I usually like to start my blog posts with a scripture or quote… Today I decided to share on of my poems with you. I hope that this poem will inspire and encourage you if you can read and relate in any way. I will also include (as I usually do…lol) a youtube video that really touched me. Finally let me pray for you today…
Dear God,
In the name of Jesus I come to you on behalf of the person reading this today. I pray for wholeness of heart, mind, body, soul, and spirit. Save the lost Daddy and bring them home to you today. Please heal them of every illness and set them free to live the life you have willed for them to live. Bring them to a place of complete surrender where only you alone can be their God and cast down every idol in Your precious name. Thank you God for your faithfulness in answering our prayers. You are awesome and we are so blessed to be Yours. We love you ❤
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1 NKJV)
Are you afraid of your feelings? Afraid that you may drown in your overwhelming emotions? Do you bottle up your feelings because the thought of the pain that comes with feeling is too much to handle? I can relate!
I used to fall on either extreme of bottling up my feelings or drowning in them. I’m happy to say that even though I can be sensitive, I express my feelings in a much healthier way now. I’m no longer afraid of feeling because it may hurt. It’s actually quite relieving to experience the pain because in doing so I can be free to experience healing and move forward.
Maybe you’re wondering what changed for me… Well truthfully I began to feel safe when I entered into a relationship with God through His Son Jesus. I knew that I was no longer alone and that I didn’t have to be afraid anymore. My emotions may have felt bigger than me, but they definitely weren’t bigger than my God. He could handle them. I had to surrender everything over to Him especially my broken heart. The more I poured my heart and soul out to Him the more healing I experienced.
I guess you could say that if it wasn’t for my FAITH in God I’d most likely still be bottling up my feelings or exploding and drowning in a sea of emotions. I highlight the word faith because sometimes it literally feels like your feelings and emotions are at odds with your faith. It’s a battle that requires looking up, and despite what we’re feeling, holding onto our faith. The truth of God’s promises are so vital for when we are going through a battle of our feelings vs. our faith.
Sometimes in my efforts to be pious, I shy away from fully expressing to God what I’m really feeling as though it would be displeasing to Him. An example of this would be when I’m feeling lonely in my singlehood and my heart is longing to be with my future husband. At first I think that if I admit that I’m feeling sad and lonely that God would see that as me being dissatisfied in my relationship with Him, or as lack of faith on my part in that God wouldn’t provide for my desire. Fortunately, I realize the truth that He cares about every detail and that nothing is a surprise to Him. He knows my heart and He’s aware of my pain. The Bible says that He is close to the broken hearted. That is so comforting!
Though I’m an imperfect, sinful human being, He perfectly heals the brokenness of my heart and helps me to feel and express in a safe and healthy way. I’ve entrusted my heart to the one who created it. I encourage you to do the same.
If you’re reading this and you want to ask Jesus to be your Lord and Saviour then with a sincere heart please pray the following prayer out loud since Romans 10:9 says that, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved”:
Dear Jesus,
I confess that I am a sinner in need of a Saviour. I believe that you are Lord and that God raised You from the dead. Please forgive me of all of my sins and fill me with your Holy Spirit. I receive Your gift of eternal life and I thank You for saving me. It is my desire to follow You all the days of my life and to do Your will. Please deliver me, heal and restore me. In Jesus name I pray, Amen ❤
Have you ever felt like you’ve fallen outside of God’s grace? You’ve messed up, done something wrong, sinned against your Everything, the very One who gives you your life and breath, your true love.
It can be difficult to get back up after you’ve fallen especially when you’ve tripped yourself. It’s easy to beat yourself up and start to believe the lies that the enemy wants you to believe. It’s easy to stay down because it’s comfortable, it takes no effort to stay down.
I’ve fallen, and I’ve stayed down long enough to realize that if I don’t get up and run back to the arms of my Saviour then I’m just giving up on everything that His Love has accomplished for me. I would be throwing away my inheritance. His free gift to me of His grace which He shed His very own blood to give me.
The bible says that the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I realize that while I may have messed up, he jumped on that opportunity to steal my joy and excitement and to kill my dreams and destroy my relationship with God. I refuse to give up and instead I give in and surrender to Jesus and I cry out to Him and ask Him for a hand to help me get back up. I don’t need to stay down – it’s a choice – I choose to trust in the love and forgiveness of God. I don’t even have to get back up by myself because He is there to give me a hand and through His strength I am able to get back up and move forward.
