Prayer

It seems as though telling myself not to fret or worry, seems a bit unrealistic. However, if God says to not do it, then what do I do instead, and how do I put this into practical application?

Theses are the steps, I believe, convert our/my worries into prayers and into conversations with God instead.

Believe God is listening: In order to believe God is listening we must believe that He exists to lead and guide us. “Look at this: look Who got picked by God! He listens the split second I call to him.” Psalms‬ ‭4‬:‭3‬ ‭MSG‬‬
“I yell out to my God, I yell with all my might, I yell at the top of my lungs. He listens.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭77‬:‭1‬ ‭MSG‬‬
Believe God is for us: God loves us. He truly wants what’s best for us. “Pushed to the wall, I called to God; from the wide open spaces, he answered. God’s now at my side and I’m not afraid; who would dare lay a hand on me? God’s my strong champion; I flick off my enemies like flies. Far better to take refuge in God than trust in people; Far better to take refuge in God than trust in celebrities.
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭118‬:‭5‬-‭7MSG‬‬
Believe God sees us: God already knows what we struggle with, what we celebrate and sees us. He is watching, waiting to be invited into, not only our struggles, but our celebrations too. “God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand. I’m an open book to you; even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking. You know when I leave and when I get back; I’m never out of your sight. You know everything I’m going to say before I start the first sentence. I look behind me and you’re there, then up ahead and you’re there, too— your reassuring presence, coming and going. This is too much, too wonderful— I can’t take it all in!”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭139‬:‭1‬-‭6‬ ‭MSG‬‬
Believe God is who He says He is: This is probably the most important step. The previous three steps are much more challenging to apply if we don’t simply take God at His word, in His Word. “If we take human testimony at face value, how much more should we be reassured when God gives testimony as he does here, testifying concerning his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God inwardly confirms God’s testimony. Whoever refuses to believe in effect calls God a liar, refusing to believe God’s own testimony regarding his Son.”
‭‭1 John‬ ‭5‬:‭9‬-‭10‬ ‭MSG‬‬
“The Message that points to Christ on the Cross seems like sheer silliness to those hellbent on destruction, but for those on the way of salvation it makes perfect sense. This is the way God works, and most powerfully as it turns out. It’s written, I’ll turn conventional wisdom on its head, I’ll expose so-called experts as crackpots. So where can you find someone truly wise, truly educated, truly intelligent in this day and age? Hasn’t God exposed it all as pretentious nonsense? Since the world in all its fancy wisdom never had a clue when it came to knowing God, God in his wisdom took delight in using what the world considered stupid—preaching, of all things!—to bring those who trust him into the way of salvation.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭1‬:‭18‬-‭21‬ ‭MSG‬‬
“What you say goes, God, and stays, as permanent as the heavens. Your truth never goes out of fashion; it’s as up-to-date as the earth when the sun comes up. Your Word and truth are dependable as ever; that’s what you ordered—you set the earth going. If your revelation hadn’t delighted me so, I would have given up when the hard times came. But I’ll never forget the advice you gave me; you saved my life with those wise words. Save me! I’m all yours. I look high and low for your words of wisdom. The wicked lie in ambush to destroy me, but I’m only concerned with your plans for me. I see the limits to everything human, but the horizons can’t contain your commands!”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭119‬:‭89‬-‭96‬ ‭MSG‬‬
Believe for Salvation: It is crucial that we believe that Christ died for our eternal salvation. That He came so that we can be with Him for all of eternity. “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.”
‭‭John‬ ‭3‬:‭16‬-‭18‬ ‭MSG‬‬
Believe you have Access to the presence of God: The Holy Spirit is the person of God that leads us while we wait for Christ to return. This encounter with God, counters every lie and misleading of this lost world. “This is the crisis we’re in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won’t come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is.”
‭‭John‬ ‭3‬:‭19‬-‭21‬ ‭MSG‬‬
Believe prayer is talking directly to God. Prayer is our direct line to God in heaven. Our CEO, HR and advocate all wrapped into one. There is no being put on hold or AI generated phone service, He speaks in every language (because He designed us and every language that represents us), He sees you, He hears you and is eager to guide you on the perfect plan and purpose for your life. Below are some verses on prayer: “Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with. Elijah, for instance, human just like us, prayed hard that it wouldn’t rain, and it didn’t—not a drop for three and a half years. Then he prayed that it would rain, and it did. The showers came and everything started growing again.”
‭‭James‬ ‭5‬:‭16‬-‭18‬ ‭MSG‬‬
“God can’t stand pious poses, but he delights in genuine prayers.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭15‬:‭8‬ ‭MSG‬‬
“God keeps his distance from the wicked; he closely attends to the prayers of God-loyal people.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭15‬:‭29‬ ‭MSG‬‬
“God, come close. Come quickly! Open your ears—it’s my voice you’re hearing! Treat my prayer as sweet incense rising; my raised hands are my evening prayers.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭141‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭MSG‬‬
“I’ve thrown myself headlong into your arms— I’m celebrating your rescue. I’m singing at the top of my lungs, I’m so full of answered prayers.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭13‬:‭5‬-‭6‬ ‭MSG‬‬

