Let the Sunshine In

I went from room to room with a bounce in my step that bright morning, stopping at each and every window.  There was a huge smile on my face as I carefully twisted open the mini-blinds.  Beautiful, glorious sunshine began to pour in. You have no idea how my heart gets giddy in the glow of the sun!  The warmth!  The light!  Sunshine instantly brightens up any room. And it’s different than just turning on a lamp or overhead light.  It penetrates.  It is hard to keep out.  It changes things.  Sunshine causes growth (hello daffodil shoots!) and brings life!

My heart did a little dance in the sunshine for a moment but then my eyes focused on the windows.  More specifically, the dust laden mini-blinds covering the windows.  Then my gaze shot around the room.  There was a ceiling fan with dust-lined blades.  Spider webs in the corners of the room where wall meets ceiling. The smudges and scrapes on the baseboards from carelessness.  All the dog hair that desperately needed vacuumed!

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I like things neat, orderly, and clean. The girls’ toys are put away at the end of the day.  Messes are tidied up.  Bathrooms are clean – usually, lol!  But, there are other household clean-ups where I just can’t seem to get it together. Those jobs somehow get overlooked.  And I think it is because I can’t really see what needs cleaned.  I mean, sure, I can assume that if I haven’t dusted and polished around the house in a while, dust bunnies will take up residence. But isn’t it a shock to really see things in the true, bold, bright LIGHT?!

Do you say these things to yourself like I do??

• I just cleaned that!
• How did I let this happen?!
• Are other people are sneaking their dirty laundry into the baskets while we are not home?!
• We must be the dirtiest people on the planet! How can there be so much dust?!
• No one will be going ________  (insert area here – upstairs, downstairs, in the closet, etc.) anyway so don’t worry about cleaning it!

However, seeing a room bathed in brilliant sunlight changes everything.  Doesn’t it?  And you know what, that made me realize… Seeing our HEARTS bathed in brilliant “SON-SHINE” changes everything too!

Think about your heart for a minute.  Sure it looks just fine at first glance.  But, what happens when you allow the full light of Jesus to completely engulf it?  Do you notice some cobwebs?  Is there a dusty spot or two? Some areas you have ignored?  Maybe a few hurts that you need to allow His Light to penetrate and heal?

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:5 (NIV)

Nothing can hide in the brilliance of light.  And I don’t know about you, but I want Christ’s light to shine brightly in me and from me!  I want to see if there is an area that maybe I haven’t fully released to Him yet.  I want to allow His grace and love to transform those little corners of my heart that may have been neglected.   I need His light to shine on the areas where forgiveness is needed.  I want to live life in the “SON-SHINE”! Don’t you??

Ever mess up and feel like, “I just told myself I wasn’t going to do that!” Or maybe you have closed off a part of yourself out of hurt and figure, “I am shutting the door on that part of my heart. I will lock it away so I don’t get hurt again.” Or perhaps you have let some of the sneaky lies of the enemy slowly work their way into your heart.  You may not have even really realized it until Jesus shone His light and you truly saw for the first time in a while what had tried to take hold.

Sweet friend, let’s allow that “SON-SHINE” to pour in today as if we were opening up the blinds on the windows of our hearts.  Let that glorious LIGHT penetrate your heart, warming you with its brilliance and glow!  Don’t be afraid of what you might see. Don’t shy away from recognizing a little dust or cobwebs.  That magnificent, life-changing light is so worth it…

“I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.” John 12:46 (NIV)

Let’s pray…

Dear Jesus,

Thank You for being the light in my life!  Thank You for lighting up my heart with Your mercy, grace, and love! Jesus, I don’t want any nook or cranny of my heart to escape Your brilliant light!  Reveal to me now what areas may still be in need of healing.  I invite You into those areas that are in desperate need of Your restoration and care.

If there is a sin, Jesus, that I have not brought before You yet, open my eyes to it so that I may bring it to You right now for forgiveness. If there is a grudge I have been holding on to, shine Your light on it Lord. Lead me in relinquishing it and lavishing forgiveness on others just as You have lavished forgiveness on me!

Jesus, if there is a lie I have been believing, shine Your glorious light on it and melt it away.  I pray that I would remember that by Your blood I am forgiven, loved, and set free.  I am forever Yours.  Allow Your grace to flow through my heart and clear out anything I have been holding on to that does not line up with You and Your Word.

