Monthly Archives: October 2014

Patience

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“Don’t call me Naomi,” she responded. “Instead, call me Mara, for the Almighty has made life very bitter for me. Ruth 1:20

Naomi changed her name because of the bitterness and pain she felt. She lost her husband and her 2 sons. She felt that God was punishing her because of the grief she was experiencing. It wasn’t that she was turning away from God because of what she was going through, it was just that she didn’t understand what she was going through. Nor did she know what her future held for her. Her faith and trust in God was wavering.
I can relate as I know some of you can too. We face some very difficult situations. Things that throw us off our square completely. We might become so distraught in our anguish that we too might want to change our name to represent the pain we are going through or to represent the fear we have of the unknown. But we have to remember our connection with the one that will deliver us from our fears, our pain and our confusion. God is a ever present resource to lean on.
God knows what we’re going through. And just like he knows what we’re going through, he also knows how we’re going to get through it. It’s about trusting and believing. I know it’s easier said than done but what other choice do we have. Worrying, crying or being upset about our situation does not change what we’re experiencing. It just magnifies the situation and makes it worse.
Today when you’re mind goes to worrying or replaying things that upset you or plays tricks about situations you don’t even know if it happened or not, change the thought. Yes, as simple as that. Change the thought. When you feel that feeling welling up inside you say, “God is my strength. God is my refuge. My situation is being resolved by the Almighty!” Try it. I’ve been doing it and it feels like my load has been lightened.
Know that whatever it is you’re going through that God loves you so much. He will never take you through anything that he hasn’t already planned to turn into something good just for you.

I love you with the love of God!

Kelly

Testimony Tuesday

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” ‘Return home and tell how much God has done for you.’ So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.” Luke 8:39

My nephew took his own life. I cry almost every day because of that. I love him so much and I miss him even though he lived far away from me. I had a comfort that I knew that he was alive and well. To know now that I can no longer tease him, or hear his voice call me Auntie Kelly sarcastically hurts deeply. But I am not mourning like someone who has no hope. I praise God every day through my grief. I believe that God’s way is higher than my way and God’s thoughts are higher than my thoughts. I do not question why this happen and more importantly why did my sister have to go through this. I believe in God wholeheartedly and I’ve realized that my faith has grown more intense since my nephew’s death.

When I read today’s scripture in my devotional I knew that I was supposed to write about this. We might not know why we have to face such adversity and pain but we have to remember that our adversity gives us an opportunity to testify about God’s faithfulness. When we tell people about the pain we have experienced (or currently experiencing) and tell about God’s grace and mercy, we are bringing people closer to God. That’s the most important thing that we can do in our life. Introducing someone to God’s salvation or helping someone to grow closer to God is an awesome feeling. And we are being obedient in telling “how much God has done for you.” So I encourage you to testify. Someone needs to hear your story. Someone needs to know how you got to be where you are in your spiritual walk.

Be encouraged. Tell your story. Testify about God’s grace.

Love you with the love of Christ!

Kelly

Trusting Thursday

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The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. Psalm 23:1

The Lord has been referred to as the good shepherd. A good shepherd is someone that watches over his flock. He provides for them and takes care of them. The flock doesn’t worry about where their supply will come from because the shepherd is watching over them. In return the flock obeys and follows the commands of the shepherd. So in other words, as long as the flock is obedient they have nothing to worry about because the good shepherd is their provider. Even if one of the flock wanders off, the good shepherd will look for it and find it.  You should know where I am going with this already.

Yesterday my mind wandered to everything that has gone wrong or at least not in the direction that I wanted it to. I begin to wonder how I was going to survive this storm. I mean, I trust God but I was starting to worry about the “how” he was going to do it. I was wondering about how I was going to pay my bills. Then I heard the Holy Spirit tell me to send a $100 check to a specific organization that I didn’t want to. That’s how I knew it was the Holy Spirit because I would have never thought of that on my own. But I’ve been procrastinating about it. I finally got the envelope, I finally wrote the check, and now all I have to do is mail it.

But the reason why I was procrastinating about it wasn’t because of the organization that I was told to send it to (well…not all of it) but because I’m trying to keep every dollar to pay my bills if I have a lean month while I look for a job. Then it happen. First I heard a song that I’ve heard numerous times but this specific line sang out louder then before. “Jehovah Jireh. My provider.” Then I opened my book that I’ve been reading off and on. The page opened up to, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall NEVER want.” I knew then that though I’ve been saying to people and to myself that I trust in The Lord, I was not showing it. My intentions were good but putting that trust into action was dismal.

The Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is your shepherd. If we just have faith the size of a mustard seed we can move mountains. We can feed a multitude of people with just a loaf of bread and fish. We just need to act and The Lord will do the rest. So I’m going to mail my check for $100. I’m officially acting on faith and trusting in The Lord. I consider it me sowing into what I thought would be impossible in my life to become possible just by being obedient.

What is the Holy Spirit speaking to you about? Are you being obedient? I think you should just do it. You did it your way and look where that has you. Trust in The Lord today, take the first step of faith.

Love you with the love of Christ,

Kelly

Wellness Wednesday

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Hope

Don’t put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there. Psalm 146:3

When I read this passage today it made me laugh. In my daily interactions I see more and more people putting their confidence in people to help them achieve happiness or success. They hope that the people they are focused on can bring about a change in their lives. They look to these people to help them move forward in life or to get a better life. Perhaps they think, “if only I stay with him or her a little while longer, he or she will change and then things will be better.” Or maybe it’s, “I know I should not be interacting with this person but if I just stick with him or her, I’ll finally be where I need to be.” I think that is sad that people depend on other people for their satisfaction and success in life. People will fail you every time. You’ll find yourself accepting things that you swore that you would never accept. Doing things that was never in your character or a part of your belief system. And why? Because you thought that would help you get more money, be loved, be accepted, move up the corporate ladder or just to not be lonely any longer. Guess what? You don’t have to do it any more.

God is waiting for you to totally surrender yourself to Him. Give up worrying about how you’re going to make it to the next level. Trust God. Give up worrying about what he or she is doing when they are not in front of you. Trust God. Give up worrying about how the bills will be paid. Trust God. Give up worrying about whether you will ever have enough. Trust God. Don’t compromise yourself for a quick moment of satisfaction. What is meant for you will be for you no matter what. You don’t have to accept being less than what you are just to feel adequate. That’s not what you were put here for. You are magnificent just the way you are. God doesn’t make mistakes and you my dear are by far no mistake!

So if you’re unhappy in your relationship, your job or your current situation, release it to God and walk away from it. Do not put your confidence in anyone any longer. Trust your own intuition and move forward with confidence in yourself and God. Be confident that who began a good thing in you will carry it on to completion. With or without certain people in your life. Be sure of that.

Be at peace with yourself. Know your change is coming and it will be wonderful!

Love you with the love of Christ,

Kelly

Testimony Tuesday

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If it had not been the Lord who was on our side — let Israel now say— if it had not been the Lord who was on our side when people rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their anger was kindled against us; then the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us; then over us would have gone the raging waters. Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as prey to their teeth! We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped! Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Psalm 124 1:8

Temptation and testing seems to be the way of my life lately. My emotions have been challenged when I am not in a place where I can just roll with them. I thought I had them under control, then one comment on Facebook, one text message, one phone call causes me to be in tears. I finally realized that my grief is not gone, it is simply at another level now. I am finally moving onto the more of an acceptance level. But make no mistake my grief is there.

I read comments from some of my friends yesterday about how they felt about me. The comments sent me into a crying fit because I did not understand how someone could feel that way about me when I did not feel that way about myself. I did not understand how someone could feel certain things about me when at many points in my life I was not the nicest person. So the things they said touched me in a way that I am sure they did not expect. Plus on top of that my feelings about everything is on my shirt sleeve right now. But as I cried uncontrollably I stopped and thought, if it had not been for the Lord on my side where would I be? If I had not decided that Jesus is the way, the death of my nephew and the loss of my job would have sent me into something worse then a crying fit. But because I believe in Jesus Christ I am not swallowed up by my grief and anger. Do not get me wrong I am silently angry about everything but it is controlled because I have given it up to God. I trust that He is working everything out for my good.

I understand more and more that temptations and testing will happen the more that you are closer to your blessing. I have been tempted to cuss people out, seek revenge because of things someone has said or done to me and I have wanted to just do a time out from the world. But everytime I go to do any of that, I remember that the Lord fights all my battles and protects me. There is nothing that comes to me that God will not bring me out of.

Please remember things may look tough right now but you are more than a conquer. You are victorious over all that worries or concerns you. God made you. God made you perfect. Stay calm and trust God for everything. Stand strong.

Love you with the love of Christ,

Kelly

Monday – New Beginnings

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To you alone, O Lord, to you alone, and not to us, must glory be given because of your constant love and faithfulness. Psalm 115:1

The beginning of the week, the beginning of the month and the beginning of the year is our opportunity to start something new. It could be viewed as a do over if your previous week or previous month or previous year did not go as you had expected it. New beginnings are our opportunity to clear the proverbial slate and try again. In trying again, we need to be mindful of doing the same thing over and over again. For example, if we had a bad week last week even though we followed our normal routine, perhaps it is time for us to change our routine. Change the way that we operate.

I picked today’s scripture because sometimes our normal routine is giving ourselves the glory for the things that go well in our lives. We do not take the time to praise God for Him giving us the ability to be successful, for Him aligning the right people in our lives or making our crooked paths straight. Instead we pray to God for Him to do the things that we want done. Not His will but our own. Then when our prayers that we vehemently prayed for does not happen, we become disappointed. We do the same routine. Pray for how we want the situation to go then get upset because it did not happen the way that we prayed it would. God is not a genie.

Know that our destiny has already been planned. God knew who we would be and what we would do while we are on this earth. But because He gave us free will our path to our destiny can be an easy path or difficult. It is totally up to us but understand we will arrive to our destiny no matter what path we decided to take. Even if that means repeating the same thing over and over again.

As I read this scripture, it reminded me that I should be praising God through it all. The good times…. praise God. The bad times…. praise God. The indecisive times….praise God. The “I don’t understand why this is happening” times…. praise God. Nothing that goes in my favor was done by me. It was the glory of God that allowed it to happen. So I give the glory for everything because He knows what He is doing and what He is planning on doing. He knows the plans that He has for us and we should all know that those plans are not to harm us.

So today and this week change your routine. Start your day out by giving God the glory for everything that He has done and for all the things that you are trusting Him to do in your life. Put everything in His hands and do not let anyone throw you off your walk of faith. Keep the faith and try the path of least resistances with God.

Love you with the love of Christ,

Kelly

Faithful Friday

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I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Psalm 16:8

Sometimes you have to be shaken up to recognize the multitude of God. We have to go through disappointment, sadness, times of sacrifice and times of generally being uncomfortable to feel his presence. Having a life with no problems does not give us the opportunity to experience God’s grace. If we never went through anything how can we know God’s strength? The answer, we would not be able to.

Our suffering is not meant to break us. It is meant to strengthen us in our mind, body and spirit. The things we go through might be too hard for us to comprehend but that is when we need to trust in the Lord more and not lean to our own understanding. Once we fully trust in the Lord, we will experience a peace that we have never known. Being at peace allows us to think rationally. Being at peace lowers our anxiety which prevents health issues. Remember peace over worrying. Worrying does not add one day to our life nor a dollar to our pocket. Be at peace. Know change is coming. We all need to be at peace with it. Things cannot and will not stay the same.

To me, our shakeups are a prelude to major change. I am a witness to that! I find it interesting to hear people say, “what else could happen” or “the way my life is going no wonder XY and Z happened”, because they are more correct than they know. More can and will happen because we were not meant to be stagnant. Perhaps we keep going through things because we are not learning the lessons we need to learn. Learn the lesson. Accept the change. Then look at the change optimistically. Change gives us new possibilities in our life.

Be open to change today. Expect the unexpected optimistically. What you have been praying for and hoping for will come to fruition. Believe it!

Love you with the love of Christ,

Kelly

Throwback Thursday

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But those who trust in the Lord for help will find their strength renewed. They will rise on wings like eagles; they will run and not get weary; they will walk and not grow weak. Isaiah 40:31

I remember sitting in church with my grandmother Garrett and the choir was singing “I Will Trust in The Lord”. I clearly remember the part where my grandmother would sing a smidgen louder, “I’m going to stay on the battlefield until I die.” I thought that was a bit much. I did not understand as a child what that meant to stay on the battlefield until I die. As a child, if things got too tough I would run from the battlefield! No way was I going to stay and fight. I valued my life too much. But now as an adult, I get it. And boy do I get it!!

I do not believe that anyone will get the true meaning of that song until you have really experienced some things. I have been in church singing:

Trust in the Lord
I’ll trust in the Lord
I will trust in the Lord
Until I die

I’m gonna stay on the battlefield
I’m gonna stay on the battlefield
I’m gonna stay on the battlefield
Until I die

I’m gonna treat everybody right
I’m gonna treat everybody right
I’m gonna treat everybody right
Until I die

Not truly understanding what it meant to stay on “the battlefield”. The battlefield has been defined for me within the last year, the last month, the last day. The battlefield is your mind, your spirit, your body, your relationships, and whatever else causes us to put our trust and confidence in the Lord. It may seem like things are happening to us and around us but we have to remain faithful that the power and protection of God is present. Whatever negative experience we have had IS the battlefield. We just need to know what weapon to bring to the battle. That negative experience was put there to take our life, our mind or the use of our body. But remember no weapon formed against us will prosper as long as we use our weapon of faith and hope. As soon as we lose hope we go running away just like I thought I would when I was a little girl sitting next to my grandmother. Then the battle is over.

