Hugs from Jesus

'Twas the day after Christmas, and one poor little blogger

was tired of presents, talking, eggnog or

wrappings and trappings and new things galore

when all she had wanted was to know her Lord more.

Merry Christmas, readers! M. here apologizing for the terrible poetry above, composed by yours truly. I was hoping it would combat the writer's block and help me to collect my thoughts a little better.

I've been thinking a LOT lately. I'm off school, so now I actually have time to think about what I want, when I want! I've been thinking about school next semester, scholarship options, job options, taxes and applications, living on campus, and all of that fun college stuff in my near future! I've also been thinking about Christmas (obviously) but I didn't really know how to explain what I felt.

This week, I was considering what I'd post about for Christmas time. This is the idea that kept forming in my mind: "Presents have been unwrapped, delicious food eaten, relatives welcomed, thank-yous yelled, babies completely spoiled with gifts, laughter and excited chatter heard through the house, new items tried out, gift cards and money spent, and at the end of it all I ponder these things in my heart... that Jesus is, and always will be. And He wants to know me."

Lately I've felt a pull on my heart like never before. I feel like Jesus wants to hug me! To literally embrace me and remind me that I am His, and I can never be taken away from Him. Yes, He loves me; He gives me hope and peace and joy, but at the end of the day, He just gives Himself. Completely, with no strings attached, He is there for me. 

The super busy lifestyle I live makes me forget that. I forget how treasured I am and that there is a higher calling than just meandering through life, when life is actually a marathon. I need to be striving for the ultimate prize, like Paul talks about. I don't think I'm doing that for two reasons: a) I stink at sports, and b) most of the time, I don't mind settling for less than the best. The first one's just a joke (though I am bad at sports) but I truly struggle to remember that I'm not running the race for me, and it's worth every effort that I can give. That Jesus that I was taking about, the one who gives all of Himself to be my Father and my friend, He is the one I should run for. And the best part? He's the prize, too! (I hate this race metaphor sometimes, but I think it works alright.)

Through the presents, food, relatives, and rushing... Jesus is. He waits with arms open, for us to run to Him for an embrace...  yet we open another gift and say "Thank you." We eat more food and chat with more people and go to more parties, and still Jesus waits. Christmas ends, we go back to our lives, yet He's still there. Sometimes I imagine Him saying to the angels, "I can't wait to talk to M. today!" We miss a quiet time, then two, then months have gone by without us noticing. He's still there. He'll always welcome us.

Do you ever feel guilty after not spending time with God? Do you go back to Him hanging your head and apologizing? Or do you avoid Him because you're afraid of the lecture? Or do you grow callous and just run through the motions without emotionally investing? I've done all of these (A LOT). Guess what? He's still waiting! He still is overjoyed to spend time with us. 

Do you ever feel like God just tolerates you? Why?

Take a look at these verses. This time, read them out loud. I know that you're tempted to gloss over the Bible verse section. I do it all the time. READ. EVERY. WORD. OF. THEM. OUT. LOUD. (Colors added for emphasis.)

Zephaniah 3:17 "The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing."

1 Peter 5:6-7 "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,  casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you."

For this next set of verses, I've rewritten them (Go ahead, Bible thumpers; wag your fingers!) based on the 1 John 4:8 claim that God is love. I've also taken it out of stereotypical Bible verse format so that maybe you can see it in a new light.

God is patient.

God is kind.

God does not envy, He does not boast, He is not proud.

He does not dishonor others, He is not self-seeking, He is not easily angered, God keeps no record of wrongs.

God does no delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

God ALWAYS protects, ALWAYS trusts, ALWAYS hopes, ALWAYS perseveres.

God never fails.

The greatest of these is Jesus.

(Verses used: 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, 13.)

Let me ask you again: Why do you feel like God just tolerates you? News flash: He doesn't!!! Stop believing the lie that you've been fed by your church, your friends maybe, and your own conscience. This lie you're hearing says that God thinks you're not worth His time if He's not worth yours. 

