There are people. The ones you don’t even have to ask. They see a need, and the next thing you know, it’s done.

And for the least of these this is exactly what we can be. The ones who see a need and get it done. The need is met. The battle won. But if you are like me, sometimes you fall victim to the everybody else syndrome.

Why should I do it?

Aren’t there other people who take care of that?

I mean surely, there are people who could do a better job meeting that need than me?

Aren’t there people who actually get paid to take care of these people?

Why should I do it when there are so many other people to do it?

I love what the Bible says in Matthew 25:40, “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”

Whatever you DID for the least of these you DID for me. Hard core evidence that the Lord expects us to DO things. To act when we see someone in need. As Christians, when Christ opens our eyes enough to identify a need, He equips often equips us to meet that need. Not that we are called to meet every need we see, but when we feel the Holy Spirit tug on our heart, it’s usually a good sign that we need to pray and often DO.

I am first to admit that I haven’t always enjoyed doing things for other people. In fact, selfishness wins TOO often. But when I let the Lord win, when I serve Him by serving others, I find that I am blessed.

In fact, did you know that serving others is shown to be effective in treating depression? I love how God created us. He designed us for service. To feel good when we serve others and to feel down when we don’t. God strategically wired us to receive emotional satisfaction when we serve. He is such a brilliant amazing God.

So if you are feeling down and out, or even if you are feeling up and excited, do something this week to get out and serve. It can be as easy as picking up a few pieces of trash when you visit the park. Or you could do a craft project with your kids and take something fun for the kids at a shelter or a hospital. You could take canned food to a food pantry. Or even cook a meal for a neighbor. If you don’t know what to do, ask the Lord to show you, and oh girl, He WILL!

So get ready! Get going! Get serving! Open your eyes and look for your Jesus in need. Because whatever you do for the least of these, you do for Him. When Christ opens our eyes to a need, let’s be the kind of daughters that allow Him to consider it done!

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Matthew 5:9

I smelled a funky smell. Stinky socks…or feet. It had to be stinky socks or feet. And of course, it HAD to be coming from my husband. He is the one with the foot stench. But as I walked around the house I noticed the smell followed me wherever I went. That’s when it hit me. I had worn the same socks during my workout for the last 3 days. I bent down to sniff my feet and WOW! Yep, the foot stench was mine.

There are a few things I have had to get used to as my husband and I continue our intense workout program. Sweat. Stink. Soreness. Dirty hair. Superfluous amounts of deodorant have now become necessary. As well as a shower before bed rather than in the morning.

Sacrifices. I am making sacrifices so that I can be fit and in shape. And I have a choice when it comes to these sacrifices. I can get upset about them, or I can make peace with them.

And as I pondered this while sitting in my dirty bathwater, it occurred to me that my workout experience is not that different from other experiences in my life with “peacemaking”. I have to make peace with ridiculous amounts of sweat because I want to be fit, and sometimes I have to make peace with the “flaws” I notice in others, and let them go, because I want to have peaceful relationships. I can’t expect to have a good workout without sweating, and I can’t expect to have a relationship with a person without them having some flaws. The sooner I accept those flaws (sometimes even embrace them) and extend grace, the sooner peace will wash over my heart.

I am not writing about times when you need to confront a brother or sister in the faith because they have fallen into a pit of sin. Certainly with close relationships God will give us direction as to how we handle these matters. I am talking about the things other people do that annoy us or get our emotions all tightly wound. Like when my husband loads all the dishes in the dishwasher yet refuses to turn it on. Or when I get irratated at him over something silly, like not celebrating an event in the way or to the magnitude I expected him to. Sometimes the flaws we see in other people grow to such a giant size in our minds that they overtake the joy of the relationship – and all we see is the flaw.

At the root of this usually lies unrealistic expectations. Nothing will kill a relationship faster than these overblown, intenally created, ideas that we want others to live up to. If we want to have peace in our relationships and in our lives, we must be peacemakers. We must make peace. What is one way we can do that? Release others from unrealistic expectations. Set them free from the tightly wound mental threads and release them to have the flaws and quirks that make them who they are. Honestly, these “flaws” may be what drew you to them in the first place.

