On purpose

I just wanted to share this encouraging portion of scripture today - it's a passage so full of the goodness of the Lord I can hardly stand it:

Isaiah 61:1-3

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, 3 To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”

See what I mean? Such goodness. It speaks for itself, but allow me to paraphrase this awesome passage if you will...

Jesus came to heal my broken heart. My heart that had been wounded so greatly as a child, He came to heal. Your heart, perhaps wounded in the same manner, or through a different relationship, or through a job loss, or through a health setback, or through a financial crisis, your heart too, He came to heal.

He came to set me free from the prison of shame that I lived in. He set me free from the prison of worthlessness and inferiority. He set me free from a prison of bitterness and un-forgiveness. He set me free from numerous things that if time permitted, I'd keep you here at least an hour. And He came to set you free too. From whatever prison has held you, He's already set you free. From whatever prison may still hold you, know that He has already unlocked the door for you. It's time to step out of the door. It's open.

He came to give me beauty for the ashes that I found myself sitting in. He came and took a mess of a life and turned it into something so beautiful that I can hardly contain my thankfulness! The life I get to live now is nothing short of a miracle when you look upon the ashes I once was in. True beauty. He came to do that for you too.

He came to give me joy in the midst of sadness. He came to remind me that this is just a temporary existence, I'm simply passing through this life. This is not my permanent resting place. And because of that, I can walk through the sorrows that this old world can bring with my head held high, full of joy, knowing that I'm on my way to a place where God will wipe every tear from my eye. I'm going to a place where there is no more sorrow, there is no pain. So while here on this Earth, I'll do my best to be all I can be for Christ, living a life full of joy, in hopes of taking some other folks to that same great place I'm headed. He came to give you that joy too.

Oh man, now this one brings me tears. He came to give me a garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Now hold onto your hats folks, because I'm liable to sail away on this one. Anyone felt a heaviness that you just could not shake? You ever felt so weighed down with the cares of this world that you could not bare to get out of bed? Heaviness. Ugh. We have all been there. We have all faced some things that truly seemed insurmountable, and as a result, a spirit of heaviness sets on us like a thick, wool blanket. A spirit of heaviness will steal your joy, it will steal your love for life, it will steal your relationships, it will steal your will to press forward...unlesss. Unless.

Unless you stand up, adjust your posture to that of royalty, shake off that old wool blanket that's been draping you for far too long and you begin to SHOUT!!!! SHOUT! SHOUT!!! Shout out the goodness of our God! Shout out that He is your redeemer! Shout out that He is your provider! Shout out that He is your Savior! Shout out that He is your deliverer! Shout out that He is your way-maker! Shout out that He is your love! Shout out that He is your song! Shout out that He is your protector! Shout out that He is your vindicator! Shout out that He is your righteousness! Shout! Shout! Shout!

My oh my. What a great God we get to serve. I love this last part as well, "That they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified."

God planted me on purpose. You ever plant something in your garden, and those pesky little weeds pop up and try to take out the thing you planted on purpose? Drives me batty when that happens. What I planted on purpose is meant to flourish, not the weeds that try to come in and overtake. You were planted on purpose. Don't let a spirit of heaviness set in and overtake what God has planted on purpose. Don't allow that blanket to sit on you another day. You were planted on purpose; that you would bring glory to the Lord. Everything you & I do will face a consequence, be it good or bad. May our choices bring glory to God. May our choices be made out of a righteous heart, because He has made us righteous. Because He has made us joyful. Because He has made us free. Because He has made us on purpose.

Does it ever stop?

I don't know about you, but I have days where my mind is constantly going. I'd venture to say most all women have this problem, our mind's don't take a rest! We are always thinking of the tasks of the day, the problems we are facing, the hurts of others or even ourselves, the needs that we are aware of...the list goes on and on and on. Wether we are sad or rejoicing, mad or delighted, anxious or peaceful, we are always something. Something is always filling our mind. Something. What's your something today?

Psalm 94:19 says, "In the multitude of my anxieties within me, Your comforts delight my soul."

How great a scripture is that? It goes along with what I was reading this morning in John 14 where Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

Then I open up good old Facebook and this scripture was posted: Matthew 11:29 "Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."

