Handle with Prayer

Life can be distracting. 

Life can be overwhelming. 

Life can be stressful. 

Life can be uncertain. 

Any of these statements apply to you today? Then read on, dear friend. HOW do we function daily, putting first things first, without going off the deep end? 

Some might say they flip the "Don't Care" switch. (It works, but probably not the healthiest option.)  Others might consume copious amounts of chocolate. (Again... great theory, might not be super healthy.)  Still others retreat into a shell, shutting out the world.  

But for me, I pray. A LOT. No, I don't get to sit around all day in God's presence listening, talking, meditating on His word (as much as I would like to.) I still need to fulfill my role as an army wife, minister, friend, daughter, sister, FRG leader, blogger, exerciser, and general life cheerleader. But spending time in prayer helps me to focus on Christ in all things that I do. 

I spend one hour per day of what I like to call my "Jesus time" first thing in the morning. Then I continue to talk to Him (and attempt to listen) throughout the day. As I am working out, driving, showering, preparing to sleep... He is always around, inviting me to be in touch with Him. He is my everything. He gets me through the day. He is my eternal, my immortal, my ultimate chocolate-sleep-diet-dr-pepper-happy-place pick me up. 

Just last week, someone asked me if praying actually "worked." 

After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I passionately replied "YES." 

Prayer serves a lot of different purposes in life, several of which were covered in the paragraphs above. For example: ever since I got my shiny new iPad, I have been logging my prayers on a nifty $1.99 app. (I had a gift card, so the app was essentially free.) 

Best. Investment. Ever.

The app is called "Prayer List" and the design is simple but genius. It allows me to categorize my prayers (aka friends, healing, ministry, our life/family, the lost etc.) The app keeps me accountable to legitimately PRAY for specific people, places or things every single day. And the best part?

It archives my answered prayers. 

I have been using this app for 16 days. So far, I have entered 87 prayers... and already, in 15 days, TWENTY of them have been answered. 

Holy. Lord. (Literally.) 

Honestly, I had no idea how many prayers had been answered until Sunday... I was kind of in a "Jesus Funk" while preparing for church. So at the end of my quiet time, I quickly clicked over to the "answered" tab on my prayer app, expecting 3 or 4 to be in that category. I about fell out of my chair when the entire screen was filled up and I had to scroll to see them all. 

Talk about giving your faith a boost. 

I started looking at the answered prayers and got a teeny tiny glimpse of God's ability to work actively in my life. It is PROOF of what he has been doing in the last 16 days. In fact, I realized He actually used ONE event to literally answer three separate prayers that at first glance were seemingly unrelated. 

So today, let's take time to rejoice in His faithfulness. We can take heart that He listens, replies to our petitions/prayers, and is both ACTIVE and ALIVE in our lives. 

Consider logging your prayers. Watch how he is working in YOUR life. His answers are abundant and always perfect.  Approach life gently by first coming into The Father's presence. Life can be simple and wonderful if we handle it with prayer. 

In Gratitude, 

SGK 

"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints." --Ephesians 6:18

PS: Would you like to be added to my prayer list? I would LOVE to pray for you. Facebook me, send me a tweet or leave a comment HERE. 

No Fear Here

Fear is... well, scary. (Duh, right?) There are a lot of different types of fears, big, little, valid, irrational, profound, imaginary etc. But being humans, it seems to be a part of our life. But it's amazing how relief comes to alleviate our fears so awesomely and suddenly-- in the most surprising places. 

Yesterday was my first time to do staff devotional at our weekly staff meeting. I was excited, and a smidgen apprehensive, almost kind of intimidated. I mean seriously, our equipping staff (aka pastors/minister-ish people) totaled it up a couple weeks ago and determined that they have 99 years of ministry experience between them. Yeah, I'm going on like 4 months. No pressure, right? 

I knew my devotional day was approaching, so I started to pray for God to reveal to me what to say. Each time I would start to feel butterflies (aka fear), I would pray even more. Over the past two weeks, He has led me down this bunny trail that I personally wasn't sure made sense... but again, who I am I to question? 

So I shared His message. He tied together the lessons I learned from the movie Courageous (for more info, check out See and Be Courageous) which lead me  sharing a previous post entitled No More Cornflakes when I discussed the occasional "flakiness" of my faith.  Fear seems to be the opposite of faith. Whenever I take my eyes off of Him, I get scared... What do I get scared about? I get scared about whatever little seeds Satan plants in my brain. (Big jerk!) Some of those fears include (or used to include at some point in my life): 

Fear of abandonment/loneliness

Fear of betrayal 

Fear of disease

Fear of death (before I knew Christ)

Fear of failure

Fear of not being a good wife

Fear of a variety of little dinky stuff that really doesn't matter but Satan decides to mess with my head anyways

Look closely... the inscription is starting
to wear off, but it is still there...
 "No fear in love..." 1 John 4:18

As I have previously discussed, I wear a ring everyday that says "No Fear in Love" from 1 John 4:18. In the context of the devotional I shared, it wasn't necessarily about the earthly love of a man and woman-- but rather that of Our Father and ourselves. His love IS perfect... and it says in that verse that there is no fear in love for perfect love casts out fear. What an awesome promise! God loves us... so what should we be afraid of?

However, it's not quite that easy to turn our fears into faith simply by remembering that God loves us. Instead, it will require prayer. Pray specifically for God to turn your fear of ______ into faith that ______. This method can cover all kinds of fears, big, little, in between. Here are some examples: 

God, please turn my fear of abandonment/loneliness into faith knowing that you are always here and never leave me. 

God, please turn my fear of failure into faith that you give me strength to accomplish things within your will. 

God, please turn my fear of not being a good wife into the faith that you called me to serve as an army wife, you are faithful and will help me succeed in the name of Christ. 

As my devotional time drew to a close, I shared a thought that God had given me on the difference between bravery and courage. While they are practically interchangeable in Webster, they are very different in a spiritual context. 

Bravery comes from the Spanish word "Bravado" and reflects more of a knee-jerk reaction... something you do without thinking or motivation, but you just do it. Courage, on the other hand comes from the French word meaning "Heart." It is a deeper kind of feeling, often pre-mediated, rooted in love and faithfulness. Cool huh? 

Think about and maybe even consider making a list of your fears... Pray to turn your fear of _____ into faith that ______. Meditate on God's love for us and root the actions of your heart in love and faithfulness... Be courageous in faith and live a life with no fear here. 

Here's to no fear, 

SGK  

"Do not tremble, do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago? You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one.” --Isaiah 44:8

No Panic Needed

My beloved and I just returned from a four-day anniversary mini-vacay in the North Georgia mountains. Ahhhhhhhhh....

"Sans Souci" means "Without a Care" in French...

First of all, it was awesome. Nature is cool. Mountains are legit (not many of those in Kansas where I come from.) The cabin we stayed in was cozy. And our baby dog Justus behaved (it was his first overnight road trip.) 

That being said-- we have left what we like to call "pretend-land" and returned to reality. I have heard many folks say "I love to travel, but I hate the moment that I arrive home." I have to admit, I used to be one of those people, easily overwhelmed by the TO DO list waiting at my doorstep the minute I check out of pretendland.  Time to hit the PANIC BUTTON!!! But not anymore. 

Admittedly, this week is going to be busy for me. It is finals week for my masters. Unlike most school weeks, this week doesn't end on Sunday at midnight, but rather Friday at midnight...  which shaves two days off my paper writing time for finals. Thus, I have to figure out how to squeeze out 31 pages of semi-profound (and coherent) text between now and then. I am certainly not a procrastinator, but due to the anniversary-ish nature of our trip plus the lack of internet, I wasn't willing/able to work on this paper writing excitement in the woods this weekend. 

Ok, so 31 pages of writing to do... plus my blogs this week... gotta do some church-work too... oh, and my running training program kicks up a notch this week as well (still need to go trot-jog 5 miles today). Did I mention I am teaching a class on servant leadership for the youth Wednesday night? 

I don't tell you this to gain sympathy. Yeah, no. In fact, I hope that you are empowered by the fact that I don't feel the need to panic. That's right. No freaking out here. I have some profound school-ish things to do, but in the last 4 semesters of school, God hasn't let me down yet-- and I know he will help me to make it happen yet again. 

Our beloved baby dog...
 Pre-puke. SIGH. 

I had been praying for the last week or so for God to empower me to make it through this second to last finals week of my masters program with minimal stress and maximum efficiency. We've been home about two hours, and I have accomplished a lot already, all for God's glory...  Even though upon arrival, I was greeted with my husband's truck door being left open all weekend because he apparently forgot to shut it which equals dead battery (sigh-- men and their aversion to closing things) I was also greeted by a pile of baby dog vomit in the backseat from the four hour car ride (we are still working on Justus' ability to enjoy vehicle motion.) 

