Faith in What?

What I believe, and how I believe is ever being transformed. Some recent stirrings of my heart, and some good conversations inspired this. This isn't concrete or set in stone. Like anything within my life and heart, I desire for this to be malleable.

I believe that God is love. He - (I don't think that God is limited to one gender, I think that since we are created in His image both male and female the coming together of man and woman greater exemplifies the character of God-but I use the pronoun He, because it's just easier)- He is so much more- but ultimately love. I don't think that He's far off, rather SO near- tangibly expressing that love in both the extravagant and the most minute of details. Always communicating and if we are just willing to notice we'd be able to enter into some pretty awesome conversations. I believe that He has SO much for us. He has so much to give, and draw out within us. 

I think that we are His works of art, and He is so invested, in seeing us learn, grow, and meet our full potential. He is committed. I feel like each of us embody certain characteristics of Him, and that the entirety of the universe is filled with the anticipation of us becoming all that He's created us to be. And first and foremost (aside from what we DO) that anticipation built up around us knowing who we truly are- sons and daughters of the living God. Sons and daughters of our King! And with Him being King- and us being his BELOVED children- there is an inheritance with that, an authority that we have on this earth now and in the age to come. 

As His children, not only are we taken care of by Him, but empowered to create or reshape life both in the tangible realm and the unseen. Partnering with Him as powerfully creative life forces, since He has come to give us life and life abundantly. I think that we are unsettled with things pertaining only to this realm as the longings we hold within our hearts can only truly be satisfied within our connection with Him. I think that matters of our hearts can hinder that connectedness with Him- not from His standpoint, as I believe His heart is ALWAYS for us, and He is always pursuing us in love. Rather, from our temporal inability to to let go of whatever we are holding and embrace him. (Like in the Garden when God was looking for Adam and he had been hiding.) 

So I think that sin separates us from God, not because God can't get his hands dirty, but because we spend so much effort distancing ourselves due to shame. I think that the purpose of the law was to exemplify how much we couldn't do this life within our own strength and that we are dependent upon God. I think that the commandments were things to help us govern our hearts, and the life that we share with others- a template for how to love well. That this life is about loving God, ourselves, and others with all that we are. And I think that that's where Jesus comes in. 

I believe that we encounter a triune God. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And because we can tend to get so wrapped up in performance and the tallies either for or against us, that He came to walk among us- show us how to live dependently upon God, and to shake up everything we ever clung to (whether that be people, places, profession, ideas, etc). He showed us how to truly live in the laying down of His life. He demonstrated that there is life in the laying down of our lives. THAT is love. Emptying out yourself for another person. (but not from that needy I don't value myself but I value you to give up all that I am for you type of way. But from a knowing and experiencing your place of power and surrendering that completely to another). I feel like the reality of life entails learning to live as we are. LOVED. Outrageously and relentlessly loved. And from that place of being loved, loving others. I see community playing a vital role within this. The relationships with our family and friends being both the soil and the tools for this love to develop and grow. These relationships both reveal the truth of what love is, and what it is not. But that ultimately God is above all things, in Him all things hold together. Our relationships, our lives. And our time here we're learning to trust that. To trust Him.

to the comatose

lift up your eyes, o you people
lift them up to the Lord, for it is He that has shone light upon your path
it is He that rescues you
He that saves, heals, sets free
can you not see that it was He who has been beside you? upholding your steps.
open your eyes.
see Light for Light.
dark for dark.
Truth for Truth.
and lie for lie.
you have eyes to see and ears to hear.
they have seen and have heard before.
you have seen and heard.

open up!
open your hearts, your lives
before the Lord, before each other.
there is no need to hide or protect any longer.
for He makes you whole and HE is your defense.
HE is your strength and your song!
do you not remember?
awake! awake!
awake! awake!
you will yet again see, you will yet again hear.
you will taste and see that the Lord is good, that HE alone is God: your sustainer.

