What Does Contentment Really Look Like?

A quote I read in a book recently, made me think. 

"If we . . . ask God for contentment, we should cancel our membership with speed dating pool, stop spending every waking minute on myperfectmatch.com, and trust that God will provide everything we need to minister Him (2 Corinthians 9:8). If we aren't ready to do these things, we should be honest with ourselves and tell God the truth: 'Dear God, please make me happy being single until I can fix my singleness'." (Alisha Plummer, "Confessions of a Christian Spinster")

When I read those words, they didn't sit right with me. While I could agree with a part of them, I immediately felt they took things too far.

The chapter of the book this quote is from is about contentment. About not allowing a desire for marriage to rob us of the life we have right now.

And there's truth to it all. If we're so focused on getting married, as singles, then we're going to miss out on the things God has for us right now. We need to be seeking contentment with our lives - even if we never get married.

But, I don't think that contentment in our lives as singles means we can't do anything to pursue things we desire. 

Contentment as a single doesn't mean I stop putting myself in places where I could meet someone to marry - whether in person or online - waiting for God to somehow provide me with someone to marry when there's nothing in my life that would give me a chance to meet someone.

Contentment actually means that I don't let me desire for marriage control me. It doesn't consume all of my thoughts & energy.

Contentment, for all of us, whether single or married, is about having your desires in the proper place, not about removing them altogether. 

We can be content with things in our lives & still have hope for something to be different in the future.

We can be content & still have desires for specific things - even be working towards those desires. Whether those are hopes & desires for marriage, or children, or a house, or a new job in a specific field.

When those desires are submitted to God, we are living in contentment. We choose to surrender our desires, by telling God what they are. We're honest about them. And then we choose to trust God that whatever happens is part of His will & He will use it for His purposes.

Growing Through Challenge or Yearning for "Normal"

 "I'm just waiting for things to go back to normal."

"Can we ever go back to normal."

"I wish things were normal again."

You've probably though, or even said, those words or something like them in the last five months. You're probably heard them from other many times.

We're living in a world that's been turned upside-down by something we can't even see. Our normal has been taken away. Everything feels strange.

And we're struggling with that.

I know I am. All I want to do is go to a gathering with friends and give them all long hugs. And, for someone who doesn't usually often struggles in large group gatherings and doesn't just hug everyone, that says a lot. If I'm feeling this way, I know lots of others are too.

We just want normal back.

We talk about a new normal. About what it might look like. What it might mean. How we can manage.

But it's not what we really want.

When you get beneath it all, we're longing for normal. For how things used to be.

Before I go on, let me be clear on one thing: I'm not here to debate whether we have a new normal. I'm not going to debate the choices made or not made. While our current reality has prompted some of the thoughts in this post, I'm not writing about opinions on it. You can agree or disagree, but this is not the place to debate that. I will delete all comments along those lines without notice or comment from me.

Whatever happens, there is one thing we know, this has changed and will continue to change us all. Just as any difficult time will do. When we walk through something hard, we will come out of it different than we were when we entered in.

I've been reading Beth Moore's newest book Chasing Vines and working on the study that goes with it. A couple days ago, I read a chapter that challenged me on how hard times change us. In the book, Beth writes:

"When we're going through a difficult season, wouldn't the best news of all be that life would simply go back to normal someday? When the framework of our daily existence gets completely dismantled and the landscape around us grows increasingly unreliable, our strongest longing is seldom prosperity. What we yearn for is normalcy. We don't tend to ask for the moon when we've lost all we've known. We just want some semblance of our old lives back.

The hard truth is, there's no real going back. But once we get up again, there can be a going forward. In His faithfulness, God sees to it what we thought was the end isn't the end at all. And eventually, perhaps not terribly long after, we realize we transitioned into a new normal."

We can't go back to what was normal before because what we've walked through has changed us. We're not the same person, so even the same things will be different because we've changed.

The danger for us comes when we become so focused on getting back to "normal" we miss God's new in our lives. When we do this, we stop producing any fruit for God's kingdom in our lives.

A little later in the same chapter, Beth writes:

"But in time, finding fruitfulness again will make more difference than you can imagine. If we can't have our treasured yesterday back, at least tomorrow can matter. The wonder of fruit bearing is that something meaningful can come from the meanest of seasons. What we endured matters."

