Consider it Pure Joy

Let me share with you a verse that I never really understood until this week.

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, when you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking in anything."
James 1:1-4

Here's what I have learned from this verse:

1. Be joyful, even thankful, when you go through the tough stuff.
     When I faced a really tough trial this last week, I was torn apart emotional. I was distraught, frustrated, hurt.. I was fighting to do the right thing. But when I dug into the Word to seek God's counsel, I read this verse like it was the first time. And I finally got what God was trying to say... Be joyful when you face trials. Welcome them... not that you want to go through them.. but when it happens, understand that by working through it, you will be better for it, and God will be glorified in it.

2. Let your faith be tested - it will develop other characteristics that will help you grow spiritually.
     I grasped the concept that by working through this trial with joy, God was going to develop the fruits of His spirit in me. By allowing my faith to be tested, Christ wanted to see how I would respond. Would I respond with hate, anger, or bitterness? Would I just give in and give up so it would all be over as soon as possible? No... I knew that by allowing the situation to take it's time the way God wanted it to, He was teaching me that through this waiting time, he would develop the spirit of perseverance in me. Trials give us a chance to choose how to respond and grow. Instead of choosing to be angry, hurt, or distraught... I chose to take control of my emotions and understand that through this testing, I would mature and grow. I would much rather become more mature in my faith then just give in to the fight.

3. God's purpose will always prevail.
     Sometimes the trial is not just about you. Sometimes the person or people in your a trial with, need to go through it so that God can see His plan come to pass. God wants you to grow just as much as he wants the person your in trial with to grow. I knew by going through this trial that God had a plan for every person involved. That's not my place to say how, I just felt God speaking to me that He was going to use this trial for His good. What a privilege that God gave me to help see His work in others begin and be fulfilled. Because I knew God was using this for my growth and the growth of others, I had to chose for my words and actions to reflect Him. You see, in tough times, in fight, in trials... we choose how to respond. We can chose to be lovingly honest and work toward building better relationships, or we can chose to be critical, use guilt or blame, and respond with hurtful actions or words.

God places or allows trials in our lives because He wants to see our response. God wants to see us grow from everything we encounter. He knew that throughout our lives, there would be trials and that we would struggle. So He used the Word to share with us how to consider those trials pure joy. To be thankful when we go through tough times, because if we chose to follow His commandments and teachings, we can grow in our faith from every trial we encounter.

So if you are going through something really tough right now... whether it be spiritually, mentally, emotionally, physically, relationally, financially, etc... consider it pure joy! Because you know, through the power of the Holy Spirit, you will grow in faith and perseverance!

Let Go and Let God

Sometimes the unknown can get the best of us. What if THIS and what if THAT. As time goes on we can be consumed with the "what ifs." We can also be consumed by time frames. When is God going to do this or when is God gonna open this door or that door? As Christians these can be daily thoughts.

This is something I am currently battling. THE UNKNOWN. Something BIG is about to happen in my life. Exciting and very nerve racking for me because it is so life changing and I just don't know what it's going to be like. I recently have been frustrated because I just don't know when it's exactly going to happen. It's all I had been thinking about. It wasn't until yesterday that I finally realized that me worrying about "WHEN" won't change a thing! God has everything all planned out and I really don't need to worry about it. It is in His timing and not when I think I'm ready for it.

So, I am choosing to step aside, give all my worries, concerns and frustrations to Jesus and just let it happen when God planned for it to happen. I'm going to choose to have peace and be worry free.

When it is God's  plan it will just happen and will be even better than we imagined! He will give us the desires of our hearts!

LET GO AND LET GOD!

God is still Good

As some of the parents of Sandy Hook student's lay their babies to rest, I will hold mine tight. I can't even imagine how they feel.

So today, let's pray peace and comfort from the One Above and know that no matter what happens here on this earth.... GOD IS STILL GOD and HE IS STILL GOOD. He is still loving and He is still faithful.

