Journey4Jesus
Praying Gods Word in all areas of life… The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
(TT) FAITH…WHAT IS IT? And how do I find it?
Welcome to Throwback Thursday…
With so many new followers I thought it might be good to go back to the beginning and repost some of my earliest posts… this way you can see where the journey began. As I re-read this post myself, I am amazed at how well it speaks into my life right now.
We have spent the last year in ‘Gods waiting room’, seeking His direction. Fast forward to July 2020 and we find our-selves in Northern AB in a new job, still hanging onto our faith the God is IN this…maybe, just maybe we too will become earthly examples of faith, pointing others towards the Father…
Return with me to a year ago, Jan 1 2019, when this journey truly began…
Here we are in Mexico, beginning a brand new year. Last night we ate our fill of incredible food and prayed together about what the new year would bring for us. We are very aware that our life is in shambles… by all rights and reason, we should not even be on this trip, yet here we are.
As I settle into my lounge chair looking out over the vast blue waters of the Carribean ocean, I suddenly sense the vastness of God. The verses from Psalm 103: 11-12 float through my mind…How many times had I heard those words…
HOW DO WE LIVE IN THIS BROKEN WORLD?
Lord, take my hand…
This is going to sound super weird to say, but I have to say that I have grown increasingly thankful for the hard times we have been experiencing? No I don’t like pain and I don’t enjoy the difficulties that we endure daily trying to survive and see light at the end of the dark tunnel. But these troubles have caused me, to lean in heavily onto Jesus, to look towards Him for wisdom and comfort in the midst of the trial.
I spent years trying to “hear Gods voice”, I tried but I just couldn’t figure it out. How could I know what He was trying to say to me? Why couldn’t He just give me the writing on the wall? I’m sure I’m not alone with these struggles…
What God has taught me lately is, the more I lean into Him and learn Who He is through His Word, and time in prayer & worship, the more I have learned to discern His voice. It didn’t happen suddenly, it has been a slow process of growth and understanding. It has over time become personal and wonderful, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Jesus has been teaching me to look outside of my circumstances, and to open my eyes to the bigger picture. You see, the enemy of our souls’ wants us to stay inward focused, then we won’t notice what is happening all around us, hopefully before it’s too late.
If I let it, it’s so easy to get caught up in my own personal pity party, where the guest list consists of Me, Myself & I. the topics of conversation always start with “If only”… and “Why me”…
But it is here, in THIS place and TIME, that God has been getting my attention, teaching me that, God’s omnipotent sovereignty needs to be coupled with human responsibility. In other words, If I want to Live out Jesus in my Life for others to see in this Dark world, then I am responsible to continue to grow Spiritually… this is a life long practice that we only graduate from once we reach Eternity.
When I look at the world we live in today, I often wonder how it got to be this way, where did we lose our way and fall so off track. I can flick through the channels on the TV, only to find program after program, and advertisement after advertisement, selling us new ideas and thoughts… what are we do with them?
Often-times I would just ignore them, telling myself that it’s just TV… its all pretend anyways, I viewed it as harmless entertainment. Don’t get me wrong, much of it is just that, but I also see how easy it is to implant ideas that might be initially shocking to me, then over time to become normal, unnoticed and even acceptable (at least to the point of no longer being shocked or offended by them).
As followers of Jesus, this is where we need to pay attention. Are we allowing ourselves to be altered off the path, which has the potential to cause us to lose our way. This is one of the subtle attacks of the enemy, his way of attempting to corrupt our minds to accept ways that are not of God, as normal and acceptable.
In our day and age, this is not just in TV, we are bombarded through social media, radio, newspapers, magazines and books. We live in the age of Knowledge, this age is fast moving and exciting, but it also comes with very real dangers.
There was time that the news sources were trusted for simply speaking the news, they have now become led by opinion, or worse bought for a political agenda. Those that get paid the highest have the loudest voice.
So in a world like this, how do we as Christians respond? I believe we follow the same advice that Peter gave in his 2nd letter to the Christians of his day. We need to guard ourselves, we need to grow in our knowledge & understanding of Truth ( this being Gods Word), and we need to grow Spiritually.
In Peters day, it wasn’t so different from now. False teachers (those who were selling false ideas for their own benefit) were abundant, and doing ALL that they could to cause believers to trip up and fall. It was these teachings that he was warning about and showing us how to prepare so that we could stand against the false teachings of the day… I think in 2020, we need to assess ourselves, are we growing Spiritually mature, discerning Truth verses what we are told to believe and accept as the new normal.
God doesn’t change, nor do His ways… He is the same Yesterday – Today – and Tomorrow.
Journal Entry: #22
We have everything we need to live a life that pleases God. It was all given to us by God’s own power, when we learned he had invited us to share in his wonderful goodness. / God made great and marvelous promises, so his nature would become part of us. Then we could escape our evil desires and the corrupt influences of this world. / Do your best to improve your faith by adding goodness, understanding, / self-control, patience, devotion to God, / concern for others, and love. / If you keep growing in this way, it will show that what you know about our Lord Jesus Christ has made your lives useful and meaningful./ But if you don’t grow, you are like someone who is nearsighted or blind, and you have forgotten that your past sins are forgiven./ My friends, you must do all you can to show God has really chosen and selected you. If you keep on doing this, you won’t stumble and fall. 2 Peter 1: 3-10 CEV
Heavenly Father,
Thank you for your Word. Thank you that every word of scripture is so personal as if it is spoken directly to me, as my roadmap to You. Thank you Lord for All I have, All You have provided to me.
Thank you that unlike this world, we don’t need more, bigger, shinier or faster to impress You. You gave us everything we need to please You, and You invited me to share in all your goodness, and be a witness to your Majesty and Power so that others might be drawn to You as well.
Thank you Lord God for the most important gift of all… Your Spirit alive in me, giving me the ability to deny the evil desires of my sinful nature and the strength to resist the enemy and his attempts to distract me from your will and your plan for my life.
Help me Lord I pray, to continue building my faith in You. stay close to me as I stay close to You in your Word, times of prayer and worship. Help me Lord to produce the fruits of your Spirit; to be good and understanding to others, to have self-control and patience, to truly care and Love others.
Forgive my tendency of selfishness, focusing inward on self, rather than outward on others. Teach me Lord, I pray, to Love others better. Lord God, I desperately want my life to be both useful to You and to have a deeper meaning than what this world offers. I want my life to reflect Jesus and be able to bring others to know You as well.
