Category: Christian

The crack of brokenness continued to grow far and wide, much like a spider web, as continued pressures were applied to the surface. I looked at my clay vase with great disappointment after I had dropped it and saw the long crack that was left behind. I learned the degree of frailty that was inflicted upon my cracked vase after dusting one day. I sat it down on the carpeted floor, in order to clear off a surface to dust, and it toppled over. As I lifted the fallen vase, I saw that the crack had grown, only increasing its frailty.

Surprisingly, more than ten years later, I still have that broken vase, and it now sits on our mantle. When I see its cracks, I don’t see an eye sore, but rather a story. The story I see begins with brokenness, a brokenness that seemed to continue to grow, but the story doesn’t stop there. Instead, I look at the vase with a grateful smile because I am reminded of a story that was rerouted due to God’s great intervention and answered prayers. These stories, these moments in life that God gives us, are the ones that I refer to as “Red Sea Moments.”

When I met my husband more than 16 years ago, I looked much like that broken vase, whose cracks seemed to grow with any and every applied pressure. I was so guarded when I met him, and I didn’t want to let someone else into my life that would add to my pain. Much to my surprise, the opposite would be true of letting him in. All the prayers that I had prayed for much of my life- for an unbroken family, for a place of wholeness, for a place where I would be free from choosing between my parents, and for a place where each choice I made wouldn’t cause the broken places in my life to grow and spread- these pleas were suddenly being answered and tremendous mending was beginning to take place. I was experiencing a true Red Sea moment, a moment where a way that only God could provide was being opened up before me.

The more time my husband and I spent together, I realized that I wasn’t the only one who was broken and needed healing. While we were still dating, I finally opened up and shared with him how I had prayed fervently from a very young age to have a family of my own that was whole and complete, free from the harm of brokenness. At that moment of me sharing that with him, his eyes met mine, and he then revealed that he too had been praying for the exact same thing from a very young age. Our broken places were so similar and God had graciously brought our hearts together. Our longings were the same and, therefore, what we would cherish would be the same as well.
The roads that we had both traveled were very broken, but as the song goes, “God blessed the broken road that led me straight to you.” My husband and I did not meet each other by chance or coincidence. No, it was an intentional answered prayer for both of us that we had both been uttering before the Lord long before we even knew one another. It was a pathway, a Red Sea moment that had been opened up by God for us both.

Although the vase bares the marks of brokenness, it is still held together for a couple of reasons. The first being that we knew that its strength was already compromised so we have had to continue to handle it with extreme, intentional care. Next, we didn’t leave the cracks as they were. We bought a clear bonding to put in the cracks to help hold what was broken together. And so it was with God as He was seeking to handle and heal both of our lives, bonding all those broken places.

As I look into the faces of those who make up the family I have now, and I look up at the mantle and see the broken vase that has now been mended, I reminded of how I am living each day in an answered prayer. God intervened and rerouted our life story by providing us with a Red Sea moment!

I haven’t always felt this way about my life story though. For a long time I battled with having resentment, bitterness, and feeling short changed over the reality of the first half of my life not being what I wanted it to be. As time has gone on, God has allowed me to see His grand work in my life on a magnified level. I have learned to be thankful for the perspective of my past, while also being thankful that it is not today’s reality. I have learned to be thankful for both sides of my story because without both parts, I would not cherish the grand entrance of God’s miraculous work in my life.

The fact that the Israelites were standing with their toes to a vast body of water as a powerful army was moving in with no place of escape, only makes the splitting of the Red Sea much more powerful and purposeful. You see God intervene in a mighty way, providing a way where there was no way, and changed their life story.

God intervenes in mighty ways, providing a way where there is no way, and changes our life story! 

These stories are powerful testimonies of God’s present day work in our lives, but the greatest Red Sea moment that God has provided for us all is the empty tomb! Jesus dying and coming to life again is the greatest Red Sea moment that any of us can experience. It’s an experience that allows us to be thankful for both sides of the story- before Jesus and after Jesus- because knowing both sides of the story allows us to know, understand, and cherish God making the one, true way for us!

