Share Your Life

for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you….(John 15:15)

I used to be so afraid to share my life with others. I remember a number of years ago, while in a women’s small group, a dear friend of mine said to me, “Heather, you only share safe things.” Um, what, excuse me? But, she was right. Truth be told, I didn’t even realize I was doing that, but I certainly was. Maybe there was part of me that was afraid of exposure. I think a lot of it had to do with feeling like I needed to come across like I had things together.

I have since then, thrown this mentality out the window. It’s done me no good, but connecting my life to others through the gift of transparency has.

Jesus was himself a master teacher. He tells us in John that everything he learned from His Father He passed down to His disciples. Jesus, being a such close relationship with His Father allowed the very words of God to penetrate His own life so deeply that He simply became someone who shared the message of God, because God has put the message in HIm.

Have you allowed your life to get so close to someone else that’s following God closely that you start to share their heart for God as well? You start to have the same kind of trust, faith, and transparency? Where is God taking you on your journey of faith? Show me the people who you’re letting in, speaking truth into your life and I’ll tell you where you’re going.

Be wise who you pick, because friends, our time on earth is so short. Rejoice and be glad that you don’t have to hide who you are, you can share your life with others and know that is a deeply beautiful thing.

Lord, use my life for your namesake. Surround me with wise counselors and mentors who can keep pointing me to you, in Jesus name, Amen.

The Story We Tell Ourselves

.…before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times….(John 13:38)

Friend, we all have a problem don’t we? Truly, it is one of our biggest enemies.

It is the story we tell ourselves about our lives.

Whenever we get to a place where we have convinced ourselves that things will never change, this is just what life will be, we can rest assured that the story we haven’t told ourselves is one of hope, but one of darkness that Satan would love for us to hold closer to our hearts than the very words of God.

I’ve done that though, haven’t you? Told myself the worst story before it’s even began or in the midst of a trying time told myself it’s not going to get better, but only worse.

Sometimes things will get worse and what we see is actually wisdom, but more often than not, we’ve told ourselves all about it before we’ve even had the time to discern it.

Friend, if you and I really want to live as people who are free, we have to set our minds free from all the bad stories we tell ourselves before we do anything else. Thankfully, this is not hard to do, because truly, the words of God are so much more powerful than the deception of the enemy. We can rejoice and be glad together that a free mind is available for us each day through the risen Christ as we take captive every thought and make it obedient to Him.

Lord, you are so good. Your kindness leads us to repentance. I pray that today I might live with thoughts that are free because I walk not in my own wisdom, but in your light, love and freedom, in Jesus name, Amen.

Are You Throwing Spears At The Ones You Love?

How long before you order your men to stop pursuing their fellow Israelites?…..2 Samuel 2:26

I’ve spent far too much time in my life throwing daggers at the ones I love. The people closest to me sometimes become the people I tell myself the very worst stories about. As you can imagine, this doesn’t grow or help our relationship at all. It actually stifles it and sets it back in motion, causing distance between the two of us because of what I keep telling myself.

I have learned that I have to prepare my mind for action, not giving into every thought trying to draw my mind away from simply loving people. After all, if I can’t love people- I simply cannot love God. The two are intertwined.

“Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.” 1 John 4:20

Loving God and loving people go hand in hand. Which means that as I fight with God for freedom of heart and mind I must consciously choose to tell myself good stories about those I love. Won’t you join me?

Lord, I want to live fully alive in you. Free from negative thinking about those I love. Forgive me when I allow the enemy to tell me things that don’t lift others up, but tear them down. Make me more like you, I pray, in Jesus name, Amen.

Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life…..(John 12:25)

I tend to lose things easily. It’s because I’m easily distracted and can be very absent minded. I forget where I put something and so I spend more time looking for it then I would have spent taking the time to put it in its proper place.

There are some things I really want to take the time to do right and not be absent minded about. I realize now, more than every, that I can’t be so easily distracted to move onto the next thing that I neglect to care, feed and nourish my own soul in the very words of God. It’s His life that I need to be alive and well in me. That only happens when I make Him my priority, not rushing through my prayers and Bible reading, but sitting still long enough with Him to hear from Him.

