...And in His grace He leads me into this deeper knowledge of His character. He is good. He is faithful. He is sovereign. He is sufficient. He is enough. How amazing that our time of walking through the unknown and the confusing and the scary can serve to draw us into deeper intimacy with Him and a more full knowledge of who He is?
a Father’s letter
Find pleasure in Me. Delight in Me as I delight in you. Be satisfied in Me and let your delight in Me overflow in praise. Rest in My love. It is perfect. It is unfailing. It is unconditional. It is a love that will not let you go. And it is enough.
Abide in Me
Despite how we fail and choose other things to love, God continues to chooses to love us. His love is incredible. And then he commands us to "love one another as I have loved you." But how? I can scarcely grasp His love for me, much less imitate it myself! And yet He gives us the key to doing so...
faith and feelings
As humans we naturally think that we are so self sufficient and that our faith is something we can manufacture on our own. But it’s not! And praise the Lord for that because there’s no way we can sustain our faith on our own. I try so hard to figure out the secret to resting and trusting the Lord and it’s so simple...
But…grace abounds
Saving grace: ascribed to God, grace is his voluntary, unrestrained, unmerited favor toward guilty sinners, granting them justification and life instead of the penalty of death, which they deserve Reading through this definition I am overwhelmed and humbled. Grace. Without restraint. Grace. Excessive and Abundant. Grace. Life and hope offered to vile and wretched sinners.
what an incredible Truth!
The yearning to know What cannot be known, to comprehend the Incomprehensible, to touch and taste the Unapproachable, arises from the image of God in the nature of man. Deep calleth unto deep, and though polluted and landlocked by the mighty disaster theologians call the Fall, the soul senses its origin and longs to return to its Source. How can this be realized?
faithful Jesus, I trust in You
He is faithful. He is utterly dependable. He is the antithesis of everything fickle and fluctuating. He is constant. He never changes. He is faithful always, no matter what my circumstances are. IN ALL THINGS He is holy and sovereign and good. He is faithful even when I am unfaithful. He is faithful to fulfill His purpose for me. He is faithful to fulfill all of His promises. I have no more reason to doubt His faithfulness than to doubt His very nature and being.
“know that I am God”
But when you feel like you're searching blindly for the next step on the path, when you're not sure if or how the Lord will provide, when you don't see how your daily monotonous living is bringing Him glory, when you wake up every day with more questions and you are no closer to the answers than you were the day before, well... then it's harder to say every day, "Yes Lord, I trust You. Yes Lord, You are faithful."
Yahweh
Just take a moment to meditate on the vastness of our God. He is Creator and Sustainer and Shepherd and Father and Redeemer and Savior and He is REAL. His very name proclaims His existence! We are able to trust in and put our hope in Him because He is real and true... He is reality.
ditch the 5 year plan: learning to trust
So often I spend so much of my time looking ahead, asking the Lord where He is leading me, demanding that He guide me along the path that He has for me. All the while I find myself losing sight of…Him.
Be Thou My Vision
Imagine what our lives would look like if we hungered and thirsted for the Lord this way every day...
a love undeserved
But God loves you…just because he loves you. Not because of you, not because of your righteousness, your personality, your upstanding morals, or your character. He loves you despite your sin and even in the midst of your unfaithfulness. We are so undeserving. It is such a beautiful love! And such a wonderful Lover.
Oh Lord, You are faithful!
...And even if he had not done all these things, even if I could not look back and see His faithfulness, I could rest unwaveringly in the fact that He is still faithful, because He cannot deny his character. He has been, he is, and He will always be Yahweh…I Am… Jehovah… Lord… faithful One… even in my foolish doubting.
freedom
To be honest, this has been one of the hardest semesters of my life. I've been overwhelmed at times with loneliness, confusion, fear, insecurity, and inadequacy. I've had quite a few moments where I've doubted everything. So many negative thoughts have plagued my mind: “What in the world are you doing?” “You aren't smart enough for seminary.” “How do you expect this all to work out?”
“I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know I am the Lord your God”
Oh that we would be reminded daily of the character of our God - lest our sin leads us to selfishly think that anything He does is for our satisfaction or our glory. He is thirsty for His glory alone. And He is infinitely worthy.
lauren-bowerman.com 