Radical Grace

I watched from my seat near the back of the classroom as students straggled into class one by one. Some carried remainders of their lunches that they hadn’t been able to finish in the fifteen minute gap between class periods. As the students took their seats, they immediately unzipped their backpacks to find their reading notes. Everyone was getting some last-minute studying in before the big quiz.

After a little while, the professor strolled cheerfully into the classroom. “Did you all have a good weekend?” he asked sincerely while readying his PowerPoint slides. A few heads nodded politely in the midst of their cramming session. “I decided to make a change on the quiz today.” That got our attention. “We have a lot of material to cover from the lesson, so I went ahead and gave you all 100% on the quiz. That way I have more time to teach.”

It took a moment for us to believe what we were hearing. As the news sunk in, students began to cheer and clap. Relief permeated the atmosphere with new perspective.

Have you ever had something like this happen to you? Colossians 2:14 reveals another area where we have received greater mercy than just being released from a quiz. Colossians says that God freed us “…by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”

This news should awake thankful joy in our hearts that far exceeds the clapping and cheers in my class! It is unimaginable mercy that God showed in punishing his own son for our sins instead of letting us bear his wrath. As if this wasn’t enough, God also credits us with Jesus’ perfect life. We were not only pardoned from taking the test, but were given a 100% that we never would have been able to earn on our own!

This is radical love. And it is something that we can imitate every day in our relationships with other people. Is there anyone who you have been reluctant to forgive because the debt that they owe you is just so huge?  Maybe it is one of your parents, or a stepparent, or someone you think should have intervened in your parents’ decision. Imitate God’s mercy by releasing them from that debt. Love them anyway.

When have you been blessed by someone’s grace in your life?

Intruder Alert!

A young family walked past our window, the parents laughing while their son rolled along the sidewalk on his tricycle.

Zoom! A streak of black fur whizzed past my feet. My dog, Cheerio, reached the wall and jumped up onto the chair beside the window. He barked furiously at the small family that had dared to walk on his sidewalk. They turned to look for the source of the noise, smiled at the puppy face in the window, and continued walking unconcerned.

Cheerio has proclaimed himself as the guardian of our house. He takes his job very seriously. Wherever I am in the house, he parks himself next to the closest window, sticks his nose against the glass, and scrutinizes the front yard for movement.

Today as I was watching Cheerio, I was reminded of 1 Corinthians 16:13 which says, “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.” Cheerio has got the “be on your guard” part down pretty well.

One of the most damaging things to a Christian, depression, can also be most stealthy in entering our lives. That is why we need to be especially watchful in looking out for it. As soon as we catch it, we can sound the alarm in prayer to God just like Cheerio does when he barks at an unwanted visitor. When we catch unhelpful and untrue thoughts in our minds, we can combat them with the armor of God that is talked about in Ephesians 6.

Cheerio does a great job of keeping watch from far away. However, if he finds an insect in our house, he leaps a few feet back in surprise and fear before venturing forward to investigate. Even though he is thousands of times larger than the tiny insect, he treats it as though it were enormous. Problems like depression can also seem insurmountable. But with God, we have all the strength and truth to defeat the lies of depression.

Be like Cheerio in keeping watch over your life. What prayers or verses do you find helpful to combat depression?

An Unlikely Friend

“Oh look, that spider is still there.” I said to my sister after dropping my enormous backpack onto the floor of the bedroom that we shared with our brother at my dad’s house. “It looks like it hasn’t even moved since last week.”

“Yeah, I think I saw it the weekend before that, too.” My sister replied.

“Maybe we should squish it. But it’s not really doing any harm way over here in the corner.” I stooped to get a closer look at the spindly spider.

“We should name him. He’s practically a fourth resident of the room!” My sister decided.

“How about Legs? You know, because it’s a daddy long-legs…so we call it Legs.” I tried to sell my idea with some persuasive eyebrow action. She smirked at my corny joke but agreed to the name.

During that weekend and in the weekends to follow, it was strangely nice to know that there was a constant companion hiding out in the corner of our bedroom, watching everything that was going on. Legs just sat there, but to my imagination he seemed to empathize with me when I felt lonely. Each Friday he dependably greeted us in our weekend home, and each Saturday night I wondered as I shut the door if he would still be there next week.

It is easy to forget that every Christian has a permanent friend who is nearer to us that any other friend could be. Jesus says that he will “never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5, Deut. 31:6). He empathizes with every hard situation you encounter, he knows everything that hurts you, and he will always be close to comfort you with his healing words.

