God Given Dreams

The song I can only imagine by Mercy Me speaks to me every time I hear it.

One of the most pivotal times was when my husband and I went to a Astros game in Houston. We were living in Louisiana at the time and decided to go to Houston for our anniversary. We found tickets the morning of the game and had no idea that it was the Faith and Family day for the Astros. (If you’ve never been to one you should go most MLB teams have one)

After the game one of the players and his wife shared there testimonies. Following that was a Mercy Me concert. I have always loved them but had never heard them in concert. It was amazing, I think I cried through the whole time just praying and worshiping God as He broke my heart, reminding me that He had a calling on my life to be a writer and that I had been ignoring it at that time.

At the end of the concert the lead singer Bart Millard shared how Mercy Me was his dream and how God had pushed him to it and used the song I Can Only Imagine to do it. A song that had been strung throughout my life and has always driven me to the feet of Jesus.

This experience with God was the catalyst that pushed me to write this devotional blog, it was the push that I needed to follow the dream that God had placed in my heart.

What dream has God placed in your heart? Seek God, ask him what he’s called you to and his plan to accomplish it.

Love Changes Us

Trying to change people by nagging pestering and yelling never works. We may get them to do what we want in the moment but it doesn’t change their heart.  It doesn’t bring about real change.

Prayer is how we fight.  Prayer changes things. Prayer changes our perspective of others and prayer is what can change their hearts. See prayer is simply a conversation with God letting him show us how he sees us and them.

So often we think we can change someone. Or we’ll love them more if we just get them to be who we think they should be. But if we look to change ourselves instead, to love them no matter what, God’s love through us will change them.

Think back to when you gave your heart to Jesus. Did you do it because he was nagging you or because you came to know his love and forgiveness. When we give our heart to God we repent of our past mistakes and we choose to let God change us. We have to do the same with others. Allow God to bring about the change.

Gods love changed us and the expression of that love will change others.

We have to be prepared to reach the top

The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights. 

Habakkuk 3:19

In order to reach the mountain tops in life we need to be equipped to handle them. Experienced mountain climbers train for month to reach the peak of mountain tops and some make sacrifices to achieve their goals.

God is the same with us. He will led us up the mountain, but he must equip us to handle the conditions at the top first.

Ask him each day what he wants to teach you? And know that even if you don’t always understand it, trust that he’s preparing you for your next mountain top moment.

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God changes our stories

And Mary said:

“My soul [ag]exalts the Lord,
47 And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
48 “For He has had regard for the humble state of His [ah]bondslave;
For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed.
49 “For the Mighty One has done great things for me;
And holy is His name.
50 “And His mercy is upon generation after generation
Toward those who fear Him.
51 “He has done mighty deeds with His arm;
He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart.
52 “He has brought down rulers from their thrones,
And has exalted those who were humble.
53 “He has filled the hungry with good things;
And sent away the rich empty-handed.
54 “He has given help to Israel His servant,
In remembrance of His mercy,
55 As He spoke to our fathers,
To Abraham and his descendants forever.”

Luke 1:46-55

God loves to change our stories from what we think would be likely for us; to blessings beyond our belief.

Mary was an ordinary girl and we would probably know nothing about her in history, if it had not been for her birthing and raising Jesus. God loves to take everyday people and make them extra-ordinary. It wasn’t Mary’s own achievements that gave her the blessing of bearing Jesus but her humility and willingness to serve.

We are not meant to achieve greatness on our own, but to serve God and let him bless us instead. His blessings will always surpass what we could achieve on our own.

Spirit Lead US

Following the leading of the Holy Spirit can sounds scary and intimidating. But all it really is, is simple small choices that lead to the big ones. Even small choices can have a big impact.

For years I asked the Holy Spirit which way to drive to work as I had a few routes that would get me there. Every time I followed His leading I arrived on time. But when I didn’t I arrived late. Little decisions can make a big difference that we may not see in the moment.

I had a friend that was driving to an event across the state, it was something he attended yearly and never usually needed a restroom break in the two hour drive. But this one time he needed it; completely out of the norm for him. Later he found out that had he not stopped he would have mostly likely been on the highway at the spot where a massive car pileup happened.

The Holy Spirit gives us little prompting, even something as simple as bathroom break and we may never know the impact, but we need to trust that he has a reason and a purpose for everything, even the small stuff.

What has the Holy spirit been leading you to do? Take that small step of faith and follow His leading.

Even Louder

No matter what we’re facing in our lives be it internal, external, physical, emotional, mental, spiritual or relational.

