Category: Christian

At the end of every week, a folder gets sent home with my son with graded work and other important papers. Last night, I finally sat down to look through his folder and quickly discovered a few things I needed to go over with him. Math is his favorite subject and he tends to do pretty well in this area, but this week’s grade seemed to tell a bit of a different story.

After having three years of homeschool experience with him, I’d say that I am pretty familiar with his work habits- good and bad. As I examined his math sheet a bit further, it was very evident that his grade reflected not his inability to do the work correctly, but rather it revealed that he just didn’t pay attention to the details and he didn’t read the math questions carefully.

So as I began doing my “mama thing” and started spouting out words of wisdom for him to live by, God began to doing His “God thing” and placed that mirror of self -reflection right in front of me. Just as I was telling my son, “If it is written, it’s meant to be read. And since it’s meant to be read, then it should be read carefully. And it’s okay to read it more than once,” the Holy Spirit began that grand work of conviction. In that very moment, God pierced my heart and said, “Just as My word has been written, it’s meant to be read. And since it’s meant to be read, it should be read carefully. And it’s okay to read it more than once.”

As I sat, heavy with conviction, 2 Timothy 3:16, 17 came to mind. “All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” My mind began to be filled with question after question as I began my self- evaluation. How high of a regard do I really have for carefully reading the very words breathed by God? How often do I just skim the pages searching for the parts that I like instead of lingering in the difficult and the hard to swallow parts? How often do I go to God’s word to be corrected, taught, and equipped for His good work?

God’s holy word is meant to be handled with intentional care, and just as we are to know God’s word, we also to be transformed by it. It is a gracious gift that God has given us His word to be at our daily disposal. He spoke these very words to be written, and because these words are written, they are meant to be read and read with utmost care and intentions- definitely more than once!

“My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to a man’s whole body.” Proverbs 4:20-22

The grip of anxiety can almost feel like a grip of death. It swoops in and takes a strong hold on your heart and mind. It’s so dominating in fact, that ignoring its presence is impossible.

If you have experienced anxiety in the manner that I have, then you know exactly what I am talking about. Walking  down life’s path, where I met its horrible presence, however, helped me have an increased love, faith and hope in God. My hate for anxiety produced an increased love for my Savior.

In the moments that I thought I was drowning, I learned to recognize the immovable, firm foundation that God had placed beneath my feet, and that He was teaching me how to stand.

my hate for anxiety produced an increased love for my Savior

Here are 5 comforting truths that I learned to take hold of in the thick of the battle:

1. God is our ever present help in our time of need!

The example that has best helped me understand this truth and provide tremendous comfort, is the account of when the disciples and Jesus are out on a boat and a sudden, unsuspecting storm begins. Here they were, stuck on a boat, completely surrounded by their storm, and no way of escape or place to hide! They had no choice but to run to the Savior! If this doesn’t perfectly depict anxiety?! Anxiety can pop up unsuspectedly and then make you feel completely surrounded, with nowhere to go. Truth be told, our Savior is also present in our storm and is always available for us to run to! (Luke 8: 22-25)

2. He wipes away every tear!

Nothing makes you feel more alone than walking through a relentless difficulty that is not understood by those closest to you. Tears can flow continuously over the pain you have deeply embedded in your heart and you long to be comforted, seen, and patiently understood. Having an omnipresent God who loves you means that in the quiet of your room, when those tears flow, He draws near, and longs to wipe away every tear!
(Psalm 34:18, Revelation 21:4)

3. God’s comfort is exponential!

God remains present during our suffering and He is still producing good things in our lives! As God works and brings us through the hardships, He gifts us with His assurance, peace, truth, and comfort! All of these tremendous gifts we receive from Him, are gifts that He longs for us to pass along to someone else when they find themselves in places we have already been. God’s comfort provides us with a tremendous hope that He longs for us to spread far and wide! (2 Corinthians 1: 3-7)

4. God is our fortress!
Anxiety produces fear and when fear sets in, the heart longs to find a place of protection and rest. Psalm 91:1, 2 tells us that God is our refuge and our fortress, and therefore, He can be FULLY trusted! God provides us with a permanent wall of protection, a wall of defense, and this wall rises higher than the arrows that the enemy shoots our way can ever fly, but it is a place that we have choose to run to and dwell. When I run to His place of shelter, there my heart finds the protection and rest it longs for.

