Trusting God’s Heart

God promises us  that we can trust his heart even when we can’t see His hand.

“For I know the thoughts I think toward you, says the Lord, thought’s of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future. You shall call on Me, and you shall go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You shall seek me, and find me, when you search for me with all your heart” – Jeremiah 29:11-13

Life is full of difficult circumstances, and in the midst of disappointment and pain it can be hard to trust that God is good and loving. But God promises us that we can trust His heart, even when we can’t see His hand.

While having the opportunity to speak to many war veterans due to volunteer work. I found that many who went into war believing in God, after seeing atrocities that went on they lost their faith in Him.

Their questioning is only natural since believed that an all knowing, all loving, all powerful God was in control. in the end it because of these things that God knows about our problems. He loves us enough to help us with them, and He is powerful enough to do so.

We live in a fallen, broken world.

If you’re like me, God has not answered all your prayers in the way you wanted. yet in the midst of our suffering God promised that he had made plans for us that were not evil and to give us a future and the hope.

Today many of our problems result in our misused freedom, not God‘s intention. The Lord uses suffering to grow a spiritually.

1 Corinthians 13:12 says,

“For new we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I know fully, even as I was also fully known.”

This means we will understand more in the future that we can in the present.

God walks with us through our hardest days. Even on our most painful days when we are tempted to turn from Him, when we need his help He is still with us.

When Jesus was on earth, He didn’t spend time with the ones who were fine, He spent His time with those who were not.

I think that’s why it’s important for us to pray about our circumstances and then trust God. No matter our circumstances and challenges He wants an abundant, joy filled, life for us.

Here are a few ideas for praying for or hardships and challenges:

Identify a way you are a disappointed with God. Be specific and honest.

“Why, Lord do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” ( Psalm 10:1)

Ask him for the faith to trust him with your problems. When we last faith, we can pray for the faith to have faith.

“I believe, help my unbelief.” (Mark 9:24)

Trust your challenges and your day for God’s providential plan and love.

Psalm 37:4-6 tells us,

“Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust in Him, and He will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.”

There is a popular concept by Henri Nouwen called the “wounded healer.” The person who helps others with the same struggles they have experienced will begin to heal.

As we trust God with our own difficult times in life, which can look for ways to serve others facing similar challenges. “God comforts us all in our affliction, so we may be able to comfort those who are in similar afflictions, with the comfort which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Corinthians 1: 3-4).

Working Life

What jobs have you had?

I have had many jobs throughout my life. Food service, healthcare, retail, facilitator, and have done some volunteer work. Along with being a housewife and mother.

My father told me if I worker hard it would pay off. So, where ever I worked I did it to the best of my ability.

I believe that wherever I work, I need to do it for the glory of God. This meaning every task I approach whether mundane or significant my intention should be honoring God through my effort, attitude and integrity.

Colossians 2:23-24 says, “whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord, and not as men, knowing that from the Lord, you will receive the inheritance of your reward.” This mindset transformed daily work into an active worship, prioritizing excellence, service, and love over personal gain.

Our best rewards come from God -not man. It’s not about perfection. It’s about offering your best as a reflection of faith.

Quiet Please

“Don’t let the voice of God be drowned out by the pace of life.”

These are the words I heard when I was asking for a particular sin I committed a few weeks ago. My sin: God told me to go talk to a men I went to high school with and I did not because I was “distracted by my own issues.

Immediately I was convicted. I let the busyness of my life get in the way of God’s wishes.

Being quite such a rare thing anymore? We get into our vehicles and the first thing we do is turn on the music. We come into the empty house, how often do we turn the television on, or listen to something on social media for background noise. In a group of people someone always feels the need to say something, even to make small talk.

If we let things drown out God we will never hear His voice and it’s easy to get distracted by life and miss His voice. That’s what I did, I let life drown out the voice of God.

Silence makes many people uncomfortable. The fear of silence actually has a name: “sedate-phobia.” It seems like we have a epidemic of this phobia. The rapid development of technology has added to this problem. Many people actually experience of withdrawal if they are separated from external simulation even for a short time. I have definitely been like this lately. I haven’t been reading and praying as I should. And I missed God’s voice. Being tuned into God‘s voice. I second-guessed God’s voice and chose to do something different. In my book, there is no excuse for what I did.

The consequences of discomfort with silence reach beyond physical or psychological implications. In filled the silence we drown out the voice of God in our lives.

In my prayer group, we have said “God use us for Your purposes. God tried to use me, and I failed the test. The truth is God is speaking to us through the Bible. His Holy Spirit speaks to our spirit prompting us with convictions, thoughts, and ideas to provide guidance and direction. But, it we are dependent on a wall of sound to dull our senses, we shouldn’t be surprised that we miss what God is saying to us.

