SHHHHHHHHHH!

     This weekend I took time away from the craziness which is my life.  Every direction I look there seems to be something going on.  As a teacher my school year is ending as I try to wrap things up, I am having to switch rooms for next year so everything has to be packed up and moved, my house is in renovation so it seems that everything is in disarray, my daughter is getting ready to enter her senior year of high school, so much scheduling for things that go along with that as well as having her wisdom teeth out, traveling to look at colleges, her needing a car, etc... and that is just one of my  kids....... I am also a head volleyball coach and our unofficial season begins this week....along with other countless things running through my head or things needing to be done.  Overwhelmed has been an understatement, but I have learned to make myself just STOP and examine my thoughts to hold them captive and determine their origin before I act.  It doesn't always work but never the less I have gotten better at it little by little.
I decided I just needed a weekend to chill and step away from it all and just be quiet.  Some may call it running, I just call it stepping away from the noise.
During our time away, there were a few times that I looked at my kids who were getting loud and just simply said "shhhhhhhhhh".  I jokingly said that there was a "noise ordinance this weekend" and we all just laughed.  They know my life and they understood the need for the weekend away with my family.  We spent much time sitting by the lake in the sun and just taking it all in listening to nature, the sound of the waves, the birds, the frogs....just being still with Gods creation, something we all needed.
  I was reminded of the story in Mark 4:39 where Jesus was on the boat with the disciples when the storm began.  The disciples were afraid and woke Jesus from his sleep.  He rebuked the winds and said to the sea "peace be still" and the winds ceased and there was a great calm.
As I thought of this, God showed me that Jesus arose and said "Peace be still" over the storm and over the storms that may be raging in our lives.  Upon the start of my weekend the weariness was upon me until I decided to sit in the stillness and soak in the peace and the weariness was washed away.  Sometimes we need to just "SHHHHHHHHHHH!"   Last summer I bought myself and my best friend and each my family a Mud Love bracelet that says "Be Still".  It was a reminder to myself and to each of them that sometimes at times we just need to STOP and Be Still, just like Jesus said to the storm.  The word peace actually means silence, a hush, a stillness or inability to speak or muteness.
When we get quiet in faith, we allow God the ability to reduce all things causing a heaviness or weariness to be silent.  They no longer have the power to speak into our lives and that is such a powerful thing.
He not only did that for me, but will do it for anyone who is willing to receive it.  He is trying to remind us that he is here to speak to the storms of our lives, the things that are causing us to feel weary, things that are trying to steal our peace.  He is speaking to the storms of our lives and commanding peace, to be silent and to cease working in your life.  He is speaking into your life and commanding a great calm to be present.  Nothing is impossible with Him, so don't jump ship.  
I know that there are times in our lives that the storms seem to speak louder than the Word of God that He has placed in our hearts.  There are times when lack speaks loudly, when pain seems to speak louder than God's Word.  Times when situations are yelling at us and telling us we are going to fail or that we are not going to make it, BUT GOD has says "SHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" He is commanding peace amid the storm.  Whenever He does that, the storm WILL cease.
   I don't know what storm is raging in your life, but I do know without a doubt that the Lord is present to calm the storm if you will receive it.  I pray that every storm in your life is silenced and that you experience a great calm.  We have to be willing to SHHHHHH so that we can hear and know that God will command those storms to also SHHHHHHHH!  Peace Be Still.  

The Wait

     When you and I find ourselves staying in the same place until an expected event happens, or until someone arrives, or until it is our turn…we may be in for the spiritual battle of our lives. Because we really don’t know how it’s going to turn out, our thoughts become vulnerable to enemy attack.
Like when Abraham took matters into his own hands while waiting on Gods promise to bring him an heir (Genesis 16:1-4) , David also floundered escaping to the land of the Philistines, thinking that if he did not, Saul would eventually find and kill him (1 Samuel 27:1).

Suffice it to say, waiting for God to will and act in our lives is not all roses. Extended languishing for what appears improbable is the perfect environment for taking matters into our own hands rather than lifting them up in surrender to His sovereignty. The enemy will jump all over any thoughts of doubt and run with them.

