i prayed before writing this blog that my words would convey what my heart is feeling.
when i come back from trips to haiti i am usually sad. everyone reacts in different ways & mine is sadness. i always miss it. i miss my friends there, i miss my CAD kids, i miss church there & i miss the simple way of life. i always know i am going back, but i am still sad.
don't get me wrong, i am so appreciative of my life & how blessed i am, how blessed we all are really.
life gets in the way too many times. it keeps us from the things of God. it keeps us from pursuing our hearts calling. it keeps us from loving the least of these. how many times do we say, "thats not for me" "i am too busy" "i need to clean the house" "i need to- fill in the blank" "i don't have the money right now" "i don't have time for that"
this is our problem. too many "i's"
when did we start putting ourselves & what we want before what God wants for us.
psalm 18:30
God's way is perfect. All the LORD's promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection
we think we have everything figured out. we think we know what is best for us. we think we can always do it on our own, BUT we don't have too. why do we do this? why don't we trust? why don't we truly believe that his plan for us is better than our own?
one thing i love about going to haiti, is that it is a reminder that, jesus alone is enough.
that phrase alone brings me to tears. HE IS ENOUGH.
when your sadness is unbearable- HE IS ENOUGH.
when you have bills & you don't know how you will pay them- HE IS ENOUGH.
when you worry- HE IS ENOUGH.
when you feel like you cannot take anymore- HE IS ENOUGH.
here in america we like to what i call, advertise jesus. we have the fog machines, we have the bright lights, we have the perfect singers & perfect musicians dressed to impress. we have the, "come to church & win an iPad" all for what? to bring more people to church? WHAT? you guys jesus needs none of this. none of it. HE ALONE IS ENOUGH. he doesn't need your perfect building, he doesn't need your fog machines. we give ourselves excuses & say this is what everyone is doing, this is what people want. well you know what they are at church for the wrong reasons. i would rather have 5 people in my church that are TRULY after the lords heart than 3000 that come to church on sunday for the fog, the stage design, or to meet their future date & gossip during the week & leave jesus on the pew. Jesus in his goodness & his sacrifice for us is ENOUGH. if that alone cannot compel someone to search their hearts then what will your fog machine do? he DIED for you but you need a good stage design to see that? we have to sing a secular song on sunday morning so people aren't offended & scared to come back? what has this world come too?
when did we become so spineless. when did we start falling for everything. when did we forget to wake up & say God, what do YOU want for my life? what do YOU want me to do today?
JESUS ALONE IS ENOUGH.
when i am at church in haiti i feel so much of the lords presence. it is so refreshing that i don't want to leave. can you imagine waking up in a little hut, with dirt floors- not knowing where your next meal is going to come from, how your children will get to school, & you come to church in the best clothes you own & your worship the lord like he is right in front of you. you sing louder than the walls can contain & people can probably hear you for miles. THIS is right. they have it figured out. they have learned to wake up & trust the lord every single day. they know that JESUS ALONE IS ENOUGH.
philippians 3:7-21
3 Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. 2 Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. 3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence.
If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more:5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.
7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prizefor which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
15 All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
17 Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. 18 For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame.Their mind is set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
lord, help me. help me to trust you every single day. help me not to worry. help me to love you fearlessly. help me to not be jaded. help me to wake up with you on my heart, live my day with you being present & go to sleep with you on my mind. help me to truly believe that YOU ARE ENOUGH. nothing else in this world truly matters but you. what YOU want for my life. help me to never be luke warm. help me to put you before anything else. YOU ARE ENOUGH.
--e
you go to bed dreaming up ways to get out of your 9-5, you say i love photography, i love painting, i love building things, i love writing music, i love decorating, i love baking cakes, i love sewing, i love ________.what keeps you from pursuing those things?answer: yourself.we live in a world that is bustling with creatives. people who say you know what, i am tired of thinking i can do this & they take a step of faith in the lord & themselves & they pursue the desires of their hearts.don't let fear control your life, because before you know it you will be retiring from a job that you worked 30+ years, unhappy & wishing you made different decisions.if God puts a desire in your heart, go after it. if you fall pick yourself up & keep going.keep the lord at the center of everything you do & say.pray about those desires.surround yourself with people that encourage your gifts, that help pick you up off the ground when you fall & they say how can i help you achieve your goals.failure is not the end game you guys, its just a circumstance. a small little bump to the bigger picture.
i love seeing people all over the world chasing their dreams. i read a story about a kid that started a candy store when he was 11! you are never too young or too old to chase your dreams.i think at a young age the lord starts giving us creative ideas & our society pushes them out. our society says, no, you have to have the 9-5, you need a good retirement, you need your white fence, you need the new cars, you need to go to college as soon as you graduate high-school because everyone else does. before you know it you have no idea what you really want to do, because what everyone else wants for your life is somehow more important than what you want for yourself. all your money is spent paying for bills for things you never truly wanted & there is a world out there you might never see. people that you could be helping. relationships you could be building.
give your heart some credit.what you want for your life matters.what GOD wants for your life matters more.make sure the people you are spending your time with are TRUE friends.people who encourage you, who pray for you, who are there in the bad & good.i realize more every single day how important it is to surround yourself with positive people, people who will be honest with you, people who when they say i am going to pray for you they do, people who are a shoulder to lean on. FIND those people.how you spend your time matters. find the passion inside & dive after it.
just wanted to encourage some fellow dreamers out there. it is time we start going after those dreams.also as you know i write my blogs to music, todays choice : john muir, Buffalo Souls by: Dan Snyderbuy it herecheers to the dreamers,--e
