BIG Life Devotional | Daily Devotional for Women

It is no accident you are alive at this very moment. It is not a coincidence your days of life are actually these days. We’re making history right now, and you were destined to be part of that history. Our current circumstances and reality have been in the works since the beginning of time and you were hand selected to be right here, right now. You have a purpose in this. You play a role in this monumental time in history. Ephesians 2: 10 “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Yes, you are God’s finest work, his divine masterpiece. Your life may look a little messy right now, but trust you are still God’s masterpiece in progress. He knows exactly what he’s doing. And what does this scripture say? He created you so you can do the good things he planned for you a long time ago. Now think about that … if God knew in advance the good things he created you to do, don’t you think he also knew the hard things heading your way before they ever touched your today? Of course he did. He not only knew it, he planned it. He created YOU for a time such as THIS. He placed you in this world at this exact time in history for a great purpose. The purpose of doing good things. And these good things will act as those precise paint strokes with perfect placement which reveal the masterpiece that has always been in progress. The masterpiece that is you. Your life. Your place. Your goodness. You are here to make history. This worldwide pandemic, this epidemic that has touched every single one of our lives in one way or another, this unbelievable reality that has created panic has also created an opportunity. The opportunity for you to to the good things God has always planned for you. For the moms and dads now charged with homeschooling your children, this was always part of the plan. You were chosen for this. For the seniors who have been robbed of their final months of school and all the monumental moments they’ve worked so hard for, you were trusted with this. It’s not fair and I’m so very sorry, but you will be the class we always remember. Rise up. For the business owners and managers forced to make choices they never imagined making, you were chosen for that position for exactly this. You are in charge because you have been trusted to lead. For the health care workers running on nothing but fumes from the most exhausting hours of your life, you were precisely chosen for this. You have been perfectly placed in your position to do what only you can do. For every single one of us, regardless of title or status, WE WERE CHOSEN FOR A TIME SUCH AS THIS. We are here as part of history to do the good God had planned for us long ago. Now, it’s show time ya’ll! It’s time to show up and do what we can do. It’s time to bring our own flavor of good to our homes, to our communities and to the world. What does that look like? Ahhhh, take a look at social media. Go ahead, it’s okay. There’s still a fair share of political extremes, negativity, doom and gloom, but more-so there’s people doing good. True good. I’ve seen it, have you? I saw a pop up food pantry in a neighborhood near Huntington Beach, California. A roadside collection of food and toiletries to give and take as needed. A show of compassion to all in need. I saw the most beautiful sidewalk chalk art coloring the pavement on streets near Chicago, Illinois. A show of happiness and joy to all who pass. I saw Christmas lights drug out of the garage and placed back on houses and businesses in Tampa, Florida. A show of hope and peace for all neighbors to see. I saw truckers receiving snack bags from a family at a roadside rest stop in St. Louis, Missouri.

Are you afraid of what may happen next in this story we all find ourselves in? The best meme I’ve seen says: Does anyone else feel like life is being written by a 4th grader? And there was this virus and everyone was scared. And then the world ran out of toilet paper. Yeah, yeah, yeah, an’ an’ and then there was no school for like a month. And then it snowed! Yeah, it kinda feels like that doesn’t it? Some states are fully shut down now and the rest seem to be not far behind. Who knows what our reality will be come Monday? Will it get worse? Will there be more bad news? These are the thoughts that currently fill our minds. And perhaps more so than ever before it’s time for us to practice 2 Corinthians 10:5 “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” We cannot allow our thoughts to run wild. We must reign them in, take ownership of the things we’re allowing to fill our minds, and make those thoughts get in alignment with our truth. We can face our reality with our truth. Truth that God’s eye is on us. Truth that this is not beyond his reach. Truth that every day of our lives have been accounted for, including this day and all our tomorrows. I began studying Psalm 112: 6-7 this morning. It says “Surely the righteous will never be shaken … They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord.” Of course, what stood out most to me is “having no fear of bad news”. How can we stop fearing what may happen next? It says the steadfast heart that doesn’t fear bad news and instead trusts in the Lord is found in the RIGHTEOUS. Alrighty then, how do we become righteous? Ecclesiastes 7:20 says “Surely there is no righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.” Well if never sinning is the requirement here, I’m counted out … how about you? I’ve fallen short of that mark. I try to do good, but although my intentions are good, sometimes my flesh gets in the way and I screw this thing up. You too? So, does that mean righteousness is unattainable and we will always have to fear bad news with a shaken heart? Not at all. Ya’ll, this is why we have Jesus!!!!! Romans 3:22 says “Righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” This isn’t about me and what I’ve done, nor is it about you and what you’ve done. This is about Jesus and what he did for both of us. His sacrifice has covered us. This is where we find righteousness. No other way. Only Jesus. So, it is our faith in Jesus Christ that makes us not fear bad news. It is our faith in Jesus Christ that strengthens us to face this reality and not be shaken. It is our faith in Jesus Christ that keeps our heart steady and our trust placed firmly in God. Righteousness is something we cannot work out on our own. Nor is stability. For this, we need Jesus. And for this, we have Jesus. Many years ago our family was going through a struggle. We were fighting for the life of one of our children. Her mind had been under attack of the enemy and she found herself in a deep darkness without a will to live. Every day was a new struggle I was grossly under-prepared for. I was pretty convinced God had chosen the wrong gal to be her mother. I was not equipped for that battle. And yet I was. Every day the Almighty equipped me. Every day he provided exactly what I needed for that day’s fight. And everyday my answer was Jesus. I began writing it on my hand as a reminder … “For this, I have Jesus.” Whatever happened next, I had Jesus. And he had me. Does it mean everything magically went away? No. Does it mean I handled it all perfectly? Not at all.