If we allow God to work through our hard times, He will produce something beautiful in our lives. That is always His plan. But, we can't hold onto and keep looking for what once was.

So, how do we do this? How do we move through hard seasons and allow God to bring something beautiful out of them?

In the Bible study that goes along with the book, Beth writes:

"It is human nature to focus on what has changed in our lives and to long for what we once had. But when we're faced with the pain and anxiety of loss and change, perhaps we should fix our minds on what remains the same in our lives. God is constant even when our circumstances are not."

We get through and begin to live the new life God has for us by fixing our eyes on Him. He doesn't change no matter our circumstances.

So, where are your eyes fixed right now?

"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." - 2 Corinthians 4:18

"Therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith." - Hebrews 12:1-2

God's Peace When Life Isn't Peaceful

"You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for the LORD, the LORD is the Rock eternal." (Isaiah 26:3-4)

I've found myself turning to these verses regularly in the last while. A reminder that peace comes from God, and that it's not based on my circumstances.

As 2019 draws to a close and a new year begins, I know a number of people who are facing circumstances that feel anything but peaceful. And that is my own circumstances as well. 2019 was a hard year for lots of people - likely including many of you reading this, as it was for me.

As I write this, I'm looking at the chalkboard I have hanging by my chair - the one where the word God gave me for 2019 is written. The word written on that chalkboard:

PEACE

When I reflect on 2019, it doesn't seem like a year with much, if any, peace. At least when you look at the circumstances of 2019.

But, as I think more about it and as I've learned more about peace over the last 12 months, I've realized that peace isn't about my circumstances. It's not about what happens.

The peace that God has in mind when He gave me this word for 2019 and the peace talked about in Isaiah 26:3-4, isn't based on circumstances. It's a peace that comes in the middle of often challenging circumstances. It's a peace that comes when we choose to surrender and trust when things don't make any sense.

In Isaiah 9, we are told that Jesus would be called the Prince of Peace when He came. It sounds great and beautiful. And it's true - He is the Prince of Peace.

But, the circumstances Jesus was born into and lived in, were anything but peaceful. One only has to read Matthew 2 and the events around the wise men coming and their conversation with King Herod to know the violence and upheaval that was the time Jesus came to earth. The Prince of Peace wasn't born into a peaceful world.

And He didn't live and minister in a peaceful world either. The truth is, there are times when I look at the way Jesus spoke and ministered and it doesn't seem to jive with the idea of Him being the Prince of Peace.

But, that is why the peace God speaks of isn't based on circumstances or on things making sense to us. The peace God speaks of comes in the midst of trial, in the midst of pain, in the midst of confusion.

I'm not sure how to describe it exactly. Putting words to this part of what I've learned over 2019 is proving more difficult than I thought. But it's something that's different than what we usually think of as peace.

As 2019 comes to an end and I move into 2020, my prayer for all is that we would continue to experience God's peace and understand more of what it means. The Prince of Peace has come and He is with us, no matter what we're walking through. His peace is not dependent on our circumstances or on what our world tells us what it is. We do not walk alone. The Prince of Peace goes with us.

All We Need to Live a Godly Life

Are we really able to live godly lives?

"His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires." (2 Peter 1:3-4)

Often it doesn't seem like we have everything we need for a godly life. It feels like what we've been given falls short of that.

Usually, the truth is actually that we haven't chosen to make use of what we've been given. We have a gift we've been given, but it's sitting there, unopened. It looks nice, but that's not what it is meant for. It was meant to be opened and used in our lives.

This gift is God's power in our lives. God has chosen to provide us with His power to live differently, to live a godly life. But, we, far too often, don't allow His power to work in us. We prevent it from doing so, and, as a result, feel weak and completely unable to live the life of godliness we say we desire to live.

God has promised us that we have the ability by His power to live a full, godly life. The problem is us. When we feel like it's impossible to do so it's because we're limited God's power.

Where have you limited God's power in your life?

Are you willing to allow God's power full access in your life?

A Doer of the Word, Not Just a Hearer

Is just reading the Word enough? Or is there more to it?

James 1:22-25 says:

"But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like someone looking at his face in a mirror. For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of a person he was. But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer who works - this person will be blessed in what he does." (CSB)

It's not just about reading the Bible to gain head knowledge. If that's all it becomes, we've missed the point of it all. It's not just about hearing what the Bible says. It's supposed to change our lives - the way we live.

I was really struck by the phrase "forgets what kind of person he was" when I read these verses from James recently. For me, it helped make the difference between hearing and doing clear.

When we hear the Word, we do look into a mirror and see the kind of person we are reflected back to us. Any time we open the Word of God we'll see things in our lives that are good and things that aren't that we need to deal with.

If we're just hearers of the Word, this is where it stops. We hear the Word, we see what it reveals in our lives, and then we walk away, quickly forgetting what we've heard. We heard what kind of a person we are, but didn't do anything in response to it.

On the other hand, the doer of the Word, goes beyond what they heard and what they saw about what kind of a person they are. They choose to do something with what they've heard.

When things are revealed, when they see things about the kind of person they are that don't line up with God's ways, they dig deeper to allow God to transform them. They allow the kind of person they are to be changed. As they look intently at God's Word, they find real freedom.

Lift Your Eyes

We all go through trials in life - times we wish we could avoid or escape from. But, we're told in Scripture to persevere in them and through them. We all see examples in Scripture of people who did exactly that.

James 1:12 says:

"Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love Him."

This is the reason why we endure in trial. We are looking forward to something that is coming. That is where our focus needs to be.

Remembering this lifts our eyes. When things get hard, our eyes often drop. We begin looking down - focusing on ourselves and our circumstances. This focus means everything gets overwhelming and we want o give up more than we want to persevere.

But, when we remember the crown of life promised by God, it lifts our eyes. Our circumstances don't change, but what we're looking at does. When we remember this, our eyes are lifted up and we see Jesus walking with us through our circumstances. This makes it possible to persevere - because we're seeing something beyond the current.

A New Year

A new year . . . it seems like this is a time of year when people are more reflective than usual.

The time when they look back on what the year that's ending has been.

The time when people make resolutions or goals for the next year.

But, how long do many of those resolutions and goals last?

It seems like so often, all those good intentions we had have long left by February, or even before the end of January.

So, is it worth it to even do so?

Are those reflections and those resolutions worth the time we take to think about them?

There is value in taking the time to reflect, to pay attention to what God has done in our lives in the last year. We need to remember and make note of the ways God has showed up for us. When things get hard in our lives and we're wondering where God is, it's those memories of times when He showed up in the past that give us courage to keep going.

I also think there is value in looking ahead to the new year. Thinking about what God might want to lead you into. We may not know exactly what God has planned for us in the new year, but we can still take the time to pray about what God has planned, and to surrender, again to His will for our lives.

Coming Alongside What God is Already Doing

I've been thinking about what I would write for this post all day. I've started and not finished a few posts the last few days. Usually I try to write things ahead of time, but that just didn't seem to be happening this time. So, I've been wondering what my post for this week, for today, would look like. 

I've been thinking a lot about what it means to be available to God for Him to use for His purposes. What it looks like for us to let God use us.

I often read Scripture - especially in Acts - and see the things God did through the people of the early church and wonder why it seems so far from my own experience. Acts is full of stories of the way that God was changing people's lives.

What is it that was different about them? Why do those stories sometimes seem so far from my own experience?

If God did all those things in Acts, then He can still do them today. So, why do they not seem to happen now - except in mostly far-off places?

I know those things do still happen. There are stories of this . . . and not all in far-ff places. It happens where I am too. But, I know I often miss them, or I hear the stories of them without seeing anything like them in my own life.

As I've reflected on this the last few months, I've started to wonder if the reason we feel like this is missing is because we're too busy to see the opportunities and be available. We're too busy to be stopped by the person we see on the street, or in the grocery store. 

Or maybe our hearts have become hard to what we see. We no longer see the people, we just see the problem that we don't want to get involved with.

We can easily come up with a ton of excuses why we're not the one to be used in that situation, with that person. But, as I was reminded tonight by a speaker I was listening to, when God is involved He removes all our excuses.

If we're going to see God do those amazing things we read of in Scripture, we have to have hearts that are soft enough to see people. We have to be willing to have our plans interrupted. So we can join in what God is up to. Not for the stories we can tell, but so we can be available to be used in what God was up to already.

