Faithful Fridays ~ Life is Not a Dress Rehearsal.

Helllooo, everyone!  I hope you've had a great week so far!  :)




Faithful Fridays is a weekly linky party hosted on my blog. I made it so that Christians could have one special day out of the week (Friday) to share something from their Christian walk on their blog. If you'd like to participate, write your post, grab the button from the Faithful Fridays page on my blog (so that it will link back here), and come link up at the bottom of this post! :)

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You know how sometimes, we get so caught up in our routines, and life gets so crazy, that it actually gets in the way of...well...life?  
It's like we get so busy trying to make life perfect that we stop living it.  We plan and plan and we forget to take advantage of what's lying right before us.  We get so busy planning what we want to do for our career that we forget to pursue the interests and passions God has given us.  We get so busy trying to figure out how to do our hair and what to wear for that event that it ends up being more stressful than enjoyable, like it was planned to be.  We get so busy trying to figure out how we're going to get to Bible study that we forget to love those right in front of us in that moment.  Before we know it, so many days have passed, and yet we aren't really living life the way Jesus came to give it. 

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." -John 10:10

Jesus' words to us--words about following Him, loving and forgiving others, giving of ourselves, and being a servant--weren't just words.  They weren't just friendly suggestions.  They weren't even good moral lessons.  They were a new way to live life; the best way!  And shouldn't Jesus know what abundant life really is?  He is the embodiment of it, after all, the Son of God, who created life!  

"Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me." -John 14:6

Jesus came to give us life, and to show us a new way, the best way, to live it.  His way is sort of a reverse economy kind of thing--other people tell us, and we tell ourselves, that to have more means to be happy.  That to serve yourself means to be satisfied.  That to be in a perfectly still place with no problems or conflicts is the way to have peace.  That to forgive is to lose.  That to have a boyfriend or girlfriend is to be content.  That to do what you feel like is freedom.  That to follow God is to be a slave, tied down to rules and regulations.
But have you ever looked at someone who should have it all?
I'm thinking about people like Elvis.  
And Whitney Houston.
Miley Cyrus.  
People that should be perfectly happy--they have everything they need and want, and should they want anything else, they have plenty of money to get it.  They could probably date any person they wanted--that alone should make them happy, right?  They serve themselves, and they have tons of other people serving them, too.  People all over the world want to meet them and even hold them up as idols.  
And yet, they end up in these dark places, where they turn to drugs, alcohol, and other things to fill up the empty spaces.  They're never satisfied, they're always searching.  

It's not just the famous celebrities we all know.  It's the people around us.  Teenage girls, girls I know, are constantly thirsting after more attention, more love, more, more, more in their life to fill it up.  Fathers who think working and making money to have big houses and big vacations end up getting obsessed with work and being successful and never being satisfied, either.  
Guys, we're not preparing for life; we're LIVING it.  Right now.  As you're reading this.  And life is short.  So, so short.  Shorter than we realize.  It flies by.  Did you know that there are only 940 Saturdays in between the time you're born and you go to college?  These days that we just let slip away into the wind are going to add up to weeks and months and years, and before we know it, we'll be closer to eternity than we ever realized.  
We spend so much time in this world concentrating on just getting by--so much time is spent on our routines and earthly stuff.  But our purpose, the reason we were put on this earth, was not to just get by and make the most out of the little situations we were placed in.  We were made for so much more than that.  We were made to enjoy a living, breathing, active, intimate relationship of worship and love with our Creator, with Jesus.  God wanted that so very much when He made us. 

 
And when we realize that and start living it out, we find out what true joy is.  We find out what true peace is.  We find out what freedom really means, and what really happens when we forgive.  
When we step outside of ourselves, surrender our lives to Jesus, and start following Him, we start soaking up His love and finding that true joy.  When we lean on and trust Him during our struggles, we find out what true, mind-blowing peace really is.  

