Strong and Courageous

Over the past 2 ½ years God has cultivated my soil, precisely planted His seeds, watched me through my growth processes, as He provided everything I needed, and harvested His crops to bring forth His fruit. I love to look back and see the awesome miracles He performed in my life; it all seemed surreal and exciting. Don’t get me wrong there were moments in time during my growing season that I wanted to turn around, stomp my feet, and walk away, but I reminded myself of God’s promises to Joshua,”…I will not fail you or abandon you.” (Joshua 1:5) “I command you—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9) Throughout the first chapter of Joshua, God continues to remind Joshua to be strong and courageous and that he must obey His law and all of His commandments; it is only then he will succeed.

God has now begun a new season in my life. I can actually say at 32 years-old I am officially retired! I am a stay at home mommy and wife; the two true desires of my heart. I am truly grateful that God designed my life’s blueprints, for if they were up to me, they would have been quite a mess, and definitely not the way the way God would have wanted them orchestrated. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

I love what King David said to the Lord in Psalm 139, you “know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, LORD. You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand!” (vs. 1-6) God is omniscient and omnipresent. He knows the plans He has for my future. I am excited to move to the next level of my journey for God already knew before the foundations of the earth what I would be doing in this very moment and the plans He had for my future.

God has already begun to speak to me little by little preparing me for what lies ahead. At moments I feel like maybe what Joshua might have felt like in the moment after Moses’ death when the LORD told him, “…you must lead my people across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them.”(Joshua 1:2) I don’t think that it was a shocking surprise to him, given he was Moses’ assistant for forty years, but the sheer thought that he must finish what his predecessor began, must have been overwhelming for a moment or two, but God’s promises gave him the faith and confidence he needed to lead the people of Israel. As He will give me the confidence and faith to take the steps that He has ordered for me.

He too makes those promises to us as we allow him to till our soil, plant our seeds, and harvest His crops. We are able to choose whether our crop will thrive and be plentiful, sparse and scarce, or lifeless and dying. God continues to remind us, despite what is ahead of us to “be strong and courageous!” I pray that whatever God is preparing you for, step forward and walk in faith as Joshua did! As you walk out your faith, it will inspire others to do the same. Encourage others today to have confidence and allow God to direct their future.

Saving the Best for Last

The past couple weeks have been a bit rough for me us. I hadn't been feeling well until this week. Katherine was sick the first week that I wasn't feeling well. During that time, I noticed that I had become quite the irritable parent when Katherine was not obeying or listening. Instead of my usual verbal warning, time-out, and spanking sequence. It seemed that there were little or no verbal warnings, time-outs seemed to be a lot more frequent, and a couple of times it seemed that spanking went first. Raising my voice at her was also in the repetoire. Bath time seemed to be the most frustrating due to the nature of it being right before bedtime and of course, "No!(as she throws something out of frustration)...and my tummy hurts...I'm thirsty...and I'm not tired (as her eyes are drooping, and she is whining and crying about seemingly pretty much everything)...or we're going to go to bed later" interrupted the flow of the evening and made my stress levels even higher because I was exhausted, tired, and wanted to go to bed.

Instead of asking God for guidance on how to deal with the situations at the moment, I went straight to my own ways by raising my voice (which only seemed to make things worse), being demanding with her (which didn't make things any easier), and getting angrier by the second. By choosing my own ways at first, many of the encounters with Katherine felt like I was struggling more (e.g. the more I raised my voice, the more obstinate she became). At one point, I finally asked myself and God, "What do I do, how do I handle this?" and God said, "How would Aaron handle this situation?" I thought for a few moments and then trusted in the example that Aaron had previously illustrated. I began to tone down my voice to a loving one, relax, be more patient, more kind, and even made games out of some of the tense moments. After asking God for guidance, He showed me His ways. In Isaiah it says, "For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. (55:9)"

Mary, Jesus' mother, was a guest at a wedding celebration and during the festivities of the wedding the wine supply ran out. Mary spoke with Jesus about the problem. He turned six stone water pots (back in those days the pots were used for ceremonial washing and held between 20 to 30 gallons) into wine and when the master of ceremonies tasted it he said, “A host always serves the best wine first,” he said. “Then, when everyone has had a lot to drink, he brings out the less expensive wine. But you have kept the best until now!”

Just as Mary turned to Jesus first about her problem, so must we. For if we "save the best for last" many times we end up more frustrated, angry, left in bad situations, we become bitter, hurt, depressed, and upset. However, when we allow Him to work in our situations, He will give us His grace and mercy.

We thank you Father God for your mercy and grace; forgive us when we don't come to you first. Give us the wisdom and understanding to do your will in our lives. We love you! Share this message with others, encourage them to trust in the Lord. Let them know when they put Him first, He will honor and guide their requests.