Category Archives: Devotions

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.”

A few weeks ago, I received a call from a photographer friend.

Could I help her with a wedding? She had broken a bone in her wrist and if the resulting cast was not removed in time, she would be hard-pressed to carry out her photographic duties.

I was so excited! (Not about her wrist but about the chance to help photograph this wedding).

I hung up the phone and immediately dove into my photography  books, writing down ideas for poses, camera settings, etc. I fell asleep with one of the books on my chest.

Then around 1:00 in the morning, I awoke in a cold sweat.

What had I done???

Was I ready to shoot a wedding??? It has only been one year since I took my first photography class!

What if I messed up? What if all my settings were wrong? What if the photos were blurry?

I was simultaneously thrilled and nauseated. I briefly considered calling my friend and suggesting that a professional photographer we both know might be better suited for this.

However, I never made that call because I somehow knew this was a defining moment in my life.

On the day of the wedding, I was scared to death. This was it. No turning back. I had studied and practiced and studied and practiced some more; yet I had the alarming feeling that all of that knowledge had left my brain faster than a morning mist vanishes under a summer sun!

As I was getting ready, Jesus reminded me of the Scripture He had given me for 2012: “I have strength for all things in Christ who empowers me (I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses inner strength into me. I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency).” (Philippians   4:13). 

Immediately I felt my heart still.

Jesus had given me this opportunity. He had called me to it…which meant that I was ready for it and equal to the task!

Besides, He is the Master Photographer. He would be there to help me.

To make a long story short, I grabbed my camera and never let go and it was a marvelous ride!

The bride and groom were an absolute joy and their families were a fun bunch. At the end of the day, I was exhausted but exhilarated.

I had done it! I had gone waaaaay out of my comfort zone and lived to tell about it!

He had indeed empowered me and given me the strength to rise to the occasion. The venue was very challenging to photograph for a variety of reasons but I know that He gave me the ideas for the settings I needed to use. He was right there beside me as He always is, cheering me on, encouraging me, supporting me.

Life…real life…truly does happen only when we choose leave the restricting confines of our comfort zones.

Will things always go smoothly? No.

Will you make mistakes? Yes.

But…you will never know the sheer invigorating  joy and freedom that accompany taking a risk if you are not willing to leave the shore and launch out into the deep.  Rather than being gloriously enlarged, your soul will become small, confined, hardened, stifled.

What opportunity has He given you?

Are you ready to seize the day and say YES? If not, what is holding you back?

If He has called you to it, He knows that in His strength, you are ready for anything and equal to anything.

As Ann Voskamp has said, “Fear makes a life small.”

You were placed on this earth by your Creator to matter. To scale new heights. To make an eternal impact.

What are your gifts?

Are you using them?

The world needs you…your talent, your voice, your passion! There is no one like you on the face of this earth.

At the end of your days, you will not regret the risks you have taken. But you will regret playing it safe and living the small.

Today, make the choice to step decisively out of your comfort zone.

True life awaits you!

P.S. If you would care to remember me in your prayers this Saturday, I would appreciate it! I am photographing the prom at our local high school…another chance to step out of my comfort zone! 🙂 

Recently, I was listening to one of David Platt’s sermons and he said something that caused me to sit up straight: “So many things we focus on will not matter in 10 years, let alone 10 billion years from now. We are blinded by the temporal and the trivial.”

Given that I am currently quite preoccupied by the fact that we are dealing with a bank that is moving slower than a snail, I had to admit that this issue certainly will not matter in ten billion years.

What is the only thing that will matter 10 billion years from now?

Jesus.

It always comes back to Jesus.  The One Who was, Who is, Who is to come.

The Creator and Sustainer of this world. The Great I AM. The Messiah. The Savior.

Only one life; twill soon be past
Only what is done for Christ will last.

I was reminded of this afresh on Saturday night.

Our family attended a play at the high school that evening. Several of our kids’ friends were in the show and it was a very enjoyable evening.

After the curtain fell, everyone spilled out into the lobby to congratulate the cast on a job well done. I had stepped away after taking my turn through the line and was waiting by the doors for my husband to finish when a friend approached me.

