A Basket Full Of Good Intentions

I’ll admit it! I’m sporadic in my love for journaling. I have a sacred place where I store a plethora of half filled personal journals I’ve collected over time. Every year I get a new one (I usually search till I find just the right one that expresses me) in high hopes that “this’ll be the year” that I become more consistent. So when I say the Lord lead me back to an old journal entry, know this mother of four didn’t have to dig through too much to find the dangerously powerful prayer that served as a catalyst to the greatest adventure of freedom and friendship I’ve ever known.

When I look back over the entry below I see truth, but nestled right in the midst of truth through new eyes … I see a lie. My heart was for God and for change but I was still striving in my own strength. Look back with me and see if you can see the lie too.

7/22/05   Written to God

Do I intend to be a good Mom or am I?

When I take inventory of my heart I’m full of good intentions. I intend to be a better wife, mother, friend, and spiritual person. It’s my heart to be this person but Lord it’s not always the person that manifests.

My question is: How do I get past good intentions and being/doing that which my heart desires?

I can say the power of the Holy Spirit. But I know it’s my choice, my responsibility to make changes, to challenge myself … with the empowerment of the Holy Spirit (His voice/His direction.)

He doesn’t just miraculously change me without the work. I have to surrender to the process.

Lord,

I surrender to the process … expose the yuckies in my heart that keep me a prisoner from my destiny … revisit all the dreams in my heart that have been buried because confidence has succumbed to pain. Let all my good intentions be the reality I desire … for Your glory … for the destiny of Caleb, Colsen, Hudson, and my marriage. Reveal ME to me beyond my deception and denial. Thank you Holy Spirit that it is only by your Spirit at work in my heart that I desire to be more set free and alive in you. I give all of me to you, the good and the not so good, to be transformed for your glory.

I love you Daddy! ~Your Ris

I love when I look back at this rendering of my heart to the Lord that it shows He  honors the sincere cries of our hearts regardless if our doctrines off.

The lie: “He doesn’t just miraculously change me without the work.” I kind of set myself up for loads of condemnation right there. I knew the following scripture but my heart didn’t know it to be true.

“And since it is through God’s kindness, then it is not by their good works. For in that case, God’s grace would not be what it really is—free and undeserved.” Romans 11:6 (NLT)

The Truths: Yes I need the Holy Spirit and His empowerment. Yes I need to surrender to “the process”, which is truly the school of the Holy Spirit because it’s the Holy Spirit that makes me holy, not me.

“I am a special messenger from Christ Jesus to you Gentiles. I bring you the Good News so that I might present you as an acceptable offering to God,made holy by the Holy Spirit.” Rom. 15:16 (NLT)

It’s NOT what I can DO … it’s what HE has DONE that makes change possible and there is grace for all the folly on the way to the change we desire called grace. And grace comes by and through the Holy Spirit’s deep heart revelation of what Christ did at the cross.

When this was written in 2005 I was a mom of three young boys all about 18 months apart (3yrs., 2yrs., and 3mo.). We planned it on purpose and knew what television was, despite popular belief  .  Becoming a Mom was a dream come true to me. With my dream I also had a lot of ideas of how I was going to do things differently then how I grew up. How my kids would be so well behaved because I would follow all the biblical principles to a tee. You see where this is going fast, don’t you? It didn’t take long after my first son was born that I saw that little gleam in his eyes with a mischievous grin as he threw his toy off his highchair after I said no. I swatted his little hands and went on to swat more little hands as we added each year a new addition to our family. My life had been full of years of pregnancy, breast feeding, sleepless nights, potty training, child training, disciplining and all this with little heart knowledge of grace. I would hear about grace and think that sounds fabulous, give me some of that, but didn’t know how to receive it. I knew all the rules and thought I was a failure as a Mom if I couldn’t keep them. I was convinced my children would turn out a wreck if I couldn’t getthem to keep them.  Needless to say, I had little grace for myself, my husband, and my children because I hadn’t received grace, I couldn’t give it.

And then …

In 2006 I went to a ladies life group through my church and my leader began teaching on the Holy Spirit. I was holding back tears as something was jumping up and down on the inside saying, “This is it! This is the answer to all my questions!” I listened like my life depended on it and looking back it really did. The life in God full of power to do right, to be all that was in my heart was being unwrapped like a present before me. It was a free gift and an invitation to walk in intimate friendship with God.

