Real Community.

There's a lot of talk of community these days, especially in the church.  And I think everyone loves the idea of community, but a lot of us either shrink back from it or don't completely get it.


Human beings are frustrating; I don't want to "do life" with them.

They're secretly judging me, anyway.  

Who knows what they're really thinking of me??

My church (or my school, or my homeschool group, or my workplace) is filled with some people that I can't stand; I don't want to get involved and in close quarters with them.

I'm an introvert; I don't want to be in community.


Ouch.  Have you ever found yourself feeling this way?


Community is something I've struggled with for a while.  I honestly dreaded getting up and going to church on Sunday morning, because once I got there, I felt out of place, irritated, and self-conscious.  In other places, I felt awkward.  And everywhere, I was frustrated and somewhat intimidated by people, and I shrank from being with them.  I started realizing that it was more than personality types, introversion and extroversion; it was me being critical, a bit cynical, and unwilling to love and be patient.  And as I looked back at Jesus, our prime example, I realized that community was something He did very well.  Jesus spent time with all kinds of people, from the Pharisees, to the prostitutes and tax collectors, to the average in-between people.  He didn't divide up His time, making sure not to mix the different kinds of people He spent time with.  No, He brought them all together and taught and loved them together.  He encouraged them to love one another.  He was never secretly judgmental.  He didn't scorn people when they failed.  And He called us, His church, to nurture that same kind of loving community in every area of our own lives, particularly seeking Him with other believers (but loving our enemies and those who persecute us, too).

I have friends that talk about Jesus' kind of community a lot.  And I've always loved the idea of it--it's
inspiring, and beautiful, and something I desire--but for so long I just couldn't seem to replicate it or carry it into my own life.  My constant excuse was, there aren't any people around here that love God enough for me to be in that kind of community with.  Everyone here is judgmental.  I always feel so awkward with all the people here.  All these people are so annoying and fake.  


But how prideful and unlike Jesus is that?  Because no, darkness has no fellowship with light (2 Corinthians 6:14), but yes, we are the salt and light of the world, followers of the greater light, Jesus, who spent His time with the sick, because they were the ones that needed a doctor.

But He didn't just leave the goody-two-shoes Pharisees in the dust of His sandals, either.  He taught and loved and spoke with them just the same.  Two completely different kinds of people, the lost sinner and the hypocritical religious leader, and Jesus pulled them together in His company with love and wisdom and truth.  Whether they stayed was their business, but His arms were always open.  This is what true community looks like.  Jesus didn't pick who He wanted to love and be in community with.  He didn't step back to ask if they were worthy or not.  Because actually, honestly, none of us were.  But He chose to do it anyway.  To put it as I've heard it said lately: unconditional love is completely irrational.  But aren't we glad that Jesus was irrational?  And I would also add that unconditional love is completely inconvenient....but inconvenience is something Jesus was willing to take on in loving us.


Somehow, though, I think the idea of community has been skewed a wee bit at times.  Because sometimes, community becomes about our friends, and especially as young people, it starts to become about how many friends we have, and who those friends are, and what kind of group that puts us in, and if we spend all our time doing fun things with our friends, and if it makes us look like we have the funnest, most friend-filled life ever to those on the outside.  It becomes about appearances and how many friends we have in our little communities, and who those friends are, and how much time we spend with our friends, because that is what society judges us by.  I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.  It's the people who will literally tell you that they have this many friends or that many friends, and then they have these people who are their best friends, and they do all these fun things together, and they go and shout it out on all of social media--and it can all leave those outside that circle of friends feeling excluded and less than.  It can leave you wondering if you actually are worth anything, or if your life is fun enough, or good enough, if you don't have lots of friends to go out and do stuff with.

But I feel like real community is less about friends and more about family.  Not literal family, really.  But it's more like family.  Because anybody--you, me, the kid who doesn't have any friends--can go out and be a fake version of themselves for a little while and gain "friends."  People are willing to accept you if you act the way you want them to.  But family is something different.  It's unconditional.  It's strong and deeply-rooted.  Our family members can absolutely drive us up the wall and we can be at each others' throats, but we never really stop loving each other.  Friendships break down sometimes.  Friends can give up on each other--and I guess family can, too, but there's such a stronger bond there.  The Trinity is even described in a familial way--the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  We are called children of God.  We are co-heirs (essentially, brothers and sisters) with Jesus.  That's a very strong picture of God's love for us, and how He wants our community with others to be.  He loves us with the ferocity and faithfulness that a father has for his children.  I'm not a parent yet, and I know I really don't have an inkling of what the strength of a parent's love really is....but I can imagine.  I can listen and observe parents around me, my parents especially, and I can get an idea.  That kind of love is something, for sure, and yet it's only a reflection of how perfect the Father's love is for us.  I mean, He literally IS love.  He's our Heavenly Father, we're His children.  All of us.

