Not long ago, (or so it seems) I entered into a season so dark and lonely, I did not think my soul would survive it.

A betrayal so deep – that at the time, I felt my heart could never overcome it. I cried out to God in deep anguish, and sleep never came to me.

I could not eat

I could not rest my mind.

I was full of anger and, bitterness and fear…

…for an entire year, I was in a deep state of grief like none I had ever known.

It was during this season of grief that I found a truth so beyond the truth of this world. I found a strength within myself that I never knew existed. It was not my own. It was true strength that only God can give us.

I was always a self professed ‘strong woman’.

But it took this long dark year in order for God to transform me into a ‘woman of strength’.

In this time of transforming, I learned the difference.

A woman of strength relies on her Lord for all her needs. A strong woman relies on herself, or the tangibles of this world.

A woman of strength runs to the protecting wings of Gods tender mercies, and there she is refreshed. A strong woman runs to worldly comforts and comes back empty and alone.

A woman of strength will never feel alone. She will endure every trial set before her with her grace and poise intact, because she trusts in God and not her circumstances. She does not need to ‘feel’ His presence to know He is near. She believes in His presence regardless of her ‘feelings’.

A woman of strength is created by a loving God, through her trials tended with hours of solitude spent in His presence. A strong woman is created by this world…through her trials and moments of chaos, spent alone in her own spinning thoughts.

I am not the woman who began this journey.  no.

…I am a new creation.

I was broken by the trials of this world. But when I brought my heart before my loving Saviour, I was transformed into something beautiful. I now look back at that dark season and am thankful. It birthed a refreshing into my soul…and created within me a deeper faith and unshakeable trust.

If you are in the dark hours of your life today, allow yourself to be a woman of strength. Put the ‘strong woman’ aside and run to the loving arms of God. Allow Him to hold you, heal you, transform you.

Beside my cottage door it grows,
The loveliest, daintiest flower that blows,
A sweetbriar rose.

At dewy morn or twilight’s close,
The rarest perfume from it flows,
This strange wild rose.

But when the rain-drops on it beat,
Ah, then, its odors grow more sweet,
About my feet.

Ofttimes with loving tenderness,
Its soft green leaves I gently press,
In sweet caress.

A still more wondrous fragrance flows
The more my fingers close
And crush the rose.

Dear Lord, oh, let my life be so
Its perfume when tempests blow,
The sweeter flow.

And should it be Thy blessed will,
With crushing grief my soul to fill,
Press harder still.

And while its dying fragrance flows
I’ll whisper low, “He loves and knows
His crushed briar rose.”

-F. W. Robertson

Photo Courtesy of D.Reichardt

I love quotes so it’s hard to chose, just one.  However, this one speaks volumes to me.  I was at a conference where Liz was speaking and when she said this, I immediately wrote it down.

We can put on the armor of Christ and some how…some way…we still find a way to sin. The good news is, that there is nothing new under-the-sun and we can not out sin God’s mercy! “You can’t out sin God’s mercy” – Liz Curtis Higgs

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Today’s Quote is shared by:  Sheryl Griffin.  She is an Author, Encourager, Wife & Mom. In her book, A Scarlet Cord of Hope, she shares her struggle as she faces her diagnosis of post traumatic stress disorder, panic, and anxiety.  She begins to unravel her past, and starts to understand the power that guilt, shame, and fear held over her.  Sheryl is speaker who offers encouragement and hope to her audience. She shares from her heart, her experiences, and from a biblical perspective. She speaks with passion and confidence gained from her own journey in search of HOPE.  You can connect with Sheryl on her website, twitter, facebook, or linkedin.

The other day my six-year-old son says to me, “Mom, you know fog is like sin, and the sun is like Jesus.”

Boy, isn’t that the truth. Don’t you love how sometimes the simple lessons of life can be summed up perfectly by a six year old? And how God can use a simple statement like that to speak volumes of truth?

As I started thinking about this truth, it occurred to me that there was an even deeper truth here that God wanted to show to me. He wanted to show me how the tiniest seed of fear, pride, insecurity, or rebellion could work its way into a fog so thick that I can’t see the steps in front of me.

And by allowing the fog to remain I become crippled and ineffective for God’s glory. God suddenly feels illusive, and his plans for me are hidden.

