Lifted

Posted on July 5, 2011 by

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with being short….in fact, I kind of enjoy it.  I’ve never had to worry about wearing heals out on a date…..I was never even CLOSE to being taller than my date. No, I don’t think stature has anything to do with how beautiful you are inside or out, or how successful you are…..or most especially how close to God you are. I make the Lord my dwelling, and that’s all that really matters in life. The picture below seemed like such a big deal at the time, but as I look back, the Lord had his angels “lifting me up in their hands”.   I was being strengthen, learning lessons, being healed of some things that would’ve allowed “harm to overtake me”. I look back and know that I was and am being lifted. What about you? Do you know you are lifted ?

Psalm 91

9If you say, “The LORD is my refuge,”
and you make the Most High your dwelling,
10 no harm will overtake you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
12 they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

Shortest in the Pageant

Posted in christian, encouragement, Inspirational, retreat | Leave a comment

Lifted

Posted on June 20, 2011 by

I’m reeeeeally  short, vertically challenged, have- to- sit- on- my -purse- to- drive- our- truck kind of short.  The crazy thing is,  I didn’t realize I was short, until I was 18 years-old.  Really,  I had  absolutely no idea that everyone but those under 10 years of age were taller than me.    I recall the exact moment that I realized my height deficiency.  I vividly remember because it made national news the next day.  I was in the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City( I was Miss Maryland)  and the production asisstant  called me out of rehearsal to have a press picture taken.  I thought “wow!  I wonder why they want to take my picture? How cool!”  No, not really so cool…. as it turned out, I was the shortest girl in the Miss America Pageant that year.  The photographer stood me face to face with  the tallest girl   in the pageant.  To make the height difference even more pronounced, I  was wearing penny loafers that day, and Miss “incredibly tall and leggy” was wearing high heels.   Wow! bummer,  to realize  that I’m reeeeally short and have it make national news all in the same week.

You know we all have those places in our lives where we feel like the shortest one the pageant.  It may be in your profession, or family,  or ministry, where you feel like you just don’t quite measure up.   I have to remind myself that it’s the Lord who blesses me, lifts me, enables me.  I remind myself that it’s His supernatural power and love that keep me from falling short.    Check out the chunk of Psalm 91 below.  It’s a great reminder for me when I begin to feel like I’m falling short in some areas,  that the Lord is the MOST HIGH and He sends His angels to lift me…higher than my worldly height ever could.

Psalm919If you say, “The LORD is my refuge,”
and you make the Most High your dwelling,
10 no harm will overtake you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
12 they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

Posted in christian, conference, Inspirational, speaker, Uncategorized, womanhood | Leave a comment

Dancing in the Rain…..

Posted on May 12, 2011 by

Life’s not about waiting for the storms to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.  Mac Anderson

I think one of the biggest frustrations I see people dealing with,  is the expectation  that some day there won’t be any storms.  If they live right, pray the right prayers, follow the bible etc, they won’t have any trials or problems.  The bible doesn’t promise, a storm-free life, it promises that the storms you encounter will work for your good.  Challenges will come, most of which we are powerless to control.  What we can control  however is how we react to the storms.    The Bible actually has a lot to say about  trials, problems, challenges….storms.  God uses words like “rejoice”, “peace”, “joy” when talking about trouble.  Dancing in the rain is not a natural reaction, in fact it sounds kind of SUPER-natural to me.  When I encounter a trail, I have to  check my natural reaction at the door and choose a God-directed reaction instead.  It’s tough, it stretches me, because I’m much more comfortable freaking out or pulling the covers over my head than, “dancing in the rain”.   Dancing instead of freaking out  is a choice.

God’s directions for dancing in the rain—Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice…..DO NOT LET your hearts be troubled…..be anxious for nothing but in everything through prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,  make your requests known to God and the peace that passes understanding will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.
The Lord said, in this world you will have trouble…..but I have overcome the world.

God says DO NOT LET your heart but troubled, be anxious for NOTHING. I believe that challenges in life,  “trouble” as the bible says,  are given so that we might exercise our faith…..to give our faith a work out, so to speak.  God  gives a dance lesson in the book of Philipians …..”whatever is good, lovely, true , think upon these things”.  Train your brain to think about, ponder, meditate on the good, lovely things. Recite the good things over and over, out loud, think on purpose about what’s lovely.  Here’s what it might sound like : “I  enjoy great health, my kids are healthy, my husband and I love  each other  deeply, I’ve never gone hungry….ever”.    Think and  think and think about the blessings.  Soon the troubles will look a lot smaller and the blessings a lot bigger.  Before long,  you’ll be dancing in the rain…..cutting a rug….light on your feet.

Here’s a tip:  Don’t wait til you feel like dancing….it’ll never happen.  You have to just do it.  Think-think-think about what’s good -right-lovely then the feelings will follow.

Posted in Business, christian, conference, encouragement, Inspirational, retreat, speaker, Uncategorized, womanhood | 1 Comment

Found one

Posted on April 19, 2011 by

Luke 15:4
“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?

