Tag: God

Think on Purpose

Anyone an over thinker? Both of my hands are raised.

Anyone run down various rabbit trails in your mind? Again, both hands are raised.

I started my card business on September 1 (http://goGoddesigns.myshopify.com) and was very focused for about 10 days.

But then life happened – nationally, locally, within family – and I became distracted and quite sullen.

I found myself escaping to the lure of the scroll. I told myself I was learning. But I was actually escaping and avoiding.

I was asking the big questions – why, how, what, who…. But I wasn’t talking to the One who knows the answers. I was avoiding Him too.

I was invited to a worship night. I didn’t want to go. I had enough of people. But I knew I needed to.

I reminded myself that worship wasn’t about how I was feeling. Worship was about who my God is.

And He is worthy.

After making my joyful noises and listening to others speak of Jesus, I was refreshed. I spent time in His presence. He held my hand.

A couple of nights later, it was small group time. Again, I didn’t want to go. But I knew I needed to.

Being around people who are like minded and who are discussing Jesus is exactly what I needed. Time and time again, we said we need to focus our thoughts (think on purpose), determine what lies we are believing, and replace those with God’s truth.

How many times have I believed the lie that I can do things alone. I’m better off without people. I don’t need anyone. Or, I’m not good enough for God to love me so why talk with Him?

Stupid defeated enemy. He knows he can’t keep me out of heaven. His goal, however, is to make me ineffective here on earth.

When you find yourself escaping or avoiding, stop! Think on purpose! What lies are you believing? What truth do you need to remind yourself of?

Run TO Him – not away from Him. He is the Comforter. He is the Truth.

Choices lead and feelings follow. Choose to read, hear and accept His Word and His Truth.

Think on purpose!

Thankful

I don’t believe Thanksgiving is just a season. We should constantly be in a mind of giving thanks.

We all have an abundance of opportunities each day to be grateful. It could be the kind clerk behind the counter. It could be the honest mechanic who will fix the actual problem with your vehicle. It could also be the teacher who enjoys his pupils. Or it could be the nurse who enjoys taking care of her patients.

There are many reasons to be thankful for people. There are many reasons to be thankful for situations also.

Our youngest son was involved in a head on vehicle accident yesterday morning. We have much to be thankful for.

‘Somehow’ the paramedics and state troopers were notified. There was special equipment to extricate everyone from the vehicle. There were plenty of emergency vehicles to transport people to multiple facilities.

They were able to contact his fiancé and she contacted his dad. Tim was already in town and only had a 15 minute drive to the hospital instead of 30 minutes. After multiple nights of little sleep, the night before the accident, Tim and I both slept soundly.

Tim was able to witness the love his fiancé has for our son. She wouldn’t leave his side. The hospital was conducting a mass casualty drill during this time so there were many employees available to help assess the injuries. Ben’s head, chest and abdomen were clear. He has a cast on his arm and a splint on his finger.

Many lives changed yesterday morning because of the accident – most I will never know of. We have much to be thankful for. God, you are good. All the time. I don’t understand but I trust You. Help us to be grateful even in the hard times.

God is Unable

Yes, that felt strange even as I typed the words.

God is God and is able to do anything and everything. But, is He really?

He forms life, created the world, provided salvation for all who believe. Jesus lived a sinless life on earth. The Holy Spirit lives inside His children.

God makes it rain on the just and unjust. He makes the sun bright and the earth far enough away not to ignite.

Yes, He is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,” according to Ephesians 3: 20.

However, God is unable to go against His nature or His character.

God is good. All the time. And all the time, God is good.

Not that God is limited by time, of course. But, if He is always good, He cannot NOT be good. (Yes, that hurts my brain too.)

Psalm 92:15 states there is no wickedness in Him.

I don’t know the answer to all of your questions. If God is good, then why are we remembering the horrific acts of 9.11.2001? If God is good, why were there horrific acts of violence this week against people NOT being horrific?

God has emotions and He is with us when we are hurting, confused, sad and angry. Please take your questions, concerns, and anger to Him. He is a big God.

