Month: May 2017

Waiting

Hey there and happy Monday! Is that a thing? I know Mondays can be a drag for most of us, but I hope you had a good one this week. I can’t complain myself. I started out pretty slow, but I ended up making some time to spend in the Word this evening..and here I sit.

Waiting on the Lord. There are countless verses in the Bible that encourage us to do so. In Psalm 27:13-14, David said, “I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” I have found that waiting on the Lord always pays off. He is faithful to his Word.

Sometimes, I don’t even know what I am waiting for. Right now, I think it is an answer. I do not feel overwhelming confusion; I am at peace. I know (from experience doing the opposite), the best thing to do is wait on the Lord. However, my heart is expectant and when I begin to solely focus on that answer I think I may be waiting for, I experience impatience. Serious impatience. I know it is coming, but I can’t see anything else in the meantime.

It is important to maintain vision and await promise. It is important to trust God through the wilderness in order to reach the Promiseland. But, we must be careful not to sacrifice the time in the wilderness because we are solely focused on the promise. Remember, first God, then the desires of our heart (Psalm 37:4).

Friends, there are miracles along the way. There is rich communion along the way; gifts and blessings of knowledge and relationship. Moses awaited the Promiseland, but he was still mindful of the blessing in the manna (see Exodus 16). Be mindful of God in the moment. He is not just God of the wonderful future and the ancient past; he is God in this moment.

One definition of worship according to Merriam Webster is devotion to an object of esteem. I don’t want the time gap of waiting to become the thing I worship; the thing that consumes me, that I devote all my energy and thought to. But, how? How do we stay expectant and eager for God’s promise but also mindful of His presence in the waiting?

I found a few practical tips in the Word that I want us to try to apply together, and I listed them here with some scripture to back it up:

  • Read the Word
    • Psalm 130: 5- I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.
    • Psalm 119:105- Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.
  • Maintain a heart of thanksgiving
    • Psalm 95:2- Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.
    • Philippians 4:6-Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
  • View the world through a filter of faith
    • Matthew 18:3- And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (childlike faith)
    • 2 Corinthians 5:7- For we live by faith, not by sight.

James 1:12 reads, “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.” We don’t only have that crown of life in the Promiseland; we are royalty now, bought by the blood of Christ, so we get to experience life (peace, joy, and hope) along the way!

So, what do you say? Let’s believe God for the answers and the promises: that financial miracle, the dream job, that Godly spouse, the healing, the salvation of a child. But, in the meantime, as we wait in faith, let’s enjoy God in the waiting.

 

Submit

Good morning! The weekend is here again. I am so excited! How will you be spending yours? I hope you will be honoring the beautiful mothers in your life; whether they are yours or someone else’s that inspire you. I adore my mama, and all of the amazing women that have played a mentor role for me throughout my life. You rock Moms!

So today we are going to be spending most of our time in 1 Corinthians. When you get some time today, please read 1 Corinthians 18-31. That will give you more meat backing up the passage we are about to chew on.

In 1 Corinthians 1:25, Paul writes, “For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.” Paul is explaining here that God, the Creator of all things, has wisdom and strength far beyond what we as man are capable of. Meaning he has ability far beyond what we are capable of. You see, we are limited on this earth by time, space, age, mortality, etc. God is not.

Pride is a funny thing. If you are like me, when you think of pride you may think of arrogance or boastfulness. Two qualities that I don’t think I necessarily possess. So, I don’t struggle with pride, right? Wrong. Pride is responsible for me thinking I can take matters into my own hands and handle them better than God. Pride is the foundation of this conversation that I have regularly: “Lord, I know this will not play out this way because it just is not possible or logical. Trust me.”

Thank you Jesus for your Word that brings truth to my attention and forgive me of my pride. I am so thankful that it is not my ability that I need to lean on. God has made so many “impossible” things possible in my life. If you reflect for a bit, I am sure you can think of some things he has made possible in yours as well.

