Day 9 Love

God's love is a comfy chair that supports you and keeps you from falling. Get comfortable, spend some time there...

#love #throwbackthursday #day9 #40daysphotochallenge #rethinkchurch

Day 8 Evil

I read today's word and audibly went "ugh!" without even thinking.
I don't want to take a photo of anything evil.  I want everything to be sunshine and rainbows. I crave beauty and go out of my way to avoid ugly.  I think Beauty has to be created intentionally, whereas ugly and messy happens easily, too easily.
I imagine pure blackness and the absence of light when I think of evil. I think of evil in terms of opposites; evil is the opposite of holy,  the opposite of good and perfect, the opposite of order and light.  The opposite of love and peace.  Evil is the opposite of God, the absence of God. Evil is death.
Even if I try to avoid it,  I am aware of evil every day.  I believe it exists. I see it, most of the time,  I don't have to look far.
To me there's obvious evil; any action that hurts anything created by God on purpose or by neglect is evil.
Abortion, abuse, slavery, oppression,...
http://bible.us/116/psa82.3-4.nlt
“Give justice to the poor and the orphan; uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute. Rescue the poor and helpless; deliver them from the grasp of evil people." Psalms 82:3-4
And, there's also unseen evil.  A cosmic spiritual battle raging on since forever ago.  Stuff I can't even begin to understand. Epic disputes between good and evil that affect us people in ways someday we will be able to clearly discern. But for now all I need to know is who wins. Who is on my side.  Who fought for me and already won.
"I know who goes before me,  I know who stands behind.  The God of angel armies is always by my side."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOkImV2cJDg&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Day #7 Wonder

It fills me with a sense of wonder every single time.  Quiet, soft, fluffy rain - snow just amazes me. I love anticipate it and to watch it fall. The way it just floats down, as if it's defying gravity, the way it lands and lingers.  I love looking in all directions and seeing a blanket of white over everything.

When I went to bed this morning the forecast called for heavy snow showers later on, so I curled under the covers with a sense of expectancy of what it would look like when I woke up. I almost slept for 4 hours, all was quiet in the house, except for some snoring at my right.  I'm not sure what woke me up. Usually it's one or two dogs whining outside my bedroom door because they can't read time and think it's dinnertime. But not today, hubby (the snoring one) made a an awesome barricade in the hallway and the dogs had not bridged it, yet. I tried to go back to sleep, tossed and turned, but then I thought of the snow that might have fallen and it was game over for sleepytime.

I grabbed my phone and peeked out the bathroom window. I giggled to myself, and snapped a photo.

The word for today's photo challenge is "wonder". And I was wondering before going to sleep what would the "lesson of the day" be. I've been wondering that everyday actually. I try not to look at the word of the day until that morning and so far for 7 days in a row God has put together a personalized multi-sensory learning plan just for me :) It reminds me of lesson plans and unit studies I did with the kiddos when we home schooled, every day God came through and and WE learned from Him together no matter what the subject or the focus was. He still is a Teacher.

So it was no surprise when the snow and the wonder fit perfectly, today. Sometimes I take these coincidences for granted or I don't meditate enough on them. Each one is a gift made especially for me and where I am at. He knows my heart and I think He takes pleasure in making me smile, and I truly think He has a sense of humor, we share inside jokes all the time, especially word puns.

As I am wonder-struck about the winter wonderland just outside my window, and wondering about the meaning of the word wonder, a song pops into my head. It's one of those I love to hear and sing loudly (if a little off key) at church... "Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow". I can hear it clearly in my head.

I go to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee and right above the sink is this:

Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow." -original lyrics by Elvina M. Hall, 1865

perfect, huh?

I know what is under that snow, a neglected winter backyard full of pine needles and leaves and,... dog poop.  But the snow has covered all of that ugliness and everywhere I look is a blanket of pure white.
Isn't that exactly what Jesus did for me? Covered all my ugliness and sin, paid a ransom for my freedom with his blood.  He did it once and for all. It's a done deal.  I am covered by His sacrifice and He sees me pure and blameless and wants me to receive that perfect forgiveness and own it, and live like it.

And now that I've fed the furry creatures to stop them from making so much noise, of course they want to go outside.  But I don't want them to.  They are going to mess up that perfect white carpet of pure fluffiness!

But they have to go, so I let them.  And the first thing all  three of them do is run to the snow and attack it with their teeth and bite it, and eat it, and run, and wag their tails.  They love it and enjoy fresh snow almost as much as I do, except I leave the making of yellow snow to them.

And it gets me thinking, what good is all this white snow of righteousness I am covered with, if I don't enjoy and delight in it and go out there and in a way "mess it up".  Life is messy and God says His mercies are new every morning, or in my case every time I take a nap ;) 

"The faithful love of the Lord never ends!

 His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness;

 his mercies begin afresh each morning." Lamentations 3:22-23

Jesus' sacrifice was done for everyone who chooses to believe in His perfect love.  It was done once and for all.  But I can, and I should, and I definitely need His mercy every single day.  Every day i mess up the pretty snow, so I know I need His blanket of perfect whiteness over me more that I need to see the beauty of the snow falling.

“Come now, let’s settle this,” says the Lord.