As David wrote, “But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you.” (Psalm 39:7)

Again, I don’t understand, Lord. But I trust in You. That phrase is on repeat in my head.

God is good. All the time. And all the time, God is good.
    

25 Years in the Making

More or less.

When you finally breathe life into something you’ve thought about and dreamed about for so many years, it’s a bit surreal.

Many years ago, a friend and I would take a greeting card and write a Bible verse inside with a note to encourage the recipient to add a verse and send it to someone else. It was fun when the cards circled back to us and were full of different verses.

People enjoyed getting real mail. And they enjoyed reading positive words. People still do. With that in mind, I finally launched Go God Designs. (http://goGoddesigns.myshopify.com)

Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue….” Proverbs 12:18 says, “The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”

Words matter. We can all remember the feelings of hurt and rejection. We have felt abandonment and pure hatred when someone said what they said or texted what they thought.

Sometimes, we replay those words in our minds. That is, sometimes we speak the horrible words someone else said to us over ourselves. Stop it!

We need to stop speaking death over ourselves. We need to stop speaking death to others.

My prayer is that when people read the words of these cards, they will remember who they are. I hope they will also remember whose they are. I pray they will brighten someone’s day and refocus them towards Jesus.

Send them anonymously or write a personal note. Stash it in someone’s notebook or leave it on a seat addressed as simply “For You!” Post it on your fridge or bathroom mirror.

25 years (or so) is a long time to dream. But I am so very thankful to the Lord for helping me every step of the way. So very thankful.

Lies. All lies.

The devil, our enemy, has one goal. Since he knows our salvation is secure, his goal is to make us ineffective while we are alive. If we don’t promote the Gospel and point people to Christ…if we aren’t unapologetically enthusiastic about Jesus and what He has done for us through the cross…if we aren’t seen as different from the world…the enemy has won the battle. (He still loses the big one.)

His mission is to kill, steal and destroy. He does this through lies. Jesus called him the father of lies (John 8:44.) I know this to be true. And yet, I have believed the lies for many years.

I had friends throughout school and college but when I moved, I didn’t really keep in touch. I am an introvert and used that to agree with the enemy that I didn’t need relationships. I was okay on my own. (Lie #1)

I married Tim and three teenagers. I rarely spoke life over them because I was convinced that I didn’t know what I was saying (#2) because I didn’t have any biological children.

When we would attend church, I would walk quickly by people with my head down. I would busy myself with tasks and not engage. I had nothing to offer people. (#3)

If people knew me and knew what I had done (or didn’t do) or what I said or what music I listened to or what cuss word I said, they wouldn’t want to know me. (#4) This was my lot in life – to be mediocre (#4) and to work through the condemnation (#5) that God had for me.

At our first small group in Highlands, people were hugging each other and smiling. I hated small talk and would disappear or busy myself with my phone. I could always appear pious with a Bible in my hand.

I asked one of the ladies in the group if I was going to have to become a hugger to stay in the group. I don’t like that, I said. That’s not me. She came very close to my face (all up in my personal space) and said, “I will pray for you.” Oh my goodness! I wanted to run far far away.

But I know that she did. Things didn’t shift overnight. But they did shift.

The Lord revealed to me the lies that I had believed. I found who I was in Christ and who He created me to be. Here is the truth.

I am God’s child. (John 1:12) I am complete in Christ. (Colossians 2:10) I am free from condemnation. (Romans 8:1-2) I am created in His image. (Genesis 1:27) I have a future that is good and was planned by my Creator. (Jeremiah 29:11) And another BIG one – Jesus came so that I (and you) could have life – an abundant, amazing life. Or, as The Message paraphrase states, more and better life than (I) ever dreamed of. (John 10:10)

Think on purpose the TRUTH about who you are in Christ. In Him is your confidence. This is truth. And the truth will set you free. (John 8:32.)

(originally posted August 2022)

Let me tell you about…

When was the last time you read a good book? Saw a great movie? Ate at a great restaurant? Heard some wonderful music?

