Tag: peace

Posted on

Confessions of a Control Freak

Trust – one of the most beautiful things in this world. There is something about someone giving you their trust – it shows you how much they value you. It is also one of the hardest things to give to people and yet is the one of the few components in a relationship that you need to be in relationship with someone. I think our society, especially, has an issue with trust as we are so independent. We take care of ourselves and then take care of those around us. Eat or be eaten, right?

How this is so far from the message of Christ. One thing that strikes me in the story of the time between when Christ is captured and before He is crucified is how He just takes it (see John 18). He doesn’t give His accusers the satisfaction of saying that they are right, but He also doesn’t try to run. He knows His assignment and puts up with whatever He needs to do in order to get His job done.

I am all for independence and fighting for what you believe in, fighting for your boundaries, and keeping your dignity. God does not want us to be miserable. He desires for us to be happy and content, living well. Is this always the case? No, it isn’t. Unfortunately, because we live in a world where there is turmoil everywhere – we will have to face trials.

If you are like me, when you go through trials – you try to figure things out. I can actually make myself sick trying to figure things out. I want to know what is going to happen when I take the turn in front of me. I don’t want to put myself at risk for being hurt or to be put in a more precarious position that I already am in. The issue with this mindset is that I do not control the universe. I didn’t speak the world into existence. I am not omnipresent or live absent of time. I am here on this Earth, walking this thing out, living day to day. I do not have the capabilities of controlling such things. I MUST trust God.

There are times when I will struggle with this for days. As a result, I must repent. Why? Because not trusting God is actually a sin. We are telling Him that we know better than He does – with is rebellion. That is the original sin. I am making more of this situation than I need to – all is asked of me is to trust Him and follow Him. Simple, right?

Ponder this scripture: When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. Isaiah 43:2 NLT

For all you fellow control freaks – know that whatever you must endure, God will not allow it to consume you, but will be right there beside you (Matthew 28:20). God has it all planned out. Just trust Him!

Be blessed

Posted on

Out of order

Last night, I was added to a group text with some friends. An issue occurred that caused me to receive things out of order. It was crazy and a bit funny. I can only imagine what the others on the text thought when I kept saying “I don’t know what is going on.” I am pretty sure they were LOL-ing.

How many times do we do that with God? He gives us a piece…a glimpse…of what our life is to be like and when things start to look strange, we turn to Him and say “I don’t know what is going on here.” We are trying to make sense of it all when we don’t have all the pieces.

1 Samuel (starting with chapter 15) and 2 Samuel speaks on the life of King David. A young shepherd boy who, out of the blue, was anointed as King. In order to fulfill that role, he had to endure the wilderness and rejection. Do you think if he knew about his time in the wilderness, he would have graciously accepted that role?

We must trust God even when things look out of order. He knows what He is doing. Trust that one day, it will all make sense. The valley of the shadow of death is real, but His grace is even more real.

Proverbs 3:5-6 says: Trust in The Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.

Do you know what happened with the group text? It all came in eventually…a bit out of order, but I was able to piece everything together. I pray God gives you the wisdom to do that with your life.

Be blessed.

Out of Order

Posted on

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.

Door

Posted on

Come what may…

Have you ever made a plans to do something and then something happens and turns everything upside down?

Yesterday evening, October 2, 2014, a horrible storm came through Dallas/Ft Worth. The storm didn’t last long, but many are still feeling the effects with no electricity, closed schools, debris clean up, and a loss of mass transportation. Many people’s plans were completely smashed due to a storm that lasted only moments, really. I can expect that there are plenty of those people who are bummed out right now.

How many times in our life do we allow “storms” to get in our way? Probably more times than we would like. Even those that only last a moment can change our attitude for the longest time. As a Christian, should we allow that to happen?

Look at Paul’s writing in Phillipians. He describes his attitude towards his current situation in chapter 4:

I’m glad in God, far happier than you would ever guess—happy that you’re again showing such strong concern for me. Not that you ever quit praying and thinking about me. You just had no chance to show it. Actually, I don’t have a sense of needing anything personally. I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am. I don’t mean that your help didn’t mean a lot to me—it did. It was a beautiful thing that you came alongside me in my troubles. (‭Philippians‬ ‭4‬:‭10-14‬ MSG)

If we take every storm in stride and trust God that He will take care of us, no matter what, then we can make it through a lot of things.

Dallas/Ft Worth is going to be just fine after this crazy storm (1) there were no fatalities – Praise God! and (2) we are used to crazy weather so we make the most of it.

Know who you are in Him and be content in every sotuaion. That way, storms no longer rule your life…Christ does!

Be blessed

IMG_0856.JPG