exceedingly & abundantly more

"And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.  Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think."  Ephesians 3:18-21

We are so priveleged to be a people who not only live life with full capacity to think, dream, encourage, inspire, and have vision, but also to be a people who have one gift that is rare and invaluable according to Jesus; we have the ability to understand.  When children are small and they cause trouble, they don't always have the capacity to understand why they have to spend time in solitude, but as they grow, their capacity to understand broadens, and, in turn, they begin to associate consequences with actions.  As negative consequences begin to outweigh the benefits of certain actions, those children (hopefully) begin to understand what it means to live upstanding lives and how to embrace character as they grow and mature.  The same concept is true in the Christian life.  When we first start believing, we cannot process things based upon our own understanding of them, because all things are new to us.  But as we grow and mature in Christ and are developed by His love and grace, our capacity to understand the things of the Lord begins to broaden and thus we develop character and endurance, which in turn lead to our victory. 

In the book of Matthew, Jesus is addressing the multitudes and he is teaching lessons by speaking in parables (the parable of the sower, the parable of the wheat and weeds, the parable of the mustard seed, etc...) and his disciples ask him why he speaks to them plainly while he speaks to the multitudes in parables.  Jesus responds "To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge."  Knowledge and wisdom come through Christ at the highest level, but on our level, those attributes come from the ability to listen, to comprehend, and ultimately to understand.  Friends, it's a set-apart honor to be able to understand what happens when you fully surrender to God and He, in turn, begins to do a mighty work within you.

The Lord did say that we will never fully understand how great His love is for us.  His love for us is something greater than we'll ever be able to comprehend.  However we should be encouraged in knowing that as we begin to understand the goodness of the Lord and we begin to see and comprehend His miraculous works we in turn begin to grasp that He can and will do exceedingly and abundantly more than we could ever ask for or think about.  Our mindsets shift from a question of His ability to an understanding of His sovereignty.  Once we understand that He's able, we have to lay it all out before Him, surrender our whole lives in worship, and wait on the Lord to do exactly what He's able to do.  He'll change hearts; He'll bring people far away to close proximity with him; He'll heal brokenness, insecurity, anxiety; He'll bless people in overflow; He'll make a way out of no way!  We have the ability and capacity to understand, now we must believe in the distinct privelege He's given us and surrender it all to see the power of His glory!

Out of the overflow of our worship and surrender comes the ability to understand His grace and power which are what make His blessings possible. 

what a mighty God we serve!

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.

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!

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.   

Abide in Me.

I first need to start by saying that I count myself among the most blessed of people.  I am connected to the best people in the best church and we are covered by the BEST Pastor.  Our last 3 services have been so strategic and so encouraging and so freeing (maybe that's not a word, but you got me..)  Last night we had the opportunity to "be as free as we want to be" and it was great to just hear so much of the Father's love and encouragement flow through the mouth of the father of the house. 

It's funny because I've started this new thing in my quiet times where I have been writing down my prayers just to be able to go back and see what I had been praying about earlier in the week, and it's been amazing to see how faithful the Lord has been in working things out, even in a matter of hours and days.  I've said it a million times and I'll say it a million more, HE'S FAITHFUL!  But last night as I was taking notes during service in my journal, I noticed that that morning's prayer had a lot of the same things written in it.  Things like "re-evaluate relationships the right way" and "humility and wisdom during this season of transition" and it was so amazing to see how the Lord really heard what I had to say and then the entire service was about it.  It really blew my mind. 

I've been in a transitional period for a little while now and it's interesting how adamate we are about holding on to what we want to work out in the natural versus just letting GO and letting the Lord move in our relationships and life the way that He wants to and needs to.  This morning, during both my personal time and the time that we had in devotions at work, I was reminded of three small words that really shifted things in a huge way:  Abide in me.  That's all.  Just abide in me and I will be in you.  The realization that I had in all of the alignment between my time with the Lord and corporate time with the Lord in the past couple of days is that I can't do it on my own.  I don't get to choose what's covenant and what's seasonal, and the more effort I put forth in trying to figure it out on my own, the more exhausted and frustrated I am when things aren't working out the way I planned.  Then there's those three words:  Abide in me.  If I abide in Him and let Him handle all the details, He'll work through me.

I'm so candid this morning with you all beacuse I think it's important that you hear this.  Be encouraged today knowing that if you'll really just surrender it all and stop trying to function through your clouded vision and frustration, the Lord will abide also in you and provide all the wisdom that you need to be where you need to be.  The Lord will only use what you'll give him, and although being in a season of transition has me very vulnerable, I know that in order to move higher where He wants me, I've got to let it go and let Him move. 