The look on her face was very serious.

“We got devastating news,” she said softly.

Her husband was diagnosed with cancer last summer. After a grueling treatment, the cancer was still ravaging his body. In a last ditch effort to save his life, another round of treatment was begun in February. Hopes were high that this would work.

It was not to be.

“The treatment isn’t working. The main focus now is just to make him comfortable.”

I glanced over at her husband, who was standing against a wall with one of their neighbors. He looked so frail, so sad. He had just witnessed his son steal the show with his amazing comedic timing on the stage. He will not live to see another play or to see his son graduate next year. I noticed that his gaze was riveted on his boy across the room, as if trying to memorize his face.

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered as I drew her into a hug. She felt thin, small. There were lines on her face that were not there when I first met her three years ago.

In the midst of  a room filled with the energy of youth and hearty laughter, reality crashed into my heart with the force of a bullet shattering glass and my eyes filled with tears.

This life is not a dress rehearsal.

How we live out our eighty or so years on this planet will directly affect where we will spend eternity.

The instant we die, we will immediately come face to face with the risen Christ. We will either see Him as our Savior or our Judge.  The choice is ours.

Sin against a holy God has to go somewhere.  Either we pay for the full penalty of our sin and experience the horrors of a Christless eternity or we run to the cross in desperation with all our strength and throw ourselves on the breathtaking grace and mercy of the perfect God-Man who died in our place so that we might live.

Nothing else will matter on that day: not our health, our bank account, our home, our possessions, our job, our marital status, our college degrees, our titles. Nothing.

Where is your focus? Is it on the eternal: God, His Word, and people?

Or is your one precious life slipping quietly away as you  obsess about the mundane and trivial and temporal?

Wake up!!!

And please pray for this man who does not (yet) know Jesus. He has less than two months left on this earth.

“This world has been condemned to ultimate dissolution. The human spirit persists beyond the grave and there indeed is a world to come. The church is constantly being tempted to accept this world as her home…we would do well to contemplate the long tomorrow. —A.W. Tozer

When I was young, my family went every year to see The Bill Gaither Trio in concert when they came to Pittsburgh.

Their music provided much of the soundtrack of my early years and it is a sweet memory.

This morning as I was reading the Daily Bread during my quiet time, I was reminded of one of their songs, Something Beautiful.

Something beautiful, something good
All my confusion He understood
All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife
But He made something beautiful of my life.

Can you believe this very moment that Jesus can make something beautiful of your life?

If all you see is brokenness, please remember that that does not disqualify you! We are all broken in some way. That is why we needed our Savior to come to us.

That very brokenness is what Jesus will use to rebuild your life on the rock-solid foundation of His Word.

Cling to His precious promises.

Submit your fickle feelings to the timeless and unchanging truths of His Word. Relegate them to their proper place and refuse to allow them to rule your spirit any longer. Rather, pray for the Holy Spirit to rule you instead, filling you with His fearless courage, blazing love, and endless hope.

Recognize that the things you can see are only the tip of the iceberg compared to His unlimited and perfect knowledge.

Then you will find that Jesus is always leading you in triumph as trophies of His victory (2 Corinthians 2:14).

And you will discover, to your delight and awe, that Jesus is doing what He always does: bringing breathtaking beauty from the ashes.

Our enemy, our circumstances, our sin do not have the last word in our lives. Not ever.

The Cross says so. It is finished!

The empty tomb says so. He is risen!

Tucked into the Old Testament book of Joel is a dazzling promise that sparkles like a diamond against a black velvet background:

Fear not…be glad and rejoice because the Lord has done great things…I will restore or replace for you the years that the locusts have eaten..and you shall eat in plenty and be satisfied and praise the Name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never be put to shame. And you shall know, understand, and realize that I am in the midst of (you) and that I am your God and there is none else. My people shall never be put to shame.” (Joel 2: 21-27)

Have the locusts invaded your life, stripping, devouring, devastating?

Look up. Draw close to God.

The word “restore” in this verse is shalam and it means: “to be at peace, to live in peace, to make whole, to make good, to complete, to recompense, reward, to be repaid.”

