A Gentle Reminder

I believe that this passage needs no further expounding. Sobering.

“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit.

You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.

I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak,

for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”. Matthew 12:33-37

 

“What Is That Smell? Yes, What IS That Smell?”

During Sunday’s message, my pastor asked the following question “Do you smell of God?”  Meaning, does my life exude the essence of God?

I then read this from @UberFacts this morning “The sense of smell connects to the part of the brain that controls emotions and memories. That’s why smells often evoke strong feelings.” I think I’ve always known this.  If I smell that old school, in the white glass bottle, Old Spice, I will be transported to my grandparents house…sitting at the table near my grandfather.  I can’t smell Irish Spring soap without some emotion springing up!  White Diamonds perfume will ALWAYS be synonymous with my mother-in-law.  These are all positive feelings.

Smells can also elicit negative feelings.  For me, the smell of baby powder transports me to a morning in which my son got into the baby powder.  Not too warm and fuzzy. (But it was funny)  I can smell poop a mile away.  I think any mother can. I believe that may a be a symptom of PTSD for all mothers.  Come to think about it, I could probably tell you how many months old a baby is just by the type of poop smell. Yes, it’s that bad.  You get the point, so I’ll move on.

Good or bad, smells will evoke a feeling.  Ideally, when you are around others, your representation of the Lord should be such a pleasant aroma that they want to know what you know or have what you have.  However, all too often we fail to be positive representations of the Father, therefore giving off an aroma that may be reminders of bad “Church” experiences/woundings for others, therefore driving them further away.

Are you so saturated in Him that people can smell Him on you before they even get close to you? Are you living your life in such a way that when others smell Him on you, they are either drawn closer to Him or pushed further away?

 

Adoption

  I have witnessEd it twice, once with the Carroll’s and the other with the Crenshaw’s.   My family had the privilege of anxiously standing in the Memphis Airport, along with other family and friends, waiting for them to return from Africa with their newest child.  When the Carroll’s finally turned the corner… hugs and tears and congratulations were running freely!  What an awesomely amazing homecoming!  Could NOT have been happier for them.  What a beautiful picture of Christ’s love for us were they graciously sharing with us.

So, this next time I was totally prepared to stand and wait at the airport for the Crenshaw’s to return with their young daughter.  I had already experienced the raw emotion…so nothing should surprise me.  Oh, when will I learn to stop putting parameters on God? ABBA had something else to show me.

Picture this scene, if you can.  Friends and family anxiously standing around.  Brian and Erin’s older three children hadn’t seen them in over a week.  Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents, Cousins, and close friends, who have walked with them through this entire process.  Who have prayed.  Who have given time and money. Who have just been an ear.  Who have prayed and cried and prayed and cried.  All standing around to meet the newest member of the family.  Then it happens…Brian and Erin begin to walk up the hallway, holding Naomi.  They get to their kids and Erin kneels down and presents Naomi to her siblings.  They welcome her warmly.  The family and friends are emotional messes! Here, FINALLY, is the child that everyone has prayed so fervently for.

Later that evening is when it hit me…isn’t this the perfect picture of Christ’s adoption of us.  My imaginative mind likes to think so.  For some of us, our walk of faith has been rocky or slow starting.  We have had parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, close friends who have prayed and cried and prayed and cried for us to know the Savior personally.  To allow Him to come into our lives and take full control; to completely surrender to His will. Then it happens & we surrender.  Family and friends have been anxiously & faithfully waiting for this day.  The Lord, with His loving arms wrapped around us, presents us to our immediately family and to our family of believers…our Forever Family!  I bless the Lord that He cared enough about me to shed His blood for me and adopt me as one of His own!

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ: even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him in love: having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved: in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, making known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him unto a dispensation of the fulness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things upon the earth; in him, I say, in whom also we were made a heritage, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his will; to the end that we should be unto the praise of his glory, we who had before hoped in Christ: in whom ye also, having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation,– in whom, having also believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is an earnest of our inheritance, unto the redemption of God’s own possession, unto the praise of his glory.” Ephesians 1:3-14

 

What I WAS and What I AM

It is with a good bit of trepidation covered in boldness that I make the following confession: from my early years to my adult years, I have done things that warranted the following labels: thief, envious, unrealistic, fake, jealous, gossip, covetous, mean, liar, lazy, loose, coward, procrastinator, messy, disillusioned, “that girl”, unimportant, arrogant, slanderer, selfish, living in lala land, bad, easy, nobody…etc.  The truth is, I continue to battle some of these same things today…I am not perfect and neither do I proclaim to be.