We don't always understand why these horrible things happen but God already saw it coming. Nothing takes Him by surprise. God will heal hearts that let Him in and there are many more babies playing with Jesus right now. They are having unimaginable fun seeing things that we can't even dream of. Dancing with the angels.

Many people are always asking, "Why did God allow this to happen?" When I personally think about why God doesn't intervene, I am just as stunned. BUT, God has taught me something over the years...

IF IT WEREN'T FOR STORMS IN OUR LIVES, WE WOULD NEVER SEE HOW BIG GOD REALLY EASY!


Today, let's be reminded that this life is too short, show as much love to people as we can and know that God forgives and heals all wounds if we let Him.

My heart will be heavy today and probably for some time but let's still Praise God in this storm. Still keep trusting God. Have faith that everything will be ok and remember, God is not responsible for tragedies... it's Satan himself!

HE IS STILL GOD. HE IS STILL GOOD.  HE NEVER CHANGES.

Yet will I trust him

Friends! This past weekend has been a trying time for me. If it was not one thing it was another. I mean my cell phone was stolen to top it off...COME ON! Surely Satan had my name on his top priority list. Let me tell you, he almost had me...almost. I was so close to resorting back to my old ways. Giving in to his schemes. Allowing my fleshly ways of handling things come in to play. By the grace of God and all that I have learned over the last three months, I remained strong in my faith and Satan got a taste of some powerful fighting words. Prayer! Oh yes my friends...I came at him like a ninja. Kung Fo Prayer Ninja.

Tiffany and I had just come off of a great bible study session. I know God placed that lesson in my hands THAT week because he knew what Satan had in store for me. We covered one verse in our study that I just kept repeating to myself during my dark weekend. Praise God I made it through the weekend and nobody came up missing. But I know Satan is not done with me yet...he will be back. This I can count on...but I am so blessed to know that I have the victory. God is faithful and I have the warriors to back me. My prayer warriors.

In our Bible Study "When Godly People Do Ungodly Things" Beth Moore. We discussed a scripture in Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 29:11
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.

Sit on that for a minute. We have all heard this a million times. Amazing right!?! Just to know that God has my back. He wants me to have the victory.

BUT on the other side of the spectrum is...Satan. Waiting...scheming...plotting that POISON. Waiting to counterfeit Gods victory. He has an agenda and my friend...you and I are TOP PRIORITY. I was still on a spiritual high from our bible study. Of course Satan had a bulls eye on me.

I want you to take that same verse...Jeremiah 29:11, now what do you think of what Satan would say?
If you are thinking..."For I know the plans I have for you, plans to mentally and physically bankrupt you, rip away all hope and destroy your life" BINGO! He does not want to see any victory in your life. Friends, that just gave me some major goose bumps! This is how I felt this weekend. Totally mentally and physically lost, I had no idea what was going to happen and my life...psh...good heavens I was entering the Debby Downer stage. Christ surely whipped me out of that nonsense real quick.

I am human. The flesh will always steer in one direction. It is up to me/us to snap ourselves out of it and hold on tight to Gods word. That is why it is so very important to imprint his word in our hearts. For seasons just as I was having. I was about ready to hit a full blown rampage. Then just about as I was about to break down...I cried. Prayed and cried some more and I kept remembering "For I KNOW the plans I HAVE FOR YOU...plans to PROSPER you and NOT to harm you...plans to give you HOPE and a FUTURE". God just sent a calmness over me and I was able to just chill. I was still deeply hurting inside but I was able to have a sound mind about myself.

I sit here in tears knowing that God has a greater plan for me. I don't know why I was attacked this weekend. BUT I do believe that I was allowed to be tested by Satan to prove faithful to God. I am still sorting through what happened. Taking it a day at a time and prayer after prayer. I know that there was a reason my phone was stolen. God wanted me to seek his wisdom, his guidance rather then calling my friends or someone else. He works all things together for our good.

Beloved, I ask you to please keep me in prayer. An unspoken prayer request would be gladly appreciated. I believe God is doing a work in my life and this situation this weekend was just the start of a positive change for those dear to my heart. I believe I believe I believe. This is what I am asking God for this Christmas.