godgirl's blog

Go ahead and Say No

I am just learning that it’s OK to say no.  That is if that is what you are hearing from God.  I’ve always thought, especially when someone needed help and especially when my church had a request that I had to say yes.  But, I’m learning that it is not necessarily the right thing to do.  Often No is the appropriate answer, even if it kills you to say it.

I mean if someone in your family always requests money and you have it to give to them – should you give it? Or should you help them by saying this time you need to take care of your issue and try and get a job?

Or if you don’t feel that you have time for something and you add it to your schedule anyway-should you?

Or in my case, I am on a quest to land a job and although I have more free time than usual, is it the best use of my time to volunteer as I see fit?  That answer is No.  I’m learning that if I don’t take care of my issues – then no one will.  And they are my issues and I don’t want to make them anyone else’s.

I am trying to follow God’s path for me right now and obeying even if it means I do less at church which feels so foreign to me.  But right now he wants me to train and learn – so that’s what I am doing.  In doing so, I have to say “no” to many things and that’s new to me.  I test everything in prayer and often I get a resounding feeling in my soul that it’s the right thing. When I don’t hear a definite no or yes from him, then I error on the side of  “no” not yes.  It seems to be working well.

So go ahead and say no and remember rejection isn’t anything more than direction.  No has many positive consequences, especially when we say No to temptation.  No has power to overcome hurtful behaviors. It really should be thought of as a positive word and action don’t you think?

Jesus said no many times.  He said no to the devil three times when tempted. He said no one can come through the Father except through him.  We must though never waiver in our decision for as Jesus said – it’s so on point….

Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one. Matt 5:37

Would you have said yes or no to the apple?

The Israelites Were Seldom Content

In reading through the bible in the year plan that I am on – I got convicted today Big Time.  I’m in Exodus 16 and I’m walking along the Israelites and reading about their problems.  They keep telling their leader, Moses, that they are not happy with his leadership which has been directed by God.  Everywhere they turn they forget about his past huge miracle, the parting of the Red Sea, and all they do is whine about is their lack of food, water and protection. Waaa. Waaa. Waaa.  I’d be complaining too.

But it was this one line that really convicted me – it was Moses’ wise answer to their complaints for meat with their potatoes.

…the Lord has heard all your complaints against him.  What have we done?  Yes, your complaints are against the Lord, not against us.  v 8

So my take away this morning was that all of my complaints really are not against a person, place or thing – they are really against God and my lack of faith that he doesn’t know what is best for me. For example, when I get upset when the lines are too long in the grocery store or when I can’t find a parking spot, my complaint really is against God for not making my life easier.  When in fact, he may want me to wait to minister to someone in the grocery line, or may want me to not to be in harm’s way in the parking lot.  It all is for his good.

The thing I complain about the most is my singleness.  What I am really doing is verbally saying that I am not happy with how God is leading my life.

I need to stop complaining. How about you? In our church service today we recited the Serenity prayer and it was a longer version than I am accustom.  But, it’s right on target and I’m going to leave you with these words.

THE SERENITY PRAYER

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

–Reinhold Niebuhr

What do we really need to complain to God about? His lack of love for us-no He loves unconditionally and most likely more than we love our ourselves?

Do you have any complaints?

God can help us get through any storm.

A friend sent me a timely devotion today about how God constantly comes to our rescue. He’s done it since the creation of Adam and He’s still at it today.  I don’t know about you, but I’m daily finding myself in some sort of situation where I need a helping hand to make it through.

I guess it’s the images I’m seeing coming from Haiti that bring it front and center for me.  I mean, if you think about it, everyone who has survived the earthquake in Port-au-Prince has needed someone to help them. They’ve either had a hand pull them out of the rubble or someone hand them water.  But, it’s not just the Haitians that need rescuing, it is each of us.

