Hearts Of Darkness

I will praise you, Lord my God, with ALL my heart. 

– Psalm 86:12

How do you feel when you get to the end of putting a puzzle together and you discover that pieces are missing?  Ugh!

God must feel the same way when we hold back and only give Him some of the pieces of our heart.  Imagine someone saying to Him, “Okay God, I’ll give you my marriage and friendships, but I’ll keep my drinking, my love for shopping, and my jealousy.”

God’s word tells us to trust Him with ALL of our hearts.  The definition of all means the whole, entire, total amount.  Not certain pieces, but everything …100%.  In Greek, all means “each and every.”  Have you given God each and every part of your heart? 

For many years, I held onto un-forgiveness.  By studying God’s word and by praying for the people who had hurt me, I realized I had been locked in a terrible prison.  Every bar of my prison cell represented one person I had not entirely forgiven.  They weren’t in the cell, I was, and it was miserable.  Thankfully, God entered into that broken part of my heart and began a good work of healing.  One by one, the bars were removed and I walked out into the sun a free woman.  Yes!  

I consider the un-forgiving part of my heart to be dark and the parts full of love and joy to be light and radiant.  Think for a moment and visualize the light and dark areas of your heart.  What areas would resemble Jesus’ heart and what would resemble yours, as of yet unchanged by God’s love and grace?  Focus on one dark area.  Ask God to shrink it, remove it, delete it, and grow a replacement.  

It’s true!  I call this God’s great exchange.  God can take un-forgiveness and replace it with compassion.  He can exchange anger with love, bitterness with kindness, and jealousy with encouragement.  It’s amazing to receive a much-needed heart transplant!  

Piece by piece God wants to mold our hearts into His son’s likeness.  As we become more like Jesus and less like ourselves, we please our Father in heaven and bless those around us.  Praise God today with ALL of your heart and start giving Him ALL the pieces of your heart until the entire puzzle is whole and beautiful.

The Power of Giving God Thanks Will Ignite Your Faith and Change Your World!

Thank You for Being a part of the 3 O’Clock Wake Up Movement

What Are You Waiting For These Days?

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. 

– Psalm 27:14

Please read the Bible passage again.  Thanks!  Do you see the repetition?  God repeats Himself when He has an important message to convey.  I do the same with my children.  They listen about as well as I do.  I guess no matter our age, we all need reminders.    

How many times do you find yourself waiting in a given day?  Too often, I bet.  Why is waiting so hard for us to do?  Recently, while in my car, I have been putting my phone out of reach so I won’t text at stop lights.  I had been getting distracted by my phone to the point where I was still texting through green lights.  It took my thirteen-year-old daughter catching me on this to make me change.  Another Wake Up Call!

Seriously, where I live, the chances of running over a biker if you are not 100% focused on your surroundings is pretty high.  Just ask my in-laws.  They had to replace a bicycle more expensive than most used cars after they took a quick turn without stopping to look 180 degrees for the cyclist behind them.  

What about you?  What are you waiting for these days?  A job, a date, a break-through, a healing, or much needed help?  All of us wait for prayers to be answered every day.  The real question is, what do we do while we wait that leads us to trust God more?  

Here’s a quick play on words that I use when worry starts to creep in while I’m waiting.  Think about the letters in WAIT and let them refocus your heart and mind on God.  

• W – Walk with God while you wait.  Spend time with God, praying and talking to Him.  He’s available 24/7, day and night.  Thank God for His availability!

• A – Ask for help.  Cry out to God and give Him your whole heart, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

• I – In God’s word.  Pick a Bible scripture to read and memorize during the waiting period.  God’s promises can bring calm and comfort during life’s trials.

• T – Trust in God’s timing.  He is in control and will see you through. You are not alone.

In this Instagram culture where so much is fast paced and immediate, let’s take a breath, draw close to God, and trust in Him while we wait.  Could it be that while we wait, teachable moments happen and unexpected blessings arrive?  Could it be that when we are still and wait upon the Lord, we experience His powerful presence greater than any presents we’ve asked for?  

Be still and know that I am God. – Psalm 46:10

The Power of Giving God Thanks Will Ignite Your Faith and Change Your World!

Thank You for Being a part of the 3 O’Clock Wake Up Movement

Why Are We So Anxious?

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

– Philippians 4:6

I was speaking with a school nurse over the weekend.  She shared that in the past several years the rate of anxiety has skyrocketed in her middle school.  We brainstormed possible reasons why, but in the end we left our conversation sad and worried for our teens.  As soon as I got in my car, I was reminded of Philippians 4:6.  I asked God to help our teens and replace anxiety and depression with peace and joy as only He can do.   

