BIG Life Devotional | Daily Devotional for Women

If God told you today to do something big and great, you would do it, wouldn’t you? If you knew without a doubt this big thing was from God, you would be excited to follow his plan, right? But, what if God is telling you to do something specific today, however it’s not big and grand. In fact, what God is telling you to do seems like a tiny or insignificant step. Or maybe it even seems ridiculous and doesn’t align with what you think is best. Will you still do it? Is your desire for God’s will over your own? Can you say there’s no place you would rather be that in God’s plan for your life? In the book of 2 Kings chapter 5 we read of Naaman. Naaman was a great and successful man who was commander of an entire Army, but he battled leprosy. Leprosy is a disease which deforms your body and in those days would have you cast out from society. Naaman was told of a prophet in Israel named Elisha who could heal him, so he went to Israel in search of healing. He went with a willing heart to do anything. Have you ever prayed that prayer? Lord, I will do anything if you’ll heal me. Lord I’ll do anything if you’ll fix this mess. I will do anything you want me to do if you’ll help me out of this. I’ve prayed those prayers before, and quite honestly the answers I’ve received have been rather unimpressive. You see in my mind I imagine God making a big exchange. Something big and impressive from me for something big and impressive from him. Isn’t that the way this should work? But what if instead of a big and impressive exchange, God wants an ordinary and unnoticed act of obedience? What if God wants you to do something that wouldn’t receive a single praise from another person? What if God is asking you to do something that makes no sense at all? Naaman is seeking healing. Elisah, the prophet of God receives his request and gives him specific instructions. In 2 Kings 5, verse 10 he says “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.” Now stop right there. This is not what Naaman had in mind. He says “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy.” Naaman thought he would be healed through a moment of something miraculous. Shouldn’t there be a light from heaven or a golden glow, or at least someone in a clean robe with a healing touch? Instead he receives ridiculous instructions to go take a bath in the nasty Jordan river? SEVEN TIMES? Naaman is furious. He traveled all this way to be told to do something so totally unimpressive that made no sense. He argues, can’t I bathe in a cleaner river at least? There are so many better options than the Jordan river. No one wants to take a bath in the Jordan, you’ll come out dirtier than you went in. And seven times? I mean God, don’t you have the power to heal me on the first dip in the water? Can’t we negotiate and make it three? Naaman is leaving in a rage, convinced he’s wasted his time even seeking healing when his servant stops him and says in verse 13, “if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it?” Ahhhh, there it is. Naaman was expecting for God to tell him to do something great, but he didn’t. He told him to do something ordinary. Take a bath. He told him to do it over and over again. That simply wasn’t what he wanted to hear. Why is it we think our big problems can only be solved with big solutions? The truth is, our biggest problems are typically the result of something that began very small in the first place. And our solutions will look much the same. Small steps in the right direction. We all would like one big swift, miraculous movement to change it all,

The source of the majority of our struggles in this life is a mistaken identity. We’ve forgotten who we really are, and taken on the identity of someone we were never intended to be. We were never made to be lazy. Never made to be depressed. Never made to be worriers. We were never made to be negative, overwhelmed, unhealthy and unbalanced. And when we show up day after day to drag ourselves through life as a person we were never created to be, we lose our way. My sister, have you forgotten who you truly are? Have the voices of others drown out the voice of your creator? Is one of the voices your own? The story of the Prodigal Son is one of my favorites. Every time I study it, I learn something new. It’s a story I cling to right now for one of the people I love the most. Luke 15:11-32 gives us the full story and it would take you less than 2 minutes to read it today. That would be a really good use of 2 minutes. I’ll give you my 20 second recap of the story. A father has 2 sons. The younger son comes to the father and demands his inheritance early. He takes his money and wastes it on wild living and ends up broke. He’s desperate and miserable and realizes how he is living doesn’t align with who he really is. So he returns home with his head hung in shame. When his father sees him from a distance, he runs to his son, welcomes him home and throws a big party to celebrate. Have you ever messed up? Have you ever gone down the wrong path, been irresponsible, focused on the wrong thing and did it the wrong way? Every single one of us have, and guess what, we will likely mess up again in our future. Probably today. But the Prodigal Son reminds us failure is not fatal. You have a loving heavenly father who is just waiting for you to realize who you really are, and start acting like it. Who are you? Really, who are you? Daughter of the King, walking talking miracle, one of a kind masterpiece of the master artist, prized, loved, chosen, redeemed … that’s who you are … have you forgotten? The son had gotten all wrapped up in what he had, and forgotten who he was. And once it was all gone, he hit rock bottom. I’ve been there. I was once focused on all I had and my goal every morning when I woke up was to make money to get more. I bought the big house, then I needed to fill the big house. I had the new car with a $1200 monthly payment, so I needed the new clothes to match the car. It was an endless cycle and it was never enough. And then it was all gone. Rock bottom was my new address. And it was here at rock bottom I remembered WHO I was. Is what you HAVE causing you to lose WHO you ARE? I promise you this, if your “things” are getting in the way, God has zero problem removing the things. He is way more concerned about your character than your comfort. Your rock bottom is exactly where he will take you so that you can rebuild your life on that solid rock. The Prodigal Son found himself out of money, working for a farmer feeding his pigs. It was here in the pigpen where he was so hungry he was eyeballing the pig’s food that he had a life changing moment. Luke 15, verse 17 says ” And when he came to himself.” He came to himself. He saw who he really was and how he was currently living and the wide gap between the two. He was the beloved son of a wealthy man. That’s who he was. But he was living a life far below his potential. Imagine the humility it required for him to pick himself up out of that pigpen and start the long walk back home. Back to who he was. His father was waiting there for him, having hoped every day it would be the day his son would return. And finally the son had came to himself, realizing he was so much better than how he had been living, and started his journey back. I remember starting my journey back to who I really was. Having hit rock bottom,

