Am I stirred by my calling or by my pain?
"I've singled you out, called you by name, and given you this privileged work." Am I more stirred this day by my high calling or by the pain in my life? Isa 45:11: "Do you question who or what I'm making? Are you telling me what I can or cannot do?" Radical Repentance needed to respond to the truth of the Gospel to advance His Kingdom.
God will never stop doing you good. Isaiah 45:3-6. God says: I've been carrying you on my back from the day you were born, And I'll keep on carrying you when you're old. I've done it and will keep on doing it. So why do I act like the center of the universe is me, sometimes.
In 66 LL, the author writes about a friend of his who thinks God's Love is all about the spiritual highs he sometimes expreriences when he sobs over how empty he feels. But those "Divine Encounters" with Your Love don't seem to be freeing him to better love his difficult wife. He backs away from her so he can experience Your Love without interruption. As I stood on the beach as daybreak, and watched the Morning Star open its corridor, there was the sprinkle of rain and the surreal experience of singing the Doxology alone on a pristine island beach. Just happened to be the next song on my phone. In the midst of my pain, I could have burst open, I was so "taken" with the God of the Universe Who walked with me on the succulent sultry sparkling saturated sand! What is most alive in me this day? Am I more alive with other people who are "safe" and backing away from those closest to me? Heaven forbid. What does love look like today toward those in my life who are difficult to read and dismissive in actions toward me? "Only those who know they are unholy, who hate their unholiness more than their pain and emptiness, experience the transforming power of My Love!" 66 LL. That's what God is saying to me this day.
I Thes 3:11-13 May God our Father himself and our Master Jesus clear the road to you! And may the Master pour on the love so it fills your lives and splashes over on everyone around you, just as it does from us to you. May you be infused with strength and purity, filled with confidence in the presence of God our Father when our Master Jesus arrives with all his followers.
PHOTO: This is what Love looks like---Brooke! Every day she is in touch with what is really going on inside of her as she lays down her life for her kids. And she deals with it. I don't remember the daily drama of raising four kids but when I walk in her orderly organized and totally delightful home, I see firsthand the sacrifices it takes to bring out the best in kids. There's always something or someone going on or off. Brooke is a display of the love of God.
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