Category Archives: Christian

” I’m Already There…”

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There is this song by Lonestar, ” I’m Already There…” and it is about a man calling his family while he is away. He is sad he could not be there with them, but to comfort himself and his family he just answers:

I’m already there
Take a look around
I’m the sunshine in your hair
I’m the shadow on the ground

I’m the whisper in the wind
I’m your imaginary friend
And I know, I’m in your prayers
Oh I’m already there

Music touches my heart so deeply when it comes to my faith, because I read lyrics not in the sense of what the song is trying to convey but what I believe God is speaking to me through it. It doesn’t have to be a Christian song at all, God speaks through everything.

I brought this particular song up, because there is a verse that has been on my heart for the past few weeks. It is interesting, because this particular verse that is found out of Deuteronomy was a concept I saw inside the verse last year. God speaks through what He knows we already know.

Before I go into this verse in Deuteronomy 31:8, I want to share a bit about the beginning of Deuteronomy 31, and give an idea as to what is happening.

Picture Moses, Joshua, and the Isrealites standing on the edge of the river. Moses is 120 years old. He has done what God had asked of him, and God was ready to raise up a leader in Joshua.
Moses knew that the people would be hesitant to leave him, but also knew he needed to prepare the people that his journey with them had come to an end.

“I am now a hundred and twenty years old and I am no longer able to lead you. The LORD has said to me, ‘You shall not cross the Jordan.’ The LORD your God himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you will take possession of their land. Joshua also will cross over ahead of you, as the LORD said.” (Deuteronomy 31:2-3)

I think what might be being said here is that the people would not be able to face the nations before them until an appointed time. God had to cross over first, and then he would have Joshua follow Him.

I love how it did not go like this, ” Joshua will go ahead of you, and we hope he finds God there.”

Just as Moses was preparing the Isrealites for his departure with them, I would suggest that knowing Joshua no longer had Moses for a leader, that he was handed the staff and in Moses eyes it could have been said, ” Your Lord God will cross over before YOU.” He might have wanted Joshua to know that he would not be leading the people alone or blindly. He might have said that to first and foremost comfort Joshua.

The LORD will deliver them to you, and you must do to them all that I have commanded you. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31: 5-6)

Moses shares that the nations would be delivered to them, which is exactly why God told them to stay put and wait. God would know exactly what the best plan would be for the people. He tells them there is no reason to be afraid. God already knows the outcome.

“Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the LORD swore to their ancestors to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance. 8 The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” (Deuteronomy 31:7-8)

There is a pattern we can see in Deuteronomy 31 that I have not seen with other scripture. Moses tells the people: ” The Lord God will crossover before you,” ” The Lord goes with you,” ” The Lord himself, goes before you, and will be with you.”

I love how God never once says he is going ahead of them without saying that He will also be with them.

I think too often we forget that God knows the plans He has for us, but that He does not leave us to take them on alone. He is there with us through the journey.

I know as someone who is preparing to be led a different direction in my life, one that means it is a journey He leads, but that I follow; that there will be people following my footsteps too.

As many times as I’ve seen this verse the last few weeks in Deuteronomy 31:8, I can’t help but hear God saying loudly to my heart, ” I got this, I have your back, if you get discouraged…I may be ahead of you, but I’m still right here.”

We are not meant to go through this life alone, regardless of how much knowledge we think we have on accomplishing something, and regardless what position we have, we need to know we have support, we need to know God is there, and that He will place people in our lives that help to mold us into what He needs us to become for His namesake.

God is going to ask us to lead. It might mean we are going to have to put something down. It might mean the things we have to let go of might be people in our life. It might mean we have to change who we are so much that it takes a toll on us. It might mean that we might have to lose our lives completely for the cost of following Christ.

Whatever it means for us. He already knows, He was already there.

We are standing in his footprint.

LSOF: ” Coming out of the Dark…”

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As I began writing this post the song, ” Coming out of the Dark.” by Gloria Estefan came to my mind.

It’s quite fitting to say the least.

I spoke last time about my experience with the pit, and now I’d like to share what it is like once I came out of the pit.

My friend and I meet every other week or so to just pray and have conversation about God, and the things He is doing in our lives. And today we focused on God’s attributes and what we know them to be.

