How much do you want it?

There are a couple of blogs on the inside of me right now, so I will try to stay focused ;-)

How much do you want it? You know what your it is, you have probably even asked God for it a time or two. Now think about it....are you willing to pay the cost, the price of what it takes for that "it"? So many times we ask God for something, yet we aren't willing to do our part to make it happen. I remember several years ago telling a friend I wanted what she had. I wanted that deeper walk I saw in her. I wanted that next level. Well....fast forward ten years and hind sight really is 20/20. As Christians we start on that relationship journey with God when we ask Him in our lives, but where do we go from there. Choice comes in at that point....are you going to stand still for awhile and enjoy the milk or are you going to start walking forward knowing that despite the mountains ahead, you are only going to get stronger?  Oh if I could somehow convey with you how much the journey is worth it despite wanting to give up more than once.

Healing is not always an instant process. Sometimes God wants to take us through the process in order to grow us to be more like Him. Chains of the past cannot come off until you admit that they are there. So many times we walk forward for so long, but eventually the chain runs out. We ask God to take the chains off, we even sing about breaking them, but how much do want them off? Chains off aren't always comfortable. Chains off mean you are not simply out of the boat, but you are taking a step or two on the water towards Him. I remember telling a friend just a few months ago that I was ready to have the healing they had with a situation. Healing from a past situation means giving God the feelings you have about that time and knowing He will do with them what's best. We want to hold on to so many of our feelings and thoughts about a particular time when what we don't see is that it's keeping us chained. Just as the word says our thoughts are not His thoughts, neither are our feelings His feelings. If you want healing over a time, you have to trade your feelings for His feelings.

In a way this is the follow up to the blog before about tapping into the power. How much do you want it? God promised abundant life and joy. He never said it would be easy, never even promised that we may not have pain or tears, but He did promise to be faithful. God knows your heart and where He wants to take you on this journey called life. Are you focused on how you feel about it or what He says about it? Trust me....the freedom that comes with finally letting it all go(and by all I mean all...feelings, thoughts, pain etc.) is priceless. There is a peace and a power that is hard to explain (blog for another day).

More to come soon, He's writing a few more even now ;-)

Tap into the Power

I've been at a dry spot for the last couple of months. I have an idea of how I got there, but that's between me and God. It may be a blog later, but for now it's still between me and Him. I've been on a journey towards freedom and been leaving everything He has revealed at His feet. Exhausted from going back to past hurts, past disappointments, and past failures is not an easy task. He knew it would be tough, but He also knew how amazing the other side would be. He's been revealing things intensely over the last couple of weeks. I thought I had taken care of everything, until He revealed yet another last night. Oh the discussion He and I had on that one. The ending result.....He gets it. He has control and in the end the glory is His alone. In the end, I am responsible for what He has told me, called me to do, and made me to be. That is a deep truth if you let it sink in.....on to a new post ;-)

There is a power inside each and every child of God. Don't believe me, check the scriptures. We have the same power that raised Lazarus from the dead, that same power lives within us...yet some will never tap into it. Could it be fear? Could it be complacency? I don't know, that's up for each individual to answer. Could it be that we have spent so much of our lives listening to what others told us to do, who to be, that we forgot to look at what God said and who God told us to be? It's time for the royal priesthood to take a stand. As a child of the Most High, we are all called. Called to minister to others, called to speak His truths, called to tell others about Him, and called to stand up for His truths. It's time we walk that calling out. It's time we quit relying on someone else to do it for us and we start doing what's right period. Fear has kept the church silent for too long. Fear has kept Christians relying on the paid staff members to do all of the ministry work. We all have a calling, listen and let Him tell you where yours is and then live it out. It may be a calling of hospitality and service, a calling for children's ministry, a calling of prayer and encouragement....whatever He tells you and leads you , He will sustain you. Sustaining means keeping...He will keep you when others want to discourage you, He will encourage. He will remind you with whispers of peace, when the enemy tries to sow fear. Your steps will be His steps, your thoughts His thoughts.....it's a sweet place(but hear me when I say...it makes the enemy MAD!). When you find your sweet spot, be prepared for the enemy to come at you with your weaknesses (Discouragement, fear, doubt....). Just remember who is stronger than your weaknesses and who has already won the battle! You are stronger than your weaknesses, not because of who you are, but because of who He is inside of you! He has already won the battle for you, the end of the story has already been written, Keep that in mind sweet child when it feels like the storm is getting the better of you. 