Forgive me Lord, for the times I forget the sacrifice You made to forgive my sins. What You did to cleanse me from my past and all the terrible things I did in your eyes. Thank you that You have removed All of that from me and do not remember them anymore. Help me to never forget what You have done for me and how great the sacrifice was. Thank you Jesus.
Thank you for choosing me, for calling me to yourself. I have no idea why You chose me, but I am so thankful that You did and I am now your Child, You adopted me into Your family. I choose Lord, to keep my eyes on You. Keep my feet firm on your path Father.
Guide me this day and every day You have planned for my life, so that in the end when You return and I stand before you, I will hear “Well done, good and faithful servant.” . In Jesus name ❤️ Amen
My Final Thoughts & Encouragement:
If you, like me, have opened your eyes to the world around us, and wonder how on earth we got here? Let me encourage you… none of this is a surprise to God. He knows our human hearts are easily led astray, and He is still in Control of the present and the future.
Even in the Old Testament, days of the Kings, when each was fighting each other for power within the Children of Israel, God reserved and protected 6000 who had not bent their knee to the false Gods of the time… out of hundreds of thousands of people… only a mere 6000 stayed true, and the most amazing part was that God knew them and was protecting them.
I’m pretty confident that the reason these 6000 stayed true to the one true God, was they stayed connected to Him. They continued to learn, to share, to talk amongst each other, the things of God. They likely separated themselves from those that were not walking with God so as to protect their hearts and minds from the culture around them.
Please don’t get me wrong here, I’m not saying that to stay true to God, we need to get away from everyone and live in a commune or out in the back country. Today, we have the power of the Holy Spirit to keep us connected to God.
This same Spirit wants to teach us how to walk and live IN this world, so that we exhibit Christ to those who don’t know Him. Yes, these might be trying times… In so many ways. It might be Covid 19, financial insecurity, fear of the future, or a myriad of other things that want you to focus inward and allow Fear to grow rather than your Faith.
I challenge you today, shift your focus, off self and onto God. Let the Lord of your life, teach you and speak to you and bring you into all knowledge, this knowledge is not about intellectual pursuits , but is the spiritual knowledge which comes through the Spirit himself and is focused on the person and the Word of God.
Draw near to Him and He WILL draw near to you…
Blessings, Janet❤️. Journey4Jesus
Do you know Jesus ? He’s waiting for you… ( click the link to learn more)
{ If this benefited you in any way, I’d love to hear from you and I would be thrilled if you would share or invite more people to be encouraged.
YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL… How exactly do you know that??
What do you do when you feel like trouble is hemming in on all sides? When the fears of life, just want to swallow. you whole? How do you face each day with little or no answers? And how does one stay strong in their faith in circumstances like these.
I don’t pretend to know what circumstance you are facing today, or how it will play out. I can’t even say that I would be able to “understand” it. It’s so easy to look at yourself and what you are experiencing and think that it makes you an immediate expert on suffering. But think about it… do you really think that similar situations make the response even remotely the same?
Of Course not. We can come alongside a suffering person and we can empathize with them (put ourselves into what we think that their situation looks like and thereby assess how we think we might respond). Although this is a good approach for empathy, it is not a good response to encourage someone who is suffering.
Let me explain… As I have been struggling through this new life journey I find myself on, I have had so many people tell me that they know how I feel. Most of the time, I would simply smile and not comment, but every so often, when i’m just not in the mood to accept something I know cannot be true. I just get frustrated, and sadly my natural response is to become defensive.
So when this happens my typical (less than loving or gracious) response, would go something like this, “Really? tell me how YOU can possibly know how I feel”?? (sarcasm added for effect). Then they would proceed to explain their situation, that although MAY have similar points… but, is NEVER the same. The truth of the matter and the problem lie in the fact, that although there may be landing points that are similar, the circumstances, ongoing factors and situational differences alter the outcome drastically.
When I look at my situation, I look at it through the factors of what I did or did not do to get us into the situation. Some of these were good and well-intended, others may have been irresponsible or even sinful. These circumstances alter how I deal with and feel about the situation, as well as how I respond in the low times, when I simply cannot feel Gods presence near me.
On this particular day, we had been discussing Gods faithfulness and Gods timing, in our Bible study. I was in a particularly fragile state emotionally… as I mentioned earlier, I was feeling hemmed in on all sides and completely overwhelmed. As well, another lady from our group, had been going through some extremely significant family illnesses, and she also was struggling to wait on Gods timing, we were both sharing our pain with the group.
It was during this conversation, that a very well-intentioned lady piped up that “she knew EXACTLY how we were both feeling”. She proceeded to take the next 10 minutes expressing her case as to what she had gone through previously, that now made her an expert in these two completely different situations. Sadly by doing so, she actually inadvertently minimized the trauma and fear both of us were feeling.
As I said, I don’t believe this lady had any ill-intent in her words or thoughts, she simply wasn’t aware that her well intentioned encouragement, came up short and left both of us feeling unheard and once again alone in our personal place of grief. We both went from a place of being Loved and heard, to a place of feeling small and insignificant… like our HUGE life issues were commonplace day to day happenings, that we should simply just get over. After all… hers were all better so ours would be better too.
Sadly, there are no guarantees that things WILL be better, for myself or my friend with the family illnesses. Bankruptcies still happen, and people still die… not all situations come out smelling like roses…Yet, God is still very much in ALL of it.
I’ve come to learn that we don’t need to know the outcome. What we need to do, is lean into God during the process. Our transformation is often during the most challenging of times, and we have the choice as to how we respond in the process… particularly to God.
On this particular night, God gave me discernment to not respond with sarcasm or defensiveness. He helped me to see, that not everyone who speaks carelessly has ill-intent. He taught me that I was more responsible with HOW I responded in these moments than the actual event taking place.
He also opened a window in my minds eye, to the attempted attacks of the enemy. You see, If I had responded in my typical weak defensiveness, I would have played directly into the enemies hand. I would not have responded in Love, rather with malice. I would likely have hurt another person, causing the ripple effect of even more damage, not to mention various forms of other fall out, within our Bible study group. It was here that God reminded me that He was at work, making me Complete… Strong… and Firm… and that He was still in Control.
Journal Entry: #21
Heavenly Father,
Thank you for your Word that teaches me how to stay on track when times get difficult. Lord, You have been so faithful to me, thank you for your blessing and favour.
