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He guides me

Psalms 16:7-11 NLT
I will bless the lord who guides me; even at night my heart instructs me. I know the lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.
No wonder my heart is glad, and I rejoice. My body rests in safety. For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave. You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.

PERSONAL COMMENTARY …
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Yes, He guides me, even in those seasons of trial, even in those seasons of mourning – He is always with me. And we pass through these seasons, not left devastatingly destroyed and crushed by our circumstances (even though at times it may seem that we come quite close) –

But once we have come out the other side, He is proven faithful and true, we will know one day what purpose it served in our life and the life of those around us, and it will be clear to us. But today, we hold on in faith.

You have offered us this imperishable life of Christ alive in us, reshaping and remolding us in preparation for our final destination – eternity not limited by the confines of this current physical body and life.

This life is but a shadow of what lies ahead, so let’s prepare ourselves with those things that matter most, and let’s welcome our brothers and sisters to join us on this wonderful journey.

Let’s know the beauty and love and value that can be found in each and every person that we encounter each day, and let’s remind them off that in the way that we treat them today. Let’s see past the chains and struggles and circumstances of their life, and let’s plant and water the seed of Christ in their life.

I love you friend, and my hope today is that we can love and encourage those around us. A door held open, a smile, a wave, a thank you, a hug, a prayer, and a truthful, encouraging word may turn the perspective of another just enough to help them through a struggle today. Imagine if we all supported and loved and encouraged each other openly – even those we don’t agree with – won’t that help us all find common ground and agreement, rather than argument over who is “more right” and who is “more wrong”?

Let’s be light and salt in our lives today, friends. I love you.

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The Godly are Disappearing

Psalms 12:1-8 NLT
Help, O  Lord , for the godly are fast disappearing! The faithful have vanished from the earth!
Neighbors lie to each other, speaking with flattering lips and deceitful hearts. May the Lord cut off their flattering lips and silence their boastful tongues. They say, “We will lie to our hearts’ content. Our lips are our own—who can stop us?”
The Lord replies, “I have seen violence done to the helpless, and I have heard the groans of the poor. Now I will rise up to rescue them, as they have longed for me to do.”
The Lord ’s promises are pure, like silver refined in a furnace, purified seven times over.
Therefore, Lord , we know you will protect the oppressed, preserving them forever from this lying generation, even though the wicked strut about, and evil is praised throughout the land.

PERSONAL COMMENTARY
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This passage was our family’s Life Application devotional for this morning. It takes an especially strong meaning on a morning of family absence and loss.

Yes, the godly are fast disappearing.

Ask me if I rejoice for those that are absent from the body and with God (2 Corinthians 5:8), and my voice will reply truthfully yes.

But ask me if I mourn with my family and with all who mourn the absence of a loved one, and my heart cries out with a voice so strong that I am overcome, with tears and groaning that written, or even spoken, words will not capture.

And yes, we will be surrounded by empty,  but well intentioned words from those who both are and aren’t a part of our lives, but who see the circumstances of this season of our lives. And there are even those who will use flattery and deceit,  because being purely of this world that is the only way they know how to behave.

But what is important right now is that this promise He gives us. It is true. He does rescue us as we have longed for Him to do.

Those of us whose bodies of flesh have worn out from our lives walking and loving and serving and raising families – when the burden of this fleshly body can no longer hold back this new creation from being reunited with our Lord and Savior in fullness of His glory and grace and honor and power. And He rescues us, drawing the unperishable out from inside its perishable vessel.

We know with full confidence,  Lord,  that you are faithful. We know with full confidence,  Lord,  that you preserve and protect your children. Let us use our time that we have in these fleshly vessels to continue your work, to fulfill your purpose,  until these bodies wear out and your promises are fulfilled in their fullness.

Let us see past the evil and wicked and proud ways of mankind around us,  and see their chains – let us see their desperate need for this grace and healing and renewal that only comes through Christ Jesus,  our Lord and Savior. And use us to share this Hope, Faith, Love, and Truth so they might recognize your voice and accept your grace.

I love you,  friend.  But my love by itself would fall so short of the love that we each need to know personally in our lives. This love I share is not just my own love,  but it is the love of Jesus Christ, of God come in the flesh, reaching out to touch our lives today,  so that we might accept this truth,  believe and be saved, hold tight to our faith and be fruitful, share love and see others strengthened and encouraged,  and share truth so that others too might be prepared for that day, when the imperishable is called out from the perishable.

