Tag Archives: God

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10/24/2011

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Sing-Along Scriptures

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The Gospel of Tolerance

Tolerance. I really hate that word. I’m sick of seeing it everywhere I turn. “If people just had more tolerance…” I’ll tell you that I don’t need “a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward opinions and practices that differ from my own,” and I’m certainly not looking to develop my “act or capacity of enduring.”

It’s not tolerance that is going to change our world. It’s love. And maybe we shouldn’t “tolerate” everything going on in the world, but we should definitely approach others in love.

John 3:16 says that God so loved the world.

Not just the people who would come to repentance. Not just the people who do what He considered socially and morally right. God loved everybody. Even the people who spit in His face. Even the people who drove nails through His hands. He loved them; not tolerated them.

Jesus didn’t come to earth to preach tolerance; He came to lavish love upon a broken and dying world. As Christians, it’s not our job to judge. It’s not even our job to “tolerate.” It’s our job to follow Jesus’ example and love people to repentance. And if they don’t seem to be repenting? Love them anyway.

I’ve read through the Bible multiple times and never found the gospel of tolerance, but I have found the gospel of love. Because the Bible is all about God and God is love.

Learn to love like Jesus today.

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09/29/2011

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Getting Honest

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The Moment of Surrender

Sometimes I have a one-track mind. Lately, that mind has been set on writing. With my manuscript for Beyond Waiting nearly finished (I can see a light at the end of the tunnel!), I’ve been trying to figure out where I’m supposed to set my efforts next. But it seems like every time I pick up a pen or pose my fingers over a keyboard, the words are stuck and my mind is as blank as the page before me. Yesterday, God reminded me to focus on the more important thing.

The book I’ve been reading with my morning devotionals talked of how goals can become gods. In a little “aha” moment, I realized that my writing was becoming exactly that. So I released my pent-up breath and whispered a prayer, apologizing for getting my priorities all out of whack. I promised not to pick up a pen until I heard God’s explicit instructions.

I think that God often waits for nothing more than the moment of surrender. When I arrived home from work last night, my mind was churning. After weeks of staring into space, my heart came out in a sixty chapter outline of what will hopefully be my first completed novel.

But even though this dream is playing out so clearly before my eyes, I’m determined not to lose sight of the most important thing. This time, I’ll let God be God, and my goals be goals. This time, I’ll let Him be the One to guide my hands.

I pray that you, too, will return to the moment of surrender when all else seems out of place.

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09/23/2011

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Sing-Along Scriptures

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Faithful to Fulfill

“The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me: your love, O Lord, endures forever – do not abandon the works of your hands.” -Psalm 138:8

I find it comforting to know that David – a man who is recorded in the Bible as a man after God’s own heart – had struggles just like I do. How refreshing it is to think that I don’t have to have unshakeable faith to be counted among one of the faithful. Even David doubted. Why else would he feel the need to plead with God not to abandon him?

I relate all too well with David’s 138th Psalm. I’ve felt abandoned. I’ve wondered where God was in the midst of my circumstances. I’ve had to remind myself time and time again that God truly is the God who interrupts, redirects, and fulfills my wildest dreams.

You may be floundering in confusion, wondering what exactly your purpose is for this season of your life, but that’s okay. We serve a God who holds eternity in the palm of His hand, and He will be faithful to fulfill His purpose for you.

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09/22/2011

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Live the Journey

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More Beautiful Things

I remember walking the beach as a child, searching for beautiful treasures that washed in with the tide. In my young mind, every seashell was a beauty. Sometimes, if I was really lucky, I would find one that was nearly two inches in diameter! They were the biggest I ever found, and I considered them huge simply because I didn’t know any better.

I laugh at that childish viewpoint now. Having a friend with a house on a gated island has really expanded my vision (and spoiled me for good). Now I find sand dollars and sea urchins, stingrays and their less-intimidating relatives – the skate. I’ve stood on a bridge and watched dolphins dance in the harbor beneath me. I’ve witnessed tiny sea turtles scurrying toward the sea. All these things my childish mind could never conceive.

Those two-inch shells I found with wide eyes don’t even capture my attention anymore. I know there are more beautiful things in the sea.

I imagine God laughing at me now as I laugh at the memory of myself as a child. “Oh Rebekah,” He says, “if you only knew the things I have in store for you, maybe you wouldn’t be so distracted by such frivolous things.”

And just like that, I sense an awakening. There are more beautiful things in the sea. And as I watch the waves of my life rush in and out, in and out, I wait in expectation for the glorious things God has prepared for me.

