Time To Make A Change

It seems like many people are hearing the call to step into a new level. Almost a sensing that change is coming....The question is, are we ready to embrace it? I hear the call to a higher level in many areas, some as simple as getting rid of clutter, and keeping a cleaner house. Some a little more complex, some very foundational things...but all telling me it's "Time For Change".

For those who know and understand what I mean about going to the next level, you also understand, that you cannot go there as you are now. There are weights and baggages, and sometimes people who cannot go with you to the next level. There are mindsets that will keep you in your current level if you do not allow them to change.

Years back, the Winans had a song that I loved....called "Time To Make A Change" and I can hear those words so clearly in my mind now.

I think most of us have felt like we have simply existed long enough. It's time to start living. Time to step into our gifting, our calling....Our Destiny.

You can stay where you are at if you want to...but for me...I know...It's time...Time to make a change, and we are the people who can do it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcBqNN0M_Xg

Here are some awesome and some very thought provoking quotes on change. I'm on a journey. Sometimes my steps may be baby steps...but thank God He planted my feet on the right path and gives me strength for the journey, and we all know that baby steps eventually lead to running!

The key to change....is to let go of fear. - Roseanne Cash

Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending. - Maria Robertson

Growth means change, and change involves risk, stepping from the known to the unknown.

When you are finished changing, your finished. – Benjamin Franklin

The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance.

You change your life by changing your heart.You will never change your life until you change something you do daily.” Mike Murdock

"Courage is fear that has said its prayers and decided to go forward anyway."
— Joyce Meyer (I Dare You: Embrace Life with Passion)

"You can suffer the pain of change or suffer remaining the way you are."
— Joyce Meyer

"Don't just learn from God's Word, but believe it will change your life."
— Joyce Meyer

No Matter What

There comes a time in each one of our lives, when the question comes, "Do I trust in God, and that He is good, no matter what?" The time and circumstance is different for each one of us.

I have found that knowing that God is good, no matter what the circumstances look like, is so important on how you get through the storms of life. When you realize that there is no evil in God, and that He truly does only have plans for our good, even though the situation may seem anything but good, then you always know you can run to Him in the storm. In fact you can lean on Him, Trust Him, rely on Him to either calm the storm, or bring you safely through it. Yes, there might be some loss along the way, but you find that even through it all, the struggle has made you stronger.

One night during a particularly bad storm, I was very concerned as to whether my daughter and I should go to the basement for safety. I paced for a few minutes weighing in my mind whether I was being irresponsible by not heading down, or just being overly fearful.

I glanced in my daughter's room and saw her sleeping so peacefully right in the middle of a truly TERRIBLE storm. It was in that moment that I heard God say, "If you trusted me, you'd be doing the same thing."

That reality hit me so strong...I was so "worried". I had already prayed, and yet I was still worrying. If I truly trusted that God had heard my prayer, and would take care of me and the kids, then I would be resting. That's when He gave me the most beautiful acronym that I will never ever forget, and I actually fell asleep repeating it over and over; it was an acronym for TRUST.

To Trust means To Rest Undeterred by Storms or Trials.

There is such an amazing correlation between Trusting and Resting. If, as you read this, you have needed Rest from your worries, then I encourage you to ask yourself if you are really trusting. God really is a good God. He is not a man that He can lie. There is no reason at all not to trust Him. Try giving everything to Him and trusting Him with the results.

I've done it and it's wonderful. It's those times where my thoughts are so consumed with what's going on and the things that hurt and that are unfair, and that are frightening and confusing that I suddenly don't have that peace. It's when I am looking at God and telling Him how big my storm is that I am so stressed. BUT...when I tell my Storm, how Big my God is....that's a totally different story!

Wounded but not Conquered

Great sermon yesterday about being wounded but not Conquered.

My take on it was not to be ashamed of the scars. Take them as an opportunity to tell the story of where God has brought you from.

I know that I have a very large ugly scar on my left forearm. It is so dramatic that people do say, "Oh my goodness! What happened?" "Car Accident" would be enough of an answer, Right? Not if I want to seize the opportunity to share a wonderful life lesson, and talk about the goodness of God even though I was wounded.