Dear one, the above is what He is doing in your sweet life at this very moment if you belong to Him. He is always at work. You are His beloved, the apple of His eye.

Leave room for Him to do His redemptive work in His perfect way. Let Him write the story of your life. I promise you it turns out well.

The One who is Beauty makes all things beautiful in His time.

Yesterday, I listened to author/Bible teacher Jill Briscoe teach on the subject of “Waiting It Out: Helps For the Long Haul.”

She was discussing how hard it is to wait for God’s perfect timing when He has allowed us to enter into a wilderness. We simply want OUT.  But until that time comes, we are consigned to waiting.

At one point, she shared something that immediately caught my attention: “Waiting with an attitude of acceptance (rather than resignation) allows me to wait expectantly and say to the Lord, ‘I will watch to see how You bring redemption from this mess.”

I absolutely LOVE that attitude, that sense of expectancy, that rock-solid, God-given HOPE that Jesus’s death on the Cross purchased for us.

Redemption is what Jesus does! Redemption is His specialty, His passion, His delight, His purpose, His greatest gift to us!

There is not one person, not one situation that He cannot redeem!

In Him we have redemption (deliverance and salvation) through His blood (the remission) and forgiveness of our sins… in accordance with the riches and the generosity of His gracious favor. (Ephesians 1:7).

The word redemption means: “a releasing effected by payment of ransom, deliverance, liberation, rescue.”

On the Cross, Jesus did for us what we could never do for ourselves: give us right standing before a holy God when He took our penalty for our sin onto Himself.

In that one momentous, victorious,  earth-shattering moment, He took care of our greatest need once and for all.

Glorious, beautiful and eternal redemption became ours! We have been given the greatest gift in the history of the world!

The good news is that that same redemption continues its triumphant march today both across the stories of our lives and the fragile terrain of our hearts.

His redemption is capable of  reaching  into and utterly transforming every single area of our lives, the good, the bad, and the ugly. His redemption is capable of making all things beautiful in His perfect timing.

Our role is to let Him.

We can choose to either fight Him or to surrender to His loving care and good purpose.

We can choose to become bitter as we wait or we can choose to wait expectantly and with blazing hope in our Savior who is forever with us.

I have seen His gracious gift of redemption in my own life in countless ways. There have been situations where I thought my heart was going to break or stop beating altogether. I did not see any way out. Yet…in His own supremely loving and gentle way, He absolutely astonished me as I watched Him redeem each and every painful situation in ways that left me filled with breathless wonder and amazement. I will never get over those things. They are the precious cords that bind my grateful heart to my all-powerful and wondrous Redeemer and Savior.

Elisabeth Elliot famously said, “In acceptance lies peace.”

If today finds you in a wilderness or in the midst of a mess, would you choose to accept that Jesus is right there with you? He has not forgotten you. He knows. He sees.

Would you allow Him to fill your heart with His peace?

Would you trust His Word more than you trust your feelings?

And will you begin to praise Him right now for the fact that He will allow you to see–whether on this earth or in eternity— His magnificent, shining, triumphant  gift of redemption in this situation?

The Master Artist is always at work! And He only makes masterpieces!

“Leave it all in the Hands that were wounded for you.”—Elisabeth Elliot

Fear not (there is nothing to fear), for I am with you; do not look around in terror and be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and harden you to difficulties. Yes, I will help you, yes I will hold you up.—Isaiah 41:10

Yesterday, I spoke with a young mom who is facing a devastating situation for which there seems to be no answer.

I have lived long enough to know not to give pat answers to someone in this much pain. To do so is to pour salt into an open wound.

I have no idea what God is doing here and I can’t speak for Him. I will not tell her that I know how she feels because I don’t.

However, all of a sudden, a Bible passage popped into my mind: 2 Chronicles 20.

The Israelites were facing certain annihilation from “a vast multitude.” (v.2)

Their leader, King Jehoshaphat, was understandably terrified. But his first response was not to run and hide. Rather he “set himself (determinedly, as his vital need) to seek the Lord.” (v. 3). He then proclaimed a fast.

