God did not just create us to love Him—He created us to draw others to love Him, too. But our calling is quite large. The world—its countries, companies, schools, marketplaces, and everything in between—is full of chaos and despair. It’s full of grief and pain. And these are the people we are trying to tell, “Jesus loves you!”

What an impossible task.

None of us can draw people’s hearts away from their sorrow to fully love someone they cannot see. None of us have the skills, the resources, the perfect words to relate all that God-sized love truly is, and fully convince someone of this heavenly truth.

Again, what an impossible task.

But the solution isn’t us, nor is it to just tell people there’s a way out of the muck they and others have created and are now swimming in. No—if they have lived in darkness and despair all their lives, how will they believe that there is something more unless their gaze is directed to the one who is beautiful. Lovely. Holy.

If you’ve ever tried to have these conversations with people, you know how hard it is even still to show others what you are talking about. Even to describe who Jesus is doesn’t seem to fully work. At times you will be met with curiosity, but often you get the blank stares or even scoffing.

What an impossible task.

But what a task for a very glorious God.

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Do you remember the story of Moses? In the Book of Exodus, God called this lowly shepherd to command a nation out of slavery. This man was once the Prince of Egypt, one wrapped in robes of power—the greatest power, in fact, of the known-world. Yet despite whatever experience, training, or skills he had, he knew he was not fit for the task. And he was terrified.

The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed … When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground” … Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” (Exodus 3:1-2, 6, 10)

Moses meets God with a question: “Who am I?” (3:11). In the next verse, you don’t read about God saying, “Moses, let Me remind you about who you are, about the ways I’ve made you to greatly proclaim My name….” Rather, He says, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you…” (3:12).

It didn’t matter what Moses brought to the table. God assured him that the best reason to go and obey was that God Himself would be with him. And not only that, but He would remind Moses that He was with him through a physical sign of His presence.

Yet, Moses misses who God is entirely. He hears what God tells him about who He is, that His power trumps his weakness, but the weight of His glory doesn’t sink in. So Moses continues to call attention to his own inadequacy to reason with God why he shouldn’t be the one to go.

Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since You have spoken to Your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue. (Exodus 4:10)

Previous experience and even this very conversation with God has proven to Moses that he is not worthy for the task. He builds a case founded on his unworthiness. “God, don’t You remember? This is who I am. These are my struggles. I’d hinder You. Don’t ask me to go for You.”

But God says,

Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak. (Exodus 4:11).

What excuses do we make to God? What proves our unworthiness for the task of evangelism and discipleship?

Do you think you’re too awkward? Too quiet? Too inexperienced? Too new to the faith? Too full of sin and shame?

These—and more—describe the ones whom God calls to be part of His mission. These are the people whom God will reveal His glory through.

What an impossible task for a very glorious God.

It’s never been about us. Though human reasoning will validate our excuses, it still is not about us or what we bring to the table. God doesn’t call us because He sees something so very special in us—God desires to use us, His chosen elect, to call His other chosen elect to behold Him and enter into a glorious relationship with Him. We are part of His plan—nothing can deter a sovereign God’s plan. He does the work and we get to be part of it. He is the one going before us and with us (Deuteronomy 31:8) to draw people to Himself and restore them out of slavery to Himself.

But before the task begins, like Moses, we need to be reminded of who God is. The Lord graciously and patiently lifts ours eyes off ourselves to gaze at Him—to know Him more fully and to see His sufficiency. His power. His love. His glory.

As we are used by God in His glorious mission, we also get to keep beholding! He doesn’t send us out on our own—He sends us out to continue in relationship with Him, and He gives us signs along the way to remind us that He is with us. One of the ways we get to see this is when we understand how God gets the maximum glory out of our lives: through our strengths and through our weaknesses, He will show that the plan and the power and the purpose for the mission come from something far greater than us—everything that we get to be part of, everything that our skills or lack thereof reveal, points to the God of steadfast love.

Unlike Moses, don’t look to yourself but look at yourself to see how God is and may use everything in you for His glory. Look at the strong and weak parts of you—God will use them both. And as He does, continue to behold Him in the splendor of His majesty and come to say with every breath, “God, You are worthy of it all. You can have my every ‘yes’ because You can do this mission on Your own but You call me to do it with You. You graciously use both my strengths and weaknesses, subjecting them to You for our good and Your glory.”

Earlier I said that none of us are able to draw people’s hearts away from their sorrow to behold God and convince them of His worth. But as we just saw, it’s not up to us—God is the solution, the means and the ends to this mission. In His glory, He will use us to speak and He will open people’s eyes to see Him as worth turning away from sins to surrender to. He alone can reveal His glory. Suddenly, the weight is lifted off of us to see that all we need to say is, “Here am I, send me!”

Look at how the prophet Isaiah responds to God’s glory, and to His call:

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above Him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
the whole earth is full of His glory!”

And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of Him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” (Isaiah 6:1-8)

What I love about Isaiah and Moses is that both of them had a speech issue. Moses had a speech impediment, but Isaiah’s tongue was touched by a burning coal when the angel purified him. How painful! Though a vision, the message is clear: when the Lord asked, “Whom shall I send,” despite the immense pain and fresh inability to speak well, Isaiah leaps to his feet and shouts with all his might, “Here I am! Send me.” He was so captivated by the God in whose presence he stood that how could he not go and tell others about this glorious God who desires a relationship with “people of unclean lips?”

What a glorious task to simply cry out to God, “I have seen Your glory and want to keep seeing it! Use this imperfect vessel to tell of Your glory to a world that is dying, because I know I will only continue to see Your glory as You work through me and around me to draw others to You!”

Friends, all we are required to do is have faith to obey. Trust God so much and be so in awe of who He is that you cannot help but want to be sent out by Him. He is much too glorious to keep to ourselves—we have to go!

Christians, we are the mouthpieces for God! Broken, but redeemed mouthpieces. We don’t need special skills before we journey out to be part of His mission. He tells us to go! Our credentials is that God Himself will be with us. May we get to a point where we respond to God’s call not with a “who am I” faith but a “Here am I” faith.

Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? (Isaiah 6:8)

So will you go? Will you surrender pride and any human reasoning and give your life to be used for the Lord? Will you look beyond yourself—your strengths and weaknesses—to fully gaze at Him and desire to do what He has set out to do?

There is nothing more wonderful than simply saying, “Here am I, send me” to God. Name your insecurities, your proofs of unworthiness, and give it to God. Let Him use everything in you to get the maximum glory out of your life, and as He does, watch as He reveals His glory to yourself and the many, many others you encounter—those who are still swimming in sludge, waiting to have their eyes lifted to a holy and loving God.

More Reading:
Are You Looking Out Your Window?
How Important Is Church Community?
How Can I Make a Difference?
You Are Not Just a Wife in Training.
How do contentment and longing go together?

No matter what season of life we are in, we will always feel a pull to long and always a desire to be content.

If we are content, something pulls us toward the future—toward something we long to be part of our lives. If our desires go unfulfilled, then we return to what we have in the present and long to just be content. It’s a cycle that feeds itself so that no matter what, something will always pull us to long and our hearts will always cry out, “will I never be satisfied?!”

We constantly live in this state of tension, whether we feel it weighing on our hearts or whether we can simply acknowledge that it’s there.

If these never go away, maybe they do not need to be at war with one another. Perhaps these states can co-exist in a way that honors the Lord.

But even if there is a way, wouldn’t you think our Enemy wants to keep us from figuring it out?

God is not a God of confusion but of peace. (1 Corinthians 14:33)

Satan is the exact opposite of all that our God is. If God is a God of peace then Satan is the master of confusion. He wants our soul to be at war within itself and never find the peace only God can offer.

His tricks are subtle, and if we long to seek God’s will and purposes for our lives—even for the thoughts that penetrate our minds—will he not try to throw confusion into our path to keep us from knowing God?

We do not think that contentment and longing can complement one another because we cannot see how they can. But if both exist in every season we find ourselves in, surely there is a purpose both of them can play for God’s glory and our good.

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What are you finding contentment in right now? What is making life enjoyable and sweet today? Perhaps your job is going great! Perhaps you are very satisfied with the way your church community looks or with the level of deepness your friends have reached, or with where you and your significant other are in life.

Now on the flip side, what are some things you long for? What are some things you hope will fill your life? What will make it feel complete? Perhaps you are waiting for the perfect job, for solid community, or for the perfect relationship to finally come your way.

Where do you see the gaps between these two lists? Can you identify what’s missing? What makes your contentedness go away? What makes you cringe or even cower at the thought of something changing? That’s where the tension starts: where you are not content, longing intensifies. Where you refuse to look to the future, your desire for the present is stubbornly fixed.

Though you have your dream job, if your desire for a family is unfulfilled, you will experience some level of discontentment and even purposelessness in what was once your dream life.

You may love your community, but graduation might be looming over you, and you might be trying everything you can to protect these relationships out of fear that they will disband after college.

Again, what do we do with this? Longing and contentment are at every turn. Whether you heavily struggle with this or not, this is something we must work through.

As with every problem that arises, we must first return to the character and the will of the God who is with us in every season.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22-23)

For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)

We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. (Romans 8:28-29)

For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly. (Psalm 84:11)

Our good God withholds no good thing from us. He is only ever good, and only ever giving us what is the very best! He is working for our good, which is ultimately to sanctify us and draw us into sweet relationship with Him. One of the clearest ways He does this whenever we wrestle through trials and problems is by calling us to wrestle before Him.

The LORD searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. (1 Chronicles 28:9)

He fulfills the desire of those who fear Him; He also hears their cry and saves them. (Psalm 145:19)

Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)

Friends, He knows your desires, both the ones you have and the ones you long for. And to be clear, desires are not inherently wrong—wanting them until you idolize them in your mind and heart is. But desires for children, friends, a home—these are perfectly good to desire! And it is perfectly ok to wrestle and question and ponder if you bring it all to God. He will save you from all the confusion by teaching you His heart and giving you rest!

Secondly, knowing that God is faithful and good through every season—knowing that He knows our desires and gives us only what He’s deemed good for us Today—we can begin to confront our lists made from the prompting questions above.

We need some perspective-shifting that lasts. It’s not enough to simply say, “Well, God didn’t deem ____ to be good for me right now.” We know God has a plan, but we also know it’s to work all things for His glory and for our good.

So what is that exactly? What is God up to as we think through our blessings and desires? We can never know all the why’s behind what God does simply and most wonderfully because He is God and we are not. But we can seek ways that God is using it.

We have to stop seeing the desires we are content with and the desires we long for as separate and disconnected. We must start enjoying them as all part of various stages of God’s perfect plan.

Savoring the present and dreaming for the future must be connected.

When they are not (as we saw with the gaps) then we can wrongfully crave something more than the life God has sovereignly blessed us with Today, or we can begin to doubt God will be just as good five years from now as we see He is now. We forget that He is sovereign, that He is even intimately sovereign—caring perfectly for each detail that fills our little story.

As you desire to start a family with your significant other, find contentment to see the ways God is fulfilling that desire right now through your community. See the ways God is training you and preparing your heart for something wonderful. See the ways God is drawing the two of you closer to Himself before He draws you closer to one another. And more than dreaming of the things you can’t wait to have in your future, start strategically praying for God to place values on your lives so that your actions and your priorities can be marked by these and give glory to God.

As you find contentment in living with friends during college, in what ways is God teaching you to dream for each of them? Where do you see them going? What do you see them doing with their lives? How can you encourage them as they move closer and closer to the day that they will start to live on mission for God in the workplace?

As you long for community, look at the ways God is using Today to increase your love for Him so that when it comes, you will not give into the temptation to love them (or crave their love) more than the God who loves you and is always with you. And do some digging: what do you desire in a godly community? What are the eternal matters you want you and your friends to be marked by, to consider, to love? Start dreaming for the community you can’t wait for God to give you!

As you find contentment with where you’re planted, see the ways God is prompting you to dream about how you can steward your life to give Him glory. What can you care more about, what can you give, to point those around you (and even your own heart) back to God day by day? And watch as your heart opens up to just desire to be used by God wherever He may call you, be it there or halfway around the world.

As you long to have your own apartment or your own home, start dreaming of ways to honor God with your living space, and start seeking opportunities now in the ways that you only can in this season of waiting! And as you do, do some further dreaming as you think of the many ways God will use Today to increase your heart and your wisdom for the people who will fill your life in the many years to come.

