Keep Moving Forward!

"I don’t depend on my own strength to accomplish this; however I do have one compelling focus: I forget all of the past as I fasten my heart to the future instead."

Philippians 3:13 

I had an image come to my mind the other day, maybe it was because I do tend to be clumsy!  What God dropped in my heart was this:

When you trip.....you don't fall backwards. Most of the time, you will fall forwards. 

Do you fall? Yes! 

Can it hurt? Yes! 

Will it leave a mark? Sometimes, Yes it can! 

Can it make you stop for a moment? Yes! 

Do you go backwards? No! 

This applies to our spiritual life so much.  The past happens, causing memories we wish to forget! No matter how hard we try though, they will creep up on us. They will trip us up! But when we trip, we don't have to go backwards. We can stay still, fixed in God’s presence. Seek God and allow Him to push you forward. There is never a need to go backwards. God will only push you forward!

Only God's Outcome

“Only  God’s  Outcome”

“Make God the utmost delight and pleasure of your life, and He will provide for you what you desire the most. Give God the right to direct your life, and as you trust Him along the way you’ll find He pulled it off perfectly!”

Psalms 37:4-5

About a month ago I was decorating cookies for a worship night. I had 5 dozen cookies to decorate. I was frosting and sprinkling away.  In the process of carrying the spoon with red sprinkles over top of the white sprinkle container, my hand slipped! To my dismay, all the red sprinkles on the spoon spilled right into the middle of the white sprinkles! What a mess! What a waste! 

I tried my hardest to get all of the red out of it. I scooped and scooped, but with each scoop, it just filtered more into the white. I was mad at myself! I had taken a short cut and ended up with a big mess! Even a week later I was still filtering out the red sprinkles! 

As I looked at the tub of sprinkles with the red sprinkles mixed in, I felt a lesson being dropped into my heart:

When we try to do things in our timing, we hurry the process. That is when the mishaps and mistakes happen. Our hands grow weary and shaky. Messes get made! We try to clean it up, but to no avail! The mess still remains, we can't get it all out....on our own.

We are a hurry society. When we want something, we usually want it sooner than later. We tend to take short cuts to get things done. The worst part though is that we get into a hurry and we forget all about what God’s plans might be! Is it even in His plans? What does His timing look like? 

We try to do things in our own timing. We grow distracted, we grow tired and before we know it, our hand isn’t as steady. We spill things and we make a mess! That is when we try to hurry the process of getting the mess cleaned up and only make it worse! The only one with a steady enough hand to carry the spoon is God!  

Only God has the ability to clean up every speck of the mess we have made. We’ve made the mess trying to make our own way, in our own timing. In the process of us hurrying, we have actually delayed God’s timing and plans! Because now He has to take the time to go back and clean up the mess that we made! And who knows how long it will take to get the last speck of red sprinkles out of that tub!  

Ladies, let God’s will and plans be fulfilled. Let’s not delay His plans and timing any longer. It’s time to give God control. Believe me, I know it’s hard! There will be uncertainty, there will be heartbreak and questioning.  We all hold our desires, dreams and plans so close to our hearts. When we don’t seem them being fulfilled, it is so easy to take control of them to try and see them fulfilled in our own strength. The biggest fear I think we all have is that the plans & desires that we have been holding onto might not actually be what His plans and desires actually are for us. 

But none the less, His plans and desires are better than ours! So don’t hold back. Give Him the spoon. Better yet, let Him use His own! It’s a whole lot more powerful. Let’s get a front row seat to what God has for us! Until the last speck of “red sugar” is removed, let’s resolve to press in, to dig deeper, to desire more of Him!

Relax in His presence more! Listen to His voice more! Seek Him in the stillness and quiet more. Don’t hurry and you will see His plans being fulfilled in His timing! We don't know what the outcome will be or what it will look like. But what we do know, is that it will be beautiful, because it will be His outcome!

Music For You:

*I Give You My Heart by Hillsong

Power-less

“Power-less”

“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,”

Ephesians 3:16 NIV

I had been fighting a head cold. My head had been clogged and when that happens, my brain doesn’t seem to function well at all! When I finally got in bed that night, I grabbed my charger cord, plugged my phone in and went to bed! I got up the next morning, unplugged my phone and went about my morning routine. As I sat down to drink my coffee, my phone’s low battery screen came on, only 10% was remaining. I thought to myself “what in the heck, I plugged it in, it had charged all night!”

So I went back to my room to get the charger for my phone. When I went back there, my usb charger cord was just laying on the floor, the power adapter plug was no where to be found. How in the world! I plugged my phone in and did not even notice that the USB cord wasn’t even attached to the adapter! What was even worse was the adapter was completely gone. I didn’t even notice it! I had not been very observant at all! My lack of observance had left my phone dead & me on a search for the power adapter.

I finally found the adapter, and as I was holding the USB cord and the adapter in my hand, God dropped this into my heart “a power cord without any power, is powerless.” How true is that! I had my phone, I had the USB cord. They are both very important items. They were plugged into each other, but I had become so mindless and busy that I didn’t realize the most crucial item was missing. Without those items being plugged into the adapter, the USB & the phone are worthless, powerless. 

A lot of us live our lives exhausted. We tend to go, go, go until our “batteries” are almost dead! Daily, we go from task to task. Routines take over and we become busy. We think that we are still being charged. But what we don’t notice is that we aren’t plugged into our power source anymore. Somewhere amidst our busyness, we unplugged from God, our power adapter. 

The cord and the phone are still in our hands, so we think that we’re good. But, without being plugged into the power source, eventually our batteries will run out. It isn’t until our “batteries” begin flashing & the warning screen comes up that God can get our attention. What are some of those  warning signs? Lack of the fruit of the spirit in our lives! Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Those are the first to go when my power is being depleted! The lose of those tend to immediately send us on a search for The Power Adapter, the reason why we aren’t charging. God!

I dont know about you, but there are alot of times that I see the “Low Battery 20% Remaining” or even the “Low Battery 10% Remaining” screen on my phone. Sometimes it’s not until night time, but sometimes only a couple hours have gone by! Ladies, this doesn’t apply only to my phone battery though! God is my power source, my power adapter. When my battery is running low, I need God to recharge me! How does he recharge? There are so many ways! Going to Him in prayer, spending time worshipping Him, reading His word and just listening for His voice.

I am thankful for the warnings that our phone gives us!  But I’m even more thankful for the signs that God gives us when we aren’t connected to Him.  From now on, when I see that warning pop up on my phone, I am going to use it as a reminder to check the connection between God & I! 

Are you plugged into The Power Adapter, God? Is it time to do a check-up to make sure that you are connected to The Power Source, God? Don’t let yourself be left powerless! We need to make sure we are plugging ourselves into God’s Power Adaptor daily so that we aren’t left with our batteries depleted!

Music For You:

*Mighty is the Power of the Cross by Chris Tomlin

Mess Ups & Mistakes

“Mess Ups & Mistakes”

“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Hebrews 4:16 NIV

We had a hilarious thing happen in our house the other day. It sent my daughter, Sarah and I into hysterical laughing.  My son, Bryce was sitting on the couch doing his school work.  All of a sudden his cell phone starts ringing. He proceeds to answer it. It was a local number, he never gets any phone calls so he assumed that it was a telemarketer.

Being the goofy & pranking kid he is, he answered the call by saying, “how dare you interrupt me when I'm doing school". I heard a male voice kinda confused on the other end.  Then, Bryce proceeds to hang up, quickly!

Me, being momma and being curious to who it might have been decided to Google the phone number. It was Pioneer Career and Technology Center. The school Bryce is enrolling into in the Fall. Oh My Goodness! Sometimes I don’t know what I’m going to do with that kid!!!!

The look on Bryce’s face was priceless. When he realized that it was not a telemarketer, but instead it was a man he was going to have to speak to daily for the next 2 years! He was mortified to say the least.  Then the number called back again. At that point Bryce was just frozen and didn’t answer the call.

Now he had some cleaning up to do. He was so embarrassed and He begged me to clean up this mess he created. He did not want to have to call this man back and talk to him.  I knew that there was a valuable life lesson here for him to learn. I can’t fix everything for Him, I can’t clean everything up for him when he makes messes. But I can be here to encourage him and give him advice on how to fix it.