And so, yes, I will make peace with my sweat, and think of it as a pretty glow! And I will make peace with the dishwasher issue and be thankful that he loads the dishwasher in the first place. And by doing so, I will make peace. And peacemakers and children of God.

But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. James 3:17

I am depressed and I want to stay that way. I don’t hear that often, from myself, or from others. But I am in a state of depression, or trying to get to a state of depression, that is desirable. A pressed down firm holding place of myself so that Christ can impress His name upon my heart. A depressed state of living within myself, a complete letting go limp, so that Christ can impress this broken body with His strength. I never thought depressed could be such a thing of longing for.

I am not speaking of depression as the mental health world would define it. God has delivered me from that depression. He has overcome. I am not speaking of self-abasement or a self hatred that would aspire a false humility based in pride. I am speaking of a literal and wanting depression of oneself so that Christ may manifest Himself in our hearts in a more pure and concentrated manner. A wanting of nothing more than more of Him and less of me. A desire for wisdom to reighn in the heart so that acts of true humility may abound from the hands of Christ. That is my deepest desire, born not of myself, but of Him in me.

Valleys of life left me in low places. Jealousy brought service out of desire for unconditional positive human regard. But death inside my heart blooming into life is something brought purely of the resurrection. The wisdom I seek is wisdom pure of heart and mind. Wisdom only present when completely renewed by the righteousness of The Lord, undeserved, but thickly lavished.

Thank you Lord that you offer us a wisdom that is pure. Untainted by our hearts and minds. Thank you for depressing the parts of us that are unwilling and replacing them with humility. We find ourselves swimming in oceans of love faultlessly bathed in your righteousness. Thank you for the rivers of peace that flow. Thank you for humility that crushes pride. Thank you for wisdom that serves and mends. Praise you for death that brings life. Help us know you more as we actively seek an impression of your grace.

Sacrifice is a moon full of reflection. What we are willing to sacrifice reflects on you, reflects on me, and everyone watching with eyes wide open.

The sacrificial gift is never easy to give. Not only is there difficulty during the sacrifice itself, but the journey of getting there stings all the more.

The ruminating thoughts of “what if I didn’t have to do this” or “couldn’t this be done differently” or “why did you pick me for this God”?

I find the most difficult part of sacrificing is not the actual giving of the gift, it’s what must be given up in order to give.

The choices we must make to love others, to value others, beyond ourselves.

Romans 12:1 puts it this way,

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”

We are to live our lives as a sacrifice. The pleasure based center of the human will says this is impossible. That I am to live for me! To make me happy! But in full view of His mercy, we know we must reflect something other than our humanity.

When we choose to sacrifice, we choose to reflect Him. And so we push past the things we want to hold onto.

Will this sacrifice mean giving up time, money, resources? The answer may be yes. Will it require us to even spend time away from home causing our family to sacrifice as well? The answer may be yes.

Sacrifice gets hairy. Dirty. Stinky. For Christ, even bloody. It can be a mess. And it’s knowing this and willingly going anyway that’s the hardest part.

Jesus knew. He knew the pain that would come. He knew what would happen if He didn’t come…and He came.

He knew, and He came, because He also loved. And as love moved Him it can move us. To take steps beyond our humanity and sacrificially give the love that was sacrificed to be ours.

Know…love…and give.

Thank you Lord for the blessing of your sacrifice, and being able to sacrifice a small part for you today.

For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable. Hebrews 4:12-13

So many things that The Lord is. Not the least of these, He is my profession. My faith. My Savior. I’m an eyewitness account of His saving grace. I have seen it for myself. He daily bears the cross I bear no more, and simultaneously, it is complete and finished.

