​He did it! He woke us up AGAIN! He woke us up with breath in our lungs and a beating heart!  We have another day to be alive!  YES!!

While it may seem like I’m being a little facetious — if we really stop and consider the true miracle that we are as a living human being, there certainly is great reason to praise God.  

Every moment of every day, regardless of what is happening externally around us, whether we’re having a good day or a bad day — our bodies are working around the clock, doing the most mind-boggling things, just to keep us alive.  There is no better word than “miraculous," to describe how perfectly our internal organs work and fit together so precisely.    The intricacies that make our bodies function day in and day out are almost impossible to comprehend: 
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• Without even thinking about it, we breathe in, and breathe out 17,000 times a day.  
• An adult human body contains 100,000 MILES of blood vessels. If you were to lay them out in a straight line, they would wrap around the earth’s equator 4 times!!! 
• Our heart pumps approximately 2,000 gallons of blood through it’s chambers a day!  To put this in perspective, the average household only pumps about 200 gallons of water every day! 
• Our body is comprised of 7,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (7 octillion) atoms!  I can’t even begin to wrap my mind around the immensity of that number!
• Our brains NEVER stop working, even as we sleep.  The human brain thinks 35-48 thoughts per minute every 24 hours!  
• The cells in our stomach lining produce an alkaline substance every few milliseconds to neutralize our stomach acid.  If this stopped happening, our stomach would digest itself because some of the acids are strong enough to dissolve metals!

• Our body's cells regenerate themselves every single day. This means that we have an entirely new set of taste buds every 10 days, new finger and toe nails every 6-10 months, new bones every ten years and even a new heart every 20 years!!

There's not much that can leave me speechless.  But the miracle of our body and all of it's functions is simply indescribable!  

Thousands and thousands of years before any of these incredible facts were known to man, King David recognized the miracle of God’s greatest creation, the human body.  He praised the Creator by saying, You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb.  Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!  Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it!  — Psalm 139:13-14

Before science and discovery told him so, David recognized the complexity of God’s great workmanship.  Every single one of us is a living, moving, breathing MIRACLE!   Of course, there are things that I can do to help my body work more efficiently and last longer, like eating right and exercising.  But for the most part, my body keeps me alive all by itself!   My heart beats on it’s own.  My lungs breath on their own.  My brain thinks on it’s own.  I don’t tell them to do these things, they just do!  It’s a miracle!

The dictionary defines “miracle” as:  a surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency.  Doctors can tell us what our bodies do,  and how they do it, but scientifically, they really have no explanation of why.  When we consider how "wonderfully complex" our bodies are — I think it's a fair assumption to say that it takes more faith to believe that our  body's design happened by chance than by a Creator.

I’m quickly reminded of Colossians 1:7, that says our Creator existed before anything else, and He holds all creation together.  When we have created something marvelous by our own hands, it becomes precious to us, and we protect what is precious, right?  Our Creator is no different.  God's human creation was fearfully and wonderfully made, and very precious to him!  He created us, and He holds us together in His hands.

Dear one, you may feel like you’re falling apart physically or even emotionally — but the One who formed you in your mother’s womb, the One who existed before your problems and your pain — is holding you together in every way imaginable.  He holds all creation together, and last time I checked, “all creation" includes you!  I can tell you, from my own experience, that in the darkest moments of my life, I know for certain that I made it through, and was held together by the healing hands of a loving God.

I am a living, breathing witness to the fact that there is healing in the Father’s hands!  Twelve years ago (this week), I lay in ICU after the birth of my son Caleb.  My Doctor had made every attempt to stop the bleeding , to no avail.  We learned later that I was at a 0% clotting ability at the time of his birth.  For two days, they administered a blood transfusion, where I would end up consuming 35 units of blood and 40 units of platelets.  (The average human holds 5 units of blood at a time, so that should give you an idea of how much blood I was loosing.)  They couldn't figure out what was wrong with me, and they could not stop the bleeding.  My liver and kidneys had begun to shut down, and they informed my husband Joel that it didn’t look like I was going to make it.  

