My page 23 vision!

On Feb 20^th at 2:02pm I had my “page 23 vision”

I was on my way home from Church after hearing an amazing sermon by Pastor Perry Noble. First off, he cracks me up…I don’t think I’ve laughed that much in ages! My cheekbones hurt! Second… He put forth some really great questions that we should be asking God.

First question was  “Who is God”

I asked “God, who are you?” in the passage I was reading this morning, in Luke 10, He answered that He is my protector & my provider.

The Lord will be my protector until the He places someone in my life that is worthy of my heart & that resembles Him enough to hand it over! Until then, He will be all I need, ALL the time! Jesus provides for me in ways that no one else can. I trust Him 100% and know that He will come through with whatever it is that I need or ask for. But if He doesn’t, it’s because He has something better in mind!

The second question Pastor Perry asked was

“What would you do for God, if you knew you couldn’t fail?”

This one I asked on my drive home… this one… He answered clear as day. So much though that it scared the living day lights out of me!

I got to Starbucks where I was meeting a friend & the first thing she said was “What’s that big smile on your face for!?” and I couldn’t wait to sit down and tell her all about it…but first, I had to get my coffee! ;)

She dropped everything that she was doing to help me jot down ideas…It was just flowing, we were both typing & talking and bouncing ideas off each other. It was amazing how easily it came…that’s how I knew it wasn’t MY idea… it was HIS.

It amazes me how God places the right people, at the right time in our lives! My Pastor said a while back

“You can tell the work God is about to do in your life by the equipment (people) he brings around you”

He has put some major heavy duty machinery around me lately! And that is both encouraging, yet intimidating! I know I have the people around me to get done what needs to get done… But I’m intimidated because I have absolutely NO idea how this is going to work… once again, you know it’s from God when you don’t know all the details! He won’t show you every little thing all at once. He is my guide sitting in the passenger seat telling me which turn to take next, not my map of directions showing me every detail of the journey.

This morning I woke up and thought to myself  “Do I really want to do this!?...I don’t think I can!”

Yes, yes I do… because I’d be a coward if I don’t!!! God is about to blow my mind with something that He is asking me to do…WHY would I miss out on an opportunity like that!?

He says in Genesis 28:15
I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."

I trust Him, I know He will provide, because it is His vision…He promised me this & with Him, I can do it. I can’t pull this off myself but I’m willing to step up and do what He has asked me to do.

Who is God to you? What would you do for Him if you knew you couldn’t fail? What is He prompting you to do? Are you gonna be a coward or step up and be obedient? It’s your choice! I know which one I’m choosing :)

Be patient & trust God

I asked God  a question this morning during my prayer time and asked Him to speak to me through His word today…already I have 2 answers.

I found a note card with a verse that said

Mark 9:23

ALL things are possible to him who believes.

And then I turned in my Bible and there was a verse underlined that caught my eye

Romans 5:21

He was fully convinced that God is able to do what ever He promises.

Romans 4:18

Even when there is no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping.

It made me realize that I need to look to Jesus, obey Him & wait for God to fulfill His word.

The Lord has been teaching me patience. I struggle with persevering in the face of delay without getting irritated… I’m impatient, I don’t like to wait. I’m not very good at the patience testing. Once I set my mind on something, I want to do it right away.

 Sometimes the Lord withholds information from us for that reason. So that we don’t get ahead of ourselves and allow Him to be the guide. Other times He gives you a glimpse of what it will look like, but wants you to be patient. If He hasn’t given you all the details yet & you move forward without Him, it could be destructive.

My biggest struggle is patience, as I said. I ask the Lord to teach me, KNOWING that my toughest day is ahead of me. Because, without fail, when I ask for patience, He puts me in situations that put me to the test!

So, do I choose to rush ahead and do what I want without Him? Or do I learn to stand strong in Him, waiting calmly & willingly, not chomping on the bit like a horse raring to go!!!

Over the past couple months He has taught me that not everything is in my time…I KNEW that, I just didn’t fully grasp it. Looking back on my journal entries over the past couple of yrs I noticed God ALWAYS gave me what I asked for. Maybe not in my time, but His time was always perfect. It also may not be given to me the way I asked for it… but it was always better.

He knows our hearts, He knows what we want, He put those desires there!

Whether it’s wanting

A new job

A fulfilling job

A child

A husband or wife

To be successful

To be who that man or woman of God He made you to be

Whatever it is, He will do it for you if you ask.

When I first moved to CLT, I didn’t know many people, I left my friends in England and Philly along with my family… my mum & step dad moved to CLT a yr or so after I did so that was comforting…but I still didn’t have the friends that I used to have and felt very lonely.