I also decided to look into the matter more closely.  First I wanted to see if my nurse friend and I were in fact correct.  Is anxiety really skyrocketing?  Unfortunately, I found many studies that prove our concerns true.  Here is one.

A 2014 review of 19 studies from 12 countries across Europe, China, the United States and Australia, published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, found that in the majority of countries, teenage boys and girls are experiencing more depression and anxiety than they were a decade ago, and girls have almost double the anxieties and worries as boys.

Why are more teens anxious today than teens in the past?  One explanation could be the link between wanting to be in control of one’s life and suffering from anxiety.  One author stated:

“One theme of anxiety and depression is that people are affected by a profound sense of control or lack of control over their own lives. Even though we have experienced great advancement over diseases, social injustices and a significant increase in personal wealth and accumulation, data points to the fact that today’s young people feel like they have little control over their own fate than those of past decades.”

Think back to WWII, did those teens feel in control?  Of course not.  What’s changed in the past 50 plus years?  Here’s my theory...ready?

 

We are no longer a nation raising our children to trust in God.  We are no longer a “Nation Under God.”  We have set aside the Bible and we’re making up our own rules.  And our children are suffering because God made each one of them to be in relationship with Him.  God’s greatest desire, as He states in the Old Testament, is to be our God and for us to be His people.  That right relationship looks like God is in control and we trust in and pray to Him every day with thanksgiving in our hearts.  We present our requests to God and we wait and trust while He works. 

Can you do that?  Give thanks to God, ask Him for what you need, then TRUST instead of clinging for control, increasing your anxiety.  God’s word is timeless!

The Power of Giving God Thanks Will Ignite Your Faith and Change Your World!

Thank You for Being a part of the 3 O’Clock Wake Up Movement

Slip Slidin' Away

When you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. – James 1:6

I’ve been asking God for some pretty big stuff lately. Nothing material, but “life-changing” stuff.  My prayers have sounded like this lately.  “God, please heal her completely.  God, keep him safe from all danger.  God, speak to me so I know what direction to go.”  I’ve been asking God to move mountains that are standing in my way and open doors that are locked shut.

I think I told you that our Colorado spring has been wacky.  There has been so much snow melt that the hiking trails around my house have become huge mud pits.  In some spots, standing water consumes the whole path.  Since hiking helps reduce my stress level is my favorite time to talk to God, regardless of the conditions, I go.  Last week I strapped on my hiking shoes and ventured out in the rain with my favorite hiking partner, my dog Henry.

Once on the trail, I realized how silly this really was.  I’d take one step forward, plant my shoe in deep, slippery mud then slide backwards as soon as I lifted the other foot to move forward.  After twenty minutes of this madness, I starting laughing out loud.  If you could have seen me, you’d have laughed too given the remarkably short distance I’d “slip-slid” up the trail.  When the trails are dry and hard packed, I’d have covered that ground in five minutes.  

Slipping in the mud that day reminds me of what my faith sometimes looks like.  I ask God to move, or help, or heal, and I take a step forward, believing God is willing, able and good.  Then life gets messy, complicated, and emotional and I slip back into doubt and try to control the situation by myself.  How frustrating!

That day in the muddy rain, I asked God to help me with my doubts and increase my faith.  I also apologized for not recognizing His leadership over me in every circumstance.  Finally, I thanked God for being with me every slippery step I take.

You can do the same.  Ask God today to get involved in your big “stuff.”  Ask Him to forgive you if you have doubted Him lately.  Then thank Him for guiding your steps day by day.  

The Power of Giving God Thanks Will Ignite Your Faith and Change Your World!

Thank You for Being a part of the 3 O’Clock Wake Up Movement

Comparing Ain't Kind

As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 

– Colossians 3:12

In Colorado we have had the wackiest spring weather.   We’ll have two days that feel like summer, then get with snow.  I was at my wits end recently and headed to the gym to get some much needed exercise.

After my workout, I returned to the women’s locker room.  Boulder is ranked as one of the fittest cities in the United States but really, do you have to flaunt it ladies?  I immediately became self conscious comparing my flabby stomach to her flat one, my big ________ (fill in the blank) to her petite, cute, wrinkle-free one.  Ugh.  As I entered the shower, my mind raced with self loathing.  