His promises are true.

Do you know Christ dearly and closely today,  friend?

Is he alive in your heart and in your day ahead.

We only get one today,  one opportunity to serve the purpose that He has for our lives today.

Our lives can either be an example to others of His way down the narrow path – or an example to others of our own way, stumbling into darkness.

What example are we setting for those around us that watch our lives? Are our words and actions and decisions leading others around us into the place that we want them to go? Are we leading them into light or into darkness?

Help us,  Lord, in your strength to live the life today so that others might see your light, your love,  your mercy,  your grace,  and your truth.

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We receive Christ TODAY

John 10:28-30 NLT
I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.

PERSONAL COMMENTARY
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…

The question isn’t “Can I lose my salvation?”

It’s “Have I truly received it in the first place?”

We receive Christ into our lives today – in greater and renewed awareness of the Holy Spirit guiding and teaching and comforting us – even moment by moment.

Is Christ alive in my life, not just my words, but in my actions and deeds? How about my thoughts, am I taking them captive and resisting evil even in my thoughts?

There is always room for growth as long as I don’t stop looking for things that need to be repaired/renewed/healed in me. I need to be careful if I am tempted to aim my sword at others instead of focusing it squarely on cutting out the disease from within my own life.

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Crumbs at the Table

Mark 7:24-30 NLT
Then Jesus left Galilee and went north to the region of Tyre. He didn’t want anyone to know which house he was staying in, but he couldn’t keep it a secret.
Right away a woman who had heard about him came and fell at his feet. Her little girl was possessed by an evil spirit, and she begged him to cast out the demon from her daughter.
Since she was a Gentile, born in Syrian Phoenicia, Jesus told her, “First I should feed the children—my own family, the Jews.… It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs.”
She replied, “That’s true, Lord, but even the dogs under the table are allowed to eat the scraps from the children’s plates.”
“Good answer!” he said. “Now go home, for the demon has left your daughter.”
And when she arrived home, she found her little girl lying quietly in bed, and the demon was gone.

PERSONAL COMMENTARY
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I love this story, and the idea of crumbs from the table encourages me to share daily what I am being fed.

You see, I share what I am learning in case there is a crumb that someone else might want, not because I think that I have it right and you have it wrong.

Yes, I face accusations of “tossing pearls to the pigs” by those who oppose what I do daily. Yes, I face accusations of “acting as a teacher/preacher when I’m not qualified” by those who focus on my past.

But, you see – I’m no teacher.

But I know the teacher.

And He loves me.

And He feeds me so well each day, that the cup and plate are not just full, but they are overflowing. So this left over bread, I share it as crumbs – because I know what it was like to be without bread of my own – sniffing around at the tables of others looking for crumbs – when I didn’t realize that I could go straight to the source instead of getting it second hand.

I don’t want to teach anyone.

But I do want them to meet my teacher.

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A life of Praise

Psalms 9:1-8 NLT
I will praise you, lord , with all my heart;
I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done.
I will be filled with joy because of you.
I will sing praises to your name, O Most High.
My enemies retreated;
they staggered and died when you appeared.
For you have judged in my favor;
from your throne you have judged with fairness.
You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked;
you have erased their names forever.
The enemy is finished, in endless ruins;
the cities you uprooted are now forgotten.
But the lord reigns forever,
executing judgment from his throne.
He will judge the world with justice
and rule the nations with fairness.

PERSONAL COMMENTARY
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Wow, it would take the rest of my life for me to sing of all of the great things that He has done for me up to this point in life. It seems like I can never catch up in praise to the blessings that He pours out. So yes, I praise the Lord with my life. I praise Him from my heart, and it shines forth in my life in ways that I just can’t “turn off”.

When this Holy Spirit caught hold of my life, things changed, and they continue changing. I didn’t magically have full understanding of all things and I didn’t magically become free from all sin and temptation in my life – no. But what did happen was a change on the inside – a change from seeking sinful things to seeking Godly things – a change from focusing on loving myself to a focus on loving God and loving others.

And when this change happened, so many of those enemies in my life fell away – either immediately because I had no interest in them any longer, or through my resistance and reliance on Christ to be my strength, they fled from my life. I’m not speaking about people – no, people of flesh and blood aren’t my enemies – I’m speaking about that darkness that is devoid of God’s goodness, that absence of God’s presence, that place called sin.

