He can do all things...

“Then Job replied to the Lord, ‘I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted.’” Job 42:1-2

Amen!

Sometimes I find myself in and out of trust in the Lord. One minute I’m secure in the truth that God is working things out for my good… no matter what! Then other times, I’m in panic mode thinking that things are spiraling out of control and even God isn’t able to set things right. Total nonsense, I know. I think it’s human though. Even the Apostle Paul said that the “spirit is willing, but the body is weak” (Matthew 26:41), meaning our spirit wants to do what’s right (in this case, trusting completely in the Lord), but our flesh falls prey to weakness and sin (in this case, not trusting the Lord with our whole heart).

What we have to do is work on KNOWING that God CAN do all things and that His plans can NOT be hindered or obstructed.

That goes along with seeking his will and plan. It’s a must. There is no if, ands, or buts about it. We MUST seek His will and trust in His plan because it will be carried out whether we are on-board or not.

Thank you, Lord. Keep this reminder daily in my mind and heart. Don't let me forget it! Amen!

Love stories...

Moving on from the drama...

I just read Bryan Allain's guest post titled, "7 Tips for Finding Your Soul Mate Like I Did."   

It's cute and re-assuring.   God can make anything happen and will use any kind of situation to make it happen, we just gotta let Him.

=)

Important reminder to self...

God is so good at giving us the right message at the right time.  Amen!

This devotional from a couple of days ago was one of many messages from the Lord I needed to hear and I want to post it hear as a reminder to myself:

God Is Giving You Another Chance

“God has appointed another [future] for me.” Ge 4:25 NKJV

Satan’s plan was to infect Adam with the virus of sin before his first son was born; that way he could get all the rest of us. And it almost worked. Cain, Adam’s first son, murdered his brother Abel. But God wasn’t finished. “Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, ‘For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel.’” For everything you’ve loved or lost, God has something else. For everything that’s been stolen from you, God has something else. Your “seed” is your future, and God has another one in mind for you. The situation you are in right now is not the end of the story; God wants to write a new chapter. The Devil knew God had a plan for you; that’s why he tried so hard to wipe you out. He doesn’t want you to live long enough to fulfill it. But the fact that you’re still here and able to read this says he failed, and that God’s not through with you! Notice the word “appointed.” There’s an appointment on God’s calendar with your name on it. “God has appointed another [future] for me.” There’s something good just over the horizon—something for your life, your marriage, your family, your career, your ministry. God has an appointed task for you to accomplish, and appointed blessings for you to enjoy. He has called you with an “eternal purpose” and He will bring it to pass.

Now I'm found...

Darn you, Jon Acuff.  It's like you know everything about me.  lol.    His latest SCL post hit home for me.  Especially this part:

I don’t care if you’re Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Mormon, Atheist or Agnostic. I think deep down inside, we all want to be found. We all want someone to come looking for us. We want people to be glad when they are with us. As Radiohead once said, “I want you to notice when I’m not around.”


That’s how I was in college. I was really insecure and was dating a girl that didn’t seem that concerned if I was around. So when we went to parties, I would get a little drunk and then hide. By “hide,” I really wish I meant “go outside and sit on a curb forlornly like a singer/songwriter waiting for inspiration.”

Alas, that is not what I meant. I used to go hide in closets. I would stand there in the dark of the closet, awkwardly shoved amidst coasts and shoes waiting for her to look for me. Wanting, more than anything those stupid nights, for her to notice I was missing. For her to come find me. For me to be found.

That was so me and admittedly, on a bad day, it might still be me some times.  The first memory I have of feeling this way and being sorely disappointed was when I was around six years old.  For some reason I became upset with my mom and I told her I was going to run away.  I took off down the street and ended up down at the pool (we lived in a gated community) on a bench.  I sat there and watched the street hoping to see my mom come frantically running down it, worried to death about me. 

She never came. 

I think that hurt more than anything.  My own mom didn't want to find me.   (She later told me that she saw where I ran off to and wasn't worried.  Thanks, Mom.  lol)

When I got older I would pull the same sort of dramatics, but I would take off in my car knowing full well that I had a cell phone so she could call me and "find" me.  There were times she would come out and try to talk to me or stop me or whatever, but in my mind I think I was still holding on to how she never came looking for me that one time.  So to me it was "too little, too late, lady!"

