Skylar's Blog & Podcast

How many of you have ever received a gift? I'm pretty sure ALL of you have! I want you to think of the process of receiving a gift. The other person goes out (or sits on the computer) and finds something they KNOW you will like. They purchase it and they might even wrap it, too (they could even throw one of those cutesy ribbons on top). After putting it all together they find you and hand you the present (here is where you come in). You either hold out your hand to receive the gift, or (and I hope NONE of you have ever done this) you give the other person a weird look and back away as if they have the plague. Does that sound right? I don't know about you but I have trouble accepting gifts sometimes, I know that sounds weird but let me explain. Last week, as most of you know, my house got broken into and my camera was stolen. Well, my family has insurance so we're getting money back for that camera. Because of this my mom wanted to buy me a new camera, so we went and looked for one. As we were looking my mom kept suggesting the camera that was more expensive than the camera I had before. I just couldn't let her do it. I thought it was wrong for me to have my mom spend extra money on something like a camera when she should be spending that money on Christmas presents for family and friends. This sounds logical doesn't it? Most of you are better people than I am and would have let their mom be sweet, but not me, and do you want to know why? Because I'm prideful! And this doesn't stop with earthly gifts from family, this works its way into my relationship with God. For almost my whole life I have tried to earn God's love. I have always thought if I mess up God is surely going to throw my life into the pooper, and if I obey then gold will fall from the sky onto me..actually that might hurt, how about something soft like doughnuts? That sounds silly, but even to this day I still struggle with it. Last night I was reading a devotion with Kayla which happened to be on grace (do you think God was trying to tell me something?) and in it the author quotes Jerry Bridges from his book The Disciplines of Grace: "Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace." He is saying we will always need God's grace no matter where we are at or what we have done (good or bad). Everyday, from the time you get up, until you lay back down for sleep God pours his grace on you. However, just like when our friends offer us a present, we must learn to accept this grace. This sounds crazy right, but everyday we spend trying to earn God's favor is us saying, in a way, no to God's gift. We're saying, "Listen God, what you did was great and all, but it just needs a little something more...ya know?" This is our pride. Our pride pulls us into this frustrating cycle of trying and falling shortS, but we keep at it until we are frustrated and exhausted. Some of us put so much effort into trying to attain what has already been given to us: and that is God's approval and love. In Ephesians 2:8-9 Paul says this: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast." This is so straightforward, but we complicated it all the time. What Paul is saying is this: grace is given to you, and it isn't because of anything you did, could do, or will ever do. You will NEVER be able to earn God's grace. It is too marvelous, to perfect, too amazing to be earned. However, you should rejoice because it has been given to you for free. Paul is saying grace is a gift, and all God wants from us is to look to him and accept what he is offering out of love. So, you might be asking yourself: how on earth do I do this? My answer: pray. Pray God would give you a humble heart which is willing to accept his free gift. Then after that live in the freedom God has given you. You must live like God has saved you and will be with you forever no matter what you do; because he has, he does, and he will always love you.

So, do I have a story for all of you. I came home from work Monday at around 3:30'ish, and as I opened the door I saw what I thought was Christmas ornaments (don't as me why) all over the ground. So, I naturally thought: zoinks, the dog is out and he has ruined our Christmas tree! However, I looked a little closer, and I realized that it wasn't ornaments I was looking at, but broken glass. Then I looked up at the window by the Christmas tree and saw the window had been completely shattered. Then I looked down by my feet and saw a rock the size of my head (no jokes please). Then it hit me, someone had broken into my house! I started looking around and began to realize how much they had taken. I'm not going to go into details about what they stole, but sitting there staring at the mess that was my house was really surreal. Nevertheless, after the police left and my family and I had finished dinner something hit me...actually that's a lie I didn't even think about this till right now. There's a period in Matthew where Jesus is on this mountain side and he's saying all these awesome but challenging things to some huge mass of people. Towards the end of this amazing talk Jesus says something:

I don't know how many of you have had just one of those days...or how many of you are experiencing "one of those days" today, but I have to confess I am. I know most of you know, but I struggled with depression for a while, and honestly it was all my fault. I harbored resent and was unforgiving towards precious people in my life like my dad. I ended up driving myself straight into depression. I can remember how those days felt. How I would wake up and just feel alone. It reminded me of when I was only about six and I was in Wal-Mart with my mom. I had strayed away from her, and eventually I looked around to see she was no where in sight. I freaked! I had no idea where she was, I probably thought she had left me. However, that couldn't be farther from the truth. She was freaking out just like I was trying to find her kid. Eventually we found each other, and all was well. Now, you might not admit it or realize it but you have or you probably will come to a point or time in your life when you think God was something your parents made up to keep you at church. You can't feel him, you don't know where he is...how could he be real? I am not saying that is what I'm feeling right now. I'm nowhere near that. However, there have been several times when I have wondered that, and there are several people close to me that have recently gone through or are going through these tough feelings. What I am trying to get at is something I mentioned at Young Life Club this week. And that is our God will never leave us. Even though we are SURE he has abandoned ship, even then we are dead wrong. In the Old Testament there is this guy Joshua who takes over Israel when Moses dies. Now this is a pressure filled position. You're the president of God's nation!!! However, God doesn't hang him out to dry. In the very beginning of his "reign" God tells him. "As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you (Joshua 1:5)."Look at that last phrase...now notice the word NEVER!!! That means from the beginning until the end God was with him, and that promise carries on with us. One of the last things Jesus tells his disciples is: "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age (Matthew 28:20)." We are never alone. God is always with us...even to the end of the age. Let's focus on that today.