writing

Are You Focusing on the Ugly?

/ www.LivingLarger.life

Good morning, world. Things are looking pretty good from the front porch of my farm in Virginia today. The air is cold and it still feels a little like winter in the morning, but the farm is looking more like spring every day. You’d think after all these years I’d get tired of the view from the front porch but that’s never going to happen because when I look across the fields of this old farm what I see is God. Who could ever get tired of looking at God? Wildlife is a WAY of life around here and watching nature respond to what God provides is an incredible site to see….day after day. The deer never seem to be in much of a hurry until they sense danger, but the birds are an entirely different story. To me, the birds always look frantic as they dart from here to there looking for food and they don’t ever seem to rest – at least not for long. As I considered my wildlife view this morning it reminded me of the Journey of Faith. Some people of Faith are like the deer – satisfied to “graze” on whatever satisfies the flesh and they don’t seem to have a care in the world about anything UNLESS danger shows up. Then there are people like me. We’re like the birds of the air…so focused on the fields full of lost people within our reach that we refuse to rest until our Job here on earth is done. Which one are you?

There is no such thing as a perfect view in Life no matter where we sit. My view from the front porch has changed dramatically over the years as farmers sold out to developers and cows were traded for houses. I see the ugliest cell tower you could ever imagine off in the distance that has recently doubled in size. It serves as a reminder to me of how man doesn’t care about the view at all when there are so many two-legged “creatures” to please. Instead of the pitch dark I used to enjoy (where the only light came from lightning bugs), I see lights on in houses across the fields and I see party lights that never turn off. I’ve seen things built that I don’t understand and I’ve seen what it looks like when property values decline because of it. All the things I just described are the ugly things within my view that could so easily destroy the beauty IF I allow the devil to rob me and I stop seeing God in it all. There’s enough ugliness in the world to sink a fleet of ships, and for the life of me, I don’t understand how professed Christians could spend so much time obsessing over the ugly that they’ve lost sight of fields full of lost souls and people destined for Hell. How can they spend so much time wishing harm on the very ones who were also “made in His image”? I guess they either don’t understand why they were Created in the first place, OR they don’t really Know the Living God at all. Sad but true. With Him, focusing on the Beauty is everything and it’s the Focus on Beauty that compels us to share Beauty with the ugly all the day of our lives!

I’m just an imperfect woman living an imperfect life with an imperfect view from my perfect front porch in Virginia. The ugly I can see could so easily rob me IF I allowed myself to stop seeing God in it all. I want to be like the birds – “franticly” trying to reach as many as I can while there is still breath in my body. I exist solely by the Will of my Perfect God. I have a Perfect Future in store for me with a Perfect View that “no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind even comprehend what He has in store” for me. I am Forgiven and Redeemed by the blood of my Perfect Savior. When I focus on these things the ugly disappears and is replaced by indescribably Beauty every single time. Ugly? What ugly?

What is it going to be for you? Will you focus on the ugly and forget about the lost OR will you “frantically” focus on the feast of lost souls right before your eyes while there’s still breath in your body?

A Different Day…But The Same Heart Still…

/ www.LivingLarger.life
No photo description available.

Good morning, world. Things are looking pretty good from the front porch of my farm in Virginia today. I met with the Living God before the sun came up and I gave thanks for a warm dwelling on this cold day; a luxury many others don’t have. It’s 9 degrees this morning and the ice on the trees and the fields won’t be melting any time soon even though the sun is bright and beautiful. The temperature of the sun never changes, but even it can’t melt the ice if the atmosphere around the ice remains cold. As I stood there admiring the beauty of the icy limbs and the blazing sun, the Lord spoke to my Heart with a reminder of how this is what life will look like as we draw closer to the End. The Light of God will always be there and His “temperature” never changes…but there will always be icy ones that refuse to be melted no matter how Bright the Light of His Love shines. What an Amazing God to speak to my Heart through the icy limbs on a cold day.

It’s a dark world riddled with turmoil as the Spiritual war rages in the heavens. The more the Light of God shines, the icier the world becomes as the limbs relentlessly fight to remain just where they are with no interest in being warmed by the Son whatsoever. Sometimes when the Warmth seeps through even just a little, the icy ones fight even harder for their “right” to remain where they are. Jesus said “they will hate you because of me” and that’s true – but it’s not until we Shine the Light to Warm things up do we Understand just what Jesus meant by that. Fear of being hated will often silence Carriers of the Warmth so the ice keeps clinging to the trees like never before. All it ever takes for ice to melt is for the atmosphere around it to warm up, and when that happens the ice is powerless. I dream about what the icy world would look like if more Carriers of the Warmth were willing to Shine despite the hate they’d experience if they did. The “temperature” of the Living God never changes and He has the Power over all…BUT His people are commanded to Share the Warmth so we can change the atmosphere of the ice, and yet so many refuse to be hated because of Him.

The icy conditions don’t exist just because of the lost ones, they exist because of some Proclaiming to Know Jesus Christ too. There are lots of enemies in the Camp and they freeze over often when they hear things they don’t like or they choose to spread hate over Love. Sometimes they talk about Warmth, but the icy condition of their heart is what the world really sees, and the enemy rejoices to see one of God’s Warmth Carriers spitting out ice instead. We talk a lot about Revival but that’s a “be careful what you wish for” kind of thing. When Revival begins, the ice will rage even more than it does today, and those Willing to Share the Warmth of the Son will be hated like never before. The Good News is that One Day the Son will show Himself to the world again, and when He does, all the icy ones will melt at His feet and confess that He is Lord too. Now that’s a Good Dose of Warmth the icy ones need to hear and it’s what the Warmth Carriers share despite the hate we experience when we do.

God used a simple image of ice clinging to the limbs to ignite my Heart this morning. I’m Armed and Ready to Carry the Warmth of the Son to everyone, everywhere, despite what it might “cost” me. I experience more hate than most people can imagine but that only Propels me to Share more when I do. The Atmosphere around me is so warm that the icy ones feel it by what I say and how I Live. There’s absolutely nothing the icy ones can do to harm me but the harder they try, the harder I Work to be the best Carrier of Warmth I can possibly be. He died for me…I Live for Him. You can’t go wrong when you look at the Journey called Life what way!

How about you?