Further Down The Rabbit Hole, Alice!

For those of you who have been following along on this 30-day blog journey, you may be feeling a bit of what I'm feeling right now. I feel very much like Alice who found herself hurtling down a rabbit hole into a whole new world where things were very different from what she was used to. She learned many new and strange things that forever altered her destiny.

I'm Alice. This blog is the rabbit hole and I'm discovering God. It is one thing to know ABOUT God. It is another story to know HIM. I have known God for a long time, but I feel like I have learned so much more about Him over the past 10 days. Whereas my faith would be shaky at best sometimes (meaning I wasn't sure if I could fully trust or believe He would do what He said) prior to this journey, I feel like I can't HELP but trust God now. Simply by learning about His names, character, and attributes, I have engaged the supernatural truth of God and I will never be the same.

Today, I learned what "immutable" means. I've heard it before, but never understood the definition (Here's a hint: It doesn't mean "the inability to be quiet." LOL). "Immutable" is an attribute that describes God's consistency, perfection, and inability to be anything other than Who He is.

Psalm 102:25-28 (NLT)

²⁵ Long ago you laid the foundation of the earth and made the heavens with your hands.
²⁶ They will perish, but you remain forever; they will wear out like old clothing. You will change them like a garment and discard them.
²⁷ But you are always the same; you will live forever.
²⁸ The children of your people will live in security. Their children’s children will thrive in your presence.”

God isn't going away. He isn't dead, nor can He be killed. He will not fade away like a mist like human life will, but He remains forever. He doesn't age, get sick, fail, make mistakes, sin, break, fall apart, or malfunction. He can't be outsmarted and is perfect in all He does. Even when we don't understand or agree with how He is doing things, He is still doing what is right and necessary. We don't see all the factors, but God does. He sees the beginning, the end, and everything in between. He sees what is hidden and what is exposed, He can not be anything other than Himself and He will live forever.

My favorite part of the verse mentioned above is the last line that says,"Their children's children will thrive in your presence." I am learning that I need less and less of the material things in life to "thrive." I feel that God is getting me to a place of complete dependence on Him for everything. By revealing to me Who He is, He is showing me that I am in good hands and that He can be everything I will ever need. He IS all I will ever need!

A Little Peace of Heaven

Have you ever lost a loved one to death and felt that deep feeling of pain and loss that was almost unbearable? Then when you went to the viewing, you didn't think you'd have the strength to face all of those people during one of your darkest times. You breathe a simple, silent prayer, "God please help me" and you walk into to the funeral home. At the moment when you feel like you may run out of the room sobbing, you are immediately filled with a peace that you can't understand. It floods your entire being and you are able to face the people and the situation that you were previously dreading.

I have experienced it and it is mind-boggling. The peace doesn't make sense because you are in the middle of an emotionally challenging period of life. It's almost like the times when you have held your breath for a bit too long under water and you rush to the surface and gasp for that first breath of air. It feels so good to reinflate your lungs and relief immediately floods your veins.

Those moments of peace and relief came from somewhere. More accurately, they came from someONE. Today, my meditation was on another name of God, Jehovah-shalom, which means, "the God of peace."

Phillipians 4:6-7

⁶ Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. ⁷ Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

Often times when we think of having peace, we equate that to the end of our struggles. We have times of war and times of peace. We have times of need and times of abundance. Times of peace with no struggles is nice, but short-lived. It is rare that you will come across a person who isn't struggling with something at all at that time in their life.

God's peace is different. You don't have to wait until the problem is resolved in order to feel His peace. You don't have to wait until you have finished grieving before you can feel His peace. You don't have to wait until you are safely through the trials of life before you can feel His peace. God's peace is not limited to our situations.

That is what makes God's peace different. You can be right smack dab in the middle of one of the hardest things you've ever faced and feel peace.....peace IN THE MIDDLE of the storm. There is a strength that comes along with God's peace that helps you to get through the tough times.

So how can we get this peace (I mean, really....after a sales pitch like that, who wouldn't want it, right)?

The scripture above tells us that instead of worrying we should pray and tell God what we need. Then of course, we must thank God for what He has already done. He will supply the peace that you need and it will totally blow your mind. You won't be able to understand it.  Not only that, but He will then proceed to protect your heart and mind.

That is quite the package, if you ask me. God's peace is one of the many blessings that comes from living in Christ Jesus. I have been so thankful for those times when God gave me peace in the middle of my struggle. I have experienced the peace of God during seasons of loss, public harassment and humiliation, betrayal, and even times when I had to face fears. I'm so glad that I don't have to wait for peace to come after the bad stuff is over with. We all have an endless supply of peace ready and available at a moment's notice. And we know Jehovah-shalom, the ONE who gives the peace.

