God

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I’m selfish and discontent at my core. It’s easy for me to skim over the many blessings God’s provided, focusing instead on those things I don’t have. Like a spoiled two-year old. Counting my blessings helps, although even then, my prayers are often ego-centric. “Thank you Lord for….” But what if I didn’t have all those things? What happens when life gets tough? Will my praises and thanks dwindle?

Today Jodie Bailey challengs us to dive deeper in our praises. There’s a verse in Romans I love. It starts with, “In view of God’s mercy.” That’s a loaded phrase, but today I encourage you to take it even deeper. God’s grace is infathomable, but He’s more than what He does, and I believe our worship must extend beyond our “benefits.” We bow before Him because of who He is, the Creator of the universe, our Redeemer, Savior, closest friend. 

(As you read the following post, I challenge you to honestly ponder something: Do you know God? I mean, really know Him, as He truly is? If not, ask  Him to reveal Himself to you, and to remove whatever it is that gets in the way of you having an intimate relationship with Him. Because God doesn’t want to be our cosmic genie nor our distant observer. He longs to be our Abba daddy and our closest friend.)

Do You Get It by Jodie Bailey

Psalm 116:16-17–O Lord, surely I am Your servant,  I am Your servant, the son of Your handmaid,  You have loosed my bonds.  To You I shall offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and call upon the name of the Lord.

If we had any idea at all what we owe God, don’t you think it would knock us backwards to consider it?  If you really sat down and gave it some thought and started counting your blessings, you wouldn’t get far before you’d realize the debt is much bigger than you’ll ever be able to pay.  I mean, God is worthy of praise and thanksgiving simply because HE EXISTS.  (And by the way, that’s one of the reasons I love it when He calls Himself I AM.  Gives me chills.  He IS.  That’s all He needs to be.  Think about that for a while…)  But He didn’t stop at existing.  He didn’t stop at making us exist.  He lavished us with grace and mercy and gifts beyond our wildest dreams, even some gifts we don’t realize He’s given us.

Consider salvation.  Have you ever thought about what you’ve been delivered from?  Not surface thought, but deep thought? Tell me that isn’t worthy of devoting every single second of your life to Him.  Some of us have been healed of diseases.  Some of us have been delivered from horrors we thought we’d have to face the rest of our lives.  Some of us have been freed from sins that should have been our undoing.  How much do we owe Him?

We owe Him everything.  Our next breath.  The works of our hands.  The praises from our lips.  But do we give Him that?  If you’re like me, chances are, you don’t.  And that’s a shame.  In this new year, it’s one of the things I’m working on, seeing every bit of my life in relation to God.  Realizing that every single thing I do should be for Him.  Giving Him my all.  It’s hard.  It requires a complete reprogramming of my sinful human mind.  But I want it.  It’s what we all should want, to be God’s servant.  Read the verse again.  Boy, do we ever owe Him big time…

Jodie invites you to share your favorite verse from Psalm 107-127 in the comments, and I invite you to FB share, tweet, or “like” this post…if you’d like to see it in my top three of 2011. 

Jodie Bailey was Playwright of the Year in Methodist University’s annual Hail! Dionysus competition and has written plays performed by the Monarch Playmakers. She has been published in Teen magazine and collaborated on PWOC International’s latest Bible study. She has a B.A. double major in English literature and writing, and an M.Ed. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, the Christian Writers Guild, and Middle Tennessee Christian Writers. She lives in Tennessee with her husband and daughter.

Jodie is an avid reader, a life-long writer, and an aspiring beach bum.  She is a stubborn child who resisted God’s calling for two decades until He hit her over the head with a Beth Moore Bible Study book, and she finally figured out He wanted her to be a writer.  When not tapping away at the keyboard, she watches NCIS reruns, eats too many chocolate chip cookies, wishes she were at the beach, roughhouses with her daughter, and follows her Army husband around the country.

Visit Jodie online.

