Flashlight in the Dark

I had my first nightmare in a long time a few nights ago.  This time the dream wasn't about a wolf or giant spider, but a true and deep fear of mine--so much so that I truly believe it was Satan tugging on the fear.

Basically my dream was that the guy I like had to choose between me and another girl.  My friends, the other girl, he and I were sitting around in the circle and all my friends were saying who he should pick--all of them agreeing on her over me.  He sat there saying nothing, she sat across the circle from us with a smug smile on her face.  I finally told him just to pick her and I got up to leave with tears streaming down my face.  He sat there and yelled, "NO!" over and over again.

He never came after me, he never even got up from his chair.  He never said to me, "I pick you, I want you--not her!"  He didn't pick me; he didn't pick at all.  This scared me so much I woke up shaking.  Suddenly, I remembered Jesus' promise to me from John 15:16a-- "You didn't choose me. I chose you."

Even if this guy I like never choses me, even if a man never picks me, I will be a bride.  I am a bride--the Bride of Christ!  He didn't sit by speechless, He sent His son to come get me.  And He has done the same for you.  This truth helped to subside my hear and help me fall asleep again.  I'm reminded of Natalie Grant's song Your Great Name (go ahead, listen to it).  One of the lines of the song says, "Every fear has no place at the sound of Your Great Name."  His name is truth and truth banishes all fear.  While I continue to struggle with being afraid I won't be picked, I am asking the Lord to calm, take over and expel the fear.  Until then, I know the ultimate truth--that I have been chosen and I will be forever loved.

What fear do you struggle with?  What does God have to say about your fear?  What's His truth He has given to help conquer your fear?  Take refuge in His truth and ask Him to take over and hold your fears.  It's so much easier to sleep with His truth overcomes our fears and when we give Him our fears to hold.

Spring Alive!

It seems like things have burst green all of a sudden!  Leave campus for a week of spring break, come back and the trees are green, the sun is shining and I'm once again pulling out my shorts.  Crazy how time flies!

I love passing this tree on campus!  Isn't it gorgeous?

While my car may be covered in a layer of "pixie dust" and hay fevers raging, there's something so invigorating about the spring.  Everything feels so alive!  And rightly so--but with life, the parts that are dead are even more noticeable.  Take for instance a tree, we'll say it's a maple so that in the winter the whole tree appears dead, but come spring the little leaves begin to bud--proof that the tree is, in fact, alive.  However, there are always those few scraggly branches that are dead, way up in the top of the tree seemingly impossible to reach.  They look even more awful once everything starts blooming.  The truly dead branches aren't noticeable until they're surrounded by the branches bearing fruit--or leaves.


Ok, Jordan, so what?  Yeah, trees look ugly with the dead branches--what's the point here?  Check out John 15:1-11.

“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. ² He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. ³ You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. ⁴ Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. ⁵ “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. ⁷ But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! ⁸ When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father. ⁹ “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. ¹⁰When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!"

Severed vine=dead branch in the tree.  In order to be fruitful, we have to remain connected to the life source--the tree, or in this case, the Father.  A branch or vine that bears fruit is so much more lovely than dead ones.  Look at verse 8, "When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples.  This brings great glory to my Father."  The key to staying green?  "Remain in my love" and we do this by following His commandments.  In return, not only will we be green, but we'll be filled with joy.  No wonder everything feels so alive and awake in the spring time!

So, is your life a vibrant green or a scraggly brown?  Have you forgotten to "remain" in His love?  I often do.  He promises to remain in us, so even in those days we struggle He's always there.  Why stay brown when we can be alive, green and filled with joy?


By the way, Happy First Day of Spring!