barren trees and love

Yesterday I had a conversation with a friend. We were talking about some of the barren trees in our lives...about the people that God allows to come into our lives that are difficult. They push us to the limits of our human capabilities. Without God and His love, we would…hmmmm…what do I say here? We would say things we shouldn’t say, we would do things we shouldn’t do.

To speak for myself, sometimes these people say and do things, it seems, on purpose, to hurt me or those I love. I can easily become defensive and want to lash out. I am ashamed to admit I may spend some time planning what I might want to say or do. Thankfully, most of the time, before I act on that, I yield. God begins to work inside me and remind me that people usually act like that out of their brokenness. When I take the time to consider that, I can back up and try to look at them through God’s eyes. How does He want me to be with them?

One of the questions I have begun to ask myself is, “What would love do?” Don’t get me wrong…sometimes love is tough. Sometimes love needs to say hard things…set boundaries….say ‘no’. But, for me, those things can come from my sinfulness, not my ‘love’ for the other person. So the only way I can check myself is to ask “What would love do?” What is God asking me to do, how is He asking me to be with this person in this circumstance? Then, I need to act on that. It isn’t always what I want to do, but it is what I am asked to do. It doesn’t always work out either. It isn’t like “You do this and it will all turn out ok.” Hardly. But doing the right thing is still doing the right thing. I do it because it is the right thing, not to get a certain result.

Next time someone hurts you, try to step back and consider asking yourself the question, “What would love do?”. Then work towards that.

Peace,
Deb

colored leaves and barren trees

“Joy and sadness are as close to each other as the splendid colored leaves of a New England fall to the soberness of the barren tress. Joy and sadness are born at the same time both arising from such deep places in your heart that you can’t find words to capture your complex emotions.”

Henry Nouwen

I can identify with this quote. There have been times in my life when I am so filled with joy that I cannot find the words to express it. The birth of my children, those sweet times of being a mom to little ones, having one of my teenagers come to me with a problem, seeing them marry people who loved them, gaining an awesome grandson the same day I gained a new daughter, the birth of my granddaughters and the impending birth of my grandson. Then there are the times I am merely sitting with someone and they begin to share their spiritual journey and tears come to my eyes as I listen to the beauty that God is working in their lives. That is joy.

Then there is the flip side…the sadness. I have also had the experience of feeling such overwhelming sadness that I thought it might consume me. At times, there are no words to express what I am feeling. It is experienced more as a physical sensation, an ache in my chest. There have been the obvious times…the death of my sister-in-law at the age of 16, a miscarriage, illness in my children, the loss of my father-in-law, watching my children, as adults, go through painful situations, and the sadness of my own sin. There are also those times when I have such a sense of sadness and there is nothing that I can pinpoint in my life as the cause. I spend time with God asking Him what it might be that I am feeling sad about. I sense it is sadness over child abuse, the Sudan, poverty, etc….my heart can literally hurt over these things.

Joy and sadness. Both a part of life. Both are intense and both tell me I am alive. I want to embrace both, knowing that they are part of being human and knowing that God can hold all of it.

Embrace the joy and the pain in your life. Know that God will use all of it…to draw you closer to Him.

Peace,
Deb

sabbath

No post today - enjoy the sabbath

faithful

“I do not pray for success, I ask for faithfulness.”

Mother Teresa

Have you ever been asked by God to do something that you were not sure you could do? I have. And in those times I take my eyes off God. I look at the circumstances and see why it won’t work. The anxiety of making it successful is a bit overwhelming...the kind of overwhelming where I wake up in the middle of night and can’t get back to sleep.

But then, somehow, someway, God reminds me who is really in control. Why do I always forget that? Why do I always have to be reminded? He really is patient with me. And what He gently takes me back to is that all He wants me to be is faithful. And to leave the rest up to Him. That is a comforting thought. It’s enough to help a girl go back to sleep.

Grace and Peace,
Deb

awareness

Someone pointed out to me
That a pebble and a diamond
Are alike to a blind man.

Maybe I’ve been fingering
Diamonds all this time
Without even realizing it.

