christian living, faith walk, God first, Listening, perseverance, Prayer, resilience, should, spirituality
Do you ever get a song stuck in your head and you just can’t make it go away? It plays over and over and over again. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
There’s a track that plays in my mind, much like a familiar tune, on repeat. But this track isn’t a happy dance tune, it’s rather melancholy, telling me that I haven’t done enough; that I could do more; that I “should have” ( ____ fill in the blank.) It plays on repeat as I try to live up to the “not enough” lies it’s chanting into my mind.⠀⠀⠀⠀
Are you familiar with this chatter?
I’ve discovered I’m very hard on myself. Even though perfection isn’t possible, there is the expectation in my mind that I “should be or do things perfectly.” I can verify, the “should lies” will get you down! They’ve left me feeling insignificant, like I’ve fallen short and can never measure up. The woulda, shoulda, coulda, game doesn’t allow for grace, nor does it comfort, rather it speaks lies and shame that I too quickly believe.
Do you have a soundtrack playing that you’d like to change? Listen closely…
Grace, defined as unmerited favor, is much easier to give than to receive. And yet, God – the Author of Life – offers His grace to us daily. He wants the soundtrack in our minds to speak truth and comfort to our souls – to speak grace over guilt, not condemnation and lies. It’s time to change the soundtrack.⠀
How do we change the inner soundtrack?
- Recognize the lie. Lies are from the enemy of our souls. Stop singing along with the lie.
- Reframe it by shifting from guilt and shame to possibility. We can do all things in Christ. His strength makes changing the soundtrack possible.
- Replace it with truth. Memorize truth. Sing truth. Talk about truth. Listen to the truth on repeat.
God’s Word is truth and our life source of wisdom and hope. Give truth more attention than the old soundtrack of lies. Soon, a new habit will form. Let the truth play over and over in your mind! Hello truth- Bye-bye lies!
“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”⠀2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV⠀
“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” James 1:5
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:1-2
“I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13 ESV
christian living, faith walk, God first, impatience, Listening, perseverance
For someone who wants to be heard, I am a terrible listener at times. I’m determined to make a change in this behavior, so I started looking through my wisdom book (the Bible) for the word listen or hear. I discovered authors often paired listen with “they did not”!
How many times I’ve gone to the Lord in prayer so full of my own words, but I did not stop to listen to His words. I pray with a checklist of my hurts, hang ups and hopes. I spew them out rapid fire, asking God to fix it all, make it better and then…
end my prayer –
Because I have “stuff to do”. I’m busy. Overwhelmed.
I don’t stop and listen.
Listening applies to so many areas of life. I’m not good at listening to what my body is telling me. Without adequate rest, I push myself. I push myself emotionally, thinking, “I’ve got it all under control”. A reset in listening is what I need.
For the past several years, rather than resolutions each January, I have adopted a word to focus on through the coming year. The word is one I hope will help frame my actions and behavior toward maturity in meaningful ways.
I don’t know if choosing a word is like asking for patience, but the word listen has been a recurring theme lately. Exposing both my desire to be heard and my shortcoming as a good listener. ouch. If I want others to listen to me, I must practice the art of listening.
Like the people I was reading about in the Bible, I’m slow to listen but quick to speak or act. Listening is a skill gained with practice. This year I’d like to practice being quick to hear/listen and slower to speak and act. I know my husband would appreciate this intentional focus. My body might function better and emotionally, I’ll be better equipped to love and serve others the way I’d like to.
“Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.” James 1:19
A positive side of listening, particularly to God in His Word, is added wisdom. Proverbs tells me to listen so that I can gain wisdom. “Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future.” Proverbs 19:20
An action with a promise.
I don’t know if you make resolutions, or choose a word of the year, either way I’m praying you “listen” well to what the Lord wants to show you in 2023. The beauty of our faithwalk is how much we can learn about God and His character. In a million lifetimes we could not know it all – but given the chance, I want to develop the skills of a good listener, so that I can apply His knowledge and wisdom to my choices.
Lord, let me learn to listen and grow wise mentally, spiritually, physically and emotionally! In all the ways you created me, let me listen well.
Advent, christian living, faith walk, God first, Prayer, restoration, spirituality
When was the last time you were out in a field in the middle of the night and the heavens opened with angels singing? Me either! It’s no coincidence that of all the characters included in the Christmas narrative, shepherds received a center stage moment. I don’t have to know much about a shepherd to realize the night watch requires a special person. One who remains alert, attentive and ready to protect the sheep from any enemy lurking in the shadows.
Tim Keller, in his book Hidden Christmas, points out that their inclusion isn’t just to set the pastoral scene, but they are there for us to learn from. The shepherds didn’t just “see” the star, they also experienced the angelic heavenly hosts. Luke tells us when the angels left, the shepherds wanted to “go and see”. They also “returned and worshiped”. Protectors, by vocation worshiping the Incarnate Creator of the Universe, Immanuel, God with us. I believe we are all hard wired to worship. The question is, what will be the object of our worship? The shepherds chose “… glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.” They saw, they believed, and they worshiped. What joy must have filled their hearts that night.
The Old Testament speaks of the good shepherd who is to come, and his purpose is seeking the lost sheep (John 10:10). He tells us Jesus is a good shepherd; He knows his sheep. He leads them to cool waters and green meadows for nourishment and rescues them when they are stuck. We sheep can’t get more stuck than being bound by stubbornness and independence, separated from God, wanting to control our own destiny and believing we can do it.
