“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. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” James 4:7-10 ESV
These verses in James gives us an action plan for turning from our sin and living out our faith in God:
First we submit to God (4:7a). This means we acknowledge God’s wisdom is wiser than the ways of the world. We also recognize His rightful authority to direct our lives according to His wisdom.
Submitting is what we do – but practically HOW do we do it? James goes on…
We resist the devil (4:7b). The implication of the Greek word translated “resist” is “to stand against” or “withstand”. This infers a promise that whatever power Satan may have, we are ABLE to overcome him by God’s GRACE.
We draw near to God (4:8a). James appears to have Hosea 12:6 in mind: “so you by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God.” James commands and promises were written to believers in Jesus. But rather than love and justice, these believers had demonstrated selfish ambition and partiality. James was not necessarily talking about drawing near to God for salvation here but he was referring to what repentance from sin looks like for Christ followers.
We wash our hands and purify our hearts (4:8b). This alludes to how Israelite priests prepared to minister before the Lord in the OT, reminding us that we are called to a high standard of behavior as Christ’s people. He washes us clean through the Gospel of His sacrificial death and resurrection, which we receive through the Word and which is how we draw near to Him. (Eph. 5:25b-27).
Finally, we grieve and mourn and wail over our sin (4:9). When we draw near to God, we become saddened over our inability to fully follow the Lord’s commands … but our weeping turns to exhalation as we experience God’s forgiveness of our sins through Christ (James 4:10).
All of these intentional choices result in our recognition of our deep spiritual need for our Savior.
Thanks be to God that Jesus has rescued us and promises to present us, the Church, before God’s throne as His beautiful bride.
“Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy,” Jude 1:24 ESV
Rather than trying to work our way into positions of power, recognition, or status, we can humbly sit in the presence of God. He positions us for purpose and purifies our hearts. As we acknowledge our desperation for His deliverance, He will forgive and exalt us.
“Do not fear, only believe” (Mk. 5:36). Jesus’s words in Mark show us that Faith is the solution to fear.
For my 9-5 job, I work with children and youth who are in foster care and their families. This involves investigating the circumstances that brought the children into care and combing through pages and pages of reports on a weekly basis. Just this last week I read that a client typically uses, “a boat and a half” of fentanyl multiple times a day. This phrasing caught my eye because for the first time in 10 years of reviewing these reports, I was not sure how much that meant… I did not know the “lingo” for this level of usage. I dropped to my knees praising the Lord that I did not know this! It reminded me of where Christ brought me from, He truly has “put a new song in my mouth” (Psalm 40:3).
This last month I have been doing a slow read through the book of Matthew. Matthew specifically grouped his book in topical order, not chronological order, with over 60% of the book containing teachings and guidance that Jesus personally spoke. Restoration to the Broken could be a title heading for the four miracles recorded in Matthew 9:18-38. In light of my reminder this week I want to look a little closer at two of these miracles recorded. A miracle restoring a Broken Home (vv 18-19, 23-26) and restoration of a Broken Hope (vv 20-22; Mark 5:26).
For sake of time I will not be including all of the passage text so I HIGHLY encourage you to look at the passages being discussed.
A BROKEN HOME: It must have been hard for Jairus to come to Jesus, since he was a devout jew and the leader in the synagogue. BUT Jairus’s love for his dying daughter compelled him to seek Jesus’ help, even if the religious leaders were opposing him. When Jairus first came to Jesus, his daughter was close to death. A delay caused by another woman ended with Jairus’s friends coming to relay the news that his daughter had died, no need to continue to bother the teacher.
Jesus, being compassionate, reassured Jairus and went with him.
This delay gave Jairus a great opportunity to see what a MEAGER Faith can accomplish.
No matter how our circumstances look, no matter what other’s say, no matter how we feel; We should trust Jesus and His promises. Jairus was frightened – yet Jesus took command and raised the girl from the dead.
The Gospel teaches us we are saved by GRACE not by worth
A Broken Hope: A woman who for 12 years had been ill with a hemorrhage, a discharge of blood. Mark 5:26 informs us that this woman had tried many physicians, but none could help her. Imagine the despair and discouragement she felt. Her hopes were shattered. Because of this hemorrhage, the woman was ceremonially unclean (Lev. 15:25), which only added to her hopelessness, as she had no community.
It is interesting that Jairus and this woman – two opposite people – met at the feet of Jesus. Jairus was a leading Jewish man; she wan an anonymous woman, with no prestige or resources.
