DNA

    I was sitting here today and started to think about how we all have our own DNA.  How absolutely AWESOME is that? Isn't God just amazing? Our own uniqueness. No one has the same DNA..not even identical twins! There is no other YOU. To me, it seems to me that God is always using natural things to help us better understand spiritual things and just how special we are to HIM. He is letting us know that He took His time to create each and every last one of us and make us uniquely special; different from anyone else on this earth, even our parents-especially our very own mothers who carried us and birthed us! To anyone out there that feels that they are not special...just think on THAT for a minute. To take it even further, not only did He create us as ONE OF A KIND, He also put a stamp of purpose on us that only we individually are called to fulfill. Sorta like our own special God given assignment. I heard my Pastor put it this way..it's like a puzzle. If one piece is missing, the puzzle is not complete. A puzzle is only complete when all the pieces are there and are put in the right place. All the pieces play a part and they are not the same.  If you put the pieces in the wrong place, the picture will be distorted. We are all important. We are all puzzle pieces to one big picture and that is the Kingdom of God. Wow...I feel so SPECIAL and LOVED after meditating on that...how about you?

Spiritual Temper Tantrum

    LOL! Wow...what a topic. I'm going to be very transparent here and confess my fault....I had one today! LOL! It was a serious "pout party" but at the same time when I got a mental picture of what I was doing...I couldn't help but smile. I've had a very specific thing up before the Lord for a long time! God has moved so much in my life these past months that I KNOW this thing is right around the corner...but, I have to confess, I don't wait well. God is dealing with me here. He's growing me up. When I feel like I have confirmation on a thing or if I'm believing God for something and REFUSE to believe anything else....I'm ready for it to happen NOW. LET'S GO! Wait? Process? What's that??  (don't judge me...LOL) Well, today was a frustrating day for me. I guess you can put that mildly. I was crying out to the Lord and as I was sitting there,  I began to imagine how the Lord must see me...like a child who throws a temper tantrum. Although I was sitting at my desk doing my work appearing to everyone around me that I was focused and getting the job done, on the inside I was kicking, screaming, crying and rolling around on the floor. I was acting just like a child who wants a toy that a parent has put on top of the refrigerator and told them they couldn't have it...YET. As I envisioned myself having this "Spiritual Temper Tantrum", I also imagined seeing the Lord standing beside me while I'm rolling all over the floor. He's looking down at me. He's tapping His foot. He has His hands on His hips, He's rolling His eyes and He is looking down at me shaking His head. LOL. As much as I was into my pout party, when I imagined this...I had to LAUGH and yes, get myself together. I thought about a natural parent telling their child "not yet", "you just have to wait" and the child is not satisfied with that answer. That parent probably said "wait until after dinner" or "wait until Christmas" which is next month or "wait until your birthday" which is a week later, or just a plain "wait" with no time frame-- but, they totally tune out the part "not yet" and just want it NOW. How many of us are guilty of that? (Be honest) You know God is going to answer your prayer. You are praying and believing Him for something. You have His confirmation but it's a "not yet" so instead of Thanking Him and Praising Him for what's to come, at times of difficulty or when it seems like its not going to happen, you have a fit.  As I sat there and turned these thoughts over and over in my head...along with what happens when a child CONTINUES to throw this tantrum and the parent gets fed up with it, I QUICKLY checked myself then. (Plus, I was imagining myself just as I was.. a 41yr old woman having a fit...not pretty..even spiritually speaking, not pretty at all...LOL)  I had to repent and ask the Lord to forgive me. I began to just sit there and humble myself and pray. I began to praise Him again just for being who He is and for being such a GOOD, UNDERSTANDING, PATIENT PARENT. He loves us so much.

Discovering The "Real" You.....

