Grow Strong In The Light of MY Presence

This entry from Sarah today laid it out plain and simple for me.

"I designed you to commune with me Face to face, and this interaction strengthens your soul."

If there is no interaction there is no strengthening, the end!

It's like getting straight A's in school without EVER going to class, or being part of a championship team that never practiced, or becoming a billionaire without doing any kind of work one day in your life....the odds on this are pretty unlikely.

The Lord has created His Word and given us prayer so there will never be a time when we can't get enough of Him and his blessings! This is definitely something to be joyful about :)

Trust Me In the Middle of a Messy Day - August 26

I don't know about you, but I love watching those messy house shows like "Clean House", "How Clean is Your House", or the horrifying "Hoarders". For some reason, I enjoy watching experts come in to someone's disaster-of-a-house, react in horror to the grime and mold, sort through junk, teach the homeowners how to clean, then leave the premises with the home passing the white glove test with ease.

How about when the mess occurs in the middle of my day? And, it's not a physical mess, it's a mental mess; a spiritual mess; an emotional mess... what then? Our friend Sarah writes that my inner calm need not be shaken by what is going on around me. In detaching myself from the disturbance, I relinquish control (which I really didn't have anyway,) and rely on God to grant me peace. 

So, when I'm stuck in traffic, or, late for an appointment, or stressing out in the middle of a hectic day, or at night when I simply can't quiet my mind long enough to sleep - I will remember that's God's peace is more than sufficient for me. Take heart - he has overcome the world!

Karin

John 16:33 - "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world"

Psalm 105:4 -  Look to the Lord, and his strength; seek his face always

John 14:27 - "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."

It's Like Stretching

I just got done with doing some yoga in my room on my new, forest-green mat. I love doing yoga in my room because that's already the place I go to rest and relax. The only problem comes in the form of the ceiling fan. When you're a six foot tall woman and tony from P90x instructs you to raise your arms before you swan dive... you learn to watch your fingers from getting chopped by the fan.

ANYWAY. Yoga, for me is not just about relaxing and finding my 'center' or whatever. It's about the practice of being quiet and stretching my mind and body a little further than it's used to.

Before I learned what it meant to take care of my body, I hated to stretch. I found it useless, boring and a even a bit painful at times. Since I've developed a new NEED to be nice to my body, I love to stretch. But this new found love didn't appear overnight. It took countless hours of bad yoga, monotonous physical therapy, and just... time. The only thing that kept me going was the *hope* of a body that felt better, that moved better, and responded better to the world around me.

I've come to find that practicing the presence of God is like stretching. When I first started having routine quiet times with God- it was hard. It was work, it didn't always make me feel as good as the day before, and it often lost the priority battle vs. the all-powerful snooze button. But, like my stretching process, I *hoped* for something more. I saw the fruit of believers I knew that spent quality time being still before the Lord. I wanted that. Just like I want to be able to do yoga poses like the crazy Asian man in all the at-home yoga videos. Someone get this man something other than a speedo!

In all seriousness, I'm finding that no matter where we are at in our spiritual journey, there are disciplines God lays before us in a way to say 'Trust me a little more, go a little further, stretch!' When I first started walking daily with God those disciplines were things like, not swearing on the volleyball court, going to church every week, and cracking open my Bible before the dust met it first.

Now, as I'm being stretched and lengthened more, my spiritual disciplines consist of being aware of ALL the many judgements I make against others, choosing to turn off the TV or maybe not turn it on in the first place in hopes that my thinking processes don't "deteriorate... becoming increasingly confused and directionless' (that's from our girl, SY). And lastly, I'm learning how to not back down from something that scares the living crap out of me- when I know it's from the Holy Spirit.

One of my favorite questions to ask my friends is "what is God teaching you right now?" And I think I may add a follow-up to this one- "How are you feeling stretched and pulled in ways that can only be from the Holy God?"

How I would LOVE to know that answer to that from all of you! Love you and miss you all,

Love,

Kristin


Psalm 67:8 "My soul CLINGS to you; your right hand upholds me."

I am the eternal I AM

...I always have been, and I always will be.

Wow. I cannot even fully comprehend that. I always have been, and I will always be. Let's marvel in that. He is timeless.

I am intimately involved in all your moments, and I am training you to be aware of Me at all times.

