Take Heart

My life's anthem right now! :-)

 

There is a light
It burns brighter than the sun
He steals the night
And casts no shadow
There is hope
Should oceans rise and mountains fall
He never fails
 

So take heart
Let His love lead us through the night
Hold on to hope
And take courage again
In death by love
The fallen world was overcome
He wears the scars of our freedom
In His Name
All our fears are swept away
He never fails
 

All our troubles
And all our tears
God our hope
He has overcome
 

All our failure
And all our fear
God our love
He has overcome
All our heartache
And all our pain
God our healer
He has overcome

All our burdens
And all our shame
God our freedom
He has overcome

All our troubles
And all our tears
God our hope
He has overcome

All our failures
And all our fear
God our love
He has overcome

God our justice
God our grace
God our freedom
He has overcome

God our refuge
God our strength
God is with us
He has overcome!!!

"Take Away the Stone"

Thoughts from my devotions - 5/15/2012
John 11:4- This sickness will not end in death. No it is for God's glory, so that God's Son may be glorified through it."
v.39- How often is it that when God gives us a simple command (such as "Take away the stone") and yet we reply as Martha did, "But, Lord....." adding in our own objections or justifications of why that won't work or isn't a good idea, rather than saying, "Yes, Lord." and doing it? Why is it that our gut instinct is to question His commands rather than responding in obedience, trusting that since He is God and we are NOT, He (gasp) knows better than us and is more than likely giving us the chance to take off our garments of mourning and participate in the resurrection of someone/something? Do we really believe that He is who He says He is or not? Do we truly want to see His glory revealed to us or not? Participating in His Great Adventure is risky and does cost a lot, but the rewards of the adventure are astronomically greater than any risk that we will have to undertake.

Between Your Past and A Promise

This is the verse that I believe that God has been speaking over this season of my life right now. It's simultaneously scary & exciting! It can also be hard.I've really been struggling with the command in verse 18 and it seems to me that I am not the only one with this problem. The Israelites themselves struggled with this as well in Numbers 14:4, when at the discouraging report of the 10 spies said, "We should go back to Egypt." At first glance we might think that they are crazy for wanting to go back to slavery in Egypt when God had just delivered them out of bondage (and they were only days away from the Promised Land), but how often do we react the same way? Rather than pressing into what God has promised to us, we decide to stay where we are/go back to what we know because while it may not be the greatest, most stellar circumstances, (or even if it is great circumstances, which makes the decision not go back even harder) we know what to expect. It's familiar. It's comfortable. It doesn't require us to step out in faith. It doesn't require all of us. There is little to no risk involved. As the band Casting Crowns puts it:

 "With eyes wide open to the differences, the God we want and the God who is, will we trade our dreams for His or are we caught in the middle?" So, the question that has to be answered is, "Are we going to be brave enough to step out in faith and claim the promises that God has given us (knowing that there will be struggles and challenges, but with those challenges comes incredible blessings and faith-building opportunities) or are we going to continue to dwell in the past?" He is doing a NEW thing!!! Let's rise up and meet it with great expectations!!

Verse 14 has become my mantra lately... Agggghh...Waiting is definitely not my favorite lesson to be learning, that's for sure! I keep reminding myself that the end result will be so worth it, but it's like being disciplined...even when you know it's for your own good, it still doesn't make it any more enjoyable, which is why I am believing in the promises from Psalm 37:2-7 (as well as many others) to get me through this time of waiting and learning patience. :-)

Overcoming Obstacles through Obedience

       Wow...how has it already been a month since I last posted anything?? It is just crazy how time flies by sometimes! It seems that even though not a whole lot has been happening (schedule-wise) in my life lately, I am still exhausted from everything has been going on spiritually in my life. God has just been at it, teaching, teaching, teaching, and while it is incredibly awesome, it is also at times incredibly exhausting...Dying to yourself to be able to come alive in Him is definitely never easy and anyone who ever tries to tell you otherwise has obviously never truly tried/surrendered anything to Him. I know that might sound harsh to some, but it is the truth, and I can say that because I was once one of those people myself. If it's not hard, then it's not surrender. (At least in my book.) "Well if it's so hard, then why bother?", some might say. To them I would say, "While it is hard, it is something that I work towards on a daily basis because while surrender is an incredibly hard and scary thing, the thought of what would happen to me/what I would miss out on is infinitely scarier." God is up to something big and I want to make sure that I don't miss out on it.
      I want to make sure that I am one of the Joshua's and Caleb's of the world, not one of the other 10 who caused the Israelites to doubt, disobey, and end up wandering the desert for 40 years. I want to believe in God's promises and know that there will be struggles because of those promises, but that they are something that God will overcome as I walk in obedience to Him. I want to see barriers as an opportunity for God to show up and do one of His amazing God-things. I need to remember that God's promise is attached to His provision, and that oftentimes His provision will not show up in the way that I expect it to. I am reminded of the scene from Prince Caspian when the Pevensies announce to Trumpkin that they are the help that Aslan has sent and Trumpkin doesn't believe them because they look like mere kids to him, and he was expecting great warriors. I am also reminded of a people who spent hundreds and even thousands of years waiting for a Messiah to come and save them, and yet when He came, most did not believe it was Him because He did not fit their preconceived ideas of what and who the Messiah was going to be and do. 
    Lord, I pray that we would not be so blinded by our preconceived notions and ideas of who You are and what You are wanting us to do that we miss out on all that You have planned for us. I pray that we would be like the sheep in John 10 who know the Good Shepherd's voice and that we would listen to and follow Your voice as You lead us in our lives. In Your Precious Holy Name, Amen. :-)

Cracking Up at a Crosswalk...

