Our focus today and throughout this week is on the faithfulness in the time of fulfillment!

In the continuation of Luke 1 & 2 we find at the beginning of Luke 2 that the time of fulfillment has come.

Mary and Joseph are required to leave Nazareth and go to Bethlehem to register for the census. It was a long, hard journey and I’m sure not one they would have chosen to make!

Preparing for the birth of a child includes many things: preparing the room, bed, clothes, diapers and every other detail and need! However, taking a big, long, difficult trip is not one of the preparation‘s on anyone’s list. In fact airlines and cruises will not let pregnant women travel past seven months pregnant. I’ll share another time why I included “cruises“ on that list! Let’s just say my daughter carried her first child very well and did not look like she was seven months pregnant on a cruise!

Anyone who has studied pregnancy, been pregnant or been around a pregnant woman knows that one of the physiological stages of pregnancy is called “nesting.”  Nesting occurs toward the end of the pregnancy and all the new mama wants to do is stay very close to home and prepare for the arrival of her baby!

Mary, the mother of Jesus, was human just like we are! Her body went through all of the same stages of pregnancy as every other mothers body does! She too would have wanted to stay close to home and prepare for the arrival of her baby. But Mary was faithful to God‘s call in her time of fulfillment! 

Mary and Joseph would not have had a hard, long journey to another town written down on their family plan. No, it was not what they wanted to do, or where they wanted to go, but they were faithful to God and followed His plan, not theirs! And God‘s perfect plan, at Mary’s time of fulfillment, led them to a manger in Bethlehem!

“So, Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, that time came for the baby to be born.”  Luke 2:4-6

TRUTH BOMB

FAITHFULNESS TO GOD’S PLAN ALWAYS LEADS YOU TO THE RIGHT PLACE!

Mary and Joseph were open to God‘s plan no matter where it led them! 

Are we?

I am I?

This is my prayer for the new year… 

I want to be faithful to God‘s plan and not mine! 

I want to know God‘s fulfillment in my life! I want to be faithful to God’s plan as Mary and Joseph were faithful to God’s plan!

Faithfulness to God‘s plan led Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem where Jesus Christ our Savior was born according to God‘s will and leading! Where will your faithfulness to God‘s plan lead you in this new year? 

Where will it lead me? 

Wherever it leads us it will be right!

MERRY CHRISTMAS FRIENDS!

Speak Truth Love

Sitting on the beach I can only see SO far! Even on a clear day as I can see all the way to Catalina Island, there is still a point, a line if you will, which I cannot see past.

It feels like the Horizon to me, yet I know that the ocean goes on and on and on past what my human eyes can see!

That is FAITH! I cannot touch it, feel it, taste it, hear it or even see it, but by knowledge and FAITH, I KNOW IT IS THERE!

I believe that is what Luke is saying to us in Luke 1:4, 

“So that you may KNOW the CERTAINTY of the things you have been taught.”

Just as we have been taught in textbooks, classrooms and atlases about the facts, knowledge and TRUTH about the HORIZON and can then believe by FAITH that it exists and the accounts of it are true. 

We can in turn take what we have been taught through the eyewitness accounts, research, affirmation and testimonies of those who had a front row seat to the amazing event of Jesus Christ’s coming to Earth.

Luke the Doctor and historian investigated and interviewed people who were eyewitnesses to these amazing events. Through his careful research we can be certain in knowing that these events are true. 

As we get caught up in the joy and wonder of this season we can too often focus on the twinkling lights, the delectable treats, and the beautifully wrapped presents under the tree and overlook the CERTAINTY and TRUTH of the actual events that took place to bring God to us! 

I had an earthly father who loved me BIG and very much. But his heart softened and grew even bigger as he became a grandfather! He had one phrase that he would say to all of his children and grandchildren. That same phrase was what we wrote on his grave marker,

“WHAT DO YOU KNOW FOR SURE?”

And our response back, beyond a shadow of a doubt, was…

“THAT YOU LOVE ME!”

It was CERTAIN!

So how do we know that God loves us for CERTAIN?

Because we know for CERTAIN, through these eyewitness accounts, that God loves us by sending his son Jesus to be Emmanuel, God with us!

TRUTH BOMB

WE HAVE THE CERTAINTY THAT JESUS IS GOD WITH US!

So, as you get caught up in the joy and wonder of this season know for CERTAIN that just as I sat on the beach and knew that the horizon was there, even though I could not reach out and touch it, God is with you through every wonder and joy that you experience this Christmas!

Speak Truth Love

Today is my birthday! I normally would never share that, but it happens to fall on the day of my Blog and I feel that the lessons God is teaching me on this day is what He wants me to share!

Birthdays are joyous occasions when we have people in our lives that celebrate us!

I grew up with the best Mom that a girl could ever have! Obviously, you already know my birthday is in December. My Mom made sure that my birthday was never blended together with Christmas. You know what I mean, that two for one gift that someone hands you and says, “Happy birthday and Merry Christmas!” No, she never did that! She made sure that my birthday and my sisters birthdays, we’re celebrated from the minute we woke up to the minute we laid our head on our pillows that night! The day of our birth was special to her, and she made sure she celebrated it!

I had many birthdays and many birthday parties that were wonderful celebrations! We had cake, we had balloons and cards and gifts… But the greatest gift and the thing I remembered most were the people who were there to celebrate with me!

Their PRESENCE, not their presents,

made my birthday celebration special!

On this day, as I celebrate 63 years of life, I am not thinking about the balloons, the gifts, the confetti or even the cake(ok, those of you that know me would call me a liar with that statement, so maybe I’m thinking about the cake a little bit), but most of all I am thinking about the PRESENCE of the people I love being with me!

More than any other person that we spend time with on this earth, we are blessed to have a SAVIOR who desires our PRESENCE and sent His PRESENCE in bodily form, down to earth so that we could be present with Him forever and always!

As Paul the Apostle says, 

“When we are caught up to meet the Lord, And so we will always be with the Lord.” 

I Thessalonians 4:17

What does His PRESENCE mean to us?

Isaiah 9:6

“For to us a child is born, 

To us a Son is given;

“and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called

WONDERFUL, COUNSELOR, MIGHTY GOD, EVERLASTING FATHER, PRINCE OF PEACE!”

His PRESENCE means that we are never alone. He is WONDERFUL and loves us like none other!

His PRESENCE means that we have someone to go to to seek advice and direction and to know the right path to take. He is our COUNSELOR!

His PRESENCE means that nothing we go through is out of his control and power.

He is our MIGHTY GOD!

His PRESENCE means that He is with us now and forever into eternity.

He is our EVERLASTING FATHER!

And His PRESENCE means that no matter how fierce the storms of life rage around us, we can have comfort and assurance and peace in the midst of them.

He is our PRINCE OF PEACE!

No PRESENT on earth can compare to the PRESENCE OF “EMMANUEL GOD WITH US!”

TRUTH BOMB

THE GREATEST GIFT BORN TO MAN CAME IN A MANGER!

The present I pray and wish for you today, is the presence of Jesus Christ to be with you today and always!

Speak Truth Love

I boarded a plane today and flew away from my kids and grandkids. 

I hate leaving my loved ones! 

I do not know about you, but separation from those I love makes me feel like my heart is literally being ripped in two!

It’s not like, “practice makes perfect,” the more you do it the easier it gets.

Not for me! I tell myself all of the right things, you know, all of the things everyone says to you when you say how sad you are that you are separated from the ones you love the most:

“You just had a week together, you should be happy about that.”

“You are going to see them again in a little while.”

“You should just be happy that you have a family.”

“Weren’t you just together last month?”

“Just count your blessings and be glad for the time you have.”

I repeat all of these phrases and thank God for the gift that He has given me!

Yet, my heart remains heavy, the sorrow comes in waves and at times the tears flow and my heart aches.

When you love so deeply separation hurts.

As a little girl two of the most significant people in my life, my grandpa and grandma Switter, my mom’s parents, lived in another state. We always got to see them for Christmas and during the Summer time.

I remember the anticipation of waiting for them to arrive! I would sit by the big plate glass window in our front living room and dance around for hours staring intently out waiting for their car to pull into our driveway!

They would emerge from that car with the biggest smiles on their faces and open up their trunk full of presents and the biggest Tupperware container that has ever been made, full of my grandma‘s homemade Christmas cookies! I can still taste them all these years later! She made her cut out cookies with a butter recipe that made them so soft and delicious in your mouth, not crunchy like the sugar cookie ones! She had Santa faces that had white fluffy beards and the perfect red Santa cap with a big fluffy white snowball on the end of it perfectly drawn, long before the ‘Christmas Cookie Challenge,’ ever appeared on a network (She would have won by the way!)

We would play games, we would make meals together, we would laugh and sing Christmas carols till we could hardly speak. We would go to church together on Christmas Eve and come home and open up the Christmas jammies that they had waiting for us under the Christmas tree. We would go to bed and hardly sleep that night so anxious to get up the next morning.

Christmas day would start bright and early with presents unwrapped and paper strewn everywhere, followed by a delicious Christmas breakfast. We would clean up and then wait for more family to arrive as my grandma and mom in their aprons would work so hard to prepare the perfect Christmas dinner! The evening always ended with a special Christmas movie. 

I could not have felt more warm, secure and loved than I did every year at Christmas time!

My home life was good but not great! There was hurt and pain and anger and strife and unfaithfulness. But when my grandparents were there it was like a piece of heaven came down to earth! It was all put on pause for the whole Christmas season… and then they left! I stood by that same plate glass window and watched their car pull out of my driveway. And the separation felt so strong that I thought my heart would literally rip in two.

I stood by that window long after they had pulled away and tears streamed down my face as my broken heart poured out it’s sadness of them leaving. 

Separation by definition causes pain.

One thing is literally being pulled away from another! While sometimes this may be a positive separation, the majority of the time it is a painful one.

As I sat on that plane early this morning being separated from those I love the most, I did thank God for his incredible, undeserved blessings to me! And as I was thanking Him it struck me, He willingly separated Himself from His One and Only Son, because He loved me so much!

“And the angel answered her, “ The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of The Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy-The Son of God.”

Luke 1:35

Christmas isn’t Christmas without separation! The sweetest Christmas songs we sing, ‘Away in a Manger, ‘Silent Night,’ ‘Hark The Herald Angels Sing,’ and on and on and on, all proclaim the separation of God’s Son from Himself!

TRUTH BOMB

GOD’S LOVE IS PERFECTED IN SEPARATING HIMSELF FROM HIS SON FOR US!

Love is perfected in the act of giving! That giving causes separation. God selflessly separated Himself from His Son for a time so that one day we could all be together forever!

I want to be prepared this season to receive this selfless gift, don’t you? Join me back here through the month of December as we “Make Way for “The Way!”

Speak Truth Love

At times, giving thanks is obvious and as easy to do as breathing in and out.

For example, TODAY, November 21st is a permanent date on my calendar to celebrate, be joyful and give thanks to God for the incredible gift of my son James Tyler! I do not have to think about it, put any extra effort in to it, be reminded of it or set any alarms on my phone to remind me to do it! I simply wake up on November 21st every year and give enormous thanks to my God for giving me my wonderful son, Tyler!

But as easy as it is to give thanks to God for my son, there are other situations, relationships and occurrences where the last thing on my mind is giving thanks!

Yet, I am asked by my Heavenly Father to give thanks for both the good and the bad, the easy and the hard, the obvious and the discrete, and the lovely and the unlovely!

“Give THANKS in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”  

I Thessalonians 5:18

This verse may not be one of the most quoted or most popular verses around the Thanksgiving table or during the Thanksgiving season, but it is nonetheless a request from God himself!

So why would God, who knows us best and loves us most, ask us to do something seemingly unnatural and very difficult? 

I believe the answer is two fold.

Number one, God knows that we need Him to accomplish it. And, number two, God knows that when we practice what makes it possible, we end up focusing on Him and His power and not our own!

As I see it, the only way to give thanks in all circumstances, even the hard ones, is to first give thanks for all of our blessings and good things!

For example, when I woke up this morning and gave thanks to God for another birthday for my son Tyler, it was easier for me to then give Him thanks for another person in my life that is more difficult to get along with.

It then reminded me that I could even give God thanks for the extra patience and endurance that loving that person requires of me.

TRUTH BOMB

WE ACCOMPLISH GOD’S WILL FOR US WHEN WE GIVE THANKS NO MATTER WHAT!

Friends, when we develop a spiritual muscle of giving thanks to God when it’s obvious and easy, that same muscle will help us practice giving thanks in all circumstances even when it’s difficult so that we can accomplish God‘s will for us in Christ Jesus!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING FRIENDS!

I am giving thanks to God for all of you!

And it’s EASY!

Speak Truth Love

It’s a celebration!

Giving thanks to God can be a “Holy Party!”

I don’t know about you, but every time that I hear there’s a party coming I get excited!

This month not only holds one of my favorite days of the year, Thanksgiving, but it also is the month of two of my favorite birthday parties, my son’s and my grandson’s! I love these two boys more than I can say! The opportunity to celebrate them and have a party is at the very top of my list! We have so much fun and it is anything but quiet and still! They are loved and our family loves to celebrate them and have a great time in the process.

I love them both so much that I love celebrating them BIG! I love making sure that I get them exactly what they want! I love planning out the food so that it is their favorite. I love making or buying the dessert that is exactly what they want it to be! I do not care if people tell me I overdo it, spend too much money or talk too much about them! I love them and I love celebrating them and making sure they know how loved they are. I love showing them that I am crazy about them and in a state of GRATITUDE for them!

Why would I not want to show this same state of gratitude to my great God who has done so much for me?

In the same way I believe that GIVING THANKS to God can be like having a

‘Holy Party!’

Have you ever considered that giving thanks to God may be a bit undignified at times? It may be a crazy celebration that cannot be contained because our hearts are so full of gratitude to Him!

GRATITUDE is defined as, “The state of being grateful and being full of thankfulness!

Having gratitude is a state of being! It may be a state of quiet reflection and thankfulness at times. But it just might also be a ‘Holy Party’ with singing, shouting, music, song and so much joy that it simply cannot be contained!

“Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;

Let us shout aloud to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before Him with Thanksgiving and extol Him with music and song.”  Psalm 95:1-2

So, if you find yourself in this season of giving thanks jumping to your feet and singing, dancing and shouting your gratitude to God with joy, PARTY ON, 

you are in good company and our God is worthy!

TRUTH BOMB

GIVING THANKS TO GOD CAN SOMETIMES BE A HOLY PARTY!

Speak Truth Love

It’s November!

I LOVE when the calendar flips from October to November!

November 1st is one of my very favorite days of the year! I wake up with an enormous amount of natural gratitude in my heart, I put my feet on the floor and with the biggest smile on my face I say with a truly thankful heart,

“This is the day The Lord has made,

I will rejoice and be glad in it!”

Psalm 118:24

On November 1st no one has to remind me to be thankful! If I slept at all the night before, then I slept with prayers and pleas on my heart and mind to my God to protect me, and all those I love, and all those that God loves, and bring His Light into the Dark places that are all around us! I do not like Halloween and I dread October 31st.