I ask too Jesus, please guide me in shining Your light brightly wherever I may go.  May I be like a city on a hilltop shining brightly in the darkness of this world.  May I lead others to You and point them to Your glorious light! It is in Your Mighty Name I pray Jesus…  Amen!

Post by: Marcy Gates

Always Have, Always Will

February is the “Love Month” and shhhhh... Don’t tell my husband but I am pretty sure Valentine’s Day is my favorite holiday. I know, I know, it’s all “Hallmark”, commercialized, and money making frivolity but for me, it’s simpler than that. There is something about drawing a red heart on a piece of paper and giving it to the one you, “loved yesterday, love still, always have and always will.” This month I have been thinking about God’s grace and what that means for us, for everyone! It always comes back to grace, the simplicity of grace. 

The Hebrew word for grace, in the Old Testament, is Chesed. I give you this word because it is the very essence of God’s love for us and it is translated to mean lovingkindness. 

“The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.” Jeremiah 31:3 (NIV)

You see it is God’s lovingkindness that draws us to Him. When we were yet sinners, God loved us. When we were yet sinners, God pursued us. We are drawn to His lovingkindness because it is like no other. Lovingkindness also means “loyal love”. This is a covenantal love. A promise, a faithful promise, a marriage covenant.

“I will betroth you to Me forever;

Yes, I will betroth you to Me

In righteousness and justice,

In lovingkindness and mercy;

I will betroth you to me in faithfulness,

And you shall know the LORD”

Hosea 2:19-20 (NIV)

God never goes back on a promise, He never breaks a covenant. And even when we, like Israel, are unfaithful, His lovingkindness keeps us. 

“Again I build you, and you shall be rebuilt, O virgin of Israel! You shall again be adorned with your tambourines, and shall go forth in the dances of those who rejoice.” Jeremiah 31:4 (NIV)

His grace, His lovingkindness draws us to Him and restores us! This is a love worth celebrating! This is a love worthy of praise! 

Your love has found us

Your love has found us

We are yours forever

Your love has found us

It's all around us

Holding us together

(“Love Has Found Us” - Gateway Worship)

When I think about this kind of love, I can’t help but be overwhelmed. How about you? It is my prayer that we would be daughters who seek to know our Father’s lovingkindness. Let us be daughters who rest in His lovingkindness. Let us be daughters who let His lovingkindness fill us up and overflow from our hearts and our lips!

Post by: Jimmie Lee DiIanni

Fixer Upper

Photo courtesy of  HGTV

My absolute favorite show on tv right now is HGTV’s “Fixer Upper”.  I am all about shiplap, French doors, and hardwood floors these days! And don’t even get me started on the stars of the show, Chip and Joanna Gaines.  These two make me want to pack up my family, move to Waco, Texas, and raise baby goats after every episode!

If you haven’t caught the show yet (Which, really, we need to talk. I am available to watch a marathon with you on a Saturday afternoon to get you up speed!) Chip and Joanna take prospective buyers through a few really run down houses.  (Get it – fixer uppers?!) As they tour each house, Chip and Joanna (let’s be honest, mostly Joanna) give their clients their vision of what the house could be. (And y’all, it always involves hard wood floors throughout. Lol!) Then the clients decide which prospective home will work the best for them, purchase it, then let Chip and Joanna go to work.

At the end of every episode, Chip and Joanna do the “big reveal”. They pull back a giant poster of what the house used to look like to reveal in highly dramatic fashion the newly renovated and much improved house.  (Kinda like pulling back a curtain or an unveiling.) Their clients freak out.  They gasp, jump and scream with glee, and/or stare with awe.  They are astonished at the transformation that has taken place on the inside and out of the property. These people are absolutely in love with their new/old house!

This reminds me of what it is like with God and how He is transforming us.  We are sorta like His fixer uppers!  We can’t really see it in the beginning, how He will grow us, change us, and mold us like Him.  But we trust Him.  We trust His vision.  We give Him permission to do what He wants.  We give Him full reign in ourselves.

Sometimes it isn’t easy.  There are times when the project goes long.  Often there will be a few snags along the way.  Maybe a detour or new element comes in to play. You just never know with fixer uppers, what you will run into.  There’s such mystery, so many unknowns.  But yet, you keep trusting the One with the vision, the One with the experience in this kind of work.

And then…  At the end of that major event, that trial, that season, that life… We are astonished and in love with what God has done!

 "And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NIV)

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV)

Post by: Marcy Gates