by MeredithNMills | Sep 2, 2016 | Hope in the Midst of Heartache, knowing God, Uncategorized, Victorious Living, Waiting, Walking by Faith
Did we take a wrong turn somewhere, God?
Did we take a wrong turn?
This path we’re on is bumpier than I expected. I’m not seeing many “green pastures” or much “still water.” It’s certainly not glamorous.
I was kind of hoping for something more exciting, less mundane. I know You lead down “paths of righteousness,” but isn’t there a less exhausting one?
That path over there…the pleasant-looking, grass-is-greener one? I think I’d like that one better. It looks easier, more productive, more… well, fun.
Can’t we give that one a try?
Do you ever have such conversations with God?
Ever feel frustrated, discontent, even disillusioned with the path on which God has you? Ever compare your life with others and wish your days looked more like theirs? Or maybe memories of past seasons or dormant dreams make you long for something…different.
Life has a way of not turning out the way we envisioned, no matter how good we have it.
Sometimes I whine and complain, as evidenced by the above conversation (“inspired” by this past month).
I’m so thankful that God isn’t impatient, that He continues loving and leading me, no matter how I grumble along the way. Sometimes I’m in awe of how gracious and “longsuffering” He is.
In my grumbling seasons, God faithfully reminds me that He Himself is the only Source of true joy and satisfaction. “The Lord will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail” (Is 58:11). “Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days” (Ps 90:14).
Did we take a wrong turn?
He never promised that life would be easy. On the contrary, He said, “If any of you wants to be My follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow Me” (Lk 9:23).
Some days are crazy hard, but “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil 4:13).
By faith, I trust that He has “given us everything we need for a godly life through the knowledge of Him…” (2 Pet 1:3).
When I grow weary, I remember that “at the proper time, we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Gal 6:9).
Sometimes He leads through the valley of the shadow of death, yet He is always with us (even when we don’t feel Him). He knows when we become “weary and burdened,” so He invites to come find rest in Him beside quiet waters (Ps 23, Matt 11:28-30).
He Himself is each need’s satisfaction and every heart’s greatest pleasure.
Did we take a wrong turn?
Are you on a difficult path? Have you been grumbling about your circumstances? How does Jesus satisfy you when life is hard? I’d love to hear – please join the conversation!
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by MeredithNMills | Aug 12, 2016 | Hope in the Midst of Heartache, Uncategorized, Walking by Faith
It came out of nowhere, that unidentified flying creature.
Something flew out of the darkness
Out of the dark, into my personal space, it hit me on the shoulder and bounced off before flying back into the night. I ducked and ran for the car, then sat stunned in the passenger seat. I tried to slow my breathing and calm my racing heart.
What had just happened?
I replayed the 30-second escapade in my mind’s eye. Hubby and I were on our way to catch a late-night movie. He had walked out of the house first, then ducked suddenly when something brushed his face as it flew by. He was slightly shaken – it’s unnerving to collide with something in the dark. But it was gone. We were fine.
Then, as I walked toward the car, I encountered the…thing.
It was creepy. Startling. Unsettling.
The unidentified flying creature flew at me from the darkness.
We decided it must have been a bat. (I shuttered as I typed that!)
That crazy, short-lived event reminds me of life in general. Sometimes we’re blindsided by unexplainable events, sidelined by a change of circumstances, or frightened by things outside of our control.
It’s easy to become fearful, discouraged or bitter when life doesn’t turn out how we hoped.
That’s why I’m grateful that our God is a Rock – both to anchor my feet when everything else is shifting unpredictably, and to be a hiding place for my soul when life’s storms threaten to engulf me. I love the following verse:
“And He will be the stability of your times, a wealth of salvation, wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is (our) treasure” (Is 33:6).
Life is unstable. But God never changes.
The One we call Father is the same God who was faithful to Abraham. The same God who did wonders through Moses. The same God who wove goodness into the tragic events of Joseph’s life.
He was David’s Protector, Solomon’s Wisdom, Elijah’s Provider, Daniel’s Strength.
He is still the Way, the Truth, the Life, Living Water, Hope for the hurting, Healer to the broken.
His grace was enough for Paul, and it’s just as sufficient today.
Our unchanging Rock
I’m so grateful for a God who remains the same through all the changes of my life.