I would always pray that God would send me some great friends… and He gave me the best friends I could ask for & the best Church family I could've never even dreamed up myself!!!

Pastor Steven says

“You can always tell what kind of work the Lord is getting ready to do in your life by the equipment (people) He puts around you”

My friends challenge me daily, they fight for me, love me, pray for me, stand by me, push me, speak truth to me and most of all they help me grow into the woman God intended me to be. For that, I am grateful.

He has given me the most fulfilling job. I am so blessed to get to work in the field that's one of my passions. Next to outreach, I love to cut hair!! I am not a girly girl so it’s kind of strange that I ended up in this industry. I grew up with 2 older brothers so they didn’t exactly set an example and put me on the path in this direction! :)

I’m still not really into all that but I do love to design cuts on people and I do love to make people feel good. I’m fortunate enough to get to do what I do, be successful & enjoy every minute of it. My chair is also a great ministry. God gave me a gift & I don’t intend to waste it. I thank Him all the time for allowing me to be able to do what I do.

I wouldn’t be where I am if it wasn’t for Him.

HE gave me the gift

HE gave me this job

HE allows me to be successful

How can I not trust that He will give me what my heart desires after what I’ve seen Him do in my past!?!?!

PAST BEHAVIOR IS THE BEST PREDICTOR OF FUTURE BEHAVIOR

What has God done in your past for you to be able to know & trust Him to be faithful to you in the future?

Be patient...TRUST HIM… you have no reason not to

To really KNOW Jesus...not just KNOW OF Him

During the 5-11 favor fast that we did as a Church, I felt as close to the Lord than I have ever felt. I wish I could experience that closeness & sensitivity to His presence every day! Throughout the next couple of blogs I am going to share some of the things I jotted down during that time! Hope the Lord speaks to you in some way through it!

Through this fast I am feeling very close to God. I am experiencing how to have Him as my sole source for fulfillment. I have joy & happiness in Him. My soul is full, content & satisfied… my physical needs, on the other hand… are not! It’s hard feeling the constant hunger pangs, but each time that my stomach grumbles… I thank God for something that He has done in my life over the past 2 and ½ yrs of knowing Him. I have been abundantly blessed beyond what I could ever imagine! I am so very thankful for all that the Lord has done in my life. It’s a mind blowing this to feel content in the Lord, there is nothing more that I would want for anyone than to know this feeling. The feeling of being whole, complete, fulfilled, content. Nothing but knowing Jesus gives me this feeling!

I pray for people that not only don’t know Jesus at all, but also for those that know OF Him, but don’t have that healing, restoring, loving, serving, submitting relationship with the Lord. If you are one of those, I encourage you to pray and ask Jesus to come into your life. Open your heart so that He may do the work in you that you so desire. You may have grown up in a Christian household and feel like you are a “Christian” but still may not intimately know Him & embrace Him for who He is and what He can do in your life! He wants to KNOW you, personally.

I was the very last person that you would ever expect to be a Christian. I went through quite possibly the worst thing a person could go through and yet at that point, He found me, He heard my cry, He carried me through that time, out of the pit to the top of a mountain! & I am FOREVER grateful.

Deuteronomy 31:8  “The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

That is such a comforting thought to know that he will ALWAYS go before me, I won’t be on my own and He will NEVER leave me. So I have no reason to be afraid, no matter how daunting the situation looks, or how unhappy I am feeling. Just to know that he is with me & will help me succeed in ANYTHING is enough for me to feel peaceful & place ALL my trust in Him.

Genesis 39:3 

“When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did”

The Lord promises to get us through whatever it is that we are going through, if we lean on Him. He will direct our paths.

Genesis 28:15 

“I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

Whatever it is that you are struggling with, whether it’s something specific or just life un general. Put your faith in Him & let Jesus guide you.

We all carry so much unnecessary rubbish around. We don’t need to carry this weight, that’s what Jesus died for. Give it to Him! If you don’t know how, just pray and ask!

John 14:14 

“You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”

Get in the word & read!

When I first became a Christian, I wasn’t into reading & I especially wasn’t into reading the Bible! I didn’t think a book so old, written by a bunch of different prophets could relate to my life now… boy was I wrong! That is the first place I go in the morning to gain insight, wisdom & guidance. The Bible was written as a life reference to show us how life is supposed to be lived. When you start getting in line with how Christ lived, your life all of a sudden becomes fulfilling. I look back before I knew Christ and wondered what on earth I did with my life those 26 yrs! These last 2 ½ yrs have been THE MOST fulfilling & productive. I have grown and done more in those yrs than I did the first 26 yrs!

