Purposeful Living

  • Purposeful Living

    The Unforced Rhythms of Grace

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    The transition from summer to autumn can come with mixed feelings. If you’re like me, I’m torn between wanting the fun of warm summer nights, swimming at the lake, and enjoying concerts in the park to never end, and at the same I find myself longing for normal routines and the schedules that come with back-to-school and the Fall. While those routines bring consistency, they can also bring a busier pace of life that can make us feel exhausted before we even get started.

    As we go into the fall, how can we bring the slower pace and light-heartedness of summer into our busier season? It begins with staying connected to the source of life.

    Matthew 11:28-30 (The Message version) says:

    “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” (emphasis mine)

    Imagine living freely and lightly as the verse above says. Doesn’t that sound lovely? Jesus says in this verse, the key is to walk with him and work with him, and to follow his example. As we do that, we will learn the unforced rhythms of his grace. 

    Even in Jesus’s busiest moments and days, He knew where the source of strength and life flowed from, so He made time to retreat with the Father. He relied on God to sustain him and empower his work throughout his days.

    In order for us to stay connected to God and in the flow of what He’s doing in our lives and in the world, we need to have our own spiritual rhythms each day, each week, each month. When we abide in God throughout each of our days, even those busy seasons can feel less stressful, because we are connected to God’s strength, peace, and love.

    Spiritual rhythms aren’t just about checking the boxes to make sure you pray, read your Bible, and go to church. It’s about creating a way of life (those unforced rhythms of grace) that helps keep you growing toward who God is transforming you to be. It looks like thriving in your relationship with family and friends, having bandwidth to intentionally steward your talents at work, and flourishing in your health physically, spiritually and financially. 

    God cares about every area of our lives, so as we connect with Him through prayer, reading our Bible, and spending time in worship, we will have eyes to see how He wants us to interact with our spouse, kids, friends, and co-workers. These spiritual rhythms can become the framework that we build our lives around, keeping us connected to the Father and sustaining us in every area of life.

    Being intentional about having a balance of work and rest, loving our spouse and kids well, enjoying our hobbies, and prioritizing community, while they may not seem spiritual, they can be when we are seeking to find God in them. We can prayerfully nap, asking God to restore us. We can seek to prioritize God in our relationships by finding a time to pray together or read God’s word together, or even go on a date with your spouse. Prioritizing healthy relationships and being a healthy person is spiritual because it honors God and His ways. 

    So as you go into this new season, think about ways you can build some spiritual rhythms in your life that will help you stay focused on God and that will sustain you each and every day. I encourage you to start small and keep it simple and realistic, so you have room to grow. 

    For example, if you don’t currently have a bible reading or prayer rhythm, start with 5 min every day or 20 min once a week. Think through what would you most likely be able to sustain. Sometimes the easiest way to create a new rhythm is to stack it with something you are already doing, such as reading your Bible while eating breakfast.

    As these rhythms grow, they will guide your behavior and character in such a way that it becomes more natural for you to live out your identity in Christ. Each rhythm can be life-giving when we are abiding and operating from a posture of dependence on God and intimacy with Him.

    It is my prayer for you that as you go about your day today, that you will feel God’s strong and loving presence. As your calendar begins to fill up with all this new season brings, may you lean on the unforced rhythms of God’s grace to sustain you. May you know without a doubt how deeply you are loved by the God who created the universe and everything in it, the one who has rescued and redeemed you because you are His.

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  • Heart Stuff, Purposeful Living

    Trust in God & Do Good

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    Recently my family went through a difficult season of trial that we didn’t ask for, one that felt like a personal attack, and was completely wrong and unfair. As the people leading the attack spread lies and half-truths, I felt anxious, fearful, and helpless. I felt like a caged animal whose freedom had been taken away. Trapped with nowhere to go. We struggled with what to do? What do we do when people treat us in wicked and evil ways?

    As we struggled through our situation, God gave us Psalm 37. In this Psalm, King David reflected on the unfairness of wickedness and evil. He mentions the word wicked or evil over ten times in the psalm, reflecting on how he felt evil people seemed to prosper in their wrongdoings. His lament of the evil in the world reminds us that no one is immune to it. Not kings. Not even Christians. But even as he reflected on the injustice, he also provided us a better way to handle difficult seasons of life. The way of freedom. Psalm 37:1-6 says:

    Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.

    Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

    Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun.

    Do not fret. Trust God. Do good. Commit your way to the Lord. This is the way of freedom. We cannot control other people’s actions, but regardless of what they do, we always have freedom in Christ to trust God and do good. We always have the freedom to honor him in whatever circumstance we find ourselves in, even if it doesn’t make sense or seems unfair to us at the time.

    When I was going through my season of trial and the anxious feelings would threaten to consume me, I would take a deep breath and remind myself to trust God and do good. I would ask God, “How can I honor you in this situation?” No one can take away my freedom to trust in my loving God and to do good for my fellow man.

