This is You!

The Greatest Showman has this song in the movie.  “This is me!”  Every time I listen to it, it inspires me. Words…“But, I won’t let them break me down to dust. I know that there’s a place for us. For we are glorious.” It hits my heart.

We are made in God’s image.  Gloriously made, ALL of us.   Do you ever wish that you could look like someone else?  Longer legs, or taller, shorter, lighter hair, darker hair, different color eyes.  We are gloriously made. This is you and me. 

God made us, and we are glorious.  You are beautiful, no matter what you look like.  You were wonderfully made.  “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Psalm 139:14 | NIV

Especially in a society where beauty is everything, I want you to know that you are beautiful.  Stand up, head up, and yell back to the world, “THIS IS ME, I AM BEAUTIFUL.”

It is not vanity.  It is truth.  It is not boastful.  It is what the Bible says.  It is not prideful. It is allowing ourselves to see what God made. This is us!

We could have been brought up with the mindset that you have to look a certain way in order to be called beautiful.  Maybe someone, when you were a child, called you ugly, or too something, plain, or whatever it may be.

I want you to remember that you are beautiful.  It has taken me a LONG time to get there.  I call myself a work in progress.  God is still working in me.  This is me.

I too had the mindset that I had to look a certain way to be beautiful.  Family members in my life telling me that if I did this, or lost that, I would be prettier.    God made me.  This is me!

“You have to have this shape or be this size to be beautiful.  Maybe your nose needs to be a little smaller, lips a little fuller.  You have too high of a forehead.”  ALL Lies that we need to stop believing and we need to stop telling other.

There is someone that I know who doesn’t consider herself beautiful.  She is beautiful.  Not only is she beautiful on the outside, but she is beautiful on the inside.  I have known her for a long time, almost thirty years. 

The word beautiful used to make her uncomfortable, probably still does. She said that I had to say that because I was her friend.  I would laugh, and tell her nope, I don’t have too.

Here is the thing, I don’t have too.  I want to tell her, remind her, because she is.   She is my best friend, yes, but the truth is still the same. 

I want her to believe the value of herself.  Beautiful because of who she is in this world. It goes for you too.  This is you. You are beautiful. 

There are many of those around us that feel like they don’t look like a celebrity or they wish they could change something.  Maybe, they, like my friend, were brought up to think that they must be a certain way to be considered beautiful. 

My prayer for each of you reading this is that you realize your beauty.  You are glorious, and you know what, God loves you.  I want to tell you, with or without your scars, birthmarks, stretch marks, or whatever, you are beautiful.  The beauty is you.

God created you on purpose with love.  He formed you while you were in your mother’s womb.  “You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Psalm 139:13 ~ NIV.    God knitted us together.  He formed us.

The green eyes, and brown hair, this is me.  Black hair, white hair, brown hair, red hair, blonde hair, that is you.  Brown eyes, blue eyes, hazel eyes, that is you.  God designed you. Be beautiful

A friend of mine is taking an Anatomy and Physiology class.  She has these tests on the muscles, bones, tendons, joints, ligaments, and all the things that make up the body. There is a lot.  It is mind filling what she must remember.

You can’t persuade me that our bodies happened by chance.  God designed each tendon, each muscle, each bone.  His fingers fashioned our rib cage.  When you go into the depths of us, there is so much complexity.  This is us.

I Googled, we have 206 bones in our skeleton, with 106 in hands & feet joined by ligaments. 640 muscles in our bodies.  Don’t get me started on the DNA and genetics, it is a lot.   No one is plain or simple.  We are complex beautiful people.

I am not saying that we must be vain.  I am saying that we need to know our worth.  God made us.  This is us.

Spread this truth. 

Laura Maxson

My Happy Place

Staring up at the night sky at the stars twinkling. The moon rays through the tree casting shadows on the grass.  I was in my happy place.  The quietness of the night surrounded me.
No honking of horns, and no lit lamp posts causing the stars in the sky to be diminished. Nothing disrupted that moment. Complete peace.

A frog, or maybe a duet of frogs made their presence known. Wind rustling through my hair. It all added to the peace. I take a deep breath. Breathing in the peace.
Same location, cool morning, coffee cup in hand. Swirls of steam coming from the cup. Sun rays through the same trees that just the night before, the moon had shone through. Deer meandering through the yard with the fawns trotting behind. A rabbit hops into the forest. Squirrels chase each other around a tree trunk. Rays of sun streaming through the trees. Grass glistening from the light on the dew.

