I think two little words can change your whole outlook. Those two little words are this: thank you.

I’m learning that there are two ways to look at my life. One is to see all the things I don’t have and how I am still single and dateless and to be bitter and discouraged. The other way is to see what I do have in my family and friends. In other words, the perfect antidote to all my bitterness and discouragement and despair is an attitude of gratitude.

Learning to say, “Thank you” reminds me that I am not owed or entitled to anything, but that everything that I have and everything that comes my way is a gift. Even the air I breathe and my ability to breathe it is a gift. Every single heartbeat God gives me is a gift. The fact that I am not in hell right now is because of grace, and grace is the ultimate gift. I am utterly and completely dependent on God, so when anything good happens to me, all I can say is “Thank you.”

Learning to say, “Thank you” helps me to see God in my world. Everytime I choose to focus on the gifts, I can’t help but notice the Giver. Ultimately, I see that the greatest gift God gives me is Himself– all of Him dwelling inside me and transforming me from the inside out.

Finally, learning to say “Thank you” keeps me looking past the immediate present and the tyranny of the urgent to what is eternal and what really matters. I can even look at my suffering and setbacks and losses with the view that God only takes something away from me to give me something way better, either in this life or in Heaven. God works everything in my life and uses everything and everyone in my life for the good purpose of making me more like Jesus.

God has promised me that one day I will be finally and fully conformed into the image of Jesus. So thank you, God in advance!

May you learn the power of two little words to radically change the way you see your world. Start saying “Thank you” and see how your outlook is improved. If only for the fact that God is with you and for you and on your side, you have all the reason in the world to be thankful.

Amen and amen!

I’ve never like it when some one starts by saying, “Well, we’ve got some bad news and some good news. Which do you want first?” I’d say no to the bad news and “Yes, please” to the good. But I’ve discovered some of both about me.

First, the bad news is that I am not nearly as cured as I thought I was. I still fall back into old ways of thinking, those fears and doubts that are always nearby, waiting for a weakness in my defence to come in. I still have worst case senarios running through my mind and I still have fears that a particular friend is going to see me as I am and give up on me. The good news is that I am in the most capable Hands possible. I’m in the Hands of the Healer (to use the title of one of my favorite worship songs).

The bad news is that I can still think and say some rotten things. I can be completely selfish at times and hardly give a thought to God or His kingdom. I can put on a show and raise my hands in worship, all the while feeling numb inside. The good news is that Jesus has promised me that He will finish what He started in me and that I will one day look just like Him. And even on my worst days, I still catch glimpses of Jesus’ character being formed in me.

The bad news is that I am a sinner capable of anything you can imagine. I am no better than any rapist or murderer and it took as much of Jesus’ blood to cover me as it did them. The good news is that Jesus came to me. That He chose me and called me by my name and saved me. And that is the ultimate gospel, or good news, that trumps and bad news any day of the week.

Your bad news may look grim, but the good news is that God walks with you through your bad news and sees you come out on the other side more whole, more healed, and more like Jesus. He is not about to abandon you or give up on you. And that’s the best possible news you could have.

Amen and amen.

Yeah, I’ve pretty much decided that I will never be hip or trendy. By the time I catch on to what people are wearing, they are wearing something else. It’s much easier to be comfortable and nerdy, I think. Also, way less expensive.

I also was reminded of something. Every time I face disappointment or disilusionment, I can be frustrated or I can see in it a chance to die to myself and my own desires, plans, and ways of doing things. Not that those are bad, but they often stand in the way of God’s desires, plans and ways of doing things. Learning to die reminds me that I’m not in control, but God is. It also reminds me that this world is not home, but at best like a clean bus station.

So I’m learning to die.

When that someone I’m interested in is not interested back in the same way, it’s a chance to die.

When God’s promises for me seem delayed yet again, it’s a chance to die.

When my timetable is once again frustrated, it’s a chance to die.

I can look at so many setbacks and failures and challenges as obstacles in my way or as chances to die. It all depends on whether I factor God into my situation or not. I can see life as being all about me and get really bitter really fast, or see life as about God and His kingdom and be excited that I get to be a part of it.

Maybe it’s not about how I can fit God into my life and into my own story, but how God will fit me into His story (His story=history. Get it? See how clever I am? Ok, that was lame) It’s about God setting all things right again and how I get to be in on that.

So look at each of your problems and frustrations as a chance to die. See them as God’s way of growing you up a little. See them as a way you can look a little more like Jesus every single day.

Amen and amen.