I am truly leaving today’s blog with such encouragement of these collection of verses. I pray that we each have a God-encounter, that we take prayer more serious but also more reachable and accessible than we did before. That today is a day that we celebrate the access we have to God, to His Plan and Purpose for our individual lives and for the corporate good of the Church. That prayer is a first thought to our day not a last resort to life’s problems. Amen!

““Yes, indeed—God is my salvation. I trust, I won’t be afraid. God—yes God!—is my strength and song, best of all, my salvation!””
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭12‬:‭2‬ ‭MSG‬‬
https://bible.com/bible/97/isa.12.2.MSG

#prayer #strength #joy #salvation #believe

Friend of God

“It is only when you understand the transcendence of God that you see how amazing his immanence is, and what a huge privilege it is to be able to enjoy intimate friendship with God.”

The Bible with Nick and Pippa Gumble, Classic version 2025, day 33

We get to have an intimate relationship and friendship with God.

Transcendence means: God exists apart from, and is not subject to the limitations of, the material universe. He is above and beyond, surpassing and excelling, greatly superior to us.

Immanence means: it is possible to experience his immediate friendship.

What that spoke to me was, God doesn’t need me, He wants to be in my life, just because of the me He created, to be a deep, intimate friend to Him. He owes me nothing. He gave me life.

The real question is: “What will I do with the gift of life, He gave me?” Knowing that He did not HAVE to create me or you, but He did. Knowing this, leads to the realization that you and I must have a purpose. The meaning of that gift of life given to you and me, is to find out why & then use every ounce of breath we have in our lungs doing exactly that.

Lord, You are my creator as well as my best friend. Help me remember that if and when I lose sight of that. Amen.

#friend #hope #life #bible #truth

My favorite day of the week

Give it all…“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭3‬:‭20‬ ‭ESV‬‬
https://bible.com/bible/59/eph.3.20.ESV

Sundays are my favorite day of the week. I get to go worship the one true God that has led me through my darkest hour yet also has shared in my joy in my most celebrated moments. He is truly my most prized possession.

I don’t deserve it, I couldn’t earn any of it, yet here I am emptying all my junk on Him while He pours out mercy, love and grace to me. Sundays, I get to celebrate this God who is not mad at me, but madly in love with me, with other believers.

It’s mind blowing that He, the uncreated one who created everything…

“Yet You are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In You our fathers trusted; they trusted and You delivered them. They cried out to You and were set free; they trusted in You and were not disappointed.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭22‬:‭3‬-‭5‬ ‭BSB‬‬
https://bible.com/bible/3034/psa.22.3-5.BSB

Today, is a great day to go be with people that believe what God says, about everything. We need His guidance, His wisdom, His direction. Today, I challenge you to go to church.

Current events

What have we come to as a nation when we call good evil and evil good?

After the attempted assassination of our former president, Donald J Trump, I saw posts making light of it. Some even said it was staged after one innocent bystander was killed by a stray bullet and two others are in critical condition.

We can do better than this. I believe that when a nation honors God, Biblical principles and has a conscience for truth, we do better.

Let’s take our eyes off political opponents, media hype, misleading headlines and simply look up. God does not need to be found, He needs to be invited into our mess so He can clean it up.

Would you consider inviting God into your mess today?