I was, once again in my happy place. Peace filled me.  Holidays, or just a weekend away from the hubbub of work, it was a peaceful place. Unwinding every time, I was up there.
Leaving my home, or work, and making my way up State Route 70 to the happy place. Driving each mile, peace would just come. It was an hour and a half drive through fruit and nut orchards in Northern California. With each passing moment, the stresses fell along the roadside. God would speak to me on this drive up.

If you ask me to close my eyes and picture where I could go and have peace fill me, I would tell you this place. My folks’ house up on a small hill next to the woods. Pulling into the driveway, and putting on the parking brake, I knew I was in peace.
Whether full of family, or just me, this place became my refuge. Whatever happened in life, the calm would exceed in this place. Walking through the woods or sitting on the deck. It always filled me with peace, my happy place.

That place is now gone. The Camp Fire of November 8, 2018, in Paradise, California destroyed it. In an instance, the home was turned into a pile of rubble and ash. That is all it took, just a moment. The place where many a moment was spent in peace, was now a pile of ash.
Now, it is all gone. Except for the dirt that now is where a home used to be. The cleanup crew cleaned up the rubble and took it away. A hill of dirt is what is left surrounded by the landscaping that is growing back up. Leaves are growing on the trees. Burned bushes have new growth sprouting up from the roots.

It is still the same place, the same spot. The address has not changed. Yet, it is not my happy place anymore. I had no “happy place.” OR…did I.

I am going to be honest, I mourned the loss.  Wondering if I would ever find the place where I could go to find that peace again. I was devasted. It hit me to the core. Not only for me but the twenty thousand people who went through what I can only imagine. They had lost their homes, their livelihood, their world.

Have you been there? Something that you thought was a good constant in your life was suddenly not there. In an instant, it was gone. Did you find yourself mourning? Asking what is it all for?
We all go through our day and lives, seemingly losing something or someone every day. There is so much loss in the world. So much sadness, and heartache. Seemingly nothing is constant. Where is the peace?

“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” ~ John 14:27 |NIV

Yet, God promises His peace. It is not a peace that the world gives us. The “happy place” can’t be a place of this world. Every place, everything can be destroyed or taken from us. God’s peace will never be taken from us.

Our peace is like the wind. We can’t see it or hold it. We see the wind moving the trees, feel it on our face. Wind surrounds us. Peace, God’s peace surrounds us. We see it move in us and the people around us, we feel it.

With daily practice, our happy place can be wherever we are. That peace that we are searching for comes from something more than a place. To paraphrase a line from “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”. Maybe Peace doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Peace…perhaps means a little bit more.
Peace…God’s peace can only come from Him. The Creator of peace. I am not going to lie and say that sitting at my desk at work or in the car during traffic is my happy place. Yet, I can find peace during those times.

I am discovering that my “happy place” doesn’t have to be a specific place. Days filled with crazy. Work overwhelming. Life pushing. They are all still there. Yet, the peace comes when I look to the One who gives His peace.

Calming comes when I focus on the Creator of Peace-my happy place.
This month, my focus is going to be on praying for peace in each of us. God doesn’t promise a perfect Hallmark existence, but He does promise that He will be with us. This peace He promises is not of this world.

I know that I want that peace. I need that peace. What is a better word, then need? Crave that peace.

I crave for the peace that passes all understanding.

~ Laura Maxson

It Only Takes a Spark

I prayed on specific words in relation to our Christian walk.  The word “Spark” was brought to my mind.  Maybe God brought it to my mind because July 4, Independence Day, is close.   When we encounter Christ, it only takes a spark.  In that instant we are changed, we are free, and people will notice.

As kids, usually on the fourth of July, we used to have sparklers that we would ignite and then run around the yard with them. You know the little sparklers that you can buy in the stores.  They were small, but you could see the light.

Then to light someone else’s sparkler we would put the two sticks together, and the sparkler that wasn’t lit would come to light.  We would pass it on.  There is a song we would sing at campmeetings.  “Pass it on” by Kurt Kaiser.  The first verse starts with “It only takes a spark to get a fire going.”    

Verse 1

It only takes a spark

To get a fire going

And soon all those around

Can warm up in its glowing

That’s how it is with God’s love

Once you’ve experienced it

You spread His love to ev’ryone

You want to pass it on.

~ Kurt Kaiser

It does only take a spark to get the fire going.  That is how it goes when we have experienced the love of God.  In an instant, we are changed. You want to share it.  Once you receive that love and feel that freedom, you want to pass it on.