I’ve always heard that diamonds are a girl’s best friend. Seems to me like that  makes for some pretty one-sided conversations. . . “So, Diamond, how’ve you been? Still sparkly, I see. . . .”

I was thinking about diamonds in a different way during my homeward trek today. My thoughts were all about how we are called to be like Jesus, but then my thoughts took a random detour (as they are wont to do at times). Perhaps, we each as individual believers reflect a different aspect of the character of Christ.

Each of us reflects an aspect or facet of Christ. Someone I know who feels led toward being a counselor reflects Christ as Wonderful Counselor. Someone else might reflect Christ as loving Shepherd. We each show a different angle of Who Christ is.

Even better, different people who look at us pick up different traits of Christ in us, depending on where they are in life and what they are going through. Like a diamond reflects light in a variety of ways, depending on how and where the light strikes, we reflect the glory and image of Christ in a variety of ways, depending on where we are in life or what we are doing.

Ideally, we collectively as  a body of believers give a complete picture of Christ. Unfortunately, due to to infighting and factions and shallow faith, we show off a very fractured picture of Christ and wonder why not that many people are drawn to Him. As we learn to live in a community of shared burdens, transparency, and vulnerability, the image of Christ we collectively display becomes more clear and the more people will want to be a part of what we have in Him.

I think weird thoughts sometimes, I know. But in this case, I truly think this was a picture from God to help me understand my part both as an individual believer and as a part of the body of Christ to show forth His glory and be His hands and feet and face to the world.

We are like diamonds. And what do diamonds do best? They shine and they sparkle and they dazzle. So may it be with us.

Amen and amen!

Come to Me all you who are broken, weary, scarred, and too weary to take another step, and I will give you rest.

Come to Me all who toss and turn and can’t sleep for all the thoughts in your head that won’t settle down, and I will give you peace of mind.

Come to Me all who replay past conversations in your mind where you get to take back things you wish you woudn’t have said and say the things you meant to say but couldn’t. I will remind you that what you fear is based on a lie that My perfect love has already cast out.

Come to Me now, and don’t wait until you are cleaned-up or composed or in a proper religious frame of mind. Come now, with your dirt and shame and scars and wounds undressed. Come to Me even though you feel more lost than ever. Don’t bring Me your excuses or promises. Just bring Me you.

And I will give you rest. I will take your fears and scatter them to the winds. I will show you the scars I bear from carrying your shame and guilt so you wouldn’t have to and tell you again that those scars and secrets and shame you hold on to were paid for by My blood.

I will walk beside you and show you the way. I will be in you and I will be the Way. My yoke is so much lighter than the weight you carry, for in my yoke are all your deepest dreams and desires fulfilled and come to life. Everything you looked for in empty relationships and trivial pursuits and chasing after everything else you find in Me. All the peace and the joy and the delight and the contenment are in Me.

Don’t wait until you think you’re good enough or you will never come at all. Come now. I will take care of the healing and transformation. It’s what I do best. My love will consume and captivate and ravish and take you over until my image is formed in you and you are more free to be yourself than ever before.

Don’t argue. Just come. Don’t try to figure it all out and get it systematically categorized. Just come. Don’t wait another second.

Just come as you are.

Never say that you can’t change. That you’ve tried and tried to break old bad habits and form new good ones, but it hasn’t worked and therefore it won’t work.

Never say that you have nothing left to learn or discover and that you have God and your theology neatly definted and packaged into a system that you can understand.

Never say that you are beyond hope, even when everyone around you seems to think so and even when some of those have told you so. Never think for a moment that you are too far from God’s reach.

Never say that your addiction or stronghold or struggle has beaten you and that you will never overcome it.

Never say that God has stopped loving you and has given up on you.

Never say never to those dreams and goals that seem unreachable and hopelessly out of sight right now.

ALWAYS believe that the love of Jesus, given time, can change ANYTHING or ANYONE, regardless of where they are. It’s not up to you or your strength or your willpower to make change happen; all it takes is your surrender and openness to let God do whatever He wants in you.

ALWAYS know that as long as you live you will never begin to know all there is to know about God and His ways. Even eternity won’t exhaust the deep well of riches and wisdom that are in God. We will spend eternity fathoming the depths of His love for us and still not come to the bottom.

ALWAYS believe that while God is still God and while He is still good, you will always have hope. There is NOTHING you can do that will cause God to quit on you.

ALWAYS know that those in Christ have already overcome the world and sin. Not only can you overcome your addictions and strongholds, you can through the blood of Jesus be triumphant over them. All it takes is falling at His feet and admitting your absolute dependence, not on the addictions or strongholds, but on Jesus.

