Doing Nothing is Doing Something

Do what you can for God and others out of love to God. When you do nothing, you actually do something: you disobey. James is pretty clear that faith without action (serving others, helping others, participating in church, lovingly helping your family, etc.) is dead. If your faith in God is viable, you will be doing something for Him and His church.😃❤️

Lining Up Under God’s Will

I still love this billboard that says “God’s Word is His Will”. Nothing could be more true. We can know what God wants us to do by reading His Word and applying it to our life. And this requires some humility, some desire to please and know God better, a relationship growing closer to Christ and salvation through Him. So, lining ourselves under God’s will is first and foremost intentional, an act of the heart and decision of the mind. It does not grow unless you nourish it. You have to want what He wants more than you want what you want. You have to trust that He loves us better and more than we love ourselves and accept His better way. That is the crux of the matter.😃❤️

Your Bigger Purpose

Today we all went to a great new park in our city. Among many things there was a ravine with a stream on tht bottom, quite deep- cameras don’t capture that depth when said camera is in my hands- and elephant ears growing in them quite tall. These elephant ears grow in this ravine beautifully. They look great, they have everything they need and are rather the star of the show. However, they serve a greater purpose. They were planted just to be pretty and get the glory. They keep flooding down, they shade plants that grow below, and they keep erosion down. Very useful!

When Zac was little, we watched Thomas the Tank Engine quite a bit and the show talked about the glory of being a “very useful engine”.

I say all this to remind everyone that like the elephant plant and Thomas, we were made for a greater purpose. It is cringworthy when people live only for themselves and pleasure and glory but never give credence and honor and service to the God who made us all, in fact made everything we know of. How myopic and dastardly to ignore the higher purpose we were made for! May it never be! We have to seek out and fulfill our higher purpose for God’s glory because He wishes it. He is always more generous than we are, He rewards any sacrifice we make for Him or others He loves.😃❤️

Shaking a Fist at God

This imagery has been brought into my head lately. Whenever we insist on doing what we want- and for years as an addict I did this so I speak from experience- we are pridefully shaking our fist at God. We are saying we want what we want and don’t want to hear what our loving Creator wants from or for us. We are praying our will be done rather than God’s will be done. We are screaming that we know better than almighty God, who made us.

God brought me, loved me, into recovery, into humble submission to His plan. Jesus bought with His own blood and cleaned me up inside and out. I am not who I was and I am free now and joyful, I have peace. All this because I have accepted His plan for me and humbled myself to accept love and grace. It is so very beautiful! I am so thankful! Praise God!😃❤️