God-sized Dreams: Encouraging Others

Dear God-sized Dreamer,

I wanted to write and encourage you today. Sometimes living out our dreams can be scary. I pray today as you read this that you will find some peace and encouragement to keep doing what you are called to do. I believe that God has big plans for your life and your journey. You just have to keep Him first and seek His will daily.

I have a favorite verse I want to share with you. It is Jeremiah 29:11 and it says this:

^” For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

What a great and mighty God we serve. How much must He love you to declare His plans for you? He does not leave you to wonder, He tells you exactly what they are right here. He wants to help you succeed. He wants you to have hope. I believe that God smiles when He sees you working for Him. It pleases your Heavenly Father when He sees you going about the ministry that He has set before you.

The next two verses that follow are important as well. They read:

¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

God wants you to come to Him with your God-sized dream. He wants you to seek out His will and guidance. God promises that He will hear your prayers.

I pray these verses bring you hope and encouragement today. I pray that you will remember to call on God as you live out your dream. Put God first, ask Him for His guidance and blessing on your ministry, and then rest in the assurance that He already has big plans for you.

I know that God is going to use you to do great and mighty things for Him. I believe that you were created with a purpose, and that God wants to fulfill that purpose in you.

Dear friend, I pray for you today. I pray that any fear you may have, and any uncertainty you may feel will vanish away as you learn to depend on God for your strength.

Remember to always give God the glory for whatever is accomplished through you, for it is not your work that is being done, but God’s work made perfect through you.

When you find yourself tired and worn, I pray that you will think back to this letter and be encouraged. God is not yet finished with you. You are touching lives with the work you do.

Finally, I pray that you will not only thrive in your  ministry, but I also pray that you will enjoy the journey that God has set before you. There is joy in serving the Lord and I believe that He wants to show that to you. I look forward to watching you grow in the Lord.

Love in Christ,

Valarie ( A Fellow Dreamer)

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Motivational Monday: He’s Still Working on Me.

 

For it is God which worketh in you

both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Philippians 2:13

There is a song we sang as little children; my nieces and nephew sing it at church sometimes. It is called “He’s Still Working on Me.” It goes like this:

 

He’s still working on me
To make me what I need to be
It took him just a week to make the moon and stars
The sun and the earth and Jupiter and Mars

photo by: Flickr

How loving and patient He must be
‘Cause He’s still workin’ on me

There really ought to be a sign upon my heart
Don’t judge him yet, there’s an unfinished part
But I’ll be better just according to His plan
Fashioned by the Master’s loving hands

In the mirror of His word
Reflections that I see
Makes me wonder why He never gave up on me
But He loves me as I am and helps me when I pray
Remember He’s the potter; I’m the clay

We normally think of this song as a children’s song, but it still blesses my heart as an adult every time I hear it. Just because we grow up physically does not mean that God is done with us spiritually.

If we want to be what God plans for us to be, then we must allow Him to continue a work in us.

Do you ever feel discouraged? Do you ever feel like you are broken or unfinished? We all feel this way sometimes. But there is hope for us.

Paul, one of the greatest men of the Bible, felt this way. We know this because in Philippians 3:12 he penned this:

 

Not that I have already obtained all this,

or have already arrived at my goal,

but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

When the enemy comes to us with his lies we must look to God for the truth. God still wants to work in us as long as we will let Him. He is perfecting a work in us that is yet to be finished.

As long as there is still breath in your body there is still work to be done. I pray you will remember this little song as you go about your day today.

I pray today that we will all remember that we are works in progress and that, like Paul, we will continue to press towards the mark that God has set for us.

What Have You Done For Him Lately?

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you,

whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine,

you did for me.”

                                                                                                    Matthew 25:40

 The Lord laid this Scripture on my heart this morning and I wanted to share it with you.

We are coming to the end of another week. For most of us the weekend will be a time to relax and spend time doing what we want to do.

 I would like to present you with a challenge this weekend:

I would like for all of us to keep our eyes open to the needs of those around us.

 

I know this may sound like a simple task. You are probably thinking the same thing I did when God first laid this on my heart, “I do that every day.” I am sure that in your every day life, at some time during your day, you are meeting the needs of other people.

 

I want us to take it a step farther this weekend. Go above and beyond the call of duty this time. Look for a way to share God’s love with someone by meeting a need.

1. If you go out to eat, leave an extra tip.

2. If you see someone struggling to load their groceries, help.

3. If there is someone you know that needs an extra hand up, meet that need.

I believe that there are so many ways that we could help each other out every day, but some times we get so busy in our own problems, or just the business of life that we fail to notice those around us that are struggling every day.

 

I pray that we will all take time out of our busy schedules to help someone else. I know it is easy to get so caught up in our own lives that we tend to forget about the needs of others, but I really believe that God has given me this Scripture today for a reason.

I have accepted this challenge today.

Will you join me?

“Then he will answer them, saying,

‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these,

you did not do it to me.”

                   Matthew 25:45

Did You Hear That?

“As I sat there listening to the preacher speak, I felt God tap me on the shoulder and say, ‘Did you hear that? It was meant for you.’ “

Have you ever had  a moment like this one? Did it surprise you? How did you feel at that moment?

 

I have the privilege of teaching at the Christian school where my kids attend. Every Wednesday we spend the morning in a chapel service. Each time, we have a different speaker that volunteers to come and talk to the kids.

Yesterday my Dad came to speak to us at Chapel. The Scripture he spoke about came from Hebrew Chapter 3-4:3a. I have been blessed to get to hear my Dad preach all of my life, however I did not really learn to appreciate what I was hearing until I was older.

 

As I sat and listened to him preach on this Scripture a particular verse really jumped out and grabbed my attention. It was the Verse that reads:

 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

At that moment I felt God speak to my heart and say, “That is what you are doing for Me.”

 

The devil likes to tell me lies. We all know that he is the father of all lies. I Peter 5:8b tells us:

Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion

looking for someone to devour.

Satan wants me to believe that my ministry for God does not matter, that it is pointless, and that it will never amount to anything. He knows that if he can get me to believe his lies then he can defeat me and I will fail.

I had been fighting those lies for a few days and every time I would just give them to God and ask Him to bless my efforts and lead me in the direction I should go.

 

I feel like yesterday was God speaking to me, telling me that I was right in the center of His will.

 

Any time you are trying to do God’s work and minister for Him, the devil is going to take that as an opportunity to try to defeat you. The only way that he has of doing that is with lies. Satan knows he has no power over us if we are covered under the blood of Jesus, so he tries to get us to defeat ourselves.

We need to remember where our strength comes from. We also have to learn to recognize satan’s tricks and the lies that he feeds us.

 

I pray as I have shared from my heart today that you will find some encouragement in this story. If you are feeling defeated and beat down, look up! God is right there waiting to lift you up and minister to your heart. If you feel you are in the center of God’s Will keep on doing the things God has called you to do. Be careful not to fall into satan’s trap of lies that he sets for all of us.

Remember, satan knows his fate. He knows that he has already lost the battle. He wants to defeat us because he does not want us doing God’s work.

 

Stay strong in the Lord and keep on going. Remember God’s Word when it says:

But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.They will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah 40:31

God-sized dreams: Doing What I Can

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me. Thou dost prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; Thou hast anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.  Psalm 23

                                                                                

Would you believe me if I said that sometimes I run out of things to say? If you were to ask my family and those who are the closest to me, they would probably laugh and say, “Never!”

I have told you before that I was blessed with the ability to talk a lot. It always seems I have something to say and can pretty much talk to anyone, but believe it or not, sometimes I sit down to write and I have nothing. As hard as I may try, my brain just lets out a big sigh and then, nothing.

I am sure we all have times like that. It does not matter what kind of ministry it is, we all have those times when we get tired, and need some “Me time.”

As a Mom and a Wife, I sometimes feel the need to just take a break and get away from the everyday things that seem to pull at every fiber of me. You know what? It is okay. Being a Mom and a Wife is a ministry in itself, and sometimes as ladies we get tired.

Men, this does not leave you out. I am sure that you too get tired. The job of a Father, Husband, and Provider can get heavy from time to time.

More than once since I answered this call to minister as a blogger and encourager have I found myself just needing to take a break and let my brain soak up some of what I am trying to share with you every day. Each time this happens I feel bad about it, like I am letting my readers and God down.

As I grow in the Lord I learn new things. Through prayer I have realized that even Jesus took time for Himself. There are times in the Bible that we read about Jesus getting off by Himself to pray and rest.

I am going to share a secret with you. It is okay. It is okay to take a break and to get away for a while and do something else. We all need a chance to regroup and to catch our breath.

 

There have been times when the kids were babies that my husband and I would look at each other and say, “We need to get away.” We would pack the kids up and just go out for the day. Something about breaking the routine and just getting out of the house for a while would make a world of difference.

 

No matter what “job” you do it is important to take care of yourself. You can not be what God wants and needs you to be if you are running yourself ragged all the time.  God has called you into a ministry for Him, and He wants you to be the best “You” that you can be.

 

As I read Holley Gerth’s blog this morning about God-sized dreams, this one comment really hit home with me:

 “Sometimes along the way to our dreams we just need a little time to play.

It helps us keep going and reminds us not to take ourselves too seriously.”

 

 

I want to encourage you today, no matter what your dreams are, no matter what ministry you find yourself doing, take the time to enjoy this journey you are on. God has put you here for a reason, He has a job for you to do, and you can only do your best when you are taking care of yourself.

I want to be the best I can be for God as I live out my God-sized dream. The next time I feel like I need a break, or a chance to breathe, I am going to take that time and not feel guilty about it. Because I want to be able to continue in this ministry and to encourage you, my readers, as we enjoy God’s word together.