Uncategorized

Too Much Noise!

Image

One of the great challenges of living in today’s world is learning to deal with all of the noise.  When I say learning to deal with it, I am talking about learning to get past it, so that we might be able to hear what is really important and needed.  I really do think that most of us are living with information overload.  We get media input from so many different sources and ideas and opinions from so many competing directions, that we have gotten used to living in a continual spin.

Some days I wake up from my noisy dreams to an even more noisy world and I know that I am missing something, but just can’t seem to figure it out.  Then I realize that I am never going to figure it out with all of the noise, so I begin to try to filter some of the noise away.  This seems to work for a moment, but then, I realize that I still am not anywhere near to what I am really searching for, so I go in search of quietness.  It is not near as easy as it used to be to find solitude.

Solitude is the place where we step out of the noisy world and into the peaceful relationship that we were created for.  It is the best place to listen and learn from our Creator.  It is the place where we figure out what life is really all about.  The journey to solitude is not easy and it will cost you, but it is a trip worth taking.  In fact, once you take this trip, you will want to take it again and again, because you will discover that solitude is the place that enables you to live blessed!

Uncategorized

Trouble Free Heart!

Image

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

When Jesus speaks these words, he is not offering a suggestion to be accepted, he is giving a command to be obeyed, a principle to be followed.  It is not optional, it is the very foundation to our getting the spiritual life right for His glory.  Jesus was giving this information to his disciples right before he was to be crucified.  Life as they knew it was about to encounter the biggest change and most crazy challenge that they had ever faced.  They were about to have to live in a world without Jesus in the flesh.  Jesus was preparing them, by telling them that no matter what – “Do not let your hearts be troubled!”

Have you ever noticed that most believers and non believers respond in just about the same way to the challenges of life.  This should not be.  Believers should respond with faith over fear, with expectation over desperation and with hope over hopelessness.  Most all of us, tend to respond to the challenges of life with our emotions.  The problem with this, is that if we don’t control our emotions, then our emotions will control us.

The problem with emotions is that they tend to want to run and will run away from your control before you know it.  When Jesus says:  “Let not your hearts be troubled!”, he is teaching us to reign in our emotions before they get out of control.  You can rule your emotions, or they will rule you.  Every person has to decide for themselves – how they are going to handle the tough battle with emotions.

If you decide that you want to deal with your emotions, then you have to learn how not to indulge the negative.  Life is full of negatives.  We are surrounded and bombarded by them from all forms of media.  Indulging the negative is making an on purpose decision to live life in fear, not in faith.  If Jesus commands us to do something, then it is possible and what seems impossible, always becomes possible through the power of faith expressed in our everyday living.

Life is going to throw some challenges your ways this week, I want to encourage you to follow the instruction of Jesus and “LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED!  I promise you will be glad you did!  😉

Uncategorized

Learning!

ImageI love getting to serve my Creator with my life everyday through the ministry of Grace Place.  While I love Grace Place and what we get to do there, the most valuable lesson that I have learned is that I don’t have to have a place or a position to do what I have been called to do.  The Spirit is teaching me that I can do what I have been called, gifted and equipped to do for His glory in pretty much any place and at anytime.

The key to living in this sweet spot is really pretty simple:  “LIVE IN RELATIONSHIP!”  I have been in relationship with God for a long time, and it has always been a beautiful and very meaningful thing, but in the last year, God has allowed me to travel to a new place of understanding and growth.  What used to be times with the Spirit has become time with the Spirit.  Instead of having little moments here and there, it seems more like one gigantic moment that never ends.  I never know what He is going to surprise me with next!

I learn something new almost everyday and on most days, I can chalk up most of the day as a learning experience.  While I still have to fight the battle against, activity, noise and distraction, I realize more and more fully the value of the time I have been given, the resources I have been blessed with and the amazing gifts of love, grace, mercy, peace and hope!

A few years ago, I told a friend to not pay any attention to the crowd, but to remember that her life is a performance for “an audience of one!”  And while this is very good and proper advice, I will promise you that it is a lot easier said than done, but that does not mean that we should throw in the towel and not even try, because it is in the trying that the lessons are learned and the battles are won.

The fact that you are here is evidence that you are loved.  God created you and allows you as a spiritual being to live this human experience, so that you can learn, grow and develop for the blessing of others and the glory of Himself.  I want to challenge you to stop enduring life and start enjoying it, every part!  Thanks for reading my posts and I hope they encourage you to live blessed, because it is what you were created for!

Telling Stories, Sharing Grace And Loving Folks!