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You’ve Got This!

“I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength” ~Philippians 4:13

As I sat outside watching baby birds learn how to fly, I thought about us as a people – I thought about how God our Father teaches us to do so many things so that we can spread our wings – just like the birds do.  He created us and placed us in the earth with tremendous abilities to learn, teach, motivate, inspire, and cultivate.  He gave us abilities to understand, think, and feel – yet sadly, many of us shy away from things we tell ourselves that we cannot do.

As I watched the birds fluttering in groves in the clear blue sky learning their routine, I couldn’t help but think that this act of togetherness was crucial to their survival. They were learning from each other!  Our great God gives us the same power to work together as a people – to learn from each other and become the best us.  He gives us the strength so that we can do all things through Him. Like the birds, we need each other to survive – when God’s strength unite us, we learn to encourage each other, look out for each other, and become more caring like our Heavenly Father.

What is it that you feel you can’t do?  Challenge yourself! Others have done it and so can you! Learn from others – ask God to help you know that with Him all things are possible.  Become the best you – maximize your potential and make the best of your life, and while you’re at it, spend time with friends and family – do fun stuff (I’m still a work-in-progress on this one) – do things that make you laugh – sit outside and just gaze into the skies, listen to the birds, your neighbor’s dog  – stop and smell the roses. I have learned that no matter how much I do, I always find myself returning to the place of rest where I need to stop, pray, ask God for renewed strength to continue my journey.  So can you!

Won’t you ask God today to help you do the things you were created to do? I challenge you!

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No SHADOWS

“…God is light and in Him is no darkness at all ”

1 John 1:4-10

When I read this scripture, a few things jumped out at me that I wanted to share:

  • Verse 5 (This is the message God has given us to pass on to you: that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all):

The brightest of lights that I have been exposed to always cast a shadow, even if faintly. Imagine a brightness with no form of darkness – no shadows!  That’s God’s light! I can only imagine the tranquility and serenity that comes from such illumination – this is what the presence of God offers us.

  • Verse 7 (But if we are living in the light of God’s presence, just as Christ does, then we have wonderful fellowship and joy with each other, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from every sin)

If we aren’t experiencing ‘wonderful fellowship and joy with each other’, we aren’t living in the light of God’s presence.  If we are living in the light of God’s presence then Jesus’ blood cleanses us from every sin and frees us to enjoy His light. This is good news!

Truth be told, we all have sinned – if we say we have not sinned we’re deceiving ourselves and we’re calling God a liar (v. 10).  Thankfully, we don’t have to live in our sins because of Jesus. We have the opportunity every day to confess them to Him so that He can cleanse us from every wrong.  This is how we become more and more like our Heavenly Father – receiving forgiveness, learning from our past failures, and trusting God to help us live in His light. No shadows!

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Be HAPPY in your work

I may have read this scripture so many times before, but this time, it spoke to me in volumes:

Ecclesiastes 3:22 "So I saw that there is nothing better for men than that they should be happy in their work, for that is what they are here for, and no one can bring them back to life to enjoy what will be in the future, so let them enjoy it now."

Ever wondered why sometimes we find ourselves struggling to be happy in the jobs we do? I think it's because the enemy knows that God tells us to be happy in our work... and so... just as always, he works hard to get us to be sad and to disobey what God tells us.

If you're like me, perhaps you're not... but maybe your current job started out with you doing something just to make ends meet - that's how I started out - fresh out of high school.  I worked in office administration for more than 20 years and got stuck! During that season, there were many times when I felt like I would never get out of it - this often made me sad.  There were so many moments in that season when I felt unaccomplished and it felt hard to choose to be happy in my work.  I did what I could and although it wasn't what I really wanted to do, I tried hard to be happy - I tried to make the best of it - I told myself that I was doing it as unto the Lord.

Now that I think about it, those moments of 'unaccomplished feelings' were temptations that were set up to see if I would be disobedient to God's Word which tells us to rejoice always! I'm so glad that even though I had failed some of the tests, God remained my help through it all.  Every year was necessary and they became a foundation for who I am today!

I transitioned into becoming a Web and Graphics Designer and the attention-to-detail skills from being an administrative professional are now so unbelievably advantageous!  While I am only at the entrant stage, the enemy keeps trying to bring challenges to my thoughts to make me sad, wanting to be further than where I am now - he almost got me! Not today devil!  I thank God for His constant reminders through His Word "Be happy in your work", no matter which stage you're at.

If God tells us to be happy in our work, odds are the enemy is going to do everything to make us unhappy in our work. He does everything contrary to the will of God.  Know today that God sees the desires of your heart and if you let Him, He'll take you to where you need to be to fulfill your purpose in life and in Him.

Enjoy your NOW moment one day at a time - be happy in your work and aim towards becoming like our heavenly Father. He knows we're not perfect! Keep trying.

 

Keisha-Marie

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God wants us to REJOICE

Verb of the monthThe word 'REJOICE' is a happy word but a hard thing to do. Choosing to rejoice in the face of adversity, suffering or the simplest of challenge is never easy. How can I rejoice when I don't see a way out of my situation? How can I rejoice when I can't pay my bills? How can I rejoice when God is taking so long to deliver me? Can you relate? I certainly can!

Rejoicing calls for being happy in spite of; it requires me making an effort to choose joy.  Hmm... making an e-f-f-o-r-t … that's work - ugh! (As if I don't already have enough to do... sigh!) BUT, before I quickly jump to say that I can't or don't want to... let's evaluate what is required for me to rejoice.

Let's just say that I do try to always rejoice - it would mean that I will need to become aware - all the time - of whenever I start feeling sadness and ungratefulness within my spirit. Does that make sense? I would need to become conscious of my feelings and begin to take keen note of what makes me become grouchy. That's not so bad... that's like doing a self-evaluation... just that I'd have to do it all the time.  This must mean I'll have to change my thinking too... if I tell myself that I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength, then actually try to become more aware, I could actually start to experience something … different!  On the other hand, if I cannot bother to try, I'd get stuck with being sad, miserable with myself and with everyone around me... and this could go on for hours or even days.

Hmm. I believe this is where I pray for God's wisdom and help. "Lord, I want to rejoice like your Word says that I should. This is hard to do on my own... please help me!"  Little by little, I know God will help me to become more like Him - a Godly character.