"God is not human, that he should lie,
not a human being,
that he should change his mind.
Does he speak and then not act?
Does he promise and not fulfill?
I have received a command to bless;
he has blessed,
and I cannot change it."
Deuteronomy 23:19
Often times we sit and wonder if life will ever turn out the way we expected it to. Will we ever see that dream come true? Will I ever get to do the things my heart desires? Will I get to leave a legacy for my children to carry out when I'm gone? Will I ever have children? The list goes on and on and on...but what we often forget are the very promises that God has already made to us. Our doubt overshadows the life in each promise given...then we sit and wonder why that promise is no longer visable. Is it out of our reach? Is it completely gone? Gods promises are forever. They never leave us but we are the ones who slowly begin to lose sight of the very thing we dreamed about year after year. That shadow momentarily causes our vision to become blurred and we think that thing is gone but its really still there waiting for us to shine our light on it again, to bring life to something that we felt was once dead.
If a plant loses its sunlight, it slowly sinks down and hangs for a moment in darkness, but as soon as the sunlight shines bright, it perks up and stretches out ready to wave in the winds of life and hope.
One of my daughters recently brought a package home from school that contained a small pouch of seeds, growing pellets and a sheet of instructions...that's it! I have no idea what to do with this package except to read the instructions and do my best to help her grow this plant. I immediately went to researching what would be needed for this plant to grow. How do I even get started? Now just for the record...I have killed every single plant that has ever been brought into my home. I remember my mother-in-law giving me a fern shortly after my husband and I were married. She told me it would be the easiest plant to keep alive...Lol...nope...dead. I couldn't even keep a fern alive! How was I possibly going to help her to succeed in GROWING a plant when I can't even keep the already grown ones alive...lol. When it comes to plants, I just don't have that green thumb. But nonetheless, I had to learn what would be needed to help this plant grow. It's funny though if we really think about it. What does a plant usually need to grow? Light and water. That's it. The tricky part is how much light and water. Every plant is different. Each one has its specific needs. This particular plant is Bell Peppers and what I learned is that even though it needs plenty of water, you are not to water it again until you begin to see the leaves slightly wilt. But why? Why would I want to see this poor plant begin to look like its struggling and dying? Why not keep it watered and wet at all times? Why can't I just water at the same time every day and be done? Here is what the Lord spoke to me in that moment of questioning...
"Then it will never reach its full potential."
Huh?!
Isn't it amazing how God can take the simplest of creations and teach us a lesson about ourselves? If I overwater the plant then it will drown. If I underwater it, it will dry up completely and shrink to its death. But at that very moment when it begins to wilt I can hear it sweetly whisper to me, "I am thirsty." All it needs is a drink.
In the same way, we thirst for Him on a daily basis. Our life begins to dry up and we shrivel up in the heat of our daily routine. Our struggles and obstacles keep us from stopping for a moment to get that much needed drink. We forget that we need to be watered. In the same way, we sometimes may try too hard to be in Gods presence. We plead and desperately cry for Him to change a situation. "Please Lord, just get me out of this one! Help me father to make it through this and I promise to never do it again!" Sound familiar? We begin to drown from the overwatering because we expected God to move immediately in our situation and it didn't happen as we wanted it to. We are watered in our life when we most need it. Watering doesn't come at the same time everyday, but comes at the most needed time.
I find that my watering moments are sometimes brief moments throughout the day when He touches my heart and tells me to slow down. I have to halt the rush and take a drink. My drink of water comes when I just take a moment to say "I love you Lord, and I thank you for all you have done in my life." Sometimes that moment is just a sip and other times I sit and enjoy a full watering. It doesn't matter how much to me, because God knows just how much I need. I just sit and enjoy the refreshing water being poured into my life.