You are ALWAYS worth it to God. That's what Christmas is all about!! It's reminding ourselves that Jesus knew that it was worth it to give ALL of Himself to become a baby, to live, to die, and to rise again, because it meant that He could give us a great gift - a hug! And more than that, He could know us, and we could know Him.

Through this season and through next year, I want to follow the path God has for me. I want to trust in His love, because it's the love that truly never fails. I want to remember that God rejoices in me, when I obey Him and when I stumble. I want to be satisfied with Jesus, and with Jesus alone. 

Merry Christmas, everyone. -M. :D

Satisfied: The Day After Christmas

Hey people! It's L. again. With another fairly short but hopefully sweet post. Praying that God will use it!
I have started actually planning to post things strategically now so I scheduled this one to come out at midnight on the day after Christmas. Cool right?
So here is the post. I have been writing it for like two months.

 ----------------------------------------

Are you satisfied today? I am not wondering about how much food you ate last night... or this morning. I guess I am wondering if you are satisfied with your gifts. Do you think they were, cool enough, expensive enough, thoughtful enough, or just large enough in quantity? I have been thinking about Christmas gifts and how we often complain about not getting what we wanted for Christmas but the first Christmas gift should be plenty for every year. I mean seriously:
WE DON'T HAVE TO GO TO HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We get to be with God in the place he is preparing for us, because God came!
I guess He didn't have to do it the way He did. He could have just shot down from heaven as a full grown man and had the soldiers randomly decide to crucify Him, then risen from the dead, explained, and gone back to heaven or figured out some other way to get it over with. But He didn't! He came as a baby, grew up in the middle of the hardship his people suffered, was tempted, )probably pushed harder than most of us) built personal relationships with sinful people, argued about theology with religious leaders: Basically He was a human who had human problems and handled each of them perfectly. Then after living with the effects of sin we live with He took God's judgement for sin so that we would never have to go through it.
 
 What do you think? Do you feel satisfied with the original Christmas gift or do you want 'more'? I don't just mean Christmas gifts this time. Do you think other humans can give you something you need that God can't really give? Sometimes I do. That is why I wrote this song. Because I wanted a human to help me through the hard times but God was right there knowing that He is the comforter, protector, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, and Everlasting Father I need.
One more thought: A few months ago I was at Choir, and we read Hosea 2 (Not appropriate for all readers but it is in the Bible so it has a really good message) We talked about how we try to find what we need apart from God, we often think that others should give us what we need but really it all comes from God. He wants us to be near Him because He loves us like crazy! As you know if you have been reading my recent posts I am realizing how preposterously beautiful that is.
One way He showed us that crazy love was by coming as a Baby, another thing I don't understand (and a great tie in to Christmas) but hey, God can do anything so why couldn't He be a practically helpless baby in a stable and running the universe at the same time?
So not to be pushy but we should all be grateful this Christmas no matter what happens! Because Gods grace is a bigger deal than your problems... or lack of things to be happy about. Oh and if you want something to do, check out the Christmas Story in Luke 1 It is pretty awesome and this is a link so you can read it right now without even getting off the computer or using a search engine! If you want to know more about the gospel check out this post called: I am nothing.
God loves you!!!!!! Don't ever forget that please!!!
Praying for you!
L.

Christmas Eve

Hey Readers!

Our Family Book Tree

M. asked me to write something for Christmas eve. I guess I will tell you a little about mine. We finished wrapping presents, cleaned the house, went to Church for a pretty simple service which included a reading of the Christmas story from what I think was probably the Children's Story Book Bible, something my church is really into. It was pretty cool to hear the Christmas story told accurately in words meant for a child to understand. We sang some familiar Christmas Carols and my pastor shared about a few words that describe both his father and Christmas. The one that stands out to me is humility. It must have taken a lot for the transcendent Creator and Lord of the universe to be completely dependent on sinful human beings, grow up in submission to them and then die at the hands of his created beings for the sake of saving them from certain death.

Praying for a blessed and more importantly Christ centered Christmas!
L.