(Man, I'm glad the Lord has changed me because looking back at how I used to behave makes me want to jump into a time machine to go back and beat young, ridiculous self up. lol)

Anyway, reading this post makes me feel a little better about my past feelings... however ridiculous they were.  I guess I wasn't the only one who was looking to be found.  Everyone wants to be found, to be important, relevant, missed.

The great thing, though, is I can now look back and know that I was never alone.   God was with me through the whole thing.  He was waiting for me to get found.... by Him. 

Thank you, Lord.  There is no one like You.

Dear18Me

Through Bryan Alain's site I found Dear18Me.   So good.  If only we could all go back and give our 18-year-old selves some solid advice (or maybe just some slaps in the face... lol).  Unfortunately, would any of us even have listened?  Probably not.  I can tell you I wouldn't.  I think every 18-year-old on the planet has their head stuck in their butt and thinks they know EVERYTHING because they are "an adult now" (hey, in England they can even drink).   Guess what 18-year-olds... you are SO not even close to being adults yet.

There is a lot 30-year-old me would say to my 18-year-old self, but if I could only say one thing it would be this:

Dear 18-year-old Me:

I'm not telling you anything about your future, because everything you are about to go through is completely necessary and I wouldn't want to change any of it.   Some of it's gonna be pretty cool, but most of it is going to be ROUGH... really rough... but you are going to get through it because even when you don't feel like it's the truth and you feel like you are going through this thing called life completely alone, God is with you and you are stronger with him than without him.  It's gonna be okay.  Hang in there...

Our evil. God's glory.

"You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good." Genesis 50:20

Sometimes horrible things happen that seem to be pointless, but God takes these things and uses them for his glory.  In the 1950s, five missionaries went into the territory of one of the most deadly tribes of the Amazon, even though it was likely they would lose their lives, because they loved these people enough to share God's love with them.  They did die at the hands of these murderous people, but what God did with their deaths was amazing and unbelievable... almost impossible. 

Good thing with God, NOTHING is impossible...

Warning:  Prepare to bawls your eyes out on this one and the goodness of God.   =)

Don't Worry!

Lord, you always know what I need to hear the most!

Today's devotional from Word for You Today was exactly... I mean EXACTLY.... what I needed:

Don’t Worry About It

“Casting all your care upon Him, for he cares for you.” 1Pe 5:7 NKJV

Jesus said, “Do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For [non-believers] run after all these things” (Mt 6:31-32 NIV). One author writes: “The other day I was worrying about something when I heard a minister say, ‘Worry is a lack of trust in God.’ So then I began to worry over the fact that I was worrying. Then someone else said, ‘Just don’t worry about it.’ Sounds simple enough, but I come from a line of people who speak faith, but act out of fear. Then a friend came up with this novel idea: ‘Why don’t you try this worry coupon. It entitles you to worry as much as you like, but only if: (a) it will feed and clothe you; (b) it will add to your life instead of taking from it; (c) it will make tomorrow better; (d) you don’t mind acting like a non-believer!’ Then he said, ‘If that doesn’t work make a list of all the things you’re worrying about, place it in a box and put it up on a shelf where you can’t see it. If God is either unwilling or unable to take care of it, you can always go get the box and start worrying again—but at least give Him a chance. And while you are waiting for Him to answer, pray, stand on His Word and don’t give your worries a voice.’” The Amplified Bible says: “Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you.”

Turning back from turning back...

This post from Stuff Christians Like really hit home for me. (Darn you, Serious Wednesdays!)

Here's an excerpt to wet your appetite:

Jesus tells Simon:

“And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

That’s it, those are 9 really simple words, but they demand a second look.

Do you see what Jesus is saying in that first half of the sentence, “And when you have turned back?” He’s saying:

And when you fail.

And when you sin.

And when you blow it and sell me out like a common thief.

And when you literally and physically turn your back on me.

And when you ruin it all.

When you turn back.

That concept is part of why our God is so different than everything we expect. We can turn back. There’s a return. There’s a comeback. There’s a loss and a brokenness and a state of falling, but you can turn back. That door is open. When I read the phrase “And when you have turned back,” I read a loud, wild picture of what grace really looks like.

Then you get to the part that is so easy to miss, the comma.

