Tuesday's Thoughts ~ so much more

Do you remember when you first came to know the Lord?  when you first read a scripture and you just "got it"?  when you first understood what God's grace means in your life?

I have had the enormous privilege of hanging out with some baby believers in the past 4 months.  I mean - they are coming out of the woodwork and literally landing on my doorstep.  The Lord is taking the truths that He is teaching me and giving me opportunity to immediately put them into action.  It is seriously one of the most amazing times of my life.

I think that when you have been a believer for a long time, you sometimes forget just how amazing the saving act of God is.  Our baseline changes.  We start to focus on the problems that are around us instead of the joy that is within us.  We, in some ways, start to take the grace of God for granted.  Complaints come easy and we get wrapped up in the injustices and disappointments of life.

Hang out with someone who doesn't know the Lord or someone who is just beginning that journey.  It will put your life right back into focus. 

There is something about sharing the basic truths of the gospel and talking about the freedom that you have in your walk with the Lord that builds this crazy kind of excitement where you wonder if you are just going to JUMP out of your own skin with tremendous JOY.

I'm meeting with several different groups/people right now.  I'm spending a lot of time covering the foundational truths of the faith.  Let me tell you - camp out on the foundation of your faith.  It is so encouraging!

Talk about what the Lord has done in your life.  

Take time to reflect on how He has changed you over time. 

Listen to yourself as you tell someone else about the goodness of God.  

I promise you - your excitement will be impossible to contain.  I find myself talking faster and louder :-)  Don't you wish you could hang out with me in a public place?  I think I've shared my faith with a lot of strangers just because they were in the vicinity!

There are times when more knowledge is just heavy.  Watching the news can be down right depressing.  Knowing all the details of someone's struggle can be weighty.  But knowing more about Scripture and more about the Lord is so freeing!

You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.  John 8:32

I have seen that one scripture come alive these past four months.  I am seeing the weight of sin, disappointment, bitterness, stress and grief being removed from the shoulders of these beautiful women.  I'm seeing a huge chandelier's worth of light bulbs come on. 

I am seeing their countenance change.  Seriously - some of them just look different. 

I think it is JOY.

There is so much more to this life.  There is a richness, a deeper joy, a lighter heart, a hopeful future, a scandalous amount of grace, a bounty of forgiveness, an overflowing bucket of mercy and a mountain of hope.

If you know this, but have perhaps forgotten, just soak that truth in today.  If you are curious about this - wondering if there really is more for you -- please let me know.

There is so much more.