Tis the season for giving and receiving.  Helping others is tremendous blessing.  It is amazing to see that we can NEVER out give God.  When we bless others as he asks us, he sends others to bless us.  We have been tremendously blessed by the generosity of others. 

Over the years of ministry involvement, I had assumed that the struggle with helping others was about poverty but I'm learning that the lack of money is not the issue. It's about the culture of poverty - an entirely different subject.

Our good friend, Pastor Joel Trigg is the Executive Director of Hope Haven Ministries in Kingsport, TN.  Hope Haven "helps the homeless help themselves." 

Joel shared with my husband a long time ago (I saved it so I could remind myself), 

"Never do for someone what they can do for themselves or learn how. We are to lead people to a dependance on God and an interdependance with man. When we do this God causes us to move each other forward. Christianity is relationship and relationship is summed up in the principle of giving and receiving. Always have a heart to allow God to meet needs in others through you while having all your own needs met by God through others. This is my commandment that ye love ONE ANOTHER that your joy may be full."

If we find ourselves in a place of need it is a biblical priniciple to serve.  Through our service, our meeting the needs of others, our own needs are met.  Troubled?  Stressed?  Depressed?  Lacking?  GIVE!  Serve!  Love!  Pour out of yourself and God pours into you. 

"For it is in giving that we receive."  St. Francis of Assisi

"We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give."  Winston Churchill

“Giving is better than receiving because giving starts the receiving process."  Jim Rohn

To overcome the culture of poverty, we've got to teach people to be givers.  To teach people to be givers, we've got to BE givers. 

Whitney Houston belted out the song, "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" back in the late 80s.  And I am here to say that twenty years later, I know where broken hearts go.  I know the ONE who mends broken hearts.  I know the ONE who restores the lost years.  The ONE who heals and delivers. 

And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Psalms 1:3

There is only ONE who can do that for me.  "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds."  Psalms 147:3

Jesus says in Luke 4:18, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised."

Whitney Houston, that is where broken hearts go. 

The amazing thing about Christmas is when we really look at the stable, when we really see the story, we realize the suffering.  The suffering of Mary.  The suffering of Joseph.  We realize that God called them to do hard things.  Because of their willingness to be used of God, they had to go to the hard places. 

It doesn't stop with the Christmas season.  After all, Advent only leads us to Lent which points to the ministry of Jesus.  He and his disciples were acquainted with sorrow.  Remember that the murder had to take place before the resurrection. 

In our own journey of following Christ, we must know sorrow to be able to fully appreciate joy.

The birth of Jesus tells us that joy costs pain, but the pain is worth it.

The crucifixion tells us that joy costs pain, but the pain is worth it.  The pain brings life.  It brings salvation to the world. 

It is in our suffering and in our pain that we must trust in Him the most.  That is the beauty of His love for His children. Even as our hearts rage within us, He stands, ever present, bringing good, and working His WORK through our pain. 

Every day, we have a choice. We can stay nestled in our safe comfortable places. We can let fear cripple us. Or we can take a risk and go to the hard places He is calling us to.   And through us, He will bring salvation to His people. 

Seems like everywhere you turn now days, people have advice for you.  Unsolicited advice. 

People have an opinion about us and how we should live our lives.  Sometimes they offer good advice and sometimes the advice should be completely disregarded. 

This is my advice-o-meter:

If you want advice about an area of life, find someone who has achieved what you are aiming for.  

For example, don't take marriage advice from people who complain about their spouse.  Don't take parenting advice from people with unhappy, out of control children.  Don't take home management advice from people who can't dig their way out of the clutter, dirty dishes, and dirty laundry. 

Find someone who has already been where you want to go and learn all you can!

"It's good when you feel the momentum. When the things you do seem more blessed. When the little things mean so much more. It's like the wind is upon your back and the morning sun is shining upon your face..." 

