Deep-End Discipleship

All who are oppressed may come to you as a shelter in the time of trouble, a perfect hiding place. May everyone who knows your mercy keep putting their trust in you, for they can count on you for help no matter what. O Lord, you will never, no never, neglect those who come to you. He will not ignore forever all the needs of the poor, for those in need shall not always be crushed. Their hopes shall be fulfilled, for God sees it all! Psalm 9:9-10, 18 TPT  Sometimes, I really hate having access to the Internet right at my fingertips. I can literally swipe right on my phone and immediately see five different headlines of terrible things happening across the world. It seems that every week, there’s a new atrocity being committed by humans against other humans. I scroll through my news feed and see post after post about the awful things people are doing to one another. It’s really easy to feel overwhelmed and helpless in light of the constant stream of news that...

Consider a mustard seed. When scattered on the ground, it’s the smallest of all the seeds on the earth; but when it’s planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all vegetable plants. It produces such large branches that the birds in the sky are able to nest in its shade. - Mark 4:31-32 -  Have you ever thought about the size of your faith? If it was like a pair of shoes, would it be toddler size, kids size, or adult size? Do you think it matters? The Gospels remind us that even just a teeny bit of faith is enough for God. God doesn’t need us to be a superhero of the faith or be disciples who can fill some really, really big shoes. God just needs us to have a little bit of faith. And God can do a lot with it! Did you know that the mustard seed is a really small seed? 1 millimeter in diameter! But it can grow to be 3000 times larger than its seed.   That’s why Jesus used it in his parable. Have you ever helped to plant a garden using the tiny little seeds i...

“I will give you thanks with all my heart; I will sing your praise before the heavenly beings. I will bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your constant love and truth.” - Psalm 138:1-2a CSB - There’s little and big things to be thankful for every day. For instance, I’m thankful for a place to sleep at night and for food in the pantry. I’m thankful for my friends, family, job, and school. There are little things we can be thankful for when we look around and see. Sometimes when life is hard it is challenging to remember to be thankful. When school gets overwhelming, our friends get to be too much, and we have trouble sleeping at night, it can be hard to remember to be thankful.  Four weeks ago my husband had major surgery. We dealt with many doctor visits, tests, waiting during surgery, the hospital stay, and many other factors which contributed to what felt like chaos.   In the times when it is most challenging to be thankful, it...

  “God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand. I'm an open book to you; even from a  distance, You know what I'm thinking. You know when I leave and when I get back; I'm never out of Your sight. You know everything I'm going to say before I start the first sentence. I look behind me and You're there, then up ahead and You're there, too - Your reassuring presence, coming and going. This is too much, to wonderful - I can't take it all in!” - Psalm 139:1-6 MSG - Have you ever struggled to understand how your parents already know what you're about to do because you haven't even said anything about it? Have you ever wondered how they know to tell you their experience before you do something new? I imagine this is how God feels with us and our life. In the passage it makes it fairly clear that God knows what we are going to do before we ever do it. This also bring up the question of why does God not stop us from doing things tha...