Tag Archives: life

Tellin’ It Like It Is

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John 8:32

New Living Translation (NLT)

32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

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Ever have anybody in your life that just needs to hear the truth so that they can be set free from the chains they have put on themselves?  Someone who has pity parties every weekend only because they have chosen to place themselves where they are.  Persons who no matter how much you love them and try to protect them, you know in your heart of hearts you need to show them the truth.  I have several persons in my life I wish I could just sit them down and tell them like it is without hurting them, but that is easier said than done.

There are so many broken people wandering around this planet it’s hard to comprehend how any of us ever function properly.  The idea of love is so warped by society that it is hard to figure out how to approach people on a one to one basis to offer any kind of help.  Many people were severely hurt in their childhood and have placed themselves in chains of bondage because of a lack of trust in people.  Other people wear chains because they are hiding their true identities as protection from the danger of actually being who they really are.

Today, I just blurted out to someone exactly how I felt about a certain situation and it was not easy.  The love I have for this person is great and out of love and a desire to see this person happy, I unleashed it all.  Since I was driving I did not have to face this person so the unleashing went pretty well on my part.  As I turned to see this persons face I saw a clarity I had not seen in awhile, my “lecturing of the truth” had set them free from some chains.  What I said was not meant to be hurtful, however, it was for the truth to be told so that they would no longer be held back by lies the enemy had been whispering.

When things are in need of being said to someone, the first step is to come from a place of love.  If you operate out of love you are more apt to be careful not to use hurtful words or force your beliefs on the person you are trying to free.  Furthermore, when things are done in love, truth can be seen and freedom comes much quicker.  When one begins to expose the lies of the enemy and bring them to light, there is no room for the person to argue because when you have the truth, there is no need for argumentation.

Are there people in your life in need of some chain breaking?  Are you willing to set this person free by telling them the truth about something you see in their life?  It will take some prayer and courage in some cases, however, when the urge to see someone set free from pain or unneeded destruction in their life, somehow a force not your own often takes over.  Choose today to seek God in this matter.  Begin to pray about a certain situation to see if a good dose of the truth would set a person free.  Sometimes the truth will set you free as well when you are no longer bound with the burden you carried for that person.  Two freedoms for the price of one truth, priceless!

Every Grace Counts

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Romans 5:20

God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant.
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How many of us have family members or friends that just drive us to seek God’s grace for their lives?  I mean it seems like every time we see them, we have to brace ourselves, stay in the love of God and just listen to them rant and rave about whatever life has thrown at them this time.  Ya know those people who can’t say a nice word about anything and feel like the whole world is against them.  Or what about the ones who are in sin and choose to stay there while there lives are falling apart?  Lastly, what about the persons who think they have it all together but you can clearly see the unhappiness in their lives?
All of these people need grace…not our grace, but God’s grace.
I have several persons in my life that I feel I need to give grace to on a daily basis.  Some of this borders with compassion, yet I feel without God’s grace I could not have the compassion to love.  I know people talk about me behind my back and some may even despise me.  Some don’t get why I divorced and remarried.  Others are perhaps envious of how happy I really am.  In the whole scheme of things, it is not I who needs to take care of these situations, it is Jesus.  God will never leave or forsake me and He will take care of my enemies, I am called to love and love means grace, forgiveness and compassion.
When you combine love with grace you are able to forgive and when you forgive you can find room in your heart for compassion.  If you melt all these things together you find freedom.  With freedom comes peace.  Sigh!  What a relief to discover that the root of all we have to do is love.  God is love and it is through Him that we even obtain grace.  If He gave it to us and it freed us from our sin then why would we not want to free others around us with His grace?
Who are the persons in your life that are in need of grace?  Are you withholding grace because of offenses?  Do you desire to be free?  I urge us all to seek out the grace God gave to us to give to others.  We are called to love and sometimes that means just keeping the peace in certain relationships.  Sometimes grace needs to be from a distance and that’s perfectly okay.  Just remember grace comes from love and all the love you need is in Jesus.

Too Busy for Knowledge

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Hosea 4: 6 (KJV) My people perish from a lack of knowledge. 

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Ever wonder why we do not have time to fulfill God’s purpose for our lives?  Why are we too busy to do the two things God asked us to do:  Love one another as He loves and spread the Gospel?  I feel like two things are to blame for this, one being Satan busy distracting us and the other, our lack of knowledge in the Word.  Now I am not attacking anyone at all because I am not fully proficient in the Word myself and perhaps it is time for me to step up my game.

