I think everyone likes attention... at least a incy wincy little bit. Sure, maybe not everyone likes to be the one in the spotlight (yeah, me neither) but we all want to be seen and known to some degree. Far too often though, we hope to be seen by those around us and forget that we already are seen by God.
Yeah, I know what you're thinking. "I know I'm seen by God. But I just want to be seen by a living, breathing human being..." I hear you. We want to hear applause when we fight and win our battles. We want our victories and our longings to be noticed. Sometimes though, God brings us to a season where He alone sees the battles we fight and the victories we win. Sometime our cheering audience consists of only One-- the most high God. And far too often it is right then that we complain. And really, I have to stop and wonder why. Is an audience of One not enough? Is He not enough? Maybe we need to take a quiet moment in the cool of the day to consider who we are living for. Because if God is not enough, I have to ask myself, what would be? #dailysoulmoments #isgodenough #eveningponderings
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Yeah, so it's that time of year where school is starting and quiet summer days are coming to an end and sometimes we can start to feel this wave of overwhelming busyness wash over us. And if you're anything like me you can start to think that quietness and peace are for a different phase in life with different circumstances.
Funny how we think that at every stage... that somehow it is in a different one that we will live fully and peacefully. I pray and He says it gentle... "The reality is that the quiet in your life is not determined by the outer circumstances of your life but the inner attitude of your heart." Hello. Of course. I won't have a peaceful life because everything in my life is peaceful. It won't be. Ever. This isn't heaven yet. But I can have a peaceful life if my heart is always at rest because it is simply obeying Jesus. Maybe it's time to breathe, count blessings, look long at the sunset, pace the porch whispering prayers under stars, snap pictures, and amble down the path along the creek in morning light to hear His voice. Maybe it's time to stop trying to manage every little bit of my day and start simply living it. Because who knows how many more moments we have? Why would we want to let this one drift by with us stressed and overwhelmed when we could be peaceful and fully present to enjoy all His gifts? #dailysoulmoments #peacedependantonattitudenotcircumstances Sometimes we think there is no way in the world we can do what God is asking us to do. That's it too hard. Too out of our comfort zone. Too much for someone as small as us. Yeah, I hear you. But you know what I'm learning? If we are simply willing to go wherever He sends us, and not one single other place in the entire universe-- we will be given the strength. 100% guaranteed. Not just the strength to survive. The strength to thrive.
I wondered at that once. A friend was sharing how she was thriving in her new environment and part of me felt discouraged because I wasn't thriving and I wasn't sure if I'd ever feel like I was. You know what I learned? Say yes to where God had placed me. Even though it didn't feel good. And yeah, you guessed it. I learned to thrive right there. Right in that place I thought I never could. Your current situation may feel mundane and hard. But let me tell you... if God has placed you there, you can thrive. Right there. No matter what. And if He hasn't, I suggest you ask Him where He wants you and run there as quick as you can. Because there is nothing in all the world like thriving because you're in the center of God's will. Even when that's hard. Really, it's simple. Go where He sends you. Or stay where's He's put you. And don't just do it with your feet. Do it with your heart. That's the recipe to thriving. #dailysoulmoments #liveyeswithourhearts I've lived many a day in my life waiting for the time when I would get to live the life of my dreams... I always seemed to think that life was around the corner. Now I look at everything God has given me and I smile because really, the life I am living is the life I dreamed of as a little girl. No, trust me, I'm not living in a fantasy land, and there are totally days that I don't feel like I'm living a dream. Actually lots of them.
But that's when it struck me. I've been blessed with so very much, but in the end, that's not what matters. The fact that Jesus has fulfilled so many of my longings is not what's important. I look around me and it hits me that when I really think about it, Jesus is the dream. Sure, I may have a dream family, friends, and job but take all that away and I still have a dream life. Because I have a dream best Friend. Living the life of my dreams isn't based on my circumstances and the people around me. I get to live my dream because Jesus is that dream and life with Him is the sweetest thing in the entire world. Tomorrow I could be stripped down to nothing at all. And that day could still be a day of living the dream, if He is really that dream. It makes me wonder... How much of our lives do we live waiting for a dream life when the Dream is stood right by our side? Maybe it's time to think about what and Who our dream is. Maybe that would change the way we live every. single. day. #dailysoulmoments #livingthedreamwithjesus #becauseofjesus I've always wondered what a friendship with God could become if we really went deeper everyday. What would it be like if we actually let Him do everything He wanted in our hearts?
