Tag: God’s word (Page 1 of 2)

The Most Important Question to Ask When You’re Discouraged

January 21, 2023 /

Anyone else ever look at others, compare, and come up short in your estimation of yourself?

Like, daily?

Yeah, me too.

The other night just before I went to bed I read a post from one of my favorite instagram accounts. It was beautiful, insightful, and everything I wish I had said. That didn’t bother me. It inspired me.

What triggered me was an enthusiastic comment on the post by another talented person I know. I felt like I was back in Middle School and these women were at the “in” kids table, while I was at the loser table.

They’ve done nothing wrong. These are gifted women affirming one another, but some days it feels like all the cool kids are all saying to each other:

“Oh you’re the best!”

“No YOU’RE the best!”

“No, really YOU’RE the best!”

“Ok, well we’re all the best and isn’t it great to be us?“

And meanwhile, a million beautiful, beloved, unsung, made-in-the-image of God women like you are adding value, and joy, and celebration, and creativity, and love to the world.

Maybe that specific example isn’t yours, but there’s another area of life where you are tempted to compare and feel “less than”. Usually it’s in an area where you’re trying to make a difference – parenting, career, leadership, creativity…

Satan loves to whisper in your ear, “The reason no one is noticing you is because you’re not good enough. Not good enough.”

But God asks us the most important question that we need to answer when we’re feeling discouraged or afraid.

It’s the one He asked Adam in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:11).

It’s the one my small group reminds each other of when we’re down on ourselves:

“Who told you that…?”

Who told you that you’re not good enough? God, or someone else who’s not God?

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

2 Cor, 10:5

A friend of mine suggests two color journaling. You write how you’re feeling in one color down one side of the page, and write a corresponding truth in a different color down the other side of the page.

It’s a good exercise to help adjust your perspective, but it’s still hard for it to truly make a difference.

It’s hard to move the truth from our head to our heart.

Maybe a second question to ask is: “How much am I filling my mind with the words of others and how much am I filling my mind with God’s Words?”

The words of the Creator of the universe say, “You are beautifully and wonderfully made. You have unique gifts and talents. You are chosen to contribute in a way that no one else can, even if no one other than Me says, ‘You’re the best!'”

This isn’t a formula. It’s not a one and done. We feel what we feel! But maybe this is a start.

What’s the lie Satan whispers to you most often? What’s the truth God would speak over you?

You are beloved and He rejoices over you with singing!

What’s the area where you’re most prone to compare and be discouraged?

Cursing or Cooperating With a Mirror

January 26, 2019 /

This week were fortunate to be staying in a lovely vacation home belonging to some friends of ours. As we were getting settled in, I noticed a mirror on the vanity in our friends’ bathroom.

Now I have a mirror at home. I even have a 3x magnifying mirror.

But this…my friend’s mirror? It is a mirror to be approached with fear and trembling. It is a 10X SUPER LIGHTED MEGA-MIRROR. Bless her heart.

Read: It shows EVERYTHING. All the wrinkles and blotches, and uneven make up application I want to see (but not really).

I have such a love/hate relationship with this mirror! I’m tempted to hide it away and live in blissful, blotchy ignorance.

It is only by looking into it that I can see what’s wrong and correct it, but, oh the pain of confronting all that is unattractive! Yikes!

There are two passages of Scripture that come to mind when I use this mega mirror.

Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror  and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 2But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

James 1:23-25

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

2 Corinthians 3:17-18

The more we look at the Lord in His Word, the more we will see where we fall short of God’s righteousness.

It’s not comfortable noticing the smudges of self-righteousness, or the blotches of bitterness.

We can’t cover the mess with makeup, but by God’s grace we are forgiven, and by the power of His Holy Spirit, gradually we are transformed into people who look more like Him.

So here’s an example. Yesterday, I looked into the mirror of God’s Word. Part of my reading included a situation where Jesus was angry at hard-heartedness and injustice and did something risky.

I was convicted that I may be passionate and get angry about injustice, but how often am I willing to sacrifice my comfort and do something, even something risky? I looked at the glory of Jesus and saw how far I fall short.

This is not an exercise in shaming. I know God loves and forgives me no matter what. But I also know He walks with me and can empower me to be both wise and brave in doing my part to stand up to injustice if I submit to Him.

What about you? What are you seeing in the mirror? How are you being transformed? As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts! If you subscribe and receive these posts by email, just click on the title and it will take you to the place where this is posted on my website. Scroll down to comment. If it’s your first time, don’t worry if it doesn’t show up right away. It will!

Ps. I’m thankful my friend doesn’t have a professional grade scale too!

How Can I Hear God’s Voice?