    As time passed and through a lot of prayer, the situation finally resolved itself. Eventually I could look back and see how God had worked in all the details, as I committed to trusting him and taking opportunities to do good to others, even those who seemed to be against me. 

    This situation may now be in the past, but the lesson of how to walk in freedom in Christ through difficult seasons has stuck with me. The more I focus on honoring and trusting God and focus less on all the wrong in the world, the more freedom I have to serve those in this broken world. 

    I no longer live shackled by fear, anger, and resentment. I learned how to give the things I did not have control over to God. Not just injustice, but the daily struggles I have. I have learned to give over the anxiety of the daily things I worry about such as my kids, friends, community, and church. With no longer carrying the heavy burden of worry, I am now free to trust God and work on living a life that honors him. As I walk in that freedom, I find a peace that is beyond understanding and I can better see how God is working in my life.

    That is the irony of having freedom in Christ. The more you surrender to God, the more freedom you have. Because of Christ, you can give up trying to live up to the world’s expectations, and instead begin to find value in Him. In Christ you can give up carrying burdens that are not yours to carry, and instead you begin to trust them to your all-powerful God who works good for those who love Him. 

    With each thing you surrender to God, you walk more and more in your freedom in Christ. You are free to do good no matter what comes, because you know that no matter what the world says or does to us, God loved us enough to send His only son to die for us. Through Jesus’ sacrifice, we now have the gift of the Holy Spirit, which means God is always walking with us, even in the valleys. In those valleys, God gives us freedom to lean on Him to strengthen our faith and empower us to continue to do good for His glory.

    What can we take from Psalm 37? The destructive power of evil and wickedness has always been burning and sometimes we get caught up in it. We can let it consume us or we can fight it. We can fight it by living in the freedom God has given us to trust Him and continue to do good to the glory of God. Whatever situation you find yourself in right now, may you find freedom to continue in faith to trust God and do good!

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  • Purposeful Living, Spiritual Rhythms

    Walking with the Light of the World

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    As a Latina living in the Pacific Northwest, I often joke with my husband around this time of year that my DNA is not equipped for these cold and rainy, dark winters. While I love a good rain storm where I can curl up by the fire with a giant mug of coffee and work on my latest crochet project, the romanticism quickly wears off when I have to make a run to the grocery store and actually brave the elements. 

    Especially after the hustle and bustle of the holidays fades, it can be easy to feel like we’re staring down a long, dreary winter ahead. I think that’s true for a lot of people this time of year. Whether the long, dark winter is literal or metaphorical, we can find ourselves longing for both daylight and God’s light. 

    I had a realization, on the winter solstice which ironically is the shortest day of the year. We only had about eight hours of daylight, and as I inwardly lamented the lack of rays, I also realized that from that moment on, each day would be progressively brighter. I was flooded with hope and relief at this temporal “landmark” that signaled a shift not just in our daylight hours, but in my heart posture as well.

    I had just read John 8:12 that day, and was reminded that whatever the source of the darkness, we have unlimited access to the ultimate source of Light.

    As we abide in Christ and walk with Him in our daily lives, He renews our minds, restores our joy and refreshes our hope. And because God himself is the light, there is no darkness that can overcome it. (John 1:5) His light never flickers, fades, or fails. Its brilliance is not dependent on our power, resourcefulness, or strength and there are no circumstances that can diminish its glow. To live in this light, we need only to follow Jesus. 

    Over and over, God has proven to me that time spent in the light of His presence and truth will sustain me in any season. When I spend time reading the Bible and see how God interacts with His people with love and tender mercy, I’m reminded that He shows me that same love and tenderness. When I bring my heart to Him in prayer, I am transformed to be more like Him. I begin to see my circumstances from His eternal perspective instead of my own limited view. When I get together with other Christians at church, or for coffee throughout the week, I’m encouraged and bolstered in my faith as we share how God is working in our lives. As I invite Jesus into what I am doing each day, I am reminded of God’s goodness and grace, and I experience His love more fully, regardless of the season or circumstance.

    With the New Year comes new opportunities to reframe our winter ahead. Maybe you are facing the darkness of the post-holiday “meh’s”,  or battling the literal rain and gloom outside your window. It could be that you are going through a season of hard transition, grief or disappointment. 

    Whatever the source of the darkness, it can never overcome or outlast the light of our God who is walking with you now. Jesus, the Light of the World, our Prince of Peace, sees you, knows you and loves you with a love like no other. 

    So as you stand on the edge of a new year, I want to encourage you to pick one or two things that you can do each day to spend time with God and realign your heart with His truth. It could be spending a few minutes reading your Bible and jotting down what stands out to you. Or talking to God and inviting Him to walk with you as you go through your day. It may be texting a friend to ask for prayer, and seeing how you can pray for them, or starting a new Bible study to help you know and experience God’s character on a deeper level. 

