Clutter makes me crazy. Oh, I have stuff. I love stuff! I have figured out how to stack and pile and arrange stuff on shelves and tables, in closets and cabinets… so I can feel good about my ‘organized’ clutter. But at the end of the day… I do have clutter. I dust around it. I think about downsizing. Decluttering. And yet I hang on to most of it.

My mind and heart are often cluttered with things I can’t seem to, or choose not to, let go of. Anxious thoughts, hurt feelings, emotions, fears and failures, plans, dreams and what if’s. When I let the clutter have the run of my heart I don’t leave space for Jesus to have His way in it.

When Jesus was beginning His ministry, He knew the way. Acts 4:1 (NIV) “And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led about by the Spirit in the wilderness.” I want to be FULL of the Holy Spirit so that I can be LED by the Spirit, don’t you? The only way to make space for the Spirit is to empty ourselves out, live UNcluttered, so that we can be filled up with the Holy Spirit.

To live full of the Holy Spirit means we can be led by His Spirit. If that is something you long for, begin asking God to show you things to let go of to be open to more of His Spirit in you today!

I sat watching the television as one nation barraged another with multiple rounds of ballistic missiles as air rade sirens rang out. It would be normal to allow fearful thoughts and questions that all begin with ‘what if’ to take over in my mind. Instead, I began to pray. My prayers included asking God to cover His people. Expressing thankfulness for His peace, His strength and wisdom, discernment and clarity for everyone involved in the conflict. Not only does prayer move the heart of God, it moves ours.

Not every conflict is so obvious and bombastic. Not every enemy attacks with such force and aggression. There are times in our lives when the conflict we encounter is an all-out assault, attempting to rock our very foundation. But, often, much more likely, the conflict is insidious and happens over time if we are not vigilant to stand against it. Arguments that aren’t resolved. Gossip that plants seeds that are watered by our repeated participation. Anger. Hurt feelings that harden and find space in our hearts. Lies believed as the enemy of our soul shouts out our shortcomings and failures.

As I read a scripture the other morning, I looked to The Message for perspective. This is our war plan for conflict resolution! 2 Corinthians 10:5 (MSG) presents it this way: “We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ.” That’s what taking EVERY thought CAPTIVE looks like. Fitting everything that we face into the structure of life shaped by Jesus. Thank You, Lord, for showing us Your tools for the conflict in our lives and for helping us to live a life shaped by You!

If you’ve ever traveled to the mountains you know how spectacular the view can be. Whether you drive it or hike it, once you reach the top, you’ve earned the opportunity to take it all in. Celebrate the success and make some memories! You might even stay awhile! We rented a cabin in Pidgeon Forge, TN once and had to drive up a mountain to get to it. It was stunning! We stayed for a week and it’s still one of our favorite trips ever. But, as much as we loved the beauty of the mountaintop and its surroundings, we couldn’t stay up there forever.

We live so much of our lives in the middle. Often it’s the messy middle. Sometimes it’s a delicate dance between challenges and other times it’s more like a bulldozer wreaking havoc and leaving a wake of destruction. You know what happens in the messy middle? We learn to lean on Jesus. It’s where we discover that our true strength comes from the Lord. We find our identity in Christ and we choose to place our trust fully in God. The messy middle changes us. When I complained to the Lord the loudest, while in a hard place, I cried out that things would never be the same after this mess! The One who loves me most, and sacrificed His life to redeem me, quietly whispered… ‘I don’t want you to stay the same.’

Philippians 1:6 (NLT) tells us, “And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” The good work often requires hard stuff; but, in the middle of it, we have His promise that He won’t leave us to figure it out alone. He will continue HIS work in us til Jesus comes back!

I was in my hotel room sitting at a desk before a work conference was to begin and the canvas hanging on the wall in front of me was so beautiful. So I took a picture of it. I noticed on my camera lens that if I cropped out the wall around it, it almost looked as if I was standing right there facing the ocean with a makeshift pergola on the beach between me and the water.

When I shared that picture on Facebook and mentioned I was looking forward to the conference, others at the conference wanted to know where I was staying because their accommodations didn’t look anything like mine! In the comments below I posted the original picture I had taken so they could see it was just a picture on the wall. Turns out many of my colleagues had that same picture in their room and just hadn’t recognized it.

