Dear Life Church,

The biggest and most important thing I want to do is express is my sincerest thanks. Thank you for being a church that doesn't give up and doesn't compromise. Thank you for being a church that will do anything to see people find Christ. Thank you for putting Jesus first and seeking His guidance in everything. Thank you for doing all you can to provide an atmosphere for people to come seek and experience Jesus no matter where they are in their walk. Thank you for always always always preaching the Gospel and preaching it as it is. And finally, thank you for being a church that cares about every single person that walks in the door no matter what.

Recently, I've been through one of the hardest seasons in my entire life. It was one that honestly came out of nowhere, I didn't really do anything to initiate, and absolutely broke me down to the lowest place I've ever been. Throughout these few months, I've felt the sincerest love and care from the members of Life Church. Whether it was a simple "Hey how are you doing?", an offer for prayer or just a text to say I was being thought of, I knew that when I was in that church or around those people I was cared for and loved. I hit rock bottom over Christmas, and I lost my will to do pretty much anything. But I knew if I could just get into church on Sunday, I would be able to experience Jesus and be around people that loved me.

What's more is I've only been at this church since April and the people of this church have treated me like I've been there for years. Here you don't have to earn your way in; you just belong. Many churches put it in their mission that they "love people" and to an extent they do, but I've never seen such love as I have seen here.

None of this is by accident. First and foremost, the credit goes to the Spirit of the Lord in each one of the members that loves the way Christ loves. But I think it's worth noting that this attitude comes from and is nurtured from the very top. The leadership at Life Church makes it an extreme priority to make sure that people are loved and cared for. This is evident from everything to the sincere greeting I get when I walk in, to the huge movements within the church such as the recent movement to give away 1200+ bikes to kids in schools in the community. This church will stop at nothing to make sure that someone can experience the love of Christ regardless of how it's delivered.

Today I was at the new Sheetz off of Ashton Avenue in Manassas and I was waiting in line for 15 minutes to get gas. As I was waiting, I looked around and saw one of the cars had the illustrious "leaf" on their car. I see this often especially in Manassas so I noted it and moved on. Then as I was pumping gas, I noticed that a man was helping a lady push a car off to the side. As I was leaving, I saw that car that was being pushed was off to the side and the car behind it was the car I noticed earlier with the leaf. I thought to myself how well that exemplified my church: people loving others no matter what it costs; just like Christ.

When I walked into Life Church for the first time, the thing I noticed most about this place was how alive people were here. And as it should be honestly! We serve a living God shouldn't His people, who have His Spirit burning within them, be alive as well?

All of this is not to brag on how awesome my church is to other people (although it is awesome) but rather to share how my church has impacted me and express my extreme thanks for it. The majority of the New Testament deals with instructions on how to run the church and it's because it's not easy! As such, there is all the more reason to recognize the good work being done. God has blessed me with this church as I know He has blessed each and every other person there, but as a result, I believe God is blessing this church and it will continue to thrive and grow. I am so thankful that this is my home and I can't wait to continue to see (and play a part in) how God uses the Life Church in other people's lives.

I've always hated math. And it's not an exaggeration when I say hate; I literally cannot stand it. Mostly it's because throughout school it was always something that I was really bad at. But the one part of math that I didn't completely loathe was Algebra and I think it was largely due to the fact that Algebra is just a bunch of formulas and processes; you plug in the numbers and do the function and the answer comes out perfectly; there is little to no work involved. But when there were no formulas and it required a lot of thinking: I was done for.

Over the past few months God has really been revealing a lot to me about myself and one of the things I've realized is: I always look for the formulas in life. One of the things I struggle with is comparing myself to other people; I will look at how God is working in other peoples' lives and automatically try to figure out how that fits in to my life. I look for the formula, "If x=______ then y=________." Plug in the numbers and the answer comes out perfectly. If it's working for them it has to work that way for me! But here's the silly mistake I often don't calculate which leads me to the wrong answer: I'm not them. Today it also really hit me that another component to this that I didn't keep in mind is that God doesn't work in formulas. A relationship and walk with God is not an algebraic formula.

