Category Archives: Life storms

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God’s Message To You Through A Violin

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Not long ago, I was asked to speak at a church and just before I brought the message the worship team led us in a song that featured a violin. Later, I learned that violin was being played by a girl named Mariana, who was one of the top young violinists in Romania.

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As Mariana played I sensed God drawing my attention to the instrument and saying, “I have something to say to you and to the church through this violin.”  So, as I sat there, totally moved by the soaring, emotive melody God spoke two things to me :

1) Just like in nature, everything that appears to have died, comes back again in other life-giving forms.

That violin was a miracle.  Once, it was a piece of dead wood.

Now in the hands of Mariana, it became a singing tree!

In 1 Corinthians 15:46, scripture says that “first comes the natural, then the spiritual.”  One of the best ways to understand what’s going on in our invisible, spiritual world is to notice what’s happening in front of us in the material one.

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How To Get It Right When You’ve Been Wronged

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Over the course of my life, things have happened to me, people have done things to me that have frightened me, angered me and broken my heart. I had legitimate hurt worthy of comfort and understanding.

Replaying the tapes of the wrongs that were done became my obsession.

Maybe you know something about that, too.

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And when these lovely things happen to us there always seems to be a wise-cracking person in the crowd (with no trace of blood on their clothes) saying…

Just let it go.

We hear this phrase a lot. It has a nice ring to it. We think it’s probably a good idea— for other people. We tell ourselves that strategy won’t work in our situation. Our situation is different, more complicated, more drastic or sad or life-altering or special.

So we hold on to “it.” This seems like the best plan.

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LTP 24- Finding Good News In Harsh Places

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In this podcast Episode, David Loveless talks about how good news is birthed in harsh places.

Listen to the Audio

Here is a brief summary of today’s episode of “The Live True Podcast.”  You can use this as a reference or reminder of key things you feel like you need to pay attention to or pass on to others, in the next 7 days of your life.

For most of us, we’ve believed that good news is birthed in good places, not harsh places.  But Mark 1 turns that notion on its ear.

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Mark 1:1-4  The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet:  “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way”— “a voice of one calling in the wilderness/desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’” And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness/Desert, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”

 I’m drawn toward the fact that the beginning of the good news… the birthplace of the good news is in the desert.- where it feels like bad news.

Listen to David’s examples, in today’s audio podcast, of his time in both deserts and gardens.

All of living, loving, & leading seem to flow on a continuum

between garden and desert experiences.

Garden experiences Desert experiences
Promised land

Lush

Abundance

Joyful

Easy

 No mans land

Barren

Scarcity

Painful

Difficult

It’s interesting to me that our spiritual story begins in a garden in Genesis 2:8… and our biological story begins in a garden-like womb.

But, look where we’re first introduced to the ministry of Jesus —in the desert.  God’s Good News Tour doesn’t open on top of a scenic mountain or in a palatial garden. It starts from a place of isolated emptiness.

Listen to the audio podcast as David describes how he reacted over the years, to have desert-like experiences and what was the result of them.

 Luke 3: 4-6   “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low.  The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth.  And all people will see God’s salvation.’”

In your place of difficulty or temptation or hardship where you feel most exposed to enemies activity… God says make a straight path for me there and let me walk there…  let me walk in the desert place of your life and let’s walk straight into it and straight through it.

Here is another part of challenge of Luke 3: many people never step foot in the church because they don’t feel welcomed or invited.  They see the church as an exclusionary institution, that decides who’s right and who’s wrong.

The church often makes mountain tops higher

and the valleys deeper for people to get through.

It tends to turn the whole thing into an obstacle course.

But the job of true religion is to make it easy for people to understand and draw close to the very thing they were made for.

Here’s several things I had to ‘get straight’ in my desert…

A.   I had to ‘get straight’ in my mind that this path, while difficult beyond description, was going somewhere profoundly good and it wasn’t to hell.

B.   I had to ‘get straight’ in my mind that this path, wasn’t going to last forever…. even though I could see no other road ahead.

Jesus came bringing this good news.  And a part of what makes it so good is that it stands up to the heat of even the most difficult places.

Where is your desert?  Your place of need?

Wherever that place is for you, God says let me walk with you THERE, because I’m not ashamed of it anymore than I am ashamed of you.  I’m good news to you in the desert, as well as the garden.  I love you. I’m with you…wherever you are.

Here are some amazing words from Isaiah 35:

Wilderness and desert will sing joyously, the badlands will celebrate and flower—Like the crocus in spring, bursting into blossom, a symphony of song and color.  Energize the limp hands, strengthen the rubbery knees. Tell fearful souls, “Courage! Take heart! God is here, right here, on his way to put things right And redress all wrongs. He’s on his way! He’ll save you!”

Springs of water will burst out in the wilderness, streams flow in the desert. Hot sands will become a cool oasis, thirsty ground a splashing fountain.

The people God has ransomed will come back on this road. They’ll sing as they make their way home, unfading halos of joy encircling their heads,  Welcomed home with gifts of joy and gladness as all sorrows and sighs scurry into the night.

David finishes this podcast with a blessing for you in your desert places.

To find out more, listen to this podcast in its entirety by clicking on the play button.

Ask Us a Question

If you have a question, comment, or thought to share with us,  we’d love to hear from you.  Simply click here: “COMMUNICATE w/ David & Caron.”

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LTP 23- Accepting Our Necessary Losses

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In this podcast Episode, David & Caron Loveless discuss how to live through and actually cooperate with both little and big deaths or losses throughout our lives, so something even larger and more fulfilling can emerge from it all… and how the resurrection shows the way.

