In the Event of an Emergency...

Most of you, I suppose, have flown at least once in your lifetime...if not yet, possibly In your future...

I just returned from Honduras myself which included four planes, four flights, four take offs and four landings to get me there and back...safely...praise God!
As we were taking off each and every time there was an announcement that was made. An announcement that has been made since the beginning of air travel, I would guess,  on each and every plane that makes its way down the runway and entering the friendly skies. An announcement that most tune out, so much so that if you've heard or watched the video lately they have cleaverly made it entertaining in hopes to hold your attention long enough to get their important message across...if the message is so important, who would tune it out you may ask...Well I suppose it's those who don't want to be reminded as they enter the friendly skies that sometimes the skies are not so friendly. They begin to fix their stuff in their seat, getting situated for the next few hours and just don't want to listen to these words, "Please take a moment to locate the nearest exit door, your seat can be used as a floatation device, if the cabin looses air pressure a little yellow oxygen mask will drop down from that round thing above you, simply take the mask, while remaining perfectly calm and secure the mask around your nose and mouth, begin to breathe normally, if someone near you, needs assistance, be sure to secure your oxygen mask first before assisting them, there will be small lights that will guide you to the exit doors and there will be a slide that inflates for your ease of exit, it turns into a raft if necessary, and as always thank you for flying the friendly skies with us today." okay, so that's my version of the whole in the event of an emergency spill...and yes, I agree with most, we really don't want to be reminded that emergencies happen, the plane is headed down the runway and the cabin door has been securely fastened!

I pray myself nor anyone else has to ever go through such an emergency...

As I listened to the announcement though, I heard something, something that made me stop and say, wow, that's something to think about...that's a pretty important point they just made. That's what I want us to think about today.

So, let's begin to look at this important announcement from a spiritual stand point...If you've lived long at all, you have realized by now the skies aren't always so friendly. There's turbulance along the way. There are sudden drops when we fly through air pockets. There are storms to pass through. There are moments of sudden loss of cabin air pressure. In those moments, we can loose our breath for a bit, we can feel like someone just punched us in the gut and begin to gasp for our much needed oxygen. Let's just be honest and say, there are moments when we desperately need a tiny yellow mask to fall from the ceiling of our heart that we can strap on and begin to breathe normal again...The thing is, the thing we miss sometimes, the thing I missed so many times, is this most important part: "If someone next to you needs assistance, be sure to fasten your mask on securely before assisting them." Man! How many times have I reached to help someone else put their oxygen mask on when I'm gasping for breath and about to near pass out myself!!!

I could tell you what to do with the best of them.  I could give advice. I could speak my opinion with confidence. I could tell you what God's Word said in regard to certain situations. But, in the end in the depths of my own heart, my friendly skies were not so friendly, I was experiencing turbulance like never before, my plane was in an air pocket falling ever so slowly to the next wind, my cabin had lost all air pressure and I was desperately gasping for air! I knew there was an oxygen mask, I could even see it hanging midair just waiting for me to strap it on tightly, but I was so stubborn and independent I choose to try to breathe on my own.

Bad choice.

I sit here today so grateful for the faithfulness of God! I'm thankful He allowed my plane to take a slow dive, giving me time to grab my mask before totally crashing. I'm thankful it was a storm, a really big and bad storm, and not engine failure. I'm thankful that His Word and Holy Spirit became the very breath that I began to breathe. He allowed me to walk through a time of "Lenee's way", breathing through "Lenee's mask", so I could realize I desperately needed "His way", His oxygen mask provided through Jesus Christ. I realized I was the ONLY person in the plane I had control over, and I didn't even have that much control over that person! I was the only person I could change, or allow God and His oxygen to change and bring back to life again.

Our bodies cannnot survive without precious oxygen. Any place that goes without it for a period of time dies. The cells cannot survive. That's how our Creator made us. I think it's so amazing that the very thing, the one thing, that our bodies cannot do without, we have been given in abundance and created to do naturally. I don't have to tell myself to breathe. God knows I might get distracted and forget...how bad that would be!! He knew if He didn't make it part of what our bodies do automatically we couldn't and wouldn't do it on our own.

