by Alesha Sinks | Jan 11, 2014 | Church Planting, God's Word, Just Me
“When we take credit for the bad things, we’ll take credit for the good and God won’t get any of the glory.”
We walked and he went on sharing truth after truth, pouring them out over the frustrations of yesterday. Reminding himself, reminding me. Speaking grace. Speaking perspective. Speaking truth into our hard battered hearts.
Because ministry to people is hard and joyful and messy and beautiful and painful. And for every joy and victory there is a pain and failure. For every freed soul there is one slid back into bondage.
And my mind lingered on this truth…
Who’s failures have I taken credit for that aren’t really mine?
Who’s falling aways have I blamed on my lack of ministry?
Who’s sins have I considered a product of something I did or didn’t say?
I am called to be faithful.
I am called to minister.
I am called to love unconditionally.
I am called to speak truth and life.
I am called to do and say the things He places in my heart.
But the results aren’t mine.
They never were.
Because in the end it’s just my and my broken and redeemed life standing at the throne of the Almighty God. And it’s my position in Jesus that will determine my destination and it’s my faithfulness and my obedience that will determine my crown. And the point of that crown is to be thrown at His beautiful feet. The point of that crown is His glory anyways…not mine.
Because the glory has never mine, is not mine now, and will never be mine someday.
The glory is His because the results are His. May He pour glory and grace and life through this broken and redeemed vessel. May the only one seen in all of this pouring out be Him and His grace.
And I won’t take the credit for the falls and I won’t take credit for the victories. Because I can’t grow fruit for anyone else. Because I can’t produce the fruit in my own heart. I can obey Him and I can love Him and as I do I trust that He will be faithful to produce the fruit He has promised.
So I’ll leave the fruit, good and bad, to Him and I’ll just keep working to be faithful, trusting Him with the results. Because I can’t make fruit.
Be blessed
<3
by Alesha Sinks | Dec 11, 2013 | God's Word
It feels wrong to even tiptoeBefore Your throne of grace.
You are higher
You are stronger
You are greater
You are deeper
You are so much more
More than my heart could ever know
Keep me humble in You presence
Help me greater see your worth
You are higher
Your are stronger
You are greater
You are deeper
You are so much more
More than my mind can hope to see.
Yet You’ve told us to come boldly
Before Your throne on high
You are loving
You are gentle
You are patient
You are kind
You are so much more
More than my lips could ever tell
I’m small like dust before You
Yet my purpose is Your praise
You are higher
You are stronger
You are greater
You are deeper
You are so much more
More than my life could ever show.
…
Meditating on His greatness this week is more beautiful and overwhelming that my fingers can write. I’m hoping that somehow the lyrics of a poem can add the weight that words themselves are lacking…that the in the beauty of rhythm and rhyme you might feel the weight these words are pressing on my soul.
He is so great, so awesome, so glorious.
He created you – He created me – to showcase His glory. That we might behold it and tell it and display it day by day. It’s all…every moment of waking and sleeping and the millions of moments in between…it’s all for His glory.
His glory is our purpose.
How radically different would my life be if I lived with His glory ever on my heart and mind? How much greater would I see His love for me, if I truly understood the beauty and holy of being created for His glory?
Be blessed
<3
by Alesha Sinks | Dec 11, 2013 | God's Word
It feels wrong to even tiptoeBefore Your throne of grace.
You are higher
You are stronger
You are greater
You are deeper
You are so much more
More than my heart could ever know
Keep me humble in You presence
Help me greater see your worth
You are higher
Your are stronger
You are greater
You are deeper
You are so much more
More than my mind can hope to see.
Yet You’ve told us to come boldly
Before Your throne on high
You are loving
You are gentle
You are patient
You are kind
You are so much more
More than my lips could ever tell
I’m small like dust before You
Yet my purpose is Your praise
You are higher
You are stronger
You are greater
You are deeper
You are so much more
More than my life could ever show.
…
Meditating on His greatness this week is more beautiful and overwhelming that my fingers can write. I’m hoping that somehow the lyrics of a poem can add the weight that words themselves are lacking…that the in the beauty of rhythm and rhyme you might feel the weight these words are pressing on my soul.
He is so great, so awesome, so glorious.
He created you – He created me – to showcase His glory. That we might behold it and tell it and display it day by day. It’s all…every moment of waking and sleeping and the millions of moments in between…it’s all for His glory.
His glory is our purpose.
How radically different would my life be if I lived with His glory ever on my heart and mind? How much greater would I see His love for me, if I truly understood the beauty and holy of being created for His glory?
Be blessed
<3
by Alesha Sinks | Dec 9, 2013 | God's Word, Just Me
“But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.”1 Peter 4:13
I’ve always hoped that if I was faced with suffering for Christ I would stand strong in my faith, rejoicing through it all and bringing great glory to His name.
I’ve hoped that if I faced physical persecution, imprisonment, or the threat of death for the sake of Christ that I would rejoice. I’ve hoped that if I faced death of child, loss of a loved one, long-term illness, or public ridicule that I would be able to sing praises no matter what. That my friends and neighbors and coworkers would see that I still had an unshakeable hope in the midst of a crushing circumstance.
But rejoicing in suffering…it starts now.
Rejoicing in suffering starts in rejoicing in the small things…
…in the things that aren’t suffering.
It starts when you calmly attack the mountain of dishes in the kitchen sink.
