What do you Do When....Discouragement hits

This is a new blog series for Wednesdays this summer. God actually laid it on my heart after the post I made Sunday when I talked about being stuck. These will be short (hopefully) posts about a topic each week and just being real. It's about admitting hey this is how I feel, God help me deal with it and not just ignore it. So the first what do you do when ____ hits is on discouragement. 

What do you do when discouragement hits? (and let's be real, it's gonna hit at some point during this journey....for most people more than once). What do you do when life has just worn you down and that smile on your face is fake even though you know the joy of the Lord is on the inside of you? Let's take off the masks for a minute and get real, life can be discouraging at times. If it's not something personal, just turn on the news. There are going to be bumps, twists, and turns that make you ask God what in the world are You doing? There are going to be moments when you just need a good cry or to let out a scream. There are also going to be moments when you will be too hard on yourself and overanalyze the would have, could have, should haves of a situation. There are going to be moments when you just feel down. Discouragement happens when we focus on just what we can see and lose sight of all that we can't. It's hard to press forward when you can't see exactly what God is doing(or that He is even doing something). It's hard to not stay stuck when your flesh is hurt and you just don't want to rise above it. God never said we wouldn't feel down, even David did. One of the most real verses in the Bible is 1 Samuel 30:6 where it says David encouraged himself in the Lord. No one else may get where you are feeling or even see where you are at, but God does. He knows what is on the inside of you...and sometimes you have to stir that up. You have to take the step to remind yourself of what God has done in the past, what He is doing now....and that He has this because He has you. You can't always wait for someone to be that Jesus with skin on, but you have the power on the inside to encourage yourself just like David did. Nothing in your flesh may want to, but sometimes the stirring is what's needed to take the step to jump in to see what God is doing through what you can't see. 

Put on the music that lifts you and move your feet even if you don't fee like it...the enemy likes to see you down and focused on just what you can't see. You up and armed for battle scares him, so put a little purpose in your step and remind that liar what you can do through the One on the inside of you. You may not feel powerful, but God said you are. You may not feel period, but we have to walk by faith and not by sight and feelings are what we can see. Discouragement is real, but posting about it isn't going to fix it or help you move forward. Trust the One who knows your heart to encourage you just how you need it. Trust Him that He's not going to leave you there if you are obedient to His voice. One last thing...during those discouragement moments, stay connected to those God connections in your life. You know who they are...and when you don't feel like it, they will be the Ones who God uses to speak life back into you. 

Moving past the Stuck Zone...

I debated writing this blog....I'm the worst at second guessing myself and actually almost titled this as The Mountain of Me.  To head to a deeper place with God, there is a stripping away of what we used to see as ourselves that happens. Can I just be real for a minute? It hurts....It hurts to have band-aids ripped off, wounds exposed, and to deal with why you feel the way you feel about something. I'm reading a book called Heart Made Whole that has been life changing. It's talking about those places in our heart where we put up walls and what all it keeps out. When you ask God for wholeness and restoration....be willing to cooperate with whatever that means. I still remember the day when God spoke that word whole back last Fall into my Spirit....and this book whew. I'll blog about that later....

So the last couple of weeks has been, well the best word to describe is stuck. There are times we reach a place where we know we can't go backwards to what was(how we used to think, do, feel), but for the life of us, we can't get our feet to move forward either. I know all about feet glued to a floor and those stuck moments have always preceded a shifting. Hear my heart for a minute...you can stay still for so long (knowing you can't go backwards, but also knowing that you can't make your feet move forwards)...that you grow numb. You find yourself on auto-pilot and are so close to going through the motions that for this Jesus girl it's not easy. When you know what it's like to lay on your face in your prayer closet and not get up until He answers....you have that gnawing in your soul that won't let you stay stuck forever. It's that gnawing that pushes you to unstick those feet and stir up on the inside what you know is in there. We can get so focused on trying to make sure everyone else hears our heartbeat, that we forget to stop and listen to our own. We lose sight of our own calling, our own purpose, and our own walk....and get lost in a sea of "busy". If we aren't careful we can grow complacent and with that the "going through the motions" is one step away.  I'm thankful today for friends who even in an Instagram/Facebook post speak the life (and truth in love) that you need. 

