How would Jesus respond to marriage equality?

When the Supreme Court ruling came out in support of marriage equality, social media blew up. We all saw it and many of us probably responded in one way or another. I purposely avoided responding to anything related to it because I wanted the time to really seek God's heart on this issue. Not just on how to treat those who live a different lifestyle than I do, but how to move forward as a Christian in a world that increasingly doesn't want Him. I spent some time in the book of John, exploring every interaction Jesus had with non-believers, and I came up with this image of Christ's response to the world around Him.

• His heart breaks with love for the sinner (John 3)
• He would treat them better than anyone else does - something they wouldn't expect from a Christian (John 4)
• He knows that the dead (physically and spiritually) will hear the voice of God and live (John 5)
• He would not pick and choose who can receive from Him (ex: feeding the 5,000 - He fed everyone in attendance) (John 6)
• He would be rejected by His family and friends who disagree with His teaching (John 6 & 7)
• He would NOT condemn them but tell them to "go and sin no more" (John 8)
• He would NOT force them to believe or live according to His Word. He knows the truth and the freedom it provides, but He also knows that judgment will get Him nowhere (John 8)
• He is a shepherd: a gentle leader, protector, and healer. He searches for the lost, broken, and hurting and knows what they need. He offers to meet those needs and endures their stubbornness. They follow Him because they know he'll provide for them and keep them safe. (John 10)
• He would NOT judge those who don't believe (John 12)
• He would disregard what others think of Him and follow the lead of the Holy Spirit (John 12)
• He would love them with agape (unconditional) love. Love is a choice to give up one's own needs or wants, not based on feelings, beliefs, or "chemistry" (John 13)
• He would be hated and persecuted by the world, and He would give His life for them anyway (John 15)
• He would rely on the Holy Spirit to grow in agape love, endure persecution, and be confident in who He is to God (John 15 & 16)
• He would PRAY (John 17)
• He would die so they can live (John 19 & 20)

In the wake of all that has been happening in America, from war to violence to denial of scripture, my mind has raced and my heart has struggled to know how a Christian should respond. How do you love someone unconditionally without saying their sin is okay? This is what the Holy Spirit showed me:

• Spend time with them, get to know them and their heart, build a relationship
• Spend time with Jesus. Maintain your own Christian walk and grow intimate with Christ
• Get to a place in Christ where they can see that you're different and want what you have
• When that door opens, teach and challenge them in the love of Christ

God loves us too much to let us live in sin because He knows that sin leads to death BUT He accepts us as we are now and gives us the love and support to become the person He created and designed us to be.

When a designer is putting together a project, they spend a lot of time planning, looking at ideas and options, deciding the best way that they want to present their image or message. They try various looks and characteristics together, play with fonts, colors, and graphics until it is just right. All of the trials along the way may be good, attractive, and appealing; but the designer has a vision in mind of what he or she wants the end product to look like. Only the designer knows perfection. When God designed each of us, He had a purpose and intention for our life. He knew which characteristics would best fit together to serve that purpose. To anyone else we might just seem "good," "attractive," or "appealing," but to the Designer we are perfect because He knows the exact purpose, image, and message for which we were created. His love and pride for His creation never fails, even if the creation fails to live up to its purpose. God doesn't cast us off and leave us to be ruined. Instead He comes and makes little changes to our character to restore us to His original vision. 

God loves us exactly the way we are but loves us too much to leave us that way.

Be Like David

I've always admired and esteemed David - a man after God's own heart. I've wanted to be like him, know God the way he knew Him. In reading the Psalms we get a beautiful picture of David's intimacy with God. David pours out his heart to God in every circumstance. He is honest and authentic in how he relates to God and about how he experiences life on earth. His transparency may seem disrespectful to some as he does not hold back his anger from God; but in every Psalm where anger is expressed, David submits himself in praise and worship, too.

Something that stood out to me today as I read Psalm 118 is that David "called on the Lord in distress" (v5). Now, this is nothing new to me, and he writes this in many of his Psalms; but today as I was reading it, it was like God said "this is how you get close with me." We all know the stories of how badly David messed up - adultery, murder, pride, covetousness - and it doesn't always make sense how a guy who has done all that can still be called a man after God's own heart. Cue the beauty of agape love. God's love transcends all of this sin and keeps us in right-standing with Him. It's not about all of the bad things David did or the depression and oppression he experienced in his life. It's about how he responded to those things. David called on the Lord.

