BIG Life Devotional | Daily Devotional for Women

Each morning I wake up to the song Glorious by Maclamore. Yes, I like rap and I love Jesus, I’m not afraid to admit it. My favorite part of the song says “En guard, things are just things, they don’t make you who you are. Can’t pack up a UHaul and take it with you when you’re gone.” That’s basically the rap translation of Matthew 6: 19-20 which says. “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.” But what does that mean? Does it mean it’s not okay to have pretty things? Does it mean it’s sinful to be wealthy? This scripture has confused and burdened me for most of my life. If I’m not supposed to store up treasure here on Earth, how do I instead store treasures in heaven? He tells us to store up our treasures in Heaven, but HOW – tell me HOW. I’m a “tell me how and let’s get busy making it happen” kinda gal. But I’ve never been able to quite wrap my mind around storing up treasures in heaven. Almost sounds boring doesn’t it? Live with nothing here – just get by – just get through – be miserable with this life and save it all for Heaven. Is that what we’re supposed to do, just save it all for Heaven? Gosh, I don’t think that’s what God means at all. He didn’t give you this one life to be miserable. He gave you this life to live it. Then, he provided you with blessings and opportunities to earn so that you can do awesome things and have nice things. The question is, does God get the glory for your nice things? And the even bigger question … have your nice things become more important than God? Have you filled your life so full of “things” that you not only have to work endlessly to pay for them. Now you’re working to make the payments on all the stuff you bought and you’re a slave to your things. Let’s be honest, if the monthly bills weren’t so high, you could probably work less and do more of what you really wanted, right? You could follow your passion if you weren’t paying on everything else. I’ve been there. We worked for years to undue our pile of debt of ridiculous obligations until we were finally able to sell it all, give the rest away and move to the beach. Then we moved to the country. Then we moved to a ranch. Then we moved to the lake. But we couldn’t do any of that until we dug our way out of the mess we had made with all the things we bought. The overwhelming majority of us are working a job we don’t love to pay the monthly payments on things we never should have bought in the first place. That’s a trap of the enemy to keep you focused on things that really don’t matter. Where’s the legacy in that? No one will stand up at your funeral and talk about your nice car. No one will honor the multiple promotions and raises you received. WHY ARE YOU WORKING SO HARD? Is it just to buy more things? You’re going to regret that. And all those things just ruin. They get rusty, the moths eat it, and it eventually ends up on FaceBook Marketplace for sale. There’s got to be more to life. Store up treasures in heaven. Heaven represents what’s truly important. That which is important will outlive you. What we’re talking about here is your LEGACY. Let us be legacy minded. Let us be laser focused on spending our time, talents and treasures on things that will actually matter 5 years from now. What memories are you creating that will be treasured in the future? What investment are you making in others that will outlive you? What impact are you making here on Earth that will be talked about in Heaven.

In the book of Judges we read about a group of people who were guided and protected by God, yet they failed to remain faithful. They got lost along the way, caught up in the details, and didn’t do their part. I wonder where God has guided and protected us, but we haven’t done our part? Judges chapter 2 verses 1 and 2, an Angel of the Lord came and spoke to the Israelites and says “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land I swore to give to your ancestors. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land …’ Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this?” God made a deal. I will rescue you, now you don’t break my covenant. A covenant is an agreement. An agreement to follow God and trust him. And these people failed. They failed to do their part. Have you failed to do your part? Could this be why you’re still waiting? Could this be why things aren’t happening for you? I can’t answer that question for you, so you will need to seek God in your answer. HAVE YOU DONE YOUR PART? Sadly I must admit there are a few areas of my life where I’ve been a little lax. I’ve coasted, and as a result I’ve drifted. I stopped doing all I could do and as a result I’m not experiencing all I could experience. That’s just the cold hard truth. When we stop doing all we can do we will not experience all we could experience. We’re in a partnership with God. God does his part without fail, but when we fail to do our part there is a break in the covenant. And God says “Hey, you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this?” We made a deal. God gave us this life to live, now we’re supposed to be living it well. We’re supposed to take everything we have and do something with it. We’re supposed to be showing up with our best effort every single day. We’re supposed to multiply what he has provided. BUT ARE WE? Reading from The Message translation, listen to 1 Peter 1: 5-10 – “Don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love… With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can’t see what’s right before you.” Don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given. What has God given you? What strengths, gifts, talents and blessings have you been given? Are you taking what you’ve been given and using it? Are you building on what you already have, or are you just skimming the top? Oh dang we fall into the trap of just skimming. We’re just barely using what we have. We’re just barely trying. Barely showing up. And as a result we’re doing exactly what this scripture warns us about, we’re losing our minutes. Translation, we’re wasting time. You’ve only been given so many days to walk this earth and make your impact, sister you can’t afford to waste a single one. But if you’re not building on what you’ve been given, you are wasting time. You’re wasting opportunities. You’re not doing your part and God is saying, YOU ARE DISOBEYING ME. WHY HAVE YOU DONE THIS? You have faith. You believe God will provide. You believe God will make a way. That’s great. Faith is your foundation, but girl you can’t just sit around with a foundation and not build on it. Our scripture tells us to build on that foundation of faith with 7 things: 1. Good character: Will you do the next right thing today? Oh we like to complicate it and make it more difficult than it really is,

