Sunday, March 18, 2012

Dwindle or Shine

Forgive me friends for not posting the past few weeks. Life has, yet again, thrown me quite a few curve balls. It seems just when you sit down and sigh, "Finally, my life is settling," that it is in what seems to be uproar again. Many of you know the feeling. I am seeing more and more that it isn't just my crazy life, but the craziness of life in general. If I am going to be completely honest, it isn't even about that, especially for those of us who are Christians. I am seeing more and more that those things we want to call "crazy", or "bad luck", or even "dysfunction" are proof of the time and place we are living.

God is making me more and more aware that this life isn't about us. The more we focus on us, the more we are missing what all this "craziness" is all about. We are made in the image of God. There is nothing else Satan wants to do more than to ruin other people's image of God. When non-believers look on our lives they are looking to see if our fire for Christ dwindles or shines. We aren't here on earth for our own agendas. We are here to be the image of Christ.

There is so much I want to share... my thoughts are so scattered...but, I want you to know that just because I don't make a post every week, or even ever again (which is DEFINITELY NOT my plan) that whatever you are going through... it isn't about you!

Satan comes to kill, steal, and destroy and that is exactly what he is trying to do with the image of God on our lives. He HATES seeing God's beauty in us. That is what got him cast out of heaven: trying to outshine God himself. Maybe that is something to think about as you go through your trials. Are you trying to outshine your issues, or are you letting the power of God shine through you while trust Him to give you the strength to endure?

Honestly, with everything that has gone on in my life over the last month... I want to just give up. I want to throw up my hands and say, "It was so much easier when I didn't care what God thought!" But I know, it resonates within me that there is NO beauty there. There is no beauty in sin. There is no beauty without God. Before God formed the earth, it was "without form and void". Yet at the very power of His spoken Word, He made all things beautiful in HIS time.

If you are struggling today, if your life seems crazy, but you can't find any joy, if the trials you are going through makes you want to give up, remember: if God be for you, who can be against you? The power of His word is much more powerful than the lies that Satan is trying to tell you. He is not the mirror you need to look to for your reflection. He wants your fire to dwindle... If there is no light, there is no way to see the beauty of God in you.

My challenge for you today is to SHINE! Shine through your trials. Shine through your pain. Shine through your "craziness", "bad luck", and"dysfunction". Don't try to shine on your own. Let the Holy Spirit create a fire in you that takes on the salvation of Christ and SHINES the image of God brighter than ever before. Remember Satan is jealous of your beauty in God. Don't let him steal it. It's up to you... are you going to dwindle? or are you going to SHINE?

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