BIG Life Devotional | Daily Devotional for Women

Life can be difficult, and life may be really difficult for you right now. Let me tell you, there are people around you who have it worse. We have no idea the difficulties others right around us are living with. We don’t know what’s going on behind their closed doors. Their marriage may be falling apart, their children may not speak to them, they may be struggling to put food on their table, they may be questioning their faith, their purpose, their worth, their very will to live. And God has very specific direction for us today regarding this: Romans 4:13 the MSG translation says “Forget about deciding what’s right for each other, here’s what you need to be concerned about, that you don’t get in the way of someone else, making life more difficult than it already is.” Essentially God is saying GET OVER YOURSELF AND GET OUT OF THE WAY. What’s right for you may not be right for everyone else. Stop trying to convince them. Your pushing will never persuade them to live a better life. You know what will? Your loving example. What’s truly rare today is the person willing to look at the differences of others with nothing but pure love for their soul and eyes set on their potential for goodness. What’s truly common today is each of us making it more difficult for the other person. How have we been making life more difficult for people? Oh, we pour salt on a wound, we pour gas on a fire, we repay rudeness with rudeness. The jackwagon in you brings out the jackwagon in me, then we’re all running around acting like a bunch of jackwagons. We see a post on Facebook we disagree with and we start a war. We’re quick to pass out judgment, forgetting we ourselves are subject to judgment, yet the almighty has pardoned us. What if we all just began assuming the best in others? What if we assume that the person acting like a jackwagon was having the worst day of his life and all he needs is a little love and grace offered by those around him? Be one of those people. Just offer some love and grace. See his potential and assume the best in him. Let me tell you something about the person who is hurting you in your life. Hurt people hurt people. They’re hurting, and their response to that hurt is to hurt someone else. Last week hubby and I were sitting on a bench in downtown El Paso sipping a cup of coffee. A young man walks by us and suddenly begins attacking the orange and white traffic barrel at the intersection. I’m pretty sure that traffic barrel didn’t insult him in any way, yet he attacked it with his anger. When the barrel proved to be weighted and unaffected by his attempts to turn it over, he walked on down the street and the next thing in his path was an elderly man. And right there in front of my eyes, this young fella filled with rage attacked this innocent man. He didn’t know him. Words had not been exchanged, he just wanted to hurt someone, something, anything because of the hurt within him. My husband along with other complete strangers spring into action to protect and defend the elderly man. And all I could think of is what had gone so wrong in this young man’s morning that he wanted to hurt on that level? What demons was he battling to cause him to lash out? Hurt people hurt people. Don’t’ you see that in your life? The person in your world who is hurting you is simply hurting, and they don’t know what to do with that hurt, so they pour it out on you. We’re all just a bunch of hurt people hurting people. But let the cycle stop with you. Be kinder than necessary. See their hurt and be sympathetic. Don’t pour that hurt onto someone else. Example – you’ve had a rough day at work. Your co-worker was short with you. Your boss was bossy and you’ve had one heck of a day. So you go home frustrated and you’re extra short with your kids and snap at your husband over the smallest o...

Everyone loves the story of a great comeback. Wasn’t the Superbowl a little bit better because for a time, the Chiefs were behind, then they came back. The story is better because the suspense is greater with a little back and forth. I have to believe our God loves a good story. He loves the suspense of the struggle, and he can, because he already knows the victory ahead. God is not shaken by the setback or the score. The end has already been determined and he has promised it will be worth it! 2 Corinthians 4: 17 “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” Whatever your worry is, whatever your trouble is, whatever the struggle or hardship, it is temporary. This will not last forever. Sometimes isn’t that what we need to know? We just need to know this won’t suck forever. Somehow, someway, life will go on, the sun will shine again and God will show you his grace and mercy. Your joy will come back. The song in your heart will come back. Your hopes and dreams will come back. The score may not be in your favor right now, but God says what’s coming is WAY BETTER! Yesterday I met with my mentor, Mr. Winton. He of course asked me about my children because the last time he saw me they were in middle school. I proudly told him about my two soldiers. Then he asked me about my little beauty, my youngest daughter. I had secretly hoped the conversation wouldn’t come up because while I wanted to be honest, it hurt to admit the truth of our current situation. I shared how she had been away from our family for 8 months, living life on her own terms without contact. I saw the tears well up in his eyes as he shook his head. Then I confidently said, “but it won’t be this way forever. I know God is working a good story through this. I fully trust it will all be used for good.” Just saying it with my own mouth brought peace to my heart. She will make her comeback. She will come back. Somehow, someway, what God has coming will be better than the story I could have written for her. Do you need to declare the comeback is coming? Do you need to say it with your own mouth so your heart hears it too? Why don’t you do that today? You don’t have to know when or even how, but you can trust God is working and has a victory ahead. The song from our playlist that played first this morning was “The Comeback” by Danny Gokey. Another American Idol contestant like yesterday’s Mandisa, who competed and lost. Hmmmmm, seems to me God has a theme for us here. Losing happens. And God is still working through the loss. What you thought was the end, God says is just the beginning. Your defeat may be God’s redirection to a life greater than you could have ever imagined. Put that through the filter of your own life. Has there ever been a past personal defeat that has brought you to a today that is greater than you imagined? I was fired … and it pushed me out to pursue my passion full time. I likely wouldn’t be here talking to you today if I still had that guaranteed paycheck. My defeat was actually for my benefit. God was always working in the details of my disappointment for the delivery to my destiny. GOD IS WORKING IN THE DETAILS OF YOUR DISAPPOINTMENT FOR YOUR DELIVERY TO DESTINY Once again, another theme for this week’s messages from God seems to be the reminder that we don’t see the full picture, only he does. We’re working on limited information, and we can trust God has better information than us. Danny with all his talent and passion lost American Idol. But Danny knew about loss before he ever took that stage. As a young husband, just 4 weeks before his audition, his beautiful bride died in surgery. He showed up for the show broken, lost, and filled with grief.