I shared that God is merciful and shows us favor by His grace, that we so do not deserve.

I focused on the pit and how when we are obedient and just keep dealing with the thing until its over, then God rewards us by His favor in our lives.

The pit is indeed a rough place to be, but I want to give emphasis to the word PLACE for a moment, because that is really what it is, just a place in a season of our lives.

One of my dear spiritual mentors shared with me in a birthday card how God does not throw us on earth like a pieces on a chessboard, but that he strategically PLACES us where He needs us to be to fulfil His purpose.

The Pit has a Purpose.

So I write this to share with you that favor will come once the purpose of being in the pit is done, but sometimes its also good to realize that God will bless even when we are in the pit. He wants us to recognize He is there and He loves us.

It’s important to look for His fingerprints through the pit. Those little blessings that He leaves for us.

I was sharing this morning with someone that asked me what happened to living in Savannah-

To which I told them that God moved me back to Florida, and I also added that I grieved it, but that

I knew He had a greater purpose than I could see at that time.

For the first time in my life I can tell you I really love my life, and I really have come to know the character of God through my time in the pit.  I learned how He was with me when I flat out cursed Him in my own way. He was merciful, He didn’t look to try to make life worse, but instead He saw how numb I had become from my own emotions, and piece by piece…He started to put me and my life around me together again.

And what is interesting in all this is I didn’t think that I would get out of the pit by God’s help alone, I really thought that others might help me who had experienced it at the same time. I was wrong, and it is why it took me so much longer to get out then it was needed.

We are all a work in progress.

Keypoint I feel I should make in all this: Don’t deny that you are in the pit, don’t deny that something isn’t going the way it should be in your life, Don’t deny that there is something inside of you that you need to re-evaluate with God.

Don’t deny you need healing.

Again, I’m just talking; its just you and I having a conversation over starbucks, and I’m telling you what I experienced.

I want to see you free, because God does.

LSOF: ” So Long Insecurity,” notes…

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I am not even to the point of processing this weekend, but I do want to make sure someonelse gets a good Word like I did,
so for now here are the notes, and when I can I will write about it all:)

Ephesians 4:1- ” I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”
(Eph 4:17-24)
” No longer live as gentiles do..”
(Futility of their thinking…)

Eph 4:22-24- “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Put off old self)

” Grace isn’t an excuse to be living in old bondage..Grace is an excuse to be completely made new.”

2 Sam, Isaiah 43:18-19

A woman who is secure:

S- Saved from herself

” Human mind is twisted by idolitrist-self interest.”

(Homo Incurratus en se- A human being curved upon oneself.)

” Insecurity makes us curve back on ourselves, like a curling back of a piece of plywood”

Can humility and security exist? Will it lead to pride?

” Security can make us feel enough of ourselves, to not be obsessed with ourselves.”

E- Entitled to truth

The world teaches us to be valuable we have to be sensable, (vs. 22)

C- Clothed with Intention
” A woman dresses on purpose.”

Prov. 31:25

” We cannot wait to get secure before we feel secure.”

U- Upended by Grace

” Grace takes up space in a secure woman.”

Eph 4:32

“Charis”- Grace

Forgive in Greek, means ” To grace” (Charitizomi…(sp.)

2 Cor 5:17

” Grace turns everything upside down.”
” Grace is the only thing you can give away, that you can also keep.”

” Remember what you were taught…”

R- Rebounded by Love(eph 4:1- 5:2)

E- Exceptional in life

” We have a need for significance.”

Romans 8:28

LSOF: Blog post number 501!

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Welcome!

It occured to me this morning as I took a glance at my number of posts…and um, I reached #500 yesterday!
I would say its either a very exciting accomplishment, or I just write too much:)

Anyhow, I decided to tune down the appearance a little bit. I am in the process of reinventing somethings in life right now,
and it just helps where everythingelse is ” a clean slate”.

First things first…I DID get a job yesterday:)
It is such a relief to finally be employed again:)

This weekend I am planning for a great time. I am driving to the otherside of Georgia to meet up with some very special ladies at ” So Long, Insecurity” conference with Beth Moore.