The author of this poem, Steven James, makes the point in his book, The Story, that blindness isn’t because of lack of light. That is darkness. Blindness is the inability to see the light that is all around you.

I think my life has been like this. God is always speaking to me, always moving in my life, but I usually don’t see it unless it is huge. I am like a blind woman who is surrounded by light but I am unable to see.

The prayer I pray the most lately is that God would allow me to see Him, to hear Him. I pray for new eyes to see what I have not seen. I ask for new ears to hear what I have not heard. All I want is to more aware of His presence. My inability to sense or feel Him isn’t because He isn’t here or isn't moving…it’s because I haven’t known how to look for Him.

The more I pray this prayer and keep my intention towards God, the more I notice Him in the simpler things in my life and sense His love for me.

Consider asking God for greater awareness today. It is a beautiful prayer that will draw you closer to Him.

Grace and Peace,
Deb

eden

East of Eden….I hear this phrase a lot in reference to our estrangement from the garden and the way life was supposed to be.

I try to imagine what Eden was like. What was ‘perfect’ like? What was ‘paradise’ like? What was walking and talking, having perfect fellowship with God like?

What would life be like with no shame, guilt, frustration, pain, sadness, tears, disappointment, AIDS, orphans, widows, sickness, adultery, power plays, low self-esteem, arrogance, terrorism, murder, lying, gossip, war, rejection, addiction, emotional, physical and sexual abuse, anorexia, bulimia, obesity, starvation, car accidents, plane crashes, computer crashes, global warming, arguing over whether or not there is such a thing as global warming, prejudice, racism, ageism, sexism, all the other ism’s, scarcity of resources, drought, famine, cancer, heart value surgery, miscarriages, stillborn babies, birth defects, anxiety, depression, mental illness, death, separation from God, etc.? The list goes on and on. I am sure you can add some of your own.

We don’t know what Eden would have been like. We have no context for it, no reference point. All we know is that it was...and will be again. What a wonderful thought. And I am so excited that there is something to look forward to that is so beautiful and perfect that my limited human mind cannot even begin to conceive of it.

Thank you God, for the promise of "Eden restored" when we will once again walk with You in perfect fellowship.

In deepest gratitude,
Deb

love

“All your love, your stretching out, your hope, your thirst, God is creating in you so that God may fill you…God is on the inside of the longing.”

Maria Boulding

This has been a new concept for me to wrap my brain around the past couple of years. I always thought I was the one trying to get closer to God…that it was my idea. Several years ago, when I began to explore a more contemplative spirituality, I truly thought that I was seeking a closer relationship with God. Now, I look at it differently. I have come to understand that the reason I desire a more intimate relationship with God is because He is stirring that within me. His desire to have intimacy with me is causing my desire to have intimacy with Him. Isn’t that an amazing thought?

In reality, it really isn’t a new thought to me at all. For thirty years of walking with Jesus, I have read and heard this verse:

"We love Him, because He first loved us."

(I John 4:19, Amplified Bible)

It’s like I never really ‘got it’ until recently. It makes perfect sense though doesn’t it? That everything good originates with God. I can only do or want good things because of the work of the Holy Spirit in my life.
I am in awe today, reflecting on the fact, that the God of the universe, the creator of all good things, desires to have a deeper, more intimate relationship with me. That makes me want to run to Him, to spend time with Him and to please Him with my life.

He wants that with you too……

Grace and Peace,
Deb

being

Practicing sitting in silence and solitude, journaling, and lectio divina, all have moved me into a more contemplative relationship with God. These spiritual disciplines have helped me reflect on how I see God moving in my life. They help me deepen my relationship with Him, enjoying the intimate fellowship. But…that is not where it ends. If it stays an inner journey and there is no outward evidence of this time spent with God, then what is it for?

Although this time with God is very meaningful to me and I love the solitude, I am called, by God to take what I am learning about myself and about Him and move in the world in a different way. The beauty of spending time with Him, ‘being’, is learning to listen to His voice and discern what He may want me to be ‘doing’.

I invite you to spend time with Him today in solitude and listen to see how He wants you to ‘be’ with others and ‘be’ in the world.

Grace and peace,
Deb

prayer

“It is of course possible to dance a prayer.”