He is timeless and intimately involved in all my moments. Training me to be aware of Him at all times. This is exactly what God has been teaching me in and since China. I need to be in constant communication with Him.

Do not be alarmed by your inability to remain focused on Me.

One of my biggest fears in life is failure. When I go through part of my day, or even all of my day without giving God much thought, I feel like I have failed at learning what God is teaching me right now. To remain focused on Him.

Simply bring your thoughts gently back to Me each time they wander.

This encouraged and challenged me. Instead of feeling like I failed at staying focused on God, I just need to simply redirect my thoughts back to Him. Sounds easy enough right? I'll let you know how it goes putting this into practice! :)

Love,

Kace

PS It won't let me post a picture. Just imagine a beautiful ocean with the waves crashing on the rocks.

PPS When I read this entry I thought of Psalm 139 so I added part of it at the bottom.

¹ O LORD, you have searched me

and you know me.

² You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.

³ You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.

⁴ Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.

⁵ You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.

⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?

⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, ^{a]" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">[a]} you are there.

⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,

¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

¹¹ If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"

¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

¹³ For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

¹⁶ your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

I MISS YOU!

Ladies - PLEASE forgive me for my ridiculous M.I.A. Been without internet for 2 weeks now and vacation before that. I really have been missing you guys and the blog though and still plan on doing this week and then back to the normal schedule! Hope everyone is doing sooo well. Love you all!

Expect to encounter adversity..

Each day we are faced with obstacles and challenges that we must overcome. If you are all anything like me, I spend way too much time worrying about these situations to the point where it consumes me. Recently, I have been stressing over going back to school and creating a schedule that works around my busy softball life (pretty insignificant when I really sit down to think about things). When I get worried or stressed about anything, I let it take over until it is the only thing on my mind and that is when I realize how I have completely pushed God out of the picture. The second I start carrying all the weight of my worries, I tell God that I can do everything on my own and that I don't need Him. When in reality, He is the only way I can ever get through anything. After talking to numerous friends and family, I began to pray that He would chip away at the anxiety I was feeling, and slowly but surely, each day got a little bit better. Now, I feel good about the semester to come and I am actually pretty excited to get going, but I know that if I had not lifted all my worry and anxiety to God, that I would still be weighed down by this overpowering fear.

I've started to accept that life isn't made to be easy or to have all the answers and solutions handed to me. We are supposed to face these 'impossibilities' that truly are beyond our capabilities so that when we begin to feel inadequate, then we will trust in Him to lead the way. And that is right where He wants us, so that we may see His glory and power shine. We can never do anything alone, but with Him anything is possible. It may be a cliche', but that is what I truly believe. I know I will always have fears and anxiety, but the more I turn to God and let Him be in control, the less I have to worry about anything. I pray that we all can turn our fears, anxiety, worries or whatever it may be over to God so that He may help us through any tough time we may currently be going through or may go through in the future.

"He is my my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust"

Hope all are well and worry-free!

Why Do Bad Things Happen?

I hadn't really thought of that question before in my life. Sure, things were difficult sometimes but on the average of what people have to deal with here on earth, my life has been practically perfect in every way. I haven't experienced true loss, true suffering, true loneliness. So you can imagine my difficulty in trying to represent our Lord well while being asked this very question by a friend: "Why do bad things happen to good people?" Even if you take out the 'to good people' suffix it's still a terribly hard question to answer. God loves us. He wants the best for us. So why do people die before they've experienced a full life? Why do bad things happen?

I don't know the answer to that. It pains me that I can't help my friend understand our Heavenly Father more but I can't imagine ever knowing that answer. God knows - that's reason enough for me.

Adversity need not interrupt your communion with Me. When things go "wrong," you tend to react as if you're being punished. Instead of this negative response, try to view difficulties as blessings in disguise.

You know what? I don't think I should lead with that when talking with my friend. Sure it is a great outlook to have when things are going well - but not something you want to hear when you find out terrible, tragic, heart breaking news. We don't know what blessings will come out of tragedy. The only thing I find hope and rest in is the fact that God knows what He's doing. He's bigger than us. And I love Him for that.

Sorry for the downer blog post! Need some cheering up or inspiration of the fact that God is GREAT? Check out these photos and make sure to read the synopsis before! :)

Love you all!