Greg Loves Sarah

“…Before setting to work for God and to fight against the devil,

first calculate your forces;

and if you consider yourself well enough equipped to begin

you are a fool,

because the tower to be built costs an outrageous price,

and the enemy coming out to meet you is an angel

before whom you are of no account.

Get to know yourself so well,

that you cannot contemplate yourself without flinching;

then there will be room for HOPE.

Only in the sure knowledge that you are obliged

to do the impossible in Him who strengthens you

are you ready for a task which can be performed

only through the cross.”

Ever find that you get so caught up in yourself and your weakness and your thoughts and your circumstances that you forget to just…well…praise God? You get to the end of the moment, the minute, the hour – and realize that time has passed and all you have done, frankly, is think and move?

My dear friends and readers far and wide – in case you need a reminder – God is good.

His righteousness is complete and finished. You don’t have to earn it or fake it. You can rest in all that He is. Your heart can be still in Him.

In His Spirit is Life and Peace. Take your mind of your flesh – after all, if it is SUPPOSED to be dead it does no good to sit there glaring at it. Just turn your eyes to Christ. Turn your back on your failures, dissatisfaction with your spiritual life, frustration with self-efforts at righteousness – Abandon it all and find…HIM.

Look at Christ, simply rest in Him, believe what He says and…There…You will find…EVERYTHING.

I am amazed at the goodness and mercy of God. How He holds us, keeps us, draws us. And in His love, never grows tired of us. And when He looks at me, He sees HIS SON.

Some thoughts just blow me away. BLOW ME AWAY. And those that do that are of Him – of all that He is, has done, and always will be.

Some thoughts are too big to process. TOO BIG. And those that are are of Him – of His never-ending mercy, of His love for me, of His patience.

Some thoughts cannot be captured or expressed adequately. THEY JUST CAN’T. But they are true.

“We can use the words we know to tell You what an Awesome God You are. But words are not enough to tell You of our love. So, listen to our hearts.”

Friend, there is more than just existence in Christ. There is LIFE. ABUNDANT LIFE. And it is YOURS – glorious, full, free, all-consuming, all-satisfying LIFE.

This is CHRIST.

Recently, I had a tough day. A really tough day. My heart was overwhelmed. I was frustrated – mostly with me.

You know how they say that when you see an iceberg floating in the ocean, it is only a small evidence of something huge under the surface. It’s the proverbial “tip of the iceberg”.

On that day, someone sort of gave my little iceberg-tip a slight shove. And then IT happened. The whole thing capsized. I knew there was a colossal glacier under there, so it was no surprise to me. But it was still hard to see and admit to it.

I was so frustrated with myself – tired – of desiring things that I cannot have. Of failing where I should succeed. Of not being truly satisfied in Christ the way I know I can and should be.

I cried. I laid it out before the Lord. I asked for mercy.

And then, that very evening, someone that I greatly admire said…

“Every struggle I’ve had in life has come when I have had more than One Desire.”

One Desire.

I knew it was true. I have desires competing with Lord almost everywhere I look. He IS my greatest Desire. But there is so much competition in this heart of mine. And there is so much struggle.

I know in the deepest part of my heart…that in finding Christ I find all things.

My dad said something really meaningful to me tonight. He pointed out that Scripture says, Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Its a promise. My God is not going to go the other way. He will draw near to me. And the drawing near to Him part, that is a work of His Spirit too. That’s how good our God is……..

My dear sisters and brothers, may He be your One Desire. May He be mine…

“If you abandon to Jesus, and come when He says ‘Come,’ He will continue to say ‘Come’ through you; you will go out into life reproducing the echo of Christ’s ‘Come.’ That is the result in every soul who has abandoned and come to Jesus.”

~ My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers

Last year at Children’s Institutes, we reintroduced the “Gift for God” craft. This was a simple little craft – only a small gift box, a bow, a tag, and strips of paper inside. Simple – yet the lesson it taught is deep. The children were encouraged to write on pieces of paper those things [rights] that they needed to yield to the Lord. As they yielded those to the Lord, the little strips could be put into the gift boxes and then given to the Lord in prayer.

Everything that I have and am is a gift from God. The greatest gift the Father has given was the life of His Son. Having been created for His glory, I am created to be HIS. The greatest joys and truest peace of life will come not through hanging on to my life, but through yielding it to the Father. Then I find myself right where I was created to be.

Well, this Sarah Perkins has given her life to the Lord. I am His own.

To me, one of the profound aspects of this craft is that the lid on the gift box is never sealed. Whenever you discover another something that needs to be yielded to the Lord, there the box is – ready to be opened, ready to add another “right.” Interesting thing about me though is that my box would contain not just one paper that says “life” or “desires” or any number of other things. My box would contain certain identical papers a thousand times – as over and over I come back to the Lord and say, “Father, here I am again. Here is my life. Here are my desires. Here is ‘me’.”

Amazingly, Father never slams shut the lid to that box and says, “No more!!” He only receives. And then receives again. And then blesses. He is so patient with me.

Regardless of all that is in my heart and head, my greatest desire is to be WHOLLY His. To be so satisfied in Christ that the pleasures of this world and of my flesh, have no power to attract or distract. He is working that in me. And as hard as it may be at times, I pray that He keeps working [I know He will]. It is good.

Psalm 103:1 says, “Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name.”

Emotions…Bless the Lord

Heart…Bless the Lord

Desires…Bless the Lord

Actions…Bless the Lord

Mind…Bless the Lord

ALL that is within me.

and….. I am home again. :) Here’s me and my lovely sis. Moving is hard work :P

But the rewards are s-w-e-e-t! :)