MISS ELAINI OUS

Recently during an evening with my parents and a couple I consider my second parents I asked them if they remembered learning to drive and what that was like.  We all started laughing hearing each others stories!  Even though I’ve known these four my whole life I’d never thought to ask that question but I’m glad I did because it was really humorous.  It was also insightful.

My mom’s parents weren’t even willing to teach her.  Instead her dad hired someone else to do it haha!  My dad’s older brother taught him on some back road and my dad almost gave him a heart attack from what I heard.  Someone else mentioned trying to learn on a gravel hill…stick shift.

I certainly remember learning to drive.  My dad took me to a parking lot and was very patient.  Then one day my mom just gave me the keys even though I’d barely driven and told me to drive home from piano lessons.  I thought she was joking but alas no.  So there I was on back winding roads trying not to kill us.  Now you see, I’d thoroughly read the pamphlet you have to read to pass drivers ed and it said you needed to check all your mirrors every few seconds.  Well I was obedient to that and it didn’t go very well.  I was having the hardest time staying in the middle of the road.  When I mentioned my frustration to the gal that lived with us she said something I’ll never forget. “Stop looking in the mirrors so frequently.  If you look straight ahead you’ll go straight.  Where you look, that’s where you’ll go.” Hello light bulb moment.

You see I was trying to drive by looking behind me in the mirrors.  But reading a pamphlet and driving are two different things.  What I really needed to do was focus on what was in front of me.  I needed to look at the road ahead of me and see where I wanted to be.

The same thing happened when I was learning to ride my bike.  I kept looking at the pedals.  Finally my brother and his friend (who were teaching me) figured out the problem and told me to look ahead.  That’s when I felt the rush that comes from the first hands-off-no-training-wheels-freedom of riding your bike all by yourself.  Again I needed to look ahead of me at where I wanted to go.

I think in life it can be so easy to look in the past.  Or you may be one of those people who can’t envision where you want to go.  Until we can look ahead and have a vision for something we want to accomplish, we will have a hard time getting there.  

“Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.  Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:12-14

It’s the middle of the year and many goals and visions have been cast off since January.  That’s okay.  It’s never to late to start looking ahead.  What goals do you need to refocus, scrap, adjust, plan, or surrender?  What do you want to accomplish in the next six months?  I hope today you can put aside the past six months and press on with new vigor and vision.  If you want to tell someone your goals leave a comment below and I’d love to hear about it.  Or if you’re struggling to figure out what your vision is let me know that too. 🙂  You’ve got this my friend!

{Photo by: Paige Whiting}

I was sitting there scrolling through Facebook and just about to click off when I saw an article that looked interesting and I clicked through to read it.  In many ways the article had nothing to do with me but the last point struck me hard.  The author boldly proclaimed that God likes me.

Now here’s the thing.  We’ve all heard that God loves us.  It’s true, He does!  We know that He died for our sins and that He cares deeply about His people.  And wow is that ever amazing or what?!  But have you ever stopped to think about the fact that God LIKES you?  I’m not talking about a quickie Facebook like.  I’m not talking about that guy that likes all your pictures in the hopes that you’ll notice him.  I’m talking about the fact that God delights in you.

Stop and consider with me a moment.  Here’s this infinite, beautiful, all powerful, holy, perfect, satisfied God and he decided that he wanted to express all that glory and beauty as an overflow of who He is.  So He creates humans, you and me and the multitudes of ages past, present, and future, in His image to reveal it to.

When He looks at you He sings over you my friend!  “The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.” Zephaniah 3:17  (emphasis added)  Now tell me, do you sing over something you don’t like?  No, of course not!  But when you really like something you do.

God likes your personality that you sometimes think is too much or not enough.  God likes your body that He designed and handcrafted.  God likes the way you get excited over things other people find odd.  God likes the way you love your friends and family.  God likes the many ways you reflect a part of His heart, His creativity, His intelligence, His wisdom, His strength, His vision, His purpose, His grace, His love.

He sees you, He likes you, and He knows you better than you do yourself and He’s calling you to embrace the way He’s made you.  When we embrace the way God has crafted us we give thanks for who HE is.  When we see that God likes us it should turn our hearts in praise to Him.  How amazing that He likes and loves messy people.  He likes and loves the sinner and the tax collector and the prostitute.  He shocked everyone when He picked Zacchaeus’s home to go eat at.  He stopped and engaged in a conversation with a blind beggar.  He let a prostitute touch him and praised her for her gift to Him.  He’s a God of mercy and grace.  He’s a God that doesn’t throw out broken people but heals them and makes them whole in who He is.  If you’re longing for a God that likes you then come to Jesus just as you are.  As we say in our family, “I love you and I like you.”  It’s the same for God’s family, He loves you and He likes you.

Save

Recently I had one of those weeks where you just feel so frustrated you want to explode.  It wasn’t like everything was terrible.  In fact my life is pretty awesome.  Yet there I was with all this pent up irritation.  Some of it was directed towards this blog, a lot of it was directed at myself.  Can I be honest?  (I know I can because you all are so wonderful.)  Sometimes I wonder why I’m blogging.  I loose sight of the goal.

And then I got a note from a reader.  Actually I got a few all within 24 hours.  That rarely happens so to get three was a wake up call.  Each of those notes was like a breath of fresh air.  One girl spoke the words back to me that have been a theme on this blog and that I needed.  I needed someone to remind me of all the things I long to remind you of on here.  Because most everything I say on here is really a letter to myself to remind me of who God is and who I am in him.  I’m on here writing because I love God and I love people.  I’m on here writing because you matter.  I’m on here writing because just like a sweet reader reminded me “bloom where you’re planted.”

Here’s the thing.  I’m actually a pretty weak person.  I need to be reminded of the truth daily.  I need to refocus and feel refreshed just as much as the next person.  So the next time you don’t think you have something to offer someone remember that you do.  Please remember that even if you feel cracked and broken and useless that that just isn’t true.  You’re still a vessel and while you might not be being used the way you want to it doesn’t mean you’re not being used at all.

Years ago I was very sick.  During that time I had a mental picture given to me.  There was a a clay jar with a simple design, full with large gracefully curved sides and a small opening with a little lip on it.  It was in a dark room and it was badly cracked.  In fact it was quite broken.  Yet it was held together by some unseen force.  And shooting out of every crack was shimmering, radiant, glowing beams of light.  You could see the translucent shine coming out in rays in every direction.  The brokenness of the vessel allowed for the light to be revealed.  In that moment God reminded me that that’s what we are like.  The more broken we are the more his power and light has the opportunity to shine out of us.  And let me tell you it’s crazy beautiful.  I’ve carried this picture with me for almost ten years now.

“For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.  For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.  But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” 2 Cor. 4:5-7

So my friends if you are feeling useless and broken I want to tell you that you do have a purpose.  I want you to know that you’re so loved and valued.  I want you to know that your faithfulness to keep on matters.  When we are weak Christ makes us strong.  When we’re broken let’s allow the light to seep out.