Keep Recognizing Jesus

This is a "My Utmost For His Highest" entry from a few days ago- I hope it challenges you like it did me.

Peter . . . walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid . . . —Matthew 14:29-30

The wind really was boisterous and the waves really were high, but Peter didn’t see them at first. He didn’t consider them at all; he simply recognized his Lord, stepped out in recognition of Him, and "walked on the water." Then he began to take those things around him into account, and instantly, down he went. Why couldn’t our Lord have enabled him to walk at the bottom of the waves, as well as on top of them? He could have, yet neither could be done without Peter’s continuing recognition of the Lord Jesus.

We step right out with recognition of God in some things, then self-consideration enters our lives and down we go. If you are truly recognizing your Lord, you have no business being concerned about how and where He engineers your circumstances. The things surrounding you are real, but when you look at them you are immediately overwhelmed, and even unable to recognize Jesus. Then comes His rebuke, ". . . why did you doubt?" ( Matthew 14:31 ). Let your actual circumstances be what they may, but keep recognizing Jesus, maintaining complete reliance upon Him.

If you debate for even one second when God has spoken, it is all over for you. Never start to say, "Well, I wonder if He really did speak to me?" Be reckless immediately— totally unrestrained and willing to risk everything— by casting your all upon Him. You do not know when His voice will come to you, but whenever the realization of God comes, even in the faintest way imaginable, be determined to recklessly abandon yourself, surrendering everything to Him. It is only through abandonment of yourself and your circumstances that you will recognize Him. You will only recognize His voice more clearly through recklessness— being willing to risk your all.

Stealing Jesus

We just started a series at church this morning entitled "Stealing Jesus". The premise of the series is that in our culture we have become so familiar with Jesus that we think we know Him when really we have no idea who He really is. His identity has been stolen, and we just know all these images of him created by the world around us. So, the point of the series is to actually take a look at Jesus' life, what he said about himself, and how he lived in hopes of getting rid of false views of Him and actually getting to know Him.
I'm excited for this study, because I have recently been reading through Luke and John, and making this same observation- that I don't know Jesus in the way I find Him there, and that I don't live like a follower of the Jesus I find there would live.

Lord, continue to challenge my faith- may I come face to face with who you really are and somehow offer that to others in this world.

New Girls

So, we got two new girls last week. Please pray for "RA" and "AR"

"RA" is 16 and is here for drugs, guys, rebellion - that sort of stuff. She is a cheerleader and seems to fit the stereotype. She didn't know she was coming and is not happy to be here. She's convinced she doesn't need to be here and will be able to leave in 2 months. "RA" is my Little, "EM"'s new roommate. Please pray for both of them. "EM" really wants a friend and wants to impress, but tends to do that in negative ways. "RA" has already stolen a couple of times and seems to lie about everything. So pray for us, to catch her in her bad decisions and have wisdom in knowing how to deal with her in love.

"AR" is 13. I'm still not completely sure why she is here- I think there were just issues with her parents and boys and stealing, but its hard to see any of that yet. She mostly just seems like a little kid that is really sweet, but doesn't have the best social skills. The other girls have started having a "Toothbrush Party" all together every morning and evening, just to get her to join. "AR" is a lot easier for me, although she needs a lot of attention, she doesn't do the whole teenage "I'm way too cool for school" thing. But I'm sure we'll see some of her true colors come out as time goes on. She seems to really like Jesus - but this may be mostly because of her parents - so pray the Lord would take what is already in her and grow it deep.

A praise to go along with that, is that I got to ask a lot of questions and share a little with "Z", who is an atheist, this week. Please continue to pray for her salvation.

Lyngy

Just wanted to share some fun things with you:

Melissa got a job at Sonic and will be starting today - she is pretty nervous, so please pray for her.
Melissa got her Drivers Permit yesterday. Whenever she is ready, she can go back and take her driving test for her license. This is another scary new thing.
Melissa really likes the small group Bible study we are going to. We're definitely going to continue going through the summer .
Melissa also called her mom this week, just to show her she still cares and make an attempt at relationship. This is really hard. Please pray that her heart would continue to be soft and to pursue and that her mom would respond with love.

Yay God! Yay Melissa!
Thanks for your prayers.

Words of Wisdom from the Sis

I just saw this picture of my sister, from my fun visit with her in Lubbock last month. It reminded me of some wise words she gave that I thought I would share.

We were talking about marriage and how its actually scary it is to think of spending the rest of your life with and building a family with this one person - how right before it was time to get married I would probably freak out and think of a thousand questions that I wanted answers to, things I wanted to have figured out before I signed my life away- but you can never know all the answers or if the other person is being honest with you about everything, and even if they are, people change over time....to think of all those things and then think of getting married is scary... So, after talking through these things, my sister finally says,

"Yeah, but Becky, that's why marriage is a commitment"

Seems like a simple enough thought. Everyone knows this to be true, but it really is wise - in marriage you commit yourself and your relationship and your future into God's hands - with lots of uncertainties and without knowing all the answers, you commit to no matter what, work through it, because its worth it.

God compares our relationship with Him to marriage. and in the same way, when it begins we have no idea all that's ahead and all that it will require. But He's won our heart; he has our trust. For me this makes it impossible to not follow him- I can't leave Him - I'm committed.

kinda silly

These pictures are from a "Joe's truck stop breakfast and bowling" Doulos Day that we had at the begining of May- that was a while ago, but it was during a long stetch of not posting anything, so I'm posting them now just for grins