Dear Reader

Dear Reader,

Do you sometimes feel left out? Do you feel like sometimes you are alone in trying to find community? You have people you see regularly, and they smile…you smile back. You even hang out with them once in a while, but still yet there is a hole that seems left gaping.

We put on a facade to temporarily feel accepted, but deep inside are so many open wounds that we bury to avoid the pain. We keep smiling and moving forward thinking, “It is what it is.”

Oh reader how I know this feeling all too well. As I write this, I am guarding my own heart against the lies. The lies that say I need to be accepted by man and fit in. The lies that say my children need to fit in. Father, forgive me for my pride. We are in the seat of a victor, not a victim. As hard as it is sometimes we have got to fight our way through the pain of emotions. Feel them, then speak truth to yourself until your choices line up with that truth. It’s is hard. I totally get it, but we are called to choices not emotions. May our idols of pride, control, and a need for acceptance by man come down. We have been delivered from the lies of the enemy. Therefore, we need to start living like it no matter the cost or how uncomfortable it is.

Severing the lies with you,

A Sister in Christ

Dear Reader

Dear Reader,

I pray you are encouraged today. I pray that no matter what happens today, you get to smile, laugh, and feel accepted in some way by someone on this beautiful gift called earth. Even if for only a moment. However, I am more prayerful that you get to experience something much greater than earlthy happiness. I pray you experience joy. Past all those emotions that seem to run your life and measure your progress is something greater and deeper. Joy is more then a laugh and a smile fueled by your emotions that tells you that you are rejected or accepted. Rather, joy is a laugh and a smile fueld by a supernatural Holy Spirit that never waivers in His acceptance of you.

So reader, today, experience joy in knowing that your name is written in the Lambs book of Life. This is, in of itself, worthy of praising. Speak to your precious emotions and tell them, “it is well with my soul!”

Praise God…it is well with our soul! We are accepted regardless of what we feel. We love the Lord Jesus of Nazareth and believe He is a part of the Trinity. Therefore, we know the truth, the way, and the life and we are going to be with our Father in Heaven one day. The Father who says we were worth it all. The Father that will say, “Well done good and faithful servant. Well done.” Thank you, Lord! So be encouraged, precious reader, with joy today!

Speaking truth one day at a time with you,

Your Sister in Christ

Dear Reader

Dear Reader,

Today I want you to know that you were created with a purpose. Do you know how beautiful and desired you are? Did you know that despite what you may think, you are here for a reason? You are not just matter floating around aimlessly. Rather, you have been purposed as a wife, a friend, a neighbor, a mother, an employee, etc.  We are so much to so many around us so why do we look around? Because it is easier, maybe? I am not sure, but what I would like to encourage you to do today is to say to yourself that you are beautiful and accepted. Tell yourself that you are desired and loved. No matter how you feel about it. Look at yourself and tell yourself that you have a purpose and that you will never give up on your assignments for the day. Even if it is only for a moment, choose to love yourself. Not in a prideful way, but in a way that says God does not make mistakes. He sees something in me worthy to have fought for and still fights for. May we receive and ask for the gift of sight to see those same things He sees in us.

I am reading The Questions Christians Hope No One Will Ask and I think what this author writes is worthy to quote. Mark Mittelberg writes, “Real love can never be forced. The idea of “forced love” is actually an oxymoron-a contradiction in terms. Either it’s forced or it’s love, but it can’t be both because real love is always, by definition, freely chosen.”

If love is freely chosen and God freely chooses to love us, then why can’t we freely choose to love ourselves and the seasons we are in? Hard or easy, the season we are in and the things we have, the way we look or the daily assignments we have….may we freely choose to love ourselves and where we are at. If love was not a choice, then I would not have to be writing this because we would naturally love ourselves without any thought. However, since love is, by definition, a choice why would loving ourselves require anything less than a choice?

So reader, I pray you receive His overflowing love that He freely chooses to give you today and wants you to receive. Please look at yourself in the mirror and say, “If God freely chooses to loves me, then I will freely choose to love me also. I accept who I am and the roles I have been given today.”