Oh and know this, the things that the Lord ordains as sacred, He protects.  He has designed your covenant relationships to carry an element of protection.  Just keep that in mind as you remember to abide in Him.

Have a great day friends!

things i've learned over the years.

1. People will always like you more for being yourself rather than trying to be who you're not.
2. Life is so much more meaningful when you do something adventurous with it.
3. The blue ridge mountains are my home, and truly where people vacation.
4. Few things are more scary than snakes.
5. Nothing compares to laughing with your best friends, especially over nothing.
6. You have to go after what you want for yourself.
7. The biggest sense of accomplishment resides in doing something nice for someone else.
8. Cherish time with your parents and brothers and sisters. That is time you will never get back.
9. My dad's early encouragement to be independent and my mom's constant encouragement to learn from my mistakes have made my life so much more fulfilling.
10. One encounter with the Lord will change your life forever.
11. What people say and what people do don't always match up. Even those with the best of intentions set unrealistic standards.
12. You will fail people and people will fail you. The reality is that it makes you stronger.
13. Successful friendships and relationships require mutual generosity, constant forgiveness, and flexibility always.
14. There is an incredible season of growth after graduating college.
15. People deserve to be forgiven, honored and respected, no matter how they've let you down.
16. Things that you invest in automatically take more effort, but they will always yield more fruit.
17. Never lose the ability to laugh and be joyful!
18. Be so careful about what you say and who you say it to.
19. The time to be blessed is right now. You can have the good in life. You don't have to wait because every day that you wake up breathing is blessing enough to call your life "good".
20. You can never be too thankful. You can never have too much grace. You can never forgive too many times. You can never be too welcoming. You can never display too much honor. You can never give too much respect.
21. Learn to live as if today is the day that something will shift. Be expectant and hopeful always.
22. Love really does persevere through all things.
23. Always respect your parents. You may not agree with them but they gave you life and funded at least half of it.
24. Make sure that you are speaking into people's potential and that you are pouring out seeds that are worthy of growth. Make sure you are speaking well because life is on the line.
25. You are never too important to say thank you. Always be grateful, even of the smallest things.

a presence-shifted mindset.

Have you ever thought about how it is that you access the presence of the Lord? Ok, ok, so this question seems a little bit unanswerable because we all access the presence of the Lord in different ways and at different times, but there is a reason behind the question.

Think about it this way: we seldomly have to try hard to access the presence of the Lord. He makes Himself readily available to listen and speak and advise and forgive whenever we decide that we want to take a moment to get in His presence. We never have to sit down to pray or spend time with God and ask before we start if He's there or if He's listening, because we always know that He is. But do we take the presence of the Lord for granted?

What happens when we're in a new place, an unfamiliar place, or the dreaded dry places and we don't know how to access His presence? I mean, sure, it's easy to access the presence of the Lord in the places that you always access Him. Most of us do our quiet times at relatively the same times in the day and usually in the same places. Most of us participate in church services on a fairly consistent basis. Most of us know that when we do those things, we have the ability and wisdom on how to access the presence, so it doesn't require a whole lot of effort on our part. But what happens when your season changes? When your surroundings change? When the people in your life change? Do you still know how to access the presence?

The presence of the Lord is a powerful thing, and when we move beyond our emotions and comfort levels, we see and witness things in the presence that can't be explained by human standards and mindsets. It's imperative that we realize that our atmosphere doesn't shift the presence but that the presence shifts our atmosphere. We don't have to create a place to invite the Lord to show up and then He shows up...but He shows up and then we honor him in whatever place we're in. This is why sometimes we'll be driving and be overwhelmed with the presence or in a totally new place (mission trip in another country or visiting family in another state) and be overwhelmed with the presence.

Remember that you don't NEED a shift of atmosphere to access the presence. The presence never fled from a place, you fled from your faith to access the presence. We need to know that we have unlimited access to the things of God. He craves time with his creation and likewise we should crave time with our Father.

It takes faith to activate our potential. We have the potential to constantly exist as a part of the presence of God. There are definitely moments where we will feel the presence in stronger ways than others, but as long as we find our faith and believe that where God has placed us, He's placed us with purpose and He's right there with us, we will never believe that a place determines the movement of the Lord.

It's a prideful thing to think that we determine where the Lord shows up in our own lives based upon where we are and what we're doing. But it takes humility to realize that where ever the Lord covers, He resides, and He covers all things.

Be challenged today to not be so prideful that you take the presence of the Lord for granted, but be encouraged knowing that you can access the presence at all times. He is jealous for you.