It’s hard to be caring and to at the same time not care. We’re supposed to care for one another but are not supposed to react or care when negative things happen. It’s an uncomfortable balance because it is very hard to maintain. If you don’t care you won’t be effected, but if you don’t care than you can’t be a helping hand. So what do we do? I am starting to feel that a certain level of se la ve’ should be a portion of our lives. Then we can have an ‘oh whatever’ attitude when negative things happen to us. That way we brush them off and at the same time we don’t lose the caring part of us that helps others. That same caring part is the one that makes us oversensitive. So if we can harness it to a level of carefree-ness then maybe we can become sympathetic without being easily hurt or offended.
Obviously praying about this is a necessity because the balance is too hard to find on our own. I suppose it takes us back to the B attitudes. Studying them and memorizing them should be helpful in this situation.
It is about being carefree and not care less. To let go of offense and not let go of people. To be like Jesus.
Jesus never held an offense against an offender, He let go instantly and helped those who were in fault to see their error and change. Without the Holy Spirit guiding us this is an impossible goal to achieve. But. With God all things are possible, even reaching the impossible balance.
Tag: Jesus
Victory takes time
Victory takes time
John Millias’ painting ‘Victory oh Lord’
Exodus 17:11
Who remembers Moses having to hold up his hands to God for victory in battle?
Remember? As long as his hands were up God’s people were winning but whenever they were down God’s people would lose.
The battle lasted so long that Aaron and Hur had to come and hold up Moses’ hands because he was exhausted.
If you were Moses’ wouldn’t you be thinking,
‘Anytime now God! I am really losing will power here!’
Yet Moses persevered in Faith and ultimately the battle was won.
We live in a ‘now’ society.
Everything happens quickly, and we expect it to. When my wifi is slow and I have to wait a minute before something will download instead of the 10 seconds it normally takes, I am irritated. I am also an impatient person and am working on that.
You see my point though. Moses waited so long for God to bring victory that his body literally gave out on him; but Moses knew God well and had seen Him do unreal things before, so he kept his Faith and kept his hands raised.
We know God can do unreal things, so why do we doubt Him? Our arms get tired and we lower them. Our praise ceases, our prayer wanes and eventually we give up the fight. Don’t give up the fight! One more time. Don’t give up the fight! God is moving, acting and working! Keep your hands raised high! If you can’t keep them up on your own, seek help. Help from friends, family, your pastor or church, from a devotional or online Christian speaker, find somebody you trust to help hold your hands up with you. God will bring you the victory, just keep reaching up to Him and don’t stop until you see your breakthrough.
Thank you Lord Jesus for being our breakthrough. I pray for whomever is reading this devotional that they find peace and strength and support as they wait for the victory you are bringing. In Jesus name.
Amen
Shark Week
This BC raised girl loves all things ocean. Of course….that won’t come as a surprise. By coincidence one summer I found Shark Week, and was…’hooked’….haha. The thing I love most about sharks is how obvious of a creation they are, and by that I mean they clearly point to a creator, our creator. Sharks do not see well so they hunt using gell filled sacks on their noses called the nebuli of linguini. ( I am sure that is spelled wrong, but it is my best guess.) These sacks pick up sonar. Their gills are like sponges that filter debris as they breathe, their skin is made of the same material as their teeth and acts as a kind of chain mail. All this to say, how can anybody know all this about sharks and NOT believe in God? No molecule decided that it wanted sharks to be able to track a change in the ocean temperature, or to be able to dislocate their jaw when attacking prey. All animals are clearly created, but sharks are so cool that when you look into them it is really easy to see the fingerprints of God. Oh ya, if you are wondering what use they have on planet ocean I have two words for you, ‘natural filter’ and that is only one very small thing they do. If you want to know more about sharks I recomend highly visiting an aquarium, Vancouver Aquarium specifically has professional marine biologists that are more than enthusiastic to answer questions.
God saw that His creation was good, and now there is a week to learn about a very cool part of said creation.
Thank you God for your wonders that you gave us to discover.
Only borrowing this body
Only borrowing this body
Old space movies often have a common thread. Body snatchers! Creepy right? Oh they give the body back, but do you want it after aliens have had it? Ewww.
Do we ever see ourselves as body snatchers? We who take our lives in our hands and take off with our own intentions, stealing ourselves away from God.
