Coincidence? I Don't Think So!

But I trust in your unfailing love. I will rejoice because you have rescued me. -Psalm 13:5 (NLT)




We've been talking a lot about the upper and lower stories at church lately. To clarify, the lower story is where we live our everyday lives. It's where we get speeding tickets, come down with the flu, and struggle with teaching our kindergartners to read. The upper story is God's story. It's the "coincidences" in our lives like when a friend calls just when we really need someone to talk to. It's God weaving all of our lives together for his greater purpose.

Since we live in the lower story all the time, it's easy to get caught up in it and forget that God is working in our lives even when it doesn't make any sense. He can use the craziest, strangest, and even the most devastating times in our lives for his purpose. And we may or may not ever see some of the things he is doing through us.

So here's my challenge for you and me: No matter what's going on in your lower story right now, remember that God loves you. He chose you. He wants to be with you. And he WILL work it all out for his purpose!

He Knows Your Heart

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.” -Psalm 139: 23-24 (NLT)

In my own private conversations with God, when I'm in the midst of a struggle, I say the first part of this verse a lot. He knows my heart. He knows my longings and my struggles, my insecurities and my secret dreams. And if I'm paying attention, He even gives me moments throughout my life when he meets those and eases those for me.

When I went to Biblegateway.com this morning in search of a verse for inspiration for this morning's post, this was the verse of the day. And it called out to me to be written on. Because while I often tell God that he knows my heart, I don't usually add that I'd like him to test me or point out what I'm doing wrong. And obviously I should. But I'm human. I don't want to know that I'm not perfect (even though I honestly know it!).

This morning, I suppose what God is sharing with me is that the tests and trials in our lives are a wonderful opportunity to grow in Christ and draw closer to HIM. It's hard to see it when you're in the middle of an awful time in your life- a death in the family, trouble with the law, a battle with your children, divorce-but God can make beauty even from these awful things if you let him!

Here's my challenge for you and me this morning: Hand over your worries and concerns to God this morning and let Him shape them into something beautiful for you! God doesn't promise an easy, worry-free life when you follow him, but he does promise to always be there. Let HIM handle your toughest battles today!

A Jumble of Thoughts...

I took my troubles to the LORD; I cried out to him, and he answered my prayer. -Psalm 120:1 (NLT)

I honestly don't feel worthy of writing this blog this morning. My heart aches over the fact that God continues to give me great things to say but I can't seem to follow through with the words coming through my own fingers.

I know that it is absolutely impossible to be "good enough" on my own and yet, I continue to aim for that goal. And it's an unachievable goal! Why do I do this? It only frustrates me and makes me a worse friend, mother, daughter, wife, sister, and any other label you can think of.

So I'm going back to these simple, wonderful words from the Psalms. I am again handing over all of my troubles because as much as I WANT to trust God with all of them, I keep taking them back and going over and over them! I need to leave them in HIS capable hands!

And one of those troubles is my sweet Gwen. I handed her over on Valentine's Day and took her back almost right away. There are no good excuses for that one. I did it and I admit it. Period.

My husband pointed something out to me AGAIN last night. God used Gwen in an amazing way while she was here with us. She was loved as much as humanly possible while she was here. And now, she is whole and perfect and happy in heaven with God. She is in the best possible place right now and will never have to experience the heartache of a life here on earth (and I don't care how perfect your life is, we all experience heartache along the line!).

So, as much as I miss her and wish I'd gotten more time with her, she IS in a better place and I WILL get to see her again!

Here's my challenge for you AND me this morning: Think about which troubles you're hanging onto in your own life...and then hand them back to God! I know I'm going to be doing that again this morning!

Love Unending!

God's love is meteoric, his loyalty astronomic, His purpose titanic, his verdicts oceanic. Yet in his largeness nothing gets lost; Not a man, not a mouse, slips through the cracks. -Psalm 36:5-6 (MSG)




I absolutely love the translation of this verse in The Message! The New Living Translation says "your unfailing love is as vast as the heavens" but this translation explains it in a way that is a little more concrete to our human minds. And that makes me smile. :)

In our most trying times, God still loves us. On our worst possible days, God is still there loving us. In our deepest pits, God is still there loving us and offering a way out! On the best days, God is there loving us. His love is unending!

Unlike here on Earth where love is often very conditional, God loves us despite who we are and where we are on our journey! He is our perfect example of extraordinary love. And best of all, we have the honor of being the recipient of that love! How could you not smile about that? My heart even feels a little lighter thinking about that. So again, I smile. :)

For me, this means that God loves me when I'm getting life right. He loves me when I make a mistake. He even loved me when I walked away! And it continued right through my return to him. Amazing! I don't have to pretend to be anyone else for God! He loves me for me and that's awesome!

Here's my challenge for you and me today: Is this easy or difficult for you to believe? No matter your answer, repeat after me: "God loves me for being me!"

Where is God in all this Nonsense?

God! you walked off and left us, kicked our defenses to bits. And stalked off angry. Come back. Oh please, come back! -Psalm 60:1 (MSG)

There have been so many bad times in my life when this verse is the exact attitude I jumped to. It's always someone else's fault when things go poorly. It could never be mine. So why not blame God? It's not as though he's ever verbally argued with me. And besides, he controls the whole universe. If it's not HIS fault, then who else can I blame?

In July, it will be three years since I had my miscarriage. I was 9 weeks along when we found out that Christian (that's what I named him) was gone. I think the worst part about it was that Shaun and I didn't even want him to start with. We were trying NOT to get pregnant. So it had taken a couple of weeks to get used to the idea that we were going from a five person family to a six person family. At that point, I still felt very convinced that the number of children we had was up to us.

When I lost Christian (and I say "I" here because I still sometimes blame myself, though I know in my head I did nothing wrong!), my first thoughts were: "Why God?" "Why would you get us pregnant when we didn't even want to be only to take him away from us?" "What did I do wrong?" "Didn't we love him enough for you?" "Did we say something or do something to make you change your mind about trusting us with another child?"

But that's not the way God works. He doesn't tempt you to do the wrong thing. He doesn't tease you. He doesn't punish you in the worst possible way. That miscarriage was an awful, awful thing. It's taken a long time to get past it to the point that I can talk about it without feeling horrible and without wanting to run away.

Here's what I learned in that dark time:

God was with me through it all. He was sending people to be a comfort to me. He was sending women who'd been down this road themselves to walk me through. He helped Shaun to show me compassion and to be patient with me as I cried. He drew Shaun and I closer than we were before (which I though was impossible considering how close Shaun and I already were). He helped me get through it in the quickest way possible. He gave me a doctor that reminded me over and over again that this wasn't my fault.

I also learned that no matter what I think is true, I am not in control. God is. I don't know what's best for my life, HE does. You know, after that miscarriage, I totally appreciated my pregnancy with Ian. Every movement, every sick day, was a blessing.

Finally, I learned that my beautiful children are a miracle. Each one of them. The fact that they are here when so much can go wrong in a pregnancy is a true testament to God. Only HE could have brought my sweet babies through such a scary, unknown time in their lives. I tell Ian all the time that Jesus did a wonderful job on him. He is absolutely precious.

Here's my challenge for you and me today: Instead of dwelling on the negative of the trial you're walking through right now, look around and see if you can find the ways God is helping you through it. Is there someone special who's been there all along? Are there a bunch of coincidences that you now see add up to God working?

Remember, God adores you! Let him show you that he adores you today!!