Author: carriedinthecross

I am a young woman who grew up in British Columbia. In BC was all I ever wanted; I had my poodle (Max) and all my friends, Saturdays at the Vancouver Aquarium and Sunday afternoons at one of my favorite beaches it was paradise. But God had a different plan for my life and my dad's job landed us in Alberta and now where I remain, in small town Souris Manitoba. The transitions from paradise to prairie were difficult and I will admit that now 10 years later I still refer to home as Abbotsford BC. Through this crazy pathway trek across Canada I have had one true constant, God; and though none of it was easy, everything that has happened in my life has formed in me a true lasting friendship with the one I call Immanuel. Because no matter how far from home we are God is with us, and thanks to God I have found an almost completely over looked beauty in Manitoba. If you open your eyes you will see that God has planted wondrous things everywhere you go.
Lent devotional 17
Blog · Christianity · Devotional · dreams do come true · encouragement · free · guidance · Jesus · lent · searching · The Bible · True Joy

Lent devotional 17

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Champion

What do you think of when you think champion? For me I tend to imagine a horse robed in a winner’s mantel strutting down the greenway of a cross-country course. Some might imagine a boxer or martial artist standing in an arena, drenched in sweat, bleeding, a boxing judge holding up a hand as the crowd cheers….. I just pictured ‘Rocky’ didn’t I? Oh well, he’s an icon of the champion so it works, and his winning smile, (half crooked with pain, eyes swollen shut,) definitely shows the champion image of Christ on the cross better than most. He was beaten, sweaty, dirty, no smile on His face, but perhaps a look of peace as He hung His head for the last time as the Jesus the prophet. Soon to rise as Jesus the eternal King. That face is the face of champion who has suffered. The face of the champion horse and rider is usually a cleaner face…. unless his horse unseated him….. the face is still sweaty, the horse’s sides heave from the run, but a smile of victory hits their faces, the horse knows he has done well because his master pats him vigorously and the rider tilts his helmet to the judges before doing a lap around the arena, basking in his win. That is the face of the Jesus who has risen. It’s over! God is the victor! He rides through Heaven as the Angels and the Heavenly Hosts all cheer! Jesus gets to bask in His Father’s praise and love, greater a reward than any medal could be! Christ is our champion and that is the point of Easter!

Lent devotional 16
Blog · Christianity · Devotional · dreams do come true · encouragement · free · guidance · Jesus · lent · searching · True Joy

Lent devotional 16

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Don’t let the fear steal away the wonder.

I have always loved the ocean. Growing up close to it it was impossible to not love it. I would read about it and study it, I even would steal my grandfather’s National Geographic magazines, but to be honest I love all nature….except biting insects like say sand flies. As a kid I used to jump into any body of water without thinking too hard about it, it was wonderful! My parents would keep spare cloths in the car because they knew I would get wet. Then it happened. I was swimming in the Lake at our cabin and something hurt! It really hurt! My spidey sense said get back to shore so I did. My neoprene wet suit had a hole right where my pain was, this was a fresh water lake, turned out I had been bitten by a large pike, he was like the jaws of the lake and has struck others to this day. Okay, so maybe it hasn’t been the same fish, but suddenly I realized that the fish I had swam with all those years while note caring could hurt me. That never kept me out of the water but it did make me think twice before going in. This was just a small loss of wonder to be replaced by fear, but what about all the other things we suddenly fear as we grow up and understand more? Things that sent a chill of excitement now send a chill of fear. Why? Because our childish ignorance has been replaced by knowledge and that scares us. Don’t let the fear win. Do the things you used to do without thinking that now scare you. Speak up when you see an injustice, tell that friend about Jesus, give away to those in need when you feel led to, ride that roller coaster, talk to that family member that you feel distant from, swim with the fish. Don’t let the fear win the place your wonder deserves. Live. That’s what God created you to do!  

