Four Corners

Four Corners

by | Feb 16, 2023 | Life Advice

I recently attended a women’s retreat and we played a game called Four Corners. They asked several questions and the corners of the room represented a different answer to each question. After a question was asked, we would all walk to the corner that represented our answer to see who in the room would pick what answer (I promise there is a point to explaining this).

I will never forget the moment that God used a simple game at a retreat I wasn’t even planning on attending to reveal a life-changing truth to me. One of the questions asked was, “If you could have a super-power, what would it be?” I found myself torn between two of the four corners, flying or teleportation, and I said it out loud. The girl next to me responded, “Choose flying. If you teleport, you will miss the journey.”

As I wrestled through making my decision, her response changed the trajectory of my walk with Jesus in the best way. God used it to identify a tendency within me that was hindering me from experiencing the fullness of His perfect plan. I used to always want to take the shortcut because it was more convenient. I realized at that moment that if choosing the shortcut means missing the journey, it isn’t worth it. Even if I did ultimately end up where I was supposed to be, I would be lacking what He desired to produce within me in the process.

There are two lessons I pray you learn from this story:

The first is this – Never underestimate who and what God can use to speak to you.

Don’t try to limit a limitless God to fit within the box of your expectations. He just might use who or what you least expect to reveal Himself in an undeniable way. Spend enough time in His presence to recognize His voice even when He speaks to you in unexpected places and through unlikely circumstances or people (or games, lol). When you do recognize His voice, stop to listen and allow the truth of His word to interrupt your plans, bring correction to your way of doing things, and lead you along the path of His perfect plan. When you feel Him tugging on your heart or addressing an area of your life that needs to be adjusted, no matter where you are or what you’re doing, take note and let it move you to action.

His presence is with you wherever you go; not just in church on Sunday morning, in your weekly Bible study, or when you are doing your daily devotions. He knows what you need, He knows when you need it, and His delivery is always perfect even if it’s different than our expectation of how He would show up.

When He speaks and what He speaks won’t always be at the most convenient time or comfortable to hear, but it is always intentional and always for your good and for His glory. A perfect example of this is Moses and the burning bush…

“There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn up.” (Exodus 3:2)

God will show up in the midst of your ordinary life in extraordinary ways so that it’s undeniable that it’s Him speaking. If you will listen and apply what He is speaking, you will live continually amazed by Him doing what only He can do in and through you.

He is in everything; live aware.

The second is to choose the journey of following Jesus over the convenience of taking the shortcut.

Proverbs 16:9 says, “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”

Decide, sincerely, that you would rather take the long way with Jesus than the shortcut without Him. The truth is, the shortcut (convenience) will end up costing you in the long run. It’s dangerous to chase the fulfillment of the promise without walking through the process. The process isn’t painless; but it grows, matures, and produces steadfastness within us along the way. The process prepares you for the promise. This is the beauty in what is at times painful, and it’s absolutely necessary.

Don’t just say that His way is better, live like you believe it’s true. Let your life be a reflection of your wholehearted trust in Jesus. When you are torn between the corners of life and tempted to choose convenience over His way, always choose His way. I can assure you that no one knows what’s best for you like the One who knows you best, and living for Him is what you are made for.

Life will present you with countless choices – big, small, and everything in between. Don’t make a decision for immediate gratification like the world does, even in seemingly small, insignificant choices. Don’t be directed, distracted or swayed by the opinion and process of man. I can assure you that there were a lot more people standing in the teleportation corner than the flying corner, but I stood in the flying corner, sure and confident of the choice that I made.

When making a decision, be led by His voice and the truth of His Word. If He is directing you to take the longer way, trust that He goes before you and that His plans for you are good. Let your confidence be in His faithfulness. Set up camp in the midst of His promises for those who love Him and walk according to His Word. To live in those promises requires the continual application of the truth of His Word to our lives. It requires that we trust that all of it is true, not just some of it.

I find myself praying this prayer often lately, that I long for nothing more or less than all of what He has for me. You’ve probably heard the quote about how life is more about the journey than the destination. It’s the journey that shapes us and helps us arrive at the destination of who God has called us to be.

I don’t want to miss a thing when it comes to what God has prepared for me. I want whatever will most reveal His glory through me.

When God used a mindless game at a girl’s retreat to remind me to not miss the journey He has for me, I never would have imagined that I would be sharing it with you, but He did, and here I am.

You might not always know where you are headed, but your trust isn’t in where you are going, but the One who is leading you step by step. He sees the full picture when you feel stuck in the right now. Let the reward of following Him outweigh the temptation to settle for the shortcut.

Walk in His way, friends. The best is yet to be!

“Though the Lord gave you adversity for food and suffering for drink, he will still be with you to teach you. You will see your teacher with your own eyes. Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left.” (Isaiah‬ ‭30‬:‭20‬-‭21‬)

Maddie is a (new) wife, worship leader, and writer. Her passion is pointing people to Jesus, following wherever He leads, and encouraging others to do the same. A few of her favorite fun things are rainy days, road trips, coffee shops, flower trucks & gold confetti. 

Keep up with Maddie on Instagram @maddiee_joy!

The Cost of Abundance

The Cost of Abundance

by | Apr 6, 2021 | Life Advice, Testimonies | 4 comments

One of the best pieces of advice that I have ever been given is this,

“God wouldn’t ask you to let go unless He had something far better in store.” That simple phrase has entirely changed the way I trust God for the better.