Lord God, You are Might and Power and Strength, but we so often keep our focus, that locks onto Love and Grace misses out on the nature of your Mighty Power. Thank you For that You ARE powerful and BY your power you also care for your children. Help me Lord to trust in your timing for these things.
Help me Lord, to keep my eyes fixed on You, but to also be very aware of the enemy of my soul, who waits for an opportunity to arise when I am weak, where he can cause me to turn my eyes away from You and lead me to sin against You.
Your Word tells us “to resist the devil and he will flee”, as well to, “stay strong in your faith and You will come near”. Come near me Father during these difficult times we are in. Forgive me Lord, for only seeing the struggles; which in my mind cause them to grow even bigger. Increase my faith Lord, help me to focus on the Mighty Power of God.
Lord, I know your children around this world are suffering, many in similar financial situations as me, and many far worse than I can even begin to imagine. I pray for my Christian brothers and sisters who are being persecuted for loving you. Keep them strong in the face of this evil Lord… rescue them.
I pray for those trapped in poverty and hunger; fill them with the bread and water of life Father. Pour your Love down on your Children today, strengthen and heal them as only You can, hear their prayers Lord and provide for their needs I pray.
Help me to give and support and do the things within my means to be able to Love and serve my brothers & sisters suffering for your name Jesus.
Lord God, thank you that Christ Jesus chose me to share in his Eternal Glory, use me I pray to bring others that you have chosen, into the family of God. Open the eyes and hearts of the unbelievers so that they might receive your saving Grace Lord.
Use me to plant and/or harvest, however you see fit Father, All for your Glory. We know that we will have times of plenty and times of want, as there is a season for everything. I pray that as we are currently in this season of need that you will strengthen my heart and my faith.
Help me to TRUST through this time of testing in my life, that God the Father will make me; Complete – Steady – Strong – and Firm, for his Glory. Thank you that Almighty God is in control forever. To God be the Glory… In Jesus Name ❤️ Amen
My Final Thoughts & Encouragement:
What do you do when people disregard your thoughts or feelings? When people minimize the traumatic situation you are facing that looms so large in front of you. How do you respond? Do you push back… and play the ‘one up’ game? Do you stuff down the feelings…smile and act like nothing was said? Or, do you retreat… and crawl back into a safe cocoon alone, choosing not to share in the future?
I want to encourage you to lean into God. Listen for His voice and watch for ways He is providing opportunities for growth. If you, like me, recognize a “typical pattern” you fall into, maybe God is showing you something He wants you to work on. Pray for wisdom and discernment to be able to see the truth…even when the truth might sting a bit.
I am so thankful for those situations where I can so clearly see Gods teaching moments for me. When He gently reminds me that He is still present, even if my situation has not yet changed. When He shows me that He is still in Control and is the one that holds the outcome in His hand. He reminds me of His promises for His Children,”that He will never leave them or abandon them”, that He IS Love… and that I am the intended recipient of that Love.
As well, I encourage you to look outside of the struggle you are facing, to look at those around the world in very precarious and oftentimes deadly situations, spend time in prayer for those sisters & brothers in Christ facing persecution just for following Jesus. I can’t tell you why it helps but I can tell you with absolute certainty, that when I take my eyes off myself and allow the Holy Spirit to place them onto others, my situation always feels less out of control with God feeling powerfully more in control.
Surrender the outcome to God, surrender the process to Gods Glory, and surrender your heart more fully to Him today… after all He holds you in the palm of His mighty hand.
Blessings, Janet❤️. Journey4Jesus
Do you know Jesus ? He’s waiting for you… ( click the link to learn more)
{ If this benefited you in any way, I’d love to hear from you and I would be thrilled if you would share or invite more people to be encouraged.
IF THAT WAS MEANT FOR GOOD…why did it hurt so bad?
I want to start off by saying that I have some of the most amazing God Loving people in my life. I am so thankful for every person that God has deposited into my life throughout this journey. I also have many beautiful friends that haven’t discovered the Love of Jesus for themselves yet… I’ll keep praying for them to see the light and I’ll keep loving them in their journey.
But today, I want to share specifically about my Christian friends & Sisters. Those ones that are with you through thick and thin, my Paster calls them your 3:00 am friends, because you know that they will Always be with you, no matter the time… I sure hope you have a couple of those friends because they are worth more than Gold.
But here’s the thing; we ALL. look at life through our set of lenses (based on our circumstances and experiences) yet, WE often want others to see things through OURS. I have learned that this rarely works, and is often the cause of many friendships breaking away and crumbling.
Let me help you see where I am coming from. I was having a particularly bad day… creditors were calling, I didn’t have answers or solutions for anyone, I felt alone and broken into a thousand little pieces.
As I so often do when I feel like this, I reached out to some friends for prayer support. I am so thankful for these special ladies that I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, will stop what they are doing and lift me up to the Father for strength & guidance. So often I also receive wonderful scripture and messages to encourage my heart.
Yet this day was slightly different as the scripture I received back did not bring me any comfort, if fact all I could feel every time I read it was condemnation. My first reaction was to be hurt, to allow the sting of those words to penetrate my heart and percolate over and over again. What was she trying to tell me? I thought she was my friend and Loved me? This doesn’t feel very Loving….Lord how do I take this???
Fortunately, the Holy Spirit prompted me to reach out and actually find out where she was coming from, and I’m going to tell you this was a tough phone call to make. This is one of those pivotal points where the enemy really wants you to harbour a grudge so that he can cause pain & division… he does not want us together, nor does he want us to have support, because two or three together are stronger than one alone.
I’m so thankful that I did, together we were able to have a beautiful conversation as to what that particular passage meant to her, and what she wanted to express to me. It had absolutely nothing to do with condemnation, and once I was able to see from her lens of perspective, I could see the encouragement she intended for me.
She felt terrible when I explained how the words had originally hurt me, as she had absolutely no ill intent. Thankfully, by listening to Gods prompting, we were able to discuss this in a Loving and open-minded way. We both grew that day in understanding of our words and responses as well as in our Friendship.
Why do I share this with you? Because if I had followed my regular inclinations, and had not sought harmony and understanding, I very well could have retreated from one of the best Sisters in Christ I have ever had. My human reactions are always linked to my experiences and my experiences in the past were not based on Love and acceptance.
As Christ followers, we need to always be aware that we are viewing life through our own personal Lens, and those lenses differ from how those around you may view the exact same situation. It’s so easy to quote scripture that speaks into your life, that in reality may not speak the same way into theirs. I would encourage you to explain why you chose that scripture and what how it speaks to you.
