Tag: all we can be

Spiraling or climbing?
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Spiraling or climbing?

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Downward spiral .vs. upward climb

Have you ever noticed how it is a spiral? Spiral indicates fast, generally out of control and of course spinning.
It sounds like a bad ride at an amusement park, you know, the one your friends dare you to go on and then you feel too sick to do anything else for the next 2 days. 10 years later you have the confidence to laugh about it with someone. Spiral.

And upward CLIMB. With this one I visualize a mountain. I love hiking and exploring. If you let me go with my dog and spend the day someplace hiking and exploring, there is a chance we will be gone that whole day. Generally the moment we feel like…..I am sorry, I feel like, he could go on forever……when I feel like turning around is the moment I hit a steep incline. Usually it is my powerhouse Jack Russell who keeps me moving, he is probably 1/6th of my weight and yet he is the one who pulls me to the top and we stand (and I gasp for air) and he starts to head down the next trail, dragging me behind and I feel this wave of achievement. We made it to the top! Oh Ya! And look! Another hill…… I wonder what the top of that one looks like?

To hit rock bottom takes a simple ‘yes’ or a small give in your normal perspective. It happens fast, it is generally a little sickening and it takes a long time to recover.
To hit the summit takes a lot of hard work, motivation, and sometimes someone else pulling on your lead to keep you going, and you find acheivement in the end.

To climb back up from the bottom is a massive struggle and you can NOT do it without God, but you CAN do it.

Verification?
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Verification?

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Always trust the words of God. I once heard a pastor say that to truly know that it is God speaking verify it. Check it with the Bible. It is easy to hear a thought in our minds and think it is God, sometimes it is God, sometimes it is our own thought.
So verify. Check that what you heard aligns with the Bible. You can’t always do this, I understand that, but prayer and time with the speaker of the words you think you are hearing will help you know your direction. Don’t doubt God’s words, but if you need to, verify.
When Jonah heard God’s word he denied it was God and ran away. God hunted him down, and he became one of the most well known stories (and one of the best speakers) in the Bible.
When it is God He doesn’t just use you a little, He uses you unbelievably so. Even if Jonah had saved only one person he would have listened to God and done something amazing, for that one person.
If God says go to Zambia on a missions trip and you go,
‘No that wasn’t God, and I don’t want to go.’ and you end up reading Jonah, or hearing a sermon on following the prompting of God, or a song on traveling the uncertain road, take it as a conformation. If God wants you to go then He will prompt you and prompt you until you get the message.
Trust God’s word, and He will verify that word for you.

Listen to the voices of the stars
Blog · Christianity · Christmas · Devotional · Jesus · searching

Listen to the voices of the stars

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Star

The cold mountain air burns the lungs of the young astronomer as her eyes take in the night sky. Orion winks at her playfully and her gaze swings as she grins back at him; she sees a star larger than the rest and her heart takes her back to a time when a similar star drew men from far and distant countries to a small town called Bethlehem.

These days we don’t have a star to help us find Jesus, but we do still have guides. The Bible, word of mouth, pastors, musicians, artists. God sends us ‘stars’ to guide us. Little lights that show Jesus.
Many say to look to the sky for your answers, read the stars, listen to their voices. I am no astronomer, but that night when God sent a special star to guide people to the stable must have been wild. Angels dropping from Heaven into our night sky and praising their God?!? It would have been a light show like no other. Look to the sky to for your answers? why not? Look up and see 100 billion or more Galaxies and hear them answer you. ‘Yes! There is a God, and He made all this… and He made you!’ Follow the stars around you to the stable and find Jesus.
Life, Death, and Resurrection all held within this baby’s tiny hands.
The very first Christians led to the stable, by a star.

The bare feet of the shepherds
Blog · Christianity · Christmas · Devotional · Jesus

The bare feet of the shepherds

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Have you ever noticed that when you buy a manger scene these days there are 3 Wise men and maybe 1, or sometimes 2 shepherds? I was contemplating this while fiddling with the presents and staring at our lit – up manger when suddenly the answer whispered in my ear. The Wise men are prettier than the Shepherds. The Wise men are powerful and high class with elegant clothes and sparkling gifts. The Shepherds are low class, even looked down on. Bearing no presents and wearing no shoes as they peek into the manger. The Shepherds were afraid, the Wise men were not. The Shepherds smelled like travel; That Is one thing they shared with the Wise men. The other thing they shred was a sense of awe at the wonder of the baby. The Shepherds were invited to come, the Wise men were not. God knew that the Wise men wouldn’t get there until Jesus was around 2 years old. If He had wanted the Wise men at the manger God would have made sure they were actually there, but this was the Shepherds’ moment. Their night. They were the first to see the baby, the Messiah, our Emmanuel, no one else. I think God kept the Wise men back for more than one reason. One of those reasons being that He knew they would upstage the Shepherds, like they do every year on our manger scenes. God loves the dirty and unloved. He lifts high the fearful and those considered of low value. They are His precious , unrefined treasures. His favorite treasure to work with. Don’t worry if you are not a Wise man. Shepherds hold the highest honor anyway.