Wisdom comes from above but when I look into the heart of it all I find I often misunderstand what The Lord is and what He has the power to do. I forget that He is my wisdom. My one profession. It really doesn’t matter what I do with my day job, in the sense of what earns me a paycheck, what matters is that I spend my time no matter where I am at, choosing to constantly be a reflection of His redeeming grace. It is not my profession that matters, and yet my profession of faith is everything.

Our profession by definition is the public confession that Jesus is our Lord. That God is our God. And that God became flesh to live amongst us and save us. That He rose again. And that we will choose to live by His Word. The Bible. Living and active. The Word is Him and He is The Word. Every scripture, every noun and verb purposeful, powerful, and living. Breathing life. Given to us that we may find His instruction in every trial and temptation. Every circumstance and joy. His Word, our profession, is perfect-complete-wholeness.

Redemption fills us with His glory and day to day menial tasks can be treasures. We plant His Word in every season with every action, even while still in the flesh, and The Lord reaches down and has the seeds to grow. Passionate and purposeful in His will, we become harvesters reeling the joy of His salvation given freely to us amongst others. It stands alone and stands still as our purpose.

Redemptions hill as a display of His splendor. And so He lives. And we live out our profession. Like a well balanced body each with our parts and purposes as defined in The Word made flesh. His will redeeming even our most human of actions and making them Holy and bountiful. Full of grace and charged highly with discernment and wisdom.

And the gift of His Word stands far above us all, yet tucked neatly in our hearts. The sharp uniting profession of faith exuding love across parts-purposes-and professions. Reaching into the soul and dividing the sinful nature from His true desires as we dwell with The Word. The Word flesh, Jesus, our Lord and Savior.

Redeemed.

Blessed, in, by, and through Him.

“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

Love. The ultimate eraser. The gigantic slate cleaner. The one thing that saves us from hell and gets us to heaven. Christ’s love. The ultimate leveler of the playing field.

I want to love others like He loves me. With no record of wrongs. No silent hit list in my mind delegating who is worthy of my affections. But it can be difficult. Loving without boundaries. Not that we live without life boundaries, that is different, but we can love without boundaries.

Sometimes life boundaries call us to distance ourselves for a season, or even to step away from a relationship all together. And this is good and right. However, love must choose to remain. Even if that love that looks like absence. Love is still present if we choose to step away without hurting others or holding anger, bitterness, and unforgiveness inside of ourselves. Sometimes loving someone means stepping away.

Sometimes love means staying even when we don’t want to. Sometimes love means turning the other cheek. Sometimes the choices we make are to love in spite of our circumstances. Like when my husband and I were going through a very dark season. I didn’t feel love towards Him. I had a list a mile long of all the wrongs he had hurled my way, all the while ignoring my own wrongs. It was difficult to love during this season. I wanted to return hit for hit, but God called me to do the opposite. To control what I could. And what I could control were my actions and my heart. I could choose to love him with no record of wrongs. And so I did, as did my husband, and over time God healed our marriage.

At times I place people on the unlovable list because they have hurt me. It’s kind of like giving the cold shoulder. Rather than confronting the issue in a loving way, talking things out, and moving forward – the mean jeans – the ignoring – the dirty looks – the snide remarks – those thing sneak out. And this is not love. Even with our enemies, we are called to love.

Today I challenge you to love everyone you come in contact with – even the ones on your love barren hit list. Love them anyways. Love them in a way that puts and keeps appropriate life and relationship boundaries in place. But love them like Jesus loves them, boundlessly and endlessly. Find the middle ground with your enemies. You probably have more in common with them than you might think. Try and empathize with them. Scoot pride out of the way, and let 1 Corinthians 13 rule in your heart and mind. Stop the clanging gong of pride, envy, jealousy, and anger from banging around and replace it with the pure true resounding song of love.

I am enough for you today.

I remember scrawling these words in my Bible. It’s funny how such a simple phrase could mean so much. And perhaps it will never mean as much again as it did that day. But that day, in that hour, I actually felt Him as my savior.

