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Finding Strength for the Hard Things
I am generally a go-getter. I see something that needs to be done, and I push myself until the job is done, especially God things. That is until I could not do one more thing this week. A spirit of unwillingness had crept into my heart, and I was at a loss to get going again. I was done. No more hard things were stuck on repeat in my head, and I found myself sitting down and unable to move. The words “I don’t want to” were like a heavy cloak draped over my heart, and I could not throw them off. I wrestled and dared to ask God…
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Taking Time to Notice God is There
As I sat at the drive-thru at a local bank, my eyes began to scan over what lay in front of me. Colorful red berries on the bushes in the landscaping, cars rushing to and fro, the local Post Office, and a gray, almost colorless sky. Then, a solitary cross on the hilltop at a church caught my eye. I rarely look up as I go about my errands on these country roads near my home, so I had forgotten that the cross was even there. As soon as my eyes landed on its commanding presence, so did my heart. For it was then I heard the Lord whisper to…
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Bring It All to God in Prayer
I often laugh about the time my friend called me a stuffer and herself a blower. She was referring to how different we are in how we deal with things. She is the outspoken type that speaks up letting people know how she feels instantly. I am more the type to hold hurts and frustrations inside choosing to deal with them alone. Either way in itself is not always the right way to handle things. Stuffers can easily hold misunderstandings, hurts, and frustrations inside until you are a powder keg ready to explode or allow them to cause discouragement or resentment. Blowers can lose their tempers and say things in…
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Learning to Pray and Believe
Have you ever wrestled with the whole thing called prayer? Have you ever sincerely just wondered how does it work? Maybe you have prayed and prayed for something and find yourself still waiting. Maybe you see “her” prayer answered but not yours, and it has you struggling to understand. Acts 12: 1-17 tells us that while Peter was sleeping in a maximum security prison cell chained between two prison guards, the early church prayed for him. Peter’s situation looked hopeless to change, yet the early church prayed. There was no way out of his sentence. Death was imminent, yet the early church prayed. There was no way of escape,…
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When Prayer Becomes a Struggle
Can I let you in on a little secret that the enemy doesn’t want you to find out? There will be days you won’t feel like praying. Days your heart will struggle to find the words. Other days you will struggle to know what to pray. Your mind will race to figure out the things you need to ask for, forgetting that The Lord already knows. There will be days you will battle the voice that will tell you it doesn’t do you any good to pray at all. Days when your life looks far from the way you had planned. It will make you question His plans as your…
