Protect Your Treasure

Greetings, Friends!

Susie Larson here...

And to those visiting, I say welcome!

I post every Wednesday and my sole purpose is to nourish your soul along the way.

Lately I've been studying the different parables in the Gospels. I've so enjoyed taking my time, walking through the history, and understanding the context of Jesus' teaching.

Something struck me the other day and I can't wait to share it with you.

Do you remember the old fable, Jack and the Beanstalk?

Jack and his mother were destitute and yet Jack "irresponsibly" traded their last material possession for the seed that would someday save them.

In one of the parables, Jesus taught how the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of seeds, it grows into the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree so the birds of the air can come and perch in its branches.

In her study, "Secrets Jesus Shared," Jennifer Kennedy Dean wrote this: "The leaves of the mustard shrub were believed to help everything from stomachache to toothache. The mustard plant, once planted, was nearly impossible to eradicate."

To the world, it seems foolish to sell out and base all our hopes on the promises and the love of God. But to the Believer, we believe because we know we are receiving more than we could ever provide for ourselves.

The Kingdom of Heaven comes to us in seed form and we lay hold of it by belief.

When we first come to Jesus, and we receive His seed planted in us, we have no idea what a treasure we've received.

Some come to Jesus because they want to know for certain that they're going to heaven.

Others come to Him because they are sick and tired of the heavy load and want to enjoy a measure of peace.

We all come because we have a need, but none of us can truly comprehend that to which we've been given access.

We receive the seed, when we receive Jesus as our Savior. And as we grow and live and walk in Christ, we comprehend more and more what it means to belong to Him.

What first came to us in seed form will be the very thing that will heal us, restore us, revive us, and nourish us. As God's Kingdom increases and spreads its roots in every area of our lives, we are strengthened and prepared for our marvelous calling.

That little seed will grow all of these things in us - that is - provided we cultivate an environment for growth.

Jesus offers another parable of the various seeds that fall on different types of soil. All but one kind of soil thwarted the destiny of the planted seed.

Due to the weeds of worries and stresses and the endless pursuit of wealth, the healthy seed can be choked and its life cut short.

If we really believe that the life of God planted in us has the power to save, restore, refresh, forgive, and establish us, we will protect God's incredible investment in us.

Just as a pregnant woman makes daily choices with her baby in mind to give it the best possible chance at life, we too must make daily choices to protect what God has deposited in us, for if we do, it will produce such life in us that we will not be moved!

Jesus was planted in the womb of a young teenage girl. He grew to be a young man that forever changed history. He'll come back again as the Lion of Judah, in command of legions of angels and heavenly hosts. Oh, the treasure that was planted in the womb of sweet Mary!

And oh, the treasure of God that was planted in you!

Let other things go, but don't lose sight of the promises God has planted in your soul.

Guard the treasure, for in due time, you will reap beyond your wildest dreams.

A Special Note:

Dear Friends,

I will be taking the next several weeks off from posting on my blog but guess what??? You are in for a real treat! I've arranged to have a number of my author friends post in my place. Some of them are bestselling authors; all are amazing women.

Treat yourself to a wonderful surprise and stop by each week to see what they have to say.

Bless them by leaving a nice comment.

I love and appreciate you all so very much.

Peace and Joy to you this season~

Growing in Gratitude...

Happy Thanksgiving, Friends!

Susie Larson here...

I pray this note finds you well.

To those visiting I say welcome! I post every Wednesday and my goal is to bless and nourish your soul along the way.

I love this holiday season. For me, it's a time of reflection and remembrance. For many years our lives were marked by crisis and deep character cleansing.

But God has and is restoring every lost thing.

One day, many years ago, I pushed a heavy cart of groceries through the parking lot. I made sure my three little boys each hand a hand on the cart so I could keep an eye on them.

Once we loaded the groceries in the car and I buckled the boys in their seats, I slid into the driver's seat, put my forehead on the steering wheel, and prayed, "Oh, Lord, how can I ever thank you enough? We have groceries! We have choices about what to eat. We can go to our cupboards and find food there. Oh, God, I thank you for your goodness to us."

