Facing the Unknown

When I walked up to my front door by myself  and found it standing open, it stopped me in my tracks. It took me a minute to process. Wait. This is different. Go in? Don't go in?

I yelled an inquisitive "Hellooooo??" into my dark house except for a random light on in my room. Wait- why was my light on? Everyone should be gone. No cars are in the driveway. 

When you're standing in the face of the unknown- it can be terrifying and paralyzing. 

But you can't keep standing where you are. 

I was on the phone with my best friend and like friends on scary movies NEVER do, she reminded me to NOT go into the dark house alone. I walked over to my neighbors and they either didn't hear my knock, or couldn't respond to it. So, I stood there in between my yard and theirs wondering how to go into this unknown- this place that was mine but I was stuck not being able to claim and settle into because of all of the what ifs. What if someone was hiding and waiting. What if we had been robbed. What if I was about to be robbed. What if...what if...

Thankfully, my BFFs hubby came to my rescue- armed for battle. I could hear my heartbeat in my ears as we cautiously walked in and checked all the rooms and closets, afraid of what we would find. 

Nothing. 

The what ifs of the unknown didn't turn into the what are's. 

And isn't that often the way? 

Now don't hear me saying we need to run recklessly into the dark, scary places of life.

But-

We also can't stand frozen in the front yard or locked in the car in the driveway of the place God has told us to call home: where and who we are called and created to be. 

God doesn't expect you to blaze into the unknown on your own. He wants you to wait on Him, walk in alongside Him- because He is the One that arms you for any battles you may encounter along the way. 

As we walk with the Holy Spirit, we begin to see that so many of our what ifs about the unknown are not the what are's. 

We can step out of the paralyzing terror, flip the lights on in that dark unknown place, and find out it's home. 

 And instead of grabbing the hand of a fellow panicker, find a friend- a voice of truth and wisdom- who skips the drama, and simply reminds you to not rush in alone, but press in to Jesus, the One who goes before you and with you into that unknown place. 

Whatever unknown you are facing, realize that to God, it is fully known. 

Trust the One who sees what is and you won't be paralyzed any longer by the what ifs.

#SimpleTruth 

How to Walk When Waters Rise

"Every word of God proves true. He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him." Proverbs 30:5 

Genesis 8 is a great reminder that like Noah in the flood, the Truth of God's word and our obedience to it are our lifeline.

 In every storm and in every season, we have to: 

turn toward His truth, 

trust He is for us, and 

trudge forward. 

It may be scary, it may be exhausting, it may cause us to be brave when we don't want to be, and the choices we make may cause people to think we are crazy, but obedience isn't about pleasing others- it's about trusting God's plan.

 

Moving with Him step by step- or maybe as Noah would say, hammer by hammer. Galatians 5:25 says,

 "Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit." 

Today, I am trying to get in sync. 

To trust His gait. 

To believe that even at a sweaty sprint or soothing stroll, He has a plan for my good. 

Noah shut the door on the right side of obedience- world outside, and him with God. And that is where I want to be found when the floodwaters rise. 

Even if I have the blisters and the callouses from keeping His way and trusting His word...I know my hope is with Him. 

So if you see me walking funny, or out of breath, or frozen in my tracks, or turning an uncommon direction, or bumbling through an unusual stride...I'm just doing all I can to keep in step with God. 

He alone knows the way to my ark...and that is peace for my every storm. 

#SimpleTruth #first5 @first5app @proverbs31ministries 

Will Love Provide?

My mama loves to feed people.

If you are around her and you're hungry- then she feels she has failed. 

I had a friend tell me once that she "thinks in food" when it comes to planning an event. This would be my mom. We often say my mom could take a can of beans and a loaf of bread and turn it into a four course meal. 

We are only half kidding. 

She always has food prepared or shortly available- long before we are ever even hungry, she has already thought of what she will serve us in love. She expresses her deep love for us through providing. She longs to meet our needs- and we all have to eat.

