When did this happen?

So today I took a drive to good old Pomona, where we lived for 3 1/2 years of our married life, I dropped my son off at our friends home for a sleep over, these particular friends are some real good ones, we go way back. Lots of memories in that old neighborhood, and at our friends home, we used to be part of a community of house churches and most of all of us from the old house church days lived in Pomona, I know if you happen to be reading this and you dont live in So. Ca then you are thinking what is the deal with Pomona? let me see if I can paint a picture of Pomona for you, homeless people and not just homeless people, crazy homeless people come up to you pretty much where ever you go, (sometimes they even come to your front door, no joke!) they might ask you for money or ask you to give them a ride or some food. There is graffiti everywhere, our cars and garage got broken into a few times while living there, boarded up houses and buildings adorn most neighborhoods and its hard to explain but their is an "air" about Pomona that is just different, different than any other city I have ever lived in. So.... I now have painted a pretty grim picture of what it was or is like there, but I have to say that while we lived in Pomona, while we had community and fellowship there I saw Pomona as beautiful, the people as beautiful and the potential for Gods kingdom as great! but this post is not actually going to be about Pomona believe it or not! well maybe just a little, this story is more about God's redemption. Today I dropped my now close to 12 year old Son off with our friends, their oldest boy and my son have been friends since they were literally toddlers, and they have grown into some pretty good friends. As the kids connected I had a chance to sit in the back room with my dear friend Kieva, and she and I have not connected since before all of this "stuff" in our marriage was exposed. So we talked and I shared, I told her about all the stuff that had taken place since we last spoke which incidentally was just 2 days before any of our stuff came out. At times I felt a little emotional but I did not actually shed a tear, and I did not feel terrible that what I was sharing with her was my life for the past almost 8 months. Now I am not saying in any way that what has gone down is no big deal, But what happened today was very liberating for me, I realized I spoke about what has happened to us and I did not see it as defeat, I saw it as a very hopeful situation, one is which God is redeeming and bringing something very beautiful to life out of. As I drove off from her home, I had this realization that God is keeping his promises, he is bring healing, both to me and to my husband, he is carrying me/us to a greater place, a spacious land and oh how I love him for being so faithful. Who would have thought that I would ever be so optimistic about my life seemingly falling apart at the seems? But God is so ever present in all of this, the good the bad and the daily everything, and today was one of those great moments when I realized the level of healing that has occurred, no, I'm not fully healed yet, yes I still struggle at times with my attitude and surrenderance, but what happened today was that the gradual healing that has taken place all of a sudden became noticed in my sharing the story, Lord I pray for your continued healing in me and work in my life, let me not neglect to speak of the great things you are doing in our midst.

Limitless

Do you ever put limits on yourself? how about others? do you put limits on them? How about God? do you consciously or unconsciously put limits on him and what he can or cannot do? Some limits are good, they provide order and even safety, for instance you limit the amount of sugar you allow yourself or your children to eat, you limit the amount of TV or computer time you allow in your household, you limit the places you will let your children go and how long they can stay etc.. but these are different kinds of limitations I am speaking of, they are the limitations we place on our hearts, limitations we place on our own success, worth or even forgiveness, both for ourselves and for others. Do you sometimes figure "this" is as good as it's gonna get so we better just get what we can out of it? I am beginning to realize something, God has NO limits! seriously, nothing is out of his reach, and yet he chooses to not partake of certain things, things which we would call sin, Lying, unfaithfulness, lusting, gossiping, stealing etc.. in fact it's not just that he chooses not to partake but he can't partake, he can't because that would go against his perfect and flawless character and if he did, then he would not be perfect, he would not be God. Something really great is unfolding inside of me through this journey, and that is the realization of what a limited life I have lived all of these years, I have accepted the lie that "this" is as good as it's gonna get, and if "I can't have what I want then what's the use?" or the other lie of "well that's just how I am" or how about this one " I can't" not only are these things lies, they have chains attached to them, heavy chains, and these chains have dragged me down far too long. See God is showing me that sometimes blessings look differently then I think they should, and what is really neat is he is showing me that I have been wrong about so many things in my life for a long time. And not just that I was wrong, he is showing me that he was and is right,and I am allowed to take his rightness and put it on myself, in his rightness or righteousness there is no limit on his Joy, blessings and gladness that he has to offer, there is no limit on the help and counsel he is willing to give, there is no limit on the transforming work he can do in my heart, there is no limit on the hope he offers, there is no limit on the peace, strength, security, love, grace, healing and satisfaction that God and only God can provide in my life. So if this is true, am I living as if it is? am I living a life of freedom because I serve a limitless God who is not only able to meet but exceed all of my needs, to change my heart, mind and attitude to make it look more like his son's, but he is also willing to do this. He is willing. He is willing to show me that he can meet me, anytime anywhere, he is there, he is willing. He is willing to give me a better life, and to carry me through the pain of getting there, he is willing. He is willing and powerful and strong and not bound by any limits and he does not want me to be either. How long will be deceived by the evil and the lies? how long will we limit or God given abilities and not experience the fullness of his joy, because we would rather believe the lie that "we can't change" or we would rather "stick with what we know" I'm choosing to believe God when he said that the enemy came to steal kill and destroy but he came that we may have life, abundant life, life to the full, and I think that life comes from a limitless God who is able and willing to walk me through all the steps laid out before me, pain and joy, there is no limit on the good he can bring from it all!

John 10:10
¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.