“A friend loves at all times, And a brother is born for adversity.”Proverbs 17:17 NKJV
Love conquers all! Love even when you don’t want to.
Face it
Stand up and face that shadow!
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”
Psalms 23:4 NKJV
“The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.” Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He. ”
The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” Then they went out of the city and came to Him.
And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.” So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. And many more believed because of His own word.”
John 4:15-26, 28-30, 39-41 NKJV
His Mercies
I can get so caught up in life. I especially am consumed with the things I get wrong – how I have to be perfect. Like, somehow, I am that great.
Oh how I am imperfect and flawed. No matter how hard I try to do right, I somehow do wrong. Do we need to do our best to do right? Yes, absolutely! We need to work hard and bear good fruit. Are we always going to do that? No. We aren’t.
We serve a God of mercy, grace, and love. This fact is the essence of our relationship with Him. He gives us mercy, grace, and love & we, in turn, are grateful, give thanksgiving, and put Him first.
“Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Oh, give thanks to the God of gods! For His mercy endures forever. Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords! For His mercy endures forever: To Him who alone does great wonders, For His mercy endures forever; To Him who by wisdom made the heavens, For His mercy endures forever; To Him who laid out the earth above the waters, For His mercy endures forever; To Him who made great lights, For His mercy endures forever— The sun to rule by day, For His mercy endures forever; The moon and stars to rule by night, For His mercy endures forever.”
Psalms 136:1-9 NKJV
““I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”
John 15:5 NKJV
“Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.”
Psalms 107:1 NKJV
“Therefore David blessed the LORD before all the assembly; and David said: “Blessed are You, LORD God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever. Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, The power and the glory, The victory and the majesty; For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, And You are exalted as head over all.”
I Chronicles 29:10-11 NKJV
Don’t allow your imperfectness stunt you. Our being right is not where our success lies, but rather in the continual communion with the Father. Don’t walk through life with guilt. Our Father, the creator of the universe, is on our side and wants only what is best for us! Give thanks to God that He has it all worked out and keep going.
Live fearlessly and be blessed!
God sweats the small stuff
My goal this year is to read the Bible cover to cover. There are some really interesting stories in the there. A lot of stories that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Most know the story of the valley of the dry bones (Ezekiel 37:1-14). I knew little more than that off the top of my head. When I was reading it, the last few chapters were about the temple that the Israelites were going to build. There were just figures…square feet and descriptions of what you do in this room or that room…for the majority of those chapters.
I asked God “what was the point in including this in your holy word? Doesn’t this just pertain to those at that time and not now?” The Holy Spirit replied “Brooke, I want people to know that I care about even the smallest details. Don’t you get that from this scripture? No detail is too small for me to not care about it.” Boom – mind blown! What a word…what a revelation! It made me realize that God cares so much about every little detail. No stone goes unturned with Him.
What does this mean for you and me? (1) God’s plan for our lives is well thought out. Yes, there is a reason for everything. It it has everything to do with how much He loves us. (2) He sees and counts even the smallest things we do, good or bad. (3) Nothing is too small for us not to ask. No matter how small the need is, God cares about it (and us).
The God that spoke the universe into existence cared about the square footage of each room in the Temple. If that doesn’t blow your mind, I don’t know what will.
I will leave you with this scripture. Remember that you are special to Him and you can bring all your needs to Him, no matter how small. Be blessed everyone!
What is the price of five sparrows—two copper coins? Yet God does not forget a single one of them. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows. Luke 12:6-7
Footsteps
Generations – my church’s theme this year. I have been thinking about this a lot lately – about whose legacy I am living out. I find it interesting that my maternal grandmother retired from the insurance business and now I currently am working in insurance. I am walking in her footsteps and find it very special. Her husband, my beloved grandfather (we called him Papa) – was one of a kind. I wish the entire world knew him because I truly believe they would fall head-over-heels in love with him. I am a little partial, though.
My grandfather only wore cowboy boots – it is a Texas thing. I loved walking around in them. They went all the way to my thighs as a young girl and I couldn’t even bend my knees, but they were my grandfather’s so I didn’t care. My heart longs to walk in his shoes today – be kind to one another, love people, take care of them. I hope I am making him proud. Another habit of his I am trying my best to immolate is reading the Bible every day. He loved that thing and you can tell it was well used when you looked at it.
Having a heart for God’s word is a vital part of having a relationship with God. John 1:1 speaks of how the Word of God was there in the beginning, it was with God and it was God – speaking, of course of Jesus Christ. Knowing the Word brings us closer to who Christ is – having that in our heart will make us like Jesus. It will also help us know when the Enemy himself is setting a trap for us so we can avoid it and not succumb to his advances.