It starts when you set aside a time from a busy morning to spend at His feet.
It starts when you choose to wait and pray instead of lashing out in anger.
It starts when you wake up with plans held in an open hand.
It starts when you go to bed by first putting the anxious plans of tomorrow in the hands of our Savior and rest in the knowledge that He is in control.
Because if you can’t make it through an average day rejoicing, what makes you think you’d be able to rejoice in real suffering?
Because most of us will never experience true suffering for Christ like Peter did, and I think that knowledge keeps our faith small and our lives weak. The knowledge that the greatest suffering most of us will endure is personal illness or loss and that those things seem so far off keeps us soft.
So our lives and hearts get wrapped into knots around busy schedules and dirty dishes and thin wallets. And these things are real and hard, but they are so very small compared to what Christ suffered for us and compared to the suffering for His name that He invites us into.
Because He invites us to share in His sufferings.
And we are not only invited to share in His sufferings, but we’re invited to rejoice in them. To rejoice.
And we can’t seem to rejoice in the in and out of packing lunch boxes and working a boring job and having to purposefully arrange and order our lives in a way that brings Him glory…
Sisters, I’m not saying these things are easy and I’m not trying to minimize the pain of whatever you’re going through…but I am trying to minimize the enormity of almost all of your trials. Because in the hands of our Savior, your trials are so small. In the hands of our Savior, my trials are so small.
In the hands of our Savior, any trial is so small.
If He has overcome the cross and if He has called us to take up our cross then why should we be surprised and overwhelmed when it gets hard. And if He has endured and triumphed over the cross, then surely His power is great enough to help us live victorious and joyful in all the circumstances of our lives.
So today I’m inviting you to take a step back with me.
Soar with me to a birds eye view of today…of this year…of your whole life…of eternity. And then look at your problem in light of God’s Master plan of rescue and redemption and grace and joy for the earth.
Most of my problems don’t really seem like problems anymore…in fact, they’re looking a lot more like gifts. And I know there will be some problems and pain that we won’t understand till heaven, but can we trust Him enough to thank and rejoice in the midst of them anyways?
Be blessed
<3
by Alesha Sinks | Nov 23, 2013 | God's Word, Just Me
“The only way to fight a feeling is with a feeling.” Ann Voskamp
“Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat!”
Numbers 11:4
And the people cried to Moses because of the manna. Following God long through the desert, following Him to the beautiful land of promise, some of them lost the goal.
They never went hungry. They ate bread from heaven every day. But they cried over the monotony of heavenly bread and begged for meat. They lost sight of the miracle of manna. They turned up their noses to the heavenly bread and cried for meat.
…
My feet were sore and my heart was pounding from the exhaustion of rush hour traffic. We had spent the past 4 hours wandering from store to store…Christmas shopping, browsing, chatting, and enjoying being sisters and being together.
But somewhere in the midst of stop and go traffic and streetlights taking far too long, I lost sight of the gift. This gift of her and me. The gift us talking deep and long. The gift of together walking through stores till our legs ached and our feet throbbed.
…
I saw it as I was writing this story of thankless Israelites crying for meat into a Kids Church lesson. These truths, they are simple enough for a 3-year-old and yet my heart so easily forgets them. How often do I, like these Israelites, turn to God’s holy throne and beg for this earth when He’s given me heaven?
My life is filled with miracles, with grace gifts from my loving heavenly Father. And yet, I fail to recognize them. How often do I not only fail to thank Him for them, but do I outright throw the gift away in hopes of “something better”?
…
I barely got home in time to race back onto the crowded streets and head to a tutoring appointment. My mind was a battlefield dominated by anxious as I drove.
After a peaceful hour and a half of tutoring, I thought my heart had settled. But the moment I back into my car the battle reclaimed my mind. And just a few minutes down the road, in a swirl of anxious and helpless and desperate, I knew there was a choice. Because as Ann Voskamp points out, we can only feel one emotion at a time.
The choice:
Thanks or stress
Thanks or anxious
Thanks or crying over manna…crying over a gift
…
My heart was angry and thankful and softened and broken as I read and wrote about those crying, whining Israelites.
Angry at their sin.
Thankful for the lesson.
Softened to God’s rebuke in my own heart.
Broken before a Savior I’ve so often spurned.
And God told Moses what He would do.
And God told Moses to trust and obey.
And God showed His power.
And God punished.
And God restored.
And I know that He will do whatever it takes to draw me back and to show me His blessings…just like He did with those ungrateful Israelites.
…
I’m good a rationalizing…at arguing a case for my stress. But this one time, I didn’t. I forced myself to thank Him instead.
To thank Him for the shopping.
To thank Him for the time.
To thank Him for long drives to talk.
To thank Him for her being her 3000 miles away from home, with us.
To thank Him for glowing headlights and orange streetlights and bright red brake lights and all the colors of neon storefront signs dancing in colorful patterns off the wet pavement.
And for as long as I keep listing the thanks, the anxious was gone. And the more gifts I thanked Him for the less important the crazy traffic and my sore feet seemed.
And fifteen minutes later the smell of spicy meat greeted my nose in our hallway and I nearly cried when I saw that my husband and sister had dinner ready and the kitchen clean so my tired feet could simply rest.
And He whispered gently to my teary heart, “See My goodness? It’s always there…always.”
Be blessed
<3
