Category: Christian

More media= worry, fear, panic
More Jesus= peace, rest, truth

Be informed, but be full of what you know is true! God is in control! I pray that God will use this time to soften hearts and many will turn to Jesus and trust Him as Savior! I pray for revival world wide!

If you find yourself worried, the following verses are the best thing that you can read right now!!

Philippians 4:4-9

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

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. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”

If you have found a friend, a true friend, you have found a gift of immeasurable value. There are seasonal friends, but then there are friends that remain present in your life. In every season of life, you find this person there, steadfast in their presence. They celebrate with you and you celebrate with them in life’s victories and blessing. They are there for you and you are there for them in times of difficulty with a listening ear, a warm hug, words of comfort, and a shoulder to cry on. This friend just “gets you,” sees you as you are, and loves you anyway. This friend is the person you never have to wonder what they may be secretly thinking about you because your relationship is so transparent that you already know. This type of friendship is a rare gift, and you know once you’ve found it. Although this friendship is rare, it is a friendship that is available to all.
Some believe that you can go a lifetime and never discover that lifelong friendship, but I am happy to share with you that is far from being true. Jesus tells us Himself in John 15:14-16, “You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit-fruit that will last-and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.”
Jesus was a man who was acquainted with grief, a man of sorrows, despised, and rejected (Isaiah 53:3). Jesus wept and He prayed earnestly! Although He faced great temptation, never once did He cave. He is that friend that first loved us before we could ever love Him. He came without condemnation, because on our own we were already standing condemned, but rather He came to lift the weight of sin and remove the separation between God and man. His life was a total offering for you and me! Not only just an offering, but He allowed Himself to have the life experiences to know and feel the things that we know and feel daily.
What better friend could you ask for? A friend who loved first? A friend who came without condemnation? A friend who knows grief? A friend who knows rejection? A friend that always welcomes you? A friend who lays down their life for you? A friend who always understands what you are going through? A friend who makes themselves transparently known to you? Can you find a better friend than Jesus? Can you find another who has done all of these things without fail?
We long for a friend who knows and understands the pressures and hardships that we face in life. We long for a friend who will celebrate with us and mourn with us. We long for that friend who accepts us as we are and loves us despite our flaws. We long for that friend that we can fully trust with our deepest thoughts and feelings. We long for a friend who is so transparent that you never have to wonder what they are thinking because you just know.
Have you found that friend yet? It is a friend that can be found. The true longing for that kind of friendship seems too good to be true, and honestly, unrealistic. Although I have been gifted with wonderful friends, that’s a tall order to fill, and I am afraid that it’s one that I myself can never fill for another. That longing in our hearts for a friendship like that is purposeful though, but its purpose is not to place those expectations on the people God has placed in our lives. That kind of pressure to place on someone would be unfair. The longing exists so that we can fill it with Jesus because only He can be all those things for us perfectly, all the time!
If you find yourself striving to find that perfect friendship or even be that perfect friend for another, stop putting that kind of pressure on them and yourself. Jesus longs to fill that role that was meant for only Him to fulfill! Let Him be that friend for you that will always stay by your side and stick closer to you than a brother! What a friend we have in Jesus!