What are your needs today? Do you need wisdom? Do you need patience? Do you need provision? Have you asked God to meet those needs? It’s natural for us to peak into the future and opt to worry about how everything will work out. However, this isn’t the option Jesus recommends. Jesus said in Matthew 6 “this is how you should pray … give us this day our daily bread.” A focus on today with a dependence on God for today. People around the world have been impacted by our current events. No one alive has ever witnessed anything comparable to this. And not a single one of us can predict what tomorrow may bring. I think I finally understand James 3: 13-14 when we read “you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.’ How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow?” I have typically always felt like I knew what my life would be like tomorrow. Like I had some sense of control. And now I feel completely out of control. I’m humbled to understand all this time I wasn’t in control at all. Neither were you. And it is here in this uncertainty, we finally learn to focus on today with a dependence on God for today. Give us THIS day our daily bread. Bread is a symbol of provision. While Jesus walked this earth, bread was a staple in their diet. Dang, Jesus wasn’t low carb or keto. Ya’ll do you know how long it’s been since I had a piece of bread?!!! Christmas! But I guess they could have bread back then because they didn’t have cars. It was a trade. Perhaps if we want to walk everywhere, we too can have all the bread. Fair enough, I’ll keep my little Toyota and forgo the bun. Okay, back to the point. Bread was a symbol of provision. Remember the story of the Israelite’s stuck in the wilderness with no food? What did God provide? He rained down manna from heaven. Bread. Every day, the bread came down from heaven and covered the ground. Every day there was provision for their needs. What’s interesting is, when they gathered more than they could eat that day and tried to store it for their needs tomorrow, it would rot. You know they were thinking “just in case’ers”. Just in case God doesn’t supply for tomorrow. Just in case we have no provisions next week. Just in case there isn’t enough. Just in case God doesn’t come through on our needs. Just in case’ers, we’ll save back so we don’t have to depend on God every day. It was no accident they couldn’t save today’s daily bread for tomorrow. God designed the daily need to meet with the daily provision. Why? So they would trust. So they would see for themselves God was faithful. And what if today we find ourselves in a situation of daily need and it’s not because of a disaster. It’s because our loving creator is continually bringing us back to our truth … the truth that all we have comes from him. Oh it’s easy to forget when we have been busy making all the money and buying all the things. We’ve been bringing home the bread. I’m a bread-winner up in here! And then that comes to a screeching halt, or is at least threatened … and we’re brought back to our need for the bread-provider. If you’ve been a bread-winner, making the money to buy the things, may you never forget, that “bread” was first provided by God. We kinda forgot that didn’t we? I did. I got a little lost with a puffed up ego believing they hire me because I’m good. I make the money because I earn it. I have this lifestyle because I work for it. They need me because of what I’ve got. Girl, sit down! Everything you have came from God’s hand. It was first in his storehouse before it came to your house...

What can we do to change what is happening in our world today? It seems overwhelming as the news gets worse, the impact grows and each little square of toilet paper is now being counted. And here we are, seemingly helpless to protect what we have long term. But my God tells me DO NOT FEAR. Okay, I will not live in fear, but still the reality is this is scary stuff. I don’t have any answers to provide to the families now infected, to those grieving losses, to the ones who were sent home from their jobs yesterday, to the Seniors who are cheated of their prom and graduation. I don’t have any answers, but I do have a scripture. A scripture written over 1500 years ago which seems way too timely for our reality today. 2 Chronicles 7: 13-14 God gets our attention in the opening sentence when he says: “Whenever I hold back the rain or send locusts to eat up the crops or send an epidemic on my people …” Has the rain been held back? Have locusts eaten the crops? Is there an epidemic? Let’s not just skim over this, let’s really look at the past few months in our world. • Droughts in Australia caused wildfires to ravage their country just months ago. The rain was held back as the fires consumed homes, forests, and entire cities. • Swarms of locusts have demolished crops in East Africa. Kenya is now in a state of emergency as the locusts ate the food to feed 34 million people, IN ONE DAY. • And now are we in an epidemic? By definition an epidemic is a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease. Ding, ding, ding that’s right, we are 3 for 3 folks. Oh dang, perk up your ears ya’ll the time to listen is now. God says whenever these things happen, there’s something we can do. “Whenever I hold back the rain or send locusts to eat up the crops or send an epidemic on my people. if they pray to me and repent and turn away from the evil they have been doing, then I will hear them in heaven, forgive their sins, and make their land prosperous again.” It’s right here in God’s word. When this happens, and it is, we have been given instructions. What are the instructions? Pray to God and repent, turn away from the evil we have been doing. What will happen if we do? God will hear our prayers, forgive our sins, and make our land prosperous again. Hello ya’ll there’s our game plan! Yes to the social distancing. Yes to handwashing and self-isolation. Yes to buckling down and being safe. But even more so, yes to exactly what God is telling us to do. It’s easy to read this scripture and then throw it back out into the world. It’s ya’ll that need to repent. It’s your sin. Someone “big” needs to lead us in prayer. These groups need to change. This problem needs to be solved. So we all sit and point fingers and nothing changes. Ya’ll need Jesus. Actually, I NEED JESUS. I need to pray. I need to turn away from the wrong I have been doing. This is personal. And it’s personal for you as well. This is no longer just news. This is knocking on your door, threatening your livelihood, impacting your family, rocking your little corner of the world too. And when it’s personal, it demands our personal response. We can’t hide beneath the blanket of someone “big” praying. No, YOU PRAY. We can’t wait for others to change their ways. This has invaded your territory sister, it’s time for your change too. Me and you. Let’s be willing to change. Where have you been living out of alignment? Where have you been lukewarm? Where have your priorities been out of balance? Now is the time to pray, ask God to search your heart, convict you of necessary changes, then strengthen you to start now. Seriously.

