through painted deserts...

I have discovered the title for our blog. Inspired by Donald Miller’s special book… it’s the perfect title.

Right after Jesus was baptized, God took him into the desert for 40 days and nights (Luke 4). Before His public ministry came a time of deep personal temptation and challenge. God is teaching me that it’s impossible to live this life as it was meant to be lived or walk straight into our destiny without encountering the same thing a Perfect and sinless Man had to endure: The Wilderness. This is where I find myself now… where Joseph and I find ourselves together. And it’s a significant place for SO many reasons.

Deserts are where God prepares you.

Deserts are where God Himself leads you.

Deserts are where you learn to really trust God.

Deserts are where God humbles you.

Deserts are where we can’t rely on ourselves.

Deserts are where God changes our desires.

     And where He gives us new desires.

Deserts are where you grieve.

Deserts are where you learn to really pray.

Deserts are where you feel God’s compassion and ever close comfort.

Deserts are where you learn to lean.

Deserts are where God allures you to Himself.

Deserts are where our love grows deeper,

     Where we fall in love with Jesus.

Deserts are where you get healed.

Deserts are where you learn to let go.

Deserts are where you receive freedom.
Deserts are where God makes beauty from ashes.

Deserts are where you lose yourself, your old way of life, and taste God’s bigger dream.

Deserts are where we cry and sing at the same time.

Deserts are where you learn the secret to contentment.

Deserts are where you suffer

     And learn to rejoice.

Deserts are where grace is enough.

Deserts are where you find the greatest risks AND the greatest peace.

Deserts are where you experience the movement of the Spirit.

Deserts are where your passions come to life,

     Where your gifts come to light.

Deserts are where adversity strikes so that Fruit can bloom.

Deserts are where you glimpse the Face of God.

Deserts are where you hunger and thirst,

     And where you discover the Bread of Life is all you need.

Deserts are where you GROW UP.

     And where Heaven’s Mighties are born.

Deserts are where you die

     So that you can truly LIVE.

So here’s the thing… when you find yourself in the middle of the wilderness (and believe me you will!), and the road ahead looks dark, cold, scary, and very uncertain… GO THROUGH IT. While everything will scream the opposite in the beginning and probably even in the middle, remember that it was God Himself who brought you into the wilderness, and it is Him who will lead you ALL THE WAY THROUGH.

The desert moments and seasons of our lives are not to be feared; they are to be embraced. You must be STILL… you must to be PATIENT… you have to TRUST God like never before. Trust that He is a big, huge, loving, great, GOOD God. Trust that He didn’t bring you here to confuse you, trick you, or leave you. Trust that He brought you into the desert to SAVE YOU.

It is SO important that you get this. It is so important that you grasp hold of the deserts of your life and face them with faith and courage. And whenever you find yourself in the middle of it all, on perhaps a harder and more discouraging day than others… when Satan will have you believe that you are all by yourself without anyone who understands… know that we are right here with you. Right smack in the middle of the wilderness. And you are not alone. We hope that in sharing our lives and experiences with you, that God will use us however He needs to… for you. We are cheering you on and praying hard for the strength it will take to move forward… to take the next step…and the next one… and the one after that. Please be encouraged. Please ask us questions. Please let us know how we can pray for you. Chances are we’re praying the exact same thing too!

*“No, life cannot be understood flat on a page. It has to be lived; a person has to get out of his head, has to fall in love, has to memorize poems, has to jump off bridges into rivers, has to stand in an empty desert and whisper sonnets under his breath:

                                   I’ll tell you how the sun rose

                                   A ribbon at a time…”

The sun is rising on this adventure. The Promise Land is just around the corner. We will get there. And so will you. One day we will experience Heaven on Earth together. Until that day, may you brave this desert. May you breath it in. May you choose to venture out, to look up… to gaze beyond the horizon into the face of God.

LISTEN. Quiet your heart. Hear the sweet strokes of His magnificent mysterious design coloring you into a million lights of rainbow… a character painted by trials, becoming something eternally beautiful, stamped and sealed till the end of time… His glorious Masterpiece of YOU.