Regardless of each of our struggles we can all cling to the same thing, that no matter what our God is good and he loves us and its because of that love that we know that we can depend on him to lift us up and bring us through any and everything.

So no matter how tired or frustrated we may be we can scream EVEN LOUDER that Jesus is our everything.

You have to plant to see a harvest

Planting seeds takes a lot of faith. You never know what you’ll get, when they’ll grow or how much the plant will produce, or if it will grow at all. But we still plant seeds.

In the movie Faith Like Potatoes, Angus a farmer finds faith in God and follows the leading of the Holy Spirit to plant potatoes. Planting potatoes takes faith because you cant see what crop you’ve yielded until you’re ready to harvest.

Planting seeds of faith can be like this. We don’t know what will stick and what will not grow but we if we want to see a harvest we still have to plant.

Sow seeds everywhere in everyone, you never know what will produce a harvest.

Love conquers fear

for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control

2 Timothy 1:7

Fear can control us, if we let it. But God does not desire for us to be ruled by fear.

Fear limits us and confines us to the familiar, fear keeps us locked in our comfort zone and keeps us from experiencing all that God has for us.

He made us to live in his love and his power, but how do we achieve that?

Self-control.

God loves us so much that he gave us choice, the freedom to choose his love or not. In choosing his love he gives us the power to conquer fear, to say that we will not be ruled fear, but will choose to let his love define us.

It’s his love that says my God is bigger then my circumstances and I trust God to take care of all I need and more because I know who he is.

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Willing vessel

“We may feel small, weak, incapable, ill-equipped, lacking in articulation. None of this matters. Frequently, all the obedience God requires of us is simply showing up. He does the rest. When we see a need, we go to it, reach out a hand and wait. Father comes into that situation. He expresses Himself through us. All we needed to do was be there, because He has no physical hands or feet on the earth except yours and mine.”

~Heidi Baker

A lot of fear about telling people about Jesus is that we don’t know what to say or what to do. The beauty of a relationship with the Holy Spirit is that He tells us what to say, He tells us what to do.

The Holy Spirit knows each of us intimately, He knows what we need when we need it.

We simple need to be willing to be used by God to convey His words and His actions to them. To be a willing vessel.


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God will never stop pursuing you

God will never stop running after us. He will always be there for us when we need him or when we want him. God will always be there with us through everything, if we let him.

God’s will and his plan for us is always for our good. That doesn’t mean we won’t face hard things but that he will be there with us through it. He will be with us through the trials and he will use them to draw us closer to him.

A long as we keep our focus on him in the storm like Peter walking on water. Peter only sank when he turned his focus off of Jesus and let the storm surrounding him influence his faith instead of his faith in Jesus influencing his surroundings. It’s when we fix our eyes back on Jesus that he is our strength when we are weak, our joy when we are sad and our peace when we have none.

He is everything we need and more if we let him.

At our weakest

Even when we feel at our weakest and most vulnerable we can look to God. Because he is our strength. No matter whether we are having the best day of our lives or the worst day ever. He is the same.

His grace for us never changes. We could be at our worst and he will still extend his hand to us and say “Come here child.” Because we can’t earn his grace, because he gives it freely but we can always accept it.

It’s easy to get caught up in our troubles, self-pity, anxiety and worry. But only one thing can bring us the peace that surpasses understanding. Jesus.

It’s his sacrifice that brings us into a deep, intimate relationship with him, Father God and the Holy Spirit. And its only that relationship that will sustain us and uplifts us when we need it most.

When I have those moments of feeling like “I’m in the depths of despair” to quote Anne of Green Gables. Instead of indulging those feelings and letting them lead me. I turn to God and simple say “help.” He always does.

When we turn our attention back to Jesus he changes our perspective. Comforting us with his plan and showing us how he see things.

Why do we push people away who try to help us?

In the movie I Can Only Imagine Bart Millard pushes away his high school girlfriend Shannon when she tries to help him when she sees he’s hurting. His knee jerk reaction is to push her away.

Our natural reaction when someone tries to help us when we’re hurting is to push back, because it hurts when you poke a wound. But we have to find the root cause of the pain if we want to heal and sometimes that means a painful conversation to find that root.

When the human body is severely burned you have to remove the dead tissue to get to the healthy tissue so that it can grow and heal, which is an extremely painful experience but the end result is healed healthy tissue. 

The same is true with our emotional wounds we have to remove the things in our life that are dead in order to allow new growth.

That may mean removing certain people from our life or removing ourselves from circumstances that continue to hurt us.

But it also means we have to let those that are trying to help us heal, to help. Trust the people that have been there and are ahead of you and lean on their experience to guide you through the healing process. And yes sometimes the the severest wounds scar but they don’t hurt anymore. Those scars can then be a testament to how God healed us.

