Beauty from Ashes - A Continual Process

I had a friend teach me a quick prayer several years ago, "empty me and fill with Thee."  Sometimes I have to pray that in reverse.  Lord please redeem the things that I tried to do for you in my own strength, and make them Yours!  I fail in a thousand ways the things I try to do well.  I beat myself up and get stuck in condemnation.  Maybe I did the right things with the wrong heart.  A heart that was "trying too hard to get it right," instead of resting into the Hope of Who I am in Christ.  I want to be invisible, so that only God is reflected in my life.  I will fail, I do fail.   But there is hope. Our hope is in the ONE WHO BREATHES STARS!   Psalm 33:7 says, "By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, And by the breath of His mouth all their host. 7 He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deeps in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the LORD; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in aw...

This became my favorite verse last year, and sometimes I cave to the darkness, but HE ALWAYS OVERCOMES it.  John 1:5 says,  "The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it."  Jesus is the light.  The. Light. Of. The. World. I don't try to be a writer or a blogger.  I've always just written what was on my heart.  But if I could have dreamed up a story to illustrate this verse, it would have been this beautiful true story written by Ann Voskamp.  I love it because it speaks the truth of John 1:5, I love it because it is about running, and I love it because it is about overcoming.   We can all be overcomers, one day at a time, often one hour at a time.  This was such a sweet inspiration that I just had to pass it on, in case you haven't read it, I loved it!  Thank you Ann Voskamp! http://aholyexperience.com/?utm_source=email+marketing&utm_campaign=daily-newsletter&utm_medium=email

Today our pastor taught about how to trust in our Sovereign Lord by remembering all of His good works.  Are you struggling to understand why things are happening in your life or in the lives of others?  Do you find yourself wondering where God is in all of this?  This pain, this illness, this relationship, this job?  In Psalm 106 David recounts all the miracles of the Israelites over the years including the escape from Egypt.  This is an example that is set out for in all throughout the Bible, recount, recount, recount what the Lord has done.  Our God holds the power to bring us peace.   In the Old Testament He had the power to harden Pharaoh's heart until it was time to release the Israelites.  In the New testament Jesus told Pilate that the only power you have over my death is granted by MY FATHER.  God has all the power and we can rest into that!  Lean into that, press into that, fall into that!   I write this now as I know s...

"For he himself is our peace," Ephesians 2:14 I am so aware of the word RELATIONSHIP this morning.  I am going with my usual style, just brain dump.  I have a long list of longings for Jesus right now.  A long list of precious loved ones who are walking through fire.  Last night at about midnight I said to Steve, "I know Jesus is more about us coming to Him in trust and relationship, than the specific list."  So I am working it out, TRUSTING HIM, IN RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM, FOR HIS GLORY, AND FOR MY FRIENDS. When we stop wrestling with the long list of crisis, and just lay them at God's feet, TRUSTING Him with these "crisis" situations, we begin to feel free and light.  That is not only what we need, but what our friends need.  That had to click into place, AGAIN, in my heart last night.  I felt the peace come.  It's not about how hard I pray, but that I pray...that I go to HIM.  He draws.  I was not able to sleep at all last nigh...

This title is somewhat ironic, considering I struggle with cutting away the mind clutter!  But that's just the point!  Not to mention March Madness!  Today my mind is racing about all the racing, and it's a lot of good stuff that's racing through!   But. I'm. slowing. it. now.   There is too much information out there for me to process.  I can't possible drink it in.  I don't want this blog to be another "thing" that gets in the way of people really living!  I started this blog because I wanted to bring hope to people with anxiety.   I did not set out to prove that one can ask for, and have anxiety divinely removed.  I hope to share that when we surrender our anxiety to God, we can believe He will use it for our good.  We all have a weakness.  It can either drive us to God or away from God.  If it's not anxiety, it's something else...it doesn't matter what it is.   With the beautiful truth of Easter upon us , I ju...

The following is actually the text message I sent to my kiddos and hubby this am. Since I post my heart, I'm sharing it with you. Maybe just one of you sometimes gets stuck in the compulsive apology cycle, and forget that Jesus doesn't want compulsive, He wants real. Compulsive is when I am trying to do it all right, and fix it every time I do it wrong - IN MY STRENGTH. I don't like me when I'm stuck there!  It literally feels like a chain around my neck and a brick on my chest! GRACE is when I see my desperate need of a Savior Who forgives, and enables grace-filled living, dependence, and humility. So much easier and safer to rely on Him than me! So here is my heart split wide open again. Not going to think this one over.  I pray God splits my heart wide open with His Word every day until I'm with Him. Hebrews 4:12-16,  " For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, be...

I desperately need the Holy Spirit to take this heart, the one that needs grace in order to be joyful, and I need Him to throw down grace. I need to be hands and feet of Jesus right now in order to distract this human brain. This brain is so often tricked by what I see and know. God sees and knows everything, and has it all mapped out. It's so much bigger than these 24 hours/days/weeks...I know that DAVID wrote it out until the writing turned around. He never left a psalm undone, and we can never leave a day undone. His glory is reflected when His love flows through us to the broken, from the broken to the broken. He was broken for us, wasn't He?! How do I turn this around? It is selfish to just let it churn into the monster it can become, the aching empathy, the empathy that Jesus came to carry so that I would not ache from it. Yes, empathy has it's place, don't get me wrong. But there's place I know I go, where I have to say, OK, enough, TRUST MY MAKER! Why...