Don’t let your thoughts stop at simple lists of longings and contentedness. See how God is already using these fulfilled and unfulfilled desires for His Kingdom—see how He’s using them for your (and others’) sanctification! See how contentedness for Today leads to a longing to see what God will do Tomorrow, and see how a longing for Tomorrow increases the joy to see what God is doing Today.

Contentment and longing can intentionally work together for the glory of God. It’s so easy to make these subject to us and our own will for our lives, but there is so much more joy and freedom in store as you steward your thoughts and your desires, and make it your aim to please Him (2 Corinthians 5:9).

More Reading:
Do You Have Ambition for the Smaller Tasks?
Are You Looking Out Your Window?
How Important Is Church Community?
How Can I Make a Difference?
You Are Not Just a Wife in Training.

I grew up praying for my future husband. I even grew up reading dating books, listening to sermons on dating, and made mental notes of habits and mindsets to keep in a relationship. But even then, that wasn’t enough to stop me from making terrible, horrible, no good, very bad decisions in dating.

Why?

First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. (Matthew 23:26)

To put it this way, I was putting so much effort into cleaning one spot on my dirty dish that I didn’t tend to the rest of it. I was putting so much focus on the “do’s” and “don’ts” and only talked to God about my desire for a godly relationship.

But friends, this is what I wish I understood sooner: God speaks to you as a whole being, not just as a wife and not just as a woman desiring to be married one day.

Now to be fair, out of all the training and out of all the sanctifying we have to endure, training to be a wife is perhaps the most-looked-forward-to part. You’re preparing for Happily Ever After, for Mr. Darcy, for an adventure with your best friend. You’re readying your heart to one day cultivate a home for someone—and perhaps a few little ones. This kind of preparation is fun.

But the truth is, if we don’t learn to exercise all our muscles as we prepare to run the race that spans the rest of our lives, we are going to be some very lopsided women running around in Jesus’ Name.

If you don’t learn now what it means to honor your parents, how will you teach your children what that looks like?

If you don’t put in the work to kill strongholds in your life, how will you be able to cultivate a home on the days when it’s really difficult to control your attitude or your emotions? How do you know these won’t bubble to the surface and hurt your husband or child one day?

If you are only preparing to love a husband well, the rest of the people in your world are really going to be famished when they desire your love and cannot have it.

Friends, let me say this again: God speaks to you as a whole being, not just as a wife and not just as a woman desiring to be married one day.

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It’s so easy to get wrapped up in dreaming and preparing to one day be a wife, but the Bible so quickly brings us back down to reality. And the first step to remembering our reality is being reminded of who God is.

The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. (Exodus 34:6)

O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth! (Psalm 8:1)

Your decrees are very trustworthy; holiness befits Your house, O LorD, forevermore. (Psalm 93:5)

Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come! (Revelation 4:8)

This is our God! His very character compels us to act. And as His children, we seek to know more of Him, seek to look like Him, and seek to please Him.

You will seek Me and find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:13)

As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for You, O God. (Psalm 42:1)

The most important [commandment] is, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:29-30)

“As He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:15-16)

So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him. (2 Corinthians 5:9)

My dear friend, God wants all of you. Not just the part preparing for a future you’re not promised. He wants all of you to prepare you for what is promised: an eternal relationship with Him. He wants you to enjoy Him, to enjoy being refreshed when He purifies all of you to be holy as He is holy. He wants you to enjoy life as He creates in you a new heart that not only loves a godly relationship but also loves godliness.

How often do you prioritize investing in your relationship with God before you prioritize preparing for a relationship that will only last on this side of Heaven?

It’s almost sad to think that your husband—or even the one you long to marry—will not be your husband forever. But this brief, momentary love points back to the ultimate love between you and your God.

He must come first. And in a relationship with Him, He wants to transform you to look more like Himself: holy, blameless, righteous—lovely. The training and the discipline is, in all honesty, extremely difficult at times. But the joy is more wonderful than words can express. The joy of looking so much more like the one who not only formed you but redeemed you is indescribable.

So why wouldn’t you find such sweet satisfaction in letting Him transform all of you? Don’t give Him simply a portion of your heart. You will find such great joy in surrendering all things to Him.

Commit your way to the LORD; trust in Him, and He will act. (Psalm 37:5)

It is the Lord’s good pleasure to work in you to transform you daily into His image. So resolve daily to surrender your life to Him.

Not just when you learn a new lesson about dating or marriage.

Not just when you mess up in your relationship.

Not just when conviction hits you.

No, daily choose to give all of yourself to Him.

We can say, “God, You can have all of me” because we know He is faithful and full of steadfast love toward us. Some of you may feel as though marriage is the only thing you greatly desire. Others of you may be clinging so tightly to it, you feel that not constantly asking God about it means He’ll forget about your desires.

But friends, rest assured that our Good God has much more in store than we can ever imagine. He only has good in mind for His own. Come what may in regards to relationships and the many—many—other parts of our lives, God will use all things for His glory and our good. What more reason to grow excited about everything our lives? We will get more of God—we will get true delight as we seek the Lord and surrender to His discipline, His plans, His will, His heart. And we can declare with the Psalmist, “All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep His covenant and His testimonies” (Psalm 25:10).

The parts of you that are a daughter, the parts of you that are a sister, the parts of you that are a girlfriend or a wife, the parts of you that are a student—all these and more first belong to the Lord. You are first the Lord’s. And the Lord desires all of you for Himself.

You are His in training. Training to look every day more like Christ, and training every day to gaze more at Christ. And most importantly, you are His to enjoy—so let yourself enjoy much of Him as you give Him all of you.

More Reading:
God Placed Me Alone to Help Me Through My Loneliness
Do You Have Ambition for the Smaller Tasks?
Are You Looking Out Your Window?
How Important Is Church Community?
How Can I Make a Difference?

Beloved theologians and Christian speakers often shape our answer to the question, “Who can be influential?” How can they not? They stand before crowded rooms of hungry Christians — dressed in suits or hot pink pants, speaking with a charisma that guarantees revival in the hearts of many. It seems like everything they think, say, or do is anointed by the Holy Spirit.

For those of us who desire to be influential for the Kingdom of God, we wonder what the “secret sauce” is that makes their influence so powerful. Is it the way they speak? Is it the way they present themselves? Is it about how many books they read? Is it about how long they pray? What is their secret?

Even if you don’t desire to speak in front of crowded rooms, you might find yourself still pondering that question as you consider your small group, your family, your friends — whatever sphere of influence God’s put you in. How can I make a difference in their faith?

The good news is, you don’t have to swap out your wardrobe or talk with a slight southern accent (middle school me is very guilty) or read every theological book in existence in order to speak for Christ. God made no mistake about the way He made you — the way you speak, the things that spark your interest — or about where He’s placed you today.

The great news is that the only person you need to be in order to make a true, lasting, eternal difference is someone who is willing to give their whole life to God.

Let’s take a look at the story of Moses.

Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of Yahweh appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, and yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” When Yahweh saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And he said, “Here I am” … “Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” And He said, “But I will be with you.” (Exodus 3:1-4, 10-12)

Every person God calls to a mission is first drawn in by awe. Now, God may not choose to use burning bushes to get our attention now, but do you remember a moment where you found yourself in awe of who God is? Maybe you were looking out to a beautiful horizon and awed at your Creator. Maybe you were hit to the heart by the lyrics of a worship song. Maybe you found tremendous joy when you found that the Bible is living and active, and spoke directly to whatever situation you were facing that day.

Those moments are crucial, because God uses those to draw us closer … and closer … and closer still to Himself — close enough that He can speak to us.

Do you say, “Here I am” when He calls? Or do you awe for a brief moment and move on to the next thing. Let your awe result in a response that says, “Here I am, Lord. Speak to Your servant.” This is a phrase that changes your life forever.

God called Moses to an impossible mission. For the last 400 years in Israel’s history, God’s chosen people had been slaves and had endured cruel conditions. Pharaoh was not only dangerous but also the most powerful person on earth at the time — and God was calling a shepherd to bring His people to freedom.

Understandably, Moses had some questions. “Really God? Look at me.” Though once royal (see Exodus 2), he was now a fugitive and had nothing to his name — he was a lowly keeper of his father-in-law’s flock.

But God had big plans for this nobody. Not because he was truly somebody, but because He — the Almighty God of the Universe — would be with him, using him as an instrument that would sing of the incomparable glory of God, to the nations and to His people.

But Moses said to Yahweh, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since You have spoken to Your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” Then Yahweh said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, Yahweh? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what to speak.” (Exodus 4:10-12)

The answer, “I am with you” was not a sufficient one for our dear friend Moses. And in truth, he had no business speaking in front of a king and leading an entire nation to freedom — he thought so, too! Having a speech impediment made it seem impossible to be used for great things for the Lord. And yet, “nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37).

You see, Moses did not understand the power of God’s promised presence. A few weeks ago, we said that meditating on the character and acts of God allows us to see what He delights to do in and for us. Part of doing that allows us to see how and when God desires to use us despite our weaknesses.

What are your weaknesses? List them out loud or write them down on paper. Then, list out who you know God to be. What is bigger in your mind, your weaknesses or the God of the Universe? Often, our weaknesses seem so limiting to the calling God placed on our lives. But if God’s called us, will He not also go with us?

Often, these are the very things God uses to magnify His name. It may not look like it at first. It took ten plagues for Pharaoh to finally listen to Moses —well, listen to God — and let His people go. And yet, those are ten times where God showed His power over the mightiest man in the world, and ten times where God showed His steadfast love and protection over His people who were spared.

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My friend, you are unique — God has not made another like you. And because that’s true, God will use you strategically to maximize His glory so that more people will come to know Him, repent, and profess Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Here am I, send me! (Isaiah 6:8)

At the end of the day, Moses still knew how dependent he was on the Lord. He didn’t consider himself as more special than anyone else — he still knew who deserved all the glory. At the very end of the book of Exodus, Moses is alone on Mount Sinai and prays, “Now therefore, if I have found favor in Your sight, please show me now Your ways, that I may know You in order to find favor in Your sight” (Exodus 33:13).

May this continue to be our heart posture through the end of our lives! May we be so consumed with the glory of God — may we be so humbled by the Almighty’s majesty — that we never for a minute consider our influence to be of our own power.

And as this continues to be our heart as we go through life, as we do ministry, as we desire to help others grow in their faith and in their love for the Lord — friends, we will see that the only contribution we have to “our influence” is simply a heart ready to see what God will do in the lives of others. It’s God who gives the growth (1 Corinthians 3:6), and we get to awe as He uses us to help Him garden.

If you want to be like those beloved theologians and Christian speakers who seem to have endless influence, then know it’s never about influence for them. It’s first about being so deeply in awe of the Lord that you say, “Here’s my life, Lord, take it and use it for your glory.” Being used for His glory means saying, “These are my weaknesses, but God You are so much bigger than me! And if You call me, that means I get You, and I get to see so much more of who You are and what You desire to do in the lives of others — so use me!”

More Reading:
When Your Dream Becomes Burdensome
God Placed Me Alone to Help Me Through My Loneliness
Do You Have Ambition for the Smaller Tasks?
Are You Looking Out Your Window?
How Important Is Church Community?

I grew up going to church, but being part of church really only meant listening to the pastor speak from God’s Word. I only had a portion of the picture — what I lacked was an understanding of community.

I never fell in love with the idea of small groups. In fact, I kind of resented them. Why would I want to spend an hour with a bunch of kids on a Wednesday night when I didn’t feel like I connected to any of them?

So, I decided that in no way did I want to be part of a small group filled with people I would never connect with. (Huge, huge problems with that, but we’ll get there.)

By the time I got to college, I decided to voluntarily attend my first small group. A friend wanted to join, so I figured I at least knew I’d connect with someone there. But in truth, being there felt so awkward. People were sharing about very vulnerable things, and pretty much right away. These people are incredibly needy if they’re opening up about these intimate details in their life, I thought. Shouldn’t they just share these things with the Lord?

I spent a lot of time not going to that small group. But something inside me told me not to quit. Though I was a no-show in the fall, I decided to start attending regularly in the spring. I’m not sure I had another motive besides the fact that I knew small groups were supposed to be helpful, and that my small group leader was struggling to get attendance up.

By the end of the semester, the small group became a one-on-one discipleship between me and my leader. I wish I could say I learned how valuable small groups were during this time, but the only thing I can say with certainty that I learned was that I liked being able to talk about God with someone who also loved talking about God. And, every week she took time to prepare a lesson and pour into me.