In my own life, I have found that the way I respond to sin, hurt, disappointment, or depression can have two resulting effects:
          1. It can bring me closer to God and let me know Him deeper
or       2. It can push me away from Him to the point that I'm too ashamed to try to come back.
Obviously, I prefer the first result, so I must learn to respond accordingly. My response is a choice. And oftentimes it's a hard one - in the midst of that sin or hurt or depression, it feels a whole lot easier to react with my emotions, wallow in my sorrows, and pity myself. In the moment, that feels amazing. But later on it feels utterly miserable. In that moment of making the choice of how I am going to respond, I have to remind myself what the long-term result will be.

In following David's example, moments of sin and pain are meant to be opportunities to call on God. It takes humility to acknowledge sin or hurt and allow someone else to fix it ~ praise the Lord that Christ made it possible to be fixed! When we take up that humility and call on the Lord, it gives God the opportunity to exalt us, heal us, and make us whole again. If I really want to know God the way that David did, I must intentionally choose to let Him know me and heal me and restore me instead of running and hiding from Him.

There's Only Grace Now

I am absolutely loving what I'm doing. A couple of months ago I probably would have said something more like, "What did I get myself into?" Or, "Alright, that's it, I'm moving home to be a kid forever!" (Ok, I still have both of these thoughts on occasion, but now I know deep down I'm really just kidding.)

When I first moved to Winona Lake, I went through that honeymoon period. Everything was so new and exciting. I was living in the apartment I had had dreams about since signing the lease. I was connecting with people in my program cohort. Things were so great. But then in the thick of learning all things counseling, I hit that regret and confusion phase that every grad student does. Am I really supposed to be here? Is counseling really what I want to do? Am I always going to be this bad at counseling? I seriously lost track of how many times I contemplated dropping the program, how many times I called my mom and said I couldn't do this. But I pushed through, and here I am, knowing what my passion is and so excited that I have the chance to live it!

This sort of passion and perseverance is exactly what the devil wants to stop in our lives. And he knows exactly what he needs to do to each of us individually to stop God's plan in our lives. For me, it is making me feel isolated. Even when I'm surrounded by people and even have a few express their care for me, if I'm not on my guard, I can have thoughts slipping in that tell me I'm all alone in the world, nobody cares, and people aren't here for me when I need them. But I know good and well that's not true at all.

In the recent weeks of finishing my first year of grad school, I have been faced with this isolation a lot. Friendships have grown apart, stress has been overwhelming, and life has been plain exhausting. But there has been one place of solace, One person who has stuck it out, and the only thing to bring peace when peace is the most senseless thing to be had. I find myself taking on humility on a new level, recognizing that my own strength will not lead me to over come; I am only sufficient when I am in Him, and His strength is made perfect when I am at my weakest. I have felt more love, more purpose, more intimacy with Christ in these last weeks than I have in almost all the time since moving here. I recognize areas where I still need to grow and that will stretch me thin until I’ve been made complete; but in this moment, there is only grace now, and grace is all I need.

Bucket List Progress Report #2

These last couple of weeks have been busy!! BUT - I've been able to fit in time for a few fun and meaningful things too!!

#3: To kick it off, in the last week, I have tried strawberries and two kinds of cherries, as well as cooked apples. Now, here's the deal, none of them were my favorite. The strawberries were a little too sour; the cherries were pretty good, but I'm not a fan of the pits; and something was off about the texture of the cooked apples. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE fresh, crisp apples. But I think it was maybe the cinnamon and then the shock of the apple flavor? I don't know... anyway, they were all ok, but so far I've been sticking with my apples, bananas, and grapes. I wish I could be more creative, but with my crazy food sensitivities, I am counted out from trying anything citrus, and I've tried peaches, pears, kiwi, blueberries, and a few others in the past. Maybe I'll get up the gumption to try some of them again and see how it goes. For veggies, well, let's just say, my mom and I established that my corn, green beans, peas, carrots, lima beans, lettuce, and fresh broccoli are enough for right now, especially since it was really just this last year that I started eating salads like a bunny rabbit!

#5: So I haven't actually started learning the song, but I did go online and get myself the sheet music for about a dozen pretty gorgeous pieces of piano music!! I have them all together in a book and have started marking the music on a couple that I'd like to start with. Perhaps after my mom's catering event this week, I can begin on them on Saturday or Monday!!