Have you ever watched an artist create one of those masterpiece paintings where you have no idea what he’s painting in the process? He’s like a mad man throwing paint with putty knives, thick brushes and even his hands. The artist can surely see something we can’t as he moves with intention and purpose, yet the canvas looks even messier in the process. It’s all so abstract and seemingly random. Then the moment comes when the artist flips the canvas, steps away, and you see the masterpiece in it’s finished state. WOW! What seemed random wasn’t random at all. The mad artist’s thrown paint was perfectly placed to create an image that moves you to tears. Oh, but the process. It was messy and appeared uncertain. Often times even looked as if everything was ruined beyond repair, surely nothing beautiful could come of this. But the artist knew exactly what he was doing. His masterpiece was in process. Philippians 1:6 says “I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” God is doing something good in you honey, he’s just not finished yet. You are an unfinished masterpiece. Anyone catching on yet to today’s song in our “Pray and Play” series? Yes, this is day 4 of me waking up, praying, then hitting shuffle play on our BIG Life Mornings playlist on spotify, then letting the first song inspire the devotional. Today’s song to my sweet surprise and delight was Mandisa’s “Unfinished”. No, my God’s not done Making me a masterpiece He’s still working on me He started something good And I’m gonna believe it He started something good And He’s gonna complete it So I’ll celebrate the truth His work in me ain’t through I’m just unfinished My sister, you have no idea the masterpiece God is making you to be. You only see the bold black streaks that look like mistakes, and thrown lumps of paint that appear disastrous, but you must trust the master artist is still in process with his purpose and you are just unfinished. Every mark on the canvas of your life is being used. It’s all part of the masterpiece your life is becoming. But here’s the thing, God’s one of those artists who often can’t be understood while his work is in progress. When God says in Isaiah 55:8 “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts and my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine” … well he ain’t kidding! Most of the time I can’t figure out what the heck God is doing and why he allows some of the things he allows. Anyone else willing to confess sometimes you feel like you could have come up with a better way than the one God has presented? God takes us right through the fire when we know he was always powerful enough to put out the dang fire before it even came close to us. But he didn’t. Why? Why the fire God? Why make us go through it? Why allow the suffering? Why allow the loss? Why these ashes? Because his ways are far beyond anything I could imagine, and while I’m working with very limited information, God is working with the master plan because HE IS THE MASTER WITH A PLAN! He sees what I don’t see. He’s never stuck in indecision or overwhelmed with what seemingly fell apart. He’s never shocked by the twists and turns, or incapable of making a way. God is never backed in a corner with a lack of good options. NOT MY GOD! He is the God of beauty made from those ashes. He is the God of plot twists that leave us in awe when we finally see the full picture. When he flips it around and backs us up for proper perspective. Ahhhhhh, that’s what you were doing here God.

Have you ever been in a relationship that brings out the worst in you? A relationship that doesn’t serve you or anyone else? Where you’re being used and abused. A relationship that sucks the very life out of you, robs you of who you are and all you’re truly capable of? What do you do with this kind of relationship? Do you choose to stay thinking maybe you can change it? Do you settle believing this is all there is for you? Do you begin to believe you’re not good enough for anything else? OR DO YOU BREAK UP? Most of us have been in this kind of relationship, and many are still in that relationship. But I’m not talking about some guy … I’m talking about your relationship with FEAR. Your marriage to negative thoughts and worst case scenario. Your life-long connection with all that could go wrong. Yes, it’s a relationship. You have fear, and fear has you. And the future of this relationship is completely up to you. You don’t have to continue this because I promise you this, fear isn’t going to change. You are the only part of this relationship that can change. Que the music, it’s time for the breakup song! Oh yes, we are continuing this week’s ‘Pray and Play’ devotional series. I pray, then I hit shuffle play on the BIG Life Mornings Spotify playlist, and the first song that plays becomes the inspiration for the devotional, and today it was “The Breakup Song” by Francesca Battistelli. Fear, you don’t own me There ain’t no room in this story And I ain’t got time for you Telling me what I’m not Like you know me well guess what? I know who I am I know I’m strong And I am free Got my own identity So fear, you will never be welcome here Isaiah 41:10 God 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.” Do you believe that? Do you believe God is with you? Do you believe he will strengthen and help you? Do you believe he is holding you in his hand at this moment? GREAT. Then you’re in a committed relationship with God and there’s no room for fear here. Hundreds of times in scripture we are told do not be afraid, do not fear. In fact, I can’t think of a single more repeated phrase in the bible. It’s very clear, God does not want his children in a relationship with fear. Why do you think that is? Why would God create us with the ability to fear, but then continually tell us not to be afraid? Did God screw up? Wouldn’t we be better off without fear if it’s such a hindering factor in our lives? Fear has it’s rightful position. It can serves to protect us … but let’s be honest, we’re not facing many saber tooth tigers these days on our daily commute. We’re not being attacked by woolly beasts or hunted by savages. If we were, fear would be necessary for our survival. But ya’ll we don’t even have to walk outside to start the car anymore! We have garages and remote start. We’re pretty well insulated by our cushy life of ease and comfort. And yet, we still walk around in this relationship with fear. Fear of what could go wrong. Fear of what may happen. Fear of what someone said or may say. Fear of what will never happen. We play out the scenario a hundred different ways of possible devastation and disaster, all before a single real thing has even happened. We’re all geared up for war against the saber tooth tiger that became extinct 12,000 years ago! It’s not even a real threat anymore. It’s over! It’s in the past and you can move on now. What is fear doing in your life? What opportunities have you missed because you choose fear over faith?

