All of Christ

God works through individuals, conquering some heart, and through that heart He pours His purpose like a mighty river. The Lord makes His conquests by keeping His saints in utter dependence upon Him, making them live by faith. There is to be none of self in His program, but all of Christ instead.

-M. Taylor, Streams in the Desert

Who Are You, Anyway?

I was helping at my church's youth group one evening, and noticed someone had written a message across one of the chalkboard walls. "Be yourself", it said. I pondered the words. Isn't that just a tad cheesy and over-used?

From some reason, however, that little phrase has been stuck on my mind all week. I  don't know about you, but I find myself constantly trying to be better at something, look the right way, say things to meet other's approval, work on a characteristic, and pretty soon, I am trying to be someone our Creator didn't make me to be.

Sound familiar? If so, then why not join me at the feet of our Lord, and allow Him to shape us, rather than always, constantly trying to be someone else.

So, with a full and joyful heart I heartily say, Be Yourself!

"I do not pray for a lighter load, but a stronger back." Philip Brooks

As the deer longs for streams,

so I will long for you, O God.

                                       Psalm 42



Unnecessary

I tend to be a little on the hoarder side when it comes to my possessions.

There. I admitted it.

It's not because I love things. On the contrary- I find that the older I get, the more I want to throw away and the less I want to buy things.

The hoarder side of me comes in when I remember that the dusty porcelain doll that I haven't taken down from the shelf in ten years came from my dear aunt, whom I would never dream of offending. That's why the doll- and many others like it- survives my yearly cleaning rampage.

When I was without an automobile a few weeks ago due to a necessary repair, I took the morning to go on a much-needed cleaning spree. Silencing the, "But you might offend your aunt!" voice in my head, I threw away a lot of things and started making plans to give away a lot more.

While the refreshing process was taking place, I began to think about how my usual attitude toward my closet reflected my usual attitude toward prayer- there's a lot of unnecessary "stuff."

Now, it's not that prayer is unnecessary, so please don't get me wrong. Prayer is one of the most important parts of our walk with Christ. What I'm talking about is all of the extra words that we tend to throw in our prayers to make them more "acceptable," "nice to listen to," and "Christian."

Why don't I just get down to the honest (and sometimes ugly) truth with God? Why don't I talk to Him openly, like the Friend and Father that He is? Instead of trying to make my prayers sound impressive and well-scripted, why don't I come to Him in my humble, helpless state and tell Him what's really on my heart? He's the only One in the universe who can completely understand, anyway.

If you, like me, struggle in this area, I encourage you to really focus on getting rid of the unnecessary, flowery language that we often put in our prayers and begin to be open with God the way that we were created to be. It may not be spring just yet, but some spring cleaning is definitely in order.  

Did You Know?

A pair of gleaming five year old eyes peered down at me over his bunk bed. With his usual, bright enthusiasm he said, "Did you know?"

I looked up at him. This was my third babysitting job of the day and my eyes were more on the bleary side. But I grinned at him and said, "What?"

"God's stronger than Batman. Yeah! You know, He's stronger than Bumble Bee. God's stronger than Superman, even."

"Wow! Is He the strongest in the whole world?"

"Yeah. God's the strongest."

"And He'll always take care of us?"

"Yeah, He always does."

If you are feeling like you're not strong enough, it's because you're not. Oh, but how mighty is our God!

Allow Jesus to gently lift you with His loving arms, to take you under His wing and refresh your soul. He is longing to do just that, to bring us His perfect strength in the midst of our bleary-eyed weakness.

Because, you know, He's the strongest.

Faithful All the Way

The other day I felt like God was telling me to go somewhere and buy something. (I know that that's not very detailed, but it's all you're getting- it's an exercise in imagination! =)

I parked my car and sat there for a minute, knowing what I was supposed to buy but worrying that it wouldn't be there or I wouldn't pick exactly what I was supposed to. Then God told me something very simple:

If I brought you all of the way here, don't you think that I'm going to finish things off by showing you what I wanted you to buy in the first place? 

A logical question, to be sure. And as I smiled and left my car, I knew that He would be faithful to do just that.

It's a simple example, but something that I've thought about a lot lately. If Jesus has taken the time to show us-  in most cases, over and over again- a step that we need to take in our lives, why in the world would He suddenly bring us to that new place only to say, "Well, here you go! Now you're on your own." It's not a part of His character to be undependable. On the contrary, He asks for our all so that He might lead us exactly where we're meant to go.


"Send me Your light and your faithful care, let them lead me; let them bring me to Your holy mountain, to the place where You dwell." Psalm 43:3