Hold.
Such an ordinary, blue-collar word.
Industrial strength, geared for protection and defense, holding commands attention – not by rising to dizzying new heights of adventure or romance, but by remaining ruthlessly still…
Safe…
Steady.
Boring? Only when, in your desperation for a change, any change will do.
Oppressive? Only when you think the grass is greener somewhere else and you can’t get there.
Holding is a sign that somewhere there is someone or something that is stronger than you are – at least for the moment. You may be held back by your fears. Or held safely by that seat belt and airbag. Or held in the arms of someone who can comfort your heart.
But sooner or later fears subside. Belts are unbuckled. And people, however well-meaning, let go.
But there are everlasting arms and an all-powerful Strength that promises to hold you in love and peace long after all other sources are exhausted or used up. [click to continue…]
(A Conversation)
You know I didn’t make that up.
Yeah, but you sure nailed me with it.
Only because I know what it feels like.
Yeah, I know you do.
So… back to the metaphor… you feel like you’re pushing a 2,000-pound rock up a hill by yourself.
That about sums it up.
Well give me back my rock!
Dude, you can have it.
Just kidding. You can keep it. It looks really nice rolling over you.
Wow, with friends like you…
Yeah, yeah. I do have one question about this picture, though.
Okay.
You have the hill, the boulder, and you.
Uh huh. [click to continue…]
You’re carrying burdens and living with anxieties that aren’t yours to carry.
You are trying to be the answer to your fears of pain, poverty and shame, when those are God’s issues to resolve.
He promised to be your refuge and strength, but you have to trust Him to do it.
That’s why He wants you to live in gratitude. [click to continue…]
Lately it feels as though you’re doing a tightrope dance with the devil himself. He seduces you like an angel of light in one ear and shames you for all your failures in the other. Your life feels, even smells like a sulfurous war zone and it sure seems as though the casualties are piling up. But in the quake and the fury, there’s one and only one thing you need to know…
God’s got this. All you have to do is trust Him. And say “thank you.”
Like a broken cash register, your money drawer only seems to open when it time to shell it out to somebody else. From disaster salesmen to debt collectors, everybody’s standing with an outstretched hand. There’s always another reason to fret over this thing called The Economy, and even a box of Girl Scout cookies feels like a sacrificial charitable donation. But in the fear and loathing-, there’s one and only one thing you need to know…
God’s got this. All you have to do is trust Him. And say “thank you.” [click to continue…]
I got chided a little this morning for good reason. Some desperately hurting people had written comments to this post, sharing the depths of their pain, fear, frustration and even torment, and I had failed to respond to any of them.
And though it’s a little foolish to lump the hurts of people all together in one reply, I did. You can find this response also in the comments section there (#10 added later), but I thought I would share it with a larger readership with the hope that maybe it would be an encouragement to you or someone you care about. God knows it isn’t the last word on pain. It’s just what I’ve learned through some of my own.
Below is my reply. [click to continue…]
It was the revival that almost never was. It took place in New York City, back in the late 1800s. By then the Salvation Army, under the leadership of William Booth in England, was becoming a global force. Two young officers had been dispatched to the U.S. to establish a work in New York, and nothing was working. Frustrated and tired, facing nothing but hostility and opposition, they sent a telegram to “the General,” requesting that he close the mission.
They received a two-word reply: “TRY TEARS.”
They did. [click to continue…]
As you move all too quickly (and ever so carefully) through a boiling, brawling, bitter world, I lift you up today to the God of all peace and quiet, praying for you to find in Him a light in your midnight darkness.
Weary from the relentless call to more – more work, more solutions, more impossible demands – I pray that in Him even as your body sleeps, your heart would remain awake to a renewing that can only come to stilled souls. [click to continue…]
Believe it or not, the time will come…
the realization will dawn…
your heart will rest
Because for the first time in a long time,
perhaps the first time ever,
you will know that your waiting is done.
But there you will discover another kind of waiting –
one of attending…
loving focus…
adoring and serving.
And then more than ever, it will be worth the wait. [click to continue…]
God grant me serenity to call the impossible, possible with You,
Vision to see the achievable in obviously-hopeless situations,
And wisdom to discern the difference.
Give me faith to boldly ask You for the unthinkable, [click to continue…]
Do not be anxious about anything. Instead, in every situation, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God. And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6-7, NET).
It’s one thing to be prayerless and anxious.
You can pray, though, and still be anxious. [click to continue…]