~Glade Byron Addams

Have you ever considered that prayer could be expressed in a dance? Or in a drawing? Or in a painting? A poem? A sculpture? A collage? Or any other artistic form? I know I didn’t. Until recently, I only thought of prayer as something you did with you hands folded, eyes closed and body still.

But, it makes sense to me that the creativity God gave us can be offered back to Him as prayer. There are those who are wired in such a way that their art is an expression of who they are or what they are thinking or feeling. And what better way to ‘speak’ with God.

Consider using your creativity to speak to Him today. Offer it as a prayer...as an expression of your love to Him. Enjoy.

Blessings,
Deb

sabbath

no post today ~ enjoy the sabbath

friends

Bless them who wait with us,
Who labor with us,
who cry with us.

Bless them who know our limits,
Who push us beyond them,
Who see us through.

Bless them who call us to our strengths
Who tend us in our weaknesses,
Who dress each ragged wound.

Bless them who laugh in the face of convention,
Who weep for our own pain,
Who bind us to come and live.

Jan Richardson




This poem reminds me of the incredible women God has placed in my life……bless you and thank you for everything you add to my life.

I encourage you to take some time today to reflect on the women God has put in your life to make the journey easier. Thank Him for their presence and consider letting them know, in some small way, that they have made a difference.

Grace and Peace,
Deb

r e s t

The last couple of days, I have had conversations with women who are just plain tired. They are so busy…taking care of their families, doing ministry, working, trying to make time for friends. They feel overwhelmed, stressed and sometimes, even ill.

This is not the way it was meant to be. God didn’t design us to ‘just keep going” like the Energizer bunny. He means for us to rest, to slow down, so we can listen to Him.

Often we confuse ‘doing’ with ‘being’. All the things we are busy doing are good things. It’s just too much. We don’t have any energy left for truly being present to God. Spending time with Him seems like just one more thing to do.

As women, we (and I include myself in this) need to purposely slow down. We need to allow our ‘doing’ to emerge from our ‘being’. What do we hear God saying to us? What does he want us to be involved in? What does He want us to say no to?

Take some time today….yes… take some time …to spend with God and just ‘be’. Know that the world won’t fall off its axis if you slow down. Try it…sit down, close your eyes and offer up five minutes to God.

Breathe s l o w l y and r e s t.

Peacefully,
Deb

spoons

Ok…confession time. This past spring, I went to my church’s women’s retreat. It is a huge event. I was there to learn but also to teach an afternoon workshop.

There was a Starbucks close to our hotel. I walked over there to get a hot chocolate. Simple enough, right? I need to tell you something. I don’t order the hot chocolate for the hot chocolate. I order it for the whipped cream…seriously. I ask them to please put whipped cream on and to leave the lid off, because anyone knows that if you put the lid on, the whipped cream begins to melt into the hot chocolate. And I like whipped cream in its natural state (which to me is how it comes on a hot chocolate)…not melted down. Guess what? They put the lid on. Ok…stressor #1. As soon as I got it, I pulled the lid off. Underneath the surface, I was frustrated but I think I was able to conceal it. But the stage had been set. I politely asked for a spoon…because if you like whipped cream the way I do, you need to have a spoon to eat it before it melts into the hot chocolate…which is like eating your dessert before you eat the vegetables. Ok…back to my tale of woe. I asked for a spoon and you will never believe what the gal said to me. “We don’t have any spoons.” That’s it. She didn’t apologize, she didn’t offer to go look in the back room. She just said, “We don’t have any spoons.”

How is it possible for Starbucks to not have spoons? That’s like McDonald’s not having fries. It just doesn’t happen. My whipped cream was melting in to the hot chocolate. Time was of the essence. I turned and looked at the stirring sticks. Poor excuse for a spoon…can’t fit much whipped cream on the end of one of those.

I lost it. Ok…I didn’t throw any tables or let loose with any expletives, but I grumbled, louder than I should have, about how can it be possible for Starbucks to not have spoons?!! I pouted and didn’t enjoy that hot chocolate… not one little bit.