Pity party of one, your table is ready!

The name of God that I meditated on today was "Jehovah-Jireh," which means "Our Provider." For so long, I have heard this name and I am ashamed to say that I would immediately begin to sin. I would hear someone proudly declare that "God is our provider" and instead of praising God for what He was doing in someone else's life, I would begin to feel jealous and covet the blessings they were receiving. I would compare my blessings to theirs and, of course, I would always feel like I had the short end of the stick.

Well you KNOW where that ends...."Pity party of one, your table is ready!"

This was one of the meditation topics that caused me to spent most of my day confessing my sin to God and feeling pretty stupid for my attitudes in the past. I must have sounded like and ungrateful little snot! To complain because I am not getting enough or I am not getting the "right type" of blessing is preposterous! Our pastor even preached about that at church yesterday so I guess God knew I'd need a couple of days to process this one. After all, I am pretty thick-headed, if you remember.

So I looked up this verse that describes Jehovah-Jireh:

Genesis 22:9-14

9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.11 But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. 12 "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son." 13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.14 So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided."  

Here's the deal about Abraham. He and his wife were barren for a long time. They finally get pregnant when it's just about time to sign up for bed in the local nursing home. After waiting so long, they finally have their son and then Abraham is asked to go up on a mountain and sacrifice his son to the Lord. This is where every parent typically has bulging eyes and a dangling jaw as they sit in shock. They can't believe that Abraham was actually going to go through with it...but he was. Abraham was faithful and was entirely ready to trust God and obey him even when it didn't make sense...even when it hurt. (Conviction #1! This was like a big "WHAM!" right between the eyes as I asked myself how much I trusted God and how far I was willing to go to honor Him with my obedience. I'll let you chew on that one for a while. That alone will wreck you!)

But then, just as Abraham was about to sacrifice his only son, God PROVIDED a ram for him to use instead because he saw that Abraham truly was willing and obedient. He didn't actually have to kill his own son, but God looked at his heart and saw that it was full of love for Him. It was like God was saying, "Wait, Abraham! I see that your heart is pure and full of love for me. Hug your son tightly and you both can go home. I'll sacrifice my son for YOU instead."

("WHAM!" #2)

God is our provider. He may not give us the car we want, the amount of money we want, the job we want, or perfect circumstances; but He provided a substitute for our death. Instead of us having to die for our sins, he provided another option that would bring us together in Heaven. It's so easy to misunderstand things when we look at life through our "earthly glasses." It's like wearing glasses covered in mud. You can't see clearly. I don't want to see things that way anymore.

I've asked God to help me see everything clearly with truth, not selfish pity. It's time to clear the table. The pity party is over.  

Saved by a....string?

God is love, but not the love we understand as humans. As powerful as human love can be, God's love is so deep and strong that it is unfathomable. We can't understand it.

1 John 4:7-10

7 Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 But anyone who does not love does not know God -- for God is love. 9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10 This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.  

The only reason we even have the ability to love is because we are made in the image of God. God made us to love Him and love each other. He demonstrated how love works Himself by sending His only Son, Jesus, on a rescue mission for our souls. He gave up someone who meant a lot to Him and allowed him to be abused, mistreated, and beaten for our sakes. His Son was perfect! He commited no sin and yet He died for our sin. He took the blame, shame, and responsibility for us. He took the punishment that should have been ours (we are the ones who deserve it, after all) so we didn't have to.

That is love as well.

Because of the love of the Father and the love of the Son, we are free from the bondage of sin, death, and eternal punishment. What do we get instead? God! Heaven! Eternal LIFE!  Freedom! That's worth shouting about!

Some might say, "Yeah, but love is never free. There are always strings attached." While I can see why would may think that on the human level (I know I have thought that on many occasions), God's strings are much different. Here's what God wants from you....He wants you to:

1. Tell him that you know you've sinned and that you are truly sorry.

2. Turn away from your sins and ask God to forgive you and be the Lord of your life.

3. Believe that Jesus died for your sins and accept His gift of grace and love.

It's true that love comes with strings sometimes. Some strings bind you to things you don't need or want. The strings with God's love are like the very strings that pull you to safety when you're drowning in the sea. These strings bring life, healing, and never-ending love from an infinite, holy God.

I can't imagine why He would love me. I know what a mess I am at times and I know that many times, I fail Him. I have been mean, ungreatful, rebellious, and disrespectful to Him. I have sinned and fallen short of His desires for me. I have been so thick-headed that at times I thought God would have to hit me over the head with a brick to get through my thick skull. And yet, He loves me. He loved me first which is why I even have the ability to come to Him and apologize for my random acts of selfishness and stupidity. Every time I mess up, God is there and always ready to offer forgiveness and restoration.

