Tag Archives: Bible

Gifts

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He is your good father. He wants to give you good gifts. He wants the best for you. He loves you always and forever and that will never change.

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I was thinking of these verses as I was wrapping presents for my children last night. A local store was going out of business and I was excited to buy some toys at a nice discount, especially those Legos that never seem to go on sale! However, as I was sorting the presents to wrap I realized that there were too many. In my excitement I had gone overboard.

I have scaled back on gift giving to our children over the last 21 years of parenting. Honestly, as I began my parenting journey I wasn’t even a believer and so Christmas, in a weird way, was all about the gifts. Slowly over time as my heart has been softened, I’ve felt a desire to reign in the true reason for the season with my family. So this brings me back to the point of too many gifts. Santa does come to our home and he brings each child three gifts, just as Jesus was given three gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh when he was visited by the Wise Men.

I know that when it comes to receiving gifts my children would think, “the more the better”. I am sure their prayer to me would be, “please give me all the toys my heart desires.” And I want to! I want to shower them lavishly with everything they could ever want. It was hard for me to look at that pile of toys on the table and know that I would need to save some of those for a later date. Yet, I will. Because even though they may ask me for every toy in the store, as their loving parent I know that’s not what they need. I know that would not be beneficial or helpful for them. So I will not give them this desire, even if I could. Even though they asked for many presents,  they are just children and they don’t always understand what they need.

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And so it is with our Father in Heaven. He knows better than I what I need. His ways are higher than my ways. His thoughts are higher than my thoughts. I can’t even explain to you how the wind blows or how a child is formed in a mother’s womb, but He does all of these things and more. So I trust that He is a good father. I trust that if I ask sincerely, I will receive. At the same time though, I keep in the back of my mind that what I ask for isn’t necessarily what I might need at that time.

Because honestly, sometimes my prayers aren’t answered the way I want them to be. Sometimes I am left to wonder, “Why?”

But I still trust Him and His promises.

He promises that He loves us eternally. He promises that He has prepared a place for us in Heaven for those who hope in Him. He promises that we are adopted into His family with all the rights and honor that come with being called a Child of God. He promises to work all things for the good of those who love Him. He promises the gifts of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience,  kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. He is the ultimate gift!

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I am going to cling tight to His promises this Christmas season. I am going to look forward to the promises of his gifts. He is a good father. He loves me more than anyone and He desires to give me the best gifts ever, even if I don’t understand that at the time of the gifting. He is the ultimate gift and His gifts are always for my good.

Make sure it’s not last night’s pizza talking

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About ten years ago, shortly after finding my way back to church after many years as a stubborn atheist, I remember hearing a sermon from my Pastor Larry Osborne of North Coast Church . He was talking about finding God’s will for your life. He said something that struck me as both funny and confusing at the same time.  He warned about evaluating when you are feeling the calling of God. He said something like, “make sure that what you are feeling isn’t actually just rumblings in your belly from the pizza you had last night.”

Everyone laughed, including me, but I remember thinking about that for a long time and here I am today still thinking about that 10 years later.

Back then I remember feeling like I didn’t quite understand what he was saying. Now that I look back I realize that’s because I didn’t relate to having this urging of God telling me to do something and needing to evaluate that. I honestly had never felt those urgings in my life up to that point. And to be honest, part of the reason why I never felt those urgings from God was because I believe I never sincerely asked for that.

I never sincerely asked God wholeheartedly to point me to where He wanted me to be.

It wasn’t until 10 years later when my faith had grown a whole ton that I truly began to pray those types of prayers earnestly. God use me to reach the brokenhearted. God mold me to be more like You. God I want to be your hands and feet in this world, show me where I am needed.

It can be really scary to pray those types of prayers sincerely. Where will He need me? What would He have me do? Will I be up to the task? What if I don’t want to do it?

Once I was led to the path of adopting my children I began to understand what my pastor had been teaching that day 10 years ago. He was explaining the deep discernment that takes place when you are about to make life changing decisions.

Is this truly God’s will, or is this just last night’s pizza talking to me?

Honestly for our adoption journey, it took a lot of sincere prayer, thought, and time to discern God’s will. It was not something we immediately felt we knew the answer to for sure.

As I described in my post the battle, it was honestly a heart wrenching decision for me in the end. This was so confusing to me because I felt so strongly convicted in the beginning. But journeys weave us through many mountains and valleys. I went from a high mountain into a deep valley and it was only through serious prayer that I was finally 100% sure that God wanted me to continue on this adoption path. He did not want me to fear. He wanted me to be brave.

So what is that 10 step plan to ensure that it is God’s will and not the pizza talking? I wish it were that easy! The only thing I can say is that He wants us to ask Him. He desires our communication with Him. He loves when we pour our heart out to Him like a child to a Father.  He tells us if we sincerely ask, He will answer. If we knock, the door will open. (Matthew 7:7-8, Luke 11:9-10).

He is just a prayer away, my friend!

 

Whatever you do, just don’t lose heart!

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“One million reasons why, you shouldn’t even try.
After all you’re just one heart, a single candle in the dark.
And there are shadows here, feeding on your fears,
That you don’t have what it takes – who are you to make a change?”

