Have you noticed?

The things in your life you try or need to control the most are the very things that are the most screwed up and the harder you try to manage them, the more out of control they spin. If you’re honest with yourself you’ll recognize that the issue is trust, you don’t trust God or the people He’s put around you to love and care for you. So you do everything you can to protect yourself by manipulating your circumstances and isolating which results in feeling unloved and rejected proving once again…

The only way to counter this is by trusting that you are loved, that you are cared for and that you are not alone. This is not to discount your pain or present the solution in a cliché like “Let go, Let God”. For things to change it only happens with, with God and with others that know His unique love for them and for you.

I’m All Alone

Is the biggest most believed lie we’re presented with every day. Isolation is one of the enemy’s most effective tools. Don’t listen, don’t entertain the lie and don’t be afraid to share your struggles. God is here with you and for you and He has folks around that want to be a part of His love for you.

Assured

CSN sang of helplessly hoping from the empty place inside, but there’s an assured hope guaranteed by the One that can fill the empty place and it’s more than available to everyone. If you feel empty, unloved or rejected there is an answer and if you’ll put the tiniest bit of trust in Jesus he’ll rush to that emptiness and love you like no one else can. He’ll begin to heal your pain and walk through everything with you; you’ll never have to be alone again.

Comfort

This quote’s been a comfort to me today:

“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.”
― Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude

Capacities

“The capacities that distinguish us as human beings from all other creations were given to us so we could connect with each other the way the three divine persons connect. We have the capacity to enjoy the wonder of a relationship built on grace that no angel has ever personally experienced. Combine that capacity with the capacities to think, imagine, aspire, choose and feel, and you have people built for trinity-like community.” – Larry Crabb

But too often –

“I’ve got AM, FM, XM, iPod, iPhone, Internet…and we’re all closer together, just an e-mail or a text away, but we’ve all retreated into our niches, we’ve lost our cohesiveness. We’re no longer all in it together, we’re doing our own thing. And when you take a break and look up and realize no one’s around you wonder…are we better off?” – Bob Lefsetz

Connecting is Life

We were designed to connect with others. Connecting is life. Loneliness is the ultimate horror. In connecting with God, we gain life. In connecting with others, we nourish and experience that life as we freely share it. Rugged individualism, proud independence and chosen isolation violate the nature of our existence as much as trying to breathe under water. – Larry Crabb

It can be dark in there.

We each so desire to be connected, I came across this statement from Bob Lefsetz (thank you Darren) and it really tells how the world around us feels.

“It’s dark inside my mind. Do you get that feeling? That there’s a plethora of stimuli surrounding you but there’s a force field between you and the rest of the universe? That you’re locked inside your head and you can’t break out? That no one understands you and you’re dying to make a connection but it’s impossible? I feel that way all the time. My whole life is about trying to eradicate this feeling, I’m trying to make a connection.”

We can be the solution if we will.

Effort

This day may take extra effort. God’s providing all you need to not only make it through but to thrive. Don’t go it alone.

Everything’s Better

Everything is better when God is involved so why do we leave Him out of so much?

Hang in There

I know that a number of you have been going through some pretty rough times lately. You’re in the middle of something you never thought you would have to face and it’s scary. It is going to get better, hang in and don’t give up. Be sure you don’t try to go it alone, lean in close to the Lord and find someone to help you. Things may not work out exactly as you want them to but you’ve been promised that there will be a day when you’ll look back and understand how you and those around you are better. God loves you so very much. You’re in my prayers.