7/14/2023
Don’’t Let Satan Talk To YouI’m not a morning person. Not at all. I literally wake up on the wrong side of the bed Every. Single. Morning. I think my blood type is “tired”. My body literally screams at me~ “Just let me sleep!!”.
This morning, after not seeing my husband for two weeks (and being ecstatic at his return home the night before), I pour my coffee and he makes a comment. Nothing negative, just a simple comment about the day. I am silent, but in my mind I have a quick, smart mouth response. It’s not pretty. Inwardly grumbling, I turn and walk silently back upstairs. Coffee in hand. In my mind I’m thinking~ “He knows I’m not a morning person. I’m tired. I don’t want to talk to anyone, except maybe Jesus.” And then my heart is pricked. I am a terrible person. After that silent comment, my thoughts tell me~surely Jesus doesn’t want to talk to me. My thoughts have gotten me into more trouble than I would ever care to admit. This reminded me of the other night. As I lay in bed in the darkness, a thought entered my mind. I knew it was wrong, but I ran with it. I knew it wasn’t truth, but I didn’t fight it. I didn’t pray, I just let it take control. It put me in a bad place and I felt utterly defeated. I could picture satan laughing and chiding me~”Gotcha”. The beauty is, no where in the Bible does it say that Satan knows our thoughts. He can certainly place them in our path, but we are the ones who can choose to grab a hold of those thoughts, or fight them off. He doesn’t know whether or not he has won that battle unless consequential action is taken. Even then he cannot read our minds. But God can. This can bring shame, but praise God it can also bring SO MUCH HOPE. There’s so many lessons here. For the Christian who judges others actions, but whose thoughts are far worse. God is so clear in His word on this matter. Pride and arrogance on the outside, but dirt on the inside. God sees the dirt my friend. And He sees all my dirt. All the negative thoughts I have, but don’t say out loud. I’m so thankful they stay inside my head and don’t come spewing out my mouth. I’m supposed to be the “good girl”. Sweet Charisse. Pastor’s wife. I would NEVER speak some of the things I think out loud. And sadly I would never tell a soul some of the places my thoughts have taken me. Here is where the Hope comes in. Satan can plant that thought and his lies in our path. In our human frailty we can either choose to cling to that disruptive thought and let it take over, or we can continually remind ourselves that God is with us ALWAYS. Right in that moment we have the power of God, His Son and Holy Spirit to fight for us and take that thought captive. That my friend is incredible hope. We are NEVER alone in our fight against the evil one. NEVER. The moment you become a Christian, Christ lives inside you. Satan might try to get inside your head, but he doesn’t live there. Jesus does. And here is another bit of beautiful hope. We are human. We mess up constantly. Satan may know our weaknesses but praise God, so does Jesus. Our God knows what we’re going to do. He knows the times we’re going to fail and not call out to him for help. He knows when we’re going to give in and our thought life is not going to be pleasing to Him, and yet even with this omniscient knowledge comes His amazing grace. Mercy and help in time of need. Love. Incredible love. He never turns His back. The times my thoughts are judging. The times my thoughts are sinful. The times my thoughts are filled with worry or fear. The times my thoughts are angry, sad, mean, prideful, wicked, doubting, covetous, self destructive, self reliant. He doesn’t turn His back. And when my heart weeps for the path my thoughts have taken and I allow myself to believe the lie that Jesus doesn’t want to talk to me~when I know He is always there to rescue me and I still push Him aside. He still loves. And He tells me His mercy is new EVERY morning and GREAT is His faithfulness. Satan might come knocking but we don’t have to let Him in. Let us continually remind ourselves that God owns this house we live in and when we reach for that door knob, stop and turn to Jesus. Look at Him and be reminded of that mercy and faithfulness, then walk away from the door. Tomorrow morning when my feet hit the floor, despite what my body might be screaming, I’m going to talk to Jesus instead of allowing Satan to talk to me. SCRIPTURE READING: 2 Corinthians 10:5, 12:9, 13:4 Proverbs 6:16-23 Matthew 23:23-27, 28:20 1 Corinthians 6:19&20, 10:12&13 Matthew 5 Romans 5:8, 7:15-25, 8:28, 15:13 Galatians 2:20 Hebrews 4:16 2 Timothy 1:7 Psalm 42:11, 55:22, 62:11, 103:14, 121:7&8, 136:12, 139:1-18 Philippians 4:6-7&13 1 Peter 5:7 Isaiah 41:10-13 Deuteronomy 31:7&8 Proverbs 15:3 James 4:7 Lamentations 3:22&23 Ephesians 1:19-21, 3:20, 6:10 I Chronicles 29:11 Colossians 1:16 Romans 8:37-39
6/30/2023
When Life Isn’t A Joy RideI honestly don’t know how long I had been driving before I noticed the red and blue lights flashing in my rear view mirror. We live in a rural area. Long stretches of road with nothing but fields and beautiful views for miles. It’s wonderful, and doesn’t give much occasion to glance back at any oncoming traffic. Traffic is pretty nonexistent. I was singing along to some worship music with several kids in tow. Probably why I didn’t hear the siren. My children and their cousins were the reason I finally noticed. Fighting had ensued, followed by yelling (from me) “to knock it off or I’ll pull over!” It wasn’t until that moment that I finally looked in my mirror to see if they were obeying. Instead, I spotted flashing lights beckoning me to stop. So I pulled over. It wasn’t pretty. Apparently I had been speeding. 🤷🏼♀️ I was flustered, and when prompted to surrender proof of insurance, said proof could not be found. The officer returned to his vehicle, and of course that’s when I found it. When he came back I smiled cheerfully and said “I found it!” to which he replied. “Too late. I’m writing you a ticket.” My cheerfulness went right out the window. I’m sure the kids heard about it the rest of the way home. Isn’t that how life can be at times? We think we’re doing all the right things. We go to church and Bible studies. We read devotionals and blogs. We listen to podcasts and sing along to worship music. We coast through life enjoying the view, and then suddenly we are hit with an inconvenient attack from the devil. And we lose it. What we don’t realize is that~ all along Satan has been right on our tail but we were being too “spiritual” to notice. Too often all the good things take the place of the best things and when that inconvenience strikes, we can’t fight it. Suddenly we’re searching for truth, but we’re already in trouble. The Christian life isn’t just a joy ride. It’s a battle. We live in a day where knowledge and opinions are at our fingertips. So many people are telling us how we should live, that we don’t even search for that truth ourselves. We let others do that work, and in the process we miss out on all the wonders God has specifically for us. Wonders that only come from time spent with Him. Reading His words. Asking the Holy Spirit to show us what we need. Listening to the voice of God speak to our hearts. We want easy. We want quick. We want to glide through life and not have to dig for the answers. For the proof. Eventually Satan catches up to us. God’s word tells us that he goes about seeking who he can devour. How can we be prepared? By keeping God’s armor on at all times. The armor of God is so much more than a great Sunday School lesson or Vacation Bible School theme. It’s something you can study and glean countless knowledge from. I’m going to share a quick overview, but I HIGHLY recommend you get into God’s word yourself and look up scripture references that correlate with every piece of God’s armor. Armor God has specifically made for you! 1. The Belt of Truth- you cannot know what is truth if you aren’t in God’s word. Don’t let someone else tell you what is truth, read it for yourself. Jesus tells us HE is the way and the truth. God tells us to think on whatsoever things are true. Our hearts can so easily be deceived (even by ourselves) when we don’t know God’s truth. 2. The Breastplate of Righteousness- Righteousness only comes from Jesus. All our righteousness is like filthy rags. Nothing else can take the place of Jesus and the protection that He gives your heart and soul. 3. Shoes Fit for the Gospel of Peace- There is so much to learn from God’s word on the gospel of peace. God’s peace passes ALL understanding. When we are attacked, is this the reaction the world sees from us? 4. The Shield of Faith- Our faith will always be tested (proved) and it will not remain strong if we are continually relying on others for knowledge from God’s word. Faith strengthens when time is spent with the God of all strength. 5. The Helmet of Salvation- This is of utmost importance. Without the gift of salvation received by faith, the battle cannot be won. God’s gift of His Son’s death on the cross rescues us from eternal damnation. It renews and transforms our minds against anything the devil tries to deceive us with. Once received, salvation can never be taken away. It is our protection for eternity. 6. The Sword of the Spirit-God’s word is so powerful. It’s inspired. It speaks to our soul and spirit. It shows us doctrine, reproof, correction and instruction. I didn’t think it was fair when I received a ticket for not providing proof of insurance “fast enough”, because I still provided the proof. I’m not trying to compare that police officer to Satan but… 😂 Here’s the thing~Satan doesn’t play fair. Don’t coast through life on a joy ride with Satan on your tail, because he will catch up. Have your proof always ready and when he does show up, just speaking the name of Jesus will be your truth, because you know you’re ready for that battle. You’re strong in the Lord and the power of HIS might. His armor is all you need. Praise God for the gift He gives us in others, in the beautiful feet of those who share the gospel of peace. We all need specific men and women that God places in our lives, but their words should never take the place of HIS WORDS. Instead of allowing someone else (this blog included) to tell you how God is speaking to you, spend time in the presence of God Himself. That is a sweet, precious intimacy between you and your Savior. Nothing else can take its place. SCRIPTURE READING: John 8:32, 10:28-30, 14:16&27, 16:13&33, 17:17 Philippians 4:6-8 Isaiah 64:6 Romans 3:22&23, 10:15&17, 12:2&3, 15:13 Titus 3:5-7 James 3:17&18 Ephesians 2:8&9, 3:16&17, 4:3, 6:10-18 Psalm 119:165 Proverbs 3:5&6 Mark 9:23 I Peter 1:8&9, 5:8-10 2 Peter 1:19-21 I John 5:4 I Corinthians 16:13 Hebrews 4:12, 12:2 I Timothy 6:12 2 Timothy 2:15, 3:16&17 Isaiah 52:7, 54:17 Hebrews 2:1-3
6/9/2023
What Are You Proud Of?What are you proud of?
