no regrets


It's easy to look back over your days and wonder what if. When life isn't quite as you imagined or hoped it would be at this season of your life. It's easy to wonder what if past decisions could of impacted whether you're in the "right place" or not. But when is life really ever just as you planned, dreamed, imagined it would be?  

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." 
Isaiah 55:8-9 

I've never had a life plan set on a time frame, but I did imagine my life in a different place than where I'm at now. I am thankful for where I'm at, and where the steps behind me have brought me. Just as Adam and Eve would never have experienced or needed the grace of God had they not sinned in the garden, life's uncertain and changing course causes me to cling to Him who is faithful and sure. 

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." Isaiah 43:18-19


God's sovereignty is something I can choose to rest in daily. He knows your past, present, future. He considers and weighs all circumstances and knows the "what if"s and chooses the best. 

On this side of heaven we will always have a longing for more because we are made for an eternity redeemed and glorified with our Maker and Savior.  

I don't want to look back and wonder if I missed what the Lord truly had for me; to live with no regrets of being a good steward with the life and days the Lord gave me. 

It's a desire in search of purpose and fulfillment, to be and do what you are made to do. And until you even know what that is, you will feel restless and out of place, dissatisfied with life.  The only place of fulfillment and purpose in life is knowing your Maker and walking this life through, with, in Him. To know Him and to be known. 

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters." Colossians 3:23
Whatever...whether you are a student, an employee, a parent, a pastor, a friend, unemployed, restless in your job, single, married, whatever season you are in, wherever you are, be a good steward of where the Lord has placed you, honor Him for He is your Lord!

In general I'm not a person of great vision. I'm an implementor. Give me an idea and vision and I love to make it happen. Christ is my vision of where I'm heading. The more I'm in step with Him and walking in and a part of the things He would have for me, the more vision and clarity He gives confirming I'm right where I'm supposed to be. I still have moments questioning should I be doing something else, somewhere else? And I continue to ask the Lord that and ask Him to guide me in that and trust Him to lead that according to His specific plan for my life. And in those uncertain moments, it causes me to cling even more to Him and I'm reminded of my need for His leading, not my own. He is my Shepherd. Sheep cannot shepherd themselves, but are in need of the Great Shepherd. 

That's the beauty and struggle of walking is the Lord's revealed and unrevealed will. He gives us and lays out His desires for us as His people, but does not always lay out exactly what that is going to look like for each person. 

These things I know to be true, just a few things of His revealed will in scripture: 
  • For all to be saved (1 Tim 2:3-4; 2 Peter 3:9)
  • Be filled and controlled by the Spirit (Eph 5:17-18)
  • Bear fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:22-23)
  • Act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with the Lord (Micah 6:8)
  • Participate in worship, teach each other, give thinks, and serve others (Ephesians 5:17-33)
  • Flee temptation (1 Cor 6:18)
  • Be sanctified and sexually pure (1 Thes 4:3-7)
  • Submit to authority and willing humble ourselves as servants (1 Peter 2:13-15)
  • Recognize God as our highest authority and obedient to Him above man (Acts 4:18-20)
  • Not be surprised by suffering (1 Peter 4:19; 3:17) because suffering refines and builds character and perseverance (Hebrews 10:36) and allowed to be used for His good purpose (Romans 8:28)
  • It is not by works you are saved (Eph 2:8-9) and faith evidences itself in good deeds (James 2:14-25)
If I walk in the known truths of His will for my life, and the many precious promises of scripture and of the gospel, the unrevealed and unknown mysterious will come to be. 

Resist the temptation, not of just looking back, but dwelling there because you won't see what's ahead. "Your past shapes you but does not define you." You need to know where you came from to know where you are going, but no matter what the road behind looked like, the road ahead awaits you, strive forward for what's ahead.



Surround yourself with people who give you perspective, spur you on, and point you to what's ahead.

He redeems our stories, our past. No time or life is lost or wasted. Return or remain in Him and your steps will make sense of your past. He is a God of second first times, who can make old things new, and can take the broken pieces of our world and put them back together.

Your mess redeemed because your message.

"Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage."  Psalm 84:5

A heart set on pilgrimage in this life, humbly submitted to the Lord is a life with no regrets.

Posted in: on Saturday, September 17, 2011 at 0 comments

sustainer


In the midst of the unknowns and uncertainties of our days, He sustains us. In those anxious days or weeks or seasons, He sustains.

I've been dwelling on that a lot lately; depending on that actually, to endure and persevere through the unknowns. Through the waiting seasons when the end looks like it's right in front of you, only to prove otherwise. I've been dwelling on these passages to do with the Lord sustaining us.

