Finding Flowers in a Field of Pretty Weeds

Oh, He covers us. There is always something greater happening. There is always something beautiful blooming. There is always so much more than meets the eye for us. This world is glorious, but it's really just like pretty weeds. They are pretty, but they are still just weeds. The something deeper, something greater, something unseen is the Father covering us and helping us find the flowers. Have you found the flowers in your field of pretty weeds? Have you ever wondered why every day there is at least one reason to smile? Does joy sneak up on you at odd moments; you know, the thought comes out of the blue and BOOM! ...your laughing, out loud, and alone? Does something happen because of a super dumb choice you made and yet somehow you are spared the worse consequences of that mistake? Have you ever prayed so hard for a sunny day and wake up to find that the 100% chance of thunderstorms is the most beautiful sunshine that you have ever seen? Do you ever ask God for something silly only to see it wrapped in a blessing and a tear a few weeks later...along with the reminder that you actually did ask God for that? Is the love of your life somehow so different than you, yet so perfect for you all at the same time? I know you know what I mean when I say: Has envy spoke it's destructive lies of selfishness only to be catapulted out like a rock in a slingshot because His love for you alone became so clear, so personal? Have you ever needed a friend... and one calls? Have you ever felt unworthy, useless, and unsuccessful; you know, just blah and dead to empowerment... and then right there in that place where the feeling is so raw, along comes a word in season that speaks life to those dead places again... but this time, there are flowers where there used to be just pretty weeds? Has your passion and zest for life come face to face with your weariness and repeated struggles, and as you watch the passion and zest get it's butt kicked there still remains a little on the floor to be swept up and made into something stronger than before? Did that call come just in time? Has a hug ever been just what you longed for that you melt in the arms of someone so dear, so needed? Did someone ever kiss you on the forehead or the cheek, you know - someone had to express their love for you and words - well, they just weren't enough? Can you believe how kind words build YOU up almost more than the person they are spoken to? Has a situation been headed for complete disaster in your life and then in comes a lifeline to prove He still hears you call out, and He still sees your bended knee? Do you always get what you deserve? Has what goes around always made it's way around to you? Have you felt the heavy weight of conviction but as confession moves through you like an obedient force, newness changes everything and you never go back? Has an answered prayer ever been disguised as an unanswered prayer... it's like God's secret surprise that comes just when you need it? Have you ever watched your child sleep knowing that in the quiet of that moment you are touching the soft skin of a breathing living miracle? How many times have you laughed so hard you cry, and will you not do it again? He covers us. May we always know, in the good times and bad, that He covers us. They measure their worth by the money in their pockets and the names that they speak. They measure their victory by competition with the weaker. They find their acceptance in a performance that will be forgotten. They search for meaning in a world so small it's held in the hand of the one who covers us. He covers us. We find meaning in the one who covers us. We find victory in the one who covers us. We know acceptance through the one who covers us. Our worth is measured by the one who covers us. He is always protecting, always providing, always shielding, always covering. For us, He is always taking what is meant for evil and making it good...... always helping us find the flowers in a field of pretty weeds.

Kari Jobe: You Are For Me

I know that you are for me. I know that You will never foresake me in my weaknesses.

The World Around Me a Little Bit Different

I never really understood why I give up. If I am meant to create a thing, be a part of something bigger, rise above my numbness, tread not-so-tenderly through the pain, run fast with my eyes closed past the tempting, yell without reserve in joyfulness, whisper words that come to life, reshape a human heart with my kindness, change your focus with my accomplishments, allow my prayers to make your dead places breathe again, fill the open endings with my own song, dance while others stand, and then watch them dance tomorrow, allow this open book to defeat the lies that want to hide, focus to accomplish so that victory is tasted, feel the greatness of a knee bowed accompanied by tears of surrender...again...and again...and still...all the while it feeling like the first time. I never really understood why I give up. If I am meant to fly over the impossible, bring my light to your darkness, place a band-aid on your pain, and then rip it off with laughter because you are healed. If I am meant to smile at you across the room, change your path, just today, to the narrow one, stand in the shadow, just the shadow of something great...I never really understood why I give up. When I have so much to give, to bring, to do, to change, to hope for, to reshape, to taste, to see, to feel, to believe in, to sing about, ....I never really understood why I give up. The only thing that stops me is me, the limits that take residence in my thoughts, my untruth, my truth, the last time i tried this, the power I give your words, my fears, my walls, my barricades, my past failures, my small thoughts, small dreams, small everything. It's all so small, yet so big, so defeating, so powerful, so empty, so limiting, so closed minded, so rooted in shame, rooted in blindness, so wrapped in a bubble of a generational "can't do thinking." It seems so clear to me now ...but I give up, I'm starting to understood why I give up. If I am meant to be at the end with no regrets, with souls that follow, with nothing unsaid, with peace passing understanding, with my arms tired from the toil that brought a harvest, with wrinkles of pride, with relationships that make my heart forever satisfied, with sins covered in a bright red stain, with mistakes made right, with the ability to change being my everyday song, with kindness as my countenance....with kindness as my countenance and the world around me a little bit different because I lived in it...I never really understood why I give up.