I believe in the same way, He has placed in each of us an automatic desire to know Him, as Creator, look around for a moment, isn't He just awesome! Spring is only a few days away! My favorite season! I believe He has placed in us an automatic search to know Him as our Savior from this world, from the skies that aren't always so friendly. There's a place in each of our souls that He has created for Himself, for His love and grace to be real in us and our automatic response is to desire to fill that place. Sometimes we choose to allow Him to be in that place, sometimes we don't. Either way, the place has to be filled. I'm thankful that He was patient with me, He was loving and showed me that it was His place...His place alone.

Today, I don't know what your plane feels like, nor what your skies are like, whether they are calm and pleasant or whether you are passing through a storm and experiencing the turbulance of your life. What I do know is that there is HOPE! There is an oxygen mask available should your cabin loose air pressure knocking the very breath out of you. I know there is life giving oxygen available and it is in His Word and by His Spirit alone that we can continue to breathe through the turbulance and storms. Breathe life, new life, breathe deep, breathe normally. Breathe in peace though the plane is jumping all over the place.

Reach up, take hold of the little yellow oxygen mask that has been given for this very purpose, take hold of Jesus and all His promises in His Word, secure those promises around your heart and mind, breathe normally with His peace that goes beyond understanding and look around...there may be others who need help securing theirs.

"Because He lives I can face tomorrow,
Because He lives all fear is gone,
Because I know He holds my future,
And life is worth the living just because He lives"

His Words

This morning I sit in His presence beside the waters of Honduras, God reminds me once again of His Words from Isaiah 45:1-6....These Words have been my strength this week as I served with an amazing medical team underneath the palm trees in a remote village named Limon...I pray they will be an encouragement to you today as much as they have been to me...
"This is what the Lord says to Cyrus....Lenee....you....His anointed one, whose right hand He will empower. Before him, mighty kings will be paralyzed with fear. Their fortress gates will be opened, never again to shut against him. This is what the Lord says, 'I will go before you, Cyrus....Lenee....you...., and level the mountains. I will smash through bars of iron. And I will give you treasures hidden in the darkness- secret riches. I will do this so you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, the One who calls you by name. And why have I called you to this work? It is for the sake of Jacob, my servant, Israel my chosen one. I called you by name when you did not know me, I am the Lord; there is no other God. I have prepared you, even though you do not know me, so all the world from east to west will know there is no other God. I am the Lord and there is no other."

We serve an amazing God who loves to speak to us...because of these words, I know, you can know, we can speak over our lives today:
You hold my right hand
I am your annointed
You subdue nations before me
You open doors
You will go before me
You will reveal and give me treasures hidden in any darkness I encounter
I will know, I do know, that you call me by name and You are my God!
You have called me to this work
You do this for my sake and for the sake of Your beautiful people You love so dearly
You have redeemed me and  given me a new name
You have prepared me
There is no God besides you and all the world will know...

May God bless you today as you hear those words today from underneath the palm trees...