There is a hill outside the city of Jerusalem called Golgotha or also called Calvary, both words meaning skull. The hill was given it’s name because of it’s shape of a skull. Think that was an accident? It was here on top of this skull shaped hill that Jesus was crucified on the cross. Have you ever thought about the meaning behind this? Why there? Nothing was by accident. God was in every detail as he sacrificed his one and only son so that whoever would believe in him would have eternal life. I believe this place was strategic. The cross was on top of the skull because Jesus wants to give you victory over your mind! You don’t have to be overwhelmed by your thoughts of worry. You can have victory over that. You don’t have to continually think about the worst case scenario. You can have victory over that. You don’t have to replay what happened to you. You can have victory over that. On top of that hill shaped like a skull was the cross, the victory over your mind has been bought. How many times have you prayed that God would change your circumstances and nothing changed? How many times has the storm not passed immediately or the door remained unopened for you? How long have you been waiting? Is it because God doesn’t hear you? Is it because God doesn’t care? Or maybe he’s just too busy handling bigger stuff for better people? Oh that’s exactly what the enemy would have you believe. But the truth is, God is more concerned about changing your MIND than your circumstances. The battle has always been over your mind. Every issue you have started with what you think about. Every breakthrough you’ve ever experienced began with a thought. Your thoughts are controlling your life. And knowing the power of your thoughts, I wonder how intentional you are with your thoughts. Your mind is the battleground for your life and it’s won or lost with the very things you’re thinking about. Every bad decision you’ve ever made is the result of a bad thought. The enemy attacks your mind with thoughts which lead you away from the life God created you for, and he knows exactly what your triggers are. Romans 12:2 says “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Be TRANSFORMED by the renewing of your mind. Transformed means to be radically changed. You can be RADICALLY CHANGED by renewing your mind. What is renewing your mind? Changing your thoughts. What you’re feeding your mind is causing you to think the way you think. How many of us know if you feed your body absolute junk, you feel pretty darn crappy? If I spend a weekend on an eating frenzy, my body feels different the next morning. My tummy gets all bloated, my fingers get swollen and I become slighlty drag-butty. This is a result of how I fed my body. And it’s the same with our minds. How you feed your mind will cause you to think different. How you’re thinking today is a result of what you’ve been feeding your mind. What have you been watching? What have you been listening to? What have you been reading? This is why you’re thinking the way you’re thinking. Good or bad. Who needs a good cleanse from the nonsense? Who needs to take captive their thoughts once again because they’ve gotten out of control? Who’s been spending entirely too many minutes of their day worrying about things instead of either getting up and doing something about it or aligning it with the promises of God? You want to know what would really make a difference in your life? Every time you catch yourself thinking negative thoughts, take it captive in a swift 3 step plan. Step 1: Stop the train. You have a train of thoughts, all attached to each other, running along a track. Those thoughts are linked together, pushing and building momentum.