In John 21(after Jesus's resurrection), the disciples are back to the business of fishing- and having no luck- when Jesus unexpectedly appears to them on the shore. After He calls out to them, they miraculously catch a huge net full. And then, they head to shore-to Jesus. 

But for me, this verse stands out:

"When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread." 

These men had not known what their night would bring- that they would catch nothing until Jesus intervened; that they would be coming to a random place on the shore to connect with their risen Lord.

But Jesus knew. 

Jesus knew their hunger before they knew it. 

Those coals, the fish, the bread- Jesus had been preparing for them what they didn't even know they would need in a place they didn't even know they would be. 

He was already there, provision waiting- nourishment for hungry souls.

Jesus was showing them His deep love for them. Reminding them as He met their need that fullness only comes from Him. 

I think about the quiet moments on the shore as Jesus prepared the meal long before the disciples were even in sight- as He thought about them, cooked for them, prepared the provision before they ever arrived- and the love that was in every step. 

Just let that movie play in your mind a moment. 

It was His joy to meet their need...and it is His joy to meet yours as well. 

Trust. Love will provide. Maybe not the way or time you expect, but He will always provide. 

That sea you are sailing? The one that has left you tired, boat and belly empty?

He has a place of provision already prepared. He's simply waiting for you. He's waiting for you to hear His call from the shore to meet Him- even if it's not the way or the when you expected. He knew your hunger even before you did, and the food is ready and waiting. 

The smell of provision is already in the air. 

Jesus longs to express His deep love for you.

Will you stop the work of casting your net long enough to come ashore and let Him love you and provide for you? Those overflowing nets of fish you're catching- that busy, full life? They are from Him anyway. 

The very thing you need, He has already provided...even before you know you need it. 

Trust Him, get near to Him, so you don't miss the meal He has prepared for you! 

So...my mama may be feeding us a meal, but it's the provision of love we devour. And fueled for the next steps, we go on, knowing the next meal is already cooking in her heart...just like my Jesus. 

Never doubt: Love provides.  

#SimpleTruth 

Spit and Mud to Heal My Mess

Spit and mud: Jesus uses it in John 9. Seriously. 

And for what? A miracle. 

Jesus sees the blindness-this mans point of need- and meets him there with spit and mud. 

Sometimes I get mad about an area of "blindness" in my life- places in need of His miraculous. I get bitter in my blindness. I don't understand why I have to live life saddled with physical frustrations and impairments...storms camped out over me spiritually, emotionally, situationally, relationally. 

But then when JESUS approaches my need with spit and mud...I lament over messy methods and delay or even miss my miracle. 

When asked about this man's blindness Jesus simply says this: "...but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life."(John 9:3) 

What if I took this approach, had this mentality toward every occurrence and every area of my life?

What if I lived with that level of pure, simple confidence that Jesus WILL display His glory through the miraculous in my life...even if His intervention is unconventional by my standards? (see spit, mud and a face washing!) 

Will I embrace spit and mud from the Master in order to see my miracle? 

I'm blind in so many ways. But I know God has a plan for His glory in it all if I will just surrender to His process. 

I don't love the method every time...but I love and trust the Master. 

And that is enough for me. 

I'm praying you embrace the spit and mud, too. 

~Julie 

#simpletruth #first5 @first5 @proverbs31

When Reality is Rough

*** I am currently walking through the book of John with Proverbs31 ministries using the First 5 App. 

This post is part of what the Holy Spirit is teaching me and revealing to me personally as I dig into this part of His Word. 

Jump into this study with me by going to www.first5.org or downloading the app for your device.***

John 6: Jesus feeds the five thousand; Jesus walks on water. 

This chapter is full of miracles but it's also full of moments that can sometimes get glossed over because of their magnitude. I can't help but think about the people IN those moments, witnessing those miracles. These were real problems, real hunger, real storms, real fear, real questions, real uncertainty. Those stories we read and summarize and throw into sentences were their realities. 

