Beauty from Ashes - A Continual Process

Swirling! That's my brain!  I have shallow thoughts and deep thoughts to share.  Don't read this if you don't want to race in a few different directions!  But maybe one of these trails will resonate with you?  I used to ramble only to my close friends, that was safe.  But God doesn't call us to safe.  And after we watch 21 men of God give their lives by bowing to none other than Jesus Christ, vulnerability in my blog is no where near dangerous!  But that's what I'm wrestling with, is my faith dangerous?  Do I live it with any risk?  That question makes anything I share incredibly safe.  I sit behind a key board in a warm home on an unseasonably cold winter snow day, and write out my heart.  That's why I am reading Radical again by David Platt, as well as The Life of George Mueller .  I'm hungry, that's good!  I want sell "it" all, the "stuff of our culture," and in place of "it" give a message of HOPE. My heart goes s...

The point isn't about the specific trial, but about His WORD, HIS PURPOSE, HIS GLORY.   THE WORD IS WHO HE IS!  AND.HE. IS. ALWAYS. AT.WORK. Isaiah 55:10-11 "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; 11 S o will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire," Already this year we have been encouraged by many verses that I want to pass along to anyone who needs a lift. Keep them coming.  Let's all keep them coming and going with each other because Hebrews 4:12 says, "For the Word of God is full of living power..."  Jeremiah 23:29 "Is not my word like fire," declares the LORD, "and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?"  John 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was Go...

Today the Bible app verse of the day is Malachi 3:10. I was just going to post the verse on instagram and facebook to encourage all of us to trust in His promises.  But instead God blew open my heart and filled it.  So I'm sharing because I had the time for some extra soul filling today, as well as time to share the nourishment.  So this is straight up from my journal, and I'm going to hit send before I think too hard: We tithe, give to You Lord, because You help us want to give, and You promise to meet our every need...   Never worry , didn't know God would take me to that place with this verse.  The worry place... where I need to go. Thank You Lord. This is my prayer this morning. Lord Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner. Please hear my cry. I am sorry for a jealous, insecure, fearful heart. Not only should we tithe freely, which by your grace comes easy to me, BUT I should give my heart away freely, which is scary to me. I've come to Y...

I tripped over by own feet running a very slow pace yesterday!  A car actually pulled over to see if I was OK!  I waived them on, thumbs up, just a bruised hip and ego. I finished the run angry!  How could something I love to do make me so angry?  Well, for starters, I downloaded an app so I could map out different distances for running.  The app also tells me how far I've gone and also, what I already knew...I'm slow.   Over the years I've matured to not let it bother me.  But now it's right there in text after every run - stealing my joy!  I came in the house mad.  My sweet husband was expecting joy, but what he got was pity party!  Oh I threw a great one! "Well, honey, there's no danger in me ever being prideful!   I have nothing to tempt me to be prideful!   I can't sing, I'm a horrible athlete, I'm a horrible cook, terrible at math, unorganized!..." What's that about the enemy? He comes to rob, kill and destroy...John ...

My meditations today have been full of GRACE!  Do you ever let your sin keep you from moving on?  It can be easy not to receive,  in full, the grace that God offers when we repent.  Sometimes just plain yuck comes out of my mouth!  As I was reading Luke 6 this morning, which is packed with grace and truth, I came across verse 45.  It says, " out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." If yuck is coming out, then yuck must be renting space in my heart!  It doesn't matter if I only say it to the wall!  Just makes me want to sing "Create in my a new heart O God, and renew a right Spirit within me,"  taken from Psalm 51:10. I had repented to the Lord yesterday for speaking negative.  Life comes from speaking truth, grace, and  forgiveness, and who we are in Christ.  Ephesians 1 says that in Christ we are loved, blessed, redeemed, forgiven, chosen, accepted, and adopted!  Romans 8 says that the "mind of the flesh...

I feel anxiety knocking at my door today.  My mind can race and my heart can chase it with more beats and win!  How do I calm my anxious heart?  This morning I have nestled in with comforting Scripture and my creative side has gone crazy posting verses to instagram and facebook: I have found comfort in a beautiful song, Psalm 91 by Sons of Korah, posted by Ann Voskamp this morning.  It reminded of a day long ago when I was unable to sleep at all because of fear.  The next morning I opened my Bible to Proverbs 3:21-26.  I didn't look up this passage, God truly opened it to the page!   It says in verse 24, "you can go to bed without fear;  you will lie down and sleep soundly."  Unbelievable! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvhWTWpNWL0 I've found Ann's #nofearnewyear words of encouragement so sweet to my soul this early 2015.  I few moments ago I looked up some dates in my journal about fear and victory.  When I read ...

As we move into 2015 today, I can't help but send out hope.  Change, transitions, good or bad, are hard.   I don't do well with any change of any kind!  But we have this true promise from God!  He is always making things fresh and new through every situation.  Our family looks for these gifts, that's why we collect the stones for our candle.  God gave us the idea many years ago.  I share it as an encouragement as we begin a new year, but more importantly, it is really just a new day, and His mercies are new every morning.  We must be intentional about seeing the good, even in the hardest places.  Our daughter is on her way to a funeral today and a wedding tomorrow.  How do we hold both of these things in our hearts?   God shows Himself in the dark places!  It is easy to find the good on a wedding day, but so hard to grieve the loss of a loved one!  Every time a believer goes ahead to heaven, the waves of loss are felt a...