Today’s Dose of Hope: Wisdom
My One Word for 2012 is “wisdom,” and I think God gave me that word because He knew just how bad I would need it. So far this year I’d been so busy that I didn’t have time or energy to really focus on what that One Word would mean for this year. But now that I’m putting hope into action by slowing down, I’m also able to seek wisdom from God in each of the areas I realized I’m off track in. And like always, He’s guiding me.
I love this verse, and I love that God straight up tells us through James that we can ask Him for wisdom whenever we want, and He’ll give it to us without thinking any less of us. In other words, we can hope in God for an answer to our problems.
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. – James 1:5 (NIV)
I like to ask God for wisdom about just about any issue I’m facing, and in my case I “hear” best when I read the Bible, watch podcasts of my favorite teachers (like Joyce Meyer and Greg Laurie), take notes in church (yes, I’m the geek with the bright pink notebook in one hand and my iPhone Bible app in the other), and read books by my favorite Christian authors. Sometimes He speaks to my soul and I know exactly what He’s saying, but most times He takes a collection of all of the above over a period of time and connects the dots until it finally all clicks in an “a ha!” moment.
The first thing God showed me this month when I decided to slow down and seek His wisdom is that I need to get back on the right path and stop “going around the same mountains,” as Joyce Meyer likes to put it in her teaching (you already know I love her work!). Of course, she’s referencing what happened to the Israelites in the wilderness when they got so hopeless that they spent decades going around the same mountain but never really advancing in life. (See Moses’ paraphrase in Deuteronomy 1:6)
I think that phrase also calls to light how I’ve let some little issues in life become way too big. In other words, I’ve made my mountains out of molehills. I called them “ruts” last week in my first post about putting hope into action. Beth Moore calls them “pits” in Get Out of that Pit, and Gordon MacDonald calls them “sinkholes” in Ordering Your Private World. Mountains, molehills, ruts, sinkholes, wilderness… it’s all basically the same thing: not where you want to be stuck.
I wrote last week that the main issues I’m feeling in a rut with are:
Health
Finances
Relationship
Time Management
Serving
Calling
It’s not that any of these areas are particularly bad. It’s just that I’m not necessarily investing in these areas the way I should be, and I know that in a lot of ways I’m going around and around in circles and not advancing and growing the way I should be.
I’m already pretty excited, because in several of these cases I know what the right path is. I know what I need to to do to take care of myself and be healthier since Jesus literally walked me step by step into a healthier lifestyle just a few years ago. I also know what I need to do to tackle the last bit of medical debt on my plate and move forward financially, even though the thought of it has been mentally and emotionally exhausting after all these years. And I’m already seeing how He’s asking me to invest in my relationship and in my “community,” so I’m pretty excited to see how God holds my hand through these things and helps me put my hope in Him into action (which ironically, depends a whole lot on me continuing to stay still and focused on Him instead of trying to do everything myself).
Here’s another verse I found about wisdom this week in a devotional. I have a feeling this whole “wisdom” word is going to play a big part in how I see this year’s doses of hope come to fruition in my life.
Wisdom begins with respect for the Lord;
those who obey his orders have good understanding.
He should be praised forever. – Psalm 111:10 (NCV)
Today’s Dose of Hope: Comfort (Plus a Sunday Song!)
This is a verse that has been very real in my life. I can’t believe how many times God has put people in my life to comfort me through something they themselves have faced, and I can’t believe how many times He allows me to share that same comfort with others.
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. – 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 (NLT)
Today’s song is about lifting my hands in worship. I can’t believe the ways that God is here even in our ruts, and how He’s pulling me out yet again. This is another song that the fiance has been playing a lot after playing it in church recently (he plays guitar in the church band). I can’t get enough of it today, so I’m sharing it here.