In this with you,

A Sister in Christ

Dear Reader

Dear Reader,

Yesterday I asked some pretty intrusive questions. My intentions were not meant to be accusatory, but enlightening. My desire was to enlighten you to the fact that you are not alone in your questions that run your mind. There are more of us out there that tend to WAY over analyze situations, things, and people because of our over analyzing of self. We can over analyze so much so that when we work the questions out, we ultimately end up hunkered over in our thinking of our complete failures. We start out frustrated at the driver next to us then we are upset that we got upset. Wondering why they even frustrated us in the first place. It is as if every thought ends up with the statement that we are never going to get this thing right. However, the Lord has so graciously given us insight into how to extinguish these kinds of questions that dictate so many of our thoughts. It is called acceptance, peace, trusting God with where we are at in life, as well as the power to NEVER GIVE UP with the gift of grace. No matter how exhausted we are in our thinking, if we will never give up in hating the things that we do that we do not want to do or know we should not do, He is faithful to deliver us from them. WHEN He delivers us is entirely up to Him because there is so much beauty to be gained when we have to get back up.

The inward and outward distractions of other people and ourselves can rob us of our joy. Is there a time of reflection…absolutely! Search our hearts O’ Lord. Reveal in us what is not pleasing to you. However, I do believe that we can be so hard on ourselves that we miss the gift of grace. It is not intended to beat us over the head until submission. Rather repentance is intended to help us forgive, receive forgiveness, and then try, try again.

I love what C.S. Lewis wrote in His book Mere Christianity. He says, “After each failure, ask forgiveness, pick yourself up, and try again. Very often what God first helps us towards is not the virtue itself but just this power of always trying again. For however important chastity (or courage, or truthfulness, or any other virtue) may be, this process trains us in habits of the soul which are more important still. It cures our illusions about ourselves and teaches us to depend on God. We learn, on the one hand, that we cannot trust ourselves even in our best moments, and, on the other, that we need not despair even in our worst, for our failures are forgiven. The only fatal thing is to sit down content with anything less than perfection.”

Now don’t let that last sentence trip you like it would me. It doesn’t say that you have to be perfect. It just says we should not accept anything less, which means in other words….you will never be perfect but never give up in trying.

So reader, I pray today you feel a little lighter in knowing you are not along in your criticism of self and others. However, do not be dictated by the questions. Instead extinguish them with God’s acceptance, His peace, and His grace. Trust Him with where you are at because He is faithful to complete the good works He has started in us. Find rest and know that it is well with your soul. You have the creator of heaven and earth going before and behind you. If He is for us, then who can be against us so never give up in trying again. NEVER.

Graciously forgiven,

A sister in Christ

Dear Reader

Dear Reader,

What did your day look like? How accomplished do you feel? Are you satisfied with your performance? Are you headed towards where you want to go? What was lacking in your day? Is there anyone you are angry with? Anyone you need to apologize to? What about anyone you got annoyed with…did you get annoyed with anyone because you were inconvenienced? Inconvenienced by your friends children’s behavior? Inconvenienced by how slow and negative the cashier at the grocery was, or what about the driver that rode your behind the entire way home? Were you inconvenienced by a family member’s choices?

I ask you these things because these are the kinds of questions I think we all ask ourselves. Our day is flooded with so many distractions that keep us focused either inwardly or outwardly. Distractions that can keep us exhausted, overwhelmed, feeling not good enough, or angry and dissatisfied. So reader, I want to extend you some encouragement because I get it. I get every bit of every kind of feeling out there, but our feelings are not truth. Praise the Lord. Our feelings and our situations, or set of circumstances, do not have the final say.

All too often we blame the devil, but a lot of it is our own unrealistic expectations of our self or others. Call it ambitious goals, discipline, legalism, perfectionism, or meticulousness. Regardless of the name, it is all the same. For it is not who we are, or what we do, that is the root of our issues. It is lack of contentment that is fueled by the unbelief in our hearts.  The unbelief that God is not for us because how could he be if this is what is happening to me or those around me. Oh how our heart is the incubator of our unbelief if we are not careful. Lord, help our unbelief. We are called to be still and to faithfully perform the tasks at hand and then to rely upon God for the details. However, for whatever reason we look around at what we don’t have, or can’t do. We look around and then almost instantly we make ourselves little gods. Little gods that think they know all when we only know in part.

So reader, for today…know you are not alone. May God strengthen us! May we fall to our knees with a repentant heart asking for God to deal with our unbelief. Please, Lord, deal with our unbelief.

