Janise Anderson's Blog, page 2

The Danger of Assumption

“Are you a Christian?”

Over 50 years ago, one question by a mechanic rerouted my grandpa Tom Pace’s life.

“Yes, I’m a Christian,” Tom said. But he didn’t get why Dave Covington, the large, friendly mechanic, would ask.

Dave grinned and said, “Really? I am too!”

Tom wouldn’t have even met Dave if his Volkswagon bug hadn’t flipped–with him in it. Now the bug was stuck in Dave’s shop and Tom was stuck with Dave as his only ride back.

As Dave drove Tom back to his Christian college in Longview, Texas, the mechanic didn’t swear or pass on dirty stories, instead he eagerly kept on talking about Jesus–in a way Tom hadn’t heard before.

Something was different about Dave. For him, being a Christian didn’t just mean church on Sundays. Jesus wasn’t just a good teacher; he was his personal Savior & his true friend.

Tom’s life changed because of one mechanic who couldn’t keep quiet about Christ. 

Tom had known the truth his whole life, but he hadn’t known the difference it could make. He went to church, sat through his 7 a.m. Bible classes, dropped 10% in the offering plate . . .

But he wasn’t saved.

God used that conversation with Dave, along with the influence of other Christians in Tom’s life, to not only change Tom’s life, but to change his future.

Now, all these decades later, my grandparent’s life of service and ministry in Peru has affected thousands of people.

These past few days, I’ve been evaluating how often I share Jesus with those I meet. Shouldn’t that be the priority? But as a student at a Christian high school . . . and then a Christian college, I’ve noticed how little I’ve asked those around me, “Are you a Christian?”

Too often I’ve assumed that those around me have encountered the same hope I cling to. But just knowing about the truth or hearing about Jesus in a classroom won’t cut it. I know that many of the students around me weren’t saved.

We have the freedom to speak of Jesus & proclaim the amazing work He’s daily doing in our life . . . yet, at least in my case, we often don’t. 

Yesterday, I took an Uber for the first time. Before the driver pulled up, I prayed that I could use the 50-minute drive from the hospital to my house to talk about Jesus.

God, as always, came through.

Almost immediately, my conversation with the driver turned to churches in Lima. And then, my driver told me his testimony and how he came to know Jesus as a teenager.

“I gave my life to Christ and it changed everything,” he said, then went on to tell me about the church he was attending and the Christian school his wife taught at.

How amazing! I got to have an hour-long conversation with a stranger–about the most important Person in our lives!

We should actively seek out these conversations. It may be awkward and it is certainly intimidating, but just asking “Are you a Christian?” could change someone’s life. 

This isn’t something that comes easily or naturally to me, but it is something that God continually calls us to do.

The song “One Awkward Moment” by Casting Crowns perfectly depicts this:

One word, one hand

Tell me, is that too high a price?

One awkward moment

Could be the one that saves a life

Your hurt, your scars

God will use to open up her eyes

One awkward moment

You’ll see the gospel come alive

Come alive

Satan keeps whispering that I won’t have the right words to convince or that no one will listen if I did. But God’s truth stamps out these lies. If we ask, God will give us the words, the conversations, the opportunities.

I want to see the gospel come alive, not just in my life, but in the lives that “brush” against mine. 

What about you? When will you turn and ask, “Are you a Christian?”

Spending Mother’s Day in the Hospital

“I’m so blessed,” Mom said, barely a second after throwing up again. “Because aside from delivering you girls, I’ve never spent any time in the hospital all these years.”

In the hospital room in Lima, Peru, I rubbed her back and smiled. It’s Mother’s Day and all day Mom’s been confined to this small room with its white painted walls, clattering IV, and an open window that lets in the surprisingly comforting sounds of city traffic.

She’s been sick for over a month now and has been in the hospital for almost a week. But during the hours I’ve spent next to her, she keeps saying, “God is so good” and “He knows what He’s doing.”

He is good. And He is always in control, even when we don’t yet understand the “why’s.” 

Months ago, He provided so I could travel here the day after graduation and arrive on Mother’s Day. What I didn’t know was that this was exactly where He wanted me . . . sitting on Mom’s hospital bed, talking about His goodness, and remembering His love.