The last few weeks He's been teaching me a deeper level of surrender... to let Him take the things that send me into a panic. I'm not sure I ever realized I was so driven by worry until I started to let Him have every last little thing. That's when it started to hit me. This closeness to Him goes as deep as I let it go. When He asks me to stop worrying and I say yes and allow Him into the part of my heart that I'd been trying to control, we go deeper. When He asks me to explain my panicking heart to Him and I do so without reserve, our hearts are bound together. But only if I give Him a chance. That's the thing. We so often complain that God isn't real or close to us, but have we let Him be? Or do we hold Him at arm's length by lack of surrender and then moan at the distance? Maybe if we gave Him the time of day we'd find that the distance between heaven and earth would diminish. Maybe we'd taste heaven on earth. Thing is, my Jesus never forces. He leaves the choice up to us. That said, something tells me He's on the edge of His seating desperately waiting for us to give Him a chance. Why wouldn't we? #dailysoulmoments #whywouldntwegivehimachance So often my life and thought patterns resemble a hurricane... yeah, probably not the best thing. But you know how easy it is to get wound up (even if that includes no outward demonstration) without even intending to?
Lately He's been calling me to complete peace and quiet. To lay down all the little things I allow to destroy my peace and keep Him always as the King of my heart. It's been the most beautiful thing. I had no idea there was such a peace of heart possible in the arms of Jesus. That such a peace can be maintained every moment of every day. I want this always. I want to run to Him every minute of every day for the rest of my life. And He smiles and whispers "yes." Because I am the only limiting factor. And I smile back because as long as I say yes, this is forever. This world may be falling apart. It may be crazy. But this. This is heaven on earth. Jesus, you are heaven. You are home. #dailysoulmoments I type prayers and it strikes me that maybe the reason spirituality is declining is because we measure our depth by the depth of people around us. We look at our society and think we're pretty spiritual in comparison.
Yeah, when did that even become a measuring stick? Since when do we decide how deep we go with God by how deep others are going with Him? There's no limit to God and it strikes me that there really is no limit to how deep we can go with Him. We just set ourselves limits by watching everyone else and going no deeper. What if we stepped out on a limb and decided to ignore the world around us and go as deep as possibly can? As deep as He will take us? Where could this generation be if that was our prayer? #dailysoulmoments #wherecouldwebe I walk meadows this morning and think back on all the years building up to this moment. I remember arriving at our little piece of AZ countryside and taking long walks up and down our road talking to Jesus. I remember all the conversations we had about my future and where I would go and what I would do and who I would be. Sometimes the days seemed to drag by unbelievably slowly and I'd tell God there was a world to reach and people dying and I should be able to go already. I'd try to convince Him that I didn't need to be sitting around in the backwoods of nowhere studying when I could be loving and serving people. With all of my being I wanted to go and do. And He smiled. And He let me stay. I look back and smile too. Because I'm so glad He did. I was all enthusiasm and energy, but I hadn't yet learned the lessons that sickness and suffering had to teach me. I hadn't sat quietly at the feet of Jesus and fallen in love with His gentle heart. I hadn't become so consumed with simply being His friend that all else paled in comparison. I hadn't learned to say no (or even realized there were times I'd need to). I hadn't learnt what it meant to be drained dry of anything power of my own and lean on Him alone. I hadn't learnt what true friendship and deep communication meant. If you'd asked me then I would have convinced you that the backwoods of nowhere was not the place to learn such lessons. That they must be learned through activity. And yeah, I would have been wrong. But my Jesus knew. He walked the road with me and listened to all my reasons why I was needed in some remote part of the world. And when He was done listening, He gently sent me back to my little home. Slowly I began to see. Slowly being the operative word. It wasn't overnight. Or over-month. More like over-years. I started to find my joy and fullness in friendship with Jesus instead of activity. I started to love Him more than action. I started to crave time in His presence more than anything else... until it became a passion. And then something funny happened. I carried on taking those walks. But I stopped praying to go. I stopped begging Him to send me. And I started loving where He'd placed me. The wilderness I'd thought was barren became a solace from the craziness of the world. A place I wanted to come back to-- because He was there. I still cared about the starving kids on the other side of the world... the kids starving for a different kind of filling in my very own country. But it was about Him now. Not me. Not my plans. Not my goals. He became the dream. And yeah, you know how He works. I