Expressing Jesus

There is one body, but it has many parts. But all its many parts make up one body. It is the same with Christ.   We were all baptized by one Holy Spirit. And so we are formed into one body. It didn’t matter whether we were Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free people. We were all given the same Spirit to drink.  So the body is not made up of just one part. It has many parts.

1 Corinthians 12:12-14

Something a friend of mine taught me is that we are all different parts of the body of Jesus.

You may have heard this many times.

But he explained it that since we are all different parts, different aspects of God expressed though all of us. God is so vast that it takes all of humanity to express Him. We each reveal Him in different ways.

Some show God’s relentless love and compassion for humanity. Some show His willingness to stop everything, to show love to the poorest soul on the planet, and some show unrelenting faith by forgiving endlessly.

All you need to do is look at the many varieties of flowers or trees to see just a small glimpse of how complex God is.

All of creation cries out to glorify God and we are part of that creation meant to express Him.

We as Christians are all the body of Jesus and we have all of Him but some characteristics of Him are stronger in you then they are in me. That’s why we need each other. To be the hands and feet of Jesus together!

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Jesus Unites Us

For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face,  that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ,  in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.  I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.  For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. –Colossians 2:1-5

We are bonded together by our faith in Jesus. It knits us together, creates a common bond that surpasses all else. When we meet strangers and find out they share our faith in Jesus there is an instant connection that bonds us together.

It’s Jesus.

And He should be what brings us together, not pushes us apart. We have divided our faith up, but I can’t honestly think that is what Jesus intended.

He wants us to be one body that fights for each other, not against each other.

So instead of seeking what divides us. Lets seek what unites us.

Jesus.

And let him lead us together.

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Trust God’s Timing

Just because you don’t have what you asked God for right now, doesn’t mean he’s not going to bless you with it later.

His timing is perfect. He know what we need, when we need it.

My husband and I didn’t meet until later in our adult lives. We were both looking for our spouse for years but the right person never came along. When we did meet we realized there were many times in our lives when our lives could have intertwined but they didn’t. During the waiting time we each focused on healing us from past hurts and growing closer to Jesus. If we had met sooner we would of problem caused each other pain because neither of us was really ready to be in healthy marriage. But because we took the time to heal and come to know that complete dependence on Go is what we need. We don’t look to each other to fulfill us. We know that Jesus must be the center of our marriage and only he can fulfill us.

Trusting his timing can be hard if we focus on what we don’t have. But if we focus on what he is doing in our life right now, what we are waiting for won’t take as long as we think it will and will be better then if we’d had it when we thought we should.

What’s your foundation in the storm?

It’s in the hardest moments when our faith is tested, when we are in turmoil what we stand on is what keeps us afloat.

God is our rock, our firm foundation and if we trust Him in our hardest moments even when we feel like we’re in the depths. We can stand against all odds.

Because God is what supports us, we can walk upon the water in the midst of the storm.

What has self preservation cost you?

I find so much inspiration through movies. Different scenes and certain lines remind me of what Jesus did for us.

In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader Eustace is transformed into a dragon because of his greed, but it leaves him in a precarious situation where he can’t interact with others like he used. In the end Eustace tries to remove the scales to return to being human, but he can’t do it on his own. He needs Aslan todo it for him. To shed his tough outer shell created by the decisions that transformed him in the first place.

We all do this in life. We seek to take care of ourselves and in the process build up an armor to protect us from others. But does it really help us or hinder us from having relationships with others.

We may be protected but we are alone.

Even a dragon with his thick armor can fall prey to attack, but when we allow others in to help us and protect us we aren’t alone anymore. Having a support system is so much better then doing it all on your own.

Jesus like Alsan wants to protect us, but we first have to be willing to let him in, to let him help us shed our old habits that got us where we are in the first place.

Saul is a great example of this he tried to achieve salvation through earning it. He followed ever rule but he was callus and hard, not allowing himself to see the truth of who Jesus was, the savior he had been waiting for his whole life. He was too wrapped up in trying to protect himself and others from who he thought was a false savior to see the truth. Until Jesus revealed himself to him. Paul was then humbled by his experience with Jesus as was Eustace, they both shed their old skin to find the truth in Jesus.

What facade have you put on to protect yourself?


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What has it cost you to keep your outer shell of protection? Are you willing to pay the cost or are you ready to let Jesus to pay the cost for you and be your protector? Are you ready to not be alone anymore?

What is true BEAUTY?


He has made everything beautiful in its time.

Ecclesiastes 3:11a

Beauty is something we all seek. We seek it in others, in possessions or ourselves. But what is beauty?