Living IN Revival, we want to pass the good news on.  The freedom that can be found in Christ.  It is tremendous.  It is FREEDOM.  The TRUTH, the freedom, that in an instant, can change us. When we have that, we want to share it with those around us.  We can find illustrations of this change in an instant and the need to share the story, in the Bible and all around. 

The Woman of Samaria ~ Better Known as the Woman at the Well.

 She had gone to the well for water to quench her thirst.  One encounter, one conversation with the Lord. It only took a spark, and she went back into her town proclaiming what she had experienced.  “Come see a man who knew all about the things I did, who knows me inside and out. Do you think this could be the Messiah?” and they went out to see for themselves. – John 4:30 ~MSG

 “They went out to see for themselves.”  There must have been something about the woman.  Think about it. What a difference in that woman from the time she went to get the water when no one else was around to when she went back to the town.

Something in her countenance had changed that when she returned and told her story, people wanted what she had found.  She couldn’t keep the news to herself.  It was something that she had to share.  The town went to investigate for themselves. She had found something they were missing. 

What a difference that one moment with Christ made not only in her life but in her town's life!  She told of her encounter with Christ, and they went to see what she was talking about.  They wanted a change in their lives themselves.  ALL because of one conversation with Jesus, One Spark. 

The Story of the Jailor

Acts 16:23-33 ~ In the NIV

Paul and Silas were thrown in jail after been flogged.  It was midnight. They were bruised, battered, and in pain.  Yet, they were praying and singing.  “Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken.  At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.” Acts 16:26.

The story goes on.  The jailor wakes up and sees the prison doors open.  Of course, he is going to freak out.  He freaked out so much that he was going to take his own life because of it.  But Paul shouted out “DON'T."

What kind of fire did Paul and Silas have for Jesus? They were bruised and battered but still singing and praying. The jailor saw this spark in them, and he wanted what they had.  The chapter continues. “At that hour of the night the jailor took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized.” ~Acts 16:33

Based on that one spark of Paul and Silas, that jailor and his entire family were baptized.  In one moment, the jailor was changed.  That change was seen by his family.  How else do you have an entire family be baptized in one instant?

That one event or that one spark changed the lives of that jailor and his family noticed.  They wanted what the jailor had.  In an instant, their lives were changed.

The Story of the Hemorrhaging Lady.

The woman who touched the robe of Christ was changed in an instant.  Luke 8:43-48, in the Message.  She was in the crowd. In fact, the verse emphasizes, “she slipped in from behind and touched the edge of Jesus’ robe. At that moment her hemorrhaging stopped.”

Because of her faith, in an instant, she was healed.  So much was her faith, that Jesus stopped what he was doing and called her out.  It wasn’t to embarrass her. He wanted her to tell her story.   Jesus had to have known who it was who touched his garment, but he wanted her to know that because of her faith, she was changed.

He wanted her to tell her story.  How many people heard what happened to her in that moment?  Her testimony of what God had done, in an instant.  IT truly is amazing.  She could have backed away and not volunteered the fact that it was her, but she did.

It only takes a Spark.  Can you imagine the story she told that night when she went home?  “Hello, husband, I have something to tell you.”  In a moment, her life is not the same.  In a moment, she knew Jesus and was not the same.

The Story of Bryan Welch

You may not know the story of Bryan Welch, the co-founder of KORN.   With one spark, the Bible, he was changed.  According to Bryan, his rock and roll lifestyle was a dangerous spiral.  He was on the brink of destruction with the drinking and the drugs.

 A friend gave him a bible.  Bryan, in an interview he gave to CBN said, “It’s about the book of life, and everybody needs to be taught…It’s gonna do stuff like this—like change a guy in a rock band.”

According to the same article, one week later, Bryan Welch, rock & roll star flew to Israel was baptized in the Jordan River.  It only took a spark, and now Bryan is sharing his faith to a multitude of people.  He is using his platform to tell his story and point people to Jesus.

The Story of Us

It takes only a spark, and we are changed. Christ wants us to spread the good news to those who need to hear it. When we are changed through Christ, we want to share it with anyone who will listen. He wants the world to hear of the freedom that can be found in Him.  Through His freedom, others will want what we have found. Something about naturally passing it on to others, like the sparklers.

What is your story?

Abba Father,

I pray that the spark that is changing people all around will start a wildfire of faith for others. Our stories need to be spread, and I pray that each of us tells our story of the Freedom that can be found in You. 

You keep igniting that spark in people, and we see time after time. We see you at work. Please continue to ignite that spark.  Soon all those around us will know of your glory.

In Jesus Name, AMEN!

~ Laura Maxson