Maggie asked me the other day if I had a New Year’s resolution.
I don’t think she knew the can of worms she was opening or the fact that she was about to get a good ol’ momma sermon.
I don’t do resolutions. That’s a whole other blog for a whole different time. But I am in a constant state of trying to be the best me that I can be.
Lets talk about that.
When you’re setting goals for the New Year are they God aligned? Are the basis of the goals God centered? Are your goals about furthering God’s Kingdom or furthering yourself?
When you’re trying to become the best version of yourself, don’t forget what that version is – God’s version. He has been creating that version since He created you inside of your mother’s womb.
If we are not aligning our goals with God-
If we are not centering our life around God-
If we’re not focused on our role in God’s kingdom-
Then we will never, ever be our best self. And that’s just the truth.
This year I pray you set the goals. I pray you achieve the goals. And I pray you see God’s hand in all of it – each step of the way.
Kind of weird, huh? But December 26th is the day I purchase my prayer journal for the new year – and my journal is basically an extension of myself.
My yearly journal holds my prayers, my sermon notes from church, my goals – basically my entire life in written form. And this big ol’ dreamer loves everything about it.
I have all of my past journals lined up on a shelf in my closet. I often flip through them – looking back at answered prayers and unanswered prayers. Every time I flip through them is a time of thankfulness and reflection. It’s a time where I can really see how God’s hand was working in everything – especially the unanswered. I catch myself saying, “Oh, that’s why God.”
I challenge you to get a prayer journal this year. I challenge you to spend quiet time with God. I challenge you to pray and reflect and hope. Write it all down.
I challenge you to dream big for God.
“But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.” Psalm 33:11
So often our prayers quickly fill up with concerns, questions, doubts, and heart desires. It’s important to remember to give thanks to the Lord. He didn’t promise us a beautiful easy life. He did promise us to be a loving Father that walks along side us as we run the race set before us. (Hebrews 12)
“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.” Psalm 107:1
Does the Lord want to hear our concerns, questions, doubts, and heart desires? You know it. Fill your prayers with it. His ears and arms are open. But through this may we walk with gentleness and remember to give thanks. He sculpted us and made us in his image. He knows our heart. You don’t have to worry about that. He sees your worries. Your heartache. He wants us to run to his arms. Whether that is crying out for help or guidance or to voice our concerns. Through this – may we remember the scripture. Remember the Father’s everlasting love he has for us. He is good. He has been faithful and loving since the garden and will continue to be. With that knowledge, give thanks. Thank him on the good days. Thank him through the tough seasons that you’re unsure of his plan. It’s difficult. Trust me, I know. It’s difficult to find thankfulness when we live within a dark world. Let’s be honest, it’s difficult to say thank you when we feel like the plan within our mind would be a lot smoother. Thank him anyways. He understands our human nature. On the days it’s extra hard to give thanks, may the Holy Spirit fill your heart and mind with the goodness and faithfulness of Jesus Christ.
So today Jesus, I thank you. I know you want to hear from me. I know your ears and arms are open for me to voice my concerns, worries, doubts, and heart desires. I know you are faithful. But today Jesus I also want to emphasize how good of a Father you are, and give you ultimate thanks. I don’t say it enough. I want to thank you for being all you are. Thank you for loving this world, even though we don’t deserve an ounce of your love. Thank you for loving and guiding me. Even on my extra rough days. Thank you.
November brings Thanksgiving celebrations that call us to remember the past, while encouraging an awareness of our present. November reminds me of my daddy’s birthday. Although I’m always thinking of him, there’s something about seeing the date on my calendar. With his birthday comes sweet memories of days gone by. We call them “precious memories” – valuable memories stored in my heart. I liken it to a personal filing cabinet that only I have access to. Some people have amazing memories and can recollect things like the names of their classmates from 40 years ago, the toy they received on their 7th birthday, etc. My memory is okay, I guess, but my husband’s is better. He will ask me things like, “Remember so and so?” “Remember when we saw this or did that?” Many times I honestly cannot remember or the details are rather foggy. Did you know there are individuals who have what’s called Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory- HSAM? These individuals are able to accurately recall dates and details of their lives, even going back decades. According to research, HSAM is extraordinarily rare with less than 100 people in the world that have been diagnosed with HSAM. There came a time that my daddy forgot who I was. It didn”t happen instantly, but over time. It was a slow fade of his memory and then the diagnosis came-Alzheimer’s. When we first noticed the difficulty he would have retrieving information about people and events, we would engage him with stories of the past, display pictures, and place mementos out that we hoped would keep him with us a little longer. Eventually memories of his life and his family became silent. His memory problem became a heart problem – my heart problem. A memory problem became a heart problem… I”ve found myself reflecting on this thought. Moses warned God’s people about what memory problems could do to the human heart. He called the people to remember all that God had told them and done for them in the past as they prepared to go in and occupy the land God had promised. “Deuteronomy 8:11-When you have eaten your fill, be sure to praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws, and his decrees that I am giving you this day.” “vs. 14 – then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” We know that the people did forget and that caused a heart problem. Because God knew we would have a heart problem, He gave His one and only Son. I am thankful Jesus was willing to give His life as a perfect sacrifice. A sacrifice that redeemed me from the slavery of sin. I am thankful that God knew I would need help remembering, so that a
memory problem wouldn’t become my heart problem. I am thankful that I have His Word to remind me… because my memory isn’t always the best. Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. Psalms 103:2-5 NKJ Happy Thanksgiving! May you always be reminded of the great things He has done.
On New Year’s Day several years ago, I created a “thankful” jar. For that year, every time something happened for which I was grateful, whether for me or my family, I wrote it on a piece of paper and placed it in that jar.
The following Christmas morning, I gathered my family, and one by one, we retrieved each of those papers and read them aloud. We took the time to recall every memory and verbally gave thanks to Jesus for what He had done in those moments. That was His birthday present from me that year, my intentionality in remembering all the things He had done. It didn’t matter the size of the moment, God still showed Himself big.
Sometimes, we can become so overwhelmed by what we are lacking that we forget to remember and be thankful for what we do have. I encourage you to find something like the thankful jar and begin to cultivate a garden of thankfulness in your heart and mind, a garden that can be harvested from no matter the season, and watch your perspective of everything you encounter each day shift.
I once heard someone say, “You steer where you stare,” and it’s true. If you keep your focus on what you lack, that’s where you will steer your heart, life, and mind, and you’ll find yourself wondering why you cannot see the light of day. Keep your eyes focused on Him and what He has provided, and you’ll find yourself fully surrounded by all of Heaven.
Make no mistake, all of Heaven is around you no matter where you’re staring, but it’s so much harder to glimpse something that’s in your periphery than it is when you’re eyes are locked directly onto it.
When God created Adam, he could have spoken him into existence just like he did everything else, but He didn’t. He formed him with his own hands and then breathed life into him. When Adam first opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was the Father’s face. Why? Because that’s where God wanted our focus from the beginning. He wanted our eyes on Him and nothing else. He knew that if our eyes ever left His face we would fall. And we did. Just ask Peter what can happen if we take our eyes off of the One.
Mama, you can’t fix it. God can fix it. But you can’t.
You can pray.
You can guide.
You can hug and you can hope.
But you can’t fix it.
You know what else you can do?
▪️You can model a lifestyle in which your children see a momma that gives it to God.
▪️You can model a lifestyle in which your children see a momma unfazed by the world.
▪️You can model a lifestyle where your children see that all that matters to their momma is how God views them – not how the world does.
▪️You can model a lifestyle where prayer is your go to – not anything else.
You can.
And I pray that you do.
Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken. Psalm 62:1-2
Jesus, thank You. Everything I will ever need is found in you. This time of the year can be stressful for some, while for others it is an exciting time filled with great anticipation for all the holiday festivities to come. It’s easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of all the earthly things that we might even forget the source of it all. Today, I want to slow down and focus on the great blessing of Jesus.
When we receive the gift of Jesus, there’s so much to be thankful for. Jesus is the perfect friend that you’ve always craved. He is the greatest Counselor, Teacher, and guiding Shepherd who you can always depend on no matter what your circumstances may be.
Let’s be honest, there are many things happening in this world that can poison our view on life. Because of sin, we can’t always rely on our family and friends. Christians, this is why it is so important to turn your eyes upon Jesus. We have every reason to be thankful when we become fixated on the ultimate Savior. You will never be let down; instead, you will feel the need to share this great news with everyone in your path!
“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” Colossians 2:6
My biggest fear – that would be words. It’s a real struggle for me.
