ADVENT: DAY 12

day 12--a day about Christ's faithfulness and redemption. we see in the story of ruth and naomi a daughter-in-law yearning for a relationship, and a mother-in-law too bitter to see this gift. how ofter are we too like naomi, too hung up on what God didn't plan or hasn't shown or won't give to see the faithfulness, the miracle of Christ our Lord. oh, i how yearn to be more faithful and less bitter, to be more believing and less doubting.

"maybe sometimes the miracle begins by growing not in bitterness but in faithfulness--because, for all its supposed sophistication, cynicism is simplistic."
isn't this the truth? i would venture to say more than sometimes do miracles begin when we're faithful, when we take our eyes off of our circumstances, and look to the cross, to the Savior, to Immanuel.
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"Love is the face at the center of our universe; a sacred Smile; Holiness ready to die for intimacy."
Holiness ready to die for intimacy. wow. how powerful. my God, my Lord died for a relationship with me. can i honestly say that i would do the same? that i would die for a relationship with Jesus?
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"all that's happening to make miracles. the mundane is what's making miracles."
why is it that i so often get caught up in the notion that miracles are not an everyday occurrence? miracles are happening all around me. i love when voskamp says, "the mundance is what's making miracles."
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"'joys are always on their way to us,' ensures amy carmichael. 'they are always traveling to us through the darkness of the night. there is never a night when they are not coming.'"
praise God for this truth. praise Him that there are joys always on their way.
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"the spirit of christmas needs to be superseded by the Spirit of Christ. the spirit of christmas is annual; the Spirit of Christ is eternal. the spirit of christmas is sentimental; the Spirit of Christ is supernatural. the spirit of christmas is a human product; the Spirit of Christ is a divine person. that makes all the difference in the world."
amen, just amen to this.

INADEQUATE

inadequacy. a word that can discourage, break down, ruin, stifle. a word i so often struggle with. this inadequacy i feel in my life seems to stem from every aspect: my marriage, my appearance, my talent, my friendships. this inadequacy i battle is real. i am inadequate. 

while I've come to accept this truth, this fact that I am inadequate, I praise Him who is sufficient, for He is my adequacy. i praise Him who takes my shortcomings, my failures, my rags, and makes them into something. into everything. i am nothing good without Him. in my marriage, i am only a good wife to aaron because of Christ. in my appearance, i am only worthy because it is He who created me and my inmost being. in my talent, i am only creative because of His gifting. in my friendships, I am only a friend because of His example. 

yet while He's my adequacy, i still fall. i still fail. in reading Hebrews 3 today, i was reminded that my unbelief prevents me from entering the promised land, from receiving all Christ has for me. how powerful that while God gives God, i play a big part in whether i receive Him. 

oh Lord, increase my belief so that i may be adequate in You and You alone. 

ADVENT: DAY 10

this past week has been a journey through the beginning of the advent season. having never practiced advent before (which is nuts to me since i've been a christian for 10+ years), there was no better time than this. this season is full of unknowns, uncertainties, newness...the stability of the Savior is definitely what i've been longing for, craving, yearning. i am on day 10 of advent, and it has been such a joy to journey through ann voskamp's advent devotional, the greatest gift: unwrapping the full love story of christmas. and what a love story this has been. a story about a magnificent, glorious, perfect God and the sinner desperately fighting through this life, searching for a way through, needing a rescuer. 

day 10 walks us through the story of moses and the gifting of the ten commandments to the israelites. 

main points from today's reading:

“the ten commandments are a command to relationship. to love vertically, to love horizontally, to love relationship—and it’s not a suggestion.”

“Jesus, the Love who seven days later went to the Cross to fulfill the unfulfilled, to pay the price for our broken love like we never could, to love God for His unbroken love like we never have.”

“Jesus, the Love who hangs on a tree, who cries out our yes to the covenant: ‘My God, My God.’ yes, you are mine. I am Yours. yes, you are the Lord my God. Jesus, the Love who doesn’t just die the death we deserved to die; He lives the love we’ve desired to live.”

“God knows we wander, and he woos again and again.” praise Him for this truth.

what a beautiful picture of Calvary love, and how Jesus fulfills us, the unfulfilled, and loves us, the unlovable. how i hope and pray to live the love of my sweet Jesus.