God is...

The only way for me to truly see the goodness of the Lord is for me to keep my eyes on Him. In order to see His blessings, I need to look for them. God will give us the desires of our hearts, but first, we must desire Him. 

When I seek the Lord with my whole heart and desire Him, more than the things of the world, then He blesses me abundantly. I can’t serve the Lord, however, with my mind in the world. He wants me to choose each day who I am going to serve. 

Serving God means turning loose of everything in the world. The world has restrictions and guidelines for how we are supposed to act. Society paints us a picture of perfection and wants us to follow it. The image that it wants us to chase does not exist. That is why it is so easy to become stressed and depressed. No one could ever live up to these standards. There is no joy in this kind of life.

The joy in life comes from knowing God. The more I read His beautiful word, the more that I come to love Him. God never intended for us to live the way the world wants us to live. 

Every day, I want to set my eyes on Him. I want to replace the lies of the world with the truth of God. I want to walk and talk to Him and be encouraged by His word. I want to surrender my life to Him, and trust Him to do what is best for me. I want Him to mold me into the person that He wants me to be. The more time that I spend with Him, the more time that I want to spend with Him. It is such a blessing to be able to read His word and to talk to Him. 

God is the creator of my life and the keeper of my soul. Every day He speaks His love into my heart. He helps me to see His goodness and to desire His blessings. In God, I have everything that I need. And I am so thankful to know Him. 

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Becoming quiet

We get so caught up in things that don’t even matter. The enemy is a mastermind at distracting us. If he can keep us busy by drifting through our days and wasting our time, then we can’t do the things of importance. Lately, I’ve been noticing how I spend my time and how I feel after I do certain things. When we get honest with ourselves and truly observe our lives, then we can see how the devil manipulates us and distracts us. 

Therefore, I want to do more of the things that bring peace and joy into my life. So often we blame God for our hardships when we are the ones who choose to do each thing in our day. I have learned that I bring many of life’s hardships upon myself. If we want a different life, then we need to do things differently. 

Walking in nature is one of my favorite things to do each day. It helps me to put things into perspective. In order for me to hear the voice of my Lord, I have to step outside of all the noise. When I talk about my problems with Him and then become quiet, He instructs me. 

Another thing that has helped me is journaling. Each evening I sit down for a few minutes and just write about my day. Then I ask God questions. It’s amazing at how when we ask a question in stillness the answer appears. 

Instead of being distracted by social media, I have been studying bible verses. The time that I used to scroll through Facebook or Instagram is now being used to feed my soul with God’s word. While it is rewarding, the devil is not happy with me. He doesn’t want me to spend more time with my Lord. Therefore, he is trying to cause me grief. But instead of giving in, I have been pushing through the resistance.  

I know that if I can continue and set up good habits, then my life will be more peaceful. I have learned that we don’t have to tune into the noise of the world. We can choose to turn off all the drama. This is our lives and we get to choose what we will allow in our lives. I want to choose to spend my time wisely. 

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Changing my story

If I allowed my mind to control my life it would be a mess. Most of the time, my first initial thoughts are like a toddler out of control. My mind loves to create stories. They don’t make sense. They are irrational and filled with drama. And they are simply not true.

When I allow my mind to create untrue stories and then base my feelings off of these stories, I feel horrible. My mind loves the worst case scenario stories. It picks out the flaws in others and then judges them based on the untrue stories I have created. 

Therefore, when I notice that others are irritating me, I start examining my thoughts. My problem is usually in my thinking. No one can even make me mad or hurt me without my permission. It is not the situation that bothers us, it is our thoughts about it. 

The sooner I realize this, the easier it is for me to look for the truth. When I step back and look at the situation, then I am usually able to find perspective. Then, I can react with love and compassion. 

The enemy wants us to believe his lies and to live in the stories that he creates in our minds. He wants us to take the negative thoughts and wallow in them. Exposing the lies with the truth is like shining light onto his darkness. In the light, none of it seems as bad. God wants us to center our minds and heart on Him. He is the goodness. That is what we should be thinking about. 

Philippians 4:8 (KJV)

8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

When I can abide by this scripture then my life is so much better. I can radiate love and shine a light out to others to give them a little glimpse of God. 

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Find out how to change your thoughts to change your life

What a gift it is to be given a choice in our lives. We get to decide what we want to do, how we are going to do it, and when we are going to do it. Ultimately, we get to decide what we are going to think and even how we are going to feel. The problem is that most of us don’t realize we have this power. 

I remember a time in my life when I was completely miserable. My every thought was doom and gloom. I worried about everything. I took three pills a day for anxiety, and I was still anxious. I had anxiety attacks daily and lived in a prison of fear that I had created for myself. 

Then one day, I asked God to help me to overcome my anxiety. As it turns out, all that I needed to change was my thoughts. Once I changed my thoughts, my life changed. 

Instead of worrying about everything, I started praying about everything. Every night I would go sit out on my deck and pour my heart out to God. He helped me to see things differently. 

My problem was that I was trying to live in the past and the future. As much as we would like to go into the past and change things, it is just not possible. Instead of making myself miserable over things which had already happened, I learned to forgive the person or situation and then release the negative feelings. The only person I was hurting by harboring negative feelings was me. 

When I noticed myself worrying about things that may or may not happen in the future, then I brought myself back to the present moment. In my present moment, everything was okay. However, I was ruining it by trying to live in the past and future. 