If you’ve fallen and need a hand getting back up please join me in this prayer:
Dear God,
You are awesome and faithful. You are love and I am so thankful for your mercy and grace. Father I cry out to you in repentance for the sins that I have committed. Jesus I believe in my heart and I confess with my mouth that you are Lord and you alone have the power to save me and set me free from sin and death. Please have mercy on me and forgive me for my sins. Please create a clean heart in me and restore my fellowship with you. Please fill me with your Holy Spirit and help me to walk in your will for my life. Lord I surrender all of me to you including my emotions, my guilt, my shame and I ask that you renew me. Please restore my joy and excitement so that I may live life with anticipation of your goodness while trusting in your promises. I love you Lord and I thank you for your forgiveness and salvation. Please draw me closer to you Lord and please protect me from the enemy and help me to sin no more. Thank you Lord. In the precious name of Jesus I pray, Amen ❤
“And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2Corinthians 12:9)
I was so encouraged by a conversation that I had today with a dear friend who God has recently brought into my life. We discovered that we both share something in common – we’ve both been diagnosed with serious mental illness and have experienced many similar symptoms. As we encouraged one another on the phone today we both shared our desire to not over sleep and to be able to just get out of bed and face the day. It may seem like a simple enough task, but to someone that has struggled with the effects of mental illness it can seem like moving a mountain to get out of bed. Therefore it takes faith because without it mountains cannot be moved – it’s physically impossible! So as we were speaking I was blessed with a wonderful idea to write us a love letter from God that we would read everyday upon waking up to encourage us to get out of bed despite how we may feel.
I’ve decided to post and share the letter in case there is anyone reading this who can relate. Please feel free to copy it and use it for yourself or even to give it to someone who you may know that is struggling.
Good Day My Beautiful & Precious Daughter,
I hope that this will be the first thing that you read every day upon waking up, not because I desire a religious commitment from you, but so that you can be reminded of how precious and valuable you are to Me. It is My will to be your help and to grant you the desires of your heart as you delight in Me. As you open your eyes and prepare to face the day I would like to encourage you despite how you may be feeling today. Remember that your faith is not based on your feelings and that your feelings may not always be representative of the truth. The truth is that no matter what you may feel right now I have chosen to give you the precious gift of life today. Every breath you take on this earth is a precious gift from me to you my beautiful daughter and the fact that you are breathing means that I have a purpose and a plan for your life that is filled with hope. Know that while you may feel absolutely powerless over the ability to get out of bed, I am your strength and my power is made perfect in weakness. Depend on Me and know that through Me you can do all things. Know that I am with you every step of the way. I will always love you no matter what. Even if you stumble or fall, I am here waiting for you to run back into My arms so that we could walk again and if need be I will carry you. I don’t want you to feel ashamed or to condemn yourself if you fail. Come to me and even in your mistakes I will be glorified. I don’t expect you to be perfect, I just desire your trust in Me, your perfect Saviour whose blood covers your iniquity. Hebrews 9:14 says, “how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to the living God?”
Today is a new day and behold in Me all things are new, including My mercies. This is the day that I have made, be glad and rejoice in it my daughter. As you prepare yourself to face the day I want you to know that I love you and accept you and approve of you as you are. I am your God and I am with you. Do not fear what the day may bring because I am your strength and your refuge. Lean on me and I will be your help, walk in the Spirit by faith and overcome the flesh.
You can do this! Believe in Me…
Here is some Scripture to meditate on:
Psalm 90:12
So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.
Ephesians 5:15-17
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
Psalm 90:14
Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all of our days!
I love you My precious daughter…
With all of My love, from your Heavenly Father ❤
How thankful I am for having met such a wonderful friend.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 says,
The Value of a Friend
Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
“We are the women who make our lives about the cause of Christ, not the applause of men, live to express the Gospel, not to impress the Jones’, live not to make our absence felt, but to make Christ’s presence known. We are the women who know it’s not about us and all about Glory.” ~Ann Voskamp (The Song For All The Women)~
God is very much present and active in our relationship with Him. I’m in complete awe at His mighty works. I had a brush with the fear of death tonight. For a long minute, this fear came over me that God was going to take my life because maybe He no longer has a purpose for me being here any longer. Honestly my first thought was a selfish one – will “I” be missed? I couldn’t quite understand why this fear suddenly came over me, but after some prayer, I opened my book (Love Idol by Jennifer Dukes Lee) and God answered through the quote above written by Ann Voskamp. When I read the words “live not to make our absence felt, but to make Christ’s presence known. We are the women who know it’s not about us and all about Glory.”, it all made sense. God revealed His truth to me in a real way that I could understand. We are to offer ourselves as living sacrifices to God. Romans 12:1 says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God…” 1Cor6:19-20 says, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
Once again, God is teaching me that it’s not about me, my very life is not about me but about Glory – His Glory ❤
Matthew 10:39 says, “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”
When I read that quote earlier my first thought was in the form of a dream – a dream to be the woman this quote speaks of. To die to me, myself, and I and live for the glory of God through Christ Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit.
