He’s not mad/angry or mad/crazy.

How about you? Have you been in a “punching down” time lately? What are your thoughts on this?

This past month, I’ve been working diligently to finish editing and formatting the book I’ve been writing so I’ve been absent here, but I’m excited to share more about this soon!

As we come to Christmas this week, something has been on my heart since my pastor read this scripture last Sunday. In Luke 1, we see the angel, Gabriel, coming to Mary to let her know God’s plan of redemption through Jesus will begin forming inside her virgin womb. That’s a bit to digest! She’s understandably perplexed.

“But Mary said to the angel, ‘How will this be, since I am a virgin?’ The angel answered and said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; for that reason also the holy Child will be called the Son of God.’” —Luke 1:34-35

In verse 37, Gabriel proclaims this powerful promise, “nothing will be impossible with God.”

God’s answer to your impossible is the Holy Spirit.

What are your thoughts? Have you experienced the impossible with Him? Are you ready for more? (Share in the comments)

Grace is enough to better you, but that’s not even the point.

What are your thoughts? Is this hard for you? What helps you keep grace in perspective? (Share in the comments)

Not everyone is a singer. Not everyone plays an instrument. Not everyone has the same response to music in general. Whether you feel comfortable with it, think you’re good or bad at it, or whatever else is irrelevant because your worship is both powerful and valuable.

Please know, I understand that music is not worship in itself (or vice versa), but I’m using it as an example here as it is a way we most often connect in worship.

According to Jesus’ model prayer, we are seeing His kingdom come and will be done in this earth as it’s done in heaven−a divine transfer of heaven’s values into the place in which we physically stand. If you’ve read the book of Revelation, there is an awful lot of singing of new songs, throwing of crowns, and declarations of worship from both angels and saints. If it’s happening in heaven, we need to see it on the earth!

Your worship is powerful enough to change your life and those around you.

The Father is seeking worshipers to worship in Spirit and truth (John 4:23). He’s coming after them! God is attracted to truth.

Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being,
And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom. −Psalm 51:6

As we come by the Spirit, it’s as if He’s turning to the angels and saying, “Oh wow, do you hear that? That’s truth they’re singing! That aroma is irresistible. I’ve got to get there and show them more!”

He shows up and things happen! Lives change, situations get resolved, miracles take place. He is the same, yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8), and surrendered hearts proclaiming eternal truth will disintegrate the status quo.

Your worship is valuable in a different way to the Father.

Psalm 115:17, 18 says, “Dead people cannot praise the Lord, but we can! Those who sink to the silence of the grave can no longer give glory to God, but we can! So let’s praise the Lord! Let’s begin now and let it go on until eternity is done. Hallelujah, and praise the Lord!”

Graveyards aren’t filled with songs of love to God from the residents. The only ones who can praise, adore, and worship him in this earthly realm are living, breathing bodies.

Why is that valuable to God though? What makes this different? Heaven is filled with beauty and adoration so why would He care so much about our imperfect offerings of love?

It’s because in heaven you’ll be surrounded by His glory and perfection and it will no longer be the sacrifice that it is in the earth. Here, you face obstacles, oppression, distractions, difficulties, frustrations, questions, and the list goes on. In the midst of all that, if you still choose to lift your voice in worship, you had better believe God notices. 

Making that choice when it sometimes appears nothing in your life is going right is a gift you can only offer Him this side of heaven. He doesn’t take it lightly. Consider a man named David who started out as a shepherd boy who simply loved to worship. He was called a man after God’s own heart and God didn’t leave him in the fields, He made him a king.

Seriously, don’t wait. Worship now. It’s more powerful and valuable than you realize.

Let me know what you think! Are you encouraged to lift up some worship today? (Share in the comments)

Psalm 83 finds the psalmist (and Israel) up to his neck in enemies. They’re surrounding Israel, they’re unrelenting, and they’re seemingly unstoppable.

The only recourse for the worshiper is to cry out to God, remind himself that He has won great victories before, and trust His intervention.

