I am at peace. Because I am in Peace. You are Peace. The Prince of Peace.
Thank you for protecting me from every storm.
Thank you for sustaining me even during the drought. Even during the heat. I will not fear the terror of night. I will not fear the arrow that flies by day. I will not fear the pestilence.
I find shade and refuge in your shadow, O Lord.
You are my hope. You are my foundation. You are my refuge. I hide myself in the shadow underneath your wing. Thank you for caring for me and for loving me. You are the God Who Sees.
You are the deliverer. You have given me Life.
You are Holy and mighty. You are magnificent, perfect and pure.
You are caring and generous. You are the great provider, sustainer and lover of my soul.
You can bear fruit in the desert places and even make water come out of a rock. Nothing is impossible for you <3
Thank you for always allowing my faith to be tested and for making me resilient to all of the unknowns around me. Why would I focus on the unknowns when the “knowns”, the truths about you are so powerful, life giving and refreshing?
You are a breath of fresh air that we are invited to breath over and over again. You are who upholds us. You hold us together. You hold all of our cells together.
Your beautiful creation is a testament to your intelligence, artistry and magnificence.
You are in absolute perfect control and I thank you Lord for being the guide of my life. My light. You are my light. The light that guides my feet. I absolutely need you and simply ask you to direct my thoughts. Holy Spirit, help me take my thoughts captive and make them obedient to you.
Help me not dwell on the what-ifs and the disappointments, the what-could’ve-beens. You are enough and you have never failed me yet.
Your promise still stands. All of your promises still stand because you are faithful to your word. You are who you say you are and you have never changed. The same God forever and always, and we can count on you to be who you say you are.
I look around and see your provision. Everything I see has been given to me! Thank you for filling my life with so much goodness.
Your goodness pours out like sweet honeysuckle
Knowing you is so sweet. Knowing the depth of your love and care and provision is incredible. It’s one thing to say the truth with words; it’s another to believe it in one’s heart.
You are who you say you are.
Creator
What an artist… what a story-teller. An author. What a dreamer, a visionary, a poet. What a romantic. A comedian. An inspirer. You give hope and inspiration to everyone near to you because you embody hope.
I think back to before I knew you and consider the direction of my life. I’m not sure what exactly I was striving for or why, but it probably had to do with acceptance. I wanted acceptance and I wanted love. But I was looking for it from people. And now I know where it’s found.
You are love. Love is found in you.
We love because you first loved us.
I can’t quite put my finger on why. Why you love us. But I know partially. It’s because you created us, and you call us your children. You want to pour yourself out before us and give us yourself. You already fully did it once, a long many years ago. But I find that you are constantly pouring yourself out, in goodness, love and mercy.
I love the life I am living with you. You fight my battles through me. I only walk forward in obedience. You’ve taught me a lot, and I know I have so much more to learn. But I have learned this:
-to listen for your voice
-to give you the glory
-to start my sentences with “but God…”
because I know these to be true:
-you really do know everything, see everything, and are sovereign over everything
-you really do work all things together for my good
-you really do love and care about me… even when it may not seem like it to the world. If my circumstances are troublesome. It’s easy for the world to say “where is your God now?”
But I know where you are. I know that you’re with me. And NOTHING can separate me from your love.
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future,Ā nor any powers,Ā neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of GodĀ that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
It’s only February 10, but it truly feels like Spring is in the air!
Maybe the fragrance and beauty of these flowers my husband brought me are influencing me? š
I have never been so excited for Springtime in all my life. I’m from northeastern USA where spring is wet and muddy. Snow and ice are melting, and the ground is soft and soggy. It’s still cold and maybe snowy until mid-late April, and sometimes May! But not here in Virginia. Even today, February 10, the weather is warming up to 62 degrees and it’s sunny! Hooray! Just what I needed to lift my mind, body and spirit ^_^ <3
I found this on a list of suggested Valentine’s Day gifts for your SO. LOL I don’t know who would buy this lamp, but it made me laugh a lot. Thanks Retro Den <3
Only a few days til Valentine’s Day 2022! It’ll be my first V-Day as a MARRIED WOMAN! I can’t believe that in just a couple of weeks we’ll have been married for 5 months already! Love is in the air <3 <3 <3 and I will venture to say that my husband is the sweetest and bestest! š Lord, thank you for giving me such a good one š
9/26/21 – I love this picture so much! <3
Life doesn’t have to be so hard. It’s when we focus on the mountains (obstacles/problems) in our life instead of focusing on the One who created the mountains.
Lord God Almighty, I am so grateful to know you and better yet, be known by You. You know everything about me and still love me more than I can understand. I am so thankful for your grace, mercy, provision, and Faithfulness. Thank you for being faithful when I can’t be. Thank you for sustaining me and remaining true to Your promises. Thank you for your patience and understanding and your long suffering. Thank you also for your justice and your might. You are so good, Lord. So holy, holy, holy. There is no one like You, O Lord. You are completely set apart and above all, in all and through all. Thank you for creating me and my family and friends and loved ones, and for delighting to reveal your glory to us in your creation and through our life circumstances. Thank you for teaching me how to suffer well, how to wait on You and how to listen to Your voice. Taste and see that the Lord is good. And I have tasted Lord. Better is one day in your courts, than thousands elsewhere. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever, thanks to your gracious gift of faith, that was so undeserved. Help me not stray from your presence O Lord. Fill me afresh with the Holy Spirit today and fuel the fire of the joy of my salvation. Help me live for you alone today, Oh Lord. In the precious and mighty name of Jesus, Amen.
I’m positive that we all have a long list of things that we can’t do.
It’s tempting to focus on this list, especially when it affects us and our lives directly.
For example, sometimes I can’t walk down the stairs normally because my knee swells up. It’s a little bit tempting to throw myself a pity party or allow myself to become angry or discouraged by my limitation.
The reality is, my knee is in this state at this time and I must bear the consequences. It won’t do me much good to sit around and contemplate my limitations, oft becoming more and more discouraged.
It’s always healthier to focus on what we can do.
I can encourage people. Instead of sitting around focusing on being discouraged the Lord used me to encourage somebody. It went like this:
She needed a hug. It was painted into her expressions and the way her shoulders slumped. “Well, back to work I go”. Eeyore had taken over her body and a full-size donkey-of-a-woman stood in her place; on hind legs.
Give her a hug was the nudge that I felt from el SeƱor, Holy Spirit.
I hesitated and when she left the room I mentioned that I thought I should have hugged her to the other person in the room.
“Oh, yes! Definitely hug her!” was her response. So I decided to hug her when I left.
A few minutes later I walked upstairs and said “hey, I just wanted to give you a hug!”
Within a couple minutes she was crying and saying how encouraged she felt. I felt the presence of the Lord very strongly and we were both laughing and ministering to each other for over an hour.
I felt the joy of the Lord so strongly during that hour of fellowship. She thanked me for “being obedient to the Holy Spirit” and confessed that she had felt spiritually down and dark all weekend. By the time our conversation was over, her affect had changed completely. It was as though life had been breathed into her. That’s what encouragement is.
Don’t have a VW bug, but a VW mug is pretty cool š
It’s so tempting to focus on ourselves constantly. Which, in my opinion, is pretty depressing. A better place to enlist my focus is on the Maker of all things. The Father of all, Creator of All, Ultimate Guide, Wise King and Lover of my soul. Wow. What a better thing to be focused on! I can’t think of anything better.
Adrian Rogers once said “to rejoice is a choice”. So choose joy. The best way to do this is to keep your eyes and ears open for the leading of Jesus. God doesn’t look for perfect people to carry out His work. In fact, there is no one perfect but God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. God has always used the fools to shame the wise.
So give Him the glory today!!!!!!!!!!!!
<3
xxx
Like this post if it encouraged you! Leave a comment below saying how God used you when you didn’t feel fit to be used.
Kind acts go a long, long way. This morning I was reminded of when some random people lent me and my BFF their $650 tent in the woods when we were backpacking the John Muir Trail in California in 2014. These two folks were observing our ginormous 8 pound, 8-person tent that the two of us were carting around in our already heavy backpacks and made a suggestion.
“Send your tent home and we’ll have our friend bring you guys a lighter tent when we meet up with him at the next food resupply in two days.”
We were so surprised and thankful for their offer! We agreed and borrowed their tent.
