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If you are a mom or know one you probably have heard yourself or one saying such phrases: "Why is the floor sticky, Momma needs a helper, I need someone to take out the recycling, someone to take out the garbage and why is the floor sticky!". Other popular phrases are: I have told you 1,000 times not too do that, eat with your face over the plate, your pants are not a napkin, who took this out and didn't put it away, I just cleaned that, were you born in a barn, don't forget to scrub feet/face/hands, did you hear me...and I am sure there are many, many more go to statements we mommas use to get our point across.

I was nicely requesting help today after making a large breakfast for my family (I say requesting because I found myself saying the phrases above momma needs...except all of them right in a row just as typed). You see, I had spent the previous day sweeping, scrubbing a floor via good ole fashioned hand and knee scrubbing, scrubbing the bathroom floor the same way, washing clothes- folding and putting away and any other mom related tasks that came up. So I had big intentions, still after being a mom for 18 years, you would think I would have learned by now. But no, I still had big intentions... you know the dream; that once a mom cleans it should stay that way...did I mention I have 3 boys and 2 animals and a husband? So back to my dream, couldn't the house stay clean just for one whole day? No, it won't no matter what tricks I have tried it never stays, I know now this is just a sign of good living and I have had choices over the years; laugh at it or get mad. Why, because a full home is the sign of a happy home, gratitude is more than dirt deep after all.

My husband ended up ending my sentence and I found myself laughing. So after my "the floor is sticky, momma needs a helper, I need someone to take out the recycling, someone to take out the garbage and why is the floor sticky!" My husband gently and humorously added "and someone to get out of my way". He gets me. Some days I struggle with what I really want, do I want you out of my way, do I want you to stop dipping your hands into the food on the stove or oven and testing it and just sit down, or do I want you to help me cook. Do I want you to help with the laundry or might I worry you will screw it up so I will just do it myself. Do I want some support and someone to talk to or do I want to be alone. I don't even know sometimes...it must be hard to live with me, at times a greater percentage than I can realize I am sure! Maybe it is just me that is torn at times with what I want...it depends on the day and honestly my level of anxiety about getting things done or the level of perfection I place on myself and others, then once the things on my "list" are done I would like them to stay done. Hmmmmm, not too much to ask is it? I have found my anxiety is directly influenced by my time spent focusing in on the problems or worse yet the "probability that a problem may occur".

When you can laugh and look around at the perspective of things anxiety has a funny was of dissipating...yes, we are raising a new generation, the next leaders or followers. We are either loving our husbands or becoming the living flesh of the bible verse about the nagging wife...you know the one that says it is better to live on the roof of the house than with a nagging wife, sigh (Proverbs 21:9). My family doesn't need to hear bitterness.

Truly this time I did request help very nicely I was a bit proud of myself for once, but it helped me to see the bigger picture of the home and what my part is, rather, what standard my habits paint for my family. My family and my Lord could care less if the rushing around gets the "sticky gone" in my home and it miraculously stays gone. Jesus didn't walk around delivering housewives from "sticky", Martha wasn't healed from sticky floors but she was asked to be more like Mary who was sitting at Jesus feet whether on a sticky floor or not! 

 

That day I found myself nervously watching the floor as plates flew, syrup bottles moved faster than rush hour traffic, kids ate as they ran around, conversation went on as I was still at the stove preparing and serving...all this hectic-ness and my heart was trying to get a few moments to sit with my family and enjoy some time with them. But still nervously watching the floor with syrup and hash browns already decorating it...my husbands side of the table lovingly dotted with syrup already as my blood curdled as he said "whoops"...

I decided to let it all go when my husband said what he said...really, I had company and I was not alone and that is truly what my heart wants. Home is being filled with light and goodness. Home is about who is there. Is Jesus present? If Jesus were present at my home, would the conversation at the table keep my eyes on the scraps falling, syrup dripping or on the amazing conversation with the King. My job in Christ is to treat my family the way Christ honors me, giving others the attention and patience they each deserve. Each day I have a chance to send my family to the roof or draw them to conversations with the King.  I will chose sticky joy over sticky anxiety anytime....but I need to pay attention to where my attention goes. I can be present and not home, not filled with Christ's goodness or I can be present and lit up with the moment, living in it and not around it. What am I stuck on...as annoying as it is to clean up the entire household and find that one spot with your sock after everything was put in order and you tried so hard to assure it stays that way...it is beyond our control and instead shouldn't we fight for sticky joy? I am going to fight to keep joy stuck to my heart and mind and not allow it scrubbed off in my battles. Fight to remember to look for moments and not at my agendas...after all the lights are on and I want to be here.