Blow them away, God, like straw in the wind,
like a tumbleweed in the wilderness!
Burn them up like a raging fire roaring down the mountainside;
consume them all until only charred sticks remain!
Chase them away like before a mighty storm and terrifying tempest.

−Psalm 83:13-15 (TPT)

Stop seeing problems to be fixed…

see these as areas to be surrendered.

Whether it’s a struggle I can’t seem to get past or a challenge I’m facing, I recognize that too often the first thing that happens is my brain goes into overdrive. I think of scenarios of how to get out of the current limitations or fearful situation. I analyze what the benefits or consequences of doing what I’m thinking. I formulate a plan of how to make it happen.

Do you see the incredibly important missing component? Yeah, it’s God.

More often than I care to admit, I do see these enemies coming against me; and instead of crying out to my gracious, loving Father, I fixate on the problem and finding a solution. Sometimes it works out okay (considering), and other times I’m in a worse place spiritually, financially, emotionally, or whatever else.

In every single case, you and I have an opportunity to surrender these things.

It’s not for His benefit, it’s for yours! I’d like to remind myself (and anyone reading this, of course) that surrender doesn’t only mean to give up or cease fighting. It also means to completely give yourself over to something, like surrendering to an emotion or an experience like letting waves wash over you in the ocean.

That’s God’s heart. We stop seeing problems that we have to solve, and we bring it immediately to the Lord as the psalmist did. It’s surrendering our rights to figure it out on our own or forcing something to happen. It’s surrendering to His love, His goodness, His wisdom, and His plans.

I shudder to think of all the time I have wasted, anxiety I’ve embraced, and miracles I’ve missed because I failed to surrender to Him. Until they are all dealt with, those enemies will keep coming. You don’t have to make the same mistakes.

It’s not about rushing around and doing whatever it is you think needs to be done. Just as Jesus said of Mary (Luke 10:38-42), you can choose the better−to sit at His feet, listen, and quiet yourself. That’s our surrender.

Have any thoughts? Do you identify with my difficulties as a fixer? What to you do to keep surrender in focus at those times? (Share in the comments)

For the first two weeks in July, our family traveled to Alaska to visit family and friends for some much needed time away. It wasn’t exactly restful, but it was rejuvenating! Coming back has been a lot of playing catch-up, but I’m happy to be writing again.

With all that’s going on in the world that affects all areas of society and culture, there have been many times in the past week or so that I felt overwhelmed and insignificant. My dreams, plans, or anything else at any given moment feel pointless. In essence, I have felt small.

Today as I was listening to an audiobook while running, I began to be able to put words to these feelings I hadn’t prior to this. The topic of discussion (in my own words) was that ancient peoples were constantly reminded of their smallness and it filled them with wonder, but the modern Western world rejects that in favor of “believing our own hype” and recounting our achievements of greatness.

We may struggle with passages like Psalm 8:3-4 (TPT),

Look at the splendor of your skies,
your creative genius glowing in the heavens.
When I gaze at your moon and your stars,
mounted like jewels in their settings,
I know you are the fascinating artist who fashioned it all!
But when I look up and see
such wonder and workmanship above,
I have to ask you this question:
Compared to all this cosmic glory,
why would you bother with puny, mortal man
or be infatuated with Adam’s sons?

Recognizing our smallness is an asset, not a hindrance.

We’re so geared toward independence, personal achievement, and fulfillment that we simply want God to fit into our plans all the while forgetting that it doesn’t make any sense that He pays one millisecond of attention to us. But He does… because He loves us.

Why don’t we consider more often how mind-boggling this infinite love truly is? Yet again, it was not only that He loved and loves me but “so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.”

Psalm 8 goes on to express the glory, magnificence, and authority God has given man despite that smallness, marveling in that too. Yes, we are both insignificant and significant at once by God’s design and purpose. If I lean to much to either side, I lose perspective. The only way to maintain that divine perspective is to embrace my and our smallness and the greatness of His purposes.