This week we’re featuring the “Pray and Play” devotionals. I pray, then I hit shuffle play on the BIG Life Mornings Spotify playlist, and whatever song plays first is the inspiration for the day’s devotional. And today, ya’ll we hit the jackpot! I could literally just play this song for it’s 8 minutes of entirety and we would have ourselves a full on devotional, but there’s a whole lot I want to say about it too, so you still get me! The song: Ain’t No Grave By: Bethel Music and Molly Skaggs I don’t know who this chick Molly is, but Lord Jesus she can sing! In doing a bit of research, I discovered this woman with such amazing talent has struggled with fear and shame her entire life. This song is her personal testimony of overcoming that which held her back. Shame is a prison as cruel as a grave Shame is a robber and he’s come to take my name Oh, love is my redeemer Lifting me up from the ground Love is the power when my freedom song is found There ain’t no grave Gonna hold my body down What is threatening to hold you down? What serves as your prison, holding you back? What is your grave, burying your potential alive? Is it shame, guilt, regret? Is it worry, fear, insecurities, doubt? Is it a lack of desire, a weak willpower, a settled spirit that’s decided maybe this is all there is for you? Is it a bad habit that’s chained you up or an addiction that’s buried you? The enemy has been playing and his games are never fair. He taunts you with his lies, he stirs up those old fears and emotions, he replays the tape in your head that says you’ll never change, he poke and prods you with his stick which always says you’ll never measure up. BUT YOU HAVE A REDEEMER! A redeemer who walks in love. But don’t let that love fool you. We often confuse walking in love with walking in weakness. Love is the greatest power. Think about it Mama Bear … you know your love is a powerful force for your children. You would climb any mountain to save your child. You would knock down any door to get to them. There’s no distance you wouldn’t go, no enemy you wouldn’t boldly fight, no battle you would back down from if it meant rescuing your child. Women have been known to run through fire to rescue their baby. Pick up a full sized car to save their child. The impossible! The impossible is made possible purely because of our love. Love isn’t weak, love is pure power. Your redeemer walks in love, and he’s walking straight towards YOU! His love can rescue you from any prison, any cage, any grave. Anything the enemy has used to hold you back is about to be torn the heck down!!!!! The grave didn’t keep your redeemer down. He rose up out of that grave and honey, it was for you. He rose up so he could raise you up to. He overcame the grave so you would never have to stay stuck in yours. The very things that threaten to bury your potential, the things that threaten to make you play little in your own life, sit it out, and let it pass you by … oh those things don’t have a chance. Your redeemer is here to say NO MORE!!!!!! No more shame, guilt and regret. Jesus has already covered your transgressions. Your missteps have already been redeemed. He’s already using those mistakes for something good now. No, shame … No, guilt … No, regret … YOU DON’T WIN! You have been overpowered by the love of my redeemer who says that’s no longer mine to carry around. Bye bye now, I’m stepping out of that grave! Hey worry, hey fear, hey all you insecurities and doubt … you’re no longer welcome here. You belong in a prison, but I don’t. I’ve sat here behind the bars with you for long enough, my freedom has been bought and I don’t hav...

All this week our devotionals together will be inspired by the first song that pops up on shuffle play from our BIG Life Morning playlist on Spotify. Yes, we have a morning playlist of upbeat Christian songs and you should totally check it out! Every morning these are the songs I jam out to while I brush my teeth and glue on my fake eyelashes. So, here’s the plan for the week. I wake up at 4:30, I ask God to be in complete control of the song that plays and make it the perfect one fit for what we need today, then I hit shuffle play. The song that plays will become the day’s episode of the BIG Life Devotional Podcast. I find that exciting! What does God have up his sleeve? It’s like a fortune cookie ya’ll! This morning I was extra pumped to pop out of bed and see what song played first. I prayed, then I hit that little green shuffle play button with anticipation of greatness. And I was mildly disappointed. It wasn’t the song I had hoped for. Out of all the songs I’ve added to the BIG Life Mornings playlist, it’s one of my least favorites. So I immediately begin reasoning how and why I should just hit that green button again and get a different song. Isn’t this what we often do in our prayer life? We faithfully ask for God’s divine guidance, fully trusting he has the power to move mountains and part seas, knowing he hears and he cares, then we receive an answer we don’t like and we begin reworking the plan. We doubt his answer. We reason why our way is better than his way he has shown. Please tell me I’m not alone in this. I can’t be the only one who is tempted to meddle in God’s answers when I get an answer I don’t love. This week we’re praying over potentially buying a house in Texas. Not that we’ll settle down there, but it’s a great financial investment and it sure would be fun to offer our house on Airbnb to bless other travelers like us. So we prayed for God to lead us to the right house. Then we found the one we loved, the one with the backyard we envisioned family gatherings, the one I sat in front of and mentally just moved right on into. We called the realtor and discovered in the 3 days it had been on the market, 4 contracts were already written. In all our searching, we can’t find another home we like as much. Nothing comes even close. Dang it God, did you mess this one up? God, were you off in your timing? God, did you forget about us? God, your plan kinda looks less than my plan. I’m talking about houses for sale … what about when it’s a life changing medical diagnoses you’ve prayed over and you get the answer you didn’t want? What about when it’s your child you’re praying for and the prayers don’t seem to work? What about when it’s your job and that job ends? God heard your prayer. He is sovereign over every situation. He is answering, however sometimes his answers don’t align with the predetermined answer we had in mind. THOUGH WE OFTEN WONDER WHY GOD DOES WHAT HE DOES, WE CAN BE SURE HE DOES IT ON BETTER INFORMATION. We see the here and now, God sees the end from the beginning. We imagine the immediate impact, God imagines the eternal impact. We’re dealing with odd puzzle pieces that don’t seem to fit while God knows exactly where each piece is destined to come together to make something beautiful, you just haven’t seen the top of the box yet honey. Can you trust that when you pray, God does answer. Always. He answers. Not always in the way we imagined, but always in the way that is best. Now, can we just get out of the way and let God do his thing? And yes, this starts in the smallest of things … like trusting when I asked God to let the first song played this morning on shuffle play be the song we all needed for our devotional time.

