life in dead ends..

"Every person at one time or another — and often several in a lifetime — has been, or will be, where you are. At least with respect to feeling stuck in what seems to be a “dead-end” place with little purpose and little hope for change. So my first thought is, “You are not alone!”

Here's what is so important to understand about this season: If God is who He says He is, then nothing about your life is random — nothing.

Our nature is to think that if we're not “doing something” and “being productive” (usually informed more by western culture than Scripture), then we're not “accomplishing” (see previous parenthesis) anything.

But when we look at how God shaped and refined the men and women we read about in Scripture and throughout history, we see this recurring theme of “the holding pattern” — a season of seemingly “random non-productivity" where God is at work.

David of the Bible, one of my all-time favorite people, is a perfect example of what we're talking about. To a young guy, what does shepherding sheep have to do with anything? If anything was boring and “dead-end” for a teenager, it had to be being stuck out in the lonely fields slinging rocks at predators. He was one of hundreds of boys doing the same thing. A speck in the cosmos.

But what seemed ordinary and humdrum to David was critical in God's economy. It was there where David began learning of God and gaining revelation of Him unmatched in that day. It was there where David's heart became one after God's own. It was there where David learned to be still, and know that God is God.

We see it as a season of preparation, but for David it was just life as he knew it. And for all he knew, it would always be that way. Might as well get to know the God of the universe in the meantime.

David didn't see the season as preparing to be king, or preparing for anything. For all he knew he was doing what he would be doing for the rest of his life. But he touched eternity out there in the “holding pattern,” and it set his desire and hunger for his entire future.

Moses, Paul and countless others (Jesus himself didn't start His public ministry until his third decade of life) right down to our day, could tell the same story of the holding pattern. It's during these “seasons of winter,” when nothing apparent is going on above ground, that the roots are growing deep.

What feels like your dead-end right now could be the most critical season for what lies ahead. Now is the time for you to touch eternity. Get to know the One you desire to serve. Let your roots grow down deep so that your ministry flows from intimacy. Turn this season of apparent waiting into one of embracing Him who calls and equips.

“Whoever can be trusted with very little,” Jesus said, “can be trusted with much.” This job and season might seem little to you — as little as slinging a rock seemed to David. But that rock-slinging wasn't little to God. It was absolutely essential on multiple levels.

Being still and waiting might not be the favorites of present-day society, but they are still critical priorities in the Kingdom of God. This time in your life is fertile ground for God to shape Christ-like character, growing roots that have the strength to hold a tree and the fruit it bears. It may be that the only way you could waste it is by wishing it away."

guarding your heart the right way..

"several months ago I read an intriguing article at True U. In "Guarding Your Heart … From What?" Lindy Keffer talks about the mistake of guarding one's heart against the wrong thing.

She writes:When we talk about guarding our hearts, we usually mean being super careful about how much personal stuff we disclose to someone in whom we're romantically interested. We think of it as a way to save our emotional intimacy for our future spouses. There's only one problem with this idea. It's not actually biblical. The phrase "guard your heart" comes from Proverbs 4:23. Read in context, it's clearly talking about guarding our hearts against sin, not people.

This was new information to me. As someone who grew up in the church, I had this verse drilled into me as a caution against emotional intimacy with the opposite sex (not a bad idea in high school). Guarding myself from potential heartbreak became my guiding principle -- an indicator that I was "doing things right" in my relationships with the opposite sex. I now see that I also hid behind it to avoid being hurt.

Lindy goes beneath the surface:For those of us who once felt safe and justified living within the Christian dating box, the demands of righteousness can come as a shock. Suddenly, it's not about checking all the boxes on the list, but about being intimately attuned to the Holy Spirit, even as we are growing closer to another person.

Using the prophet Hosea as an example, Lindy points out that not all romances have happy endings. I think this is the hardest part about dating and marriage. In order to get to the point of making a lifelong commitment to love someone, we must open ourselves up to (at least one) sinful person who will hurt us. Somehow, I think we've taken the Christian relationship books to mean that if we follow all the steps, we can avoid the hurt, but it just isn't so.

And yet there is something of spiritual value in the process. When we make the focus guarding our hearts against sin, not people, we risk being hurt. But when you consider the many ways God can be glorified in righteous vulnerability, it is a risk worth taking."

just wait My beloved..

" a waiting person is a patient person .... willingness to stay where we are and live the situation out to the full in the belief that something hidden there will manifest itself to us. patient living means to live actively in the present and wait there. waiting, then, is not passive. it involves nurturing the moment, as a mother nurtures the child that is growing in her womb."

"none of those other things make a difference.
Love is the strongest thing in the world, ya know.
nothing can touch it. nothing comes close.
if we love each other, we’re safe from it all.
Love is the biggest thing there is."

"that's the thing you never get used to it, the idea of someone being gone. just when you think its reconciled, accepted, someone points it out to you and it just hits you all over again."

"our shattered dreams are never random. they are always a piece in a larger puzlle, a chapter in a larger story. pain is a tragedy. but it's never only tragedy. for the Christian, it's always a necessary mile on the long journey to joy. the suffering caused by shattered dreams must not be thought of as something to relieve if we can, or endure if we must. it's an opportunity to be embraced, a chance to discover our desire for the highest blessing God wants to give us, an encounter of Himself..the journey to joy takes us through shattered dreams...a new way to live is available to us, a way that leads to a joy-filled encounter with Christ, to a life-arousing community with others, and to a powerful transformation of our interior worlds that makes us more like Jesus."