Becoming Strong

I had a favorite coffee cup that exploded in my hands one day when I poured hot coffee into it. Quite literally couldn't take the heat. It was beautiful. It was comfortable to hold. But it fell apart under the very conditions it had been created for. The problem was that it was created from a mold, not by hand. It failed along the seam. You and I are not patched together, and there are not a hundred or a thousand others just like us out there. Each one of us is created to be a one-of-a-kind masterpiece, and each of us is created for an individual purpose. God continues to make and shape us, and sometimes the process doesn't feel so great. But he's got something in mind for you! Do you believe it?

Honor Your Own Heart

When disaster strikes, the damage can be far-reaching. We look around and count one loss after another, until it feels as if we have lost everything. We have a tendency to tell each other "chin up" messages at these times. If you've ever been in the middle of complete devastation, you know what it feels like to be told some variation of, "It's probably for the best," or "It could be worse." It's interesting to me that God doesn't respond to us this way. In Joel 1:8, when swarms of locusts had destroyed every crop, God told his people to mourn as if someone had died. We are expected to grieve when bad things happen to us. We need to grieve. Grieving is painful, and when you're in the middle of it, it seems to go on forever. In order to stop grieving, though, we have to go ahead and admit how horrible things are, how hurt we are: grieve. Don't let anyone tell you anything different. Honor your own heart by admitting how much you've lost. Your pain matters to God, and it will matter to those who know how to be true friends.

PUBLICATION UPDATE:

Today I will contact my publishing consultant and give the go-ahead for Welcome to the Fresh-Squeezed Life Cafe! to go into print and become available for purchase. The review copy looks good (except for a few typos that no one caught), so we are in business!

Drink Life!

Whatever your occupation may be and however crowded your hours with affairs, do not fail to secure at least a few minutes every day for refreshment of your inner life.

(Charles Eliot Norton)

Drink Life!

Fresh-Squeezed Life is just around the corner

Actually, fresh-squeezed life is right here, right now, whenever you take the time to drink it in. But Welcome to the Fresh-Squeezed Life Cafe! has been typeset and is back from the printer. I am waiting for my comp copy for review, so I can give the go-ahead for more copies to be printed.

Have you had your fresh-squeezed life yet today?