If you were to watch yourself from a distance, what would you see? If the thoughts inside your head were no longer the driving factor, no longer justifying your every move, or layering your actions with emotion, what would you see watching yourself live this life? Would you be proud of what you saw? My husband and I watch a Netflix documentary type show called Last Chance University. The show follows troubled college football players who have lost their position at a division one school, and are now playing for a community college as their last chance at redemption. These are super talented athletes who have gotten on the wrong path in life, now fighting their way back for another opportunity to play. At the beginning of the 2nd season, the head coach was interviewed about the first season of the show. He said he watched himself on TV and he didn’t like who he saw. He wasn’t proud of how he talked. He was embarrassed by who he had shown up as, and the cameras had caught it all. So he came back for another season as his own act of redemption. He wanted to be someone different this time, someone better. Now when he curses at his players, he makes himself drop and do 5 pushups. There was a time when I too saw who I had become and I didn’t like what I saw. So, I sat out on changing it. I began my journey to becoming who I was created to be about 12 years ago. I met my mentor and he challenged me to read the right books and be proactive in my own life. One book in particular changed me. It’s one of the only book I have kept through all of our moves and travels. The book is “Be Who You Want and Have What You Want” by Chris Prentiss. Now, let me be honest, I don’t agree with everything in this book. It’s more “universe” centered than God centered, however I’ve learned I can appreciate what there is to learn and let the rest fall away. At the end of each chapter in the book, there was a challenge to implement the teachings. I like challenges. I’m a doer. Theories and ideas do not impact me, I need to experience it to understand it. If you’re the same, here’s a game changing challenge for you. Throughout this day, see yourself from a distance. Observe yourself as you go through your day, without excuses or justifications, no backstories or motives, just watch. Easy enough. So, after reading the chapter, I took on that challenge for the day. I couldn’t believe what I saw. I saw a mother of 3 elementary aged children who was too busy to stop and listen. I saw a wife who was rushed and generally self-centered on what she had to do without concern of what her husband had on his plate. I heard myself. Oh gosh, I heard myself. I was a nagging, critical, negative, demanding drill sergeant at home, and sweet as honey to complete strangers in public. Why? Because I was more concerned with what others thought of me than what my family received from me. Much like the coach of Last Chance University seeing himself in season 1 and wanting to change it, I saw myself fully for the first time and I wanted another chance to be someone different. This is not who I was created to be. What would you see my sister? If you observed your every action and heard your every word from an outsiders perspective, would it align with who you want to be and how you want to live? We’re not bad people … we’re drifting people. We got a little off course somewhere along the way and without recognizing it and correcting it, we’ve drifted way off course totally living out of alignment with who God created us to be. Jesus said in Matthew 24:4 “See that no one leads you astray.” Have we been led astray? And, have we been doing the leading? Have we led ourselves down this path of living below our potential and becoming a lesser than version of who we should be?