In a fog I…

• Can’t see what’s ahead of me.
• Can’t see what’s coming at me.
• Can’t see what’s behind me.
• I am only able to focus on the immediate.

I actually can get fixated on what is directly in front of me and I am powerless to do anything other than react to things as they happen.

I become a sitting duck waiting to be pummeled by the enemy.

This is not living victoriously through Christ.

When I was young, a neighbor of mine was trapped on a lonely highway in a fog so dense that he couldn’t see past the hood of his car. While creeping along he hit something and pulled over. When he got out of his car to see what he had hit a semi truck came plowing through the fog at a high speed and hit him and his car. He and his wife’s bodies were shattered and in critical condition. They ultimately survived, but were forever damaged by that terrible accident.

How much more damaging is it for us when we allow anything to get between our self and God?

How many semi trucks of life have hit me because I have allowed the fog to cover my view of God?

How have I allowed the paralyzing fog of fear, insecurity, pride, or rebellion to steal my effectiveness?

God is not paralyzed.  He is not in a fog.  Semi-trucks don’t surprise him.

He is more powerful than my fear, my pride, my insecurity, and my rebellion. And he has made a way. He gives us power to overcome that fog. To speak to it and have it lifted. To trust in him and be set free of it’s blinding cover. He is the Son of God. The One and Only.

“In him {Jesus} was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.” John 1:4-5

Just as the sun burns through a thick fog making vision clear again, so the SON burns through our fog, making us effective for him. I love it!

It is not us who are effective for God…

…it is God MAKING us effective.

It’s still all about him! We utterly need him. We utterly must rely on him. He is the light in the darkness.

Photo Credit: Klis

“O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?” says the Lord. “Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!…And they said, “That is hopeless! So we will walk according to our own plans, and we will every one obey the dictates of his evil heart.’” Jeremiah 18:6, 18:12

I was reading in Jeremiah the other day and as I read I was struck once again with the similarities between my tendencies and the Israelites. One big difference that I am thankful for is that as of now the thoughts that I think that go against what God wants aren’t written in a book that generation after generation will read.

I love Jeremiah 18:6, don’t you? It shows God’s character so strongly. Can’t you hear him, see his pleading eyes?

…Just be in my hand Israel.

…Just trust my plan, my character, my timing.

…Just be in my hand and I will do with you as I have planned. As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in mine.

God says that to you and I as well…

I know you don’t see or understand the future.

I understand that you are anxious about what will happen in your circumstances.

I see that you are struggling.

Will you just rest in my hand- be in my hand and let me take care of it?

Can you see him today?

Looking into your eyes, asking you to relinquish your control?

Just a few verses later (go ahead and read the ones in the middle) Israel gives their answer, “It’s no use, it is hopeless. We will continue with our own plans; we will all follow the stubbornness and the imaginations of our evil hearts.”

I am going to keep it real with you, I have questioned God. I have found myself in situations where I don’t see a way out. I don’t understand what he is doing and why he is choosing to do it this way. I have thought, this is hopeless. It is no use. There is no way out. I need to rely on me now, because quite frankly God, your not cutting it.

Have you been there? Are you there now?

If you resonate with this, I want to encourage you as you read that God sees what you and I do not. He can work in ways you and I can not fathom and just like the Potter can turn out beautiful vessels with a dirty lump of clay, God sees the vessel he desires you and I to become.

Let’s not choose to be like the Israelites today. Instead of holding onto and following the plans we have, let’s put our hope in the Potter. I am choosing to rest in his hand and see what he has planned.

Will You Join Me?

“…As the clay is in the Potter’s hand, so are you in mine. “

Photo Courtesy of John Arrowood Photography

In June 2002, I found myself living alone without another adult for the first time in my adult life. Since college I’d always had a roommate – one of whom was my former husband. I had two companions living with me but my six and three year old daughters needed me to pour into them.

I figured out ways to manage my new responsibilities. One means was organization. I cleaned house and did laundry daily so my home duties could not become overwhelming. I also reorganized my bill paying, errands and life management into a single binder so I had everything from grocery lists to addresses and stamps in a single location. I was so proud of my new financial binder – it was like my life was neatly held within its’ black bindings. It gave me a sense of order and control.

