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Month: September 2021

Open Mind

Open Mind

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The days are getting shorter, and the nights are getting colder. It’s starting to feel a lot like winter is coming. This time of year always reminds me that the holidays are fast approaching. 

I have always loved Christmas. I even love the tired and frustrated cashiers…because, I know that at the end of the day…they are trying to get it done just like everybody else. As followers of Christ, we have to be able to represent Him wherever we go…even when we are standing in long lines!

But, for the last couple of years it hasn’t been the same, and what I used to enjoy is now becoming more of a chore. We have had so many losses, and changes in my family that I am beginning to struggle with the thought of the holidays coming. On the one hand, I love everything about the holidays…especially Christmas. I have always loved watching Christmas movies, singing Christmas  songs, and even baking Christmas cookies. Now, it all just makes me realize how much we have lost, and how different everything will be from now on.

But even with feeling the way I do, I still believe the words in Nehemiah 8:10  when it says, “The joy of the Lord is my strength.” We will get our joy back. We will get our peace back. We will get back everything the enemy has tried to take from us, because that’s how our God works. Nobody can take what God has decreed belongs to us.

Although change is hard, especially when it involves a loss, we can trust that God has a blessing right in the midst of it. Even knowing that, coming to terms with it is still not easy. Trying to pick up our lives, and move on knowing that nothing in our lives will ever be the same is difficult. But, this year I will be working hard to embrace this new chapter with an open mind knowing that with God’s help I can do anything.

Until next time…

Be blessed

And It Is So

And It Is So

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In one of my last posts, I spoke about letting God down by allowing my focus to be on others’ needs and not on Him. That has been on my mind a lot lately. My prayer is that I remain available to God, and to what He is calling me to do. That He can call on me at any time, and that I will respond. That is not always the case, but I am trying ya’ll.

I had a conversation with one of my sisters about being, “out of the box,” and what that really means. God has been calling us to do things that are so far out of our comfort zone that we no longer have a comfort zone. That is both comforting and disturbing at the same time. Comforting, because I know God is always with me, guiding me and protecting me. Showing me things about myself that still amaze me, and disturbing because I no longer know what being comfortable feels like.

In Acts 20:24 the Apostle Paul said, “However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.” That is my goal…to glorify my Father, and to run my race–no matter what.

I don’t want to lean on my own understanding anymore. I want to be so totally dependent on God that I won’t make a move without Him. That’s my desire, and God’s word says He will give us the desires of our hearts. So, I am just believing that in the name of Jesus, it is so.

Until next time…

Be blessed

I Am Not Superwoman

I Am Not Superwoman

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Life has been a little hectic for me lately. And it has made me finally come to the realization that I am not superwoman. There. I said it. I don’t have to pretend any longer. Everyone now knows that I cannot do everything, or be everywhere. Whew! I feel better already.

I mean I had good intentions. I wanted to please God by being the kind of person that others could depend on in their time of need. But here’s the thing…we are supposed to help one another, but we are not supposed to be the only one people can call. That’s crazy thinking, and that’s the kind of thinking that is rooted in insecurity and fear. That’s the kind of thinking that will make your life miserable, and send you to an early grave. God did not call us to do that. There is a saying that says “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.” I don’t really know who said it, but the Bible kind of backs it up in Proverbs 14:12 when it says, “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.” 

All I can say is that it seemed to make sense at the time. It has been difficult giving up my “halo,” but with God’s help, I am beginning to see the light.

What God showed me was that my priority had shifted, and He was no longer my focus…pleasing others was. Ouch! That hurt. I love the Lord with all of my heart, and pleasing Him is why I do anything. So…finding out that He was no longer my focus hit me deep.  I do not like feeling as if I have let God down. So, I have had to re-prioritize my thinking about things. I know that it is not about me being the one…but about me representing “The One.”  

Until next time…

Be blessed

It’s in His Word

It’s in His Word

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Part of going deeper in God is realizing that God didn’t give us a mediocre life. We were not meant to just go through life. We are supposed to LIVE life. His word says that we could have life and have it more abundantly. But here’s the thing…the only way to get that is through His Son, Jesus Christ. 

That scripture comes from John 10:10, and it actually says that the enemy (the devil) comes to destroy your life…literally. His job is to kill us physically and spiritually. But Jesus says, “I have come….” That statement right there changes everything. There is power in that statement. 

God didn’t let His One and Only Son go to the cross for nothing. And Jesus didn’t give His life so that we could live defeated and depressed. God loves us way too much for that. When we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, and ask Him to come into our lives…He comes. And not only does He come, but He brings a whole host of angels with Him.

But in order to take advantage of that, we have to work on our relationship with God. And working on that relationship is like working on any other relationship we have with anyone we care for. It takes spending time alone with Him, and trusting Him enough to be honest with Him. There never has to be any pretense With God. We don’t have to hide anything from Him, because He already knows everything about us. He is the one person who knows us better than we even know ourselves. And how about this…He still loves us.

But I don’t care how many times we hear that, we won’t get it until we get to know Him for ourselves. Spend some time in His word. Every plan, instruction, or direction God has for our lives is in there, and that’s the only way to find out who He is, AND who we are.

Until next time…

Be blessed