May 31, 2018 /

This spring I visited a small group of our church’s High School Junior girls. They had a bunch of questions and their leader was kind enough to think I might have some credibility with them.

They asked all the usual stuff about why bad things happen to good people, and gay marriage, and conflict, but at the very end, one of the girls said, “Why doesn’t God speak the way He used to in the Old Testament?”

I think what she really wanted to know was, “Is this bigger than big creator of the universe, also close? Does He still care about talking to little ol’ me, or does a person need to be Moses to hear from Him?”

Continue reading

Satan and Other Stuff I Don’t want to Think About, part 2

March 6, 2018 /

Bagpipes echo “Amazing Grace” as Billy Graham’s casket is taken from his memorial service under a tent in his birthplace of Charlotte, North Carolina Friday. I was only able to catch the second half of the service on TV, but it brought me to tears with awe and gratitude that we have the privilege of telling people about Jesus.

Billy wasn’t infallible, but he got a lot right. And the big thing I see is that he simply shared the truth from God’s Word. Period. He marinated in it. It was naturally a part of his vocabulary.

Monday I confessed that I don’t give Satan enough thought.  I wrote about my need (maybe yours too?) for a corrected, healthy awareness of Satan and his agenda. Satan’s agenda is to separate us from God. His M.O.? Lies.

He (Satan) was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. John 8:44 NASB

When Jesus goes into the wilderness, Satan uses three lies to tempt Him (Matthew 4). Satan basically tempted Jesus (and tempts each of us) to buy into false identities. A few that he uses are:

Continue reading

Satan and Stuff I Don’t want to Think About, part 1

March 4, 2018 /

Confession: There are a couple of things I don’t give a lot of thought to.

SATAN is one of them.

I admit, I don’t expect Satan to really care about messing with little ol’ me, but C.S. Lewis points out that this is a mistake.

Continue reading

The Hardest Yes of Your Day

November 6, 2017 /

“It never gets any easier. There will always be something ‘urgent’ or ‘sparkly’ to distract you.”  This was a wise word from a mentor. She encouraged me, when my girls were toddlers, to put into practice, “chair time” – a daily meeting with the Lord.

Yes, in some ways it does get easier physically. In different seasons of life you may not have to hide in the bathroom to get alone time, with your “chair” as the toilet seat. And you may not be as sleep deprived. But emotionally?  Spiritually? Not so much.

What would Satan like more than to keep us from the priority of reflecting on God’s Word, opening ourselves to His power and presence?

We would never say it this way, but I think the way Satan distracts us most often is to get us thinking we are indispensable.

The world may stop spinning if I don’t get this email out, or if I don’t get into work early, or get this call made, or this thing mailed or this insightful tweet posted… I am soooo important!

We frantically commute and call and consult while God calmly causes the sun to rise each morning.

When we meet with God early, the fragrance of Him lingers throughout our day.

We may be reminded to pause and ask Him for wisdom when making a decision.

We may think to breathe in His name when we are impatient.

We may look for the imago dei in the co-worker who gets on our nerves.

Most of all, when we make time with God our most important priority it strengthens our ability to put boundaries in all areas of our life.

In order to say “no” to the things that are draining life from us, the things that are lowering our standards, the things that are drawing us away from our best self,  we must first say “Yes!” to chair time with God.

Where’s your “chair”?  This morning I texted a young friend at 5:45, thinking she would just get the text when she woke up, but instead she responded right away with this picture 🙂 She was having her chair time.

If you want a couple of resources for chair time, check out:

Pray as you Go

First 5

Water Beds and Jesus

April 25, 2016 /

Like a million years ago water beds were a thing. And we had one.

Now don’t get all judgy. It was totally John, (THE PASTOR)’s fault.

Before we got married, he had a friend who owned a water bed company who got him a deal.

When John told me, my expression must have said I couldn’t possibly marry a guy with a water bed.

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He got very reassuring and promised me there wasn’t a mirror above it, and it wasn’t the really bouncy kind.

He was astounded that this didn’t settle me down.

Anyway, we had that bed for about 10 years and periodically, water beds need to be drained and refilled. There was a wooden frame and a rubber insert with a port where the water could go out and in.

This is clearly a job that a godly wife does, so one summer day when our kids were little and a friend came over I drained the water bed and set it to re-filling with a hose upstairs while we sat and chatted at the kitchen table and the kids played in the yard.

It was the screaming of the kids that (eventually) got our attention.

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They had gone upstairs and noticed our master bedroom flooded with water, the bed insert double its normal size like the most ginormous water balloon you can imagine, and a geyser of water spewing out where it just couldn’t hold any more.

Again, let’s just remember…John’s fault.