Psalm 37:23 “The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.” Does the Lord direct the steps of everyone? No, this scripture is very specific. He directs the steps of the godly. So what exactly does being godly look like? How can I be godly today? A godly life is a life devoted to God. It’s rather easy to see a godly life in motion, you can point those people out, but isn’t it funny how no matter what you do, you never feel like a godly person. You know your flaws intimately. You live inside your brain that wanders and thinks ungodly thoughts. Have you disqualified yourself as godly and therefore disqualified yourself of God’s direction and care of the details of your life? All God is asking for is your devotion. By definition, your devotion is your love, your loyalty and your excitement towards God. I believe you being here today and listening at this moment is a result of your devotion to God. That’s why we call this a devotional. This is the means by which you show your love, loyalty and excitement towards God. You are devoted to him. And it is your devotion that makes you godly, not your perfection. Not your holiness. Just your devotion. Do devoted people screw up? BIG TIME! Do devoted people stumble? Abso-freaking-lutely. Do devoted people always find their way back? Yes, and here’s why – the Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. And this should give you tremendous confidence! Understand, this is a holy exchange. Your devotion makes you godly and in return, God is directing your steps. He is guiding you. You are receiving the guidance of the one who knows the end from the beginning, the one who makes all things new and works all things together for good. Today is just another step in the journey of living the life you were created for. Another step towards become the person you can be. Now, I don’t know what your step may look like today. Your journey may look different than mine. But I know this, one day there will be a step that drastically changes everything. That step may be a long time in the making and you may not wake up knowing it’s the day, in fact you will likely feel like it’s just another Tuesday. But that step on that day is what all your other steps have been leading you to. I have a dear friend who’s husband battled the grips of alcohol his entire adult life. Through nearly 20 years of marriage, nothing ever stuck. It was a constant roller coaster ride of ups and downs, sobriety and NOT sobriety. Until one day, a step was taken that changed everything. He sat outside of a liquor store getting ready to go in and buy his next bottle and he felt the physical touch of his creator. That day, he took the next step and turned his car around and drove home. He hasn’t had a drink since. The impossible happened. Today, this man isn’t even remotely the same man he was then. He’s lost a massive amount of weight, he’s the husband and father he could never be before, he has passion and purpose in his life, and he’s a true joy to everyone he comes in contact with. YA’LL THAT’S JUST THE HOLY EXCHANGE AT WORK!!!! HIS DEVOTION FOR GOD’S GUIDANCE. As he devoted his life to God, seeking him even in his darkest days, God directed his steps. He was there for every detail of his life, working even the hardest of things together for good. Was it messy? Yes. Did it appear hopeless at times? Yes. Was God working through it all? Yes. The same is happening for you in your darkest of times. God is here working on your behalf. Reaching for you. Calling you in. Setting you up for the next level of living. I read something this morning that fits so perfectly. It said “The most important spiritual growth doesn’t happen when you’re in church or o...

1 Corinthians 9: 24 “Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win!” The Message Translation 1 Corinthians 9:24-24-27 “Everyone runs; one wins. Run to win. All good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. You’re after one that’s gold eternally. (PHILIPPIANS 3:14 “I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”) I don’t know about you, but I’m running hard for the finish line. I’m giving it everything I’ve got. No sloppy living for me! I’m staying alert and in top condition. I’m not going to get caught napping, telling everyone else all about it and then missing out myself.” NO LAYING DOWN ON THE JOB – GIRL YOU’VE GOT A JOB TO DO HERE Philippians 3 The Message Translation 14 “I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back. (God is calling us onward. Girl, move on. Let’s go. Move forward now. Refuse the enemy’s invitation to stay stuck here.) 15-16 So let’s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. (Let’s decide right now we want EVERYTHING God has for us.) If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you’ll see it yet! Now that we’re on the right track, let’s stay on it. (God, if I’m going through life focused on the wrong things with the wrong perspective, help clear my vision. Help me see this right. Romans 12: 2 “be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”) 17-19 Keep track of those you see running this same course, headed for this same goal. There are many out there taking other paths, choosing other goals, and trying to get you to go along with them. All they want is easy street. But easy street is a dead-end street. Those who live there make their bellies their gods; belches are their praise; all they can think of is their appetites. (Stop seeking easy and start seeking God’s best. Give your all instead of just what you feel like doing. The truth is, the majority of the time we don’t feel like doing much of anything. Our appetite is for the quick easy fix, immediate gratification, give me what I want now in sacrifice of what I want most.) 20-21 But there’s far more to life for us. We’re citizens of high heaven! We’re waiting the arrival of the Savior, the Master, Jesus Christ, who will transform our earthy bodies into glorious bodies like his own. He’ll make us beautiful and whole with the same powerful skill by which he is putting everything as it should be, under and around him.