It’s not hard to frame an illusion of idyllic circumstances. Our day can be filled with chaos but find a quiet corner with beautiful surroundings, sip a cup of coffee, put a smile on your face for a selfie, post it to your socials and everyone thinks you’re A-OK. Why do we do that? Aren’t you thankful that God doesn’t require that we come to Him with all our dirt swept under the rug? all our clutter crammed into the closet? dressed to the nine’s, completely coiffed and cleaned up? God wants us to come to Him – just as we are! On our good days and especially in our bad… come to Jesus. Matthew 11:28 (NIV), Jesus said, “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Weary. Burdened. Stressed. Anxious. Just come. God can handle it. He sees us – and loves us. And when God steps in we can let go of what’s weighing us down and receive His rest. What an exchange!

My mom loved to sew when we were kids. She made a lot of our clothes. I remember going to the fabric store with her and thumbing through the patterns while she was picking out fabrics. The lady who worked there would carry the bolt of fabric to a long table. I can still hear the thud of the fabric bolt as it was being turned over and over as she measured out the material length my mom needed. With very sharp scissors she would cut the cloth to the exact measurement, fold it up, write something on a sticker and stick it to the cloth so the cashier would know how much to charge her for it.

Sometimes there wasn’t much fabric left on the bolt afterward. The lady would take what was left, measure and then fold it neatly, put a sticker on it with how much remained and place it in a section of materials… all marked REMNANTS. What I really loved about that section was the exceptional variety of pieces. Some bold and some muted. Some highly textured and others silky smooth. Burlap and extravagant. Light and dark. Solid colors and wild patterns. Worth saving because someone, some time would need just such a remnant for the project at hand.

The Dictionary of Bible Themes* describes a remnant as “a small group of people who remain faithful to God, despite widespread unbelief or faithlessness around them. God preserves a remnant in order to ensure a renewed and restored people in the future.” Throughout God’s Word, there were remnants of people who remained faithful to God, especially in dark times. Even today, when we see much darkness in this world, God is preserving a remnant who are committed to keeping the faith.

In 1 Peter 1:1-2 (MSG), Peter speaks to those who are holding on, steadfast in their faith. “ I, Peter, am an apostle on assignment by Jesus, the Messiah, writing to exiles scattered to the four winds. Not one is missing, not one forgotten. God the Father has his eye on each of you, and has determined by the work of the Spirit to keep you obedient through the sacrifice of Jesus. May everything good from God be yours!” If you’re feeling a bit like the leftover remnant of cloth – unsure of where you fit in – God sees you. Peter said, ‘not one is missing, not one forgotten.’ God has His eye on you and there is something special He has planned just for you to accomplish. Keep the faith!

*Dictionary of Bible Themes Scripture index copyright Martin H. Manser, 2009.

When you are going on a trip – when do you start packing? Do you throw things in your suitcase at the last minute or do you plan and pack days out from departure? I like to plan and pack a week out. That gives me time to think about my trip and what else I might need for it. Nothing worse than arriving at your destination and realizing you forgot your swimsuit for the pool, or worse yet, something to sleep in! And I’m guilty of forgetting both!!

I remember a sermon that declared, ‘there won’t be any U-Hauls in heaven!’ to which all the congregation laughed. It’s true. We won’t be taking any stuff with us. There’ll be no need or use for any of it! But, as I’m thinking about it, there are important valuables that we would love to pack. Our family and close friends. Co-workers and neighbors.

Remember the thief on the cross next to Jesus during the crucifixion? Jesus said to him in Luke 23:43 (NLT), “I assure you, today you will be with Me in paradise.” The thief believed and Jesus promised him paradise that very day. What a gift! I believe that if that thief could have taken others with him to Heaven he would have told everyone he met just what Jesus had done for him.

Here’s the thing: we have time to pack! Some have more time than others, but we all can tell someone about the One who’s changed our life and is relocating us to Glory someday. Don’t wait til the last minute to pack your bag. Tell someone about Jesus and what He’s done for you TODAY!

We’ve talked about the fact that even when we’re grieving we can still have joy; however, there are two that cannot possibly co-exist. Here’s the thing: anxiety and gratitude cannot possibly live together in our heart and mind. Even scientists who have researched this at length concede that it’s impossible to remain anxious when we begin to embrace an attitude of gratitude.