He was a synagogue leader, while her affliction kept her from worship. Jairus came pleading for his daughter; the woman had a need of her own. The girl had been healthy for 12 years and then died; the woman had been ill for 12 years and was now whole. Jairus’s need was public – all knew it; the woman’s need was private only Jesus understood. Both Jairus and the woman trusted Jesus, and He met their needs.
Jairus could have resented the woman, because she kept Jesus from getting to his daughter before she died. But his real problem was not the woman but himself. He needed faith in Christ. Jesus forced the woman to give her testimony (See Mark’s account, Mark 5:25-34) BOTH for her sake and for the sake of Jairus. The fact the God has helped others ought to encourage us to TRUST Him more.
We can wait for the Lord – knowing that He is never late.
The woman’s faith was almost superstitious, and yet, Jesus honored it and healed her. We (people) must “touch” Christ where we/they are able, sometimes the starting place is at the hem of His garment. The Pharisees enlarged their hems and tassels in order to appear more spiritual, but they lacked the power to heal (Matt. 23:5). Others touched the hem of Jesus’s garment and were also healed (Matt. 14:34-36).
The woman’s meager faith reminded me this week of the amount of physicians, therapists, and others I consulted with when I was lost in my addiction, under the deep waters of sexual abuse and trauma, injuring my self as to show on the outside what an “outcast” I was on the inside and without community. Time and time again I sought healing but was never healed. Time and time again I walked away with a false hope, one that would slip away…
Until I touched the hem of Christ’s garment.
It was scary at first, scary to trust in something I could not see, something that required a full trust, but would leave me healed.
Now looking back over all of these years I can see just how small my Faith started out and how Jesus honored that and healed me. For some things it was quick and immediate like the woman with the hemorrhage, for other things it took time and took me growing in my faith, like Jairus I needed to see and hear the testimony of others, to trust what I could not see. To turn away from how things “looked” or “felt” to me and to Trust in Jesus.
I don’t know what your fear is today, friend. Maybe your are praying for healing for someone else, like Jairus was with his daughter or maybe your like the Woman and have an ailment of your own. Whatever it is, reach out for Christ.
Come like Jairus or come in fear and trembling like the Woman. The Greek word for “made well” can mean either “heal” or “save”. God is the one who heals. “In this instance this Woman’s FAITH was the divinely appointed means for her bodily healing AND for her spiritual salvation.”(Warren Wiersbe).
For me, I needed both healing and salvation, God brought what was dead to life.
Jesus did not come to mix the law and grace, HE came with New Life.
This girl was lostThis girl was brokenNow a Daughter of the King
Do not fear – only Believe… Jesus is the ONE who takes what is unclean and makes it clean, takes what is dead and brings it to New Life.
For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
When Sir James Simpson, the inventor of chloroform, was dying, a friend said to him, “You will soon be resting on His bosom.” The scientist replied: “I don’t know as I can do that, but I think I have hold of the hem of His garment.”
It is not the strength of our faith that saves us, but faith in a STRONG Savior.
I started a study on the book of Hebrews at the beginning of January. I am currently a few months in and rounding out the last two chapters. Hebrews is such a theologically rich book that it has caused me to overlook or under-consider (is under-consider a word?) the books presentation of:
Jesus is enough and Jesus is always the answer
The last two months I have had some things come up that have given me a fresh comfort of this truth. This book has been a major balm to my soul and has increased my ability to abide in my relationship with Christ. When condemnation has came knocking on the doors of my memories and anxiety of the unknown has tried to shake me… these truths overcome!
“For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” Hebrews 2:18 ESV
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Hebrews 4:15 ESV
Earlier this month I had a scare with some unexpected blood loss… I go to the doctor and get a referral to surgery, which I am waiting to be scheduled currently. At that same appointment, unexpectedly, the doctor found a large lump on each of my breasts. This month made exactly one year since my last breast cancer scare in which my faithful church family anointed and prayed for me.
“Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.” James 5:14-15 ESV
So now I wait on another mammogram and diagnostic imaging but I wait knowing God has been faithful in the past and I can trust He will be faithful again. Because I can trust Him, and know He is never changing, I can have peace in this messy place and I know if I suffer well – I will be rewarded in this trial.
Suffering for the Christian always presents the opportunity for discipline and growth.
