It never ceases to amaze me how God is intimately involved in the details of my life. If I will simply take the time to look and listen He speaks to me everywhere, weaving His heart of love into every aspect of my life. 

Recently, Sherry and I were talking about the Biblical meaning of the word “lavender” as we worked on the RESTORE website. The word "spikenard" or "lavender" has great significance in God’s eyes. When the word “spikenard” is used in the Bible it is believed that it refers to what we know as lavender.

"Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment."     John 12:3

         The Lord has often used this story to teach me about the beauty of costly, extravagant, lavish worship and love.  I’m so glad that lavender flowers were used in the Bible as an expression of love for the Savior. I have always loved the scent. The flower has been woven into the fabric of RESTORE ministry since the beginning. We chose lavender for our website. We even chose it as bath salts for the women who attend our RESTORE retreats! 

God is in the details.

          Later that night when I got into bed I pulled out my devotional One Thousand Gifts. I have loved rereading it in the new year. The reading was on the story of the sinful woman in Luke 7 who broke open a costly alabaster jar of perfume and poured it on Jesus feet. It’s a similar story to the one in John and Mark about Mary of Bethany, but takes place earlier in the ministry of Jesus.

           In this beautiful story the woman weeps as she wipes Jesus’ feet with her hair. She pours out her love on Jesus. In the Greek the word used is “brecho” which means rains. This woman, out of gratitude and love for Jesus literally rains tears on the Savior. Her love for Him is lavish, costly, extravagant.  Like Mary, she is scorned for her display of love. Yet she seems to understand her need for a Savior and disregards the scorn. 
Jesus’ love for her is lavish, costly, extravagant. He offers her forgiveness. He offers her His life and her faith saves her (Luke 7:50). Jesus’ love for me, a sinner, is the same. It rains down, breaks open over me. 

I put the devotional book down and pray as I go to sleep and tears rain down.

                     Does my life display that kind of lavish love and gratitude for my Savior?
                                             I wake and as I pray and write it is raining outside. 

God is in the details. 
     We are not done with yesterday’s lesson on lavish love...Jesus and me. 
                                                                                   We will never be done and I’m so grateful. 
  
             All day, all week, I ponder this love. The love of these women in Scripture with their extravagant displays poured out on their Savior. Their love for the Savior was bold, intimate, costly. Such different women, in my imagination at least - Mary of Bethany who chose to sit at the feet of Jesus, and the sinful woman who dared to enter the Pharisees’ house and break open the alabaster jar. Jesus loved them both lavishly.
I see myself in both of these women. Surely I have been the sinful woman, needing His forgiveness, raining down my love for Him in grateful tears of repentance. Yet, there have been days when I have chosen to welcome Him into my home and life, to sit at His feet and pour out my love. The account of Jesus anointed at Bethany in John 12:3 says,“...the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.” Mary’s outpouring happened just days before His death. In the same account in Mark 14:6-11 we learn that Jesus rebuked those who scorned her, saying, “She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial.” You see Mary had chosen to sit at his feet. Jesus was often a welcome guest in her home. She had listened to His words of life and seemed to know his death was imminent.  She did “a beautiful thing” in the eyes of Jesus. No doubt the fragrance of Mary’s extravagant love lingered with Jesus in his final days before his crucifixion all the way to the cross.

What is the fragrance that lingers in my home today? In yours?  Is it the fragrance of Christ? Is it the outpouring of love for Him? Extravagant, lavish love is sometimes costly. 

As I ponder the love of these two women for the Lord, I am reminded of the lyrics of the song I sang several weeks ago at church entitled Pour My Love on You by Phillips, Craig and Dean.

I don't know how to say exactly how I feel
I can't begin to tell you what your love has meant
I'm lost for words
Is there a way to show the passion in my heart
Can I express how truly great I think you are
My dearest friend
Lord, this is my desire
To pour my love on You

Like oil upon your feet
Like wine for you to drink 
Like water from my heart
I pour my love on you
If praise is like perfume
I'll lavish mine on you
Till every drop is gone
I'll pour my love on you

 So this week I have been looking for the “pouring out of love” on the Savior in my life and through the lives of others....like heart water rained down......like oil poured out......broken and spilled out.

“Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.” John 13:34-35

"Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us." 1 John 4:11-12

This is love: a quiet morning filled with prayer and study in the Word
This is love: my husband at the piano in our living room leading a group in worship in “10,000 Reasons” 
                    praise like perfume....lavished on You
This is love: a circle of prayer
This is love: a homeless woman given something to help sustain her
This is love: a listening ear as a grieving friend pours out her heart of pain...tears
This is love: roses on my dining room table and a beautiful card from my beloved
This is love: a friend’s mother dies......a call of comfort is made
This is love: words of encouragement
This is love: searching for the perfect gift to bless the one you love
This is love: a mission trip to Brazil
This is love: speaking the hard truth in love to a friend
This is love: a meal cooked for one you love after a long day
This is love: slowing down, taking in the wonder of His Creation, 
This is love: hearts overflowing with gratitude
This is love: a sister’s offer to help with a need
This is love: a visit to an aging parent...laundry...listening....medicine.....patience....love
This is love: a word of thanks spoken, written 
This is love: RESTORE retreats
This is love: families gathered around in support as babies are dedicated to the Lord
This is love: sacrifices of praise poured out at church as hundreds gather to sing songs of faith to The Great I Am 
                    and hear the Word preached
This is love: a hospital visit to one diagnosed with cancer 
This is love: a hug, a phone call, a meal shared, a garden tended, a father reaching out to his daughter, 
                    an offer to help.........whatever the need........................

You add to the list. It is the extravagant and the simple things that bring us into a life of pouring out our love on Jesus. How have you seen love poured out on the Savior this week? 

"God completes His love in us when we love one another. The only way we can get to the place where we rely on the love God has for us---where we rest in it---is by loving. He calls us, you and me, to be His kiss, His touch, His Word, His embrace, and by doing so to also be assured of His kiss, touch,Word, embrace."  
                                                                                                            Mark Buchanan, The Holy Wild
 
As I finish writing there is a fragrance filling my prayer loft. It is the smell of, you guessed it, lavender....a candle is burning that was given to me by my dear friend Sherry at our first RESTORE retreat.
 
God is in the details.
The scent will always be a reminder to me of extravagant, lavish love. 

Lord, thank you that you are drawing me to yourself in every detail of my life. Show me how to lavish my love on you, how to love others ... like expensive, pure “nard” poured out with abandon. May the fragrance of it fill my life and all who know me. 

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. “1 John 3:1

                            Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.                      
                                                                           Isaac Watts

Covered in His lavish love,                                                                                                       
 Kathy

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Ever have one of those days when you look into your closet and wonder, “What on earth have I been wearing?”  As you scan through your clothes you realize that nothing fits, it’s the wrong season, every color seems to be black, you don’t have shoes to go with it, it is no longer appropriate for your life style (in this case, I have no school clothes!), or it simply doesn’t feel like you anymore!  It becomes necessary to move on from that and find something new!  Shopping is not always a bad thing.  In fact, I’m probably the only one whose husband is truly happy when I finally buy new clothes.  I think he gets tired of hearing me complain that I have nothing to wear!  We don’t always need to totally get rid of what we are blessed to own.  Making a wiser choice is getting a little something new to enhance the old, or perhaps couple it with something else so it seems fresh and new.

Now I must confess, I really don’t like the process of having to shop for clothes.  It typically means hours of frustration trying on and taking off in a little dressing room with smudged mirrors and nasty floors!  But with every disconcerted effort, I know that I’m closer to moving on and finding something that is suited for the present time.  I’d much rather close my eyes and let the new appear without moving through the process.  I clothe myself preparing for another season and I find it’s also another “season” of life.

The middle of September always makes me excited because I know that a new season is just around the corner.  My favorite in fact, Fall.  I see the gentle breezes begin to stir the hot humid air and the September evening showers have almost come to an end.  Cooler weather is supposed to be on the way.  Change!  Moving on from the past and stepping forward into the future.  I love seasons of change, speaking of weather; but what about those life seasons of change?!  It is now that I am beginning to sense another “season of change” for my life.  I find it interesting because I have just made major changes in my life this past August.  Change is not always easy for some people, in fact, hardly anyone I know!  

 To me, this appears to be the process of change:

• First come trials followed by opportunities for obedience or kicking against the goads.  
• Then comes the time of reckoning and repenting, followed by heart led obedience.
• Next, the process of change is in place and you wonder why you even questioned it in the first place.
• Lastly, you reflect on your personal growth and how God’s hand guided along the way.

