Lately, I have been fixated on one very important subject – loving like Jesus. And although the Bible can be confusing at times, there is one thing I know in all certainty – because it’s clearly written in those red letters – and that is to love your neighbor as you love yourself.

Jesus set the bar high. He washed feet. He went off the beaten path. He put Himself in danger. He loved everyone. Different skin, different religion, different town, different raising, different clothes. Different in every way.

And every single time a sinner is converted to Christianity He raises the bar for us once again.

On forgiveness

On mercy

On grace

On love

Love isn’t an emotion. Love is a choice.

Love is scary.

I bet Jesus was scared on that cross.

I choose love.

“30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[a] 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] There is no commandment greater than these.” – Mark 12:30-31

He is God of the valleys, too.

Sometimes life serves you up a big ol’ helping of awfulness that leaves a bitter and unwanted taste in your heart for a long, long time.

Why? Because the devil is at work, y’all. He would like nothing better than to get your goat. He wants you sad. He wants you mad. He wants you to question. He wants you to doubt.

He wants you beat down, ran down, talked down, and trampled down. He wants you to feel so low that you actually start to believe that you will never be able to climb back up the side of the mountain.

And you can’t.

But my God can, and He will. You won’t even have to walk. He will piggyback you. He is that strong, and He loves you that much.

Today, no matter what you’re going through, please know that God is going to pick you up, dust you off, and carry you up that mountain. Just start looking for Him. Search for Him. Wait for Him. Start in His word. He is there, and He is coming for you.

“17 The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. 18 The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” – Psalm 34:17-18

Do y’all ever think about Heaven? Like really think about it.

I can’t wait to get there one day. I’m serious. And when the worries of this world start trying to weigh me down, I focus on that very real goal. I focus on that prize.

The race is hard. It takes a lot of exertion. Sweat. Tears. Pain. But dang it’s gonna be worth it.

Seeing Jesus.

Hugging Jesus.

Worshipping Jesus.

It’s real, guys. And it’s really going to happen one day. There’s such hope in that promise that it makes me want to turn a couple of flips.

So whether things are good or bad – let God’s promise of being with Him forever hold you steady. Let it keep you centered. Its going to happen. It’s really real.

It’s amazing grace.

“My father’s House has many rooms; if that were not so would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come back and take you with me that you may be where I am.” John 14:2-3

Picture this.

It’s Easter Sunday 2018. The church is packed, visitors and members squished into the pews like … a church on Easter Sunday, and the pastor is delivering a beautiful sermon about purpose.

He asks us to repeat the following statement ——-> God send me.

And after the entire sanctuary repeated those words back to him my nine year old said [loudly], “Hallelujah,” which led the 14 year old to lean over me and give her a fist bump.

Guys.

I wanted to crawl under the pew. There were visitors all around us, and I just knew they were wondering who these loud kids were. I just knew they thought they were mocking the pastor.

But they weren’t. My kids weren’t doing that, and the visitors weren’t thinking that. All of those thoughts were just made up scenarios to divert my thinking from a sermon full of God’s hope to a mind full of flesh.

Maggie meant it, though. She wants God to send her. She wants to be a missionary when she grows up. And Maverick – He was just a proud big brother. He also wants to be used by God. They were both excited. Excited about Jesus.

Regretfully, instead of me excitedly leaning over and giving Maggie a fist bump as well, I let the thought of what other people may think wash over me in a blanket of fear. Shameful.

Jesus tells us to be like the little children. Why? Because they are still excited. Because they haven’t been beat down by the world’s ways. They don’t worry about what other people may think. They want to be used by God, and they are proud.

God, send me.

Use me.

Unashamed.

Wholeheartedly.

Full of faith and excitement. Like a child. God send me. Every single day. Send me.

I will be waiting for fist bump emojis to fill this stream.

“2 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” – Matthew 18:2-4

Y’all, have you ever had a weight lifted off your shoulders and all you can do is whisper the following word – wow.

It’s that surreal. It happened to me the other day. Situations like that really make you understand what the two simple words “Joy Unspeakable” truly means.

Let me tell you what I realized – in this particular situation I had not been praying the right way. Oh, I had definitely been praying. It was an all-consuming situation that lingered in my thoughts throughout the day. However, my prayers were about Daisy’s will – not God’s.

Through redirection in God’s word there was a shift in my heart and in my mind.

Guys, if you find yourself in a situation that consumes you, when you have a problem that lingers all day, yet you don’t know what to do – dive into the word. Search and don’t stop searching.

