Connect with Christ in Your Everyday Life
When we believe we are loved, we stop the endless striving – Striving to be good enough, striving to feel good enough, striving so others will think we are good.
When we believe we are loved, we stop doing good things to earn God’s love and we do good things in response to God’s love. And that’s when the healing begins.
In the book I am writing, the main character tells her friend, Stephen, about meeting the Jewel Maker. Their conversation tells us a lot about Stephen and about the Jewel Maker.
“Has He talked to you, too?”
“From time to time, yes. Like you, He speaks words of healing to me.”
“What does He tell you?”
Stephen’s face clouded. “That He loves me.”
“Why do you look so sad when you say it?”
“The shame I feel about not going after Jade covers me and makes it hard for me to really believe His words, even when I know they are true. His words seem to roll off, instead of reaching my heart. I am uneasy in His presence. I am nervous, although He is only ever kind and loving.” – Angkura: The Fight for Hope
Although my story is fiction, shame is real. Shame is the intensely painful feeling that we are unworthy of love and belonging. (Brene Brown)
And thought the majority of us never talk about it, we’ve felt the blush of shame running over us. We’ve had times when we couldn’t even look ourselves in the eye in the mirror, much less open ourselves up to get close to others.
Shame is a fungus. It flourishes in the dark, covering us with its lies. Shame separates us from God by convincing us that that though God’s love is real, it is not meant for us. Shame works overtime to make sure we feel alone, and that we stay alone. Eventually it convinces us that we are alone.
Shame convinces us that we are the only ones who make mistakes, the only ones who numb emotional pain through food, sex, video games, or mindless TV shows. Or by staying too busy to think or to feel.
The numbing only works for so long. We feel horrible about our actions, and resolve to not give in next time. But shame dives in and convinces us that we are worthless and stupid to think we could ever change.
The longer we are quiet about our shame, the stronger its voice grows.
Lets turn on the light and look at truth.
What does God say to us? He says I love you.
He says it through His Word, He says it by providing a way for us to know Him, He says it through the beautiful sunrises and sunsets. He can even say it through the smile of a stranger.
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
3 For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior…
4 Because you are precious in my eyes,
and honored, and I love you… Isaiah 43: 1-4
God says I have called you by name. You are mine precious, loved.
Shame pours over us, like a relentless waterfall, seeking to wash the truth away. But even if just a smidge of truth gets in, hold on to it.Truth is worth fighting for.
In these beginning days of October, we’ve seen that God’s love is lavish and extravagant. His love never ends, and His compassion toward us is as abundant as His love. And now, today’s beautiful truth – Nothing can separate us from His love. Nothing – not even the darkness within us. God’s love is real even when we don’t really feel it.
In the warmth of His marvelous light we find life.
It had been one of THOSE weeks. You know, the ones where life hits in relentless, pounding waves. No matter how I tried, I couldn’t get my footing. Dirty laundry formed mountains around my house, my kitchen was a mess, my husband stepped on a spike used in Roman times nail at work, and my children were perfecting the art of getting on each other’s last nerve.
One morning between getting them off to school and getting ready for work, I crawled into my comfy chair, which was strategically angled so that I could look out the windows and ignore the messy house. I opened a devotional book and the first three words were a gift.
“Rest in me…”
Rest. The word brought verses to mind and comfort to my heart.
When I thought of Be still and know I am God. (Psalm 46:10), I heard “I’ve got this. You are not on your own here.”
The verse Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28) was like being lifted into strong arms.
I leaned my head back to bask in these words, to drink in the truth. And I fell asleep. Not a graceful dozing off, but a mouth wide open full-blown snooze.
It was exactly what I needed.
God knows we are living in a broken world where things are difficult. He knows we try to handle it on our own, and He gently reminds us that He hasn’t asked us to. We are just kids. We are His kids.
As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
For he knows our frame;
he remembers that we are dust. Psalm 103: 13-14
There are days when I feel my dustiness, my weakness, my need for rest.
God’s love for us includes compassion. His compassion is equal to His love.
He will have compassion according to the abundance of His steadfast love. Lamentations 3:32
He loves lavishly, and His compassion and comfort are lavish as well.
When we see Him for who He says He is, we have 10,000 reasons to sing His praise.
Some Sundays I crave being in church, worshipping, singing, getting a glimpse of what God is doing in the world.
And on other Sundays I look at my family and can see that we are all just done. Fried. On those days, going to church feels like one more thing we are supposed to do. I know I’ll spend the sermon glaring at three very wiggly children.
I don’t want to praise God and glare at my children at the same time. And I don’t want worshipping God to be something we just check off a list, or endure because we have to.