Today remain faithful throughout whatever you are going through. Do not lose hope. There is no time for that. The battle is not yours, it’s the Lord’s. Release your worries and concerns to the Lord. Keep this in your head all day today and tomorrow, “I’m going to stay on the battlefield. Until I die.” Be blessed my brother and my sister. The Lord is with you today and will be with you always.

Love you with the love of Christ!

Kelly

Wonderful Wednesday

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Run your best in the race of faith, and win eternal life for yourself; for it was to this life that God called you when you firmly professed your faith before many witnesses. 1 Timothy 6:12

Not everyone believes that you have turned your life over to God when you announced your faithfulness. People will point out all of your failures and point out the things that you did/do that prevents you from being a total servant of God. But those people do not know the struggle that you go through everyday to live your life righteously according God. It is a tough battle because the old self wants to stay around while the new self is busting out at the seams. The old self is a comfort while the new self treads on a experience that feels good yet makes you nervous. You’re nervous because of the old known. But you have to preserve because that is what your faith is built on.

The scriptures says to run your best race. That means that when you have doubters, haters and look-loos rooting for your down fall, your faith in God and the process will prove to them that you are more than a conquer. When pain, doubt, and disappointment comes to your door, you are able to answer without hesitation. You are a child of God. You are an heir/heiress. That means that whatever your father has, it will be yours upon his death. Well guess what? Your savior already died, so everything that he has is yours. Peace, love, good fortune, faith, patience, kindness, increase in finances, decrease in debt, healing, understanding, and forgiveness is yours by inheritance. Declare and decree all the blessings that you accept in the name of Jesus. Whatever you have longed for is yours because it has already been yours. You are simply waiting for the manifestation of the blessings. Be patient because it is coming.

God is good. I’m glad that I know him on a personal level. I hope that you too know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. He has helped me through the roughest patches in my life so I know he will help you too. Don’t push God away. Embrace what he has to say. He will never leave you or forsake. Keep the faith my sister, my brother. I pray that everything that you ever dreamed of and prayed for comes to fruition for you.

I love you with the love of Jesus.

Sincerely,

Kelly

Testimony Tuesday

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For this reason I remind you to keep alive the gift that God gave you when I laid my hands on you. For the Spirit that God has given us does not make us timid; instead, his Spirit fills us with power, love, and self-control. Do not be ashamed, then, of witnessing for our Lord; nor be ashamed of me, a prisoner for Christ’s sake. Instead, take your part in suffering for the Good News, as God gives you the strength to do it. 2 Timothy 1:6-8

It’s been a couple of days since I wrote last. I stopped because I thought I was not hearing the Holy Spirit anymore. The doubt began to creep in. I did not think anyone would care what I had to say at this point, because I did not have some profound revelation or some miraculous breakthrough. I am still that woman that has been struck repeatedly in the recent months by major setbacks. I have no idea why things are happening to me. I have no idea of how I am going to come out on the other side so I can be a witness to other people. So again, doubt began to creep in. With that doubt came the wavering of my faith. I mean I would go through the motions but my belief system was being pushed to the limits.

This morning as I prayed, I asked God to reveal to me my purpose. I cannot just be out here with no direction. My life had such structure to it and within the last year my infrastructure has crumbled. I am trying to rebuild but with out the blueprints I do not have a clue of where to begin. So I prayed. I prayed by declaring and decreeing that my life will have structure to it. I prayed that by the blood of Jesus that I would be made whole…… tenfold. I prayed that whatever was taken from me would be come clear soon. I prayed that I could relate to Job, Moses, Esther and David. I prayed that God use me in a way so that I would understand that the heartbreak and disappointment that I was experiencing would become clear. I prayed. After I prayed I got on my morning conference call. The topic was 2 Timothy 1:6-7. I read on to 2 Timothy 1:8. That is when I realized that God heard what I prayed for.

Here is the point of today’s blog. We ask in faith to God to reveal things to us or to heal us or to direct us but then we do not activite our faith. We do not stay persist in doing what is laid on our hearts to do. Just because it is something that is uncomfortable or something that is out of character or something that does not yield dividends does not mean that it is not God answering us. We need to ask, believe it is already done and act in faith. So today I write. I wrote because I know that is one of the things that God had put on my heart a long time ago. To be transparent so others can be inspired or encouraged to move forward regardless of what the circumstances my look like now. Do not doubt what God has whispered to you through music, devotionals or people. Do not be stagnant. Move forward. Do not be afraid.

We are made to persist. That’s how we find out who we are. – Tobias Wolff

Love you much & I will be back!

Kelly