Calvary's Love

I was recently asked to write a short essay on my favorite quotation and how it had impacted my life.

"There is a lot of quotes that have challenged me over the years, but I think the one that has impacted me the most is from Amy Carmichael.

' “If the praise of other elates me, if the blame of others depresses me, if I love to be loved more than to give love, if love to be served more than to serve, If I can not rest when I am misunderstood without defending myself- than I no nothing of Calvary’s Love”'.

The last line is what grips me – ‘than I know nothing of Calvary’s Love’. I love people and in certain areas struggle with people pleasing. When I’m striving to gain approval from people, I’m striving to fill a need only the Lord can fill. I want to be so secure in the Lord’s love for me that I don’t need man’s approval in order to be validated. When I grasp different aspects of what Calvary’s Love means in my life, I weather life’s storms a lot better! I’ve realized I will never find a love that completes me in human relationship, be it platonic or romantic. The Lord’s love for me is the only one that meets the deep need I/we have to be loved.

Not desperately searching for relationships or things to fill that need, has freed up so much time and energy! I’ve tried to take the time and energy and use it to minister to people by showing them what Calvary’s Love means to me. To me Calvary’s Love is security, it’s peace, it’s forgiveness, it’s a challenge, it’s service, it’s way more than I can ever understand. Every time I get to a place where I think I know what it means, the Lord calls me deeper or shows me another side and meaning of that love. It’s exciting and all encompassing and I want more of it! In order for me to be an effective leader or witness for Christ, I must first grasp what His love means."

So how about you? What are your favorite quotes and how have they challenged you?

Perfection

Perfection. Does it haunt you? Is it something you strive for but can never obtain? Is it the inner drive which propels you to be the best you can be and do the best you can do? Or does it rule you and stifle you because you can never measure up?

Does it push you to excellence?

Perfectionism can be your greatest strength or your greatness weakness. The more I learn about myself and observe other people the more I realize you need a balance in every character trait. Good things taken to the extreme can in the end be a detriment. (I'm not saying be complacent and luke warm - be passionate - but don't let the means over rule your end goal. In this case, the end goal is to be like Christ.) I don't know what to call this inner need or drive we have toward perfectionism. It seems some people have very little of it, while others are consumed by it.

Recently a friend shared he struggled so much with wanting to be able to do everything to perfection that in the end he does nothing at all because he can never measure up. I struggle with that too. I can't do it so why try? Why try? Because we can learn and by learning can give God the glory! When we fall flat on our faces - we no longer obstruct people's view of the Lord's glory! We are out of the way and where He can use us. He doesn't want our perfectionism - He wants our hearts.

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." 1. Cor 10:31
"And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men" Col. 3:23
He wants us to do everything to our best- for His glory and to honor Him. But sometimes I think our standards are higher than His! He simply asks for our hearts and our all, not our perfection! While praying about this the Lord led me to this scripture and it really rocked my world for a few days :
"To all perfection I see a limit; but your commands are boundless." Psalm 119:96
He tells us our perfection has boundaries and hinders us in life! But His commands are boundless and they ARE life.
"It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy." Rom. 9:16 He also says;
"But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." Matt. 9:13 Non of us can measure up. Ever. If we could we would negate the very reason and purpose for Christ coming!

Does perfectionism rule you or do you use those tendencies to push yourself to work heartily as unto the Lord? When used correctly perfectionism can be channeled to produce excellence in character and work that reflects the Lord glory.

Perfectionism- To rule you or to reflect Him? That is the question.

Blooming?

I wrote this blog with my teenage girls in mind. This is for you - all of my beautiful, blooming, girls - budding with life!

I have a fetish desire to touch and smell unfamiliar flowers! I was the child who always came in with a yellow tipped nose from flower pollen (and shhhh…. I still do!). I recently came back from a road trip where I was in 10 different states near the west coast. I saw, took pictures of (and stuck my nose in!) hundreds of different flowers in the desert and mountain plains. As I observed the unique flowers in the various climates, I noticed they had one thing in common – they all blossomed in the harshest of conditions. There were no sculpted, fertilized or raised flowerbeds out there. These flowers bloomed and grew from the parched, hard and cracked desert ground or from the fierce windblown mountainside cliffs.

As I observed this the Lord starting showing me that our lives are like these flowers. Regardless of what got us to the rough places we walk through in this life (be it personal or stupid choices, a calling, or something that happened to us beyond our control) we all go through the rough places.

What do you do in the rough place? Do you lie dormant hoping for the gentle rain to come along and change your circumstances of hard ground? Do you give up and give in to sin, bitterness, frustration, anger, pity, and perfectionism? And by doing so die in the cracked, unforgiving ground? Or do you blossom and bloom anyway? Despite the circumstance of your life do you allow the Lord to use those hard winds to prune you till your blooming with all the brilliance He designed and created you to? Maybe you’ve bloomed and tried to allow the Lord to mold and use you in these times but you’re getting dusty, the wind has tarnished and dulled your blossoms to a dull shadow of what you used to be. You blend in with the hard backdrop rather than brilliantly shining with your glorious hue of colors.

Where are you at today? Where do you need to be and what do you need to do to get there?

The Lord does not call into account our circumstances – He judges on how we react to them. Time is precious, we can’t waste it dying or being dormant, waiting for things to change. The Lord has only given us today to bloom for Him. Are you reflecting His glory in your life?

Vegas Girls Night

What happens when 3 goody two shoes girls go to Vegas for a night? – We have good, clean, no regrets-in-the-morning, fun of course! Although Jennee and I did get picked up! ;) – see story below! I’ve flown in and out of Vegas a lot but have never stayed or done anything. I had a blast driving through Vegas in all the traffic – though it was slightly nerve racking on the strip and I turned a the wrong way once! Christine is once again a great na

vigator. Jennee Klos (an old friend) was able to meet us and we stayed in the Paris Las Vegas. It was an awesome hotel. Everything was in replica of Paris- complete with the Eiffel Tower.

We had a great time getting all dressed up and ate a fancy meal on a balcony over looking the Bellagio Fountains. Working with teenagers I don’t get many chances to really get all dolled up – what a blast!!

We walked around and saw a lot of the cool arictecture, culture, fountains and flowers! Our hotel even had the ceilings painted like the sky and stone cobbled floors! We visited Caesar’s Palace too. The funniest thing that happened though was Jennee and I literally got picked up by several guys! Christine was back in the hotel room (she says she can’t ever leave us alone!) and Jennee and I were out walking around. The sky walks were p

acked so we decided to try to cross the strip - 8 lanes of traffic later and we realized the side walk on the other side was fenced off! We are all dressed up in little black dresses and heels mind you- the taxis are beeping at us and we can’t really climb this fence/wall. Quite a funny picture in retrospect. Well we’re walking along and these two guys see us & say hey! You shouldn’t be down there and without further ado reach down pick us up over the fence. Dresses and all! We were both startled but glad to be off the road.

They were nice guys but disappointed we weren’t going there way! realized I wasn’t in Kansas anymore!