Encouragement – A Woman Standing

You Never Know

Nearly a year ago, I received a phone call from an old coworker and friend I had not spoken to for several years. It had been so long I was surprised to see their name pop up on my caller ID.

The conversation began lighthearted, with lots of details about all the ways our lives had changed since we last saw one another, but soon the individual began telling me about frustrations and disappointments they had been dealing with, from work to personal life. We ended up talking for over an hour. Eventually, I asked if I could pray for them.

Over the past year we have text back and forth a couple times and had one or two short phone calls. Several days ago they text me asking if we could catch up so we set up a phone call for the following day.

Like any call, we started by just talking about our lives, but the individual soon told me they wanted to talk because they had something to tell me.

“When I called you a year ago, I was in a bad place,” they said. “The Lord put it on my heart to call you,” they paused. “I feel like I can tell you this now since I am in a much better place, but that day I called you I had multiple thoughts of suicide.”

Faith And Delivery

While talking with a friend this morning about faith, words came out of my mouth I had never thought before:

“Faith is like giving birth.”

Even while the words left my lips I thought, “what the heck does that even mean?” God, fortunately, gave me clarity.

Most women, including myself, get to a point in the delivery room when they think, or say out loud in my case, I just can’t do this anymore!

Overwhelming

This morning, I received the link to a sermon of one of my clients preaching at a church near me with a comment on how good the teaching was.

This made me start thinking about my client and all I have seen “firsthand” while working for his ministry as a communications contractor. The more I thought about all I have seen, heard, witnessed, and experienced, the more astounded I became at how much God can do with one individual when that person lets go of all limitations and allows God to truly be all He can be in our lives.

In just 20 years, God took this man from an on the road preacher, visiting small mountain towns and hardly bringing in enough money to pay the bills, to a globally known teacher who gives away millions of dollars every year.

How? The man stopped placing limitations on the Lord.

Casting You Cares

Last night, I became entangled with concerns for my company. One of our clients hasn’t been responding to emails, has missed meetings and hasn’t done a single thing we’ve asked of them in order to properly fulfill our contractual obligations. Payment is due Friday, but we haven’t received a reply to any of the three emails we’ve sent regarding their invoice.

As I thought about this while trying to fall asleep, my mind began to wander to other clients and soon thoughts of “what if” crept in. What if this client isn’t happy with the work we’ve provided, what if that client is frustrated with what we suggested they do, what if they decide not to extend their contract, what if my company falls apart…on and on my mind circled around all the things that could possibly go wrong. Pretty soon I was in such a state of anxiety I was nearly in tears and knew sleep wouldn’t come any time soon.

Right as I was about to reach for the lamp, the Lord said to me, “you aren’t casting your cares on me.”

The Power Of Our Words

Sometimes, God shows us just how powerful our words are and how important it is to cover every aspect of our lives in prayer.

Recently, my husband, who owns his own company, has had an awful experience with one of his sub-contractors. The project his company has been working on since May, one of the biggest projects they’ve done so far, was supposed to be finalized by June 21. Unfortunately, the sub-contractor was unable to provide the promised materials by the agreed upon date, so the project was pushed back 5 days, then 7, 10, 15…finally, the sub-contractor said they will not be able to provide the materials until sometime in August!

Clearly, this has caused stress for my husband, and myself. This project was more than just one single job, it was the beginning of multiple opportunities with the client, a very valuable, and influential, resource in the industry my husband works in. Since my husband is the primary contractor it’s his name on the line and his company is the one suffering and whose name has been tarnished. To be weeks late has truly been devastating.

Simple

We live in a very complex and confusing world. What was once right is now wrong and what was once truth is now purely opinion. Different perspectives and beliefs bombard us on all fronts making it difficult to know what to believe, say, think. This bombardment of false information and new “truths” has complicated things to such a degree it is truly overwhelming.

Lately, I have been faced with frustrations and disappointments, resulting in my attitude not being what it should be. I was shorter than usual and found myself getting annoyed with even the smallest things. I realized something was off but just didn’t know how to deal with it. One morning in prayer, I asked God to help me, for Him to send me to a verse that I could stand on and make my own. I opened my bible and sure enough God took me exactly where I needed to go. I began reading the verses He gave me every day and since then everything has been – simple.

My attitude is lighter, my perspective is cheerful and my overall view on life and all that is happening around me is far more optimistic.

One More Lap

I have had many conversations with different people who are all experiencing the same thing: a frustration with the waiting. Waiting for a career change, waiting for an answered prayer, waiting for their special someone, waiting for the door to open, waiting, waiting, waiting for God to move.

Yesterday, while talking to a friend about this topic, I said something that struck me so much that I have been thinking about it ever since:

Sometimes, God needs us to take another lap around the desert before we are ready to go into our promised land.