We live in a day where it is very easy to be involved in one another’s lives. Social media allows loved ones who live hundreds of miles away from one another feel as if they are just down the street. Staying in touch and being connected with one another is obviously important- which is the way God designed for us to be. Being connected with many people allows you to see their lives and what they may be celebrating or even mourning over. Whichever it may be, our responses to one another as Christians, whether it be in victory or defeat, is important.
Sometimes life seems to be lived in polar opposites. There are times in life when we experience life’s victories and enjoy harmonious relationships with those around us. Then there are times when everything seems to be falling apart. Life’s victories seem to disappear- you lost your job, that family member you love dearly betrayed you once more, that friend let you down, a precious loved one passes away, and the list can continue. I have experienced this wide spectrum of circumstances in my own life and I have seen it happen in the lives of others as well. Life is sticky and difficult at times, but we are not left without hope. Thankfully we serve a God that never changes (Malachi 3:6, “I the Lord do not change.) and His love is steadfast (Lamentations 3:22, “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail). I am convinced that as we walk to through life TRUSTING God and praying at all times in all circumstances (Ephesians 6:18) we will see and experience God in a powerful way.
I love this quote from John MacArthur. “The real challenge of Christian living is not to eliminate every uncomfortable circumstance from our lives, but to trust our sovereign, wise, good, and powerful God in the midst of every situation.” The truth is, we all find ourselves in “uncomfortable” situations. We all face difficulty and there are times where we are fighting as hard as we can to trust and hang on. There are times when we are just like Peter. We take our eyes off of Jesus and we fix our eyes on the storm. This is why I am convinced that we as the body of Christ need to be committed to praying for one another, as well as speaking words of encouragement. We live in a day where there is a lot of division, but that should not be true within the Church. Let’s be real and authentic. Let’s know God and live our lives out the way He says. Let’s bear with one another in love (Ephesians 4:2) and let the world see that God’s love is different and that it brings about incredible change. Let’s put into practice 1 Timothy 2:8 “I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing.” May God replace our apathy for one another, whether it be in times of triumph or trial, and let’s lift one another to the throne of grace. God, help us to be salt and light!

Romans 12:15
“Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.”

Training a child up in the way they should go is hard work, and honestly, it can be downright tiresome. By 8am this morning, I am already finding myself mentally worn out! I spent the majority of this morning, all before getting the kids to school, explaining to my son that correction is not the same as defeat, but instead it’s a necessary part of what God is doing to make us fruitful. As frustrated as I felt deep inside my heart, after trying to explain this to him, for what seems to be the thousandth time, I wondered how many times has God felt the same way towards me? How many times has God corrected and pruned me, only for my attitude to result in feeling defeated? How many times has God said to me, “It is correction! Not defeat!”
As parents, our aim in teaching our children, especially in the hard places of their lives, is not with the intentions of raining down defeat on their heads, but instead it’s with efforts to build them up and shape their hearts. When my attitude towards God’s correction in my life results in an attitude of defeat, I realize two things are happening in my heart. First, I have made God’s correction about me instead of having a heart that desires obedience towards Him. Secondly, when I am wallowing in defeat, I am totally missing the acts of God’s grace in my life. God doesn’t just save us; He begins making us new! Apart of being new means taking off what is old. Although taking off all of the old stuff is hard and taxing, it’s certainly not for the intention of putting us down. Instead, God is working to build us up and making us more like Him! While God’s correction may feel hard and heavy at times, I look back on my life and I am able to see all that God has saved me from. How many additional hardships and heartaches would I have experienced in my life if it were not for God’s gracious correction intervening in my life?

Some seasons of our lives require a lot of correction and a lot of pruning. Even though this process is uncomfortable, it is necessary and it is for our good! In the discomfort of our spiritual growth, we cannot miss seeing God’s grace in our lives!  His correction is a gift that stems from grace that is being given to us, not defeat!
Hebrews 12:15, “See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.”

Nothing tests your faith like a trial, and nothing allows you to see the magnitude of God’s faithfulness than when you stand on the other side of the trial and look back.

Highlighting Hope was birthed in a time of great trial and great change. In September of 2016, we experienced the loss of our third child due to miscarriage. As common as miscarriages can be, it was a tremendous loss felt by our family. The very next week, my husband was moved into a new position for work, which meant he was going to start working on a jobsite three hours from home. This was an opportunity that we had prayed and waited for, yet it seemed so ill-timed. I found myself being filled with anger and bitterness because I felt left to handle everything on my own at such a fragile time. I was grieving, trying to heal physically and emotionally, and continue to be the mother that my two children needed. As days passed, I found myself feeling like I needed to stop and catch my breath and yet life steadily continued on, stopping for nothing.

