Love Blinders~ A lesson in Hope

I'm wondering if I am walking around with love blinders on? Do I not see what is really going on, am I not actually seeing the truth? Am I so blinded? I feel like at this place in my life, I choose to see the good in a situation and in a person. But yet I am not blind to the bad and the possibilities of failure. Ok that just sounded confusing even to me as I'm writing it...

What I'm trying to get at, is am I so wrapped up in the hope that I have for a person that I am failing to see the wrong and the past? I know there is better, I know that this person can do better, and yet I know their past. But there is a burning hope inside of me that this time it will change. What if it doesn't? What if I'm left looking like a fool for defending a putting my trust in them? I keep going back to 1Corinthians 13:4-7... I know this is used a million times at every wedding ever and there are thousands of sermons preached on it every Sunday, but I think it deserves a good look....

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 "⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."


I underlined a couple of points that really stick out to me... 
"It keeps no record of wrong"- We all mess up, in fact I'm probably the biggest screw up of all. But what does this mean for those of us who are called to love? I'm called to love ALL. Dang do I fail miserably at that! But what does it mean to keep no record of wrongs? Do we just love blindly and not learn from the past?? I think we are to learn from the past but still believe the best for the future because that is what Jesus does and we are called to love like Jesus.... 


"Always hopes, always perseveres"- Dang!! ALWAYS hopes... I think this is where my problem is right now. I am hoping for the best. But how often do we actually put hope in a person? (well except when their name is Hope) ;)


Hope: to expect with confidence


Hmm... So if we are always hoping for the best in a person, then we are expecting with confidence that the good is going to come. So am I being blinded by my love, or am I merely living out the call to love? 
I wish I had some insight, or word of encouragement, but I don't. I'm wrestling with this. Why? Well because this is a new road for me. God is teaching me to trust in others, and to love them wholly. With this comes the idea that we are called to place hope in others. We are to believe in them.... Even when they fail, so what you stand behind them, love them and continue to hope the best for them... 


Huh... A lot to process... 

Pressed, not crushed

One of the greatest pieces of advice my dad ever gave me was "life just isn't fair sometimes". Why is this such a great piece of advice? Well because it's true!! Life just isn't fair. There are times when we are treated unjustly, trampled by our circumstances, and pressed to our breaking point. People let us down, accuse us, and make us feel inferior. While this is so unfortunate, it is something we have to deal with because we live in a fallen and broken world. The enemy is constantly on the prowl and seeking to destroy us, and we are in a fight for our lives against him. Paul said

 "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." ~Ephesians 6:12   

And because this evil is present here on earth, it has the capability to hold people captive. It's through others that we experience the most oppression and pain. And all too often it's the people who are close to us, the ones we place trust in that hurt us the most. It stinks, plain and simple!! But there is hope! 

When you commit to follow Jesus with your whole life, you have someone who goes into these battles for you! You have the power to rebuke Satan and his attacks on you with the name of Jesus!! Woah!! And when you feel like you're at the point where you can't take anymore, remember what Paul said to the Corinthians 

"We are pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed but not in despair; persecuted but not abandoned; struck down but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body." ~ 2 Corinthians 4:8-10

Yeah life might have you in the final round it seems like the knock out is coming at any moment. But you have the life of Jesus in you! The most powerful name in all the universe, the name that can heal the sick, raise the dead, and drive out demons is the name that has given you life! So dangit reach out and use that power! Stand up against the enemy and break free from the bondage he has you in. Granted there will be more to breaking free than just this simple step, but ya know what, it takes you stepping up and boldly declaring freedom in the name of Jesus! 

Silly conversations

I enjoy silly conversations. The kind when there are lots of giggles, and friendly teasing. These are the conversations that you stay up late with your girlfriends, and talk about everything! Especially when we start talking about boys... Oh man. But I love what these conversations turn into. 

We go from surface topics and end up in deep discussions about Christ. The idea of who God is, and His calling and will in our lives becomes a late night topic. We fight the onset of sleep, for the sake of our conversation. There comes a point when we begin to talk about our big dreams, and what we're excited to see God do. Of course there are fits of laughter, and moments when the giggling takes over. But it always slips right back into the moments of seriousness as we share our hearts with one another. 

This is another one of the reasons I am so in love with my savior! I believe that being able to enjoy the company of those He placed in our lives, and being able to laugh over silly things brings Him joy. But I believe that God delights in it when we bring Him into our conversations. When we take our dreaming and allow Him to direct it, the bigger the dreams become! The higher the heights we begin to try to climb. And when we make God the center of our conversations, they become beautiful life giving moments. 

So maybe, it's time for us to have more silly conversations! Maybe we need to allow the Spirit of God to lead us into fits of giggles. Then, we need to allow those conversations to turn to Jesus! And through these conversations, we can fall more in love with who Jesus is! 

Out of Ashes

I believe that we like to be safe. In fact I know this! We are comfortable when we know that our lives are in a safe place, whether it be physically, financially, or emotionally. We don't like to step out of this place very often, and for those that do, there comes a great amount of criticism. We hate taking risks, unfortunately, this has leaked over into our view of Christ. If we keep God in a "safe" place, and at  a "safe" size, then we don't have to risk too much.

Think of it like a fire.We're good with a bonfire. It's contained, we can control it. There is very little risk of someone getting hurt. And when we're done we can put it out. I'm afraid this is what we've reduced God to. We like Him as long as we can keep Him contained. We don't want to allow Him to spread too much or get too big in our lives, because then we'll have to start changing. We'll have to give up things we love in order to make room Him.