God is there to rescue us all. He gives us his full attention and is the first to extend his hand for he knows we need his help before we do.  But, often, he’s not called upon or in my case I doubt that He can do anything.  But every time I call out, He’s right there letting me know that I’m not alone in this world.

Do you need rescuing? I’ve got some good news for you.  There’s help for you right this minute.  There’s peace during this storm.  Cast your cares upon him.  Your burdens are light to Him.

It’s Jesus to the rescue.

Isaiah 46:4 (New International Version)

⁴ Even to your old age and gray hairs
I am he, I am he who will sustain you.
I have made you and I will carry you;
I will sustain you and I will rescue you.

God knows exactly how deep to operate

I have been in pain all week. I’m physically fine – this is an emotional pain that I’m writing about tonight. I certainly feel it, but I couldn’t tell you what it was about until now. I am in surgery. The great physician is cutting deep inside me and rooting out core issues that have caused me pain for as long as I can remember. And, this isn’t a simple surgery for He is going deeper and deeper and going after the root. Although, it is the most painful thing I have ever experienced, I know it is necessary. In fact, its the best thing that could ever happen to me.

The first surgery happened on Monday and after one day of recuperating, I was back on the table. I guess X-rays (my behavior) must have showed that they didn’t get it all. So on Wednesday, I was back under the knife.

As with any surgery, it takes time to heal. There’s re-hab. There’s medicine to take and you have to slow down your life. You almost never feel the full effects until well after the surgeries have been performed. I tell ya this was no minor surgery. This was definitely open heart surgery and it’s leaving some scars.

Right now I still feel I’m on the table and my guts are spilling out all over. I’m feeling vulnerable. Scared and unsure of my healing. I’m also hoping that he gets it all this time.

But I know in order for anything new to be in my life, I have to get rid of the old. He’s going after hurtful thought patterns I’ve believed that were never from Him. He wants me to see my life as he does – full of hope, fruit and goodness. But, he has to remove all the bad – so I’m going with it.

I’m not left without any morphine. I have the best medicine around for healing for every time I ask him to help me through the pain…he’s right there and takes it away. It only comes back when I forget about him and his promises.

I’ll keep you posted as to my re-hab. I’m letting my body heal at the moment and trying to take better care of myself and letting God fill up that empty hole in my heart. I’m already feeling better, but, boy did it hurt. I’ll let you know when the pain finally lifts.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (New International Version)

¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

I started a new bible study today and our Pastor asked for us to find illustrations of God in our life. So I had one and fired up my new camera.  Had a bit of fun with this. Enjoy.

It is written in Stone.

I was in one of those spots when I felt God was holding a deaf ear to me.  He’s been very active in my life and well, this week, he just disappeared – or at least so I thought.  I saw everyone around me getting blessed and being heard and well, I got into one of those pity parties I am so good at throwing.  But, that all changed last night.

For it was last night around the 3:50 a.m. hour that he woke me up to hear the following words – TRUST ME! And I heard it loud and clear.  I guess he had enough of my unbelief even in my REM sleep.  He wanted to silence whatever thoughts I was having and give my burdens over to him.

I wrote about blueprints in my last post and I guess this was his way of confirming he has my life under control. And if you think I was imagining hearing that word for God – well, wait to you hear this. I told a friend that God spoke to me last night and he asked me a strange question. He wanted to know what time God woke me up.  I told him and he said God woke him up at the same time and told him to pray for me.

So do I think God knows what’s going on in my life even though I don’t have a clue? Heck ya.  Do I think I’m called to trust him. Yes.  Is it hard – yes!  But, I heard it loud and clear.  He’s there for me, directing my path and providing relief.

Amen.

O Sovereign LORD, you are God! Your words are trustworthy, and you have promised these good things to your servant.  2 Sam 7:28

Right now I am having to trust God like never before.  As my coach, God has been conditioning me to trust him and work the fundamentals.  He has me reading his promises and believing them.  I’m been reciting and meditating on them over and over.  Such things like He will never leave nor forsake me. He will provide a path.  He chose me.  He forgives me.  He wants me to have peace in him. He loves me as his child.

