A story from my archives:

There is a “burning bush” in my daughter’s yard in Illinois. And it is ablaze with glory right now! So when three year old William and I came outside yesterday morning, we couldn’t help but notice the changes that seemed to happen overnight.

“It’s RED!”

“Yes, William, and it’s called a Burning Bush. You know what? God spoke to a man named Moses from a Burning Bush. It’s in the Bible.”

“Wow”

“We will read it later with Eli (8 y.o.) before we go to bed.” And so we did.

We had fun exploring the time long ago when God spoke in a bush!

That brief interchange and the glorious red trees and bushes we noticed all day and the story that night in the Bible storybook got me thinking of the “Burning Bushes” all over my life … every day.

Am I noticing? Am I listening? Am I recognizing my glorious indwelling God, speaking to me in sometimes a small Voice and sometimes a dramatic One. But all the while speaking, revealing Himself … to ME! Little ole me!

That very morning as I was awaking, my Burning Bush had been a Word engrafted in my soul long ago. It was just breaking into my consciousness as I was tempted to rehearse the overwhelmed-ness from days before.

But I needed that verse afresh for my day ahead:

“My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.”
So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses,
so that the power of Christ can work through me.
That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults,
hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ.
For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NLT

And He was and still is my Strength for my very real day.

What about you? Where are the Burning Bushes in your life?

May the Holy Spirit open your eyes to the glory all around
and your ears to hear His Speaking Voice. Amen.

It is then we need to remember we have a choice. Will we carry the weight of our trials? Or will we cast our care, fling our anxieties on Him who is on the throne of heaven, because He cares for us.

I have a recurring image that helps me in times when I’m tempted to carry my burdens on my own instead of casting myself and my cares on Him —

It began in worship one Sunday years ago. I was struggling emotionally about a highly emotional issue. Suddenly, I had a sense, not a literal vision, but rather a picture in my spirit. The picture was of Jesus and me climbing a mountain. He had me by the hand and was carrying a sack on His back.

He stopped climbing abruptly, turned to me and said, “Jan, we can’t go up any higher until you throw the burden you are carrying into my sack. You need to let ME carry it!”

So I threw it in …

And oh, the JOY and peace!

And we continued to climb together.

Now often when I’m struggling with an offense, a disappointment, a crisis, whatever, I see and hear my Traveling Companion, my Guide, my Empowering Savior say, “Okay, Jan, throw it in! We can’t go any higher if you don’t!”

And when I throw my burden in Jesus’ sack, freedom and JOY flood my soul!

Then we can go on climbing hand in hand together. Why? Because...

...the JOY of the Lord is my strength. Nehemiah 8:10

How about you? How are you handling the stress of your current crises? Are you anxious about your health, your loved ones, your finances?
Fill in the blank ……………………!

You have burdens that you weren’t meant to carry, dear friend. Throw them into Jesus’ sack! Return to JOY and keep on climbing hand in hand with Him!

Lord, take me higher and higher in my experience of YOU and all there is of Your Fulness! The world has a downward drag! But I cling to You. I chose to rejoice in my Risen, Indwelling Son of God! Amen!

...casting all your care upon HIM, for He cares for YOU. 1 Peter 5:7 NKJV

Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall. Psalm 55:22 NIV

… BUT…

Cast not away your confidence, which has a great reward. Hebrews 10:35

It is God’s will that I should cast
On Him my care each day;
He also bids me not to cast
My confidence away.
But oh, I am so foolish
That when taken unawares,
I cast away my confidence
And carry all my cares.
T. Baird

Amen.

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1969 U of AZ friends “Hanging out” at the jail in Old Tucson

If you started with us in my last post — that “Deep Dive” into Matthew 11 — we joined Jesus’ in His beautiful invitation, “Here to ME and I will rest you.”
And we RECEIVEd the amazing Rest of UNION with Him. This rest is fixed, permanent, and unchanging. He Himself is our Rest…always and forever!

But now we wonder, how can we experience the rest we have as a permanent possession?

Jesus doesn’t leave us in the dark. That’s where the next two verses come in…

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me,
for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will FIND rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

A Rest WE FIND.