As Joel sat by my bedside, thinking that he might be looking into my eyes for the last time, little did he know that God was about to do a miraculous work that would not only astound us, but every specialist, doctor and nurse involved.  

I can't make this up.  Caleb was born on Good Friday, and I lay on my death bed all of Saturday and into Easter Sunday morning.  Up until this point, they could not tell us what was wrong with me.  But I was finally diagnosed with HELLP Syndrome, and they began to treat it as such.  By Monday morning, I was COMPLETELY healed and released from ICU!  

We were informed by every specialist and doctor that despite the treatment they gave me upon diagnosis, I should not have lived. I had lost too much blood.  My liver and kidneys had almost completely shut down.  I was too close to death for my body to turn itself around.  

On top of being reunited with my new baby boy, my 2-year old Hannah-girl and my rock-solid husband, one of my favorite moments was when they rolled me back to the maternity ward. The nurses came running from every direction…hugging and kissing me, some crying.  They couldn’t believe that I was alive!  They told me, "we thought we had lost you!" 

 Several weeks later at a check-up, I complained to my OBGYN about my pain levels and all of the black & blue bruises all over my arms from all of the needles they had poked me with.  I was sitting in a wheelchair because I still couldn't walk.  She bent down, and looked me square in the eyes, and I'll never forget what she said:  "Christina, I don't think you understand.  You should not be alive.  You are going to feel significant pain for possibly 2-3 months.  But let the pain remind you of the miracle that has happened in your body."  She went on to tell me that she had never seen such a miraculous birth in all of her years in practice.  

Friends, there is healing in His hands!  Hallelujah!  

The gospel of Luke says that everyone came to Jesus and tried to touch him because healing power went out from him and he healed everyone — Luke 6:19.  The bible says on multiple accounts that Jesus laid hands on the sick, and they were healed.  Not only did He heal those with physical diseases, he also healed those who were mentally or spiritually sick - those troubled by evil spirits.  (Luke 6:18)   

But it get’s better!  He doesn't just heal our diseases and wounded heart.  Jesus proclaimed in John 10:28-29,  I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand.  Once we are safe in the healing hands of God, nothing, or no one can snatch us away!  What a promise!  Even when we experience the devastating blows of living in a broken, imperfect world — even when the miracle of our mortal body one day runs it’s course and death takes us to the grave — the miracle of eternal life never ends!  You and I can experience His eternal (everlasting, never-ending, endless, perpetual, infinite, and boundless) life NOW….and forever!  

Let’s take these truths of our amazing miracle bodies and the healing hands of Jesus — and apply it to whatever is feeling broken in us today.  Do you feel like you’re falling apart physically or emotionally?  I have great news for you!  There is a greater Power, greater than the strength of whatever it is that is wreaking havoc on your body, soul and spirit!  Your Creator and loving Father wants to hold you, with healing in His hands.  Would you let Him?  You can experience the healing and loving protection of God’s hands RIGHT NOW — even in the midst of your pain.  

For many of us - we have not because we ask not...but we ask not because we believe not.  Believing that God wants to hold you, heal you and give you eternal life is a vital step in receiving it!   It would be ridiculous to ask Him  for any of those promises if you don’t believe that He is who He says he is, and He will do what He says He’ll do!  We are promised John 3:16, that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.  

Friend, would you believe in Him today and let Him hold you and heal you in the safety of His loving hands?  He is reaching out to you.  Will you reach back and take the eternal, miraculous life that He is extending towards you?  

Let’s pray. 

Dear Father,  
You made all of the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I am not an accident!  You made me so wonderfully complex, and I thank you for it!  You existed before anything else — before my problems and my pain — and am am asking that you would hold me together right now.  I am spiritually dead, but I want to receive your eternal life that I will experience from this moment on, and into eternity!  I want to live and dwell daily in the safety and protection of your loving Hand. I surrender my life to you, Jesus, and today, I make the choice to walk in Your ways for as long as I have breath!  

In Jesus name, 
Amen.