And when you are in the middle of your reality, believing for a miracle isn't as easy as reading ahead a few verses- because when it's YOUR reality, you can't read past the verse you're in; you can only believe that Jesus has already perfectly written it. 

So today it's taking everything I have to put my pen down and let Jesus write the miraculous in the current reality of my life verses. Instead of pining over all the drafts cluttering my mind and my soul, I am using every ounce of who I am to draw close to the Author and Perfector of my faith. 

I can be like Philip who could not see the way so decided it was impossible, or be like Andrew who even though he didn't see how, chose to go to Jesus and surrender what they had. 

What I have today doesn't feel like a lot, or look like a lot, but Jesus is my abundance. He is the Multiplier. He is the Miracle Worker. He is the Way Maker. He is the Storm Calmer. 

I'm inviting Jesus into my reality. He's already written the miracle- I just have to surrender the pen and believe the Author. 

That's my prayer for you, too.

~Julie 

Facing My Ugly

Life sometimes feels like a blender.

You take all these good, recognizable, individual ingredients, cram them into this container and hit the switch.

What you end up with is usually looks pretty disgusting. 

The kind of thing that evokes the question, “You’re gonna drink that?!?”. 

Yeah, life can be like that sometimes.

My life feels like that now.

My response? 

White knuckle grip something! Nail it all down! Whatever it takes to keep it all in place- yeah, do that!

I realize I need to let go.

Let go of the things I long to control, but cannot. 

But realizing I need to let go leads me to an even more uncomfortable place:

staring in the face of why I want to hold on. 

And it’s ugly.

Kind of like if you were to google spider bite images or boils or goiters or something. 

That kind of ugly.

The ugly you wish you’d never seen.

The ugly you wish you could scrub out of your mind’s eye.

But I’ve seen it now…this ugly that’s in my soul.

And so I must face it.

But unlike those horrific images that haunt behind closed eyes, looking full on at the ugly in our own soul doesn’t have to leave us scarred and scared.

When we see the worst part of ourselves magnified under the lens of the Holy Spirit, it is to bring us forgiveness and freedom.

Forgiveness for attitudes, choices, thoughts, actions, that not only hurt the heart of God, but the hearts of His created.

Freedom to leave those destructive patterns in the past and walk forward in grace.

Clarity is a fickle thing. Sometimes you long for it, beg for it, plead for it…wait for it.

And then it comes.

But the problem with clarity is that you can’t unsee what clarity reveals.

Once you see it, you have to respond.

There is no such thing as a lack of response. 

You are faced with the choice:

obedience or disobedience- cooperate with the Holy Spirit or cooperate with the enemy.

Neither is easy.

But only one gives life.

The one thing we can control is our choice of whom we will trust when life spins out of control. 

And it will.

It’s time to let go and trust that God is who He says He is- not just in everyone else’s life- but in yours, and in mine.

See. Know. Trust. Receive. Live.

God can’t bless who you pretend to be.

It’s time to face our ugly…and replace it with life giving grace.

So blend away, life.

Jesus is showing me how to enjoy the ride…even in the face of my ugly.

"And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart."

Ezekiel 36:26

"So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper. Say a quiet yes to God and he’ll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it’s the only way you’ll get on your feet."

James 4:7-10

Post or Tweet this:

"God can’t bless who you pretend to be.

It’s time to face our ugly, and replace it with life giving grace.”-@JuliePMac #SimpleTruth 

What are you holding on to?

What in life has you in the blender, dizzy from it all?

I would love to pray for you!

Comment below.

Time for New Perspectacles

Some days I just want to close my eyes.

Just close my eyes and escape back to the comfort of my bed, covers pulled overhead.

The view of my life seems safer there.

I can shout at circumstances to go away, without ever looking them in the eye.

I can even pretend they aren’t there.

But that doesn’t mean they go away…or that they get smaller or untangled.

Worst of all, it usually makes them bigger than ever in my mind.