What is this Rest we find?
It’s the Rest of Soul in COMMUNION with God, experiencing oneness and intimacy with God with Whom we are already united in a fixed and permanent relationship.

What is our soul?
Our soul is our inner person – our mind, our emotions, and our will. One author has explained it this way:

Your spirit is where you receive God’s Life,
your soul is where you experience God’s Life,
and your body is where you express God’s Life.
(Alive and Free, Matt Smith)

Our spirit-union is fixed and unchanging; but our soul-communion (experiencing our union with God) is changeable, fluctuating.

To help us understand this, Jesus uses the image of a yoke.

What is a yoke?

· A yoke is a bar or frame of wood that connects two animals together for a purpose or work of some kind. This was and is a common sight in the Middle East. Typically, a stronger animal is yoked to a weaker or more inexperienced one and so takes the lead. The two animals then work together to complete the same job.

· In addition to this use with animals, a slave-owner/ master sometimes used a yoke to bind and control his slaves.
The apostle Paul called himself a bond-slave/servant of the Lord, Romans1:1

· Symbolically then, the yoke is a picture of being attached to one who is stronger and more skilled to accomplish a purpose together.
It also expresses yielding control to a master who is greater in power and authority.

So a yoke signifies attachment and yielding control or dependence.

Jesus says that we are to take on HIS yoke in order to find rest for our soul. And the soul is where we often struggle and experience lack of peace and rest. But as we chose living from union with HIM above all other competing attachments, as we focus on HIM and depend on HIM, we experience the peace and rest of a Loving Lord who lives in and through us in every situation we face. So …

HE does the living, I do the letting.*

But there are other yokes, false yokes, besides Christ’s yoke, that are pulling at us. These are often good things that end up becoming addictions, obsessions, dependencies, mini-gods that exert control over our lives.

Christine Wyrtzen, in her beautiful blog Daughters of Promise, names a few that we can become attached to if we are not living by our indwelling Christ, focusing on Him, yoked to Him above all else:

· the yoke of religion and living by “others’ measuring stick” (like the Pharisees of Jesus’ day):
--duty
--legalisms
--heavy rules

· the yoke of slavery and living by “the demands of controllers:”
--someone who “got the upper hand when you were vulnerable”
-- unholy ways of family (of origin)
-- a spouse, a sibling, aging parent

· the yoke of shame and living by “the opinions of flawed people:”
--preachers, politicians
--false guilt – calling something “sin” but not
--hanging onto shame over repented sin

· the yoke of the flesh and living “like I did before I believed:”
--coping mechanisms
--addictions: food, alcohol, drugs, binge watching
--codependency – keep someone ok or vice versa /unhealthy neediness
—defensiveness, blaming
—self focus

· the yoke of deception and living by “lies conceived at the gates of darkness:”
--lies about God and His character
--lies about what God says about us and others
--self-rejection
--negative self-talk

· the yoke of self-effort and living by my own ingenuity and driven-ness [my personal addition]
--figuring it out to fix it.

As an example, I’d like to share the false yokes that John and I struggled with for years in our marriage (with his permission):

When we were married in 1971, ultra-conservative teaching about the submission of the wife and headship of the husband was being preached in many evangelical churches. We encountered it as married students at Moody Bible Institute (1973-1976). And it was especially rampant in the conservative evangelical community in Dayton (when we moved here in 1983, because of the Bill Gothard teaching?). Since I was very conscientious about the Will of God, wanting to be a godly wife, I embraced the extreme teaching, not realizing it wasn’t Biblically balanced. It produced a dysfunctional codependency in my relationship with John. It killed our friendship (which is how we started out our relationship), and almost destroyed my soul.

Eventually, I heard the Holy Spirit as He pointed out the lie I had believed for many years. He showed me I was looking to John to be my source of love, acceptance, and worth. In the meantime, John had been looking to me to keep him ok and be his source. None of those codependent flesh patterns worked for either of us.

Finally, years into our marriage, the Holy Spirit let me know I had to live from my attachment to God as my focus and source. So I detached from my codependency with John. There was upheaval in our relationship for quite a while. John wasn’t quite there yet. But God has been working in both of us. Little by little, our friendship has been restored. And we are now living as “heirs together of the grace of life” (1 Peter 3:7) -- partners with God and each other in His roles for us in this life.

