Mindset

 I have wanted to write about this topic for a while now. It's a tough one because it's a thought that is constantly being defined and redefined. I know "Whose" I am and I know He loves me, but how do I see myself outside of His lens? 

We hear so much about "self-love" in our culture and "taking care of #1" (ourselves).  Even at the beginning of every flight, the attendant will instruct us to take care of our own oxygen mask before attending to accompanying children. Seemingly counterintuitive; yet how can we take care of others if we ourselves are in danger?  Who remembers the L'Oreal commercial that ended with the model saying "Because I'm worth it"? 

So... what is a healthy view of ourselves? I always feel an internal struggle when I say "I deserve _____"... even if it is something good, like happiness. But when I consider the opposite thought (for contrast), I don't agree that I DON'T deserve [happiness,etc]! 

So I look to the Father and see what He says. I am the apple of His eye (Psalm 17:8), His Masterpiece (Greek: poiema) (Eph. 2:10).  God created us in His image, and He is Love. We are not worth-less... we are very much precious and valued.  So much so that God did everything to redeem us back through the cross. 

So yes, we have worth in God's eyes.  Does that mean we are worthy of receiving good things from Him? Jesus came that we might have life, and have it more abundantly. Do we deserve that inheritance as sons and daughters of the King? If we say Yes, do we have that internal twist of conscience (that we're not worthy)?  If we say No, are we telling Him that we don't believe the depths of His Love for us and value He has placed on us (to the extent of the ultimate sacrifice)? 

(Now you can see why I've waited to write this blog entry!) 

I come to two answers that my spirit, heart and mind are all good with... first, our mindset can be that of Christ, who, although being God, humbled Himself and took the form of a bondservant. We can acknowledge that we are wonderfully made, and that God loved us enough to pay a sin debt for us BY HIMSELF, yet remain humble and not self-aggrandizing (i.e., I DESERVE something simply because I'm that good) ; ) 

The second answer comes in the form of a song called "The Truth". (I'll try to imbed it but I'm not feeling particularly tech-y at the moment) : ) So here are the lyrics to the chorus and you can check it out on YouTube (Megan Woods).  

Thanks for reading this far. This has been something I've wanted to get down on paper for a while and felt inspired. Let me know what your thoughts are! : )

The truth is I am my Father's child

I make Him proud and I make Him smile

I was made in the image of a perfect King

He looks at me and wouldn't change a thing

The truth is I am truly loved

By a God who's good when I'm not good enough

I don't belong to the lies, I belong to You

and that's the truth

Peace and blessings to you! 

  

Abba Father (Daddy Father)

 God's been doing a lot with me lately... I mean A. LOT. 

Then again, I did ask Him to. And He is faithful and true, as we know (Rev. 19:11). I won't even say Be careful what you ask for, because it is totally fine with me ... that doesn't mean it's easy work though.  

But it's good work. He who started a good work in me won't finish until it's done (Philippians 1:6). 

Through a book that a friend directed me to, my eyes have been opened to some sides of me that I really hadn't seen before. It's been quite the reveal, and I asked Him to do this book read with me when I started because I knew it wouldn't be easy. And He has. 

I know I'm being cryptic, but just wanted to lay the foundation of the main point of what He revealed this morning. He is so good. (I might just say that once or twice or a hundred times more before I'm done). I love Him so much. 

I saw a dear friend earlier in the week. We hadn't visited in a while, so I told her (some of) what I was going though.  In the midst of the conversation, she quietly said that some of my struggle for my heart's peace was wanting Permission or Approval for my steps forward in my journey.  She was right, and I knew that went back to the little girl in me. 