I don’t have all the answers to “How to live the perfect Christian life”, but I do know this, over the past 10 years or so, God as gotten a hold of my life and has begun to peel back layer upon layer of the negative labels.  The process has been one of the most painful experiences of my life.  For example, in order for me to not be known as arrogant, I had to be humble…and boy did He humble me.  I had to be brought low to truly understand the depravity of my own soul and appreciate how much I am NOT better than anyone else.  I have learned that if I constantly maintain a posture of bowed head and bent knees before the Lord, it’s hard for me to stand with a puffed up chest.

Back to the layers…One of the greatest things that I love about the Lord is His attentive care that He places on me as He peels away the layers of negative labels.  I liken this process to that of a nurse caring for a burn victims wounds.  I came before the Lord with disease festering wounds with scabs forming over them.  The Lord would carefully remove the scabs, clean out the disease, and place a fresh bandage on top; that way new healthy skin could grow. He removed the label of nobody, placed people in my life and gave me scripture that helped me process what my identity was, then covered me with the labels FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE…CHILD OF THE KING. Layer by layer.  Wound by wound.  God made sure that I no longer owned those labels.  He’s given me new ones and I am secure in that.

I’m NOT what I WAS for I KNOW what I AM!

 

Junk

Earlier this summer, as my husband got out of his car and started walking up to the house, my neighbor “politely” asked him what we were gonna do about our grass.  For some reason, my community is OBSESSED with the appearance of their yards…constantly mowing AT ALL HOURS OF THE MORNING OR NIGHT! I’m kinda of impressed with the care that my neighbors have for their yards.  We care about our yard as well.  That’s why it struck me as odd when she asked what we were gonna do about it.  Our yard was not bad at all! Sure, it wouldn’t have won “Yard of the Month”, but it didn’t look like we had been out of town for a month either.  Anywho, my husband told her we’d take care of it and proceeded to come in the house.

This morning, as I was opening the blinds, I was reminded of that “rebuke” she gave months ago.  As I looked out our kitchen window, I could see her backyard…and just kinda took in what I saw: a car, two dogs, doghouses, clothes that had been hanging from the tree drying for a few days, all sorts of “projects” that Mr. was working on, trash, etc.  As I looked at the state of their backyard, I was hit with the parallel of her pristine front and junky backyard with how we Christians do the same with our lives.

Don’t know about you, but I am so guilty of this.  I want people to see me as a person who has it all together and is on top of things, all the while concealing what is really going on:  a scared wife/mother who fears she is failing at every aspect of her life.  I don’t want you to know that part of me.  I don’t want to be the “needy” friend. You know, that friend that always get poured into, but never does any pouring.  So I daily have to strive to rest in who God made me to be and what I know to be true: I am a child of the King! Fearfully and wonderfully made.  That apart from Him I can do nothing! In His strength and made strong.  Yes, I will fail, but it’s not the end of the world.  There is a lesson to be learned somewhere in this…

We have been conditioned to always put our best foot forward and that 1st impressions are everything. This is very wise counsel and we should adhere to it.  However, all to often, we take it to the extreme where our best foot or 1st impression is all we’ll allow someone to see.  We believe the devils lies when he tells us “If they really knew you, they wouldn’t like you” or “They can forgive this sin, but not that one” or “You’re the only one that can take care of you…you don’t need anyone else”.  These are all lies.  Everyone is in need of a little grace (or in my case…a LOT of grace).  We all have stuff and no ones stuff is worse than the others.  It took me a while to learn and apply that.  When I would share my testimony, there were sections that I would gloss over because deep down I knew that those “dark” years were the “unforgivable” years and people would judge me today by what I did then.  By God’s grace and mercy, I’m not that same person.  So, now I’m learning to present my authentic self and if I am judged, I am not to take it personally and love those people even more.

So, what about you?  What would happen if you stopped putting your best foot forward and started allowing people to see what you struggle with?  I bet that you’d probably meet other individuals with similar struggles…similar junk…similar mess.  Everyone has stuff.  

 

I’m just sayen…

I heard this from Steve Harvey the other day and it has stuck with me:

“When men are out there catching hell from the world, they don’t need to come home and catch hell from their wives.”

