LOL: "But God...."

Memory/Meditation Verse: "...and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."~ Phil 4:7 (NKJV)

Living Out Loud (LOL)...in the chaos, in the noise, in the trials. That's what I write about today.

These past weeks have been a trial. I struggle with what to do with this trial. Do I stay? Do I leave? What if I lose control within it? My stress levels have been very high.

A recent blessing in my life is being surrounded by a pretty strong negative. Resistance is tearing down any confidence that attempts to rise above it. Integrity seems to be overshadowed by its opponent. I keep reminding myself that I am trusting God to carry me through this.

Some minutes have proven too hard to hold on to even that. Several nights of sleep have eluded me no matter how many times I prayed the situation into God's hands. I know better. I know that God always comes through so why would I be weak in the difficult times with my trusting of His control?

 On my birthday a few weeks ago I decided to read the correlating chapters of Psalms to match my birth month, day and year. It was a sweet quite time. Each morning that I found my anxiety hung over me as a dark cloud, I repeated this process. In these readings I would find that "peace that passes all understanding". Peace for a situation that reminds me that God IS in control and He will handle the thorn in my side.

His sweet words written and the timing of His penmanship for my situation now then would confirm over and over His peace. God's sweet peace that would wash over me and calm my spirit. Utterly amazing.

In everything there is a "but God..."

It reminds me of a theme I found as I studied Ephesians 2 for our community Bible study this past week. There are seven words that stuck out to me:

"You were..."

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins (vs 1)

"but God....because"

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love that He had for us (vs 4)

"through faith..."

For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift 
(vs 8)

Now how can I apply this to this to my anxiety and the peace I found in the Psalms I read?

I am not a perfect Christian, nor have I been perfect in every situation of life. There have been some mistakes (past tense) and I have accepted responsibility for those areas. I have been many things in life...many sins have touched my life. I am a stone in the path  that Jesus walked to Calvary.  It is in this knowing I am driven to Him more today.

That "peace that passes all understanding" comes in with the "but God..". This is were my faith and trust is fueled. Notice the "but God...." is followed with "because". Why does he intervene in our lives? Because He loves us with a compassion we do not fully comprehend and I am humbled. It is in His "because" I know that His plan will prevail in my anxiety and I accept it.

It is not through my own professional achievements that I alone will come out victorious in this situation. That has become clear. But I know God, I know His work in my life and though this obstacle seems big at the moment, I am trusting His grace and asking for His mercy in it.

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,
My soul shall be joyful in my God;
For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
He has covered me with the robe of righteousness..."
~Isa 61:10 (NKJV)

Saved by grace is not just limited to salvation...it can be found in any area of our life. And I am so thankful for it. But God...two of the strongest words in your faith walk.

Striving to Live Out Loud~Pamela 

 

LOL: Bucket List

Memory/Meditation Verses: In the same way, older women are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not addicted to much wine. They are to teach what is good, so they may encourage the young women to love their husbands and to love their children, to be self-controlled, pure, homemakers, kind, and submissive to their husbands, so that God’s message will not be slandered. ~ Titus 2:3-5 (HCSB)

Living out Loud (LOL)....

I came across this familiar piece of scripture above this weekend and it really grab my soul. I have been reflecting on my daughters own life as she has graduated high school and how I as a mother failed her and helped her. I felt the Holy Spirit nudge me to reflect on my own life. Our study of Galatians 5 in our community Bible study addressed the offense of the cross and I haven't been able to release those words "the offense of the cross". I find that it drives me spiritually just as it has driven other Christians to reflect on their life, their living and breathing of each day.

The offense of the cross is so powerful and should drive each of us. Mel Gibson portrayed it so well in The Passion of Christ...the inhumanity and cruelty of an innocent God-man's journey to a cross for the failure of human kind to God. It so easy to look away due to the repulsiveness of it but instead we need to look at it strait on and allow it to change us and drive us closer to God. Man-kind wants to alter the value of the cross, our lives should instead model the worth of the cross.

The cross offends men and women, because it is contrary to their ideas of human worth." 

~ Charles Spurgeon

Does the offense of the cross, the injustice and inhumanity of an innocent God-man for our own selfish choices, draw you to change and to live life on purpose? Do you have written goals for your life? 