Open heart
Blog · Christianity · Devotional · dreams do come true · encouragement · free · Jesus · searching

Open heart

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Open heart

We all have a seed inside our hearts. A part of us that is undiscovered and trying to grow. A potential. A dream left to the wear of time and long since forgotten. Deep down in your heart, however, that dream left a seed. We all have someone we want to be. A chef, a weatherwoman, an accountant, a movie star. But to fulfill a dream takes hard work, good people, and a bull dog drive. Stats say that over 90% of people give up on their dreams instead of seeing them fulfilled. I think that is very sad. A dream is something important to us, and things that are important to us should be things we fight for. Sometimes we dream of being something that other people say we can’t be. An artist who can’t draw, or a musician who doesn’t know how to play. It is possible that maybe that means your true seed is growing into something else. Perhaps a music teacher or an art studio director. Don’t drop your dreams where you stand and move on. Sometimes the true dream is a vine of the original one. Fight for your dreams and water them. See what your seed grows. Like buying a surprise packaged of flower seeds at the plant store. All you can do is scatter them in the dirt and care for them. You know you want a flower, but what that flower looks like is entirely up to the seed. So you care for it and as it grows you love it more and get more excited to see what it will be.

Let your seed grow, and never give up on it.

A push and a pull
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A push and a pull

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A push and a pull

I have heard it said many times that the Holy Spirit is a gentleman who whispers. If I am perfectly honest there are many days when I feel that I need a great big shove to get me to listen and obey, not a gentle nudge. There are many things that God asks us to do in a day, or a week, that we just do not want to do. Like those days when being honest might get you into trouble, or when the lady at the checkout CLEARLY needs an encouraging word and all we can muster is a grunt that we hope no one heard. Being ‘Jesus’ was never listed in the “easy” column of your favorite magazine; but it is something we are called to do. If you ask God to give you an opportunity be prepared that one may drop in your lap. If you don’t ask God for an opportunity one may drop in your lap anyway so still be braced. If you are asking for patience, DUCK, and do it now because I feel God finds great pleasure in helping us be more patient. It doesn’t matter what the need is because we all need to be better at something. I don’t mean learning how to play Chopin on the organ. We all have ‘be better Christians’ needs and God gets that. He also understands when we get stage freight and freeze when we should be pulling out Excalibur, and like a good master God is never too far away to lend a hand. So, ask the Holy Spirit to give you a push today and see what, or whom, you stumble into.

What does your heart bleed?
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What does your heart bleed?

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What does your heart bleed?
Once there was a little heart wandering through a world of little hearts.
Everywhere she looked she saw damage. Scars and scrapes healed over; open wounds in need of help.
Many of the hearts were bleeding, but the blood was different for each one.
Some bled pain, some bled love, some bled sorrow, some fear, some anger and hatred, some confusion, and as the little heart walked amoung the drips of blood she noticed them sticking to her. She began to bleed what the other hearts were bleeding. The little heart looked around and bumbled into a heart whose wounds were already healed over, she asked
‘what do I do? All these things are sticking to me and causing me pain.’
The healed heart looked at the little heart and gave a small spin; In doing so the little heart noticed a thin layer of callus protecting the other heart.
‘Callus and you no longer feel; then the pain of others won’t stick to you.’
The little heart nodded politely and moved on. To not feel was not what she wanted. Suddenly a large drip landed on her foot. She looked up to see a heart that was bleeding love. The little heart was upset to be even more dirty, until she noticed some of the other drips washing off as the love ran over them. ‘Wait!’ The little heart cried as she chased after the love heart. The heart turned and waited. ‘Why? Why is your love helping clean my pain? It is still bleeding, you still hurt! But your hurt is helping me.’
The love heart smiled.
‘I hurt because I love. If I stopped caring then I would be healed but I would be living an empty life. I allow myself to accept the pain of other hearts and to help them heal. Truth to tell, when others heal because of my love I also heal a little bit.’
Suddenly the little heart understood. The dirt of others was okay to have on you if it meant you got close and showed them love and helped them heal, and suddenly that one drip gave her life purpose.
What does your heart bleed?

If you’re not THIS, God doesn’t love you
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If you’re not THIS, God doesn’t love you

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If you’re not THIS God doesn’t love you

