Holding It All Together

I had another epiphany of sorts as I was driving home from my life group tonight. It was one of those perfect Spring nights before the sticky humidity descends and decides to stay until October. I had Willie Nelson singing me home and I was meditating on what we had just talked about in our Bible study earlier. Then this thought hit me:

When you’re barely able to hold it together, remember Who is holding you together. Maybe it’s not so much about holding yourself together as it is holding on to God who can hold you together so much better than you ever could.

I thought back to what Mike Glenn said about the glory of God. Glory comes from a Hebrew word that carries the idea of gravity or weight. He said that in essence, God is the only One worthy of worship because He is the only One capable of keeping all the bits and pieces of your life from flying apart.

Idolatry is expecting anything or anyone to hold your world in orbit other than God. Sooner or later (hopefully sooner), you will find out the hard way that nothing and no one else can.

Some of you are finding out how true this is right now. It’s one thing to know about something intellectually and quite another to know from having lived through it. As much as I hate to say it, all of us will probably at some point find out in experience how true this is. Thankfully, God’s promises and words to us always hold up even under the most trying of times.

If you’re there, my advice is don’t try to be a Lone Ranger. Let other people in and then when your world gets better, look for people who might need your encouragement and support.

That’s all I have for tonight. As always, I believe. Help my unbelief.

 

 

 

 

More Things I’m Thankful For

If I took the time to focus on what I have instead of what I lack, I’d be so much better off. I really do have so much that I take for granted and what I think I need probably won’t even matter to me in five years– or five months.

So here’s another list of things I’m grateful for:

1) Beautiful Spring nights where the air has a hint of people grilling out.

2) Baseball games where the home team wins.

3) Good friends to share the night and the game with.

4) Another day to be alive.

5) That God is still in me and with me and for me.

6) Driving home with the windows down and good music playing loud.

7) That God’s future for me is so much bigger and wilder and more amazing than my little mind can yet imagine or conceive.

8) Friends who show grace instead of judgment and give second chances instead of shutting me out.

9) For those moments of serendipity when I run into friends old and new and remember how blessed I am to have them in my life.

10) For Sweet CeCe’s and more specifically their flavor, Southern Sweet Velvet (formerly known as Red Velvet).

11) For that amazing gluten-free chocolate chip cookie that I had last night at The Frothy Monkey.

12) That I’ve lost 31 pounds despite eating the above foods.

13) That I’m actually in better shape than I was when I was in high school.

14) That I care less what other people think of me and much more of what God thinks of me.

15) That my Abba Father is still very fond of me and still chooses to call me his Beloved.

16) For therapy sessions with my cat Lucy sleeping in my lap.

17) That there is absolutely nothing that will separate me from God’s love, nothing he hasn’t overcome by the cross, and nothing that he can turn into something beautiful and glorious.

 

9) For good coffee drinks and friends to share it with.

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