:::Living Proof:::

You know those times in life where you hear something old... in a new way... like it was the first time again and you wanted to just crawl into a secluded corner and ponder the old:new thing in your heart for hours? And hours? And... hours?

Yes? No? Tracking where I'm going? 

If you don't, maybe the name "Beth Moore" will help shed a little light on what I'm trying to explain. This post isn't going to be about Beth because first of all I'm sure she wouldn't care for it, which is another reason why she is so loved... humility is not something that escapes this wise woman with a mighty platform. 

However, the way the Lord used her to communicate to my heart in a new, fresh way was remarkable today. 

So, scenario. I found out late last night, Friday afternoon that Beth Moore was actually going to BE at the conference that I had previously heard about in Reading, PA.... before, I thought it was just going to be a simulcast of her preaching from another location... but NOPE - Beth was going to actually be IN PA... and Lord knows with us FINALLY living close to a place where amazing events like this come to (ie, a place that ISN'T Del Rio, Texas) I didn't want to miss it! 

So I rallied a couple girlfriends late last night - so random, so spontaneous, so fun - and convinced them to leave at 5:45am today to make the 2hr road trip to make it to the will-call office at the time it opened to hopefully snatch up some of the last few tickets! Yep... we were on a 2 hour road trip at 6am with only our teeny weeny HOPES of having tickets there waiting for us when we arrived... nutso. 

But it was fun. As you can see... :) My beautiful friends.

AND God knew what He was doing as He conveniently positioned us at the front of the line just in time to get tickets and front row seats!! 

YES! *Little victories... big grace!*

Again, this isn't about Beth because it never SHOULD be about Beth but it is COMPLETELY about what the Lord spoke to me today THROUGH Beth due to her obedience and willingness to reflect and direct ALL the glory back to Him... wow. 

She's a fast-talker with animated language and before I knew it I found myself taking notes like a mad-woman... here are some random thoughts that tugged on my heart I'm recollecting as I look over the chicken-scratch notes I took today:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"God didn't call us to 'fine' - He called us to 'faith.'"

"Do you want to live a miraculous life based on the supernatural provision of God, or do you want to live a humanly explainable life?" 

"Don't waste the harvest of failure... you will rarely have a better teacher than failure." 

"Faith faces the fact that there is no 'formula...'"

"If you got everything you need, you need a bigger life!" 

"Have you had your faith attacked? Attack back with your faith!!!"

"The Lord speaks; many, many women spread the good news." - Psalms 68:11 NET

"NEED is our invitation to the supernatural!" 

"You don't have everything you need until you are ABOUNDING in good works!!" 

"You may not be called to teach... but you ARE called to tell!" 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just a few nuggets of truth from the weekend... these small snapshots of ideas don't do justice to the whole message but there is one in particular that I'm going to elaborate on:

"Faith trusts that every call to FORSAKE is a call to also TAKE!" 

Ah! Do you get that? 

Every time the Lord calls us to forsake something... whether it is jealousy, bitterness, unforgiveness, hate... He doesn't just call us to forsake it and leave us with a huge empty void! 

Everything the Lord calls us to forsake, He also calls us to TAKE!

What do we take to fill the void of the stuff He calls us to forsake? 

We TAKE joy, forgiveness, compassion... we TAKE UP His likeness to become more LIKE HIM! 

This brings such peace to my heart. This makes so much sense in my head.

I know this is somewhat random and I can't really put to words exactly what is stirring in my heart in head right now only that it's different. It's an old thing in a new way and I'm determined to F O R E V E R lean into it and pursue it. By "it" of course I mean HIM - His Spirit, fully alive in me, fully immersed in His word. 

I can't really go too much into it, but there has been a few things in my life that I came face to face with today as Beth was praying over me that sickened my stomach - eventually you have to come to a place where you look the enemy of your soul straight in the eye and say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! 

That's where I am at today. 

Swimming, hardly keeping my head above water. 

Tired of fear that rules certain areas of my life. 

Tired of old habits that reinforce insecurity, shame and pain. 

Tired of living a life, supposedly called to freedom, while in chains that my Father holds the keys to! 

HE IS GOOD!

REGARDLESS OF CIRCUMSTANCE!

REGARDLESS OF HOW BAD WE ARE! 

HE IS GOOD AND HE GIVES HIS CHILDREN GOOD GIFTS! 