"So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."

-Galatians 3:26-29

And in a close family, you can be yourself without fear or pretense.  When you're at home with them, you can simply be your absolute self, relaxed, knowing that you're loved and accepted as you are, with no walls or guards put up, no pretending.  This is the kind of community our Father intended for us.  There's no fear of secret judgment or what those around you are really thinking.  No one is talking about someone behind their back, scorning or ridiculing them.

"A dishonest man spreads strife, and a whisperer separates close friends."

-Proverbs 16:28

You can speak freely, honestly.  It may be painful sometimes, and yes, you may be scared to bring faults, shortcomings, and hurts out into the light at times, but you know that to keep that close family, you have to be vulnerable and open with each other.  You're not perfect and you don't expect others to be, but you do your best, and you try to have patience with them when they fall.  Where one of you drops the ball, the others pick up the slack.  It's beautiful.

"Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.  The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results."

-James 5:16

And even as I type this, I feel like such a hypocrite, because I fail at this daily.  Sometimes I avoid people and I try to keep certain people out and I don't serve or love well at all.  But I'm trying.  I'm trying so hard.  I've seen a lot of fakeness in my life, and I'm tired of it.  I've seen a lot of people talking behind other people's back, and I don't want to replicate that pattern.  I want to be real.  I want to be genuine.  I want to be honest.  And I have to say, I haven't been a part of very many circles or communities where that's a consistent reality.  And this has been on my mind for a while now, just tumbling around.  This past Friday, I got to be a part of something a little like that.  It was kind of like God was poking me and going, "There's some experience to back up that idea of what a real community looks like that's been brewing in your head, Joy."  I was at a swing dance and the power went out--no lights, no AC, no music.  Cell phone lights went on and a couple of people began to sing the lyrics to an old swing song as others backed them up with vocal saxophones and basses and everyone clapped the beat.  Some people left, but most stayed, and we gathered into a circle and kept singing and clapping and dancing while everything was bathed in those white cell phone lights, looking like a scene out of a black and white movie.

 And the beauty of it all was that everyone was together--old, young, black, white, new and familiar with the dance, from all areas, seasons, and walks of life--sharing the joy of the music and the dance, and everyone was singing.  You didn't feel as if you were a bother.  There was no competition.  No one felt like they were secretly being made fun of if they weren't the best at singing, or if they lost the beat, or if they messed up in some way.  Where one person dropped the ball on the lyrics of a song, others would pick it up and carry it through until everyone could join in again.  Some people picked up papers and began to fan others around them, something that I now realize was a beautiful picture of serving others.  It was something so small and spontaneous, but as I pondered on it all later, I realized that that's just what real community looks like.


It looks like family.

"Being a family means you are part of something wonderful.  It means you will love and be loved for the rest of your life.  No matter what."

-Lisa Weedn

---It looks like not having to put up walls, be fake, or pretend like everything is okay.

---It looks like not having to compete, because everyone knows that they're accepted just as they are, with all their quirks and oddities--and that ultimately, we're accepted by God, the only one that matters.  We're working from acceptance and not for it.  That's a freeing knowledge in itself, because when we're not in a place where we have to try to assure ourselves of our own worth and acceptance, we're able to affirm others and love them selflessly.

---It looks like being honest and real with each other, in all aspects of life.

---It looks not like a little huddle of friends with inside jokes and exclusivity, but rather like a big family with arms open wide to readily welcome others into the love.

---It looks like there being no fear that we'll lose our friends over something we do or say, or who we really are, because like Jesus' love, family is unconditional.  That's how community is supposed to be.

