Created to Worship

I was listening to Rita Springer on Pandora this morning, and the song "Created to Worship" came on.  Everything about this song just resonated in my heart.  The instrumentation, the beauty of the piano line - but especially the words "I was created to worship."  Yes and Amen.

That is truly what I was created for.  To worship my Lord.  Everything I do - everything I am and will be - should be an act of worship.  My role as a wife and mother should worship Him.  Pastoring Crossroads should sing forth His praises.  My character, my integrity - should be an offering of worship to Him.  

My laughter, my tears - my suffering and my enjoyment in life - ALL should be worship to my Creator.  Worship to the One who loved me first.  The One who is watching my every move with interest, compassion, affection and love.  The One who's ears perk up when I call to Him.  The One who delights in giving this child GOOD things.  

Yes - my entire life should worship Him.  Both my public and private moments should worship Him.  

The way I treat my body - how I take care of it - what I eat and don't eat, exercising it and keeping it fit - is all worship to the One who made me in the first place.  

Is my focus on myself, or outward to those He loves?  Because my focus in life should worship Him as well!

Anything and everything I look at, touch, feel or listen to should praise my God!

All of these things, actions, emotions, qualities tangible and intangible should praise and worship the Most High God!  Because if these things don't worship Him, they're worshiping something or someone else!  

"Everything was created through Him and FOR him." - Colossians 1:16b

Oh Lord, I was created to worship You.  May I be ever so mindful of that.  Show me what altars I've erected in my heart and in my life where I worship anything other than You.  May I be like Josiah who made it his career to tear down those altars and shrines.  (2 Kings 22) May I do what I was created to do:  to worship You and You alone!

Reality Sucks. Or Does It?

I believe that reality is perceived through the lense from which you choose to view it.  Are you viewing reality through the lens of defeat?  Hopelessness?  Shame?  Fear?  Let me encourage you…or better yet, let me CHALLENGE you to pick up the lens of TRUTH today.  Look at your circumstance(s) through the lens of Romans 8:35-39.  Amid all of the blows that life throws at you, non of that can separate you from God’s love.  Even in the worst of times you are more than a conqueror. 

What lens will you choose today?

Who shall ever separate us from Christ's love? Shall suffering and affliction and tribulation? Or calamity and distress? Or persecution or hunger or destitution or peril or sword?  Even as it is written, For Thy sake we are put to death all the day long; we are regarded and counted as sheep for the slaughter.  

Yet amid all these things we are more than conquerors and gain a surpassing victory through Him Who loved us.  For I am persuaded beyond doubt (am sure) that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things impending and threatening nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:35-39

Hide & Seek

My 5-year old Caleb LOVES to play hide and seek.  It never gets old to him!  There's nothing like hearing his squeals of delight as he runs and finds the perfect hiding place (usually under his bed).  


Even better than hiding from mommy or daddy - what he REALLY loves is being found!  He listens as as we go from room to room feeding him exactly what he wants to hear: "Is Caleb in here?  Noooo......Is he hiding in the closet?  Noooooo.....Could he be hiding in the shower?  Nooooo.......Where could Caleb be???"  


Slowly, as we creep towards his secret hiding place, he awaits the best part of the game:  With eyes shining and a smile from ear to ear, he screams as he surrenders to his captor and allows himself to be enraptured in hugs, kisses and tickles.


Every now and then - whether it's hiding around a corner and popping out unexpectedly, or finding a secret spot and awaiting his discovery - there comes a time when Mommy or Daddy want to hide and be found.  It's not about our pursuit of a sweet little boy but about our own joy of being found by him.  It's worth the wait - there in the stillness of a hiding place!  There's nothing like his excitement when he finds us.  


Do you know that God, our Father plays "Hide and Seek" with his children?  So many times, he indulges us - and plays along in the pursuit that we desire.  "Where is Christina?  Is she here?"  And oh how I love to be found by Him!  I love when I purposely await His "discovery" of my hiding place and when he meets me with loving arms.  


But there comes a time when our Daddy (God) doesn't want to find us - He wants us to find Him.  And He's a good hider.  Sometimes, I think he hides around a corner and pops out unexpectedly - surprising us with a burst of joy and love.  But other times, I think He sneaks away silently to find a spot that is not so easy to find.  A spot that perhaps takes a lot more searching - a lot more effort on my part - and maybe even a lot more time to actually find Him.  Because the harder it is to find Him, the sweeter the reward when He is found!  


As you mature in your faith, you will learn that being the giver of joy to our Heavenly Father is actually more rewarding than being the receiver of joy from Him.  Hard to believe, huh?  But it's true!  To see the delight on our Father's face - the joy that it brings Him - when He is found is a reward that is SO WORTH His silence and absence for a little while.  




Isaiah 55:6
"Seek the Lord while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near."


Matthew 7:7-8
“...Keep on seeking, and you will find....For everyone who seeks, finds..."


Acts 17:27
“His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us.


Hebrews 11:6
"He rewards those who sincerely seek Him."

TIp Toeing Around the House

It's 7:12am and the first day of Summer Break.  I love the summer for a myriad of reasons - including ice cream, fireflies and the beach.  But now that I'm a mom of school-aged children, I have come to discover yet another reason why this is my favorite time of the year - and that is the stillness and quietness of my home in the mornings!  Oh how I cherish this time - I will tip toe until I can tip toe no more to protect it and keep it for as long as I possibly can.

Do you hear what I hear right now?  NOTHING.  Peace and heavenly quiet.  No rushing, no requests, no responsibilities - It's almost worth getting up a little earlier just to extend this glorious time!

So what does a busy woman do with the precious gift of perhaps an hour of peaceful bliss?

I'll tell you what I do.

I brew a pot of coffee, I grab my bible and my journal, and I steal away for a little morning rendez vous with Jesus.  Think about it - anything else I could do this morning could be done at a different time of the day -  i.e. watch the news, do laundry, exercise, etc.  But to have an uninterrupted time with the Lord - there's really no other time of the day to find this kind of seclusion - which really is mandatory for a good love affair with Him.

Do you have a "quiet time" of the day that you can steal away and be alone with Him?  If not, is there a time that you can chisel into your schedule?

We've been promised in His Word that when we come to that secret place to meet with Him - He has hidden treasures and riches so that we will know that he is the Lord:

I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, who summons you by name.  Isaiah 45:3


And THAT'S what the tip-toeing around my house is ALL about!  That is why I will protect this quiet and still moment - because in that secret place, I will discover hidden treasures and riches that cause me to know a real God who is summoning me by name!

If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.  Jeremiah 29:13


...Keep on seeking and you will find [Me].  Matthew 7:7