Beauty from Ashes - A Continual Process

We can FEEL a lot of different things all within a short span of time.  They can often be conflicting feelings.  Feelings are real.  Feelings are valid.  Feelings come from a variety of circumstances.  Feelings can tear us down or build us up.  But feelings do not have to have the power to define us or anyone else!  That is why putting on the "glasses of truth" is so important in sorting out our feelings! FREEDOM We need the Word of God in our hearts as the measure of truth.  So when conflicting thoughts rise up and battle for the win, we have assurance of the true win.  We can never be perfect, we can never earn our worth.  Our worth is Jesus.  We get to wear His righteous robes.  Isaiah 61:10 says, " I am overwhelmed with joy in the LORD my God! For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness."   J esus won for us!  This gives us free...

Miles in the bag? Yeah, that's good!  But it does not define me!  Measurements!  They can be so conflicting!  It is good to have goals, to move forward, to make progress, but to what end?  If you are like me, the bag that holds your miles has a big hole in it!  There's never enough!  By the grace of God, I've been on a life long journey learning that running with a hole in your bag can be a good thing!   Now I picture a wind sock instead of a bag.  Let those miles fall out the bottom!  Try that one on!   A banner trailing me that is empty .  My hope is that the empty banner  I carry is filled with the full wind of God!   If you struggle with measurements you can find peace here today. God actually discourages comparison by measurement when done for the wrong reasons. Paul had heard that people were talking about they way he did ministry and comparing him to others.  He explains the importa...

We all have seasons that take us to our knees in prayer.  But oh, to be steady there forever on my knees.  That is my prayer , and that is why I share.  Because I can never find peace on my own, with all my fixes and doubts.  "I’ve stood tall and I have crumbled in the same breath" are lyrics that jumped out at me yesterday from the song As You Find Me , by Hillsong United. It's by God's grace that I can look back and see the lengthening of seasons of peace as the seasons of despair shorten.  There is grace for that.  But there are things that come along that break my soul in pieces, and it is there that grace waits to catch me.  It's there for you too. Until our journey on earth takes us to Heaven, we will face mountains that seem to separate us from the love of our Heavenly Father.   But the truth is that He has the purest love a Father can have.  His love is strengthening His children during the hardest of times because  He...