Beauty comes from God. You need only look at his creation to see his beauty; the multitude and variety of flowers and trees alone shine his authorship of beauty.

So how do we attain this beauty? Is it through adornments? Or is it something else? You wouldn’t hang an earring on a flower and say you improved it. Nor do adornments make us truly more beautiful. No true beauty shines from within.

Beauty is Jesus shinging from within us as he does through all his creation.

Some of the most beautiful people I’ve ever met are not what society would deem beautiful outwardly, but they shine Jesus with all that they are, and that’s true beauty.

Let God Lead

For I, the Lord your God,
    hold your right hand;
it is I who say to you, “Fear not,
    I am the one who helps you.”

Isaiah 41:13

I’ve had a few seasons of struggling with finding intimacy with Jesus. As life changes so has my devotional time.

In one of these seasons I realized that the connection I was lacking at that time was because I wasn’t writing like I used to. Writing is part of who God has called me to be and it’s how He teaches me. It’s in that teaching that I grow closer to Him and learn more about Him.

God designed each of us and He has his own special way of connecting with each of us and revealing our identity in Him is the key to that.

We don’t need to fear Him and worry about our past neglect or inadequacies. We simply need to come to Him, hold His hand and let Him lead us.

You can’t surprise God

It’s easy to feel alone and like no one understands, because no one really knows what every moment of your life is like.

But God does…

…He knows because he is there with us whether we realize it or not. God is the only one who can and does understand. But we often feel afraid to go to Him because we’re worried about what He would think. But He already knows it all so there is really nothing we can hide from Him.

Even in knowing everything He loves us still.

We don’t have to be afraid of Him, because He is love. Nothing about God is something that we should ever fear.

Because God is love, He is joy, He is peace, He is patience, He is kind and He is good. So what about that is scary?

He is the one that we can always turn to no matter what.

So no matter what is running through your head or your heart you can’t surprise God. But you can let Him in.

Jesus name changes the atmosphere

Just the mention of Jesus name can change our whole attitude or view towards someone or something.

When we find someone who shares our same faith it brings us together and brings a smile to our faces. To have the opportunity to talk to someone about the one who changed our life.

We need to hold on to that and remember that there is the power in the name of Jesus.

Why do we think we don’t belong in church?

In the movie I Can Only Imagine Bart Millard invites his dad to go to church with him and his dad replies that “he doesn’t belong in church.”

This broke my heart and began to make me think how often this is our reason for not inviting people to church or that we’ve given ourselves.

But this is a misconception. The church is not four walls or an organization, the people are the church. Jesus destroyed the temple and rebuilt it in us. We are the temple. Jesus is inside us.

Saying that we don’t belong in church is true. We don’t deserve to have Jesus live inside us, none of us do. But that is the beauty of his sacrifice we don’t deserve it but he gives us the free gift of having him live inside us, not by earning it but by Jesus sacrifice for us he makes the way for us to be the church.

This means that when we encounter people we are bringing the church to them.

The next time you meet someone and think “I want to bring them to church.” Remember you already have. You’re right there in front of them (you are the church), tell them what Jesus has done for you and ask them if they would like him to do the same for them.

Church is anywhere we are, we don’t have to wait for Sunday or the right service. Jesus is in us all day every day and he wants all his children to know him.

Once you have introduced them to Jesus, then invite them to the gathering of other Christians.

~May all your interactions with others reflect Jesus

Jesus Gives Us a Clean Slate

That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.  You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds;  and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Ephesians 4:20-24

How many times have you wished you could have a fresh start, a clean slate?

You can, when you accept Jesus sacrifice you get a clean slate, he wipes away all your past mistakes and starts you fresh and the best part is you an have a fresh start everyday.

From the moment you choose to follow Jesus, you can have a fresh start.

Jesus died so that we would not have to be bogged down by your past mistakes. So that we wouldn’t have to feel guilt, shame and condemnation.

He came to set us free.

Jesus makes us new in him. We die to our old ways, our old habits and our old mindset and take on his mind.

You don’t have to be what you used to be you don’t have to be restrained to your past you can be set free.

If you choose him!

You are valued

Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, and Mark the cousin of Barnabas (concerning whom you have received instructions—if he comes to you, welcome him),  and Jesus who is called Justus. These are the only men of the circumcision among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me.  Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.  For I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis.  Luke the beloved physician greets you, as does Demas.  Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house.

Colossians 4:10-15

Each believer in Jesus has a part to play, each of us have something to share and to give, everyone of us is valuable. God uses the body as analogy for the body of believers because each part has a unique and different part in a fully functioning body.

