#kimmies-rhythms

[thesalvagedpieces-blog]

Patience

We all want control, I know I want it all the time, I want to control the outcome of situations, the way things will flow, the way things will start and end, and even who will take part. It's a very deep desire we have within us, I imagine it has something to do with being made in God's image and having a little of that desire to be sovereign inside of us. But the real test of patience is not when we get our way and when we have control over things or so it might seem, the real test of patience is when we let go of whatever reins we attempted to set on the situation and just let God work on us, in us, and among us. 

I know a lot of times when my actions say other, when it feels like i'm not seeing the results i would like to see, and I'm just feeling broken, torn, or just worn. It is not that I don't believe that God's Sovereignty isn't reigning forever rightly at that time, its more so that I fear the lack of control that I have over the situation. This is when it is best for us and me even to be patient, and wait for whatever that situation calls for. But to wait patiently none the less as tough as it is.

I pray that your holidays are going well!! And that this offered some encouragement to you today! God Bless!! Happy Holidays!!

[thesalvagedpieces-blog]

Interference

..."It’s my responsibility to respect people, to help them learn the lessons life teaches. When you slip on a banana skin and fall down, discuss what happened and learn from it. I think that it is actually unwise to get in between people and what life is trying to teach them, but we all have a responsibility for each other.” 

― Johann Christoph Arnold, Drained: Stories of People Who Wanted More

If you've been following my posts you probably know enough about me to know my heart right? To know at a young age I wanted to be the one to rescue the underdogs and to show them love, and to give them hope. I myself was an underdog, and that type of action kept me encouraged to keep pressing forward in life and to hold onto Faith. As i became older and the problems of children faded, and became the problems of teens and then young adults my heart shifted even more. I thought I could help others by blocking them from all sides of trouble, I thought that if I could just warn them of everything and tell them to stay away from danger that it would keep them safe. But what I learned was that when I did that I was blocking them from learning, not that I would let them just fall into a ditch metaphorically speaking but I would instead give them the tools to think better and fuller about situations if possible. God gave me wisdom through the heart-break that I went through when my friends and associates fell into danger and brokenness in spite of my efforts to save them. I learned my responsibility was not to save them at every turn but to love them, bear with them and pray with them.

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Waste Not!

“I will not waste my life! I will finish my course and finish it well. I will display the Gospel of the grace of God in all I do. I will run my race to the end.” - Paul”  ― John Piper, Don't Waste Your Life

I have a couple of friends who have just settled, settled into whatever situation that they are in right now, even though it isn't the place of rest nor is it the place of progress, instead it is the place of death in my opinion. Many times my heart hurts because I know they can be so much better than where they are, so much better, they have lost their dreams, their hopes, their visions, it used to depress me so much because I would spend every ounce of my being trying to push them forward out of the pit. But one day I discovered that as much as I love them, if they don't move themselves to get out of the pit, there is nothing I can do. The best I can do is be there when they need me, but I need to not waste my life, because just like them I only get one course, one life, and I want to finish well. So all you racers out there pushing forward in this marathon of life, keep moving forward, but when those stragglers finally make it to the side of you, hopefully they will at some point, don't forget to welcome them back to the race!

Stay Encouraged!! Enjoy your weekend!! God Bless!!

[thesalvagedpieces-blog]

Greatness

“It is about the greatness of God, not the significance of man. God made man small and the universe big to say something about himself.” -John Piper

I have lived in the city my whole life, surrounded by light all the time, I only see a maximum of maybe 5 stars when I look up at the sky depending on the season. But i remember the first time i saw the expanse of the sky. I was away at my very first mission trip in New Jersey, it was in 2004 with CCC I was staying in a cabin. That night when I arrived I looked at the expanse of the heavens and I was scared in awe! It was so overwhelming I think I understood what Abraham might have felt when God told him to step out of the tent to see how numerous his seed would be. I felt utterly insignificant compared to the numerous abundance of stars, something so simple that we can take for granted especially if we are not exposed all that often to it. The Greatness of God!

