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How do we know what to do when we are in a place we believe God called us to be, but then wonder if we are where God wants us to be? I’m in a place like that right now. Where I wonder, did I miss God, or is where I am where I am supposed to be? I have been here before. I have been here because I did what I wanted, not what God wanted. And I have been here because I was where God wanted me to be. I have learned that in either circumstance, if I am willing to follow Jesus right now, in this moment …

The world’s message of making sure people give us what we earned, are owed, need, have coming, or deserve is a lie intended to lead us to destroy ourself. No one owes us anything, and nothing we are missing in our own lives belongs to anyone else. The only thing ever missing in our own lives is what we have to give, and what Jesus has for us. Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Matthew 16:25 For if …

I used to fight to forgive myself, but then I thought about how I feel about the person that hurt me forgiving themselves, and nothing about that made sense. The truth is, we have no power to forgive ourselves. The only power we have is to repent and forgive others. The beauty and the miracle is that God forgives us. Then our responsibility becomes accepting His forgiveness so we can move forward living a loving life. So His forgiveness in our lives is not in vain, and so His sacrifice on the cr …

Patience is a willingness to trust God’s Word and to trust that love never fails. It’s having the courage to stand on the truth despite everything we see. It is not pretending everything is ok like it is.....it’s a willingness to believe love never fails if we are willing to love. It’s the courage to change if the truth demands it, and to stand if the truth demands we stand despite what we see. Galatians 6:9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not gi …

When I became totally convinced that the truth was best for me and those I loved the most....then criticism became my best friend. It still hurts my feelings, and maybe it always will. I must say though, not nearly as much as it once did. Not so much anymore, because the change it has brought to my own life has blessed me so much, I find myself desiring criticism. I desire it so I can be challenged, and so I can get other perspectives and be shown my own blind spots. In the past, the moment I re …

Your destiny is not in the hands of anyone else! Other people do have the power to influence the path it takes to get where God wants you. The idea that no one else can hurt you or change the course it takes to get where God wants you is simply not the truth. Buying that lie leads us to fight people instead of fighting to live a loving life. It leads us to build fences that we think will protect us but only trap us. Boundaries don’t protect us, they destroy us. Fences we think keep others out, o …

I get hurt and you get hurt. Some of us get hurt far worse than others. Being hurt though says nothing about us. How we respond to hurt says much about us. Please realize, that people hurting you says nothing about you. Jesus told us to turn the other cheek not so we would be a victim, but so we could become victorious. A popular and far too often true statement is, “hurting people hurt people.” Sadly, this is often true because we allow hurt to keep us from living a loving life. We fight back a …

I have come to the point in my life where if something won’t cost me anything, I’m afraid of it. Afraid, because I have learned love always cost me something, but never more than not loving cost me. I have also learned love normally cost us now and pays us later. Fear always wants me to take the free ride, so it can suck the life out of me later. God’s will for your life will cost you, and it will cost you now, but it’s the best possible thing that can ever happen to you. Fear wants us to try to …

Loving someone who won’t love us is always painful. Actually, anyone not loving us is painful. We can pretend we don’t care, but that is just a fearful response to the fact we do care. Whatever you do, don’t harden your heart. That’s the trap of hurt. Loving heals us from hurt. When we harden our own hearts, we prevent healing and live a life trapped by the hurt we are trying to avoid. If someone not loving you hurts then thank God. It means you’re whole and you’re what God made you to be. Have …

We don’t have a chance to practice remaining calm until we are anxious. These are moments where opportunities present themselves to practice remaining calm. We must be quick to cast down imaginations that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God.....and quick to embrace those thoughts obedient to Christ. ”The Right Fight” is not the fight with fear. It’s the fight for truth that drives out fear. Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and learn not on your own I understanding …