Do you ever talk yourself out of something that may very well be awesome? You have an opportunity to go somewhere or do something, but the little voice within pipes up and starts telling you all the reasons why you can’t, so you don’t. You make plans, but you cancel the plans. You have good intentions, but you don’t follow through with the intentions. You say yes, then you regret your yes and decline. This is the absolute truth for the majority of us, myself included. It leaves me to wonder how many awesome opportunities we miss out on because our yes turns into no before we even give it a chance. While I’m in El Paso this week, a local BIG Life girl invited me to join her for aerial yoga. Ya’ll, I know my talents and I know my limits. Me and aerial yoga is like a disaster waiting to happen. But you see, I really wanted to go. What a cool opportunity to experience something totally new, so I made myself say yes. The days between my yes and our actual class were filled with thoughts of why I should cancel and not show up. I came this close to coming up with some world class excuse to not be there, but I went. Last night I was hanging from some funky little hammock like a bat, doing crazy poses I never imagined possible for me. Me and aerial yoga were like BFF’s up in that studio! And to think, I almost talked myself right out of it and dismissed the opportunity. What if we stopped dismissing ourselves from opportunities to experience more life? What if we said yes to life, then refused to move from our yes and force ourselves to show up? What if God could count on us to be ever ready to embrace every opportunity for living he brings our way? I wonder what he could and would do? I wonder how much bigger our lives could be if opportunities were embraced and we had the confidence to keep showing up? Will you have the confidence to say YES TO LIFE? Or will you excuse yourself again? Will you buy into the lies of the enemy that tell you you’re not good enough or not strong enough, that you’re too old, too fat, too awkward, and always too busy? How many opportunities have his lies stolen from you and how many more will you allow now? When you say yes to life, life says yes to you. There’s a great big world of opportunity waiting on the other side of your yes. I wonder what your amazing creator has designed for you if you’ll trust him enough to show up for it now? You must learn to trust there is a future waiting for you that is beyond anything you can grasp at this moment. Today you cannot fathom what your future can be. Your mind cannot comprehend what is truly possible with the spirit of God living in you, guiding you. But oh sweet child, if you will only lean into him, surrender your will fully to his, trust him with your everything, seek him with your all, then you will taste the buffet of life before you. Do you want that future you cannot imagine over the today you can control? Are you willing to loosen your grip on the reigns so God can take over the direction? Do you have that level of trust with God? Hey, it’s okay if you’re not there yet. It’s a process and our shepherd is so patient with his wandering sheep to teach us his ways. Certain seasons of life are required for us to truly grasp his sovereign power and divine love over our lives. How can you fully understand his healing touch until you’ve been sick? How can you fully trust his provision until you’ve seen him make a way when there was no other way? How can you fully know his power until he has rescued you? All your life God has simply been proving his love, his power, and his plan for your life to bring you to today where you will trust the future he has available for you. All of this has brought you to a place where you can now say yes. Today we say “YES God, I want what you have for me!

Romans 5:20 “But where sin increased, grace increased all the more.” Isn’t it mind blowing to think we can’t out sin God’s grace? We can’t overrun God’s good with our bad. We can’t screw up past the point of return. Check out this same scripture in The Message translation: “But sin didn’t, and doesn’t, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it’s sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that’s the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life.” God’s grace not only covers our shortcomings, but it invites us into an eternal life after death, and a BIG Life here on earth. We are aggressively forgiven and relentlessly invited into a better life. Nobody likes to talk about their sin. No one wants to put their weakness and shame on display. But sister, understand where there is sin, there is grace. Where the worst within us resides, the best of God covers. Where there is failure, there is grace. Where there are shortcomings, there is grace. Where there is this “I can’t believe I screwed this up again”, there is grace. The more you need it, the more supply there is with your name on it. God’s got you covered my friend. May his grace cover your life, changing you from the inside out. I used to view grace as a “get out of jail free” card. An immediate pardon for my screw ups, then I would run away from it as quickly as I could. Now I view grace a little differently. Grace is what changes the hardest areas of my life. Grace is what unleashes God’s power to work within me. Grace is what covers this girl who gets it so darn wrong so much of the time and guides me in the right direction. I’ve found this is what we can’t live without. This grace. This is what the world doesn’t offer today. This grace. And that means our amazing, loving creator is offering it all that much more today, in an overflowing abundance just for you. This grace. A sermon by TD Jakes helped me understand what role God’s grace plays in my life. I have a few notes in my journal I would like to share with you. Perhaps something will stand out to you today and you can take notes. The enemy likes to take our sin and shortcomings and lather it with guilt. Guilt over what we have or haven’t done. Anyone have some of that? You’re playing the screw up and beat up game. Yeah, that’s the game of the enemy … get off his playing field! Never will you see God beating you up over your screwups. God’s grace just comes in truckloads. Guilt brings us down into a place where we are stripped of power to make changes. Is this where you find yourself? Down and depressed over what you just can’t seem to STOP doing, or over those things you know you need to do but somehow can’t seem to make yourself get started? That’s a nasty little scheme of the enemy. This is where you get stuck and stay stuck, convinced you lack the power to do anything about it. But you have access to something so powerful it can part any sea, move any mountain, and change any situation. You have God on your side and in your corner saying “that’s my girl … I want her to win!” What a powerful picture of truth for each of us today. Whatever you’re struggling with, wherever guilt and shame threatens to render you powerless, God desperately WANTS YOU TO WIN. He is for you, not against you. He is covering you, right now. Equipping you, right now. Making a way for you, right now. BUT YOU HAVE TO CHOOSE TO ACCEPT THIS POWER FILLED GRACE. He wants you to win. To win, we must understand the correlation between sin and grace. Wherever sin does it’s dirtiest work,