It’s telling too that Psalm 8 ends as it begins—with a declaration of awe for God’s amazing name.

Lord, your name is so great and powerful.
People everywhere see your majesty!
What glory streams from the heavens,
filling the earth with the fame of your name!

You and I can embrace our smallness because there is no way it can diminish His greatness. When I focus on that truth, I can’t help but be filled with wonder and worship.

What do you think? Are you able to embrace smallness? Why or why not? (Share in the comments)

There is direct correlation between trust and growth.

I realize like my daughter, there are simply times I cannot process or understand even if God were to use all the words ever written. I have to grow; I have to mature. That’s not instantaneous in our kids, and it’s not instantaneous in our spiritual walk either.

What’s the temptation when you don’t understand and God is doing things that seem confusing and counter-intuitive? You stop doing the things that help you to grow in understanding and maturity.

My daughter could misunderstand and decide, “it’s stupid for me to bring my dishes to the dishwasher because he’s just going to take them out anyway. I just won’t do it.” Then she would potentially miss out on having clean dishes to eat from.

Similarly, if I decide reading and studying scripture, learning to hear His voice, growing in my compassion for others, or so many other disciplines are not “working” and give up because I don’t understand the process and what God’s actually doing, I find myself stuck and at a great disadvantage.

Honestly, seeing this has given me so much hope because sometimes when I don’t get an explanation from God right when I think I need it, I can remember that it’s more than likely I wouldn’t understand at this point anyway!

Like my daughter, I can keep trusting my Dad, doing the things He tells me to do, and knowing that I don’t have to work it out. He will.

That’s worth celebrating.

What are your thoughts on this? Have you ever struggled with this in your life? Tell me I’m not alone! (Share in the comments)

Whether you believe “life is a highway” and whether you want to “ride it all night long” or not, the analogy of life being a road is certainly enduring imagery for good reason.

Jesus’ disciples wondered how they would know the path to be with Him and Jesus Himself declared He was “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).

If we are indeed on a path or road to abundant life through Jesus, why do there seem to be so many twists and turns? Surely it’s not only me who has wondered about this! He speaks to your heart, gives you direction, gives you a dream, and the road seems more winding than a narrow mountain pass.

I certainly don’t claim to have all the answers, but I do believe I know one reason God would allow the curves in our lives.

We need them. Simple as that.

Several times a week for exercise, I have a regular route that I run. I noticed something when I come to longer stretches of straight path, I get more tired and usually have thoughts of wanting to stop right then. 

It’s strange, but almost without fail, the straight path looks so long laid out before me that it seems too much. It mentally drains me!

The curves and twists allow me to stay sharp and pay attention. It’s more enjoyable and less boring and/or intimidating. 

Lead me in the right path, O Lord, or my enemies will conquer me.
Make your way plain for me to follow.  —Psalm 5:8 

You certainly have forces, demonic or otherwise, against you that are assuredly enemies, but you also face discouragement, anxiety, fear, or simply feelings of being overwhelmed that want to stop you from following His path. Perfectly straight paths seem better, but in reality, seeing too much at once and all that lies ahead may fuel our enemy to push us into falling back, taking a break, or even quitting. 

Like the psalmist, we cry out, “lead me on Your road, and I won’t curse the curves. Smooth out the road and make it plain, but I trust where you lead and how you lead me.” 

There are so many things I have believed for because I know God inspired the dreams or gave me a promise, some I thought should have happened years ago. It hasn’t been a straight line, but He’s been with me every step, which fills me with hope. I want to keep running and fulfill all He’s designed me to do and be. 

For that reason, I’m so grateful for those curves in the road because now I see they operate like switchbacks that take you higher and higher up a mountain. Straight ahead would be too steep and too daunting, but back and forth will get you to the top.

Do you feel the same way? Have you ever struggled with why God wouldn’t take you in a straight line? What’s something you do in those situations? (Share in the comments)