A Christian author in my current reading wrote she and her husband had written goals for their life when they became Christians and still lived to those goals. They have been very successful in this world and successful spiritually. Today, we have people in the spiritual and secular world talking about having a "bucket list". So I ask, do you have one?

The offense of the cross and my devotional reading yesterday of Titus 2 lands me here contemplating a "bucket list" of goals for my life. I couldn't help but cringe at my own failure towards these verses in Titus 2, those things that drew Jesus to that cross. My longing to change grew as I reflected on the implication of these verses. What a good "bucket list" for the Christian woman. Read it again...

³ In the same way, teach older women to be holy in their behavior, not speaking against others or enslaved to too much wine, but teaching what is good.⁴ Then they can teach the young women to love their husbands, to love their children,⁵ to be wise and pure, to be good workers at home, to be kind, and to yield to their husbands. Then no one will be able to criticize the teaching God gave us. (NCV)

The Christian woman's "Bucket List" would entail...

1. To love the Lord her God with all her heart, mind and soul and to love others more than herself (Matt 26:36-39)
2. To be godly in behavior (vs 3)
3. T be truthful and kind in speech (vs 3)
4. To be disciplined and self-controlled (vs 3)
5. To be a teacher and encourager of good things (vs 4)
6. To be devoted to her husband and honor him (vs 4)
7. To be a blessing to her children (vs 4)
8. To be discreet and wise in her actions (vs 5)
9. To be chase and pure inside and out (vs 5)
10. To be focused on her home (vs 5)
11.  To be a message of Christ (vs 5)

To be holy so that others are drawn to Jesus...to put others before yourself and be free of selfishness...to be a model wife and mother...to love God above all other things...driven by the offense of the cross.

What would you add to this  bucket list" for the Christian woman? How does the offense of the cross compel you?

Striving to Live Out Loud~Pamela

For my daughter Emma...

I don't know how to even start this letter to you Emma, I struggle to find the words that are qualified to speak my heart.  I know I could start with...

I blew it...

I really messed it up...

I tried and failed miserably...

You and I know how true those words are. But these words resound even louder from my heart...

I'm sorry...

I love you more than what these words can imply on this screen...

I will never stop believing in you...

As you end your journey of childhood and enter adulthood, I could also leave you thoughts from my broken but redeemed heart. Somewhere in my mess there is a message for you. Such as.....

Life is hard and it will get harder...you will only succeed by holding onto God... 

“Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him,
    for he shields him all day long, and the one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders. ”
~ Deut. 33:12

Mistakes come easy, forgiveness is hard but the freedom from forgiving is far easier to live with than the bitterness of unforgiveness. We hurt ourself more when we hurt others. Healing starts in forgiving yourself so you can forgive others...

All bitterness, anger and wrath, shouting and slander must be removed from you, along with all malice. And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ. ~ Eph 4:32 (HCSB)

We were created for more and you will find that more when you give of yourself to others...

 Give away your life; you'll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity."~ Luke 6:38 (Message)

Scars from our past can be made beautiful but not by anything that we do but what God does in and through our life...

 I waited patiently for the Lord;
    he turned to me and heard my cry.

He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
    out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
    and gave me a firm place to stand.

He put a new song in my mouth,
    a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him. 
~ Ps. 40-1-3 (NIV)

Joy is not found in self-gratification but rather in self-denial. Putting the needs of others before your own will fill your life with contentment...

And most importantly...

Nothing you do is too great to be forgiven.

Your mother learned many of life's lessons the hard way and you seem to be falling into those footsteps. but what choose to give you andwhat I wish I would have done differently in my own life  would be this...

I wouldn't walk a day without first walking it with God and being in His Word.

Every decision in life will affect you-either for the good or the bad. Our choices make us who we are. As ugly as it can get, and it was at times for me, there is peace,there is joy and there is healing from brokenness and poor choices in life. My own unhappiness and bitterness has been replaced with these things: joy, peace and healing when I  searched for God and grew in my knowing and believing of Him. When all else was chaos around me, I could pull a piece of scripture to meditate on and move forward without anxiety, pain or fear.

I have learned you can't do life without God and succeed.

I can look back on my life with so many regrets but my biggest regret is that I did not live each day for God. I know some of my decision could not be a part of His plan for my life but they have shaped me for His ultimate plan. I don't want you to be sitting at a laptop at the age of 49 saying those same words. 