God has already granted my request of "No panic needed." It's Monday-- do you have a crazy stressful week ahead of you? If so, never fear-- instead, pray for no panic needed. I have spent the last 63 days of morning God time and Bible study working through the book of Romans. I landed on Romans 12:11 today... and it was certainly no coincidence. 

"Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord."

I continue to pray that my 31 pages of writing and all of the things on my TO DO list will be a choice of power granted from God. That I can do it with zeal and spiritual fervor, smile on my face know that this time next week will find me in a 10 day break from school (the first that I have had since the beginning of May!) And that all of my TO DO list items can be used to serve the Lord and glorify Him. 

May all of YOUR TO DO's be Soli Deo Gloria, for the Glory of God alone... Oh, and remember: there is no panic needed. 

Writing for His Glory, 

SGK 

“Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise. Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.” --Proverbs 19:20-21

A Heart of Ministry

NEWSFLASH: Being a "minister" can be draining.

Notice that I put the word minister in quotation marks. Those aren't sarcasm quotes... but what I like to call flexibility quotation marks. Before you completely check out, you should know that YOU are a minister too. 

"Whoa, woman. Back the God truck up. I don't work in a church. I didn't go to seminary." That might be true, but I assure you that you have ministered to people-- maybe even today. 

Yes, the word "minister" can be used as a noun to represent someone who specifically fulfills a role or office within a church. HOWEVER... it is also a verb... 

Minister (verb): to give service, care, or aid; attend, as to wants or necessities: to contribute, as to comfort or happiness. 

By defining it in this way, we can <hopefully> say that the majority of us are ministers. While I minister (verb) to people daily, I am also a minister (noun) within a church. (Specifically in the words of Ricky Bobby from Talladega Nights, I am a "newborn, infant, baby Jesus" minister.) One thing that God has already shown my in my time of being a minister (noun) is that ALL of us can minister (verb) to ministers (noun.) 

Confused yet? Ok good, my work here is done. Just kidding. Let's look at a "ministering a minister" experience of my own. A couple of weeks ago, I had the chance to minister (verb) to another minister (noun) while shopping at the PX here on post. Her name was Gale and she was selling copies of her latest devotional. I stopped to chat with her for a few minutes. Our awesome and encouraging conversation ended with a hug, and a list of things to pray about for her. See? Ministering to the ministers! 

Here's the bottom line: Our ability to minister isn't limited to status, title or experience. We all can have a heart of Jesus, which, if you look closely, was a heart of ministry aka giving service/comfort-- for ALL types of people. He ministered to people "above" him (think: Nicodemus, rulers etc) and "below" him (tax collectors, prostitutes etc) 

My "boss," Kelli Wommack is a REMARKABLE minister (both noun and verb.) I am blessed to learn from her-- but I have already learned that ministers sometimes need to be ministered to.  We all are on the same mission to glorify Christ, lift up our brothers and sisters in love. After reading her blog today, The Purpose of Difficulty, I kind of got the vibe that it was shaping up to be a difficult day (but yet still used it as an opportunity to minister to others!) We all have rough days.  It's just part of life. And God can use those difficulties for us to minister to one another. 

So I sent her an email referencing a devotional from yesterday's staff meeting as a challenge to write 10 things we are thankful for each day. My list looked like this: 

1. Running 3.5 miles w/6 hill sprints in it... and not throwing up

2. Pecan carmel candle burning in the kitchen 

3. Finding the bottom of my sink after doing dishes

4. Gorgeous weather and sunshine!

5. Puppy dog cuddles and kisses

6. An amazing role model and boss in Kelli Williams Wommack! 

7. A cabin named "San Souci" waiting in the mountains for my husband and I this wknd

8. Future opportunity to teach SHAPE-y things to youth

9. The Amazing Grace wind chime in our front yard

10. Chocolate-mint flavored water that I discovered yesterday 

It was as simple as that! A reminder of God's love in the form of simple little list. I also pray for Kelli on a daily basis. She is a great friend and mentor. Kelli is incredibly talented. She has a BEAUTIFUL heart for Christ. And I personally feel beyond blessed that God allows me to occasionally minister to her heart with a pep talk, encouraging word, email or Starbucks coffee. Don't let The Enemy tell you that you aren't "good enough" or "experienced enough" or "knowledgeable enough" to minister to someone's heart. We are all human... and who couldn't use a little extra love every now and then? 

Jesus was always on the look out for folks to minister to. Paul also asked continually for people to pray for his mission within the church. Shouldn't we follow their lead, ask for prayers and ministers to the hearts of our own ministers? Literally, let's thank God for the ministers in our own lives!

"I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints. I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ. Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints." Philemon 1:4-7

Have you ministered anyone today? Do you know of a church leader that might need a mini-pep talk? Pray for them. Be their cheerleader. Being a minister (noun) can really take a lot of out of a person sometimes. (Any job working with people can be exhausting!) Don't forget about your own ministers inside AND outside of the church... We are ALL in this TOGETHER. As believers, we can all have a heart of ministry!

A Noun/Verb kinda gal,
SGK

"I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another." Romans 15:14

Taste the Rainbow

At 2:58pm yesterday, I returned home from one of the most awesome, intense, transformational, profound, exhausting, replenishing, breathtaking experiences of my entire life. 

For about 48 hours from Friday afternoon to Sunday, I was hanging with the Holy Spirit and about 60 other women at Christ Community Church's Women's Retreat 2011. The theme was "Come Away..." And away we certainly went. 

God showed up in a huge way, especially for me. I could literally write a book (ok, well at least a 20 page report) about the profound revelations and transformation that God revealed in my heart this weekend. But today, I would like to share with you how God allowed me to "Taste the Rainbow." 

Can you see Him? Look closely.
 He was there! 

We arrived on Friday afternoon and in typical conference fashion, were scrambling around ironing out last-minute details (I was on the planning team.) As registration was winding down, Pam (the preacher's wife) gasped and said "Hey ya'll, LOOK." 

Outside the window, over the trees in the distance was a rainbow. Please note that it had not rained on us all day. I took note, thought it was cool and continued to scramble. Little did I know that a revelation was brewing (no, not the FINAL revelation... just A revelation.) 

I was set to close out the evening that night in prayer before we dismissed for free time or sleep time or whatever time. As that neared, I prayed that God would give me the words he wanted me to say. Suddenly, the revelation hit me. The rainbow. It is scriptural. As worship was winding down, I grabbed my phone, opened the Bible App YouVersion and searched "Rainbow." It appears in Genesis and Revelation (beginning and the end.) Specifically in Genesis 9:14-15 it says, "Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind." Hmmm, very interesting. Promises and convenant. Duly noted. 

Another verse appeared in Ezekiel 1:28-- "Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of one speaking." Also profound. The worship music wound down and it was time to pray in front of these 60 ladies. 

I briefly shared with the girls about the rainbow and the Scripture from Ezekiel. We had already experienced a profoundly moving night during the programming, and I mentioned that the rainbow was a physical sign of God's presence if anyone was doubting that he showed up that night. I began to pray. My heart was pounding and my knees were weak. Not from nerves, but I was pretty sure that the Holy Spirit was so overwhelming I was going to hit the floor (facedown) if he also hadn't been there to hold me up. 

I got done praying and I would love to share with you what I said. But I have NO IDEA. Everyone said it was really legit and moving, but the only thing I remember was saying that God invited us to come away (romantically speaking) and didn't greet us with roses or chocolates, but with a promise of his love in the sign of the rainbow (please take note: we will come back to this momentarily.)

So yeah, that was awesome. But it doesn't stop there. God, as usual, was an overachiever and was with us  all weekend in a big way. Long story still long, Hollie spoke the next morning about how God calls us beautiful. He loves us and romances us. Doesn't get made, doesn't condemn. He LOVES. Oh how he loves us! Hollie then gave us all personalized, individual love letters FROM God. (He used the hands of some of the women in church to write them, but there was NO DOUBT that they were done well in advance of the conference and were from HIM.) 

Well, I took my love letter and went outside under a shade tree for quiet processing time. Good thing I was sitting down, because one of the first sentences of my personal letter said "Some offer ROSES or CHOCOLATES or other earthly trinkets, I have gifts for you-- gifts of POWER and TRUTH. Gifts with ETERNAL VALUE and lifelong benefits." Holy roses and chocolates people!! Needless to say, my love letter also has a few salty teardrop marks. 

God was there. But the even better news is that God is HERE too. In my living room. Around your computer screen. In your car. At work. At home. At the gym. AND He love you. SO MUCH. More than any words can say or song convey. HE LOVES YOU!!! He longs to be with you, transform you, speak to you, love on you daily. Let Him. Receive His gifts. Come away with Him, open up your heart and let Him in... If you do, He too will let you TASTE THE RAINBOW! 

All for His Glory, 

SGK 

"Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars." --Revelation 10:1

The Spirit Through Sprite

"This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!!" --Psalm 118:24

What an awesome Scripture to describe my heart today! I would say that today is the final day I will be talking about God's gifts, but let's be honest, I am not really driving this boat. He might tell me that I need to keep up with the giftiness that is His love. But for now, I would like to share with you why this day is shaping up to be an extra special gift. 

1. I had a great workout/run this morning. 4 miles, which is pretty good considering my legs are less than cooperative thanks to the crazy workout I had with my trainer on Wednesday.  Hurt so good, right? 

2. On the running note, I found a new running training plan that I am "officially" kicking off on Monday. Now that I have determined that it might actually someday be possible for me transition from a non-runner to pseudo-runner to legit-runner, this next three month training plan is to help me improve my 5K running time to under 30 min. (For all you runners out there, that doesn't seem like much, but for this girl who couldn't legitimately run an eighth of a mile 9 months ago, I say Hallelujah!!) So needless to say, I am pumping myself up for THAT intense training experience. GET SOME!

3. We are leaving for CCC Women's retreat in about 2 hrs from the time of this writing. I have been privileged to serve on planning team for women's ministry, so the final culmination to "Come Away" is going to be an amazing gift. Nothing like a two night slumber party to bring women together with God!

4. My old journal is 11 pages shy of being filled up. Which means I get start a new journal very soon. And as a writing geek, that makes my heart flutter. My new journal is SUH-WEET... PLUS I purchased a new black inky pen to go with it yesterday. Totally stoked. 

5. By the grace of God, I was able to  consciously choose prayer over panic this morning probably for one of the first times ever. Which was an AMAZING GIFT. Here's what happened: Justus and I got back from our run this morning around 8:00am. I had a text on my phone from a friend/fellow Drill Sgt wife saying that she had food poisoning, wondering if I could watch her kids for a while today. My immediate response was "Gah, I can't I have so much to do before leaving on retreat in a few hours." But after I sent her a text saying I couldn't take care of the kids but would bring her Sprite, God spoke to me and said "You can do both. I will make it happen." 

So I texted her back and said when I delivered the Sprite I would bring her two oldest kids ages 4 and 2 over to my house to babysit until I had to leave for retreat so she and her newborn could rest. My head was saying that I was crazy and fighting panic, but my heart told me that God had this and he would help me get everything done I needed to before departure (note: I had not packed at all for this retreat... and as part of the planning committee, I was bringing other "stuff" in addition to my own personal items.) 

I initially sent my beloved husband after some Sprite before he went to work this morning, but he called 10 minutes later and said he wouldn't be able to make it back in time before needing to go to work thanks to awesome on-post Friday morning traffic. "Ok God, it's just you and me." I sped groomed, got in the car to go get some Sprite for my friend-- and I found my heart praying to let traffic move smoothly and for God to enable me to get everything done I needed. Oh, and to keep me calm. Minor detail. 

Obviously, prayer over panic worked out wonderfully. Traffic was smooth, I delivered the Sprite, picked up the kids, finished grooming, packed in record time, started updating the Family Readiness Group roster and even had time to blog (hence this post!) This IS the day the Lord has made... And lemme tell you what folks, I am rejoicing and finding myself VERY glad in it!! So thankful that I found the Spirit... In a bottle of Sprite. 

With a carbonated, bubbly heart, 

SGK 

"We pray that you'll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us." Colossians 1:9-10 (MSG)

A Tilt of My Head

I can't draw/cut a straight line to save my life.

I personally think it has something to do with my qualities of being graceful <sarcasm here... I am so clumsy. Recent example: I smoked my shin when I fell off doing box jumps today with my personal trainer. It's purple. Go K-State?!?) But seriously, if someone asks me to hang something on the wall, cut a piece of paper, or draw a line across a page, I hope they don't mean straight. Cause it's not gonna happen.

Fortunately for me, I do have some tools to deal with these issues. Sometimes it comes in the form of a level for wall-hanging stuff. Maybe a ruler or one of those massive paper cutting hacker things that you find in school copy rooms around the nation (although I have been known to cut a whole stack of papers  straight... in a crooked line.) My favorite troubleshooting solution to the straight line issue? Either get another person to do it (my preference) or change my perspective with a tilt of the head. There, now it's perfect!

Sometimes our life situations aren't in a straight line as we think they should be. I struggle with understanding "army logic" and "military strategy" when it comes to my husbands schedule. Just last Wednesday, I needed a perspective shift. I was wallowing in a vat of self-pity about more overnight staff duty/charge of quarters scheduling issues... Then on Thursday, that awesome God of All Comfort that we worship sent me my "head tilt"  I needed to see things clearly once again. It was in the form of having a chance to pray for some "basic training" baby soldiers.