Thats why I believe it is so important to follow the Biblical teaching for friendship with our Brothers & Sisters in Christ. Peter taught this passage in his letter to the early Christians who were facing persecution from all directions. I truly believe that if we can respect each other enough to recognize we see things from differing perspectives, we can actually grow in how we see God at work within these situations ourselves.
I don’t know how I would manage this journey I am on, were it not for each and every person God has placed directly ( for a moment in time, or a season) in my path. I have learned to Love looking at things through the lens of others, which I believe continues to changed and mold me.
Don’t get me wrong, I am definitely not a saint nor a perfect friend or Sister, but I am a work in progress, who recognizes that God does not want us going through hard times alone. The enemy wants us to believe that nobody could understand, or that nobody would care. I’m here to tell you, that is a Lie from the pit of Hell, he simply has an easier job attacking you when you are alone and vulnerable.
So if you are going through stuff in your life ( doesn’t have to be earth shattering things), reach out to those around you. If you want to have a 3:00 am Friendship, BE a 3:00am Friend to others. Love well and Love others, it is so worth it friends… You are Not alone. If you don’t have these friends yet, start praying and asking God for them, to reveal them to you… then reach out and take a chance, you’ll be so glad you did.
Journal Entry: #20
Heavenly Father,
Thank you for your Word. Thank you for teaching us how to live as your children. Forgive me when I try to live by my wisdom, which constantly falls short. Lord help me to love my brothers & sisters in Christ in a way that brings honour to you.
Forgive me for all the times that I avoided someone or didn’t show love or concern to their situations. Teach me Lord, how to love them better, not only within my Church family, but in my neighbourhood and my workplace.
Lord Forgive for for reacting and retaliating when others say or do something hurtful to me. Teach me to pause & pray for your wisdom and guidance, so that I would not speak out of my hurt, thereby hurting them in return… repaying evil for evil.
Lord Jesus, help me to find ways to be peaceful and humble with all those I meet and interact with. Keep me Lord from doing anything evil in your sight that would cause you to turn your face away from me and not hear my prayers.
Help me to be good, fair and righteous in your sight. I want to Love you Lord with ALL my heart and ALL my mind, and I seek to Love others as myself, so that All I do would be pleasing in your sight.
Help me Lord to follow your ways and do good things to help others. Open their eyes that they might see You in the process. Heavenly Father, I want to submit to you as Lord over my life… All of my life, not just in the easy ways but in every way. Forgive me Lord, when I try to run things and be in control. Help me to submit to your authority over me.
As well, I pray that your light would shine through me, so that I would be a witness of your immeasurable Love to others. Give me the right words to say when others ask about my faith. Let my words by humble and gentle, steering others towards You.
Lord God, You are true and just and although I cannot always see the bigger picture, I chose to trust You with my life. Even if I must suffer for doing what’s right, I know that You will be there giving me everything I need. I look forward to the day when You return Lord, and call your children home.
Teach me to desire my Eternal home more than my temporary earthly one. Break my worldly desires Lord, that cause me to be divided. I want to be All in Lord… All in with You. In Jesus name ❤️ Amen
My Final Thoughts & Encouragement:
Have you ever had someone you cared for deeply, say or do something hurtful to you? What did you do? Did you stew on it and talk to others rather than the actual person? or did you reach out for clarification and have an honest conversation?
Honestly, it is so hard to do the right thing, when the wrong thing is just so much easier… This is how easily we can fall into sin, and end up talking to others about what he/she did or said… this is gossip and oftentimes slander, this rarely ends well and is difficult to come back from as trust is now broken.
Or the other thing that seems easier, is to do is to push it down, where it doesn’t actually go away but festers and grows in its hurt and anger. Sadly, when you least expect it, when something else happens the lid pops off and everything starts spewing out like a shaken pop bottle.
Rather than either of these options, I would challenge you to think deeply about this person that hurt you. You know their heart, is this out of character for him or her? If the answer is yes, is it possible that they might simply have a different perspective that just needs to be clarified?
Friends, these friendships are priceless and needed, we are ALL going to fall short some of the time, we are broken people trying to find our way in a broken world. Look to Peter, who I might add, did and said some pretty crazy things in his day, he was pretty much a speak first think later kinda guy.
Peter learned from his mistakes and I think he would have been my kind of friend, follow his advice rather than listening to our own worldly instincts which generally just get us into a messier soup. “Now, this is the goal: to live in harmony with one another and demonstrate affectionate love, sympathy, and kindness toward other believers. Let humility describe who you are as you dearly love one another. 1Peter 3:8 TPT
Blessings, Janet❤️. Journey4Jesus
Do you know Jesus ? He’s waiting for you… ( click the link to learn more)
EVERYTHING’S GOOD IF IT’S GOOD FOR ME…right God?
I have to be honest here, lately I have been in a pit and feeling pretty sorry for myself. What I have come to learn is that the more you get comfortable in the pity party pit, the quicker you start to believe the narrative that fits the mood that led you there.
I couldn’t deny the reality of our circumstances; but it’s not like we planned any of this to happen. We are good people, who work hard and did a Great job at what we do… so why me? Why is life being so unfair to us? Why wasn’t it happening to them?
Before I knew it, I felt that familiar sting of resentment settling into my mind. I started watching tv shows that reinforced what I was feeling, focusing on negative social media posts and I certainly didn’t open God’s Word, after all He was feeling pretty far away from me… another thing that wasn’t fair, why would He desert me at a time like this?
After a couple days of feeling this way, surrounding myself with things that fed into my frustration and bemoaning the injustices of life, I stopped in my tracks and took a good hard look at myself and the situation… what on earth was I doing?
Why was I giving the enemy a foothold into my thoughts, which was obviously leading into my actions? And worse yet was the realization that God had not deserted me, rather I had turned my attention onto my troubles and the woes of this world and turned my heart and my trust away from Him.
I had set my thoughts and my focus onto the things this world should be offering me, yet wasn’t. I was jealous of people I loved, who were not struggling as we were, and I was becoming resentful at the place I now found myself… I came to realize that Jealousy and Resentment only serve to fuel a ‘Fools pity party’… and I was in full on party mode.
How did I manage get to this place? I after all was a woman of faith… I trusted God rather than myself… or did I? If I truly trusted God was at work in this, why wasn’t I trusting How He was going to go about completing it? The answer to that lies within ME… I wanted to be IN control, I wanted it to be in MY way and in MY timing… I wanted to fix it BY myself for MYSELF…that there is a lot of self talk.