WOW! Yes indeed! Let me go ahead and recognize that, yes, there are some sorry excuses for men.  And yes, not every man is taking care of their business at home.  I’m not thinking about those men.  I’m thinking about the men that WORK and COME HOME and put on their husband/daddy hats.

If your man is out there grinding, trying his best to make the necessary income to put food on the table, electricity in the home, clothing on your back, all the while catching hell from whomever, why on earth do we beat them down when they get home?  Wives, you know what happens when you constantly beat down, berate, condescend, and undermined a man?  He’ll slowly become the very thing that you are telling him he is.  I’m pretty sure you didn’t marry a “sorry excuse for a man”, so why treat him like one?

Put the shoe on the other foot.  Wife, how would you feel if you struggled all day at work and came home to constant chaos? No peace…just drama.  How many “extra shifts” would you take on? How often would you just come home and go straight to bed?  What encouraging words would you like to hear?  What kind of atmosphere would you like to come home to?

I bet if you quit whining and complaining and nagging and started uplifting, encouraging, and respecting, you’ll start to see small changes and less push-back.  I’m just sayen…

 

Didn’t We (almost) Have it All?

…or that’s what we were told.  It was more like, “y’all had it all.”  (Background: my husband committed a sin that ultimately caused him to loose his job.  More on that in posts to come).  Sure, my husband worked a job that gave him the ability to use his gifts and talents, and afforded us to live a lifestyle that was a little more cushiony than most.  My husband was paid a salary that freed me to be able to stay home with our two children.  We lived a life that gave the appearance that we had it all.  So, when my husbands sin came to light…things had to change. Pay-cut doesn’t begin to describe the financial strain we were under.  We could no longer afford the home we were renting.  Gone was the freedom to grocery shop “aimlessly”.  Unless it was a NEED, it did not get purchased.  It wasn’t just a monetary loss that occurred, there was also a loss of respect, dignity, friendship, status, comfort, etc.  All we had was apparently lost.  Or was it?

What if, and this may be a crazy thought, but what if the things that we held dear were the very things that God needed to strip us of in order to get us back to a place of TOTAL dependence? I know right? CRAZY! Why on earth would the Lord, being the Sovereign and Holy God that He is, take away EVERYTHING (or what we considered everything)? How would all this “stuff” get in the way of our dependence on Him?

For us, in order to hear God clearly, those things had to be removed.  It was even necessary for my husband and I to not be around each other in order for true healing and restoration to take place.  Now, we live in a small house with a super tight budget.  We can’t do, with freedom and ease, the social things that we used to.  Sucky life, huh?  Not really.  I would say that loosing everything has been the best thing for us and our family.  This small house with limited “alone” space has provided the opportunity to have real quality family time and learn to live with each other, instead of everyone going to their respective corners.  The tight budget/time has taught us to maximize what we have and really appreciate the “moments”.  Loosing everything has strengthened our communication.  Before, we didn’t talk, now there is a JOY in talking.  Our life is so enriched now that we have nothing!

So I challenge you: How tight are you holding onto your “everything”?  Is your status, lifestyle, job, etc that important that you are willing to risk your relationship with the Lord?  Because this I know, God loves you entirely too much to let any thing or any one come between Him and you.

…but you don’t have to take my word for it.

**Why the Mike Vick pic?  They said he had everything…and he lost it all

 

What are You Holding Onto?

If God is God, then what are you holding onto?  If what you believe God to be (Holy, Gracious, Sovereign, Protector, Righter of Wrongs, Maker of All things New, etc.) is true, then what is in you that feels it necessary to hold onto whatever situstion/circumstance in your life.  Because, whatever it is, You need God to reveal it & help you face it, so that you can authentically bask in the Truth that God is God, & be able to walk in that truth.  By walking in the Truth that God is God, the Truth will trickle down & permeate every area and aspect of my life.  Your situation/circumstance, as hard and difficult as it is, will be able to face.

So, I ask again: If God is God ,what are you holding onto that is not allowing Him to be God?

 

Grace & Spiritual Warfare

What’s so amazing about grace?  I’ve been pondering this all weekend & how hard it is to give even though it’s been given to me time after time after time.

I’ve recently come under attack from the devil.  He was trying to get me to react to a situation in a way that would have made matters a whole lot worse.  Satan kept reminding me of how I used to be and how “justified” I would have been in my response.  When that didn’t work, he brought up a very legitimate need that I have (and have always had) for being stuck up for.  The thought being, if I can’t speak, then who will speak for me…someone needs to tell this person that it is not ok to speak of people in this manner…this person needs to know this!

