simple.profound.

"In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength."
 ~ Isaiah 30:15

My face hurts from the sinus pressure. 

My shoulder is sore for an unknown reason. 

My body is tired from little sleep and lots of play. 

My spirit is spilling over with joy for reasons that are hard to articulate.

God is doing a profound and simple work in my heart and mind and life. 

My soul longs for intimacy with Jesus. 
In that longing I am filled. 

I crave the covering of His presence

and the rest I find there. 

My mouth falls silent as my heart and strength are renewed

in spite of all physical circumstances. 

And sometimes, the only response I have is to savor the silence and
allow my heart to beat my gratitude.  

Sweet Jesus, thank you. 

filled.

tiffany 

faithful in this moment

I am a dreamer. I am a goal setter. I am a planner. 

When you combine these three things, it can be a recipe for a contentment disaster. 

Because I am always looking ahead and aspiring for something, my heart is easily consumed with what I don't yet have or with the goal that I have yet to achieve. 

In Jeremiah 29, we read the prophet's letter to the exiles. 

These people had been taken from their homeland (Jerusalem) and led into exile in Babylon. 

Undoubtedly, their hearts were in anguish for home as their future hung in the balance. 

God starts Jeremiah's letter like this: 

"Build houses and live in them;

plant gardens and eat their produce.

Take wives and have sons and daughters;

take wives for your sons,

and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters;

multiply there, 

and do not decrease."

Jeremiah 29: 5,6

Surely and rightfully these people longed for home. 

Their dreams looked very different from the reality they were living. 

As they cried out to God, this was His puzzling and profound response. 

Make a home there. 

Work the ground and reap it's bounty. 

Grow in stature. Grow in relationships. Grow your family. 

Wait--what?!

They are in--what appears to be from the outside--an unfair and undeserved place. 

They are crying out for deliverance and this is the response?!

As I look at life and the journey that I have already  taken to arrive where I am, I see God working in much the same way in my own life. 

Although my heart has hurt and I have struggled to understand His ways and His methods in my life, He has always spoken this quiet truth to my heart: be faithful in this moment. 

Psalm 37 is a beautiful song of contentment and hope. 

'Trust in the Lord, and do good;

dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.

Delight yourself in the Lord,

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord;

trust in Him, and He will act.' (vv3-5)

Dwell in the land. Befriend faithfulness. 

Delight yourself in the Lord. 

So often, our hearts quietly say: "If you give me the desires of my heart,  THEN I will delight in you" 

But God is calling us to something better. 

He says, 

"Sweet child--won't you love me for Who I am rather than for what I do? 

Won't you draw near to me in this land of exile and get to know my heart for you?"

Friend...

wherever God has you today, 

whatever land you are living in, 

I pray that you will befriend faithfulness. 

I pray that you will commit your way to the Lord, walk forward in obedience and leave the responses of others, the results and the circumstances before the King who knows all things and sees all things and holds all things. 

Don't stop dreaming...

Just remember that when we are faithful with little--in the everyday comings and goings of the life we live right now--we will be entrusted with much. Our desires will come to be because our desires will be summed up in the person of God. As we live in this exile land, we learn that the Person of God is our nearest companion. 

And that my friend, is the greatest gift of all. 

hope. 

tiffany

BEcause of Him alone

I have been invited to be the speaker for an entire of week of summer camp for glorious 7th and 8th grade kids next week. I am up to my elbows in study and preparation and I absolutely love the little nuggets of truth that rock my world and refocus my wandering heart. These little truths that I have read over a hundred times but reclaim my heart in a fresh, new way...something worth sharing. :) 

'For from Him

and through Him

and to Him

are all things. 

To Him be the glory forever. 

Amen.'

~Apostle Paul

Romans 11:36

Everything I have. Everything I am. Everything I hope to be. 

Everything is from Him. 

This simple yet profound truth frees me from the bondage of feverish toil and all the anxiety that comes with it. I am free to simply live well, love well and manage my gifts well. 

Everything I do. Everything I hope to do. 

Everything I can do and try to do I do through Christ. 

I have no strength...no will power...no desire...no breath...

apart from Him. 

This releases me from the joy-stealing weight of feeling as though everything is up to me. 

I am free to do my best, bless others and live well through the power of Christ at work within me and the resources that He has given me. Nothing more. Nothing less. 

Everything I have. Everything I am. Everything I hope to be. 

Everything I do. Everything I hope to do. 

Everything I can do and try to do...

Is all for His glory. 

Not because He is an arrogant God, but because He is good and faithful and is worthy of highest praise and adoration. 

He has given me life today. He has given me hope today. He has freed me from the bondage of sin and shame and anxious toil, and has given me in their place the freedom to live well, love well and serve well. 

My heart is bowed low before Him not because He demands it but because that is the only response to the vast love that He bestows upon this undeserving little girl of His. 

To Him be all glory and all praise and all honor and all adoration. 

Forever and ever. 

Amen. 

BEcause of Him alone. 

tiffany 

'I remember the days of old;

I meditate on all that you have done;

I ponder the work of your hands,

I stretch out my hands to you;

my soul thrists for you like a parched land.'

Psalm 143:5,6

Remember. 

Remeber who God has been to you. 

Remember the breath in your lungs...the light in your eyes...the life in your days. 

Meditate.

Slow down. Dare to approach the throne that beckons you. Find rest there. 

Allow the Truth of Who God is and Who God has been to wash over you and set you free. 

Ponder. 

Look around. Savor the song in the birds, the sway in the trees, the white in the clouds, the burning ball of gas that lingers just the right distance from the Blue Planet we call home. Any closer and we would burn. Any further and we would freeze. Perfect balance. Perfect distance. Perfect Creator. 

Thirst. 

Allow the goodness of God and break through the independant pride that deprives us of great blessing in the presence of our King. Stretch your hands before Him. Dare to reach for Him. Admit your thirst. Cry out for refreshment in the midst of the dry and parched land. Allow the River of Life to saturate your soul and change you from the inside out. 

'Bless the Lord, O my soul, all that is within me,

bless His holy name!

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and forget not all his benefits,

who forgives all your iniquity,

who heals all your diseases,

who redeems your life from the pit,

who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,

who satisfies you with good 

so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. '

Psalm 103:1-5