The Power of Prayer

I am not sure how you pray, there seems to be so many different options and forms of prayer. The variety in prayer is something that I love so much about Christians. Often times I journal my prayers. There are so many thoughts bouncing around in my head that it sometimes is easiest to write them down, even if it is in jumbled jots. Recently, I had the privilege to watch God answer so many of my hopeless prayers. All I had to do was reread some of the prayers I had written down. Looking back I remember how hopeless I felt about certain situations and the desperateness of my prayers. Have you experienced that? Now that some time has passed, I see how the Lord answered those seemingly desperate prayers in a way that brings me to my knees.

Often times in our most dark and desperate moments we wonder if He even hears us. His word tells us that in those times of need we must call on Him. Jeremiah 3:33 says to "Call to me and I will answer you." The ability to know that He hears our prayers and answers them is something so humbling. He can transform those fear and worry into good (Romans 8:28).

Think about the things in your life that you have prayed about and He has given you an answer to. Write them down if you need to. I think you will find that He not only hears you, but that He has blessed you immensely. If you are currently going through one of those times where you feel completely hopeless, remember that your prayers are heard by a God who is always with you (Hebrews 13:5). He knows the plans He has for you and they are better than anything we can imagine (Jeremiah 29:11).

I hope you find joy and peace in knowing that your prayers will be answered (James 1:2). They may not be answered exactly how you hoped, but they will be answered in a way that God has willed for your precious life!

Have a wonderful Wednesday! Much love!

Walking by Faith

I come from a family of planners. We always seem to be planning the next meal while we are having the first. While I feel incredibly blessed that I do not have to worry about what I will eat next or where I'll be living the next week, it does sometimes make relinquishing control to the Lord difficult.

If you are like me, you probably have all these checklists in your head of things you have to get done. Some of these checklists may be simple, but some can be more complex and relate to the big things in your life. Being the planner of your life can be very stressful because it requires you to know all the answers. My proposition for you today is to rid yourself of some of that control you feel you desperately need in your life, and hand it over to someone who can use it for good (Romans 8:28).

I encourage you to walk by faith, not by sight. Proverbs 3:5 tells us to, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart." Do you trust him with your plans? With your life? I have found that, when I let go of my constant need to plan and control the events in my life, He replaces it with a much more glorious plan. I am often humbled by the fact that the Creator of the universe, the Alpha and Omega chose to plan all of my days before I even came to be (Psalm 139:16).

Start in baby steps, when something arises that you find you are holding on to tightly or unsure of what to do, relinquish it to Christ. Imagine how much more smoothly our lives would go if we did not wait until it seemed all hope was lost to turn to Christ. If we begin giving Him control from the start, we can start living God-willed and purposeful lives instead of self-seeking and man-planned lives.

Hope your Monday is a stress free one! Much Love!

Who am I?

I am new at this blogging, so please bear with me! I have been working in ministry for three years and have absolutely loved it. I have taken this year off, because I have so much going on in my life. However, God has laid doing this blog on my heart, and I am so excited about it!

I began praying about what I would post first, and what came to mind is that you need to know who I am. What an easy question, right? I realized that the answer of who I am is deeper than my name, age, and character traits. The world seems to give us lots of labels, both good and bad of who we are. I'm sure you have a few popping into your head now. Some can be easily identifiable like sister or mother, but some can be more difficult to admit to like being fake or a gossip. A question I ask myself is whether or not Christ calls me these things.

As a born again Christian, you and I are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV). Therefore all those labels that we may put on ourselves are no longer true. I read recently that a person has about 60,000 thoughts a day, and 70% of those are negative. Think about how many of those are negative about ourselves.  We have to begin seeing ourselves the way Christ sees us in order to be the people God calls us to be. We cannot truly love others without understanding the unconditional amount God loves us.

My heart was led to one of my favorite Psalms, Psalm 139. It says that we are "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14 NIV). He knows our hearts (Psalm 139:23 NIV). How comforting is that to know that we are so wonderfully made in Christ and that we are not of this world. Therefore the labels that this world places on us are not true. We are made for more.

I hope today you are encouraged by the fact that you have been made for such a great purpose and the Lord sees you for more than all the labels you or the world may put on you (Song of Solomon 4:7 NIV).

Hope you have a fabulous day! Much Love!


Song to listen to: Beautiful for Me By: Nicole Nordeman