for the display of His splendor

For those of you who frequent this blog, you'll notice things look a little different. If you're new here, welcome! I figured since this blog isn't just about me now it could use an update. New life stage, new look. But really things haven't changed too much. I'll still post life updates, pictures, and ministry updates. Hopefully you are encouraged and blessed by God's grace in our lives and the lives of others.

As I was changing this blog around I stared at that old banner at the top of the blog. An artist's rendition of a crooked tree and the title of this blog: "for the display of His splendor." A few of you may have read the post explaining why I named this blog that way back in July of 2012 (I re-posted it below if you care to take a look). Many of you have not. I look back to that post and realize how God has fleshed out this idea of being a display of His splendor the past 2 years. The concept is based on Isaiah 61:1-3 which says:

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God,to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.

In the beginning what resonated with me was the idea that the Lord had called me. I was sent. I was anointed. That thought was exciting to me. And of course that is still true today. But what I've realized these past two years is that I was also the poor, the brokenhearted, the captive, the prisoner, the mourner, the despairing. I know Christ, but I am still a sinner and I am just as broken as the people I have been sent to. I as a Christian need Jesus just as much as a lost person. That is what makes this so beautiful. I often picture those oaks of righteousness in verse 3 as the tree in my former header and the tree in my new header: falling down, crooked, and a messy. It's easy to believe that when we come to Christ, we should get it all together. We shouldn't be needy or messy. We should grow straight and tall, no bumps or ugly places. But we know better than that,don't we? My life certainly doesn't look like a mighty, tall, and straight oak tree and I'd guess yours doesn't either. We may not look like mighty oaks, but we are beautiful. We may not look strong and powerful, but our God is. To the world we may look broken, but to those who see as God sees we are displays of His splendor. We are all beautiful messes. The reason those broken falling down oak trees display the Lord's splendor is because they are a picture of the Gospel. We are messed up, broken people and in the midst of that Jesus loves us more than we could ever imagine.

I'm thankful for these past few years. I have learned to see beauty in the brokenness. It gives God all the more glory. Davy and I are broken, needy people leading other broken, needy people to the feet of Jesus. It's that simple. While the look of the blog has changed, the title remains the same because we, together, are all about the display of God's splendor. Until the whole world knows.