Walking in the Word with Breast Cancer

12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. - Colossians 3:12-14 The most beautiful thing about us is how we love - it's not how we sing, how we clean or organize, how we dress or what we own - it is how we love. Period. The most beautiful thing about us is the way we love. The way we love should stop people in their tracks and cause them to take notice.  We demonstrate our love for others when we put their needs before our own, and when we love until the end. Love is thinking about what the other person needs, what would bless that difficult person in my life. Love is asking what is the most loving thing I can do - not for the person it is easy to give

12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. - Colossians 3:12-14 As if this verse hasn’t been convicting enough, we are also instructed to put on an attitude of humility and patience as God's chosen people.  Humility is another word who's connotation has gotten taken over by the world. The world would have us think that humility is putting ourselves down or thinking less of ourselves. But that definition is still very "me" focused. When we are humble, we think of ourselves less and others more. Being humble means placing others in a position of authority over ourselves. When we've been slighted or overlooked, when we're being taken

12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. - Colossians 3:12-14 The next attitude listed is in direct contrast with what the world teaches us is acceptable or right, but God specifically chose meekness as a way to demonstrate love toward another person. Everything about our culture today day tells us we have the right to a voice, and that we, especially as women, should not be meek. We should stand up for our rights and be heard, and when offended we should fight back. We have moved into an age where it is suddenly okay to assault one another with insults because we disagree, or to rise up over one another in a verbal challenge over a difference of opinions. Wh

12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. - Colossians 3:12-14 In addition to compassion, we are to put on kindness. Kindness is more than just being pleasant or nice, it's a helpful attitude toward someone in need, without any benefit to the helper.  This isn't something that is inherent in us as humans - we help, but we almost never help when it is a sacrifice or it is inconvenient to us, and we generally only help when it benefits us. Often, the greatest benefit to us is how other people view us. In other words, we help because we want people to notice how kind we are, so we do it when others are watching or we tell people about what we're doing

12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. - Colossians 3:12-14 As children of God, we are to be the most loving people that the people in our lives know. In order to do accomplish this, we are given specific traits - compassion, kindness, meekness, and patience. Since these are the traits we are to embody, we should pause to reflect what each of these traits truly look like in our lives.  Today, I am focused on the first trait - compassion. Do we live with compassionate hearts for others?  Compassion is the ability to feel what others are feeling. When others are hurting, do we take the time to hurt with them and care for them?   We must be careful as

All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.  - Psalm 25:10 We need to be reminded of His steadfast, pursuing love all the time. We live in a very broken world full of people who don't know how to love.  People love conditionally, based on how they feel or how someone else makes them feel. Ask a young couple why they love one another, and you'll often only hear conditional clauses - she's beautiful, he makes me laugh, she respects me, he's confident, she treats me well, etc. Even the "unconditional" love we have for our children can be conditional on how they behave. No, we don't stop "loving" then when they make poor choices or disrespect us, but we can certainly stop showing it for awhile. If we're being honest, we have all thought "my child/spouse/family member would be so much easier to love if they were like that..." And because of it, we've all sai

Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.  - Psalm 90:14 If we need hope, we can find all the comfort we need right here in these words. When the world is crashing around us and we're overwhelmed with the trials in our lives, we are told in this verse that if we keep His commandments, our paths will be full of His love and faithfulness.  His love for us is a steadfast love that never ends. It is an unrelenting, ever-chasing, constantly pursuing love, no matter what we’ve done. He doesn’t give up, He doesn’t turn His back, He doesn’t storm out on us.  He is steadfast, His love is pursuing and unconditional. Just think about it - He loved us so much that He gave His life for us, how could we possibly believe He doesn't love us enough to rescue us from our current situation?   Our God is faithful. He comes through every single time to fulfill His promises to us. Every single time. It may not be how we want it to

Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.  - Psalm 90:14 I find such comfort in the reminder of his steadfast love because there is so much to cling to when the world is challenging and the enemy is lurking. His steadfast love is always there, unchanging, ever faithful - no matter what we do. It never ceases and He will never give up. A steadfast love is a pursuing, everlasting love that continues to come after us even when we turn our backs on Him. He doesn't get angry and lash out when we hurt Him, He doesn't cross His arms and give us the silent treatment, He isn't fickle, loving us one moment and indifferent the next, He isn't annoyed when we come to Him over and over again with the same request.   He is always loving, always welcoming, always there for us with the same open and loving arms to receive us regardless of the state we're in. His love is perfect. And if you've become at all familiar

Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.  - Psalm 90:14 Living in this broken world, we will feel alone and lonely from time to time. I find myself in that dark place  every time I search for my satisfaction here on earth. I have spent a lot of years looking horizontally for what I should be finding vertically. Sometimes it’s in people, sometimes it’s in accomplishments, sometimes it’s in things. I will strive and strive to find that satisfaction, but find myself so empty at the end of my struggle, regardless of whether I achieve what I am looking for or I fail. I sometimes wonder how often I am going to struggle with this same lesson until I finally get it. There is nothing on this earth that can satisfy the longing that lives in my heart. My young adult life is marked with a trail of high expectations for the people in my life, followed by destruction. You can find broken relationship after broken relationship on that

Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.  - Psalm 90:14 When you read through this psalm, you get the sense of honesty that rings through scripture. I love that the Bible doesn’t ever hide the truth about what living in this world will bring us. The Bible doesn’t pretend it’s going to be easy, nor does it hide the pain and anguish our hearts will feel as we walk through a difficult trials. We will will be tested by this world, and our sins will be revealed. The world we live in is broken, and that brokenness will rub up against us all the time, causing such heartache and despair. We live every day with flawed people – people who will think, say, and do the wrong things.  And those flaws will stir up the sand and our hearts because we continue to look to the wrong things to fill us. The struggles of this world do not have to dictate whether or not you find joy in this world. You can find joy, even in the most difficult st

Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.  - Psalm 90:14 So many people live their lives unsatisfied with something - their house, their job, their marriage, their kids, their weight, their relationships with family or with friends. We want something different than we have, and that lack of satisfaction leads to complaining and discontent, which starts us down a dangerous path looking for satisfaction in the world.  Our hearts long to be satisfied, in fact, we were created to long for that satisfaction. The problem is we spend an enormous amount of time looking for that satisfaction in the world, but we only end up disappointed at its momentary relief.  What we really want from all this engagement with the Word of God and the work of His Spirit in the answer to our prayers is that our hearts will be satisfied with God and not with the world. Where does deep sustaining satisfaction come from? It comes from God.  Ps

Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.  - Psalm 90:14 I love how God knows we need this reminder every day. He loves us with a steadfast love. We live in a world that shatters this truth all the time, so we need to be reminded every day of His love. It's why I end every school day with my students that way, it's why I tell all of you at least once a day, it's why I end many texts and emails with the message - you are loved.  We all need to be reminded of His steadfast, pursuing love all the time. We live in a very broken world full of people who don't know how to love.  People love conditionally, based on how they feel or how someone else makes them feel. Ask any young couple why they love one another, and you'll often hear conditional clauses - she's beautiful, he makes me laugh, she respects me, he's confident, she treats me well, etc. Even the "unconditional" love we have for

12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 3:12-14 Holding on to the words in the verse verse - Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect - should impact how we see other people. If we are to shift our perspective of this Christian walk to be one where we are always pressing forward, leaving our mistakes in the past, then we must show the same consideration to others. If we are recognizing that we are still a work in progress, that we are not perfect in our walk, that we make mistakes and say or do things that hurt other people, then we must color our perspective of other people with the same light. We must show the sa

