Lens Of Truth

My vision is okay. The eye doctor hasn’t prescribed any kind of vision aids for me at this point.

I see clearly.

Well, maybe in the natural anyway.

I find my vision can be out of whack when it comes to my spiritual eyes sometimes.

The other day I was out checking tanks for the sheep to make sure there weren’t any problems with the wells. You have to stay on top of water for livestock at all times but it’s very crucial during the hot summer months.

There are quite a few miles to cover and it’s a lot of quiet time. So I spend a lot that time just talking to the Lord. I would say I’ve done more praying and learning from God out in the middle of a pasture than anywhere else on earth.

On this particular day I had my sunglasses on as it was quite bright out. I like these particular ones as they aren’t very dark and don’t change my vision much. Or so I thought!

I was thanking the Lord for my family and praising Him for all the moisture we’d been receiving. As I drove into a pasture that has a different kind of grass it looked quite brown.

I couldn’t figure out why all of a sudden it was looking so brown. This much grass drying out this fast runs the danger of wildfires in our country. My prayers turned from thanking the Lord to asking for protection against these wildfires that seemed imminent.

Not sure what prompted me to take my sunglasses off right then – probably an itch. Possibly orchestrated by the Holy Spirit. When I did though my vision changed completely. The grass was green and lush again.

I really doubt the grass changed that quickly, but the lens I was seeing it through did.

God spoke ever so gently and clearly to my heart.

Our perspective can be skewed by the lens of our past experiences.

I’ve seen a lot of drought in my life. In the natural as well as the spiritual. My mind has been prepared to see the worst so when the lens I was looking through changed the truth my mind was all too quick to agree with it.

How many times have you been in a circumstance where past experiences cloud your vision for what’s truly happening?

Are you quick to recall times of drought in your own life and then see the negative in the new situation?

When we look through a lens of hurt, fear, and negativity that will be the vision we see.

God has given us the lens of truth. We just need to put on the glasses of His word.

And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever – the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. John 14:16-17 (NLT)

Piecing Together the Puzzle

Have you ever taken a “selfie”? If you have teenagers in your life at all I’m sure you’ve at least seen them. Most of the time they show only what the person taking them wants you to see. A glimpse into their life. Or so it would seem.

What’s missing from that selfie though? The BIG picture!  

Our lives are like a giant puzzle. You do your best to put the pieces in place and in the right order. But it’s so hard to know the corner pieces from the middle pieces when you can’t even see the whole board!

The only one who can see all the pieces at once and the order they need to go in is GOD! 

He sees the big picture and wants to help us put the pieces in place, gently. Unfortunately, for years I tried to pound the pieces into place even if I knew they didn’t fit right. It was my way or the highway.

It wasn’t until I took a long look in the mirror of my heart that I realized my life was completely out of whack. I knew a lot about God and was in a relationship with Him but I wanted to be in control. He was welcome to ride along as a passenger. The sad part is He could always see the best route I should take to get me to the best place. But, I was too busy ramming and jamming my pieces into place to notice the wrong turns I’d taken.

Several years ago I finally started to notice how hard I was working to make things fit together that I knew God intended to put in place for me. I was at a women’s conference and felt the Holy Spirit gently nudge me towards the truth.

The truth is that life can be hard! In John 16:33 Jesus promises us there will be trouble in this life. Good news though, Jesus has overcome the world!

When we let the Lord take the lead in our lives it brings peace amidst the struggles. It’s hard to really explain it even. The bible refers to it as a peace that surpasses understanding. So true!  

I wish this meant that I never rammed and jammed a few puzzle pieces again but unfortunately old habits die hard. I’ve learned that it’s a daily dying to myself. Handing over one piece at a time.

It’s amazing how patient God is! Some puzzle pieces were harder for me to let go of. Some had left some pretty big wounds and somehow had become part of how I identified myself.

Looking back it’s kind of strange but I wasn’t sure who I would be any more if I let God in to take the hurt. Isn’t that who I was now? 

He could have pushed His way in but that’s not His style! He just loved me while I loosened my grip.

I could see the mess I had made of things doing it my way. Now that I was ready to hand it back to God I really wanted him to fix all the scuff marks on my life’s puzzle. As quickly as possible too!

You know what? The scuff marks make my story unique. God can turn my scars into something that brings Him glory. So now I look at those scuff marks and thank God that he is more than capable of still making a masterpiece out of this puzzle of my life.

Anchor to the Truth

I’ve always strived to be enough.

Smart enough.

Tough enough.

Independent enough.

Thin enough.

Pretty enough.

Good enough.

Maybe, just maybe, if I’m “enough” of all these things I will feel like I can relax. I won’t have to work so hard to be loved and accepted.

The definition of “enough” in the dictionary is: Adequate for the want or need; sufficient for the purpose or to satisfy desire.

God has been reassuring me that I really am enough. I don’t have work so hard to be all those things. He loves me just how He created me.

I’m anchoring my thoughts on God’s truth not my perceived truth. He says in 2 Corinthians 3:5 “Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.”

I don’t have to work at being competent or enough in my own power. It comes from God.

I’ve read scriptures over the years that tell me God loves me right where I am but I just kept spinning my wheels of striving. Just try harder, right?

I knew full well that I “fell short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3:23) but kept missing the next verse. Yet God freely and graciously declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins. Romans 3:24 NLT

This past week though I was in the middle of a workout and trying so hard to “give enough” of myself to the workout. Not enough of myself to God mind you but to the workout. I’m all for giving your all. The thing is I wasn’t doing it to honor God with my body. I was striving to be enough of me again.