I looked over my shoulder to see my three little boys with heads bowed and hands folded in prayer.

The reality was that we had tens of thousands of dollars in medical debt. The reality was that our house was falling apart and we had no money to fix it. The reality was that my husband was working two and three jobs and I was battling a disease while trying to care for three active boys.

But the superior reality was that God was on His throne and totally with us in that place of desperation. And when I bowed my head to thank Him for His provision, our car became a sacred place, and I knew my boys were affected by His presence that day.

A different day we found ourselves at the doctor's office. One of my son's had an ear infection. When we got out to the car, my prayer went something like this, "Father in Heaven, I thank you for providing us with insurance. Thank you for a simple, treatable diagnosis. Thank you for taking such good care of us."

Every time I thanked the Lord in front of my kids, I felt the heaviness of our situation lift. In fact, I now understand that my lessons in gratitude were the very things that made my kids feel that all was well in their world.

I always found it curious that they didn't have a clue that we were in the crises of our lives. Now I know that their lives were full, because my heart was full of thanksgiving.

Not that I always did it right; on the contrary. I had my cynical, frustrated days like everyone else, but whenever I returned to praise and gratitude, the climate around me changed.

Have you ever made the choice to forgive someone long before they even knew what their offense cost you?

Isn't it grueling at times to forgive and love and bless someone when they still have no clue how deeply they've wounded you?

The Bible says that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

The longer I walk with Him and the more I grow to love Him, the more I understand that I really don't understand just what my sin cost Him (or others, for that matter). In fact, I submit that none of us will really know the depth and impact of our sin nor the miracle of having it wiped away, until we see Jesus face to face.

When I was first saved as a teenager, I was thankful for salvation. But now I know in the depths of my soul that every gift comes from His hand.

We all have reasons for praise this season.

No matter if you're in a season of favor, or one of small offerings, God's promises are true for you and His provision is available to you.

Most of us have running water, a roof over our heads, people to love us, and food to nourish our bodies. If you own a computer you are considered to be in the upper one percent of the wealthiest people in the world.

Even when we are poor in material things, we are rich in the Lord. And most of us are far more wealthy than we know.

God loves it when we praise Him. The Bible says He draws near to listen when we thank Him.

It matters if we're grateful.

We shape our children's perspective by the perspective we choose.

Choose thankfulness and share your grateful heart with others, especially your children.

Be blessed this holiday season.

Until next week~

A Kingdom Holiday Season...

Hello Everyone!

Susie Larson here...

And to those visiting, I say welcome!

I post every Wednesday, and my purpose is to nourish and encourage your soul along the way.

Since I've got a number of Christmas speaking events on my schedule, and since I've been prepping on and off for the past couple of weeks, my holiday season is in full swing.

I've had a significant amount of time to pause...and to think about my holidays this year. Do I want to run, racing from one event to another? Do I want to squeeze as many fun activities in as I can? Or do I want peace and solitude to mark my holidays this time around? We are all different, and we all need different things.

Looking back over the years I can clearly see that some of our most desperate struggles overlapped with the holiday season. I had in my mind how I wanted the season to look, but that 30 second commercial was an always elusive dream.

Thankfully I am much wiser and more mature (hmmm...) and I am not so interested in how things look. I am interested in how things are.

In the gospel of Luke, Jesus says something very profound (well, actually he said many profound things in this message, but I want to focus on a couple of key points).

Jesus, in His tender, loving way, reminds us once again that we are valuable.

So much so, that He tells us not to worry about what we will eat, or drink, or wear.

He knows our needs and our deepest desires and He holds them close to His heart.

Some of us strive and strain about what we will wear and what we will eat, especially during the holiday season.

Jesus says in verse 29: "...do not set your heart on what you will eat and what you will drink; do not worry about it."

Now Jesus is talking on a much bigger scale than our materialistic tendencies during the holidays. He is talking about the affections and the ambitions that are manifested in us all year long.

But still, there's something here for us.