God instructs us not to become conformed to this world but to grow in the renewing of our minds by the reading of His Word.  Sometimes in day to day living we get too busy to even pop open the Bible to read a verse or two.  As for myself I get excited about a devotional only to find myself a week later “too busy” to keep up with it.  I also like to use the excuse of being in revival meeting four times a week and that’s where I get the Word.

Another aspect of being too busy for knowledge is that we get caught up in the news media and television.  We get so interested in what is going on all around us, we forget to focus on the very thing that God has right in front of us.  Yes some of us are gifted to help those who need rescuing from disasters and those who need specialized care in certain circumstances.  He does not design all of us with the same giftings, if He had we would be so busy helping the disaster victims that we would have a world full of depressed and broken hearted people with no one to help them.

Do you see the picture I am trying to paint?  People all around us are saying we are in the end times and the world is at it’s worst, but what are we doing to save the world?  What will save the people of this world is Jesus and if we just do the two things we were instructed to do, everything else will just fit like puzzle pieces and God will protect those who are under His wing of protection.

I myself need to dig a little deeper into God’s Word so that I may be filled with the knowledge that will allow me to life my life to the fullest.  When we read His Word we hide it in our hearts and it will stay there for eternity.  When we read the Bible we are filled with hope and we learn to discern what are giftings really are.  Yes this world is a crazy place but when we have the peace that passes all understanding, we are able to push through and accomplish the tasks God sets out for our lives.  Choose today to seek His knowledge and begin to life a life of freedom in Jesus.

Wild Fires

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Exodus 3:2

The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed.
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Fire is hot.  Fire can burn.  Fire can destroy.  Fire can consume.  Fire can take away a home.  Fire can provide heat.  Fire can make you visible.  Fire can make a way.  Fire can clear land.  Fire can help you dry out.  Fire can be a tool.  Fire can help cook a meal.  Fire can be a source of light.  Fire can shape you.  Fire can began a change.
Last night for date night, John and I did oil paintings.  The instructions were to paint a picture of what we thought God was trying to show the other person.  I never thought that my husband would show me a picture with fire in it and it took me by surprise for a moment until I looked at it with a heart that was willing to change.  I gazed at the portrait with a heart open to receive what God wanted me to see.  He wanted to me to see that not all fire is destructive, that sometimes it is necessary for purging.
There are times in our lives when fire is needed.  Often when we are unwilling to give things up, God begins a slow burn in us to show us what needs to change.  As He feeds this fire, it begins to consume all the icky stuff we have hidden in ourselves….all those issues we pushed way down inside of us hoping they would go away.  All those times we were hurt by others.  Every little pain.  Even the guilt we put on ourselves.  Often we are not even ready to deal with these things yet God knows we need to so that He can move us into the next level of living a life of freedom.
So what are wild fires?  Those fires not started by God.  Those fires we think are maybe changing who we are yet they are making us feel worse.  Like that burn that comes when we continually beat ourselves up over things which are out of our control.  Things which makes us angry all the time.  These are not God fires, these are fires set out by Satan to distract us from what God wants to do in our lives.  When we become so busy putting out all of the wild fires we don’t have time to focus on the things God meant for our lives.
Drinking, drugs, partying, depression and wrong relationships are some of these fires.  When we allow these things to consume our lives we get farther and farther away from God and we just burn until we burn out.  When we come to know Jesus and ask Him to reside in us then our hearts are set ablaze with a fire that will never die out.  It is a fire which continually burns out the dead stuff in our hearts and prepares a place for new growth.
The fire that is burning in me right now is one of renewal.  A fire that is purging me of self doubt and making room for a life of freedom in what God has set out for me to do.  I am willing to be consumed in His fire.  I am willing to be changed.  I am willing for new ground to be prepared in my heart.  I am done with the past and the hurts.  Eyes on Jesus and not looking back, with arms in surrender mode, I stand on burning ground knowing full well that I am consumed in fire……a Fire that is bringing me back to Life.

Are You, You?

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Luke 9:25
And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed?

???????????????????????????????This is me.  Who am I?  I come with a long list of descriptions for my life and its’ journey so far.  First I was a daughter, adopted out so then I was an adoptee.  I then became a friend as I grew up.  Then I was a girlfriend, fiance, wife, mother, sister, sister- in-law, daughter-in-law and aunt.  At work I was an employee crew member then a shift manager, a department head and now a general manager.  Now in my current status, I am a divorcee, remarried, living for Christ woman of God.  I am an author of two books waiting for publication.  My children are grown and well on their way to leading their own lives.  Why do I share such details about my life?  Because I want to show how I wasn’t always me in any of these relationships until now.

