Let my life be the Proof of Your Love!

Well, I think it’s here! What you may ask?  Winter…finally!  Yay!  After a long warm, summer….it’s finally starting to cool off, and yes…even rain a bit.  I have been waiting for this as the Pumpkin Spice and Caramel Brulee latte’s have come back at Starbucks and and everyone talking about being able to wear their “Fall” and “Winter” outfits (sweaters, boots, hats, scarves, etc).  While I’m sitting here in California just waiting for the next season to arrive, since it seems like it has hit everywhere else but right here.  Let’s just say 100 degree days in the early Autumn made it seem like Winter would never come. Really made me want to take that short escape back to Indiana for the amazing ‘cooler’ weather they had from what I can remember from living back there.  But now as the new year has come upon us the upper 20 degree weather has come upon us. 
As I am sitting here thinking about what I wanted to write this afternoon…I was thinking about the title of this blog.  Listening to the radio at the same time, I started thinking about the song, Proof of Your Love, from the band For King and Country.  In the past couple months the song that has been playing on the radio several times.  I mean just the chorus of this song is simply awesome and amazing and has me singing along all the time!  I was so blessed to be able to attend a for King and Country concert a couple months ago at a local concert. They were amazing!!! From their awesome stage presence and singing with a passion in their soul to being able to share the wonderful message that God had laid on their hearts that night!  They are as incredible live as they are on the radio, and so on fire for Christ during their concerts.
Which brings me to what you may be asking, what is the proof of your love?  It’s living for God, but it’s so much more than that as well.  It’s living fully devoted and sold out to Christ.  There’s a saying that says generally speaking, to live your life so on fire for God that anytime someone were to speak bad about you, nobody would believe them. Isn’t that completely the truth though?  We’ve all been hurt by people we’ve trusted and we learn to forgive them. If we stand for what we believe in and lead pure lives, even though we may slip we know we can get right back up again, forgiving those who hurt us and living the PROOF OF GOD’S LOVE!!! Being love and showing love!!!  Be the light that shines to everyone.   You never know, you may be the only Jesus that some people see, so live for Him in everything you do.

"…let my life be the proof, the proof of your love
let my life look like you and what you’re made of
how you lived
how you died
love is a sacrifice
so let my life be the proof, the proof of your love…” (4 King and Country)
We were blessed again by being able to hear the amazing song styling’s of Jason Castro.  Another amazing concert piece and message from him. 
Just being able to listen to the stories of their life, whether they are at home or on the road, they can relate to so many people who may have similar issues.
“…This is only a mountain, You don’t have to find your way around it, Tell it to move, it’ll move, Tell it to fall, it’ll fall
This is only a moment, You don’t have to let your fear control it, Tell it to move, it’ll move, Tell it to fall, it’ll fall…” (Jason Castro)
I remember traveling with my drama team in college and we would always save a portion of our time we had to share for a personal testimony by one of our team members.  There were times we weren’t totally sure who was going to speak until we actually got to where we were going to be and God told us who needed to be addressing the crowd that night. Even our dramatic pieces were changed a lot just because of where we felt we were being led once we got there.  But, ultimately, where ever we went we wanted those watching us to see Christ in our lives while we were with them.  We wanted our lives to show the proof of God’s love in what we were sharing.  So many times we left those “performances” completely changed and humbled after sharing with people, praying with people and just listening to their stories as well.
Acts 20:24 - But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.

Shelli and Me after the concert that night!!!

Today I Dare to Be….

I love listening to inspirational messages and there happens to be a great daily inspirational message I have found so to be incredibly uplifting and motivational.  This person was talking about the blessings that come from our lives we live.  She refers to a prayer from the Bible in the book of Isaiah, where she talked about how we are to bloom where we are planted and how to prepare ourselves for what is coming up.  We may see ourselves somewhere completely different but we were put in this specific position for a reason, most likely to learn from our experience’s and grow from where we are. If we continue to “bloom” where we are “planted” then we can see we are growing continually.  We can look back at the “blessings” we saw from the circumstances and the challenges we faced.  It’s like the song Blessings says…                              'Cause what if your blessings come through rain drops
                                       What if Your healing comes through tears
               What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near
                                 What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise
She moved on to gratitude.  When she was talking about being grateful she reminded me of something I read a few months ago from a "dare to be" challenge. Challenging yourself to dare to be grateful for what you have and where you are in your life. Fits right in with here message.  Love it!  What are you daring to be today, this week, this month?  More grateful, more confident, better listener….we can always think of something we want to be better in our lives.  Something that can help us be more aware of our surroundings and what is happening all around us and not just in our “immediate world.”  Big things are constantly going on and no matter where we are we can do something to help, whether in our small community town or out in the big city or maybe in another country.  If we dare to step out of our comfort zones then we can make a difference.  We can be the voice to the voiceless and help the helpless.

And when you learn what you need to learn things will begin to happen...when your ready! Sometimes we feel we're ready but this is so true "are we really ready?" Have we actually learned everything from our circumstances to be able to help others where we once were, so we can inspire them?  Hmmm...something to really think about, right?  If we’re patient then things will eventually happen.  I know it seems to take forever, right?  I totally agree with that one, patience is defiantly a struggle for me all the time, but when I put my trust in the my Heavenly Father with it all…then I know I can have the strength to make it through anything.  

I love that she referred to Jeremiah 29:11. One of my favorites verses that can get me through so much. Knowing that God has His plans laid out for me. Probably why I have it in my signature in my emails. What a great reminder. :-) “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

The message ended with this quote, ‘Be thankful and enjoy the ride!’ :-)  I loved this, and it’s totally true, when were being thankful for what we have and what we've been through, whether we’ve gone through the good or the bad, if were thankful for all circumstances we have grown through so much and have learned through it all.  Then we can enjoy the ride without all the worries.

Be Thankful!