So I have learned that as I take on HIS YOKE day by day…
… living from my attachment to HIM as my Source
… depending on HIM, not my self -effort,
He truly does the Living and I do the letting…

May I ask you, dear READERS …

· Who or what you might you be attached to/ yoked to in an unhealthy, addictive, codependent way…as the source of love, acceptance, value, security? Only God is your Source!

· Is there a lie you are believing and living from?
Is negative self-talk tormenting your soul?

· Do you depend on “coping mechanisms”/ flesh patterns in order to “do life”? … to get through your stressful days?

THROW OFF those false Yokes!
DETACH from the fleshly survival tactics.

Spiritual writer Richard Rohr (Everything Belongs) points out,
“All great spirituality is about letting go [detaching].”
And the only way to “let go/ detach” is to … “attach.”
Live from your attachment to Christ…focusing on HIM as your Source.

As Adele Ahleberg Calhoun, author of Spiritual Disciplines Handbook, says,

“Detachment finds its true home in attachment to Jesus alone.”

And so as Jesus says every moment,
“HERE… to ME!
Not to that, not to them … live from your permanent attachment to ME …
And you will find REST for your SOULS …”

Let’s PRAY
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
Matthew 11:28-30 MSG

Oh Lord, that is our desire … to gaze at You, to focus on you, to rest in You, to move with You, and to experience YOU as …

Love beyond our love
Forgiveness beyond our forgiveness
Patience beyond our patience
Skill beyond our skill
Fullness beyond our fullness
Peace beyond our peace
Rest beyond our rest.

In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

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Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me,
for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:25-26,29-30 ESV

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Picture yourself in the “ragamuffin” crowd in the gospel of Matthew, chapter 11, as you are following Jesus today. Maybe there are judgmental people all around in your life, like the Pharisees who hounded Jesus’ every step and were certainly in the crowd that day. And maybe there are those you consider the “chosen ones,” like the disciples, those special ones, who must be so very “close.”

And then there’s you, like the ordinary people: exhausted, worn out, burdened by the should’s and ought to’s, never feeling like enough is enough. Maybe you are wounded, frightened, lonely, depressed — a mess on every level.

Or maybe you are burdened by your past choices, and you never feel like you are getting it right. Maybe you are desperate because you’ve given up. Everything in your Christian life has become dead and heavy.

Or maybe you are just blah…no life, no joy…just going through the motions because “this is the way it’s done.”

So hear the words of Jesus to you personally in verse 28:

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

THE REST WE RECEIVE

Literally, the first imperative reads,

“Here to Me”

The word “come” is not in the original Greek. No verb, action word. It’s a Greek construction. But literally, Jesus is indicating “a place” and “a Person.”

Do you get that? Picture Jesus with His beautiful YES face pointing, as it were, to HIMSELF as the Person Who is the place of rest, in contrast to the Pharisees with their constant NO faces who were following Him and harassing the people with their “religious mega-list.”

Also notice the little word translated “to” in this verse. It is like an arrow aimed in a certain direction. It stays focused and doesn’t miss its target.

And Jesus is saying, “ HERE … aim at, focus on, come to ME!”
Not over THERE to them (the religious leaders) and their mega-list of “doing, doing, doing.”

CARTER’S SWIM TEAM

It reminds me of my then 7 y.o. grandson CARTER when he was on a swim team at their swim club. He was only on the team because his mom & dad thought it would help make him a strong swimmer. But all Carter cared about was who was in his audience (mom & dad, g’ma & g’pa, Babci & Poppi).

So instead of focusing on the finish line and winning, Carter looked from side to side to see if Mom & Dad, G’ma & G’pa, and Babci and Poppi were watching.

But the coach and the crowd (including us) wanted Carter and his team to win. So I had an idea. When I was at Carter’s next meet, knowing he was going to be looking along the sidelines to see if parents and grandparents were watching, I decided to get at the end of the lane where he was supposedly heading. I crouched down low trying to catch his eye and I began calling to him,

“Carter … come on, swim, swim!!!!!”

And guess what, he won … 1st place!