When we give our life to Jesus, when we become His, we realize that true freedom is found in Him--we find out that we don't have to worry about what others think of us, or if we're making ourselves happy.  Jesus brings us life, and we're free to struggle in the circle of His love, grace, and forgiveness.  

"So if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed." -John 8:36

When we forgive someone, we find out that that has set us free from grudges and hurt and pain that's been locked up inside us--we're free to go and live our lives in peace!
And when we stop trying to get everyone to serve us, and we humbly, lovingly serve others, like Jesus did, we find out what His love for us really means.

"For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many." -Mark 10:45
Maybe it sounds a little crazy.  Maybe it doesn't make sense.  But it works.  This is how I want to live life.  Not by being wrapped up in my own stuff.  But by following Jesus, recklessly, radically, truly.  Because He is life.  
And when this life--which is just a short little puff of breath in comparison to eternity--is over, I want the things I did in it to matter.  
This life is not a dress rehearsal.  It's the real deal.  And I want mine to be all about Jesus, living in His love and living it out to others, because that's all that matters.  

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God bless you guys, and have a wonderful weekend!  Thank you so much to those of you who participate in Faithful Fridays each week--I really appreciate it and love reading your posts!  :)
Joy :)

Faithful Fridays ~ Being Real with God.

Hi, everyone!  :)  Happy Friday again!  Hope you guys had a great Valentine's Day and a great week.  :)



Faithful Fridays is a weekly linky party hosted on my blog. I made it so that Christians could have one special day out of the week (Friday) to share something from their Christian walk on their blog. If you'd like to participate, write your post, grab the button from the Faithful Fridays page on my blog (so that it will link back here), and come link up at the bottom of this post! :)
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Sometimes, I think we're not real with God.  We're not completely truthful.  I think that since we don't see God, we think we can put up a mask and hide away some of our hurts and struggles and desires from Him.  And really, that's sort of stupid, because He knows us better than we know ourselves--He made us, He sustains us, He lives inside us, and He knows our heart and our deepest thoughts and feelings and desires.  

"The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out.  But I, God, search the heart and examine the mind.  I get to the heart of the human.  I get to the root of things.  I treat them as they really are, not as they pretend to be." -Jeremiah 17:9:-10

But that's not a reason to be afraid, because He loves us, anyway.  The point is, we can't hide anything from God.  Period.  Not our doubts, not our struggles, not our failures, not our seemingly silly dreams, not our secret motives, or desires, or anything.  And it tends to make us distant from God when we do try to hide things.  
I'm kind of guilty of seeking a "good feeling" from God, instead of just God.  Feelings don't last.  And feelings may be real, but they aren't always true.  God is.  He's steady, and He's the only stable, unchanging thing in our lives, even if we don't feel that that's so.  So why do we sometimes end up treating Him like a vending machine, something that we sometimes have to kick to get what we want?  We don't need to let our desires, which are sometimes not good desires, become an underlying motive for coming to God.  Because, first of all, God says:
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." -Matthew 7:7
"Don't bargain with God.  Be direct.  Ask for what you need.  This is not a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we're in.  If your little boy asks for a serving of fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate?  If your little girl asks for an egg, do you trick her with a spider?  As bad as you are, you wouldn't think of such a thing--you're at least decent to your own children.  And don't you think the Father who conceived you in love will give the Holy Spirit when you ask him?" -Luke 11:10-13

God is not our enemy.  We don't have to sneak around and slyly try to get something from Him.  All we need is Him alone, and He promises to meet with us anytime we come to Him for His love and peace.  Jesus + nothing = everything.  All we have to do is ask, seek, and knock.  
Be real with God.
You don't have to hide your doubts and failures and struggles from God.  He already sees them, and He already knows that you struggle.  But we're free to struggle, because He paid the price for that on the cross.  The great men of God, like David, Peter, and Paul, all struggled throughout their faith.  Sin, doubts, and a "thorn in the flesh" plagued them all.  But they held onto Jesus, fought to keep on God's path, and kept making movements toward Him--seeking Him.  They didn't try to hide from God.  They openly brought their brokenness and weaknesses and doubts and struggles straight to Him, laid them out in the open, and asked for help.  And do you know what God told Paul?

