The breakup song by Francesca Battistelli is a great anthem for those moments of fear that sneak up on us.
The reminder that we have the power to tell fear to leave.
We don’t have to let it over take us every moment of every day you have the choice to let your self be ruled by fear or to choose your feeling and refuse to let fear control you.
Listen to the song sing along a tell fear to leave.
Putting God first can seem overwhelming, but if we put him first we will find that he’s essential to our lives, like that first cup of coffee. Putting God first sets our day off right. Just shifting our focus to him can change our whole, mood, demeanor and mindset about the day. Even if it’s just a moment that shift can change our whole day if we let it.
It’s easy this year to get caught up in what we can’t do or can’t give during this Christmas but are our family traditions or gift giving really the purpose of Christmas? As wonderful as they are.
No. Christmas is the celebration of Jesus birth and it’s his life that we should celebrate. A man who was poor and even had times with no where to sleep, but was forever kind and generous. It’s he that we celebrate, one that loved all humanity so much that he came to serve us, not allowing selfish moments but letting his love for us guide him.
Even if we were have nothing this Christmas season we can always be grateful for our friends and family and for Jesus birth.
So this Christmas no matter how different your celebration may be you can always count your blessings.
Listening to the song Last Christmas by Wham reminds me that we as humans are fallible, we all make mistakes and disappointment each other.
But the one that we can always count on is God. He is love, joy, peace, patience, kind, good, faithful and gentle. He knows what we need and when; and he’s always ready to love us when we let him in.
We as humans have misrepresented him because we are not perfect and we make mistakes. So please don’t let people keep you from knowing him, let him prove who he is to you himself.
Give him your big questions, he can handle it, but make sure you listen for the answers.
This Christmas give him a chance to share his love for you with you.
Watch this movie to help you learn how to hear God’s voice.
With all the gift giving this season. Don’t forget the reason for the season, Jesus.
What gift could you give him?
You may think you have nothing to give, but like the little drummer boy you give what you can, you give your gifts, your talents, your time, your life. Everyone has a life to give. And he deserves it because he gave his.
Even if you think you have nothing to give, Jesus says otherwise. He created you, he gave you gifts and talents you may not even know exist.
When you follow God’s plan for your life he uses those gifts and talents for him.
God gave me the calling to ministry ten years ago. And I didn’t start my blog till this September. He had to take me on a journey to teach me and grow and develop me into the woman that I am today. I am a very different person then I was ten years ago, because he had to mold me into who he made me to be and he’s still molding me.
That’s why I started this blog to use the gifts he’s given me to help others see God in their everyday lives.
Yesterday I talked about having the faith in God to make the big sacrifices and that, that starts with conversation, with talking to God.
But there is so much more, it’s more then taking to him its about knowing him. I have trusted God when he asks me to make big leaps of faith because I know him.
I know that he loves me and that he will not let harm come to me. I know that he has brought me through some crazy impossible situations and that he will continue to do so. Because I know him
I know that he is loving, kind and gentle, that he provides all my needs when I trust him and that he never leaves me.
Jesus made his acrifice because he loves us and wants us to know him.
Take a chance and give him a chance to show you just how much he loves you.
God doesn’t see us the way we see ourselves, he sees us as beautiful messes. He see the beauty he created us to be, that is bogged down by the baggage we choose to carry with us. We are the ones that choose to walk around carrying all our hurts and pains, lugging around the baggage of our past.
Photo by Tommaso Pecchioli on Unsplash
But his burden is light.
God doesn’t want us to carry all that around with us. He wants us to lay it all at his feet.
Baggage can be many things worry, anxiety, past hurts and pain. It’s anything that holds us back from exseding the joy, love and love that come from knowing Jesus.
One of the secrets of our marriage is that we don’t carry our baggage with us. My husband and I both go to God first before going to each other or anyone else, when we realize that something bothers us.
We ask God, why? Whether it is something someone said or did or even our own mode or attitude that we know is not from him. We go to God first and ask what the root cause of the pain is. Then after we’ve sorted it out with God we go to each other or the person that hurt us and talk it through, if necessary. Many times we’ve worked things out with God and don’t even need to talk to the other person.
We don’t have to walk around with all the hurt and pain of our past or even our present if we lay them at the foot of the cross. He is always with us, always accessible and always wants to help us.
Next time you feel someone poke an old wound or make a new one go to God first and find freedom.
Why do we keep trying the same temporary fixes to fill the holes inside us and expect different results?
We all have times when we want to escape, from work, school, home, kids spouse. Everyone needs a break sometime.
But is what we run to really helping? Or is it just a temporary fix, like putting tape on a busted pipe it may work for a moment but eventually the pipe is going to burst again, and if we keep using tape it’s never going to solve the issue.
The lyrics of the song Chain Breaker by Zach Williams describes the cycle we go through in life so often searching for the solution but never finding the answer in the same process.
But there is a better way, a better life.
God is a chain breaker he made a way for us to be free to not feel tied down but to find joy and peace in our homes, in our work and in our families.