​Growing up is hard, isn’t it?  About a year ago, I was having a heart-to-heart with my son, Caleb.  He was in tears and feeling hopeless about his 5th grade year.  Academically, we had no concern, because for the most part, he was an Honor Roll student.  But for about 4 months straight, his behavior and focus in class had taken a significant dive for the worse. The pattern that was emerging was that the more he was reprimanded or punished for the things he was doing wrong, the worse his behavior got.  As these issues began to compound, so did his low-self esteem.  More and more often, he was speaking words over himself like, “I’m just the bad kid.”  “My teachers hate me.” "Nobody likes me.”  My heart broke to hear these things come out of my 10-year old’s mouth.  Even though none of those statements were true, he really did feel those feelings.  He wasn’t trying to manipulate the conversation or elicit pity to get out of trouble.  He felt like he was at a dead end and that there was no hope for him to succeed.

Admittedly, I don’t know how anyone can parent without the guidance of the Holy Spirit in moments like these, because in my own strength and knowledge, I felt completely incapable!  As he sat there despondently, I cried out to God begging Him to give me His heart and His words for Caleb.  I sensed that this was a tender teaching moment that could not only get him through this dark night, but also potentially become a lifetime lesson for years to come.

It was then that the Lord began to give me a picture of an Obstacle Course.  In my mind’s eye, Caleb was running the course, but stopped dead in his tracks as he came upon a tall wooden wall blocking his path.  As I watched the scene unfold, I heard the voice of the Holy Spirit whisper: “This is not the end for Caleb.  It’s only an obstacle.”  Wow.  God moment.  I don’t think either of us will ever forget that conversation.  Even now - we have a God-given language to speak whenever challenges come our way.

Caleb’s not alone — we’ve all hit our own walls before.  It’s a discouraging and frustrating place to be, because just when we feel like we are making progress towards a desired destination — the wall appears and blocks our path.  It looms over us and silently screams of impasse.  Sometimes, we are paralyzed by the wall.  We want to get to the other side, but we don’t know how - and the only option seems to be to give up, and turn around.  Other times, we find ourselves slamming up against the wall like Chip Gaines on Demo Day - but unlike Chip, we learn quickly that forcefully trying to remove a wall on our own strength will only leave us more bruised and damaged than the wall itself!

Friend, what is your obstacle today?  Is it a crumbling marriage?  A wayward child?  Bills piling up?  Stress at work or school?  An addiction? What, in your life, seems to be blocking you from moving forward in your journey of faith?  It’s not a mistake that you stumbled upon these words today.  The Holy Spirit has been waiting to have a moment with you - and He is whispering to you now, over your heart, over your situation, over your mess:  “This is not the end for you.  It is only an obstacle.”    

There is a way to get to the other side of your wall.  Obstacles were MADE to be overcome!  Isn’t that the whole purpose of participating in an obstacle course - to get through the obstacles and make it to the finish line?  As much as your obstacle would have you believe otherwise, you can conquer it!  The bible tells us that the same Spirit who raised Christ from the dead dwells IN us and that we are more than conquerers through Him who loved us!  (Romans 8:11, 37).   Regardless of how big or daunting your obstacle seems to be, do not be deceived!  It may look like the end.  It may feel like the end.  But it is not the end — and the only way it becomes the end, is is if you quit and give up.

So here is the question of the day:  Are you going to overcome your obstacle, or will your obstacle overcome you? Both options are viable scenarios — you really could go either way!  I’ll be the first to admit — almost every time I’ve ever faced with an obstacle or a wall in my life, my first reaction is to try and figure out a way of escape.  How can I get out of this?  But when I choose to quit, I am essentially saying that my obstacle is too big for God to help me overcome, which couldn’t be further from the truth!  There is NO obstacle, NO wall that is too big for God.  Jeremiah 32:17 says, O Sovereign Lord! You made the heavens and earth by your strong hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you!  

Quitting may seem like the easier way - and it probably is - but please know friend, you can’t win a race that you choose to quit!  My hope and prayer for you today, is that you would not quit!  That you would choose to overcome your obstacle!  Decide right now to take “I can’t” out of your vocabulary, because that is a statement that is just NOT true!  You CAN!   Philippians 4:13 says, I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me! 