      So this past weekend I was privileged to be able to travel to Savannah, GA for a childhood friend's wedding . :-) It was beautiful as always, but I was especially stoked about the fact that Mom and Dad were kind enough to go over to Tybee Island with me so that I could spend a few hours on the beach!!  (Since I didn't get to go with them this past summer because I was out in Seattle working.) However, one of the most meaningful parts of the weekend for me was Saturday evening as we were walking from where the wedding had been held to the restaurant where the reception was going to be. It was just a couple blocks away, but there was this one major intersection that we had to cross to get there, so a bunch of us all ended up standing there on the corner together. So let me paint the picture of this for you-- you know how when you are standing at a crosswalk, they have the WALK and DON'T WALK symbols as well as the button that you press to let it know that you are waiting to cross? Ok, Well this one not only had all that, but it spoke too....Oh yes! We are standing there when suddenly, I realize that I am hearing this voice coming from the crosswalk box. And it says, "Wait.....wait.....wait.....wait.....wait.....wait.....wait.....wait.....wait...." and all of a sudden I realize, you know what??? This is the exact perfect illustration of my life right now!! Then I just started cracking up, laughing out loud at the fact that God had just spoken to me using crosswalk box. Hahaha. I just love how God breaks out into the ordinariness of our lives to speak to us in memorable and extraordinarily creative ways!! :-) HE IS JUST THE COOLEST EVER!! I love you, Jesus!! :-) Thanks for always being there for me! Help me to continue to delight in Your Presence...You are so amazing, full of glory, and worthy of honor. It is in You that we live and move and have our being. Continually draw us towards You and Your love. Guide us, teach us, lead us. It's in Your Precious Holy Name that we pray this. Amen. :-)

Doubts & Reassurance

"I remind myself of all that you've done, and the life I've had because of Your Son. Love came down and rescued me, Love came down and set me free, I am Yours, I am forever Yours. Mountains high, Valley low, I sing out and remind my soul that I am Yours, I am forever Yours. I am Yours, I am Yours, all my days, Jesus, I am Yours." ~Kari Jobe

"I know that You are for me, I know that You are for me, I know that You will never forsake me in my weaknesses, I know that You have come down, even if to write upon my heart, to remind me of who You are." ~Kari Jobe

          If we are consistently finding ourselves in a place of doubt or worry and needing reassurance, we need only to return our focus to Jesus, to reflect on who scripture says that He is as well as  to look back on what He has done in our own lives up to this point. He has been faithful, He is faithful, and He will continue to be Faithful. He's got it, so I don't need to. He'll work it out if it's meant to be worked out, otherwise all the manipulating in the world won't change the outcome and oftentimes will just make it worse by our meddling. I have really had to rely on the Spirit's strength inside of me lately for this very thing because I am such an initiative, take charge type of person that I often run ahead of everyone else involved including God. Again, this goes back to that whole learning to see the beauty in the process. That is definitely the major theme in my life lately. The first 3 months of the year, it was seeing life's interruptions as divine interventions and learning to be obedient and submissive in that, and now it seems that we have moved into this new theme of not just seeing, but enjoying the beauty of the process. Anyway, God gave me this really cool vision/picture in my head as I was having one my own little "I need to be in control" freak-outs. Well, not quite a freak out, but hopefully you get my drift... ;-)
      In this vision, I could see myself sitting in my car and I'm driving around without a GPS and in a strange and unfamiliar place that I have not been in before without the slightest clue of where I am, where I am going, or how to get there. And God is sitting there next to me saying, "Julia, you seem to really like pressing that gas pedal, but it's not doing you any good, because you do not know where you are going. Let me help you. First, I need you to put your foot on the brake, put the car in park, get out and switch sides with me. I know exactly where you are going, what route you need to take, what stops need to be made on the way, etc. I don't need a GPS, but I planned this route out for you long before you were born, and while I may not always drive the speed that you would like me to go, I promise that for each portion of our trip together, it will be the exactly right speed that you need, so that  you will arrive exactly when you are supposed to, not too soon and not too late either. Also, go ahead and enjoy the journey and the scenery. Appreciate the beauty of the process." The great part about these pictures that He gives me is that I can sit there in my mind and visualize stopping the car, getting out, and going around to sit in the passenger seat. It's a visual surrender that says, "God, I am choosing to trust You in this, please guide in the path that You have laid out for me." (So hard, but so worth it.) :-)

Waiting.

      You know how when you've been waiting on something for so long that as long as it's still somewhere off in the indefinable distance you are perfectly fine to wait, but as soon as it seems as it might be coming nearer and possibly somewhat attainable you lose all semblance of patience and find yourself wanting to imitate a Nascar driver? Pedal to the medal, baby!! Bring it on! Yet in the midst of me wanting to slam that gas pedal to the floor, God is saying to me, "Hold on there, beloved. I still have things that I want to teach you and show you about yourself in this season...This isn't a free-for-all and you're not on the autobahn, so just slow back down and keep your eyes on me. I've brought you this far, I'm going to abandon you mid-ship. After all, I am faithful and true and I will never leave you or forsake you. Rest in me and I will see you through."
Again, it all comes down to TRUST. So, Jesus, once again, I am choosing to trust in You, in Your plans, in Your faithfulness, in Your love for me. Thank you for your grace, mercy, and never-ending patience. You are worthy God, Thank You. Help me continue to know and love you more each day. In Your Precious Holy Name, Amen.