That experience made me decide to sign up to be a small group leader the following year.

What in the world was I thinking during that time? I had decided to lead something I truly didn’t understand the importance of — all I knew was that I just wanted to talk to more Christians about Jesus.

During that year, I saw how truly important small group relationships are. Part of the requirement of being a small group leader meant being in a small group made for small group leaders. There I learned about authentic Biblical community. Questions like, “What lies are you believing?” and “How have you fed your flesh, fed your soul [with Biblical truths], and fed others?” launched me head first into a world I never knew. I learned to let people ask me hard questions and even learned to enjoy vulnerability alongside people also learning to enjoy vulnerability. We dove deep into passages of Scripture and wrestled together with questions I thought “strong Christians” should never ask. I savored the joyful humility that comes with opening up and growing in my understanding of God alongside sisters in Christ.

And here’s the thing: hardly any of those girls were the type of people I typically connected with. Yet they were the girls I cried with, laughed with, struggled alongside, and grew deeper in faith with. A girl who once cringed at the idea of sitting amongst peers I didn’t know how to connect to suddenly loved being part of a motley crew that was connected by Christ.

And there it was. Biblical community isn’t just an obligation to attend a small group once a week — it is an enjoyable fellowship that is built on the Gospel. It’s not only fun to do life alongside other believers — it is fundamental in helping us know God.

The Christian walk cannot be lived alone. Hebrews 10 makes that very clear.

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that He opened for us through the curtain, that is, through His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:19-25)

Look at how many times the author of Hebrews uses “communal” language. There are certainly times in the Bible where God addresses the individual, but God has always called a people to Himself. The Church would not be the Church if it were not comprised of many, many, many of us. We are citizens and children, called to live under the Gospel and live for the Gospel together.

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Did you realize that the Gospel isn’t just about being forgiven by a holy God? It’s also about friendship with this holy God. God — triune and therefore relational — created us to experience a perfect relationship with Him, which He has restored every believer to.

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends … No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. (John 15:13, 15)

If the Gospel is the Good News of forgiveness and eternal friendship with God, shall we not also experience eternal friendship with those who also rejoice in this Good News?

We need one another, brothers and sisters. First of all, the Christian life is hard. There are so many things that tempt us to not live in light of the Gospel, in light of what Christ did for us. We believe lies about God, we feed our flesh with the very things Christ died to save us from, and we live at times as if Jesus was not our Lord and Savior.

We need one another to remind us, encourage us, and convict us of Gospel truths. This isn’t merely a duty, this is a joy.

Do you remember the joy you had when Jesus Christ became your Lord and Savior? Do you remember the warmth that spread all over your body, the energy you suddenly had, the delight you felt for Him for the first time?

We continue to experience this joy throughout our lives as the Gospel becomes more dear and more precious to us. But how wonderful is it to enjoy the Gospel alongside others? How wonderful is it to go even deeper in this enjoyment alongside others hungry for this kind of love for the Lord?

This is the foundation of the global and eternal Church community.

Now, none of the small groups I mentioned were through a local church — they were part of an outreach at my Christian college.1 But they gave me a hunger for these types of relationships at the local church I’m at now. I’m truly so grateful for those experiences, because if I didn’t learn to dive deep into my church community the moment I moved, my loneliness problem would be far worse than I care to imagine.

For through [Jesus Christ] we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. (Ephesians 2:18-19)

This truth informs the way we approach relationships with our brothers and sisters in Christ — we are to see one another as Family. There is no need for standoffishness but there is every reason in the world to draw near to those who also have been brought to new life because they believed in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord.

I knew that though I was walking into a new church as a stranger, I was meeting my new family. This family share in life with me. They would love me, walk alongside me, challenge me, equip me, encourage me, remind me of the Gospel to which we’ve been called. And I would get to do the same for them!

Though I’ve only been at this church for a little over a month, I have been incredibly loved and cherished by this congregation. People have given me hugs, called me randomly, invited me to their small groups, and told me just how glad they are to have me there with them.

Let me be clear, there is nothing special about who I am that constitutes that. I’ve simply been called to the same Family they’ve been called to. And based on the sweetness I’ve seen from these relationships already, I cannot be more excited to see what they look like ten years down the road, when we know each other’s weakness and learn how to help one another fight for sight to see so much more of Christ when we need to.

This is love that is built on the Gospel.

Embracing your church community is so enjoyable. It’s rich, and it’s unlike anything you’ll ever experience. It’s a fellowship that is based on something eternal — how can it be anything but enriching and refreshing? The struggles become easier and the joys become sweeter when shared with this Family.

And if you find that your church community is not like this, I encourage you to keep looking — perhaps you don’t have to look far, but simply to the person seated next to you. Everyone desires to experience true friendship, and Christians are already primed to seek this because they’ve already sought eternal friendship with God. Might you take the first step to engage with a brother or sister in true, Gospel-centered friendship?

So, how important is church community? Extremely important. Because Church is more than Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings — it’s a Family that loves talking about our Good God, diving deeper in our understanding of Him, and enjoying a fellowship with one another that can only be shared between children saved by Christ.

What’s holding you back from enjoying deep fellowship at your church?

More Reading:
When Shame Has Us in a Chokehold
When Your Dream Becomes Burdensome
God Placed Me Alone to Help Me Through My Loneliness
Do You Have Ambition for the Smaller Tasks?
Are You Looking Out Your Window?

Very recently, I took a work trip to the Hill Country of Texas, covering a devastating flood that hit that area for the second year in a row. I loved reporting on that trip. I was finally out on the field and was getting to both encourage residents and tell stories that highlighted God’s glory — that showed how He was bringing hope to the hopeless.

Throughout the trip, I prayed fervently for wisdom and for God to bring me to the people whose stories I needed to tell. I used my car rides to talk to God about these stories, about the way I wanted to glorify Him, about how desperately I didn’t want to waste this trip. During one particularly long drive, my prayer time was interrupted by an incoming phone call from my photographer, who was driving behind me.

“Hey, did you see those buck out there?”

Those what?

“You didn’t see them? You gotta be watching — they’re huge! And there are a bunch of doe out there, too.”

“I can’t believe I missed them all, are you serious?”

“I was hoping you saw them! Bella, look out — we’re in Hill Country!”

Something about the way he said that stuck with me. Even after we hung up, I couldn’t get that phrase out of my head. It wasn’t a warning to watch out for those antlers that were sure to wreck my car if given the chance — although I really did need to start watching for that, too! — it was a warning that I was about to miss out on the beautiful country we were driving through.

Chances are, I’ll never go back to that area again, so I really needed to soak in that drive as much as possible. But it had me thinking: how often do I miss out on what God’s doing all around me?

There are moments I’ll never be able to go back to — precious moments that I didn’t get a chance to soak in. Now, my intention was to not waste my trip. The literal prayer I was praying to God was that I wouldn’t waste my time there. But I was so focused on finding stories that showed God’s glory that I didn’t take time to savor the way God was showing His glory just to me. On my mission for Him, I almost missed out on the ways He delighted to just enjoy time with me.

On the glorious splendor of Your majesty, and on Your wondrous works, I will meditate. They shall speak of the might of Your awesome deeds,
and I will declare Your greatness. (Psalm 145:5-6)

My supervisor encouraged me to speak one passage of Scripture over every one of my travels so I can see how God uses His Word to guide my perspective and teach me throughout the trip. I chose the passage above because I desperately desired to speak of nothing but His glory. I wanted to show others how majestic my God is, how loving and good and wonderful He is. But I nearly forgot the phrase, “I will meditate.”

Before the declaration comes the meditation.

For you, O Yahweh, have made me glad by Your work; at the works of Your hands I sing for joy. (Psalm 92:4)

What does meditation mean? Though the word is usually associated with Buddhist and Hindu rituals or with wellness practices, Biblical meditation is intent reflection on who God is and what He says in His Word. Questions all over the Bible help us meditate on who He is, but let’s simply look at Isaiah 40:

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows Him His counsel? Whom did He consult, and who made Him understand? Who taught Him the path of justice, and taught Him knowledge, and showed Him the way of understanding? (Isaiah 40:12-14)

Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might and because He is strong in power, not one is missing. (Isaiah 40:26)

Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from Yahweh, and my right is disregarded by my God?” Have you not known? Have you not heard? Yahweh is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; His understanding is unsearchable. (Isaiah 40:27-28)

When we meditate on who God is, we are much quicker to humble ourselves and give God the praise He is due. How fast we forget the gravity of His holiness, His greatness, His trustworthiness when we fail to sit in the questions that draw us back to beholding.

Asking these questions increase our personal gladness in our great God. Our minds can know that He is good, but meditating brings us to a heightened experience of joy in Him! In meditating on who He is, we get to perceive the ways He is intimately involved in our lives, the ways He delights in time alone with us. And, we get to grow in our trust and worship of Him — the purpose, by the way, of our very lives.

Biblical meditation is essential to our faith. Why do we settle for surface level understanding of who He is when His very Word gives us questions that draw us further up and further in?1

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While I was in Texas, I got the chance to encourage people to turn their eyes upon Jesus. I used this passage a few times to encourage them:

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth give way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling … “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” (Psalm 46:1-3, 10)

These homeowners literally saw the foundations of the earth giving way beneath their feet — think about the horror of that scene! And yet, even in that, God was calling them to be still and know He is still God — to delight in the fact that He is not only in control but is also still with them. All these things are used for His glory … and our own, which is to know Him more fully, draw near to experience a personal relationship with our Good God, and to deeply enjoy a life spent with Him.

Friends, we who believe that get to call others into this kind of relationship with the God of the Universe. We get to tell others how great He is — but as we look for opportunities to work unto His glory, do we forget to spend time enjoying Him?

I often find myself in that boat. In looking for ways to praise Him alongside others, I almost miss the ways God’s showing up just for me.

So friends, on your way to lift others’ eyes to the Almighty, do you forget to look out of your window and behold Him?

Maybe you’re busy. Maybe you’re in a monotonous season of life. Or maybe you’re constantly in ministry mode and never in enjoyment mode. Friends, the most important thing you can do is deeply savor the time you have just with your Lord.

I love you, O Lord, my strength. (Psalm 18:1)

Oh, how abundant is Your goodness, which You have stored up for those who fear You and worked for those who take refuge in You, in the sight of the children of mankind! (Psalm 31:19)

On the glorious splendor of Your majesty, and on Your wondrous works, I will meditate … You open Your hand; You satisfy the desire of every living thing. (Psalm 145:5, 16)

Look out the window — you’re in Hill Country! Don’t miss what God delights to do for you, which will heighten your enjoyment and deepen your relationship with Him.

Take time to meditate on His goodness all around you — and behold your God!

More Reading:
The Homemaker’s guide to temporary living spaces
When Shame Has Us in a Chokehold
When Your Dream Becomes Burdensome
God Placed Me Alone to Help Me Through My Loneliness
Do You Have Ambition for the Smaller Tasks?

Growing up, I just wanted to be a martyr — what an unexpected ambition for any child! I wanted to give my life for Christ in a foreign country, just like the missionaries I read so often about. I rehearsed in my head what I’d say if I was met by the end of a spear, what I’d say if people came to my home and asked, “Do you believe Jesus is God? Are you a Christian?”

I was so ready to give my life for Christ — and still am. But giving my life for Him doesn’t just entail being ready to die for Him. It means loving Him so much that I’m willing to live every day for Him.

Friend, are you ready to give your every day matters to Him?

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:19-20)

Whether you wanted to be a martyr or just loved hearing Gospel stories from around the world, I think we as Christians have a tendency to over-glorify missions. We imagine the joy of making hard decisions for Jesus, taking hard stances for Him, and following Him to the ends of the earth on an adventure that shows us and the world just how glorious and wonderful God is.

But do we ever consider how going to the ends of the earth includes glorifying Him where we already are?

The Great Commission includes consecrating the menial things to the Lord.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:1-2)

We need to stop coveting missionary work and start living for Christ where we’re at, with the everyday simplicities He’s given us — otherwise, we will waste our lives.

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I find it so hard to remember God wants me to live for Him even as I perform small tasks like doing the dishes, proof reading someone else’s work, going to the bank — the everyday life decisions that are so easy to mindlessly do are so difficult to consecrate to my God. And yet, this is what God calls me to do — and what He calls you to do, Christian — with everything we do.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. (Deuteronomy 6:5-6)

So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him. (2 Corinthians 5:9)

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (2 Corinthians 10:31)

This kind of living takes intentionality, and some days are more of a fight than others. But Friend — this is a fight to see more of Him, our Lord and Savior, in everything we do. If we truly have professed to believe in the Gospel, then we must also believe that it transforms our entire way of thinking, feeling, doing — living.

