He Cares.

“If God gives attention to the appearance of wildflowers (most of which are never even seen) don’t you think He’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do His best for you? Relax, don’t be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.” Matthew 6: 3-34

I have Overcome.

do you ever have those days where you just wanna crawl up in a hole and not talk to anyone? yeah. today was one of those days. but after a couple hours, i just got so tired of being crabby. and once i got thinking, i couldn’t even remember why i was mad? so i thought about it, and just started naming off all the things in my head i’m thankful for. and before i knew it, about 10 min. had gone by, and i was in the greatest mood. it was like someone came and pushed the happy button. and i realized it’s all about perspective. yeah, there’s things i was upset about earlier. but there’s always going to be something we can pick out to complain about. He never told us life was going to be a cakewalk. He actually tells us the opposite. In John 16:33 Jesus tells us that in this world we will have trouble, but to take heart because He’s overcome the world. Why even bother having a Savior if everything is perfect all the time? that’s why we need Him. we go through hard times, yes. but HE HAS OVERCOME. and so whenever you’re having one of those go-lay-under-and-rock-and-melt-into-the-ground type of days, take a few minutes and think of everything you’re thankful for. and then, take a few minutes and think about the your Best Friend. and how nothing is impossible for the One who overcame.

What a Prince.

My Prince gave up His life to save me. My destiny was an eternity of unspeakable suffering - an eternity without my Prince. There was no way I could ever hope to be with someone like Him - a pure, perfect, sinless, holy, righteous, majestic, sovereign, powerful King. I was nothing but a tainted, impure, sinful, unholy, wretched pauper. There was an impenetrable wall that separated me from my Hero - in His perfect and pure holiness He could never dwell within me in my prison of sin. And yet He saw me in the midst of my miserable, hopeless, filthy condition. He loved me and longed for me. There was only one way He could save me from my dungeon of eternal captivity - to purchase me with His very blood. He spilled out His life and died, so that I could become His lily-white princess. His spotless bride for all eternity. The moment He paid that price, the wall between us came crashing down. He made a way, for me to be with Him forever. His sacrifice wasn’t meant just to keep me out of hell, but to make an ongoing, passionate, intimate, love story with Him possible. What a Prince. 

Beautiful Things.

I mess up a lot. I do stupid stuff, and miss things, and just make mistakes. But none of that matters to God. He sees me, in all my failures and weaknesses, as perfect. And beautiful. There isn't anything that I could ever do to take away His love. So why worry? Why bother to waste my time worrying about the little stupid things, when I could be thanking Him. And that's a lot easier said than done. In this world, there are so many things to get caught up in, and it's so easy to loose sight, and slip off track. But that's when He comes in, gently pushing me back, to Him and His plan. He comes in, and removes all the bad stuff. Like a Farmer pruning His garden. He takes out the weeds, and gets outs out all the bugs. But He doesn't stop there. He fertilizes all the good things, and makes them into something so much more beautiful. But we have to open the gate first. We have to let Him in. Because what good is it to lock the Farmer out of the garden and let it die, when He could make it into something better than anything we can imagine on our own. He makes beautiful things out of us.