I’m not going to beat around the bush here, we all know what this month has been labeled, so again I ask~ What are YOU proud of? I realize there is a fine line when it comes to pride in scripture. God hates pride when it’s directed toward self and we become our own center of worship.The pride I’m talking about today is a different type of boasting. How is it that you can tell when someone is proud? Proud people talk about the things that they are proud of. Often. We find it easy to talk about our favorite sports teams, our political views, our children and grandchildren, our spouses and even ourselves. We find camaraderie with those who pride themselves in similar things. Our voices become louder and louder when we are around others who share in that pride. So I want to ask you again, what are you proud of? Because others are watching. Does your pride come through in your praises, or in your opinions? Your pride reveals itself in the words that you speak. Your children hear it, your family hears it. Your friends and coworkers, your neighbors, even strangers hear it. What story is your pride telling? I am afraid that too often it’s a sad and angry story full of complaints and woes, and not a story of hope and redemption. Please don’t get me wrong~ it’s incredibly important to stand for what is right. To teach our families truths based on God’s word and to stand up for that truth. But do others know why we believe these things? What is the point of our stand? To prove we are right, or to praise our God and give Him the glory? Are we so focused on proving others are wrong that we’re missing the whole point of the gospel? We can become so focused on what we believe is evil that we miss out on opportunities to share all that is good and righteous and beautiful. The very person of Jesus our Savior and Redeemer. Our hope for the hopeless. Our amazing God. Our lives should revolve around Him and His goodness. Our praises and pride should be for Him and His gift of salvation. He took our place on the cross. He died for the wickedness of this world~ and my friend, that includes you and that includes me. No one is excluded. For all have sinned. If we don’t teach the next generation why we believe what we believe, if we don’t boast on the incredible love of our Savior and the gift of salvation that we did not deserve, our opinions and viewpoints will become just that. Opinions. Viewpoints. Voices becoming louder and louder. And the next generation will grow up believing that it is “us against the world” instead of~ “God so loved the world.” So today I want to tell you what I am proud of. I am proud of my God. I am proud of my Savior. I am proud of the love and mercy and grace He shows me on a daily basis, all of which I do not deserve. Love that isn’t based on my performance, mercy that doesn’t stop as soon as I mess up again, but love and mercy that endure FOREVER. I am proud of what the rainbow truly represents. The rainbow HE created as an everlasting promise to us. A rainbow that surrounds the very throne of it’s Creator. I am proud of His word and His promises, promises that hold peace that passes understanding. I am proud to call God my Provider and Redeemer, my Father and my very best Friend. I am proud to say that He is my everything. I would be nothing without Him. I am proud of Jesus. Name above all names. I want to share God’s truth and stand firm on my beliefs, beliefs that are rooted and grounded in scripture; but more than anything I want to make HIM known. That’s what I want the next generation to remember. Not me. Not my opinions. Jesus. God is our everything. Let’s brag differently. What are you proud of today? Psalm 89:1-2, 5-9, 11, 13-18 Psalm 136, 148, 150 I Peter 3:15-18, Hebrews 12:14 Revelation 4:3, Ezekiel 1:28
6/2/2023
What Story Will Your Pain Tell?This wasn’t the plan.
In an instant, life changed and I desperately wished I could hit the rewind button. But I couldn’t. This moment had the power to rewrite the rest of my story, and I could not see a happy ending. I suddenly felt like I was in a dream. Day by day, trying to survive but living in a fog. Walking in darkness. Alone. This would be my life, because I could not go back and change the events that happened. And I cried for the memory of what I thought my life would look like. Have you ever been here? In this moment? Perhaps you are right now. As my husband was typing his Bible study the other day, I couldn’t help but think about this. He finished his first page and in his tired state, he hit “no” when prompted to save his work. We aren’t tech savvy. This has happened to me before and I knew there was a solution, I just had to find it. I warned my husband not to touch any keys but he was somehow sure he could figure it out. And he kept trying. By the time I googled the answer, it was too late. His study was gone. How many times in my life has this happened to me? What I thought my life would look like, disappearing within seconds. And my heart left broken like an empty page staring back at me, the cursor hovering over nothingness. What do I do now? How often I have tried to figure it out in my own strength. Trying, trying but failing. Sadly, there have been moments that turned into years upon years of me trying and missing all God had for me. Crying way too often, because this wasn’t supposed to be my life. What do you do when the unexpected happens? When your life is turned upside down in a moment and you weren’t prepared for it at all. When the shocking trauma blindsides you, and there’s nothing you can do to change it? When this is your new normal and you are left with a blank piece of paper representing the rest of your life? I am here to tell you that I did all the wrong things. For years. I kept writing on that paper and erasing it and trying again. Over and over. Until the day I finally gave God the pen. Ladies, I know it’s not easy because I’ve been there. Trauma leaves scars. It’s hard. So very hard. But God is our God of the impossible. And my life felt like a happy ending was definitely impossible. So today, I want to encourage you with a few things I learned through it all. It’s okay to have all the emotions, but don’t camp out there. Bring them ALL to God. Too often we cry about how it isn’t fair. How we don’t deserve this pain or how we do deserve to feel all the negative that our hearts are experiencing. We sit there in that muck and tell ourselves that we have every right to be angry or sad, scared and hurt or even depressed. And then we’re stuck. Exactly where Satan wants us. And we don’t even realize that we are hurting ourselves day after day with these emotions we are justifying. We begin to write our own story on that blank piece of paper, but this is not the story God wants your pain to tell. These aren’t God’s words, they aren’t even our words and in those moments we don’t even recognize that they are Satan’s. His lies. We have handed him the pen. It would be so easy for me to just say Trust God. He’s in control. The end. But when the hard really hits you, you don’t know what trusting God looks like because you are human and you’re hurting. And it’s in those moments that we need God to remind us. He understands our emotions better than we do. Not only because He created them, but He also experienced them Himself. There will be days that you are angry and don’t want to read His words. There will be days when you’re hurting so badly that you can’t even whisper a prayer, and there will be good days when God is your lifeline and you know deep down that He’s got this. You know you can trust Him. So what does trusting God look like? It is all of us in our feebleness understanding that God truly is in control and we are not. We were never alone in the darkness. He was always with us and He always will be. It’s looking back at all His goodness and looking ahead to the goodness to come. He knew what was going to happen. He knew all the hurt and anger, fear and sadness you would feel. He knew and because He allowed it, we have His promise that it’s for our good and for His glory. Instead of asking why, ask God to open your eyes to the truth of that goodness. And in the mean time, I highly encourage you to write down every single emotion you are feeling. Those emotions could change daily, and daily you will need God’s perspective. Once you’ve written them down, do a word study of each one in scripture. Google works great for this, so does an old fashioned Bible commentary. Give God that pen and let Him fill that blank piece of paper. Ask Him to take each emotion you are feeling and wrap it in His promises. Once you have God’s words written down, read them to yourself over and over. God’s words are power. Let them shout over Satan’s lies. Each day is a new day toward a different narrative. You can choose to wallow in what happened and what could have been, or you can decide that you are going to live your best life. You can decide that Satan will not have the victory and that cursor hovering over all the nothingness will suddenly be moving across moments of time filled with promises of joy and new beginnings. I’m not going to lie, it will be hard but God knows the outcome. I can say with 100% certainty, it will be worth it because today I can finally look back and see God’s story and His goodness. When I chose to let go of every emotion and give them over to God, my happy ending wasn’t impossible because my God worked the impossible deep within me. His power changed everything. And He gets all the glory. What story will your pain tell? Hand Him your pen my friend. SCRIPTURE READING: Revelation 12:9 Hebrews 4:15, 11:1, 13:5 Romans 8:26, 28, 37-39 Proverbs 3:5-6 Psalm 23:4, 34:4, 73:26, 94:19, 139 Deuteronomy 3:18 Isaiah 55:8-9 Exodus 14:14 Nehemiah 8:10, Isaiah 41:10 Ephesians 3:20 Luke 1:37 Matthew 19:26 Philippians 3:13-14 Ecclesiastes 3:11
4/28/2023
DepressionDepression can sometimes feel like a dirty word to a believer.
A few weeks ago I got into my own head and once there, my thoughts spiraled downward. I have some physical problems that left me in a dark place. Nothing life threatening, but two unrelated, painful issues that will stay with me the rest of my life. And that really bothered me. Due to flare ups, I wasn’t physically able to do normal, day to day activities. I couldn’t leave the house for long periods of time or do easy household tasks. I couldn’t even do the things that I enjoy, like my sewing or simply playing with my grandkids. Slowly, day by day the darkness crept in. “Is this it, is this how it’s going to be from now on? What am I even good for? What if I’m never the same again?” I have this picture in my head of what I’m supposed to be as a Pastor’s wife, as a mom. I tend to over analyze my performance in these areas (which is a root of worry over what others think of me, and a sin I tend to battle) Satan knows this, and by the end of the week depression had made a home inside my head. I felt like a huge disappointment, worthless and unloved. All within 7 days. I had no other words and found myself just asking God to please help me over and over, not so much from the physical pain, but from where my thoughts had taken me. I stayed in His word, reminding myself of His goodness and blessings~ but even when we do these things, sometimes the “hard” is still very hard. By Sunday night the tears wouldn’t stop and decided I was going to stay in bed all day Monday because~what was the point of getting up anyway, right? But God didn’t leave me in bed. Even when I was 100% sure that my thoughts were real, He broke through and showed me a different picture. He always does. I have been here before. Times that lasted much longer than 7 days. Over and over again throughout my life, He has delivered me when I was sure there would be no deliverance. Did my pain and physical issues go away? No, but all that darkness in my head did. God used a simple text from someone going through their own darkness, a podcast that stumbled across my path, a song that could’ve been written for me… I listened to the words of someone else who had the same fears I did, who was saying exactly what I was feeling… “What if this was it? What if I’m never the same?” His words stayed with me and I asked myself, “Do you believe God is still good and that He loves you? Do you believe He knows exactly what’s going on and He is in control?” I believed and I whispered to God, “Help my unbelief.” What if my greatest calling now was simply to be my husband’s cheerleader from the sidelines? His prayer warrior and safe haven. That would be enough. Even if I could never leave the house for long periods of time, or pick up my grandchildren or pen a note of encouragement. Even if I couldn’t play the piano, sew or garden, run or simply hand my husband his dinner plate, I knew in that moment that God was still good. And that He loves me. And I suddenly felt freedom from all that blackness that had collected inside my head. It’s scary for me to even share this, to be vulnerable and honest. There is a stigma attached to Christian’s and depression. The thoughts can easily get to me again. Worry over appearing overly dramatic or attempting to seek attention. But I am clinging to that gift of freedom God has given me, because maybe it could help someone else who might be having dark thoughts of their own. God has not given up on you my friend. He is good. He loves you. He’s not going to let you stay in that bed of depression. He’s going to continuously use His words, His Spirit, people and things to pull you out from under the covers of despair. Because He understands. What a comfort and peace that brings! And then, the miraculous will happen. He will use you to help others. Your darkness and deliverance has purpose. He will use you to break through someone else’s darkness. He will use you to share His love. Your circumstances may never change, but there is freedom in releasing that to God, knowing He is good. Knowing He loves you. Knowing you can be used by Him. Suddenly you will no longer see the negative, but all the goodness wrapped up in the words~ YOU WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN.