You see, God isn’t going to let us walk into a land we are not ready for, even though we may feel like we’ve been ready for a long time. The Israelites had a year long journey from Egypt to Canaan. God had them take a longer route in order to purge them of everything Egypt had tainted them with. When they arrived, Egypt was still very much in them, and they weren’t ready to enter. They felt ready, believed they were ready, wanted to go in and eat of the fruit, but God told them no, therefore they walked around the desert for an additional 40 years.

It Is Finished

[Repost]

The weight of the Lord’s sacrifice does not escape me. I feel it now as I
sit here. He gave everything for us, for me, people He did not yet know but
already loved, loved enough to hand over the most important thing in not only
the world, but in all the universes and all the worlds, in all the ages and all
the eras.

When Adam and Eve fell, God watched the fall from Heaven, His heart falling
alongside them. How could they do it, He probably wondered. I
created them to be above all, yet they desired to be beneath. They want the
world more than they want me. In a moment, He made a plan, for there only
was one way to get humanity out of the problem they created for themselves.

Continue reading “It Is Finished”

Get Thee Up

It’s been several weeks since I’ve written anything, but this morning I felt inspired to finally pull out my laptop and write what God has placed on my heart.

While praying for the Remnant I saw a camp with soldiers resting throughout. Some were sitting up, others were laying down, but it was clear everyone within the camp was recovering from an exhausting battle.

I then saw a Captain begin to walk throughout the camp and tell the soldiers that the time of recuperation was about to end and they were going to be sent back into the fight, for the battle was still raging not far away.

I then thought of Joshua. Right in the beginning of the book God tells Joshua,

“My servant Moses is dead; now, therefore, arise.” -Joshua 1:2

God Is Good

Lately, hearing the Lord’s voice and seeing His plan has become every increasingly more difficult. There is a heavy blanket of weariness and sadness upon the Remnant, myself included. We have prayed, we have fasted, we have fought, we have stood, we are still standing, yet it seems our actions bore no fruit, as if the enemy won and the Lord’s children will disappear silently into the night.

While going to God with these feelings and concerns a single thought pierced through the chaos which has lately become my mind: God is good.

We, as Christians, all know these words and repeat them with little thought of the power within them. But, when we are in the middle of the fire, walking through the waters, bombarded by the wind and the waves, surrounded by darkness and can’t see the light, we have to ask ourselves if we truly believe in the sincerity of those three simple words, if we, individually, honestly believe God Is Good.

I Hear The Sound: Re-post

Two years ago to the day I wrote the below post. It is just as inspiring and encouraging today as it was when it was originally written.

I hope it helps you today. Know the rain is coming.

~~~

The world shouts to the skies when it becomes desperate for rain. The world waits, never knowing when the waters will come, but knowing they must come.

The winds dance, the trees sway, the flowers bloom, the birds sing, the tides rise, all in reverence to their Maker, in obedience to His word.

If all of the world bows to His word, so will I.

If everything around me believes the sun will shine, the moon will rise, the rain will fall, then so shall I.

In The Gap

Recently, in my alone time with the Lord, I’ve been telling Him I am in need of prayer and encouragement. There have been several things on my heart I couldn’t quite talk about with other Christians, so these matters have been mulling around in my head and I found I could only put them into words while in the presence of God.

Have you ever been there? As if you have a whole list of prayer requests, yet you find yourself unable to bring them up with other believers?

Well, last Friday, the Lord took my list and went through them one by one, and all I had to do was sit on the couch and listen.

There Is Freedom

This time of quarantine has been difficult. I don’t believe there is a person in the world unimpacted by what is happening around the globe right now. Although it seems as if our world has been flipped upside down and our norms are now abnormal, I believe the greatest difficulty many are struggling with is the heaviness that accompanies depression.

The spirit of despair is wreaking havoc on our population. Men, women and children all around the globe are struggling with thoughts of uncertainty, pointlessness, sadness and, worst of all, suicide.

This spirit is a heavy and aggressive one. It creeps into your mind like a silent predator and over time becomes bigger and bigger, often getting to a point where the spirit is greater than the circumstance. Things that once seemed small become monsters in our minds. Issues that were manageable become uncontrollable and daily matters that accompany life are suddenly too heavy to carry.

Peace Be Still

Those are the words ringing in my ears.

As the waves crash around us, our Lord says Be Still

As the wind howls against us, our Lord says Be Still

As the rain beats upon us, our Lord says Be Still

God’s Got Us

Over the past several days I’ve been battling the things the devil is so clearly trying to attack humanity with.

Every time I coughed, he’d whisper, “uh oh, are you getting sick?”

If I sneezed, he’d say, “this is the beginning of the symptoms.”

If I was cold, he’d laugh, “maybe you should stay away from everyone.”

Although I am not fearful of this virus, I’ve been continually declaring healing verses over myself and constantly rebuking the enemy. Frankly, it’s been pretty exhausting.

Yesterday afternoon, I read Psalm 91. Although the entire Psalm is powerful, 9-10 heavily hit my spirit;

“because though hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall you, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.”