Friday reflection - week 12

The new year has kicked off to such an amazing start for me. Things have been happening; which although to many may seem really, really small and insignificant are completely lifting my spirits right now. You know when you've been praying so hard for something and it's like NOTHING seems to be happening? Well that seemed to be the case with me for some time, and if anything my situation was getting worse and not better and out of frustration I would get sad and disheartened, but it was at these moments I would cry out to my Heavenly Father, asking for His help to not let my emotions overwhelm me and to give me the strength to hold tight to His promises; of which there are many.

The key is to not let your situation move you, because God is bigger than any problem or issue you may be facing. This isn't always an easy concept to get your head around, especially if you don't believe, but seriously, when it seems like all hell is breaking loose around you and things look beyond repair, that is when you must look beyond your circumstances and CLING onto Jesus. And by clinging on I mean you get your PRAISE ON as you prepare for the deliverance that's on its way. You pray without ceasing, you fast, you read your Bible, you give your tithes and your offering, you be a blessing to others, you go to church, you turn away from the behaviour you know is not pleasing to Him, and you sit back and watch in awe as he rains down blessing, upon blessing over your life. Yes Lord!!

For weeks I have had to be constantly reminding myself that faith comes by HEARING not SEEING....

'So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.'
Romans 10:17

My song for weeks has been...
'I'm not moved by what I see, Hallelujah, I'm not moved by what I see, Hallelujah. I'm only moved by the word of God Hallelujah, I'm only moved by the word of God, Hallelujah and everybody sing Amen, Amen, Aaa-men, Amen, Amen...

My God is a deliverer - Woohoo GLORY TO GOD!!

Friday reflections - week 8

Wow. I have to share an amazing Joel Osteen sermon I had the pleasure of listening to this morning. I have been feeling forlorn lately. I'm struggling in my situation and I feel a bit overwhelmed at times. Well that weight was lifted  when Joel spoke God's words of hope, joy, peace and life into my own life today. He made things a whole lot clearer for me. I tell you, God uses people to speak truth into your circumstances and turn things around for you when you least expect it. 

For a few weeks now I've felt rather 'bleurgh', and quite frankly; I DON'T WANT TO FEEL LIKE THIS. I have no reason to, I have life, health, healthy children, healthy family and friends, a roof over my head, so much to be thankful for. Well you know what? I have authority over my feelings.  I am an overcomer through Christ who strengthens me. God hears my prayers, He knows the desires of my heart. My job now is to stop grumbling and dwelling on how my situation is going to change and start praising God for the changes He is already making. Amen!

Joel's sermon went something like this;

When we pray, yet our situation continues to look bleak we can sometimes begin to beg God for deliverance by praying the same prayers over and over. This is not the correct approach because God hears our prayers the first time. The right approach is to switch worry, doubt and complaining into PRAISE. We must thank God that our prayers have been heard and He is changing our situation even though we can't see it yet.

Praise, worship and thanksgiving is what changes situations. Joel gave the analogy of his family. When his son passed his driving test he bought him a car, his 13 year old daughter asked if she could get a car when she passed her test. Joel said yes. From that point onwards she trusted her father's word and even began to speak as though she had the car already, giving thanks to her father for his love and kindness. She had faith in her father and believed she would have the car she was promised. Imagine if his daughter on a daily basis kept asking 'Daddy, can I have a car? Daddy where is my car?'. It would make no sense if the car had already been promised. And would only serve to upset her father who would be heartbroken that his daughter had no confidence or trust in his word. That is what God must think about us when we don't have faith in Him and His glory.

Be a believer not a beggar. Pray then Praise. Believe God will do what He says He will. We grab God's attention by thanking Him for the answers to our prayers before they come. We must thank Him for His grace and mercy, for the favour that he pours in our lives and the abundant blessings that are in store.

'Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight'

Proverbs 3:5-6

Let us learn to speak positively into our lives, to have faith, hope and joy.

Have a blessed weekend x

Crossroads and confessions

Since becoming renewed in my faith a few weeks ago. It has been made painfully obvious to me there is an area in my personal arrangement which needs to be reconciled before I can move on in confidence with my life as a Christian.

You see, I am not married to the father of my three children. We live together as man and wife and we do everything that a man and wife do (well we haven't been doing 'that' since I've begun to grow more spiritually). But anyway, my thing is this. I want to be married much sooner rather than later.

I have begun to see things a whole lot clearer now and really, what on Earth are we actually waiting for? We have three children and nearly eight years of togetherness under our belt. The money situation or lack of, (where a wedding is concerned) always has and always will be there. I am convinced it will only be an issue if we allow it to be.

If I had my way we'd be married tomorrow, just us two and our kids, but the OH is not so sure. He believes in God and is also a Christian but he is not where I am on his Christian journey. He thinks I'm only rushing things because of my renewed faith and no longer wanting to live in sin. He would be right, but I really don't see the problem. We have been planning to get married anyway right? Maybe it goes deeper still....

If I'm really honest it's the whole sex, I mean intimacy thing that bothers me the most. In the Bible fornication is not pleasing to God (1Cor 6:18-20). I have always known this in a roundabout way, but never seemed to think it applied to me. Huh? I was never truly conscious of it, I think is what I'm trying to say.

As I begin to read more and more of the Bible I wonder why I never used to take this more seriously before now. What have I been doing all this time? I know I was embarrassed about my situation especially after baby number two and three came along and we still weren't married, but I just pushed it all to the back of my mind. I hid from it. Before I was more into pleasing myself. Now I understand the brevity of life on this Earth and I want with all my heart to spend my remaining years pleasing God. I know there will be trials and tribulations along the way, but His divine grace and glory will carry me through each and every hurdle, just like it always has.

Going back to the intimacy stuff, I am happy to wait until we are married to resume our sex life but I think OH will struggle (or maybe it's me who is already struggling) hence why I want to speed up our nuptials. I guess I want to do this more for him and his 'manly needs' than for me (for the record he's been less persistent than before - God is working) but we are human and he is a man and temptation is sure to come our way at some point. I mean after eight years and three kids there's been a substantial amount of love making that has gone on. To have it stop, just like that is a real test.

All in all this is not something I plan on worrying about I just wanted to put it out there. I know God has a plan for all of us and He will bring me through this crossroad in my life. All I have to do is pray with faith and belief and he will do the rest.