My perspective has been whittled down to the sliver of light piercing into the spot of darkness I have chosen to lie down in.

Comfortably miserable in the familiar.

Maybe you have been there.

Maybe you are there.

Maybe you, like me, know what it’s like to live life from behind the covers in your life.

Maybe you, too, have had all the feelings about all the things.

Maybe you feel like you are losing the ability to truly see.

We are in need of new perspectacles.

God given perspectacles that open my eyes to the purpose, the plan, the power for the moments I am blindly stumbling through.

The funny thing about any glasses that correct my vision, is that they don’t just jump on my face. 

I have to pick them up, and put them on- day in and day out.

That’s why it isn’t enough to simply talk about a new perspective.

It feels elusive and slippery. 

It is something I cannot hold, so I rationalize it is something I cannot have.

You and I?

We have to look at what we are holding on to, feel it and acknowledge it in our hands and set it down. 

We have to take the time, make the effort to exchange our obstacles for perspectacles.

Obstacles of fear, worry, insecurity, pain, jealousy, bitterness- they all blind us to the truth.

This kind of skewed vision leads to a life dictated by circumstance rather than His Promises.

But God will replace your obstacles with perspectacles.

You have to put on your God given perspectacles, not just so can see the way, but so you can see the One.

These perspectacles don’t merely give you sight.
They focus the eyes of your heart on His hope, the way out of this dark you’re sitting in.

He doesn’t always remove those obstacles, but He constantly reminds you that HE remains.

That is the perspective that brings victory into the cover-over-my-head days.

No one can do the seeing for us.

We have to choose to open our eyes, allow our vision to be made new.

There is power in perspective.

Don’t waste another moment staring blindly at all that drains and paralyzes you.

Throw those covers back, friends!

Put on your God given perspectacles today.

“I ask-ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory- to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing Him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is He is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for His followers, oh the utter extravagance of His work in us who trust him- endless energy, boundless strength!”

Ephesians 1:18-19 The Message

The Dark Days

"I don't even know where to start. Except from this emptiness I feel trying to suck me into it like a black hole. I really am trying to get out. But it pulls so intensely on me. Jealously, fear, regret, failure, despair, loneliness, anger... they scream so loudly that I cannot hear...I just want to run and hide. But I can't. I am supposed to be the one who is always ok. I am supposed to be the one who just sucks it up and deals with it...I'll eventually be ok right? Sure. And so no one notices this gaping hole in my heart and spirit that is gushing blood so rapidly that I am pale and weak with emptiness."

This is an excerpt from my journal.

I share it because I bet that, even if you don't journal, somewhere in your life there is a piece of paper with similar words and similar heart hurts written all over it.

I share it because, I bet that you not only read those words, but you felt them with me.

I share it because, I bet you've never openly shared the intimate thoughts of your "dark days" either.

I share it because the "dark days" like to stay in the dark. They breed in the dark. They thrive in that murky hidden mess of my mind and yours. 

All those things we know and have learned seem to seep out of our grasp when dark days descend.

Our grip on the reality of who Jesus is and who we are in Christ all of the sudden feel slippery and unsure.

And so we are tempted to take up residence there. 

Worn and drained from the suffocating darkness, it feels safer and easier to stake our tent, hunker down until it all just passes us by.

But the other side doesn't come to you...you have to journey to it. 

Sunsets and sunrises are beautiful...but there is a reason nobody ever takes a picture of the dark. 

It is an ugly place to see.

But oh my...

it can be a lovely place to hear: to hear the voice of your Savior.

The dark amplifies what we cannot see. 

So we must choose to listen to the voice that not only is calling us to the light, but IS the light.

Tuning our ear to His voice is determination to travel toward the dawn.

When the darkness wants to envelope you, remember Jesus wants to embrace you.

When the darkness wants to blind you, remember Jesus wants to bind your wounds.

When the darkness wants to silence you, remember Jesus wants to sanctify you.