But he didn’t stop there. He gathered everyone together to ask for the Lord’s help in prayer. We are told in verse four that the people were “yearning for Him with all their desire.”

Then Scripture records their prayer:

O Lord, God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven? And do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? In Your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand You.  Did not You, O our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham Your friend? They dwelt in it and have built You a sanctuary in it for Your Name, saying, “If evil comes upon us, the sword of judgement or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before You…and cry to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save….O our God…we have no might to stand against this great company that is coming against us. We do not know what to do but our eyes are upon You. (vv.6-9, 12).

I see a blueprint in these verses for things that we can do when we feel like we have been hit by a tsunami of trouble:

1) Name your “vast multitude.” Be specific. Look it straight in the face. Denial helps nobody. The king did not bury his head in the sand and pretend that none of this was happening. The threat was real and deadly serious.

You may say, “I can’t face this. I am not up to it.” 

And you would be right. In ourselves, we are frail as breath, a mist, a vapor.

However, if you know Jesus, that is never true of you. Anything you face comes to Him first. He cushions the blow for you. He declares you to be “more than a conqueror” through Him. (Romans 8:37).

2) Make sure you recognize that your vital need is Jesus Himself…not more money, more time, more resources, etc. It is entirely too easy for us to reach for created things to rescue us, rather than reach out in desperation for our Creator, who will never leave us and is always actively at work on our behalf.

Colossians 1:16-17 is very helpful here: “It was in Him that all things were created, in heaven and on earth, things seen and unseen, whethere thrones, dominions, rulers or authorities; all things were created and exist through Him and in and for Him. And He Himself existed before all things, and in Him all things…are held together.”

There is NO part of your life with which Jesus is not intimately involved. And that includes your “vast multitude.”

As I learned in the life-changing book Jesus + Nothing = Everything:  because of Christ’s finished work on the cross, everything I need, I already have in Him! Everything!

Yes…even in those times when a vast multitude comes against me! I may feel as if I have nothing at all, but the absolute fact of the Cross assures me that Jesus has given me everything I need…both now (in the very midst of the mess!) and for all eternity.

3). Do you yearn for Him with all your desire? Or is your desire simply to get out of whatever painful situation you are in?

Really think about that. Do you want Jesus just so that He will release you? (Be honest).

Or are you content with His Presence with you in it, regardless of how long the trouble goes on?

It is normal to want pain removed and Jesus does not begrudge us that. He knows that we are dust. Nobody enjoys pain, nor should we. However, when hard times hit, He is right there with us by the miracle of His Spirit.  And He is always enough.

It is during these very times that He becomes real to us, that His Words cease to be just letters on the pages of our Bibles and become life to us! And there is NOTHING on this earth that can compare to that.

At some point on our faith journey through this world, we must come to a point when the fact and overwhelming preciousness of the Presence of Jesus with us must become more real to us than the presence of pain.

May we never get over the miracle that the same Jesus that we read about in the Gospels is the very same Jesus whose Spirit is now joined with ours both in time and for all eternity!

Whatever you are facing, you are not facing it alone.

4). We need to remind ourselves that He rules over everything. 

Nothing is unknown to Him. Nothing is too hard for Him to fix. Nothing is impossible with Him. He alone holds our destiny in His all-powerful hands.

The Lord is my Light and my Salvation—whom shall I fear or dread? The Lord is the Refuge and Stronghold of my life—of whom should I be afraid?…Though a host encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war rise against me (even then) in this will I be confident.—Ps. 27:1,3

…He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay His hand or say to Him, ‘What are You doing?’—Daniel 4:35

5). Recall to mind past times when He has graciously rescued you and proved His faithfulness.

We can either choose to rehearse our troubles and our fears or we can choose to rehearse the fact that He has proven Himself to be utterly trustworthy time and time again.

6) When rough times come, make the choice to STAND, no matter what. 

As a believer, you have the privilege (and gift!) of planting your feet firmly on the rock solid, never-changing Word of God.

You need not collapse in fear.