I Peter 5:7 reading from The Living Bible “Let him have all your worries and cares, for he is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you.” He is always thinking about you. God, the almighty creator of the entire universe, the master of all, the one who holds the whole world in his hand is THINKING OF YOU. Why have I gone 42 years of my life without understanding that God is actually thinking of me? I’ve always known God could hear me. That he could see me. But THINKING of me? His thoughts are filled with me? Oh this takes it to a whole new level doesn’t it? I send and receive over one thousand texts per day. That’s a whole lot of text messages! Occasionally I will receive a message that makes my entire day. It’s a simple message and it goes kinda like this … “Hey Pamela, I was just thinking of you today.” That’s it. Someone was thinking of me. I immediately feel loved and cared for, valued and important. Don’t you feel the same way when you know someone is thinking of you? And now we know, God is always thinking about us. At this very moment, God is thinking of you. Kim, I know you’re listening, God is thinking about you. Michelle, God is thinking about you. Christel, God is thinking about you. Staci, God is thinking about you. Insert your own name and know with confidence God is thinking about you. You are on his mind. As he put the plans for this day of life into motion, he considered you. He thought about what would be best for you. He thought about what you need. Don’t you know you are THIS loved and valued? Don’t you know the almighty has his mind set on you? Let this bring you confidence. God wants you to know he is always thinking about you so that you can have complete confidence in WHO you are. He is not only always thinking about you, but he is watching everything that concerns you. You don’t have to fret and worry, God knows everything that is coming your way. Every possible thing about to touch your life has to first go through him. Know this so you can experience the REWARD of knowing he sees you and thinks of you in every detail. Truly, this is a reward. Wear it like a badge of honor. God is thinking of ME! My son is currently in Basic Training is the US Army. When he left 6 weeks ago, his Daddy told him something of immeasurable value. He said son, you’ll be up early every morning (3:45 in fact). Every time you see that sun rise, know your Dad is up thinking of you and praying for you at that very moment. Without fail, every morning as the sun comes up, my husband is sitting on the deck thinking of his boy. And this brings our son confidence. The drill sergeants may be barking down his throat, he may be hating life, exhausted, missing home, and dreading the day, but he knows without a doubt when that sun is coming us, his Dad is up and thinking of him. Did you know when the sun comes up every morning, your God is thinking of you? Did you know the colors in the sky are a result of God thinking of you? What if that hot pink sky was a message with your name on it, a reminder of your creator’s love for you specifically? When the wind blows and you hear the rustle of the leaves, that’s God thinking of you. It’s all God thinking of YOU. And did you know while Jesus hung on that cross, sacrificing his life, he was thinking of you. I know that’s hard to imagine. You weren’t even born yet. But try to wrap your mind around this. Since the beginning of time, God has known you and loved you. He has always had you in his thoughts and plans. And when his son Jesus was on that cross, his thoughts were on you. It was for you. God is watching everything that concerns you today. For my east coast friends, he’s watching that hurricane. For my friends in financial crisis,

Romans 8:26 – “The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us …” And within that verse are 3 words that keep me awake at night “WE DON’T KNOW.” I like to know. I like to know exactly what I should be praying for. I like to know what I should be doing. I like to know how it’s all going to work out. And when I don’t know, I don’t like to admit it. I’m a natural born optimist. Like die hard, glass is half full kinda girl. And when you come to me with an empty glass and ask me how it’s going to be filled, I want to tell you a million different ways it could happen for you. But ultimately what I have to say is “I don’t know.” I’m currently praying for a friend’s dad whose cancer didn’t respond to treatment, a friend’s son who tried to end his life, a sister who found a lump in her breast, and a family who lost their child in a car accident. I don’t know how this is all going to work out. I don’t know how it’s going to be okay. I don’t know how they’re going to make it through. I don’t know. Do you know? We’re like the blind leading the blind, grasping at straws, making assumptions and hoping something, anything will work. But ultimately, we don’t know. We don’t even know what to pray for. And it is this way by design. When we can do it on our own, WE WILL! Watch a child learning how to walk. They want the security of your hand to steady them. Once they have their balance and can do it on their own they resist any help. It’s “look ma, no hands” running wild. And we are the same way. When we feel we can do this life on our own, we push God away and say “I’ll do it myself”, and so God takes a step back and says “well, this isn’t going to end well.” But oh what a loving father he is, continuing to keep his eye on us even when we have pushed him away. Standing by ready to rescue us, pick us up and put us on our feet again. There’s no room for God in a mind and will that’s full of self. It’s when we know that WE DON’T KNOW that we lean into him. It’s at the end of our rope where we usually find God. It’s at our rock bottom where THE ROCK becomes our firm foundation. But is there an easier way than coming to the end of our rope and hitting that desperate rock bottom? YES. We can just admit right here, right now, wherever we are that we don’t have this thing figured out, we don’t have it all together, and God if you don’t do it, it can’t be done. I AM NOT ALL THAT AND A BAG OF CHIPS. I am nothing without God. I do not know what to do and God, I’m looking to you for guidance. I’m asking you to guide my steps. I’m asking you to make my paths straight. I’m asking you, what should I even be praying? I admit I DON’T KNOW. And this is where God says “ahhhhh girl, now I can work!” Why? Because we are finally humbled. This is where God’s glory falls, in the middle. In the uncertainty, in the chaos, in the frustration. So here is our prayer for this day … “God, get in the middle of this.” Get all up in the middle of this God. Butt your way in. Let me get out of the way so you can have your way. I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do next. I don’t even know what to pray here God. Listen to me sister, God has made provision for your uncertainty and confusion. He’s got you covered. This is where the Holy Spirit can step in and take over. So you’re in the place of “I don’t even know” … great! That’s where God wants you.

