Stagnant Water

Stagnant Waters

“You’re stale. You’re stagnant. You make me want to vomit… You brag, ‘I’m rich, I’ve got it made, I need nothing from anyone,’ oblivious that in fact you’re a pitiful, blind beggar, threadbare and homeless. “Here’s what I want you to do: Buy your gold from me, gold that’s been through the refiner’s fire. Then you’ll be rich. Buy your clothes from me, clothes designed in Heaven. You’ve gone around half-naked long enough. And buy medicine for your eyes from me so you can see, really see. “The people I love, I call to account—prod and correct and guide so that they’ll live at their best. Up on your feet, then! About face! Run after God!

“Look at me. I stand at the door. I knock. If you hear me call and open the door, I’ll come right in and sit down to supper with you. Conquerors will sit alongside me at the head table, just as I, having conquered, took the place of honor at the side of my Father. That’s my gift to the conquerors! “Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches.”

Revelation 3:16-22 MSG

This past summer I was on a walk, as I was walking I came upon a creek by the road.  When I got right up to the creek, I noticed that the water was motionless and dirty.  Because there was no movement, the water had become a breeding ground for algae with gnats and mosquitos swarming over it. Besides all of that, let me tell you, the odor wasn’t the best either.  What a surprise this was to me because I had seen that creek when the water was flowing and moving, the way it was supposed to be.  It left me to wonder what had happened to stop the water from freely flowing.

As the weeks have passed since that walk, the conditions of the creek kept coming to my mind.  Another thing it did was it brought the word “stagnant” to my mind.  I decided to look up the definition of stagnant. The definition of stagnant is:

1. Not flowing or running, as water, air, etc.

2. Stale or foul from standing, as a pool of water.

3. Characterized by lack of development, advancement, or progressive movement:

The definition made it perfectly clear to me that the creeks water had become stagnate because the water had quit freely flowing.  What had once been an actively running creek was now the breeding grounds for algae, mosquitos, and gnats.  

“You’re stale. You’re stagnant. You make me want to vomit.”

I am guilty of allowing myself at times to grow stagnant. Why? Because I am human, I get tired. I begin rationalizing with myself that it’s ok to be inactive. Don’t get me wrong, rest is important, being still is important. But what we are doing when we are being still and resting is the key.  Are we doing things to help refuel and refresh ourselves in Christ? Or, are we doing things that will leave us stagnant and foul?  

With me, it is so easy to sit down and rest. But sometimes instead of taking the time to read the Bible or a devotion or spend time in prayer, I find myself instead…before I even realize it… taking way to much time mindlessly scrolling through facebook or spending hours watching Austin live his life playing Garden Scapes.  These actions only create lack of development and progressive movement in my life.  Ladies, our actions soon become our habits, and our habits are what lead us to become stagnant.  

Reading this scripture, seeing it worded this way, made me stop in my tracks and evaluate my spiritual life.  Our stagnancy makes our God want to vomit!  That saddens me, breaks my heart! But in turn, continuing on reading the scripture it also makes me hopeful and grateful. The scripture goes on to say…

“The people I love, I call to account—prod and correct and guide so that they’ll live at their best. Up on your feet, then! About face! Run after God!”

What a relief, we aren’t doomed when our actions lead us to habits that make us stagnant! God loves us to much to leave us alone and to allow us to stay where we are.  Let’s keep the communication open between Him and us so that when we start to become stale we can hear Him prodding or correcting us. 

God does not desire for us to live our lives idle, inactive, or dormant. He yearns to see His spirit freely, actively flowing within us.  With His spirit continually running through us, together with Christ we will begin creating an environment where the dirty, motionless, stagnant waters won’t be welcome!

“Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches.”

I don’t know about you, but this encounter has awakened my ears! It has aroused a desire in me to begin listening more intently to God and His desires and plans for me.  Every now and then we need a reminder placed in our path that His ways are better than ours and to get back on your feet and Run after God!

