I love this verse: “… in the Lord woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God” (1 Corinthians 11:11-12).
In my home, in business, in the church and in community, I am not in competition with man, nor am I to be independent of man.
Instead, God has brought us together in community in different ways and settings – as husband and wife, as brothers and sisters in Christ, as co-workers, and as servants – all under the head and lordship of Jesus Christ.
Each of us has something unique and valuable to bring to the Kingdom — in our churches, our workplaces, our communities and to the world. And we can learn from and encourage one another.
I am grateful for my brothers and my sisters — each of you! And I am very grateful for the leadership of, love from, and partnership with my husband.
Thank you, God, for the beauty of your creation and your good plan for us all.
God, Today it strikes me that you are limitless. I have so much to surrender today, but you can absorb it all and still be good, and still be love, and still be strong.
You are the ultimate Dad – protector, provider, and uplifter — the one who lifts my head. I love you, Lord.
Thank you for always being there when I need you, and even when I think I’ve got it, because you’re always there to catch me when I fall, even in those moments that catch me by surprise.
You aren’t surprised by anything. You’re always ready to protect and guard me. So I can close my eyes and sleep peacefully.
I love you, Lord. You are a good and loving Father.
Sunday at church, we sang the 150-year-old hymn, “Nothing But The Blood of Jesus.” I felt the Lord impress this message on my heart in a new way.
As I sang, “What can wash away my sin?”, I felt the Holy Spirit reveal to me the many ways I have tried to wash away my sin in my life — the substitutes I have tried to manufacture to make me … to make the situation… right on my own.
As we asked this question through song yesterday, “What can wash away my sin?”, I felt this reminder come to my mind…
Nothing can wash away my sin…
– Not perfection.
– Not performance.
– Not good works.
– Not secrecy or denial.
– Not self-righteousness.
– Not shame.
– Not alcohol.
– Not starvation.
– Not time.
“Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”
There is absolutely nothing that zeroes out our sin and makes us righteous and clean again but the blood of Jesus. Even our very best is like filthy rags compared to His holiness: “How then can we be saved? All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away” (Isaiah 64:5b-6).
Yet, He made a way to make us right again – by sacrificing Himself on the cross — sinless and spotless – for our sins. All we must do is believe in Jesus as our Savior to be made right with God. His blood is all we need.
Here is how we know we are made right: “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved” (Romans 10:8-10).
I have worked in vain, spinning my wheels, striving to make things better in my own strength or make the pain go away. But it has been futile. Because the truth is, not a single thing can wash away my sins but Jesus, and that is exactly what He came to earth to do for me and for you.
His goodness and His kindness is real, and it brings me to tears. I am made right again by His blood — only His blood. Thank you, Jesus.
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).
Anything that you have been called to do will require you to be courageous – whether it is waking up in the morning or living out a calling that exceeds your experience. In today’s world, even smiling at a stranger requires courage. To stand with the Lord and rebuke darkness takes courage in a dark world. Everything requires courage.
Meanwhile, our nervous systems are overstimulated and easily triggered. The weirdness of the world, even in just a single moment in a public setting, could trigger us. But we cannot back down… not from our calling, not from our kindness, not from showing up.
The older I get, the more I realize courage is like a muscle. It develops as we trust God, believe that He is with us, and that He indeed fights our battles for us. It grows by pressing ahead through obstacles and seeing victories by the power of God.
I say it regularly, and I will say it again today — to you and me both: Do not be bullied out of your calling. Do not allow others to scare you off of the path God has placed you on. Ask God for courage. Don’t be afraid to stand up for yourself – to speak truth – when you need to. And keep pressing forward.
Have you ever walked into a meeting, feeling the palpable tension in the room — difficult dynamics and confusion? Or entered an event with a pit in your stomach knowing someone there was ever-ready to antagonize? Ever experienced a confounding – even dramatic – situation that could easily have been pleasant?
Some situations and relationships cause us to ask ourselves and God a lot of questions, like… Why? Why does it have to be like this? How do I navigate this? Should I even bother showing up? Or should I just give up and throw in the towel ? Maybe I should back down?
I have admittedly thrown in the towel on some pretty major things in my past because it felt easier. But the Lord has been developing spiritual and mental fortitude in me. And today, I feel led to encourage you with this:
Step up. Don’t back down. God is preparing a way for you.
“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Psalm 23:5-6).
You have everything you need walking into that environment. He has prepared a place for you. And His goodness, love, and protection are far greater and longer lasting than the antagonism you are up against.
Don’t be bullied out of your calling. Do not forfeit your calling to quiet your nervous system, or those loud voices used by the enemy. Choose to hear the voice of God, your Father and Lord, louder than the antagonism of the enemy.
Trust God more than you fear the enemy.
God says you can. The enemy says you can’t. But, make no mistake, God is more powerful. Jesus conquered death and has the victory over all. And so do you when you yield to the Lord and look for His approval only.
So, be brave. Be confident, knowing God’ love and goodness follows you everywhere — in that meeting, at that event, in that encounter. He has called you to show up, and He is making a way for you.
So pull up to the table, knowing you have access to the wisdom of God in that moment by yielding to and drawing from the Holy Spirit. The Lord is available to you in that moment through His Spirit, and you lack absolutely nothing with His love in and around you.
That exciting thing you wanted, that God said “no” to, that you continue to process and feel hurt by, may not be what He was saying “no” to at all.
