In Process

“We are all in process and sometimes it looks messy.”

Loren Thornburg

I was sitting in front of the mirror after having my hair washed before it was going to be cut. With the towel on my head I was so glad only the people in the salon could see me and most of them were focused on other things. I wasn’t looking put together yet. Then again with most of my hair clipped on top of my head so the stylist could cut each layer just right I had the same thought. Yet, at no point did I think something was wrong. I knew that it was all a part of the process. In that moment I wished I could see the rest of my life like that. Usually I see my moments when I don’t look put together and things look a mess as a problem to be fixed rather than as part of the process. We often think it’s not okay to be in process. We forget that we are all in process between who we were and who we are becoming, between where we we’ve been and where we’re going. As we enter into the freedom to be in process we allow others to do the same. We are all in process and at different times in our lives we see and feel it more. Let’s see others with the grace of being in process and live with the freedom to be in process.

“...you have clothed yourselves with a brand-new nature that is continually being renewed as you learn more and more about Christ who created this new nature within you.”

Colossians 3:10 NLT

We have been clothed with a new nature, no longer subject to the sinful nature within us. This is true and yet it is a continual process of renewal that happens as we know Christ more. It’s a process. We are in process between the sinful nature that ruled us and the new nature that is free for humility, love, gentleness, patience and all the things we hope to be. Often times we are so aware of the old nature that we forget there is still a new nature within us waiting to be clothed around us and renewed in us. As God calls us and invites us to walk in more of His nature He is okay with the process. He doesn’t see us as “not there yet,” but with a love for who we are right where we are inviting us to more of Him. He could change us in an instant if He wanted us all put together, but He doesn’t. He just wants more of us. Whatever part of the process we are in He sees more than the mess, He sees how the mess is bringing us more of Him.

Meant to Live

“You were meant to really LIVE. That’s the really real life.”

Loren Thornburg

To live by one definition means to remain alive. Yet, it also means having a fulfilling life, an exciting life. We were meant to do more than remain alive, but to really be alive with fulfillment and excitement. There is a huge gap between these two and often many of us live in the gap rather than in the midst of the really real life of abundance. We settle for less than we were meant to, less than we were created for. You were created for a life of fulfillment, a life that feels alive, which can’t be found in many of the places we settle to live. Take a butterfly for example. You would think it a waste if the butterfly stayed in the cocoon and never came out; or if it came out only to keep crawling on the ground like a caterpillar; or even still if it walked around. A butterfly has four beautiful wings and so we expect it to fly. It was created to fly and anything less would not be really living as it was intended. We have our own beautiful wings that bring fulfillment and life. They don’t look like the butterfly. They look like our different giftings, unique to each of us and changing in different seasons. Parenting, writing, mentoring, painting, creativity, hospitality, teaching, leading, we could go on forever. You were created for these things. You were meant for the really real life. You were meant to LIVE!

“Put your entire trust in the Master Jesus then you’ll live as you were meant to live.”

Acts 16:31 Message

Who knows better the things that you were created to do than the One who created you. He certainly did not create you for less than a life of fulfillment. God made you just as He intended with different gifts so that when you operate in those you find life, His life. He designed you so that you would have life. He designed you to find the really real life in His son Jesus. In His life you find an aliveness that fills you to really LIVE. When you put your entire trust in Him you find you are doing exactly what you were created to do. He leads you into those things that fulfill you and He fills you with all that you need to live the really real life...HIM.

Looking Back

“You are not who you used to be. Look back to before.
You have grown, you have changed. You are becoming more and more.”
Loren Thornburg

I love those moments when you realize you are not who you used to be. You have grown and changed into someone greater and more free. Now that is reason to celebrate. Sometimes we miss these things in the day to day. We see ourselves and know ourselves every day and it can be hard to see the ways we have changed when they have happened little by little, one day at time. Often we are encouraged not to look back in fear of dwelling on past mistakes. However, it can be good to look back so we can see places of victory and growth that may go undetected and uncelebrated otherwise. Different events in our lives can serve as a natural way to look back. Birthdays, holidays, a new year, a new season or there might be places that we go every year that serve to do this as well. In these spaces we remember the time before and who we were and how we have grown and changed. These are reasons to celebrate. Don’t miss any chance to celebrate big or small. Look back to see. See how far you’ve come, the victories you’ve won, and the ways you’ve changed. Celebrate!

