The Most Ingenious Evil Plan of All

Busyness.

Do you ever find yourself in the middle of the rest you have told God you so need, only to find yourself thinking that you SURELY have to get up and go do something?

I'm sitting the outside on my deck after an extremely full yesterday. All necessary things to be done that accomplished a lot not just for us but for others in our lives.
But today the birds are tweeting, the breeze is blowing, I'm in the company of someone I love, my heart is whispering words of release and appreciation for the creation around me, and I'm thankful (or so I think) for the answered prayer of rest on this day. Ahhhhhhh yes. 

And then it begins. You know what I mean. I know you do.

The voice in my head starts saying things like “There's still things I need to get done. Look at that dirty patio table. I should so get some rags and clean that. Wouldn't take but a minute or two. And I think there are enough towels to make a fairly good size load. And the kitchen counter is getting pretty piled up again, maybe I’ll just go in and go through all that stuff for a little bit, then I can really relax”… why IS that???

It’s the idea that each and every moment must be filled, then I will be fulfilled.

It’s the idol of busyness.

And to put it bluntly - it’s satan’s agenda.

If he can keep me tired, busy, distracted, feed my selfish need to be patted on the back for getting something accomplished, and push out the voice of my God calling me to just enjoy moments with Him and the people He has gifted my life with – well, then satan wins the day.

I hate it when he wins. So then why do I let my ears be tickled, and my mind be consumed, by his lies, taunting, and prodding? Because I somehow let myself be trained to feel guilty for not doing enough, not being enough, not accomplishing enough. Its really the most ingenious evil plan of all.

As they continued their travel, Jesus entered a village. A woman by the name of Martha welcomed him and made him feel quite at home. She had a sister, Mary, who sat before the Master, hanging on every word he said. But Martha was pulled away by all she had to do in the kitchen. Later, she stepped in, interrupting them. “Master, don’t you care that my sister has abandoned the kitchen to me? Tell her to lend me a hand.”
The Master said, “Martha, dear Martha, you’re fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing. One thing only is essential, and Mary has chosen it—it’s the main course, and won’t be taken from her.”   Luke 10:38-42

I let satan steal my God moments way too often.

God designs moments for me to hear HIM, be with HIM, learn more about HIM, enjoy the gifts HE has given me in people and His blessings. But I tend to blow it listening to every agenda but His.

When I’m present in the gift God has chosen to give me for the day - HE wins my day - and that’s the only time I win too.

Joyful on the Journey
Marisa 

Unconditional Love

There Is No Condemnation

How Deep Are We Digging our Ditches? **a tweaked timely repost - well, for me anyway :)

In 2nd Kings Chapter 3, there were three kings that joined forces to come together to fight Moab. No big deal right? Strength in numbers and all that jazz.

But they found themselves in a very lengthy battle. In other words numbers didn't matter. They found they were in the desert with nothing to sustain them or give them the edge they need to fulfil the mission they had been given. They needed rain. They needed water. Sustenance. Pretty desperate situation. Pretty desperate people.

 

Ever felt dry and desperate before?

 

Then Elisha gives them a word from God... to dig ditches. Dig ditches. In the desert. Not a cloud in the sky as far as the eye can see. Uhhhhhh, yeah, ok.
Desperate times call for desperate measures right? Or another word for that might be 'obedience'.
Not a word I'm always as familiar with as I should be :)

But the three kings and those they served with in battle obeyed and dug the ditches. 

And they awoke to ditches filled to the brim!

This is a passage I never thought a whole lot about honestly, until my pastor shared it at a prayer walk we did at our churches new property recently.
What I have been meditating on (yet again) is how my pastor used it that day to encourage us for an uncomfortable time of growth surely to come.

How the fact of the matter was that they received the abundant blessing they needed and more because of two things: They dug WHEN they were told to dig, and that they dug DEEP. They went all in.