If, during the holidays, we find ourselves in a season of abundance, it's easy to sit on our possessions and trust them more than God. Without thinking too much about it, we make our festive plans and the simplicity of the Gospel gets pushed by the wayside.

When money is scarce during the holidays, it's easy to lose all perspective and cling to worry more than the promises of God. We don't feel much like celebrating because God isn't giving us what we want.

I remember one holiday season when my husband and I came home from a Christmas party. The hosts decorated to the hilt. Their home sat on a hill and was gorgeous in every way. Each room was rich in color and texture and provided a feast for the eyes. The husband and father of the house only had to work a few hours a day to provide for their abundant lifestyle.

My husband and I held hands and both gulped as we went from room to room and took in our lavish surroundings.

When it was time to head home, back to our rental house, we were thoroughly depressed.

We still had medical debt to pay off and so the dream of owning a house again was months if not years away for us. The walls of our rental home were all the same color: a drab looking tan. We had very little money for gifts and we were tired of feeling like we were always under our circumstances and not above them.

Once we tucked in our little ones into bed and kissed their foreheads, we went out to the living room, sat down and sighed.

I don't remember which one of us said this but one of us said, "We really are blessed, you know. Let's pray."

We bowed our heads and prayed, "Though our accounts are empty and our cupboards are scarce with food, yet, we will praise You, O Lord. For You have been good to us and You will be faithful to us again. Forgive us for the sin of comparison. We know that in due time, our time will come. Amen."

That was a painful, yet powerful time.

Seasons did change and our time did come and the Name of the Lord is greatly to be praised.

God redeemed every area of our lives and set us high above our circumstances. I think about it every day; and every day I thank Him.

You may be a social bug and love the idea of filling up your holiday schedule with one engagement after another. Or, you may be like me and enjoy having a couple of events on the calendar, but many more nights where you plan not to have plans.

You may be in a time of plenty or a season of small offerings.

We are all different; walking through different seasons.

Either way, we need to scoot up close to our Nativity scene, peek in, and remember this Jesus - who didn't consider equality with God a thing to be grasped but instead came to us in the most vulnerable way possible - He wrapped Himself in the skin of a tiny baby.

Make your plans, but remember the simplicity with which He came.

And no matter which season you're in, be sure to back up and get the big picture as well. When Jesus was born, God's Kingdom came to earth. His Kingdom Promises, Power, and Provision were made available to man; to you and me.

Live differently this year.

In light of what's been made available through Jesus, trust not in your riches, nor in your trials, trust in Him, and live differently this holiday season.

Let the world know that you belong to Him, and because of this precious fact, you celebrate Him.

Until next week...

The Power of Peace...

Greetings, Dear Friends!

Susie Larson here...

And to those visiting, I say welcome! I post every Wednesday and my sole purpose is to nourish your soul along the way.

With the year slowly drawing to a close, I find myself looking back over my shoulder, remembering moments of victory as well as defeat. I bring with me, into the coming year, lessons learned, skills honed, and a deeper understanding of what's been made available to us as Beloved ones of the Most High God.

One of the greatest insights I've gleaned from the battles I fought this past year, is how to thrive amidst those battles. Not that I do it right every time; but when I get it right, I know and feel and taste the Power Christ has made available to us who believe.

Give yourself a gift this holiday season. Let peace RULE in your heart. Go after peace. Seek peace and pursue it. Wrap your arms around peace and turn your back on worry, striving, anxiety, and anger.

When you make a peace a priority in your life, something Super-natural happens...

If you read this blog with any regularity, you know that I am in a season of being stretched far beyond what my 5'2" frame can handle.

God is growing the ministry and thus, growing me at the same time. And as you know, fruit-bearing growth doesn't come without a measure of pain, tension, and opposition.

At almost all of my speaking events, I have women reach out their arm as far as they can; then I tell them that the call on their lives is go great, so deep, so wide, that they can never accomplish it unless God intervenes.

He wants us out on a limb, in over our heads, and fully reliant on Him.

Well, I'm there.

It's not a comfortable place to be.

Every day I am faced with two choices:

1.) Do I try to carry something I can't even get my arms around? Outcome: stress, worry, anxiety, and sleeplessness

or...