3/24/2023
Change Lives In MeThere are certain things I’ve been struggling with lately. I am ashamed to admit that my perception of people has been a big one. Just this morning I realized how completely messed up my perception is.
I can “preach” on this platform about how “God can change your life” and how “you don’t have to remain the same once you know Christ, because His power lives in you”, and yet… This morning I had a conversation with myself that sort of went like this~ ‘What are you supposed to do Charisse? Past circumstances have led you here. Trauma that sucked the life out of you and left you weak. You can’t help it that you feel this way. The situation is hopeless. It is what it is. Just accept it and live with it.’ Immediately I was convicted. Nothing is hopeless with God. No past circumstances or feelings I might have are stronger than the power of God in me. He can change anything and anyone. And here’s the shocker~ the change starts with me, not with the person I am perceiving to be in the wrong. If I build up walls and raise the white flag of defeat on relationships in my life, I do not know the love of Christ at all, because He did the opposite. He loved the very unlovable. And despite past circumstances in His life~ He continues to love the unlovable… and I am at the top of that list. Do you know why I felt that immediate conviction this morning? Because Jesus lives in me. The Holy Spirit lives in me. God’s love lives in me. And because of all of this… Change lives in me. I thought darkness had a permanent dwelling in my heart, and the perceptions I had were truly hopeless situations. But I was wrong. The past is the past. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. The same power that raised Jesus from the grave is THE POWER that lives in me. And today that light has permeated the darkest recesses of my heart, because I know that Every day is a new day with Jesus and… Nothing, absolutely nothing is impossible with God. SCRIPTURE READING: Psalm 51:6, 55:18 Proverbs 19:21, 21:2 Malachi 3:6 Hebrews 13:8 Luke 1:37 Matthew 19:26
3/17/2023
I Want To Watch It FlyWhen I was in the 4th grade, my parents bought an old farmhouse that sat on 12 acres of property, property that was surrounded by endless horizons of beautiful land. We affectionately called it “The Farm”, and I loved it. When I recall that time, my heart feels free. My imagination could soar there. I could run in all the beautiful openness of the unknown, and feel as if I was flying.
But then, my parents split up. My world was turned upside down. That freedom was quickly taken away and replaced with the chaos of things that I could not control. Praise the Lord that He continually pursues us. Through all that heartache and pain, we came to know Him. My parents got back together and purchased a new home, away from the painful memories of the past. This home was so very different. It was a cookie cutter house located only a few feet away from all the other houses that looked exactly like it~ in the middle of a subdivision full of similar houses. House upon house. No freedom. No flying. But for some reason, my heart took comfort in the familiarity of it all. All the past chaos was outside that perfect little suburb. I was safe in this new, controlled setting. And my journey of familiarity and control began. At that time in my life, my flesh associated the comfort of my parents being reunited with my controlled situation, when all along it was Jesus. Jesus is what changed our lives. Not the cookie cutter house, in the cookie cutter subdivision. I have found that almost 50 years later, I still look for comfort in familiarity, in everything being predictable. In control. In planning. In a cookie cutter life. It occurred to me today that a large part of that process has to do with fear. If I write it down and accomplish it, if I plan, if I have control, I don’t have to fear. Life will be predictable, and I find comfort in predictability. But not in God. But then when life hits me with a curve ball, suddenly all my comfort is whisked away and I’m afraid. I’m afraid of the future and what that looks like for my marriage, for my kids, for my church, for my blog. I’m afraid of the opinions of others. I’m afraid I won’t accomplish what needs to be done. I’m afraid of pain and heartache. I’m afraid of the unknown. Circumstances can hold us hostage to the fear of the unknown. My anxiety over that unknown can become so strong that my control seems lost. Inside that anxiety I am paralyzed. I don’t long to be placed in my cookie cutter house in a subdivision. I long to run away and fly. I long to just be free… and it’s there in that moment that God teaches me again and again that freedom and comfort only come from God. Not from all my control. Slowly, with the help of the Holy Spirit, I learn to put my trust in Him. Sometimes daily, sometimes minute by minute. It’s something that only He can provide. A comfort that only comes in trusting Him, and not in my own control. And suddenly in that trusting, when life throws me another curve ball~ the unimaginable happens. I have peace. I am free from the bondage of my fear of the unknown because I know that HE knows. And everything God allows in my life is for my good. You can have freedom from whatever might have happened in your past that makes you want to hide within the cookie cutter walls of your control. You can have freedom from the fear of the unknown. When life throws you a curve ball, you have one of two choices. Remain paralyzed with fear and anxiety; or catch it and throw it back. Throw it back towards endless horizons of beauty, and watch it fly. Feeling the freedom of complete trust, having no idea where it will land but knowing that God will catch it. His goodness is written all over it. Today and tomorrow and every day ahead, I want to watch it fly. SCRIPTURE READING: Psalm 11:1, 27:5, 51:12, 55:5-8&18 , 61:1-4, 90:9-10, 12, 14, 17, 139:9-10 Proverbs 14:12-13 Isaiah 40:28-31 Acts 2:25-28 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 I Peter 5:7 I can remember getting my first biopsy. Watching the needle go in on the screen. Holding my breath. So many emotions wrapped up in such a small amount of time.
As I look back over my life, countless moments were held captive by two words. ”What if”. My todays were taken away by worry over my tomorrows. Always wondering what would be on the other side of this mountain of “what ifs”. Somehow believing every worst case scenario and sometimes living through them. Maybe hope was lost. And in that believing~denying Christ power by giving up and giving in. Not only allowing the devil to believe he had won, but believing that lie myself. Recently I have pondered Christ sacrifice on the cross for me. I have thought about that dreadful day when all hope truly seemed lost. I have wondered about all the emotions his disciples were feeling~ so many emotions wrapped up in this moment. This wasn’t supposed to be the end. How could this be? Can you imagine their discouragement? All the incredibly powerful miracles they had witnessed and yet, it appeared death had won. Satan had won. Pretty sure that’s exactly what the devil believed too. But Jesus’ followers did not know what was coming. Neither did the devil. When it comes to scripture, at times I think we tend to take the outcome of mountain moving stories for granted. The faith isn’t spectacular to us because we know how the story ends. But when faced against our own mountains, the “what ifs” overwhelm us and we convince ourselves that we won’t be able to get over them to the other side. Let me remind you today of your beautiful reality~Satan doesn’t know what’s on the other side of your mountain anymore than you do because unlike God, Satan is not omniscient. He is not all knowing. He doesn’t hold your future, God does. There is so much power in that statement. Take heart in the fact that the very men who LITERALLY walked with God on this earth~those handpicked and chosen by Christ~ went through discouragement as they faced a mountain they thought was unclimbable. Even more comforting is the fact that Jesus~being all God yet all human~asked His Father if there was any way possible to avoid the overwhelming sorrow that was upon Him. He knew the deep love He had for His followers, and the heartbreaking emotions and confusion they would be faced with. He knew the mocking, the beating and the physical agony that was coming. He knew that He would be taking the sins of all mankind upon Himself. Jesus knew what was on the other side of that mountain He was facing, yet in that moment, He poured out His heart to God. Jesus understands completely what you are going through. We might say we trust God. We might even believe we have mountain moving faith, but that doesn’t mean the trials we go through will be easy. Trials that can overwhelm us. “What ifs” that can loom heavy over our souls. Don’t focus on this idea that the devil knows the end of your story and that he has already won. Instead, focus on the fact that only God knows what’s on the other side. On that side of the mountain is the irrefutable reality that the same Jesus Christ who defeated death and once again walked with His awestruck, astonished disciples upon this earth, is the same Jesus who is alive today~ daily making intercession on our behalf. He is the victor of every “what if” mountain we face. And that side of the mountain? It’s always good. Always. Because God told us so in His word. There is no “what if” scenario that God doesn’t have an answer for. There is no “what if” scenario that God will not provide comfort for. There is no “what if” scenario that God doesn’t give peace to face and weapons to fight. There is no mountain you will ever climb alone. SCRIPTURE READING: Matthew 17:20, 26:37-39, 28 Isaiah 51:12, 52:7, 54:10, 55:12 Mark 11:23, 14:33-36, 16 Psalm 90:2 Luke 22:41-44, 24 Romans 8:34 I John 2:1 Hebrews 7:25 Revelation 1:5,18 I Corinthians 15:19-23, 56-57 Philippians 2:10-12, 4:7 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, 10:4 John 14:18
2/17/2023
So Today, I Talked To God About You.Last January as I was taking down my Christmas decorations, I decided to put my 7 foot Christmas tree away all by myself. My husband wasn’t home that night, but I didn’t want to wait. I found the perfect shelf for it out in our garage, all I had to do was haul it out there and hoist it up on to that shelf.
