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Loss for Words

Our house can be… well, loud, and crazy, and hectic, and .. well LOUD lol. With four daughters that love to talk, a husband that loves to talk, and of course, then there is me (they get it honest).There is so much we have a lot to say about, and some things we can go on and on about.

Everything just rolls right off the tongue when we are happy, or being goofy, or venting, or in a disagreement (imagine that). But, when we are hurt… sad… scared… uncomfortable, well we tend to clam up. Yep, I went there. All of a sudden we are at a loss for words.

We don’t want to talk about it, or we won’t talk about it, or we don’t know how to talk about it.

What are the chances we do that with our Heavenly Father?

There are times when my prayers, praises, requests, and general conversation with HIM just roll off my tongue. I have watched where sweet souls that were hurting, heartbroken, scared, beat down, anxiety drenched- have just stopped praying, or won’t pray about those particular “thorns”, because they don’t know what to say or what to pray for. You been there?

I have… I’ve seen it and done it myself. I have been “at a loss for words”. I have cried, “God, I don’t even know what to say. I’m done, I’m broken, I don’t want to talk about it, I just can’t.”

And His reply is, “Child, you don’t have to have words. You don’t even have to know the words. You don’t even have to speak the words.” None of us like to admit when we are weak. Guess what? He knows we are weak.

His Spirit not only knows what to pray for and what to say that aligns with God’s will, but the Spirit prays for YOU and for ME with GROANINGS that words cannot express!

Groanings make inarticulate sound in response to pain or despair. Like wow. He PLEADS on our behalf! PLEADS! The word pleads means to make an emotional appeal.

Have you wrapped your mind and troubled heart around that? The HOLY SPIRIT, in the presence of our FATHER, makes an emotional appeal with deep groanings on our behalf for God’s will! Let that soak in. It’s ok to be at a loss for words, He knows all that needs to be said! He’s already there speaking for you. ❤

“And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.” (Romans 8:26-27

In the Garden

The Garden of Gethsemane is where Jesus prayed on the night of His betrayal and arrest (Mark 14:32-50).

According to the record in Luke, Jesus’ despair in Gethsemane was so deep that He sweat drops of blood (Luke 44-22:43).

“Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed.” (Matthew 37-26:36)

If we continue reading throughout The Gospels we will land at the very betrayal that was sealed with a kiss of Jesus by his friend and disciple, Judas.

In the next moments, the view shifts to Peter. Peter having seen everything, draws his sword and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.)

I grew up in an abundantly female environment but now that has flipped in my own home and our daughter and I are outnumbered. Within the dominance of a male atmosphere, the term “that’s gross” actually becomes life changing y’all. It means run, don’t look, don’t breathe, and mostly – I really don’t want to know.

So as a woman I read this and think “Oh, Peter trying to hurt him”. No. No. No. This is Peter with a warning of game on, the war has begun because this is unjust and wrong! All out war is being waged.

In the face of injustice, Peter gets angry.

In the face of injustice, Peter is ready to go to war for Jesus. But in that very moment of intensity and emotion, Jesus acts out only in profound love. He heals the ear of one of the men who have come to take part in leading Him to His death. So the challenge becomes this – Peter, I (we) aren’t going to win the war like this. We aren’t going to be powerful in unjust moments with anger and strife.

The distraction of injustice – the very distraction of much of our culture and world right now. Please don’t misunderstand me, much IS unjust. What happened in the garden WAS wrong, dark, painful, terribly wrong.

But can I whisper the sweetest secret – OUR GOD HAS A PLAN. Is it whispering if it’s in all caps? JESUS HAS A PLAN.

As believers, we have got to get to a place where we understand battle and war. For such a time as this, in Spirit and Truth – in His way, that seems so unnatural to us in our flesh but is a part of His plan. To practice His pause and ask Him for His Truth and His way –

Is this how we win this battle?

Is this very thing what you are asking me to do?

Am I to say this?

Am I to write this?

Is this what we are doing?

To be sons and daughters with heart postures set to NOT mess with His plan and story. Ohhhh, to be careful that we aren’t on the wrong side fighting for the right thing.

For many injustice is a distraction. We will get distracted. We will see things and maybe even look at things, things that are right. But it all must remain our second gaze and another focus. We have to stay fixated on Jesus. Locked on Him. Focused on Him. Gazing on Him. Always first. Always our main. After we can choose injustice, if we so choose. But if injustice is our first choice, we will die on that mountain instead of being present for what God is doing.