We are surrounded by earthly reminders of heavenly powers at work. What we have just accepted as normal shouts the miraculous truths of our creator. How many of us at this moment are wearing a diamond? Have you ever given thought to who created that diamond? That was his creation. He made that. And do you know how he made that diamond you wear today? A really long, hard process. Most natural diamonds are between 1 and 3 billion years old, formed deep within the earth, 100 miles below surface. Minerals under extreme pressures and extreme heat became the jewels which we treasure today, eventually brought to the surface in volcanic eruptions. That was a long hard process of difficult change and none of it was by accident. John 1:3 says “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ” This was God in action, and it began long, long, long ago. Now remember we’re dealing with a God who could have turned corn into diamonds. He could have had them grow out of your ears if he wished. But I believe our mighty God and his ways are revealed in creation. This is how he works. He is the God of change. He is the God of the impossible. He takes something from deep within and through a process he forms and changes it into something precious. Isn’t that what God has been doing with you? You may not like the process, but you’re in the middle of it. The pressure and the heat in your life are serving a tremendous purpose, a purpose to change that which seems unwanted and unimportant and turn it into something of tremendous value. Have you ever thought of your value and worth? You, individually, how much are you worth? Scripture says in Isaiah 43:4 that we are precious in his eyes, we are honored and God loves us. The same God who made every single diamond made you and said you are more precious. The most expensive jewel to ever be sold at auction was a 60 carat flawless pink diamond which sold for $83.2 million. Then there’s the most precious diamond which is part of the British Crown Jewels with a value calculated to be 3.5 times the wealth of the whole world. And YOU, you are more precious and valuable than even this diamond. Than all the diamonds in the world combined. You know what you’re worth? You’re worth the price of a son. And for those listening who have a child of your own, you know that’s a price you’re simply not willing to pay for anything. Your child. And yet that’s the price that was paid for you. The diamonds know their value and worth. They know what they went through had a purpose. They know their God. Sure that may sound crazy, but listen to this scripture from Job 12: 7-10: “But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.” The diamonds know the power of the Lord. Don’t you? Don’t you know the same God who creates priceless treasures from deep within the earth under pressure and extreme heat, is the God who sees every detail of your life, everything you’ve ever gone through, every bad thing that has ever happened to you, every mistake you have ever made, every regret and burden you carry, and God says I’M GOING TO DO SOMETHING GOOD WITH THIS. Yes, every thing in your life is at this moment working together for good. And if it isn’t good yet, then sister God simply isn’t done yet. What if the diamonds we treasure today were God’s way of reminding his girls that he’s working on you too? His power to change something undesirable into something beautiful is unmatched.

Misery is always an option. Sometimes it seems misery is the daily special. Like the soup of the day, it’s the most popular choice. Misery. Now seems to be one of those times. Misery is on special. Misery as we sit and watch the news. Misery as we count what is already lost and imagine the threats of the near future. But I’m here to remind you, just as you don’t have to order the soup of the day, honey you don’t have to order misery right now. It may be an option, even a very prominent option, but you don’t have to choose it for yourself, or your family. Being miserable is an option. But understand, so is being grateful. Joyful is even still an option today. Yes, today when plans have been cancelled, jobs are uncertain, and problems seem to be larger than any possible answers we can offer. Right here in the middle of this tidal wave of a mess, we have options. The question is, what will you choose today? For your choice in this moment makes a greater impact on your day than any news broadcast you could watch. Imagine walking into a restaurant, seeing the daily special and realizing you’re allergic to it. Would you still order it? Just because it’s cheaper? Just because most everyone else is ordering it? Would you? That would be complete nonsense. You would never intentionally order something you’re allergic to, regardless of its popularity. Uhhhhh huh, well let me put this in a way we can all understand it, YOUR SPIRIT IS ALLERGIC TO MISERY! You shut down in misery. You cease to function well when you are miserable. You know that scene from the movie Hitch where Will Smith has an allergic reaction to seafood? His face swells up, he starts itching and hacking. He’s all deformed and dysfunctional. What he ate caused a reaction in his body. We understand that. Not everything agrees with you. This is what choosing misery does in our lives. Girl, misery looks BAD on you. It causes you to act ugly too. It’s plain and simple, don’t order the option of misery. Yes, it is today’s daily special. It will be a highly popular dish served up as travel plans are cancelled, livelihoods are threatened, kids are already bored at home, and people put their crazy on public display, BUT THIS ISN’T FOR YOU! When you were formed by the Almighty, he created you with an intolerance for chosen misery. And he warned you of this intolerance. Proverbs 15:15 says: “For the despondent (meaning the miserable without hope or courage), every day brings trouble; but for the happy heart, life is a continual feast.” The Message translation says “a miserable heart means a miserable life.” This is our choice regardless of circumstances. I’ve seen people on a picture perfect tropical vacation choosing to be miserable. What a waste. Now maybe that’s not your current offerings. Let me tell you, I’ve also seen people surrounded by countless blessings and a whole lot of goodness choosing to be miserable. And this could be you today. Yes, that is your reality today. Countless blessings and a crapton of goodness with a side of disappointments and uncertainties. You choose what you feast on! The person who chooses to be grateful, joyful, hopeful, positive and courageous will be able to go through the exact same circumstances and as our scripture says “see life as a continual feast.” There’s always something to be grateful for. Always something to find joy in. Always something to hope for. And always more of that available for your plate. Feast on the positive my sister. Feast on courage and make your choice. But when we choose misery due to life’s circumstances, all we see is trouble. It’s like we have our crappy glasses on and everything is tinted in a shade of crap. If you’re looking for it,

