What If We Say Yes?

What if I hit send and I get no reply? What if Wednesday comes, and the coffee is set out with a dozen mugs beside, but mine is the only one that’s full? 

What if I find myself sitting here alone on the couch with my Bible and a lesson I had hoped to study with friends at my side? What if I spent weeks digging into the Word and preparing a study meant for a body, but end up with just a heart laid bare and no one here to lift it up? There’s hesitation in my heart and a lifted plea for reassurance,

because it really does feel risky to walk this faithful road sometimes.  

Yet still my fingers settle gently down, pressing the word 'enter' and praying the Holy Spirit will be carried along with the invitation, to enter hearts, and draw us together.

There are nine of us, and we each have different reasons for saying yes, 

but ‘yes’ is all He asked from us.  

And ‘yes’ is where the faithful see the fruit... 

He will meet us here, just as He had planned to all along. Yes Lord, I will trust you, even when my heart skips a beat and my tummy turns and I sense an awkward silence in the room. Then, I realize saying yes felt risky for them too, and I begin with prayer.

Joining LisaJo again…

The Word this week is quite appropriately… Risk.

Shared from my heart ~ Stacy

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The Good Life

When the battle before me seems daunting, my feet too heavy to lift, His voice whispers faintly, "press on". But I live in a land of luxury and sometimes my heart just wants to settle down here and be comfortable and feel at home. To prop my feet up, and sip my wine, and breathe in perfection.

But perfection doesn't come to feet propped up in comfort. 
It comes to feet that are running the race and fighting the battle.

I gravitate toward comfort, but God says I will have tribulation. I look for ease, but He says be willing to walk the hard. I seek out abundance but God says hold everything with an open hand. I want the good life, and He tells me it's not really found here.

This place is for shaping and stretching. For storms and bumpy roads.  For transformation and building faith. For broken self and Spirit repair. It's an intentional choice to pick up our swords and embrace the battle, to surrender our hearts to the unfolding will of our Lord, day by day, moment by moment. To trust the strength and sovereignty of the one whose steps engraved a path to righteousness and salvation, with worn and dirty feet that never veered from His Father’s will. Those same feet strong and stable where I find peace and joy unexplainable. The comfort of his Word, his strength carrying me, the abundance of his mercy and his grace.

As I let go of this flesh and it's pull toward the easy and the tame, and place my next step, pressing on, into the trenches of surrender, I sip the wine of his shed blood and embrace the good life, eternal, in his presence.

Flashes of Lightning

It is finished friends. He told us so as He breathed his last breath. 

A finished work.

 And I wonder about this sometimes... right between the scripture and the sin. Clearly I'm a work still in process. A sinner still in the midst of transformation. So how do I reconcile this unfinished finished work? How do I walk confidently through this process of sanctification, trusting fully in the truth of his words...

"I will carry on to completion that which I have begun in you." (Ph 1:6)

and "It is finished."? (Jhn 19:30)

I know it to be true, just as surely as the thunder lingers close behind the lightning. Faithfully. 

He is faithful. He has flashed His mighty light.

And we live between the lightning and the thunder. 

1....2.....3....2011....2012.... we count, in confident and eager anticipation of his return. Do you hear the approaching sound of His triumphant thunder? He is coming.






Linking with Denise in Bloom and Thought Provoking Thursday.

Vacation

Well, you all know I needed this...

That's my adventurous husband in the front, and 3 of his followers.

But this one has always chosen his own roads. A contemplater like his Momma. 

My Grandma's birthday was a wonderful reason to head to the coast.

Happy 85th birthday Mamo!

We took a week off and went west along with this lovely couple. (and a lot of other family!) 

Aren't they just a great looking pair? They certainly don't look old enough to have 9 grandkids!

I love you Mom and Dad! And we sure enjoyed spending the week with you.

(Hanging out with cousin Natalie)

Could the boys possibly have any more fun? 

Catching crabs... 

And snakes... 

The man on the left is my uncle who has spent his life studying, catching, and teaching all things snake. He couldn't pass up the opportunity to share his knowledge with these 8 listening ears.

I feel rejuvenated, friends. Ready to finish this final week of school, then head south to attend my step-son's high school graduation next week. Aaaah! Did I just say high school graduation?! When did he grow up?! They're all growing too quickly! Do you see these young men passing me up in height? Yep, these are my babies.