I had a cute, little post written about the last day of school. It was all about bento boxes and dry shampoo, but God placed something else on my heart for today. Maybe it’s for you?

If you’re in the valley – start climbing now.

Start today.

You may slip. You may fall. But you don’t have to waller around in the depths of past sins, regrets, or pain any longer.

It’s your choice to pull yourself out. It’s your choice to cry out to God for strength to endure the treacherous climb – because it will be treacherous. It’s your decision to keep going. After all this isn’t a one day trip.

Y’all the valley is so very deep, but the valley is still beautiful. There’s so much learning, so much leaning in the valley.

Learning to fully trust and lean on God is beauty in its purest form.

Y’all, start climbing.

Start climbing, but don’t forget to look down and remember. Don’t forget what God gave you the strength to ascend. Don’t forget how hard it was.

Don’t forget to tell others about your story. Your story just may produce the urgency within somebody that they needed to begin their journey to victory.

“8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8

Y’all, this is serious, and I don’t want to mess it up.

By the way I talk.

By what I watch.

By how I act.

By how I serve.

By what I allow.

By what I turn to when the going gets tough.

Someone’s always watching, and that is a lot of pressure – but it’s real. Whether it be an actual child or adults new to the faith, someone is looking to us for guidance. Someone is looking to us to see what to do.

We are going to mess up – no doubt. But if we cling to God, stay faithful in prayer, and stay in God’s word we will be able to live out loud a true walk of faith.

We’ve got to be intentional, and we’ve got to give it our all.

No one said this was going to be easy. Certainly not Paul or David or Jesus Himself.

This walk takes grit. It takes integrity. It literally took blood, sweat, and tears. It takes Jesus.

“but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” Matthew 18:6

Dear Tired & Exhausted,

There isn’t enough coffee in the world to refresh you. There isn’t a vacation long enough to rejuvenate you.

There isn’t a drink strong enough to melt the stress away.

But Jesus.

Jesus welcomes the weary. He welcomes the weak. And on the days that you feel like you are the conductor of the struggle train – He welcomes you with arms wide open.

Go to Him.

If you’re too tired to run – then walk.

If you can’t walk – then crawl.

And on the days when you can’t even crawl – just curl up in a ball on the ground and call His name. He will scoop you up.

That’s what He does.

Let Him hold you for awhile.

Let Him carry the load.

Let Him breathe fresh life into you.

Dear Tired & Exhausted – Go to Him.

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

Don’t be too busy.

Too busy to stop

Too busy to listen.

Too busy to pray.

Too busy to be there.

Too busy for people.

Busy schedules, crazy demands, and just life in general have a way of sneaking up on us and taking over. We’ve got be careful.

We can go to church, we can serve on committees, we can teach Sunday School – but if we don’t stop. If we don’t look. If we don’t listen. Then we’ve inevitability missed the big picture.

The big picture is hurting humans. Happy humans. Humans that need to be seen, heard, and celebrated.

Don’t get so busy – so wrapped up – that you forget what God’s true mission is for your life.

Loving others.

Lifting others up.

Listening to others.

Living life to reflect Christ.

“Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11

God’s been working on me. Two words keep popping up everywhere I turn: steadfast & mindset.

He reiterated the importance of mindset to me again this morning through a devotional I read.

The thing is, when living for God, it’s not about saying no to this world – it’s the fact that we get to see yes to God.

Yes to His lifestyle.

Yes to His ministry.

Yes to following Him.

All in. 100%.

We get to say yes to the King of Kings. It’s a privilege- not a prison.

You are who God says you are, and nobody can change that.

Nobody.

When Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were taken to Babylon, King Nebuchadnezzar tried his best to change who they were. The king immersed them in a new culture, a new society. He even went as far as changing their names, which was a pretty big deal back then.

You’ve heard of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Plot twist – that’s not even who they really were. Not even close.

