Have you ever been up at night wishing, hoping, waiting for that perfect man or woman to come into your life? Just calling out for a love that is enough to make you feel wanted, needed and valued? Have you been struggling either as a single person or as someone in a relationship that isn't quite what you though it would be? Is the love of your life either not in your life or not exactly what you thought they would be?
This morning while at church we did a new song during the worship set. It is a song that I am familar with, but had never looked at the lyrics. Sure, I sang them at the gym while I ran around the track and I rocked out to it in my car driving down the highway, but seeing the lyrics hit my heart and reminded me of a great truth.
"His love is deep, His love is wide and it covers us. His love is fierce, His love is strong, it is furious, His love is sweet, His love is wild and It's waking hearts to life."
I was blown away by the way that God reminded me of how only perfect love can come from Jesus.
So often we find ourselves crying out in lonliness because we are longing for that person who is going to love us all of the ways described above. We want someone to loves us and cares about us deeply enough to sacrifice for us. We want a love so wide that it covers all of our faults and forgives us even when we are not putting our best foot forward. We ache for a love that is fierce and for someone to be strong when we are not. Who doesn't want a love that is both sweet and gentle but wild and passionate? Are you someone who is looking for a person with a love that has all of those qualities? Are you currently in a relationship or a marriage and wondering why on earth your spouse doesn't portray all of those characteristics?
Only God can love us in such a way as that. Only he can hold our hands while kicking our butts. Only the love of Christ can be furious and sweet at the same time. It is when we are made whole in Him that we can see that love, appreciate it and realize that we have been searching for love in all of the wrong places.
Some of you might be saying... uh, Chels? Aren't you blissfully happy and madly in love with your husband? Doesn't he love you in those ways? And the answer is yes, he does. But it was not until I accepted God's love and began to gain a better understanding of the truth that God is love and all fierce, sweet, wild, strong, deep, wide, furious love comes from Him. Steve also has come to know that love and together, while pursuing Christ we learn more and more each day about how to love on another the way He loves us.
So for any of you out there desperately crying out for a love that is unconditional, never ending, sweet, strong, wild and a million other PERFECT things... Jesus is it. God is the answer. He loves YOU and me so much that He sent His son to die for YOU and me so that we may live forever and have the most amazing love relationship possible.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Monday, January 23, 2012
um, listen.
“because He loves you. um listen, God knew you were going to be messy, Christ new that you were going to be messy. God knows that you’re going to screw up often that you’re going to be drawn to things that are wicked. He knows. that’s what the cross is all about that’s the whole point of the cross is that you’re going to fail you’re going to stumble you’re going to feel dirty you’re going to feel awkward. the whole point of the cross of Christ is that there be this mighty picture of his love and pursuit of you despite you. so the cross is necessary because of you but it is also the picture of just how far God is willing to go because he loves you”
This is a part of a sermon that was blended together with an amazing song by David Crowder. It digs deep into my heart every time and helps to learn more and more about God's love.
Click here to listen to the song <3
This is a part of a sermon that was blended together with an amazing song by David Crowder. It digs deep into my heart every time and helps to learn more and more about God's love.
Click here to listen to the song <3
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Keri Joelle
I am just in complete and utter awe of our God and the amazing ways that He works. This past week has been filled with moments that screamed "Hey Chels, it's Me... GOD!" It has been so amazing and humbling and a million other things. One of these moments just happened a few minutes ago, but here is some background...
A few years ago back when I was first getting into blogging, I logged into my account one day and saw that I had a new comment on my latest post. The individuals blogger name was gclaps, a name I did not recognize. I thought for a moment it was an old friend I hadn't talked to in a long time, but then after reading their comment figured out that was unlikely. I continued to get comments from gclaps and would comment back and forth. Eventually we started exchanging emails and I learned that gclaps is a (now 17) year old young woman from Singapore who was learning more about Jesus and struggling a bit on her walk with Him. She and I kept in touch on and off over the years and have been in contact more frequently over the past year.