God is so good. This morning I was listening to the song "Oceans" by Hillsong and I heard the words about trust as I never had before.  That prepared my heart for the next song... "The Blessing" (Live) by Kari Jobe and her husband Cody Carnes.  One of the lyrics is He is FOR you... they sing it over and over. I realized (although I had heard that song many many times) that the contrary to that would be that He was AGAINST me.... which He most certainly isn't. He loves me, He cherishes me, He redeemed me, He is FOR me. He wants me to experience joy. He knows that our lives will be filled with both joy and sadness. He expects that, and will always be there for us through it. He just does not want us to be separated from HIM.  He will never leave us to go through our circumstances alone (Deut.31:6-8 among others). 

Those thoughts alone brought me to a place of praise and worship (He is so good) but He took it a step farther.  I realized that my wanting approval was ultimately Approval from Him.  That I didn't want to disappoint Him or let Him down. I realized that deep, deep, WAY deep down, my inner little girl felt that if (those decisions I was making) didn't meet His approval, that HE would... yep, you guessed it. Leave me. 

That realization broke me. Because as soon as I thought that, I remembered that He said He would NEVER leave me or forsake me... and my next thought was "I know, but I never had a father before who didn't leave me." 

He is so good. He is my Abba Father, my Daddy who loves me more than I know. He is kind and loves me beyond my circumstances or decisions. He loves ME. He loves my heart. He wants me to be happy and love Him in and through it all.  He won't leave me, and doesn't want me to leave Him. He wants to be a part of it all, sticky, yucky, painful, happy, joyous... all of it. 

I love Him so much. Thank God for His love, reaching down to rescue me and telling me He wasn't ever going anywhere. He is so good. He is so GOD. 

Blessing on all who took the time to read this extra long, longest ever post.  

In Him, Krista  

Postscript: After all this, I said to Him with a twinkle in my eye "You love me, don't Ya."  He smiled and said, "Yeah, I do." 💗

God of the IMpossible

 "If at least part of your plans don't seem to be impossible, they might not be part of His Plan!" 

  I heard someone say this recently and it hit home with me, and I started to ponder...  

God is a God of the Impossible.  Moses and the Red Sea.  Johan and the whale. Noah and the flood. Daniel and the lion. Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego (or as a former pastor said (and I never forgot)- my shack, your shack and a bungalow) and the furnace.   Mary and conception.  Lazarus and the grave.  

The Lord loves to amaze us and show us His Glory. What if none of those events had happened? We would have never heard about them. Our faith expands when we hear of the ways He performs the miraculous. But since He is beyond time and space, and because He is GOD, all things are possible... so there is no such thing as im-possible!!!!  To Him, they are the same. It is miraculous to us because we are limited by time and space and we see too often with our eyes instead of our faith. 

There is a song I heard many years ago and never forgot the main line: "If you don't dream big, what's the use in dreaming?"  We've also heard the saying "Dream big, or go home." 

He is a God who wants us to dream big. The more impossible it seems to us, the more He can show us what is possible through Him. And He is glorified. 

One of my all-time favorite movies is Shirley Valentine.  There is a line in it that I often think of: "Why are we given so much life if we're not supposed to use it?"  Live big, love big, dream big. 

All things are possible. 

Blessings to you in HIs love and by His grace. 

Godly sorrow

 A family friend's husband chose to end his life. My heart is broken, and further because he was not a believer. 

"He was a good man." That is not a prerequisite for Heaven. Who decides who, or what, constitutes "goodness"? It is easy to say someone was a bad man, because surely we are all known by our deeds! But who searches the heart? 

Isn't that the whole point of the gospel? That none of us is "good" and ALL of us are in need of a savior? 1 John 3:1... Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us..." (Can't you just hear the song in your head?!!) - That we should be called the sons of God! 

Jesus came to ransom us... Redeem us... Buy us back... We are not our own if we have been bought by His blood... 

And yet there are those who have, and always will, reject Him and His precious gift of eternal Life. 

My heart breaks for this sweet family.  And yet I believe that He came to save us all, and some (many) will (still) reject Him. 

Eternal life is real. It is also real if you will spend it in God's presence... or not. That is why Jesus came. It is the Good News. The Gospel. We do not despair as those who have no hope as Paul writes (1 Thess 4:13)... It is just so hard to reconcile the death of one who has refused Him. God bless his family..