Although the new names Nebuchadnezzar bestowed upon Daniel and his friends were meant to encourage them to take the plunge into a Babylonian lifestyle – these men were not about to conform to the pattern of this old world.

These new names said that they were servants of various deities – but God – God said they were His.

And we all know how that chapter in Daniel played out.

The world will say all kinds of things about you – call you all kinds of names. Just don’t forget what God said about you first. Don’t forget He calls you daughter/son.

You get to choose the voice that you will listen to – the voice that you will believe.

God says you’re strong

God says you’re beautiful.

God says you matter.

God says you can.

God says watch me work through you.

God says you are His.

No voice, no human, nobody can say who you are – only God.

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:2

The above page is from Lisa Bevere’s Lioness Arising.

💗Happy Mother’s Day💗

-Mommas are fierce.

-Mommas have purpose.

-Mommas are willing & able.

-Mommas love unconditionally.

-Mommas don’t need the glory.

Don’t forget how important you are.

-When you’re tired.

-When your house is messy.

-When your kids make mistakes.

Keep going. God chose you. He chose a woman.

Adversity.

Defined by Merriam: a state or instance of serious or continued difficulty or misfortune.

Did y’all catch that? Continued.

Adversity. It’s inevitable.

Frank spoke about adversity this past Sunday. He touched on the following four points:

1. Adversity gets our attention. Matthew 11:28-30

2. Adversity reminds us of our weaknesses. 2 Corinthians 12: 9-10

3. Adversity motivates us to cry out to God. Psalm 34:17

4. Adversity purifies our faith. 1 Peter 1:6-7

Adversity. Will it make us, or will it break us? Is our foundation in Christ strong and steady, or will we crumble underneath the pressure?

God never promised everything would be hunky-dory. [Frank didn’t use the word hunky-dory. I threw that in.] But God promised He would not leave us. He promised He would not forsake us. He promised He would hold our hand and walk with us through whatever this ol’ world throws at us.

He promised.

He is the same God that stood in the fire with Shadrach. He is the same God that stood with Daniel in the den of a lion.

And He wasn’t scared. He wasn’t shaken.

Invite Him to stand with you today.

“17The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears;

He delivers them from all their troubles.

18The LORD is near to the brokenhearted;

He saves the contrite in spirit.” – Psalm 34:17-18

I’m a sinner, but man am I trying.

Everyday is a new day. Every battle a new battle.

Some days ghosts from the past whisper in my ear.

Taunting me.

Trying to strangle me.

Telling me I’m not good enough.

But some days they don’t.

Some days I mess up so badly I think, “What in the world did you just do, Daisy?”

But some days I don’t.

Some days are smooth. Carefree. Peaceful.

I bet you feel the same.

Don’t let the mess ups define you. Let them drive you.

Drive you to do better.

To try harder.

To focus more on the end goal.

To be the best you can be for Jesus.

That’s all He wants. All of you for all of Him.

“17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.[b] The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling[c] the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” – 2 Corinthians 5:17-21

Lately, I feel like I’m sitting still. I feel like I’m sitting still but everything around me is just swirling out of control.

It’s literally been tragedy after tragedy. In my community. In the lives of my friends and family. In the world.

It’s easy to feel helpless. It’s easy to feel out of control. This is exactly why it’s so important to have a deep, strong foundation built in, on, and through Christ. Without that foundation, I would be floundering right now.

Sometimes I feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day to pray for who I need to pray for. Really pray. Not just flippant little prayers that I murmur and then move on from. I catch myself doing that and honestly it’s shameful.

People and prayers shouldn’t be dismissed. They should be taken seriously.

Will you help me out today? God knows what’s on my heart, and He knows what’s on yours. Let’s join together with purpose and intentionality. Let’s reach Heaven for the people that are hurting physically and spiritually.

A team of people working together can make a much bigger impact than just one – especially when God is their captain.

“Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.“ Matthew 18:19-20