Monday Morning Munch No. 11 - Fairy Tales

Once upon a time there was a 23 year old girl who loved blue ink pens, pumpkin spice lattes, camping and Hallmark movies. 

She loved the Lord more than anything in the world and would be perfectly content curled up with a good book and a steaming cup of coffee as the hours ticked by, or perhaps just a journal and an ink pen (preferably blue) by the fireplace. 

In fact, that's where the following blog was conceived. She hopes it encourages you. 

Hallmark movies are so wholesome and sweet and, although thoroughly predictable, I genuinely look forward to watching each new movie they produce. I get swept up in the (predictable) love story, the quirky characters and the impossible situation which true love always overcomes.

Today, as I was washing dishes I realized those movies probably weren't the best thing for my heart.

I mean, they are nothing more than fairy tales. Fictional stories. Nothing but unrealistic fantasies that cause women (and maybe men?) to set standards for a relationship/marriage so high no human could possibly reach.

And, as I continued washing the casserole pans and giant pumpkin-carving knives, it hit me. No, not the knives, thankfully, but the realization that even though I'm single, I'm a part of a love story that puts even the greatest fairy tales to shame.


God, the Creator of the Universe, has redeemed me from my sins, my morality and my good works--which were taking me straight to hell--and lifted me from that path to destruction and sat my foot firmly on the rock- Jesus. Now that very same God, the One who called stars into being and who took the death I deserved, calls me His bride.

What? Yeah. I'm the bride of Christ.

Wow.

And what a wedding feast it will be when He returns for His Church. We really will live happily ever after.

For eternity.

What a celebration of love.
What a Savior.
What a marriage.

“Fear not, for you will not be ashamed;

be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced;

for you will forget the shame of your youth,

and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.

For your Maker is your Husband,

the LORD of hosts is His name;

and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,

the God of the whole earth He is called.

(Isaiah 54:4-5 ESV)

Monday Morning Munch No. 10 - Rebuke, Encouragement and Things I Hate

Sometimes I think I receive encouragement differently than most people.

I (usually) don’t enjoy compliments. Mostly because I don’t believe they are given sincerely. False flattery is probably No. 3 on the list of things Sophie hates. Apparently it makes me so mad I speak in third person. (For those of you wondering, sin is No. 1 followed by a deep abhorrence to candy corn.)

The order of importance there is still a little sketchy. Mice are on that list too. Probably ahead of candy corn.

I digress.

The way I do receive encouragement and feel the most loved by people is when they rebuke me.

You know someone really loves you when they sacrifice both their comfort and yours for the sake of something greater.

As always, the Bible says it best (I mean, it’s hard to beat the whole God-inspired-Word stuff).

“Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy. One who is full loathes honey, but to one who is hungry everything bitter is sweet.” –Proverbs 27:5-7

The awesome thing about receiving a rebuke from someone is that when those same people offer you compliments or encouraging words you know they are genuine—they have proven they can be trusted.

The Latest Rebuke

Sometimes rebuke comes from the most unlikely places. Most of the time it comes from sermons, books or my closest friends (I know they’re my closest friends because they love me enough to point out things I’m blinded to, sins, areas needing growth, etc.), but the last zing of conviction and rebuke came from Lecrae.

Yes. Lecrae. The rapper. If you don’t know who he is, look him up. You’ll get more theology in one song than in most American church services every week. Combined.

The rebuke came from a line in “Boasting,” one of my all-time favorite Lecrae songs. If you don’t know it you can watch the video/lyrics here.

Glory was solely meant for You,Doing what no one else could do.With all I have to giveI’ll use my life, I’ll use my lips.I’ll only glory in Your Word, a gift to me I don’t deserve.I’ll live in such a way that it reflects to You my praise.

The rebuke came gently but firmly.

How many times do I pray for God to use me but (sometimes subconsciously) have a preconceived idea of what that will look like? I fear that so often He wants to use me but because of anxiety, intimidation, pride and all kinds of other stupid things, I don’t open my mouth—a tool He has given each of us to use for His glory, purposes and divine use. I ask to be used but don't use what He's already given me. That's just silly.

