On Purpose

Fear is a big deal. It can threaten to consume us. Fear of "what if" is a big one for me. Even though I know in my heart that God is in control and everything he does is for my good, I still struggle with fear. Mainly it has to do with my children. I can fly across the world and float down the Amazon river in a small wooden boat and hike into a jungle without fear and with complete trust in God; but let me go a few hours without hearing from one of my children and my heart ra ces, my mind begins to imagine all sorts of things. I'm not proud of this. How can I turn my safety over to God but find it hard to do the same with my children? The enemy knows our weakness and he will do whatever he can to keep us in fear. But the Bible says in Isaiah 41:10. Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. When fear threatens to consume me that...

A few years ago, when a publisher rejected my first book, my pastor gave me these words of encouragement: “Wendy, man’s rejection is God’s protection.” God is the same yesterday, today and forever, my friend. God continues to work in unseen ways, in your life and mine. Although we will experience times we cannot see or understand what God is doing, we can trust our loving, sovereign God is orchestrating things for our good and His glory. (Taken from Proverbs 31ministries) I know this to be true. I pushed hard to be in the limelight but each time God protected me from that world. I can look back and honestly say that I'm thankful that he did!! I love what I am doing for him now and that would not have happened if I had ignored the rejection and kept on pushing. Be blessed!

Born with a dream that seemingly isn't ever going to see the light of day? Wondering if somehow maybe you are wrong? Doubting yourself to the point of frustration? Well you are not alone. It isn't easy watching other people receive what looks to be your ideal life, the very dream you dreamed for yourself. To seemingly get passed over year after year and feel stuck. To recognize that you aren't getting younger and beating yourself up believing you took a wrong turn somewher e. If this resonates with you then I have a word of encouragement. Let's consider a few steps to determine what might be happening. 1. Ask yourself "how close am I walking with God"?  2. What's my prayer life like? 3. Am I putting God first in my life? 4. Am I spending time with Him first thing in the morning? 5. Have I surrendered my need for control to Him? 6. Am I seeking His will? Now if you answered yes to all of these then consider this..... *God's timing is different t...

Over the years I have been guilty of allowing worry and anxiety to rule my life, but now by the help and grace of God, I know that I can live in peace. I do that by literally turning over my problems to the Lord and asking for his peace and guidance in every situation. It doesn't mean that the problems will go away, it simply means that we are given peace while in the storm. It helps that I know that although I can be blind at times, I know that God has a clear vision of what  lies ahead and as the scriptures say, everything he does for me is for my good. Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, You are the Prince of Peace. You give relief to the turmoil of this life. I praise You for the gift of eternal peace and security I have in You. I thank You for the moments and times in my life when the storms of life were raging out of control, and You calmed my heart and mind and fears with Your powerful, peaceful presence. Forgive me for the times I have chosen to live in the turbulence of a situa...

I wonder if we are tired of trying to control every situation? Tired of another day of secretly striving to be the perfect Mother, Father, homemaker or bread winner. Are the roles we are acting out truly who we are or who we want to be or are we trying to be and do what society dictates? How tired and exhausted or we? What would happen if we just stopped? Got off the wheel and just did nothing? Would life go on? Would things get done? Well....the answer is ... if we die d today, yes things would go on. Life would continue. So then who or what or why are we living this stressed out life? Why is it ok to live this unfulfilling life? Here is the answer to true happiness....ready?  1. Stop thinking the world will quit rotating if we aren't constantly moving 2. Listen...take time to be quiet. Find a place and spend time alone with yourself and God. Let our mind and body rest. 3. Say no to things that in truth we don't have time for...it's ok 4. Quit trying to enroll our kids ...

Even though I know and believe that we are to love everyone that crosses our path, some days it's still a struggle. Why is that? I think it's easy to love but only when everything lines up to our way of thinking. As long as that person agrees with us, or treats us just the way we want and expect, then yes that's easy love. But love is still love even when it doesn't meet our expectations. Jesus loved regardless of how he was treated or talked about. And we all know how bad  he was treated. I'm just thinking this through today. I want to love like that. But how? Well I think it's through mindfulness. It's like starting a workout program or a diet. Everyday we have to work hard at making it a habit. Getting to the gym, choosing the right food, etc. It's a choice we make in every situation. Take a moment before responding and reprogramming our minds to choose wisely. Now will it feel like you are faking it? Maybe, but I believe eventually by practicin...