Did you tell anyone? Did you post on your social media?

Probably so. When something is favorable or enjoyable, we tend to let others know – whether they ask or not.

Now, did you have a bad experience with customer service, the doctor’s office or in traffic? Did you share that too?

What is the motivation you have when sharing with others? Is it to impart wisdom or to complain or to throw shade on someone who irritated you?

Today, I’d like to brag on my heavenly Father. He is a good Father who longs to bless His children. Do you ask Him for favor?

It really feels unnatural to me to ask God to bless me. Blessings for you? Sure, no problem. But to ask for blessing and favor for myself, somehow seems arrogant.

But – He owns everything. Everything flows from Him. So if I ask for blessing, it’s not like He can’t bless you too. He has everything!

So I have asked for blessing regularly. It’s a bit awkward at first but it’s been fun to see how He shows up.

Tim and I were able to get away for a few days and I asked for favor every day. Let me hit a couple of recent highlights:

  • the trip was paid for in cash – before we left
  • Tim was able to unplug from work on the trip down
  • car was parked in the shade
  • the weather was magnificent
  • the Blue Angels were flying home to Pensacola and they buzzed our beach. They flew directly over the neighboring condo.
  • Blue Angels practiced and we sat in the front row – no major sunburn
  • we saw dolphins everyday
  • our kids were unexpectedly blessed financially
  • mom had doctor appointments while we were gone and family and friends went with her. She was shown kindness and favor during the appointments.

We give God praise for all of this and more. He is not a slot machine or a magic genie. But He is a good Father who knows what is best for His kids.

He knows what is going on in our lives. He knows the situations that need solutions. We have many questions and He has all of the answers.

Thank you, Lord, that we can come to You. We trust You.

“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” Numbers 6:24-26 (NIV)

Prideful Humility

When I was in second grade, we were given coloring sheets. I diligently colored and did my best to stay inside the lines. I am sure my colors were rather safe and predictable. My grass was always green and the sky was always blue.

I used to comment on my work, “Oh, I don’t think it looks as good as yours. I didn’t do my best work.”

It was a surefire way to get a compliment! I did that week after week. Oh, the praise always lifted my mood.

It wasn’t long before that all changed. One day, I said, “Oh, I really don’t think this is very good.” And my friend responded with a resounding, “You’re right. It’s not.”

Well, the jig was up. No longer did I try to manipulate compliments from my classmates.

We are taught to be confident in our abilities but shouldn’t be proud.

We enjoy it when people need our specific talent or savor a wonderfully prepared meal from our own kitchen. We appreciate the ‘Atta-boy’ or ‘Atta-girl’ from a boss or coach. And then there are some who command thunderous applause in huge stadiums.

But how do you actually receive a compliment and not become prideful? How do you walk in the confidence of your abilities but still get your head through the doorway? How do you not become prideful of how humble you are?

I think all of those questions have the same answer.

Everything we have comes from God, our Creator. He gave us the strengths and skills. He gave us the ability to create, learn and build.

So we accept the compliment and give praise to the one who made that possible.

We walk in the confidence of who God says we are – not in our own strength. We use our work, strengths, abilities, good deeds to point others to Christ, not ourselves.

Everything – all of it – comes from Him. We keep our eyes fixed on Him. We find our worth in Him. We have His strength and our confidence is in Him.

Thank you, Jesus.

Prayer

Our church has 21 Days of Prayer in both January and August. On weekdays it starts at 6 am.

It is amazing to see a line of cars pulling into the church parking lot shortly before 6 am. I hope that never becomes too familiar that I’m not thankful for it.

This year, the first Monday of prayer was actually the first day of school for many in the area.

Still, the cars were filing into the parking lot.

There was worship, a short message and then we prayed individually for 20-25 minutes. We then regrouped about 6:45 for another time of worship and corporate prayer.

The first day of school. 6 am. And the young people were there leading the way.

Scores of teens were seeking fervently after God.

