Wednesday, November 17, 2010

First EVER "Walking Stumbling" CONTEST!!!

There's a contest a'brew'n & you can be a part of it!  Prompted by many of you, I've decided to put together a bunch of my "best" or favorite blog posts, and make a book out of them! And one lucky reader will get their own copy!!  Lucky you! ;)

What I need from YOU are your opinions & votes!!

Here are the rules for this contest---
1. Become (if you're not already) a follower to the blog....if you want to win, I have to know who you are!
2. Comment on this post with the title of the blog or blogs you enjoyed the most (or made you think the most)
3. Watch for an update on December 1st to see if you've won!!!

I'll be taking all of you who comment, (that are followers) and drawing a name for the winner! It'll be a hard cover, image wrap book!!  (And if you want...I might even sign it for you!) Voting is OPEN! So get voting!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Deep love, Deep hurt

The past few months, the thought of a deeper love equaling deeper hurt, has been on my mind.  This is not to say that deeper love inevitably hurts, or that you shouldn't be willing to love deep, but that when you are vulnerable to deeply love, that same vulnerability opens yourself to be feel much more pain if & when you are hurt by something or someone.

This happens to us as people, but it also intrigues me in our love relationship with God. "For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16) "My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20)"And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them."(1 John 4:16)

If God loved us THAT much, that He would give us His only son, that He would live in us, that God is synonymous with love in the way that if we love, we are in Him, that's powerful.  That's a deep love, that's an amazing love. "This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins." (1 John 4:10)

So can you imagine with me then, that through God's love for us, incomprehensibly deep & devoted, that when we hurt or when we turn from Him, either way....just think of how much He must hurt with us & for us. "In all their suffering he also suffered,..." (Isaiah 63:9) It says in the Bible how God suffers with us...and if the greater the love the greater the pain can be, I can only imagine that God suffers greatly over each & every one of us, longing for us to come near to Him, to dwell in Him, to be comforted by Him & to understand His love for us. He mourns with us, but doesn't stay inactive...He comes after us.  Isaiah goes on to say "...and he personally rescued them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them. He lifted them up and carried them through all the years."

Through all the years....forever, ....loving us deeply, holding us in our pain, hurting for us when we walk away, His love never fades. "The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease." (Lamentations 3:22)  This gives me hope, confidence & full assurance that when I hurt, I am not alone. It also reminds me that as much as I am able to love, He is able to love more fully, more completely, more intimately than I will ever understand, and that through our doubt, questioning, longing for answers, that He loves us still.  Be confident in this: "Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God." (Ephesians 3:17-19)

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Aged Cheese

A week ago, my dad brought home some sharp cheddar cheese, one of his favorites...this particular cheese though was a bit more special than normal because it was 12 year-old aged cheddar....that's pretty old cheese I thought.  And cool too, just because I think stuff like that is cool, for no reason.

Okay, now I'm 26 years old, and that cheese is 12 years old, that means that when I was 14, someone decided to put this cheese away & wait 12 years to serve it.  For 12 years that cheese sat there, wherever that may be, waiting for just the right moment to come out & be served.  Had it only sat for a few years, it probably still would have been good, but have you ever eaten 12 year-old aged cheddar? It's amazing...it's good, it has a unique taste, etc. etc. Ha. I'm not really THAT crazy about cheese, but you gotta think about this in this other way...think about us as cheese.  Laughing yet? Just hold on....

Psalm 139:13 & 16 says "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb....Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."  This is amazing if you think about it, because God knew us, knew our every step & all about us before we even existed.  Wow. That tells me that over 26 years ago, God knew that I would be typing this blog, where I'd be & that there must be a purpose to my life...to each of our lives!

Like a fine wine or a fine cheese, as we enter into the family of God, even before we entered the family of God, we were set aside for a purpose, we have been given a story, we have reason to live.  Isn't that interesting though? To think of ourselves as in this waiting position, waiting to be taken off the shelf for God to use us?  I don't think He is completely passive though, at some point this analogy breaks down because I think we're used here & there throughout our lives, but as it says in Ecclesiastes 3:1, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens."  I wonder if that means that we won't die until God has fulfilled in us the purpose He has created us for.  It is not until that point that we will finally see the Glory of God fulfilled & complete.

Just thoughts.  It makes me appreciate the cheese a lot more though...:) Hope you can see it differently too.  You are special, you're made with a purpose, you are loved, you are meant for something and no one can take away that meaning from you. You are God's child, designed intentionally to be who God purposed, to bring Glory to Him & reconcile you to Him in due time. Amen!!