About 15 minutes after it happened, I thought to myself “Have you lost your mind?!” Why would I ever think that was ok? In what world is it ok for someone to get that upset over the lack of a spoon or a missed opportunity to eat whipped cream?

Now some of you may say…come on…it wasn’t that bad. But it was. What a reveal of the junk in my heart. If I cannot be faithful in such a little thing, how will I ever be faithful in a really tough situation?

The world is dying to see something different they can put their hope in. I so want to be a part of showing them that hope through what they see in my life. But…I need to get out of the way. I need to know what is of importance and what is not. I need to die to myself and embrace what God is doing in my heart. May I yield more and more to the leading of the Holy Spirit and may it show in my life.

Grace and Peace,
Deb

difference

I came across this quote a couple of days ago:

“Can people look at my life and say “That life would not make sense if God didn’t exist.”…”

Let that sink in for a few minutes. If we are believers, shouldn’t our lives reflect that? Shouldn’t something look different? If people can’t tell the difference, what is the point?

I cannot tell you how many times I have gotten a soda out of a machine and the machine has given me too much change back. I always take it into the store and give it to them. They are shocked. Or, if I notice that a clerk charged me too little, I tell them. Again, they look at me as if I’ve grown two heads.

Don’t be misled. I have more than my share of times of falling way short of the person I want to be. I just pray that I recognize it and I work to redeem it. Because if people can’t say that there is something different about me, than I am not living fully into this life in God.

Peace,
Deb

character

"Character is what you are in the dark."

~ Unknown

What does the dark illuminate in me? What do I know about me that no one else does….no one else but God? The knowledge that He loves me in spite of my bent character …in spite of who I am in the dark, brings me to my knees. That kind of love un-does me and makes me want to continue to surrender to His transforming work in my life, to bring more and more of His light into my character, so that in the light …or in the dark, I am the same.

Grace and Peace,
Deb

sabbath time

First, I apologize for not having a blog entry on Saturday. I was a little busy. I was with 6 incredible women, sharing a weekend set apart to spend time with God. We were looking at what ‘Sabbath’ time means.

Sabbath is not observing a list of rules and regulations. We talked about how it is a gift of time from God, time to rest, to reflect, to enjoy nature, to sleep, laugh and play. While we had sweet times of solitude, there was also great fellowship. We learned, we rested and we played (one evening, some of us were outside catching fireflies!)

Sabbath wasn’t given to us by God to be a boring time. It was given to us because God knows our limitations. He knows how we are made and He knows we need time away from all the stressors we deal with the other six days of the week. One author likens our incessant need to always be busy as trying
“ to be like God.” Ouch.

What I know for sure is that when I take time to ‘be’ with God, when I take time to rest, and play and spend intentional time with friends…when I take the time to practice the Sabbath, I am better able to notice God and His movement in my daily life because I have taken some time to slow down.

I invite you to spend some time reflecting on the Sabbath and what it might feel like to have some much needed rest and some special time with God.

Can you live without it? You can….but why would you want to?

Peace,
Deb

grey

I can remember when I first became a believer that there was this definite line drawn in my new life. There was black, which was all I had left behind…the world and all it holds and then there was white…the new ‘spiritual’ world I had walked into. As I grew in my faith, that line got bolder and bolder. It seemed pretty easy to tell what activity, what behavior belonged where. There were secular activities and sacred activities. The secular included certain kinds of music, certain kinds of movies, certain kinds of books, behaviors, activities, etc. These were on the ‘black’ side of the line. On the white side of the line were different types of music, movies, books, behaviors, and activities. I was ok as long I chose the ‘white’ side. It made being a Christian easier. Most things could be categorized as either secular or sacred, non-Christian or Christian, black or white. Most things included people. I regret to say that sometimes I felt some superiority being on the ‘right’ side.

As God often does, He shook up my world. He took His big eraser and blurred the lines. The black blurred into the white, the white blurred into the black and there was this large area of grey. Great. Now how do I tell which is which? How do I categorize?

I think Jesus was showing me that he is the one who determines what is black and what is white. Everything belongs to him…all is his and he is the one who sees the heart. Things aren’t always as they seem. For example, Pharisees ~ white, harlots ~ black, right? But Jesus saw it differently. It wasn’t so easy, so simple, so obvious.

