Posted in General Posts by Liz Schuerger on 4/17/2012
It's not easy asking for help. The thought of retreating to a goal that can be accomplished on your own seems like the less complicated route, but God never intended for us to do it alone. He puts a dream inside of you and inside of me that is enormous and absolutely impossible to do without Him and the help of others. A dream that requires us to stand by each other. What are your dreams? I have a dream to comfort people who are lost and hopeless. Having experiencing a very raw taste of hopelessness in my own life, awoke a compassion inside of me for others. God comforted me in His love and we all need this same grace to make it through. There are people right now just waiting for love. Waiting for someone to help them up, dust them off, and tell them everything is going to be ok, someone to come along and show them God's love. But I can't go without you. May 5th I am to have $3,500 in my WR account, in which some payments take up to 5 days to hit the account. That gives me nearly 12 days to have $1,700. My church family has promised $1,000 leaving a $700 difference in order to leave on schedule in July 2012. Will you stand by me?
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Posted in General Posts by Liz Schuerger on 4/9/2012
There is a mysterious beauty in the act of letting go. Letting go, always involves sacrifice. Though it may not seem to be of greater benefit in letting go of what is in your hand, there is something more precious to embrace. There is only one thing worth embracing, and that is of knowing God. Everything else is subject to change, shifting like that sand. I've found myself exhausted in the efforts of grasping for things. It's like trying to catch the wind. Difficult, I must say and unnecessary. I've been thinking how this time we have is so precious and short. So what is the most valuable thing I can do with it, and I don't think it is to make a comfortable life for myself. As I envisioned Jesus being beaten, bruised, and tortured, shamed, mocked, and rejected, tears filled my eyes and deep remorse filled my heart. I kept thinking about the physical pain not to mention the emotional and spiritual pain Jesus went through for you and I. So I allowed myself, more than I ever have before, to embrace the depth of what really happened. Listening to the sound of ever slash he took to the body over and over and over again almost until I couldn't take it anymore. Yelling within me, "What should I do with this? I see the blood, I see the pain, I see the torment, I see what my sin has done, and I see how God has responded. I want to know what I can do to honor this." It pained me to think that this bloody mess would be for nothing if I did not respond! A harsh reality. And God gave me the answer. In John 15:12 He tells us there is not a greater love, there is not a greater thing to do, than for a man to lay his life down for his friends. So love others as he has loved us. We may not be literally laying our life down, but there is a dying that takes places in ourselves when we chose to let go of what is in our hands to hold that which is greater. The worth of what is in our hand is of no comparison to the worth of embracing our Savior.
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Posted in General Posts by Liz Schuerger on 3/27/2012
Looking back at my life, usually the way things turned out was different than what I originally had in mind. Especially when it comes to personal progress. We tend to evaluate ourselves as if we are working our way up to the top. The more I realize this, I see my very small and ineffective attempts to grasp for control of changing. And like a kind reminder that I am not in control, I see why things turn out differently than expected. If we will be anything, it will be because of God. If we will do anything that will count for something, it will be because of God. We have nothing to offer a God so good. It was all a free gift. So very free with no strings attached and no hidden fees. What exactly is this gift? The opportunity to spend forever and ever with someone so perfect, so good, and so interested in you, and this same good someone who will come along side of you and walk by you for the rest of your life, who will always encourage, build you up, and be patient with you, and will never get disappointed and leave. That's a pretty incredible gift. But why would someone love me this much? That's who He is. He is love. When I come to Him, knowing I have nothing to offer, and nothing to repay for what He did, but to give Him all that I am, the ugly, the broken, the good, the bad, the anger, the pride... everything. I find that's all He had hoped for. Just me. Just the way I am. Nothing more, and nothing less, leaving the rest up to Him. All my hope for this journey is in the the very palm of His hands. I have no idea what that may look like, but He certainly has something good in mind and I can believe that He is able. All of my promises lie broken at His feet, but He has never broken one.
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Posted in General Posts by Liz Schuerger on 1/20/2012
Seth Barnes once said, “by coming to the end of yourself, you learn to embrace brokenness, and in that brokenness, God calls you.” This is much like my experience. What is it that leads people to do something for God that is so out of the ordinary? Why leave all that you've known to step into the unknown? Through my own brokenness a compassion arose inside that I never knew existed. When I finally let go of what I was so tightly gripping, God filled my hands again. Jesus says, he who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it, Matthew 10:39. A life of love. I once believed I could make a life for myself. I once believed I could be the author of my happiness. But how could I possibly experience true happiness when I was missing the only thing that could complete me. I searched and I look all over. I weighed what this world had to offer and still found a deep sense of dissatisfaction inside my heart that was craving a love that I could not find apart from God. Finally I broke. I broke in total surrender to the only One who could save me. I realized that He not only saved me from my own despair in that moment, but He saved me long ago on that day He died for me. Now I must go. There is much to be done. My life will never be the same. I now live for this: to love Him and be loved by Him and share His love with others. This is true happiness and the fullness of my purpose.
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