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I needed this post today. I haven’t been terribly busy (no more than normal), but I have been fighting a virus, which for some reason always makes it harder for me to pray. It’s like a fog fills my brain, lulling it to sleep. I know God is always with me, even when I don’t feel Him or hear Him, but oh how I miss the feeling of intimacy that comes from connecting with God one-on-one. Sometimes I take God’s presence–His close friendship–for granted. Perhaps these temporary mental fogs are beneficial since they remind me what a treasure a close relationship with God is.

Today’s post comes from a friend and fellow writer, Jan Cox, founder of A Better Way.

Inspired after reading Mary Weaver’s book, ‘Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World’, Jan decided to create ‘A Better Way’, using both her talents as a writer and an artist.

Connected by Jan Cox

“My kingdom,” said Jesus, “doesn’t consist of what you see around you”  (John 18:36 The Message).

When we arrived at our winter residence, I expected to pick up where I had left off last April. As I had hoped the water ran, the hydro and phone worked. Wonderful! But when I plugged in my computer … no Internet.

The Internet is my connection with family and friends, downloading recipes, asking how to’s, and finding out the weather here and back home. We also watch movies and the news. So I felt … STRANDED. I felt unhooked.

Good news. The Internet provider, after a phone call, resolved the problem. We are now rewired to the world.

The same thing happened to my godly connection – my morning devotional and meditation. My morning time is so vital for me. We have been travelling for four days and although I prayed, read and studied, my godly connection was missing.

This morning – I reconnected.  Blissful. Peaceful. Inspiring. Revitalizing.

I think about our ‘busy’ lives and know that our quiet time with God gets left out. But I believe it is the MOST important part of our day. To be wired to God. How else can we live the life He wants? Without His godly spirit flowing through us, how can we deal with our daily lives?

I felt I needed the Internet to stay connected but I needed God even more. He also answers my questions, speaks to my family and friends and gives me insights and knowledge.

When I get frustrated with my life – He is the answer.

When I get hurt – He is the answer.

At all times – He is the answer.

“The great enemy to the Lord Jesus Christ in the present day is the conception of practical work that has not come from the New Testament, but from the Systems of the world in which endless energy and activities are insisted upon, but no private life with God”. Oswald Chambers.

I plan to stay connected with God. I want to put my emphasis on the right thing. Do you?

Prayer:

Help us, Father, to make the time to have a private life with You. Help us to connect. And as we have this time remind us to listen to You. In Jesus’ name. AMEN.

***Remember, if you loved today’s post, FB share it, leave a comment, “like” it, or tweet it. At the end of the month, I’ll tally each share, like, tweet, and comment and will announce our top three blog posts of 2011.

Jan, a former school teacher and small business owner, found a new passion in writing in her retirement. She has published two devotionals and a number of articles for magazines and a Bible study. She is owner of Under the Cover of Prayer and moderates the site. She also writes at A Better Way. Jan is working on a couple children’s books in which she is also the watercolour illustrator.

She has published devotionals and articles. Her Bible Study based on Ed Hird’s book, ‘Battle for the Soul of Canada’, is available for a free download at http://spiritfilledcanada.wordpress.com.

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Patience is not my strong point. I like to do, to know I’m moving forward, making progress, which makes waiting on God especially difficult. I often tell Him I’d do better if He’d give me a hint of His future plans. Or better yet, a point-by-point memo. In leu of that, a neon sign would be great. And yet, despite my snivelling, God continues to lead me step by step, teaching me not only how to do His will, but more importantly, to trust in Him. Today’s post, by Staci Stallings, reminds us silence isn’t necessarily a no.

God’s Timing By:  Staci Stallings

I recently shared this on a writer’s loop I’m on, but after re-reading decided to share it here as well…

I think that this is absolutely the best thing I have learned in my writing journey:  God is faithful all the time.  Trust Him, and He will lead you in every moment EXACTLY where you are supposed to be in that moment.  You may not know it or see it or understand it, but when you look back, you will see the fine and perfect tapestry He’s been weaving the whole time.