It's not the easiest thing to do, to dig when its dry. Imagine the heat, the sand flying in your mouth and eyes - sticking everywhere there is sweat - blinding you to everything that is ahead in a barren landscape, when you can't see the outcome in front of you... but dig they did.
Sometimes we are asked by God to do things that don't make a whole lot of sense, so we only do them halfway maybe. If at all. Sometimes we we are asked to do things that make perfect sense, the next logical step in the process if you will. But we still only do them half heartily because we only expect the next logical reaction to the step we take. We're not expecting miracles.
Our Pastor made this comment - that most of the time not only to we not dig our ditches as if we are expecting to receive enough but for sure not deep enough for the abundant blessing intended.
WOW!
What could happen if we just give God bigger reservoirs to fill?
What if we really believed He is bigger than our minds can comprehend?
What if we honestly knew in our heart of hearts that He does love us, wants the best for us, wants to give us all we need and MORE?
What if we truly believed that as long as we seek Him and the desires HE has for us in the center of His will, that He is waiting to bless us and those we serve in amazing ways?

Each day I say I want to be ready, really ready to change the world. I don't know where all the ditches should be dug. I need to depend on God to reveal that to me. Do I trust Him at His word?

Our ditches will be in different places, in different shapes, at different times, for different reasons. But one place I think that the life Jesus lived showed us that we should ALL be digging is in people, in our relationships with one another.
I need to be better at preparing to have God pour out His mercy and grace in abundance, to anxiously be looking for glimpses of Him working in the lives of others BECAUSE through my own life and actions each day I'm digging into their lives too.

He intended us to be more about the business of helping one another open hearts, minds, ears and eyes to receive the love, hope, joy, and blessings from Christ.

Think about how dry, parched, cracked, and thirsty the lands some people are treading through right now are around you. Maybe that's the sod you are placing one foot in front of the other on today too. Mine are definitely a bit dust covered at the moment.

We, they, ALL need to be filled so desperately with what only God can give.
In a dry season the digging becomes harder. All the focus is on the need and the pain. We have to really throw our backs into it. Focus. Commit.
But remember, the ditches we dig He will fill.

I believe His Word here is so clearly teaching us that the deeper we dig our reservoirs the bigger the blessing. THEN we can see His glory - we see Him revealed - and we realize it was never about us. It is always about Him, about how we all can be filled so that the excess pours out into the ditches of others in need.

Grab a spade, a shovel, a spoon, a bulldozer - whatever you need to begin with to get started. Just start digging where He tells you to. Then keep digging. In fact don't stop digging until the refreshing waters come!

 

Joyful on the Journey,

Marisa

 

 

You ARE Beautiful :)

 

 

Watch and be blessed, and know you are more beautiful than you realize - beleive you are as you have been created, unique, and MORE!

 

Marisa

 



 



 

A Stained Cushion = Love

The life group that my husband and I lead are doing a group study called "Not A Fan" based on the book of that same name by Kyle Idleman.
The other night we were watching the accompanying video and Kyle was telling the story of the time his daughter spilled bright pink fingernail polish on an off white couch in their home.
As a young child can you just imagine her horror?? The fear of what might happen to her?? What her parents would think?? What they might do?? And she did what many of us do - she tried to hide her stain. She turned the couch cushion over, and quietly walked away.
Oh no, I can't relate to that, you?!
Well of course, the stain was found one day when Kyle and his wife were cleaning (key foreboding music, dum dum dum).
They lined up all of their girls in the same room to ask them who did this. The youngest daughter that made the bright pink stain cracked before they could even get the question all the way asked - she fell to her knees and broke down crying.
As they knelt next to her to discuss what had happened she asked this question through her sobs - 'do you still love me?'
She learned a valuable lesson that day when she was shown unconditional love with these words from her parents "honey, you could never make a stain so big we would stop loving you".
But the most telling thing of all?
The fact that they noticed as a little time passed she began actually showing off the stain when people came to their house - she would take them to the couch and tell them that this is what she did but her mommy and daddy still loved her and it was all okay!
Wow. What a picture of forgiveness, love, and confidence in who she was and who loved her!

