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.

his mercy reigns and his mercy RAINS

Today I stand in the hot, hot, lack of breeze, what feels like 100 degrees, sun at an outside gathering of churches and think..."How can we do this?" How do we, people who are truly passionate about God and who He is in our daily life, be a light to this world? It's not even, "How do we save them, or how do we get them to agree with us..." My hearts cry, as I raise high my hands to the open sky is this: How do we be a light, a hope, an answer?" As I stand there I am thinking of all my friends so dear. I am reminded of the lives of those around me that don't know the mercy side of God. So many people don't know the mercy side of God. They know the greatness, they know the rules, they know the pretty and not so pretty picture His church tries to paint, but they don't know the mercy. They have never opened the door just a crack to see it. They have never moved in to listen to its whisper. They have never let its great shield be their protector. They have never allowed its rock to be their shelter. As I stand before the open sky today, I am reminded once again that being a light is being a light in the darkness. We, the church, have to go to the darkness. We have to go to them. If we are not strong enough to go to them, we are not strong. We shout, "His mercy reigns" from our churches, from our home groups, from our gatherings...and yes, that is glorious! Right in the middle of the gathering a storm blew in, unaware and without warning a heavy rain shower began to fall, and fall, and fall. So, I began to think... His mercy also RAINS...it rains when they, the lost, are dry. It rains when they are hot, and weak, and have no strength to go on. It rains when they are in need of a drink of water because what once brought life and newness, now is bringing weariness and death. His mercy rains where THEY are. In their hard places, broken places, messed up relationships, confused theology, and carefree insanity. Do we, the church, believe it can rain in their places? You see, it's not always about His mercy reigning in our midst, like us believers like it to be. It's about His mercy RAINING, and raining on THEM in their places. Do we decide who gets the mercy rain? Do we, the broken, hurting, screwed up, selfish, judgemental, and close-minded people get to decide who we allow His mercy to rain on today? Do we get to control who gets to feel the benefits of a mercy rain making all things new? Do we get to manipulate the faucet to hot, cold, on and off? NO WE DON'T!! ....but we try. And for that, in this open sky, I am sad. I want the church... and me, to truly understand that we don't get to decide who gets the mercy rain and when. We don't get to control that! We don't get to be around the lost and wonder their fate. We don't get to choose to hold back. So, today as you think of those in your life who have never felt His raindrops of mercy, know this: He is calling you to take them by the hand and drag them out into the hot sticky sun and stand there. Stand there and wait. Hold them tight through the dryness, the suffocating feeling of heat, and the thirst. Hold them there....lift up your hands to the sky and hold them there, because the mercy RAIN is coming. It's coming because you, the one who loves Him, has been in the heat, has been through the dryness, has felt their thirst, with them. I want to stand in the mercy rain with someone who has never felt it before. I want to see their hands lifted high in the heat, believing in the unseen...and then feeling the unseen hit their life like a sudden rain shower in a dry and thirsty, hot and cracked, dessert of a life. To see this we must no longer be motivated by fear and think we get to control who gets the mercy RAIN. His mercy wants to rain on them all. He chooses, not us. So, today, I run to the darkness. I run to the lost. I risk the judgments of the religious. I risk the comfort of my box. I risk the looks of the afraid and I run into the heat, with another.. and I stand there, no matter how long it takes, I stand there. I stand there and I wait....because it's there, in the heat of the day, in that last moment of desperation that me, together with another, will feel His mercy RAIN. And now, standing there, one more person is ready, ready for the heat again.

