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Month: January 2024

Pray. Study. Work.

Pray. Study. Work.

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So, yesterday I let my emotions get in the way. I let someone else’s mental issues take me to a place I thought I had overcome. Then I spent all day, and half the night going over it again and again in my head. It affected my whole day…and my sleep that night. THAT made me even angrier. 

Ughhhh…the battle in our mind is a real thing.

At the beginning of the year I told you guys that my goal was to pursue peace. I knew when I said it that the enemy was going to get busy. I knew it. And I still felt blindsided. 

But let me tell you how awesome our God is. He will send people, or arrange situations to speak to our circumstances. The message at service today was on waiting, and it blessed my socks off. What my pastor said was while we wait for God to move we should pray, study the word of God, and work. 

Pray. Talk to God about everything.

Study His word so that you know Him intimately.

Work. Find the thing you are passionate about, and do it to the glory of God.

We don’t have to do anything except trust Him to handle it. Last week I talked about how God will use the dirt people throw at us to elevate us. If I stay faithful, He will handle whatever needs to be handled. I lost my focus for a moment, and my flesh took control. The thing is…God didn’t leave me like that. He gave me time and opportunity to get my focus back. 

My goal is to honor Him by not dishonoring Him.

Thank you God for loving me enough to come when I call, and for letting me know that no mistake I make will ever come between us.

Until next time…

Be blessed

Bruised But Not Broken

Bruised But Not Broken

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“That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” -2 Corinthians 12:10 (NIV)

This sounds crazy, right? How can you be strong when you are weak? Here’s the thing…when we feel weak in ourselves, know that God’s grace steps in. And it reaches to the highest mountain, and to the lowest valley. 

What I am saying is that in our own strength we can’t…but with God we can do anything. 

When we get to the kind of heart that says, “Whatever You want God,” He strengthens us. It’s in that place where the real fighting takes place. Where we feel that we can’t go not one more step. Where we feel that we can’t take not one more problem…not one more insult. He steps in and breathes on us. And what once looked like a mountain now looks more like a molehill.

Paul knew that when we are weak in ourselves, we are strong in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. That’s what our anchor scripture is all about. Nobody wants to endure pain and hardship and insults…even if it is for Christ’ sake. 

Bruised but not broken means that we have to carry ourselves like we belong. Like we know who our God is. I don’t care what it looks like.

– The promise is that we are victorious. 

  • The promise is that we are more than conquerors. 
  • The promise is that God’s grace will be sufficient for whatever trials we face. 

When we give our lives to the Lord, we have access to power from on high. Claim it. We may be a little bruised and battered, but through the grace of God we will not be broken.

Until next time…

Be blessed

Loving My Enemies

Loving My Enemies

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I have always been one of those people who try really hard not to carry a grudge. I don’t want that kind of negativity anywhere around me. I would just rather argue it out, and move on. Unfortunately, everybody doesn’t feel that way. 

Now, even though I don’t hold a grudge, I won’t be hanging out with them either. I mean, it’s hard to be friends with people who don’t like you, right? I just know that I can’t let someone else’s bad behavior keep me from all that God has for me.

My pastor preached this morning that every time your enemies speak ill of you, it’s like dirt being thrown at you. And God will allow that dirt to be a stepping stone to elevate you. That woke me all the way up. I was so pumped. 1 Peter 3:9 says, “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.” 

Look, this says that if I don’t retaliate, and instead keep treating you right, I will inherit a blessing. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want anything coming between me and my blessings. So, if that means I have to keep speaking to you, and watch you ignore me…then that’s what I’m going to do, because I know that according to God’s word peacemakers are called His children. And I know that is who I am.

Until next time…

Be blessed

The Pursuit of Peace in 2024!

The Pursuit of Peace in 2024!

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We made it! We have crossed over from 2023 into the year 2024. I am always excited to go from one year to the next. Being able to look back over the previous year, yet not knowing what this new year is going to bring.

This year I have determined to pursue peace. And I’m not just doing lip service. I know that because it really wasn’t my idea. God spoke it to me during one of my morning devotions, and He gave me scripture to back it up. Psalm 34:14 in part says, “Seek peace, and pursue it.” Here’s the thing…I didn’t really know what pursuing peace meant. How do you “pursue” peace? 

So I did what any good Christian would do. I googled it. One definition said that it means to actively chase after, to follow, or to seek out. But I liked the one that said peace is being at rest in Jesus. Pursuing peace is pursuing Jesus. That revelation just blew me away.

I know it’s not going to be easy, because once you actively pursue anything for God, the enemy comes in like a flood. But the Bible says in Isaiah 59:19 that when that happens “God will raise up a standard against him.” That means that whatever that thing is that’s trying to come against us gets God’s attention, and he will put up a barrier on our behalf. 

Look. I don’t know a lot of things, but I know the Bible says that “He will never leave me nor forsake me (Deut. 31:6). And that gives me all the strength I need.

Until next time…

Be blessed