Posted in General Posts by Kacie Callison on 3/6/2012
My pride took a hit this weekend…
I didn’t get my way…
And I was ready to retreat, to run, to ignore, to forget I ever let myself feel that way…
But what verse wouldn’t leave my head all weekend?
“Not to me, Oh Lord, not to me, but to Your name be the glory” (Psalm 115)
My purpose is to bring the Lord glory. To be used by Him…to be usable, shapeable, moldable by Him.
How in any way, shape, or form is ignoring someone, avoiding someone, retreating and withdrawing from someone going to show the glory of the Lord?
It’s not.
“Love does not insist on its own rights or its own way” 1st Corinthians 13:5 (ugh, hits like a punch in the gut, doesn’t it?)
“Let your love be sincere-the real thing”(Romans 12:9)
“Love one another”(Romans 12:10, John 13:34, Galatians 5:14, Ephesians 5:2, etc)
Over and over again, we’re told to love. And that it is through that love that the world will know we’re His.
Loving one another isn’t a suggestion…it’s a command…a command only possible through abiding in Him. It’s a command not contingent on any condition. It doesn’t say:
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love only when they love you back
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love only when they let you have your way
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love only when they agree with you
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love only when they respond how you want them to
Sometimes God doesn’t let us have what we think we want. Sometimes He doesn’t let us have it when we think we want it. Sometimes…..it’s like He knows what’s best for us.
I have moments where I want to take all the things I can physically see, put them in a box, and label it ‘My future’. Then I hear God laugh (yeah, we have a God with a sense of humor), and say “Kacie, I get to use the world and beyond…I demolish boxes”
Soooo, here’s what I’ve concluded:
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I didn’t get my way. His ways are not my ways.
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I could pout and feel rejected. Sometimes we get rejected when we try to force our way over His.
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I could let my heart harden and refuse to let myself feel. But I can’t afford that. Out of the heart the mouth speaks…and I have to talk to too many people to draw from a hardened, bitter well.
SO, I say no to the things that are contrary to what He says. And I choose to love. I choose His way over mine.
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Posted in General Posts by Kacie Callison on 2/6/2012
One year ago, I asked the Lord for a group of women to share life with. I desired a group of iron sharpeners to walk this road of faith with me. Oh, I had a few that would kick my butt periodically, but I wanted a steady flow of that.
Then one evening while I was about to leave a coffee shop, in walks an old friend, and she was starting a bible study that night. I’m not sure if she invited me or if I invited myself, but I fought through natural apprehension and just went for it, thinking maybe this would be it.
One year later, I sit in a group of iron sharpeners. I look at each of them, and cannot picture my life without them. I am AMAZED and in AWE of how good and sweet God can be in answering a prayer.
I’m writing this because it was through this group that I even heard about this Race. Without this group, I would have been more easily swayed to remain where I was, and comfortable with not moving forward and into what God has called me to. It was through this group that I realized the importance and value of community, and my eyes are still being opened to what that truly looks like.
I believe when we find something good, we need to SHOUT IT OUT! We do that with everything else…we see a good movie-we rave about it. Good book-we recommend it. Good ballgame-we recount it. Good song-we play it for everyone we come in contact with. Good sale-we show off what we saved on.
Well, I found some AMAZING iron. And I’m telling you, EVERYONE needs some iron in their life. 
This is my shout out to all you awesome women I am blessed to have a part of my life! (You know who you are!) You all rock my world, and you have permission to keep pushing and challenging me to live a life worthy of the calling we've received! (Ephesians 4:1)
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Posted in General Posts by Kacie Callison on 1/23/2012
Several months ago, I know I was told this:
"Kacie, go there...love them...pray with them..."
However, here lately I've been feeling this:
"Lord, is anything even happening? Will anything ever happen? I just don't see any big change taking place nor do I even see it on the horizon... Am I praying for nothing? Is it really NOT spiritual and I'm just crazy for thinking it is? Are they just fine the way they are?"
Genesis 15- Abraham asks God what He can give him. He didn’t understand how the promise could be fulfilled through his actual offspring and just resided to accept that it would be fulfilled through a servant in his house. He was SO OLD…so how else could it happen?
Verse 5: He TOOK HIM OUTSIDE...and said...LOOK UP at the HEAVENS and count the STARS...if you can...
Translation: Dude, do you know Who I AM???? Get out of your tent and come look at what I can do!!!
What was Abraham's response? One might ask...
Oh, he believed God. Period.
Sounds simple...but it's huge. Even in the gospels, miracles were hindered in some towns that Jesus went to due to UNBELIEF.
MIRACLES!!! What miracles do we hinder by not believing God for them? We can't risk that...we can't afford that...we have to believe Him.
He shows us His glory daily. May He yank us all out of our tents to see that. And may only three words be needed to describe our response....