How about you? How does God’s eternal nature give you hope and courage? I’d love to hear! Please join the conversation!
by MeredithNMills | Jul 29, 2016 | Family, Identity in Christ, knowing God, Uncategorized, Victorious Living, Walking by Faith
By Meredith Mills
@DazzledByTheSon
“You can’t deny that one’s yours!”
Mini-me
That was the comment we heard as my husband carried our littlest into the church where he would be speaking later that morning. It’s true – she definitely bears his image. In fact, I’ve been told she’s the female version of him as a child. There’s something really special about seeing ourselves in our children.
It’s pretty amazing, this image-bearing business.
Even more amazing is the fact that we bear our Heavenly Father’s image.
In the beginning, God set out to make humanity as a reflection of Himself. He wanted creation’s climax to resemble Him. And they did.
But then sin entered the picture. The pinnacle of creation, the creatures after His likeness, the first man and woman chose the one thing God had forbidden. And God’s image in mankind was distorted.
God’s image was distorted.
Instead of reflecting His purity, they were infected with the nature of sin. This new nature would be passed on to every human ever born (with the exception of the God-man, Jesus).
Instead of reflecting God’s eternal nature, their spirits died instantly and their bodies began the fatal process of aging.
Instead of reflecting God’s sacrificial heart of love, they became self-protective and accusatory, pointing fingers to conceal their guilt.
Instead of uninhibited friendship with God and each other, they felt the pangs of shame, so they covered up and hid from God.
At that decisive moment, everything changed.
Well, not everything.
The relentless, unfailing love of God stayed the same. And His sovereign plan still reigned supreme.
For you see, all was not lost. His image was defiled, but it was not destroyed. Repeatedly in the Old Testament, God reminds us that humanity still bears His image. In fact, that’s the basis for how we’re to treat one another – we all carry His likeness, so we’re to honor each other as fellow-image bearers.
Yet His image was marred, so He would fix that. He would not leave us this way.
In the greatest recovery mission of all time, the Son of God stepped into our world – in human flesh, yet exactly representing the Father. He lived and died and rose again – all to redeem a people made in His image. All to restore His true likeness in mankind.
That’s us, fellow Jesus lover! We’ve been made in His image at conception, reborn with a new nature at salvation, and are being transformed into a true picture of our God!
He can be seen in us in so many ways…
- When we love that difficult person, we look like our forgiving Father.
- When we endure the hardships of this life, we model our Suffering Savior.
- When we enjoy the good things He’s given, we show the world a Daddy who delights in His children and loves giving good gifts.
- When we engage in our professions, we reflect various aspects of His character. He’s our Parent, Teacher, Healer, Counselor, Helper, Leader, Judge, Creator, Designer… Whatever we do on a daily basis, God’s image can be seen in us.
That gives so much meaning and purpose to my daily life. Wiping noses, cooking meals, teaching children, cleaning up messes, putting thoughts on paper, building relationships – it all can be a picture of God. It’s an overflow of His image in me.
Every person looks like God to some degree or another. But those redeemed through faith in Christ – we can become more like Him each day as we participate in His Spirit’s work in our lives.
I don’t know what a heavenly reception looks like, but how awesome would it be to wake up in the arms of our Daddy and hear whispers going through the crowd – “We can’t deny that one’s His! She looks so much like Him!”
Oh, how I want to look like my Daddy! How about you?
Transformed into His image
How do you reflect God’s image in your daily life? In what ways have you seen Him transform you? I’d love hear!
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by MeredithNMills | Jun 17, 2016 | Hope in the Midst of Heartache, Identity in Christ, knowing God, Uncategorized, Waiting, Walking by Faith
It wasn’t supposed to be this way.
I sit in a hospital room, surrounded by beeping and whirring machines. Otherwise, it’s silent.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way.
A beloved family member sleeps fitfully in the bed in front of me. The surgery went well. Anesthesia effective. Thank God for good doctors. Now begins the rocky road to recovery.
As I stare at her, something deep within me revolts against what I see. In this room, all over this hospital, are people who bear God’s image – each with a story to tell. They have hopes, plans and dreams. They are loved, and they love in return. They want to be healthy, happy, free. They want to be anywhere but here.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way.
Sickness. Pain. Aging. Loss. Broken bodies. Broken hearts. Broken lives. It’s all so…wrong
We were made for more than this..
