Your Faith

Your Time Will Come

I don’t think there is anything more frustrating as a Christian than continually waiting for God to work in our life. I know in my own life, there have been times when I have prayed and prayed and prayed and it seemed to me that God was never answering my prayers. It got to the point that I was so frustrated at God for seemingly not answering my prayers that I began to stop praying which, obviously, wasn’t the right thing to do. I figured why bother praying; HE isn’t answering anyway so that must mean HE isn’t even listening to me. I suppose if we are honest, each one of us has been in this situation where we are seemingly stuck in neutral with no moving forward.

One thing I have learned over the years is that God has His own time-table. He knows what is best for us and He does answer our prayers, but only on His time schedule. We live in a world of instant results. Everything has to happen right now and we have no patience any more. We want everything done immediately. I am not against modern innovation and convenience, but sometimes waiting is better and even necessary.

I remember one time in particular I was waiting for a job promotion. I had prayed for this position for months and just knew when the job opening became available that I would be the one selected. Sadly, someone else got the job. I was devastated. I felt like I was ready for that opportunity but that God had let me down. I eventually recovered and moved on to other things. But, in looking back at that “missed” opportunity, I realized that had I been selected for that position at that time that I would not have been successful. I wasn’t ready and it wasn’t the right position for me. I didn’t realize it at the time, but God knew. He protected me and groomed me for the correct position down the road.

Just like the sun and the moon shine at their particular times of day, so will it be your time to shine. All according to God’s timing.

The Door to Christ is Never Locked

God's Grace, Your Faith

As a child, our trips to my grandmother’s house were always exciting. She lived in a small town that was about two hours drive-time from where my family lived so we weren’t able to visit very often. I think the fact that we weren’t able to visit as often as I had wanted added to the mystery of each visit. My brothers and I always looked forward with anticipation when we knew we were driving to see her.

Her home was small and there wasn’t really much to do there when we arrived. But, there was just something wonderful about the atmosphere and the surroundings. When we visited, my grandmother always welcomed us with open arms. She always made us feel like we were the most important people in her life at that time and that just had a way of making us feel special. Quite honestly, I think she was probably as excited to see us as we were in seeing her but I just knew that we couldn’t wait for that long drive to be over and we finally arrived at her house.

When we arrived, our routine was always the same. We parked the car on her small dirt driveway. We walked up to the screened-in front porch, which was never locked, and entered the main door to the house which, likewise, was never locked. We would meander through the bedroom and the family room and head toward the kitchen where she would always be cooking and preparing something for our lunch or dinner that day. It didn’t matter if we drove up early in the morning or late at night, after dark; the doors to the house would always be open and she would always be preparing something for us.

Those of us that have a close relationship with Christ know that feeling. I know in my own life, before I had accepted Christ, I had reached a very low point in my life. I didn’t feel like anyone cared. I felt depressed. I really didn’t feel like I had a purpose. That all changed when I reached out to Christ. I soon realized that His door had always been open for me. His door was never locked; I just refused to try and open it or (worse) went to the wrong door. Once I opened His door, and allowed Christ in my heart, His Heavenly Feast was there waiting for me. The day that I accepted Christ was as real as one of my visits to my grandmother’s house. Christ was as excited to welcome me as I was to welcome Him and He was already preparing great things for me.

How is your relationship with God today? Remember that Christ’s door is never locked. All you have to do is enter.

You Can Live the Power in the Dash

Your Faith, Your Self-Worth

It is easy to go through life and forget how our life intersects with the lives of those around us. The things we do and the things we say all impact others in some way or another. In Christian terminology, this is known more commonly as “our testimony.” Our testimony is how we “advertise” ourselves to the rest of the world. Our testimony should tell the truth about who we are and what we believe. Our testimony should be consistent. How we are on Sunday should be the same as on Monday and Tuesday. Unfortunately, in today’s seemingly self-centered world, there are many that are concerned only with themselves. Some lose sight of the fact that what they do and what they say truly does have an impact on others. How we each lead our lives has a direct impact on those around us.

Everyone has a beginning and an end. When we look at someone’s tombstone, we see inscribed on that tombstone a person’s date of birth and their date of death. Usually, there is a “dash” or “hyphen” separating the two dates. This simple “dash” represents the number of years of that person’s life and all of that person’s life events between birth and death. There are the memories, the tragedies, the triumphs, the career, the education, the family, the hobbies and all the things that made that person who they were. The impact of that person’s life on the lives of those that knew him/her is represented in a single dash.

Have you ever thought about what your “dash” will represent to others when you’re no longer on this earth? When someone reads your birth date and date of death and views that small, seemingly insignificant, dash separating the dates—what will they think of? Did your dash have an impact on others? Did your dash make those around you better? Did your dash make a difference in everything you do? When others think back on your dash, will it be positive or negative?

It’s never too late to change your “dash” for the better.

Courage Thoughts for Today:

What habits can you change to be more consistent in your daily testimony?
What are ways you can begin to look outward to others, rather than inward to self?

We Are All Strongest on Our Knees

Your Faith

“And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and began to pray.” (Luke 22:41)

I don’t know about you, but I like to fix things. When things need repairing, I like to be the “fix-it” man. I like to think that there isn’t much that I can’t repair, but I know that isn’t true.