If your parents are divorced, you might still feel betrayed by one or both of your parents for leaving. Know that your heavenly Father is not going anywhere.

What are some times when you have strongly felt God’s presence?

P.S. – I am a little less enchanted with daddy long-legs after using Google images to find a picture for this post!!

Shifting Scenes – Key 3

I sat in the front seat of the car while my mom went into the grocery store on a quick errand. The sky was a clear shade of blue today; no clouds were handy to block out the sun that beat down on the pavement with an intensity that Marylanders were beginning to accept as the new normal. Busy shoppers walked back and forth between their cars and the store.

As I watched the scene from the windshield of our minivan, I noticed a young man walking across the parking lot to the curb. He was listening to a huge set of earphones and doing a little jig while he walked. Instead of watching where he was going, his eyes were locked on an iPad that he held in front of his face. He only looked up after accidently walking into the curb and risking dropping his iPad on the cement.

I couldn’t help chuckling as I watched this young man who was so distracted by his interaction with technology. He had no idea what was actually going on around him because he was so focused on his virtual world. Aren’t we sometimes like this too?

There are always going to be things to distract us from what really matters: living every moment for God. Thankfully, we have a loving God who knows our weaknesses and who promises to give us strength to do what He calls us to.

Focus is the opposite of distraction. In Psalm 119:15, David tells us how he combats distraction when he says, “I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.” He keeps his focus on God by constantly thinking about his Word and by “fixing his eyes” on what God has done.

What do you spend your time thinking about? Technology? Friends? Circumstances? These things are all appropriate in their time, but they can begin to overshadow more important things in our lives if we don’t consciously take control. Ask God to help you keep your focus on him.

Key #3 is taking action. How do you consciously shift your thoughts to God?

A few weeks ago, Elaine had the great suggestion to write out your thoughts and prayers to God in order to sort them out. I’ve certainly found that this has helped me!

Your Treasure – Key 2

For a little over a week, people from around the world have been united around their respective TV sets as they watch the 2012 Summer Olympics. We’ve cheered for our favorite competitors, felt their crushing disappointments, and shared in their joy as they come out victorious at the medal ceremonies. In a small way, we feel as though we have traveled alongside these national heroes on their journey to Gold.

But in reality, we only see a miniscule part of the journey that these men and women have traveled to have the opportunity to compete in the Olympic games. We see the culmination of years of intense training in these short two weeks. The winning Olympians have invested literally thousands of hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars into training for the games, occasionally even experiencing foreclosure or bankruptcy because of their choice to compete.

So why do they do it? Why spend your life pursuing something even though it means sacrificing so much? They do it because they want a Gold medal, and they are willing to train, spend, and focus in order to get it.

We can learn a lot from these extremely dedicated men and women. Jesus says in Luke 12:34 that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” What do you treasure? Probably not a Gold medal, but what is it for you? Good grades? Lots of “likes” on your Facebook status? Or do you treasure your relationship with Jesus above all things?

In a world where there are so many things vying for our attention, we have to make a special effort to keep Jesus as our treasure. Olympic athletes plan everything around their training schedule so that they can devote hours every day to getting better at their sport. We can learn from this in planning our time to best pursue our Treasure too.

Key #2 for keeping your thoughts on Jesus is to make Jesus your treasure. What ideas do you have to do this practically? I’d love to hear!

The Lord Lives – Key 1

The warm, muggy air outside my window did little to ease the heat inside my car. Oh well, I could stand the heat for the twenty-five minute drive. I turned up the CD a little louder and headed out of the parking lot towards home.

Ten minutes later I mechanically got into the lane that would turn into a ramp to the next road. My eyes automatically fixed on the truck in front of me. Suddenly, the brake lights on the truck came on and the truck came to almost a dead stop just 50 feet in front of me! I slammed on my brakes to avoid hitting the truck. It was as if I saw the vehicle approaching in slow motion. Fifty feet. Twenty feet. Finally my car came to a stop about 5 feet from the truck’s bumper. The cars behind me had managed to stop in time too.

As I made my way around the traffic jam and saw that the cause of the sudden stop was a vacant car sitting in the turn lane, the verse that I had been studying that morning came to mind, “The Lord lives, and blessed by my rock, and exalted be the God of my salvation” (Psalm 18:46). I spoke the words aloud to express my thanks and praise to God who had just delivered me from a damaging car-crash.

This is the first post in a series about how to keep our thoughts trained on God. It’s a hard thing to do when so many other things are vying for attention in our lives! But this event taught me a valuable lesson on how to do it: memorize God’s word. The first thing that my mind jumped to in this situation was the reality of God’s deliverance because I had just been reading about that deliverance and purposefully memorizing Psalm 18:46.  Just imagine what changes could take place in our lives if we took the time to implant key verses into our hearts!