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09/07/2011

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Embrace Truth

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Breaking Up With God

I’m a bit of a rebel. I like living on the edge. Once I stepped out of the box, there was no forcing me back in. So naturally, my curiosity was piqued by a book entitled Breaking Up With God: A Love Story. Upon picking it up, I quickly realized it wasn’t at all what I thought it was. See, my idea of a love story is when the couple gets back together in the end. In my mind, Romeo and Juliet was a tragedy… and so was Breaking Up With God.

But I guess the story isn’t all bad because, after spending an afternoon at Barnes and Noble, I came to the firm conclusion that Sarah Sentilles didn’t break up with God; she broke up with religion. And for that I commend her. In fact, if the God I serve resembled the cold, hard creature Sarah described in her memoir, I’d have dumped him too. Luckily for me, Jesus isn’t like that.

God doesn’t call us to follow tradition; He calls us to follow Him. He’s not cold, He’s not hard, He’s not far away, and He is not waiting for a reason to smite you. Yes, He’s just, and yes, He’s fair, and yes, He often lets us learn our lessons the hard way. But He is also love, and He is also mercy, and He is also waiting with outstretched arms for the day you come running home to Him.

I broke up with God once. I was young and I was angry because He didn’t answer my prayers the way I wanted Him to. I thought He had failed me. Turns out, He was weaving an even bigger miracle than the one I had asked for. Seven miserable months later, I came crawling back. Because the incredible God I know and love is impossible to stay away from.

I left religion long ago, abandoning forced habits that weren’t done out of love. But God… I’m too in love with Him to ever stray too far. If Sarah Sentilles ever met Him, she would know. Maybe one day she will find Him. Maybe one day her book will become the love story it claims to be.

Today I pray that you’ll be made increasingly aware of the God of the Fairytales and that you’ll dance in the freedom His love breathes into being.

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08/15/2011

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Hearing it from You

One of the students in my youth group posed the question: “Why do some people find it so hard to open up to God when He knows everything anyway?”

A leader volunteered that maybe it’s because we tend to think that if we suppress something, it will go away. She suggested that maybe people are afraid to open up because when you talk about something, you can’t pretend it doesn’t exist.

I could see truth in her statement, and maybe that really resonates with you, but I found that my silence resulted from something else entirely. My problem lay directly in the ending of my young friend’s question. God already knows everything… so why bother telling Him about it?

It took me a long time before I realized that God actually likes hearing from me. Yes, He already knows the things that are in my heart, but He wants to hear them from my mouth. To know that I want Him to know. Maybe that thought is hard to wrap Your mind around, so let me phrase it this way:

My aunt used to regale me with tales of “Samantha this” and “Samantha that”. While I loved hearing what my little cousin was doing, nothing delighted me more than when Samantha herself would walk up to me in wide-eyed wonder exclaiming, “Guess what?”

She could tell me the same story I had heard only five minutes earlier from her mom, yet I would hang on Samantha’s every word. Why? Because I loved hearing the story from her point of view, seeing it through her eyes. I loved the childlike enthusiasm. I loved the fact that she wanted me to be privy to the many facets of her life.

So be reminded that, yes, God already knows the intimate details of your life, but He also cares greatly about you. Nothing delights Him more than when one of His children approaches Him in wide-eyed wonder and says, “Guess what?”

So go ahead and give it a try. Your heavenly Father is waiting to hear from you.

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08/06/2011

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Live the Journey

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Celebrating Dreams

Lately, my mind has been filled with dreams. I talked about them a lot when I was in India (perhaps because my very presence there was the fulfillment of a twelve-year-old dream). This past weekend, I met the infant son of my childhood best friend, causing me to remember all the years we played with baby dolls and dreamed of the day we would be mothers together. A couple days ago, I celebrated the seventh anniversary of my cousin Leah’s birth. It would take a whole separate blog to explain that dream.

But today, I celebrate yet another dream. It was one year ago today that I hesitantly took a step toward fulfilling a dream God had birthed in my heart a short time earlier. A dream that is now the blog you’re reading. This past year has been a long, hard journey filled with questions, doubts, and fears, but it has also been one of the most rewarding years of my life. (I find that the challenging years usually are.) It has been a beautiful thing to watch these lifelong dreams unfold before my very eyes.

God gives us dreams for a reason, but Satan is so quick to discourage us when that dream isn’t instantly fulfilled. We forget the preparation needed to make that dream a reality. We forget that sometimes it takes twelve years. And we begin to wonder if we were right about the dream in the first place.

But God’s timing is perfect. And dreams do come true. The dreams we’ve known all our lives, and the dreams we haven’t yet dared to dream.

So may we always take a day to celebrate our dreams, and may we live all the other days in pursuit of them.

