Many

I can't tell you the number of times I've read these verses in James, but I can tell you there are two colors of highlighter on them in my Bible and those first few pages of his letter are pretty dog-eared.

As often as I know I've read them, I've always glossed over the word MANY.
Have you?

If you've memorized these verses does it go something like this in your head? --

"consider it pure joy when you face trials of any kind..."

No?
Well, maybe it's just me.

Some folks get hung up on the "consider it pure joy" part.
And that makes sense - it's HARD to find joy, much less dwell on it when you're in the middle of a mess.

We pretty much dwell on the mess, right? 

But think about that word here - MANY.
Don't we often encounter hard times on top of difficult circumstances in addition to out of control situations?
You know, piling on of the worst kind.

Trouble always seems multiplied and maybe it's because when we are in the middle of a mess, anything else that goes wrong seems all the worse because it's

"just one more thing."

Truth is, God is working in all of it.

We may hate these times, feel overwhelmed by them - but we have a God who is never daunted by our tough times. 

Ooh, that's good - I'll repeat it: 

We have a God who is NEVER daunted by our tough times.

He weeps when we weep. 

He hurts when we hurt. 

His heart breaks for His children. 

BUT

He knows that if we trust Him, 

rest in Him, 

and breathe deeply of the peaceful air He offers - 

we will be changed for the better when we come out on the other side of heartache.

Multiplied mess becomes multiplied JOY when we allow the trials of life 
to shape us and not break us.

"Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."(v. 4)

He is SO good, isn't He?

With a Courageous Heart, 

~~Robin

Fall or Fly?

I needed this reminder today,
did you?

With a Courageous Heart,
~~Robin

The Gift

"I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living."
- Psalm 27:13

 

Today would have been my Grandma's 98th birthday.

Today has been 5 months since I last spoke to my Mom or held her hand.

Today I said my goodbyes to my Uncle Herman.

Today my sweet Emma got hired for her first job.

Today I feel more 5 than almost 50, exactly when did I become the grown-up?

The Mom. The Wife. The mentor.

The glue.

Today I received the gift of sitting by the ocean, the constant beating of the waves a balm to my soul.

It shouldn't be.

Today is March 11th.

Winter.

Yet it's 63 and sunny.

At the ocean.

If that's not a gift from the Jesus who loves me then I have no explanation.

My Heart is full.

With a Courageous Heart,
~~Robin

The Silent Time

"You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny. Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth.  My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever." - Psalm 73:24-26

It's been a while since I've met you here. 24 days to be exact.

24 days that life has overtaken me and I've allowed my circumstances to dictate my actions.
24 days of silent time.

The enemy and I have been in a battle, he and I, and I've been losing. Giving in to thoughts and feelings that at times have threatened my existence in the victory I know I have in Christ.

I hate this battle.
Hate these times that I just can't shake the voice of the one who calls me 'less than'.
Worthless.
Unloved.
Foolish.
Abandoned.
Ridiculous.

As a child of God, I'm supposed to be able to rebuke him. To brush him away like a crumb from my sleeve.
But it's not always that easy.

He knows my weaknesses. My soft spots. The places in my heart that are still vulnerable to his lies about who I've been, who I am now and who I'm destined to be. 

"I'm a mess." I confessed to a dear friend earlier this week, pain spilling out of my heart and onto the table between us.
The good news is that even when we don't feel the presence of God, can't sense His tangible force that guides us, He is always with us.
And He makes sure to connect us with the ones who can speak the most pertinent truth into our lives at the time.

My friend knows me well, we "get" each other spiritually and emotionally, having walked some of the same paths over the years. And God being God, He gave my friend the exact words I needed to hear.
Words that would allow me to find my victory in Christ again and kick the enemy to the curb.

"Robin, you need to remember that there are people out there who need what you have to offer. Who need to hear and read what God has put in your heart to share. You need to get back to work."

And with three simple statements, I remembered once again who I am.
More specifically, WHOSE I am. 
And the work that He's given me to do.

Time to get to work again.