I know this opens me up to all kinds of judgment and debate and even ridicule! But I have made a commitment to God to write this blog for Him with authenticity, and to be authentic with you the reader.

This feeling in my spirit is nothing new to me, and nothing that came to me as an adult, I have felt this way since I was young! It is also not a judgment on my part of those who can dress up and enjoy time to have fun and embrace the good parts of Halloween. It is simply reality for me! I have fought it all my life and yet it remains. My spirit is troubled on October 31st, and my spirit sores naturally with thanks to my great God on November 1st!

November 1st not only ends my least favorite season, it ushers in a month focused on thanks and gratitude and prepares our heart for the most excellent season of all! 

If we are focused on giving thanks and gratitude to God then our hearts are prepared to receive the greatest gift of His Son during the Christmas season! Giving thanks is vital to prepare our hearts and spirits to receive. I believe we can never take for granted the significance that a month of THANKSGIVING provides! 

So, I want to focus on not making THANKSGIVING a blip on the screen between two months of Halloween followed by two months of Christmas!

I want to dedicate this whole month of November to giving thanks to God in and out of all seasons and circumstances! 

Will you join me?

Let’s get started!

Psalm 107:1

“Give thanks to the Lord for He is good; His faithful love endures forever!”

TRUTH BOMB

GIVING THANKS TO GOD PREPARES OUR HEARTS TO RECEIVE HIS GIFTS!

Speak Truth Love

Welcome back to our series on becoming unstuck! We’re focusing on the things that get us stuck, and if we are not careful, can keep us stuck and not move us into the life God intends for us to have!

I LOVE apples! I mean, what is not to love? They come in tons of varieties, colors, and flavors! You can get them tart, you can get them sweet, and even somewhere in between. You can get them red, you can get them green you can get them yellow or a combination of any two or three! And don’t get me started on the varieties… The names are numerous and they come from many different parts of the country! 

You could go for weeks at a time and never have to eat an apple with the same name.  

Have I convinced you yet how great apples are? I haven’t even started on the nutritional value!

Apples are full of fiber, so besides being a sweet and tasty treat they actually help move stuff through your body and make you feel full longer!

Apples are versatile as well! You can eat them raw, whole or sliced. You could dip them in almond butter or peanut butter and sprinkle them with a little bit of cinnamon for a delicious, low calorie, high fiber treat! You can bake them and put them in dozens of delicious, yummy recipes!

I LOVE APPLES!

But more than grabbing one as I run out the door, or slicing one and sprinkling it with a dash of cinnamon and dipping it into almond butter when my energy is running low, I love using it in the phrase, ‘Apple of His Eye!’

“For this is what the Lord Almighty says:…Whoever touches you touches the apple of my eye!” Zechariah 2:8

The “apple of his eye,“ means something that He cherishes, and holds close and protects!

God sees us as the “apple of His Eye!

Are you like me? Do you ever STUCK in a pattern of negative thinking about yourself?

The only way I know how to get UNSTUCK is to replace those negative thoughts with God’s words about you…

Jeremiah 31:3–“I have loved you with an everlasting love. I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.”

I John 3:1-2

“See what great love the father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”

Colossians 3:12 – “Therefore as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe your selves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.”

I John 4:19 – “We love God, because He first loved us.”

Romans 5:5–

“And Hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”

I John 4:9-11 “This is how God shows His love among us: He sent His one, and only son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

Ephesians 5:2–“And walk in love, as Christ loved us, and gave Himself for us, a fragrant, offering, and sacrifice to God.”

These are just a few of the many words God speaks directly about you! You are His child, THE APPLE OF HIS EYE, He loves you and He didn’t just say so, He proved it! He sent His one and only Son to die so that you could live with him forever!

TRUTH BOMB

NO VOICE ON EARTH IS LOUDER THAN GOD’S LOVE FOR YOU!

So, if you find yourself getting STUCK listening to negative voices about you, even if it’s your own voice, read God’s words about you and get UNSTUCK!