I would love to hear your comments on what phrases you have said to your family!

Not my sight but your sight be won!

I was on a drive today realizing I need to quit losing. I need to quit losing my vision by my own limitations. You've heard the sound biblical advice "not my will but yours be done", well let's also say it is just as applicable to say "not my sight but yours be won" in my life. I need to stop seeing things so differently than you see them, Lord. I need to see heaven on earth and be aware of your heart.  There are those in this life that have the eyeglasses of heaven or if you prefer contacts, then they can have the contacts of heaven (no, this kind do not pop out and you have to dig one out of the questionably clean sink and ponder if it is a good idea to put it back in---where?). Those that have this heaven vision shine it in their writing, in their choices, in their faces, they act different, they sound different. When they do something it is new. When they say something it makes you stop and listen. They have wisdom and counsel as if they are learning right from heaven's teaching. Why do we think this is not possible for all? It is attainable depending on what our "seekers seek".

For me to become a seeker of sight, I need to let go of anxiety and the need to be in control.

There was a book written in the 1960's about two social groups and their status, do remember it? Both cliques were at odds with each other over their perceived status. Both groups had their turf and their status and both were trying to figure out who they really were. There is one character who was different and tried to help both sides and be fair to both. She was even misunderstood but her intent was genuine. This story could probably be written about many high schools across the ages and the country, however.

What if we forgot about these unwritten social rules and just were free to be? Why do we have to have such an "outside dominant" focus anyway? What is real and what is truth, who knows unless we act real. Our vision get's muddled by slop on our windshields. Like the poor soul walking in some really nice clean outfit and a truck powers by hitting a mud puddle spraying the poor one completely from head to toe...life dictates to us how we should be in much the same way. This slopping effect in life "teaches" us not to do_____ anymore, not to wear_____ anymore, not to _____...you name it, we are encouraged negatively by others just as we are positively supported. Some teaching by group is good; we learn that our friends are not always right. We learn not to eat with our mouths open, we learn that gossip keeps us from being trusted, but we can also learn how to hide the genuine out of exclusion or fear and lack of acceptance.

What rubs off from others can build us up with new skills, encouragement and knowledge but it also has the potential to undo the best of us if we let it in a negative sense become a measuring bar.

Many are the punishments and tactics charged of us for not fitting into the mold, that was meant to be broken.

If the rules are unwritten and not "golden" maybe they were meant to be broken.

What I mean by the above is that people are meant for people, we are meant to help each other, lift each other, two are better than one because they can keep warm, catch each other when they fall and fight back to back against adversaries. However, if the influence is not genuine what rubs off can remove what is good in us, it can shut down the good in us meant to be uncovered. There is a cost and a punishment some groups of people or persons dish out if we try to be ourselves, whether teasing, holding back some treatment, words or thing to influence something from within us. This kind of behavior comes from weakness and not strength and these people are not being genuine. The golden rule is to treat others as we would want to be treated, if a rule or standard someone is holding you to or judging you by is not of life importance, a value or a biblical truth it probably is not worth worrying about. For example, in my high school certain brand names were the rule, if you didn't wear them you were not "in". Who cares, I don't see their status better off now for the jeans they wore then...it didn't carry them anywhere better now.

But when we learn to somehow measure ourselves by what "they" say, think or believe and we start to make little neat piles arranged for others and not ourselves, that becomes a problem. When we cannot remember what we love, that becomes the problem. When we are so lost within ourselves that we forget reasons, that becomes the problem. We cannot believe lies. We were meant to excel in truth. We were created to be real and be unique. Cookie cutters are not unique. Gingerbread men are all baked at 350 for 10-12 min. and they get frosted and end with the same fate, getting ingested. We are not cookie cutter people. Why is it some in the "limelight" do something crazy different and it is the acceptable but in small town USA someone tried to be themselves and they are made fun of, tormented in their own minds for not measuring up or even cast away?