The Lord God is my strength (my personal bravery and my invincible army); He makes my feet like hinds feet and will make me to walk (not to stand still in terror but to walk) and make spiritual progress on my high places of trouble, suffering, and responsibility. —Habakkuk 3:19

7) The best thing you can do when you are overwhelmed is to look UP. Decide to keep your focus on your Savior rather than on your circumstances.

Make the king’s prayer in his moment of greatest crisis your own prayer:  We don’t know what to do, but our eyes are on You.

He WILL act.

You may not have all the answers (or even any at all), but He knows the answer to every single one of your questions.

Your “vast multitude” has not taken Him by surprise.

8) He will answer  your pleas for help. This is what He told the king:  The Lord says this to you, “Be not afraid or dismayed at this vast multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s…you shall not need to fight this battle; take your positions, stand still, and see the deliverance of the Lord, Who is with you…fear not, nor be dismayed. Tomorrow, go out against them, for the Lord is with you.” 

Put your name at the beginning of that verse and then take out the words “vast multitude” and write your trial there instead. Take this word personally. It is meant for you. Read it as often as you need to. Write it on post-it notes and place it everywhere you can.

Then praise Him for what He is going to do in His perfect timing.

Fill your waiting moments with worship instead of worry.

That is exactly what King Jehoshaphat and his fellow Israelites did: Believe in the Lord your God and you shall be established…He appointed singers to sing to the Lord and praise Him…as they went before the army, saying, “Give thanks to the Lord, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever!” (vv. 20-21)

As they praised, the Lord caused the approaching army to turn on each other and  not one of them remained alive. God took care of that vast multitude in one day.  It took them three entire days to gather the spoils.

He is, and will always be, faithful to His own.

9) Expect the miraculous.

Your finite mind simply cannot comprehend the infinite.

Nothing is impossible with Him and everything is possible with Him.

Life with Jesus is always an adventure and He delights to thrill us and take our breath away with His plans.

God is HUGE!

So…if you are facing a vast multitude right now, rest in God’s sovereignty. Let Him fill you with His strength. Live with expectancy. Dare to be joyful. Banish fear and doubt from your mind and your vocabulary.

He’s got this.

God is the Ruler of all.
God answers to no one.
God can accomplish whatever He wants—in all things.
God sees history from beginning to end.
God is afraid of nothing. Ignorant of nothing. Needing nothing.
God always knows what’s best, and He never makes a mistake.
—James MacDonald, Gripped By The Greatness Of God.

Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight and understanding. In all your ways, recognize and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths. —Proverbs 3:5-6

A young woman asked a godly friend to join her in praying that she would be able to give birth to her third child naturally without having a C-section.

The wise friend replied, “I will join you in praying for that because I know it is the desire of your heart. However…whatever happens, I hope you will respond with trust and thankfulness. Think of these two things as parallel train tracks. As long as you respond with these things, you will stay on-track. If you veer off into anything else (complaining, fear, dread, anger) you will go off-track every single time.”

Trust and thankfulness.

This should be the default mode for the follower of Christ. We can fully trust the One who died and rose again so that we would be His treasures forever, and we can overflow with gratitude because every single day of our earthly existence, He lavishes His love on us in hundreds of ways, big and small.

He knows what He is doing.

He has clearly told us in His word that His ways are not our ways. There is no need to be surprised when things do not go according to our plans. We must live with open hands to receive what He knows is best.

He can only do you good.

He loves you more than you can fathom.

Whatever happens in your life today, could you respond with trust and thankfulness?

That is the path of true joy.

For out of His fullness (abundance) we have all received…one grace after another and spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing and even favor upon favor and gift heaped upon gift. —John 1:16

Are you currently waiting for someone else to make a decision that will affect your life? Things such as a banker approving a loan, an employer making a decision as to whether or not you are hired; a buyer to purchase your home?

It is easy to grow discouraged as the wait drags on, isn’t it?

I am currently in waiting-mode and in my quiet time today, I received a very important reminder from Jesus.

We are not waiting for anyone else but HIM.

