Transformed by Grace – that’s what we who place our trust in Jesus Christ as Savior are. Well, that’s what we are on the eternal plane anyway. Through the love and sacrifice of Jesus Christ we are transformed by His grace from being lost in our sin to being forgiven and eternally held in the love of our Holy God.

For God has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. — Colossians 1:13-14

Wow! Take a minute…take a few more…and think about what that means. Really means.

Does this rescue, does this eternal transformation change anything for me here and now? Does it change how I think? How I speak? How I act? How I interact with others – with all others? Does it change how and what I do in public? How and what I do in private?

Does Jesus really make a difference in who I am? Does who I am in Jesus make a difference to those around me? Do I look and act transformed? How deep is this transformation? Does it only go to my superficial level? To my comfort level? To my go to church, offer my tithe, say some prayers, read my Bible level?

OR does the radical, outrageous act of Jesus dying on the cross to rescue me transform me in radical, outrageous ways?

…I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies [your whole being, all that you are, think, say and do] as a living sacrifice to God – this is your spiritual [reasonable] act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. — Romans 12:1-2

May we each allow the radical, outrageous love of God, who has rescued us and transformed us on the eternal plane, to radically, outrageously transform us on this earthly plane. Right here. Right now. Every day, in every circumstance, in every relationship we have.

May the Body of Christ – that would be us – look, love and live more and more and more like the Body of Christ! May we each be Transformed by Grace! Starting with me. Right here. Right now. Amen and Amen!

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                                          Sylane

May Your Unfailing LOVE come to me, O LORD,

your salvation according to your promise;

then I will answer the one who taunts me,

for I trust in Your word.

Psalm 119:41-42

Oh, my goodness! Do you have anyone in your world that “taunts” you…mocks you…or just drives you totally nuts because of the way they interact with you?

If you don’t, get on your knees and give great thanks to the Holy Living Lord of all creation! Then, you may stop reading…and proceed directly to heaven!

But! If you do have someone that interacts with you in ways that totally drive you nuts…make you crazy…angry…frustrated…hurt…or dumbfounded, know that God is able to give us the manner in which to answer these people in our life.

And our answer to others is to be same the way that God answers us when we drive Him nuts…make Him crazy…angry…frustrated…hurt…or dumbfounded!

God answers us with His Unfailing LOVE.

God answers us with the fullness of grace and truth. God answers us — knowing our sins fully…yet in His Unfailing LOVE God determined to sacrifice His own Son our Lord Jesus Christ to pay the death price of our sins. God reaches into our  world and into each of our lives to offer us His salvation, His full forgiveness, and the promise of eternal life with Him. 

God answers us with His Unfailing LOVE.

May we invite God to come to us with His Unfailing Love so that we may know the peace, the joy, the healing and the hope of His promised salvation! And may we invite our God to work His Unfailing Love in us and through us (and in spite of us!) as we interact with all the people in our lives — even if they totally drive us nuts!

God’s Love is Unfailing…and BIG enough to do this! May we LET HIM!! Amen and Amen! 

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

 Oh! We can all be so foolish at times! Thankfully, most of our foolishness leaves only a temporary mark or memory–with maybe just a bit of embarrassment thrown in.

But the greatest act of foolishness, with eternal consequences, we could ever commit is to not put our faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord.

In perfect wisdom and boundless love, our Heavenly Father allowed Jesus–the sinless One, His perfect Son–to die for our sins so that we could be brought before our God as righteous, holy and redeemed. 

To those who do not yet know the grace and truth of God’s greatest sacrifice, this seems like absolute foolishness! It is too outrageous, too simple! 

Jesus Christ chose to die so that my sins–all my sins–would be forgiven!? Yes!

I can live now and for all eternity in an intimately, loving relationship with my Heavenly Father because through the resurrection of Jesus the power of sin and death was trampled forever!?  Yes!

How could this be? It doesn’t make sense.

Oh, but it does. To our God. 

Jesus–through his death and resurrection–is the very power and wisdom of God! By God’s will.  In God’s way.

May we each accept fully God’s foolish wisdom to transform our lives now and for all eternity!

…to those whom God has called, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom…

…Christ Jesus, who has become for us the wisdom of God–that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 1 Corinthians 1:24-25,30

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

Seek the LORD while he may be found;

call on him while he is near.

Let the wicked forsake his way,

and the evil man his thoughts.

Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him,

and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways.

