This morning I'm thinking about Mary, Martha and seasons... Weird combination, I know... but I have always been a Martha...never a Mary...Always busy, busy, busy...rushing through the seasons of life without a thought about it and wondering why all others weren't doing the same.  As I'm slowing down, I'm finding that seasons really do correlate to the mountaintops and the valleys in our lives.  Summer is definitely the mountaintop for me...and winter...definitely the valley in my opinion lol.  With summer there is warmth and freedom and with winter there is cold and captivity. Spring and Fall are both even keel...flat ground...just traveling along. We all go through these seasons...some mountaintops and some valleys...and some where we are just traveling along at an even pace.  This week as I'm shifting my focus from what it once was, I am no longer Martha...I am Mary and am moving into a new season of my life. Just as God changed Sarai's name to Sarah...He has changed mine.

At one point in time... position was important to me.  At one point in time... establishing a name was important to me.  At one point in time... DOING was important to me.  Looking back, I realize that all those things definitely made me lose my focus of Him and His priorities...and were truly my winter season.  As I am now approaching the first year after the struggle of losing my little brother, my priorities in life have changed drastically.  Paul...my little bro...meant the world to me, and His death was so impacting.  It was the most horrible thing ever...but I realize it was not for nothing.  His death forever changed my focus. What was once so very important to me... is no longer.  

Over this past week...my focus has become Him, His will, and His way, and I cannot get the song, "Here In Your Presence," out of my head.  It is stuck there...and I think for good reason.  The lyrics are: 

Found in Your hands, fullness of joy
Every fear suddenly wiped away here in Your presence
All of my gains now fade away
Every crown no longer on display, here in Your presence
Heaven is trembling in awe of Your wonders
The kings and their kingdom are standing amazed

Chorus:
Here in Your presence, we are undone
Here in Your presence, Heaven and Earth become one
Here in Your presence, all things are new
Here in Your presence, everything bows before You

Bridge:
Wonderful, beautiful, glorious, matchless in every way
Wonderful, beautiful, glorious, matchless in every way

Oh...to live in His presence.  He is slowly transforming me into a Mary...and moving me away from winter as I begin to rest in His presence...and truly LIVE.  The Bible says in Psalm 91:1, "He that dwells in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty."  I realize now, because of Paul, that my desire...my focus... should never have been in the DOING and making a name for myself but rather in living and enjoying that life He has granted me under the shelter of His wings. ...And in my living...just that...just in my living, God is showing me that I will have more of an impact for Him than all of my DOING ever would.  I don't need to make a name for myself any longer... His name is all people need to know about me.  

What do people know about you?  Who do they see? Are you Mary or Martha?  I encourage you to choose the "better thing" as Mary did. Rest in His presence, LIVE today for today, and let Him radiate through your living!

You ever notice that some days are just harder than others to deal with? You ever feel like you just want to delete the whole world?...Pick up the newspapers, turn on the television, open up facebook and twitter...and all you see is death, anger, hatred, murder, nastiness, lovers of self.  You ever wonder where God is in all this?

Today is one of those days for me...but as I yell out all the frustration on my heart and then, just spent, sit quietly before Him, this is what I'm hearing, "Why do you fret? Did I not say these things would come to pass before I would come? I'm here. Get your eyes on me child. Focus your thoughts on me and not what you see happening around you."

Philippians 4:8-9 says, "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you."

Just as Peter began to sink when he took his eyes off Jesus, there are days when I feel I'm doing the same. Even I, this wife of a pastor, needs to be reminded that if I would just learn to maintain my focus on the One who will bring deliverance, I would have peace.  Not the temporary peace that the world can offer but an everlasting peace that can only be found in Him.

When you feel like you're gonna delete the whole world, I encourage you to change your focus, and put your eyes on Him.