5. God’s truth liberates our mind!
Anxiety produces an endless battle in the mind! The more your thoughts follows its trail, the more weary, worn, deceived and defeated you will feel. But truth…truth sets us free! Philippians 4:8-9 are verses that are worth clinging to in order to help you in the fight of thinking about what is right and true. It is a fight, but God has given us His word as a weapon, our sword of truth, to help slay the lies and deceit that anxiety fills our mind with! God’s truth is a weapon that we must use and when we do, it will set our minds free!

I opened my eyes and I was surprised to see how much darkness there was around me still. It was just as dark with my eyes open as when they were closed. I was sure it was still the middle of the night, but it still seemed unusually dark.  I lay there a good while longer, waiting for any amount of light to come shining through before I tried getting up.  After continuing to lay there, for what seemed like hours, there was still no hint of light. With great caution, I finally reach my arms out, striving to feel what was around me, and all I could feel were hard, concrete walls. As I continued to run my hands across the rough surface, I realized these walls lacked windows. I continued to carefully feel my way around in the dark, hoping I would stumble across a door so that I could escape this dark and dreadful room, but my search was unsuccessful.

For many days, which eventually turned into months, I wandered around in that dark room, striving to find any way out. After all my striving, I realized the room had completely entrapped me and there was nothing that I could do to break free from this place I had found myself. I finally stopped that pointless search and fell on bent knees, crying out loud for God to work on my behalf. There was absolutely nothing I could do, and I was in need of being rescued. I sat in that room long enough to feel and understand just how helpless I was, and if I was to gain the freedom that I longed for, it would have to come from an outside source. I needed a Savior!

I didn’t stay in that box forever. In fact, I experienced a great and timely rescuing! I was in the box long enough to experience what “way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness” really means, and therefore be able to loudly proclaim, “My God! That is who you are!”

How do we understand that God is our way maker, until we realize we need a way made for us? How do we take notice of His miracles, and see that He is our miracle worker, until we see we are in need of a miracle? How do we believe He is a promise keeper until we get to the point of needing Him to fulfill His promises before our very eyes? And lastly, how do we cherish His light and recognize that we need His light, unless we have experienced complete darkness?   

For a long time, I looked back at my time spent in that dark, empty room, and I would mourn over the wasted time, but honestly, it’s the time spent in that room that has fueled my praise to my King of Kings. Time spent in that dark empty room allowed my heart to be filled with an endless gratitude for what He has done on my behalf! I should have been trapped in that room forever, and you should have been trapped in yours. But God came, and He made a way, performed a miracle, flooded that dark place with His light, and set us free! The place of darkness didn’t have the final say so and therefore we have a great story to tell!

As we stand free today, it’s important to remember that many we encounter daily are not free. There are those around us that find themselves still in that dark room. Therefore, our stories must be told! It’s the message of hope that God has given us to share. Let those who still find themselves trapped in that dark and hopeless room know why you have hope today. Let them know that you too were once trapped in that room of complete darkness, but God heard your cries for mercy! Point those who are stilled trapped to our way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper, our light in the darkness, and let them know why we can say “My God! That is who you are!”

“I just want to love God and I want to be a Christian! I really want to see Jesus one day.” The true longing in my son’s voice for the Lord was undeniable, and I knew God was at work in his heart. Hearing those words flow from his mouth was an answer to our many prayers that began before he was born. We have always tread very carefully with salvation when it comes to our children because we want it to be a true act of what God is doing, not merely trying to please Mom and Dad.

The biggest thing that we wanted to see in his life was fruit and evidence that God was really and truly at work in his life. If I’m being honest, it’s a difficult assessment to make without expecting perfection.  I prayed that God would allow me to have the wisdom and insight to know the difference in looking for fruit verses expecting perfection, because at the end of the day we all fall short and he is a child that’s continuing to learn, grow, and mature.

As I was looking for fruit, I realized that was overlooking a heart of brokenness. Beautiful, healthy plants are pruned first, and often look unattractively stubby. Last week I took time to talk with my son about self-control and controlling his emotions. Later that day I walked into my son’s room, and I found him with tear filled eyes.

I immediately asked what was wrong and he answered, “Mom I’m praying that God will help me with self-control and I want to ask if you will pray that for me, too?” Our conversation earlier in the day had ended, but God’s work was just beginning. Although it was a moment of brokenness, it was in fact a beautiful moment. A broken and contrite heart is exactly what God loves. (Psalm 51:17)

Yes, we look for fruit but often times it is proceeded by a broken branch that will in turn produce beauty in abundance! I thank God that He doesn’t leave us broken, but instead He is steadily working to make us new!