When the darkness wants to isolate you, remember Jesus wants to invigorate you.

When the darkness wants to berate you, remember Jesus wants to beautify you.

When the darkness wants to frighten you, remember Jesus wants to free you.

When the darkness wants to confuse you, remember Jesus wants to comfort you.

When the darkness wants to incite you to anger, remember Jesus invites you to peace.

When the darkness wants to taunt you, remember Jesus wants to teach you.

When the darkness want to stun you, remember Jesus wants to strengthen you.

When the darkness wants to paralyze you, remember Jesus wants to promote you. 

When the darkness wants to stay, remember Jesus came to SAVE! 

The simple truth is, 

there is always a dawn, even to the darkest nights.

But just as there is sunrise, sunset will come. 

And when, not if, the dark descends, we have two choices:

Let the darkness chain you

or

Let Jesus change you.

I don't know about you, but I am not going to sit down in it.

I am not going to make this my permanent address.

I am walking through.

And if I must walk through it, I don't want to walk out the other side the same as I walked in! 

So how do we move forward from this place? 

Do the next thing.

Breathe. 

Praise. 

Give thanks. 

Dive into the Word.

Actively exchange truth for the lies.

Repeat.

And one day, when you open your eyes, you'll blink wildly at that glimmer on the horizon, and you'll see a sun coming up in your soul.

You may not even recognize yourself...but you will have become so intimately familiar with Jesus, The Lover of Your Soul, that you actually are thankful for the dark days...not because you loved them, but because the most amazing thing happened there: you fell further in love with Him. 

Don't allow your dark days to chain you.

Allow Jesus to change you.

"Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way."

James 1:2-4, The Message

"Show me the right path, O lord; point out the road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you."

Psalms 25:4, 5 NLT

You Know a Person with an Eating Disorder

It may not be you, but it is more than likely a struggle of someone you know. Hear their voice...

I am your daughter. I am your sister. 

I am your son. I am your brother. 

I am your best friend, girl friend, boy friend, classmate. 

I am the skinny girl. 

I am the obese guy. 

I am the one who looks like they have it all together.

I am the cheerleader, the singer, the dancer, the band nerd, the jock, the class president, the valedictorian. 

I am the sorority girl, fraternity guy.

I am the Bible study leader, the barista, the roommate, the random date, the store clerk. 

I am the teacher, the gym buddy, the soccer mom, the new mom, the working and stay at home parent, the CEO.

I am a person with an eating disorder.

I am scared and deceived and desperate...and you may never know it. 

I am looking at my life spiral out of control, and I feel helpless.

I am crying out for help, but in this nightmare, no words form on my lips, no sounds escape from my mouth.

I am silenced by fear.

I am paralyzed by impending judgement.

I am suffocated by misunderstanding.

I am quietly marching to the rhythm of deception and secret and appearances.

I am dying every day because I am blind and deaf to truth and identity.

I am controlling the only thing I feel like I can control.

I am chasing perfection that can never be caught.

I am harder on myself than you could ever be.

I am exhausted and alone.

I am a person with an eating disorder. 

But helping me? 

Helping me is only a breath away. It begins when you break through the deafening silence, shatter the glass walls I've built. 

Do you see me?

Do you know me?

Please. Help. Me.

It's as easy as ABC...

Be AWARE of my actions and things I may be trying to hide.

Be BOLD to reach out to me if you suspect I am trapped in this vicious, self-destructing disorder. 

Be COMMITTED to holding me accountable. 

Be DETERMINED I seek professional help. 

Be ENCOURAGING every step of the way- even when you do not understand what I say, what I think, or what I do.

Be FAITHFUL to celebrate my small goals met. It will result in my major victories. 

Be GRACE. Because I never show any to myself. I need someone to show me what it looks like to stand up after a fall. 

Be HOPE. I am in the deepest dark and I need to be reminded that the light still exists. 

Be INSPIRING, directing conversations and focus to things that carry eternal, not earthly weight.

