Tag: God

What is to come

Sometimes we want to know how “it” is going to happen. Or when “it” will happen. But, mostly, it seems, we don’t get the heads up. Things happen and we are either ready for it or we are not and we need to switch gears.

Sometimes the anticipation is more anxiety producing than the event we are expecting or dreading.

God is there. He is here, now. And He is there, in our next steps. And He will carry us through in ways we mY not be able to put into words.

Some of our “to comes” are things we are dreading…things we don’t want to walk through, witness, or endure.

Even as we think about Jesus’ betrayal, suffering, and death — not something to look forward to experiencing. Yet, in that ugliness God gave us an unimaginable gift.

May we view our uncertainties and difficulties knowing that Jesus understands our pain and will lead us through them. God’s unimaginable gift is for us each and every day.

Heavenly Father — Thank you for Jesus’ sacrifice. It allows us the gift of everlasting life. Amen.

Take the time

Sometimes I want to get to “the other side” of an experience and so I try to bulldoze my way through it.

If it’s cleaning or a task or something that doesn’t involve human thoughts and emotions, it is usually doable.

I can power through laundry, shopping, cleaning….

But powering through things like a disagreement with someone I care for or working through a complex relationship situation or processing some difficult news is just not something to expect of myself or others.

These things take time.

We all need time to think, mourn, process, feel, understand, pray, and work through all of the emotions of difficult situations. Be sure to take the time to work through things and not just try to breeze through them. Sometimes, a good friend can be a great resource but don’t forget a pastor or a Christian therapist might also be an important resource.

Take the time.

And be confident in God’s work in you through the difficult circumstances. He loves you and is with you every step of the way.

Invitations

When we are invited to do something, we have an opportunity to decide if we want to participate in it.

God gives is plenty of opportunities to connect with Him — from sunrises to Scripture to intercessions to giving thanks to worship to Baptism to Holy Communion and more.

Each and every day He calls us — by our name — and invites us to be with Him and to join Him in the work He is doing.

May our ears and hearts hear the invitations and accept the gifts He offers us!

Overload

I love how God has wired us as humans.

We all have different capacities for different loads. One load is not better than the other. They are just different.

Our stations and situations in life differ wildly. We are spread out all over the globe. We might be single or in school or employed or retired.

While we don’t all travel the same path, as believers we are headed toward the same direction — growing in our relationship with Christ.

As for me, some days I am running joyfully in my spiritual life. Other days I am distracted and I wander off course. And sometimes I am just putting one foot in front of the other, burdened with the weight of struggles.

And when I hit overload, I can feel it. What are the demands I put on myself? Have I committed to too many things at once?

Now is as good a time as any to take stock of what things look like. If it is a short season — like a week — you might be able to stick it out. But longer then that and you likely need to reprioritize. What is sustainable? What is healthy? What is doable for you?

Ask God to give you the wisdom and discernment to know what are the things you should put down for a time as well as those things you should pick up. Call it a bit of spring cleaning — for your schedule.

There will always be needs around you. Ask God for discernment on those things that are really yours to do.

We can be so hard on ourselves…

Have you ever noticed that sometimes you are harder on yourself than you are on others?

Well, maybe you are also hard on others and you maybe should check on that.

Those voices that are in your head? Sometimes they aren’t kind at all. But, first you need to notice that they are there.

And those thoughts that are not loving and kind are not from God.

Does God love every thing we do and say? No, but He does not condemn us. So take note of the tone of voice floating around in your mind. Ok, it might not be audible, but there is such a thing as self-talk.

Negative thoughts make their appearance and take root at a variety of points in our lives. At some point we need to work through them and dismantle them.

But, spending more time in God’s Word and surrounding yourself with Scripture is definitely an important first step. I didn’t come up with this phrase but I think it can be helpful — it is hard to stand on Scripture when you aren’t in it.