Hebrews 10:23 “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” Our God is faithful. He will do what he said he will do. Maybe not in the timing we would like, or the way we would imagine, but he is faithful. Always. You can count on his promises. And this scripture says we should hold unswervingly to our hope. Unswervingly. Oh, that’s where we’ve been getting it wrong. In one moment we have hope. We believe things are going to work out. We believe our God is for us. And then … we swerve. There’s an obstacle ahead. Something we weren’t expecting and we react with swerve to miss it. And when our hope swerves, we go into a tailspin. You know what I’m talking about, don’t you? You’ve been in that tailspin of lost hope before. That tailspin of everything is falling apart and nothing is going as you planned. Spinning and spinning. And the more you spin, the more you question if God was ever really for you. The more you doubt his promises. Why is this happening to me? Why do things never work out for me? Why can’t I ever move past this? Could it be because we swerved. We failed to have that unswerving hope? Unswerving hope. Here’s what I mean … There’s an obstacle ahead. I see it. This is going to be difficult. I wasn’t expecting this. But my God has gone before me and I don’t have to flip out. In the past I would make sharp turns and rapid decisions to avoid this obstacle, but now I know better. I don’t want to go into a tailspin again. Instead I will stay the course. I will overcome this obstacle. Unswervingly. Now that is hope. Hope that if God has brought me to it, God will bring me through it. Hope that there is a way and God will show me that way. Hope that even in the darkest of times God will never leave me nor forsake me. Hope that all things are working together for my good, even when it really looks like everything is straight up falling apart. Here’s what God reminded me of this morning. Check yourself. Are you on the right path? Are you still doing what He has called you to do? Without a good honest check, we sometimes fail to realize we have wandered off and over time we just walk in circles. Did you know without a visual point of reference, we walk in a circle. If lost in a desert or thick forest, we lose sense of what is straight ahead and we walk in a curvature, eventually bringing us full circle, right back where we started, no further along than we began. Are you going through life without your point of reference? Could this be why you’re just walking in circles? Stop. Stop now. Look to God. God has a path for you to be on. He has somewhere he wants you to go, things he wants you to do with your life. And just in case you’re wondering, you’re not going to be miserable fulfilling those plans. Trust me when I say, you were MADE to do what you’re supposed to be doing and NOTHING is as fulfilling and rewarding as stepping into your destiny and fulfilling your purpose. That shoe fits perfectly. Stop being afraid of it. That’s just the enemy’s detour to keep you circling. Hold unswervingly to the hope you posses. No more swerving. Keep your eyes locked on God. Continually look to him for guidance and direction. And move forward. When you’re certain you’re on the right path, obstacles no longer cause you to swerve. Straight ahead my sister. God has given you exactly what is required to go over that obstacle. Climb on. And if you can’t go over it, God will take you right through it. I don’t know where you’re at on the journey. Maybe you’re currently climbing over the obstacle. You’re trying to overcome something. Don’t lose hope. Hold on to your hope unswervingly. There’s no need to swerve now.

Whatever you’re going through right now, yes this present mess or stress, understand God is using it to prepare you for the role you will play in the future. You are being strengthened and refined today for a tomorrow full of purpose. We can make it through most anything if we know it’s for a purpose. If we know the path is taking us somewhere good we can stick with it. It’s when we lose faith in the destination that we wander off path and get stuck. God has a plan for you. He has a destination in mind for your life. A purpose that is a perfect fit for you in every way. A future that uses your every talent and every experience, making you the absolute ideal person for the job. No one else will be able to do this like you. But maybe you don’t see that future yet. Maybe God hasn’t revealed his plans to you … will you still trust him? Will you still trust that he has a plan, it’s a good plan, you haven’t screwed that plan up, you haven’t missed out on the plan, and everything you’re going through right now is simply preparing you better for that plan. Ahhhh, feel the release right there? You’ve been trying to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders all while God has been saying, “girl, if you’ll turn that over to me the whole world fits perfectly in the palm of my hand.” My son is a 20 year old soldier in the US Army. I’m in El Paso, TX visiting him for the first time in over a year. When he left our home In July 2018, he was a boy full of potential. Potential to change the world, or potential to ruin his own. If you’re raising teens, you know exactly what I’m talking about! There’s a whole lot of potential for good and bad wrapped up inside our teens who are wrestling to figure out who they are in the world. Who I see today is a man becoming who he was always created to be. Let me be real clear, the only way the good potential won out over the bad potential was HARDSHIP. He went through the hardest struggle and training of his life. He had zero comforts from home, no mama to protect him, and no daddy to tell him what to do. He wasn’t playing warrior video games, he was in real life warrior training. Only the most extreme pressures could have made this impact. Only the most stressful of circumstances could have strengthened and refined him in this way, this quickly. I’m convinced if he would have stayed home, suckling on the ‘teet’ of comfort, he wouldn’t be half the man he is today. He was made to be strengthened in the struggle and be refined in the fire. AND SO WERE YOU! You see, we want change while we want everything to stay the same. Life simply doesn’t work that way. Just as my son couldn’t become a warrior sitting in my basement playing Call of Duty, you can’t become the woman God created you to be living in comfort. Comfortable living leads to unmet potential. Comfortable living leads to drifting. Comfortable living leads to the bad outweighing the good. Comfortable living leads to boredom, and it’s in the boredom we make bad choices and settle for bad lives. Comfortable living leads to future disappointment where you wake up one day miserable in a life you don’t like, looking in the mirror at a person you no longer recognize, without the energy to do anything about it. And your creator loves you so darn much that he just won’t let you sit there in comfort to waste away. This is why he has shaken your world up. Perhaps this is why he has allowed your current disaster. It’s so that you don’t miss the life available to you. It’s so that you are prepared for the role you’re going to play in the future. There’s a warrior inside of you and she simply couldn’t come out with the way things used to be. The life you really want isn’t easy, it’s fulfilling.

