Perspective is Everything!

So I'm finally back from my trip to visit my friend.  God is so good! I really needed the break and time to just be. 
I find it so interesting how even on vacation God speaks to us.  The whole trip seemed to have a theme.  Over and over again I was amazed at the idea of perspective in nature. 

This picture is for real!  I know it looks almost fake it is so beautiful.  This was the first hike I went on and I couldn't help myself, I started singing.  And yes for all those other musical lovers out there, it was from The Sound of Music. :) LOL  How can you look at such beauty and not want to sing!  I was also reminded of the song that has been on the radio more called Stronger.  Mainly because one refrain in the song is "Let your name be lifted higher, be lifted higher, be lifted higher!" And that is what I was doing singing and hiking higher and higher :) 

But then along the way I see beautiful little things like this.

Daisy's just make me smile.  They are like God's little smiley faces sprinkled all over the world to remind us of His love. :)  But a totally different perspective from the above picture. 

Again this idea of perspective just echoed over and over in my head.  I love traveling because it gives me a new view.  It open's my mind to new people and new things and helps me see things in a different way that I never thought before.  How we look at things and what things we choose to look at and study mold and shapes how we think and what things seem important to us.

Perspective is incredibly powerful and influential in all of our lives!  If we choose to look at the ground all the time we only see the grass, rocks, dirt, and flowers, which can be nice, but if we don't look up we miss the open blue sky and mountains, people, fields, and lakes. Vice versa, if we only stare at the sky or the mountains we miss all the beautiful details of the flowers and grass :) The more we look all around and take in everything around us, the better understanding we can have of ourselves, God, and the people around us.

Something else that impressed me on this trip was lenses.  Yes I said lenses :)  I have my phone and my camera.  My camera has a greater capacity to take wider range of pictures but its lens only captures one set light based on the setting.  My phone however, has this feature called HDR and mixes 3 different light settings to get a more natural light and perspective on the picture.  Which you can see in the mountain picture above. the sky was really bright that day and my regular camera could not capture the clouds be cause the light contrast was too great.  But my phone with HDR was able to get the whole scene and you can even make out the clouds in the sky over the mountains.

As well as perspective, the kind of lens we look at life with also effect how we see people, the world, and ourselves.  I know this first hand in my life. For a long time because of my hurt an pain, I could only see things through a darkened lens, I missed so much good things.  But now with God, things look totally different.  He opens my eyes and I see more and more of the His mercy, grace, and love and begin to see others in a whole new light. It's like going from black and white to 3D HD technicolor!  Yes even in the rocks and dirt of my life!

So after this trip, I am reminded how important perspective in all forms and lenses, can bring darkness and pain or bring health and life to our body, minds, and spirits.  The truth we seek is right before us, but it is how we look at it and what lens we choose that makes all the difference. The mountains and the sky still exist even if we only stare at the ground, the flowers and grass still exist even if we chose to only stare at the sky. Either view taken exclusively can warp us in the long haul, but taken together can create the beautifully harmony and view that makes our hearts sing for our Awesome Creator and share with others His love.

So perspective is everything! Chose God's lens in your life and see what wonderful and beautiful things He has place in between the rocks and dirt of your life.  Look up and dare to take in the solid mountain of strength and power and the blue sky full of grace and beauty for you!

• Psalms 36:5-9 : "Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.
   Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,
  your justice like the great deep.
  You, Lord, preserve both people and animals.
   How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!
  People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
   They feast on the abundance of your house;
  you give them drink from your river of delights.
   For with you is the fountain of life;
  in your light we see light" NIV

• Psalms 121:1-2 :  "I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from?
   My help comes from the Lord,
  the Maker of heaven and earth" NIV

Of course now I have to put in a verse or 2 that fit so well. :)

So I hope this helps encourage you to try to take in a new perspective or change out your lens to be open to God and His view.  What have you got to lose?  More like think of all the beautiful things you have to Gain! :)
Perspective is everything! 

Little Break

So I'm going on vacation for couple weeks. I'm looking forward to the break and some time with my good friend and her family. I hope to write a couple times but may not be able to due to being in another country.  Blessings to all if you and I will be back. 

Isaiah 26:3-4

You will keep in perfect peace

those whose minds are steadfast,

because they trust in you.

Trust in the Lord forever,

for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal.

Kori

MORE! Together!

So this morning I'm struggling with longing.  You know that feeling in your heart for something more.  We as humans seem to always have this desire for more. It is part of our DNA some how.

Lately for me it has been a longing for revival in my church. I grew up in a more conservative church. There isn't as much stigma now, but when I was growing up there were several rules focused on outward things that had no real bearing on salvation, but were treated almost as such.  I could tell many a story of people being shunned or treated badly because of things that were totally not related to salvation and some of those things completely out of the person's control.

Now things are not as strict as they used to be but, this culture of legalism still exists to a level and brings a environment of church culture that is difficult sometimes to explain to a non-believer.  I know all churches have their own culture to an extent.  Some of you may have the exact same thing in your church.  I see how easy it is for us a humans to add our own twists on the Bible doctrine and end up with a ridged mangled view of what God really intended.

The reason I long for revival, is because I long for the Holy Spirit to drive the church not human rules.  I long to have an environment of God so present in every service that I know that whoever I invited would get a serving of God's love straight up, instead of an agenda.

For a few years I stepped out of my church and sought out other things.  For me my church had become a dead routine, with focus more on culture and rules and mediocrity.   I felt there was no life, just pretending.  Now I know that is not completely true.  There are always some that just do things to feel better about themselves going through the motions, but there are always people as well that are seeking with true hearts.  Everywhere, this exists.  There is no place where Christian church is perfect.  But for me I had hit a wall.

I eventually began going to a non-denominational church.  It had  written over the door "Helping people take their next step toward Christ... Together".  This is their church mission.  Their whole service was focused on people that are seeking God, Not members.  Members had a more in depth service during the week.  The whole weekend was the members of church reaching their community. Dedicated to sharing Jesus in a relevant way to the people around them.  They would have baptisms of hundreds  a certain time of year.  The environment was alive!  Now they had their issues like every church, but their focus was different.

So I long for revival, I long for a shift of focus, I long for a re-arrange of our narrow thinking as humans, to God's thinking.   We focus on feeding ourselves a lot sometimes as Christians, but miss the ones around us spiritually starving daily, longing for something more in their lives.  As Christians we know the answer is Christ! How can we help them take their next step toward Christ.... Together!?

Every church no matter the denomination has the potential to do this. Isn't this what Jesus commissioned all Christians for? Yes we all have different talents and gifts but together as a body our one and only mission is to do this very thing, Help Others Find Christ!

So I want more.  Yes More.... More Of Christ! in me and my church. I put my hope in God and His word to show me what I can do to help.

• Psams 119:81 : "My soul faints with longing for your salvation, but I have put my hope in your word" NIV

What do you long for?  Whatever it is, Christ and His love is the only one that can fill that void.   As Christians, How can we long for God so much we long for others to know Him too?  How can we help people take their next step toward Christ?  That is our Mission if we choose to accept it!  What a beautiful one it is!  One that every Christian all over the world can stand behind.  Together!