Independently, dependent on my sweet Jesus

As an American writer and Christian, I must pause, every year to reflect on my religious freedoms. Many people that I’ve met throughout the years have shared their fight to acquire these freedoms that I have never been without.

With that introduction as a backdrop, I am here to express my sincere gratitude for my country, my faith, my church and my family. The United States is not perfect. We still experience growing pains from remaining to be the melting pot of the world. I want to thank everyone prior to me that fought for the freedoms my family and I enjoy to this day.

I highly recommend listening to Max McClean’s reading of the Declaration of the United States of America.

May you have a blessed Independence Day!

Happy Resurrection Day!

Just when the enemy thought he’d won, the stone began to roll, Jesus rose with a good morning stretch, folded His grave clothes, and placed them on the alter. (My paraphrase)

You may feel defeated but thank God feelings are not fact. They are simply an indicator to what’s going on inside your heart and soul. Like the indicator light on the dashboard of a vehicle. The fact is, we win with Jesus. Every time, every day, every circumstance. Not even death could hold Him down, darkness cannot comprehend His light. Defeat is impossible when all things are possible with Jesus.

Today is a great day to resurrect the living God in your heart.

Prayer

Lord, I believe that You were born of a virgin, sent by God the Father, to conquer sin and death for me. You were crucified, and on the third day, You rose from the dead. You ascended onto heaven and are preparing a place for all who believe! I believe! Help me with my doubt as I walk this out! In Jesus name, amen!

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Nobody Makes It Out Alive Week 6 Maintenance plan Day 7 Seize the day

“so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
‭‭John‬ ‭3:15-16‬ ‭CSB‬‬

Here we are at the end of our journey. We have conquered much, these past few months together. We have fought for our minds to embrace a truth about who God is to us, who we are to Him and why that matters. Taking our eyes off of what we see in this world while we long for the unseen treasures of eternity.

As you have probably discovered, there is no generic formula to get from the beginning of your time here until you pass on through to eternity. You are a unique, designed being, on a set course, for an eternal destination.

Where we spend eternity will be determined by who we put our trust in. We can put our trust in The One who designed and created our inmost being, before we were given, on loan, to our mother’s womb, or we can live our lives with no creator in mind at all. Whichever we choose, time ticks and eternity awaits our last tic on the clock because nobody makes it out of here, alive. We are not promised tomorrow. We cannot change the past. Today is meant to be seized with eternity in mind.

I leave you with some real questions. Where will you spend eternity?
How will you spend your daily 1440 minutes as you walk out the timeline given to you that disrupted eternity?
Do you know who God is to you?
Do you know who you are to God?
Do you know that where you spend eternity is anchored in those last 2 questions?

Only you can answer these questions honestly. If you do not know where to start, start with the Salvation prayer then by reading the book of John, Acts and Romans, in the Bible. I recommend the, The @YouVersion Bible App has a permanent spot on my home screen.
http://bible.com/app , so you can pick a version of the Bible that is easy for you to understand and memorize.

Salvation prayer:
Lord, I admit that I am a sinner. When I have sinned and when I sin, I sin against You only. I believe that You were born to a virgin, lived a sinless life, was crucified for no crime but for my sin to be erased, that You died and rose from the grave, conquered sin & death on my behalf, that You are in heaven preparing a place for me; and I believe that You are coming back for me, to be with You, for all of eternity. I confess to You Lord my sin ( confess whatever comes to mind) and I believe that my confessed sin is erased at the cross where You willingly laid down Your life for me. Lord, I believe Your word is an echo of Your heart and I will study, meditate and keep it in my heart and mind, daily. Amen.

“Little children, let us not love in word or speech, but in action and in truth.”
‭‭1 John‬ ‭3:18‬ ‭CSB‬‬

“Do everything without grumbling and arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world, by holding firm to the word of life. Then I can boast in the day of Christ that I didn’t run or labor for nothing.”
‭‭Philippians‬ ‭2:14-16‬ ‭CSB‬‬

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Nobody Makes It Out Alive Week 6 Maintenance plan Day 1 Remember

“The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love. He will not always accuse us or be angry forever. He has not dealt with us as our sins deserve or repaid us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his faithful love toward those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭103:8-12‬ ‭CSB‬

The maintenance plan to embracing or seizing the day rests on whose hands you place your day, your life and your reactions in. Have you or do you remember the acronym K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Silly)? We overthink and complicate things by rehearsing and agonizing over a past we cannot change as well as worry about a future that has not arrived yet.

I read somewhere that around 97% of the things that the average person worries themselves sick about never even happen. I found the information when I was struggling with severe panic and anxiety attacks. One of the application exercises I did, per my counselor’s suggestion, was write down the last 10 things I remembered that triggered a panic attack. Then write down what the actual outcome was. In my own writing, one hundred percent of what I was running through my head, DID NOT happen. I just sat there staring at it in disbelief. Almost trying to convince myself that I was wrong, it must have been much worse but it was not worse. In fact, everything worked out in one way or another with minimal issues. All of those scenarios had workable solutions that I learned to adjust to and live with. I still struggle from time to time with anxiety but the majority of the time I can practice that simple exercise in my head and it helps me put things in perspective. In fact, one of my coping phrases that came out of that season in my journey is this: “Everything is going to be okay. It may not be the okay I planned for but, ultimately, it will be okay.”

Lord, I know You are with me, that You want what’s best for me. I believe if You allow something or someone to come into my life or leave, it is for a purpose. My days are numbered. I do not want to waste my day on anguishing on a past I cannot change or a future I have not seen yet. I choose to seize the day rather than to have the day seize me. Amen

“For he knows what we are made of, remembering that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass — he blooms like a flower of the field; when the wind passes over it, it vanishes, and its place is no longer known. But from eternity to eternity the Lord’s faithful love is toward those who fear him, and his righteousness toward the grandchildren of those who keep his covenant, who remember to observe his precepts. The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭103:14-19‬ ‭CSB‬‬

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Nobody Makes It Out Alive Week 5 Focus Day 2 Identity

“Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb. I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration—what a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day.”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭139:13-16‬ ‭MSG‬‬

God, You, created us with such great joy and delight. You loaned us to our family for a season until we would be with You in paradise. What a concept. To fully identify with this verse and believe it is a huge milestone in our faith-walk level of maturity. Not to just see these verses as poetic masterpieces but to see ourselves as the Uncreated One’s living, breathing, reflection of His favorite design.

Maybe your parents encouraged you in believing that you are loved, purposed and valued. Maybe your parents made you feel like a mistake, a burden or unwanted. Either way, you and I were on loan to them.

You are not a mistake. You were made for a specific purpose by God before he began to shape your baby toe. The rest of the world may not understand your place in this world but it’s not their job to figure that out, it’s yours. Once you do, your whole view will go from darkness to light.

Lord, help us look to eternal You for our identity rather than this temporary world. This is not our final destination, You are. Help us identify, with Your guidance, who we are to you and why that matters. May we never accept the lie of being a mistake or unwanted, by people that were supposed to love us. May we be grateful for those that pointed us to You. Amen.

“See what great love the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children — and we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it didn’t know him.”
‭‭1 John‬ ‭3:1‬ ‭CSB‬‬

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Nobody Makes It Out Alive Week 5 Focus Day 1 My God

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness.”
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1:1-4‬ ‭CSB‬‬

Who is God to me? Have you ever really pondered the relationship you have with God or the depth of it? If someone were to ask you who God is and why do you believe in Him, do you have an answer? I pray you do, and if you don’t, I pray that you study His character, His integrity and His heart, until you sense His heart beat as you lean against His chest. I pray you feel the very breath in your lungs from Him as you sense His cheek against your cheek. I pray that He becomes the safe place that you run to instead of thinking He’s an angry God that you have to run from, every time you mess up.

My God, our God is the uncreated one who created every living thing with a few simple sentences. But for us, His beloved, He formed us with His very hands and breathed life into our lungs. We are His image bearers with His very fingerprints engraved in our skin as He shaped us ever so delicately before placing us in our mother’s womb. How precious the thought and care He took to design each of us. No one, no not one, will love me, like my God, my Creator and my Savior. My God created the light to consume the darkness before He would allow me to be here. My God has been providing an environment for me to thrive in long before I got here.