Ah. My heart is about to burst. Thank You Lord.

Anyways - I'm starting today and planning this road out with Him as my center. 

I've had quite enough of the shackles I've chosen to carry and am ready to release them. 

And I'm going to do it with a little help from sweet Beth herself... who made this incredible tool for us "shackled" to use to FIGHT with faith! It's right here -- I HIGHLY recommend you check it out! 

She calls it "The Great Forsake and Take" Book... it's a collection of compiled scriptures that deal directly with fear and help saturate your mind with truth over lies.

It is my guidebook for the next few months to combat these certain strongholds and I've never felt more capable or expectant of Him in this season. 

It's new... I love new... if you've ever read my blog before you KNOW how much I love NEW and once again, today is a new NEW for me. 

(Pathetic with the repetition? Perhaps. 

But I choose to take up a NEW self in Him instead of wallowing in my pathetic self. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.)

Alive - fully - living for His glory in His calling. 

With a renewed FAITH in the Son who is SO, so, so so so so so (times infinity) worthy. 

Trust in Him at all times, O people; 

pour out your heart before Him.

God is a refuge for us. 

Selah.

~ Psalms 62:8 ~

*Psst... if that link for "The Great Forsake and Take" book doesn't work, just go to blog.lproof.org and search for the post from September 15th, 2012. She has the book there for you :)

::Culture vs. Scripture::

So, I'm sitting here in my fuzzy blue robe, drinking my delicious peppermint tea, listening to "Poison & Wine" and "Barton Hollow" by the Civil Wars, and trying to figure out why I haven't blogged more over the past few weeks since I've essentially had an extremely open schedule during my time here on the border.

I've decided that the reason is probably because.... this place lacks some serious inspiration. If you don't know what I'm talking - move here. The only beautiful thing about this town is the people - the people here are about 80% Mexican and SO nice and friendly and bilingual and cute and everything - I can honestly say I love the people of Del Rio.

But if you took the people out of the picture - leaving JUST the town.... yikes. A lot of closed business. A lot of desert-like conditions. Hardly any trees. Sort of dumpy. No Starbucks and no Target. If people left this town, and you let the town sit deserted for about two weeks... it could be considered a fairly large ghost town.

That being said, it's hard to come from Colorado to the border, especially in regards to inspiration. Here's a short list why:

In Colorado...

- I could step outside my house to take a walk and immediately be surrounded by breathtaking mountains that many people only dream of seeing.

- I could get lost on a hike and end up at a lake or waterfall a mile up from where I started my hike.

- I could sit, cozied up in my house, sipping hot chocolate and looking outside at the huge chunks of snow falling and collecting on the ground.

- I could drive a few miles away, and gather with thousands of people and lift up the name of Jesus at my church essentially any night of the week.

- I could call up my best friend, drive up to her house in the mountains, and lay on her deck in our underwear and sports bras, talking about life and God and getting tan.

- I could drive a few miles away into the mountains to go meet my boyfriend/fiance (at the time) at his school and see views (or "vista's" as my father in love calls them...) that are absolutely stunning. Just during the drive!!

- I could hop in my car and be at a Starbucks, Target, Panera, Taco Bell, Williams & Sonoma, Express, Kohl's... really, take your pick... any place within 10 -15 minutes. Haha and this point makes me laugh. You never realize how much you LOVE Target until you move to a place where the closest Target is 3 hours away...

Blah. I feel like a huge whiner now, and honestly I don't HATE this town. Really. Like I said, the people are fantastic... and the lack of entertainment that this town offers has meant less distractions for my amazing husband and I - more time to ourselves to enjoy this beautiful, fun phase of life. There are several up-sides to living here for sure!

Anyways... I'm here.

:)

On the Border.

Meeting new people and recognizing new faces every day.

Enjoying this time of "nesting" - setting up my first home the way I like it - collecting cute little gadgets from the base thrift shop (I'm becoming a thrifting PRO!!) and cleaning like a woman who treasures her home.

Reading, journaling some, loving my husband with every bit of my heart.

The main reason I blog, however, is mainly out of some type of inspiration - and as I stated before - this town is definitely lacking in just that. :)

Today though, I decided to be different.

I'm gonna make my own inspiration.

I got the music playing - (I've switched to Brett Younker's new free worship EP - LOOK HIM UP!), still enjoying my tea, and thinking about an idea I tweeted last night...

