Personal Bodyguard

“For the Lord has a hidden storehouse of wisdom made accessible to his godly lovers. He becomes your personal bodyguard as you follow his ways, protecting and guarding you as you choose what is right.”

Proverbs 2:7-8

Fine Arts Competition Festival is a weekend event that the children and youth in our church go to every year. This year it was held in Dayton, Ohio. Early Friday morning we all packed up and left to get there on time. 

We spent all day Friday going from room to room listening to the different competitions and cheering on our youth. Saturday, once again, we were up early going room to room, but now we were watching and cheering on the children. I love Fine Arts, but is it exhausting and by Saturday morning, I was dragging.

We were in a room waiting for a competition to start. I decided it was a good time to clean out some of the trash from my purse. Over the weekend, it seemed my kids were using it as a trash can and at this point it was overflowing. So I gathered some trash out of it and headed to what I thought was the women’s bathroom. I opened the door and to my surprise, it was not a women’s restroom like I was expecting. It was a dark, dreary maintenance closet. I didn't venture in, I immediately closed the door, hoping no one saw that I had done that. But some people did see and we all got a good laugh out of it. 

After that whole ordeal, I decided to find my husband. He was standing along the back wall in the room. I went over and leaned against Him and began watching the kids. All of a sudden, I began to feel wetness on my back side. I wondered, “What in the heck!?!” I turned around and to my dismay, somehow I leaned myself against a water fountain. Not only had I positioned myself against the water fountain, I managed to put my backside right against the button and it was spraying on me for I don't know how long! My backside was SOAKED! Everyone got a good laugh about that! 

I had been pondering this whole ordeal for a while. Wondering what message was in this, because there was sure to be a message! This morning in my quiet time, I felt that God was leading me to this point. 

Even when we have put ourselves in safe environments, we still get tired and weary. Things will happen to distract us or pull us away. Our judgment is not as sharp or as quick. We open doors that lead to places that we didn't expect or anticipate. And, sometimes, unexpected things creep up on us and before we know it, we are left feeling drenched and uncomfortable!

“For the Lord has a hidden storehouse of wisdom made accessible to his godly lovers. 

He becomes your personal bodyguard as you follow his ways, 

protecting and guarding you as you choose what is right.”

Proverbs 2:7-8

But in those moments don't forget, we are still in our safe place! We have not moved from our safe place, our environment did not change! Did things try to creep in and cause distraction and trouble? Yes! Did doors open that could have moved you out of your safe place? Yes! But in those moments when doors open that don't lead to places we expected. God is still there to alert us and protect us! We need to cling to this promise! He is still our personal bodyguard!

Rediscover You!

Rediscover You!

Yet through his powerful declaration of acquittal, God freely gives away his righteousness. His gift of love and favor now cascades over us, all because Jesus, the Anointed One, has liberated us from the guilt, punishment, and power of sin!
Romans 3:24 TPT

Spring is a beautiful time of year. You walk around your yard or garden and you see all the flowers coming back up from last year, you see the buds on trees opening and flowering beautifully. You walk around in awe and wonder of God’s creations and beauty.

Sometimes as you walk around in expectation, you see areas in which a plant that had bloomed in previous years didn't bloom again this year. You just see the lingering dead debris where the plant used to be. You wonder what happened, why isn’t it blooming again this year? Every time you walk by it your reminded because there is a bare, empty spot instead of a beautiful plant.

Our days can be like this. We go through our days, so many good, beautiful things happening, and blooming in our lives. But we come upon a “bare, empty spot” and we no longer notice the beautiful things.
We tend to become fixed on that “bare, empty spot” and only remember what’s missing from that spot.

Thoughts come flooding in and before we know it, constant reminders that we aren’t good enough & that we will never have what it takes to be good enough consume us. Reminders can come from people around us, from our past. Some of the worst reminders come from the voices in our own head.

Those moments tend to blind side us and we sink into negative behaviors & thoughts. Thoughts that had been positive just minutes ago have died and quickly faded away. When we stay in this place too long we forget who we really are. We forget who God says we are.

Who are you in God? A beautiful song comes to my mind by Hillsong called “Who You Say I Am”. The song says:

“I am chosen
Not forsaken
I am who You say I am
You are for me
Not against me
I am who You say I am”

Ladies, there comes a time in all of our lives that we need to clear away the debris of “dead plants” and discover the other “beautiful flowers” blooming around us. I feel like God is saying in these moments: “When your down, depressed and plain out don’t like yourself, You need to rediscover who you are in me.”

Rediscover who you are in God! Rediscover You!