The shelf was much higher than my head. I was sure I could do it with a ladder and a little gumption. I set the tree bag upright and then climbed the ladder, grabbed the tree and pulled. It was very heavy and awkward, but I managed to get it over my head. That’s when I got stuck. It was too heavy to hoist above my shoulders and onto the shelf, and I began to lose my balance. I couldn’t put it down because if I moved, my balance would be off and I would fall backwards. I didn’t want to risk just dropping it and somehow breaking it. So I stood there on that ladder, holding on to that tree as it balanced on top of my head. My spine began to feel like an accordion, I was all alone, I didn’t have my cell phone and my husband wouldn’t be home for two more hours. I don’t know how much time went by, or how many ideas and scenarios went through my head. (My husband coming home to me lying on the garage floor under a Christmas tree~probably dead~was one of them.) So, how did I get out of it? I think somehow God miraculously helped me because when I didn’t think there was any possible answer for the situation I found myself in, I prayed. Why is it so often our last resort? Maybe I felt like it was hopeless. Perhaps I felt foolish going to God about the stupid mess I got myself into~ thinking I could do it all on my own~ but just like that, He answered. He gave me an idea, I tried it and within minutes that tree was on that shelf. It seems to me, in my own life I can catch myself doing this same thing. So many loved ones and friends have been going through heartache and it’s a heavy, heavy burden. Add social media to the mix and the barrage of bad news on a daily basis, and you can feel like the weight of it is too much. With friends on Facebook and Instagram and instant access to requests for prayer, often you close your computer feeling utterly heartbroken over the trials many are going through. And you feel helpless. I find myself wishing I could make their pain go away or that I could physically do something, anything to make them feel better. The suffering of loved ones and friends is a constant weight inside my mind. Even as I prayed about what to write to you today, I felt helpless. I asked God how I could help those of you who are reading this, how I could encourage and uplift to make other’s lives a little better. And then I opened His word, and I knew He heard my prayer. He showed me that I can’t fix everyone’s pain. I am not the answer because I am not God. Suddenly I found myself picturing the hundreds of hurting friends, loved ones and acquaintances. And Jesus. Just like the hundreds begging for help in Jesus day. It was never too many. He did not turn any away. Long lines, throngs of people pressing in. And the beautiful compassion of Jesus. And He whispered to my heart~ “Bring them to me. Don’t carry that heavy burden on your shoulders, I will carry it for you, all you need do is bring them to me.” And so, I have. Every time my heart feels heavy and helpless for the needs of many, I bring those needs to Jesus. It might seem like such a small thing, praying for the needs of others when you wish you could physically do something for them, but my friend~ it’s the most powerful gift you can give them. The compassion of Jesus. Maybe you’re trying to fix things on your own, not wanting to wait for help. Maybe your burden is for the heartache of others. Maybe your burden is for your own heartache or maybe you’re just trying to balance life’s ladder, holding all of your baggage and ashamed of the messes you’ve gotten yourself into. There is not one burden we’re meant to carry alone. There is not one burden that is hopeless. As much as I wish I could, there are no fancy words I could pen to magically make everything better, but the needs of many are not meant to rest on my shoulders. When we continue to worry, to think of every worst case scenario, to feel like the situation is hopeless and help is far away, we will end up flat on our backs under the weight of it all, just like I almost did with that tree. God wants us to hand it to Him and trust that He will take care of it. So today, I talked to God about you. He took you. He lifted you up. He set you up on a high place, under the shadow of His wings. A place of peace, where the weight of the world becomes weightless. And I know~ There is no better place for my friend to be. SCRIPTURE READING: Psalm 3:3, 28:7, 31:24, 34:17-18, 40:2-4, 61:2, 91:14, 121, 145:18 Ecclesiastes 4:10 Numbers 6:24-26 Matthew 9:36, 11:28-30, 19:26 I Peter 5:7 Isaiah 41:13 Jeremiah 31:25 Philippians 4:6-7
2/10/2023
Forgive And ForgetI had been hurt deeply. Again.
And not by a stranger or acquaintance, but a very close friend. And I was tired. I know this is awful, but I was tired of forgiving. I was tired of having to be the strong one. I didn’t want to fight for this friendship anymore. I’m ashamed to say that I allowed the hurt to keep me from God’s word and prayer. It wasn’t because I was blaming God, or even angry at God. It was because I was grappling with my feelings. This was a friendship that made forgetting and moving on nearly impossible. It was close, and the hurt was deep. I lost my trust in this friendship. I didn’t know how to move past the pain. I was stuck. I concluded that I was not bitter, but I was angry. Angry at sin. I was angry that this continued to happen to me. I got stepped on. I continually got my hopes up that this time things would be different. I got disappointed. Again. And I questioned why. Why me? The overthinking, people pleasing, insecure girl who wears her heart on her sleeve. I believe God answered me, but I didn’t want to listen. The Holy Spirit got a hold of all those grappling feelings that I couldn’t put into words. I felt a whisper tug at my heart. “I chose you because this child of mine needs YOUR help.“ I argued~ I am not strong. I am weak. So weak. I didn’t want to help. I wanted to be the one who could lean on someone else for a change. I wanted to be the one taken care of, not the one taking care of everyone else. I’m sure my emotions were dictating the response of my heart. It’s easy to tell others to love and forgive just like Jesus, until you are the one who has been crushed. My heart screamed that I was done fighting, but God’s Spirit convicted me and drowned out all my arguments. My lack of time in God’s word did not phase Him, because His words are alive and powerful. Scripture overwhelmed my soul~ I can do all things through Him, because HE LOVES ME. He will NEVER hurt me. He will NEVER disappoint. Instead, He will strengthen. I wouldn’t be alone. I didn’t have to be strong, because I could lean on Him and His strength is always enough. The power of Christ rests upon me and when I am weak, I am strong. He will take care of me and in turn, I can encourage a soul. A soul deeply loved by God. I can fall to my knees and bring them before God’s throne of grace. That grace. That grace that He bestows on me every single time I fail Him. Again and again. Sometimes it is a daily battle. A battle that almost seems impossible. But I surrender because I know, God is fighting for me in this battle for love. And His love meets our deepest need through any disappointment or defeat. “And in that love is the energy for faith and the very sap of hope.” Scripture Reading: Romans 8:26 Matthew 8:22 Hebrews 4:12 Philippians 4:13 I John 4 Proverbs 17:17 Ephesians 6:18 I Corinthians 15:10 II Corinthians 12:9
1/27/2023
Jesus DoesMany years ago when all my children were still living at home, my precious grandma passed away.
A specific moment of that time is etched in my memory. On a drive home with my husband one day, we had a conversation about my parents. Life for us was crazy, 4 children, a million extracurricular activities, being in the ministry and all the demands it entails~ yet my heart was hurting for my mom. I asked Mike if it was okay to call her when we got home and tell her I was coming to stay with them for a few days, maybe a week~just to be with her as she grieved. I didn’t get a chance to make that call because shortly after we got home, my dad called me~ accusing me of not thinking of my mother and what she was going through. I cried myself to sleep that night. I can remember the deep sadness I felt in wishing there was some way my mom could know my heart for her. With age comes wisdom. Not because we get smarter, but life makes us wiser. At the time, life had not hit me hard yet. I was naive. I was hurt. Today as I look back on that time I can honestly say that I understand my mom’s pain. The agonizing pain of losing a parent and the grief that seems to engulf you. People will hurt us. The hurt cuts even deeper when you know within your heart of hearts that you have done everything in your power to love on them and be there for them, yet they accuse you of the opposite. I spoke with a good friend about this very thing today. Her truth filled words are those we often forget~ It becomes easier if we put ourselves in the other person’s shoes and try to understand what they are going through, even if they have accused us wrongfully. That conversation made me recall a quote I read this week~ ”Let’s always treat others the way we long to be treated and remember, we’ve never walked a mile in anyone’s shoes.” My immediate thought as I read this was agreement, and then utter awe and praise to the only One who HAS walked in my shoes. Jesus. Whether we are the one hurting or the one who received the consequences of that hurt, Jesus is literally right there with us, in our shoes. We are never walking alone. He understands every emotion we are feeling. When we’ve been wrongfully accused and we want to scream “Please see my heart!! See my motives!!~ Jesus does. When we’re hurting and feel like no one else could possibly understand the heart crushing emotions we’re going through, when we’re tempted to think no one cares~Jesus does. Jesus. Accused wrongfully, denied by those He loved deeply, then crucified. Enduring more than we could ever possibly imagine. A perfect Savior who could do no wrong, hung on that cross for us. Sometimes the hurt feels too hard. When it’s the hardest, we need God’s word the most. When you don’t think you could possibly put yourself in another person’s shoes and try to forgive~ “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus”~ and put yourself in Christ’s shoes instead. Not only did He forgive, He loved. How often do we hurt His cause in our day to day lives, yet Jesus forgives us, He loves us and He understands. He continually walks with us through the “hard” we are dealt. Greater love hath no man than this. Never forget~Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. Put on HIS gospel. Walk in HIS shoes. SCRIPTURE READING: Matthew 5:3-12, 41, 44-48 Philippians 2:5-8 I John 4:4 John 15:13 Ephesians 6:15 “I’ve never wanted to breathe for someone else so badly.”
Her words touched me deeply. I don’t think I will ever forget them. I’ve been sharing posts this week about little baby Amelia. These were the words her mama posted today. I have never physically met her and she may not know this, but she has been a tremendous blessing in my life. When I first began my Facebook page, I stumbled across another~ Practical Living for the Christian Girl. I stepped out of my comfort zone and reached out to sweet Meghan, asking for help with my own page. Even though I felt like a complete idiot for not knowing simple things, she never made me feel that way. Instead, she loved on me and helped me and because of her selflessness, her time, and her love~ she has invested in the thousands that follow Holding Hope today. She humbly allowed herself to be used of God. And today her little girl is being used to bring thousands to the Throne of Grace. My own heart has been pricked with conviction this week. How often we waste our thoughts and our words, even our time. We go about our every day moments and mundane activities and don’t even think about talking to God. Even when life may not necessarily “feel” good, it’s normal. We complain easily and forget to be thankful. Quite often we even forget to talk to our Savior throughout our days. But then a tiny precious soul touches us all and as we do our “normal”, we cannot help but think of her and go to God for her. Suddenly our petty complaints about our normal lives seem selfish, because honestly~ they are. Her sweet mama wrote~ “Where I cannot give her breath or a steady beating heart, He can.” Amelia has given this gift to us all. A steady beating HEART unified in the prayers lifted on her behalf. She has breathed LIFE into the prayers of thousands, as she fights for her own. This little one has done mighty things for God. Let us not forget this. Realize how abundantly blessed you are. As the days turn into weeks and you go about your “normal”, continue to talk to God throughout your day. Use your words to speak to your Savior, and in turn allow Him to speak through you to others. Lift each other up in prayer, but also in purpose. Help those in need. Give of your time. Be selfless. Be loving. Let your Amen always remind you of Amelia. A tiny soul who changed us all. SCRIPTURE READING: Philippians 4:6-7 Colossians 4:2 Matthew 18:20, 26:41 Psalm 5:3, 19:14, 42:8 I Thessalonians 5:16-18
1/13/2023
Precious PromiseThe tears fell as I listened to him sing. This wasn’t new to him, his mama often cried when she sang solos or gave testimonies. I don’t think he really understood why though. I could picture him catching a glimpse of me, shrugging his shoulder a bit and running to find his brothers. But he didn’t see me cry. My 9 year old grandson singing about His Messiah, our precious promise. I didn’t think my heart could get any fuller. Why did I cry? “Messiah, a baby born to save us all.” My baby was singing about the Baby born to save us all. The significance of the words resounded deep within my soul. “All we longed for, all we needed shining in a child’s eyes.” Jesus. Just a child yet a Savior. The innocence of childhood grasped me in that moment. My little Ethan. Ethan who has not yet experienced the pain that this sin cursed world can so cruelly throw at him. The heartbreaks that come again and again as we age. No, right now he is just a child singing about His Messiah. One day though, he will remember this moment. Singing with his mama. The words will whisper to his heart when it’s hurting… “Hope forever. Death defeated. Because of this one holy night.” Why did I cry? Because I have known death. I have known heartache. I know what lies ahead for this little man, but I also know his Hope. Jesus will be with him through it all. Everything he longs for, everything he will ever need. His Messiah. My Messiah. I listened to his little voice as he reminded me of a future he has yet to live and a promise I can cling to. I don’t need to fear the future. I don’t need to fear the future of my children or my grandchildren. And I smiled through the tears. “O come, let us adore Him.” So many emotions were wrapped up in that moment. That God would use my grandson to remind me of His love in sending His own Son for us all. The older I get the more I realize how truly sinful I am, and the impact of God’s grace, mercy and forgiveness on my life. I realize the hardness of life, but the promise of a Savior Who walks with us, and sometimes even carries us through it. This brings me to my knees. Someday Ethan will understand. Someday he will cling to the words he sings. Words that show me a future made beautiful by the past. “Because of this one holy night.” What a precious promise. Messiah. On our knees we fall. SCRIPTURE READING: Hebrews 2:14-18 Isaiah 9:2,6-7 When I was in the third grade my parents told me we were moving. My little heart was broken. I think I cried for a month. I didn’t want to leave my friends, and the home I loved so much. I can remember throwing rocks at the For Sale sign in our front yard, I even pulled it out of the ground once and hid it.
But then we moved, and slowly I came to love our new home. The one we endearingly called “the farm”. My imagination came alive on that old farm. I began writing stories in the fourth grade. It was a place to dream, and I sat and dreamed a lot. I sat at my piano overlooking our beautiful apple orchard. I sat in the apple trees. I sat in the kitchen shucking corn and snapping beans.I sat on the hills overlooking acres and acres of breathtaking land. I sat in bed as my mom read to me each night. I sat in church and I sat in confessional every week. I sat on our horse and I sat in our hayloft. I sat on our cellar door and on our milk house steps. I even sat in our out house. And… I sat and cried when we had to move again. I loved that old farm. God had given me something beautiful and then taken it away. It wasn’t the first time little Charisse went through something painful, and it certainly wasn’t the last. Here’s the thing though, Today I can sit and I can see why. Not only did I become “me” on that farm, due to heartbreaking circumstances involving the move, my family came to know Christ. And today I sit at His feet. What a beautiful place to dream. Time and time again I thought God was taking the wonderful things I loved away from me because I did something wrong. Surely He was punishing me. But that wasn’t the case at all. Each time God took something, He replaced it with something so much better. He did it because He loves me. And now at the age of 57, I can’t even count the number of times God has done this in my life. Given me something better. With His grace in my heart and His word on my lap, today I sit and smile. When people invite you to sit, you know that old saying~ “Take a load off”? That’s literally what Christ tells us to do. Give Him the load. Imagine if we made a New Year’s resolution to sit more. I think people would laugh if you told them that was your intention. Sitting is such an easy thing to do. How often do we do it without a thought… but what if we actually did think about it every time we sat down? Giving all your heaviness to Christ and recalling all the times He blessed you with something better. Whatever you might be going through today, sit with Jesus. You might not understand things now, but if you will just sit with Him through it, you will see that His “beautiful” is always so much better than our own. No striving. No trying to figure things out. Just sitting with Jesus. What a beautiful place to dream. what a beautiful place to be. SCRIPTURE READING Jeremiah 29:11 Psalm 77:1-14, 78:4,6-7
12/30/2022
In The BeginningMy daughter gave me a precious gift this Christmas. A dainty bracelet with the inscription Proverbs 3:5-6. A daily reminder to me. One that I have thought about so often lately, and one that I shared with my girls on our last shopping trip together.
Back when I was in high school, our school put on a little production. I will never forget one of the production leaders teaching us a catchy tune to the verse Proverbs 3:5-6. That tune has stuck with me through the last 40 years, but the meaning of the verse has grown in its significance as each year passes. Lately it has been my life line and I find myself wondering why I didn’t truly live it for the past 40 plus years. My words said I did, my head thought I did~ but my heart and soul did not. I often leaned heavily on my own understanding, especially when life hit hard. Oh, if I had only truly trusted His sovereignty through everything. Through all the tiny inconsequential mishaps that I allowed to ruin my days, to the heavy grief that seemed to engulf my every waking moment~ My emotions ran ragged. Worry, stress, irritation and anger took over. Wishing things could be different took place too often, and at times fear overshadowed my days. I never stopped to fully take in the fact that God was in complete control of every single thing. Nothing was a surprise to Him. Nothing. If we could only grasp this fact as we head into a new year. Every morning waking up and praying this verse before our feet touch the ground~ “Lord I trust you. Help me not to ever lean on my own understanding, but to acknowledge you in every single thing today so that you will direct my paths.” Paths that lead to reactions that glorify Him no matter what life throws at us, because we trust Him and know it’s for our good. This simple prayer has literally changed my life. There’s an incredible comfort each morning as I place each future moment in His hands, and fully surrender my trust to Him. In the beginning God. January 1, 2023. A new beginning. A beginning with complete trust in the God who has been here before there ever was a beginning. The God who gives us no ending. The God of grace and hope and love. Trust in the Lord of new beginnings. Trust Him with all your heart. SCRIPTURE READING: Proverbs 3:5-6 Proverbs 16:9 Matthew 6:10 James 4:15 Psalm 36:23-24 Genesis 1:1 John 1:1 Isaiah 46:9-10 Romans 8:28 Ephesians 1:11-12
12/23/2022
Silent NightLast week I wrote about missing my yesterdays…
Let me tell you about my today. I ponder this day as I reflect on Christmases past. Christmas Eves full of excitement. Trying to get children to sleep so that presents would appear under the tree the next morning. Late nights and early mornings every year. Joyful laughter filling every corner of the house. Of my home. But tonight. As parents around the world relate to this happy noise Christmas Eve brings, others are experiencing a silent night. The kids are grown and the house remains quiet. I couldn’t help but ponder the moment Jesus was born as I thought on this. God’s silent night. The earth’s Holy night. Jesus left His Father. Despite knowing the incredible sacrifice, sadness did not engulf His Father’s silent night, for the inexplicable love that God had for us took all sadness away. With joy unspeakable, His Son left the happiness of home and heaven. In the gift of Himself, He took away all silence and replaced it with a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God. He gave us glory and hope. He gave us Himself. Always with us. Never alone again. My kids might not be under my roof anymore. My home may be silent, but my heart can be full. Your heart can be full. On this night, that excitement that was once a part of my home lives on. It lives in my children as they share hope with a world that can sometimes feel hopeless. As they sing praises to God on this Holy night. As they share the good news of God’s gift with strangers and friends, loved ones and children. It lives in my grandchildren as their parents try to get them to sleep and then a few short hours later, in the laughter coming down stairs of expectation and joy. Tonight is not silent. Tonight is Holy. God came down. He came down to give us expectation and joy. Forgiveness and hope. From the star that led the way, to the cry of a newborn~every moment of this night leads us back to our Father. And oh that our hearts would pierce that silence with our songs of deliverance. Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace goodwill toward man!! Scripture Reading: Daniel 12:3 Luke 2
12/16/2022
I Miss YesterdayI miss yesterday.