For me, this lesson comes in several ways (some more fun than others).

#1 The YES times!  This would be the moments when it all makes sense, when I see God at work most clearly, when the perfection of His Will and what He’s doing is not just a glimmer but a full-on, turn the spotlights on moment.  The completion of a book I didn’t know how to finish.  The right person showing up at just the right time.  That flash of understanding when you just KNOW how a story all ties together.  I’ve had all of these and so many more.

#2  The NO moments.  I heard a story one day about two little boys who came into their father’s house with a box.  As they headed to the basement, their father stopped them to see what was in the box.  It was their new project:  two snakes!  Guess what the father said?  NO!  Well, just like those boys sometimes my Dad tells me no, and most of the time I’m just as disappointed as they were.  But the truth is when God tells me no, I see it now as His way of keeping me from doing something that would ultimately hurt me–like putting snakes in my basement.  “No” might be a contact I thought I needed falling through.  It might be a path I thought was going to be great not working out.  It might be MY agenda not working out like I’d planned.  Do “no” moments make me frustrated?  Yes.  They do.  But when I can breathe and remember that God’s got my BEST in mind–not just a momentary good but an eternity good, I can let go of my way and grab onto His.  And He has shown me over and over again how awesome things work out when I do that.

#3  The NOT YET moments.  Oh, have there been a lot of these!  I tend to want to force things to go my way.  I get in a hurry for them to be done and get frustrated with myself when I can’t do everything.  But God my AWESOME FATHER uses “not yet” a lot–both to bring about His perfect timing and to teach me to not rely on my plans, my agenda, myself but to always rely on Him.  I get a lot of “not yet” moments when I’m writing.  I get going on something and then something else comes up (I have a lot of something elses around here!).  I get stopped on the story.  And I get frustrated with it.  One story I literally did this for SEVEN YEARS!  But when the book was finally finished, I understood why God said, “Not yet” repeatedly… because the book could not have been the book it is without the lessons I’d learned over those seven years.  I was a different person than I had been when I started writing it.  So now, not yet moments don’t throw me like they used to.  It’s okay.  God’s got this one too!

#4  The GO THROUGH IT WITH ME moments.  These, I have to say, are the hardest.  Some call them the valleys of life and of writing.  Oh, these are HARD!  And when they come up, my heart breaks, my world shatters, and I wonder “How can God make something good out of THIS?”  But I will tell you, the two most difficult “go through it with Me” moments of my writing career brought two of my best friends into my life.  One of them, not knowing me at all, edited two chapters I had sent out through my newsletter.  She bled on them and then sent them back to me!  I didn’t know what to do with that.  Should I be angry?  Should I write her back and give her a piece of my mind?  Should I be hurt?  Should I quit?  Finally, I decided to rest in God and just see…  The next month I sent out the next two chapters of my cyber-serial.  In about 30 minutes I got this message back.  “OH!  I’m SOOOOOOOO sorry!  I thought those were from my critique group!  I’m new to all of this and I edited the wrong thing…”  hahahah!  I still laugh about that.  Deb, not quite as much, though she can laugh now but it took her a long time to get to that point.  The thing is, Satan threw that at both of us to take us both out.  He wanted to undermine my following God and He wanted to take her out altogether.  Because I let GOD handle it and not myself, we became best friends, and God has worked miracles through that relationship.  I helped her with editing.  She’s now a multi-published author.  God is awesome!

A stay-at-home mom with a husband, three kids and a writing addiction on the side, Staci Stallings has numerous titles for readers to choose from. (Pick up the Price of Silence now for only $0.99! http://www.amazon.com/The-Price-of-Silence-ebook/dp/B004E9U7P6.) Not content to stay in one genre, Staci’s stories run the gamut from young adult to adult, from motivational and inspirational to full-out Christian and back again.  Every title is a new adventure!  That’s what keeps Staci writing and you reading.  She lives in Amarillo, Texas with her family and on the internet at http://www.stacistallings.com. Find out more about her books at http://stacistallings.wordpress.com and http://spiritlightbooks.wordpress.com.