Your children never choose to be difficult at convenient times… not that there is ever really a convenient time for emotional meltdowns, but at our house, they seem to always happen in the morning, 5 minutes before we head out the door for school. It’s like two world’s are now colliding, because I apparently need to take the moment to parent my child, but we also need to hurry up and get out the door so we can get to school on time.

One particular morning, the meltdown began and I all I could do is stop and quickly pray, “Oh, no Lord! Please, not again!” Of course, getting into the car is a huge ordeal in moments like these, and after we finally make it to the car, I am finding myself full of frustration, stress, and discouragement. But God is always so good to provide what we need in moments like this, and as soon as I started the car, the first thing I heard on the radio was, “God is refining you through the fire!” Wow!

I have no doubt that God had me hear those words in that exact moment for a reason! I wanted immediate, improved behavior from my child to escape frustration and inconvenience, but God wanted much more than that- He wanted to refine me and my child and use this as an opportune moment for God to prune us and produce more fruit in our lives. I was far from happy that morning, but even still, God wanted to remind me, I could still bare the fruit of joy.

The biblical definition of joy is a feeling of good pleasure and happiness that is dependent on who Jesus is rather than on who or what is happening around us. Joy comes from the Holy Spirit, abiding in God’s presence, and from hope in His word. Because this is an emotion free from circumstance and is a fruit of the spirit gifted to us by God, it makes sense why we are able to experience His joy even during unhappy or miserable parts of our day or seasons of life.

According to my Google search, the word joy is mentioned 159 times in the bible. In Galatians 5:22, joy is listed as a fruit of the spirit, and in John 15:8 Jesus says, “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” And later in John 15:11 Jesus goes on to say, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”

“God intends the Christian life to be a life of joy- not drudgery.” Jerry Bridges

What a comforting truth, that God, our Heavenly Father, desires for us to bear the fruit of joy in our lives. Despite hard and heavy circumstances we face in this life, God desires for us to bear the fruit of joy and experience a continued good pleasure in Him. We can rely on this continued good pleasure in our lives in an uncertain world because He never changes! As I watch and see how our days here in this life seem to grow with rapid uncertainty, this is a truth my heart desperately needs to cling to!

As I got ready one morning, my husband comes in to the bathroom and asks, “Are you ready to turn on all the lights yet?” After being up all night coughing, and very little sleep, a full blast of lights was the last thing I wanted. Plus, I know where everything is my cabinets and drawers, and very little light was needed. At least I thought I knew where everything was.

We tend to be creatures of habit. I have a typical routine of how I get ready in the morning and typical places of where I find what I need to get ready and the place in which those items are returned. I always know where to find what I need, that is until this morning. As I was going to grab my eye cream, I realized it was not in its typical spot and the search began. The usual place for my eye cream is at the front of the cabinet, but a couple of weeks ago, I got out of the habit of using it, and in my lack of use, it slowly got pushed to the back with other products that are occasionally used.

I hadn’t purposely pushed my eye cream out of the way and in my mind, I sincerely thought it remained in it’s place at the front of the cabinet with the other important items used on a daily basis. But, that’s what happens to the untouched, unused things in lives, doesn’t it? They slowly get moved from the forefront of our lives, and replaced with something else.

As I looked at that front row of items in my cabinet, I saw what appeared to be most important and mostly used in my day to day. What I thought was one of my most important items for daily use was no longer there, front and center, but had made its way back to being next to the hydrogen peroxide. Why? Because I stopped using it.

In that moment, the Holy Spirit asked me, “What is on the front row of your life?” What things are front and center because it’s being used often and daily? And even more convicting, what is no longer on the front row of your life due to lack of use? Yes, I know the immeasurable value of God’s word and the tremendous power of prayer, but when I take a front row look of my life, do I find them there?

 Life tends to be busy and many things fight for our attention but I’m thankful for God’s reminder to protect the front row of my life, to purposefully keep Him front and center, and to remove those items that seek to take His place.

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”Matthew 6:33

Jesus can heal what you are hiding… He can heal what is hidden in the depths of your heart, and in the depths of mine. Chronic anxiety was a huge battle I faced for years. The beauty in the battle was Jesus’ presence and watching Him provide peace and a tender touch on my heart through it all. I felt like I was failing, but looking back God’s gracious hands were walking me through the storm. He continued to be “the way, the truth, and the life” for me in a time when I would not have known a path to take, I would not have had any truth to know or cling to and I would not have had the breath of life continuously breathed into my lungs to keep me going. Looking back, there was beauty in that trial- although in that moment of time, I would have stated otherwise.