I have met a few of these gals before, but this is the big deal of the year:)
So many of them coming, I have known who they were in blogworld since 2006, but never met them face to face!

So I am beyond excited!- It will be such a time to remember:)

I am then going to take a mini trip to Nashville to see some other sweet people and experience that beautiful place for
a little bit.

We should all take little trips like these sometimes, just get away and take it in:) This one has been planned since October, and I KNOW it is going to be a blast!

Anyway, so this is what I spent my time talking about on my #501 post…I’m sorry:)

Fran, Jenny, Teri, Beckyjo, Abby, Lindsee, Kate, Tammy, Angela, Nikki, Lisa, Janice, Jan, Steph, Kim, Robyn, Pam and etc LOL,…I’ll see you soon!

And thanks to Amanda Jones, and Beth Moore for creating LPM blog, because of it, there are lasting friendships that
never would have happened had it not been for the blog:)

Oh, and THANKS for making ” So Long, Insecurity” too Beth!- It’s been a life-changing book and I am praying like crazy that lives are changed!

xoxo
angie

LSOF: Responding to God’s Will

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When I moved to Savannah, I had everything in the bag. I had a place to live, a job, and a new great church.
Everything was going so well for me.

Fast-forward a few months: I am living in a completely different part of Savannah, I don’t have a job right now, but
I still have an amazing church.

The interesting part being that although I was thrown out of my comfort zone not just once moving to Georgia,
but again once I was here a few months; I still have a really good church. I still have a good group of people
that are here for me.

I like the Celine Dion song, ” Love can move mountains”, and just that particular lyric alone, because that is what it has felt
like for me being here in this new place.

Somedays I am SO worried that I’m going to run out of money before I find a job, but my group of people here, they are always the first to encourage me to just continue to trust God.

I also want to share that the group of people that I say are here, some of them don’t even live in my state!

I received an email from a friend that simply said this,
” He had allowed you to be surrounded by many to hold up your arms during this time.”

This is where I can receive people within social networking….in 5 days I actually will meet the dearest of them:)

We have to have people in our lives that will encourage us to follow God’s will…to remind us to just believe, and trust Him.

I do have an awesome church, and the people there they have definitely been so great about praying for me, and just standing at my side during a lot of rough times here.

But the thing I learned today in the message really hit me, because it also provides a word of “warning” to those who do encourage us in our lives.

It was really a word for me.

We have to stop trying to let other encourage us to do what they ” think” is God’s will for our lives. We have to stop being so impulsive, and not give God a chance to respond if we really are doing as He asks of us.

It’s easy to be swayed when you start to know people who are at different ” positions”, I have a professor, event director, An actress, a writer, a counselor, a radio dj, and two women in the church ministry who I look at their lives and think,
” Wow God, it would be awesome to be in their position.”

And for them, it is cool to be in their position. For me, or for you..it may not be what God has called you to do.

So I go back to my gifts that come most natural to me…and I find ways to use them now…and I pray to God and ask Him to reveal to me what my calling really is. I have an idea, but I think I need more confirmation from Him.

I have a heart that really cares deeply for people, I care about their situations and everything they go through on a daily basis. It breaks my heart to watch people struggle, I can’t stand to see anyone in pain.
I am able to talk to anyone pretty easily, but I am sensitive in talking to them. I love to see what makes people tick, I love to look in their eyes and see who they really are in their heart. I love to listen to people tell me stories about thier lives, every little detail is such a treasure to me. I take when someone is ill very seriously. It may be due to my mom having an illness, but regardless, you will find me on my knees praying for someone as soon as I know their is something going on with them.
I love to teach others about God’s mercy, and share with them how He made me into the person I am today.
I also sometimes feel things in my heart deeply that I have to share with someone, and I DO make sure I share it.

All these things do show my spiritual gifts, and I can recognize what they are in myself. So I know its a start, do I know where it will take me…not sure. But I do know, I have to be on the right track if I am seeking after
seeing my spiritual gifts instead of my talents.

We are here to impact the world in someway…its WHY we are here, maybe you are like me and haven’t yet found your “place”, but I want to tell you something….we are exactly where we need to be, until God’s reveals what to do next.