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I get a kick out of watching my fourteen year old daughter hover between childhood and adulthood. As she matures, she experiments with clothing and hair styles, slang words, and all those other things inherent to the teenage years. We’ve had countless conversations about outfits, make-up, and jewelry, and have spent hours upon hours perusing clothing racks. Yes, her world revolves around clothes and hair right now.

Had I not spent so much time researching identity issues for a contemporary youth program I’m writing for Christ to the World Ministries, I may be tempted to think her behavior is selfish and shallow. Shouldn’t I be training her to look beyond those things? To focus on things more important? To an extent, perhaps, but I’ve learned to spend as much time trying to understand her heart as I do observing and trying to correct her behavior. Most often, there’s more going on than I first assume.

I’ve realized my daughter’s behavior really isn’t about clothes or hair. It’s about something much deeper. With every outfit, hair flip, and music choice, she’s trying to establish her identity. No easy trait considering how many changes she’s been through over the past three years. Puberty hits, and suddenly she finds herself staring at a stranger in the mirror. Friends change, and she needs to decide which group to “merge with”. She longs to belong but also needs to be unique, longs for closeness and security at home while fighting for independence.

Although most of us move past this developmental stage, I think we all struggle with our identity at times. As Donna Stone shared on Monday, sometimes we allow who we are to get tied up in what we do.

When that happens, it helps to remind ourselves of how God sees us. If you belong to Christ, He says:

You are dearly loved (Col. 3:12)

Redeemed (1 Cor 6:20)

A masterpiece (Eph. 2:10)

Christ’s friend (John 15:15)

God’s child (John 1:12)

Chosen and adopted (Eph 1:3-8)

Complete (Col. 2:9-10)

Secure (Rom. 8:11)

Are you feeling pulled in a million directions today? Like perhaps you don’t quite measure up? Spend a moment reflecting on these verses and ask God to show you how He sees you.

Join us at Living by Grace as we talk about what it means to rest in who we are in Christ.

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Some days we feel ready to take on the world. Other days, we struggle to make it through. But God is with us through our highs and lows, and even when we feel like dirt, He looks at us and says, “You’re beautiful.”
 
Today’s post comes from author and speaker Marlo Scalesky:
 
I’ve been thinking about this verse from Psalm 103 (verse 14) today: “for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.” Dust doesn’t seem very beautiful or important or desirable. In fact, it just seems kinda, well, dirty. But God sees dust differently. He loves His dusty children. So, as I’ve been thinking about the verse, and pondering the attributes of dust, I remembered this story that grew out of a scene from my very first book, Cry Freedom. See what you think:
 
Twilight tossed its gray mantle across the sky and into my newly dusted living room. Shadows crept over the floor, darted into corners, and settled in my mind. Weariness whispered through me. Why did I have to clean, and scrub, and do all this work anyway? I wanted to read a good book, watch a movie, anything else but clean the living room for the Bible study group that would meet there that night. Why did I always have to be the one who did the work?
 
I threw my cleaning rag onto the coffee table and melted into the recliner. In a moment, the oven timer would buzz, and I would have to leap up and finish preparing the cake for the night’s study snack. Why couldn’t I just be free, free to spend my evening however I wanted? Free to do as I pleased?
 
A butterfly flitted outside the window. I watched it fly high, then low, before it paused on the rosebush just outside the pane. Eggshell wings fluttered in slow motion. Up and down. Up and down. Then, the creature dropped from the branch and flew into the sky. I followed it with my eyes until it became only a black speck against the clouds. Then, it disappeared.“Make me like the butterfly, Lord,” I whispered. “I want to be free to fly into the sky, rest on the roses, and drink in the beauty of your creation.” I leaned back my head and stared up at the window that shone from our second story. “Lord, give me wings.”
 
