I am in a reflective sort of mood. I think running at full speed with the beginning of the school year and settling into (if one ever settles into the craziness life in this day and age brings) the full swing of Fall schedules with two teens, one preteen, a husband, teaching preschool, home repair projects in our bathroom and kitchen amongst so many other things, makes me want to slow down and truly live...not run. I need time to ponder... and to create... and to love... and to be thankful... and to dig deep... to make sure I am spending more time with people and in relationships rather than doing all the things this world calls me to do. Yes, many of the things on my "to do" list still need to get done... but I don't want to miss what is truly important because I am focused on the "doing".
So, if you and I were to sit and have a cup of coffee, here are some things I would want to tell you...
1- You are created by a Master Artist that loves you so passionately and unconditionally that He sent HIs only Son to show us that love by dying on the cross and bearing all of the ugliness of our sins and paying a price we should have been required to pay.
2- You are unique and priceless... there is no one quite like you. Even identical twins have different fingerprints... that is how special and unique we all are. Amazing if you stop and think about it! Don't work so hard at trying to be like someone else... just be the wonderful you that you were made to be.
3- We are all sinners. Yep... no exceptions here.
4- Sometimes God says no and we don't understand why. We live in a sin-sick broken world that will never be set right this side of Heaven. That being said, there is nothing so broken that He cannot fix... or maybe a better way to say it is that there is nothing and no one so broken that He cannot reach, restore, heal, and make into something beautiful. He brings beauty out of ashes. Sometimes the process is painful and hard... excrutiating even... and yet there is such beauty!
5- His math is not our math. When we set our hearts and minds on Jesus and His purposes, He always provides. Not always in the way we think He will or timing we want... but He is oh so faithful.
6- When you reach the end of yourself... where you cannot do it alone... where it is too much and you cannot walk another step... there Jesus will be... and He will be enough
7- A grateful heart is a happy heart! It turns what you have into more than enough. When you give thanks to the Lord, it changes you...
8- God isn't done with any of us yet... for that reason alone I am so very very thankful!
9- Sometimes we have to learn the same lessons over and over... oh, this stubborn heart knows this all too well. Thankfully the Lord is patient with His children.
10- The Bible is the Living Word... don't believe me? Try it out... just spend some time praying and reading it each day... I promise it is truly life-changing, living, God-inspired... see if you are not changed by it.
So, grab a cup of coffee and think on these things I want to share with you... if we were sitting across from one another. You are loved beyond measure. I wonder what you would want to tell me if you and I were sitting together...
Praying you have many blessings and much joy!
Kristen