As your mother I have wanted so much more for you. I had a plan for your life and wanted the best for you and from you. You choose a different path than my plan and I have come to accept that this path is part of God's bigger and better plan for you. Everything up to this point has happened for a reason. Find that reason...find His purpose for your life!

Let the mess of my life be a message to you to consider what God wants from you in life. Allow Him to turn your own choices into a message that will blow this world away with who you really are...

"The King is enthralled by your beauty. Honor Him for He is your Lord." Ps 45: 11

I love you Emma and I can't wait to see what God is going to do in and through you! ~Mom

LOL: Actions Matter

Memory/Meditation Verse: Therefore, with your minds ready for action, be serious and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires of your former ignorance. But as the One who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct;  for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy. ~ 1 Peter 1:13-16 (HCSB)

I have a question for us today...

Why do our actions matter as long as we believe the right things?

Our community bible study has begun a journey of walking through the Letters to the Churches. Verse by verse we are dissecting Paul's writings and looking for spiritual application. It is here in Galations 2 that this question came to me.

Paul had just spent three years exploring his conversion, his faith, his beliefs. He came to an understanding of Calvary that went beyond his Jewish upbringing. His religion became a relationship. During those three years God became real to him and the magnificence of this new found faith could not be contained. As he met up with Peter and other apostles of the church he met up with a demon we all have encounter...hypocrisy.

Take a few minutes to read Galatians 2:11-21 here in the Message version 

Hypocrisy...a state of pretending to have moral or religious beliefs, principles, virtues. Pretending. Not real. False. Peter found this in Antioch among the religious leaders of his day. They had created a ladder of legalism trusting it to lead to God. A standing before God was being promoted on a basis of efforts to keep the law. Yet Paul knew first hand from his conversion that legalism had nothing to do with God's grace.

John Piper stated in a sermon: 

"God gave the law originally as a railroad track to guide Israel's obedience. The engine that was suppose to pull a person along the track was God's grace, the power of the Spirit. And the coupling between our car and the engines was faith, so that in the Old Testament, like the New Testament, salvation is by grace, though faith, along the tracks of obedience (or sanctification)."

Paul's relationship with God drove him to be confrontational with Peter in this situation and point him to the truth that the closer you think you get to God by your works, the further you actually drive Him away and the further you drive others away. 

Have you ever noticed how contagious hypocrisy can be? Even Barnabas, a man of compassion, was sucked into this false belief. A fear of not "fitting in" was evident and Paul knew it could be corrected. But for Paul, actions matter--actions that were driven by faith, reflecting Calvary's message. 

Living out loud may require a confrontational living because Calvary matters to your heart. When one Lives Out Loud they Act Out Loud. Dare we say as Paul did that actions without faith is dead and a hypocrisy to Calvary's message.

Actions matter. Calvary mattered. Faith matters. It's about God-knowing Him, believing Him, embracing Him, obeying Him and living that relationship out loud. Its about taking your stand beneath Calvary's cross, crucifying your selfish reliance on anything other than God himself. From the moment you awake in the morning until the moment your eyes close in sleep at night, you look to Christ for protection, motivation, courage, and direction.

So roll up your sleeves, put your mind in gear, be totally ready to receive the gift that's coming when Jesus arrives. Don't lazily slip back into those old grooves of evil, doing just what you feel like doing. You didn't know any better then; you do now. As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God's life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness. God said, "I am holy; you be holy."

~ 1 Peter 1:13-16 (Message)

Holy and Sovereign God, you are worthy of only our best. Hypocrisy nulls your grace and tarnishes your truth. Enable us to identify any hypocrisy in our lives, to confront it, remove it and live loudly your truths. You matter therefore our actions matter. Guide us to live moment-by-moment out loud for you.

Striving to Live Out Loud~ Pamela

LOL: Fill My Cup Lord

 Memory/Meditation Verse: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. ~ Gal 5:22-23 (HCSB)

I had one of those disheartening, just slap me in the face kind of moments with one of my daughters a couple of days ago. I was walking out of the restaurant with our carry out. When I opened the door to the car where my daughter was waiting she stated "You look mad. What did they do?" I wasn't mad and told her so. She responded with "You always look mad."

