Tuesday, October 26, 2010

when it rains it floods.

so i did something yesterday that i have always wanted to do. get caught in the rain. as simple as that sounds, i have always wanted to unintentionally get caught in it. and today it happened. i was running and it poured. i wanted to start crying, but i couldnt because i was so overjoyed.

the reason for the tears would be because this simple act of getting caught in the rain is a picture of everything that i have been through lately. it seems that in life we get to caught up in the things of routine or the things of mediocrity. and for me this rain was a picture of releasing that in my own life. if you have been following my blog, i have written about some of the things that the Lord has been doing in my life. it is overwhelming. its like a flood rushing at me, and all i want to do is stand there. i dont want to run away from the working of the Lord in my life and in the lives around me.

David Platt writes in his book, Radical, "Our great need is to fall before an Almighty Father day and night and to plead for him to show his radical power in and through us, enabling us to accomplish for his glory what we could never imagine in our own strength. And when we do this, we will discover that we were created for a purpose much greater than ourselves, the kind of purpose that can only be accomplished in the power of his Spirit."

And in Psalm 135:6-7 it says,
"Whatever the Lord pleases, he does,
in heaven and on earth,
in the seas and all deeps.
He it is who makes the clouds rise at the
end if the earth,
who makes lightnings for the rain
and brings forth the wind from his
storehouses."

these two passages correlate in the fact that God is sovereign. He is the one who enables us to do great things for HIS great names sake. i desire for Him to get all the glory in my life. it is only by His name that i can do anything in the first place. i am so glad to be a part of the Lord's purpose. i want him to continue to use me, but to also use others to impact me. and just as the Psalmist said, "whatever the Lord pleases, he does". and honestly, i am ok with that. who am i to tell the God of the universe how to run His show. my prayers are not demands, they are requests. that is my role. i dont decide how it all plays out. and i just need to let Him do His thing.

so, from here, where do you stand? are you in the valley where the flood is, or on the mountainside where it's safe? i know that i have a lot to learn on this ride. but i am willing to continue to let go and not hang out on the outskirts and simply enjoy the view. i want to get my feet wet from that flood of love that wants to overtake me. are you?

Sunday, October 10, 2010

new beginning.

"And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." -Philippians 1:6
so yeah. i believe in this truth. i think more so now than i ever have. i cant even begin to tell you about how the Lord is working in my life right now. where
He is taking me. how He is challenging me. it is incredible.

i love the fact that i am made for His own possession. and that He started something in my life a long time ago when i put my trust in Him. and now He continues to build on that promise He made. He has begun a work in me, and he continues to work in me. Just one thing that He is continuing and perfecting in my life is my heart for discipleship. and that all turns back to Jesus.
these are some of the boys from Country Woods Baptist Church. there are more that i have the privilege of hanging out with, but these are just a few. two years ago i got to serve this church at camp. and fast forward a few years to the present, i am now a member of their church. did i think that two years ago that this would be the case? nope. that's how great our God is. He knows these plans for our lives. and i cant help but be humbled in the midst of it. through my trust in Him, i now have the opportunity to invest and cultivate these lives for the Lord even more. i am so grateful for the work that he started two years ago with these kids, and now i get to continue in this work, which will one day be perfected on the day Jesus calls the righteous home.

what work is the Lord doing in your life? what is he continuing? do you trust that promise?