Nothing restores or soothes my soul quite like the weekly rhythm of Sunday mornings. Of our beautiful, spiritually and communally rich church family in East Dallas.

I recently flipped through the notebook I take sermon notes in and was stunned by the weight and conviction of the words from our pastors. These bullet points are simply too good to keep to myself, so below I’m sharing the gleanings I’ve carried forward as our leaders have dissected and unpacked the Word of God. 

• When we expect Jesus to fit our own ideas, we miss the fullness of Christ revealed in Scripture.
• Doing spiritual things does not equate to knowing Jesus. 
• Jesus is always calling us to know Him deeper.
• The reality of Jesus is all around us, true 25/7, 365 days a year.
• When you light a match, even that one light cuts through the darkness. 
• The enemy of our soul wants to keep us as far away from the Bible as possible. Don’t let him.
• Free grace—a true gift—pushes us to want to know God more.
• It takes tremendous faith to believe the resurrection of Jesus didn’t happen.
• There is no way around the sorrow of death on this side of Heaven. But we don’t have to stay there. There is more because He lives. 
• At every moment, God wants to speak to us—opening the Bible and sitting on a verse is a great place to start. He meets us there every single time.
• Even when we see someone in the mirror that we don’t love, Christ looks at us with only pure love.
• The Great Commission is everywhere we go, because we bear His image everywhere we go. At office jobs, coffee shops, hair salons, gyms, and beyond. We are His beloved representation of Christ. 
• Jesus gives us authority to go and tell and spread His light. That changes everything.
• God’s love doesn’t allow Him to stay passive—He is active. 
• There’s never a time Jesus isn’t with us… So invite Him into every micro-decision and just see what happens, what changes. 
• Evil stings do hurt for a while, but the goodness of God endures forever. Evil doesn’t have the final word, Jesus does. 
• Trusting anything other than God will ultimately lead to destruction.
• What might look dead to us will keep pushing out new life with the power of the Holy Spirit. 
• As believers, we can expect the reality of resistance and conflict in this life. 
• When we bring emotionally honest prayers to God, it unlocks something in us and in our relationship with Him.
• True love is to hate sin.
• Christians are the only people who can be fully grieving and in pain and maybe even despondent, and still have a glimmer of hope. 
• “The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances.” – A quote from a theologian whose name I didn’t write down, ha.
• We are all needy and afflicted people.
• When we dwell in Christ, our enemies cannot and will not win over us. They can’t take away our faith, joy, or life. We have the ultimate hope. 
• Reality check: all living things die on this side of Heaven. Savor each moment we have.
• How our hearts are steadied in a storm is more important than the storm itself. 
• Our biggest issues are always internal. 
• It’s never really a clean moment when God heals us—it’s messy and untidy.
• The same energy that formed the cosmos is trying to form us. 
• God’s Word crafts us into God’s work.
• The abundant life Jesus promises in John 10:10 is life in more quantity and quality than we could ever imagine.
• When we look at and study Jesus, we see unfailing consistency. Which is something we have never encountered in the world.
• Even with knowledge of God, spiritual blindness keeps people from believing.

Ooof! There are some convicting ones in there. 

What I take away most of all is that God is more consistent, dependable, and good than I could ever imagine, and the reality of our lives and circumstances is all formed inside of us. It’s how we think and what we think. How we see God and think about our lives really determines the quality of them—no matter what we’re facing. 

Challenging! But so good and comforting to know we can change our minds and mindsets at any moment. New life abounds!

Which musings stuck out to you most? Comment and let me know! I love hearing from you. 

In love,
AR

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You may enjoy these other reflections I’ve written from the inspiration of our church:
— I’m Done Talking About This
— The Ministry of Cookies
— Grabbing God’s Hand