I met a lady a few days ago at a party, lets call her Sue.  A group of us chatted and laughed, Sue joined in but was uncomfortable in some way.   Her personality was gruff and hard. Sue wasn’t healthy, she was  morbidly overweight, puffy, bad color.  Sue  didn’t really fit in, she was a brillo pad in a group of feather dusters.  Sue was cranky and abrasive,  yet you could sense that she was fragile in some way.  I suspected a tender heart lived somewhere inside.  It was clear that Sue was unhappy. When she joked , it was always at someone’s  expense, mostly her own.    I was making conversation with her and thought I had found some common ground when I said….” oh if you live ______, you must know _______…Sue replied ” He’s an A******! “

We had known eachother for maybe 15 minutes when she asked me
” Where do you go to church?” I answered.  Then she asked “what kind of church is that?”
I answered ” non-denominational, I really love my church.”
She said, raising her voice a bit ” Well you seem like a very intelligent woman, and maybe you and I can discuss your beliefs sometime, I’m sure we would end up agreeing to disagree”
I replied ” great food huh?”

I wanted to build more  relationship with Sue before we “discussed” my beliefs versus her beliefs.   I wanted to be able to communicate that I valued her as a person.

Sue is an aganostic.    She is one of the lost sheep the verse is talking about, and the Lord will leave the 99 to go after her.  The Lord wants to rescue her because  Sue lives  trying to defend herself, trying to find her way home, afraid….always searching….never really fitting in.   She lives a life of trying to feel “OK” about herself, and find her reason for existing.  Her abrasiveness, a defense, the way she treats her body, a reflection of how she feels about herself.  Sue needs to be found….rescued.  I was once in need of rescue, lost but then found by God.

Christ died for Sue, to heal her hurts, bind up her broken heart, restore her spirit.  The Lord is “after” her just as the shepherd goes after his one lost sheep, so the Lord goes after Sue.

Posted in christian, conference, Inspirational, speaker, Uncategorized, womanhood | Leave a comment

forget to remember

Posted on April 12, 2011 by

Are you forgetful?  It seems like I get more forgetful every year.   Not only do I forget to do something, I forget I have done it.  Hmmm… did I pick up milk?   It’s getting bad.   I’m not sure I can afford to lose many more brain cells.   I don’t want to forget the important things in life.  I want to remember to remember all God’s done for me and for my family.

The Lord did huge miracles on behalf of the Jews, and yet the Israelites also had a problem with forgetfulness.  In fact,  in the book of Joshua, God tells them to pick up 12 stones to help them remember what He’d done for them.  In the story, the Lord had parted the Red Sea 40 years before, He then stops the flow of the Jordan river so that the people of Israel could pass through into the promised land.  You’d think they’d remember a thing like that.  The Jordan was at it’s highest water level of the year ( picture a swollen river with rushing water)…. and the Lord held it back for them.  In fact the water flow stopped as soon as the priest carrying the Ark put his foot in the water.  How amazing!   Who’d forget a thing like that?   Well, apparently they would and in fact I probably would too.  The Lord commanded them to remember on purpose.

Has the Lord done awesome things on your behalf that you’ve forgotten to remember? When we remember what the Lord has done  for us, it builds up our faith to trust  God  in other  circumstances.   Our crazy schedules, the day to day errands ( picking up milk for instance)  will take our focus and  when we need a river parted, we’ll forget that we’ve been there before and God came through.  Also, if we purpose to remember God’s faithfulness,  we tend to look at every problem differently.

Posted in christian, Inspirational, speaker, womanhood | Leave a comment

Because he loves me

Posted on February 25, 2011 by

Gosh, I get sick of myself sometimes.  That sounds bad….but I think it  might be kind of healthy to be sick of the parts of yourself that are hurtful to you and those you love.     Mostly, I’m sick of driving myself to try and measure up.  I try to measure up to what people expect and what I believe God expects of me.  I try to measure up so that I’ll be “OK”…..  God won’t have to chasten me, people will be impressed with me and love me….I’ll be “OK” .   It gets really exhausting.  Oh, and  I also have the tendency to make sure my family is  exhausted trying to measure up as well, you know, lest they think that they are already “OK” hahaaa.   When I get to the exhausted-trying -to-measure up place, the Lord usually brings me back to Psalm 91: 14-16.

“Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
15 He will call on me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”

Why will God protect me, answer me, be with me in trouble, deliver me, honor me, satisfy me with long life and show my His salvation?  …..because I love him.

Not because I measure up, but because I love him.  Aaaaaahhhh that’s sooo good.    I’m gonna take a rest in that today…..”because he loves me says the Lord”

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Giving Up

Posted on February 24, 2011 by

We hear a lot today about “giving back”…. But the Lord has recently impressed upon me that he wants me to start “giving up”.   Yes!  He wants me to give up! He wants me to give over, above and beyond , more more more than anything I’d ever planned on or thought about  giving before.   Many Christians understand and practice the biblical directive to tithe; to give a tenth of their increase or income to the church.   I have been a faithful tither during my christian life, and even given above and beyond the tithe, but God has challenged me ….He’s challenged me to do more than  just “return” the tithe to Him, but to be a radically- crazy giver.  He wants me to start giving up,  more and more, gift after gift after gift.   Give and it will be given…. the more I give the more he gives the more I give the more he gives ….up and up and up…gift after gift after gift. Wow!  I can’t wait to start.   Now, I’m not a prosperity-gospel-give-to-get girl…no,  that’s not what I’m saying at all.  I’m just sayin’ that God told me to be a radically- crazy giver.   I’m expecting for my finances to be blessed when I obey because He says they will.  But,  I don’t intend to buy a Rolls, I intend to be a conduit right back into the Kingdom of God. We live off his generous bounty anyway, so I can hardly wait to sense His pleasure and to in on the miracles He wants to do.   I’ll keep you posted :)

We all live off his generous bounty, gift after gift after gift. John 1:16 The Message.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment