"God, help me live this life"

Paul says in Galatians 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now life in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." 

One of the biggest and constant mistakes that I have made in my walk with God is trying to lead instead of follow. I've come to realize that there is no way that I can live this new life in Christ without help from the One Who gave me this life. So, I have to constantly and consciously submit all of my plans, desires, ideas, and opinions to God. When I do this, it opens my heart and mind to hear and receive God's plans, desires, ideas, and opinions for my life. Isaiah records in chapter 55 verse 8 that God's thoughts and ways are much higher than mine; therefore, I am clearly no match to Him. :) The greatest thing about this realization is that when I began to submit to God daily, my life became much more peaceful, meaningful, and fulfilled. Sometimes when the cares of life get demanding I tend to get anxious and try to handle things without consulting God. Of course, that only makes things worse, but whenever I just take the time to pause and pray, God always extends His loving hands to help. Oftentimes I don't want to consult God because He may not tell me what I want to hear; so in those times, I have to remind myself of Isaiah 55:8 and that God's way is the best way.

With God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, we have everything we need to live our lives abundantly and successfully. We just have to access our available assistance. We do this by simply saying, "God, help me live this life".

Peace, Blessings, and Favor

"Raise Your Hand and I Will Make a Way"

"Then Moses raised his hand over the sea, and the Lord opened up a path through the water with a strong east wind." (Exodus 14:21 NLT) This is the infamous move of faith that parted the Red Sea so that the Israelites could cross over and get away from their enemy. Even though I have heard this story a lot of times, God showed me something new and great about His response to "actions of faith". When the Israelites got to the Red Sea they prayed to God and He told them to simply "move forward" which of course took faith because of this huge obstacle that was in front of them. God gave Moses instructions to pick up his staff and raise his hand over the sea and divide the water. Now I'm almost for sure that Moses humanistic side rose up before his faith because of the staff in his hand compared to this huge sea in front of him. It was not until Moses moved on his faith that the Lord made the way through the Red Sea. All the Lord wanted was for him to move forward, pick up his staff and raise his hand over the sea and God had the rest from there. I know that we all have our different Red Seas but they're no match to our faith nor our God. Raising your hand could be simply you saying "Lord, I surrender; I can't do it no more"; or "Lord, I lift my hands in worship to You as the only One who is able to do this"; or "Lord, I lift my hands for You to anoint them to do what it is that You have called me to do". Whichever way you interpret it, just know that God will make a way whenever you decide to raise your hand. Peace, Blessings, and Favor 

"Lovely Humiliation"

Not too long ago I told a young man that I liked him and wanted to get to know him better. Because I'm a pretty transparent and expressive person I found it quite harmless and almost exciting, until the next day. I realized that I had clearly acted impulsively and didn't quite think it through because I hadn't considered how I would feel if/when he responded. Before sharing this with him I thought I had processed it enough to the point where if I didn't get a mutual response that I would be okay. Nope, didn't happen. I thought damage control was necessary but there was nothing left to do but accept what I had done and move on. I didn't quite feel the humiliation until I shared it with another individual in an effort to get some type of emotional support. I already felt a certain kind of way about sharing this information with the young man but the effects of it didn't surface until I spoke with the other individual. The reason why I felt humiliated is because I was so for sure (in my own eyes) that it was the right thing to do, almost thinking that the person felt the same but was just being passive. I felt so justified in my actions although I'm a believer that men should pursue women but I figured that telling him how I felt would be harmless right? Maybe to him but not to me, especially since there was some level of insecurity present but overpowered by a moment of assurance. It was good that I experienced this though because it revealed a condition of my heart with regards to waiting on God to order my steps and direct my paths in this area. It was a lovely moment because I felt God's love and acceptance of this flaw in my soul...and His desire to fix it. So, even though it was humiliating, it was lovely because God was involved!

Peace, Blessings, and Favor

"You're not the only one"

On the other day, as I was leaving the parking lot of this new grocery store, I noticed several dark-colored spots in some of  the parking spaces. Now I'm sure those spots were illuminated, even  though it was dark out, because that is a freshly cemented lot. I immediately said to myself, "I'm not the only one with an oil-leak"! LOL! Now, I'm sure that ALL of those weren't oil-spots but I was for certain that they were from some type of  fluid-leak in a car. Either way, I saw that I wasn't alone. This may seem small to some but it was major for me to look pass the frustration of my leak to see that I'm not the only one with a leak. 

You see sometimes when "life" happens it has the potential to overwhelm us, especially when we focus more on our problems, circumstances, or situations. It is in those times when we have to simply pause and look around and we'll see that we're not the only one going through something. We may not all have the same issue but it's encouraging sometimes to see that we're not the only ones with an issue. Often times the enemy wants us to magnify our problem because when we do that, our focus is off to the point where we won't even see what God is trying to show us. God doesn't always show or give us a way out but He will definitely show or give us a way through. 

Even though I still have a leak, even after getting one of the lines fixed, it's quite encouraging to really KNOW that I'm not the only one. That honestly doesn't make it that major any more. Again, this may seem small to some but God knew what I needed to see in order to see what He needed me to see. I encourage you to take your eyes off of your problem for a minute and ask God to simply "show you something".

Peace, Blessings, and Favor