simplyblair

I don’t belong to my faith.

I belong to Jesus.

I don’t belong to my thoughts, moods, and goals.

I belong to Jesus.

I don’t belong to a person or place.

I belong to Jesus.

If I belong to Jesus, He has to be enough for me.

If I belong to Jesus, all of my own desires have to lose their splendor.

If I belong to Jesus, I shall tightly cling to Him.

I do not cling to who the world thinks I am.

I do not cling to who I think I am.

If I belong to Jesus, I listen to who He says I am.

And since I belong to Jesus, He shall always be enough for me.

Let it be that my deepest desire is to live completely engulfed in the arms of the King

Let it be that I am fully fed and constantly replenished through the simple tastings of His body and blood

This mere image of being embraced by the Father is an image of Calvary

Where the King was rejected by His Father

But now here I am longing to see the man on Calvary

I long to see His nail-scarred hands that embrace me

That nourish me and feed me

I so long to live fully relaxed in being small in the hands of my Creator

To let him twist and turn me to where I am no longer in brokenness

But I shall be in the image of my Father

Let it be that my desires don’t rest in the setting of where I am

But the setting of who I am becoming

So, therefore, let me rest

And live a life full of rest

Throwing off all of the sins I have grieved as my fists stay clenched

Let it be that my life is more of a miraculous dance swaying to the beat of redemption

Finding the King once again

And let it be so that in that very moment of joyous dancing

My legs aren’t stiff or rigid

Let them be collapsed

Collapsed into the arms of the Redeemer

Letting Him move my steps and guide my feet

To where they only match His

As dancing takes its form in a collapsed waltz

Let it be that my whole being stays collapsed

Leaning on Jesus for only Him

And let that be the most beautiful dance of all

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If you know me, you know that I am obsessed with camp and I would live there if I could. It’s a place where I can be at rest and as my dear friend puts it, “It is a place that stirs my affection for the Lord.” When I am caught up in the busyness of life, my soul longs to go back to camp, my place of quiet retreat. All of this was true of my last week at RYM camp.

Throughout the week, I found myself struggling with lies from Satan as He was trying to rid me of my confidence in Christ. This is a lie I deal with often, and many days I feel as if I might not really be saved. As I try to fight this lie on my own, which is completely impossible, I find myself hiding my struggle from the defeater of lies; my Heavenly Father. This spiritual warfare can take over what I know is true, and that is my security in Jesus.

But, the Lord used a speaker at camp to teach me that He still calls me His beloved and remains beside me even in my unbelief. God has given me reminders this week that I am fully known by Him, and I must only rely on the blood of Jesus for my salvation. He has shown me that I cannot fear God’s wrath because I never received God’s wrath. He gave me the sweetest reminder that I am pure in the eyes of Jesus and none of that was my own earnings.

Jesus is the one who lifts me on His back and carries me straight to the Father; I wasn’t the one who voluntarily asked for Him. He came running after ME, and I am wrapped around His finger. Because I am completely one with Christ, nothing could ever separate this holy connection, and I will never be able to run from Him because His hand is clasped around my body. I did not realize how bad I needed all of these reminders and Jesus used this precious week to bless my heart by carrying me straight to the throne of grace.

So why do I say all of this and ramble about my week at camp? Because I know that the paralysis of doubt is a real thing. It’s so real that it can steal our joy and freedom in Christ. I know and I have experienced how real and miserable it is, and I want to communicate that you are not alone in the struggle. There are even great theologians and Bible “heroes” like Charles Spurgeon and John the Baptist who have faced this war in their hearts.

I know how hard it is, but I also know that our security in Jesus doesn’t rest in the strength of our faith, it rests in the object of our faith. Jesus, who endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of God (Hebrews 12:2). I know and I am confident that we have a King in Heaven who fights for us and we are to rest in the fact that we are His chosen. Therefore, we can be knocked to our knees crying out, “Abba Father!” As the fight with Satan continues, let us not view it as a losing battle. Remember and delight in your Victor, and therefore, your victory in Jesus.

