"Just Keep Swimming" The Lesson I Learned from a Cartoon.

Sometimes when I write these devotionals, I have no problem figuring out what to write. Sometimes, the words are pressing so hard against my heart and fingers they fly out of me like a geyser. Shooting into the air, my words become water on the page, at least for me, because as I write I am the student of God too. 

Then there are those days, like today, where I am sitting at my desk, praying, looking at the blank screen in front of me and wondering how am I going to come up with something edifying to say right now? What do I do when this happens? I write anyway. 

Why? How? 

Disney/Pixar all rights reserved

It is the lesson God taught me just recently as I babysat two very precious little boys I know. They wanted to watch a movie. After much deliberation, they settled on Finding Nemo, a Disney Pixar Film. As I sat there with them, cuddled under blankets, I heard something that sparked inside of me. Dory, said “Just keep Swimming”. 

I know it is crazy that a grown woman has anything to learn from a Disney movie, but God uses the foolish things to confound the wise. 

Her persistence in the movie spoke volumes to me. “Just Keep Swimming” 

I don’t know about you but I usually give up. If it gets hard, I walk away. If I got offended in the past, I left. If I started a book and got stuck on the story line, then I would scrap it, lie to myself and say “it wasn’t a good idea anyway” and be frustrated because I wanted to be a writer. 

I am a writer, and Dory was a fish. She swam. I write. “Just keep swimming” 

Persistence is important. 

No one knows this better than God. He is faithful. He persisted throughout time after man. He wooed us, He chastised us, and He loved us. 

Now it is our turn to be consistently faithful. To follow after God with our whole heart, our whole body, our whole mind, to love our neighbor as ourselves, these are the call of God for every man and woman in Christ. 

Persistence is defined as tenacity, holding firm in pursuit. We need to focus on what we are pursuing and then be persistent. 

Choose you this day whom you will serve. 

Jesus looked at Peter and said “Follow me” and Peter did. He made mistakes along the way, he even got so discouraged that Jesus had to re-enforce in Peter his calling: Feed my sheep. 

But Peter’s persistence lead him to be the one who preached on the Day of Pentecost and thousands came to the Lord. His persistence caused him to be faithful unto death. 

I want to be that persistent. I want to be told at the end of my life, as I stand before my Father, “Well done, thy good and FAITHFUL servant” “Just Keep Swimming!” 

Let the past go, press on into what is ahead toward the high calling of Christ Jesus and run your race! 

Be persistent and JUST KEEP SWIMMING! 

Can you share with us about a time you felt like giving up or giving in and you persisted anyway? How did that affect you? 

Be blessed and be a blessing and remember persistence is a noun.

Cleaning the Launch Pad: Living a Life of Discipline!

2 Timothy 2:3-7 GOD’S WORD Translation (GW) 

"Join me in suffering like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. Whoever serves in the military doesn’t get mixed up in non-military activities. This pleases his commanding officer. Whoever enters an athletic competition wins the prize only when playing by the rules. A hard-working farmer should have the first share of the crops. Understand what I’m saying. The Lord will help you understand all these things."

Man did I get socked in the face with this today! I love this scripture. I want to look at it more closely with you. 

First I want to say that this passage can be applied to every area of our life. Discipline is what we are called to. We limit God when we are not disciplined. We must make sacrifices to obey. If God says give an extra $5 in the offering, you skip a lunch out this week. If God tells you to start a new bible study? Then you give up your time in front of the TV to read. 

In this passage I see three examples of disciplined lives, and the rewards they get from the lifestyle of discipline. 

The Soldier – Follows orders, cloisters himself with other soldiers, and does not hang out in the world. Reward: This makes his Commanding Officer Happy!

The Athlete- Focuses on training, he does not cut corners or cheat and he strives for mastery in his area of athletics. Reward: He wins the race! 

The Farmer- Focuses on preparing the ground, he always has seed, and he is ready to sow in season. Reward: He gets the first fruits of the harvest. 

These archetypes have 3 things in common:

1. They work harda. 2 Timothy 4:2

b. Proverbs 6:6

2. They are Faithful
a. Psalms 31:23
b. Luke 9:62

3. They press through the suffering in the hard times

a. 1 Timothy 6:19
b. Ps 86:11-17 (MSG)

I don’t know about you, but there are things- dreams that God has given to me and I do not want to limit Him by living an undisciplined life! I want to be ready to launch at the end of His countdown. I want my pad to be clean and clear of debris, and I want to come out swinging at the enemy. 

In the book of Nehemiah, the wall around the city of Jerusalem was in shambles. Nehemiah stirred the people because God placed the dream of a rebuilt, restored wall on Nehemiah’s heart. When the people were disciplined, and anointed by God’s favor, they accomplished what God has said Nehemiah 4:6. 

