Love

Construction

This blog is about to get a really awesome face lift, so I won't be posting as frequently until after the big reveal. I know you'll all like it, and I can't wait to introduce you to the design guru who is making it happen :)

Stay tuned!!

Are you done yet?

Sometimes, I feel like Jesus just looks at me with this loving, half-amused smile, and asks, "Are you done yet?"

Well, no. I'm not.

This is__________.

Fill in the blank. How do you feel about your trial/storm/circumstance/situation?

This is unfair. This isn't right. This isn't what I expected. This isn't what I wanted. This is ridiculous. This is never ending. This is....

Because "this is", we pitch a fit. Right? Now, some of us are more dignified in the production, merely crossing our arms and stamping our feet, while others are more dramatic and go full out, little-kid-in-the-grocery-store-candy-aisle, on the floor flailing.

It's all the same, though.. Because the fit, regardless of it's style, reveals the same lie. The same lie that Eve believed.

That God is holding out on us.

Yikes. When you put it that way...

Okay.

Yes.

I'm done.

Screaming in the middle of a crowded room...

If you feel like this today...don't worry.

God hears.

She posted this under the video - We've all had questions and doubted God. but, the good thing is, God welcomes those questions and doubts. His promises are always true and He is always faithful. Trust in Him always. He'll never leave you nor forsake you. He is forever faithful.
Hope this encourages you all.

AMEN.

Tick tock

I'd love for you to come visit me today at www.girlsgodgoodlife.blogspot.com  where I talk about something God revealed to me on waiting...

I can't find my big girl panties...

** Disclaimer ** I apologize in advance for any men reading this post, because the word panties will be used multiple times! Run if you must!  :)  **

Sometimes, life is just hard. (no surprise here right?)

And sometimes, we just have to put on our big girl panties (so to speak) and do what has to be done even when we really just want to crawl in bed and hide out naked. (so to speak) Or curl up in the fetal position with a chocolate bar in one hand and a Coke Zero in the other. (wait, that's my specific dream. But you know you have one too!)

There's no doubt about it. Some days require big girl panties.

So what do we do when we can't find them?? When we try to muster up what we need and it's just not  there? When our stomach is cramping in dread and our palms are sweaty and our head hurts and our heart aches and we simultaneously want to never eat again and eat everything in sight? (And no I don't mean PMS here!)  ::grin::

We go back to Jesus. He's in charge of us. Our Lord is Adonai, which means our owner. And I'm pretty sure that includes Him being keeper of the panty drawer. We ask Him for what we need, and we trust Him to provide it.

I felt that way recently. I had to do something, deal with something, that to be honest, was totally not fair. And I totally didn't want to have to do it. And I totally shouldn't have had to.

But circumstances made it necessary. And I had to find my big girl panties and do it - and do it alone.

Yet in the middle of the situation, I was reminded that I wasn't ever really alone. Jesus was right there with me, just waiting for me to acknowledge His presence, as He always patiently does. He didn't toss me the underwear I needed and then bail. He wanted to go with me.

Do you ever do that? I do. Sometimes I start off on a hard journey and invite Him along and confess my desperate need for Him, then completely forget to keep up the communication while I'm actually IN the situation I was so worried about. (DUH!)

The other day was an improvement in that category for me. I found my big girl panties, did what I had to do, AND remembered to keep talking with Jesus the entire time, reassuring myself of His presence.

So I guess Victoria isn't the only one with a secret. Mine was carrying on two conversations at once - one with a real person, and the other with a very real God.  ;)

If you've lost your panties, or if you feel locked out of your underwear drawer, or in need of an undergarment shopping spree (all so to speak... if YOU mean literally, then I suggest a locksmith and Target....) remember, the God of the universe has everything you need. He's like an unlimited gift card to Victoria's Secret  :)  You need strength for the journey? Try the bins by the front door. Peace and joy? Drawers over to the right. Perseverance? In the cabinet by the dressing room. It's all on Him.

Of crossroads and mountain bikes...

Yesterday at church, my pastor preached on the narrow path and the wide path as found in Matthew 7, in the Sermon on the Mount. I've heard that passage preached a dozen times in my life, but I loved the fresh take my new pastor put on it. It made sense in a whole new way.

Don't you love when Scripture does that? That's the whole "God-breathed", "living book" stuff in action :)

My pastor pointed out how in the context Jesus was speaking during this sermon, he was instructing his listeners to pick a path. Choose already. The wide path is easy. Looks attractive. Plenty of room to take your baggage and burdens with you. Only problem is, it leads to an abyss. Death.

The narrow path, however, looks pretty scary. Looks like hard work. And it's narrow, all right - no room for burdens and baggage. You gotta leave that stuff at the crossroads and just go forward with Jesus. But it leads to joy. And life.

Lots of analogy there. Camp out for a minute and think about  that implication. About the specifics involved. I know I did.

Moving on.

I feel this passage is usually preached in regards to salvation - with the narrow path being salvation and choosing to walk with Christ, leading to Heaven, while the wide path represents the path of the world (the lost, unsaved, etc.) that ultimately leads to hell.

Maybe that's right. Maybe it does mean that. It's very fitting in that context.

But I can't help but see it in a new way today, see how it applies to believers. Because you can be saved and still choose the wide path that mingles with the world. You can be a Christian and a believer yet stray from the narrow path of God's will and wander around the wide one for a time. Sin and bad choices can easily detour us from narrow to wide.

And getting back on track is always harder the more often we stray from the narrow. Because we start to disbelieve the truth and promise of the narrow, and start longing for the ease of the wide. But the ending...oh the ending.

My pastor had a great illustration of when he was in college and went on a mountain biking trip out of town with some friends for a manly vacay. Being from Florida, they weren't used to HILLS, much less mountains. But they rented their bikes and gear and got dropped off at the top of the mountain to ride the multiple-mile trail down. Easy peasy, right? ;)

He said it was the worst trip of his entire life.

Long story short, they ended up losing one bike (thankfully, sans rider) down the side of the mountain. Broke other bikes, got lost, dehydrated  etc. Halfway through the trail they all hated life and hated each other and basically hated the entire world. (LOL!)

But one thing kept them going - the realization that there was no other way to safety except on that path. There were other roads they passed along the way, but they didn't lead to their car at the bottom of the mountain. They had to stay on the path they were on, regardless of how hard it was, regardless of how much it hurt, regardless of how scary it became, because it was the only way to life.

Yeah. Let that sink in.

There's so many believers today, and I'm going to venture out and say it - there's so many MEN today who have strayed to the wide path because the narrow got too tough. I'm not picking on men, many women have strayed too - but the men are being attacked the most and targeted the most because of their leadership role. It's just obvious. Look around you. Men are being coaxed off the narrow path and onto the wide. The enemy isn't random. He's intentional. Men being led astray starts a horrible domino effect.

I'm praying for multiple men to be turned back to the narrow path today. I'm talking about men who were once godly and God-fearing and active Christians. It's heart breaking.

Will you join me? Will you pray for revival for not just our country and for the church, but for men specifically, to take up the roles they're called to and stay the course?

Paul from the New Testament finished well. I'm looking around and right now, there's too many men who I love dearly who won't be able to say that if they stay their current course. Pray for God to awaken their leadership hearts, their warrior hearts, and forge the path with Jesus on the narrow road.

God, we ask in Jesus' name, give them eyes to see....

And don't forget to check your own heart. What is the narrow path God is calling you to that has you hesitating at the crossroads? This doesn't have to be salvation related. It doesn't even have to be anything deeply serious or spiritual. You know in your heart what topic or issue this post is tugging on you about. Let the Holy Spirit lead you there. And choose wisely.