RISE and SHINE

It’s not time to be silent but it matters how we get loud…

Let me explain:

We were away last week.

As I finished my run outside, I joined my church’s online service (although my heart has been convicted to be AT church going forward now that we are back home).

I don’t run with headphones & usually not with music either. I run with my prayers, thoughts, and sometimes I write too (only on my treadmill though). This week I had to run outside so there was no typing…

As I turned on church, I turned down the volume. I figured I didn’t want to blast what others may not want to hear. I was being respectable right?

But then a truck came

and then a car

and another car

and another

and soon the traffic built up so much that I could no longer hear the praise & worship either.

So it made me think…

I need to be BOLDER.

I need to TURN UP His words & truths LOUDER and LOUDER.

because everything is getting louder, so why would I get quieter.

The world’s loud chaos is imposing on me. But I am called to work, love & not be quiet. It’s not about being polite or respectable. (If you know me, you know I already am.) This is different…

We can’t quiet what the world needs to hear.

Of course we need to do it with GRACE and LOVE but we can’t turn it down to make everyone (including ourselves) comfortable, as everything else continues to get loud.

It may sound dramatic but it really does feel like a battle for our minds and our hearts …

BUT GOD.

But victory is in the name of Jesus.

Because in the end we know who already won.

We know who wins… #Jesus

And that brings me HOPE,

a HOPE that I want others to hear and know too.

So for the rest of that run, I turned up the service and danced as I ran (& my dancing is not so great so imagine the scene.)

And I promised to keep turning up His voice.

Because it’s not about my dance moves or my comfort… it’s not about me.

✨ It’s about glorifying Him.

And I can’t do that by being silent, dimmed or dulled (I’ll try to post in my stories about that later…)

So let’s get loud with HOPE through the noise and shine bright His light through the darkness.

✨ It’s time to RISE and SHINE.

✨It’s time.