12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 3:12-14 This verse highlights a difference between secular counseling and biblical counseling - secular counseling dictates in order for us to move forward, we must dredge up the past. The world teaches us we must relive the difficult moments in our lives, looking for deeper meaning, if we are ever to find meaning. There are Christians today engaged in programs that have us diving into our pasts, or engaging in activities that help us to release the hurtful “energies” from our past. This philosophy comes to the church from the world, not from His word. While it is important to reflect on th

12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 3:12-14 I love the transparency in these verses. Although Paul has been a believer for a couple of decades by the time he wrote this, you can still hear the struggle in his words. He’s still not perfect, but he continues to try.  He doesn’t give up the fight despite the fact that he continues to fail, but he keeps his eyes fixed on the goal.  The Christian life isn’t easy. We are going to do battle every day, so we need these pep talks of encouragement to keep our eyes focused on our purpose. Sometimes we are going to stumble off the path with our own sin, and sometimes others who aren’t on

12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 3:12-14 Living in the present isn’t something that we can do in our own power. Our deceitful hearts want to drag us to the past and remind us of our own shame or of the deep hurts caused by others. Far too many of us live with the overwhelming sadness of what has been done, and what cannot be undone. If we try to fight the battle of the past in our own power, we will lose every single time. There is sin in the pride that thinks we can do it in our own power, and there is soon and holding onto the past, and many of us are blind to that sin in our own hearts. And because we are blind, we continue

12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 3:12-14 Paul is not just telling us not to look back on our own struggle with sin or temptation on this verse, he’s telling not to look at the sin of others as well. When we have been deeply hurt by another’s sin, many of us have a hard time moving past the offense and truly forgiving. But this verse tells us that’s exactly what God calls us to do. Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. We forgive and we leave it in the past.  None of us are perfect. We are all broken people with broken hearts. Our own selfishness impacts other people on a regular basis becaus

12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 3:12-14 Regret is a paralyzing focus on the past, and significantly impacts our ability to receive His grace in our present and our future. But regret is so often a part of who we are, and it’s a motivator for what we do.  We are not perfect. As much as I want to be the type of person who gets it right all the time, that’s just not going to happen. I am going to lash out in anger, I am going to give in to the consuming fears and anxiety, I am going to jump into the pit of despair from time to time - even though in these moments i know I shouldn’t. I am going to judge other people, I am goin

12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 3:12-14 If you know me well, or you’ve read anything written by me, you know these verses speak to me. I find such encouragement in the words “press on.” No matter what I am dealing with, no matter where I am in life, these verses refocus my eyes on the ultimate purpose, and give me the strength to continue to move through my trial. Two little words bring to mind all that is written in this passage, and they have the power to bring me such peace - it’s why I say them so often. I let go of what's happened in the past and just continue to move forward. We are not to focus on what is behin

11 Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13 And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword. - Exodus 17:11-13 I love the way this story ends: God tells Moses to write down what happened and tell it to Joshua, then Moses builds an altar and calls it The Lord is my Banner.  Throughout scripture we are reminded to tell stories of God’s faithfulness in our lives. My life is full of stories of how I endured in a trial, working to keep my eyes fixed on Him, and He showed up to faithfully pull me through the battle on victory. One of my favorite parts of community is sharing and listening to these stories. God’s presence is most tangible in those moments that He i

11 Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13 And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword. - Exodus 17:11-13 God loves community. In this story, He specifically called on Hur and Aaron to help Moses persevere, and in our lives He does the same because God loves community. From the very beginning, God created us to be relational beings, and His plan for us has always been to live in community with one another, supporting and encouraging each other.  All the way back in Genesis 1:26, we read: Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” The “us” refers to Gods community - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Our God is an inte

11 Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13 And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword. - Exodus 17:11-13 When Moses grew tired of holding his hands up, his brother and brother in law stepped in to help. They put a stone under him so he could sit, and they each held up his arms so that his hands remained raised until the end of the day. What a beautiful image of community - the brothers worked together for a common goal, to support Moses in his time of need. God calls us to persevere in our battles, but that can be exhausting.  If we try to do it on our own, we will grow weary. God created us to be relational beings who live in community because He know