So after that we ALL got at the end of his lane and beckoned and called out to him,

“Swim, Carter, swim! Here, this way!”

JESUS says, “Here to ME!”

And I can’t help but picture Jesus beckoning and saying the same thing to us:

“Here … to Me! Focus! Move! Come!”

And then Jesus, in a sense, goes on to say …

“When you come HERE to ME!
[Literally] “I WILL REST YOU!”

“I am your Focus, not those religious leaders over there and their ‘religious to do list,’ and not your own self-effort to be righteous and good … ME! I AM YOUR REST. I will do it!”

And this is the inner rest of SPIRIT that Jesus gives as a totally free gift when we come to Him for the very first time, for eternal salvation. He says, “I WILL REST YOU! It’s My Gift. BELIEVE ME and receive it!”

It’s the Rest of Spirit in UNION with the Living God.

Jesus, the Son of God, came to earth to unite us, who were once separated from God, to HIMSELF. And this rest of UNION with God is fixed, permanent, unchanging, a free gift when we come to HIM by faith for salvation.

What does this Union with God include?
It means we have …

· *The rest of total FORGIVENESS of all our sins, past, present, and future.
It’s the rest of a completed work – the work of Christ on the Cross, where He said, “It is finished.” (Luke 22:20; John 1:29; 17:22-24; Rom 8:1-2; Eph 1:7; Col 1:13-14; Heb 9:28; 10:14,17-18).

o It’s complete, no more striving to earn or make up for, no more penance, no more sacrifices to pay for sins. No more begging for forgiveness or even asking for forgiveness. It’s done.

o And it’s the Key to the kingdom. It transferred us out of the Old Covenant of doing, to the New Covenant done, resting – the doorway. (Luke 22:20)

o No more working to get closer (you are as close as you ever will be b/c you are in union with HIM),

o No more earning (Jesus paid it all), no more making up for (the sinless & pure Jesus’ one sacrifice made up for it all),

o No more trying to get God to love you more. God loves you like He loves His beloved Son. (John 17: 22-24)

You are totally forgiven.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus..
For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1-2 ESV)

For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,
“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,” declares the Lord:
“I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,”
then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”
Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.
(Hebrews 10:14-18 ESV)

It also means we have …

· *The rest of LIFE, God’s Life, eternal life— not just going to heaven when we die.

o Your old man died in union with Christ, and you were raised to newness of life, Jesus’ resurrection life (Romans 6:4-14; Galatians 2:20)

o You are a new person, a new “YOU” (2 Cor 5:17)

o You were born into God’s family, a beloved child of God (John 1:12; 1 John 3:1-2)

o You are a new creation; a saint (holy one); alive with the “pulsating eternal life of God” (zoe) as Jesus promised (John 3:16; 5:39-40; 6:33; 6:51; 10:10; 11:25-26; 14:6)

o You are the beloved of your Abba, Father God.
You know your Abba and His unconditional love for you (1 John 3:1-3)

He is your Life.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:4-9 ESV)

And it also means you have …

· *The rest of FULLNESS in Christ

o You have been baptized [plunged] INto Christ -- Security -- Everything that has happened to Christ has happened to you: death, burial, resurrection, ascension, seated…(Col 2:9-10; 1 Cor 1:30)

o You are indwelt by Christ who lives IN you – Intimacy and Empowering – HE is the fullness of deity in bodily form and HE lives in you; HE is the hope of glory who indwells you. (Col 1:27;2:9-10; 2 Cor 4:6-7; John 15; 1 Cor 6:17, 19-20).

All you need is IN HIM, and He is IN YOU!

1:27 …the riches of the glory of this mystery, … is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
2:9-10 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. (Colossians 1:27; 2:9-10 ESV)

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus ]our Lord, for His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. Through these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature… (2 Peter 1:2-4 NASB)

And all this and more is true for you the moment you respond in faith for the very first time to Christ’s invitation:

“HERE TO ME! I will REST YOU”

So there is no more working, no earning, no trying to be right in God’s eyes; no grasping for His love, no agonizing over getting more of Him and His Spirit. There’s nothing you could do to make God love you more, and there’s nothing you could do to make Him love you less. You have it all because you have HIM. It’s all about being in union with HIM who is your promised Sabbath Rest!