For the last few months I've been praying differently. Rather than praying for God to do something big, I've been praying that He would give me the ability to see what He is already up to and how I can join in that moment. It's a prayer of being willing to be interrupted in my plans for the day, to have a heart that is soft enough to break for what I see as I go about my day. 

I don't have any stories of spectacular things God has done. But, I do know that something has been different in how I go through my day, in how I see the people that come across my path. I may not know what happens as a result of my obedience, but that's not even what this is about.

As I was reminded again tonight, it's about being available to come alongside what God is already doing. And, I think that begins with prayer. It starts with us asking God to interrupt our days and soften our hearts. And then we respond to what we see.

Asking God Questions

Do you ask God questions?
Do you ask them in faith and wonder?
Or are they skeptical and unbelieving?

As I've been reading and reflecting on the story of Jesus' birth this Christmas season, I've been struck by the questions asked by those given messages by heavenly messages. The questions asked by two different people resulted in two different outcomes.

The first question was asked Zechariah after he was told his wife would have a son in her old age. Like 1:18 records his question: "How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years." The result of Zechariah asking this question was that he was unable to speak until his son was born.

The second question was asked by Mary in response to her visit from an angel saying she would give birth to the long-awaited Messiah. Luke 1:34 records her question: "How will this be, since I am a virgin?" The angel explained to Mary how this would happen.

Two situations.
Two questions.
Two different responses.

But, it was the difference in the responses to Zechariah's and Mary's questions that wouldn't leave me alone. Why were there such different responses?

In both situations, the questions were asked in response to messages from angels about situations that were impossible from a human standpoint.Both questions were in response to messages from God after 400 years of silence.

So, what caused one of the be silenced until the message from the angel came to pass and other one got an answer to their question?

For those answers, we have to go back and look at the questions that were asked. The words used, and the way they were asked. When I read the questions side-by-side, the difference became clear.

Zechariah's question is filled with skepticism. He's looking for some sort of guarantee. His faith is not there in the moment he asks the question. It's not a question of curiosity; it's a question demanding satisfaction of his doubts.

Mary's question is out of curiosity and wonder. The message she's heard seems impossible, but she's choosing to believe God can do it. She's asking how out of a position of trust and faith.

We can take our questions to God. These are not the only time in Scripture where people asked questions of God. The part that matters is our heart when we ask the question. We can come with fonder and faith and ask questions. Or we can come with skepticism - looking only for what we will consider acceptable proof.

It's our faith, even when we have questions, that's the important part.

When you have questions, how do you take them to God?
With faith and wonder?
Or with skepticism?


"Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill His promises to her."
                                           -Luke 1:45, Elizabeth's word to Mary at her visit

Surrendering to Escape the Rush

Rushing from store to store looking for the perfect gift for everyone on your list.

Rushing form party to party.

Rushing to get all the decorating and baking done.

Rushing to get dinner on at the time everyone is coming for.

Why is it that Christmas seems to be a season of rushing to get things done and get to all the events?

It gets busy and then we get to to Christmas day tired and done with the season. We just want the say to be over so can finally relax.

We get caught up in the busy-ness. We get caught up in the commercialization of it. We get caught up in all the good things that come with the season - good things that can still distract us. And, in the process, we miss what it's really supposed to be all about.

But, what if we approached it differently? What would it look like if we truly gave the entire time leading up the Christmas day over to God? If we surrendered it?

What if, in the midst of all we had to do, we surrendered our schedule to God and allowed Him to invade our rushing? What if we decided to listen for the promptings of God that interrupt our schedules? What if we let God even interrupt the good things with His much better plan than ours?

I wonder if it just might mean we're not just wishing the season away and longing for a slower time again. I wonder if it just might mean we don't miss what's really important.

I wonder if it just might mean we more easily remember why we do all we do and what this time of year should really be all about.

Living Truly Free

What do you think of when you think of freedom? What does freedom mean to you?

No rules. No boundaries. Getting to do whatever we want without consequences.

That's what I often think of when I think of freedom. And that's what our society would tell us freedom is. It sounds like that would be fun.

But, then we read words like the ones Peter wrote in 1 Peter 2:16, "Live as free people,but do not sue your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God's slaves." These words challenge our society's common understanding of freedom. They make me think again about how I define freedom. They change what it means to live truly free.

It's no longer about having no rules or boundaries. It's no longer about being able to do whatever I want without consequences. That's not really freedom anyways.