He is the way.
When we go to him, when we need rest, he lifts us up, he takes our fears our worries and our frustrations when we give them over to him.
If we grip onto the chains that our strangling us he can’t remove them. We have to surrender them over to him so he can remove them.
Everyone has a story to tell, everyone has a moment when they hit their rock bottom and cried out to God “I need you now.”
My moment was in 2008. I was in a 6 year relationship that was going nowhere, when I had a pregnancy scare. This woke me up almost out of a slumber. I realized I didn’t want this man to be the father of my kids, but I knew I wanted to raise my kids in church.
So I decided to go back to church.
I was terrified and convinced that I would be met with glaring stares and rejection but I wasn’t. Instead I was welcomed with open arms. My friends from the church I grew up in, never gave up on me, they were always there for me during the years I intentionally choose to ignore God. But when I choose to come back to church they welcomed me back with open arms and no judgement.
That is how God is, when we choose to say “I need you now” He leaps for joy and runs to embrace us. He throws a party in heaven rejoicing over His child returning home.
Who or what do you turn to when you hit your rock bottom?
Why not, give God a chance to show you how much He loves you.
It’s easy to get bogged down by the responsibilities of life and to feel sad, anxious, worried overwhelmed by the pressures of the holidays or just by the state of the wold.
You can look at the media and think what is there to be thankful for or to rejoice over.
But our joy doesn’t come from the world it comes from Jesus.
Joy because Jesus came to give us a better life that doesn’t always mean our circumstances change, sometime it just means he can be or joy in the storm.
What if you’re wrong? What if I’m wrong? The question that plagues most of us when it comes to eternity.
If I’m wrong, then I will have lived a life that is amazing, that has caught me by surprise, a life that I would not trade for anything.
Because life with Jesus has been a grand adventure more then I ever could of dreamed or imaged for myself. Even during the toughest times in my life I find joy and peace in Him; and my happiest moments are beyond my wildest dreams, because of Jesus.
Are you so afraid of Jesus that you aren’t willing to give Him a chance? What do you have to lose?
He is the most loving, kind, gentle, beautiful and gentle being I have ever know. Why not give him a chance, right now.
Take a moment and talk to Him, about anything you want, scream, yell, whisper or just talk to Him in your head.
He’s listening, He wants to talk to you, but you have to listen too.
He speaks in so many different ways, though our thoughts, through others, through dreams and through images.
Be open and willing to let Him in. I bet he’ll surprise you.
When I was young, I was shy and insecure, lacking confidence, always looking for approval and to feel wanted.
But when I found my identity in Jesus and I got to know Him, to know His love and His unconditional love. Knowing God loved me no matter what, that He would always protect me, keep me safe and never leave. That’s when I found my confidence. My confidence grew because it was in Him and who He is, not me.
When we know God’s love for us, it bolsters us, gives us strength and confidence to be who He made us to be. That’s why spending time with Him and learning who He is, is so important. It gives us the confidence to do and be who He made us to be. His children.
We are each so important to God. He wants to spend every moment of everyday with us and He will defend us even to death, because He already did.
That’s love and that’s where my confidence and joy and peace come from. They come from the one who gave up everything to be with me, to be with you. To have a deep, intimate, personal relationship with every single member of humanity. He is our creator and He loves each and every one of us, that is who we find our confidence in, the one who loves us, all of us.
Its easy to give up and feel discouraged. To feel like no one is listening. No one is reading, no one cares. I haven’t written as much as I would like lately, some do to moving across the country and some due to discouragement, wondering if any one is actually reading, am I really making a difference.
Honestly I started this blog because I knew I needed a platform for the books I know God’s given me to write, not because God told me to start a blog. But God has used it to teach me so much and how to share His love, even if it reaches one person, that one person matters. His love for us is not performance based. We don’t have to do anything for God to love us.
So whatever God has asked you to do. Know that it’s never conditional on His love but if we love Him, what He’s asked of us will deepen our love for Him and help us know His love more.
Speaking the name of Jesus out loud is powerful, it brings an emotional response from us. Some fear, some worry, some peace, some joy, his name invokes something inside us.
We each have a different response when we hear his name.
But we can only truly know him, if we develop a relationship with him.
I can tell you all day about how amazing he is, that he’s completely changed my life. I can tell you how hearing his name brings so much peace and joy to my heart when I hear it that it can be overwhelming at times.
But you can never truly know him, till you know him yourself.
Today I just want to bring some sunshine to your day. God loves to bring joy and laughter into our lives and this song always brings a smile to my heart. Enjoy and laugh with Jesus!
As believers in Jesus its easy to look to heaven as the solution; to think that we just have to suffer till we get to heaven. But Jesus never intended for us to live this life alone.
Heaven can be here on earth now if we look for it, if we focus on Jesus. One of my favorite questions that I first heard from Graham Cooke is “What do you want to be for me now?”