I said, "I want to fill my heart with scripture rather than culture."

I've been having trouble sleeping the last few nights so while I was laying awake in my bed, listening to my handsome husband breathe, I was thinking about this idea.

I mentally made a list of what "culture says" regarding rules and trends in society today.

I hope I can remember them all...

Culture Says:

Marriage isn't necessary, and marriages don't last.

It's impossible to find someone who will remain faithful.

If you're having issues in your marriage, there's always an easy out.

Beauty is primarily exterior - the skinnier you are the more beautiful.

You're outward appearance is far more important than your heart.

Watch whatever you want, listen to whatever you want - you're mind and heart can't retain it all.

Money = happiness.

Spanking your children is abuse.

Abortion is not murder.

Do whatever feels good.

Submission is WEAKNESS - wives should NOT submit to their husbands, that's sexist.

Men and Women are equal in roles.

The more people you sleep with, the better.

Looking at Pornography is healthy in marriage.

Don't discipline your children - let them express themselves however they wish to and be "free."

Modesty is weird and unattractive.

In order to make it to the top, you probably have to lie.

TOLERANCE is the key to success, being liked by all.

Eat whatever you want, however you want, whenever you want - what is gluttony anyways?

Respect other's beliefs, and keep yours to yourself.

Your parents are stupid.

There are no absolutes.

What you believe is dictated in what you say, not always in how you act.

Jesus was either a fairytale or just a good man.

Overall, that's what I believe our culture screams today.

What's interesting to me though, is that scripture specifically addresses EACH of those points in one way or another... how cool is that?

So many people say "they don't know how to live or what God wants from them..." yet scripture DOES give us all we need for life and Godliness!! *soo cool*

Anyways, yes the Bible addresses each of these points and what I love is that this proves that Satan is SO good at what he does - taking everything God created and commanded, and TWISTING it to create a cheap, counterfeit aka FAKE imitation of it.

It's SO clear and SO evident when you put to the two side by side: culture vs. scripture.

In thinking about this idea, I've discovered in my own life that I've let a lot of what culture screams is "TRUTH" influence my mind, my heart, and my life.

As a self-proclaimed follower of Christ, lover of Jesus, seeker of "the way," that can NOT be the case!

At the Passion 2011 conference this past January, I had the privilege of hearing Francis Chan speak, and he spoke straight from his heart.

His main message was SO simple and yet SO necessary - he asked the question, is your life in balance?
Does what you say you believe, balance out to how you act and how you live?

I was thinking about that in my own life and realizing that no, in many places in my heart, what I SAY is truth and how I LIVE doesn't match up.

For instance, in many ways, I live in fear. Fear of man, fear of the future, fear of tangible scares, straight up fear. According to what I truly believe - that God is the God of the universe, He loves me and knows the plans He has for me, He is with me wherever I go, He's Sovereign, He has saved me - according to THOSE truths, I should NEVER be afraid.

-UNBALANCED-

I sometimes believe the lie that only exterior beauty is what matters... ignoring the condition of my heart. Therefore, I let insecurity, comparing myself, jealousy, fear, and self-hatred in and let those emotions or states of mind just sit there and camp out in my heart long enough to establish themselves there. According to what I truly believe - that God doesn't see me the way man sees me, He looks at the heart. That outward adornments (jewelery, clothes, etc) is not as beautiful as a woman with a gentle, pondering heart. That a Woman who fears the Lord is greatly to be praised, and a virtuous woman is hard to find. That I was made in the image of God... According to THOSE truths, I should never hate myself, never compare myself, never neglect my heart in the pursuit of improving my exterior.

-UNBALANCED-

Those are just a few examples of where my life is unbalanced, and where I've let culture creep into my heart a little too much.

I don't want that anymore.

I want what I believe to balance out what I live.

I want to fill my heart with scripture rather than culture...

Culture is always changing.

What's considered "wrong" one year is socially acceptable and even encouraged the next.

Sex + Money Foundation put it this way:

"What one generation allows... the next embraces."

That is so true.

If we, as followers of Jesus, want to make a difference in our generation, we need to fill our hearts with scripture rather than culture.

We need to make DISTINCTIVE lines between truth - and lies.

That's where I'm at now.

Struggling to silence the lies that Satan loves to whisper.

Wanting to clear my mind, control my thoughts, and fill my heart with TRUTH that can ONLY be found in Scripture.