maintaining or growing?

ok, so i just want to share something that God taught me today with you all quick....

so the last few weeks of my life have been kind of crazy and so when i have been to the gym - its been a run in, do my run, quick do a few machines and then leave and off to whereever i need to be...and it still was good, it still felt good to run and just know that i'm doing it - but i feel like its just been quick and surface level...like its keeping me feeling good, but not actually growing me or challenging me. and today i had free time - so i got a chance to spend like 2 hrs there...now as of 2 months ago - i hadnt stepped foot into a gym for like 3 yrs. not joking. but 2 months ago, God called me to learn discipline...and going to the gym was a part of that. so today i took my time there. and it felt so good.

it was like every muscle had a chance to be pulled and stretched and challenged and i just had the opportunity to really beat my muscles up.

why am i sharing this, you're prb asking? haha

because in the middle of this - i started thinking about how we can do the bare minimum...we can do "just enough" in life, in our walk with God and we will survive, we'll maintain a relationship. we can do good things for God - we can be good ppl. we can.

but we can also allow God to go deep. we can let Him pull us and stretch us and really challenge us - allow Him to be thorough in His refining of us - and we can go from maintaining to growing.

because unless we tear some stuff up and go deep and really take the time to get to every single part - its just gonna stay maintained. and we will never be anything more than good.

so what i realized today is that i NEED to let God go deep. i have a new desperation for it. why? because i desperately need to live a life filled with God - and he is SO much more than good.

right now at Edinbrook we are going through some material PI wrote - called Morph. and its is walking us through our faith, looking at our hearts part by part, piece by piece to see if we are in line with God's heart. God is calling us to crazy faith - living for Him and loving His children. being completely submitted to Him and His calling on our lives.

and in order for Him to be able to really use us and for His Holy Spirit to be able to really move through us - we need to give Him free reign in every single part of our lives. every single part. and how will He be able to really be able to heal us and work in every single part - if we are just doing enough to "keep Him happy". what would happen if we take time to listen, and study and pray and let Him move in every part and one by one stretch it and pull at it and break it down so that it can GROW into so much more than we could ever do on our own.

i just wanted to share that with you today, if you are not an Edinbrook attender or are and just havent been there recently - i would HIGHLY recommend you listen to the sermon from 10/10. its called Crazy Faith, and its on the website...i missed it and am listening to it right now and it is amazing. and i am just filled with a whole new desire to allow Him to transform me into who He wants me to be so that i can live a life like jesus did. so i can do greater things than Jesus did - just like the Bible promises. i cant miss it because i havent taken the time to really let God go deep in my life and be as thorough in refining me and growing me as He wants to be.

wow...

crazy stuff. i have no idea where God is leading me or what He is doing but i am just seeing a lot of pieces fall into place. and i dont know what the end picture looks like...but its coming together in an interesting way.

lets ask Him for crazy faith, friends. lets stop living for good enough and find out what God wants to do!!!

The Bride

Hi friends! so i just realized that its been like 2 weeks since i have written anything on here...life is just way too crazy right now...haha
so a lot has been going on - in normal life and ALIVE life - so quick update on ALIVE life to get you up to speed........
two thursdays ago sarah and i got part of the team together to work on a new drama. its not one that we came up with, but one that i learned while with YWAM. we are tweaking it a little bit - but that's where the general idea came from. its kind of intense so we have been kind of pushing it back for awhile, waiting for God to bring it back up for the exact right time.
and well - here we are.
and God could not make it ANY clearer that the time is right. well He could - and He is more than welcome to just keep confirming...;)
but its a drama that paints a picture of "the world" outside the walls of the church - Christ's bride. and causes us, as Christians, (hopefully) to look at what we are doing as the bride and to look at the people we normally wouldnt take the time to love.

so - we got the group together and gave them their characters and gave them time to sit down with some paper and start to get in the head of their characters. we are having them all write their own part and then we'll come together and go through them, edit as needed.
they did an incredible job after just a half hour or so of working on it - so i am just really excited to see what God does with it from here. we havent talked about it with them since then - last thursday we took a break to attend a dinner that the senior group at our church threw for the sr. high youth group (so cute and so great...such a blessing)
so tomorrow we meet back up.

but i will recommend that you take a second and go to Pastor Ivan's blog...if you go to Edinbrook Church's website - theres a link. but there is a day that he blogged - AFTER we decided to work on this, for the youth group, i think the post is called Crazy Faith...not totally sure...but sarah sent me the link on it and i read it and literally - it was like we had sat down with him the day before and shared this drama with him and the message behind it and where our hearts are- but we didnt! i just LOVE God's timing...God is just laying this all out perfectly! and its such an encouragement. so after talking with him and the Creative Team this week - we are also performing this drama for sunday morning church...with a revised team and characters - but i am SO excited to see what God is going to do!!!!!!
we will ask for huge prayer - because it is intense, and it could be controversial, and it will speak to ppl...
its tough to be asked to really look at yourself and be prepared to see things that you dont want to acknowledge...
but its so so so necessary. God wants us to live...truly live - ALL His children, and if that means that we, as the church, need to take the time to get our hearts in line with His - and then follow Him out into the world to reach out to His lost sheep - then who are we to say no? who are we to give God boundaries as to what we will and will not do for Him?

People need love. they NEED it - whether they are sold out for Christ, completely lost, or stuck in the middle...we all need it. and God's love is the ONLY one that will satisfy...so people need to know. they just do. and how are they going to know about it if we dont tell them? the world is CERTAINLY not going to go out of its way to point you to God...satan wouldnt let that happen...

so pray for us as we prepare this drama - for both times and pray that hearts will be open to receive the message that is given. pray that people will be moved and will really be willing to listen to what God is trying to tell them.

thanks friends! hope you are having a beautiful week and i'll write more on all this soon!!!

more exciting stuff coming! :)