The Best Laid Plans

1 Thessalonians 5:24 He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.

Sometimes the best laid plans, and the best intentions have no bearing on how things go. In times like these there is an opportunity to stay the course, exercise faith and trust God. Monday I made my plans to drive back to Nashville from Washington DC. I would get up early…4:30 am and be on the road by 5ish to beat any beltway traffic and get out of the city early. I needed to get back to Nashville and make some business calls on appointments I had coming up this week. This would not be an issue for me because I like to get up early and drive with sunlight.

Sooooo……I did not get in bed as early as I wanted. When my phone went off, I started my process. All of a sudden I heard what sounded like thunder! No way….  But of course I had not checked the weather. Did I mention I hate driving in the rain? Needless to say it was not just thundering it was raining, windy and thundering. As I stopped to fill up the gas tank the wind picked up. It did not matter that I was under the covered area, the wind managed to blow just in the right direction to soak me. The gas tank was full and I was on my way to the interstate at 5:30…check. As I get on the beltway I was feeling good until the blinding water started blowing up unto my windshield….I guess my car is too low. So after about an hour and a half, I decide to pull off the interstate because I am sleepy, it was dreary and I was worn out fighting the torrential rain. The good news is that I had made pretty good time in spite of the highway fun. I stop at a Starbucks, parked and slept for about 45 minutes. Then I got my dirty Chai and a breakfast sandwich, and hit the road with a new attitude. I had prayed, napped and was believing God that the rain would let up soon. I even texted some prayer warriors to pray my strength….10 hours is no joke to drive alone. Needless to say about 51/2 hours in, the sun came out and it was a beautiful drive the rest of the way! Where the five hours prior to that pretty miserable, yes, but I made it through.

See sometimes life is just like that. Even though the best plans are made, even though we do everything we can to prepare, and even when we have done nothing wrong.  Even though there are things to do when we get to our destination, the storms of life still come. As I hit the 6^th hour of the drive, the sun came out. The rain stopped and it was smooth sailing the rest of the way. The same is true for life, the day and hour will come when the dark clouds will part, the rain will stop and the Son will shine on your situation. And sometimes just as you planned you will make it to your destination in time to do just what needs to be done….as long as you keep going. See it is by faith that we overcome the storms of this world. God reminded me as I saw the beautiful clouds and felt the sun shine and the wind blow, that He is faithful to get us to our destination if we just press forward trusting Him. I am so thankful not just to have made it back to Nashville, but that I serve a God who promises to ALWAYS bring me through the storms of life to victory through faith in His power! Amen.

RelationSHIPS....

"As in all aspects of our life in relationship we have to realize the importance of the work of God in us during the relationship.  We can become focused on what the other person should be doing or fixing, but God wants us listening to the promptings of the Holy Spirit in us.  This is how we can learn and know how to navigate the “SHIP” or abandon the “SHIP”."

- Relation"SHIP" p. 53 - "I" Can Relate: How Not to Lose Yourself in Relationships by Wanda L. Scott

People stay in relationships - bad relationships - dead relationships because they at least know "that" pain.  They know how "that" person will hurt them. Sometimes they are afraid to hope for something better. They are afraid to hope that there is someone who will love them, respect them, cherish them...  

It is our human nature to accept what is easier especially if we have not seen anything different or don't expect anything different. 

I see people walking together lifeless in their relationship........

I see people sitting together lifeless in their relationship..........

Communication is dead. Love is dead. Hope is gone. BUT we serve a God who restores, repairs, and does the supernatural to any heart and any relationship! Hallelujah & Amen.

Psalm 84¹¹ For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold From those who walk uprightly. ¹² O Lord of hosts, Blessed is the man who trusts in You!

I declare and decree that anything that is dead in relationships will either come to life in the name of Jesus, or either it will be removed, released, retired, fired or thrown away for the new thing God has ordained and prepared for those that hope in Him....in the name of Jesus Amen. 

Burst, Torn Into Pieces & Spilled!