Now, this is not to say that God doesn't work similarly with many things in many people's lives. He does! Because His character is unchanging and He gives all of His heirs the same certain things that are irrevocable gifts and promises, and sometimes the way it plays out looks very much the same. But I also think that it would be silly to say that He works in formulas because that would mean that He made every person the same and what He has specifically designed for one person He has designed for everyone. And when you get down to the specifics, that isn't the case. As I was thinking about this I was reminded of four people in the Bible with similar situations: Abraham and Sarah, and Elizabeth and Zechariah. Both of these couples had been promised a child, but were not able to conceive because they were barren. Their promise was the same, but the way that it was fulfilled looked a lot differently. God had Abraham and Sarah conceive to populate an entire nation, and He had Elizabeth and Zechariah conceive to have John the Baptist who would make way for the coming of the Lord. Both were promised the same promise of a child, but each promise was fulfilled a lot differently. What if Elizabeth and Zechariah tried to plug in their numbers into the Abraham and Sarah's formula? I mean I don't know, John the Baptist is a pretty big piece in God's plan for the salvation of the world! Their promise and process was no less important because it didn't look the same as Abraham and Sarah's!

Here's my point: we need to stop trying to plug our lives into other people's formulas. Even if our promise is the same, what gets one person from point A to point B may not be our method of transportation from point A to point B. God has got a huge plan for each one of our lives that you and I are designed specifically to fill. Don't lose that crucial truth. We were not made to live a copy of someone else's life; you and I need to stop comparing ourselves to other people. God may work similarly in your or my life as He did in someone else's life, but let's leave that up to Him.

I think Steven Furtick put it really well in his book, Crash the Chatterbox, when he said, "The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind the scenes to someone else's highlight reel." We look at everyone else and their successes and think, "Wow they're successful and that worked for them, I want to be like them so I'll do that!" But we don't realize what went on behind the scenes that we didn't hear about. I'd say we (and I say we because this is such a challenge to me as well) need to start seeking God in our process and not hang on what He's done for other people in their process as our guarantee but rather what He's done in our process.

As far as creepy-crawly things go, I don't mind bugs. I don't even really mind snakes, but the one thing I cannot stand and that creep me out are things that jump. So, when my apartment became infested with camel crickets I was more than irritated. They started appearing everywhere and one day I stepped into the shower and lo and behold one was sitting there. If you haven't seen these things, just google them. They aren't harmful, but they are HUGE. So obviously, I'm not going to take a shower with this huge cricket looming in the tub, and the logical thing to do is to drown it. The problem is, it wouldn't drown. I kept pouring water over it and it continued to hop everywhere other than where I wanted to go: the drain. Finally, it went down the drain and I could continue on with life in peace. However, recently as I've been getting into the shower, I turn the knob to make the water hotter and this sound comes out that sounds like a chirp. Now, there is a 100% chance it's not the dead cricket I killed long before then because 1. There's no way it's still alive after like 2 months and 2. Camel crickets can't even chirp! But what do I think it is every time those pipes creak? The cricket.

Unfortunately, that's the mildest irrational fear I have. So many other fears in my life, and I imagine the lives of many others, are completely irrational but feel and seem so real. Why do we run although we know it's not real? Why do we dwell when we know there's no truth in it at all? I believe Soloman had the answer to this in Proverbs when he said,

"The wicked run away when no one is chasing them, but the godly are as bold as lions." - Proverbs 28:1 (NLT)

We run because that's our instinct. When something scares us, no matter what it is or how rational it is, our instinct is to run. But that's not what the verse suggests we as Christians should do; that's what the verse suggests that the wicked do. Why? Because they don't have the Lord to run to. The verse suggests that as believers we should be bold as lions because we have the hope and protection of our God.

So I can stop my blog post here right? Easy enough? You guys got it right?

Wrong. I know from firsthand experience that this is so much more complicated that that.

