A few moments ago I stopped to gaze out the window before me. As my eyes settled on the waters of the inland lake off in the distance, I followed the ripples of the water as they danced along down the lake. A strong current was carrying them along.
If we so choose, we can fight the current of life with all of our might. We can exhaust ourselves struggling upstream or allow God’s stream to peacefully carry us along. If we really do believe, deep down, that His interests are for our ultimate best, why not let go and allow Him to carry us along?
Of course, this sounds easier than it actually is. Immersed in an ever-changing world, we all long to have answers and to maintain the feeling of some level of control. We want stability – something constant to count on, day after day.
Well, with each day I live I learn more and more that there are pretty much two constants surrounding us – God and change. God is the Author of all and the very orchestrator of life. He may not always like the results human free will has created, but He does have the power to reign supreme.
Even as I write, I’m watching the waters continue along the current. As long as this lake exists, water laps its shores and the wind blows, this current will remain. It may change directions or course, but the flow will continue. The same is true considering the currents of life.
If you are walking each day with Jesus, you don’t have to settle for the chaotic waters of this world. You’re headed for a different destination, carried by a stronger tide.
The water’s current is a simple picture to behold, but I pray you will take this message to heart. You may not know where you’re headed, but God does. You might not even know how you landed in the spot you find yourself in today, but God does. He knows everything about you and is fully present in the waters surrounding you. Will you let go and stop fighting to swim upstream? Allow God the freedom to release you from the anxieties, questions, and burdens you’re holding right now. May He peacefully carry you along on His current today...
Swept Along,
Katie Marie
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
WHAT TO WEAR?
How long did it take you to decide what you were going to wear today? Did you shove your way through drawers or rifle through the closet to find the clothes that best fit your mood? Perhaps you haphazardly threw on whatever was clean as you rushed out the door to your daily appointments. Are you a “set it all out the night before” type of person or do you just fly by the seat of your pants in the morning?
Some people take lots of time picking clothing out of their wardrobe each day while others barely give a moment’s thought at all. There are those most comfortable in 3 piece suits and shiny wingtips among others who rarely stray from jeans, a t-shirt and flip-flops. This variety is the spice of life.
But what about our wardrobe, spiritually speaking? Jesus told us to not worry about what clothes we’ll wear because there are far more important things to contemplate. So what does He think we should wear?
“So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline...and regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It's your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.” Colossians 3:12, 14 (MSG)
As I read that last phrase, I realized no matter what our daily routine for picking out physical clothing, we need to ponder our wardrobe of love and be sure to never take it off. What if while we’re placing our next morning’s clothes on the chair, we’re also picking out possible ways to love on another person? What would happen if we all spent more time thinking about the love we are called to wear than the very shirts on our backs?
This is a truly challenging and thought-provoking concept to me, so I thought I would also share it with you. I believe if we spend ample time picking out our love-clothes, they’ll be more accessible when we need them. After all, Colossians tells us God has already picked out a fine wardrobe for us. We just have to be sure to put it on and never be without it.
Wherever this day finds you and whatever clothes you’ve covered yourself with, remember that love is the most important. As The Message beautifully says, “It’s our basic, all-purpose garment.” Love may not be the easiest to remember and certainly not always the most comfortable garment to wear, but the more we remember to put it on, the more a part of our very being it will become...
Clothed in Love,
Katie Marie
Some people take lots of time picking clothing out of their wardrobe each day while others barely give a moment’s thought at all. There are those most comfortable in 3 piece suits and shiny wingtips among others who rarely stray from jeans, a t-shirt and flip-flops. This variety is the spice of life.
But what about our wardrobe, spiritually speaking? Jesus told us to not worry about what clothes we’ll wear because there are far more important things to contemplate. So what does He think we should wear?
“So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline...and regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It's your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.” Colossians 3:12, 14 (MSG)
As I read that last phrase, I realized no matter what our daily routine for picking out physical clothing, we need to ponder our wardrobe of love and be sure to never take it off. What if while we’re placing our next morning’s clothes on the chair, we’re also picking out possible ways to love on another person? What would happen if we all spent more time thinking about the love we are called to wear than the very shirts on our backs?
This is a truly challenging and thought-provoking concept to me, so I thought I would also share it with you. I believe if we spend ample time picking out our love-clothes, they’ll be more accessible when we need them. After all, Colossians tells us God has already picked out a fine wardrobe for us. We just have to be sure to put it on and never be without it.
Wherever this day finds you and whatever clothes you’ve covered yourself with, remember that love is the most important. As The Message beautifully says, “It’s our basic, all-purpose garment.” Love may not be the easiest to remember and certainly not always the most comfortable garment to wear, but the more we remember to put it on, the more a part of our very being it will become...
