Radical and Radiant

Well I welcomed 2013 dealing with the crud, I'm just now starting to feel like myself and I have blogs to catch up on!

2012 ended with reminding me that His plans are not always mine, but in the end His plans always win. Regardless of what happens, He did promise to work everything out for my good in the end. Sometimes that sickness that is so inconvenient forces us to take some much needed me time etc. When I look back over the last month though, one word came to mind....fear. Without going into a lot of details, I have let fear lead for too long. How do I know it is fear? Because when I got quiet enough, the verse from 2 Timothy kept shouting back at me. Fear can cripple you if you let it. Fear tells you, you can't do it. Fear tells you to keep your mouth shut, when you need to open it. Fear keeps you down to where people see you as a doormat. Fear doesn't see you. Faith on the other hand sees the you that God sees. Faith knows what you can do and believes in you, even when you don't believe in yourself. Faith will never look at the clock when you are trying to talk either. Faith will also tell you when it is time to deal with something, when fear will tell you to just keep quiet. That's a blog for another day....so not a confrontation person, but basically told God about something last night that He better either take it away or give me peace NOW! I'm finding patience isn't the hard part, it is how you are while you are being patient(peaceful/calm or full of anxiety?) Hmm....

Now on to the title of the blog....Middle of December He gave me those words for the upcoming year, but it was only until the year got started that I knew what He meant. As Christians, we have been silent too long. We have sat by while the world moves forward and just let it happen. We have allowed things we once saw as harmful to become a part of our routine. In short, we have lost our focus. We have taken the lukewarm stance, as long as everyone is happy..... Well it only takes one look back at Revelation to know what God says about being lukewarm. Choose a stance and take it, are you going to be on the world's side or God's side, but quit straddling the fence...you are only going to hurt yourself. Make up your mind whose voice you are going to listen to, and then stick with it. It's a radical approach if you start to think about it ;-). God knows it is not always going to be easy, He knows eventually turning the other cheek will mean you have to say to someone I don't appreciate that. He knows more of what is to come this year than we could even imagine. Sometimes the key to unlocking the next door, is to obey walking through the first. God has your back if you'll follow His. He will give you what you need to stand, but BE CAREFUL..... Word of caution that I learned the HARD way the last six weeks. When you think you are finally standing, watch out....that is when the enemy would like nothing more than to knock you back down, make you doubt yourself, discourage you, cause worry/stress, or all of the above. Yep, there is a verse on that one too....God loves to see you get to the place where you feel you can stand, where you know you are strong because of what He has given you. The best thing I can say is, even if you find yourself standing only to get knocked down by every tool/scheme the enemy can use against you...you will get back up again. He is patient to remind you of how He sees you and who He thinks you are. With those reminders, come a sweet sense of peace that only He can give. That is the peace that will make you radiate His love.

So 2013, let's be radical...not lukewarm, so that we can be radiant and show the amazing love He has for us and them. He has great plans for you this year, He's just waiting on you to say let's do this!

Until next time
~Melissa