Yes, I still stumble, I am not perfect. I make mistakes, I let people down at times, I fall short of the mark of perfection – but I’m reaching for that goal, I’m stevie forth my arms to God with my everything, because He is the one thing that I want and need to hold onto.

His power crushes those old things in my life that were chains and burdens. I watch in awe as those things that used to control my life and lead me down dark paths fall away, because I can see them now for what they are – traps, tricks, and danger placed in front of me by the enemy, but that God now uses to demonstrate His strength through my weakness.

And this renovating work of His refining my heart and cleaning out this temple for Christ to live in me and through me – this battle between His will and my rebellious flesh nature, it is won, even if all of the opposing troops have not yet been slain. Because I am surrendered to Christ. I want to see Him crush all those things in my life that are not an honor and glory to Him. I am now resisting the enemy and not resisting God’s will, and that is a game changer.

Yes, I need to surrender daily. Yes, there are still temptations and thoughts and situations that I encounter where I could have been wiser yesterday – and I examine them and try to learn from them for today. And this living Word of God that is written on my heart, and that speaks to me through the written Word of God, they agree in my Spirit and I know the truth of this Good News of the gospel of Jesus Christ –

That God loved me so much, even when I was still in rebellion against Him, that He came in the flesh to our world as Jesus Christ, 100 percent man and 100 percent God, to live the example life showing us God’s true character and nature, demonstrating love, mercy, grace, honor, glory, righteousness and all the things that make God’s nature so different from the choices that we make when left to our own devices, and He died on the cross and rose from the dead to sit on the right hand of God with all authority to fulfill this great and undeniable demonstration of His love for me, so that I might know Him, and accept His offer of grace, and love Him in return, and so that He would come and live in me, and that my old nature would die as it is replaced with His nature. And I don’t say this with pride, because anything good is Him, and anything worthless is me. He is worthy of all praise.

But I do say this with boldness, because He died for each of us. Yes, for YOU.

Let’s be the Christ in us, today.

Let’s be the representatives and ambassadors for Christ that we are meant to be.

Let’s surrender to Him and see those enemies retreat, let’s watch as he crushes them beneath His feet and uses them as a stepping stone.

Let’s quit trying to win a battle under our own power, and instead understand that the real battle is already won – let’s see the opportunity to serve in His Kingdom even now, following in the footsteps of Christ’s example and teachings, loving and serving others, so that they might see the battle won in their lives as well.

I love you, friend.

Have a blessed day.

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We have Redemption!

EPH 1:7-10 ESV
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

PERSONAL COMMENTARY
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We have REDEMPTION!

Through His BLOOD – the worthy sacrifice offered as a clear example of a life of righteousness, love, honor, power, patience, forgiveness, mercy, long-suffering, selfless service to others, humility, peace, comfort, and all of those things that we are not.

We have FORGIVENESS!

By His GRACE – He extends to us the love that we do not deserve. He approaches us like a loving Father who sees past the sins and rebellion of their beloved child, and who offers forgiveness each time that we stumble, because we are His beloved children.

We have GUIDANCE!

By the WORD OF GOD – which is carved onto our hearts, which is taught to us through the Holy Spirit that lives inside us believers, and which is recorded in the written word of scripture.

We have PURPOSE!

By CHRIST ALIVE IN US – to unite all things to Him, through sharing this message of HOPE for the lost, of FAITH for the tested and tried, and for LOVE extended to all who will receive us as friends and as servants. We are not meant to remain dead in our sins, but to shine forth in our renewed lives as the salt and light in a world of darkness and despair.

We are to be the hands that lift others up, the arms that hold others strong and firm in their faith, the ears to discern the truthfulness or twisting of words spoken, the eyes to see the fruits of spiritual health or the evil of spiritual death and disease, the knees that firmly yet humbly present our prayers for healing and restoration, the feet that bring us in for praise and worship and out for service in His name, the mouths that share this Good News of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And this Kingdom work, this unifying things on earth with those things in heaven – it is the only work that has lasting value – because it is the work that Christ is doing through us – the works of our own are futile and useless.

Use us, Lord.

Live in us and through us, Lord.

Remind us what is important, Lord.

Shake us to our very foundation, so we will know that our house is built on the foundation of the rock of Jesus Christ, and that the walls are built by Christ living in us and through us, so that we can see clearly those things that are worthy works where we have been equipped and you have used us, so we will not confuse them with our own works or striving or religious practice.