…for You (You only and altogether) do I wait (expectantly), all day long. —Ps. 25:5

I wait for and expect You. —Ps. 25:21

All the paths of the Lord are mercy and steadfast love. —Ps. 25:10

These verses tell me a couple of things:

1) Our destiny is NOT in the hands of any man, no matter what the situation looks like. He is firmly on His Throne and He is entirely sovereign.

It is God who sits above the circle of the earth and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. –Isaiah 40:22

No one—no matter how powerful he or she may be in the earthly realm— is capable of thwarting His good plan for your life.

I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, “My purpose shall stand and I will do all that I please.”—Isaiah 46:10

2) We are ultimately waiting for His perfect timing (which is hardly ever ours!). Never forget that He alone sees the big picture. We don’t. He knows what He is doing at all times, regardless of how the situation looks to us.

3) We are not to wait in stress, anxiousness, or hand-wringing. We are to wait expectantly for our Savior, who can only do us good! 

4) ALL the paths He leads us along are for our good—even when we do not get the answer or outcome we were hoping for and must begin walking a path we did not ever want to take. As Psalm 25:10 reminds us, His actions are ALWAYS done in mercy and steadfast love. We are surrounded by His mercy and steadfast love at ALL times, both in celebration and heartache.

Remember that Jesus’ resources are infinite. Nothing is impossible with Him.

You are in excellent hands.

Jesus had A LOT to say to me this morning about bold, fearless faith. (Makes me wonder what is coming my way! 🙂 ).

I was so encouraged and strengthened that I wanted to share what He had shown me in the event that you, too, could use the light of His glorious promises for your path today.

So here goes! (Take this personally. Put your name in these verses and know that if you  belong to Him, He is speaking His Word to YOU!).

The Lord God is my Strength, my personal bravery and my invincible army; He makes my feet like hinds’ feet and will make me to walk (not to stand still in terror but to walk) and make spiritual progress upon my high places of trouble, suffering, or responsibility. —Habakkuk 3:19

I have learned how to be content (satisfied to the point where I am not disturbed or disquieted) in whatever state I am…I have learned in any and all circumstances the secret of facing every situation, whether well-fed or going hungry, having a sufficiency and enough to spare or going without and being in want. I have strength for ALL things in Christ who empowers me (I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency).—Phil. 4:11-13

Who is among you who reverently fears the Lord…yet walks in darkness and deep trouble?…Let him rely on, trust in, and be confident in the Name of the Lord and let him lean upon and be supported by his God.—Is. 50:10

As for me, I will look to the Lord and confident in Him, I will keep watch;  I will wait with hope and expectancy for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. Rejoice not against me, O my enemy! When I fall, I  shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a Light to me. —Micah 7:7-8

Fear not (there is nothing to fear), for I am with you; do not look around you in terror and be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen and harden your to difficulties, yes I will help you; yes, I will hold you up and retain you with My victorious right hand of rightness and justice. —Is. 41:1-

I will bring the blind by a way that they know not; I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness into light before them and make uneven paths into a plain. These things I have determined to do for them and I will not leave them forsaken. —Is. 42:16

Why are you cast down, O my inner self? And why should you moan and be disquieted? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall YET praise Him, my Savior and my God. —Ps. 42:5

I have to include this absolute gem from the pen of the great Charles Spurgeon because it so perfectly speaks to the issue of faith:

“Little faith can save a person but little faith will never do great things for God. Little-faith says, ‘This is a rough road, covered with the sharpest thorns and full of danger. I’m afraid to go.’ but Great-faith remembers the promise, ‘Your shoes shall be iron and brass; and as your days, so shall your strength be.’ (Deuteronomy 33:25) so Great-faith boldly ventures ahead. Little-faith waits in despondency, its tears mingling with the floodwaters it stands beside; but Great-faith  sings, ‘When you pass through the waters, I will be with you and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.; (Isaiah 43:2); and then Great-faith fords the stream at once.” —Morning By Morning, p. 67

Does this day find you with little faith?

Be encouraged. These Scriptures are meant for you. Print them out and take them with you wherever you go. Write them on post-it notes and stick them all over the house.

Decide to move into these verses and live there.

