living small

‎2 Corinthians 6:12, 13 MSG
"We didn't fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren't small, but you're living them in a small way. I'm speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!" 

I find this to be such an interesting verse. I have to say, I think most people live like this too! I think that we limit what we think we can do, or we limit what we think God can do through us! If we look in the Bible we see big, HUGE things being done for God. What if people said "I cant do that!" and never did! Some did say "I cant do that" but they went through and tried and God used them in a great way! The difference is this: we say we cant, and we DON'T! We leave it at I cant and don't even try! God says to do  something and we don't because we think that WE cannot do it! Well, without God you might not be able to, but with God all things are possible! Our lives are not meant to be small! God wants us to do great things for the kingdom of God! It says that the smallness comes from within US! It doesn't come from God, but we make ourselves believe we can only do small and that we can't do big. It says to "open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!" This life can be more that what meets the eye. It can be bigger than we imagined. We can do more than we thought. We can do this through Jesus Christ. God is the one who puts the hopes and dreams in us. It is HIM who puts the talents and abilities in us! We just need to be open to using them with all our might! 

I think that this is one portion that I needed to read! I live small. I don't think I have many gifts, abilities or talents. I need to see that God has something that He wants me to accomplish, that He has goals for me, that He sees me greater than I see me. I know that I have some sort of ability, I just need to find it, and then not discredit what God has placed inside me either. I think that we discredit what God places in us more times than not. We need to walk in the plans that God has for us. We need to run with it! We need to start seeing the BIG in life, and in our ministries! I know that my husband has big visions and at times we just don't know how it will all come. We cant discredit those big visions for our ministries, God placed them in us, and we need to do our part to see them come to pass. One of the ways to do that is to remember this verse! "your lives are't small, but your living them in a small way!" Don't live inside yourself, if you do you will probably be living smaller than God wants you to be living. Fix your eyes on HIM and His vision for your life and you will see great things happen. God wants to do big, we just have to stop living small, and stop living like God doesn't want to do anything anymore! 

Acceptable thoughts/words

    14      Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
          Be acceptable in Your sight,
          O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer.
Psalm 19:14

This has been a prayer of mine. I think that it should be a prayer of every Christian. We should all strive for this. We should all want acceptable thoughts and words. A lot of times it can be the opposite. At times we beat up ourselves with bad thoughts and words, and at times we beat up others with bad thoughts and words. We need to pay attention to our thoughts and words and keep checking how they are affecting us. Today I needed this verse. At times I can beat myself up with my thoughts, and eventually I start beating myself up with my words. It is only when I realize what I am doing and ask God to change my thinking to the way HE looks and sees me. I know God sees me as His child but at times I don't see myself like that. We need to change our pessimistic thoughts to optimistic GOD thoughts! When we start asking God to help us control our thoughts and words, we start to see a difference in our attitude and how we see life and how we see ourselves. We are God's children, we are blessed by Him, He loves us, He forgives us, He wants us to live a life of freedom! Turn those thoughts and words into acceptable thoughts in GODS sight!!! He is our strength and our redeemer!!!

Choices.

Deuteronomy 30:19

New International Reader's Version (NIRV)

 ¹⁹ I'm calling for heaven and earth to give witness against you this very day. I'm offering you the choice of life or death. You can choose either blessings or curses. But I want you to choose life. Then you and your children will live.