I waited. And sighed. And shifted in the chair. But I felt just as tired, just as earthbound as ever.
 
Then, something happened. A shaft of light, as bright as a blade, sliced through the upstairs window and illuminated a path the floor. And in the light, I saw them – a hundred, a thousand tiny motes of dust. They drifted in the light like bright bits of glimmering gold.
 
I grabbed my dust rag, and started to stand. But then, I sat back again. I had worked for hours to eradicate the dark bits of dust that marred my furniture, countertops, and television screen. But this dust was different. These tiny motes weren’t dark, weren’t dirty, or ugly. They were beautiful, shining like miniscule stars in the last rays of day.
 
I dropped my rag, settled back into the chair, and wondered at the splendor of the dust. How could something that was no more than dirt be so beautiful? After all, it was only dust. I watched a few motes drift lower, out of the shaft of light. They turned gray again, just ugly little specks that floated onto an end table. Only in the light were they lovely. Only there did they shimmer like jewels.
 
As I sat and pondered the secret of the dust, I remembered a verse from the Psalms: “As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.” (Psalm 103:13-14, NIV).
 
I am dust, I thought. Not some winged butterfly, not a creature that flies wherever it pleases, but dust. Dirty, ugly dust. But in God’s light, I too am transformed. “I am the light of the world,” Jesus said in John 8:12 (NIV). And like the dust, I am only beautiful when I am aloft by his power, illuminated by his love.
 
As pretty as the butterfly was, the dust that glimmered like sparkling gold was much more beautiful. It stayed, it shone, and as long as it remained in the light, it was stunning.
 
I had prayed for the ability to order my day as I pleased. But, God offers a freedom that’s more incredible, more real, and more wondrous.
 
In his light is the freedom to rest in his grace and love. That is the mystery, and the wonder, of true freedom. So now, I no longer pray for wings like the butterfly. Instead, I pray to stay within the light.

Marlo Schalesky is the award winning author of seven books, including her latest novel, Shades of Morning, which combines a love story with a surprise ending twist to create a new type of novel that she hopes will impact readers at their deepest levels.

Marlo’s other books include If Tomorrow Never Comes, Beyond the Night, Veil of Fire, a novel about finding hope in the fires of life, Empty Womb, Aching Heart– Hope and Help for Those Struggling with Infertility, and Cry Freedom.

She’s had over 600 articles published in various Christian magazines, including Focus on the Family, Today’s Christian Woman, Decision, Moody Magazine, and Discipleship Journal. She has contributed to Dr. Dobson’s Night Light Devotional for Couples, Tyndale’s Book of Devotions for Kids #3, and Discipleship Journal’s 101 Small Group Ideas.

She is a speaker and a regular columnist for Power for Living.

**If you loved today’s post and would like to see it make it to my top three of 2011, leave a comment, “like”” it, FB share it, or tweet it. And have a blessed day!

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Oh, how I’d love continual clarity! Although God often speaks to my heart, and guides me through His Word, many times I’m baffled by circumstances and life-encounters. And yet, even during those times, when my “Why” rises up, God stays by my side, reminding me of His ever-present love. I’ve learned I may not always understand the things that happen in this world. I may not always understand God’s will. But regardless of the circumstances or my ability to comprehend, God never changes. When I’m peering through the fog, I focus not on the shifting winds but instead on the unchanging nature of Christ. He is good, even when my world is not. He is loving, even when I feel unlovable. He is sovereign even when the world appears to spin in chaos. Today, Marlo Schalesky, author of Shades of Morning, shares what it means to have faith in the fog.