“And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”” Hebrews 12:5-6 ESV
This month I also had someone reach out to me relaying that my earthly dad would like my address so he can write to me. This is a person who I have had zero contact with for over 14 years. This person was abusive in every way possible and in the past has denied any contact with me, even contact for me to relay I had forgiven him and would always continue to pray for him. In an act of grace and mercy, I said yes and sent my address. I cannot know if this persons heart has changed or what their intention is… but I can have faith in trusting the Lord to see me through whatever may be on the other side of this.
And I can know that I continue to pray with faith that my dad would confess his sins to the Lord, be forgiven, become a changed man, and one day join the Saints in Heaven.
Jesus endured the suffering of this world because He knew the outcome was worth it. You were worth it, friend and I was worth it. Jesus willingly obeyed God by coming to this world and in turn, it resulted in the restoration and reunion of God’s children. Jesus knew there was eternal salvation waiting beyond the suffering of this life! The same is true for us.
Eternity with Jesus awaits us. So what about this suffering in the meantime? If we allow it, this too can have eternal purpose. Our suffering can become a means of God’s discipline… let’s define the word “discipline”.
Discipline here does not mean punishment. Jesus already took our punishment. (Isaiah 53:5) The Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible defines discipline as “Learning that molds character and enforces correct behavior; from a Latin word meaning instruction’ or ‘training.” Suffering can be a major means for us to learn, train and be molded into someone better. Much like using weights to discipline and condition our muscles, or using alarm clocks to discipline our use of time, if we let it, suffering can discipline our hearts toward empathy, compassion, understanding and more.
If you let Him, God can turn pain into something that will transform you and yield righteousness.
Friend, being a Christian does not mean that you will have a life free of pain and suffering BUT what it does mean is that: You have Jesus!
Jesus to cover you 🙌🏻 Jesus to walk beside you 🙌🏻 Jesus in the good times and the hard times 🙏 Turns out, He is more than enough ❤️
“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.” Isaiah 41:10 ESV
The enemy would want nothing more than for my family to stop coming to church.
If any of you have read the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis then you may be able to imagine that the enemy doesn’t need us to “hate” God in order to pull us away from God. The enemy would see to it that we would back away slowly, not completely. It would begin with missing one or two Sundays, looking to others who “watch online”, to compare the ways we are close to Jesus and to say that because of our circumstances being “different” we are excused from corporately gathering… then it would become that Jackson’s class is better off without him… that we are a burden to the church.
The Bible is so clear here though – and if you know the truth then you can discern the lie.
Matthew 18:20 “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”
Hebrews 10:25 “not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”
And we are all important in the body as the Lord has blessed each one differently, “But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.” (1 Corinthians 12:18)
You may not know that 90+ percent of families with a family member experiencing autism don’t go to church. That 8/10 marriages end in divorce by the time the child is 4 years of age. Or that Suicide is the highest cause of death for young people experiencing autism with only drowning surpassing it.
These numbers tell me that we (special needs/disabilities families) need the church!!!
And that other families need to see us in the church. Pushing through the hard for the joy ahead.
This is not an immediate or tangible joy or a fit of “happiness” in the sense of what we think culturally when we use the term joy. I am talking the deep joy that comes from God alone.
The joy of knowing that in Christ is:
Healing
Forgiveness
Resurrection And Renewal
One thing I have learned is nothing, and I mean nothing, makes me yearn more for our King Jesus’s return than when I am carrying my hurting, sweet boy out of church crying out and unable to recover… hearing him begging to go back to his “big kid” class but lacking the “skills” needed for that day…
the helplessness I feel to see him hurting and longing to belong and no way for me to to fix it…
I also know humility is best learned in the “lab” not by reading others experiences and outcomes but by allowing God to configure the right parts needed to meet you and change you in the season He has you. We are taught to surrender.
And so this I cling to:
God is good
God is good to Jackson
God is good to us.
And God is good in autism.
Lord, enable me and my family not to just keep showing up but to glorify you! That we would show up with empty and outstretched hands so that we may receive the abundant life you have for us. And in that we continue to learn that in YOU and being with YOU is sufficient for all of ours and Jackson’s needs. Amen.
It’s perspective giving to me to see that I posted this two years ago… in this time so much of the day to day has remained the same. The Lord continues to use Jackson and our struggles to grow us, love us and discipline us. And, Jackson is still looking for and finding the light. Sometimes I get frustrated at my humanness and how long I can struggle to fully submit certain seasons to the Lord…
But then I am reminded that slow growth makes us strong and sturdy. I read somewhere that it can take an olive tree anywhere from 3-5 years to produce fruit, it is the trees slow growth that makes it sturdy. Similarly, we can’t fast track our spiritual growth without it being a risk to the fruit being produced.