Song For You:

Running by Klaus, Kari Jobe

Dear Younger Me

Dear Younger Me

When you’re on vacation, do you tend to people watch? People watching is something I definitely find myself doing! Especially this past summer, my husband and I went on vacation to celebrate our 20th anniversary and our kids weren’t with us.  While I was people watching, I found myself drawn to young mommas and their little kiddos.  

As we would walk down to the pool or go out to eat, I found myself watching them, tears would come to my eyes.  I had absolutely no idea why, I thought I must be getting emotional as I get older.  One of these times that I was observing, all of a sudden the phrase “Dear Younger Me” came to my heart and mind, instantly a lump formed in my throat.  

Being back from vacation, this phrase keeps coming back to my mind.  Every time I sit and think about that moment I get this feeling in my heart and stomach. Why does this statement keep coming to my mind? “Dear Younger Me” has sent me on a search for what God is trying to tell me and what God is asking me to do.  As a confirmation, as I was processing this whole experience, I came across this quote…many times: 

God has placed us on this earth to make a difference in the lives of women around us. He led us into freedom in 2019 because we all have a story. We have all had things happen in our lives that we have had to overcome, whether if it was something done to us or by us.  Now more than ever ladies around us need to see and know our realness.  Is there a cost?  Yes, we have to become vulnerable in order to become their survival guide.  There are risks with vulnerability: heartbreak, rejection, embarrassment, shame.  

Ladies, there is one big reward of vulnerability that can’t be overlooked.  When you step out with courage and help someone else walk through their story, you will witness what no one else will, SURVIVAL.  How our relationships with other ladies will deepen and become more intimate when we decide to be real with ladies that God has placed in our path.   

As Christians, we tend to want to forget where we came from and just focus on the right now. As Christians we want to focus on ourselves, get ourselves free and fix ourselves. Sure, we are supposed to forget the past and move forward with God. 

“Stop dwelling on the past. Don’t even remember these former things.”

Isaiah 43:18-20 TPT

We are supposed to live a life of freedom and walk in the freedom He gives.  

“Let me be clear, the Anointed One has set us free—not partially, but completely and wonderfully free! We must always cherish this truth and stubbornly refuse to go back into the bondage of our past.”

Galatians 5:1 TPT

But our Christian walk is so much more than that. One of the main themes of Galatians is FREEDOM! That is why I found it so cool that after Galatians 5:1, comes Galatians 6:1-6 TPT:

Carry Each Other’s Burdens

“My beloved friends, if you see a believer who is overtaken with a fault, may the one who overflows with the Spirit seek to restore him. Win him over with gentle words, which will open his heart to you and will keep you from exalting yourself over him.  Love empowers us to fulfill the law of the Anointed One as we carry each other’s troubles. If you think you are too important to stoop down to help another, you are living in deception.  Let everyone be devoted to fulfill the work God has given them to do with excellence, and their joy will be in doing what’s right and being themselves, and not in being affirmed by others.  Every believer is ultimately responsible for his or her own conscience.”

Ladies, God didn’t save and remake us so that we would be quiet and ashamed.  He saved us and remade us so that we would go out and proclaim the goodness of God.    How can we proclaim the goodness of God if we are caught up in our own shame? I feel that is why God has led his daughters on the path of being Wild and Free in 2019. God has prepared us to assist Him in giving the women we encounter Perfect Sight in 2020. 

God has led us to our freedom so that we can be bold and relentless as we impact women’s lives around us!  What would M1 look like if we decided to allow God to use us as His tools to restore perfect twenty-twenty focus to his daughters?

It leads me to this: What would I tell that mama if I had a chance to sit down with her?  What stories would I have to share with her that might end up making life a little easier on her and/or her family? 

If I could tell this momma one thing, it would be to find your value and self worth in Christ. Look to Him for your acceptance and approval.  Don’t seek it from the world. Don’t look to the world to “Fill your Cup”.  Don’t look to the world for reassurance. If you seek these things from the world, you will end up going down roads that lead to constantly comparing your life to others, which leads to complicating your life, and compromising your family, your faith and yourself. 

