Living Life for Christ Alone

Discouragement often comes on the heels of high emotions and great encouragement.  Ever noticed that?  I recently heard mentioned in a podcast the saying: "What goes up must come down," and  I was struck by the fact that this very much can be referring to spiritual, emotional and physical highs.  A busy and fun weekend is often followed by a dull Monday.  A good day with little ones full of laughs and good behavior is quickly followed by another one with way less of both.  An exciting, energetic trip is often followed by an exhausted crash and sleepy, grumpy days to follow. A spiritual high can quickly be followed by spiritual lows, clarity by fog, joy by sorrow, confidence by faltering.  We so easily get discouraged once that high is replaced with a low simply because we secretly hoped the high would keep going on forever.  I experience this way too often, but I hadn't thought to expect it and even prepare for it.  If we are riding on the hi...

A few nights ago, I began to pray through the things that were bothering me most about my life. So many things had been throwing me off balance, and I was definitely not  content with where I was. After praying through everything, I settled down and whispered to my God, "I'm Yours."  Without hesitation, He whispered back to me, "Sandie, I'm yours." 

I need to tell you about the title of this blog. Partly because I have forgotten about it and just noticed afresh what it's called. "What, you forgot the name of your blog?" you ask. Well, yes... and no. I just forgot what it means to me, what it ought to mean every time I wake up in the morning, when I lie down at night.... what it ought to mean all the time. First, living for Christ alone means exactly that. So this should not take too long to explain. :) Living:  In other words, not being in a dead, un-moving state. It's growing. It's walking. It's being. Being everything you are meant to be. Are you alive? If you're not, do you want to be?

"Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: the faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning." -Lamentations 3:21-23 Dare to hope!  God's love will outlast your circumstances. You can't be separated from His love. What you see before you is not evidence that He's forgotten about you! His love for you  is everlasting! Dare to hope! His mercies are ongoing in spite of your circumstances. He is merciful, compassionate, and has promised not to allow more pain than you can handle by His grace!

As December thirty-first turned into January first of the new year, I had mixed feelings. Partly because 2014 had turned out to be extremely dear to my heart. Many of my own life's most difficult moments had happened in this year, as well as many of the most exciting ones. I wasn't quite ready to let it go. Come on, it's just a year number...   On January first for the past couple of years now, I like to write a prayer of dedication in my journal, asking God to do something incredible with the year, to teach me more about Him, to grow me more... that kind of thing.

Today I'd like to share with you a secret. It's a secret that I know could change your life if you let it... I happened to be reading in Revelation on this one particular morning. It's a book that gets me excited, perplexed, and causes me to have a sense of awe all at once... Maybe its because it talks about heavenly things I can't imagine. Maybe its because it talks about things that will happen that I can't fully understand. Or perhaps its because there is so much promise of hope in it that gets my mind off of the here and now. 

"And now abides faith, hope, love; these three; but the greatest of these is love. "                   - 1 Corinthians 13: 13 A question gnawed at my mind as I considered the sentence above. Why would love be more important than faith and hope? The world is filled with unfair circumstances. Life seems to always be getting messed up. You'd think maybe hope would be most needed. And what about faith? Isn't that the key to pleasing God? Wouldn't faith be most important, because faith pleases God? Didn't He create us for His glory? (Hebrews 11:6) But, no... the verse clearly said, "...the greatest of these is love." It is amazing how when you go to the bible with a need for one thing, if you truly are searching, God will show you something better than what you were looking for. I had been searching for hope. I was getting to a place where I wondered if there was any. As I searched for verses on hope, I realized that God is the God of hop...

Recently, I went through a very painful experience. The death of a dream I had thought was coming true. The loss of something I thought I had gained permanently. Never had I experienced something so difficult before. Never had I guessed that this was going to happen to me. ...But it did. And it hurt. I praise God for His healing power at work in me... As I write, I write not only to you, but to myself as one who is learning on this journey too.  This morning, as I was reading in the Psalms, I came across a Psalm that hadn't stood out to me in this way before. As I read, I realized that I was looking at me in the mirror of God's word.