"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." -2 Corinthians 12:9  
I'm not sure that I grasp the fullness of that, and I'm asking God to really show me what that means, but to have God's power made perfect in me?  In my weakness?  That's pretty much the best thing ever.  No wonder Paul said,

"Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen.  I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift.  It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness.  Now, I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size--abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks.  I just let Christ take over!  And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become."

Or in other words, he rejoiced.  He found joy in the pain and the weaknesses and the struggles and the doubts, because He was real with God.  He brought it all straight to God, openly and honestly, even if it was painful, and He learned that God was working in Him the most during these times of turmoil and battle.  That's the art of celebration, in good times and bad.  God doesn't want us to hide anything from Him.  So even if we have to share the painful, honest truth, even if it's awkward, even if it isn't good, we need to be real with Him.  Because then, He can start moving in our lives and creating something new and real in us.   
Create in me a clean, clean heart Create in me a work of art Create in me a miracle, Something real and something beautiful.   -"Create in Me," Rend Collective

In the same way, our wild, crazy, out-of-this-world dreams and desires are not stupid or small or silly to God.  He cares about those things, and He wants us to share them with Him.  So fish those things out of the depths of your heart, lay them out before God, thank Him for planting those dreams in your heart, and give them to Him so He can run with it.  :)  

Be real with God this week.  When you're faced with something, whether it be doubt, or frustration, or something that just tosses your emotions around, or worry, or irritation, stop and tell God exactly how you're feeling.  He can take it.  :)  Then give it to Him and ask Him to take it and shape it and move His power in you.  
God bless you guys, and a have a wonderful weekend!  :) Joy :)

Faithful Fridays ~ He IS Love.

Hi, everyone, and Happy Valentine's Day!  :)

I'm super sorry that I just sort of disappeared off the face of the blogging earth for a while!  :)  Last Thursday, we headed out on an almost 8-hour drive to a Rend Collective concert!  That's the reason for my long absence.  :)  I have a ton to share with you guys about that--it was absolutely amazing, and I left feeling so refreshed and just triple-dipped in joy.  It was ever so much more than a concert--it was worshiping and learning and growing and being challenged and encouraged in my faith.

But for now, I'm here to share a little something with you guys that's been on my heart today (I shared some of it on my Instagram account, but I wanted to add to it here :)).

Faithful Fridays is a weekly linky party hosted on my blog. I made it so that Christians could have one special day out of the week (Friday) to share something from their Christian walk on their blog. If you'd like to participate, write your post, grab the button from the Faithful Fridays page on my blog (so that it will link back here), and come link up at the bottom of this post! :)
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So, with today being Valentine's Day and all, I've been thinking a lot about love.  :)  And what keeps coming to my head is tat, just like His word says, God IS love.  He made it.  He gave it.  He's the perfect example of it.  He defines it.  And guess what?  He loves me, and you.  So, the God who made love and loves perfectly loves you and me!  Enough to endure every bit of the rejection and pain that you and I should have had to deal with because of the sin that puts us at an enemy's position with God.  He overcame all that, as painful and torturous as it was, because He. Loves. Us.  He still does, day in and day out, unconditionally.  His love is the kind that does.  He's with us.  Because He loves us.  I want to stay in awe of that--I want to approach it with a childlike wonder.  It's something to celebrate, more than anything!  That's what the Bible means when it talks about the joy of the Lord.  When you really know that love, and you rest in it, and return it back to the One who gives it, it infects you, it fills you with this crazy, awesome, amazing joy that lets you know that everything's going to be fine--you don't have to worry.  You have every reason to celebrate, in the good times, and also in the bad, because you have a real, true hope for the future.  When you really know God's love, you know that it's not the end.