“Though your sins are like scarlet, 

I will make them as white as snow.

Though they are red like crimson, 

I will make them as white as wool."

Isaiah 1:18 New Living Translation (NLT)

So, I will enjoy this snow while it lasts.  It is a miracle that will eventually melt and get muddy and expose the mess that is under it, but I know that my soul is settled forever in the eternal omnipotent One that has the power to make me pure as snow, and already did.

Day 3: See

Day 3 "see"
See?  I can do this.
The word see implies looking but also focus and enough light to be able to see.
What do I see? More importantly,  what do I chose to see and focus on?
I can look at my circumstances,  the problems of the world,  the grime,  the mundane,  the bad news that get reported every day, the problems, the dangers,...  All those are so easy to see and look at every day.  They are actually hard to avoid seeing. They can take up all or vision and attention.
But I have been choosing to have a different vision or perspective.  I am focusing on God and His love and His blessings and His tender care for me.  This way of seeing things is available to anyone who wants to search and let the light of the gospel illuminate this dark world.
Jesus came to be the light of the world, so were can clearly see God's love all around us. Its all about focus and perspective.  I'm not saying everything is beautiful and rosy, but by relying on God's word of truth we can see glimpses of His perfect plan and our part in it.
Open your eyes and see His love working everything together for good.  Stress is fear and fear doesn't come from God, look for the gifts God gives you every single day and see that He is good.

Day 2: Return

Day #2 of this challenge.  Photos usually don't need words to explain them, but the way I connect photos with specific words might :)

So, the word is return. I used an old photo for this one, but at least I took the photo this time.

  The year was probably 2008, but this same scene plays out every day in my house, with different dogs and for different reasons.  Loyal creatures patiently waiting for someone's return.

Aren't we called to patiently, expectantly, vigilantly wait for God's return?

Some days I feel like a dog faithfully waiting for my Master's return, but other days I am so busy with my own menial plans that I forget to be expectant of the awesomeness that is to come.

Some days, that is all I can think about. His return, to set things right. To be done with this world and it's corrupt was and man-made injustices. To be able to just be with Him, at his feet, in His presence.  That is what I long for

Will I be jumping up and down and falling all over my Jesus when I finally see Him?  I sure hope so.

Matthew 24:42 NLT “So you, too, must keep watch! For you don’t know what day your Lord is coming." -Matthew 24:42 #return #rethinkchurch #faithful#cacike #

40 Lent Challenge

Instead of giving something up, I am adding something.  I like that better.

(I'm still giving something up, but is not as hard as it could be and my body and my wallet are definitely benefiting.  It might come as a shocker, but I am giving up Dutch Bros. for lent.  It helps that I only drive past it on my way to or from work. Wait, that's 6 to 8 times a week, that's more than I though, but anyway, so far  5 days into it and I'm doing goood.)  Silly, I know.

Back to what I added.  It is a stretch for me because of that whole habits thing, and doing something consistently for 40 days, (heck look at this blog, when was the last time I wrote... don't answer that.  Let's just say I am the spontaneous sporadic type).

40 day photo challenge

I've never done one of these and it seemed challenging enough. I'm not Methodist, although some in my family are, but I like expressing through art and photos and words the changes that happen when we contemplate and seek and pray, so "rethink church" seems absolutely right up my alley.

Day one was a piece of cake.  I'm not going to say I cheated but I kinda did and I didn't take the picture myself.  Shocking! I know.  It's one of those I've seen quite a few times, but every time I see it it speaks to me, so I tried to trace the original to be able to give credit to whomever took it, but my searches would end on pinterest and tumbler.  so, whomever took this photo and added these words, well done!  the express truth, and i like that.  Without further adieu;

1st day 1st words: I am
Loaded 2 words
#Iam #Lent #rethinkchurch #truelove #twuewov 

This is God's name: "I am".  Given to Him by Himself.

So of course, who I am depends on I am.

Habits

I've never been one to stick with things, to follow a set anything, schedule, routine, habits,...
So when lent rolled around again this year, it took me by surprise, again!  Early this year too, it started the day before Valentine's day, which I found delightfully odd. Probably because I usually think of giving up chocolate.
Anyway, Lent, the practice of fasting, giving something up for ever, I mean, for 40 days.  Every year I consider doing it, sometimes I do give something up, most of the time I fail miserably at giving up whatever it is I decided myself to give up. Why?  I never understood this phenomenon   I myself am choosing something that I think I can manage giving up for 40 days, and yet, I fail all the time.  There's a lot of I's in that sentence and I think that is precisely the problem.
I read a blog about Lent, and about how failing at the "challenge" of giving something up is actually the point of giving something up for Lent.  What?!?
The more I think about it the more it makes sense.  I can chose something easy to give up and succeed or something hard and rely on God for strength and ultimately, His grace when I fail.
Didn't He who created everything out of nothing give it all up to come to earth as a human, and suffer to give us something we couldn't do ourselves?
Didn't He, Jesus spend forty days and forty nights with no food, in the desert, being tempted by the devil?
And I can't skip a meal, avoid sweets, not do ... whatever, for a brief period of time?  What a wimp am I?!
But isn't that the point. I can't, only He can.