We read that verse and we see the comparison to a lion and think, "Well duh yeah! Lions aren't scared of anything!" I don't believe that to be true either. If you were to perform a quick youtube search I'm sure you could find multiple instances from nature where lions have been seen to be fearful and run from something. But what I want to focus on right now is a specific character and that's the cowardly lion.

In "The Wizard of Oz", the cowardly lion acts as his own walking oxymoron. As the audience we find him intriguing and quite honestly comical because, "He's a lion he's not supposed to be scared of anything! How ridiculous is he?!" Isn't that how we sometimes treat Christians? We see Christians huddled over in extreme fear over something and to us it looks ridiculous because, "They're a Christian, they're not supposed to be scared of anything!" but instead of helping and walking through it with them, we patronize them for their lack of faith.

So ok. Does that make us as believers wicked if we run from something that we fear? I don't think so. I think it makes us confused and that leads us to one culprit: the enemy.

One of the enemy's biggest ploys is confusion and it's one he does well. The enemy will plant and twist and pervert so much that you get to the point where you can no longer see reality in your irrational fear because a lot of times his claims are lies but have a small thread of truth in them that we entertain and ponder.

So why aren't we able to claim victory? Why can't we just rebuke them and walk away? Why is it so hard? I think one huge reason for this struggle is that the enemy attacks our identity and makes us forget who we are.

I think even Jesus faced this when He was being tempted in the desert.

"During that time the devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.” But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” - Matthew 4:3-4 (NLT)[emphasis added]

What is the first thing he says before he even delivers his suggestion? "If you are the Son of God."

The devil will ALWAYS question your character, your calling, and who you are in Christ. And he's sneaky because he will do it when your irrational fear becomes so real that you can no longer see or know who you are.

But luckily, Jesus was fully human but also fully God and He knew how to combat it. Yes He replaced and debunked Satan's lie with scripture, but it was effective because He was confident in who He was.

This is where our boldness comes in from Proverbs. If we go back to the cowardly lion, we see that at the end he becomes courageous when he realizes who he is. Lions in nature are the most confident when they know that they are able to devour whatever threatens them. And Jesus, our true Lion, was able to stand up to the ploys of the enemy when He was confident in who He was and what God called Him to do.

So I won't be the one to suggest that you should just try to be more confident and hope for the best. No. Pray to the Lord and ask Him to help you remember who you are, what He's called you to do, and who you are in Him. Then, as you start to understand that, write it down, own it, and enter into the boldness that the Lord intended for those that love Him.

At some point in all of our lives, we've had a dream; something we deeply desired to have happen in our lives. For a lot of us, this dream was placed in our heart by God and lines up with His will. And more often than not, we knew the weight of how impossible those dreams were, but believed they would happen anyway. That's what we like to call "faith." But also more often than not, something in our lives has happened and those dreams have died and with them our faith and hope. What do we do in those instances? In those moments where we have watched our dreams die and did nothing to resuscitate them because it was easier to just let it die out. Or maybe sometimes have intentionally squelched whatever chance our dream had to live in an effort to "not get hurt again."

You know who also died? Jesus. But you know what else happened? He was resurrected from the dead. God is in the business of resurrection. He resurrects situations, relationships, and yes even your dreams. I believe if we will just take our dead dream to the foot of the cross and believe, in faith, that the dream will be fulfilled according to God's purpose, God says that He will propel that dream even further than you ever thought possible.

"Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think." - Ephesians 3:20 (NLT)

I think the key piece though in understanding why dreams die in the first place and how they can be resurrected lies in one thing: faith.

"Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see." - Hebrews 11:1 (NLT)

There are 2 crucial things to remember in this:

"Faith is the confidence..."
1. Faith brings confidence
When we have faith that God will come through in a seemingly impossible situation (like a dead dream), we can have confidence as well because we are able to take the responsibility off of us and place it where it rightfully belongs: Jesus. I think the biggest reason that our dreams die is because we rely on ourselves to fulfill them and when something goes wrong, it's all over. If God designed them in the first place and knows how they are going to come to be, why would our feeble human attempts to fulfill them ever work?