John 10:10 Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” We best glorify god by being FULLY ALIVE. Not just a human being going through the motions, kinda sorta there, a little in and a little out, dabbling at life. No, fully alive living this one life we have been given all-in with every ounce of our being. This is how we glorify our creator. This is how we praise our savior. This is how we spread his greatness. We intentionally live this day FULLY ALIVE. Jesus came so that you might not only have life, but have it to the full. His sacrifice was not only for your eternal home in Heaven, but for your life right here and right now, today. So that THIS life and THIS day would be lived to the max. So that you would have a happiness and zest for life down deep within your soul that no obstacle, no struggle and no temporary circumstance could ever diminish. This is the kind of life you were not only create for, but charged to live. Jesus conquered death for you, that’s already taken care of. Now you’re free to live. The enemy can’t take this freedom from you. He can’t rob what Christ died to give you. However, he can stress you out to the point you forget what you have. He can attack your identity and make you forget who you are. Is that what the enemy has been doing to you? Have you, this miraculous creation of the almighty, this masterpiece with the fingerprints of God still on you, this chosen one, prized possession, highly favored child of the King of Kings forgotten who you are and what you have been given? Have the enemy’s attacks been successful and as a result you’re still living, but you’re not fully alive? You’ve just been waking up each day going through the motions. Life is passing you by and you’re only seeing half of it. You’re dreading the day. You’re wishing for the weekend. You’re scared of the future. You’re stuck in the past. You’re consumed by worries and fears. AND THIS IS NOT GOD’S PLAN FOR YOU. But you know that don’t you? You know you were created for more than this, you just don’t know how to start living another way. How do you break the 40 year habit of worry? How do you overcome those lifelong fears of what others think? How do you finally take yourself off the back burner and move to the front row of your own life? Here’s your step one … step up and take responsibility for the life you’re living. This is on you. God gave you this life and every single thing you would ever need to live it well. You are lacking nothing. You’re not broken beyond repair. You’re not incapable of excelling in your own life. Those are lies the enemy has told you and they have no place in this space. Claim your life as holy space. Girl, what you have within you is precious and powerful! How you use it determines the life you get to live. If there’s anything in your life you don’t like, why don’t you go about changing it? I’ve seen people radically change their lives. I’ve seen divorce, healing, then complete restoration in a marriage. I’ve seen addictions broken to never return again. I’ve seen a desperate, depressed unhealthy woman lose 150 pounds and become a marathon runner. I’ve seen someone climb out of the pits of despair and climb mountains they never imagined possible. These are lives that were once weighed down with attacks of the enemy, lies he whispered and they accepted as their truths. But the moment they took responsibility for the life they’re living and understood God had already given them every single thing they needed to break these strongholds, they were changed. This is how we glorify God. Isaiah 43:7 reminds us we were made for his glory. You were made for this. This is how we praise him.

In Isaiah 58:11 God gives us a promise to always guide us. He says, “I will always show you where to go. I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places.” Where God guides, God provides. If he brought you to it, he will bring you through it. If there’s a mountain to climb, he will make you a mountain climber. If there’s a war to fight, he will turn you into a warrior. You can fully trust that God is using anything and everything you’re currently going through to prepare you for where he is taking you next. I use the Google Maps on my phone to take me everywhere. I never plan my route in advance, I don’t even look at the directions, I just input my destination, and I go. This drives my husband crazy. However I’m directionally challenged and typically following specific commands gives me much better odds of actually arriving at my desired destination than navigating on my own does. (Yes, I’m the girl who just last week wandered around the WalMart parking lot for a solid 5 minutes searching for my car. I do believe someone moves my car while I’m shopping just to watch me wander around lost. Ya’ll I can’t be trusted without a map!) When the kind lady in my phone says “turn right”, I just turn right. There has been the rare occasion that the kind lady has brought me to the heart of the ghetto, arrived in front of a boarded up shack and said “you’ve arrived at your destination.” True story. On the wrong side of Tulsao, OK. I didn’t get out. Thankfully God is never going to lead us to the wrong destination. He knows exactly what he is doing. God had a plan for your life before he even created you and the way has always been made. He never gets it wrong, ever. Where he guides you, you can fully trust is the way to go. If God is taking you to the ghetto, it’s about to get good my friend, and it’s not by mistake! There has also been the occasion where the kind lady in my phone who knows everything will tell me to turn, and I miss it. I’m not paying attention, I’m delayed in my reaction, or I’m in the wrong lane. What happens when you miss your turn? The smart lady in your phone will immediately begin rerouting you. My GPS is quite accustom to rerouting because I often don’t get it right the first time. How about you? Do you get it right the first time? Are you always on que with God and following his directions, or do you get a little lost along the way like me? God is the master at rerouting. Oh how he is patient with us. Okay, so you missed your turn … I’ve got this. God may have had the perfect job lined up for you, all you had to do was turn right. But you didn’t. You didn’t turn in your resume. You didn’t pursue that interview. So you missed the opportunity. Now God is rerouting you. God may have had the love of your life just ahead on the left, but you flew right on by and missed him. No worries girl, God can reroute you and loop you back around for another shot. God also may have had the answer to your prayers 3 blocks ahead, but you were stubborn and stopped when you should have kept going. The way is still made for you. Maybe you should get going again. When you are rerouted, you are no longer on the optimal and fastest route, but you will still get there. Some of us are perpetually on the rerouted plan. We don’t quite follow directions the first time around. We question and doubt God’s sovereign plan and his mighty ways, so we take the long way. I wonder when we will stop that? I wonder when we will finally understand that God has a plan, it’s a good plan, and he is showing us where to go. Nothing is by accident and if we will stay alert and aware, we will see how everything is working together to bring us exactly where we should be.