As the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts…” declares the LORD.

Isaiah 55:6-9

God’s ways are not our ways…God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. God’s sense of timing is not the same as ours. And it’s a darn good thing.

When it comes to precious ones in our lives — those who are either not-yet-believers or not-freed-up-believers — I have found that God’s ways, thoughts, words and actions are always perfect in love and perfect in timing…even if they differ (dramatically!) from what I want and when I want it. Sound familiar?

We need to actively PRAY for those who do not yet know Jesus as Savior…and for those who do not yet know the fullness of His transformation and the full life He offers through His unfailing love. To this, and of this, we must SPEAK. And we must always speak in LOVE…always act and interact in LOVE. And we must TRUST GOD in the WAITING.

While we wait on God – for days, weeks, months, years, decades – God is actively working deep within us, calling us to trust Him fully, opening His loving arms for us to surrender ourselves to His embrace…to surrender our pride and our fear to His perfect way and His eternal will…so that we may be conformed more and more to the likeness of God’s Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

And while we wait, God is also constantly working around and within those for whom we are praying…constantly tugging at the hearts and minds of those for whom we want God to show up mightily and tenderly and amazingly in their lives.

Oh! The wait is not so easy. Yet, in the waiting there are deep blessings of knowing our Sovereign and Intimate God in unimaginable ways as we seek to live a life that is being continually honed by trusting God’s Word and yielded to His Spirit. Our lives…and the waiting…become purposeful and peaceful, passionate and fruitful.

Keep praying, my friends. Keep trusting God for all those who do not yet know the unfailing love — the salvation promise and the transformation power – of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Pray. Speak. Love. And Trust God in the Waiting!

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

What really matters to God? What really counts as God’s top priority for us as His children–as His people of faith? God gets right to it, and He schmushes (my word!) everything down for us. God’s Word speaks so clearly and concisely that we cannot deny or doubt God’s meaning.

What matters–what counts–to God is that we love. Is there anything unclear about that?

The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. Galatians 5:6b

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I know for some of you this is just a schmaltzy day that the card, candy, flower, jewelry and restaurant industries have infused with advertising-steroids to make it bigger and more important. I’m not going to argue that point. But let’s put all that aside.

What is going to make this day count for you? Whether you have that someone special in your life or not right now? Whether or not that someone special–that is in your life now–has been acting all that special to you?

Real love. Really given. God has given us His perfect, sacrificial, passionate, compassionate and everlasting love through the life, death and resurrection of His One and Only Son Jesus. God has given this love through His Son to all who would believe–that we may become God’s full children by faith in Jesus. Each one of us, as God’s child, is to draw from God’s love–constantly and continually–as we interact with others. All others. Our special ones. Our more challenging ones.

As a child of God we are given the answer for how to make Valentine’s Day count. Actually, God has given us the answer for how to make every day, every moment count. And it’s not convoluted or complicated. To live out our lives as a child of God–to live out our faith in Jesus Christ–the only thing that counts is love.

We are called to love. Really love. Our love for God and our love for others really do count to our God. We shouldn’t waste any more time. We need to stop doing any and everything else that isn’t a true expression of love–no matter how entrenched in our not-so-loving habits we may have gotten. We need to get over ourselves and love those around us.

Make this day count for God, for others and for yourself. LOVE…really LOVE…in your thoughts, words, actions and interactions!

The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. Galatians 5:6b

Happy Valentine’s Day…each and every day!

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

I want ALL of it! Give me ALL of it! Now!

No, I’m not mimicking a two year old who is demanding what she wants, how she wants it, and when she wants it. Although, I can, and certainly have sounded (or thought) this way far too often!

The ALL of “it” that I’m talking about is wanting ALL that God has for me — ALL that God has for ALL of us when we let God be God and follow our LORD’s loving, healing and renewing ways for our lives.

This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says:

In repentance and rest is your salvation,

in quietness and trust is your strength,

but you would have none of it. 

Isaiah 30:15

O, Holy LORD, I want ALL of it! Don’t let me be foolish enough to choose none of it!

Help me to turn to You in repentance — daily, in honesty, in humility — and turn away from my sins, my wrong attitudes, my excuses, my judgments, my pride, my laziness, my yuck! Help me to rest in You, rest in the truth that You are Sovereign, You are God and I am not. Help me to rest in Your perfect care, in Your loving arms as the very little, very dependent child of Yours that I truly am. LORD, help me to want to live in the gift of of Your Salvation – in ALL ways, each and every day of my life!