Depression

When you are happy, but sadness fills my soul, I will lift up my eyes. As you rejoice in a place of comfort and I haven't felt the warmth of the sun, I will lift up my eyes. When my path, not yours, takes a painful turn I didn't expect, I will lift up my eyes. When you sit and smile at the future, but I can't see past today, I will lift up my eyes. The loneliness in my head screams louder than your room of relationships, so I will lift up my eyes. A heart of steadfastness I cannot find. So as you raise your hands high at the finish line, I will lift up my eyes. While your peace is like a river, my thoughts are like a storm; violent, unforgiving, and with a dangerous goal, so I will lift up my eyes. Confidence is the lifter of your head, and my shame drags me lower, and then lower still, so I have to, I have to lift up my eyes. A harvest you see, and I am glad for that, but for me, my hands are too tired to till the ground, so I will lift up my eyes. You can see and hear the fans. They are screaming words of strength and encouragement along your way. I see my sidelines. There are disappointed fingers, pointing, wondering where I am going as I lose my way, so I will lift up my eyes. You sing loud your songs of freedom, all the while I hear the clanging of these chains that grip so tight, holding my dreams down, far down, so I will lift up my eyes. Motivation and money hunt you down and find its funnel in you. Motivation and money hide from me, knowing this vessel is damaged, no good for abundance, so I will lift up my eyes. You see life through colors so glorious. I see those colors too, but I can't get to them, I can't touch them. I just want to touch them. Oh how I want to feel them, but I'm scared. I'm scared to look at life through bright colors, I fear disappointment will bring it's promise to shatter, it's promise to grow, it's promise to change me, so I will lift my eyes. Bravery is your power while fear is my whisperer; telling of the limits, the limits you don't see, you don't hear, so I will lift up my eyes. You dance on darkness and tear down it's agenda, while I taste it's plans for me, agree to it's plans for me... everyday, so I will lift up my eyes. In the middle of depression so real, so evident, so here, I will lift up my eyes. I will lift up my eyes. For where does my help come from? Where is my help found? In the middle of torture that lords from within where is my helper, where is my friend? I cry out ,where is my help? ...and then I hear it. I hear the words that are spoken to my heavy soul, and to the heavy souls of many. I hear these twelve words and I am made new, maybe not at once, but it starts. The newness starts when the small seed of redemption shouts louder than my depression. This redemption shouts, "My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth." ...and so I say it, until I believe it.

God is Able! Thanks Shanen!

My daughter Shanen is OH SO WISE! Read her blog and be encouraged!

http://your-sweet-spot.blogspot.com/2010/05/god-is-able.html

His Mercies Don't Remember

His mercies are new every morning! They don't carry over from the day before. They don't run out when the limit has been reached. They don't worry about coming too soon; you know, too close from the last obvious mercy delivery. They don't wait for just the right time, or show up late apologizing. They don't skip a day, skip a season, or skip a person based on the circumstances involved. His mercies don't think ahead of time and schedule it's debut. They don't hold back and gain strength for the "important things." They don't think, "You know, if I give today, I may have to hold back tomorrow." And, although I may feel like the Sundy category is all used up in the mercy department...well, they don't remember. His mercies don't remember the day before. His mercies will never remember the days before. So, go ahead, keep your counts of grace. Let your brain number His good deeds towards you. Let your heart try to measure His great love that frees you. Allow your soul to remember His promises revealed. But, as for His mercies; they don't remember. They don't remember because they are NEW every morning. When something is new it is at that moment in it's most powerful form. It's able to do and be all it was created to do and be. It's new. Unused. Untouched. Full strength. New strength. When something is new it's like it never was. It's new! So, reason away His mercy all you want. It won't work, it can't work. They don't remember, they are new every morning. Hey, I didn't say it, He did!

The Beach Scene & The War Zone

We have to believe people can change, we just have to. We are going against everything that hope stands for when we believe that people are who they are and there is no way they can change. Where is the joy in life, really, if we think we are all just stuck. I have heard a lot of people in my lifetime say,"People don't change, in their core, they are who they are." What a lie! The lie exposed is this: I want to believe I can change and choose to not extend that same grace, that same hope to someone else. In the core of who we are, we have to believe that people can change. It's a tricky mixed bag though...because in the middle of knowing they can change we have to learn to love them with a love that looks past the "stuck" part. I have some stuck parts! The stuck parts of our lives are hard to deal with, don't ya think? It's like on one side of your brain you have this beach scene: breeze blowing, perfect temperature, relaxing in the sun... Then, on the other side there is disorganization: guns firing, thunder, lighting, storms everywhere, and just over all chaos. The stuck parts are also hard because that's what others see so often. We try to throw our beach out there, but without fail, the stuck side shows itself, and it always will. So here I am, admitting to be stuck in some areas of my life. In realizing that I am stuck I must realize others are too. The tricky part comes with the dreaded PRIDE word. You see, the tricky part comes when our friends and family's stuck parts are different than our own. The place in this journey where we think people can't change is when they are dealing with something, or are "stuck" in something, that we don't understand or don't struggle with ourselves. You see extending grace for someone should not be based upon the place they are stuck at. Believing in what hope stands for doesn't only have it's power in certain circumstances. You see, with hope it's black or white. Here is how it is; either you believe people can change or you don't. Either you believe your stuck places are like their stuck places, or not. There are no categories of sin in the eyes of God. A heart that loves himself more, just simply loves himself more. A stuck place in you is like a stuck place in me. One thing is for sure, I'm working hard on what surrendering those stuck places look like. I know in my heart that I can be unstuck. So with an unwavering hope I believe I can change. With an unwavering hope, I need to believe you can change, even if your beach scene is my war zone and your war zone is my beach scene. It's called hope people, and it's for EVERYONE!