God has freed us from the power of sin and darkness in our lives. He is continuing to free us from the places Satan has gained some ground in our lives. As long as we are willing to let Him work.

God offers true freedom as a gift. His endless love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness make true freedom possible. We have the choice of accepting the gift or not.

God's freedom means we're no longer bound by rules, by things we should do or not do. Peter's words in this verse remind us that God's freedom means we always have a choice. We can choose to things that please God or we can choose to do evil.

We run into problems when we begin to see God's freedom as an excuse to evil; when we justify doing things we know are wrong by saying that we're free from rules and that God will always forgive us when we ask.

We're not wrong in saying we're not bound to long lists of things we can and cannot do. Or in saying God will always forgive us. Both of those things are true.

But, if we use them as excuses to do what we know is wrong, we've missed what the freedom God offers us really is. We've missed the heart of what it is God desires for us.

True freedom births in us a desire to live lives that please Him - that bring Him honour and glory. This is what Peter is talking about when he says we should live as God's slaves. We are no longer required to live by a certain list of anything, but we choose to live by what God says because of how much He has given us.

We begin to realize the extent of God's loves, mercy, grace, and forgiveness for us and it makes us want to live the way He says is best. We don't have to - we choose to. That is true freedom.

When Pride Gets in the Way

A bit of story-type writing to start this one off...

She'd held it all together for so long. She was proud that she could do so. Looking from the outside no one knew that storm that was brewing deep inside. She wasn't even completely aware of it either; she'd pushed it so deep inside.

Life just kept going. Work. Family time. Responsibilities at home. Church commitments. Time with friends. It didn't stop with the challenges of life. The outside looked the same no matter what.

But life inside was not the same. Change and uncertainty. Unexpected loss. She had no control over most of it. But she kept on going, doing all the same things.

She shared snippets of the inside with a few people. But no one knew the full story. She kept it to herself.

Until one day she couldn't. It just became too much. She could no longer keep the storm deep inside. It came to the surface and interrupted her carefully planned life. Things just couldn't keep going the same anymore.

The strong one wasn't anymore. The one everyone else depended on wasn't there to be depended on anymore.

Life came tumbling down. Or, at least, the false one that had been presented to others did.

The truth is, she was kind of glad it did. The pressure of the pretending and pushing through had been exhausting. There was a freedom she didn't realize she could find in admitting she didn't have it all perfectly together all the time - in admitting she needed help right now.

-----------------------


That story is one that has been true of me at different times in life. And maybe has been true of you as well.

So often we go through life pretending we have it all together. Pretending we're all fine. When the truth is anything but that. And eventually we find ourselves at the end of all we can do and our perfectly constructed world comes crashing down around us.

I've been thinking lately about why we're so often reluctant to admit we don't have it all together all the time. The truth I've come to is a hard one to swallow. But sometimes the truth is - even when it's also helpful and something we need.

We don't admit it's not all perfect because of pride. Our pride gets in the way of our being honest.

We may even have people around us who would care and help if we asked, but our pride still keeps us from asking. Our pride keeps distance between us and those God has placed in our lives.

Scripture warns us of the dangers of pride. The way it sets us up to fall. The way it isolates us from others and from God.

We have to deal with our pride before it deals with us. When we do, we learn to ask for help from others and from God before we find our carefully constructed world crumbling around us.

Allow God to Form Your Thoughts

"We demolish arguements and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:5).

For most of my life I've thought that taking every thought captive was actually impossible. It just seemed like something I couldn't do.

I mean . . . who doesn't have thoughts that wander sometimes?

And how am I really supposed to think about God and His ways all the time?

How do I actually stop thinking about things I know I shouldn't? It seems like the harder I try to stop thinking about it, the more I end up thinking about it.

I've been challenged lately that maybe I've had it wrong when it comes to taking every thought captive. Not that doing so is wrong; Scripture is pretty clear that we should. But, what if I've been wrong in my understanding of what taking every thought captive means - what it looks like?

We all have things happen in life that stay with us. We think about them as drive, as we shop, as we work, as we watch TV, as we go to sleep. They can be good or bad. They don't have to consume all our thoughts, but they are things we give some time to.

