Choosing to Choose.

     There is so much truth to the ol' saying, "Life is what you make it." You will get out of life what you put into it. If you don't pursue life and the source of life then you probably won't like life too much. But when you choose to enjoy life, no matter what the circumstances are, then I bet you love life or are beginning to love life. I am by no means saying that life is bed of roses and nothing is ever hard. No, not at all, I know this by first hand experience. Life is not easy. But you can enjoy it in all circumstances. 
     It all comes down to choice. Who you are today was made from a series of choices that you have made. Who you will be tomorrow also will be the outcome of your choices. It is time to quit blaming your troubles on "life". That is demonic and not Godly one bit. That is one step closer to satan than it is to God. Choose to love, give, serve and pursue God. Choose to find something sweet in everything. Choose joy, peace, and patience. What you choose determines your outcome. Choose life, and life in abundance.
     You living a mediocre life doesn't do you any favors. Branch out, live out your dreams, be who God has made you to be. Be intentional. This is the phrase that God has been speaking to me the past month. I need to be intentional.  I need to be concious of the things that I choose to do throughout the day. Once again that determines my productivity and the joy that I experience that day.
     When I wake up and I choose to love God, love people, and love life then I am determined that nothing, absolutely nothing, no power of the enemy, no stumped toe, no long line, NOTHING will change that. I choose to have a good day. To have a good life.
     One of the things that Pastor Jeff preaches is Proverbs 27:7- One who is full loathes honey from the comb, but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet. What does this mean? That in every situation you can find something that is sweet. We are to never become cynical and judgmental with nothing being good enough. That means that today when Chelsea brought me my McDonalds (yep, this is after I worked out) that even though it was cold I was still thankful that Chelsea paid for it! It's simply being able to find the good in every situation. 
     I know that life does get hard, and that things happen to good people. But God is still God, His word is still sovereign. And He still has the most best plans in the world for you. He desires for you to be prosperous, enjoy life, love Him, serve Him, see and bring people to encounter God's love. You are the head and not the tail. You are highly favored. You have a reason to choose joy. I promise. 
     It may be 3 years after something horrible in your life happens where you see the purpose in it all. But for those 3 years- find something, anything and be thankful for it. Thank God. Just think of the things that He HAS protected you from that you don't even know about. 


Choose life. Choose Him. Choose joy. Choose peace. Choose happiness. Choose the higher road. Choose serving. Choose giving. Choose loving. Choose life. Choose a happy life. Choose to not loathe the honeycomb. Choose to find something good no matter the circumstances. 






It's your choice. ;)

Glorified Body

     Do you know how much God loves you.... and how much God loves your body? I have been totally "wrecked" today by a message I re-listened to earlier today. I heard it at OneThing this year with iHop and only caught the tail end of the message so I bought it on CD. Allen Hood talks about the Glorified State of Your Body and how much God truly loves your body.
     And in today's society it is a truth that needs to be posted on every billboard, every sign, every commercial, and everywhere! GOD LOVES YOUR BODY. It is so easy to pick and poke at your body. And wish you had this person's belly or that girl's face or her hair... etc. etc. But God designed YOU and HE (The lovely, amazing, mighty Savior) LOVES your body. And He knows every inch of it, and He still loves it. And it pains Him to watch his precious children spend hours in front of a mirror hating their bodies. When all He sees is "beautiful" "glorious" "amazing" "perfect in my eyes" "lovely". We are His beloved. The apple of His eye.
     And if you say, "He doesn't understand... He doesn't live in my body". False! He knows what it's like to be human. And to have growth spurts, and as Allen says, "to have a head that hasn't caught up with it's ears". He understands every season that we are in. He took on flesh. Whoah. Soak that in.

He took on flesh. The creator of the universe.... took on flesh. Humbled himself- and took on flesh. 


     I really hope you took a minute and soaked that in, and if you didn't say it out loud. Let that statement process. Of what God did and does for us. And why? Because HE LOVES US.

     He loves every part of us. He cherishes us. Rebuke the lies of the enemies and replace it with truth. Just a few hours after having this truth drilled in my head I asked God, "Am I not pretty enough?" How silly and lame is that? That I actually, out loud, asked God that. I know that I am pretty enough.  I know that He thinks I am head over heels, drop dead gorgeous. He looks and admires my beauty. And even typing that statement disturbs my mind. Because who am I to be admired? I AM HIS. The King is enthralled by my beauty. So I am to be admired. I am his daughter. His prize. I am loved and cherished by an AMAZING God. And I can not forget that.

     The same goes for you. You are loved. Cherished. Delighted in. Admired. Loved. Loved. Loved. Loved. Check out that message on iHops website. Super good.

Providing Daddy.