Lent Devotional 15
Blog · Christianity · Devotional · dreams do come true · encouragement · free · guidance · Jesus · lent · searching · True Joy

Lent Devotional 15

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Rain boots

I grew up in BC so I love rain! The cold rain that leaves everything fresh. I love unberellas and rain boots and ponchos. Today I was walking my dog through the water, he loves it so we tend to get fairly wet, and I realized how Jesus and rain boots go together. When we are in runners we avoid puddles the best we can, because our shoes don’t protect us from water and soggy socks aren’t fun! But when we put on our rain boots we are protected so we can go deeper and deeper into the water, and have more fun with the wet without getting soggy socks. Without Jesus we stay away from anything deep because it scares us, but when we have Jesus, our protector, we can go as deep as we want because He protects us. He keeps us dry when out on the waves. He keeps us safe in the floodwaters. He is our rain boots. Our protector from the storms.

Lent Devotional 14
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Lent Devotional 14

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Trust

Trust in the Lord they tell you. Every Christian, every circumstance, they tell you to trust in the Lord. But what does that mean? You might say that that’s a dumb question, the sentence is self-explanatory. But what does it mean to trust? I like to use my dog as an example. He is my darling, I have had him since he was 8 weeks old. When I first brought my dog home, we had played out in the yard by the church all day because there had been a picnic, I liked to imagine that the picnic was to celebrate him, in truth it was just a normal Sunday picnic. When I got him home he was exhausted, so I laid down on the couch because I was tired too and he laid down next to me. My dog curled up against my arm and looked up at me, he stared at me for a little while, I even took a picture of him staring at me, then, very hesitantly, he placed his head on my arm. He wasn’t sure if he could trust me. Of course he wasn’t sure he could trust me, he didn’t know me yet. he almost trusts me too much. The other day he was up in a tree, ( yes, he likes to climb trees, no, I don’t know why.) I was concerned because he was fairly high up so I reached up and called him to come down. I had reached up just in case he fell, but he took it as an invitation to jump into my arms; I won’t lie, I almost dropped him, he’s a lot of weight when he’s falling a out of the air. The little dog who wasn’t sure if it was safe to sleep with me near by now jumps unconcerned into my open arms. He has learned that even if it I break my neck doing it, I will never let him fall and he trusts me.
Our relationship with Jesus is like this. If we don’t know Jesus personally than it will be hard to trust Him. Why would we if we don’t know Him, but when we have spent time with Him and gotten to know Him than trusting Him comes as second nature. That doesn’t mean we won’t struggle with fear and doubt, but because we know who Jesus is and we know He loves us and won’t ever let us fall, even if He has to die to save us. Oh right, He already did. Trust in the Lord means knowing the Lord and knowing He’s got your back.

Lent reading 13
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Lent reading 13

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World book day!

Today is a day to remember and honor the great books out there. Today I have no specific devotional but instead I challenge you to sit down and read your favorite story in the Bible. If it’s Daniel or David, Mosses or Joseph, maybe you like Paul’s letters or the gospel of John the best. Whatever it is you love to read in the Bible choose today to read it again. On this world book day let us honour the greatest book out there, the Bible.

Devotional

Lent devotional 12

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Dust jacket

Some of the most boring book covers I have ever seen have hidden the pages of some of the most interesting books I have ever read.
Old books that had dust jackets covering them often held a rather dull looking true cover underneath, the jacket was just there for protection. The jackets were often vibrant, drawing you to pick up the volume, but when the jacket tore and fell off and got lost, what was left? A dull book cover with an embossed title? Sure, but the book itself was still wonderful. We are too easily influenced by appearance. It’s the world inside that matters. Just because someone looks unappealing on the outside doesn’t mean they aren’t wonderful people, and just because someone looks great on the outside doesn’t mean that they are quality on the inside. Take off the dust jacket and be yourself. What matters is how your heart reads.

Lent devotional 11
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Lent devotional 11