Respectfully,

A Sister in Christ

When Heaven Kisses Earth

There is something bitter sweet about maturing. As the years pass, experience can take a toll on one’s soul. Pride can be replaced with humility; foolishness with wisdom, and ignorance with knowledge and understanding.  Unfortunately as we get older, we learn that time is precious and that the things we thought we would get to, disappear in the background of our busy schedules. So then, I ask…what do we make of those experiences that bring about a change that only time can make. Especially those experiences that involve death…which is a gripping fear and reality that so many experience.

Fear can be very debilitating, you know?  I mean, it can be the catalyst behind so many decisions that we would not otherwise make if our catalyst was none other then Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He even tells us in Matthew 10:28, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (NIV, biblehub.com). So then, why does this death experience bring so much pain to those under the sun? I have asked myself this many times…why does this all too familiar, unplanned, and uncontrolled experience have so much power?

Recently encountering death of a loved one has had me wandering off in my mind a bit more than usual. I have encountered this all too familiar situation several times before. Some coming with relief, some with personal pain, and a few leaving unanswered questions as well as relief and pain. Most recently, this experience with death of a loved one has brought along a different understanding of death. A fresh revelation and a sense of awe and amazement of the One who is Mighty, Just, Healer, Judge, and our Prince of Peace.

With Easter quickly approaching, I’ve been in a place of meditating on the crucifixion of Christ, and have found myself asking God to bring a fresh revelation, or fresh perspective rather, on death because it brings more with it then just the act of death itself. It brings confusion, pain, tears, anger, sadness, mourning, breathlessness, sleeplessness, depression, a need to stay busy, a need to be held, more anger, more questions, more sadness…the list can continue. After thinking and praying on this for several days, I realized I needed to go to His word on the matter because His word is full of truth and nothing but the truth, Amen! So, I began unpacking the death of Christ on the cross word for word and was drawn to Mary’s perspective of Jesus’ death. A perspective of a mother losing her child. An experience that I have observed to be one of the most devistating encounters of death. What was she feeling, thinking, longing for? Further, what was that moment like when Jesus took his final breath and committed His spirit to the Father? Can we sit on that thought for a minute?

When we think of Jesus’ death and what Mary may have felt to see her son’s death, we need to first realize he was her son. Yes he was God’s son, but he was her son also. She raised him when he was tiny and vulnerable. She loved him through all of his various trials. She encouraged him, took care of him, nursed him, changed him, clothed him and cooked him dinner. He was her son, and she had a front row seat to his death from start to finish. She saw the hate in the eyes of her son’s adversaries. The rejection and mockery within their words. The “king of the jews” spat on, mocked, and crucified in front of her very eyes. She saw that very moment when that warm body started the process of becoming cold. When the body that held the purest soul this world has ever known became lifeless. She experienced a moment that is awaiting  all of us who are born on this Earth. However, in this exact moment…she saw that first moment when heaven kissed Earth. An experience that I cannot explain in any other way currently. It is that moment when everything that a person hoped for takes flight and we trust that they are inheriting what is promised. That moment when it is finished and His child’s spirit is committed to the Father.

So what do we make of Mary’s perspective because she is the one who was left behind so to speak. Even though Christ did raise from the dead on the third day, can you imagine, from her perspective what kind of pain those three days brought to her life? You cannot undo what you have experienced. God can bring healing. He can restore it and give back what the locus have stolen, but you still feel everything associated with that experience you encounter. Even after his resurrection and ascension into heaven…she still must have missed his presence because where he was going nobody could go with him just yet (John 13:36, NIV). And what a purpose she had with getting to have one of the most intimate relationships one could have with the world’s Savior. I weep when I simply think about His death, let alone can I imagine how I would be if I had the view she had with the relationship she had. That is why I just love John 20:29 when Jesus says “Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (NIV, biblehub.com).

With all this being said, what can we learn from Mary’s perspective and how do we correlate it to our own experiences with death of our loved ones who we know are His children? Who we know are co-heirs with Christ? First let us realize if the Savior of the world, God in flesh form, experienced death in the way he did, why would we imagine it would be any easier for us? Further, let us be reminded of Matthew 5:4 which says, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (NIV, biblehub.com)…and man does he comfort them. Don’t you know that God was in every moment with Jesus and Mary…yes…and He is with us also. We may not be fully aware of it, or know to the extent of it, but I K-N-O-W…know it! It is such a beautiful and comforting verse when facing trials of various kinds, but even more so when one of His children is mourning a death.

