Tag: random

God’s way

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It’s hard doing things God’s way. It just is.

The christian life calls for death to self. It’s hard to live in a culture that promotes self-love and being self-focused, a “self-made man”, independence, and making your way to the top. It’s hard to go against our nature of self-centeredness.

Lord, when my mind’s default setting is me-focused, I am constantly fighting back my will and my desires of the flesh. Velvet says “I want to be in a relationship and wish it didn’t have to be a christian one”. Yet your word teaches me that I am not to be unequally yoked. In other words, the person I marry will be a christian. Sure, I could choose to marry a non-believer, but why would I; when your word says:

“Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.” Psalm 1:1-3

When I delight and meditate on your law, you bless me, and whatever I do prospers. Lord, you don’t have to do that. You don’t have to do any of it. But you do. And I’ve seen your blessings. I’m experiencing them right now. You have been SO good to me, and you continue to be. I don’t worry about money or my home. I don’t worry about finding enough work. I no longer worry about being content with what I have and who I am and what I look like. I know I am loved by you, and you have sent so many people to me that love me too. 

Praise be to God for revealing His word and His way to us.

Praise God for sending his Holy Spirit to us to give us vision to see and understand His Word and His way.

Praise God that when we fall, we are forgiven. That when we wander, He calls us back. He graciously calls us back. Lord, you don’t have to do that. You don’t have to call us back. But you care. You are so caring. You are so welcoming. You are so loving. You want me around. Despite how many times I leave you. How many times I choose other things over you. Despite how distracted I am. How I place other things before you and ahead of you. How I somehow justify not doing the work you’ve called me to do even when you reveal to me that there aren’t any excuses left. I want to say that I’m ready to work. I want to say I will do the work. But it has to be you. You have to do the work through me. I can’t do it God. I’ve got nothing. 

Please keep me from being distracted. 

Thank you for teaching me what brings peace. Thank you for revealing what things are temporary. Thank you for teaching me that you alone satisfy all of my needs. But I thank you Lord. For giving me good gifts. For blessing me with a good, fulfilling life. 

Don’t let me fool myself God. I don’t want to trade the Promised Land for temporary satisfaction. Please Lord, let me not trade it. Please stop me from trading it. 

xxx

<3

V

good morning.

Published on by VelvetLeave a comment

It’s 9:03am on Tuesday morning, September 3rd… and I am writing from the couch of my new home.

It’s a brick house with lots of space. To my left there’s a loft that overlooks the downstairs. To my right, a wall of cube-shaped shelves with different trinkets on them including a few of my own; games, a framed picture of my young adults group from a trip to Nag’s Head a couple years ago, some candles… including a “pink Velvet cupcake” candle 😉 never heard of “pink Velvet” myself … but when I woke up this morning for the second time my face was kinda pink. Maybe because I went back to sleep at 6:30a.m. and put on a sweater and striped light blue linen pants and bluish-greyish fuzzy socks. I also diffused some “peace and calming” … a Young Living blend that my friend R gave me. It’s the only YL essential oil that I have. I usually order from https://hopewelloils.com/ … friends of family and TOTALLY pure. <3

Anyways. I’m finishing up my derrissssshyyuz cawfee and then am gonna bike to work. A friend needed to borrow my car last night so I’m biking around a little bit this morning. Which is totally fine since I now live within 4 miles of all my favorite things besides salsa dancing: my church, clients, pool, grocery stores, restaurants, family & some friends. YES

I am so grateful to God for this place.

I will write more later, since I’m supposed to be at work in a few minutes and I’m still sitting here caffeinating myself. lol 🙂

work

errands/grocery shopping

organizing/unpacking/shower?

swim?

meet new client

dance? <3 <3 <3

life is good.

God is good. All the time!

xxx

V

last night in this room

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I’m in this bed for the last night ever.

The fan above me will never again cool me at night.

I’ll miss the sound of the crickets outside.

I’ll miss the familiarity of coming home to this address.

I’ll miss the path to my doorway… each slate stepping stone surrounded by gravel.

I’ll miss the big, brown sectional couch with my secretly reclining seat right in the middle.

The quiet. I don’t know if my next place will be as quiet as this. Though I pray it is.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I’m pretty much done packing. The only things I haven’t packed up yet are my clothes for tomorrow, toothbrush, face soap, lotion. My shoes. Coffee, electric kettle, aeropress, mug. Bible, notebook, pen. Laptop.

Tomorrow morning I’ma get dressed and ready, then make coffee and read my bible.

Then I’m going to clean out the fridge and wipe it down.

Once I hear activity upstairs I may go upstairs to throw my sheets and towels in the washer. I’ll at least bring them up and ask the homeowner if I should go ahead and wash them or let the caregiver on duty wash them so as not to possibly wake up his sleeping wife in the room next to the laundry room.

Then I’ll grab the tiny Dyson hand-vac and quickly vacuum out my dresser drawers.

Then I’ll vacuum my bedroom, closet, bathroom mat, and hallway.

Take out the trash and recycling.

Take a couple boxes to my car. People are arriving at 9am to move me out.

I should get up no later than 7am.

After everything is moved into people’s cars, I gots to vacuum the floor where everything was.

After dat? Grab bike and bike rack from garage. Actually, I’ll probably go ahead and load the bike first thing after taking out the trash so I don’t forget it hahaha

Great.

Got my morning all planned out. Not that it has to go in that order. Just so all of those things get done eventually.

Okay. Time for bed. Now that I’m starting to Google nearby salsa concerts. Hahah def time to sleep.

xxx

GOODNIGHT

<3

V

my last day of work!

Published on by VelvetLeave a comment

wow. I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited for my next chapter!!!

I’m still living in Virginia, but I’m moving to the next town over. This is something that I’ve wanted to do for quite some time! My other clients are there, my family, my church, my pool, my BSF (bible study fellowship) class… my favorite trail to walk. It’s where I go grocery shopping and out to eat a lot. The only thing it’s lacking in is salsa dancing. hhaha but that’s okay, I’ll drive for that 😉

So. Today is my last 9-hour shift on a Saturday. And I. Am. PUMPED. I’ve worked Saturdays for the last 2 years and it’s always been a hindrance. I’ve missed out on a lot of awesome bonding opportunities with friends, events and festivals, farmer’s markets, weekend trips, concerts. I have taken off quite a number of Saturdays to go home for the holidays, to weddings, funerals, baby showers, missions trips and occasionally a fun event.

But not anymore.

Now this girl has got Saturdays OFF. I already know how I’ll be spending my first Saturday off…. at a SALSA WEEKEND CONFERENCE!!!!!!! Yup. I’ll be dancing all next weekend. And eating and sleeping a little bit too. hahahaha <3

There are a couple of Saturday nights that I’ll have to work for one of my other clients. But that’s just a 2 hour shift. And only 1 MILE AWAY FROM MY NEW HOUSE. Yup. No more 25 minute drives home at 11pm. Hooray!!!!!!!!!!!!

God is good. He is taking care of me. Soooooooo well. And it’s taken all the days and hours and steps and successes and failures up until this point to get me to where I’m going. He has prepared my heart, my mind, and made the way for me.

And now I’ma go get into His word before starting my shift. I have 45 minutes.

Wishing y’all a BLESSED day~!

ps. I got out asked out during my morning walk at 6:45am. The Jamaican paper-boy/man asked if I’d like to go a yoga class with him. After driving slowly and creepily behind me for way too long and asking me if I did yoga, to which I replied “no”. That was the second of three encounters with him this morning. First he did the creepy-driving-thing and said good morning. Then the yoga thing. Then later he caught up to me and he asked what I liked to do in my free time. I said go to church. hahah yo I do spend a lot of time in church. I like to tell different people different things when they ask me what I do in my spare time. Depending on the person, and ASL I will tell them dancing or swimming or whatever. Though serving in my church usually is the first thing that I say… but it’s just funny how I was like yeeeeeeeeeah I’m gonna sensor myself from this dude. He definitely did NOT need to know that I dance salsa. 😀

ANYWAY

on that note. bye!

xxxx

<3

V

it’s been too long!

Published on by VelvetLeave a comment

I’ve tried to write several times lately and WordPress hasn’t been working for me. My post wouldn’t publish, wouldn’t save… I don’t know what’s been going on but as I type this morning, I haven’t had any weird messages pop up saying something “failed” so I’ll take that as a good sign.