Encouragement and an Exuberant Embracement of the Single Status

A little bit of a rewrite from my Sleepless in Seattle Blog (circa 2009), but a story worth revisiting, especially on a day like today :)

There was so much beauty to drink in when canoeing down this river. It simply took my breath away. On this particular day, in addition to the raw natural beauty we passed, the man-made structures that were built along the riverbed caught my eye. I was mesmerized by all of the interesting houses with their differing shapes. Features I'd never before seen. My mind drifted to thoughts of the possibility of one day building a house, embracing some of the architecture from this trip sketching in my mind plans for a future. Mind continued to wander. Maybe my (future) husband and I would build one together. Or maybe even before then. I had been thinking of marriage a lot during this time period. I ended up telling God that I wanted someone to romance me. "I want to be romanced... Swept off my feet" Just one of those little passing thought prayers that you don't spend to much time thinking about.

Quite some time later on this same canoeing expedition, I see this little red object bobbing up and down with the flow of the river. As we continued forward, I tried to take a better look to identify what this intriguing bright red THING could be. Before I knew it my hand was in the water fishing it out so that I could get a better look. When I realized what it was, I couldn't help but smile.

A rose.
A single
fresh cut
red rose.
BEAUTIFUL.

God had not only heard my prayer, but HE romanced me.
It was beautiful.
And I love Him.
He's quite a romantic one...

<3

Another good post that I came across for today from October of 2010

I praise God for my singleness!

He has given me time
to spend in the secret place
He and I.
My beloved.
The place where I get to know His heart and
He gets to explore mine
Mine.
As in:
JUST ME.

I can catch a plane at a moments notice
without a care in the world
I have wings to soar with
Not that I won't soar when I'm married-
I'm just learning to fly high now
Yes, someday it will be alongside someone-
and maybe we'll fly to even greater heights
BUT- I won't be a rookie to the air :)

God has given ME this time to explore
and discover
I've thought for so long
this state of singleness was a holding pattern
For when both I and my future husband are ready for each other
BUT
It's not
This is a gift
That will be a gift too
This is my gift now.

I've started a list of what I want to do while I am still single
What things do you want to do to embrace the season you are in?

(for those of you who presently know me, this is two years and two months prior to me being involved in the airline industry. It "just so happened" that I related the depth of my relationship with God to the heights reached in flying :)

<3

Being in a relationship is a beautiful thing. But being single is a beautiful thing too! Take time to discover, embrace, and challenge yourself. Take risks- apply for that job, create that work of art, walk across the pacific ocean, or fly to Mars. It's not too far-fetched. Embrace the dreams your heart hold. Embrace the people you encounter at school, at work, in the passing on the street. Embrace open armedly the fullness of what you have to offer this life and what Life has to offer you.

And know: you're not alone <3

The Waiting Game

It is with eager anticipation I await my precious package.
Sitting in the living room, looking for any sign of the big brown UPS truck..
I feel like a little child on Christmas morning running around to wake everyone up.
only this is on the inside, bubbling up giddy expectation....

Lord, this is the kind of expectation I want to have when thinking about what you have in store for me. This is how I want to enter into my relationship with you in the day in day out. Expectant of what Word is going to come to life and how we can go about bringing forth your Kingdom here. I think about Jesus, oh for the day that I can see You face to face. Your word says that the pure of heart will see God. I want to see you. I long to see you. Give us clean hands and a pure heart that we might see you face to face. With honesty bring forth the praise within our hearts to lift you up above every circumstance and worry. Let us fix our heart on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, Let us set our mind on the things above, not on earthly things. We wait for you Lord. We delight in you Lord. We want to behold you Lord. Increase not only our desire for you and for your Word, but also the drive to DO what your Word says. To move where you are moving us, to say what you are speaking, to reach out where you are reaching. We want to be doers of your word and not only hearers. Here's my heart Lord, take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above....

(Just)Trust

Jesus full of the Holy Spirit returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert. Luke 4:1

Sometimes, like Jesus, we are led from places of triumph to a place of difficulty.