Most of all, it looks like clothing ourselves with "tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience."  (Colossians 3:v.12)  It looks like making allowance for each others' faults, and forgiving anyone who offends us, and most of all, it looks like putting on love over all those things, because love binds us all together in perfect harmony (v. 13-14).  It looks like loving and serving the same way Jesus did.  Stop for a moment with me and think about what that looks like in your own life.  We usually don't have to work at showing tenderhearted mercy for those awesome people in our lives that make us happy--no, it's the ones that drive us crazy and hurt us and misunderstand us and get under our skin.  And sadly enough, those people are so often those right under our noses.  You know the ones I'm talking about.  Living this kind of life requires a total revamping of our minds and the way we think, react, and treat others, because loving like Jesus means not competing with others, not having secret motives, not trying to get ahead--even with those that have ulterior motives against us and whom we know to be attention-seekers, hypocrites, and manipulative.  Jesus washed Judas' feet.  It means putting others' needs and wants before our own, and putting our own desires and comforts last.

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.  Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to our own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.  In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider eqality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death--even death on a cross!"

-Philippians 2:3-8

It means being compassionate, sharing in both the sufferings and the joys of others.  

Compassion, n.

A suffering with another.

It means being sincere and having empathy; genuinely caring about what's going on in others' life (because that is the manifestation of "not looking to our own interests, but to the interests of others).  Practically, it means making that phone call or sending that text to check on what's going in that person's life.  It means taking the time to step out and invite someone into the circle.  It means stopping and thinking about what's going on in their life and what effect that might be having on them--and how you can love them right in the middle of that.  It means taking an interest in every single part of someone's life, because that's one of the most encouraging things you can do.  It plainly says, "I love you.  I care about you.  You're worth it."


"Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ."
-Galatians 6:2


This is what real community truly looks like.  And yes, it takes a renewing of our minds to think and live life like this.  It takes work and it takes practice and it takes a whole lot of spending time with God and soaking in His truth, but it's beautiful when it takes action in our lives and in the lives of those we touch.  I guess this is my hope for my life; that I'd stop putting up walls and pretending; that I'd stop competing with others; that I'd stop making secret snap judgments in my mind; that I'd stop being exclusive and start reaching out and welcoming people, all kinds of people, with the Jesus kind of love that is both unconditional and always serving.  And I hope we'll all do it together.  Because that's what real community is--inspired by Jesus--and when that becomes a reality, God starts doing awesome things in and through us.  That's what I want in my life.


"So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other.  Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.  Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples."
-John 13:35

Faithful Fridays ~ Servant.

Good afternoon, and happy Friday!  :)



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 walk with Jesus 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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"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." -Mark 10:45


Have you ever stopped and thought about that?  Really thought about it?  It's dawned on me afresh lately just how humble Jesus was, just how much of a servant He made Himself in love.  Can you imagine?  God, coming down to the lowness of earth--the very lowest--and living out a very average human life--up until the last three years--in preparation for a horrible death.  And for what?  A world full of people who had turned from Him and would ignore, insult, deny, betray, bash, doubt, ridicule, scorn, beat, and eventually kill Him.  
And yet somehow, He loved them.  Marvelously.  Ferociously.  Sacrificially.  Genuinely.  His love is the kind of love you can take to the bank.  

"In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Jesus Christ:
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death--even death on a cross!  
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." -Philippians 2:5-11



The Bible says that Jesus is basically the glue of everything in the world.  He is sustaining all things by his powerful word (Heberews 1:3).  He is the image of the inviible God, the firstborn over all creation (Colossians 1:15).  In Him and for Him, all things were created, in heaven and earth, visible and invisible.  He is before all things, and in Him, all things hold together (Colossians 1:16-17).  Not to mention that He's the head of the church, the glorious groom that's coming for His bride, the church, with a major celebration to follow (Colossians 1:18).  To put it plainly, in everything, He has supremacy (Colossians 1:18).  

So Jesus is a pretty big deal, right?  

And yet at the supper table he takes on the position and the appearance of a servant, a common slave.  He kneels at the feet of every disciple and washes their dirty, dusty [man] feet.  

And here's the clincher: Jesus washed Judas' feet.  

Wham.  

I'm not sure why that never dawned on me before.  Perhaps I've heard the story so much that I've become numb to it.  But He knew.  He knew Judas.  The Bible tells us that God knows the heart, or "always knows a person's thoughts" (Acts 15:8).  Jesus knew full well that Judas had been sneaking money out of the money bag (John 12:6).  And He knew full well that Judas would be the one of His close group of followers that would betray Him with a kiss--a kiss that would lead to His death.

And yet He got down on His knees and washed Judas' feet, the perfect picture of humility, kneeling at the feet of, and loving, the man who was technically His enemy.  