I know the drill.  He’s there. So then why am I so fearful that this one time he won’t come through?  Oh me of little faith!

Talk about crazy. John Hulber of the Netherlands actually built a replica.

I am reading through the bible again this year and as such, I’m now in Genesis and so I am reading about the ark.  Man, God laid everything out for Noah from size, weight, materials and content.  He gave him the exact blueprints on how to build it.  He even gave him the vision for it. All Noah had to do was believe it and follow it.  Trust him. Be obedient.  And I know that’s what God want each of us to do too.  Trust his blueprints in our life.

Take Noah for example, he had no idea, if the world would think he was a crazy, but he didn’t care about the outcome. He did not doubt – but he followed God’s word.

¹² God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. ¹³ So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. ¹⁴ So make yourself an ark of cypress  wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. ¹⁵ This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high.  ¹⁶ Make a roof for it and finish the ark to within 18 inches  of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. ¹⁷ I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. ¹⁸ But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁹ You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. ²⁰ Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. ²¹ You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.”

²² Noah did everything just as God commanded him. Gen. 6:12-22

I’m in the same exact position right now. God is laying out for me a path for my life which is contrary to the world’s.  It’s unconventional and so that makes it a bit scary for me at the moment. But, he knows what my blueprint is and to him it’s not scary…it’s beautiful.  It’s what I was made for.  I just need to build his vision and believe.  If I follow his way, even when the floods come, I’ll be sailing above the water not under it.  And there’s no place else I’d rather be.

If this is your prayer too, I will stand with you.  Let’s follow God’s path and share in this adventure that He has created for each one of us.

Is there any barrier we can’t overcome?

Downtown LA never looked better. Credit: David Toussaint. Header image Credit: nOnick

Why didn’t I think of this?

I have been seeing the chiropractor recently for a chronic back injury I have from playing so many years of competitive volleyball. I sure didn’t feel any problems when I was younger, but now, all those years of diving and jumping on hard wood floors has taken its toll.  If I don’t go through a 30 minute exercise regimen every morning, I can forget about walking without any pain.

My chiropractor has added some new exercises lately which have caused me to literally look up.  In fact, did you know that the proper way to stand up every time is push up from your feet and tilt your head up, looking toward the sky!  I didn’t know that. And then he gave me an additional exercise – a variation of a squat – that causes me to look up the entire time.

Through these exercises I have been asked to look up more – which lead me to believe that isn’t that what God has been asking me to do all the time. Why did it take the chiropractor to have me look toward heaven? Why didn’t I just normally do that any way – I mean if I really want to improve my walk – is there any better way?

So, the lesson of this post is that there is a correlation between walking and looking up.  To have the best walk possible, keep your eyes toward your eternal home, where our King sits – protecting and loving us and wishing we would just keep focused on Him.

I lift up my eyes to you,
to you whose throne is in heaven. Psalm 123:1

Also, when looking for applicable photos for this post, I saw some incredible images when I searched Flickr for “looking up.”  Look at some of these beautiful images.  I’ve been missing out of so much beauty because I’ve never taken the time to look up.  Try it out and let me know what you see!

Credit: Krug6

Keeping my eyes upward,

Cindy

This is a praise report today folks.  I finally got victory over something that has “hooked” me for over 20 years, I kid you not.  But, before I go on, I should describe what this “hook” reference is all about.

I have been hearing this word more and more over the last couple of months.  Hooks. Hooks in the Christian world refer to those things that when you are presented (tempted) with them, you behave in a way which just sets you off and causes you to step two steps back. Hooks are your hot buttons.  Hooks are pet peeves.  Hooks are snares that oppress you.  And hooks are subtle and scary for they have the power to cause you to stumble.

Psalm 141:8-10 (New International Version)

⁸ But my eyes are fixed on you, O Sovereign LORD;
in you I take refuge—do not give me over to death.