“Whatever you do, just don’t look back.
Oh somebody needs the light you have.
Whatever you do, just don’t lose heart.
Keep on pushing back the dark,
Keep on pushing back the dark.”

Our adoption journey began June 2014 with our first hosting trip.  Two years, four hosting trips to the US, and two international trips to Eastern Europe later, and we can FINALLY say THEY HAVE A FOREVER FAMILY! None of it was easy, none of it came without heart wrenching decisions and tears, but every single second was WORTH IT! I can’t imagine life without these kiddos in it.

I have said that I came into this adoption journey with the mindset that I was saving them. The truth is though, that they have saved ME. They have saved me from my selfishness.  They have saved me from my greed.  They have saved me from myself.  They have turned my heart outwards instead of inwards.  They have focused my heart on those things that are eternal, instead of the things of this world that will pass away.  THANK YOU GOD!

I want to encourage you to pursue your dreams.  Live without regrets!  Take that leap of faith!  JUST DO IT!  Whatever you have been given, use it.  Whatever your talents are, employ them.  Whatever you are dreaming about, GO FOR IT!  It is never too late.  Never give up.  Have no regrets! Don’t let fear stop you, fear is a liar!

BE BOLD!

And just when you are ready to give up the battle, just when you feel you are at your breaking point and you can’t do it anymore, just keep on keeping on, my friend! Remember these four points I learned from a sermon about where faith takes us…

—to the point where we need to make decisions that involve BIG RISK
—to the starting point of long journeys
— to the point of waiting for the impossible
— to the point of giving everything you have

Never give up.  Have no regrets.

(song and lyrics are from “Pushing Back the Dark” by Josh Wilson)

fear is a liar

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Life is too short to give way to fear. Fear will always be there, lurking around in the dark, trying to convince us that all the worse-case-scenarios we are playing out in our head are real. But here’s the thing…FEAR IS A LIAR!

Now, I’m not saying that there aren’t dangers out there in the world, or that we shouldn’t take heed in certain situations. Of course we should!  What I AM saying is that fear is our response. It is something we can control. Screen Shot 2015-02-12 at 6.13.21 PMI remember almost twenty years ago when I first came upon the readings of a Greek Stoic philosopher, Epictetus. I WAS BLOWN AWAY!  It had a HUGE impact on me and began to change my way of looking at and thinking about things.

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Wow!  I had never really thought about it that way.  Epictetus went so far as to say that even the death of a loved one is not really what causes us pain, but it is our interpretation of the death of our loved one that causes grief. I had to wrestle with that one for awhile, but I found that there is some truth in it. We don’t always control the events in our lives, but we DO have control over how we respond to those events.

So, back to fear. Fear is an emotion. It is something that we feel based on something that has happened to us or that we worry about happening to us. Therefore, as Epictetus would explain, it is something that we can control. Fear often leads to the fight, flight, or freeze phenomenon.  These are the three most common responses, but it doesn’t mean they have to be the only response. It doesn’t mean that we can’t change our perception of our fears. It doesn’t mean that our fears are beyond our control!

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We have something greater than fear. We have FAITH!  We have a mighty God who cares about us, who loves us, who promises us that He works all things for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28).  God does not want us to fear.

So do not fear, for I am with you;
    do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
    I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.            —Isaiah 41:10

HUNDREDS of times throughout the Bible, God commands us not to fear!  He assures us that when we are struck with fear, that He is our God, He is with us always,  He will strengthen us, He will help us, and He will support us.

Fear sucks up love. It contracts. It makes us anxious. It makes us defensive and want to fight. It makes us want to run and hide. But God is LOVE, perfect love, and perfect love casts out fear.

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear.      —1 John 4:18

I think about Jesus talking to His disciples at the Last Supper and the fear of the unknown that they must have felt at that time.  Jesus is explaining to them that He is leaving, but that He will prepare a place for them and He will come back and take them with Him. He says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me.” (John 14:1)  From reading the gospel accounts, I can feel the confusion and fear they had.

Simon Peter pleads with Jesus, asking why he can’t go with Him (Luke 22:33). Thomas wonders out loud, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” (John 14:5) The disciples are having a hard time understanding. They are afraid.  They are unsure about what is going to happen. But Jesus knows. He explains to them that when He leaves the Holy Spirit will come to them, and be with them forever, and teach them everything they need to know. And then he says this:

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.                           —John 14:27

Jesus is reminding the disciples, and us today, that we do not have to fear. We do not have to be anxious. Because we have the power of Christ alive in us. Always. Forever. If we are in Christ, then we have nothing to fear.

The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? —Psalm 118:6

Screen Shot 2015-02-12 at 6.20.09 PMFaith in God is a choice. It is not forced on us. We do not have to believe. God gives us free will to respond to his Truth as we choose. However, once we truly believe, once we have the power of Christ at work in us, then something glorious occurs.  We don’t have to fear anything anymore. We can respond to our fears with faith.  Faith will always be bigger than our fears. Does this mean that we will never be shaken?  No.  Does this mean that fear will never raise its ugly head in our lives? No. But it does mean, as Epictetus explained, that we have a choice in how we respond to that feeling of fear.  We can let it consume us, or we can turn it over to God and accept His free gift of peace.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.           —Philippians 4:6-7

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