When I’m having a hard day it seems like all the noise starts taking over. It makes me feel disconnected from God, and I don’t like that feeling at all. Letting my emotions take over can land me in a slump – one that I waller around in for a while. 

Yes, we are human. Yes, we have emotions; however, God is bigger than our emotions. 

Don’t let your emotions boss you around. Don’t let them temporarily disconnect you from Your Father. Instead, let Him manage your emotions. He is the only one that can fix whatever is wrong in the first place. 

 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your way acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” (Prov. 3:5-6

Tupperware lids – a true pet-peeve of mine. Why are there so many? Where are their matches? Why do they fall out on top of my head every single time I open the cabinet? 

Things like this, things that really don’t matter, can literally dictate our day. If we wake up on the wrong side of the bed just one Tupperware lid, one iffy Facebook post, just one forgotten lunch kit, can seriously make us or break us. 

We have the tendency of letting minute details be the driving force of our entire day. If God woke up on the wrong side of the bed where would that leave us? Makes me grateful that He is indeed slow to anger. He is patient, and kind, and understanding – even when we want to chunk Tupperware lids across the kitchen. I’m so thankful that God loves me in spite of me. 

“The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.” – Psalms 103:8

The world is loud. There is constant noise. Voices can infiltrate our head and our heart without us even realizing that it’s happening. 
Start each day in the word. End each day in the word; stay in the word as much as you can throughout the day.
 
Don’t let opinions distract you. Be so filled with the truth (God’s word) that when the noise tries to take over – it can’t. 

“Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” -Joshua 1:8

Love one another. 

On the verge of the biggest betrayal of all mankind, Jesus leaves these words with His disciples. He knows what Judas is about to do, and it breaks his heart wide open. His heart isn’t hurting for Himself; His heart is truly hurting for Judas. He knows the repercussions that he will face. He knows the consequences. He knows that the other disciples are going to have ill-feelings toward Judas. 
When someone hurts your best friend like that, or even you, it takes a while to move past it. In fact, as humans we usually can’t put it behind us. Let’s just be honest – the hurt lingers. 

I had a whole paragraph written here about loving others. I was going to tell you that nationality, gender, and religion didn’t matter. I was going to share some ways to exhibit love to others- but then God put me in check. Sometimes it’s easier to “love” a broad group of people that you don’t even know than to love one single individual that wronged you. 

I have to ask myself these questions: Am I truly loving everyone? What about the people along the way that have ripped my heart out? What about my “Judas”? Am I able to love them? 

Conviction. I’ve got work to do in that area. 

“Shortly after washing His disciples’ feet, something usually done by the lowliest of servants, Jesus said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34–35).

Oftentimes we can only see the worst version of ourselves. In those times it’s important to remember that God sees the best version. He sees our potential. He can peel back all the layers, and expose our true self – if we let Him. He knows that underneath the crankiness, the jealousy, the selfishness, the doubt, the anxiety, that there is a beautiful soul waiting to step out in faith and do mighty things for him.
 
He knows. He sees. 

Whatever quality you are hyper-focused on that you can’t see past – just remember that God sees the beautiful. God can take the bad and use it for good. God thinks you’re beautiful. After all, He did create you. 

Now it’s time for you to believe it, too.
 
“It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.” – Isaiah 55:11

My nieces’ home was hit pretty hard by Harvey, and their parents have been diligently working on demo and cleaning – and then some more demo and cleaning. I can’t even imagine how physically and mentally drained they are.
 
The girls came and stayed with us this week. We ate a lot of cookies, bought them whatever they wanted, and Frank and I can honestly say we feel no remorse for spoiling them rotten this week. My five year old niece Abri, who happens to be the cutest thing in the world, said the following to me, “My house got water in it. It’s ok. My daddy is going to fix it.”

Child-like faith, man. Confident. No fear. No doubts. No worries. Her daddy is going to take care of it all. She knows, she is certain, that Jacob is not going to let her live in that situation – and she’s right. 

I’m so grateful that our Father in Heaven is the exact same way. We can be confident that God can and will fix any situation we may find ourselves in. We just have to have faith. Pure, authentic, unwavering faith. 

“Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” -Isaiah 41:10

Prayer and friendship – two important constants that keep me going. Life can be hard. It is easy to become bogged down with a myriad of stressors, but the power of prayer and a few good friends can give you the strength you need to endure any battle that you may face. 

Prayer and friendship hold you steady when the world wants to shake you from the inside out. Just take a look at Moses when he was caught in a battle with the Amalekites. First of all, quitting was not an option. The second he stopped praying, the second his arms began to droop, the Amalekites would begin overpowering Joshua and his men. Moses HAD to pray. And pray. And pray some more. 

You can imagine the fatigue that set in after holding his arms up for that long. Prayer at this magnitude is no joke. The mental and physical anguish can take a toll on you like nothing you’ve ever experienced. However, Moses had two amazing friends that stepped up to the plate. Aaron and Hur literally held his arms up in prayer position in hopes that Moses’ strength was conserved and that he could endure until the end. In that moment they selflessly took the weight of the world off of his shoulders. That’s the epitome having someone’s back. 

I have some amazing friends, guys. People that drop every single thing to stand in the gap for me. People that hold me up when I can’t stand any longer. 
Today, pray hard for your friends. Lift them up. Tell your battle partners that you love them, and don’t forget to thank God for placing these beautiful, incredible souls in your life. 

“When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up – one on one side, and one on the other – so that his hands remained steady till sunset.” – Exodus 17:12 

We are all bearing a heavy cross. Some are trudging uphill in the heat of the day with theirs, and some are carrying their cross through a Texas-sized hurricane. It’s hard. 

Anxiety

Lust

Jealousy

Addiction

Loneliness 

Anger

Loss

Oppression

These crosses are heavy. They are back breaking and soul crushing. When we are in the midst of this uphill battle, we often times forget that the cross Christ bore would have been unbearable for humans. Not only did He lift a much heavier cross than we could ever imagine, He has promised to carry ours, too. Let Him take some of the load off of your shoulders today. He wants to help, but you have to let Him. 

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28–30). 

When bad things happen in our world it’s easy for me to cry out, “Jesus, come soon!” I call this behavior “The Christian Cop-Out”, and I do it all the time. 
In all actuality, I should be on my knees praying harder. I should be working harder. I should be hustling to win as many people over to God’s side as I can. 
The world doesn’t need a cop-out. They need Jesus. They need Christians that really care. They need Christians that put other people’s needs, including spiritual needs, as number one on their list of things to take care of for the day. 

Just because we are ready to walk through those gates of pearl doesn’t mean everyone else is. Heaven is going to be, for lack of a better word, amazing. However, there’s still more work to be done and more souls to save. 

“Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and [that] your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.” – John 15:16

Hey. You. 

The behind the scenes person. 

The quiet prayer. 

The mover and the shaker. 

The house scrubber. 

The money giver. 

The supply packer. 

The team leader. 

The cheerleader. 

The hot meal cooker. 

The organizer. 

The spouse uplifter. 

The high-fiver. 

The food hustler. 
God sees you. 

He sees your heart. 

He knows your intentions are pure. 

He is so proud of you. 

You are His child. 

He raised you right. 

You’re tired. Your exhausted. You’re overwhelmed. But your Father needs you to keep going. In this big, catastrophic event – He needs you. 
Keep going.
 
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” -Galatians 6:9