In the context of Nehemiah, the people had just gone through a time of revival from hearing the Word read by Ezra and with broken hearts, repented of their rebellious stubborn hearts and the priests offered a prayer of praise and reflection on their past that the Lord has redeemed them from and had used to draw them back to Him:

"Because of your great compassion you did not abandon them in the wilderness...You gave your good Spirit to instruct them...For forty years you sustained them in the wilderness; they lacked nothing, their clothes did not wear out nor did their feet become swollen." Nehemiah 9:19-21


Think on this. Forty years. Forty years He provided and sustained them. They never went without their needs being met. When they lost perspective of where they came from and what the Lord promised to bring them to, yes they lost perspective, trust, and hope, and complained to the Lord for their wandering years. I've lived a little over half that amount of time in the comfort of having a home, shelter, and food and never without. I don't want to complain as I sojourn my days in this life. Perspective is an inner working that externally manifest itself. That's another post for another day.

"Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is the sustainer of my soul." Psalm 54:4
"Sustain me, my God, according to your promise, and I will live; do not let my hopes be dashed." Psalm 119:116

Do you know His promises to cling to? His Word is filled with His promises. Get to know them by being in the Word.
"Let me live that I may praise you, and may your laws sustain me." Psalm 119:175

Notice the means that the psalmist is sustained. "Your laws", the Word of God. Just as food sustains you for the day, so I hunger and need the Word as my food to sustain me through the day.

"Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken." Psalm 55:22

The sustaining comes from casting your cares on Him, giving Him the cares of your heart and life. Handing them over to Him. We are not intended to carry the weight of worry on us but to hand it over to Him to carry that load and take on his burden that is easy and light (Matt 11:28-30).

"You make your saving help my shield, and your right hand sustains me; your help has made me great." Psalm 18:35

It is His doing, His help that makes us great. In His presence we have fullness of joy!

"Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you." Isaiah 46:4
To trust in and walk in Him now and for our days because He sustains us and renews our strength.

"The sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by mornings, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed." Isaiah 50:4

Those who refresh others are themselves refreshed (Proverbs 11:25). When you've experience and can walk in His ways, share that life and joy with others to help carry and sustain them (2 Cor 1:3-5). That's the beauty of the church and being in and surrounded by a community of believers who are in your life. Invest in others what has been invested in you.

"The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word." Hebrews 1:3

"I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me." Psalm 3:5

I've been trying to make this a habit when I go to sleep at night. Of all the places my mind wants to wonder and think about that could, and has, kept me up to late hours of the night, I try to make the act of giving all the concerns of my heart and mind to Him with an open hand and then to receive the gift of sleep He gives us. I mean all of us love sleep. Some nights we cannot wait to climb into that oasis we call bed and hit the pillow and let go of the weight and cares of the day to stop and rest for the night, hoping to be refreshed in the morning only to wake up many mornings thinking how you cannot wait to get back in.

Sleep is a gift and God designed our bodies with the need to stop, rest, and sleep. God demonstrated the pattern of work and rest and although He does not have a need for sleep, nor does He sleep, He desired to show us a pattern and attitude to follow by resting on that seventh day of creation. In our sleep, He sustains us. Stop and think about it. It's a vulnerable place to sleep. You check out of everything around you and trust that you can "shut down" and sleep for so many hours in the night. The Lord sustains us and gives us life in our sleep. You entrust your life to Him when you lie down to sleep and we awakes us anew in the morning.

The bookends to sleep I've been trying to keep: wake up expecting God, end your day remembering Him before you sleep. Expect to see Him in the ever day occurrences of the day. Expect Him to give you opportunities to show grace, love, to see Him if we are willing, watchful, and mindful of. Expect Him to empower you to make it through a day, the ease and the difficulties.

My sleep is a measure of my peace, rest, and trust in the Lord.

When you think you have nothing left, come to the end, or can't make it another step, He sustains. He is Lord over all our days.


For now listen to and soak in the words of this song called "You Are More" by Hillsong

"You are Lord over all my days. I will see this season through. I will fix my eyes on You. Only You."

Posted in: on Wednesday, August 3, 2011 at 0 comments

the beauty in brokenness


"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain. Pain is God's megaphone to rouse a deaf world." C.S. Lewis 

Whatever you consider your "pain" or suffering, know He wants to use that to draw you to Himself.

I think of the times of "pain" in my life; disappoints, frustrations, hurt, waiting, longing, uncertainity, fear, but mostly the pain from carrying the weight of sin and trying to "do" on my own, that I was never intended to do or carry.

There is such beauty in brokenness

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day." 2 Corinthians 4:16


I am so thankful for this and for every new day! A chance to start over, to begin your day anew, a reset button. The sun rise is a beatiful promise of Him who is faithful and of a new day, a fresh beginning. The confession and the forgiveness of our sins is just that!  Like the clearing after a storm, what sights and beauty to follow.