ALWAYS believe that God has promised that He will finish what He started in you and He will never be finished with you (in the sense of His walking away in disgust). God has promised to NEVER leave or forsake or stop loving you or stop conforming you into the image of Jesus and God hasn’t broken a promise yet (and He ain’t about to start now!)

ALWAYS know that a God-given dream ALWAYS comes to pass. Believe that if God doesn’t make your dream come true, He has a much better dream in His heart for you. If your goals don’t succeed, know that His goals for you WILL. And His goals don’t end with you. They start with you and end with the whole world hearing about the good news of Jesus.

Never give up or give in, but ALWAYS throw yourself at the mercy and grace of God and ALWAYS surrender to Him and whatever He wants for you. ALWAYS know that God is in you, with you, for you, and on your side.

Amen and amen!

“When you respond in your current circumstances as if you were confident that God is there, you will see God in the circumstances” (Pete Wilson).

One thing I’ve learned over the past year is that I don’t know it all (a real shocker, I know). In fact, there seems to be more and more I am finding out that I don’t know that either I thought I knew or didn’t know I needed to know. Did that make any sense?

The point is that I am learning to have a  teachable spirit. When you or I cease to have a teachable spirit, we are in a very dangerous place and prone to falling into all sorts of error and temptation and wrong choices. When I say I have learned all I need to know and don’t need any more from God or from anyone else, I quickly become not only useless to my faith, but even a detriment to it. People are turned off by me.

A teachable spirit says that there is no person that doesn’t have something to teach me. Every single person, viewed with God’s perspective, has something to speak into my life. Even those people who make me uncomfortable. Especially those who make me uncomfortable. It all depends on whether I am open to what God has to teach me through this person.

A teachable spirit says that no matter where I go, God is there and He is speaking. Am I listening? Am I able to find pockets of silence where I can be still long enough to recognize that still, small Voice and heed what it is saying to me? If I am surrendered and available and willing to learn, I find God speaks through anyone and everything around me.

A teachable spirit says that I can learn something from all I’ve done and all that’s been done to me. Every experience, every hurt, every heartbreak, every joy, every victory has made me who I am and if I look with the right set of eyes, I can see God in each and every one of them.

So my prayer for you is that you are not only teachable, but that you are in each moment expecting to learn something new from God. Be open to whatever and whomever God puts in your path. And the best way to learn is to take what God teaches you and pass it along to someone else. God allowed those events in your past so that you can comfort and encourage and bless those going through the same trials and troubles. In all, practice the art of looking for and thanking God in everything. Then you will see Him in everything.

Amen and amen!

One thing I’ve learned in my walk of faith is to never say never to Jesus. What I mean is to never say never to anything He is calling me to (and to always say never to sin– that’s pretty much a ‘duh’!) But somethings I will never say never to again.

Never say never to that relationship that seems beyond hope of reviving or restoration. Never give up on that person who’s thrown in the towel and walked out on you.

Never say never to that dream God has placed in your heart that seems impossible right now. Don’t quit even though the vision is so far away you can’t even see it anymore.

Never say never to the place of service that is far outside your comfort zone. Never say what you will or won’t do for God, because one day you just might have to eat those words.

Never say never to that person who annoys or irritates or makes you uncomfortable. Never believe for one moment that God can’t use you in a mighty way in that person’s life and that you might be the catalyst for a miraculous transformation in that person’s life.

Never say never to any place where God is working. Never put limits on how far you will go for God, whether those limits be geograpgical or emotional or any other kind of limit.

Always say an unconditional YES to God, no matter what the question or the demand.

Always have your eyes open, your hands ready to receive, your feet ready to move, your arms ready to embrace, your soul open for God’s love to flow through.

Always believe that for God nothing is impossible, and what seems impossible to you and me is ridiculously easy to God. In fact, one of God’s specialties is turning impossibilities into realities.

So keep believing for that relationship, that dream, that person, that calling. Keep trusting in the God who works ALL things together for the good of those who love Him. Keep hoping that while you are still breathing that grace never runs out and it’s never too late to start over and that every one of those breaths is a second chace and a fresh start.

Keep believing when common sense tells you not to. God is faithful and He will NEVER give up on you. He will NEVER abandon you. He will NEVER stop until you are conformed into the image of Christ. He will NEVER concede defeat. He will NEVER walk away from His work or His people. He will ALWAYS be God and He will ALWAYS be for you and with you and in you.

Amen and amen!