I don’t know about you, but when I have tried to do things before I was ready, or even before others were ready for it, it has felt like all my plans burst, my life was torn into pieces and all the ugliness of the situation spilled onto others around me.  See I was trying to do a new thing, push a new idea, or do something new and I was not new.  The bible says that God makes all things new.  The word makes is in the active tense.  It is the “act of making”.  Everything in your Spirit man is immediately made new when you truly accept Jesus in your heart.  But true conversion of ALL of your mind, will & emotions takes time.  Over time your mind & thinking becomes renewed, you learn how to keep your emotions in check, and you surrender your will to God’s will for your life.  This is an ongoing process that keeps your life growing, making things fresh and new from day to day. 

BUT, when we get ahead of God, when we become zealous for things that are not for this time, and when we are trying to prove something, we can potentially try to do a new thing with an old mindset, old intentions, and old willful emotions.  When our old tries to do the new, it can get messy.  The Word of God says it best this way:

Matthew 9¹⁷ Neither is new wine put in old wineskins; for if it is, the skins burst and are torn in pieces, and the wine is spilled and the skins are ruined. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved. (AMP)

What God does in our lives, He wants to last and bear fruit.  He wants our blessing to be a blessing.  He wants how we have been comforted to allow us to comfort others.  He wants us to show that love He has shown us to others.  The Lord wants our freshness in His Spirit to be preserved so it can last…..so it can be spread. 

Wait on God to change you.  Wait on God to make you new.  Only He knows your process.  His work in you will be perfect and complete.  Messy lives can burst and spill onto others, and also tear hearts to pieces.   Don’t be messy, wait on God’s timing, it is always perfect.  His love will make all things new in your life at just the right time.  It might not feel like it, but it is what it is, you will see if you wait.

James 1⁴ But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing. (AMP)

Philippians 1⁶ And I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ [right up to the time of His return], developing [that good work] and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you. (AMP)

So Beautiful……

Cookie Lyons on the FOX show Empire was lying in jail singing the words to a song that I think every woman should admit that they long to hear:  You’re so beautiful, I will wait for you!  

That scene just touched me….I could feel it.  How our hearts need that hope, hope that allows us to survive even when we are locked up. You might not have been physically behind bars, but we do have a way of locking our heart up because of the pains we have experienced in this world.  We shut people out, we don’t open up to know people or let them know us.  It is all the same.  We want to be safe from the pain.  We have lost hope that that there is someone who thinks we are beautiful, and will wait for us as to heal and hope again.  We might have even lost hope that anything could be beautiful, nonetheless think that about us.  Some of us have lost hope. 

So what kept Cookie Lyons while in that jail cell?  I don’t know.  Maybe hope that the words of the song that her husband sang were true, and that he thought she was so beautiful that he would wait for her. Maybe it was looking at the picture of her family and hoping that she would one day be with her kids again…to love them.  Well he did not wait, he divorced her.  BUT I know someone who we can always hope in, and hope in Him will not disappoint us.  He is a keeper and a mender of hiding locked up hearts.  His love waits and calls us to beautiful.  His name is Jesus and He thinks we are one of His most beautiful creations, perfect, fearfully and wonderfully made.  AND He will always wait for us…until the end of time.  The Lord Jesus longs for us with an incomprehensible love that can break us out of jail and give us a hope that will keep us eternally. 

Ecclesiastes 3¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts...

FORWARD!

Ok, I am just going to start typing because I have been thinking about writing this last entry for 2014 for weeks now.  There has been so much on my mind!  Everything from the holiday blues, family relationships (that’s big), work expectations in the new year, and finally to what is God going to do in the New Year!!!!  I know I am not alone.  Probably anyone who is reading this will have had at least one of these thoughts over the past several weeks.  To what degree you have them depends on many factors. Some of these thoughts deal with the past, others with what is going on today, and finally the rest with the future.  Thankfully we have choices on how to deal with these thoughts. 

I don’t know about you, but because of Love, I always look to see what God says I should be focusing on.  In one of my favorite books of the bible, Isaiah, we receive some guidance with our thoughts:

Isaiah 43¹⁸ “But forget all that—it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. ¹⁹ For I am about to do something new.  See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?