As sheep, we inevitably find ourselves stuck with no way forward or back. A situation only a Savior can fix. This Shepherd/Savior brings us to a fold of safety by declaring His righteousness over us – not because of our own doing. We can never “do” or “be” enough. It’s His sacrifice alone. He is the protective caregiver desiring that none should perish or stay separated from Him.
Jesus, is our Good Shepherd & Protector. May we choose to worship and adore him, knowing He is forever alert, attentive and gave Himself to protect us, His sheep.
Psalm 80:1-3 “Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock. You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth. Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up your might and come to save us! Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved!”
Matthew 18: 10–14
John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
John 10:14 -15 “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.”
Sing: Savior like a Shepherd Lead Us & Hark the Herald Angels Sing
Advent, christian living, faith walk, forgotten, God first, life experience, perseverance, Prayer, relationships, spirituality
I remember when my husband and I first moved to Portland, Oregon: Lush evergreens flanked our drive; the Cascade mountains, covered in snow, surprised us at every gap in the forest and two large rivers made its bridge city nick name obvious. I remember asking him if he thought our new views would ever feel commonplace – familiar.
Author, Paul David Tripp challenged me with these words: “When we become familiar with things, we begin to take them for granted… we quit examining them… we quit noticing them. We tend to not celebrate them as we once did. Familiarity tends to rob us of our wonder.”
As a believer in Jesus Christ, his gift of salvation through faith alone, I never want to lose the awe and wonder of what these words mean:
- My faith means I trust even when I can’t see.
- Believing goes beyond physical senses and includes a spiritual connection to truth.
- The word salvation implies a need to be saved from something to something better.
I talk and write about it, but do I stop in my tracks at the wonder of it all? Do I examine and ask: “Has the reason for the Christmas season become such a familiar tradition that I no longer celebrate with awe and wonder, the Shepherd of Truth that walked among humanity, teaching, loving, giving, and calling us to follow Him?”
So how does one ignite the wonder in their heart, mind and soul? They focus on the One who placed the stars in their heavenly orbit and the seabirds along the shore. The One who calms the storm with a word, speaks from burning bushes and parts deep waters for dry land passage. The One whose love caused Him to send His only Son from heaven to earth for us.
Lord, our Savior, help me slow down and gaze at your holiness. To stand in awe of your mercy and grace. To tell others the peace you freely give. Remind me to celebrate the hope I’ve found in knowing you. May I be ever thankful for your perfect gift of love this Christmas.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” John 3:16-17 ESV
“In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.” 1 John 4:9
Light the 4th Advent candle.
Sing: Joy to the World
Ask: How do I ignite the wonder of this Child born to save us?
Advent, christian living, faith walk, God first, perseverance, Prayer, relationships, spirituality
STABLE – Christ is Our Home
The stable wasn’t their home. How helpless Joseph must have felt as his young wife, Mary, labored in the straw with cattle nearby. I’m sure Mary longed for familiar sights and comforting smells as she brought God incarnate, the prophesied King of Kings, into His earthly season (John 1:14). Whatever the ideal scenario in the minds of Joseph and Mary, stable birth was their reality. Forced to travel in response to the census count, they were far from home and less than comfortable.
It’s so easy for me to get caught up in creating a physical “comforts of home” experience in this life. If I’m not mindful, I focus on what I can cling to rather than who in this less than ideal and sometimes exhausting world that is not our home.
Do you also long for the “comfort of home” feeling?
If your circumstances have you overwhelmed and wondering if or when it gets better, remember that Christ meets us in the here and now. But He is also preparing for us the “not yet,” our eternal home. This life is temporary. The homes we build here will one day vanish. Our hope is not in this life, but with Christ, our Creator, for eternity. This advent season lets focus on the eternal more than we focus on the temporal.
The stable was not Joseph, Mary, or Jesus’ home, but God met them there. This world is not our home, either. Stable or palace, it all stays behind. My prayer for us is that we know better Immanuel God with us, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). Read about Him in the Bible. From the stable to the cross – He prepared the way for a restored relationship with God through the forgiveness of sins. Now, Christ also prepares our eternal home, which gives us eternal hope.
It is in our nature to long for home, but it is not a comfortable home on this earth our hearts truly yearn for. It is the home we find in the presence of Jesus, whose name is above every other name. When we see the stable–we think of our eternal hope: being forever home with Christ.
Are you clinging to this ultimate hope of Christmas?
“For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body; we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” 2 Corinthians 5:1-10. ESV
Sing “What Child is This?” Read Luke 2:1-32
Ask–What does this song tell me about my eternal home?
Sing “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus” Matthew 12:17-21, Titus 2:11
Ask–What does this song tell me about my eternal hope?
+ Click on song titles and scriptures for added resource links
christian living, faith walk, God first, Prayer, spirituality
I fall into the category of people who find it hard to ask for help, advice, input or feedback. My short list: pride, shame, fear or rejection for lack of perfection. I get so focused on what I can to do to “fix” my current situation that I loose sight of the One who calls me to relationship with Himself. He calls me to come. To worship. To rest. To know Him better. Matthew 7: 7 – 8 says that when I ask, seek, and knock, there will be a response from my good Father in Heaven. “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” The God of the universe, Creator of all things, including you and I, knows how needy we are. He knows our shortcomings. Which is why he made it plain as day- we will need to ask. He’s promising He’ll be there to hear and answer. Ask away dear one. Ask. Seek Him in His Word. Don’t hesitate to knock – His, is an open door policy. No shame, no guilt, no lack of perfection will turn his eyes from you. No matter what. Jesus paid it all. He has you covered!