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Love

" I will give you this, my love, and I will not bargain or barter any longer. I will love you, as sure as He has loved me. I will discover what I can discover and though you remain a mystery, save God's own knowledge, what I disclose of you I will keep in the warmest chamber of my heart, the very chamber where God has stowed Himself in me. And I will do this to my death, and to death it may bring me. I will love you like God, because of God, mighted by the power of God. I will stop expecting your love, demanding you love, trading for your love, gaming for your love. I will simply love. I am giving myself to you, and tomorrow I will do it again. I suppose the clock itself will wear thin its time before I am ended at this altar of dying and dying again. God risked Himself on me. I will risk myself on you. And together, we will learn to love, and perhaps then, and only then, understand this gravity that drew Him, unto us.”  -Donald Miller, in Blue Like Jazz

Finally the day came when I no longer fought to find love, because love finally came to be. My whole life i fought for love, fought for it on my conditions, where is the love that loves as i love, i always complained, and after many many many many years of crying and praying, finally right now here is the time where love has finally come to be. 

Stay Encouraged my friends! God Bless!!

[thesalvagedpieces-blog]

Acts

For disappearing acts, it's hard to beat what happens to the eight hours supposedly left after eight of sleep and eight of work.  -Doug Larson

I work hard, I play hard, I live hard. But it wasn't always this way. It was some time a couple of years ago, not so far back you can actually count the span of time on one hand. I would go to bed after being enveloped in the tasks of the day. Tasks that took over my thoughts and gave me no time for self-reflection, nor prayer for that matter. And it was in bed night after night where my mind swarmed and swarmed as I tried to get my eight hours of sleep that were left in the day. After a period of that time I decided to reclaim the disappearing acts of my life, the moments that were fleeting, I decided to take time to seize as many moments as possible and still live to the fullest. Life is not such that you cannot find those moments you just have to dig a little deeper and change your view. So stay encouraged though it seems the days goes by so fast and your left wanting more or feeling like less of you. Hang on and seize those moments!

Stay Blessed and Encouraged!! Peace

[thesalvagedpieces-blog]

Poor

"Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat". -Theodore Roosevelt 

It is a great thing to have dreams, aspirations, to love hard, and to work hard. It's also a good thing to check yourself on the regular to evaluate where you stand in the midst of those dreams, hopes, aspirations, the loving hard and the working hard. It works in different ways for different folks, but either way do some evaluation in your life asap. Your life will thank you for it! I know I don't want to exist in a gray twilight of not knowing anything and being oblivious to everything and if you're not a robot neither do you. 

God Bless! 

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Kingdom

""The kingdom of God is the rule and reign of Jesus in the hearts of people. It is spiritual. Churches, on the other hand, are "outposts of the Kingdom". They are places where seen intersects unseen. Churches are the places where you're supposed to be able to see Kingdom values at work. They are communities of apprentices who are learning how to follow the King and speak the language of the Kingdom. But churches are not the Kingdom. Don't mistake the two. Howard Snyder writes: "If the church has one great need, it is this: To be set free for the Kingdom of God, to be liberated from itself as it has become in order to be itself as God intends."" -Will Walker 'The Kingdom of the Couches'

I have a friend who never seems to settle long enough within a church to get this Kingdom language and apprenticeship down. It's a place of discomfort for him, he feels eyes of judgment peering down at him, the fellowship is too soon, too much, the language of worship draws him in, but the pressures of the world push him out. He very much wants to see the Kingdom of God happening here on earth, but i think he doubts his role in it, that he even has a role. Sometimes people go to church for the wrong reasons, they go because its something to do, a feel good for their weeks like a high, or they go because their grandmother went, or they go because they feel this is where perfection is. This is where they feel they will not feel the eyes of judgment peering down at them. There are lots of moments of fantastic greatness in the church, where the church, the people in the church are being the hands and feet of the Gospel; speaking the language of the Gospel, but we have to remember these are everyday ordinary people, everyday ordinary transformed and transforming lives, just like yours if you're that guy who never stays long enough to get the kingdom language down and you question your role in the Kingdom. If you remember that, it will be easier to stay and forge a bond and a role in the community of the church, being set free for the Kingdom of God. Live!

Stay Tuned! I pray restoration and reconciliation in your households after the relief efforts going on after Hurricane Sandy! God Bless!!