Faith in Fog by Marlo Schalesky

A while back, the girls took a field trip to the beach, where the fog rolled in and made the day cool and the visibility small. As I walked the beach, thinking about the difficult things that many of my friends and family are going through, I was reminded of this story:

On some days, I can almost glimpse eternity. It stretches outside my office window (yep, that’s my view in the picture), reaching down the green valley lined with oaks, touching the distant, snow-frosted mountains. On those days, I gaze out over the tall Monterey pines and search out that special place where sky meets earth in a blaze of blue glory. And I know that God is real, that He created all this beauty, and that He shares it with me because He loves me. On those days, I have no doubts, no questions, no fear.

Too bad every day isn’t one of those days. On many days, I can see no mountains, no valley. Even the tops of pines are blotted from my view. Instead, fog is laced through the bottom branches and swirls in thick ripples across the ground. Grayness presses against my window and forms tiny water droplets on the glass. It covers the mountains, masks the oaks, camouflages the pines.

On one of those days not so long ago, I sat at my desk and peered out into the day, and saw nothing but waves of thick fog.

“So, how do you like your new office?” My husband’s voice sounded from the doorway behind me.

I turned and smiled at him.

“I love it. And the view out this window is incredible. You ought to see it.”

Bryan strode through the door and leaned against the windowsill. His eyes narrowed. “You’re kidding, right?”

“No, really. Oaks and pines, and snow-tipped mountains kissing the sky.”

Bryan’s eyebrows rose. “Very poetic, but it looks like a bunch of fog to me.” His voice lowered to a mutter. “Snow-kissed mountains. Yeah, right.”

I sat back in my chair and crossed my arms over my chest. “You’ll just have to take my word for it. On a clear day . . . wow, you can see forever.”

Bryan shrugged his shoulders. “If you say so.” He dropped a handful of mail onto my desk, then turned and left.

In the moments that followed, I shuffled through the mail then allowed my gaze to again travel out the window. The fog wouldn’t lift today. And maybe not tomorrow. It could be days, I knew, before I caught sight of the mountains or valley again. But the vision of snow-topped mountains and the deep green of the valley oaks remained fixed in my mind. I knew the mountains were out there, even though I couldn’t see them. I trusted that the trees remained as green and beautiful, even when they were lost to my sight.

As I sat and listened to the silence tangle with the fog outside, I was reminded of the Bible’s definition of faith. Hebrews 11:1 (NIV) says, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

I used to live as if faith was seeing the mountains. I believed that if I only had enough faith, I would see God clearly, I would always know what He wants, I wouldn’t have any doubts, any questions. There would never be any fog.

But these days, I’m beginning to see faith differently. Faith, I’m coming to believe, doesn’t dispel the fog, but is found within it. Faith isn’t about seeing the mountains. It’s about believing they are there when all my senses deny it. It’s about believing in that spot of blue glory when all I see is the persistent grayness.

There are times when I wonder if God really loves me, when hurt and confusion press against the window of my soul, when doubts creep in and twine around my thoughts as surely as the fog twists through the trees. That’s when faith flourishes. As surely as I can say I know the mountains and oaks and pines are there, even though I can’t see them, so I can say, I know God loves me even though I can’t see it now. I know that I am His and that He died for me. I choose to believe what I cannot see. For faith is not seeing, but believing, even in the fog. Especially in the fog.

***

Marlo Schalesky is the award winning author of numerous books, including her latest novel, the RITA finalist Shades of Morning, which combines a love story with a surprise ending twist. Marlo’s other books include the Christy Award winning Beyond the Night, and ACFW Book of the Year, Veil of Fire.  Marlo is also the author of over 700 articles, the mother of 6 young children, and holds her Masters in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary.  When she’s not changing diapers, doing laundry, or writing books, Marlo loves sipping Starbucks white mochas, reading the New Testament in Greek, and talking about finding the deep places of God in everyday life.