Battle and War – the good thing will always be the enemy of the God thing and His right thing in our life. It isn’t and won’t always be right vs. wrong – is this God, or is this not God? It can and will sometimes be – if these are both good, what is the God thing?

For Such a Time as This

One of my favorite women of the Bible is Queen Esther. What I admire most about Esther is her extraordinary strength. Despite feeling afraid, she still mustered up the strength to accept the assignment that she was destined for. Esther no doubt knew that real strength comes from God, and she allowed Him to work through her. Through faith, she found the courage to face her fears. From her humble beginnings to living in the lavish palace of the king, she remained true to herself, her family, her people, and her God. No doubt, Esther serves as an inspiring role model for women of all ages.

In a beautifully orchestrated plan, Esther was in the right place at the right time. Esther knew that she must face her fears and trust in God’s plan for her life, so she courageously stepped out in faith and obedience to accomplish the task laid before her. Queen Esther’s brave actions serve to show us that God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things.

Maybe you, too, have felt like Esther. Remember when you experience “for such a time as this moments,” that He can and will turn pain into purpose and trials into blessings. What He calls you to do, He will help you accomplish…

“Perhaps you were born for such a time as this”

Esther 4:14

Jump to God

Think about a time when you were really scared. For me, it was last year. I was home alone on a Tuesday morning doing school work (I’m homeschooled). I’m just minding my business reading, and all of a sudden I hear this loud noise. I don’t know what the noise was, but it was really loud.

At first my mind goes to the worst, I start thinking, “Oh my goodness is there someone in this house?? Am I going to get kidnapped? Do I need to call my mom?” Instead of calling my mom though, I wait, and wait. And I hear more noises. That’s when I start getting really scared.

So I call my mom. While I’m on the phone with her she makes me walk into the living room to prove to myself that there isn’t anyone there.

Sure enough, there wasn’t. But I was still scared even though I saw with my own eyes nothing was in my house. Come to find out later, all the noises were from a stray cat climbing on the fence right outside my room.

So that’s my scary story, but think about yours. Did you jump to the worst conclusion like me? Did you still think something was wrong even though you saw there wasn’t? What if instead of jumping to the worst, we jumped to God? What if instead of not trusting our own eyes, we trust God instead? What if, we let go of our fears and just pray?

Romans 10:13 says, “For anyone who calls on the Father’s name, shall be saved.”

Philippians 4:6 says, “Do not worry about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God.”

I don’t know about y’all, but every time I read those verses I feel peace. I feel safe, and I feel comforted knowing that God is there. He won’t abandon you and leave you scared of the stray cat. Instead, He will walk with you into the living room. He will take the place of the eyes you don’t trust, and be the Savior you should trust. Don’t jump to the worst. Instead, jump into God’s word, and talk with Him.

The next time you get scared, just pray. It helps more than anything.

I’m in.

Unpopular opinion here. I’m full of ‘em though.

Y’all, we are gonna have to get rid of our 2020 defeatist attitudes – and I’m talking to myself, too.

I’m serious.

This isn’t toxic positivity. This is reality. This is our reality – and it’s hard.

But we can do hard things.

We can do hard things because Christ did hard things, and He is living within us.

I guess what I’m trying to say is let’s make the best of a bad situation. You can be smack dab in the middle of the worst storm of your life and still have joy. This is illustrated all throughout the pages of the Bible – most beautifully modeled by Jesus himself.

Let’s be intentional about this.

Plan time to rest.
Plan time for recreation.
Plan time for therapy or venting to a friend.

But plan to have joy.
Pray for that joy.
Look up verses about joy in the Bible.
Meditate on those verses.

Today let’s plan to start a joy revelation.

I’m in.
Are you in?

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

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Discern

First off, I want to say Happy New Year! There is something about the new year that makes everyone want to evolve from the person they were once before. Many of us Christians, when we approach the new year, our goal is to get closer to God (at least it should be). Whether it is by praying, fasting, or using your heavenly language to speak moaning and groaning that can not be uttered. There’s one strategy we must seek God for this season like never before – especially at a time like this – and that is to Discern.

Let me give you an understanding of what Discerning/Discernment is.

Discern: to recognize something visually or mentally (in our case spiritually) right/wrong.
Synonyms for the word discern are: Distinguish, to tell apart, to determine, and to observe.
The antonyms are: to overlook, ignore, doubt, and to be confused.

And let me tell you that the word confuse God already brought back to remembrance for what his word says in 1 Corinthians 14:33, “For God is not the author of confusion but of peace.” God has revealed to me why I catch myself feeling confused – because I have not really sought out to him about increasing my gift to discern.