I had received the Holy Spirit at the same time I received Jesus as my savior alone in my Uncle and Aunt’s bathroom. After confessing my sin and receiving his forgiveness I felt something on the inside, I had prior knowledge and I knew it was the gift of speaking in tongues. I prayed to the Lord to make me not afraid of it and in faith I began speaking in tongues. So I knew about the Holy Spirit and had amazing testimonies of His power and leading in my life at Bible College and during mission trips. I started having children and started relying on my head knowledge instead of being led by the Spirit. Somewhere along the way I tucked Him away in that same sacred place full of half filled journals. Because by all means I had been trained for this, I had memorized all the parenting scriptures, attended every parenting workshop and life group, and even positioned myself around great parents from whom I could glean parental wisdom. None of that in itself was bad, it’s just that I made law of it in my heart and I couldn’t keep it. The enemy was having a hay day condemning me that I couldn’t be innately who I wanted to be without the“trying” so hard.  I loved God and to the best of my ability was living for Him but at the same time I was drowning and losing a little piece of me in every struggle to be a “good wife,” and a “good mom”.

I was beat down by lies that day at life group when the leader began sharing about the Holy Spirit. How the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Grace and by grace and fellowship with the Holy Spirit we walk in grace. I remember leaving group that day and while driving away in my car saying to the Holy Spirit, “I’ve missed you, please come back in my life and with power. I love you and I need you. I can’t do this anymore without You and I don’t want to.”

Shortly after I started going to a Spirit led prayer group and began praying in the Spirit at home making a place for God in my life instead of trying to follow all His rules without Him. I would pray in tongues in the car on the way to Walmart, yes with my kids listening. I would tell them Mommy doesn’t know what to pray but the Spirit of God knows what to pray and He prays the best prayers for all of us (Rom. 8:27-29).  It’s never freaked them out and they have never thought twice about it.

I began hearing the Holy Spirit speak to me daily during our prayer times. These are some of the things He would say to me as grace took hold of my heart:

• You don’t have to strive, because you never arrive, you always become and are becoming who I’ve called you to be.
• You don’t have to be perfect … that’s my job … aren’t you relieved.
• I count your shame as my treasure, don’t be afraid to give it to me … I died for it.
• I will make every ugly place beautiful in it’s time
• So you fell, get up and shake it off and follow me.
• Your destiny will always be greater than the opinions of those around you. Stop listening to them … listen to me.
• Give yourself permission to be who you want to be in Me … I have.

That’s just a few. The Holy Spirit has been so incredibly gracious to me to love me in spite of me. That love overflows in tangible grace to others. My husband will tell you I’m a different person because CHANGE started happening on the inside of me and I couldn’t contain it. As I saw to the Holy Spirit, making place for Him in my life, listening to His voice and obeying, He began to see to everything that concerned me. He gave me great favor with my husband and children. I’ll never be perfect, my house may never be perfectly clean, I’ll blow it, my kids will blow it (maybe even in front of you  ), but I’m ok with that because His grace covers me and teaches me to be more like Him everyday. I don’t have to arrive … I just have to become.

So maybe your like me who felt like Little Red Riding hood on her way to Grandma’s house with a basket full of good intentions and when the wolf came to deceive you, your good intentions only went so far and you were left feeling condemned.

It’s time to fill our baskets with His power and overcome the enemy’s deception. His power reveals truth and exposes lies, like the lie I believed and wrote in my journal years ago. What lies have snuck their way into your heart and kept you from the fullness of life God has for you? Ask God to reveal them. Do you feel like your drowning in a whirlpool of condemnation? Let the heart revelation of His grace rescue you.

The Holy Spirit comes to offer His friendship where daily He exposes lies as you open your heart before Him. He replaces lies with the truth that brings freedom.  Change that seemed so hard begins to become a natural byproduct that flows from this friendship, the kind of change you couldn’t produce if you tried.  I know. I’ve lived it.

Does this kind of life sound too good to be true … It’s NOT! It’s as simple as asking for it.

Holy Spirit,

I invite you into my heart. Get all up in my heart Holy Spirit and make yourself comfortable … make it your home. Let the width of your arms hug and cover any pain or lack and fill it with yourself. Do what your good at … expose lies and set free every lame way in me with your truth. I have believed that You are good and now I choose to believe You are good to me! Lead me to all truth and everything you have for me. Fill every empty place with a heart revelation of your love for me that I may know the tangibility of your grace and may grace anchor me to see your faithfulness in every area of my life.