My body is not my own, God gave it to me and filled it with the Holy Spirit to be used by Him, Jesus bought my existence with His own blood. It is so easy to say, ‘my body, my soul, my life, my way.’ But none of the above are true. It is God’s body, His soul, His life, and if you fight His way you will end up in big trouble. Not necessarily with Him but with where your choices lead you. You are only borrowing this body until your soul goes to Heaven, the body is not yours to keep and to do with as you please. How often do we steal our lives from God and then later realize we need Him and give God back a used body? One we have taken from Him and used to go our own way? But as battered and worn and dirty our bodies are, God still takes them back and repurposes them for the will He originally intended. He doesn’t discard us as used goods; no matter how damaged we may seem after years of misuse. God is happy to clean us up and use us for His glory once again, that truly is love of an unconditional extent.
Jesus, please help us to return to you what is yours and to serve you with a heart full of love and compassion…amen
Credit to owner for image
THREAD BARE
Sometimes it feels like we are clinging to Jesus by a thin thread. Like we don’t have anything left but a desire to hang on. Standing on a dark expanse of crumbling stone and seeing nothing around to pull you out. The earth shakes and more of what you are standing on falls away into the pitch black below. All you have is a thread, not large enough to even hold onto. You know it will slip from your fingers if it is all you have to cling to so you wrap it around and around and around your hand until there is no slack left in it to keep wrapping. At that moment the ground gives way and you descend with the debris into the darkness. Suddenly the thread catches and you jerk to a stop praying the thread does not break. The thin material cuts into your hand as it holds your weight and the pain draws forth tears. You feel as though your one lifeline will slice right through you and drop you to the blackness below. Your eyes close as a light appears above. You feel two hands clasp upon your wrist and lift you up, the sting of the thread releases as it slowly drops away and you open your eyes to see that the pain of the thread that you thought would slice through you was the thread tightening as you were being pulled up away from the crumbling world below.
Jesus will NEVER let you truly fall. There will ALWAYS be a thread to cling to and that thread, no matter how painful it may seem at the time, will be helping you pull away from the discarded world that filled your view with darkness. Jesus will always be reaching down and drawing you up into His arms; trust Him, He IS there and He will not give up because of the pain we cause Him, because that same thread is wrapped around His hand as He draws us out, it cuts into Him the same way it cuts into us. Our hurt filled words that crush Him as we are dying inside will never make Him leave us. He stays and pulls us up into a healing hug and cries with us. Because He loves you. He loves us. He is love.
There ARE going to be empty branches
When I go camping I love having a spot that is surrounded by trees because the trees can feel……almost magical. Have you ever taken note of the delicate work of each branch? Some full of leaves, some of flowers, some bare of anything growing.
What massive, living creations trees are; they don’t think, they don’t feel, but they are still alive.
Imagine, as the tree grows it feels each branch grow out and form flowers, berries, leaves. The tree feels joy, even pride as it reaches toward the sun. Suddenly a branch feels wrong. It feels bare. The tree works hard to grow something, anything from this branch but it remains without addition. The tree tries another branch and finds it also unwilling to yeild. Confused, the tree asks God why some of it’s branches are bare.
God gently replies:
“Not everything you try will grow and succeed. Do not focus on these branches, instead focus on the branches that are blossoming and blooming. Please do not be descouraged by the feeling these leafless branches bring, wait and see what these empty branches add to your life.”
Not everything we try will succeed. Some things we simply cannot do, and some things we are not meant to do; but do not focus on these empty branches. Allow them to be signs that we tried, even if nothing produced from the attempt.
Focus on your growing leaves and flowers, allow them to encourage you to branch out and once again try something new. It might succeed, it might fail, but God is there for us even as we try. And remeber, the best branches to hang a swing from are empty ones.
In other words, focus on your successes and let them encourage you, but do not hate your misadventures because they have a purpose too; and in everything God has a purpose and a reason.
Dads
What does the word ‘dad’ mean to you? What is your first thought when you hear someone say father? I think about strength, courage, endurance, sacrifice.
When someone says ‘dad’ I imagine my father. When someone says ‘father’ I imagine God.
God is our father. Why? Why is God not just our boss? Our master? Our king? Our friend? Why is He also our Father? God is our father because He knew we would need a protector, strong arms to run into when we are afraid, strong hands to fend away those who would harm us and courage to not run away from our need. He knew we would need wisdom, knowledge and just general know how for when we are confused or do not know where to turn.
He knew we would need a steadfast and loving heart for when this world crushes ours. God is our Father for every single meaning of the word.
