Tag: Love

What is your first response?

What is your first response?

My husband and I met at the nonprofit where we work and are choosing to live in North Omaha to intentionally see the reality of there one day being no inner city in Omaha, NE.

We live in a “lighthouse” where we want to build community and spread love and hope so the people around us can reach their full God-given potential.

Recently we were driving home around 9pm and as we are pulling up to the house, we see two individuals digging through our trash. Immediately I felt this creeping sense of fear and surprise. Why would someone be digging through my trash?! What could they possibly be trying to find? Information? Food? Cans to sell and get a little cash?

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Irreplaceable People, Unexpected Love

Irreplaceable People, Unexpected Love

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Things are replaceable, people are not. -Tow Truck Driver

So thankful that my person and I are alive and well -a miracle and blessing from our father. And that replaceable thing we drive around in, well God took care of that too.

This weekend didn’t turn out how we expected or desired with a whole tire coming off the car twice- once on an expressway. Somehow -both times- we managed to get to safety without impacting anyone or anything else. God gifted us with people- irreplaceable people- who were willing to help strangers in our time of need. He sent those to check on us and offer rides or help and more to temporarily put the tire back on the car.  It was a miracle how it all unfolded–we are still marveling at it!

At first I cried because I was so scared. Then I cried because so many cared!

With it being the weekend before Valentines, I can’t think of a better way to celebrate love than by experiencing God showing us his love in so many [unexpected] ways. We missed a marriage conference and fellowship with some friends, but we gained a greater understanding of what it means to rely on God, submit to him, and appreciate the things that have eternal value.

I feel our marriage has deepened in a way that only God could have allowed and our faith in him strengthened. He is good and he looks out for his children.

Praying you feel His extravagant and sometimes unexpected love this season.

“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.  “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.’” John 10:10-11

Fear in His Hands

Fear in His Hands
Oh Lord please forgive me for deep down in my heart
I’ve realized what I’ve harboured almost from the very start. 
See I’ve always had plenty, yes, more than enough,
but somehow I still worry that one day I’ll have none. 
So I fret and I fear of the future trials to come.
And work and save up to pay for the potentially large sums. 
I work day to day, honorable enough I am sure, 
but, see, my motives are not always very pure. 
For somewhere along the way I have wrongly presumed,

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The Advantage of Bumpers

The Advantage of Bumpers

Today as I was thinking about life and such, God brought this picture to my mind.

Bowling has gutters and if we aren’t careful or skilled, the ball will end up in the gutter. However, someone came up with this wise idea to put up bumpers in order to guide the ball to where it needs to go (for those of us less skilled at bowling).

Often in life, we can foolishly end up in the gutter and miss the mark completely. However, God put wisdom in place to guide us to where we need to go. James tells us that we don’t have to do anything special to receive that wisdom except ASK!

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. James 1:5

We only need to ask God for wisdom and he will generously give it to us without finding fault!
We have the opportunity to live with wisdom to get us going in God’s direction, and help us make that mark. We cannot do it on our own, we just need to ASK GOD!

Will you ask Him today?

 

Can you wrap it around your mind?

heart-and-brain

Today at our staff meeting, someone was talking about the love of God and how we try to “wrap it around our minds” –I am sure he meant to say we try to wrap our minds around it– but it came out the other way around. This got me thinking and I got this picture in my mind that will NOT go away!

Lately I have been praying through Ephesians 3:14-19 as a prayer not only for me, but for the people that I care deeply about.

It is for this reason that I bow my knees before the Father, 15 after whom all families in heaven above and on earth below receive their names, and pray:

16 Father, out of Your honorable and glorious riches, strengthen Your people. Fill their souls with the power of Your Spirit 17 so that through faith the Anointed One will reside in their hearts. May love be the rich soil where their lives take root. May it be the bedrock where their lives are founded so that together 18-19 with all of Your people they will have the power to understand that the love of the Anointed is infinitely long, wide, high, and deep, surpassing everything anyone previously experienced. God, may Your fullness flood through their entire beings. (The Voice)

The verse talks about knowing, understanding how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ (NIV).

This picture that I have is of how infinite his love is that it wraps around our minds, instead of the other way around. We can’t wrap our minds around God’s love for us, but he can wrap it around our minds. (Tweet it by clicking on the link)

It is as if we cannot ever FULLY grasp and comprehend or wrap our head around this concept of how GREAT his love is for us.

