Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by Maria Goff (2017-03-07) from her book, Love Lives Here: Finding What You Need in a World Telling You What You Want     (Kindle Location 765). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Have you ever had a problem with comparison?   It can be a real problem, can’t it? Maria says, “The thing I’m learning about comparison is that the only way it will leave us alone is if we name it for what it is and then ignore it completely. We could spend our time sorting through all of its lies like clothes at a thrift store, or we can spot comparison coming our way, call it a liar, and simply refuse to make eye contact with it. “Low self-worth makes our eye wander toward other people’s papers. If this is you, figure out the return address on the messages you’re listening to. Jesus is more interested in who we’re becoming than who we were. He doesn’t want us to become like each other; He wants us to be like Him. The p

A thought by Maria Goff (2017-03-07) from her book, Love Lives Here: Finding  What You Need in a World Telling You What You Want    (Kindle Location 663). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) We too many times live out the lies that someone in our past told us about us.   They just weren’t true but we believed them, didn’t we? Maria says, “Lies are a lot like lava. They slip in under the doors and burn down anything they touch. If we hear enough lies about ourselves, we can lose who we are. We set off new volcanoes every time we repeat those lies to ourselves or to others. In the aftermath, we try to cope with our insecurities by trying to be someone else rather than who God intended for us to be.” She goes on, “It’s easy to get discouraged when we see others succeed while we stay stuck, like we were planted in a pot. We overlook our own unique gifts as we crane our necks, looking in everyone else’s mirror. W

A thought by Maria Goff (2017-03-07) from her book, Love Lives Here: Finding  What You Need in a World Telling You What You Want (Kindle Location 603). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Have you ever been to Hawaii?   Our church in Las Vegas helped us to go a few years back.   It is a beautiful Island.   It really is but at one time it was burning hot lava.   Now look at all.  It is beautiful. Maria said after visiting there with her family, “This place was paradise to us. Exotic plants grew everywhere, birds nested, and gentle waves from the Pacific Ocean lapped up against the shoreline. The volcanic eruption changed everything there for a while, but not forever.”   She goes on, “Most of us think of paradise as a place where nothing has ever gone wrong. I disagree. We often find our safest and most beautiful places where the lava once flowed. These are places where we’ve been able to find the beauty beca