“But grow in grace (undeserved favor, spiritual strength) and recognition and knowledge and understanding of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…”
2 Peter 3:18 AMP

We are encouraged to grow, especially in knowing more of Jesus. This includes knowing more about Him, but expands into really KNOWING Him. Knowing Him means being more aware of His grace, understanding how He loves you with this undeserved favor and finding more of your strength in His spiritual strength. It is different from how many might identify growth. It doesn’t look like promotions, awards, or even financial increase. Instead it looks like freedom where you are free to receive grace, free to give grace and free to recognize Jesus as Lord and Savior. When we are truly seeking the Lord this is a byproduct. You don’t have to work at it because as you seek the Lord you come to know Him more and as you come to know Him you can’t help but be changed by His grace and freed by His grace. Can you see it? Look back. When you’re following Him you find more of Him and His grace. That is more than enough reason to celebrate!

Price of Beauty

“The beauty of freedom doesn’t come free but it’s worth every penny.”
Loren Thornburg

Beauty is something we revere highly in our culture. From fashionable clothing, to makeup, to diets, to jewelry, to name brands, the list goes on. We all know this comes at a price of money, time, and sometimes pain. Yet true beauty has less to do with the outside than it does with the inside. Beauty involves features that are attractive. Although there is something very attractive about looking good on the outside if that is not also found on the inside it leaves us forever unsatisfied. The most attractive beauty that lasts is a heart that is free. Not bound by burdens, bitterness, pride, restlessness or doing, but a heart free to be with or without the latest fashion. Now, there is nothing wrong with being in style and looking good unless that is where you are finding your beauty. It won’t be found there...at least not for long. Beauty is found in a heart that is free, but the beauty of freedom comes at a price too. We have to be willing to let go of our burdens, forgive those places of bitterness, humble ourselves when prideful, rest when we are restless and trust that we can be and that is enough. This beauty doesn’t come easy either, but it lasts. Find freedom and you will find beauty that remains.

“God does not view things the way men do. People look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
1 Samuel 16:7 NET

God wants us to be free. Not just to look free, but to really be free from the inside out. We often confuse this as the outside in, but God is different. He sees beauty differently than we often do. Beauty of the heart is what is attractive to Him and He knows just how to free us to that beauty if we will let Him. It sounds crazy not to want that or to let Him do that, but it’s not as easy as it sounds. It means letting Him into those places of pain, places of shame, places that we would rather ignore or keep hidden. For those places are keeping us from freedom, they are keeping us from Him, they are keeping us from others. Yet, what great beauty if found that attracts others in a heart that is free. Free to love, free to risk, free to be...it’s possible if we let Him. It comes at a price but the investment is eternal and you will never regret it.

Weight of Waiting

“It is of great weight if you can wait without the weight of waiting.”
Loren Thornburg

Waiting can feel like such a burden, like a heavy weight that we are carrying around with us. There is the weight of waiting to get married, to have kids, for our kids to mature, to get a job, to make more money, to have more time, to be happy. We are all waiting for something and depending on how we wait determines the weight which we carry. Yet it doesn’t have to be a burden that weighs us down. It can instead be the strength of which we carry. There is a way of hope in waiting that takes the burden and turns it into contentment. There is a way of trust in waiting that takes the burden and turns it into security. There is a way of peace in waiting that takes the burden and turns it into freedom. There is a way of waiting that finds life in the waiting. Don’t bear the weight of waiting. Put down those weights so you can pick up security, contentment, freedom and life.

“What would have become of me had I not believed that I would see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living! Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring. Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord.”
Psalm 27: 13-14 Amplified

David knew the weight of waiting on the Lord. He knew that was the only way to find life in the midst of waiting. To wait on the Lord is to cling to Him, to adhere to Him, to stay close to Him, to be bound together with Him, and to trust Him. It is knowing, trusting, patience, security, satisfaction, and believing with contentment. It is being aware that our need for God is greater than our desire of what we are waiting on. We need to cast our weights on Him. That is the only way we can wait without the burden of waiting. David sees this as being of great weight knowing that had he not he would have become something so different from the man of worship that he is in this Psalm. Yet, he realizes that this takes courage and does not come easily. We must determine to wait on the Lord, to cling to the Lord, to cast all of our weighty burdens on the Lord. Let us wonder like David what would have happened if we didn’t do that rather than what might have been possible if we had.

Made for Light

“You were made for light and to be made light.”
Loren Thornburg

I am reminded on every gloomy day how I was made for light. Now, I enjoy some rain every now and then, especially when it comes with thunder and lightning. However, there is something about the lack of sunlight that affects me. I feel tired and I just want to snuggle up on the coach ,which isn’t an option sometimes. There is scientific backing to our need for light and the Vitamin D that we get from sunlight. Without it our bodies become weak emotionally and physically. As I was trying to get something untied in the darkness of my room it felt so difficult, but when I brought it in the light it seemed so easy and obvious on how to untie it. We need light! It stimulates sight. It makes things visible. We were made to function in the light, yet so often we find ourselves trying to untie knots in the dark. At times we are drawn to the things that keep us from being able to see. This can come in hundreds of ways...fears and concerns, harmful activities, secrets. Yet when this is all done in the light where others and yourself can see there is a “lightness” that comes. It doesn’t feel so heavy. We were made for light...it makes things light.

“For you are the fountain of life, the light by which we see.”
Psalm 36:9 NLT

God is the light and life. Without light there is no life. Those two go together and you go together with Him. You were made for Him. He is the light by which we can see truth. It is by Him who is truth that we can see things as they really are without tainting. If He is the light by which we see, without Him we are living in the dark. I think about times I have tried to do things without Him and how hard those were compared to times where I have invited Him in. Not that things got easy because He was involved, but that there was a lightness and a freedom in the midst of the struggle. For His “burden is light.” It is a fountain of life that never stops. His life is the way that we can see things through. Without Him we are stumbling in the darkness still trying to untie the knot that could be untied with ease if we would step into the light, His light. He never stops being light. He never stops helping us to see. He never stops bringing life and more life. He never stops and you never stop being made for light. When you have His light in you He shines that to others that they can see too. You were made for light and to be made light.

What Really Matters

“Perspective is found in the face of disaster.”
Loren Thornburg

It’s hard to believe it was 10 years ago. It feels like yesterday that I first heard of the tragic events of our country. For weeks it flooded the news and our lives. Some more than others, but it was hard not to be affected. There is something about those times, when we are face to face with disaster and loss, that we can’t help but gain perspective of what really matters. We see the fragility of life and remember we have no guarantees. In this perspective shift we begin to find a new level of thankfulness and gratitude. We start to make the things that really matter priority in our lives. However, over time we often lose sight of this again. Life demands so much from us that we start to let other things take center stage. Rather than waiting for the next big disaster let’s let this anniversary remind us what really matters.

“Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord…”
Phil 3:8 NLT

Paul, referred to as Saul before having an encounter with Jesus, came face to face with disaster and loss. He was going about his day when an encounter with the Lord dramatically changed the course of his day and life. He was blinded. Saul was completely dependent on those around him to go anywhere and do anything. So when his sight was restored you can only imagine his thankfulness. Yet, more than being able to see, he now saw Jesus in a whole different light. Having once persecuted those who believed, he now “immediately” began preaching about how Jesus saves. Paul saw what really mattered and he kept seeing it and sharing it throughout his life. He continued to remember what was of gain and what was of loss by comparing it up to Christ. This doesn’t mean we have to go preach or be missionaries. It doesn’t mean only going to church and reading your Bible are worthwhile. Much the opposite, it means that everything done with Him at the center, so that He may be seen as worthy is a “priceless gain.” Don’t wait for disaster to strike to start seeing that what really matters is knowing Christ Jesus as Lord.