"You are the light of the world..." Matthew 5:14
It goes on to say that a person would not light a lamp and hide it under a bowl. They would let the light shine for everyone to see. We are that light to the World. When we shine bright for God, we bring life to those around us. Does this mean we have to consistently preach the word to people every moment of the day? Of course not. We are to shine light where there is darkness to help those around us find their way out of that dark place in their life. If a plant has too much light, it will dry up and die. But if it does not get any light, it will wither and die. We shine our light through the way we live. Often times we may not even need to open our mouth to speak, but we shine our light through our actions and that light brings life to those around us desperately searching to see.
Going back to His promises in our life, God showed me something else about the plant. Sometimes we try to hard. Have you ever noticed the plants and trees that surround us outside? They somehow thrive on their own, right? They seem to get exactly what they need when they need it. They grow to their fullest potential and even when we forget to water and care for them, God always steps in and rains on the earth at just the right time. He shines his magnificent light on them when they need to fully bloom. Yet he brings the darkness at night to give them a moment of rest. But even in that moment of rest they are in great anticipation for the sunrise so they can stretch out their branches in the morning, wave their leaves in the sunlight and open their petals to receive from him their next blessing whatever it may be.
In the same way, God waters us, gives us light, and pours out his blessings in the proper time. But we must realize that it is Him in our life bringing life to all we do. He fills us up and leaves us in anticipation for that next refreshing. My life may feel dry at times and just as the plant opens up its petal and stretches out its branches, I raise my arms and lift my head to give thanks to the one who gives me life and blesses me with all that I have. Even through the struggles, I thank Him just for walking through it with me. The storms may come, but I still live on. The heavy rains and winding tornados in life may beat us down but they can not uproot us if God is the source of our life.
My daughters brought home their bible lesson from church last week and the topic for this month is Gratitude. It's easy to thank God for the good things, but what I loved about their lesson was that it taught them to thank God even when bad things happen. One of the examples it shared was when we receive a bad grade on a test, we can still thank God that we have the opportunity to go to school to learn. It may seem hard at the moment to thank Him in our disappointment, but we make it through and we strive to do better. I love that lesson. So simple and written for a child, but so profound for us adults who often times need a lesson like that :)
I want to share one more story before I go and I pray it encourage you in your walk with God and remind you of the promises he has for you. Years ago, in 2002, my husband and I took our first trip to DisneyWorld. We went to celebrate our anniversary and just to have fun. God had other plans! Lol. The moment we stepped into that theme park our minds and hearts started running with so much inspiration, vision, motivation, determination, excitement, creative ideas....I can go on and on! It was like a whirlwind of the vision he had for us to accomplish together in our life. We were so excited! As soon as we returned home, we started writing things down that He had spoken to us. We drew things out. We had my dad draw up plans for the building that we wanted to be in. We prayed and prayed and prayed over that dream for years. We almost saw it partially happen with a school we were working for a couple of years later. It was so exciting and then one day it was like we had just given up on the whole vision God had given to us. We became tired. The waiting was weighing heavy on us and just as I shared before, doubt began to overshadow the promise God had given to us. We began to believe that this dream was no longer going to be a legacy that we would one day pass on to our daughters, but now would be a just a dream to pass on. The girls would be the ones to labor through it all and see the fruits of our prayers and their labor. Our question was no longer when but would we ever get the chance to see this dream born?
God showed me something in the spring of this year. We were on our way to visit family in Texas and just like anything else, the memories of when we used to live there years ago flooded my heart. You see, we were in Texas when the vision and dream was so alive. This is where God filled our hearts with excitement for this thing. But in reflecting I knew God was trying to speak. He reminded me of the dream but he also spoke a new thing into my spirit. It was not about when or what or even what building...It was about how. All these years we envisioned this dream in this huge beautiful building, with classrooms and studios. We saw young people finding their purpose and discovering their God-given gifts. We could see teachers pouring their heart and soul into the very thing they had a passion for. It was all about purpose! But we had overlooked our own purpose!