"...it gives us assurance..."
2. Faith brings security
In the midst of us believing that our dreams will be fulfilled, there is inevitably a doubt, planted by the enemy, that comes in to makes us believe that since we cannot see it coming to pass, it must not be coming to pass at all. This suggests a lack of faith. Faith is our security plan. It's all we have, but it's also all we need. If we will put our faith in Him who is able to do "immeasurably more", then we have that security in the midst of the things we cannot see. How do we know that? Because it's who He is. God is not a God who leaves us out to dry, if He's planted a dream in your heart and it lines up with His will, He is faithful and it will come to pass.

"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful." - Hebrews 10:23 (NIV)

"The Lord will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right." - Psalms 84:11b

So I would challenge you to wake up that dream of yours and hold on tight because your "immeasurably more" is coming.

I have to admit. This is a concept I am still trying to wrap my mind around. The idea of a life to the full is a beautiful and most desirable concept, but sometimes when fear and doubt come in, I have no idea how to go about doing it. However, as I was reading in John the other day, I came across God's game plan for a full and abundant life.

I am a huge fan of Joyce Meyer. I think she's fabulous, has tons of sass (which I value highly), and God has used her ministry to push me out of some really dark places. Anyone who knows her, knows that one of her favorite verses to use is John 10:10 (in the Amplified Bible of course).

"The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows]." - John 10:10 (AMP)

Whenever Joyce will use this when referring to an "abundant life," it is always followed with the following phrase, "to the full, till it overflows." Cognitively, I know what that means. I can explain it in biblical terms and probably give you a couple of other biblical truths to support it. However, as far as heart knowledge, I have no idea what that looks like. What is a full life? What do you mean it overflows? How can it when I struggle with __________? However, if it's read in context, Jesus explains it pretty clearly; it all goes back to security in Christ.

1. Know His voice
"The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice." John 10:3-4 (NLT)

Jesus illustrates His design for a full and abundant life with a parable (I know right, He never does that!). In this illustration, He compares our relationship with Him to that of a shepherd and His flock of sheep which is actually really accurate because if you know anything about sheep, they're actually kind of dumb and need constant guidance to accomplish nearly anything. However, they are pretty loyal to their shepherd and follow with extreme loyalty. I've heard it said if a shepherd were to lead his sheep down a cliff they would walk right off. In this parable Jesus uses this to illustrate how we should follow Jesus: with undying loyalty. But why do we follow and trust Jesus? How can we? Because we know His voice. In knowing the voice of the Savior, we can distinguish the lies from the truth and can be led away from fear and worry in a split second when we recognize deceit. But what do we do when we hear that nagging voice that isn't our good and wonderful Shepherd?

2. Run from that which isn't His voice
"They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice." - John 10:5 (NLT)

Verse 5 suggests that we run from that which we do not recognize as our Shepherd. Now, this is not to say that we should run out of fear. No, we fight from victory; there's no reason to fear. But I think sometimes, when temptation or lies come around the best way to defeat them is not to dwell but to rebuke and run the other direction into the arms of our Shepherd. One of the biggest reasons shepherds exist is to protect their sheep from predators. Jesus is no different.

3. Live life to the full
"The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life." - John 10:10 (NLT)

When we learn to distinguish between the voices and fight the vile ones accordingly, we can enter into the full life the Lord intends for us. You see, we aren't meant to live a defeated life, we have been redeemed so that we can live a full and abundant life! But we can't do that if we dwell on anything other than His voice. From this place of living life to the full we can be confident in points 4 and 5.

4. He's not leaving
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep. A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming. He will abandon the sheep because they don’t belong to him and he isn’t their shepherd. And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock. The hired hand runs away because he’s working only for the money and doesn’t really care about the sheep." - John 10:11-13 (NLT)

A shepherd's livelihood depends on his sheep. Therefore, a good shepherd doesn't leave the flock he's in charge of because that would mean his livelihood is on the line; losing even one sheep to a predator isn't an option. So he is extra vigilant in keeping watch over the sheep because the risk of losing one is far too great.