Revolve your life around Jesus… & see what He does

Perspective Check

Today I was taking part in the prayer study on my good friend, Wendy Blights blog. There was a question that really stood out to me on Luke 10:38-42

 38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

   41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one.^[a^] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

This spoke to me in a very clear way…the Lord has been speaking to me about this quietly for the past couple of weeks… as always, I chose not to listen and I find myself getting to the point of being overwhelmed.

I am such a perfectionist and feel like I have to pack my schedule full of things to keep myself busy. I try to reprioritize and keep life a little simpler…then within a couple weeks it’s back to crazy again. I don’t like it that way because I don’t have time to spend with Jesus and that is THE MOST important part. In the verse He said “Mary has chosen what is better” she chose to sit at Jesus’ feet and spend time with Him, rather than doing the work FOR Him. That’s hard for me. I love outreach and to do things for others, so I am all about jumping at the chance to help… but I need to learn when to say No.

When I came back from El Salvador in October it was a perspective check. The El Salvadorians live such a simple life and yet are so very happy & have such a strong faith… I want that, I want to have a simple schedule with time to spend with Jesus & my family. I want to be able to love Jesus as much as I possibly can. While my schedule is packed full of things, that can’t happen. I can love Him a little and praise Him a little… but not really delve deeper into our relationship.

What things in your life need a necessary ending? (Henry Clouds new book… it’s great, you should get it)

What things in your life need to be put on the back burner so that Jesus is not?

And like I said, just because you are doing work FOR Jesus, doesn’t mean you are spending time WITH Jesus.

I think it's time for a perspective check and some necessary pruning… 

Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength. NEHEMIAH 8:10

I am having one of the hardest times I have had in a long time. I was obedient to the Lord on something He has been asking me to do for a long time, but I haven’t done it because I didn’t want to. Through the fast I kept asking God to speak to me, and to open my ears to listen then He clearly said to me “I have been speaking to you, you’re just not listening”  I knew then, that I needed to be obedient in looking for a home for my dogs. This may not seem like a big deal to some of you. But they have been in my life for 7 years and I love them like kids, and yes they are my responsibility. So therefore It is my responsibility to look for someone that would better look after them than I could. It’s like a mother giving a child up for adoption because she knows that she couldn’t give the child the life that it needs and another family would take great joy in raising a child and giving it everything it needs…same with my dogs, I don’t want to give them away, but it’s selfish of me to keep them when I cant provide what they need.

Being obedient in the Lord is something I have easily been able to do in finances, but not in other areas of my life. The Lord has been teaching and testing me lately and I am learning to be obedient when He calls me to be. It’s hard, especially when the people closest to you, that don’t know the Lord, don’t understand.

I know the enemy is trying to steal my joy because I just hit a new level in my relationship with Christ through this fast…I even emailed my outreach team about guarding ourselves because satan will try to sabotage and destroy us right at the peak of the mountain… I know he will use strategies that he has never used before to get me…and today he got me good. I didn’t realize he would use the people closest to me that I care about the most.

But I am going to keep my eyes on Jesus and remember that He has called me to battle in HIS name so I will put on my armor as Ephesians 6 says…

The Armor of God

 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

When we are called to live as Christ’s servant, He will prepare us in ways that call us to give up things. He prunes you, not to be hurtful or to cause you pain, but so that you may become more fruitful.

John 15:2 says 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

We may not quite understand why or what for, but He has a purpose for it all. Whether it is a dog, a person, a materialistic thing, a relationship, an addiction or something else. He wants to be put first In your life and when we hang on to things more than we hang on to Him, we are no longer submitting our lives to Him.

You will always get criticized by somebody, no matter what your choices. Not everybody will agree with things you do. But as long as you have peace in your heart that the Lord is happy with you, then that’s what counts. HE is the authority of my life, HE has the final say, HE is my source of approval. Not people. Yes we are called to love one another, to agree wholeheartedly, mind and soul with one another, to live without arguing and to honor one another. But it doesn’t mean to say you have to agree with something when it goes against the Lords word. His is the final word and if you are in line with that, then let the sense of peace and contentment flood your heart, knowing that you have done as He has asked. Just because we don't understand, doesn't mean we shouldn't obey... Because HE said so, is enough, that's all we need, to take the first step.  God blesses obedience whether we understand it or not! Don't let the swagger jackers steal your joy! 

 Pastor Steven said it best... just because I don't understand how my car works, doesn't stop me from working it! Just because you don't understand why God asks you to do something, doesn't stop you from doing it!!  WORK IT!