life

4 Sep 2013

Heidi Dittmar Unforced Grace abundant, God, Jesus, life, love, Matthew, messiness, perfect, Pursuit, storm 0 comments

In Pursuit of Me

“Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Psalm 23:6

When I was a little girl I dreamed of being pursued by a handsome hero. I read a lot of books while growing up (still do). Reading allowed me to be a strong, courageous, outgoing, witty girl who rescues victims and is courted by a perfect guy. I dreamed of being pursued not because I was a damsel in distress, but because the man saw me as spirited with a touch of sophistication, beautiful but bold.

As I grew older I wanted to be pursued, but often I took the role of pursuer. On the balmy May evening that I met my husband, I saw him across the marina and noticed his beautiful…legs. Yes, ladies, I liked his legs! So I walked up and introduced myself and followed him around all evening to make sure he talked to me.

I pursued him.

So glad I was that bold, spirited girl or I might have missed my chance with the love of my lifetime.

At times in the past I often wondered what it would feel like to be pursued. And, if I’m honest, I felt a bit cheated.

But then I realized I was and continue to be pursued on a level greater than my husband could ever reach.

God was in pursuit of me since the beginning of time. He saw me in a crowd of billions and said, “I want her.”

And He pursued me.

God didn’t wait until I came close to Him. He didn’t wait until I was perfect. He came after me when I was turned away from Him. He lovingly and gently drew me to himself and welcomed me without judgment.

And He continues to pursue me.

He comes to me in the storms of life when I’m turned away by fear, frustration, guilt. He doesn’t wait until I’m perfect to call me to my purpose. He draws me gently and lovingly to himself and holds on tight.

And He pursues you.

He loves you and wants to have an intimate relationship with you. He is in love with you and draws near to you now. Not when you’re perfect. Not only when you turn to Him. He is pursuing you now, calling your name, wanting to lavish you with His abundant love.

After my husband and I were dating a while I wondered if he would run the other way when he discovered the many ugly things about me. Instead of running, he embraced the messiness because he saw all the goodness in me that I was blinded to.

Jesus does the same thing. In the midst of our yucky mess he comes to us instead of running the other way. Matthew 14:24-27 documents how Jesus walked on water toward the disciples in the middle of a very ugly storm.

“Meanwhile, the disciples were in trouble far away from land, for a strong wind had risen, and they were fighting heavy waves. About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them walking on the water. When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. In their fear, they cried out, ‘It’s a ghost!’ But Jesus spoke to them at once, ‘Don’t be afraid,’ he said. ‘Take courage. I am here!’”

Naturally we focus on Jesus walking on water – as we should. But I get excited that Jesus came to the disciples in the middle of their messy storm.

And He does the same with us. In the middle of our mess, Jesus walks to us. While the storms of life are beating us down and we are fighting to just survive, Jesus comes to us.

Verse 32 says that when Jesus climbed into the boat, the storm stopped. Not only did He walk to them during their storm, He climbed into the middle of it with them. And when He did, the storm stopped.

Jesus climbs into our lives promising that He will ride out the bad with us. He moves into all the spaces of our lives – good or bad – and makes himself at home, if we let him. Jesus says, “Don’t be afraid. Take courage. I am here!”

God’s unfailing love pursues us all the days of our lives. Always pursuing. Always loving. Always coming to us…no matter what.

You, my friend, are pursued.

15 Jul 2013

Heidi Dittmar Unforced Grace attention, children, contentment, designed, God, grace, Heaven, Isaiah, Jesus, job, joy, life, love, purpose, reward, serve, testimony, trust

Nothing is Wasted

“I replied, ‘But my work seems so useless! I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose. Yet I leave it all in the Lord’s hand; I will trust God for my reward.’” Isaiah 49:4

Have you ever felt like your work is futile? That all the things you do are for nothing? Do you ever wonder why God put you in that job, that marriage, that position, that calling? Do the dirty dishes, laundry, floors, kids all seem to pile up taunting you with their never-ending demands?

We see people in great positions receiving abounding accolades and we wonder why we aren’t called to greatness. Our jealousy threatens to rear its ugly head. So we decide that when our circumstances change, when we get that job, when our children are more self-sufficient, when our spouses give us more attention then we will be happy.

The monotony of life can suck the joy out of us. And we can become complacent, complaining, contrary, and ultimately discontent. And that’s a dangerous place to be.

But can I tell you that nothing we do goes unnoticed? God sees it all – the great and the mundane – including our attitudes that accompany our every day tasks.

When our heart is right with God, when we realize that He is our ultimate reward, when we are more concerned about His approval rather than man’s then we can be content in any situation, with any role, with any task.

Because ultimately our number one job on this earth is to love as Jesus loved. And God calls us to love the people we see on a daily basis. And that means overbearing clients, eccentric coworkers, grumpy neighbors, disobedient children, and impatient strangers. God has placed us exactly where He wants us so that we can let Jesus shine through us to a dark and hurting world.

God is not surprised at where we are in life. He watches over us, leading us to places where we can serve Him best. Our skills, talents, personalities were all designed by Him and He asks us to serve Him in the mundane as well as in the thrilling.

We aren’t all called to be on a stage with thousands applauding our efforts. But we all are called to be a living testimony of what God has done in our lives.

So if you ever feel like Isaiah was talking about in the verse above, just know that nothing you do for God is ever wasted. Even if your efforts seem to go unnoticed or are dismissed, know that you are planting seeds and that God is ultimately responsible for what happens.

So trust Him, keep living out loud what Jesus has done for you. And know that God sees you and is pleased with you and He will reward you so much better than the applause and attention of thousands.

