Have you ever felt like there were a thousand things that you should be doing, but you didn't know where to start? What if each time you prepared to start something....you heard a voice saying, "Wait!" What if you had multiple dreams that you felt God gave you, only to have someone else complete the idea that you thought God had prepared for you. Would you give up? Would you continue to listen? Or would you try to drown out what you thought you were hearing for fear of disappointment? Or maybe you would do all of the above?
I know that sometimes listening means more than seeking others thoughts about things. Sometimes, it means that complete silence is necessary to hear exactly what you tried to hear amidst all the noise of your everyday life. The lyrics of the song Heart of Worship come to mind as I listen in the silence...
When the music fades
All is stripped away
And I simply come
Longing just to bring
Something that's of worth
That will bless your heart
Isn't that what we all desire? To bless the heart of our Lord....can you hear him in the noise? Or does it sometimes become necessary to have silence? Sometimes, I don't really want to hear what God is trying to tell me for fear that it may not match the plan that I had created for myself. But, I know that God's plan is far greater than anything that I could imagine. How many times have you run from something when in fact, you should be running to it? God knows the deepest desires of your heart. God created you for a specific purpose that only you can fill. Psalm 37:7 says, "Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act." Don't try to run ahead of God, because you will only make things more difficult for yourself. Let God prepare the way for you. You know the old saying, "Good things come to those that wait!" Let's take it a step farther and say "Good things come to those that wait upon the Lord!" Isaiah 40:31 says it like this,
"But they who wait upon the Lord will get new strength. They will rise up with wings like eagles. They will run and not get tired. They will walk and not become weak." Let God prepare your way and give you a God sized vision for your life.
What are you waiting for?
~Jenielle
Friday, June 3, 2016
Thursday, June 2, 2016
In Another's Eyes.....
Can you imagine what this world would look like, if every single choice that we made was based on someone else's opinion of us? What if we were only allowed to live by what others thought of us? How many of us would just go along with what was said about us......just to keep the attention away from ourselves?
How many of us currently live our lives this way? Do we worry about what our clothes look like? Our hair? Do we worry that we aren't pretty enough? What about our homes and our vehicles? Do we worry that we just don't measure up? Do we have a job that is fulfilling God's purpose for our lives? Or do we work just to pay the bills? Do we worry that we aren't good parents? Why is that we feel like we are never enough?
There are so many standards that the world tells us are important. But the most important standards come from the Lord. In James 2:8 it says, "Love your neighbor as yourself." God doesn't give us the right to judge one another. We were placed on this earth to love one another. In Romans 13:8, it says, "Owe nothing to anyone---except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God's law."
For many years, I have measured myself through another's eyes. I have judged myself based on what friends, family and others said or didn't say about me. I have made decisions based on these same things. I accepted all words as truth, even those that I knew weren't truth. I have come to realize through many trials, that my life is a sum of all the choices that I have made both good & bad. My life is not here to be chosen by someone else. My life is not to be directed like a bad movie. I have a say in what I decide is best for me. I have a voice. Some might say that I have always had strong beliefs about many different things. These beliefs however, were never something that I was willing to allow to be measured through another's eyes. So, I've kept my thoughts and beliefs to myself. But, as I look ahead to the direction that God is leading me, I believe that my thoughts & beliefs will become an important part of my life.
Everyone one of us has a choice to make each day. We must choose each day to be our true authentic self. We must not become what the world demands us to be. We must become the person that God created us to be! I believe that our primary mission is not only to love one another, but to love ourselves completely. We must accept that the world will always paint a different picture of what our life should look like. We must trust in the Lord. He will make our path straight and lead us into the life that He has already promised us. "For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11
If we must choose to see our life through another's eyes.....let it be the eyes of the Lord!
~Jenielle
How many of us currently live our lives this way? Do we worry about what our clothes look like? Our hair? Do we worry that we aren't pretty enough? What about our homes and our vehicles? Do we worry that we just don't measure up? Do we have a job that is fulfilling God's purpose for our lives? Or do we work just to pay the bills? Do we worry that we aren't good parents? Why is that we feel like we are never enough?
There are so many standards that the world tells us are important. But the most important standards come from the Lord. In James 2:8 it says, "Love your neighbor as yourself." God doesn't give us the right to judge one another. We were placed on this earth to love one another. In Romans 13:8, it says, "Owe nothing to anyone---except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God's law."
For many years, I have measured myself through another's eyes. I have judged myself based on what friends, family and others said or didn't say about me. I have made decisions based on these same things. I accepted all words as truth, even those that I knew weren't truth. I have come to realize through many trials, that my life is a sum of all the choices that I have made both good & bad. My life is not here to be chosen by someone else. My life is not to be directed like a bad movie. I have a say in what I decide is best for me. I have a voice. Some might say that I have always had strong beliefs about many different things. These beliefs however, were never something that I was willing to allow to be measured through another's eyes. So, I've kept my thoughts and beliefs to myself. But, as I look ahead to the direction that God is leading me, I believe that my thoughts & beliefs will become an important part of my life.
Everyone one of us has a choice to make each day. We must choose each day to be our true authentic self. We must not become what the world demands us to be. We must become the person that God created us to be! I believe that our primary mission is not only to love one another, but to love ourselves completely. We must accept that the world will always paint a different picture of what our life should look like. We must trust in the Lord. He will make our path straight and lead us into the life that He has already promised us. "For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11
If we must choose to see our life through another's eyes.....let it be the eyes of the Lord!
~Jenielle
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