It just blows my mind that I just ended a conversation with a girl who I have never met, who lives in a place where they are 13 hours ahead of our time and that it was all apart of God's plan. That He knew her reading my posts way back when would help her and encourage me and that He knew that we would keep in touch, pray for one another and grow in Christ together.
If you're reading this Miss Keri Joelle, I am so grateful to God for you! Keep shining on you beautiful daughter of Christ.
Our God is an awesome God.
A few years ago back when I was first getting into blogging, I logged into my account one day and saw that I had a new comment on my latest post. The individuals blogger name was gclaps, a name I did not recognize. I thought for a moment it was an old friend I hadn't talked to in a long time, but then after reading their comment figured out that was unlikely. I continued to get comments from gclaps and would comment back and forth. Eventually we started exchanging emails and I learned that gclaps is a (now 17) year old young woman from Singapore who was learning more about Jesus and struggling a bit on her walk with Him. She and I kept in touch on and off over the years and have been in contact more frequently over the past year.
It just blows my mind that I just ended a conversation with a girl who I have never met, who lives in a place where they are 13 hours ahead of our time and that it was all apart of God's plan. That He knew her reading my posts way back when would help her and encourage me and that He knew that we would keep in touch, pray for one another and grow in Christ together.
If you're reading this Miss Keri Joelle, I am so grateful to God for you! Keep shining on you beautiful daughter of Christ.
Our God is an awesome God.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
it's all about who you know
"It's all about networking. If you want to get more interviews and have a better chance at a good job, you need to get out there, meet people and in some cases, kiss up to people. Chels, in the real world it is all about who you know."
The above is a paraphrased conglomeration of all of the things I was repeatedly told my senior year of college. I was applying for what seemed like a million and one Resident Director positions (in reality it was 26) and was constantly told from mentors, acquaintances and co-workers that I should have gone to more conferences, been in closer contact with the Central Housing Office at Eastern, been in online forums, signed up for different Higher Education associations, so on and so forth; you get the idea.
I hated it. My blood boiled everytime I thought about the fact that in reality, a lot of times in the job world it is about who you know and not necessarily what you do. Conversely, though, once you get in that job, it usually quickly becomes about what you do and if you don't perform, you don't last long. Such is the way of the world.
Anyway, I digress on that front and move to the point of this post. Many people believe that it is being a good person that matters in this life. That if we help enough old ladies cross the street, we donate to the local food pantry around Thanksgiving and we buy chickens for a family in Africa that we have lived the good life. Others of us think that we are too nasty and awful to ever be good enough to be saved and get to Heaven. What great news that neither of these views are truth. What beautifully wonderfully refershing news that in this life, it is not about what we do- whether good or bad- it is about who we know.
It is about us knowing Jesus, truly knowing Him (2 Peter 1:3) in our hearts and believing in the amazing work He did for us (John 3:16). Of course we will continue to fall and do not what we want to do and ought to do (Romans 7:15). But thank God for His grace and goodness that covers us always; past, present and future.
I have never been happier to hear the phrase "It's not about what you do, it's about who you know" as I was this past weekend when Pastor Tim said it during his sermon. How comforting to know that at the root of who God is, He is cares so much about us that He sent Jesus so we could know Him and live in relationship with Him.
My prayer for everyone, Christian or not, is that we live in that beauty and are more intentional about our relationship with our Maker.
The above is a paraphrased conglomeration of all of the things I was repeatedly told my senior year of college. I was applying for what seemed like a million and one Resident Director positions (in reality it was 26) and was constantly told from mentors, acquaintances and co-workers that I should have gone to more conferences, been in closer contact with the Central Housing Office at Eastern, been in online forums, signed up for different Higher Education associations, so on and so forth; you get the idea.
I hated it. My blood boiled everytime I thought about the fact that in reality, a lot of times in the job world it is about who you know and not necessarily what you do. Conversely, though, once you get in that job, it usually quickly becomes about what you do and if you don't perform, you don't last long. Such is the way of the world.