Jesus once told a parable about a master who left his servants to work and steward the money he gave each of them. They were to use and increase and be faithful with the amounts he gave them before he returned. Two of the servants increased their allowance, the other stuck his money in the ground and wasted his time. But to the two servants who did well, the master said:

Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. (Matthew 25:21)

Everyone is given a unique lot in life. And yet every Christian regardless of season, vocation, or calling — pastor, missionary, mother, student — can confidently say, “The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; You hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance” (Psalm 16:5-6).

God has a beautiful and glorious plan for your life because He is your inheritance! What more reason do you need to serve Him, to live for Him, to consecrate every big and small task or decision to Him? Because He is your portion, your life can never be dull or simple. Since when has the Bible ever claimed that?

The exciting answer is: never.

Not every Christian will be a missionary, but all of us are called to glorify Him. Will you be faithful with what He’s given you to steward each day? Or will you waste your life, never seeing His glory or giving Him glory? That’s pretty drastic, but that is the fork in the road every single person comes to. Will you follow Jesus and abide in our God, or will you live for yourself and never learn what it means to experience true and deep relationship with the Creator and Savior of the World?

If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. (Matthew 16:24)

This is the greatest calling anyone will decide to respond to. This is a call to experience a rich and personal relationship with God — even more, it’s a call to see Him as He truly is: majestic, wonderful, powerful, glorious, holy. He compels us to do big things for Him — how can we not, if we see how big our God is?

If you aspire to do big things for Christ, start being faithful with the small. Then will you see how much glory God will get from what we consider menial, simple — unimportant. Let God have abundant glory in your life — and let yourself know so much more of Him — as you resolve to take up your cross and live Gospel-centrically even in the ordinary.

Friend, live for Christ now, and awe at the glory of your God as never before.

More Reading:
Why Does It Feel Like God Never Chooses My Side?
The Homemaker’s guide to temporary living spaces
When Shame Has Us in a Chokehold
When Your Dream Becomes Burdensome
God Placed Me Alone to Help Me Through My Loneliness

To some, it sounds pretty counter intuitive for God to take us away from community to make us feel alone so we can deal with our loneliness. God, why are You allowing me to feel so lonely in order to help me through my loneliness? This just doesn’t make sense.

This has been a regular cry out to God since I moved. But here’s one of the biggest things I’m learning through asking this: it’s not my job to make it make sense. God does everything for a reason — my job is to listen.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me. (Psalm 23:4a)

This psalm likens believers to sheep and praises God for being our Good Shepherd. He is praised for loving us so well, for leading us so faithfully, for tending to us so dearly.

Why in the world would our Good Shepherd lead us through the valley of the shadow of death? That doesn’t seem at all pleasant or loving to me.

Except it is, because how could we ever know the vastness and depths of His goodness if we didn’t see it in utter darkness? If God only led us through times of joy … how small our God would be! We wouldn’t be able to trust Him during the darkest hours of our lives. We wouldn’t be able to fully give ourselves to Him — how can we if we know His goodness comes to an end?

Friends, God is good all the time, and all the time God is good.

You see, suffering of any kind is not the absence of God’s goodness in your life — suffering is sovereignly ordained by God to prove His goodness.

Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith — that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:17-21)

Does this Christ not seem able to fully satisfy you? This Jesus — the God who died for you, to offer you forgiveness for your sins — extends His hand to you, that you may be able to enjoy a full and satisfying relationship with Him. In every season, God is faithfully chasing you down, showing you how much more satisfaction you can be drawing from Him as Lord and Savior. Christ can be nothing short of good.

God proves His goodness even in loneliness. In loneliness, you feel the weight of social deprivation. You feel it as you go about your day, as you place your head on your pillow — for someone like me who’s in a season where they’re figuring life out on their own, loneliness can feel like a constant companion.

I’ve wondered why God’s allowed me to feel it so heavily at times. I know He’s my Lord and Savior — I know He’s my Good Shepherd who promises to be with me as He leads me through the darkest valleys of my life. So why do I have to learn this lesson in such a difficult way? Why does God seem to give me no relief?

It doesn’t matter how much we previously know about who He is — God’s taking us deeper into these lessons and truths because His love is deeper! It’s far greater than we could ever imagine, and we can only begin to excavate more of it when He takes us deeper into darker parts of the cave.

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It’s true that God’s holding us fast during these times — He doesn’t simply let us experience pain without reason. He’s showing us His glory in the places we do not yet understand Him to be glorious.

God’s doing so much around us that we can’t even see yet. But even as we wait for community, for a roommate, for the feeling at least to subside, God’s using loneliness to show us His grace at work within us. This is what the psalmist says in the next phrase in Psalm 23:

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4b)

A shepherd’s rod protects his sheep from evil, and his staff pulls the sheep back from running into danger.

How susceptible are we to spiritual warfare when we’re alone? Very. If walking alone at night makes us victims, then certainly walking alone in life makes us victims to the enemy’s attacks on our hearts and minds.

How quick are we to run to things or people to satisfy us and take away the loneliness? Pretty quickly. These things or people become idols over time — we assign them more value than we do God!

In our greatest times of loneliness, God’s rod and staff are our greatest comforts.

For He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His pinions,1 and under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday. (Psalm 91:3-6)

The darkness is still there — but we who take shelter under the Most High never have to fear it. He is our deliverer, our refuge, our sovereign and mighty protector, and we can find everything we need in Him. As the theologian Matthew Henry wrote, “He that by faith chooses God for his protector, shall find all in Him that he needs or can desire.”

Our loneliness heightens our awareness of how desperately we need Him. Note that loneliness doesn’t make us desperate for Him — loneliness reveals the desperation that was already there. When all else is stripped away by grace, then it is also by grace that God reveals who He is and how much we need Him.

What makes you cling to a need for community more than God? What makes you even cling to the feeling of loneliness more than God? What has God stripped from you so that you can experience so much more of Him? There, learn to cling to Him alone. Drink from the well that never runs dry, and taste and see that God is good.

Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows My name. When he calls to Me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him My salvation.” (Psalm 91:14-16)

Embrace God in the loneliness! It is a hard and difficult season — but our God is giving all of Himself to you even so. See so much more of Him — dive deep into His heart. And when community certainly comes, when you start to feel less lonely — during the happier seasons near still waters and along green pastures — the fight to find God as all-satisfying gets easier. And when the next valley of the shadow of death comes upon you, you will be able to shout, “Yes, Lord, take me deeper in my understanding of who You are! Let me be supremely happy because You alone satisfy me so richly! And may it be, come what may, through temptation and wayward-mindedness, let Your rod and staff comfort me as You reveal Your glory in the ways I do not yet see it! Use my loneliness to strengthen my love for You!”

More Reading:
The idolatry of intellect
Why Does It Feel Like God Never Chooses My Side?
The Homemaker’s guide to temporary living spaces
When Shame Has Us in a Chokehold
When Your Dream Becomes Burdensome

Dirty dishes in the sink, toys scattered everywhere.

Living alone, miles away from home.

Waking up, still angry at him from your fight the night before.

Living in the desert, discouraged that you’ve given your life for the Gospel and yet have beared no fruit.

Maybe your life looks like one of these pictures above. If you look back far enough — all the way into that distant and hope-filled past — you’ll remember that these are parts of the answers to your prayers. You prayed to be a mom. You prayed for a job like this. You prayed for this man. You prayed to be sent out to tell the world about Jesus — so why is it so difficult to rejoice in your circumstances? You are living in abundant blessing — aren’t you? What went wrong?

Let me tell you a little bit about my story. Two years ago, I felt God tell me that I was going to write stories of what He’s doing to bring hope to the hopeless, the lost, the forgotten, the unreached. I knew God was calling me to write about how He was saving people to Himself through powerful and miraculous means — I just had no idea what that was.

I prayed two years’ worth of prayers that can be summed up along the lines of this prayer: “Lord, send me somewhere where I can write about what You’re doing.” And now, I’m living my dream, at a dream company, in a dream place.

But some of the days are discouraging. I see how much farther I need to go in my writing, and I wonder if I was supposed to be here in the first place. Sometimes the nights are incredibly long — living on my own for the first time has proven to be quite lonely at times. And since moving here, it’s felt like I’ve had to put out fire after fire — between killing 3-5 spiders a day and jumping between various temporary living situations, this was not what I had in mind when I pictured what my “dream life” would look like. At one point, I looked at the chaos around me and came close to saying, “This is a disaster.”

So what happened? Did I misunderstand where I’m supposed to be? Or worse: am I no longer living my dream?

No. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God has called me to this. To a T, this is my dream. And yet, my dream holds a lot of life in it — I had no concept of the details of what could realistically happen, spiders and housing issues and all. And yet, I cannot lose sight of the fact that the life I’m living is a huge blessing from the Lord. I can’t “sober up” and settle for reality, because really what I’d be telling myself to do is to stop awing at the provision of God.

I can accept that realistically, life is full of elements that can be burdensome. But I must also remember that this is the life I dreamed about — the life I prayed relentlessly for.

What, then, should be our perspective when the reality of our dreams sink in? How do we prevent ourselves from thinking the life we prayed for is a burden? What does it look like to fight for sight?

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Who is God? What is He like? Who has He shown Himself to be?

God is sovereign.

The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good. (Proverbs 15:3)

I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. (Job 42:2)

God is always merciful and faithful.

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22-23)

He’s shown us to be a powerful and loving Father.

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.

Jesus — God Himself! — loved us so much that He gave Himself up for us.

I [Jesus] came that they may have life and have it abundantly. (John 10:10)

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. (Galatians 1:3-4)

Jesus richly blessed us with His Spirit who never leaves nor forsakes us, but lives inside everyone who belongs to Christ and reminds them of His words.

The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. (John 14:26-27)

In stopping to awe at our wonderful, matchless triune God, we then can take another look at our lives, the rich blessings He’s lavishly poured out on us, the deep love He has for those who He’s called, “Mine” (Isaiah 43:1). Friends, if you are in Christ, you have been blessed with the greatest blessing of all: a relationship with Him! From this relationship, everything can begin to make sense.

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:2-3)

Your answers to prayer, the life you now get to live, is fully and divinely purposed to show you more about Him. This is what He means by seek the things that are above — we are to have a perspective that is greater than what we can see. When our lens through which we view the dreams and burdens of life comes from ourselves, it is easy to start complaining and even resenting the blessings we’ve been given. But when we view our life through the lens of Christ — knowing who He is from the list above — then we know that He is using everything in our life to bless us as we get to know Him more and pursue a deeper relationship with Him.

When God anchors our perspective, how can anything be a burden?

Do you think Paul, when he was being beaten and bruised and eventually killed for the sake of the Gospel, thought he was living his dream? Actually, the answer is a resounding yes! It was a joy to suffer for Christ and spread the Good News throughout the earth because he knew he was getting to see more of his Lord and Savior, more of His glorious work, more of His lavish love that shines through even in the worst of times. Christ anchored his perspective, so that in every situation he could rejoice, having learned to be content:

I have learned, in whatever situation I am, to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:11-13)

Friends, if Paul could write this from a prison cell, encouraging the believers to rejoice always (Philippians 4:4), he surely was living out answered prayers because he was living for Christ and living with Christ.

What excuse do we have, Christian, to not learn contentment in Christ and even gladness when burdensome situations arise? We must cling to the truth that there is joy in seeing how every situation points us to Him. This is a truth you must reckon with and wrestle to see clearly in every discouraging moment, every tough trial — every disaster.

Put another way, these are the things God is growing your gratitude for. It doesn’t happen just because you will yourself to be grateful. No — remember that He has called us to seek the things above. We must put on Kingdom mindsets, with eyes fixed on God. When you seek Him and seek to understand how He is using all circumstances for His glory and your good, not only will you be able to rejoice in all circumstances but you will also be able to see that these too are part of the answers to your prayers.

Though I’m just at the beginning of this beautiful dream the Lord has blessed me to live in, I see how He’s lavishly blessed me to work at a place that will train me and send me to write stories that tell of God’s glory. I see how the loneliest nights also hold my most favorite conversations with the Lord. I see how much God has truly provided miraculously even in the midst of chaos. Truly, God’s hand is sovereignly over everything that my eyes can see and more — I couldn’t not imagine my dream life being any better and yet God continues to only make it better and more wonderful still.

