Love Believes | Five Years Later

On November 30, 2009, I received some devastating news. The kind of thing that knocks you off your feet and causes a lot of strong people to completely crumble.

There have been many difficult days, some torturous. Some where I honestly didn’t know if I’d make it through.

I’ve felt immense pain and heartache every single day.

I’ve watched those I love dearly hurt deeply, and felt worries and challenges I never imagined.

Yet God has sustained, provided and seen us through it all, one day at a time.

But don’t mistake strong faith and confidence in God for easy. It’s not. It’s also not supposed to be.

Tom Petty was right, the waiting is the hardest part. At least for me. I’m naturally impatient, maybe we all are to some extent.

We want answers and easy fixes RIGHT NOW. And it’s easy to be discouraged when we don’t get them.

But God grows us through trials and difficult circumstances.

And it only seems like nothing’s happening.

God is always at work on the other side of the mountain.

I don’t regret, for even a minute, making the decision to not give up in the face of seemingly hopeless circumstances. And I have found joy in perseverance, even on the worst days. (Romans 5:3-4).

Again, I’m not pretending it’s easy. If you want to give up, good. That means you’re normal.

What I’m saying is, just don’t.

Nobody’s walking around with massive stockpiles of faith, reserves they can just dip into on demand. That’s not how God works.

He says to renew our minds daily.

Even Jesus had to make time to be alone with God at the beginning and end of every day.

God really does give us the manna our soul needs today.

I’m convinced that the greatest place to be in life is totally dependent on God.

He’s got this.

And so do we, if we trust and obey and if, as Galatians 6:9 says, we do not quit.

Isaiah 40:31 promises strength for those who wait on God. And Psalm 40:1 reminds us that even the king had to wait.

I love what David Mathis says about waiting:

“When you feel the first resistance, let it be a reminder to go Godward. Recalibrate the focus of your faith. Move the weight of your trust off self, where it keeps gravitating back, and consciously reorient on God. Whether it’s simply spare moments or seemingly endless days, waiting is no waste in God’s economy. It is in the delays and the pauses, and in becoming aware of our lack of patience, that he works to save us from self-reliance and revitalize our faith and hope in him.”

I trust in God’s perfect timing and His ability, and desire, to do the impossible and to truly heal.

Don’t you dare tell me that my God can’t. He specializes in fixing what’s broken, breathing life into that which was dead and doing the impossible.

So, yeah, I believe God can. And I believe God will.

And although there isn’t a pretty little bow on this story yet, I can look you in the eye and tell you that I believe more today than ever. (Hebrews 11:1) The fact that I can say that is a testament to God’s grace and love. Nothing else…

For all those who’ve prayed, believed, encouraged or lent support throughout this time–emotionally, logistically, provisionally and/or spiritually–all I can say is, thanks. Especially you late night pep talkers. I am grateful beyond words.

Keep praying. Keep believing…

The Anatomy Of Growth

HURT inside
HALLELUJAH in spite
HEALING in time
HOPE in front of us

Bonus: Helping others going through same thing.

“So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while.
These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ returns.”
1 Peter 1:6-7

Quick Question: Before You Call A Lawyer…

Would you ever divorce your kids?

Okay, I see that smirk, but I’m asking a serious question.

No matter how much they may have hurt you, could you ever readjust your thinking to no longer consider them your child?

No matter how many times they’ve:

• lied to you
• stolen from you
• disrespected you
• embarrassed you
• made you feel unappreciated
• said hurtful things to you
• or otherwise let you down

Even if it’s gotten so bad that you’ve had to institute some drastic “tough love” measures, would you ever stop holding out hope for healing and restoration?

I’m guessing that, except for the most extreme of cases, very few of us would ever stop thinking of them as our children, or stop hoping for a turnaround. (Let alone call a lawyer and legally disown them!)

Why do we see hurts from our spouses differently?

Do we give up because we can?

What if we DID think of them the same way?

What if we hoped and prayed for, believed in, held on, and unconditionally loved our fallen, broken, hurtful, unappreciative, annoying spouses 😉 like we do our kids?

Ask yourself this question. What would my child have to do for me to permanently sever our relationship and declare my love for them dead?

Seriously. Name it.

What would it take for you to walk into a court, look your son or daughter in the eye and publicly tell them that they’re no longer your child?

How hard would you work, how much would you give, to what lengths would you go before you ever even considered that as an option?

Is the threshold any lower for your spouse? Should we have any less grace, patience and unconditional love for them?

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails”
– 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a

Remember, our chances of success, in anything, dramatically increase when we remove the option to quit.

[Note: This is a very difficult subject. Please know that I am judging no 
one. My sole goal is to help save families from the pain of divorce, give a
different perspective, encourage those who are hurting to not give up hope,
and to point people toward our God, who SPECIALIZES in fixing what's broken. 

Stay tuned for some additional thoughts on this subject next week.]

Waiting On God Isn’t Always Easy, But It’s Always Worth It

“I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten…”
– Joel 2:25

Man, God’s promises are so good!

I love the way Hillsong United puts it in their song, Oceans:

“You’ve never failed and You won’t start now…”

When we don’t see God’s promises fulfilled in our lives, it’s not because He dropped the ball, or failed in some way. It’s because we give up.

We lose patience

Our faith runs out

We settle for counterfeits

We believe the enemy’s lies

We wall off the parts of our heart that hurt, leaving us less capacity to feel and love

We give up the eternal for the easy

Like Esau, we trade away the priceless to satisfy our desires in the moment (we sell out for stew)

Living an easy life isn’t the point, let’s live lives that are WORTH IT! No matter how hard it is…