Discouragement is a very real thing. It is no respecter of persons. I'll even go out on a limb and say that we all, at some point or another, have been discouraged. These feelings of dread and defeat generally sneak up behind and take hold of us in our most vulnerable state and don't tend to let go without a fight. This battle takes place in our minds, and the thoughts we allow ourselves to dwell on will either serve as fiery darts or a fire hydrant to the wildfire of discouragement ablaze in our hearts.
Here's what I mean. Discouragement is most often triggered by a news flash that something has gone awry or nothing is working out as planned. During these unpleasant doses of reality, our world often seems to come to a standstill and our initial knee-jerk reaction is to throw up our hands and give up. Throw in the towel. Call it quits. Run away. Far away. Can I be honest with you? I have felt like that so many times. Sometimes things just don't come out the way we so hopefully envisioned them, and when they don't, discouragement sets in and the doubt begins to rear its ugly head. “why is school going so slow, why do I feel like I’ve been at a red stop for more than the required time, why am I sill stuck in the same job for over 1 year and have no promotion, why is my life such a routine, why do I feel like am not getting in better shape or loosing any weight and I’ve been working my behind off (trust me this is a big one for many especially for us girls), why are my relationships not improving, Does God really care about me? Why am I not being used by God? Am I even worth anything to Him? God says He loves me, but how can I believe it when everything I know is crumbling around me? Where in the world is He? Why am I still stuck in the same hole I was in last week? why why why? “Yep, been there. And I want to tell you it's a very real place. But you don't have to stay there. You don't have to be defeated. Life is hard, that's for sure, but we must resolve to look beyond everything our circumstances are screaming at us and be still before the God who created us and loves us through it all. How do we do that? We focus our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith. He was sovereign and loving enough to call us to Himself and set us on the journey of a lifetime, and He will be faithful to complete the good work in us, rest assured.
If you find yourself in that dark place of discouragement, Beloved, I beg you. Do not give into the lies. Do not entertain thoughts that are untrue. Choose to believe the cold hard facts that are found in God's Word—AKA as the bible and dwell on His life-giving promises. Read through the Psalms of David and notice how he cried out to God in the bleakest of situations and do the same. Pour out your heart before Him. He wants to hear from you, even if all you have to offer are tears and questions. Ask the Lord to help you focus your eyes on Him instead of the ever shifting circumstances. May we train ourselves to constantly meditate on the excellent and praiseworthy things that Paul referred to in Philippians 4:8, no matter how dark the night may be.. Let us trust the Lord at all times, for He is good. One of my favorite passages of Scripture is found in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18.
"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
My pastor’s wife (Elizabeth Fountain) once told me that we are eternal beings. I don’t know why but it hit me like a thousand bricks coming my way, it made all the sense in the world. Offcourse, if we live as for eternity instead of the 60s Or 80 Years we have on earth than perhaps we would worry less about our problems, our current circumstances, our physical appearance, about what others think about us and worry more about what God thinks about us. Since at the end that’s all that will really matter!
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Ready, Set, LIVE.
Today is my 23rd birthday. Exactly a year ago today, I distinctly remember waking up in my bedroom, and no sooner had I opened my eyes I sensed the Lord saying something to me. Yes, Lord? "This is the Year." That was all I got. Was my mind playing tricks on me? No, it was too early in the morning for my brain to conjure up a complete sentence, much less one that had to do with the days ahead. The Spirit was speaking, ever so gently. And with His whisper, my mind began to wander to the endless possibilities of all that statement could entail. When I inquired to know more, it was like I just knew that God was about to reveal the answers to so many questions I had asked for most of my young adult life and to shed light on a path that I never could have found the strength to walk down on my own. And all this occurred before I had even gotten out of bed.
And what a year it was! A year of opportunity. A year of decisions. A year of relationships, old and new. 2009/22 brought me into a new season of which was very hard to adapt. Many blessings and many lessons learned. Good and bad. Many times I found myself wanting to be heard by anyone!? Anyone!? Wanting to scream, cry and laugh all at the same time, I felt confused, I felt lost. Many times I felt like a complete stranger walking down the streets of South Beach where tourist flourish all around and where people seem to be on permanent vacations. I found myself pondering on why I felt sooo different so inadequate. I wondered if I was making it a big deal or if I was just being ungrateful. I have family, great friends, an awesome fiancé and a very close God who I can talk to at anytime, I knew I wasn’t alone but I felt alone. I searched deep within my soul and I came to a realization that it wasn’t loneliness but fear that had penetrated deep within my soul, it was fear of the unknown, fear of change, fear of rejection in a place where I didn’t fit in.
This morning as I awoke, I was immediately brought back to January 19, 2009, that fateful morning when God dropped something into my spirit that would bare fruit in the coming days and cause me to live my life in a constant state of expectation and wonder over all that the Lord was so sovereignly accomplishing in my life. But I must say, as I sat on the edge of my bed and turned over all the events of my 22-year-old life, I was at a loss. I felt as if it was yesterday that I turned 22, that I started attending a new church, moved to a new house, switched cell phone numbers more than once, loss communication with old friends, made new friends, reestablished my relationship with my physical dad of which I am ever sooo grateful to God, got engaged, switched jobs, became jobless and found a new set of dreams to pursue after, all in the same year.