With ALL my heart and in JESUS name … AMEN!!!

If you know the Holy Spirit like this already, share Him with others. This kind of Spirit led life and freedom is contagious. There is nothing like good intentions being swallowed up by grace.

I think a red carpet just got laid out and a new you gets to walk down it! Here’s to kicking good intentions to the curb and Holy Spirit life makeovers!

Written with you in mind and GREAT love,

~ Ris

This blog is dedicated to my best friend the Holy Spirit, my son Colsen who always extends me great grace, and to my friend H who recently received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, who’s faith to step out from what she has known gave me the courage to write this piece.

If you’ve never been taught about the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit you can use the link below to learn more.

RESOURCES:

A free study guide on The Holy Spirit by Jack Hayford

You can also see this post at: Destiny in Bloom

A Life That Prays

Have you ever been burdened for someone you loved so dearly to come to the saving heart knowledge of Jesus? Have you cried out for healing for yourself or someone close to you? Do you have a financial situation that needs a miracle?  Are you desperate to find freedom from anger or depression? Does your marriage need a love intervention? And could it be simply that your prayer and spiritual life need an extreme Jesus makeover? What if you could position yourself in Christ that not only were you praying with your words, but your whole life was praying, every minute of everyday … you were praying? That is what fasting is; your life praying!

I don’t flippantly ask the previous questions hoping to hit the bull’s eye of something you might have been through. I’ve stood eye to eye with the mountains and giants I’ve mentioned above. In this blog I’m no more than a storyteller hoping to infuse faith, encourage hope, while exalting Jesus for what He has taught me and done in my life through fasting. I hope that you find that fasting isn’t just a religious act or merely abstaining from food (that’s called a diet) but that it is the surrendering of your whole self before the Lord. You may start out believing God for one thing and find He not only speaks to that thing, but also does so much more as you open yourself to hearing His voice speak to your whole heart (every area). There is a root system that goes down deep and like new life that springs up it produces fruit and continues to bear fruit through the many seasons of your life.

Shortly after fully surrendering my life to the Lord (I was 19), I spent a year at Teen Challenge (A Jesus centered one year program for recovering drug addicts, as well as other addictions including alcoholism and eating disorders.) It was like fasting my life for a year. I left the life I knew, my family, my friends, to start all over. I checked in for a heart transplant and came out a new person. I left my hometown and had cut off pretty much all of my friends. I asked the Lord for two, if I could carry them in my heart until they knew Him. One was my very best friend from high school. A girl I introduced to drugs. I spent almost three years praying for her before she asked Jesus in her heart. She told me about how she asked Him if He was really real to help her through a terrible break-up and help her start a new life. She had never been in the church and we would talk everyday on the phone as she had new questions about Jesus and the Bible. In the meantime I had left Teen Challenge, done some inter-city evangelism, and gone on to Christ for the Nations bible college where I was going to school at the time this story took place. I remember praying for her and hearing the Holy Spirit say that she needed to get baptized. My friend could be a little rough around the edges and I told the Lord I would stand in the gap and fast, but He would have tell her because I was just plain scared. In my zealousness (being pretty new to fasting myself) I chose to go on a liquid fast for 10 days. I drank water, juice and a pot of coffee a day (coffee is a liquid right?  ).  I would press in everyday praying for God to speak to her, not really knowing how that would play out, but my heart was eager to see God do His business. On the 9^th day of the liquid fast during our morning Chapel time at CFNI I had sharp pains on my right side. I immediately thought my appendix had burst. EMT’s rushed me to the hospital in an ambulance. They questioned me about the last time I had eaten, when I told them I had been fasting the young EMT said to me, “It wasn’t Lent or Ramadan last time I checked …” with a smug look on his face while he determined I probably had an eating disorder. After an hour of excruciating pain the doctor was able to determine that I was passing a kidney stone thanks to all the coffee and creamer I had consumed with the lack of food. I wasn’t exactly smart in my fasting but my heart was fervent before the Lord and He honored my heart. Later that afternoon I was lying in my bed on some nice strong pain medication, when I received a call from my friend. She stopped by to pick something up from a store and when she was returning to her car she got distracted by a new store that was recently opened. She went in and the guy that worked there began showing her a new bible program that looked up any scripture or topic you wanted to research. He said for example lets look up baptism. She left with a print out of all scriptures in the bible on baptism and read in Mark 16:16a, “He who believes and is baptized will besaved;” That’s all it took, she had to be baptized. I wished I hadn’t been so out of it on pain medication so I could have reveled in the moment more with her. The next time I went home to San Diedo, CA I was able to be a part of baptizing her in the ocean. It was a pretty big moment in my walk with God … it energized my faith, as I was able to partner with God in His plan for my dear friend.