#Truth

I've tried to write multiple blogs over the past couple of weeks and nothing seems to flow out right. There are so many words in my heart, but it must not be time to share just yet. The layers are still being pulled back. Roots I thought I had dug up, I still have to dig up. Doors I have wanted open, I have to walk away from. Things I thought I had surrendered, I had stuffed. How many times do we sing "I surrender All" as an invitation song without thinking about what we are singing? How many times do we ask Him to show us if there is anything? and then listen when He shows and take action on it. We keep asking for Him to open doors, but He keeps waiting on us to do what He's asked us to do. He has bigger things still to come, but He is waiting on us to be faithful with a few things first. Consistency, Discipline, and Focus....all are part of the journey to the promised land. The journey to the destiny and the calling that God has for each of us. Sometimes He waits for us to get to the point that we are so desperate for answers and for that season, that we obey without question. How much quicker could we get to the new season if we would just stay focused in the current season? Obedience steps are between you and Him....but when He shows them to you...the choice then is in your hands, follow to freedom, or continue to do it your way. One leads to stress, one leads to freedom. Freedom is looking in the mirror and finally seeing the confidence He gave you in the beginning. Freedom is looking in the mirror and finally seeing yourself how He looks at you. (I truly think we make Him sad when we stand in front of the mirror and fault find His creation). Does He want us to be healthy? Yes, but He doesn't want us to always look down on ourselves as we condemn ourselves for every pound. (Remember there is NO condemnation from Him)

God's been sowing words, verses that I needed to keep taking the next step. He's moving....choice is yours if you are going to be faithful where He has you or stay focused on the door you keep longing to be opened? Sometimes God's waiting on us to give up our I wish you would's for His today's. He's waiting on us to say whatever and wherever, and then follow with steps as He directs. We can stay still and keep debating what to do and how we want to get there or we can keep moving forward.  There is no way I could put into words just yet every thing He is showing, but for now it must be just for me. There is a calling, there is a destiny out there that is mine for the taking. Faithful with where I am at right now will unlock faithful in the next season.

God is still on the throne, still in the miracle working business, and still speaking into lives each and every day. We limit the power we have as children of the Most High when we put God in a box. Be assured, His plans and purposes will always prevail. If you are not willing to do what He is asking you to do, He will find someone that will. Oh sweet reader if you only realized the power that is within you as a child of the Most High...a prince or a princess. Freedom to tap into that power is yours...the enemy wants you afraid of it, what others will think, do etc. Don't listen to that and move into what He is asking you to do. God's moving, choice is yours get in the flow or stand on the shore.

Dig it up...

Oh my He's been writing the last couple of weeks, but it has not gone without some stubbornness on my part. At a stand still would be an understatement, but nevertheless I press on....

This time of the year is always good for reflection and re-energizing....thinking about things that need to be changed, reworked, or just being grateful for what did go right. (Yes contrary to popular belief, most teachers spend a lot of their summers in planning mode....). There comes a point in our journey where we have to stop and take a breathe. We start out running, when we probably should have been walking....after awhile it starts to hurt. At this point we can do one of two things, keep pressing on despite the pain...or stop. Things happen and growth takes place either way, but one is at a faster pace than the other. So for the last few weeks I've been at that stop point....I now know I should have kept running despite the pain that made me want to stop, but feelings and flesh won out. Oh how many times when God is moving, does the enemy throw a distraction in our path that does just that distracts us. Distractions can be a lot of things....things we create, things we allow, things we feel, things we don't feel, ourselves. Ouch...that last one hurt when He spoke that one to me....let it sink in for a minute as well. We can become our worst distraction when we allow our feelings, our thoughts, our wants to cause us to lose sight of what He has planned(the ultimate goal). Let's get real for a moment...we will never feel "good enough", "pretty enough",  "skinny enough", "smart enough", "strong enough", (Get the picture....). As Children of the Most High...we don't have to worry about being enough....because He is more than enough! (Again...let that sink in for a moment...)

So on to the title of this post...dig it up...
God's been speaking about freedom to my Spirit, my soul, to me for the last two months. He knows I'm visual, so during this stubborn at a stand still moment, He spoke in a pictures to my heart. Freedom comes when we truly let it all go. Sometimes we have to go back and deal with some of things of the past that we have drug into the present. Sometimes we have to deal with thoughts of the future that are keeping us distracted in the present....whatever it is, it's between you and Him. God told me you've been laying blooms at my feet long enough...So many times we pull it up thinking we got it all, lay it at His feet, and proceed to walk on in our journey. The freedom lasts for a season, but then when the next season comes there is a bloom again. See what was pulled up, didn't get the root. Until we dig up those things that we have let take root, we will never be free. Tiny seeds that we didn't immediately give to Him, can take root and grow. We usually don't realize it has taken root until it starts to bloom...and we feel/see the effect. The roots are different for everyone, but some examples could be (insecurity, doubt, fear, self-worth, bitterness, worry etc.) Spend some quality time with Him and let Him show you not only what roots you need to dig up, but where/how the seed took root.

Personally I've laid a lot at His feet and in His hands over the last couple of days. I've asked more questions than I could count, gave Him feelings I had forgotten about, and asked for forgiveness more times than I care to admit. The journey isn't easy, He didn't say it would be. Grace however makes each moment worth looking towards. Knowing that we don't have to see the next season to enjoy the one now is priceless. Knowing that sometimes being content to bloom where we are at is what He has asked us to do. Oh how focused we sometimes get on the next door, that we forget to enjoy the beauty of the hallway. As a child digging up flowers on the playground to lovingly give to the teacher(roots and all), God wants us to dig it up and give it to Him.



God answers when we least expect it. Sometimes I think He wants us to just trust that He will answer and be patient. Sometimes the answer isn't one your head can make sense of or even your heart...because it was a conversation that took place between your soul and the One who wrote your story.

Until next time,
~Melissa