Jesus returned from the Jordan.

The Jordan was the place where God had proven His faithfulness and His greatness to the people of Israel.

God wanted to establish Joshua's authority among the Israelites as their leader after the death of Moses,

"so they know that I am with you as I was with Moses" Joshua 3

God instructs Joshua to,

"Tell the priests who cary the ark of the covenant, "when you reach the edge of the Jordan's waters, go and stand in the river" verse 8

The Israelites obey the decree of the Lord, despite the fact that the river was swelling because it was in flood stage.

"Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water's edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away... The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground."

Israel's OBEDIENCE to the command of the Lord enabled them to STAND FIRM on dry ground during the flood season of the Jordan River.

I want to STAND FIRM on the dry ground that the Lord has prepared for my willingness and obedience to trust Him. How about you?

God did an amazing act among His people that day.

The Jordan is also a significant place in the life of Jesus.

This is where His father affirmed Him as His Son. We see this in Luke 3:21

"When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as He was praying heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on Him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: 'You are my son, whom I love with you I am well pleased.' "

It was at the Jordan were His identity was solidified by His Father's voice.

It reminds me of those seasons where you feel so close to God, where you can hear His constant affirmations and feel His warm embrace. -- What great seasons :)

There are times,though, that God feels a little further away even though we know that He is with us. We don't rely on our feelings during these times but on His character and on His Word. He says

" Fear not for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Holy One of Israel, your Savior...." Isaiah 43:1-3

We stand on the promise that he will not leave us or forsake us.

Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into one of those seasons, he was led into the desert.

It reads in verse 2 that for 40 days he was tempted in the desert (and I think one day is bad!). He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them He was hungry.

It was in His hunger that the devil said to him, 'If you are the Son of God tell this stone to become bread.' Jesus answered, 'It is written man does not live on bread alone'

Here Jesus is quoting Deuteronomy. He's referring to a passage that is reminding the Israelites not to forget The Lord. The entire verse reads,

"He humbled you causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord."

The point of this being that when Jesus was tried by satan He STOOD FIRM upon the Word of The Lord.

There is a steadfstness here, a stability. Unshaken. Unmoved. His foundation is firm. It's secure. He knows that His Father is

"Not a man that would lie, nor a son of man that would change his mind."

Again satan comes at Jesus but this time higher (verse 5)

" The devil lead him to a high place and showed Him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to Him, 'I will give you all their authority and splendor for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So if you worship me, it will all be yours"

side note- I know that some of you might be wondering how satan could give this to Jesus if Jesus is God...

The Lord gave the earth to men but through our sin we hand over our rightful authority to satan. Sin is how sstan gains legitimate access to our hearts, marriages, families, homes, territories, nations. But since we rightfully won this and it's been redeemed and purchased back by the blood we can reclaim these territories back to the Lord and turn our back on sin.

Back to Jesus' response, again He goes to the word. Here is the living word declaring the written word to defeat the enemy

"It is written worship the Lord your God and serve Him only."

pwnd!

The devil led Jesus to Jerusalem and had Him stand on the highest point of the temple. Now here satan tries to use the word against Jesus he says to Him, "If you are the son of God throw yourself down from here for it is written 'He will command His angels concerning you to guard you carefully, they will lift you up in their hands, so that you do not strike your foot against a stone'"

This is a statement from the Word of God . Jesus could have done this and seen it come into action, but he saw the intention behind it and refutes satan by saying " It says 'do not put the Lord your God to the test.' When the devil had finished all this tempting he left him until an opportune time."

satan gave up. There was no shaking Jesus. He was rock solid. Founded on the Word of God. This is how we need to be. Unshakable. Rooted firm in the truth of the Lord. We need to believe God so that we too can stand firm and walk on solid ground.

James 12:23 says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness, and he was called God's friend."

I want to be called God's friend! I want to be considered righteous because I believe Him, because I trust Him.