"'A new command I give you: Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another." -John 13:34

We all have enemies.  Not in the sense of them betraying us to death, of course.  But they're the ones that are always bringing us down.  Dragging us into the dirt.  Always making us feel insecure.  Always one-upping us.  Always getting under our skin.  Always ruining our days.  Always bringing out our worst sides.  
Thing is, Jesus loved those people.  He bled and died for them.  The lips that gave His kiss of betrayal were created by Jesus Himself.  The hands that arrested Him, dragged Him into interrogation, flogged Him, and nailed Him onto a cross were created and sustained and powered by Him.  He could have stopped it all at any time; called down armies of angels to slay all His attackers (Matthew 26:53).  But instead, He allowed it all to happen for a greater cause, because He. Loved. Them.  And He calls us to come follow Him and love the same kind of people in the same way--truly, genuinely, humbly, with the kind of love you can bank on.  
It's rough.  It's not the natural response to that kind of person, nor is it the easiest.  But that's what Jesus did, and if we're choosing to follow Him, we have no choice than to do otherwise.  
So today I dare you--no, to clarify, I dare myself--to try it, to have Jesus' mindset in our relationships with others.  You know the person (or people) I'm talking about, the one that makes you want to turn your head and walk away, or maybe on the flip side, walk over and smack them in the face; or maybe they just make you want to throw a fit and go hide in your bedroom.  We're humans; we do that.  But Jesus was a man, too, and He chose to love those kinds of people.  I want to have that same mindset in my relationships with others.  I want to follow His lead.  

It Don't Mean a Thing if it Ain't Got that Swing.

Today marks a year and a month since I started taking regular swing dance lessons.  July fifth, 2013.  I had gone to a couple of dances before, but the classes were the official start for me.  I came out of my first class excited, happy, and a bit confused.  It was a challenge, for sure, going from completely independent, choreographed solo or group dances like tap, jazz, and ballet, to partner/social dances in which I essentially had no idea what a guy would throw at me next, and had to follow his lead and depend on his skills to show me what we were going to do next.  I sat at a table with my parents at Baskin Robbins after my first lesson and told them, "This is a completely different ballpark."

But oh, I was in love.


A year later, I'm even more in love with swing, and it's made an indelible mark on so many areas in my life--I'm listening to 40's music when I'm not in class because I've fallen in love with it.  I'm watching Lindy Hop professionals do their thing on YouTube every chance I get.   I'm trying out vintage hairstyles and looking for that perfect swingy, twirly dress (preferably with polka dots, of course).  I'm planning out when I can go swing dancing next.

I didn't know much about swing dancing when I came to that first class--I knew it was typically from the 40's.  I knew my grandma had done a little of it.  I knew a few names--Charleston, Lindy Hop, Jitterbug/East Coast swing.  I knew I'd be dancing with another person, and it could potentially be extremely awkward.  But I had stumbled across a video on YouTube of a swing dance flash mob at the Denver Airport, and I just knew, as a dancer does, that I had to do it.  So I delved into researching where I could learn to swing dance in my area--and living close to Memphis, it wasn't hard to find.


I'll tell you a secret: I'm not a "social" person.  50% introvert?  For sure.  Socially selective?  Yep.  Of course I don't dislike people, but sometimes I'm awkward and it's painful and being home recharges me.  And you know what?  Swing dancing is considered a social dance.  And whereas something like going to a party with a bunch of people I don't know just might be one of the most painfully awkward and unpleasant things I could imagine, I'm not sure I could love this "social dance" any more than I do now.  Maybe it's because dancing has always brought me out of my little shells.  I'm no socialite, but dancing makes me unwind, makes me have fun.  I can't hear music and not dance.  It brings spice to life.  I suppose it's similar to how I find it hard to share my heart and my stories verbally--but give me the pen and the paper and I'll show you my life story.


Swing dancing has always been a way to have fun and feed that love of dancing that's in my soul.  But it's slowly taught me other things, too.  I went through my first few months of swing dancing tense, a little knotted-up ball of nervousness half the time I was dancing.  I wanted to dance well and connect well with the people I was dancing with so badly, and I was hard on myself.  I did a lot of over-thinking.  In the few brief moments when I'd get into a really good dance, I'd open up and be my carefree self, but give me an awkward conversation or a messed-up dance move and I was a goner.  But I've slowly learned to relax; to be myself; to chill out and just be.  I'm learning to stop switching on my "I have to be socially acceptable" mode and to stop putting up my walls of robot politeness, to, instead, simply be the person I am when I walk into the room.  To enjoy it and enjoy the dance and enjoy the people.  Swing dancing has called me out of my comfort zone in many ways.  It continues to do so, and I love it.