Reflections

"Abby, what do you think of when you hear the word "reflections"?
"A mirror."
"Elizabeth, how about you?"
"Yeah, I agree with Abby...I think of a mirror..."
"A mirror?...  wow... a mirror. hmmmm ...what if we are like little mirrors walking around in this world....what do people see?", I responded back to my girls on our way to school yesterday morning...I've been pondering that thought ever since...
Have you ever experienced someone seeing themselves for the first time? I have and I must say it was a pretty amazing moment... think about it, there are places in this world where there are no mirrors, people don't stand in front of them or hold them up to see what they look like every morning, noon or night even...hard to imagine, right? So, when I was in another country a few years ago and took a picture with an elderly lady, when she saw that picture, her own face, teeth, wrinkles and all, she just stared for a few seconds...then she began to smile...then she smiled big...I didn't understand her spanish, but I just knew she was pointing and had to be saying, "me, that's me". It was then that realized this was possibly one of the few times she may have ever seen what she looked like. Maybe the first time even of seeing her own reflection. She continued to just stare at her picture. It was so awesome and It was soooo hard for me to take my camera back....
I can't imagine not having a mirror to stand in front of every morning...I even like to look in the mirror after lunch to be sure I have no food between my teeth, I look at it before I go to bed at night too... when I was camping in the bush of Kenya, I even had a small mirror hanging in the tent to look into...to check my reflection...
Mirrors. We love mirrors, don't we? We like to see what we look like and we like to try to improve what we see...That's just how we are...If you think about it, we are kinda expected to do that, aren't we?... We expect each other to look in the mirror and make some improvements before walking out of our front door every day. But how about the inside stuff too? The stuff not so easily seen by ourselves nor by others. Are we just so concerned about our outer appearances? I've been found guilty on many days. Do we ever take as much time examining our inside stuff: our mind, will and emotions as we do our outside stuff? Not often enough...
Here's some interesting words from James..."My dear brothers and sisters, be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Your anger can never make things right in God's sight. So get rid of all the filth and evil in  your lives, and humbly accept the message God has planted in  your hearts for it is strong enough to save your souls. And remember, it is a message to obey, not just to listen to. If you don't obey, you are only fooling yourself. For if you listen and don't obey, it is like looking at your face in a mirror but doing nothing to improve your appearance. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you keep looking steadily into God's perfect law- the law that sets you free-and if you do what it says and don't forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it. If you claim to be religious but don't control your tongue, you are just fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles, and refuse to let the world corrupt us." James 1:19-27
Wow! James just said a mouthful, right?! James didn't play, wouldn't you agree? He just pointed out some pretty important stuff when it comes to us being little mirrors walking around this world...when it comes to us looking ourselves in the mirror of God's Word and reflecting who it says we are...
Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to get angry...When I think of those words, I think of being still... just sitting there, listening and calmly resting before a great God...under a bunch of palm trees...When I think of the word reflections, I think of water...some of you are thinking, "of course you do!" Palm trees are found beside water...I also think of how the water has to be calm and still before it can make a reflection. If you look at the picture above, the only reason the water is able to reflect the sky above is because it has become the calm, smooth water, resting on the shore. The rushing, turning, tossing waves are not the part of the water that does the beautiful reflecting...
