Tag Archives: prayer

5 Things

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5 things - brownies

1. I made brownies last night. For no reason at all. From a box. Because really, brownies are the one thing that I honestly think just turn out better from a box than from scratch (and I have tried several different recipes hoping to disprove this trend). So if you have a from-scratch recipe that you think is better, send it my way!

2. Have you considered joining me for the Graffiti Summer Study and Do challenge? You definitely should. It’s going to be good.

3. I’m reading the book of Nehemiah right now with the She Reads Truth community. I did a quick read-through of the book a few weeks ago as I was anticipating reading through it slowly on my own. And yes, when I start a new book of the Bible during my daily time with the Lord, I typically do a quick reading of the entire book first for context before I slow it way down. But when I noticed the #shereadstruth plan was Nehemiah, I decided to read along with their 17-day plan (with the YouVersion app).

It’s been great so far, and I have been so encouraged by Nehemiah’s commitment to prayer through every life situation. He prayed boldly, fervently, specifically, expectantly, and often. Such a powerful example!

4. I’m going to see Iron Man 3 this weekend. What movies have you seen lately?

5. Happy Memorial Day weekend!

Love One Another. Even Just the One.

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“And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he commanded us.”
1 John 3:23 (ESV)

love one another. even just the one.Photo credit: Alene Snodgrass

For the past several months, I’ve been intentionally asking the Lord to give me opportunities to love people more and to love people well.

He’s answering that prayer, though differently than I anticipated, I think.

It seems He’s answering in the simplest way imaginable (though it’s really not simple at all). By bringing just one individual to me at a time to love more and to love well.

He’s leading me to discipleship with just the one (or two), to praying for just the one who needs to read each blog post, to being fully present in each moment so that I can invest in just the one in front of me, to making a difference to just the one instead of one thousand.

It takes intentionality. It takes vulnerability.

It requires me to be all in.

It may not be building much of platform or making much of a name for myself.

But it’s showing Jesus to that one. It’s kingdom work. And it’s beautiful.

It may not change the world. But it may change that one.

And I kinda love that.

“Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.”
1 John 4:11-12 (ESV)

Everything. Anything.

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“fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
Isaiah 41:10

everything anything

In the midst of battling fear, processing change, and feeling worn, during a difficult yet sweet time in the Word re-reading the same two passages of Scripture (Joshua 1 and Isaiah 41) for what was going on days, the desperate prayer of my heart was this:

Lord, what more do you want from me? What more do I have to give?

And His response was this:

Everything. Anything.

And not just once. And not just for a moment. I want all of you. For a lifetime. Of moment-by-moment surrender and following.

I want you to choose to rest in My presence over and over again.

When it’s easy and when it’s not.
When you want to and when you don’t.
When you think you can do this life on your own and when you know you cannot.

I want you with Me.

I want everything. anything.

What I’m Learning In the Everyday

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Lately, it seems I’ve been in one of those seasons that is mostly characterized by the routine of the everyday.

what i'm learning in the everyday

Oh, sure, I have a couple of trips planned for later this year, I’m doing my fair share of dreaming big (which if I’m being totally honest, still feels a little different and uncomfortable because I’ve always tended more towards the practical and logical side of, well, everything), and there are new things potentially surfacing in the distant horizon, but they’re not right around the corner. So I find myself doing life right now in the everydayness of it all.

It’s good. It’s full. It’s rich. It’s demanding.

It’s just the everyday.

But I want to be wildly, unashamedly, with-abandon passionate, faithful, and focused on the Lord in the midst of this.

Because this is real life. This is relationship. This is walking with Him, trusting Him, depending on Him even when it doesn’t always “feel” like I need Him. Because I do. Desperately. In each moment of the everyday.

And perhaps because of this particular season, when it comes to living this life worthy of my calling, I find myself in the middle of learning so much that serves as a constant reminder of how unfinished and how desperately-in-need-of-Him-each-moment I really am…

I’m learning to keep my eyes fixed on Christ … even though I’m really bad it.

I’m learning to live by the Spirit in each and every moment.

I’m learning to accept the grace upon grace that Christ so freely gives.

I’m learning to walk by faith and not by sight … even when my calendar is too full and I feel like I’m operating in survival mode.

I’m learning to ask God for big things according to His will.

I’m learning to see the beauty in the small things that I far too often overlook.

