Tag: living

what a Word

Karla Lees

Words have the power to bless, uproot, encourage, surgically impact or curse.

Sometimes all in the same day.

And when words are both your primary love language and part of your job, words can pierce far beyond the speaker’s intention.

There is One, however, who knows the power of words.

He not only inspired the writing of His written Word, He is continously speaking life, instruction and hope in the here and now.

For He is the living Word.

God also knows the power of a hurtful, deliberate word, for He spends many resources helping us to see how forgiveness can restore us from their negative impact.

There is one Psalm I turn to when I need a reminder of how much words matter to God.

Psalm 119.

The longest Psalm, it encompasses us from conception and beyond, from pain and hurt to life, from walking a wayward path to one of purpose.

Nor only is His Word is to be our guide, which the psalmist refer to,  but He Himself is to be our guide.

The Living Word as contained within the Word.

For the Word is just a bunch of words if you refuse the Living Word access to you, to change you through His words as He speaks life into you. All the weary, wounded, wary or wandering.

Without the Author pointing out the words He has for you to change your circumstances, meet you in the moment, restore your footing on the Rock…. the Word becomes just beautifully, skillfully written poetry or history.

The Word doesn’t want His Words to return without blessing.

He wants us to hear and see Him in the Word. For it is a reflection of who He is,  what he can do, where He wants to take you, what He has its store for you, and why.

The Living Word poured Himself into His Word….

●So we would know we are not alone when we feel disconnected.
●So we would see His heart when ours has been ravaged.
●So we would hear His direction when we are at a crossroads.
●So we would sense His Presence despite our loneliness.
●So we can taste His goodness when all we see appears to be dark.
●So we can experience Him more deeply as we get to know who He is.

His Word is relevant regardless of your age, stage, looks, quirks, status or race.

As He has made us all, His Word is designed for us all.

Take a hold of the gift He has given us and invite Him to make His Words come alive to you in a such a way you know you have connected with him.

If you need to chew on one or two verse, do so.  Create a graphic, doodle the words, print them out and post them to memorize them.

Allow His Words to come alive within you and bring you back to life.

The living Word is waiting for you within every page of His Word.

The situations may have a historical place in time, but the God revealed and contained within them is beyond time and place, for He is alive!

Invite Him to speak, and wait expectantly for His Words.  God has never stopped speaking His love to us since Eden, and will never stop until each of us are home with Him where we belong.

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at any age or stage, your life matters

Karla Lees

It’s so much not about your age, but the life you’ve lived in those years.

I have a few friends who have recently celebrated (some reluctantly) significant birthdays.

Age is not a big deal to me.

It’s more about the life we have lived in those years than the time we count.

You may be a sixty year old who has never left your hometown,  but have raised three wonderful children who love the Lord.

You could be a 22 year old God is using brilliantly for His Kingdom, but may be insecure in being single.

You may be starting over after a divorce, death or loss of job.

All the life we have lived matters to the One who gave us life.

His Presence with us matters most of all.

God is able to show us things we have lived through from His perspective.

God is able to heal us from the brokenness and hurts we’ve received in our past.

God is able to stir up our hope as He shows us the future He has for us, both now and forever more.

Nothing, not one thing, is wasted or beyond his redemption for those who put their faith and trust in God in this life.

The author of life Himself offers to walk beside us with each step we take in this life.

And experiencing life by His side can cause one blissful moment to linger for hours and one hard hour to fade into a blip of time.

Time doesn’t pass for Him the same way it does for us. We only move forwards. God is beyond time, as its designer and initiator.

I have seen Him speed the skills and development of young people as he has empowered them to step into roles generally thought of as for thr mature.

Older folk rediscover life with the wide eyed wonder traditionally reserved for youth.

Life isn’t about age as much as stage.

Every age or stage is His speciality, as the Creator of life.

Instead of becoming depressed or upset with where you are at right now, invite Him to show you the wonders He has for you.

Right here, right now.

For although God is beyond time he way we know it, He never fails to step into our lives and stay with us through it all.

Not thrilled you are X years old and you haven’t seen Y happen yet in your life, or you are tired of carrying the weight of Z about on your way shoulders?

Come to the One who gave you life, who helps you live life to its fullest, and empowers you through life’s ups and downs.