Visit her website or connect with her on Twitter and Facebook to find out more about her and her writing: www.MarloSchalesky.com,  www.facebook.com/MarloSchalesky,

www.twitter.com/MarloSchalesky

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The other day, while driving, my husband and I passed a blind woman led by a seeing eye dog. Cars zoomed by and horns honked, but the dog remained focused. His task? To bring the woman to her destination safely. The woman’s task? To follow, not veering to the left or right. As I watched her, I couldn’t help but think how incredibly frightening that must have been. She couldn’t see the path ahead, or what lay between her and her destination. All she could do was focus on her next step, then the next, and the next. Through practiced obedience, she’d become accustomed to her guides every move, and she responded accordingly. When the dog stopped, she stopped. When he veered, she veered. Her sensitivity to his movements, at times, may have meant the difference between life and death.

Our faith walk is a lot like that, isn’t it? In many ways, it’s like walking in the dark, not knowing what obstacles, hurdles, or detours lie ahead. It’s easy to get so caught up in the “what-ifs” that we loose our focus on the here and now–that next step. But like a seeing eye dog who guides his companion with unwavering focus, God has promised to lead us to our final destination.

All we need to do is focus on our guide and take that next step.

1 The Lord is my shepherd;
I have all that I need.
2 He lets me rest in green meadows;
he leads me beside peaceful streams.
3 He renews my strength.
He guides me along right paths,
bringing honor to his name.
4 Even when I walk
through the darkest valley,[a]
I will not be afraid,
for you are close beside me.
Your rod and your staff
protect and comfort me.
5 You prepare a feast for me
in the presence of my enemies.
You honor me by anointing my head with oil.
My cup overflows with blessings.
6 Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me
all the days of my life,
and I will live in the house of the Lord
forever.

God leads us, not always along the path of least resistance, but the path of inner peace. When you surrender everything to God, trusting Him to be who He says He is and do what He promises to do, you’ll find rest even amidst the greatest struggles because you’ll realize it’s not about you. It’s not about how great you are, how gifted, talented, strong, insightful. It’s about how obedient and pliable you are.

Our trust is not based on our present circumstances, but instead, in the unfailing goodness of God. I love how verse six puts it–God’s goodness and love will pursue us.

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In Paul’s letters to the early church, he always starts with an identity proclamation and often closes with a declaration of association.

In Romans and Philippians he is a slave of Christ. In 1 and II Corinthians, Ephesians, and Colossians he is chosen by God to be an apostle. In Galatians, he says, “I was not appointed by any group of people or any human authority, but by Jesus Christ Himself and by God the Father, who raised Jesus from the dead.”

Each time he penned a letter, this proclamation saturated his mind: I belong to God and am surrounded by a body of believers. This provided an emotional and moral compass with which to sift through the events of his day. No matter what he faced–no matter how painful, frightening, or traumatic, he belonged to God, the all-powerful Creator of the universe. What’s more, surrounded by a family of believers, he was never alone.

How might our day, our lives, look different, if we started each day with that core knowledge: I belong to Christ, the Creator of the universe, and I am not alone. And what if we allowed those thoughts–that core identity–to expel negative thinking that threatens to keep us in bondage.

If we belong to the God of hope, there is always hope.

If we belong to the sovereign God, our lives have purpose.

If we belong to the God of love, we are lovable.

God formed you. God sees you. God loves you. God surrounds you. God is with you. God is in you. God has adopted you and placed you in a family of believers.

Stop and think of the implications of each of those statements. What false identities need to be expelled in light of God’s truth?

On Saturday our daughter went to her first homecoming dance, and she brought a friend. Earlier in the day, I spent hours dolling our daughter up–curling her hair, painting her nails and toe nails, applying make-up. When I finished, she looked in the mirror and said, “I feel pretty.” My heart brimmed with joy, knowing she’d walk into that high school gym with her head held high.

On the way to the dance, we picked up one of her friends who struggles to see her worth. At school, she often hangs on the outskirts, never quite feeling part of the group. Although our daughter tries to usher her in, the girl’s core belief that she doesn’t belong keeps her standing on the outside. Even amidst a group of friends, she feels alone.

