GPS

So this weekend's hike was at Paynetown State Recreational Area. My girl and I took two new trails and enjoyed the crisp sunny morning. The lesson I learned today...GPS is a fine thing. The markers for the trails can be very poorly placed or sometimes not even be there at all. And these trails were no exception. Little paths that cut off and were not even on the map at all, makeshift paths due to flooding and overgrowth made this one quite the challenge at times. The saving grace was when I could see on my tracker that I was getting off of the path as I walked. Then I would have to turn around and find the right path again. I found myself continually checking my course along the way just to make sure I was on the right track. 😉 And it reminded of me of how as Christians, God's Word and the Holy Spirit is our GPS system. It guides us and shows us the path to go. Because life will have it's twists and turns, and it will have it's roadblocks and little trails that entice you off the real path that you are actually supposed to be on. You have to continually be in the Word and paying attention to what God is trying to tell you and He will keep you on the right track. If we get complacent or starting taking our own course we are bound to end of up lost and in a place we never wanted to go. Perhaps it's pride, or self-reliance or we may just be feeling pretty good because things have been smooth sailing up until that point. But we cannot lose sight of our compass, our guidebook telling us the best way to go and to follow Christ's will in our lives. There were a couple of times where I would get off the path and I would get this feeling that something wasn't quite right and I would look at my GPS, go back to my original point before things got "interesting" and found my way back to the correct path. In the same way I believe God uses the Holy Spirit to speak into our lives and give us warning signs or feelings. If something doesn't seem  quite right we need to go back to the Word and make sure that we are really on track or not. There is nothing wrong with relying on the GPS, or a compass or maps in hiking. It gets us where we need to go and prevents us from getting lost and ending up in places that we don't want to be. In the same way we can never spend too much time studying God's Guidebook for life and what He is telling us through the Holy Spirit. He wants us to stay on the right trail so that we can be safe and enjoy all that He has in store for us along the way!

"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."     Psalm 119:105 (ESV)

Steadfast Love

"Because your steadfast love is better the life, my lips will praise you." Psalm 63:3 (ESV) So I have been pondering lately what love really means to some people and I have come to the conclusion that human love is fake, cheap, conditional, and as shifty and unreliable as the waves on a beach. What is said and meant one day is tossed to the wind the next. And I began to wonder as human beings are we truly capable of true, un-relentless love? It doesn't take long for us to look and find broken souls who played the "love" game and found themselves empty and deserted. And then I came across the Psalm 63:3 in my Bible reading and it spoke to me. "...Your steadfast love is better than life..." David wrote this Psalm while he was in the wilderness of Judah. He was in a "dry and weary land" (vs. 1) and feeling the weight of his enemies upon him. He felt alone and faint and just needed a break. And we know from David's life that he played the "love" game and ultimately paid for it. But yet even in these bleak circumstances he proclaimed God's unfailing love and that He would praise Him for it. And that is when I fully realized. Many people in this world do not know how to love at all and may never. Now I know that may sound harsh, but you must understand. People cannot truly love unless they know what love truly is. And who is the ultimate Author of love? God Himself. Unless someone has experienced the pure, undeniable, indescribable, uncontainable love of God they can never truly love anyone else. Because the love that God has for us is a steadfast love that is better and stronger than even life itself. It never quits, it never gives up, it never walks out, it never replaces, it never fails. We as human beings until we have accepted the gift of God's love in our lives can never love another human being fully and it is ONLY by God that we can do so because of His presence in us. So we go around chasing down love with multiple partners, approval by family and friends, likes on our social media posts, and followers pleading for the love that they can not give us because they may not truly understand it themselves. Unless someone has fully understood the sacrifice that Christ made on the cross for them and have been filled up with His love and affection anything that they pass on to us will be flawed. God's sacrifice of His Son and Christ's obedience to the cross is true love. Sacrifice that knows no bounds.  And only until we understand and offer MUTUAL sacrifice in our relationships then we will always be left wanting. When you find a love that is better than life itself like David did then you have found LOVE my friends! So I pray your will search your heart and ask yourself if you have opened yourself up to God's steadfast love? Or are you grasping for it in all the things, places, and people the world has to offer? We will never be perfect and the human heart is deceitful above all things, but if we have the Author of love actively flowing through us we will be able to have the capacity to love beyond this world's capability and we will be able to recognize real love for us through flowing though someone else's life. Fight for real love, He has the victory. Share the life-giving love that you have in you to those who may never have experienced it. Sing with joy of the love that He has for you, the blood that was shed while we were yet sinners and how much He wants to offer that to every human being no matter how far they fallen. But remember it must come from Him ultimately, He is the cure, not us. 

"Although the battle, it rages on

The war already won

I know the war is already won....Your love defends me."

-Your Love Defends Me, Matt Maher https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=witKT8Y6Da8

Beauty Under Water

Hi everyone, So I had a morning hike with my best girl at Lake Monroe's Amy Weingartner Branigin Peninsula trail(what a mouthful, haha). Unfortunately the beach was gone from all the flooding we have received as of late so in order to not lose her to the lake, she had to mainly just admire the water.🤣

This trail out onto the peninsula is quickly becoming one of my favorite spots to relax and spent quiet time with the Lord. It never fails I find a little spiritual tidbit to take home. This time as I am staring out at the feet upon feet of water that has enveloped the beach that is no longer visible, He didn't fail: Just because I can't see the beach any longer doesn't mean it isn't there. I know, super life-altering right? 😆 But just follow me here...even though the waves of water have seemingly engulfed the once idyllic beach doesn't mean is has ceased to exist, never to be enjoyed again. In time the water will recede, the dam will be opened, and the beach will reappear yet again. In the same way there are perhaps things in our lives that seem to be "under water". The once beautiful things in life we had, now bashed and covered by the waves of turmoil and testing. We look and we can no longer see them and somehow we feel as if they are gone, never to return. But be patient, just because you cannot see something right now, doesn't mean it isn't still there. Once our hearts open to Christ's plan and our trust is place in Him, our struggles with eventually receded and our hopes and dreams and joy will come back. We will see the shore again.

But we must also remember. When I go back once the waters have receded, the beach will not be the same as before. It will have changed. But I guarantee it will be as beautiful as before if not more so. It will be fresh and ready to provide joy yet again to its visitors. When the waters of turmoil recede in our lives, we will not be the same. We may bear the evidence of the struggle in us for a time. But we will be beautiful and I believe even more so because of the God who washed us clean and new. He will use those troubling times to bring about His grace and goodness in our lives and we will yet again see the beauty He has had in store for us all along, even when we couldn't see it. It may not be exactly what we envisioned before, but I believe it will be even better because He is so much greater than our finite minds can comprehend. Tumultuous waves create smooth, shiny stones, a piece of dirt becomes a beautiful pearl inside an oyster, wind beaten, twisted trees I've seen on the California shoreline still grow and reach for the skies, and our greatest dark spot and struggles can become a glorious testimony to God's redeeming power in our lives. Never forget it. The beach will return and when it does it will be oh so sweet.