When it comes to sinful thoughts, worry, anxiety, and so many things we know aren't from God, the most common advice I've heard is to just stop thinking about them - to work harder at not thinking about them. And then I would feel even worse because when I tried harder to not think about them, I ended up thinking about them more. This led me to conclude that what Paul talks about in 2 Corinthians 10:5 is impossible.

But, in one of the Bible studies I've been working through recently, the author challenged me to see things differently. She was talking about Isaiah 26:3, which says:
          "You will keep in perfect peace
                    those whose minds are steadfast,
                    because they trust in You."
                                             (NIV, emphasis mine)

She started talking about what is meant by steadfast minds based on the original language. The picture of it made me think it might actually be possible to take our thoughts captive.

The idea in Isaiah 26:3 is one of leaning all of our thoughts onto God, so He can form them. It's not about what we do to change our thoughts, but about allowing God to form how we think about what we're thinking.

Taking my thoughts captive and making them obedient to Christ is about allowing Him to form how I think about things. When I do that, my thoughts change. I being to see things God's way and to think about what is good and pleasing to Him. It becomes possible to take my thoughts captive because it's no longer about me. It's about allowing God to form how I think about what I think - whatever it is I'm thinking about.

Made Clean

Rushing water

Pouring down on me

Washing away the dirt and grime

That life leaves behind

Rushing water

Pouring down on me

Making me clean

Making me whole again

Rushing water

Pouring down on me

Reaching every corner

Finding all the dark places

Rushing water

Pouring down on me

Washing me with God’s love

Restoring me with grace and mercy

Surrendering to God's Plan for Our Lives

Everywhere I've turned for the last couple weeks it seems I'm looking at another reminder of my singleness. That happens every year around Valentine's Day. With all the focus on love and romance, it's inevitable.

And when I'm reminded of it in every store I walk into, I start seeing other reminders of it in the rest of my life. Like last night . . . a great supper out with my sisters and their husbands. I usually don't even think about it when I'm with them. Except for last night - as I was the one climbing into my car alone as we left, I was reminded again that I'm single.

It's not that I don't like my life. I love lots of things about my life and most of the time these days I know I'll have nothing to complain about if things stay the way they are. The desire to be married is there, but it doesn't take over my life to the point I miss out on what God has for me now. Usually, I don't notice or care about the reminders that I'm single.

But, there does come a time when there are just enough reminders of my singleness in a short time that they can begin to take over. The weeks leading up to Valentine's Day can be one of those times.

I don't share this because I want sympathy or pity from others. In the midst of this, God has taught me a lot. As I've wrestled with this - how to be content with my life as it is now, while not giving up on a desire to be married one day - God has taught me much about surrendering to Him and trusting He has a plan.

Coming to that point hasn't been an easy process. At first, I thought that surrendering that would mean I would for sure never get my desire.

God hasn't promised that He will fulfill all our desires if we surrender them to Him, but He has promised to meet us in the midst of them and to give us what He in store for us if we'll trust Him. God's plan might not always be our plan; in fact, it can often be different. But, I've learned that God's plan is always best.

Surrendering to God doesn't mean it's suddenly all easy and we won't struggle anymore. The last couple of weeks and seemingly constant reminders of my singleness are proof of that. It hasn't been easy, but I've take those struggles to God and He's met me in them.

I don't know what my future holds in this area of my life. I don't know what God's plan is. But I do know that it is much easier to deal with unmet desires and the curves life throws my way when I'm choosing to surrender to God's plan for my life, rather than trying to force mine to happen.

What is that thing in your life that you are struggling with? What is that one thing you aren't sure you want to surrender to God?

Are you willing to surrender it and allow God to meet you in it?

What Will Your Verse Be?

O Me! O Life!
(Walt Whitman)

O me! O life! of the questions of these recurring,
Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill'd with the foolish
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish then I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of objects mean, of the struggle ever renew'd,
Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me,
Of the empty and useless years of rest, with the rest me intertwined,
The question, O me! so sad, recurring - What good amid these, O me, O life?
                                                                     Answer
That you are here - that life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.



I will be the first to admit, I don't usually read poetry from the time this poem was written - much less use it in a blog post. It reminds me too much of English class and how much I disliked it and struggled with it.

