Hug the Question Mark….

Ever since the eating of the forbidden fruit..

we’ve been tempted to understand…to know.

Striving to be “Know it alls”.

Do we really need to know all the answers?

Faith tells us to embrace the mystery.

It’s ok to wrap ourselves around the why’s, what’s, when’s, and how comes.

Hugging the question carries us into the mystery.

Thinking we have all the answers stops us in our path.

Let the why’s, what’s, how comes lead the way…

Answers will come when we arrive home…and we will have eternity to understand!

Really…it’s ok to hug the question mark today…and still be at peace.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.  As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts.”  Is 55:8-9

Winged living….

The caterpillar grows, then hides itself within the confines of silken thread.

In the darkness of the cocoon a metamorphosis takes place.

Chemically disassembled and reconstructed.

New life begins to burst forth…

Fluid pumped from body into crumpled wings…

Beating against the cocoon to dry off.

Kicking, pushing away the silken threads of the old existence.

If one could watch, the process of “coming to be” painful to watch…

seems almost the struggle of death.

If one were to take pity and alleviate the struggle to become

by ever so carefully cutting open the cocoon.

The emerging butterfly would quickly die.

Without the struggle ….the butterfly is unable to dry its wings.

You see the butterfly needs the struggle…

It is part of the becoming.

If you take away the struggle, you take away life…you take away becoming the beauty meant to be….you take away the metamorphosis.

Give thanks for the struggle.  Your Heavenly Father loves you so much He is drawing you to Him.  And in the drawing you are becoming something new, beautiful, with wings to fly.

“People do not put new wine into old wineskins.  Otherwise the the skins burst, the wine spills out and the skins are ruined.  rather they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.” Matt 9:17

Life is not a flat line….

Life is full of ups and downs….

Mountain tops to valleys…

Flying high….to flat on our face

Quickened heart beat when we run…

Slower beat when we rest.

Fast breathing in a hurry…

Peaceful breathing when we sleep.

Yes, Life is full of ups and downs.

Our hearts tell this story.

Our hearts live this story.

Sometimes we wish the ups and downs didn’t have to happen.

That life could be even keel….perfectly balanced.

But, ups and down….such is the way of life.

Ups and downs….such IS life.

For we all know that a flat line announces death.

“The God of all grace who called you to His eternal glory through Christ Jesus will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you after you have suffered a little. ” 1 Reter 5:10

LIVE in your space…

Live in your space…

Uniquely yours, God’s gift to you,

where YOU can make a difference.

Not the space of was and were.

Not the space of should be, could be, would be.

This space is the present…

The miracle of the here and now…

Right where God has placed you.

In union with the great “I AM”.

Immersed in the great “I AM”.

Leave behind the yesterdays…

Let tomorrows become todays.

LIVE in the “I AM”….LOVE in the “I AM”

This is a good day to do great things…

In your space….where God has placed you…

Immersed in Him who is “I AM”!

“We were indeed buried with Him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised form the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life. ” Rom 6:4

Puzzle Pieces….

When the pieces of life seem scattered and a mess…

Faith is the glue that puts it all  together.

When the picture of God’s plan seems unrecognizable…

Faith is the glue that puts it all together.

On mountains, through valleys, in darkness, in light…

Faith is the glue that puts it all together.

Stick to Him. The masterpiece will soon be revealed.

“For I know well the plans I have in mind for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare, not for woe! Plans to give you a future full of hope. When you call me, when you go to pray to me, I will listen to you.  When you look for me, you will find me,  Yes, when you seek me with all your heart.” Jer 29: 11-13

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VtiHkkbq18&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL8FFFBDC510C33D37

(This is a video I recently saw…had to share…pretty amazing isn’t it?)

Walk by Faith….

On the journey we walk by FAITH

At times we walk in darkness.

At times we walk shaken.

Yet when all seems dark

the Lord is ever near.

His light blinds us and we cannot see.

We cannot understand His way. We cannot understand His plan.

We walk in mysery.  We walk in hope. Headed for the dawn.

And when the directions seem unsure.
It’s too dark to see the road ahead.

Turn to witnesses of faith whose steps have carved the way.

“By FAITH Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; he went out not knowing where he was to go.  By FAITH he sojourned in the promised land as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs of the same promise;  for he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and maker is God.”

Heb 11:8-10

TRUST in Him who is your guide.

Walk in mystery. Walk in hope. Headed for the dawn.

“FAITH is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.” Heb 11:1

Light…Action…Life!

Desire for God is written on our hearts…

is written on all hearts.

How often this desire becomes buried in the coldness of self and sin.

FAITH is our RESPONSE to God’s revealing Himself to us.

 What is a Faith that refuses to speak?

What is a Faith that refuses to see?

What is a Faith that refuses to hear?

A Faith not responding, is a Faith buried.

Faith is the conversation of our lives with God Almighty.

Others depend on the light our faith emits..

just as the light of others helps to illumine our paths.

This day throw off the bushel basket from your light of faith.

Unbury your heart and the desire within to respond.

Let your light, immersed in Him who is the Light of the world shine forth radiantly through you!

Faith is a response.

“Your friends  make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your Kingdom” Ps 145

Gift Given and Given and Given…

FAITH…

A gift given by God…

Passed on by others…

Believer to Believer to Believer .

Paper doll people with hearts of love,

Held by the faith of others; supporting others through their own.

Believer to Believer to Believer

Paper doll people with hearts of love,

Reach out to the disconnected.

Building the kingdom one soul at a time.

Reach out to the disconnected.  Share the gift of your faith.  Dare to transform the world wherever God has placed you.

“For whoever is begotten by God conquers the world. And the victory that conquers the world is our FAITH.”

1 John 5:4

Suitcases…

What’s in your suitcase?

Regrets about the past, Anxiety about the future, To- do lists for the present?

Fear, Anger, Unforgiveness, Sadness, Apathy, Disappointments?

Cast away dreams, Broken promises, I can’ts and No’s?

The burdens in our suitcases tempt us to look for shortcuts.

Or to avoid big hills, rocky ground, and people.

Hands occupied, no longer able to lift heavenward in thanksgiving.

Eyes cast downward, backs aching from the strain.

If traveling to a foreign land, wouldn’t you enlist a guide?

There would be no fear in the capable hands of the one who knows the way.

The Heavenly Father is guiding us on this journey of the  heart.

Walk toward the dawn. Home is ahead.

Check your luggage. You don’t need it. It will only weigh you down.

Leave it at the foot of the cross.

Your Father will provide.

Trust in Him. Do not fear.

“He said to them, “Take nothing for the journey, neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money, and let no one take a second tunic” Luke 9:3