Oh, it’s happening for sure, cancellations are everywhere. The Coronavirus has schools being cancelled, games and concerts being cancelled, vacations being cancelled. Ya’ll Disney shut down! Airplanes have more empty seats than passengers. Many kids are home, and there’s a chance you will be too. It seems life just go cancelled. Everywhere you thought you were going and everything you thought you were doing, well that all changed quickly. Cancelled. But make no mistake about it, God’s plans for you DID NOT CANCEL. He still has a plan, and it’s a good plan. Your purpose DID NOT GET CANCELED. You still have a job to do and a role to fill. Your future is still on track because none of this is a surprise to God. Not one bit. Jesus knew all about this. In fact when asked about the end coming, Jesus replied in Matthew 24:6-8 “And you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won’t follow immediately. Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in many parts of the world. But all this is only the first of the birth pains, with more to come.” That was 2,000 years ago. He knew it was coming. We can go down that list and make a whole lot of check-marks. It seems the birth pains of Heaven are here. Actually, they’ve been here for quite some time. And what does Jesus instruct us to do? “Don’t panic.” That is very clear. Do not panic. God’s plans haven’t changed. His plans for you still stand. You didn’t see this coming, but he did and he has made a way right through it. I have a friend who is a producer in Hollywood. Every last show and event on her schedule has been cancelled. Her entire business is gone. And Jesus says “Becci, do not panic.” I have a friend who runs a daycare. The schools in her area have been closed for 6 weeks. This means her kids are home and because of state guidelines in the daycare, she’s not allowed to bring her children to the daycare, so it must be closed too. Her income is gone. And Jesus says “Kelsey, do not panic.” Andrea was on her way to Disney for Springbreak. Her kids had been counting down the days to the trip of a lifetime. Then Disney closed. Oh the disappointment. Their vacation is gone. And Jesus says “Andrea, do not panic.” Jenny’s wedding is almost here. Big plans for her big day are majorly threatened. Could her wedding be cancelled by the state? And Jesus says, “Jenny, do not panic.” Kim is on her final roll of toilet paper without a single store with stock in a 100 mile radius. Ya’ll their butt wipe is gone. And Jesus says “Kim, do not panic.” Whatever your scenario and how ever this may have impacted your plans, your vacation, your business, your family, your livelihood, or your routine, Jesus is here today saying “DO NOT PANIC.” Why? Because he knew this was coming. HIS PLANS HAVE NOT BEEN CANCELLED. God knew his faithful fellas Shadrach, Meshach and Abendnego would be stopped in their tracks from doing the good they were doing and be thrown in the fire. These were guys who had jobs and they were good at their jobs. They were being faithful and doing the right thing, and then boom … the King throws them in the fire. That wasn’t fair. Just like it’s not fair jobs are getting cancelled, plans are getting cancelled, heck everything is getting cancelled. Countless lives are being impacted here. These are good people in the middle of a real mess and this fire may be getting real hot without a single member of your family even being sick. You may live in an area where there isn’t a single case of infection, yet the flames are right outside your door seemingly cancelling life...

Within you is something this world needs. Within you is a gift from God waiting to be regifted. For some reason we’ve decided regifting is a bad thing. You know, when you get a gift and then you wrap it up real nice and try to get away with giving it away to someone else. That’s regifting. And scripture actually tells us this is exactly what we should be doing. Whatever God has gifted you with, you should be giving it to others, sharing and serving with everything you have. God never gives us a gift for us to display in a glass showcase and go untouched. He’s not a showy God, he’s practical. Let nothing be wasted. If he gives you something, it’s for the purpose of using it. And you have indeed been given something, the question is, are you using it? 1 Peter 4:10 “God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.” Oh, spiritual gifts. We dismiss ourselves from those don’t we? I’ve lived in my body long enough to be extra familiar with me and well, I’m pretty sure there’s not a whole lot that’s special about me. I see no world class spiritual giftings here. Yeah, that’s what we all say. Yet scripture is incredibly inclusive when it says God has given EACH of you. Each of you means every one of you. Every one of you means all of us. And all of us includes YOU. YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN A GIFT. A gift from the Almighty. And God says you better be regifting what I gave you. I read this scripture last night, then this morning I read today’s page from the 365 day journey of “Live in Grace, Walk In Love” by Bob Goff. It talked about simply being available. You may not be the smartest person in the room, but you can be the most available. You may not be the richest, but you can still be available. You may not have all the answers, but you can make the time to be available. What if that is your gift from God … time. And you regift what you have been given by simply being available for someone else. AVAILABLE. If I were making a list of my favorite words in the English language, my top 3 would be: Potential, Faithful and Available Available. What a powerful word. What a declaration that almost makes us uncomfortable. I am available. If God has given you the gift of time, will you give that gift to others? That’s exactly what he wants you to do! Each morning before I begin the recording of the devotional, I meet online with the women I mentor. I guide them in starting their day in a powerful and intentional way. We chug a big glass of water together, and we take big deep breaths of air to remember that air is the very breath of God giving us life. Then we have morning formation. We are the BIG Life Army and we show up for formation. We report in ready to live the day grounded, centered, focused and intentional by stating the word we have chosen for 2020 and the mantra we’ve created using that word. This isn’t just our habit, this is our intentional act to remember what we said we would do with this year of life and how we said we would live it. It’s kindof the popular thing to choose a word for the year, but we put that word into action and declare what it means for THIS DAY. Each morning, I look forward to my BIG Life sister Kim sharing her word and mantra because it could be a compass for each of us, a guide for direction in our own lives. Every day she says: AVAILABLE… I choose to be available for all that God has planned today! Trusting that I am Fully Equipped for His will, way, and timing! If you’re looking for a word and mantra, try that one on for size! Let me say it again. I choose to be available for all that God has planned today! Trusting that I am Fully Equipped for His will, way, and timing!