What do you see when you scroll through your social media feeds? When you watch the news? The world around is tragically filled with Lovers of Self. We have books, secular and Christian, that claim All of our answers are found in Self.
Become more Self-aware… You will discover who you really are.
What are Your needs?… fill those and your emptiness will magically disappear.
All You need is more stuff.. this will fill that empty hole. After all God doesn’t want You sad.. He created you for more, Right?
Find Your inner: lioness, tiger, warrior or dragon… then You will have the power to succeed.
Sound familiar? We hear versions of these same mantras all around us, most tv shows and books are filled with these ideas. But as Christ followers we need to be aware, these are lies and deception. They will never fill that emptiness and hole inside you… why is it that the wealthiest people that have the most in life, often seem to be the saddest? Always working harder, trying to achieve more and experience more?
We live in a world where EVERYTHING is GOOD if it’s GOOD for ME, on the surface it sounds ideal…after all what harm can it do? James 4:1-10 states clearly why living for Self is a lie and disastrous. We were designed BY God to live FOR God,
There are real dangers in buying into this world view of Self help and personal growth. Don’t get me wrong, there is absolutely nothing wrong with trying to become better at things, but when it’s about making ourselves our own God, then we have a problem.
This happens when we position our needs and wants above Gods plans and purposes. This is the same old lie that the devil has been using since the garden of Eden. “Did God really say..?””He’s just withholding from you”… “What’s it going to hurt?”
The enemy of our souls always feeds our selfish appetite, always tempts us with those tantalizing treats just out of our reach…maybe that will be the answer. And he uses these very things to separate us from God, this is his entire goal… to keep you and I out of Eternity.
So what do we do, when the world is preoccupied with Self? We have a choice, we can join the world.. maybe stay at a distance but be careful not to ruffle any feathers of those that don’t share our ideals. Or, we can turn our hearts back to God and recognize how easily we ALL fall into the traps of the enemy and into sin.
Just because we WANT something to be GOOD does not MAKE it GOOD, and it certainly does not make it right or safe or godly. We can’t choose to change Gods way because its inconvenient in our world. We need to look to our Creator and His Word to know Truth, and it doesn’t take long to see that Self is not promoted in the Bible… even Jesus didn’t push for Self. He gave ALL the glory to the Father, He lived in discomfort over comfort and He chose death over life… His was a life of self-denial.
Journal Entry #19
Thank you for your Word, even when your Word is difficult to swallow, when it points out things in us that we would rather not focus on or even look at in our own lives. You tell us that your Word was designed to cut like a double edged sword; separating bone from marrow, revealing everything inside us.
Forgive me Lord, for allowing the selfish desires within me to wage war for the things of this world. As I’ve read this passage in the past, I would say “how terrible for those selfish lost people”, I was blind to the fact that You were speaking to Your Children within your Church…You were speaking to me!!
How many times have I been ruled by my selfish desires? How often did I envy things other people had; possessions, positions, physical attributes that I was lacking. How often were my thoughts controlled by these things? Far too many times to count Lord… Forgive me!
Forgive me Lord for my blindness to self, forgive me for all the times I prayed to you with selfish motives within my heart. Forgive me Lord for my lack of faithfulness to You and loving the world and all the selfish desires it entices me with.
Lord God, I do not want to be an enemy of yours, help me to keep my focus on your desires for me. Thank you for your Spirit that You have placed inside me, teaching me how to better live for You. Forgive me for grieving your Spirit with my selfishness. Help me Lord to listen to your Spirit and follow your ways instead of mine.
Lord God, once again I choose to surrender myself to You. To surrender my wants and desires, to seek after what You would have for me. My ways have proved disastrous Lord, and I am now living in the brokenness of those choices. Hold my hand…my heart… and my mind Lord, as You teach me to constantly and daily surrender to You and your will.
Forgive me Lord for allowing the enemy to have this foothold within me, You tell us to resist him and he WILL flee. Father in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, I acknowledge that he is a defeated foe and by the power of Your Spirit within me, I will resist his attempts to keep me from you. Thank you Lord!
Help me Lord, by your power to live in your strength to clean up my life, both inside and out and to draw near to you daily. Thank you for your promise that if I draw near to You, You will draw near to me…. I want that so much Father, Thank you for Loving me in that way.
Lord God, help me to see my sins for the ugliness that they are. Forgive me for being complacent and not recognizing the wedge they cause between You and I over them. The world would teach us to only pay attention to the Big sins, but You call ALL sins “adultery” towards you. In your eyes ALL our sins are black stains on us. Forgive me Lord, for minimizing that.
Teach me Lord. to not only recognize my sins but to be appalled by them. Forgive my apathy father, teach me as I draw closer to you, create in me a new heart that would draw me towards You. Break my desires for the things of this world that would draw me away from you.
I see now the Spiritual battle that I am in the midst of, so subtle yet so damning. Help me to stay covered in the Full Armour of God and show me how to be victorious in this battle. Break my heart for what breaks your heart Lord, teach me true humility and break off all the parts of me that don’t belong.
I praise you Lord for your goodness, your faithfulness and your correction. I desperately want to follow You in Truth and Obedience. For I know the plans You have for me are far better than the plans I would have for myself… Glory to God!
In Jesus name ❤️ Amen
My Final Thoughts & Encouragement:
Do you find yourself caught up in the affairs of the world? Are you linking arms in solidarity with the world over solidarity with God? I urge you dear brothers and sisters to open your eyes and see how easily we can become entrapped and lose our footing.
Take notice of this message from James, and see the battle that is all around us.. a battle that would take our eyes off of God and start focusing on ourselves.. our wants… our needs.. our desires.
Why do you think the world is so divided right now? I believe it’s because time is running short and the enemy knows that his time WILL come to an end, he knows his time is limited and he is amping up ALL his efforts.
This is why it’s so important to see the lies for what they are and not fall for them. The Bible warns us that many Christians in the last days will be deceived and fall away. If we want to stay true to Christ, we have to keep our focus on Him and His plans. He has promised that as we mature and grow in Him, He will change our heart to fall inline with His and then He WILL give us the desires of our heart…
Stand strong friends…reach out to God… Trust in His plan, He made you and knows best what you need… besides we know the end of the story!!
Blessings, Janet❤️. Journey4Jesus
Do you know Jesus ? He’s waiting for you… ( click the link to learn more)
IF DISCIPLINE IS A GOOD THING…Why does it always feel so bad?