Living a lot of my life looking to the wrong things to give me value actually did the opposite, it actually took value away from me.  When my journey to find value led me the wrong way, it left me feeling worthless instead of worthy.  Fear of not being accepted how I was caused me to compromise who I was.  I became/morphed into what is acceptable to the world and end up not even recognizing myself.  When you don’t find your value in Christ, then you don’t know that you are enough and that you are loved exactly how you are.  Don’t let this happen to you. Yes, God redeemed me, but it made my life so much harder than it had to be.  

Don’t get sucked up into the worlds idea of what everything should look like.  How you, your husband, your marriage or your kids should behave or look like.  When we start believing and receiving what the world says everything should look like, we begin opening the door for discouragement, disappointment and deception to enter.  

I would tell “Dear Younger Me”:  Instead of searching and seeking out what the world says you need to live and be happy, why don’t together, we search for, seek out and surround ourselves with women who will point us towards God and surround us with prayer! How about we form circles around us before the world tries to separate us and desensitize us. 

Could it be different for other women? What if we could reach these young mommas before it’s too late. What if we became transparent about what we have overcome and have gone through in our lives.  What if we put our pride aside and our fears aside and just told our story. Allow God to use you and your story. Let your story and what you have learned lead other women to recover perfect sight of their Fathers love and value of them.   

Of course as I was writing, the song Dear Younger Me kept coming to my mind. Which led me to look up the lyrics, when I read the bridge I was amazed of how much “freedom” ties into “Dear Younger Me”:

“You are holy

You are righteous

You are one of the redeemed

Set apart a brand new heart

You are free indeed

Every mountain every valley

Thru each heartache you will see

Every moment brings you closer

To who you were meant to be

Dear younger me, dear younger me”

We are all these things: holy, righteous, redeemed, set apart & FREE! But only because of God! Step out ladies and take this moment to complete your freedom story, be who God needs you to be to someone younger..or even older…  

Yes, it will be uncomfortable and a million reasons will run through your mind why you can’t do it, but remember:

“Jesus must become more important, while I become less important.”

John 3:30 CEV

So what is your Dear Younger Me story?  What is one life lesson that you would share with your younger self that would have made your life so much easier, and so much less painful? Now, take that, and use it to be someone else survival guide.  

Blurred Vision

Blurred Vision

“So let’s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you’ll see it yet! Now that we’re on the right track, let’s stay on it.”

Philippians 3:15-16

Old contact lenses, they sure cause me a lot of problems.  Well, it’s not exactly the contact lens that causes the problem.  It’s my ability to procrastinate in getting new ones, that is what the real problem is.  You see I am terrible about ordering new contacts.  They are expensive, so I try to get all the wear possible out of them.  Sometimes, that comes at the expense of blurred vision.  You think after having contacts for as many years as I have had that I would learn my lesson, but I don’t.  I go through the same thing each time, my contacts get old, my vision gets blurry, then I finally cave in and order new.  The most uncomfortable thing is that I have to live with blurry vision till the new ones come in.  

This time around though the blurry vision definitely affected me.  I had been trying to write the past couple of days. Let me tell you, it is definitely hard to focus on a computer screen with blurred vision.  It was so frustrating, I felt like God had a word for me to type out, but I was really struggling to be able to see the screen and focus on it.  Which in turn left me feeling desperate!  Through this though, God revealed something to me.  

Your senses are so important when it comes to hearing and sensing God in your life.  Your hearing, your sight, your touch they are all crucial to having a deep relationship with our Father. I can hear God when He is whispering to me, I can feel God when He is present, and I can see God as I am typing His words.  If one of these senses begins to not function correctly, I don’t know about you, but I begin to suffer.  My state of mind, the way I respond to my family, the intensity of my spiritual walk, they all begin to deteriorate.  So what do I do? Do I quit what I am supposed to be doing for God? Do I quit drawing close to God? Do I quit writing because of my inability to see clearly?  Not at all! I press in, I become persistent in seeking God.  

The most amazing thing happened when I did that, God made my way easier. When I thought that my day was done and that I would not be able to do His work today, He showed me another way. What did He show me? The “zoom in” button, it was really a miraculous thing!  I went from the words being blurry and squinting to try and make out the words on the screen to being able to see and read clearly!

In our world, things happen all day long that blur our vision of who we are, how we should feel, and how we should react to things around us.  These circumstances begin to hinder the vision of God in our life: who He has awakened us to be, how He calls us to feel and how He asks us react.  God showed me when my vision is hindered, don’t quit, instead increase your vision by zooming into Him!  This is such a simple action on the computer, but it requires persistence and tenacity in us in our daily lives. Satan will try and blur our vision with his lies and schemes that he whispers into our minds and heart. Our job is to not grow weary! Determine to continue to do stand firm, even when life gets really tough and we feel like throwing in the towel.

“My eyes of faith won’t focus anymore, for sorrow fills my heart.

There are so many enemies who come against me!”

Psalm 6:7 TPT

Blurred vision will come and leave us feeling surrounded by these lies and schemes! Just like when a heavy fog settles in, our surroundings get uncomfortably blurry or so hindered we can’t see a thing! When that happens, we can’t just stop what God is calling us to. We can’t just quit.  Instead, we have to fight through the battle of fog and blurred vision by pressing into God.  How do we do that? By glorifying Him, making Him bigger than the blurriness around you!  

“So let’s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you’ll see it yet! Now that we’re on the right track, let’s stay on it.”

Philippians 3:15-16

God will clear our blurred vision! What an amazing promise! All we have to do is zoom in closer to Him.  When we do that, all that was blurred, hazy, and foggy will become bright, illuminated and crystal clear.  Situations that left you feeling confused or hurt, will leave you with understanding and grace. Encounters that left you feeling less than and inferior will end with you knowing that you are more than capable and called by God. 

“How great is our God!

There’s absolutely nothing his power cannot accomplish,

and he has infinite understanding of everything.”

Psalm 147:5 TPT

Do you want everything that God has for you? Is your vision blurred causing you to not be able to clearly identify what He has for you? Are you are unable to envision what He sees in you? Do you feel surrounded? Don’t quit, fight through it! Press in and pursue God in the moments that these feelings overcome you.  

Treading Water

Treading Water

Treading water is a word that has been on my mind a lot lately.  When we were in St. Petersburg, Florida on vacation, it came to my mind even more.  Enduring heat indexes of over 101 degrees, we often escaped to the Gulf or the pool to keep us cool. While I was in the Gulf, I found myself treading water almost consistently.

I decided to look up the definition of treading water and this is what I found:

To maintain an upright position in water by moving the feet with a walking movement and the hands with a downward circular motion, failing to advance or make progress. 

Each time we went into the Gulf, I would walk out to where I was comfortable and then I would stop and begin treading water. This experience left me wondering why I would settle for just treading when I had the clean, beautiful, warm Gulf I could swim in. 

I came to the realization the main reason I found myself only treading water is because I was afraid of the unknowns.  What if the water became to deep? Or worse yet, what if I encountered a sea creature that I did not want to encounter.  

As I was treading water one thing I noticed was there were quite a few people out further in the deep of the Gulf. I would think: “Wow, they must be crazy!”, “You wouldn’t find me out that deep!”, or “How in the world can they go out that far!”

For many of us, I feel like this is how we are in our spiritual walk.  We make our way out into the waters following after God. Once we get out so far, we begin to grow uncomfortable about our surroundings.  Unsure of our surroundings, we begin to wonder if the water will still be safe or if it’s going to get too deep. Resulting in us stopping our forward progress and beginning the stages of treading water. 

In that moment, we are acting on fear, not faith.  We have trusted God to lead us so far, but when our surroundings became scary, we let go of His hand and stopped. Why? Because we felt it was safer where we were then to venture out any further.  

Instead of keeping ahold of God’s hand and advancing further in our pursuit of God we have stopped ourselves. We took our eyes off of Him and instead began looking at the water. Does that sound familiar?  Fear caused Peter to look at the water, and it causes us to do the same thing.  

“Come and join me,” Jesus replied. So Peter stepped out onto the water and began to walk toward Jesus. But when he realized how high the waves were, he became frightened and started to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he cried out. Jesus immediately stretched out his hand and lifted him up and said, “What little faith you have! Why would you let doubt win?”