Today, we have been given a new day of life. A day of life all the other days of our life have brought us to. Everything has led up to this, to today. 16,220 days have brought me to this day, where God has gone before me and made a way. Maybe you’ve been around a few more days than me, or maybe a few less, but regardless, God has made a way before you all this time to bring you to exactly where you are today. You stand on the edge of all that is available now. You are here, today, on the brink of experiencing all God has ever created you for. Oh, if you only understood where your feet are now and where the next steps could lead. Oh, if you only knew the good plans God has for you (Jeremiah 29:11), if you only understood his divine delight over all he has waiting for you, you too would be delighted. You wouldn’t be overwhelmed with the details. You wouldn’t be caught in the rush and hurry. You wouldn’t be consumed with what isn’t and can’t and won’t. (Isaiah 41:10) Oh, if your eyes could see all that IS and CAN and WILL. But instead all the days of our lives have brought us to this day in the middle of a week, in the middle of a month which isn’t quite winter but also not quite spring yet either. A day just in between it all. In between the ordinary. In between yesterday and tomorrow, where not a whole lot of anything impressive seems to be happening. But never forget, you are in between what God did yesterday to save you, and what God will do tomorrow to promote you. What a perfect place to be! Fully surrounded by God. Fully covered by God. Here in this place where God is working and guiding divinely on your behalf. Yes, that’s what today is sweet child of God, daughter of the King of all Kings, real life freaking Princess girl … this is a day where God is working and guiding YOU. What does this mean? This means you can trust he is in everything. Yes, everything. He is in every delay. He is in every dilemma. He is in every disappointment. He is in every delight. He is in every direction, all around you. And in everything, HE IS FOR YOU. (Romans 8:31) Today you may not see it and it may not feel like it with your real life circumstances and situations, but God is in it all because he is for you. He’s not plotting against you. He’s not locking doors to keep you in a perpetual state of disappointment. He’s locking doors to guide you to the correct door. The best door. The door that leads to more than your mind can even imagine. This is why you’ve faced a series of nos. This is why it hasn’t worked out. This is why you’ve been delayed. This is why you’ve been a little too short a little too late. Not because you weren’t good enough. Not because you weren’t chosen … actually quite the opposite. Because YOU ARE CHOSEN. You are chosen for something even better than what was behind that closed door you wanted to enter. Who am I talking to? Who has something specific in their life that hasn’t worked out? Something you thought would be a great opportunity, but it didn’t happen. Something you thought would have happened by now, but it didn’t. GOD IS ALL UP IN THIS MY SISTER! Scripture tells me God knows every hair on my head. That’s crazy! Check this out, he not only knows how many hairs are on your head, each one is numbered. In Luke 12:7 Jesus says “the very hairs on your head are all numbered.” Not just counted, like here’s the grand total, but numbered. Inventoried. Specified. We each have around 100,000 hair follicles on our head. Each hair follicle can grow about 20 hairs in our lifetime. We lose on average 100 hairs per day. And your God, the creator of the Universe, cares enough about you to know about every single hair you have and the 100 you will lose today. Now,