Guys.

I am grateful. I am so grateful. I was going through something rough lately but a blazing light has led me to the end of the tunnel. And I’m ecstatic about what’s on the other side.

A new hope. A new beginning. A new chance to move forward and be all that God intended for me to be.

He’s taken me step by step from one place to the next, preparing me for the journey. He’s made the way for me and said “trust Me, Velvet. I have something awesome for you up ahead.”

He wasn’t lion. Though He is THE Lion. The Lion of Judah. All knowing, all seeing. All powerful.

Considerate

Giving

Compassionate

Just

Gracious

Merciful

Father

Provider

I’ma make a video about my situation and post soon. <3

All I can say is this: even if you’re going through a hard time, just keep doing the right thing, even when it’s hard. After someone treated me badly, God enabled me to have peace, joy, love, kindness and all the other fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Even if someone wrongs you, we mustn’t harbor resentfulness, but forgive them and have compassion on them. My friend said it well the other day: “when we look on other’s that have hurt us with compassion, we’re looking at them through the lens of the One who saved you by grace”.

And God says “we forgive because God first forgave us”. If God hadn’t first forgiven me, I wouldn’t have any reason to forgive anyone. Why forgive at all? Because it’s the “right” thing to do? God first set the precedence when He sent His one and only son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for the forgiveness of sins.

Forgiveness isn’t just a “good” idea. It’s God’s idea. He invented it. And He empowers His children to be able to do it. And what a beautiful testimony of His love it is when true forgiveness occurs. Sometimes you have to forgive someone over and over again as the thoughts of how they wronged you resurface. Forgiveness is seldom a one-time thing. Give the thought back to God and ask Him to change your heart and your mind towards that person and help you forgive them. God will do this.

………..

Okay.

This is what happens when I start typing random thoughts before I’m fully awake. I’m midway through my coffee and should probably put this to the side and finish drinking it while I read my bible.

Then I’m going to work.

Hope you have an AWESOME FRIDAY. Last Friday in August. Enjoy! <3

xxx

V

Expectations

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Wow.

It really is all about expectations. Like ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

As Christians, our expectations shouldn’t change. We should be (based on scripture) ever-growing in joy, peace, love, faithfulness, gentleness, kindness, goodness, patience, and self control. We should be counting our sufferings as joy, turning the other cheek, living without fear or worry. These are the things the bible says.

If only it were that easy. To trust and believe these things and live them out. It takes discipline. It takes being in a constant posture of prayer and humility. A posture of receiving from the Lord. The knowledge that we can’t do anything apart from Him (John 15:5) but with him, all things are possible (Matt. 19:26).

If we lived this way, I dare to say that we wouldn’t be disappointed. Or at least we wouldn’t live in a state of disappointed. We wouldn’t be surprised at the world and at broken people. We wouldn’t take it personally or remain shocked that a person could be so vengeful. We wouldn’t gossip to our friends and family about how so-and-so offended us.

We would communicate clearly and directly what we want, what we expect from people. We wouldn’t fear people or their outcomes. We would say what we mean and mean what we say. We wouldn’t wait until we’re ready to explode to communicate our thoughts and desires.

We wouldn’t beat around the bush, get stuck inside our heads, constantly overthink everything, justify ourselves constantly when we wrong someone. We wouldn’t be quick to point out other’s mistakes and slow to admit our own… if we really believed what the bible says.

The only way to know what the bible says is to read it. To listen to it. To meditate on it day and night and not let it depart from our lips (Joshua 1:8).

The more we study the scriptures the better people we will become. Because the journey of being a christian is to become like Jesus more and more everyday. That happens slowly over time and only with the power of God living inside us. “Don’t you know you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?” 1 Corinthians 3:16.

The bible helps us set expectations. The bible helps us meet other’s expectations.

The bible helps us communicate directly and not use empty words.

Words words words.

Wordy words.

But what about the Word?

The Word of God is not a book of nonsensical ramblings. It’s the way, the truth and the life. And it’s ours, for free.