"Falling Slowly" - Hope in Song Form!

"Take this sinking boat and point it home, we've still got time. Raise your hopeful voice, you have a choice, you make it now." I love this song, it just touches me. It's hope all wrapped up in song form. It's a song of hope, because even when a boat is sinking, it can point towards home. Anyone can change and things can always get better. "You have suffered enough and warred with yourself, it's time that you won."

Gently Lean In

You gotta gently lean into the feelings...

What good does it do to walk away, shove them down, or ignore their existence? You gotta gently lean into the reality of what you are feeling at the important moments in your life. Rushing in and falling victim to the damage those feelings bring is never good, and frankly only leads to hurting others. Walking away just subjects our hearts to hardness, hardness that only gets harder the further we walk away. Shoving them down is like filling our mind and soul with explosives that sit, waiting for the fire, the match, the one flicker that will make it all blow...and we all know it will blow, it has to. All it takes is the right ingredients at the right time, and there it is, for all to see - years of shoving it down all in one explosion. Ignoring it is an option that is just a fantasy because really, if it touches us or changes us it is humanly impossible to ignore it - God didn't make us that way. Jesus was perfect, and even He couldn't ignore what moved Him, changed Him, redirected Him. Even He chose to gently lean into the feelings. He didn't rush in and hurt those around Him, looking for blame. He didn't ignore it or shove it down or even walk away. He gently leaned into His pain and the pain of others. Gently leaning into the pain we cause, feel, and experience isn't being a coward, it's choosing life, it's choosing freedom. You see, gently leaning in helps us to deal appropriately in a crisis, in a time of need, during intense feelings. It allows us to make the most out of an important moment when actions hold power, so much power. When actions have the ability to steal away what we need most, each other. Leaning in gently is allowing wisdom to be your leader as it demands that pride, selfish ambitions, and the ability to damage someone sit in the back seat. Gently leaning into the feelings is allowing good to rise up. It's allowing good to rise up in great times, and in hard times. Gently leaning into the feelings is powerful, being of strong mind, having self control, and loving others more than yourself. So, my friend, when you want to rush in, slow down. When you want to ignore the feelings, at that moment expose the lie that you even have the ability to do that. When you want to shove it down, remember what having a peace of mind and heart taste like. When you want to walk away, remember you and the person involved, and know, remind yourself, right there, in that moment that relationships are eternal and is more important then doing what is easier to do. Because really, as easy as leaning in sounds, it's one of the hardest things we can do. Coping, being in touch with the truth, going to those places that hurt so bad is difficult. That's why we need therapist and doctors to help take us there. Leaning into your feelings is brave. It's right. It's needed more, in you and in me. Rushing in, waking away, shoving it down, or thinking you can ignore it is like inviting a cancer to live deep inside us and destroy us, change us. It's allowing that cancer to bring death to who we are, who we were created to be. It's allowing that cancer to kill us slowly. The effects of not gently leaning is passed down, down to the children we love. We don't choose for it to be passed down, but if we live in it, they live in it. If we do all but gently lean in, the reality of it is, they will too. So, be free today to lean in. Lean into your feelings, good or bad, with boldness and compassion, with intensity and purpose, with intentions and peace. Lean into your feelings and know that in leaning in we take back what was stolen, we taste victory where defeat once lorded over us, we see the light of hope where despair has blinded us. When we lean in we are healthy in body, mind, and spirit. When we lean in we are choosing freedom for ourselves and for the generations to come. We get to be free, free from bitterness, unforgiveness, shame, the past, the words spoken over us, to us and about us. We get to be free from mistakes, pain so heavy that it brings physical sickness. We get to be free... and I believe it starts with just gently leaning in.