Confession: This one time, with my good friend, at the movie theater.... yeah. You're about the hear something pretty funny, and by hear I mean read. We went to see a movie at a packed theater. The kind of packed that means you actually have to sit right next to stranger on your right or left. So we squeezed in and found two seats next to each other. The lights went dim and the movie started. This gave me an awesome moment to get my snucked in soda out of my purse. I pulled it out, and began to open it. And it SPEWED every where! Well, not everywhere, but on the poor guy next to me, and on myself.
Face palm, big time. I was so embarrassed. I am so proof of God's grace on my life, because rather than scream at me, he continued to look forward and just casually wiped off the soda. But it was literally dripping off of him and I felt horrible! I whispered to him that I was so sorry and knew I needed to do something. I didn't want to squeeze back through the packed isle to get napkins but I had brighter idea, in true Aimee fashion. I took off my shirt, knowing I had a tank top on, and proceeded to make the awkwardness of the situation even more traumatizing to the poor guy by proceeding to wipe down his arm and the side of his face. My friend laughed hysterically at me, as quietly as she could. Thankfully, he didn't report me and I can still return to that theater. Um yeah, I'm a mess sometimes! I am definitely proof that God has a sense of humor!
Life is messy. I want my ducks to be in a row, but they're running, er waddling, in 5 different directions! I want everything to make sense, but there's just so much going on. Life inevitably doesn't go like I plan it to. There are forks in the road I didn't plan for. Soda's I've spewed. And to top it off, my toddlers even spill drinks all the time too lol! I don't want the messes... they just kind of hang around me like I'm supposed to be their best friends or something. Sometimes I cause the messes, but sometimes they just inevitably happen around me. I've come to the acceptance, at least for the season I'm in (toddlers, working, feeling busy really busy!), that life is like a whirlwind. Actually, a vast series of them, if you will.
Imagine these whirlwinds with me, swirling around our lives. They can either be big or small, but they each encompass two things- God and our crises. The whirlwinds are intertwined with a God who loves us more than we can fathom and the series of all these unfortunate events. On any particular day, we will have whirlwind moments of whatever current mess we are facing, and then God will pour out His love and blessings; then we'll have another mess, and He'll prove Himself again, and when yet another mess...you guessed it... He'll remain faithful and constant. So as they spin around with each other, it could get interesting and daunting, and maybe even a little difficult at times to see God being the bigger one of the two. But of course, He's the faithful One in the stormy mess of our lives, as this paradox is constantly unfolding. So we'll continually love Him and live for Him, allow Him to be faithful to us, as we look up in our messy storms, and this will remind us of the truth we know deep down...
God > Struggle
What an amazing paradox here. We love a God who is a paradox and live a life that is a paradox and are ever an evolving paradox ourselves. We are simultaneously living for God in the smack dab middle of our pain, struggles, hurt, mess, fear, worries, frustrations, and griefs. Allow me to unravel these truths.
"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33
The whirlwind messes are inevetable. The Bible says we'll have trouble here. We know we'll have trouble. And here comes my inward struggle: My ducks! They must be in a row!! While I want this to be my truth, it just doesn't always work out that way. I can't help but wonder, why am I always so surprised? What if, instead of letting the whirlwinds continually throw off my emotional game, I wait for them, so to speak, and meet them head on? And how can I do this? Which leads me also to also wonder... what if these messy, whirlwind moments are the proof that God is answering my prayers all along? The many prayers and good thoughts that go something like this, "Lord let me live for you," or "God, I want you to use me?" And the prayers I pray when I ask Him to help me "overcome the world's troubles," ie, my whirlwind moments. What if God is allowing them to happen because they are the way I'll grow in Him, thus the very answer to the prayers I've prayed.
I'm convinced, the amazing paradox in our messy lives is this:
With God, struggles can become strengths.
That's His paradoxal promise. Throughout the Bible, He continually used and called people who weren't, and transformed them into people who became. It's up to you. It's up to me. In our messes, we have choices to make. We can choose to magnify the messy struggles we find ourselves in and slosh around it in discouraged. And believe me, I do this at times. I slosh... too.many.times. But I'm kind of tired of it. I'm kind of tired of keeling over in the struggle. I'm ready to rise from within it, above it. Which leads me to our next choice, we can choose to know... not just in our mind, but in our hearts, that He has given us a grace to handle every single thing that comes our way, and that when we choose this grace and perspective, we are choosing to grow. My prayer is that the belief in His grace for us hit us in the middle of our circumstances every time. May we always choose to believe and embrace this grace for ourselves. Gosh I need His grace, desperately, both comedically in the middle of my many Lucille Ball movie theater moments, and seriously right in the middle of the real struggle. :/
Here's some graceful truthbombs for you and I to hold onto.
