Taking it Back

{Simplicity} 

Fall term is almost over, and I feel like I should have pages to say. But honestly, it keeps coming back to this, over and over again: I got nothing. 

Nothing I would write here would be new. There's been no "lighbulb" moments (Not that classes haven't been stretching-believe me, there's no way you can leave Bryan Hurlbutt's Systematic Theology Class without your brain hurting), no grand revelation on what I should do with my life, no newly opened doors for my dream of cross cultural missions (unless you count Portland as a far-off culture, and I can see how that would make sense). On the outside, I'm right where I was when this year started. On paper, you could look and say, "there's no progress."

Sometimes you have take a few steps back before you move forward.

God's been bringing me back to the basics lately, and I mean the extreme basics. Anyone who continues reading this is probably going to be thinking in their head, "DUH Kate. Isn't this what you've claimed to believe for a while now?" You'd be right, and that's ok. Many of these will sound cliche, and that's ok too. In this period of waiting to see what my life will look like, this is the beautiful gospel He keeps bringing me back to.

Truth #1-Love is greatest. And not just any love either, but Christ's. It's what makes Him glorious and worth serving. There is no shame because there is no longer any reason to fear failure. He paid it ALL. His grace is sufficient for ALL. The only thing asked of us is to take Christ at His word. It is a love completely dependant on whose we are, not who we are.


It is unconditional, constant, personal, unique, and just plain beautiful. To be honest, this makes it hard to trust it. How can something so undeserved, so holy, be real? 

Yet it is only when we trust this love that we have the ability to recieve it, and give it.  Just think-what would it look like if we actually relied on Christ's love to love others well? If we showed  unbelievers not religion, but authenticity. Nothing about Christianity makes sense outside of a real relationship with God anyway-it's what makes this faith true. If all we're offering them is another religion, there's no point. The whole point is that it's true; I AM Loved. Jesus DID die and rise again for me. I DO have the Holy Spirit, and the ability to approach God's throne with boldness as His child. He knows my name. These truths bring freedom, and the ability to spread this precious gospel to each person we come in contact with. At our fingertips is the ability to show grace and forgiveness daily! That brings me to the next point...

Truth #2-Grace isn't soft. It's more like a roaring lion; it won't quit pursuing us until it's work is complete. Whenever someone brought up love or grace before, I'd always secretly saw a hippie in my head. It never sunk in for me, and frankly the depth of it probably never will, as it goes immeasurably farther then my sin couldn ever reach. 

The more I see my need for grace, the more humbled I become by the power of it. As my inadequacy is made painfully clear, His persistent grace is made clearer still. 



||He said to me, " My grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in weakness" 
2 Corinthians 12:9||



Truth #3-Jesus is Enough. His plan for me isn't going to disappoint. Pursuing Him isn't going to disappoint. As difficult as it might be to trust Him, the clay has no right to tell the Potter how to form it, no right to tell the Potter what He is doing isn't good. The clay doesn't know the finished product.

In this time of being molded, it's hard to stay in the present. The past creeps up to bring insecurity, the future bringing the anxiety of what is unknown. Yet in the waiting God is near, teaching the basics. Allowing me to simply get to know His heart for the lost better. The more I see, the more I realize this is all I'll ever need. This is what I was made for-this adventure of quiet trust in my Savior. He satisfies, friends. No matter where you are or what you do, He brings the freedom of His love and grace. There is such relentless hope in this.  

Let's live like it.