    I know we have all heard the quotes "To thine own self be true..." and "know thyself". Lord knows I've heard those quotes hundreds of times...but, I never thought of them as something to really meditate on..but, to many of us, that might be a good thing to do. We all get so caught up in being wives, husbands, parents, whatever our occupation is, caregivers, children, our hobbies, our service, Pastor's wives, Pastor's husbands, etc.. It just seems like we have so many "things" that we are required to be that sometimes, we lose track of who we really are. It's all about the cause and looking the part. Our identity becomes what we do instead of "who we are". We become like legalistic little robots.  I've been so many things for so many others for so many years that I've lost track of who I am and who God has really called me to be. Who is Hope? What does she like? who is she? I'd failed to "know myself". How many of us suffer from this same malady? I've found myself seeking God on an even deeper level on who He's called me to be and what He's called me to do and...guess what? It's exciting! But, get ready! As you go deeper and grow closer, He will let you know what "things" you're doing that are time wasters and are not productive. There will also be people that you've been around for so long and all of a sudden, your conversations get shorter and shorter because you realize that you don't have as much in common anymore. You're going to have to be true to yourself and realize what's working and what's not and be led by God on what to step away from and then, be brave enough to do it with His help. It's not easy(especially if you are a "high profile" person)  But, it's all part of the process and we have to be willing to go through it in order to have the fulfilling life that God has called us to. As those "empty" things and relationships are shed from us, God is now able to put those things in us that will glorify Him and make us whole. We move from being Robots to being profitable stewards and servants of the Most High!
      As an ending thought, I remember the story of Mary and Martha. (Luke 10:38-42) As I read this, I thought about how we get so busy running to and from like chickens with our heads cut off. Going here and there to get this done, to get that done, to fix this, to fix that...just all over the place doing THINGS in our own strength, making ourselves dizzy..but Mary sat at the foot of Jesus. I really and truly believe that if Martha had chosen as Mary did and sat at the foot of Jesus as well and spent time with Him, in the end, everything still would've been accomplished...just without the stress. There is just something about putting Jesus first that makes everything else afterward fall into place........

A Deeper Understanding....

Wow...My last post was Dec.6th but God has not stopped amazing me! He has graciously given me clarity to a part of my vision that I had back in Dec. which I posted in my blog and of course, the way He did it was BIG because He is such a BIG GOD! This past weekend, my sister in law asked me to attend a Glory Meeting with her in Georgia. I wanted to go but my flesh QUICKLY kicked in because I had been out of town the previous weekend as well. BUT, Spiritual HUNGER overrode my fatigue so...OFF I WENT! It turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made. When we got to the location where the Glory meeting was held, we walked right in and began to worship. There was such a sweet spirit in that place! It is amazing to me how you can walk into a room where no one knows you and you know no one but the Spirit of God makes you one happy family! We were not even there 15 min when a sweet,older lady came and sat down beside me and began to minister to me. (this is where you might want to stop and read my blog from Dec.6!) She began to share with me how she saw me seated at a table with a gold plate, fork, spoon, knife in front of me(in my vision, it looked silver..but hey..)she said in a glass/goblet was the finest, sweetest wine. NOT the wine that the world gives but the wine the Lord gives. she said all around me was the finest of steaks, grapes, food and the Lord was saying for me to EAT OF HIM, DRINK OF HIM...He sees how hungry I am for Him. She also went on to say that He has heard EVERY ONE of my prayers and He is going to answer them! (refer to blog when I said I lifted the lid of the platter and all my prayers were under it. He let me know that He heard and kept every one) Oh my Goodness! If this was not MY LORD speaking to me....! It was the most amazing thing and all I could feel was His Love wash over me all over again! She said other significant, confirming, encouraging things to me but how AMAZING it was that I told NO ONE about this encounter with my Lord. I only published it in this blog....then, MONTHS later..travel 5 1/2 hours from my home to have someone share with me exactly what I saw and even bring more clarity to what I was seeing! What confirmation! Such a humbling encounter!  What praise belongs to our God! We are SO important to Him! During the entire fellowship, the Lord continued to show Himself in so many, many ways. It was a life changing, humbling experience and we both went away hungry for more of JESUS! I encourage you...Seek Him on a DEEPER level! Get to KNOW Him. Desire more of the Lord...don't just be satisfied with weekly church services, go DEEPER, seek HARDER for there is more to the Lord than we think and He is just WAITING AND LONGING for us to come and fellowship with HIM!  He loves us so much! I assure you...as you and I seek Him, He will change us from the inside out to be more like Him. We will find VICTORY in every area of our lives and we will see the promises of the Lord come to pass! Be Blessed!!