Fasting doesn’t always have to be food. It could be what ever has your heart and that giving it up for a period of time is a sacrifice of love. You don’t have to be in a conversation with me long to hear about what I love. For surely out of the abundance of the mouth the heart speaks (Matt. 12:34b). And thisheart speaks of the love of yummy latte’s, latest fashion trends, great movies and reality TV shows centered around dance and singing. Several years ago at Gateway Church (which is my home church) a forty-day fast was called. When I felt the Holy Spirit’s hand on my heart I knew this time it was going to be a great challenge. In this particular fast I felt the gift was giving up shopping, TV, and coffee. Which really breaks down to no shopping for myself at Target (aka home away from home  ), no going to the mall with my faithful Venti Starbucks cup in hand, and no American Idol for 40 days.  We had a rally to kick off the 40 day fast with a celebration of worship as we put the Lord first that year. I was in the middle of worshiping the Lord as He reminded me of all the times I had asked for healing since I had been diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome which I had been struggling with since I was 23 years old. It had caused us to walk through a painfully frustrating season of dealing with infertility while our friends around us easily conceived. It took us two years to find a doctor who helped us have our babies with the help of infertility medicine. If ever the Pastor or minster would say there was an anointing for healing I was front and center. The disorder had caused increased weight gain and hormonal imbalances and the doctors offered no real hope except for treating the symptoms.  The voice of the Lord spoke straight to my heart, “ask again”, my heart “what?” “Ask again to be healed,” He responded. So I did. I poured my heart out before Him for physical healing. I can’t say I felt anything in that moment or walked away from that night feeling changed, but what I do know is that a sonogram five weeks later showed that a baby was conceived three days after that prayer meeting. The miracle of our naturally conceived fourth son followed and forever solidified that we are called to raise husbands. My body miraculously fell into alignment after our baby was born. I could ask why the healing came then and not before, and why we had to walk out our battle with infertility. But I have resolved in my heart that He is goodand His timing is perfect. Who would of thought that the fasting of Target, TV, and a good ole’ cup of Joe would result in the blessing we find in raising our littlest Star, Davis.

Which leads me to my last story and one I’m still very emotional about. This October, while reading the book “The Blood and The Glory,” (by Billie Brim) I stopped to mediate on one of the verses in the book and began to pray in the Spirit desiring for the revelation to go deep. I heard the Holy Spirit speak to me to go back to California and visit my Grandma and Grandpa. I hadn’t been there in at least four years and I knew that they were getting up there in years, but the way He spoke to me … my heart knew there was something more. I went to my husband to see if He was in agreement because it would mean him taking off work to watch our four children and hold down the fort. He agreed it was God’s timing. For three days I grieved like one of them had died and all in the natural was fine. I felt the call to a 21-day fast and this particular time I felt called to a strict Daniel’s fast (veggies, fruit, legumes, and the real Ris doozy, no coffee!). Half way through the fast I began to realize that this isn’t just about my Grandma (who had been a great spiritual example to me) … something is going on with my Grandpa. As I began asking God about it He told me it was the last time I would see him alive. It was kind of hard news and hard to swallow when everything looked fine. I knew I was going to have to ask him (my Grandpa) if he had ever asked Jesus in his heart. He had the fruit of a life change but he had never confessed to anyone in our family that he had received Jesus. He was the quiet type, he was a loving guy, but the quietness always intimated me and like in the story above I had simply been too scared to ask before. So on my trip, after pacing in circles and eating a dozen cookies from the kitchen table, I worked myself up to ask him if we were going to end up in the same place together. I told him I needed to know we were … I told him I needed to know if he had asked Jesus in his heart. He said, “Of course, I’m the one that has to get your Grandma to go to church now.” The questioning ended and the answer settled well in my heart. 28 days after returning from that trip I received the phone call that my Grandpa went to be with Jesus. I could just stand there with the phone in my hand in awe of God. Trembling really, my humanness couldn’t absorb it. Fasting had prepared my heart for a truth that was coming that I didn’t understand. This fast started with God speaking and fasting was the physical act of inclining my ear. The story of my Grandpa is just a facet (but a pretty big one) of what God did on this fast, but also He strengthened my marriage, and stirred up dreams and vision in my heart for myself and my family in the coming year.

