Have you ever noticed that religion often teaches us to hide?
You can hide your sorrows behind “God is good.” You can hide your anxieties behind “Casting all your cares.” You can hide your burnout behind “godly Christians spend and are spent for Jesus.”
But when you hide, eventually a deep ache grows inside. You may squash your longings and shield your true feelings until you’re not quite sure who you are anymore.
No, really. I mean what if He’s absolutely, 100% okay with you right this second, believer?
What if He’s not sitting up there tsk, tsk-ing and shaking His head, muttering “Sure wish she’d get this lesson so we could move on”?
What if instead He’s gazing down on you in love, saying to His nearest archangel, “Hey, did you see that kiddo of mine down there? Boy, do I love her! She’s fabulous. And look at her with my Son in her – she can do ANYTHING. I can’t help smiling this wide when I think about her.” Continue reading →
An old friend and I recently reconnected around grace and during our musings, she reminded me of an important grace symptom: refusing to care what people think of us.
After our chat I couldn’t stop thinking about this post, written a long time ago during my new-to-grace days. Thank you, my grace friend, for the reminder of this important truth and the chance to walk down memory lane for a few minutes.
My Dear Reader,
I don’t care what you think. But actually, I do. That’s why I agonize over my blog posts until I’m almost sick of looking at them. It’s why I’m insecure every morning and night thinking that I’ll never write anything worthy of you reading. Or if you do manage to be duped into reading it, you’ll put it aside in disgust with a shake of the head and a tsk, tsk, because it really was mindless drivel anyway.
I don’t care what you think. But, I do. Continue reading →
I stumbled across an amazing testimony this week by a man who got fed up with a religious system that had little to do with God’s heart. Hmm, can you relate too?
See if this strikes a chord, this heart poem from a man who grew up in Christianity but never saw true grace until he realized religion and Jesus aren’t at all the same.
I used to hear preachers claim,
The most important thing about you is what you believe about God.
My mental response was always, “Of course it is! I believe in God.”
But the view from here was of a supreme, all-knowing Being who looked down with a stern, wizened gaze. Never smiling much or laughing – at least not in my direction. Some days I knew He must sigh at my failure. Other times I was convinced He was shaking His head in disappointment.
So, every now and then I’d picture a loving father who cherishes and smiles on me in delight, but it was quickly overshadowed by my fear of disappointing Him.
Maybe my warped view of God stemmed Continue reading →
When I glimpse chosen in Ephesians, my mind drifts to elementary school and recess games.
The entire class lined up in two teams with hands interlaced. The other team would chant, “Red Rover, Red Rover, send [someone’s name] right over!” and that person from our team had to run as fast and hard as he could to break the other human chain. (Do you remember playing that one?)
The best part of the game? Being chosen. Hearing your name chanted – “Red Rover, Red Rover, send Janna right over!” I still remember the knot in my stomach, waiting, then the shiver of excitement as I heard my name.
Funny, but in a very small way, this reminds me of being chosen by God. Continue reading →
Here’s something I’d like to ask God today:
Poppa,
If we gaze on Your grace, will we have a better picture of how You see us? Will we glimpse what You’ve spelled out for us a little like Charlotte (though You’re never this small) with her stupendous Wilbur? Continue reading →