It does feel like that sometimes. You never know what to believe. I think they change their minds at least once every five or so years as to what’s good and what’s bad for you. I think the solution is to eat what you like in moderation. And I do think that chocolate is good for you. Since it comes from a bean which comes from a plant, that makes it a salad, and salads are very good for you, right?
“…so this is the thing for today:Instead of focusing on the hurdles ahead of you today,
Focus on Him beside you,
Instead of depending on your plans for the day,
depend on His power for this moment.
Instead of being tempted to give up, or give into fear,
give thanks — this gives Him glory.
Instead of trying to do it all
Simply let Him be your all.
The practice of giving thanks — the daily, intentional *practice* of thanks —
this is the way we practice the presence of God,
this is the way we stay present to His presence.
So maybe let’s exhale together and remember?
If you can breathe and murmur your thanks,
it’s still a mighty good day” (Ann Voskamp). #1000Gifts #ChooseJoy
The more I shift my attention from me to God, the better off I am. My problems don’t seem as big in the light of the grandness of God and my worries seem small in the ever present sufficiency of Christ. I can breathe a little easier and enjoy the moments instead of fretting away the hours. When I fix my gaze on God, it’s always a mighty good day.
“I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me. He freed me from all my fears.
Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy; no shadow of shame will darken their faces.
In my desperation I prayed, and the Lord listened; he saved me from all my troubles.
For the angel of the Lord is a guard; he surrounds and defends all who fear him.” (Psalm 34:4-7).
I think I’ve mentioned before that I heard a sermon from an African-American preacher where he said that fear stood for False Evidence Appearing Real. That’s the truth right there. Most of what I’ve worried about or been anxious about has simply not come to pass. A lot more of what I was afraid of ended up being not nearly as bad as my fears made it out to be.
Still, I have moments of anxiety and fear. It’s ingrained in me. I know that even the bravest still have fear, but choose to act anyway. Not out of the absence of fear but in spite of it. I often remind myself that God is bigger and stronger and better than anything I will ever be afraid of and Jesus has already overcome on the cross anything that could ever come against me. Nothing slips outside of God’s provenance.
I’m thankful God hears my fearful prayers. I’m eternally grateful that He hears even when I have no words.
“When John Kavanaugh, the noted and famous ethicist, went to Calcutta, he was seeking Mother Teresa … and more. He went for three months to work at ‘the house of the dying’ to find out how best he could spend the rest of his life.
When he met Mother Teresa, he asked her to pray for him. ‘What do you want me to pray for?’ she replied. He then uttered the request he had carried thousands of miles: ‘Clarity. Pray that I have clarity.’
‘No,’ Mother Teresa answered, ‘I will not do that.’ When he asked her why, she said, ‘Clarity is the last thing you are clinging to and must let go of.’ When Kavanaugh said that she always seemed to have clarity, the very kind of clarity he was looking for, Mother Teresa laughed and said: ‘I have never had clarity; what I have always had is trust. So I will pray that you trust God.'”
Sometimes, I think it would be so nice to have the entire roadmap of my life laid out before me so that I knew exactly what was coming and what to expect. I could rest a lot easier and have less anxiety knowing the outcome. But that’s not how God works.
God knows I couldn’t handle knowing all of my future. He knows just as well that if I knew everything, I wouldn’t feel my need for God or sense His provision as much. It’s like when I turn on the flashlight app on my phone. It’s not like I can suddenly see everything. I can typically see what’s in front of me where I’m shining my light. I know where to take my next steps. Then I adjust the light and I can see a little more.
That’s how God works. He shows me just enough to take the next step of obedience and faith. What lies beyond may be a mystery to me, but it is not to God. That’s why I trust God and let Him lead one step at a time. I don’t need clarity for my journey, but trust for the next step.
I hope you and yours are having a wonderful Halloween. By that, I hope you get to dress up as Baby Yoda and go knock on complete strangers’ doors for candy. Preferably chocolate.
If you get any Reese’s Peanut Butter cups, please send some or all of them my way. Those are my absolute favorites.