    Whatever the season, wherever you are in your faith journey, I pray that you would lift your eyes up to Him, wrap up in His love, and lean into the light and life He offers. May He bless you, sustain and encourage you, and help you flourish in your faith this year, and in the years to come.

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  • Purposeful Living

    The Gift of Rest & Refreshment

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    My oldest son is a long-distance runner for the high school track team. He had a great season his freshman year and was looking forward to achieving more personal records this year. However, it did not turn out to be the year of record-breaking he had hoped it would be. A month before the season started this spring, he developed a foot injury that derailed his pre-season training. Then, a few weeks into the season, he was hit with a nasty virus, which left my normally hyperactive teen, stuck in bed for over a week. Since then, he has struggled to get his energy back.

    The other day he was sharing his frustration and disappointment with the season and made a comment that really stuck out to me:

    “Mom, if I knew it would help, I would go run 10 miles a day on the weekends to make up for the time I lost being sick. But my coaches told me I would be worse off than I am now. They said I need to take a break to allow my muscles to heal from the damage I gave them from the workouts during the week. I am learning how to be okay resting on the weekends and just give the best I can during the week, even if it’s not where I want to be.”

    Hearing this from my son made me stop and think about how often I look at my to-do list and keep pushing through to do it all. Even when I can tell I am exhausted, I push through, causing my attitude to deteriorate and my productivity to wane. 

    Because let’s face it, we are all marathon runners in the race called life. We are called to run the race set before us and that race happens to be a distance race, full of ups and downs along the way. There is no quick sprint to the end. Like marathon runners, it is good for us to work and move forward in the jobs and responsibilities we have in our lives, but there also needs to be a rhythm of rest that helps prevent us from burnout and fatigue. Like my son and his desire to be the best track athlete he can be, it can be hard to find peace in the stillness of rest even when we know we need it.

    Exodus 31:17 tells us that the Lord worked for six days, but on the seventh day, He rested and was refreshed. I have known for a long time that the Lord had commanded a Sabbath rest. That the Lord, in his infinite wisdom knew that if He didn’t command us to take a break we probably wouldn’t. But I had never noticed that the outcome of His rest was that He was refreshed.

    How do we become refreshed from our rest? If all my son did was lay in bed all weekend, but neglected to drink water and eat quality food, his body wouldn’t be healed and refreshed for the coming week’s running. It takes more than just sitting. He also has to pay attention to what he is putting inside his body to help the healing process.

    So it is with our souls. We should be still and give our bodies a break, but we should also be filling our minds and souls with food (fuel) that rejuvenates and heals. 

    The word refresh gives us a clue into what our Sabbath rest should look like. The Hebrew word for “refresh” has its roots in the verb “to breathe” or “to be breathed upon.” In fact, it is very similar to the word breathed found in Genesis 2:7, where God breathed his breath into Adam and he became a living being. 

    When I picture God kneeling over Adam and breathing on him, I am reminded of the times I have stood out in God’s creation, feeling a gentle breeze come along. I would close my eyes and breathe deeply, and feel my lungs eagerly receiving the fresh air, my heart slowing down and my body relaxing in peace. I could feel life being restored to my weary bones. Just as God breathed his life into Adam, God can still breathe his refreshing life into us when we are still long enough to receive it.

    The Sabbath rest that God is calling us to, is to rest in His arms and receive his breath of life and healing. Sabbath rest is a time to catch the life-giving breath of God that is meant to restore and refresh us. It is a time to remember that God is the one who sustains us, strengthens us, and loves us. It is a time for us to truly be still and remind ourselves that He is God and we are not.

    But this calling is so hard. There is work to do, families to care for, houses to clean and ministry to be done. Which leaves us wondering how it will all get done if we take a break. As the to-do list looms, will we have the faith and trust in God to say, “I will be still and know you are God”?  

    When we sit at the feet of God in Sabbath rest, we are trusting Him to work in the daily tasks rather than relying on ourselves to get it all done. We are relinquishing the burden of having to do it all, and instead allowing God to carry it during our time of rest. In return for giving Him control, He gives us his life-giving, restorative breath.

    In Luke 5:16, between performing incredible miracles, we read that “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” Jesus had an intentional rhythm of stepping back from the constant needs of the crowds and connecting with His Father. In doing this, He gave us a beautiful example of dependence on God and the importance of spending time resting in Him. Even though there were always more people to heal, and more people to minister to, Jesus shows us the importance of allowing his work to be fueled by God. His ministry did not fall apart when He withdrew to pray, nor did the people he was caring for. Instead, Jesus was refreshed and filled in the presence of God, and able to effectively carry out His mission.

    Sabbath rest can look different depending on the person or the day. Sometimes it is sitting in silence and breathing deeply. It can be journaling, or spending time singing worship songs. It can be spending extended time meditating on God’s word. It can be allowing ourselves to be still in the presence of God and receive his breath of life and refreshment. The key is to be intentional about cultivating a consistent rhythm of rest. 

