I Love Trees

“ Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,

      And whose hope is the Lord.

      For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters,  

      Which spreads out its roots by the river,

      And will not fear when heat comes;

      But its leaf will be green,

      And will not be anxious in the year of drought,

      Nor will cease from yielding fruit."

      Jeremiah 17:7-8

 

Death is Not Easy

The Habit of Rising to the Occasion

This is from one of last week's daily excerpts from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers.

"That ye may know what is the hope of His calling . . ." Ephesians 1:18

You cannot do anything for your salvation, but you must do something to manifest it, you must work out what God has worked in. Are you working it out with your tongue, and your brain and your nerves? If you are still the same miserable crosspatch, set on your own way, then it is a lie to say that God has saved and sanctified you.

God is the Master Engineer, He allows the difficulties to come in order to see if you can vault over them properly - "By my God have I leaped over a wall." God will never shield you from any of the requirements of a son or daughter of His. Peter says - "Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you." Rise to the occasion; do the thing. It does not matter how it hurts as long as it gives God the chance to manifest Him self in your mortal flesh.

May God not find the whine in us any more, but may He find us full of spiritual pluck and athleticism, ready to face anything He brings. We have to exercise ourselves in order that the Son of God may be manifested in our mortal flesh. God never has museums. The only aim of the life is that the Son of God may be manifested, and all dictation to God vanishes. Our Lord never dictated to His Father, and we are not here to dictate to God; we are here to submit to His will so that He may work through us what He wants. When we realize this, He will make us broken bread and poured out wine to feed and nourish others.

Passion

What makes you tick?  We all have something inside of us that brings us alive and sparks a fire in our hearts.  Now, I know God does that in our hearts and serving Him is what places a passion in us but, how are you made to serve him the best?  I can almost guarantee that what sparks a fire inside of you is what God has placed there for you to use to serve Him.  For me, surprising as it is, it's dancing.  There is something in my heart that just feels SO alive when I am free enough to dance.  There are other things that really burn a passion in this heart of mine, mostly involving art, but to dance is to be in line with the heart of my Father. 

What makes me sad is that I don't dance.  Not because I am missing out (though that makes me upset too) but to know that I could bless the Father's heart so much by doing what I am made to do.  I think there are multiple factors in why I don't dance anymore but I am choosing to do so now.  I long for it.  Maybe there is even a part of me that knows I am complete when I am praising God with the passion He has given me.

What are you made to do that blesses the Father's heart?  Don't know? Ask Him!

"Let Love Love"

I wish I could sit down with each one of you reading this and share what I've been learning in the last few days.  For some reason, I can't bring myself to even try to write everything down in a blog.  It's impossible to capture it all in a few paragraphs.

We have been made worthy of love and given the capability to give it out...freely.  I'm learning what it means to live in love, no matter what.  It is one of the greatest risks we take and the most beautiful.  To love is to truly live.  The lyrics bellow are from a song my friend wrote, it says a lot of what I need to hear and my heart's message for others.
*Side note: You should check Julie out on iTunes! She just released an album last month and it's SO good! You'll love it :)

LET LOVE by Julie Tiehen

She says my beauty isn’t safe
I’ll get used, I’d rather hide away
So she hides behind eyes that never cry
Fakes her smiles
Lives a lie, she lives a lie

And the fear of love is guarding her
But the need for love is calling her
In her heart a voice says...

Let love love, love, let love love
ohh
let love love, love, let love love

He says i don’t know my place
And I’m afraid I don’t have what it takes
He runs, plays with guns
But never tries and never fights for what is right
It isn’t right

Cause the fear of love is guarding him
But the need for love is calling him
In his heart a voice says...

Let love love, Love, let love love
ohh
Let love love, Love, let love love

You say I’ve been hurt before
I know better now
I wanna open up the door
You fight it
You hide it
Keep quiet in your heart

You’re so alone you’re so alone
But some day the fear that holds your heart
Won’t hold you anymore
And on that day your need for love
Will overcome your need to be safe

And you’ll finally let love love....let love love.

Dirty Feet, Beautiful Journey

We had our silent retreat this weekend.  It was a lot different than I expected but I saw Jesus in a whole new, more intimate light and that's all I could ever ask for. 

History and Relationship & Justice and Unity

Yesterday in class one of the first things Jeremy said was, "History is indispensable to relationship."  I can't deny that I was a bit cynical toward the statement. I mean history is factual and boring but, relationship....relationship is beautiful, dynamic, stretching, makes memories and........wait....what?

Memories imply some type of historical background.  If we didn't have a history with someone we would never have a relationship with them.  If we did not have beautiful (and even rough moments) from the past we would have nothing to base our relationships off of.  So how much more of a relationship can we see within God and the memories He's made with the world?  His love, His judgment, compassion, strength, mercy...the list goes on forever.  I challenge us all to look into our pasts and even history recorded and let the times of pleasure and the times of growth to come flowing back.  For some, thinking this way is almost impossible because the hard times.  My challenge (as I was challenged myself) to you is to look back at those times and ask God where He was and how He moved. 

I wrote the first half earlier today and my heart is somewhere else now. 

Please watch this video.  Let it affect you; get angry, let your heart break, feel for these captive ones...

Now do something.  Anything. Just sharing with someone about the facts of what you've just watched can impact this horrible industry.  Research.  Anything that spreads the word.  Let's stand together, let's make a difference!

Hope

So often when I feel hopeless I lose sight of where my hope truly comes from.  There is always hope in the Lord and I can always find it within His word, scriptural and in the Word, Jesus.  Within hope there is joy and within joy there is peace and within peace I tend to find restoration.  Our hope does not present itself within circumstance but within the beauty of our King and the desire to serve Him.