SINNERS AND SAINTS VI

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The omnipresence of God does not rely on our feelings. We can sit and be still and rest in the presence of God without actually feeling him. His being does not rest on our state of being. His love is not swayed by our state of responsiveness. We can be confident that his love towers over us, even when we are not overcome with the same emotion. We can still declare that he hears us, even if we can't quite seem to hear him. We can trust that he still searches and knows the thoughts and needs of each mind and soul, even on the days when its hard to utter a single word to him. 

SINNERS AND SAINTS V

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This speaks so much to joy. When we are fully alive, we best represent the image of Christ in us. We are created in the image of God, with unique talents, gifts, and passions that help give us life.

Yet it also speaks to our brokenness. It reminds us that something isn't quite right, because it's HARD to be or feel fully alive most days. It reminds us of our almost endless inconsistencies, of our deep-rooted need for God. 

Lastly, it speaks to heaven, to the Kingdom fully realized, when the Glory of God will look like all of his Children, fully alive in His light, love, and nature.

SINNERS AND SAINTS IV

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When you are so deeply rooted, although all that has once surrounded you has crumbled to the ground, you remain standing, bruised and bloodied perhaps from the violent debris, but still upright, as you gaze out upon the flattened and desolate destruction of what once was, unshakeable.

All may be stripped, but deeply rooted, one thing will always remain, the glimpse and hope of a Kingdom that will never fall.

SINNERS AND SAINTS III

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The death of one kernel allowed for the birth of many more seeds. If it didn't die, it would remain only one kernel. It wouldn't be as near as effective if it didn't experience death. It wouldn't have been transformed if it hadn't fallen, been broken, been crushed into pieces. What if we allowed ourselves to experience death like one of these kernels? What would happen if we entered into our own brokenness. Allowed ourselves to feel true loss? What would happen if we faced the pain, and embraced the crushing blow of things that need to die within us? Let your losses transform you. Let your deaths resurrect you. If you embrace the process, you will live again. And you will be truly free.

SINNERS AND SAINTS II

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God reveals himself to us: through his Word, through creation, through our encounters with Him. We can learn of His character. We can see His beauty if we take the time to look more closely. We can experience His love when we accept the mercy we so desperately need.

But those are only glimpses, revelations. His Spirit lives within us, while his presence echoes in the furthest expanses of space and time. So near, yet so far. As knowable as a close friend, while utterly incomprehensible. If we understood Him, He would cease to be God.

So let go of your striving and dwell in the sweet mystery of a God that is only Good.

We can find childlike delight as we proclaim, "God, I have no idea what you're doing!"