how big is your imagination?

imagine if we completely trusted God, with all our heart, all our soul, and with all our mind. imagine if we sought after Him with everything we have, pursuing Him as we should. imagine if we had the right perspective, and could grasp how things should be, and could be. imagine if God was put first, how different our lives might be. imagine if instead of trying to please other people, we tried to please our heavenly Father. imagine if our joy, our hope and our peace was found in Him, through Him. imagine if we listened. imagine if we truly loved other people the way we should. imagine if the way we lived our lives caused those around us to consider.
imagine if instead of imagining, we just did.

image via weheartit

where is your focus?

Focus on giants - you stumble.
Focus on God - your giants tumble.

Facing Your Giants by Max Lucado

trust and obey...

'Trust and obey,
For there's no other way
To be happy in Jesus,
But to trust and obey...'

I'm not sure there's much to add to this hymn, it sort of says it all! I feel a bit spent this week, and it's wonderful how old hymns like this capture the simplicity of Christianity. Life is most certainly not easier because of our faith, but I do love that when it comes down to it, it's quite simple. Trust and obey.


I need to work on that.


image via weheartit

be alert...

I have always loved the visual imagery this following verse produces, providing a picture in my mind of getting up in the morning and literally strapping myself all over with God's protection. I also like the idea that God has armed us for the fight, that He has given us everything we need. I often pray for God's protection and help, and yet I wonder if I actually took some responsibility and stuck by Him, if it would make a difference. A sheep in a flock comes to mind. Clinging close to his shepherd, he is already safe, he has chosen to remain under the protection of his master. But a sheep who wanders away chooses to step out from that protection.

How foolish I am to think I can make it alone.

'Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.'
Ephesians 6:11-18

'He went out...'

Well hello there! After 3 days of sunshine (that has to be some kind of a record for Scotland), it's raining again and so I'm cosy inside again...heater, blanket and tea to keep me company. We've had such a lovely weekend, filled with sunshine, picnics, icecream, mini golf at St Andrews, charity shopping, lunch with friends, and movie nights in, it was deliciously perfect! At a conference/reunion on Saturday, the question we were asked most often was 'how are you settling in?' (and also 'It's warm, why do you have a jumper on!?', to which my internal reply was 'because it is not warm, no siree!'). Am I allowed to say 'I don't know?', 'I'm not sure?' I feel as though I don't know so many things. At times I feel quite helpless. I miss the good old days of knowing things. I do wonder though, if those times of 'knowing things' were of reliance on myself, when really, my confidence, trust, accountability and knowledge needed to be elsewhere.

'He went out, not knowing where he was going —Hebrews 11:8


Have you ever “gone out” in this way? If so, there is no logical answer possible when anyone asks you what you are doing. One of the most difficult questions to answer in Christian work is, “What do you expect to do?”You don’t know what you are going to do. The only thing you know is that God knows what He is doing. Continually examine your attitude toward God to see if you are willing to “go out” in every area of your life, trusting in God entirely. It is this attitude that keeps you in constant wonder, because you don’t know what God is going to do next. Each morning as you wake, there is a new opportunity to “go out,” building your confidence in God. “. . . do not worry about your life . . . nor about the body . . .” (Luke 12:22). In other words, don’t worry about the things that concerned you before you did “go out.”

Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you. God does not tell you what He is going to do— He reveals to you who He is. Do you believe in a miracle-working God, and will you “go out” in complete surrender to Him until you are not surprised one iota by anything He does?


Believe God is always the God you know Him to be when you are nearest to Him. Then think how unnecessary and disrespectful worry is! Let the attitude of your life be a continual willingness to “go out” in dependence upon God, and your life will have a sacred and inexpressible charm about it that is very satisfying to Jesus. You must learn to “go out” through your convictions, creeds, or experiences until you come to the point in your faith where there is nothing between yourself and God.
My Utmost for His Highest - Oswald Chambers - Jan 2nd

still my anxious heart...

Greatness of God - Hillsong

Give me eyes to see
More of who You are
May what I behold
Still my anxious heart
Take what I have known
And break it all apart
You my God are greater still

No sky contains
No doubt restrains
All You are
The greatness of our God

I spend my life to know
And I'm far from home
To all You are
The greatness of our God

Give me grace to see
Beyond this moment here
To believe that there

Is nothing left to fear
That You alone are high above it all
You my God are greater still
And there is nothing
That can ever separate us
There is nothing that can ever

Separate if from Your love
No life no death of this I am convinced
You my God are greater still

My favourite song right now x

question!

I often wonder why we were each given different gifts and passions and dreams that we want to pursue in life. They are God given, of that I have no doubt. And yet they seem to hinder, or for want of better words, complicate, our pursuit of Him. I don't know if it's because we get tangled up in our perceptions of what we want versus what God wants, if we're selfish enough to think that what we do and what we're good at is our own to cling on to, or if this world is too mucked up with sin and our own human nature.

I wonder what God's plan is, what His dream is?

I wonder what He wants me to use my gifts for?

'Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.'
Romans 12:1-8

pic via weheartit