Now I welcome the feeling of not knowing what's coming next in a dance.  It's exhilarating, exciting.  Listening and reacting to the music and my partner is a little adventure in its own.


I've fallen in love with a dance that I've realized could be danced by someone who could neither see nor hear; you don't have to see a person dance the steps and learn it from them or hear them give you instructions; they can take you by the hand and make you feel the dance, and I think that's beautiful.


I've fallen in love with a dance that I've realized reflects a relationship with God; as a follower, you can't really know exactly what's coming next.  You fly by the seat of your pants and you take it as it comes.  You trust your partner.  You let him lead.  You have to learn not to panic when something completely new and different and surprising happens, or when he leads you straight into it.  Much as in life, you have to make the decision to go along and make the best of it or else the dance--or life--will stink.  And so many times, just as I struggle with believing that God's still got me, I try to back-lead my partner or guess what he's going to do next. You know what that makes me?  A bad follower.  I'm learning to let him lead and to simply follow.


I was talking to a man the other day who told me, "I wish I had been swing dancing when I was fifteen."  He chuckled.  "I was doing stupid stuff...getting my head rammed into a pole.  I guess swing dancing just wasn't cool when I was a kid."  I laughed.  "Well, I've never really been cool, so...."


Maybe that's why.  Maybe it's that quirky, unique blast into the past that swing dancing provides.  It's not quite like any other dance, and for just a bit, you can almost set yourself in that time, almost like another world, where things were just a bit simpler and just a bit classier, even in the midst of a chaotic, upside-down time upset by war.  I love it.

Source

A little over a year after that first lesson, when I came out confused and exhilarated all at once, I'm still confused and exhilarated sometimes.  I've tried five different kinds of swing dancing, and Charleston & Lindy Hop are still my favorites.  I've fallen in love with another kind of dance.  I helped teach a swing class for the first time last week.  I've met new people and a bit of a new world has opened up for learning to express myself and be my own person, wherever I am and whoever I'm surrounded by.  I love it.  And I can't wait to see where the rest of this swingin' adventure's gonna take me.

Faithful Fridays ~ What Exactly Is Church?

Hello, everyone!  :)  I'd like to ask you guys to be praying for my aunt again--she went back into the hospital a little over a week ago, and she's had two seizures.  They're unsure what to do for her.  She was doing really well and then something just happened and she was back to not doing so well again.  We'd really appreciate your prayers!  :)






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 walk with Jesus 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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I think the concept of church has changed a lot in our minds from the way it originally was supposed to be.  Church often becomes a place, rather than a people, as Jesus treated it.  It sometimes seem to become something we do to keep our good Christian status and image rather than a place where we build each other up and do life together, following Jesus.  

I've had a lot of misconceptions about church but I've realized in the past year or so that church isn't always the people in your church.  It isn't an activity.  It's a people.  

The church is described as the bride of Christ--He takes joy in us, and loves us.  Husbands are told to love their wives as Christ loved the church.

"Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish."
-Ephesians 5:25-27

Christ didn't lay Himself down in love for a building, or an activity, or an idea.  He loved a people.  A people who believed what He said, took Him at His word, and laid down everything to spend their whole lives following Him.


Paul would write letters to God's church in Corinth, or the church in Ephesus, or in Philippi--and when we think in terms of today's churches, it's easy to envision that as a place where people met.  But it wasn't.  It was a group of people.  Paul wrote to "all God's holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons."  (Philippians 1:1).  He wrote to "God's holy people in Ephesus, the faithful to Christ Jesus."  (Ephesians 1:1).  It was a group of people that were pursuing Jesus with all that was in them, their whole lives.  They were a collective community of Jesus-followers, trying to do life God's way, together. 


I think a lot of us have lost that.  We come to church, we say hi, we sing songs, we sit in our seats and listen to the pastor, we say bye, and we leave and continue on with our lives for the week.  That's not how it's supposed to be.  Church is supposed to be a people that are in love with Jesus, totally and completely immersed in Him, faithful to Him, pursuing Him, together--sharing the joy found in the love of God, sharing our struggles and leaning on each other for support in the middle of them, teaching each other, helping each other, building each other up.  That's what Paul emphasized in the church over and over and over again.  And I get that that's hard.  I'm an introvert.  Believe me, I know.  :)  It can be hard to really get in there and get along with everyone, to really open yourself up and share things and be honest and open and vulnerable.  And I think sometimes we get a little bit of a guilt trip put on ourselves when we don't do things with the church we're a part of.  But one thing I've learned a lot lately is that church isn't always found in the people in your church.  Do you know what I mean?  If the church is the body of believers in Christ, then my best friends that live across the country, the ones that I have a Bible study with over FaceTime?  They are my church, too.  When I'm discussing stuff in my own faith and walk with Jesus with my parents?  That's church.  The friend that lives an hour away, who I only get to see every once in a while?  When we get together and talk about life and Jesus and the problems we face and encourage each other, we're having that community that Jesus called on us to have.