“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

Romans 8:38-39 ESV

A little snippet of the best week ever. #rymfloridaforever

I just recently finished my sophomore year of high school, and these past two weeks have been so good to reflect on the ways Jesus has worked on my heart this past year. Through some soul searching, He has reminded me of His faithfulness.  One of the biggest things Jesus has been teaching me is how important it is to rest and receive Him. This means to sit with Him in the quiet of the morning and listen to the ways He is knocking on my heart. This means to run to Him as I walk into my first period, anxious about an in-class essay. This means to come boldly to Him and listen to His wisdom when I’m tired of homework and activities and all I want to do is watch TV and eat Oreos. Jesus is revealing to me that sitting with Him is to simply receive and feast with Him in the mundane and the ordinary tasks that occur every day. Jesus wants us in all of our mess and in all of our need. We must simply approach the throne.

I write this with thankfulness because my whole life, I have dealt with a lie from Satan himself that what I do defines who I am. This comes through the way I sing, dance, perform in school, and even just the way I carry myself. But, I truly believe Jesus is transforming the way I look at my role as a simple human. And that is to simply desire an intimate and vulnerable relationship with my Father, and seek His wisdom as I approach the day’s tasks. When I sit with Jesus, He is transforming my soul to truly believe who He says He is. This leads to living in true reliance on our Creator because He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and He supplies us with grace upon grace. As the Lord is molding me into the daughter He has called me to be, He is molding the way I see Him, and therefore, I can truly find rest in my Soul-seeker. God is continuing to show me that He deeply desires every part of me, and all I have to do is run. Run to the Father with great expectation and receive all of His goodness.

If God has called us to approach Him and sit with Him, why are we so prone to not desire this wonder? Influence. The influence of culture to be someone you are not and to always be more. The influence of the people that surround you who want you to be one of them and tempt you into finding your identity in materialism and social media status. The influence of our own mind which is trying to speak to us in a completely different language than Jesus, who knows the fabric of our souls. And then the influence of evil. This influence is embedded in all of the others and is constantly trying to whisper lies into our hearts to stray us away from Jesus.

The crazy thing about all of the influences that keep us away from sitting with Jesus is Jesus gets it and He gets us. He gets that we sometimes tend to think about our smoothie awaiting us downstairs for breakfast more than the wisdom He is bestowing upon us when we are with Him. He gets that culture has fully captured our brains to think differently than who we are because of our fallen sinful world. Jesus gets all of our distractions because He knows us and He still loves us. He knows every single stitch in our body, and in our soul and instead of running the other direction, He stays and desires us. He knows every dirty thought that creeps into our human mind and He still looks at us and says,”mine”. He left the treasures of Heaven and slew the dragon so He could be my friend and your friend.

As we stray and wander, Jesus is our seeker and ultimately, He is our finder. He finds us and takes us in His arms, and He sits with us. We might wrestle against his embrace, but no power of Hell, no scheme of man, could ever pluck me from His hand (In Christ Alone). Jesus calls us “beloved” and just wants us to be with Him. So friend, as you take on your daily tasks and stand against the “influence”, know that your task is to remain in communion with Jesus. Sit and receive, my dear.

³⁸ Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. ³⁹ And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. ⁴⁰ But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” ⁴¹ But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, ⁴² but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

Luke 10:38-42 ESV

P

Dear Jesus,

Some days, at the end of the day, I come to you and wonder what happened, or where I was, or what I was doing.

Jesus, there are days where I feel like I have faith as big as the mountains.

But there are also days when I wonder where my faith is.

There are days where I am engulfed in your Spirit, but there are also days that I feel so blind and oblivious to even recognize the presence of your Spirit.

There are days when I am running straight towards you, and there are days when I feel like I am running in every direction but towards you.

Father, there are just days when I feel sad. And when I do feel sad, I feel a need to fix my sadness without reliance on the Spirit.