There is black and there is white but there is so much more grey. I’m becoming more comfortable with grey.

Peace,
Deb

creations

“If your heart is straight with God, then every creature will be to you a mirror of life and a book of holy doctrine. No creature is so little or so mean as not to show forth and represent the goodness of God.”

Thomas A’Kempis

My heart must be very bent. I struggle to see the beauty in a thousand -legger. We moved into our house last October. The first time I saw one my heart skipped a beat. I saw it out of the corner of my eye. They are fast. Really fast. I guess I’d be fast too if I had a thousand legs. (I know it’s not REALLY a thousand legs….just seems that way!) I had not seen any in our last two homes. After the sighting, I directly went to Jeff and said, “We need to move.” I realized that was a rash decision. I took a few minutes and decided we could try something else first…an exterminator. Jeff wasn’t too keen on this solution either. So, I went to the internet to find out how I could rid our homes of these little beasts. Not such a good idea. It did not help me one bit to see page after page of thousand-leggers…in color! I had a really hard time sleeping that night.
I look at all of creation and see the incredible imagination of God. He is the source of the creative spirit. The shapes; large, small, miniscule, fluid. The colors, violet, maize, robin egg blue, scarlet. The textures; skin, scales, fur, hide. The legs: two, four, six, thousands. You get my drift.
No matter how I feel about a particular creature, it is a God –creation, made just the way He intended. I know He loves thousand-leggers. I’m just not there yet.
Enjoy His creation today.
Peace,
Deb

love

“Solitude eventually offers a quiet gift of grace, a gift that comes whenever we are able to face ourselves honestly; the gift of acceptance, of compassion, for who we are, as we are. As we allow ourselves to be known in solitude, we discover that we are known by love. Beyond the pain of self-discovery there is a love that does not condemn us but calls us to itself. This love receives us as we are.”

Parker Palmer

Spend some time today pondering this quote. Do you know you are ‘known by love’? Have you experienced the love that “calls us to itself”? The love that “receives us as we are”? Rest in that beautiful thought.

Peace,
Deb

inside~outside

The longer I follow Jesus the more I realize how much I have to work on. One would think the longer they work at something the better they would become at it. For quite a while I was confident that I was progressing in this journey. I think I based that on the external “biggies if you know what I mean. I don’t steal, I don’t murder, I don’t covet…ok maybe I still covet, but I try not to. I think that might count. On the outside, for the most part, I look and act like a Christian. And, I thought, for a long time, that I had ‘arrived’.

Several years ago, I realized that no matter what I was able to portray on the outside, there was stuff on the inside I hadn’t noticed, let alone addressed. Issues like feelings of jealously, bitterness, envy, or behaviors like manipulation or control. I realized that my motives and attitudes were not as pure as I had hoped. I just never had thought about it before. When I realized this, it was a rude awakening. I mean…how in the world would I ever be able to get a grip on my thoughts, my motives, my attitudes? Working on those areas of my life were/are not easy and it’s difficult to measure how I’m doing.

One of the awesome things about God is that He shows me what I need to work on, when He is ready for me to work on it. And…I have also discovered that He is really the one doing the work. I open myself to that work but it isn’t work I can do on my own. I know that because I’ve tried, for years, to change some of those things without significant results. Now I am learning to rest in the work God wants to do in me. I can see some changes, but I think I have a much more realistic view of how long this work is going to take. It will never be finished this side of heaven. Just knowing that allows me to not be so hard on myself but I also know I never want to settle for just an ‘outside’ kinda faith.

Peace,
Deb

splinters

i could leap over the sky
and float through the stars

if only i weren’t weighed down
with this thing called regret.