As we wade through this ocean we call life we can be like the waves are: tossing and turning, stirring things up, or we can be like the calm, still water, resting and reflecting God's grace because He has taken us safely to shore. There's a huge gap between the two, but I believe it is possible. I also believe it is His Holy Spirit that closes the gap. His Holy Spirit is often related to water in the Bible. His Holy Spirit is the water we need to cover us, making us calm, smooth and still in the midst of waves crashing all around us, making us able to reflect God's grace. God's Word says in Zechariah 4:6, "It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit says the Lord Almighty."
We can also go through life looking in the mirror and just walking away, doing things that make us forget what we look like...Or we can look in the mirror of God's Word... We can find what He says about us and we can put that on just like we would our clothes or makeup. We can start wearing what God's Word says about us. His word says we are righteous in Christ Jesus. We are the apple of His eye. We are His and He is ours. We are more than conquerers through Christ Jesus. We are set free. We are redeemed. We are covered by the blood of Christ and that blood, that blood, when God the Father looks at us reflects the most amazing thing...When we realize we are covered in the blood of Christ, then we realize that God sees a reflection of Christ when He looks at us...that's why He asks us to do amazing things! That's why He calls us to greatness!.. He sees what we don't see!! How good is that?! The next time God prompts you or myself to say or do something and our first thought is, "are you kidding me right now?", maybe we should remember He's not seeing me or you, He's seeing Christ! He's seeing himself! That's just almost too good for me to move on to my next point right now...Let's just sit and think about that for a moment. He sees Christ, not me! not my weaknesses, short comings and limited resources...He sees it all different! God help us begin to obey, not based what we see when we look in the mirror, but based upon what His Word tells us, based upon what He sees when He looks at us, His mirror, the mirror made by the blood of Jesus poured over us.
"When we look steadily into God's perfect law, the law that sets us free..." ...that's a huge point James making here. Before Christ, the law was time consuming, burdensome, and very, very difficult to even come close to keeping. Ever! And it certainly didn't set people free! So now, how is it that James says, when we look at the law it actually sets us free? It's because of one word: PERFECT. The previous law has now become the Perfect law because Christ, through his sacrifice, has fulfilled the law. The imperfect has become Perfect because the blood of Jesus covered the requirement...God sees perfect, we still see imperfect. God clean our mirrors, help us to take time to wipe the dirt off the mirror that we continue to hold up to ourselves. God help us to receive the precious blood of Jesus provided to cover us completely...May your Holy Spirit work in our mind, will and emotions, our soul, today to receive your gift of this precious blood of Jesus, the ultimate sacrifice made on our behalf...may we choose to believe, to live, to walk, to wait, to obey, to reflect...to see ourselves the way you see us.
Help us to reflect on your goodness and to become a reflection of your goodness, mercy and grace. Help us to control our tongues, to simply shut up short of messing up with hurtful words, help us to listen and rely on your Holy Spirit to speak your words, not our own. Help us to show grace and mercy instead of seeking revenge and repayment. Help us to reach out to the needy all around us...Help us to refuse to allow this world to corrupt us and how we see ourselves in the mirror.
"Whatever is good and Perfect comes to us from God above, who created all heaven's lights. Unlike them, he never changes or casts shifting shadows. In his goodness he chose to make us his own children by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation BECAME HIS CHOICE POSSESSION." James 1:17&18
Reach out your hand, you're about to be handed a New Mirror.

