You may have noticed something different as you opened up this blog post. Your eyes and memories are not playing tricks on you. I finally decided on a new ministry “brand” and I am digging it y’all. 🙂
Some of you know that prior to serving in youth ministry, I worked in the interior design industry. Leaving one world for the other was quite the departure. Chuckle. Every once in a while I still help friends and family redesign their home or office. I do miss the design world although ministry (inside and outside of our home) keeps me quite busy.
However, I’ve always said that God ushered me into a “different kind of interior design” when He called me into ministry. Instead of redesigning houses and offices with new lighting fixtures or paint, I redesign hearts and minds with the Word of God. Praise the Lord, I finally figured out a way to marry the design part of me with the Bible teacher/writing ministry part of me.
Which brings me to my new “brand” and some additional “things” that are coming to the blog. In fact, there is going to be one, possibly two new “someones” who have a knack for design joining me here in this space. No worries, I will continue to write blog posts that encourage you in your faith. But there will be other blog posts that we hope help you to redesign the interior spaces around you. So stay tuned!
But back to the topic before us: relationships.
Monochromatic: using the same color in different shades, tones, and tints throughout a space.
Designing a room in this way can seem boring at first. But once you pull back and look at the space in its entirety you’ll notice different shades, tones, or tints of the same color throughout it. These come together, creating a sense of calm, interest, and beauty throughout the room.
The same is true in regards to our act of relying on God. Getting up everyday and resetting our focus on Him can seem routine or “monochromatic” in a sense. However, I encourage you to remain persistent in your pursuit of knowing and relying on God. Pull back and you will see that a life of daily reliance on God is a life that is calm (internally/mentally), interesting, and a thing of beauty too. The wisest, strongest, most patient, secure, adventuresome and joyful people I know are people who persist in their faith.
“The art of love is largely the art of persistence. “
~Albert Ellis
Many of you are walking through some tough stuff right now. And I know that some of you are discouraged and heartbroken. But when the situation remains the same and your heartbreak continues, I encourage you to persist in prayer anyways. When you read the same verse in the Bible again, or sing the same worship song and the words no longer excite you or bring you to tears, persist. Keep going. Keep trusting. You say you love God, so do not give up on Him.
Varying colors and fun, crazy patterns distract and drown out the voice and movement of God in our lives. There is wisdom to gain, calmness, and a certain beauty in the “monochromatic” seasons of life, if we persist through them long enough to notice.
Tomorrow is a new day.
Rely on God.
Persist.
So what are your thoughts in regards to the issue of persistence? Is it hard or easy for you, spiritually speaking? What about persistence within human relationships? Is persistence necessary? What benefits does persistence bring with it?
And for fun~ if you could design a whole room in just one color, monochromatically, what color would you choose and why?