So may I ask you, DEAR READERS,

Are you resting in the Person of the Son of God and His finished work in His death, burial and resurrection?

Do you realize He rested you permanently when you came to Him

--for the first time years ago?

--just last week?

--even today, as you respond to His invitation HERE…TO HIM.

Or are you doing, doing, doing, trying to earn what you already have as a free gift?

Well, there’s good news … you have all of Him and He has all of you. And in HIM you have total forgiveness of sin, past, present and future. You have Life eternal, the life of God Himself. You are the loved child of your Father. And you have fullness in Him, and He is in you.

BUT NOW THE QUESTION IS HOW CAN I EXPERIENCE THIS REST,
… the intimacy and oneness with God which is already mine?

Jesus doesn’t leave us in the dark. That’s where the next two verses come in…NEXT TIME.

I would also love to hear your thoughts about this favorite passage of Scripture. Does this apply to where you are at in life?

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Please click on like if you enjoyed these insight into Matthew 11 and be sure to come back next time…for the rest of the story.

How hard it is to forgive, isn’t it? Even for us Christ followers, who know we have been forgiven greatly by our God.

The following are notes from a talk on “Forgiveness” that I gave to a small group of younger women many years ago (I was one of the “older woman teaching the younger” Titus 2). I’m sharing it for your own study, if you are struggling to forgive.

The Holy Spirit is our Helper. See what He reveals to your heart and mind for your particular situation.

1. WHO are the forgiven?

Have you received the radical reconciliation/forgiveness through our Lord Jesus Christ? Do you walk in it, live in the totality of the forgiveness in Christ?

LOOK at these Scriptures:

Colossians 1:13-14
Hebrews 8:8-12; 10:11-18

Until you rest in the finality of the cross, you will never experience the reality of the resurrection, which is Christ living in and through you. Unless you rest in the fact that Jesus did it all, you’ll be busy trying to pay off your debt – atone for your sins [get God to love you more or use you more or whatever] – that you’ll never grow and enjoy the personal relationship that Christ has provided for you.
(Bob George, Growing in Grace)

2. HOW do the forgiven forgive?

Simply stated:
By allowing the indwelling, forgiving Christ to forgive in and through you.

So it starts with a decision, but then there may also be a process.

Dr. Lewis Smedes writes on “Forgiveness” in his book, Shame and Grace.

Consider forgiveness as a personal drama with five scenes [I love that Smedes doesn’t express them as “steps” but rather as an unfolding “story”]:

Scene One: We blame the [offender]. We hold him or her accountable. If we do not hold people accountable for what they did to us, we will not forgive them. We may indulge them, perhaps, as if it did not matter much, or we may excuse them, as if they could not help doing they did. But we will forgive them only if we hold them responsible for what they did to us. [We need to see (and feel!) what it is that we are forgiving.]

Scene Two: We surrender our right to get even. We take our natural right to a balanced account--a right to fairness, mind you, that is all, only what we deserve--we take it in our hands, look it over, consider its possibilities, and then surrender it [to the Lord, I might add]. We agree to live with the score untied.

Scene Three: We revise our caricature of the person who [offended] us. When we taste our resentment, we roll it around our minds the way we roll a sour lozenge around on our tongues, and we taste it, our minds draw a caricature of our [offender]. We turn him into a monster who is what he did to us. We see him; we feel him; we define his whole person in terms of how he [offended] us. However, as we move with the forgiving flow, we gradually change our monster back into the weak and faulty human being he is (or was), not all that different from ourselves.

Scene Four: We revise our feelings As the frozen tundra of resentment melts, a tendril of compassion breaks through the crust. Sorrow blends with anger. Sympathy softens resentment. We feel emerging in our consciousness a hesitant desire for the other person’s welfare.

Scene Five: We accept the person who [hurt us]. In the last scene of the drama, we offer our [offender] the grace that God has offered us. We not only pardon him; we also accept him. We take him back into our lives as a fellow member of the human race. Chances are that we are not able to restore the special relationship we had before. But if we cannot be reconciled, it will not be our resentment that prevents it.