“With all I have to give I’ll use my life, I’ll use my lips.”

So God, here am I, send me. Send me to the farthest regions of the world or just to a hurting person right here. Use me to speak grace, life, love and hope to everyone I encounter in the form of Your glorious Gospel upon which You gave Your life and I now stake mine.

Monday Morning Munch No. 7 - Why do bad things happen?

It's a constant question, "Why does God let bad things happen to good people?"

First, I would ask you to define 'good.'

Then you would most likely stumble over an answer and maybe even rephrase the question to say, "Why does God allow so much evil in the world?"

Either way you're asking the wrong question.

Why doesn't God allow us to experience all of His wrath like we deserve?

There is none good, none (Romans 3:10). We have all fallen from God and are completely wicked.

Therefore, if God removed all the evil in the world He would have to remove us to, because when you eliminate the bad things where do you stop? Murders, rapes, lying, cheating or bad thoughts? They're all bad, so if He eliminated those we'd have to go too.

We constantly ask self-centered questions that are phrased in such a way that look deep, philosophical and sometimes even theological when really we just want to know why we're feeling pain.

Then we want to blame it on someone, and who better but God who is in control of all things?

Ahh, but the majority of Americans, even professing Christians, want a God who will only give them what they want, fix their problems and set them on a course of smooth sailing all the way to the pearly gates.

But God is too good for that.

He designs situations to come in our lives that show us we are not all that we think we are. We are finite, breakable creatures who suffer under the divine sovereignty of a good and holy God. Why? So we will realize He is great and we are not. He is perfect and we are sinners. We are needy and He is the fixer.

God shows us our fragile state and helplessness so that we finally recognize our need for Him.

He knows our inability to come to Him on our own, so He came to us. He did what we could not do: live perfectly. Then Jesus, God in flesh, died our death. He took all of God's wrath on the cross, then rose from the dead three days later finishing the impossible task and conquering over death, hell, sin and Satan.

He doesn't stop there.

God then ordains situations and circumstances to bring us to the end of ourselves so we realize how finite we are and how we need an infinite God. In His breathtakingly beautiful mercy, God saves all who repent and turn from their sins, who surrenders their life into His hands and call on Him in humility and brokenness (Psalm 51:17).

So bad things do happen, pain comes in like a flood and it seems like we can't do anything to fix the situation- praise God! In His mercy He's showing your need of someone bigger than you- Him.

Therefore we can say with great hope, that God will never do anything that is not for our ultimate good and His ultimate glory.

Turn to Him. Turn away from your sin and let God take your life. He makes the painful times make sense and the happy times full of joy inexpressible.

“Our vision is so limited we can hardly imagine a love that does not show itself in protection from suffering. The love of God is of a different nature altogether. It does not hate tragedy. It never denies reality. It stands in the very teeth of suffering. The love of God did not protect His own Son. That was the proof of His love – that He gave that Son, that He let Him go to Calvary’s cross, though “legions of angels” might have rescued Him. He will not necessarily protect us- not from anything it takes to make us like His Son. A lot of hammering and chiseling and purifying by fire will have to go into the process.” -Elisabeth Elliot

If you would like to read more on God's sovereignty and hope through the trials, please read:
Encouragement Through the Trials,
How to Have a Life of Worship Through Trials, Obstacles and Fire,
and God is in Control,
for Scriptures and encouragement.

Monday Morning Munch No. 5 - He Died My Death

The purpose of MMM is to be a little breakfast of encouragement before the week starts, and today I want to share one of the most humbling but encouraging things I've read in a long time.

"Be hard on sin but easy on forgiveness. I think that's what the cross proves about our God. He's hanging there because I put Him there. God is making a statement about what He thinks about my sin as Jesus writhes in agony trying to get enough leverage to just breathe. He's there on the cross because God is saying something about my sin, "I hate it. I'm hard on sin. You want to know how hard I am on sin? Watch Me as I deal with My Son on Calvary." And without mercy, without grace, without pity, without compassion, He brutally killed His Son and made Him to suffer my hell. God is hard on sin so He can be easy to come to me one day and say, "Forgiven.""