I wake up everyday before my sweet girl gets up to fill my tank up with the hopes that I’ll sit long enough with Jesus to die in His presence so that during the day I’ll live not for this world, but for the world to come. That’s what I desperately want for Adah. I want her to see His life so alive in me that she would one day burn with that same kind of passion. She’s already repeating words using the same tone of voice and intonation as me. I pray that one day she’ll talk about Jesus the way I’ve talked with her about Him.

Friend, this generation needs hope. It needs Kingdom workers who’ve chosen to live not for this life, but for the one to come. I am constantly shaken by that reality in my life. The need to live set apart and differently. I’m always asking myself what I need to let go of to take up more of the Kingdom, so that one day my child will too. Sometimes God shows me things I need to release, other times its behaviors or beliefs about Him or others I need to let go. Whatever it is, I want to be more faithful now than I ever have been, because there’s a little one following my every move and I want her to follow Him because she’s sees me doing it every day.

Lord, use us to bring forth your Kingdom. Forgive us when we don’t. Help us Lord, to care for, feed, and nourish the lives of our children in a way that might point them to you. Grow us up in your life each day, we pray, in Jesus name, Amen.

Stop Running and Hiding

When hard pressed, I cried to the Lord; he brought me into a spacious place….(Psalm 118:5)

There have been many moments over the past few years when I have felt hard pressed. God was shaking something out of me and so things didn’t go as planned. I fell off the turnip truck, so to speak and got knocked down by the circumstances of life.

Many, many times, in the past, when this would happen I would run and desperately try to fix it or I’d attempt to hide from it out of embarrassment.

But I have found, the best thing to do is not run or hide, but to wait on God and put it out there in the light. Not only does this grow me closer to God has I learn to sit with Him in a place of rest, believing in His provision, it also connects me more to people as I share my setbacks.

Friend, I don’t know what you’re walking through, but it’s time to stop running and hiding. It is good to wait with God when hard pressed. Over these past few years I’ve seen God do amazing things in my life because I chose to wait instead of run and hide. You don’t have to fix this. He’s doing something IN IT if you’d simply wait on Him.

Lord, you always come through. You’ve proven that to me time and time again these past few years as I’ve waited on you. Thank you for blessing my life. Show me now what your will is for me each day, I pray, in Jesus name, Amen.

You Don’t Have To Live in Fear

terror filled his heart….(1 Samuel 28:5)

King Saul was a man who was captured by fear. If I’m being honest, I’ve been that woman before too. I can’t tell you how many times in my younger years of following Jesus that I would let myself be led astray by fear. Making quick and rash decisions. Going down roads I should have never traveled and walking on places that were just not where God wanted me to be, but I was afraid.

I know you’ve been there too.

I’ve learned, along this journey, to stop myself whenever I feel afraid and to rest once more in the grace of God. To sit still and wait instead of impulsively follow my fear into a pit of destruction.

Saul’s fear captured his heart so strongly that he did things he probably told himself he would never do. If we’re being honest, we can say the very same thing.

Wherever life finds you today dear friend, if you’re wrapped up in fear, running down paths you would have never imagined, trying to keep it all together- it’s time to let it all go. Drop your fear and place yourself back in the lap of God to receive His peace. Is this a comfortable place to be? If I’m being honest, it doesn’t always feel that way, but the more you live there, the greater peace, security and contentment you feel more quickly when you learn to live in the grace of God and not your fear.

Lord Jesus, you are so good. I know that I don’t have to live in fear. You call me your own. My life is found in you. In Jesus name, Amen.

Remembering The Good in The Bad

Return to rest my soul, for the Lord has been good to you….(Psalm 116:7)

Sometimes my heart becomes weighed down heavy with discouragement. It’s so easy to focus on the things in life that didn’t go right and hold onto the redemption we want to take place in it instead of letting go and embracing the new gifts and blessings God has put before us.

I have to tell myself this so often, “Heather, embrace this gift, it is yours from God, let go of what you wanted God to do and receive what He has for you now.”

Honestly, sometimes I struggle with that because the enemy loves to try and convince me that without God working the way I expect Him to, I’m somehow a failure in the eyes of people. At the heart of all of this is just a identity problem.

Friend, we can’t let the opinions of people drive us. If we do, we will certainly find ourselves in deep and constant disappointment with the place God has us in. Especially if that place doesn’t seem to tie all the ends together to prove to those around us that we’ve got this thing together and we have what it takes.