There were parents with their kids. Dressed and ready for school but starting with prayer.

Prayer is not rote. Webster defines rote as “mechanical or unthinking routine or repetition” and “the use of memory usually with little intelligence.” That is not prayer!

Prayer is a conversation with the almighty God. It is interactive. It is worshipful. It is holy. It is emotional.

I am so grateful for this reset in my prayer life. If I’m honest, most of my prayers had become rote. I repeated phrases but didn’t have any thought or intelligence to it. Certainly there was no emotion.

Watching these people drive in at 6 am, watching the young people raise their hands, watching the parents lay hands on their kids…it reminds me that God is big. He has all of the answers and wants to hear from us, His kids.

He loves us so very much.

Wait…What?!?!?

Have you ever read something and then have to stop and ask, “What?” And then read it again to verify your thoughts agree with what you read?

That happened in my quiet time this morning.

Disappointment is a feeling of sadness or frustration when expectations or hopes fall short.

I have been disappointed with my kids, my husband, my parents and even Xena, the wonder dog.

Does that mean that they did something wrong? Not necessarily. It’s that I had expected or hoped for one thing, and that thing did not come true.

Goodness, even this morning, I am disappointed with myself. I should have exercised, written this blog sooner, done a load of laundry.

In Isaiah 57:15, it speaks of God being in the high and holy place, and “also with him who is of contrite and lowly spirit….”

He is so big and so mighty – so far above His creation. Yet, He is near to the humble, the hurting and the lonely.

In verse 18, it reminds us that God sees us. He knows our actions. He knows our sins. Yet, He will heal us and restore us.

So, He knows all. He has no unmet expectations. He knows that we will sin. He knows exactly how we will sin. We cannot disappoint Him.

What?!?!?

I don’t understand this. I cannot fathom not disappointing Him. But, thankfully, I don’t have to understand it. I am human and He is God.

It says elsewhere in scripture that we can grieve Him. He loves us and wants the best for us. But, He has emotions too.

But, we cannot disappoint Him. We do not surprise Him.

The question becomes: What do you do when you sin? Do you say, “I messed up. God (my Father) is going to kill me.”

Or do you say, “I messed up. I need run to God (my Daddy.)”

God’s wrath for our sin is no more. It was paid for on the cross. He is waiting for us to go to Him every time we sin. He will forgive us. Every time.

He can also change our hearts. He longs to be in relationship with us.

Thank you, Father, Abba, Daddy. I worship You.

Seven Minutes

(Originally published December 2024. Good reminder for me to restart.)

I usually set timers to complete tasks that I don’t want to do.

If I need to clean part of the house (you know, the part people will see), I’ll set a timer for 23 minutes.

If I need to do some purging in the closet, I’ll set the timer for 14 minutes.

You can get a lot done in a short amount of time. I guess it helps to know there is an end in sight.

I have my quiet time in the morning. I’ve been going through the Bible in a year with The Bible Recap Podcast http://thebiblerecap.com. This has been very good and it helps me see Jesus on every page of the Bible.

But I am desperate to hear from God. I know in order to do that more, I need to be proactive in listening. This takes discipline.

So, today, I’m beginning a new routine. I am purposely getting quiet for seven minutes. No music, no podcast, no laundry machine. Just me and God and whatever noise is going on outside that I can’t control.

I got in my chair with my blanket. I leaned back and shut my eyes. Deep breath.

It wasn’t long before I opened my eyes to see what was making noise on the street. (sigh…)

I closed them again and started to pray. I listened and waited.

He gave me the idea for this blog. He reminded me that the number 7 is the number of completion.

I thanked Him. And suddenly the time was up.

Nothing earth shattering. But, being still is a discipline and it’s going to take some time (ha!) to get proficient.

Do you take time to be still? To really get quiet? There is a lot of noise. It’s an art to be still and to be comfortable.

Discipline is important and not easy. But the results will be worth it. Being intentional about anything takes discipline. But nothing changes until you do (until I do.) I definitely have some things I want to change. What about you?