Weekly Reflection | #40DaysofFaith

Happy Sunday, Friends! This is my third weekly reflection post, marking a halfway point of this Lenten season. If I’m being honest, I thought that these posts might be easier to write by now, but that hasn’t been the case. Opening up in these journal entries continues to be really hard for me to do, but I know that it’s all part of the process. Here were the words + photos + journal entries from this week…

If you are just joining in, catch p here:  Initial Post,  Week 1 Reflection, Week 2 Reflection, Week 3 Reflection

3/20 Kindness

How sweet are these Lent notes that a classmate of Landry’s put in their bags?

2 Samuel 22: 50-51
“Therefore I will praise you, LORD, among the nations; I will sing the praises of your name.  He gives his king great victories; he shows unfailing kindness to his anointed, to David and his descendants forever.”

This week I was standing in line for coffee and I noticed the woman in front of me continue swiping her card and it kept getting declined. It was probably less likely that she didn’t have the funds in her account for a coffee and a bagel and more likely that it was a credit card error, but I felt bad for her nonetheless. Normally, I would have buried my head in my phone and acted like I didn’t notice, saving her additional embarrassment and leaving me out of the spotlight. But this day, I felt called to say something. I told her that it would be my pleasure to buy her breakfast and she acted like she’d just seen a ghost she was so surprised. She hugged me, thanked me, introduced herself and was beyond grateful…all of this for offering to cover her $5 breakfast. In the end, she got a coffee and bagel, but I was the one who walked away feeling like I really won the jackpot.

It got me thinking about why we hold back kindness? This was so easy for me to do, why don’t I do this everyday? The Lord shows us kindness and mercy every single day and doesn’t hold back, yet why do we hesitate? This was such a great reminder to look for ways that I can show kindness to others around me and understand that I will never regret doing something kind for others…

3/21 Creation

John 17: 20-26

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

This prayer that Jesus says to God is so beautiful. What caught me off guard is when he says “…and have loved them even as you have loved me.” How can God possibly love each and every one of us just as he loved His only Son? A beautiful reminder that God loved us before he created us, even before he created the world…that we are here by divine design, not by accident. That’ll really make you do some reflecting as to WHY you are here. What’s your purpose? How can you be like Jesus in his prayer above and promise to God that you will make His love known to others so that they can be closer to Him?

3/22 Soul

Psalm 62
Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken. How long will you assault me? Would all of you throw me down— this leaning wall, this tottering fence? Surely they intend to topple me from my lofty place; they take delight in lies. With their mouths they bless, but in their hearts they curse. Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God ; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. Surely the lowborn are but a breath, the highborn are but a lie. If weighed on a balance, they are nothing; together they are only a breath. Do not trust in extortion or put vain hope in stolen goods; though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them. One thing God has spoken, two things I have heard: “Power belongs to you, God, and with you, Lord, is unfailing love”; and, “You reward everyone according to what they have done.”

One of my favorites and it was so appropriate for this week. I could never even begin to get into what life was like “behind the blog” this week…but I’ll put it this way…I felt like I was lying in the middle of the street and a truck kept rolling over me…back and fourth, back and fourth. Not to bring down the mood of the post, because in the end I know that these challenges are truly by design, but it’s the truth. Things weren’t all fairies and rainbows this week (or the past few weeks to be honest) and because of that I really felt like I was more vulnerable than ever to what God has been trying to do in my heart. He continues to pull me towards him and throughout the week, I felt like my conversation with him was on-going and that His promises were the only thing that gave my soul rest. Life always feels like a tottering fence and by finally learning to use God as my refuge and my rock first and foremost has been such a stabilizing grace.

3/23 Hardship

Hebrews 12: 4-13
In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.” Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. “Make level paths for your feet,” so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.

I hadn’t read this verse in years and, again, it related perfectly to how I felt this week. I felt as though I was being “punished” in some ways, but reading this assured me of what I knew deep down in my heart…that I was really being “shaped.” It says that “God disciplines us for good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

How thankful I should be that God is presenting me with challenges to test and shape my heart. How blessed I am that he’s calling me closer to Him, so that I can be better today than I was yesterday. How amazing that he’s not happy with my stagnant heart. Changing my mindset has really forced me to step back from each situation and understand how I can grow closer to Him from it, which is a blessing beyond what I’ve known.

3/24 Celebrate

Luke 15: 27-32

Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ “ ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ 

You guys, ever since I was little Luke 15 has really tested me. In general, I’m a rule follower and I’ve never understood how these people who rebel and rebuke the Lord in the Bible end up with lavish celebrations when they return to Him. So, you’re telling me I could ditch the rules for any amount of time, then beg for forgiveness and all would be washed away and we would celebrate by feasting and dancing? Hmmm doesn’t really make sense to me, Big Guy.

I read these parables and don’t fully understand them, just like I don’t understand how death row inmates who have committed hideous crimes can ask for forgiveness and He tells us that they are pardoned of their sins and celebrated. I’ll be the first to tell you guys, that I still don’t understand it but going back and reading Luke 15: 7 “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” helps me to feel a little more of the joy that God forgives when a sinner comes back to Him. It reminds me to forgive more openly and not just to forgive, but to CELEBRATE forgiveness. 

3/25 Heart

Psalm 37: 3-6

“Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.  Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.  Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun.”

I felt like this was a perfect verse to end my week. A gentle reminder that He knows the desires of my heart and, if I just stay the path, that all with come to fruition…”your righteous reward shine like the dawn…” A reminder that putting my trust in Him will not fail me and even though he’s working to shape me, that it’s all part of His plan for me.

3/26 Everlasting

Isaiah 60:19

“The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.”

So often I find myself relying on physical things to bring me light. The sun, the moon, material possessions, a good meal…you name it. This whole chapter is a reminder to seek God as your light FIRST and before anything else and He will provide you with an everlasting light. A light that doesn’t wane or get covered by the clouds, one that doesn’t fade or dim…doesn’t get much better than a promise like that!

Thank you again for being here this week! For letting me open up and for following along…