As always, these are my journals of personal commentary on what I’m going through and learning. This message may just be for me, or it may speak to you as well, but this is not me aiming words at anyone but myself. Have a blessed day.

hballingerLeave a comment

Love Is

Love is friendship matured and shared. Love is being tied together with someone else through strong bonds that unite in a common purpose instead of individual wills at war with each other. Love is patient and kind because we value and weigh the other person’s opinion just as we do our own. Love is not prideful or boastful because the focus is no longer on self,  but on this new unity in a bond that is not meant to be broken.  Love doesn’t seek to win arguments, it hopes to find truth and agreement. Love does not end,  it endures.

Love is not lust.
Love is not sexual pleasure.
Love is not living together.
Love is not a state marriage license.
Love is not birthing babies together.
Love is not raising a family.
Love is not putting someone on a pedestal.
Love is not letting them have their way.
Love is not keeping score.
Love is not giving up on them.

Love IS walking together in unity, with Christ as the strong bond that ties us together, demonstrating patience,  kindness,  gentleness,  love,  compassion,  encouragement, and the type of love and mercy and forgiveness towards others that Christ has shown us.

Oh,  how I need to love more in my life.

I love you,  friend. Even if I don’t show it enough, please know that it is true.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 ESV
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 ESV
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

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Faith like a Child

PSA 8:1-9 ESV
O Lord , our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.

Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.

When I look at your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?

Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

O Lord , our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

PERSONAL COMMENTARY
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Oh, to have faith like a child.

This world around us breeds doubt and lays tricks for us.

When we see how tiny we are compared to the lengths of this earth, when we see how far the expanse of the heavens extend, when we see how wonderful your design is even at the microscopic levels, when we learn the sciences of the amazing physical world that surrounds us – it is hard for us to understand why you would be mindful of us, mere mortal human beings. But even that is not trusting in your creating us originally with that purpose in mind, when you created us in your image and breathed life into us.

Yes, you made us with a purpose.

Faith like a child. Isn’t that who we are if we are yours? We are like children, clinging to you in faith. We are your chosen, elected, and adopted children. You have extended your mercies to us, and we have accepted your offer of grace, of salvation, of a renewed life in Christ.

And yes, there is a difference in accepting this offer of grace and in loving and serving our of grattitude and our of a changed attitude on the inside, which is the whole point of this Good News of the gospel – a cleaning of the inside of the cup – a relationship with Christ alive in us –

Instead of just outward action striving to earn favor or rewards under our own power, making a presentation to others that we are clean and worthy, playing the part on the outside with works and words, while dead and empty of fruit on the inside, this is religion.

And sadly, many will see the two and confuse one for the other, because the enemy is a trickster, and he tries his best to imitate the things of God and lead others astray.

But like a child who knows the voice of his father, I listen for that voice of love – because that is the voice of my father. Even in his correction, He corrects me with Love and patience. He does not crush me under the stone, He sets me on it as my firm foundation.

And I fear for where I would be if I was not in His hands, because He protects me, and He guides me, and He loves me, and He rescues me from those traps the enemy lays before me.

I do not know His wrath, I only know His love – so it is difficult for me to share that other voice that I hear many so often using to talk about God. The consequences that I have faced in this life were of my own choosing, and He has even rescued me from so many of those. The love and peace and joy heavy always come from walking in His ways.

So I don’t know this God of wrath and punishment and anger that many fear and run from. No, my Father is there with open arms, waiting for me. And I don’t run into His arms because I fear His wrath and punishment, I run to His arms because I know His love, and His mercy, and His forgiveness, and His grace, and His honor, and His glory, and His power.

I’m not a hired hand, working to try and earn favor or build up treasures for myself – a hired hand will desert the flock in times of trouble because they are working for their own gain and honor.

No, and I am not a shepherd myself, and I am not a teacher, but the Good Shepherd walks with me, and He lives in me, and He guides me when I follow, and He teaches me when I listen, and He loves me and protects me.

So I follow Him, because He is my Father, and I know His voice.

If you do not hear that same voice of love, surrender your life to Christ, see past the religion that focuses on a life of self. If I’m only worried about:

How do I keep from going to hell?
How do I get to go to heaven?
How do I earn favor with the Lord?
How do I avoid the wrath of God?
How can I get the Father to love me?

I might only know a religion that is focused on ME.

But there is a relationship that was purchased for YOU and ME with the blood of Jesus Christ, God come in the flesh:

Lord, I know that I deserve eternal separation from you by the worthless works of my life, but I trust in your promises, please remember me.

