The Gift of Abundant Life

We all want life. There's something within us that wants to succeed, to make an impact, to bear fruit.  We really do want to live, even though many times we may want to give up. Grief and pain disturb us, it's not what we were meant to experience.

God breathed into us His breath of life and life is what He still wants to give us.  He tells us in John 10:10 that we can have life abundantly. "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came so that they would have life, and have it abundantly."

We have an enemy, a thief.  He comes only to steal the life away from us.  He wants to kill it within us.  He wants to destroy life, because when he does, he destroys and gets at God.  He takes something away from God and that is the gift of life.

What does this life look like in your mind?  Bearing fruit?  Being successful at something you enjoy?  Good relationships?

Winter will be following this season of autumn.  Is that life?

What really is life and on top of it, what is the abundant life?

The way of Jesus is a way of paradoxes.  To fully know one thing, we must experience another.  And something I'm starting to see over and over, is that, life isn't always visible.  Actually, I'm realizing, the truest of life happens within.

A tree, when stripped of all leaves, is left bare, naked and vulnerable, is still very much alive.  Winter is a season of rest from producing to replenish.  Roots go deeper in search of nourishment.  Life is happening within.

Just like the tree, we too, have seasons of what feels like we're being stripped, left bare, open, and vulnerable.  

In my own journey, I've come to realize that these seasons are for Jesus.  They are the space He wants us to go deeper with Him.

Have you stopped to wonder why?

We get mixed up a bit, off course in what life is or at least I so easily can gauge my life in what "I am producing".  It's easy to define our success and life with what we do.

These moments of being stripped, finding ourselves bare and vulnerable are moments of grace and an invitation back to the heart of God.

The life within is the truest life and the life He wants to give is deep within our souls.  For when the harsh winds and storms of life happen to us, sending us bending and careening, it's only His love that anchors us.

For me, in my deepest and darkest season, I learned to know God's love for me just as deeply.  Actually deeper, for His love is greater than darkness and hard. It is the abundant life.  It's one that cannot be contained and is not stopped in the face of adversity.  It enables one to see beyond and it is an anchor when the harsh winds blow.

It is knowing loss that we see what is truly important.  It is knowing rejection that kindness shines brighter.  You see, for me, I discovered that when I was stripped, then I discovered what was really of value, what is the most important thing.

And that is simply Jesus.  "The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous run into it and are safe." Proverbs 18:10.  His love is not hinged on me, doing good nor is it altered when I take a misstep.  His love doesn't change, it only changes me.  Deep within and abundant life takes root.

It's life that can't be taken away because it's not hinged on something that can be lost, but it's tied, anchored in Someone who is faithful, Jesus.

When His love grips us deeply, it grounds us, frees us, and gives us our voice.  Ephesians 3:17-19 (NASB) , "so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth, and to KNOW THE LOVE OF CHRIST which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to all the fullness of God." (emphasis added)

In any season, in any joy or hard, let Him whisper His love, unconditional love, in your ear and let it go deep.  Search for Him.  He has told us that when we seek Him, we will find Him.  You may need to wait, but you will find Him. Lamentations 3:24, "The LORD is good to those who await Him, to the person who seeks Him."

And the life you find when you do, will transform you.  He may or may not change your storm, but He will change you.

Sometimes He calms the storm in your heart and other times, He will calm you, so that  you may know Him even deeper.

Friend, fellow-sojourner, I wish you Jesus.  For when you have Jesus, you have everything.

An Exchange That Reorients the Soul

Autumn is a season that invites us to let go. As the leaves let go, they enter a season of rest to find a restoring.

Autumn is season of letting go to find something more (or greater).  For if we keep hanging on to what we think we need or want,  we can't receive something else.

You're in a group of people and it feels unsafe for some reason. Different opinions. Different beliefs.

It's dark outside and it feels scary. 

Stories from days past that leave their mark in our limbic brain. Stories that are stored there and resurrected in a moment. 

We have these moments, occasions, happenings that unsettle our hearts. 

Those trigger moments that leave us reeling, staggering at times under the weight of their intensity. 

I have plenty of these moments and I venture to say you have them too. And I wonder what you do when these moments strike and pierce the very depths of your heart? 

For me... well, let's just say the short version, my responses are varied. 

Sometimes I remember who I am in Jesus and rise above, but far too often they keep me in their grip. 

I would love to sit with you, holding a cup of tea, and dialogue; giving voice to what is happening or has happened, so we can hear the one Voice that matters most. 

Because we can rise. We can heal. Memories can be rescripted, rewrote by the Master. 

I love to flower garden. Or I should say I love the planting and the reaping, the work in between I could do without. 😉 

The wandering in among flower blossoms, walking the trails through wooded land and seeing the filtered light through leaves on extended branches, brings a calm as I inhale the scent of the air around me. I sense a calming as I breathe deep. A settling among the turmoil that sometimes disrupts my soul. A reorienting of the teetering balance of my heart. 

There is something that happens in the world of plants, trees, and flowers. 

Exchange. 

There is a physical exchange between us and plants. 

We breathe out carbon dioxide, they breathe out oxygen.

We inhale the oxygen they give, they inhale the carbon dioxide we give. 

We release to absorb.  We let go to receive. 

Exchange happens in the garden. In a world of 

creation, in the very air we breathe. Exchange happens in connection. 

Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.

We were not created to be an island. Nothing is solely dependant in and of itself. 

The stone thrown in the water causes ripples that go on. All of nature is part of a cycle. What we do leaves a mark somewhere. 

And so my mind comes round to my anchor, Jesus.

Jesus wants to be our Exchange. He actually invites us to that many times. 

Come to Me and I will give you rest. 

He says,  Cast all your cares on Me and I will care for you. 

He gives us peace as we fix our gaze on Him, right in the middle of our storm. 

As we repent, He gives us salvation for our failures. 

His Truth, His Greater Truth, His promises are  what He offers and invites us to believe instead of what we believe to be true and even what may be true.

His promises are unending and new every morning for us to inhale.

Exchange our worries for His care. 

Exchange our failures for His grace. 

Exchange our weakness for His strength. 

Exchange our striving for His rest.

Exchange our painful stories for His rewriting of the script. 

The list goes on.

I don't know what hurts and aches are deep within your soul. But I do know the One who does. 

So, I pause and invite you to shift your gaze to Him and do an exchange with Him. 

Let go, for what He wants to give you.

It is His Voice we want to hear. 

His Voice that invites us to exchange.

Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.

Go wander with Him who cares most for your heart and soul.  Allow His presence to invade and saturate , filling you with His very breath. His breath of Life and promises of His peace, joy, and love. His promise of Himself.