Your circumstance was not meant to be the end of you. Jesus intends to use it to strengthen your spiritual muscle, to grow in intimacy with Him, to learn to stand on nothing but the solid foundation of His Word and defy your enemy, who seeks to fill you with such fear that you are paralyzed and miss out on the abundant life Jesus died and rose again to give you. (Not an abundance of things, by the way…but an abundance of HIM! He is all you will ever need).

Just as the pre-incarnate Christ said to Gideon all those years ago, He so says to you, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man (or woman!) of fearless courage!” (Judges 6:12).

You don’t have to work up that kind of courage, which is good news. You don’t have it. But Jesus does and He is willing to pour that courage into your fearful heart and make you strong. Simply ask Him for it.

Be fearlessly courageous today in Him, no matter what you are facing.

And remember these words that Tony Evans posted on Facebook this morning: “Man may have A say, but God has the FINAL say. Look to Him. He’s got you.”

Do you need to fire yourself over seeking control over another person’s life?

Being the parents of two teenagers, I certainly do.

This morning, as I drove through the snowy hills of my town, I cried out to Jesus to free me from this idol of control.  Make no mistake: attempting to control things that are not yours to control IS an idol, whether it is another person, a circumstance, or an outcome. It is dethroning Jesus’ rightful place as ruler of your heart and life and placing yourself there instead, thinking that you know best. And that is a very dangerous (and heartbreakingly fruitless) place to be.

Jesus always answers our heart cries.

He answered mine this morning by causing me to be in the car at just the right time to hear a most important message from Chuck Swindoll of Insight For Living. His message was entitled The Grace To Let Others Be.

As soon as I got home, I logged on to listen to it again and this time I took notes. It was such a source of comfort and joy to me, so I wanted to share it with you, in the event that you are struggling with these things too. So here goes. Read and be blessed. (His text is Romans 14).

Believing in grace is one thing: living it is another.

1.Accepting others AS THEY ARE is the key to letting them be

The key here is the word “accept.” What we often demand from others is: ‘Feel as I feel and think as I think.” We are all individuals. You are not me. You’re you.

2. Releasing others allows the Lord to dictate the details of their lives.

My advice to you who believe you know God’s will for someone else’s life is that you BACK OFF. Lighten up. Save your breath. Stop trying to make the other person’s mind up. Don’t attempt to manipulate. Quit judging. You have every right not to agree. But put an end to playing king of the mountain. It is not a fun game. Don’t assume that your opinion is the correct one.

Our problem occurs when we get our eyes off Christ and get them on ourselves or others. Stop that. Quit going there. It’s a bad idea. It always leads down a wrong path.

3. Freeing others means we never assume a role we are not qualified to fill.

Why aren’t we qualified to fill it? 1) We don’t have all the facts. 2) We’re unable to know another’s true motive. Don’t think you know it. You don’t. You’re finite. You don’t know the big picture. You don’t know the whole background on the whole story. Only Christ knows that. You, yourself are inconsistent and imperfect. If we looked at you long enough, we would find 10 things right away that are wrong in your life. You’re not qualified. Grace flows freer when we let God be God and leave the striving to Him.

You and I already have a full time job: keeping up with the person we see everyday in the mirror. Just take care of you.

There are 3 actions to take to carry this all out:

1) Refocus  your life on things that encourage harmony and peace. Ask: ‘Will this build up? Is this good? Is this best?’

2)Remember that sabotaging saints hurts God’s work. When you undercut His saints, you hurt His work. (Ro. 14:20)

3) Refuse to play God in anyone else’s life. You are not in charge of others. I will answer for me. I will not answer for you. Let people go.

To let go doesn’t mean to stop caring; it means, ‘I can’t do it for someone else.’
To let go is not to cut myself off; it’s the realization that I can’t control another.
To let go is not to enable but to allow learning from natural consequences.
To let go is to admit powerlessness which means the outcome isn’t in my hands.
To let go is not to try to change or blame another; I can only change myself.
To let go is not to care for but to care about.
To let go is not to fix but to be supportive.
To let go is not to judge but to allow another human being to be himself or herself.
To let go is not to be in the middle arranging all the outcomes but to allow others to affect their own outcome before God.
To let go is not to be protective; it is to permit others to face reality.
To let go is not to deny but to accept.
To let go is not to regret the past but to grow and live for the future.
To let go is to fear less and love more. (Anonymous)

He alone is in full control.

