Monday, March 27, 2017

loss and gain

With jet-engine propulsion
You send me down the runway
Of your path for me.
With the loss of my own will
And the surrender to your plan
I can say that I now understand.

I understand the sweetness of
Surrender. The breaking of my own will
and the acceptance of your own
ushers in peace, deep peace, and your grace.
Why did I wait this long?


For too long I sought my own path.
I look back and see the carnage
Of my own will worked out:
The skeletons of broken (but forgiven)
Friendships and relationships.
The fist-shaking-three-year-old I've been the last couple of years.
The walls I've thrown up at people I didn't want to work things out with.
The fear I was unwilling to let you work through.
The ugly words, the unspoken words.
The years of wishing my life looked differently than it does.

Oh, that you would redeem the time
And I have faith you will.
You will right all wrongs in the end, even,
especially, those I've birthed.
You will give words where needed,
you will give courage for the path,
you will heal the wounds and the broken bones I have no ability to heal.
You will give continued grace to accept and submit to this strange path.
And best of all, you take this three year old into your arms,
quieting me with your love and send me forth.

You send me forth on a mission of your choosing
and I accept. I accept at the loss of my own will.
And I gain. As I look back on the miles and years
of lost dreams and hopes and demands and rights
and friends, in surrender to you, I gain.
I gain your peace, your provision and your guiding hand.

Oh Lord, from this middle seat somewhere above mid-America,
take this broken will and do with it what you will.
Make right my wrongs.
As I let go, I gain everything.
For Lord, where else would I go where I would find anything sweeter?

Thursday, February 23, 2017

the depths of our meagerness

Once we realize that Jesus has served us even to the depths of our meagerness, our selfishness, and our sin, nothing we encounter from others will be able to exhaust our determination to serve others for His sake.

Oswald Chambers

Friday, January 27, 2017

founded and established

"On the holy mount stands the city he founded...the Most High himself will establish her. " Psalm 87:1 and 5

Last night while traveling home I had a couple moments of feeling weak and vulnerable. At one point the plane felt like it would be rattled apart by turbulence. Another moment, a wave of tiredness came over me while I waited for the next flight from Dallas to deliver my bag.

I awoke this morning thankful for my own bed, warm sunshine in the window and homemade coffee instead of hotel coffee. In the midst of these earthly comforts, I found myself searching for something Solid and Strong. I "randomly" opened to Psalms 87 and found the words "he founded" and "himself will establish her". These words are in reference to a city that the Lord builds, but I take comfort them, because this is the character of the God I serve in this challenging season. I know he is also founding and establishing me, all the while he holds planes together and gives me grace while I await a delayed bag at the end of a long day.

#hardfightsoftheart