I believe our dependence on background noises causes us to become obsessed with seeking God’s dramatic moves because he is now competing with all the other sounds and stimulation in our world. Are we convinced that if God is speaking, it must sound like a strong wind, an earthquake, a roaring fire, and if it doesn’t, then it must not be God.

Instead of filling the silence what would happen if we intentionally build periods of silence into our day. Not nap time but being quiet without external stimulation. maybe such times will be easier for us to hear and recognize God’s “low whisper.” that still small voice.

Hate Destroys Souls

Bitterness and hate will eat you up like cancer.

“Pursue peace will all men, and the sanctification without which no man will see the Lord, looking carefully lest there be any man who falls short of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and many be defiled by it” -Hebrews 12:14-15

God is love and the farthest you can get from Him is hate. Hate is a destructive force working inside against us. It hurts us more than the one we hate. We are in bondage to the one we hate. Jesus came to set us free from all sin and all that hurts our relationship with the Father. Bitterness in the heart turns into hate. God has provided us with a path to win in life and enjoy life. Hate will not take us there. Love will!

There are places we can chop hate off at the root before it takes hold of us. It usually starts with anger. Anger comes from being hurt. We might find ourselves saying, “No, Im just mad.” But probably someone hurt us. Here’s the place where we can stop hate from entering our hearts. Don’t hold onto the hurt or become offended by it. Give it to God, Jesus said,

“Cast your cares upon Me, because I care for you” -1 Peter 5:7

Let Him have them. God says, “Vengeance is mine.”

If we hold on to the offense and hurt, the next step is forgiveness, if we don’t it messes with our relationship with God. Jesus teaches us,

“If we do not forgive others, God will not forgive us” -Mark 11:24

There’s a prayer in Matthew known as “The Lord‘s Prayer,

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed by Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom the power and the glory forever. Amen” – Matthew 6:9-13

Jesus did not mince words. He means what He says. And that forgiveness is in words and actions. You may not trust the person you have forgiven yet. You may wisely not put yourself in the position for them to hurt you. You may need personal space or distance for a while. Trust takes time. However you are not to be bitter against them.

If you see trouble by the side of the road, will you stop and help them or move away on your way from them when trouble is over because they have not proven to be trustworthy yet and weakness causes them to stumble easily? Just because we forgive, doesn’t mean we forget.

When we stop unforgiveness we stop the path to hate. After the hurt and being offended and unforgiveness set the next step is bitterness. Bitterness eats us up inside. We become slaves to the person we don’t forgive or have bitterness towards. The person we are bitter towards may be doing fine. Perhaps they are going on with their life not concerned about what they did to you or maybe asked God for forgiveness.

Either way, bitterness will eat you up like cancer. It will attack your health and cause stress, which is bad for the heart and the brain. It’s also bad for your soul. Here’s the place to cut off your path to hate. Root out or release this bitterness to God before it takes such a deep hold in you, and begins to take you down.

I held on to anger and bitterness for years, and it nearly took my life. Heart issues, cancer, digestive issues, depression, anxiety.

We are no match to satan and the bitterness he offers. Bitterness brings our soul to a low place where stress enters and takes a toll on our spirits, souls, and body. We are not hurting the other person, we only hurt ourselves. The other person has to deal with their attitude and heart before God.

Hate leads to rebellion. 1 Samuel 15:23 says that rebellion is a sin, a form of witchcraft. It has an evil effect. We rebel against others, we rebel against God’s instruction. I rebelled against alcohol, drugs, and sex. It felt good at the moment with my flesh, but I was tortured later with my thoughts. Yet I still camped there for years. I was angry, disobedient, and in rebellion. Life goes on and I was not favored by God in my rebellion. This was a place where I could have cut off the path to hate that satan desired me to be on. It was hard for me since I allowed my anger and bitterness to fester, at this point, I was just trying to numb the pain that I let take root in me.

I was thankful I woke up and chose to give up all the anger, bitterness, and pain that I allowed to take hold of me. There is no joy and peace when hate is present. Hate kills. Live brings life.

Hate kills our souls. It not only causes people to kill others but us. Hate is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.

We can choose to forgive and our feelings will catch up later. Whatever others have done to us it’s not worth messing up a relationship with our Father in heaven. Our Father in heaven is the One will we answer to. So, release anger, bitterness, and pain to Him. So, it’s already handled and we can work on pleasing God. They weight on your shoulders will be lifted.

In James 2:13 God lets us know,

“Judgment will be merciless to the one who shows no mercy, mercy triumphs over judgment.”

So it is to our advantage to show mercy. Mercy means we do not get what we deserve. We can freely receive mercy from Jesus when we do not deserve it. Freely received freely give.