"Being in the Stuck Zone" has a purpose if you are willing to let God show it to you. My prayer closet and I haven't had time together over the last couple of weeks...I've had a devotion here a devotion there, a tearful talk with God in the car more than once, and praise song after praise song pushing through to try and get through the crowd to Him. I listened to a word late Wednesday night/early Thursday morning that well let's just say when God takes the scripture He gave you about the upcoming season almost three months ago and then your friend speaks a word using that same one...God gets your attention. 

There are battles to be fought in the spiritual realm and the enemy would love nothing more than to keep us focused on fighting battles in the natural realm. (I could preach a sermon at this point right now that would be multiple blogs, but that's for another day). The hardest thing to do is to stay focused on what God is calling you to do when your flesh has just taken a punch to the gut, but we will never fly with the eagles which is where we find His strength. We will never run the race with endurance as long as keep letting the things that so easily entangle us keep us wrapped up (and stressed out). It's our choice just as the man that lay by the pool of Bethesda when Jesus asked him did he want to? For God to restore something, we have to release it, and for us to release it we have to admit it needs releasing. Wounds can't turn into scars if we keep picking at them (and the enemy will pick as long as you let him....trust me). 

I know this is a different kind of blog, but the last few weeks have been different. I've been in a stuck mode for an area of my life and content to just go on auto-pilot. When I had to make myself get up this morning, I knew something had to give, something had to change before the stuck grew cold. God and I have had simple conversations over the last couple of weeks, but the deeper level has been well non-existent. It's not that I didn't want to go sit in His lap for awhile, but I think part of me didn't really want to hear what He wanted to say. I wanted Him to fix something and He wanted me to rise above it(and just pray). Yes, there are times when the devotions don't happen, when the prayer time loses to sleep, when you have poured your heart out and it feels like it got handed back to you, and when God and you are on a casual basis....but hear my heart reader, He won't leave you in that spot for long if you keep pushing through. Words that have been spoken over your life, into your life....are seeds that are getting ready to bloom. God won't leave you stuck...but once He shows you what to do, the choice is in your hands at that point. 

What matters...

I woke up with a song in my Spirit yesterday morning and have been singing it all day.....It's one of those that I have heard and fallen in love with, so it's on my playlist....but as for why it was the one today, I wasn't sure.....until my prayer time tonight. 

When you walk into the room everything changes....When God shows up, nothing else matters. His presence is what our hearts should desire in all situations. We are so quick to want to keep our hands on a situation through words, worries, and action....when God's saying I'm here just sit with me and know I've got it.  When you walk into the room everything changes...there is a shift that happens when God shows up and turns things around. Details lose their focus when Jesus shows up.....what mattered a minute before isn't even on your mind when He is all you can feel. Stay with me for a minute....His presence is on the inside of us ALL OF THE TIME. Yes, it's stronger when we are in cooperate worship, but I've had some amazing times in His presence with just me and Him...in my prayer closet, in my car, or in my living room even like now. There are times when He says I want you....I want you to see I'm in the room and nothing but that matters. It doesn't matter what anyone is doing, what they are saying, or what may be coming...it matters that I'm here and I'm doing something. There are moments in Him when the natural loses focus...and it doesn't matter what time it is or how long you have been somewhere...you don't want to move until He says to. 

Aaron preached a sermon last week on Cast Down but not Destroyed....I watched it twice, sometimes you just know when it's an on time word that needs to take root. God brought that word back to mind just a few minutes ago....you may feel pressed on every side, but the pressing brings the anointing. The oil can't come without a press and there is more for you to do than what you can see. Don't lose sight of how it feels in the middle of the pressing, let it happen....Greater is coming and miracles, signs, and wonders are yours to walk in. So many times we focus on how the pressing feels instead of what is coming after the pressing. We want to run from the season or situation that is causing the pressing, but God's saying I'm in the room with you....don't run, let me finish what I started. The pressing is when you learn the fight is worth it. The pressing is where you learn that it's just between me and You Child. On the Potter's wheel in the middle of the process, the masterpiece doesn't always look like something to those who are not the Potter. 

I don't know where you are at....or even if this was for more than just me....but this is Restoration year. Don't lose sight of what God is doing regardless of how you feel, what others are doing, or how it looks. God's not finished, He's just getting started. So many times I think we feel like we have to explain what God is doing in us when God is saying...leave that to me when it's time. We waste a lot of words in the natural when God's saying I need you to use that power in the Spiritual realm...there are battles to be fought there. Don't get so distracted by what's going on in the natural that you lose sight of what is going on in the Spiritual realm. The pressing has a purpose....when He walks in the room everything changes......

