Tag: Believe

The Ugly, The Messy and The Beautiful!

Are you at a messy place right now and your mind wonders if God really does redeem our stories?  Not just when we enter our heavenly home but here and now, this side of heaven?

Maybe you have found yourself on a detour that you never saw coming.  Maybe this very moment you are facing  some unwanted, ugly, painful and unintended parts of your story that have left you wailing on the carpet desperate for God’s intervention.

Friend, can I encourage you to pause for a moment?   Please.  Hit the hold button. Take a break from  your tears, your questions, your doubts and simply let these words take a hold of your heart.

Our. God. Is. Faithful. Always. 

Even now! Yes, even in THIS season, THIS heartbreak, THIS loss, THIS pain.

How can I proclaim this so boldly and confidently? Because I have walked through unwanted chapters in my own life and am now reaping the beauty that God brings as the pages turn.

I am cheering YOU forward. You are not alone!

God has not only redeemed my story but abundantly given me more than I could ask or imagine. Did I say it’s been easy? NO! Did I say the struggles are gone? Absolutely NOT! What I AM saying is that God has brought beauty from the ashes and the brokenness that this messy girl had lived with for so long.

I don’t say this out of pride or arrogance or with a  “look at me now”  mentality….I am sharing this to give YOU a shot of hope. Because  not so long ago, I was on the carpet completely  shattered  and struggling, just like YOU!

Broken, wounded, stressed to the hilt, and ever so desperate.  It wasn’t just one hard thing but many painful things that left me with uncontrollable eye twitches and itchy stress rashes.  Yes, there is such a thing, ugh!

I will not go into details.  After all, I know what you would do. You would do the the same thing that most of us do.  Your kneejerk reaction would  entice you to compare your story to mine and then you would miss the whole point.

What I can tell you is that the above picture represents so much more than a wedding day…but a rescue;  A day when God boldly declared to my heart  that He is well able to redeem and take what the enemy meant to destroy me and my family and make it into something more precious than I could have ever imagined.

It represents the answer to countless prayers prayed by many that I did not even know were praying for me and my family at the time.   You see, it wasn’t just my victory in Jesus but other’s victory and testimony, too!  Those who God divinely surrounded us with who stood in the gap.  Those who loved me, supported me, believed in me and more importantly those with faith-filled hearts who believed that God had GOOD plans for us in spite of how it looked then.  My heart is so thankful.

This is why I am here, to tell YOU that GOD is not finished with YOUR story!

God DOES redeem, my friend! He takes the messy, the ugly, and the broken parts of our stories and creates beauty from the all the ashes.

Remember this; whatever chapter you are in, whatever your life looks like this very moment will soon pass. It is only for a season.  Life will not always be this hard, nor this painful.

You are on the pathway, detours and all,  to greater joy and intimacy with Christ than you have ever known.

It’s okay if you can’t see that right now because God sees it! His plans for YOU are good! When you can’t see clearly and everything around you is falling apart remember, your God IS faithful. That is ALL you need to know.  That’s enough. Jesus is enough.

Stay on the carpet until your knees burn and ugly cry your way through but don’t EVER stop the wrestling.

With God, your waiting time is NOT wasted time…He is creating room in you for the beauty that is yet to come!

Friend, stubbornly hold on to your faith as you hold on to your God.   Follow hard after him…stay obedient no matter what your feelings tell you. Expect God to move! 

One day,  you will see clearly that He never left you even in your darkest moments.  He was cutting away the lies from the past to make room for a NEW season, a NEW beginning that could not compare to anything you have experienced before.

Believe it!

Hebrews 10:23 (ESV) “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful”.

How will Your heart Respond?

Friend, if God never answered another prayer, would you STILL love Him and live for Him?

Will you continue to trust HIM when things aren’t going as you had prayed and believed? Will you stubbornly choose to be faithful to Him no matter what comes your way?

What about your relationship with Him? Is it the same in good times as well as bad? In the times you have understanding and the times you don’t? OR do you distance yourself from Him and blame Him for your loss, your pain, your brokenness or your unwanted consequences?