Whatever you’re going through right now, whether it’s in your job or with your partner or with a friend or someone you serve with at church or at a volunteer organization, know this:

We are to speak the Truth in love. And we aren’t always going to get it right. We’re going to fall short a lot. We are going to wish we had set an expectation with someone that we did not, and now we’re suffering for it. We’re going to learn what we expect from people as they let us down and only then do we realize how much somethings bothers us. We’re going to try and fail to keep someone’s set expectations. We’re going to get disappointed sometimes, frustrated sometimes, and hindsight is quickly going to become 20/20.

And the good news is, we can move forward. We can move on. We can re-state our expectations, explain what needs to be done or not done or changed in order to meet them. We can confess and apologize and move forward when we let someone else down. We can learn to formulate our thoughts and feelings into words in order to communicate our desires to others.

Move forward.

Move on.

Communicate clearly.

Be patient with people. Think of how long-suffering God is with us as we learn so so slowly how to abide by his word.

Forgive people. Remember, we forgive because God first forgave us. What other reason do we have? We know it’s the right thing to do because he tells us so.

View others with lenses of compassion, not condemnation. Not without forgiveness. Not despicably. Everyone starts somewhere. And we can’t expect others to know what we know. We can’t.

Do you have a good story of expectations and disappointments?

xxx

<3

V

 

10:29

Published on by VelvetLeave a comment

annnnd I’m about to turn out the light. I will get almost 8 hours of sleep if I turn it off right now and immediately fall asleep. And stop typing. hahaha

But I’ll take just a couple minutes to reflect over this God-given day. It was a good day. I felt a lot better (physically) when I woke up this morning… still couldn’t eat as much today and was craving very light foods. But energy level was high, and spirits were higher.

I love when God’s awesome glory captivates me. It seems to come in flickers and I’ll just stop for a moment and feel like crying. It happened to me today as I was pulling out of the plaza where I’d gone grocery shopping. I was just overwhelmed with God’s goodness and provision. His grandeur and omnipresence, even in the minute details of my day.

He’s so big.

And His love is so deep.

Tonight my bible study group had a worship night on the sand. The weather was brilliant. I feel British when I use that adjective. But it really was, brilliant! The sky was beautiful as it changed from orange to purple to pink as the sun was setting over the water. The water looked like someone had spilled pink paint onto the surface that created rippling streaks as the tide slowly ebbed and flowed.

The reflections of the sky on the water, and the awareness that God knows the number of each grain of sand, as well as each hair on my head was awe-inspiring. And He still takes the time to lead me every step of the way through my day.

“You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.” Psalm 139:5

Lord

I feel so safe with you

I know you’ve gone before me 

I know you’re behind me also

You’ve hemmed me in 

There is no move that I can make that you don’t yet know

You know my motives and my desires

You know my aspirations

You know my weaknesses and my failures

Yet you still care for me

You still work everything for my good

You still teach me and comfort me 

I thank thee Lord for your love that wilt not let me go

It won’t let me go

You pursue me to the depths and water my frame

You mold me into the perfect design that you thought of before time 

I thank thee for your control

I’m lost without you! Yet I’ll never be lost, for you are always with me

You are Faithful; Faithful is your name

<3

xxx

V

holic

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choco-holic

you’d think someone would’ve told me I shouldn’t eat a piece of death-by-chocolate cake late at night. I guess I didn’t think 8:30pm would be late enough to keep me awake. But alas, it’s midnight and here we are. Or perhaps it was accompaniment of the caramel pie that sent me into the gear-turning, wide-eyed reality that I’m currently experiencing.

It’s okay though. I feel a heckuva lot better than I did when I woke up this morning. I woke up feeling on the cusp of getting sick. I took arnica capsules when I first woke up and ate only a small amount of fruit with my coffee so I wouldn’t get too jittery. Then I proceeded to fast for the entire day until 8:30PM drinking only water and taking vitamin C and “airborne”. Airborne is awesome btw. If you’re feeling like you’re coming down with something, take Airborne. I highly recommend it. It’s stopped what have seemed like many-a-cold in their tracks for me. Good stuff. <3

I was busy all day today. I woke up, drank coffee and read bible. Then went to Sunday school, church, ran errands, stopped by a friend’s house, and then went to a birthday party. I was at the party from ~3:00 until 9:00pm. It was a good day! Supah fun. Good weather. Good people. I was happy to be in the company of friends today. God really kept me and sustained me.