Yahweh, there are days when life gets tough and it seems like the world is crashing in on me.

There are days when I long for the future so much that I forget where I am and who I am, and I feel like someone has to knock me over to remind me whose I am.

Jesus, there are good days too.

Lots of good days.

These days happen when I accept the journey you have planned for me and I don’t question your authority.

God, I experience many different days.

Many days when I wonder what “harvesting” you are doing in my life, but also days when I feel like the road is a clear path and everything is going right.

Father, I pray that you will be the God of ALL my days.

The ugly days and the pretty days.

The happy days and the sad days.

The days of harvest and the days of famine.

The days of clarity and the days of obscurity.

Be Lord over all of them,

and help me see that every day is a day of grace.

P

So about two months ago I wrote a blog post about the way God was revealing to me the pride in my life and showing me my brokenness. I waited almost two months to look at the post again after I wrote it and as I was finally about to hit publish, I decided to let my dad read it, and receive his wise insight. His answer was something I did not expect, but was so profound and made me think and reflect on my writing. He looked at me and said, “Blair, do you really feel this way about yourself?” I began to understand what he had said as I read through my post again and looked at the choice of words I used to describe us as sinners including malicious, worthless, evil, and so on. My dad continued to explain to me that yes before we were saved we were evil, but that does not define our worth. As I thought about what he had told me, it was hard to comprehend the way I had labeled sinners. Looking back, I realize that though I was trying to make a point that Jesus found us in our worthlessness, I was dwelling on what our lives were like before Jesus, and not rejoicing in the worth that He gives us. So I have decided to switch that depressed, dwelling-in-the-past post around to the way Jesus looks at us now.

One of my favorite songs lately has been “Wonderfully Made” by Ellie Holcomb. The lyrics are personal and beautifully written to make a connection between the way God looks at us, so therefore how we can see ourselves. Some of the lyrics are:

What if I saw me, the way that You see me?
What if I believed it was true?
What if I traded, this shame and self-hatred?
For a chance at believing You

That You knit me together
In my mother’s womb
And You say that I’ve never been
Hidden from You
And You say that I’m wonderfully
wonderfully made

As I have dwelled and rested in these simple words over the last couple of weeks, My focus has changed from the person I was before Jesus intervened in my life, to the beautiful daughter that Jesus calls me. The fact that scripture says that Jesus is singing over us makes me get the chills.

One of the most intriguing parts of this song is when Ellie Holcomb describes how we were never hidden from God. In fact, we were and remain fully exposed to our creator. This might be scary in a sense if you recognize the sin that is within you. But, Jesus wants us to find encouragement in these lyrics. The reason being, we need and crave someone to see the depths of our souls, because we simply can’t fix ourselves.

With this knowledge, we can run to Jesus, letting go of our sin. We can look away from the past and be stripped of all the things that made us feel unworthy. Because Jesus is in love with our tender souls, we are called to a new name and a new, extravagant worth. There is freedom found in trusting what Jesus thinks about us, and God just wants us to rest in that freedom.

So friend, sister, brother, if you struggle with your past of pride and shame, be called into a new light, and recognize the love of the magnificent soul-seeker. Find beauty in the grace that has been granted to you. Let’s release whatever brokenness we still are grasping, and run straight to our creator’s hands and rest in the glory of the cross.

 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 2:4-7

If something in your life is causing anxiety, let it go.

Face-to-face quality time beats texting any day.

Embrace who you are, not what the world wants you to be.

Take time to listen to the rustling wind and singing birds.

If you want to check something off of your bucket list, than don’t wait. This year my “new thing” was flying by myself to see my grandparents for twelve days.

All good things come from church camp.

Wherever you are, be all there. I am in the process of learning this concept.

Pray that Jesus will bring new people into your life. I’ve prayed this for the past two years and each year He has brought new students that have become some of my closest soul sisters.

God is bigger than you. This should be comforting, so embrace it.