Steven James


Regret. I don’t like the way regret feels. For me, it feels like a load I am carrying. I just want it to go away. It’s like when I get a splinter. I chastise myself for whatever it is that I was doing when I got the splinter, hoping to avoid that situation ever again. Then, I need to deal with the splinter. I would like to ignore it but they just won’t be ignored. Every time you use the affected body part, Mr. Splinter reminds you he is still there. I hate splinters. I also hate the process of getting it out. It’s always a blessing when the splinter is sticking out, easily seen and simply grasped by the tweezers. But, at least for me, I usually don’t get those types of splinters…I get the ones that are invisible. You can’t see them…you can only find them by touching the area again and again. How are you supposed to pull it out if you can’t even see it? That’s where the needle comes in. I hate needles. I know you are not surprised by that fact.

My husband will take a needle and start digging, as if he has no nerve endings. I, on the other hand, have very well developed nerve endings and needles hurt. It just doesn’t make sense to me. You have a sharp object lodged in your extremity and …let’s see…how about we use another sharp object to dig around and find it! Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. I hate splinters. But I cannot tell you the relief I feel when it is finally out. It is like that limb is born again.

For some reason, I am making a connection between splinters and regret. When I am feeling regret, I think about the situation that led to me feeling that way and try to figure out how I can avoid that situation again. I don’t like the way it feels. But, usually, I need to carry it around awhile. I go about my life and then I remember it and I feel it again. Like a splinter, I need to work it out….make apologies, change behavior, etc. Guess those are the needles. Then it passes and life feels right again.

I hate splinters and I hate feeling regret.

But…I’m going to love heaven. I’ll love heaven ’cause I am pretty sure there are no splinters there and no regret. Yeah – I’ll love heaven.

Hope yours is a day with no splinters and no regret.

Peace,
Deb

sabbath

no post today ~ enjoy the sabbath

holiness

“Holiness, not happiness, is the chief end of man. “

Oswald Chambers

This quote is directly opposed to what the culture has taught me. I grew up thinking that God wanted me to be happy. And…it wasn’t just the culture but the church as well. Several churches I had been involved in the past reinforced this. If I was ‘doing’ all the right things…going to church, praying, living right…my life would be good and I would be happy. I would have enough money, good health, and my children would be model citizens….

I have talked to so many people who are struggling through difficult times and they ask, “What am I doing wrong?” They are looking for the right formula, as if they can control God by doing certain things and viola, achieve happiness.

If right behavior and doing good things for God made our lives happy and easy, then how do we explain Paul’s life? He was always in some sort of trouble; shipwrecks, beatings, prison, etc. His life should be an example to me that living a life pleasing to God doesn’t mean I will always be happy.

Working to be happy seems easy enough, but to be holy? The bar has been raised. I think God knows that happiness will make me complacent and soft. But in pursuing holiness I need to look deeply at my heart and notice all those things within me that are not holy. I then need to abandon them to God and ask Him to change me, from the inside out. Happiness only lasts as long as the good times, but holiness will sustain me through the tough times too.

Do you think you have bought the package that advertises ‘happiness’ for all who love God? Or have you come to the place where you realize happiness is not the chief end and you have a desire for God to move you towards holiness?

Peace,
Deb

prayer

“Prayer for me, used to stand as something separate from other parts of life. But I have come to learn that real prayer is not so much talking to God as just sharing God’s presence….Prayer, I have learned, is more my response to God than a matter of my own initiative.”

Malcolm Boyd


For me, prayer used to be a one way conversation. I talked, God listened. I went through my list and asked God to do ‘this for this person’ and ‘that for that person’, and of course, there were the requests just for me. As I think back on it, it was like I was telling God the way I thought it should be. Some days, it felt like I connected with God, but most days, I felt I was just checking it off my list of things to do to be a good Christian.

I quit praying that way. In fact, I had no idea how to pray any other way but I wanted to try. I asked God to teach me how He wanted me to pray and slowly but surely, my prayer life changed. Now, it rarely involves my talking, either out loud or silently, to God. It more often is sitting with God and listening to Him. I’m sure He finds that to be a refreshing change. I know I do.

Take some time to today to consider your prayer life. Ask God if it is how He wants you to interact with Him….then take some time to listen and see what He might be saying to you.