On one of those days, Stephen and I decided to take our crew outside for some Bible time. The kids each picked out a verse they wanted to read, and we headed out into the sunshine and gentle breeze. I’m sure we looked interesting as Anderson stood up to read his verses, dressed in his ever-present ninja costume. The girls read their verses and I read one about God’s steadfast love. We talked about how much God loves us, even when we mess up, because His love for us never ends.
These verses led into a very honest conversation, because everyone in our house knows what it is to mess up, to need forgiveness, to need grace.
Sometimes worshipping in church feeds my soul, and other times, a Bible time in the sunshine with my little family is what I need. Either way, we are doing what we were made for – praising Him every day.
And sometimes the end of church might look like this.
The house was messy. I was messy. And my friend just walked right into all the messiness. I was sitting in the playroom floor, my 3 little ones playing beside me, and I was sobbing. She didn’t knock, so I didn’t have time to wipe my eyes, or to get myself together.
“What’s going on?” she asked as she put her two little ones on the floor to play with mine.
“I’m starting to believe that God really doesn’t love me.”
This feeling had been pressing harder and harder on my heart, and circumstances seemed to prove its truth.
I listened to the lies whispered in the darkness. I forgot God’s promises to never leave me. I stopped believing what God said about Himself and about His love for me. It was time for some truth.
Hesed means steadfast love. It is a special word in Hebrew that describes the loving devotion God has toward His people which causes Him to bind Himself to His people. It indicates His lovingkindness toward those with whom He is in covenant relationship.
Lamentations 22-24: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”
Psalm 36:5 – Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.
Psalm 86:5 – For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.
I love the language of hesed: steadfast, loving devotion, binding Himself to His people, lovingkindness.
We have a tendency to keep God at arms length (a safe distance), elbows locked tight. We can acknowledge that God loves us, but this hesed, this loving devotion God has toward us, doesn’t use keep-at-a-distance language. It is the language of a God who has pursued us, fought for us, from Genesis to the cross, until eternity begins. This powerful, overwhelming love, should we receive it, could completely change the way we relate to God. Because it shows us how God sees us. Worthy of being pursued, worthy of fighting for, worth the cost, precious, loved.
We say what we think, but we live what we believe.
“If we believe we are loved, then we can let go of idols in our lives, let go of addictions that ruin us, let go of relationships that harm us, let go…and breathe. Let go and live in joy.” Ann Voskamp
When I was a little girl I would sit in the woods, watching the world around me. Squirrels would chase each other, leaping through the tree tops and among the muscadine vines, fighting over the tangy, purple berries. I never understood that because there were muscadines everywhere – hanging from the vines and covering the forest floor. There were plenty of berries to go around.
God’s love is like that. Plentiful, lavish, extravagant.
When I was 14 I began reading the Bible. I easily felt the gap between my thoughts and actions and the life described in its pages. My heart leaned in toward God when I learned that Jesus bridged that gap by dying on the cross and coming back to life. I could have that kind of life because of what He did for me, a little quiet, country girl who easily faded into the background in large groups.
His love for me is what drew me to Him in the first place. I didn’t fall through the cracks with God. He. Loved. Me. And that truth was glorious!
Over time, I relaxed my hold on that truth and I began believing lies.
One of the lies I believed was that God was standing over me, arms crossed, a disappointed look on His face. I believed He was waiting for, even expecting, me to mess up. I forgot about His lavish love, and I began trying to earn His love. I led youth groups, I went on mission trips, I was active in our church, but I was in a precarious place. I was doing good things to earn His love instead of doing good things in response to His love.
Then I hit the point of honesty: Maybe, after all these years, I don’t really know the God I am serving. Maybe I only know what I ‘ve been told about Him. So I searched the Bible to see what His Word tells about Him. And this verse lodged into my heart:
Every day the Lord pours His unfailing love upon me, and at night His song is with me. Psalm 42:8
Notice the verse doesn’t say every day that I have a quiet time and behave right, it just says every day. His love isn’t contingent on me at all. I pictured God following me around all day with a watering can pouring out his unfailing love over me. He is not stingy with His love, he is lavish and sloppy and I can play in the puddles around my feet.
I found other verses about His love and I filled a canvas with them. The words flow out of a watering can over the canvas and even spill a bit off the edges.
I put these words where my whole family can see them, because there are those moments when we forget that we are loved by God. That the Creator of the Universe looks at us tenderly and calls us precious. We forget that the Mighty God sings joyful songs over us, as we sing lullabies over our own little ones. I know I need to be reminded on a daily basis.
I hung it at a height where my children can stand under it, as if God’s love was pouring over them. And if I bend my knees to their level, I fit under there as well. Sometimes, especially on days of struggle, we just need to be drenched in His love.
We all need a reminder that God’s love does not stop. His love is not altered on days when we behave badly, when we feel unloveable or unloved. He pours it upon His children constantly. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. That truth can change the way we view all of life, if we will let it wash over us and sink into our bones.
God’s love is unfailing, unstoppable, and always available.