Now, these guys weren't my husbands soldiers (he isn't in cycle currently.) But those little requests of the trainees that I received on small slips of paper to pray over during CRAVE time at church on Thursday reminded me of why my husband and I are here, a drill sergeant and his wife in tropics of Georgia. Some baby soldiers wanted God's help to pass basic training. Others asked for protection for their family. A few prayed for their battle buddies. One prayed for God to be with his wife, who was due to have a baby on September 11th, and he was going to miss it since she was back home and he was at basic training. God thumped me upside the head so hard and efficiently, I got my head-tilt wish ASAP. I was seeing things straight again with my changed perspective.  It's all about the bigger picture, folks. "I guide you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths. When you walk, your steps will not be hampered; when you run, you will not stumble." (Proverbs 4:11-12)

As humans, our flesh is great at distorting our thinking and conjuring up what we think should be our "straight path." If you couple that with The Enemy, man oh man, things really get foggy. Brandon and I have been through a deployment together, and I am very thankful that we have broken a "new" record in our relationship for being in the same time zone for 5 months now. In light of 9/11, this "current suffering" of temporary separations that I am undergoing is no biggie.  But God also doesn't want us to discount those challenges. He simply desires that we turn to Him and ask for his strength, possibly coupled with that "head tilt."

Paul said we should rejoice in our sufferings. He discusses in 2 Corinthians 11:16-30 his amazingly long list of sufferings, essentially saying they are nothing compared to future glory. Only someone that has his head appropriately tilted in the direction of Eternity would be able to think like that. I don't know about you, but I know I could do a better job of clinging to the promise of eternity when my lines seem "less than straight."

When our puppy Justus is confused or can't see things properly, he doesn't remain in the same position, pouting in the middle of the floor or sulking on our lap. Instead, he tilts his head in a quizzical doggie manner until he can figure it out. I know that when we are experiencing struggles and sufferings, it isn't quite THAT simple as a doggie head tilt... but maybe sometimes I need to pray for God to help me see a little more clearly, in the light of eternity and allow him to tilt my head. By His strength, and His strength alone will I be able to "cut my paper" straight.

Do you need to tilt your head today? Ask God to help you see the "bigger" picture, even if you think it looks a little crooked hanging on the wall. Everything can be straighter if you tilt your head and view things in the light of our glorious, heavenly home!

Unbalanced & OK with it,

SGK

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." --Proverbs 3:5-6

No More Cornflakes

I have a confession to make. Sometimes I feel like my faith is flakier than a box of Kellogg's  Corn Flakes.

I would love to say that I am strong pillar of faith, unshakable, undoubting at all times. But then that would be a lie. And last I checked, lying is a sin. True, I never lose faith that God exists, but sometimes I forget (doubt? worry about?) HIS faithfulness and sovereignty. Just last week during my morning quiet time at the kitchen table, I was studying Romans 4 where it was discussing Abraham's faith and salvation through righteousness, not works. Before I could stop myself, I was praying for God to give me faith like Abraham.

Then, midway through the prayer, I panicked. Literally. I remembered all of the things that God commanded Abraham to do, including the near-sacrifice of his son Issac. I freaked out!! I tried to take back my prayer. God, I can't handle anything that big. Developing faith involves potentially scary stuff. I was just kidding. Please cancel my request. 

THEN I realized the ridiculousness of my "please disregard my previous prayer." Why shouldn't I want faith like Abraham? Sure he was challenged and much was asked of him, but seriously, MUCH was given in return.  Where was my faith?

It turns out that as a woman, my natural flesh allows the enemy to sneak in doubt, fear and worry when it comes to our faith in God. Amidst homework, blogging, devotional writing this week, I felt very (surprisingly) calm with my busy schedule-- then actually caught myself starting to worry that I wasn't worried! Seriously, Satan? BACK OFF.

We have to lean on our Father at all times, because he gives us the weapons needed to combat the enemy. We can come away with Him daily and know that He is, was, and will forever be faithful to us. He can and will leave us without worry, and their will be no more "cornflakes" for breakfast (or any other time of day for that matter)

Do you have the courage to pray for faith like Abraham? What worries or doubts are keeping you from it? Ask  for His strength and glory to shine down on you... He will take away your fear,  and replace it with faith.

Say no to the "cornflakes" in our faith. Let's chow down on God's Promises for breakfast instead. 

SGK

"Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1