Posts by Bethany Wilkes
Seeing Jesus Renews Your Soul
Have you seen Jesus today? What if you were to take some time every day to recognize Jesus. To see him in the little things, in the routine of life, in daily activities, in small wins. Do you think this may change your perspective? It would be hard not to have it change your outlook right? If you were trying to see Jesus in everything, you would see things through a completely different lens. So why isn’t seeing Jesus a normal thing? Do we set out to do it in the morning, then the day just gets away from us? If he is our everything, do we see him in everything?
I don’t want to live just for myself or just to exist. Can I look through my eyes with a lens of Christ, not just look with my own eyes. I want to see more in others. I want to see more in myself. I want to see greater potential. I want to see more depth. I want to see growth. I want to see goodness. I want to see purpose. I want to see hope. I want to see him. And in that, I want to experience the fullness and the abundance that Christ has for me.
So you want your life to be different this year? Then you have to live different. You have to think different. You have to act different. Your new years resolution may be to add something, it may be taking something away, but don’t forget the most important piece. Bring Jesus into every little thing in your life. He is always with you, so why not recognize him, live in him, and strive to reach what he has for your life.
So here’s your homework, or call it your reflection time or …
Read MoreGrace Based
This past Sunday at church, our pastor spoke on Santa. What? What pastor devotes a whole Sunday to Santa? Well, ours did. But it opened my eyes and my heart to new thinking. It was a change in perspective in the focus of Christmas, the attitude of my heart, and the way I spend my time this season. Now I am not going to give an opinion of believing in Santa or not, that is not what this is about. I just want to help us focus on the true and full meaning of Christmas.
I know the season is crazy, and the time to sit down and read a recap of a whole sermon is hard to come by. So let’s quickly compare the Christmas season according to Santa and according to Jesus in just one category. Santa Claus is works based Jesus is grace based. Santa is all about recording all the things we have done to put us on the naughty or nice list. Jesus is all about loving us for who we are, right where we are. Santa gives us things we earn. Jesus gives us undeserved grace. Santa gives us stuff if we are good. Jesus saves our life regardless. Santa comes to bring things. Jesus came to sacrifice himself. Santa gives us coal if we mess up. Jesus puts his hand out to pick us up and gives us an extra big hug. Santa brings stuff that does not last. Jesus gives us eternal life that lasts forever.
Don’t you want to live a grace based life? Don’t you want to focus your time on things that bring hope, peace, and purpose rather than things that remind us we are never good enough. Basing your life on grace means you understand you are a …
Read MoreBlessed by Family and Baby Bear Stew
It has been a really great experience reflecting on the legacy of my family this past week through the posts about Baby Bear Stew. Not just reflecting with amazing food and recipes, but the legacy of tradition, togetherness, and love. It is a joy to have the privilege to be in a family that enjoys being together, loves caring for one another in unique and creative ways, and loves to carry on family traditions.
It only makes sense if my first reflection is the way my family was always prepared to have a few extra people at the table. And I know that this tradition was not just a result of an excess of food (which was usually the reality at every meal), but an overflow of love. Now when I cook, I have the same problem of preparing more than enough and can’t seem to figure out how to just cook for two. And we seem to always have an abundance of cookies and treats as well, just in case someone stops by or we have to go to someone’s house.…
Read More10 Day Challenge: Thankfulness in Action
Today is November 20th. That means you have ten more days to focus on Thanksgiving and the beauty of being thankful before life is all about the hustle and bustle of Christmas. So I think it is time for a little challenge. I challenge you to take the last ten days of November to live out your own blessing of thankfulness. Show people you are grateful for them. Pay attention to circumstances that are blessing you. Realize how the Lord is weaving his blessings throughout your life. Live blessed. And live to bless others. But first, I want you to read a devotional I came across this morning that really resonated with where my heart has been lately.
Thanksgiving
And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. Luke 17:15-16
Thankfulness is foundational to the Christian life. Thankfulness is a conscious response that comes from looking beyond our blessings to their source. As Christians, we have been forgiven, saved from death, and adopted as God’s children. There could be no better reason for a grateful heart!
Lepers in Jesus’ day were social outcasts. Their highly contagious condition ostracized them from those they loved. When ten lepers encountered Jesus, they desperately implored Him to show them mercy. Jesus sent them to the priest. As they obeyed, they were healed! These ten men had been forbidden to enter their own villages, to live in their own homes, to work in their own jobs, or even to touch their own children. Imagine what unrestrained joy must have filled them as they ran back home again!
One of the lepers, a Samaritan, stopped and ran back
…Read MoreThe Discipline of Being Thankful
It is very easy to go about our lives not even thinking of how blessed we are. It’s one thing to the next to the next. Our minds are filled, our lives are filled, our stomachs are filled, and our schedules are filled. We don’t understand what it really means to be in need. Which I think really affects our ability to be grateful and give thanks. We live in a culture filled with entitlement and survival mode and excess. But… it is the month of thankfulness, so maybe we are paying a little bit more attention to being thankful, but I am almost sure there is some room to grow. So it’s time to take a look…
What were you thankful for today, this past week, this past week? And not just what, but who are you thankful for? How does that thankfulness impact you, and what does it compel you to do? Do you say thanks? Do you return the favor? Do you pay it forward? Do you live blessed?
I received a letter in the mail (REAL MAIL, not email) a few days ago from a friend telling me how thankful she is for me. She said she is taking the month of November and writing a letter to a different person every day to tell them she is thankful for them. HOW COOL IS THAT!