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The waiting is the hardest part, says the old Tom Petty song. How true that is. I mean, it’s easy to wait passively with folded hands and no effort. It’s another thing to wait by trusting God and being obedient with the next step He’s given you. It’s one thing to do nothing and another to keep putting one foot in front of the other when every part of you is wanting to quit.
I think waiting means that instead of wanting a way out of your circumstances, you instead ask, “What are You trying to teach me here? How can this change me for the better instead of me changing my address?”
God is faithful. Waiting is a way of reinforcing your trust and reminding yourself of all the previous times when God has shown up for you.
Wait on the Lord. Take heart. Let a few others into your struggles. Don’t fight alone. Pray for the courage to wait well and not give up.
“I believe, to be sure, that any man who reaches Heaven will find that what he abandoned (even in plucking out his right eye) has not been lost: that the kernel of what he was really seeking even in his most depraved wishes will be there, beyond expectation, waiting for him in ‘the High Countries’. In that sense it will be true for those who have completed the journey (and for no others) to say that good is every- thing and Heaven everywhere. But we, at this end of the road, must not try to anticipate that retrospective vision. If we do, we are likely to embrace the false and disastrous converse and fancy that everything is good and everywhere is Heaven.
But what, you ask, of earth? Earth, I think, will not be found by anyone to be in the end a very distinct place. I think earth, if chosen instead of Heaven, will turn out to have been, all along, only a region in Hell: and earth, if put second to Heaven, to have been from the beginning a part of Heaven itself” (C. S. Lewis, The Great Divorce).
It’s Friday Eve again, and that means it’s time for a little corny humor. I hope you’ve had a good week so far. If not, you still have the weekend to look forward to. Also, you have this bad cow joke hopefully to make you smile — or groan.
So there’s this TV show called The Chosen. Well, it’s more of a web-based series, but it’s phenomenal. It’s a series based on the life of Jesus, but it doesn’t look or feel like any other treatment of the Messiah, whether big-screen adaptation or mini-series or otherwise. These Biblical characters seem more fleshed out, more real, than any others I’ve seen.
It’s Biblical, but through the lens of creative imagination. While not every single line or scene is directly word-for-word from the Gospels, there’s nothing that goes against what Matthew, Mark, Luke or John wrote. It feels sacred yet very much fresh and alive. Plus, the actors look like they could actually have been from that part of the world that Jesus lived in during His earthly ministry, unlike the blond-haired blue eyed Jesus we’ve seen in a few film versions.
I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but I can testify that after watching the show, reading the Gospels has taken on a different perspective. I can see these characters as I read through Luke and then John. I can hear their voices and replay scenes in my mind associated with particular miracles or interactions from the Gospel accounts.
So far, there have been two seasons released. They just announced that a special Christmas episode will be forthcoming in the next few weeks. In fact, it will be available to view in select theaters with tickets going on sale on October 29. Here’s the link in case you’re curious:
“There is no such thing as the right place, the right job, the right calling or ministry. I can be happy or unhappy in all situations. I am sure of it, because I have been. I have felt distraught and joyful in situations of abundance as well as poverty, in situations of popularity and anonymity, in situations of success and failure. The difference was never based on the situation itself, but always on my state of mind and heart. When I knew I was walking with God, I always felt happy and at peace. When I was entangled in my own complaints and emotional needs, I always felt restless and divided” (Henri J. M. Nouwen).
How true is that? How many times have I thought that if I could get to a different season of life or to a new job or to a less stressful set of circumstances I would finally be happy and at peace? How often do I concentrate on changing my surroundings and never once give a thought to how God might be using my surroundings to change me?
Most of the time, I say I want to change, but not at the expense of my comfort and convenience. A famous writer once said that as long as your cry for relief is stronger than your cry for a changed heart, you’re never gonna grow up. That’s convicting, for sure. I can’t tell you how often in the past I’ve prayed for relief when God was wanting to change my heart.
My prayer tonight is “God, whatever it takes. I know that it will be more than worth it.”
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