The unsaved Christian-devo by Lisa TerKeurst

This devo was shared with me this morning by a sweet sister...I couldn't help but post it here and pass it along to you all!

The unsaved Christian

At the conference on Saturday I met a beautiful woman about my age. I don’t know many details about her life. I don’t if she is single or married… if she has kids or not… if she works outside the home or in her home. But what I do know is she’s been going to church for a long time.

Not only has she been going but she’s been involved serving, giving, and doing all the right church stuff.

But, something was missing.

“I never could quite put my finger on it until this weekend,” she whispered. “I never knew what it really meant to have a relationship with Jesus. But hearing you explain it, something clicked. I walked forward today. I gave my heart to Jesus.”

She brushed her long dark hair away from her eyes and I could see the sparkle, the joy, the realization of salvation. Scattered pieces of faith coming together to make the picture of Jesus more clear, more solid, more applicable in her life.

A fresh vision of hope.

And I wondered what part of what I shared make this profound click happen in her soul?

Of course, it was the Holy Spirit moving… but somehow in the midst of me sharing the broken places of my life, things came together in hers.

It got me thinking about us doing life together here on the blog. A few moments whispering truths back and forth over the internet learning how to navigate life as Jesus girls. But all that we talk about is for nothing if our hearts stay far from Jesus.

It’s not about momentary motivation to make it through today.

It’s not about spiffy quotes to ponder and put into practice.

It’s not about relationship tactics and turnkey solutions.

It’s not about bite-size pieces of peace to make life a little more manageable.

It’s not about making our lives look and feel a little better.

It has to be about Jesus.

And drawing our hearts into His reality. His grace. His love. His hope. His forgiveness. And most of all the free gift of salvation because of Him.

If there is even one of my bloggy friends like this woman from this weekend who can’t put her finger on what’s missing but is just bouncing from one religious activity to the next… sweet sister can we chat?

God doesn’t want us to have a religion. A religion is where we follow rules hoping to do life right, and we serve God out of duty because we think we have to.

God wants us to have a relationship. A relationship where we follow Him. And we serve God not out of duty but out of delight because of the realization of who we are in Him.

For years, I defined myself as the broken child of a broken daddy. I went to church to get a little “God goodness” in my life. But it was like putting fresh paint on rotting wood. I was living just like those talked about in Isaiah 29:13, “The Lord says: ‘These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.’ ”

It wasn’t until I realized I didn’t have to be defined by the circumstances of my life. I could be defined by the reality of who God says I am. I wasn’t a broken child of a broken daddy… I was a forgiven and loved child of the Most High God… my Heavenly Father.

I didn’t need a little “God goodness” to rub off on me… I needed God to invade the deepest parts in me.

I didn’t need to be just following the rules. I needed to be following God Himself.

So, I knelt down in the midst of my messy, chaotic, confused life… and started a relationship with Him by simply saying yes.

Yes, I am a sinner in need of a Savior.

Yes, I acknowledge Jesus Christ as the son of God, sent to die on a cross and be resurrected on the third day to save me from my sins.

Yes, I want Jesus to be the Lord and Master of my life.

Yes, I am a now and forever will be a forgiven and saved child of the Almighty God.

Yes, I will follow Jesus today, tomorrow, and every other day I’m blessed with on this earth.

Oh sister, let me quiet the voice of Satan screaming to resist this process because you won’t be able to live this out perfectly. Jesus has never ever asked for us to be perfect. He simply wants us perfectly surrendered. I often pray, “Oh Jesus… I am such a mess but I am Yours. Show me… help me… forgive me… reassure me… and pour your tender mercy upon me.”

And He does.

And He always will.

My imperfections are safely tucked within the reality of His perfection.

And I simply press on by continuing to say YES moment by imperfect moment… day by imperfect day.

Comforts Come to Stay!

For my 30th birthday this year, I told Rob that I really didn't want a surprise party or anything extravagant, but rather I wanted a weekend away just with him. No kiddos, no homework, no phones....just him and I and some good quality time together! It wasn't working out on the weekends around my birthday, but things did start to fall into place one of the first weekends in February. Heather and Seth were able to come and stay with the kiddos and Rob and I were able to head off to Sioux falls for a couple night "sabbatical" from life.

The girls had a GREAT time! They ate fun foods, they went swimming at the Sioux Center indoor pool, and they danced in the kitchen and around the house. These are some of the pictures that Heather and Seth took while they were here with the girls....Gracie and Karys spent quite a bit of time preparing "Valentines" for Heather and Seth before they came. Gracie showing off one of the valentine cardsDancing around the living room decked out in Jammies and fancy headbandsOh man, these girls can be so goofy together!Addyson and Auntie Heather join in with the girlies for some good ole games of Ring around the Rosie!Meanwhile, Rob and I were enjoying a couple of nights at the Holiday Inn in Downtown Sioux falls. We had a great morning of sleeping in and just really getting a chance to connect and share with each other our 5 goals that we have for the year to come. With so many big things happening (turning 30, finishing school, our 10 year anniversary, and the new baby coming--just to name a few), we wanted to just focus in on things that we were hoping to accomplish this year and areas where we really wanted to be intentional!