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Pecked by a big duck

Some days you just have one of those days. Do you know what I mean? You got out of bed, the sun was shining and then…. you make a mistake that takes more effort than you would like to spend on fixing said mistake, plus you feel really bad about having made the mistake to begin with. Then you get notified of a problem that should have been solved months ago but the person who promised they had fixed the issue actually hadn’t done a thing so now not only have you been lied to but your problem is still there. So what do you do?
I called my mom and whined, so don’t do what I did. Then I got to work on fixing my mistake and I asked God for help so I would know how to fix my mistake. Then I went to deal with the person who had left me with a problem that they had sworn they had fixed. (I’m not being petty, the problem was costing me financially.) As I was debating on which ‘YOU LIED TO ME!’ Emoji looked the most condescending I felt a Holy Spirit twinge. That feeling that says, ‘hang on. Don’t do it that way.’ That feeling led me to finding the phone number of the person in charge, and being able to deal with my problem directly. I am also proud to say that I did not even mention the name of the person who had being screwing me over to their boss, not once….almost….but I didn’t do it! When I got home my problems and mistakes were on the mend and I could see how God had led me to the right solutions for all of them.
That’s what God does. He doesn’t always stop us from having bad things happen, but He does help us through them in ways that help us see Him. There will always be things that make us feel like were being pecked away at slowly by a duck, but those things will fade and sometimes we might look back and realize how truly minor our pecks were. Don’t let the pecks drag you down, shoo the duck away and keep walking!

Lent devotional 11
Blog · Christianity · Devotional · dreams do come true · encouragement · free · guidance · Jesus · lent · searching · True Joy

Lent devotional 11

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God didn’t want us to hang on to scars, that’s why the body heals. The wounds seal over and the remnants of pain fade. When will we let the wounds in our hearts heal over so that their pain fades? God didn’t make us to be patchwork quilts of pain, He made us to be starfish, when one point breaks it heals and grows a new one, with no memory of the previous self that was lost. Don’t be discouraged, and don’t cling to what God has already been trying to heal in you. Until you let go God can’t seal your wound, because you are working to keep it open. Let Him heal you. It’s okay to let go.

Lent devotional 9
Blog · Christianity · Devotional · dreams do come true · encouragement · free · guidance · Jesus · lent · searching

Lent devotional 9

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God will establish you.

The Bible often mentions how God will establish His people. But that word can bring about a variety of thoughts. I like to center around the first proper version of the word establish that is brought into our lives at a tender age -driving. When we drive we learn how to establish at an intersection. Some people establish way too much and risk getting dinged or stopping others from being able to move forward. Others don’t establish enough and can’t get through the light in time. There is a sweet spot when it comes to establishing, where you are just far enough ahead without being too far and that spot makes it easy to turn into the lane you want.
When God establishes us He sets us in that sweet spot, a spot perfect for moving forward into where we are meant to be. If we do it on our own we can wind up starting too fast and having a painful collision, or we can end up sitting waiting for an opening but being too far back to be able to seize it. If God establishes us than we end up in the perfect spot to move forward because He knows where that perfect spot is.

Lent devotional 8
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Lent devotional 8

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So cool

My old math tutor, (I hate math, I have no shame in having had a tutor,) said to me once, “you don’t have to keep worrying about being cool after you stop being fourteen.” She was speaking of herself and a rather unattractive, yet warm, jacket she was wearing. I laughed. It was a laugh at the sad reality that hit me when she spoke those words, she was wrong. We try so hard in this world to be – for want of a better word – cool. We want the coolest toys, the coolest tools, the coolest jobs, the coolest friends; and like a seagull at McDonalds, society feeds us these things.

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“All you neighbors have it.”
“Every actress is drinking it.”    
“Every great man should own this.”

Even your everyday fellow shopper standing in line, “so what do you do for a living?”
You tell them,
“Oh really? Why not get a real job?”
………really guys?
Either you’ve heard this happen, or have been unfortunate enough to have it happen to you.
Ladies and gentlemen! You are great! You! As yourself! Doing what you do! You are God’s creation! Let me hear an ‘amen’ if that is good enough for you! …….Silence?
That’s the problem. God’s plan, the role He has given you for your life is no longer good enough, simply because some random person says so. That is sad don’t you think?
Who are we trying to impress? If we aren’t making God smile than who are we doing it for? Ourselves? Hm. Good point. Because God said ‘do everything that is right according to Lauren, and in all your ways make her happy.’ Oh, no, I suppose He didn’t say that.
Now that everyone is offended let me get to my point. It is totally fine to make yourself happy. But at what cost? Is trying to look cool, act cool or hang out with the ‘cool’ group making you truly happy? Or is it adding a lot of stress and work to your life? Or worse of all, is it taking away from who God intended you to be? The world doesn’t need another super star, it needs a -you-. Whoever you are, whatever you do, we out here need you! Let who God made you be enough. Let the fact that God loves you and is proud of you be all you need. After your fourteen, you don’t have to keep being cool anyway!