"___ believed Him."
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Posted in General Posts by Kacie Callison on 12/24/2011
Ode to Mario 3 on the Wii
Last night I played this game
A game I’d mastered on the NES
The levels looked the same
Buttons appeared the same
Villains were most definitely the same
Yet I was running into everything!
Into turtles, hammer throwers, running right off of cliffs into water and fire
WHAT was going on??
There was a delay. The A button had a definite delay.
Not only was that a frustration
But when my friend and I would finally get past a few levels, one of us would die, have to press continue, and then we were sent back to the beginning of that world.
Not only were we at the beginning again, but we lost the levels we had already conquered!
There was definite frustration.
We were back where we’d started.
No better off than we were an hour ago.
But that wasn’t true. We were wiser.
We’d adjusted to the delay.
The enemy would try its tactics that worked before, but this time we would war accordingly.
The scenery might look the same, the enemy may look similar, but WE can be different. We can battle wiser.
So, to anyone out there who has ever slipped up,
walked right into a fire
fell into a pit
or shoot, maybe even just got a little too greedy and went for the shiny box with a question mark on it luring you in… (MB ;o))
WHATEVER spun you back to familiar territory
And caused you to look around and hopelessly think
“I’m right back where I started”
IT IS A LIE.
Yes, you may have fought this before.
Yes, you may have thought you’d never fight it again.
But you ARE NOT where you started.
You are wiser.
And unlike Mario 3: you ALWAYS have FIRE-POWER.
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Posted in General Posts by Kacie Callison on 12/18/2011
Does anyone else love the response to unannounced company? We rush to clean, make sure everything’s out of the way, shoved into a drawer, a closet, sometimes even a whole room is dedicated to hiding our mess. We wouldn’t want people to see how we ‘really’ live. And if it’s a super last minute drop by, we make the disclaimer “Now, it’s not always this dirty.”
So we hide. We semi-rest as the company is around…as long as they don’t go near that drawer, that closet, that room. The closer they get to it or the second you think they might be about to expose it, our heart races, and we sprint to prevent it because, goodness, what will they think?
We do this with our hearts too. We hide areas that we deem imperfect- mistakes, embarrassing addictions, seasons of brokenness, unreached dreams, disappointments, failures, struggles, or just hurt in general. We stuff these things away into some drawer or closet or room of our heart because if someone found out that there’s something we don’t have ‘all together’, what would they think?
One of the things I love most about the Lord is that He asks us to step into the Light. He desires to shine His light onto the places we so desire to keep hidden. He says, ‘when anything is exposed and reproved by the light, it is made visible and clear; and where everything is visible and clear there is light.’ (Ephesians 5:13 amp) Where EVERYTHING is visible and clear, there is LIGHT. Whoop whoop…you know what that means? We can't AFFORD to hide anything. Whatever you keep in the darkness becomes an area of captivity…you become a slave to it, to hiding it.
Just like that junk drawer (closet/room) at your house. We can’t ever be free to fully enjoy what’s going on because we’re always aware of what’s in that closet and very intent on keeping it guarded. And you know what DOES happen when someone opens that closet door? They say, “I have one of these too.” Burden released.
When we give God permission to open those areas and shine a light on them, He USES them! And He uses them for GOOD. And then not only do we have freedom, but it releases others to step into that light and find freedom as well. They remember the hope to which they were called...that hope that says freedom is what He came for. Ya gotta get into that Light :o)
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Posted in General Posts by Kacie Callison on 12/13/2011
I work with a student who is blind. She has no vision whatsoever. I lead her around all day, being her eyes for the most part unless we’re in an environment she’s more familiar with.
Sometimes I take her into the gym when there is no one in there. I let her just walk-without her cane and without me next to her.
She’ll walk several steps, and then she’ll stop and say: “Where’d you go?”
I’ll answer her, “I’m here, just keep going straight.”
She’ll walk a little farther, and then if she can’t hear me again or doesn’t sense me around, she’ll stop and ask: “Where’d you go?” to which I’ll answer, “I’m here, stay straight a few more steps, then turn left.” This goes on for a little while.
One day it dawned on me…THAT’S what I want my walk to look like. The second that I don’t sense His presence, the second I think I might be going the wrong direction, may I just STOP, and ask Him: “Where’d You go?” And then not take another step, not a single move, until I hear Him say: “This is the way, walk in it.”
How often have I just wandered around hoping He’d show up along the way? How often have I gotten tired of waiting or just neglected to wait at all? Our culture screams at us to keep moving, when our God is saying “Be still,” and “wait on the Lord.” We must be still, because sometimes God isn’t going to fight to be heard over the noise we allow to dominate our lives. He desires the stillness; He desires that intimacy of coming to us with the gentleness of a whisper. 1 Kings 19:11-13.
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