It’s Friday…here is a fun little (or big) question:

When you get to Heaven, what is the first question that you will ask God?

Ready.

Set.

Go.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” Revelation 22:13

God goes before us and watches our backs. He places us where we need to be when we need to be there. This verse can give you comfort in whatever season of life or whatever circumstance you are in. The Lord has final authority and word in every situation. This is where our confession, our faith, and trust matter. Your circumstances don’t have final say. It doesn’t matter what your bank statement says. It doesn’t matter what the economy looks like. The doctor’s report is not final. God’s word and His promises are. Speak God’s truth and promises over your circumstances, then believe and watch them turn around. God is moved only by your faith!

All finality in this world rests in God’s hands and his alone.

I have been challenged with this recently. My life has been a roller coaster ride lately. I got engaged after being long distance for 14 months and now will spend my engagement and plan a wedding apart as well. I just lost a grandmother and my cousin has been fighting for her life for months now. It is easy to look at my circumstances and let them dictate to me how my life is going to turn out. But I won’t allow that!

“’For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the LORD.” Isaiah 55:8

I think it’s fair to say that our timing is not God’s timing either. The truth is God will always come through for us…it just may not be in the way we expect. Whatever you may be going through just know that He will restore you in His perfect time. I will continue believing, trusting, and confessing God’s promises over my circumstances.

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” Romans 8:28

Continue to seek Him. Continue to be faithful and believe. Trust Him. Love Him.

“Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.” 1 Peter 5:7

Here is to get you past the hump…including the progressions of some corporate logos.

Waiting is not easy, especially when the stakes can be high. But it is a necessary part of our relationship with God.  But the truth about waiting on God is that there is a right way to wait and a wrong way to wait. The wrong way is to just “do nothing.” Waiting on God is not a passive activity…you need to actively wait.

What does actively waiting on God look like?

Pursue Him.

There is no down side to pursuing God. So why don’t we pursue all the time! Most times it comes down to a simple question, how bad do you want it? How badly do you want to see a change in your life? How badly do you want that breakthrough in your finances? How badly do you want healing, restoration, or peace? If it is truly something that is important to us, we will put time into it.

Our timing is not God’s timing. It is often a hard truth to swallow. But sometimes when our plans are delayed, we perceive them to be denied, but that’s not so. Delayed is not denied. So while you wait, continue to do your job…pursue. My pastor Justin Davis has said, “God is more interested in our character than our calendar.”

Be patient while you wait. Don’t lose your hope. Don’t lose your passions. But don’t sit around.

Every single one of us will at some point wait on God. It doesn’t mean you are necessarily doing something wrong, it is just part of life.

Next time you find yourself in a season of waiting on God, remember you can actively wait on Him.

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7

All of the verbs in this verse are action verbs…ask, seek, knock.

I can tell you with absolute confidence that if you honestly seek God, you will find Him. He is not going to play hide and seek with you. If you seek Him, you will find Him.

So as you wait…seek!

“Wherever you go and whatever you do, you will be blessed…The LORD will guarantee a blessing on everything you do and will fill your storehouses with grain.” Deuteronomy 28:6,8 

Do you need a blessing right now? Do you want to walk in favor? Well you can!

Start speaking this verse over your life and see what happens.

This is a promise from the Lord and because of Christ’s finished work on the cross, it is ours for the taking The Lord says that everything our hands touch is blessed! That includes our family, our finances, our health, our careers, they are all blessed!

Today, whatever you may be going through…if you feel stuck, uncertain, frustrated at your job, just remember that you are called blessed.

Wherever you go and whatever you do is blessed!

Guaranteed!

“But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7

Are you a Christian that feels that they need to constantly repent in order to keep close union with God?

Do you feel like the health of your relationship with Christ is dependent on whether or not your have confessed your sins to Him?

Let me put you at ease. Your sins have already been forgiven…past, present and future. When Christ died for you and me on the cross, He bore all our sins. Anything and everything we will ever do, think, say that falls short, He has forgiven us for.

Let that sink in.

As believers then, we do not confess our sins in order to be forgiven…but we confess because we have already been forgiven. We can go to God without hesitation or condemnation because He has already forgiven us. You can see this truth from the verse above. It is not our confession that cleanses us from all sin, but it’s the blood of Jesus.

What a relief!

We don’t have to live a life of worry and anxiety about trying to confess every sin that we do throughout our days. And we don’t need to worry about whether or not we are worthy enough to approach God…We can live in freedom and approach Him with boldness because we have been forgiven. Nothing we do will ever change that!

What is also neat is the word ‘cleanse’ in the verse above. In the Greek, the tense for the word ‘cleanse’ denotes a present and continuous action. This means that from the second you receive Christ, His blood is continually cleansing you. You can visualize this like you are under a waterfall of forgiveness. It never stops coming and is always fresh and new.

Start to live free today. Live by the grace that you have been given. Let the reality sink in that you are continually cleansed by the blood of Jesus and there’s nothing that we can do to change that.

How does the image of a waterfall of forgiveness help you?

Today I just have a little reminder for you.

“Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit—you choose.” Proverbs 18:21

Your words have power, whether you realize it or not. I don’t believe that our words will naturally bring life. We need to be very aware of what we say and the consequences that those words can bring. We have to choose to be a source of life and not death.

I’m sure you have heard the idiom, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me”? Well it may be a good deflection as a child but it is most certainly not true. Words can do immense damage to people. They can cause wounds that last for years. But they can also bring forth life. They can heal and empower.

