More than Me

“I live this life but it isn’t mine. I walk this journey but it’s not my own.”

Loren Thornburg

There is a story in the works and we are just a part of it. It’s bigger than me, bigger than you. Yet, somehow I, me, my are the most common words of our daily lives. There is an illusion that things revolve around us. Sometimes I forget that there is more than me going on. It’s easy to do with all that is within us that begs for our attention: pain, confusion, struggles, frustrations, circumstances, situations, wrestling, burdens. These things demand for us to look to them and pay attention to them and we certainly need to...for a time. There is a time and place for those things to be looked at and addressed, for to ignore them completely would only add to more of those things. However let us not forget to be willing to look past them otherwise we will become consumed with them. Let us not forget there is more than me. That may be the very thing that helps us through all that has our focus.

“...You’re looking at this backwards. The issue in Jerusalem is not what they do to me, whether arrest or murder, but what the Master Jesus does through my obedience. Can’t you see that?”

Acts 21:13 Message

Oh how we have gotten things backwards. I am so quick to forget whose I am. For I am not my own. I don’t belong to me. I didn’t make me and this life isn’t mine...it’s HIS. With that being true then we can see how Paul can say that it doesn’t matter if they arrest or murder Him so much as it matters that He does what the Father is telling Him to do. He understands his life isn’t his to do as he thinks is best but He is a child of God, belonging to Him to do what his Father thinks is best. Paul invites those with him to see it as he does. Let me extend that invitation to us, myself included. Come and see that the money in our accounts is His, the people in our lives are His, and the work that we do is His. Come and see as Jesus does. You are not your own. You’ve been bought at a price. It is not our duty but our pleasure to live our lives as not our own, but belonging to Him. The pressure’s off...you’re His...it’s His.

When the Wind Blows

“When all around is swirling and shaking you don’t have to swirl and shake with it.”

Loren Thornburg

Wind is a crazy thing and it drives me crazy. You can’t see it, you can only see the effects of it. As the winds swirl and shake through Colorado Springs I can’t help but be so thankful for the house that protects me. I can sit inside unaffected by the gusts of winds blowing things over outside. It challenges me to live a life where my house is my skin. Where I can stand in the midst of life’s gusts and blows and be still on the inside. We have all seen the gusts and blows that life can bring. As I continue to walk through those I want to live a life where I see the things blowing around, but I can stand firm while they blow and not be blown with them. It seems the only way to do that is to be grounded and rooted deep in what is true. I have to be. Otherwise, when the wind blows I’m going to get blown with it.

“The name of the LORD is a strong fortress; the godly run to him and are safe.”

Proverbs 18:10 NLT

The Lord is not shaken. He is our strong fortress. A fortress is a place on high and that is what the word safe means here in the Hebrew; to be set on high...high above all that swirls around. That is what He does when we run to Him, He lifts us up above the swirls into His arms so that we are not effected by them. Now don’t be thrown off by the “godly” or the “righteous” who run to Him, for that is you the moment you trust Him enough to run to Him. In Him we have all that we need to not only weather the storm, but be completely secure and safe. This doesn’t mean we won’t feel the blows at times, but that we won’t be blown by them. Even if you have chosen not to run to Him and find yourself blown to the ground you have never blown out of reach of running to His safety. The strength of His tower is more than enough to protect you. This is His sufficiency for you in all that is blowing around you. He is your sufficiency. When things start blowing, start running...to Him. It’s the only way to stay standing in the swirling and shaking.

Tested TRUTH

“TRUTH stands the test of time. It’s always TRUE.”

Loren Thornburg

The latest in the world of health is that fat is good. Consuming “good” fats is actually good for you when for so many years we were told to limit fats because it led to being fat. The butter, avocado, nuts, olive oil and other good fats we’ve been avoiding are now good to eat. As glad as I am for the freedom to consume these foods I find this also confusing. After hearing enough contradictions over the years I tend to stop believing all of what they are saying. It feels never ending and impossible to really know. It’s not just food, but it’s everywhere. Yet, there is one thing that has stood, is standing and will stand the test of time and that is TRUTH. We can cling to TRUTH, knowing it never changes. It will always be true when everything around us keeps changing.

“Jesus Christ (the Messiah) is [always] the same, yesterday, today, [yes] and forever (to the end of the ages). Do not be carried about by different and varied and alien teachings; for it is good for the heart to be established and ennobled and strengthened by means of grace…”

Hebrews 13: 8-9 Amplified

Jesus Christ is the TRUTH. He never changes, but is always the same. Unlike the changing research and most knowledgeable wisdom from scientists and doctors Jesus will be the same forever. He always has been and always will be. I am so thankful we have something sure and steady when everything around us and even in us seems to be changing. We can lean into Christ with our entire life in absolute trust and confidence in Him. He is true and He is TRUTH that has stood and continues to stand the test of time. Lean in to His absolute and trustworthy TRUTH.

Reclaim

“Sometimes things of value are hidden looking like waste.”

Loren Thornburg

Recycling is all about using again that which appears to be waste. There is still use in it that we can’t always see right away. Things once claimed to be waste have been reclaimed useful. This means more than paper and plastic, but the things in our lives as well. The risk that seemed to have been a failure, the relationship that is no longer, the job search, the efforts with no apparent return...we see it all as waste. What if there is something more in the midst of seeming failures? What if you saw all you learned in the midst of it and the opportunity that came from it? Those things are priceless. They are more than usable but highly valuable. What else in your life might be able to be re-claimed as valuable?

“God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ.”

Romans 3:24 Message

“My recovery is Christ,” said a well-known baseball player in the midst of his exposed falling to his addiction. Recovery means to get back or regain something lost, to make good, to regain strength, to regain a better state and to reclaim from a bad state. Without Christ we are in a bad state. Yet, as we see in Romans God reclaimed us through Jesus Christ. He came into our mess, into our waste and restored us to where he intended us to be. That restoration means we were redeemed. We were separated, only to be saved by a price. Nothing else could set us free from staying in that place and there was nothing we could do about it. Only God could and He did. Not because He had to but out of “sheer generosity” He made it right. It was a “pure gift.” Christ is in the restoration business. He did and continues to reclaim us from our mess. Look to Him for your recovery. He is our recovery.

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.