18 Mar 2013

Heidi Dittmar Unforced Grace 26.2, abundant, Christian, endurance, faith, faithful, God, grace, life, marathon, miles, race, runner, running, witness

Running With God

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.” Hebrews 12:1

I like to run. I may even call myself a runner. I run a little over 3 miles 4 or 5 times a week. So I guess that constitutes being a runner.

But then I met thousands of people who descended upon our area to run a marathon or a half-marathon. In case you don’t know, that’s 26.2 miles or 13.1 miles of running – at one time.

After two days of talking with and watching these runners, I began questioning my abilities, wondering why I don’t run at least a half. I was in awe of them and a bit jealous of them as well, I will honestly admit.

We get like this in all areas of our lives, don’t we? We notice Super Christian at church and wonder why we didn’t get those gifts and talents. We see our past and think that God could never use our messiness to further His kingdom. We respectfully speak with the men and women who have served the Lord faithfully for decades and hope that we can be as strong.

The writer of Hebrews says that since we are surrounded by a large crowd of faithful witnesses, we can just run! Others have paved the course for us. This “race”, our life with God, is not a competition to see who comes in first. God simply wants us off the bench and in the race, living our life as a witness for Christ’s saving power and doing our best with what God has given us.

And we begin running when we let God into our lives. And our endurance comes from allowing God to lead us and direct our steps. We let go of our past that holds us back, we drop the guilt that adds extra unnecessary weight on us, we start living for God and embrace the life He has for us.

And we run.

We run when trials come. We run when we are exhausted and feel that we will never get through this pain. We run when it’s raining and we run when the sun is shining. We run and keep our eyes on the prize – eternal life with God.

And we recruit others to run with us. We show how much fun running is, how abundant life is when God is in it, we embrace grace and give it freely. We love, love, love others.

I’m not the fastest runner, but I intend to stay in the race my entire life. Will you join me?

23 Oct 2012

Heidi Dittmar Unforced Grace adopted, brain, children, cuddle, dog, emotion, faithful, family, fly, forever, freely, God, good, great, heart, human, kids, kisses, life, love, mercies, night, relax, rescued, sleep, smile, snuggle, sweet, void

Fly By Kisses

The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning.” Lamentations 3:22-23

Today I woke up refreshed after a good night sleep even after a rather detailed dream and my usual one-eye-open trip to the bathroom. Each morning I faithfully walk Jericho. I rolled out of bed and was greeted by what I call “fly by kisses” from Jericho. He loves us so much that we’ll walk by and he’ll quickly and gently kiss our leg or hand. And it makes my heart smile.

Almost a year ago we rescued and adopted Jericho. Our dog Sasha had just died and our house was desperately void of life (since we don’t have children our animals are our kids). As I signed the adoption papers, knowing that Jericho was heartworm positive and would require intense treatments, I remember feeling overwhelmed with emotion at giving this sweet dog a chance at love. We know almost nothing about his past. We don’t know if he had a family or if he ever experienced overwhelming love. But we know that we will be his forever family.

Jericho was a challenge at first. He ate my favorite sandals, put holes in a favorite scarf, punctured flip-flops, created craters in the yard. But that doesn’t change how much I love him or that he is forever in our lives.

I remember the day that it appeared to click in Jericho’s brain that we are his forever family. Until then he had been sweet but slightly aloof. He had been with us for about 4 months and he just changed. He began to snuggle more, cuddle more, relax more.

It makes me think: Has it clicked in my brain that God is my forever family? Do I really believe that God’s love is faithful regardless of the sins that I commit? If I as a human can love my dog this much and you can love your children as much as you do, then how much more does our almighty, wonderful God love us!

God sees the good in me, in us. And His mercies are like Jericho’s fly by kisses: they are given freely just because He loves us.

12 Oct 2012

Heidi Dittmar Unforced Grace abundant, beautiful, beginning, calendar, children, completely, creation, cross, day, died, freedom, God, grace, heart, Jesus, join me, joyful, laundry, life, living, love, loved, most, ordinary, phone, rejoicing, relaxing, resting, sacrifice, sister, snuggling, strength, today, ToDos, trust, wonderful

Most Wonderfulest Day!

The Lord is my strength and shield. I trust Him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving. Psalm 28:7

Raegan is my sister’s mini-me. As with all of my sisters’ children, I fell in love with her the moment I held her in my arms. Raegan is a confident, talkative, full of life little girl. When she was little and her hair was a crown of blonde ringlets, she would walk in just the right way to make every single one of them bounce.

During her first year in pre-school, near Halloween, in the car on the way home Raegan told her mom, “Today was the most wonderfulest day of my life.” Amy shared that with me and I wrote the words Most Wonderfulest on a sticky note and stuck it on my computer. When I look at the note I am not only reminded of Raegan, which of course makes me smile, but more importantly I ask myself, “Was today my most wonderfulest day?”

Too many times I confess that not only was today not my most wonderfulest, I can’t remember when I had a day that could even come close.

So what makes a most wonderfulest day? In Raegan’s case it was something just a little bit out of the ordinary. No expensive gift, not the latest fashion, no grand gesture of love. Nothing more than a little exchange of candy, a few games, and lots of laughter among friends.

What has stopped me from having most wonderfulest days? Yes we have pressures that most children never have to deal with (thankfully). There are bills to pay, calendars to obey, ToDo lists to check off. But couldn’t we get excited about things that are just a little bit out of ordinary?

That phone call to or from a friend, a walk on a beautiful day rejoicing in God’s creation, snuggling for just a few extra minutes, relaxing on the couch in between loads of laundry, or even just resting in the fact that we are loved completely by a God who gets us.

Living a life under the grace of God means that every day should be our most wonderfulest. Jesus died for us so that we can live an abundantly joyful life. His sacrifice means our freedom.

So beginning today I am going to claim each day as my most wonderfulest day! Won’t you join me?