It's when you look at God's love that you realize that you don't know as much about love as you thought. Holy Father, please teach me more about your love and help me to love You and others better.

Good grief!

Psalm 119:65-72

65 You have done many good things for me, LORD, just as you promised. 66 I believe in your commands; now teach me good judgment and knowledge. 67 I used to wander off until you disciplined me; but now I closely follow your word. 68 You are good and do only good; teach me your principles. 69 Arrogant people have made up lies about me, but in truth I obey your commandments with all my heart. 70 Their hearts are dull and stupid, but I delight in your law. 71 The suffering you sent was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your principles. 72 Your law is more valuable to me than millions in gold and silver!  

Some passages of Scripture are read in church services and are promptly followed by a hearty, "May God bless the reading of His word." I get that. I'm not saying anything bad about the people who do that. But have you ever noticed that some Scriptures are too "risky" to be read publicly?

For instance, can you imagine a preacher standing before his church saying, "Arrogant people have made lies about me, but in truth I obey your commandments with all my heart. Their hearts are dull and stupid, but I delight in your law. May God bless the reading of His word." I'd pay money to see that! :o)

Nonetheless, I love the honesty of the writer of this Psalm. He's not exactly holding back on how he feels about the people who have mistreated him. It's easy to speak the truth about people who have "dull and stupid" hearts.

However, he was also honest about himself:

1. He admits that he doesn't have the best judgement and knowledge and he asks God for it.

2. He admits that he has wandered from God in the past and had to be disciplined.

3. He admits that prior to the suffering God allowed, he didn't pay attention to God's principles.

I can get behind a person who is flawed as along as they can openly admit that they are flawed and can do nothing good without God. Ultimately, none of us have any good in us outside of God.

Today's meditation was on another attribute of God: God is good.

It's easy for people to believe that God is some big gavel holder in the sky ready to strike them dead with a bolt of lightening for any mistake. It's simply not the case. While God is the giver of life and has the power to give it and take it away, He is also good and will use any means necessary to help us see and experience His goodness...even suffering.

Have you ever been through a situation in your life that made you wonder if you'd ever survive it because it hurt so badly, but after it was all done and over, you said you'd go through it all over again if you had to because you have seen wonderful things come from it?

I have. My marriage went through a seriously painful and rocky patch several years ago. All signs pointed to a divorce and I was scared. The situation was so painful that there are no words to describe how I felt. However, in His GOODNESS, God intervened and showed me what He can do when I let go of the reigns. Not only did He save my marriage, but he restored the relationship between me and my husband, He healed all the wounds that caused our trouble in the first place, and He helped us to forgive those who had hurt us (including each other). Through a process, God got a hold of my heart and my husband's heart and completely changed us both. We are now more in love than we were to begin with and we are better people than we were before all of this happened. It's not because we're just great people. It's because we let the goodness of God come into our lives to guide us through the pain we were suffering. 

I certainly don't deserve what God has done for me, but He did it anyway because He is good (and I am thankful!)

How has God been good to you?

I feel like a blonde joke.

Years ago, blonde jokes were "all the rage." Every time you turned around someone was coming up with another joke about people with blonde hair (implying, of course, that they are all dumb air-heads). Even though I was born with blonde hair, I must admit that I have laughed at my fair share of those jokes. One of my favorites goes something like this:

How do you kill a blonde? Answer: Put spikes on her shoulder pads!

Yeah, yeah, I know. Not only is that one mean, but it is totally dated. For any of my younger friends, you're probably thinking, "What the heck are shoulder pads?" You don't want to know.

I say all of that to say that I felt like a blonde today because as I meditated on today's attribute of God, I kept finding myself getting lost in thought, cocking my head to one side, and staring blankly into space with a confused look on my face.

Omnipotent. God is onmipotent.

Omnipotent is one of those terms that can easily be "church-i-fied" (a christy-ism, of course), underestimated, and taken for granted. Many of the sacred words used to describe God have been said so much in the church that people often say them without even understanding what they mean.

Omnipotent means that God is powerful. Not only that, but if you remember yesterday's blog, I wrote how God is infinite (no limits whatsoever). So when you put those two together, you get an unlimited God who has unlimited power.

HARD. Concept. For me. To grasp.

Check this out:

Jeremiah 32:17-18, 26-27

17 "O Sovereign LORD! You have made the heavens and earth by your great power. Nothing is too hard for you! 18 You are loving and kind to thousands, though children suffer for their parents' sins. You are the great and powerful God, the LORD Almighty.

26 Then this message came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 27 "I am the LORD, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me?

My human brain is so finite and limited that I just can't understand the reality of no limits. I look at myself and my own life and see LOTS of limits. I try to be a positive person, but the truth is that I can be very skeptical, cynical, and negative sometimes (and when I am feeling that way, I don't want all your cutsie smilie faces and jokes, LOL). As most of you would imagine, I am not this way as often as I used to be because of the grace of God and the things he has taught me over this past year and half of my life.

Still, my life as a human being is very limited. I have hopes and dreams that will never be fulfilled. I have put a cap on the whole height thing and it's all a journey to munchkinland from this point forward (bone loss with age, yadda yadda yadda). I have to wait in the check out line holding one item while the person in front of me has a full cart and I'm in a hurry. I have to endure the idiot drivers who think its ok to speed and ride my bumper while I pretend they're honking because they love Jesus.

I am limited. This world is my temporary home, thankfully, and I look forward to the day where I don't have to worry with the limitations of this life. But for now, I am a limited person trying to understand an unlimited God.

This verse says that:

1. Nothing is too hard for God.

2. He loves people (even when the children are suffering for the sins of their parents) and is kind to them.

3. He is great and powerful.

Even though I can't fathom the love, power, and greatness of God with my faulty human brain, there are some things I understand with my heart.

I understand that because of God's omnipotence, I am safe with Him. He loves me in spite of my faults and has the power to do anything. Read that again: anything.

If God has the power to do anything, why do I struggle with doubt? Why do I worry? What is there to fear if God is on my side?! Nothing!

Our struggles and pain in this life can be too much to bear at times, but it's not too hard for God.

And now, I must go continue my meditation because at this point, I want Him to search my heart and show me anything that I have been afraid to give over to Him. Are there any reigns that I simply can't let go of? I want to know so I can confess that to Him and be healed.

I serve an unlimited God who has such an abundance of power that NOTHING is too difficult for Him. That means it's time for me to let go of it all and trust Him completely. How about you?

The sky really IS the limit.

Typically, when someone says, "The sky is the limit," they mean that the possibilities are endless. You'll often hear phrases like this from opportunists, motivational speakers, hopeless optimists, used car salesmen, and that good buddy who keeps trying to get you to join his downline in his latest network marketing venture.

As you may have expected, I have a different take on the phrase. Shocking....I know.

Grammatically speaking, it is really saying, "You can go as far as the sky, but that's it. You can't go further. You are limited in how far you can go." Sorry if I ruined that phrase for you forever, but welcome to my brain. :o)

Today's medidation time (which seems to be growing beyond my commute) was spent on an attribute of God. "Attribute" (at-tri-byoot...not uh-trib-yoot....two very different things) is a term referring to a quality of God's character. Today's attribute: God is infinite.

Romans 11:33 (NLT)

33 Oh, what a wonderful God we have! How great are his riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his methods!  

We live in a world full of people who won't believe in anything they can't see. They have to have quantifiable, visible, and tangible proof. They call it scientific. They call it wisdom.

God can't be measured. You can't put Him on a scale to see how much He weights and no tape measure in existence could measure His height. He is beyond our finite minds, scoffs at the tiny boxes in which we try to squeeze Him, and can not be limited. With a word, He spoke the world into existence. He breathed life into a man-shaped lump of dirt and gave him life...eyes blinking, heart beating....the whole nine yards! 

There is not a person on the planet who can do that, I don't care how smart and creative they think they are. 

God can not be stopped by time, space, demensions, powers, or authorities. His wisdom is so far beyond ours that we can't even BEGIN to comprehend it. I am one who loves to know the method to the maddness. Unfortunately, there is only so much of God I can understand because my brain is not big enough to hold it all. The combination of all the brains on the planet (including the ones who actually use more than 10%) working together would not be enough to fathom Gods wisdom and knowledge. 

I guess I should remember that the next time I don't understand why something is going awry and I feel the need to throw up my fist at God. Who am I to think I can tell God how to do His job? I know I get annoyed when people who know nothing about what I do try to tell me how I could do it better. So why should I do that to God? {spoiler alert: I shouldn't.} Yeah, that would be what one of my friends calls and "Amen/Ouch."   

I thought about all of this as I looked up at the beautiful blue sky full of puffy, white clouds. The sky is enormous. It seems to go on forever in all directions and it does...to a point. The oxygen in our atmosphere, the gravitational pull that keeps our feet on the ground, and the winds pushing those clouds around exist even though we can't see them. However, if you keep going higher and higher into the sky, you will discover that even gravity and oxygen are limited. Ask any astronaut and they'll tell you. These things do not exist in space, but God remains the same. He is as real in space as He is in the earth's atmosphere.

The next time you look at the sky, look all around as far as you can see and remember that God is beyond limit and measurement. Your circumstances may not make sense, but get to know the One who knows what the real deal is. Don't think that because God is infinite that He is too big to care for you, though. He just cares for you more than you can imagine, that's all.