At the end of every week, a folder gets sent home with my son with graded work and other important papers. Last night, I finally sat down to look through his folder and quickly discovered a few things I needed to go over with him. Math is his favorite subject and he tends to do pretty well in this area, but this week’s grade seemed to tell a bit of a different story.

After having three years of homeschool experience with him, I’d say that I am pretty familiar with his work habits- good and bad. As I examined his math sheet a bit further, it was very evident that his grade reflected not his inability to do the work correctly, but rather it revealed that he just didn’t pay attention to the details and he didn’t read the math questions carefully.

So as I began doing my “mama thing” and started spouting out words of wisdom for him to live by, God began to doing His “God thing” and placed that mirror of self -reflection right in front of me. Just as I was telling my son, “If it is written, it’s meant to be read. And since it’s meant to be read, then it should be read carefully. And it’s okay to read it more than once,” the Holy Spirit began that grand work of conviction. In that very moment, God pierced my heart and said, “Just as My word has been written, it’s meant to be read. And since it’s meant to be read, it should be read carefully. And it’s okay to read it more than once.”

As I sat, heavy with conviction, 2 Timothy 3:16, 17 came to mind. “All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” My mind began to be filled with question after question as I began my self- evaluation. How high of a regard do I really have for carefully reading the very words breathed by God? How often do I just skim the pages searching for the parts that I like instead of lingering in the difficult and the hard to swallow parts? How often do I go to God’s word to be corrected, taught, and equipped for His good work?

God’s holy word is meant to be handled with intentional care, and just as we are to know God’s word, we also to be transformed by it. It is a gracious gift that God has given us His word to be at our daily disposal. He spoke these very words to be written, and because these words are written, they are meant to be read and read with utmost care and intentions- definitely more than once!

“My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to a man’s whole body.” Proverbs 4:20-22

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, the relationships in your life may be strained, you are dealing with lingering health Issues, 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.”

Your children never choose to be difficult at convenient times… not that there is ever really and truly a convenient time for emotional meltdowns, but at our house, they seem to always happen in the morning, 5 minutes before we are to head out the door for school. It’s like two world are now colliding, because I apparently need to take the moment to parent my child, but we also need to hurry up and get out the door so we can get to school on time.

One morning particular morning, the meltdown began and I all I could do is stop and quickly pray, “Oh, no Lord! Please, not again!” Of course, getting into the car is a huge ordeal in moments like these, and after we finally make it into the car, I am finding myself full of frustration, stress, and discouragement. But God is always so good to provide what we need in moments like this, and as soon as I started the car, the first thing I heard on the radio was, “God is refining you through the fire!” Wow!

I have no doubt that God had me hear those words in that exact moment for a reason! I wanted immediate, improved behavior from my child to escape frustration and inconvenience, but God wanted much more than that- He wanted to refine me and my child in order to provide an opportune moment to allow for God to prune us and produce more fruit in our lives. I was far from happy that morning, but even still, God wanted to remind me, I could still bear the fruit of joy.

The biblical definition of joy is a feeling of good pleasure and happiness that is dependent on who Jesus is rather than on who or what is happening around us. Joy comes from the Holy Spirit, abiding in God’s presence, and from hope in His word. Because this is an emotion free from circumstance and is a fruit of the spirit gifted to us by God, it makes sense why we are able to experience His joy even during unhappy or miserable parts of our day or seasons of life.

In Galatians 5:22, joy is listed as a fruit of the spirit, and in John 15:8 Jesus says, “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” And later in John 15:11 Jesus goes on to say, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”

“God intends the Christian life to be a life of joy- not drudgery.”

Jerry Bridges- The Pursuit of Holiness

What a comforting truth, that God, our Heavenly Father, desires for us to bear the fruit of joy in our lives. Despite hard and heavy circumstances we face in this life, God desires for us to experience a continued, unwavering good pleasure in Him. As I continue to see how our days here in this life seem to grow with rapid uncertainty, this is a truth my heart desperately needs to cling to!

“Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.” Psalm 51:12

The grip of anxiety can almost feel like a grip of death. It swoops in and takes a strong hold on your heart and mind. It’s so dominating in fact, that ignoring its presence is impossible.