I remember such a time in my life, when I tried really hard to hide a stain - after the divorce in my first marriage when I spent most of my time trying to cover it all up so it didn't show, to quietly walk away from it all like it never happened. I also remember feeling like that stain and the related ones I had a hand in creating, were so very big. Too big. And wondering where am I now in this life, and where is God, and could He ever look at me and love me the same again?

Colossians 2:13-14 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.

The answer is a resounding yes! It took me some time to process through it all, but my God has proven Himself faithful to show me forgiveness, restoration, unconditional love, and that He LOVES using my messy big stains to do great things!

If you have a great big old messy stain that you are trying to forget, to cover up, to walk away from without bringing it to the light of day, why not just walk right up to your Heavenly Father today and say "Here I am, stain and all. I'm sorry I've tried to hide it. Forgive me for that. I trust you to fix it, to make it beautiful and worth showing off. Because I believe you can take it and use it in a way that it can glorify you... use my stain to show me your unconditional love so I can show that same love to someone else!"

He's not mad at you. Let God turn the couch cushion back over, right side up, and look at the stain through His eyes for what it truly is - something He wants to make beautiful. He still loves you :)

Philippians 1:6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Joyful on the Journey,
Marisa

Lady Bug Lessons

Ever been “taken to school” by a lady bug?

I have. The wise little creature came to occupy space and time on my desk today,and she taught me a lot. The tiny delicate red visitor with black polka dots, in fact, reminded me by the end of the day of what I want but sometimes lack – focus and perseverance.

See this little lady bug, for the better part of almost 8 hours today I might add, was searching and seeking and working at whatever it was she was trying to accomplish. She was, in a word – diligent.
Ok, add one more word – committed.

She toiled. She was consistent.  All day long she took to task what was before her.

Philippians 3:14 says “I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

Me? I can become lazy – procrastinate – and then before I know it have never finished what I started. Or even if I do it’s not the result it should have been. But she just kept at it – her eye on whatever goal it was she was after that day.

But it was all in the WAY she approached everything on this day that REALLY got me.

# 1 – I noticed she rested. I would first see her crawling and moving and running and being about her tasks, but then she would simply just stop. For a while too.  And she stayed perfectly still as if awaiting further instructions.

Psalm 46:10 says “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Me?  I can swing totally to the opposite boundary and get so caught up in my busyness I look up and all the hours in the day or week are completely depleted – and so am I. And the way I am doing life is not pleasing my family or most of all my God either. I need to continually stop long enough to truly listen for my instructions from the Lord. If I do this, then the results are two-fold for me according to God’s Word and His promises above - I get the rest that sustains me and my family, and the knowledge and guidance that will help me accomplish what He wants that will truly glorify Him!

# Two – I saw that she never strayed far off the course. The path she took had to change occasionally when something got in the way, but she maintained the set course through it all. When she encountered my coffee cup for instance, she went around part way and then explored it awhile, hanging out on the lid even for a bit. But then she crawled down the other side and continued on in the exact same direction she had been heading to begin with.  She stayed the course and she didn't let an obstacle stop her from the course she was instinctively on.

Psalm 119:1-2 says “You're blessed when you stay on course, walking steadily on the road revealed by God. 2 You're blessed when you follow his directions, doing your best to find him.”

Me? I can become so distracted, frustrated, and then I can allow that to affect how I approach my goals for the day, or even for a season. And before you know it I’m off course – even giving up on the plan a few times. I can let things that come up out of nowhere that seem in my way defeat me sometimes.

Quite the little lesson for this New Year I think - and from a critter so small and that I could simply have overlooked it.
Focus, persevere, rest, eye on the prize – Lady Bug Lessons 101. 

Our God does indeed work and speak in mysterious ways :)

Joyful on the Journey
Marisa

Unconditional

Today I looked up some of the definitions of unconditional ~ without a qualifying condition; absolute; all out; all in; not limited in any way; complete.

I am contemplating this evening the love we are given in Christ and the love we are called to GIVE in His name - unconditional... and I must readily admit I'm so still not as good at this as I want to be.

