My prayer app says it every morning lately. “…Spirit, move my heart from familiar to fascinated until it is ablaze with your unfailing love.” And my heart knows that’s what it needs. I’ve had times when things have become so familiar to me that it has lost its fascination in me. But oh how I want to be fascinated again with God. Oh how I want the transformation of Jesus in my life. Where things aren’t boring or just dead and mundane, but to be in wonder. Recently my sisters have come to visit on their vacations with their kids. It’s amazing the buzz around the house when people are visiting and it feels exciting not to know from one day to the next whether you’ll be hitting the beach or going on another drive with Dad to hear all the stories of days gone by. And for a moment the mundane feeling fades and you are met with a little excitement because someone(s) that you love has come to visit. This is what movement from familiar to fascinating feels like. Excitem...
Some years ago I had a friend who I was interested in pursuing a deeper, dating relationship with. I’m not usually so forward with my feelings, but I knew he was a guy that hit many of the characteristics I had prayed for in a spouse. So what did I do? I prayed and prayed, I talked it over with a trusted friend and finally discerned that I would need to initiate a conversation with him that would clarify if he wanted that deeper relationship too. I was told the truth. He couldn’t date me. We then had a brief awkward conversation about how I maybe had the wrong idea and how he had lead me on emotionally. He left the conversation promising to restore his brotherhood to me and then we left. Phew. Ouch! I cried and I cried, but to this day I am glad someone was able to be truthful enough with me even if it meant I’d be hurt. To be honest I don’t usually want to have conversations that risk my comfort and my heart so much, but I’d rather live with what is true than live i...
“Jesus of Nazareth, God of Golgotha, Just days ago these people were celebrating (in homes they’ve lost, some with loved ones they’ve lost) your coming at Christmas. Come again I pray to our broken world. Sit with those suffering in the City of Angels, weep with us in the valley of devastation. Kyrie Eleison, Lord have mercy … Creator God, I ask you for meteorological miracles - an urgent change to the Santa Ana winds, the visitation of rain. Protect and strengthen first responders and firefighters working ceaselessly to quell the flames… Renew them I pray with supernatural strength. Kyrie Eleison, Lord have mercy … Consuming Fire, We are brought to our knees, confronted by the fragility of life. Let salvation arise from devastation. Lord of Los Angeles, God of the Angel Armies, rescue us. Deliver us. Save us… that we may turn again to you. Kyrie Eleison, Lord have mercy …” —Written by Pete Grieg
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