Today, I will share a story with you. It’s a personal story of a little girl with a hard childhood. A little girl abandoned on the streets of Mexico and taken to an orphanage at 5 years old. She had sad eyes and an angry heart, and rightfully so. We met Alexa just a few days after she arrived at the Mexican orphanage where we volunteered. She and her little sister Paola began filling my dreams, and in my dreams they were my daughters. After a little wheeling and dealing with my husband, who was terrified of being a Daddy to little girls, we started the process of adopting the girls. Now in my head if you’re doing the right thing, the way should be easy. Right? If you’re in the will of God, he goes before you, pre-opens all the doors, smooths the path, aligns the details and you’re good to go. Right? Easy peasy, step right up and claim your prize. Isn’t that the way it is in your head as well? If you’re doing it right, it will work. If it doesn’t work, then you’re clearly doing something wrong. I was wrong. And if you believe following God’s will for your life will always be a bed of roses with sunshine and butterflies, my friend you are going to be sorely disappointed. But here’s what I know, nothing is wasted. Not a single hardship or struggle goes unused. All things do work together for those who love God and are seeking his will. So, we begin the process of adopting the girls. 9 months later we receive the green light to finally cross the border and bring them home. It was an exciting day! The house was a perfect palace awaiting it’s princesses. The barbies were all in a row. New clothes with tags filled the closets. Freshly painted purple walls and a tea party for 3 was waiting. This mama was finally getting her little girls. We load the girls up in the car, we drive to the border, and they say no. No, you may not bring these 2 innocent little girls with no family into the US. No you may not give them a home. No you may not call them your own. Turn the car around and return them to the orphanage. Alexa began hyperventilating. Paola sat with her head hung, tears flowing down her chubby little cheeks. Our attorney had not done her job. I returned to our home and slept in their brand new bed by myself. Have you ever had good plans fall apart? Have you ever been royally disappointed with God’s failure to show up? Have you ever been angry with God? That’s where I was. But here’s what I didn’t know. Alexa was turning 6 years old one week later. Every night when she would go to bed she would pray and ask God to bring her a family for her birthday. Faithfully she would ask again and again. Please give me a family for my birthday. But this day, the day we were turned away and had to return the girls, was one week before her birthday. On the morning of her birthday we received the call that the papers were complete, we could go pick up our girls and bring them home. Alexa received her birthday wish. She got her family. And she got her family ON HER BIRTHDAY. This was just a great big, loving God being faithful. And I was a bratty mom throwing a fit the week before because I didn’t understand what he was doing. We had witnessed a DIVINE DELAY. Maybe you’re currently experiencing a divine delay as well, but in the middle of it all, it just looks like a senseless and frustrating NO again. God’s ways are not our ways. We may not understand what he is doing. We may not understand why our good plans with good intentions get shut down. But here’s what we can bank on, God is FOR US, NOT AGAINST US. You and I simply can’t see the full picture. We don’t know what God is working on for our benefit. As our loving father, he is willing to turn away the good and create a little delay for something better. He wants his best for us.

Isaiah 43:19 – See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. God is speaking directly to you today and he is saying “I am making a way.” There may be no way right now. It may currently be impossible. BUT HE IS MAKING A WAY. You can’t see what God has been working on for you. You have no idea what he has been doing, but you’re about to. You’re about to see. “See, I am doing a new thing!” Will you have faith that God knows exactly what he’s doing? Will you believe that he sees where you are and he knows your wilderness. He says “I am making a way in the wilderness.” Your wilderness is where you’ve been stuck. It’s where things haven’t been changing for you. It’s where nothing has worked. It’s where you’ve lost your hope. And now God is making a way IN the wilderness. IN the wilderness. In your mess. In your impossible. This is where he’s going to work. In the very area where you think things will never change, God is making a way. Where all the doors have been closed before, there’s one that is unlocking. The way for you is being prepared and that way is IN the wilderness. We want God to instantly remove us from our struggle, but instead he meets us in the struggle and makes a way right in the middle of it. Isaiah 41:13 says “For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.” Right now reach out your right hand. Hold it out. God, here I am, help me. Grab me and lead me as you make a way in this wilderness. Our scripture today says he not only makes a way in the wilderness, but he brings streams in the wasteland. A wasteland is an area where nothing can grow. A dried up, wasted, useless area. Is there an area of your life that feels like a wasteland? It’s just useless. You’ve stopped hoping things would change because after all these years it’s only gotten worse. It’s been a waste of time and you’re not sure how much more time you’re willing to waste. So, you’ve stopped caring. You’ve stopped trying. And what is God saying to you today? He’s bringing streams in the wasteland. Streams of water are about to flow through your dried up dreams and they will come to life again. Will you believe that he can do this for you? Will you believe that he WANTS to do this for you? God’s desire is not for you to be miserable. No, no, no. That’s the enemy’s plan. The enemy’s plan for you is misery because when you’re miserable your power is rendered ineffective and your potential goes untapped. God’s desire is for you to grow and flourish. Jesus says “I came that you may have life and have it to the full!” God gave his son for you so that you would not only live, but so that you would live BIG!!! Your dried up dreams are about to receive a torrential downpour. Get ready for it! Streams will be flowing through your wasteland. The impossible can happen for you. Right in the middle of your wilderness, there will be a way. Where there has never been a way before, where nothing has ever worked for you in the past, exactly where you thought ‘this is just the way it will always be’, this is where God is making a way. This is where he is working for you. Why would God do this for you? Have you ever read a promise of God and dismissed yourself from being the recipient of it? It must be for someone else. Someone who came from more. Someone who’s better than you. Someone who has their crap together more than you. I mean why would the almighty make a way for you? Why would he bother himself with your wilderness and your wasteland? Well first because you are his daughter. He loves you wildly.