So, Key #1: Memorizing scripture. What good ways have you found to do this?

The Skink

All eyes were fixed on the man at the front of the room. Nobel Laureate John Mather, a respected scientist and NASA employee, was giving a lecture to the large crowd that had gathered to hear him speak. The room barely had enough space for the eager assemblage; several sets of people chose to sit on the floor because there was not enough space in the chairs. No one dared to make additional noise for fear that it would cause them to lose one of the precious words that came from the scientists’ mouth. Everyone knew: hearing this lecture was the most important thing they could be doing at the moment.

Enter: the skink. It started as a flicker at the corner of my eye. I turned, but didn’t notice anything strange near the group of people sitting by the glass doors. Soon I was lost in the speakers’ words.

Flash. I saw something again, and this time the girl next to me had also turned to look. A second later a little lizard had crawled into the room by coming under the threshold of the glass doors. Several people on the outer row of the audience were watching, amused, as the intruder scuttled along the base of the wall in search of a cool, damp place to settle down. The girls sitting against the wall were not quite as amused.

Then a second skink popped its head out from the doorframe to join its friend in looking for a break from the sun. People in the crowd continued to point and chuckle quietly as they noticed, one by one, the drama unfolding on the side of the room. The lizards had stolen the show.

Do you have lizards ruling in your life right now – things that seem so important that they distract you from hearing the Person whose words are the most vital part of your life? Ultimately God should be the star of the show in our lives. Psalm 104:34 says it this way, “May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the Lord.”

What do you spend your time thinking about? Maybe you are tempted to spend every waking moment analyzing and re-analyzing a problem if you have had a divorce or other tragedy happen recently. But no matter how many times you go over your problems, you won’t be able to solve them alone! Remember the One who should be on center stage.

Tell me, what do you do to keep your thoughts centered on God? I’d like to highlight some of your ideas in an upcoming blog series!

Peace in the Bizarre – Part II

Imagine my surprise when I realized that this post had never gone up when I scheduled it to! If you need to refresh your memory on what happened in the first part of this story, go read it here.

By now I couldn’t tell if my manicurist was joking or if he was just plain crazy. I thought about getting up and leaving right then, but I reasoned that he must be mostly done.

I stopped trying to make conversation. Obviously he needed all the concentration he could get. It didn’t help that the TV overhead was playing a show titled “Life in the Paranormal” and he kept turning his head to watch it instead of looking at my nails.

After a while he tired of watching stories about sightings of UFOs and vampires, and asked me some questions. “What’s your name?”

“Aimee.”

“How old are you?”

“Eighteen.”

He started singing in a tuneless voice, “I know a girl named Aimee…She’s eighteen…she afraid to get nails done…Do you have a boyfriend Aimee?”

“No.”

“You pretty girl. Maybe you would have boyfriend if you weren’t such a scardy cat!”

Finally he was done. I stood up to gather my things and wait for my mom and sister to be finished. I examined my nails, which were bloodied at the cuticles and scratched under the surface of the nail polish, and I haven’t wanted a manicure since.

———–

Yes, this is a laughable story. At the time, I couldn’t decide whether to laugh at the absurdity of it or to be totally creeped out! You might still be reeling from events that have been going on in your life as well. In these times, it is hard to know how to react; should you hunker down and wait out the strange things going on, or should you accept this as the new normal?

Jesus gave us some direction in John 14:27. He said: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” There is one option that we don’t have: giving in to fear. Jesus has promised us peace that is different from any other peace you seek. It is ‘not as the world gives.’

In what areas are you seeking God’s peace in today? How have you experienced his peace in the past? I’d love to hear about it!

Grammie Lee

“We’re getting closer,” I replied to my tiny great-grandma who was seated in the wheelchair I was pushing. “We’ll walk outside now because I think I can find the building easier that way.” At 92 years old, Grammie Lee’s frail body seemed to add no weight to the wheelchair as I pushed her on the sidewalk towards the apartment where we would meet my grandmother.

“Would you look at those flowers!” Grammie Lee exclaimed in her small voice. “The yellows are so pretty!” I glanced across the street and spotted the patch of yellow pansies she was talking about. “Yeah, they’re nice!” I tried to muster up some enthusiasm to match my great-grandma’s. Where was that building? The retirement community had such a large campus that I sometimes stopped to get my bearings.

A few minutes later I heard a sound come from the chair. “What, Grammie Lee?” I leaned forward to listen. “Look at those little flowers in the ivy! Who would have known they were there? Aren’t they beautiful?” I looked at the greenery that lined the sidewalk. Sure enough, there were small green flowers hidden among the leaves. I marveled at how Grammie Lee seemed to notice all these things that I would pass by otherwise. What would it be like to see things through her eyes? I decided to try it.

“Grammie Lee, look at that!” I pointed to a pair of geese with two goslings following close behind. “Oh, yes.” She spent a few moments admiring the animals.

By the time we found the apartment building, my heart felt a lot lighter.

Grammie Lee is able to have a joyful attitude even though she can’t participate in many of the activities that go on around her. Her secret lies in Psalm 9:1: “I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.” Giving thanks to God means looking for those tiny blessings that we might pass by every day. Our whole heart should be occupied in telling of His miracles, even if they are as common as a yellow flower.

Has your heart felt especially burdened lately? Try taking a walk and making a point of giving thanks to God for making the beautiful things around you.

Some of My Favorites…

Music is such a powerful tool in influencing our thoughts. An environment of faith-filled songs will help us to stand strong in our relationship with God, while songs with degrading lyrics can influence us to think sinful thoughts. When fighting against discouragement, it is very important that the songs you listen to are uplifting. This week I wanted to share with you some of the songs that I have been enjoying lately. Click on the link to hear the song on Grooveshark!

Day by Day by Point of Grace

Blue Skies by Point of Grace

He’s Always Been Faithful sung by Sarah Groves

Absolutely by Starfield

Top of Our Lungs by Starfield

Have you heard any of these songs before? Which is your favorite? What other music do you like?

Good Growth

The enormous trees of the Redwood forest rose far into the air above our heads, blocking out the sky and creating the illusion of being deep inside a jungle forest. My family and I spent several hours walking the trails that wove through the forest, pointing out ancient trees that were especially impressive. Some of the largest trees were big enough to hold two or three laughing children for a picture within their hollowed trunks. This was one of the largest Redwood forests in the country: Muir Woods.

As we passed by the visitor center on our way out, I noticed a cross-section from a tree that had fallen several years ago. The cross-section, which was at least 4 feet in diameter, was marked at different rings with dates and events that evidenced how old it probably was.  Next to the cross-section was a tiny seed. It was hard to believe that this enormous Redwood tree had grown from a tiny seed.

The other day I was continuing to read through the Psalms when I came across Psalm 126. If you have a few minutes, take some time to read the whole Psalm (it’s not long!), but verse 5 particularly struck me: “Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy.”

You might be going through some very painful things right now – things that you never imagined could happen to you or your family. Maybe you have spent many nights sowing your own tears and crying out to God. Let Psalm 126:5 speak to you.

You have been promised that you will reap joy from the tears that you have sowed. Picture that joy as one of the enormous Redwoods in comparison with it’s small starting point: the seed.

How have you reaped joy from your hardships? I know that I personally have reaped closeness in my relationship with God that is a direct result of suffering in my life. I turned to God in a way that I might not have if I hadn’t experienced sorrow from an early age. Those seeds grew into the joy of a beautiful relationship.

I’d love to hear how you have experienced the truth of Psalm 126:5! Leave a comment below and tell me about it.

 

Hand in Hand

The glowing bride floated slowly down the aisle with one arm hooked inside her father’s. From my seat I glimpsed the proud smile  that the father wore as he escorted his daughter to meet her groom. It was a beautiful picture of the close relationship the two held – the father protectively guiding his daughter as his prized possession.

If your parents have been divorced for a little while, you have probably considered the touchy question of who will walk you down the aisle on your wedding day. The tradition is supposed to symbolize the handing off of the mantle of protection from father to husband. But what if that role of protector has been totally missing? Where other girls have the subconscious knowledge that daddy is looking out for them, maybe you have always felt that you are your own first and last line of defense.

In Deuteronomy 10:18, God steps into the picture. He “executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.” The “fatherless” have the best Father of all! When our earthly fathers have abandoned us, God takes things into his own hands. The God that led the Israelites by a pillar of fire is your protector. In Psalm 121:7-8, the author says that “The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.” I love the phrase, “the Lord will keep you.” It reminds me that my protection, both emotional and physical, is in his hands.

Today think deeply about God’s intimate protection over you. Ask him to make you fully aware of his defending presence. Then let the peace of God wash over you as you submit yourself to his defense. You are no longer alone in watching out for yourself. Rest in the joyful peace that God gives.