Speak Truth Love

Welcome to a new series on the Blog!

Being STUCK implies that we are caught in something. It may be motionless or continuously repeating the same action or motion over and over and going nowhere.

We are stuck!

We have heard the sayings:

“Stuck in the mud.”

              Or

“Stuck in the middle with you.”

Both of these speak to the motionless kind of being stuck.

Have you ever been STUCK in a pattern of doing good things?

That’s right, you did not misread this, I said GOOD THINGS!

This is a pattern of being STUCK by doing good and not getting to where you should be.

Maybe, just maybe, the “GOOD” things are keeping us from God’s best?

I actually get STUCK in this pattern a lot!

For the Good, the bad and the ugly of it, I was That Girl! The one who did not get into trouble, did not say no, did not not show up, did not not go the extra mile, did not party, did not drink, did not smoke, etc., etc., etc…

I was the nauseating “Goody Goody Two Shoes.” 

I wasn’t trying to set any records or win any awards, I just thought that being good was what I was supposed to be. I am principled by nature and fairly black-and-white. If it’s right, you do it, if it’s wrong, you don’t do it! 

Problem was, I was STUCK in a cycle, a cycle of doing good that produced self righteousness! 

Ephesians Chapter 2 tells us we are all lost without Christ! Doing good does not get us right with God any more than doing bad does. 

Chapter 2 verse 3 says,

“among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh…”

Doing good was a passion of the flesh to feel good about doing good.

Some may argue that it’s a better choice to make then doing bad however, both are passions of the flesh and do not make us right with God!

Both also can become habits that get us STUCK and keep us from God‘s best for us.

Chapter 2 verse 4 tells us that by God’s great love for us and His sacrifice, mercy and grace He made us alive together with Christ Jesus!

Verse 8 clearly tells us that it is NOT anything we have done!

“…This is not your own doing, it is a gift of God.”

It is by faith in Christ Jesus that we have been saved!

Now, before this becomes a Blog on, ‘We Are Not Saved By Good Works’, which we are not, that is not my purpose in this. I already know I am not saved by the good I do.

Verses 8 & 9 Make this point crystal clear in case we missed it…

“… It Is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

My point today, and my hard learned lesson, is that my good can keep me from God‘s best!

God died so that He could have a relationship with me! A forever relationship that lasts into eternity. He wants me to spend time with Him daily!

Too much of the time my “DOING GOOD,” can keep me away from sitting at His feet, talking to Him, listening to Him, reading His word and praising His name!

Doing GOOD for God is important. It is a response of my love for Him toward the immense love He has shown me.

I just need to be cautious not to get STUCK in doing good and thinking that that is what defines me. I do good because I am His and He is worthy!

TRUTH BOMB

BEING STUCK IN DOING GOOD CAN KEEP US FROM GODS BEST!

And in case you were about to correct me, saying, Lisa, you didn’t get to verse 10 in Ephesians 2, let me address that verse. 

Ephesians 2:10 says this: “for you are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works…”

God makes it clear that He has good works for us to do. And at the top of the list, is God’s best for us. We spend time with God in worship, reading His word and praying first. Then, God shows us who He wants us to serve, who He wants us to talk to, and how and where He wants us to serve Him.  When we do these kinds of works, we are now accomplishing God’s best for us! And we won’t be “stuck” in the cycle of doing our own good things, and yet missing His best. Sometimes, the best way to get unstuck in the vicious “do good” cycle, is to set aside time each day just to be with Him, and give Him space to show you HIS GOOD TO DO!And then, to quote Nike, JUST DO IT!

Speak Truth Love 

THE WORD “NORMAL” is such a precarious word. It implies that something is right or correct simply because it is what we are used to.

The definition of the word NORMAL is:

“Conforming to the standard or the common type; something that is

USUAL, REGULAR, NATURAL OR AVERAGE.”