See what we need, what the “world” needs is hope! (1 Corinth 13:13) We find that in the hope provider, the joy bringer, the life giver, the power deliverer….Jesus.  So God says forget about all that other stuff and watch me work in your life.  Watch me work through you.  Watch as your faith pleases me to action. 

As Isaiah asks, have you not sensed that God has already begun to work?  Can you not see God moving all around you?

So as you end 2014 and by grace enter 2015, I hope you move FORWARD with hope forgetting all that is past and becoming excited about the God who makes all things NEW!  Amen. 

Are you Divergent?

I finally watched this movie called Divergent.  I previously watched a program that was talking about genetics and abnormalities.  They made a reference to superheroes like Spiderman who is different because he is genetically mixed with spider, or wolfman who is mixed with a wolf.  These are “deemed” superheroes, and most people look up to that.  In this program that is said to be dangerous, moving away from God’s order.  They also referenced this movie Divergent.  So I am watching it and noticing things in reference to the Word of God, as I always do.

In the movie, they divide the “of age” children into Factions which represent different orders in society.  These factions are man-made and are used to keep order in a brand new society.  You are to conform to your label and be a good member of your faction…faction over family (blood).  I see a biblical parallel to this.  We as the “born again” of the Spirit don’t fit into society, because we live in this world but are not of it.  We don’t easily fit a label, and tend to stand out in our thinking.  In the movie Divergent, these divergent don’t think like everyone else and are feared.  They also handle fear differently than their faction.  This is the main biblical parallel I see, how we as children of God handle fear.  When the divergent is faced with fear in the movie, she says “this is not real” and moves past the fear.  We are to do the same.  For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind.  So when we see fear, we face it, call it what it is and say Lord my faith in You says no weapon formed against me shall prosper.  Lord my faith in you says that you will protect and strengthen me.  So I don’t mind being different or diverging from what this world says I should be, I am different, peculiar.  There is no fear in Love.  So how about you?

2 Timothy 1:⁷ For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. NKJV

Who Holds Your Breath?

Have you ever exclaimed about someone or something that they "Just take your breath away"?  Well we have a Savior who holds our breath in His hands.  He is loving and faithful. 

Daniel 5:22 “But you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, although you knew all this. 23 And you have lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven. They have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines, have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which do not see or hear or know; and the God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways, you have not glorified. (NKJV)

The message version phrases verse 23 this way:

You used the sacred chalices to toast your gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone—blind, deaf, and imbecile gods. But you treat with contempt the living God who holds your entire life from birth to death in his hand. The Message (MSG)

When I read verse 23 I was like wow! How do we put all these other things….houses, cars, money, etc. before God and He is the One who gives us breath and life! Just like the King’s son Belshazzar, when life is good and everything we can ever want is at our fingertips, we can be tempted to dishonor or disgrace God. We tend to cherish things that are made out of gold (money), houses made out of wood, and cars made out of iron….that can cause us stress and keep us in debt, instead of cherishing our relationship with the Lord. Take the time to remember that it is only by the grace of God that you have these things in the first place?

Let’s make 2012 the year that we wake up every morning valuing that first breath that God gives us. We serve an awesome God that should be first in our lives, and is greater than “things”. Let us humble ourselves & accept the security and faithfulness of our Almighty God who by His love gives us the Freedom to Love. Amen.

Rejoice!

I am so excited.  I literally feel joy welling up inside of me.  It feels good.  Smile.  I am believing God for so much right now, trying to remain hopeful and needing a miracle.  What excites me besides my love and hope in God is the fact that I see God moving all around me in the lives of people I know.  I know God is always moving, but when it is in the lives of those close to me, I know I am next!  Hallelujah. 

I am rejoicing with my brothers and sisters in Christ.  I love to see God move in the lives of the ones He loves…it encourages me because it confirms that He answers prayer.  It encourages me because it proves His faithfulness and that He cares.  I love the Lord and know that He is no respecter of persons, so my miracle is on the way.  Amen!

Romans 12:¹⁰ Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; ¹¹ not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; ¹² rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; ¹³ distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.  ¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. ¹⁶ Be of the same mind toward one another…….