Knowing that unforgiveness, fear, pride, and even the bitter taste of complacency can close a heart to loving in this way each day has not kept me from embracing them at times. Holding onto a past that is just that - the past, fearful and unsure of those I don't understand, and too focused on myself and my needs to see sometimes what the needs really are right in front of me has caused me to be jaded and blind to the needs of others around me at times - but all the while saying "God use me"... Irony = one of the many words my picture must be next to in the dictionary.

I am loved so unconditionally by a God who saw what I was and wanted to know me and help me anyway... Oh God help me remember that limitless, absolute, all in, poured out, and complete way you love me -  a person with not one single qualifying condition, that you CHOSE to die for - and that all you ask in return is I love you and others the same way... help me CHOOSE to love that way!

And they asked Him "Lord, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: “ 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind'. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love others as yourself.’ " Matthew 22:36-39

O Little Town of Bethlehem...

"But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days." ~ Micah 5:2

I love this prophecy from Micah regarding the birth of Christ... and that the name Bethlehem means "house of bread", and Ephrathah means "fruitfulness, life"

Now look at Christ's response in John 6:35 in this light... 'And Jesus replied, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.'

From Bethlehem the One who brings eternal life had come... "the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight"

Joyful on the Journey
Marisa

Christmas with the Angels

I was thinking today about how even though there are a few more days in November, its never too early to talk about that wonderful night over 2000 years ago - so I dug back in the archives and found this... Be blessed friends :)

As the most beautiful of heavenly creations, the angels played a part in the whole nativity story (foretelling Zechariah and Elizabeth to be the parents of John the Baptist, a few months later appearing to Mary with the news that she too was going to have a son, appearing to Joseph as well telling him of Mary’s pregnancy and reassuring him that it was all part of God’s plan, and then appearing to the shepherds, of course, announcing the Savior’s birth).

But have you thought about the fact that they were actually there at the birth of Christ? The point where heaven and earth actually met and collided?
These angels were created by Christ, they were with Him in His heavenly realm and glory, saw what he was giving up… imagine knowing this God who gave you life, created you to be the bearers of His news throughout creation… now He was giving it all up to go down THERE?!

As his cherubim and seraphim must they have thought that this was absolute madness? Would they have wondered at the sense of the plan? Ever since they had been brought into existence they had watched Him create - the earth, the universe, witnessed Him spinning the cosmos, creating us with such care and love, now they were to witness Him setting aside His glory, His heavenly home, His heavenly robe to put on a flesh robe, a very costly robe, a plan that would end in His pain and death…

When God decreed that He was putting on this flesh – coming as baby no less – needing diapers changed, needing food, being cold, hungry, alone in their eyes because they as His heavenly host, His army if you will, would not be staying with Him in quite the same way as they had before...
And the fact that He would arrive in a dirty stall or cave where animals lay and ate… that gold and frankincense and myrrh could not compare to all the riches
He would be leaving - what must they have thought of this sacrifice?
It would be easy just to say that they would think it crazy – and that may be true – but I think that when they were told of the plan, the cost, the sacrifice, they then must have realized just how precious we were to Him and how immense the sacrifice would be and that they were more than proud, more than humbled, more than blown away by the fact that they would play such a integral part of that night.
Of all the figures and beings hovering and kneeling around the stable at the first Christmas, only the angels knew just how much that Christmas really cost. Not in dollars and cents, of course, but in sacrifice and love. It cost Him everything.

They must have watched the event unfolding with wonder and love for their King… that He would leave their undying worship and love of Him to be with us. I think they thought how much more blessed we were to be receiving such a love, and how their hearts were breaking at the thought of the journey and where it would take Him.


I think those heavenly beings may have even bordered on jealousy for a moment – in my finite mind I can hardly comprehend them not being envious as they looked at the love Mary had for Jesus, the awestruck wonder of the shepherds, heard the earth whisper and rumbled on a deep level that only their ears and hearts could hear... and that the most important event in history was beginning right then and there before their eyes – and it was all for us… not them, but for us… and they realized we would have the choice to love Him and know Him in a way they never could.

Maybe this Christmas when we look at the birth of Christ through the eyes of the angels we can begin to truly see the sacrifice made only for us, and worship Him in a way only we can.

Marisa