My mind wanders back to a Garden, the first and only perfect Garden. Teaming with life, bursting with beauty, this Garden showcased the handiwork of the Master Creator. He spoke everything into existence and pronounced it good – everything, that is, until He was ready for His magnum opus. For this, He would use extra special care. He would craft man and woman as the pinnacle of His creation. Now, He says, everything is very good.
Teaming with life and bursting with beauty
Beauty. Fruitfulness. Each day an extension of yesterday’s friendship with God. No knowledge of pain. No conflict between man and wife, humankind and God. Trust and peace. Wholeness and well-being. Unhampered joy. Unhindered life.
This, this is what we were made for. This was God’s design.
Not what I see in this hospital room.
Not what we see all around us today.
Not life as we know it in this sin-ravaged world.
When mistrust of God and self-exaltation came on the scene, everything changed. Absolutely everything. (See Gen 3.)
Creation itself groans under its “bondage to decay” (Rom 8:21). Thorns and thistles. Death and desolation. Predators and Prey. Famine, drought, natural disasters. And we, the masterpieces of His Creation, we cannot escape this broken existence either. No matter our position or status or story, we all know the pain of living here.
But it will not always be so.
Because a Deliverer came to our rescue.
The Creator became as the created.
The One who holds our universe together stepped into our brokenness and lived among us.
He knew our pain. He faced our battles. He bore our shame.
He chose the cross and took our sin – the very cause of all this heartbreak in the first place.
The Holy One waged war on sin and death. And He won.
The victory has been decided. Jesus is the Champion. And soon, we will know the full reality of all He accomplished that day at Calvary.
Someday God will restore His creation. He will deliver us from this fallen world. He will usher in a new heaven and a new earth where we, His own, will be with Him forever. In our new home, there will be no more death or pain or sickness or tears. He will make everything new.
And so, as I sit here in this hospital room, I take comfort. As I read the news and feel the heartbreak of each new tragedy, I find hope. This fleeting existence is not all there is. Someday, everything will be made right.
Our Deliver is coming. Come quickly, Lord Jesus!
Come quickly, Lord Jesus!
How do you comfort your heart in times of suffering and pain? I’d love to hear!
(If you want to know more about a relationship with this Deliverer, please check out In Case You’re Wondering.)
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by MeredithNMills | Apr 24, 2016 | Identity in Christ, Uncategorized, Walking by Faith
Sometimes our vision changes.
Walking with Jesus
When I set out on this blogging journey, my goal was to chronicle my walk with Christ. I was at the tail end of a pretty dark season. Life had recently come crashing down around me, and everything I thought I believed came into question. (To read more, please check out My Journey.)
“Two things I’m certain about,” I confided in a friend. “The Bible is the Word of God, and I’m saved by the blood of Jesus. Beyond that, I just don’t know right now.” Specific Christian doctrine, practical Christian living…it all needed to be reexamined.
Thankfully, those two certain beliefs are the bedrock of our faith and our God is a Master Rebuilder.
For a time, I thought I needed to rebuild my faith through prayer and Bible study, but then I came across the following verse in Colossians 2:7: “Having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith…” All those verbs – they’re in the passive tense, meaning I’m not the one doing them. Rather, I’m receiving the actions of Another.
Maybe that seems trivial, like mere semantics, but it took a weight off my shoulders. I realized that, just as God rooted me in Him at salvation, so He Himself is building and establishing my faith. My role is to abide in Him and welcome His work in me. (See John 15.)
During the course of this rebuilding project, I’ve learned that “identity” is a core issue in the Christian faith – most importantly, an accurate knowledge of God is essential. Of secondary, but also vital, importance is knowing my own identity as a child of God. These two things are like lenses through which I view and interact with the world around me.
Looking at life through the lens of identity
God showed me that my understanding was flawed in both areas. So I’ve been taking notes as I read through Scripture of everything I see related to those two issues. My big, thick journal is almost full because, guess what? God has LOTS to say about identity. (And I’m not even half-way through the Bible yet!)
He longs to be known! And He wants us to know who we really are, too.
So I think it’s time to shift the focus here, or rather to “zoom in” on this aspect of our faith. I’d like to share with you what I’m learning, and I’d really love to learn from your journey, as well. Together, in the Body of Christ, we have the greatest treasure the world has ever known – friendship with God. Because He drew near, we can know Him and be secure in Him.
So stay tuned and prepare to be…encouraged!
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