My heart sunk. I wanted to scream "NO! No I don't!! You don't see a hard face, you see the glow of the Holy Spirit in my life! Why can't you see that?!?!?!?" So the whole ride home I soaked that statement in..."You always look mad". It was very hard not to have a burrowed brow and huge frown on my face at that point.

Is that what others see? Do I carry the stress of my life in my facial reflections? Is the pain and frustrations that have made me who I am today mirrored when I think no one else is looking?

My heart broke. My spirit was humbled. That's not what I want others to see. I want them to see Jesus. I want them to see how I could mess it up and He could clean it up. I want the errors I made to be seen in His redemptive control. I want the sins and rejections of my life seen for what they are, a growing of a grace-filled Jesus girl. 

The unforgiveness has been replaced with love. The rejection replaced with compassion. The ugliness replaced with humility. The loneliness replaced with dependence on the One with the bigger plan for my life.  If that is so, why does my face not radiate God's presence?

The next day my girls found an old photo album with my spring break pictures of when I was in nursing school. I wasn't only skinny in those pictures but I appeared relaxed and my smile was vibrant. That night I looked hard in the mirror and tried to capture that smile again...but I couldn't.

 God has brought me so far and I cherish each growing pain. I really do. I wouldn't want to be back in that spring break place. I didn't know Him then like I do now. I have found a better joy. But I am still taken back to the thought of what I reflect to others. I determined in my heart and mind that I need a facelift... a Galatians 2:22-23 kind of facelift.

 I need a facelift in the worse kind of way. One that will open up and allow my inner presence to come forth. One that doesn't allow the hardness of life to camouflage the joy He has given me. In this imperfect world with my imperfections, I plan to take a daily does of the fruits of the spirit this week. Here are the verses I plan to meditate on in an attempt to create a new presence of my being, a filling of my cup, my soul:

A Mark 12 kind of facelift....
Monday: "...'The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” ~ Mark 12:29-31 (HCSB)

A Colossians 3 kind of facelift...
Tuesday: "Therefore, God’s chosen ones, holy and loved, put on heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, accepting one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a complaint against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive."~ Col. 3:12 (HCSB)

A 1 Timothy 6 kind of facelift...
Wednesday: "...pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. Fight the good fight for the faith; take hold of eternal life that you were called to and have made a good confession about in the presence of many witnesses. ~ 1 Tim. 6:11-12 (HCSB) 

A Titus 1 kind of facelift...
Thursday: ^"Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it" ~ Titus 1:7-9 (NIV)

An Ephesians 5 kind of facelift...
Friday: "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light— for the fruit of the light results in all goodness, righteousness, and truth— discerning what is pleasing to the Lord". ~ Eph 5:8-10 (HCSB)
 

 My holy and Sovereign God, I want to be a woman that reflects your Son. I desire to reflect Your grace and goodness as the gift that transforms and beautifies. Give me a heart that is affectionate for others, exuberance about displaying your truths. I pray the serenity I have discovered in you would be reflected in my living. Help me to develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. I want to radiate Your presence in my life, not my mistakes. Fill my cup with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control. Radiate through me Lord.

Striving to Live Out Loud~Pamela

LOL: A Hiding Place

Memory/Meditation Verse: You are a hiding place for me; You, Lord, preserve me from trouble, You surround me with songs and shouts of deliverance. Selah. Ps 32:7 (Amplified)

Ever have one of those weeks gifted by a blessing but to be wrapped in chaos? The inner soul wants to scream out in defense, to run away, to cry, to be angry. It is amazing how healing prayer and scripture can be even in the chaos.

You are my hiding place and my shield;  I hope in Your word. Ps 119:114 (Amplified)

Living out Loud you choose to accept the chaos and not allow it to get between you and your God. It yields the whisper that says "This is all part of My greater plan" when another tattoo ends up on your 18 year old daughter. It is that same whisper "This is part of My greater plan" that calms your disappointment and heart break when all you have done as a wife, mother  and employee seems to have resulted in the opposite of what it should have.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen ~ Eph 4:20-21

Living out Loud embraces that inner voice and clings during the storms to the Rock.  Living out Loud finds in her Master a shelter and a safe place to rest. Though rejections continue to slap her from her past, she turns it back to scripture and she who she now is in Christ. Though difficulties and failures knock at her heart, she seek Gods grace passionately and in humility. Living out Loud knows the Healer...