This is pretty much what our room looked like with a great view of downtown--what we could see of it anyway, it snowed so much that Saturday that we really weren't able to enjoy the downtown shopping and opted for a couple hours at the empire mall instead! We enjoyed some good ole shopping, Rob looked at every possible store that carried brown leather shoes ;) and then got some Caribou before we headed back to the hotel for a nap before a night out at Minerva's--a GREAT restaurant in downtown Sioux Falls.

Bedtime Fun

I really love the bedtime routine that we have...sometimes the activities may vary (reading books, watching movies, watching a TV show) but the end result is all the same. We climb in bed after brushing our teeth and going potty and we say prayers all together, give hugs and kisses and then listen to music while we rub backs and drift off to sleep.one of the latest things that I have loved watching is just how Addyson climbs into bed with he girls and just loves to give them hugs and kisses. On this evening (2/3/11), the girls were sharing more than hugs and kisses...they were sharing giggles and Addy was loving cuddling with them in their beds!Addy started in Gracie's bed with her and then decided to try out Karys' bed. Gracie was soon in on the fun and reaching down to make Addy giggle and laugh...many times we fear that this kind of fun gets the girls too riled up and they may have a hard time going to bed. But after watching this tonight, it is just so reassuring to know that the girls are falling asleep with smiles on their faces and joys in their hearts!

The preggo Belly

People have always said with each child you take less and less photos of the child. I ALWAYS wanted to make sure this was never true....

Yeah--this is the first "belly" shot I have taken with this pregnancy! And it is at 20 weeks....I think with each pregnancy the # of belly shots that I have has been less and less. I didn't mean for it to happen...life just happens I guess!

I definitely feel like I am carrying differently this time. I am much higher and just feel like I am so much more belly. I am still wearing my regular pants in this picture and they still button. That would have been something that never would have happened with the girls just because I got so "hippy" so quickly.

I guess we shall see if this is a boy or if it is a girl who is just making her own way and already longing to be different and set apart.

FREEZING temps and FRESH coats of paint :)

So many days of this month dipped down below zero! Some of the winters we have had since we have been colder than this one; however, I think the freezing temps of this winter coupled with the endless days of snow we had made it just a little too much to bear on some days!Addy didn't seem to mind the cold much ;) She is still just the happiest little lady! Such a ham and always ready to entertain--"Addy, funny..." is something she says often when she knows she has made us laugh!She started sucking her thumb when she eats lately. It is so weird and I am really thinking it is b/c she is working on getting her back teeth in. It is like she sucks her food down in attempts to avoid having to chew it. It has also extended the amount of time that it takes her to eat...this little girls sits in her chair forever and pretty much eats the entire time. Slow and steady wins the race I guess!The girls thought they were so funny going around the house with these masks they got at Uncle Seth's surprise bday party. "Hey mom! You didn't know Seth was here did ya?"One of the benefits of the freezing cold was the fact that Rob and the girls were always looking for things to do on the days that I was at class/lab and they were home. I finally picked some paint for different rooms in the house and when I was at lab one afternoon, Rob and the girls took it on themselves to paint our bedroom. What a GREAT surprise it was to come home and find these crazy cats and the project they had finished! I am always amazed at what Rob can get done when the girls are home and awake in comparison to what I can. Just different things I guess....but I am GRATEFUL for them none the less!Rob really is a better painter than I anyway...and fast and efficient!I have been waiting to paint a room this color!!! I love it ;)And I am SOO excited how it turned out ;) THANKS GUYS for doing such a good job and making GREAT use of a FRIGID afternoon!

Frigid Start to February

Well--it is almost mid-May, but I am done with school now!!! and going to attempt to get this blog up to date before the little bundle arrives and we have our hands full with an entirely new adventure :) There may be less words, but hopefully the pictures will give you snapshots of what life has been for us these past few months!The snow lasted this winter FOREVER! But the good news was the girls were often eager to get outside and enjoy it! This particular day was FREEZING! I didn't want the big girls to go out, let alone Addy, but obviously I lost that battle all around ;) The girls had fun climbing on the drifts in the backyard and sledding down the "hill".These next pictures are just priceless to me! So here we have Gracie getting Addyson all ready to go on the sled...Then we have her pulling her around the back patio...She then takes a corner a little too sharp :S and Addy face-plants into the snow!Gracie gets her up right away and does her best to get her face cleared off with her gloves...Addy is looking for me out of the brim of her hat--still a little stunned from what happened...Gracie looks to me as well--Ooops!What a good big sister though, she gets her up and helps her to the back door. This was the end of Addy's time outside--kind of hard to warm up after your face makes direct contact with the snow!Karys out climbing the snow banks--oblivious to everything else going on and just doing her own thing ;)Addy came in then and enjoyed looking out the window and watching the girls play outside a little longerThe girls did make it a little longer and were quite entertaining to watch...You can't see it super well in these pictures but they headed out to the swing set, climbed to the top, one would sit in the front, and then the other would push with their feet to launch the other down the slide! It was great!Addy finally took her coat off and continued to watch the fun!Rosy cheeked after coming inside :)Love this visual of everything hanging up in the laundry room to dry!Frozen gogurt after playing out in the freezing cold?!?!? SURE!As long as we have some hot chocolate to go with it!Gracie wearing the hat she needs to decorate for "Hundreds day". She needs to cover it with 100 of something...She first chose 100 dots that she made with marker--I went on to glue 100 beads on the top in the shape of a flower as wellCan't take pictures anymore without the girls requesting to "pose" for the camera!