So, I turn it to you: what is your dream? What do you feel like God’s placed on your heart to do? What answers to prayer are you living in right now? What might be most burdensome to you about these dreams, about the life you’re living now? Those are the very things you ask God to increase your gratitude for — those are the things through which God will show much of Himself to you.

Whether you ask God to increase your gratitude for a messy kitchen or a seemingly fruitless ministry, I promise you this: God will encourage you and strengthen you and open your eyes to His glory in ways you’d never have seen unless you sought Him with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength (Deuteronomy 6:5-6).

So friends, look up at our Lord: get ready to see His glory at work all around you.

More Reading:
The idolatry of comfort
The idolatry of intellect
Why Does It Feel Like God Never Chooses My Side?
The Homemaker’s guide to temporary living spaces
When Shame Has Us in a Chokehold

Shame hates the light. And when we realize we’ve been disobedient, we wrestle. Like grub placed under a bright light, we violently squirm when God’s truth exposes us. But you see, God’s light doesn’t mock us or demand us to hide from Him. To why He does this, we must remember to look at the heart of our Lord:

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. (Romans 10:9-10)

And because He promised this to rebels like us who bow down at the foot of Christ, we are also called righteous before Him:

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1)

We who have declared Christ to be our Lord and Savior know this to be true. We know we have true freedom before Him — He no longer condemns us!

So after receiving such a glorious and gracious sentence, why does shame still seem to have a death grip on us?

Shame doesn’t know when to stop. Even as God convicts us with truth that leads to freedom from sin and bondage, shame still tries to keep us under its thumb. Though God convicts you so that you draw closer to Him, shame says, “Yes, your sin is ugly. Look at these parts of your heart — aren’t they awful?”

God convicts to fix your eyes on Him. Shame mocks to fix your eyes on yourself.

As God guts out the depths of our sinful hearts, shame keeps us from beholding and receiving His grace by distracting us with the ugliness of our disobedience. And thus, our great and tremendous view of God is ultimately reduced to nothing when all we can see is our shame.

Yes, shame hates the light. And it does everything it can to twist it for its own purposes, to keep us from enjoying the deep and rich love of Christ.

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Shame doesn’t just hate the light — it hates other people. I guarantee you that the most shame you’ve ever felt has come from your own mind.

You’re still dealing with that?

Don’t you do such-and-such ministry? And you’re still struggling in this way?

The problem goes that deep for you? That’s a little too scary to think that’s what goes on inside of you all day long.

While someone may have (wrongfully) told you some of these things at some point of your life, they don’t sting quite as much as when they are said from within you. Even if they are borrowed words put together, these words condemning you from within are nearer and more betraying than anything you will ever hear. They’re louder, and they’re much easier to believe.

And yet, shame never wants to lose its power, so it redirects your attention outward so you never quite know where the attacks are coming from — or who to trust.

Do you see what your friends just said? They’d forever judge you if they knew you struggled with that.

You can share your whole life with that person — except for that part. If they knew this about you, your relationship will never be the same.

You don’t hear anyone at church talk about this — this is something you alone deal with. If you confess now, you will forever be distanced from your community.

And yet, Christian, this could not be farther from the truth.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

Our mind is fickle, and it wants us to believe this verse won’t hold true when we need it to. So, we don’t share our shame with others. And because we don’t confess, we allow shame to control our perspective. We may know these verses, but by keeping silent and listening to shame’s lies, we act in disbelief. We don’t believe that these words — the very words of God — are powerful enough to be universally true for every situation shame tries to take advantage of.

Shame wants us to feel like we’re owned by it. With its lies, it keeps us silent so that we don’t reach out to other believers and have them call out what is true. In isolation, we have no one to help us fight for sight, to see God more clearly and to cling to His promises.

Now, there is a very real truth that we live amongst broken people who may not receive us with the love of Christ. Believers may not receive us well when we confess our sins, further adding kerosene to the flaming lies.

But Christian, don’t let that stop you from diving deep into the pleasure of being greatly known and loved by people who greatly love the Lord. We can seek out those who will not condemn us but will come alongside us, to strengthen us and silence shame by reminding us of the great hope and joy of the Gospel.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1)

I repeat this verse again because I don’t want us to rush past this truth: those who are in Christ Jesus — those who have admitted their sin, believed in the death and burial and resurrection of Jesus, and receive Him as both Lord and Savior — can no longer be condemned. Friends, we are no longer pronounced guilty! Our shame doesn’t condemn us, nor do people! The God of the universe is not ashamed of those who belong to Him. Our identity — the most defining proclamation over our lives — is given to us from Him alone because of Christ alone. What pleasure God takes in calling us His! And this is who we get to fix our gaze on when shame tries to steal our joy — believers, this is who we get to fix our friends’ gazes on when shame tries to steal their joy.

So then, what reason is there to hide our disobedience, to be so ashamed of it instead of remembering that we have all the freedom in the world to rejoice, saying, “I am a sinner, and I see more and more of my sin every day. But Jesus has redeemed me to Himself. He is not ashamed of me but by His grace He draws me nearer! Praise be to God!”

More Reading:
The idolatry of perfection
The idolatry of comfort
The idolatry of intellect
Why Does It Feel Like God Never Chooses My Side?
The Homemaker’s guide to temporary living spaces

When we think of the word “home,” we think of warmth, family, coziness, restoration, comfort. But sometimes, the only home someone may have is a dingy apartment, a friend’s couch, a hut on the mission field, a dorm room.

The thing is, all of these can be home. Wherever God is calling you, He is also calling you to root yourself there and make a livable environment.

This isn’t the time to pitch a tent, so to speak, and spend this season of your life in a make-shift home. You are meant to lay a foundation, grab your hammer, and get to work preparing for yourself a place to live and dwell.

When you know something is only temporary, you tend to not invest in the place, the people, the moments all around you. Yes, you go about your life as normal, but your heart won’t be in it. You withhold intentionality from the people around you.

In other words, you’re not cultivating a home.

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If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. (Matthew 16:24)

The Christian life is following Jesus on a journey Home. On this journey, we get to walk alongside other believers even for a short while, and we get to invite people to join us. How can we love others well if we approach every interaction with the thought, Well, I might not be staying here for very long — it’s not really worth investing my time in this one conversation. How do you know that that one interaction won’t be the one that will strengthen your brother, or that it won’t be the one that beckons someone teetering on the edge of the path to finally step onto it and start their own journey with the Lord?

People get placed in our lives for a reason. If we set our eyes toward what’s next, we will miss it, and we will not love them with the love of Christ. More cutting to the heart is this: we will not have denied ourselves in our pursuit of Christ because we would not be following Him faithfully.

My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come. A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another. (John 13:33-35)'

Just as Jesus loved His disciples and drew others to Him in the short time He walked on His earth, we are also called to love one another with that same kind of love and so help them know God more deeply than before!

Think of your roommate you’ll live with this next semester.

Think of your coworkers, your boss.

Think of the family you’ll soon leave after college.

Think of the friends at your internship.

Think of the friends you’re making at college.

Think of the people in your small group.

Think of the people you’re called to serve.

When you really think about it, all these relationships are temporary. Seasons change, people come and go — but we can’t just treat relationship in life as a temporary relationship. Thats why God calls us to have a Kingdom mindset: when He takes us from place to place, we must have a greater perspective and seek to make use of the time for the sake of Christ. And what does this look like?

Gospel-centric love.

This is a love capable of kindling a fire inside another. This is a love capable of welcoming and restoring another’s soul. This is a love capable of building a home wherever you go.

Christian, be prepared to go wherever God will call you. While He may call you to stay in the home you are in, He may also call you thousands of miles away — that means uprooting your life to make a home in a foreign and perhaps uncomfortable place. And the place you may now be living in might only be temporary — it can be so easy to waste this time while feeling like you’re waiting for life to begin.

So, how can you utilize every space you’re in for the sake of the Gospel?

However short or long you will be living in your temporary — yes, always temporary — living space, God is calling you to make it home — to decide now that you will use your time intentionally, not waiting for the season to pass but loving those around you out of the overflow of the Well that never runs dry.

While everything is temporary, the Gospel spurs us on to love and good works always. We should rise to every occasion to pour ourselves out onto those around us, whether we’ll know them for a day or for the rest of our lives.

If we only thought of some people as “moments,” or “camp outs” until our final destination, we would truly be so lonely — and not very happy. We will waste our lives by not investing in what’s around us. And, we will lose our sense of “home.”

No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. (John 15:15)

For He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why He is not ashamed to call them brothers. (Hebrews 2:11)

Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. (Romans 12:10)

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:1-2)

The Bible is familial. Yes, we’re fellow soldiers. Yes, we’re the Church. But friends, if you and I believe Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior, then we are brother and sister, and God is our Father. What more reason do we need to love one another with godly love even if we’re passers by on this side of eternity?

And what a glorious way to display the Good News of Jesus Christ to those who do not yet know the Father like we do. When we love — truly love — the people around us, whether it’s in the marketplace or in our neighborhood, we get to point them to the exceedingly greater love of the Father.

The place where you are, though temporary, cannot be treated as temporary. Build your life where you are. Resolve to love deeply. And in doing so, cultivate a space for people to feel the warm and steadfast love of God.

Invest in the church family around you.

Invest in those who need Jesus.

Resolve to submerge yourself in the life happening around you.

And in doing these things, obediently root yourself in the place to which you’re called. Keep your eyes fixed toward Home where Christ is, and let this hope then motivate you to love fiercely like Him for as long as He’ll have you there.

More Reading:
Grieving a loved one who’s still alive
The idolatry of perfection
The idolatry of comfort
The idolatry of intellect
Why Does It Feel Like God Never Chooses My Side?

Before we address the real issues with this statement, we have to recognize that this is a real lie that grabs hold of us. When life seems to push back on every decision, when every faithful step forward feels like we’re about to step into a landmine of trials, when we feel as though we’ve prayerfully discerned what to do and it looks as though God’s standing His ground with someone else … what do you do?

Sometimes it seems like God always chooses to let you get hit by raging wave after raging wave.

Sometimes it seems like God always chooses your parents’ side.

Sometimes it seems like God always chooses to put you on the path where you don’t know if you’re doing the right thing or the wrong thing.

Truly, sometimes it seems like God doesn’t choose your side.

Let’s read Joshua 5 to begin to answer this.

When Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua approached him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” “Neither,” he replied. “I have now come as commander of YHWH’s army.” Then Joshua bowed with his face to the ground in homage and asked him, “What does my lord want to say to his servant?” The commander of YHWH’s army said to Joshua, “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did that. (5:13-15 CSB)

Right before the great battle of Jericho, Joshua is met by the commander of God’s army. Whether he then knows that or not, he asks him a reasonable question: “Are you an Israelite or an enemy?” At first, the response seems interesting. The commander of the Lord’s army says, “Neither. I am the commander of YHWH’s army,” and instructs Joshua to revere the place he stood as holy ground (see Exodus 3).

In other words, God is not man that He chooses sides. Nor is He our servant. If we are to view God through the question, Which side will you pick this time, He would bear more resemblance in our minds to a god from Greek mythology — or an unfair referee — than to the sovereign God He professes to be throughout Scripture.

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But what are we to do with such passages like Psalm 124 that repeatedly say, “If it had not been YHWH who was on our side” if God doesn’t choose sides?

Because it is true that God is for us.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31)

This is true of every person who has believed in and called upon the name of Jesus. Nothing will separate us from the God who calls us His. And so, it isn’t God choosing our side, but us choosing God’s — us being saved to Him.

If you feel like God is letting you go through tumultuous waves for no reason, if you feel like He’s following the plan someone else has in mind but not your plan, if you feel like He’s making you figure out everything even if you’re walking toward a trap, hear this:

But now thus says YHWH, He who created you, O Jacob, He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am YHWH your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. (Isaiah 43:1-3)

God is a God of steadfast love (Exodus 34:6). When you follow Him, you will experience His faithfulness. If what God’s doing is not going in the direction you want, remember and believe that God never does anything to go against you. Before verse 31 in the eighth chapter of Romans, Paul reminds Christians of this powerful and grounding truth:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. (Romans 8:28-29)

God is always working for our good, to His purpose. Though we yearn to have hearts like His, He is still growing our hearts to be able to hold the desires He has. That means, often God will do what we do not understand in order to make us look like Him and in order for His name to be magnified.