Life isn’t fair. God is faithful. You can spend all the days of your life trying to make sense of nonsense and it still won’t make sense. You can also spend all the days of your life searching for God’s faithfulness and you will find it in abundance. He never promised it would be fair. He never promised it would be easy. He promised it will be worth it. God never said we wouldn’t experience loss, or failure, or death, or pain. He never said that things would always go our way, that we would always know where to go, that our road would be perfectly smooth. But what He did promise was that He would be forever standing by our side, forever carrying us through the hardest seasons, forever arms outstretched leaning in to us. What He did say was that in every season of brokenness, He would bring us hope, strength, and truth.He did say his mercies would be new for you this morning. In Genesis we read of a woman who was kicked out of her home by the people she loved and trusted. Her name was Hagar. Perhaps you know her story as the servant of Sarah who was used for a child when Sarah and Abraham couldn’t have children of their own. Once they had their own baby, Hagar and her son became a problem for them, a constant reminder of their screw up, so they kicked her out. Now that wasn’t fair in any way. But once again, life isn’t always fair. I’ve seen good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people and I can’t give you the reasoning behind it. We can get caught up in the blame game and be victims for the rest of our days, or we can gain a new perspective. Are you ready for a new perspective on your unfair situation today? Are you ready to be enlightened to see the answer right in front of you? Let’s pick back up in the story. Hagar has been kicked out unfairly. She’s now wandering around in the desert, out in the middle of nowhere with nothing. The bread and water had ran out and her son was dying. She cried out to God and God does something miraculous. The Bible says, in Genesis 21:19, “Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water, and she went and gave the boy a drink.” Do you see that? God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. Her eyes were opened. I have to wonder if the answer to our problem isn’t right in front of us, but we’re not seeing it. Our perspective is wrong. Our focus is off. We need God to open our eyes so we can see. The truth is, we’re incapable of finding the answers to our problems on our own. Like Hagar, we desperately need God. That’s his plan. He doesn’t want you to be able to live life well without him. He is using the very problem you face today to bring you closer to him. The more you fight it and try to come up with the solutions on your own, the harder it’s going to be. You need God. I need God. Hagar had the solution right in front of her, it was a well of water, but she couldn’t see it until God opened her eyes and helped her see from a different perspective. That’s what I need today. I need God to open my eyes and help me see from a different perspective. Is that what you need? There are resources right in front of you, but you’re not seeing them. You’ve been dealing with this problem for so long now, what you need is to see with a new light. God is that light. He can illuminate every area of darkness and confusion in your life. Have you asked him to shine his light on this problem so you can see better? You are either part of the problem or part of the solution. Everything you do or don’t do today is part of your problem or your solution. Everything you think today will be part of your problem or your solution. Everything you say today will either be part of your problem or your solution. Everything you eat today will be part of your solution or part of your problem. So what an incredible filter it would be today to stop and catch yourself and ask if what you’re doing,

Are you playing it safe? Eliminating the risk so failure isn’t a threat? What have you sacrificed for this safe life where you’re just trying to keep everything the same? Understand this, safe is just another word for regret. God is calling you into a life of full surrender, of bold decisions and BIG living. This is what you were created for. You were never created for safe. A life played safe is a life half-lived. A life played safe will be filled with regret in the end. A study was done on those nearing the end of their life and you know what they regretted most? They regretted the things they didn’t do. They regretted all the times they played it safe, sat it out, let the moment pass without jumping in. They said no when a big ol’ hearty yes was available, and in the end they regretted it. Every day I meet you here with a new devotional to encourage, inspire and equip you to live up to your God-given potential, and at the core of it all is this one message … your life is passing you by, don’t regret it. Get in the middle of your life. Jump in this. If you don’t, you’re going to regret it. 2 Thessalonians 1:11 says “that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith.” May you be worthy of his calling. He is calling you to live this big, beautiful life in the way only you can. May you be worthy of that calling. Here’s the thing, God thinks you are worthy. He knows you have the potential in you because he placed it in you. Now it’s just up to you to live up to it, to step into it, to claim it as your own. Will you live today in a way that is worthy of what God has given you? Or, will you play it safe? If your passion has gone out in your life, recognize this … it’s likely because you’ve played it safe for so long. I’m glad Jesus didn’t play it safe. I’m glad he didn’t sit it out. Think about that. What has been done for you was anything but safe. And what’s being asked of you is to dive into the life he died to give you. This very day and the decisions you make today will one day flash before your eyes and you will see your entire life from a perspective of all that could have been. DON’T REGRET TODAY. Don’t miss a single opportunity. When life asks if you’ll play, say yes. I come to you today once again from the parking garage of the Barnes Jewish Hospital in St Louis. I slept in a recliner of the ICU where my Daddy continues to battle for his life. Yesterday we were given the hard reality that outside of a miracle, his heart will only function for about 2 months. As a result we have this gift. The gift of time. The gift of having conversations some families never have the opportunity to have. The opportunity to say all we want to say and linger longer in those moments. Yesterday I asked my 67 year old Dad if he has any regrets. He thought long and hard and said, “I stayed way too long at a dead end job, working myself silly making nothing.” Now my Daddy went on to start his own successful construction company and experienced decades of rewarding and fulfilling work. But now, in the end, he regrets the years before he took that leap to get started. He regrets playing it safe for a paycheck that was never enough anyway. He regrets being stuck and being miserable when now he knows more was always available. In that study with those nearing the end of their life, one of the top 5 regrets of the specific things they didn’t do, was they didn’t allow themselves to be happier. Let me ask, what strings have you tied to your happiness? Have you decided you can’t be truly happy on a work day? Is it written somewhere that you can’t be happy as long as you’re overweight?