Let it go!

"Let it go"... "I just gotta let it go"...
Those were words I spoke this Monday.  I finally came to that conclusion during lunch with a friend as I shared thoughts I had been battling with over a few days.
"Let it go, Let it go, don't hold back anymore!"
Thanks to Disney and their movie Frozen, those were words I sang yesterday, words I sang really loud...my poor girls! They have to put up with me and my loud, off key singing much, much too often...
"Let it go Blake, just let it go."
Those were words Adam Levine spoke to Blake Shelton on The Voice last night when the girl with the amazing voice chose Adam as her coach over Blake...
How many times have we spoken or heard those three words? Many, I would guess. How many times though have we actually followed through with those words...letting go...truly letting go...letting go and letting God....
I also heard these words two weeks ago when I met with the co-leaders of Oasis-a ministry for single moms and their kids. We were ending our time together with prayer when one of them asked us to put our hands out, palms up and say out loud, "I let it go, I'm letting go"... Needless to say, after a few seconds had past she had to look at me and give me a little extra encouragement, "Do it Lenee, just do it, let it go"...
It was a bit hard for me, harder than I would've thought. I did it though.
When the same words came to me on Monday, it was hard once again.
I'm a control freak, I am an independent freak, I am a plan it, let's do it, let's get'er done freak. So, letting go and letting God is something I am learning to do daily, moment by moment most of the time.
Life hands us so many things...the battles we face in this life hand us so many things...insecurities, rejection, fear, pain, addictions, wounds, deep wounds, cuts, deep cuts, scars...We can choose to carry what is thrown our way or we can make the choice to let them go. Let them go and let God. That's a hard task but not impossible. I believe, we need to consciously be aware of the things we are holding onto before we can let them go. That's what two weeks ago was about for me, that's what this week continues to be about for me. God is revealing things that I am still holding onto. He is asking me to simply let them go. Stop carrying things I'm not meant to be carrying. Last week I talked about the race we are meant to run, to win. I remember a dream I had several months ago...in this dream, I was running. As I ran, I looked down to see my hands were full, totally full, of stuff, just stuff...stuff slowing me down, slowing my pace, zapping my energy. So today, months later I'm still laying that stuff down. I am so thankful for a God who loves me so much and is so patient with me. I'm thankful He continues to reveal that stuff little by little to free me and not to overwhelm me.
When He reveals our stuff. That's when we have a choice to make. We can keep running with it, or we can "let it go"...
I don't know what your "IT" may be or how God may reveal "IT", but I can assure you that God wants you to let "IT" go and let Him do an amazing work through "IT".
So, when we make the choice to "let IT go" what might that look like? How do we really "let IT go"?
First, I had to ask a few questions concerning my "IT". I had to ask myself why IT was really getting to me? Why was I letting IT bother me so much? Would IT really even matter two weeks, two months or even two years from now? I had to get to the root of what had been dug up... I finally saw IT as the once familiar, now not so familiar (praise be to God) pain of rejection. I had to recognize the enemies' voice and lies and call IT what IT was: a tool of the enemy, a firey dart that he just shot so accurately. I then had to ask myself if IT was worth my time, emotional energy and negative thoughts...Was IT going to matter one bit in the long run? And ultimately was I going to trust my God to take IT and just let IT go? Give it to Him.
So many times we don't ask those questions or even shut up ranting and raving long enough to even think about what our "IT's" really represent.
I then decided IT was not worth my time, energy nor emotions that I had already wasted on IT. I was able to make a conscious decision to let IT go and let God have it. And I had to say out loud, "I let it go", I had to sing really loud, "let it go!" over and over, reminding myself and the enemy I let IT go. IT had no power over me.
What I did next may be a little unusual for you, but I went through my home and removed everything that connected me to IT or reminded me of IT...Sometimes we leave memories lying around our home that only serve as negative reminders... Be wise in this. Pray as you look for these things. Don't keep them hanging around, for the enemy to throw as a fiery dart on some unsuspecting day.
I then went through my facebook settings and I unfollowed as I felt necessary. Now, don't get me wrong here either- this wasn't a spiteful act. I just realized I was tired of seeing stuff and reading about stuff that could very easily become just another IT to zap my time, emotional energy and slow my pace.
Sometimes we have to "de-clutter" our mind, our home and our facebook page...
So, today, over the next few days, my challenge to you is this: ask God to reveal the "IT's" that may be slowing your pace, draining your much needed energy to keep running this amazing race. Take time to think about what you may see yourself holding. We serve a really awesome God...
Ephesians 3:14-20 in The Message reads, "My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out heaven and earth. I ask Him to strengthen you by His Spirit-not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength- that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite Him in(Let it go and Let God). And I ask with both feet planted firmly on love, you'll be able to take in with all Christians the extravagant dimensions of Christ's love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God. God can do anything, you know--far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us."
He truly is good, really, really good!!!
LET IT GO, LET GOD...
We can enjoy the hammock under the palm trees so much better when we do!!!