While venting to a friend, I had a moment of clarity.  I told Kim that in spite of how right and justified I would be, I felt the Holy Spirit telling me to extend Grace to a person that is unwilling to do the same.  That infuriated me because I wanted to be right…I am right!  What I wanted to do was have a sit down and since this person doesn’t “know” me, then I would “show” me (get my drift?).  I wanted to redefine the nature of our association. I wanted to express all the hurt I felt and how deeply wounded I was.

Then I read Psalm 35.  Praise God!  He met me right where I was.  The scripture was jumping off the pages.  It was as if God Himself sent David to remind me that GOD will fight for me.  GOD will be my voice and speak on my behalf!  I was also reminded that we struggle not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms! Instead of letting my ‘old-man’ handle things, I needed to put on the full armor of God and STAND!

How does Grace fit into all of this?  A few months ago I was presented with a unique opportunity to show Grace to someone.  I had every ‘right’ to reject this person and to walk away.  But before I could even begin to think on those things, the Holy Spirit placed a mirror in front of me and whispered “Amazing Grace how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me”.  Amazing Grace…Amazing Grace…Amazing Grace!  God was finally cashing in on “To whom much is given, much is required”.  And wow, have I been given much.  When I look back at my wretched life, my vision is skewed because of the Grace that Christ poured all over it.  Lying…Grace! Stealing…Grace! Cheating…Grace! Self-Indulgent…Grace!  Self-Righteous…GRACE!  Christ’s Grace has permeated my life so thoroughly that I need to be quick to extend Grace.  It’s hard, but it’s necessary!

Then the Lord gave me this comfort this morning:

There is a fountain filled with blood,
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins,
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in His day;
And there have I, though vile as he,
Washed all my sins away.

Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood
Shall never lose its pow’r,
Till all the ransomed church of God
Are safe, to sin no more.

E’er since by faith I saw the stream
Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be till I die.

When this poor, lisping, stamm’ring tongue
Lies silent in the grave,
Then in a nobler, sweeter song,
I’ll sing Thy pow’r to save.

…Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die!  Washed ALL my sins away, washed ALL my sins away! Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die!

 

And He Shall Be Called…

Advocate (1John 2:1)…

Lamb of God (John 1:29)…

The Resurrection & The Life (John11:25)…

Shepherd & Bishop of Souls (1Peter 2:25)…

Judge (Acts 10:42)…

Lord of Lords (1Timothy 6:15)…

Man of Sorrows (Isaiah 53:3)…

Head of the Church (Ephesians 5:23)…

Master (Matthew 8:19)…

Faithful & True Witness (Revelation 3:14)…

Rock (1Corinthians 10:4)…High Priest (Hebrews 6:20)…The Door (John 10:9)…

Living Water (John 4:10)…Bread of Life (John 6:35)…Rose of Sharon (Song of Solomon 2:1)…

Alpha & Omega (Revelation 22:13)…True Vine (John 15:1)…Messiah (Daniel 9:25)…

Teacher (John 3:2)…Holy One (Mark 1:24)…Mediator (1Timothy 2:5)…

The Beloved (Ephesians 1:6)…Branch (Isaiah 11:1)…Carpenter (Mark 6:3)…

Good Shepherd (John 10:11)…Light of the World (John 8:12)…

Image of the Invisible God (Colossians 1:15)…The Word (John 1:1)…

Chief Cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20)…Savior (John 4:42)…Servant (Matthew 12:18)…

Author & Finisher of Our Faith (Hebrews 12:2)…The Almighty (Revelation 1:8)…

Everlasting Father (Isaiah 9:6)…Shiloh (Genesis 49:10)…

Lion of the Tribe of Judah (Revelation 5:5)…I Am (John 8:58)…

King of Kings (1Timothy 6:15)…Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6)…

Bridegroom (Matthew 9:15)…Only Begotten Son (John 3:16)…

Wonderful Counselor (Isaiah 9:6)…Immanuel (Matthew 1:23)…

Son of Man (Matthew 20:28)…Dayspring (Luke 1:78)…

The Amen (Revelation 3:14)…King of the Jews (Mark 15:26)…Prophet (Matthew 21:11)…

Redeemer (Job 19:25)…Anchor (Hebrews 6:19)…Bright Morning Star (Revelation 22:16)…

The Way, The Truth, & The Life (John 14:6)