Tag: Redeemed Life

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With God, It’s Personal

It Starts With The Simple Things

I was taking my regular walk today, during the heat of summer, admiring the bluest of skies and all the creatures moving around me.  I was lamenting the fact that I was now in July and have not done half of what I planned for the summer now that my daughter was out of school – and then it hit me.  With God, His care is personal.

I saw this tree (the one depicted in the picture).  Something about it reminded me of God’s personal attention to everything He creates.  This tree stood alone with branches fully formed.  It had the beautiful backdrop of the blue skies behind it.  There were other trees around it that were taken care of too, also on their own account, but this one stood out to me.  And that was when God reminded me of the scripture in Matthew 6:25-34 –

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can anyone of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[e]?

28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you – you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

So, Relax…

God takes care of His creation.  With Him, it is personal.  He knows what you need.  He knows what you are going through.  God tells us to trust Him and Him alone.  He’s got you.

That tree didn’t have to worry about having enough water or if it’s leaves were enough to provide shade for the family where it was planted.  It just grew and thrived in the season it was in.

We all could benefit from thriving in the season we are in as well.  It may not be perfect to us but where God has us allows Him to use us – right where we are.  Your blessing will come.  Your promise will come.  Don’t worry about it…just thrive.

God knows you personally and that blessing you have been praying about, seek God first and it will come, right on time.

#LivingTheRedeemedLife

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God Uses You Right Where You Are

God Can Use You

Here, I sit in my favorite coffee shop, journaling about my day and life and my current focus on God’s movement in the desires of my heart.  As I write, I speak to God about using me and opening doors and getting me ready for my next season. I jot down all the things I want to do and, out of habit, I start outlining the steps to get them done. I get a bit anxious when I get to the steps that may require more resources than I currently have but keep writing and put an asterisk next to those bullet points trusting God will provide whatever I need. Suddenly, I hit a wall where I could not focus. As I try to write my thoughts down I become increasingly distracted. What was this about? I like the white noise of this space and can usually focus (I pretty much wrote my first book in this same coffee shop) so why is my mind wandering all over the place?

God, Was That You?

Then I have a BAM! moment – I feel this deep conviction in my spirit telling me ‘I want to use you right where you are’. Is that you speaking to me God? I stopped, looked around and then focused on my coffee cup. At that point, I understood what I was being told.

See, all of my ‘planning’ was so forward thinking it was as if I couldn’t do anything until some other event occurred. For example, I ‘will’ set up my sewing machine to make hats for sick kids once I get some additional resources (e.g. money) to get the fabric and ultimately the time to do it. As I contemplate the topic for my next book, God was telling me “I’ve already given it to you, so get started on the outline”. This was true but for some reason, I was waiting for some event – like the words being carved in stone from a lightning bolt before I actually sat down to start writing. In other words, I already had what I needed to get started so I shouldn’t plan as if I needed to acquire something else before I could move. I already have a ton of fabric in my basement to get started on the hats so what was I waiting for?

Watch For the ‘Pot Holes’

Procrastination, disguised as planning, can be a tool the enemy uses to keep you from your goals, dreams and, more importantly, God’s purpose in your life. We sometimes ‘wait’ out of fear when we really need to be moving because of faith. Now, I am not saying you should just move without any forethought on the plans of your life after all the Bible says ‘the people perished due to lack of vision’ (Proverbs 29:18) but there is a point where you have to trust God for the provision for your dreams and direction. In business, there is a term called ‘planning paralysis’ where you can plan so long you end up doing nothing. In life, sadly, this can have an end result of you never experiencing what a great God can do if you just let Him move.

Jeremiah 29:11 says:

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

So today, as you look ahead in your life, prayerfully seek those areas you have been holding onto or even ‘holding out’ on and trust God to provide. You already have what you need to prosper and that is your faith. God is our dream giver and provides for whatever you need – right where you are.
#LivingTheRedeemedLife

Living The Redeemed Life™
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