What are you facing today? What giant is blocking your path? What struggle is stealing your breath? What pain is battering your heart? Are you weary? This word is for you!
“Yet I totally trust you to rescue me one more time, so that I can see once again how good you are while I’m still alive! Here’s what I’ve learned through it all: Don’t give up; don’t be impatient; be entwined as one with the Lord. Be brave and courageous, and never lose hope. Yes, keep on waiting—for He will never disappoint you!”
Psalm 27:13-14 tPt
Hold tight! God is in yesterday, today, and tomorrow; but He wants you focused on His presence in your present. He will give you what you need to endure today’s battles.*
No matter what is wearing you down, it won’t always be like this… You will endure this season and come through stronger!
Let this be your battle cry: “My God is faithful! He won’t disappoint! I will trust in Him!”
This word is for you, this word is for me! Our God is faithful!
*Updated: I wrote this on Saturday and was so blessed by this song on Sunday morning: King of My Heart. He is good and He is never gonna let us go!
Live Loved and Victorious!
*Matthew 6:33-34
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Here we are, about to tie up week 5 of our school year; how fast time goes! This year, I transitioned from 3rd grade to 5th and I don’t mind admitting that 5th grade is kicking my butt! I feel a bit like a puppy frantically swimming just to keep her nose above the waterline. But paddle, I will!
I refuse to get swept away! Each year of teaching gets progressively more challenging and more exhausting. Yet, I see myself grow as an educator and as a person. How do I make it through each challenging day? Probably the same way you do… with help and encouragement and it’s time to celebrate the people who are there for us!They are the ones who listen to our frustrations. They help us hash out our ideas. They cry with us when we are discouraged. They shout with us when we succeed. They bolster our flagging confidence when the swells of challenge seem greater than the swells of courage.
Who is your tribe? Who is it that stops you from “jumping ship” and reminds you of all the gold that’s inside of you? They are your tribe! I’m so thankful for the amazing people God has placed in my life!
I live with my tribe, work with my tribe, play with my tribe, worship with my tribe! Those people are not all the same people, though there is much overlap.
I have purposed to seek out people that encourage me and demonstrate character traits I want to grow in my life. My tribe also includes people that challenge me and refuse to let me run and hide when life throws me a curve ball.
These are not your acquaintances or your fair-weather peeps. Not all your friends are tribe members. Your tribe members are those who have the authority and privilege of speaking into your life. True tribe members must be purposefully chosen.
My tribe includes people who are:
Trustworthy-positive, committed, loyal
Real-authentically themselves and expect the same from me
Invested-willing to invest in my life and allow me to invest in theirs
Bettering-share in a reciprocal commitment to bettering one another’s lives
Encouraging-engages in our relationship by speaking life-giving words
As a parent, it blesses my heart to say that my adult children are part of my tribe. My husband is a vital member and our moms are included as well. I have incredible co-workers, family members, and friends that are tribe members too! Today, I celebrate their amazingness! I need them and I hope they need me!
Think about your life… do you feel positive about your tribe? Do you know who you can call on when life knocks you down? Build your tribe! Be part of someone else’s tribe! Link arms with those who are trustworthy, real, invested, bettering, and encouraging! The sun shines so much brighter when reflected by those around you.
“You need to get out of the boat and start walking on the water!”
Wait…. I need to what?
It was one of those “valley times” in my life. I was trying so hard to trust that the Lord was at work in my circumstances. But quite honestly, I really didn’t fully trust He could handle it all for me. My mouth was saying, “I trust You,” but my hands were gripped tight to the helm still trying to make life work out the way I felt it should.
Trusting the Lord explicitly had always been a struggle for me. I’d known it down deep for a long time, but I’d managed to keep that knowledge tucked away in my heart until the time when I couldn’t anymore. As security began to be stripped away, the truth surfaced. And the Lord whispered in my ear, “It’s time to deal with this.”
Over and over in Scripture, we are presented with the understanding that God is a Father1. Isaiah 9:6 declares that He is our Everlasting Father! For those with a fabulous relationship with their earthly father, this presents a ready connection enabling them to grab ahold of God as an amazing Heavenly Father. Unfortunately, there are far too many whose earthly father created an unhealthy understanding of what fatherhood is… and that image is transferred to our Heavenly Father, unfairly.
I loved my dad and I know he loved me. He loved the Lord too and carried an anointing to teach on his life. However, he was human and like me, imperfect. Because he was a diabetic, managing his sugar was an issue. Many times throughout my growing up years, his sugar imbalances caused mood swings, an explosive temper, and often irrational responses to situations. Those experiences led me to believe that even though God loved me, He also could be moody, hard to please, and impatient with my failures. Untrustworthy.
I can imagine what you’re thinking… when I grew in my faith, I should have known that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). I should understand that God was not like my dad. I should’ve grasped that God loves me unconditionally, right?!
Head knowledge rarely becomes heart knowledge without experience opening the door.
During this valley journey, I asked a trusted friend to pray with me. After our prayer time, she dropped a truth bomb, “You need to get out of the boat and start walking on the water! You need to let go of trying to control and stand back, trusting God to do His work.”
As my mind processed the idea, I came to the place where I couldn’t shove down the trust struggle anymore. I laid it all out on the table and looked up at my Heavenly Father… who already knew all about it… and asked Him what He wanted me to do. In the still of that moment, He showed me where I needed to let go. I didn’t wait, I didn’t waiver, I did what I knew He was directing me to do that very evening. I let go of the wheel in the midst of my storm and I stepped out of the boat.
I’d like to say it was easy, but it wasn’t. I’d like to say that the storm stopped immediately, but it didn’t. I’d like to say that I felt totally exhilarated, but I didn’t.
