Define

I picked up Bentley (my yellow lab) from the pet sitter yesterday and as she so often does, she walked us pretty much home. Her name is Vickie and truly she has been dealt some pretty tough cards...her mother was committed to a home with a severe brain disorder thus leaving Vickie to live within the bounds of an orphanage from her early life til her teens in Canada....those were her roots.....but if you were to meet her now....she will be the first to tell you she has all she needs....and even more. She has not grown up in an environment that most of us are accustomed to, with direction, with means, surrounded by family and friends....and taught the basics of life management....BUT she is not only a survivor but a Happy survivor. Always a smile, and a sense of appreciation for what is before her and given to her..you would have to think of her as strong and independent and free of the many distractions that seem to steal away "our" joy.

I left yesterday wondering what is it that truly defines her...and I decided it is not so much her accomplishments, but it is her attitude. She loves life...just as it is...with all its complications, and all of its crazy twists and turns...and she has learned through her early roots to appreciate the simple things in life. I asked her if she ever gets down because truly she seldom ever complains, most always has this jovial sense about her....and is truly delighted for anyone to stop and speak to her. She finds good in people...she seeks good in people. She loves Jesus and early in her orphanage years learned that Jesus is all you need. Therein lies her secret. She lives for each day....not for tomorrow or by way of yesterday...she lives for this day....and trusts Jesus to provide for her all that she needs....and trusts to that he will help her with whatever situation arises and get her through it....always with the attitude that "it", whatever "it" is, will turn out ok....she has experienced this her whole life first hand. God has been there....and she has acknowledged his presence.

Now flip that a minute from defining people to defining God.... and consider what is it that is defining about God to you? So often we define people by what they have done, their accomplishments. So what has God done for you or through you?I can boldly say that my first definition of God is that He is sovereign. For through our storms He has had all the answers....and all at the right time. It wasn't necessarily my timing but it was the right timing. He is a God of strength and day by day he transfers that strength to our hearts and bodies. He is a God of plan...for nothing happens to us or through us without his endorsement. He will use whatever comes our way to bring us closer to HIM. He defines himself as THE WAY. The way to what? The way to happiness! The way to contentment. The way to peace. The way to joy. The way to wisdom. The way to Heaven.

We seem to be searching for the way...looking in all the world's places...sometimes we fine a temporary solution but quickly if fades and we are off to yet another search....and it is a never ending quest for satisfaction. In that old movie "City Slickers", many of you have seen it about a guy who is looking for happiness and goes out to Colorado with his buddies to find it as they run a cattle drive across the state. Billy Crystal meets Jack Valance(I think that is his name), a rough, tough, unapproachable cowboy codger. As they are riding horses side by side across the plains says, Billy asks him something about life, I can't remember the line and Valance replies... you have to find the "secret of life". What is it asks, Crystal...It is different for everyone...you have to find it for yourself.

How do you define the secret of life in your life....maybe the secret is wanting what you have. For I have chased many a rainbows only to find out that Christ is the defining factor for my happiness. Oh, don't get me wrong, I still hit bottom a bunch...and I allow wrong behavior to be a noose around my neck, but I am learning how to forgive and be forgiven. That forgiven thing is something to be reckoned with. For I have had to really accept the fact that there is NOTHING that I have done or the you have done that is so great that God can not and will not lay his blanket of forgiveness over . For He is the ONLY source I have found for peace...true peace in the whirlwind of the world's adversities. For he continually provides a solid foundation of truth that will not falter.
John 14:6
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Once I get a grip on who God is...then and only then am I able to grip who I am! For it is through his unconditional love that I have been adopted as a child of God, not perfect...just perfect through him.

Before I sign off on this one....I ask you and have had to ask myself... to think a minute what defines you and what defines me?

Is it our accomplishments, our trials, our family name, our influence on our children....our style, our work ethic....our intensity, our values, our creativity, our strength, our stamina, ...
OR have we willingly accepted the defining truth that we are wonderfully made in the image of a loving and trusted God.....and it is through HIS defining characteristics that we are to make ourselves available for HIS purposes and for HIS glory?

I had no intention of adding that last statement...I think it was God's "intention"
to reroute my definition of what defines ME! It is somethign that clearly merits consideration....I might, no scratch that, I "do" need to do some adjusting...


Dear Lord, Thank you for being The Way.... and for making your way possible for us to follow. Thank you for not going to fast so that we can not catch up or for moving to slow that we run ahead of you. Thank you for being just as you are yet being able to invest in each of our lives individually...according to the pace that we are moving and the circumstances that we have been challenged with. May we find the secret of life as we embrace the fullness of life through knowing you. Amen

Praise God wherever you are and whatever situation He has allowed you to be in . . . His glory will shine through!

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email address: cjodeit@gmail.com
The blog link below has all devotionals from the beginning of the year:

http://simplygod-cathy.blogspot.com/