As I think through the scriptures, I recall Bible characters and have meditated and studied about some of the changes in their lives and how they chose to move on.  They did not stay where they were but moved.  Take a moment to think through the lives of these and how they chose to move when God instructed:


   Moses moved on from living in the house of Pharaoh.  
            Abraham moved on when God told him to go to a land I will show you.
                    Jonah finally moved in the right direction.
                          David moved from young shepherd to king.
                               Joseph moved on after being despised and rejected by family.
                                     Disciples moved on proclaiming the gospel after Jesus’ death and resurrection.
                                          Paul moved on from persecuting to preaching.
                                                 Mary moved from the kitchen to the feet of Jesus.
                             Throughout scripture, there are many examples of people moving on!  

On the last RESTORE Retreat, one of our ladies shared some insight that the Lord gave her as she walked around the lake taking pictures. I’d like to share part of her story because part of it pertains to moving vs. stagnant.  When we don’t move on with the Lord, there is a risk of becoming stagnant.  This is a complacent spirit.  There is no spiritual growth, no searching for the Lord, and doing things as usual.  It is like a stagnant pond/bog.  There are algae growing, mosquitos swarming, muck and mire.  Infestation and disease begin to pollute the non-moving water.  It is the opposite of “living water.”  We are challenged in God’s word to partake of the “living water.”

How does this relate to my opening paragraph about clothes, seasons, moving through and moving on?  
Clothes are like the things (responsibilities, ministries, relationships, things to which we are called) we “take on” for a specific season.  They can be “for such a time as this.”  Maybe it is time to move on!  Perhaps you have out grown it, maybe it’s not appropriate to your life style at this time, maybe it’s uncomfortable, or it doesn’t fit or feel right for you during this period of your life.  Seasons of life and change come and go.  These clothes can also represent our personality, gifts, talents, and passions.  We don’t actually get rid of them but perhaps they need a fresh environment, or they need to be coupled with someone or something different to be better effective, challenged or enhanced.  I can’t help but to think about Jacob’s son, Joseph in Genesis 37.  This mans life was totally one big change after another!  And to top it off, his changes were really difficult.  Interesting too that in the New Testament he is an example of faith. (Hebrews 11:22)

"Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old.  Behold I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?  I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." Isaiah 43: 18-19 (ESV)

                                               Do you perceive that it is time to move on?
                                                            What is it that hinders you?  

 I have talked with 3 different friends this week about moving.  As they have and are reflecting on the process, it was and is well worth it.  God knows the bigger picture!  Look at it as an adventure and more meaningful visits with God.  You will need to depend on His strength and He will be happy to carry you through.  It is for your own personal development and relationship with Him.  Move on with God as did the great heroes of the faith!  He is doing a new thing.  Look for it!  I love the verse above!

I came across this website full of scriptures about moving forward.
Click here for Bible verses about moving forward http://www.openbible.info/topics/moving_forward
I hope they will bring you into a place of comfort, challenge, and a cause for action.

God wants to work mightily in your life.  Remember that He goes before you, behind you and encircles you.

Deuteronomy 31:8 (NIV)
   "The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

Psalm 139
1For the leader. A psalm of David.

ILORD, you have probed me, you know me:

2you know when I sit and stand;*

you understand my thoughts from afar.

3You sift through my travels and my rest;

with all my ways you are familiar.

4Even before a word is on my tongue,

LORD, you know it all.

5Behind and before you encircle me

and rest your hand upon me.

6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

far too lofty for me to reach.

7Where can I go from your spirit?

From your presence, where can I flee?

8If I ascend to the heavens, you are there;

if I lie down in Sheol, there you are.

9If I take the wings of dawn*

and dwell beyond the sea,*

10Even there your hand guides me,

your right hand holds me fast.

11If I say, “Surely darkness shall hide me,

and night shall be my light”*--

12Darkness is not dark for you,

and night shines as the day.

Darkness and light are but one.

My Beloved


  No eye has seen, no ear has heard,
 no mind has conceived what I have prepared for you because you love Me, but I will reveal it to you by My Spirit. The Spirit of God within you will search all things, even the deep things of God. My Spirit will guide you into all truth and bring glory to Me by taking from what is Mine
 and making it known to you.