Life is full of choices! Daily you are faced with choices! From the moment we wake up we are faced with some kind of choice. What will we wear? What will we eat? And so on. What do we do when we are faced with some really hard choices? How do we handle the hard things that come our way? When the hard choices of life come, I think that the verse above is one of the best things to remember. Is this choice a good one? Is it taking me closer or farther from God? Will it cause a life or death? Will it bring me a blessing or a curse?
I have to say, that we think that some of the little choices in life are not that big of a deal, but I think that we need to base all of our choices on this. Bad choices can cause emotional, spiritual or bodily destruction for us or others. I think that even when it comes down to what to wear or what to eat, some think its a little thing that wont affect anyone in anyway. I beg to differ. I think that if we choose to wear something more revealing opposed to something modest we could cause someone to fall. I think that when we choose a wrong thing to eat over a healthy option, it can cause bodily harm. We need to know that even small choices in life matter. Our choices affect us and others more than we think or know. We need to start thinking about our choices and the effect that it could have on us or others around us, myself included. I know that I love food and sweets are a huge downfall for me at times. I need to keep this verse in my head and think about what it could do to my body and how much healthier I could be if I had fruit instead. I need to know that if I keep choosing to fill my body (temple of God) with junk that my health will go down, and could potentially get to a place that is life threatening and that could effect my family. There are "bigger" choices as well that we make from time to time that could have an impact on our lives and we need to be able to choose the option of LIFE! Sometimes we need to make a hard choice to keep going towards life and the blessing that God has for us in life! The easy way out isn't always the best and we need to be able to do the hard work and find the blessing that God has for us in the end!! CHOOSE LIFE!!!

1 Peter 4:8-11: ⁸Most important of all, you must sincerely love each other, because love wipes away many sins.

    ⁹Welcome people into your home and don't grumble about it.

    ¹⁰Each of you has been blessed with one of God's many wonderful gifts to be used in the service of others. So use your gift well. ¹¹If you have the gift of speaking, preach God's message. If you have the gift of helping others, do it with the strength that God supplies. Everything should be done in a way that will bring honor to God because of Jesus Christ, who is glorious and powerful forever. Amen.

Apologize bye 33miles


It's been going on for so long
All the words we said wrong way back then
And I still hear them all in my head
It keeps playing over and over again
I can't run, I can't hide, it don't matter how hard I try
To move on, but...

I don't want to leave it, bury it and forget it
I've already wasted so much time
Can't wait another moment, am I all out of chances
For you to believe it's on my mind
I've gotta let go of my pride and apologize

I thought I would never let go
Never thought I could know what it's like
To wake up, holding what I gave up
After all this time still trying to find
What it is to forgive even when it isn't that easy
So please believe me, 'cause...

If I caused you pain, I will take the blame
You can put it on me
If I broke your heart, if I left a scar
Let me say I'm sorry

I've gotta let go of my pride
And apologize


I think that we all (christian and non) say that we have had a hard time forgiving someone of something. One thing I had to face was this idea of BIBLICAL apology. "What do you mean by that?" you ask... Well, in life we say, I have forgiven someone of something but then you bring it up in your head or you throw the wrong that someone did to you back in their face. I try not to do the latter, but i know that at times I have in my head brought it back up. I at times don't mean to, but it can be a struggle not to. I have faced the fact that we have forgiveness wrong. We do it when it is convenient to us and we bring it back up when it is convenient to us! 
Some of us have held on to hurts from others for way to long! Some of us cannot even remember why there was a fight to begin with. Most of the time it is a pride issue that gets in the way. "Well it was them that caused ME pain so why should I apologize??" When we take this stance, most times, it will never be resolved. Sometimes we need to be the bigger person and take the steps toward reconciliation and apologize for anything that We might have done wrong. We need to forgive also like God forgives! LET IT GO, LEAVE IT BEHIND (let the past stay in the past) and BURY IT! God puts our wrongs in the sea of forgetfulness! meaning HE LETS IT GO AND FORGETS THE WRONG! We need to be able do this for others but for ourselves and our walk with God! Being able to let go of our pride and say your sorry is a huge step in the right direction. Likewise, being able to accept that apology and forgive the way God does, is another huge thing! Be willing to let go and let God! Forgive and forget! Let go of pride and apologize! These thing will take your walk with God so much closer, and can also help the other person get closer to God as well! God wants unity among people! How can we have unity if we wont apologize? How can we have unity if we wont forgive the way God does? 

His strength

2 Corinthians 12:9 (ERV)

⁹ But the Lord said, “My grace is all you need. Only when you are weak can everything be done completely by my power.” So I will gladly boast about my weaknesses. Then Christ’s power can stay in me.

