Allowed

“Don’t miss what is complaining about what isn’t.”

Loren Thornburg

You have been given much. Yet, often the much we are focused on are the things we wish were different. There is nothing wrong with wishing things to be different as long as we are also enjoying how it is now. We were created with an inclination towards hope. It’s part of our nature to long for more. So then, the trick to preserving hope while contently remaining in a place where it is yet to be seen is by seeing what is true. For it’s true that you have already been given many things. If we saw the ways we have been given much before we saw the ways we haven’t been given enough then our perspective couldn’t help but change. Don’t forget we are not entitled to anything, but it has been allowed into our lives. Although many hard things have been allowed into your life, so have many great things...don’t miss them.

“God’s works are so great, worth a lifetime of study-endless enjoyment! Splendor and beauty mark his craft; His generosity never gives out.”

Psalm 111 2-3 Message

I awoke one morning annoyed I hadn’t slept well. Knowing all things pass through the hands of God I was frustrated He had allowed yet another night of little sleep for it seemed that would be of great benefit to me. Yet, what God quickly showed me was all the other things that He had also allowed. I began recounting all the ways God has provided for me. Suddenly my complaints and frustrations disappeared in the wealth of provision that I was not entitled to, but had been allowed. Allowed means to give permission and make provision for and we have been permitted much and provided for greatly. God is immensely and extravagantly generous. We deserve nothing and yet God is so great and so generous that He permits us to have more than we could imagine. He is marked by splendor and beauty if you will see as He sees. God’s works are so great! Don’t miss the great He has allowed because you got focused on what you wish He hadn’t allowed.

Release to Receive

“You have to release in order to receive.”

Loren Thornburg

We’ve all had it happen...your hands are full of different items and you see another you need to pick up so you try to make it happen and you end up dropping them all. The only way to safely add another item is to set an item down. You just can’t hold it all. Sometimes I wish I could. I wish there was room to hold and to do everything that I would want to, but there is just not enough room in our lives. There are not enough hours in the day and days in the week. We have to be wise with how we spend our time. If we are wanting to make the most of our days sometimes that means letting go of some things that we would like to do. It’s a necessary part of the process. To receive you have to release. Just as your hands can only hold so much so can our lives. What do you need to release so that you can receive?

“Cast your burden on the Lord [releasing the weight of it] and He will sustain you…”

Psalm 55:22 Amplified

David sure knows his stuff, but like most of us he learned the hard way, meaning he learned in the midst of hard things. His life is being threatened and so is his hope...that is until he remembers to remember what is true. The truth is “cast your burden on the Lord.” Release the burden in all of it’s weight so that you can receive God’s sustainment. Until you release those things to Him He can’t carry them for you and you weren’t meant to carry them. The weight of them will wear you down. Yet, when you release them you are free to receive the grace God has for you...He wants to carry them for you. He wants to release you from the weight they put on you. Are there burdens you’ve been carrying? Sometimes we are so used to carrying them that we don’t realize we weren’t made to carry them. Whether it’s lies you’ve believed, responsibilities you’ve taken, blame you’ve held, disappointment that’s sunk deep within, whatever it is...He wants to carry it so you don’t have to. Release it to Him in all of it’s weight so that you can receive all He has for you.

Receive It

“Don’t miss out on life trying to figure it out.”

Loren Thornburg

Life is complicated at times. Some days it seems so simple and other days it’s easy to get bogged down trying to wrap your head around everything. I have found myself there, confused in life’s timing, reasonings, and workings. I seem to think that Loren’s best plan for her life is being missed. Yet, so often I find I am glad it didn’t work out the way that I figured was the best plan for me. I don’t always understand the whys but the more I let go of having to understand, the more I find I am falling in love with the mystery of not having to know. I am finding life is to be lived not understood. Not to say we shouldn’t process or think things through or attempt to find greater wisdom and knowledge. I am not saying that at all. For those things are all good and can be greatly beneficial, but not to become greater than simply living and receiving the life that has been given to you and is being given to you right now. Don’t miss it trying to figure it all out.

“...One night the Master spoke to Paul in a dream:"Keep it up, and don't let anyone intimidate or silence you. No matter what happens, I'm with you and no one is going to be able to hurt you. You have no idea how many people I have on my side in this city." That was all he needed to stick it out...” Acts 18:9-11 Message

I can’t help but want to be like Paul if for no other reason that right here in Acts. He received the Life being given to Him. He heard the voice of the Lord, was open to receive it as from the Lord, let it minister to His heart and “that was all he needed.” He didn’t need to figure it all out and go back an analyze on how to do it better or where he went wrong or how disappointed he was or how he wasn’t measuring up; which is often what I try to do. He received it, was encouraged and went on knowing that which had been spoken was true. God was WITH Him. That truth is still true today, and is true for you...yes You. God is WITH You. Will you receive it? Will you receive the life He is speaking and giving to you? He is not asking you to figure it out, but to look to Him, the One who has it all figured out.

Fabulous and Flawed

“It’s okay to be fabulous and flawed.”

Dove Wrapper

I don’t think anyone would tell you that it’s not okay to be fabulous. At least that is not the message that we are getting: magazines tell us how to look fabulous, books write about how to improve who you are to the more fabulous you, television shows us fabulous. It’s all around us in our face and in our ears to be more...more perfect, more beautiful, more put together, more fabulous. Yet, where do we hear that it’s okay to be flawed. I would guess you don’t hear that much. I don’t and I didn’t expect to find it in a dark chocolate wrapper, but there it was speaking truth from a piece of foil. It’s okay. It’s okay to mess up, to be not all put together, to be just who you are, to be flawed. We are humans and not designed to be perfect, so why do we expect ourselves to be perfect? Knowing our design, we are free to be flawed. We are free to be fabulous too, but not expected to be so all the time. Accept what’s true...you are fabulous and you are flawed and it’s okay. Let that be okay for others as well...to be fabulous and flawed. We are fabulous and flawed...it’s okay.

“For he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.”

Psalm 103:14 NIV

God formed us, He knows us. He made us from dust and He remembers that we are fragile as from the dust. Yet, I am not sure that we do. I am not sure that we remember that we are from the dust. We are human which means we are frail, easily broken, and weak. I forget that I was not made to handle great trial, difficult pain, or deep suffering on my own. It is only by God that I am enabled to bear what my frame was not created to endure. Now this doesn’t mean that we are to wallow in our worthlessness, but to put off our worthlessness onto Him, the One who makes us worthy. It is to find freedom in knowing you weren’t created to be fabulous all the time, but to see how flawed you are without Him. He knows you are formed from dust, but He takes you, breathes life into you and calls you fabulous. This is freedom knowing you don’t have to be fabulous all the time. Even God doesn’t expect you to act perfect all the time. The pressure is off. So why are you expecting yourself to be perfect if God doesn’t? You are free to be flawed and free to fabulous in Him. It’s more than okay, it’s free.

Restart

“Dream anew, hope afresh, believe what’s true…it’s time.”

Loren Thornburg

Sometimes I wish my life had a restart option like my computer. I wish I could control-alt-delete on my day or on the choices I have made and restart them. It’s amazing how that helps many problems on the computer. Sometimes it just needs a good restart, a time to shut down and start again anew. I love this time of the year because it gives us a natural restart. It’s a time to dream, hope and believe that things can be different than they’ve been. The year has begun with a fresh slate of stories to unfold. How do you want your story to go this year? More than resolutions, more than goals...it’s time to hope.

“God, make a fresh start in me, shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.”

Psalm 51:10 Message

Not all of the glitches on my computer can be solved by a restart, nor does a new year make everything better. The best restart option for our lives is not control-alt-delete but a cry out to the One who created us. Just as you go to the computer experts why not go to the One who is the expert on you, the One who made you, who knows you, who loves you. It’s as simple as the cry in Psalm 51, “God, make a fresh start in me, make something new and better out of the chaos of my life.” He knows better than anyone else the best way to do that. He can give you the restart you’ve been looking for that’s more than a restart but a new start. He can take that very thing that stands in front of you and make it into something new, something good. Don’t miss Him in the midst of your chaos. He is waiting for you to come so He can make a fresh start in you...it’s time.