Ever have one of those days when you feel like you’ve been put on a time-out that was never going to end, like the punishment was never going to end? I was having one of these days, I was feeling sorry for myself and wondered if all of my current struggles were just payback for all my past mistakes. Did we really do this to ourselves? are we paying the ultimate price for it? Will it ever improve?
It’s pretty easy to allow yourself to fall into that headspace…after all hindsight is 20/20, everything is significantly clearer when looking backwards. Sadly, I had been allowing myself to dip deeper into this thought pattern for the last little bit and today it weighed heavily on me. So when I finally decided to open my Bible and spend some much needed time with the Lord, I came upon Hebrews 12, my eyes quickly locked onto the words about Discipline…see God was telling me it was all my fault… He even confirmed that it was painful and I could attest, my life felt pretty painful right now. How easily we can be led astray, based on the emotions we are feeling if we allow ourselves to.
Yet strangely… at the same time that I was confirming my self-defeating thought patterns, I could feel another pull, but this one felt gentle and warm, quite different from the judgemental feeling pulling me in this proverbial tug of war. This doesn’t happen often to me, but when it does, I’ve learned that I need to open my eyes and my heart to something new, so I read the text again… and I’m so glad I did, because once again our Amazing Father was opening my eyes…teaching me more about him. Let me explain.
What do you think of when you hear the word “Discipline“? Do you think of ‘time outs’ or other ‘ behaviour modification’ methods? I have to admit that I always looked at discipline as an external; something that was done to us. As I studied this passage God opened my eyes to something new… all these years I had it wrong.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary Defines ‘Discipline’ this way: to punish or penalize for the sake of enforcing obedience and perfecting moral character. I’m pretty sure that I’m not alone in this understanding of what discipline was … after all, I remember the spankings and the tears. (not saying that they didn’t enforce better behaviour in me though… just saying)
The problem is, when I think of God, do I see Him as the Cosmic punisher using Devine Discipline on his children every chance he gets? That simply doesn’t reconcile with allowing his own Son Jesus to come to earth to take the punishment that we deserved. So what does this actually mean? To try and understand, I decided to go back to the Latin root of the word so that I could see what was originally intended in this message.
The word ‘Disciple‘ comes from the Latin word ‘disciplus‘ which means ‘student‘ The word ‘Discipline‘ comes from the Latin word ‘disciplina‘ which means ‘ instruction or training‘, and this is derived from the Latin root word ‘discere‘ which means ‘to learn‘, you might recognize our modern word discern in there as well.
Whew, aren’t you glad I did that homework for you… although I must say, I found it fascinating. When you look at the word discipline from a vantage point of learning or training of a student, the onus is on us as the disciple or student to do the learning, therefore my conclusion would be this is actual an Internal action verses an external one…of something being done to us verses something happening in us.
When the writer of Hebrews was speaking to the Jewish Christians, he was not trying to scare them into obedience so that God didn’t strike them down by reigning punishment upon them. Yet, sadly this is what many people believe about God today.
What he was actually saying is that as Christ followers, we need to be students and learn and grow in our understanding. Sometimes learning is frustrating, painful and difficult, but it will produce much good in us.
I have to say, I Love this new visual of the original intent. I Love to learn and I yearn to grow, and yes I stumble and fall then get up and start over again… this is the discipline I suffer through… my own failings and weaknesses, not a Devine Judgment. God wants us to mature and grow in our relationship with him, the punishment has already been paid through the sacrifice of Jesus on that Roman cross for our sins.
I am not a Bible scholar, but as I searched I could not find the word Discipline in this context used in the Gospels, I obviously find Disciple which as I mentioned earlier means student. But in the context of Jesus sacrifice it does not appear to be used… even though He was clearly providing a solution to the ‘punishment’ that we deserved. I wonder if that is because over the years we have altered the word from the original intent, Even Jesus said that “He was giving His life, it was not being taken from Him”… This was Choice not Enforcement… context changes everything, Thank you Father!
Journal Entry #18
Dear Jesus
Thank you for your Word. Thank you that even when it is difficult to hear we are able to learn from it, and if open to you it will bring healing. Lord God, forgive me for being discouraged and for losing hope (even if only momentarily) in this time we are in. Thank you for reminding me that you only correct those whom You Love and call your Children. Thank you that I can learn and grow.
Lord God, You know all the poor choices and decisions that were made in the past that has brought us to this place of difficulty we now find ourselves in. It took many years of those choices accumulating into this “Giant” that has now been created. We also recognize that there were outside forces at work, trying to draw us away from you. Therefore, help us Lord to be patient and learn well during this process of learning.
Thank you for loving us as our own Father and caring for us enough that You chose to correct us, teaching us to follow your perfect ways which our much better than our broken and often times foolish ways. We understand that this time of teaching is for our own good, help us to learn from it and hold onto You for strength during it.
Forgive us our weakness Lord, this process is scary and painful to us and we desperately want to do what is right in your eyes. We want to obey You in ALL of our ways Lord, we want to do right and live at peace. Give us courage Lord to stand up strong in your power. Strengthen our faith to stand firm in you and heal our foolish ways. Thank you Father.
In Jesus name ❤️ Amen
My Final Thoughts & Encouragements:
Did you, like me, view discipline as an external force being done to us, rather than an internal learning which produces righteousness within ourselves? How do the context of these verses change when you look at them in this light?
For me, I am greatly encouraged. I can reconcile that Good Good Father so much better. I always struggled with how He could send His Son to such a horrible death, now I can finally understand why it was important for us to know that Jesus wasn’t sent… He went.
He went out of Love for us, to teach us his students, what we could not learn on our own. He made a choice that would redeem All who believe. So how do we as His Children, learn from the discipline we are experiencing?
For me, I will start looking at it from the vantage point of a student, using it to learn new ways to be better and to grow deeper in Love with Father, Son & Holy Spirit… I will look forward to the growth that will be produced in me as I do the work I need to do.
Let’s embrace Godly Discipline which is not defined by the Merriam- Webster Dictionary, and is not about enforcement or judgement and sentencing for our sins. Lets walk in the Intent of the word, which is to grow deeper in our relationship with Christ and become more Christlike in the process…
Blessings, Janet❤️. Journey4Jesus
Do you know Jesus ? He’s waiting for you… ( click the link to learn more)
THE POTTERS WHEEL…
What will I become ?