Thank you Lord for these moments with you 🙌🥺
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Sometimes in the quiet hours of early morning the Lord blesses me in the most unexpected ways.
Every morning of late Jackson has been getting up incredibly early and I find myself grumbling from the struggles of the day before or worse even dreading the struggles of the day to come.
But not Jackson. The very FIRST thing he does each morning is find the light. Sometimes the light gets in through the expected places and sometimes it gets in through the unexpected places.
Regardless, he goes to it, he squats down and he basks in it. After he rests in this light, he then goes and get his “friends for the day” and he holds them up in the light too.
What a beautiful picture of the grace God gives us each day, that enables us to give this grace to others. A picture of how His mercies are new each morning. This morning I paused and stopped in the light with Jackson. We prayed and I paused, I grabbed my Bible and spent some time in the light.
Children are a blessing from God in so many ways. Jackson has a way reminding me of what is important when I forget. For a season I found myself sitting with him (still do) for long hours through the night – often beside the bathtub trying to soothe him. During that season the Lord impressed on my heart, “If you cannot even be still for your son, how than can you be still for me?”.
This season the Lord is using Jackson to remind me that life is found in the light of the world. In the life and grace of Jesus.
Lord forgive me, and help me to not resent these moments and days and months of intense pressure. Help me to recognize the gifts of these moments to help me to strive to enter the rest that is coming. Help me to do all things in the strength that YOU Lord provide.
“Jesus called a little child to him and put the child among them. Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. “And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me.” Matthew 18:2-5 NLT
Quiet mornings with Jackson before work is one of my very favorite things ❤️
Jackson having a morning snack by the tree
Last week, every morning was chaos. Dogs, child, pee and poop 💩 of all kinds everywhere. Cold and flu season. All of the things. But man, God’s tender mercy got us through.
It’s hard not to be grateful when it’s Christmas time. A time filled with reminders of Promises kept.
🎄 Jesus, the Promised One, came to save and give grace. We cannot save ourselves, but Jesus died in our place so that we could be His forever and made new.
🎄 The Bible holds hundreds of Promises, and Jesus is the answer to each one. In Him, we have hope, joy, peace, and love.
🎄 Jesus came as the Promised One long ago.
👑 Someday, He is coming again to make all things right forever because God ALWAYS keeps His Promises.
🙌 God keeps every last one.
🙏 Cling to this truth today if you need it friend. The holidays can be hard. I remember for so long this time of the year had a sting. It was a reminder of all the things I did not have. I did not have a safe home, family, a warm place to snuggle or a soft place to land. And some years were just dark.
🍎 I can now look back and see that I was hearing the lies of the enemy over the trumpet of grace. I was hearing the lies of the enemy say I was not worthy instead of knowing My King 👑 calls me Worthy.
Because of Christ, I now walk in freedom from the bondage of sin that leads to death. ✝️
The greatest gift of Joy is knowing Christ. You CAN rest in His faithfulness to us now and in the future as we remind our heart’s of God’s faithfulness in the past.
Friend, I don’t know why you may be hurting today- It may be because it is cold and flu season and you have poop all over your house or maybe it’s something deeper that you may not even know how to say –
Let me encourage you with a gentle reminder: HEALING AND HOPE will only be found in Jesus. Not in the Pinterest worthy pictures or elaborate decorations this season.
In Christ alone is rest, joy, comfort. Behold Him this season.
“Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.
It stands to reason, then, that ungracious words can produce an adverse effect on our well-being. Allowing ourselves to express frustrations enables “feelings” to rage unchecked in our system.
But when we make certain words and tones off limits, we begin retraining the neural pachways of our brains toward gratitude and positivity – a process that Scripture calls the “renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2) and one that secular science is finding more and more support for. And this is something our Pastoral team has mentioned in several Sunday sermons as of late.
I find it fascinating how the Lord has created us as holistic beings. The physical affects the emotional, which can bolster or wreak havoc on the spiritual.
