Stay close to your calling

My calling.  Your calling.  To have a call on your life, well it sounds lofty and unique doesn't it?  
I have dreams just like you do.

I want to know I am going in the right direction just like you do.

I think about the calling of many others and I wonder.
I want to make a difference like you do

Then I remember....
that I am not called to your job or to do everyone else's job.  
God has only called me to my mission, my calling.

Isn't it interesting that we think about our calling only when things are going right?

Is that the only time we believe that we are called, when we feel like we are going in the right direction?

I believe it on days when I feel like I have made progress on my dream.

I believe it on days when I’m growing in faith.

But…

I don’t believe it on the days when it’s just plain hard.
I don't believe it on days when tears come easy.

I don’t believe it on days when I feel like a Jesus freak.

I don’t believe it on days when no one else validates what I’m doing.
I don't believe it on days when I feel no direction.

Then it hits me....

I am called to be me.  

You are called to be you.

It's not about where we are going, it's about who we are in Christ.

God doesn't compare His children, so why do we?

Don’t compete.

Don’t compare.

Don’t mimic.

Don’t envy.

Live in the shadow of the Creator.  Live next to the Light.
Be the child that He wants you to be!  The other guy, is already taken.
Stay close to the Guide.  Stay close to the One who calls your name.  Stay close to God, then you will know your calling.

If We Had Coffee Today...

If we were having coffee today, here's what I would tell you...

Someone loves you.

Not just by those people around you.  But by a Awesome Someone, who knows you well.  

With the breath of Heaven, there is One who thought of you today, and said "you're good".  In His very first exhales...an image was created.  A special, unique and vibrant life.  A Creator's creation.   You. 

You might say these are fancy words...

But know this...God is for you.  Even if it doesn't feel like it.

Because you are loved by a perfectly wonderful and holy Craftsman, that means its only His love that satisfies.  We look for that fulfilling love in many of the wrong places.  We so easily give our fragile hearts to things that don't love us back.  We lend our hearts to things that don't matter.  We often consume ourselves with the quest of finding satisfaction that we forget to guard what was so innocently created.  

Pouring you another cup...

Stop looking for a love in stuff when that stuff can't love you back.  Don't be consumed by your quest to give your love away at first temptation.  Protect the purity that God has blended into your being.  

You are loved by a God who knows how you struggle with your self-approval and worth.  God sees you with His worthy eyes.  So don't live for God's approval but from His approval.  I heard that in church Sunday and it is still dancing around my thoughts.  That's love in it most beautiful form.  His holy death gives you a life of love.  

Yearn for His holiness not that false sense of approval from people.   

He is dying for you to know Him and love Him like He loves you. 

I will always find what I really need in the One who will never leave me wanting.  

You want to be loved.  I want to be loved.  We all do.  

I love you enough to tell you that you ARE loved by God...just believe it, you don't need to understand why or how.  His love goes beyond our clumsy sin-filled hurting hearts.     

God's love remains.  Even when we don't.  It's the only love that does.

Romans 5:8  "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:  While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Let this love dwell in your heart and dwell on it.  God.Loves.You.  Don't harden your heart to His love.  

Ready to believe it now?    More coffee please...

Obsessed!

Photo by Marleen Eastin

I am obsessed with sunsets and sunrises.

Here's why....

Sunsets and sunrises make me pause in my too-busy day and be thankful that God is near. After spending my time working, thinking, writing, and whatever-my-days are full of...I tend to arrive at the sunsets and sunrises very empty. When God gets my attention, I notice my Creator in His creation. 

I see the Son and my soul becomes full. 

I am obsessed with seeing God in every moment. 

At the end of the day, at the end of these moments, at the end of myself, I see God. And may I be honest with you? As I come empty to these scenes, I need to see God in these moments of the sunsets and sunrises. I want to see God in every moment of my day, in every moment of my life. This may sound weird to you but....

I crave God's presence. 

"From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, 

the name of the Lord is to be praised." Psalm 113:3

You must think I am a over-the-top-spiritual freak. Surely you are thinking that I am some-radical-chic on some-kind-of-no-where-ending-path-of-super-spiritual-craziness.

I care deeply what God thinks. I care deeply about being on God's page.

This life I lead is about my destination, not my life-on-earth-journey. I am created for worship. I am obsessed with worshiping God in His created moments of brilliance. So pausing and tweeting about how glorious the sunrise or the sunset, is my spiritual act of worship and my acknowledgement, that God is God at the beginning and end of my day.   

"so that from the rising of the sun 

to the place of its setting 

men may know there is none besides me. 

I am the Lord, and there is no other." Isaiah 45:6

When I gaze upon these beauties...I am in awe in wonder of God's amazing grace, mercy, holiness all wrapped into a sweet and creative package that burns into my sponge-like soul,  drinking all their awesomeness and radiant illuminations.   

I am filled with wonder.  Ah.....

...As you look at creation do you acknowledge that God is still God? And all His people said....?

Photo by Jerrica Rackley

Hemmed In

The Craftsman knows His craft.

I am often filled with awe and wonder when I absorb and remember who God is and that He loves. I long to understand more of God as we spend time together. My early morning devotional time is birthing a great awakening of my soul. There is revival waiting in all our hearts if we allow God to speak to us through prayer and reading His Word.

He lovingly created and crafted us to need Him and made us with a void that only He can fill. The problem is that we try to fill the void with all the things of the world. I have to fight the tide of sin that begs to distract my attention and intention.

Psalm 139 is a great get-to-know-God chapter which acknowledges our Creator from the beginning as the only One who knows us and searches our hearts. He knows our movements, our oh-so-familiar habits, not to mention our wayward ways and hurtful tongues.

He knows us because he made life. 

He also knows our actions, all of them, 

the ups and downs, the ins and outs, back and forth motions. 

He knows. He monitors. He keeps track. 

He knows our thoughts, even before they are spoken. He created our word-filled gray matter that formulates our sentences as we verbalize and communicate. He knows all our words, be they kind or helpful, full of love or hate, the unspoken, He knows them all. He knows the intentions and the meanings, and how each one will fall on each heart.

He keeps. He binds us neatly into His care. Verse 5 reassures us our Maker has a pattern of order and protection. "You hemmed me in---behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me." He's got you. You are kept in His hands, safe from the frayed areas of life. He's got your perimeters, your fringed areas, and the folds are neatly tucked into his love. You can't stray too far for His hands to grasp you, or reach, nor can you fall apart or disintegrate without his knowledge. If you are worn or needing a patch, He knows and provides His Providence.

He surrounds you. 

What about the parts of your life that you can't see or are unknown? He knows those too. He's already been there working out your tomorrows, the next worries that will hit your life. The next problem-filled hour, the next breath. He has the answers and has a well laid out pattern with your name on it. He knows the cloth fabric from which you were made. He created your substance; He was in your beginning. He's seen your starting point.  

He crafted you so beautifully in the inmost parts.   

He knows. He keeps your path behind you clear, and He has seen your winding journey ahead and insures your safety. He knows many minutes you have left.  He knows how long it will take to bring you Home.  He's mapped out your entire purpose-driven life. He knows the mountain-top moments that await and has already been in your valleys. He is the oasis in your deserts. He knows.

He hovers and dwells. 

So when God's Word says you are not alone, you can believe him. He doesn't abandon His own. He lives inside if you are a believer. He camps out and stands as a sentinel watch over you. He has you carefully hemmed by His grace and mercy. He lovingly protects, prevents, limits and actively orchestrates the all the fray and fringe areas to keep you enclosed because he loves you. Like a craftsman to his craft... He is loyal and dedicated to keeping close to us.

It feels right to be within his protective plan-filled hands. His hemming weaves a closer-knit relationship and provides a brightly colored layered of tapestry of protection.  God is not just on your borders, He is in your muddled middle too holding with His helping hands. Those strong hands are over and under you…surrounding you.  His hands bring deliverance, protection, power. It’s no wonder that David, the author of this Psalm, says next, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me . . .” (Psalm 139:6). I can't fathom.

God loves you and knows all about you. 

God has hemmed you.  

Stay in Psalm 139 a while.  

Are blown away yet?

 Search me, O God.

Why You Must Think I Am A Scrooge

WARNING....this is an anti-santa claus post.  I am not sad when I write this.  But this really happened.  You have been warned.  (insert your smile here)






You better watch out, You better not cry!  Better not pout, I'm telling you why....Santa Claus is coming to town!  He's making a list, And checking it twice; Gonna find out who's naughty and nice.  Santa Claus is coming to town!

When I was a little girl, I believed in Santa.  My middle name could have been Virginia! I swallowed the Santa-is-coming-to-town-fairy tale like a champ.  I really believed that a fat, white-bearded fellow, magically and wondrously, squeezed his red-suited-self down a chimney that we didn't have, to bring me the toys and bobbles that I had convinced myself I needed.  (That was a really long sentence, you better read it again).  I really believed there was someone who could do that.  I believed my parents when they told me this.  I also thought I believed in God.

So as a young naive girl of eight, when I came face to face with the truth that Santa Claus was just a nice story, I was crushed.  I know...I'm so trusting of some people, that I believe them no matter what they tell me.  My first thought was, upon realization was, "How can this be?  If this story is not true about Santa, then what about the baby Jesus?"  Ouch!

It took me several years to get over my hate for Santa, and but now I think he's just okay.  You can believe the Santa story if you want.  But for me and my family, we know it's just that...a nice holiday story.  I don't decorate with him and I honestly don't think he's that great.  Santa disappoints.   

The story of God becoming man in the form of a baby is wonderfully beautiful.  Pause to think about how the Creator of this universe, the Maker of the heavens, the earth and the stars, and you, became man in the form of a perfect innocent baby, born in a lowly, out of the way, stinking stable to be your Savior.  This is a true story that is hard to believe too but God never disappoints.  Come let us adore Him....only.  Read the real Christmas story.

P.S.   For fun....

You better watch out 

You better not cry
Better not pout
I'm telling you why
Jesus Christ is coming to town
He's making a list
And checking it twice;
Gonna find out who's naughty and nice
Jesus Christ is coming to town
He sees you when you're sleeping
He knows when you're awake
He knows if you've been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake!
O! You better watch out!
You better not cry
Better not pout
I'm telling you why....Jesus Christ is coming to town...Jesus Christ is coming.