Because we know the Lord's voice and we know that His purpose is good, we can be confident that He is not the hired hand; He is the good shepherd and a good shepherd stays with the sheep always until the end because the risk of losing one to the predator is a risk He is not willing to take.

I think a lot of times we look at Jesus as the hired hand. We think He was sent to earth with the same demeanor that a parent sends their kid to school (Dad do I have to?). But that's not it at all. He even says in verse 18, "No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again.” Jesus came down here voluntarily because He loved us, and He's not about to leave us like a hired hand now.

5. No one can take me from Him; my salvation is secure
"I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand." - John 10:28-29 (NLT)

This is the summit of living life to the full: rest secure in your salvation that Christ so fiercely paid for. When we realize, and I mean fully realize and know both in head and heart, how secure we are as redeemed children of God, nothing can touch us. Salvation is a gift that cannot be lost or taken once it is accepted through a profession of faith. We were paid for at a heavy price with an unbreakable insurance plan: grace.

Freedom is a choice and often times (as I'm learning) one that is a daily choice. But it starts with the realization that God is a good Shepherd and His desire is for us to live our lives the way He intended: to the full, till it overflows.

The church I grew up in did not talk about spiritual warfare. I can honestly say I do not remember a time where I even heard the enemy mentioned except for a verse in the song "I've Got the Joy Joy Joy Joy," where we sung, "And if the devil doesn't like it he can sit on a tack." As if that was the most harmful fate for him that we could think of.

So as a result, I grew up timid thinking that everything that went on between my ears was entirely my fault and I believed every thought I heard. An anxiety disorder diagnosis, 13 years worth of daily medication, and 22 years of my life later, someone finally told me that wasn't the case and I could do something about it. About 2 years ago I was in a study for the book, Battlefield of the Mind by Joyce Meyer. It was the first time I heard about rebuking out loud, and the first time I really learned anything about how to defeat the enemy. I worked to put these strategies into practice and finally found some relief over the ploys of the enemy. Some of my friends and I even adapted the famous phrase from Jesus, "Get behind me satan." And we used it for everything regardless of if it was relevant or not.

Yesterday, I was thinking and the Lord led my mind back to that phrase. I thought about how my friends and I used to use it and said to myself, "Man I haven't heard that in a while." But as I really started to meditate on it I started to understand the implications of it.

"Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” - Matthew 16:23 (NIV)

When Jesus rebuked in this way, at the root of it He was rebuking that which was trying to come against what God had called Him to be: to be the Savior of the world. Satan is not creative, I mean how many times has he come against your calling or who God says you are? It's an age old game!

When I thought about this verse, God spoke this phrase to me, "Don't let the devil cut in front of you." I thought that was a game changer. The enemy is forever separate from the favor and promises of the Lord. When we as humans wait in line, we are usually waiting to receive something that we want or need. This is a metaphor for our relationship with Christ. We are constantly anticipating the good he has for us! Our enemy is going to do anything he can to meander his way up to the front because he is jealous.

This reminds me of the primal instincts I see in my students in the lunchroom. There's at least one person every day who thinks they should be allowed to cut in line to get to the front faster; as if they have less time to eat than other students. And what happens when they do? The people behind them are angry of course! But usually, especially in middle school, the people who cut don't cut in front of the bold who will call them out on it, they cut in front of the timid. Why? Well of course because they are an easy target and won't say anything. I was that way as a student; I would be seething with anger, but I wouldn't say anything out of fear.

We can't let Satan do this to us! The Bible says in Proverbs 28:1 that the righteous are as bold as lions, so why do we shrink back from a jealous serpent that we could crush under our feet within seconds?

Don't let the devil cut in front of you! Stand up for yourself because you have the authority under Christ Jesus. Jesus paid the price for you to have your rightful place in line, don't let the enemy tell you any more that he is in charge; he does "not have in mind for you the concerns of God, but the concerns of this world!" Stand boldly in that line waiting on Christ's promises and blessings and don't let anyone, namely the enemy, cut in front of you and act as a "stumbling block" for what God has for you.

