Caity Alice's Blog: Caity's Element, page 5

"The Thing"

Our time here is temporary, friends!

What are you giving your time and energy to? Does it further the Great Commission? Does it point others to Jesus? Does it promote truth and holiness?

We are equipped to make a difference in the lives of others for the Gospel, but we have to surrender to do it...

Let's not waste our precious, fleeting moments on empty things that serve only ourselves.

Revolutionary Empathy

Being for someone should never look like justification or simply wanting that person to feel comfortable and 100% happy all the time. (Jesus came that we might have life- abundantly- He never promised happiness. Life is not always happy, but He offers His peace and joy even when it's not.)

Being for someone looks like exhortation, encouragement, challenging their strengths and weaknesses, dealing out hard truth where they may want sugarcoated validation...

True- revolutionary- empathy won't just stop at empathy. 

You, as the empathetic connection, need to then offer up -from a place of championship and love- your bigger picture perspective; don't just enter someone's box of feeling and leave them there...come in with intentional purpose to better understand how to help lead them from it to a place of fresh perspective and growth.

Radical Inferno

Be willing to stand up, speak up, and do the right thing first. 

Don't wait for someone else to; chances are they are waiting for the same thing.

Be willing to start the domino effect by gently revolutionizing your circle of influence.

Now I Belong to Jesus

The world is loud, folks...

What popular, maybe well-meaning voices are you allowing to subtly replace the working of the Holy Spirit through His Word in your life?

Our lives belong to Jesus, therefore He gets to call the shots. And we will be much better off for letting Him.

Bookish

I bought this book embosser years ago and I love the personal touch it adds to my collection.

It also helps when loaning books out, to have your seal of ownership in there. ;)

Do you have a favourite bookish item, tool, or decor piece?

And if you enjoy classic literature and a whimsy story, I recommend "The Enchanted April", by Arnim. A simple premise and flow, but an incredible depth of character development. Simultaneously fascinating and quaint.

Defy the Culture

It's time for us to defy the over-educated voices of society that say we can't overcome our anxiety/fear/weakness/addiction/you name it; to stop leaning on the crutches offered by the culture we live in -after it convinces us we're crippled in the first place- so it can hold us back from running towards our full potential and accomplishing great things for God without fear.

Confront your behaviour.

Take captive your thoughts.

Dwell on truth and replace those voices of society with ones that have gone before you on this journey to live free of these earthly hindrances.

Discipline.

Discipline.

Discipline.

All Mad Here

Your life is making and will make a difference...for better or worse.

What kind of difference are you cultivating, friend?

Everyday Joys

Hello!

I hope this week holds many tiny joys for you and that you take the time to notice them rather than complain that they didn't come in bigger sizes. If you can't appreciate the little ones, the big one's will never be big enough.

 

"I’m beginning to recognize that real happiness isn’t something large and looming on the horizon ahead but something small, numerous and already here."

-Beau Taplin, Everyday Joys-

Transforming Call

"To ask that God's love should be content with us as we are is to ask that God should cease to be God: because He is what He is, His love must, in the nature of things, be impeded and repelled by certain stains in our present character, and because He already loves us He must labour to make us lovable."

-C. S. Lewis-

Come to Jesus with your heart and hands open for what He has prepared you for...let go of things that may look good but are not His will; because for you, what is not His tailor-made-will is not good, and what does not always look appealing may be His tailor-made-will.

Paul and Barnabas splitting up their ministries for a time after their disagreement over John Mark doesn't look or feel right when we read it, but Barnabas' one-on-one mentor-ship was just what the younger man needed to grow spiritually, and Paul and Silas embarked on the first missions trip taking the gospel to Europe, where the people thirsted for Jesus' love.

Lay down what is "comfortable" and allow the Lord to transform you in the rightness of your calling.

Peace in the Storm

How are you holding up, Revolutionary?

Are you keeping your eyes fixed on truth?...

Are you confronting the subtle agendas of the culture with the powerful promises of God?...

Are you letting joy host the occasion of your life, and turning doubt and worry away at the door?...

When we intentionally - with discipline - take these steps until they become our habitual responses to whatever storms life throws at us, peace will prevail and settle over us like an umbrella held out by Jesus' loving and provident hand.