Will you be obedient to Him not because of what you are hoping to gain but simply because He LOVES you and has redeemed you?

Will you walk with an “even if” heart stance even when others turn away?

Final and most important question….Is what Jesus did for YOU at the cross enough?

These are probing questions that are good to consider BEFORE the bad things happen, the hard times come and your faith is challenged.

How will your heart respond?

You will find, He is the SAME God during the painful seasons as He is in the painless seasons. I don’t say this as just some “Christianeese” fluff but as a beloved daughter of God who has walked through her own unwanted and heart wrenching seasons.

Dear friend, there are blessings to be found in BOTH seasons. #truestory

Let me encourage you today! Don’t stop praying. Don’t stop trusting. Don’t stop believing in faith for good things.

And don’t EVER stop seeking…BUT seek His heart MORE than His blessings. He will never fail you!

The truth is, on this sacred journey there WILL be more painful seasons, more struggles, and more difficulties, this side of heaven.

BUT there will also be MORE abundant grace AND your heart will begin to look MORE like His as you walk with Him and learn from Him even through the valleys.

That is beauty, my friend, that can never fade!!!

Remember this, He is preparing you and me for our happily eternal after.

Choose Christ and keep on choosing Him! There are many choosing with you, though it may seem like only a few.

Heaven is cheering for you and Jesus is praying for you!

Your eternal reward WILL come!

Your BEST days are in front of you!!

Our god is faithful! Believe it! 💗

Psalm 34:19 A righteous man may have many troubles, but the lord delivers him from them all.

Hebrews 10:23 Let us seize and hold tightly the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is reliable and trustworthy and faithful [to His word.

James 1:2-3 Consider it pure joy, my brothers (sisters) whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know the testing of your faith develops perseverance..

Isaiah 43:1 Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.

What I Love About You….Our Happily Even-After

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     I truly felt like a love-stricken teenager at heart as I taped each envelope on the door to surprise my sweet husband.  This was only our second Valentine’s Day together as husband and wife but felt even more significant than our first. Why? Not sure! But I think it may have to do with the fact that I feel like I fall in love with him more everyday! Yes, it’s true!

As I purposely wrote each thought my heart was overwhelmed by God’s abundant faithfulness and amazing grace.

You see, Just a few years ago I really didn’t think I could entrust my heart to anyone in marriage again. The risk seemed way too high for this messy girl.  From my past experiences, love to me was painful and it meant to live sacrificially broken with unrelenting heart wounds for the sake of another…..because that’s what Jesus-loving girls do, right!??? (Not!! That was simply WRONG thinking! Blog post or maybe I should say “rant” coming soon, ha!) Unfortunately, just when hope of change was sparked and healing was in sight the messiness would come again and again….and again. So the story goes. 

But God….

When I first met Chris, even though I was undeniably drawn to him, my fears told me to run and I listened…ha! I was understandably scared and with a determined  stance, I stuck a  “closed” sign tightly over my heart.  But thankfully, with much prayer and wrestling AND the support of my dear mentors and friends the story didn’t end there! Chris respectfully, patiently and gently continued the pursuit and the rest is our happily-even-after!!! 

Even after….. 

Even after we both had made our share of mistakes. Even after we both had hidden scars from our messy and broken past. Even after we both had experienced the tearing apart of significant relationships. All because our God is the God of the “even after”! Our God is so so good!! He truly does bring beauty from ashes!

The words I wrote on each note were a reflection of my heart being able to experience…for the first time ever, the love that was meant to be shared between a husband and a wife! It’s altogether beautiful and I can say that I am truly thankful for the lessons learned from our “before” scars that have brought us to our “even after” story today. 

Friend, whatever your gut-wrenching story looks like today, it’s not over! In Christ, it is only a chapter, a season, and a tool to propel you towards your God-ordained, God-weaved, God-blessed and God-planned destiny! YOUR happily even-after story is coming! Believe it! 

Romans 8:28  And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.