The first time I heard Jesus died for the likes of me I was one confused girl who was in hiding and not wanting to be found. Please know if you are reading this and feeling stuck in a one size, cookie cutter world- that was not the Creators intent. You were created to be uniquely you, one of a kind, worth dying for. Yes, the Creator sent His one and only son so you might live and live abundantly. This I have seen with my own eyes and it is truth. Chains are broken in Christ if we trust Him and ask Him for His life and His eyes...this vision He has which is beautiful, amazing and worth waiting and living for is available for everyone.

If you would like, pray this prayer with me:

Lord,

My life feels dry like leaves scattered everywhere...there are always reminders swirling around me that make me feel brittle, I am reminded of my failures, my limitations and my hindrances. However, I hear that you want more for me. I can believe with my mind and heart that you are different and you are not like this world and it's works. I submit my life to you and your ways, to your creative power and Holy Spirit. Lord, take my life and blow it all apart! Take the dry places and remove them in your majestic power. I confess I will stop the work of my arranging and striving to make something out of what I have and I chose to surrender it all; good, bad and beautiful to you. You can make me whole, You can restore the truth. Take all the negative words spoken to me and blow them away in your truth, take all the negative deeds done to me and mightily strike them down in your breath, speak your beautiful words of adoration so I can hear them, let me accept the gift of your life given for me. Take what I see and remove the pieces so that I see heavens view on earth as you see it. Let me stop judging myself and submit my heart to your processes. After all I can never measure up but I can trust you, and I simply gain your acceptance by believing in you, (not by doing or being anything more than what I am right this second). Lord your promises are true and I choose to lean on them and not my own understanding. Take what I have known apart and rebuild me according to the beauty you promise, I choose to believe.


Amen.

If you prayed this prayer feel free to comment.

Draft Mode

What keeps a person from being truly effective?

If there be any searching, wondering, questioning even doubting about the point of the life one has been given...that in itself ultimately keeps one from being truly effective. But the question began with a wondering a searching and yet it ends in being only more ineffective. So what is the answer?

To find an answer we must become acquainted with the root:

What are the causes of becoming stuck in life?

Many are the causes: becoming overwhelmed with life, having questions, doubts, let downs, even in the midst of great success one can become stuck. So you need not have anything in particular to be left questioning and feeling nothing.

Ask yourself where does it unravel for you, what are the very questions that leave you stuck and as King Solomon so best said feeling, "meaningless, meaningless, everything is meaningless a chasing after the wind".

Once you know the question you are stuck on or the answer perhaps then you can move forward.

What can you do about it, there may not be a specialist, there need not be, perhaps you were placed on this earth to be the answer or shed some light in a dark place.

If you are still stuck on the above statement, who says that you cannot be a source for an answer...a lot of times we search because there is no good answer observed in our lives and we are in a desert place longing for one...so this is where action requires courage. Boldness to stand in strength when we are all but worn down, to be the answer we desire.

When we draft our lives- in our minds, on paper, daydreaming per say, we are not accomplishing what God has called us to- obedience is action and living out our faith. Look at this scripture written from an elder to a noble woman of faith:




2 John 1 New International Version (NIV)
¹ The elder,

To the lady chosen by God and to her children, whom I love in the truth—and not I only, but also all who know the truth— ² because of the truth, which lives in us and will be with us forever:

³ Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, will be with us in truth and love.

⁴ It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us. ⁵ And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. ⁶ And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

⁷ I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. ⁸ Watch out that you do not lose what we^[a] have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. ⁹ Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. ¹⁰ If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take them into your house or welcome them. ¹¹ Anyone who welcomes them shares in their wicked work.
¹² I have much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.

¹³ The children of your sister, who is chosen by God, send their greetings.

 

Matthew Henry's commentary:

And we may further see that it is joyful to good old ministers, and accordingly to other good old disciples, to see a hopeful rising generation, who may serve God and support religion in the world when they are dead and gone. We see here also the rule of true walking: the commandment of the Father. Then is our walk true, our converse right, when it is managed by the word of God.

 

I am not saying we shouldn't be allowed times of hurt, questioning and wanting more of an answer as to why we are alive...I think we must long and question in order to be motivated argue with the sense of entitlement to get answers and turn instead to give answers. I think the questions are where great things begin, the questions like a landslide give way to faith that then quantifies action through obedience to Christ and His mission, His reason for being in and through you.