So friend, if you’re like me, take the simple but oh so needed step of letting go and embracing the place that God has you in with true joy. Shed the expectations that you had or have of God and release unto Him your present reality and your future. Truly, it’s the best place you can be for today, and in His grip you’ll experience and find His love readily and always available for you.

Lord, you are my greatest treasure and you have been good to me. Thank you for your love. Thank you for where you have taken me in life. It is a good place to be and I can trust you along the way, in Jesus name, Amen.

Why Does This Season Seem So Unfruitful?

And in that place, many believed in Jesus….(John 10:42)

Have you ever felt like your current place serving God just isn’t making much of a difference? Maybe people just aren’t coming to Christ as they were before. It’s quite possible that the place you’re in right now feels more difficult than anything else. But friend, every good gardener knows that you’ve got to dig up the soil and do the hard work of planting before you ever experience the harvest.

Did you hear that I said there? Every good gardener knows they have to do the hard work of planting before they ever experience the harvest.

It’s true, this season you’re in isn’t as fruitful as the last, but maybe that’s because God is taking you through a time of uprooting, to replant new things in you that are just taking time to come to fruition.

Don’t give up on the journey and don’t become discouraged either. If you’re walking in faithfulness, there is always an opportunity for God to grow new things in, through and around you.

Lord, make my life fruitful for your kingdom. Use it to be of good cheer to the world for Christ. Make me more like you each day, I pray, in Jesus name, Amen.

Have You Been Blinded By Pride?

those who see will become blind….(John 9:39)

I used to think that Jesus’ words in John 9:39 weren’t for redeemed people like me, but for the lost who had yet to be found. But this morning, as I was reading and asking God to speak to me, I realized that these words are for me as well.

You see, it’s been my pride that’s made me feel like I was good to go, when really, I was blind and needed the love of God to set me free. Pride has a way of doing that to us. It keeps us from going to Jesus in true humility and repentance, because after all, we’re Christians and these Scriptures aren’t for us, or so we think.

Friend, you and I need to constantly go before God with an attitude of, “Help me see. Remove my blindness caused by my pride, make me more like you.”

There’s an area in my life that I’m being given to opportunity to exercise and in years past I would not have asked for help in preparation, because, well, it’s my spiritual gift, so I didn’t need help. At least, that’s what I thought, but honestly, I just thought I was super great and didn’t need the help. Now I’m realizing that even in my gifts I can become blind and I need humility before God to truly help me see.

So friend, wherever you find yourself, if you feel overly confident about your ability to see in a certain area, you might just be blind. That’s what I’m realizing, so won’t you join me as we go to Jesus to have our eyes washed with His healing power; that our pride might die with Him so we might see?

Lord, I don’t ever want to think that I’ve got this thing all together- far from it. I have felt that way before though, please forgive me. I don’t want to be so right that I’m terribly wrong. Help me Lord, to be like you, I pray, in Jesus name, Amen.

I’ve Taken A Big Step Towards A More Content Life

but the Lord looks at the heart….(1 Samuel 16:7)

Yesterday I took a big step for myself. I didn’t feel embarrassed by something that I used to feel embarrassed by and I didn’t feel the need to explain myself and my current situation to the person I encountered. I felt free to simply be in the place God had taken me and I felt content there. Honestly, that was a big step for me.

God keeps taking me back to pull me forward. Back into the places I once felt shame over, deep embarrassment and discontentment. Now, through some shaking out of my insecurity I feel at peace in the place that I’m in. I’m OK with my life taking the turns that it has. I’m OK with the fact that things might not have shaken out how I would have liked at times, because, maybe for the first time, I’m actually starting to trust and believe that the one who holds me knows what’s best for me and those around me.

God never wastes your life friend, but we can surely waste our time thinking we should be somewhere else, doing this or that instead of choosing to live with contentment in the current place we’re in. One of the biggest steps I’ve been taking as a Christian hasn’t been climbing some ladder or even running some faced paced race. It’s been taking the step of contentment, sitting still and waiting with God in the place of His promises for my life today. Not in what I hope they’ll be tomorrow. As if my life would be better if I was somehow there and not simply here in this moment today.

Lord, in this season, you are so good to me. Thank you for the journey. Thank you for making me more like you. I can see you changing me and that is good news, in Jesus name, Amen.