becka lippy

Like I mentioned in my last post, I've been wrestling with joy. I have all this theology in my head, but living it out, enjoying the fruit of it, is another thing. I am fighting to live out of the reality of who I am in Jesus. I've noticed with some of my friends, as we've gotten older the pressure of the world becomes both more stale and heavy. It's this constant voice that tells us that we don't have enough. Not enough money. Not enough security. Not enough love. It's the world of marketing at its best. We NEED more. So while the world around me tells me that I need something more, I am fighting to see my everything in Jesus. He is enough for me. He is. I am fighting to believe it. It's not always hard to live it. There are moments of grace when I see and feel His goodness in such a tangible way. There are moments when I realize how wonderful He is, how great His love is, how unbelievable it is that He has loved me despite my rebellious heart. Moments when

I've been struggling over the last few weeks with some big truths that have made themselves into my head but aren't settling in my heart. For example: Jesus is my joy. Yep, I believe this with my brain. I know this is true, but I don't feel it is true. I feel like I get a lot more joy from other things. I know I should get joy from knowing Jesus but really, when I am honest, I spend a good deal of time and energy trying to find sources of joy outside of Jesus. This isn't to say that we shouldn't ever find any joy in any place other than Jesus. But as I was explaining recently to a friend, I need to be very jealous of my relationship with God and if I see that something is distracting me from Him, or stealing my affection from Him, I need to "alejarme" (to move away from) that thing. Or let's talk in terms of idols. No, not little wooden statues that people bow down to, but things both abstract and concrete that we put our hope or value in. Things that

Last night at ISA I got a LOVELY surprise from my dear friends Beth and Derek Brown- a huge bunch of BEAUTIFUL roses!!! That's right. And not just any roses, but probably my favorite kind of rose. They are multi-colored (yellow and orange) and they have crinkely tops.