"You love him even though you have never seen him.  Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls."

-1 Peter 1:8-9

It reminds me of this song--

You bled Your heart out,

Now I feel love beat in my chest,

How wonderful.

You gave Your beauty

In exchange for my ugliness.

How wonderful!

You left Your perfection

And fought for our redemption!

Yes, Jesus loves me,

Yes, Jesus loves me,

How wonderful.

Yes, Jesus loves me!

This is love, You gave yourself!

How marvelous, how boundless,

Is Your love, is Your love,

How wonderful, sacrificial,

Is Your love for me.

Sing for joy!

-"You Bled," Rend Collective

You know what that makes me think?  I think we should write valentines to God.  I'm not kidding, really.  You hear stuff like "Jesus is my valentine" when people don't have someone special to spend their V-Day with.  But when we think about it, isn't Jesus the best valentine ever?  I mean, He's Jesus.  The Son of God.  Emmanuel, God with us.  How much better does it get?  He's all we ever need, and yet we toss His love out as second best, because we want someone to give us flowers.

People, are we missing it?  God says that His love is enough.  I believe Him.  I believe what He says--that the fact that yes, Jesus loves me, is the most important, life-changing thing ever.

I've found a love greater than life itself, 

I've found a hope stronger and nothing compares.

-"I've Found a Love," Bethel Music 

I won't fear what tomorrow brings.

With each morning, I'll rise and sing.

My God's love will lead me through.

You are the peace in my troubled sea, 

You are the peace in my troubled sea!

-"My Lighthouse," Rend Collective

And I think His love is something that should compel us to get out there and love other people the same way--regardless of what they've done or who they are, the way Jesus does.  If we experience this love that changes life, that is greater than life, worth surrendering your life for, and we respond by staying in our same old routines, are we really getting it?  We need to let this sink in.  We need to let it change us and move us, like the Bible talks about, from the smallest things like how we treat our closest family members, to the biggest things like what we're going to do with our lives.  We were God's enemies by nature.  Destined for rejection.  And pain.  And punishment.  And He came and just took all that onto Himself, because He chose to love us.  I think our response to that should be to imitate that love back to Jesus, and to others.  If we've received this grace and this crazy amazing love and we really, really get it--isn't dishing that out to others the only logical, right response?

"But God demonstrates His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

-Romans 5:8

"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.  And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.  If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?  Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth."  

-1 John 3:16-18

"If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.  If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing.  If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere.  So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love."

-1 Corinthians 13:1-7a

I think another thing to remember is that because God IS love, "love" without God in the equation is a fake, empty love--not really love at all.  I think we all know those verses that say--

"Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

-1 Corinthians 13:4-7

What if we substituted all that love for Jesus?  Jesus is patient, and Jesus is kind.  He does not envy, does not boast, and is not proud.  He is not easily-angered, and He doesn't keep a record of wrongs.  He always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.  I've seen that in action, folks, and I want to live that out.


So, that's my little tidbit to share with you guys.  I feel like I'm finally truly starting to grasp what God's love really, really, truly is.  And I love it.  It's beautiful.  I want more of it in my life.  I'm falling in love with it.  :)


Lord, I thank You for Your love.  I thank You that You're the most amazing valentine, ever.  Thank you for your love.  I'm in awe of it.  You're my Creator and my King, and yet you endured all the disgrace and despair and rejection and pain a person could ever face, just so I could have a relationship and a life with You.  It humbles me and just blows me away.  You just chose to love me, out of kindness.  I did nothing, nothing at all for you--in fact, I've hurt you over and over again!  And yet you've never given up on me.  Keep me near to your heart, Lord, and help me to walk in Your love always, and to imitate it.  I want your love to live in me.  This is my prayer.

God bless you guys and have a great weekend!  :)

Joy :)