Hmmm. I see a theme for the day here! Peace. Rest. Comfort.

We like to fix stuff. We want to solve everyone's problems. We women care so very deeply for people that when a friend or family member is struggling, it nearly overwhelms our soul until that situation is resolved. But is that right? Well, to a degree I think so. And to a degree, not so much.

I love women. I love how intricate we are. I love how emotional we are. I love how big we love. I love how it's first nature for us to help someone. I think God did a pretty cool job when He created us!

But then there is the side of us that.never.shuts.off. Or maybe that's just me. Our mind's keep going and going until we have either re-hearsed the situation to death or we have solved the problem ten times over or we have struggled to make sense of something, etc., etc., etc.

Anyone? No? Just me? Ok, I'll take the wrap today! Well I have a news flash for you then, Jen Steelman: It's not up to you to fix the world!

Nor is it up to anyone else out there that has ever mulled over stuff until they are blue in the face, thinking that the more we think about it the closer we are to fixing it. Not true.

Jesus left us with His peace. His peace? Can you imagine the depth of that peace? Go with me for a moment to Gethsemane. Oh my goodness. Ya gotta read it for yourself: Luke 22:41-44 "And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground."

The One who could fix the world had a mind that was full. The One who very well could have solved His problem at that moment, had a mind that was overwhelmed. He easily could have said, "forget it. I'm not doing this. I'm not going through with it. Forget it." He could have decided to just fix the world. Forget the plan of redemption, just fix it. Make everyone robots.

But in essence He says "I love these people too much. I love them so much that I want them to have their own free will. I created them each so individually, and I love that about them! I want them to make their own choices regarding their feelings toward me. I will die for them. And in so doing I will make it so very easy for them to get to me. Because I love them."

Talk about a mind that's overwhelmed. Talk about the weight of the world on His shoulders, literally. LITERALLY.

So when He says that He leaves us with His peace, He knows the extent of what that means. He knows what it is like to agonize over something, He knows what it's like to want to fix a problem, He knows what it's like to hurt and to grieve, He knows what it's like to have people hate you, He knows what it's like to be rejected and betrayed, He knows what it's like to be afraid of the unknown, and He knows what it's like to love a person (people) so deeply that it overwhelms you to the core of your soul. He knows.

And it's with that knowledge that He is able to say, "MY peace I leave with you." He knows what is waiting for us in eternity. He knows the end from the beginning. He knows how that problem you are worried about will be solved. He knows how He is going to take that difficult situation you went through and use it for good. He totally, totally knows.

And that, my friends, is the Peace He gives. It's a peace that we can hang onto reminding us that He is in control and not us. It's a peace that we can claim in the midst of any storm we might face. It's a peace that will surround us in the confusing seasons of life. It's a peace that will indeed go beyond what we can understand and bring such a sense of calm that we have no doubt that God is on His throne. It's a peace that drove Jesus to the cross...woah. Peace? He went to the cross with peace? You bet He did. Because He trusted in His Father to work all things for the good. Wow.

So when life begins to overwhelm us, and our mind begins to race with all the "stuff" we women face, remember the peace that Jesus left us with. Remember that He felt all the same emotions that you feel. And remember, that in spite of what He felt, He stayed on the path created for Him, trusting in God, walking in Peace.

Reminds me of the hymn, "peace, peace, wonderful peace, coming down from the Father above."

Hold onto your peace today. Give those things over to the Lord, trust Him for the outcome. Because at the end of the day, He really can fix the world.

I'm a Chocolate Chip!

The Body of Christ is a unique thing; so important to this world in that it holds the answer to eternity within it's members, the answer that is Jesus & His gift of salvation. And yet, even with such immense power at our disposal, the body of Christ holds the potential to do such damage, and more often then not, that damage is done within the body.

God loves his bride, the body of Christ. He looks at us through the precious blood of His Son, Jesus, and He see's nothing that we have done in our past, He see's nothing that once held us down, because as the body of Christ, we are under that cleansing blood of Jesus. So when He looks at us, He see's our great potential! He knows the power house that we can be! He knows what great things can be accomplished for the good when the body of Christ comes together in unity, when we combine our resources to do some good stuff for the Kingdom of God, when we walk in love in every area of our life, to everyone we come in contact with. That's the body of Christ at it's finest. And He knows it.