I’m learning to love well by allowing Christ to fill me, so that I can be emptied on others.

I’m learning to rest in the fullness of Christ rather than attempting perfection by my own strength.

And I’m learning to crave more of Jesus Christ above all else because He is the only One who truly satisfies.

“He must increase, but I must decrease.”
John 3:30 (ESV)

I Pray That…

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“O Lamb of God, for sinners slain.
Redemption’s price, Your sacrifice, my ransom paid.
O Bread of Life, broken now for me.
Your blood, the cup poured out in love has set me free.”
- Travis Cottrell / O Sacred Head Now Wounded (O Lamb of God)

i pray that

Today, as we continue to reflect on the power of Christ in us made possible only by the cross, by His selfless and loving sacrifice…

I pray that we would remember the fullness of His suffering on the cross with the hope and assurance that comes from knowing that on this coming Lord’s Day, we will proclaim with boldness that He is risen, just as He said.

I pray that we would know the truth of that reality in the depths of our being, whether for the first time or for the hundredth time.

And I pray that we would come near to this Lamb of God who gave Himself up and poured Himself out for each one of us … because of His holy sacrifice, as the perfect and blameless and spotless Lamb, we are free.

Have a blessed Easter!

Crazy Love

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crazy love

And just like that, with a weekend trip to Northern Virginia and some poor planning thrown into the mix, this supposed-to-be-up-on-Friday post turned into a Saturday post.

But before I headed the 6.5ish hours north yesterday, one of the Bible Study groups that I’m in this semester met Thursday evening to discuss chapters 5 & 6 of Crazy Love by Francis Chan.

Towards the end of a great discussion about the central themes of the chapters including following Christ with our all, desiring an intimate relationship with Him first, loving Him above all else, being willing to give up everything in pursuit of Him, and selflessly serving and loving His people as a result of our love for Him, as our conversation shifted to acknowledging we can’t do any of this on our own, someone said this:

“Asking God to help you love others is a really scary prayer.”

And I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it ever since.

Yes, asking for God’s help to love others is scary. Because we know He’s a God who hears and answers our prayers.

And praying that particular prayer requires much of us. It requires that we set aside our own selfish desires for His glory, and it requires a willingness to obey when He makes His answer obvious. But scary or not, oh, how I want that to be the prayer of my heart. I want to love well and love more. And I need Him to do it.

“Is loving God – and, by extension, loving people – what you are about? … Something mysterious, even supernatural must happen in order for genuine love for God to grow in our hearts. The Holy Spirit has to move in our lives.” (Crazy Love, p. 102 & 104)

That Child is MY Child

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On that Sunday afternoon after attending church in Antigua, just prior to receiving the challenge to use $5 however the Lord would lead, we were sent out on our first ministry assignment: to spend an hour walking around the city (in pairs) and observing our surroundings while quietly praying that the Lord would allow us to see through His eyes.

my child

My partner and I headed to the crowded and colorful market – in many ways the center of the city and its culture.

As a videographer great at both seeing and telling a story, he was completely in his element, but although I love the Charleston market and something about the Plaka district in Athens forever captured my soul, without my camera in hand, I was completely overstimulated and out of mine.

Although honestly somewhat skeptical of the assignment at hand, I was genuinely seeking the Lord and at least halfway expecting Him to open my eyes to some profound theological truth or insight. Because that was the whole purpose, right? No pressure.

But when we paused for a moment not long after entering the outskirts of the market, the Lord allowed me to watch a seemingly everyday sort of scene unfold in one of the clothing shops. Two women, a toddler, and a baby in a walker who appeared to be about 10 months old were all crowded into an incredibly small square space full of merchandise. The shop was a step up from the ground, so every time the baby walked close to the edge, one of the women (his mother, I presume) pulled him back, so he wouldn’t fall.

Beginning to feel introspective and without even realizing that the Lord was answering my prayer to see through His eyes, I heard the Lord say in one of those it’s-so-clear-it’s-almost-audible sort of ways:

“This is not about your desire to have a child someday,

This is not about your desire to adopt a child someday,

This is not even about that mother’s child that you’re watching so closely,

This is about knowing that child is MY child.”

Seeing with His compassionate eyes. Loving with His overwhelming heart. Longing for His Kingdom growth. Over and over again.

He is the faithful Father.

“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God…”

Romans 8:15-16 (ESV)