Passion, Fire, and the Potter's Wheel....

I went into my prayer closet with a bad case of the "I'm done" and "I just don't care anymore" and this verse was what I got spoken back to me. Needless to say, my flesh had to have some time to process because I wanted a release. I wanted a move on, "it's okay" to quit answer. I wanted a get your running shoes child. I'm just being real. So many times we can let our feelings dictate how we react to something if we don't take a step back and see His perspective. We know where the fire is coming from, what our passions and gifts are, but have we conveyed that? Do we let our passion speak or our frustration speak? When you are able to do something and it comes naturally at times, it's not just by coincidence. It's a gift....no matter how you try to spin it...God has a purpose for you to use that gift area for Him. He didn't give it to you by chance, He didn't randomly decide oh this person can sing and this person can play the drums, or this person can run media. He knew what He was doing. He also didn't order your steps the way He did and give you the story He gave you to tell for you to keep it to yourself, but that's a blog for another day. So many times we let our feelings dictate our thoughts...but I'm learning that we feel that way for a reason, we need to take a step back and see why. Why do you get so upset about something not being done right or frustrated that it always has to be fixed? Passion is a fire that God has to control. I think back to Science class and in the lab, with one knob you could control how strong the flame was...who's hand is on your flame? I don't trust myself enough anymore for that....God on the other hand yes. Heart made whole by Crista Black Gifford is already changing my life. She challenges you to basically quit getting mad at your heart and look at what your heart may be trying to tell you. God's expectations for ourselves are a lot more reasonable than our own. He's not looking for perfection, He's looking for pliability. He's looking for us to be willing to be on His potter wheel as He sees fit. The season you are in right now may feel like a small vase and your ability to pour out seems limited, but God's saying hop up on this wheel. Let me do what I do best...you see I think we get our minds so set on I'm always going to be this___ when we start this journey with God (whatever that may be), but God's saying...stay pliable in My hands. I'm always working on you Child to make you into who I created you to be. That push and pull is me stretching you for a wider reach than you ever imagined. (Remember I'm visual....I picture a small bowl or vase on the potter's wheel being stretched and molded into a larger one that can contain more), We ask Him for more, but are we willing to do what that means to receive more?

I've pressed through and released more this week than I could write about it in one blog. Those are coming.....

April...

A month ago I placed a sticky note on a cross that simply read April......it was a worry/concern that I was giving to God in a truly God orchestrated God moment. Sometimes God leads us to do something not for the other people that may be participating, but for ourselves.....

I honestly had forgotten about the sticky note until sometime early this morning when I was trying to sleep....I have learned a long time ago with as much as I love sleep....God uses it to remind us He had a plan all along. He knew what He was doing even when we couldn't see Him doing anything. That statement, in a nutshell, would describe my April. God had a plan for the layers that needed to pulled back, the tears that needed to be shed, and the self that needed to be sacrificed in order for God to do what He needed to do during the month of that I had given to Him on a sticky note I had forgotten about.

If you had asked me in the middle of April what God was doing, I would have laughed because I had no clue. I was barely keeping my head above water and some days wasn't doing so great with that. The wall I was about to hit was going to hurt and I knew it...but for the life of me, I couldn't see how to stop from hitting it. God uses walls for a purpose if we let Him....nothing is without purpose if we give it to God. Sometimes though we hit the wall and don't know how to let go of that feeling we have from hitting it. It's only in letting go and saying yes I hit a wall...now what God that we can realize the purpose of the wall.

One thing I've learned during this month is another lesson in God's word for the year of transparency. No one can come swim alongside you and remind you aren't going under if you never say hey I'm about to sink. So many times we try to do so much on our own and just bear up under it that we forget God always will provide us a way out before it overtakes us. Sometimes though that way out means we have to follow obedience and step where and when He says to step. It's in getting real with the people God places in your life for that connection...that you realize you aren't going under. It's in taking the step and opening up that God gives you that place to say hey you aren't going under even if you feel like it.

I can't say I willingly let Him pull back the layers this month, but He did.....and in doing so He started a cleaning out process. Restoration can't happen until the junk leaves first......we have to make room for what God is waiting to give us and to get rid of all of the mess we have tried to fill that spot with. I'm ending April stronger than I started....stronger because the wall that I hit, the wall that the enemy meant for my breakdown was the wall God had planned for my breakthrough. I'm ending April excited about what is to come and knowing that there is truly greater coming in this new season......