I was drowning in a sea of self-doubt and uncertainty. I felt alone and afraid. Abandoned and broken.

You would think processing through a traumatic event that happened years prior would be simple. But it wasn’t. Processing through it made it real again. As real as the moment it happened. Real enough to shake the foundation of my heart and sanity. Real enough to send me into a quickly spiraling anxiety toilet. Around and around I went until I finally reached the bottom of the bowl. In one last ditch effort I reached out my hand. I wasn’t sure there would be anything to grab onto. But He was there.

I am enough for you Stephanie. Enough to carry you through this moment. This hour. This day. Do you trust me enough to continue life balanced in my hand? Will you trust me to keep you safe?

And He has. He has been, and continues to be, more than enough.

Looking back as a counselor myself, I understand what my mind and body were going through. When we process through these pushed down, repressed, often very painful memories, our minds, emotions, and bodies relive the trauma.

But the beauty of working through your pain with a counselor by your side is this time…this chance…you have an opportunity to make it new. To process what happened not with fear and shame, but with hope and belief that God will bring good from this. You have a chance to rewrite your story.

I’m writing this post as part of a “blog hop” for the P31 Online Bible Study of Tracie Miles book “Stressed Less Living”. We are supposed to write about a time that we felt God close enough to touch. This moment when God rescued me with His soothing words was one of the closest times I’ve ever had with Him. And yet it was one of the most difficult times of my life.

I want to encourage you that if you are facing a giant in your past, something you are afraid to admit, process, or think about – God is here. It may be difficult to go back to upsetting places.

It will be difficult.

But God is here.

He will meet you there. And right there, in the middle of all the uncharted territory, is where He will help you rewrite your story.

Trauma becomes victory. Shame is undone. Letting go is possible. And moving forward is victory.

Today I encourage you to begin finding that victory in Him. Even if that means seeking Christian counseling…the time has come for you to be set free from your circumstances.

“He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.” Ephesians 2:17-18

It’s not abnormal to be restless. In fact, if we are talking about humanity in it’s basic state, it’s normal to be stressed. I even stress myself out about being stressed because shouldn’t I not be stressed? After all, shouldn’t I be at peace? Should these things really bother me?

The truth is it doesn’t matter if these things “should” or “shouldn’t” bother me…they either just do or they don’t! My circumstances and the ensuing emotions don’t pay attention to my expectations…they just happen.

And so when I came across Ephesians 2:17 today, something hit me. Jesus preached peace. In fact He is called the Prince of Peace. He is true peace. He is wholeness. And all that I am not…He is.

Most of us strive so hard to be a peaceful. We want God’s peace. And yet the more we strive, often, the less calm we become. It can be stressful trying to live less stressed! Not only stressful, but impossible if we try to do it on our own.

If we truly want to experience peace we have to stop trying to dig it out from under all our baggage, because that’s not where it exists. True peace can only be accessed through Him.

Peace is a fruit of the Spirit. A manifestation of God’s presence. It’s not about what we can do.

Can we make decisions that might lead to peace? Yes! Can we be mindful of our anxious negative thoughts and alter them? Yes! But all of these efforts will only be temporary bandages if we don’t connect our heart, soul, and mind up to the peacemaker. The Holy One. The ultimate peace pipeline that never runs dry. He is our one true peace.

As 1 Peter 3:11 says, “They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it.”

We must seek and pursue it. What do we pursue? Jesus. The Prince of Peace. Without Him we are stuck with our normal stressed out humanity. Restless.

And so, it is indeed normal to be restless. But you my child are not normal. No daughter of the King filled with the Spirit of The Lord can be normal. She is blessed, lifted up from her stress, and given grace and mercy. Hidden in Him, yet lifted up as as a display of His splendor.

He came as peace, to be peace, and speak peace. Seek that peace sweet sister and you will never be normal again.