If today you feel as though God is not choosing your side, ask God for eyes to see what He is doing. Because truly, it is never to make you happy in the things of this world.

God is drawing us back to Him, to make us supremely satisfied in Him.

If you indeed are His child, if you have believed in Him and surrendered to His lordship, you will see His presence going before and with you. You will see Him accomplishing His purpose through means you never chose but will forever be grateful for. Let your satisfaction in Him abound because you know that where He leads, you will get so much more of your Lord and Savior.

Friends, take heart and take courage today, knowing that God will never leave you nor forsake you — His love is hemming you in behind and before, and His hand is sovereignly upon your life (Psalm 139:5).

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? … Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? … No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:31-32, 35, 36-39)

More Reading:
Seasons are changing … are you ready?
Grieving a loved one who’s still alive
The idolatry of perfection
The idolatry of comfort
The idolatry of intellect

Have you ever done everything you could think of to make a wise decision, just to have your plan unravel before your eyes? Or perhaps you’ve hoped to impress someone with your knowledge, just to see how knowledgeable they are. Or consider this: how often have you gotten upset — and how upset have you gotten — when you realize how much you really know as opposed to how much you had hoped you knew?

God gave us brains with the ability to critically think, to discern, to grow, to share, to take the next step. But we miss one crucial detail: God also created us to be finite.

As a father shows compassion to his children, so Yahweh shows compassion to those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. (Psalm 103:13-14)

We weren’t made to know it all — how could we possibly? If we know we are not God, why do we rely on our intelligence as if we are? We want to prove ourselves to those around us and ourselves. And sometimes, we want to prove to God that we’re following Him.

But the truth is, sometimes we get distracted going down the path we think He’s leading on when truly we have no idea what He’s about to do at all.

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Whether it concerns a life decision, an opportunity to impress, or your sanctification, we want so desperately to show what we know. But we don’t realize how tightly we cling to this desire until God opens our eyes to what we’re doing.

Often, He works through sending trials that show us just how much we can’t rely on our own understanding. Other times, He allows us to be humbled in a conversation where we hoped to show our impressiveness. Or, He shows us the self-righteous heart posture we’ve even unknowingly taken on as we “check our progress” on the sanctification journey.

These are incredibly easy mindsets to fall into. And it feels as though we’ve failed when things aren’t going according to our plan.

But at the same time that God humbles us, He also gives us lavish grace (James 4:6). He reminds us of the blessing of not knowing it all.

Said better, He reminds us of the blessing of trusting Him.

Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of Yahweh that will stand.” (Proverbs 19:21)

As His children, God doesn’t punish us for taking our eyes off Him. Instead, He uses these things to refocus our gaze to be on who He is!

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand … For I, Yahweh your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.” (Isaiah 41:10, 13)

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)

We weren’t made to know how to navigate every problem that comes our way, but we were made to awe at how our Father is perfectly in control and provides what we need, even though it’s not the way we thought the plan would pan out (Psalm 55:22; Isaiah 41:10).

We weren’t made to have the answer to everyone’s problems or questions, but we were made to point others to the God who does know the answers and who answers in His perfect timing (Psalm 147:5; Lamentations 3:25-26; Isaiah 40:31).

We weren’t made to be perfectly sanctified, but we were made to abide in God as He fulfills His promise to us by working in us and through us to conform us to His image and create in us a heart like His (Philippians 1:6).

God is a very good Father. And seeing our finiteness actually draws us into deeper relationship with Him. As He opens our eyes to this beautiful — yes, beautiful — reality, we get to see with fresh eyes just how much He is in control, and just how much He is blessing us, His children, far more abundantly than we can ever ask or imagine.

It’s a very good thing to desire to do everything right, and to use the brain God has given you. But when you start to lean on yourself with your own limited understanding even a little more than you lean on God, be quick to ask God to fix your eyes back on Him.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:9)

We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on You. (2 Chronicles 20:12)

A close family friend taught me this prayer: “Father, surprise us, because You are a Father who loves to surprise.” If we take this heart posture into every one of our days, why would we ever try to control our situations or grow discouraged when we can’t? When we focus so much on our knowledge reservoir, there is no room to see who God is.

But when we stop clinging so much to our strategies for how we work out our knowledge, what else are we to do but enjoy the fact that we’re immensely taken care of by a Father who not only knows everything but also loves us so much?

But the steadfast love of Yahweh is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children, to those who keep His covenant and remember to do His commandments. Yahweh has established His throne in the heavens, and His kingdom rules over all. (Psalm 103:17-19)

It is so much better to trust God, to lean on Him with all His wisdom, than to try to prove that you’ve learned all you can to do what you’ve set out to do.

And, why do we waste our time vying to prove our own intelligence and strength when God Himself will accomplish His own plan and display His unmatched glory?

Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, “My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all My purpose.” (Isaiah 46:10)

And God’s plan is always so much better.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. (Romans 8:28-29)

More Reading:
Will God Redeem What Was Broken?
Seasons are changing … are you ready?
Grieving a loved one who’s still alive
The idolatry of perfection
The idolatry of comfort

Comfort isn’t wrong to desire, otherwise it would eventually become too uncomfortable to enjoy the things we love.

Have you ever heard the phrase, “Too much of a good thing?” At some point, your enjoyment of ease and leisure can become harmful. But can it be a sin? Can it truly be as deep and wrong as idolatry?

Yes. Comfort soon becomes idolatry when we prioritize comfort over Christ. In other words, comfort becomes an idol when we seek it out more than we seek out time with Him and seek to obey Him.

And behold, a man came up to Him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” … Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. (Matthew 19:16, 21-22)

Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? (Galatians 4:8-9)

We have to remember that comfort is inherently not a bad thing. But it becomes a bad thing when it becomes our main objective. Just as we did last week when we looked at the idolatry of perfection, let’s redefine idolatry here: it is sinning to get what we want or sinning because we didn’t get what we want.

How often have we lashed out in anger when asked to do something that poses a threat to our comfort?

How much do we turn off our brains to doom scroll or fill our minds with easier things to chew, rather than filling our minds intentionally with that which glorifies God?

Do we nod along or grow silent when someone pokes fun at Christ’s name or His Word, rather than speaking up for it and sharing the Gospel?

When we feel the Lord prompting us to give generously — be it time or finances — do we decide not to give because of fear that it will cost us greatly?

Do we fill our house with stuff rather than putting our money toward resources that will help grow our faith and toward the church or organizations that further the Kingdom?

Do we ignore God’s call to obedience because we’re too comfortable to move?

I hope you see how easy it is to love comfort more than godliness — more than God. But my hope is that we turn our eyes together to face Jesus, to look full in His wonderful face, so that the things of earth grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.1

I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)

There is something incredibly profound when we remember what Jesus has pronounced over the Christian’s life, which checks our desire for comfort from growing too big. Jesus spoke these words to His disciples before He was crucified — if we are to share in His sufferings (Acts 5:41; 2 Timothy 1:8), do you not think that we will be treated the same way our Lord was and still is?

Christian, while you may not be hated by everyone for following Christ, the Bible says that “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12). You must be ready to embrace this life because it is yours.

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The Christian’s life will be full of trials. We are swimming upstream! You will suffer for Christ’s name. You will be treated differently because you are living differently. Knowing this is enough to realize that treasuring comfort and seeking it at all costs is a worthless pursuit.

And yet, this isn’t enough to turn us away from craving comfort. We’ve only called it out so far. So what does it look like to turn from this idolatry?

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full, in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace

The words of that beautiful hymn are true beyond measure. When we see Jesus as more glorious than any other pursuit or treasure or desire — when we see God as we ought — all desires are properly placed under Him, and we get to enjoy these desires the way He designed us to.

Yes, God gives us new desires that align with His. And what this means is that He teaches us to love His design rightly, not sinfully.

What does this mean when we think about comfort?

It doesn’t mean we will live easy lives. In fact, as Jesus said, our lives will be filled with challenges. We will take stands for His name in uncomfortable situations. We will forsake comfort for the sake of loving like He does. We will obey Christ by taking steps of faith that proclaim His glory to the watching world.

Yes, our lives will be filled with challenges. But our lives will be enriched in seeing who our God truly is.

The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. And His name — by faith in His name — has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all. And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He thus fulfilled. Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out. (Acts 3:13-19)

Listen to the way Peter speaks about Jesus. Only weeks or months prior, he was walking with Christ before He was taken to Heaven. And after living for His name for a short while, listen to the way Peter speaks about his Lord. He savors every title, every action, every truth tied to who He is. This is coming from a man who knew the persecution and certain death waiting for him because he professed that Jesus was God. And yet, what joy and unshakable freedom he has to speak about Christ in this way!

When we idolize comfort, we miss what Peter had rightly seen.

Trials and tribulations are promised for the Christian, yes! But if we stop here, our hunger for comfort only grows more beastly. But when we see Christ as He truly is, when we awe rightly at the way He acts, when we find His promises to be sweeter than honey, here is where the true comfort lies. Here is where true and everlasting joy is found. Here is where true living begins.

You see, comfort in the physical sense is never promised to us. But comfort under the shadow of our Lord’s wing is promised to those who follow Him.

My heart for you is that you would see how good it is to lay down your need for comfort. God calls His followers into places that seem — and are — uncomfortable to say the least. But in these physically uncomfortable situations, we find true fellowship with Him and true fellowship with others. We are able to see His comfort at work, His glory radiating, and our joy overflowing by living life with Jesus, God Himself.

He is much better than our greatest imaginings of comfort. And in the moments that He calls us to experience discomfort, look further: He is calling us to see His glory and experience His goodness in ways we never would have seen otherwise — what a comfort!

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. (2 Corinthians 1:3-5)

More Reading:
Leaving the Person Better Than You Found Them
Will God Redeem What Was Broken?
Seasons are changing … are you ready?
Grieving a loved one who’s still alive
The idolatry of perfection

Presentation. Everything in our world is about presentation. If the ad doesn’t look great, people won’t buy your product. If you don’t care about the details in your resume, chances are you’ll lose that highly coveted internship. If you don’t say the right thing during a meeting at work, the atmosphere might become a little awkward for the next hour.

Presentation is everything.

This is what our world tells us, and to an extent, it’s true. People react based on what they see. And this is not great news for the person keenly aware of who they really are, flaws and shortcomings in tow.

Whether we realize it or not, we are constantly guarding our image. We’re cautious so we don’t mess up, trying our best to make everyone else comfortable and making sure they understand that we can be there for them in every season.

If you look back at the list above, these aren’t horrible things to be concerned about. It shows that we want to love well the people around us. But when we have a death grip on this desire, we start to act on it out of fear. And slowly, another desire steps up: a desire to always and perfectly be this person.

For the person who wants to be everything and anything to others, for the person who desperately wants people to consider them reliable in any situation, this is crippling. While we want to show up well for others, that also means fighting to preserve the way they perceive us. We think that proving that we can be perfectly helpful will deepen their trust in us.

It is a subtle slope to the idolatry of perfectionism.

We simply want to help, we tell ourselves, what better way than to present ourselves as people well equipped to help in every season? No matter how much energy we can expend, no matter how available or unavailable we are to help, we want to market ourselves as able and apt for the job.

But of course, we are not. Even at our best, we are not. Because the truth simply comes down to this: we are broken, sinful, imperfect human beings … just like everyone else.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)

So then, why do we hold ourselves to a God-sized standard?

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Let’s go back to defining what idolatry is. It is sinning to get what we want or sinning because we didn’t get what we want. When we idolize perfection, especially when it comes to how we relate to those around us, what does this look like?

It is striving so hard to be perfect that we make ourselves anxious.

It is denying that we are sinners and are therefore imperfect.

It is clinging to our own power, what we think we can do, and loosening our grip on Christ.

At the heart of it all, we are demanding worship of ourselves.

There’s the idolatry. Hidden beneath the desire to love well, we find the idol hidden in the darkness. It’s painful to find it, and it’s almost shocking to see, because how can something so good be attached, at least in part, to such an ugly desire we know is unfulfillable?

When we strive so hard to perfectly meet the needs of others, we are denying our need for God.

While at first the idol is hard to root out, the way we react when our idol of perfection is threatened reveals everything:

When someone doesn’t react to our efforts the way we want, we turn slowly toward resentment or bitterness.

When we see our shortcomings to love well, we clam up and isolate ourselves to protect our ego.

When we don’t love well at all, we are more angry at ourselves for slipping than we are at hurting the other person.

So, what do we do to kill this idolatry?