#7: You know, sometimes it can be hard to pray for your friends everyday when you don't get to talk to them very often; but that is where you ask the Holy Spirit to guide you on what to pray for and then make an effort to get in touch with them. I've accepted that once I do my part, it's up to them to do the rest, so if they don't text me back or make time for us to meet up, then at least I have done what I feel I am supposed to do.

#9 & #27: As some of you may know, my family surprised my dad with a trip to the Black Hills, SD for Father's Day weekend. Not only was it a total success and super fun, it helped me knock off two things on my bucket list!! It really was a blast going out to Mount Rushmore again. It is so gorgeous and relaxing out there!! I just wish we could have stayed longer. On the second night there, we were hit with quite the thunderstorms and rain; but Ashley and I made the most of it and played in the rain. We had wanted to go see Mount Rushmore get all lit up, but that wasn't really an option. Although, it would have been pretty epic to say that we played in the rain at Mount Rushmore!! (Instead, we played in the rain in view of Mount Rushmore :) )

#18: Well, yesterday (Monday) I was assigned the task of taking one of our new clients to see an apartment he might be renting. I had never spoken to him or met him, and all I knew about him was his telephone number. When I finally showed up at his house (long story), we had about 2 hours together to chat and drive to get to the showing and back to his house. It was pretty great just talking with him about his life, growing up, his current family, and his love for reptiles. I think I learned more about snakes than I ever thought I wanted to!! Today when I called him to schedule another tour on Thursday, he even asked to see if it was me that would be taking him. I look forward to seeing what more comes up in the car then!!

#22: So the whole workout thing is so rewarding, but it is also super hard when my mornings tend to be booked up with all the things I can't do when I'm working in the evenings. Thankfully I've been able to make my house chores and stuff a little more intense of a workout (ever carry 40-60lb laundry baskets up and down stairs repeatedly??). It's not Zumba or swimming, but I am hoping to get back to those ASAP!!

#33: Today we had our first load of donations picked up by the Lupus Foundation of MN! It was fabulously easy and felt great to get some more stuff out of our house!! We are already gathering more stuff as we go so it is ready for their next pick up! The key is to put stuff in bags or boxes as you come across it. As I've been in my room, I might see something on a shelf or find a box of interesting things, and I'll take out a few that I don't need anymore and add them to a bag. By the end of the week, I'll have a full bag!! Plus, it is SO nice to declutter!!!

Bucket List Progress Report #1

Well, it has been a week since I posted my official summer bucket list, and I am proud to say I have completed a couple of the items on the list!!

First, I spent my sister Ashley's birthday out doing fun things with her all day. If you are friends with me on Facebook, you got to see our stops throughout the day, including going to see The Fault In Our Stars, having lunch at Noodle's, going home for some rest, and then stopping by the graduation reception at MCA for some cupcakes and catching up with old friends. We had originally planned to go to the Friday evening Joyful Noise concerts, but with the rain we decided to skip that. In all, it was a great day to celebrate Ashley turning 20, and a wonderful start to our sister dates for the summer. (Item #2.1 on list = complete!)

I have also been working on #22 - Establish a workout routine and actually DO IT. I have managed to reorganize my time to allow for a Zumba and weights workout 3 times/week, and on the days that I do not officially work out, I have other activities planned to keep myself moving. I've included things like cooking/catering (which I did for j6 hours on Saturday and 14 hours on Sunday), cleaning (you should see my room and other areas of the house), etc. On top of this, I have been doing really well at following the eating plan my dietician and I came up with to help solve some of the digestive issues I was having! So far, it's a great start. We aren't going to call this one complete until it becomes a habit, though :)

#29 - Send a card or letter to a different friend each week - complete for last week, and working on this week's :) Ya'll better be watching your mailboxes! (If I don't have your address and you would like a card, send me a PM or email and you're added to the list!!)

Lastly, #33 - Clean out my room and donate anything I haven't used this year. I managed to clean out my closet last week in little spurts between workouts and before work. I have one load ready to go to Goodwill ASAP and more in the works!

Unstoppable Summer: Must-Do Adventures Before I Move Away

Alright guys, here is my list for the best summer of my life so far!! My goal is to make the most of this summer in as many ways as possible. I'm gonna need your help on some of these, so if you want to join in, let's do it!! Keep me accountable, people!