This world is a broken mess. That is clear, and Christian or skeptic we can all see it.
Sadly the hate of the outside world sometimes seeps into our Churches and into our Brethren in Christ.
It makes me think of an old anime I own. There was a small village living in the waste land of a once fertile country. Little by little the ‘toxic jungle’ spread until the inhabitants had to wear filtering masks when going out doors. Little particles of the jungle seeped into the houses too though, slowly destroying all until there was nothing left. If we took the spore of our world’s ‘toxic jungle’ and eliminated it completely our air would be breathable again. That spore I would like to say is hate, because hate is pretty easy to spot, but hate itself is just an extreme version of the true problem. Judgement. We throw down judgements like it is our job and justify by screaming out, “but the Bible says.” Um, right, the Bible also says many, many times that is not for people to judge that that is God’s job. Next excuse. “We can’t condone that because we are Christians.” Okay, but condoning the sin and loving or even accepting the sinner, these are two very different things.
I have heard too many Church people quote the Bible to make themselves feel more Holy. The problem is that we usually quote it with a, ‘if you don’t do this exactly the way God says He won’t love you’ insinuation. God loves you. That’s it. He loves just you, all of you, and any version of you to come. Does He want His people to be better. Of course! We’re people, there is always room for improvement. But just because you slip, or struggle, or don’t invite the Jones’ out for tea after Church; none of this, and I mean none of it, will EVER make God stop loving you.
If you are dirty, join the club, we are all dirty. If you struggle with drugs, alcohol, porn, infidelity. If you have committed murder, stolen, cheated, or lied, God still loves you. Nothing you are and nothing you have done can change that. Does it hurt God when we do wrong? Absolutley. Does He drop us like a bad connection after? NO! And don’t ever let anyone make you feel like He does. Nothing you don’t do and nothing you do do will change God’s love for you. We can let the need to accuse and judge others seep in from the outside world. By that I mean in from the world of the devil. The one who is against Jesus, that is the outside world. Little by little we destroy our Churches because we don’t want the sinners in to add mud to our name. We destroy ourselves by failing the second greatest command. Love your neighbor. Love can shown by simply going, “it’s okay, I won’t judge.”
I feel passionate about this because of the testimonies I have heard. ‘I have never met a Christian who didn’t judge me.’
I don’t witness very often. I let people know I am a Christian and just let God guide things from there so this is not a look at all the people I talk to thing because I don’t. It is just something that has come up…often. I have also heard pastors who use their pulpit as a shield while they judge and not from a Bible stand point. Please let the Holy Spirit guide your response to sermons and don’t get depressed. If God is telling you to change He will help you do so.
Last thing.
God knows how much you love Him. You don’t have to prove it. Do things to make God happy, but don’t feel He misses the fact that you care, in the simple human way we all do our best to love God like He loves us. Talk about impossible dreams.
So to sum up.
Don’t judge, that is God’s job. Love, that is your job.
God will always love you. No matter what anyone ever says. God says that He loves you. Just read the Bible and you can see for yourself.

Love Lauren

A letter to all the heart locks out there
Christianity · Devotional · encouragement · free · Jesus · searching

A letter to all the heart locks out there

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Dear lock on my heart

It has been so many years we have walked together. Thank you for always keeping me safe by always keeping everyone out. Because of you I have felt less pain of betrayal than I would have if you had not been there. I have noticed that you are looking tired these days my lock, you have scratches and tarnish from where people have tried to break you, you are rusty from years of wear and your silver coating is chipping in places. You have been so very faithful. But now that I am old enough to understand the pain this world leaves I think it is time you took a break.
As I grew older I noticed something. If you keep the world out than you can’t help it’s occupants. To block your heart from grief you have to block it from people, when you block it from people you don’t care enough anymore to help them, in fact, you probably don’t even notice them.
Gentle heart lock, we are both tired of the fight and I think it is time to give your key away. Let us give it to Jesus. Let us hand Him your key and see who opens you to. Let us see who we can help when we let the people in.
Oh yes, there will be pain. Probably lots of it. But our scars will help heal the scars of others.
Thank you dear lock for your service. Now take a rest and let Jesus handle my open heart.

Can you hear me?
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Can you hear me?

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Can you hear me?

There is a novel series I enjoy that is based in medieval times. In one part of the series, the sea ports have been affected by a group of human traffickers (which is still a big problem in many parts of the world).
One scene has a big city wide party going on with loud music and cheering and fireworks. In this scene you can notice the slight screams of the people that are being silently stolen out of the crowd.
In this scene the protagonist asks a companion if they had also heard an odd noise, to which the other character answers, “yes. The sounds of the party covered it, but there were screams.”

I wonder how often we miss the screams in the midst of the party. The laughter, the excitement, the fireworks. Noise. Sounds of pleasure that cover the sounds of pain and distress. The people we don’t see due to the crowd who are silently being stolen away. The world has so much suffering that we just don’t notice.
Question. How many of you were at least a little bit surprised when I mentioned that human trafficking is still a problem? How many were angered and disgusted? If I said that many of the people on the streets in large cities have jobs, sometimes several jobs, but the cost of living is simply too high, would you be confused or argue with me?
I grew up near the large city of Vancouver, a city I love and miss, but even the beautiful lady has a dark side. A very dark side. Because of friends who were cops we learned of the on going and somewhat large problem of human trafficking that was happening right out of the inner harbor. A problem that the police struggled to control because of it’s strength. So you didn’t walk the streets alone.
Because of ministry friends we learned of the plight of the hard working man who lived in a cardboard box in the downtown area. There were many just like him. Steady job. Not enough to get by on.
We learned also that we were far from the only city with these problems. In Canada and the US especially it is easy to live the party life because we can have so much. But there are screams that we can’t hear that are happening just down the street.
This is not a criticism. Feel free to enjoy life. But now you are aware of the pain that you cannot see. What can you do about it?