-Michael Durham  

"He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

-2 Corinthians 5:2

If that doesn't wrap you up in a warm blanket of love, humility and awe, I don't know what will.

Jesus became our sin. We were supposed to have His death, but because of love He suffered in our place so that full atonement could be received by us and full glory could be given to Him.

Man of Sorrows! What a Name:

Man of Sorrows! what a name

For the Son of God, Who came 

Ruined sinners to reclaim. 

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Bearing shame and scoffing rude, 

In my place condemned He stood; 

Sealed my pardon with His blood. 

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Guilty, vile, and helpless we; 

Spotless Lamb of God was He; 

Full atonement can it be? 

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Lifted up was He to die; 

"It is finished!" was His cry; 

Now in heaven exalted high. 

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

When He comes, our glorious King, 

All His ransomed home to bring, 

Then anew His song we'll sing: 

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

I pray you are able to see with what pure, redeeming, relentless love God has loved you. He offers redemption and steadfast love to all [Psalm 130:7-8]. And, while He was hard on your sins, He is easy on forgiveness [which in no way makes it acceptable to sin, Romans 6:15]. If you haven't died to yourself and this world, do it today. If you have, be encouraged by the Gospel and preach it to yourself daily as you continue to die to your identity in this world.

Monday Morning Munch No. 2- Common and Still Useable

Does the Lord use us, common men and women?

The following is a little food for the soul (and hopefully a nugget that will stir questions) that will answer that.

In Acts 3, Peter and John are used of God to heal a man lame from birth. They then take the opportunity to share the Gospel to everyone who saw the miracle. Because of their teaching and preaching they greatly annoyed the Sadducees and temple people, so Peter and John were arrested (chapter four).

When they went before the high priest and were questioned about sharing the Gospel, they did not defend themselves but started talking about all the wonders Jesus had done. Then boldly proceeded to share the Gospel with the very people who were telling them to stop. This is what happened next:

"Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus." -Acts 4:13

What comfort and encouragement oozed out of this passage for me. They were uneducated (in the Rabbinical schools) and were common. Yet they were used so powerfully by God (because of their boldness) so that the high priests were astonished and saw and recognized they had been with Jesus, for there was no other explanation.

Does your life look different than the world?

Is it easily recognizable that you have been with Jesus?

The high priests end up letting them go even after Peter and John tell them they won't stop speaking about the Lord. Why did they let them go?

"(They let them go) finding no way to punish them, because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened." -Acts 4:21

Take heart today, O my soul, for the Lord uses common men! It is my earnest prayer to be used by God and that everyone I encounter--whether they be for me or against me--would recognize that I have been with Jesus. May all the people praise the Lord. 

Praying we go forth in boldness to proclaim the Gospel,

Monday Morning Munch No. 1- Word Study: Equip

Welcome to the very first Monday Morning Munch! It is my goal to post a short devotional-esque blog every Monday morning on something God is teaching me that week. I hope you will continue reading and that God would encourage, refresh and feed your hearts so much with His words, not mine.

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This week, as He often does, God has zoned in on one particular word for me to chew on. Word studies are one of my favorite things to do; if there is a word burning in my mind or if I’m trying to better grasp what a word means in relation to the Bible (the real Word), I’ll look up the definition then every verse that has that particular word in it and try to gain a better understanding.

Clearly you wouldn’t want to do a word study on the word the, and, or so.

Anyway, this week the word was equip.

It all started when I was praying Hebrews 13:20-21,

“Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with every good work that you may do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

During Passion 2010, Beth Moore defined equip to mean:

To prepare,

to adjust,

to fit,

to readjust,

to supply,

to mold,

to complete.