I encourage you to spend a part of your day taking in the Word of God. You will be happier and more at peace than you ever have been. No need to be super ambitious and try to read the entire book in one sitting. Just take a chapter a day to start out. Let it flow over you like a refreshing spring. Do this and watch your life change!
“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” (Psalm 119:105 NIV)
Pray this with me: Father, I thank you for the Word you have provided. I want to learn it and hold it in my heart. As I start to read your word, speak to me. Show me things about my life that I need to know. I want to know you better and carry your word inside my heart. Help me continue with this good-for-me habit. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Be blessed everyone!
Credit: freeimages.com
Happy New Year!
I greatly encourage you to write down what you are expecting for this new year. Put something on paper. It is more final. Take some time today to do this. Here are what I am declaring for myself in 2015:
- Stop all self-centered thinking and behavior. It is exhausting and hurts everyone around me…including me.
- I am going to start seeing the prophesies that have been spoken over me to come to pass. It is a necessary thing for my Heavenly Destiny. I must live out my PURPOSE.
- The things of my past – thinking, acting, living – will be put to rest and a new me will become the norm. My latter needs to be better than my former.
- Absolutely no more laziness. There are times of rest that is needed, yes, but no more procrastinating or putting things off. It hinders my progression.
- Take more ”me” time – I need to learn more and more how it is to truly rest rather than working to the point where I crash. There must be a balance.
- Take care of my body – health wise. I do not need to be skinny to be happy, but I do want to be healthy. Watching what I eat and exercising more is necessary for a better me.
- Read the Bible in some form EVERYDAY! My relationship with God is the most important thing…I need to start really walking that fact out.
- I am expecting a greater peace than I have ever known. Not worrying about the small, insignificant things and allowing God to take care of the rest of it.
- Focus on what the plan of God is for my life and do things that will get me to where I need to be – I can’t just sit and wait for Him to do it all. I must go out and plant those seeds myself. I cannot wait to see what He is going to do…
- Owning what I do and apologize when necessary. Forgive others when necessary, as well….as quickly as possible.
- Work on me…staying self-aware and know when I need to do work on me. Not allowing life to get in the way of remaining a vessel the Lord finds pleasing.
- NO MORE DOUBTING!
- Pray for bold things. A lot.
- Love people the way they are…no matter what they do.
- Understand what is truly important in life and put my emphasis in that. No more giving a lot of my time to things/situations/people that are not worthy of it. Realize that I am valuable…just as much as everyone else is. Make sure that, when things go wrong, you lose everything, when life gets really hard, that what you have built will remain. If you build things on sandy ground, when the storm comes, things may not remain. Build your house on solid ground.
Be blessed everyone!!
!
The Real Truth
Truth – “the real facts about something” is how Merrium-Webster defines that word. To put that on paper, it seems simple and straight forward. In the real world, though, there is a lot of false things that are disguised as truth.
For instance, you only live once, so why not try it? Or, if it feels right, then it is right. That is our world’s philosophy right now, but I wouldn’t classify us as being in a good place. In many ways, we have lost sight of the truth.
Think on this statement by Christ:
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. (John 14:6 NLT)
To me, this says that the only real truth is in Christ Jesus. Everything else is false. How can we access the truth? By reading His word (John 1:1). The Bible contains life’s road map to how we need to live.
When we stray, when we stop believing the real truth, when lies control our lives, which happens to the best of us – how do we get back on track? Seek His face and notice the things that are going on in our life. Evaluate the quality of your life. Are things going right or wrong? Do you have a love for your life? If things are not all too pleasant, ponder this:
And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children? He said, “My child, don’t make light of the LORD’s discipline, and don’t give up when he corrects you. For the LORD disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.” As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all. (Hebrews 12:5-8 NLT)
Open a line of communication with Our Heavenly Father and let Him lead you where you need to go. Don’t let lies bring you down. He loves us too much not to chase after us. Let Him catch you and guide you.
Be blessed.
Doors…
Doors close – that is half of their purpose. In life, metaphorically, doors close all the time. Sometimes we are grateful that a door closes, at others it crashes our world.
I recently went through a season that many doors closed. To be absolutely frank, it was shocking. It took a lot of soul searching to get back to where my feet were back on the ground. Was it necessarily a bad thing, though? There are still times that I don’t always feel like things are going to work our perfectly, but I have perfect peace.
To give those hope that are in a season of doors closing, I wanted to share something with you. Every time I got in a funk, felt like things were falling apart, or just felt like my life will never be back where I wanted it to be, the Holy Spirit would whisper – “I’ve got something better for you. Just hold on, be patient.”
Check out Jeremiah 29:11 – “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”
No matter where you are right now, remember that God has a plan for you. If you have breath in your lungs – God has not given up on you! Keep your head up, let God continue to do His work, and brace yourself for a blessing. Pray to God to give you His perfect peace. He is the only one that can make it all work.
