Clean Snow

Snow. Snow, snow, snow. What can I say about the past month, other than snow? I dislike the cold that comes along with the snow, and usually I find myself wishing I lived somewhere else—perhaps Florida—and didn’t have to bear through the cold. Thankfully, I can console myself that we’ve made it to March already, and that means that spring is definitely on its way!

    But through this past snow-y winter, I’ve taken the time to look at the freshly fallen snow. I love the parts with no footprints yet, no dents. A white blanket of cotton, it seems to calm the surroundings and freeze nature in place. Some days, the snow is so white you feel the need for sunglasses. Yet through the brightness, I can’t help but notice the beauty of freshly fallen snow.

    This reminds me of the picture with sin our lives. Our sins cause ugly dents, and end up staining what could have been so beautiful. It started out so wonderfully—until sin entered the picture.

    But that’s when Jesus comes in. He washes our sins away, removes the stain, fixes the dents, and suddenly, our sins are as white as snow again. 1 John 1:9 says, “ If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. “ After we sin, we’re not stuck being dented and stained. When we confess our sins, when we turn away from them, He will cleanse us. He’s waiting for us to turn to Him, to acknowledge that we don’t want to remain stained and dented any longer. But ultimately, the choice is left to you. Do you want to turn from the sin that you’ve been holding on to, or do you want Him to wash you white as snow? 



Kayla Joy

Messy Moments

As I sat down in the chair, I balanced two children on my lap, each toddler fighting to have me to themselves. Soon enough, a much needed distraction came—cupcakes. The chocolate cupcakes were in celebration of Jesus’ birthday; a birthday party for the toddlers, in order to help them understand the birth of Jesus. One of the girls on my lap was especially delighted about her cupcake, squishing the soft cake between her fingers, stuffing it in her mouth with delight. I smiled as chocolate crumbs fell on the floor, knowing the floor would definitely have to be cleaned. I couldn’t help but laugh when I looked at her face and realized that she was wearing more of this dessert than she was eating. Her mouth was smudged with icing, with even a few dabs of chocolate on her nose. Her short golden hair had some crumbs hiding in it. But beneath all of that mess, her smile was huge. She was having a blast, and she definitely wasn’t afraid to get dirty! As I wiped the mess off her mouth, I couldn’t help but wonder at how she wasn’t afraid to get messy. She knew she would be taken care of. She didn’t worry about getting messy, but instead she delighted in it.

    Sometimes, God calls us to get messy for His sake. Maybe it doesn’t look quite the same—it probably won’t involve wearing chocolate cake on your face—but it often involves tasks that aren’t so pleasant. An example of this that Jesus gave us? One that instantly comes to my mind is Jesus washing the disciples’ feet. A nice, relaxing, clean job… or maybe the complete opposite. Jesus humbled Himself to take on a lowly job—scrubbing the dirt off feet. It isn’t exactly a job most people scramble to do, but Jesus willingly did it, leaving a beautiful example for us. After washing their feet, Jesus says, “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” (John 13:14-15). Washing their feet is one of the best examples of being willing to humble yourself and get messy for God’s glory, but it doesn’t always come in the form of feet washing. Whether it’s changing a dirty diaper, sweeping the floor, or taking the time to serve the needy, it can be done for His glory.

    The real question is—are you willing to get messy for His sake? As He showed us through His example, following Jesus is often messy. Much like the little girl, however, even through the messy moments, He’ll take care of you. He’ll be right there beside you, as you go through messy moments for His sake.

Kayla Joy

Secret Sins

       I sat on the heater on a particularly cold day, trapped behind the pages of a book I was reading. My dog, Sammy, had been wandering in and out of the room, as if he was bored and looking for something to do. At a breaking point in my book, I looked up for a moment, and heard an unusual crinkling sound. I instantly wondered where Sammy was, knowing it was never a good sign to ask that question. Getting up from my comfy spot, I quickly spotted him in the bathroom, unrolling a toilet paper and stuffing it in his mouth hungrily.

    As soon as he looked up, he knew he was in trouble. He ran from the room and stared at the mess he made, looking at me as if asking, “Why whoever made that mess??” His guilty eyes and licking lips told me the true story, however.