Clothed in Love,
Katie Marie
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
HE LIKES ME?
Love is complicated. There are people in our lives who are automatically commissioned to love us...parents, siblings, spouses. This group, though they must daily choose to exercise and walk in that love, is bound to us by either blood or covenant.
While these bonds of love are extremely powerful, at times you may feel you are only loved out of obligation. The same can even be true when pondering the love God gives. When you enter into a right relationship with God through Jesus, you are automatically swept under the protective, peaceful wings of God, covered by His everlasting love. Today you may be thinking, “Yeah, God loves me because He has to; He’s committed. I slipped under His blanket of grace, but would He love me if He hadn’t promised to?”
This morning I had a thought pop into my head. Not only does God love me; He LIKES me. God likes me!!! I took some moments just soaking in those three words and they were good medicine. It made me think of the verse in John 15:15, 16 (which I happened to flip right to) where Jesus said, “...I have called you friends...You did not choose me, but I chose you...”
God loves you with a love that moves mountains, conquers the most hopeless battles, pieces together shards of brokenness, breaks the strongest oppression, and heals the most hurting hearts. Not only does He pour out this love upon you without limit, He has chosen you and He likes you beyond measure...every millisecond of each day.
He doesn’t like you for what you do for a living, how fit you are, how accepted you are by others, not for your success level or for your educational achievements. He’s not impressed by your human feats...He’s touched by your faith and the fact that you desire to draw closer to Him.
Almighty God likes you for you; just the way you are...just the way He made you. He knit you together, knows the number of hairs on your head, and couldn’t be more proud to call you His child.
Deep inside, you may feel like no one in your world loves or even likes you. I’m here to remind you that God likes YOU. He likes you today, He liked you yesterday, and He will like you past eternity...will you take in this good medicine today?
Grace and Love,
Katie Marie
While these bonds of love are extremely powerful, at times you may feel you are only loved out of obligation. The same can even be true when pondering the love God gives. When you enter into a right relationship with God through Jesus, you are automatically swept under the protective, peaceful wings of God, covered by His everlasting love. Today you may be thinking, “Yeah, God loves me because He has to; He’s committed. I slipped under His blanket of grace, but would He love me if He hadn’t promised to?”
This morning I had a thought pop into my head. Not only does God love me; He LIKES me. God likes me!!! I took some moments just soaking in those three words and they were good medicine. It made me think of the verse in John 15:15, 16 (which I happened to flip right to) where Jesus said, “...I have called you friends...You did not choose me, but I chose you...”
God loves you with a love that moves mountains, conquers the most hopeless battles, pieces together shards of brokenness, breaks the strongest oppression, and heals the most hurting hearts. Not only does He pour out this love upon you without limit, He has chosen you and He likes you beyond measure...every millisecond of each day.
He doesn’t like you for what you do for a living, how fit you are, how accepted you are by others, not for your success level or for your educational achievements. He’s not impressed by your human feats...He’s touched by your faith and the fact that you desire to draw closer to Him.
Almighty God likes you for you; just the way you are...just the way He made you. He knit you together, knows the number of hairs on your head, and couldn’t be more proud to call you His child.
Deep inside, you may feel like no one in your world loves or even likes you. I’m here to remind you that God likes YOU. He likes you today, He liked you yesterday, and He will like you past eternity...will you take in this good medicine today?
Grace and Love,
Katie Marie
Saturday, March 19, 2011
STRANGE WAYS
Hey everyone,
As I awakened this morning and just laid there spending some quiet moments with God, I was reminded of a story found in Mark 8:22-26. Jesus is met by a group of people who brought a blind man with them seeking his healing. This story has always fascinated me because of the way Jesus went about healing this man. But as I headed to my Bible to find the story, I was overtaken by a whole new detail in this story. Let’s take a look:
“He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village.” Mark 8:23 (NIV)
I’m sure I have read these words before, but this morning I couldn’t believe my eyes. The compassion and love threaded through Jesus’ beautiful, yet simple act of taking this blind man by the hand and leading him outside the village is astounding. He could have allowed one of the others accompanying them to lead him, but Christ chose to put his hand in the blind man’s hand to bring him to the place of his healing. I can only imagine the sensation of having complete darkness around me, yet feeling the warmth and comfort of Jesus’ hand in mine...pulling me forward to an unknown destination. This is our daily walk with Christ...blind, unknown, yet ordained and led.
