Monthly Archives: August 2019

Drifting

IMG_0891By Judy Villanueva

We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. (Hebrews 2:1)

But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. (Revelations 2:4)

Colorful umbrellas celebrated along the shoreline, each granting shade and place-marking the towels and coolers that awaited hundreds of sea loving swimmers.  To avoid confusion we were careful to take note of our specific picnic area before we ran out into the ocean to play. There’s nothing like the thrill of catching the perfect wave or gasping for air after a salt water tumble! When finally we exhausted ourselves, we placed our feet on the sandy shore and looked up expecting to find our bright yellow umbrella.  What we found instead was a sea of towels and beach chairs a football field away from where we had started!  The current was subtle and, lost in play, we never even noticed we had drifted.

Drifting is the kind of thing that often happens little by little.  One minute we are where we plan to be and the next, in a place we hardly recognize.  When we do finally look up and find ourselves it is with bewilderment that we ask, “How did I get here?” or “How did I become this person?” To drift is “to wander or move gradually away from a fixed course or point” and it happens one decision at a time… one thought, one attitude, one act.  It happens when we give ourselves permission to lose our temper “just this once” or set our tongue free to say whatever it wants. It happens when we wander over to an improper TV show, justify a lie, or look the other way when our hearts are unkind.

It happens when we are not paying the most careful attention to the beautiful words of Christ.

Sitting in church today I felt a familiar tug. “Uh-Oh,” I thought warily, “I recognize this tug.” As the pastor spoke about one thing, I felt God speaking to me about another.  I sensed Him asking if I wanted to see where I have drifted. “Seriously, Lord? I’ve drifted? Ugh.”  As He gently opened my eyes I felt a piercing that burned somewhere inside me.  It hurt to see my willfulness and pride.  I honestly didn’t want to know this, but wrapped in His love, I let myself see and then bowed in tearful sorrow.

It’s easy to get caught up in the thrills and tumbles of the days and drift from who we want to be and how we want to live.

Paying careful attention involves learning to listen to God as He speaks to us about our lives — wherever we are!  He helps us see our lives, notice where we have drifted and find the way back to our first Love.

“Father, I thank you that you love me enough to confront me.  After all these years, I need your gentle corrections more than ever.  Help me to return to my first Love every day and forgive my wandering heart. Amen.”

What about you?

Do you want to know where you have drifted?

Is Jesus your first Love?

Do you let God confront you?  He is that still, small voice that we bump into when we read the Word, hear a sermon,  and mainly, as we pay attention to our hearts.

Everyone’s life is aimed at something.  What is your life aimed at?

Worship

Whatever Is Lovely

DSC_1493By Judy Villanueva

So keep your thoughts continually fixed on all that is authentic and real, honorable and admirable, beautiful and respectful, pure and holy, merciful and kind. And fasten your thoughts on every glorious work of God, praising him always. (Philippians 4:8)

It was completely silent, except for the sound of lake water sloshing against the sides of the metal fishing boat that held us.  I was stretched out reading while my husband sat patiently, rotating the reel, waiting for the tug that would mean we were having fish for dinner!  It was one of those extraordinary moments when one feels held within the beauty of God and, ushered into a great shalom!  Between the blue skies that watched over us and the hundreds of pines that surrounded us, it would have been difficult to imagine that we would ever be unsettled by anything ever again!  I remember stepping into that little boat with an anxious heart and returning to shore, at peace.  What is it about gazing at beauty that quiets the soul and bears witness to the reality of God—on the throne, in charge, and magnificently reigning over heaven and earth?

God is beautiful!  Massively, spectacularly, incomprehensibly beautiful!  It would be impossible to tell the story of His infinite beauty and yet, He has graced us with foretastes scattered throughout the earth!  We see hints on purple mountain peaks laced in snow, and in the array of colors splashed across the landscape on a spring morning.  We marvel under the magic of a night sky and catch our breath in the presence of the sun rising in firey splendor.  Beauty blesses our soul and speaks to us of God in ways that words cannot.

When all seems lost and despair has declared a victory, beauty always has the final word — and that word is hope!

Reflecting on the attributes of God is a worthwhile and faith-building practice.  Awakening to His beauty in this world anchors us to the reality of God…a good and beautiful God!

There is something in the human spirit that intuitively understands that beauty doesn’t just happen.  It reflects and points to its Maker!

To behold His beauty is to discover His heart, peek at His face, and hear His loving whispers.  There is revelation of God on flower petals, ocean waves, and glaciers — ladybugs, redwoods, and the Milky Way!  At the heart of beauty is a happy God and our soul is calmed in its presence.  It bears witness that He is real, on the throne, in charge, and magnificently reigning over heaven and earth!

“Thank You, Father, for this world and every inch of beauty within it!  Help me to hear your voice through all of it.  I am so grateful for starlit skies and glassy lakes, for delicately colored flowers, rainbow trout and moose!  I praise you, most beautiful God!  Amen.” 

What about you? 

How does beauty impact you?  Does it?

When was the last time you were astounded by God’s beauty in creation?  How did it make you feel?

Is beholding beauty a familiar practice?

Do you know God as beautiful?

Worship

How Long?