You were created to be more than a conqueror, a champion. A total winner in life. But sometimes we feel like a loser don’t we? Sometimes we wake up feeling defeated, overwhelmed, outmatched, incapable, and anything but champion-like. But God isn’t concerned about your feelings, he’s concerned about your training. You’re in training my friend. Training to become all you were created to be. And you were NOT created to be a loser. Life wasn’t given to you to waste. God has a plan for your life, and whether you believe it or not, it’s a good plan. In fact, it’s better than your plan. But I wonder how often we’re delaying God’s good plan for our lives because we get in the way? It is our procrastination, not God’s that causes delay. It is our hesitation, not God’s that hinders our potential. How many times will you sit and rethink the scenario in your head, over and over again, planning every detail, without consulting God? I’m a big believer in the power of written goals. Every single person I mentor is encouraged to write goals on the first of every month throughout the year. They’re taught to read their goals several times every day until they are memorized. I know the statics, you are 300 times more likely to achieve your goals if you not only write them, but read them daily. 300 times! I like those odds, that why I personally do it. And, I’ve seen women who are slaying their goals and doing every single thing they set out to do … and they’re still miserable. I’ve seen women get totally lost in the process, slaves to their own goals, no longer enjoying life but checking the boxes and continually striving for more, more, more, never satisfied with any level of success. This isn’t what God wants for us. His desire for you is to live a balanced life. A life that glorifies him with your success and yet still has time for him in your schedule. A life that has faith to move mountains and a shovel to make it happen. A life that prays as if its up to God and works as if its up to you. This is balance, and this is where 97% of us are struggling. Will you work your butt off and trust God with the results? Will you show up and do all you can while fully trusting God will do all you can’t? Will you show up and get on the ride, then remember to enjoy the ride instead of white knuckling your way through life? Will you get in the game, give it your all, and resist the urge to stare at the scoreboard to see if you’re winning? Let’s take a holy pause here. Take a step back and look. God didn’t create you with a loser in mind. His will is not for you to lose … permanently. But he will let you lose right now so you grow. He will let you struggle right now so you are strengthened. He will let you taste defeat so when victory comes you appreciate it with every ounce of you. He wants you to be a winner with a humble spirit. Humility comes in the struggle to get there. He will let your story be full of twists and turns and ups and downs so that one day you will be able to personally help someone else. Your unmatched overnight success is no good to someone who is in the middle of their struggle. However your real life hardship and experience with setbacks and obstacles makes you the perfect person to help them. You are God’s hands and feet here on this Earth. That’s why you’ve gone through it all. You’ve been set up to help someone else step up. God will not allow one moment of your hardship to be wasted if you will hand it over to him. If you will refuse the invitation to get bitter, God will help you get better, then he will use you to help someone else get better. Proverbs 3: 5-6 is our guide here: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him,

God can’t resist your praise. It is your praise that best displays your faith. When things aren’t going right, will you praise God? When everything around you indicates it’s all going wrong, will you thank him? Will you face your reality and still fully trust him? Will you thank God BEFORE you see him at work? Before you know how … before you know when … will you thank him in advance knowing heaven is coming to fight for you? Maybe you’re like me and you have situations and circumstances you can’t control that only seem to be spinning out of control. You’ve prayed until you don’t even know what to pray. What do you do? I’ll tell you what I’m doing. I’m raising that hallelujah. I’m praising God for his promises over my life, his power at work, and the solution to the problem still hovering over my family. I’m using my praise like a magnet to the almighty, reminding him of his promises and reminding myself he can be trusted. Hey sister, it’s already done. The provision is already there. The way has already been made. He is already at work and his favor is already in action. God just wants us to thank him for it in the middle of the problem. Prison walls shake and fall with our praise. What if we started not only praying this way with such assurance of God’s goodness, but we started living this way? What if we could wake up with deep gratitude because we KNOW God has gone before us. We know that God’s good plans are unfolding. Even when it doesn’t look like it. Even when there is no apparent change. Even when it’s still dark, we trust the light is coming. This is the faith God is calling you to. Faith that will send up praise in the middle of the problem. Faith that will hold to the promise when the storms are raging and time seems to be out. Faith that will see beyond the temporary circumstances of the here and now and remember the plan of eternity that awaits us. God, give us perspective in the problem so we can praise you as we cling to your promise. You remember the story of Abraham, right? The man whom God had given a promise to create nations from him, yet he and his wife Sarah couldn’t have children. How incredibly frustrating. It must have felt like God was dangling this promise in front of him and yet made it impossible for 100 years. Maybe you’ve felt that way. There was a time you heard from God. He planted a seed within you, a promise of something in your future … and then nothing. Your eyes see no proof of change. The dream is still out of reach. So you’re left questioning yourself, wondering if there’s something wrong with you. Don’t you know Abraham must have felt the same way? You’re even left questioning God. God you said you would provide – you promised you would – yet nothing. I’ve got nothing here. What do you do when the proof doesn’t match your promise? You praise. Look at the gap between Abraham’s promise and his reality. He was promised children, but the reality was it was impossible now. And in this gap, he praised God. Romans 4: 19-21 “Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. ” He gave glory to God. Abraham praised God even when the proof didn’t match the promise. He had a problem instead. He was fully persuaded that God had the power to do exactly what he said he would do. Do you truly believe with every ounce of you that God can fulfill his promise in your life? Do you fully believe that he can use everything for good?