Matthew 14:29-31  TPT

God is asking us to join Him!  He is urging us forward, to go deeper with Him. He wants us to follow Him in faith. He wants us to be continually making progress, joining the others that have already made it into the deep.  Even though it may look like it when you're filled with fear, the people in the deep aren’t crazy. They just chose to act on faith and not fear.  They were only able to get that far by following Jesus in faith.  They found freedom from their fear! They didn’t let doubt win!

Do we want God to continue leading us along in our relationship with him?  Do we desire to not be stuck treading water, but moving and advancing and making progress in our walk with God? If so, we can’t remain cautious and treading.  We can’t let doubt win. We have to make forward progress and go into the waters He’s calling us into. Reach out your hand and let Him lead you!

Ladies, We need to release our fear of the unknown!  We need to break the habit of just treading and remaining where it’s comfortable.  Move forward! We need to walk out of our comfort zones and take the steps that lead us into the deep.  I came upon the song Deeper, Deeper Still by People & Songs, a section of the lyrics that I love says:

“There is freedom in the water

There is healing in the water

Oh Jesus You're the river

And we'll never find the end”

Call on God and let Him free you from your fears and doubts. Let’s no longer just sit around failing to make progress. Take His hand and let Him lead you into freedom and healing. I can definitely be a control freak.  I have realized though that if I want to be able to go where God is leading me; if I want to experience what He has for me, then I have to let go of control and give Him complete control. 

I want to see what God has for me, I desire to be obedient, I long to submerge myself in His plans for my life.  Do you too? The whole idea can be very scary, but when you decide to activate your faith and trust in God you will obtain freedom to be able to move forward in those plans! 

There is FREEDOM in the water ladies! I don’t know about you, but that makes me so excited! So let’s release our control, release our fear and release ourselves to leave our comfort zones and decide to no longer tread water.  Embrace all that God has for us and allow Him to release more freedom into our lives!

“When you continue to embrace all that I teach, you prove that you are my true followers. For if you embrace the truth, it will release more freedom into your lives.”

John 8:31 TPT

Music For You: Deeper, Deeper Still by People & Songs

Delayed Freedom

Delayed Freedom

How many of you have had a terrible airport or flight experience?  Let me tell you, the last experience we encountered ended up being quite the adventure.  It gave my husband and I an experience we never anticipated or saw coming and hope to never experience again.  Speed walking across the massive Boston airport in multiple different directions, waiting in massive lines, many phone/text conversations, a lost parking garage ticket, even more delays, disgruntled customer services workers and lost luggage were just some of the adventures and fiascos we encountered at the airports.

My husband and I had to go away for a weekend business trip.  The weekend was drawing to a close and we were discussing what to do with the couple of free hours we had remaining. There was a beach nearby so we decided that would be the perfect spot to relax before heading to the airport.  As I was checking on my phone for directions to the beach, I received the notification from our airline about our flight.  That’s when it all started; the dreaded “flight delay” notice was on our flight status.  Great, that was not exactly what we wanted to see!  As time went on to our utter dismay our flight was being delayed even more.  Now not only was it delayed, but we were also going to miss our connecting flight to Cleveland.  

I called the airline to see what would happen to our connecting flight, and indeed we would miss the flight. On top of that, there were no other flights that their airline could put us on till morning.  They advised us it would be best to just come to the airport.  That erased any thought of driving to the nearby beach, instead we were quickly heading to the airport to figure out how to get home.  

To make a long story short, we spent the rest of the day bouncing from terminal to terminal trying to find a flight home.  Being a Sunday afternoon, there were not many options available and most of the flights were sold out.  After many dead end options, with the help of a friend back home, we finally ended up on a flight that would take us from Boston to Chicago and then onto Columbus.  Hallelujah, what relief!

Finally, we were through check-in and airport security, we were going home!  Then it all started over again when our flight status changed to DELAYED again!   You can only imagine our utter disbelief and dismay! We could not believe our eyes when we saw the monitor that delivered the dreaded news! Guess what the worst part was…. yep, we were going to miss our connecting flight once again!  This was a laugh or cry moment, so we laughed.  

