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March 26, 2018

Why Do I Feel So Empty?

It was a source she’d come to depend on. A place she went to get her needs met, but it was never enough. Every day she came back for more.

Filling her jar with water, the woman looked up and heard a man asking her for a drink. Then he offered her something in return: living water. Unlike the water she came to get that day, the he said the water he offered would satisfy her so deeply she’d never thirst again.

Questioning His offer, she said: “You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?” (John 4:11, NIV) 

She didn’t know who He was, or that all He needed to draw with was His Spirit, for it would draw her near to Him.

As far as the depth of the well, it was her heart He was looking into. And she was the only one who could stop Him from reaching the empty places that needed Him most.

I know that place of needing Jesus to look into my heart and show me the emptiness only He can fill.

Like the woman at the well, I’ve depended on other means to get my needs met. Yet when I look to them, instead of Him, they are never enough.

I’ve looked to family and friends, bosses and boyfriends, teachers and mentors, my husband and kids. I’ve longed for their approval and the affirmation that comes with it.

I’ve looked to possessions and positions, and put my hope in recognition, thinking: “If only I had…. If only I could…”

Yet it’s never enough. No matter how much we do or how much we have, it is never enough to fill us up because it was never supposed to be.

We see this deep soul thirst even in King David, a man who had everything: the highest position, unlimited possessions, and great power. Yet none of it was enough. He described himself as parched and thirsty for God…

Then David went on to describe what he experienced when he drank deeply of God’s love… (keep reading here)

Are there places in your heart Jesus wants to fill with His love and acceptance, places where you might have been looking to someone or something other than Him?

Join me at inCourage today where we’re sharing our
thoughts on filling our empty places and praying for each other!

 

February 25, 2018

How In The World Am I Going to Do This?

“ No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. I will be with you, just as I was with Moses. I will not leave you or abandon you. Be strong and courageous, for you will distribute the land I swore to their fathers to give them as an inheritance.”
 Joshua 1:5-6, CSB

Has God ever called you to something that felt completely impossible in your own strength?

When our sons were eleven and thirteen, God called us to adopt a little girl from Ethiopia. After mountains of paperwork and mountain-moving prayers we sensed God leading us to adopt a two girls between four and six years old so there wouldn’t be a huge age gap with our boys.

But in the end, God didn’t give us two little girls that fit nice and neatly into our family.  He gave us a baby: a six month old baby girl who weighed eight pounds.

We knew without a doubt she was to be ours, but we also knew she was severely malnourished, which meant high risks of neurological struggles and many unknowns.

However, what scared me most was that I was forty-two years old, had aging parents with health issues, tween and teenage boys I was desperately trying to figure out how to parent, a very full-time job and no memory of anything I ever knew about babies.

How in the world am I going to do this? I wondered.

I imagine Joshua may have asked the same thing when God called him to step into Moses’ shoes and take on the assignment of leading the nation of Israel into the Promise Land.

I love this story so much because God didn’t just call and commission Joshua, and leave him that to figure it out on his own.

God prepared Joshua through decades of serving beside and learning from Moses.

God equipped Joshua by allowing him to see the struggles and victories, blessings and battles of a Godly leader, and God’s favor and faithfulness to a person fully surrendered to God’s calling.

God empowered Joshua with confidence by reminding him  it was God who would fulfill His promise to give them this land. Joshua’s assignment was stay dependent on God’s presence and obedient to God’s direction.

God commanded Joshua to stay strong and courageous and then He told him how. Keep reading here. 

Has God called you to something that requires supernatural strength and courage? Read the rest of my post over at inCourage where I share two ways God told Joshua he could find the strength and courage he would need. 

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