I don’t know about you all, but for myself I am really having to bring my thoughts back to Christ constantly right now. Rallying together with others and comparing or complaining about the loads we are bearing, the election season!!, and the coming holiday stresses are not good things for us to be doing Christians! Even when we do not move forward with the intention of participating, it is all around us in the world right now. Praise the Lord that for the Christian this is not our home! We are set apart for HIS kingdom and HIS glory!
The only real load we have ever bared was taken from us at the Cross when our Savior chose to drink from the cup the Father gave HIM – so that in and through HIM we could be made FREE!!! Praise the Lord! In light of this not much matters except furthering HIS kingdom.
The more you shovel your feelings in the Lord’s direction – the less important your feelings will actually feel – in the BEST possible way!
Minute by minute,
Lord, help me to be calm. Jesus, give me kind speech. Father, show me how to be gentle.
👉Colossians 3:12 says, “As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” 👉Ephesians 4:2 admonishes us to “be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” 👉And of course, the famous “fruit of the Spirit” in Galatians 5:22-23 includes gentleness with love, joy, peace, self-control, and other stellar attributes.
The Bible has a lot to say on gentleness –
Don’t use grace as an excuse not to grow. In Christ, we CAN choose gentle speech. And when we get it wrong, cause we will, know that Christ’s love covers a multitude of sins.
Let’s follow the Lord’s example this season, being slow to anger and abounding in love. (Numbers 14:18).
Lately Jackson has been covering his ears and avoiding loud noises – something that we haven’t had a challenge with before. Jackson doesn’t like to not feel included and so for awhile I would try the Autism noise canceling headphones and he would rip them right off. This go round I tried a pair of electronic headphones that he can adjust the volume based on his preference. This allows Jackson to still be included and to be able to control the noise in his environment.
This Sunday in our kids class was the first time Jackson was open to wearing them in public. Even though Jackson has Autism – he still very much knows and can sense when he is being perceived as “different” and sometimes kids are scared of him simply because no one has ever talked to them about other children with differences. With school returning to session and the holiday breaks coming up – a great opportunity is open to talk to your kids about those with differences and how to include them.
Four ways I find helpful to help your child 🧒🏿 understand uniqueness and disability as part of God’s plan are:
Teach your children that regardless of our abilities, we were each created by God with special value and gifts to share within our churches. Romans 12:4-6, Each of us has one body with many parts. And the parts do not all have the same purpose so also, we are many persons, but in Christ, we are one body and each part of the body belongs to all the other parts we all have gifts.
Teach children what the Bible says about God creating disability. In the Old Testament, we see that Moses had a disability. He was unable to speak clearly and may have stuttered because of his speech impairment. Moses did not feel confident that God could use him to help free the Israelites from pharaoh. BUT God makes it clear that he is our creator and he would use Moses for his divine purpose . Exodus 4:11, The Lord said to him, “Who makes human beings able to talk? Who makes them unable to hear or speak? Who makes them able to see? Who makes them blind? It is I, the Lord.
Teach your child about how Jesus responded to those with disabilities.
In Luke 14:21-23, Jesus teaches that we are to intentionally include people affected by disability in our lives. He showed great compassion for their pain and struggles, and throughout Scripture we see him healing people with disabilities.
Matthew 9:35 says that as Jesus went through the towns and villages teaching and preaching, he also healed many people.
In John 9:1-7 Jesus healed a man who had been blind since birth. He tells his disciples that the man’s disability was part of God’s plan because his healing displayed God’s amazing power.
Teach your child about how to be a friend to someone with a disability. In biblical times many people saw disability as a curse or a result of sin. Sadly, many people still have wrong beliefs about disability today. You can help your child see that Jesus wants us to love each other as God loves us. We can express love through friendship by not using words that are hurtful or not excluding people with disabilities. In Mark 2:1-12 Jesus healed a man who couldn’t walk. The man’s friends carried him on a stretcher to seek help from Jesus. They even tore a hole in the roof to lower their friend down through. Jesus praised their faith and efforts on behalf of their friend.
❤️ I can’t tell you the blessing it is when another child includes my child.
One of the things I can look forward to in times of difficulty is how the Lord is going to use that thing or season to teach me.
“We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair.” 2 Corinthians 4:8 NLT
These are also times that I recognize the depth of my sin and the magnitude of the cross. It’s easy to not grumble when things are going well. But when things are hard like long season hard – that’s where you get to exercise your faith. This last week at Bible study we reflected on muscle memory. For me I want my muscles to remember we find rest in Christ, I want my muscles to instinctively speak scripture and words of life in the crevices of our broken world and my difficult circumstances. I want to be strong in the Lord.
