I hear you – what you’re really saying behind the laugh-it-off self-deprecation.

I hear you say that there’s someone else doing what you do, and doing it better. That it’s all been said, and said well. That the church glitters with auroras of people infused with dazzling gifts and that you are the boring beige of background. That just mommy bloggers in just the USA take up 4.4 million spots in the blogosphere and that the Jesus market is flooded.

And I see you – how you shoulder-sag beneath the scarcity lie – the hiss and the jeer that the land is occupied and the Kingdom is crowded. That you’ve got no gifts for the King and there’s not even space at the manger.

So here’s the truth you’ve got to lean into and live bravely before the year runs out and you run out of hope:

1 God’s wisdom never runs out. The sad and the cynical will tell you that the world is full up and fed up with great ideas. But God’s wisdom is fathomless wealth. You’ll never know it all. And yet he offers it to all who ask – generously and without finding fault (James 1:5). Because the truth is that you can keep going back to the One who made up all the great ideas in the first place. And you can’t tell me that the world is full up and fed up with wonder.

2 God’s power never runs out. He never relaxes his grip on your life. He’s the Father who never stops calling you so your calling never runs out. His call will take you to different places for different reasons, different spaces in different seasons. But he’ll never stop calling you. Not ‘til he calls you home.

3 God’s love never runs out. Jesus bled and said, ‘It is finished.’ He said it all. He did it all. He gave it all. He left nothing for us to add to the gospel. But we are to spend our lives – all our saying and doing and giving – telling that finished love story. Because millions don’t know it and we dare not – we dare never – say that there’s no space for us in the telling. The need for encouragement on this fraught and fractured planet has not – has never – run out. No wife ever said, ‘That one time you said it was enough.’ As if she never wanted her husband to tell her day after day that he loved her. No kid ever said, ‘Stop saying I’m amazing.’ As if he never secretly hoped his parents would keep on saying the same embarrassing-encouraging things over and over. Because the truth is? It’s the same things said over and over that make people brave enough to live their stories.

God never runs out. He’s from never-ending to never-ending. He never runs out of wisdom. Never runs out of power. Never runs out of love. Never runs out on you. Come Christmas, when you draw another breath to sing another Silent Night, know that until all your breaths run out you’re still wrapped up in his shimmering purposes for the world.

There’s light for you to shine.

. . .

Thanks so much for stopping by.

I’m kind of insanely excited about the launch of Dragons and Dirt: the truth about changing the world – and the courage it requires (©2014) on 27^th November, DV. (That is a mere seventeen sleeps away. Yippee.) Read all about it here. Watch this space, and stay in touch on Facebook or Twitter. Think: *stocking filler* *Ridiculous Launch Special*