Anyway, I digress on that front and move to the point of this post. Many people believe that it is being a good person that matters in this life. That if we help enough old ladies cross the street, we donate to the local food pantry around Thanksgiving and we buy chickens for a family in Africa that we have lived the good life. Others of us think that we are too nasty and awful to ever be good enough to be saved and get to Heaven. What great news that neither of these views are truth. What beautifully wonderfully refershing news that in this life, it is not about what we do- whether good or bad- it is about who we know.
It is about us knowing Jesus, truly knowing Him (2 Peter 1:3) in our hearts and believing in the amazing work He did for us (John 3:16). Of course we will continue to fall and do not what we want to do and ought to do (Romans 7:15). But thank God for His grace and goodness that covers us always; past, present and future.
I have never been happier to hear the phrase "It's not about what you do, it's about who you know" as I was this past weekend when Pastor Tim said it during his sermon. How comforting to know that at the root of who God is, He is cares so much about us that He sent Jesus so we could know Him and live in relationship with Him.
My prayer for everyone, Christian or not, is that we live in that beauty and are more intentional about our relationship with our Maker.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
I sat with jewelry pliers to my left, wire and beads to my right. I strung bead after bead onto memory wire. I grabbed for a small, oval, light blue bead. It escaped my grip and slid out of sight between some other beads. I grabbed again, trying to be more intentional this time, but it slipped again. Around the fourth attempt I thought about giving up and just grabbing another bead (after all, there is no pattern to the bracelets that I make) but I didn't. I kept going after that single blue bead that had caught my eye until I finally plucked it out of the container and slid it onto the wire.
Isn't this what happens when God pursues us? Only so much better. See, I almost gave up on the little blue bead, I almost settled for something different and just forgot about it until perhaps I came across it again later. But God, he pursues us over and over and over, constantly until we are His and His alone. He reaches down and grabs at us to pull us into His love and His embrace so that we may live at peace in Jesus. But how many times do we slip away and hide in whatever crowd we can blend into? How often do we (believers or not) move to the right or to the left to avoid what God has for us because it might be too hard, or scary or uncomfortable or impossible in our eyes.
For those of you who are not believers, that scary, uncomfortable place is at the cross... it is meeting Jesus right where He died for you so that you could live forever! And what an uncomfortable place it is to be at first... but once you receive it, it is breathtakingly, beautifully perfect.
For those of us who are believers, we can probably count on our fingers and toes and multiply that by 674 and still not reach the number of times we have slipped away from the spirit's leading or God's grace after we have fallen to that same nagging temptation.
Whatever our position is, we can find comfort in knowing that God longs after us the way I longed after that bead. I wanted so badly to have that small blue bead to put on the bracelet to make it complete. In the same way, God so desperately wants to have us and delights in us as His children. He will pursue us time and time again, in places you least expect it.
Let's open our eyes, ears and hearts and slip a bit less from God's grasp while running a bit more down the path He has created for us.
Isn't this what happens when God pursues us? Only so much better. See, I almost gave up on the little blue bead, I almost settled for something different and just forgot about it until perhaps I came across it again later. But God, he pursues us over and over and over, constantly until we are His and His alone. He reaches down and grabs at us to pull us into His love and His embrace so that we may live at peace in Jesus. But how many times do we slip away and hide in whatever crowd we can blend into? How often do we (believers or not) move to the right or to the left to avoid what God has for us because it might be too hard, or scary or uncomfortable or impossible in our eyes.
For those of you who are not believers, that scary, uncomfortable place is at the cross... it is meeting Jesus right where He died for you so that you could live forever! And what an uncomfortable place it is to be at first... but once you receive it, it is breathtakingly, beautifully perfect.
For those of us who are believers, we can probably count on our fingers and toes and multiply that by 674 and still not reach the number of times we have slipped away from the spirit's leading or God's grace after we have fallen to that same nagging temptation.
Whatever our position is, we can find comfort in knowing that God longs after us the way I longed after that bead. I wanted so badly to have that small blue bead to put on the bracelet to make it complete. In the same way, God so desperately wants to have us and delights in us as His children. He will pursue us time and time again, in places you least expect it.
Let's open our eyes, ears and hearts and slip a bit less from God's grasp while running a bit more down the path He has created for us.
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