It’s the word that comes to mind for my 2019. 

To be clear, this abundance isn’t the stuff of the prosperity gospel. It’s not an overflowing bank account or the newest and the nicest. It doesn’t mean brand names or the finer things in life. 

It’s abundance in friendships and family.
Abundance in my relationship with Jesus. 
Abundance in growth and confidence. 
Abundance in nearly every part of my life. 
It’s abundance from the overflow of who the Father is and the way He loves His kids. 

A Generous Portion

In October, I was preparing to return to the States after a month in Thailad, and to be honest, I wasn’t happy about it. Most mornings I felt tears near the surface as I tried to fight the pain of leaving a place and people I loved. But I remember the morning everything flipped. That day, instead of waking up with tears, I woke up with a song—Generous Portion by Cageless Birds. It’s a song that’s depth takes my breath away. It’s the kind I have to listen to on repeat to soak up its meaning. The chorus repeats: 

Nothing can stand against us
We've overcome the darkness
We will not surrender
For less than Jesus paid for
He's giving back what's stolen
We can hardly carry the generous portion

This is abundance. 

On that morning in Thailand, I remember the tears coming for a different reason. They didn’t come from fear or grief or uncertainty. Instead, they were tears from feeling overwhelmed by the abundance of the Father, by the generous portion that I couldn’t even hold. 

Abundance in Advent

This Advent season, abundance is taking on a new meaning. This past year hasn’t overflowed with the typical ideas of “abundance,” but it has been truly, extravagantly abundant. It’s the kind found in that word, “Emmanuel.” God with us. 

The birth of Jesus isn’t filled with our typical ideas of abundance either.

Ostracized by their community, Mary and Joseph faced skepticism and gossip and their own tough questions. Their life wasn’t overflowing with support from those around them. Before their first-born son was born—a boy who was God incarnate—they travelled for days to reach Bethlehem. Once they arrived, no one took them in. The only availability was a barn, a stable meant for animals. 

Abundance, am I right? 

But then
After all this

Jesus was born—the One who would transform our world. His extravagant love would help us see the Father face to face. He was the One who die and rise again and reconcile us with the Father. He would restore all things. 

Abundance. 

The abundance of worship and a glimpse of heaven overwhelmed shepherds when angels lit up the sky. The holy and sacred led them to their own worship and songs and gifts to Jesus. Wise men who travelled for months offered extravagant gifts to the new parents and their baby.

Abundance. 

But to me, the most abundant part of this story is that simple word—Emmanuel. God with us. Some people say that God bankrupted heaven when He sent Jesus to this broken world. I’ve never quite understood that phrase—bankrupted heaven. Heaven was not void of the holy and sacred when Jesus came to earth, but for the first time since those perfect days in the very beginning, Earth breathed a little deeper. It inhaled the tangible and physical presence of God among us. Our cracked and weary souls experienced healing from love and restoration and truth. 

Emmanuel.
God with us.

Abundance. 

Abundance in Our Everyday Lives

Maybe this year feels the farthest thing from abundant for you. It feels painful and challenging. Loss, grief, and pain might mark your year. Maybe you’re eager to close 2019 and are hoping that 2020 will be different from the last 365 days. 

I get it. 

I’ve been there. 

But as we reflect and remember and recount moments from this year, may we think about that word—abundance. Because our Father has given us a generous portion. He has given us more than we can hold—even in loss or grief or pain or confusion. 

Like the savior of the world born among animals to parents ostracized by their community. 
Like the most intense show of love, grace, forgiveness, and selflessness in the tiniest package—a baby in a manger. 

Friend, we live in abundance, and it has nothing to do with our own prosperity. 

It has everything to do with the Father’s generous portion. 

The post The Abundance in Emmanuel—God with Us appeared first on Kate Berkey.

I am a lover of the everyday ordinary. 

Lest you think my life in Thailand is beyond crazy or a “I-could-never-do-that” kind of thing, know that this life is filled with the ordinary in the midst of the extraordinary. It’s filled with trips to the grocery store and to the bank. It’s filled with work and staff meetings and deadlines. It’s filled with alarm clocks and dishes and errands. It’s filled with busy weeks and days off. It’s filled with friends and game nights and movie nights. It’s filled with delicious food and leftovers and eating out. It's filled with the planned for and the unexpected, the anticipated and the spontaneous. And it's filled with significant ministry moments. It's filled with days teaching English to 160 kids. It's filled with moments at the border. It's filled with youth group and Braverly small group and worshiping alongside people from Thailand and Burma and America.

And isn’t that so beautiful? 

No matter where I live or what I do, the Lord constantly reminds me not to miss these beautiful, ordinary things in pursuit of "more."

Like the dad who skips with his daughter to the bus stop in the morning.
Like the puppies who live at the end of my street.
Like the blood red moon that filled the sky last week.
Like the smell of grilled pork on the side of the road.
Like the sweet lady on the corner who sells mango sticky rice.
Like the view from my bike as my friends and I go on a bike ride.
Like the nights Kristy and I listen to Frank Sinatra as we cook tacos for the third night in a row.

I never want to miss these moments in pursuit of the bigger thing, the more obvious thing, the thing our culture celebrates. We love movies with a big plot twist or big reveal. We love the dramatic love story or the superhero. We love impossibilities and underdogs and the things that leave us speechless. I certainly am a sucker for these things. You’ll always find me rooting for the underdog, and you better believe I want that underdog to have a big moment.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with these big moments, absolutely nothing at all. 

Unless…
Unless they leave us discontented with our incredible lives.
Unless they leave us craving more and more and more.
Unless they keep us from missing the beautiful, extraordinary, ordinary things around us. 
Unless they create a set of impossible expectations that no person or job or place or work or life could ever meet. 
Unless our hearts become hardened to gratitude, to saying “thank you” for the big and the little. 
Unless anything smaller than that big thing we’re chasing is seen as a disappointment.

What an incredible challenge, am I right? At least I know it is for me. I’ve realized that I deeply struggle with contentment, with this idea of enough. My spirit seems to long for more, for something bigger, grander, more abundant, and in the meantime, I forget that the Father has already given me more than enough. There is nothing but abundance in the Kingdom of God. 

If I stop
If I pause
If I notice
If I look
If I see

It’s there. More than enough is there.
It’s in the finances that come in each month from beautifully generous people. 
It’s in the dinner around the table with good friends.
It’s in the bike ride to work, the one that leaves me sweaty but also feeling so very a part of my community. 
It’s in the team I get to worship and pray with every Tuesday afternoon during staff meeting.
It’s in the videos of my nieces and nephew that my family sends me.
It’s in the smile of Paw Wah.
It's in the sound of Hser Ku Paw's singing.
It’s in the hug from MyLatte.
It’s in the rain that cleared the smog that hung over Mae Sot. 
It’s in the very mundane, very average, very routine parts of my life just as much as it's in the big moments, the ones that donors love to read about.

In this season, the Father is teaching me so much about the word “enough.” Enough doesn’t need the big or extravagant to be content. It doesn’t need to be stuffed. It’s the opposite of gluttony in every sense of the word. Enough is rooted in contentment. It’s rooted in gratitude. It’s rooted in dependence on the One who constantly gives more than enough. When I’m constantly searching for more, I miss the very tangible, very beautiful, very holy things the Father is already doing around me.

And I’m tired of missing those things in pursuit of more. 
He’s already given me more than enough. He’s given me abundance. 
I don’t want to miss those things. 

The post We Need to Stop Missing the Beautiful and Holy in the Everyday Ordinary Around Us appeared first on Kate Berkey.