    It would be silly to always wait for our cars to completely run out of fuel and stall on the side of the road before we think about refilling the tank. Without literal “low-fuel” lights to alert us when we are growing weary, it’s all the more important to step back and spend time resting with God. Having a regular rhythm of Sabbath rest (even when we are not busy or stressed) helps prevent burnout before it happens. When we work from a place of rest with our Heavenly Father, we are better equipped to run the race set before us.

    I’m thankful that my son listened to the advice of his coaches and learned the value of rest. He learned the value of hydration, quality food, and sleep. In his rest, I watched him pray. I watched him read his Bible. And this past Wednesday, despite illness and injuries, I watched him break his personal record by almost twenty seconds. His faithfulness and intentionality to rest reminded me that I need to value the rest that God has called me to. I know that a regular time set aside for rest will help me run the race better than if I had just pushed through on my own. 

    So my friends, if you are feeling weary and heavy-laden today, if you are limping along in the marathon of life, take some time this week for true Sabbath rest. As you rest, grab your calendar, prayerfully evaluate your schedule, and ask yourself, “When can I refresh and fill my mind and soul with God’s life-giving breath?” Then, pen in times for Sabbath rest with your Heavenly Father. Even if it’s just 15 minutes at first, you can start small and work your way up! 

    The to-do list will still be there, and there will still be demands on your time and energy, but having those regular appointments with God for rest will give you the strength and endurance you need to run the race set before you. And because God never grows tired or weary, you can trust Him to be at work in the details while you rest. He is faithful, strong, and capable of doing more than we can ask or imagine. All you need to do is breathe deeply, be refreshed, and rest in Him! 

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  • Finding Significance, Purposeful Living

    Finding True Friendships

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    God has a great way of providing “teachable moments” in our lives. Recently, our family seems to have spent many of these moments on friendships. Each of our children’s approaches and perspectives leads them to work through the intricacies of friendships in totally different ways. They are at different stages of identifying the characteristics of a true friend, an acquaintance, and sometimes a friend who is not really a friend at all.

    As we navigate through these hurdles in life with our kids, it has caused me to reflect on the friendships I have had throughout my lifetime. Growing up, my dad worked for I.B.M., which, to families within the company, stands for “I’ve Been Moved.” So, having moved quite often as a child, I attended 3 different high schools in 3 different states. As a kid walking into new schools frequently, I became really good at making friends quickly but never truly developed the tools to continue these relationships long-term. God gave me a natural curiosity about people and things happening around me, so that helped me ask lots of questions and eventually build relationships. From the outside looking in, everyone assumed I was outgoing and an extrovert when I was really more of an introvert and a wallflower.

    Even as an adult, learning how to navigate friendships takes hard work and diligence. Listening and discerning is truly an art at any age. Add into that a culture that relates primarily through technology, and it can be difficult to make true connections with people. Being friendly is never a difficult task for me, but becoming a “friend” is a whole other level of commitment. I can count my closest friends on one hand, but I am confident that those friends are on my team.  So how do we find lifelong friends that always have our back? And how can we pass that skill on to the next generation?

    I decided to delve a little deeper into the art of friendships, how we define them, and how we navigate them in a Godly way. 

    Let’s start with the difference between friends and acquaintances. A friend according to Webster’s Dictionary is one attached to another by affection or esteem. 

    An acquaintance is someone with whom one has a small amount of knowledge or familiarity. Because we “friend” someone on social media does not define them as a friend, especially when we see how hostile some of our “friends” can be when they disagree with a social media post. In a classroom, classmates might seem to be “friends” because of the time we spend with them daily, but most are just acquaintances, and there is not a lot of affection being shared.

    God shares a great example of friendship in 1 Samuel 20-23. In these few chapters, tension grows between King Saul and David because Saul disobeys God and knows that David will replace him as King. At the same time, the friendship between David and Saul’s son, Jonathan, deepens. Jonathan knows he will never sit on the throne, but he seeks to protect and assist David from his father’s murderous plans. 

    Despite the conflict between David and Saul, Jonathan’s affection and love towards David is an amazing example of a true friend. Jonathan purposefully moves himself from being an acquaintance to a true friend. This transformation occurs over hundreds of miles and nearly a decade; ultimately, his efforts result in David’s success. Having a character like Jonathan’s, loyal, dependable, brave, loving, and most importantly, a Christ follower, can be difficult to find. Jonathan’s are rare in life, perhaps because the key to finding a Jonathan is becoming a David. 

    What does it mean though, to become a “David”?  His life was a rollercoaster of success and failure, and we see in the Bible that David was far from perfect. But David is called a man after God’s own heart because he had absolute faith in God. His heart was focused on God, and he deeply desired to follow His will and do what God wanted him to do. He never forgot to thank the Lord for everything that he had. He was truly a man after God’s own heart. In his friendship with Jonathan, David honored him, valued him, listened to his advice, and trusted him.

    Applying these words of wisdom to our lives and choosing to follow God’s will by loving Him wholeheartedly transforms us into being more like God. We grow into more compassionate, trustworthy, faithful, and kind friends. As we work to build healthy friendships, we must also be thankful for all things and all parts of our friends, and we hope they will react equally. 

    To develop that “circle of trust” or “true friendships,” we must do our part to seek out Jonathans in our own lives! Seek out those friendships that lift us all to the next level and help us grow into Davids. Seeking God’s will for our lives helps us to be that person who is lovable, compassionate, trustworthy, faithful, and kind…a “David”!

    As we seek to build true friendships, I wanted to share one of the “Checklists” we are going to use to help guide our family in finding the Jonathan’s in our lives:

    -Choose someone who knows you fully and accepts you completely, even on your worst days.

    -Choose someone with whom you can share your deepest hurts and who keeps your confidence.

    -Choose someone who will listen, comfort, and encourage you.

    -Choose someone who will hold you accountable and help you grow closer to God.

    -Choose someone who will defend you when you are not around and not participate in gossip.

    -Choose someone who cheers you on and celebrates your victories, even when they aren’t in the spotlight.

    – Continue to pray that God brings us friendships that draw us closer to Him.

    Friendships can be costly, demanding sacrifice and sensitivity, but that is what makes them so precious. Learning to develop healthy and loving friendships takes work, dedication, forgiveness, and love. 

    Your healthy friendships start with choosing to keep God’s word close to our hearts. Seeking out the Jonathans in your life who lift you and your family up, who edify you with godly advice, and who seek to follow God, as you also desire to follow God. 

    And if you are in a season of waiting for those deeper friendships, ask God to show someone who needs a Jonathan, and show you how you might love and support them as their friend. You may be surprised how quickly a true friendship can bloom where we least expect it.

    I hope we can all impact the world by being Davids and Jonathans for our own friends, exemplifying God’s framework through the story of David and Jonathan in our friendships. God has given us the tools to choose our friends wisely and to help us create our own “circle of trust” with “kindred spirit” friends, which will reflect the love of Jesus to the world around us.

    “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” —Colossians 3:12-14

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  • Finding Significance, Purposeful Living

    Extraordinary Living

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    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!

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  • Knowing God, Purposeful Living

    Helping Others Experience God

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    The Emergency Room doctor finally came into our room in the early morning hours to inform us that the children’s hospital a couple of hours away, had room for us. “Go home, pack your bags, and get a few hours of sleep.” They will be ready for you when you get there.”

    Over the past week, our son’s epilepsy had spiraled out of control. The Emergency Room doctor decided it was time to get specialized help for our son. We followed his instructions and headed home for a few hours. As I packed our bags, my heart sank. Our house looked like an EF5 tornado had torn through it. The dishes were piled high. The laundry was overflowing onto the floor. It had taken so much of my physical and emotional energy to try to get Jaron’s seizures under control, I had nothing left to give to maintaining the house. I didn’t want to leave it in such a state of disarray, but there was no time to deal with it. We caught a few hours of sleep, dropped our other son off at a friend’s house, and headed down the highway with the hope the children’s hospital would have answers and a solution to our son’s seizures.

    By the grace of God they did. After five days in the hospital, Jaron was given a diagnosis and a treatment plan. As we were headed back home I had a feeling of dread. How was the house going to smell? How many days was it going to take for me to recover the house from the chaos that reigned before we left? I got out of the car and headed for the door. As I turned the handle and pushed on the door, I braced myself for the stench I knew had been percolating in my home for the last week, but the smell of rotting food didn’t accost me. Instead, a freshly vacuumed and dusted living room greeted me. The dining room table and kitchen counters were no longer stacked with dirty dishes and covered with crumbs. Instead, a spotless, decluttered kitchen glistened back at me. I wandered into the bedrooms. All the laundry had been washed and folded neatly on the dressers. Someone even had the kindness of heart to scrub the toilet clean.

    As I stared in gratitude at the gift given to me, I began to cry. It was one of those cries that comes from feeling unworthy and so very loved all at the same time. A cry of joy and relief. It was a cry that comes from knowing you have been in the presence of God and received a blessing. In that moment I knew that God was with me–not because I saw His shining face, or heard His voice speak to me, but because I saw Him living and active in His church through those who showed up in our time of need.

    We often think of Immanuel “God with Us” as an experience that only happened to those blessed people who were able to walk alongside Jesus two thousand years ago. But when Jesus’ resurrected body left to prepare a place for us, His presence didn’t leave the earth. It returned as the Holy Spirit working through His church. As 1 Corinthians 12:27 says, “We are the body of Christ.” And Jesus’s body loves, serves, sacrifices, comforts, and heals. When we use the gifts of the Holy Spirit given to us, we continue Jesus’s work on earth. We show the world that God is still with us.