Maybe it's the constant reminder I see on television and magazines ads and storefront windows that youth is something to be coveted but, in reality, can never be held on to for very long. It is fleeting. Our very lives are slipping through our fingers. Or maybe I'm at a turning point, the question looming overhead, "where do we go from here?" After a year of such blessings and change, now what? I haven't a clue. Truth be told, I wanted to be awakened ever so sweetly by the same prompting, a promise I could cling to for the coming year, something...ANYTHING.
But I know my God and I will trust Him even when He is silent. I know the way He cares for His children, the way He cares for me. I know His faithfulness and the ways that He has proven it over and over in my life. I know His mercies, how they wash over me with each new day. I know that what He says is truest of true, and I can stake my very life on the foundation of His Word. Thank You, Jesus. Each new day is full of the richest promises. Promises that cannot be broken. Promises spoken from the Father's heart to ours. Praise Jesus Christ!
So bring it on, 23. I am not afraid to be surrounded by uncertainty anymore. It only increases my faith. I am not afraid to be another year older. Each day is a gift. I aspire to walk by the Spirit at all times, loving and living and giving and serving with every fiber of my being, every minute, every single day, knowing that each day is only moving me closer to the Day of all days, when I will finally see His face. But there's no time to waste, our time here is limited. Ready, set, LIVE.
And what a year it was! A year of opportunity. A year of decisions. A year of relationships, old and new. 2009/22 brought me into a new season of which was very hard to adapt. Many blessings and many lessons learned. Good and bad. Many times I found myself wanting to be heard by anyone!? Anyone!? Wanting to scream, cry and laugh all at the same time, I felt confused, I felt lost. Many times I felt like a complete stranger walking down the streets of South Beach where tourist flourish all around and where people seem to be on permanent vacations. I found myself pondering on why I felt sooo different so inadequate. I wondered if I was making it a big deal or if I was just being ungrateful. I have family, great friends, an awesome fiancé and a very close God who I can talk to at anytime, I knew I wasn’t alone but I felt alone. I searched deep within my soul and I came to a realization that it wasn’t loneliness but fear that had penetrated deep within my soul, it was fear of the unknown, fear of change, fear of rejection in a place where I didn’t fit in.
This morning as I awoke, I was immediately brought back to January 19, 2009, that fateful morning when God dropped something into my spirit that would bare fruit in the coming days and cause me to live my life in a constant state of expectation and wonder over all that the Lord was so sovereignly accomplishing in my life. But I must say, as I sat on the edge of my bed and turned over all the events of my 22-year-old life, I was at a loss. I felt as if it was yesterday that I turned 22, that I started attending a new church, moved to a new house, switched cell phone numbers more than once, loss communication with old friends, made new friends, reestablished my relationship with my physical dad of which I am ever sooo grateful to God, got engaged, switched jobs, became jobless and found a new set of dreams to pursue after, all in the same year.
Maybe it's the constant reminder I see on television and magazines ads and storefront windows that youth is something to be coveted but, in reality, can never be held on to for very long. It is fleeting. Our very lives are slipping through our fingers. Or maybe I'm at a turning point, the question looming overhead, "where do we go from here?" After a year of such blessings and change, now what? I haven't a clue. Truth be told, I wanted to be awakened ever so sweetly by the same prompting, a promise I could cling to for the coming year, something...ANYTHING.
But I know my God and I will trust Him even when He is silent. I know the way He cares for His children, the way He cares for me. I know His faithfulness and the ways that He has proven it over and over in my life. I know His mercies, how they wash over me with each new day. I know that what He says is truest of true, and I can stake my very life on the foundation of His Word. Thank You, Jesus. Each new day is full of the richest promises. Promises that cannot be broken. Promises spoken from the Father's heart to ours. Praise Jesus Christ!
So bring it on, 23. I am not afraid to be surrounded by uncertainty anymore. It only increases my faith. I am not afraid to be another year older. Each day is a gift. I aspire to walk by the Spirit at all times, loving and living and giving and serving with every fiber of my being, every minute, every single day, knowing that each day is only moving me closer to the Day of all days, when I will finally see His face. But there's no time to waste, our time here is limited. Ready, set, LIVE.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Here we go...
Well, it's official. I have now joined millions of others in the adventurous world of blogging. And I know you're thrilled. ;) I'm pretty excited to say the least. Now I know maybe I should by anytime. You and your mom and your friends offcourse. Anytime. Ok?! Ok. You see, I don't claim to have anything super genius and definitely not any revelation that would change your life automatically or in the blink of an eye, but hopefully something that can help you improve your life..perhaps a more profound relationship with God.. I'm just a girl typing on her PC who has sooo much to say and would love to just blurt it out to the world, asking you to read me.. the blog, that is. Since I think more than i breath hopefully i can keep up with this mind of mine which sometimes drives me crazy.. Some will be completely silly, others more serious and others more in depth and will come straight from my heart. The single aspect I'm most jazzed about is the fact that you can respond to my ramblings. We can interact, give a little introduction as the initial blogspot blog, but let me just say you're welcome to stop and hang out a bit. Just living life together, sharing the good and the bad, gleaning from one anothers' experiences which am learning more and more each day, TO LEARN FROM OTHERS EXPERIENCES ESPECIALLY MY ELDERS..! So that's it in a nutshell.haha. Now I'm gonna run out and go for a run! kisses..
More to come on that...
More to come on that...
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