The House You're Building

The past few years have taught me the stark reality of the seasons of faith.  God is so good to us; he constantly gives us pictures of what the inner life is like by the things around us that He has created.  Dear reader, I don't know where you are in your journey currently, but here are some of the seasons I have been through: Summers-a season of vibrancy, strength, and light.  Where all is well with my soul because faith seems easy.  Worship, praise, gratitude bubble up from within me and I can't hold them back.  It feels like God's pretense comes easy and it will never change.  I'm filled up by every spiritual discipline and my cup overflows. Fall-decay, slowing down, and strain seem to mark this season.  It hums between bright skies and clouds.  There is an undercurrent that I need to pay attention to something or hold on while it lasts and that a stark season is on the horizon.  Yet there are times of cozying up to God, wrapping him ...

I don't know about you, but I read Scripture to hear God's unique words for me.  I've been starting a new practice and thought I'd share it with you.  This past September, I started a plan to read through the Bible in a year.  Each day, whatever verses the Spirit shows me are important, I meditate on and try to hear what God is saying unique to me through the verses.  What follows is the words God gave me last month to meditate on and remember.  You may like this technique if you like devotionals like Jesus Calling.  I hope that you too get something out of it; fruit bearing fruit! --Rayna Remember this day in which you went out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out of this place. 14So it shall be, when your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is this?’ that you shall say to him, ‘By strength of hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Exodus 13:3, 14 As you hea...

I did something really crazy today, really unlike me.  I didn't buy a sweater. That may make no sense to you but it is not my everyday choice.  You see I've found myself lately a very tempted person.  I really like new clothes and on-line shopping.  Surfing my favorite shopping sites and then when a big sale hits I can swoop in for the kill.  I love the email in my inbox saying it's on it's way and when the package comes, opening it up and trying it on.  It hangs in my closet like another conquest. Lately I've felt like this has too big of a hold on me.  I've started looking online when I'm bored, upset, or need a distraction from something I don't want to face.  Sometimes like a fabric bulimic I do a big order and then feel really guilty because I don't need all those clothes so when my order comes in I return most everything I just bought. I've binged and I need to purge.  That twinge of regret when I take a lot of clothes to consignmen...

Blog readers, Does it feel like I am a one topic soapbox sometimes?  I feel like I am, no matter where I'm at spiritually it seems I always come up against the same wall of performance.  I do believe that we get caught up early in life in a lie that the rest of our journey towards being more Christlike has to correct.  For me that is perfectionism, Type-A, achievement.  I'll aways come back to this topic on my blog in some form or another.  It's the times when I have the most time to reflect and rest that I feel that tendency the most.  When the pull of where I am and where I want to be causes tension.  Here is an expert from my journal today.  I hope it blesses you! Lately I've been feeling burdened by guilt.  Not conviction.  That is a huge distinction because as I've paid more attention to my inner voice I feel like there are a lot of "should" rolling around in my head.  Nothing from the Lord, where He is directing me ...

A friend asked me today how I was doing and I said, "busy."  Cliche I know and I try to live in a way that prevents that from being my answer but it's so true right now.  This is coming from a teacher with one week left of school.  A teacher who is a mom with all the end of year actives her kids participate in as well.  I value the peace that comes from having an uncluttered mind and more often than not that is heavily influenced by my schedule. I also had the gift of music in my life this weekend with great people.  The bridge to one of the songs we sang declares, "All the earth will shout your praise."  When I hear it, it reminds me of the verse in Luke where Jesus says that if they people don't praise him, the stones would cry out (19:40). But as rich and as deep as that time was this weekend my soul needed a little more to counteract the season I'm in.  So I headed outside to find more solitude. As I headed through sun-dappled trails, the bird...

I was listening to a podcast the other day, and they said that recently the clothing company H&M admitted to using computer generated people to showcase their clothes in advertisements.  Why?  Because real human bodies, the kind they want to showcase their clothes in don't exist!  I've seen several video-shorts where they show how every cover model is airbrushed, erasing wrinkles, cellulite, whitening teeth, slimming down parts of the face.  Image is everything and in a world where everything is digital, nothing seems to be real anymore. I want to be someone who measures beauty the way God sees it, by studying the character of the people around me.  By seeing the generosity and joy of the women around me; their beauty comes from within and makes me more beautiful too by how accepted I feel when I'm with them. Let me tell you a story about one of my dear friends.  Last night I got a text from her asking "does anyone want this Clinique eyeshadow kit?"...