While I was getting dressed, trying to be as modest as possible, a mother and daughter arrived.  The mother stand next to me obviously perturbed because there were no large lockers available.  I removed my things and offered her mine.  She didn’t respond, and just but turned her back.  This perturbed me… couldn’t she at least say thanks?

The mother took off her wool hat, and I gasped.  She removed her sweater and tears stung my eyes.  I grabbed my gym bag and raced for the car.  Sitting in the driver’s seat I cried out to God, “I’m so sorry I was complaining about my body.  I have a full head of hair.  Chemotherapy has left her bald, and surgery has left her with only one breast.  I’m so sorry.”

As I drove across town, I received a much needed Wake Up Call from God.  Yes, I would be thankful and not compare myself to other women.  Yes, I would give thanks and clothe myself with compassion for others not judgment and criticism.   

Sometimes God stops us in our tracks and wakes us up to what’s truly important in our lives.  Today, thank God for your strengths not your weaknesses and clothe yourself with what really matters.

The Power of Giving God Thanks Will Ignite Your Faith and Change Your World!

Thank You for Being a part of the 3 O’Clock Wake Up Movement

Love Like A Mother

Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love. – Ephesians 5:2

When you think about how much God loves you, really loves you, enough to send His only son to earth to suffer and die for you, that kind of audacious love, do you sometimes find it unfathomable?  I do.   

Yesterday was Mother’s Day.  I’m the mother of three teenagers but I did not get Sunday off.  I still did the laundry, cleaned the house, and made dinner for the whole gang.  The kids bought me pretty flowers (with my money) and gave me a silly card that sings.  They said they loved me and their hugs were sincere.  But I can assure you, they have no idea how much I love them.  They can’t fathom the depth and breath of my love.  

A mother’s love for her children is similar to God’s love for us.  It’s sacrificial, all-consuming, and never-ending.  My mom still wakes up in the night to worry about and pray for my brother and me, and we left home over 25 years ago.  

Having teenagers has deepened my understanding of “unconditional love”, helping me better understand God’s love for His children.  When my kids have messed up big time and are walking through the consequences of their poor choices, I hurt with them and extend my love to them.  It’s in those moments when I recognize I may not like what my teens are doing but my love continues.  Nothing could cause me to stop loving them.

I’ve messed up more times than I can count and God has never stopped loving me.  I have walked away from God and told Him I don’t need Him, “I’m just fine on my own!”  But God still loved me and waited patiently from me to walk back home.   

You’ve messed up and walked in ways God would not approve of too.  But God’s love still rages on for you.  Like a fast moving, mountain stream surging with spring snow melt, God’s love for you is a powerful force moving and changing the landscape of your life.  If you will accept it with no conditions, it’s free for the taking, a gift, a priceless treasure.   Have you accepted God’s all consuming love?  If you have, thank Him for it.  If you haven’t, ask God to crack open your heart so His love can pour in.  

The Power of Giving God Thanks Will Ignite Your Faith and Change Your World!

Thank You for Being a part of the 3 O’Clock Wake Up Movement

Happy Mother's Day

But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. – Luke 2:19

Can you imagine how Mary, Jesus’ mother felt when the angel of the Lord declared she would be the mother of God’s son?  Can you imagine what Mary was thinking when the shepherds arrived at the manger praising God for finally sending the Messiah to the earth?  The Bible says she “treasured and pondered these things in her heart.”  You think?  

As a mother of three teenagers, I have many things to ponder these days.  What will be the long term effects of social media on my kids?  Are they growing up so entitled that they won’t possess a strong work ethic?  Is the high price of college worth it?  How will God met them and stop them in their tracks in this fast paced culture? 

My non-stop pondering (can’t call it worry, right?), leads me to my knees.  I am learning that the most important thing I can do for my kids is to pray for them at 3pm and around the clock. 

Today, let’s give God thanks for our own mothers.  Quick, if you can call her and you haven’t yet, call soon.  Then let’s pray for our nation’s children.  These children are the next generation to carry the truth about God’s love and saving grace to their children and beyond.  These children will out live us so let’s lift them up to God and believe He can lead them into an ever changing world. 

Join me in this prayer: 

Lord God, thank you all the children in this world.  Shine your light and love on children in the United States and around the world.  Enter into young hearts and minds and help them to believe in you even though the world around seems to possess a current that leads them far away from you.  Bless the children in my life.  Protect them and guide them all the days of their life.  In Jesus’ Name I Pray, Amen.

The Power of Giving God Thanks Will Ignite Your Faith and Change Your World!

Thank You for Being a part of the 3 O’Clock Wake Up Movement