He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation." Mark 16:15
We were living this dream and never realized it! Everyday for the past 3 years God has placed each one of us...Chris, myself, our daughters...in situations to be an encouragement and blessing to so many people. Lives have been touched, hope has been restored, strength has been regained and relationship with the Lord has been established. What an amazing thing to be used wherever our feet take us. I will never put God in a box because if one day he places us in a building then Praise God for that too, but the focus is not on where, but on how! How will he use us for his glory? This is what our purpose was. To take the gifts he gave us and go into all the world to share what he has done in our life to bring hope into your life. We are seeing his promises everyday. They're not gone! Your promises from God are there waiting to be received. Just ask him how and he will begin to reveal the promise he has for you. I can't say enough how much I love the Lord. We may struggle through it at times but we endure, persevere, press on and finish the race. His blessings are forever!
Be Blessed!
Jennifer
One of my daughters recently brought a package home from school that contained a small pouch of seeds, growing pellets and a sheet of instructions...that's it! I have no idea what to do with this package except to read the instructions and do my best to help her grow this plant. I immediately went to researching what would be needed for this plant to grow. How do I even get started? Now just for the record...I have killed every single plant that has ever been brought into my home. I remember my mother-in-law giving me a fern shortly after my husband and I were married. She told me it would be the easiest plant to keep alive...Lol...nope...dead. I couldn't even keep a fern alive! How was I possibly going to help her to succeed in GROWING a plant when I can't even keep the already grown ones alive...lol. When it comes to plants, I just don't have that green thumb. But nonetheless, I had to learn what would be needed to help this plant grow. It's funny though if we really think about it. What does a plant usually need to grow? Light and water. That's it. The tricky part is how much light and water. Every plant is different. Each one has its specific needs. This particular plant is Bell Peppers and what I learned is that even though it needs plenty of water, you are not to water it again until you begin to see the leaves slightly wilt. But why? Why would I want to see this poor plant begin to look like its struggling and dying? Why not keep it watered and wet at all times? Why can't I just water at the same time every day and be done? Here is what the Lord spoke to me in that moment of questioning...
"Then it will never reach its full potential."
Huh?!
Isn't it amazing how God can take the simplest of creations and teach us a lesson about ourselves? If I overwater the plant then it will drown. If I underwater it, it will dry up completely and shrink to its death. But at that very moment when it begins to wilt I can hear it sweetly whisper to me, "I am thirsty." All it needs is a drink.
In the same way, we thirst for Him on a daily basis. Our life begins to dry up and we shrivel up in the heat of our daily routine. Our struggles and obstacles keep us from stopping for a moment to get that much needed drink. We forget that we need to be watered. In the same way, we sometimes may try too hard to be in Gods presence. We plead and desperately cry for Him to change a situation. "Please Lord, just get me out of this one! Help me father to make it through this and I promise to never do it again!" Sound familiar? We begin to drown from the overwatering because we expected God to move immediately in our situation and it didn't happen as we wanted it to. We are watered in our life when we most need it. Watering doesn't come at the same time everyday, but comes at the most needed time.
I find that my watering moments are sometimes brief moments throughout the day when He touches my heart and tells me to slow down. I have to halt the rush and take a drink. My drink of water comes when I just take a moment to say "I love you Lord, and I thank you for all you have done in my life." Sometimes that moment is just a sip and other times I sit and enjoy a full watering. It doesn't matter how much to me, because God knows just how much I need. I just sit and enjoy the refreshing water being poured into my life.
"You are the light of the world..." Matthew 5:14
It goes on to say that a person would not light a lamp and hide it under a bowl. They would let the light shine for everyone to see. We are that light to the World. When we shine bright for God, we bring life to those around us. Does this mean we have to consistently preach the word to people every moment of the day? Of course not. We are to shine light where there is darkness to help those around us find their way out of that dark place in their life. If a plant has too much light, it will dry up and die. But if it does not get any light, it will wither and die. We shine our light through the way we live. Often times we may not even need to open our mouth to speak, but we shine our light through our actions and that light brings life to those around us desperately searching to see.