As we drove to the dance, I encouraged her to change her thinking–to expel the lies and grasp hold of truth, like Paul did when he wrote his letters.

Although she felt insignificant, she was a radiant child of the King, created anew in Christ Jesus.

Although she felt unlovable, Christ Himself died for her.

Although she felt like she didn’t belong–didn’t fit–she belonged to God and a family of believers united in Christ.

As we talked, and the truth of what I told her began to sink in, her chin raised a bit higher and a smile tugged on her lips.

When we picked the girls up three hours later, they clamored in the van all smiles and giggles. They’d had a wonderful time and that night as my daughter’s friend shared stories and pictures taken on her phone, I realized the girl who felt like she never measured up and never quite belonged, felt beautiful and accepted.

Again I ask, how might remembering who you belong to and who you’s standing beside you change the way you look at your day? And as you focus on your identity in Christ, what false thinking must you let go?

by on

On Monday during our church’s Vacation Bible School, I taught children the account of the Exodus. We began with Joseph, continuing to the Hebrew’s slavery. After contrasting what life was like for the Hebrews and Egyptians, I asked the children which people group they’d rather be. Seeing only part of the story, they shouted, “The Egyptians!” But once they saw how God rose up in the Israelites’ defense, leading them out of Egypt with a mighty hand, they changed their minds.

Today’s post touches on a similar truth. As humans it’s easy to get caught up in the moment. It’s easy to allow the day-to-day frustrations, concerns, and fears wear us down, but we must always remember, God knows the end of the story–because He wrote it. And He loves us with an incomprehensible love. There’s a phrase in a song I like. It says, “With a strength like no other and a heart of a Father.” God is strong enough to overcome any barrier or difficulty we may face and everything He does is motivated by love. Remembering that makes it easier to move forward in confidence and obedience.

Romans 8:28 by Connie Almony

            Do you ever have those days (or weeks … or years) when everything seems to go wrong and you wonder, “Where is God in all this? Didn’t He hear me praying for things to go well?” Well, we just had one of those days.

            My husband’s shoulder surgery had been scheduled for weeks, and I had planned to be at the hospital with both my kids during the entire process, as the doctor had instructed I be. So when my daughter woke up “tossing her cookies,” I panicked. What was I going to do with my sick child when I was required to be at the hospital? It looked like we’d have to reschedule the surgery, and rearrange our work calendars to satisfy both the surgery and the recovery time.

            My daughter’s penitent gaze grabbed me between pleading phone calls to friends and family to come watch her. “Mom, I’m so sorry I’m sick.” I hugged her and reminded her it wasn’t her fault. It just happened. It was on the tip of my tongue to say this was God’s doing, but I didn’t have the time to explain God’s ways to her between rejections for help from the people I’d been calling all morning long. This seemed to be the one day no one had free.

            My husband, resigned to the fact he’d have to call the surgery center and reschedule, dialed the number. That phone call yielded two important pieces of information. First, I did not actually need to be there for the duration of the surgery, as we were originally told. And, second, when confirming the details, they informed my husband, for the first time, that his surgery had been moved up by two hours … meaning we had to grab our stuff, including a Ziplock container for my daughter—just in case—and run my husband to the hospital and drop him off.

            God is good … even in sickness. I was able to tell my daughter this week that her being sick at that moment turned out to be a blessing. In fact, she felt perfectly fine the rest of the day. But had she not been sick that morning, my husband would never have called the hospital and he’d never have known about the reschedule until it was too late. Just a reminder for me to trust Him in all things.

            … Now if He would only do something about the recovering male body with its arm in a sling that is taking up the living room couch, holding the remote control hostage. Well God?

            Connie Almony’s experience includes working as a Christian Counselor in Columbia, Maryland. She was recently inspired to write a full-length novel by her ten-year old, aspiring-author, daughter.

            Visit Connie at http://livingthebodyofchrist.blogspot.com/ and http://infinitecharacters.com.