“Left Behind” Opportunities

“Left Behind” Opportunities

“When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality”

Romans 12:13 NLT

Awhile back my daughter & I went to Walmart to get a few groceries. We got to the self check out and began scanning our groceries. My daughter had money with her and decided to buy some gum. When I was done checking out and ready to pay, I got my wallet out and immediately panic set in. I couldn’t find my debit card anywhere! Instant alarm arose in me. Ladies, I am sure you know the feeling!

In my panic induced state, my daughter is still going on and on about which pack of gum to buy! I was trying my best not to snap at her, but she was greatly annoying me, and that just seemed to increase the anxiety! It was definitely a chaotic moment. As I was unloading my purse in the middle of Walmart! I finally gave up and ended up paying with a check. So I push the check button on the register and this cashier comes over and informs me that I needed to load all of my groceries back into the cart and go to another register!

Meanwhile, I am still in panic mode, totally absent minded about my debit card being gone. And my daughter, bless her heart, is STILL going on about the pack of gum. She was not being helpful at all! I finally paid for my groceries and my daughter paid for her gum! We finally got to leave Walmart!

When I got out to my van I was trying to retrace my steps in my mind. What had I done with my debit card? And....Sarah is still talking about the pack of gum she bought!!! She was all excited about what a good deal she had got on it!!!! It had been a busy weekend for me with a women’s event. It took up most of the weekend. And I just couldn’t remember where or when I used my debit card last.

As I calmed myself down and really focused my thoughts, I finally remembered where it could be. So I texted my husband and sure enough, He found it tucked in my coat pocket where I had left it. How careless we can become when we get too busy.

But that’s not the end of the story…..

We got home, I had Bryce unload all the groceries. At least I thought I had! I told Sarah to put some of the groceries away. I got side tracked doing something else, so a couple hours later I decided to put the rest of the groceries away. To my panic, once again, half of my groceries I bought were missing!

I asked Bryce if he got all the groceries out of the van, he said he did. But I had to double check, and sure enough there were no groceries in the van. I was missing 2 bags of groceries!! Somehow, someway in the midst of all the chaos of checking out at Walmart, I managed to leave them in the bagging area when I had to move registers.

I called Walmart and explained what happened. They wouldn’t tell me anything over the phone and said i needed to come into the store! So I drove all the way back over to Walmart. I got to the customer service desk and the lady pulls this binder out with a label on it that said “Left Behind”. My heart instantly stopped, I even looked at my husband and pointed it out. In that binder it contained every single item that people had managed to leave behind at the registers. Other people, in their busyness and chaos had done the same thing as me.

But what is the lesson in all of this? What was dropped in my lap by God? We as Christians live busy lives doing “good” things! But in the chaos, we loose focus, become stressed out and forget about things right in front of us. We go about our day going through the motions and somedays even leaving some of those motions out!

But God was not talking to me about my groceries at that moment, he was talking about people! In the chaos of our day what things get left behind? I know in my chaotic trip to Walmart I left a lot of things behind. More than I care to list! But also simple acts were left behind. A simple act of helping someone with their cart, a simple act of letting someone go before me, a simple act of just smiling at someone, etc, my list can go on and on.

But in all of this I felt God saying, “Don't go out among my people and “leave behind” opportunities to be present with them”. Ladies, we cant just go through the motions! When we do, we miss out on opportunities that God has for us! Has God placed someone in your path that needs something that you have to offer? Do people around you need prayer, an encouraging word, an encouraging smile or just a simple act of kindness?

This quote sums it up for me!

“Christ has no body on earth but yours. No hands but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are they eyes through which Christ’s compassion for the world is to look out. Yours are the feet which He is to go about doing good; and yours are the hands with which He is to bless us now.” 

St. Teresa of Avila

Ladies, lets not get caught up in our chaos and end up with “Left Behind” Opportunities. Let us go out and be God’s hands and feet…even at Walmart!

"Up or Down the Mountain"

"Up or Down the Mountain"

Having a teenage boy and a pre-teen daughter, things can get really interesting in my house! I get so upset with my kids when I hear them talking negatively to themselves about themselves. There was one day I had all I could possibly take! One of my kids was talking so negatively, I looked at them and said:

 “You can talk yourself up the mountain 

or you can talk yourself down the mountain. 

I can’t control how you talk to yourself.”

Then, you know how God always tends to work in funny ways! About a week later, I was in a position where I was just reading myself the riot act...in my head of course! Something had upset me!  Before I knew it I was allowing all these negative words to consume me and to be spoken to me....by me!

At that moment what I had spoken to my children came flooding back into my mind. “You can talk yourself up the mountain or you can talk yourself down the mountain. I can’t control how you talk to yourself.” 

We can’t control how others talk about themselves or others. But guess what ladies, we can control how we talk to ourselves! God can control how we talk to ourselves! How do you talk to yourself? Let’s not allow ourselves to talk ourselves up a mountain. Let’s take control of how we talk to ourselves about ourselves. 