Chuck ended with this prayer: “Thank You for your love and your kindness, which always disarms us. Thank You for your grace. Thank You for your care, which is enormous, consistent, and constant. Thank You for leaving the angelic throne room of Heaven to come to an ugly, filthy cross to die for our sins. Thank You for stooping for people like us; otherwise we would never know You. Now we do. Amen.”

Fire yourself today from trying to control things that are out of your control.

I did.

And peace like a river flooded my soul.

May it be the same for you.

Back in February 2009 when my husband’s job was eliminated, we experienced so many emotions: fear, anxiety, uncertainty, sadness…everything you would expect.

However, there was also a sense of anticipation. This is not a typical reaction to such a major life event, but as Christians, we are called to walk by faith, NOT by sight. We recognized this was a personal invitation from Jesus Himself to walk with Him along what looked (to us) like a very scary path.

Over and over again, He gave me this verse for that season: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert.” (Isaiah 43:18-19).

That verse became my lifeline during those days. It speaks of several things:

*Live  TODAY. The past is past. Over. Done. Gone. We choose where we place our focus. Why focus on what is finished and can never be retrieved? Jesus gives us a new focus. We cannot dwell in the past. But we can and should dwell in the present. Right here, right now is all that any of us have. Now is the only place where we can experience God. His Name is I AM.   So live in the moment with the knowledge that you and Jesus are moving forward one step at a time.

*Jesus is ALWAYS at work. He is never idle. As John Piper says, “He is always at work in a thousand different ways that we cannot see.” His ways are always fresh, exciting, bold, and brilliant. Open your eyes to what He may be doing right in the midst of your mess. Pray that He would give you those eyes to see. Even when you cannot begin to imagine what He is doing, HE IS DOING A NEW THING!  You may not be able to perceive what that is. You may not have any idea where you are going but rest assured, He has a destination in mind! And it  will be for your highest good and His highest glory.

*Jesus ALWAYS makes a way. Always. He knows exactly what is going on in your life. What has taken you by surprise has not taken Him by surprise. He knows all things and He is firmly seated on His throne. There is a saying that says, “If He has brought you to it, He will bring you through it” and that is true. He has permitted this season in your life with great love and intention. You may be in a place right now where you see no way out. When you know Jesus as your Savior, that is never true. Nothing…no thing is impossible with Him. He always has a plan. As this verse says, He can make streams in the desert and a way where there is no way. You are safe in His all-encompassing, loving care.

As the days unfolded and Doug and I made the conscious decision to cling to this verse Jesus had given us, I had an epiphany one afternoon. We had been discussing what we would do to celebrate when this season was over. But…

What if we went out to dinner to celebrate BEFORE this season ended?

We had this verse from Jesus that He is at work. We know that He is good and kind and can only do good to us. HE is our life: not our stuff, our home, our paychecks. He had taught us to live with an open hand. We could trust Him with the outcome of our situation, whatever happened.

Why not celebrate in anticipation of what He was going to do?

So we did.

We picked a restaurant, had a delicious meal, and toasted to our good and kind Savior who does all things well. We were living fully in present despite our uncertainties and trusting Him for the outcome. This was an outward expression of our inner faith.

It was exhilarating!

We remembered that evening as the days turned into months and the months turned into years. It would be 30 months before we left that season and entered into a new one of great abundance and joy. In the meantime, Jesus proved in both spectacular and quiet ways that He is ENOUGH. 

Whatever situation is causing you heartache as you read this, would you consider thanking Jesus in advance for what He is going to do in your life? Take everything off the table, have no agenda of your own, open your hands and your heart, and watch Him work.

You have to go through this season anyway; why not go through it with joy and trust and a sense of anticipation? You will not regret it.

Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring. Yes, wait for,  and hope for and expect the Lord. —Ps. 27:14