There’s a strange emptiness inside me at Christmas. A hole that seems to get larger with each passing year~ It’s the memories of Christmases past and the ones who made this season so beautiful for me. A house full of children and magic. Parents and grandparents coming to visit. Cookies baked and Christmas carols playing. Life has changed so much. It’s not the same. And I miss it. I know I shouldn’t long for the past, but at times I find myself pining for it. I know I should be rejoicing in Jesus, the entire meaning of Christmas, but sometimes I still find myself looking back to my yesterdays and wishing for them back… I miss my kids being right upstairs. I miss my parents. I miss my In-laws living only a few hours away and their frequent visits to see us. I miss all the Christmas parties at aunt Mendi’s. I miss family. I miss Christmas dinner at Mom’s. Maybe I’m the only one who feels this type of emptiness. Deep down, I’m a nostalgic sap. Today I listened to my grandchildren all huddled around me, sharing in their excitement. “Only 10 days till Christmas grandma!!” And I yearn to make my daughters understand how beautiful these moments are in their lives. Right now. Moments with mom and dad right down the road, with excited little voices in every room. With cookies and carols and all the Christmas chaos. I want to tell them to soak it all in. Every last second. Even the exhaustion as their heads hit their pillows each night. Today. Right now. It will never be here again. What marvelous, majestic gifts God gave me year after year each Christmas. Gifts I took for granted. Gifts I opened each Christmas season, smiled, said thank you to Jesus and then forgot about. Until now. He is still giving me marvelous gifts, if I will just open my eyes to see them. They might not look the same but in my remembering the days of old, I am reminded that I am a part of the gifts He is giving my children and grandchildren. Gifts they will one day recall and cherish. I can choose to pine away for my yesterdays or I can make those gifts beautiful. The same way my parents, my in laws, my grandparents and aunts all did for me. In this moment as I sit and listen to the quiet, God shows me that I am looking at Christmas all wrong. I wanted my yesterdays and all the joy they brought, until it dawned on me that my tomorrows are not promised. It’s not what I can get every day leading up to Christmas. It’s what I can give. What will my loved ones and friends remember? What will your loved ones and friends remember? What will your children and grandchildren remember? Instead of focusing on the memories of your yesterdays, I want to encourage you to focus on the moments of your todays. Ask yourself~ “how can I make the lives of everyone around me better?” Somehow my parents, my In-laws and my aunts all made magical memories for me. Memories I cherish. I’m sure they were missing their yesterdays now and then too, but they never showed it. They made my life better, sweeter. They taught me how to give of yourself to those you love. I don’t know what next Christmas holds. Perhaps God will choose to take me home before I celebrate another season. And so, today I will take my own advice. I will soak it all in. Every second. I will make magic for my children and grandchildren. I will fill that hole to the brim with the gift of giving. Not of things, but of memories. Beautiful, majestic Christmas memories. And one day I pray they will realize, Those are the best gifts of all. Today I’m inviting you to my wedding. I’m sharing a video my son made for us 7 years ago for our 30th anniversary… When you’re young and you fall in love, quite often you don’t think too far ahead. You’re living in the moment. Maybe you talk about children or future plans, but the farthest you get in your thought process is the dream of getting old together, sitting on a porch with a white picket fence and smiling at the wonderful life God allowed you. Lately, I have continually heard the question~ “How did you know he was the one?” It seems to be a recurring theme on sappy Christmas movies. I pondered that as I thought back. It occurred to me the other day that I actually had that vision of Mike and I when I first got married, the whole “growing old, white picket fence” thing. I never saw that future with anyone else. A future where I couldn’t live without him. When I was 20, I never dreamed that someday my crazy, active young man (who could face any challenge and do any thing) would have three major joints replaced within 5 months time. His shoulder, right knee and next week, his left knee. When we’re young, we don’t like to think about the “what if’s” of our futures. What if my husband gets dementia? What if my husband gets cancer? What if he has heart problems or lung problems? What if he is no longer the strong man I lean on, when I really need to lean on him? My husband is my best friend. He’s the love of my life, but I’ll be honest~ there have been times I’ve lost my patience with him. I’ve lost the spark. I’ve misplaced my dreams, the very dreams that we actually got to live out together. I remember that childish girl who promised her forever to the man of those dreams. Our anniversary is this week and I remember my “for better or worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and in health.” I meant every word as he held my hands in front of 500 people 37 years ago. Truth be told~ I’m sure he didn’t think he signed up for a wife with all my issues either, but he loves me despite me. This “outward” that we grow old with isn’t truly us, it’s just our physical bodies aging through the process of time. Our true self lies deep within. It is our souls. They never grow old. I fell in love with Mike’s soul 37 years ago. Today I want to encourage you to remember that soul you fell in love with. The soul God placed in your hands to love and cherish. Some days it’s a lot harder to do, but those are the days we need to remind ourselves that our husbands have hard days dealing with us as well. You hold his soul in the heart of your actions, your words, your respect, your passion, your touch, your empathy, your patience your tenderness~ and most importantly~ your love. Remember that young girl who couldn’t imagine a future without him. Whatever you face in the days ahead, whatever reality has squashed the dreams of that naive young bride you once were, don’t let go of that promise to love. No matter what. I wrote the words to that song we’re singing at our wedding. Mike came up with the tune. I cannot believe shy Charisse even attempted to sing it. That’s what love does to you, makes you believe you can do anything. With all your heart, with all your soul~ Make each other believe again this Christmas. Scripture Reading: I Corinthians 13:1-8, 16:14 I John 4:7-8 I Timothy 5:8 Romans 12:9-10 John 15:11-12 Hebrews 10:24
12/2/2022
A Bit Of JollyHave you ever prayed for your children, but deep down felt like it would take a literal miracle for it to be answered?
Sadly, I have… I had a dear friend who used to remind me continually of who Jesus is. Not who Jesus was, but who He is~ the same yesterday, today and forever. The same Jesus who worked wondrous miracles throughout the Bible is the same Jesus working miracles in my life today. My friend went home to heaven one week before my dad. He was such an encourager. From the day we met him until the day he went home to be with Jesus, he continually lifted my heart when it was down. His words were like presents and hugs wrapped into one. He was always jolly, and I think of him so often. Today I recall such a day of encouragement. You see, a mother’s prayer has been answered and my friend encouraged me through the waiting. If you have or had teenage children (or children in general), you will understand. Although it may seem trivial compared to the heartache some are facing today, it can still break a mama’s heart when her daughter’s fight continually and you don’t see any hope at the end of the tunnel. You have visions of them hating each other the rest of their lives. Every holiday get together from now until infinity will be riddled with strife or empty seats because they refuse to celebrate together. Yes, it was that bad. For a few years, I think I cried over my bible and coffee every morning after they left for school. And then one day a miracle slipped in. It was so subtle and although they are completely different personalities, my girls became best friends. And I am in awe. I had almost given up on that prayer. A prayer I prayed for almost 20 years. And when I stood back and watched it unfold, I thought about the words of my friend as he told me stories of his own two girls. How he encouraged me continually, and how his smile lit up his face as he spoke of his daughter’s sweet friendship now. Today, I am on a Christmas shopping trip with my own daughters. Not just the two I spoke of, but my youngest and my daughter in law as well. It has become a Christmas tradition. Our “girls” trip. We get a hotel. We shop, we eat, we drink lots of coffee, we shop some more, we laugh and maybe cry, we pray, we blast Christmas music… and this mama rejoices. My God is so good. Today I want to encourage you to not give up on the heart of your mama prayers. Today I want to encourage you to be an encourager. Everyone needs a bit of jolly in their lives. You can give them that gift. I’m so thankful for my friend and I’ll never forget his words to me. Today as I sit and listen to my girls laughter in the other room, I smile through the tears and I know my friend is smiling in heaven right along with me. With a twinkle in his eye I can hear him say~ I told you Charisse. God can do anything. Scripture Reading: Hebrews 13:8 Hebrews 10:24-25 Romans 1:11-12, 8:26, 15:2, 5 I Thessalonians 5:11, 17 2 Corinthians 1:5 Galatians 6:2 Philippians 4:6 Luke 11:9 John 15:7 Mark 11:24 Jeremiah 33:3 Psalm 27:13-14, 28:7, 34:17
11/11/2022
All About MeI was a somewhat self centered new bride. Thirty seven years later, and I still am at times. Everything all about me. It’s something I’m constantly working on. When we were newlyweds, we came up with our own little life plan. We were going to wait to have kids, spend a few years getting to know each other better and then start a family. Two months later I was pregnant. I was 20 years old. Funny, with my first pregnancy it was all about the experience for me. (I blame it on my immaturity😂) The cute clothes, the big announcement, the first grandchild, the family excitement. The idea of being pregnant was so magical. Until reality hit. I didn’t just have morning sickness, I had 24/7 sickness. Anytime, anywhere. When it hit, it hit hard. It was no respecter of time or place. And suddenly, it was no longer about that little baby growing inside of me. It was all about me. I whined. I complained. I cried. I pouted. I felt sorry for myself. I forgot about the “why” because I was so focused on me. But when my precious little child was born, everything changed. All the sickness of pregnancy and pain of childbirth was wrapped up in a tiny baby and when that gift was given to me, it was beyond good. She was my miracle. Her birthday is next week. She continues to teach me what selfless truly means. She is one of the most selfless people I know. Looking back I realize, if I had taken my eyes off of Charisse and focused on the miracle inside me, things could have been so different. I’m not trying to say that I miraculously would have avoided morning sickness, but a different outlook could have changed my life, and the lives of those around me. We are human. It’s easy to let the “what about me” feelings seep in and control us. It’s natural to want others to feel sorry for us when life is hard, to want a little compassion and even empathy. Life is hard. For some, unbearably hard. But even in the unbearable, we are not alone. There is a Miracle living inside us and His name is Jesus. From the beginning of time He has promised that He will always be with us and will never leave us comfortless. Some of us might be so focused on ourselves that we completely miss God’s “why”. Others might not ever know the “why” of their suffering until they are home in heaven one day. In either case, we can choose to glorify our Savior if we will learn to continually fix our eyes on Him. Sometimes we forget that. We take our eyes off the Miracle and focus on ourselves. My first little miracle’s name is Jessica. When she was born, everything changed. The miracle of all mankind’s name is Jesus. The season of His birth is fast approaching. He is our Wonderful, our Counselor, our Prince of peace. He is our Comforter and Sustainer. All our pain, all our sin and all our suffering was wrapped up in a precious little baby Who took it upon Himself when He died on the cross. When He was born, all of mankind was given the greatest gift of all. Everything changed. Our past, our present, our future. Our eternity. All the pain and all the “hard” that we might be going through will one day produce our own miracle. I know this to be true because God promises me that whatever I face is for my good, and I trust Him. I’m not trying to convince you that the hard will miraculously go away if we take our eyes off of ourselves and place them on our Savior, but I am saying that our lives will look a whole lot different if we do. And the lives of those around you will be better for it. Focus on the Miracle inside you. Focus on the miracle of Jesus. SCRIPTURE READING Hebrews 12:1-2 Galatians 2:20 Ephesians 3:16-21 2 Corinthians 13:4-5 Isaiah 9:6-7 John 14:18-20 John 3:16 Romans 8:28, 38-39 Isaiah 41:10-13 1 Peter 5:7 Hebrews 13:5-6
11/4/2022
A Good CryI’m such a baby.