Lord, I pray that we do not miss the details in which you brought us to life to have a relationship with You. That every detail of the preparations You made to provide us everything we need for an abundant life here, while on this temporary journey. How much more do we have to look forward to, when we get to heaven? Heaven, where sin and death are defeated for all of eternity. Help us, Lord, keep our eyes on You and what you have created so that we have that hope, that light inside of us to share with others. Amen.

“All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.”
‭‭John‬ ‭1:3-5‬ ‭CSB‬‬

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Nobody Makes It Out Alive Week 4 Nothing Wasted Day 7 Clocked into Purpose

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭2:10‬ CSB

It all looks good in verses, sermons and devotionals, but how do we clock into purpose? We can not apply what we do not know and or if we do not understand the why behind the do, or the how behind the apply.

Be careful, as we grow in Christ, to not be condescending towards someone who is not where you are yet. Be in tuned and always remember the wretch you were before you point out others wretched behavior.

I’m going to break it down; the how to clock into purpose steps. This is simple but it is a process. Everyone’s process is different. The first goal is to commit to never stop taking these steps through the process. The second goal is to allow yourself to be shaped and molded by the process rather than try to reshape the process to make it more comfortable. It’s okay if it’s uncomfortable. This is where the learning takes place.

Clocking into purpose will be familiar because it aligns with how God designed you. Your sinful nature, also known as the flesh, will fight you every step of the way to fulfilling your purpose, so be ready for the fight. Just remind yourself to be on the right side of the fight for your purpose.

Here are the steps:

Know who God is to you.
Know who you are to God.
Know why that matters.

These 3 simple steps will take the entire span of your life, while you’re on loan here, to master, but it will give you the confidence for and about eternity.

Next week we will discuss 7 areas to focus on to help us define who God is to us, find our identity in who He says we are to Him and learn why that matters in the process.

Lord, we are a mess without You. Thank You for the process. Thank You for taking my messy self and making something beautiful out of my mess. Help me focus on getting to know You and me better so that I understand the quality of life that my relationship with You brings to me and those around me. Amen.

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Nobody Makes It Out Alive Week 4 Nothing Wasted Day 6 Dare to dream

“But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait eagerly for it with patience and composure.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭8:25‬ ‭AMP‬‬

Nothing crushes our dreams like traumatic experiences and basic adult responsibilities. As a child we dream big about what we will do when we grow up. Some kids have the joy and privilege of a home that encourages their dreams, some have parents who to try to control their dreams, some have parents that want you to pursue THEIR dreams instead of your own and some parents crush their kid’s dreams with abuse, negligence and abandonment. Regardless of what kind of childhood you had, you can still dare to dream.

We’ve covered so much in the past 4 weeks about distractions, giving our battle to God, grieving and facing what we have lost and now placing what belongs in the past, in the past, while learning from it, embracing our present, by living with the reality of our now, to looking forward to a hopeful future. None of this is possible without leaning consistently on God’s strength. If we lean on our own strength we will burn out.

I challenge you to dare to dream like you did as a child. Dare to live a life of passion and purpose. I dare you to ask God to break your heart for what breaks His. I dare you to start something you put off that you can’t stop thinking about. I dare you to dream.

Lord, the hints of what makes us who we are, because of who You are, started in our childhood. I understand that not everyone grew up in an environment that nurtured and developed their uniqueness. I pray that we remember our dreams of our youth, that the opportunity to develop that purpose and passion would be ignited inside of us once again so we could be walking out the journey made just for us. Help us, Lord, dare to dream, with that child like faith. Amen.

“It’s not that I have already reached this goal or have already been perfected, but I pursue it, so that I may grab hold of it because Christ grabbed hold of me for just this purpose. Brothers and sisters, I myself don’t think I’ve reached it, but I do this one thing: I forget about the things behind me and reach out for the things ahead of me. The goal I pursue is the prize of God’s upward call in Christ Jesus. So all of us who are spiritually mature should think this way, and if anyone thinks differently, God will reveal it to him or her. Only let’s live in a way that is consistent with whatever level we have reached.”
‭‭Philippians‬ ‭3:12-16‬ ‭CEB‬‬

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Nobody Makes It Out Alive Week 4: Nothing Wasted Day 2: Live in the present

“Who among you by worrying can add a single moment to your life?”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6:27‬ ‭CEB‬‬

Living in the present is much more achievable if we can leave the past behind us and plan for the future without worrying about the future.