Grieving the loss of someone whom you love, whether it be suddenly unexpected or slowly expected, whether it be for an embryo, infant, child, young adult, or an older adult…regardless of the the who or how, it is surreal, but yet very real. It is one that can not truly be sympathized until experienced at close proximity and/or experienced in the particular way the one grieving has. So don’t you know that God is near? Oh because he is….he is very near.  Constantly comforting those mourning.  I can tell you for me this comfort has been a tangible gift of the confidence and hope in which we glory….a tangible gift of faith. An encouragement to press on and to imitate those who have gone before me who have been faithful and who have inherited what has been promised (Hebrews 6:12, NIV).

Death has been defined in several ways for me recently. One way being that it is more than just a loss of life, but a loss of comfort. A loss of losing the comfort in knowing that person is simply there. Their laugh, the slight turn of the head, that look you can see in your mind. The one you cannot capture with a camera because it just cannot do the real thing justice. Oh, how that look can be something so simple but yet so longed for to see again. And in these moments of rememberance, your heart hurts and longs for that look again. That smell. That laugh.

When you see the lifeless body you wonder, how is it lifeless…it had a soul not too long ago? A soul that brought many other souls happiness, sadness, laughter, tears, comfort, pain….a soul that loved and lived with the other souls still around me in this very moment. How can a body become so cold after it was so warm with life just moments ago?

So many questions circle around in my mind. This mind that seems to only rest in the arms of my Savior and friend. So many questions that cannot be fully answered yet. What I do find comfort in knowing is that all who have been chosen, accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, are standing before Jesus waiting for us loved ones to also inherit what is promised. I am still discovering so much on my pilgrimage as a devoted follower of Jesus Christ, but praise God for this most recent tangible gift of faith I saw in the passing of a devoted man of faith. Again, death is so hard, but if we are still enough…we can see God and His love all around. Even in the anger and questions. He is there.

My grandfather, Dorsey H. Tynes, was more then my grandfather. He was my tangible gift of faith that God gave me understanding about two days before he passed. My grandfather always wanted to leave a legacy worthy of all the things God had done for him, and he did just that. I saw what it looks like for a person of faith to stare so closely at death and be more concerned about people’s personal relationship with their savior…not the religion, the relationship…than he was concerned about his health. Before being called home he was in the constant act of talking.  So much so that we had to almost force food in his mouth to get him to eat. I want to be like that. I want to be so about my Savior’s business that someone has to remind me to eat. What a place of faith!

Further, the lives my grandfather touched were innumerable. His name might not be famous in the world, but I know his name is famous in heaven. He clothed the naked, he fed the hungry, he sheltered the homeless, he buried the dead, he took care of the orphans and the widows, he visited the prisoners, he gave to those in need, he was friends with the rich and with the poor. That is faith lived out. It is not what we have or do, but the lives we touch on this Earth as vessels by loving the Lord with all our heart, soul, and mind. Faith without works is dead. “…..Show me your faith without your works and I’ll show you my faith by my works,” James says in 2:18, NIV. What a gift to leave behind. I want to leave that kind of gift. Wouldn’t you?

I know dealing with death stinks. It stinks and it is hard. Life in general is hard. However, let us not lose sight of what is promised. Even in the midst of the tears and hurt. He is there. May we not miss the inheritance that we all so long for. Our precious moment when heaven kisses earth for us. So as we mourn, may we remember what Jesus said in John 16:33, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (NIV, biblehub.com).

Take heart my brothers and sisters…this world has trouble, but He has overcome the world. ❤️

Much love,

Me 🙂

 

 

 

A Mother’s Day Prayer

Heavenly Father, May EVERY woman reading this know, that she knows,…That. She. KNOWS…..She is enough. Not because of anything she can or cannot do…but because of what YOU have already done. Your grace fuels our enoughness. It is the catalyst that fuels the gift of peace and the ability to get back up when life kicks us down. For though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again (Proverbs​ 24:16).

May every woman, married, widdowed, or single, young or old… May every mother, through natural birth, adoption, or mentoring…May every homemaker or career woman….Father, May EVERY woman, no matter where You have placed her, or what circumstances she is currently in, may she know the grace that comes from You. When her tears overflow from within, when her heart has grown weary, when the deepest parts of her heart and her soul are committed and completely surrendered before Your feet at Your throne room of grace…Father, may she receive Your grace and lift her eyes to You as You gently hold her face in Your hands and speak life into her dry bones. Father, as You breath a breath O’ God, may she hear You say….”You are mine and I love you. I see you the way You were always suppose to be, and NOT the way you see yourself. Pick yourself up my beautiful child and take MY yoke. For I have bore yours so you may take Mine. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light (Matthew 11’28-30). Receive all I have for you. It is a gift.”

May we supernaturally receive this gift of acceptance, purpose, and enoughness. In JESUS’ name. Amen.

Bless the Lord, Oh My Soul….

Bless the Lord Oh My Soul is a very well known song, and my go to in moments of temptation, but have you ever really meditated on what you are actually singing?

Let’s begin by reading Psalms 43 in the NIV. It reads:

1 Vindicate me, my God, and plead my cause against an unfaithful nation. Rescue me from those who are deceitful and wicked.

2 You are God my stronghold. Why have you rejected me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?

3 Send me your light and your faithful care, let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell.

4 Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God.

5 Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

As you read this Psalm, you can really hear and feel the sorrow behind this prayer if you take a minute to mediate on these words. This person is aware of the ugly all around that only God can save him from. He is desperate for his Savior, His light. He longs for his Savior’s direction and care to His altar. He is desperate for the joy and the delight that he knows he will receive once he reaches the altar of God.

This person is depressed, oppressed, and completely aware of it all as he is clinging to the word of truth that God has placed within this child of God BEFORE he has reached this moment of pain.

So first, let us examine the evidents that the person behind these words has been on this journey for some time now. It is evident because he is completely aware of the wickedness around him, the need for His savior, and is very knowledgeable of the things that God promises. You can feel through his words that he has already tasted and seen this goodness he longs for before. Further evidence that he is a long time voyager is revealed in verse five as his words switch from crying out to God, to then talking to his soul. 

So, let’s examine the soul he is talking to and why. To understand this we have to first acknowledge that when we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, that we are in fact admitting that we are naturally sinners (make wrong choices that are not good for us and can keep us from the goodness that God has for us) and are in need of Him (our Savior, our helper, our leader, our teacher, our healer) to clean these bad choices up because we have now recognized that we are not capable….no matter how hard we try, we are unable to do for ourselves what only God is able to do. What is this? Change our heart through the constant renewing of our mind as He reveals Himself to us more and more as we walk out OBEDIENCE. Not our will. His will. Not our wants, but His wants.

Lets look into this further. See, as children of God we are composed of our body, our minds, our soul (with the old sinful nature and the new nature now being formed until the return of our Messiah), as well as the Holy Spirit that God has given us through the excepting of Jesus as the Messiah and the allowing of Him to baptise us with His Spirit (see the beginning chapters of Acts to study this further). The Holy Spirit is from God and is fully God. He will help convict you of your wrong choices and at the same time give you power to crucify bad choices. We are not able to do this apart from God.

So what does this look like? How is this possible? Well, if you have walked out your sanctification in any stretch of time you can sense that battle.  Paul talks of it in Romans 7:18-24;

¹⁸ For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.²¹ So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²² For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; ²³ but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. ²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?

So now, how do we overcome and go from defeated to victors? How do we crucify self?  Pull out of our sorrow and pain? Allow mourning to be turned into thanksgiving and dancing? Well, my beautiful sisters and handsome brothers….we remind the natural sinful self within our souls of ALL of God’s goodness. We do what Paul tells the Philippians in verse 4:8 and what this Psalmest says in 43:5;

4:8; Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.

43:5 Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

So the next time you are praising and worshiping the Lord through the form of song and singing that all too familiar Bless the Lord Oh My Soul….remember that you are singing to the sinful part of your soul and telling it to Bless the Lord!!!! How beautiful is that!!! Oh, thank you God for Your wisdom and knowledge.

Praise You, Father, for Your goodness and love! Apart from You, we are not able. Come Holy Spirit… You are welcome in our hearts. Convict us, give us Your power that is in fact God himself working within us. The power to overcome sin. The power to overcome loneliness, loss of loved ones, depression, and oppression. Thank you for this! We get to love you only because You first loved us. In Jesus’ name, Amen!

 

 

Come What May Copyright © 2016 by (Samantha Keene)

The alarm clock rings; Where does one begin?

Some days fully prepared, but most days completely unaware.

Still, as my feet hit the floor, my heart cries out;

Come what may Father, come what may.

Your will, Your way, Your day… so come what may.

Sweet smells of coffee satisfy, as hopes for the day unfold.

As I hear the birds begin praising our Lord, so sings my soul;

Come what may Father, come what may.