Around 5:30 this morning, I landed in the orange pre-sunrise haze of Lima. I had enough time to shower and make it to church where I could worship Jesus next to my beautiful sisters Raeya and Risha, and listen to my grandma tell another exciting missionary story, and then hear Grandpa preach about “what I learned about God from my mom.”

And it made me think . . . what has my mom taught me about God?

She’s taught me that God has blessed me beyond measure. She gave credit to God for every good & perfect moment He gave us.

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”

James 1:17 

God blessed me with a mom who…

always cared
never gave up on us
rose up early in the mornings to talk to Jesus and seek His peace
sacrificed her time, privacy, dreams, & comfort every day for us
loved & supported my dad
prayed instead of complained
read anything I wrote, no matter how bad or unedited

I don’t think I will ever understand how much she’s given up for us four girls and my sweet dad.

I just know that even as pain slices through her as she lays in that hospital bed, she still asked me how I was, still looked out for the twins, still asked about Krista, still spoke about how good & thoughtful Dad was.

I don’t know where I’d be without my mom. But I seriously doubt I would have walked across that stage two days ago. I don’t even know if I’d be saved now if it wasn’t for her.

Mom was the one who walked with me to Jesus’s throne the night I gave up my life to God.

She was the one who made me believe in my writing because she believed in it so much.

She was the one who has shown me, countless times, that you don’t ever give up on the people you love.

She loves in a way that I didn’t know anyone could love. And maybe, because of how strongly and consistently she’s lived out that sacrificial, all-consuming love, I’ve been able to understand a bit more how much God loves us. 

God loves us more than my mom has always loved me–and that alone shows me that God’s love is beyond description, beyond understanding.

I see His love shine through my mom every day . . . and I think that’s one of the most important things my mom has taught me about God.

So…happy Mother’s Day to every mom out there! Thank you for daily living out God’s sacrificial love. Thank you for loving when no one notices or thinks to thank you. God is using what may seem unseen or insignificant now to show the next generations a glimpse of how deep & wonderful His love is for us.

Ps: Andy Pace + family made the adorable “Get Well Soon” pot! 

Who is like our God?

Who is so great a God as our God? Psalm 77:13b

Who is like our God?

He is a God who tells us to come to Him with our sin, our shame, our fears. A God who listens constantly to our complaints and ingratitude and unbelief. A God who receives thousands upon thousands of desperate requests every moment.

A God who bears the burdens of this sin-wretched world. A God that humanity comes to with complete hopelessness, terrible emptiness, and despair. A God who hears every mother’s grief-marred cry. A God who watches millions and millions of unborn babies writhe and die at a doctor’s cruel hands.

A God who witnesses the worst of the worst, who since the beginning of time has seen man rebel against HIS perfect plan, against HIS goodness. A God who loves a people who are filthy with sin–humans who love their own selves before anything else.

A God who hears every martyr’s final prayer. A God whose name is abused and misused and perverted in every place. A God whose own redeemed children stumble again and again.

A God who watches as the families He put together tear themselves apart. A God who knows every unfulfilled dream, every desperate prayer, every hidden thought.

Who is like our God? Who is as gracious and faithful and good as He? Who is as kind and merciful and true?

He is the Lord our God. He is our bruised and broken Savior. He is the triumphant King. He is holy above all things. He is worthy of all praise and all love.

He is God. And there is no one like Him.

He Quiets My Storm-tossed Heart

My heart is drawn to fear and restlessness.

For the past two weeks, Satan has been attacking me with fears. Every morning, doubt crept back into my heart. My pride writhed inside me, scrambling to piece together a Plan B for this summer–just in case God didn’t come through.

I worry and wondered, instead of waiting and trusting. I doubted. I feared.

But I know God can do what I’ve asked Him to. He’s done it before. He’s provided for me every day. Since I was a kid, I’ve witnessed His miracles in my life. I’ve watched Him answer impossible prayers and heap blessings onto my family.

It’s impossible for me. It always is. But He comes through every time.

He doesn’t always do what I think He will do or should do, but in the end, I look back and say, “Wow, God. Wow. You knew exactly what you were doing the whole time.”

God wants to meet our needs. He doesn’t want to be Plan B. He doesn’t want us to even have a Plan B. He’s going to provide in ways I can’t even imagine.

I know God is going to astound me. I have an image in my head: I’m looking out over India from a plane window. And it’ll completely 100%-ly be because of God. Last summer, going to France was an amazing miracle. God gently nudged me for three summers and as soon as I whispered yes, He poured out blessings and provided in impossible, unexpected ways.

India and Spain are all things He’s told me to do–adventures I’ve said yes to–but I have to trust in Him. I have to wait and rest in Him. God has to do it all because I can’t do anything.

Today, I read Psalm 107 and it amazed me. Verses 6, 13, and 19 said almost exactly the same thing: “Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered  them out of their distresses.” Verses 13 & 19 said “saved” instead of delivered.

Then, verses 28-30 completely shocked me:

‘Then they cry out to the Lord in their trouble, and He brings them out of their distresses. He calms the storm, so that its waves are still. Then they are glad because they are quiet; so He guides them to their desired haven.”

Okay, wow! These verses were written so long before the disciples ever entered the storm mentioned in Mark. Chapter4 verses 35 to 41 talks about how Jesus quieted the storms. In verse 35, He tells them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” And they did. They went with them. They said yes. They followed.

But once they were on the water, “a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat.” Has this happened to you? God tells you to do something that you know you can’t do, but you trust Him. You say yes. You go.

And then, the trials come. The storm rages. Your life is thrown upside down and inside out, and you cry out, but Jesus seems to be sleeping. You’re not getting an answer and you don’t know why.

You’re trying to trust, but all you see is the storm and the fear the fills you up until you can’t breathe or think or move.

“Jesus, Teacher, Savior,” you cry. “Do you not care that I’m perishing?” (vs. 38).

Immediately, Jesus appears. He stands and rebukes the storm. He quiets the sea. He says, “Peace, be still!” and instantly a great calm takes over your storm-tossed life.

Then He turns to you. He looks at you and His eyes seem to ask, “How could you not believe me? After everything I’ve done for you, after everything I’ve given up for you, how could you doubt my love? How could you only see the storm and forget to see me?”

That night, on the sea, Jesus turned to His disciples–the men closest to Him–and asked, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?”

Every day this week, I had to pray out fear again. I had to silence the doubts that plagued my mind. I don’t understand the why’s or how’s yet, but I know that God has a beautiful, perfect plan for my life. He’s already been to Tomorrow. He has complete control over Today. But when the storm rages around me and I don’t hear any answers, I have to run back to His love, I have to remember how He is always completely in control.

I can plan and worry all I want, but it won’t help a bit. My plans this summer are crazy and I can’t do it at all. God has to do it. He’s already providing for it though not as quickly as I thought He would. He’s teaching me to trust Him. In His timing and, in His completely unexpected and miraculous way, He’ll unveil the plan He has for me.

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Psalm 131:2a says “surely I have calmed and quieted my soul.” I’m going to be still and remember who God is. I’m going to quiet my restless, worried heart, even if I have to get up every morning and pray out the fears again.

Last week, in Psalm 112, I read “His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. His heart is established; He will not be afraid” (vs. 7-8).

Satan can attack all he wants. The fears and what-ifs and doubts can keep coming back. But I’m not going to give in to the fearsome waves of the storms. My heart will be steadfast. I’m looking at Jesus and seeing only Him.

I told God yes. I know His plans for me are good. I want my life to be meaningful. I want to throw myself down by His scarred feet, and whisper “Yes” to anything He asks of me.

And then He’ll say, “I’ve got you. You can’t do this. But I can do it through you.”

I know that one day, I’m going to look back on my life and say, “Wow, God. You did that. You wrote my lifestory. I couldn’t do anything at all without You.  That was all You, God.” 

Even now, as I was writing this, He provided more for my trip. He’s making the way. It’s not going to be what I expect, but it’s going to be exactly what He’s planned all along.

So when the fears come, even if they come every morning, quiet your heart. Run back to Him, hold on to the truth that He is good and He is in control. All we have to do is say yes and watch Him do the impossible.

 

 

New Year, New Eyes

“Lay still,” the doctor said from somewhere above my head. My eye was pried open, yet for several long seconds, all I saw was black.

An upbeat workout song played through the operation room. The song was a disconcerting contrast to the nerves twisting inside me.

“Don’t move,” she said. “Keep staring at the red light.”

At this point, my thoughts were scattering. The anticipation, worry, and stress had built up for the last hour. I stared at the twisting strands of the dancing red light and felt like laughing for some reason.

Then with a burning hiss, a flash of purple sprang up on the right edge of my vision.

