Some nuggets for the journey this week....

It's been a couple of weeks, but with silence comes some incredible nuggets for the journey.
 Here are a few:

• Exodus 14:15- Moses was whining basically to God about how inadequate He was. God plainly told him to keep moving forward and to use what God had already given him. (If you'll read the two verses before God had pretty much told Moses to tell the people that He had their back and this battle was God's to fight. My paraphrasing) What's in your hand? What has God already told you to do, told you He had this covered and yet you still remain in the same spot, crying out for an answer? Chances are He's already given you everything you need to fight and keep moving forward, have you been listening?
• So many times we quote Jeremiah 29:11 about God knowing the plans He has for us, but how many times have we read the verse that proceeds that one. Jeremiah 29:10 last part says: " I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place."  Life's not easy, trust me I know. I've learned though(finally:-)) that regardless of how you feel you have to keep moving forward. All of those things you see as hurtful etc. God really does have a plan. He's not going to waste one moment of something that happens to you. So look back at that verse...in a valley so to speak, not sure what's going on....God knows and He's going to bring you back to that place where everything makes sense, where you can see the pieces fitting together. Until that time though,  you have to trust Him with everything! (Trust is more than words, its action...put some feet to those words and keep moving despite how you feel).
• Jeremiah 29: 13:  Seek HIM not just His answers..... Are you bringing your list of requests to God or yourself?
• How many times do we quote 1 Corinthians 10: 13 as one of those God won't give us more than we can handle etc.?  Have you ever noticed the last part of it...it says "he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it". Sometimes we pray for a way out when God wants us to just stand up.

Some days are easier than others, He knows that. He knows before you get out of bed if you are going to get it right that day, but guess what...He loves you regardless!! Don't beat yourself up(and don't let the world do it either)...make sure you have people around you that pour in and encourage instead of take and discourage(but that's a blog for another day). He has so many things He wants to whisper to you, but first you have to slow down and listen.

Throw it at Him...He can take it

So this whole blog came about on the drive home tonight. I tend to review the day on the way home and when that happens, little things tend to add up. His word was simple, throw it at Me. So many times we think we need to carry those things we view as "little". If it's bothering you or starting to make you feel stressed, throw it at Him, He can take it:-)


Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7)

Something bothering you about the day? Beating yourself up about something you did(or didn't do)? When He said cast, He meant it. So many times we look at this verse and think about giving Him the big things, but what about those little things? God cares about the little things just like the big things, because He loves you!! He loves you too much to see you stressed and frustrated(especially since that's not His way). The world's not a piece of cake, life's not a bed of roses, and some days all you will feel like doing is having a pity party. Some days it takes more strength to keep a smile on your face than to give into the pity party. It takes time to learn to cast everything on Him(and some days it's easier than others), but there is also a strength in knowing that the battle isn't yours to fight. He cares about it all(even what we consider little), so give it to Him and let Him carry the weight.

One last thought..........Don't carry it around just because you need someone to listen, God's always got an ear open.

It's been a couple of weeks......

So it's been a couple of weeks since my last post, sorry about that. These last two weeks have been rather long, but I think we all hit seasons like this. Weeks when our confidence is not as strong as it has been, weeks when it takes all of our energy to keep putting one foot in front of the other, weeks when we paste that smile up on our face just so we don't have to really tell anyone what's going on, weeks when we would rather just sit in His lap instead of walking. God's been silent some, but when He has spoken...WOW...some of it hurt, some of it made me smile, and some of it I'm still processing. I probably should have typed a lot sooner, but well I'm not perfect. I'm still learning and some of these lessons take more than one trip. So below are just a few of the things I have learned over the last couple of weeks.

I'm not a puzzle person. I don't have the patience to put them together and tend to get overwhelemed by shear number of pieces included. For some reason though, He likes to remind me of puzzle pieces and use them to teach me something. Sometimes there are 100 pieces and sometimes they have 1000 pieces, but God holds the box and knows just what the picture looks like. He turns them over in His time to reveal pieces of the picture. The hard part is discovering where the piece fits. We tend to want to make the piece fit where we think it will go or where we want it, but just because it looks like it will work in one corner may not mean that's where it goes. Most puzzles have four corners(i.e. seasons), sometimes pieces that look like they may fit in one(and some even do), but the perfect fit is found in another corner. It is frustrating to try and make a piece fit where it doesn't belong. Trust the one who holds the box showing the final picture and know that He will turn the pieces over as He's ready and He knows where they fit perfectly.

Scars are an interesting thing. In the Bible, Thomas had to see the scars in Jesus' hands to know that was Him. We would never choose to have a scar, but we all have at least one and for most there is a story to go along with it. This week I was in one of my moods when He and I were talking. I was frustrated about some things and having trouble understanding(hindsight showed my flesh was having the conversation instead of my Spirit). He reminded me that sometimes those scars are not just reminders of His amazing power, but of His amazing strength. His word for it was His staying power. So many times we ask Him to get us out of things when they deal with our emotional side, but when it's physical pain, we just want Him to get us through it...Sometimes scars/physical hurts remind us of His staying power. He didn't always promise He'd take the pain away, but He did say He'd never leave us or forsake us. He took me this week also to 2 Corinthians 12: 1-10(but that's a devotional still to be finished).

There is more still to be written, dreams that only He knows about, words still to be spoken, but this is a start. I'm still learning what His plan is in all of this, but there are few things that I know without a doubt. Those are: I'm a daughter of the Most High, a royal princess and heir to His throne(what He owns;-)). He loves me more than I love myself most days and when He looks at me He sees my heart. He trusts me way more than I trust myself(after all He said He'd never give us more than we can handle). Sometimes I run ahead of Him and sometimes I lag behind(or just stop in the road altogether). Sometimes I think I make Him smile/laugh, because of the silly things I do and sometimes I know I must make Him cry.  Sometimes I hear Him say.."That's My Girl!" and sometimes He says " You can do this" with His outstreched hand helping me back up. Most of all, He and I are on this incredible journey and each day I love Him more!