Lord, my time spent with you, learning from you, praising you, worshipping you, is such a blessing, thank you for the opportunity to experience a foretaste of your kingdom even now.

Lord, use me however you see fit, let me be salt and light in this world of darkness, let them see you in me, so that they might hear your voice and see your love and we might fellowship together as your children even as a foretaste of your kingdom.

Lord, please have mercy on those still held in captivity, those that do not know your voice and your touch – those that need your renewal – those that need to be healed from their spiritual blindness – those that need to be healed from their deafness to your truth – so that they too will hear your voice, the voice of a loving Father.

Lord, please have mercy on us when we stumble, and correct us gently in your loving hands – but apply the pressure necessary to crush the will of those in opposition to you so they might repent of their evil ways and know a full life. And who can refuse you, Lord, if they are yours and encounter your voice? Who would turn away your love and mercy and forgiveness?

Lord, you are worthy of all honor and praise. My works are worthless rags in your eyes, but your works done through Christ living in me are wonderful. Those works are Yours, not mine, and that is why I lay down any crowns at the feet of Christ, because I do not deserve any honor or glory or title or exaltation – You alone, Lord, deserve honor and praise.

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Praise

Psalms 7:17 NLT
I will thank the lord because he is just; I will sing praise to the name of the lord Most High.

PERSONAL COMMENTARY
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…

Praise.

Yes, let’s lift our praises to the Lord with our everything, with our whole body. Let’s praise Him with our voices in song, with our arms lifted high, and with dancing and great rejoicing!

Keep going – praise isn’t just a Sunday morning song at church – but that’s a great start of we aren’t yet involved in fellowship with other believers.

Praise.

Yes, let’s lift our praises to the Lord with our everything, with our whole mind. Let’s praise Him with our words in pray, with examining our lives for understanding and guidance, with meditating on the Word of God, on bended knee, with broken spirit, surrendered to His will, grateful for this free gift of grace, seeking to draw near to His presence.

Praise isn’t just prayers thanking God a few times a day – but those are great steps in a faithful walk.

Praise.

Yes, let’s lift our praises to God with our everything, with our whole spirit. Let’s praise Him by being yoked with the Holy Spirit of Christ in us, following The path of His will, bearing and growing the fruits of the Holy Spirit in our lives, filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. A life of love, mercy, and forgiving understanding towards those that are lost – a life of repentance and accountability and encouragement in our lives and the lives of fellow believers – a life of steadfast dedication to follow Jesus Christ – the way, the truth, the life.

Praise.

It is a life lived choosing God, honoring God – moment to moment, choice by choice.

It is living for His glory and honor, not for our own personal gain – but a surrendered life grateful for what He has done for us, letting His light, His Love, shine through our lives onto others.

Help us praise God today with everything – body, mind, and spirit.

Have a blessed day, friend of Christ.

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Change in Me

Hebrews 4:12 ESV
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

PERSONAL COMMENTARY
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…

It can be painful to realize those things that need to change in ourselves, but it is encouraging to know that Christ in us will bring us through – IF we lean in and follow His will and have faith in Him. Yes, sometimes letting go of those familiar sins in our lives can be a but unsettling, but growth and change come from a broken will and surrender.

Help me to use what I learn to fix the many things that still née work in me.

Help me be a light to the world not just in my sharing these words, but in my living a life loving and serving others – demonstrating an example of both an upright and a merciful life.

This living word, written on my heart – this Holy Spirit comforter, teacher, and spirit of conviction – this Christ in me – it is the light of change in my life bearing a repentant heart seeking God’s will and no longer chasing or being imprisoned to a life of sin and bearing the fruits of the spirit that now lives inside me.

Jesus Christ, my hope of glory.

The truth, the life, the way.

Love, mercy, and forgiveness – freedom FROM sin, not freedom TO sin.

The change that comes when Christ lives in us and through us.

I have so much that He is still changing in me, but He is changing me on the inside – and one day someone will even see a change on the outside – because this isn’t a light to be hidden, but shared.

You might not be able to see Christ in me, I understand. Some days I struggle to understand whether I’ve even shared light a single time without stumbling over myself. But if you knew where He started with me, you might see a change and know that He is at work.

I love you, friend. As usual, these are my journals for what I am being taught. I don’t have all of the answers, but I know the man who does.

Jesus Christ. Is He alive in you?