And I jumped.

Laser Surgery

This summer I decided to get laser surgery to correct my vision. Even though the thought of eye surgery terrified me, I set my mind on it and started saving.

Last Wednesday I went through the surgery (which was 100% worth it!). I was so nervous that I jolted when the lasers first turned on, but within a few minutes, it was all over. And after I slept for a few hours the pain was gone.

Laser surgery was just one of the many things that I wanted to do even though it scared me. Now I am so grateful I didn’t give in to the fear.

Because of a few moments of courage (trust me, fear was still there, but it didn’t win) I woke up this morning and opened my eyes to a world I could see.

Bob Goff wrote, “What if we weren’t afraid anymore?”

When I read this quote on October 14, I pulled out a notebook and asked, “What scares me?”

The first thing I wrote down was laser surgery. Now I can cross it off the list. I can cross several of the things of my list of what scares me.

The things that scare me the most are the ones that I want the most.

What scares you?

It’s the last day of 2018. I challenge you to take just a minute to think through what things scare you. Make a list. Be honest about it. And then do something about it.

It’s a new year. One I’m going into with new eyes. Every day, when I wake up and look around, I want to remember to live as if I weren’t afraid anymore. I want to remember that my favorite things about 2018 are the more challenging ones.

A year ago I started this little blog and I didn’t really know if it would go anywhere. But what I pray for is not hundreds of readers but that everything I write will impact at least a few people, that my words will speak the truth, that God will give me those words.

When I wrote the list of things that scared me, the last one I wrote was God.

It scares me how little I know Him. I know that if I let go of fear and trust Him, He’ll change my own plans and dreams. He’ll do crazy amazing things in my life. He’ll challenge me and grow me and change me.

God is the reason.

He is the reason why we should live boldly and fearlessly. He is the reason why we can live with joy even through times of sorrow.

Without Him, I would get nowhere in life. But because He’s with, I can chase a beautiful life. He’s written out great adventure stories for each of us. I don’t want to miss out on His plans for me.

I refuse to let fear tie me down or hold me back.

As 2018 fades away, I think of so many things I learned. And I am grateful for a year like this one. But I’m even more excited for 2019.

I want to see what happens if I keep pushing back fear. I want to see how wild and wonderful my life gets when I surrender my plans and dreams to Jesus.

And I don’t want to wait until midnight to start. It’s starting right now.

Happy New Year! Thank you for spending a few moments with me on such a beautiful day. Let’s make 2019 a year worth remembering! 

Holy Fear

Merry Christmas! What a beautiful Christmas it has been! I’m sitting outside my grandparents’ house. Gentle wind sways through the canopy tree above me and birds squawk away next door in an attempt to interrupt my instrumental Christmas music.

God has blessed my family and me in so many ways. I am grateful for a day like today, where we can spend time together and celebrate the joy that His birth brought to our world.

How’s your Christmas? I hope you are having a blessed day.

Today is the seventh and final day of our series on fear. During the last week, we’ve focused on identifying fears and overcoming them. But today is different.

What is holy fear? What is the difference between fearing God and fearing men? Why should we fear God? 

My sister googled “what is holy fear” and came up with this definition which I think is beautiful.

“Holy fear is love’s fear, namely, the kind of fear that is inspired by love. It’s a fear based upon reverence and respect for a person or a thing we love.”

Love’s fear.

This is the difference between all the fears we’ve already discussed and holy fear. Other fears usually tie back to our own desire to preserve ourselves, to protect ourselves from harm. But holy fear is bred from love. Specifically God’s love for us.

Because He loved us, we fear Him.

I believe we fear God because of His perfect holiness. We see our own unholiness and know that because of our sin we are too filthy and undeserving to approach His throne. His holiness should cause us to fear Him and respect Him for who He is.

Oswald Chambers, author of My Utmost for His Highest, wrote, “The remarkable thing about God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else.”  

When I fear God I have no reason to fear man.

Psalm 56:4 says, “In God I will praise His word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear. What can flesh do to me?” 

What everything comes down to is our relationship with God. Do you fear Him? Do you recognize the hight of His holiness? The perfection of His grace? Soften your heart and remember what a wondrous impossible amazing gift it was for Jesus to step from Heaven and come down to be born as a human.

Because of what He sacrificed for us, we can approach His throne. We can walk where even angels fear to tread.