All of your life matters to Him, from your conception to whatever age and stage you are right at now:
○The good, the bad.
○The happy, the sad.
○The highs, the lows.
○The celebrations, the blows.

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waiting for Hope

Karla Lees

In the hard times, I have begun to speak words of hope to myself, especially when i want to wallow in my situation.

Life can be hard, can’t it?  And we can easily become swamped down by the what ifs, why mes, will it ever ends and Argggghhhhs.

I especially love the Psalms, because I can see myself in most of them.  Crying out to God in the midst of my anguish and pain.

But that’s only part of the purpose for the Psalms, Beloved.

The psalms were not penned to remind us we are alike in our difficulties in life, but to remind us of the Hope each psalm contains for us all.

Hope Himself will rise to meet us, as God met each psalmist in their journey of waiting and seeking.

Our living Hope is entrenched in each word of HiStory, the Bible; for He is  both the inspiration for every word and the rescue for each person recorded in its history.

And because He is, and always will be, He is our Living Hope in our present moments, no matter what they are.

He rejoices with us when we get or hear good news.

He cries with us when our hearts break from sudden or slow loss.

He mourns with us in our grief.

He actively pursues us when we feel lonely.

He houses us when the echoes of abandonment try to return.

He makes His home with us, giving us hope, purpose and a future intertwined with his heart.

So like the psalmist of Psalm 119, I choose to wait for His word of Hope.

For Him to speak life into my weary brittle bones. To spark passion into the embers of my dry heart. To come to me and show Himself strong. To love up on me in every area where I have lack. To provide over and above what I can believe for in the natural.

So I wait for You.

Because You have never failed to reveal Yourself to expectant hearts who eagerly wait for You.

Will you join me in the wait?

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faith in action

Karla Lees

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For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.  James 2:26

Life cannot exist when the body and the spirit are separated.

Both are needed for life to happen.

Faith without works isn’t alive.
It too is dead.

The spirit may be willing, but if your flesh isn’t following suit, you don’t get it done.

Our faith is to represent the living God we serve.

Everywhere, serving everyone, every moment.

If we are followers of Jesus, we are to do as He did. We are to go everywhere we are lead and serve everyone He asks us to — every opportunity we can.

Faith in action comes alive.

Today, ask Him to awaken your desire to have a living faith which permeates every area of your life.

Let faith arise, and may those around you be blessed as you follow where He leads you to be His hands and feet to all He loves.

This post first appeared as a Drop of Encouragement at Remade Community today.

for those lost in a maze daze

Karla Lees

I recently read a Christian fiction book where one of the characters was trying to explain to the other about how God longs to guide us.

Because you & I both know there are days when we sooooo need someone to take us by the hand and help us along when we feel like we are about to stumble.

The image the author shared resonated deeply within me, and made so much sense I will attempt to put it into words to share with you today.

We have a tendency to live life thinking we are in control & able to make all our own decisions. We are trained to become independent thinkers at school, and to think of ourselves first as modelled in today’s society.

Until the day I, you,  realize we are actually are in a maze.

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Not an easy only one way to go maze but a multidirectional maze where each step either takes you deeper into the maze, or leads you further towards the exit.

A type of maze we will spend our whole life in.

How we spend that life as we navigate can make all the difference.

When quite young, my kids had a funny habit of chasing one another from room to room on our main floor in a continuous circle.  For years they went round & round, until one of them discovered they could turn around and chase the other back.

Until we realize there is another option, we sometimes stay on the same path longer than we are meant to.

Returning to this image I was sharing about…. the one character finally pointed out to the other,

Which is better when you are in a maze: seeing what is facing you at ground level, or a bird’s eye view of the entire maze?

That’s struck a chord within that is still working its way deeply within me.

What I see when I look at what is facing me is limited only to my narrow vision.  I cannot see the big picture based upon my own abilities, no matter how hard I try.

I do however know the One who sees all.  Who knows all.  Who gets me inside & out, coz He designed & hand crafted me.
Who wants to share His ways with me.

And you.

So instead of fretting over which way to go in front of me, I need to look up.

For He sees the path which is best for me to take, and will let me know, through His Word, a quiet whisper, a sense of direction, a peace to take the next step. 