Beauty for Ashes

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday...Approximately forty days before Easter Sunday. The begining of Lent, a time of fasting, repentance and purification...
As I made myself ready for work yesterday and realized it was Ash Wednesday, I began to think, beauty for ashes. These three words have given me much comfort and peace over many years. The first time I have these words highlighted and dated in my Bible reads 6/16/05...close to ten years ago. I even had an official license plate that read "BTY4ASH".
Isaiah 61:3, "To all who mourn in Israel , He will give beauty for ashes, joy instead of mourning, praise instead of despair. For the Lord has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for His own glory."
Beauty for Ashes...I got ashes, you got ashes, all God's children got ashes. For me, ten years ago my heap of ashes came in the form of a dissolving marriage. My world had been turned upside down and I was struggling just to get back on my feet again. I was one messed up girl. I felt like I had been burned to a crisp!
When God revealed these Words to me, they were my hope. I began to think that in the midst of all this burning and somewhere in the heap of all these ashes there had to be some beauty somewhere, somehow, at some point. The beauty didn't happen overnight unfortunately. Oh, if we could just go to sleep for a while and wake up beautiful, right?! It was a process, a refining process, a slow process, a long process that continues as I type today.
One of the things I learned through this process is this: In order for God to give me beauty I had to give Him my ashes. I couldn't hold onto them. I had to trust Him with my ashes. I had to give Him my pain, my broken heart, my broken dreams and every heap of ashes I could see. I began, little by little, give it all to Him. I walked through a lot of hard stuff. He began to reveal ashes I didn't even know existed. I realized I could either keep my ashes and continue lugging them around, spilling them every where I went, or I could give them to my God and believe Him for the beauty He promised through His Word. The choice was mine. I admit, so many days I was tempted to keep them... sometimes we can find comfort in our ashes, can't we? We want to wallow in those ashes and sit there immovable. On days like those, I had to remind myself almost every moment that these ashes were not meant to stay...they were not my identity, and ask God to help me part with them. His Holy Spirit at work in us is faithful and able to do infinitely more in us than we ever thought or imagined possible (Eph 3:20).
I wish I could say that divorce was the only heap of ashes I've had to give to God, but it's not. I've had many things in life that I've been burned by. I'm sure you could say the same. Life is unpredictable. Life can be downright difficult at times, it may seem like everywhere we turn sometimes that there is a torch waiting. Because of that, I think we can find hope in these Words spoken through Isaiah. We can choose to give God our burnt places, our mistakes, our pain, our broken dreams, our heaps of ashes and choose to trust Him to give the beauty.
I am reminded of what we use to do with the ashes from our fireplace growing up. Mama wanted us to shovel them into a bucket then take them out to her rose garden in our backyard. They became the fertilizer for the beautiful roses that would eventually bloom in the spring. The ashes of winter fed the spring flowers. The ashes are never wasted! The ashes from our cold winters are what fertilizes the garden God is planting in us also. The things He wants to grow in us are actually fed from the ashes. Wow! to think that without the ashes we may not grow as much nor bloom as beautifully...
This takes us to the last part of the previoius verses..."For the Lord has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for His own glory." Our good God doesn't just want us to survive, He wants us to thrive! To live life strong and graceful for His glory. The ashes we give to Him, He takes and uses them to give us strength and grace to display His glory. That's what I call amazing GRACE!!!!
I don't know what you face today or what you have faced in your past, nor what either of us will face in our future. I don't know what your ashes represent, nor how many heaps have piled up through the years. All I know is that those ashes can actually bring new life. They are the fertilizer for the beautiful roses and the graceful oaks.
We have to go through the mourning process and receive His joy. We have to choose to make the sacrifice of praise instead of despair. We have to give Him our ashes. We have to choose to part with them, to no longer find comfort sitting in them. We have to allow our awesome God to take them from us, to use them in the garden He is planting to give us new life, to bring forth something beautiful. Something that displays His greatness as the Master Gardener, the Ultimate Planter...to become living proof that He can indeed cause all things to work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
As we begin this season of Lent, may we not just start a fast, but may we also start a search...Let's take a look around, see any heaps of ashes? Don't hold on to them...Don't waste the fertilizer...There's a beautiful garden ahead.

