Have you ever been in a battle so long and so tough, that you have begun to feel like all you will ever do is fight?  

Fighting is not the mode that Jesus wants us to live our lives in, but at times it feels like the fight will never end. 

I was recently in an airplane flying home from my “happy place,” and suddenly the plane was flying through the middle of some of the thickest fog I have ever seen. I stared out the window and saw nothing but white cloud, everywhere I looked. Because my flight is only an hour long, the plane never gets so high that I can’t look out the window and witness the beauty of California. It goes from the ocean to the mountains to the rolling hills, farmland, and finally back to the ocean as I get to my destination. I always choose a window seat so I can get the best view. 

But this time the fog was not only outside my window, it started to rise up in my soul and overwhelm me. I kept staring out the window and all I could see was white, white, and more white. I had been in a battle for four years, fighting for what I believed was right, for someone I love very much. I also had been in a spiritual battle for six years, fighting for what I believed was right in Jesus’ name. I was tired and beat up, I was battered and weary. All I could see was fog…thick, dense fog!

But in the middle of staring at the white all around me, while longing to see the tips of the snow covered mountains, God called to me to stay in the fight!  Don’t give up! Have faith in Him. And keep fighting.  

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”  Isaiah 55:9. 

God was reminding me through the thick dense fog that the problem was my vision, not His. Rick Warren put it like this: It’s really a matter of patience in the waiting. The toughest kind of waiting occurs when you are in a rush, and God is not. Being patient is both the evidence of your faith, and the test of your faith. An analogy of this is being at the Rose Parade. You are standing on Colorado Boulevard. All of the floats are turning the corner in front of you, one at a time. It seems like they are all passing you by slowly, with no end in sight. But God is like the pilot of a helicopter, high above. He can see the beginning and the end, and everything else in between. My vision and your vision is limited by what is in front of us. But God’s vision is limitless: He can see all things at all times.

TRUTH BOMB

When I can’t see through the fog, God’s vision is still 20/20!

My fog was lifted and I am giving God all the praise, honor, and glory!  He did what only He can do!  And it was truly miraculous.  But His miracle didn’t come when I wanted it, or how I wanted it. Instead, His miracle came right on time!  Because, unlike my blurry vision, God’s vision is 20/20! 

Whatever fight you find yourself in, if you see nothing but fog around you, God sees you, my friend. His vision is 20/20. He sees you and He will produce patience and faith in the waiting!

Speak Truth Love

(Whether you feel like celebrating or not!) 

Most of the time when we hear the word CELEBRATE, we think of the word party, or congratulations or success. Something was accomplished and is deserving of CELEBRATION!

Recently, I made two trips to Southern California to CELEBRATE the accomplishment of years! My youngest granddaughter accomplished 4 years of life and my oldest granddaughter accomplished 11 years of life! 

The two parties that were thrown to celebrate these exciting accomplishments were full of fun, laughter, friends, family, food and joy!

Seriously, it was joy overflowing at it’s fullest! These two are women to be reckoned with in the making!

They are sassy, intelligent, serious, determined, athletic, artistic, and have the two biggest hearts on this planet.

They were all about the BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS and so were we!

These are my granddaughters and I love them with my whole heart!

Celebrating them is easy, but the accomplishment of each year for these two comes with ups and downs.

They learn, they grow, they make good choices and bad ones. They are loved and at times rejected. They laugh and they cry. They succeed and they fail. And just like us, they have good days and bad ones.

But, there is no question, they are to be CELEBRATED!

It is through their hardest of times, that they become the best of themselves!

The pain is evident and all of us who love them so, would love to take it away.

But we know that the pain causes growth and growth produces change and change brings about character. When we celebrate them we are celebrating the beautiful characters they both have because of what they have gone through. They are worthy of celebration!

Just a few shorts weeks ago we celebrated THE GREATEST achievement the world has or will ever experience, the victory over death by Jesus Christ! We call it Easter or Resurrection Day!

At this celebration most of us also had fun, food, friends, family and excitement! This celebration was also achieved with much perseverance, pain, and suffering!

We do a good job of remembering ‘Good Friday,’ although at the time it was anything but good! Jesus Christ was captured, accused, mocked, beaten, tortured and eventually killed in the cruelest of ways.

However, because God raised Him from the dead on the third day and accomplished what only God can accomplish, life over death, we can call ‘Good Friday,’ GOOD!

Easter is the greatest celebration of all and it is only accomplished through the greatest amount of suffering of all.

Celebrations are important my friends! They give us joy, laughter, togetherness, and lots and lots of fun!

But more than anything else, they give us HOPE! Hope, that even on our darkest days, when we don’t feel like celebrating, there is always so much to be celebrated!

You have loved ones and so do I. And just like my two precious granddaughters that bring me so much love and joy, your loved ones are blessings from God and reminders of His goodness! 

Life is a gift from God and everyday we are given a reason to celebrate!

TRUTH BOMB

IT’S A CELEBRATION WHEN WE HAVE LIFE THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR SAVIOR!

LIFE IN JESUS CHRIST TRULY IS A CELEBRATION!

So whether this day or this season that you are in is a time of growth, trial, or pain, remember it is producing the character in you that God desires you to have!

You are never alone. He is right there with you walking through it.

That my friends is worth celebrating, whether we feel like it or not!

Speak Truth Love

What do you say, when you can’t find the words to speak?

I believe the answer is you say nothing at all.

We live in a culture where everyone has an opinion on absolutely every subject under the sun! Not only do they have an opinion, but they they are convinced that they are right and everyone else is wrong!

Have you noticed that not only are we bombarded when we watch television or check out of the grocery store and see every tabloid published, but now to add insult to injury it’s on every device we own?

It feels impossible to call a friend on our cell phones without feeling corrected or accused by something we did or did not do even before we get all the numbers punched in!

Then we try to open up our email and get some work done, but before we can open up a new file we get headline after headline popping up on our screens giving us opinion after opinion after opinion!

We can feel overloaded, accused, defeated and downright wrong before we’ve even had our first cup of coffee!

It seems as though everyone has an opinion and that makes us feel that if we don’t have one something is wrong with us.

I believe that this  is counterculture to what Jesus is saying to us!

I believe that when we don’t have anything to say, we should say nothing at all! Instead of trying to form an opinion, come up with the answer on our own or simply speaking rhetoric to fill empty space, we need to be still and silent before our Lord.

The Truth is there are times in our lives when we are overwhelmed with one situation or another and we simply don’t have words.

Praise God He always has the right words for us!

John 14:1 says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me.”

“Be still and know that I am God.”

Psalm 46:10

“Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?” Luke 12:25-26

“Humble yourselves therefore under God‘s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you!“ I Peter 5:6-7

These are just a few of God’s words of Truth that speak words for us and over us when we have no words of our own.

Listening to God and receiving and believing His words bring peace, healing and comfort we could never receive through human words alone.

So, when you find yourself speechless, instead of speaking, read the Words of Truth God believes about you!

TRUTH BOMB

WHEN YOU DON’T HAVE THE WORDS TO SPEAK, LISTEN TO WHAT GOD HAS TO SAY, SOMETIMES SAYING NOTHING AT ALL MAY BE THE BEST THING TO SAY!

Speak Truth Love

Everywhere we look as we drive around or scroll online we see signs claiming,

HE IS RISEN!

We see it on banners hung across church buildings. We see it on signs planted in peoples yards. We see it posted on peoples Facebook‘s and Instagram accounts.

It’s Easter week and we want to celebrate!

But before Sunday came, before the tomb was empty, an entire week of praise, rejection, mocking, betrayal, torture, and death took place.

Praise happened first as Jesus entered Jerusalem!

“HOSANNA, HOSANNA, HOSANNA, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”

Crowds cheered, palm branches waved and peoples hearts stirred at the thought of the Lord‘s coming!

They had waited so long to be set free.

Their anticipation was high! They were going to be rescued! Their enemies were going to be put in their place! They saw Jesus as a conquering Savior! Someone who would meet their expectations and set them free from everything that plagued them here on this earth!

But their expectations were not met.

Jesus had not come as a conquering savior to destroy their enemy physically here on earth and set them up as the victors. He had come as the once for all savior, for all people, then and now!

JESUS DIDN’T FIT THEIR EXPECTATIONS!

Looking at their situation through their eyes and not God‘s eyes, they quickly changed their reaction.

Instead of “HOSANNA, HOSANNA, HOSANNAH, their cries became,

“CRUCIFY HIM, CRUCIFY HIM, CRUCIFY HIM!”

When their expectations were not met, they looked to themselves and their understanding and fear and anger took over!

Looking to ourselves for solutions instead of trusting in and waiting on God for our solutions can lead to disaster.

Jesus was then betrayed, lied about, mocked, beaten, tortured and eventually, brutally killed. Until through His final breath He uttered the reason for it all! The answer they had been looking for all along.

“TETELESTHAI”

IT IS FINISHED, IT IS ACCOMPLISHED, IT IS PAID IN FULL!

Jesus had endured the brutality, the misunderstanding, the abuse, the torture, and the death because He is indeed, the only one to meet every expectation that we have!

Because of His death on the cross, we have full covering for our sin, and the ability to have life forever with Him in heaven! 

He did not say, “it is over.“ He said, ”It is finished,” it has been accomplished!

Jesus truly does meet all of our expectations and more. He paid the price for us on the cross, and He completed God‘s perfect will according to God‘s perfect expectations! When we choose to align ourselves with God’s expectations, and see our situation through His eyes, we can then live the lives that He has prepared for us in true freedom! 

We have been set free through the sacrifice of Jesus our PERFECT SAVIOR!

TRUTH BOMB

WHEN WE LOOK AT OUR SITUATION WITH GOD’S EYES AND NOT OUR OWN, JESUS MEETS ALL OUR EXPECTATIONS!

So when you view those beautiful banners, yard signs, and social media posts claiming, HE IS RISEN, raise your hands, Praise God and confidently proclaim,

HE IS RISEN INDEED!

Happy Easter Friends!

Speak Truth Love