3. WHOM do the forgiven forgive?

“one another” –- Ephesians 4:32; Colossians 3:13

“anyone” –- Mark 11:25

Husbands & Wives —1Corinthians 13:5 NLT

4. WHAT IF the offense/hurt assaults the mind and heart again?

a. Cast it again and again onto Jesus.

1 Peter 5: 6-11

b. Say to your soul,
“Wait a minute, I died to sin [unforgiveness] and now I live by the Resurrected, Forgiving Christ!”

Galatians 2:20

Romans 6:3-14

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Dear friends,
may the Forgiving Christ so fill our vision and our lives
that He lives His forgiving life through us...one “scene” at a time.

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*For More on the totality of forgiveness at the Cross, living from the resurrected life of Christ, identification with Christ {“I died to that…”} see chapters 2, 3, and 4 of my book (available on Amazon) The With-ness of our God: Relationship in Every Dimension.

Thank you so much for reading.
Please consider leaving a comment
with your own personal insight and/or experiences.
If you need prayer along this line, we are here for you.

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I’ve been thinking lately.

If I require someone to act a certain way toward me in order for me to be ok, I have given that person control of my life.

And it is so easy to fall into that trap — having expectations of others’ behavior toward me or living by the expectations others have of me … otherwise I can’t be ok.

I’ve recently gone through a season of loneliness (all right, “self-pity) … wondering if I’d have any friends if I didn’t take the initiative (that’s an exaggeration). I am blessed, but I’m also the initiator in many, if not most, relationships in my life.

So recently my expectations started to grow. As a result, I became more and more depressed. Then the Holy Spirit of God spoke to my heart:

“Jan, I made you an initiator, and you know that you love to lead.
When those lying expectations begin to take over your thoughts,
put these truths in their place:

GOD IS MY SOURCE!
My husband is not my source.
My children and their spouses are not my source.
My grandchildren are not my source.
My extended family is not my source.
My friends are not my source.

They are all precious GIFTS from GOD… Who IS my Source.
They are all God’s image-bearers whom I can love and give to, and yes, initiate toward, according to the Holy Spirit’s leading and empowering.

SO…

I am ok…
GOD is my SOURCE.
My HOPE and TRUST are in HIM.
I am FILLED with the FULLNESS of Christ, Who is the FULLNESS of God.
HE is my ALL.

For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,
and you have been filled in him …
Colossians 2:9-10 ESV

…and…

But by the grace of God I am what I am,
and His grace toward me did not prove vain;
but I labored [a.k.a. initiated*] even more than all of them,
yet not I, but the grace of God [united] with me.
1 Corinthians 15:10 NASB
[*my own application]

…and…

… we are taking every thought captive
to the obedience of Christ …
2 Corinthians 10:5 NASB

Friends,
Do you struggle with self-pity, false expectations of yourself or others?
Feel free to leave a comment. We need to pray for one another.

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Does each day feel like a contest? A competition? An obstacle to overcome?

“Let life unfold” was advice I received years ago from Donna, my mentor-friend. She knew I was a “mover & shaker” type.

At first, it was hard to understand what Donna what talking about — just let my days unfold? But as time went by, I began to learn how to rest in Christ and so I don’t find it as difficult as I used to. I’ve learned to “move and shake” more and more in the flow of the Spirit of Christ dwelling within… and just let the day unfold.

So now everyday, as the day is just “unfolding,” I pray and often write in my journal:

Your unfolding fullness today, O Lord.

And I’m excited to see what my unfolding day entails.

Sometimes I have things to list already that are on the “schedule.” Sometimes I go back and list how the previous day had in reality unfolded. Usually nothing earthshaking, but at times truly amazing! And it’s exciting to note in writing what the Lord does day by day.

It reminds me of the proverb I had hanging on the wall in our nursery when our firstborn and then second born came along. And it is now in our guest room:

We make our plans, but God has the last word. (Proverbs 16:1)

So day by day, I pray,

Abba, Father God, live through me, love through me, serve through me today.

Then with real anticipation, I declare …

Your unfolding fullness today, O my Lord!

Dear friend, what about you?
Why not join Him in His unfolding fullness in your own life.
There’s no better way to live!

