“Where can I run from Your presence
Where can I flee from You Even if I hide on the highest mountain You are there”
I suppose I disappeared for two years. It feels as if the world has truly disappeared. The world we knew in 2019 is not the world we are looking at today. Perhaps that causes anxiety or fear. Maybe that reality is still confusing you and where your place is in this world. The dreams I held so close two years ago have morphed and changed - ultimately for the better - but there is a grief in the changing of those dreams. When we give our hearts to Jesus, fully, undivided, wholly, we open ourselves up to a world of change. The society that was, is not what is today. But the God of it all remains. That act, of giving our heart over to the Lord, is not an easy process. Some of us may have walked into it wide-eyed and hopeful of the transformation that was to come. Others may have walked into it with a slight bit of disbelief of God’s ability to truly change us and our hearts - to transform our minds and lifestyles. I gave Jesus my heart when I was 5. A 5-year-old has no idea what that really looks like because there hasn’t been a whole lot of life lived. I struggled from ages 6 to 18 to truly believe that God was good and that he really cared or even loved me. I was angry, bitter, and told people I loved God, but in reality, it wasn’t really true. I “followed” him because I didn’t know any different, and for me, that’s what saved me. I’ll dive into my story another day, but today, today is about the fact that no matter where I went, what I did, who I saw, or how I spoke… God was there. In those 12 years of wrestling and anger, I can look back and see where God was gracious, loving, and sought me out when I didn’t want to be found by him. Where you sitting, it is holy ground. It is the ground that God has laid in front of you. It is the ground that was paved for you to experience life. God does not create us to abandon us. His presence is here, his love is here, his providence is here, and his dreams and plans for you are here. Even if you hide in the highest mountain, he will still be there. In love with the King, Ruth
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Are you letting God work in your life?
I so often ask God to work in my life, to bring change or something fresh. I have realized I do not follow through with my request. I’ve gotten the asking down, but not the welcoming. I ask for seeds to be sown but I don’t tend the ground or prepare it. Thankfully God doesn’t wait for us to get our act together before moving in our lives, but how much more would we appreciate his movement if we actually prepared for it? My lack of preparation sometimes comes from a lack of faith. I don’t always have the faith that God will follow through on my request. I tend to think of it in terms of why would he need to follow through on my silly request; instead of living in the love that a father wants to ravish on his children. I’ve asked for many things from God. The ones I asked for, sometimes flippantly, were the ones I needed to prepare for, yet God gave them to me anyway. Even though I wasn’t prepared he loved me enough to teach me something from it. To come back to my original question; are you letting God work in your life or are you just giving him lip service without intention of acting on his work? I want my life to be a book so eloquently written by God that my silly human decision are minor subplots. I want to be a garden full of flowers and foliage with new sprouted growth so that the few weeds are all together missed. I’m sure I could come up with many more analogies… but I won’t. My desire is to be a moldable heart in God’s hands, not a stubborn one that refuses to change. What about you? Are you willing to let God work in you and do the work to keep the growth? In love with the king, Ruth Messy hair don’t care, am I right?
What about - messy life, I’ve got to hide it. Yep, I’m call you out. I’m actually calling myself out too. I’ve grown up in church my whole life. If you have too, you know all about “Church face.” You show up to church smiling saying you’re doing good, when you’ve just stepped out of your car where you had an argument with your family the whole drive. Don’t crack, don’t let them see your weakness and, don’t let them know you’re a major mess right now. Because, you have Jesus, nothing should be wrong...right? It makes me wonder when being human became unacceptable. God has been reminding me lately, in many different ways, how much he loves and wants to see every piece of the “put together me” and the “broken me,” and nothing less. You may have heard it said that God didn’t come for the healthy, he came for the broken and those in need. I don’t know about you but I am absolutely in the category of broken and in need. I wrote, a few posts ago, about being authentic. The word authentic is a driving word for my life, and even though it stays at the forefront of my mind, I forget to act in it. Messy life, why hide it? If I want to live authentically, I’ve got to be honest about where I am in life. Our society is all about the ‘picture perfect.’ That’s the driving force behind social media. Looking the best you can, in the best light, and the perfect location. I do it, I want my Instagram to look beautiful, but I’ve realized I’ve gotten to caught up in the “make it look good” mentality. Don’t let the goal of perfection hinder you from living a healthy life. The more you and I embrace the idea of “church face” in all parts of life, the less we live in the honest need of Jesus. When prioritizing everyone’s opinions, starts over shadowing God’s opinion, we lose a bit of our true selves and begin to only live in the light of ‘being perfect.’ Embrace the messy. The messy we are, is the messy Jesus fell in love with. We don’t ever have to work for that love, or ask for it. His love is just there. When you let Jesus love your messy, other things tend to not be as important, and that is an incredible feeling. In love with the king, Ruth. “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 Courage, bravery, strength, faith. I think we all want a little bit more of one of these. No matter how hard we try, we lack in some way. Sometimes courage comes naturally, depending on your situation, and other times it’s nowhere to be found. New year, new you. Right? It’s 2019, and we’ve all made resolutions in some way; it could be in just saying “New year, new me.” Everybody and their brother have a word for their year or a goal. Goals are great, but there are a lot of short comings in regards to them if you don’t strive to reach them with ferocity. The New Year can bring so much stress, and it’s easy to forget the big wonderful thing called grace. Grace for when we don’t meet our personal goal; grace for when we cheat on that new diet. This year I didn’t really set any goals, or resolutions per say. There are things I wish to grow in and to walk in, like learning. My Dad has always said that “Every day is a school day and an opportunity to learn.” I’ve always loved learning, from standard school to random articles on the internet. I tend to embrace learning, but my short coming is that I haven’t always embraced learning from the bible. So instead of creating a resolution to read my bible every day, or reading the whole thing in a year; I resolve to changing my attitude and invite God to help change my habits. Everything comes back to an attitude, doesn’t it? Let’s take work for instance. You can have an attitude of gratefulness for your Job, or an attitude of entitlement. Those two attitudes also apply for school. Our attitudes towards things can change our perspective and how we function. I’ll be honest with you, I have no idea what 2019 will bring for my life, but I know that there will be a lot of change. I’m pretty scared. In spite of that, I have decided to choose the attitude of Joy for whatever comes my way. I am asking God for courage and bravery to step up, and step out in faith, and in all of life. Joshua 1:9 is my anthem verse of the year. To go along with that verse, I want to constantly remind myself that God is for me, not against me (Romans 8:31). He has plans for my life (Jer. 29:11). He is faithful (1 Cor. 1:9). I have nothing to fear (Is. 41:10). This year, I don’t want to radically change, I want to be radically changed by my Father God. My change is not up to me, but to the one who made me, and placed me here in this season... “for such a time as this.” (Excerpt from Esther 4:14) Be strong and courageous, Encouragers. In Love with the King, Ruth What do you want out of this season?
This question has been rolling around in my mind this month as we are swiftly approching Chrsitmas and the New Year. I feel like there are so many preconcieved ideas of what this holiday season needs to bring. But, what do you want to get out of it? I want to go through this season with a heightend awarness of Jesus being the reason. I want to go through this season with humility, not entitlement. I want to go through this season thankful for the little & big moments, not the things I may get. In the hustle and bustle of comerciallized chrsitmas it is so easy to fail any one of the things I have listed. How many things in this holiday season are done out of obligation rather than desire? Whether it be that one christmas party you go to every year, or even what side of the family you celebrate with. We all have something. So what can you do to encourage growth and character develpment in yourself in this season, all for the good of sharing Christ’s birth? This may be a simiple question, but one we should really be asking ourselves all year long. What do you want out of this season? Would you like to practice true generosity? Would you like to grow in deeper relationship with Jesus? Would you like to practice gratitude for what you have? Everything we do has the power to change us, to grow us, and to develop us more and more into a reflection of Jesus to those around us. How much are you willing to grow? In love with the king, Ruth. Open your eyes and see.
See what? Where? What are we talking about? Open your eyes and see. See. Look. Find. Identify. View. What is it that you are seeing? What is it that you are looking at? Is it good? Is it right? Is it worth your time? Are you seeing God in creation around you? Or are you ignoring his existence? So many questions, I do realize. Are they questions worth asking though? See what I did there? Answered a question with a question. A bit annoying, I know. This morning I woke up and asked God what he wanted me to do today and he replied with one word: See. “But God, what am I seeing? What does that mean? See what?” We use our eyes everyday, right? That is if we have the gift of sight. So if we use our eyes everyday, what are we looking at? Do you realize that you use your eyes for 16+ hours a day? What are you letting your eyes set on? I am guilty of spending way to much time on my phone. Whether it be scrolling through Instagram™ or just playing good ol’ Candy Crush™. Whatever it is, I spend way to much time doing it. Going off of that let’s be honest, instagram doesn’t necessarily have the best content. So with that, I am spending hours of my “seeing” time looking at crap. Yes, crap. 90% of it does not improves me in anyway, it’s a source of mentally checking out, but even then I am absorbing all that I see. What are you seeing? Are you stuck in comparing yourself to others and falling short? Are you staring in the mirror hating what you look like because you can’t look like ___? We are given the gift of sight… think about that. If God gave us the gift to see, wouldn’t it be to see the good? To see him in the world, as we walk down the street or through nature? I sit her asking myself when was the last time I looked around me and thought “Wow, Jesus is all around me.” I can tell you, it’s been a while. I am so focused on seeing what I want to see, doing what I want to do and acting in that “free will” thing. ;) See Me - is what I feel God is saying. See me in the sunrise, see me in your coffee, see me in that smile from a stranger, see me when you look in the mirror. You are worth more than others opinions, you are worth more than likes on a photo, you are worth more than your uncooperative hair. Smile, put your shoulders back and see me working in your life, from the butterfly that flutters by, to the lack of traffic on your drive home from work. See me, choose to see me. Ladies, the sight God gives for you in life is far better than imaginable. Are you willing to set aside your negative thoughts of yourself to see yourself through His eyes? What are you looking at? Is it good? Is it pleasing to God? Is it encouraging? I could ask so many more questions, but I think you understand. Open your eyes and see. In Love with the King, Ruth. |
AuthorHi there! I'm Ruth. I enjoy writing and I think it is extremely important to value people, and value people like Jesus does. I hope you can feel valued and encouraged before you leave this site today.
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