Now let’s talk about the healing that followed. Let’s imagine ourselves in the sandals of this blind man. He has just been led to a foreign place, positioned before Jesus. What must this man have felt? What thoughts swept across his mind as he awaited his healing? He was standing in front of someone his eyes had never seen, waiting for something to happen that he had never experienced before. Was he fearful? Did he have questions? If he did, they never escaped his mouth. He apparently stood quietly and allow Jesus to do whatever He wished, knowing in the end, he would receive what was promised him.
Suddenly, without warning, Jesus spits right on the man’s eyes. “When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?” Mark 8:23 (NIV) What a surprise and shock that must have been! It seems he would have said something in response to what had just occurred. However, the man’s only reply is an answer to what he saw. He simply stood, allowed Jesus to work, and responded to the question before him. What faith! What trust!
I bring this story to you today to remind you as I remind myself. God is an untamed, “Out of the box” God. We can read countless stories throughout the Bible where God does the most unexpected things to accomplish His work. In this story found in Mark 8, Jesus chose to spit upon a man’s eyes and touch them to restore his sight. At other times, He simply spoke and sight was restored. He even spit on the ground, made mud, and covered a man’s eyes to heal him.
Almighty God wants to do miraculous things in and through us for His glory. Will we allow Him, no matter how He goes about it, to accomplish His work? What about the times when we’re lead outside our comfort zone, surrounded by darkness and unknowns? What are we thinking when we feel blinded and unsure of God’s future workings? What if Jesus chose to spit upon our eyes and cover them with His hands? Do we trust Him enough to quiet the fears and questions and let Him work?
If we simply stand, knowing He’s right before with us, working even when we can’t see what He’s doing, He will complete whatever it is He desires. And we know through God’s promises that His plans for us indeed laid out, they are good, and they will bring us hope and a future. No matter God’s strange ways, may we each stand in faith before Him as He works...
As I awakened this morning and just laid there spending some quiet moments with God, I was reminded of a story found in Mark 8:22-26. Jesus is met by a group of people who brought a blind man with them seeking his healing. This story has always fascinated me because of the way Jesus went about healing this man. But as I headed to my Bible to find the story, I was overtaken by a whole new detail in this story. Let’s take a look:
“He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village.” Mark 8:23 (NIV)
I’m sure I have read these words before, but this morning I couldn’t believe my eyes. The compassion and love threaded through Jesus’ beautiful, yet simple act of taking this blind man by the hand and leading him outside the village is astounding. He could have allowed one of the others accompanying them to lead him, but Christ chose to put his hand in the blind man’s hand to bring him to the place of his healing. I can only imagine the sensation of having complete darkness around me, yet feeling the warmth and comfort of Jesus’ hand in mine...pulling me forward to an unknown destination. This is our daily walk with Christ...blind, unknown, yet ordained and led.
Now let’s talk about the healing that followed. Let’s imagine ourselves in the sandals of this blind man. He has just been led to a foreign place, positioned before Jesus. What must this man have felt? What thoughts swept across his mind as he awaited his healing? He was standing in front of someone his eyes had never seen, waiting for something to happen that he had never experienced before. Was he fearful? Did he have questions? If he did, they never escaped his mouth. He apparently stood quietly and allow Jesus to do whatever He wished, knowing in the end, he would receive what was promised him.
Suddenly, without warning, Jesus spits right on the man’s eyes. “When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?” Mark 8:23 (NIV) What a surprise and shock that must have been! It seems he would have said something in response to what had just occurred. However, the man’s only reply is an answer to what he saw. He simply stood, allowed Jesus to work, and responded to the question before him. What faith! What trust!
I bring this story to you today to remind you as I remind myself. God is an untamed, “Out of the box” God. We can read countless stories throughout the Bible where God does the most unexpected things to accomplish His work. In this story found in Mark 8, Jesus chose to spit upon a man’s eyes and touch them to restore his sight. At other times, He simply spoke and sight was restored. He even spit on the ground, made mud, and covered a man’s eyes to heal him.
Almighty God wants to do miraculous things in and through us for His glory. Will we allow Him, no matter how He goes about it, to accomplish His work? What about the times when we’re lead outside our comfort zone, surrounded by darkness and unknowns? What are we thinking when we feel blinded and unsure of God’s future workings? What if Jesus chose to spit upon our eyes and cover them with His hands? Do we trust Him enough to quiet the fears and questions and let Him work?
If we simply stand, knowing He’s right before with us, working even when we can’t see what He’s doing, He will complete whatever it is He desires. And we know through God’s promises that His plans for us indeed laid out, they are good, and they will bring us hope and a future. No matter God’s strange ways, may we each stand in faith before Him as He works...