We each are a part of Jesus and we each reveal him in different ways, and when we don’t show Jesus through us then we miss a part of him. He is so complex that it takes all o humanity to reveal him.

I am not called to do what he has chosen you to do and and you are not called to do what he has called me to do. He uses each of us in different and unique ways.

Whenever I encounter someone who I may not agree with or don’t get along with. I ask God to show me how he sees them, who he made them to be, and he changes my heart for them. He shows me his love for them and how he sees them.

When God started me on this journey of writing, I starting by writing my story and what he had done for me, but then he asked me to write his story. To do this I needed a heart for people which I did not have then. But over time he has developed that in me. To see each person as valuable and having great potential in his body. Because that’s how he sees each of us, as valuable.

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No one is beyond

No one is beyond redemption. No one is beyond forgiveness. No one is so lost that God doesn’t want them. None of us are beyond hope. God always want us. He loves us. He always seeks us.

He is constantly in pursuit of each and ever one of us. He pursues us on our best day and at our worst moment, seeking relationship with us in every moment.

God is always with us if we will just let Him in.

Lead like Jesus

Leadership can be daunting, overwhelming and a lot of pressure depending on how you do it.

Jesus lead as a servant, counting himself above nothing. He looked to Father God for every step of His path. If even He was humble enough to let God lead, how can we do anything else?

God designed each and everyone of us. He knows what He created us for and how to achieve His plan.

We need to stop trying to figure our how we are going to do everything and let God lead.

Are you listening?

Watching the movie Brave the other night reminded me of how important listening is in relationships. If we just talk at each other and never listen, we miss what the other person needs and who they are.

It’s the same with our relationship with God, we can talk at God all day but if we don’t listen for the response we will never know or understand him.

Love is meant to GROW

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight

Philippians 1:9 NIV

We should always be growing in our relationships with God and with others. It’s when we stop that we feel stuck or stagnant. We should fall head over heels in love more and more as time goes by.

Marriage is not the end its the beginning of a beautiful journey of discovery together.

When we begin our relationship with God we don’t all the sudden know everything about him. We still have to build a relationship. And as we learn about him we grow to love him more.

Photo by Nikola Jovanovic on Unsplash

It’s the same with our spouses. Yes, we got to know each other before we got married and that why we got married. But we have to continue that adventure of knowing each others.

Because love grows.

We should be overjoyed to learn new thing about God, because we love him. Just as we should in marriage. We should be learning more and more about each other and falling deeper in love with each other.

That’s why God uses marriage as an example of his relationship with us. Both relationships are supposed to be deep, intimate and always growing.

Speak Out

Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.

Philippians 3:1

You might have noticed a lot of my posts repeat some of the same messages. That’s because my passion is for you to have a deep intimate relationship with God and for him to use you to share the same work he has done in you and me, with others.

Paul the author of Philippians was repetitive in his teachings because he was passionate about what he taught, as am I.

What God has done for me in my life I could never repay and he still continues to shower me with his love everyday. As I know he wants to do the same for you too.

Don’t worry about sounding like a broken record when you are sharing his love with others. Simply share what the Holy Spirit leads you to, and let the burden he has placed in your heart speak out through your words and actions as you share.

Love and acceptance

People do a lot for acceptance. We are all easily influenced when we are searching for acceptance. It’s easy for us to make choices we normally wouldn’t on our own when surrounded by others, others that want us to be like them just for them to accept us.

We can feel welcomed and accepted by a group initially but as time goes by those people will influence who we are, we can make compromises to maintain or strengthen those relationships. 

But we if we change who we are, just to be loved and accepted there will always be something in us that is searching for that unconditional acceptance.

Jesus is that unconditional acceptance. He loves us whether we love him or not. He made us and he knows how to fulfill us.

I know from experience. I tried to fill that need for acceptance with the approval of others and never found peace, fulfillment, contentment or unconditional love.

Only once I gave my life to Jesus did I find what I had been looking for. In the moment that I was at my worst, he was at his best. I didn’t have to try to do or be anything he just surrounded me with his love.

We all have that same opportunity anywhere, any time, at any moment.

Give God a chance to show you his unconditional love.

Rest in a crumbling world

Even when it feels like the world is crumbling down around us. God is still God and God is still good. He is the one thing that we can count on to always be there for us. To always be all we ever need.

So when you feel like your world is crumbling, retreat into his presence. Seek him and let him be your all and your everything. Let him bear all the burden and find rest and peace in him.

Because he will never disappoint us if we seek him and he will never let us fall when we put our trust in him.