We all have giants we battle. A weakness, a shortcoming, an area of struggle which has created a scenario where you can’t seem to win. Where is it you battle but never win? Where have you fought time and time again to make things different, and although sometimes you’ll have a bit of success, ultimately you end up right where you started. Stuck. And this struggle in your life represents your giant. This giant makes you question your value and worth. This giant leave you feeling you’re not enough. I’m here to remind you this morning YOU ARE A GIANT SLAYER. You’re just the person to bring that giant down, conqueror it once and for all, and change all the rest of the days of your life. You can go from where you are to where you’ve always wanted to be when you slay that giant. David was a little Shepard boy. In the book of I Samuel in chapter 17, we read his story. David’s entire family saw him as insignificant, but God created him to be a giant slayer. His brothers were all soldiers and he was just the lunch boy. Now you know how the story goes, David brings lunch to his brothers who are on the front lines of battle and there he meets his giant Goliath. A towering, beast of a man looking for someone to fight. David says “I’ll do it.” When will you step up to the plate and say “I’ll do it I’ll fight this battle. I will stare down the problem and I will fight.” What we often do is we just keep ourselves busy and distracted, avoiding our giant. That’s what David’s brothers and the rest of the army were doing. For 40 days they faced their giant and no one tried a thing. They were convinced they were outmatched and incapable of defeating Goliath. And so they sat there, looking at each other. Sometimes this is exactly what our families do. We just sit there looking at each other. We feel outmatched by our problems and overwhelmed by the enormity of it all, so we sit there, stuck. Well someone in your family has to stand up and say THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. We won’t live like this. The enemy will not win here. And that someone likely needs to be you. What has been threatening your family? What giant has terrorized your house? Are you going to let this continue? There are some things you can’t do anything about, but darn it, there are many you can! You are the giant slayer, but I bet you don’t feel like one this morning do you? My bible tells me stories of giant slayers, and guess what … they never look the part. David may have been just a Shepard boy, but out in those fields he had been fighting. With his bare hands he had been fighting lions and bears off from his sheep. Every battle had prepared him for this. He may have been a little Shepard boy, but he was strong and skilled now. And just the same, God has been equipping you and preparing you for your battle. That’s why the struggle has been permitted in your life. That’s why it’s been harder and taken longer than you ever imagined … because you have been gaining strength. You have learned you are more capable than you ever gave yourself credit for. You’ve been tapping into what God put down deep in you. It was all for a purpose. Now here you are today, ready for battle. And what will you use to fight? What did David use to defeat Goliath? Did he use his brother’s weapons? Did he layer up in armor which wasn’t his? No. He refused all of that. He knew exactly who he was and how God had prepared him was enough. He didn’t need anything other than what God had given him. Everyone around you may be trying to hold you back. They may try to convince you it will never work. They may insist you wait, you gather more, you do it their way. But what you have and who you are is exactly what God is going to use. Your giant will fall because of what YOU have.

“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Let your hearts not be troubled, neither let them be afraid. John 14:27 “Take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:5 “So do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10

You are being called out of the boat, into the water and into your next place of promise. Yes, you are being called to a place of promise. A place God has been preparing you for. A place of full circle, meaning, purpose and destiny. Do you want to go there? Do you want to experience the life God created you for, to it’s fullest? Great, because today you take the next step. Time and time again throughout scripture we see God calling his people out of their place of comfort and safety, to go on a journey that will change everything. Let me tell you, God’s still in the business of leading those kinds of journeys. Peter was a fisherman. There was no where Peter was more comfortable than on a boat. And Jesus called him right out of the boat, literally. He said drop your nets and follow me. He also invited Peter to do the impossible with him, walk on water. Now imagine this scene laid out of us in Matthew 14: 22-34. Jesus’ disciples are out on a boat and they are far from shore. Jesus has gone up on top of a mountain to pray. The disciples get themselves into some trouble with a wild storm at sea. All the while Jesus is watching them. Now this alone should give us some confidence. It’s the middle of the night which means what … it means it was dark. The disciples are far from shore on a boat with no lights. I mean ya’ll it’s not like they were on a party barge with a disco light. And it’s not like Jesus had binoculars or a spotlight. They were out of sight. But Jesus had his eye on them. Through the distance and the darkness he could see them. Girl, he sees you. He sees the storm you’re in. He knows the trouble you face. His eye has been on you the entire time. In Psalm 32:8 God says, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.” His loving eye is on YOU. In Genesis 28:15 God says “”I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go.” HE SEES YOU. He knows right where you are, he knows the doubts the enemy has placed in your mind, he knows the very things that threaten you and your family. Nothing has gone unnoticed here. Nothing. Every detail is seen and known by our almighty and powerful God. Now, the question is, if he sees us, if he knows what’s happening, what is he going to do? Let’s go back to our story in Matthew 14. When they were in trouble, he went out to them. How did he get there? Oh, he did the impossible. He walked on water, because that’s what Jesus does. And that’s what Jesus does today to get to you. He does the impossible. Perhaps you’re listening and your heart is burdened for someone who you fear is too far gone. You can’t reach them and their situation is hopeless. Here’s what you do, you continually bring them to the foot of the cross. You relentlessly pray for them. There’s nothing more you can do here, and it may seem impossible at this point, but we have a savior who specializes in the impossible! Watch Jesus do the impossible to reach them. Whatever their storm is, he will walk right through it. The storm of addiction. The storm of rebellion. The storm of lies and darkness, depression, self-harm, hopelessness, deceit, and evil. The storm of adultery. The storm of bad thoughts, bad choices, and bad actions. Jesus is walking right through it all to get to you … to get to them. We pick up in Matthew chapter 14, verse 25 & 26: “About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. In their fear, they cried out, “It’s a ghost!” Ahhhh yes, doesn’t this sound about right. Things are bad, real bad. What time was it? 3:00 in the morning. That’s the darkest time, just before dawn. If you’re in your darkest time,

