Authentic service

On my walk this morning: a whirl

When we considered moving downstairs, I had just started to shed the past. Furnishings, linens, and appliances were stacked in the living room.

I felt overwhelmed by the task ahead (and that was just the shift from past into the present). The transition didn't even begin to encompass the shift across cultures that we've been called to!

I craved white simplicity. Minimalism. In my head, the basement had 2 futons, a dresser, a few pictures, a kitchen table, and lots of empty space.

After a month of paring down, I can almost visualize what's moving with us. My mind has drawn up the space, arranged and rearranged the layout, and settled on color and comfort. In other words, it's going to look a lot like where we've been ... with tweaks.

Lisa of Love Squared Designs

I met Lisa McKenney at a conference this weekend. She said that when she asked God how she could serve, He asked, "What's in your hands?"

She looked. Pondered. And opened her heart and art to blessings beyond her expectations.

God gave Lisa artistic designs that pass along the hopeful abundance of the life of faith. Her jewelry is at Love Squared Designs. She's supported her family and donated thousands of dollars to worthy projects.

Do you ever feel afraid because of the enormity of what God's asking you to do? Hearing the story of God's calling and favor on Lisa settled my own heart.

What's in your hands? Who are you already? And what do you love? Maybe that's what God's given, intending to blow you "out of the water" with the enormity of HIS dreams for YOU.

My longing for order and quiet (emptiness) has morphed to viewing the new space as a joyful celebration of what's coming. Where are you on your shift into the future and God's hopeful future?

"Drench my soul as grace and mercy unfold, 

I hunger and thirst." (Hillsongs: I Surrender)

Read more:

*Be very careful, therefore, to love the Lord your God. Joshua 23:11 NLT

*And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ... Philippians 1:9-10 NLT

*While the promise of entering his rest is still open, let us take care that none of you should seem to have failed to reach it. Hebrews 4:1 NLT

Moravian Prayer: Savior, we love you simply because of who you are and that love compels us to spread your good news to the world. Increase our love for you so we may love and bring the entire world into relationship with you. Amen.

 From The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume III, on doubt: As far as you (and I) are concerned I have no doubt that the fear you mention is simply a temptation of the devil, an effort to keep us away from God by despair. It is often the devil working through some defect in our health, and in extreme cases it needs a medical as well as a spiritual cure. So don’t listen to these fears and doubts any more than you would to any obviously impure or uncharitable thoughts. . . . Of course, like other evil temptations, they will not be silenced at once. You will think you have got rid of them and then they will come back again—and again. But, with all our temptations of all sorts, we must just endure this. Keep on, do your duty, say your prayers, make your communions, and take no notice of the tempter. He goes away in the end. Remember I John iii, 20 “If ( = though) our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart.”