Success...

I recently went to a craft fair and sold Sunny books and plushies.  That evening, my husband asked me "how I did". I knew that he meant financially and was hesitant to give him hard numbers. Not because I didn't have any but because I knew that in his mind, the dollar amount would signify the level of success I had had. But I see things differently... 

I went to a craft fair a few years ago; I met someone who asked me if I would read at her elementary school for World Reading Day. I happily agreed and the next spring Sunny and I went and spent the whole day reading to hundreds of kids. I sold lots of (pre-ordered) books & plushies, and actually met the mayor of Fort Worth! It was a wonderful experience. There was a little girl there who was afraid of dogs, and after her interaction with Sunny, went home and told her mom all about it. Her mom wrote me an email and said she had cried tears of happiness and said that Sunny had changed her daughter's life.

I've come to believe that the people whom I meet and interact with at my booth are there by Divine appointment. You never know how a casual encounter talking about Sunny in the books is going to lead to another venture. One lady told me on Saturday that she's with a rescue group and she's going to find out if she can include the books and plushies in the Welcome basket that goes to new adopters!  What a blessing that would be!

I want to be able to see other things from that Kingdom perspective. Not hard numbers and dollar signs, but see everyday encounters as Divine appointments. I don't know if I'll ever make a lot of money from the books and plushie, but I know that the lives that have been touched far outweigh the monetary value.

Success comes in many forms. My sweet Sunny will continue to touch lives in the years ahead and especially with the third book that is forthcoming. I can't wait until I can share it with everyone and hear about how it's blessing children's lives. That to me... is success! 

Blessings to you on this day in His name!!!

Unopened gifts

 We have a granddaughter who will be a teenager next year. We've delighted in her from the day she was born and in her earlier years, she'd come out to our house and upon seeing me from the car, would bounce up and down in her seat and exclaimed "Nonnie! Nonnie! Nonnie!" 

It's been a long while since she's come out. Both with her school/activity schedules, we've seen her but not out here. I've invited her but she's declined my offer. I don't know if she knows that Sunny passed last February, or that we have had a new puppy since July. We know she'd love to meet him, but we're not going to cajole or coerce her do something she doesn't want to do.

It pricked my heart last time she said she was "too busy". The sentiment that went through my mind was "it's your loss." Not because we are that scintillating to spend time with 😉, but I knew I had things that I wanted to share with her that she wouldn't receive.

I thought of how many times the Lord has wanted me to "come over and spend time" with Him, or imagine that He had something new or wonderful to share with me or show me, but I was "too busy". 

He's not going to cajole or coerce me, either. He wants me to want to spend time with Him of my own choosing. It is absolutely "my loss" to neglect that precious communion. 

And yet He continues to "bid me come" and walk in the garden with Him. Oh, how He loves you and me.

Blessings to you in His Holy and precious Name!  

The least of these...

I had a friend in college who knew every name of every 'worker' there. Every kitchen aide, every dorm housekeeper. She knew them by name, and their stories. She knew their kids names. 

I saw them as the dorm housekeeper. 

She was an evangelical, born again, charismatic believer... and I had just met the Lord.  She was warm, effusive, alive. She was such an example to me. 

To the least of these.... 

She taught me that every person is loved by God and that everyone has a story. 

I went to pick up my "Blessing Box" at our local food pantry tonight. Upon seeing me, the man there said, "Where you been??!!"  

It touched me as I realized that he remembered me (personally) and had noticed my absence. I thought of my college friend, and thought that he remembered me, but I didn't even know his name. She would have not only known his name, but what was going on in his life, and made him feel so special by her words. Without knowing it, she is an inspiration to me even after all these years. 

To the least of these... Lord help me remember that You love every last one of us and that each one is cherished by You... Lord let me be an instrument of Your peace.... 

I love You, Lord..