Help me to quiet myself before You, LORD — to still ALL of my thoughts that do not line up with the truth of who You are and ALL the strength You have to give me! LORD, help me to quiet ALL my anger, frustration, self-righteousness, self-pity, self-focus and selfishness of any kind so that I may receive ALL of Your strength!  Help me, LORD, to trust You in ALL areas of my life, in all circumstances and relationships that flow in and out of my life. LORD, help me to trust You with ALL that I am, ALL that I do, ALL those I love, and ALL those precious ones still lost or limited in knowing Your trustworthy, eternal love. Help me to trust in Your Sovereignty and Your Holiness with every thought I have, with every breath I take so that I may know and live ALL of my life in ALL of Your strength!

O, Holy LORD, I want ALL of it! Help me to follow Your loving, healing and renewing ways so that I may live in ALL the freedom of Your salvation and the power of Your strength!

May this be ALL of our prayer! And we can be sure that our Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, will give us ALL He has promised. Our God is faithful and true to His Word! Amen and Amen!

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

Holy One, first, thank You for You and Your love that even allows me to approach You.

Thank You, My Lord Jesus, for coming into this world, into my world to offer me full connection again to Creator Abba. Thank You for Your living words of grace, truth, freedom and fullness of life. Thank You for Your incomprehensible, extravagant humility in giving Your Beautiful, Holy Self over to death in my stead, for the forgiveness of my sins, for the renewing of my soul.

Lord, thank You for You. I can only begin to understand Your love for me, Your love for every person, in the smallest of ways. Yet what I know and grasp overwhelms me. You are God. Creator of everything — everything I see, everyting I can’t see, everything in my little world, everything in the universe. You are Creator of all things ”in all their vast array.” -Genesis 2:1 You are Sovereign over all that exists.

And yet, Holy One, You are here with me…now…in my little space filling my mind, my body and my spirit with a sense of Your presence, Your love, Your intimacy.

Holy One, Sovereign and Intimate One, thank You with all that I am. Thank You for life now and the hope, the assurance, You give of being with You for for all eternity. It is too much for me to truly comprehend, but I believe You and I trust Your unfailing love with my every breath. Thank You, Lord.

Happy Thanksgiving Day, my Lord and my God. I love You. You love me. Thank You.

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

Today is going to be a very special, very meaningful day for me. I get to go back, for the first time, to minister to—and with—the Counselors and Staff at the Christian camp where I first accepted Jesus as my Savior. I’ll be doing, first, a session on Leading a Child to Christ in the afternoon and, then, in the evening I’ll be speaking at the Counselor and Staff Commissioning Service.

Thank You, my ABBA, for this humbling and beautiful privilege!

Forty-two years ago when I was seven (yes, that currently makes me forty-nine for all you math whizzes in blog-cyberspace—FIFTY in December!), my parents sent me and all four of my siblings (all of us born within five years from oldest to youngest!) to a camp for one week. They needed a break. I don’t think it really mattered much to my parents what camp would take us.

But! It mattered very much to our God.

For just one short week back in 1967 I attended Ontario Bible Camp in Oswego, NY. And through the faithful servant hearts of the OBC staff, and especially through the Camp Chaplain’s clear, powerful and loving sharing of God’s grace and truth through God’s Word, Jesus became my Savior. Oh! What a difference a moment…a day…a week—orchestrated by the loving heart of our God—can make in a life!

For God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

Jesus entered my life with His passionate love for me and His eternal salvation. I knew, then, that no matter what the hands of others would do to me, I was still held in God’s perfect, loving, strong, good hands.

Thank you, ALL of you, who have served over the years at OBC—or in any form of ministry, formal or informal—to share with others the grace and truth of our Lord Jesus Christ, His salvation, His transformation and His outrageous, unfailing love!

Your seemingly small act of service in the Name of Jesus, the Name that is above ALL names—ABOVE the names of abuse, incest, rape, fear, brokenness, hate, anger, my own sins, the evil I have done and the evil done to me—has made ALL the difference in my life! For all eternity!

Before I left OBC I was given a Bible.  And it was—and is—only through God’s intervening love, God’s living and active Word and God’s intimately present Spirit that my life has been completely healed and transformed—from a broken, abused child to a mighty woman-child of our Sovereign God!