Just Breathe

The gun has fired, the flag has dropped, the bell has sounded to open the gates. The race has begun....
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish. He was willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy He knew would be His afterward. Now He is seated in the place of highest honor beside God's throne in heaven." Hebrews 12:1-2
We are all running a race... Some of us may think, 'yeah! A stinkin' rat-race!' Well, that may be true at times, but I choose to believe we are created for more than a stinkin' rat race!
I began running a few years ago. I run in 5k's from time to time. After a few, I realized it wasn't always the race that I enjoyed, but it was the feeling I had after I finished the race that I enjoyed most. The finishline was certainly always the best part! The run can be hard and exhausting, but it can also be life giving and invigorating. It can push the heart to pump harder and stronger like never before! I think the race of life can have some similarities.
JUST BREATHE....Those are the words I felt in my spirit last week as I began thinking about my life-race. The race He has set before me. Not necessarily the race I would have chosen for myself. Sometimes the race can be uncertain. The race can be challenging. The race can be exhausting. The race can be overwhelming. Other times, the race can be beautiful. The race can be exciting. The race can be adventurous. The race can be amazing. The race can be many things, so in that moment, God had to quickly remind me that one of the most important things no matter where I am in this race is, "JUST BREATHE."
I began to think, it's just like when I go for a morning run. If I can breathe right, then I can keep my endurance...Slow, deep breaths...Slow it down! Sometimes I have to force myself to slow my breathing down...I get to a place in my run and I begin to take quick short breaths. It's then that I almost get a feeling of panic as I try to keep up my pace.
It's the same in my spiritual race, my life-race, the race I was created to run and win! There are times, like this past Friday, when I begin to try to look ahead and figure out what the next part of the race is gonna be like...Is it gonna be uphill, downhill, curvy, straight, rocky or smooth??? Questions that I have no answers to. Questions and anxious thoughts that I have to let go of and let God because He promises in Psalm 32:8 "The Lord will guide you along the best pathway(race) for your life. I will advise and watch over you." This verse promises me that no matter what this race looks like ahead that God will be faithful to have a sign at every turn showing me which way to go. He will have water stations set up for me to revive me along the way. He will have people along the way to cheer me on and to give me the encouragement needed to keep going. Jesus will be my ultimate race guide because He has ran the race already.
My role in the race: throw aside the things slowing me down(old ways, old thoughts, relationships, social media, bad habits, time zappers, distractions...), pay attention to the signs at each turn and keep my eyes on Jesus(His Word in the Bible, open doors, closed doors), drink the water provided(His Holy Spirit living in me), receive the encouragement(from His Word, and good friends and family He puts on this race with me) and JUST BREATHE----take deep slow breaths, meditate on His goodness, be still before Him, choose to trust Him, have faith that He is with me. Choose to believe and fully realize that He is the author and finisher of my faith and this life-race. He is my strength, it is Him who I am to run like. He is the One I am to pattern my race after.
I am thankful that He created me for this race. God is so awesome that as my creator, He has given me everything needed to finish the race He has set before me. He has not set me up to fail, He has set me up to win! The same is true for you!
Just as Christ ran the race set before Him, we can run the race set before us. Each of us no doubt are created for our own unique race. Right now, the race may be uncertain, it may be exhausting, it may be uphill or it may be exciting, fun and you may be catching a second wind on the downhill...Whatever the race, we can fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our race...we can run and not grow weary because of His strength in us. We can choose to daily trust Him and obey whatever the race holds. We can run like Jesus. We can recognize those places along the way where God wants to show us something beautiful. The race of Jesus included death on the cross, then rising in victory defeating death, hell and the grave. Our race may include taking up our crosses and dying to some stuff too. I believe we will experience victories also.
He ran His race. He did it because He knew the joy that would be His afterward. He knew there was a great finishline ahead. He crossed that finishline and He SAT DOWN. His work is complete. He is sitting by God the Father JUST BREATHING...just waiting to hear the words, "ok, the race on earth is over...go get 'em." What a day that will be.
I pray I will see you that day. I pray we will be giving each other high-fives, and celebrating together across the finishline. There will be confetti, lots of confetti! There will be music, really loud music! There will be a celebration like no other. And there will be Jesus, sitting, resting, breathing deep, smiling BIG and I think He's gonna say, "Welcome home, I knew you would win your race!"
JUST BREATHE.

