The Upside to Fear

I still have to pack... Photo Credit: Creative Commons

I am racked with anxiety! 

There are just days before I leave for a missions trip to Guatemala.

I am not prepared.

Forget the packing, the funds, the logistics, this is about my heart.

I feel inadequate to the challenges ahead. Who will I minister to? What do I have to offer? Why would anyone listen to me? I have nothing to give!

Have you ever felt this way?

I remember feeling this way before becoming a mom for the first time. Then again when I was preparing to repeat that feat with the second child.

I remember feeling that way when I sat down to write for this blog the first time and then again before my book was published.

The Upside to Fear

This is not a freeze-in-your-boots-and-let-the-enemy-win kind of fear, but a check in your spirit to remember to be humble. There is a difference. Feeling inadequate to the task can be a good thing. It is our minds and hearts telling us we are not enough on our own.

How do I know? Because even Paul did not think he could handle something, and God said "My grace is sufficient."

"I begged the Lord three times to take this problem away from me. But the Lord said, “My grace is all you need. Only when you are weak can everything be done completely by my power.” So I will gladly boast about my weaknesses. Then Christ’s power can stay in me. Yes, I am glad to have weaknesses if they are for Christ. I am glad to be insulted and have hard times. I am glad when I am persecuted and have problems, because it is when I am weak that I am really strong." 2 Corinthians 12:8-10 ERV

I am not anyone special. I have my own set of issues: I have a short fuse, I am overweight and I bite my nails too often, just to name a few, but God, who is more than able to answer any need, to mend any hurt, and to free anyone, is bigger than my shortcomings and weaknesses. He is more than enough in every situation.

Job, who's life fell apart bit by bit in a matter of hours, refused to doubt the greatness and goodness of God. If he can have faith in the most dire of circumstances, I can trust God as I travel to a country in my own hemisphere.

I may not know what the future holds, but as the old song says, " I know who holds the future!"

"For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11 NLT

So when I go and the task seems to great I will remember the words of Peter: "silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give unto thee"!

Join the Conversation: 

Have you ever felt to little for the task? What was your situation like and did you see God's grace in it after it was all done?

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Little Miss Scatterbrained

Copyright: Roger Hargreaves Mr. Men and Little Miss

Scattered

I found myself stressed, anxious and on edge for the last few days. I just wanted these feelings to go away! 

The thing I realized some time last night is this: I had not really prayed or gotten in God's presence in the last few days either. 

So I began to worship. I began to sing and lift my hands and my heart in praise. God is so good. I began to mull over Luke 12:26-28. 

"If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest? Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?"

In the last month I have been more obsessed with worry over money, bills, presents, and other little things than I ought to be. In reality, God met every need we had and provided above and beyond every time He moved on someone's heart to give toward my mission's trip.  

It Ain't no Thang

Money is a little thing. Since I have little of it, then I have a choice. I can either choose to obsess over what I do not have and worry about what I am going to do to get things I do not really need or I can trust that my Father would never leave me begging bread and that the least of the kingdom issues (MONEY) is taken care of. 

After all God is the perfect Father and provider. He provides according to His riches in glory. 

I use money as an example of how little things can take over our minds and edge out our faith. Song of Solomon calls these things "little foxes". The things we think on are the things that begin to take predominance in our lives. That is why Paul said this to the church in Philipi. 

"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."

Paul knew the importance of our thought life. We need the mind of Christ if we are to live the lives of over-comers  If we want to say "I am more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus" and it be true then we must train our minds to focus on the goodness of God, not the bigness of our needs. 

I had spent way too much time building my unbelief instead of building my faith because I was focused on the wrong thing. 

"As a man thinks in his heart, so is he..." Proverbs 23:7

So I will begin to sweep out the polluted thinking and meditate on the pureness and goodness of my God. His mercy is new everyday.   I will run off the little foxes that try to sneak in and steal the fruit God is growing in my life. I will focus on doing what God has called me to and let Him work out the rest. 

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." Jeremiah 29:11

I recently heard someone say this: "Worry and anxiety are you meditating on the wrong things. Instead of you thinking on God's goodness, you are focusing on your lack." 

How true this is. 

My Prayer

Father, forgive me for losing sight of You and your goodness. I know you are more than enough. Your grace is sufficient. Father help me to be about your business without getting sidetracked and busy with the details that I should be trusting You for. You are good. You are faithful. Your love never fails. Have your way in my life. Rule and reign in my heart. Lead me by Your ways, and show me what it is to love like you. In the name of Jesus. Amen. 