My husband had his knee replaced on Monday. He came home Monday night. Yes, that’s quick. Too quick. Since he did so great with his shoulder replacement in July, we thought we knew what to expect. We were wrong. His first day home he overdid the exercises and didn’t take his prescribed pain medication. Tuesday the pain and swelling set in. By Tuesday evening the tears were rolling down my cheeks as I changed his bandages and heard him cry out in pain. Lessons learned for the next knee, scheduled in December. Wednesday as I sat with him in Physical therapy and watched his face riddled with pain again, I fought back the tears and had this little conversation inside my head~ “Charisse. Get a hold of yourself. Be strong. You look ridiculous crying over this.” I thought about that a lot today. Me being a big baby. How ridiculous I looked crying over my husband’s pain, how ridiculous I look when I cry about a lot of things… but then I had a little God moment epiphany~ Who says? Who says it’s ridiculous to cry? Who has the right to say it is weak to weep when we see loved ones in pain or even when we are experiencing heartache of our own? God doesn’t. Man does. Man’s words are continually ingrained into us~ Be strong. Other people are going through much worse. Look at all your blessings, you have no right to cry. Don’t show your vulnerabilities. Don’t be weak. And yet, the majority of the time it’s all a facade. We are weak. We are human. Tears flow. And guess what? God is okay with that because in our weakness we find His strength. God really opened my eyes to that fact in my bible reading this week. I read the story of a woman who was barren. It touched me deeply. My own child is experiencing this anguish and it is a rollercoaster of emotions. Hard doesn’t come close to describing it. Prayers have been poured out. Tears have been shed. An answer has not come. As I read God’s words to me about the story of Hannah, several things were brought to my attention. Hannah was never reprimanded by God for crying. Hannah cried because of how she was treated by another woman. She cried because her prayers weren’t answered. She cried because her heart was broken. She had bitterness of soul and wept. Even the man of God judged her. God did not. There is power in her story. The hard hit home this week. My husband endured excruciating pain. A sweet friend had breast cancer surgery and another dear friend found out she has pancreatic cancer. There is heartache all around us. Life can be so cruel, but oh how powerful our great God is. He will help us walk through the unthinkable and from our pain He will produce miracles. Others may judge us because of our tears, but God does not. God does not diminish the pain we feel. He does not categorize our tears. He keeps every one of them. He tells us to cast ALL our cares on Him. Not just the big cares, ALL the cares. He understands. God offers grace. He offers tenderness. He offers miracles. As I got my dad’s old walker out of the backseat of our car and helped my husband into another therapy session yesterday, the emotions were all there. Memories came rushing in of doing the same thing for my dad at countless doctor appointments. It was also the anniversary of my mom’s home going. In that brief moment I wanted to yell at the world~”I’m tired of trying to be strong!!!” But then I recalled the words of a dear friend, beautifully reminding us all not to quit. Hannah never quit. Though she had tears, she kept on praying to God for her miracle. And so, I watched my husband take one tiny step after another and I thanked God through the tears. I know God’s working miracles, but I also know He thinks it’s okay if I cry through the process. I will give the hard to Him again and again, day after day because my yoke might be heavy but when I give that yoke to Him, my burdens become light. I may not see the answers I’m looking for and I might cry like a baby, but this one thing I am confident of~He will hold me through it all and allow me to let the tears fall with no judgement. He will whisper to my soul~ It’s okay Charisse, have a good cry. Miracles are coming. SCRIPTURE READING: 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 Philippians 1:6 Matthew 11:28-30 I Peter 5:7 Psalm 34:17-19, 56:8-9, 147:3-5 Hebrews 4:15-16 I Samuel 1 Isaiah 40:28-29, 43:2 John 16:33
10/21/2022
What If Snowflakes Were Chocolate Chips?What if snowflakes were chocolate chips?
It was probably a day much like today. The fall of 1976. My husband was in the 9th grade when he sprained his neck during a gym class game of tackle football. And so, he was home from school~ alone, bored and unhappy. He knew where his mom hid the chocolate chips, so he made his way into the kitchen to sneak some before she got home. Wearing a neck brace made things a little tricky but he was sure he could pull it off. Due to his injury, the pain was too intense to turn his head or even bend over. With outstretched arms and bag in hand, he slowly poured some out only to have them spill all over the kitchen floor. A floor with black and white tiles. He found himself in a predicament. He could not look down. The best thing to do would be to back up, look at where the chocolate chips had fallen and then try to go to that spot to retrieve them. Each time he backed up and looked he was able to gather more, until he could no longer see any chocolate chips. Feeling quite proud of himself, he had no worries when his mom got home. Until she walked into the kitchen. “I see you got into the chocolate chips Michael”… He didn’t take into account that from far away, the black tiles made the chocolate disappear. This morning while I was reading God’s word, I couldn’t help but think of that story. One verse in particular stood out to me~ “He casteth forth His ice like MORSELS: Who can stand before His cold?” Psalm 147: 17. I don’t know why, but immediately my mind went to Nestle Toll House Morsels. Bear with me, I’m not trying to rewrite God’s word, it just really got me thinking about how we view our lives and what the lesson was in such a crazy concept~ What if snowflakes were chocolate chips? We don’t see the big picture the way God does, we only have a partial view. We pray and want answers immediately. We complain about our circumstances. We look for joy in things, instead of Jesus. We think that if our circumstances were different or if we could have that ONE thing, life would be better and we would find that happiness that’s missing. And when we fall prey to that line of thinking, we neglect to remember EVERYTHING God has already blessed us with. We dismiss His tremendous love, understanding and care for us. Psalm 147 brings out some amazing truths that we need to be reminded of. The entire chapter speaks of God’s glory and power. ~v.3 He heals the broken hearted (crushed or hurt feelings). ~v.5 His understanding is beyond measure. ~v.6 He lifts (encompasses and restores) up the meek (depressed in mind or circumstances). ~v. 11 He takes pleasure in those who hope (patiently wait and trust) in His mercy (kindness). And this is just a tiny handful of the abundant sweetness God blesses us with. Blessings that we often forget. Back to my snowflake analogy. Think about all the petty things we complain about. Winter is right around the corner, and I’ve already heard several disdainful comments about the impending snow. We complain so often about the things we don’t like, myself included. Here is something I would like us to ask ourselves: Do we honestly think God is just sitting up in heaven laughing and saying “I know how to make them miserable, I’ll give them a snow storm!”? It sounds ridiculous to say that out loud, but when we complain about the things in our lives we aren’t happy about, we’re pretty much placing God on a human level and blaming Him for it. We don’t see the big picture because we aren’t God. God has a reason for the snow just as much as He does for the wind and for the rain, for the sunshine and for the clouds. (Psalm 147) What if we looked at life differently, knowing that God put’s everything in our lives for a reason and trusting Him with that reason? What if we viewed snow with the same pleasure we view chocolate chips? When my husband spilled all those chocolate chips many years ago, he was trying to make a bad situation better by doing something that he shouldn’t have been doing. When he backed up, he didn’t see the goodness that was hiding in the dark areas, he only viewed the light. His brace was hindering him. Maybe if he had taken more time and looked more closely he could have seen the big picture the way his mom did, and things would have turned out differently (He probably would have enjoyed a lot more chocolate chips). What is hindering our view today? Sometimes we’re put into circumstances that make it hard to see or trust in God’s plan. We feel so far from God and like those black tiles, dark circumstances can make our previous blessings disappear. On the other hand, maybe some of us have simply become a complaining, petty people. Complaining won’t make a bad situation better, it will only make it worse. Whatever the case, perhaps it’s time we decide to step back and try to see the big picture by reminding ourselves of all the amazing ways God blessed us with goodness, even in the moments that seemed so dark. To back up and see where all the chocolate chips in our life have fallen. To go back to that time and retrieve the thankfulness that’s missing. We don’t see things the way God does, but if we patiently wait and trust in His kindness and steadfast love, the more we back up and look, the more we will see. All the times He has healed our brokenness. All the times He understood our pain. All the times He held us close during the most painful circumstances. And not just a tiny handful of love, but ALL the love He has poured into us~ Every single moment of every single day. The more we see, the more joy we have and the more grateful we become. Our view has to change. How different our lives will be when all our snowflakes become sweet chocolate chips.
10/14/2022
I Am A WomanWhat is a woman?
