Beloved

I gathered smooth, flat rocks in my hand. Turning them over, I carefully looked at each of them—determining if they were good skipping rocks, and if so, how many skips I could get out of each rock. Each rock was different, unique. Some were scraped and scarred from the journey down the river. Others were smooth, glistening from the water rushing over it. My eyes scanned the rocks, looking only for flat, round rocks. As I ran my fingers over the individually shaped rocks I was holding, I couldn’t help but think of how many times we skip over people in our lives.

Maybe the people seem scraped and scarred themselves—hurting from going through the storms of life. When you see those types of people, it’s so much easier to just skip over them— to choose to talk to the people who look like they’ve experienced less hurt. It’s less time consuming, and can be easy to ignore the hurt people are going through.

But… that isn’t what God does. He doesn’t see us and skip over us. He sees every person, each fearfully and wonderfully created by Him, and He cares for each person, no matter their story, what they’re going through, or how many scrapes and scars they have from their life. He could choose to love only certain ones and ignore others. But, out of His greatness and mercy, He doesn’t.

I think Ephesians 3:17-19 sums up His love for us—every one of us, no matter our story—in an amazing way. “So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

People in life will skip over you, ignore you, and cause you pain. But the Creator of the universe Himself won’t skip over you. He notices you, He cares for you, and most importantly, He loves you. To Him, you’re not a single rock surrounded by hundreds of better rocks. To Him, you’re His beloved child.

Kayla Joy

Different Perspectives

I sat under a gorgeous blooming tree, reading a book. The Ohio river stretched out before me, muddy waters slowly gurgling past. The park was alive with kids giggling with delight as they threw pebbles and twigs into the river. I stretched out my feet, loving the spring breeze. I was about to go back to reading my book when a little boy walking up the sidewalk caught my attention. He was trying to act like an adult in charge. He shouted out to his siblings, “Don’t run or you’ll fall in the pool!” This instantly made me smile. He was too little to understand that it was a river and not a pool. To him, the Ohio river was all a giant pool. I was looking at the exact same thing the boy was—only we had different perspectives on it. Where I saw a river, he saw a pool.

I can’t help but think of a similar comparison. When we look at a person whose life seems to be falling apart, we see a hopeless situation. We see a mess. But God looks at it with a different perspective. He can be looking at the same situation as us, but He doesn’t see what everybody else sees, He sees so much more. He sees hope. He sees the plans He has for that person. He can take what everyone else thinks is a mess, and turn it into a message. Our God is an amazing God who isn’t limited by what the world defines as hopeless.

If your life is a mess, don’t give up hope. God’s not finished working with you. You might only be able to see a mess, but God sees more than that. He sees all the plans He has for you. He knows what good He’s going to bring out of the situation. Even if it seems hopeless to you, remember that He’s coming at it with a different perspective. He knows everything that’s happened in the past, and He knows everything’s that’s going to happen in the future. Though we can’t always see where He’s leading us, we can have faith that He knows what He’s doing.

Kayla Joy

God's Handiwork

“Wook, Kaywa!” The little boy’s hands tapped his sheet of coloring paper, as he exclaimed again, “Wook!” I looked down at his sheet of paper, filled with colorful scribbles. “Do you wike my wock?” I smiled as he gestured with his finger to a circle he had drawn on the paper. The circle had been filled in with scribbles of all sorts of colors, red, yellow, green, blue. “I love it! That’s a gorgeous rock!” I exclaimed. He beamed proudly, then pointed to another circle, “And dis wock? Do you wike dis wock, too??” I nodded enthusiastically, assuring him that he did a wonderful job of drawing rocks. No doubt he was already dreaming about his future of becoming a famous rock drawer. He pointed to a third rock he had drawn, “Kaywa! Dis wock, too! You wike dis wock?” Once again, I told him it was a wonderful rock, and I loved the blue he used. 



No two of his rocks were the same. Some were outlined, then filled in, some loosely resembled a circle shape, let alone a rock shape. Yet, he was proud of what he had drawn. He created his rocks, and he could see beauty through all those scribbles.

God, on the other hand, didn’t create little scribbles as He created us. He didn’t mess up along the way, and He didn’t make any mistakes. None of us are exactly alike. I can imagine God being proud of how He created us, much like how the little boy was proud of his rock drawings. But, unlike the rock drawing, we weren’t a spur of the moment idea. God had us in mind since before the creation of the world. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

We are God’s handiwork. We’re His creation. He sees beauty in His creations. Not everyone will appreciate His creations, but that doesn’t mean that His creations are of any less worth because of how other people view them. He put effort and thought in to each of us. That, in itself, gives every single person worth. The next time you feel like a random scribble, remember that you’re God’s valued creation.

