here and now

my apologies if this post is a little scatter-brained...

recently the Lord has been reminding me that I need to recognize the opportunities and blessings i have in front of me right now and stop looking forward to what i wish i had or where i wish i was. there will come a time when He calls me to leave Branson, but until then, i need to be all here. a friend of mine once challenged me with a Jim Elliott quote, "Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God." in other words: wherever you are, be all there. that's my challenge right now. i'm called to be in Branson right now. there's plenty to love and plenty not to love. and as much as i would love to be in a bustling metroplex in Texas or in a quirky little college town on the East Coast, this is where i'm supposed to be.

it's a fine line. the Lord places desires within me and wants me to pursue those desires in accordance with the gifts He's given me...but not at the expense of missing out on the appointments He has for me right now. i can look to the future and trust that the Lord has great plans for me, but i have to be careful not to mentally leave my here and now. no regrets. my ministry is here right now. my heart may ache and long for various things (for the record: that's normal), but i always have to come back to a heart of gratitude for where the Lord has me now. because of who i am in Christ, i am inescapably blessed.

on one of my recent adventures, i got to spend time with a great friend who consistently challenges me. we didn't waste much time on the fluff, and we got down to the nitty gritty pretty quickly. (these are the friendships i treasure). we started talking about the desires the Lord has placed on each of our hearts...how we are called to be obedient and what our position is in Christ. that conversation was encouraging, convicting, refreshing, and frustrating. the best are always like that. at one point in the conversation, she shared one of her recent journal entries and it stuck with me so much that i emailed her later and asked her to send it to me so i could pass it on. here goes...

"heirs and heiresses of God: many people call America a blessed nation; when the truth of the matter is, though we are blessed from worldly means with many temporal material things, the majority of Americans are lost and dying without the hope of an eternal inheritance in Christ. so, be careful who you call blessed. because you will find yourself envying those headed towards eternal destruction on the day of the Lord. don't get caught up in near-sightedness or narrow-mindedness and forget about your eternal reward--your promised inheritance in which God has said He will richly bless you, for He has said there shall be no poor among you, for you are heirs and heiresses of God! though you may never escape poverty in this lifetime, you do indeed have a beautiful interitance in God!" (Malachi 3:13-15; Deuteronomy 15:4; Psalm 16:6)

i guess what i really want to say is that even though i grow restless and my heart aches for more, i'm reminded that i'm infinitely blessed because i'm a co-heir with Christ. nothing this world has to offer can compare to the glory of His riches. every moment of frustration and longing right now will fall into the shadows of His glorious grace and beauty that will one day be revealed.

i'm still a work in progress. i don't have this whole "wait on Me" thing down yet. my heart, my mind, my desires, my life are continually being chipped and molded to be more like His. so, until that day, i'll continue to struggle in the continual sanctification that is occurring. and i will choose to praise Him for the process.


live unashamedly. laugh uncontrollably. love unconditionally.