Peace

What a beautiful word! Sometimes just saying it makes me feel calm. However when we live in a sin filled world, peace is often the last thing we feel. I have walked through times in my own life where peace was no where to be found. Recently I had a friend lose her father to cancer. It suddenly stirred up so many familiar feelings in me, one being the lack of peace. I instantly began to worship and the peace was back. God gave me the perfect passage in His word for her and gave me the strength and words to minister it to her. In that moment I sensed what Philippians 4:7 means when it says"And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." We have to lose the right to understand before we can have the peace that transcends our own understanding! As humans we always want to know why? what next? But sometimes we only need to trust. I love this verse in the MSG paraphrase: "Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life." I mean WOW! He gives us wholeness, He works every circumstance for our good, we are settle, and He displaces worry! With that in mind why are we so shocked by life's ups and downs! For me I often forget or fail to place this above my problems. Write this scripture down, put it on your fridge, mirror, car, wherever you will see it and get it in you! God is good and He longs to give you peace....

The Rear View Mirror

    This morning during prayer, the Lord really laid it on my heart to look forward. I kept thinking "forward, opposed to what?" Well, He began to show me how I so often look to the past...to regret...to what might have been. And I began to see that looking back to my past, whether good or bad, was not in step with what God is doing now and in the future! It all clicked when I was driving home from prayer. I wouldn't drive while constantly looking in the rear view mirror, so why do life while looking back to the past! This was an eye opening revelation for me. Jesus said to him, No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back [to the things behind] is fit for the kingdom of God. Luke 9:62 AMP     I have, for years, looked back and thought, "man, I wish I was still that thin...I wish my hair was that long...I wish I hadn't dated that guy..." and so on. What was the point? Every decision, every action, every failure has made me who I am today.
    Romans 8:28 tells us: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." ALL THINGS- chew on that for a minute. The disappointments, the joy, the regrets, the acheivements, even the moments that take our breath away...all things! Be refreshed and renewed today by looking at what He is doing now, where you are now, and where He is taking you!

xx

He is rewriting our story

So with 2012 being a New Year I have been seeking God for His plans, His will and His calling for my life. During a really precious prayer time He whispered the most beautiful statement- "I saved you". This has so many meanings. He saved me from making bad choices in life, saved me from my own plans, radically saved my soul, and He has even saved me from myself... I was so in awe that with babies starving in Africa, wars, natural disasters every where we turn, and in the midst of this utterly broken world, He took time to whisper that beautiful statement. Only moments later did a dear friend email me a beautiful letter and within it my verse for this season. Exodus 14:14 " The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still." What a timely and powerful verse. I'm claiming it over my life and hoping you do as well. He wants to rewrite your story. We may have added a chapter here and there but His end remains. He is always so willing to meet us where we are at, take our hand and lead us back. He wants to right our wrongs. Let Him do this. Let Him trade your ashes for His beauty. He fights for us we need only BE STILL...