2.) Do I turn my back on worry, take God's hand, and enjoy a moment-by-moment walk with Him on this unpredictable, life-changing journey? Outcome: intimacy with God, increased faith, unexplainable peace

Every time I've looked at my impossible task list or tried to face the devil's threats on my own, and then allowed my thoughts to take their natural course, I've been overcome by self-awareness and stress.

And yet...every time I have consciously turned my back on worry and made the choice to embrace peace instead, I have felt the kiss of Heaven. I can't explain it except to say that when I choose to embrace my Prince of Peace, I know that I've awakened the pleasure of God because I've chosen to trust Him more than my circumstances.

When Jesus came into the world, wrapped in a baby's body, He didn't come to a peaceful earth. He arrived amidst a time of harsh Roman rule and rigid traditions. He came when injustices took place on a daily basis. Just as they do today.

He came as the Prince of Peace because we needed one.

This isn't just a sweet thought scripted for a greeting card. Peace is our promise from God. It is part of our inheritance. Peace in us and on us will speak volumes to a stressed-out world.

I'm currently reading, Face to Face With God by Bill Johnson. I love what he says about peace:

"Peace is more than the absence of noise, conflict, and war. It is the presence of the One who exercises military authority over everything that is in conflict with His dominion. As we enjoy His order and calm, the powers of darkness are destroyed by His overwhelming magnificence."

Determine not to enter the hurryings of this holiday season.

Be at peace once more, oh my soul, for the Lord, the Lord has been good to you!

Now may the Lord of Peace Himself, give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you (2 Thessalonians 3:16).

Keeping No Account...

Hi Friends!

Susie Larson here...

So sorry I missed you yesterday but I am glad to have something to share with you today!

To those who are visiting, I say welcome! I post every Wednesday (99% of the time...) and my goal is to encourage your faith and nourish your soul along the way.

In order to be successful, we have to keep pretty good records. Our filing system needs to be somewhat consistent and user friendly. We save time and get more done when we write things down and put them in their proper place.

This statement makes me sound so organized and efficient, doesn't it? Well unfortunately I am only moderately organized and it's time for my office and files to be overhauled and updated.

I suppose that's why this topic is at the forefront of my mind right now.

While it's great to be able to quickly pull up of list of things you've done and the dates with which you completed them, it's destructive to keep such records of the the things you've done for others. It's even more destructive to keep a detailed account of ways other people have offended you but we'll address that topic another day.

We love, because God first loved us.

We're good to others, because Jesus has been so good to us.

We forgive others, because we've been so graciously forgiven.

We humble ourselves, because the Savior of the world humbled Himself to the point of death.

How do we know if we are keeping an account of the good things we've done?

When someone is offended by us, and our instinctive response is to pull the "good-things-we've-done" list out of our back pocket and recite it to ourselves and maybe to them, then we know we're keeping account. If our first concerns are that they would know they really have no right to have an issue with us, because all of the good things we've done for them far outweighs any bad thing we could have done to irritate them...then we are most likely keeping an account.

When we keep account of all of the ways we've extended patience and forgiveness, and blessing, and sub-consciously consider it our get-out-of-jail-free card, we've lost sight of why we as Believers do the things we do.

We love and give and forgive others, because it's this kind of scandalous love that's been poured out on us.

As tempting as it may be to recite our list of rights-done in the face of criticism, may we be humble and confident enough not to do so.

We do the right thing as an offering of thanks to God, not as a future pass for ourselves.

We have enough of Jesus in us to bravely stand and behave like Christ without needing to rely on our past "goodness."

Besides, if we want to go that route, we will have to reckon with the "wrongs done" list we've also accumulated. And unfortunately that list is usually the longer one.

Choose grace instead. Grace for your accuser, grace for yourself.

Our Heavenly Father keeps the best kind of records. He removes confessed sin from His hard drive and remembers it no more. And yet He considers every kind word, every smile, done in His Name, as a deposit into His Kingdom.

When we live for Him, He defends us. He takes care of us.

What a great concept.