After many, many hours in airports, and an unplanned overnight stay in Chicago, we did finally end up making it home.  Everything worked out okay, but it was not without a lot of delays and incidents that left us feeling stuck, stressed, desperate, and helpless.    

As I sit and reflect on the massive amount of fiascos all tied together.  I can’t help but think of one phrase “Delayed Freedom”.  

Delayed means:

1. To put off to a later time; defer; postpone:

2. To impede the process or progress of; retard; hinder:

This was an airport experience turned horribly wrong; it definitely had delayed our freedom.  The destination was in our mind of where we needed to be.  No matter what we did and no matter how hard we tried, we could not get there! Our arrival had been postponed and hindered.  We had been dependent on the airports, and they failed us.  

Our efforts left us feeling exhausted and truly beat up.  Even after all our efforts that day, it was a thwarted attempt. At the end of that day we did not land where we needed to be. Our circumstances that we were truly stuck in began breeding stress, chaos, tension, anger, tears, and even bickering between my husband and I.  

How many of us in our spiritual walk feel that we are truly stuck in a situation and because of that your freedom is being delayed?  How many of you encounter these same feelings:  stress, chaos, anxiety,  tension, anger?   Why do we feel delayed and start to be consumed by these feelings? Because there is something in our life that is impeding the process or progress of receiving this freedom Christ has for us.  This is truly a helpless place to be in.

One thing I learned from this whole situation is that in the end, we have absolutely no control.   For example, we landed in Chicago with plenty of time to catch our connecting flight to Columbus, we were so relieved! Instead of immediately pulling up to our gate and getting to our connecting flight, we remained on the airplane taxing the Chicago runway for 30 minutes.  This resulted in us missing our connecting flight! It was EXTREMELY FRUSTRATING! We were so close we could see it, but we still managed to miss our flight, even though our luggage didn’t….somehow it made the flight to Columbus when we didn’t.

The only thing that we truly have control of is how we act, how we respond, and how we think.  It didn’t matter how upset or how worked up we got.  It didn’t matter what words we spoke to the airlines, we were inevitably stuck in Chicago with no luggage.  There was nothing we could do about it! This situation allowed me to realize how helpless, out of control and hopeless you can feel when you are in a delay.  

As I relate this chain of events to a lot of our personal lives it provides me with an opportunity to see how our freedom can be delayed.  So many people go through life stressed, angry, carrying around chaos, and tension. In the end it leaves them feeling helpless and bound in chains.  Why? Because they are going through life exerting all of their effort to get to a place they think they need, want, or deserve to be at the timing they believe is best for them. Most likely they are relying on the wrong thing to get them there. In the end, this only leaves them disappointed, delayed, exhausted, and not at the destination they intended. 

Inevitably, they have delayed their freedom because they have placed all of the control in their own hands instead of the Holy Spirit’s hands.  When we begin depending on the wrong things for our freedom, they will fail us and our freedom will be delayed!  An amazing promise we can hold onto is when we depend on God and when we give control to God, He will not fail us, He will free us! 

Galatians 5:16-18 TPT says:

“As you yield freely and fully to the dynamic life and power of the Holy Spirit, you will abandon the cravings of your self - life.  For your self - life craves the things that offend the Holy Spirit and hinder him from living free within you! And the Holy Spirit’s intense cravings hinder your old self - life from dominating you! So then, the two incompatible and conflicting forces within you are your self - life of the flesh and the new creation life of the Spirit.  But when you are brought into the full freedom of the Spirit of grace, you will no longer be living under the domination of the law, but soaring above it!”

Delayed freedom will only leave you feeling hopeless, helpless and stranded, and will leave your life void of any joy and peace. Ladies, God has so much freedom to give us.  Let’s all allow God to help us break free of these chains that keep us from soaring. Yielding to the Holy Spirit and grasping ahold of the full freedom only He can offer.  

Weathered Storms

Weathered Storms

Our town of Shelby has been recovering from a F-2 Tornado that tore through it.  After the Tornado hit, my husband and I drove around. It was unbelievable to see all the barns and houses that had been ripped apart.  Complete devastation was one word to describe what you observed as you drove around Shelby.  Miles and miles of fields littered with mangled sheet metal and other debris from what had once been barns and houses. 