Like a momma searching for her child’s favorite blanket – dig and dig some more until you find what you need. Because when you find it, you find peace. You find joy.

You find God’s answer.

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21

You know what human beings are? Flawed.

Absolutely, undeniably flawed.

That includes me, and that includes you. Throughout daily interactions with other people we often forget this very important fact, which kind of sets us all up for failure.

It’s really easy to hone in on attributes in other people that – let’s just be honest – get on our nerves. We get so hyper focused on the traits that bother us that we overlook the good qualities that are gently tucked away – waiting to be nurtured.

I try to keep in mind that Jesus doesn’t do that with us. He embraces our shortcomings, our quirks, and our drawbacks. He takes them and turns them into something He can use. He makes them beautiful.

The only perfect being is Jesus Christ. No flaws. No sins. No ugly imperfections that stick out like a sore thumb. And if He can look at this imperfect, faulty human being named Daisy and still extend grace and love to me – I feel like it’s my duty as a Christian to do the same to others.

We are all flawed, but thank God for grace.

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” – Matthew 7:12

Our current society is clinging tightly to an all about me mantra, which is exactly the opposite of what Jesus stood for and lived out loud His short 33 years on Earth.

So what does that tell us? What does that say about the choices we should make?

The world says speak your mind. Jesus says woah, wait a minute. Is it true, noble, or beneficial? (Philippians 4:8)

The world says do what makes YOU feel good, and don’t worry about anyone else. In stark contrast, Jesus says love your neighbor first.

(Mark 12:31)

The world says earn more, make more, and spend more. Jesus says nope. Instead, He asks us to give it all away for the glorification of His Kingdom. (Mark 10:21-23)

The world says to do whatever it takes to get to the top – no matter who it hurts or what sins you have to commit. Jesus says I am the way and the truth. Just come to me. I will take you to the top. (John 14:6)

The world tells you to treat your self. Jesus says to serve others. (Galatians 5:13)

When the world is clinging to this self-obsessed way of life, let’s choose to be different. Let’s be obsessed with Jesus. With serving. With loving others. Let’s be the light in a dark world.

Rotten fruit.

If we consume it we will become sick. Likewise, if we feed it to someone else, they too will become sick.

The words we speak to our spouse, our children, our friends, and even our self are the words that will be believed. Words have that much power – especially when they are spoken from a person that plays a foundational role in someone’s life.

It’s hard sometimes, you know? When emotions are flying. When feelings have been hurt. When we feel like there are unmet expectations. Words can unexpectedly spew out, and often times there are no take backs. This is why it’s crucial to have Jesus living within us. He can hold our tongue and calm our spirit before something happens that we will regret for the rest of our lives.

We are accountable for the words we speak. Are our words beneficial, or are they detrimental? It’s never ok to speak ugliness. It’s never ok to speak pettiness. Those things do nothing for you or anyone else.

Thumper spoke volumes when he said, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all.”

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those that listen.” – Ephesians 4:29

Sweet summertime.

Rest

Relax

Recharge

Rejuvenate

Refresh

Reboot

I could keep going and going. It’s taken me a long time to realize how important it is to rest – physically and mentally. That momma guilt starts to set in when I’m not up tending to stuff. There’s something deeply embedded into a woman, a mom, to take care of things. We are born managers of our people. It’s what we do.

But you know what, in the book of Mark Jesus tells his apostles to “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.”

Jesus knew.

And He still knows. He knows we need a moment. He knows we need to unplug and unwind. My prayer for myself and for all of y’all is that this summer we could figure out this whole rest thing. I pray that we could rest in God’s presence, His word, and His hope.

I pray that we will be better for it. I pray that our families will be better for it. And I pray that when August rolls around, we will hit the ground running – willing and ready to embark on another year in the mission field that God has set before us.

“He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.” – Psalm 23:3

If you’re fighting what seems to be an unbearable battle today, keep in mind that the person right next to you probably is as well.

We truly don’t know what people are facing from day to day. However, there is something I know without a doubt – God won’t make them face it alone, and He may just want to use me [or you] to love them through the pain. So if we could be:

A little kinder

A little more understanding

A little softer spoken

A little less judgmental

A little more loving

A little more compassionate

Maybe, just maybe, they will make it through the war raging around them. They’ll still be scarred, broken, and forever changed, but they’ll make it.

They’ll make it because – Love.

They’ll make it because – Kindness.

They’ll make it because – God.

“Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed says the Lord who has compassion on you.” – Isaiah 54:10