Guys we are in a time where the world and the church is getting out of order and everyone is overlooking the strategy to discern. Especially in the church. You see many disturbing news about wolves in sheep’s clothing. We need to remember that the enemy will not come out in all red with a pitch fork and horns. It says in 2 Corinthians 11:14, “For Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.” So guess what his followers are going to do. And many of us are falling for his lies. We are being led to the slaughter house because we are not seeking God about discernment.

Well Chelsie how can I get and use discernment? How is it my fault that I fall for the trick of the enemy and that he is disguised as an angel? Clearly, if he were to come at me in a dark figure I would know to flee. But how do I truly know? Let me tell you…. We may still be the lost sheep that can’t recognize God’s voice because in John 10:4-5 it says, “And when putteth before them and the sheep follow him for they know his voice. V5 and a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.”

And in verse 27 Jesus clearly states that “MY sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me.”

So, the first thing to truly seek discernment is that we must fully and wholeheartedly become God’s sheep. Coming into submission under God already gives us access to have discernment.

Some it comes to easily because it’s one of their gifts/weapons for the kingdom. And others we have to increase our faith for God to give it to us.
Even David the man who is known to be a man after God’s own heart caught himself seeking God to give him discernment. Turn with me to Psalms 119:125 which states, “Give discernment to me your servant, then I will understand your laws.”

This scripture is my Prayer to God! Seriously! Re-read it again and truly seek God for it. Let this meditate in your heart.

Even David knew that he needed discernment to fully thrive In his walk for God. Because when we discern we will be more likely to obey the laws of God.

Proverbs 1:4 states, “These proverbs will give insight to the simple knowledge and discernment to the young.” Reading that it is already giving us a strategy on how to seek and apply discernment.

I sound like a broken record but I will say it again, we live in a time where there are false teachers, prophets, preachers, ect leading churches. They come using all these fancy words and using scriptures that they MISINTERPRET leading sheep to a road of destruction.

That it goes both ways we won’t be able to be manipulated by these false teachers because we recognize God’s voice and can discern if it is good or bad. Let us all seek God like never before and be like David to increase our understanding of discernment so that we may be able to obey God and his laws 🙏🏾

Let’s Minister

……With fear and trembling…..

Philippians 2:12 is one of my favorite verses. It speaks to my rule follower heart.

“So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;”

My need to follow rules makes obedience fairly easy, but fear and trembling always gets me. I know I’m saved and can’t be snatched from my Father’s hand ( John 10:29 ), but have I grown complacent? Do I stay in a state of awe and reverence because the Most High God of the universe is at work in me? ( Philippians 2:13 )

There’s a reason we need to fear and tremble. A few Sundays ago my pastor, Billy Kilpatrick, said this, “Final death is separation from God without the ability to repent”. That’s scary. Final is final and separation from God for all eternity is a brutal reality.

I’m thankful that death has no victory for me, but I have friends and loved ones who have yet to accept Jesus and the security that He brings. To stay ready for opportunities to reach them I need to make sure I’m doing the things the Holy Spirit is telling me do.

I need to be studying His word for revelation. I need to behave in such a way that I shine as a light in the midst of a crooked generation ( Phil 2:15 ). I need to testify of the goodness of God at every opportunity.

None of those things “save” me, only Jesus can do that. Not doing them won’t condemn me, but I would not be walking in the good works He has prepared for me ( Ephesians 2:10 ). I want to be able to reach the people in my life. Family, friends, acquaintances, I am praying they are all a part of my good works.

Who is with me? Can we make 2022 the year we bring back some fear and trembling so that we can reach our communities for Christ? #LetsMinister

Be thankful.

“I thank God for all the times he told me no because He had a better yes.” 

Job 2:3 NLV

“Then the Lord asked Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless – a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil.” 

Job 2:8-10 NLV

“Job scraped his skin with a piece of broken pottery as he sat among the ashes. His wife said to him, “Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die. But Job replied, “You talk like a foolish woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?” So in all this, Job said nothing wrong.”

I was pulling up plants from my flower bed last week. The Lord typically speaks to me at moments I least expect it. I was mainly upset that adulting hit me hard during the quick freeze we had a few weeks back here in Southeast Tx. The thought of covering my plants.. NEVER CROSSED MY MIND.

I had been busy and caught up in my everyday life. So, here I was pulling up my beautiful flowers that I for some reason was able to keep thriving for several months. This included the Nephthytis I have had from my Grandparent’s since they passed. Needless to say, I was pretty hurt with that one. God laid on my heart that a lot of times us as humans thrive. We feel like we have it all together when we’re just going from day to day. He reminded me that those are the times that people typically say yes to me. They say yes when it’s comfortable, yes when it follows in with their everyday routine. They even say yes when it may make their life a little more fun, a little more brighter. 