If you have experienced anxiety in the manner that I have, then you know exactly what I am talking about. Walking  down life’s path, where I met its horrible presence, however, helped me have an increased love, faith and hope in God. My hate for anxiety produced an increased love for my Savior.

In the moments that I thought I was drowning, I learned to recognize the immovable, firm foundation that God had placed beneath my feet, and that He was teaching me how to stand.

my hate for anxiety produced an increased love for my Savior

Here are 5 comforting truths that I learned to take hold of in the thick of the battle:

1. God is our ever present help in our time of need!

The example that has best helped me understand this truth and provide tremendous comfort, is the account of when the disciples and Jesus are out on a boat and a sudden, unsuspecting storm begins. Here they were, stuck on a boat, completely surrounded by their storm, and no way of escape or place to hide! They had no choice but to run to the Savior! If this doesn’t perfectly depict anxiety?! Anxiety can pop up unsuspectedly and then make you feel completely surrounded, with nowhere to go. Truth be told, our Savior is also present in our storm and is always available for us to run to! (Luke 8: 22-25)

2. He wipes away every tear!

Nothing makes you feel more alone than walking through a relentless difficulty that is not understood by those closest to you. Tears can flow continuously over the pain you have deeply embedded in your heart and you long to be comforted, seen, and patiently understood. Having an omnipresent God who loves you means that in the quiet of your room, when those tears flow, He draws near, and longs to wipe away every tear!
(Psalm 34:18, Revelation 21:4)

3. God’s comfort is exponential!

God remains present during our suffering and He is still producing good things in our lives! As God works and brings us through the hardships, He gifts us with His assurance, peace, truth, and comfort! All of these tremendous gifts we receive from Him, are gifts that He longs for us to pass along to someone else when they find themselves in places we have already been. God’s comfort provides us with a tremendous hope that He longs for us to spread far and wide! (2 Corinthians 1: 3-7)

4. God is our fortress!
Anxiety produces fear and when fear sets in, the heart longs to find a place of protection and rest. Psalm 91:1, 2 tells us that God is our refuge and our fortress, and therefore, He can be FULLY trusted! God provides us with a permanent wall of protection, a wall of defense, and this wall rises higher than the arrows that the enemy shoots our way can ever fly, but it is a place that we have choose to run to and dwell. When I run to His place of shelter, there my heart finds the protection and rest it longs for.

5. God’s truth liberates our mind!
Anxiety produces an endless battle in the mind! The more your thoughts follows its trail, the more weary, worn, deceived and defeated you will feel. But truth…truth sets us free! Philippians 4:8-9 are verses that are worth clinging to in order to help you in the fight of thinking about what is right and true. It is a fight, but God has given us His word as a weapon, our sword of truth, to help slay the lies and deceit that anxiety fills our mind with! God’s truth is a weapon that we must use and when we do, it will set our minds free!

There are times when God allows us to walk through ‘sun-scorched’ lands, to go through things we can’t handle, only to show us that He most certainly can!

It is in these times, in these very places, that we are called to a more authentic faith and a greater trust in the very One who formed you in your mother’s womb, a greater faith in the One who knows your coming and going.

It’s in these times, in these very places, that a greater praise and love flows from the heart of the believer who trusts God in the middle of these ‘sun-scorched’ lands.

It’s in these times, in these very places, that we see and experience God’s comfort, joy, and peace that only He can give, and watch Him provide when logic and circumstances say that you should be without.

It’s in these times, in these places, that God moves us from being self-sufficient to becoming God dependent!

He is more than enough for you today! Keep trusting, keep praying, and keep KNOWING that the Lord will guide you always!

“The Lord will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.” Isaiah 58: 11

“Jesus, don’t you care if we drown?!” The disciples fired this question off towards Jesus when they found themselves caught in the middle of a violent and very dangerous storm as they were crossing the Sea of Galilee. (Mark 4:35-41)

It was at Jesus’ request they go to the other side of the sea. Scripture tells us that at Jesus’ request, the disciples got on the boat and set sail- no questions asked, indicating that the weather must have been right for sailing and the threat of a storm was nowhere in sight. Because who in their right mind would begin to set sail as a storm began to brew?

