all catches up to you. Whatever you escaped from, whatever you're running from, whatever you're healing from, whatever you're moving on from, it's going to be a long process; and there will be days when those pieces of the past that you want to bury will awake with the hunting instincts of the living dead. And you find yourself trapped - hiding in the closet with an axe for when they finally break through the door. Or maybe that's just me.
     It's days like these - when the Enemy's set his sights on me to throw it in my face, and I can't escape on my own - that I am so glad that my God is so much bigger than that. That He has given me a victory and identity that extends beyond what my emotions are telling me. That what I feel in the present is not what will be true tomorrow; it doesn't alter God's plan the slightest bit.

     I finished a good book today (I'll tell you about it in a later post) that reminded me of how wonderful and ultimately perfect God's plans truly are. They are plans that lead to happiness, adventure, miracles, and wonder even if the road there is tumultuous and long. This means that no matter how trapped or enslaved by my past I feel today, there is always a greater future waiting for me filled with God's vastness and glory. This is the hope that sustains every true Christian.

I see God...
                   when I have hope for escape.

Meditations From a Spring Day

     Spring came early this year, and our yard sprouted into a jungle before we even noticed. So yesterday we went after the weeds that had gotten the jump on us. The weather was wonderful - a summer sun with a cool spring breeze. The sky is already deepening to its summer blue but the sunlight still has some of its wintry whiteness. I was actually enjoying myself, digging up weeds of every shade of spring green with warm sunshine on my shoulders and dirt and sap on my bare hands. As I pruned some roses, my mom reminded me to cut a lot off because roses "like being cut." That got me thinking. Plants, unlike people, know exactly what they need. The trick to gardening is simply learning what the plants want - water, dirt, sunshine, pruning, nitrogen, etc. My grandpa was good at learning what plants wanted. They fascinated him, and he just wanted to know more and more. So he planted all kinds of plants in his yard, until it looked like a plant nursery, "just to see what would happen," and he did learn quite a bit.
     Yesterday I soaked up the views of the cloud dotted sky and bright green earth while the breezes tossed around the smells of dirt and grass. And I thought about how God put all this beauty here just for the pleasure of it despite what He knew would happen. And now it serves as this massive contradiction for the evil and degradation that exists here, with the simple purpose of making us ask, "why?" and, "what if?" And for those who want to learn God has an answer.

Never despise the asker even if they're looking for answers in the wrong place. Every searching starts with asking, and as long as there is still searching there is hope of finding the Truth.

Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. - Matt. 7:7-8

I see God...
                  in spring.

Beholding is becoming. - John Piper

     Check out this blog post by John Piper on his website Desiring God. When I read it I understood exactly how he felt and what He meant. Click the link and read it for yourself.

http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/letter-to-an-incomplete-insecure-tenager

Beholding is becoming. It's one of the reasons that I started posting God sightings to begin with. It's also why "Be Thou My Vision" is my favorite hymn. Once you behold God's glory, in any form but most especially in the person of Jesus, yourself just isn't enough anymore. Take it from a froggy princess.

I see God...
                  with occasional help from John Piper.

9 is 10

     I hate daylight savings time. This is one of the worst days of the year. I have to remember to reset my clock. I worry about if my phone glitches and doesn't reset automatically. I have to keep telling myself what time it is because what I see on the clock will not be correct in a few hours. It's not 9; it's really 10. It's not midnight; it's really 1 AM. That's kind of how it feels learning to trust God, too. I'm so used to looking for help and answers in other places - my family, my friends, and especially myself - that I have to keep reminding myself that God already has an answer and a plan. I'm not in over my head; God is teaching me and using me. My future isn't insecure; God has secured it already.

I see God...
                   when 9 is actually 10.

Lord,

Thank you for bad days. They remind me that I'm human and of how much I want you.

I see God...
                   even in bad days.

Daily Death

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. - Jesus, Luke 9:23

     Just finished a great book about following Christ that has really got me thinking about the concept of dying daily. It's one of those spiritual disciplines that I really struggle with, this process of sacrificing yourself to God's will and glory every day. While it makes sense in my head, it's much harder to follow through with my heart and my soul. Yet, I find the that the more I see and understand of myself the less and less I want to be that person. I actually desire to give up my will for God's if it means that can live for something greater than just me, because just me is not so great. But desiring it is not enough. Every morning, I wake up and that person is their waiting for me. It is matter constantly choosing sacrifice. Each choice becomes a cross, a death, and therein lies the challenge - to prayerfully go from moment to moment, in the Spirit's power, choosing a living death over a deadly life.

I see God...
                  in a chance to die.

One True Sentence

     My friend recently gave me an Ernest Hemingway quote to help me with my writing: "All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know."

     God is really good at writing "one true sentences."

Some of his truest:

"In the begining, God created the heaven and the earth."

"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."

"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

"I am that I am."

Can you think of more?

     "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life..."

God is truth.

I see God...
                  when I'm looking for the truth.

Rest

Psalm 23:2 - "He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams."

He lets me rest.

     In the King James, this verse says, "He maketh me to lie down..."

     Why is it we feel that rest is something we have to accomplish, take, make time for? Even our day of rest, our Sabbath, we assign with times and obligations. "We must honor God with our day of rest, so we will go to church from this time to this time." The idea of a shepherd leading me to a peaceful pasture and saying, "Stop here. Take some time to rest," is such a refreshing thought. This is one of the most popular passages in the Bible, but we seem to miss this part.

     I had a horribly busy morning and by this afternoon I was ready to hear about green meadows and peaceful streams. I was ready to rest. Whatever makes us think that by resting, we are giving up time that God would have us spend elsewhere?

He lets me rest.

      If we are following God, He will offer us a chance to rest. We just have to choose to accept it.

I see God... in the chance to rest.

God is our refuge and strength,
      always ready to help in times of trouble.


The LORD of Heaven’s Armies is here among us;
      the God of Israel is our fortress.

- Psalm 46:1, 7

Praying for all those affected by the super storms this week. Would love to hear your stories. Remember that God is with still working. The story isn't over yet.

Amazingly Common

Went to an amusement park today and took these pictures.

I see God in...

Don't take God's work for granted just because it has become common.

Pslam 143

   The more troubles I go through the more I love the Psalms. 2011 felt like Psalm 143 to me. I think I understand some of what David was feeling even though my enemies weren't physical like his were. He asks God not to judge him; he knows he messed up. But he asks God to rescue him from this enemy, because he doesn't want to stay in the darkness. Read it. And thank God for the times he's rescued you.

(P.S. This verse is even prettier in the King James.)

I see God...
                       When I remember the times He's rescued me from the enemy.