OR

“Serving to establish a STANDARD.”

Do you see the common thread between these defining words?

Each produces a standard by which we can be comfortable and in control…

REGULAR, NATURAL, USUAL, AVERAGE!

Predictable, simple and uncomplicated!

If we are not careful these threads can connect and create a web that we can find ourselves stuck in!

STUCK…have you ever felt stuck?

It’s like your feet are in mud and the harder you try to pull them out the more stuck you become. The mud has somehow turned to cement and eventually we just stop trying to pull our feet out. We are stuck!

If we look at it from the scenario of the threads that we weave around and around and create a Web, think about a spider‘s Web. The entire purpose of the web is to catch something until it is so stuck that the spider can capture it, stun it, and use it for food.

I don’t know about you, but I never want to become that stuck!

God cannot use us when we are stuck. As a matter of fact, if we are stuck we may be a hindrance to God using others!

In Ezra chapter 3 verses 12 and 13 we see the Israelites have returned from captivity and have begun rebuilding the temple. After following God‘s instructions, laboring and working very, very hard someone begins to weep. It is one of the older priests, and several other priests join in and the weeping gets louder and turns into wailing. 

“But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundations of this temple being laid, while many others shouted with joy.” But no one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise and the sound was heard far away.” Ezra 3:12 & 13

“IT’S NOT LIKE IT WAS BEFORE!”

“I MISS THE WAY IT USED TO BE!”

“THAT’S NOT THE WAY WE DO IT!”

Sound familiar? 

It’s “THE GOOD OLD DAYS” mentality!

The problem is, the good old days are gone and a new day is here!

While it is wonderful to keep them as a memory and even learn from them, we cannot live in them if we are to keep from getting STUCK! 

We must learn to embrace the NEW!

I don’t really need to define the term NEW. At the mention of it some of you may jump up and down and some of you may get shivers up and down your spine and freeze! 

The definition of NEW does include the unfamiliar and the strange…but it also is defined as “BRINGING INTO BEING AND APPEARING FOR THE FIRST TIME!”

Like a newborn baby, or a brand new temple. If we do not embrace the new, the old will simply crumble around our feet! 

NEW babies have to be born for a new generation to come, and new buildings must be built to replace the old when their time has come and they can no longer stand!

That’s why I like the term “NEW NORMAL!” It helps ease me out of the old and into the NEW! It’s like God is gently taking my hand and encouraging me that while something may be new and different and challenging it can also be fresh and exciting! To me it implies consistency even amid the change.

I have a “NEW NORMAL!” It is not wrong, bad, or anything in between, IT IS JUST NEW!

My eye is different! It is repaired and I can see! I am praising God for His goodness and mercy through all of it! But it is also “unfamiliar and strange!“

My nearsightedness is better and my farsightedness is worse. But God is doing a NEW THING! This is my NEW NORMAL! 

TRUTH BOMB

WE CAN EMBRACE A “NEW NORMAL” WHEN WE ARE CONFIDENT THAT GOD IS IN IT!

NEW can bring excitement with a touch of anxiousness.

NEW can bring adventure with a bit of anxiety over the unknown.

NEW can also bring freshness to something that has grown stale!

NEW can offer hope to something that has become hopeless!

NEW could be exactly what God has chosen for me and you because He loves us and knows it is exactly what we need!

I am learning a NEW NORMAL and a NEW lesson! God has taken something old in me and he has made it NEW. I am learning to embrace it and adjust. My prayer is that my eyes, not just my physical ones but my spiritual ones, are also opened to the other

NEW areas in my life God wants to take me to!

I am sensing some of them, and I am praying for God to open up the others to me! I know that there is no other way to grow except to embrace the NEW and not get stuck in the old!

In my next series I am going to talk about areas of being STUCK.

I know I have them and maybe you do too? I hope you will join me back here as we embrace the NEW NORMAL together!

Speak Truth Love