Do you feel like dancing?

I love to dance and sing and travel and go dining!  After being 'in country' for 15+ months I received an incredible birthday surprise and got to meet a friend for a week long get-away.  It was a wonderful break from reality.  It was so refreshing to enjoy a few days without the constant stresses of our day to day life in Haiti.

Today's Jesus Calling devotional, by Sarah Young, (which has spoken repeatedly to my soul lately) made me think about my trip verses my everyday life.

I am the firm foundation on which you can dance and sing and celebrate My Presence.  This is My high and holy calling for you; receive it as a precious gift.  Glorifying and enjoying Me is a higher priority than maintaining a tidy, structured life.  Give up your striving to keep everything under control--an impossible task and a waste of precious energy.
My guidance for each of My children is unique.  That's why listening to Me is so vital for your well-being.  Let Me prepare you for the day that awaits you and point you in the right direction.  I am with you continually, so don't be intimidated by fear.  Though it stalks you, it cannot harm you, as long as you cling to My hand.  Keep your eyes on Me, enjoying Peace in My Presence.

I'll be the first to tell you that it was easy to praise my King when I was relishing in my short vaca away.  I danced, I sang, I laughed, I smiled...

I relished in girl time and quiet quiet time!  I rested in a plush, comfy, white covered bed without mosquitoes swarming overhead and there was even a thermostat for our room!  It was FAB..U..LOUS!!  It was a precious gift!

But what about when there's no vacation with a sweet friend you haven't seen in over a year while enjoying lavish meals and being treated like an heir of the royal family?

What, then?

Do you still dance?  Do you still sing?  Do you still laugh and smile and portray a joyous life?

When you have to clean up after the party and go back to work.... When you have to replace the brakes in your vehicle or clean up after a sick child.... When your illness sends you to the hospital and your parties are entertaining pity more than actual guests.... When you can't find your keys and you're already running late, who feels like dancing and singing, then?

If we allow circumstances to be our foundation 
on which we can enjoy a 'good life' brimming over with joy, 

we are setting ourselves up for very little dance time, my friends.  

It's in the midst of hard circumstances that we have to press into what we know to be true even when we don't feel it.  The truth is that we really are children of a King... The KING!  
"God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords" ~ I Timothy 
"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!  And that is what we are!" ~ I John 3:1

Sometimes we argue and say that's just not enough.  I've argued that very thing lately.  I've fought to wear a smile and I've certainly not felt like dancing.  I've spent some time questioning what we're supposed to be doing while we continue to find ourselves in a mode of transition.

We were supposed to be settled by now.
We were supposed to be over the transition phase by this time.
We were supposed to be knee deep in our life overseas and even swimming every now and then.

When our circumstances and everyday stresses are difficult to walk through, much less dance through, I don't feel much like I'm part of a royal family.  Instead of celebrating that the "Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us" is with us every step of the way, I've wondered if maybe He stepped on over to another path that I wasn't privy to.

Can you relate where you are?
Are you on a joy hunt, hoping you run into it sooner than later?
Do you ever just feel like you missed the memo about your flight until after the plane was in the air... and someone else is enjoying the comfort of their seat and yours?

Sometimes "the road God chooses to lead us on as we travel into a life of abundance is often more challenging, more tedious, more lonely, more indirect, and more costly than we ever expected".  But when we stop fighting against our circumstances and cry out to that same King that we were praising when life was jolly good, we see that He might just be taking us deeper into our journey so we can truly experience Him as our foundation for everything good and right in our lives.

I'm not asking you to make light of your current trials any more than I'm pretending mine haven't been the last thing I've wanted to embrace lately.  But what if we give up on trying to keep everything under control and just bust out in song or dance when it least makes sense.  God inhabits the praise of His people, you know?  And it worked wonders for Paul and Silas when they were stuck in prison, not to mention the jailer and his family!  (Acts 16:25-40)

I won't be wearing long sleeves with my shorts anytime soon and I probably won't let my hair down all that often but I am going to look for opportunities to dance and bust out in song more!
Won't you join me?

"But let all who take refuge in You be glad; let them ever sing for joy.  Spread Your protection over them, that those who love Your name may rejoice IN YOU." ~Psalm 5:11

Bending...

A month ago, a snippet of my journaling/quiet time looked like this...


"Trust Me to show you what to do when you have finished what you are doing now.  I will guide you step by step - as you bend your will to Mine.  Thus you stay close to Me on the path of peace."(Jesus Calling)

Lord, I know you said, "And you, my child will be called.... to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace" in Luke 1, but a lot of days I feel like we are the ones in need of a light...  someone to shine on us... especially when it feels like we are living in darkness.

I felt weak for feeling like that.... for feeling needy... for feeling inadequate... for feeling like I just couldn't give anymore... for feeling like I was the one that needed to be ministered to.

I doubted my ability to keep going.  I felt defeated.

I needed clarity.
I needed purpose.
I needed hope.

    I still do.

But something has become clear to me in the darkness this past month.

     As we draw close to the source, we gain clarity. 

And it's in the darkness that we realize we were created to need the light....

...and we are able to see that in our weakness, we are right where we are supposed to be.  

We were never meant to be the light for others without first being bent toward the Light as mentioned in Psalm 27:1, "The Lord is my light and my salvation--whom shall I fear?" 

We see that our purpose is in fact to walk with Him and to fall into Him when we just can't go any further.

It's easy to get wrapped up in the mentality that as Christ followers, we are here to minister without taking time to be ministered to.  But I would argue that we can't possibly minister to anyone else unless we are being ministered to.  Not catered to but ministered to... and not just every once in a while but regularly!

We can only be an instrument through which others encounter Christ 

to the degree that we encounter Him ourselves.

Although self-sufficiency is rewarded in the world, God created us to rely on Him.
John 15:5 says, "I am the vine, you are the branches.  If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing." 

When we're feeling over-extended or like we've hit the wall in our journey, thinking we just can't keep going, it's time to LET GO.  And REST IN KNOWING that we were never meant to be the strong one.  God chose you and He chose me, although weak, so that His STRENGTH can be evident through our honest weakness.

"The moment you obey the light of God, His Son shines through you in that very adversity; but if you debate with God, you grieve His Spirit.  You must keep yourself in the proper condition to allow the life of the Son of God to be manifested in you.  Our circumstances are the means God uses to exhibit just how wonderfully perfect and extraordinarily pure His Son is." - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

Our journeys in life were never meant to be about us but about the One who gives us life.  Even when life is sometimes dark.

Senyé, 
Ala nou kontan 
se pa nou k'ap kenbe ou
men se ou k'ap kenbe nou.

Lord, 
How glad we are 
that we don't hold you,
but that you hold us.