I want to recognize that time with Christ is ALWAYS better than “me time”. And here I am in the middle of circumstances that present just the opportunity to work out 🏋️♀️ my muscles.
Even when we are not perfect in our pursuit of God, which is always… God is gracious to provide us with times of refreshment to minister to both our physical and spiritual needs.
I skipped some of my time in the Word this week and I could feel and instant change/shift in my heart and in the focus of my mind and thoughts. Jackson got up at 2:30 this morning and there was no indication I would be successful in getting him back to sleep. I grumbled and was frustrated and began to go over the list in my head of reasons why this is just the worst thing to be added to my plate and you know all the things…
Then I stopped and I thought about the great pains Jesus took to prioritize time with the Father.
I repented. Got up and grabbed my Bible. With Jackson in tow.
Just like Jesus did with the loaves and fishes, He is faithful to multiply our efforts so that time spent with Him is never wasted AND often amplifies any efforts that follow.
So I take 20 mins during the work day when my desk and heart feel a mess – to spend time with the ONE who orders my steps and days. And when my sweet boy is struggling to rest I want to show him where true rest comes from.
Let us not replace His peace “that surpasses all understanding” with quick fixes and bandaids that fall off and never satisfy. (Phil. 4:7).
George Muller once said in response to the claim of being too busy to spend time with God, that four hours of work after one hour of prayer would accomplish more than five hours without prayer. George practiced what he preached and spent his entire adult life relying on prayer to communicate his needs to the Lord so clearly that he refused to raise money for his orphanage, trusting instead the promise of Phil. 4:19, “God will supply all of your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
Today may my response be to and in all things the reality that says,
In Christ “my cup runneth over”.
““You fathers—if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”” Luke 11:11-13 NLT
How it started and how it is going! The faithful Love of Jesus! ❤️
5 years ago this week we plugged in at Coastline Christian Fellowship, wholeheartedly committed.
We had visited on and off through the year prior but we had lingering church hurt from prior churches and to be honest we were wrestling with feeling God’s pull – God’s wooing of our hearts AND wrestling with our flesh…
This little church in Olney became and is our family and for Jackson it is “the place of his people”. Jackson greeted and gave hugs to at least 30 people yesterday and shook 4 hands! 🥹😭😭
Jackson’s first visit to Coastline post being in a car seat Jackson helping dad and friend vacuum our kids class room.
A very early (miraculously early) autism diagnosis for Jackson was the hurt, the longing, the fear, the “I cannot do this without you God” moment that changed it all for us. We surrendered and we kept showing up until we desired to show up and we hurt when we missed. 6 months later we began serving in the Minnows room and remain in there till this day. Seasons change but the everlasting Love of the Lord remains the same. He sought us and pursued us…
God pursued Adam and Eve after they sinned in the garden of Eden. (Genesis 3) God pursued Hagar when she ran away from her problems. (Genesis 16) God pursued Elijah when he ran from Ahab and Jezebel. (1 Kings 18-19) God pursued Paul on the road to Damascus. (Acts 9) And God pursues us.
Motivated by unexplainable love, God pursues humanity. No matter our state in life — married, single, dating, living for God or running from Him — God seeks to win the affection of our hearts by relentlessly and faithfully pursuing us.
We see a clear depiction of this pursuit in verses, John 3:16-17: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
The love John refers to in this scripture is agape love, which is sacrificial and considered the highest form of love that exists. This love was costly for God, but He pursued us through the radical act of sacrificing His Son. God’s love is unmatched and far greater than any box of chocolates or bouquet of flowers.
And even more astounding is that God demonstrated His lavish and sacrificial love while we were sinners. He pursued us while we weren’t thinking about Him… Once and for all, God valiantly saved humankind from the spiritual villain Satan when we were in distress.
But God’s pursuit of us did not end with Christ’s sacrificial death and resurrection. For all our days, He will continue to pursue us with His unexplainable love.
If you long to be romanced and pursued, may this be an encouragement: You are the object of God’s affection. He has relentlessly pursued and will continue to pursue you.
God will not keep you from anything that will make you more like Jesus. For us, Jackson’s autism is a tangible tether between the heavenly things and the earthly things…. But it took us “surrendering” this onto the Lord.
What is the thing that may be hurting you that the ONE who made you and loves you is wooing and asking you to surrender to HIM?
The Meek Momma 