Thank You Lord 'For-giving' me this Experience!

"Walk with Me in the freedom of forgiveness...If you carry a burden of guilt on your back, you are more likely to stumble and fall. At your request, I will remove the heavy load from you and bury it at the foot of the cross. (Then) you are undeniably free! Unconditional Love...frees you from both fears and sins. As you come to know Me more and more intimately, you grow increasingly free." Jesus Calling!

I love this truth! I love the freedom and release that comes with forgiveness. There is incredible deliverance that comes to those who are willing to honestly confess and humbly request forgiveness or grant it.

It can be the difference between being victorious over our sin and being victimized by our sin. A way that I continually remind myself whether good, bad or hurtful situations arise in my life is that it is all God-filtered. Instead of becoming a victim in the situation and holding blame to someone I look to God and become the victor in the situation through His sovereign hand and amazing grace over my life. My favorite phrase I have walked away with is...."Thank you Lord 'For-giving' me this Experience!" And when I do that, I understand that it is easier to forgive, because I know nothing can happen to me under the sun unless the Lord allows it. Many times our hurtful situations with other people is simply a test that God allows to produce a testimony when we can truly freely release others in those difficult situations! Even Jesus who was truly blameless before men while being persecuted before the cross stated, "..forgive them Father for they know not what they doing." Luke 23:24


I implore you to live a live worthy of His high calling and to daily walk with an
abundant mercy account - operating in a continual spirit of forgiveness. Matthew 18:23-25 tells us that "If we do not forgive people, we get turned over to the torturers." NOT only does forgiveness provide us a mind of peace, but a personal release to be free of being tied to someone else's sins.

It has been so eloquently stated that walking in unforgiveness is like 'drinking poison- and expecting the other person to die from it.'  Forgiveness is designed to actually save your own life! Be FREE - FORGIVE! And see God move in a mighty way in your life!

Enjoy the JOURNEY!

Have you ever said, I can’t wait until this spiritual test is over, or I can’t wait until summer,  or I can’t wait until I find that next job, or I can’t wait for my kids to be out can’t wait until kids are out of school, or out of their diapers/pull-ups, or even more so out of my house! Or (you fill in the blanks…)________ --- so that I can be at some next point in my life?  

Well Jesus always prepares us for what is on the road ahead... He says that we should take time to be still in HIS Presence so that He can strengthen us. It is no wonder that the busier we become, without spending that valuable time, the more we end up opening ourselves up to weakness and temptation because we literally need this time to be revived (renewed back to a spiritual life) in Him...

I vividly remember one weekend afternoon, feeling like I had to keep the mouse wheel going rushing in from being out, making a phone call to my husband to give him additional things to shop for while he was at the store, while I also made another phone call to my mom while opening a big can of tuna for a tuna salad until dinner was done. Not really focusing on what I was doing, I told the person to hold while I put the phone between my ear and shoulder and then proceeded to finish opening the can of tuna. Voila! All was well until I set the tuna can down and proceeded to stir in the relish and mayonnaise and noodles, and knocked my bowl into a now empty flying can of which I proceeded to catch with my left hand. VOIL- OUCH! What had just happened?

I was staring down into two of my fingers, my middle finger you could almost see clear to the bone. The can I just caught by its jagged top, also just caught me! OUCH!  I proceeded not realizing how bad the cut was to rinse my hand until all I could see was white flesh in my finger and a big gaping hole of skin. I had my son call his dad as he was doing the dishes meanwhile I asked my son what he thought. As he looked over my shoulder in a matter of fact way as he so often does, he said, “Yep, you are going to need a good amount of stitches.” 

I then replied, “Thanks Howie!” as I proceeded to cry. Eventually I called over a sister from our church who happened to be a registered nurse, who proceeded to confirm I would need to seek urgent care. Of which I spent the next four hours of my evening in the waiting room…WAITING…on the nurse, then the doctor and finally back home. All this time of which I had plenty of time to reflect how I needed to slow D-O-W-N!

Now I am sharing this story to not gross you out, but I do share this story to say that it is so easy to get into a RAT(Rapidly –Accelerated- w/Things) race of doing so many things at one time, rushing through the day from one thing to the next - not really seeking the rest or mind of God in a matter. I was painfully reminded this day and I now have a beauty mark in my fingers, though totally healed - it is much more sensitive than my other hand and is a steady clear reminder through pain, personally, to help me to slow down…..And also to realize that if it does not all get done…..that LESS can often really be MORE!  What is your Journey today? I challenge you to enjoy it more and rush through it less! See WHAT God is doing THROUGH your circumstances versus asking WHY while trying to ESCAPE every problem and challenge in life! God bless you today....

Becoming Secure in Christ! \O/

The Lord creates us with a great capacity to know Him and enjoy His Presence... Many of times when people do not feel that the Lord is close or with Him, it often is because their focus has not been in the Lord.  However the more we focus on His Presence with us, the more we can fully can enjoy life.  When we choose to glorify Jesus through our taking pleasure in Him...we proclaim His Presence to a lost and watching world.

When I was first starting out as a 17 year old in the Lord and even later in college, I often spoke of how God delivered me from the void or sense of emptiness I had in my early teens…. Although I was popular in high school and involved in many different clubs and events, I never felt complete. I sought the approval of man over the knowledge and approval of God. I lived for an audience of many, versus an audience of 1 (God). 

When we all look close enough, we all have, what I call a "God vacuum". Meaning ...we each are divinely crafted to "experience, know and enjoy (God's) Presence." However, when we do not get to know Him intimately as He is to be known, we mis-direct that attention and our feeling of need to people - having unrealistic expectations of people that was never designed to fill that void or need of completing us.