Here are a few lines from Where Even Angels Fear to Tread by Matt Redman.

Yet I find myself again

Where even angels fear to tread

Where I would never dare to come

But for the cleansing of Your blood

With you there is forgiveness

And therefore You are feared

Jesus, it’s Your loving kindness

That brings me to my knees

I really like how Redman captured the mix of holy fear and redeeming love in this song.

Deuteronomy 5:29 says, “Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and their children forever.”

 

Let us cultivate a heart that fears God in everything. Like Chambers said, if we fear God we have no need to fear anything or anyone else.




Merry Christmas! Let this be a Christmas where we approach God’s throne with holy fear. A Christmas where we surrender our heart and our fears to Him. 

 

Trust Fall: Overcoming Fear

I can’t trust fall. At all. Trust me, I’ve tried. (Too cheesy? Yeah . . .)

During one of the church messages this past semester, our pastor preached on trust and, to demonstrate, “trust fell” off a stage into the waiting arms of random volunteers. I was impressed and slightly convicted since I can’t do the trust fall with my friends in private much less freefall of a stage in front of thousands.

Trust is an interesting idea, isn’t it? Trust is something we do naturally at first. As babies, we trust that the food our mom gives us is safe. As five-year-olds, we trust that our dad will drive us safely to school.

But slowly, with time, we lose our trust a bit when people around us lie to us, betray us, or fail us. We start to trust others less and trust ourselves more, even though we usually let ourselves down just as often.

When I’ve tried to do the “trust fall” with my closest friends, I have the full intention of falling. I know they’ll catch me. My head knows that, but I think the information never gets to the rest of my body. When I lean back and try to fall, my knees buckle and I catch myself.

I can’t trust fall because I’m afraid of the fall. My fear of falling runs deeper than my trust for the person ready to catch me. I may think and know the opposite, but my instinct is to protect myself by avoiding the risk of falling.

But if I want to overcome fear, I have to trust. It’s the antidote to fear. Trusting in God frees me from living in doubt, trapped by every fear.

God calls out to me to trust Him. He doesn’t whisper. This time He shouts out the truth to my heart.

He says, “Stop looking behind you. Stop turning around to see if I’m there to catch you. Just fall. Lean back, let go, and fall. Don’t think about it. Don’t stop yourself. Don’t hesitate. Make your decision and do it. Trust me and fall.”

I want to trust God, but fear doesn’t want me to trust God. I don’t want to let go of my heart, so instead, I cling tightly, tightly, tightly. I clutch my heart between sweaty desperate hands.

God says, “Let go.”

I say, “What if I say the words “I trust you,” what if I say “I’ll fall,” and I even let go, but as I do my knees buckle on their own to catch me? What if the deepest part of me that I can’t seem to control has no faith and no trust?”

Then I realized that I have to trust that God will give me trust. I have to trust that God will complete what I cannot do on my own. I have to trust that if I take the first step, He’ll take me the rest of the way.

If you’ve also been struggling with the battle between trust and fear, listen to Just Be Held by Casting Crowns.

There’s freedom in surrender

Lay it down and let it go

So when you’re on your knees and answers seem so far away

You’re not alone, stop holding on and just be held

Your world’s not falling apart, it’s falling into place

I’m on the throne, stop holding on and just be held

Another song I absolutely love is Here by Michael Hughes Watson. This song spells out the war in my heart.

Trust is the key step to overcoming fear.

Without Someone to trust, we have no way to push past fear. Without Someone to save us, we don’t have any hope to win the fight.

But God is here. He’s asking us to fall, to let go, to trust Him even if we can’t do it on our own. He’s ready to catch us if we’re ready to let go.

 

 

F.E.A.R. Rejected #RecklessLove

Rejection.

No one likes rejection. But we face it again and again. Think about any wild two-year-old kid. They face rejection every few minutes.

“No, you can’t eat dessert first.” “Stop jumping on the bed!” “No, we’re not going to McDonald’s this late.” “No, no, no!”

Rejection stings a bit, whether you’re two or twenty-two.

I’ve struggled with the fear of rejection. Being vulnerable isn’t easy. When you’re vulnerable, you are opening yourself up to rejection. 

Over the past few months, God keeps bringing up the issue of vulnerability to me. My fear of rejection keeps overpowering my heart. I have to make the decision, again and again, to be vulnerable, to trust in God even when I can’t control the outcome of what will happen to my heart.