⁹ Keep me from the snares they have laid for me,
from the traps set by evildoers.

¹⁰ Let the wicked fall into their own nets,
while I pass by in safety.

Every time when I heard someone pray for a hook to stop snaring me I always envisioned myself wearing a fisher person’s vest.  And this vest of mine could get easily hooked.  Just like your favorite sweater gets snags all the time-that’s how this vest appeared to me.  However, today, I felt a particular hook was trying to hook onto my body but it wasn’t able.  My vest was now made out of some type of material that it couldn’t get hooked into.  I totally could visualize a hook trying to rub against me, but it couldn’t hook into me.  I didn’t react. I finally had victory over this issue. Amen! It was an amazing feeling not being hurt by this situation again after being affected by it for so long.  I know Satan wasn’t pleased, but I sure am!

Now, hooks also have several components to them (ala layers of an onion).  I envision these softer hooks to be more like carabiners. I like these hooks, they have many useful functions  and come in several shapes and sizes. Some are even heart shaped.  But nevertheless they still are hooks.

Carabiners are hooks, but are easily removable.

But with carabiners, they don’t dig into you, they latch onto you.   With fishing hooks, they not only pierce your skin, but they travel deep down inside depending on the size. With carabiners, they can’t penetrate you and you have the control to release them. We can pop off them quickly or leave them on. It’s our choice.

I’ve still got a carabiner attached to this issue, but now, I’m able to pop it off as soon as I recognize it.

The morale of this little post is…have patience with your hook(s). If you keep handing it over to the “greatest fisherman” ever created, he’ll be able to take that hook out for you. I never thought I’d get healed from my issue, but 20 years later…its a new story. But don’t try and take the hook out yourself, you’ll do more damage to yourself. God will work it out of you and he knows the right time for it to disappear.

What do the fisher people say?  Any day fishing is better than any day at work! Work on putting on a hook-proof vest.

Best,
Cindy

I have been rubbing elbows lately with some powerful people of prayer and as such, they have been showing me an entirely new way to pray.   Yes, I know that there are many methods of prayer that have been presented and although, some people subscribe to certain formulas…I know that God just loves to hear from us – no matter how it sounds or what we say or what order we do it in.  You can never go wrong with prayer.  But, lately, I have been learning how much power can be achieved when a prayer includes praying through the situation.

I have to admit that it is difficult for me to pray this way for I have always been a ‘glass is half empty’ type of gal.  So when one prays through a situation, you need to see through it with a positive result.  For instance, last month I had horrible pain in my kidneys.  I was scared that it was something serious, life threatening and didn’t see anything beyond that.  However, when I was prayed over, the prayer warriors prayed through it…they praised God for the healing he gave me.  And it worked.  After a series of tests it was diagnosed as only kidney stones.

Right now I am in transition and as such, God has given me a wide palette of choice.  We also are heading into a New Year which brings hope for a better 365 days.  I’ve recently told a friend that I feel like I’ve just graduated high school and I’m entering college and I can choose to be anything that I want to be.  It’s exciting, yet at the same time a bit frightening.   But, I can be happy. This can be an easy process.  My glass can be half full!  And that’s what I am supposed to pray about…praising God for how he brought me through this transition.  There is light at the end of the tunnel. There always is a new sunrise.

No Matter How Hard Things Appear - Raise Your Hands and Give Glory

I’ve just started to pray this way, so I’m toddling through this process, but it really helps me become more hopeful. It helps me see that Jesus sees things this way. He’s not bogged down by this moment for he is the only one who knows what is ahead and it’s all good.

being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Phil 1:6

So what are you currently praying about? Can you see its results? Are you praying through the situation?  I’d love to hear your thoughts on this and how God is moving in your life.  Let’s pray together for a New Year full of harvest and abundance in leading others to eternal life.

God Bless,

Cindy