I've been in the weirdest season for a few months now. Throughout it I've been battling old hurts and hardships that have plagued me for as long as I can remember. And throughout it, nothing seems to have been going right. So 3 weeks ago I hit a deer. Actually, I like to say that a deer hit me because that's actually more accurate as to how it occurred. There was good that came out of it in the moment because at the moment I yelled for His help, Jesus completely protected my roommate and I from death quite honestly. But if I'm being honest, I was mad. I could not fathom why God just wouldn't give me a break! And I was especially mad when my roommate avoided the same situation a week later.

So I took my car to the shop to get it fixed fully anticipating that I would have to shell out money for the deductible. I mean I know how this works; this isn't my first rodeo with accidents. A few days later my dad messages me and tells me the raw estimate which was $3,500. I asked how much the deductible covered and he said $0. I literally was so sure I was going to scream right then and there (which would have been bad as I was at work in a room full of students) because in this "everything is going wrong" mentality, I took that as I have to pay $3,500 which I do NOT have. But upon asking my dad, he clarified that I owed $0. I immediately recognized this as God's grace and was thankful for how He had answered the prayer that my roommate prayed over my finances immediately after we got hit.

Fast forward to yesterday when I went to pick up my car from the shop. As I drove into the lot, I saw my car and I was amazed. Yes I knew they would fix it, but there was an added blessing. Because of an earlier accident, my hood was a baseline unpainted hood that my dad had bought. We kept putting off getting it painted because of lack of money and really lack of time to get it fixed. The hood was completely new and painted to match the rest of the car. I thought they might just replace it with an undented version of what I had, or just pop out the dents in the old one, but no it was completely new. I realized then that God had used this situation, (as He so often does) that the enemy intended for harm, for my good because now we don't have to worry about finding the money or time to get the hood painted because it was paid for by the insurance.

Later that day, I was reflecting on this blessing and the Lord spoke to me and said, "Megan, this is the principle of my Gospel." And He was right. I brought in the car mismatched, broken down, and busted and it was fixed. But not only was it fixed, it was fully whole. That's just what the Lord does with us. When we couldn't pay for the cost to fix it; when we tried to do it ourselves and failed; when we were busted; He came in, paid for the whole thing and fixed it without a second thought. The Lord doesn't give us a second rate new life, He gives us an abundant and whole new life.

This was everything for me. I've been needing a new revelation of the Gospel in order to get over this hurdle in my life that I've been stumbling over during this season. For so long, I've been dealing with my situation like I had with the hood on my car. I've masked it, covered it up, temporarily relieved the issue, all of which constitute as trying to fix it myself. But God was letting me go through this season because He didn't just want to pop out the dents, He wanted to replace the whole thing. I've been trying by myself to quell fears and anxieties that I've dealt with for as long as I can remember. And I've been doing it alone because what I was dealing with seemed too shameful for God. But all the while, He's been the whisper among the clamor of voices saying, "Don't be afraid. It's finished and paid for, I don't condemn you...just let me handle it."

Sometimes God uses a traumatic instance in our life to snap our attention to Him and to leave us with no choice BUT to trust Him. I've seen this in my walk and this car situation; in fact, they've been essentially parallel (weird how God does that!). I hope whatever you're holding on to today that you will release it to the Lord. No matter how shameful you think it is, He is merciful. And not just to everyone else; to you too. Trust me I know it is easier said than done and there are so many times where it feels impossible, but freedom is so worth it.

It's that time of the year again: the most wonderful time of the year. The weather is getting colder, the anticipation for the holidays is high, and we randomly decide to be nice to each other.

I mean isn't that how it is? For 10 months out of the year, we can't be bothered to be kind to one another, but once it hits Thanksgiving and Christmas time we decide that we should probably be nice. Perhaps it's the weather or just the warm fuzzies of being around family, but I think it's deeper than that; I think it has everything to do with the way our hearts were created. Yes, I think our sudden attitude change is the surest sign that our hearts are indeed designed for glorifying Christ; the surest sign that no one, not even in the world we are living in, is too far gone for the love that the Father has to offer.