Again, it’s little steps of faith, its’ what its all about:)

LSOF: Rooted and Uprooted

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I am sitting here writing this as I look out my window and view the forest. It rained and the wind blew heavily last night, so there are puddles everywhere; water has surrounded a good batch of trees.

I remember during the hurricanes in Florida. The ground would be come so saturated, and the wind would blow so hard,
that it would literally uproot the trees and they would fall to the ground.

Have you ever been uprooted?

When the roots were in the ground: life going well, great people in your life, job going well, family so close, you had a great church, or just a perfect place to go where you could ease your mind, and your focus could just be on God, and the life you were living?

When the roots could no longer hold: People you thought you trusted in your life turned their back on you, family situations became really bad, a church you attended you can no longer face, your job on the line, a child goes wayward,
and you really began to feel ” suffocated” by the deep waters around you.

I was reading the book of Job this morning. And this guy so had his share of just constant pain and anguish in his life.
He was actually considered blameless in the sight of God. And one day Satan came and asked God if he might try to prove that Job wasn’t as blameless as thought. God allowed Satan to test Job; he allowed him to test him as long as he spared his life.

Job’s family, and his servants all died in tragedies, and everything was one thing after another, and his wife saw what was going on in the beginning and told Job to curse God, but he refused.

THAT TAKES FAITH.

As I read on in Chapter 9-13 or so, it was just so interesting to me how many times his friends would tell him what their idea of how God was, and everything, but even though Job was just in so much turmoil; he still kept the truth right at his side.
He spoke up to his friends, he did defend God. I thought that was really interesting, but such a lesson to all of us as well.
And actually, his friends were just as lost as he was.
One friend was all about saying that is was because of sin that their was suffering…Job knew this wasn’t true
Another friend said it was about humility, and that if Job would accept his suffering as sin, that He would be okay,
but the issue was the Job didn’t believe his suffering was a result of sin.
And yet another friend spoke that Job didn’t have the right to complain about his suffering, because he believed traditionally
that the sin was just…that basically Job had no right to question…
That’s so wrong!

Job 14:7
” At least there is hope for a tree;
If it is cut down, it will sprout again,
and its new shoots will not fail.
Its roots may grown old in the ground
and its stump die in the soil,
yet at the scent of the water, it will but and
put up shoots like a plant.”

but then he adds this,

Job 19:10
” He tears me down on every side until I am gone,
he uproots my hope like a tree…”

These two verses are interesting, because you can just see the fight that Job is having with God,
and he is SO confused, in one instance he believes that God will bring hope to a tree and help it flourish,
and in another he compares himself to being uprooted like a tree.

I very much believe that he speaking of himself here; his world around him, People perhaps, or things in his past.
Let me suggest to you that perhaps Job in his anguish was trying to make sure God heard him,
and also that perhaps he was trying to also make his friends just leave him be.

In any case, this story though very rough to read, it makes such a good point.

Job may have had faith in God from the beginning, but something we have to realize is that God is never done teaching us.
We all have something He wants to teach us about our lives. Especially if He sees we are in a comfort zone.

I have experienced so much since I’ve moved to Georgia.

This past week alone has been such a learning experience.
God really felt I needed to learn something.

I have been so lonely, and just didn’t have anyone here really.
I almost went out with my roommate and her friends one night, but I pulled up in the driveway
after work and sat there saying to God, ” Lord, I don’t think you want me to go there.”
Well, I was probably right. Because I would have felt uncomfortable, and would have had
to drink to be comfortable. I shouldn’t have to drink to feel comfortable around people.
Its important that while I am here in Georgia now, that my foundation is set. And that did not include going to a club until 2am.

Something you should know if you don’t. There is no set time that God says to obey Him or not obey Him, we must always obey Him. He knows we are going to mess up, but we don’t want to get ourselves so far that we are an uprooted tree.
We can knock ourselves down on our own.

We need a firm foundation to keep ourselves going.

I had to get out of the living situation I was in for many reasons.
I had been looking for a place to rent.
And then I went to bible study tuesday night; My friend Lori told me I would enjoy it.

Another girl had just started coming to the church, and in conversation just mentioned
her roommate and she were looking for a third roommate.
My mouth dropped wide open.
I was at the study for a reason that night.