Going back to His promises in our life, God showed me something else about the plant. Sometimes we try to hard. Have you ever noticed the plants and trees that surround us outside? They somehow thrive on their own, right? They seem to get exactly what they need when they need it. They grow to their fullest potential and even when we forget to water and care for them, God always steps in and rains on the earth at just the right time. He shines his magnificent light on them when they need to fully bloom. Yet he brings the darkness at night to give them a moment of rest. But even in that moment of rest they are in great anticipation for the sunrise so they can stretch out their branches in the morning, wave their leaves in the sunlight and open their petals to receive from him their next blessing whatever it may be.
In the same way, God waters us, gives us light, and pours out his blessings in the proper time. But we must realize that it is Him in our life bringing life to all we do. He fills us up and leaves us in anticipation for that next refreshing. My life may feel dry at times and just as the plant opens up its petal and stretches out its branches, I raise my arms and lift my head to give thanks to the one who gives me life and blesses me with all that I have. Even through the struggles, I thank Him just for walking through it with me. The storms may come, but I still live on. The heavy rains and winding tornados in life may beat us down but they can not uproot us if God is the source of our life.
My daughters brought home their bible lesson from church last week and the topic for this month is Gratitude. It's easy to thank God for the good things, but what I loved about their lesson was that it taught them to thank God even when bad things happen. One of the examples it shared was when we receive a bad grade on a test, we can still thank God that we have the opportunity to go to school to learn. It may seem hard at the moment to thank Him in our disappointment, but we make it through and we strive to do better. I love that lesson. So simple and written for a child, but so profound for us adults who often times need a lesson like that :)
I want to share one more story before I go and I pray it encourage you in your walk with God and remind you of the promises he has for you. Years ago, in 2002, my husband and I took our first trip to DisneyWorld. We went to celebrate our anniversary and just to have fun. God had other plans! Lol. The moment we stepped into that theme park our minds and hearts started running with so much inspiration, vision, motivation, determination, excitement, creative ideas....I can go on and on! It was like a whirlwind of the vision he had for us to accomplish together in our life. We were so excited! As soon as we returned home, we started writing things down that He had spoken to us. We drew things out. We had my dad draw up plans for the building that we wanted to be in. We prayed and prayed and prayed over that dream for years. We almost saw it partially happen with a school we were working for a couple of years later. It was so exciting and then one day it was like we had just given up on the whole vision God had given to us. We became tired. The waiting was weighing heavy on us and just as I shared before, doubt began to overshadow the promise God had given to us. We began to believe that this dream was no longer going to be a legacy that we would one day pass on to our daughters, but now would be a just a dream to pass on. The girls would be the ones to labor through it all and see the fruits of our prayers and their labor. Our question was no longer when but would we ever get the chance to see this dream born?
God showed me something in the spring of this year. We were on our way to visit family in Texas and just like anything else, the memories of when we used to live there years ago flooded my heart. You see, we were in Texas when the vision and dream was so alive. This is where God filled our hearts with excitement for this thing. But in reflecting I knew God was trying to speak. He reminded me of the dream but he also spoke a new thing into my spirit. It was not about when or what or even what building...It was about how. All these years we envisioned this dream in this huge beautiful building, with classrooms and studios. We saw young people finding their purpose and discovering their God-given gifts. We could see teachers pouring their heart and soul into the very thing they had a passion for. It was all about purpose! But we had overlooked our own purpose!
He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation." Mark 16:15
We were living this dream and never realized it! Everyday for the past 3 years God has placed each one of us...Chris, myself, our daughters...in situations to be an encouragement and blessing to so many people. Lives have been touched, hope has been restored, strength has been regained and relationship with the Lord has been established. What an amazing thing to be used wherever our feet take us. I will never put God in a box because if one day he places us in a building then Praise God for that too, but the focus is not on where, but on how! How will he use us for his glory? This is what our purpose was. To take the gifts he gave us and go into all the world to share what he has done in our life to bring hope into your life. We are seeing his promises everyday. They're not gone! Your promises from God are there waiting to be received. Just ask him how and he will begin to reveal the promise he has for you. I can't say enough how much I love the Lord. We may struggle through it at times but we endure, persevere, press on and finish the race. His blessings are forever!
Be Blessed!
Jennifer
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