Maybe for you, it's your closest friends that follow Jesus.  Maybe it is your local church.  Maybe it's some other followers of Jesus that you really admire--maybe you read their devotionals, listen to their music, watch their videos.  Maybe it's someone you haven't met in person yet; someone that encourages you and that you encourage back through the wonderful use of technology.  :)  Maybe it's your family, those closest to you--your parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents. 


The church is the body of believers, the faithful followers of Jesus, who stick together and pursue Him together, loving each other, teaching each other, and building each other up in Jesus.  It's lovers of Jesus doing life together, doing everything they do in light of what Jesus said and did for us.  The church is what Jesus laid His life down for.  The church is what God loves and takes joy in. The church is the hands and feet of Jesus, the ones who are to show His love to the rest of the world; live out the love He's shown for us in our own lives.  Is it hard?  Yeah, it can be.  But it's also beautiful.  So go do church--whether it be in the local church building in your area, with your best friends, over email or phone, with family, or whatever.  Get into the Word and chase after Jesus together.  


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God bless you guys and have a great week! Joy :)

Faithful Fridays ~ You're Blessed When.....

Hello, there, everyone--hope you're enjoying your Memorial Day Weekend so far!  :)  This week's been a busy one for us as we've been wrapping up school, but I wanted to pop in and share these verses that I've been thinking about lately.


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 walk with Jesus 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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"When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions. This is what he said:

'You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.

'You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

'You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.

'You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.

'You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for.

'You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.

'You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.

'You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom.

'Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don’t like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble."

-Matthew 5:1-12

Jesus never said, "Come to me when you have it all together."  He said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest."  He never said, "I'll show Myself to you when you perform well."  He said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God."  Jesus has always called those who are imperfect, weak, tired, weary, lost in sin, alone, at the end of their rope--because it doesn't matter where you are or who you are, so long as you come to His feet with that need, that desire for more of Him, that childlike love for Him and trust in Him.  So know this: No matter where you are, no matter what your condition is right now--good or bad, strong or weak, on top of the mountain or in the valleys--He's always waiting with love.  Just come to Him.  These are the people and these are the times that He uses to grow beauty.  Let Him do whose work.  Come to Him.  

**************************************************************** God bless you guys and have a great week!  :) Love, Joy :)

Faithful Fridays ~ The Time is Now.

Hi, everyone!  Hope you're doing well!  :)  We had a super busy weekend, hence the late post.  :) 



      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 walk with Jesus 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! :)     ***************************************************************************************************************     "Do you know that nothing you do in this life will ever matter, unless it is about loving God and loving the people He has made?" -Francis Chan     I think sometimes we--I--get so wrapped up in what's going on in our own lives--whether it be pure busyness, or a struggle in our relationship with God, or stress, or whatever--that there's this one part of following Jesus that slips into the back of our minds.  We forget to love our neighbor.  We forget to love the least of these, those that are "overlooked or ignored" (Matthew 25:37-40 MSG).      And it's so, so easy to do that when the stuff in our lives is blown up and right up close to our faces.  I do it all the time.  It's so easy to just let it fade into the background when we're facing our own issues, trying to find our own peace.      "For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many." -Mark 10:45     But I think what we're forgetting is that yes, to love and honor God is what we were created for.  But a huge portion of that is loving others.  Over and over and over again in the Bible, it emphasizes God's heart for the forgotten, the poor, the orphans, the widows, the overlooked, the ignored.  And when Jesus came to earth, He spent most of His time teaching, healing, and loving those that fell between the cracks of society, the ones that were easy to forget.  He spent time with the sinners, the seriously sick, the poor, the ordinary, and the ones that were just sort of average.  He called them out of every situation they were in--to follow Him.         And if that's what Jesus, our Lord, our King, spent all of His time doing before He took on the cross--how can we not place immense importance on it?  How can we leave that out or forget it?  What kind of King does that?  That's the kind of King I want to serve.        "Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God.  Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God.  But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.  God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.  Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us."-1 John 4:7-12
      We really know God, we really follow Jesus, when we put ourselves aside and pour out love into other people.  As Francis Chan put it, "We are most alive when we are loving and actively giving of ourselves because we were made to do these things."       