Disclaimer: I have not included the things that are already "givens" for the summer, such as spending extra time with my parents/family, going to the barn every week, and working. So, Mom, in case you were worried that I forgot about you (which I NEVER could!), you and I are already booked!!!

 

1. Go on a one-on-one adventure with a different friend each month (June, July, August).

2. Go on dates with my sister at least once each month.

3. Try a new fruit and a new vegetable that will broaden my healthy-eating horizons.

4. Last an entire day without eating anything processed, packaged, or not in its whole form.

5. Learn a new song on the piano.

6. Lay in the sun and read for a whole day (with sunscreen of course!).

7. Choose one person in my life to pray for everyday, and make a point of talking with them about their life once a week.

8. Go to the quarries and jump of the cliffs into the swimming hole.

9. Take a road trip to some other state (other than Indiana, since I'm moving there!).

10. Read at least 5 books on the all-time classics list.

11. Volunteer somewhere at least once each month.

12. Celebrate Christmas in July, even send cards to my close friends!

13. Host a summer barbecue/picnic at my parents' house - campfire and all!!

14. Go wilderness camping (ok, or just camping in general).

15. Make a new friend and keep in touch with them after I move.

16. Visit children in the hospital.

17. Pay for the person behind me in line.

18. Talk to a stranger about their life for no other reason than to make them feel important.

19. Learn a few phrases in ASL.

20. Go to the beach.

21. Invite someone new to church.

22. Establish a work-out routine and actually DO IT.

23. Go visit a friend who lives too far away to see regularly.

24. Write something very well-thought-out and inspirational, even if I never actually share it (but I probably will, knowing me).

25. Write a research paper just for the fun of it.

26. Go see multiple movies in a row at the theater (at matinee prices, of course!). Even better - go to a drive-in movie!!

27. Play in the rain.

28. Color every picture in a coloring book and send each picture to a different friend.

29. Send a card or letter to a different friend each week as encouragement or just to say hi.

30. Learn something new about my best friend.

31. Pray for a celebrity that is making a difference in the world.

32. Bring lunch to homeless people.

33. Clean out my room and donate anything I haven't used this year.

That Sinking Feeling

If you grew up in church, even if you didn't, you are likely familiar with the story of Jesus walking on the water and the example of Peter that comes immediately after it in Matthew 14.

²⁸ And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” ²⁹ He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. ³⁰ But when he saw the wind,^[d] he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” ³¹ Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” ³² And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. ³³ And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

We've heard the message many times before - Peter sinks because he doubted that Jesus would carry him over the water; but I think sometimes it's easy for us to just quote it as a good story with a lesson rather than dig deeper into it's meaning for our lives. Have you ever thought about what it was that caused Peter to sink? Peter saw the wind. Peter saw that there were waves, that the water was deep and unsteady, and that he could be swallowed up by it at any moment. Immediately as Peter allowed his thoughts to go to those waves and their potential power over him, he lost the faith it took for him to step out of the boat.

Many of us as Christians have stepped out of the boat on many occasions: following the desires that God has placed in our hearts or even just the big step of accepting Christ as our Savior; but how long do your eyes stay on Jesus as you walk toward Him? See, Peter's journey to where Jesus was standing was likely only a few steps of faith across the sea, but it becomes an excellent metaphor for our journey in following Christ as our Lord and Savior. Each step is a chance for us to decide where our eyes are going to find their focus - is it going to be on Jesus or is it going to be on the ocean swirling beneath and around us?

I want to challenge you to think about what your ocean is. Is it financial trouble? Family problems? Health issues? What is it that continuously pulls your focus off from Jesus and causes you to sink in swirling waters? Take a minute and figure out what has had your attention more that Jesus has lately, and then continue reading.

The next step in your walk of faith across the water toward your Savior is to ask Him to open your eyes to His truth, love, and faithfulness; to establish in your heart a trust in Him that He is never going to let you sink. He will be your lifeguard, a stronghold for you to balance on as you walk across the waves. When you find your thoughts wandering to your ocean, immediately call on Jesus for peace and faith. Take a step toward Him and allow Him to keep you from sinking. I encourage you to find verses in the Bible that you can memorize such as Isaiah 26:3, "He keeps in perfect peace him whose mind is stayed on Him, because he trusts in Him." Make your time in the Word and in prayer a priority. As you do these things, watch yourself rise above your doubts and fear and walk toward Jesus on the water.