And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the 

wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

(Luke 1:80 ESV)

Inner Dialogue and (Sort of) Christmas-ish Thoughts

Here's the inner dialogue that's been going on in my head the past month or so:

"M, you need to post something. It's the holiday season and you have so many topics to choose from."

"M, you should post something. You've got free time today and it's been a while."

"M, you have to post something today or your readers will think you've died."

And then there's the other side of my brain:

"No.
(That side of me makes such a good argument.)

Anyway, I'm back (sort of) to talk a little about Christmas. Because, you know, it's like (looks at calendar) A WEEK AWAY?!?! Oops. I probably should start my Christmas shopping, don't ya think? (sheepish grin)

* * * * * * * * * * * *

In church on Sunday, we talked about Christmas, not just the first Christmas, but the second one! You see, for every time the first Christmas is mentioned in the New Testament, the second Christmas (literally, Christ-coming) is mentioned eight. That's a pretty significant ratio. I love thinking about what Christ's coming will be like, and there's a pretty detailed description in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18:

"For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encouragie one another with these words."

Unfortunately, I want to know EXACTLY what's gonna happen. Will we all disappear randomly? Will we have to wait to see Jesus? Are the people we know who've died already in heaven, or are they waiting somewhere? WHY DON'T WE GET MORE INFORMATION??? (Ahem. Sorry 'bout that.)

Unfortunately, this complaint I have is actually a pretty consistent problem of mine. I always want to know exactly what's gonna happen in life. What am I getting for Christmas? Where am I going to school next year? What career am I going to have? You know, simple stuff like that.  It shouldn't be that hard for God to just let me in on all of His plans for my life, right? When it actually comes down to it, this problem is me not only wanting to know what God's plans are, but wanting to be in control of these plans that God has. I don't want someone else to run my life!

As I've said before, this is a problem of mine... so I need to change, obviously. God knows what's best for me, whether I like it or not, and in the end, it kind of comes down to trusting that God is not a mean Father but a loving one. It's the same thing as a parent keeping their child away from the hot stove, even though the kid might scream and beg to touch it. The parent knows what's best for their son or daughter, so they will keep them from harmful things like that, and the child will develop a respect for their parents by their trustworthiness.

So what does all of this have to do with Christmas? Absolutely nothing. (Just kidding!) :D

I think what it has to do with Christmas is that Jesus came to earth so that we would know the Father. He came so that we would know the Father's love. And He demonstrated ultimate trust in God's will by being willing to do so much through His life, so that we could know that it pays to trust in the Father too. Jesus was a living picture of trust through His whole story:

He trusted God to give Him the right earthly parents. He trusted God to make Him into a baby and be dependent on people for His care. He trusted God through His childhood, not being able to show His deity to the world yet. He trusted God's timing even when His mother said He should act (John 2:4). He trusted God as He performed miracles, healed many sick, and gained a following during His three years of ministry. He trusted God when He knew He was going to die. He trusted in darkness and in fear. He didn't waver as He was beaten and mocked and crucified.

Which do you think was harder for Jesus: Leaving heaven for Christmas or fulfilling what He actually came to do?

That's what my problem has to do with Christmas. It didn't matter which was harder for Jesus because He trusted God enough and was willing to do BOTH of them! That's the Savior we celebrate, one who is trustworthy AND willing to trust. He's worthy of my worship and my trust in every situation, from an awkward Christmas party to a serious sickness in the family.

So, do you trust Him?

That's what I've been thinking about this season, I guess. Take it or leave it. :) I pray you all have a Merry Christmas, and I'll hopefully be back to post something before the New Year!!
-M

"There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord."(Proverbs 21:30, NIV)

Gods Remarkable Love! - A few things I learned from a mind blowing book.

Hello Readers!
So I (L.) started reading Crazy Love by Frances Chan.
And it told me to watch this video

which was super humbling.
And then this video:

which was like an awkwardly long hug that I almost wanted to stop early but it made my day.
Let me know if you want to read little updates like this as I continue to read the book. If you are interested in reading the book too you can check it out here.
Thanks for reading this super short post! (Actually I guess with all the videos it's pretty long.)
L.