Grace and Peace,
Deb

prayer

I who live by words, am wordless when
I try my words in prayer. All language turns
To silence. Prayer will take my words and then
Reveal their emptiness. The still voice learns
To hold its peace, to listen with the heart
To silence that is joy, is adoration.
The self is shattered, all words torn apart
In this strange patterned time of contemplation
That, in time, breaks time, breaks words, breaks me,
And then, in silence, leaves me healed and mended.
I leave, returned to language, for I see
Through words even though all words are ended.
I, who live by words, am wordless when
I turn me to the Word to pray. Amen.

Madeleine L’Engle

faith

Yesterday, I came across this definition for faith:

“….Faith is finally this: resting so utterly in the character of God – in the ultimate goodness of God – that you trust Him even when He seems untrustworthy.”

The author also talks about the fact that "one moment in our lives can change everything. One moment that can’t be undone, can’t be contained, can’t be accounted for, that demolishes in a single instant, a lifetime of entire moments."

I am sure that everyone reading this can identify at least one moment in their lives that reveals this as truth. The moment you found out your parents were getting a divorce, the moment you, or a loved one got a terminal diagnosis, the moment you found out that the one you trust and love cheated on you, the moment you found out your child made a decision that will forever alter their lives…I could go on and on. We have all had at least one of these moments and probably more than one.

In those moments, all that we have learned and know intellectually about God and who He is can fall to the wayside. Our shattered heart claws at our faith, desperately trying to hang onto it, like a drowning man hanging onto a piece of floating wood.

Faith is a noun when the world is right but it quickly becomes a verb when our world is turned upside down.

I think the bottom line is - do I trust in the sovereignty of God only when things are going well? That doesn’t seem to require much from me. But to trust in His sovereignty when my heart is broken, when grief is so overwhelming that I can’t seem to catch my breath, when one moment redefines everything that I knew to be my life, that is the definition of faith.

As you reflect on this, can you think back to a time when everything changed for you…a time when there was a BEFORE and an AFTER…when life was forever altered? How did you respond? Did you cling to God or run from Him…maybe even blame Him? I invite you to spend some time today thinking about how you have responded to God in the past during tough times and how much you think you may be able to trust Him with whatever lies ahead for you.

Grace and peace,
Deb

desire

This past week, I was at the Creation Festival. For those of you who don’t know what Creation is, it is a gathering of 60,000 to 70,000 Christians who come together to listen to speakers and bands. Occasionally, members of the bands will take a break from singing and speak to the crowd. Sometimes I connect more with what they have to say than the actual speakers.

I love the group, Casting Crowns. During their time on stage, the leader of the group said something that really resonated with me.

“God doesn’t need us…He wants us.”

Wow. Again, it is something I know on an intellectual plane but I don’t often think about the reality of it. God wants us. Wait… let me make that more personal. God wants you…He wants me. I’m not sure why but it seems different than saying that God loves you or me. Maybe because I’ve heard, so many times, that God loves me. But the thought that He wants me, moves me in a different way.

Today, I want to let that truth wash over me. I want to let it sink in. I want to let it become part of what I know deep inside. I invite you to do the same. Spend some time with the thought that God wants you…that He is continually inviting you into a deeper relationship with Him. What would be different if you were to really grab hold of this? How would it change your relationship with him? Reflect on this and consider journaling around this thought.

Grace and peace,
Deb

creation

God, brilliant Lord,
yours is household name.

Nursing infants gurgle choruses about you,
toddlers shout the songs
That drown out enemy talk
and silence atheist babble.

I look at your macro-skies, dark and enormous,
your handmade sky-jewelry,
Moon and stars mounted in their settings
Then I look at my micro-self and wonder,
Why do you bother with us?
Why take a second look our way?

Yet we’ve so narrowly missed being gods,
bright with Eden’s dawn light.
You put us in charge of your handcrafted world,
repeated to us your Genesis-charge.
Made us lords of sheep and cattle.,
Even animals out in the wild,
Birds flying and fish swimming,
whales singing in the ocean deeps.

God, brilliant Lord
Your name echoes around the world.

Psalm 8
The Message


I invite you to spend some time with this portion of scripture today. Read it through two times, slowly. Pay attention to what God might be saying to you…just to you, in these words. What draws your heart? Allow yourself some time and space to allow the Spirit to move within you.

Peace,
Deb