Any time I felt like I couldn’t do something, my little brother Ben used to always tease me.  He’d say in his best lecturing voice,  “Christina, how many things can you do through Christ who gives you strength??”   Rolling my eyes and with a big sister sigh, I’d answer him, “ALL things, Ben.”  He might have been teasing…but little brother was speaking 100% truth!  Your wall may be BIG and daunting, but you CAN get to the other side of it!  We can conquer ALL walls!  ALL obstacles! 

King David knew this truth, and I can’t help but love this guy.  He said in Psalm 18:29, By my God, I can LEAP over a wall!  Reading about his lifestyle of worship and relentless pursuit of God, I literally picture him hopping on God’s back, piggyback style, and together, LEAPING over every obstacle that came his way.  David had learned from the time he was just a shepherd boy tending sheep in a field, to the day that he died as a King in the Hebrew Palace, that NO obstacle or wall is too big for God.   No lions, no bears, (oh my!) no giants, not even jealous kings out to murder him — NOTHING was too difficult for his God!  

Friends, as long as we stay connected and joined to God like David was, we will not only get over that wall, we will LEAP over it!  Are you ready to roll up your sleeves and overcome your wall today?  Let’s do it!  

No matter what has been written on the pages of your life story, you are remarkable.   

Despite what has happened to you, or what you’ve done since you made your appearance into the world — you are remarkable.

Regardless of your personality, your body type, your abilities (or lack thereof), your flaws and imperfections - you are remarkable. 

You are remarkable because a Remarkable Creator knit you together in your mother’s womb, lovingly, carefully and intentionally.  Of the millions chromosomal possibilities, He specifically picked out your every feature so that you would become YOU.  You are not a mistake!    

Psalm 139:13-14 says, For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Have you ever watched someone knit or crochet before?  Their fingers move and loop the yarn in intricate, intentional movements.  This is how God put us together as we were developing in our mother’s womb.  There was not one piece of us that was accidental.  

Yet we are born into an imperfect, sinful, broken world.  Words define us.  Pain shapes us. Sin dirties us.  And shame distorts us. Before we know it, we’ve lost our true self — the self that God made us to be — the fearfully-and-wonderfully-made-self that was knit together and perfectly formed for a purpose.

When you look in the mirror, do you see a remarkable person?  

Sadly, many, if not most of us don’t.  We see an imperfect image that we wish we could correct.  We see our physical “flaws.”  We see our past. We see our pain. We see our sin.  We see our scars.  

There was a time in my young 20’s when I hated what I saw in the mirror.  I had all the same hangups and insecurities that most young women have about their physical appearance…but what I hated the most was not what I could see on the outside — It was my rotting self inside.  My self-worth had been mutilated by a toxic relationship, leaving me depressed and alone.  I had either pushed away or held at arm’s length every person in my life who truly cared for me.  I was ashamed of who I had become and I was fearful that someone might see “the real me.”  What I saw when I looked in the mirror of self-awareness was far from “remarkable."  

So why was there such a disconnect between what the bible says about me and my remarkable, knit-together, fearfully-and-wonderfully-made self…and the messed up, self-loathing-person that stared back at me in the mirror?  Which image was the true me?

1 Corinthians 13:12 answers these questions for us:  Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

The Apostle Paul implies that God, our Creator, sees the full picture of who we truly are.  He sees us deep down to the very core of our inner-most being.  He can see through the pain, through the mistakes, through the abuse, and even through our sin and rebellion.  He can see us with “perfect clarity.”  He knows us “completely.”  

When we are in our “now” - we see things imperfectly.…like gazing at our distorted reflection in the mirrors of a fun house.  While we see our pain, our mistakes, our abused body and heart, our sin and our rebellion…He sees perfection.  Not perfection in the sense that we have done no wrong, or can do no wrong - but perfection in the sense that He makes no mistakes.  Perfection in the sense that we are His workmanship, his masterpiece, handcrafted and beautiful, made for good use. 