For Shame!! God is not a bonfire!  No! In fact, I believe God is a wild fire. We fear a wildfire, because it is unpredictable, and we can't control them. They completely change the landscape and leave a path of wreckage and ashes. And when we look at it, that is all we see. But if we were to give it time, there will be something beautiful. The aftermath of a fire gives a chance for regrowth. A chance for beauty to rise out of the ashes. God will do the same with us. He will take what we see as destruction and wreckage, and He will make us beautiful.

Why do we continue to play it safe? We should be praying for Him to wreck us. We should be praying for God to reduce us to ashes! Paul rejoiced in the suffering, he was glad when trouble came and when God wrecked his life. This wasn't because he was a crazy man. (although by all means he totally was) But he rejoiced because this breaking brought glory to God. Paul was a shining example of God's glory in the wreckage. We are to be a display for the beauty and glory of God. But we've got to stop reducing God to a stinkin' bonfire! He is a wildfire, and all consuming, forest wrecking, life changing fire! It's up to us to recognize it, and then let Him have His way!

Have I not commanded you?

Joshua heard the voice of the Lord say to him "Be strong and courageous." And because, he clung to those words, Joshua led the Israelites into the promised land. Then when faced with opposition, Joshua repeated these words to the Isrealites. "Be strong and courageous" With these words, he offered encouragement, and direction.

Knowing that God's words are life and knowing that He cares for us is a breath of Hope. It's what sustains us when the storms we face seem too big. When the boat you're in is being tossed back and forth and you don't know if you can hold on any longer. The reassuring words of Christ, when hidden in our hearts, can be the thing that keeps us calm in the midst of the storm.

"Be Strong and Courageous"

God is good, He is present, and because of Him, there will be peace in the midst of the storm!

'Joshua said to them "Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Be strong and courageous. This is what the Lord will do to all the enemies you are going to fight.'~ Joshua 10:25

I am learning the importance of community. While in Africa, I was constantly around people. We ate together, prayed together, shared a room (well separate rooms for the genders), and even brushed our teeth together! We were constantly in each others space, asking questions, checking up on each other, sharing victories, and burdens. So you can imagine my sadness when I came home and was no longer surrounded by a community. I slept in a room by myself and woke up to an empty house... No Fun!

I missed the family atmosphere, being constantly surrounded. Which if you knew me before, this is a huge change! I used to cherish my alone time, I had one night a week set aside just for me. Now don't get me wrong, I still cherish alone time, but man do I miss community. To remedy this, I have been spending time with some friends of mine. Here I get the family atmosphere. Trying to figure out what community looks like outside of that is the hard part. How do we make this work in a society that is individualistic and motivated by the desire to make their lives better?

In Acts 2 it talks about how the believers met together daily, they ate together. They shared everything. Everyone's needs were met. The focus was on community. Now even though I don't have an answer to my dilemma, I think it can start by focusing outward. Focusing on the people around us. Learning how to become the Acts 2 Church. My prayer is that we can learn to live in complete community, looking out for each other, caring for each other.

I have to say that I really admire Paul. His writings are honest and straight to the point. Every time he wrote to one of the churches, he had no problem telling them what was up, but he always followed it up with encouragement on how to live. Having just celebrated my 27th birthday, I have learned, that daily I could use this kind of correcting and encouraging.

You have to understand that the last year of my life has been a rough one. I lost a job, experienced major changes, and the hardest of all was losing my dad in April. People and things have been stripped from my life, and there are times when I feel like I'm standing here completely exposed. Losing a job wasn't the worst thing that could happen, even having to give up a nice car and the freedom to spend money as I pleased wasn't that bad. That all paled in comparison to losing my dad. When I lost my dad, I lost my best friend, and my biggest cheerleader. The pain of that loss still aches from time to time. But through it all God has been teaching me! He has been growing me and molding me into the woman He wants me to be.

Even though it's been a hard year, I did experience something amazing and life changing. I spent two months in South Africa. While there I was challenged, broken, loved on, and completely and utterly changed! Those two months taught me so much, but I feel like the biggest thing I learned, was that God uses EVERYTHING for His Glory! All the pain and hurt, He uses it to show His glory in our lives. When I began looking at the trials of the last year in that light, it made them easier to deal with. It made the fact that life can just plain stink sometimes, and ok thing.

I can't just focus on the bad stuff though. I have been so blessed in the last year. I have made new friends, and met people that have deeply impacted my life. I've learned to enjoy life and be bold! God is good and He blesses us for our obedience! It reminded me over and over again of my favorite verse in the Bible:

Ecclesiastes 3:1 " There is a time for everything; and a season for every activity under heaven."

I know this seems like an odd favorite, but I discovered this verse when I was 12 and have leaned on it ever since. Knowing that in our lives, there is a season for everything brings comfort and peace in the times of trouble. God is good no matter what. And because we serve a good God, our circumstances are for His purpose and His good! Praise God!

So this next season of life may not be what I want it to be, but I will abide in who God is and who he is making me into. Because if my life isn't about Him, then it is not worth living. I want to challenge you to do the same!! View every trial and hard time as an opportunity to grow and bring glory to Christ. Live every day with purpose and joy! Be a light of who God is in you. Be bold, and live and awesome life!!!