Be aware of what you say today…let your speech bring life, happiness, and love to people. Uplift and do not bring down.

Empower not belittle.

Bring life or bring death.

Your choice.

I hope you all have a lovely Valentine’s Day.

This is Abby and my first V-day together and we are so very happy that we can be together for it.

What are your Valentine’s Day plans?

Here is your weekly whimsical Wednesday, this time it’s the 90′s edition.

enjoy.

Have you ever found yourself discouraged in your walk with God because you feel like you don’t measure up? Or because you feel like you aren’t good enough to be in His presence?

I know I have felt that way before.

But the truth is, we should never let anything ever stop us from going into God’s presence. No matter how you feel, what you were told or if you think you aren’t good enough. Those are lies.

God wants us to come to Him as we are! Because of the sacrifice that Christ made for us on the cross, God now only sees us through the lens of Jesus. God doesn’t see a sinful, unworthy, wretched person; He sees a perfect, pure, without blemish, blameless masterpiece! Amen.

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Cor. 5:21 NIV

In the Old Testament when people would bring an offering to the priests, the priest would examine the animal to make sure it was spotless and without blemish. The key thing to realize is that the priest examined the animal and not the person. They examined the sacrifice and not the sinner. And if the offering was indeed without defect, the Lord would accept the offering and this would purify the person making them (us) right with God.

This is a HUGE comfort to you and myself…

When Jesus died for us, He became our sacrifice and made us in right standing with God. So don’t be ashamed of who you are, where you have come from, or what you have done. Don’t be afraid to come before Christ with boldness, freedom, and joy. And don’t believe the lies that tell you that you are not good enough or perfect enough to enter into His presence…

Come as you are.

You are welcomed with open arms and seen as beautiful, spotless, and because of Jesus, without blemish.

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Matt. 11:28-30 MSG

Isn’t it a relief that we can come before God just as we are?

This is another project that I just completed (except for a frame which is coming soon) It is a piece of artwork in which I installed a clock on to it as well.

I started with a cheap clock from target ($3.99) and then removed the front plastic.

Then I pulled off all the hands of the clock and removed the battery compartment from the back. (They just pop off)

On the canvas I bought (14×18) ($10.99 from Michaels), lay out roughly where you want to put the clock. I chose the top right corner.

Then, poke a hole through the canvas for the clock motor to show through. Add attach the battery pack to the back of the canvas.

Now, it’s time to paint. Be creative and paint what you want. I chose a pattern.

I decided to add texture to the pattern on the green parts of the canvas, and here is how I did it.

Yup, that’s right, just a paper towel…cheap but effective. And now here is what it looks like at this point.

Lastly, it is time to add the clock numbers. This is the final touch. To get the spacing right (so it tells fairly accurate time) just print out a clock template from the web.

And that’s it!

Maybe the more logical progression of this project should have been paint first and then add clock, but I was very interested in seeing if the clock would attach properly.

Since I had the paint already, I did this whole project for $14.00! You will never beat that if you found something like this in a store. I hope you enjoyed it and here is to more DIY projects!

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

Season come and go, as do trials and troubles. When going through a difficult season in life, you need to have mindset of perseverance and determination and not one of defeat. You need to remember your strength and joy come from the lord and not your circumstances, therefore, whatever you may be going through you can remain confident and remain at peace that the Lord will see you through…your troubles will soon pass.

“Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.” Isaiah 41:10

I don’t know what you are going through right now, it may be some emotional distress, a financial problem, a relationship going bad, an unexpected health problem, etc. but I do know that God is with you.

Trust the Lord through these hard times, he knows the way through. If you were on a safari, you would naturally trust your tour guide because he knows the way, he knows what’s around the bend, and what the best possible next step is…how much more, then, does our heavenly father know the outcome of the season of life we are in? How much more deserving of our trust is He?

Stay determined.

Stay confident.

Persevere.

This season will pass.

here is to get you past the mid-week.

What do you hear God saying to you in your life right now?

Can you hear his voice?

I can easily let so much noise and distraction into my life and mess up my concentration. Sometimes it’s very difficult for me to interpret what I am sensing. I question what the source is and if I’m even hearing anything at all.

Have you ever listened to music in your car or iPod at a certain volume and gone away from it for awhile, then you come back later or the next morning and the music seems likes its blasting? Or have you ever gone from listening to loud music to listening to music at a low volume quickly and can’t seem to make out all that’s going on at low volumes? It’s because our ears haven’t adjusted. But by morning or after some time and rest, our ears become sensitive again and even lower volumes seem loud.

What if spiritually our “ears” worked in a similar way. We allow so much noise in our lives and wonder why we can’t hear God. Our “ears” need to adjust first. We need to protect ourselves and be in a place where our ears can adjust and we can hear when spoken too. That’s why important to get away from distraction and noise and allow some time for our spiritual ears to adjust so that even a whisper can seem loud.

I know I need the reminder to make sure I’m in a spot to be ready to hear from God and allow time and space for him to move in my life. If all we give God is 30 seconds in the morning or before bed to speak to us…I’m sure how clear our heads are and how ready we are to hear from Him.

Anyone else’s “ears” need to be protected?

Abby and I have done a few projects together around our apartment and so I thought I would share a few of them today.

First, our chalkboard wall!

Next was our mantle, bedspread, little shelves, and artwork (painted by me)

And finally, we repainted our coffee table, which lightens up our living room. It was a dirty job but Abby and I had a lot of fun doing it.

Have you worked on any house projects lately? If so, what kinds?