However, I learned that when I keep my eyes on Jesus, the storm won’t defeat me! I learned that He IS trustworthy! He is not moody, or inconsistent, or grumpy. He loves me so deeply that there is nothing I can do to change that… And He never left me, especially in the midst of my storm!
Because I trusted in Him, He brought me victory on the other side of that storm!
Recently, NeedtoBreathe came out with a song called, “Walking on Water.” How this song speaks to me! It reminds me of my journey learning to trust the Lord, unconditionally. There’s no turnin’ back!
“There’s no shadow You won’t light up
Mountain You won’t climb up
Coming after me
There’s no wall You won’t kick down
Lie You won’t tear down
Coming after me
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights ’til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine
I couldn’t earn it
I don’t deserve it
Still You give yourself away
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God”1
Last night, these lyrics stirred in my spirit as I dozed off to sleep and were my first waking thoughts.
How amazing is God’s pursuing love!
He came to set me free, to heal my heart, to give me abundant life!
God pursues me. And He pursues you!
God pursues us because He loves us. But He also pursues us because He wants us to live an abundant life and enjoy relationship with Him.
Here’s the caveat though… do you WANT to be rescued, free, healed, and loved?
Seems like a silly question, I know.
Enjoying relationship with any person involves some amount of trust. The depth of your vulnerability will determine the depth of your relationship. Deeply loving requires the courage to be deeply open to others.
If you’ve been alive for a decade or longer, you’ve experienced the pain that also comes when trust is violated. Friends betray us, acquaintances gossip about us, co-workers sabotage us, loved ones leave us… with each additional hurt, we begin to build walls around our heart. We start to believe that no one is trustworthy. We determine it’s better to only rely on ourselves. Sound familiar?
This prison of choice keeps us safe from pain, but it also insulates us from authentic love!
It’s here, in this place, that God’s love pursues us! He wants us to know His love… but we need to trust His love! We need to trust that God loves us enough to kick down our heart-walls, tear down the lies we’ve believed, and find us in our lonely place.
When Your Heavenly Father charges in kicking down those heart-walls, pouring out His unending, unconditional love, and declaring truth that topples lies, you have a choice to make…
A: Stay safe inside your fortress, risk free but love free
B: Shake off the chains of fear and step into love’s embrace!
Jesus came to bring us good news, to heal the brokenhearted, to bring liberty to captives, to open prison doors, to replace mourning with joy (Isaiah 61:1-3)! Our responsibility is trust! It’s simple, yet complex!
*Trusting the Lord requires believing that He has your best interest at heart.*
It’s much like Peter stepping out of the boat. The waves look insurmountable, the water seems overwhelming, but look into the eyes of Jesus! Those eyes promise His eternal presence, His never-ending love, and His covenant relationship!
Let Him light up your shadows! Let Him kick down your walls! Let His Truth replace your lies! Shake off those broken chains and step into the Light. Our God is trustworthy; He won’t break your heart!
Go Deeper: Isaiah 61:1-3, Proverbs 3:3-8, II Timothy 1:7
“Therefore, put on the complete armor of God, so that you will be able to [successfully] resist and stand your ground in the evil day [of danger], and having done everything [that the crisis demands], to stand firm [in your place, fully prepared, immovable, victorious.]” Ephesians 6:13 AMP
As the crisis of Hurricane Irma bears down on us, the manic news reports flash everywhere and the panicked purchasers wipe the shelves clean of storm necessities. Before long, even the calmest person can feel the rise of stress and worry choking out the confidence that God truly is in control.
As I struggled with this rising fear of calamity, I felt the Lord whisper in my ear, “Having done all else, stand firm.” Just minutes ago, my family and I walked around our property, declaring trees will stay put, commanding angels to stand guard over board-less windows, speaking a shield over our vehicles, and praying a hedge of safety around our chickens. Now, I sit here, truly having done all I can think of and can manage to do with what limited supplies are available.
Breathing deeply, I choose to embrace peace that passes all understanding. My confidence is not in my preparations or the piles of supplies. My confidence is in my Faithful Father. He has promised me that no matter what comes my way, He will cause all my life’s circumstances~the good, the bad, and the ugly~ to flow together for my good because I love Him and He loves me!
Standing firm is not a passive stance that bears the lackadaisical attitude of an amusement park attendee. Rather, it is a purposeful stand. When we stand firm, we stand in expectancy. We stand ready.
There is purpose and power in our stand. We stand on truth, we stand in hope, and we stand believing that God’s Kingdom will come and His will be done in our current situation. This faith stand declares emphatically that we trust our Dad… No.Matter.What!
In our lives, storms will come! Isaiah 43 reminds us:
“But now, this is what the Lord says—
He who created you, Jacob,
He who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are Mine. 2 When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze”
Note this: When you pass through the waters… when you walk through the fire… it’s not a question of if, but when.
Your storm may seem overwhelming right now… turn to Him. Grab ahold of His beard and look deep into His eyes! He loves you. When you climb into His arms, you will find that deep inner peace your heart desires! In fact, you will find yourself planted right smack in the center of where God wanted you to be! His plans are never to harm us; rather, His plans our purposefully and intricately woven to give us an incredible future!
Let the storm rage around you! But stand firm in the knowledge that God, your God, is in control. Wait in expectancy and hope for Him to give you strength and direction. Stand declaring His goodness and faithfulness. Watch Him come through for you with His mighty right hand! He loves you SO MUCH that He will work on your behalf when you submit your life to Him.
Dig deeper: Jeremiah 29:11-13, Ephesians 6:10-20
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This word is for you, this word is for me! Our God is faithful!