Jesus Plan for Us is Worth the Wait

It’s easy to be seduced by getting what you want instantly, instead of waiting for it.

In The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Edmond is drawn in by the witch when she says that she will give him what he wants if he just brings her what she wants.

But if Edmond had waited just a little longer Aslan would have given him everything he had asked for and more.

Sometimes we get so wrapped up in what we want and when we want it that we make compromises and sacrifices we never needed to if we would just wait.

Jesus has so much for us, to bless us, lift us up and love us. But it’s his love for us that makes us wait for the things we want sometimes, because he knows when each blessing is best for us.

If we get everything we want right when we want it, we will over indulge or use it all and still want more, like Edmond with the Turkish Delight the witch gave him. He ate it all quickly and wanted more, but later felt sick because he didn’t appreciate the gift.

Jesus knows what we need and when we need it. We just have to wait for his timing.


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Gentleness takes strength

What do you desire? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love and a spirit of gentleness?

1 Corinthians 4:21

How would you like someone to approach you about anything in life? With a stick ready to beat you into submission or with love and gentleness. I think we would all choose the later. No one wants to be beaten up. So why do we see gentleness and love as a weakness?

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Its easy to let your emotions run away, but it takes self control to choose to be kind, loving and gentle.

Some of the strongest people I know are the ones that are the most willing to open up and share their mistakes and failures along with their victories.

Gentleness is being humble enough to focus on the needs of others instead of trying to boast or promote yourself; it takes strength to choose others above yourself.

What do you draw out in others?

To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father.

Colossians 1:2

Paul greets the people of Collassae and immediately reminds them of their identity in Jesus. That they are God’s holy people and that gives them God’s grace and because of his grace they have peace.

We should be the same when we see greet other brothers and sisters in the faith. We should see them as God sees them as his kids. As loved, forgiven and made new in Jesus. We should be encouraging each other to be who God created us to be. So that when we see others distressed we can remind them that God’s grace gives them peace and help them to refocus there attention on who God made them to be instead of their problems.

When we spend our time with other believers, trying to point out their problems instead of the solution. It’s like poking a wound. Instead of trying to help. All we are doing is drawing attention to it and making it hurt worse.

But when we direct others to being made new in Jesus, it like applying ointment to the wound, promoting healing.

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When we feel lost

When we’re at a loss and we don’t know what to do, we can always turn to God. He is the creator of the universe he created us and he knows us. He knows the little things that bring a smile to our faces and the little things that can change our whole mood.

But we have to turn to him in those moments when we get in a funk and don’t know what to do, where to turn or just don’t want to keep doing what we’re doing.

It’s that knowledge of us that he uses to comfort us, bring us joy and hope and remind us that we matter and that we are loved.

Never Alone in the Valley

It’s easy to feel alone in our struggles, but we never are when we have Jesus. He’s always there with us being all that we need even in our lowest lows God is with us. All we need is to turn to him.

He teaches us so much in our struggles. He shows us what is really important and the value or lack of value in the things of this world.

Jesus said we will have struggles but he has overcome them. Since he is always with us, we can always overcome them, because he has overcome them.

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

Claim Your Identity

The enemy will taunt us with our worst fears to discourage us from becoming who God has intended us to be.

The Return of the King movie depicts this when Aragon uses the seeing stone to fight Sauron by claiming his identity as the heir to the throne. Sauron replies by trying to scare him with the death of Arwen.

The enemy’s biggest weapon is fear. Fear of what if, of what might happen. But you can’t put your trust or your faith in what if.

You can put your faith in Jesus and draw your strength from your identity in him.

The enemy can’t have a hold on you, if you don’t let him.

We fight fear with truth. The enemy says you are ugly, God says you are beautiful. The enemy says you are weak, God says he will be your strength.

The truth of who God has made us to be is our strongest weapon, but we have to know it to use it.

When we die to our selfish desires and let Jesus live through us we become like him. Read the scriptures about Jesus, know who he is and what he said and did. Isaiah 61 is one of my favorite passage describing what Jesus came to do and be. Read it and let the Holy Spirit teach you who he made you to be in Jesus.

Let faith be bigger than your fear

If we let fear control us we would never do anything, because we would always be afraid of something going wrong, even if its the smallest detail. But when we put our faith into something it changes things.

We do it every day, we have faith that a bridge will stay up when we drive over it, we have faith that there will be water when we turn on the faucet. We do things everyday that require faith.

Faith is simply complete trust or confidence in someone or something.

So when we put our trust or our faith in God its because we are confident in him, we know him and therefore know we can trust him.

God has never let me down and I know he never will. That’s what I put my faith in. So when we feel fear creeping in, we need to remember who’s with us and in us, the creator of the universe and he’s got this.