With a Courageous Heart,
~~Robin

Some Days

"The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged." - Deuteronomy 31:8

Some days, all we can do is just hold on.
Hold on to truth.
Hold on to what we know is real.
Hold on to the hope we know is tomorrow.

Because some days are just hard.
There is pain because of loss.
There is doubt because of fear and failure.
There is worthlessness because the enemy says so.

But every day there is Jesus.
Even when you can't pray.
Even when you can't worship.
Even when you can't move your heart to line up with His.

Because the enemy lies.
He is a liar and a thief and a fraud.
He hates us because we know the truth.
He hates us because he will never win.

So on days like today, hold on.
Hold on to the truth that is Jesus.
Hold on to the giver that is Jesus.
Hold on to the reality of WHO Jesus is.

And when you can't pray,
when you can't worship,
when you can't move your heart,
just whisper His name -

Jesus. 

Jesus.

Jesus.

He hears you. 

With a Courageous Heart,
~~Robin

Skimming

"May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. Jesus gave his life for our sins, just as God our Father planned, in order to rescue us from this evil world in which we live. All glory to God forever and ever! Amen." - Galatians 1:3-5 (NLT)

 

Skim [skim] verb - to pass or glide lightly over or near a surface.

to read, study, consider, etc., something in a superficial or cursory way.

 

This morning I sat down with my Bible and coffee for my quiet time. 

I had no pre-set starting point, so I thought I'd check out the book of Galatians. 

No particular reason, it just sounded like a good place to start, and I began to read from Chapter 1, verse 1. Somewhere along about verse 10, I stopped myself. 

 

I thought, wait, you just skimmed over those first few verses, what did they say exactly? 

It's Paul's greeting, you know, the usual. 

Well, it's there for a reason, what does it say?

Um, I dunno, let me go back and read it again.  

 

Here's the version I read from: 

"Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." - Galatians 1:3-5 (NIV)

 

Whoa, I thought, there's some awesome stuff there, I need to break that down. 

I'll share that part with you in a minute. 

But start here -

 

How often do we breeze on by? 

Skim past the expected?

When we read Paul's letters in the New Testament, we know they all start with a greeting, so how many times do we actually read it?  Really read it. 

 

What about the daily comings and goings of our lives? 

How often do we stop to buy a cup of coffee and actually 'see' the person who takes our order or makes our latte? Do we just skim past their presence because we expect them to be there? Because we know what their purpose is for that moment? 

How often do we order lunch from the Chick-Fil-A drive-thru and look right through the person handing us our bag as we ask for extra mayo? 

Do we ever take the time to 'see' them? 

Here's one - how often do we meet a friend to catch up over a meal and spend the whole time talking about how you've passed the time since you last saw each other? 

Do we ever stop and just ask "So really, how are you?" 

It's really easy to skim over things, skim over people, especially people. Because if we go deeper, look past the superficial, expected presentation, we may be challenged. 

Challenged to give, to care, to love. 

And in all honesty, every one of us struggles with that. I struggle with that. There's a multitude of reasons why - but there's also a multitude of reasons for us to stop and go deeper. If you're a Christian, the most important one is Jesus. 

We can't be His hands and feet if we don't stop long enough to see what's in front of us. 

Where the hurt is. 

Who needs Him. 

 

And verses 3-5 in Galatians 1 tells us why this is so important - look what has been done for us! 

For EACH of us:

 

"Grace and peace to you from God our Father

and the Lord Jesus Christ, 

who gave himself for our sins

to rescue us from the present evil age, 

according to the will 

of our God and Father, 

to whom be glory for ever and ever. 

Amen." 

I read back over the power in those verses and think to myself - how did I miss that the first time??

It's SO good. 

SO rich and deep and beautiful. 

Jesus gave himself - to rescue us - because His Father, God, willed it. 

As Christians, we already know this, or we should. 

It's bedrock to our faith. 

But how often do we take it for granted? 

How often do we miss it?...

We can't be reminded often enough of what Jesus did for us because the more we cling to that truth, the more likely we are to speak it to someone who needs it. 

 

I missed it because I wasn't looking for it. 

Don't miss it today.

With a Courageous Heart, 

~~Robin

 

A Cultural Education

My husband, daughter and I watched part of the Grammy Awards show last night.
Apparently that's more of a controversial decision than I remember it being when I was 20 years younger. Which was probably the last time I watched the Grammy Awards.

We tuned in for a number of reasons -
1) I wanted to hang out with my family and they were not down with watching the Pro-Bowl with me. Sad, but true story - I am the only football fan in our home. :(
2) We have a 16 year old daughter who likes all kinds of music and has introduced us to some different sounds musically over the past few years. Most of which, surprisingly, we like.
3) We wanted to laugh at the ridiculous clothing and style choices of many of the people in attendance. If you watched too, don't tell me you didn't choke on your chips at Pharrell Williams hat selections - you know you did.
4) My husband was enjoying the live Tweet play-by-play of Jon Acuff and Todd Starnes - wit and sarcasm at their finest.
5) There was nothing else on that we could agree on.

Anyway, Pharrell Williams pitiful headgear aside, it was quite an education for me.

Which, as a Christian parent of a Christian teenager in a Christian home, having said education is kind of a necessity if we are to keep up with the culture our kids are exposed to on a regular basis.

We are called to be in the world, not of the world. But if we don't know what the world looks like or appreciates, we are just as easily swayed by its lure as those who don't know the difference.

There was a lot being said today about the show by all the pundits and news outlets and frankly what dismayed me the most about the Monday morning quarterbacking was the opinions of religious and Christian commentators. There was a lot of condemnation and censure of behavior and beliefs being bandied about today.
And not a whole lot of grace to be found.

In fairness, let me say that we tuned in late - I got to see a little bit of the Pro-Bowl before the eye-rolling started - and missed the Beyonce/Jay-Z opening number. I did see a photo or two of it online today and can honestly say that I would have had Mark close his eyes until it was over. That's a pact we have formed to protect our marriage, but that's stuff for another blog post.

We also switched off the tv around 9:30 or so - we saw the semi-Beatles reunion and the girl with the Christmas Story-esque leg lamp skirt win a country award.
I didn't know country musicians wore Christmas lights on their boots, did you?
Anyway, we missed the controversial 'wedding' ceremony.
And that's fine, the Grammys are supposed to be about music, right? 

Listen, here's the point of my whole post, as Christians, we sometimes act as if the world shouldn't act like the world.
We are surprised when they act as if they don't know Jesus.
That they should know better.
Um, they don't.
They don't know Jesus.
They don't know better.

And too much of the time, we stand around pointing fingers and calling them out on behavior that only Jesus has the power to change.
How many times do we try and understand their culture?
How often do we try and see past the labels and clothing and lifestyles and just see people who need Jesus?
Desperately. Need. Jesus.

Too often, we don't.
Because it's safer.
Safer to stay in our Christian bubble, surrounded by the things that make us feel safe in our faith and beliefs.

Jesus didn't call us to be safe.
He called us to be salt. And light.
To be love and truth and real to people who are desperately searching for something real they can hold on to.
You don't have to agree with another person's agenda or belief system to have compassion for them.
And you don't have to hate them either. There's way too much of that going around these days too - we Christians have to stop rising to the occasion.

We live in a world that largely doesn't value what we value.
We're never going to change that if we continue to tune them out, change the channel, rail against their agenda or fail to understand why they make the choices they do.

But it is possible to say, Hey, I don't agree with you, but help me understand you. It is possible to meet them at the point of their need and just BE Jesus to them. Speak truth into their lives, even if they reject it. All we can do is represent Christ well.
He has called us to love the unlovely.
He has called us to defend our faith but love our neighbor in the process.

The next time you tune into a spectacle a la the Grammy Awards, remember the choices you have:
1) you can choose to be educated and appreciate the window you've been given into the world's values or
2) you can change the channel.

But remember who you represent.

"For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God. But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.)" - Romans 8:7-9


With a Courageous Heart,
~~Robin