Kayla Joy

Horse Trust

I slowly eased on my horse's back. I had a new horse for this session of horseback riding--more specifically, jumping lessons--and it was my first time getting to know this horse. My horse, Tommy, waited patiently until I cued him to walk forward, and then obediently walked on. Throughout the warmup, I tested his obedience. By halting him when he wasn't expecting it, asking for him to back up at random times, and making him circle around in some corners, I was seeing how much I could trust him to follow my lead. Each time I tested him, he was eager and willing to respond to my cues. He didn't question where I was leading him--even if it seemed random and didn't make much sense to him. He trusted that I knew what I was doing with him. Tommy trusted me to show him what to do next, even if the path wasn't clear to him.

I can't help but realize how different I am than my horse. When God tells me to do something, I'm not always jumping straight up to do it--sometimes I spend more time grumbling about it than listening to Him. I don't know what my life will look like in ten years from now, and often times I wish I could know. When something happens that doesn't make sense to me, my first reaction isn't to trust that God has it in His hands. The King of the universe knows every detail about my life--past, present, and future--and yet it's still a struggle to trust Him with my daily life.

Overall, I'm not like Tommy. I don't think many of us are. I think we all, to some degree or another, don't want to give God full control of our lives and don't want to put our trust completely in Him. It's certainly not easy to do, and it's not something that happens immediately. It's a daily process.

Jeremiah 29:11 says, "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'"

Sometimes we get so caught up in looking at the plan of our life. If we can't see what's going to happen and what this plan consists of, we want to take things over for ourselves and try to form our own plans for our life. But Jeremiah 29:11 doesn't say that we know the plans God has for us, it says that God knows the plans He has for us. We're not expected to know God's plan for our lives. We're expected to trust the Planner.

Kayla Joy

Love Through Listening

“Kayla! Kayla! I need to tell you something!” The five year old exclaimed, her eyes looking urgent. She seemed bursting to tell me her news. Her long, curly black hair swept down her back, her hands motioning in her excitement. The second I asked her what she wanted to tell me, she went into an explanation about the movie Strawberry Shortcake, as if it was the most important thing in the world.

To me, it seemed like a big buildup for something so little. To her, it meant everything. She felt what she had to say was important, and she wanted someone to listen.

Recently, God has been impressing upon me how important it is to show love for people by listening to them. And not just by hearing what the person is saying, but truly listening--caring about what they have to say, praying for them about it, and following up with it, as a way to show them your love and God’s love for them.

That kind of listening can be hard. It takes time and effort. You have to work towards it--it doesn’t usually come naturally. And sometimes, it gets really discouraging. It doesn’t feel worth the effort to listen. But, when you have the ability to show God’s love to someone through listening to them, isn’t it worth it?

Kayla Joy

Identity In Christ

I paused for a minute before putting my temporary drivers license in my purse, staring at it. It seems to have all my information on it--from information to my name and address, to details such as my eye color. It’s an identification card, yet it fails to include the most important identifying information there is about me: that my identity is found in Christ.

Because of what Christ has done, my identity is no longer defined by things this world finds important. My identity is found in Him. When this world tells me that I’m a failure, He gently reminds me that “‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.’” (2 Corinthians 12:9). When this world tells me that it’s all about looks, He says, “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.” (1 Peter 3:3-4). When this world tries to identify me by worldly standards, I’m constantly reminded that my identity isn’t found in this world, but in Christ, thanks to what He’s done for me.

Kayla Joy

Willingly Being Shaped

I rolled the play-dough between my hands, twisting and twirling it until it reached a shape I was satisfied with. I wasn't sure what I was going to make yet; I was paying more attention to ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the creations the girl I was babysitting was making. I absentmindedly formed my piece of play-dough together, wrapping it into a circle. "Hey!" the little girl suddenly called out, pointing at my play-dough, "You made a nest!" I glanced down at my play-dough, only to realize she was right. It really did look like a bird's nest! The whole time I'd been forming the play-dough, I didn't have any slight idea of what I was going to make. A bird's nest certainly never popped in my mind!

Thankfully, it's not that way with God. When He created us, He knew what He was doing. We weren't a mistake. We weren't a spur of the moment kind of idea. He didn't need someone else to point out to Him what He had created. He knew what He was doing when He created us. And, amazingly, He didn't only make us, but He keeps working on shaping and forming us into who He wants us to be, if we're willing to be molded by Him.

Isaiah 64:8 says, "Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand." I love how the verse doesn't say, "You were the potter" but that it says, "You are the potter". He didn't just create us and leave us on our own. He's actively shaping us, forming us, and molding us. 

Often, this shaping stretches us. It can make us step out of our comfort zone. It can be painful. But as long He's the potter, He sees the big picture, and He has a plan. Are you willing to let Him shape you daily? 

Kayla Joy