I want to clarify that when I talk about God speaking, I am talking of the prophetic speaking of the Holy Spirit straight to the heart of the issues of life. Fasting has a way of quieting the flesh so we can hear clearly the voice and prophetic wisdom of the Holy Spirit. As we follow His guidance He allows us to see the truth about ourselves, our situation, and others. This kind of profound partnership in praying has rocked my world and has yielded the sweetest of rewards.

So here we are, the start of a new year! What are you believing for? Fasting is a great way of inclining your ear to hear what He has in store for you this year as you dedicate it to Him. He wants to tell you what He desires to do in your heart, your family, your finances, your health … you name it. He desires to be the Lord of your life and guide you in His prophetic wisdom.

If you feel called to a fast there are many kinds … only the one the Lord calls you to is best for you. I am attaching links to some additional references to learn more about them. There are also some great 21-day devotionals out there that when coupled with prayer serve as a great encouragement while fasting.

It’s my prayer that these stories encouraged your faith to hope again even against great odds in a God that performs miracles. And One who let’s us be a part, not for His sake, but for ours as we see the fruit that comes from a life that prays!

With the Greatest Love!

~ Ris

Links & Resources:

Gateway Church’s 21-day devotional http://letsgo.gatewaypeople.com/

Resources on fasting as well as being able to join in the 2010 Fasting Movement with Jentezen Franklin http://www.jentezenfranklin.org/fasting/

The book FASTING by Jentezen Franklinhttp://www.jentezenfranklin.org/cart/product.php?p=228&c=425

Types of fasts http://www.jentezenfranklin.org/fasting/typesoffasts.php

Scripture References for Fasting:

Matthew 6:16-18, Matthew 9:14-15, Luke 18:9-14

Relation to Prayer and Reading of the Word:

1 Samuel 1:6-8, 17-18, Nehemiah 1:4, Daniel 9:3, 20, Joel 2:12, Luke 2:37,Acts 10:30, Acts 13:2

Corporate Fasting:

1 Samuel 7:5-6, Ezra 8:21-23, Nehemiah 9:1-3, Joel 2:15-16, Jonah 3:5-10,Acts 27:33-37

Remember: The Holy Spirit is the perfect prayer partner “So too the [Holy] Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance. And He Who searches the hearts of men knows what is in the mind of the [Holy] Spirit [what His intent is], because the Spirit intercedes and pleads [before God] in behalf of the saints according to and in harmony with God’s will. We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose. For those whom He foreknew [of whom He was aware and loved beforehand], He also destined from the beginning [foreordaining them] to be molded into the image of His Son [and share inwardly His likeness], that He might become the firstborn among many brethren.” Romans 8:27-29 AMP. Version

You can also see this post at: Destiny in Bloom

Confessions Of A Recovering Idealist

It was Christmas day, 1999. Yuri and I had been married a week shy of one year. We lived in alumni housing at Christ For the Nations where we had met and graduated from Bible College. Our first home was a small one-bedroom apartment with a borrowed kitchen table. We had a floral Victorian wood framed hand-me-down love seat which sat in front of a TV stand bought from Walmart and an old turn dial TV that was also given to us. We were sitting on our love seat opening the last present when I glanced over at the clock to see the time. It was then that I realized our first Christmas had lasted all of 15 minutes. I was fighting back tears and really an all out explosion of disappointment. There we sat two newlyweds from dramatically different pasts. It was kind of like city girl raised with birthday months and holiday extravaganzas meets boy raised on hippy commune in Hawaii running around surfing and exploring the island oblivious of his humble holidays. My very own Tarzan except raised by hippies instead of gorillas, thus the name Yuri Lite Star.

Since I was a little girl as far back as I could remember our family would drive out to meet our extended family in the central valley of California. Christmas day consisted of stockings first thing in the morning. We then started the cooking and grazing on appetizers (usually amazing tamales home-made by someone’s Aunt or Grandma we knew) and then there was the grand feast. Usually around noonish we had “presents time.” We watched movies, had dessert, and were lazy together. Christmas lasted ALL day long, not 15 minutes.