  Your will, Your way, Your day… so, come what may.

With half the day now gone, and my soul downcast within…

These thoughts I take captive.

Some days with strength and some days too weak.

But still yet my heart desires to say;

Come what may Father, come what may.

Your will, Your way, Your day… so, come what may.

The day continues, the weeks pile on.

Days turn into months, months into years, and looking back, have involved tons of tears.

But through all these trials and tears…

Through all the sorrow and anguish….

And with overwhelming amounts of prayers and praise…

My mourning has turned into dancing,

My anguish into joy and thanksgiving.

So, as His mercies are new EVERY morning, fit specifically for that day,

Forever, my heart will gratefully choose to say;

Come what may Father, come what may.

Your will, Your way, Your day… so, come what may.

When in Waiting

First let me say, I have missed writing on here like something crazy. However, I have found that during these times of silence….God shows up mightily and strengthens me beyond my belief. I am never who I was, but yet, one step closer to who God created me to be. Hallelujah!

One is not able to give what one does not have themselves.  Therefore, there are times we must be of good courage and wait on our Lord as He WILL strengthen us, AMEN!

I was not even sure if I was suppose to continue to writing on here, but as I proceeded to walk out obedience, the time away was more to gather my thoughts. See I LOVE to read. I mean L.O.V.E., LOVE to read. Anyone who knows me knows I have Jesus in my heart, coffee in my hands, and a book by my side always….but what I was completely unaware of, was my idolization of learning. I desired learning about God more then the experience of God. Oh, and ladies…the experience is so much more then the knowledge.

I like to call them my hugs from my Father. You know those moments? It is the warmth of His sun on your face at just the right moment. The miracle of a child’s life becoming stable after they have been fighting every breath to stay alive and you have diligently prayed daily for survival. Oh, or the smile on a face of someone who God encouraged through you. You know that tingly feeling, or light gentle breeze you feel and know it His spirit upon you. Oh, ladies…these ARE. WORTH. WAY. MORE. WAY more then pulling a part sermons and verses.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe that knowledge and the love of learning more of what is behind the verse is a part of my gifting to teach. However, He has lovingly revealed to me that He is going to reel it in, prioritize, and gently teach me how to balance my intellect. Oh, how beautiful my sister…how beautiful that HE cares for us as much as HE does.

I have always had such a busy mind, ladies..which explains why I chose to get my masters in Chemistry, but busy nonetheless. I can tell you, that the business of a methodical mind can become very dainty and exhausting. I could not even read one book at a time. I had to read five all on the same topic, with commentaries and dictionaries and a concordance, which again is not bad, but should be balanced. 🙂

See we take the first step, then the next. A person with a mind like mine was, this is not easy. It was, take a step, while thinking about the 15 after, as well as every way that could possibly lead to them, on top of the other ways possible if those did not work….are you experiencing this exhaustion just as you read. Shew we, I am.

Do you experience exhaustion? Maybe not by way of your intellect, but with tasks, to dos, crafts, or other thoughts. If so, then I encourage you to ask Him to seek your ways and heart, and to reveal what you might be idolizing that is causing the exhaustion. Is it knowledge, is it cleaning, is it perfection, is it performance, is it control, is it business….what do you desire more then God, my sister? Then begin to walk in obedience by crucifying it daily and replacing it with what He provided you to replace it with…peace, joy, love, self control, gentleness, patience, faithfulness, kindness, goodness.

There is nothing gentle, patient, joyful, or self-controlled about a busy mind or body. It stretches our rubber band and makes us vulnerable to snap and break on anyone, who we would otherwise enjoy loving in rather than yelling at. Can I get a hand raised with an amen?

Come on girls, ladies, women, and daughters of the most High God. Let’s lay it down and experience God MORE then that thing. AMEN!

God is so amazingly glorious and sovereign and mighty. Let us not zap the amazement right out of the experience because we have neglected to ask Him what is standing in the way. Let us be willing to go into waiting, so we come out refined and able to do that thing He’s created us for more diligently, faithfully, and affectively. I love you all so much! Be of good cheer, my sister! Our God is faithful and He will see to completion every good work He begins in us til the return of our Lord, Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)

Prayer:

Father, may we get to experience you and all your goodness more. We cry out in desperation, “please reveal to us what is standing in the way of ALL you have for us today”. Thank you for your love and the grace that You provide so we are able to grow up in Your ways. Forever we praise and ask in YESHUA’s great name. Amen!