 

This is a fallacy!  God made YOU!  And not only did He make you, but He made YOU in His image. Through the years I have talked to so many people who have said that they don't feel like they can make that step for Christ because they just aren't good enough.  I mean really, why would He want someone as bad and imperfect as them, right!?!  I want to address and stomp out that fallacy today.  The only perfect person...and I mean the ONLY perfect person on the face of this planet was and will always be Jesus.  He was perfect because He was not only fully man, but He was fully God at the same time (Philippians 2:6, John 1:1).  

Yes He was and is perfect and He made you. He... formed you in the womb (Jeremiah 1:5), knows everything about you including how many hairs are on your head (Luke 12:7), collects your tears in a bottle (Psalm 56:8), and the Bible says He died for you while you were yet still in sin (Romans 5:8).  He didn't say we had to become perfect before He would receive us...He died for us to cover our imperfection. He loves us.  He loves YOU!  When we choose to follow Christ (and it IS entirely a choice by the way)...laying down our lives to take on His...we are saying a couple things.  Firstly, we are saying, Lord, I am not perfect like you were, but like a little child desires to grow up and become his parent, I want to learn to follow in your footsteps.  Secondly, we are saying...Lord, I want you to take the bad out of me...all my imperfections...and replace it with the good in You.  That's it...it's as simple as that.  There's no magic formula...there's no mantra that needs to be chanted...it's not an exclusive country club you're trying to get into...and there's no hazing process. 

God is a holy God...make no mistake about that.  He can not even look upon something that is unholy (Habukkuk 1:13), but Christ's sacrifice...His shed blood... covers our unholiness.  When we receive Jesus...and God looks upon us...He sees His Son's perfection and holiness not our imperfection and sin. 

If you think you're just not good enough for God...you are already in a heart state where God can receive you because He opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6).  I encourage you today...Don't wait...Don't be afraid...don't be ashamed...run to Him...and let Him cover you today!  Jesus is good enough, and His sacrifice makes you good enough!

This morning I'm thinking about what it means to live out loud.  I question myself with the following questions as should you if you are His, "Do the things that I say...do the things that I post on social media...do the things that I do everyday reflect Him and His Word?" They should.  If they don't...get rid of them.  It's important that all those things line up with who He is and what He's all about. How we live and speak is important...the things we share...ARE important.  We are a reflection of Him to the world.  

The Bible says in Ephesians 5:8, "For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:"  

I challenge myself and you today to Live Your Faith Out Loud...be a true reflection of Him to others so that we might win some.  Live Out Loud For Him Starting Even Now...Ready.Set.GOOOOO :)  

I've been wanting so bad to go see the movie, Maleficent;  the classic fairy tale of "Sleeping Beauty" retold from a new perspective.  I know...I know... I can just hear the religious legalists scoffing...A pastor's wife going to see a movie like this...how could she, right?!? Well I grew up listening to and reading fairy tales and fantasy books like the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit, and I loved them. They haven't diminished the relationship or walk that I have with my God nor have they distorted my view of Him.  In fact, I still love a good fairy tale or fantasy story even today.  

So I took my family to go see it.  I have to say it was a great movie.  I give it 5 stars. I'm not a real big fan of Angelina Jolie, but in my opinion, she did a great job in this movie.  It told a tale of not necessarily evil vs good...but rather what greed, anger and revenge can do if left unchecked. Maleficent begins the story as a beautiful character inside and out, but when greed comes in from the outside world and hurts her, she becomes angry, bitter, and seeks revenge.  When a great love is put before her through the character of Aurora (aka "Sleeping Beauty"), she realizes that her revenge did not accomplish what she wanted.  It only hurt her and the one she came to love even more.

This makes me think of our walk with God and relationships with other people. I have been hurt tremendously by people in the past especially other Christians because I put my high expectations upon those people. There have been times in the past when I've wanted to call fire down from heaven like the prophet Elijah did to smote the person who hurt me, but the difference between my circumstance and Elijah's was that he didn't call fire down from heaven to enact vengance for himself. lol...  When we are hurt because someone fails to live up to our expectations, it is human nature to become angry, bitter, and seek revenge. ...But what does this accomplish? Does it grow our walk with Him? Does it glorify Him?  Does it draw others to Him?  James 1:20 says, "For the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God."  And in Isaiah 55:8 it says, "'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the LORD."  

