Prayer

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Immeasurable Power

Prayer has been on my mind a lot lately.  This last Sunday was filled with answers to my prayers.  I haven't felt that alive in a long time. It topped every "high" I've ever felt my entire life. One thing I've always struggled with was prayer.  So often the power of it would be interrupted by my own awkward thoughts of how stupid I felt for "talking to myself."  I say stupid because Sunday was just proof that God pays attention to each of those prayers.  I also can't help but think that I'm also maturing in what I pray for.  I'm that much farther from being the little girl praying for God to give me a pony (even though God could do that if He wanted to lol).  But as I've learned, looking back we'll see that sometimes the prayers we thought weren't answered, weren't because God wasn't paying attention, but because we were praying for things out of God's character and will. As I so often forget, along with maturing in your relationship with God, your prayers will also mature.  There's no irony in 1 Thessalonians 5:17,

Pray without ceasing.


A verse of very few words with a very clear and powerful message. God meant it because if we were honest with ourselves, we know that prayer is always the answer.  There's no point where it isn't appropriate.  In times of joy, sadness, anger, fear, relief... We're armed with the most powerful weapon ever and it's one that no one can take from us.  As I once heard it put, "People may refuse our love or reject our message, but they are defenseless against our prayers." Luckily that even applies for ourselves. So despite the current situation, no matter how you feel at the moment, prayer is your best defense. It's the simple act of surrendering it to our amazing God. 


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Bloom Where You Are Planted

I've read the saying "Bloom where you are planted" many times. Today when I read it, the thought popped in my head, God is everywhere, absolutely everywhere. He wants us to find joy in our circumstances.  So no matter where you are or what you're going through... Bloom. Seek His face and become the beautiful flower He wants you to become no matter where you are planted.

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To All The Precious Women Reading This

To all the precious women reading this: You are God's most beautiful and treasured creation.  Your beauty is timeless, and despite how you feel at this moment in time, He is delighted in your beauty. Every part of His creation is a purposeful and intricate brushstroke to His masterpiece. His immense love for you is far bigger than you could ever imagine and will never change.


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By a Master Craftsman

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Obsession

There's a true beauty in being led by the Holy Spirit. Here's how it starts out with me, I sit down to write about what I think my blog should be about, a few lines into it, God transforms it into something completely different than I ever imagined. As I was writing today and thinking about how excited I've been feeling about the journey God has me on, my writing quickly took a turn and was purely and simply God giving me a reminder that I needed.

There are days that I feel I've wasted the time I've been given thus far and then I'm reminded of the great story of redemption that has been written with my life. No doubt there are still times I fail, but Christ reminds me that those failures are more chapters of God's unending grace. I've been handed a story that can't be denied because I know every piece. I have a daily reminder of the darkness I have been lifted out of by the sacrifice of a loving God and along with that also a inconceivable testimony. He took the life of a lost, hurt little girl who thought if she was tough enough she could make it and made new a woman that is covered by the blood, grace and love so big it's unimaginable.  As David Crowder Band's song Obsession puts it, "I'm so filthy with my sin." but to think of how pure and clean we are, covered in His blood, is unfathomable.

Unimaginable Joy

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Madly in Love

This week has been just a mess. Trying to come up with a topic to write about and stick with it without letting my mind wander to something completely different has been very challenging.  I’ve hit this point where I just have so much to say but if I really talked about everything that has been on my mind, people would probably think I was a bit crazy. Not to mention that trying to organize all these thoughts and put them into words without being completely sporadic is a mind boggling task all on its own.

I have this odd energy about me that seems to be ready to burst out any minute.   So usually when I feel this way I try to fill my time as a way to soak up this energy and possibly get something constructive done in the process.  I started walking, a book study, working extra days, cleaning like a crazy lady… But then I started thinking about it. What’s missing? What am I leaving out?

God.

In all this craziness I forgot my foundation. Somehow I lost touch with the most important thing in my life, my relationship with my Creator.

In a world where we’re programmed to stay busy and being able to list a series of tasks we’ve accomplished is defined as success, it’s easy to forget to put that time aside to just breathe.  Sit for a moment and just spend time with Someone who has so much love for you that it’s incomprehensible.  It’s no surprise that I have been feeling down lately and having a hard time feeling worthy of much.  When we don’t take the time to let God write us love letters or simply throw them to the side for “later”, our minds become filled with the world’s lies. Self-worth is impossible to find in a world of hate and shame. So it’s essential to take the time to just sit in the presence of the One who created us and sacrificed His life for our downfalls.  I’m not sure that love like that can really be put into words.  But I do know that any amount of time spent with God quickly drowns out the deceptive hate spewed by society.  I know I have worth and no one will tell me differently because I am the daughter of a King. And He’s madly in love with me.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8

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My Savior

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Preventing Forest Fires

Satan’s best weapon against me is solitude and isolation.  My head fills up with thoughts that I am the only one going through certain stumbling blocks.  Although realistically I’m aware that others around me are struggling with similar problems.  For example, there are times that I wonder if I’m the only one who over analyzes the things people say.  I tend to pick apart every bit of criticism and then I dwell on it as I match it with my own view on myself.  I constantly worry that I am blind to my own faults and that others can see so much more than I can myself.  The tiniest remarks can cause me to doubt myself and destroy my self-confidence.  Reminds me of the song “Forest Fire” by Josh Wilson,

Our tongues are like matches
Our ears are like trees
Our words are like sparks
On dry summer leaves
It doesn't take much
For the flames to rise
And turn a soul
Into a forest fire

Quite simply, we are all guilty of being very careless with our words.  The amount of time it takes to say a simple phrase is nothing compared to the amount of time it can end up replaying in someone's mind.

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 
Ephesians 4:29

There's emphasis on the power of our words and the fact they are capable of building up others and we're told to do so. There are many scriptures informing us to be careful with our words and how important it is to tame the tongue.  James 1:26 evens warns that anyone who thinks they are religious and doesn't bridle their tongue is deceiving their own heart. It even goes as far as saying that their religion is worthless.
We are capable of doing a lot with our tongues.  It's one of those things that we can use for good or bad.

Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! 
James 3:9-10

God didn't create our tongue to do evil or to make cutting remarks to the people around us.  There are many amazing and glorious things we can do with it to honor our Creator.  The power of the words we speak to others makes all the difference. But most important, we are called to speak good and pure things.  As I went through the different scriptures and seeing the multiple times that we are instructed to speak words that are encouraging, you have to realize the importance behind something mentioned so often in so many different books of the Bible. So in a world where we are taught to speak our minds, and aren’t necessarily taught to think things through before we say them. We aren’t told to be like the world.  People should see a difference in us simply by hearing our words and the way we speak.