Friend, however you see yourself “now” is partial and incomplete — but your Creator sees the finished project.  You may not have reached your “then” yet — but rest assured: you are a masterpiece in progress!  As His workmanship, He wants to take us from our “now” to our “then.”  He wants us to see everything about ourselves with perfect clarity, and to know ourselves completely, just as He knows us completely.  

The Bible says, that the bridge between our “now” and our “then...” is Jesus.  Ephesians 2:10 (AMP) tells us that Jesus transforms us spiritually, He renews us and makes us ready to be used for good works:    For we are His workmanship — His own master work, a work of art, created in Christ Jesus —spiritually transformed, renewed, and ready to be used for good works, which God prepared for us beforehand, so that we would walk in them living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us. 

Are you discouraged today because of the “now” reflection staring back at you?  My friend, as we celebrate the coming of a new year, I can’t think of a better time to step into that glorious process of moving from your “now” to your “then.”  To move from seeing yourself imperfectly to a place where you see yourself with perfect, Divine clarity.  To step away from an image of yourself that is partial and incomplete and into knowing yourself fully and completely as well as your Creator knows you!

May 2018 be a year of transformation and renewal in Christ Jesus!

Today, I am struggling.  I am hurting.  I am sad.  And by no means, do I have it together.

It's just been one of those weeks - when it rains, it pours.  From the unfair, untimely, devastating death of a dear friend and woman that I greatly admired - to my typically faithful Honda Odyssey having multiple issues all of a sudden, all at the same time - to a perfect date night being spoiled at the very end because of a squabble on the way home (yes, we have those too!) - to a misunderstanding with a close friend that had to be worked through with tears and humility - to frantically tying up loose ends for my dad's 70'th birthday party in a short amount of time.  All of this, on top of the normal stress and strains of loving my family well AND leading a couple hundred church people through their own lives and mess and pain.  

I've cried more this week than I probably have all year.  I'm tired and emotionally spent.

I don't tell you this to plead for sympathy or elicit pity. I'm letting you in to my vulnerable state so that I can walk you through how I cope when life seemingly continues to throw lemons my way.  

​I could totally wait a couple of days or weeks, pull myself together and then give you the polished, book-worthy version of how to overcome trials - but I think it would be more powerful and meaningful to allow you to step in to my own mess - in realtime - and walk this journey alongside of me.

Will you join me?


​HOW I AM WORKING MY WAY THROUGH A TOUGH WEEK:
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This morning, as I sat in the parking lot of the church office, trying to suppress my tears to no avail,   the first thing I knew I HAD to do was escape.
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Anytime we face difficulty, there is a fine line between how we want to respond and how we need to respond.  In my "want to" scenario this morning, I would have escaped all responsibility, gone back to bed, hidden under the covers and attempted to sleep the bad day away.  I would be lying if I told you I didn't seriously consider this as an option this morning.  

It's funny though, how often what we want to do is actually a distorted or unhealthy version of what we actually need to do.  You see, escape is a God-designed, instinctive, defense mechanism for survival.  He made us this way, and fully intended escape not to only be a means of protection and survival, but one of peace and comfort.  God's intention however, was not that we would escape to isolation, (like I wanted to do this morning), or towards other temporary band-aids like alcohol, porn, overeating or binge shopping.   His intension and deep desire for us is that we would escape to Him.  

King David in the Bible got this.  He told God, "YOU are my hiding place; YOU will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance." (Psalm 32:7) David was an imperfect human like you and I.  He struggled with sin.  He was betrayed by the people he loved most.  He endured the cold eye of hatred and jealousy from someone he only wanted to please and serve.  He was ripped away from his closest friend and ally.  He lost a child. He faced insurmountable, seemly impossible obstacles like giants, lions and bears (oh, my!)  And the list goes on.  But David knew that in the midst of it all, he had a Place to escape - a Place where he would be protected from all the physical and emotional arrows coming at him on all sides - a Place where he would be loved unconditionally - a Place where discouragement would be replaced with encouragement - and a Place where he would be strengthened and prepared for the next battle.  His Hiding Place - his place of escape - was in the Presence of God.  