Thank God for the comma, because that’s not how I would have written that sentence.

Read the full post here.

Surrender continued...

Here's day two of the devotion I posted up yesterday. So good. The bolded part is the part that really spoke to me.

Surrender (2)
“Because you say so, I will.” Lk 5:5 NIV

When you start to do things God’s way instead of your own, you experience three great benefits: First, you have peace. “Submit to God, and you will have peace; then things will go well for you” (Job 22:21 NLT). Second, you have freedom. “Offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits” (Ro 6:17 TM). Third, you have power. “Submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (Jas 4:7 NKJV). Stubborn temptations and overwhelming problems are defeated by Christ the moment you surrender. As Joshua approached the walls of Jericho he encountered God, fell down and worshipped, surrendered his plans and said, “What does my Lord say to His servant?” (Jos 5:14 NKJV). Joshua’s surrender led to a spectacular victory. Here’s a paradox: victory comes through surrender! Surrender doesn’t weaken you, it strengthens you. Surrendered to God, you don’t have to fear surrendering to anything else. William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, said, “The greatness of a man’s power is in the measure of his surrender.” Eventually everybody surrenders to something. If not to God, you’ll surrender to the opinions and expectations of others, to money, to resentment, to fear, to your own lusts or ego. You’re free to choose whatever you surrender to, but you’re not free from the consequences of that choice. E. Stanley Jones said, “If you don’t surrender to Christ, you surrender to chaos.” The supreme example is Jesus. The night before His crucifixion He surrendered to God’s plan, saying, “I want your will, not mine.” And He is your example!

Good case for surrender...

The author doesn't know it, but this devotion was written just for me. =)

Surrender (1)

“Because you say so, I will.” Lk 5:5 NIV

Until we accept and cooperate with the law of gravity, we can’t fly. Until we accept and cooperate with the law of economics, we can’t succeed in business. Getting the idea? Surrendering to God is not weakness, it’s wisdom. Only a fool resists God, because it’s a fight you can’t win. It’s in surrendering to Him that you are empowered to succeed in what He’s called you to do. Surrender is demonstrated by obedience. It’s saying, “Yes, Lord” to whatever He asks. To say, “No, Lord” is a contradiction. How can we call Jesus “Lord,” and refuse to obey Him? (See Lk 6:46 NKJV).

Peter demonstrated true surrender when Jesus told him to try again. “‘Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.’ And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish” (Lk 5:5-6 NKJV). Surrendered people obey God even when it doesn’t seem to make sense. Abraham followed God without knowing where it would take him. Hannah waited on God’s timing without knowing when. Mary expected a miracle without knowing how. Joseph trusted God’s plan without knowing why circumstances happened as they did. Each was fully surrendered to God, and they came out on top. “How will I know I’m fully surrendered?” you ask. When you rely on God to work things out instead of trying to manipulate others, force your own agenda or control the situation. You don’t have to be in charge, you simply let go and let God have His way.

I fear...

I just read this blog post on Boundless about fear and what it holds us back from. I scrolled down to read the comments and this one really hit home:

Naomi said the following at 8:47 AM on Aug 31:

I fear keeping my standards high and ending up alone.

I fear lowering my standards and ending up with a man who breaks my heart.

I fear missing the voice of God and His leading in the path of my life.

I fear being comfortable enough to stay here/doing this/the same thing forever.

I fear being "good" at many things and "great" at nothing.

I fear becoming the kind of person that everyone thinks is interesting & attractive, but no man wants enough to pursue.

I fear being okay with complacency and never aspiring to greater goals.

I fear having said the wrong thing at an opportune time and forever changed the course of my life.

I fear loving technology too much and neglecting the practice of true living.

I fear the paralyzing consequences of fear itself.

What could change if I did not fear? Only--and most importantly--my trust in God.

I literally teared up because I have the exact same fears and they are very present at the moment. I hate them. Particulary the first, second and sixth, and ESPECIALLY the 8th.

Lord, please take these fears far far away. I don't want to be trapped in their grip. Help me to continue to cast my cares upon you.


On a side note, I wanted to record the quote of the day from my friend Connie:

"Just remember that when things are from God, they will just fall into place peacefully and without strife.....there will be no doubt in your mind that it is the Lord that is working."

Change yourself...

Great quote from Good Morning Nubia_Group: