Thankful Thursday - Dancing in the rain

“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass; it’s about learning to dance in the rain.”  

I’m not sure who wrote that quote but they are right.  Life isn’t about waiting until the storm is over so we can resume our lives and pick up where we left off when it was rudely interrupted us by its down pour.  It’s not about focusing on the storm; it’s about embracing the storm.  It’s about learning how to dance in the rain.

James 1:2 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds.”

So why would he say consider it pure joy?  Trials are not joyful!!  They are hard and sometimes painful and I’m sure none of us look forward to them!!  Why would we want to consider the storms in our lives pure joy?  I think he says this because he understands the purpose of trials and what they bring.  After the storm clears and the darkness turns into light you are left with an experience that will help you grow!  Growing is a good thing and that’s what James learned about the storms of life.  He learned that we should consider it pure joy during those times because good things are going to come out of it!

No pain…No gain

If you were to go to the gym and lift weights and work out for hours each day overtime you will begin to see the results of your hard work.  It’s not fun to work out and most of us dread it, but the results are well worth the hard work it takes!  You know the saying…NO PAIN NO GAIN!!  Very true!  If you don’t put the effort into working hard then you can’t enjoy the wonderful results.  We have to endure these storms so we can mature and develop spiritually or we will stay where we are and never grow.  Like growing pains we experience as we begin to grow from a child to an adult.  If we didn’t have growing pains that would indicate that we are not growing.

You never know who is watching you

Laurie from Women Taking A Stand taught a Sunday school class last week on how people are watching our actions and listening to our words; judging us by what we prove to them.  She had a very good point when she explained it’s a lot like if we were on trial.  The judge and jury will judge you on the evidence alone!  It won’t make any difference what you say, everything is judged on evidence…proof!

What evidence are you giving to prove that you are a Christian?  Are you proving that you are a Christian by the way you act and what you say each and everyday?  You never know who is watching you to see how you react to the rain fall of grief and heartache.  What if God divinely appointed them there to witness your faith?  Are you proving your faith during the rainfall? 

“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” – Albert Einstein

Each difficulty is a learning opportunity, a chance to prove what kind of faith you have in God!  A chance to witness!  The dark is always before the morning.  When the morning finally arrives it will be more than you could have imagined.  

Philippians 4:13 (NLT) “For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.”

On this Thankful Thursday I am thankful for the strength that God supplies to endure the storms of life.  May we never forget we don’t have to do it alone, but with the strength He supplies we can endure anything that comes our way! 

Today, I am linking up over at Thankful Thursday.  IRIS is our host this week, visit Grace Alone for more Thankful Thursday posts.

WFW - Where Are You Walking?

HIS way or OUR way

To walk is to pursue a course of action or way of life.  We ALL are walking each and everyday of our lives.   The question is WHERE?  Are you walking the course that God specially constructed for YOU?  He has designed a particular course for each of us.  Are you traveling down the road he designed for YOU?  We are going to pursue either HIS WAY or OUR WAY…one of the two. 

There are only two routes to choose from…Your route or God’s route.

Divinely arranged for you

Psalm 37:23 “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord… ”

In my words:  “If you are a righteous man living for the Lord delighting in his ways, the path you travel will be divinely arranged for you.”

He has divinely arranged your future!!  Who better to arrange my future than God!! 

He has good things for us!

Good things are waiting for you

The Lord desires for us to have abundant life!!!  He wants us to be happy and have a successful future!!!  He desires only good things for us.  You can’t have an abundant life without God.  It’s just not possible.  I’ve been there; there was nothing abundant about my life before I started pursuing and living for Jesus Christ.

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you plans to give you a hope and a future.”

In my words:  “I know what your future holds because I have designed it, I see the end which is good for I only want good things for you in the time that is yet to come.”

Trusting in Him

We think we can start traveling down our own route thinking that we know what we want, we know what is good for us and we can make our own good decisions without God.  After traveling that route we created for ourselves we realize that we were wrong and we don’t know what we want, we can’t make our own decisions without God and we don’t know what’s best for us. 

Proverbs 3:5 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and he shall direct your paths.”

In my words:  “Trust the Lord completely without any doubt even if we can’t understand or comprehend it in our minds; in every way follow Him and he will give us direction to where he desires us to go.”

Pursing HIS route in our lives is not always easy and we won’t always understand why things happen the way they do and for what purpose.  He has wonderful things in store for ALL of us!  Just because we experience hard times doesn’t mean he is mad or angry with us.  That is just LIFE!  We will ALL face difficult times in our lives and circumstances that we would rather not experience.  When it doesn’t make sense to us; we MUST trust him that he wouldn’t take us down a road without purpose.  When things happen that we don’t understand, trust in Him that he knows what’s best for us and knows what he is doing.  We have a different perspective than he does. 

To read more on God’s perspective visit “His Perspective” http://fromthepagesoflove.blogspot.com/2010/09/his-perspective.html

He will guide you

Psalm 32:8 “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.”

In my words:  “I will give you knowledge and give you guidance to where I desire for you to go; I will give you wise actions to follow and will keep my eyes on you 24/7 without taking breaks.”

Take a closer look at Psalm 32:8 ....

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.”  There are 4 promises found in this scripture!

o   He promises to instruct you (give you knowledge)

o   He promises to teach you (guidance)

o   He promises to counsel you (give you wise actions to follow)

o   He promises to watch over you (keep his eyes on you 24/7)

Now that’s comforting!!  He promises to guide us the whole way!!  Sometimes we get this idea that God doesn’t know what’s going on in our lives.  We ask the questions “Is he aware of what’s going on?”… “Is he paying attention?”  The scripture says that He is ALWAYS watching us.  He doesn’t just watch us some of the time; he is watching around the clock never taking is eyes off of us.  He doesn’t take breaks!!

What route are you taking?  Are you on traveling down a road you designed for yourself or the one God designed for you?

It's Word Filled Wednesday and I'm linking up on the Internet Café.  Visit http://internetcafedevotions.com/ for more Word-filled Wednesday posts.

Desire

The word Desire means to long or hope for…it’s a longing, a craving!  When you have a desire for God with your whole heart you will seek him.  When you seek him you will find him.  When you find him you will love him.  When you love him you will desire what he desires.  You will love what he loves and hate what he hates.  You will have the same desires of who you serve.  You think the same, act the same and talk the same. 

Things God Hates…

Proverbs 6:16-19 “There are six things that Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.”

·         Haughty eyes (proud look)

·         Blatantly and disdainfully proud

·         Excessive self-esteem

·         Lying tongue

·         Making untrue statements with intent to deceive

·         Hands that shed innocent blood

·         To harm those who are free from guilt or sin especially through lack of knowledge of evil; harmless

·         A heart that devises wicked schemes

·         Plan to bring about; plot. 

·         To form evil plans

·         Feet that are quick to rush into evil

·         Established a position in acting with speed to eagerly move toward evil; sinful, wicked

·         A False witness who pours out lies

·         Testifying intentionally untrue information

·         A man who stirs up dissension among brothers

·         To cause quarreling

He doesn’t hate YOU…he hates the SIN

If we are longing for things that are mentioned in Proverbs 6:16-19 then we do not love God.  If we loved Him we wouldn’t desire to have ANY part of those things.

John 14:21 “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me….”

Do you hate the things God hates?

Things God Loves…

Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.”

·         Truth

·         The property (as a statement) of being in accord with fact or reality

·         Noble

·         Possession, characterized by, or arising from superiority of mind or character or of ideals or morals

·         Right

·         Conforming to facts or truth

·         Acting or judging in accordance with truth or fact

·         Pure

·         Unmixed with any other matter

·         Free from dust, dirt, or taint

·         Spotless, stainless

·         Lovely

·         Delightful for beauty, harmony, or grace

·         Admirable

·         To have qualities worthy of admiration

We should desire the things he loves and those things that are detestable to him should be detestable to us!

He is a God of… love, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, forgiveness, purity, joy, peace, patient, merciful, understanding, etc…

Mark 12:28-33 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"

”The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.  There is no commandment greater than these."

 Well said, teacher," the man replied. "You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To Love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

We should desire these things.  We should have a craving to be more like him in everyway. What things do you desire?  Do you love the things God loves?

Read:  Colossians 3:1-15, 1 Corinthians 13:4-13, Galatians 5:22-23, Proverbs 11:23

LACED WITH GRACE - You are on your way

Today I have shared a devotion over at the Laced With Grace site.  It is entitled "You are on your way"

Philippians 1:6 “I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”

We are like caterpillars when we start our spiritual walk with God.  We were made to fly, but first we have to grow and mature to get there.  It takes time before we turn into beautiful butterflies and begin to fly.  We must understand that the journey from being a caterpillar to becoming a butterfly is a process that takes time, patients and grace from God.

For the rest of the devotion please visit Laced With Grace

A Fresh New Start

Philippians 3:13-14 “Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Today is a new day…a new beginning…a brand new start!!! Sometimes when I glance back into the past I am troubled by the bad decisions and mistakes I have made. We all have regrets, but we all have a choice to make. We can choose to dwell on them or we can choose to forget them.

Isaiah 43:18 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.”

Learn from your past mistakes and get back up and try again. Maybe sometimes it seems like all you do is keep falling, but don’t let that keep you down…NEVER give up!!! Get back up and try again. Sometimes it’s easier to give in to not wanting to get back up and try again. Let go of the past and press on toward the future and what it holds for you…what God has for you.

