When it comes to God’s calling on your life are you more:

▪️safe & secure

▪️run the risk

Maybe the second one sounds too – well, risky – but did you know that run the risk simply means take the chance?

That’s not so scary. Especially when you have the God of the universe right by your side.

Remember when I wrote about cheerleaders the other day? Y’all, He is cheering for you. He is your biggest fan. Your biggest supporter.

He wants you to take that risk because He is going to be running right beside you – and He will be carrying a bottle of water and a sweatband.

I have a hard, hard question for all of us this morning: If we decide to play it safe, if we don’t move forward on the calling God has placed on our life – whose life will be at risk?

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” – Proverbs 3:5-6”

I was a cheer sponsor for about ten years of my career, and I’ll be totally honest – I loved it.

Like seriously loved it.

I learned so much in those ten years about, well, everything.

I’ve had the opportunity to watch young girls grow into beautiful, fierce, capable, and courageous young women.

College

Marriage

Motherhood

Careers

It’s been pretty awesome to watch them “grow up” via Facebook and Instagram, and that’s one of the good things about social media – a topic my girls and I often spoke about. 😆

One thing I always told my girls when they graduated was this: Once a cheerleader, always a cheerleader.

These young ladies may not be under those Texas Friday Night Lights anymore, but they are still in some form and fashion watching and cheering for someone in their life from the sidelines – and so are you.

Their spouse

Their children

Their friends

Their co-workers

And hopefully their self.

Y’all, somebody needs you rooting for them. Somebody needs you to cheer for them in their winning seasons and their losing seasons – cause that’s part of life, too. Somebody needs that extra boost, that confidence, that validation.

So as we trek forward into 2020 I challenge you to the following:

▪️make a list of people to encourage

▪️pray for them

▪️text them

▪️send a real card

▪️meet with them face to face

And don’t forget to root for yourself either. She’s pretty awesome. 💛

“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” 1 Thessalonians

Oftentimes the new year is associated with stress due to unobtainable goals that aren’t even set yet.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

If there is in fact an unsettling in our soul, is it due to the fact that past, present, and future goals were set aimlessly?

▪️Did we truly pray about them?

▪️ Did we truly plan for them?

▪️ Are we searching and seeking?

▪️ Are we continuously reaching?

A new year should be exciting. It’s a time to step out and step up. It’s a time to watch God do what He does – and that’s shake things up by moving mountains and parting seas.

New goals shouldn’t be associated with disdain. Instead there should be an air of excitement encompassing them.

Why?

▪️ Because we know that we serve a big God

▪️ Because He wants us to succeed

▪️ Because He wants to use us

▪️ Because He wants us to be confident

Get excited, y’all.

2020 is here, and it’s going to be amazing.

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” 2 Corinthians 4:7

Hey, you.

Yes, you.

You can make a difference. You were born to make a difference. God placed you here for a specific purpose – a specific reason – at this specific time.

And maybe you feel insignificant.

▪️Too small.

▪️Too dumb.

▪️Too poor.

▪️Too [fill in the blank]

But all of those feelings are merely emotions – lies – created and stirred up by a devil that would like nothing more than for you to fail.

But you won’t.

If God has called you, then God will equip you.

You don’t have to believe in yourself [yet] to take that first step. You just have to believe that God is stepping with you.

Ladies, it’s time to step.

“For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” Esther 4:14

How far will we go?

How far will we seek?

What would we sacrifice?

To praise Him.

To serve Him.

To love Him.

To give Him our all.

The cards, the characters, the commercials – they all depict the wise men’s journey as a short trip across a desert, but that’s not really how it played out.

These men left their families. They left their jobs and their friends and everything they knew. They sacrificed it all to follow their King – their calling.

This journey wasn’t short. It wasn’t a day trip. They didn’t have GPS, heat and air, or the convenience of Subway to stop at when it was time to eat.

All they had was faith. And hope. And the belief in a God who would deliver them. They were holding on to the promises spoken by their ancestors.

And the hope that He promised them, He promised us, too.

So this year as we celebrate His birth I challenge you to remember. I challenge you to look up and follow Him.

No matter how far.

No matter how long.

No matter the cost.

Happy birthday, Jesus.

Mary’s Boy.

God’s Son.

My King.

“And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.” Matthew 2:11

My friend Jana McEachern posted this the other day, and I love it.

The last two weeks I have been lucky enough to witness the overflowing of true Christmas spirit.

🎄Families buying for other families.

🎄People making sure children in their community have Christmas.

🎄Lunch bills for students paid off

🎄Monetary donations to help others

🎄Meals paid for

People are good, y’all.

Sometimes we forget that. Sometimes we get so caught up in all the negative around us that there’s no room to see the good. And sometimes God will put everything on pause to remind us of how blessed we really are.

This Christmas week I hope you see the good. I hope you are the good. I hope the spirit of Christmas infiltrates your soul like it never has before.

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14

Your Giants don’t stop you. Your fear of them does.

Your doubts.

Your distrust.

Your lack of faith.

That’s what stops you in your tracks.

God is bigger than any giant that you may face today. Or tomorrow. Or next year.

Don’t forget it.

“Don’t you know? Haven’t you heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God;

He created all the world.

He never grows tired or weary.

No one understands his thoughts.

He strengthens those who are weak and tired.”

(Isaiah 40:28-29)

For the past two days the song “Counting Every Blessing” has literally been playing on repeat inside of my head. It’s been a constant reminder of what my focus should be – not merely for the holiday season – but always.

The next week and a half is going to be fast and furious – no doubt.

However.

▪️I refuse to let a to-do list longer than Santa’s steal my joy.

▪️I refuse to run around ninety-to-nothing only to – retrospectively – miss out on all of the holiday memories I’m furiously trying to create.

▪️I refuse to let the seemingly daunting tasks of finishing holiday shopping, wrapping presents, and cooking meal after meal become a burden instead of the true blessing that it is.

▪️I refuse to spend my Savior’s birthday in a flustered state of manic emotions any longer.

Life’s short, y’all.

Christmas only comes once a year. Let’s be intentional this year. Let’s make memories instead of lists. Let’s hold conversations instead of contempt. Let’s laugh and live and love.

Let’s celebrate.

7 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. 8 They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

Grief has a way of changing you, and with that change comes an array of choices.

I’m choosing reflection over regrets.

How can I be better?

How can I serve better?

How can I love better?

I’m choosing memories over misery.

The good times.

The funny times.

The traditions.

I’m choosing to grab ahold of the past and carry it forward with me.

I’m choosing to embrace more than ever the hope that only the one true Savior can offer us.

“10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”

1 Peter 5:10

People have ghosts.

Ghosts from their past that haunt them day in and day out. Ghosts that torment in such an unrelenting way that no one else could ever comprehend the mental anguish they are dealing with.

And the truth is other people’s ghosts aren’t any of our business. Honestly, the only thing that is our business is God’s business.

God’s business is loving people in spite of their ghosts.

God’s business is wrapping people up without asking questions – without casting judgement.

God’s business was modeled perfectly by a man named Jesus. A man that walked this earth loving and serving everyone – regardless of our pasts. Regardless of our ghosts.

Let’s be like Him.

“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” 1 John 4:16