Its always so interesting if you look back on the timeline and can sort of see the battle between God and Satan with our lives.
Even though I had found a place to live, stuff was still happening that wasn’t so great.

My tire was flat when I came out of work, I found out the next day that someone had gouged a hole in the sidewall.
The night after that I had planned to move some stuff over, but was really tired…and due to other reasons, I found myself
moving EVERYTHING to the new place. My pastor, a sweet lady from my women’s group, my new roommate all were moving
me to my new place. We did it in 4hrs!

My foundation wasn’t just being set in a new home that night, its been being set since I’ve moved here. God just started showing me little bits what He had planned.

If you have been following this journey it all began truly beginning of 2009 to now…and looking back, I can’t believe all that God has done.

I love my new church, I love the people, and am really connecting with quite a few of them.

I remain teachable.
We all have to.

LSOF: The Perplexity of Perspective

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Hello my dear friend. Whoever you are out there in blogland:) Happy 2010 to you:)

I wonder if you’ve made your ” New Year’s Resolution” as of yet.

If you haven’t, if there are just somethings that you can’t get yourself to give up from a materialistic point of view,
but perhaps you do have something to give up that might be a little easier…

The way you have lived your life to 2010; the perspective you have had on your life, as well as yourself.

What do you think of how your life is right now, and how do you think of yourself?

Well, as you ponder those questions, I felt I would share a little bit about something God spoke to my heart today.

The message at church was , ” Baby steps, to Big Steps”, and I can tell you it was probably the most profound message I’ve heard in a long time.

It was a message for me.

If you are here for the first time to Little Steps Of Faith, I want to tell you that the name of the blog is how I’ve gone through my life, and my faith in God. One step at a time, one day at a time.
But the message God gave to my heart this morning was,
” I need you to stop being so careful with those little steps of yours, I need you to take more risks in trusting me, I need you to take bigger steps now.”

Why this spoke to me so much is, because I have been fighting with my old life in FL, and my new life in Savannah, GA.
I am fighting with myself, and I think I am just going to say that with a huge PERIOD.

There isn’t one part of my life there that I wasn’t fighting with myself to remain the same here. I had to understand that God moved me here so things would be different for me, so I would get out of the comfort zone.
I wasn’t growing where I was. I may have had a lot of people around that loved me, and I do miss them, but for whatever reason God brought me to Savannah not to just ” move me”, but to do bigger things in my life, and around me.

I started going to a church here, that has the same number of people my church in FL started with 12 years ago, and that is just one example, I feel like so much that God is showing me visions in front of my face of my past in so many situations and people.

I keep hearing myself say, ” I have been there…I remember that…This is just like that…”

So I am going to ask the question one more time now;
What do you think of your life now, and what do you think of yourself?

I’ll answer on my side here.

I think my life now could be described with ” possibilities” and the same verse that stalked me from my home in FL, to a Deeper Still conference, and to the ending verse at church I attend now.

EPHESIANS 3:20-21
” Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

God can do more than we could ever ask or imagine, my life is a testimony to that. I never planned on leaving FL, and I never planned on living here in Savannah and having the things happened the way they have, the good and the bad.
But I do know this; I’d rather have God handle every part of my life then ever think I could plan it for myself.
We have the power to destroy ourselves, before God can ever use us. I have done enough destroying of myself.

I may not be great at a lot of things, but I have the capability to do what I can. Its about effort in this world,
and you can’t pay attention to who thinks what about you or your life…its not about them.

We have a amazing God up there in heaven who loves us, and is there for us at every moment of our lives.

So this year, I want you to focus on the two questions I asked a few times before…and ask them to yourself everyday.
And add God into the mix of it. God knows we are not perfect, the Word says, ” When perfection comes the imperfect disappears.” SO right there is telling us that imperfection is just something we have to face, we can’t fight it, but we can do what is possible to do things a little differently then we’ve always done them just by changing the perspective.

It’s not easy to get yourself out of the rut you’ve been in right away, it takes time.
But we all have amazing things to offer to this world, whether it be doing something for someone, or
saying something to someone.

I encourage you if you don’t blog yet, to start a blog. It will change your life.
Because what happens is you see who you are showing the world you are on your blog.
People will know your heart, because it is right there in front of them on the screen.

