What signs does God give someone at 3 a.m.? This kind!

Posted March 14, 2014

Filed under England, Thoughts on Trusting God

I woke up at three am, and while usually I wake up amidst Christian songs filling my head and good thought for my day, for whatever reason (maybe even for the purpose here) I woke up and the doubts started coming.

You know the doubts that come when you attempt to trust God against all odds. The doubts that say, “You know this will not work right?” “That you are going to look foolish in front of everyone you know?” “You know that you are going to do a disservice for Christ by showing those on the fence how you can get your hopes up and God will not be faithful to come through?” “You know that you are blowing it, big time….better to quite, hide, shrink back. Give up blogging and give up hope of ever going anywhere for God or doing anything great for Him…When it comes to having success….let’s face it you are just not the type!”

Wow…so glad I do not wake up with these thought on a daily basis!

So anyway here I was….it was the middle of the night and the odds were stacked against me to have any kind of a great day…..but then my daughter heard me get up and wanted to remind me of something she called me (at 3 am) after talking with her I decided to check and see if there was any texts (at 3 am), there was only one.

Before I tell you what I said you must know a few things

My name is Lisa
My friend works at night, at an apartment cabana, where she is there to give night visitors the packages that came in the day
She sent the text hours before I receive it

It said that a package came in from the United Kingdom for someone named Lisa.

Now while some may think that is not really a sign from God, keep in mind that it was three am, doubts were filling my head and I believe it was just His way of reminding me that He is in this! He is the orchestrator and perfecter of the plans that He has for my life and yours.

Every time along the way when I have needed a boost to my faith, there was a small sign to keep me believing that I was going in the right direction.

So while one little sign may be like a snowflake, you get enough of them and it is a blizzard that cannot be ignored.

God will let you know if the path you are on is the path He set before you…just look for the signs.

Put this on your wall to be blessed!

Posted March 7, 2014

Filed under Bible Verse, Thoughts on Trusting God

“From now on, you go and listen to what GOD, our God, says and then tell us what GOD tells you. We’ll listen and we’ll do it.”

GOD heard what you said to me and told me, “I’ve heard what the people said to you. They’re right—good and true words. What I wouldn’t give if they’d always feel this way, continuing to revere me and always keep all my commands; they’d have a good life forever, they and their children! – Deut 5:27-29

As I read this I could not help but weep for two reasons

I wept because I felt Gods broken heart
I wept because of our lost potential

I wept because I felt Gods broken heart

There is no denying it, God has given me a heart that is tender for Him. I often weep when I am reading scripture and see how much He loves us and how much He has been “long-suffering.”

When I read, I am not fooled into thinking that it was only “they” those who lives in Biblical times, that pained my God’s heart, no, I realize that far too often it is I that have caused Him to suffer.

We all have.

Far too often we get lulled into focusing on “the world” around us, which causes us to lose track of the fact that God has a heart that aches for us, a heart that is saddened when we forget Him or deliberately turn our backs on Him.

Yes, God is strong enough to “take it,” yes, God will forgive us when we “give it,” and we all have times (especially as baby Christians) when wrestling with God is something we need to do, if only to realize that He will still love us when we come out the other side, but in every-day, regular life, we need to be a people who care about hurting God.

We need to love God more than anything else and put Him first in all we do….which leads to why

I wept because of our lost potential

My heart breaks over how much time I have wasted. God says that if we just keep our eyes on Him that He would give us a good life.

Now, that God life will look different for each person (in other words it’s not all about money), however, I know, that I know, that I know, that God’s heart for us is that He wants to love and be loved by us and in that, wants to bless us. But just not randomly, He wants to bless our socks off.

While some people do not believe that I do.

God is love, and all good things come from him.

God gave us the ultimate gift already, Jesus, He is a giver.

Plus it has always been my experience that as God blesses others I notice.

And as God blesses me people notice. People who love God, and people who do not.

Why wouldn’t God want to get “the worlds” attention by showing how wonderful a father He is, by always providing for all our needs, and by giving us many blessings that we do not deserve?

Yet, I along with others of my faith, our faith, have wasted precious time by going my own way, by aligning my heart with a desire instead of with God.

As a result others that needed to see His goodness, did not.

Now I am not sure exactly what percentage of part I play in God’s orchestration of bringing others to Him but even if I was 1% of the equation, I am grieved that I made it 1% harder for someone to come to Christ.

I am going print and post Deuteronomy 5:27-29 to remind myself what is important, to remind myself that as Jesus said I am to love God and then I am to love others. Care to join me?

~~~~~~~~~~~

Photo © Jiri Hera – Fotolia.com

Eugene H. Peterson, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2005), Dt 5:27–29.

Why I want to appear foolish

Posted March 2, 2014

Filed under Quotes, Thoughts on Trusting God

Faith is the willingness to look foolish. – Mark Batterson

I love that quote. He talks about how when God calls us to do something it often requires us to look foolish in front of others.

Whether or not we are going to look stupid if we are obedient to God should never be our determining factor.

We should be willing to do what God calls us to do despite the fact that it may look as though we will fall on our face.

I believe that our obedience in this area is a major way that God reaches others.

People need to see God do miracles in our lives so that they could believe that maybe, just maybe, He could do the same in theirs.

photo © iQoncept – Fotolia.com

Once may be a “coincidence,” two times may be “strange,” but three times…it’s definitely a “MIRACLE!”

Posted February 16, 2014

Filed under Answered, England, Prayer, Thoughts on Trusting God

Being in God’s will for my life is my number one priority, but providing for my family is right up there as well. But what I am realizing is that if I am in God’s will, no matter how much it looks like I made a wrong turn, then He will provide for all my needs.

Leaving my job did not endear my with my children, who although they believed that I knew God’s call, were a little afraid that it meant no food for them. I knew that if God was leading me that He would not let them go hungry.

So here is the miracle…get ready

ONLY three times, on three separate days, I have prayed for God to give me money for food since leaving my job.

(My prayers being, “God you promised to take care of me and my kids. Well we need food, and I am believing that you will provide it).

And right after each and every prayer I would get a phone call that lead to my working and earning the money I needed for food.

What are the odds? They are God odds….He is 100% faithful, 100% of the time!!!

When you step out and trust God in a huge way, it sometimes feels as if there is nothing under your feet that you are sure to crash and burn.

But when you keep your eyes on God, He will carry you through to where you need to be!!’

NEVER let fear stop you!

Trust Him and see how good He is!!!

Don’t let this stop you

Posted January 17, 2014

Filed under Thoughts on Trusting God

We should not let our fears hold us back from pursuing our hopes.

~ John Fitzgerald Kennedy

So much of my life was lived in fear. I wasted the first half of it because I simply did not trust God and was led by fear instead of truth.

As I started to lean on Him for the small things He proved faithful and my faith was strengthened.

God placed a hope in me that I would reach people and share the power of his love.

He also gave me a destination. England.

Because He has always come through before, it makes sense that His asking me to leave my job, and trust Him to pay all my bills, while getting me a job in a country I have never been to, would be a cakewalk.

That there would be no fear involved.

But that is not the case. It is scary, All kind of fears want to take space in my head, thereby holding me back from doing all that I have been called to do.

The thing is, I do not listen to my fears, I listen to God. I once read a quote that said Courage is fear that has said it’s prayers.

What a world it would be if we simply prayed every time fear tried to gain entry. If we simply allowed God to lead us into all that He has for us without fear stopping us before we even got out the door.

God places the feeling of hopefulness inside you to allow you to shut out the voice of fear.

Lean into that.

And stop allowing what you see to dictate what God can do in and through you.

God is FAITHFUL he will see you through!!!