At least it was spouting clean water and not sewage, right?

What I had pumped in was what came out.

The other day, this verse was in my morning reading and the image of that exploding water bed came to mind.

My heart bursts its banks,
spilling beauty and goodness. Psalm 45:1

And this oldie but goodie…

A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. Luke 6:45

If I were to explode today, what would spill out? What have I been filling up with that would soak anyone near me? 

Frankly, I fill up with a lot of ME, and MY, a good dose of other stuff (read “crap”), but as I’ve written before, God’s Word helps me remember who and whose I am.

I wish this was like an exact formula, but it’s not. As a friend said yesterday, “You can’t do math to figure out a mystery.” We live in a broken world where there are terrible things that we are to turn towards, and shine light, and find the image of Jesus in others, and be kingdom bringers.

We’re not meant to live in a holy huddle, but it seems that God is saying we are to be intentional about filling our hearts with Him, with His Word, with Life-giving relationships…being “transformed by the renewing of your mind” in order that we might spill over into this broken world with beauty and goodness.

Another friend (I am so blessed to have wise friends to quote!!) says: “When you open your Bible God opens His mouth.”

So I open my Bible and in my reading after the Psalm 45 verse about bursting with goodness and beauty, I read this:

“Be strong. Take courage. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t give them a second thought because God, your God, is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you.” Deut. 31:6
And this:
 … with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God. Eph. 3:18-19

 Lord, may You and Your Word so fill us today that we might spill over with beauty and goodness into a Monday world.

 

 

When you Can’t See The Road Ahead

October 26, 2015 /

Last week I drove down to my hometown in the suburbs of Chicago on Saturday for a run honoring my brother. After the race on Sunday husband John warned me that I needed to get on the road back to Minneapolis early because of my “condition”.

I have “night blindness” which means I have no depth perception when it gets dark. My perspective is flat. Skewed. I can’t tell how far or close things are (You know, like cars, or stoplights, or the shoulder of the road – the little things.)  And I can’t anticipate turns in the road. So when I didn’t leave Chicago until after 1:00 and hit bad traffic it meant driving the last two hours in deep darkness.

In the dark my eyes play tricks on me. My emotions play tricks on me. It feels kind of like being on that Disney World roller coaster in the dark that has a name with “Terror” in the title. There are times when I’m sure I’m driving off the road into certain destruction. Really.

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For anyone, in the days of loss – loss of person, job, dream – weird shapes loom and threaten in the darkness.  It can feel very scary. Nothing is certain. Life feels unpredictable.

As I concentrated hard and prayed, it struck me how all of us have “night blindness” . Whether it’s the dark of discouragement and challenging circumstances, or the illusion of control and self-sufficiency, or a hill on the route of our personal marathon, we don’t see things as they really are – as only God sees them. Continue reading

Got Worry?

October 21, 2015 /

One night recently this fall I had a group of women gathered in my living room. I asked them what character quality of God they need most right now.  They were brave and vulnerable and one after another said they long for Peace in the face of anxiety. Almost every one said she was struggling with worry, fear…Feeling out of control.

I’m not usually a big worrier, but I confess there have been a few nights recently where the “what if’s” and “what should I do’s” have swirled around in my brain like the eddy in a fast-moving stream.

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In If, Mark Batterson notes that “A ship’s anchor doesn’t just keep it from drifting. An anchor can be thrown in front of a ship and used to help it navigate through treacherous channels. The nautical term is ‘kedging'”.

So here’s what I think. Peace is anchoring ourselves not to our circumstances, but to the character of God.

Experiencing peace is not based on what I feel but on who God is.

We need to participate in the discipline of throwing our anchor out in front of us so that we’re continually filling our mind with the power and provision of God.

When we see God as He really is, we see our worries in perspective.

If I’m anchored to the all-sufficient God I’m not focused on the problems, but the Problem-solver. Continue reading

One Word and God’s Word

January 17, 2014 /

As you read this I’m in Florida for a long weekend.  Ostensibly for a fund-raiser for World Vision, but let’s be honest, I’ll be with friends and the temperature will be above 30 degrees farenheit.  I’m not suffering for Jesus here.

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“Choosing life” is easy with beauty all around you.  Vibrant color, warm pavement under bare feet, up-lifting conversations.  But this week, living in the left-hand picture hasn’t been all Bougainvillea, sunshine, and Calamari.  Some experiences felt dismissive, some choices by others that felt unjust.  Not a huge deal in the grand scheme of things, but a little bumpy nevertheless. The kind of thing many, many people experience daily for years and years.

How can we not deny the “death” parts, but still choose life in healthy, non-Pollyanna ways?  Still keep perspective? Continue reading

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