Writing

  • Surrounded

    When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. ‘Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?’ the servant asked.

    “‘Don’t be afraid,’ the prophet answered. ‘Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.

    And Elisha prayed, ‘Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.’ Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.‘”

    He doesn’t bring us out into the desert to die! You are NOT abandoned! Ask God what He thinks of your situation. Versus trying to figure it out on your own. You need His peace that passes all understanding. Versus the words of a thousand well-meaning people. Don’t look at the waves. Look at The One who walks on all waters.

    You are not alone! No, you are LOVED! To the ends of the earth. Around the galaxy and back. Over and over. Ask for Him to help you see. To help you see Him, yourself, and your place in Him. In His heart.

    Your strength is not needed. Perfect love casts out fear. Rest. Be still; He is God. Your God. The same God of old. His love never fails. Ask Him to help you see.

    2 Chronicles 20. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. You will not need to fight. “when they began to sing…”

  • Running Scared

    First a photo from yesterday’s sunset.

    Again I ran into another brick wall today. I fought and kicked and did my best to break free. Nothing. Just exhaustion. And then tons of encouragement followed just when I was starting to feel abandoned. What gives?

    The thought came to me: I feel like God is “breaking” me. That sounds like a bad thing. But hear me out. The picture that came to mind was of a mistreated horse. Overwhelmed by fear. Jumping, kicking, running. How do they train such horses? They put pressure on them in order to help them conquer their fears. They don’t let them run away. They force them to face the situation calmly. And then when they settle down, they are rewarded with a release of pressure.

    Here I am, facing many fears. Over and over. Feeling mad at God because I feel like He is being mean to me and punishing me. I bet that’s what the horse that is being broken also thinks. But I picture God gently pressuring me. More pressure the more I fight. Less pressure and even comfort when I relax and rest in Him. When I see Him for who He is.

    Quite a beautiful analogy. He’s so patient. He lets me fight as long as I want. He knows eventually I’ll tire out and see He can be trusted. He does not hurt me. He keeps me safe. Knowing eventually I will trust Him more and more. Eventually I will calm down. Eventually I will face Him.

    And I have. From where I was in the beginning. But these are deeper and deeper levels of healing. So encouraged.

    I see how the horse trainers take the horses that have learned to trust them and use those horses to teach others to trust the trainers. And in that spirit, I post and share. Such a beautiful Genius, our Creator. My God and my Father.

  • Experience

    God doesn’t seem to allow me to have a purely intellectual theology. He seems way more interested in the slow cook method that gets down into each and every cell. Renewing our minds, not only filling them up with knowledge. I am thankful for this even as I am frustrated inside the process. Head knowledge only goes so far; God untested is God untrusted?

  • Stubborn

    Thought this was a really great video for people who are trying to get creative projects off the ground. Creating will humble you and teach you a lot about yourself. Things that are really helpful to know if you can swallow your pride and eat some humble pie.

    You find out first of all that ideas are a dime a dozen. I’ve learned the hard way to trade action for a lot of talking. All the little choices and decisions mean a lot and make a difference. Talent might get you a shot, but hard work and practice keep you on the team. Discipline. All that boring hard stuff that isn’t a lot of fun. That won’t attract a lot of companions until it starts to pay off.

    Will you give up when you encounter turbulence? Will I? Get back up. Fine-tune your approach and give it another go. This is living. Do you want to be comfortable or do you want to stop dreaming and start making real life happen? Versus just a cultivated social media image and wishful thinking.

    Good news is that our society in the USA is so spoiled right now that a lot of doors are left wide open for those willing to put in the work that others resist. People risk their lives to come to this country and we’re going to sit here and complain? Not a good look.

    How hungry are you? Get it together.

  • Violence

    One day you might need a God who is bigger than you. I certainly did. And do.

    Ran across this video today. It is along the lines of exactly what I’ve been writing about recently. Put so well! Wish I could share with everyone I know. This will have to do for now:

    (I have an issue with how some things were said in regard to some of the implied applications of the material. More an issue of certain things being said incompletely in my opinion, but not the main point. So sharing in the spirit of eating the meat and spitting out the bones.)

  • Really Good

    I feel like God is really, really good. Like way better than we give Him credit for. I feel like we have severely underestimated Him.

    I was thinking about how in the Passover ceremony, the people were instructed to slaughter the lamb that they had time to get attached to. As a picture. Of how the people knew Jesus and yet by their own hands they murdered Him. Effectively. We say God killed Jesus. But we killed Jesus. That gives two very different views on the whole situation. Especially because He gave His life up. He made a point of making that clear. He allowed us to give Him our worst. I think to change our minds about Him.

    I was thinking about how Jesus said He came to save that which was lost. He gives the example of a sheep owner. As far as I am aware, shepherds were looked down upon in that day. But this sheep owner, seen by others as lowly, goes out to rescue his little lamb that is missing. The little lamb that is seen as unworthy of much in the eyes of the people of the day. And Jesus says, “I AM like that. I love my sheep. ALL of them.”

    And yet we present as “good news” this Zeus-like god that is ready to wipe everyone out unless they do x, y, and z. Or maybe just z. But still, too bad for you if you don’t get it right.

    I no longer believe in that Zeus-like god. I think that was the whole point in Jesus coming to earth and living and dying as He did. To show us the exact opposite. That He will do whatever needs to be done to rescue us from our wrong thinking so that we will run to Him and stop hiding and covering ourselves. I think He is A LOT bigger than we expect.

    I am enjoying this new life. I am settling down. More calm than ever. Perfect love casts out fear.

  • Sound

    I read earlier that atoms are more like sound than anything else. I am not qualified in the least to speak on scientific matters. However, that statement about atoms fascinated me. It immediately resonated.

    Psalm 33 says, “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.”

    And one website says: “…in a sense an atom is made up of waves (particles called electrons, protons and neutrons) bound together by (virtual) light, which is itself a wave.”

    I read that to almost say atoms are made up of sound bound together by unseen light.

    BOOM. Mind blown.

    It just makes my spirit so happy! Science mirroring what we know from the Bible. Creation was spoken into existence and is held together IN Jesus, also referred to as The Light. Wow!

    And then when you look into more of the science of it, only more and more correlations and fascinating information is to be found.

    It makes me wonder how young we really are as a people and a planet. It makes me wonder endlessly about a lot of things.

    I guess we will have all of eternity to find out how it all works. And probably participate.