Love can be an action stimulated by an ulterior motive. How do we love? Do we love with the hopes of getting something in return? Or do we love with the hope of giving? There is a big difference. How often do we offer love without any conditions attached? Pure love....never gets upset....uh oh. Remembers no wrong....geesh Never fails...is not self seeking... shoot. 1 Corinthians 13 tells us what true love really is. I pray to know how to accomplish this true love. A love like Jesus gave us as an example. A love that doesn't fill my own needs and desires but a love that propels me to uncommon, random, extravagant acts goodness. Be blessed!!

I wonder if we are tired of trying to control every situation? Tired of another day of secretly striving to be the perfect Mother, Father, homemaker or bread winner. Are the roles we are acting out truly who we are or who we want to be or are we trying to be and do what society dictates? How tired and exhausted or we? What would happen if we just stopped? Got off the wheel and just did nothing? Would life go on? Would things get done? Well....the answer is ... if we die d today, yes things would go on. Life would continue. So then who or what or why are we living this stressed out life? Why is it ok to live this unfulfilling life? Here is the answer to true happiness....ready?  1. Stop thinking the world will quit rotating if we aren't constantly moving 2. Listen...take time to be quiet. Find a place and spend time alone with yourself and God. Let our mind and body rest. 3. Say no to things that in truth we don't have time for...it's ok 4. Quit trying to enroll our kids ...

Because I try very hard to spend time in the morning reading devotional and scripture and praying it would seem that my life should go smooth and be perfect. I think however that sometimes the misconception is that if we are doing these perfect christian things then we must be perfect, but sure enough after spending a sweet time in the presence of the Lord, I find myself having moments of anger and frustration still throughout the day. It requires us to rethink who we are an d our purpose as Christians. We are not Christians because we live perfect lives, we are Christians because we live forgiven lives. It's because we can forgive that we ourselves are forgiven. It's because we love that we are loved. We are not called to live a perfect life before others but a life that has been forgiven. We are to live our lives so that others will see Jesus in us. Jesus loved and he forgave, he was a light in the darkness. He had moments of anger and frustration just as we do: Anger w...

Sometimes there is this feeling of unrest that we can't explain. A feeling of constantly battling everything around us. Just to get up in the morning feels like a battle. There are probably all kinds of names that has been put to this feeling but the fact remains we are tired, stressed out, burned out people. Deeper than physical and emotional, this tired goes beyond our bones and our minds all the way to our soul. I found myself saying several times a day, I'm so tired. It  took a while but I finally realized that I had reached the end of my energy, I was in danger of imploding and some serious changes had to be made if even for a little while. There is never a good time to re-evaluate one's life. Never a time to really take a step back when we are constantly moving forward but sadly if we don't all too soon our lives could be cut short and everything we have wanted to do but didn't will be lost forever. Now is a good time. Taking a step back to nourish you...

Perfection, something to strive for but not necessarily attainable. There is this mindset that I have that things should be done a certain way and when they aren't, I become frustrated. It's like I have this device inside me that is pointed always at perfection but never ever reaches the mark. If I let myself, and I have at times, I could drive myself crazy just trying to obtain perfection. I'm not sure where that came from but it can be exhausting. I'm not saying to let go  of excellence. Perfection and excellence are two different things altogether. We can have excellence without things being perfect. This whole month I have been reading in Samuel about Davids life. The Bible says he was a man after God own heart. So automatically you would think, wow, David must be perfect. But I challenge you to read all about David's life. He wasn't a man after God's heart because he was perfect, it was because when he sinned he recognized the sin, went before t...

Yesterday was about God fighting our battles. Today this scripture just says it all. He is our Rock!! I know it's long but so worth reading. I read this out loud and it blessed my soul!! 2Samuel 22:1–51 David’s Song of Praise 22:1–51pp—Ps 18:1–50 22 David sang to the Lord the words of this song when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. 2 He said: “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; 3 my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior from violent people you save me. 4 “I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and have been saved from my enemies. 5 The waves of death swirled about me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. 6 The cords of the graven coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me. 7 “In my distress I called to the Lord; I called out to my God. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came to his ears. 8 The earth...

Some days it's a battle, to get out of bed, go to a job that is not your dream job, face another day of disappointment or to just put one foot in front of the other. Wherever we go there seems to be a battle of some sort and it seems we are always fighting the battle within against our sinful nature. But this morning I remembered a song that said "the battle is not mine but the LORD's". So I looked up that scripture. .......Do not be afraid or discouraged because of t his vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God's. 2 Chronicles 20:15 Sometimes we can get so focused on the battle itself that we forget we have a God that has already overcome the world and our battles. So today when our sword feels heavy and our movements too slow to react, surrender the fight, turn it over to the one who already holds the victory! There is victory over all of our battles when we put our trust and faith in him!! Be blessed!!