I have never related so much to Paul than I did when I read this passage today: “I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power (1 Corinthians 2:3-5)”. That is how I feel about this blog. I submitted this to God, and he pushed beyond my limits for his glory. So, why am I not eager to submit every other aspect of my life? Pride.

Holy Spirit, shower us in wisdom today! Friends, I hope you will join me in this challenge: Let’s step back, release control and let God be God. His ability is far beyond ours. We do not have to know how the situation will play out, because he does. If we will just let him move, we can rest knowing it is for our good and it will be greater than what we could have orchestrated ourselves.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,”declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9

Release control, let God be God, and watch what a mighty God we serve!

Together

Good morning and happy Monday! I hope you had a fun filled, relaxing weekend. I traveled this weekend so I am still trying to get things in gear this morning, as I imagine most of us are on a Monday.

I want to start by saying thank you to all of you for taking this journey with me. I have been absolutely overwhelmed with the love and support I have received from so many people! I know God is faithful, and I know I should not be surprised when he follows through, but I admittedly am floored at the way he has blessed me through this blog.

That being said, I do apologize that it has been over a week since I last wrote. To be honest, the enemy has hit me hard this week. As exciting as this platform is for me, it also scares me. This post is going to sound a little more like a journal entry, but I feel prompted to share this so I am going to be obedient. I know this is a ministry platform, and I know that I am an unlikely person to have one of those.  After all, the biblical character that I most relate to when it comes to my relationship with the Father is Gomer (you can find her story in Hosea). However, our God loves using unlikely people. So, I hope the unlikeliness of me doing this is another piece of evidence of God’s faithfulness and limitless power.

When I sat down Wednesday night, determined to write, nothing came. I read and prayed, and nothing came. I believe it was the distraction of fear circling in my mind as it had been since last weekend. I gave up, came home (from my little spot in the coffee shop I usually write from), and began packing for my trip. Then, it hit me. An anxiety attack. I do not want to give the enemy foothold by explaining the details of what that involves, because that is not the climax of this story. But know, this one was more than just a mental challenge, it was spiritual warfare.

I tried calming down. I prayed and tried talking myself out of it. I couldn’t get ahold of myself. So, I finally decided to call my mother. I didn’t really want to because I knew she would worry and I was embarrassed that I was experiencing this after coming so far in my walk with Christ recently. However, I thought maybe just talking with her could distract me in order for me to come out of this arrest. She picked up and heard my voice shaking on the other end of the line. Then, she began to pray.

Y’all.. I am so thankful for a praying mama. I do not say that to boast, because I understand that it is a rare gift from the Lord that not everyone gets to experience, but I am so thankful that God has given her to me.

As she began to pray, the Holy Spirit communicated directly to me through her. Everything she said were things I was thinking and holding in the depth of my heart that I had not shared with anyone. But as she prayed, I felt the Holy Spirit fighting back in this battle over my mind. As she kept praying, I laid on the floor and the symptoms began to alleviate. A sweet peace rested on me and I experienced moments of what imagine it will feel like in heaven when we have no worry or pain. Thank you, Jesus.

Friends, we need each other. Genesis 2:18 says, “The Lord God said, “It is not good for man to be alone.” I want you to know that God has used you to confirm that I am walking down the right path in this. He used my mother as a vessel for the Holy Spirit to speak in the way that commanded my attention. We are created for relationship. First for relationship with the Father, then with each other. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these” Mark 12:30-31. We are not meant to walk through life alone. God wants us to lean on and learn from each other.

Please don’t misunderstand that I am encouraging you to seek counsel with man first. Always take things to the Father, first. But, allow God to bless you with other people to do life with. Community is so important.

“For where two or three gather in My name, there I am with them.” Matthew 18:20

My prayer for you today is that you have multiple relationships in your life that encourage spiritual health. If you are struggling thinking of one, pray that God brings someone into your life. I will stand in agreement with you, and in the meantime, please do not hesitate to reach out to me. I love all of you and I am thankful for each of you.