But it’s beautiful to think about Jesus and how He fully embodied the vulnerability and recklessness of love.

He came to live and die for us. He came though He knew many would reject Him and few would choose Him.

Jesus still would have died even if He knew no one would ever believe, ever thank Him, ever love Him back. He would have died anyway to give us the choice to reject His love. Because that’s what love is—a complete and total sacrifice of self, where all pride is stripped away and only vulnerability remains. 

Love dies willingly to buy back life even if those who are dead refuse to claim a free and eternal gift.

Love gives everything when nothing is returned.

It’s Christmas. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve! What a perfect time to remember this. To remember that the King of everything allowed Himself to come as an innocent and vulnerable baby, a human who would endure the worst of mankind and still choose to sacrifice Himself for us all.

What we’ve done to God from the very start is shameful. We deny His goodness. We forget His love. We run from His plans for us. Yet He loves us recklessly.

While in France, we sang Reckless Love by Cory Asbury often. I fell in love with this song. The words reached right into me and the truth of them stayed there.

Before I took a breath, You breathed Your life in me

You have been so, so kind to me

O, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God

O, it chases me down, fights ’til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine

I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it, still, You give Yourself away

O, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, yeah

When I was Your foe, still Your love fought for me

God’s reckless love for us enables us to push past the fear of rejection. If you truly want to love you must be vulnerable. You must be willing to not fear rejection but to instead face it, if or when it comes.

No matter what happens, no matter who lets you down, God will never reject you. His fierce, fierce love fights for us and chases us down. My heart is at peace because my heart belongs to the One who created it.

What fears I do face, He frees me from. What rejection I’ve encountered cannot take away from the overwhelming, reckless love of a God who sought me out and redeemed me, a God who will never fail me.

As Christmas steadily approaches, I pray that you will find freedom from the fear of rejection. I pray that together we’ll be vulnerable enough to risk our hearts the same way Jesus made Himself vulnerable for our love.

F.E.A.R. Attacked #TheBreakup

Meet our Maltese puppy Captain (a.k.a. Cap).

 

Yes, he’s adorable. And yes, he slept in my lap for an hour today and I had no desire to move at all. Cap isn’t just a puppy. He’s a prayer request answered and a 21-year wish granted. I’ve always always begged for a puppy and finally, my parents got Cap a few months ago.

But despite his cuteness and fuzziness, he’s a wild little puppy that likes to bite everything he can.

Every few minutes I am being attacked by a speedy tumbling ball of white fluff. And this concept of being “attacked” brings me to the reason why I’m introducing lil Cap to you.

I don’t like conflict. Even with a puppy (but much much less with humans). Sometimes when Cap goes at me with those sharp little teeth, I just yell at my mom to come and correct him for me.

It’s a golden retriever tendency to avoid conflict. And 50% of me is completely golden retriever (According to the Dr. Gary Smalley personality test, which I’ve found surprisingly accurate).

To be honest, I’ve allowed the fear of being attacked hold me back at times. If I don’t speak up, I won’t have to argue. If I don’t push against fear, then fear won’t push back even more against me.

Do you dislike conflict too? Has the fear of being attacked or scorned factored into your choices?

I’m an introvert who likes peace, but I also know there is a time that the only way to reach peace is through conflict.

During the past 3+ years of living with roommates, I’ve had many many great roommates, but I’ve also struggled with some roommates who liked to create conflict. But living with difficult roommates taught me to start drawing lines. Some people take and take far more than you offered to give. Boundaries give you the freedom to give without being stolen from or taken advantage of.

Don’t fear establishing fair boundaries or speaking up about a recurring problem. It’s not a matter of attacking back. It’s a matter of defending yourself and diffusing the power others unfairly try to place over you.

The anti-fear song for today is The Breakup song by Francesca Battistelli. I love the spunk in this song.

Fear, you don’t own me

There ain’t no room in this story

And I ain’t got time for you

Telling me what I’m not

Like you know me well guess what?

I know who I am

I know I’m strong

And I am free

This is the whole point. We have to be willing to face the conflict and potential attacks that will come when we breakup with fear.

This morning I started reading Joshua. The transition from Moses to Joshua is a little rough. The people have depended on Moses forever and with his death, they are left a little uncertain. Joshua is in charge now (I do not envy him).