You see I was praising God, just singing to Him, when apparently I sang myself to sleep. Next thing I know I'm off the road and bouncing on an embankment, right as I am about to hit a tree. I screamed "Jesus", and then in seconds it was over.

The top of my car crushed in, no windshield left at all, driver side of car crushed in....Grace in the passenger seat, with blood coming out of her ears. I knew what that meant, and immediately I began declaring every scripture pertaining to healing over her, speaking it with great authority! I also declared that she would live and not die, and would declare the works of the Lord, she slowly looked over to me and said "Mom...what happened". Someone immediately came to our "rescue", Called 911, family, and my pastor at the time to begin praying.

To make a very long and wonderful story short, Grace was perfectly fine, with just a couple of cuts on her chin. Why the blood from the ears? Nothing there anyone could find!

I was cut out of the car, and now have two plates in my arm, spent 9 months in physical therapy getting the use of my hand back.

Why is this a good story? Why wasn't I angry at God for not "watching over us"? This is why....I had felt for a while like there was going to be an life or death situation that was going to happen...I even told my pastor at the time that I thought it was a matter of life and death that I was attending his church. I was learning that death and life are in the power of our tongues. (Prov. 18:21) I knew to speak the word and watch it work.

I believe with all of my heart, that this day, was a day that my life was literally at risk for being taken. I know with everything in me, that God had his hand of protection over me, and what was meant to take my life, was only able to wound me. Wounded but not Conquered.

How will you choose to look at your scars. They don't have to be physical scars. Are you only looking at the pain inflicted? Are you consumed with the questions of "Why"? Have you been so angry and blaming God for not taking care of you? I challenge you to look for the bigger picture. There may have been something far worse that you could have endured, and were saved from, even though what you did have to endure was horrific. I've recently been hearing this phrase, That God Uses, but never Abuses! Would you dare to believe that God is good? Even if something bad has happened in your life? Would you? Believe that maybe there are things you have been kept from that you may never know. Yeah, I know you were wounded. But you know what....It's really up to us most of the time, whether we're conquered on not. You are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus. I have more than this one ugly scar on my arm. Life has left me with many battle scars. I have been Wounded, BUT NOT CONQUERED!

The Journey of 1,000 miles, begins with just one step.

The journey begins....

I am embarking on a new journey, stepping out into things one at a time. I believe that every journey starts with the first step, and as I have been so often reminded, the next step does not come into view often until we take the first step. So, I start this blog. Where it will lead, only God knows, but I feel I have at least taken that first step of faith.

I know that God is challenging us to come up to the next level. At the next level we see things differently, more clearly. Rising to the next level also requires that we Dare to believe that He can and will accomplish the things He has told us. Dare to believe that He has such great plans for our lives, that we simply could not possibly understand the full picture all at once. Dare to believe that we could truly be one with Him.

One of my greatest prayers actually comes from a song many years ago, by Amy Grant. I heard the words again recently and was surprised, that what I sang to the top of my lungs and to the best of my ability at the age of 10, was in fact the cry of my spirit, and a part of where Destiny was calling me.

Here are part of the words....but before you read them, what is the cry of your heart? Ask God to remind you of that. Ask Him to remove the veil that hurts, and disappointments have placed there. Dare to believe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4eiL9CZTgs&feature=related

I may not be every mother's dream for her little girl,
And my face may not grace the mind of everyone in the world.
But that's all right, as long as I can have one wish I pray:
When people look inside my life, I want to hear them say,

She's got her Father's eyes,
Her Father's eyes;
Eyes that find the good in things,
When good is not around;
Eyes that find the source of help,
When help just can't be found;
Eyes full of compassion,
Seeing every pain;
Knowing what you're going through
And feeling it the same.
Just like my Father's eyes.....
.

Seeing things with God's eyes, seeing past the person to the hurt, seeing past the problem to the purpose. Seeing everything not as a snapshot, but as a whole picture. Realizing that the storm you are in for the moment is not a storm that will last a lifetime. Believing that "This too shall pass", regardless of how long the storm has seemed to go on. Trusting that He sees and knows the big picture and all I need to do is love Him, rest in Him, follow His leading, and ENJOY the journey!