    Instead of instantly being sorry, he first tried to escape from being scolded. He knew he was going to be in trouble if he was caught, so he thought he could hide his bad boy acts.

    Isn’t this how we act around God a lot of the time? It’s certainly not something we want to admit, but we really don’t want to give Him all parts of our lives. We’d rather give Him only the good parts, and attempt to hide the rest from Him.

    But God doesn’t want us coming to him displaying our best parts and disguising our sins as something else. He wants us to come as we are—even when that means broken and hurting. Thankfully, we have an amazing, merciful God who forgives us time and time again. You don’t have to fear telling Him of your sins and broken pieces, He already knows. He’s just waiting for you to hand over all of yourself to Him.

Kayla Joy

   

Take Heart

I had just settled down to form play-dough into pizzas, chatting about school with the girls I was babysitting. Reminding the youngest to keep the play-dough out of her mouth, I was surprised in the midst of the light hearted chatter to hear a serious question asked. “Kayla?” said the nine year old, “Are demons real?”

Her brown eyes stared at me, waiting to know the answer. Her face held a tinge of fear. I did my best to explain that, while demons are real, Jesus is stronger. He’s already overcome them, and ultimately, He’s already won the battle. Simply put to a nine year old, while demons are real and do exist, we don’t have to live in fear of them, because Jesus lives in our hearts and He’s bigger than them.

I love how kids ask and face questions that sometimes we’re afraid to even think about. There are so many scary things going on in the world—with the outbreak of Ebola, ISIS, natural disasters, violence, school shootings, terrorism, the list could go on and on—it’s almost easier to ignore the fears in the world and simply live out our lives, pretending as if none of it is going on.

But is that how we’re really supposed to live? Pretending like the world is fine, even when we know of all the pain going on in it? John 16:33 says, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

I love how the verse doesn’t sugarcoat it. It doesn’t say that we will all live easy lives. It doesn’t say there won’t be any pain or sorrow. Instead, it comes straight out and says, “In this world you will have trouble.”

But the amazing thing? It doesn’t end there. The world doesn’t end with trouble. That isn’t the end of the story. It ends with Jesus saying, “But take heart! I have overcome the world”. We can’t ignore the pain going on all around us, but we don’t have to live in fear because of it. We can take heart, knowing that He has already overcome the world, and find strength in Him to persevere, to continue to spread His love to the hurting.

Yes, demons are real. But Jesus is stronger. He’s already overcome.

Kayla Joy

Chocolate Buh-Na-Na Masterpieces

"Buh-na-na!" the toddler called out, twisting her body and squirming in my arms to reach for a banana on the counter. Her blonde curls bounced as she wiggled in my arms, acting as if the banana was a piece of chocolate cake. I grabbed the banana, carefully un-peeling it and exposing a slightly overripe banana. The tip of the banana was bruised. I was prepared to scrape off the bad spot and hand the rest of it over to the little girl when she chimed up cheerfully, "It's a chocolate buh-na-na." I smiled, loving how I saw a bruise, but she saw something completely different. I didn't give it a second thought, but she was fascinated by it.

I love how we can look at something and see one thing, but God sees something completely different. We may look at ourselves with disgust, wishing we could scrape away the bruised parts of our life and erase them, but God knows that even in those spots, His grace is sufficient for us. He can take even our most bruised spots and use them for His glory, if we let Him. Isaiah 64:8 says, "Yet You, Lord, our are Father. We are the clay, You are the potter: we are all the work of Your hand."

We have been carefully crafted, the workmanship of God. He's forming us daily into who He wants us to become. The next time you wish you could scrape away a certain part of your life, remember that God can form even that into a way to glorify Him. He isn't confined by boxes, He is amazing at taking something we view as bad and slowly shaping it into a masterpiece.

Kayla Joy

Living Moment by Moment

“Awwwwww!” A little girl’s voice rang out, eyeing my dog, Sammy. She leaned her bike in the grass and came running up to me, her wavy hair bouncing against her back as she ran. She looked as if she was eight years old or so. Sammy excitedly wagged his tail—happy as always for a chance to be loved on.