I have no problem telling you that I struggle everyday to stay positive and happy, because in reality things are not that way, we have daily demands and all kinds of things to deal with everyday, it takes work to keep yourself happy, and so that’s a great reason to spend time with God, and get to know who you are in His eyes. Let Him speak to your heart and tell you that you’re special. That you have something to give to this world. We all have something. We were created because we have something to give out into the world

We have love. We carry that within us. We carry it and sometimes forget it. But its the greatest gift, and the most
worth giving.

So this year, don’t focus on anything more than to ” Just believe” that you are someone who is valuable to God, and to others. Of course there will be people out there who try to say otherwise, but they just don’t know how much they need people who have the desire in them to love, to be givers.

They will come around. Change how you see those people.

At the end of the day, and at the end of it all…

Who you were to the world in your heart will be the only thing that matters anyway.

Blessings,

LSOF: The Faith Storm Part 2- ” Gone with the wind”

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Out of the stillness, the trees start to dance. Sway back and forth. You can smile now, because the wind has returned,
and God is moving!

Something that you notice though…the branches of the trees start to crack and whistle. And all around its like a symphony of a breaking tree limbs.

The wind has changed direction.

I wonder if maybe you are in the ” eye of the storm” stage, and I wonder how you might be handling it.
Are you believing He will get you through, are you believing that He knows what is best out of the situation?

I hope that my story has encouraged you, because the next part will blow your mind as it has completely for me.

I will begin by saying, I’ve posted about ” Spiritual vs. Earthly timeline” and how there is the whole other part we don’t realize is happening in the background of our life, but we concentrate so much on the earthly.

Here is my timeline for ya:

I got a blessing in the mail—>I went to Deeper Still and met Beth Moore:)—>I received a class grade for all the effort and not the intelligence—>I went to Savannah and got to spend sometime with great friends…

OKAY, the next part is where it gets crazier.

I have been praying to God about showing me what the next step is. I knew it in my heart that He wanted me to leave FL, but I wasn’t quite sure where. So I had it on my heart that He wanted me in Savannah…I wasn’t sure.

While I was in Savannah, I needed to attend a church service. Nicole and I found a church locally that seemed to be a religion I was used to. We walk in, we sit down..and um, realized we were a little different.
The music was amazing, but the message…not the best.

The Pastor was supposed to be speaking on Joshua 4, ” If these stones could talk, what would they say?” well,
without going into it, I’ll just say I had five sentences of message notes…and the Word wasn’t mentioned for an hour in a half!
I ended up walking out.

I walked into the CVS and I was there to get a drink, noticed the line was insanely long.
So before I walked out the door I stopped and decided I would give my name to the manager there,
” I am a manager at the store in FL, and will eventually be looking to transfer maybe up here
if anything should come available in a few months or so.”
The girl took my name and said sweetly, ” We will keep you in mind if anything should come up.”
Nicole and I then left and proceeded to a coffee shop.(as if that should shock you.)

I went home got on the computer and decided if I could hear something good
Beth Moore would have a message on, oneplace.com.
I put the most recent message on the player and listened.
Beth began speaking on Joshua 3 and 4! I am NOT joking.

” God is going to take you to a place you might not be ready to go yet, but you must go. Have courage”

I didn’t really know why, but I began crying, something in my spirit felt God moving, and I wasn’t sure what He was going to do.

I got a phone call the next morning as I was watching Joyce Meyer, she was talking about ” Do it scared.”

It was a store manager at another CVS. He had contacted the store I dropped my name off at, and said his manager had given notice and wondered if they knew of anyone. The girl I had spoken to that day had given him my name.
And that He would like to meet with me.

I got off the phone with..” What was that?” to Nicole. She and I laughed our heads off..could this be for real?

It WAS for real…and I did meet with him, and I leave to move my state of FL…and move to Savannah Georgia,
in 9 days!

Everything is falling into place so this can happen..

I almost can’t finish this post, because the tears are welling up in my eyes…

God heard my prayers. He answered me. He said ” I want you to go to Savannah, Angie.”