Disciples today are often like disciples of the past. We are good at following where Jesus calls us to go, as long as it makes sense, and no storm is within eyesight. But as soon as the storm begins to rage and the waves of difficulty crash upon our lives, we panic and frantically scream out, “Jesus, don’t you care if we drown?”

An ongoing storm in life can cause us to ask the daring question to our Savior, “Don’t you care? Don’t you care that the storm is raging on and that I feel as if I am drowning in this hardship?” If I am being totally, transparent, yes, I have asked that question. And I as I have asked that question, I learned firsthand, the answer is an emphatic YES! He does care!

Life’s storms have really caused me to wrestle through God’s word and learn how to properly apply it to my life. God challenged my heart through this specific passage by causing me to ask the following questions:

1. What does this account tell me about Jesus?
2. What do I learn about Jesus’ presence during life’s storms?
3. What should I do in the middle of life’s storms?
4. How does this passage help me to learn to push aside my frantic emotions to see God’s truth?
5. What truths have I learned about Jesus?
6. How does truth strengthen my faith?
7. How do all of these factors provide me with unwavering hope?
8. What has been fueling my hope?

When you feel like you are going to be overcome by your storm! RUN to the word of God for truth and speak His truth over your life!

Truth’s this passage shows us that we can cling to:

• Never will Jesus leave or forsake us in our storms.
• Jesus’ presence offers us a peace and rest in the midst of chaos.
• Jesus is greater than any storm we face!
• Just as creation was spoken into existence, creation still obeys the voice of our Creator!
• Jesus longs for us to focus on truth during our storms! (Jesus, specifically asked, “Why are you so afraid?”)
• Jesus longs for us see His power over all things and therefore we can always have faith in Him to carry us through whatever we face!
• Our faith can only be strengthened by growing in our knowledge of Jesus!
• We can live life confidently because whatever comes our way, God’s presence remains and He remains sovereign over all things!
• Jesus alone is the true essence of hope- In Christ alone our hope is found!

Friends, if you find yourself in some sort of storm today, this passage of scripture holds rich truths for you to cling to! Jesus, our all-knowing Savior, is guiding your steps each and every day! As He calls you from one place to another, there will be (not maybe) storms that we face. As we face those storms, we can know that YES, my Savior cares for me!

One of the first pieces of advice that I received after moving to Hickory, NC was that I needed to be sure to drive around with my GPS on. We were moving into an apartment complex full of “out of towners” like ourselves, and they knew from experience just how important it was to just let Google maps get you to where you needed to go.

As a directionally challenged person, this made me a little nervous and so before I left to go anywhere, I made sure my cellphone was fully charged and that the address of the appointed place was already typed in before pulling out of my parking space.

As I began to get a little more comfortable with the area, I decided to give driving around without my GPS on a shot. It ended up being a disaster! I made turns that day that I felt were the right way to go and those turns ended up taking me completely the wrong way. My gut instincts were nowhere near right!! It took me forever to get home that day, and the mental stress of it left me exhausted and extremely frustrated. I needed my way completely directed for me in order for me to get me from point A to point B.

Much like moving to a new place and needing your way laid out before you with each and every turn, so is our life here on Earth. Life was not meant for us to be self-directed but rather it is one that is to be guided each and every step of the way. We are a “do it myself” kind of people and acknowledging that we need help often blemishes our pride, but I have learned that when I take my own self-directed steps, I, more often than not, choose the wrong way and get completely turned around. There’s nothing more discouraging than to look around yourself and realize that you are standing in a place that you should not be! We lack the wisdom and foreknowledge to guide our own lives.

Lives self-directed end up being full of wrong turns, road blocks, and hindrances. Lives self-directed often end up becoming full of useless idols that have slowly, and subtly appeared.

BUT God! (Can there be more of a hope-filled phrase than ‘But God’?!) But God grandly intervenes and offers us a gracious route of deliverance. He offers us a directed life, with a heart directed towards HIM, and in doing so, we receive the RIGHT directions and the moment by moment deliverance that we so desperately need!