I was trying to avoid sugar because I wanted to take care of my body. Which is funny because then I ended up eating a bunch of it. hahaha it honestly could have been worse (amount-wise, for what I did end up eating) and then I followed the cake and pie with some chicken 🙂 then I ate some pimento cheese and crackers, and a piece of bread and butter. Oh! And a little bit of cottage cheese. Sugar and cheese. lol *shrug*

Tomorrow’s another day. But I praise God that I’m feeling better! Now I’m praying that I’ll be able to go to sleep after posting this. Which I am pretty confident that I will be able to.

Tomorrow I can sleep in (AKA I won’t set an alarm and will realistically wake up around 7:00/7:30 …) and will coffee/bible and head to work around 8:30am? Which isn’t too bad. I’m excited about tomorrow… and this week. There are a couple fun dancing events that I’m going to this week!!! WOOOT!!! And my knees are BOTH feeling good PRAISE GOD <3

Honestly this past week has been really rough and my world has been crashing down around me a little bit, but God is still good. And I still trust Him and stand on Him, my solid rock. He is still providing, caring for me, encouraging me, and I know He is bringing me to the places I need to go; physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually.

I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but I know the One who will bring tomorrow. And I’m grateful. So very grateful. My work here is not yet done. And it’s His work, really. But I’m a vessel, and I’m ready to go wherever He’ll send me. Even if it’s to an uncomfortable place. To face an uncomfortable situation.

“Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” Isaiah 6:8

Here I am Lord.

Send me!

And now send me to bed plz. Death by chocolate, please don’t keep me up. I love you, but please, let me rest. 😛

Goodnight <3

xxx

V

order

Published on by VelvetLeave a comment

I love order.

I think that’s the nice way for a control freak to sound less controlling.

Haha only joking. Order and control do coincide with each other I suppose. When something is orderly, it is controlled in a sense. But trying to control something doesn’t guarantee order. So perhaps we have one without the other.

I would rather things be ordered than to grasp onto the notion that I actually have control over anything.

Debatable, some may say. I control what I eat or don’t eat, where I go or don’t go, what I wear or don’t wear etc.

But only to an extent. See, I only have access to the food that I eat, the places that I go and the clothes that I wear by the grace of God.

Life changes constantly. I may go to my favorite grocery store thinking I’m going to buy my favorite protein bars and they may have ran out. I might plan on going to an even one night but don’t feel well leading up to it and have to cancel. Or my car could break down.

Yes, some may say, but that’s a stretch. Surely we have some control. And yes, surely, we do.

Order precedes control to an extent. When my life has more order, I do feel more in control. Because my brain is functioning better, I’m getting enough rest, eating the right foods, taking the proper measures to take care of myself… yes. When I have taking care of my temple (my body) a priority, I do feel more in control. I feel better all around.

Discipline. It partially comes down to discipline. Saying yes to things, people and activities that bring life, and no to ones that bring death. If you aren’t a christian, you don’t know what I mean. Things that bring death are sin. Things outside the will of God. Not just drunkenness, sex before marriage, murder. Sin for an individual could come down to saying something you shouldn’t have said, not saying something you should have said, going somewhere you shouldn’t have gone, doing something with the wrong motive. God sees the heart. He knows our motives and intentions.

The question I always have to ask when I am faced with a choice is: am I bringing glory to God in this moment or am I bringing glory to myself? Am I building my kingdom or His?

Selfish ambition often leads us to waste so much daggone time. So much time that could have been spent in a fruitful way. Like tonight, I could go out, get a drink, and go dancing. And a big part of me really wants to do that. But I’m not going to. As I wrote that sentence I almost wrote “unless I finish everything I want to do”. But that’s not true. It wouldn’t be good for me if I went out tonight. Instead this is what I’ma do:

  1. Film 4 videos
  2. Read
  3. Shower
  4. Go to bed early
  5. Possibly buy some tequila

That’s it. It’s been a long week and I need to go to bed early. I am tired. Tomorrow is also going to be a long day. I probably will save #5 for tomorrow even though the ABC liquor store is one mile away from my house. Praise God that I don’t have a drinking problem. Truly. Oh, I just remembered that I’m supposed to call my oldest brother. I might do that too. But we always talk for ~1.5 hours. Maybe after I film I will call him and go for a walk. Or I may call him tomorrow instead. Sigh

So. Order. This post is about order. I’m going to take my orderly, disciplined self and film these videos. Batch filming is the way to go. I’m excited about these topics too! Here they are:

  1. Solitude verses isolation
  2. 5 Reasons to Join a Church/Small Group
  3. Why You Should Rest More
  4. 5 Ways to Be Disciplined About Bible Time

Check out my channel below and be sure to subscribe!!!

https://www.youtube.com/user/skizarefun09 

 

mmmk. One last thought (I say this a lot right before relaying numerous thoughts FYI), I don’t want to be in control. God’s got that, and it’s going well 😉 However, I do want order. And the only way to attain order is to live life according to God’s design. When my life lines up with scripture in the will of God, everything is a whole lot better.

That doesn’t mean that it’s going to stay consistently better forever. No, things change. New challenges rise up. The wisest thing we can do is seek God’s face in these times. I’m preaching to myself here 😛

It helps prepare a person to already be living an orderly life (or as close as we can get to orderly) when the storms come. When you build your house on the Rock, your house will be able to weather the storm.

Lord Jesus, thank you being my Rock. Thank you for giving me order. Thank you for teaching me the best way to live… the way of the straight and narrow path. Lord, I thank you for providing so well for me. You give me everything that I need and you promise that you always will. Thank you for giving me the faith to believe your promises. You always keep your promises and never go back on your word. Thank you for sharing Truth with me. I would be lost without you. Absolutely lost. Thank you for forgiving me for the times I still get lost when I take my eyes off of you. I trust you and love you. Amen.

<3

xxx

V

friday

Published on by VelvetLeave a comment

hey fam

hope your week has been going well! I’ve been itching to blog for a few days but haven’t had the opportunity. So here we are.

This morning I was reading in 1 Corinthians about Jesus being the “firstfruits of all others who believe in Him” (15:20). Apparently this is an old testament image of the first installment of a crop which anticipates and guarantees the entire crop. AKA, Jesus came, died, and rose again. We died with Christ and were raised to life in Him. He is perfect, pure, blameless, sinless. And 1 John 3:2 says “when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is”.

We shall be like him. Like Christ. He guaranteed that for us when he died on the cross for our sins and was raised to life. He gave us the gift of eternal life and the process of sanctification and conformation began. We are being conformed to his image more and more each day. And one day, we shall be totally like him. Perfected.

“The good work he has begun in me will be perfected” Phil. 1:6.

It’s a promise. And God is a promise-keeper.

I love when people keep their promises. When people follow through on their words. It’s hard to follow through sometimes; impossible sometimes. People promise things all the time that never come to pass, because we aren’t in control. Even if we have the best of intentions, God’s hand still has to move to either allow something to happen or to make it happen.

God keeps his promises. His word doesn’t change. He doesn’t go back on his word and doesn’t forget his promises. When he said in his word that Christ IS the firstfruits of ALL who believe in him, he promised us that one day we would be like Christ.

We have the capacity to bear Christ’s image now with the Holy Spirit. We have daily opportunities to bear witness to the truth of scripture, love people that are hard to love, forgive people, see past human tendencies and the flesh, and set our eyes on heavenly things and store up our treasures there instead of becoming enthralled with the world.

Lord Jesus, thank you for breaking my schemes of earthly joy and teaching me to find my all in You. I thank you for not simply modifying my behavior, but for rooting out from within me the tendencies I have to try to satisfy myself apart from your love, grace and will. Lord I thank you for revealing yourself to me and teaching me how you shepherd me and provide all that I need. I thank you that I don’t have to be in want because you are my shepherd. Thank you for knowing my name. Thank you for tuning my ears to the sound of your voice. Thank you for showing me the one way which brings true life. Lord, help me to give myself fully to your work, because I know that my labor in your is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58). Amen.

Today is going to be a good day. I know this because (1) the Lord made it and (2) gave it to me. I wonder what all He’ll have me do today. 🙂

Fam- rest in the promise that Jesus died so we could be like Him. Look to Christ’s life for the example of how we ought to live. It’s crystal clear and never lets us down. Pray and ask God for the power to rest in Christ’s leading.

xxx

<3

V