Erin Lately

“My grace is sufficient for you…” Don’t forget the second half: “...for my power is made perfect in weakness.” How beautiful it is to be witnesses to a powerful grace that is revealed in its truest, rawest, most organic form in WEAKNESS!  In human frailty.  In despair.  In trials.  In doubt.  In fear.  Hallelujah! “So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.  Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.  But he said to me, “ My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness .”  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.  For when I am weak, then I am strong....

I realize my last two posts have been a bit...heavy(?)...perhaps even depressing. I don’t mean them to be.  I’ve never been much of a journal-er, so it’s more about my mind having all of these thoughts and trying to get them out with some semblance of coherency. Unfortunately, I am a realist/pessimist at my core (something the Lord is working on in my soul) so my mental process tends to be birthed from a more “negative” or “cold” (I prefer “analytical” - ha!) headspace. But, that tends to yield a dark tone.  My apologies. Anyway, I thought I would follow up with the flip side of the waiting-&-wrestling-with-God coin: PRAISE. Spiritual disciplines are just that -- discipline.  Discipline is defined as the practice of training to do something in a controlled habitual way.  So, spiritual disciplines such as prayer, diving into the scriptures, stewardship, fasting, and solitude are brought forth through intentional training.  Some of them are more natural to our...

"Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done..." - C.S. Lewis. It's a cynical farce, really: the daily struggle to trust and rest in the faithfulness of a steadfast God.  For a humanity that is so good at loving ourselves, our longing to be fully known, to be fully loved, and to be fully blessed is our greatest Achilles heel. It is our bluff and God called it.  He knew we were in need of constant gardening. And He sent his Spirit to accomplish just that.   So often we attempt to exercise sovereignty over the Spirit -- letting him ride the bench until we're in a jam. As if He were some sort of "energy" to draw from when we need a pick-me-up.  After all, isn't a gardener's job to water and nurture the fields? To pluck weeds from getting in our way? To give us that boost to the finish line? Yes; but that's only one facet. My grandfather was a master gardener.  Near and far he was known for his fresh produce; ...