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

Thomas Edison – “I didn’t fail ten thousand times. I successfully eliminated, ten thousand times, materials and combinations which wouldn’t work.”

What a great way to look at it. Thomas Edison could have given up after the many times he failed over and over again but he didn’t. It’s how you end the race. That’s what counts. Focus on the future and forget the past. God is more interested in our future not our past. Satan is the one that is fixated on our past!

Lamentations 3:22-23 “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

I am so thankful for God’s Grace and Mercy that covers us!!! His love for us is unfailing and unconditional. He will NEVER leave us and CAN’T stop loving us!!!

His Perspective

When we are faced with a difficult situation in our life and don’t understand why this could happen…trust Him! When we pray for something and get frustrated or angry because we haven’t received what we have been desperately seeking for…trust Him! When things don’t go just the way you would like them to and you are faced with unexpected twist and turns…trust Him! When he says “No”…trust Him! God is not holding anything good from you; he is holding back something that could cause harm. He knows what’s best for us. I know we think that we know what is best for us sometimes, but the truth is that we really don’t. We are looking at the whole situation with a different perspective than God. He sees everything from a much different perspective than we do.

Picture this…a child is outside in the front yard playing with a basketball and it rolls out into the street. The child begins chasing after the ball when the father runs after him and grabs his arm to pull him back. The father knows better than to let his child run out into the street where he could get hurt…it’s dangerous!!! The child doesn’t understand because he has a different perspective than the father. His perspective is that he wants to get his basketball. His father’s perspective is that if his son runs out into the street he could get hit by a car. Sometimes in our lives things turnout differently than we planed or we never receive the thing that we have been praying for. When the answer is “No” it is not because God wants to withhold any good, it’s only because he loves us and knows what is best for us. Even if we don’t understand, we must trust in him that he knows what is best for us. Even though we are adults we are still his children. Just like our earthly fathers know best, our father in heaven knows what’s best for us!!

Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV) “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”


In my words: “Trust the Lord completely without having any doubt; don’t go by what man’s mind can understand for we cannot understand God’s ways. In every course of action and sequence of events recognize His authority and he will point out your steps to take.”

There have been times in my life when God told me no to some things that I desperately wanted. It wasn’t until years later that I understood why he said no to me and boy was I ever so grateful. I was holding onto disaster and didn’t even know it.

Imagine holding in one hand a gasoline can full of gasoline and in the other you are holding a match. You are holding DISASTER in your hands! God sees what will harm you when we see something that we want. It is hard sometimes because we don’t see what he sees, all we can see is something good, but he sees every detail that we can’t.

Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

In my words: “I know what your future holds because I have designed it, I see the end which is good for I only want good things for you in the time that is yet to come.”

God desires for us to have abundant life!!! He wants us to be happy and have a successful future!!!

What if the thing that you are asking God for will only bring disaster in your life? He is able to see that, but we cannot. Have you been kicking, screaming and rolling around in the floor throwing a fit over something that he won’t give you? What if that very thing that you are holding onto is nothing but disaster? Our perspective is something that we want and we see no harm, but God sees something completely different.

Our God is a good and loving God that only wants the BEST for us! Nothing less! If he says no…trust Him because there must be something that he sees that you don’t.

Refuse To Let It Grow!

A seed is a source of development or growth. Sin is like a seed planted into the soil; it can only survive and grow if you give it tender love and care.
A tree starts out with a small tiny seed and over time eventually grows into a huge tree. Sin starts out small like a seed and it slowly grows into something massive, consuming you completely.

In order for a seed to grow and develop it needs water, sunlight, the oxygen in the soil, room for the roots to grow and etc. If you are letting it grow by giving into that sin over and over again , then you are NOT refusing it…you are NOT resisting it. By saying “NO, I refuse to have this in my life and I will conquer my flesh,” you are making a choice to refuse to water and nurture that seed (sin) for it to develop and grow.

Romans 7:18 “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.”

We can carry it out and conquer our flesh (sinful nature) with the help of the Holy Spirit. We CAN overcome the desires of our flesh, but we have to make a choice and choose to refuse to let it grow!

If you plant a seed and take care of it, supplying everything it needs to grow, then you are allowing it to grow and stay alive. If you make the choice to refuse to let it grow by resisting the devil, you are cutting off its life support and it can’t grow or live. It will die, thus conquering your flesh.

James 4:4 “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.”


James 4:7-10 “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will life you up.”

Are you giving the sin in your life room to grow? Is there something in your heart that you need to refuse to let it grow? Make your choice today to CHOOSE to REFUSE to let it grow!