    Think about it for a moment. When you choose to use your gift of listening to encourage the lonely stranger at the store, you are loving like Jesus to that person. When you use the gift of cooking to provide for a new mother, you are serving like Jesus. When you sit with someone going through a season of mourning, you are comforting like Jesus. Whenever you choose to care for someone, that person gets the chance to experience God through the Holy Spirit working through you just like when the members of my church used their gifts to reclaim my house from chaos. They performed a miracle in my life. They showed that God knew exactly what I needed and used His people to provide it.

    What an indescribable privilege it is, that the God of the universe would choose to use us to love His creation. Looking around at our broken world, it isn’t hard to see that it is in desperate need of the presence of God flowing through His people. The world needs us to be God’s hands to hug, comfort, and serve–to be His voice bringing good news of love and hope. The strengths and gifts we have could be used to bring light and encouragement to those who are experiencing darkness and sorrow, if we are boldly willing to use them.

    As we close one year and look ahead to another, I pray that we will have eyes to see the needs of those around us and the courage to follow the Spirit’s guidance, so others too may have the opportunity to experience, Immanuel “God With Us.”

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  • Heart Stuff, Purposeful Living

    Doing Small Things With Great Love

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    Jesus loves you this I know, for the Bible tells me so…

    It was the only song that would calm my youngest foster son down at bedtime when he first came to our family. Going back and forth between homes left him with little consistency, and we were going through a season where he would not go to bed without a fuss. So, I began a routine of rocking him and singing to him, just like I had done with my older children since birth. We would go through the same routine each night, asking him if he would like me to sing to him, and then singing the same four songs. He would look at me intently through the first 3 songs, sniffling and just on the verge of crying. But when I reached the last song, “Jesus Loves You”, his little face would transform into a smile, and by the end of the song, he would say contentedly, “Ready bed now.”

    I had tried all sorts of other things to console him, but he found his true comfort in hearing that someone bigger than all of us loved him. It wasn’t all the stuffies and cozy blankets, a bottle, or rubbing his back, it was hearing that he was loved. A song I have sung thousands of times over the years, sometimes purely as a routine, rang as grandeur in his ears. For the next several nights the same thing would transpire. He would listen, just on the verge of tears, until he heard “Jesus Loves You” and then a peaceful smile would spread across his sweet face and he’d say, “Ready bed now”. 

    I realized that this song, though it seemed small to me, was a BIG thing for him. It made me pause, thanking God for opening my eyes to what my son truly needed to hear, and how this little thing, transformed not only bedtime but ultimately our lives.

    The things we are called to do each day don’t always have to be the grand things; it’s using whatever you have for the sake of the Kingdom, whether big, small, or in between. It’s giving with a joyful heart and having the assurance that what you have to give, at that moment, is enough!

    In today’s world, we have so many hats we must wear and honestly, there are times when I am overwhelmed by the feeling of  “not being enough” for everyone and everything that needs my attention. I want to give 110%, but it can be a struggle to meet my own high expectations. Sometimes it’s exhausting and leaves me feeling drained, alone, and empty, because with every hat I wear, I want to give my all. But it’s in those moments when my little one is crying, seeking comfort, that I see how even a small thing to me can be a BIG thing to someone else. The best part is, that small thing is enough!

    Ultimately, “BIG things” for God are the kingdom purposes we help to promote, not the size or the impressiveness of the jobs we are doing. And it’s not even the number of hats we choose to wear. It’s when we can do the small things with great love, that we are truly following God’s will for our lives!

    Over and over in the Bible, we see examples of the smallest things reflecting Jesus and his Kingdom priorities. In the Parable of the Mustard Seed in Matthew 13:31-31, Jesus makes the point that the beginning of great things can be tiny. Even though they might seem insignificant, their impact can’t be measured by their almost invisible origins.  

    In the parable of the Widow’s Offering in Mark 12:41-44 NIV, Jesus was not impressed with those who made a big show of giving “large sums” into the offering. Instead, he praised the widow who gave “two small copper coins, which make only a few cents”, because it was all she had to give. Our Lord focused not on the amount, but on the sacrifice involved and the heart behind it. 

    In Jesus’ parable of the talents, the master didn’t focus on the amounts given to each servant, but on the faithfulness each displayed in using his resources. (Matt 25:21-23 NIV)

    We see God’s Kingdom purposes in these stories and those little things, those matters of the heart, are ultimately the big things to God. What’s even better is that God is inviting you to join Him in the work he is already doing!

    I want to encourage you to not take stock of your value, or the impact you make in this world by measuring what you do, rather measure HOW you do it. Is your heart giving to others? Are you doing everything with great love? Are you planting the seeds to grow God’s Kingdom no matter what hat you are wearing? Remember, on your best day you are a child of God, and on your worst day you are a child of God too! The secret to having it all is knowing you already do in Christ!

