Thursday, May 31, 2012

The only one who can hinder me is me...

In Bible study today, Beth Moore said that, "We are the only ones who can keep ourselves from our Promised Land."  Could this be any more true?!!!  I know personally, I am my own worst enemy.  I am the first to bring up my past faults and failures, the times that I ran from Him and His desires for my life, the times where I felt that my sins were just to many and to much to deserve His grace and mercy - She talked about how we wear scarlet letters like we have to keep bearing the weight of our sins and past transgressions - and then she said (main idea thought here, can't remember the word for word) that we bear these letters like what He did is not enough to cover those things....Wow...who am I to carry my scarlet letters (and believe me, I have plenty to carry) like what my Jesus did on the cross - that His death - is not enough to cover those sins and make me new in Him....Isaiah 43:25 says, "I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions, form my own sake, and remembers your sins no more."  REMEMBERS NO MORE!!!  I am a huge believer in taking my past and using it to bring Him glory, to help and love others through the same pains, to have compassion on those who feel that they are not good enough for Him, because I know that feeling!  I can believe God when He says I am new in Him, I can believe God when He says I am new every morning, that my sins are no more, that He loves me and has a purpose for me...it is only when I allow the lies of the enemy to tell me different that I find myself hinder my path to the Promise Land He has for me - a land of freedom and grace - of hope and love - of promises and purpose...God is so good....

I have read this many times and I can count many of these traits as my own - 

 If You Think You Aren’t Good Enough

The next time you feel like GOD can't use you, just remember...

Noah was a drunk
Abraham was too old
Isaac was a daydreamer
Jacob was a liar
Leah was ugly
Joseph was abused
Moses had a stuttering problem
Gideon was afraid
Sampson had long hair and was a womanizer
Rahab was a prostitute
Jeremiah and Timothy were too young
David had an affair and was a murderer
Elijah was suicidal
Isaiah preached naked
Jonah ran from God
Naomi was a widow
Job went bankrupt
John the Baptist ate bugs
Peter denied Christ
The Disciples fell asleep while praying
Martha worried about everything
The Samaritan woman was divorced, more than once
Zaccheus was too small
Paul was too religious
Timothy had an ulcer...
AND
Lazarus was dead!

What do you have that’s worse than that?

I have to say that if any of them had allowed their pasts to hinder them, where would we all be?  It is time to stop bearing the scarlet letters of our past and accept what He has done - His mercies are new every morning and our sins are cast as far as the east is from the west....The only thing we should be bearing is the love that has freed us - there is no greater love than the love of the Father....

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Four years later...

I can't believe it has been almost a week since we walked across that stage and graduated...Four years ago, we packed up and moved here on God's calling  - no jobs, no family, and He made the path clear and last week, we completed that part of our calling - knowing that there is more to come.  This journey we started will be a life long journey.  We are so blessed to have met and grown close to so many amazing people here and I am so grateful for the lessons He has taught us in the past four years.  Lessons of grace, mercy, healing, deliverance, forgiveness...Learning what it truly means to have a relationship with Him and with each other...we have been through many valleys and hiked the mountain - sometimes falling on the way, but never without His loving arms holding and carrying us through...
This past graduation weekend marked the start of our next phase, one that is not completely clear yet, be we are excited for what it holds and we trust and know HE will light the path.  This weekend gave us answers to prayers, a new hope in relationships - His love came down in beautiful ways this past weekend...I am so excited for what our future holds....for what God is going to teach us next...
We serve such an amazing Savior... There is none higher, none greater and none more giving...no matter what happens next, I am blessed and grateful to know that I have Him to lead and guide our family, that my husband's deepest desire is to follow Him and answer whatever calling He has for us....