Allowing His Presence to fill my thought-life means... I am inviting Jesus into every thought and I am intentionally using my mind to glorify Him; to enjoy Him, to focus on Him... no matter what!

I want to challenge you to let your security be found in Christ today. As Isaiah 26:3 states, “You will keep him in perfect peace ...whose mind is stayed on You( God): because he trusts in You(God).

Worry not....Steward Well!

"Do not worry about tomorrow! This is not a suggestion, but a command... When you worry about the future, you heap day upon day of troubles onto your flimsy frame... Throw off this oppressive burden with one quick thrust of trust. Anxious thoughts meander about and crisscross in your brain... (instead) affirm your faith... enjoy My presence... trusting Me at all times." Jesus Calling

Worry is a strong habitual thought pattern that many people develop, but do not enjoy or benefit from. Worry robs us of so many things...like peace, health, confidence, relationships, and joy!

Learning to "throw off" worry with "one quick thrust of trust" equips us to move forward with God-confidence. I believe God honors our efforts to "throw off" and to develop some trust-thrusting ability. Like building spiritual muscle that will glorify God!

I have been told I am a chronic list maker. My list for the day as a matter of fact was often longer than I could accomplish. But if I don’t have a list I don’t get nearly as much done—or I forget something important. I have been accused of “worrying”. So, what is the difference between worrying and planning? As I thought about it, I once proceeded to study the difference. When looking up the meaning, a plan is a “detailed method for the accomplishment of a goal”.

Worrying is “to feel uneasy or troubled”. Habbakuk 2:2-4, states, "Record the vision And inscribe it on tablets, That the one who reads it may run. 3"For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay. As long as I am trusting God I don’t feel uneasy or troubled.

It is one thing to worry it is another thing to prioritize and hold yourself accountable to things God places in your heart to accomplish.

There is a difference. I love the saying, “Live as though Jesus us coming back tomorrow, plan as though He will not.” There should be an urgency for us to live for the Lord today, while at the same time there should also be an urgency for us to steward those things and live responsibly with what God has placed in our hands, our home, our family, our children, our spouse and the list goes on. Worry not!

Nevertheless, STEWARD well!

Letting Freedom Ring - Happy 4th of July!

In the US, so many families are all about celebrating independence and national freedoms! Though we have gained a lifetime of independence celebrated via our national flags, parades, patriotic songs and fireworks that fill the night skies- it is equally important that we remember our need to acknowledge our DE-pendence on an ALMIGHTY GOD!

As Christians, we are not only called to be citizens within our community, but representatives as citizens of Heaven -responding to an almighty God through our worship, our celebration and through being a Witness of His Work that has given us a new found spiritual freedom. John 4:24 states, “God is spirit, and those that worship Him must worship in the Spirit and in truth." When we worship the Lord in spirit and in truth, we join with the almighty host of heaven who are continually before throne of our Lord ... worshiping Him!

 John 4: also goes on to state, "Yes, the Father wants such people to worship Him….

On today, I am reminded of the great spiritual work the Lord has done in my life – breakthrough in me, my family, and those people who are attached to my life. 2 Corinthians 3:17 also states, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. (another translation reads... "there is Liberty!")

We have great reason to celebrate and something eternal to sing about! Think of it!

I implore you today and everyday, in addition to celebrating our national freedom, don’t forget if you have given your life to the the King of Kings and Lord and Lords, celebrate the spiritual freedoms awarded us through the sacrifice of our Savior, Jesus Christ. He is more than worthy of all the honor, glory, and praise due His name!

His Finished Work on the Cross was the greatest Work that we can witness! (On any day, not just the 4th!)

By God's Design!

Live well. Live purposefully. Live strong….not in yourself but in this- knowing that living is both a discipline and an art... of staying close to the Father, the divine Artist... You see Jesus seeks us out, and then He works His way into our lives as we allow Him to.

How the Lord crafted the universe, is beyond our scope of full understanding. How He could create the vast galaxy, endless sky, every star, every planet, every animal, every human – ALL of creation took great power, yet great meticulous detail and care down to the least of His creation.  Likewise, our lives are to be examples of God's Craft-ability at work. Daily He fashions us into extensions of His own Image.

I marvel at His handiwork in nature and in the hearts and lives of those He's placed around me. It is both purposeful and powerful, the way He crafts His Image, His Heart, His Desires into our hearts as we are naturally by nature sinner and then through His Word engrafts His Mind into our minds.  Even Jesus is the epitome of that mind and heart of the Father transformation:

Philippians 2:5-13 states, “5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 13 For it is 

God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”

 

All my insecurity, inadequacy, insufficiency, and vast inability can be miraculously God-crafted. Then through the blood of Jesus- Jesus healed, Jesus supplied, Jesus rectified... and divinely... His workmanship sealed through the blood of Jesus! God doesn’t call the qualified! He qualifies the called!  We may not feel qualified in all that God is calling us to do, but it is up to Him to qualify us whether we think we have all the qualifications needed to what He has called us to do or not. God is the author and finisher of our faith!  It's God's Divine' Ability at work in each of our lives! It is amazing and it is miraculous at the same time.  How He takes mere men made out of mere clay and uses us as mighty vessels fit for the kingdom to make an impact, first in our lives, our own families, our communities, and ultimately the World! Our God is an awesome God. Would you join me in praising Him for all that He has done, all that He does and all that He will still yet do in our lives TODAY! He is WORTHY! \O/