The Way, the Truth, and the Life!

Hello Friends!

There is a song that has been playing on the radio lately that makes me super happy. I hear it and I just HAVE to turn up the volume (and sometime even crank up the base) and jam. It is by NewWorldSon and is called There is a Way. I think the reason that I am feeling so excited about this song is that (besides the jiving melody) it is such a great reminder! That there is a Way! And it is Jesus!

We have been talking a lot about the Father Heart of God at worship lately, and it is something that has been definitely making changes in my heart. There is something so powerful about the Love of God... Something so powerful in the knowledge that God sent His Son Jesus to earth out of Love for Us. There is something so empowering and humbling and fulfilling knowing that God yearns for us to be close to Him. Jesus was sent to earth to teach and speak of the Love of Our Father God, sent to the cross to take away our sins so that we might join our Father God in Heaven! How amazing is that Love? I don't know about you, but it is hard to feel bad about myself, hard to pick on those things that I dislike about myself when I remember that Love. The only thing that I can do is Praise. Sing out my gratefulness and love to Our Father God. And this song is that reminder. "I Promise that You won't be alone! There is a Way, the truth and the life and the way!!!"

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. - John 14:6 New Living Translation

Blessings, dear friends!

Renée

Essentials?

``...I think Mr. Darcy improves on acquaintance.''

``Indeed!'' cried Wickham with a look which did not escape her. ``And pray may I ask -- ?'' but checking himself, he added in a gayer tone, ``Is it in address that he improves? Has he deigned to add ought of civility to his ordinary style? for I dare not hope,'' he continued in a lower and more serious tone, ``that he is improved in essentials.''

``Oh, no!'' said Elizabeth. ``In essentials, I believe, he is very much what he ever was.''

"Pride and Prejudice", Jane Austen

I have been wondering lately whether someone can truly change. I guess I am not entirely sure what that means. Do you think that people, in essentials, are unchanging, but that it is in how we view, or in the information we have of them that casts their character? But when it is in your own self that you are trying to make those changes, do your essentials hold weight? Are essentials mostly moral, or do they cover self image and attitude? In pride and prejudice, at the end, Darcy explains that he was taught good morals but left to follow them in pride and conceit. And so this man we saw as cold becomes a man who on closer inspection is truly just learning a new way of talking to people and seeing the world. He is changing. But then there is the question of attitude....

There will be no argument from anyone who knows me when I state that I am a lazy person. I am not afraid of hard work, and in some (very rare) cases actually revel in it, but I do do my very best to avoid as much of it as possible. It is almost a subconscious, instinctive thing. So when I say that my husband and I are trying to eat better, and I have decided to try and lose weight you will not be surprised that I have done very little about it. My Hubby and I are doing more to eat better. We have, for a little over a month now, been avoiding pop. We no longer buy it, so it isn't even in the house to tempt us. And this last grocery shop that we did, we did together with an eye for healthier possibilities. (For example I ate FISH tonight!) I downloaded "workout" music, and have Wii fit to help get me moving. But I have only done one session on the Wii, and haven't been out to the elliptical at all. I like sitting still TOO MUCH. I like to read books and play on the computer. I haven't been into being active since.... elementary school I think. So even though Malcolm is raiding tonight, and I could have at least played Wii Fit to get some activity into the day, I played Bejeweled Blitz on my iPod Touch for like an hour, maybe more. So I guess I am wondering if being lazy is part of what is essentially Me, and if I will even stop procrastinating and move past lazy. Probably never.

P.S. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was okay. Funny. But I prefer the original. So, I have a copy to loan out if anybody wants to read it! (Zombies... although if you want to borrow the original, that is cool too)

Kingdom living/World living with Crazy Love

I really am very lucky. In view of the devastation and heartbreak happening in the world, more lucky and blessed than I ever take time to appreciate.

But what I mean is that I am lucky at the moment to be out of the flow of the World. Lucky that I would have a husband and family who would support me removing myself from the World's race for promotions and raises in order to focus on my faith journey and care for a beautiful gift of God bundled in a 2 year old package. I am removed enough from the trappings of the World to have the opportunity to shift my view, shift my way of being. There is trepidation and uncertainty in this, as my World mindset and my Kingdom heart struggle to abide together.

I have been that person who quiets their Kingdom heart to assure no offense is given or no one feel uncomfortable. Been irked by the emails that speak of Jesus and then dare me to pass them along (since 86% or whatever of people won't.) Do you, like me find that dare, that taunt, as reason enough to delete the message, unshared with contacts in your list? And do you, like me, when the email speaks so close to the heart it must be shared, specially select people in your contact list to send it to? Those people who you know will not be offended or put off by receiving it?

I have been the person afraid of following the faith journey. So studied in the ways of the World that not contributing financially to my household, not having a 5 year business plan, and not knowing what I will be doing as occupation when the sidewalk ends has been, and continues to be, a place of struggle in me.

I have been the person who feels guilty. Like Francis Chan said in "Crazy Love" (page 56/57) I have picked up somewhere along the way that I should set aside time for God, in which to pray and read the Bible. And the fact that I don't (even though I am home most of the day with that little bundle of God's gift) frustrates me, and causes me to feel guilty. Like I am being fraudulent when I speak about my faith, since I don't "do my time."

But, let's be honest with each other... God is not only in the silent moments set aside for prayer. God is not only in the moments of certainty and joy. God does not only love us when we are working hard, making good money, keeping our family comfortable. God is Everywhere. God is in Everything... actually God IS Everything. In Crazy Love Chan writes, " Over time I have realized that when we love God, we naturally run to Him-frequently and zealously. Jesus didn't command that we have a regular time with Him each day. Rather, He tells us to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." He called this the "first and greatest commandment" (Matt. 22:37-38).....This is how God longs for us to respond to His extravagant, unending love: not with a cursory "quiet time" plagued by guilt, but with true love expressed through our lives." (page 57)

And that is where I find I see the Kingdom in the World: through Love.

I have been surrounded by people who care and accept my heart and journey, regardless of their own position on the border between Kingdom and World. When these people, the moments of peace or laughter, the moments of Love are viewed as Blessings from a Loving God I cannot help but feel His presence in this place. So it is in shifting to see the Blessings. Focusing on the moments of Love. Choosing to see with Kingdom eyes that God is clearest. And in noticing and focusing on those moments we can teach ourselves to feel/see/perceive even the faintest whisper of God moving through our lives. So Love, love the Lord Our God so fervently , so passionately that we Run to Him-"frequently and zealously." Because we can be sure that any love that have for God, even when our heart is at it's biggest, doesn't begin to compare to the unyielding and never-ending love Our Father has for us. And doesn't that feel great? So focus on the Blessings and Moments. Hear the whispers of God in your everyday. And by all means, feel free to set aside time to pray and read the Bible. Just don't feel guilty if you don't.