Hoping by Slowing Down and Being Still
Usually the first thing that God shows me when I get into a rut is that I need to slow down. Almost all of my ruts are the result of running at breakneck speed to keep up with the world around me or other people’s expectations. Usually it’s unconscious and it takes me hitting a major speed bump and falling flat on my face in the rut for me to even realize I’ve been doing it. I’m not always running physically either. Sometimes I’m pushing myself too hard emotionally or mentally instead. A lot of times it’s a combination of all three.
Luckily, God knows how to reach me even when I’m running. He knows how to speak to my soul, and if I’m going too fast to stop and listen to that, He’s not afraid to find me through a friend, the book that I’m reading, or my favorite authors’ status updates am and slap me with the same message over and over again until I get it.
Slowing down was a big part of the healing process that He took me through, but once was feeling I better I started subconsciously pushing myself to do more. I thought I was working toward helping other people feel better too, but in the process I was forgetting most of what I’d learned about caring for myself. It sounds a little weird to say I’m putting hope into action by slowing down, but that’s exactly what I’m doing.
These are some of the things that God has sharing with me as He reminds me to slow my roll and focus on Him.
Steph sent me this one from Joyce Meyer’s Facebook page:
A complicated life is a miserable life, and simplicity should be sought as an essential quality of the spiritual life. – Joyce Meyer
I read this amazing quote in the book I’m reading right now:
We need to find God, and He cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature – trees, flowers, grass – grow in silence; see the stars, the moon and sun, how they move in silence… the more we receive in silent prayer, the more we can give in our active life. We need silence to be able to touch souls. The essential thing is not what we say, but what God says to us and through us. All our words will be useless unless they come from within – words which do not give the light of Christ increase the darkness. – Mother Teresa
And of course, this is one that God always whispers to my soul when I’m getting burnt out:
Be still, and know that I am God… – Psalm 46:10
For Lent this year, I’m practicing slowing down and focusing on what’s really important instead of trying to jam everything that claims to be important in my day. It’s hard in a demanding city with a demanding job and a wedding to plan, but I can see God already bringing me a lot more peace. I’m going to keep writing about slowing down and all the other things I’m doing, too.
Have you found that slowing down makes a difference in your life, too?
Putting Hope Into Action
So here’s why I’ve been gone so long. You know how Beth Moore talks about pits? Well I’ve definitely walked into a few ruts not to mention a few full-fledged pits of my own making in the past year. It started super slow, with a few compromises on time management, eating right, or other areas of my life here and there and it’s taken things getting pretty off track for me to open my eyes and see it for what it is. And then I felt really hopeless for like three weeks – right when I disappeared from this here blog.
But I don’t think God had me study all of this stuff about hope to feel hopeless. If anything, He might have been preparing me for these ruts He knew I was walking into. So after lots of what the heck do I do moments, I’m standing up and putting hope into action and remembering this…
…but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.- Isaiah 40:31 (NIV)
Good one, right?
These are some of the ruts / pits I’ve walked into that I’m hoping in Jesus to lead me out of.
Health
Finances
Relationship
Time Management
Serving
Calling
I walked into all of these ruts just by being too busy, too tired, and too stressed out. And I’m getting ready to be pulled out of them by doing the same things Jesus showed me the first time He led me out.
I already started putting hope into action couple weeks ago, when I posted my favorite song by The David Crowder Band. Most of what I’m doing is just being intentional in each of these areas, trimming my plate, and focusing on God. I don’t know if it will be easy, but I’ll share every step with you guys and we’ll see how this journey goes. I’m excited to get back on track and do it with all of you!
This is my theme song. The fiance is madly in love with this song, and he’s been playing it in the car and around his apartment like crazy and teaching it to himself on the guitar, so I get to hear it all the time. It took a couple listens, and then I was like “Oh yeah! The same God who was with me then (when He healed me) is with me now! We can do this!”
I love those moments.
NewSong – The Same God
Here’s the story behind the song, which really touched me, too.