But I wonder today, do we know it? Do we really comprehend the power that resides in the body of Christ? Do we fully allow the body to work the way that it was intended to work? Or do we let offense set it, do we dwell on the negative things going on around us, do we deem the job to big or the problem insurmountable? Hmm. I just wonder.

The job is big. The problem does indeed seem insurmountable. Unity in the body of Christ? Too hard. Or is it?

Jesus said that the Harvest is plentiful but that the workers are few. So if the Harvest is there, I guess all that's needed is the workers to plow the fields. And who are the workers? Its you, it's me, it's our brother's and it's our sisters. It's the amazing, fantastic, beautiful, intelligent, gifted, anointed, loving and caring body of Christ. It's His bride. It's His church. It's His people.

I love 1 Corinthians chapter 12. So much in there to glean from. But let's look at verse 27. It say's, "Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually."

Each one of us is unique to the body of Christ. Each of us has something different to bring to the table. As I was baking the other day, I was reminded of this very thing. Often in baking you mix the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients separately. As I was mixing the flour, the salt & the baking soda, I was thinking how gross that would taste by itself. And even as you mix the wet ingredients, granted it's often with sugar & butter so it's a tad more palatable, but still, not a great taste. But then you put it all together and voila, you have baked goodness. Apart from one another, they just don't function to their fullest potential, but together, they bring delight to all who partake...think about that for a moment. Hmmm.

And now let's not forget the chocolate chips! Now they can stand on their own can't they? They taste good before being added to the dry & wet ingredients, I'm sure we can all attest to sneaking one or two or twenty chocolate chips while baking cookies. Even though they taste good alone, they taste even BETTER combined. There true flavor comes out in the baking process. Oh goodness, there's another analogy. Someone stop me!

I've decided that I want to be a chocolate chip in the body of Christ. I want to be a person that is strong enough to stand on my own. Like a great verse I read in 1 Corinthians, it's 6:13 and it say's, "Watch, stand fast in faith, be brave, be strong." I want to live that verse. I want to be brave and strong. I want to be able to stand on my own, IF I HAD TO. I'm a chocolate chip! Yes, I want to be able to stand on my own, but I don't want to have to. I want to be the ingredient that when combined with all the other individual ingredients, something greater comes out of me.

In order to be that, I've got to do my part to represent the body of Christ well. I've got to live offense free, probably the hardest thing to do, in my opinion. I've got to keep my mouth shut like the old saying goes, "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." I've got to be careful not to carry someone else's offense. I've got to let God be the judge of others, it's not up to me. I dwell on that topic for a moment because I believe it's one of the biggest dividers in the body of Christ. We take up one another's offense, without having all the facts about a situation, we jump on the band wagon and call it truth, while leaving a wake of dissension in our dust. It's awful to see happen and unfortunately I've seen it happen all too often. It's hard for folks to recover from offense that leads to division. It's hard for the body of Christ as a whole, but furthermore, it's hard for the individual. Offense can shipwreck your faith, causing you to believe that God is somehow the author of a mess like that...when all along it really was the devil, just orchestrating a situation, all for the sake of destroying a member of the body.

I much prefer talking about chocolate than I do the devil, so let's get back to being a chocolate chip! To be the chocolate chip, we have to be offense free. We have to bridle our tongue. We should be the most encouraging group of people that folks are plain annoyed by our joy! And yet, they can't help but be intrigued by it. We are to be "doers of the Word and not just hearers." So in other words, as my handsome, bald husband says, "we should not just be butts in the seats but we should be boots on the streets!" Let's get out into the world and do something for the Kingdom!

The body of Christ is truly precious. I'm so so so so happy to be a part of it. I love my brothers and my sisters. Does offense come? Oh ya. But I'm aware of it. I know it's just the devil and not the person. Do I get grumpy? Yep. Do I fail often? Yep and yep and yep. But the beauty of a chocolate chip is that regardless of the shape it's in, it still tastes good when mixed with others. I may be a mess of a mess, but doggonit, I'm a pretty tasty chocolate chip! How about you?