Camping at the Oasis

I'll begin with what has been a recurring theme in my life. An oasis has been provided for me and you. We just gotta hang in there sometimes and press on to get to it. In Exodus 15 we can find the passage God so often has used to speak to me. I remember the first time God spoke these words to me. It was through Dr. David Jeremiah. I was driving to South Hill, Va on my way to work early one morning. It was ten years ago now that I think back. Wow! Ten years! Sometimes I can be kinda stubborn and God has to keep telling me something over and over... This chapter begins with a song. Not just any song, it's a song of celebration! The children of Israel had just witnessed one of God's greatest miracles by crossing through the Red Sea on dry ground. Can we imagine that for a moment? They were having a pure throw down party with singing and dancing over God miraculously saving them! I would've been right behind Miriam with my tamborine dancing, singing and shouting too. The party lasted for a while but not long enough.... After celebrating for a while they had to continue on through the desert...How often do we stop our praise and thankfulness too soon also?...For three days, they traveled finding no water. By this time we can imagine how hot,  tired and grumpy everybody had become. Then finally they came to the waters of Marah. 'Aaahhh!,' I'm sure they thought, 'finally water!!!' Then to only be disappointed to find the water was unfit to drink. The water as the Bible says was "bitter". Marah actually means "bitter water". Sometimes life can be like that right? We get to a place where we think, 'Yay! Finally breakthrough, fresh water!', only to find that's not the case at all. Sometimes we can even become bitter. So, I think, the Israelites were really ticked off by now. Forgetting what God had just done, they began to complain against Moses and blame him as if it were all his fault. How many times do we try to blame everybody else when we come to our "bitter waters"? So, Moses, being the mighty man of God that he was, did what he knew so well to do...He cried out to God. He asked God what to do next. Wow! The lessons we can learn from Moses! Sometimes we gotta take a moment and just cry out to God. Nothing around us seems to be working out, there seems to be no "fresh water" nor sign of God's provision around and we gotta ask our great God what to do next. As Moses does this, God speaks to him. God shows Moses a log laying by the water and told him to throw it into the water. I'm sorry, but that makes absolutely no sense to me! A log, really? and just throw it into the water? Isn't that just like God sometimes? He might tell us to do something that, in our minds, it makes no sense whatsoever...we're reminded: His thoughts are not ours and His ways are not our own...Moses, again, being the man of God that he was, simply obeyed. He just did it. Sometimes we just gotta do it too! whether it makes sense or not, whether it seems logical or not. Just do it! When Moses did the unsensible thing of throwing the log into the water, something awesome happened. The water miraculously became "sweet" or good to drink. Can you imagine what the Israelites were thinking by now? They were probably like, 'are you stinkin kidding me? put a log in the water and now we can drink it! Who is this God Moses keeps talking to and getting these ideas from?' Their eyes were slowly beginning to open and see that God is much greater than they could ever fully understand. God is so good like that. I think sometimes He does things in such a way that we also have to say, "It was God, I got no other explanation for it!" He wants to open our eyes so we begin to know Him in ways like never before. Through simple, yet difficult at times, trust and obedience God can show Himself in ways that we will never fully understand. The next thing God does is so awesome to me. He reveals Himself as "God their Healer". God tells them that if they will trust and obey His ways, then they will not suffer the things they had just watched the Egyptians suffer just days and weeks before...."For I am the Lord who heals you." Man, that's good stuff! God revealed Himself as "Jehovah Rapha", the God who heals. Over the past ten years, I have needed and experienced healing like I never knew possible. I am still receiving His healing like I never knew possible. I believe that's why I love this passage so much, why it has become such a part of me. I think we can all agree thatthere has been and continues to be places in life where experience the "bitter water". I am so thankful that our God doen't allow our water to remain bitter. I am thankful that God allows us to experience the bitter waters of this life so He can show up in miraculous ways and make our bitter water sweet. I am also thankful for the "sweet waters" of this life. We  serve such a great God that He doesn't stop at being our healer. He continues to bless us more than we can imagine. The chapter ends with this verse, "Then they came to the oasis of Elim, where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees; so they camped there by the waters." God knows I love to go camping!!! and He knows I love to camp where there is plenty of water and underneath the palm trees!!! Oh my goodness! My God is so good to me! He is so good to you! When we choose to trust and obey Him, He takes us to places where He truly does give us the desires of our heart. He takes us to places in Him where we are fulfilled and content. He takes us to an oasis where we can find rest, be refreshed and become renewed. Get out your hammock, I'll meet you underneath the palm trees.