      The sum of every single one of the Ten Commandments is to love God and love your neighbor.  That's it.  How can we expect to really know the God that IS love when we are so wrapped up in ourselves and our own worries and problems and struggles that we forget to actively love others, constantly, every day, the way Jesus did?        "Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world." -James 1:27       "Mercy to the needy is a loan to God, and God pays back those loans in full." -Proverbs 19:17       "'Which ones?' the man asked.  And Jesus replied, 'You must not murder.  You must not commit adultery.  You must not steal.  You must not testify falsely.  Honor your father and mother.  Love your neighbor as yourself.'  'I've obeyed all these commandments,' the young man replied.  'What else must I do?'  Jesus told him, 'If you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.  Then come, follow me.'"  -Matthew 19:18-21       Isn't that crazy?  Jesus told the man to go sell his possessions and help the poor--and then to come and follow Him!  That's how much it matters to Jesus.       "And if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.  The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame.  You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail." -Isaiah 58:10-11       "If you stop your ears to the cries of the poor, your cries will go unheard, unanswered." -Proverbs 21:13       "Whoever gives to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to poverty will go cursed." -Proverbs 28:27       "Never walk away from someone who deserves help; your hand is God's hand for that person.  Don't tell your neighbor 'Maybe some other time' or 'Try me tomorrow' when the money's right there in your pocket.  Don't figure ways of taking advantage of your neighbor when he's sitting there trusting and unsuspecting." -Proverbs 3:27-29       "We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us.  So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.  If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion--how can God's love be in that person?  Dear children, let's not merely say we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.  Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God.  Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything.  Dear friends, if we don't feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence.  And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him.  And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us.  Those who obey God's commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them.  And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us." -1 John 3:16-24       I don't know about you, but I don't want my cries to go unheard or unanswered, and I don't want to be cursed.  I want my light to rise in the darkness and I desperately want the Lord to guide me always.  I want the love of God to be in me, so I can be confident before Him.        I've decided that I can't let my current struggles and the worries in my life get in the way of Jesus' command to love others the way He loved me.  I don't want to put it off for when times are better and it's easier.  Jesus never said, "Love others when it's convenient," or "Love others when it's easy," or "Love others when you want to," or "Love others when your life is problem free and you don't have worries," or "Love others when your relationship with God is perfect."  Those times may never come . The time is now.  Yes, it will be hard.  I don't instinctively want to put myself aside and focus on loving Jesus and loving others.  But it's so worth it.  I've seen it in action and I've been a part of it, and it takes work, but it's amazing, and it's the best possible way to live.        *********************************************************************************************     God bless you guys and have a great week! Joy :)

Faithful Fridays ~ Boldly I Approach.

Hi, everyone, and Happy Friday!  :)  What are you guys up to this week?  My little cousin is on spring break, so she's visiting with us.  :)




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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He struggled under the pain that threatened to make his knees buckle under.  But he couldn't fall under the weight; no, he had something to fight for.  His love was too much, too important, to give up and give in.  He would fight for her. 
He looked up, sweat rolling down his forehead and stinging his eyes, to see a whole mass crowd of people jeering at him, calling out his name, mocking him in every way they knew how.  They had stripped him of everything; dignity, self-defense, pride, even most of the clothes on his back.  A little voice inside him whispered, "Give up.  It's not worth it."  He was human, after all.  But a greater will within him cried out, "No!  She is worth it!"  
His love was unbreakable.  
Then the remainder of those clothes were ripped to shreds as they led him off and began to beat him.  Mercilessly.  He stood the pain as long as he could, until he collapsed on the ground, but they didn't stop there.  He could barely see anything, barely make anything out.  There was just the pain, on the outside and the inside.  Part of him felt as if God Himself had forsaken him.  He had never before in his life felt so lonely and abandoned into darkness.  But the blows kept coming, and he didn't feel like they'd ever stop.
But she's worth it, he still knew inside.  So he didn't completely give up.  
A rough voice ordered him up, and somehow, his love in mind, he did it.  It was the power of that love for her, the intensity of it, that drove him on.  
She had never done anything to earn or deserve his love.  She had, in fact, hurt him countless times.  She wasn't there for him now.  But he was still going to fight for her.  He would take all this pain for her, gladly, if it meant she would have life.  If she would be saved.  
He was driven out again from the dank, sullen darkness into the blindingly bright sunshine, into the crowd again.  They were yelling louder now, cursing his name and the things he had stood for.  It hurt.  But he kept on.  His mother's face flashed in and out of the crowd, pain carved deep into her eyes.  His friends were nowhere to be found.  Alone.  
Those who had him imprisoned pushed him through the crowd, letting him be spat on, kicked, hit, and abused in every way.  Things were thrown at him.  People trampled him.  He was shoved roughly past the crowd, their taunts roaring painfully in his ears, on and on down a rough path.  He didn't think he could make it; he wanted to keep pushing for his love, but so often he stumbled.  Still, they kept pushing him down the path, lonely now.  He could feel the end coming.  He was all the way outside the city now, all on his own, completely forsaken.  They cast him down on the ground, and as the last blow came to fall, his only thought was: 