My prayer tonight:
Dear God, thank You dearly for this revelation and for teaching me that truly Jesus You are the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Please forgive me for my selfish response to the fear of death and thank you for showing me that I need not to hold on to my own life but instead to turn it over to you and hold on to You for life. Lord I offer myself to you as a living sacrifice and I ask that You would grant the desire of my heart to walk in Your freedom. Lord thank You that Your perfect love casts out fear. Father for every day, hour, minute, second that you bless me with life I pray that You would be glorified. I pray that fully knowing that I am not perfect but that even when I stumble or fall, in my failures and mistakes that even in that Lord You will be glorified. Help me to live every second free from fear and regret and enjoy the abundant life that You have intended for me. I pray that You will bless me with a teachable spirit so that I can continue to learn and grow in You. I love You Jesus & I thank You for fulfilling Your Word & Your promises. In the precious name of Jesus I pray. Amen ❤
WoW! Where do I begin… I could write a book to share this story, but I’ll do my best to keep it short & sweet 🙂
As long as I can remember I’ve always dreamt of finding true love. I was for most of my life a hopeless romantic looking for love, acceptance and security in all the wrong places. I hurt myself and others along the way trying hard to get my fill. On this quest to find true love I thought a man was the answer, my knight in shining armour, my prince, my hero. When failed relationship after failed relationship and feelings of rejection and abandonment resurfaced over and over I started to look elsewhere. I needed answers and at the time the world was giving me the wrong one by telling me that the answer was ME… I had to first love myself before I could really find true love or that true love was loving myself?? huh?? So I tried to love and accept myself and provide myself a false sense of security that I so desperately needed. I failed miserably! Who am I apart from God who is Love Himself to be able in my own strength to provide anything for myself. I am an imperfect human being created to be loved and cared for by my Creator. Only I was so lost so far away from the truth, yet He never failed in His pursuit for me. I was so far gone, so far from Him but I was desperate for His love. I was lovesick in need of a Saviour and a cure. In fact I was so lovesick that I became mentally sick. Aside from having suffered with undiagnosed anxiety and depression most of my life, I then developed a mental illness called Psychosis for which I was hospitalized on numerous occasions for having had multiple episodes and relapses for which now the diagnoses is Schizoaffective Disorder. Unlike most people with this disorder, I am high functioning and by the grace of God doing well and relapse free for almost 3 years. Undergoing these psychotic episodes was the most terrifying experience of my life. I literally thought that I had died and gone to hell….but Jesus! Yes, Jesus came to my rescue! I cried out to Him and called on the God of this universe and begged Him to rescue me and He did. He answered and my life has never been the same since. He was the answer to my greatest dream and my greatest desire to be loved, accepted, and secure. He is True Love. True Love found me! I came across a passage of Scripture today from Psalm 12:5 that reads,
“FOR THE OPPRESSION OF THE POOR, FOR THE SIGHING OF THE NEEDY, NOW I WILL ARISE,” SAYS THE LORD, “I WILL SET HIM IN THE SAFETY FOR WHICH HE YEARNS.”
That’s me! I was the oppressed poor person sighing in need to be rescued – to be loved and secured. God performed His word and He did rise up and set me in the safety for which I yearned. You see God is so faithful, even when we aren’t, He is. It has been 3 years since True Love has found me and I’ve wandered so many times still looking for love in all the wrong places, but He never gives up on me. He pursues me daily bringing me back to Him – my first love. I feel like finally now I’m waking up to the reality that it isn’t just a dream anymore – now it’s a dream come true and I am safe and able to fall freely in love with my Saviour, my Hero, my Knight in shining armour, my Prince…
Thank You Jesus… I love You 🙂
Disclaimer: Please know that I’m not discounting the importance of human love and affection. In fact it’s the second greatest commandment which is to love one another. I’m just acknowledging God as the primary source of love since He is Love itself and we cannot love or be loved without first getting it and giving it through Him. First and greatest commandment is to love God:)
P.S. I’ve included a worship song that is dear to my heart and in keeping with the theme of this post. I hope that you enjoy it! If you have already been rescued by our Lord & Saviour Jesus Christ then my prayer is that you will continue to fall in love with Him more deeply and follow Him more closely. If you happen to be reading this and you haven’t personally called out to Jesus to rescue you then I encourage you to take a leap of faith and call out to Him and He will answer and rescue you. You are loved and accepted! God Bless 🙂
hopetodreamagain 