When we participate in conversations with ourselves, more times than not, we are led up the mountain. We get all worked up, which ends up filling ourselves with anxiety & fear. 

Instead of participating in that negative conversation with myself, I should have participated in a positive conversation with my loving Father. I should have asked Him to take control of my thoughts and feelings. I should have let Him lead me down the mountain.

“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, praising him always. Follow the example of all that we have imparted to you and the God of peace will be with you in all things.”

Philippians 4:8-9 TPT

So why should we let God control our thoughts? Why should we let Him lead us down the mountain? Because He loves us! He wants to speak life into us, not deplete us of it. He wants us to live in peace, not in anxiety. 

Let’s push aside all the negative thoughts and feelings! Listen & look to our Heavenly Father! He is the “God of Peace”. 

Evidence

“Evidence”

“Yes, God raised Jesus to life! And since God’s Spirit of Resurrection lives in you, he will also raise your dying body to life by the same Spirit that breathes life into you!”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭8:11‬ ‭TPT‬‬

My daughter, Sarah, was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at the age of 9. It has always been a struggle trying to maintain her blood sugar levels. But over the past couple of months, it was a CONSTANT struggle. It was taking its toll on Sarah’s body. No matter what we did, we couldn’t get her blood sugar under control. It was so bad that her daily blood sugar readings were averaging in the mid-high 200’s (it’s supposed to be between 70-120).

Sarah & our family were stressed. I remember one night, Sarah’s blood sugar alarm just kept going off constantly, alerting her that she was above 300. There was nothing we could do and it was in the middle of the night. She was exhausted and not in the mood to be messed with. That night ended with us both crying and wanting to give up! We were at our limit! Nothing was working.

A few days later, Sarah went to our church’s youth retreat with her brother & Dad. The first night there, the youth pastors wife had Sarah & another girl stand in the middle of a prayer circle. All the youth & staff gathered around and prayed over her. My husband said he had never seen such passionate, fervent, fierce & persistent prayer! It was powerful! He was just overwhelmed with tears! God’s presence was intense. He couldn’t help but believe that something had changed in Sarah.

The amazing thing is that ever since the retreat, Sarahs blood sugar readings seemed to stabilize. I couldn’t believe it! One day I decided to download her blood sugar records onto the computer. I wanted to see the evidence. I needed to see it with my eyes!

When I looked at the chart I couldn’t believe what I saw. She takes her blood sugar about 4 times a day. When I looked at the chart she went from having 3-4 high sugar readings EACH DAY to now maybe having 3 high readings in a WHOLE WEEK. Hallelujah! The evidence was perfectly clear! God had moved in Sarahs life!

I wanted to shout it from the rooftops! I knew that I had to share this with other people! Others needed to hear about what happened at the youth retreat. They needed to hear about the powerful, persistent, fervent praying that the youth did at this retreat! They needed to know that God’s power is within us! They needed to know that we can pray over people with confidence!

During this time the song Same Power by Jeremy Camp came to my mind:

“The same power that rose Jesus from the grave
The same power that commands the dead to wake
Lives in us, lives in us
The same power that moves mountains when He speaks
The same power that can calm a raging sea
Lives in us, lives in us
He lives in us, lives in us”

Ladies, this makes me want more!!!! Does it make you want more?!?!? I always KNEW that we held the same power in us. But this made me BELIEVE it! It makes me want to shout & jump & dance!!!! It makes me want more of God!

Let’s not hold back! Let‘s BELIEVE that this power is in us, and act like it! Let our prayers be powerful, passionate, fervent, fierce & persistent! Then look for the evidence, because it’s all around!

I Need What You Have

“I Need What You 

“You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.”

Matthew 5:14-16 MSG

One morning I was sitting in the living room. I was doing some work on the laptop when my son Bryce came in. He looked at me and said, “I need what you have.”

When he said it my immediate response was to jokingly say, “Why, of course you do!” For some reason, I just haven’t been able to shake this statement. The statement pierced me!

I have sat and pondered this for quite awhile. Wondering what message God had in this simple statement. The question that came to my mind was this. Am I living my life in a way that people will look at me and say “I need what you have”? Do they notice a difference in me and how I live my life? Do they see Jesus when they look at me?

1 Peter 2:11-12 MSG says:

“Friends, this world is not your home, so don’t make yourselves cozy in it. Don’t indulge your ego at the expense of your soul. Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they’ll be won over to God’s side and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives.”

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Reading these verses made me stop and look at how I live my life. It made me wonder, “How does my life look different from others?” Am I living an honorable life? Am I doing beautiful works for God? Am I winning others over to Christ?

I’m not just talking about when we are at church. I’m talking about when we are at home. When we go into the grocery store. When we are driving down the road. When we encounter a stranger.