What do I mean?  Well, I was always the person “bending” myself to fit into the relationship I was in.  Even in early friendships I just wanted to be loved and so I would do what I could to change me so that it meshed with the friendship so they would like me.  I started smoking at the age of 13 to fit in.  I began drinking at 15, to fit in.  I began dating a man older than myself at 15 because I wanted acceptance when I really was not even ready for love.  I gave myself away at 17 because I gave in.  I had several not right relationships because I was searching to be loved and accepted and instead of finding that in God, I was getting it from people.

I married my first husband at 22 because I was pregnant and I “thought” we were in love.  It was a whirlwind of romance but I don’t even know what I was in love with.  He was a drinker but I thought I could fix that problem.  I got pregnant just a few months after I met him and even though I did not feel obligated at that point to marry him, I knew it was the right thing to do.  After marriage it was a long 20 year road of NOT being myself.  I submitted my life to taking care of my kids and my husband and pretending everything was okay.  I was not free to be me and it hindered everything God had created me to become.  I stopped writing.  I stopped attending church.  I stopped having friendships.  I was just running around in circles trying to have a life when there was no life left in me.

So what happened?  God stepped in and reached down into my pit on April 13th, 2009 and pulled me from my despair and reset my “Me” button.  During a 3 year separation from my husband I learned all about me.  I saw what God saw in me.  I began to embrace who I was created to be.  I was finally on the right path and headed for my destiny.  I was writing again. I was teaching my children the things of God.  I was desperately seeking God first instead of people.  In three years God gave Me back to me.  Now I am content to be myself and I have a man in my life now who accepts me and all of my flaws.  I know that I can share my true feelings with my husband now and not feel as though I have to “bend” to fit into his perspective of the “perfect wife”.

Now I can freely dance.  I can sing out loud.  I laugh.  I am finally able to be me without any restrictions. How is this possible you ask?  Because I am seeking God first and not the approval of man.  That is how simple it really is.  Go to the One who knows you best, your Creator, and allow Him to show you just who you are.  I have never been happier and life is so much easier when you don’t have to keep up with the lies that everything is okay.  I love God and therefore I now love my life.  I look forward to the coming years. I can’t wait to publish the books.  I can’t wait to see what God does in this new marriage.  I eagerly await the next move of God in me.

Noticed Beauty

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1 Peter 3:4
You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God.

Surrounded by death.  Fallen to the ground in silence.  Here lies a leaf still wearing the brilliant colors of its’ once vibrant existence.  It lies now lifeless on the floor of the forest.  Having lost its’ ability to shine, it lies dormant, losing its life.  No longer feeling worthy of being noticed. How does this make any sense?  Why would God create such a great beauty just to put it to death? Anyone see a pattern here?  God has a history of creating and then bringing death, however in the process all things are made new. Beauty rises from the ashes over and over again.

Where I was just a short time ago was like this lonely leaf.  I once was vibrant and filled with color, but as the seasons of my life took their toll, I faded.  I lost my focus on who I really was.  The beauty I had once known began to fade.  I decided it was no longer worth it to even try to look the part of who I was, what did it matter?  Who would even notice?  I was stuck in a relationship of insanity, no reason to change who I had become.  But God in His awesome grace, removed me from the dying tree and gently let me fall to the floor, allowing me to die.  Allowing me to rest.  Letting me go through a process of renewal.

As I laid dormant for a season, I was allowing God to remake me.  He was changing me from the inside out, creating in me a clean heart.  He wanted me to forget about being a leaf and to set my eyes on becoming a tree.  A tree which could provide shelter.  A tree which could produce fruit.  A tree that could bend with the storms of life and not break.  Though the process may have seemed painful to those around me, it was cleansing and brought me to a place of surrender like I had never felt before.  I now stand firm on solid ground knowing that I am beautiful.  I am filled with life.  I am happily bending in the wind.  I am finally where I need to be.

God noticed the beauty in me and He certainly sees it in you.  Are you willing to be plucked from the tree and let loose from your painful circumstances? Surrender it all.  Let God have His way in your seasons.  Allow Him to change you from beauty to beauty so that you  will become a tree planted firmly in the hands of God.  A sight to behold in every season.

Rendered Speechless

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Psalm 103:5
He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!