We do not deserve mercy, but Jesus gave it on the cross when He took our sins and asked for our forgiveness.

“Father forgive them for they know not what they do” -Luke 23:24

All we have to do is ask for forgiveness and forgive others.

Religion

Do you practice religion?

I do not practice religion. I practice following Jesus. They are two different things. Religion is following man made rules such as the pharisees did.

Following Jesus involves living out the teachings and example of Jesus as described in the New Testament of the Bible.

Based on biblical principles here are some practical ways to do this:

  1. Prayer and Relationship with God
  2. Study Scripture
  3. . Love and Serve others
  4. Live with Integrity
  5. Commune and worship
  6. Repentance and Tranformation
  7. Trust and Obey God

I also join prayer meetings and Bible studies every chance I get. It helps me have accountability when a group is praying or learning with each other.

Keeping Your Mind On The Things Above

Heaven is not just a destination, but a mindset. Colossians 3:2 says,

“Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth.”

We must not only seek Heaven, but we must also think of Heaven.

There are so many things screaming for our attention, each sounding ad though we should stop everything else and go investigate. Sometimes it feels like a scary movie, where verifying every little sound could be a matter of life and death. But, it is just something like a tree branch scraping against the window.

We’ve become necessarily aware of the many things going on around us that could potentially “get us,” but at the same time have become so fixated on what surrounds us that we are just not able to gain or keep the right perspective on them.

Finding higher ground becomes crucial because it gives us the advantage of a broader view of Joe different parts that make up the whole, and even whether something really matters.

To think Heaven is like putting on special glasses that allow us to see what we would not see otherwise. Seeing things for what they are and are not.

We need to be in a place where we see things as God sees them, instead of how people see them.

Gaining the advantage of higher ground is more about elevating our mind’s eye. When we set our minds on the things above and put things below into the right perspective.

By directing our minds on the things above our hearts become committed to seeking and striving for the things of God. Being heavenly-minded needs to be our heart’s desire.

By doing this we learn to view, understand, interpret, and respond to things below from a mind and heart fixed on things above.

We can do a lot of earthly good by being heavenly-minded.

As much as we like to think we are in control, reality quickly dismissed any possibility of that being true. In Isaiah 46:9-10 God says,

“I am God, and there is no other, I am God and there is none like Me. I declare the end from the beginning and from ancient times things that are not yet done. I say: My counsel will stand, and I will do all I please.”

If we want to have and keep a heavenly perspective, we should have a good picture of heaven in mind. For example, there will one day no longer be a need for the sun or join because as Revelation 21:23 describes,

‘…The glory of God gives light, and its lamp is the lamb.”

God will make all things new, all things right. This is where we are headed, if we believe in our hearts that Jesus lived, died, and rose again. It’s both the basis for our hope and also the motivation for bringing to bear a mindset on things above.

Before The Internet

Do you remember life before the internet?

I raised my children without the internet or cell phones. They were the last generation to know what life before was all about.

Raising children without these things was a different world that it is today. There was a whole different set of rules. It was either landline phones or face to face interaction which influenced the daily life or both parent and children.

No internet or cell phones we turned to books or relying on grandparents for help.

Parents had to trust children as they played outside. As they were free to roam neighborhoods, played outside until just before dark or when the street lights came on.Television was limited to cable or broadcast channels. There were cartoons and simple shows like, “saved by the bell.” Children listened to music on “boombox’s. I remember Nintendo came into the scene.

There were no GPS trackers or find my phone apps or Life360. I had to rely on trusting my neighbors and my children. But I also had to teach them about “stranger danger.”

This allowed children more freedom to become independent. But, disciplining children for wrong actions were on display and putting a child in time out was beginning to become a thing.

My Gifts

What are you good at?

I thrive in environments where I can work alone. I am good at writing, researching, I always dive deeper to learn the things no one takes the time to.

I am also a good listener, I tend to pick up on things no one else does. I am observant.

Testing From God

There’s a reason the Israelites went around the same mountain for almost 40 years. It’s the same reason many of us are stuck in repetitive cycles and battles year after year. We’re failing the same test with no idea why.

1 Peter 1:6-7 says,

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith -mote precious than gold that perished though it is tested by fire -may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Tests expose what is in us and where trust truly lies. They aren’t meant to harm ud, but to sanctify us so that we will become more like Jesus.

Even after we put our faith in Jesus there is still a lot of work to be done. Thankfully, God is gracious and refines us little by little. He doesn’t expect us to exhibit all the fruits of the Spirit immediately. He knows that it takes time. Unfortunately, there is no magic formula.

The primary way God helps us grow in love, patience, kindness, etc… is by placing us in situations that require us to develop and exercise those characteristics.