There were obstacles to this work. And there will be obstacles in our lives too. The first obstacle for the children of Israel was all the debris in and around them. The needed a shovel to get rid of it all. This clutter was distracting to the task God had called them too. But enemies also used the debris to hide behind, hoping to surprise the children of Israel as they worked, to take them unawares, and to kill the vision in them. That is why we need a shovel and a sword! Clean out the debris in your life, and be ready to battle the enemy when he jumps out from behind the junk! (Nehemiah 4: 11, and 4:17) 

Face it; you can’t expect God to launch you if your “pad” is dirty! (And I am so preaching to myself!) 

Be blessed and be a blessing and remember that discipline is a noun and a verb!

Do you struggle with discipline? In what ways? 

Marriage Part 1- My Story

Who Am I? 

Randy and I 2008

I am no professional counselor; I have no degrees that make me an expert. I am just a 30 something woman who has been married nearly 18 years. In that time, I have experienced a lot of challenges, many which would have ended most marriages. Yet, our marriage has survived. Why? God: He has healed our marriage because we allowed Him to.

The Truth of the Matter

I guess I better give you a bit of background. I am an adulterer. When my husband and I were married about seven years, I had sex with someone who was not my husband. This nearly destroyed me as a person and created such an emotional backlash, that even before I told my husband the truth, our marriage was so bad Randy left me. I could give you a list of excuses, and some of them were a factor, but I chose to do wrong.

I knew what God said about it, but I had given myself over to the lust of the flesh long before I committed the act of adultery. That is why we must be so careful to guard our hearts. I had let little things, offenses between my husband and me, build up and harden my heart toward him. He had stopped praying over me, shielding me, and loving me like Christ loves the church.  This combination created a vacuum that sucked the life and joy out of our relationship.  We lost our first love, the cement that held us together, and our world fell apart.

The three month separation was one of the hardest things I have ever gone through in my life, and through it all, God was the reason we got back together, and He was the reason we began to heal. Still, through a separation, through a number of years, I did not tell my husband about the adultery. I felt that since I had stopped sinning, I had repented to God; there was no need to tell Randy anything: it would only hurt him. Little did I know that around year twelve, nearly five years later, God would tell me to tell my husband the truth.

Nothing Stays Hidden Forever

I had been at a Discipleship Training Seminar Intensive Weekend, designed and hosted by my then pastor, Cere Muscarella, and a major focus of this DTS was to discover and write my personal mission statement. Simple enough, right? Not by a long shot. I was struggling and was not hearing God at all. Frustration was setting in, and try as I might, the night ran out of class, and I ran into an emotional and spiritual wall.

Sitting in my car, worship music blaring and tears running down my face I wallowed in self-pity. 


Why couldn’t I hear God? 


Why couldn’t I write my personal mission statement? 


Because I had a something God wanted me to address. When I finally got around to asking God what He wanted me to do, (novel idea, right?) the only thing I heard was “Tell him!”

Ummm, What? 

I don’t know if you have ever had this kind of moment with God, but at the time, it was my first response. I played dumb! Questions like, “What do You mean Lord”, and “You know if I tell him and we divorce You have to take care of me, right?” came out of my mouth. I finally relented and obeyed, and what an amazing God I serve!

He is my best friend! Randy and Dayna Bickham 2012

Forgiveness Allows Room for Healing

My husband had long suspected unfaithfulness, but was too afraid to ask. I had wondered about him during the darkest part of those days, and while he fell into some very questionable situations and sexual sin, infidelity was not one of them. I was thrilled when Randy’s affirmation and love washed over me with his words “I love you, and I forgive you.” After that forgiveness was my response to him as well. The spontaneous joy that erupted was so completely healing that the thing Satan intended for evil, God turned to good. We spent that weekend loving one another, and healing and now this is my testimony. I can share this story with you. 

You can see God’s glory for yourself!

The next morning was the last day of the DTS Intensive weekend, and I woke hearing God give me my mission statement. His promises are new every morning! Since then, nearly six years have passed, and I love my husband more every day. My commitment to him has grown, and my trust in my Father has exploded!

There have been other challenges: money issues, health issues, even mental health issues, children issues, mothers-in law issues, (mostly my mom, bless her) but none were as challenging as adultery. 

When I got out of God’s way, when I stopped thinking I knew better, and I listened and obeyed, then God healed us.

So as we go forward in this study on marriage, know I have been there, I have sinned there, and I have been forgiven and healed there. 


You can be too!

Have you faced infidelity in your marriage? How did you handle that?