Please consider sharing how the Lord has been moving in your life.
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I’ve always been drawn to cliches, sayings, mottos, mantras. What’s the difference you might ask?

A cliche is a short phrase that was once catchy but over-used. So over time, it can become almost meaningless. I have some cliches that have stayed meaningful in my life, because in the right situations, they have spurred me on (as well as others I’ve shared them with).

• Something is better than nothing. (helped me recover from perfectionism)

• It doesn’t hurt to ask. (the answer can be “YES” more often than you think)

A saying is a short statement to share a wise truth or advice. I think my Holy Spirit saying in my last post could be considered a statement of wise truth.

• You can fit anywhere, because you don’t fit anywhere (no group owns you, so you can love wherever you are).

A motto is a phrase that is adopted by a group to describe its purpose or identity. In a sense since 2011, when I began writing regularly and established a “ministry” connected to my writing, my motto of sorts has been,

• a branch in the Vine (just a branch, but a beloved one)

But what I want to share today is the mantra the Lord gave me.
A mantra is “a word or phrase that a person repeats to help them focus, stay calm, or find strength.” God’s mantra has transformed this little ole “performance-anxiety-driven” beloved branch into a calmer (but only occasionally nervous) beloved branch. It broke the anxiety cycle in me, so I have to keep sharing it.

A couple years ago, I was scheduled to share my “Stones of Remembrance,” the story of my life journey with God, at a January evening coffeehouse event at our church. By way of background, I had been sick for a couple weeks, though no longer contagious. Although I had written my “Remembering Stones'“ several times on my blog, I had never shared it all at once to a group before. When the day arrived, I realized I had too much to share. So I set out to cut things out little by little.

As I sat with the Lord for a few afternoon hours that day, the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart. What He said transformed what would have normally been hours of extreme anxiety into the most amazing peace. He said,

• Step into each moment (step, step, step) with Christ-confident Hope!

And I did! I was fully conscious of my every step…

I walked out of my house, step, step, step … with Christ-confident Hope.

I got into the car, rode to church, got out of the car and walked into the church step, step, step … into the lovely meeting room.

Not even an ounce of anxiety … as I “chatted it up” with the early arrivals.

And yes, I even adjusted my message as it unfolded, HIS way, without a bit of anxiety.

Who was this person?

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Lil ole, formerly-anxiety prone me … now walking confidently step by step with my Jesus Who is my Hope.

And He is yours too, dear friend.

Walk with Him in your NOW, your present moment, consciously steppin’

… with Christ-confident Hope. He won’t fail you.

Therefore let’s approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace for help at the time of our need. Hebrews 4:16 NASB

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Please share your own meaningful sayings, mottos, and especially mantras.
We can learn from each other. Thanks so much.

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Have you ever felt like you don’t belong? Like you don’t fit anywhere?
[See my previous post, “Morning Prayer: When I Don’t Feel Like I Fit Anywhere”].

Actually, feeling out of place CAN be a good thing. Let me tell you how God delivered me…

Several years ago, our church group met to conclude our year long study in the important letter to the Hebrews. A memory came flooding my mind as we discussed one of the concluding exhortations found in chapter 13:

. . . Jesus suffered and died outside the city gates to make his people holy by means of his own blood. So let us go out to him, outside the CAMP, and bear the disgrace he bore.
For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come.Hebrews 13:12-14 NLT

I had felt “outside the camp” even among the different Christian groups (or “camps”) with whom we had been associated over the years. Somehow it seemed that there was a certain “persona” that was characteristic of each group. And the “in-crowd” all acted the same way, emphasized the same “truths,” used the same vocabulary, often even looking like one another.

I would feel the “under the surface” and sometimes, “overt” pressure to think and believe and, at times, even look the same way to fit in. But it didn’t work for me for long. What had started out to be a good time of growing together, for me often deteriorated into a sort of “depression” or maybe a rebellion of sorts. I would feel like I needed to sell my soul to the group image to really fit in. And I couldn’t do that because God had been working dramatically in my life to free me little by little from what I call “to do list” or checklist Christianity. And it seemed that each group had its own “checklist.”

So finally, I came to the point of crying out to God,

LORD, I don’t fit anywhere!