Hebrews 11:11 “And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise.” Enabled because she she considered God faithful to his promises. What will you be enabled to do because you believe God is faithful to his promises? What will you receive because you have an unwavering faith? What will you be strengthened to do that is beyond your own abilities, as a result of your faith? Your faith is the game changer. God responds to your faith. As a teenager, my parents would say these magical 5 words which would keep me on the right path. Before I would leave for a date night they would say “we have faith in you.” They didn’t preach at me. They didn’t nag me. They simply told me they had faith in me. Faith in me to make the right choices. Faith in me to do the right thing. Now do you think there was any way I was going to go out and mess that up? Their parenting technique was brilliant! We have faith in you. It drew me in to their plans. My husband now says the same thing to me before I take a stage. It’s his “go get ’em tiger” pep talk. I have faith in you. He believes I will do great things. He sees something in me I sometimes don’t see in myself. He has faith in me, and it brings out the best in me. When someone has faith in you, you’re willing to bring your best for them. And the same is true for God. Your faith in him draws him in and he just can’t resist showing up in your life to work! Sarah was enabled to do the impossible because she had faith that God would do what he said he would do. AND HE DID. What has God promised you? Really, do you even know? If you haven’t studied his promises to you, then how can you specifically tell God you have faith in him to follow through? Have you ever prayed God’s promises over your life? Oh this is powerful stuff right here. Let me teach you how. What are you needing in your life right now? Do you need guidance and direction? Do you need provision? Are in need of healing or strength, peace or wisdom? Then do what you would do if you were searching for how to do anything else. I mean what would you do if you needed to know how to care for an orchid, or how to get ink off white jeans? YOU WOULD GOOGLE IT. The google knows everything. So use this tool for God’s promises. Did you know the google knows every one of God’s promises and within seconds it can give you a list of scriptures which match anything you’re needing in your life? It’s magical! So, if you’re in need of healing, google “scriptures on healing”. The first thing that will pop up is “50 Plus Bible Verses For Healing”. Uhmmmmm, yeah, click on that! “But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds,’ declares the LORD” ~ Jeremiah 30:17 Pray those words. Meditate on those words. Memorize them. Write them. Have faith in God that his word applies to you. Receive it as your promise. Are you in need of strength? Google “scriptures on strength”. Hundreds of scriptures will then be at your fingertips. “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 Take that scripture and personalize it in your conversation with God. God, I will not fear because I know you are with me. I am not dismayed because you are my God. You will strengthen me and you will help me. You will hold me up with your right hand. I have faith in you God. God has not changed. Whatever he promised then, he promises today. Whatever he did for them, he can do for you. Do not forget, you are the treasured daughter of the almighty, approach the throne and know you can make your requests....

Were you once doing well, going strong, making major progress and then you got tripped up? Something stopped your progress and you’ve been a bit stalled since. You lost your get up and go. Your motivation is now low. You say you will, but you won’t. You get your hopes up that this time you’ll stick with it, this is it … then you’re disappointed once again with another start strong and stop quick. Have you ever wondered if maybe God gets frustrated with us? Imagine God has this great plan for your life and you’re missing out on it because you’re tripped up and can’t seem to stick with the plan. How does God feel about this? What does he have to say to you about it today? God wants you to know he’s in the business of redeeming and restoring, then refocusing. He’s got your number and he just called it! Look at Peter. Most of us know the disciple Peter for one thing … denying Jesus. You remember the story, Jesus is preparing the disciples for his own crucifixion which was ahead. Peter says “Jesus I will go with you even to death.” And Jesus says, Peter before the rooster crows, you will deny you even know me 3 times. And Peter failed Jesus, not once, not twice, but indeed 3 times. 3 times he denied Jesus. And when he heard that rooster crow he remembered what Jesus had said. Can you imagine his shame? Can you imagine the reality of his failure? But here’s the thing for us to remember and apply today. Jesus knew Peter would fail, and he chose him anyway. This was no surprise to Jesus. And God knew you would screw up too. He knew you would get lazy. He knew you would waiver in your commitment. He knew you would get distracted and lose your focus. He knew in advance every misstep you have taken and will take and he is choosing you still. GOD IS STILL CHOOSING YOU. He hasn’t thrown his good plan for your life out the window. God has chosen you and he wants to work with you through your failures and use them as a set up for your comeback. He sees your struggles and says “ahhhh, I can help her with that! I know exactly what to do.” God wants to partner with you. With his limitless power and your God given potential, you can do the impossible … but you can’t do it on your own. You’re going to kill yourself trying to overcome your past and future failures on your own. God wants to restore you. He wants to help you. Won’t you surrender to him and recognize YOU NEED HIM. You will always be a work in progress this side of heaven. Go ahead and make friends with the process. Now, shed the shame. Failures and shortcomings come with a natural measure of guilt and shame. But your failure is not the end of your story. Peter’s failure wasn’t the end of his story. He had this epic public fail that we’re still reading about today. Gosh, aren’t you glad to know your failure probably won’t even be remembered 5 years from now. If Peter can overcome his failure, I’m pretty sure you can too. Shame and guilt are and indicator of where you went wrong and what you can do different. It’s temporary. Recognize it, then shed it. But here’s what the enemy does. He comes in and takes that natural shame and guilt you feel and attaches it to your identity. The enemy takes your failure and says YOU ARE a failure. He’s a liar. He’s a manipulator. He twists the truth to rob you of your power and stall your progress. So you screwed up. So you’ve gone backwards again. So you wasted some time. Okay, whatcha gonna do about it now? God’s already over it, can you get over it too and make progress again? God’s desire is for you to be restored and use every ounce of the hurt, every lesson in the failure for good in your future. But you can’t do that carrying around shame.

2 Corinthians 16:9 – The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. Can you imagine that the eyes of the Lord are searching, searching here and searching there, all across the earth, looking for somebody that he can show himself strong to? That God is searching for somebody he can show off for. That God is looking for somebody, somebody he can pour his blessings on. He’s searching. He’s searching. WHY ARE YOU NOT SAYING ‘I’m OVER HERE LORD.” God, please pick me. Pick me. I’m your girl right here. Show yourself strong to me. Show off for me. Pour your blessings out on me. When you have something awesome, don’t you just love to show it to others. If you get a brand new car, don’t you just love to give your girlfriend a ride. Oh yes, come sit in my car, smell that new car smell. It brings you great joy to give her a ride in your new car. Imagine that is how our God is. He has all these blessings, all this strength, all this goodness and he is looking for someone to share it with. He’s excited to give you a ride! He has something good and it brings him great joy for someone to get to benefit from it. Now I want you to imagine you have this brand new car with that new car smell, tan leather interior with light beige carpet. Everything is pristine. And you get a call from your woolly friend. Your backwoods friend. Your friend who always has muddy boots and greasy jeans. Now do you really want to give him a ride? Nah, you’ll find some kind of excuse because what you have is so good you can’t just let it be ruined. I’m telling you what God has available is SO GOOD, he can’t just pour it out on anyone. His eyes are searching, searching and searching over the whole earth looking for hearts that are fully committed to him. Oh yes, those are the ones he can share with. Those are the ones who he can bless. Those are the ones he can do the impossible for. Those are the ones he can give supernatural strength. The hearts that are fully committed to him. Are you one of those? Is your heart fully committed to God? Well that’s a tough question isn’t it? What does a fully committed heart require, I mean show me the list of expectations that go along with that. Does that mean I should be on my face in prayer 5.3 hours of the day? Does that mean I should memorize his word from cover to cover? Does that mean I should give up my fake eyelashes for a life of bare eyes? Oh darn, what does a fully committed heart require? I’ve found 8 suggestions of what a fully committed heart might look like in scripture. 1 Seek the Lord with all your heart (Psalm 119:2,10; Jeremiah 29:13; 2 Chronicles 15:15) 2 Follow the Lord with all your heart (Numbers 32:12) 3 Obey the Lord with all your heart (Psalm 119:34,69; 1 Chronicles 29:19) 4 Love the Lord with all your heart (Deuteronomy 6:4–5; Matthew 22:36–38) 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart (Proverbs 3:5) 6 Praise the Lord with all your heart (Psalm 111:1; 138:1) 7 Serve the Lord with all your heart (Joshua 22:5; 1 Chronicles 28:9; Romans 1:9) 8 Work for the Lord with all your heart (Nehemiah 4:6; Colossians 3:23) God wants all of your heart. A fully committed heart that seeks him, follows him, obeys him, loves him, trusts him, praises him, serves him and works for him. Where does your heart need a little redirection today? Have you been seeking him? Have you really, fully been trusting him? Have you been taking the time to praise him? Where can you work to get a little better today with your heart towards God? The psalmist prayed in Psalm 86:11 ‘Give me an undivided heart.’ This is what we need today, an undivided a heart.