You are in the midst of the most rare and beautiful days of your life. They’re right here, all around you. Now maybe you’re in a season of chaos or crisis and there seems to be an absence of beauty in your days.. Maybe you’re in a season of change, and it’s not a change you would have orchestrated. Rest assured, these are still rare and beautiful days with priceless moments in abundance. Today you’re surrounded by once-in-a-lifetime moments. Things that will never, ever, in all of time come your way again. Will you capture it? Will you experience it? Will you savor it? Or will you miss it? What happens to those once-in-a-lifetime moments if you miss them? It’s as if they never existed. Wasted. Gone. And while you may not realize today what you missed, one day you will and you’ll only wish you could have another chance. You’d be willing to give anything for a moment of what you have today. We’re coming down to the end of summer. It’s been hot hasn’t it? A BIG Life sister gave me her hot pink beach cruiser bicycle with a cute little basket on the front. It’s the kind of bike I’ve always envisioned owning, cruising along in a white sundress, toting around fresh flowers in the basket. Yesterday I wanted to ride my new bicycle to the coffee shop to work. But I couldn’t, it was too hot. So I started imagining fall time. But there was a time all I could dream of was summer. Why would I wish this away? Have you forgotten the long, cold hard winter? Have you forgotten how you wished for a day you could go outside without freezing your face off? Christmas 2017 I had my first “freeze your face off” experience. I didn’t know that was a real thing. We spent Christmas in a cabin in South Dakota and our family was skating on a frozen pond and sledding down the mountain hillside. Our photos are priceless. However what those photos won’t show you is the literal feeling of our faces being frozen off. In that moment there was only one thing I wanted more than a big hot cup of coffee … I wanted summer. And here it is. It’s so rare and so beautiful. Moments of priceless opportunities are happening. Opportunities you’ve waited all year for. And today you just might miss them. You may forget that you’ve waited so long for this opportunity. And here’s why … life has a funny way of seducing us into believing there will always be time to do it later. There will be some future day when you have more time, more money, more energy and then you will have more fun. A future date when it will be easier, more convenient, more comfortable. And when that day comes, you will go and do that thing you’ve been wanting to do. You will spend that day with those people you love. You will create that memory. You will take those photos. But it won’t be today. Not today because it’s too hot, it’s too late, you’re too busy, you didn’t lose that weight, you didn’t save the money, you didn’t get the things done. Girl, you will die with not enough money and still not liking the way you look in shorts. Then you really won’t have time. Then it is too late. Give yourself some perspective. We can spend this entire rare and beautiful season of our life foolishly saying “I will … but it won’t be today.” If not today, then you tell me when. Show me the day on the calendar you’re fully committed to making it happen. If you can’t show me the specific date, then you need to choose one. And I’m here to tell you today, yes this Tuesday, this rare and beautiful day of life right here in front of you today, has a whole heck of a lot of potential. Why not choose this one? Will you choose THIS DAY, today, to do something? Something you’ve been saying you will do.