As some of the decisions are more life impacting than others, I try to make sure I don’t react, but respond as He leads.  Before I move, I ask Him for confirmation.

Not because He is going to steer me wrong. but because I want to walk the path He has for me.

And I know that left to my own devices, I would react more out of selfishness and ease than wisdom.

There are a few crossroads up ahead in the near future, and I am asking Him for clarification before taking the next step.

Even though I don’t like to wait.

But I don’t want to end up going around the same part of the maze over & over again because I refused to listen.

Been there, done that, done with that.

What is mind numbingly awesome to me is how much God longs to take us that next step, to walk along side us, to equip, lead, teach & strengthen us as we go.

Just as Jesus looked to Him & sought His infilling & wisdom as He lived through His time on earth, God longs to do the same for each of us.

The pitfalls, repeated routes & dead ends we will miss along the way He leads, and the victories & blessings which will come our way?

Amazeing!

what to do when you catch a glimpse you prefer you hadn’t?

Karla Lees

Yesterday, I decided to walk around the mall I work in, and explore.

As I work on the top floor in one of the professional spaces, I don’t see many of the other businesses, beyond the food court & the stores I pass on the set route I take to catch my bus.

On my walkabout, I was struck dumb by a way larger than life ad from a company I usually have found to not be provocative or rude in their imaging and marketing.

The slogan was brilliant, the image was offensive.

It has rankled within me since I inverted my eyes in the mall, and kept walking by.

Last night, I decided to look up the company’s website to find contact info, and was confronted with the same ad on the home page. Again, shocked but this time not unexpected.

What do you do when you are confronted with something that offends you, or is counter to your beliefs?

1. Turn your eyes away from it. As soon as possible, avert your gaze. It only takes a spark to get a fire going, and as His Kids, we want the spark to set the fire of pursing Him aflame, nothing inappropriate to distract us from our pursuit!

2. If you see it along a route you take, try to avoid it. Take an alternative path, or purposefully read or chat with a friend and keep your eyes fixed somewhere else. Don’t let someone else’s muck cause you to stumble.

3. Complain. Speak up. I tweeted my disappointment to the company respectfully, and informed them of my intention not to return until the ad is down… My voice matters when it impacts sales, period.

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If evil is its source, God calls us to align with Him, and use our voice to point out the truth, no matter what it is.

4. Take your business, and/or presence, elsewhere. Don’t support businesses or buy products that cross the line.
I am a fairly loyal shopper, and I like to support local businesses and companies that reflect excellence, quality and are respectful to their customers.

5. Pray for them. Pray for the companies to listen to those who are bothered by their actions, ads or decisions. Pray for the models or actors who take roles that do not represent them as a whole person.

6. Keep your eyes fixed on Him, keep His Words in your heart & mind. Stay grounded in His truth and goodness, His holiness and love which will last forever vs the temporary thrills trying to trick you into thinking they are in the right. Allow Him to shield you.

7. Decide on a personal or family ‘code’…Let me give you a few examples:

Don’t go to the movie theater without thoroughly checking out the movie you are going to see through a reputable godly reviewer. Have a three strike rule and you are willing to walk out (we do this with dvds too). I have left a theater twice over the years and never had a problem getting a refund when I was offended by content. I also don’t mind missing the first few minutes of a movie if it means I miss the previews, which are the only wildcards left if you did your homework. We recently saw a movie that I didn’t check out through our usual wise reviewer as we impulsively headed to the show, and the last five minutes of the movie ruined it for us with unnecessary smut.

A few years ago, we decided as a family to do away with our cable/satellite TV, as we were constantly turning the channel to avoid a risqué commercial or TV show. I was also tired of spending money on preset programming bundles when we only follow about a dozen shows a year.

Instead, we purchase DVDs (Downtown Abbey!) or episodes online. We no longer watch commercials, spend less time and money watching TV, and are not seeing images we would rather not enter our home or minds. The only time we have really missed it? Major sporting events, but we have family & friends who don’t mind inviting us over to watch the games together.