I heard an artist share about how dark his journey became as he began to suffer with panic attacks on top of already dealing with anxiety. He had people praying for him and yet he still suffered. He had to take some time away. He spent more time in God’s Word… and, he found a good therapist.

One of the tools that helped him the most to find hope and healing? Gratitude! He began to speak out and write down what he was thankful for and the more he did it the more he found his heart and soul beginning to rise up out of the dark. Gratitude does not co-exist with anxiety. Gratitude snuffs out the darkness. Philippians 4: 6-7 (NLT) declares, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”

Gratitude is the red carpet for God’s peace. When God is present the darkness of anxiety cannot stay. Let’s make sure we pack a grateful heart in our toolkit today… and USE it! Being grateful sends the enemy running in the other direction!

When we suffer loss there is a process we must go through. Layers of emotions, decisions and memories to sort out. The grieving process is multi-layered. It can be the loss of a person, a job, a dream. A counselor or pastor can be helpful in sorting through it all. There is no specific time frame that everyone follows exactly. Grief takes as long as it takes.

The gift that God gives us in it is His joy. I’m not talking about happiness. Being happy is situational. I had an exceptional cup of coffee this morning and that made me so happy. But let someone suddenly pull out in front of me while I’m driving and I’m no longer happy! See what I mean?!

Joy. Real joy is significantly deeper and it is based on a knowing that while this current space I’m in is really hard, my joy is not found in it. My joy is found in the ever-present, always-faithful person of Jesus Christ. When Jesus is our joy, it is His joy that gives us strength!

More good news… joy and grief can co-exist. Proverbs 14:13 (NLT) reads, “Laughter can conceal a heavy heart, but when the laughter ends, the grief remains.” I believe joy can help us bear up under great sorrow. One of my most beloved promises from God is in Psalm 30:5 (NLT). “Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning.” Real joy won’t be fleeting. It won’t be based on circumstances. Real joy will help us work through our sorrow and tether us to the strength we find in Jesus.

We have a pair of light gray mourning doves in our yard every Spring and Summer. Beautiful, graceful birds that mate for life and I love watching them every day. A couple of years ago a second pair showed up and they’ve continued to come back as well. It’s been said that the dove represents the peace of the Lord.

When Noah & his family were waiting for the flood waters to recede so they could leave the ark, it was a dove that Noah released from an opening of the boat. Genesis 8:11 (ESV) tells us, “And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth.” I imagine that Noah not only felt God’s peace that day, I think he must have also received a good dose of hope!

So, when I saw the doves in my yard, I thanked God for His peace and hope in my life. Do you know that almost every morning since I have seen at least one of those doves as I am leaving the house? It reminds me to thank God again for His gift of peace. I call it a Godwink. Just a little sign from Him that He is with me and I am in His care. Have you witnessed a Godwink recently? If you ask Him to, I believe that He will. It might even come in the form of a dove!

I was having lunch with a friend recently and we were talking about getting up early in the morning to spend time with God. My friend blurted out, “The bed feels good, but the presence of the Lord is better!” Boom! You could insert anything in the beginning of that sentence and the result would be the same. EVERYTHING that would keep us from carving out some time to meet with God will ALWAYS pale in comparison to our time in the presence of the Lord.

This year I joined my team at work in committing to read the entire Bible through chronologically using The Bible Recap. I decided to do it first thing in the morning because I know me. It would be easy to let the urgent things of the day cloud out my schedule of the most important part of my day. I have discovered a couple of things in doing this. The first and most beautiful is that reading God’s story in the order that it happened has made me fall even more in love with Him. Looking for God in every passage and seeing His lovingkindness, His faithfulness, His justice and His mercy on every page over and over… what an amazing Father God!

The second thing I noticed is that I can not WAIT to dig in first thing in the morning. During the day as I think back over the portion from that morning I find myself longing for the next part of His story. I love that the presence of the Lord is so beautiful and whenever you set your time to meet with Him consistently He will never miss a moment of your time with Him. Proverbs 17:1 (ESV) says, “For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.”

God shows up every single time. Let’s make sure we do too!