So Bryce picked up his phone and called Pioneer, twice! The first time he called he spoke to the receptionist and she transferred Bryce to who she thought might have called him. But when the voice mail came on Bryce was too afraid to leave a message. So he hung up. Being the nice momma I am, I insisted that he call back. So reluctantly Bryce called back and went through the whole conversation again with the receptionist. He was transferred to the gentleman once again who called him and then finally Bryce left a message.

As parents sometimes we want to rush in and clean  up the mess for our kids. But sometimes, we need to sit back and let them figure it out. Does it mean that we ignore it? No! We stand by and root them on, encourage them, guide them and give them wisdom.

So what’s the life lesson? We will mess up. We are bound to make mistakes. We will do things that leave us embarrassed and frozen! We are human and that is our tendency. We will beg God to fix things for us!

God feels the same way that we feel as parents! He can fix everything for us. But sometimes God will not fix everything for us. Sometimes God wants us to learn the lesson in the middle of the mess. Like any loving parent, sometimes He wants us to learn from our mistakes.

We have to be willing to admit our goof ups and be willing to clean them up. We can’t be afraid to go to God! We can’t be afraid to talk to God about it! He already knows what we’ve done anyways! God is still there with us through it!

God will be with us as we clean up our mess ups. He will be there to encourage us. He will be there to guide us, advice us and to give us wisdom. We just have to listen. And we have to do it!

Music For You:

*Lord, I Need You by Chris Tomlin

Comforter

“Comforter”

The other night I was trying to sleep when all of a sudden I was just overcome with sadness. I couldn’t sleep, all I could do was just tell God I was sorry and ask for forgiveness. I had been so busy that week. There were so many noises going on inside of my head.

When I did have some quiet time, I didn’t choose to fill it with God. Instead I choose to fill it with mindless activities. And I could tell it in my spirit. There was just this unrest in me.

I had been busy and I chose to be busy. If I’m busy then its easier to not focus on what’s hurting me. I had a lot hurting me and I didn’t want to think about it. I didn’t want to deal with it.

That’s when I felt God whisper this to my heart. “Do you truly let Me comfort you?” To honestly answer that question, at that moment, I would have had to say no.

Do I go to God and talk to Him about what’s hurting me? Yes. Do I read scripture to encourage me and to help pull me through? Yes. But, do I just sit and let him wrap his arms around me & just love on me? No. By nature, I am a doer. I pray, I read scripture, I pursue God. But one thing I don’t do well is doing nothing.

That’s when I realized that there are times that we don’t have to be doing something. Sometimes in the middle of the hurt we just need to sit at His feet. And when we do that, it allows Him to comfort us.

When your child is hurting, I know as a momma I want to know what’s wrong! I want to hug and kiss them and tell them it will be okay and that we will get through it together. That comforts my child. Why would God, our Heavenly Father be any different.

“Whenever my busy thoughts were out of control, the soothing comfort of your presence calmed me down and overwhelmed me with delight.”

Psalms 94:19 TPT

The song “The More I Seek You” dropped in my mind as I was writing this devotion, specifically this part:

“I want to sit at your feet. Drink from the cup in your hand

Lay back against you and breathe, feel your heart beat. This love is so deep, its more than I can stand. I melt in your peace, its overwhelming”

These words made me realize that when I think of seeking, I think of it as us doing something to find what we’re looking for.

Then this hit me! When my kids have a hard day, they don’t want to have to come home and clean their room, or do dishes. Those are tasks that take them away from me. My daughter especially wants to be with me. She wants to cuddle on the couch and just be with me.

This made me stop and realize that the doing that God  sometimes desires the most is just us sitting at his feet & resting in His presence. Us laying back into God’s embrace and letting Him comfort us. When we truly let Him comfort us, we will find overwhelming peace. Overwhelming peace that takes away the hurt, the fear, the anxiety and all the questions.

“The Lord is my best friend and my shepherd. I always have more than enough. He offers a resting place for me in his luxurious love. His tracks take me to an oasis of peace, the quiet brook of bliss.” 

Psalms 23:1-2 TPT

One thing that I needed reminded of was that I needed to let God comfort me. And when I did, the tension, chaos & questions melted and were replaced with His perfect peace.

Music for Reflection: The More I Seek You by Kari Jobe