Finding Faith in the Mess
A surrendered yes to where ever you are leading.” Ellie Holcomb Calling. Purpose. Life. These are words we contemplate to give ourselves meaning. We need to matter; have an impact on this planet greater than ourselves. We long to have purpose. But man, that can …
I was walking the dogs the other day when I noticed something. I told my four month old Boxador puppies to sit. I make them sit at each corner before we cross the street. I am trying to teach them that I am the lead and some self-control. One of the puppies sat on command. The other, well, he needed a few reminders and a little push on his back side. Just like my boys, the puppies need a few reminders and a whole lot of patience.
Training these dogs and raising these kids reminds me of my faith.
Raising puppies is like raising kids which is like finding grace.
Takes stamina
Patience
Commitment
Failure
Picking back up after failure
Recovering from failure
Doesn’t happen overnight
Grace isn’t a chase. It’s a discovery. Instead of taking the lead in our lives, we chase grace as if it is always one step ahead. Grace is ours the moment we believe. There is no chase.
We tend to chase our kids and our puppies, too. Most of the time, we are running after them helping to right their wrongs instead of taking the lead knowing we are the one in charge. Exhausted and worn out, we give up too soon. This leads us to more stress down the road because we did stay the course when raising these crazies got hard.
We do the same with grace. Instead of living in confidence in the grace we receive, we give up. We believe the lie that we aren’t worthy or we are too tired and we walk away from grace. And when we walk away from grace, we walk away from our faith.
Grace is not a chase. Grace is a journey of discovery. A discovery of how much you are loved.
No matter how many times my puppies chew something up or don’t sit when I tell them to, I still love them. Same with my kids. No matter how many times they veer off the road, I see them sleeping and I fall in love all over again. My love never leaves them. My grace is always available.
The same is true for God’s grace to us. Always available. No need to chase.
Stop running. Stand confidently in the grace you were gifted the moment you believed. When Jesus said, “It is finished” in John 19:28-30 he gave that victory to you. Now, you can rest in His grace no matter where you find yourself.
Grace isn’t a chase. It isn’t something to earn. Grace is a gift freely given from the cross to you. Take it. Rest. Find peace. Be loved.
Love & Blessings,
Meg
FLASHBACK FRIDAY I am a recovering perfectionist. Weeellll, I can’t honestly say I’m recovered, but I am working on getting there. I did have to do about a bazillion things and get them all perfectly in order before I could sit down and write today. …
I had a dream. I was at a conference and a speaker did not show. I was asked last minute to fill in. I did not have any content; nothing written down. I had gone as an attendee desperately wanting to fly under the radar and not be seen. I got up on stage wearing a sweatshirt, jeans, and tennis shoes. I stood before a crowd not knowing what to do or say.
And then it hit me.
I abruptly woke up the moment I read what was on my sweatshirt.
The Messy Mingling.
This.
This is it.
This is what the Lord has been preparing me for all these years.
The Messy Mingling.
My whole life has been neat. Let me say, I have had my fair share of messy moments. Like all of us, I have faced struggles and hardships so deep, so painful, I never thought I was going to push through. But, now that I am on the other side, I can honestly say I could wrap my life up in a beautiful box and pretty bow.
Everything in its place.
All the throw pillows coiffed perfectly on the couch.
The to-do list on the fridge written using bullets.
Neat and tidy.
And then came the dream. The vision was also neat and tidy. Do step one followed by step two. Each foot landing perfectly in front of the other. Eventually, I will follow this perfect little path towards the splendor of a dream fulfilled. Or so I thought.
My whole life, that perfectly wrapped box with the beautiful bow, was not as neat and tidy as I thought. If you opened it up, out would pops Jack-in-the-box.
There’s a mess inside and it’s beautiful.
All the things I have experienced up until this point have hands-down prepared me for this moment right now.
Not growing up in a Christian home.
Finding my faith as a young teen through a friend not my family.
A family on the rocks; on the fringe of despair.
Walking a dual life for years trying to balance them both.
Meeting my unbelieving husband thinking I would be the one to change him.
College taking longer and being much harder (and more expensive) than I thought.
Student loans.
Debt.
Marriage.
Kids. Oh, the kids. (All boys. Who would’ve thought).
Miscarriage.
Moving across the country.
Finding myself.
Anxiety rearing its ugly head.
Losing myself.
Finding myself again.
All of it. All this mess has purpose. The mess is what drives my faith. The mess is what propels me to search for a Savior. The mess is what forces me to lean into Jesus because there is nothing else I can hang on to.
The mess.
It launched a dream.
As I think back on my dream, me standing in the spotlight in all my messy glory, I see you. We are all a little messy, aren’t we? We all get a little lost sometimes. We all search and fret and wonder and doubt. Every single one of us. We all have a similar goal: we all desire to make this mess into something beautiful.
The Messy Mingling? It’s not one girl’s made-up dream. It’s made up of each of our gloriously messy stories. Stories that shout redemption and grace. Stories that usher in victory and healing. Stories that make space for the mess. Because the mess matters.
You are The Messy Mingling.
Love & Blessings,
Meg
I have a circle. You do, too. Inside of our circles are all the rules; a certain way to live. We like things a certain way. We also like to force others to live inside our circles. We desire them to abide to our rules, …