When there is no one around that we think we know, would someone look at us and know there was something different about us? Would they NEED what we have? Do we shine Jesus to those around us?

Ladies, the greatest compliment any one of us can receive is for someone to look at us, see Jesus and say “I need what you have!”

This has challenged me and has caused me to do an evaluation on how I live my life. I hope it challenges you too! Ladies, let’s live our lives in a way that others will say “I need what you have!”
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Music For You:

* Let Them See You by Colton Dixon

Walk the Path

“Walk the Path”

“Stand on your feet alert, then you’ll always be ready to share the blessings of peace.”
Ephesians 6:15 TPT

One of my favorite things are fuzzy socks! I absolutely love them! Sometimes after wearing shoes all day, your feet ache. Nothing feels better than coming home and putting on a pair of fuzzy socks.They can comfort you after a long day and just make you feel warm.

You see, our feet carry all our weight.They carry us through our day and we use them with every step we take. Feet also keep us steady when we stand.

For many of us, we have to walk in places we might not choose, but God has promised to protect us as we walk with Him. We need to protect our feet so that we can continue to walk the path that God has for us! But we also need to protect our feet so that we can walk with other women down all their paths.

Handprints

“Handprints”

Your hands do a lot of things and are responsible for a lot of things.They clean our houses, they cook our meals, they fold our laundry, they pay bills, they change dirty diapers, they give baths, and the list goes on and on.

But our hands also get the privilege of wiping tears, holding peoples hands, carrying our babies and caring for our friends & family. They even give us the privilege of laying our hands on others as we pray for them or using them to worship God.

What would we do without our hands? We need to keep them nourished and protected so we can continue to do what God has created us to do.

“Jesus has chosen to leave his handprints on the world through our hands.”
David Jeremiah

Refresh & Nourish

“Refresh & Nourish”

“His massive arms are wrapped around you, protecting you. You can run under his covering of majesty and hide. His arms of faithfulness are a shield keeping you from harm.”
Psalms 91:4 TPT

Different weather environments wreak havoc on our lips. Causing them to be dry and cracked and even sometimes bleeding. But, we don't have to let that happen.

We know when the weather change is coming.We know when we will be in conditions that could damage our lips.  Because we know, we have the ability to prevent this and protect them in advance. We can pull out this little tube of Chapstick and nourish and refresh our lips.

Ladies even through times when the “environment" or “weather” is wreaking havoc, when it is the least desirable to us or maybe even to other ladies around us, we have the power to call on God for ourselves & for others. He has the authority to prevent & protect. Just like this tube of chapstick,God alone will refresh & nourish our Lips.

Words of our Mouths

“Words of our Mouth”

“So may the words of my mouth, my meditation-thoughts, and every movement of my heart be always pure and pleasing, acceptable before your eyes,
my only Redeemer, my Protector-God.” Psalms 19:14 TPT

Days can be crazy at my house! I don’t know about you, but I tell the  kids all day what time we have to leave. It never fails - we are running around at the last minute and I am giving orders, “get your shoes on, comb your hair, get your coat, brush your teeth, get in the van!”

It never fails that one of those items does not get done and more often than not, it is “brush your teeth” that gets neglected. I don't realize it until it’s too late and they are sitting by me in the van. The kids start talking to me and all of a sudden the odor travels over and I get a whiff of their breath. It about knocks me over. Immediately I'm asking if anyone has any gum!

Ladies, we don't want the words of our mouth to knock others over. Let God freshen up our breath.We want our words to be pleasing to God and to others.

We want to be able to reach out to other ladies with God’s refreshing words.We don't want to be knocking ladies over with distasteful words. Let God speak to us, so that in turn we can speak to others.

Wipe the Tears

“Wipe the Tears”

“Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down.”
Romans 12:15 MSG

“All who are oppressed may come to you as shelter in the time of trouble, a perfect hiding place.”
Psalms 9:9 TPT

What would we do without Kleenex? Many times I have been in prayer groups, bible studies, worship services, or a much needed heart to heart conversation with a friend that ends with us crying!

And you know what happens when we cry, the inevitable...our faces are covered in tears and our noses run. We need kleenex, sometimes a whole box to come in and clean us up! How uncomfortable it is to need a kleenex and not have anything around that you can use. I have been there and done that!

Without the Kleenex to come in and clean up, our face would be a mess and if we are honest, it leaves us feeling uncomfortable. We look like little children with
boogers all over our faces instead of grown women.

Ladies, let us be the kleenex. So many ladies - teens too, just need a friend, a mentor to come along beside them. Let us be women who come along side these ladies to pray with them, to have a heart to heart conversation with them, or to invite them to a bible study. Let God use us to go in and wipe the tears of other women.