I am a woman. When I was a little girl, I never would have imagined that the use of that phrase could possibly cause controversy. I am a woman. I am incredibly thankful I am a woman. Not because I am better than a man. Not because I want to shove that sentence in someone’s face. I am thankful because that is who God made me to be~ and I embrace it. Through various movements of the last century, women have been inundated with two requisites. The first~Women are powerful. The second~Just being a woman isn’t enough. We need to “be more” and “do more” so that we can prove we “are more”. The world is constantly screaming “more” in the face of femininity. The concept contradicts itself. I have nothing to prove. I am a woman. Femininity has gone through all the stages. From the genuine love of being a homemaker to~ “I am equal to and even better than man”, to “there is no such thing as a woman”. Wives, mothers and homemakers have been made to feel less than, looked down upon and even ignorant. Definitely not powerful. This morning as I prayed, my own mother came to mind. I pictured her doing “all the things”. Her arm halfway in a turkey on Thanksgiving morning. The ironing board out every Tuesday and the vacuum and mop every Friday. The home cooked meals, the date nights with my dad, the stories read to me before I went to bed each night. She loved every minute of it. I loved every minute of it. And I wept. Not because my mom was weak, brainwashed by society at the time, or even ignorant~ But because my mom was powerful. She gave me the precious gift of a childhood that kids only dream of. She instilled in me a deep gratitude and love of everyday life, the feeling of comfort, security and love. The desire to pass that on to everyone I meet. She had an impact on my life in a thousand different ways. An impact that enables me to say today~ I am blessed to be a woman. I am blessed to be a wife. I am blessed to be a mother. Over and over in scripture God gives us examples of powerful women. Today I read about two. One was a judge. One was a housewife. God used BOTH for His glory. His power was evident in the soft hand of a woman. Woman and man. Male and female. I am a woman. Any earthly accomplishments or possessions I have at the end of this life will only be wood hay and stubble. I cannot take my accomplishments and possessions with me when I die. But oh the power in spreading light through darkness, kindness instead of hatred, finding joy in every moment, loving your husband and raising little souls for God’s kingdom. Little souls that will impact the world for a future we may never see. Souls that can share the light of Jesus. A light that this dark world desperately needs. There is power in that. It doesn’t come from the reserve of an accomplished female who checks off all the boxes this world deems necessary to claim the pronoun “she” today. The power comes from Christ within us. And with that power we can change the world. I am a woman. If I choose, I will dance around the house in my skirts and high heels. I will cook meals and bake goodies with my grandchildren. I will clean my home and be thankful for the million little things God blesses me with on a daily basis. I will love on my husband. I will minister to other women, write blog posts, share God’s word, comfort and love in only a way a woman can do. I will be powerful and I will pass that power of Christ on to the next generation. I will embrace womanhood and shout it from the rooftops, with absolutely no shame. I don’t have to choose my pronoun because God has chosen it for me from the beginning of time. I am a woman, And I praise God for it. SCRIPTURE READING: John 15:16 Jeremiah 1:5 Romans 8:4 Psalms 139:13-18 Judges 4
10/8/2022
I Am A LiarI don’t know when it started, but I became quite the little liar when I was a child. I suppose all children go through some stage of lying, but today I’m faced with the reality that I never really grew out of it. Up until one particular day, I found I could lie my way out of anything and get away with it. I asked my mom if I could play outside with my friend. It was summer. I was five. She told me that I could, but not until I cleaned my room. I definitely did NOT want to clean my room. I’m sure I did a lot of complaining because I just wanted to be happy and have fun. I remember this next part like it was yesterday. She said: “and you better not shove it all in your closet or under your bed.” Within minutes I called downstairs to let her know I was finished so she could come up to check. “Wow”, she said as she looked around, “you did such a good job.”And then she asked~ “You didn’t shove it all in your closet or under your bed, did you?” To this day, I don’t know what my little five year old brain was thinking, because I looked her straight in the eye, nodded, smiled and said~ “no mama, I cleaned it all”. And then she opened the closet door. I had tried to make it look good on the outside so I could get what I wanted on the inside. Today as I searched my heart, I realized that I continue to do this. I want my life to be happy and fun~ and I want to tag Jesus on to all of it. So I do “all the things”. All the outward things “for His glory”, but the more I do for “His glory”, the less time I spend with Him. And yet, I want Him to bless it all. This blog included. What was I thinking? I can nod and smile and say “it’s all good”, but I know it isn’t. Too much good robs me of the best. Today, God opened the door of my heart and everything came tumbling out. Bible study books, Sunday School lessons, Children’s Ministry material, Ladies Book ministries, the search for awesome quotes to post on my Holding Hope page and the search for the best words to write for this blog... They all came tumbling out, and along with them came fatigue and comparison, depression and questioning, complaining and defeat. And there on the dresser sat my Bible. The one needful thing. Doing all the outward things doesn’t make God love us more. Doing “all the things” doesn’t guarantee us a happy, blessed, fun Christian life or gain us brownie points with God. Sometimes satan uses our busyness to distract us from the one needful thing and then he labels it “ministry.” I fell into this mindset once again and realized I was lying to myself and to others, but more importantly~ to God. And all along He knew. I almost quit my blog and Facebook page this week. I looked at the numbers, the likes, the shares, the views and decided God wasn’t blessing it anymore. I looked at the numbers instead of my heart. So, I searched and prayed and opened my Bible and then I prayed some more. And just like He always does, God answered. Whenever I get writer’s block and discouragement over my blog hits me hard, I realize it’s because I am not doing that one needful thing. Looking to Jesus. Opening every door, letting it all tumble out and asking Him for guidance in cleaning it up. He always does. And then He gives me the words to pen. And He shows me, they aren’t for the reader, they are for me. Because they are the EXACT words I need to hear from Him. I didn’t get to play outside that summer day so long ago. But my mom helped me by guiding and instructing me on how to actually clean my room the right way. And I got to spend an afternoon with my mama that I will never forget. Even at five, she instilled something in me that has lasted 52 years. God knows what we’re hiding that needs to come tumbling out. Quit leaning against that door and let God open it. He’s been knocking, but sometimes we’re just too busy to hear. Give it all to Him and ask for His guidance. Every day He will instill something new in your heart that will change you~ Just by spending time with Him. There isn’t a ministry book or blog, a Facebook page or podcast (all the “fruit” that’s supposed to make us wise) that can replace time spent with God and His steadfast love. Don’t let satan deceive you. (Genesis 3:5-6) Trying to look good on the outside won’t give you what your soul needs on the inside. Do the one needful thing. Todays scripture reading: Luke 10:42 Genesis 3:5-6 Psalm 107 Psalm 108:1-7, 12&13 Psalm 109:4, 21&22, 26&27, 30. Luke 11:9-13
9/30/2022
God’s PathsAs a child, my family traveled down south for vacation one year and I distinctly remember thinking that I would never live in Ohio~
especially not the Toledo area… (I’m sorry all you Buckeye fans) Well, you know the old saying~ If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans. Only a few years into our marriage we had moved from Rochester, MI to Stratford, CT and then… you guessed it~ Toledo, Ohio. “In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths”. Proverbs 3:5-6 I never saw our path leading us there, but God did, and I’m so glad that we asked for His wisdom and guidance. I’m so glad that we stepped out in faith and trusted Him~because it changed my life. Three short years made up a lifetime of happy memories. Three short years that God used to prepare my heart for the future in ways I never would have imagined. *Sweet, precious, life long friendships were forged. *We grew close to our teen group and continually prayed for them, even after moving away. Today we are so blessed to see answers to prayer in the godly adults and parents many of them have become. *My faith grew tremendously through the trials of sick babies. *When my husband had to work out of state five days a week, I realized how often I had taken him for granted. Our marriage grew even stronger. *After many dormant years, I was somewhat forced to take up my piano playing again. I now play for our church every Sunday. *For a brief moment in time, my children attended a Christian school in the area. Today, many years later and many, many miles away~two of my children are married to spouses who attended that very same school. Not only that, but while my nephew was living with us he also met and married a young lady from the same school. *I learned the incredible beauty of a grateful heart. Through the heartbreaking tears of goodbye and an unknown future ahead, God eventually led us here, to our church family in Caseville. My husband has been the pastor here for 28 years. Too often we go about our days without truly asking God to direct our paths. Our days are monotonous. In our human minds, our daily, mundane activities don’t seem important to His kingdom. We don’t think of our normal “everyday” as big things for God. Unless something is going wrong within our routine, we don’t always factor God into the equation. But, when we choose to ask God to direct our paths and our steps, He delights in us and leads us to places we might not have ever experienced without that acknowledgement. Do you know how much easier your life becomes when you give God your days the moment you step out of bed? When you pray and ask God to order your steps and direct your paths, and then you trust Him to do just that? You begin to realize that everything that happens throughout your day was orchestrated and directed by Him, even if it wasn’t what you planned. Your faith grows. And when your little, everyday plans, or your really big, (sometimes life changing) plans are disrupted~ it’s so much easier to trust God, because you know in your heart that you have given your days to Him and asked Him to direct your paths. Psalm 32:8 Paths that will take you along the banks of green pastures and still waters. Paths of life and joy. Paths of peace that passes understanding and unexpected comfort. Beautiful opportunities to serve God and blessings that might have been missed had we not asked Him for direction. Paths that lead to our future and answers to prayer that will affect generations to come. Psalm 16:11, 25:4-5, 37:23, 61:2, 78:6-7 & 72, 86:11, 119:105, Proverbs 3:5-6, 16:9, John 14:26 & 16:13, Isaiah 30:21, 48:17 & 58:11, Matthew 7:7-11, Philippians 4:7. Every moment is big to God. Every moment can glorify Him. Every step~ whether that step is in a workplace or inside the four walls of your home~ every single step can change your heart and your life. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths~even if that path isn’t going in the direction you want, or think is best. Trust me on this one. God’s paths will always lead to the very best. Take that step of faith today. Psalm 23 |
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