“He’s just too cute! Can I pet him??” She asked eagerly, and I made small talk with her as she leaned over to pet him. I was just taking Sammy outside for a minute, but the little girl took a long time to adore him. After he had given her kisses, she spoke up again, this time asking a different question.

    “Can we sit down and talk for a bit?” This caught me off guard. I’d seen the girl biking around the neighborhood recently, but I’d never talked to her before. I had plans for the day, and I hadn’t accounted for this. Yet her brown eyes looked up at me questioningly, waiting for my response.

    For the next hour, I found myself sitting on the grass next to her, Sammy asleep at her feet, as she chattered about random things. She never ran out of things to talk about, from her dog, to birthday’s, to friends, to just about anything you could possibly think of. The smile never left her face as she spoke, and she seemed delighted to have someone to listen to her.    

    I hadn’t planned on talking to her for so long, but I found myself enjoying the time to stop and listen to someone else. It’s easy for me to rush on, from one thing to another, and miss chances like that. Isn’t that true for all of us? Life is busy, filled with places to be, and sometimes in the rush of it, we miss moments to pause and truly be in the moment. With school starting back up, life is getting especially crazy, yet I’m determined this school year to be intentional with my actions, and take the time to pause and live in the moment. God is the One who gives us every moment we have. Instead of taking it for granted, let’s live in the moment, giving God the glory and honor every step of the way.

Sufficient in Weakness

    My eyes scanned the crowded Megabus, searching hopefully for an empty seat without someone sitting next to it. It didn’t take long before I realized it was in vain—I’d have to muster up the courage in my shy, introverted self and sit next to a stranger for a six hour car ride. I saw a girl who appeared to be college age moving her backpack off the seat next to her; she was starting to realize she wouldn’t get the seats to herself, either. Motioning to the seat next to her, I asked if I could sit next to her. She smiled friendly and made small talk with me introducing herself as Rachel. She quickly mentioned that she had just graduated from college, where she was traveling from, and how much she loved French. As soon as she mentioned her love for and fluency in French, I couldn’t help but throw a few French sentences her way. Her eyes immediately sparkled with joy as she replied back in French. It definitely didn’t take long before she realized how little French I know, but nonetheless, it definitely was a conversation starter.

    I noticed two notebooks Rachel had opened up in front of her as the bus began to pull away from the dusty curb. It wasn’t long before she started explaining the notebooks—how she had written one back in January, and she was rereading that one, while taking notes about it in her other notebook. She played with her blonde hair, twisting it around her ponytail, and bit her bottom lip, seeming to be pondering something. Speaking more softly, she explained, “I was going through a hard time in January, so I’m trying to learn things from that experience.” She paused for a second, then asked, “Would it be awkward if I shared what I went through with you?”

I quickly ensured her it wouldn’t be awkward—that I would be glad to listen to her story. Just minutes later, I found myself wrapped up in the complexity of her struggles. I definitely didn’t agree with all of her decisions, but I couldn’t help but feel so much compassion for this girl who was sharing her heart and life story, someone who just needed a listening ear.

    I didn’t know all the right words to say. I didn’t know the perfect way to listen to her, to love her, and to gently show her some of the wrong decisions she was making. During those hours on the bus, listening as she poured out her story, I couldn’t help but feel insufficient. I couldn’t help but wonder why God chose me to sit next to her that day, instead of someone who would have had all the right words to say. Why would God want me to listen to her and not someone else? Shouldn’t He have chosen someone better at listening, someone more outgoing?

    But He didn’t. He chose me.

If you’re a child of God, He’s chosen you, too. No matter how broken your story is, no matter how lost the pieces in your life seem to be, no matter how many times you’ve fallen. He chooses you, and if you’re willing, He’ll use you in ways you never thought possible before.

    More than likely you’ve felt insufficient at some point, too. You’ve felt as if someone else would do a better job than you. But don’t let that get you discouraged—in 2 Corinthians 12:9, it says, “But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

    When God wants to use you, don’t panic. Don’t wish He had picked someone else to use. Don’t feel insufficient. He’ll equip you with what you need. He’ll give you words to say when you need them, and He’ll show you when to listen when listening is what’s needed. His power is made perfect in weakness. Don’t be afraid to let His power shine through your weaknesses.

Kayla Joy