Devotions

God, I hate to admit it, but... I feel so alone. I am with you always, to the very end of the age. Yeah. but I feel unloved, you know? I want someone to be thinking about me right now. I chose you before the foundation of the world. But I just want to be known by someone! Really truly, fully known. I have searched you and I know you. Can't I just have a person, physically here with me? To hold me? I am holding you close to my heart. I keep getting my hopes up. I'm so tired of being let down. I will never leave nor forsake you. 1.  Matthew 28:20 2 .  Ephesians 1:4 3 .  Psalm 139:1 4 .  Isaiah 40:11 5 .  Deuteronomy 31:6

Unless the Lord builds the house,     those who build it labor in vain. This verse (Psalm 127:1) has been haunting me (in a good way!) over the past week or so. I'm such a planner that there have been countless times, even in the past few days, where I am in the middle of plotting something or worrying about something in the future and the Holy Spirit has gently reminded me... Unless the Lord builds the house,     those who build it labor in vain. It convicts me. It stops me in my tracks. It gets to me every. single. time. Because truth be told, I am trying so hard all the time to make sure things go "according to plan." I crave the satisfaction that comes from envisioning things going a certain way, and then watching them fold in exactly that fashion. And I'll do whatever it takes to weasel my way into the unfolding of it all, ensuring that I get my way. I course-correct and manipulate the situations that seem like th...

Our God is a jealous God.   This has always sat weirdly with me. God can’t be JEALOUS, right? Isn’t He all good, all the time? But there are countless examples in Scripture where God is referred to as a jealous God. It has to mean something significant or it wouldn’t be mentioned so many times.   I think God wants us to put Him first in our lives. Heck, I KNOW this because it doesn’t get any clearer than “thou shalt not have any other gods before me.” It’s in the rules. In fact, it's the FIRST rule. It's in the Ten Commandments. It’s crystal clear.   But what does that mean practically for our lives? I think the answer may go a little deeper than some rules written on a stone tablet.   (Side note: is that why our iPads and Kindles are called “tablets?” Another blog post idea.) So if God wants us to put Him first, that means He also does NOT want anything to come before Him. Like, anything.   And I’m such a control freak that ...

Friends, I'm going to try and write this post as coherently as I possibly can, but fair warning: the stuff I'm about to say is TRIPPY and it's probably going to sound a little out there. This is the deep end, people. Buckle up. So I've been noticing a lot of seemingly opposite things in my life that are somehow both true and real, and yet... separate. They don't really make any sense. Let me explain. A pretty common example is spurred by the age-old question, "Is God in control, or does man have free will?" The short answer is "Well, both..." right? But how? How can God be in charge of EVERYTHING and yet I can choose the shirt I put on each morning? Or bigger decisions, too! I can choose where to go to college or what jobs to apply for, or who to date. Me. I can decide that. But doesn't God know every page in my book, before I even think or say anything? How is that possible? It has to be one or the other, right? Or what about how...

Wouldn't it be nice if we could get what we wanted as soon as we wanted it? (Just kidding.) Or am I? I'm mostly kidding. But what the heck-- you're probably wondering what I want so badly, so here goes. I want to be loved by a man so, SO much that he'd do anything for me. That he'd lay his life down for me (both literally and figuratively, in the form of a career, salary, reputation, and the like) and would be there for me no matter what. His devotion would be undying. He wouldn't care about the house or the image or the paycheck because he doesn't want those things more than he wants me. Is that too idealistic? Let me clarify that I'm not asking for a perfect person. I know that doesn't exist. And I'm not perfect, either. I'm not expecting to be adored because I did/achieved enough to deserve adoration but because of the grace that comes from following Jesus. I don't want love because I think I'm "too good to settle...

I think people prefer a binary world. Things are good or bad. Black or white. Republican or Democrat. Optimism or pessimism. You get it. And I, Carly, am especially  binary. I prefer to live in a world where things are clearly right or wrong, and we need to choose the right side and stick to it. Period. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. It's cut and dry. It's clean and clear. It's black and white. But the older I get (WARNING: I'm about to sound like an old person), the more clearly I see that the world we live in is just really, really GREY. Things aren't clearly spelled out for us sometimes. There's a lot of wandering around like we're trying to find the light-switch in a dark, unfamiliar room. We want things to be clearly right or wrong but there's just so much to consider and so many different beliefs, opinions, and perspectives, and no matter how much easier it is for our tiny little brains to comprehend when things are either "this"...