Many times in my life I have tried to fix things on my own. I’ve made decisions that I have sometimes regretted. I have certainly made bad decisions as we all have at one time or another. What I have discovered over the years is that when I don’t involve God in my decision-making, I always fail.

Some of you may be struggling with big decisions now in your life. Some of you may be going through heartache and trials. For some of you, life may be going very well right now. Whether things are good or things are stormy, God should always be the center of who you are.

When reading today’s verse, above, Jesus reminds us of how important it was to Him when He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane before His crucifixion.

If praying was that important for Jesus, how much more important is prayer for each of us? Remember, that your greatest strength is when you’re on your knees.

Courage Thoughts for Today:

1. What do you need to thank God for today?
2. For whom or what do you need to get on your knees for today?
3. Can you commit to making prayer a regular part of your day?

Learning to Navigate Your Faith

God's Will, Your Faith

“For we walk by faith, not by sight…” (2 Corinthians 5:7)

In our modern world, I’ve learn to become dependent on the GPS in our car. I remember the days of traveling to some unknown place and trying to follow paper maps or relying on memory to guide us down the right path. Now, it’s a simple matter of typing in your destination’s address and the GPS does the rest. With the GPS, I can travel down roads with total confidence and faith and know that I will eventually get to my destination. There is no hesitation and no fear. Just type and go.

As Christians, how do we learn to live by faith during those times in life when we just don’t understand? As ridiculous as it may sound, it really boils down to having as much confidence in Christ as we do our GPS. Having that unshakable faith requires us to: Believe when you just can’t see; Obey when you just don’t understand; Persist when you just don’t feel like it; Trust when you just don’t get it; and Be content for what you receive, even if it’s what you don’t want.

Where is your Faith today?

Courage Thoughts for Today:

When was the last time you really trusted God in your life?
Think back on a time when you received something in Life that wasn’t what you wanted at the time, but ended up being what was best for you.
Thank God for what you have. It may not be exactly what you want, but realize that as long as your feet touch the floor in the morning, you are truly blessed.

When We are Packed to the Hilt

God's Grace, Life's Priorities, Your Faith

I was driving down the road last week on my way to work in terrible Atlanta traffic. I usually don’t pay much attention to the cars and trucks around me but, on this particular day, there was a particular vehicle that caught my eye. The vehicle I noticed was a normal sized pick-up truck towing an open trailer. The truck was visibly in good shape, fairly new, with good tires and appeared to be well maintained. The truck and trailer captured my attention because the trailer was so full of furniture and materials that the truck could barely pull it and was only traveling around 30 MPH or so. There were at least two couches I could see; 3 refrigerators; multiple dressers; boxes stacked on boxes, and lots more I couldn’t even identify. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why this person wouldn’t make multiple trips and haul less on each trip, rather than trying to haul everything in one trip. It was obviously unsafe and my only thought was that either the truck or the trailer was going to wreck or cause a wreck at any moment. I decided to pass the truck and trailer and continue on my way towards work.

I really didn’t think about it much anymore that day; however, on my way home that afternoon, I noticed the same trailer parked on the opposite side of the road. It appeared that the wheel had come off the trailer or perhaps there was an axle problem as the trailer was learning toward one side. A lot of the furniture that I noticed on the trailer that morning was no longer there; I could only assume it was hauled separately or stolen. There were many of the same boxes and smaller items still sitting in the trailer. It was fairly obvious that the truck originally pulling the over-loaded trailer decided to disconnect the trailer and continue on without it. Perhaps this was out of necessity but, nonetheless, I am quite sure the truck was able to continue on its journey at a much safer pace.

As Christians, we all tend to live our lives very similar to the truck and trailer I observed that day. We live our lives carrying around burdens from our past that simply overload our lives. We do everything we can to improve our everyday life and live as God would have us to live then, inexplicably, we “hook-up” to our trailer of life burdens that we just continue to carry around. Maybe we feel like we can’t carry on without taking these burdens with us. Maybe we think these past burdens somehow contribute to the present. Somehow, we know that isn’t the case; yet, we continue to carry them anyway.

I want to be clear that I am not referring to positive memories of loved ones or positive life memories that have shaped our lives. What I am referring to are those negative, unnecessary events that God has long forgiven us of or forgotten but we can’t seem to accept that forgiveness. Let’s spend a little time looking through a typical “trailer” that we tend to hitch up and carry around each day. A typical trailer might be packed with: Grudges against someone for something they said to you many years ago; guilt about a poor decision that you wish you could have changed; something you said to someone that you wish you hadn’t said; bitterness about how life has “treated” you; hurt towards someone that mistreated you; and on and on.

Whatever events in your past are carried around in your “trailer,” I realize the hurt and the pain is real. No one can minimize or take that away from that.. Only our Heavenly Father can heal you from those hurts and help you to forgive those that need forgiving and move on with your life. If you have prayed those hurts and burdens to God, HE has already forgiven you; there is no need to continue carrying those with you. Disconnect your trailer and free yourself from the burdens of your past.

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