 

The story above is a beautiful picture of a woman who some sources speculate was a widowed woman since she is noted as the head of the home. Her children are following Lord. Wait, back up, it didn't say "all her children" in verse four it said "some of her children". Wow, a faithful noble woman who has experienced possible tragic loss of proportions now doing the work of mothering alone- commended by a leader of faith for "some" success. Isn't that interesting. We do not and cannot, as mom's and dad's, control the choices of our family members, but we can obey and give a very strong start and possibility for success in their lives.

 

Love, it is a tangible and meaningful picture acknowledged through our faithful obedience, even if what we produce is not a perfect score.

 

How much do you bet that mom does not credit herself for her "some" but her heart is on the others maybe only one that is not following the Lord. Don't you know her heart, I'd gather to wage this mom does not credit any success to herself as she considers the "some" that are not walking rightly. But God doesn't demand perfection, and this mom may be at the place some of us are today- she may have been full of questions and wondering why she had to lose her husband, why she had to walk this faith walk alone, why she had to endure who know what ridicule in her city as a widower- maybe even some mocking her, maybe her prodigal had a bad name in town even (my heart hurts over her questions).  I love that Jesus sends her a letter through this elder, a leader, telling her she has done well, telling her she is noble.

 

Encouragement, if you have not heard today from anyone- this may be your divine appointment to hear that God sees the good you are doing. Be encouraged, He does not demand perfection for He sees the heart.

 

The elder tells this woman to continue on in love, not to get ahead of God and therefore get deceived in the process. Some teachers tell a good story but if their words have no Christ in them we are to be aware, taking them in may be taking down our own walk. There is not a bigger or better thing than Christ. As much as our fast paced, gimmick based world wants us to believe the answer is here or there...no, the answer is in continuing in the faith even when it doesn't seem it is heading anywhere.

 

Faith is painted on human hearts and overflows. If you are stuck in draft mode as I have been, the issue may be questions but that is not where we are to remain. We are to live out loud in our relationships, even the broken ones, we are to move in our God given strengths and share. We are as Matthew Henry's commentary states, to allow God to manage our lives through His word.

 

Can't you appreciate how the elder speaks to the woman in writing but then closes saying, "he has more to say to her but he wants to see her face to face, so that their joy may be complete". There is something to living out "in person" with others and leading out loud from the depths of questions, that is where Christ moves and we stay in step with Him. I encourage you to find someone face to face and encourage them in Christ or continue this walk in faith allowing God to manage your life through the Word, to remove all of the questions and turn them into service for others.

 

 

 

Where there were questions many times in the Word Jesus answered with more questions, I encourage you to check out the blog post below and ask yourself these questions Jesus asked.

 

http://blog.adw.org/2012/02/100-questions-jesus-asked-and-you-ought-to-answer/

Just Ask

 

If I could sum up what I have been learning this last year, it would be the words "just ask". God is not incapable because our minds are incapable of holding the thought of answered prayer in tangible form. I've been there a lot. In fact, too often maybe; so much so I wonder at times where the waves of doubt have cast me, but then I look up and He is faithful. He brings us back home even when we allow ourselves pummeled in those waves and all but shipwrecked.

I also need to confess I have a problem with using the word "just," it is a word I allow myself to use all too often. When I use it I seem to give an "inferior" definition, on the phone I say to others, "it's just me." As if they were expecting Ed McMahon to call them and tell them they won a million dollars but they are stuck with me? Or maybe they were awaiting a call from "The Next Top ____ fill in the blank" and their life call is being answered...but it is just me. Why do we do that, do you do that? We minimize our worth- just to set ourselves up, just in case we were going to be rejected...so we take care of it for the other person? I think that is what I am doing...sound silly, crazy? It has served a purpose otherwise it wouldn't be a habit.

What I realized is like many things in life there is a balance before it becomes madness, a fine line of tact before it tilts to crazy. There is doing and overdoing, there is doing and also underdoing. For example there is tidiness, keeping order, and there is extreme obsession...there is tidiness and there is absolute lack of order, absolute mess-city. There is strength in confidence and there is pride, extreme self confidence and then there is totally the opposite with no hope and no belief in oneself, which also sets up for failure as much as pride.