Then one day they get caught up in their everyday life. Drifting away from church. They stop plugging into community. Perhaps they are fully on fire for Christ, and then the path changes. They have a new normal. They stop listening for me and the coldness of this world and reality we live in hit. Breaking them – just like it does to plants. The “yes” doesn’t seem all that comforting anymore. Perhaps the yes even hurts.

“Job scraped his skin with a piece of broken pottery as he sat among the ashes.” This is when Satan reached out and took Job’s health. He was struck with terrible boils from head to toe. I think of Job 2:8 deeper. What was really going through his mind as he sat there – scrapping his skin.

At that moment it seems as if the world that he knew was falling apart. His comfortable life of serving Christ tumbled down. I believe many of us walk this path. But once again, Job didn’t tell the Lord no. Job had to continue saying yes to Christ. Yes to serving him. Yes to being obedient. Even though it hurt. We plead to God to take our pain. We ask him to remove the confusion. 

You’ve heard the quote: 

“God answers all prayers. Yes, not right now, or no.”

There is truth to it. He hears you. He won’t always answer the way we would like all the time. Be thankful for the yes. Be thankful for the no. 

“So the Lord blessed Job in the second half of his life even more than the beginning.” Job 42:12

Be Blessed

We use the word “Blessed” a lot – especially down here in the good ol’ south. In fact, I’m wearing a shirt right now that says “Blessed”. Coincidence?? I think not!

God Knows exactly what He is doing! We hear “Bless your heart!” or “Blessed and highly favored.” Or we say “I’m so blessed because of: high paying job, new boat, nice car or house, an accomplishment, good health, the list goes on. We see it used every single day. But what matters most to God is faithful obedience from the heart. Let’s look and see who Jesus says is blessed and what that means for them.

Matthew 5:3-12

Blessed are…

the poor in spirit = theirs is the kingdom of Heaven

those who mourn = they will be comforted

the humble = they will inherit the earth

those who hunger + thirst for what is right = they will be filled

the merciful = they will be shown mercy

the pure in heart = they will see God

the peacemakers = they will be called children of God

those who are persecuted because of righteousness = theirs is the kingdom of Heaven

Jesus continues on saying, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in Heaven.”

Nobody wants to be sad, and it’s not natural for our flesh to want to be humble. It’s not natural to want to be a peacemaker or pure in heart all the time. We don’t usually go through hard times and persecution and immediately think, “I’m so blessed.” But we totally should! These things are HARD, and we need our savior who fulfilled all these things perfectly to help guide us.

I’m not saying it’s wrong to say that you’re blessed. There are many reasons to feel blessed! But my prayer is that when I see this word, hear this word, or use this word, I would be intentional and be reminded of the characteristics of the person Jesus says is blessed.

That’s exactly what He wants from us. For us to lay it all down and ask for help, and have that one on one relationship with Him. So go and mourn, be humble, be merciful, be a peacemaker, be pure in heart, and be Blessed.

New Habits

Did anyone else feel defeated before they even opened up that fresh, new 2022 planner?

Just me? Okayyyyyy.

For real though, the last week of December I thought about the long list of things I need to be better about doing [cough cough cooking] all while feeling the strong need to abort the mission before the mission even began.

Let me shoot straight with y’all – cooking is my least favorite adulty thing to do followed quickly by grocery shopping. Like I would rather scrub toilets. I’m just being honest.

Here’s the deal though – you can create new habits. It’s true.

You just have to do it. You have to want it more than you don’t.

How do I know? Because I’ve done it.

My entire life I was the opposite of a morning person. Ask my dad. I would hit snooze and scream five more minutes at my poor momma more than I care to admit.

But when I fell in love with God all of that changed. I knew that I needed to spend more time with Him, and I knew the quiet hours before anyone else in my house peeped their little eyes open would be my best bet.

So I prayed.

And I set my alarm early.

And I only hit snooze once.

And I got up.

And the next day I got up.

And the next day – I got up.

And now five years later I even set my alarm super early on my days off – even in the summer.

And I love every single minute of my time with God.

So I’m gonna keep praying about this cooking thing. And I’m gonna cook. And then I’m gonna cook again.

And my hope and prayer for you in this new year is that whatever that thing is that’s looming over you – telling you that you can’t – eventually becomes the thing that you can.

And I pray you fall in love with it.

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. – Hebrews 12:11-13