My dear one, do you need wisdom and guidance today? Meditate on my Word all day long. 
My Word is eternal; 
it stands firm in the heavens.



 Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. My Word will be a lamp to your feet and a light to your path. 

I am leading you in triumphal procession in My Son 
and spreading everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Jesus. 
You are to Me the aroma of Christ among those
 who are being saved and those who are lost.

Put your trust in Me for I am your Refuge and your Fortress. I have seen your love for Me and I will rescue you and protect you for you acknowledge My name. So do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to Me. 
And My peace, which transcends understanding, will stand guard over your heart and your mind.

Just when I think that I know what I will write for the blog, for some reason the Lord often changes my direction.  I must have a “trust” issue that He wants to fix!  The following information is the result of a precious observation I encountered while pulling into the grocery store.  Odd as it seems, I peered through a holy windowpane and saw a sweet spiritual truth that pricked my heart.    

A big black truck parked beside us in the parking lot at Calvin’s grocery store.  A grandfather, dad, and daughter got out of the vehicle.  I probably wouldn’t have thought anything about it except the grandfather stood at the front of the truck with his phone camera pointed toward the sky.  I couldn’t understand what he was taking a picture of because from my perspective, there wasn’t anything special about the sky.  I asked Brian what he thought that man was doing and he said that he was taking a picture of the sunrays that were streaming through the clouds.  Stretching across the front seat and looking backward, I then could see the beauty.  The grandfather took the picture and then the dad picked up the 2-3 year old daughter and they began to walk together toward the door of the store.  The fair skinned little girl was stringy haired, thin and lanky.  Her daddy held her torso tightly as her little thin legs bobbled and swung and her arms hugged him tightly.  Her head was sweetly lying on his shoulder.  The daddy, totally tattooed, bronzed with the sun was a rough looking character and his clothes were torn, dingy and dull.  As they passed by the front of my car, my eyes peeked into a spiritual realm.  For me, this was a picture of God the Father, Jesus the Son, and me…the little girl…as I should be.  The Father had been viewing creation and was delighted in what he saw.  The son, comely and despised looking, I compared him as Jesus carrying his blessed daughter as she trusted his hold and sweetly rested on his shoulder.  I don’t know the events of their day, but I sensed a weariness and fatigue from the child, and tender love between the three.  I thought nothing more about it until later this week as I was driving to Hammond, LA to lead a music workshop. 

I’ve had a very busy week beginning a new job, preparing for the workshop, serving a dear friend in the loss of a family member, preparing for 2 other committee meetings, trying to finish homework (I’m a new student, too), preparing for the RESTORE Retreat, and thinking about this blog!  I don’t tell you all of that for pity sake.  I tell you as a reality and because I know that you too are probably just as busy. Oh how we need some rest!  On the drive, I was feeling the toll it was taking on me, emotionally, physically, and mentally.  Then, I recalled the image of the trio at the grocery store.  That’s when God began to sweetly whisper in my ear that He would carry me!  My mind suddenly began to recall moments from my childhood when I was carried.  My memory took me back to age 3-5 years old.  The following are two very different examples.

My uncle loved to pick me up (or I begged him to do so, I can’t recall).  He would hold me tight and spin, as I threw out my arms as though I could fly!  We would go so fast that the wind would whip through my hair.  Then, he would toss me high into the air and he would shout, “Super Girl!”  I would laugh, having no fear of being dropped, and then I’d scream, “do it again, do it again!” My eyes are full of tears as I write this sweet memory.  I recall the “freedom” and “security” from trusting my uncle’s grip on me.  I loved to fly through the air!  Perhaps this has contributed to my “free- spirit!”  

Being carried by my other great uncle, unfolds yet another memory, but not a happy one!  This uncle in later years became very dear to me, but as a child, I could not understand his method of demonstrating his love for me.  He would hold me and then release, as if dropping me, then catch me again. Sometimes, he would throw me very high into the air…I mean high! And then catch me.  I would hold to him tight!  It wasn’t near as fun as playing Supergirl.  I think he just liked my tightly held hugs.  One day, while walking through my grandmothers back yard, he has holding me and then suddenly, he held me over the fence where a fierce barking dog tried to nip at my feet!  I feared I was in danger and kicking, screaming and crying, I struggled for my uncle’s neck.  I remember him telling me, “It’s ok.  I’ve got you!  Quit kicking! That dog’s not going to hurt you! The more you scream and kick, the more the dog will bark.”  I think it was his way of trying to help be not be afraid of the dog.  Looking back, that’s not what I would do, but that was his method of teaching me to trust him and get over my fear of this dog.  There is a spiritual truth here if you look deep enough.

Speed forward through time, and I was now in my 3rd year of college.  I was on fire for the Lord and walking close by His side.  This was also during a time in my life when my dad referred to me as Job-ess!  It seemed that I was always into some kind of trouble and always had a great need.  God used this time in my life to help me trust Him more and build character.  I saw this poster in a Christian bookstore and had to purchase it.  It seemed to tell the story of my life and provided me much comfort!

“Shhhh!  Let me carry you.” I heard in my spirit on that long drive to Hammond.  “Shhhh!  Let me carry you.” I heard again in church during baby dedication.  Loved ones surrounded babies as parents carried and embraced them closely to their hearts to be dedicated to the Lord. It seemed like a picture of me being held by my heavenly Father.   “Shhhh!  Let me carry you!” I heard again as we sang, Who is Like the Father by Richie Fike.   "Shhh!  Let ME carry you!”  I heard yet again during the sermon.  Tears have filled my eyes all day today reflecting on how I long to be carried by the most Holy God and more importantly realizing how He desires and wants to carry me!
                        You think God might be trying to tell me something? 
                                                             Perhaps He is speaking to you as well.
                                                                                                Shhh!  Let Him carry you!  

This is my song for the week!  I think it's quite appropriate.  Be blessed by Steven Curtis Chapman. Just this very week I shared the words of this song to my friend who needed someone to carry her.  Little did I know that it would come home to me as well.
     And if you want to be totally blessed, spend some time listening to today's sermon by Kevin McKee on the Chapel website:  www.thechapelbr.com the 9:00 am LSU service entitled I Am Adopted. 

One more little side note:  Driving home from my workshop Saturday, I began to think about times when adults are carried.  I've always teased Brian about carrying me!  Ponder this, when a groom marries his bride, it is customary for him to carry her across the threshold.  Of course I wondered about the significance of this and did a little research.  One of its meanings is this:  It's symbolic of the groom stealing away with his bride, whisking her from her family and into a new life with him.   As believers, we are the bride of Christ!  I am so awaiting His coming, to whisk me away, and carry me home to Glory to spend a life eternal with Him.  

I have been encouraged today by the Lord.  It is my prayer that whatever you are going through, is to remember to rest in His arms as He tenderly carries you.  You and the weight you carry is not too heavy for Him.  Let Him ease your walk.

       I am just emerging out of several weeks of moving stuff. During the month of August we moved our youngest to a house in Oklahoma City and my mother to an assisted living apartment in Baton Rouge. The moves have been physically and emotionally exhausting. Have you ever been at that point where you were so exhausted that you couldn’t sleep? It makes no sense, when rest is what your body needs, but it won’t come. In one of those sleepless nights I realized that the most recent move of my mom was the sixteenth move I have helped with in ten years! I have remained in the same house for 30 years, but between my children and my mom we have packed and moved furniture and hundreds of boxes of things 16 times from Georgia to NYC to Oklahoma and all over Baton Rouge! 

       The most recent move with my mom has brought me to a new place in my life. As I watched her desperately cling to her things that just wouldn’t fit in a smaller home, I realized the hold and power our things can have on us. I don’t want my life to be like that. I have many beautiful things and lots of stuff. As I looked around my own home in those sleepless nights I realized that I’ve let the clutter of too many things take over. I definitely don’t want my children to have to go through what I have recently endured when we must downsize one day in our older years. Oh you wouldn’t see it so much if you came to visit me - just don’t look behind the closet doors or under the beds! Clutter and piles are hiding everywhere.

       It’s not so much about the things either, but more about the focus. I am an artist. God created me with a deep appreciation for beauty. He is a God of beauty, but also a God of order. I want to simplify my life. Remove the clutter. Purge the things that bring chaos and disorder and focus more on life with Jesus - the beautiful life He has planned for me. So I’ve set a goal. One room a month - purge, organize, simplify. It will take me a year to get through my entire house, but I want to set a goal that is attainable and be intentional.

        I confess this is really not a new goal for me. I have often set forth to purge, organize and put more order in my home, but somewhere along the way I always get overwhelmed or distracted.  Surely that resonates with someone else out there! We’ve lived in this house for 30 years. It seems I’m better at cleaning out and organizing others as is quite evident in the moves I’ve helped with over the years.

        Perhaps it’s just easier to deal with other peoples messes than my own?  Very dear friends have even offered to help me through the years, but I sense this is something I must do alone. So by His grace, I have begun the project again. The master bath is done and I am now attempting the master bedroom. Next month is the closet. Now there is a real challenge!

       As I work on purging my physical surroundings I already sense the Lord exposing the need to purge and cleanse my heart and mind. It can get so cluttered with my own agendas, things I cling to that aren’t His best for me. 

                                              The physical often exposes the spiritual. 

       What I do does not bring me into the grace of simplicity, but it may put me in a place where I can receive it. I pray that my actions will cultivate the soil of my heart so that I may better engage in life with a focus and devotion to my Savior. In the process I will set my life before the Father in such a way that He has access to work into me the grace of simplicity. I want my life to be a life of devotion to Jesus, consumed totally with knowing Him. We are never complete until our lives find our rest totally and completely in Him.

       Simplicity is one of the disciplines of the faith. I like to think of them as holy habits of the heart. I have read many books on simplicity and truly desire to make the freedom of simplicity a reality for my life. 

       It’s so important to keep asking, what is it or 
              who is it that captivates my heart? 

It is evident from this Scripture in Psalm 42 that the psalmist is desperate in His thirst for God. He knows that only God can satisfy and cries out in the next verse, when can I go and meet with God?

Our thirst for God is his gift to us to help draw us daily into the power of His presence. We must accept the gift. 
To do so may mean clearing out whatever is in the way.

       I love the words of St. Augustine “you made us for yourself and our hearts find no peace until they rest in you.” These words sum up his life which was consumed with knowing God. St. Augustine found boundless love, complete forgiveness, and enduring peace in his Savior. 




           What does a relationship you would describe as devoted look like? It's one of worship, one who clings to the very words that God speaks. It takes time. Just as you give time to an earthly relationship of a spouse, a child, or a friend, to really know that person, your relationship with Jesus takes time. Time in study and meditation on His Word. Time in His presence listening in prayer. Time to develop trust and intimacy in the relationship. When you are truly devoted to another you find the time to invest in the relationship. You free yourself of anything that distracts you from the best in the relationship. That devotion leads to a life of simplicity because you live by His words of truth. You learn to recognize His voice and know which way to go as you face difficult decisions in life.

        When you choose to live a life of devotion to Jesus your heart's cry becomes Jesus, You are my life, the pearl of greatest price, my holy Delight. A life of devotion to Christ leads us into a life of simplicity because we find ourselves experiencing Jesus as the lover of our souls. My prayer is that a life devoted to Jesus is not just one that I read about in books and other people's stories but my story. As I purge the clutter out of my life and seek to fix my eyes on Jesus His thoughts become my thoughts, His desires my desires. I become captivated by Him.

 Is there something or someone in your life 
that is hindering you from looking to the founder and perfecter of your faith?
 Let us fix our eyes totally on Jesus! 

 What is keeping you from a life 
of devotion to Christ?


       It might be your home. Maybe you need to remove the clutter too. It could be a relationship, even ministry, or have you let work consume your thoughts and mind?


 There is great freedom in a life of simplicity led by the Spirit. It is my prayer that as I grow in the discipline of simplicity as an inward reality, my outward life will reflect the choices I am making.  


 As I write I am reminded of Psalm 37:4, 
 my theme verse for this year. 

Father help me to live a life that is anchored in simplicity.  
May my character and life find their greatest delight in You
 that I might more authentically
 and beautifully display Your heart 
to the world.






This morning the song Captivate Us by Watermark 
kept running though my mind.

Captivate us, Lord Jesus
Set our eyes on You
Devastate us with Your presence
Falling down
And rushing river, draw us nearer
Holy fountain consume us with You
Captivate us Lord Jesus, with You
(N. Nockels, C. Nockels, C. Hall)

Won’t you take a moment and listen to this beautiful musical prayer on the link below.
 I think it captures the heart of simplicity for all of us who long to fix our eyes on the Savior,
 throw off all that entangles us,
 and store up treasures in heaven.