One Saturday I headed out to the mecca of my community, otherwise known as WalMart, with my life management binder in tow. I had my month’s allotment of cash, my grocery list, my home maintenance list and my credit cards. I was prepared for any eventuality. I even had my frequent flyer cards in case I needed to make a plane reservation on aisle 3.

In a matter of hours I had procured my groceries and supplies for the week, loaded my two little girls in the car and was headed back to our home for some weekend fun. On the way, I realized…

…my black binder wasn’t with me.

Like a cinder block wall, it hit me. I had laid my binder on the back bumper when I unloaded the cart. Faster than a mom can call through every name in the family, I made my way back to the parking lot. No binder.

I could not survive without its’ contents. I would not even be able to get to work without putting gas in my car. I turned to the only source of help I had – God.

As I prayed, my phone rang. It was a man reporting he’d found my belonging and wanted to return it to me. Relief raced through me, even though I expected it returned lightened of much of its contents.

Fearful of a stranger coming to my home, I met him and his wife in a parking lot. I thanked them both and returned to my vehicle. Every penny was still inside.

I may have thought I was in control of my life.

…I wasn’t.

But there was One who was guarding my path and my way even before I thought to ask Him for help.

He is the true Binding that holds my life together.

“in the beginning God created…” Genisis 1:1

Have you ever stopped to think that the very first words God spoke to us, in His Word, were about His creative nature? God is the ultimate ‘artist’.

He created all that we see, know, taste, touch and hear.

He created you and me.

His creative spirit is the reason we are here. The reason we have the earth, moon and stars. The Bible tells us also that we are created in His ‘image’, (Genisis 1:27). We all have been given the ability to ‘create’. Some of us create beautiful homes. Some of us create business plans. For others, home based business’s. Some of us create with paint brushes, or the written word, or crochet hooks, or sauce pans, cake pans, career plans, baby plans….and the list goes on and on.

At our core, we are artists.

Without even realizing it, we are ‘creating’ every single day. We are ‘life artists’. We are creative beings. We have been given a gift, and that is the ability to create. So many of us lose that sense of ourselves and when that happens, a very important aspect of our human spirit gets lost. But it does not have to stay lost. I want to encourage each one of us to keep that ‘creative’ part of us alive and sacred. It is too important to lose. We must make time to enjoy the creative pursuits based off the life we have been given and the dreams that God placed within each one of us.

What are you doing today to nourish your creative spirit?

Please share in the comments sections and link to a post or photo (if you have one) to share with us! Lets continue with inspiring one another!

Have you felt that you were waiting for God? Did you ever feel like the wallflower at the party? Or that God was like a date and you were stood up?

What do you do when God is silent?

Do you standstill? Do you brazenly move forward? Do you make inquiry after inquiry only to hear silence?

Recently I was faced with this. I waited for God to rescue me. I felt like a bruised and battered soldier. One who had given it all on the battlefield and then was forgotten. My heart was hurt less about the battle wounds and more about the thought that God was silent with me.

Where was he? Where was my rescuer? Why had he left me?

The truth is that God is sometimes more at work when He is silent than when we see His hand working out right…

…this is a hard lesson.

One that:

• Joseph had to learn when he was on the road into slavery at the hands of his brothers.
• David had to learn running from Saul
• Paul had to learn while in utter despair in Asia

One each of us learns when we walk this life of faith. We must never mistake God’s silence for God’s inactivity. He is working all things out for our favor and He is teaching us to trust Him.

My 3 year old was anxious about getting something from the store the other day. She wanted to go “right now!” and get what she wanted. If you are a parent, you know that sometimes trying to explain the logistics of why something can’t happen to a 3 year old is pointless. It just wasn’t her time yet.

How often have we begged at God for something only to hear silence? Perhaps it wasn’t our time yet.

In James 1 it says

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when ever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

I don’t know about you, but I like the thought of not lacking anything, and being complete. That’s going to take some perseverance for me for sure!

Don’t let your faith waiver in the silence. Don’t let doubt steal your perseverance from you. God is listening; he has not stood you up. He is teaching you to trust him.

Photo Credit:  Roskifte

I love March. Plants come back to life from their winter sleep. Greens, pinks, and whites explode on the tips of recently bare branches. Birds sing songs and college basketball has its biggest moments.

My husband says my eyes turn into basketballs this time of year. I love upsets and close games (except when my Jayhawks are playing then I want blow-outs). My kids ask, “Why are we still watching basketball,” after only eight hours of games. I don’t get it.

While I love the stories, obstacles overcome, and great basketball, it is difficult to see the look on those players’ faces when their dreams come to an end.

I wonder if they know the God who loves them whether they ever play basketball again. Do those kids know success is more than a national title? Can they see past the NBA scouts, injuries, successes, and failures to the God who orchestrates it all for His purpose? Do they see God’s success seldom looks like worldly success?

Do we see it? When our life looks abundant we are confident and sure God is smiling on us. Oh but when things start falling apart – our bodies break, we lose our jobs – suddenly we question. It is difficult to say with David,

“even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for You are with me…” Psalm 23:4

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of dreams dashed…

…God is with me.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of unemployment…

…God is with me.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of adultery or divorce…

…God is with me.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of longing for a spouse…

…God is with me.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of infertility…

…God is with me.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of …

…God is with me.

God is with me. Doesn’t that change everything? Knowing the Creator of the universe, the God with plans for our good, Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine is with me…us. He never leaves us.

His presence doesn’t necessarily change the dark valley, but it changes our attitudes. His nearness offers hope because He is able. His closeness offers comfort because He is the God of all-comfort. His proximity reminds us He is in control. He walks the valley with us because He cares for us – isn’t that amazing?

Let’s remember no matter the dark valley God is with us.

The next dark valley you go through write a personalized version of Psalm 23:4.  Carry it with you on an index card and always remember God is near.

What dark valley is God walking with you now? How can we pray for you?

Photo Credit:   lcrazyazn

Acquaintances doubt us. Friends question us. Our family even makes us wonder if we are doing the right thing. And the Enemy…he is on the prowl.  He tells us the lies that we are…

…inadequate, unworthy, and ill-equipped.

During my Bible reading this morning, I was struck with a couple of sentences in the book of Acts. Paul and Barnabus are doing their thing: preaching the Word of God to everyone they meet. This particular part of their story places them in Pisidian Antioch, a town with both Jews and Gentiles.

Though initially asked by the Jews to speak at the synagogue, the Jewish leaders had become very jealous of Paul and Barnabus and their popularity. You and I both know that their ability to attract and influence came from Jesus, of whom they preached. However, the Jewish leaders didn’t see it that way. They determined to have the two men, Paul and Barnabus persecuted and driven out of their town because they were terribly jealous of them.

Jealousy. Opposition. Persecution.

What I want you to see and hear and think about is the reaction by Paul and Barnabus:

“Paul and Barnabus shrugged their shoulders and went on to the next town, Iconium, brimming with joy and the Holy Spirit, two happy disciples.” Acts 13: 51 – 52 {Msg}

As I read these verses, I had to go back and read them again. Surely I had misunderstood. After these guys were doing what God had called them to do, they got driven out of town, and they were…

…brimming with joy?

I would have been brimming with something, but it wouldn’t have been joy and the Holy Spirit.

So, how do we react to jealousy, persecution, and opposition? I don’t know about you, but I get angry. I cry. I avoid. I run…

…I give up.

We must be confident in our calling and in the One who calls us. When people come against us, we need to be able to shake the dust off of our feet and move on to the next place in our journey. We need to be so full of joy and the Holy Spirit that it spills out of us…we are actually brimming with it.

You see, Paul and Barnabus did not REACT to their situation…

…they REJOICED. May we be so bold.

From the archives…

“Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.” James 1:12

Sometimes we wonder how long we will have to wait.

Sometimes our question is, “what are the answers?”

Sometimes we wonder if we will ever be understood.

Sometimes our question is, “is this it?”

Sometimes we feel like giving up.

Sometimes is…on some occasions; at times; now and then.  We are limited to sometimes, God is unlimited and ALL the time.

Through Him we can find the strength to persevere through the trials, not on our own strength, not on our own limited sometimes mentality.

“How long should you try? Until.” – Jim Rohn