She was worth it.      -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That wasn't a he.  That was Him.  Jesus.  And that wasn't just a her.  That was us.  You.  Me.  That was what He took on for us--willingly, freely.  His love is unique because it isn't just like the most beautiful, deep, intense kind of love we can imagine between two lovers (although the Bible does compare it to that)--it's also the love of a mighty, majestic God, who is so over us, but who chooses to reach down to our level, scoop us up in the big arms of His tender, but strong, love, and cover us in mercy and forgiveness.  It's a sovereign King who chooses to humble Himself, even to disgrace, to love a bunch of people who didn't want Him at all at first, and who certainly don't deserve Him.   

He could've called down His angel armies to strike His oppressors and been taken off that cross.  He could've never let Himself be arrested.  He could have resisted.  He could've lived His life on earth in peaceful seclusion, never bothering to teach any of the people or heal them or call them out to life.  He could have never come at all--He could have never left His perfect joy and peace with the Father in Heaven.
But He did.  He took on the lowest form; He underwent brutality and torture and humiliation, and literally, being forsaken by God, and then death.  Simply because He loved us.  He wanted to set us free, to save us.  He wanted to give us life.  He wanted to give us power over all that ugly stuff in us and in the world. 
But don't you dare think for a moment that that was where He stopped, because it wasn't.  He not only took on death and sin and rebellion against God, past, present, and future, but He conquered it.  And because of that, we also are conquerors.  

Oh, Your resurrection power Burns like fire in my heart When waters rise, I lift my eyes unto Your throne We are more than conquerors through Christ You have overcome this world, this life We will not bow to sin or to shame We are defiant in Your name You are the fire that cannot be tamed You are the power in our veins Our Lord, our God, our Conqueror!   -More than Conquerors, Rend Collective
   Never underestimate Jesus' love for you and what it means to you.  Ever.  Because if it was strong enough to take on the worst kind of pain, inside and out, and being forsaken by God--and not only that, but to conquer sin and death and pain, then it's strong enough to get you through anything.  Because we didn't do a single thing to deserve that kind of love, or earn it.  That wouldn't even be possible, no matter how hard we tried.  His love is amazing because we didn't deserve it, and yet it's so great and intensive and passionate for us.  

"This is the kind of love we are talking about--not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they've done to our relationship with God." -1 John 4:10

"Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn’t, and doesn’t, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn’t been so weak, we wouldn’t have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him. Now that we are set right with God by means of this sacrificial death, the consummate blood sacrifice, there is no longer a question of being at odds with God in any way. If, when we were at our worst, we were put on friendly terms with God by the sacrificial death of his Son, now that we’re at our best, just think of how our lives will expand and deepen by means of his resurrection life! Now that we have actually received this amazing friendship with God, we are no longer content to simply say it in plodding prose. We sing and shout our praises to God through Jesus, the Messiah!"

-Romans 5:6-11

Because of this, we can come to God with anything--our anger toward others and even toward Him, our deepest disappointments, our hardest failures, our heaviest and darkest doubts, our sins, our wrestling, our questions--and He won't hold any of it against us.  

"So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.  There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most."

-Hebrews 4:16

We can boldly approach the throne of God with anything and everything, at any time in our lives, no matter what condition we're in, because He already paid the price.  We can come broken, with doubts, and failures, and wrestling.  We can receive mercy, and grace, to help us when we need it the most.  Thank you, Jesus.  
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God bless you guys and have a great weekend!  :) Joy :)