2011 HERE WE GO!!!

It's a new year. New beginnings. Some things will come to an end. Some things will begin. But the best part is, God is woven within every part of it. We are his masterpiece. He is doing his work. Even when we cannot see the final outcome and the result, he sees us as beautiful. May this year be a year of believing and living. Not just hearing and seeing. But Purpose.

2 Corinthians 5:7

For we walk by faith, not by sight.

I love this verse! Probably why I tattooed it on my foot… haha but today at bible study… got the perfect summary for why I got it. BELIEVING IS CHOOSING OBEDIENCE AND RESPONDING OUT OF TRUST EVEN WHEN YOU CANNOT SEE OR HEAR. That is what got me through all the inner turmoil and crazy turmoil. It took awhile, but God is good and he works in his timing. He knew I needed to encounter a crucible experience that would strengthen my faith and transform me forever. God’s love isn’t based on our circumstances but on his character. We have to see through God’s eyes. Respond in Obedience. And continue to follow him.

Purpose

We were created with purpose.

Romans 9:20-21

But who are you, o man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?'"

Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay

some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?

So often we are discontent or unhappy with how our Creator created us. But each of us were created in the image of God. Beautiful, worthy, and a masterpiece. God did not make mistakes. He made you YOU as a perfect part of his creation. Love who you are, Love who God made you to be. Love the strengths, love the thing that make you unique. Love God in you.

Like clay

"Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand" Jeremiah 18:6

This passage resonates so deep within my soul. To know that I am clay in the hands of the Omnipotent Creator affirms a sense of reasoning and purpose beyond that is far beyond my own grasp. The potter forms, molds, breaks, builds, and the clay into a beautiful work of art. And the clay is not just beautiful, it is designed for a specific purpose. And to be in the hands of the Lord is a refuge and comfort unlike any other. Our God is so big, we are so small, but we are important to Him. Just as each piece of clay is important in its essence to be formed and reformed until it can be as it is intended, we are important to God. In our brokenness, in our willingness, in our submission to be molded by the Potter, we are seeking to be formed not of our own will or way but the way of the Lord. How great a reassurance to be in the hands of God.

Reading the rest of the passage you are taken through the journey where Jeremiah hears God speaking to him. God is speaking to each one of us. We are his servant. He speaks to us as we are willing to serve him. Are we listening? God commands Jeremiah to go to the potter's house. Where is our potter's house? Where do you see the presence of the Lord? God offers refuge and restoration. Are we receiving his grace and peace? As we seek to experience and see God we see Him working, just as we see the "potter working at the wheel". He is working all around us. Sometimes God is working in ways in which we do not understand. The potter was forming broken clay. It was marred and ragged. But the Potter sees it as a beautiful piece to the overall masterpiece. He does not disregard any fragment, it is all important to him. He shapes the clay as best fit to him, just as he shapes us into his image as long as we are willing. The purpose God sees is greater than anything we can imagine. No matter how broken, the Potter sees purpose. God will speak. God will do. God will form. We just have to be his clay.

"Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand" Jeremiah 18:6

Shine...

Devo for the day:

"Seek my face, and you will find all that you have longed for. The deepest yearnings of my heart are for intimacy with Me. I know, because I have designed you to desire Me. Do not feel guilty about taking time to be still in My Presence. You are simply responding to the tugs of divinity within you. I made you in My image, and I hid heaven in your heart. Your yearning for Me is a form of homesickeness, longing for your true home in heaven.

Do not be afraid to be different from other people. The path I have called you to travel is exquisitely right for you. The more closely you follow My leading, the more fully I can develop your gifts. To follow me wholeheartedly, you must relinquish your desire to please other people. However, your closeness to Me will bless others by enabling you to shine brightly in this world."

.

Nelson Mandela:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

We need to seek God. The world is trying to get in the way of God working in and through us. If we seek God with our whole heart we will find him. Yes God will meet us where we are at, but unless we turn to follow him he will not drag us along. We have to respond. We have to act. God chose us. He chose you. Yes, you. Bring glory to God. He is the all in all. He made each of us unique to shine for him. But a light does not shine if not connected to its source. As we become who we are and live that way, it allows others to be the real them. We can experience and be that freedom. Truth sets you free. If you live in truth you will experience the feeling of freedom unlike any other

JOURNEY... where am I?

God's Freedom. God has changed me so much, I finally value myself and believe in myself. I have always been my own worst enemy and I finally appreciate the strengths and weaknesses I see in myself and want God to fill the holes, to be my everything... While I before said I surrendered, I was still holding on, I still wanted control. I wanted something to be my way, and that was keeping me from the truth and freedom that I could have experienced. When Jesus says that he wants us to have full life, that phrase has so much depth and breadth within it that we can never comprehend. But what we can do is live in the moment, trusting in who God is and who he is in us that he is working and has a plan and purpose. It sounds so cliche but I have finally come to this place where I can trust God, not having everything figured out. Knowing he has something for me SOOO much better than I could even imagine for myself. God's truth has set me free!