The present moment is all that we will ever have. Therefore, we need to make better choices for the life we are living today. Now I am aware of my thoughts. If I find myself feeling anxious or worrying about things, then I audit my thoughts. Usually, the thought causing me pain is a lie. Once I find it and correct it, then I am able to reclaim my peace. I have found that it is never my circumstances causing my pain. It is my thoughts about my circumstances that cause me pain.

If you would like for me to teach you how to overcome your painful circumstances, then send me a message. I will do a new online course starting January 14, 2019. This process truly changed my life and I would love to share it with you.

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Happy New Year

Happy New Year! I love how incredible it feels to wake up to a brand new year. Last night, I imagined giving God all of my fears, worries, and limiting beliefs. When I surrendered my fear, He gave me courage. When I handed Him my worries, He offered me faith. When I offered Him my limiting beliefs, He offered me hope.

I want to live my life this year filled with hope, faith, and courage. I want to show up every single day of this year for those I love. I am so excited about the possibilities of what can happen this year. 

My heart’s desire is to walk closer to God. I want to know more about Him. I want to read and study the scriptures and do my very best to be a light to Him in some way. This year, I want to enjoy every single day that God gives me. I desire to make the most of it and to live fully present in each moment. I want to have daily conversations with my Lord. 

Each day I want to walk in a way that is pleasing to Him. I want to know what it truly feels like to live, instead of enduring my days and just barely getting by. 

So I am stepping out of my comfort zone and setting some really hard goals for myself. The person I am now will not be able to accomplish these goals. Therefore, I will have to grow. And, I look forward to growing in the grace and knowledge of my Lord. I want to be stronger, wiser, be more patient, courageous, hopeful, have more faith, be more loving, and for my light to shine brighter.

Joshua 1:9 King James Version (KJV)

9 Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

Who do you want to become this year?

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My word for 2019

Every year, I have one word that I focus on throughout the year. I usually pray about it and then wait for God to reveal it to me. Last night, as I was journaling God, revealed my word to me. My word for 2019 is: believe. 

In order for me to able to do God’s work, then I have to wholeheartedly believe in the purpose of it and God’s ability to bring it to pass. I also have to believe in my ability to do His work. I can’t follow the Lord while I am holding hands with the devil. I have to turn loose of my doubts so I walk after the ways of my Lord. 

God doesn’t want us to walk around with our head dropped feeling defeated all the time. He wants us to walk in faith, knowing with certainty that He can do the things we cannot do. The world constantly puts limits on our God, but with God, there are no limits. The reason that we don’t see great things happening in our lives is that we fail to ask Him to use us according to His will. 

God can take something small and bless it greatly. He can take one obedient and willing person and use him or her to make a great difference in the world. If we want to be someone who can help other people and lead them to God, then we have to believe that He can use us. 

When we kneel down to pray, we have to believe that God has the ability to answer our prayers in the best possible way. Before we could get saved, we had to believe that God had the power to save us. 

Mark 9:23 King James Version (KJV)

23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

Matthew 19:26 (KJV)

26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

We also need to remember that it is God who puts the desires in our hearts. If He puts a desire in our heart, then He has a plan to bring it to pass. He will lead us and guide us every step of the way. So as the new year comes, I am going to trust God to help me with my beliefs. I want to get rid of all the lies of my enemy and replace them with God’s truth. 

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It's not supposed to be this way

The majority of my pain comes from my own expectations. Especially when I believe that something should have happened differently than it happened. All it takes is one moment of doubt for the enemy is get in my head. He pounces on my doubts and fears until they multiply. The bigger they become the smaller my God seems to me in my mind. If I’m not careful, I will start thinking that my problem is too big for God to handle. 

While God has a plan for our lives, He doesn’t share His plan with us all at once. If we could see all the hardships and obstacles that we will have to overcome in our lifetime, then it would be too overwhelming for us. Therefore, He only gives us what we need when we need it. Just because we can only see a fraction of our lives doesn’t mean that God can’t see it all. He knows everything that will ever happen to us. And He also knows how to help us.

It is so important for me to remember this truth. Sometimes life moves in an unexpected way. We all experience pain, loss, and disappointments. While these things often catch us unaware, God is very aware of what has happened to us, what is happening to us, and what will happen to us. Nothing is beyond His reach.

The truth is that I feel so small. When the storms of life rage, I do become afraid. As the enemy makes a lot of noise, it’s hard for me to stand still and wait on the Lord. It’s hard for me to kneel down and pray when the storm is raging all around me. It’s hard for me to wait on the Lord when I can’t see Him working in a big way. 

But, in my heart, I know that He is in complete control. 

During these times, it is so important for me to keep my eyes open and to search for His blessings. If I stand still, I can see His hand in it all. I can see my God in the little things as well as the big. We often miss the hand of God working because we are so absorbed in the problem that we can’t see His blessings. 

I love it when He reveals Himself to me in the midst of my storm. When I’m overwhelmed and fearful and He speaks His peace to my soul. The storms of life are going to come upon us. We can resist what is happening and even try to get away from it, or we can lean into it and to Him. 

Each trial has a purpose. God handpicks each one to mold us into the person that He wants us to become. He gives us each experience to teach us how to do His great work. Without our hardships, we wouldn’t be as humble or have as much compassion for others. When we’ve overcome our own storms, then we know how to help others do the same. 

We all have kindness, love, and compassion inside of us that someone in the world needs. 

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