Have you ever been lost? Like epic GPS fail kinda lost? There’s one thing that always makes being lost better … being lost with someone. At least I know I’m not wandering around alone. I have a great gifting in always being unsure of where the heck I am. I’m an intelligent, yet directionally challenged gal. I know what I bring to the party, the map shouldn’t be it. And my GPS must have some random ghetto, back roads setting because it always seems to take me on the road less traveled. But you know, Jesus told us a thing or two about the road less traveled, so maybe my GPS just loves Jesus. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been lost. And yet here I am, found. Like literally, I’ve always made it back home. Somehow or another the roads always connected and got me to where I needed to be. And isn’t that life? Isn’t that all of us? We’ve all been lost at some point. We’ve all been traveling in the wrong direction, going down a dark alley we had no business in. We’ve all failed and fallen short of glory. And here we are today, found. Found, seeking a greater connection with God. Found, waiting to hear directions from him. Really, that’s what we’re all here doing. That’s why you’re listening today. You would have never clicked play if you weren’t seeking. You are a seeker. And here’s what I know about seekers, you are more found than you ever knew. You are not only found, you are claimed. You are redeemed. You are held tight in the mighty arms of God and guided by his steady hand. While you wandered around lost, you should know this … he never once lost sight of you. There is nowhere you have ever gone and no where you could ever go that is too far away from him. Wherever you have been, he has been right there with you. On the darkest of days and the worst detours of your life, he has been there. The day you messed up, the day you took that first wrong step, the day you said what couldn’t be taken back, the day you got off track, the day the spiral first started … yes, he was there. He was there honey. You were not alone. And from that very moment, he has been making a way for your return. Your return to the life you were created for. Your return to who he created you to be. You’ve never been alone. God has always been right there with you my girl. And never once has he watched his precious creation screw up and say “welp, I can’t fix this.” There’s no “welp” with God. There’s never a moment of being without a good option. There’s never a point of God not knowing what he can do next. There’s always a “gotcha”. Oh, okay you’re going down this road. I gotcha. You’re doing this self-sabotage now. I gotcha. You’re going through this phase. I gotcha. GOD HAS GOT YOU. Regardless of where you are, how wrong it is, how far you’ve gone, and how long you’ve been gone, GOD HAS GOT YOU. He’s not stuck in indecision of whether or not to help. He’s not confused on where to go or how to lead. And you need to know this truth my sweet girl, HE HAS NOT GIVEN UP ON YOU. You know what my GPS does when I make a wrong turn? She immediately offers me the next correct turn. So, you’ve taken a few wrong turns. You’ve been on a perpetual detour for quite some time now. Are you tired of that life yet? Like literally, are you tired? Are you exhausted from the fight? Are you finally seeing your own way maybe hasn’t been the best way and it’s not because you’re a bad person or there’s something wrong with you, it’s just because you tried to do this on your own. You weren’t created to do this life on your own. You were created to fail without God. Ahhhhh,

Welcome to what many have predetermined as one tough week. The seemingly negative factors are stacked up 3 high for this week of living. One: We woke up sleepy this morning because the clocks changed and we’re forced to get up an hour earlier than our normal routine. Two: We have a full moon coming this week, and we all know people be acting crazy on the full moon. Three: Friday is the unluckiest of all days, Friday the 13th. Whew, ya’ll according to Facebook and popular beliefs, we have one heck of a week ahead of us! And it could be. It could be unusually hard if that’s what you’re looking for. It could be extra chaotic and hectic if you believe that as your truth. It could be unlucky if unlucky is your predetermined perspective. But, you know what my God tells me … he tells me I am not powerless in my life. He tells me in Matthew 7:7 “seek and ye shall find”. Meaning, whatever I’m looking for, I will surely see it. Whatever I have my mind set on, I will find it. Whatever my perspective is, I will experience it. Romans 12:2 says “Do not copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” There are a whole lot of people who woke up dreading this day and dreading this week. Don’t copy their behavior. Don’t fall into the trap of seeking negative, and therefore experiencing the negative. Let God transform you into a new person, and that happens with changing the way you think. So, let’s apply this transforming power to our reality today. 1. Reality, daylight savings time just began. Reality, what was formerly 4 am is now 5 am, so my alarm rang in the pitch dark of the night. How about yours? We likely feel extra sleepy and drag butty today because while the clock says it’s an hour later, our body still says it’s not. We’re out of our routine and most of us really covet that precious final hour of sleep. And what do we do about it? We complain. We fill our thoughts and our conversations with how hard it was to wake up this morning, how unfortunate this time change business is and how negatively it affects our lives during this adjustment. But girl, wait a dang minute … have we forgotten what this means? We’re looking at this wrong. This is a glorious gift. This time change means we’re preparing to welcome a new season of warmth! Spring forward means you can now look forward to Spring! All winter we’ve complained about the cold, now here we are at the first signs of a new season ahead and we’re complaining? OH NO YOU DIDN’T. It may be a customary behavior, but don’t you be copying that. God wants you to be the person who leads the way with different thoughts. Sure we may wake up an hour earlier, but doesn’t that mean we get to be fully ALIVE an extra hour? Doesn’t that mean we can accomplish more? Doesn’t that mean we get to see more of what God has prepared for us today? And doesn’t that also mean the sun will be setting an hour later as well? Doesn’t that mean we get more daylight, more time to enjoy the evening before it’s declared night? Oh my gosh, this is actually a gift totally worth waking up for! This is my favorite time, why would I ever complain about it? And here’s the awesome thing, when God transforms us into a new person by changing the way we think, we begin to experience things we were once missing out on. We won’t spend a precious minute of our lives complaining about something we can’t change anyway. The time changed, we will find every last benefit of this new time and we will dwell in goodness. Plain and simple, seek good, find good.

