From My Journal--A Love that Expects Nothing

I'm still stuck on that tree in the Garden.

I can't get it out of my head because here is the thing. God really had to put that tree in there. Think about it. Without that tree, Eden suddenly goes from paradise to a spiritual whorehouse with one doozy of a powerful pimp on a domination kick. The tree had to be there.

Except, it didn't.

If God wanted to play the God-All-Mighty-and-don't-you-forget-it card, He could have. He not only had the power, but He had the right.

Instead, He planted a tree.

To read more, please join me at Undaunted Reality.

From my Journal--Love That Puts a Tree in the Garden

I find that I am fixated on Genesis 2 and the fact God did all those things--choosing specific plants and food for their beauty and flavor for mankind--out of love. He gave the very best He had because He loved them, and He gave the option not to choose Him.

He put all that great stuff in the garden...and then He put a tree that gave them the ability to reject it all.

Was the very best love, the love that gives knowing someone has the option to leave?

Is the deepest love the one that loves greatly knowing the other may choose not to love at all?

Is that perfect love? If Eden was perfect, and that is the love He gave, it has to be.

To read the rest, please join me at Undaunted Reality.

THE PLAN...Journaling

What's a journal? A place where you write your thoughts.

Why is it important? Several reasons.

--Because as humans, we so easily forget.

--In the Old Testament, the Lord told the Israelites to remember all the things He had done for them. They were to write them down and share what He did with the generations to come. Journals do that.

--Because others may need to know what I've learned on the journey. Ann Voskamp asked once why we journal. My reply was honest. I said something like, "I journal so when I am out of the trial and the wilderness I remember what the journey was like, how it hurt, and how the Lord brought me out. In my remembering, I can walk with others in the wilderness, have compassion for their pain, and hopefully offer them a road map through when they can't find their way."

What do I write? Anything. I write memory verses. Comments. Prayers and answers to prayer. Ponderings of the day. Ways the Lord came to my rescue. The book of Job--The Jerri Version. Sermon notes. Anything and everything.

How often do I write? Yes.

A journal is a way for you to remember your story, for you to go back and see promises God made, ways He kept thing, things He taught you. It holds revelations that you will inevitably need to remember again. Music lyrics that were exactly what you needed to hear at that moment. Questions. Answers. Laughter and tears. It is your story...because it is His story living out in you.