This verse has been my verse for the day. I have heard it a few times on the radio, a few different posts on Facebook, and I know that God is speaking to me on this! Yesterday was a harder day. I felt so weak in body! I woke with one of the worst headaches of my life. I was hurting but as mom you still have a lot of things that you are responsible for during the day, especially the morning and getting kids ready for school. I couldn't get everything done that I wanted because of I was feeling Blah all day, and then it was a beautiful day and I had 3 who wanted to go outside and play. Also with 2 at the age of 2, you seem to chase after them cleaning up their messes. So it just wasn't a day that was ideal for getting everything done. By the end of the day, I felt done, and wanted to sit, but still had things I needed to do. I felt so bad that I couldn't get it done and that I didn't do a few things that evening. It really was eating at me. I was telling myself that I need a break and rest too, but we put a lot of strain on ourselves to get everything done and in. I know I am not perfect and I try so hard but still end up failing and falling short, it seems. I was definitely reminded of this verse today and know that yes, I am weak but God will show himself strong even when at my weakest! Yesterday wasn't my weakest day to date, but it reminded me that He got me through harder times and He can get me through this little thing. Being weak in body is never fun and makes everything harder when your a mom, but God gives us the strength to get through what we need to! I love  how this version says this verse! "Only when you are weak can everything be done completely by MY power!" It is OK to be weak because then God's strength and might and power can shine through even on the darkest, or hardest situations! God knows that we are human and that we get weak at times. That is why He wrote this verse! To let us know, "Hey I know that from time to time you get down, you get weak, but rely on MY power and MY strength! I will show you what I can do through it!" We serve and amazing God! He is truly a good God who loves us and shows us His love through His word. I am so happy that I don't serve a God who requires strength at all times, because I know that everyone gets down, and that everyone feels weak and like they just cant go on. It is during these times of weakness that we can fully rely on HIM and HIS strength! He will get the job done! We need to be willing to rely on HIM completely! Memorize this verse and keep it close to your heart! It will come in handy when you feel weak and like you can't go on! Say this verse to yourself when you are feeling at your lowest or weakest! He will give you the strength you need and show His might through it! His glory will shine through even during your weak times! 

trust HIM

Proverbs 3:5-6 
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

Trust, what a word! The definition of this word is "Firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something". For some this is a hard thing to do! Some have put themselves out there and returned with nothing but hurt. Some have tried trusting many times and now are afraid to trust. Some don't trust just because they don't believe they can trust anyone! Its a sad thing, but many cannot trust or fear trusting. We need to know that there is someone who we can trust who is perfect, who will never leave us or forsake us, who will love us no matter what we do! HE is the one we can put our trust in! 

Once we get to a place of trusting, we need to trust God with ALL our heart! That can be a step of faith for most, But we need to know that trusting God will not come back void! The verse then goes on to say to NOT lean on our own understanding. Why is that? Our understanding is very limited! The God of the universe understands everything in the universe! There is NO ONE in this world right now who can say that! Our knowledge is limited! It will always be limited. That is why we need to trust in God who knows everything and who can lead us perfectly in the way we should go! If we rely on our own understanding, we wont get far, but when we start trusting God and leaning on HIS understanding, He will take us farther than we ever thought or imagined! 

The next part says to acknowledge HIM in all our ways! In everything we do we should be pointing to HIM! Another version says this: "Trust the LORD completely, and don’t depend on your own knowledge. ⁶ With every step you take, think about what he wants, and he will help you go the right way."

With every step you take, think about what HE wants! Think about His will for your life, and if what you are doing is glorifying HIM! It is when we start thinking about what He wants that we see our life becoming more fulfilled, more purpose shining through, more things working together better! It says that "He will make your paths straight" or "He will help you go the right way!" When we put our focus on Him and what He wants us to do, there is no way He wont lead! He helps us go the right way when we start listening to what He wants from us! 

Be willing to trust God and lean on His understanding of life what He wants you to do and not your own! Trust that He has a good plan for your life! (Jeremiah 29:11). Know that when you follow Him, He will lead you to a place of purpose and fulfillment for your life!