Yes, today is going to be a special, very meaningful day for me at OBC! Thank you, JESUS! It is All from you and it is ALL for you!

May we ALL seek to let Jesus use us to touch at least one life for Him! Oh! What a difference a moment…a day…a week—orchestrated by the loving heart of our God—can make in a life! Amen!

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

All things aren’t good. But God always is…

And we know that in all things

God works for the good of those who love him

and are called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28

And God’s very greatest purpose for those of us who love him and have responded to His passionate, saving love call is that we would each be…

…conformed to the likeness of his Son…

Romans 8:29

So, no, all things aren’t good. But God always is.

Our own sinful choices separate us from God. Our own sinful choices and the sinful choices of others against us can break our hearts, warp our minds, rob us of peace, security, possessions and stability, and severely injure and even destroy our bodies.

It is only through the sacrifice of Jesus that we can receive the full and free forgiveness from our Holy God that we desperately need. It is only through the resurrection power and transforming love of Jesus that we are able to fully and freely forgive all people of all sins against us…no matter how grievous and evil those sins are.

So, no, all things aren’t good. But God always is. 

God is good when we face tragedy and disasters in the natural world—whether from floods, fires, earthquakes, tornadoes, famines or drought. God is good when we face broken relationships or bankruptcy. God is good when we or someone we love dearly is ill or crippled, injured or dying…or dead long before we were ready to say goodbye.  

These things are not good. And God is not asking us to pretend that they are.  

God is good. And because of His sovereign authority and unfailing love God is able…and desires…to work all things for our good as we trust in Him and His good will that purposes to make us evermore Christ-like in every circumstance and season of our lives.

May we each choose to let our Good God hold our heads and hearts, even when things aren’t good, so that Christ’s image will be powerfully reflected in our lives…and in our character!

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane

P.S. For personal and ministerial reasons I will be taking a bit of a sabbatical from writing new devotional posts, although I will stay open to God’s good leading anytime He wants me to write a new one!

Be blessed by the love of our Lord Jesus Christ that is unfailing and transforming when times are good and when they are not! Amen!

Today is April 15th. This is TAX DAY in the United States. We have a debt to pay. All of our taxes for the previous year come due today.

Some of us may actually be getting a refund because our tax debt was already paid. (I’m happy for you! Really!)

Many, maybe even most, of us, however, still have a tax debt that we need to pay out to our government. Today.

Some of us may try to finagle our tax forms to ensure that the amount we owe is doing some version of what I call: “The Tax Limbo Dance.”  You know, “How Low Can You Owe?” 

Some of us may even choose to completely ignore our debt—ignore our responsibility—to pay our required tax amount. Determining in our own minds that it is we—not the government, nor anyone else—who decides what we do with our money and everything else that belongs to us.

Well, maybe some people will get away with the finagling that is done in figuring the amount of tax debt they owe. Others may seemingly get away with disregarding their debt all together.

Whatever our attitudes and our consequent actions are regarding the payment of our US taxes—our Lord Jesus has something to say to us. Really?

Yep. Jesus has something to say to us, not only about what we need to give to our governments, but Jesus has something, much more important, to say about what we need to give to God.

Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and give to God what is God’s. 

Matthew 22:21

I’m pretty sure that Jesus is telling us here that we each need to fulfill our responsibilities to the governments under which we live. And that includes paying our tax debt as a US citizen. Today.

And yet far beyond that, I believe Jesus is challenging us to really think about what actually belongs to God. And, then, Jesus is calling us to act faithfully in giving back to God all that belongs to God.

You and your accountant—or maybe Turbo Tax—will figure out the debt you owe in taxes.

As for figuring out what belongs to God, God makes that perfectly clear to us. No finagling here at all!

The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it,

the world and all who live in it! 

Psalm 24:1

Yep! All that exists, all that we have, all people everywhere, all of our very lives truly belong to God!

And, Oh! God really does want us to live—knowing and believing—the truth that we belong to Him! Our loving God desires the very best for our lives. And that comes to us when we give our lives fully back to the One, our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave His life for us!

Yes, living in the truth that we each completely belong to God is freedom. No fear of being audited. No finagling to look a little better. No need to ignore our debt.

Jesus has accepted the full responsibility to pay the full price of our full debt to God. Believing this truth, living this truth, is our way to “give to God what is God’s.” 

This is the true debt free living!

In love, peace and purposeful passion,                                                               Sylane