God brings good things out of anything and everything, even in the darkest of times.

Find a passion and pursue it. For me personally, I pursued music more than ever this year.

You can’t do anything for Jesus if you haven’t been with Jesus first.

I starting reading every night this year and it has been the best thing since sliced bread.

Sometimes you learn a lot from putting on your big girl pants and attending a big girl event. This year, I went to the Sisters First tour with Jenna and Barbara Bush and it blessed my soul.

Jesus wants us to live freely and abundantly, so do things that make your soul sing.

The Holy Spirit uses our restless soul to draw us nearer to Him.

Jesus never wants our performance, He simply wants us.

Don’t judge people on what they believe; unite in what brings you together.

God uses the world around us to show intricate glimpses of His glory.

You don’t have to fear what the future holds because God has designed it in a way that’s special for you.

Here’s to 2018.

King of Kings,

As I bring nothing to the table but my utter dependency on you, I dwell in your holy presence, because that is what keeps me stable.

As I ponder on your indescribable grace, I question how I ever doubted you.

You, Jesus, are the most precious and intimate person that has ever, and will ever exist.

You intricately know every part of me, a million times better than I know myself.

You find me in my helplessness and rescue me from the demands of secular truths.

You are so remarkable, that you love the ones that called,”crucify” more than anything in this world.

You search deep within every person, asking for us to surrender because we have no other option.

You created earth out of your divine nature so we can rest in the beauty of your art.

You are the God that moves mountains, and the calm in the middle of an earthquake.

You, my God, are so infinitely powerful, that even the wind and sea call upon your name.

You call me your beloved when I feel nothing short of broken, and you sing to me the words of your unending glory.

I fall to my knees in worship, as I can’t try to comprehend the splendor of your majesty.

My Jesus, you are my everlasting, infinite, merciful, father, and to you, I run.

Love,

Your daughter

Hi, people! So, I know I haven’t written a post in a very long time, but I decided to take a few months off to pray about where God will lead me in my writing, so here I am. These past few months have been awesome because they have been filled with the blessing of no school, a mission trip, church camp, quality time with my grandparents, and all sorts of awesomeness. But God has simply placed something on my heart today, and I just can’t help but share it.

For the past few weeks, I have had the privilege of babysitting the sweetest little 5-month old baby.  He just sits in my lap and smiles at me as I sing songs to him and watch the Today Show (I am obsessed with the Today Show and all of the anchors). Through this time, I have begun to realize how dependent babies are. Of course, I knew that before, but it has become more real as I’ve experienced it up close. For instance, they are dependent on someone to feed them, change their tiny clothes, rock them to sleep, and basically do everything for them.

The reason I give this analogy is that I feel like it relates to how we are with God. We as humans, have to depend on the Creator of the Universe for literally, EVERYTHING! This is because we have so much weakness, that if we even try to get by on our own, we automatically fail. I’ve realized this within myself especially these past few months. I get in these really bad moods because I am a teenage girl with hormones, and the only person that can stop me from punching my brother right in the face, (Let’s face it, I don’t have the arm strength to punch my brother in the face but sometimes I wish I did) is Jesus Christ, my Savior. Maybe you feel this grasping reality too. It’s probably not always fighting your brother, but maybe you feel small in ways like fitting in, dressing right, making good grades, or struggling with loneliness.

The truth is, Jesus is the only person that has the ability to pull us out of the feeling of smallness, and that is why He is so dependable. He is the only person that I can rely on to stop my tears, to feed me so I will never be hungry again, to bathe me with righteousness, and to simply be my eternal Daddy. In that way, we’re so dependent like tiny little babies who need spiritual sheltering.