It's the fact that we have a whole holiday centered around being thankful. It's in every Christmas song and every Christmas movie: the desire to "be loved" and to "feel the joy and peace that Christmas brings all year long." Those are core desires in the hearts of humans that were intentionally placed there and thus not inherently bad but albeit misplaced. It's not the holiday itself that brings those things, but the subject of the holiday that does. Without going all typical, cliche, "Jesus is the reason for the season," on you, He is the entire reason we even have Christmas. Let's just call the "Christmas spirit" what it actually is shall we? That's the Spirit of the Lord you feel. I'd venture to say that you feel those warm fuzzy "Christmas emotions," because when Christ came to earth he brought a new hope for those things and continues to do so even today. Because at His very core He IS love, He IS joy, and He IS peace. And at this time when we recognize and focus on His birth, those elements of His character are intentionally apparent.

You and I desire that which only God can truly give us. In John 15, Jesus says, "I am the true vine..." This implies that there are other vines that we can attach ourselves to, but the Lord is the true vine; He is the one that will sustain and will bring forth eternal fruit. So we can immerse ourselves in the temporary that the holiday brings, but ultimately it's going to be January and we will be left wondering where all the love, joy, and peace have gone. That's why Jesus continues by urging His disciples to continue to abide in Him so that their joy will overflow (John 15:11).

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. - John 15:9-11 (ESV)

To abide means to live in. The word "abide" is a close relative of the word "abode" meaning a place where a person lives' it's where everything flows from and where we always go back to. Let Christ be the place you always go back to and where everything in your life flows from. That throughout the year, not just this season, we recognize and give God the credit in our lives and allow Him to then provide us with His true joy.

Let Christ be the true vine for you this holiday season; don't let your love, joy, and peace be contingent upon the trivial things that we can focus on in this season. Let it not just be a season of temporary joy, love, and peace but a springboard for the rest of your year. This season should be a reminder of God's goodness and a renewal of hope in remembering that our Savior was sent into the world to ultimately act as the atoning sacrifice for our sins so that we may live in freedom. Take that revelation and let it move you into a place of abiding in Him and receiving true love, joy, and peace all year long.

I feel like there are a lot of books of the Bible that don't get enough recognition; Philemon is one of them. And I feel like this happens because not only do people often accidentally skip over them because Bible pages are so thin (I mean come on finding a small one page book is like finding a needle in a haystack sometimes), but also because often I think people write them off because they are so small. So, the other day when it came up on my reading plan, I was intrigued.

Today, I was listening to a sermon by Ben Stuart (which by the way, if you haven't heard him speak, look him up NOW) and he was speaking on Exodus and the wilderness. He discussed all of these times the Israelites would get into a situation where it looked like God wasn't meeting their needs and as a result they did the only logical thing we do in those situations: they complained. As I was listening I was reminded of a song from Veggie Tales.

When you grow up in a Christian household it's 100% required that you watch Veggie Tales. As a result, you will never forget the words to the catchy songs. I think that's sort of the point...for kids. But nonetheless, I remembered the words and they were this, "keep walking." Now, in that episode of Veggie Tales, that is a part of a song the soldiers (also known as the French Peas aka: the sassiest vegetables on the show which means they're obviously my favorite) sing these words to God's people who are walking around Jericho. Definitely discouraging because the words that follow are, "but you won't knock down our wall," but don't worry my point is the opposite of that. I mention it because it got me thinking about those two words and then I got a picture of what wilderness looks like when we stay sitting and pouting, and what it looks like when we actually keep walking.

The powerhouse that is Joyce Meyer always uses the Israelites as a picture when talking about wilderness mindsets, aka: thoughts that keep us in the wilderness. She expresses that what was supposed to have been a two week journey was 40 years. They stayed in the wilderness because they kept stopping to pout when things weren't going their way. Now, the Israelites aren't alone in this because we all do this. In fact, I found myself in danger of this yesterday.