Often times, after God leads us through one struggle, there seems to be another one right around the corner waiting. Sometimes the struggles we face may not be as evident to anyone around us, but it is known only to ourselves and most definitely seen by God. Maybe it’s a struggle deep within the heart- jealously, bitterness, anger, idolatry … but left undealt with, these hidden struggles will eventually rise to the surface, making its’ presence known in some area of our lives. 

In the heart of the believer we know that we should be filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control and then we wonder “How in the world can I be wrestling with anger, bitterness, jealousy, idolatry … etc.?” In my flesh, my first instinct is to hide it. Mask it with doing good things and maybe even pretend it’s not there. But hiding and pretending has never fixed anything.

Shame usually accompanies struggle and when we are plagued with shame, we have a tendency to hide our face from God. The enemy would love nothing more to keep our eye off of Jesus, but we are told, “To fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and prefecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame.” (Hebrews 12:2)

Friends, when we find ourselves surrounded by struggle and shame, that is the most crucial time that we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus- not take them off. He came to SET US FREE (Luke 4:18) and He longs to provide healing and remove the heavy weight of shame off of our lives. (Matthew 11:28-29)

I think too often in the Christian life, we are plagued with “I must be perfect” mentality and therefore, when struggle hits, we may find ourselves hiding from God. Sanctification is a grace filled process. It’s a process of Jesus making us new day by day. We don’t have to hide, nor does Jesus want us to. With every struggle, with every difficulty we can and should lay it at His feet! He longs to provide all the healing we could ever need!

Several months ago, I was sitting in the doctor’s office for a checkup. When asked if I had any concerns, I immediately shared how I had been experiencing severe fatigue and nothing I was doing seemed to help improve my energy level. Months prior to this visit, I had begun making improvements with my diet, exercising consistently, being diligent to take vitamins, and making sure I went to bed at a decent time to ensure plenty of sleep. BUT nothing was working, and if anything, my fatigue seemed to be getting worse.

My doctor then suggested a full blood panel be done to see if the problem could be pin pointed. Two days later, I get the call from the nurse to go over all of my test results. She was going through the list of results and everything was passing with flying colors. I was feeling good about how healthy I seemed to be until I heard a sudden pause, followed by, “Oh wow!… Your vitamin d is extremely low!”  The culprit of why I was experiencing this relentless fatigue was solved, and the solution was quite simple- spend plenty of time outside in the sunlight and begin taking a high dose of vitamin d.

I got off the phone feeling relieved to have an answer for why I had been feeling so poorly, but honestly I was shocked that one small ‘thing’ being off caused me to feel that bad. How could one vitamin deficiency have that much of an impact on how I felt when everything else was spot on?

I came to the conclusion that this one thing, this one deficiency, was actually much bigger than I realized or even understood. I was doing great things for my body, things that I needed to be doing- exercising, eating healthier, taking vitamins, but yet my body still had this gaping hole that needed to be filled with what I was not giving it, and the only way I would catch what was really missing, was to receive a deep evaluation.

Our lives in Christ seem to be much like that. We can fill out lives with such wonderful things- things that we need to be a part of and things we need to be doing, but if we neglect our intimate time with Christ and neglect to take time to rest in His word and to dwell on His truth, we begin to quickly experience spiritual fatigue.

We can place check marks next to all the wonderful, God honoring things that we are a part of, but if we are missing our alone time with the Lord, then we are really missing it all.  

The solution for our spiritual fatigue, thankfully, is quite simple- spend time with the ‘Son’ and take in a high dose of His word every day.

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” John 6:35

There are times when I am left feeling rest deprived. Not sleep deprived, but rest deprived! I can get a full night’s sleep and still feel that I just need REST. I need a period of time to stop and everything to come to a complete standstill so I can happily watch the busyness of life drift away for a period of time. Surely I am not the only one with a schedule that leaves you feeling rest deprived at times, and in your heart of hearts, you feel yourself longing for a period of time to just be still?