At any given point anyone can say anything they want to about you. About your spouse. About your kids. About your friends. About your co-workers. They can just make it up and just say it. I’ve seen it happen so many times with people that I know.
People can create and conspire. They can spew and spit. They can just downright lie. It’s mind blowing to me because it’s not how I think. I can’t fathom just sitting around dreaming up some drama.
No, nothing has happened. I just felt compelled to share this weakness of mine with you. Maybe someone else struggles with this same irrational fear and maybe just maybe by me sharing how I feel – it will make you feel a little less crazy. I hope so.
So I will say it again – words scare me.
And I know that I know that I know that God has His people. I know that truth always wins. I know that that no weapon will prosper. Right? But I’m human.
The ironic thing about this whole situation is that words are also like my favorite thing in the world. I love words. I love writing them. I love reading them. I love digging deep into the meaning of them. And my husband may say that I use too many of them. 🤩
And like with everything else in this ol’ world – it’s all about the use.
So, how will we use our words today? Tomorrow? Next week? I hope we will use them kindly, lovingly, to build one another up, and to spread the love of Jesus.
“But in that coming day no weapon turned against you will succeed. You will silence every voice raised up to accuse you. These benefits are enjoyed by the servants of the LORD; their vindication will come from me. I, the LORD, have spoken!” Isaiah 54:17
My husband and I were preparing for our youngest daughter’s first birthday party when I got the call that I had breast cancer. It was a blow to the gut. She was turning a year old in a week and my oldest was in first grade. How can I have cancer?
Let’s go back to how this started. When I was pregnant with my youngest daughter, I was told about a lady that lost her battle with breast cancer shortly after her child was born. There is a history of breast cancer in my family. I felt a powerful urge to talk to my doctor about having a mammogram after giving birth. I now know the powerful urge I felt was God moving me to discuss this with my doctor.
My doctor advised me to wait until my daughter was a year old. When I had the mammogram, I honestly wasn’t worried. I was just being proactive. I didn’t have a lump or any reason to believe I had cancer. After two mammograms and a biopsy, I received the call.
The next couple of hours I went from being numb to terrified. I lost my mom three years before, and I needed her. Her words came flooding into my thoughts. “Give your worries to God.” Anytime I was worried over the years, she would tell me to do this. I “tried” in the past but I would continue to worry.
Sitting that day, taking in all the information and feeling helpless, I asked God to to heal me and take my worries away. I felt a true peace come over me. It was the first time in my life that I was able to let go and trust in the Lord’s plan.
Our God didn’t stop there! He sent me an army of supporters that included friends, family, and people I just met the year before when my oldest daughter was in Kindergarten.
My army of supporters took care of my girls, cooked for us, drove me to treatments, and sold hundreds of “I wear pink for Tara” shirts to help pay my medical expenses. They even took turns spending the night with me in the hospital so my husband could be with the girls.
Treatment days were actually FUN! A different friend would drive me each time. It was a day of catching up and laughter. People would brag on me and tell me how positive I was about my diagnosis. I immediately told them that it wasn’t me, it was God. It was the first time in my life that I was truly able to give my worries to him. I had faith I would be healed and I was! November 7th will be the 14th anniversary of my diagnosis!
Here is what I pray you take away from my experience :
1. In times of struggle, surrender your worries to God and trust in his perfect plan!
A scaredy-cat in the moment – usually involving shenanigans from my daredevil of a husband – 100 percent yes.
But not a worrier.
So I was a little thrown off a few weeks back when I placed my head on my pillow and couldn’t let something go. It’s just not who I am.
But it was taunting me.
Teasing me.
Let me be honest – it was straight up freaking me out.
I started playing scenarios over and over in my head. I literally could have won an academy award that night with the script I was vividly scribbling out in my mind. A best seller full of drama, and I was the star. It went on for hours.
The next day my sweet friend (who didn’t know anything was even bothering me) asked me if there was anything she could pray about for me. I said, “Girl, you don’t even know.” And then she prayed.
And then God.
The situation I was so worried about played out in the most beautiful way. Like unimaginable- not possible without God’s hand. I wish I could give you all the details, but I can’t. You’ll just have to trust me.
I can say this though – bring your burdens to the Lord. All of them.
And try your dadgum best to lay them at His feet. And if for some reason you just can’t let them go – keep trying.
And keep trying.
And keep trying.
Y’all, you don’t have to worry. God’s for real got you.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7
Rays of Sunshine inc 