*“And so my prayer is that your story will have involved some leaving and some coming home, some summer and some winter, some roses blooming out like children in a play. My hope is your story will be about changing, about getting something beautiful born inside you, about learning to love a woman or a man, about learning to love a child, about moving yourself around water, around mountains, around friends, about learning to love others more than we love ourselves, about learning oneness as a way of understanding God. We get one story, you and I, and one story alone. God has established the elements, the setting and the climax and the resolution. It would be a crime not to venture out, wouldn’t it? It might be time for you to go. It might be time to change, to shine out…”

I write so that you will remember… so that I will remember and never ever forget that the deserts of life are crazy hard, but you will never find ANYTHING more gloriously beautiful because of them. God is INCREDIBLE…through painted deserts. Selah.

With Love,
Cobi

 

*(Through Painted Deserts, Donald Miller)

The Better

We are learning to say NO to what is good, and YES to what is better. God in His infinite wisdom knows the "better" for our lives that we cannot see yet. We challenge you today to be willing to look beyond just the good you see in front you. God has the most amazing plans for your life.  If your heart is completely open to Him, He WILL take you there. Lets expect huge things from our Father, and give Him the space in our lives to move mountains and make miracles. Because HIS LOVE NEVER FAILS...

With Love,

LOVE is spelled T-I-M-E

Are you God's FRIEND? Do we even know what that means? Dare I say, have we ever truly EXPERIENCED a friendship with Him? In taking a real honest look at my own life... day by day, moment by moment... I am afraid of what the answer to that question might be. We spend so much energy and time trying and trying to "look for" or "figure out" who we're suppose to be, what we're suppose to be doing, what we're suppose to be planning, thinking, saying, learning, etc., etc., etc. It's quite exhausting. And I'm learning that an outlook such as this, such as the world encourages us to bear, is really one of the greatest LIES ever told. It is NOT the way of our Father. This is not what He ever intended. God LOVES you... and me... and the person who's trying to figure out his life. We are his prized possession (it's true, see James 1:18), and more than ANYTHING that ever existed, or ever will exist, He simply desires to BE for us who He truly is: our Father, and our Closest Friend. He says, Seek Me ABOVE ALL ELSE, and I will give you everything you need (Luke 12:31).

I'd like to think that I love God... I say I do. I hope I do. I really believe I do. But do I? Do YOU? Do we really LOVE Him? In a message tonight by Stephen LeBlanc (Gateway Community Church - Seven ministry) (Please view below) I have been directly challenged in my "friendship" with the Lord. Towards the latter part of his sermon about "Who Hear's God's Promises?", Stephen lays out a perfect analogy of what it looks like to be God's close companion. Love is spelled T-I-M-E. Show me where or with whom you spend your time... I'll show you what or who you love. I know I fail often at giving as much time as I desire to the people closest to me in my life. WHY is that? More tragically, do I do that with God too? How frequently do I fail with spending time with the One who gave me life, who gave up everything for me... who adores me, marvels at me, thinks obsessively about me, wants to bless me beyond ANYTHING I could think or ask? Who saves me, protects me, fights for me, forgives me, guides me, holds me, loves me anyways, understands me, knows ALL the plans He has for me... "plans for good, not for disaster, to give me a future and a hope" (Jeremiah 29:11). What is the condition of my heart? What is the condition of your heart? ARE WE LOVING?

I want to be a FRIEND of Jesus. And I want to be the greatest friend to the people I love the most. I don't want to be someone who just talks or thinks about how awesome it would be to truly have such relationships, to truly have the BEST Relationship. I desire to EXPERIENCE it, walk in it, breath it, live it. Experience HIM... face to face. And I believe that's exactly what God wants, too. I need to ask my Father to help me take the principal of priority to heart... I want to do better. I want to be more. I want to LOVE more. I want to make God SMILE. I want to be one of His greatest friends He has ever walked with. I want to hear His voice, know His plans and promises, share all of my deepest hopes, dreams, fears, desires, and do His WILL... and then allow Him to teach me HOW to love the people in my life like that.

I no longer want to settle in what I see around me. God, give me the courage to be DIFFERENT. Give us the grace and the power it's going to take to switch our priorities around. Lord, You can do it in our lives. Help us to LET You. Give us the courage to love like never before.

VIDEO:

Seven Sermon Center Gateway Church