We are a tired society. If you Google “amount of sleep the average American gets” a lot of information pops up. In the list of search results, I saw that a couple of years ago, we were averaging less than 6 hours of sleep per night when we should be getting somewhere between 7-9 hours; and I don’t imagine that we are doing any better today. But maybe our lack of sleep is really a result of our lack of resting? We seem to be “on the go” more often than not and rest is just an afterthought. Rest is defined as “an instance or period of relaxing or ceasing to engage in strenuous or stressful activity.” Reading that definition just makes rest sound even more amazing and here’s the cherry on top- God longs for us to find rest, enter that rest (His rest) and dwell there! It’s a PROMISED rest that still stands for us today!

My heart was completely engrossed as I read Hebrews 4:1-2, “Therefore, while the promise of entering my (God’s) rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.”

As I sat reading that the “promise of entering His rest still stands” a peace rushed over my heart and soul! Oh to have and dwell in God’s rest amongst all the busyness and amongst all the noise of this world! Maybe this is a longing that you, too, can relate!

Surrounding this promise of rest, though, are some very important elements that cannot be ignored. To reap the full benefit of this promise we have to have a full scope of what Paul was striving to relay to believers everywhere:

• ‘Therefore’- what is the therefore, there for??
•  Them- who is ‘them’ in this passage of scripture and how were they presented with them promise of God’s rest?
• The promise comes with a warning- how does this warning apply to us?
• How can we fail to reach God’s rest?

What is the ‘therefore’ there for? If you back up to the verses in chapter 3, we see that Paul implores God’s people to keep a tender heart towards God. God faithfully took care of the Israelites by setting them free from being enslaved in Egypt, miraculously led them through a parted Red Sea, and began leading them down a path headed to the land that God had already promised to His people, Canaan.

In Hebrews 3:10-11 we read, that despite God’s provision and longing to lead them to the place that He had for them, the Israelites continued to “always go astray in their hearts” and therefore, “they would not enter His rest.” Being able to enter into Canaan, God’s Promised Land, is described by God as being able to “enter His rest.” Although God’s people during this time were unable to enter into His place of rest, this is a promise that God is extending to us today! This is a promise that still stands!

• “For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them,”

The ‘them’ in this scripture is the Israelites that God had set free from Egypt.

• “Therefore, while the promise of entering my (God’s) rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.”
  It’s a beautiful truth that God’s promise to enter His rest still stands today, but what a great tragedy to fail to reach that place due to the hardness of our hearts and not truly believing God and trusting that His ways are higher than ours. What a tragedy to watch God free you from bondage, perform miracle after miracle and still not be able to benefit from all of God’s goodness and enter that place of true rest all due to a wandering heart. May this serve as a reminder for us to be mindful to constantly keep guard over our hearts! (Proverbs 4:23)

• For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.” Faith was the defining factor in being able to enter true rest!

• Believe – “1. accepting or regarding (something) as true 2. To accept the truth of what is said by (someone)”

• Faith- complete trust or confidence in someone or something.

Self-Reflection:

1. What or to whom am I looking to supply my rest?
2. What things are preventing me to experience the rest that is being laid out in Hebrews 3:7- 4:13?
3. In what ways has my heart to gone astray? How is the current condition of my heart preventing me to enter into the rest that God has for me on a daily basis?

4. Read the definitions of believe and faith and then reflect on how they are different. How does knowing that we must be listeners of God’s word and have faith in it make all the difference in really experiencing true, satisfying rest?

God’s rest still stands for us today! May we faithfully seek after Him with all our hearts!

My soul find rest in God alone; my salvation comes from Him. Psalm 62:1

This morning our pastor shared a story in his sermon… he shared about a man who would go to his church every Sunday, sit on the very front row, and without fail, he would fall asleep. Of course this agitated the pastor of this church, who would be preaching and then have to look out and see this man sleeping through his sermon, right under his nose.

But of course there’s more to the story. Turns out the man had cancer and was experiencing a side effect from some of his medication. This man loved his church and really wanted to hear God’s word. So he made every effort to show up, despite what he was dealing with.

With most people, there’s always more to their story. There’s always more to someone than what our eyes can see or what we think we know about someone and their circumstances. Just like this man, it’s easy to assume many things about why he was falling asleep on the front row of his church and be annoyed… but there was much more to his story and learning the man’s “why” and instead, it leaves you feeling tender towards him.

But isn’t that the case with most people in life? We fill in the blanks about person and their “why” only that there is usually so much more to their story. Sometimes we learn another person’s ‘why’ but more often than not, we don’t.

It was just a reminder to me not to judge or fill in the blanks about someone’s life based on a small glimpse of what I see- there is a grace, a tenderness and kindness that God longs for us to extend towards others, because I know that God has certainly extended all of those things to me!