IMG_2744By Judy Villanueva

Then Elijah stood in front of them and said, “How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!” (1Kings 18:21)

OUCH, this hit me right between the eyes!  I am reading a book on the beatitudes and right in the middle of the chapter called “Happy Are The Pure In Heart,” this verse jumped off the page and threw water in my face!  “What?  ME?  Hobbling between two opinions?” But in my heart of hearts, I knew it was true and as I toweled off my face, I reread the words and let them sink in more deeply.  The words felt like a strong correction and at the same time, like the most loving words I’ve ever read.  I think that’s how it often feels when God speaks.  He always tells the truth but with so much love that my heart melts, my knees buckle, and my hands open to receive whatever gift He offers me, even if it’s a correction.  The morning reading became a confrontation and an invitation to stop wavering and decidedly place my life in God’s care.

What are my “two opinions?”  Where am I double-minded?  I confess that I waffle back and forth between trusting God with all my heart and wondering if He heard the prayer I just prayed.  There are days when my feet must dance because the goodness of God has touched me and there are days when I can’t discern the reality of His presence.  So, I hobble along.  Do you hobble, too?  There are many ways to waver between “two opinions.”   It might be living one way on the outside and another on the inside or agreeing with the Word spoken on Sunday morning but determining your own way when you walk out the door.  It may even result from living a life so distracted by many things that there is little room left for the One Thing —WHO is everything.  

“Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” (Deut. 6:4-5)

Living between two opinions dims our light and dilutes our saltiness, not to mention the fact that it weakens our ability to trust and obey God. 

So, what empowers us when God says, “How long?” to reply, “NO LONGER!  You are God and no other!  I will follow YOU!”?  Because when the moment of truth arrives and we are faced with a decision on who to follow, whatever has been filling our hearts and minds will drive us in one direction or another.  What is establishing Truth inside you? 

I realized after some pondering that only the Word of God can heal my hobble and if I want to follow Him with a singular and faithful heart I must fill my soul with HIS Opinion and leave room for no other!

This evening as I crawled into bed I felt more than anything, LOVED.  Like a father that sees His child struggling, I felt God loving me in my weakness even as He illuminated the state of my doubting heart. He didn’t turn away. He drew near and I’d almost swear I felt His breath on my cheek as He spoke “Try again, my love, and trust Me.  You really can trust Me.”  

What about you? 

Can you feel the tug of war for your heart, mind and strength? 

Do you ever find yourself limping between two opinions?

What is establishing truth inside you?

Saturate yourself with the Word of God and let it fill you.

Worship  *** You’ve got to hear this song!***

It All Counts!

lakekayakmirrorBy Judy Villanueva

Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.” (Genesis 28:16)

“The word present, of course, means near, close to, next to, and the prefix omni gives it universality. God is everywhere here, close to everything, next to everyone.” (AW Tozer, Knowledge of the Holy)

Laying face up in my closet I stared into the blouses that hung above me. This little cubby proves to be a quiet place to pray and always helps me feel tucked away with God.  Do you ever wake up aware of your soul’s longing for God — for an experience of His face, a moment of His love, a Divine touch?  I do, especially when life gets prickly.  To feel His presence infuses all the pieces of my life with hope and meaning.

No matter the trial or richness of any moment, it is the “God with” factor that makes me strong, hopeful, and happy!

As light breaks the night, I wake up with this prayer on my lips, “Find me Father.  Bump into me today.  Help me to live this day with you.”  I admit that what I’m asking for are lightning bolts and holy visions, but instead, God greets me in the morning with whispers and melodies, smiles, coffee and the grace to find Him in the gifts embedded in ordinary days. And, I’m slowly learning  that it all counts!

Rainbows, breezes, sunlight and hugs — puffy white clouds and the taste of buttered toast all count as God’s love reaching out to us.

Cultivating an openness to “count” what we may regard as ordinary blessings becomes a powerful pathway into the Divine presence.

The practice of noticing the day’s blessings is a habit that can form in spite of our reluctance to recognize the Holy within the ordinary.  We are products of a culture that craves special effects, so cooperating with the Holy Spirit as He draws our attention to His gentle movements of love can be challenging.  It requires that we let go of our preconceived notions of Holy encounters and avail ourselves to watching for “God with” us in and through the very life given to us each day.

I stumbled out of bed this morning and moved toward the coffee I smelled brewing down the hallway.  As I took that first warm sip of goodness, I thanked God for taste buds and the new day.  Later, working at my desk, I noticed movement outside my window and there, staring in at me, was a gloriously colored bird arrayed in bright yellow and crimson.  I could not help but stare back at him and offer thanks to God for the beauty He splashed all over this little creature!  Here he is!DSC_0504

That same afternoon I found myself on a couch soaking in the company of a friend, all the while aware that I was in the middle of another good gift.  Do these count as the Divine reaching into my life and offering me love?  “Surely the Lord is in this place”—  the very place where we live each day!  Whether in a closet, on a couch, or stumbling out of bed, God is always with us and wants to be found!

“Father, find me. Bump into me today and help me to live this day with you. Thank you that you love being found!   Help me notice your gentle movements of love today. Amen.”

What about you?

Looking back on your day, are you aware of God’s gentle movements of love?  What were they?

Where do you most easily notice God?

How does the “God with” factor affect you?   He is with you.

God loves to be found!  Ask Him to bump into you today.

Worship