Your faith summons the almighty God to unleash his power in your life. But sometimes his power is at work behind the scenes so right now you don’t see a whole lot of unleashing, you just see a whole lot of the same old mess. That’s okay, God is still working. Your faith is the seed by which God produces an abundant harvest in the next season. But first you’re in this season. A season of plowing where things are dug up and turned over. A season where there’s a whole lot of work and not a whole lot to show for it. That’s okay, your season will be changing soon. Your faith may be threatened by the delay, but girl you hold on to the hope that tells you God is about to do something, because HE IS!!!!! Oh yes, he is, and it’s going to blow your mind. I wonder if there’s anyone listening today who has been hoping for something. You’ve been hoping for a long time, a really long time. And let’s face it, the expected time line for your hopes has already come and gone. Your current circumstances tell you it’s not gonna happen. What have you been hoping for? Something better. Something bigger. Something new. Something more. Something different. Something to change. There was a time when your hopes were high. You woke up believing it could happen and now it almost seems ridiculous to keep hoping. Is that you? Well I can’t tell you how happy I am that you’re listening today because God has a message for you. Here’s what he wanted me to tell you. God says – I AM ABLE TO DO EXCEEDINGLY AND ABUNDANTLY ABOVE ALL THAT YOU ASK AND THINK THROUGH MY POWER THAT IS GOING TO WORK IN YOU. Write it down, it’s Ephesians 3:20 – “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.” That thing you’ve been hoping for. That thing you used to pray a whole lot about but now so much time has gone by with no change, no improvement, no growth that it seems ridiculous to keep praying about it …. yeah, that thing, well God wants you to know he’s going to do something exceedingly and abundantly above anything you could ever think of. This means he is going to blow your mind! You should get excited! How’s he going to do it? Through his power that is going to work in you. It’s going to happen IN you but it’s going to be because of HIS power. It’s impossible for you, but it’s not impossible for God. When’s he going to do it? When the season is right. In just the right time, when the seasons have changed, then you will see what God has been doing in this darkness. Then it will sprout up and grow in the light. But right now, it’s concealed in the deep dark because it’s not ready yet. God is still working. Won’t you trust that today? You may not see evidence of his work in this specific situation in your life, but that doesn’t limit God’s power to work behind the scenes, in the deep, in the unknown, within. In my 44 years of life, here’s what I’ve kindof figured out … there’s a whole lot of time I really don’t have a clue what I’m doing. I’m throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks. I’m fumbling my way through the darkness, knocking crap over, sometimes making a little progress and sometimes running in circles. BUT GOD KNOWS EXACTLY WHAT HE IS DOING. He can see in the dark and he can work in the dark. And he honors our efforts to just keep trying. Looking back I see God has totally blessed a few efforts that didn’t make a whole lot of sense, but he chose to work through it any way. We don’t always have to know the exact right next step, we just have to be willing to take a step in faith and God will do the rest. I admit,

I grew up in the Bible belt, but no amount of yelling “repent or go to hell” was going to bring me to a personal relationship with Jesus. It might scare me, but it wouldn’t change me. One thing changes us, and one thing alone. Jesus. It is an understanding of who we truly are, whose we are through Christ Jesus, and the life we were created for that changes us. The other stuff holds us in bondage when Christ came to set us free. It is in Jesus we are free to live up to our potential and step into the life God designed us for. Truly understanding my heart’s desires, my gifts and my talents, as well as my experiences, all align perfectly to bring me to the very life God had in mind for me from the beginning … well that was my biggest ah-ha moment. It’s all by design and for a great purpose. The purpose of becoming who I was created to be so I can live the life I truly want. Do you understand that? The life you really want, I mean really want down deep within you, the desire for that life is a direct result of the potential God placed in you and the design of your purpose. The only way to live that life is to become who you were created to be. That is the process you’re in … becoming the person you were created to be. Today is just another step in that process. All things are being used to bring you closer and closer to your true potential and the result will be the life you really want. Why? Because your truest desires were placed within you by your creator to guide you in becoming exactly who he designed you to be. This is the journey you’re on … living the life you really want. Today is just another step on that journey. As you become the person you were created to be, you begin living the life you really want. And isn’t’ that the greatest journey? And don’t miss it … this is the most beautiful picture of repentance. I always understood repentance as a punishment. A “no no, you’ve been a bad girl now you’re being punished.” A threat and a real consequence if I didn’t follow the rules. But what if repentance is more of a beautiful return? A return to the life you really want? A return to who you were created to be? Yes, that’s what it is. It is a return. Not a harsh threat. An invitation to come on back, get on track, and live beyond your wildest dreams. 2 Peter 3:9 says “The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.” The Message translation says “he’s giving everyone space and time to change.” God is so patient with us. His invitation to return is always extended and every day he’s made a way for our return to his best and biggest plans for our lives. The enemy is relentless in his plan to block us from the return. He plays in the screw up and beat up game. The devil pushes you towards the screw up, then causes you to dwell in the beat up. How many perfectly good days of life will you continue down the path of the enemy’s plan for your life? How many more days will you choose to believe you’re so screwed up you can never change? How many more days will you waste dwelling on all you’ve done wrong, when the way back is right in front of you? Return. Return to you. Return to who you really are so you can live the life you really want. We all get lost along the way. We all stumble. And for this we have a patient God who is forever making a way back. There’s no mistake you can make that can possibly cancel God’s plan for you. Honey, you’re not that powerful. His good plan is always, always, always still in the offering and he is patiently making the way for you to come back to it.