Deep-End Discipleship

“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...

How happy is the man who does not follow the advice of the wicked or take the path of sinners or join a group of mockers! Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. – Psalm 1:1-2 (HCSB) – TV shows, social media, news pages, advertisements, blogs, friends, family, politicians, leaders, teachers, bosses, books, podcasts, songs… We input large amounts of data into our brains every minute we are awake. We hear people telling us to try this new thing, go back to the old thing, think this way, don’t think that way, and here’s some tips for life. Though we are used to the amount of information we take in daily, it’s undeniable that it’s a huge amount of data for our brains. Sometimes, in the midst of all the voices it can be challenging to know which voices to listen to. Which voices are good or bad? Which voices are helpful or harmful? Psalm 1 reminds us that we have a choice between choosing right and wrong things in our live...

“ Answer me when I cry out, my righteous God! Set me free from my troubles! Have mercy on me! Listen to my prayer!” - Psalm 4:1 CEB - We so want to be seen, noticed and heard! I think about all the ways we put ourselves out there – from finding just the right Instagram photo, continually looking for a witty Twitter statement, and even the ways we work to maintain a Snapchat streak. There is something about knowing who has paid attention to us that feels so fulfilling. Even our phones tell us when someone has read our text message. The same goes with our connection and faith in God. We wonder if God hears us. We want to know when God will read our message. We wait for God to respond. The book of Psalms are filled with authors that express similar longing through the poems written down as Scripture. Many of the psalms are attributed to King David who both knew personal intimacy with God as well as the deep despair of separation and disconnection with God. Psalm 4 sta...

Fear of the Lord is where wisdom begins;  sure knowledge is for all who keep God's laws. God's praise lasts forever! - Psalm 111:10 (CEB)- Let ’s face it, fear probably isn’t anyone’s favorite topic. We prefer to avoid our fears and often face them begrudgingly. Because of this, reading passages which say to “fear the Lord” can sound weird to us. However, often in the Bible, fear refers to something besides simply terror. Fear can also be the idea of being completely amazed at something truly awe-inspiring. When someone is filled with awe at something, there is an idea of amazement which captures their mind and heart. I think of going to a concert with your absolute favorite singer and then getting to meet the person afterwards. There is excitement, awe, and it’s probably the only thing you’re going to think about the week prior or the week after! Our God - the creator, savior, compassionate, just, good God - is much greater than any human musician. Though ce...