When I was at church camp a few weeks ago, The speaker said something that really stuck with me,”Our ONLY hope is a naked man on a cross.” Y’all isn’t that so true though? We literally are so weak, that God humbled himself before his enemies and died, completely naked. He did this to take the punishment for our sin so we can live. That is the only way we can function. That is the only way we can be with the precious, preeminent, remarkable, personal, GOD. And, that is how dependent we are. We can feel so small, that our dependency is solely based upon Jesus, and Jesus alone. He is our Jehovah, Yahweh, El Shaddai, Messiah.

Through this post, I don’t want you to feel bad about yourself, I want this to turn your eyes above, to the greatness of our King. Our dependency on Him is crucial, and His love towards us is unfathomable. We can’t rely on anything on this Earth because Jesus is our source of life. God is so good and He loves us to where we don’t have the ability to comprehend it. That should take our eyes off ourselves and direct us to the one who is greater.

A few nights ago at youth group, one of my youth leaders gave an awesome analogy that I think relates to this topic entirely. She explained how we are drowning in sin so much, that God jumps down from the Holiest of Holies, brings us to shore, and breathes life into us. And I pray that as you read this, you will be sustained by the truth that God is your daddy that will ALWAYS be there to love you, rescue you, and give you life.

HE IS OUR ONLY, ALWAYS, AND FOREVER.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5 ESV

WOW. It’s been WAY too long since the last time I posted but sweet Jesus put a little something on my heart to share and I’m stoked to share it. I think it’s about time to share my testimony and how God found me in my deepest pit and saved me so I can put on the righteousness of God.

All my life, I’ve grown up in a Christian home. My parents have been Christians and they were raised in Christian homes, so all my life that’s what I’ve been surrounded with. I’ve been raised in the church with numerous people guiding me and shepherding me in my Christian walk. But, up until I was 10 years old, I thought I had earned my salvation. It was all about me. My family is in ministry, so I had the tendency to think that I had it all together and everyone else had it wrong. I would think this in my mind because Satan would stir these thoughts.

One Sunday, my family was at church, and the offertory song started. It was a song that our worship leader had written, and as he sang it I listened closely and curiously to the words being sung. The song, “Love Comes For Free” was pounding in my heart, and then the last verse came.

“I know a man named Jesus, he loved until he died.

And after doing nothing wrong took the bullet for his bride.

If what I’ve heard is really true and love should come for free;

then I can love this Jesus too because he first loved me.”

Okay woah. Woah, woah, woah. Now, this REALLY started to pound on my heart. I’m Jesus’s bride?  I didn’t earn his love? He loves me SOOOOO much that he would die for me? My heart was racing and I felt the power of the Holy Spirit working inside of me, giving me a clear picture of the gospel. Through this remarkable song, I realized that I am not good. I am broken and needy. I have nothing… absolutely NOTHING to bring to the table. I am a poor, wretched sinner, who is in need of a savior. And Jesus is my forever savior, who calls me his bride, and died so that I can live with Him.

I reflected on this song and the truth that God showed me through it through the rest of the day, and I remember like it was yesterday laying down to sleep that night and I started crying out to the God of the universe. I was still wrestling but somehow I felt an enormous peace. I knew in that very moment God had saved me from my brokenness and I am forever raised up with him all because of grace.

This particular Sunday was the best day of my life, but just because I became a Christian didn’t mean things all of a sudden got easier. Yes, in that moment I knew the answer to my struggles, but a few months later, I went through a long period of doubts and serious struggles from the depths of my soul. I was wrestling if there really is a God, or if I really am saved. But through that, God did and continues to lead me back to the love of Jesus. Because, when we stray and wander, he is our good shepherd who leads us back on the path of righteousness.

As Christians, our lives will NEVER be perfect until we enter the pearly gates. But, in the process of sanctification, we slowly are learning to live as Christ lived by surrendering ourselves to him daily. We have to surrender knowing that by grace we have been saved, and there is nothing we ever did to earn the love of Jesus. I pray that through my story, and through the sweet gospel, you feel the comfort and the peace that God gives to us through his son.

WE ARE HIS MASTERPIECE.

“Love Comes For Free”

Written by Adam Wright