Listen to the Audio

Here is a brief summary of today’s episode of “The Live True Podcast.”  You can use this as a reference or reminder of key things you feel like you need to pay attention to or pass on to others, in the next 7 days of your life.

Let’s begin with my confession:  “I don’t like to die!”

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It’s no surprise that as humans we avoid physical death, like the plague.  But there’s actually a far more significant death that we avoid… it’s the death of our ego… the death of who we perceive we are, or think we should be… the death of who we think others want us to be or think that we are.  So let me try again.

“I don’t like for anything I’ve manufactured…. created… can take credit for… I’m attached to… my beliefs, my opinions… my compulsive thinking….that i believe enhances or supports my identity.. I don’t like for any of that to die.”

We have a fear of dying our little deaths but it is the thing that keeps us from growing.

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5 Ways We Look for the Living Among the Dead

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There is always one question that most compels and convicts me whenever I read about the resurrection of Jesus, and it’s this:

 “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” 

 The scripture says two men that “gleamed like lightning” spoke these words to the women who arrived early in the morning at the tomb of Jesus. (Luke 24) The women had gone to pay homage to the dead and were stunned to find a robbery.

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And so, I ask myself and I ask you,

“why are we all still looking for the living among the dead?”

Why do we think we’ll find life in that which has no breath? 

If we follow Jesus we’ve put our faith in his words, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”  John 10:10

But I don’t really think we believe this because we keep on clutching at cobwebs and digesting decay. We keep looking for life in all the wrong places.  Here are at least five of them:

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10 Powerful Quotes That Bring Life to the Death of Jesus

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If you are in any way familiar with the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus, like we are, you know how easy it can be to walk through this Holy season on spiritual auto-pilot. As someone we know has said, ” What else can we possibly say about the most profound event in history that hasn’t already been said a million times?”

Perhaps, one way to make The Passion of Christ come alive again in our hearts might be to see it through our own suffering, our own wounds and our own little deaths.

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To encourage some fresh seeing for our own lives we’ve gathered ten quotations that provoke us toward a more conscious Good Friday and Easter. In addition to scripture, over the next few weeks,  we plan to read these quotes, first, all at once, then slowly in meditation.

Here are 3 simple ways you can join us: 

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LTP 22- How To Discover & Live Your Calling

An Interview with David Loveless & Dave Rhodes

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In this podcast Episode, David Loveless interviews Dave Rhodes about how to discover the unique purpose that God has wired into your story.

We’re are going to talk about how God intersects our: Name; Narrative; and Nine to five lives to show the world around us the masterpiece called us, that is uniquely wired to demonstrate Him.

Listen to the Audio

Here is a brief summary of today’s episode of “The Live True Podcast.”  You can use this as a reference or reminder of key things you feel like you need to pay attention to or pass on to others, in the next 7 days of your life.

We all have a common last name, but we also have a unique first name. You need both of these things.

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Eph 2: 8-10  For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—  not by works, so that no one can boast.  For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do

God has prepared in advance something for each of us to do.  Because we are His masterpiece there is a usefulness that He has for our lives.

God hasn’t given up on His dream that He has had about your life.

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The Gutsiest Blog I’ve Ever Written About The Scariest Thing We’ve Ever Done

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What I’m about to share with you is deeply personal. This is the first time I’ve shared it publicly. And I’m a little anxious because once it’s out there, it’s out there. But I’m motivated. I believe what could come from it is utterly critical for someone- maybe several someones.

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One morning, almost three years ago, I woke to the sound of my husband sobbing. He was hunched over in a chair at the foot of the bed. His face, streaming tears, his eyes, scared and bloodshot.

I bolted up. “Oh, my gosh, honey. What’s the matter? What in the world? What has happened?” My mind darted through possibilities. I’d seen him cry plenty of times, but never like this. I instantly hurt for whatever drastic thing was causing him such anguish.

“I have a really, really hard thing to tell you.”

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That really, really hard thing was going to shatter every molecule of our entire world. Except for learning that my husband had died –this news was the worst possible. It was the one announcement I was 1000 percent certain would never be handed to me.

If someone had held a gun to my head and said, “True or false. Your husband has been unfaithful. If we find out that statement is false you live. If it’s true, you die. ” Cool as a cucumber I would have said, “Oh gee. I’m shaking in my boots.”

But the gun went off .

And I did die- for a long time — I died a thousand, million big and little deaths.  And so did the man I loved. 

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Our Top Five Blog Posts You Chose In 2015

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So, how did we do? WordPress.com just sent us their “annual report” for youlivetrue.com and here are some of the cool things they told us about your preferences in 2015:

* The Live True blog was viewed about 17,000 times. The Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. If our blog was a concert at the opera house it would take about 6 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

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* Our busiest day of the year

was April 23rd when we posted your

#1 Most Viewed Blog! 

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LTP 13- The Most Important Hour You Can Spend This Month

Powerful & practical ways to review your life

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Learn how to use 9 simple questions to review the end of the year, or even your life. In this podcast Episode, David Loveless talks about the most important hour you can spend this month, and why he has done it every year, for more than 3 decades.

To listen to the audio of this podcast, click the above play arrow.

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Here is a brief summary of today’s episode of “The Live True Podcast.”  You can use this as a reference or reminder of key things you feel like you need to pay attention to or pass on to others, in the next 7 days of your life.

Most every year, over the past 3 decades of my life, I’ve gotten away for a couple of days, at the end of the year, to review the previous year, before planning the new one.

One of the primary values of doing a “Year-End Review” is having a process to complete the past so you’re able to bring forward, into the new year, lessons learned from the previous one.  But then you don’t want to drag any of the unnecessary parts into the future, where it might sabotage it.

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