One amazing sight in the aftermath of the Tornado was the hundreds of volunteers that came out.  They helped clean up people’s property, and cut down trees, but they also went out into the fields and began clearing all of the debris.  Why were they doing this? Why did they feel the need to remove debris from fields so quickly? Because this Tornado hit mostly in the rural parts of Shelby, which contains hundreds of acres of farm land.

April in Northeast Ohio means field preparing and planting by all the farmers.  A farmer can’t prepare his fields when the fields are strewn with massive amounts of debris.  If the farmer doesn’t prepare their fields and plant their crop, they will not yield a harvest. 

Since driving around that day, it has been hard to not reflect on the devastation the tornado brought to Shelby. The images of the mangled sheet metal strewn all over the fields has remained in my mind.  As I was processing it all, I began to relate it to our spiritual walk and harvest.  In that moment God whispered this to me. 

“Give Me the freedom to remove the debris from your mind.  

Then I can begin the process of giving you a new mind.”  

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but someone surely does.  We weather storms in our lives. Marriage problems, broken relationships with family, financial hardships, physical and mental illnesses, the list goes on and on.  These experiences can be traumatic and terrifying. We encounter these storms and debris begins to be strewn across our minds.  Decisions were made, words were spoken and actions had been taken that sometimes can’t be taken back.  Before we know it or, before we can even prevent it, our minds become cluttered by this debris. 

The lingering debris begins to affect how we think, how we feel, how we talk about ourselves, and how we talk to each other.  What was once a field that had bountiful harvest, has become a devastated wasteland covered with debris.  It is when we come to this realization that the clean-up, the recovery process can begin. For many, the conditions that they see, the moments that they relive, seem impossible to overcome.  How do we even begin removing this unsurmountable amount of debris? 

Luckily for us, God has given us an amazing manual for our lives. Let’s dig into His word and see what it tells us!  

The storms in our lives leave us with debris, obstacles, and strongholds in our lives.  But God’s word reminds that He is the true stronghold is in our lives.  Hold tight to this promise!

The Lord is my light and my salvation—

    whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life—

    of whom shall I be afraid?

Psalms 27:1 NIV

The conditions that the storms in our lives leave behind can make us think that we have no choice but to fix everything ourselves.  Look at this reminder though! God wants to take hold of our hand and help us through it.  He want us to allow Him to care for us! He is our helper.

For I am the Lord your God

    who takes hold of your right hand

and says to you, Do not fear;

    I will help you.

Isaiah 41:13 NIV

Pour out all your worries and stress upon him and leave them there, for he always tenderly cares for you.[a]

1 Peter 5:7 TPT

In the aftermath of all the storms that we have weathered in life, God has a message for us. He didn’t say to remove the debris for yourself so that you can obtain freedom. He clearly said to me:

“Give Me the freedom to remove the debris from your mind.  

Then I can begin the process of giving you a new mind.” 

Let’s allow God to renew our minds.  For far too long we have allowed the debris to linger. Lingering debris steals our joy and robs us of the life that God intends for us.

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” 

Romans 12:2 ESV

God desires us to walk in freedom, to step up out of defeat and into victory!  Allow God to remove the debris from your mind so that you can once again have a bountiful harvest.

“So keep your thoughts continually fixed on all that is authentic and real, honorable and admirable, beautiful and respectful, pure and holy, merciful and kind. And fasten your thoughts on every glorious work of God,[a] praising him always.”

Philippians 4:8 TPT

I decided to look up the definition of freedom. Freedom means to have the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.  Who does not need this in their life?  Through God freedom is attainable, we are not exempt because of storms that we have weathered! Let us relinquish control and allow God the freedom, so that we will be able to walk in the true freedom He has for us.  

“May I never forget your truth, for I rely upon your precepts.

I will observe your laws every moment of the day

and will never forget the words you say.

I will walk with you in complete freedom,

for I seek to follow your every command.”

Psalms 119:43-45 TPT