“You warned them in order to turn them back to your law, but they became arrogant and disobeyed your commands. They sinned against your ordinances, of which you said, ‘The person who obeys them will live by them.’ Stubbornly they turned their backs on you, became stiff-necked and refused to listen.” Nehemiah 9:29

I always think of Israel as some obstinate defiant people of the past. People I have nothing in common with other than serving the same God. It’s been my assumption that the Israelites didn’t really care about or want to do the right thing. That they were deliberately defiant towards God’s direction and will, and because of this, they struggled.

But what if they didn’t do it on purpose? What if they were like me and wanted to do good…yet they found themselves falling down and failing over and over again. I think this could be the case.

The Israelites saw The Lord part the Red Sea. The Lord led them out of captivity and provided for their every need while they wandered in the desert…and yet they wanted more.

They became frustrated with God. They grew tired of waiting and began to lack confidence in Him. They could not see Him, and out of emotional desperation and prideful arrogance, they built a golden calf.

It sounds so silly. That a people who had seen such miracles could doubt The Lord. Or does it?

I’ve seen some pretty substantial miracles in my lifetime. Most personal to me, when The Lord lifted me out of depression.

None the less, at times, I still doubt Him. I still wander in the desert wondering if He will provide.

The most pronounced struggle in my life right now has to do with food! I’m starting to empathize with the Israelites as every time a slice of pizza or a sugary treat enters my line of vision, I can’t resist! I might as well erect an idol to these unhealthy inappropriate foods and worship them!

And it’s not that there is anything wrong with these foods. They aren’t the problem. It’s my attitude towards them that is the problem.

It’s the fact that I have 28 pounds to lose, not to be skinny, but to be healthy, and I can’t resist the things that are leading to my deterioration.

It’s the fact that I would hide if I could and shove these foods in my mouth until Jesus comes back, maybe even longer!

It’s the fact that I can’t seem to turn myself from these foods and take care of my body like The Lord desires for me to do.

I am worshiping them and the way they make me feel with no long term thoughts or cares about the consequences. I am worshiping the golden pizza. And that my friends, is a problem.

So what do I do then? What did the Israelites do? The way I see it, I have two options. I can continue to bow at the feet of my cravings. Or I can choose to bow only at the foot of the cross.

It may seem silly to spiritualize this battle with food, but when we take it to the core, the battle is very spiritual. It’s about so much more than food. It’s about, as Lysa Terkeurst wrote in Made To Crave, craving God-not food. It’s about satisfying my desires with Him rather than a donut. It’s about celebrating my victories in new ways other than with food. It’s about choosing to swallow my pride and get real with God about the sins that are depriving me of much desired intimacy. For me, my food addiction is about so much more than food. And maybe it is for you too.

So rather than being stiff necked and backing myself out of the blessings The Lord has for me, I will choose to turn from my idol and run to Him. Every time I’m tempted I am going to visualize myself bowing down to the gigantic golden unhealthy food, and rather than bow to my cravings, I will turn and bow to Jesus.

Will I make mistakes? Most likely yes. But each time I choose to glorify God with my body and healthy choices, the food idol falls away a bit more, and God chisels my mind-body-and spirit to be the woman He has called me to be.

And he said:“The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer” 2 Samuel 22:2

The things I say carry power over my heart and mind. Speak good things and good things are what I will see. Shift my focus to the bad things and I will become lifeless and depressed.

And so in our minds we set up a claim. Either a claim to the throne of grace or a claim that denies its power. We can either claim the truth of forgiveness or overlook what the Lord has done on the cross and claim our own guilt and shame.

And yet the deliverer stands ready to redeem us, calling us by our name.

Will we take his hand?

He waits to be our everything. My everything. Your everything.

I don’t want to make Him wait any longer. I will chose to accept His deliverance. The deliverance that is given is given in totality. Suffient for all and everything I will ever need. And as His grace flows through, the sting of death let’s go and all we can see is a beautiful claim of what the Lord has done.

The rock. The redeemer.

And she says,

He is my Lord. My safe place, the one who carries me off to safety. My deliverer.