Equipping & Discipleship
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As believers it is essential for us to be bearing much fruit, for it is in the fruit that those of the world see that we are His disciples (John 13:35). That is the purpose of abiding in Christ. We must develop a desire for more of God’s nature in our lives, so that we can reflect his son and glorify our father. Spiritual disciplines help us to disciple ourselves and therefore, develop Godliness.
Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through Psalms, hymns, and songs from the spirit. singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.” Colossians 3:16
We are almost finished with January and I am willing to bet that some of us have faltered some in that daily quiet time goal that we made at the beginning of the year. Maybe just me!
Sticking to anything is hard and life gets complicated fast and setting aside time to be with Jesus and spend time in prayer and bible study is hard.
Let’s be real…you probably set yourself up for failure.
Yet here is God’s grace and truth: you literally can not fail God.
As always, I feel like I have good rhythms and routines in place and then, something changes. Gymnastics is moved to Thursday, someone gets sick, a friend needs to meet for coffee to process through some stuff, the kids constantly need to have something and be somewhere!
I began to think and wonder what that meant. How does one enjoy Jesus?
As I began to pray and flip through my bible curious about these words, I found myself in John 15, one of my favorite passages in scripture
The Lord recently taught me to look at this season and find the rhythms that are a part of my now.
“TO LIVE FROM A PLACE OF REST IS TO ABIDE IN GRACE AND MOVE THROUGH EACH BLOCK LIKE A DANCE.”
You’ve been there before…sucker punched.
A deal falls through.
Something fails.
A hope comes crashing.
Broken, fear filled, painful, heart stricken.
The blue October sky turned bleak.
My son comes in to hurry me as I stand, struck hard. I wasn’t prepared for this blow. I didn’t realize a battle was ensuing. I forgot that battles were never ending. I kiss my husband, ask if he is good and he reassuringly says he’s not worried and that it will all work out. I trust Him. I can’t disappoint my kids, I have to keep going, so I grab the keys and go.
To the zoo. On a beautiful October day. Heartbroken.
I lay in my hammock and enjoy the breeze of the day. Laying on my hammock has become my happy place.
During quarantine we spent so much time in our yard and have made it an oasis during this time of drought. We have planted seeds and watched them grow, we have cleaned, we have created a place of rest.
I begin to pray and spend time with Jesus, fully intending to leave all the stress and worries and anxieties at His feet. There are so many things that make my heart break. The chaos of the world, the sickness, the economy, the conversations I am having with my children, and the simple struggle for a sweet summer.
Church on our couch during this pandemic has been wonderful in many ways. We are worshiping and engaging in service together as a family and we are usually on time! Every week after the sermon, we have sat and answered questions and have engaged in really great conversations.
One such conversation that has continually come up these past few weeks has been the importance of reading our bibles.
There is a deep desire within all of us to know God and to know his love. Yet this world is so noisy, and we tend to do whatever we can to get by without leaning into Him. When I finally lean in, be still and wait, that is when transformation happens. We ought to lean in, we ought to know God’s love, but that requires some waiting and well, we are not good waiters.