The clarity of the window

"A young couple moves into a new neighborhood. The next morning while they are eating breakfast, the young woman sees her neighbor hanging the wash outside. 

"That laundry is not very clean; she doesn't know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap." 

Her husband looks on, remaining silent. Every time her neighbor hangs her wash to dry, the young woman makes the same comments. A month later, the woman is surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and says to her husband: 

"Look, she's finally learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this? " 

The husband replies, "I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows." 

And so it is with life... What we see when watching others depends on the clarity of the window through which we look." 

Author unknown 

My life is a witness

     "My life is a witness to vulgar grace -- a grace that amazes as it offends. A grace that pays the eager beaver who works all day long the same wage as the grinning drunk who shows up at ten till five. A grace that hikes up the robe and runs breakneck toward the prodigal reeking of sin and wraps him up and decides to throw a party, no ifs, ands, or buts. A grace that raises bloodshot eyes to a dying thief's request -- "Please, remember me" -- and assures him, "You bet!"...This vulgar grace is indiscriminate compassion. It works without asking anything of us. It's not cheap. It's free, and as such will always be a banana peel for the orthodox foot and a fairy tale for the grown-up sensibility. Grace is sufficient even though we huff and puff with all our might to try and find something or someone that it cannot cover. Grace is enough... 

      “Sin and forgiveness and falling and getting back up and losing the pearl of great price in the couch cushions but then finding it again, and again, and again? Those are the stumbling steps to becoming Real, the only script that's really worth following in this world or the one that's coming. Some may be offended by this ragamuffin memoir, a tale told by quite possibly the repeat of all repeat prodigals. Some might even go so far as to call it ugly. But you see that doesn't matter, because once you are Real you can't be ugly except to people who don't understand...that yes, all is grace. It is enough. And it's beautiful.”

- Brennan Manning -

We have been sold a bill of goods...

"We have been sold a bill of goods. We allowed man to set the standards for what it means to be called, sent, to be pleasing to God. Man's standards leave most of us striving after the wind, boxing the air, shouting words in the desperate struggle to find our worth. Damn those words that bind us, that keep us focused on man's definition of success instead of God's." -Don Nori

The gospel is this

“The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.”

 -Tim Keller 

The Ordinary Person

 "The choice of David, the runt and the shepherd, to be the anointed, to be a sign and representative of God's working presence in human life and history, is surely intended to convey a sense of inclusion to all ordinary men and women, the plain folk, the undistinguished in the eyes of their neighbors, those lacking social status and peer recognition. Which is to say, the overwhelming majority of all who have lived on this old planet earth. Election into God's purposes isn't by popular vote, Election into God's purposes isn't based on proven ability or potential promise."

-Eugene Peterson, Leap Over A Wall, chapter 2 pg 17-18

Sometimes people try....

Release it!

"Jesus didn't say: "According to God's will let it be done for you"
Jesus did say: "According to your faith let it be done for you"
You're waiting on God to move... but God's waiting on you.

End the stalemate!

Open your mouth son of God! Release the creative power of life with your tongue!Grab hold of the keys to kingdom of heaven and open doors that no one can shut,  and shut doors that no one can open!
Grab hold of your enemies' sword and take off that giant's head!
The fire that's raging in you is contagious!
Release it, beloved! Release it!"

 - Scott VanderWerf

Sons and Daughters

"Though our gifts are a beautiful part of who we are, they do not make up our identity. We are sons and daughters first, loved before we ever set our hands to anything, believed in before we even attempt prove ourselves worthy. When we come to that place of confidence and security, knowing that the Father loves us and is proud of us regardless of our abilities or success, we can create and explore without the pressure to strive or produce. We are set free as artists when we step into our identity as beloved children. "

 - The 18inch Journey - Allie Sampson, Writer for Cageless birds

Above All

“Above all powers

Above all kings

Above all nature

And all created things

Above all wisdom

And all the ways of man

You were here

Before the world began

Above all kingdoms

Above all thrones

Above all wonders

The world has ever known

Above all wealth

And treasures of the earth

There's no way to measure

What You're worth

Crucified
Laid behind a stone
You lived to die
Rejected and alone
Like a rose
Trampled on the ground
You took the fall
And thought of me
Above all”

-Michael W. Smith

Gifted to do

"The successful man lays aside what he can do in order to accomplish what he is gifted to do." -John Paul Jackson

Grace forever

“Suffering, failure, loneliness, sorrow, discouragement, and death will be part of your journey, but the Kingdom of God will conquer all these horrors. No evil can resist grace forever.” 

- Brennan Manning
April 27, 1934 – April 12, 2013

The ones who really belong

"Be yourself, do your own thing and work hard. The right people the ones who really belong in your life, will come to you. And stay."

Honest

Divine Plan

In the middle of nowhere

    

         We can search, keep ourselves busy, and continually climb the world's ladder of promotion and still not know what God's put us here to do. Yet, time and time again I hear testimonies of people who were laid off, kicked out, and forgotten about one way or another. Having no next step planned their weary hearts roam in loneliness and despair. It's there they say they eventually discovered their purpose. A whole new road opened up to them.

        They didn't find what they were looking for at their job, in promotions, pay raises, big houses, new cars or friends. They found it when they felt forsaken by all else. I think my testimony is somewhat the same. In the middle of nowhere, we find our true selves. The person God created us to be.     

         I encourage you not give up if you feel dumped in the middle of nowhere. It's weird how this happens. Some situations feel as if people literally pull over, open the door, and kick us out without notice. That's happened to me. Emotionally shaken we look like lost puppies not knowing which way to go. Other times we follow God and the road literally leads to the desert, but why? It doesn't matter how you ended up in "nowhere", what's important to remember is it's there where some of God's most amazing treasures are hidden. Trust Him. Know He's trying to do a work in you. He's on your side.

          If you allow brokenness to run it's course, you will look back and rejoice. "Nowhere" will prove to be the best place you've ever visited. Brokenness can be our friend if we let it work and we don't run from it or self medicate it away.  Sometimes it's in the middle of nowhere that God chooses to wait for us. When we lay all we are down, all we have, our hopes and dreams and look to Him, that's when we find what we need.

Nowhere may prove to be somewhere life changing.

Great love

His grace is sufficient

God doesn't pick the qualified, He qualifies the chosen! Don't let anyone in or out of church make you feel that you don't have a place within the body of Christ because you do! 

Your most effective...

Your most effective ministry will come out of your deepest hurt.- Rick Warren

There's nothing

My husband posted a quote from a Jonathon David Helser song on Facebook yesterday, "There's nothing you can do that would make God love you more, also nothing you can do that would make Him love you less. He loves you b/c He loves you. His love is unchanging, He loves you 100%. He wont love you any better when you become better. He loves you 100% RIGHT NOW."

Prophecy never suffocates

“Prophecy never suffocates, but lets you breathe.” - Kim Clement