My Big God

Walking through the valleys and storms is never easy. We long for and want those mountain top experiences. Lately it seems that so many that are dear to me (myself included) are walking through the valley right now. It is so hard when walking in the midst of a storm to not become fearful or anxious. We play and entertain the "What ifs" and fear moves in and makes itself at home, wrecking havoc in our lives.

Fear is completely Satan's playground. He loves to keep us up at night, ruin our days and make us miserable.

A friend of my husband's, Dave O'Farrell, recently encouraged people to "declare independence from the things of this world and to declare our dependence on God Almighty". I love this!!! God in His graciousness and love and mercy will see each and every one of us through the storms.

Check out this awesome promise:
"For I am the LORD, your God,
who takes hold of your right hand
and says to you, Do not fear;
I will help you." Isaiah 41:13

I just read the verse for the first time recently. I love it!!! God is walking with us hand-in-hand telling us to not be fearful, HE will help us!!!! It is time to stand up and with the Lord fight against the fear and the what ifs and the anxious thoughts that so easily paralyze us

This all reminds me of a song we sing in Children's Church..."My God is so big, so strong, and so mighty, and there is NOTHING my God cannot do." We do have a HUGE God and we must stand and fight and war against the fear and allow God to work on our behalf.

It's time to stopping complaining about how big our storm is, and to start telling the storm how big our God is. Dave O'Farrell

Storms

I guess I am on a roll with the storms lately. Stumbled upon this YouTube video. It ministered to me and I hope it ministers to you with the storms you may be facing.



Much love and peace to you today!

Walking on Water

Last night as we were taking a boat ride, the water was calm and the breeze was pleasant. Very relaxing after a very stressful few days. But within a matter of seconds the skies grew dark, the water became very choppy and we started seeing lightening streaks all across the sky. It was pretty scary as we raced for home and safety to beat out the impending storm.

I've been thinking a lot about storms lately, as we walk through this one in our lives. I've always been a tad scared of storms. The loud, booming thunder, freaky lightening strikes, tree-bending wind. Not my idea of a fun time. I am so much more about sunshine and bright blue skies. But storms are a normal occurrence in our weather patterns and in our daily lives.

Once the disciples were out on their boat rowing across the Sea of Galilee. They had just witnessed a miracle as Jesus took 5 loaves and 2 fish and fed 5,000 and actually had baskets of food left over. As the disciples set out across the lake, Jesus stayed behind to pray. Sometime during the night a storm came up on the water. The wind was fiercely blowing and the rowing got much more difficult. Many of the disciples were fishermen who understood the water and the weather. This part of the Galilean Sea was accustomed to strong storms suddenly appearing. Around 3am, Jesus began to walk across the water to the disciples on their boat as they rowed. The disciples thinking they were surely seeing a ghost of some type began to understandably panic(how often do our most all-consuming fears happen in the dead of night in those early morning hours??).

Jesus called out to them and said to not be afraid. At this point with his eyes on Jesus, Peter calls out and says, "Lord, if it is you, tell me to come to you on the water." In that moment Peter doesn't even seem to be aware there is a storm. His eyes are only focused on the Lord Jesus. Jesus tells Peter to come to him and Peter gets out of the boat and walks on the water. Now the storm is raging. The water is churning, rough, white-capped. The wind fiercely blowing. And yet Peter walks on THAT water. Then Peter does what most of us do in the midst of a storm, he takes his eyes of Jesus and focuses in on the storm, the circumstances, the predicament and he begins to sink. Probably pretty rapidly!! (at least I sink fast when looking at my circumstances!).

But at this point Peter does what we all should do, when we are sinking, he cries out "Lord, save me!!!". And the Bible says IMMEDIATELY Jesus reached out his hand and caught him!!! Jesus then says, "You of little faith, Why did you doubt?" Jesus was right there the whole time and if only Peter had kept his focus on Him instead of the storm.

I've been thinking about this story a lot these last few days as we are in the midst of a fierce storm, not knowing when it will end or how we will make it. It is absolutely only as I keep my eyes focused on Jesus, on HIS promises, HIS character, HIS love that I can and am walking on water. I can't for one moment take my eyes off of HIM or surely I will rapidly sink.

So as I write this I really wish and pray we weren't having to go through this right now. I wish I didn't have to experience the storm. I'd love nothing better than blue skies, rainbows and sunshine.... But getting to walk on water with my Lord is incredible and amazing!!!!

Are you Embracing Change or just Facing it????

Change is in the air....It seems like so many friends are experiencing life-changing events. Some good, some not so good. But change is happening.

With the changes come many different reactions to the change. Our attitudes determine so much of how the change will effect us. I wonder as we experience change are we planting our feet, setting our body and facing the change as one would as they hold on tight in the midst of a wind storm or are we opening our arms up and embracing the change. We choose the attitude that we will have towards the change and that makes all the difference.

Facing the change is fighting against it. Fear, negativity and frustration set in. The "whys" rear their ugly head. Why can't things stay the way they were? Why do I have to change jobs? Why do we have to move? Why do I have to go through this? We're bracing ourselves for a mighty storm and we aren't the least bit happy about it. And as we fight against the change, we get hurt!


Embracing the change is completely different. With the embracing comes excitement. Life is an adventure and we don't know what is around the next bend, but we do know God is in the change. We're on the roller coaster of life, sitting up front as the car makes its assent with our arms raised high, squealing all the way. Sure our stomach flips for a moment and our breath occasionally leaves us, but we are excited to see what is around the next bend.

As we face change, be it good, bad or indifferent, we will face many emotions and that's fine. Being sad, frustrated or even a little scared in the moment the change is occurring is normal. But maintaining an attitude that is sad, frustrated and fearful acts like a layer of icy water that freezes us to the core causing us irreparable damage that keeps us from being able to move forward at all.

Change WILL happen in our lives. As Heraclitus said, "The only thing constant in life is change." How we handle the change and the attitude we adopt in the midst of it all determines where we go from there.

Purposing to Embrace change and not just face it!!!!!

Life is Change, Growth is optional....Choose wisely....Karen Clark