What are you hoping for? What are you still waiting on in your life? What does it mean to wait on the Lord? Does it mean to put living on hold until God shows up and does something? Hey … he did do something. He made the sun to rise today. He gave you breath today. Well, look at that … if you’ve been waiting for God to do something first, it seems to me he showed up and did something pretty darn miraculous. YOUR TURN. I’ve waited on the Lord before. But my wait turned more into procrastination with a holy label. I prayed, then I sat. I questioned. I waited for God to do something big, forgetting all big things first start small. God had done his part by giving me the seeds to plant, in my waiting I had forgotten to plant the darn seeds. Yes, once again we’re right back to the same truth … do what you can with what you have right where you are. Why are we back here again? Because this is how God works. Remember how Jesus turned the water into wine at the wedding. Could he have just magically filled every empty cup with wine? Yes, I have no doubt he could have. But instead he tells the men to take 6 stone water jars and fill them with water. After doing what they could with what they had, they tasted and the water had been turned into wine. God’s finest works often involve YOUR WORK! What is it you want? What are you hoping for? Well, what are you doing about it? Romans 8:25 “But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” We say we are hoping and waiting. Hoping and waiting. But have we lost the real meaning of hoping and waiting and gotten it confused with wishing and delaying? There is a difference between hoping and wishing. A difference between waiting and delaying. To understand the difference, let’s look at the original text for Romans 8:25. But if we HOPE for what we do not have, we wait for it patiently. In Hebrew, the word for hope is tikvah. Tikvah is defined as a cord that combines expectation, hope and everything I long for. You’ve seen the twisted cord with 3 strands. Ecclesiastes 4:12 tells us “a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.” Hope is a triple-braided cord of expectation, hope and everything you long for, and this cannot be easily broken. Wishing alone can be broken. Desires and dreams alone can fray. Pressure and stress can weaken that which we hope for. But TIKVAH combines expectation, hope and everything you are longing for. Hope actually EXPECTS to obtain what is hoped for. We see this cord of hope in the story of Rahab. Rahab was a prostitute. A woman who had done wrong in her life, but the Lord chose to use her in his great plan to bring the Israelites to their promised land, and save her and her family. You can read the story in Joshua chapter 2. The Israelite spies had gone ahead to prepare the attack on the land and Rahab had taken them in and hid them in her house. In exchange for her protection of them, they promised to protect her and her entire family and save them in the battle. A sign of their covenant was after they left her home to prepare for the battle, she was to hang a scarlet cord from the upstairs window. This was a cord of hope. And after she hung this cord of hope, expectation and everything she was longing for, what did she do … she waited. Waiting is part of hope. In fact, Tikvah, the word for hope, comes from the root word qavah. Qavah means not only to expect, but to patiently wait and eagerly look for it. This cord of hope hung waiting in the window. Hope and waiting is not an abstract thought, it’s not a feeling. It can be seen and we can cling to it. Like a rope, we can hold onto it. Hope is rooted in waiting. We like the hope that’s more instant, but that’s not how hope works. Rahab hoped and she waited.

What are you going through right now? What is your struggle? Where is your uncertainty? Are you going through it with purpose? I’m not asking if you’ve discovered the purpose in it, but are you moving through this uncertainty or this struggle WITH purpose? We don’t typically understand the purpose in the hardship while we’re still in the middle of it, that perspective typically comes on the other side when we look back and say “ahhhhhh, God I see what you were doing there.” But for those of us still in the middle, still unsure of exactly what God is doing in this mess, still without clear vision of his great plan, are we waking up with purpose? Are we moving with purpose? Are we living each day, yes today, with purpose, while in the middle of the unknown? I occasionally watch “Running Wild” with Bear Grylls. With a name like Bear, he’s just living up to his potential intentionally placing himself in the most extreme situations and showing us how to survive. His legendary line is “Awwwww, this is a bad situation here!” How many times in our own lives could we say something similar? Awwwww, this is a bad situation here. We may not be hanging on the side of a mountain with a hungry mountain lion at the top, or the deep abyss at the bottom, but we sure find ourselves in some sticky situations where the next move is unclear, don’t we? We can have all the faith in the world that says there’s ultimately a greater purpose in all of this, but what about right now? What direction do we take in this moment where that greater purpose is unclear? MOVE WITH DEFINED PURPOSE NOW. Bear Grylls, the ultimate burly adventure man who intentionally places himself in the most dangerous of situations, took Drew Brees, the quarterback for the New Orleans Saints, out for an adventure. Now if you think the adventures I offer at one of our Adventure Retreats will take your breath away … girl, no! Our whitewater rafting, zip-lining and mountain climbing is entry level! Bear took Drew Brees on an adventure that started with jumping out of a helicopter into a crocodile infested river in the jungle. We’ve done some crazy things at retreats, but I’ve yet to get you in a river with crocodiles, at least I don’t think there were crocodiles in that river … maybe there were. So Bear is instructing Drew on jumping out of the helicopter into the crocodile infested river in the jungle below (don’t get confused … this isn’t a bible story, this is a television show, there is no scripture reference yet) and Bear says “swim with purpose and you’ll be fine.” SWIM WITH PURPOSE AND YOU’LL BE FINE. It was so powerful I literally grabbed my journal and wrote it down. Swim with purpose. I don’t know what your crocodile infested river may be, but I know with real life comes real threats. Real problems. Real worries, not just made up fictitious worries, but the real ones. Just within the circle of women I mentor, there’s a woman standing by the hospital bed of her 40 year old husband who just had a heart attack and she feels helpless. There’s a woman whose son hasn’t spoken to her in 3 years and she doesn’t know how to fix it. There’s a woman whose husband continues to be unfaithful and her heart is broken. There’s a woman who is struggling so hard with depression, the darkness nearly consumes her on some days. How do you swim those waters? How do you survive those crocodiles? SWIM WITH PURPOSE. You can swim with purpose, without knowing the overall purpose. You can take the next step in your climb without seeing the full staircase. You can do the next right thing while the ultimate big picture right thing is still unknown. MOVE WITH DEFINED PURPOSE RIGHT NOW.