I challenge you to ask yourself these two questions:

  1. “Wouldn’t it be a tragedy to miss God’s best because I refused to release what He asked for in exchange?”
  2. “Wouldn’t it be heartbreaking to miss the fullness of what God has in store for my life because I settled for my own best?”

I have learned, through His grace alone (often in the midst of my chasing and wandering), that the most challenging yet rewarding decision we will ever make is to let go and trust Jesus wholeheartedly. It’s to give our lives to Him and to ask Him daily to have His way in and through us in all things. Life lived His way, all the way, is the best life we will ever live because it’s what we are made for. We, as creation, were made for our Creator. We are created in His image for His purpose and it’s not until we grab a hold of this truth and live by it that we will be fully satisfied. Fulfillment comes when we live it out.

Jesus shares in John 10:10 that He came that we might have life and life abundantly. Nothing compares to God’s best; for His best is abundance, and it’s found in Him alone.

Abundance defined is this – exceedingly, very highly, beyond measure, more, superfluous, a quantity so abundant as to be considerably more than what one would expect or anticipate. 

I’ve found myself praying this prayer often lately, “Jesus, show me what abundance looks like.” His answer is found woven throughout His Word.

1 Corinthians 2:9 says, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.”

In other words, God’s best is better than anything any of us could ever dream up on our own. If we trust that His Word is true, then this verse alone should move us to letting go of our own idea of satisfaction and adopting His. It should urge us to relinquish our best and grab hold of His.

The reality is, abundant life comes with a cost, the cost of surrender…but it is well worth what it requires of us. You cannot live a life of abundance without continually choosing surrender. Making that choice is worth whatever it may cost you because it means gaining more of Him. Gaining more of Jesus is worth whatever you have to release. Surrender is the choice; abundant living is the result.

Friend, don’t miss the fullness of His plan for you because you don’t want to release control into His hands. In the flesh, we often correlate our peace with knowing what comes next. In the Spirit, peace is simply knowing Him.

If you don’t live a biblical definition of abundant life, culture will try to define it for you.

According to culture, and even our own flesh, we have to have so many things to be fulfilled; money, success, marriage, followers, fame… the list goes on and on. According to God’s Word, we only have to have one thing to be satisfied – Him. He is the treasure. We will either spend our lives chasing fulfillment or we will receive what we can find in Him alone and simply follow His lead. We will spend our lives striving and never being satisfied or resting in Him, and being filled to overflowing. We either spend our time on earth building worldly kingdoms which will fade away, or we will live for an eternal, everlasting Kingdom.

We will never find true joy and fulfillment living for the things that break God’s heart or distract us from what He has called us to. We have to be bold enough to pray, “Lord break my heart for what breaks yours, even if it’s WITHIN ME.” We have to be willing to redefine our idea of fulfillment using the truth of His Word as our guide.

We’re complete when we live for His glory, not our own – or anyone else’s.

Take it from someone who has tried to find her satisfaction from a worldly perspective – Worldly “abundance” will leave you empty again and again, because it’s not true abundance.

You can lose every worldly thing and still be living in abundance. Isn’t that powerful?

Abundance is this – laying down our lives, picking up our cross, and following Jesus. It’s laying down our own plan/agenda in order to step into all that He has for us – for HIS glory.

As we follow Him, we get to experience the incredible joy of introducing others to Him. We get to be the light of the world. We get to represent Him and see lives forever changed, hearts restored, and freedom experienced. We get to see the dead come to life and the ruins redeemed through His power alone.

Abundance is contagious, and He came that we would live it. I pray that we choose to live it!

Let’s be the ones who choose the everlasting.

Let’s be the ones who place our hope in the eternal and not what fades away.

Let’s be the ones who experience the fullness of His goodness.

Let’s be the ones who walk in freedom by choosing surrender & releasing our grip.

Let’s be the ones who invite Him to have His way in us moment by moment.

Let’s be the ones who live for His glory.

Let’s be the ones who see ourselves and others the way He does.

Let’s be the ones who refuse to chase fulfillment and remain empty, but receive Jesus and remain fully satisfied in Him alone.

Let’s be the ones whose lives reflect the overflow of our time spent with Him.

Let’s be the ones who stand on truth.

Let’s be the ones who radiate His love.

Let’s be the ones who make Him the center of it all.

Let’s be the ones who define fulfillment through His Word by recognizing knowing Him and furthering His Kingdom as the ultimate reward.

Let’s be the ones who live with open hands and ready hearts. Let’s be the ones who say yes to Him wherever and whenever He calls us.

We won’t always get it right, and He knows that. His grace is extended through our weakness again and again. And through His grace, His strength is revealed. We will fall short, and He will forgive. He sees our heart’s desire to honor Him, even when we miss it. He is a faithful Father and friend.

Let’s live in the light of His abundance and radiate His love to a hurting world– One step of obedience after another. I don’t know about you but I don’t want to settle for less than the abundance He came that I might have. I want to live my earthly days to the fullest for the Kingdom of Heaven.

THIS is living – all for His glory and I promise you, it is worth whatever the cost.

Amen.

“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” ‭‭Philippians‬ ‭3:7-14‬ /  ‭ESV‬‬

Maddie is a writer, speaker, and young adult ministry leader in St. Louis, MO. Her greatest desire is to point people to Jesus and to see lives transformed by His love and the truth of His word. Some of her favorite things in life are journaling, coffee shops, thrift shopping, rainy days, & championing/celebrating people. She is looking forward to getting married to her fiancé, Isaiah, in October!

You can connect with Maddie on the LO sister app or @maddiee_joy on Instagram