I have been following Jesus faithfully now for 23 years and I can tell you wholeheartedly that the God's Presence is the ONLY form of escape that has factual, profound and lasting results.  I have tried both the "want to" form of escape and "need to" form of escape, and I am telling you hands down, 100%, tried and true - escaping to Him always works!  Always!

So what does this look like?  I know that sometimes the term "Presence of God" can sound so mystical and far off, but it really isn't.  For me, this morning - my Hiding Place happened to be my office, lights dimmed and door shut.  I turned on some worship music, not just to play in the background, but to meditate on...to really listen to it and allow it to seep in to my wounds.  Earlier in the week, after learning about my friend who had passed away, I created a Spotify playlist with songs inspired by scripture, that spoke directly to my broken heart.  I'm happy to share it with you - listen now while you're reading if you'd like!  I hope it helps to bring you to your Hiding Place as has for me this week.   
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tough and challenging obstacle!  See, God's Word is living and active (Hebrews 4:12) - that is why sometimes scripture comes at you like Charlie Brown's teacher - like redundant words on a page - and other times, it jumps out at you as if you're reading it for the very first time.  As I mentioned before, God's Word has an answer for every question, pain and struggle that you will ever face - it is living and active - and will meet your needs whenever you ask, wherever you are, whatever your problem. This is so vital!  God speaks through His Word more than any other way - so if you need answers, comfort, peace, hope, etc - open up your bible!  It's in there - I promise!
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​My Hiding Place is also a place of complete openness and vulnerability before God.  It's the place where I can freely ugly-cry.  It's the place I can shake my fist at God and let Him know how angry I am.  My Hiding Place is where I can groan out of grief.  And sometimes (not very often for me though, lol) - it is a place where I just have no words and the only thing I know to cry out is "Jesus."   This week - my prayers have looked like:

• "Why God, why??!!!"
• "This isn't fair God!"
• "God comfort them."
• "Comfort me."
• "Come Holy Spirit - I need you."
• "Help me be a better wife."
• "Help him be a better husband!" (Kidding, not kidding, really kidding. ☺ )
• "Help me to be a better friend."
• "I'm a failure!" 
• "I'm so stupid sometimes!"
• "THIS SUCKS!"
• "I have no words...."  

In our Hiding Place, our prayers may be dirtied and muddy.  But it is in these moments when our sickly hearts are wide open, that God can do surgery like only He can.  So get real with Him in the Hiding Place - by doing so, you are saying - "Here's my mess God, now what are you gonna do about it??"  ...And he always has an answer - but that answer only comes in the Hiding Place.

Now your Hiding Place might look completely different from mine.  Joel's Hiding Place looks like getting in to a room by himself and blasting worship music so loud that the walls shake!  Your Hiding Place might look like a quiet path in the woods.  For some of you stay-at-home moms, your Hiding Place looks like a locked bathroom!  No matter what the setting looks like, your Hiding Place is anywhere you can tune in, adjust your frequencies until you can hear from God and let His Word heal your wounds. 
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It is also important to note that your Hiding Place...God's Presence - is an ESCAPE from hardship.  It doesn't cancel hardship.  You don't walk in to the Hiding Place, get healed and walk back out into an easy, pain-free life.  (If only!!)

Jesus made this promise,  I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)

He is saying that we have peace [escape] in HIM.  The world is harsh, difficult and sometimes will leave us bloody and battered.  His promise to us isn't that we will live a trial and sorrow-free life;  His promise to us is that we have a Hiding Place to escape from the trials and sorrows.  And this Hiding Place is where we can take heart.  What does that mean, to "take heart"?   Essentially, it is a point that we come to in the Hiding Place where we are transformed from timidity and fear to confidence and courage.  We enter into the Hiding Place overcome by our hardship - but we leave knowing that Jesus has overcome the world!  And if He has overcome the world, He has certainly overcome our hardships!

In closing - let me ask you.  How is your soul?  Are you beaten down?  Struggling to keep your head above water?  Overwhelmed with the hardships of life?  

Me too.  

So why don't you join me - let's run to the Hiding Place and take heart.