                                         Balance is a key in life.



We also need that balance with our word choices, words become actions. Actions eventually solidify our character. It matters. When we use words frequently we should study what they say about us. What do we really mean when we say them. The true test- if you have children, has your child said your own words back to you and you can trace it back to you when you look deep. Those moments can really be scary. What I mean is, the other day I told my son when he says sorry and does not act like he means it, he may as well not even say it. He has stopped saying he is sorry to me...ever! When he does do something offensive without thinking I ask him to say sorry and he says "mom you tell me not to say it if I don't mean it". Whoops, there is some flawed parenting right before my eyes...I do want him to say sorry but I needed instead to teach him how his actions should reflect this, not tell him don't bother unless he meant it. Maybe I didn't know what he really felt. Parents, we who know all- even how our kids feel, uh no, not all the time. I have learned...just ask. When I think I know that is probably when I am the farthest off. When I think I understand, I better ask again.

This is the "just" I care about and want in my life....to "just ask", "just believe", "just trust".

Just has several definitions you see, I was using the 12th definition in the beginning of my story, but if you only even quickly glance over the variety of uses and colors of "just" (listed below from Dictionary.com) you get a feel for my go- to-choice being so "below the belt" given the intent of the word. Just is a whole and righteously inspired word. It is determined, proper, a compass of sorts, based on truth and right foundation. So when I now say "just ask" I mean the more valor exuding definitions. Just ask! Ask from others what you don't really know about them (tip: even when you think you know, just ask), if something is bugging you about another person, just ask (don't assume you know why they do something or even that they know they are doing it!),  Just=exactly and precisely....so we must hit the nail on the head and not be in the approximate area.

Just ask the God of the Universe, God of Creation...and prepare to be amazed at what will follow. Dare I tell you to step back from what you thought you knew He was all about and let Him blow you away. Just ask God for your wildest, if you don't have "a wildest" in line with His word... then ask Him for one- trust me it will be worth it. He knows you better than you know yourself and His promise will dwell in your heart deep, rich. It will make you want to own it and see it into fruition.

A secret about the lesson on balance- there is none when it comes to Love, this is an exception to the rule on balance. Love throws in its lot for the sum. 1 Corinthians 13 states it so clearly if we have gifts of tongues, prophecy, faith and if I give my all for others but have not love- I am nothing. It Believes All, Hopes All and Endures All. It is extreme in nature and fiercely devoted. Balance is burnt up in its fire and passion. That is what is so amazing about God, He has all wisdom and knowledge giving us rules for living successful lives but He lavishes this "unconventional" absolutely "unbalanced" love...where balance would say that is far enough...your loving too much now...slow down there, your investing too much of your heart- God says in passion, burning with zeal and jealous pursuit for His creation- "NO, there is no such thing as too much love, my own Son must go and die in their place so that they may come to me and rest on my chest one day, so that I may hold them and call them mine".

On the next post I will share with you my "turn it around tool" God gave me one night when I was stuck on negative thoughts...

just¹

adjective

1. guided by truth, reason, justice, and fairness:

We hope to be just in our understanding of such difficult situations.

2. done or made according to principle; equitable; proper:

a just reply.

3. based on right; rightful; lawful: a just claim.

4. in keeping with truth or fact; true; correct: a just analysis.

5. given or awarded rightly; deserved, as a sentence, punishment, or reward: a just penalty.

6. in accordance with standards or requirements; proper or right: just proportions.

7. (especially in Biblical use) righteous.

8.

actual, real, or genuine.

 

adverb

9. within a brief preceding time; but a moment before: The sun just came out.

10. exactly or precisely: This is just what I mean.

11. by a narrow margin; barely: The arrow just missed the mark.

12. only or merely: He was just a clerk until he became ambitious.

13. actually; really; positively: The weather is just glorious.

Idioms

14. just so, neat and tidy; carefully arranged:

My mother-in-law is very fussy; everything has to be placed just so.

 

 

Fear

What gets us to go back into the burning building of our lives to rescue what is crying out?

God, He is the face plate, the mantle of authority, crowning our being and enthroning courage in our lives lifting it up over our fears.