We have to go with what we know, and it's a choice on what we focus our thoughts on. God has given us promises in His word. You and I do not know for sure how it’s going to turn out. But we can know in whom we have believed (2 Timothy 1:12). We can trust that He has a purpose for our lives (Jeremiah 29:11). We can rest assured that our God is not a quitter. He finishes what He starts (Philippians 1:6). And most certainly, we can know that He is faithful (1 Corinthians 1:8).
It is this knowing that enables us to get up and move forward while we wait…

TRUST IS A FUNNY THING

     Several days ago I was hanging out with my best friend and we were talking about trust. We were about to hang out with someone new and I could feel my guard was up a bit. I said to him something he already knew about me and my lack of trust; "I hate when I get like this because I try to be open, but I've been used by people with ulterior motives enough times that it's a natural thing that seems to occur when I meet or spend time with someone new."
Trust is a funny thing, and I believe we have levels of trust. I have friends that I trust with general knowledge of my life but I don't trust them with the deep parts of my heart. There are only a tiny handful of people that I trust with the deep parts of my heart.

I trust God with my eternal salvation, my body and health, my finances but I have had to ask myself if there are some areas I don't trust him with. I believe it is that way for most people. We trust God in one area but perhaps not in every area.

Proverbs 3:5 says; Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding.

The word 'trust' here means to have trust and confidence in, to be bold and secure in the Lord. However, as I did a deeper search, I found it also means to lie helpless, face down. This is a picture of a servant, totally submitted to God, waiting for his instruction or command. The depth of trust is literally, submission. To completely trust God, we must have a heart of full obedience to God, one that is fully submitted to God.
The phrase 'lean not to your own understanding' is interesting as well. To lean is to prop yourself up against something...usually we are trying to prop ourselves up on our own understanding, and God says 'don't' do that.' Man's wisdom, man's understanding cannot support the weight of our lives, however, God's wisdom is more than able to support the weight of our lives. When we choose to trust in God, the full weight of our lives, settles on him, and friend, that is good news!

      I don't know how many times I have leaned on my own understanding, fully thinking I was going the right way, only to have God stop me and get me back on HIS path. My way, even if it is good, is not always God's way. The only way I can continually go God's way is to lean entirely on him and refuse to lean on my own understanding, my own insights or my own wisdom. That begins with seeking his face in every step, every decision, and every challenge that comes my way. That begins with getting his point of view and acting on that alone.

      Proverbs 3:6 says; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths. I dug into that scripture on yesterday's video teaching that I posted, I only wanted to remind you of that scripture to say this;
Trust begins by acknowledging God and his wisdom and then acting on what we have acknowledged. To acknowledge God and then act on what he says, that is truly trusting God.
The bible tells us over and over again to trust in God alone, and not to trust in flesh, that means our own flesh as well. Today I challenge you to seek Gods way - in the big things but also in the day to day small decisions. Trust him. He is worthy of your trust and has a good plan for you. He has a good outcome for you. He will not fail.
And of course, I too today, as I say all of this, am reminding myself     Blessings

"Even the Broken Ones are Beautiful"

     So if you know me well, I have a slight, obsession with shells. While visiting the Bahamas a few weeks ago, my youngest and I were walking  down a beach looking for shells. We have quite a few and I told her, as she was looking, try to only pick up ones that aren't broken. She stopped and looked at me puzzled and said,
 "But Mom, even the broken ones are beautiful, God made all the shells. Just cause they're broken doesn't mean we shouldn't value them"
And BAM! There it was.... the Lord in His goodness downloaded a message as He often does as I go about my day to day events. These words were like a bolt of lightening that hit me right between the eyes. 
Shells, ones we collect, are tossed and turned in the ocean.  Each shell is unique with not one being identical to another.   Can you imagine the storms, the waves, and things they've been thrown through to get to a point where we pick them up on the beach? It's unusual to find a whole shell without blemish or  some kind of brokenness, yet we place value on the whole shell? 
     As people, we all contain broken places. We've been tossed and turned by the waves of circumstances. Some not our doing, and some from our own choices. Our broken places may exist, and why we need Jesus.... our only hope of being whole again as he fills our broken places. We need to love others in this way too.....be Jesus with skin on so that others can know His love and have Him fill their broken places as well. I am so thankful that God loved me enough to send people into my life who love me right where I am, and where I have been and all the waves that have crashed over me in life.  Me, with all my jagged edges, rough parts and imperfections, yet they still love me with the love of Christ, and more importantly, He loves me despite it all.  I'm thankful that God can use those broken places that I have been tossed and turned, chipped and scarred, and fill them with love and compassion for others dealing with their own broken places and remind them of their value and show them Christ's love, just as He has done for me.   
1 Samuel 16:7
But the Lord said to Samuel, " Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him.  For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart."