For your listening pleasure and spiritual encouragement on this day...be reminded of what a MIGHTY God we serve! He's not limited by any person, place or thing. He loves you beyond any idea that you could ever comprehend. Today remember that He'll continue to be faithful over and over again!
Love.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
leaning on worship.
Do you ever think about the place that you're in and reflect like this - "God, how did I get here? Why am I here? What am I doing?" If you said yes, thanks for the honesty, because the answer is yes from every single person at some point or another in their lives. Feeling like you're caught in the middle of being overwhelmed and overcoming. Head barely above water, but you're still swimming. Seemingly giving everything that you have toward an anticipated end and feeling like you're perpetually running in place. In these times where we feel so caught up by life, it's so important that we remember to lean on worship.
One of the things that I love so much about the dictionary is that there are multiple definitions for every word. One of the definitions for the word worship reads - "adoring reverence or regard" and then (if you're anything like me and want clarification on words within definitions you'll understand this) I looked up the word reverence and it is defined as - "a feeling or attitude of deep respect tinged with awe". If we put worship and reverence together, the understanding that worship is not conditional becomes so clear. We cannot wait on our circumstances to become favorable and call for after-the-fact worship, but we have to worship our way through our circumstances until we realize that, favorable or unfavorable, I'm worshipping because the Lord is just that good.
Understanding what worship is and when worship should happen has been such a revelation to me. I am a worshipper and have been engaging in worship all of my life but what I mean by "revelation" is that I have been so stirred up to deepen my understanding and profession of worship than ever before. Adoring regard tied together with an attitude of deep respect...that's a lot different that on-the-surface worship. We don't worship for other people, we don't worship for desired results, we don't worship to satisfy a feeling temporarily. We worship because we understand that no matter the 'place' of life, we are so blessed. To have even a surface-level understanding of who God is and what He's done should stir up a desire to worship. But, as you dig deeper, you realize that the more you lean in on worship, the less you worry, the less you're anxious, the less you try to control things, and the more you surrender. God never called us to carry burdens, and if we can't do anything about the things weighing heavy on our spirits, we ought to worship our way through that thing until we trust God to handle the details. He already paid it all, we just have to trust that 'paying it all' covers everything.
Last week, the praise team that I so lovingly serve on was issued a challenge, per se. The challenge was this: spend seven days of on your face worship and watch how the Lord begins to change things. Isn't it incredible the things that we can see when we spend intentional time doing what we've innately been called to do? Do your circumstances change? Nope. Do the people around you change? Nope. One thing that changes is your desire to so tightly grip solutions to problems that you have no business solving. As you loosen the grip, you understand how much the Lord really does provide, protect, serve, cherish and love you, and that in itself brings you back to the root of worship. You don't have to solve the burdens of your life because you aren't equipped to carry them. You're just equipped and called to worship and to let God take care of the fine print.
Worship is so much more than an obligatory act; it's a shift of attitudes, desires, controls, inhibitions and understanding. From our innermost core, we're created to worship. Don't give up on God because He won't give up on you...He's ABLE!
One of the things that I love so much about the dictionary is that there are multiple definitions for every word. One of the definitions for the word worship reads - "adoring reverence or regard" and then (if you're anything like me and want clarification on words within definitions you'll understand this) I looked up the word reverence and it is defined as - "a feeling or attitude of deep respect tinged with awe". If we put worship and reverence together, the understanding that worship is not conditional becomes so clear. We cannot wait on our circumstances to become favorable and call for after-the-fact worship, but we have to worship our way through our circumstances until we realize that, favorable or unfavorable, I'm worshipping because the Lord is just that good.
Understanding what worship is and when worship should happen has been such a revelation to me. I am a worshipper and have been engaging in worship all of my life but what I mean by "revelation" is that I have been so stirred up to deepen my understanding and profession of worship than ever before. Adoring regard tied together with an attitude of deep respect...that's a lot different that on-the-surface worship. We don't worship for other people, we don't worship for desired results, we don't worship to satisfy a feeling temporarily. We worship because we understand that no matter the 'place' of life, we are so blessed. To have even a surface-level understanding of who God is and what He's done should stir up a desire to worship. But, as you dig deeper, you realize that the more you lean in on worship, the less you worry, the less you're anxious, the less you try to control things, and the more you surrender. God never called us to carry burdens, and if we can't do anything about the things weighing heavy on our spirits, we ought to worship our way through that thing until we trust God to handle the details. He already paid it all, we just have to trust that 'paying it all' covers everything.
Last week, the praise team that I so lovingly serve on was issued a challenge, per se. The challenge was this: spend seven days of on your face worship and watch how the Lord begins to change things. Isn't it incredible the things that we can see when we spend intentional time doing what we've innately been called to do? Do your circumstances change? Nope. Do the people around you change? Nope. One thing that changes is your desire to so tightly grip solutions to problems that you have no business solving. As you loosen the grip, you understand how much the Lord really does provide, protect, serve, cherish and love you, and that in itself brings you back to the root of worship. You don't have to solve the burdens of your life because you aren't equipped to carry them. You're just equipped and called to worship and to let God take care of the fine print.
Worship is so much more than an obligatory act; it's a shift of attitudes, desires, controls, inhibitions and understanding. From our innermost core, we're created to worship. Don't give up on God because He won't give up on you...He's ABLE!
Friday, July 1, 2011
Transition.
The last six months of my life have been such a blessing. A couple of posts ago I was talking about how there was a season of growth and maturity after graduating college that is imperative to development. It's so true. I just so happen to have been able to spend that season doing incredible work at Samaritan's Purse learning from the world's most patient leader. Not a morning goes by that I don't wake up thankful. Even through all of the stuff with people and family and life, I'm so thankful. I'm thankful to have been able to place medical volunteers in Haiti and while doing so to have developed a passion for that country. I'm grateful to be a part of a ministry that is, day in and day out, literally changing lives and making life possible. It's a HUGE honor that I completely recognize not everyone gets to participate in. Just seeing how the Lord has been faithful to give me not only what I needed to get by, but the BEST of everything that I needed to thrive has been so humbling.
Today is moving day. I'll be giving up my widow view office downstairs to move upstairs to be with the rest of my new team. My time as a part of Team Haiti is officially over and I'm advancing to take on my roles as a permanent employee in this ministry. I'll be doing logistics for doctors traveling to serve in 16 hospitals all over the world; most in Africa, some in Asia, and a couple here closer to home. I can officially say I have the best job ever, but I can also officially say that if I'm being realistic, I'm nervous. I know that the move will be good, and I know that the people transition will be good. I just want to do the best that I can do. I want to do things in an excellent way. I want to do a great job, not to impress the people I work with per se, but to prove to myself that I'm capable of doing what I've been entrusted to do. If I hadn't had the opportunity to see how the Lord makes a way out of no way for the last six months, I might be skeptical, but my nervousness today comes out of an exciting place, not out of a dreadful one.
Every day that I wake up I still can't believe I'm a grown up. I don't feel old enough, it doesn't feel real, but every day also brings about at least one more reason to be filled with joy and gratitude. It's amazing to see how God has seriously, down to the most meticulous detail, lined everything up to be revealed in its own perfect time. As seasons change, He's still faithful. When we feel stretched thin, He's still faithful. When we can't see because our vision is clouded by fleshly things, He's still faithful. I'll be the first one to stand up and say that I haven't made perfect decisions, but I still have so many reasons to be abounding in gratitude.
This morning I was praying that the Lord give me heightened grace for others, and He quickly reminded me that He's given me grace. I want to be graceful because I've been given grace. I want to work in excellence, because I've been created with excellence. I want the best for others, because He has given the best to me. It's the great exchange, my desire is to give all of me to be more like Him.
Here's to a new season where I embrace taking steps in faith to achieve new goals and to see new things.
Today is moving day. I'll be giving up my widow view office downstairs to move upstairs to be with the rest of my new team. My time as a part of Team Haiti is officially over and I'm advancing to take on my roles as a permanent employee in this ministry. I'll be doing logistics for doctors traveling to serve in 16 hospitals all over the world; most in Africa, some in Asia, and a couple here closer to home. I can officially say I have the best job ever, but I can also officially say that if I'm being realistic, I'm nervous. I know that the move will be good, and I know that the people transition will be good. I just want to do the best that I can do. I want to do things in an excellent way. I want to do a great job, not to impress the people I work with per se, but to prove to myself that I'm capable of doing what I've been entrusted to do. If I hadn't had the opportunity to see how the Lord makes a way out of no way for the last six months, I might be skeptical, but my nervousness today comes out of an exciting place, not out of a dreadful one.
Every day that I wake up I still can't believe I'm a grown up. I don't feel old enough, it doesn't feel real, but every day also brings about at least one more reason to be filled with joy and gratitude. It's amazing to see how God has seriously, down to the most meticulous detail, lined everything up to be revealed in its own perfect time. As seasons change, He's still faithful. When we feel stretched thin, He's still faithful. When we can't see because our vision is clouded by fleshly things, He's still faithful. I'll be the first one to stand up and say that I haven't made perfect decisions, but I still have so many reasons to be abounding in gratitude.
This morning I was praying that the Lord give me heightened grace for others, and He quickly reminded me that He's given me grace. I want to be graceful because I've been given grace. I want to work in excellence, because I've been created with excellence. I want the best for others, because He has given the best to me. It's the great exchange, my desire is to give all of me to be more like Him.
Here's to a new season where I embrace taking steps in faith to achieve new goals and to see new things.
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