It may have been the crippling debt, distraction, time loss, physical exhaustion, illness, and hindrance to your priorities and true area of calling that He was actually saying no to.
After all, He is your Protector and Provider. He sees more than each of us, and He loves you too much to let your life and calling go to waste.
Are you feeling broken? I invite you to pray this prayer of surrender with me today.
Dear God,
I feel broken some days. Today is one of those days. But I know I will be okay, because you are with me – inside me, beside me, and before me. You are even behind me. You have held my hand through all of life’s struggles.
And I know that, just because I am broken doesn’t mean I am discarded or disqualified.
You used the broken throughout history, all throughout the Bible. And you accomplished great things by your power at work through them.
So I surrender my way, my brokenness, my ideas, my solutions, my insecurities and my pain. And I ask you to put your love, your strength, and your power inside me. Pluck me off my course and set me on your way. Direct me on your path.
I thank you, Lord, for using me, even as a broken vessel. And I thank you for healing me. I am dependent on you in every way. I thank you that you are my Provider, providing in every area.
I give you my day, my week, my month, and my life. Have your way, Father. Use me to be a part of your redeeming work on the earth. May your name be heard louder and lifted higher than any other name or word from my mouth.
We spend a lot of time in life asking, “Who am I?”
The answer to that question is available to us in the Bible: We are humans, male and female, created by God, in His image, fully loved by Him. He desires a relationship with us — one that lasts for eternity, because He loves us. So, He came to earth as both man & God – Jesus – to make things right on our behalf to make that possible. And, He calls us onto His mission of sharing His love, hope, and salvation to those around us, because He loves them too.
And so, while we can be confident in who we are, as we look into the Word of God, there is a different question I believe we might ask ourselves:
“What kind of person do I want to be?”
You have that choice. I have that choice. God gave each of us free will. He already created who we are, and now it’s the free will side of us that each of us must reckon with. We must each wrestle with and decide the kind of person we want to be then take the action steps to be that person. And there is nothing passive or ethereal about it. We each have a choice.
If we have used our free will to make bad choices in the past, there is good news: It is a new day. And the Bible says God’s mercies are new every morning and great is His faithfulness.
If you have made bad decisions until today, you are not the only one. But don’t allow that to define you any further. Decide what kind of person you want to be from now on. Then take the steps to make things right, apologize, and then get going on this new path you are charting for your future. It may feel daunting, and you may have a lot of people to apologize to, but change is possible! Ask God for His help and for wisdom on what steps to take.
Connect with someone you look up to, who is walking the path you want to take — with character and integrity. Share about where you are and also where you are going. Receive support and prayer. Find new, healthy locations to hang out in — church, the gym, gathering with healthy friends.
This is your life, and you have the power to decide who you want to be. You have free will. And continue to reflect on this as you make daily decisions, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1).
And if the person you want to be feels far from the person standing in this current moment, reflect on this (every day!)… even speak it out loud:
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).
So, I ask today — to both you and to me: What kind of person do you want to be?
I pray that God grants you the strength to be that person by His healing you and through His power at work within you in Jesus’ name!
Feeling weary? Burdened by your own sin? Riddled by anxiety? Quit looking to yourself. Quit looking to others. Stop looking at the problems or the insurmountable mountain ahead of you. Fix your eyes upon Jesus.
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.
“For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
“Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (Hebrews 12:1b-3).
This painting is one of the greatest gifts I have ever received. It hung at the top of the stairs in my grandparents’ house. I lived with them as I finished high school, until I went off to college. And, truth be told, I wasn’t making the best choices those days.
But I would come home late, after going to concerts and parties, knowing full well I was not living like I felt called, knowing I had made mistakes. But, the way the front door opened, the first thing I would see was the face of Jesus, at the top of the stairs. His eyes were kind, not condemning, gently reminding me I was not alone, I was fully known, and I was still always completely loved.
Now, 35+ years later, it hangs in my foyer – again, as the first thing I see when I enter the house. And its serves as a reminder that Jesus is with me — that He is peace, He is love, and He is my anchor when the world swirls around and my thoughts do too. It reminds me to just keep my eyes fixed on Him, both the author and the perfector of my faith. He is faithful. [I love you, Jesus!! Thank you for your loving kindness towards me!]
There is hope for us – for all of us. The most messed-up of us. The hurt, the broken, the shamed. The isolated, lost, & afraid. The emotionally-decimated of us.
We have wandered. We have strayed. We have lost heart and faith.
We have made our own way. It hasn’t worked. We know… And it hurts.
We have hidden away, slipped away… Hidden our hopes, our dreams, even our sense of dignity.
But we can come out of hiding, And return to the Lord, Just as we are – As messed up, lacking and sinful as we are.
We must face the facts. Waste no more precious time. There is no pulling ourselves up… No “snapping out of it” that sticks… No “getting over it” that heals…
We simply can’t do it. We can’t fix ourselves. And we can’t fix each other.
But, there is hope. There is hope for you. There is hope for us. There is hope for me. No matter the situation… When we come to Him… When we draw near to God, To our Father and Creator.
God is our healer. He is the healer. Healing begins the moment you return to Him. No reason to wait, or shave or cleanse.
Come to Him now, right where you are. Hang up your hurt, and put on hope… Experience isolation drift away as His Spirit comforts you.
Give away your broken pieces, And receive wholeness. Find your way again… yourself again, As you were created – in love – to be.