So here I go, I am packing up, and I am moving away from everyone I know and love! and I am moving to a state to friends that I met in 2001 and I would never thought would still be in my life today…

It was all part of His plan..

It was always apart of His plan…

He is amazing.

And on a side note, I saw ” Life Today” this morning, and Beth is talking on Psalm 139…” I am fully known”
and I loved it!

Love you all.
angie

LSOF: The Faith Storm

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A rainbow that appeared in the sky after precious time with God:)

I am standing here at the wall of Lake Monroe. Above me ominous clouds seem echo visually over the entire horizon.
Sweet drops of rain fall over me, and on this page.
The water is so calm, barely rippling…
My friend showed me this morning a verse she is learning in her bible study, ” The Truth Project”.

Romans 1:20
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

God’s attributes can clearly be seen if we look hard enough.

The Lord brought to my heart on the drive here the hurricanes that we’ve had here in FL in the past.

I remember standing outside as the winds became more severe. The rain pelted everything around, and the trees held onto their roots for dear life…

He showed me that our faith in Him is just like being inside a hurricane.

The roughness of the winds are just really if you think about it the force of God’s blessing and will over our lives.
Something else that my friend and I discussed was that you don’t know what it is like to experience something good or something bad, until you experience it.

It is just so when it comes to walking through God’s will.

Thing after thing can happen, and make you smile or bring you straight to your knees, and then…
things seem too still for comfort. The sunshines on you, and blue skies are clearly above, but
you don’t feel like you are really in God’s will…because nothing is happening.

It’s what is called being inside the eye of God’s will.

This is the part where He looks down from heaven and sees that in the stillness, if we will still believe.

This is the place our souls wait for the Lord to take us into another direction of wind.

I am in that place right now. But something that made me cry when He spoke it to my heart.
The eye isn’t the only place we have blue skies, that they are all around us through the storm,
He is always in control.

To think that God even decided the shapes the clouds turn every moment.

The wind blows gently on me…its God’s gentle spirit.
Reminding me He is love…and He is still in everything.

This one part of Hebrews 3:12 really struck me today.

See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.

I look out at all this, and think to myself…How can I think for one second that God couldn’t handle my little world?

I saw the movie, ” Amelia” today. I wanted to watch a movie that was going to clearly reflect God.

Maybe Amelia didn’t make it across the ocean, but I think her heart met with God clear before she ever took flight that day, and was already prepared to meet Him.

I want to have a faith that reaches to the skies.

Of course it would take more that saying it…for it to happen.

Right this moment, as I hear the rumble of the airplane behind me…I say…

I’ll believe you Lord, in even this.


Blessings,
Angie

LSOF: Because of Him, things became…Because of Him, they remain.( Scripture memory #20)

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I decided to title this post in the way it was spoken to my heart of on Monday morning, as it was written in my prayer journal:)

God has just been speaking to my heart a lot lately, well, He does everyday, but I guess its clearer to my heart now, more than ever:)

You see, the thing to realize as I have realized. There are two timelines to our lives.
We have an earthly timeline, but we often forget about the other: Spiritual timeline.

This time last year, I was stuck in the middle of a cult. I was lost, hurt, and so alone. I had plenty of people around me
every sunday, tues morning, thursday morning, and thursday night. Those were the times I studied and went to kingdom hall meetings.

There is something desperately wrong when you see people everyday, and you still feel alone.
My heart knew something wasn’t right, but I ignored it.

I don’t want to get into the whole story again here, but I’ll just tell you some of the vital things I have learned from that experience.

While I was have all those feelings, and while I felt like I wasn’t sure if my faith was the faith I believed in, or the people in my life if they were to be trusted..
While I was in such a financial crunch, barely being able to afford the rent on my own, and going to sleep instead of eating to save the little bit I had…
While I was standing at the beach looking into the ocean, wondering if there was really a Savior…my heart became weak to believe it…

Oh I could go on, but the point I am making is that was my earthly timeline…that is what I could see going on in front of me at the time.

There was all along as much more impressive timeline that I was going through too. The spiritual one.

I don’t regret anything that happened in that timeframe, because I can see the timeline, I can see the results.

I am going to visit my friend Nicole in Savannah in a few days.
I have known her since 2001.

