Monthly Archives: February 2020

It’s A Secret!

Ohhhhh secrets!

Secret Sis.
Secret treasure.
Secret party.
I like secrets….when I am in the know.
I dislike secrets…when they are kept from me.  🙂
BUT….the secret of secrets can be exciting!

The word is intriguing in itself though, isn’t it?
Secret.
The unknown can be exciting.
The anticipation of what the secret could be can be exciting.
The looking-forward thinking to when it will be revealed can be exciting.

In today’s world, a lot of parents have REVEAL parties identifying the gender of babies before they are born and certainly the anticipation of the reveal brings excitement.  Sometimes even keeping the secret of not knowing what gender the baby is until he or she is born can be exciting as well.

So why then do we NOT have the same excitement of the secret of the future God has in store for us?

Why do we want to be in control and manipulate situations instead of leaving God to work in His way and surprise us?

In Jesus Calling devotional, author Sarah Young writes, “secret things belong to the Lord, and future things are secret things.”  Deuteronomy 29:29 says “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever so that we may follow all the words of this law.”

God has a plan for us and His secret plans are way better than ours. It’s exciting because everything God has for us is for our good; plans to give us hope and a future; plans to prosper and not harm us.  (Jeremiah 29:11)

Won’t you join me today and get excited about God’s secret for our future!  Be sure to keep your eyes open so you don’t miss the big reveal.

 

Looking Up And Within…

“Imagine if we saw ourselves the way our babies see us.”
-From a Pampers® Commercial

The latest Pampers diaper commercial is so moving showing babies and mommies bonding as mommies are learning to balance life.  I found myself caught up in the moment wondering what those babies are thinking as they make eye contact with their mommas.

This commercial is designed to make women realize how valuable they are and to encourage women to love themselves.

To see themselves as valuable and wonderful as others see them.

As women we have a terrible habit of not believing in ourselves; of having low self-confidence.  We tend to take care of everyone else and put ourselves last.  Before we know it, we have lost our worth and value and find ourselves climbing out of the low self-esteem hole we dug ourselves!

But there is good news!  God sees us as the great women He created with great potential He put inside us.  Perhaps we could start seeing ourselves as God sees us.

I actually think we could learn something from the Pampers commercial.

Like babies who smile and coo and innocently think we are precious humans, God sees us as the same.  He sees our heart.  He sees our beauty.  He sees our potential.

Jeremiah 12:3 –  But you, O Lord, know me; you see me, and test my heart.

Imagine if we start seeing ourselves as beautiful, full of joy and created by the Almighty God.  There’s no limit to what God can do in us.

Makes me so excited I just want to go find a baby and cuddle up.  🙂

 

Put Your Hands In The Air….

“Put your hands in the air and wave ’em like you just don’t care.”

That’s a line from a funny scene in the movie, Grown Ups 2 with Adam Sandler and Kevin James.   Shaquille O’Neal plays a police officer in the movie and plays a trick on the group and pulls a gun on them and tells them to put their hands in the air.

Very concerned they all do this as told and then while the group is standing in a parking lot, grocery bags in hand, hands over their heads, Shaq says “and wave them like you just don’t care” and then they all breathe a sigh of relief and enjoy a laugh together.

There are a lot of reasons we put our hands in the air:  cheering, playing sports, waving, dancing, climbing and praising Jesus – just to name a few.

I Timothy 2:8 says “I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing.”

I wish our government could take this verse to heart.  Instead of hands being lifted in anger and fingers pointing in accusations and dispute, I just wish both sides of the aisle would lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing but rather with love and unity.

I don’t get political in my blogs and I’m not going to change that now, but I do ask you to join me in praying specifically for our country and its leaders from the smallest of local councils to the highest office in the land that all will raise their hands in prayer without anger and dispute and praise the name of Jesus.

Forgive us, Lord and continue to bless this great land we call America.

It’s Okay to Start Over!

Wow! February 1st!

Start of a new month.

I always love fresh starts whether it’s a new season or a new week or a new month or a new year.  I love that the calendar has so many opportunities for a fresh start.

I have friends who lost their mother the first of January and said they would allow their new year celebration to begin February 1st!

I seem to always start fresh on Mondays with my to-do list items that didn’t get done the week before.

And should I even admit how many times the new healthy lifestyle begins?  The start of the next day.  The start of the weekend.  The start of a new month.  The start of a new moon!  Who knows?

But what I am thankful for is that Jesus gives me a fresh start every minute if I need it.  I fail miserably every day in trying to be faithful and full of trust and do HIS will, not my own will.  But when I go to Him with my failures asking for forgiveness, I envision Him gently patting my shoulder, raising my chin, looking into my eyes and saying, “Your sins are forgiven.  You can start over right now.”

Start over.  Right now. Every day.  Jesus let’s us start over because He loves us.  But we can’t keep intentionally doing those things we know are not pleasing to Him over and over again.  We have to keep trying but when we fail, He forgives.

It’s a weekend and the first day of the month.  A great day to start over.  Whether it’s less sugar, less carbs, more exercise, more commitment to family, or reading your Bible more, use today as a start-over day.  Just remember to always start the day with Jesus.  Let Him lead our new start and I think the times we fail will hurt less with Him holding our hand, walking right by our side.

Stand up. Shoulders back. Eyes ahead. Chin up.  Are you ready?  Let’s start over!