Turning Up the Light Blog

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21, NIV

It may be that our Creator imagined all that He would do long before He actually spoke it into being. As a product of His imagination though, we might consider what our world would be like without the dreamers, and the artists, and those who see things differently than we do. We might wonder what things would be like if everyone else thought, dreamed, and lived just like us.

Personally, I am grateful for the differences in our thinking, our creativity, and our willingness to think outside the boxes and circles and squares where we might find ourselves. Albert Einstein said, “I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”

Our Creator designed us to be resourceful, to imagine the most positive ways to deal with change, or Covid-19 or our inability to move forward exactly as we had planned. Imagine now that He has an even bigger plan for you, that He is using this very opportunity to open your mind and your heart and your thinking so that you can discover all He wants for you right now. Imagine that He hasn’t stopped looking at ways to bless you.

Clearly, the One who designed animals, birds, sea creatures and even human beings who might defy description, never lacks for imagination.

If you’re worrying today that things aren’t going as you hoped they might, maybe it’s time to imagine something new. Charles Kettering said, “Our imagination is the only limit to what we can hope to have in the future.” The Bible says, “With God, all things are possible.”

It’s time to stimulate our possibilities with just a little more imagination.

Love has gone missing. Some say “good riddance” because any excuse to cast love into the darkness and act in ways that further struggle and violence and hatred works for them. Some say love disappoints them and never lives up to their expectations, so they are better off without it anyway. Others search the Internet for the voices of those who seek their own definition of justice and imagine their day has come. Finally, they can squelch this thing called love and move on in desperate misery. Just lock up love and throw away the key.

When love grows cold and lifeless because it has been bullied and beaten and provoked by those who simply cannot understand it, everyone suffers. Everyone struggles. Everyone has heart trouble. It’s a malady that perpetuates itself and leaves the wounded in its wake. Love may well be suffering, but it is not dead.

How do we know love lives on? We know because each person with a broken heart still clings to it. Each human being with any definition of God, still hopes for it. Anyone who longs for the good to prevail, keeps its flame burning. Love isn’t looking for pretenders, or those who insist on their own way. It’s looking for openness, generosity, and the face of forgiveness.

It’s time to bring love home again and each one of us must open the door for it to enter in. It’s time to love your neighbor as yourself. May God bless you and keep you today.

Let your hope make you glad. Be patient in time of trouble and never stop praying.

Romans 12:12, NIV

Trouble is an interesting teacher. It shakes us to the core and reminds us who we are. It leads us down the corridors of unnamed fears, unlimited ways to worry, and renewed self-doubt. It makes an enormous effort to distract us in every negative way possible, and all the while, pounds away at our thread of hope.

This short verse from Romans suggests we might take another view though. What if we faced trouble with its only antidote, prayer? What if we prayed with greater fervor because we believed so well in the hope that springs forth from our faith?

Your friends may look at you strangely if you smile through adversity. They might suggest you just need rest or counseling. They would likely be puzzled by your behavior. However, if you really believe in the hope you have as a child of God, knowing you have a direct prayer line, could you smile? Adversity may win a round or two, but it will never extinguish the light of your spirit. God will see you through.

Light Reflections

Lord, I’m at my worst when I face a difficult situation. I try too hard to be in control and find all the right solutions; sometimes working so hard I forget to even pray. Send trouble on its way and renew my hope in You today.

Amen

Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. Ephesians 4:32, NLT

Forgive. Is there any word that humbles our spirits more than this one? Forgive means I have to let go of something my ego wanted me to put up on a marquis for all the world to see. After all, I was hurt and the pain just never goes away. Why should I forgive? Isn’t forgiveness a bit like putting salt in a wound?

Forgiven. Wow! There it is, the addition of one little letter “n” and things start to turn around. I was wrong, but I was forgiven. Whew! Now I can try again, try to do better next time. Try to become more of the person I really want to be.

In my new book, Strength for Your Soul, I wrote a piece on forgiveness that I’d like to share with you. It goes like this:

“Issues around forgiveness may cause your heart sadness, or even make you fearful. You may have people that still cause you to grow angry as you think of them. Something they did that offended you or wounded your pride way back when, wounds you again with each thought as the incident comes freshly to mind. You imagine that it’s no big deal because it happened years ago.

The thing is that any sense of unforgiveness that lingers in your soul causes you pain. It shrinks your spirit and it takes away your peace. It has power over you that does not serve you well. So what can you do?

Start by recalling all the times that God has forgiven you. It may take awhile to create a laundry list of your offenses, but it could be time well spent. After all, you want to seek God’s forgiveness so that those errors of judgment, those unkind deeds, or angry words can be wiped away, expunged from your record. God wants you to forgive others the same way that He forgives you…which is fully, unconditionally, and forever. Be free and be kind, not just to others, but to yourself. Forgiveness brings healing to your heart and peace to your soul.

This is an adapted excerpt from a book I did a while ago called Thankful. I thought it might serve us well as we head into the traditional holiday of Thanksgiving. The book is still available on Amazon if you’re interested.

This is “be happy” week! With each sunrise, you have a reason to thank God for your life and for the good things you enjoy. The psalmist in Psalm 106 reminded us that one reason to be happy is simply because God is good. Not only is God good, but He is faithful and His faithfulness will go on forever. Imagine that! No matter what you do, how far off the path you stray, how many times you don’t get it right, God is good and faithful and His love for you just keeps going on.

Each morning when you rise and you’re able to get out of bed, you should be grinning from ear to ear, just thinking about those warm covers and blissful dreams. As you go through the day, pay close attention to all the little things you can do that make your day fulfilling. You might be amazed to realize how talented and resourceful you are.

By the day’s end, if you’re in the habit of counting your blessings, you may find it difficult to stop counting. You’ve been blessed beyond measure. You’ve been provided for, loved, entertained, challenged, renewed, and blessed in more ways than you can count…literally. As you give God thanks for those things that make your life worthwhile, you might want to put in some additional praise for those things that are so ordinary to you that you don’t notice them, at least until you can’t do them any more. If you’ve ever broken a limb, or sprained a muscle, you know what I mean.

It’s possible that you could count your blessings well into the night and fall asleep in the pursuit of remembering each one. If so, then this Thanksgiving you’ll have lots of reasons to give praise as the family gathers to pray once more. John Blanchard was once asked how often we should seek God’s face. He answered by saying, “How often do we need to see God’s face, hear his voice, feel his touch, know his power? The answer to all those questions is the same. Every day!”

Open your heart with sweet thanks and praise for the gifts God has given you.

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Hebrews 11:6, NIV

F.B. Meyer, British theologian and Baptist preacher wrote, “We never test the resources of God until we attempt the impossible.”

If you do a quick survey of your life, how many times would you be able to note that you “attempted the impossible?” Perhaps you took a few chances or did some things that were a bit risky, but how often did you have to rely solely on God to move forward? How often would the people around you have thought you were just a bit crazy because what you wanted to do was virtually impossible from their view?

Since we know it doesn’t serve God well for us to stick with the small things, the mundane, the ones that we can do easily, then we must challenge ourselves to seek those things that we know we could not do on our own. If we attempted those things in our humanness, we would fail miserably. The only hope we would have then is if God intervened, stepped up to the plate with us and helped us develop our swing. Only then would we see the ball, the object of our hopes and dreams go sailing high in the sky, over the outfield and on to the victory win.

The challenge ahead of you then is not to simply wonder what is still possible, but to actively seek God’s help to do those things that have been unavailable to you in the past. Seek His help. Have faith in all that He can do. Impossible things will happen.

Prayer

Lord of the Possible,

Help me to reach higher than I ever have before. Help me to be truly unsatisfied with the commonplace and the ordinary, those things that I can do with my eyes closed and without thinking twice. Help me step up and step out in faith in bigger ways than I’ve ever tried before, totally trusting You for the outcome. I ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen

adapted from my upcoming book, “It’s Still Possible!

I’ve been working on a new book, one that I also plan to use in speaking to women’s groups and church groups, which I call “Jesus Time.” It’s about the practice of spending a little time with God each morning. I write devotional books, and so I’ve adopted this habit over the years as God continually nudged me to do it. Now I believe it’s the most important thing I do each day.

While working on the book, I was reminded of some excuses I used early on or ones I heard from others about not taking that time with God. I thought I’d share them with you.

You can use them if you’d like, or perhaps you will feel the same nudge I did, to surrender your heart and spend time with the One who loves you more than you can even imagine.

Okay, here we go.

Number 10: I’m just not a morning person! I can’t do anything before my second cup of coffee.

Number 9: Do I look like a holy roller? My family would think I was weird if I did that!

Number 8: I have to get the kids up, make lunches, get everyone off to school, get dressed and then get myself to work. I just can’t add one more thing to my morning routine.

Number 7: I don’t really know how to do devotions. In fact, I’m not sure what they are, and I don’t know much about the Bible.

Number 6: I have to go to the gym first thing in the morning. I’m trying to stay healthy and I can only focus on one thing at a time.

Number 5: I barely have time for myself, so how can I have time for God? I’m sure God knows how busy I am!

Number 4: If it didn’t have to be every day, I might do it. Can you do it once a week or maybe every other week?

Number 3: I’m sure God has better things to do than listen to me whine. I’ll try it when I’m older.

Number 2: I tried doing devotions once, but I just couldn’t do it. It was boring and I fell asleep half the time.

And the Number One reason to NOT do devotions:

I’m afraid to sit down with God all by myself. My life is messy and I’m sure He doesn’t want to spend time with me!

The excuses may vary, but some of these may ring true for you. I’ve also written the Top Ten Reasons to DO Daily Devotions and I will post those soon. If you’re not doing devotions, let me know how I can help. If you are doing them, I’d love to hear a favorite story or two from what I’ve come to call, “Jesus Time.” Blessings to you today.

What a Great Word for Moms

As the author of over 115 books, including many devotionals, of which nine are dailies, I feel called to invite more of you to join me in the morning hours and share special time with God. I call the time I spend each morning Jesus time because I always invite Him in to be with me, inspire my heart and guide my steps.

Today I want to reach out to you and give you a devotional moment to start your day. I will post one for each day as often as I can so that we can do this together. I look forward to sharing this special time with you.

Wellspring

Karen Moore

With Just a Little Imagination

When We Lock Up Love

Antidote to Trouble

Your Forgiving Heart

Thankful for Each New Day

Attempt the Impossible!

Top Ten Reasons to NOT Do Daily Devotions

A Mom Is Love

Stay Calm

God Is Our Help