Serve like Jesus

Servants, obey in all things those who are your masters according to the flesh, not just when they are looking, as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God. And whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord, and not for men,  knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.

Colossians 3:22-24

Some may think these verses seem archaic, but this passage is really just about work ethic.

We as believers in Jesus are to work as He did; to serve others and give the best of ourselves and let God provide for our needs.

When we work to serve others geniuenly and not out of obligation or what we can get from it, God blesses us.

It’s when we try to work for our needs, our wants, and only for what we can get out of it; that we receive only what we worked for. But when we do our best work for others; God blesses us.

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Walking on Water

Unknown territory can be scary. When God asks us to venture where we’ve never been or do something new it can be intimidating.

That’s where faith comes in. When we know God, we know His character, we know who He is, we know that we can trust Him.

Jesus asked Peter to get out of the boat and to walk out on the water to Him. Something that we all would have a hard time doing. But he knew Jesus and he knew that if Jesus told him to take that step of faith that He would provide all he needed to do what Jesus asked of him.

It was only when Peter changed his focus from Jesus to the storm around him that he began to sink. Fixing his eyes back on Jesus brought him back upon the water.

What has Jesus asked you to take a step of faith in? Have you taken it and lost your way. Fix your eyes back on Him, and trust that He will provide what you need to walk on the water with Him.

Our stories

Every year I post my story (my testimony) of how God changed my life because I know it reaches people, it shows them they are not alone and that God can change their story too. But this year I want to hear your stories of how God changed your life.

Because we each have a story and everyone’s is important and can make a difference in the the life of others. Please share your story in the comments or post it on Social media and share what God has done in your life.

What influences YOU?

It’ amazing the difference of negative influences on our lives verse positive influences.

If we let people tell us lies and influence our every decision.

We can be old and almost dead if we let the wrong person speak into our lives. Like Grimmer Wormtongue with King Theoden in Lord of the Rings: the Two Towers. 

I’m sure that King Theoden’s demise was slow and over time as he let Grimmer lie to him about his friends and family, slowly till the point where Grimmer was making all his decisions for him.

We can become like this too, if we allow the wrong influences to be the predominate voice in or lives.

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But that doesn’t have to be true of us.

We can choose who we allow to have influence over us. We have a choice of who we listen too, what we watch and how we let those things affect us.

If we let the Holy Spirit be the predominate influence in our lives. He is always with us and always has something encouraging and uplifting to say. Even moments when he correct us can be encouraging.

A few years ago when my now husband and I ere first dating. I was in a book store and the Holy Spirit corrected me in how I was acting towards my him.

That moment was one of the most loving and intimate moments I have ever had with God. Even His correction is loving.

Trust God.

Listen to the Holy Spirit about the influences in your life and trust that if He asks you to give something up that He has something even better to replace it.

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Don’t forget to enjoy the journey

Whether you put yourself where you’re at or God put you there don’t forget to stop look up and enjoy what’s around you. Often we become so focused on the end goal that we forget to enjoy how we got there. The journey is just as important.

Raising kids is a perfect example. If you just focus on getting them to eighteen and out of the house you will miss everything. But if we enjoy each moment with them, every smile and laugh, watching them learn and truly cherishing them. We will have joy each day, just by watching them grow.

That doesn’t mean their won’t be hard times or they wont make mistakes, but its those moments of joy that get you through the hard times and make it worth fighting through them.

What if God took that approach? To just get it over and done with, we wouldn’t be here. We are all God’s children and he cherishes each moment with us. He’s always there ready to teach us, help us and love us through each moment of each day. We just have to learn to enjoy the journey with him.

God’s word is a feast for the soul

And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea.

Colossians 4:16

Sharing what God teaches us with others is how we grow. We are meant to share with each other. When we read the word of God we should be getting something out of it, it is a feast for our souls. Even if we read the same verse for an entire year God will still teach us through that verse or if we feast on a whole book or chapter He can teach us just as much through a verse as He does the whole Bible if we let him.

That’s the miracle that He is, He can sustain us on little or a lot, but we must always be looking to learn and to grow. It’s not about quantity but about quality.

What are we learning from? What we are trying to absorb? If we read just to read and don’t understand is it really helping us?

Seek God, ask Him for a verse or a chapter or a book and read it till He tells you to move on. Fall in love with the word of God and let it feed your soul.

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My will or HIS

Everything in life can fail and falter, but the one thing we can always count on and depend on is God, because he doesn’t change. He’s the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. He is always loving, always there and always dependable.

He’s always on time and always work things out for good.

