If we surrender our fears and stresses to God day by day, we can be present in the moment instead of adding to that mile long agenda. When we submit to God and trust Him, we are released from the self-absorption that comes along with holding on to our fears. This is when we are free to invest in others and be a presence in their lives.
Now that I am nineteen years old, the gift opening process has lost some of its magic. I can’t decide if this is because I don’t have a list of thirty-five different toys I want, or because I don’t open toys that my cousins and I sit and play with on the floor together all day, or some other unknown reason. I have found more joy in watching my young cousins faces when they open their presents. I can’t help but wonder if my parents watched my face like that.
It’s your life. It’s your choice. But this emphasis on individuality comes at a cost. We’ve become lonely and isolated, so consumed with self that we become a stranger to the other. Is this really the gospel way of life?
He stepped down from heaven to move to earth. To us. The real estate wasn’t better, that’s for sure. His motivation wasn’t better scenery and a shorter commute. His move to us was to make a way for us to move toward Him.
If I were to imagine myself there in Bethlehem all those years ago, walking toward baby Jesus in His manger, I imagine I would be met with an inner conflict. Yes, this baby is to be the Savior of the world; however, I think I would be wrestling with the thought of how dirty I felt in His presence. He was born as an act of love to save me, yet if this baby could comprehend all the struggles in my brain and all the sins I wrestle with…well, wouldn’t that be a tad inappropriate?
People may not have been happy, but I felt freedom in knowing that my Savior was. Living a life modeled after Christ isn’t the norm.  It takes strength and courage to stand up against the strong cultural current.  And people aren’t going to like it.
How we choose to present ourselves matters. Who your friends are. How you talk. What you post on social media. How you dress. All these things show people something about you. Perhaps it will be all of you they ever see.
It became easy to watch porn or mess around in chatrooms because those were situations that I was able to make up–I was able to create my own ‘perfect’ scenarios. But I was still not happy...
Men are individuals, not appliances that we can fix. People can change, but don’t convince yourself that you can influence him to love Jesus just as much as you because you can’t. Only God can do that, and he will do it in his own time.
Songs can be so catchy, can’t they?! You find yourself repeating the same tune and lyrics through your mind over and over and over again… and eventually you start singing it aloud (which isn’t always a good thing for some people) wishing it would go away. Well today I  found myself singing Wrecking Ball by … Continue reading The Wreckage of a Wrecking Ball