Filtering what we allow in is not only up to us…

Most importantly #8: In all things, seek to honor Him first. My general rule of thumb: if God would likely take part if He was with me, then it passes. As He is always with me, I need to listen to His prompts and leading over the cultural clamor’s sometimes sloppy seconds.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Philippians 4:8

9. Break off the impact of that glimpse.
By seeing something that God didn’t intend for us to see, we need to repent, and ask Him to cleanse us from its negative impact.

10. Ask Him to help you stay the course, every day.

We don’t try to be holy because we want to be holy. We become holy when we allow God’s holiness to permeate us from the inside out. Only then will what bugs His heart bother ours.

Keeping yourself from seeing what we know was not intended for us to see is honoring the One who died to separate us from the world. As citizens of heaven, we are to live under His authority & guidance, as He wants the best for us as we live here!

As lights in the world, may we all speak up where we can when evil tries to lure us to the dark side.

Because we know light wins in the end, and we should want that for everyone we encounter, every day.

aftermath

Karla Lees

Ripping off the bandaid to show the partially healed wound below& exposing it to the air can be very painful…yet somehow refreshing at the same time.

There are many wounds within everyone in various stages of healing.

At any given time, anyone of us could be dealing with aftermath or fall out…

your spouse cheats on you
a loved one has cancer
you lost your job
your car died unexpectedly
your husband switched careers
your parent passed away
your child is struggling to breathe
a friend or coworker starts being unkind
your furnace dies in the winter storm
you have constant pain

And it hurts.
How it hurts.

There are only two things I can tell you:

God’s been there.

He cares for you in the midst of it all.

God did not have an easy time dealing with humanity from the get go:

Adam & Eve cheated on Him with Satan.
The cancer of sin entered the world.
The battle for the Kingdom began.
People strayed from Him, in the back & forth dance of their lack of commitment & devotion, breaking His heart over & over.
They disbelieved His love.
He set out to prove Himself, this Maker of the Heavens & Earth, and everything in them both, to us… becoming fully human in a divine attempt to right the wrong sin and the enemy were reaping on humanity.
From the very beginning. His life was at risk as He was regularly oppressed by the establishment,
Persecuted and abandoned by the religious,
even put to death because people so feared change,
rejected by the very ones He had come to save.
Beaten, battered, ridiculed and tossed aside by humanity, Jesus hurt to the very core at His Father having to turn His back on Him on the cross, and Holy Spirit having to pull away due to the weight of all our sin.

I think He died from that broken heart of separation from the ones He loved, not only because of the sin He bore.

Jesus? He gets the pain we feel.

When the tears begin to flow from the wounds that run deep, He so understands.

And He offers you His nail scarred hand to draw you close, as He begins the dance of restoration He intended for us.

For His plan is to make us whole, to restore what life and sin has stolen or ripped from our grasp. To carefully rebuild our broken hearts to beat with His love flooding our veins, bringing us the life He designed for us to live from the very start.

God designed us to live in the garden of His Presence, where all we need and long for is found in Him.

Sometimes, the pain can speak louder than the hope we have within.

Jesus so gets that. Even He cried out asking God for help along the way while He was here among us.

He knows the beat way for us to make it through this life is at His side.

I needed the reminder again today that He has good plans for those He loves.

I know He loves me.
Oh how He loves you & I!

May we all be reminded of Your heart for us in the swirl of the aftermath that follows the storms.

May Your voice be the one we hear soaring above the noisy wind and wild waves.

May Your arms be the shelter we seek when our heart cannot take anymore, and we need comfort – no matter what comes our way.

May the aftermath calm as You speak Your love into our wounds, and carefully begin to heal us within.

space in your place

Karla Lees

The truth is,
inside of what GOD is doing
is the most spacious place
you could be in.

@SteffGretz

Stretching your arms seems to make more room for air in our lungs.

Yet rolling up our clothes as we pack them takes up less space in our luggage, doesn’t it?

How can we get more in yet take up the same or less amount of space?

By letting the Designer reconfigure the design.

I am learning to take a deep breath, and blow out whatever is wanting to take up space that I can’t afford to hand over within me…negative thoughts & feelings such as:
*offense
*crankiness
*lies
*anger
*envy
*jealously
*impatience
*irritation

Instead, I breathe out a thanks, and invite in what He has for me:
*love
*goodness
*kindness
*joy
*peace
*gentleness
*self-control
*hope
*faith
*trust
*life in its fullness

When we remove the blocks within which had been in the way, God moves in to those places and makes them richer, fuller and more spacious.