Then came the quiet reply,

You don’t fit anywhere so you can fit anywhere . . . [read that again slowly]

Why?

. . . because nobody owns you

The Holy Spirit’s words set my soul free! I no longer felt a need “to fit” anywhere, so I could go into a group and just be who God made me to be and who Jesus is in and through me as me . . . not as someone else or some group. I can let Jesus live His loving and serving life in and through me no matter where I am. I am free to take my cues from HIM because HE is the owner of my life.

How about you, dear brother and sister? Do you feel like you don’t fit anywhere? Great news! You can fit anywhere because you don’t fit anywhere. No one owns you . . . except the Lover of your Soul.

Let HIM live and love and serve through you no matter where you are.

Amen.

A song of “Meditation” … just for fun . . . but true…

I would love to hear from you. Please share your thoughts and experiences.

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I sit in my prayer chair each morning, conversing with my God.

Abba Father God,

I hold onto You today as I do everyday.
I am secure because You are holding onto me.
Thank you.

I like just sitting here with You.
I don’t have to know all the “stuff,” do I?
I don’t have to get it all straight so I fit into “the camp,” whatever that may be, right?
I’m not sure I even belong to one. Not sure I even want to fit…

My Abba responds,

You belong to Me… My family, My people.
You don’t have to know all the stuff and get it straight.
I know it all, and you know Me, and that’s what counts.

As for “camps” — religious, political, denominational, familial…
They are all man-made.

You belong to ME. You are Mine. That’s all the “camp” you need.

So let us go out to him, outside the camp,
and bear the disgrace he bore.
For this world is not our permanent home;
we are looking forward to a home yet to come.
Hebrews 13:13-14 NLT

Dear READERS,
Do you feel like you don’t belong anywhere? No one gets you…

Dear friend, God gets you. He sees you and knows you.
We belong to each other in the family of God.
Let’s pray for each other.
Tell us about yourself and how we can pray for you. (comments below)

And be sure to come back here next time…for the further answer God gave me when I was in the depths of loneliness and feeling like I don’t fit.

But first this heart-grabbing meditation in song:

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Welcome to the Father’s Vineyard.

Hi friends, I’m Jan, a branch in the True Vine…just a branch…but a beloved one. I’m not THE branch, for there are many…multitudes, in fact, from every tongue and family and tribe and nation.

But I am a branch in THE Vine. There is only One, you know, in the Father’s Vineyard. The True Vine is more than enough to supply life to all of us beloved branches.

And fruit? You should see the baskets full that come forth as we live each day dependently abiding in Christ, the Father’s glorious Vine! (John 15:1-5)

I didn’t always know and experience the life of beloved-ness, rest, fruitfulness, and joy that are mine as a branch in the Vine. For many years as a branch, I grunted and groaned trying to produce fruit of many kinds—developing Christian character, loving people, teaching the Bible, trying to “win the lost,” encouraging other branches, etc.

Oh, I drew upon the life of the Vine…at least I thought I did. But really it was more my fleshly self-effort than His fruit-producing Life. Then at the end of my desperation, I heard my Father say to my heart,

“I love you even if you never do another thing right again!”

It took two years to believe what God had really said to me. Every time I would start to trust in the Father’s love, the enemy would come in and whisper,

“God didn’t say that. That’s too good to be true!”

Finally, one day I chose to believe that God truly loved me, His branch, despite my performance, even my religious good works.

Nothing has been the same since. And you know what? I started seeing this very His Love all over the Scriptures:

See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called children of God….and such we are! 1 John 3:1

The Father Himself loves you… John 16:27

I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

So I say again, “Welcome to the Father’s Vineyard.”

Here you will encounter many & various Scriptures, metaphors, “pictures,” stories, and lessons. But there will always be the same truth at the bottom of them all:

The Vine, our Lord Christ, is the All-Important One! We the branches are the beloved, cared for, dependent, and fruitful ones because of being connected to the Glorious Vine!

May our Father, the Divine Husbandman (Owner-Gardener), use these entries to encourage your life in the Vine. May you sink down deep into His Life and live from your union with Him day by day. Then His life in & through you will produce much fruit as He promised.

I am the Vine, you are the branches; He who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing. John 15:5

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