I Love the image of Jesus as the Potter; sitting at his potters wheel with a lump of clay, pushing and turning and squeezing that clay into various shapes for various purposes. In my office I have a large pencil sketch print of Jesus, leaning over the potters wheel while he gently shapes the vessel he is turning in his hands.
I often look at this picture as I pray, recognizing that many times it is me on that wheel. On those days that I feel broken or weak, I see Him reshaping me, fixing the cracks and gently molding me into His vessel.
The thing He has been teaching me lately as I don’t get to choose the shape or purpose of that vessel, as the Potter it is His choice to decide how to use me. This has helped me to be more malleable and open to change, sometimes I’m used to hold things for a time and other times I’m used to pour out into someone else’s life. Neither is better than the other as both have vital uses within the Kingdom of God
Today as I was praying, I asked God to show me how He would use me next… would I be holding or pouring out? I was pretty sure I knew the direction He was sending us, after all it is my plan to move West to be in a warmer climate and closer to my new Granddaughter. Then minutes later, I received a phone call which presented an opportunity completely opposite of what I purposed in my plans, suddenly I found myself questioning myself & my motives… am I following the desires of my heart or the desires of Gods?
At this moment in time, I have no idea what we will do, but I believe God is challenging me once again, to look at the gift He gave us… this gift of Salvation. To recognize we did not earn it, nor do we deserve it and He has a plan & purpose in it for us. Once again, I feel the potters wheel start spinning and those gentle yet firm hands changing my shape into something new. May He show us the way…
Journal Entry #15
Heavenly Father,
Thank you for your Word, thank you for teaching me how to live IN YOU, and for reminding me that I was made alive in Christ Jesus. Your Word tells us Lord, that you not only saved us, giving us freedom from our sins, but You have seated us beside Christ in the heavenly places, uniting us to You.
Thank you Lord, It’s one thing to free us from the power of sin… but quite another to lift us and unite us with Christ, You gave us your power to fight the enemy and his evil schemes. Thank you for showing us through your Word, and the early church your amazing gift of Grace, Love and Faithfulness.
Use me Father to shine your light onto future generations, directing them to You. Heavenly Father, You saved me by your Grace when I first believed. There was nothing I had to do but believe. All the work was done by You… Glory to God!!
Forgive me Lord for the times I got caught up in legalistic teachings, thinking that somehow I could earn your favour; changing your free gift of Grace to my works and deeds. I was foolish in this thinking Lord, thank you for opening my eyes to your Truth.
Help me Jesus not to boast in any way, thinking I had anything to do to receive this gift. Thank you that my Salvation has been fully worked out by You. It was by your sacrificial death on the cross that I have been made clean in your sight. It is your resurrection that grants my entry into Eternity. It is because of your loving kindness towards me that causes me to want to do good in your sight and serve You with my life.
Thank you Lord that You knew me and made me to be your Masterpiece.., Your Poem, what a beautiful image that evokes to me your child. To know that You created me to with gifts and talents exactly suited for the plan You had for me even before I was born. A plan that was specifically mine, hand tailored for me.
Through your Spirit I pray that You will reveal that plan for me that I might walk in, shining the light of your Glory for ALL to see. Use me Lord I pray. Thank you for this gift of Salvation that I could never earn. Continue teaching me and molding me, continue working out you plan within me Lord, show me how to live more fully in You.
In Jesus name ❤️ Amen
My Final Thoughts & Encouragement…
Have you ever experienced that crushing feeling inside your heart when you see truth revealed and you realize that once again you have fallen short? Or maybe, that feeling that you are being pulled and stretched outside of your comfort zone?
I would challenge you to consider that you may be on the Potters wheel, that Jesus might be reshaping you into a new form for a new purpose.
I’m not sure how you feel about this Potter thing: shaping – pounding down – reshaping… repeat. Originally, It made me feel like I was always broken and never good enough. Through time, the Lord helped me to see that I was looking at it all wrong. It’s not about being broken at all, in fact it was really about being used for more and better things.
As I grew in my Christ like maturity, my old form and use also needed to change. He was using me for bigger and better things, and with that I needed a new shape for a new purpose. These days I find incredible comfort in the molding process, as it tells me He is not done with me yet… there is still more for me to do.
Don’t fear the Potter or the time on the wheel, allow yourself to be malleable in His Godly hands, so He can make you into something even more beautiful and useful for His Kingdom. Remember the verse we read earlier: We have become his poetry, a re-created people that will fulfill the destiny he has given each of us, for we are joined to Jesus, the Anointed One. Even before we were born, God planned in advance our destiny and the good works we would do to fulfill it!
Praise the Lord that He is the God of Design and Purpose… He leaves nothing to chance, including you and I…
Blessings, Janet❤️. Journey4Jesus
Do you know Jesus ? He’s waiting for you… ( click the link to learn more)
NAVIGATING OUR FUTURE… Where should I set my GPS?
I’m at a Crossroads, which way do I go?
Where we were…
When I initially wrote this journey entry, we had gone through multiple housing changes learning to surrender our plans to the Lord and trust in what He had for us. This was not an easy task, until we are faced with losing something we really have no idea how tightly we hang onto it.
In our case it was our business… our home… the condo we moved into from the home… the townhouse we house -sat when we moved out of our RV… where we would go as we now sensed the winds of change blowing again.
As well, on top of all of this we were in the beginning surges of a pandemic racing around the globe. I can honestly say that there were more questions than answers. Rather than clarity our lives and the world around us looked cloudier than ever.
What we were soon to discover is that God was not done with us just yet, all the while He was still inching us forward to the plans the He had for us, plans we would not have chosen on our own, but plans that would eventually bring us peace and joy…
Journal Entry:
Heavenly Father,
Thank you for your Word. Thank you for using the most unique verses at the most inexplicable times to teach me something new. I sensed You drawing my eyes to a picture on the wall. My eyes landed on the verse from Jeremiah. What are you showing me here Lord?
So, I prayed, “show me what you are trying to teach me”. From there, I opened my bible to Jeremiah 6:16. On the surface this verse seemed pretty simple. Yet after prayer and contemplation, You started to show me a depth I had not seen before. Four words in particular were jumping out at me: “Says” – “Stand” – “Look” – “Ask”. What are you showing me Lord?
So I started with the word Says, the verse started with “This is what the Lord says”. The word itself tells me someone was speaking and when someone is speaking I should be listening. What do you want to say to me Lord?