We will never know the awesome power of God until we go all-in. We will never know what was truly possible in our lives as long as we’re tip-toeing in the waters. We will never, ever reach our full God-given potential standing on the shore second guessing everything. God is calling YOU, yes you, to an all-in life. He’s calling you to dive. No more splish-splashing around in this life you have been given. It’s time to dive all-in to the life you were created for, BIG TIME! Could everything you’ve gone through been for the purpose of bringing you right here to the edge where you’re faced with a decision to either stand there or dive in? This is where life has brought you. To the edge. Now you can stand here at the edge for all the rest of your days, peering over and wondering. Wondering what it would look like to be caught in the rush of God’s love, to be tossed in the flow of his power, to be in over your head in his grace, where your days are deep and wide and truly alive. Do you want to wonder, or do you want to experience? Are you ready to experience what it’s like to be fully alive? Yes? Then it’s time to dive all-in! In John 10:10 Jesus says “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Jesus came for you so that you could have life to the full. An abundant life. A life overflowing. And what should your response be? Should it be, “okay, I’ll take just a little bit of life Jesus, thank you” or “maybe later Jesus, I’m doing pretty okay on my own”? That’s absurd! No! Jesus says girl I came so that you could have this big, beautiful, abundant overflowing life and our response MUST be, “AWESOME, I’M ALL IN!” Literally, Jesus is asking you today if you want the BIG Life he came to give you. He’s asking you now. What is your response? God I want it all. I want every good thing you have available to me. I want every beautiful experience you’re offering. I want every day of life. I want every sunrise. I want every adventure. I want it all. And God says, “awesome, I want your all too.” This is a holy exchange. Your all for his all. Matthew 22: 37 says “You shall love the Lord your God with ALL your heart and with ALL your soul and with ALL your mind.” Not a little bit. Not just a piece of you. All of you. This is what God wants and this is how he has been using every single good thing and every single bad thing in your life to bring you to this place of full surrender where you will go all-in with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind. Where you decide to hold nothing back. Will you sell out for God? Will you believe with every ounce of you that he is for you and not against you? Will you believe without wavering that no weapon formed against you shall prosper so you have no reason to fear? Will you trust fully that God’s plans for you are good and you can dive in knowing if you can’t already swim, he will teach you to swim. You will not sink. How many once in a life-time opportunities has God worked up for you and you missed it because you were too darn worried about how you looked in a swimsuit. Dang it woman, if you don’t like the way you look in a swimsuit either do something about it or get over it. How many priceless moments has God tried to gift you and you missed out because you chose to sit it out? When I was a little girl there was a running joke in our family that my grandparents would never show up for anything because there was always a cow to take care of on the farm. A cow that needed to be milked or a cow that needed to be moved or a cow giving birth. And so my grandparents were never in my life because of a dang cow. You may not have any literal cows, but I bet somehow or another you’ve been sitting around waiting for the cows to come ho...

Our God is a God of restoration. I love the TV shows where they take an old undesirable house and fix it up to become the best house in the neighborhood. Well, that’s the perfect image of what God does. He fixes us up, restores us, redeems us, and brings us back to the image he had in mind when he created us. He not only does that for you, but remember he does that for your loved one who has gone astray. He’s in the process of restoring them too. God has a promise for you tucked away in his word, a promise for you to cling to. Zechariah 9:12 – “Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double.” Whatever you’ve gone through, whatever you’re going through now, whatever has been lost or sacrificed, God is about to repay you with double. If you will stay faithful, if you will keep the course, everything you’ve lost will be returned to you double! Isn’t that reason enough to keep going today? Isn’t that reason enough to push through? Did you lose a year of your life battling sickness? You’ll be repaid with two of the best years of your life. Years you could have never imagined. Did you lose money to someone who was dishonest or deceitful? No worries, you’ll be repaid double and the repaying will come from God. Has someone walked out on your life, abandoned or neglected you. Ahhhhh, you know what God has in store for you? Someone TWICE AS GOOD! Did you lose a job? Watch out, God’s bringing one that is twice as good! You have no reason to be down today. No reason to be without hope. God is working to restore you and he’s going to do it double! “Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double.” God gives a promise here, a promise that he will restore you to double, he will repay you twice for your troubles, but there’s something you must do too. What does this scripture say, RETURN TO YOUR STRONGHOLD. A stronghold is a safe place that has been tightly secured in case of attack. Some translations say return to your fortress or your place of safety. Now this is an instruction for you today. Understand you are under attack. Every day the enemy is on the prowl just waiting to pounce on any area of weakness. Searching for any crack in your life he can weasel his way into and do his nasty work of tearing you down and rendering you ineffective for the good works you were created to do. He knows the person you were created to be, he sees your potential and his mission is to keep you stuck in a little life plagued with anxieties and worries so you don’t dare step into your BIG life. So God says return to your stronghold. Get back in here to your place of safety. Where is that? In the shadow of the Lord. Psalm 91:1 says “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.” You’re living under the protection of God when you’re seeking him and coming in close to him. You can’t enjoy the shelter of a tree and rest in it’s shadow if you’re on the other side of the fence, right? You have to come in close to the tree and lay under it to be in it’s shadow and protection. Understand God is your stronghold. He is your place of safety. And he’s waiting for you to come in close to him and receive his protection. Let him shelter you. Let his shadow cover you. When life gets hard, and I’m feeling the heat from the flames, I like to imagine God in his almighty, huge state walking right beside me just casting a shadow over me. Everything else is getting melted by the heat, but I’m just walking right on through because he is by my side and his shadow is on me. If you’re not protected by his shadow, could that mean that maybe you’re on the wrong side of the fence?