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07/20/2011

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Live the Journey

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Life Like a River

I waded down the river of an Indian jungle. Took another unsure step. The rock beneath my foot shifted, causing me to stumble. A hand reached out to steady me. I smiled at Sunil – my friend and my guide. We walked hand-in-hand down the river. Occasionally, he would guide me to the other side, telling me it was safer to walk there. I trusted him. After all, he knew this river better than I did. All the way down and all the way back up, I didn’t fall once. Yes, there were a few times that I stumbled – even a time that I lost my shoe – but Sunil’s firm grip on my hand kept me upright.

When Sunil asked me to think about why God brought me to India and what purpose it would play in my life now, my mind drifted back to the river. That river, much like my life, is unpredictable. I never know if my next step is going to be steady, or if the rocks of life are going to slip out from underneath my feet. But life, much like that river, is so much easier to manage when you don’t have to walk it alone.

I think we lose so much of life’s adventure in the planning. I’m one of those people who loves to know what’s going to happen ahead of time. Taking a step into the unknown can be unnerving. When the water is deeper than we anticipated, it can be downright scary. But sort of like my Indian guide was there for me, God is there to hold our hand, to keep us from falling, and to guide us to safety.

I used to think I had my life all figured out, but I’ve come to a place where I have no idea what God is doing with my life right now. I can barely see the next step, let alone what’s going to happen a few weeks into the future. But for the first time in my life, I feel like it’s okay to not know. For now, I’ll just keep holding onto Jesus as I take an unsteady step into the river that is my life.

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06/28/2011

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Directed Steps

I should have been in India last year, but the trip fell through. Instead of walking the streets of Mumbai’s red light district, I was holding my breath, preparing to meet with a publisher to present my book for the very first time. Instead of sleeping in a home designed for women rescued out of the sex trade, I found myself rooming with a young woman with a calling to minister to women who don’t know that they’re beautiful. I knew that God had directed every step that led me to the She Speaks conference last year. And I knew that my meeting with Meagan was nothing short of divine.

I’m meeting up with her today, and we’re flying to India together. We’ll minister to the women in Mumbai’s red light district side by side. This is why God canceled my India trip last year. This is why He directed my steps to Concord, North Carolina. Meagan needed to go to Mumbai, and how would she get there if I didn’t invite her?

I find that God is constantly changing my plans, shaping my path, and sending me on journeys of which I had never dared to dream. Though going to India has been a longtime dream, God has expanded my vision. I’m not just going because Amy Carmichael’s story beckoned me to the mission field twelve years ago. I’m not just going because I fell in love with a ministry that pulls women and children out of the darkness of sex slavery. I’m not just going because I feel compelled to write a novel about a girl who goes through the red light district. I’m not just going because it’s an amazing ministry opportunity to serve alongside my divinely appointed roommate-for-a-weekend. I’m not just going because my older brothers are going to be able to meet me there. I’m going for all those reasons and more.

I would appreciate your prayers during this adventure. I know that I’m going to be stretched to my limits. I know that I’m going to see things that are hard to bear. I know that my heart is going to break. I need God’s strength. I need your prayers. This blog is going to be quiet for a couple weeks now, but I’ll see you when I get back from India, and boy, will I have a story to tell…

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06/22/2011

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The Blinds Around My Heart

I remember when I first moved to Virginia and said to myself, “I will never tire of seeing these mountains.” Well, it hasn’t even been two  years and the view from my bedroom window is something I scarcely notice anymore. The Blue Ridge Mountains have become so familiar that I’ve simply stopped seeing them. Most days, I don’t even open the blinds.

Sadly, they’re not the only thing I take for granted.

I find it interesting that the God who created something as vital as the air I breathe is so easy to overlook. Sometimes I get so caught up in other things that I cease to notice God’s presence. But just like those mountains looming in the distance, God is never far away. All I have to do is open the blinds that darken my heart.

In the midst of the mundane, God is offering us glimpses of the divine. He’s always there, and because of this, we often fail to truly see Him. And then there are days where we cannot help but marvel at the greatness of our God. Today was one of those days for me.

As I’m preparing to leave for India in six short days, I was talking to a coworker about how my brother who lives over there is going to come meet me in Mumbai. Somehow, in the course of our conversation, I mentioned his missionary friend whom my mom has “adopted” as another son. It’s been a of couple years since I’ve started calling Raju my brother, and I remarked how badly I’d like to meet him. Later in the day, Mom called… And as it turns out, both of my brothers will be making the trip down to meet me next week.

Some people would call that coincidence, but me… I looked up and saw the Mountain. This was a God-ordained blessing meant solely to bless my socks off. It was a touch from God that I couldn’t deny. Though some days I leave the blinds shut, today they were thrown wide open. And I basked in the wonder of the sheer awesomeness of my God.