Thankfully, we don’t have to. Praise God that his love is so great that it can wrap around our mind, our head, our heart, our life! We don’t have to understand it, because we can fully experience its power!

Though it may have been a human misspoken saying, God used it to create this picture to show me that his love cannot be wrapped around by our finite minds, instead, his infinite love wraps around us and each and every person.

The Details

I love my mother. I love how she cares about all of these small details as we get ready to host a get together at our home. How she wants the carpet to be vacuumed on the stairs even though the party is mostly outside and no one will notice the dog hair on the steps if they need to go to the bathroom. She places decorations all around, in places people may never notice in and of themselves, but nonetheless sets the mood without being overly obvious. She cares so much about how she will make people feel, and that they will feel welcomed and well-taken-care-of. Every detail, every potential situation for which she is already prepared, is a labor of love. And here I am sitting, watching it all and realizing the reflection of God that I see in her.

He sees every detail; he knows every detail (not just in the knowing about kind of a way, but an intimate knowing). He is prepared for every possible situation and even if we don’t notice it, he has prepared the way for us in the details as small as dog hairs on the carpet of the stairs. He cares about how you feel and takes care of you and I when we are least deserving. All because He loves you.

Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation. Selah

(Psalm 68:19 ESV)

Blue Plate-Details(The plate she so carefully placed in the corner of the room, that none but you and I and God may ever see.)

Grief

A poem I recently wrote for a friend who lost his wife.

For every moment remembered,
every heartfelt “I love you,”
all the days serving the Lord
and the times when you never got bored.
Your kingdom-sized dreams
of mansions side by side,
worshipping the king,
walking streets gold and wide.
You were truly best friends,
a dynamic duo.
And as your heart mends,
I pray God gives you hope.

There is more awaiting you,
all those tears will be gone.
Those dreams that you grew
are so very close,
Longer than you may like
but closer than you know,
just a little while longer,
and you will see that kingdom glow.

2 Corinthians 4:17-18
For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Prayer changes…

Prayer changes…

People… places…things… attitudes… ideas… you… ME!

 

The list goes on and on. Prayer is a powerful weapon and tool because it puts us in communication with the Most Powerful One!

 

Through my many 21 years (ha!) I’ve realized something (and am still realizing it): I can’t change people. As much as I try to persuade and manipulate (oh, so hard to admit at times)… It just won’t happen. However, I have found something that does work! PRAYER! I pray when someone is being unreasonable with me and I don’t want to lash back but know that God needs to be in the middle of it. I pray when I am the one being unreasonable and ask God to change my heart and desires to match up with His, so I can be loving and kind.

 

Prayer works miracles big and small! I often will say little prayers that may seem like nothing at the time but when I look back, I see just how much God has answered all of my seemingly petty prayers! Just the other day, I asked my friend about something that didn’t seem like a big deal but ended up being a big deal. After praying for several minutes as I went about my day-knowing that I was in the right, I decided to let it go because I knew that I wasn’t going to be the one changing her mind. Here’s the amazing little miracle: God changed her mind. She came to me in humility and love and told me it was ok and that she was sorry. She had been praying as well and followed the prompting of the Holy Spirit to respond in love. I LOVE when God does this!

 

The same kind of thing has happened countless times with my boyfriend. We may have a disagreement or conflict about something (shocking I know) and I will submit it to the Lord because there is nothing I can do. In some way or another, his mind or mine was changed or attitude or perspective on whatever the issue may be and we were able to resolve the conflict with ease.

 

Now I know I’m using examples of others being changed, but what about me?! I’ve been changed through prayer! Whether it was through the prayers of my parents or my boyfriend or loving friends, I know that on more than one occasion I have had to recognize and admit my selfishness and ask for forgiveness.

 

So?! What does this have to do with those people who aren’t inclined to the prompting of the Holy Spirit?! He changes them too! At some point or another, we all were not inclined to the Holy Spirit but he softened our hearts anyway and drew us to our heavenly Father. Be faithful in prayer and lift it all up to the Lord because he hears you.

 

When do we pray?

Always

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

16 “Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

 

If we don’t have the words?
The Holy Spirit does!

Romans 8:26-27

26 “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.”

 

We have no excuse!

 

PS- I would love to hear how God has used prayer in your life to change a situation, a person, yourself, or anything else!