Life expands when it is given room to do so!

Take a moment, and breathe.
In and out.
Repeat.

Exhale the worries, anxiety, concerns & broken dreams,
the stuff you want to take your hands off, and the stuff you want to take its hands off of you.

Inhale His love as you draw close to Him.

Let His Presence steep deeper and deeper as you soak in His goodness, mercy and grace.

May He continue to stretch us, making spacious room in us
to hold all He has for us,
Himself, as we open our lives to His touch.

We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.

Romans 5:2

He stood me up on a wide-open field; I stood there saved —surprised to be loved!

Psalm 18:19

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#pressingin
#armsopenwide
#wideopenspaces
#hopeinHisPresence

called to go, do or be?

Karla Lees

We were, and are, all called for a purpose.

Typically, most of us (myself included) tend to think of this call only as an action.

We are to go out & make disciples in all nations.

Absolutely.

We miss the key point when it becomes about where we go and what we are doing.

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We are not primarily called to DO SOMETHING or GO SOMEWHERE, we are called TO SOMEONE.

-Os Guinness

When Jesus spoke about what we were to do, He reminded us Who was to be with us to the end of the age: God.

If it becomes all about the action, we miss the heart behind it all.

The heart that loved us, everyone ever on this earth, so much He put on flesh, took up His cross & died for our freedom.

The hands that made all of humanity, painstakingly handcrafting each of us, in His image.

The mind that knows what each person is feeling.

The eyes that see everything, everywhere all the time.

The ears that hear the cries of His people, and the those crying out for justice & freedom.

The Living Word who inspired the bible, recording our interactions with the God over all.

We need to be spending time with Him, the One who made it all, gave it all and loves us all in order to live out our call.

Drawing close to Him is the number one priority to finding our what it is He created you to do.

Getting to know Him will reveal who He is, how He can equip you to the task at hand, and help you reflect Him to the world around you.

Our number one purpose, our call?

To worship Him.
To know Him.
To be known by Him.
To press in close to Him.

Because God?

He isn’t stagnant.
He is constantly on the move.
Keeping watch over His flock, seen & yet unseen.

As we spend time in His Presence, we will see where He is wanting us to move, what He is wanting us to say, where He desires for us to go, how He wants us to help.

Staying close to the God over all will reveal more of His character and His loves.

The more time we spend with Him, the more we will become like Him.

Poured out for the purpose for which we were called, just like Jesus.

Jesus didn’t compromise time with His Father in getting all He was to do done.  When He died on the cross, up to that moment – everything He was to have completed was finished.

And God was with Him, as He sought hard after God in prayer and presence even though the crowds pressed in, even though He had a long hard road to travel.

Not sure what you were called for?

First and foremost, as a worshiper.

In His Presence, all the rest will fall into place.

You will fulfill your purpose when the One who called you speaks the way.

Tuning in to the right frequency is required.&n The closer you come, the clearer the reception.

We were not called primarily to action, but His Presence.

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our foundation

Karla Lees

The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.

Hebrews 11:1-2

It is only our faith in God which allows us to stand, even when surrounded by darkness.

Knowing He is our firm foundation helps us hold on, for it is our act of faith that distinguishes us here on this planet. From those who wander without an anchor tethering them through their lives.

And in the reaching out in faith towards Him, despite our doubts or what we can see about us, we find God has been reaching for us. Holding us close, anchoring us to Him, our firm foundation.

God with us, He makes life worth living. Despite the ups & downs you may be experiencing. Despite the brokenness and hopeless feelings you might feel. Despite being alone, lost or seeking shelter.

He alone can your life be built upon, this eternal foundation. God before all time & space as we know it.

Because let’s face it. Anything else is only temporary.

Feeling overwhelmed in the storm? Doubled over with pain, loss? Alone to your core? Listless and without purpose?

Reach for Him if you are searching for a life that matters.

Note: This verse and italicized words were first published Jan 14th, 2015 as a guest “Drop of Encouragement” that I wrote for Remade Ministries.  You can check it out at:
Drop of Encouragement- Our Foundation