Sometimes we lack encouragement to run in courage because we need to first feel the flames in order to bring about change. The house is on fire and everyone is uncomfortable because we find we still care! Thank heavens we can feel the flames and we are not still in our recliner sipping on something of our choice watching TV mad at the commercials (such an inconvenience to us, sigh)....while all around us the flames are burning and we have no clue. Sight, what alone is our sight set upon? Ear, what are we listening to? Mind, what is going through the cyclical patterns in our God given brains, of which we only use 10%.

Or do we?

According to an online article from Scientific America published on Feb 7th 2008, by Robynne Boyd titled; "Do People Only Use 10 Percent of Their Brains", the human brain is incredibly complex and controls a variety of daily functions. Besides housing memories, experiences and behaviors, it controls movement, activities of daily living and necessary organ functions. She goes on to explain that Barry Gordon from John's Hopkins School of Medicine says the myth of using only 10% of our brains may have held true for so long due to our perceptions of our own shortcomings, however, we do use virtually every part of our brain- most of the time. The truth is if we are resting or thinking we may only use 10% of one area of the brain but over the course of a day we use 100% of the entire areas of the brain. The article teaches that there are clusters of neurons in selected parts of the brain that "team up" to carry out certain functions such as vision, hearing, movement and memory. As amazing as these "team units" are, there is no one single area that can be found to be responsible for our consciousness, which must mean all areas of the brain work together to form consciousness. Scientists do not yet understand this vital step in our awareness. Rather than only using 10% of our brains, we truly only understand how 10% of our brains work!

So if we only understand such a limited percentage of our brain function and interknitting, this our source for reasoning, thought patterns, understanding, insight....how dare we trust our own carnal fears. How dare we submit to the very caverns of such unknown territory. Although fear is logical, I am trying to show you that faith is so much more dependable although it stands unseen, it is the answer to life's depths and plummets. Fear on the other hand is empty producing nothing but empty baggage. We normally trust our instincts, our brains response, but in reality we understand so little of this life. What about the Creator, the King, the Divine Helper wouldn't you rather have that wisdom and influence in your life?

Let's take a minute to look at the fight or flight response that fear triggers:

Step one: It starts with a threat or a harm coming our way
Step two: The brain processes the signals and sends a message with next responses
Step three: Cortisol and adrenaline is released
Step four:A number of results are made evident in the body due to these chemicals (see step five)
Step five: Heart rate increases, bladder relaxes, tunnel vision, shaking, dilated pupils, flushed face, dry mouth, slowed digestion and hearing loss may occur

Isn't it interesting that the vastly misunderstood brain sets off a chain reaction in our bodies, these temporary effects are only that however, unless we are subjected and held hostage by fear and stress more long term then many more severe health impacts can result; such as mental health complications including depression and anxiety, digestive issues, cardiac issues and weight concerns just to name a few. Pay close attention to the vision, hearing and mind domino effects, the most vital areas attacked- if one wants to work opposite to fear.... out of faith. We need a sound mind, an ear to hear what may be spoken in gentle quietness and vision to see the minute movements of the unseen...through faith. Oh how the smallest of things can remind us of life's past dirty garbage and cause a "loop" effect of fear playing over and over...whether we want it to or not.

What comes to mind next is the song by Darrell Evans "I'm Trading My Sorrows". If you have never heard it the words state: I'm trading my sorrows, I'm trading my shame, I'm laying them down for the joy of the Lord...I am blessed beyond the curse for His promise will endure and His joy's gonna be my strength.

The opposite of fear, which leads to sorrow and shame as well as all manners of discouragement is joy and faith, peace and courage. These fruits cannot be conjured up easily, they cannot be read about in a self-help book and applied by formula. They also cannot be a byproduct of a tumultuous heart and mind engulfed in fear. It starts with a quieting of our autopilot response to stir up in these emotions and act out in them in vain and instead sacrificially turn it all over Christ. Think of the Psalms they all are an outpouring of emotion to God, yet they all end in freedom. David the main author in Psalms was credited as a man after God's own heart, He sought God and didn't let his brain steer him off course. Have you ever felt tossed and turned by the winds and waters, frightened and at bay to the breakers and the mighty waves? The secret is simple and there isn't much poetry to it or fancy gimmicks but it is simply and purely to surrender to Christ in love. In times of great fear isn't it nice to know there is nothing fantastically complicated, super complex or hyped about finding a way out? When we get there the result in our lives is beyond poetry, beyond the most memorable quote or stirring wisdom because it is written as change on our hearts as a song in freedom from our chains, as a burst of shout when we throw the empty baggage into the ocean never to carry it again.