Where is your inner child hidden?  Is it buried so far inside of your spirit that it no longer knows the way out?  It’s like the little piece of my heart no one wants to expose for fear of being hurt.  It’s like the stone we just never want to over turn in the river for fear of getting hurt.  My little girl has been hiding for so long.  I used to be filled with uncontainable joy.  I loved to dance and to run.  I love to just throw my arms up in an empty field and just be free.  I loved being the center of attention sometimes with my unique personality.  How did I lose this part of me?  What has hindered this in me?  Why have I not been able to be free like I once was?  Fear. Stolen joy.  Being hurt by love.  Being ignored.  Playing the part of the victim for far too long, that’s what happened.

Remember when I said God will often give us what we need before what we want?  This morning was another prime example.  Let me set the scene for you.  Two days ago God allowed me to give a man a piece of my heart that I thought I would just keep buried forever.  I was refusing to be hurt by anyone ever again.  I had let go of the pain and freed myself from self-pity but I was not ready to let anyone love me again.  I was  one scared little girl giving that part of me up.  I was trusting God do much in that moment of time, little did I know what He had in store for me once I just let go.

This morning as coffee is brewing and I am contemplating how this day will pan out, John takes me in his arms and dances with me ever so gently.  I am uneasy as I feel a weakness come over me.  I hold back in fear on not being able to dance well.  Then in a sudden moment as he is singing to my soul and drinking in my spirit through his eyes, he grabs my face and pours in to me more love than I could have ever imagined.  As he holds my face to his he begins to speak to that little girl in me, “Come to Life!  Come to Life!  Come back to Me.”

God was speaking to me through this amazing man of God and I was finally able to let go of the fear and let joy come back.  Since this man, John, has been in my life, I have become so free in love.  I thought I would never attain this level of love again in this lifetime.  I had been content to spend the rest of my life just seeking God and not being loved back by any human being like God loves me.  This morning in a moment of dancing and a calling back to life, I let go, I let it ALL go and as I poured out my tears, God filled me with more love than I could handle.

I feel free again.  As I was rendered speechless on that kitchen dance floor this morning I am able to dance in the rain again.  I am able to be who God created me to be and in the process so is John.  What happened this morning was truly a God moment for both of us, for you see, there is a little boy in John that needs the same love and acceptance that my little girl does and I intend with the power of God in me to call him back to life as well.

Are you ready to let your inner child come out?  Will you allow God to give you what you need before your wants?

This Is My Song

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Psalm 28:7
The LORD is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving.

Ever think that your life is a song?  A series of notes strung together making a melody others can witness to that God is Mighty and strong in your life? A verse after verse, line upon line version of a melody God made over you even before you were formed in your mothers womb.  Perhaps a tune that everyone else found catchy worthy of learning to sing over the pain in their own lives. Does your life your “sing” to others? Do your actions portray a walk with God worthy of others wanting to follow?

My song began when I was born, as did yours.  We were given life and air to breathe.  We are given but one chance at this earthly life and it is our choices which dictated the tune of our song.  Sometimes the song is angry and bitter while other times it is happy and carefree.  We get to choose the lyrics as we go depending on our life circumstances and how we react to situations which arise.  Yes, we are the songwriters if we choose to be.  Perhaps you would rather have someone else write your lyrics, but what does that say about who you are in Christ?

I have chosen in recent days to follow my own heart melody and write my own lyrics, ad God as my only guide.  As I find myself divorcing my husband of 20 years and entering into a new phase of my life, I feel like I am giving more life to my song than ever before.  When I was in the middle of my marriage, I was letting my husband write my lyrics.  I allowed him to dictate what the next part of the my song would be and I pushed God, the Creator of my life-song, as far from me as I could.  I was ashamed of the choices I had made in my life and I felt I had to fix my “tune” before I could even let God finish my song.

As I am finding more freedom every day to express who I really am, my song is beginning to have ryhme and reason.  It now has a beat and rythm all its’ own because I am becoming the song God intended me to be.  I can be expressive and entertaining now that I no longer have to hide behind my fears.  The words I string together now speak life rather than death.  The lyrics can now push through the darkness that shrouded my life for awhile, allowing others to see the Light like never before.

In less than two months I will be divorced and beginning a new adventure in my life.  Some like my new song and others are covering thier ears and choosing to turn the other way, however, I am secure in my God, knowing this path I am on is the right one.  I am in a right relationship with God and I am trusting Him fully in the direction He is taking me.  As each new day begins to unfold, I am finding new joy and wonderful happiness, things I had been lacking for so long.