Be JOYFUL. I am good at feigning happiness...but joy escapes me.

Be KNOWLEDGABLE about the disease, it's signs and symptoms.

Be LOOKING for the masked symptoms I am working so hard to disguise. 

Be MINDFUL of your words in relation to body image and beauty. I catalogue them all.

Be NOISY when it comes to calling out the unhealthy and unrealistic portrayals of beauty all around.

Be OPEN to having hard conversations with me. 

Be PATIENT. Remind me-and you-that my disorder didn't develop in a day, and it will not be healed in one. 

Be QUIET and let me speak my fears, struggles, and temptations without judgement.

Be RESISTANT to the temptation to assume that I simply have an issue with food or portion control.

Be SAFE by keeping all diet products and paraphernalia out of my reach while I am on the road to recovery. 

Be TOUGH when I want to escape. Remind me that it's about what I am running toward instead of what I am running from. 

Be UNWILLING for me to accept our culture's ideals. 

Be VALIANT. Don't assume someone else will come to my rescue.

Be WICKED in my eyes: TRASH THE SCALE! 

Be eXPECTING me to deceive you, especially in the beginning.

Be YOU. Don't share your perfections with me. Tell me how you overcame YOUR struggles.

Be a ZOMBIE killer! Help me lay down the stench of death and 

pick up LIFE! 

I am a person with an eating disorder...

...and by reading this, and sharing this truth...

you may have just saved my life. 

*************************************

Having struggled with an eating disorder for over 4 years in my late teens and early 20s, and it's ever lingering after effects and struggles even today, it's time to demystify these disorders and recognize them for the serious issue they are. 

They are hidden and hideous.

They are deceptive and devastating to mental and physical health. 

They are everywhere. 

Culture glamorizes, laughs, and scoffs at these disorders.

But they are real.

And it isn't just the teenagers, the models, the stereotypical. 

I want to give a voice to all of the those you would look at and say, "I had no idea".

I want to empower the loved ones, the concerned ones, who don't know how to go any further than the phrase, "I had no idea."

Hear their voices. 

Educate.

Inform.

Be bold.

Take action.

Rescue.

Growing in Grace and Living Simple Truth,
~Julie

Find more information on this subject, check out National Eating Disorder Awareness 

New Places. Old Baggage. Big God.

Renewal.
Transformation.
Words I am clinging to- hoping in- as I run hard after the Lord today.
I am deep in battle in the deep places.
In my mind.
Regret looms over me.
Fear of being stuck terrifies me.
Failure taunts me.
And my Enemy knows all too well every play to keep me preoccupied with things...things that are... true, yes.
But my identity? No.
No.
Again...NO!

They may be places I have been, things I have done. Things I should have done. Things I shouldn't have done.
But none of that defines me.
None of that is bigger than the ocean of God's all sufficient, redeeming Grace.
None. of. it.

It is excess baggage that I have to leave behind.

So what am I doing?
I am saying over and over what my spirit knows is TRUE, but my head doesn't want to so easily believe.
I'm throwing out lies(what feels like every second) and clumsily clamoring after, digging for TRUTH with which to replace it.
Readjusting my feet on the Rock.
He hasn't moved. And He won't.
I've got to stop being enticed to jump off, jump over into dangerous places my easily-influenced-by-the-enemy-flesh-focused-mind wants to take me.

I have to choose to revisit only this:
While I was an enemy, Christ so wanted a now and eternal relationship with me that He took my life condemning burden as His own and dealt with that debt with finality and completion.

Because when I revisit that truth...that my God knows ALL the junk, all the filth of who I was and who I am and even who I will be...and loves me still...yes, when I revisit this, what else matters?

If the very worst I can imagine was true, is true or comes true?
It still doesn't change God's perfect love for me.
Still. doesn't. change. it.

So I take one step forward and then the next.
Not because of my ability, my inability, my successes, my failures, my position, their approval, my significance, my insignificance, my gains, my losses, the cheers, the jeers, the accolades, the accusations, the ideals, the imaginations...no.