They also have a really cool page on their website that does a great job answering “What is Christianity?” It’s an excerpt from Tim Keller. I ran into Tim Keller in an elevator two weeks ago, and I was all like “Woah, it’s Tim Keller! I just got his book on marriage. It totally changed my entire perspective on my entire relationship for the rest of my entire life,” but I was too shy to say anything except, “Yes, I’m going to the lobby.”
Today’s Dose of Hope
I was going to post this song for Valentine’s Day, then I made a big mess in the kitchen recreating the first meal I ever made for the fiancé (gluten-free pasta, homemade meatballs, vodka sauce, and broccoli) as a special Vday dinner for both my fiancé AND my roommate, and I didn’t post it…
So instead I’ll post it now, and we’ll enjoy it together. Because that’s how we do around here.
David Crowder Band – How He Loves Us
Then I’ll tell you why I’ve been gone for so long and what God’s doing about it.
XO,
Kim
Sunday Song: “You Love Me Anyway” by Sidewalk Prophets
I spent the first six years of my professional career doing marketing and publicity in the music industry, and for most of that time I thought that’s exactly how I’d spend the rest of my career. I love music, and I still think hearing a new song that speaks to your heart like only a song can is one of the most exciting things in the world. But a year and a half ago I left that job when it hit me that by working with popular hip-hop artists I was marketing a lifestyle of drugs, sex, violence, and money to teenagers, while going home and saying grace over my dinner table. In other words – my walk didn’t match my talk.
I wanted to start out in a new direction and work with hurting people to share all the things I’d learned about nutrition and caring for myself and help them find the healing that I’d found in Jesus. But seriously, you will never find a nicer and more creative group of co-workers than you will in the music industry, and I still like to take pieces of that experience with me wherever I go. And can we all agree that sometimes a really good song can bring just as much healing and hope as anything else?
Sidewalk Prophets is one of those bands that makes me want to run back to that industry and snatch up a job telling people how great they are, because “You Love Me Anyway” is a GREAT song. Of all the things we hope in (confidently expect) isn’t God’s love for us the number one thing? And at least for me, it can be the hardest thing to truly comprehend. My favorite part of this song starts right around 2-minutes in and says it better than anything I can share. (Plus, I think it’s the most perfectly timed chair kick ever.)
Sidewalk Prophets – “You Love Me Anyway”
If you’re up for a laugh and an awesome cover, check out their version of “Living on Prayer,” which is of course my favorite bowling alley song ever.
Today’s Dose of Hope: The Best Advice Ever?
I read this beautiful post by Ann Voskamp of A Holy Experience in an (in)courage email the other day called, ‘What a Parent Wants to Say Before a Child Leaves.’ I read it like three times. I could not stop. About halfway through the open letter to her teenage son there is a picture of a suitcase and a boy’s shoes followed by some of the best advice I’ve ever read. Like this:
And the only life worth living is the scandalous one: scandalous love, offensive mercy, foolish faith.
And this:
Be okay with not being liked: life’s about altars not applause. And be okay with not being seen or heard. It’ll let you hear and see better.
Have any of you read Ann Voskamp’s One Thousand Gifts? It’s been on my list for months, and her (in)courage post reminds me of how beautiful her writing style is.
I hope you’re all having a beautiful weekend.
Today’s Dose of Hope
This week I’ve needed an extra dose of hope, because I’ve been working reaaal long days with a reaaal long commute, which makes me a reaaal tired Kim. Add wedding planning on a teensy budget into the mix, and well… these are some doses of hope that I reaaally need right now.
This is one that came into my mind last night, right around the time I was laying in bed with visions of bridesmaid dresses (and their pricetags!) dancing in my head.
(Jesus) That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?
And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?
So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today. – Matthew 6:25-34
This is another one I was reminded of just in time to drift into sleep…
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 4:6-7
My friend Karyn (hi!!) also shared this one today, and it’s a GREAT reminder of how we can wait and trust in God’s love and provision.
Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.
Psalm 27:14
And I woke up to an awesome email from my friend Julie (hi!!) with this verse in it:
The LORD is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him. -Psalm 28:6-7 ESV
My friends always make me happy. How great is God that He uses the people in our lives to share encouraging words when we need them? I hope you’re all having a day full of hope!
Sunday Song: “Lord, I Need You” by Chris Tomlin
The band played this song in church today, and as I was singing along I couldn’t help but feel like, “Yep. That pretty much sums up my life.” My favorite part is when Chris Tomlin says,
And when I cannot stand, I’ll fall on you. Jesus, you’re my hope and stay.”
The last blog post was really hard for me to write, because I don’t really know how to say all the things that God is teaching me right now about hope. I think maybe that one line says it better than anything I said on Thursday.
I couldn’t find an official video, but this one also shows the lyrics which are of course my favorite part.
“Lord I Need You” – Passion (Chris Tomlin)
Today’s Dose of Hope: Even More on Hoping in the Word
Hi, everyone! I’ve been thinking more about why the Psalmist (David?) says…
I wait for the Lord, I expectantly wait, and in His word do I hope. – Psalm 130:5 (AMP)
And what else that means. One of the things I love to be reminded about the Word is that when we hope in it, we’re not just hoping (living with confident expectation) in the things God has said – His unbreakable promises that apply equally to each of us. We’re also hoping in Jesus himself.
The book of John opens by telling us that the Word was with God and the Word was God and that the Word came to be with us. Sometimes it’s a lot for my little human mind to wrap around, especially because it’s more poetic than everyday language. But as best as I can understand it John’s saying that in a nutshell, the Word has everything to do with Jesus and that all of the things we hope in existed before the world was even created.
In other words, when God gives us a promise, it’s not something He intends to keep. It’s something that has already been done. He’s already seen it happen. We can count on Him. Taken as one big giant saga, the Bible is God’s 66-book series about what He’s planned and worked out for us since the beginning, and it all hinges on Jesus – our Savior who has always been with God and has always been God. Who came to show us how big God’s love for us is and to sacrifice Himself so that we can be totally forgiven and righteous in God’s eyes forever even while we’re still working it out on earth. And there’s a whole lot more to that, which is why I’m so excited to learn more about The Word and what we place our hope in.
[Greg Laurie's Essentials does a really great job of explaining all of these things that I find super awesome to learn about but super difficult to put into words.]
I’ve been reading this over and over today:
In the beginning the Word already existed.
The Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He existed in the beginning with God.
God created everything through him,
and nothing was created except through him.
The Word gave life to everything that was created,
and his life brought light to everyone.
The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness can never extinguish it…He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.
So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
John testified about him when he shouted to the crowds, “This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘Someone is coming after me who is far greater than I am, for he existed long before me.’”
From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses, but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.
- John 1:1-5,10-18 (NLT)
Jesus reveals God to us. And Jesus offers a lot to hope in. So when we hope in the Word we don’t just hope in the promises God’s made and the things that will come to pass. We hope in the reality of what He’s already accomplished. We hope in the reality of a God whose love is so big that He paid the ultimate price to allow us to be forever reconciled to Him – so we would see that His plans for us are truly good. We hope in a God who took on the worst suffering so that our suffering is only for a short time. And we hope in a God who never planned it any other way.
Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure… And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. – Colossians 1:4-5,10 (NLT)
Awesome, right?
Work has been crazy with a capital C this month, so I’ve been averaging less posts a week than I’d like. But I’m going to keep plugging away and hoping with you guys. Who knows? Maybe things will even slow down once the wedding invites are out (we ordered them last week!) and the wedding website is officially up (eek, exciting!). I’m also going to post our engagement photos, taken by my wonderful roommate, on Facebook soon. Sometimes I can’t believe the fiance and I will officially be married in less than 7 months. I hope you’re all having a blessed day!