1 Samuel 7:3 says, “And Samuel said to all the house of Israel, “If you are returning to the LORD with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and {DIRECT YOUR HEART TO THE LORD} and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.”

But what does direct even mean? Looking at these definitions helped the meaning of this passage of scripture grow deeper roots for me as I strive to understand what God is calling us to do as we direct our hearts towards Him:

• Adj: without intervening factors or intermediaries
• Adv: with no one or nothing between
• Verb: to aim something in a particular direction or person

In essence, a heart directed to the Lord is one that has no factors that interferes with our hearts and God’s. A heart directed to the Lord has no person or thing standing in between our hearts and His. A heart directed to the Lord is a heart that is perfectly aimed towards the heart of God.

How lost my heart can become when I am self-directed. How I long to have a heart directed towards God, my Creator! Our connection to God’s word must be constant in order for Him to direct our steps, but the beauty is that when we lose our way, He is there graciously waiting for us to seek Him and to direct our hearts towards Him once again!

Since starting school, Kennedi has really struggled with transitioning back to school. She loves her class, teachers, friends, and school, but after losing someone you love to COVID, fear finds a way to make its way into your heart and mind. She has become terrified of getting sick. I have watched my 7 year old little girl deal with anxiety in true fashion, and that has been so hard to watch.

And then, God rains down truth on my heart and helps me remember how He walked me through a difficult season. In 2016 I was paralyzed by anxiety… it took me 3 solid years to work through it… it was hard, tiring and so very discouraging… I felt lonely but I wasn’t. God used this time to teach me to lean on and look to HIM every moment of the day and recognize that HE IS with me.

I realized that, although my dealings with anxiety were awful and terrible, there were things that God taught me during that time that I needed to pass along to my daughter…

The biggest lesson God taught me is to SPEAK TRUTH! While our emotions cause confusion and fear, God has given us TRUTH to cling to and claim! So that’s what i shared with my daughter. We listed out God given truths to counteract her fear!

On a Friday afternoon, after wrapping up a difficult week for her, my daughter came up to me and said, “Mama, I felt tears coming up in my eyes today during school and I did what you told me to do. I spoke truth and it helped!” (She was beaming with a smile!)

Wow! So many times I have asked why I had to deal with something so hard and draining and for so long, but I realized it was never about me. It was about God equipping me for His purposes!

I’m praising God today for how He uses our difficulties for a much greater good!

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think on these 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.”

Philippians 4:8-9

There is no doubt that God uses the pains and scars from the past for a greater good and purpose, and as well as a means to give us new sight. I have watched God’s light give beauty to my painful memories, but I have to tread very carefully to keep the painful memories of my past in full view of His light, because without His light, they just become painful memories.

God longs to use what was once difficult, or what may be currently difficult, as a powerful opportunity to give a testimony of His work in our lives; but in our opportunities to serve and make Him known, they are not to be used for the purpose of filling those voids and mending our wounds. The voids that need to be filled and the healing that needs to take place, must be done by the ‘Task Giver’ (God), not in the task itself.

In the process of giving my all to the tasks God has called me to, I have struggled with the tasks consuming me, and becoming my ‘all in all’ by seeking my fulfillment in these tasks instead of being filled by my ‘Task Giver –  God! When I seek to make God’s calling as the main source of my fulfillment, instead of God Himself, it taints the purity of the task at hand.

Our service to God also shifts when the task and its’ outcome becomes the priority instead of striving to know and honor God first, and allowing the outcomes from our labor to belong to Him! 

We love to see results, but in our service to Him, they do not always look the way we think they should, if we even see them at all! When the results we can see becomes the focus, the ministry God has called us to can quickly become a burden.

Bottom line, God longs for a true and sincere heart that is in service to Him!  He is looking at the motives within our hearts, He longs to be what  fill us up, He longs to be our all in all, and He longs for us to leave the outcomes to Him!

When our mission starts with God, we will find ourselves fueled and ready for the tasks He has laid before us,  with our voids already filled and the burden of results taken from our hands!

“But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7