If Only…

 

This is a phrase constantly stated. Things could be different if. If I had done this, the outcome wouldn’t be the same. This situation wouldn’t exist if. Whatever the “then” to your if is, we say it all the time. There is a heartbreaking reality I have seen in my life and in the life of other believers around me. Instead of joy, peace, love, and freedom abounding in our lives, strongholds are abounding! This is not the life God has promised us, fellow believers!

 

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I sadly have allowed myself to be robbed of the joy and security that are found in Christ. I have searched for satisfaction and security in things that will unfailingly fail me. I see it in others, too. It’s craziness! We know that Christ is life. We know that Christ is security, joy, peace, all of these things which we are constantly in search of. But do we really know? Do we live as if we truly believe it?

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I think the kicker for me was when I looked at Isaiah 48:18 today. As the rebellious Israel is spoken to, God says, “Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river; and your righteousness like the waves of the sea…” IF ONLY! IF ONLY they had submitted to the authority and commandments of God, it would result in PEACE like a river and RIGHTEOUSNESS like the waves of the sea! I want to share with you an excerpt from a Beth Moore book about this Scripture:

“Beloved, few bodies of water are more exciting than rivers! When was the last time you saw white-water rapids? We can have active, exciting lives without suffering through a life of turmoil? When God uses the analogy of a river, He described a peace that can be retained while life twists and turns and rolls over boulders.”

Isn’t that exciting?!? Why aren’t we doing it?!? I think for many it might be that we are trying to live a life in the present based on a relationship that we had with God in the past. Another little helpful tip from Beth…”A river is a body of fresh water fed by springs of tributary streams. Peace comes from an active, ongoing, and obedient relationship with Christ.” Man, I would love to sit down for coffee with that woman!

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It reminds me of a fun song that I would sing with the girls as a camp counselor at Camp Garaywa.

“I’ve got a river of life flowing out of me

Makes the lame to walk and the blind to see (peek-a-boo)

Opens prison doors (use arms as opening doors)

Sets the captives free (I’m free!)

I’ve got a river of life flowing out of me!

Spring up a well (gush, gush, gush) up from my soul

Spring up a well (splish, splash) and make me who-oo-ole

Spring up a well (gooosh) and give to me

That life abundantly”

I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty ready to live life abundantly! God doesn’t desire us to be kept in bondage, to have strongholds. What are the strongholds in your life? What’s keeping you from the abundant life in Christ? What in your life are you striving after with all that you have? I’m here to tell you from experience, if it’s not under God’s authority, it will drain life not give it. It can never fully satisfy. Christ alone can fully and completely satisfy. Man, I’m ready to live in that truth! “If only…”

Shaped by Grace,

Jessica Hardy

Booking it!

 

I love to read. I always have, but I haven’t always “had time” for it. The truth of the matter is that you will make time for what is a priority in your life. Well, these past couple of years, I have rearranged my priorities. Reading is back up there on the list. Getting into a book can take you away from reality; it can make you feel as if you are one of the characters. Reading obviously increases your knowledge base, so I find it fun to glean wisdom from people who have much to give in the practical areas of life.

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I teach second grade, and I share what I’m reading with my students. I don’t read it with them, because it’s simply not on their reading level. I do share though, and it creates an open communication with them. They initiate recess conversations and after school pickup conversations about what I’m reading now and what I think I’ll read next. They ask about the emotion that my current read evokes. They want to know what genre is my favorite, and I sure hope that it is a tiny little igniting of a love for reading in them.

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I get lost in books; I forget my surroundings. I had the pleasure of rooming with my best friend, Amber Marie, during college. She laughed at me as I read. She said that watching me read was entertaining. I would ooooh, ahhh, gasp, and burst into laughter…whatever emotional response was necessary. I would speak to the fiction characters as if they could hear me or adamantly agree with the truths stated by non fiction writers. Zach has learned also that when I get a book in my hand, it’s pretty much time to say goodbye to me until it is put down. That’s why I’m linking up with Amber for 24 in 2014 Book Challenge.  Some of the following books I have already begun, but have not completed. Some are books that I have seen browsing through my free reads on my Nook, and some are ones that I have wanted to read for a long time. I am listing them in no particular order.

 

You can link up with Amber as well!

Shaped by Grace,

Jessica Hardy