You know how satan’s schemes. He distracts us and we even distract ourselves. Will we ever get to the bottom of it all? Maybe. Maybe not. But spending time with God, offering intercessions for others, expressing gratitude, and memorizing encouragement from Scripture is never a waste.

Write out your thoughts and prayers. Offer them up.

And give yourself the grace you are so inclined to give others!

May God grant you His perfect peace!

Adjusting

My right eye is still adjusting to all the excitement and disruption of last week’s cataract surgery.

It takes time.

I noticed a new weird thing and asked my eye doctor about it at my one week check up yesterday. Apparently I can see the outer edge of the implant — which is not the word I would have thought to use — and it will take time for everything to settle down in there. He said to give it 30 days.

It takes time.

Lots of things take time. I actually prefer to do a deep dive and get super focused on projects and get them taken care of, but that really doesn’t work for most things.

Relationships.

Savings accounts.

Healing.

Strength building.

Big projects.

It’s important to allow the time needed and even allow extra time because things don’t always go as planned.

I can do my part. But I also need to trust God with His part. If He is guiding me…

…and I am listening…

the next steps will be in front of me.

I am trusting God with His timing. He knows our needs and well provides [for] us. Loves us every day the same — He even call us by our name!

In the Word

This is friendly reminder that any devotion or book is not a substitute for being in God’s Word.

I get it, life is busy. But interacting with Scripture needs to be our first line of defense against satan’s wiley schemes.

Speed reading probably isn’t the way to go here — I suggest a good soak.

I just heard a podcast today and a suggestion was to pick a short book or a couple of chapters (about 15 minutes of reading) and read the same thing for 30 days. If you think that might be a little much, you can change up the translations for an interesting twist.

But, whether you do that or go through the Bible in a year or three — it doesn’t matter.

God brings His Word to life as we breathe and read and hear it. Sure, having some explanations is great on occasion, but you can trust God to enlighten you in a variety of ways.

Being IN the Word will help your stand ON the Word. It will be in your heart — on your mind — and that is where God does His work — on each one of us.

Don’t worry about getting it all right and all the best practices. God created you in an amazing way. How you connect with His Word can look differently from those around you. If you want to listen, do that. Read? That’s great. Write it out? Ooh, that connection between reading or hearing and writing is so good for retention.

He invites us to join Him in Scripture. Let’s accept that opportunity and grow in it!

Not good enough

So many times we undertake a new thing and quickly judge ourselves for it not being “good enough.”

It’s easy to browbeat ourselves, but it isn’t very helpful.

I am guilty of expecting something closer to perfection when I embark on a new project even though I know this isn’t how it works.

We are blessed to live near our young grandchildren and we see them at least once a week. They have been learning to feed themselves, walk, talk, recognize letters, color, and all sorts of things. Everything is new for them and they aren’t great at most of it the 1-20th try. And yet, they keep trying new things — ALL DAY LONG!

It’s true, sometimes they get frustrated but we encourage them and cheer them on when we make progress.

Do that for yourself, too!

Even though I might be taking baby steps, I know God sees the bigger picture of my development and He is pleased with progress. And He can also work with the setbacks. He is the Great Redeemer!

So as you consider adding something new to your day — let’s say, 5 minutes of prayer or 10 minutes of walking or an extra glass of water — don’t chide yourself for not taking on a bigger challenge. Small steps add up to big progress.

And, today is a great day to start that new thing you’ve been thinking about.

Trash and treasure

If you have ever visited garage sales, estate sales, or thrift stores you know that there are things for sale that vary in value.

Sometimes that kind of stuff is even left at the curb!

The owner was done with it and that’s that. Sometimes there is much more to the story, but we just don’t know it.

And, it happens for people, too. For any number of reasons, there are people out and about and they aren’t valued or taken care of.

Sometimes, they have no concept of their worth!

But, God surely knows. And since we know God, we should know it, too.

Be sure to treat people as the gifts they are, even if they don’t have an understanding of their value.

Maybe even especially if they don’t.

When we were still sinners, Christ died for us! Romans 5:8

And he died for them, too!