The Way Out

“There is a way out but it is the way through.”

Loren Thornburg

It’s normal to want a way out when things get hard.  In the midst of deep pain running way often seems the best option.  The problem however is that this is not a way out, but rather simply time away.  When we leave the pain goes with us.  Although it may bring some relief for a time what we find is that the pain does not leave just because we do, instead the pain leaves when we work it through.  The best way out is when we work through that which brings the pain.  When we work through the pain at its source, then we find a way out of it.  Keep pushing through.  It’s your best way out.  

“I’m hurting, Lord—will you forget me forever? How much longer, Lord? Will you look the other way when I’m in need? How much longer must I cling to this constant grief? I’ve endured this shaking of my soul…I will sing my song of joy to you, the Most High, For in all of this you have strengthened my soul. My enemies say that I have no Savior, But I know that I have one in you!”

Psalm 13:1-2,6  Excerpt From: Brian Simmons. “Psalms Poetry on Fire.”

God loves to give us a way out.  Yet, often it is in the midst of pain that He provides.  He doesn’t promise us avoidance of the pain, but that He will bring us through it.  I love David’s example throughout the Psalms to cling to God’s promises in the midst of great trial and danger.  We see here that David trusts and prays his way through.  He starts with thoughts of feeling totally forgotten by the Lord but ends in proclamation of His trust in the Lord.  He even says, “in all of this you have strengthened my soul.”  Not only does God deliver us but He uses the very trial we find ourselves in to bring us strength.  The thing that seems to be breaking us can in fact be used by Him.  I want to follow David and let my prayer turn me from despairing to declaring my trust in the Lord.  David prayed his way through and I want to do the same.  Let’s join David in honestly approaching the Father with our pain and then declaring with what is true.  Let us sing our song of joy to Him, our Most High God, who is using this very season to bring us strength.  

Be Full

“Be mindful, to be thankful for God is faithful”

Loren Thornburg

In the definition of thanksgiving no where does it say to eat or drink.  It mentions not being full of food, but rather of thanks.  It is a prayer, act, acknowledgement, celebration, and expression of thanks and goodness.  Yet so often in the busyness and the preparation we miss the holiday.  We become consumed with the filling that we miss the giving.  So eat, gather, enjoy the day, but don’t miss the holiday.  Remember to be thankful…pray it, express it, acknowledge it, celebrate it.  Let’s be full…of thanks!  What are you full of thanks for?

“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.”

Hebrews 12:28

Let us be thankful!  Thanks that lives from the inside out, that causes us to live lives of thanksgiving that worship God.  Let us not stop at simply being thankful but living thankful.  We have so much to be thankful for if we are only mindful to remember all that we have to be thankful for.  And let us begin with the truth that “we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken!”  That is reason enough to be thankful, for that remains when all of our world shakes us away from seeing reason for earthly thanks.  We have a reason, now let us respond, in our hearts and in our lives!  Live Full…Mindful to be Thankful for He IS FAITHFUL!  

Enough Without

“We are looking, striving for the thing that will make us whole only to find that we are enough without.”

Loren Thornburg

We’ve all done it.  It usually starts with the words, “If only.”  Somehow we think that when “if only” we get the job, find a spouse, or get out of debt life will be complete and we will feel enough.  Yet, the problem is that enough is a concept of the inside more than the outside.  Wholeness is not a matter of our status but rather it means to be complete in itself.  That means that we don’t need anything else to make us complete but that we are complete without that thing.  Whether or not things ever change on the outside we can find we are complete.  You are enough…just as you are…right here.  You are enough without that things you’ve been waiting to find.  Stop looking and start enjoying.  

“And she conceived again and bore a son and said, “This time I will praise the Lord.”

Genesis 29:35 NASB

There is a story of a girl named Leah.  She was the undesired older sister.  In ancient times when marriage functioned much differently she was married to the same man as her younger sister.  It was her younger sister that the man loved.  All she wanted was to be loved.  She hoped that giving him a son would make him love her more.  But after three sons and no sign of change she changed her tune.  Instead, she said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” I love this picture.  Leah stops trying and stops waiting for something to bring about her desired change.  Instead she starts praising God, knowing whether or not her husband, Jacob, responds in the way she is longing for that God is still enough.  He is still good, sovereign and worthy to be praised.  He is enough to trust when it seems we fall short.  The One who makes us whole and calls us enough is more than enough to praise even when our longings are left unmet.  So this time, whatever your 'this time' is, praise the Lord.   

Free Expression

“Lives are for free expression not good impression.”

Loren Thornburg (adapted from magazine)

I read something in a magazine once that said “homes are for free expression not good impression.”  We don’t live like that most of the times.  Instead we want to impress so we make sure to straighten up before guests come over and we apologize if unexpected guests see our home in disarray.  I’m not saying we shouldn’t do that.  I’m simply pointing out our tendencies to make everything look nice and I can’t say we live the rest of our lives much differently.  We put on a smiling face even when things feel like they are falling apart.  Again I’m not saying this is wrong.  Sometimes it’s the only way we know how to make it through the day.  Yet, do we also have the freedom to fall apart, to invite people into our homes when they’re messy and allow people access to our hearts when it feels like chaos?  The key here is that we have freedom for both.  Freedom to keep our house nice because it doesn’t define us and freedom to look a mess because we aren’t trying to impress.  What if we could live free?  You are free!  You are free to express, you don’t have to impress.  

“Don’t be selfish; don’t live to make a good impression on others.  Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself.”

Philippians 2.3

We are not called to live lives that make a good impression on others.  No where does it say to focus on making a good impression.  Instead, we are called to love God, love others, and be holy.   Now, hopefully in the midst of living lives that reflect the life of Jesus we will make a good impression on others.  Yet, the truth is that sometimes they will have the opposite response.  Here in Philippians Paul is talking about our call to love by humility, thinking of others before ourselves.  Living humbly is based on our actions and living to impress is based on the reactions of others.  We don’t have to live based on the responses and reactions of others.  Rather we are called to be so free that we can humbly give regardless of how others respond.  That is true freedom and true expression of Christ.  You are free to express.  You are free not to impress.  He makes you free.