Looking back, I realized that I was never alone or abandoned. God was steadily at work and doing a lot of new things in the life our family; but what He was teaching me was a greater dependence upon Him and a greater surrender to Him. Never had I been more desperate to remember, see, and believe upon the hope I have in Christ. As the months passed, it was as if God began highlighting all around me the reason for my hope to be in Him and His voice of truth became louder and more prevalent than ever before.
We all go through valleys- but thankfully, those who have the hope of Jesus, know that we are never left to walk through the valley alone. Jesus always walks with us and his “rod and staff” comforts and guides us along the path, even when we cannot see. Though, we may feel like we are in the dark, I take great rest in knowing that even the darkness is not dark to our Savior, for darkness is as light with him (Psalm 139).

In the night, in great despair
Lord, Jesus you are there
The Great I am, you light my way
For even in the darkness you still shine.

Jesus you are my hope in the night
I have no need to wait till morning
Cause even in the darkness, you shine as bright as the day.

Lord, you lift me up and your right hand holds me.
In your goodness, you are ever sustaining me
Never will you let me fall.

Jesus you are my hope in the night
I have no need to wait till morning
Cause even in the darkness, you shine as bright as the day.

Arise, O Lord, and shine on us!
Your light has come and It fills this place!!
Open up our mouths to declare you praise
For you alone are our hope in the night
And you never stop lighting the way!!
Scripture references:
Psalm 139, Psalm 55:2, Psalm 51:15, Isaiah 60:1

Blessings to you as you read!

One of the verses my daughter  learned at school when she was 5 was, “Hear and increase in learning.” Proverbs 1:5. An abundance of wisdom is found in that little verse, and as I have heard her recite it over and over again, I have been reminded of how important it is to take the time to listen. Here recently, I have made a greater effort in really listening to those around me, and take to heart the stories others share.

A story shared, is piece of someone’s heart that’s being given out and that is something of great value. As I have taken greater strides in listening, I have been able to see how much we really all have in common. We have all known happiness, sorrow, acceptance, rejection, fulfillment, and emptiness…etc; and all of these we have been acquainted with through various life experiences. But in the midst of our difficulties, can we all say that we have experienced true joy and peace?

Hardships do come. The size of the hardships may vary, but they do come, often leaving wounds that require time to heal and a course of treatment. But, how we treat our wounds makes all the difference in how well those wounds heal, and improperly cared for can result in something far worse than what you started with.

Our hearts are deceitful, especially when pain is present, making us more likely to respond to our hardships foolishly. When we are heavy with burdens, God, our Heavenly Father, lovingly extends an invitation to come and give those over to Him (Matthew 11:28). Choosing to obey and follow God’s call to come to Him when our hearts are hurting and our wounds are so deep, results in a great blessing and sets us on the path of true healing.

Regardless of the burden you carry today, regardless of how deep your wounds, we have a God who heals, who extends to us a surpassing peace, blesses us with joy in the storm, and bestows upon us His constant presence in our lives! Our wounded hearts are best cared for when we lay them at the feet of Jesus; and when we lay them there and leave them there, we can be sure that we will experience His healing, His joy, and His peace!

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” Psalm 147:3

When we say that nothing can interfere with the plans of God, we have to speak that from a heart that really know that’s true! I am personally guilty of only thinking this and praying this about things we believe is in the works for the future, and trusting that God will see these plans through, but we can’t miss the big picture of our current reality. For those of us in Christ, for those who have place their faith in Jesus, who have made Him Lord, we are already walking in the reality of God’s plans not being messed with! We are walking in a “right now” reality of God’s plans being final and secure!
By the acts of one man, Adam, sin did enter the world. The consequences of Adam’s sin were great and far reaching, with no person escaping its grip. Although this act of sin was detrimental, it was not final. In fact, there was an even greater act to come, proving God’s plan to be victorious. There was an act of obedience that supersedes the act of sin, breaking the power of darkness. There was an act of obedience prompted by selfless love that continues to live on today that proves that the plans of God cannot be interfered with. The act of sin sought to destroy the relationship between God and man, but the obedient act of Jesus proved otherwise.
Friends, if you are in Christ, you are living in a “right now” reality of a plan of God that cannot be messed with. God’s plan to have a relationship with you could not be interrupted by the act of sin by one man. God is too powerful for that! We do not just wait in hopeful expectations for the future plans of God, but rather we are already living in a secured plan of God each and every day! Take in a deep breath of great assurance, knowing that your life has been won! You are His and your life holds secure because of one Man’s obedience! That man is Jesus! What a beautiful, powerful, wonderful name it is!