Since His ways our higher than ours, when we look to Him as our source of peace through our adversity, we'll find that He truly works it out.  He knows the heart of man...and He knows if people intentionally hurt us. When we leave it to Him to handle, He is able to work not only on our hearts through the matter, but the hearts of those who hurt us, and He'll do a much better job than we ever could.  When we take it into our own hands...we find that it won't accomplish what we want it to.  Like in Maleficent's story, it might make us feel good for a brief moment, but for the long haul, it will produce even more damage to us and others.  I can give you an example of letting God handle it in my life.  There was a time when I had one child and was pregnant with my second child.  My car broke down, and I had it towed to a place that normally would take payments to fix my vehicle.  I left it there, and they said they would have it fixed in a couple days.  A couple weeks passed, and they still had not fixed my vehicle. I desperately needed it to get to and from work and transport my family.  When I went to the establishment to find out why my vehicle had still not been fixed, the owner was awful to me.  He told me that if I didn't want to wait until they decided to fix it, then I could take my 90 lb self and move it off the lot.  So that is exactly what I did.  I was so angry, pregnant and all, I pushed my vehicle right off his lot. Instead of enacting revenge though, I took my situation to God in prayer, and within a week, that establishment that had hurt me was shut down. I found out after that police had raided the place a couple days after I had been there, it was shut down and the owner had been imprisoned for something completely unrelated to automechanics. I had nothing to do with it other than taking it to God in prayer. So you see, I can tell you from experience God knows...and He works these things out ...in His way ...in His timing!

Back now to Maleficent... Was Maleficent evil at its finest?  Not really...she acted out in a very human way.  But...just as she was an overcomer, so can we be through Christ.  Look to Him to mend your broken heart and heal relationships. Look to Him to deal with situations and hearts when you have been hurt. Don't allow anger, bitterness or revenge to take hold of your life and rob you of your peace.  Let Him work it out ...in His way ...in His timing.  He is faithful!

Mom had me laughing so hard the other night.  She was making milkshakes for the family and had filled the blender to its capacity.  Everything was looking good until she turned it on. You see, an error had been made...she hadn't placed the lid all the way on, and when she started that blender up, much of the contents came flying out all over the walls, counter and floor. Her reasoning behind the debacle was that one person had distracted her and she was thinking about another who had not wanted any...and then of course there was the dog. Thus...milkshake explosion.  It had nothing to do with the fact that she probably just hadn't checked to make sure the lid was on tight lol.

Do you remember the game called Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon?  It was based off the theory of Six Degrees of Separation...that any person in the world was only separated from another person by six or fewer acquaintances.  So according to that theory...we would only have at most six acquaintances separating us from Kevin Bacon.  Well mom's hysterically funny explanation as to how the milkshake explosion happened, reminded me of that game and set off a game of our own as we went on declaring six or less different excuses for the improperly placed lid that had created the decorative milkshake wall art.

Although the milkshake experience was hilarious, it reminds me of how many times we'll come up with six or less excuses to blame the devil, something, or someone else for the cause of our distress or failures when we, ourselves, might have been the cause... I think we're all guilty of this at some point or another.  We are fallible.  Because of our fallibility, when things happen in life, the first thing we should do is a personal inventory to see if something we did caused what just happened... In the process of our inventorying, if we prayerfully find that it was something we did, all we need to do is turn to God, repent for what we did, and the Bible says that He'll turn it around for the good for those who believe and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).  We may still have to suffer consequences of our actions, but He will work it out.  Now, if in our inventorying process we prayerfully come to the conclusion that it wasn't something we did, then we have to remember that..."Fred" didn't do it because, "Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." (Ephesians 6:12)  Remember to resist the devil despite what we may see happening in the natural, and he will flee.  Not everything is "Six Degrees of the Devil." lol ...but many things including ourselves can cause a separation between us and God.  Whatever the cause, prayerfully look to Him to reveal and remove the hindrance so that you can remain connected to Him, the Vine.