“It’s the people that frustrate us that God will use to grow us. We won’t learn how to love well if we only love lovable people.”

I seem to find myself in situations that are weirdly similar to previous ones. A sign that we are failing the same test if found in the same pattern we see in life.

If we’re not learning the lesson, God is trying to teach us. He allows us to re-take the test. If we don’t pass the first time, we will have another chance, and another, and another until we do. God doesn’t do this to punish us. He trying to reveal our weaknesses and dibs so that we seek Him to learn how to overcome them.

Its important to remember that we don’t pass tests from God in our own strength. We pass them by relying on God’s strength and walking in obedience to His instruction.

God tests us when we are in a trying or difficult situation, and that gives us the opportunity to put into practice what God has been teaching us.

I think that God wants to develop joy or peace in stressful, overwhelming situations. Because we will never know biblical peace and joy in our lives if it’s always “perfect.” Happiness can be based on what happening around us. But biblical joy and peace can exist regardless of our circumstances because it’s rooted in Jesus and a godly perspective.

Through the years God has helped me grow in biblical peace that has allowed me to endure stressful situations. When I have anxiety it’s my evidence that my faith is in my situation -not in God. I could worry about all the “what ifs” or focus on God and pray. He has helped me through every trial before so, why do I doubt Him now. He has always made a way.

“Count it all joy, my brother (and sisters) when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” -James 1:2-4

When God places us in difficult situations we mustn’t run back to old habits and mindsets, but run to God for guidance. Any characteristics we possess that aren’t Christlike we should be working to remove them.

So, don’t be surprised if you find yourself being tested on the same characteristics over and over until you pass the test. We won’t reach perfection on this side of heaven. There will always be more to learn and develop.

The best way to pass Spiritual tests is to trust God and be obedient to His Word. Which isn’t always easy. I find myself asking God “What are you trying to teach me through this trial?” God gives us the resources and wisdom we need to pass the tests if we ask Him. But, it’s up to us to apply what we’ve learned and received from God.

We can pass these tests. Remaining stuck in toxic cycles, bound by sin, and defeated are not our portion in Christ Jesus. We are overcomers. We are no longer slaves to sin, but set free in Christ Jesus.

Keeping Up With The Joneses

What does “having it all” mean to you? Is it attainable?

Having it all means life, love, and freedom. These are attainable without chasing the Joneses it’s defining success on my terms. It means prioritizing what fulfills me over societal pressure or the need to flaunt status or wealth.

Instead of flashing fast cars or the fanciest house in the neighborhood I invest in relationships, and experiences.

Freedom means having a savings that is adjusted for what life throws at me -inflation, emergencies. I know those things are inevitable.

I curate my life around what gives me joy, not what screams “look at me.” That’s what having it all means to me.

Heeding God’s Warning

I consider myself a smart person, but sometimes I do not have common sense. In my teenage year my father would tell me I was too smart for my own good, meaning I would be so interested in big abstractions, but would completely tune out the basic stuff even to my own detriment.

Sometimes I did really dumb stuff.

My first car was a 1967 Monte Carlo -so basically a boat. It sucked down the gas. I was always running out of gas, because I always thought it would go a little further. I’m pretty sure my father, picked it out for me, because he thought if I got into a accident I would have all the metal around me to be safe, or because I would have to stay home, because I would have enough money for gas to drive it. My entire check would go toward gas for that car.

I knew I was running out of gas, but I pushed that thing as far as it would take me, or thought it should take me.

Still today I tend to ignore some rules or think it doesn’t matter, but it matters to God. When I heed God’s warnings things just turn out better. It’s important to give special attention to His guidance, instructions, and promptings, and the act accordingly,

It’s about being mindful of His voice, whether through the scriptures, the Holy Spirit, or even a word of knowledge by trusted people and responding with a willingness to align our life with God’s will.

God’s warnings are often given for our protection and guidance, helping us avoid harmful choices and negative consequences. It’s not simply about avoiding punishment, it’s about experiencing blessings and fulfillment that come along from living in accordance with God’s will.

My pastor always says, “If God tells you to turn right and you turn left you may find yourself into danger.

Noah’s obedience to God’s warnings about the flood, Lot’s initial hesitation to leave Sodom, and Jesus’s frequent warnings to His followers are all examples of the importance of heeding God’s warnings.

We need to stay sensitive to the guidance of God in our daily lives. It involves making difficult choices, relinquishing plans or changing direction in order to align with God’s will.

God’s desires for His people to live in righteousness and avoid judgment.

Proverbs 1:33 offers a promise to those who need God’s warnings.

“But, whoever listens to me will dwell in safety, secure from the fear of evil.”

This calls to vigilance and obedience remains relevant today. Urging Jesus’s followers to live in accordance with God’s will and remain steadfast in faith.