Month: February 2024

  • Finding Significance, Purposeful Living

    Extraordinary Living

    • by

    In God’s kingdom, extraordinary living can look a bit old school, especially if we measure it against the world’s standards. It can be hard to recognize the line between loving service and performance. The heroes of our faith are the individuals, the overcomers, who put one foot in front of the next and did only what God was asking of them in the moment. 

    Corrie Ten Boom is one of my heroes. She is quoted as saying, “Trying to do the Lord’s work in your own strength is the most confusing, exhausting, and tedious of all work. But when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, then the ministry of Jesus just flows out of you.”

    Our contributions matter to God, whether it’s praying for people, making their meals, cutting the lawn, watching their kids, or looking them in the eye. We must recognize that nothing is too small or ordinary in God’s kingdom. He sees you and values what you bring to Him. You are the contribution. And God tells us that He can do a lot with a little.

    Ephesians 3:20-21 reminds us “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

    I especially love the phrasing in the Message version: 

    “God can do anything, you know-far more than you could ever IMAGINE or guess or request in your WILDEST dreams!” (Eph 3:20 MSG)

    Surrendering to Jesus and living in the power of the Holy Spirit is exciting and empowering, but it also is a learning process that requires a community in which we can learn and grow. I can’t think of a better community of like-minded servants to engage with than my sisters in Christ. To share stories, hardships, and successes. We can engage with one another with no other agenda but to love. We can help each other avoid getting caught up in the whirlwind of panic or dismissal that is common to the world, but take hold of the power and the peace our God has given us. A God who created the universe and then came to his creation as one of us. He is in and around us. He has gone before us. He is behind us. And He is the One on whom we stand – with confidence, resilience, grace, and hope. 

    I love the opening lyrics from Maverick City Music’s song, “Firm Foundation (He’s Gonna Make a Way).”

    Christ is my firm foundation
    The rock on which I stand
    When everything around me is shaken
    I’ve never been more glad
    That I put my faith in Jesus
    ‘Cause He’s never let me down
    He’s faithful through generations
    So why would He fail now?
    He won’t, He won’t

    I’ve still got joy in chaos
    I’ve got peace that makes no sense
    So I won’t be going under
    I’m not held by my own strength
    ‘Cause I’ve built my life on Jesus
    He’s never let me down
    He’s faithful in every season
    So why would He fail now?
    He won’t, He won’t

    So, on those days when you feel weary and have difficulty “seeing” how you are making a difference in the world, take a moment to reflect on how “the ministry of Jesus is flowing out of you.” How Christ is your Firm Foundation. Visualize the smiling faces of those to whom you have given a little “drop” of yourself. Go forth and comfort them and love them. Because of YOU and your HEART to let Jesus flow from you, others will, in turn, be a blessing to someone else!

    Read more

  • Heart Stuff, Identity in Christ, Knowing God

    Awake To God’s Love For Us

    • by

    Are you awake to God’s love for you? If your immediate response was to nod and think “Of course, I know God loves me”, I want to challenge you to dig a little deeper. 

    Many of us are walking around acknowledging in our minds that God loves us, but do we truly believe and know deep in our soul that He loves us? He loves you. Not just the good parts but all of you. He knows everything you’ve ever thought and ever done and He loves you, deeply. That kind of love is hard to comprehend. It can be tough to accept–we can feel so undeserving of this type of love. 

    I think a lot of us want to be loved by God, for Him to be proud of us, and pleased with us. But believing that He does and is already, is a whole different exercise. Much of believing, and experiencing God’s love, is affected by our own limited human perspective. We see ourselves through our own eyes, not through God’s eyes. He created us and knows every hair on our heads. When he looks at you He sees His beautiful daughter.

    “If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”

    1 John 4:15-19

    God is love and He knows no other way. Just a sweep through the gospels, we can see time and time again how much Jesus loved the people he came to save.

    Through the story of Mary and her sister Martha as he stood with them in their grief, with the woman with ongoing bleeding, and even though he was busy, he took the time to stop and bring restoration to her physically as well as emotionally. He came alongside Mary Magdalene in her grief at the grave and called out her name and gave her great purpose.

    Jesus wasn’t concerned with appearances or what was most efficient, he was concerned about each and every person he encountered. He wanted them to walk away feeling like they were the most precious person in the world and he would do anything for them.

    Jesus came for each one of us. It’s so easy for us to think of God loving the world and forget that He loves each of us. He is a God who would leave the 99 to rescue the one.

    Next time you read through the gospels, notice how Jesus came to each person, listened to them, truly saw them, reached into their situation, and loved them well. Each time, they walked away from an encounter with Jesus completely transformed and changed. For each person, there was life before Jesus and life after. They no longer were defined as one rejected, the outcast one, the one who suffers, or the sinner. They now saw themselves as one whom Jesus loves.

    And His love for us is no different. Before we ever do a thing, whether we mess up or get it right. God loves us first and always. He will always look upon you as the beautiful daughter whom He loves. This is a love we can rely on. 

    “May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”

    Ephesians 3:19

    In this world we don’t experience this kind of love as often as we should, so it is understandable that we could struggle with fully embracing this type of love. But when we do, it changes us from our very core. It changes how we see ourselves and how we see the world. We find a peace and confidence like no other in being the one loved by God.

    Once you are truly awake to God’s love for you and embrace your identity as the wonderful, beautiful, chosen, daughter of the King whom Jesus died for because of His great love for you, it changes you at your very core. It ripples out into every aspect of your life, including how you see yourself and others. 

    Today, take a minute to think about yourself this way. Picture Jesus looking at you with love in His eyes, feeling that humble confidence that you are His, and He is yours, and He loves you. You are one whom Jesus loves!

    Read more