God finds us in the mess. He LOVES us there, in the paradox of the struggling, whirlwinded moment. He sought after us in it. He waits for us to choose Him in the mess of our imperfections. And when we do, He hopes for us there. He strengthens us there. He grows us there. He renews us there. He heals us there. He teaches us to die to ourselves there. He listens to us there. He waits for us there. He captures us there, as soon as we would choose to allow Him to. He can't help it because it's who He is. He is truth, blood, overcoming for us, conquering death, resurrection love. What undeniable beauty of the Word when it proclaims, also in Psalms, "Just as the Father has compassion on His children, so the Lord has compassion on all who fear Him. For He is mindful of our frame, He remembers that we are dust." (Psalms 103:14) and "While we were yet sinners (in the smack middle of that mess), HE DIED FOR US". In our tomb moments, He is creating something new. He is building us up for a powerful, renewed hope and resurrection to get us to the next season with Him.
This paradoxical God who created the universe, CHOOSES to love us, think about us, and know us, despite the mess of us. Despite our own, imperfected, ugly cries, and messy, whirlwind moments. Wow.
So now, the question is, what grace do you need from Him today?
Maybe you need peace because your life feels tumultuous. Maybe, like me, you need patience with your toddlers, and with all the drink spills around you! Maybe you need rest because your life is busy, or your just TIRED. Maybe you need a greater measure of grace because you're lacking. Maybe you need His love to replace the hate, either around you or inside you if you've embraced judgmental and stereotyping thoughts. Maybe you need a friend, He can be one and he can help you find one. Maybe you need hope and faith and for Him to make a way where there seems to be no hope. Maybe you need dreams and visions, something to live for that is greater than yourself. Maybe you need to slow down and take time to spend with your children, your spouse, your God, He can help you make time. Maybe you need answered prayers. He is each of these things. He is exactly what you need in each moment. If we would just seek Him in the mess, we'll find Him.
And the even greater news... is that all this muck comes full circle, because that's how our purposeful God works. His order and compassion for us is that He chooses us to now minister with a greater love to the world around us. We hope for them there. We pray for them there. We believe for them there. We give grace for them there. Especially to the Lucille Ball types... they need like an extra portion of grace.
So, this is what I would say to myself now. And what I would say to you. And what I would say to the whole of America.
In the midst of our struggles, we will find our strengths.
7 Because of the surpassing greatness and extraordinary nature of the revelations [which I received from God], for this reason, to keep me from thinking of myself as important, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan, to torment and harass me—to keep me from exalting myself! 8 Concerning this I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might leave me; 9 but He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you [My lovingkindness and My mercy are more than enough—always available—regardless of the situation]; for [My] power is being perfected [and is completed and shows itself most effectively] in [your] weakness.” Therefore, I will all the more gladly boast in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ [may completely enfold me and] may dwell in me. 10 So I am well pleased with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, and with difficulties, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak [in human strength], then I am strong [truly able, truly powerful, truly drawing from God’s strength].
2 Corinthians 12: 7-10
Face palm, big time. I was so embarrassed. I am so proof of God's grace on my life, because rather than scream at me, he continued to look forward and just casually wiped off the soda. But it was literally dripping off of him and I felt horrible! I whispered to him that I was so sorry and knew I needed to do something. I didn't want to squeeze back through the packed isle to get napkins but I had brighter idea, in true Aimee fashion. I took off my shirt, knowing I had a tank top on, and proceeded to make the awkwardness of the situation even more traumatizing to the poor guy by proceeding to wipe down his arm and the side of his face. My friend laughed hysterically at me, as quietly as she could. Thankfully, he didn't report me and I can still return to that theater. Um yeah, I'm a mess sometimes! I am definitely proof that God has a sense of humor!
Life is messy. I want my ducks to be in a row, but they're running, er waddling, in 5 different directions! I want everything to make sense, but there's just so much going on. Life inevitably doesn't go like I plan it to. There are forks in the road I didn't plan for. Soda's I've spewed. And to top it off, my toddlers even spill drinks all the time too lol! I don't want the messes... they just kind of hang around me like I'm supposed to be their best friends or something. Sometimes I cause the messes, but sometimes they just inevitably happen around me. I've come to the acceptance, at least for the season I'm in (toddlers, working, feeling busy really busy!), that life is like a whirlwind. Actually, a vast series of them, if you will.
Imagine these whirlwinds with me, swirling around our lives. They can either be big or small, but they each encompass two things- God and our crises. The whirlwinds are intertwined with a God who loves us more than we can fathom and the series of all these unfortunate events. On any particular day, we will have whirlwind moments of whatever current mess we are facing, and then God will pour out His love and blessings; then we'll have another mess, and He'll prove Himself again, and when yet another mess...you guessed it... He'll remain faithful and constant. So as they spin around with each other, it could get interesting and daunting, and maybe even a little difficult at times to see God being the bigger one of the two. But of course, He's the faithful One in the stormy mess of our lives, as this paradox is constantly unfolding. So we'll continually love Him and live for Him, allow Him to be faithful to us, as we look up in our messy storms, and this will remind us of the truth we know deep down...