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, therefore I will hope in him. The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him." Lamentations 3:22-25

There tends to be these cycles or seasons in my life, maybe for you too. The times where you are flying high and mightily in the Lord, you walk in that He truly is your joy, strength, sustainer, sufficieny. Then comes a time of darkness that creeps in from a hard and heavy season, from discouragement in your life, a waiting time, feeling out of place or insecure and in those times our focus can become so narrow and so focused on "me" and what's immediately in front of me; rather than the perspective and hope of tomorrow and eternity. When were self focused, our selfishness gets a hold of us, our prayer life becomes about "me", our relationships become selfish, and we become takers, rather than givers.

As I grow in sight and view of how mighty and sovereign and true God is, a lesser view of self, and a greater view of sin, I find myself more and more grieved and weighed down by the areas of sin in my life that He exposes and works out in me. It physically and emotionally feels exhausting, and at the point of exhaustion from trying to carry it on my own and "fix" on my own, I'm left with nothing but to hand it over to Him, and there comes the freedom, the joy, when the weight of sin and burden of doing is lifted.


"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
 Matthew 11:28-30


"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9


Lay your deadly down
Down at Jesus' Feet
Stand in Him, in Him alone
Gloriously complete

No other person or thing offers freedom, peace, and satisfaction as in the person of Jesus and I am so thankful to bring these things before Him.

"For they (our earthly fathers) disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but He (our heavenly Father) disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." Hebrews 12:10-11




Discipline is vision of shaping for the future that has work today. To live is Christ, and to die is gain. To live is not self. These days on earth are shaping and preparing us. That preparation comes today, today's work.
"When I understand that everything happening to me is to make me more Christlike, it solves a great deal of anxiety." A.W. Tozer

Perspective is a game changer. Consider Psalm 73 . The Psalmist struggles as he sees those around him not following after the Lord "appearing" to have THE life. They get everything they want and enjoy everything at what seems to be at no consequence. 

"For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They have no struggles...They are free from common human burdens...From their callous hearts comes iniquity...'Does the Most High know anything?'...Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence...When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply. Until..." Oh am I thankful and in need of the until...


"until I entered the sanctuary of God, then I understood their final destiny." Psalm 73:3-17


"When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant; I was a  brute beast before you. Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. 
My flesh and my heart may fail but God is the strength of my heart and my portion
forever. Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful
to you. But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have the Sovereign Lord my refuge;
I will tell of your deeds." Psalm 73:21-28


Whom is your refuge, your sight? To whom or to what do you turn to?

As Hezekiah turned to the Lord in 2 Kings 19:14 and spread the pages of a threatening letter before the Lord not knowing what to do, that's what I invision my confessions, prayers, writings in a journal are; spreading the pages of my life before Him in the limited view I have before Him and ask Him to take it, do what He will with and give me His perspective.

"All of us have inflated views of ourselves, especially in self-righteousness, until we have visited a place called Calvary. It is there, at the foot of the cross, that we shrink to our true size." C.J. Mahaney



I need to visit the cross daily. I need the gospel and grace every day. Remember the Lord. Remember the cross. Remember the Lord. Begin your day expecting God; end your day rememberig Him.

I want to walk with His guidance and purpose to each step I take. And that takes a yielding of self and being humbly submitted to Him, seeking and listening for the Holy Spirit's leading.


"Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, "This is the way; walk in it.' " Isaiah 30:21


"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain. Pain is God's megaphone to rouse a deaf world." C.S. Lewis

Never would I have known the fulllness of Christ that I know today if it weren't for Him allowing and using the flames to refine me. He isn't done with me, refine me all my days.

Fire purifies what it cannot destroy and destroys what it cannot purify. 

"He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver." Malachi 3:3

"For you, God, tested us; you refined us like silver." Psalm 66:10

"But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold." Job 23:10


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Posted in: on Wednesday, July 27, 2011 at 0 comments

begin...end

Begin your day expecting God, end your day remembering Him

A great book that I read at the beginning of this year that still is resting in and doing a work in me.
"True Humility" by C.J. Mahaney

Here is a practical list like summary of the book and I believe these will tranform your days

As Each Day Begins:
Begin your day acknowledging your dependence upon God and your need for God.
Begin your day expressing gratefulness to God.
Practice the spiritual disciplines - prayer, study of God's Word, worship. Do these consistently and each day.
Seize your commute time to memorize and meditate on Scripture.
Cast your cares upon Him, for He cares for you.


As Each Day Ends:
At the end of the day, transfer glory to God.
Before going to sleep, receive this gift of sleep from God acknowledge His purpose for sleep.


Throughout your days and week:
Identify evidences of grace in others.
Encourage and serve others each and every day.
Invite and pursure correction.
Respond humbly to trials.

Always:
Reflect on the wonder of the Cross

Begin your day expecting God, end your day remembering Him

Posted in: on Thursday, May 19, 2011 at 0 comments

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