     One of my favorite things to do is to play cards. Most favorite game is Nertz. A fast paced game of a mix of solitare and suites.... super fun. (If you wanna play- we'll let ya!) And it is best when played with the Kees brothers, my twin, and my mother. We play every few weeks, but I play Nertz on an app on my iPhone. With playing this I have noticed something. Most of the time you notice that you need a card, and that one card will give you a huge play. (Example you need a 6 of hearts to come up in your deck of "flipping cards" since you have a 7 of hearts and 8 of hearts in your 4 playing cards. Then you would get 3 cards out in the community area where everyone plays. )
     So that one card will open up so many opportunities for you and possibly let you get Nertz. When this happens I always hesitate to keep moving in case someone else puts the card out there and I miss it, or whatever. What I have noticed though.... is that sometimes the card you need or a card that might be better is coming up in your hand.... it's on it's way, you just have to keep moving the cards and keep moving forward.

     I hope you are seeing the parallel in your life. Sometimes we want something so bad that is already in our hand. It's right there. It's just coming up. You have to keep moving, keep pressing, and it'll come up. Instead of waiting for someone else to hand it to you, or just standing still scared to move. You have to keep pursuing being intentional in everything that you do. Making progress with every part of your life. And sometimes while we are moving forward someone puts "it" into play. And onward you go. Bam, bam, bam. Life is moving quickly. Just like in life how God will put things in our past that will score us our next "big run". Or He will give us something that will set us up for a big success.

     So many times, I want to get something new instead of getting creative and using what I have and what is right in front of me. But in all reality, God already has "it" coming up.
     Prime example: I've been praying/looking for a desk for my iMac..... the day my iMac came in (which the iMac was also an answered prayer... I did not have enough money for it, but God provided), God provided me with a desk..... for free. Not only that.... but a free meal to go along with it. And I forgot the desk lamp and chair. God is good. He provides.

     It's all in His plan, beloved. He's got it all under control. Live out your life with God first and you are the apple of His eye. He takes care of His children. He sees your needs. He sees your wants. He desires to fill both. He is a gooood, goooood daddy.

24 Hour Prayer Round 2!

      Ahh, once again Metro is having their 24 Hour Prayer Event. I began the morning at 6am. The presence of the Lord is so refreshing. I absolutely love the simplicity and pureness in this movement. I love hearing people's visions for a prayer movement. I love the excitement that it brings. It brings people to realize that prayer is exciting. Prayer is worth it. Prayer works. And that is the truth.
     Prayer moves things, what happens that instant is demonic forces are demolished. Prayer shifts things. We win everytime we pray. Every single time. Our prayers aren't always answered at that moment, or that day...... but maybe they were answered in some way that we can't see yet. Time will reveal. Wait it out, God has a great and mighty plan for You. He will see to it that everything is done in perfect timing. He's never late.






Prayer brings life.

Living in Faith.

Raise your expectations. Step out in faith. If you can determine the outcome then I ask if you are truly trusting and relying on God. There has to be an unknown factor in living for God. That's where true faith comes in. When we don't know what's going to happen, or how it's going to happen- that is when God has the freedom to move and work in miraculous ways. We have to allow the Lord to be Lord over our lives... to let him move in our lives. But if we only live in the box of what we can do and what we can control.... then perhaps we are lord of our lives. Time for a bigger box where I don't know how it's all going to come together. 

Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

A Man of His Word.

     Who am I to question God and His plans for my life? I do it wayyyyy to often. "Are you sure you want me to give this up?" "You want me to pray for them.... IN PUBLIC?! are You crazy?" "This way? You sure?" "You want me to decide!? You do know who I am right?" These are just a few examples of the dialogue in my head between God and me. He usually responds in "Yes, do what I just asked of you."
     So why do I have such a hard time obeying and doing and trusting God with it? This morning the Lord lead me to read John 4... towards the end of the chapter a man begs Jesus to come home with him to heal His son.... Jesus responds, "Go, Your son is healed." And at that moment the son was healed. The father didn't see that his son had been healed until he obeyed Jesus and returned home to check on him. There wasn't facetime or sms text messaging for him to double check with before he walked home. He had to take a step of faith and walk home and trust that the Lord had healed him even from being miles away.
     The thing is, at the spoken word of Jesus- it happens. He is a man of His word. Pun intended. He does what He says He will do, He will fulfill every promise made in the Bible- word of God, and every promise that He has made to You. He is a man of His word. I can trust Him.  YOU CAN TRUST HIM. 
     In today's time- it's hard to find people that you can trust. But you can trust Jesus. You can trust the Lord of Your life. He has everything at kingdom view. With our carnal eyes we only see the now.... sometimes we have to step out in faith. And sometimes the Lord will give us a glimpse of His viewpoint. But He wants us to trust Him. He wants us to obey so He can do what He promised us no matter what our view is. 
     His ways are higher than my ways. And His thoughts are higher than my thoughts. So who am I to think that my thought/idea is better than his? Step out and obey what the Lord has asked of you. It more than likely is an answered prayer from either you or someone else. :)