Galatians 6:9 “So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.” I have a truth bomb to drop on you this morning. A truth that perhaps you haven’t thought about. This truth is going to change your day – FOR REAL. Are you ready? Now I mean, are you really ready? This one is big. Write this down … God’s end goal is ALWAYS promotion. Every struggle is a setup for you to get up and step up. God wants to take you to new levels of living. His will is for you to rise up every single time, to keep getting better. God wants to promote you in every area of your life. Listen to me here, GOD DOESN’T WANT YOU TO BE STUCK. The mess you’re in right now was never intended to depress you. The opposition was never intended to overwhelm you. You were never intended to settle here and call it good enough. Never. You are God’s beloved. His chosen. His girl – his end goal is always to promote you. But you have a role in this. You’ve gotta quit giving up. You’ve gotta overcome some things to get that promotion. You’ve gotta prove you’re ready. God is asking you today … just how bad do you want to be promoted? How bad do you want to get off the struggle bus? How bad do you want to break free of the very thing that’s been holding you back? How bad do you want to change? How bad do you want to once and for all battle your demons and WIN? Well let me tell you, God wants it for you more than you do. He isn’t giving up on you, so you’ve gotta stop giving up on you. All the things you dream of for your life are just a fraction of what God has available for you – Not only available for you, but planned for you – created just for you. Promotion in your position. Promotion in your relationships. Promotion in your health. Promotion in your finances. BUT FIRST, A TEST. God wants to know if you are really ready for the promotion he has available for you. Don’t you see, the struggle you woke up in again this morning is your test. The very things coming your way today are your test. This is your test before promotion. How will you handle the dog puke at 4:30 am (true story, that happened this morning). How will you handle the conflict? How will you handle the frustration? Will the stress overwhelm you? Will the distractions get your attention again? Will you give your best or will you give your leftovers? Don’t you see, it’s all a test. “So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.” And oh how God wants you to reap the harvest of blessing he has available for you. He is rooting for you. He wants you to pass the test. He wants you to prove yourself ready for promotion. He’s just hoping you won’t give up again like you have so many times in the past. Hey I know it’s exhausting fighting the same battle over and over again. I know the struggle can be overwhelming. I know defeat takes the wind out of your sails and weakens your confidence. I know – I’ve been there. Me too sister, me too. But here’s what I know. My God is FOR ME. He is for me. His end goal is to promote me, not to hold me down or hold me back. He wants me to excel. He wants me to rise up. AND HE WANTS THE SAME FOR YOU. God is for you. And he has so much available to you if you will just keep doing the next right thing. Again and again and again, just do the next right thing. Hey, you got up this morning – did you get up when you said you would? Don’t you know that matters? Don’t you know God is watching closely to see if you’re willing to get up and show up for life? If you’re not, then he knows you’re simply not ready for that promotion.

Today you and I woke up to the opportunity to start again. An opportunity to step into the fullness of God’s grace and mercy and receive a fresh start. But sadly, most will miss this opportunity. Instead we will receive the offer of the enemy to dwell on where we screwed up yesterday. The offer to stay stuck in the past hurts and failures. The offer to identify as a victim. And we belly up to the table time and time again to accept these worthless offers of the enemy which hold us back from our potential and have us playing little in our own lives. What if that were to stop today. What if from this day forward we recognized the offerings of the enemy and saw them for what they are. What if we were completely turned off by settling. I mean repulsed because we finally know the truth. Last year I lost one of my best friends. Catina was 34 years old and larger than life. No doubt if you knew her, you loved her. She was diagnosed with cancer, given 1 to 6 months to live and sadly the shorter end of that scale became the reality. One month was all she had. We immediately went into action mode when she was diagnosed grasping at anything, absolutely anything we could do to help her. This is when we came upon the research of the affects of sugar on our bodies. Did you know sugar feeds cancer cells? If you eliminate sugar, cancer cells begin to starve. With this knowledge, I went from a brownie loving, sweet tea guzzling, all things sweet-aholic, to completely eliminating sugar from my diet. And it was easy. You know why? Because I was completely turned off by sugar. I was repulsed because I finally knew the truth. I knew sugar could kill my best friend. I knew sugar could kill me. Now when I see that chocolate glazed doughnut covered in perfection with sprinkles, I see it for what it is … that’s cancer food and I want nothing to do with it. This is what I’m proposing. I’m proposing we see every worthless offer from the enemy for exactly what it is and let it repulse us. If you could see how dwelling on yesterday’s mistakes only robs you of your strength for today, wouldn’t you let yesterday go? If you could really see how today’s potential is only diminished moment by moment as you relive those past hurts and failures, wouldn’t you finally move on and promise to never ever go back? I know this much, if you could really see how playing the victim makes you pitiful, you would never see yourself as the victim again. If you could see it for what it’s worth, you would never chose to be pitiful over being powerful. Never. If you could taste even for a moment the life that is available to you, there’s not a person in this world who could make you settle for less. Your bad habits would be broken TODAY. Your laziness would vanish. Your procrastination would be left behind immediately. Nothing could hold you back from taking action if you could get a vision of your true potential. God has a plan for you that will blow your mind. A purpose that is bigger than you could ever dare dream or imagine. Impact beyond anything you could fathom. He has a future available specifically for you that is big, bright and beautiful. But you have to choose it. How do you choose what God has for you? You see the enemy’s offers for what they really are and you start refusing them. The days of settling have come and gone. That’s totally 2017. Procrastination is out my friend. Just as I now see sugar as cancer food and I want nothing to do with it, you need to see the truth about guilt, shame, failure, insecurities, fear, and laziness. The truth is, these things are ruining your life. They are robbing you of your destiny. They are stealing your potential right from under you and you’ve not only been allowing it, you’ve been willfully choosing it. But now you know. And when you know better, you can do better.