He is the one thing in life that we can count on 100%.

It’s us that falter or wavier, that grow impatient or try to do things in our own time or our own way. But when we depend on God and follow his lead we will have no regret.

Sacrifice and Conversation

What sacrifices are you willing to make for the gospel? Are you willing to sell all that you own and move half way around the world to share the good news. Thousands of missionaries around the world have done just that. They have uprooted there families and moved to reach people groups that God has laid on their hearts to reach.

Why are so many willing to make this kind of sacrifice. Because the good news changes you. It gives you a second chance and a third and a fourth. The good news is that Jesus came to sacrifice his life for us so that everyone in all of humanity could be forgiven. We sacrifice because he sacrificed, because the he gift he gives is unmatched.

His forgiveness gives us the opportunity to have relationship with him every moment of every day. A line of He Lives by Nicole C. Mullen says “I talked with him this morning” because she did, because I did. Having a relationship with Jesus is accepting his sacrifice and forgiveness. This relationship lets us talk with God every moment of everyday. We just have to listen.

Sometimes he’ll just remind you of the little things in life like to stop and smell the roses, sometimes the big thing in life like asking you to move half way around the word. Whether it’s big or its small you have to talk to him to know. You can’t build a relationship without conversation. The faith to do the big things comes from the days of talking about the little things.

Start the conversation, read your bible and ask him to explain a verse you don’t understand, watch a Christian movie (try “End of the Spear“) and ask him to teach you something through it, take a walk and asks him about his creation, watch your kids play and ask him to teach you something about them.

Talk to God you never know what he might say.

Other Believers

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,

To all God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:

 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me.  God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

 It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill.  The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel.  The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains.  But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.

Yes, and I will continue to rejoice –Phillipians 1:1-11, 15-18

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The book of Philippians is a letter written to the believers in Philippi. Paul addresses them as old friends saying how he longs for them and prays for them.

This reminds me of the church community I grew up in. Even though we live far from them now I still feel a connection to them and always will. I still care for them deeply, pray for them and desire for them to grow closer to Jesus. Just as Paul does for the church in Philippi.

This is how we should feel about all believers. 

When we meet other believers there is an instant bond, a connection we feel when we meet that binds us together. 

There are so many things that divide us as believers, but shouldn’t we all have the same prayer as Paul for all believers.

The prayer that we all grow closer to Jesus.

Jesus>me

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

1 Peter 5:6-7

In our current time of social media and constant self promotion it can be hard to be humble.

We can be so worried about how many likes, shares and followers we get that we can lose sight of who and what we represent. As believers in Jesus we are meant to shine Him to others, not ourselves. And we can be discouraged when even our posts about Him get little to no traffic.

But we must remember that what we write/post/share for Jesus, isn’t about us, it’s about Him.  And He will use it, even if we reach just one person with what we share, it could be that one thing that they needed. We may never know the impact we have made.

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Just need more Jesus

For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 

Colossians 1:9

We as Christians can be very judgmental. We see people living life without God and immediately judge them; we even judge each other.

But we need to remember that we all came to Jesus because we needed him. None of us are perfect. Jesus sacrifice covered all our wrong doings and it covers all theirs too.

Instead of judging people we need to see them as Jesus sees them. That He is greater than all they’ve done, all we’ve done and no challenge is too great for Him.

Jesus is the one who changed us and made us who we are and makes us who we are becoming. Everyone is just in a different place in their relationship with Jesus. Some of us are still learning to trust Him, some are still learning to love Him and some don’t even know Him.

The next time you catch yourself being judgmental of anyone. Remember…

they just need more Jesus.

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We are never beyond God’s love

God’s love can change our worst moment, a bad mood or the direst of circumstances. Just by allowing him to shift our perspective. If the apostle Paul can worship in prison and Steven can forgive those that are stoning him. Shifting our focus to God can change the atmosphere, our perspective and our attitude. Fix our eyes on Jesus isn’t always about changing where we are at rather its changing our focus onto him.

So when we feel lost or stuck, unwanted or unworthy we can always turn to Jesus. No matter how long its been, how bad we feel, regardless of what is around us, his perspective can change it all.

So ask Jesus: What do you want to be for me now? How do you see this?

These are some of my favorite questions to ask God. Because I know I can always turn to him; trust him.

It’s easy for us to get into moments where we think we aren’t worthy to talk to him or to go to him. But he always wants to talk to us, be there for us and love us. He sees us at our worst moments and stills says:

I love you, come to me.

We can’t earn his love, favor or grace, but he gives it to us freely. We just have to allow him in, allow his love to wash over us, to change our view, our attitude and our perspective.