When we stop in the wilderness, it's because we've lost our hope. Soloman says in Proverbs that, "hope deferred makes the heart sick," (Proverbs 13:12). We see our circumstances and we see that, "God's not meeting my needs," and we give up. We quit. We set up camp and we intend to stay there because, "what's the point?" But I wonder if we would do that if we knew that breakthrough was right around the next bend.

Imagine yourself walking through the wilderness in your life right now; for some of you this may not be that hard to imagine given that it's a reality. Perhaps your wilderness is family issues, perhaps you aren't seeing fruit in something that you've been working toward for years, maybe it's an addiction or hang up that you've been fighting all of your life. Whatever it is, imagine yourself walking through that feeling every thorn, tripping over every branch, getting lost, finding your way back only to get lost again. It's been hard. You finally get to yet another obstacle and you're faced with a choice: do you cut your losses and give up (it's not working anyway right?). Or do you pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and keep walking?

In Ben Stuart's sermon, he told a story about a time when he was hiking in the Grand Canyon and he wanted to go off and see a really huge waterfall that was about 6 miles off or so. So he began walking and he felt like he had been walking for ages. As he continued he started to get worried that he was getting lost and then panic set in. As soon as panic set in, he fell over and into some thorns. What was interesting is that when he chose to get up and keep walking, the waterfall he had been looking for was right around the corner. But when did his journey get hard? When he started doubting his destination.

Here's the bottom line: the journey that God's called to you isn't going to be easy. In fact, a lot of times it's the opposite of easy. Also, a lot of times it's long; EXCRUCIATINGLY long. You may fall into some thorns, you may doubt your direction, and you may feel like quitting. Don't. Your breakthrough may be just around the corner; and boy will you be glad you kept walking.

"God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him." - James 1:12




If you want to listen to Ben's podcast, click the picture below!

Also, check out the French Peas in action #same:

It's been happening a lot recently where I am listening to a song and taking in the words, and all of a sudden, a phrase jumps out at me that I previously would have ignored. So often I think we get to the point where we become calloused to songs that we've sung so many times that they become more of a top 40 hit rather than a love song to the redeemer of our souls.

Today the line was in Hillsong United's "Saviour King" (see the player at the bottom of the page to listen!). I was grading papers during my planning period at school and seemingly out of nowhere (although we all know it certainly was not out of nowhere -- I see you Jesus), I felt God speak truth to me through this phrase: "Hope which was lost, now stands renewed."

Take a minute to take a brief inventory of your life. Have you lost your hope recently? Is it like a library book you've lost track of that you've looked around to find, but have just decided it would be easier to concede and pay the fine?

Hope is always, always, always part of the equation, but so often we are careless with where we place our hope. Christ calls us to hope IN Him but wants us to hope FOR good gifts. Those are two crucial prepositions with very different functions and if misplaced can lead away from Him.

I've been learning this very lesson myself. Recently, I lost hope that God would bless me with a marriage. There are two crucial layers to this; yes, I lost my hope FOR something, but I also shortchanged God because I lost my hope IN Him that He was able to come through for me. My hope was lost like the library book I checked out long ago and lost track of over the period of time I was entrusted with it.

Obviously, I'm not on the other side of that particular mountain, but that which was lost now stands renewed. God has taken my lost hope and dream, and renewed it. I say renewed because it's not that I found my hope. No, God has renewed it; He's made it new and has flipped it around so it directs to Him above the hope FOR things.

There are so many trials on this earth that seem so heavy and hopeless. But God's plan on this Earth is for a hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11). Without that hope our hearts are sick; without hope, we have nothing to live for.

I'd like to encourage you to ask God to renew your lost hope today and BELIEVE that you will have that breakthrough. Maybe it's a hope for a family member to have a breakthrough, maybe it's hope that you will overcome a trial you've been battling with for years. Whatever it is, I encourage you to ask Him to renew your hope and fulfill that dream you've been longing for.


"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life." - Proverbs 13:12 (NLT)