The Dangling Shoe- living victoriously for God in an unpredictable world.

I can remember as a kid, I would get desperately homesick.   I found it difficult to even go to a slumber party.   While other kids were enjoying camp, I stayed close to home.   It wasn’t until I was in my later high school years that I actually managed a week away.   It wasn’t that I was scared, or maybe I was.   But all kinds of feelings of anxiousness would well up inside me and I’d feel alone, out of place, worried for those I loved who weren’t with me.   It wasn’t the house or place that I missed, but my family, my ‘people’, those with whom I had strong and deep relationships.   It was really hard.   Harder still was to not let on that while I was smiling, there was a battle going on in my heart and mind.   I just wanted to be home, safe, with those who loved me and in the place where I knew I belonged.   My mother used to comfort me and reassure me that it would all be well, giving me messages of hope and reassurance, but u...

Self-Image.   If we’re honest, a lot of us struggle in this area.  I don’t know about you, but I’m not really one to look in the mirror and think “Wow, I look good!”  Most days it’s more like “Well, this is as good as it’s going to get.”  The mirror shows me the flaws.  The ‘less than’ reaches out and catches my eye, demands my attention, and reinforces to me that I’m far from beautiful.  But today, I read something that caught my attention in a different way. Psalm 84:1 “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty.”   And I stopped…and began to think about what that really means.   If I have Christ in my heart and life, and if the Holy Spirit indwells me, then I am God’s dwelling place.   And if I am God’s dwelling place….that makes me lovely.   Lovely.   Beloved.   Worthy.   1 Corinthians 3:16-17 says “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your ...

“Soul Rest”  Do those words stir a longing in your heart?   Whisper that to yourself, out loud.…‘soul rest’……….’soul’……...’rest’.   Does it make you thirst for something peaceful and calm, something that satisfies that restlessness in your inmost being?   Psalm 62:1-2 “My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.   He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.” What does the word ‘rest’ really mean?   I’m going to venture a guess at what you’re thinking…1. Stopping Work 2. Relaxing   3. Sleep   4. Relief But what does the Bible say this ‘soul rest’ really is?   Strong’s Concordance explains this Hebrew word for rest “damam”, as “to wait in silence” or “to repose” and a “silent expectation of help from God.” When I was a kid, my Dad would suddenly say to us all “Shhh!!!   Do you hear that?”   And we would all quickly freeze, fall into silence, listening...

Be honest.   There are times you’ve wanted to shout ‘God!   Why don’t you DO something here!’ those times when you are waiting....waiting for something, anything.   And it seems God isn’t moving. You’re in a pause….the space between… something ended and the next thing has yet to begin.   And you wait.   Often, the waiting is hard.   It can seem you’re waiting without direction and with no visible end in sight.   It can be desperate.   You NEED an answer or resolution.   And yet, you wait. God isn’t cruel.   He doesn’t make us wait simply to spite us, or to gleefully delight in our frustration.   We see only what is right in front of us.   But He sees the entire story, from start to finish, with all of its moving parts.   Every season of waiting is a purposeful pause.   There may be something we need to learn in the process, or it may not be about us at all.   Sometimes God uses our story to encour...