If we learn to trust God with the everyday worries of life, then when the big stuff happens, we’ll be more prepared to handle those things too. Like a slowly dripping faucet, often it’s the accumulated “little” stuff that steals us of our joy. It’s easy to brush those things off as not important enough to bother God with- but that isn’t right.
Read morePutting Worry Aside- 5 practical ideas
Until this point, I’ve mostly been writing about the philosophy behind trusting God, the big picture stuff. Now I want to narrow in on some practical everyday ideas to apply toward trusting God and putting worry aside.
Read moreOur Purpose: Loving God, Loving People For His Glory
These last few posts have been about purpose. Our purpose, as God’s creation, is to glorify him. We do that through living in loving relationship with him and with his people, and by placing our whole-hearted trust in God. How that plays out in daily life is unique for each person. As Christians, we're called the body of Christ. As each part of the body serves a different purpose, that’s how we, who love God, are to see ourselves.
Read moreI am yours and you are mine
We were created to glorify and worship God through a loving relationship with him. We were made to enjoy the type of loving relationship that is demonstrated in the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But love isn’t love if it’s not given freely. With our free will, we chose to turn away from relationship with God, through sin, but God sent his Son, Jesus, to die on the cross and conquer death, to pay the heavy price that we owed and could never pay, and to bring us back into the relationship that we were made for.
Read moreDoes God's focus on his own glory indicate egotism?
As I was writing that last post, about God’s purpose being about his glory, an old thought popped into my heard, a thought that I’d stuffed away until now, because it seemed too disrespectful, too terrible. I knew it was wrong, but I hadn’t entirely worked out why it was. That thought had to do with the idea that God wanting glory seemed kind of…egotistical. Have you ever thought that same thing?
Read moreWhat is God's Purpose for Us?
photo credit: pixabay- cropped, words added
We can trust God because of who he is. We know that he is sovereign, so he’s completely in control and able to carry out his plans. We know that he is infinite in wisdom, so he knows the best way to accomplish those plans. And we know that he is perfect in love- and the gospel is a primary way we see this, through his Son Jesus Christ, and his plan for our redemption. So what is his special purpose for us beyond that? What’s the reason for all of this? What does God want from us?
Read moreWhat I Learned in February
Just for fun, I'm joining in with Emily of Chatting at the Sky for a link-up called What I Learned. This is a mix of treasures that I picked up along the way this month.
Read moreHow I Know God is With Me
I want to tell you this story, because I think it illustrates God’s sovereignty, wisdom, and love. It was a time where he showed me that he is with me, that I am never alone. This is one of my more dramatic stories. Most of what I experience in my daily life with God more subtle. Most of His work in my life is behind the scenes, and sadly, I’m sure I miss noticing the majority of it. But this time, he chose to show his love in a way that I couldn’t miss.
Read moreMy Soul Will Rest in His Embrace
My soul will rest in your embrace. What does that even mean? That phrase comes, once again, from Oceans (where feet may fail) by Hillsong. The soul, according to Merriam Webster, “is the immaterial essence, animating principle, or actuating cause of an individual life”. It’s the spiritual part of us. It’s the part of us that trusts God- or doesn’t. How does our soul rest in His (God’s) embrace? I think it means that we need to trust in his unfailing love, and trust that he will do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, in order to accomplish his will. He will show us what and how to do what we can do, and give us the strength to do it. We don’t need to be constantly striving and achieving on our own strength.
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