God is Cool!

Posted May 9, 2014

Filed under About Me, England, Thoughts on Trusting God

God is cool!

He is a lot more than that, but He is also cool!!!

He always, always, always gives me what I need to keep going.

When God called me to England, I immediately began telling everyone because I am a follower of Jesus Christ and as John 10:27 says

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

I knew, that I knew, that I knew that the Holy Spirit had called me.

Immediately I felt a deep longing for a place that I had never been.

I felt compelled to leave everything behind and go, for no other reason than because I knew God told me to, and that was enough.

At the time…for a while….as long as I stayed focused on God and not on the world.

But then life happened…pressures mounted.

Oh I can take the fact that 9 out of 10 people think I am crazy, I could take the fact that I had to leave a home I love and sell everything in it to go to a place I have never been (Actually I love adventure so that worked) in a short amount of time (August 1^st…that’s really close) but what I have the hardest time with is my Kids.

What is the hardest thing is my four kids (all grown, but the one who will come with me). I have some awesome kids, and as most mothers I would lay down my life for any of them in a heartbeat. But God is not asking me to lay down my life for them, but for Him.

Because I am his child, He understands my heart. He understands my getting sidetracked with sadness of leaving them and worries about how it will all work out, and He knows that I need encouragement to stay on track.

One of the ways that He is encouraged me is to guide me to Francis Chan, not in person but on video. I was encouraged as Francis spoke of what God was doing in his life, as he shared about living courageously with and for God.

It was exactly what I needed at the time to keep going.

That is why I think God is cool!

Just when I think I am the only one…when I think I am not strong enough for the load that I think I have to carry, God reminds me that I am not alone, and I am strong enough, stronger than I thing, because He is with me and is my strength.

So if you are feeling discouraged, or not up to the task that God has laid before you,

Lean into God.

Trust the Holy Spirit to lead and guide you into all that God has for you, and remember you are stronger than you realize because you have a very cool God who cares enough about you to give you what you need to keep going strong.

Photo © jesadaphorn – Fotolia.com

Why a tidy package is usually not what Christians get handed

Posted May 3, 2014

Filed under Bible Verse, England, Picture, Thoughts on Trusting God

I love when God moves in my life, when He wants to give me that hope for a better future.

I have to admit though, that while I love the thought of change, the messiness of it can freak me out.

I want God to hand me my future in a nice tidy package with a big bow …but that is not usually how it works.

Gods leading is more a matter of his putting something on my heart, and as I step out he confirms what he wills for me, with signs.

So ever since God first called me to England I have been getting signs from him to remind me that it is indeed His leading me, and that I am not loosing my mind.

A lot of the signs are simple and yet are clearly from God as there could not be that many “coincidences.”

Although I live just outside of Seattle, Wa…quite a distance from England… I have run across more things from England in the last few months than in my entire life.

I will not surely remember them all but will list a few here…

A customer thought he was paying with a penny…it was a pence. He had no idea where it came from, and I now own it.

English book, flags, plates, spoons, jigsaw puzzels, ets…have been everywhere I looked.

I run into someone from England about every 5^th day.

I dream about England (I have been for a year before I knew was going). I also have dreams about England in which parts have come true in Real life.

Whenever I question God’s plan for me to move to England something “English Related happens”

The two last “Coincidences” were to do with Manchester (the city I am going to)

I was at work and my friend/boss was talking with me about England and she came across a luggage tag (the paper kind the airport gives out) and it was stamped (Manchester) on it.

And

Yesterday I was thinking (even though I knew) “Am I really going to Manchester?” as I stood behind a counter at work. I turned my head just then and noticed that a boy of around 12 had stopped directly in front of me, his back facing me, and his crisp white shirt with read lettering answered my question.

It had bright red letters and on the top half said Manchester.

When I turned my head in disbelief at the timing, and look in the opposite direction he walked again in my view and again turned his back to me….

So although I want everything tidy and in a nice package with a bright red bow, so that I don’t “have to” worry, the fact is…I not only don’t have to worry….I am not supposed to!!!

And if you are a Christian, neither are you… you are NOT flying blind!!!

God tells us through His word that…

“The LORD will continually lead you; he will feed you even in parched regions. He will give you renewed strength, and you will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring that continually produces water.” (Isaiah 58:11, NET)

When God is leading you and you are finding it hard to believe…Ask Him for a sign. He has promised that as He leads you H e will revive you when weak.

So while you may not always get the tidy package from Him that you want…you can be sure that you will get the bow, because while God plans for our live are rarely, if ever, tidy…the signs are often as noticeable as a brightly colored bow.

Photo © Zarya Maxim – Fotolia.com

I will walk by faith

No matter how I am He is faithful

Why we need to put down our paddles and pick up our pom-poms

Posted March 29, 2014

Filed under Bible Verse, Thoughts on Trusting God

I am a person who really does not like conflict. In fact I just ordered a pair of plain black glasses and was given a pair with black on the front and animal print (ick) on the sides.

Did I give them back, insisting they be fixed? No I just decided to live with them. And I have.

But there is one thing that I cannot live with anymore. Something that it eating away at me.

It is the way we as Christians encourage (or don’t encourage) each other.

We are supposed to be a people of faith who simply believe. We are supposed to have a childlike faith.

And yet when someone comes to us excitedly telling us what God just promised them, the usual reaction that we have is to take out our huge paddles, worn with use, and smack that idea down so hard as to shatter it in a million pieces.

We tell them all the reasons why it is not God, instead of believing that God does want to do miraculous things in and through His people.

Nowhere in the Bible does it say that we are to discourage other Christians from believing God’s promises. In fact it says just the opposite;

“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, … respect those who labor among you… esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, and be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.” (1 Thessalonians 5:11–15, ESV)

Look at that!! Paul is saying that to do nothing is not a good thing, so when did we as Christians have come to believe that passivity is the best option?

No, Gods words tells us to not tear down but “build each other up.”

If we are told an idea by a Christian that we find hard to believe, we need to just cheer them on, and then pray for them.

If they are believing sincerely that God is telling them something foolish, and we believe that God is a good God, then why on earth would we think that we have to stop them from some horrible ending. If God is a good God who loves us, wouldn’t He make sure that even if we mishear, He will get us to where we need to be.

The world bashes us enough, and that is ok because they do not believe in a powerful God who loves them, but we should not be bashing each other.

Families are supposed to be our soft spot to land, so let’s be determined to put down our paddles and pick up our pom-poms and make it our business to cheer each other on and believe that God has the best in store for them.

We are called “believers” after all!!

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