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! (Psalm 139:23-24)

It always starts with repentance. John Piper once asked the question to the effect of, “Why don’t I fight all my sins the way I fight lust?” We are told to fight these more grievous sins with everything we have, going to God’s Word, repenting, and asking God to take away the sin. But why don’t we treat these “lesser” sins as just as grievous?

For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. (James 2:10).

Friends, let’s get really good at fighting the idolatry of perfection by repenting and asking the Lord for help. He will answer you so that your eyes are properly fixed upward rather than to yourself! One of the ways He answers this prayer is through community.

Exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. (Hebrews 3:13-14)

Idolatry hates godly community. This is where the people who love the Lord bring what is unlovely to the light. Our flesh could not hate this more. And yet this is the very gift that gives us an army of people to come alongside us to kill the flesh and help us see Christ more clearly.

Spending time with a community of strong believers is enough to show you how sinful, imperfect people can love well! It can be done. They’re not concerned with perfectly loving or whether you’ll perfectly love. Rather than balancing a desire to love and a desire to perfectly love, they are simply concerned with Christ. And from this stems a concern to love like Christ.

How do you learn to love like Christ? By simply abiding.

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. (John 15:4-5)

When we try to love on our own strength, when we try to display our strength to others in this way, we forget one crucial detail about our lives: apart from the Lord, we can do nothing. We need God’s help to love well. And more than that, when we are rightly worshipping God rather than ourselves, when the eyes of our hearts clearly see His perfection and our imperfection, we begin to cling much tighter to the One we have given our lives to.

We love because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19)

Everything we do, the way we love and the way we live our lives, is done because of Christ. Once we are saved by Him, we don’t stop needing Him — we realize our need for Him is much more desperate than we can ever imagine. But idolatry easily becomes a stronghold when we forget this Gospel truth that impacts us every single day. We need Him. We needed Him for salvation, and we need Him to help us put to death what doesn’t look like Him and to help us put on what does.

It’s a good and right thing to desire to love well. But when you feel that anxiety welling up as you see your own insufficiency, fight. Ask God to search you and know you, to kill your desire to be perfect, your desire to exalt yourself to the status of God. Ask Him to remind you through letting you see your weakness just how desperately you still need Him. If you don’t have a community that loves the Lord, ask Him to provide this so you can learn what it means to love well without the need to be perfect.

We can’t be God for others. So, get comfortable with being imperfect — there is great joy in watching God love as only He can: perfectly. And as we watch, we also get to enjoy learning how to love as He does, genuinely and faithfully and abundantly, in such a way that doesn’t point to ourselves but displays who He is: the God abounding in steadfast love.

More Reading:
In Light of Grief…
Leaving the Person Better Than You Found Them
Will God Redeem What Was Broken?
Seasons are changing … are you ready?
Grieving a loved one who’s still alive

Grief is hard. It’s a constant weight on your chest. Even when you try not to think about it, the not-thinking about it makes you feel guilty, and that’s almost as hard as thinking about it.

Sometimes it feels like grief knows no bounds.

Almost.

When I saw Him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. (Revelation 1:17-18)

For the person who has been saved by Jesus Christ and brought to new life, they have life everlasting. Death cannot win — they are already made alive in Christ! Because He lives, we get to live with Him forever — end of (never ending) story.

That’s the hope for the believer who is seeing a loved one — who is also a believer — drifting toward Heaven’s shores. However, the grief’s still there — its power is limited, and yet you can’t hope away its presence. Jesus wept, too, even while knowing the end of the story (read John 11).

So, grief is unescapable. Everyone experiences it at some point in their lives. For me, having a rather large family meant that I was accustomed to grief even before I knew how to put it into words. And yet, grieving never gets easier. And it feels like death to your own soul when you’re beginning to say goodbye to someone who is alive.

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Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. (Matthew 5:4)

God doesn’t leave His children to be imprisoned to sorrow. He lets us feel it because He designed us to feel all kinds of emotions that help us turn to Him in happy times and in sad times. And don’t forget: we’re His image bearers, which means He also feels. But His emotions are different than ours — He’s sovereign. He’s all-knowing. He never reacts but always responds knowing the end to the story. And He’s faithful to carry all of this out for His glory and our good.

That’s why we shall be comforted! This is part of His plan, for us to grow in understanding of His great love that we “may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:14-19).

The pain is weighty, and yet our God is not above this pain. He took it upon Himself on the cross when He gained victory over sin and all its effects. Death will not have the final say — our God is victorious.

And we get to cling to this truth in the midst of grief as we watch our loved ones’ conditions decline, as we see their physical bodies weaken.

Even in all this, there is an inner and secret joy waiting to be discovered for the believer who is seeing another believer shed their earthly body: their soul is still very much so alive.

You see it in the way they tell you they’re praying for you.

You see it in the way they tell you to keep trusting God, because He’s still so good.

You see it in the way they cling to Christ, to the Gospel. As that old hymn says:

So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,
till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
and exchange it some day for a crown.

So, rest knowing that God is taking care of them. They haven’t graduated past “little child,” and what a comfort that is, that we’ll never stop being His children! He’ll take care of them as a Good Father always does. Your loved one, though growing weaker day by day, is still held fast by God — they are still so precious in His sight. We can’t always see it with our human eyes, but pray to catch glimpses of what God’s doing because He will show you exactly this.

The most amazing comfort in these times is that they are not experiencing any of this apart from the Lord.

There is no level of dementia that they will experience where God cannot or will not be with them.

There is no level of cancer that they will experience where God cannot or will not be with them.

There is no level of any kind of pain that they will experience where God cannot and will not be with them.

God promises to always be with His children, and our God is an extraordinary promise keeper.

And friend, take heart knowing God is taking care of you, too! God isn’t trying to deal with their pain first while you wait in the lobby — He is caring for you both at the same time in the ways you individually need. He calls you, His child, blessed, because He is comforting you too. Find comfort in Him as you experience this storm with Him — take comfort knowing your Good Father will never leave your side. May our grief make us to be so supremely satisfied in Jesus Christ that nothing wavers our joyful confidence in Him! He is who He says He is, and He is coming back to bring about the end of this chapter of the story.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And He who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” (Revelation 21:1-5)

So, Christian, if you are grieving while you watch your loved one waiting to cross to Beulah Land,1 keep watching with this hope in mind. God is deeply caring for you and your loved one, because He is a better Father than you could ever ask for or imagine.

Further up and further in! See now where He’s leading and what He’s doing.

He’s making all things new.

More Reading:
In Light of Grief…
What Does it Look Like to Let a Quieter Man Lead?
Leaving the Person Better Than You Found Them
Will God Redeem What Was Broken?
Seasons are changing … are you ready?

Here’s the purpose of life (as best as I can put it): to know and love and worship our triune God,1 in a right relationship with Him. This is why we were created: worship.

In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of His glory. (Ephesians 1:11-12)

But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:23-24)

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7:9-10)

We are creatures made to worship. But sin has distorted the direction of our worship, and we are inclined to move toward so many other things and people before the Lord. But even when our inclination is to worship Him, distractions hinder our intentionality.

I’m coming off one of the busiest seasons of my life, and I find myself planted in the middle of stillness, like I randomly woke up in the middle of an ocean with no breeze, with nowhere to go. Until I got here, I didn’t realize how much my busyness affected my worship.

So that’s why this summer I’m relearning what it means to be before God.

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“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. (Deuteronomy 6:4-6)

Worship is a way of being. This command — the greatest command — tells us that worship encompasses all of ourselves. Everything we desire, think, feel, do affects our worship and also must be worshipful to the Lord.

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. (Colossians 3:23-24)

We remember passages such as these which command us to do, to work, to act out of a reverent heart that desires to please the Lord. We love passages like these because they motivate us as we do our work, as we minister, as we go about our lives.

But what about the moments we have to ourselves? Do we treasure these moments just as much as the moments when we’re working for the Lord? Or do we dread them because we don’t know what to do with them?

If you’re anything like me, it’s hard to just be. Being feels unproductive, wasteful — a lot like dawdling.

But being still before the Lord isn’t wasteful — God calls us to do this.

Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! (Psalm 46:10)

The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. (Psalm 23:1-2a)

We are called to enjoy being in His presence. Sometimes it’s easy to think that with all the things going on around you, you have to spend your time with God processing all the things going on, seeking rest for your soul by talking everything out with Him in order to get back in the game with a clear mind.

Sometimes that is what we are called to do. But God also gives us rest by giving us time to just enjoy being before Him. The psalmist paints a beautiful picture in Psalm 23, of a sheep contentedly following its shepherd. Surely there is some chatter, but this is a serene and quiet picture of a Shepherd and His sheep walking side by side.

Part of our worship is quietly gazing at our Shepherd. Because when we do, we get to notice who He is.

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babies and infants, You have established strength because of Your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. When I look at Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You care for him? Yet You have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth! (Psalm 8)

In simply gazing, the psalmist cannot help but breathe back to the Lord all the praise and all the worship that He is due. The psalmist is full: full of wonder, full of joy, full of worship. May we be so satisfied in God as we force ourselves to gaze, and taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8).

Whether this summer is a break from work, a beginning to work, or a continuation of work, use these next few months to relearn the joy of being before the Lord. Enjoy being in His creation, learn to worship Him in the stillness. Prayer is radically important in confession and supplication, but prayer is also radically beautiful once you have sat, and praises leave your tongue in whispers:

God, You are amazing.

You are an incredible Creator.

Thank You for today.

Thank You for leading me here to enjoy this moment with You.

And be still and know that He is God.

More Reading:
Are You Overthinking or Correctly Analyzing?
What Does it Look Like to Let a Quieter Man Lead?
Leaving the Person Better Than You Found Them
Will God Redeem What Was Broken?
Seasons are changing … are you ready?

When this article comes out, I will be getting breakfast with my family, waiting for the afternoon to roll around so I can walk on stage, grab my diploma, and leave behind undergrad forever.

One thing’s for certain: I’m ready to be done with classes. I’ve learned everything I can to be ready for life as a professional journalist, but I’m not ready to move on from people.

I’m going to miss late night conversations with my unit mates, getting the late-night giggles out or pouring our hearts out with one another.

I’m going to miss Bible studies with friends who I’ve fought sin with, cried with, and rejoiced with all year.

I’m going to miss Saturday coffee dates with my boyfriend, who has become my best friend and constantly fixes my gaze on Christ.

I’m going to miss living with my roommate, who also happens to be that friend that sticks closer than a sister (Proverbs 18:24).

I experienced a lot of lasts and said a lot of goodbyes in the past few weeks. As I look back on my college experience, I cannot believe how much the Lord provided for me, worked in me, and blessed me.

And yet, though I’ve had literal years full of moments where the Lord took my breath away when He showed me more of Himself, I leave here struggling to see how He will bless me when I’m alone. When I’m in my new apartment trying to figure out my new life. When the lies that He’s not nearer than the terrors of the night creep back into my mind.

Herein lies the problem: even though I’ve seen God do miracle after miracle here, I still think I need to be the one to care for myself when the days are long and the nights never end.

But the truth I’d speak to my freshman-year self is the same advice I speak over myself as I graduate: I am finite and I have a limited perspective. But God is eternal and sees everything, even the small things I think He doesn’t care greatly about.

Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; His understanding is beyond measure. (Psalm 147:5)

And no creature is hidden from His sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:13)

Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. (Luke 12:7)

We who fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner after the order of Melchizedek. (Hebrews 6:18-20)

My theology professor used a phrase that I will forever take with me: God is intimately sovereign. I’ve wasted so much of my life thinking He is anything less. How sure I believe my steadfast anchor to be, how sovereign I believe my Lord and Savior to be — until I’m confronted with unknown territory in myself, or in the circumstances around me.

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.” (Lamentations 3:22-23)

God’s love for us never changes day to day. It is always constant, always familiar — but don’t let Satan trick you into letting this familiar feeling fade into the background. so much so that you are tempted to believe it is no longer there.

Never loosen your awe-filled grip on this truth: God is intimately sovereign. And He loves you beyond measure.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12)

Facing uncharted waters, you will be most vulnerable to the attacks of the enemy. Fear is high, emotions are everywhere, logic needs to be redirected to truth. And that’s wearing on the soul.

For me, my fear is not that God won’t use me. My fear is that God will be with me. I have no doubt in my mind that God has work for me to do, but I severely doubt that God will be sufficient for me when I’m alone.

If you are in college and waiting to start the next chapter of your life, if you are fearful today, hear this charge: let God change your perspective. Remember you are finite, and God knows that, and He will be with you always if you are His child.