Let’s not only take November to focus on being thankful. Let’s change our perspective with hope to change our lives so we are filled with gratitude. Practice the discipline of being thankful this November, and hopefully it will overflow as habit into the rest of the year. And I call it a discipline, because it may take discipline to change your mindset or perspective. But disciplines cause lasting change. So not …
Read MoreLove Does Repost
LOVE… such an enormous word. We can all relate to it. But what does it really mean?
What is your definition of love? How do you express your love? How do you feel loved? Do you just think about love, or do you act in love? Love is action. Love is words. Love is irreplaceable. Love is impacting. Love is powerful. Love can build up. Love reaches inyo the depths. Love is simple. Love is worth it. Love is trust. Love is a force. Love changes things. “Love does”……
Alive
With the focus of Halloween everywhere being on death, ghosts, frights, and darkness, my heart feels heavy. Its just too much darkness. So much of life this month is focused on evil and fear. No wonder our world struggles so much with depression, sadness, anger, and fear. I think this mentality and perspective seeps into how people interact with each other, holiday seasons, and peoples joy. It takes away from the hope we can have in a more purposeful and fulfilling life. Ironically, I have been studying Ephesians 2 lately which talks all about how we were once dead in our sin, and the opportunity and gift of being alive in Christ. It gives a great picture of what we once were: stuck, blind, lost, and dead. But Christ, out of his love for us, saved us in his grace so we could fully live. But we only fully live when we surrender to his purpose, his truth, and his way, but in that we receive riches, blessings, and immeasurably more than we can ever imagine. So why stay stuck? Why not take a step of faith? Wouldn’t you rather feel alive and free than lost and dead?
Ephesians 2:1-10 reads “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made …
Read MoreTricky
I love celebrating holidays. It is always a good excuse to throw a party, spend time with people, eat good food, dress up, or do something out of the ordinary. But every year, October rolls around and I am encountered with the same dilemma of how to really feel about halloween. Growing up, we didn’t place a huge emphasis or celebration on the actual meaning of the holiday of halloween, but moreso getting to go to our church’s “harvest festival”, dress up, play games, and of course eat candy, (and yes we were one of the families to pass out tracks with candy which I always thought was realy cool). Now, as an adult, I wonder how I should really feel about the holiday as a whole. I love dressing up in costume. I love carving pumpkins. I always loved trick or treating and now I love when kids trick or treat at my house. Now I can’t move on without recognizing the materialistic view, many of us may have fallen into the category of spending too much on a costume, eating too much candy, or just enjoying the day a little too much. I am not just trying to make this an argument about whether halloween is good or bad or why or why not to do it. I am placing no judgement on how anyone spends their halloween. I am really just in the middle of it, trying to figure it all out. So if any of you have ever had questions about this, let’s be in this together, because it can be rather tricky.
I did a little research on the origin of halloween. Some people look to Halloween as the eve of All Saint’s Day on November 1 which is a tribute to Martin Luther, the …
Read MoreSay Yes to One
How many different things do you say yes to? What are those things? What things do you say no to? How do those every day little decisions end up affecting your whole life?
We make yes and no decisions all day long, every day. Life is all about choices. Will you say no to getting out of bed and hit snooze one more time, will you say yes to driving the speed limit, will you say yes to another cup of coffee, will you say no to watching just one more show… Some decisions are methodically thought out over time, others are quick and hasty. Some have instant feedback, others have slow results. Some affect only you, others affect numerous people. But regardless, our lives are filled with decision after decision that determine our steps, actions, and ultimately lives.
But don’t be overwhelmed by this seemingly endless cycle of choices… I can think of a pretty amazing way to make it less of a swamped feeling. God has called us to say yes to Him. Saying yes to Christ, yes to following Him, yes to love, yes to His truth. And the rest of the decisions can just flow all determined by the one overall decision. It’s not always an easy process, but it is a simple solution. And it is not just one way, it is THE way. Yes to Christ is the most important part of any decision. It is the thing we have to remember and cling to. It isn’t about saying no to the other things. It is about saying yes to pursuing Christ, pursuing what the Lord wants, and having everything in your life revolve around that one important decision. And other decisions are decided upon by this yes. Rather than all the small no’s …
Read MoreRisking it All
Does the title of this post make you squirm a little bit? It does for me. Not necessarily in a disagreeable way, but in a way that it gets me thinking. A few questions keep coming up. Am I willing to risk it all, or am I willing to risk just enough to still be comfortable? What am I willing to risk today, and what am I trying to hold on to? What is the difference between a big risk and a small risk? And what does it look like for me to risk everything?
Risk… it is the exposure to the chance of injury or loss; a hazard or dangerous chance, being in jepoardy, the unknown, a threat, uncertainty, and just pure possibility. People do not like the unknown. We like being in control and knowing what is going on and what will happen. Uncertainty can bring fear, instability, anticipation, and speculation. We would rather stay secure and safe in our own little world than take a step beyond our comfort zone. Risk doesn’t mean safe. It doesn’t always mean bad, but it doesn’t mean safe.
But that is exactly where we are supposed to be as followers of Christ. Risking it all. Laying our life down so we can live for our Savior. Risk makes me think of a quote from the Chronicles of Narnia.
“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.” So just like Aslan, our lives as believers is not safe, but it is good. Risking a life for Christ is not safe, but it is great, it is abundant, and it is worth it. So yes, it is unknown but it …