Proverbs 3:6 – In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. If you know me, you know I love a good adventure. I have a unique skill set of turning most anything into an adventure. If you and I are going to spend time together, what I most want is to have an adventure together. I want to do something for the first time. I want to see something new. I want to experience something worth talking about. I want you and I to create a good story together. I have an adventure partner. This adventure partner of mine is a lover of all things outdoors and naturey. Her name is Christel and if you’re a member of BIG Life Mentoring, you know her. She’s the super inspiring one who’s lost over 140 pounds, loves without limits and will cheer you on as if helping you succeed is her one mission in life. Most every month for nearly 2 years now, Christel and I have a hiking date. We pick a new trail somewhere within a 4 hour drive of one of our homes and we make time to have our adventure. Last summer we hiked the Pigeon Creek Trail along the shores of Lake Norfork in Arkansas. Now, what I’m about to tell you I must first preface with a truth … I get lost in the mall. I’ve seriously walked around a Walmart parking lot for a good 10 minutes convinced someone has stolen my car because I can’t find where I parked it. But Christel, well I feel confident adventuring about with Christel. She’s never lost. She’s like an undercover park ranger. She knows every animal, looks up at the placement of the sun, and uses great logic when navigating. Less than a mile into our mighty adventure hike we came to an intersection. One trail turned into 3 trails with markings that made absolutely no sense. And when I say no sense, I mean like there’s a single tree with 2 arrows and they’re pointing at each other. But Christel, my trusty hiking guide with a built in compass, makes the wise decision to always stay right. Every intersection, we stay right. Easy enough. Well … something went wrong. Really, really wrong. And hours and hours later we realize we are lost. Like for real lost. Like holy crap this is how people die lost. Like I feel like we’re in a bad movie lost. Like it’s time to whip out our phones and call for help lost. But wait … we have no service. WE ARE LOST. Ya’ll, we were 10 MILES lost. We were out of water and our GPS showed us walking in circles. With every new split in the trail and totally uncertain choice, we both realized just how lost we were. And I began to pray out loud … “Lord, we have loved this adventure. It has been grand. But you see, we’re kinda lost. We don’t know where we are, BUT YOU KNOW WHERE WE ARE.” The words were still coming out of my mouth when the view through the thick trees to our left revealed the sweet sweet sight of pavement! All this time, we were wandering around in circles on the windy paths, whipping out our cell phones trying to be smart and download maps, read our GPS, discover where North was (well Christel was doing that – knowing where North was would have done me zero good) all the while God knew exactly where we were and HE COULD MAKE OUR PATHS STRAIGHT. Isaiah 41:10 says – “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.” God sure was with us – and he is with you. Are you wandering around lost? Are you at your wits end, not knowing what else to do? Have you tried it all and nothing has worked? There is no reason to fear. He’s got you. He will strengthen you and he will help you. BUT HAVE YOU ASKED HIM – or are you still trying everything you know to figure this out on your own? How many more miles are you going to wander around in your woods w...

If you’re going through a storm in life, this devotional is for you. If you’re just coming out of a storm in life, this devotional is for you. If you see a storm brewing on the horizon, this devotional is for you. There now we’ve covered everyone haven’t we? Psalm 91: 1-4 1 Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. 2 This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him. 3 For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. 4 He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection. We are all seeking shelter from the storms of life. Shelter for safety. Why do we like safety? Because it makes life easier. Lord give me a nice safe job with a guaranteed paycheck. Lord give me a nice safe car with a bumper to bumper 10 year warranty so I know nothing will ever go wrong. We are all seeking shelter from the potential disasters in life, but the truth is, the only shelter is provided by God. Life is going to happen. People lose their jobs. Cars break down. Storms come. Houses get destroyed. Disappointment comes knocking on our door and we act so surprised. This is life. God never promised it would be easy … and here’s why … we don’t grow in easy times. Faith isn’t even necessary in easy times. An arrow is only propelled forward when it is first pulled back. We all so desperately want to move ahead in life, climb the ladder, go to the next level and move on up, BUT FIRST we go backwards. God is our shelter. We will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. Now think about that image for a moment. On a hot sunny day, if you sit close enough to a tree, you will enjoy the protection of it’s shadow. It is the trees shadow that creates the shade for our benefit. God is saying, my daughter, come get close to me, rest in my shadow. He will stand tall and mighty above you and provide shelter, protection and reprieve in his shadow … but you gotta stop running away from him. To benefit from his shadow, you have to come close to him. God is offering exactly what you need. What do you need? He has it in his shadow – won’t you come close to him today to receive? Verse 3 says “he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease.” He will RESCUE you. Repeat after me – He will rescue me. He will rescue me. Now, notice what rescue means. In order to be rescued, there has to be trouble. The damsel must be in distress to be rescued. You never say, here I am sitting on the beach in this sunny and 75 weather with a fruity drink in my hand … someone come rescue me. No, you don’t need rescuing when things are perfect. For God to rescue you, you must be threatened. But we sure don’t like that do we? No again, we like safe. We like secure. We like guaranteed paychecks, warranties, bumper to bumper coverage and security. But that’s not how God works because that’s not where faith grows. That’s not where lives get bigger. So, he allows the traps. Again, if he’s going to rescue you from the trap, he must first allow the trap. The danger, the threat, the worry filled nights DO COME and because they come, then the almighty can swoop in and rescue you. He will cover you and protect you. HE PROVIDES the shelter. Your safety comes from him and sometimes he will allow the storms of life to strip away everything else so you see, it’s only Him. He is your provider. He is your shelter. And he will be faithful to his promises. Maybe you’re trapped right now. You’re caught in the trap. The job is gone so there is no paycheck.