As I sat on our love seat I thought for a moment how special it was our first Christmas together, it held the opportunity of starting something new. I could have been grateful for our love, that God had brought the two of us together to create a beautiful new thing even though it meant that we would also have to work at it. BUT NO, I didn’t pass the content wife test. I instead fell apart in all out drama true to my thespian roots. I’ll never forget the look on my husbands face, I saw two things, first I saw what was like a confused “What the heck … I don’t get you” look coupled with his own set of disappointments mixed with a feeling of a failed Christmas. So there I stood in my first married Christmas … remembering moments where I saw the yellow caution tape showing me my boundaries yet I didn’t head my hearts sound advice and instead was left with a memory stamped and filed: DEATH BY EXPECTATIONS.

Being a idealist all my life, I’ve come to learn through great trial that expectations and disappointment walk hand in hand down a isle of misery for myself and all I drag down the isle with me. I’ve learned on more than oneoccasion that the REAL world doesn’t adhere to “Marissa’s perfect little world” rules.  And WOW, get this, neither do God’s plans for me. I am so glad that God has come and shattered my fabricated world and blessed me greater than my own highest hopes for it. He raised the roof so to say! He started with truth, the kind that humbles and sets free at the same time. Though it had the initial sting of correction it came wrapped like a present of great love. Jesus has an amazing way with our hearts … He takes pain and disappointment and turns them into joy and blessings. I’ve learned that participating in idealism and setting unrealistic expectations is actually serving an idol that’s not real and is built on subtle lies of the enemy that are 90 percent truth mixed with good intentions and 10 percent deceptive thinking. When we build castles in the sky we set up others for failure because the plain truth is … people can’t fly. Unmet expectations have only led me to feelings of frustration and pain usually fueled by the voice of the enemy. Which is not the voice of love. Its time to train our hearts to be alert of the voices we entertain and choose Jesus; the voice of love.

It started with a self-sabotaged Christmas and went on to countless birthdays that I tried to hint and pre-manipulate out of fear my husband would somehow forget or not make it “special”. I served the fear that he would not meet my expectations, when really I never let him out of the box to rise to the occasion.  It took nine years into my marriage before I let God begin to show me what was at work in my heart. I needed to set my husband free of my expectations and live with a grateful heart letting my supplications be known to God. I also needed to trust God that he would teach my husband how to love me the way I needed to be loved. As long as I had a death grip on him, God couldn’t work. I needed to surrender him and the expectations I had placed on him to God.

Philippians 4:6-7 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer andsupplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

And in true God style … miracles followed.

It was my thirty third birthday. I had no preconceived ideas leading up to my birthday … No “it’s two weeks until my birthday … it’s one week until my birthday” reminders.  To my surprise my husband who was left to think for himself planned not one but two birthday parties for me. The first was a princess birthday party with my four boys, a balloon, and a princess cake with a tiara on top. We had pizza, per my boys request (because that is what is served at all great kid parties right?! wink). They went around and told me what they loved most about me, my favorite being the compliment I received from my four year old about my beautiful eyeballs.

Next he planned a romantic dinner for the two of us at a great Sushi restaurant (and, well I have to tell you I love me some sushi) in Dallas. My best friend from high school who lives in Dallas was invited and showed up at the end of dinner and was like the icing on the cake. It was better than anything I could have planned. It showed me that he knew me and knew what mattered to me. I just hadn’t given him the chance to show me.

Dealing with expectations and the disappointments they bring takes on many different faces. Your situations may look differently than mine did, but the frustration and pain you’ve experienced may feel similar. I challenge you to allow the Holy Spirit to shift your perspective and allow you to see the people and situations in your life in a fresh new way.

So as we are going into the Christmas season amidst a ton of fun but unrealistic portrayals of Christmas, let’s take a few moments and let the people in our lives shine or even give them the freedom to not shine. May we take a moment to think how we can bless the ones we love with a gesture of kindness the way it would bless them, not necessarily us. I believe that’s what love looks like; the perfect outfit of unselfishness with accessories of gratitude; the beauty of the Son that becomes us … which is what Christmas is really all about.

Lord,

As we walk into the next few weeks leading up to Christmas may we find opportunities to celebrate your life by laying ours down for others, like ultimately you came to do for us. May the gifts we give to you be the love we give to others in our lives. May we offer them the grace to be who they are (only changed by you), extending a love that covers a multitude of faults, and hope that believes the best even in those who don’t always believe the best in us. Be the Lord of our hearts, ever changing us to see and be more like you.

AMEN!

Signed a recovering idealist in the Father’s hands,

~ Ris

You can also see this post at: Destiny in Bloom