A GOOD DAY TO DIE

I did it again today. I told myself I wouldn't do it again...that I finally "got it" and there is no need to try to vindicate myself. But, when accusations sail straight for my heart, I have a very strong tendency to self preserve. I know that is "normal". I know that is what "everyone" does. But I am humbled once again in the reality that it is not the way Love would respond.

To be misunderstood is a dark valley. We can use all of our energy trying to right that wrong...but, in the end, the only thing that counts is Love. The eyes of our Lord can see clearly into those dark valleys. He knows the way that we take. He alone knows our true intentions. He alone knows the true weight of being accused.

So, I get up and dust myself off, for there is enough grace today to forgive myself and my accuser, for both failing to  respond with Love.

Tomorrow I will ask for the grace to "die to myself, for Love's sake...and there in the darkness of the next valley...I will find LIFE, my life...the one I was created to live.

For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will save it. Luke 9:24

LIVING A HALF TRUTH

I began my journey as a perfectionist. If you want to have the soup beat out of you...then that is the way to start - NOT!

 

 I had been given the invitation of a lifetime to come and experience real life, real Love. The problem was I brought my old life experiences into the mix, instead of leaving them at the door. Love's invitation was written on grace, but I had not even made it through the doorway of the new covenant, before I exchanged it for a book of law.

How was I to know how costly that exchange would be? I looked around at others who had been invited into the grace room and saw them clutching their book of law as tightly as I held mine. I'm sure there must have been some there who had not made the same mistake...but I did not see them. Of course, I did not know to even look.

I have recently had the joy of walking alongside another who has accepted Love's invitation. The responsibility I feel, for helping her to navigate through this same doorway to the grace room is sobering. How much anguish and lost time would I have been spared if someone had come alongside me and shown me that a book of law is not needed in this Kingdom. In Love's Kingdom grace is ALL that is needed!

I can't site a specific date or time, but somewhere along the weary path I gave up that old worn and tear stained book of law. It's a thousand wonders I hadn't given up with all the failures that I suffered. Perfectionism did not make the path anything more than a living hell, to be honest. I WANTED to be perfect, to do it perfectly...but like those of the old testament...it just wasn't in me to do it...let alone perfectly!

I'm sure all of heaven must have stood in silence when they saw the biggest hard-head of all time, begin to catch a glimpse of grace and it's freedom. Grace is what God gives us. It is never accomplished through our trying (trust me, I know this one)! It is a gift. It is available to everyone who receives Love's invitation. It was given to replace that old book of law. Actually, it was given when Love came on the scene...for grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ( John 1:17)

If your trying to live truth without grace, you're only living a very frustrated half truth. Truth is: there is no truth without grace! Truth is, if you have never accepted grace, you have never 'truly accepted' Love's invitation, for you cannot have One without the Other!

Words to Live By

 

What if He meant "every" word He had ever spoken?

Actually, He only lived 33 short years, but volumes upon volumes have been written for centuries about the sounds He uttered while He walked on earth.

So, what if He did mean every word He ever spoke?

I pose the question to you because He posed the question to me. My response was silence. There was a knowing in my gut that not only did I know the answer...I should be living the answer.

Knowing the answer and living the answer look very different for me. I have purposed to see the two become one. It is a life long journey. Actually, it took my very plain life and has made it one of wild adventure. Life can't help but look different when you determine to believe you are who He says you are and you can do what He said you could do.

I have found the greatest challenge as a believer is not what I need to learn, but what I need to unlearn! How many times have I swept through scripture, reading what I believe, rather than believing what I read?!

How many times have my thoughts and actions revealed that I don't believe what I hold as truth in my heart?

I have been told that wisdom is when the heart and the mind come into agreement.

When they are in opposition there is dissonance. When there is dissonance in the song of my life, my life is out of harmony with all of creation and with my Creator. The journey is ever before me, but, I long and purpose to sing in harmony with Him. To Him who sings over me with dancing!

                                                          DEALING WITH LIES

The lie has been perpetuated for eons, actually since the beginning of time. You’ve heard it from the world, and sadly enough, even from the church to some extent. You know, the lie that says that God is a cruel task master, a fault finder and condemner. We have been made to believe that He is mad at us over our sin and His job is to make us pay! We are reminded that He sees all and He knows all and therefore we are stripped bare before Him. Everything we have ever done or even thought about doing is exposed to His ever accusing eye! There is no wonder that we have avoided Him like the plague.

Truth be known, we are already too aware of our own sin, even that which we have done in the dark and have hidden out of sight. No one needs a spotlight to help them see what their soul already convicts them of. We may not ever let it pass through our lips, but we “know” we are condemned and we are left hopeless in our inability to change. No matter how fast we run, no matter how far we go, our “not enough” is like a dark shadow we cannot shake. So in vain we try to run from Him, from the one who is all knowing – all seeing. We are certain that we could never survive His judgments.

Can I tell you a secret? He doesn’t want to hand you judgment, but rather His mercy. His heart is NOT to judge you, but to forgive you. In case you have never heard that before, let me say it again. His heart is NOT to judge you, but extend His mercy to you. It’s true that sin has to be paid for. That is why He sent Jesus. The price has already been paid! Jesus came and offered His perfect life in ransom for our wretched one. It makes no sense to the human mind, but then perfect love does not originate in the mind, but from His perfect heart.

Can I tell you another secret? He has the most loving heart of any you will ever know! It supersedes anything you have ever imagined. We’ve never known love like His before. He longs to exchange our filthy rags for His riches. He knew we would mess up and He made a way of escape. He.does.not.want.to.judge.you! He longs only to rescue you!

So don’t listen to the voice yelling at you to run from Him. Rather, listen to His voice which is beckoning you to run toward Him and you will be saved. The day I stopped running was the best day of my life! In His arms you will not find even a hint of condemnation or shame but a wild love for you and radical forgiveness. He’s waiting for you with His arms stretched wide. Won’t you run? I guarantee, it will be the best moment of your life! Run!