I don’t want to be anything except for what God wants me to be. It’s something I intentionally have to work on every single day. The devil’s sole mission is to distract us from this very feat.

Relationships

Jobs/Bills

Medical issues

Pride

Lust/Jealousy

Social Media/The News

The devil uses all of these things and more as ammunition to get us off track. Good news – not only does God have bigger bullets, He also equips us with His armor.

I don’t know who God is shaping me to be, but I know I want to meet her. So, I will keep moving forward. I will intentionally focus on Him, and I will arm myself with His word.

“To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” – 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12

God changes people. Hallelujah. 

The Bible is composed of various situations where God changes people from the inside out. He changes Jacob to Israel. Abram to Abraham. Simon to Peter. All of these changes signify something huge – a new identity. 

Angie Smith, author of the Seamless Bible Study, poses this question: If God could change your name from something to something else what would it be? 
Fearful to Fearless. That’s my answer. 

Living with undiagnosed Celiac Disease left me bound in fear and shame for eight long years. It’s not something I spoke openly about. The anxiety was hidden with a smile and excuses of why I couldn’t do certain things. Only my family and closest friends really knew the issues I was facing physically and mentally. 
This trip to Yellowstone has been freeing to me in more than one way. I left Texas knowing that this vacation was going to be different – that I was different. I’ve done things that I would have never even thought about a year ago. Yes, I’ve still been a little anxious – but my faith has been so much bigger than my fear. I’m glad that God is still in the business of changing us from the inside out. 

If you think you’re alone in:

Struggling physically

Struggling mentally

Bound by anxiety 

Bound by depression

Bound by shame 

You’re not. 

God has walked many people through situations that were crippling them in one way or another. Let God change your name today. He will. 

“16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” -2 Corinthians 4:16-18

There is something magical about seeing a rainbow. 

God uses this beautiful band of colors as a reminder of a beautiful promise He made with mankind. Though this banner is unconditional, it should bring to mind that we also have made a covenant with Him.
 
To do better. 

To be better. 

To make God our number one. 

And if we do that, a relationship as beautiful as the rainbow will be formed. A relationship that illuminates love and grace from the inside out. 

“Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” – Genesis 9:16

Human beings have been battling God’s will ever since the serpent told Eve to take a bite of that apple. You think we would have learned by now that questioning God can land us in a pretty bad predicament.

Just look at Jacob. 

Jacob was deceitful, manipulative, and selfish. He was constantly trying to do things his own way, which had some pretty harmful ramifications. He finally made everyone around him so angry that he couldn’t stay where he was, and he certainly couldn’t go back “home”. A lifetime of bad decisions finally got the best of him, and he found himself in a place of solitude. A depression. 

Up until that point Jacob acknowledged that God was his grandfather’s God. He acknowledged that God was his father’s God, but he never acknowledged that God was his God – until he couldn’t hide any longer. He was there. God was there. They wrestled. He struggled. He finally decided he would do what God wanted him to do. 

In that moment he faced all of his fears. He said farewell to pride and self. He admitted all of his failures, and he finally claimed God as his own. 
And God changed him. 

“We are now going to Bethel, where I will build an altar to the God who answered my prayers when I was in distress. He has been with me wherever I have gone” -Genesis 35:3

Words.
 
They can lift us up, or they can pierce our soul. Deeply. One wrong word spoken against us can change our entire outlook and the trajectory of our

Because God’s Words – His Words are the stuff. These beautifully written words were thought over, scripted out, and intricately woven together to provide us with hope, guidance,  and love every single day of our life. 
Human words say you can’t because of: 

Your past

Your family

Your gender

Your class

Your job 

Your race

Your education

Did I mention your past? 

God’s Word says you can because He can. 

Don’t let the words of this world stop you from doing what God needs you to do. Don’t let the words of this world tear you down. Don’t believe the world. Believe God.
 
“Gentle words bring life and health; a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit” – Proverbs 15:4

Snakes are sly little creatures. They lurk in tall grass not making a sound. They camouflage themselves. Slithering quietly. Slowly. They often don’t cause a scene until it’s too late. 

Eve had everything. A beautiful place to live. A husband that adored her. Paradise. However, right around the corner the serpent was waiting. He was watching. He came in quietly not causing a disturbance. He wooed her with things that were slightly out of reach, and Eve asked, “What if?” She questioned God. She turned her back for one second. She lost focus. It was harmless, right? 

One flirtatious text. 

One more purchase. 

One lie. 

One look. 

Just one drink. 

The gluttony. 

The omission. 

One wrong look. 

One hurtful word.
 
God will forgive us of our sins; yet, there will always be a consequence. The aftereffect could be minuscule or catastrophic. Although we can’t see the price that these consequences will have in the long run, it’s quite possible that they will wreak years of havoc on everyone around you – including yourself. 

Don’t turn your back.

Don’t second guess. 

Stay focused. 

Is God truly our portion? Without His constant presence in our lives we will never truly be whole. He is there waiting to make us complete, but we have to be willing to give Him our all. 

We can’t just say we love Him. 

We can’t just say we pray. 

We can’t just attend church services. 

We have to have a true relationship with Him. One where we depend on Him for everything. The type of relationship where we are in constant communication with one another. He should be our absolute best friend. Our number one. If we don’t have that type of relationship with God then we will keep grasping for something to fill our souls. We will keep gasping for more breath to fill our lungs. We will never be complete without Him. 

Let God complete you.

“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I have hope in Him.” -Lamentations 3:24

Repent. Restore. Refresh.
 
The word “refreshed” has been on my mind this past week. Maybe because it’s summertime. Maybe because everyone is on vacation. I don’t know. As I was reading through God’s word I noticed a pattern. To be refreshed, you have to be restored. To be restored, you have to repent. 

Repent-
Feel sincere regret about one’s wrongdoing 

Restore-
Return to a previous state or condition 

Refresh-
give new strength or energy to

What an amazing promise! Not only will God return us back to where we were before we hit rock bottom – He will lift us up even higher. He will give us new strength and energy. He can and will turn our messes into miracles; we just have to be willing to repent. 

Human beings are prone to making messes, but that doesn’t mean we have to live in that mess. God’s word chronicles mess after mess being turned into a beautiful miracle. 

“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.” -Acts 3:19

Frank called me the other day from work to say that he found a one day robotic camp that Maggie could attend. I asked Maggie if she would be interested, and of course she said yes. 

Brain starts spinning. Worrying commences. So, in true helicopter mom fashion I ask, “Are you sure you want to go? You won’t know anybody.” Maggie shrugged her shoulders and said she didn’t care if she knew anybody there or not. She would make friends, and she would have fun. In the words of Deb Reynolds, “It would never occur to Maggie that she couldn’t do something.”

Fearless. God wants us to have that type of faith. The kind we had as children. The kind we had before the world jaded us. God wants us to step out boldly in confidence. He wants us to know that with Him by our side we can do anything. 

I keep praying for boldness. I pray that I won’t be hindered by fear or lack of faith. I pray that I won’t let my what-if attitude stop me from doing what God needs me to do. And every single day He uses my children to remind me that He is right by my side. Holding my hand. Leading the way. 

And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” -Matthew 18:3

Looking into our own heart, really examining it for the ugly, can be quite unsettling. We want to believe we are inherently good. We want to believe our motives and reasonings are pure. We want to believe that we don’t place preconceived notions inadvertently on other human beings – judgements that have been passed down from generation to generation.
 
Working on this- intentionally uncovering years of excuses and habits is not for the weak. Thankfully, God is strong. He is strong enough to redirect us. He is strong enough to hold us up as we muddle through the mess we’ve made. He is strong enough to transform the most calloused heart. God can take our ugly tendencies and turn them into beautiful traits that exhibit His unfailing, unending grace. 

“In whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;” 1 John 3:20-22