God knew the trials, conflict, struggles, and difficulties Joshua would face as a leader. I love the first few verses in Joshua 1. After God picks Joshua and gives him the job, He tells him again and again to “be strong and of good courage.”

Verse 9 says, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” 

Like Joshua, God has chosen us out for a specific task. It’s not going to be easy. There’s going to be conflict and attacks and struggles. But we can cling to the same promise God gave Joshua. He’s with us and He’ll remind us, again and again, to not be afraid.

Be strong and courageous.

Over and over again, God tells us “do not be afraid.” Because He’s on our side, we can step out boldly and fearlessly, knowing He has our back. It’s time to break up with fear. We don’t have any room in our story for fear to clutter up our time or hold back our dreams. Let’s live fearlessly.

 

F.E.A.R. Excluded #priceless

I met a girl this past semester and I learned a lot from her. But I think the biggest thing I learned from her is that people matter, every single person matters because of what Jesus did.

When my friend walks across campus she doesn’t see anyone as a stranger. She talks to everyone and remembers them. For her, love is a constant living part of who she is and what she does. Life has excluded her from so many things. This world let her down from day one, but instead of being bitter or sullen about this, she seems bent on never excluding anyone else.

Maybe because she has known what it means to be left out, she has determined to never leave anyone else out.

I’ve seen this game of ignoring and avoiding others since the first grade playground. Now at college, I see the same game. I play the same game. I exclude people for different reasons and others exclude me for their own reasons. But it’s a game I’ve grown comfortable in. It’s a game where no one wins.

And I think that the fear of being excluded can factor into how engaged we choose to be in life—especially in new opportunities. But what my friend taught me was that Jesus never saw people as mistakes or inconveniences, so neither should we!

Remember John 3:16? It’s that one verse I think of first because I learned it over and over again as a little kid. It’s simple but amazing!

John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

He loved the world. The entire world—all of it, with all the chaos and suffering we created in it. He did not exclude anyone from His glorious gift of redemption. So how can I excuse the games I play where I ignore and avoid those around me?

It infuriates me to look back on history and see how nations have excluded entire races for nothing more than the color for their skin or their ancestry. But then I find myself quietly excluding others for how they dress or how they talk.

Tonight, I heard one friend say of another, “In all the years we’ve been friends, I have never once heard her say something negative about anyone.” I doubt anyone could say this of me. Negativity breeds negativity, but we should endeavor to not leave others out nor talk negatively about them.

This year I read Everybody, Always by Bob Goff. This book was even more radical than Goff’s other book Love Does. Goff challenged me to think differently about love and people, and about how God wants us to live on this earth.

Goff wrote, “We’re all rough drafts of the people we’re still becoming.” I don’t want people to mark up my rough draft with their criticism, but that means I need to extend that same grace and patience toward them.

Goff also wrote, “You’ll be able to spot people who are becoming love because they want to build kingdoms, not castles. They fill their lives with people who don’t look like them or act like them or even believe the same things as them. They treat them with love and respect and are more eager to learn from them than presume they have something to teach.”

It’s time to stop building castles (and those high walls). Let’s build a kingdom.

1 John 4:7-9 says, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.”

I want to see strangers not as strangers but as people who God created and who Jesus died for. People who I must and will learn to love.

My anti-fear song for this post is Priceless by For King & Country. I love this song because it sings out the message that every single one of us is made priceless through the blood of Jesus Christ.

“I see a rose in bloom

At the sight of you

Oh, so priceless

Irreplaceable, unmistakable, incomparable

Darling, it’s beautiful

I see it all in you

Oh, so priceless”

We are each priceless, and the love of Christ has placed such value on every human life. You don’t exclude something priceless. You don’t turn your back on someone who Jesus crossed the universe to seek out and save.

It may take the same measure of bravery to stop excluding others as it takes to remember that no matter how often you are excluded, you are irreplaceable, unmistakable, incomparable and priceless.

I’ll end with one of my favorite quotes from Bob Goff. Listen to the truth in these words and figure out what God is whispering to your heart.

“What is it that you don’t think you can do? What do you think is too big for you? Or too scary, or too risky? Sometimes God whispers it, and sometimes, he shouts it. Whatever the volume, I bet he’s always using the same three words with us: Be Not Afraid.”