Its a crazy story though. It is regarding the timeline that I’m talking about. I was unaware at the time, but can look back and see all of it.

I was around my friends Scott and Lisa from Z88.3, Who are now on KLOVE; I was with my friend Ashley the first night, but the second I was by myself. So I decided to go knowing at least they would be there.
I hung out with them, and other radio staff for a good while, and then it was time to go backstage with Michael W. Smith,
and I wasn’t allowed to go backstage of course.

So that was it, I was alone, in a crowd of people.

I decided to go to another concert that was playing, it was Rebecca St. James. I got talking to some girls up front as we all danced to RSJ singing. It was Lori, Shannon, and a girl named Nicole.

Little did I know at the time, it was another part of the timeline starting. Lisa would soon move away, and come back again,
but that friendship would soon clearly end and a new friendship would begin.

Nicole and I didn’t talk for a good 5 yrs, and she is the only one I kept in touch with, interesting enough wasn’t even a Christian. She’s a dear friend. She’s seen me through a lot since then.

I would soon later see where my purpose in her life was about. My mom has Chron’s disease, and her mom got it a few years ago, and died of it last year. I was able to see that God brought me to her life, because I would be the one that would understand every part that she had to deal with.

I get to see her in 3 days, I am so excited…it is a friendship that is a lasting one, and I am moving up to Savannah sometime in 2010; God’s leading the way completely.

That is what true evidence of the timeline can look like.

Whatever your life has been like, whether its been the last few days, weeks, years…know this, He is in charge of all of it,
and there is a bigger picture that you cannot see just yet.

2 Corinthians 4:6-7
” For God who said, ” Let light shine out of the darkness, ” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Christ.”

And here is a promise that makes this timeline so real for us from the Word.

2 Corinthians 4:8-10
” We are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed, perplexed but not in despair, persecuted, but not abandoned, struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.”

Earthly timeline versus Spiritual timeline…

2 Corinthians 4:13
” It is written: I believe; therefore I have spoken.” With the same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak.”

Regardless of what we go through, He still is in charge, we don’t even speak about Him without His help.

Daniel 2:20-22
” He changes times and seasons,
he sets us kings and deposes them.
He gives wisdom to the wise
and knowledge to the discerning,
He reveals deep and hidden things,
he knows what lies in darkness,
and light dwells with him.”

He changes the times and seasons: this means that He also is aware of the timeline we are going through, and He is waiting to see the point to step in and cross over into the earthly timeline.
I was removed from a place I was living, and job I had, plus a very bad group of people…physically moved by God.

I also had a few very cool things happen over the last two months that have blown my mind, and didn’t know God would ever intervene in that way.

He sets up kings and deposes of them; this means that in doesn’t matter who is in charge, whether its the President of the United States, a parent, a boss, or a teacher etc.
God is above all of this, He can MAKE them have a change of heart.
Again, I have seen this happen to me personally, and again, BLOWN away by Him:)

He gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to the discerning; Its important to remember that every message at church, every wise person you know, or watch on tv, or whatever the case may be…
God spoke to them first.

He knows what is hidden in darkness and light dwells in him; okay, again, evidence of the spiritual timeline.

2 Corinthians 5:1
” Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed we have a building from God, and eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.”

2 Corinthians 5:16
” So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view, Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.”

We must realize that within our earthly timeline that even though the stuff is going on with us, with other people;
we must see them not as how they appear in front of us, but we must remember to look at them like Jesus would,
regarding the spiritual timeline, what can be learned..

2 Corinthians 7:1
” Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates the body, and the spirit perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.”

Also, we need to focus on the spiritual timeline with the decisions we make. We have to realize how they may affect us down the road.

2 Corinthians 7:4(second part)

” I am greatly encouraged in all my troubles, my joy knows no bounds.”
We know deep down that there surely is a deeper bigger meaning in everything, we just have to focus on it.

2 Corinthians 4:18
” For we fix our eyes on not what is seen, but what is unseen, for what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal.”

So I will leave you with this thought today. Remember as soon as you walk away from your computer, or as soon as you speak to someone for the first time today…whatever it may be…focus on the best of this day. God is totally here with you,
and He is leading you through both sets of time.

God bless.

Angie