The story of the prodigal son tells of a son who betrayed his family, left home and got on the wrong path. Greed got the best of him. Wild living got the best of him. Maybe you can relate, but you probably can’t. Unless you’re one of the fortunate few who has royally screwed up their life then found their way back, then this story is for someone else. You – well you haven’t ever made that huge, epic bad decision that made the 10 o’clock news. You’ve never been the disgrace of your family. You’ve never landed yourself face down in a pig pen like the prodigal son. And it’s about this time we get all puffed up in our pride and self-righteouness and declare we’re doing pretty darn good with our lives. Ahhhhh, but wait. Isn’t the story of the prodigal son also about a child who strayed from the best? Isn’t this a story about someone who opted for instant gratification and paid a high price later. Oh yes, this is a story about us! The story of you and I, the ones who have strayed from the best is found in Luke chapter 15, verses 11-32. Reading from The Message translation Jesus says: “There was once a man who had two sons. The younger said to his father, ‘Father, I want right now what’s coming to me. So the father divided the property between them. It wasn’t long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had.” And stop right there. I totally see me in this story. Do you see you? What gets us in trouble here is the “I want RIGHT NOW!” I want what I want and I want it right now. But typically what we can have right now is just a cheap imitation or a a slighted version of what would be available to us later if we stuck with it. You can have it all, but you can’t have it all at once. How many times have you traded the greatness you could have in future for the taste of goodness you could have right now? And for many of us, it’s literally the TASTE we can have right now. So many of us have goals to be healthy. And it’s no big mystery, we know what we should and shouldn’t be doing. Oh we know, but we see what we want right now and we’re shoving our face in a bowl of something that goes directly against our goals. And then what happens … we regret it. Regret is a high price to pay for that little piece of immediate gratification. How many times have you bought something and regretted it? Our impulses get us in trouble, and in debt. The average American is in over their head in credit card debt, and you know what got them there … $20 here and $20 there. After one year we couldn’t even tell you what we bought, but we have a maxed out credit card with a minimum payment that’s eating us alive. Hello … prodigal daughter here! I want right now what’s coming to me. I want right now to feel happy and all three of these cookies right here in my hand will make me happy. I want right now to have those new shoes and tomorrow I shall wear them with the new pants I’m going to buy to match them. Nope, I don’t have the money for either of them right now, but I want them right now. And this is a story of how we stray from the best. When God imagined you and the life you could have, then formed you with his own hands, he had the best in mind for you. All lined up and available to you, your name was on it. The best has always been yours and you could have it all, but you couldn’t have it all at once. There are some things you must wait for. There are some things that take time. There are some things you are simply not ready for. The prodigal son wasn’t ready for immediate wealth. But he wanted it now, and so the father gave it to him and watched him stray from the best. He watched him waste it all.

We are relational creatures. We were created to crave relationship. I mean watch Tom Hanks in Cast Away and you’ll see, we can’t sanely function all on our own. We’ll create a relationship with Wilson the volleyball if that’s all we have. You may think you’re a loner. You may think you would be happy without a constant whine or cry or demand from someone, but relationships are part of your very being. This is a result of being created in the image of God himself. God is relational. His one desire is to have a relationship with you. I mean think about that for just a moment. God, the creator of the universe, the almighty Lord of heaven and earth, the one who sees all, knows all, has all and can do all, wants a relationship with YOU. Specifically, individually, YOU. He created you because he wants to be with you. Then he couldn’t stand the thought of being separated from you, so he sacrificed his one and only son just so he could bring you back to him. Don’t you understand how loved you are? Don’t you see how THIS is the life changing relationship. It’s your relationship with God that changes all other relationships. You get this one right and things start falling into place. You get this one wrong and everything falls apart. Look around you … are your relationships a disaster? Could that be because the most important relationship, the one between you and God, has been a bit neglected lately? Within Ephesians chapter 3 are four of the most encouraging scriptures of all time. I recommend sometime today you look up Ephesians 3 verses 16-20 and take 30 seconds to read it today. Here’s what you will discover: If you let Christ dwell in your heart through faith, you will be strengthened with power. This power within you is your God who is able to do immeasurably more than you could ever ask or imagine. As you begin to finally understand how BIG God’s love for you is, how long and high and deep it is, it will bring you to a complete fullness and happiness in life. What I see here in these scriptures is a RELATIONSHIP being described. A relationship between us and God. A relationship where we surrender to God and he strengthens us with his power. A relationship where we trust & praise him and he does more for us than we could ever ask or imagine. I don’t care what religion you are. I don’t care which seat you warm at which church you attend. And here’s the thing … I really don’t think God does either. Why? Because he wants a RELATIONSHIP with you. He wants to partner with you in this life. It’s not about the show, it’s not about checking the boxes, it’s about a partnership with your almighty, loving creator, His son who gave his life for you, and YOU. Coach Lonnie and I often teach on marriage. After 24 years of marriage we’ve discovered this relationship is a true partnership. And in a partnership there is a percentage to work towards. How much are you expected to give and how much is he expected to give. Should it be 50/50? He gives 50% and you give 50%? Some say you should give just a little more than you have to, so what is it, maybe 52%? You give 52% in the relationship, going beyond your half? Well here’s what we’ve found, if we’re giving 50%, or even that extra 52%, we’re really only giving half effort. A relationship of 2 people each giving half effort doesn’t make a whole, it is simply 2 people holding back the other half of them expecting something in return. What is the correct percentage in a relationship? 100/100 – I give 100% and you give 100%. I give my all. I give the best of me. This is the only way a marriage works. 100%. Our relationship with God is much the same. God always shows up for us with his 100%. He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine – how &...