There are seasons in life. Seasons of Spring time growth, seasons of Summer sunshine and success, seasons of Fall beauty and peace, then there are seasons of Winter. This is the time in life where things are plain old hard. Where the struggle is real, the fight is exhausting and the attacks are relentless. This is the Winter season of life. Maybe you’re in one right now. You certainly know if you are. And maybe this Winter feels like it’s been four seasons long for you and you’re beginning to wonder if this will really ever pass. Will change come? Will the load you carry lighten? Will the sun shine again? Honey, since the beginning of time one thing has always followed the season of Winter … Spring. And it is promised, your Spring will come. Winter will not last forever. It won’t hurt this bad forever. It won’t always be this hard. Progress will not always come this slow. This is just a season, and seasons ALWAYS CHANGE. Everything in your life is in the process of change. Everything. All those hardships and struggles are changing. You can have hope. But also remember everything that is good and right in your life at this moment is also in the process of change and it won’t always be this way. You won’t always have what you have today, for the good and for the bad. Here’s what we can’t afford to do … we can’t afford to waste what is good today by focusing on what is wrong today. There will always be something wrong. Something that doesn’t work. Something that worries or frustrates you. Something uncertain. Something that did go wrong, may go wrong or could go wrong. But right in the middle of all those somethings is the fleeting goodness of your life right now. Don’t miss this. Life is constantly in a state of change and I’m discovering in my 40’s my body is now in a state of slow and gradual deterioration. I’m not being negative, I’m being real. My eyes no longer see as good as they once saw. My knees don’t quite feel the way they used to feel. My skin is now growing deep lines and creases from signs of age and my hair glistens in a new highlight state of silver. AND I’M STRESSING OVER NONE OF IT. Get your perspective right. What an honor it is to get to live long enough to see this! What a blessing it is to be gifted with the time we have been given and a body that is still trying. This is for my sisters in a Winter that seems 4 seasons long. In a time where you would just give anything to feel the warmth of the sun and see the signs of a new season on the horizon. To my sisters who have been reaching and climbing and you’re always second guessing if you’re good enough to ever get there. THERE’S ONE REASON TO KEEP ON BELIEVING … HIS LOVE. His love for you. Individually, purposefully, wholly for you. His love is the reason why you keep on believing even when you feel like giving up. Because his love for you comes with a good plan over you, and the power to make it happen. If you’re a mother, you know the power of your love for your children. Your love is the reason your child can trust you’ll be there. Your love is the reason your child knows they’re safe with you. It’s your love. And this is the love you are surrounded by, given to you by the Creator of the Universe. The master over all loves you with a ground shaking, mountain moving, sea parting kind of love. And because of his love, you have reason to keep on believing. Reason to keep on showing up in the hard winter seasons of life. Because you know his love will produce Spring. There’s a hunger in your heart, a fire in your soul, a desire deep within you, and his love put it there. These Winter seasons of hardship, struggle and setback threaten what is within you with the shadow of doubt.

A girl who is going to do big things cannot let small things get to her. A girl who is ready to live the BIG life she was created for, ready to step fully into her potential, ready to live in divine partnership with the Almighty, that girl cannot be shaken by little things. She cannot let an off day become an off month. A girl who is rising up to a higher level of living can’t fall victim to petty nonsense and disruptions that simply won’t matter 5 years from now. Is that girl you? Are you the one ready to rise up, level up, elevate, and become more? Yes, yes you are. You are THAT girl. That’s you. A girl God started something in. A girl primed for good works. A girl who has been prepared for what is next. A girl filled with the power of God who cannot be shaken by these little things. There was a day when running out of coffee would ruin your entire morning. You were a straight up she-devil without your caffeine, and everyone knew it! Why people be trying to talk to you before you drink your coffee? Shouldn’t they know better by now? There was a day when a kid with a bad attitude would stir up your bad attitude. Then everybody is mad and nobody really knows why, but you’re the maddest, so you win. If it were a competition of bad attitudes, you take home the gold! There was a day when sharing the road with a bad driver would bring out the nasty Nascar in you. Who do you think you are cutting me off … eat my dust, loser! All with your sweet little Christian bumper sticker out displaying Jesus. There was a time when a stressful day at work would follow you home and create a tense night where you’re on edge, oh girl you are snippy and your family is just trying to stay out of your way. You’re like that little half blind 15 year old little dog biting at everything within 10 feet. Everybody stand back, mama’s had a bad day! Let’s just put the monster to bed and hope she wakes up nicer in the morning. Oh, there was a day … but God’s been doing something new in you! Oh yes he has! He has been working on you from the inside out. He’s been shifting your perspective. He’s been building you up, stronger, more grounded, and aware of your priorities in life. Convicting you of what’s not right and where you can get better. Now you know better, so you can do better. I have a good friend named Laura who will tell you there was a day when she was a little witchy with a B, if you know what I mean. She was difficult and negative, quick to point out all that was wrong and shoot you down fast. It’s just who she was, she would say. BUT THAT’S NOT WHO SHE WAS CREATED TO BE. God didn’t create a single one of us to be a difficult butthole. He didn’t say, “this one … well, this one will be difficult, this one will be unbearable in the mornings, this one will be a grouchy bear in the afternoon, and this one will be a complete jerk all the time.” No one is a jerk by design. But we can become a jerk by default. No one is a nag from birth. But we can become a nag out of habit. Laura changed. She’s not who she used to be, she’s more like who she was created to be. Whew, and I love that Laura! How did that change happen? God helped her see a different way. We see a different way when we’re no longer surrounded by people doing the same thing as us. God places us in an environment with people who aren’t settling for just “good enough”. We see, through their example, there is a different way. A way to be positive. A way to be happier. A way to get better. And you’ll know it when you see it because something deep within you says “gosh, I want to be more like that.” You know what that is … that’s who God created you to be speaking up!