Join the Conversation

Have you ever battled worry and anxiety? What helped you? 

Finding Yourself In Christ

The Lie You May Believe and The Truth of the Matter

The other day I heard someone say “you may never be called by God” and my heart broke. I wanted to cry "Foul"! 

This is someone who does not understand that God calls each and every one of us because He has a plan and purpose for every one of us. You may not be called to preach to a mega church, or called to a foreign mission field, but you have a calling on your life, you ARE called by God. 

Romans says this: (Message) 

“God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun.” 

Your call may be as a homemaker and teaching others to be great homemakers. You may be called to parent special needs children, or be an evangelist. All are callings. 

DO NOT LET ANYONE, NOT EVEN YOU, DISQUALIFY YOU FROM THE CALL OF GOD ON YOUR LIFE! 

Do not believe the lie you are not good enough. Do not give up on the dreams God has placed in your heart because “those He calls He equips!” 

There is none good, not one, save God alone! That is completely okay, because the Bible says that in our weakness He is strong. He uses our weakness to confound (confuse, bewilder, befuddle) the strong. When we are weak, His grace is sufficient and when we allow that grace to carry us through He is glorified. 

Paul said this in 2 Corinthians, (Message) 

“We don't just put up with our limitations; we celebrate them, and then go on to celebrate every strength, every triumph of the truth in you. We pray hard that it will all come together in your lives.” 

So do not doubt that you are chosen. You are hand-picked. You have a purpose. God wants to use you right where you are so that He can prepare you for where He wants you to go. 

Everyone Starts Somewhere

Paul, before he was Paul was Saul: a man who was educated and well respected and a murderer. He was not the man who wrote two thirds of the bible on the Damascus road. He was a sinner, lost, having an encounter with Jesus, so that God could begin to equip him for where he would go later. 

You are no different from Paul. You were once lost on a road, heading in the wrong direction. Now let God take ahold of you. Be faithful where you are, and trust that God will direct the way you should go from here. 

Question: What is your dream?

They will Know only if we Go!

Discipleship is key! Photo Credit: Creative Commons

Recently I shared with you about my daughter coming to a relationship with Jesus! I thought nothing could make me happier. Oh how wrong I was. Getting to teach and disciple my daughter brings me more joy than I have ever felt before.

Discipleship is key to growth as a Christian. 

We should be getting discipled and we should disciple others.

Matthew 28:19 (GNT)

Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

This great commission was not just to be missionaries in far off places, but to reach all the people around you. We should teach by example. We should preach with our actions and we have been promised answers when we are asked questions.

We should always be teachable too. 

Before Paul was Paul he was Saul, a Christian hating, law loving, killer of Christ followers. When he had his encounter with Jesus, he repented and was saved, but he was taken under the discipleship of Ananias to learn more about Jesus, before he ever became the man who wrote so much of the New Testament and taught the gospel around the known world.

So stay teachable. Paul was trained as a scholar, and knew the law, but with all the knowledge he had of the Torah, he needed to learn what grace was and how Jesus was the fulfillment of all of God’s promises. Then he could in turn teach others, and write letters to the churches that grace the pages of your Bible today.

Don’t get hung up on the little things. 

Are you thinking? "I can’t teach, I don’t know all the answers, I am not sure I am good enough." 

Look- Peter messed up big time: cut off a man’s ear in the Garden, denied Jesus three times before the crucifixion, yet still Jesus told Peter; if you love me feed my sheep. 

 We all mess up. We all fall short. But we are the hands and the feet of the body of Christ. So, go, do, and say, and just be faithful to obey what God has said. He will used you in ways you never imagine, as long as you obey. 

As we share our faith, as we walk out the love of Christ in our lives, the people around us see that. That genuine love is what draws others to Christ. That is what we teach, this is how we disciple. There is a song I love, written by a Catholic priest and it says this: “They will know we are Christians by our love.”

So look around you. Are you affecting the people around you for Christ? Examine yourself. If you love Him, feed his sheep. Make disciples of all people. Walk your faith, don’t just talk it, and you will see changes: both in you and in others.

Be blessed and be a blessing and remember that teach is a verb.

Who disciples you? Do you have a mentor you turn to about matters of faith? Leave a comment below.