Not everyone has a dad on this earth to run to, but everyone (no matter their age, abilities or needs,) everyone has a father in God.
Dads are our earthly version of Father, to the best of their abilities. Everytime they try, Everytime they help, Everytime they are understanding and protecting and loving, they are being father, just as God intended them to be.
Thank you Fathers for all you are and all you help us to be.
Happy Father’s Day
Please feel free to comment what your dad means to you and to connect him to this site so he can see what you said.
Illogical Miracles
When people think Star Trek (the original) two names come to mind..Kirk and Spock.
As all of you who have watched any of the Star Trek shows or movies know, spock’s race of alien believe fully in logic. In one part of one of the movies, Spock states that miracles do not exist because they are illogical. That made me think. Miracles ARE illogical. If miracles made sense then we could figure out how to do them ourselves. GOD alone can do miracles.
I do believe that God can use people to help Him do miracles, but we cannot do them through our own power. Miracles are miracles because only God can do them, it is miraculous because it makes no sense, it is unexplainable and it is amazing. I love seeing God do crazy things. We Christians call it “wow God moments.”
As my Grandfather says, “But God.”
It was impossible to be healed…but God.
The dream was too far beyond her reach….but God.
The Children of Israel had no way out…but God.
Daniel was in the lion’s den…but God.
The fire was heated 10 times the normal temperature and no one could survive that…..but God.
I am too much of a sinner for God to love me….but God…so loved the world that He gave His one and only son. Too lost to be found? Too hurt to be healed? Too dirty to be cleaned? Too scared? Too weak? Too broken? …..But God.
GOD IS ILLOGICAL! That is just how He operates. If He were logical none of us would stand a chance in this world because He would be limited to what WE could understand.
I adore my God who makes no sense to those who do not know Him. I also love His illogical, wonderful, crazy, insane, awesome miracles. Without them we would have dull, logical lives.
When dreams come true
I have a favorite movie….okay I have several…. but this one is top to second on my list. In the movie, when the dream finally comes true/the treasure is finally found, the protagonist lifts it into his hands and says,
“After a lifetime of searching, I can touch it.”
I wonder if that is what Heaven will be like?
After a lifetime of seeking after God we can finally touch Him.
Can you imagine the day you finally get to touch Jesus, to see Him? What will it be like to hold His hand? To see Him smile?
A dream is something you work for, and beleive me it often takes tears, determination and a galaxy full of Faith, but when that dream comes to pass and you can touch it it makes every tear feel worthwhile. Don’t you think that after a lifetime of following a Jesus we cannot see, to have an eternity following a Jesus we can not only see but we can feel will be a complete dream come true?
Who AM I?
Who am I?
How often do we ask this?
We stop and look at our lives, or look at ourselves in the mirror and ask, who am I?
They say discovering yourself is a journey that never ends, perhaps that is why we constantly ask ourselves who we are.
But perhaps we are asking the wrong question. Instead of asking ‘who am I?’ We should be asking, ( wait for it) ‘who is Jesus?’
I know you all saw that coming, but that does not change the necessity of the question. Examining yourself is a good thing. Sometimes God draws us to self examination to show us that He is ready to change where we are. Other times we may realize we want to become better people, and that makes God happy too. Don’t over think it though. The Holy Spirit will guide you, but if your mind is whirring the noise might block out the Holy Spirit’s voice. First think about who Jesus is and how Jesus acts.
Jesus is the son of God. We are told we are also God’s children.
Jesus went straight to God when He had a problem, a joy, a heartache, and simply to spend time with Him. Do you run to God with everything or try to fix it yourself first?
Jesus is healer, provider, hard worker, patient beyond belief and so many more things that it would take three pages to list them all. Note that Jesus not only was a healer like no one else, but He also was a carpenter. So if you are a lawyer or a retail clerk you may still very well be doing God’s will. Jesus is the perfect…if not a little more perfect than we humans can pull off….example of a life well lived and if you are striving to be Him you have the right kind of Goal. So to recap.
Strive to be like Jesus
Don’t doubt your value or the value of what you are doing
Trust God
Listen for and to the Holy Spirit
Dear God
Please touch the people who are wondering who they are and where they belong with your wisdom and guidance. Please show them your power and perfect plan. Or at least as much of your plan as you can show them at this time. Thank you for all you do and for the perfect blue print of Jesus who shows us how to live. Amen
Carried in the cross 