The next word was Stand, again the verse I’m reading said “stand at the crossroads and look”. In Jeremiah’s time, the Israelites were charging ahead with their own lives, leaving God completely out of the picture and out of their lives… here, I believe it was intended as a warning, so what should I be watching out for?
After much reflection, I believe You are showing me that the phrase “Stand at the crossroads and Look” are actually two very specific things I need to do. First I need to stop and be still. I need to soak in my surroundings and reflect upon all that is happening around me. I think You are saying to me, don’t blindly charge ahead, take a moment and assess the situation. it’s this assessing that leads into Look. Am I gathering the necessary information I need before proceeding safely? (I actually visualized being in my car at a 4-way stop). I had to look in all directions, know which car came 1st, 2nd, 3rd , and which turn was mine. I had to pay attention that no other car would start to go out of turn, as I made my way safely through the intersection).
Is my vision limited to what is only right in front of me, or am I simultaneously focusing on what is farther up the road? Yes, I know that up ahead are more crossroads that I will need to assess the same way but I don’t need to focus too much on them yet, after all You told us “not to worry about tomorrow, as it will have enough worries of its own”. I believe I am starting to discern Your voice in this Jesus.
Next the verse says to Ask, “ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is”. I am so thankful for prayer, where we can so easily come before You Jesus and ask the necessary questions we have in life. Thank you that we can seek wisdom and discernment from You. Am I seeking that wisdom Lord? Am I seeking wisdom from the godly people you place upon my path?
Then just as suddenly as you opened my eyes to these four words, you opened my eyes further to a 5th. How had I missed this word Lord? And instantly I knew you were teaching me an important lesson here that I would have totally missed out on had I not stopped, listened and asked.
Over the last few years on this journey Lord, I have been earnestly focusing on these 4 basic truths. Apparently this is not the only verse in the bible that shares these truths… in fact they are scattered everywhere throughout the Gospels as we learn to follow you.
Lord, You have been faithfully teaching me to Listen – to Stop and reflect (watching and looking for obstacles ahead). I have prayed regularly for wisdom… I have asked. waited, only to start the process over again.. always hitting repeat at the end, waiting for some kind of green light in the distance to signal for me that its time to move.
Yet today Lord, you showed me a single solitary word that I had been missing. The word Walk, ” and walk in it”. That there comes a time that we must Walk… walk in what we have learned from You in the previous four steps. In essence, we must take responsibility for our future. We must move forward or risk getting stuck in the crossroads of that intersection, thereby getting caught in the crossfire of what has been and what could be…
Thank you Lord Jesus for showing me your Truth and granting me your wisdom once again. Yes, we are required to take our time and complete our due diligence, but we also need to make a choice to actively move or walk into the direction you are revealing. Your Words tells us that You will shine a light upon our path. Forgive me Father, for waiting for the giant teleprompter or some kind of spiritual GPS to show up and confirm my route.
Help me Jesus, to move forward in confidence, trusting in the time I have invested in Your Word and our relationship, seeking Your Will and Your face. Help us Father to forgive ourselves for our past mistakes and step boldly into the future You have for us.
In Jesus name ❤️ Amen
Where we Are…
Within mere weeks of writing this journal entry and prayer above, we found ourselves involved in a flood deployment. As I mentioned above we felt the winds of change but had no idea what that meant, now on top of our own circumstances (which still included a pandemic) we are ministering to people in a Northern community who have lost everything in the floods.
Serving in these capacities always has a way of humbling a person, and puts things into a new and different perspective. Fast forward a year and a half, and we are now living a 30 minute drive from this same community, still serving the people in the recovery process.
How did that happen you ask? Well let me explain; After returning home from the initial deployment, we were asked if we would consider moving up North for a 1 year contract to work with the Recovery program. I’d love to say we jumped at the opportunity. but that would be a bold faced lie. We had our own plans that we were praying God would open the door.
Yet, after some reflection and a friendly reminder to re-read what God had been teaching me, we came to realize that this was our time to “Walk”… to walk in the path that He had for us. We had been praying regularly that we would have a fresh start and be able to serve together, yet when the opportunity came we almost missed it, because we were still focused on our wants vs. Gods purpose.
My Final Thoughts & Encouragement:
So where are you on this roadmap of life? Are you cruising along with the sun shining down and the wind in your hair. Or maybe you’re gripping the steering wheel trying to keep the car on the road with the rain pelting down so it is impossible to see what’s in front of you… Or maybe, you’re like me stuck at the crossroads, afraid to drive forward for fear of being T-boned in the intersection.
Maybe this Covid has you grounded in fear; leaving you with far more questions than there are answers. Vaccine mandates and potential passports are causing deep division in our Churches, our workplaces and even our homes.
I encourage you to take a deep breath, to stop and listen to the Father, hear what He is saying to you today. Spend time seeking His face, which will eventually reveal His plan to you. Keep your eyes on him, looking forward rather than in the rear view mirror, and Ask Him to be on the path with you, to grant you the wisdom you need and the courage to walk in it… then Walk, obediently move forward one foot in front of the other, trusting in His wisdom and strength to guide you.
I believe fear is what keeps us stuck in one place for so long. Fear on the unknown… fear of failure… But Gods Word tells us that “perfect Love casts out ALL fear”. Join me in moving forward empowered by the amazing Love of our Heavenly Father, He loves us so much and he has good plans for us, His Word is full of His promises … choose to walk in that today.
Blessings, Janet❤️. Journey4Jesus
Do you know Jesus ? He’s waiting for you… ( click the link to learn more)
{ If this benefited you in any way, I’d love to hear from you and I would be thrilled if you would share or invite more people to be encouraged. }
BROKEN NO MORE…
How do we mend the shattered pieces?
What are you feeling as you watch the news, as you view on social media the incredible hatred within our world? As you see videos of the last moments of mans life shared and shared over and over again.
Then you see the next wave of hatred as riots begin and fires are lit… fueling the flames of anger and fear. What does your heart feel as you witness this unfolding before your very eyes?
TEACH ME LORD…
How do YOU say I should live?
Ever since we got home, I feel like the Bible is newly alive for me. Words that I have read before are now speaking directly into my heart. It’s like God has stripped away the blinders so I can see how all these truths pertain to me. Oh for the ability to be obedient…
I recognize that although our situation is difficult and we do not have a lot of answers as of yet to how we are going to work our way through, God is calling me to know him better in the midst of our mess. I have a stronger sense of my need for a deeper more intimate relationship with Him.
Journey4Jesus 