I love the beautiful parallels and foreshadows written in the stories of the Old Testament and the way they point to Jesus. Jesus Himself taught His disciples after the resurrection and opened the scriptures to them, showing how the Messiah was foretold throughout all of the law and prophets (Luke 24:27). The more we study the Bible, especially the Old Testament, the more it’s clear - it’s not just a collection of nice stories for Sunday school. God, the author of our faith, is telling a grand story that has continuity and purpose in its entirety.
Read MoreREMEMBERING THE GOODNESS OF GOD
Every time we check the news or open up social media we are bombarded with just one perspective - bad news. I find my heart rate increasing or my anxiety growing when I read all the trigger words that seem to be placed in headlines to cause just that kind of reaction.
Bad news is on the rise and it feels like we are all being targeted by fear.
Read MoreTHE COMFORT OF THE SCRIPTURES
I crack open my Bible to a well worn page. It’s seen many years of my eyes, sometimes scanning, sometimes seeking, sometimes crying. There are markings from past seasons and a few wrinkles from use and time (and maybe a toddler’s helpful hands).
I love the simple beauty that the Bible holds - no matter how many times you read it there’s always something new waiting to be revealed to you…
Read MoreHOPE IN THE MIDST OF UNCERTAINTY
COVID-19 has us all on overload with information and uncertainty. It can be overwhelming.
During this time of an overload of information and plentiful opinions, I want to encourage us all to turn our attention to the only opinion that matters: The Lord's opinion and what He says in His Word.
It's time to get deeply and personally rooted in the Word of God- not just for the sake of more knowledge - but to know the heart of Jesus.
Beyond this current pandemic, we have to see our lives in the context of a greater narrative and an everlasting hope. Times of trouble are certain. Times of victory are certain. We can't be disillusioned to thinking either happens exclusively.
Really, our lives of belief and faith only truly make sense in the context of difficulty. It is because we have a certain hope (Ephesians 1:18) that we can "endure to the end" (Matthew 24:13) --- but not just barely making it --- actually running the race with JOY and STRENGTH even in the midst of suffering, difficulty, and trial (James 1) until the Day of the Lord - the Day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:6).
WHAT WE WILL BE HAS NOT YET APPEARED
That’s how the Bible says it in 1 John 3.
We don’t yet know who this child is, what they will be like, how their voice will sound, what their personality will be — but after this 9 month journey in the womb, we will then see him/her face-to-face. We don’t yet KNOW this child, but we DO know that he/she is ours, belongs to us, and will bear our image.
Our immediate lifespan is really like a “womb” experience. (I say “immediate lifespan” to refer to our years of life in this age before we are with Christ — really, you have an eternal lifespan). In the next age, when the Lord has come and we are in our resurrected bodies, then we will truly be “born again” and be seen as for who we truly are.
I’ve been pondering this and think there’s so much parallel between this ~9 month womb experience and our ~90 year life experience.
Read MoreHOW JUDAH GOT HIS NAME
In the summer of 2016, when I was just engaged to be married and before babies were even on my mind, Blake and I heard a Bible teacher sharing from the story of Rachel and Leah in Genesis 29. Leah was unloved and unnoticed by her husband Jacob, even though she was bearing children, while Rachel the favored wife, was not. With each son Leah bore, she expressed her anguish and hope through the name she gave them. Rueban: “Maybe this time I will be loved.” Simeon: “Now the Lord has heard me”. Levi: “Maybe this time my husband will become attached to me”. But despite her hopes and many sons born to Jacob, her circumstances did not change. She was a woman with unmet expectations and in a painful relationship. With the three previous sons she expressed her desire for her life to change, but finally, when she had her son Judah, she said “this time I will praise the Lord”. She stopped trying to get her circumstances to change and instead her heart changed. She chose to praise the Lord before the anwer to her years of longing came. So she named her son Judah which sounds like the Hebrew word “to Praise”.
Read MoreHE DOESN'T FORGET
Just a few weeks ago a hurricane battered the Texas coast and dropped trillions of gallons of water across many cities surrounding Houston. Ya'll remember that, right? The damage is still being assessed and water is still receding in places.
I'm not really one for writing about current topics, and well, I guess if it was 2 weeks ago it could hardly be called "current". And though everyone has probably already read their fill of social media posts and blogs and news sources about Harvey, I did have a few thoughts I feel are worth sharing.
Read MoreTHE BLESSING OF LIFE - AND THE ENEMY WHO IS STEALING IT
Is is possible to be in love with someone you've never met?
There's a little boy I keep having dreams about. I kiss his cheeks and make him smile and laugh. I hold him close while I walk down a beautiful wooded lane. I sway back and forth with him in my arms as I sing in Church during worship. And I wake up knowing that he's the most precious gift in the world to me. My heart is undone, unwoven by love for a boy whose debut is still a few months out.
Read MoreWHY THE WORLD DOESN'T NEED ANOTHER BLOG
It's true. The world doesn't need another blog. We don't need more voices making noise. If that's true though, and there are already so many people who are tweeting and blogging and posting and sharing, what's the point in my attempt to find my voice amidst it all?
That question has literally shut me down and kept me silent for much too long. I have wrestled over and over, wondering if anything I do or say really matters. But when I look at the Father and I ask myself who I am, I come to the conclusion that I am a writer. I am a writer and I just can't help it. I am a writer and it doesn't matter what everyone else is.
Read MoreFINDING THE RHYTHM
He's my constant rhythm. The more I talk to Him as a habit, the more I can hear that faint tapping that keeps me steady as I do everything else. When I practiced those rhythm patterns over and over it wasn't much fun, but now as I play I am finding an awareness of the beat. I feel the tempo and my left hand feels led by it, not dominated, like a subtle nudge that keep things sounding beautiful.
Read MoreQUIET VICTORIES
Thinking back to a little journal entry I made. Do you ever find yourself having to make consistent and hidden choices to believe? To love? To have faith?
This is what the Father believes about those moments.
"I love those quiet victories. The ones nobody else sees. The little choices to believe. That's where the ground is gained, where the battles are won and the tide is turned. It's not extravagant, its not overwhelming, but its real."
Keep making your quiet victories today. It is worth it.
BABY KICKS AND GROWING IN SECRET
For hidden weeks and unseen months I have been tending something on the inside. I have been growing something that no one else can see. The beginning stages may have had turmoil and upheaval, the temptation to surrender to exhaustion so real, but all the while when no one was watching, I was growing. And now, I'm starting to catch glimpses of that growth, in quiet moments when my heart gets still. So subtle I barely notice at first, but a single flutter can give me unexpected joy. There's life in me.
Read MoreKNOWING HIS GOALS
Father, what is your goal for me?
This is a question that will be answered, and answered over again, in quiet moments with Him; in stillness, on soft days, when my heart is up against His chest. It's a question that's going to be worn down like my favorite dog-eared page in my favorite book. Marked with a 'forever-ness' that I don't quite grasp.
Read MoreWORTH THE WAVES
It's always a little harder to trust God outside of the boat.
See the story of Peter in Matthew 14:22-33.
We often find ourselves saying, "what the heck am I doing out here?" as we start to sink. And then when we look back up at Jesus we realize He's the reason we left the boat in the first place and that being closer to Him is always worth the waves.
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