I breathe deep His grace.
I lock onto His gaze.
And I move forward in the rhythm of His heartbeat...His love.

And somewhere along the way, I will find this mind renewed, transformed.
God glory seeping through these cracks and brokenness called my life.

Feelings cannot drive a life, only threaten to wreck it.
Faith is what takes me forward, delivers me to the anointed places my feet long to walk.
Eyes, mind, heart, emotions, life...on Him.
He has won this war already.
And I choose to Be Still and Know it.

I hope you will, too.

~Julie

It's Official: I Don't Deserve Christmas.

When words you don't expect pour into the mundane moments, you listen. Listen hard. And write fast. 

As "What Child is This?" flooded my ears, the Holy Spirit flooded my heart. 

Fresh Words. 

Fresh perspective. 

Refreshed Spirit.

Maybe it was for you as much as it was for me…wherever you are.

"Wherever You Are"

Come peasant King…and all in-between to own Him.

Enthrone Him with your praise.

All that we are, all that we have, not merely voices, but LIVES we raise!

There is nothing that you have to do to earn this love, this grace.

Simply turn and look. There waiting, you'll see His face.

Breaking into your darkness, there is no need for shame.

Love He pours out over you, Mercy is His name.

He took on our broken form in the most vulnerable way.

The breath of this baby to be sacrificed, in Him all power to save.

Messiah in this tiny form, held in His mother's arms.

And then, He takes on MY wretched sin, allows my humanness to bring Him harm.

He scraped His knees, bumped His head, heart hurt and broken by by life.

He was a baby, a boy, a man- yet still God- allowing all the strife.

So, I cannot see this baby and leave Him in this humble bed.

Because through pain He walked where I should have been and took on death in my stead.

I celebrate His coming, this child breathed of God.

But that night is only the beginning of the story, the path that Grace would trod.

The chubby hands of this baby were the hands pierced for my soul.

The heartbeat felt, skin on a Mother's chest, pumped the blood that was foretold.

Yes, the joy found in those new life moments, made life accessible to me,

Because this baby, 

My Jesus

My Savior

He died to set me free!

The Right Noise

New video devotional post! 

It's all about learning to listen to "The Right Noise" amidst life's distractions.

Praying the Holy Spirit uses it in your life to bring hope and direction for your days. 

What noise do YOU need to listen THROUGH instead of listen TO today? 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=z7VcrebXuUQ

Alaska Adventures: The Promise

"Promise me that you will come back."
These were the words of my 9 year old little girl as I kissed her goodbye before we left on our mission trip to Alaska.
Traveling is not something new for our family. Summer often brings weeks of ministry where we are together, but also those where we are apart.
But this was the first time she expressed such a sentiment...an understanding of the uncertainties that lurk amidst the ways of this world.
But she needed me to say it, needed to hear from my lips that I would indeed do everything in my power come back to her.
And so I looked into those big brown eyes and reminded her of my love for her and that it was my full intention to come back.
She soaked up that reassurance and smiled the biggest of smiles, her mind now skipping on to the other frolics of a 9 year old, content.

And isn't this the way we are with Father God?
We come to a season in life where we are so painfully aware of its uncertainties, it's pains and pangs, and we say aloud with our spirits and lives,
"Daddy, promise me you are coming back."
What we are really asking for: hope.
Hope and peace in knowing that where we are is NOT where we will stay.
Oh, that we would trust with the faith of a child
His promise of return in days to come,
His provision of power in our present,
His complete rescue from our past,
and
LIVE those truths out loud.

Soak up the Father's rock solid reassurance of His love for you, His plan for you, His purpose for you and walk forward in the joy and contentment that can only come from Him.

"Every word of God proves true.
He is shield to those who take refuge in Him."
Proverbs 30:5

"'For I know the plans I have for you', declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future.'"
Jeremiah 29:11