Keep in mind – the other half of the door’s purpose is to open!
Be blessed.
Normally Not-Normal
I recently took a personality test and got the same Myers Briggs result – INFJ. Per the results, I am a part of around 1% of the population. In no way am I “normal.” This was a hard fact for me to swallow most if my life until recently. I just wanted to be like everyone else, but that is not the way it is designed. We are to be His light. How can we do that if everyone is alike?
To give those who suffer from feeling out of place, remember this scripture:
Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb. I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration—what a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day. (Psalm 139:13-16 MSG)
God made you the way you are for a reason. Don’t discredit it. Pray that God gives you His eyes so you may see who you are in Him rather than who you are in the world.
Is it always easy for me to accept me as me? No, but God continues to remind me that He loves me more than I can fathom. The same goes for you.
Be blessed.
Cleaning the Wound
There are very few people who have never been really hurt emotionally…and most of those are probably still in grade school. The older we get, the more we find ourselves hurt. As we walk through life, it doesn’t matter what we do, who we serve, or how we live our life…we will get hurt. Sometimes, we set ourselves up for that hurt and other times we do absolutely nothing to cause that hurt. Either way, the hurt is a result of living in a fallen world. How do we get over that hurt, though? There is a chance that the process to heal can, in fact, be painful too.
The journey toward healing is very interesting. As a counseling student, I met many hurting people and there was one thing that every case had in common, walking through the pain to receive healing can be the hardest thing we will ever endure. Why is that? It all depends on the levels of hurt, how long it took us to deal with that hurt, and where we currently are in our development…or how many parts of the journey we were forced to skip because the dysfunction of those around us. Regardless, it never is easy to get over the pain of this life.
Is healing worth it, then? Absolutely!!!! We need healing, folks. God, in fact, loves healing. Look at Jesus and how many people He healed throughout the Bible – physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. I am not sure if we can actually put a number on how many people he reached out in that way because there are so many people who came to Him. I am not going to try to count, but as reference, please see Luke 7:21-23, Mark 5:34, and John 5:8-9 to see examples of how Jesus healed people.
Did God’s healing end when Christ ascended into heaven? Emphatically no! You can receive healing just like those in the Bible because God sent the Holy Spirit. Acts 1:7-8 says “’You don’t get to know the time. Timing is the Father’s business. What you’ll get is the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world.’” Through the Holy Spirit, that lives in us (Ephesians 4:30), we can do amazing things…including heal. Healing can come from relationships God sets up, the prayers of saints, or healing through counseling. Whatever God leads you to do, please do.
What happens when we start down that road? Why can this journey be painful when we are supposed to be receiving healing and restoration? The scenario I always gave those who sought counseling through the site I worked was this one – please forgive me if you have a weak stomach –
When I was in 1st grade, I got hurt playing kickball. Not only was I a girly-girl, loving frilly skirts and cute shoes, I also loved being one of the guys. A contradiction, I know, but I have never been normal in my life. 🙂 As I was running to a base, a person standing close to me pelted me with the kickball. Being a scrawny girl (at the time…hehe), I fell pretty hard on the concrete parking lot. Both of my knees got completely scrapped up…pretty gruesome. When I got home that day, my mom decided to treat my scraps with Hydrogen Peroxide. For those who have ever had any cuts or scraps treated with this concoction knows how painful it can be. I believe I screamed…loud…the first time she poured it on. I watched as the white bubbles brought up little bits of rocks, dirt, and bodily fluids (told you it was gross!). Every time my mom treated me with Hydrogen Peroxide, the less things came up. Eventually, the scabs went away and now, you cannot even tell what happened.
Can you imagine, though, if I waited to treat it, if I let the dirt, and the rocks to sit in my skin and fester? The scars and the pain would be over the top. The journey of emotional healing is just like this…except it is with our souls. We must deal with the things down deep. If you don’t, the damage can get so bad that you can hurt those around you.
May I suggest that if this blog post touched you in some way, that you might want to consider help? First, I suggest that you cry out to God. Just like Moses, David, Daniel, and Paul did in their lifetimes, God will come to your rescue. Listen to what He has to say. If you don’t, healing cannot fully happen. Take heed of those He puts in your life. Whether you can be healed through prayer only, or if you need to join prayer with counseling or some sort of mentorship, do it! Take care of you and all will be well. Second, lay your ego down. It only gets in the way. Allow God to bring everything to you in this time of need and rely on that. Pride will only cause the wound to get deeper. Healing comes when we become vulnerable to the God who breathed life into us. Ultimately, the greatest medicine we can accept is the Father’s perfect grace and love.
I will leave this blog with one profound statement:
Lay it at the cross and let Him carry you.
Be blessed.
Boldly Radiant 