Romans 5:6-11

“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”

Romans 5:18, 19
“Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.”

We stopped in at Chick-fil-A to grab some lunch, but before we could make our way out of the car, Kennedi let out a frantic, “Wait, Mom!! We can’t go in yet! We have to check our hearts first and make sure that they are both ready to go inside!”

She then grabbed her stethoscope to take a good listen to both of our hearts. After her careful examination, she declared that we were in fact ready to go in and have our lunch.

Although she was playing doctor, God used Kennedi’s actions and word choice to pierce my heart! The Bible has a lot to say about our hearts, and after spending anytime reading about it, you realize how our hearts can get us into trouble when they are left unchecked.

Today, God used the example of my 5 year old little girl to remind me of the necessity of stopping and having a true heart examination. To take the time to really evaluate what’s there and evaluate what I am taking the time to put into my heart. To take the time to evaluate what is coming out of my mouth, because what’s in our hearts, our mouths are sure to speak. And lastly, to stop and examine to see if I am really ready for what’s next, even if it’s just lunch at a restaurant!

I’m thankful for my daughter’s sweet moment of play that led to a powerful God moment. This moment provided me a wonderful opportunity to share with her while we had our lunch how God had used her to remind me of the power of stopping before God for a necessary heart examination …

I hope that after today she will not be able to look at a stethoscope the same way. I know that I won’t be able to!

“Create in me a new heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10

Last week, I spent several hours, almost every day, pulling up the many invasive weeds that had found their way into all of the flowers beds surrounding our house… and as strange as it sounds, it was absolutely wonderful. It was a job that I had dreaded at first, but surprisingly, come to love once I got started.

The week was filled with beautiful weather, and the sounds of my children playing happily in the backyard provided me with sounds of peace and enjoyment. For hours each day, I pulled weed after weed, and all the while, I found myself in a state of worship. Dirty gloves on my hands and dirt flinging everywhere as I pulled up each invader, seemed like an unlikely place for worship, but yet for me, this is what it provided.

With each pull, I knew I was a little closer to my desired result, and with each continued pull of weed after weed, I also found myself reflecting on the work that God has done in my life. You can go from person to person and ask them about God, who He is, and what they think of Him, and you will most likely get a different answer from each person. In our culture today, relative truth is more acceptable than absolute truth, and sadly it has many standing on a pile of sinking sand. Regardless of what each person says about God, thankfully there is an absolute truth of who He really is, and it rises above all of our varied opinions. The truth is, God is the God of great deliverance, the God of restoration, and the God who rescues us from sin. As I pulled and removed each weed, these truths began to flood my heart and mind. Through this reflection, I became overcome with gratitude for God’s work in my life and that He doesn’t leave us as we are.
This God who rescues came to me at a time when my life was overrun with highly invasive weeds, but thankfully this God of deliverance and restoration has a presence that is much more invasive, and He graciously began to remove each invader, one by one. As I saw these weed infested flower beds, I saw a picture of my life, and I couldn’t help but find myself in a state of worship. As I worked diligently to clean out each area, I was surprised at the weakness and strength that some of these weeds had. Big, huge, and tall growing weeds caught my attention first. I had my spade in hand, ready to dig if necessary, but to my surprise, a simple pull was usually all that was required to remove these types. It was the low growing weeds, the ones that didn’t draw as much attention, that were the ones that were so difficult to remove. These were the ones that required the use of the spade.
The strongholds in our lives vary from person to person, and we all have them. Our greatest struggles often feel the most painful as God works to remove them from our lives, and yet it’s in these places I have seen God’s greatest acts of grace and love in my life. I’m thankful that God doesn’t stop that the weeds in our lives that are easiest to remove, but instead He digs deep to remove the ones with the strongest roots and then fills those gaping holes up with more of Him. As I continue to recognize the weeds in my life that God is continuing to show me and remove from me, I will kneel in worship to the One who has not left me as I am but is continuously making me new!