A few days ago, I was watching the movie "Dead Poet's Society" with a friend, when a part of this poem caught my attention. At the start of the poem, the despair of the poet is evident. He is looking for the good amid all the bad he sees around him. The last two lines of the poem offer the answer to his despairing question:

          That you are here - that life exists and identity
          That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.

It can be easy to despair of anything good when we look at the world we live in. The violence, disease, war, poverty, hatred that seems to overwhelm us. Even the circumstances of our own life can cause us to despair. To ask the question: Where is the good?

But, that's not where we are to get stuck. There is something beyond that for us. Our very existence means that we can be a part of the good in the world. We have an opportunity to pay a part in what happens.

The English teacher in the movie "Dead Poet's Society" asks his class a question after the last line of the poem is read. He asks, "What will your verse be?" What part in the drama unfolding around us will we play?

         The powerful play goes, and you may contribute a verse.

This life goes on and we are here. We have a chance to contribute to the good in the world. To contribute to what God us up to .

What will your verse be?

Are New Year's Resolutions the Way to Go?

New Year's Resolutions . . .

Do you make them?

Should you make them?

I've been thinking about the whole idea of new year's resolutions the last couple of weeks. It's that time of year when we look forward to another year and often feel a need to set some goals - to make some resolutions for the new year.

They seem like a good idea at the start of the year. And then we get to February and we haven't kept most of them. We've broken them and it's easy to feel discouraged.

A couple years ago, I wrote a post about how to keep your new year's resolutions. I don't disagree with anything I wrote in that post, but now I wonder if setting new year's resolutions is really the way we should be going.

In the two years since I wrote that post, I've seen things in my life take a very different turn from what I had planned in January. Things have gone in a direction I couldn't have imagined at the start of the year - a better direction that was definitely from God. Seeing that makes me wonder if new year's resolutions are really the best way to go. 

What if, in making them, we put ourselves in a box and take a chance of missing out on what God has for us because we're focused on what we think should happen?

What if, instead of making new year's resolutions, we began the year with seeking God? With asking Him what He has in store for us and surrendering our will and ideas to His plans?

What if we decided we would follow God's leading wherever it takes us - even if it's not what we would have planned?

Instead of setting a plan in place that we may or may not keep to a small or large degree of success, what if we were intentional about surrendering the year to God as it begins?

Surrender All?

I surrender all
I surrender all
All to Jesus, I surrender
I surrender all


As the words played in my car, I stopped singing for a moment.

Reflecting on the words - was that really true? Did I surrender it all to Jesus? Was I surrendering it all to Jesus in that moment?

Most of the time I desire to surrender it all to Jesus. But sometimes I struggle to actually do that. Sometimes I allow my flesh to take over and I want to be in control of it all myself.

Surrendering means giving up control. Instead of living for my own desires and doing what I want when I want, I'm telling God I'll do what He wants when He wants. That I'll obey Him even when I want to do something else.

But, surrender is what Jesus calls us to:

"Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it and whoever loses their life for My sake will find it." (Matthew 10:38-39)

Jesus never hold back on speaking of the necessity of being willing to give it all up to follow God. It's not a half-ways or sometimes thing. It's a completely and all-the-time thing.


I surrender all
I surrender all
All to Jesus, I surrender
I surrender all


Do you surrender all?

In His Strength, Not Ours

Have you ever read something in Scripture that seemed like it would be impossible to actually live?

Have you ever walked away from reading something Jesus said and felt like there was no way you could ever actually live that way?

Much of how Jesus calls us to live as His followers is something that sounds impossible when we read it. It's a life we can't live by just trying harder.

We can't love people the way we're called to love them in our own strength.

We can't turn from sin and live a righteous life in our own strength.

We can't live in the freedom Jesus purchased for us on the cross in our own strength.

Thankfully, we don't have to do these things in our own strength. As followers of Christ, as have the Holy Spirit living in us. And He is our strength to live the way Jesus talks about His followers living. When we are surrendered to and dependent on the Holy Spirit living in us, we can begin to live the life that Christ calls His followers to.

The hard part is surrender. And that's part we have to do. We have to choose to surrender our own will, our own plans to God. We have to choose to let go of control.

Living those things that we read in Scripture that seem impossible becomes possible when we surrender to Christ.

Often this surrender and dependence on the Holy Spirit is a daily thing. It's not a one time decision to be dependent on the Holy Spirit for strength to live each day. We have to choose.