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
OFF THE HOOK
Hi, my blog friends,
I just wanted to share a few thoughts with you about a subject that has been heavy on my heart these last few days. In Romans 8:1, the Bible boldly proclaims that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And yet, it seems we are constantly fighting the spirit of condemnation wherever we turn.
I love how the Message version states the truth in Romans: "With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ's being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.”
Did you receive that? What a beautiful word to grab hold of DAILY. Our fateful dilemma is solved if we will just enter into the fact that Jesus is here for us, desiring nothing more than to release us from all condemnation. The key is, we must accept this gift and choose to continually renew ourselves in this truth.
Any time we have lies sweeping across our minds or infiltrating our ears, we must choose to cast them out in Jesus' powerful name. If Jesus never condemns us but acts as our constant defender, how is it so hard to receive this hard work He is doing for us every moment of our days?
Imagine all forms of condemnation as gigantic fish hooks. The enemy of our souls is constantly dangling these sparkling, unassuming barbed traps before us just hoping we will sink our teeth in. And it doesn't have to be a huge bite to be caught by these traps. It only takes a tiny nibble of the lies we're bombarded with for us to become immediately ensnared. The moment we entertain a single negative thought or receive the hurtful words of others, the devil has us.
Suddenly feeling the terrible tension and discomfort of this hook, we begin to pull away with all of our might. But, instead of using the truth of Christ to untangle us, at times we choose to try to release ourselves by our own means. The next thing we know, we've run into another hook and then another.
Without warning, we are trapped, riddled with hooks and tangled in lines of lies. We become nothing more than powerless fish squirming at the end of satan's lures. This is certainly no place for those who are given authority in Christ to boldly walk in freedom.
Let's allow ourselves the liberty today of letting ourselves off the proverbial hook. Let's allow Jesus the space and freedom to reveal our hooks of condemnation, whatever they may be, and simply rest where He has us today. May we proclaim out of our mouths God's words of truth to combat and defeat the constant lies being dangled in our faces.
Whether we feel it or not, we are each strong and mighty in Christ. He is fully able and longing to help us through this day. It is simply our job to allow ourselves to be content with where God has us today and know that He is more than delighted in us and He is desperately longing to direct the way for this moment. Join me as we let ourselves off the hook today - freedom is so sweet...
In His Love,
Katie Marie
I just wanted to share a few thoughts with you about a subject that has been heavy on my heart these last few days. In Romans 8:1, the Bible boldly proclaims that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And yet, it seems we are constantly fighting the spirit of condemnation wherever we turn.
I love how the Message version states the truth in Romans: "With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ's being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.”
Did you receive that? What a beautiful word to grab hold of DAILY. Our fateful dilemma is solved if we will just enter into the fact that Jesus is here for us, desiring nothing more than to release us from all condemnation. The key is, we must accept this gift and choose to continually renew ourselves in this truth.
Any time we have lies sweeping across our minds or infiltrating our ears, we must choose to cast them out in Jesus' powerful name. If Jesus never condemns us but acts as our constant defender, how is it so hard to receive this hard work He is doing for us every moment of our days?
Imagine all forms of condemnation as gigantic fish hooks. The enemy of our souls is constantly dangling these sparkling, unassuming barbed traps before us just hoping we will sink our teeth in. And it doesn't have to be a huge bite to be caught by these traps. It only takes a tiny nibble of the lies we're bombarded with for us to become immediately ensnared. The moment we entertain a single negative thought or receive the hurtful words of others, the devil has us.
Suddenly feeling the terrible tension and discomfort of this hook, we begin to pull away with all of our might. But, instead of using the truth of Christ to untangle us, at times we choose to try to release ourselves by our own means. The next thing we know, we've run into another hook and then another.
Without warning, we are trapped, riddled with hooks and tangled in lines of lies. We become nothing more than powerless fish squirming at the end of satan's lures. This is certainly no place for those who are given authority in Christ to boldly walk in freedom.
Let's allow ourselves the liberty today of letting ourselves off the proverbial hook. Let's allow Jesus the space and freedom to reveal our hooks of condemnation, whatever they may be, and simply rest where He has us today. May we proclaim out of our mouths God's words of truth to combat and defeat the constant lies being dangled in our faces.
Whether we feel it or not, we are each strong and mighty in Christ. He is fully able and longing to help us through this day. It is simply our job to allow ourselves to be content with where God has us today and know that He is more than delighted in us and He is desperately longing to direct the way for this moment. Join me as we let ourselves off the hook today - freedom is so sweet...
In His Love,
Katie Marie
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