walked and smiled because I'd found peace and contentment in this place. And He smiled too. Because now He was ready to say "go." I wonder at the contradiction of it sometimes. All those years of begging Him to send me, and His quiet no. And then those quieter years of telling Him I was happy to stay and Him preparing the way for me to go. Maybe that's how it works. Maybe we can't be sent until we are willing to stay. Maybe we can't be of any use to the world until we realize we aren't the ones doing the miracles. Maybe we can't change the world until we've let Him change us. So yeah, this morning I walked my meadows for the last time. And I said yes. Yes to go. Not because I'm begging for it. But because He's asking. I said yes to loving. But only if I can love Him best. I said yes to the life I'd dreamed about on those first walks with Him. But only because now He is my dream. I don't know all the places saying yes will take me. I don't know what it will look like or how it will feel. But then again, I didn't know when I said yes to quiet days in sunburnt countryside. And He more than topped my expectations. And I know He can do it again. Because it's not just about me learning to be a yes girl. It's about Him being a yes God. Yes to my dreams. Just not always when I want Him to say it. But always, always, when it's best. Yeah, so somehow I think our generation has imperceptibly allowed society to alter our view of what is beautiful. We've slipped into believing that unless we are a certain weight, height, or body shape, we aren't valuable. Magazine covers, movies, and the media display celebrities whose appearance doesn't match our own and before we know it, we're throwing a pity party about how ugly we are in comparison.
Maybe that's the thing though. Maybe we weren't made for comparison. Maybe God didn't create us to be second rate versions of celebrities or whoever we think is superior to us. Maybe we were each created to be uniquely beautiful. I wonder how often we start our workout or dieting plans for the wrong reasons. It's not about trying to be thin enough, muscular enough, you-name-it enough. It's not about going through all our days thinking that when we finally look like (fill in the blank) we'll be worth something. You are already valuable, treasured, beautiful. Period. You don't have to weigh a certain figure or have a certain hair or skin color. God made you to be you. Not a clone of someone else. And He didn't make you second rate. No matter what you think the mirror tells you. Maybe it's time to start looking in the mirror differently. Not to pick out our flaws or compare ourselves to others. Not to criticize. But to see as Jesus sees. To appreciate our individuality. To say thank you to the one who formed us, instead of convincing ourselves He could have done better. So yeah, go running. Lift weights. Eat healthy. But do it because you are thankful for what you have already been given and you want to be the best version of you possible. For Him. Not so you can become enough. Not so you can be someone else. Because if we're not content now with who He's made us to be, who's to say we ever will be? You know those great men of faith who would pray all night long or for hours before their day began? I always used to read about them and be in such awe of how anyone could pray that long and actually have enough to say. I've always had a bit of a radical heart and whenever I'd hear of people with that kind of experience I'd get so inspired to try and do the same that I'd get up early and kneel down, and well, you know the rest. Either fall asleep, get discouraged, or run out of things to say.
I remember one year setting a goal that I'd pray for an hour straight every single morning. And I actually did for about a week. But somehow the excitement never lasted. It always ended in feeling frustrated with myself that I just couldn't do it. Then Jesus began to win deeper pieces of my heart and I started opening up to Him more and more. I started to pray because I just wanted to talk to Him. That's grown for a couple years now. My prayer times have gradually gotten longer and longer and I honestly hadn't really noticed. It's not been about trying to pray for a certain period of time. It's not been about trying to be like a reformer. I pray because I want to be with Jesus and I can't help it. I can't live without it. Life without long conversations with Jesus everyday becomes more like existence. I think I'm starting to grasp now how Jesus prayed all night. Why Enoch left all society to spend time talking with his God. Why Martin Luther is quoted as saying... "I have so much to do today that I shall never get through it with less than three hours of prayer." They didn't do it because they had to, or because they wanted to be like some great man who had come before them. They did it because they couldn't live without Jesus and they just wanted to be with Him. Maybe if we loved God like they did we would spend time with Him like they did. Maybe then we'd catch ourselves praying for hours and not even realize it had been happening... Maybe our problem isn't that we don't try hard enough but that we simply aren't in love? #dailysoulmoments #prayfortherightreasons |
Hannah Rayne20. Lover of Jesus. Daughter. Sister. Friend. Servant. Fan of the kitchen. Graduate of Masters of Biblical Counseling.
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