God > Struggle
What an amazing paradox here. We love a God who is a paradox and live a life that is a paradox and are ever an evolving paradox ourselves. We are simultaneously living for God in the smack dab middle of our pain, struggles, hurt, mess, fear, worries, frustrations, and griefs. Allow me to unravel these truths.
"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33
The whirlwind messes are inevetable. The Bible says we'll have trouble here. We know we'll have trouble. And here comes my inward struggle: My ducks! They must be in a row!! While I want this to be my truth, it just doesn't always work out that way. I can't help but wonder, why am I always so surprised? What if, instead of letting the whirlwinds continually throw off my emotional game, I wait for them, so to speak, and meet them head on? And how can I do this? Which leads me also to also wonder... what if these messy, whirlwind moments are the proof that God is answering my prayers all along? The many prayers and good thoughts that go something like this, "Lord let me live for you," or "God, I want you to use me?" And the prayers I pray when I ask Him to help me "overcome the world's troubles," ie, my whirlwind moments. What if God is allowing them to happen because they are the way I'll grow in Him, thus the very answer to the prayers I've prayed.
I'm convinced, the amazing paradox in our messy lives is this:
With God, struggles can become strengths.
That's His paradoxal promise. Throughout the Bible, He continually used and called people who weren't, and transformed them into people who became. It's up to you. It's up to me. In our messes, we have choices to make. We can choose to magnify the messy struggles we find ourselves in and slosh around it in discouraged. And believe me, I do this at times. I slosh... too.many.times. But I'm kind of tired of it. I'm kind of tired of keeling over in the struggle. I'm ready to rise from within it, above it. Which leads me to our next choice, we can choose to know... not just in our mind, but in our hearts, that He has given us a grace to handle every single thing that comes our way, and that when we choose this grace and perspective, we are choosing to grow. My prayer is that the belief in His grace for us hit us in the middle of our circumstances every time. May we always choose to believe and embrace this grace for ourselves. Gosh I need His grace, desperately, both comedically in the middle of my many Lucille Ball movie theater moments, and seriously right in the middle of the real struggle. :/
Here's some graceful truthbombs for you and I to hold onto.
God finds us in the mess. He LOVES us there, in the paradox of the struggling, whirlwinded moment. He sought after us in it. He waits for us to choose Him in the mess of our imperfections. And when we do, He hopes for us there. He strengthens us there. He grows us there. He renews us there. He heals us there. He teaches us to die to ourselves there. He listens to us there. He waits for us there. He captures us there, as soon as we would choose to allow Him to. He can't help it because it's who He is. He is truth, blood, overcoming for us, conquering death, resurrection love. What undeniable beauty of the Word when it proclaims, also in Psalms, "Just as the Father has compassion on His children, so the Lord has compassion on all who fear Him. For He is mindful of our frame, He remembers that we are dust." (Psalms 103:14) and "While we were yet sinners (in the smack middle of that mess), HE DIED FOR US". In our tomb moments, He is creating something new. He is building us up for a powerful, renewed hope and resurrection to get us to the next season with Him.
This paradoxical God who created the universe, CHOOSES to love us, think about us, and know us, despite the mess of us. Despite our own, imperfected, ugly cries, and messy, whirlwind moments. Wow.
So now, the question is, what grace do you need from Him today?
Maybe you need peace because your life feels tumultuous. Maybe, like me, you need patience with your toddlers, and with all the drink spills around you! Maybe you need rest because your life is busy, or your just TIRED. Maybe you need a greater measure of grace because you're lacking. Maybe you need His love to replace the hate, either around you or inside you if you've embraced judgmental and stereotyping thoughts. Maybe you need a friend, He can be one and he can help you find one. Maybe you need hope and faith and for Him to make a way where there seems to be no hope. Maybe you need dreams and visions, something to live for that is greater than yourself. Maybe you need to slow down and take time to spend with your children, your spouse, your God, He can help you make time. Maybe you need answered prayers. He is each of these things. He is exactly what you need in each moment. If we would just seek Him in the mess, we'll find Him.
And the even greater news... is that all this muck comes full circle, because that's how our purposeful God works. His order and compassion for us is that He chooses us to now minister with a greater love to the world around us. We hope for them there. We pray for them there. We believe for them there. We give grace for them there. Especially to the Lucille Ball types... they need like an extra portion of grace.
So, this is what I would say to myself now. And what I would say to you. And what I would say to the whole of America.
In the midst of our struggles, we will find our strengths.
7 Because of the surpassing greatness and extraordinary nature of the revelations [which I received from God], for this reason, to keep me from thinking of myself as important, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan, to torment and harass me—to keep me from exalting myself! 8 Concerning this I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might leave me; 9 but He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you [My lovingkindness and My mercy are more than enough—always available—regardless of the situation]; for [My] power is being perfected [and is completed and shows itself most effectively] in [your] weakness.” Therefore, I will all the more gladly boast in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ [may completely enfold me and] may dwell in me. 10 So I am well pleased with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, and with difficulties, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak [in human strength], then I am strong [truly able, truly powerful, truly drawing from God’s strength].
2 Corinthians 12: 7-10
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