I know things will seem strange to those who are not walking as deep as I am, just know that if God is for me, then who shall be against me?  I am choosing to live life finally and I am ready for God to take me by the hand and give me the words and the lyrics to finish out my life song.  Whether you agree or disagree is irrelevant because this is between God and I, therefore, no regrets to the past and I am moving forward into the destiny God has ALREADY planned out for my life.

“My life song is made up of joys and sorrows, but most of all, its about what God has done for me and what He has created.”

All of You

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Matthew 10:39
If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.

Today, the ministry is beginning.  I do not have the website just yet up and running but things are in the works.  The books are at the publishers, awaiting the final touches and the last bit of money to get them published.  I assure you all matters are in God’s hands and He will be faithful to provide ALL of my needs.  Today I reflect on what I have given up in surrender and I am wondering who else among God’s people are ready to push forward and allow God to be their all and all?

There once was a moment when I knew God was there for me, but I did not allow Him to take care of me like I do now.  I was a big girl and I was going to raise my kids and change my husband and do all this things I thought I needed to do, until I realized it had nothing to do with me but everything to do with God.  Just like everyone else I faced challenges (still do) and I took each one on as a walk in the valley or a grueling climb up the mountain getting stressed out and feeling as if I was getting nowhere.  Just the same cycle over and over again, never really making a difference in my life to have a better relationship with God.

When my life stopped three years ago and I surrendered it all to God, the amazing things began to happen.  I was separated from my husband so as not to go through the motions anymore, doing things I just did not want to be a part of.  I received my new smile, only after I surrendered it all to God in a moment of despair.  Both my kids have graduated from school and beginning their own lives.  I was promoted at work.  My books are about to be published, my ministry is starting and I am more free than I have ever been! Why?  Because I have finally put God first in my life above all else.

This means I have given God my life, my family, my job and my ministry.  I have allowed Him to work on behalf and do all the things I thought I had to have control over.  WHAT A RELIEF!!  Now I am happy and free.  My attitude has changed and I feel He is using me in ways I never thought would be possible.  I spent 18 years running around in circles and now that I have let go and let God, He has done more in 3 years time then I ever thought possible.  Now instead of the valleys and the mountain climbing, He has set me upon the mountain top and I get to soar with the eagles while He is moving and working through me, How Awesome is That?

I encourage you to choose to give it all to God right now.  Stop trying to do it all and getting frustrated, instead choose to give Him everything you have, focus your eyes on Jesus and rise above your current circumstances knowing that the God who loves you is in control!

Bigger Than the Storm

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Proverbs 10:25
When the storms of life come, the wicked are whirled away, but the godly have a lasting foundation.

How many of us our consumed by the storms of our lives?  How many live in needless fear of being tossed in the wind or drowned by the rain when a storm comes into their life?  What if we knew we were bigger than the storm?  Perhaps if our strength is strong enough we will weather the storm and come out unharmed but what if our strength fails us.  What if we had enough faith that it didn’t matter if it was storming at all?

I pondered this yesterday as I was taking some pictures after a recent storm.  As you can see the one I posted is composed mostly of “popcorn” like clouds and then are these two little black clouds just passing by.  What if we thought of the white as faith and the black as life storms.  If our faith is big, then the storms appear to be nothing.  We tower over them with this confidence some others just cannot see.  They stand bewildered as to how we can be calm in the midst of storm, to me it’s all about perspective and where we stand in our faith.

I have been through some pretty rough storms, ones where there was more black than white and as I look back on those moments in my timeline, I can clearly see I was not filled with faith.  In fact mostly it was times when I was wondering where God was in my life.  It was points in my life when I was not trusting God to take care of my storms.  Now I can clearly see how the above picture fits into my life much better.  My faith is much larger and I no longer fear the storms when they come.

How I desire for your storms to be small.  I pray you can have enough faith to rise above your storms as they arise in your life.  I pray your faith is strong enough to weather anything that comes at you and that you will be able to trust God to take care of your storms.  I also hope that after going through your storm and seeing how God took care of things for you that your faith will grow so strong that nothing will knock you down.

If right now your storms seem so overwhelming, try to find the white in it and start building your faith so that you will begin to overcome.  Press into God and ask Him to show you how He handles the storm.  Glean from it what you will need to pass through the next one.  I promise you will begin to get stronger and your faith will soon become so great a storm will have no meaning to you.  Trust God, follow after love and soon storms may become something you welcome into your life.