"Then, fearing lest we should run aground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern, and prayed for day to come.  And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, when they had let down the skiff into the sea, under pretense of putting out anchors from the prow, Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.” Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the skiff and let it fall off." Acts 27:29-32

My husband preached from Acts 27 recently and something he shared struck me so profoundly.  If you read in Acts 27, Paul was being transported as a prisoner to Rome by ship.  He warned the captain of the ship of an impending storm and his warning was ignored.  The sailors found themselves in the midst of a BIG storm.  Panic broke loose.  They were about to abandon ship when Paul told them that they must stay on the ship to be saved. 

I think God is calling us to stay on the ship.  The storm may be really bad and it may look like all is lost but we have to remember -

The ship is being driven by the winds of God.  He is taking us to a certain place for a certain time.  We need to trust his plan.  Stay on the ship.  Let him take us through the storm. 

Seems like there is always a song in our hearts.  An anthem that we are living our lives by.  Unfortunately, my life song sometimes isn't one I'm proud of.  It goes kinda like the old Alabama song,

I'm in a hurry to get things done
Oh I rush and rush until life's no fun
All I really gotta do is live and die
But I'm in a hurry and don't know why

Someone older and wiser who reads this will laugh at the silliness of youth but here goes anyway, if I could go back and tell my twenty something self a thing or two, I'd say that so much of what seems important really isn't.  So many things I've devoted my time and efforts to really just didn't matter.  The things that really matter are the things that God speaks to me.  But (sigh) in my "busy-ness" his voice grows dim and the voice of distractions grow louder.  The voice of distractions tells me to do this or to do that.  The voice of distractions tells me to get busy people-pleasing a.k.a. someone other than God speaking, "you should __________".  The never ending never accomplished task that takes me further from the voice of my Savior. 

"The truth is He is the light to my life and my soul.  He is the light to the darkness around me.  He is the hope to the hopeless and broken.  He is the only truth and the way." (No Sweeter Name, Kari Jobe)  And that should be the song of my heart.  The anthem I live my life by.  I go where he sends me.  I pray as he leads me.  I live as he guides me. 

Distractions, people-pleasing, "busy-ness" - you are dismissed.  I'm tuning in to the voice that matters.  The voice of my King.  Speak Lord, here I am. 

Ah, Proverbs.  The wisdom book. 

Three verses I've carried with me from Proverbs this week:

Some people make cutting remarks, but the words of the wise bring healing.  Proverbs 12:18

Do not make friends with a hot-tempered man, do not associate with one easily angered.  Proverbs 22:24

Fire goes out without wood, and quarrels disappear when gossip stops.  Proverbs 26:20

What's your current Proverbs verse(s)?

"Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act."  Psalm 37:7

We work hard on our agendas.  Our agendas may even seem like worthy plans.  Working hard on a relationship, career, even a ministry.  And maybe we see some results.  But if it is our agenda, all that hard work produces is frustration, stress, and exhaustion.  We have to stop striving in our own strength and toward our own agenda and remember - what can we do apart from him?  Nothing! 

God has a plan for our lives.  Let's choose His agenda.  Let's choose his strength, not our own ability. Stop struggling.  Be still.  Let go of our own ambitions and desire to do things our own way.  Abide in Jesus.  God sees the big picture, we only see pieces of it.  He is worthy of our trust. Let's put our faith in him.  Let's believe that even if things are tough or uncomfortable in this moment, he is leading us on a path to great and wonderful things. 

And we'll discover very quickly, 

"God's agenda is lining up to be a little bigger than mine."

Our dear friends, the Houstons, recently shared about the loss of their baby daughter, Julia Grace. Their story bids us, "Come and listen to what he's done for us."  They only want to represent Him well.  As I listen to their story, I see only Him.  He is at the center.  He spills through the brokenness and He is glorified. 

I hurt for my friends.  For many days I sat in heaviness contemplating life.  The joy, the sad, the beautiful, and the ugly.  After hearing the Houston's share, it confirms what I know to be true.  Someone may see Jesus in our brokenness and know that there is grace and purpose in theirs too.  For His glory.