On My Heart:

These are the things that God has been teaching me lately. They are only tiny pages in the greater story of life long lessons. If I try to expound on any one of these thoughts I end up with pages of words that lead to more pages of words. I’ll try to be concise (my constant challenge) as I share about the thoughts running through my heart lately.

Lay down your life. God calls us to ‘lay down your life for a friend’ and he says ‘he who loses his life for My [Jesus’] sake will find it. I’m realizing that He does not simply mean that you should die for a friend or for Jesus (although I suppose it could be included), but that you should sacrifice the things that you want for your life in order to help another person or to do what God might want for you instead. In the small sense, this may be giving up your place in line for a person that needs those few extra minutes. In the large sense, this might be giving up your dream of having a huge house, in order to afford to take in more foster children. The beauty of this is that Jesus promises that when you ‘lay down your life for My sake, you will find it’. So these things you are giving up, He replaces. He either gives you a new dream, makes the dream you gave up happen anyway, or provides for you in some way you couldn’t have ever planned for.

Loving your neighbor as yourself. Loving your neighbor of course includes loving just about everyone, which then also includes loving those people you don't really like or that are irritating to you. This really ties into the concept above. I’ve discovered that part of loving your neighbor is laying down your life/wants/needs for those of the people around you. It’s not so much about giving them a cup of sugar when they ask, or bringing them baked goods, or inviting them to church (although it could include those). It’s about putting others’ needs before yours for the sake of the life Christ has given you. It’s putting what you want in Jesus’ hands and trusting that He’ll provide a replacement. C.S. Lewis says in Mere Christianity, "Do not waste time bothering whether you 'love' your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him." I have found this to be true. The more I act like I love the strangers around me, the more I actually do care for their needs more than my own (Some days, that is. I am, after all, still a work in progress).

‘O you of little faith.’ ‘Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things’ ‘Your Father in heaven knows the things you have need of before you ask him.’ These can all be found in Matthew 6. They have stuck out to me a few mornings in a row and remind me that how silly it is when we worry about the trivial things in life, and the important things for that matter. I should also include this verse: ‘If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!’ which is in Matthew 7. Of course God wants to bless us when we are trying to honor Him.. even our earthly fathers try to bless their kids... sometimes when they aren't honoring their parents. I just love these reminders when I start to get caught up in the spreadsheet, the what-ifs and the how-will-we's of life. O you of little faith.


Love never fails. I am reminded constantly that even when I grow weary of praying for a long list of people around the world, God is not weary. His love is unfailing and He never gives up on us. The words "unfailing love" appear 121 times in the NLT version of the Bible. Jesus even tells a story in Luke 18 about an unjust judge that is so tired of the pleading of a wronged woman that he finally grants her justice so that she'll stop asking. Jesus says that if even an unjust judge is worn down by asking, how much more quickly will our just Father listen to our pleads. Just another reminder to keep on praying. Praying for friends, family and brothers in Christ.