    Missionary statesman, Hudson Taylor, said, “A little thing is a little thing, but faithfulness in little things is a great thing.” My prayer for you this week is that you will find joy in the daily tasks ahead of you and that God will reveal to you how those tasks are blessing others and ultimately blessing you!

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  • In The Word, Purposeful Living

    Cultivating the Fruits of the Spirit

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    I love spring and summer in the Pacific Northwest! There is so much to enjoy this time of year, but one of the things I enjoy the most is the bounty of berries and fruits that we get to enjoy. My kids enjoy snacking on blackberries, raspberries, blueberries and watermelon! We wait all year long to be able to enjoy the harvest of these fruits. I’d like to say that I have something to do with the production of these amazing fruits but to be honest, we just get to enjoy them.

    In Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT) we see that the Holy Spirit also produces fruit in our lives, it says “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”

    As Christians, we have the amazing privilege of having God’s spirit living within us. But more often than I care to admit, I sometimes forget that. I’ll read a passage like this one in Galatians and see it as a personal to-do list that is somehow up to me to achieve. It’s easy to fall into thinking that in order to be a good Christian, we have to make sure we’re loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind all the time, be good and faithful and gentle in all things and of course control ourselves above all else. That is definitely a high calling! The problem isn’t in striving for these things, it is in the perception that we have to produce these fruits in and of ourselves–that we somehow have to make ourselves be like this all the time, even if we have to fake it to make it.  Have you ever felt like this?

    Trying to produce these fruits of the Spirit of our own will, power, and strength will leave us feeling exhausted before we even get started. The important thing to notice in the verse is who is supposed to produce the fruit in our lives–it is the Holy Spirit! And what a relief it isn’t up to us. It’s not our job to produce the fruit. Our job is to allow the Holy Spirit to do His work within us. As we yield to the Spirit’s work within us, He produces the beautiful fruits of the Spirit. They are evidence of the Holy Spirit at work within us! The great thing about the fruit the Spirit produces is that it isn’t just for our enjoyment but to bless those around us as well.

    I don’t know about you, but I find some relief in the idea that it’s not all up to me. Because honestly, there are times when I really struggle with some of these, especially when it comes to patience and self-control! Anyone else? 😀

    In the same way fruit doesn’t make itself but is produced by a tree, neither can we be filled with joy and love and peace unless the Spirit produces it. So you may be asking, if it’s not our job to produce the fruit in our lives, how do we let the Spirit lead us and transform us into people who display these fruits of the Spirit in our lives?

    Our job is to be the soil, a place for the Spirit to dwell. Our job is to nurture and allow God’s spirit to do its work within us, making us into people who are full of love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. In order for this work to happen, we must remain in God, our source of life.

    John 15:4 says, “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”

    As we spend time with God, in His Word, in times of prayer and time spent with His people in worship, we create the rich soil that allows the Holy Spirit to transform us to look more like God. To display His love, His peace, His joy, His patience, His goodness, His faithfulness, His gentleness and His self-discipline in our lives and to the world around us.

    So next time you are reaching and striving for a little more peace, or to be filled with joy, or to feel a little more patient, lean into God a little bit more. He has a never-ending supply of these fruits of the Spirit and He withholds no good thing from us. Like all good fruit, it sometimes takes time to grow, but the more we remain in God the richer the harvest will be in our lives. It is always His joy to produce these fruits in our lives if only we ask and allow Him to work within our hearts. My prayer for you is that you will abound in all the wonderful blessings that God will produce in you as you trust in Him!

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  • Knowing God, Purposeful Living

    A Divine Invitation

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    I squinted and pulled the visor down as I sat in my car, waiting for the car ahead of me to turn onto the highway. My kids and I were on our way to church and I was lost in thought, drumming my fingers on the steering wheel and wondering if we had enough time to get some Starbucks on the way.

    Traffic was pretty heavy and I didn’t think much of it when a few minutes passed and the car ahead of me still hadn’t moved. But when the passenger door suddenly swung open, and an older woman stepped out onto the road, it snapped me out of my daze. 

    She looked around for a moment, turned west, and started walking on the shoulder of the highway toward town. The car she’d been riding in turned east, and left her to continue her journey on foot. 

    I was truly perplexed and turned to follow her for a moment. Her steps were shaky on the uneven gravel and I worried that she might fall, or worse, accidentally step into the steady stream of traffic whizzing by. 

    I’d never picked anyone up from the side of the road before, but as my car idled past, I was overwhelmed with a feeling that I needed to pull over. It felt like a voice inside me was shouting “Stop the car, NOW!” 

    I immediately pulled over and told my kids to stay in the car while I checked on her. As I got closer to her, she was not at all what I expected. She was dressed in her Sunday best and her soft, silvery hair was swept gently back with a barrette. 