God's love. Before I can even grasp any sort of what love is I have to get to know Christ. Christ is love. And in that I can love who Christ made me to be. He made me in his creation, as a beautiful masterpiece. While I am not complete, each portion of the process is beautiful and Christ refines my heart and soul. For so long I was not willing to let God love me like I knew him to love others. I could believe God's power and strength to be sufficient in others lives but doubt him in my own... This was not okay. I did not feel I was worth it or I was good enough to believe in that for myself... Who put this lie in my head!! So I had to endure the process of putting my hope and trust in false things besides the glory of the Lord. Understanding God's unconditional and perfect love is what life is supposed to be. Love is scary, but it is so amazing, powerful, and transforming. Love gives freedom and purpose. Love is life. Christ is love. We were created for most importantly a relationship with him. But also in fellowship to interact, empower, to feel, to be, to smile, to cry, to laugh.

God's timing. I love knowing what is going to happen, planning things out so they work perfectly... but life is not perfect. sometimes we have to go with the flow and trust. After I experienced some major setbacks, I wanted things to be perfect instantly, I wanted to be free, I wanted to feel like myself again. I had always put on the facade that everything was okay... but this was far from the truth. But only the past couple months have I felt even close to the person I knew was inside of me. If it were up to me, it would have happened alot sooner. God has different gauge of timing. There was so much more I had to learn in the process. I had to give myself time to fully heal... which took alot longer than I thought it would have.

Be still and know that he is God. I have often struggled with finding the time to slow down and enjoy. It is so easy to fill your life with busyness and pouring out. I now know how much I need to be filled so I can continue to pour out The more time you spend with Christ the more you will know the heart of God and continue to be filled with his presence. I struggle with this all the time. Thinking of mary and martha, I am challenged to be still, to be in the present, to live in the moment. Sit in the presence of the Lord, There is a time and a place for everything... God is the Lord of all...

So here's to where God has brought me, where I am today, and his plan for my future.

Beyond your expectations

Excerpt from Fearless, by Max Lucado

They didn't expect Jesus to come to them this way.

Neither do we. We expect him to come in the form of peaceful hymns or Easter Sundays or quiet retreats. We expect to find Jesus in morning devotionals, church suppers, and meditations. We never expect to see him in a bear market, pink slip, lawsuit, foreclosure, or war. We never expect to see him in a storm. But it is in storms that he does his finest work, for it is in storms that he has our keenest attention.

Jesus replied to the disciples' fear with an invitation worthy of inscription on every church cornerstone and residential archway. "Don't be afraid, he said Take courage. I am here."

We cannot go where God is not. Look over your shoulder, that's God following you. Look into the storm, that's christ coming towards you.

His call to courage is not a call to naivete or ignorance. We aren't to be oblivious to the overwhelming challenges that life brings. We're to counterbalance them with long looks at God's accomplishments. " We must pay close attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it" (Heb 2:1). Do whatever it takes to keep your gaze on Jesus.

C.S. Lewis once wrote:

Faith... is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of the changing moods. For moods will

change, whatever view your reason takes. I know that by experience.

God is calling. It is time to follow. We cannot be afraid. We have to be fearless and willing. God is working. He is there. In the triumphs he is there. In the struggles he is there. How do you expect Jesus to come? Well look again, because he is beyond your expectations, he can do more than we can imagine. We cannot settle for less than Gods best. Look again. Look beyond. Look to Jesus.

Why can't we feel this way all the time... We are God's creation. He thinks we are beautiful. We can make a difference. We are worth it. Live it. Love it. Believe it.

Fearless: p. 26

Fear of insignificance creates the result it dreads, arrives at the destination it tries to avoid, facilitates the scenario it disdains. If a basketball player stands at the foul line repeating, "I'll never make the shot, I'll never make the shot," guess what? He'll never make the shot. If you pass your days mumbling, "I'll never make a difference, I'm not worth anything," guess what? You will be sentencing ourself to a life of gloom without parole.

Even more, you are disagreeing with God. Questioning his judgment. Second guessing his taste. Accoding to him you were "skillfully wrought" (Ps. 139:15) You were "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14). He can't stop thinking about you! If you could count his thoughts of you, "they would be more in number than the sand.

Why does he love you so much? The same reason the artist loves his painting or the boat builder loves his vessels. You are his idea. And God has only good ideas. "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" (Eph 2:10)