 ... shall be like a hiding place from the wind and a shelter from the storm, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a great rock in a weary land [to those who turn to them]. Isa 32:2 (Amplified)

Living out Loud takes the truth of scripture and does not turn from it but relies on it. Its a submission of ideas, attitudes and habits of the day-to-day to the absolute authority of Gods Word. In order for God to be master of your life there has be a relationship between you and scripture. 

"The secret of the Lord is with those who have been broken by His cross and healed by His spirit." ~ P.T. Forsythe (a Scottish minister)

Paul in Galatians one speaks of Living out Loud as to be set apart (vs 3-5), one who seeks to please God and not man with every action, every thought, every word. To be set apart involves grace and glory sandwiched by the death of Christ for our sins and the freedom it gives us.  Living our Loud by His grace and His love at Calvary, demonstrated in a life that glorifies Him.

"If we as a people can make these truths and this vigor a part of our thinking and our willing, the bones of our faith will be strong and not brittle, and the emotional force of our lives in Christ will not be lukewarm but ardent and intense and undivided." ~John Piper

Living out Loud is not always easy, nor is it always fun. It required us to come into Christ's playing field and to be serious about Him and His truths. Calvary compels us to play hard and diligently and professionally. We are called to be professional Christians, to live His commission for our life in the good and in the bad.

 

Truly my soul finds rest in God;

my salvation comes from him.

Truly he is my rock and my salvation;

he is my fortress, I will never be shaken. ~ Ps 62: 1 -2, 5-6

Today I pray we are able to Live out Loud. I pray that we will separate ourselves from the world and the chaos. I pray we will rest in the Hiding Place of God's truth-His Word. Most of all, I pray our lives minister to other in such a way they are draw to our Comforter and Healer.

Entering Lent

Memory/Meditation Verse: “For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. Anyone who believes in Him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the One and Only Son of God." ~ John 3:16-18


The lent season is upon us and for whatever reason, I feel it calling me, beckoning me to participate in its journey. I'm not catholic. Not that it matters. It seems that most religions seem to participate in the Lent season these days in some way or another. But its not about the religious practices for me. It a burning in my soul that compels me towards a journey.

"For Christ love compels us..." ~ 2 Cor. 5:14 (HCSB)

Have you ever been at a point in your spiritual walk that the whole concept of Calvary and what Christ had to go through for our justification, our freedom just seems to be too mind boggling? There are days I want to just say "Really God, this was the only way to get our attention?"

What about His choice? Doesn't it seems so cruel, so inhumane?

"For Christ love compels us..." ~ 2 Cor. 5:14 (HCSB)

Could this flesh and these bones really be that valuable to cause Him to make such a decision to send His Son to a cross in such a grotesques manner? How can such an imperfect mind wrap around this worth it has to its Creator?

"For Christ love compels us..." ~ 2 Cor. 5:14 (HCSB)

All because of love. A tender, precious love for people He knew would fail Him. A compassionate and loving grace for a sinners embrace. Life conquered by death to be conquered by life again. A miracle beyond the grasp of any scientific investigation.

"For Christ love compels us..." ~ 2 Cor. 5:14 (HCSB)

I am compelled to enter this season of Lent in love...His love compels me, convicts me. It is a conviction to grow more in love with Him and to demonstrate His love by loving others. I know...sounds simple but I am afraid its not for this child of God. It has become a nagging conviction to love as He loves. To love beyond the frustrations of another's actions. To love when I am exhausted. To love a hurting, lonely, or broken soul.

"For Christ love compels us..." ~ 2 Cor. 5:14 (HCSB)

God loved us so much He gave His Son as a sacrifice to prove our worth in His family lineage. For me, that's enough to compel me to love back. It will require a sacrificing of self, a struggle I have endure way to long. But I am compelled His love is worth the sacrifice.

Oh, my Holy and Sovereign God, be Lord of my life. I may struggle at times to gasp your majesty, your carefully laid plans and even the love that you carry for me, your daughter. Help me to love as you love. Help me to sacrifice myself, my wants, my desires, and my needs so I can love others as you love them. May you find favor with me during this season of Lent. ~ AMEN

Living Out Loud ~ Pamela