    I asked her if she was ok, and her bright eyes met mine and she replied, “Yes, I’m on my way to see my daughter.” She said her name was Hazel* and explained that she had caught a ride up to that point and planned to walk the last few miles to her daughter’s house. 

    I paused briefly to pray and ask God to help me discern my next step. I took a deep breath and told Hazel that we were on our way to church, and offered to give her a ride to her daughter’s house. She smiled and said “Oh, I’d love to go to church! I’ll just go there with you!” 

    Hazel hopped in the front seat and down the road we went. As we drove, she was talkative and cheerful but was also struggling to remember what town she was in or where her daughter lived. By the time we arrived at church, it was clear that Hazel suffered from dementia and was lost. A friend from church called the police while I sat with Hazel and within minutes they were able to contact her daughter Susan who lived 30 miles away! 

    Susan arrived with tears in her eyes and hugged us all. Her family had been getting ready to go to church that morning too, when Hazel wandered off from the house, something she had never done before. They had called the police and been frantically looking for her, hoping and praying that she was ok. Susan laughed that not only was Hazel ok, she still had managed to go to church! 

    Our laughter was still hanging in the air when Susan’s countenance suddenly became serious and her voice earnest. She leaned in and quietly asked at what time exactly did I pick up Hazel from the highway. I told her I remembered it was at 9:30 am because that was the moment I had been overwhelmed by the feeling that I needed to stop the car right then. 

    Fresh tears filled Susan’s eyes as she said, “It was at exactly 9:30 this morning that our family knelt together in the living room and prayed that God would find Mom and keep her safe.” 

    I was utterly speechless. I could scarcely wrap my head around what God had done. Not only had He heard their prayer and placed me in the right place at the right time, but God had also invited me to participate in His miraculous work.

    In John 5:17, Jesus says, “My Father is always working, and so am I.” That means that in every moment, God’s love, power, and presence are working all around us. We just have to have to recognize where He is working and have hearts willing to join Him.

    It all begins with our relationship with God. On the Experience Revival Podcast, we have been talking a lot lately about being aware of God’s presence throughout our day and actively directing our thoughts toward Him. We become intentional about inviting God into what we are doing by having an ongoing conversation with Him. Dallas Willard calls it ‘living prayer”, where we talk with God throughout the day about what we are doing together. 

    As we spend time in God’s Word, in prayer, and in community with other believers, we get to know God’s character and better recognize His voice. We are transformed to be more and more like Him and our focus shifts from what God is doing in our own lives, to becoming more aware that God might be inviting us into what He is doing. 

    It’s a shift in our thinking because sometimes we just can’t quite imagine that what we have to offer could be of significance in the Kingdom of God. But God is more interested in our willing hearts than our skill sets. We see time and time again in the Bible that God calls someone to join Him in the work He is doing, and then equips them for the task. He uses ordinary people in ordinary circumstances to do extraordinary things. 

    The word calling comes from the Greek kaleo which means “Divine invitation”. In the Bible, it’s used most to describe a divine invitation to partake of the blessings of redemption. In every moment, with every breath, we are given a divine invitation to join God in the redemptive work He is doing all around us.  

    Henry Blackaby wrote a book many years ago called Experiencing God, where he encourages people to “look for where God is working and join him there.” Practicing the presence of God will help us to see Him working around us, but it’s the Holy Spirit that will help us know how to respond. 

    It is through the Holy Spirit that we can discern what our role in a given situation is, as well as what it isn’t. While God is always working, He doesn’t call us to do everything, everywhere, all the time. Our job is to lean into Him, and prayerfully surrender to His will. 

    And it’s not always the big, obvious things that God is calling us to. A lot of times the Lord is working in the details. The big stuff is often hiding in the little stuff. But in God’s hands, the little things can have a divine purpose and a huge kingdom impact. In fact, there’s a good chance that you have already been joining God in His work and maybe didn’t realize it. 

    Like that time you saw your neighbor and sensed that they could use some encouragement, so you stopped to visit for a moment. 

    Or that woman in the grocery store who was a few dollars short, and you felt the Holy Spirit nudge you, so you added it to your bill.

    Maybe it was a kiddo on your son’s soccer team whose family was going through a hard time, so you invited him over to have dinner and watch a funny movie, just to take his mind off things for a bit.

    Maybe it was that time you simply obeyed the Holy Spirit’s prompting to pull the car over to check on someone. 

    They may seem like small things at first, but in God’s hands, they can have a Kingdom-sized impact on their life, and yours. It also changes how we see the details of our lives. Suddenly, what once seemed trivial or mundane now has a bigger purpose. 

    As you go about your week, I want to encourage you to practice being aware of God’s love, power, and presence throughout your day. Talk with Him about what you are doing together. Then look for where He is working, and join Him. The Holy Spirit will often take you outside of what makes sense or beyond your comfort zone, but God has already gone ahead of you. He is always working and He can’t wait for you to be a part of what He’s doing.

    *Names in the story have been changed to protect privacy.

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