So put that definition in the verse:

Our Lord Jesus, by the blood of the eternal covenant, prepares, adjusts, fits, readjusts, supplies, molds, and completes us with every good work so that we may do His will.

Wow.

So then I looked up the other verses with equip in it.

Turns out there are only three passages in the Bible with that word in it.

Short study. 

But so good.

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” -2 Timothy 3:16-17

Not only does God Himself equip us through life experiences, trials and other people, but His primary way of preparing, adjusting, fitting, readjusting, supplying, molding, and completing us is through His precious Word (which He breathed out).

Question for application:

• Am I ignoring or overlooking this method of His equipping or am I diving head first into His Scripture to be as equipped as possible?

This next verse was my absolute favorite.

“I call you by name, I name you though you do not know Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides Me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know Me, that people may know from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides Me; I am the Lord and there is no other.” –Isaiah 45:4b-6

How awesome to consider that before we knew God He knew us and was equipping us to make His name famous. Think about that. Before salvation ever took place, God was equipping (preparing, adjusting, fitting, readjusting, supplying, molding, and completing) you for the very things you are facing today.

How deep the Father’s love for us!

 

Morning Fuel

Gone are the days of waking up and going out to get the morning paper in your fashionable robe while the coffee is brewing then returning inside and pouring a steamy cup of joe while you pore over the daily news.

The Internet is the preferred reading of choice nowadays and, even though I'm a journalist, my morning reading has gone from feeding my humor in the comics section of the local paper to feeding my soul with hearty blogs of people (particularly women) seeking hard after the Lord.

My sister got me started on this little morning snack for the soul and the following are a list of the blogs I check each morning after spending quality time in the Word.

P.S. I do suggest waking up your brain with some light reading before you dive into your Bible reading for the day, that way you don't have to read one verse 50 times to actually comprehend what it's saying and you don't waste valuable time in the Word. I do this by reading Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening. (Note: This is a link to the daily devotionals but, while I definitely recommend this book, if you will get distracted on the Internet before getting time alone with God in His Word, I would suggest reading an actual book so as to maintain your heart's undivided focus.) 

I hope these blogs will encourage you on your walk with our Savior and help you to fall in love with Him more as your hearts are refreshed and you are pushed to the cross.


Real Truth Matters  (shameless plug for the awesome ministry where I am blessed to "work")

Treasuring Christ (this is my brother-in-law and sister's ministry... love it, love them. It's so awesome to see them pursuing God with everything they have and encouraging others to do the same. this blog has something for everyone, male, female, young or old-- you won't be disappointed.)

Every Bitter This is Sweet (my sister introduced me to this blog and I love, love, love it. Sara's transparency in sharing the ups and downs of daily walking with the Lord, and four adopted children, is beautiful.)

A Holy Experience (Ann Voskamp, author of One Thousand Gifts, gives us another beautifully written, inspiring and often challenging blog.)

Courtney Veasey (i actually just found this blog yesterday and spent way too much of my afternoon reading entries about what the Lord has taught this seminary student getting ready to leave california.)

Kisses From Katie (the blog of Katie Davis, the 24 year old who moved to uganda at age 19 and has since adopted 14 beautiful ebony-skinned daughters. awesome for perspective and to remember the call to the nations every Christ-follower has.)

Domestick Kingdom (the tagline says it all: applying the Gospel to the mundane.)

Desiring God (there's not really much to say about this wonderful ministry of John Piper. solid, solid stuff.)

Noel Piper (wife of John, Noel Piper is a tremendous encouragement for women seeking the way of the Lord.)

Lysa Terkeurst (if you want to read something you can relate to, look no further than Lysa Terkeurst. fabulously encouraging and so applicable to daily life.)

Living Proof Ministries (the blog of Beth Moore's ministry. awesome resource for girls' ministry and just plain ol' soul food.)

My Utmost for His Highest (take a fork and knife to this one, you might be chewing for a while. and that's always a good thing when it's about our Lord.)


here's to strengthening our soul with a delicious breakfast (lunch or dinner),