Good Afternoon Guys 🙂
I hope everyone is having a good day. Here in the High Rockies we are in the middle of the biggest May snowstorm in over 40 years 😉 Yep, a bit crazy and lots of snow for May. Today I had some time as I was sitting inside watching the snow fall and wanted to share something on my heart and that hubby and I have been talking lots about lately. I feel it is largely been put on my heart to create community and foster it. There is HUGE blessing in community!! For some years in my life I fought it and it truly was a huge blessing I was allowing myself to robbed of. I feel Jesus wants us to love people with his love and offer grace to others as we so graciously need ourselves. We should feel others people’s burdens and hurt when they hurt and be excited and champion them through the good things too! However, truly what we answer for is ourselves. Please hear me out here. Yes, we should create community. The way we were raised, where we are in this season of life, where life has led us, where we are in our journey with Jesus all impact us differently and even more so God created us all with different gifts and personalities and passions. I feel Jesus has been so laying on my heart to make sure I’m seeking him and going to the Holy Spirit daily for my life. Of course we all know this. However, what I mean is sometimes we see things. Good things we want to be more like and bad things we don’t care for especially the more we build relationships with others. Sometimes, we so want to help or “fix things our way” just wishing that person would listen because we have been there and made that mess ourselves and yet they don’t sometimes. They keep waddling in the same messes. (As yes I and you and everyone absolutely has both good and bad things in our lives and are a work in process all the time! My prayer is to never stop growing and being teachable and having l God challenging me to new heights because he knows I have a LONG way to go!! ) However, God has clearly laid something on my heart lately through the Holy Spirit. He has said, “Lauren, I have called you to walk the life I have for you. I have imprinted the passions and such on your heart that you have uniquely for you. Yes, please always be real vulnerable and share with people so you can show them some of what I have taught you. However, the life I have led you to is uniquely yours. When you get upset about something or see someone doing something that breaks your heart yes talk to me about it, yes be there, yes love them, but at the end of the day remember THEIR WALK IS NOT YOUR WALK! ” (Please note I’m NOT saying we shouldn’t walk out things with people. We absolutely should. The only time I would say no is when someone has made it clear they don’t want you then you do need to step back 😉 In these situations we will have to learn how to love from afar. However, regardless we must allow people to have the freedom to walk out situations with Jesus int their own way not just the way in the way he has led us “I” or anyone else thinks they should or would handle it) If people are truly seeking Jesus even if it looks different from our journey did or we think it should it will still be an amazing journey and if they aren’t going to Jesus we can pray they will and he will show them but we have to let go of that as well.
We all have unique walks. It is so easy to get so caught up over little things and we all have passions and things that matter more to us or bother us more than they would someone else or when we are at a different place on our journey. I’m pretty sure if we are honest we all do this! I know without a doubt I def sometimes get on others people’s nerves or can’t understand sometimes something God has greatly laid on their hearts and I do the same to others sometimes. God uniquely through his Holy spirit lays things on our heart. I also do absolutely feel he lays discernment on our hearts as well and so we can see both good and bad and sometimes be corrected as well. I’m not talking here a cop-out for saying oh if something immoral is on someone’s heart then God has laid that on their heart. Of course not because God will never lay something inmoral on our hearts to live out! I believe in speaking truth in love and at the times God allows and tells us to do so . However, I do believe at the end of the day what truly matters is me going to Jesus for me and my daily portion. Jesus will equip me personally to be the wife, mom, friend, and so forth for the people he has placed in my life. My walk won’t look the same as someone else’s walk and theirs the same as mine. Bottom line of what I am trying to say is build community and love people. However, at the end of the day we need the Holy spirit alone for where we are on our personal journey. The passions my husband and I have our hearts are uniquely ours. The places and both good and bad God has allowed me, my husband, and our children to walk through and grow through is uniquely for us and the plans he has for us. At the end of the day it doesn’t matter what someone else is or isn’t doing but in us walking in the freedom of the Holy Spirit for our own lives. There is great freedom and joy of that. I’ve had to personally learn how to balance that while still creating community and there is great peace and joy in that and realizing our own individual worth and journey in Christ. When we realize this we are truly free to love others and champion others with Christ like love but also letting go of feeling like we have to answer for everyone.