Whether you have a train wreck behind you or sweet little bunny path full of sweetness for a past, your past is done. All you can do is embrace what is in front of you because as we learned from our grief week, it is all temporary. If we dwell on and beat ourselves up about the past or stress about the future, we rob ourselves of what is in front of us.

We can learn a lot from the past by simply pulling out that “ugly journal” we discussed in prior weeks and write down every time we freaked out about something that ended up turning out better than we ever imagined. When you start to stress, read and remind yourself that everything is going to be okay. I also like to add that it may not be the okay I planned for but it will be okay.

When you find yourself uttering the words, “could’ve”, “should’ve” or “would’ve”, stop, say out loud “Not productive, not going to help me.” Rather than verbally bash yourself and put yourself in a position to not be able to change what’s done, give yourself advice on how you will do it differently. That’s all you can do is learn from it and do it differently next time. Then trust God in the process.

By removing the weight of your yesterdays and the heaviness of the uncertainties of tomorrow, from your today, you can live in the present. If you’re a professional worrier, make it a point to become a warrior of prayer. Turn every worry into a conversation with God. Tell Him exactly what you are concerned about and then stick to what is directly in front of you, right now.

Toby Mac once said something so profound that really helped me get the concept of living in the present moment:
“We worry about tomorrow like it’s promised”

Lord, we are a work in progress but we are also your vessel of spreading the good news. Help us be more aware of what we bring into our present moments that do not belong there. Help us focus on the gift of this day and show up for every divine appointment. Amen.

“Therefore, stop worrying about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6:34‬ ‭CEB‬‬

#jointhejourney #writer #journey #author #khoward #k4gsus #beautifullybroken #nobodymakesitoutalive #devotional #seizetheday #week4 #nothingwasted #live #present

Week 2 Nobody Makes It Out Alive Day 3 Trust the Process

“My Christian friends, remember to be happy, even when many kinds of trouble happen to you. Troubles can help you. God wants to see if you really trust him. Your faith in God will become stronger as a result of these troubles. So you should continue to trust God all the way to the end. Then you will grow as a believer. You will become completely how you should be. You will not need anything more.”
‭‭James‬ ‭1:2-4‬ ‭EASY‬‬

Jesus knows about trials, trouble and tests that have unexpected arrivals and outcomes. The difference between us and Jesus in these moments is that Jesus is not surprised like we are. Jesus takes our free will, the freedom of our choices and keeps working them out for our good.

For example, as we read the accounts of the days leading up to resurrection Sunday there was a lot going on behind the scenes. Jesus had a divine appointment with an excruciating process and no behind the scenes plan was going to divert his plan and purpose.

On one hand, the religious leaders were plotting to ambush Jesus and keep Him from getting more followers. The Bible says that basically Jesus diverted their plans because their plan didn’t line up with God’s divine appointment book.

On the other hand, Judas, one of the disciples, was negotiating his 30 pieces of silver to turn over Jesus to governing leaders. Jesus did not thwart this plan because this plan would be the set up for the divine appointed time for the excruciating process. Where heaven and earth would collide, where Jesus faces off our consequences from sin and defeats the grave, defeats the devil and rescues His beloved (that’s you and me) from the laws of sin.

While the excruciating process of the cross was part of Jesus’s purpose, He joyfully, knowingly walked out the process because He knows the full plans He has for us. He knows that while we, His beloved, may feel so far away from Him, or think that our captivity in our, what seem to be, impossible circumstances will never end… Our beloved Jesus has a plan and He will see it to its completion and it’s always with our best interest in mind.

Jesus has an incredible track record of following through with everything He said He would do. And though some will choose their own path, He will not stop working things out for their good. He will never stop fighting for us. As long as we have breath on this earth, there’s still a chance that He could win our heart. We need to trust the process and stop following the crowd.

Lord, help us trust the process. Help us get into your word and reveal to us not only the plan and purpose for our lives but give us wisdom and understanding to trust the divine appointment you went through to save us. Amen.

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭8:28‬ ‭NLT‬‬

#jointhejourney #writer #journey #author #khoward #k4gsus #beautifullybroken #nobodymakesitoutalive #devotional #seizetheday #week2 #HolyWeek #trusttheprocess

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