I heard God say very loudly in my spirit, “Laura, you’re enough.” Seriously people I was undone right there.

Somehow that sealed the deal. I felt weaker and yet more content in that moment than I believe I ever have before.

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Corinthians 12:9

Let’s anchor our souls to the truth that God says we really are enough because of the power of Christ!

Distracted or Focused Dreamer?

I’m a day late and most likely a dollar short on joining in tis week for Five Minute Friday. I’ve always marched to my own beat. J 

The Five Minute Friday linkup can be found at http://katemotaung.com/

The word prompt for this week was: “Dream”. The idea is to free write and let the idea’s flow for 5 minutes. No editing and no over thinking. Yeah, it scares me every time too.

Here goes:

I’ve been thinking and writing about dreams a lot lately. You know, those God given dreams that seem so big and out of reach. The thrilling but scary dreams.

So I found myself in an awkward position of procrastinating when it came to doing the work to follow those dreams. My son loves to say that procrastination leads to great motivation. Maybe when it comes to cleaning my house when I hear someone is on their way over but not on chasing dreams.

I kept telling myself I was just too busy. The truth is we’re ALL busy. We all have the same amount of time in a day. People still MAKE time to do what they put as a high priority. I was letting distractions get in the way. Little things that added up to big things.

Social media was eating up way to much of time. It was clear I needed to turn off all notifications and set aside certain times to check it but it needs to be only at those times.

I’m also not waiting to FIND the time to do the work needed when it comes to my dreams. I’m MAKING the time. It’s a priority!

I’m cheering all of us on to become the focused dreamers God called us to be.

Stand Guard - The Attack is On!

Its crunch time baby!

I’m getting down to the wire preparing for the SheSpeaks conference in NC in one month.

Eeek! Did you hear that? ONE month. 

My book proposal runs through my head in just about every waking moment. Sometimes even in my less than waking moments.

I love the fact that God called me to write. Even when the more formal side of it scares me to death. God put this desire in me at an early age. I have the passion and am working on improving my skills daily.

Satan hates that I’m taking ground for the Kingdom.

He has been on the prowl lately and I feel his fierce, cruel breath on me daily.

The Bible warns us exactly of this. In 1 Peter 5:8 we are warned to “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.”

Matthew Henry’s commentary says “He is a roaring lion, hungry, fierce, strong, and cruel. The fierce and greedy pursuer of souls.”

Satan is after our faith. He knows if he can make us turn away from it he can ruin our souls. He works tirelessly at this by bringing persecutions against us.

These persecutions can be very tricky at times and just seem part of daily living if we’re not being watchful. The enemy doesn’t want us to notice his tactics. Just slip in unnoticed and do his dirty work.

One of the enemy’s arrows I’ve been dealing with lately are insecurities in my God given dream. My head swirls with the voices of doubt. It could be easy to give in and just back off what God has called me to do.

The thing is… I have already tasted the sweetness of obedience. I’m not going back! My heart is freer now then it’s ever been and I don’t want to give that up.

Satan’s latest tactics include less than subtle attacks on my health. God working through me must be making him pretty nervous I’m guessing.

In 1 Peter 5:9 we are encouraged to “Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are.”

I’m surrounded by people praying me up right now. My family, friends and my new “family” of friends going to the She Speaks conference. We share our struggles and remind each other regularly to be on the alert and stand firm against the enemy’s attacks.

I would truly appreciate your prayers over the next month and beyond as I prepare, attend and go to work following the conference.

God is good and I’m expecting to see Him move!

Open My Eyes

It’s lambing season at my house and it is just flat exhausting! You go nonstop. Sometimes I struggle to put one foot in front of the other honestly.

I was telling a friend the other day that I felt like I was drowning. It was like I was desperately treading water just to try and keep my nose above it.

In the middle of all the physical, mental and even spiritual struggles though was a gift from God. Small miracles I got to witness on a regular basis.

One particular revelation God gave me had me in tears. I’m not really an emotional person by nature and some of it could have been the exhaustion but most of it was just being in awe of how great our God is!

We had moved some ewes and young lambs to the “pair pasture” in the early afternoon. We went back that evening to check on them. One lamb was missing! His mother was desperately running all over calling to him but with no luck.

We spent the next 2 hours looking for a lamb in several hundred acres. Talk about a needle in a haystack! I prayed for my eyes to be opened and the Lord to give me direction. We covered every inch of that pasture. I finally gave up and was very frustrated. I figured an eagle had gotten him as they’re very hard on new lambs.

I went home feeling defeated as this is my flock and I want them all to do well! I went to bed praying that if by some miracle he was still alive that God would help him and his mother find each other.

The next morning I headed out as soon as it was light fully prepared to look again. Within minutes of getting out there though I found his mother and right there with her was her lamb. Wow! It was a miracle.

To say I was overjoyed is an understatement. I even had to hug the dog that was with me. The lost lamb had returned and I was celebrating.

God laid it on my heart right there that the joy I felt over that lamb being found paled in comparison to the joy in heaven when a lost sinner finds their way to God.

This scripture was truly brought to life for me right there on that hillside. I got a tiny glimpse of the joy that is in heaven every time a lost sinner repents.

Jesus told us in Matthew 28:19, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

Lord, open my eyes to those that are lost and need help to find you. I want to rejoice with all of heaven when the lost are found! In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Linking up with Live Free Thursday, Serving Joyfully, #RaRaLinkup, #WordswithWinter, #DanceWithJesus and