What fights the fear that fires up and consumes us, steals our victory, our hope, what we love, our thoughts and even what we believe on the core of who we are...it shakes us up so that our definition of who we thought we are is all but ashes. Fear. If the unexplainable, the impossible can take place with fear...if the brain is uncharted territory that all gets used but is so mysterious that means there is one above us, a Greater Creator that has the map, that has the understanding, that possesses all answers.

A reasonable person says there is also always a therapy, always a pill, always a way to talk through troubles and find relief. But I have experienced a time of deep fear, have you? I am sure you have....what carried you through, any of the above in a lasting way? In the most fear I have felt ever...I had a refuge a place to run where I had joy...this is impossible, this is unexplainable...in a reasoning brain housing past experience, knowing the full difficulties and pain of life, yet to find a refuge with nothing SEEN changing? What then is the answer. There is One Greater that through our faith being activated, rewrites a story on our mind and hearts...He takes us to an oasis in the desert with twelve springs and 70 palms. Take a break and see Exodus 15 vs. 22-27 after the Israelites crossed the Red Sea and Moses led them through the desert of Shur they were thirsty and without water and hope. Most certainly in times of  deep sorrow, weakness and fatigue we can find strength.

The Israelites were led this way by God through the wilderness purposefully because the word says He did not want them to face a battle and get discouraged (See Exodus 13 vs.17-18)....what did that say, eh? Didn't want them to face a battle. But what about the internal battle, the complaining, the moaning, the getting ready to stone Moses, the questions to God about life and death....them questioning God. So they were kept from a literal hand to hand battle but God knew that they could fight the battle internally, through their weapon of faith. Moses was unsure of speaking and being a leader at first but God was his voice. God was his source and that is what made him an amazing leader in the desert when confronted with great uncertainty, he always asked the right source "God what should I do with these people?" -Exodus 17:4. God always answers and amazingly God led them as He always leads us when we are willing, for them with pillar by day and cloud by night, but still the same God was and is always there. Yes, the people struggled, fear was their battle, fear of dying from thirst or without food, fear of coming out of slavery or going back to slavery, fear of God letting them die in the desert, fear of change. God never gives up on us no matter how it may look in the physical, He is routing us. God never leaves us alone. He will allow us a battle of wills so we can choose this day whom we will serve, but He won't ever pair us up to a losing battle. Our God is a God of victory over every fear.

Keep your brain activated this week by focusing on what God has done through you in the past and by meditating on the historical proof of our faith through scripture, handed down to us as we grandly receive it as our inheritance. Pray with me for greater revelation on the power of faith over our logic, pray for the foolishness of fear to be revealed and the grand nature of God's gift of the unseen possibilities to rule over our minds and hearts. Below are some scriptures to set your mind on, as you read them pretend the names below are your great, great grandparents imagine them sitting you on their laps as a child and telling you of what God did firsthand in their lives, believe it like it happened so recently the evidence is still visible on their faces while they are sharing with you, whatever it takes to make it "seen". 



Hebrews 11 New International Version (NIV)

Faith in Action

11 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. ² This is what the ancients were commended for.

³ By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
⁴ By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.
⁵ By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.”^[a] For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. ⁶ And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
⁷ By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.
⁸ By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. ⁹ By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰ For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. ¹¹ And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she^[b] considered him faithful who had made the promise. ¹² And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
¹³ All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. ¹⁴ People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. ¹⁵ If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶ Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
¹⁷ By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, ¹⁸ even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”^{[c] 19} Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.
²⁰ By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.
²¹ By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.
²² By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.
²³ By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.
²⁴ By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. ²⁵ He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. ²⁶ He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. ²⁷ By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. ²⁸ By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.
²⁹ By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.
³⁰ By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days.
³¹ By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.^[d]
32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, ³³ who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, ³⁴ quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. ³⁵ Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. ³⁶ Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. ³⁷ They were put to death by stoning;^[e] they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— ³⁸ the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.
³⁹ These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, ⁴⁰ since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.