It weighed only 14 oz and was perfect for the two of us. Okay, maybe a leeeeeeeeetle cozy ;-P
But we were so thankful to Jeanine and Craig. Who does that?
My BFF and I concluded that people over 10k feet are generally pretty cool.
I told this story to a new friend and she told me that it sounds like there is a “brotherhood” among the trail family. I thought that was a perfect description. But moreso, we will never forget their kindness.
To think that a single act of kindness would be forever engrained into our memories is a beautiful, powerful thing. It’s been 7 years since they lent us that tent, and the memory is still as kind and wonderful as when it first occurred.
Deep-seated, selfless kindness is an act of love. Real love. With no hidden agenda. No strings attached. No tit for tat. And it is long lasting.
I want to remember this! And pay it forward.
What a sweet memory. That still lives in my mind <3
lol things definitely have not gone according to the plan. But there’s something very fun and freeing about living in the unknown. I have to admit, I enjoy not being in charge. Well, let’s put it this way, I enjoy God being in charge.
I enjoy and can rest in the Fact that God drives the car and I’m in the passenger seat. He carries my load. I don’t have to. He does give me a plate though; with the following items on the plate:
(I’m going to keep this very vague):
Take care of the people that I put on your path, daughter. And do enjoy them š
.
..
…
..
.
It’s very simple, actually. Do what God has called you to do. Even when it’s hard. We all have desires of our hearts and we have aspirations etc. but we have to simply do what God has called us to do. Go where God has called us to go. Sometimes I wonder what it is that God would have me to do but it is so so soooo easy to find out what that is. This is how you do it:
Sunday Selfie š
Stop what I’m doing (or when I’ve just finished what I had been doing, stop for a moment) and:
Acknowledge God’s presence. Say “hello” and breathe, and thank God for this moment and this day, and:
Ask for His direction.
Ask for strength to complete whatever it is that I am called to do.
I’m spoiled.
Sometimes this means giving up what I had originally planned. But what is means most of the time is that God enables me to do whatever it is that He puts on my heart to do. He is our Father, and He answers our prayers when we asks. Yes, this includes long-term prayers and big prayers, but it also means simple every day prayers that God answers to help us re-focus and be re-charged.
God’s plan is the only plan I want to follow. And He will continually lead us to follow His plan as we enter His presence, seek His face, listen to His voice and obey.
Lord, wow. Just, wow. I trust you. I trust you. I trust your promises. I believe you. I think I’m finally starting to actually believe your promises. Your promises that you actually do take care of me. That you actually do provide ALL that I need. ALL!!! Everything!!!!!!!!!Peace, rest, provision, fun, celebrations, joy, family, friends…. rest…. Life. Life to the full. Thank you Lord for sharing this full life with me <3 Te amo <3And thank you for helping me trust in Your plans and be willing to be flexible. I just LOVE how you surprise me with SO many good things each and every day. You know what I like and you know what I love and I trust you!!! With all my heart <3 And I am learning to choose to trust you each and every day. Thank you for your great and wonderful ongoing plan!
Is it you? I wondered expectantly. But no, it wasnāt you.Ā
I continued doing what I know I was supposed to be doing, but it was difficult. I got up to bring something across the room and this time I thought I heard you.
Could it be you? I glanced over in the general direction of my cell phone but didnāt bother to check it. I didnāt want to be disappointed again. Not that my disappointment was overwhelming; in fact I believed I would hear from you. I will venture to say that I even knew in my heart that I most definitely would hear from you. But each time I checked my phone again and again, the doubt started to increase. Or at least thatās what my mind was trying to convince me of.
The battle between the mind and the heart is a tough one at times. And I guess doubt is rooted in the heart.Ā
My mind trusts God. I trust Him with my mouth. But do I really trust Him with my heart if Iām ova hee-uh doubting left and right? Itās a constant battle of anxious thoughts (some small, some large) that I have to hit back out of my mind. Or better yet, beat them into the submission of the Truth.
Itās been 2.25 hours and I havenāt heard back from you.
Iām starting to go into that zone in my mind that has caution tape across the entrance. The Door of Doubt is a wide one. In fact, so itās so easy to walk through that I find myself lost inside that room too often. The Door of Belief is a small door. I picture it as being very short, like suitable for a small child. And hard to see, easy to miss.
And yet, we must focus on that door. Itās hard to find, itās hard to pass through, but whatās on the inside of that door is absolute paradise. This is why:
Because — and I know I shouldnāt start off a sentence with ābecauseā — if I truly believe that God has me in His Perfect, Faithful handsā¦ If I truly believe that God works all things together for my goodā¦ If I truly believe that He will never leave me or forsake meā¦ then Iām in Paradise. Thereās no such thing as a socialist utopia. But there is Heaven. There is a place where nothing is broken, and nothing is lacking. But Jesus said ālet it be on earth as it is in Heaven.ā Because — here I go again — Jesus died so that we could experience peace with God now.
Why canāt you just respond to my message; is that too much to ask?
my friends make fancy coffees <3
Is it possible to have peace with God and be at unrest simultaneously? Or perhaps unrest is not what Iām experiencing right now. Itās more like OCD. Iām obsessively thinking about hearing from this person while not hearing from them at the same time. So now I will pray.
Lord. I should have spoken to you a long time ago about this. I asked you many times for the initiation of the conversation. That has come. I also asked you for the desired result. I do believe it will come, but I am uneasy while I wait. I want to start planning ahead in my mind. I want to hear from this person. I want the screen to flash yellow and the words to flash GREEN ā¦ a green light. Go-Time. I want to go. Lord, you know I do. So I wait. And while I wait, I ask. Lord, will you touch this personās heart even now. Right now. 9:07pm. Lord, will you touch their heart and cause them to respond. Lord will you impress upon whoever elseās heart is necessary to tie up the loose strings. Will you, Lord, bring closure to this situation. Will you close the Door of Doubt, and open wide the Door of Belief, and gently guide me through it? Lord will you help me stop obsessing about the outcome. Will you redirect my thoughts away from my phone and the messages, and instead to focusing my thoughts elsewhere. Being in prayer with You perhaps. Or writing. So I wait. In Jesusā name, Amen.
spoiled
—————
I find myself starting to bargain with God. Making empty promises that we both know I wonāt be able to keep. And then something happens that I really donāt like. I will be praying for someone, and then the enemy or my mind tells me something like āyouāre just praying because you think that if you pray, God will notice you and pay attention to you and weigh whether or not He should give you the desires of your heart.ā I hate that. Our sin doesnāt affect Godās love for us. Thatās the most beautiful aspect of the gospel.
However, sin has consecuencias. We truly reap what we sow. And when we sow seeds for death, we reap death. If I go to the gym every day for 2 minutes I will not get the same results as if I went to the gym every day for an hour. Duh?! Duh. Same thing applies here: if I spend all my time thinking about something out of my control, I am planting or watering seeds of doubt, worry, anxiousness, etc.
Imagine spending that time praying. Singing. Reflecting on gratitude.
WAIT it’s you.
“It’s not going to work out after all.“
ā¦
…..
…….
After waiting and checking and waiting and hoping, this answer wasā¦ less than satisfactory shall we say?
Alas. I canāt fight it. Because the Truth in the matter is this:
There was nothing I could have done or said differently to charter a different response. I thought and prayed over my responses. I didnāt act with haste. My mind tells me lies, like I shouldāve acted hastily or said less or more, but I know thatās not true. And this is why:
Godās plans are unstoppable.
If He meant for me to be somewhere different than where I am, I would be there. I would simply be there.
Who can stand up against God? Nobody!
Who can thwart Godās plans? Not one.
No, that wasnāt the case. I simply was not meant to entertain with this person at this time. And in that Truth, I rest.Ā
my fave š
I rest knowing that God dictates my steps. He leads me down paths of righteousness for His nameās sake. He leads me besides still waters, and gives me rest. He provides shade for me in the heat of the day, and provides heat for me in the chilly air. He is my sword and my shield, my strong tower. In Him, I rest. Just to know Him and be known by Him is more than enough.
I know I will hear from you again. I wonāt be surprised if you change your mind and reach out to me. Itās too late nowā¦ maybe next time. Weāre all learning through this. Weāre all deepening old patterns and forming new ones altogether. I thank God for you, and I know that you too would give him the credit if only you believed. I believe that one day you will.
