Ruins

So many times in our lives

   We are hit hard by the storms...

We sustain maximum damage...

     And we are left in ruins....

All we have left is a pile of rubble

   From what used to be our life...

It's gone....our life's path is

        Forever altered...

But what if the devastation

    Is only the beginning and not the end??

God is in the restoration business....

We see a pile of rubble....

      And God sees something new

 Waiting to be built....

It doesn't happen overnight....

It starts one piece at a time...

    And slowly the rubble starts to

Look like something we recognize....

Is your life in ruins??

Let God do his thing and restore things...

    Give him the rubble of your life

And watch him -

       Piece by piece.....

He will rebuild your broken life...

     And turn it into something beautiful......

Chapters in our Lives....

Every day we wake up

      To a brand new day.....

A new page in our story....

     A fresh, clean blank page 

           That is ours to write on.

If you alive and breathing...

    Then your story is not yet complete...

You are free to write a new chapter...

    To change to storyline...

To add new characters or new changes....

What you write on those pages

   Is totally up to you...

When you feel tired and have run out of 

      Ideas...

When you feel that your story isn't what

   You wanted it to be...

Then that is the time....

           To give the book to God...to let him

Take the blank pages...

       And fill them with all the wonderful

Blessings he has wanted to give you...

He will take your story....

       And he will write something beautiful....

Something that will have some twists and turns...

But I promise.... If God is writing your story....

     The ending will be

           Better than you could have every imagined....

The Masks We Wear

Get up out of bed....

     What am I doing today??  Who will I be seeing??

I need to know so I can grab

     The appropriate mask for the day....

Being lazy, we just usually grab the "go-to"

    Mask with a smile... 

Our typical response when asked is just to say

     I'm ok....

But what happens what we are not ok???

Mostly others don't care...

     Which is what makes the world a sad place to be...

If we can't reach out and help other humans in our lives

   That what purpose do we really serve??

People ask "how are you?" But don't really want to know...

   Even when people know...they give you a 2 second "I'm sorry"

       And then they are gone....

Wouldn't it be a refreshing world if we could

      Just throw away the masks...

If we could just be .....

     Happy, sad, mad, depressed, tired, angry, etc...

And be honest about it??? 

Others could care and come along side when needed....and

    Could come alongside others in return?

We could live more authentic lives....

    Instead of the masquerade lives we live now...

Try it...

      Take off the mask.......dare to be authentic.

Do you know him?

There are a lot of people in my life .... And I'm sure if you asked most of them they would say that they know me fairly well... We talk...they see all my photos and post on Facebook....they have a general idea on my basic life moments and events.... But knowing about a person and actually knowing a person are very different things.  I'm not really sure there is anyone in my life that I have really put my guard down and shared the "real" me with....people only get the bits and pieces that I want them to see... The reality of who I am is very different than what most people see....

As Christians, we need to be on our guard about how we are getting to know Christ.... There is NO substitute for time spent directly in the Word.  Books are a great supplement....dvd series are a great supplement.... But our main food source as Christians should come directly from the Word of God.  

We cannot rely on bits and pieces that others give us and think that we know God from those....that wouldn't be a true reflection on who he is.... At some point in our Christian walk, we all have to come face to face with the same question Jesus asked Peter - "who do YOU say I am?"....and the only way to answer this question is to have been in the Word and have first hand knowledge of who he is...

When you testify in court, they are only interested in your first hand knowledge of something...everything else becomes "heresay"....If you are just sitting in church on Sunday and listening to what your pastor has to say...if you're just reading books and listening to what the book says, or listening to dvd series..... All you are really doing is listening to what another human being has to say about God...now I'm not saying that is a bad thing...God wants us to share our thoughts with one another... But God has given us the gift of his Word, and there is NO substitute for that... And when you are asked the above question, God doesn't want to hear what you heard someone else say...he already knows their answer to the question...he wants to know YOUR answer....

So I challenge you to find a Bible reading plan....make reading the Word a priority in your life... Set a goal for a chapter a week... A verse a day...but you NEED to be in the Word..the only way to know God for yourself is to read the book he left for us... After all, the Bible tells us that he IS the Word...so why rely on substitutes???

Get in the Word... Get to know him.... So that when you are asked "who do YOU say I am?"...you will answer confidently from firsthand knowledge.........

Grace

It's cold outside and there is still a little snow on the ground here where I live.  This time of year gives me quiet time.... And sometimes quiet time isn't always a good thing....

    Too much time to think.... About life..... About disappointments...

               About failures..... About who I am... Or who I'd rather be....

the list goes on.... But I'm sure you know as well.....

          That we are often are own worst critics....

I'm still working on showing grace this year...

            The hardest thing that I am finding... 

                      Is to show grace

                               To myself.

Why are we so hard on ourselves?  For me it seems that the world

           Holds standards I just cannot attain.... 

                  I often need to remind myself that 

                         What the world thinks....

                               Isn't what matters...

The only thing that matters.....

               Is what God thinks.....

His Word says that I am his child... That I am loved...that I was created for a purpose....

           He knows every hair on my head.... 

So I guess I start with that... And start working harder to show myself the grace that I am trying to show others... 

          We are ALL imperfect.... We ALL fail.... We ALL need grace...

                    Each and every day....

My goal is be more for him...

           To show his grace to others....

                         To glorify him....

And learn to walk in grace myself.... Even when I don't feel like it.

One Day

It's a new year - whooo hoooo!!   Out with the old and in with the new... As tradition dictates, we MUST make resolutions for our year..... And so it begins....    The list....

        - I'm going to lose weight

           - I'm going to save money

              - I'm going to be a better person

                - and so on...you all know how it goes....

We plan for tomorrow..... For next month....for the rest of the year.....

BUT -

    What if we only planned for one day??   For today.... 

   

We certainly cannot do anything about yesterday (except to maybe apologize).... We cannot do anything about a day that hasn't happened.... All we do have is:

                                                    TODAY

People ask - what can happen in a day???   Oh..many of you know so well what one day can do....

 

    One day can mean a birth...

                                             Or a death....

                                                         Loss of belongings in a fire.....

                                                                    Car wreck...........

                                                                                 Friend no longer likes you.......

                                                                                              Spouse has left you..... Etc....

So much can happen in just one day.....

       So treat each day like it is a treasure.....

                    Because it is......

Thank God for all you have...... 

            Trust him for all you will need......

                       Trust him for all the days that haven't happened yet.... 

Because he knows....

             From hanging on the cross...... 

                          What a difference.....

                                       One day.....

                                                Can make.