Lately, I’ve been thinking about dreams.

The one question that keeps popping up in the back of my mind is this: Are you dreaming for God, or are you dreaming for Daisy?

There’s a vast difference between those two dreams. One involves flesh and one involves the Holy Spirit.

It’s easy to get derailed. It’s easy to get focused on the wrong thing. We live in a “me” society. That’s what we hear day in and day out.

When it comes to God-sized dreams we have to intentionally [prayerfully] stay aligned with Him. We have to keep the main thing the main thing – and that’s winning souls to Christ.

Are our goals centered around Christ’s will or “my” will? Are our dreams Christ centered or “me”’centered”?

Dream big, y’all. But dream big for Christ.

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Matthew 6:33

My memory, y’all.

Supposedly my Celiac disease causes “brain fog” so I would like to blame my lack of retaining information on that. However, my scattered and struggling memory probably has more to due with the fact that I’m a 37 year old working mom hauling kids around like a personal Uber.

I can get real down on my self – especially when it comes to my Bible study. It’s not easy for me. I can read the same passage 17 times and still be confused. Meanwhile, my husband reads the same verse once and can spout off facts like a Biblical scholar.

The big words. The pronunciation. All the names and the towns. The struggle is really real for me in this area.

I’ve said all that to say this – do not let satan convince you that you’re not smart enough. Do not believe him when he says you’ll never get it.

Read it again. Say it again. Highlight. Underline. Look up the definition – but don’t give up.

God’s power is in His word. Don’t you dare let satan take that power from you. If you have to read it 17 times to understand it – then read it 17 times.

You’ve got this cause God’s got this.

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

2 Timothy 3:16-17

Faithful.

Loyal. Steadfast. Consistent.

That’s my God, y’all. My best friend. The fact that we don’t deserve His steadfast love does not deter Him from delivering it. The fact that we are typically the opposite of faithful to Him doesn’t make Him let go.

He stays. He has sticking power. When we haven’t prayed enough, when we haven’t served enough, when we haven’t done our part – He is faithful.

When we let go of Him- He doesn’t let go of us. He stays. He’s faithful.

Lord, make me more like you.

“Know therefore that the Lord thy God, He is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;” Deuteronomy 7:9

Y’all, some days life is gonna come at us like a steamroller, and if we’re not prepared we will be left knocked down and struggling to get back up. We can’t do this thing called life alone. We need a tribe that’s going to rally around us. We need some Jesus girls that:

❣️Check on us

❣️Check on our kids

❣️Send us scripture

❣️Legit pray for us

Life is hard, y’all. It just is. God gave us each other for a reason.

Find you some faithful:

❣️Bible-reading

❣️middle-of-the-night-praying

❣️keep-you-in-check

❣️love-you-like-a-sister

Jesus Girls.

These are your people. This is your tribe. Find her. Be her.

“12 When Moses’ arms grew tired, Aaron and Hur brought a stone for him to sit on, while they stood beside him and held up his arms, holding them steady until the sun went down. 13 In this way Joshua totally defeated the Amalekites.”

When praying about what to post this morning this one simple yet strong statement stuck. In fact, I kept waking up all through the night with these words rolling around in my brain. It’s for someone. It’s for me.

I hope you know exactly who you are. You are a child of God, and that’s more important and more powerful than anything else you could be.

Don’t forget it.

———————————————————————

• I am a child of God.

But to all who have received him–those who believe in his name–he has given the right to become God’s children … (John 1:12).

This world is messy. It’s inevitable – we’re gonna roll around in a mud puddle more than once in our lifetime.

We are gonna get dirty.

Covered.

Gross.

That mud will soak into every nook and cranny that we didn’t even know existed. It will cover us, and the longer we let it sit – the harder it will be to get rid of.

But if we let Him, God will turn the faucet on and hose us off. That’s country talk for make us clean.

God is bigger than our messes. He is bigger than anything we’ve flung ourself into. He can – and He will – make us clean again.

“9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

Bluebonnets. Sunflowers. Primrose. Indian Blankets. And my favorite – Daisies.

In Texas we do this thing where we pull over on busy highways and trudge through potential snake-filled grass – just to get the perfect picture.

A picture of intricate details woven together to create the most beautiful background – a field of Texas wildflowers.

The details that God specifically and on purpose placed right there for us – His artwork. His reminder.

In life things happen. Situations arise that were not expected. We may question how. We may question why. However, in the midst of those questions we have to learn to let go and trust a God that genuinely cares about the details.

We don’t have to fix it. We don’t have to try and manipulate the situation. We don’t have to worry. We just have to pray.

And in the meantime, we can drive down a Texas highway in Spring and look for the flowers. We can look for God’s gentle reminder that He deeply cares. We can look for His details.

He cares about the little things, and He cares about the big things. He cares about making things just right. He loves us that much.

28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not [l]arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” Matthew 6:28-30

Don’t let this world make you jaded.

God’s bigger than the ugly. He’s stronger than the sins. And the story line isn’t changing – He wins.

So no matter what happens, no matter the situations you are thrown into, God’s there.

You may get flung into the fire, but you keep that chin up sister. You keep praising God in the midst of the fire. No matter how hot it gets, He is standing right beside you.

He’s gonna take you by the hand, and y’all will walk out together.

“Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.” Daniel 3:28

I choose to be nice.

I choose to be nice not because I’m weak, but because Christ is strong – and He is living within me.

I choose to be nice because life is hard and people have gone through some rough stuff. That person that rubs you the wrong way – you don’t know what they’ve gone through this week. This month. Last year.

People don’t just decide one day that they are going to live a life full of sadness or anger. Something has triggered that emotion within them.

The person staring off into space.

The person not smiling at Walmart.

The person that pops off.

The mom that never interacts with anyone.

The angry child.

We don’t know.

Sexual abuse

Death

Abortion

Addiction

Adultery

Hunger

Bankruptcy

Disease

Exhaustion

Just life

Keep being nice, y’all. It’s a choice. It’s our choice.

36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Matthew 22:36-40 (ESV)

My dad and I rode to Houston together yesterday, which meant lots of good conversation about God. Listening to my dad talk about God is one of my favorite things in the world. I wish you all could just sit and chat with him. One thing he said that I really held onto yesterday was:

“We are God’s ambassadors. We don’t come with our own message. We come with His.”

Honestly, that should make you sigh – in relief. We don’t have to figure it all out. We don’t have to come up with a plan. We just have to say yes.

God’s agenda is way better than our agenda. God’s message is way better than our message.

My dad’s words – simple and strong – were an on-time reminder that God is taking care of everything here. All we have to do is say yes.

Yes, I will.

Yes, God can.

Yes & Amen.

“For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)