This is the biggest lesson I’ve learned during my time at college, and it’s one I will carry with me forever.

God is so very good and maximizing His glory in your life. He will strategically place you where you need to go, so have no fear that He also is so very good at keeping you and holding you fast. He holds your body, He holds your spirit.

Wherever you are in your life, root out where you are clinging instead of Christ. Because wherever that is, that is where the enemy will attack most. And as you face uncharted waters, you must ask the Lord to help you let go so you can cling so much more tightly to Christ.

It means to cling loosely to the lesser things and to cling tightly to the right things.

Last week Saturday, I was struggling with the idea of moving on, leaving college, leaving the sweetness that comes with being surrounded by Christian friends. I wrote this to the Lord in my prayer journal:

You make it impossible for us to cling so tightly to other blessings. Our lives are constantly pulling us from place to place, person to person, to bless and work and glorify You. The only one we take with us everywhere we go is You. You make it so very possible for us to cling so tightly to You.

Why do we struggle to let go of lesser blessings to cling so much more tightly to Christ? If you’re a Christian and know what He’s done for you, why is it so hard to treasure Him above all else?

Because we forget that we are finite, and think we have to cling tightly to everything to prevent our world from falling apart.

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin … Therefore do not be anxious, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” … your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you (Matthew 6:25-31, 32b-33)

Our solution to every fear, every confusion, every struggle is to reorient our minds, reorient our hearts, to treasure Christ above all else. Fight for this kind of love for Him! Pray that you would be so supremely happy in Him — that you are able to rightly love, bless, work, live in light of who God is.

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As I leave behind my college years forever, as I think about the good, the bad, the ugly which God has used to turn my heart toward treasuring Him above all else, my mind is filled with old hymns. And if I can leave you with anything, take these raw and true lyrics to heart:

Great Is Thy Faithfulness
I could not love Thee, so blind and unfeeling;
Covenant promises fell not to me.
Then without warning, desire, or deserving,
I found my Treasure, my pleasure, in Thee.

He Will Hold Me Fast
For my life He bled and died
Christ will hold me fast
Justice has been satisfied
He will hold me fast
Raised with Him to endless life
He will hold me fast
Till our faith is turned to sight
When he comes at last
He will hold me fast
He will hold me fast
For my Savior loves me so
He will hold me fast

The Old Rugged Cross
So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,
till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
and exchange it some day for a crown.

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus
Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.

His Eye Is on the Sparrow
Why should I feel discouraged?
Why should the shadows come?
Why should my heart be lonely
And long for heav’n and home,
When Jesus is my portion?
My constant Friend is He:
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.
I sing because I’m happy—
I sing because I’m free—
For His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.
“Let not your heart be troubled.”
His tender word I hear,
And resting on His goodness,
I lose my doubt and fear.
Though by the path He leadeth,
But one step I may see:
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.

I Have Decided
I have decided to follow Jesus;
I have decided to follow Jesus;
I have decided to follow Jesus;
No turning back; no turning back.
If no one joins me, still I will follow;
If no one joins me, still I will follow;
If no one joins me, still I will follow;
No turning back; no turning back.

More Reading:
Are You a Perfectionist in Your Relationship?
Are You Overthinking or Correctly Analyzing?
What Does it Look Like to Let a Quieter Man Lead?
Leaving the Person Better Than You Found Them
Will God Redeem What Was Broken?

I waited patiently for Yahweh; He inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. (Psalm 40:1-2)

If you feel like you are in the pit of destruction, this is your cry to the Lord. This is the hope you cling to, that you can patiently wait on the Lord because He will answer, and He will save you from the place you are in now.

The truth is, sometimes waiting on the Lord for this salvation is nothing short of painful.

Specifically in regards to relationships, whether you’re currently in one or reflecting on one, it’s painful to sit in the moments that feel unredeemable. It’s painful to recall the specific moments where you fell short of God’s glory, the moments you are not proud of, the times you realized you are a very capable sinner. And to be feeling the pain, to feel the suffering, it feels so justified even though you wish it would stop.

And part of this is true, that God allows us to feel the pain so we feel our desperate need for Him. He allows us to fall flat on our faces and feel the brokenness so that we turn to Him and depend upon Him. But even after we do this, why does it take so long for God to heal us?

Here’s the truth to which we cling: God has not forgotten you.

If you are His child, if you have put your faith in Jesus Christ, He will answer.

As a good, good Father, He is not removed from your pain, but He is immanent, and He is with you even if you can’t see it.

Out of the depths I cry to You, O Yahweh! O Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy! If You, O Yahweh, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with You there is forgiveness, that You may be feared. I wait for Yahweh, my soul waits, and in His word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning. O Israel, hope in Yahweh! For with Yahweh there is steadfast love, and with Him is plentiful redemption. And He will redeem Israel from all his iniquities. (Psalm 130)

We cry to the Lord as justified sinners, people who know they are forgiven by God and can place our hope in Him that He will be steadfast in love for us and is already steadfast in love for us. We can turn to Him for forgiveness because we are already forgiven by Him! We can cry out for help because we know we are redeemed.

Friend, if Christ is your Lord and Savior, He has restored you. So wait on the Lord as you wait for healing, as you wait to see the redemption you know you surely have in Christ.

This waiting cannot be a wasted season. As someone who has sat in a long season in the pit of destruction, I’ve learned to be so grateful for that season. It was in that season that I saw God drawing near to me while drawing me to Himself. It was a lonely season because I felt like no one around me could understand the severe pain I was in. And yet, it was a satisfying season, because God helped me see Himself so much clearer than ever before.

One of my favorite illustrations of this comes from C.S. Lewis’ The Horse and His Boy. Aslan is walking along Shasta in the fog when he gets separated from the rest of his friends. It’s there that Aslan introduces himself to the boy before saying in a whisper, “Tell me your sorrows.”

After Shasta recounts his story of how lions appeared along the way, terrifying him and his friends, Aslan reveals that those lions were truly only one. And not only this, but that He never did anything to terrorize Shasta, but always acted on his behalf.

“I was the lion who forced you to join with Aravis. I was the cat who comforted you among the houses of the dead. I was the lion who drove the jackals from you while you slept. I was the lion who gave the Horses the new strength of fear for the last mile so that you should reach King Lune in time. And I was the lion you do not remember who pushed the boat in which you lay, a child near death, so that it came to shore where a man sat, wakeful at midnight, to receive you.”

After this, the fog clears, and Shasta is able to see Aslan for who he truly is:

He turned and saw, pacing beside him, taller than the horse, a Lion. The horse did not seem to be afraid of it or else could not see it. It was from the Lion that the light came. No-one ever saw anything more terrible or beautiful.

What a marvelous picture of what it looks like to spend the wee and bitter hours of the night talking to our Lord in secret. Jesus often pulls us aside to engage in conversation, just us and Him. He pulls us aside to speak truth, to show us that we can be still in the midst of raging chaos or deafening fear, because He alone is God (Psalm 46:10), and God Himself is drawing us near.

My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise You with joyful lips, when I remember You upon my bed, and meditate on You in the watches of the night; for You have been my help, and in the shadow of Your wings I will sing for joy. My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me. (Psalm 63:5-8)

Answer me, O Yahweh, for Your steadfast love is good; according to Your abundant mercy, turn to me. Draw near to my soul, redeem me. (Psalm 69:16, 18)

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (James 4:7-8)

I sought Yahweh, and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to Him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and Yahweh heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of Yahweh encamps around those who fear Him, and delivers them. Oh, taste and see that Yahweh is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! (Psalm 34:4-8)

Praise God that He redeems past experiences! God uses them not to create shame but to restore life, because even as you take time to reflect on them and surrender them, He shows you so much more of Himself, and seeing Him more clearly fills you with so much life.

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God redeems specifically. That’s glorious! He doesn’t forgive what you’ve done in general — He forgives every moment, every heart posture, every thought that did not honor Him. So here’s my challenge to you: if you are feeling the weight of your sin and are waiting for God to heal you from the pain, write down the list of sinful moments and actions that are weighing on you. Before every sin, write, “God, you have forgiven….” Your heart will soar every time you bring these sins to the foot of the cross. See these moments in light of the gospel! God has forgiven all your sins and separated you from your iniquities as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him” (Psalm 103:10-11).

Do you believe that in specifics?

More Reading:
Ladies, What Are We Doing to Improve Ourselves?
Are You a Perfectionist in Your Relationship?
Are You Overthinking or Correctly Analyzing?
What Does it Look Like to Let a Quieter Man Lead?
Leaving the Person Better Than You Found Them

No matter what your expectations are for a relationship, resolve to honor the person you date. God will teach you so many powerful truths and principles when you approach dating in this way, and you will be forever grateful for learning the value of leaving the person better than you found them.

This was always a saying that I heard in dating sermons and podcasts, but it was never one I thought would be a comfort to me when my heart needed to hear it the most, like how I did a year ago when I broke up with a boyfriend. Of course breakups bring tears and are followed by a season of healing. But when you are finally able to sit in the memories again and reflect over what happened, there can be comfort and joy in seeing how God used you to show Christ to the other person.

Now, I want to safeguard against self-righteousness here, because in reflecting on a broken relationship, it is so very easy to paint yourself in a near-perfect light and distort your view of the other person. So take yourself out of the role as the hero, make yourself a secondary character, and see the good that God worked through and around you.

This is the hope for every relationship, that if you ever broke up you could look back with a clear conscience, having treated the other with such love and respect that they’d still be able to see God in you and part knowing God more deeply than before you started dating. Together, ask the Lord to help you honor one another in this way throughout your relationship.

Hebrews 12:14 says, “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” Can you confidently say that you strove for that peace, obtained it, and are still giving God glory for it? If you are, then you are also able to say that the prayers you prayed to honor God and honor the other were answered! And that is a gift.

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I haven’t dated well in the past. I haven’t always dated purely, or dated without making my boyfriend an idol, and I’m not claiming to have dating figured out. But knowing that God even answers prayers for the relationships that don’t work out is a treasured promise I will press tightly to my heart.

Leaving the person better than you found them can be the mantra of your dating relationship, not just something you hope will happen. Why does this mantra work? Because it relies on the foundational principle of keeping God at the center of your relationship.

I assure you that if you prioritize God first in the relationship — if you obey Him and are more satisfied in Him than the person you’re dating — then you will be able to leave the person better than you found them. It’s a natural effect when you decide to keep God as your primary treasure.

Exodus 20:3 says, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” That means do not prioritize or love anything more than Jesus. Deuteronomy 6:5 continues, “You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” This means that God must be our greatest desire, the one we look to for strength, the one we look to for our identity, the one we say, “I love you more than life itself. If everything else is taken away from me, I will still supremely happy because I still have you.”

When you begin to root your identity in the person you’re with, anxiety creeps up on you. You can get co-dependent. You can watch for how they respond to you in order to know what to do next. Now, you’ve made your boyfriend or girlfriend your god. And boy, do you expect God-sized care and attention from them, too.

When God is properly seated on the throne of your heart, you won’t have this anxious bend, even as you look to Him for help. God is the God of peace (1 Corinthians 14:33). He stops your anxiety so you have clarity to treat the other person well; as you simply draw close to Him, you will see how much He loves you, and that will fill you with a peaceful love which overflows so naturally into the person you’re dating. As you draw close to Him, you will learn His heart and He will teach you how to reflect it well.

The same goes for purity: when Christ is properly seated on the throne of your heart, you won’t look to your boyfriend to fulfill something in you he should not be fulfilling — physically or emotionally. Christ is who you need more than life itself (Psalm 63:3-5).

If we want Christ to be our first love and greatest joy, we will cease to need someone else to fill the void only God can fill.

When we adhere to the Great Commandment and love God with all our heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:37), we will be able to obey the second Great Commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39). God will help us outdo others in showing honor (Romans 12:10).

Obeying these two greatest commandments is great news! Whether you get married or break up, you can confidently say that you’ve left the person better than you found them. That is my prayer for you, that as you journey through life with your person for however long God has you together, you will be able to confidently say to the person you date, “I can love you well because I love God first.”

Friends, love God first. And you will leave the person better than you found them.

More Reading:
Feminine Ponderings About Choosing to Love
Ladies, What Are We Doing to Improve Ourselves?
Are You a Perfectionist in Your Relationship?
Are You Overthinking or Correctly Analyzing?
What Does it Look Like to Let a Quieter Man Lead?
Are You a Good Teammate?