Heaven is free of pain and hurt yes, but its also full of worship. So we worship while we wait, we worship while we wait for the healing, we worship while we wait for the provision or the answer. Worship brings heaven to us and worship opens us up to letting God lead. Its in worship that we surrender all our worries and concerns.
So no matter what we are going through, worship through it. Give God the glory and ask him ‘what he wants to be for you now?’
When we face times of stress or trials in life it’s easy to give up and give in to temptation for quick fixes that scratch an itch or satisfy for a moment but leave us feeling guilty and full of regret in the long term.
But because we know God loves us and he has a plan for us and that plan is way better then what might be right in front of us. We don’t take those quick fixes.
We trust that his plan is better, that because he loves us he will provide. It seems counter cultural, but it’s the way he designed us. He has given each of us passions and skills. But they are meant to be used to share his love with others not for selfish gain or ambition.
God knows what were going through, he knows ever ache and pain, every anguish and He’s in it with us holding our hand, leading us, guiding us, holding us, because He always knows what we need, when we need it.
He’s with us when were having our worst day and our best day. He will comfort us when we need it and rejoice with us in our triumph’s. God does life with us, because He is our life. He’s our constant companion, our best friend and the one who loves us most. We need only to focus our attention on Him.
We all want to be loved without conditions or expectations. So why would we assume God would want anything else?
Yes, we love God because of what he’s done for us, but we should love him for who he is.
When you are with the one you love you don’t need anything else, but just to be with them. Our love for God should be the same, because his love is the same for us.
He wants nothing more than to spend all eternity with us or he wouldn’t have given everything to make it possible.
Seek him for him and appreciate the joy of just his presence.
It’s so easy to get caught up in our thoughts. To become overwhelmed and insecure when we turn to our own opinion of ourselves or others opinions of us.
But the only opinion that should matter is Jesus, what he says is what matters.
He says we are loved, we are strong, we belong.
If you depend on getting your value from others you will always feel like your not enough. But Jesus says your priceless.
He paid everything for you, because he loves you
Today I had a rough day at work everything that could go wrong went wrong and by the end of the day I was stressed and tired because I had left Jesus out of the equation. I didn’t focus on him.
But on the way home I heard You Say by Lauren Daigle, and I knew what I needed to write about today.
It doesn’t matter what anyone else says about us. What matters is what Jesus says and he says we are loved.
Take a moment and refocus your thoughts as you listen to this song. Let the words speak to you and let Jesus remind you of who he made you to be.
Listening to O Holy Night, always helps me to stop and focus on Jesus to feel the peace and calm that he brings to the atmosphere, to remember that Christmas is about him and bringing glory to our savior.
He changed everything that night when he choose to come down to earth not as a king, but as a baby, to humble himself and live a life of service to his people.
Jesus didn’t come down to be served but to serve. He came to restore relationship between us and father God.
What we build our life on matters. Any builder will tell you the foundation is crucial. If it’s not firm and level the building will not last.
Our foundation is Jesus. He’s rock solid but when we mix other things in with him as our foundation we degrade the quality of our foundation. Making it easier to falter in storms and sink or lean over time.
But if Jesus is our only foundation then we will stand through the storm and time will show just how unchanging He is. His love for us is the same for all eternity and for every moment of every day.
He doesn’t change, our dependence and trust in Him is what changes. When He is not our focus and we allow other things in instead of Him we will falter.
That’s the power of free will that He gave us. We choose just how much or how little of Him that we want in our lives. If we want to stand firm on Him as our foundation then He must be the start, middle and end of our day. Our focus must be on Him and He will guide us through our day.
You may think I don’t have all day to spend in prayer. But that’s the beautiful thing about the Holy Spirit He is with us everywhere, all day, wherever we go. So start your day with a quick devotion, listen to songs, sermons, or podcasts that fix your mind on Him while getting ready for your day. Talk with Jesus as your drive to work or ask your kids what Jesus is teaching them as you take them to school. Rest in God’s presence on your lunch break. When you’re stressed ask God’s advice on how to fix it. Ask Him what to make or pick up for dinner. Ask whoever you live with what God taught them today. Read a Bible story to your kids at night, pray over them and have them pray over you too. Make your life all about Jesus in and through your daily life.
We don’t have to stop life to spend time with Jesus, we just need to include Him in it.
When we walk around with unforgiveness that anger and
bitterness spills onto everyone else in our lives. Because we haven’t dealt
with it, it just builds and builds until, it explodes on some unsuspecting
person that may have done the tiniest thing.
Acknowledging God’s exisistance is the first step toward
forgiveness. Acknowledging that he does love us and it’s because he loves us
that he gave us the free will to choose him or not. And it’s that free will
that causes us to hurt each other.
Even those that choose him are not faultless, we all still
make mistakes and no one is perfect except God.
Many peoples distrust of God is because others have misrepresented him, none of us are faultless. Only through knowing God ourselves can we really know who he his.
Don’t let others misrepresentation of him keep you from knowing a loving and trust worthy God that sacrificed his very life for you.
Seek to know God for yourself and let him show you who is he and the freedom that comes from his forgiveness.