If you need courage, these stories will build up your bravery. Take heart, nothing is a match for Jesus. You might be facing rejection, addictions, anger, complacency, fear, temptations, and problems from all side, but Jesus is bigger than your giants.
What we believe about God projects on to what we believe about life. When life throws the punches, have no fear… the Almighty has got this!
As a contributor to “liftupyourday.com”, this article first appeared on December 28, 2015.
The new year is starting whether you’ve got a plan for great things or just living on prayer that it won’t be like the last one.
My prayer is that discover the potential God placed under your fingertips and reach for what you haven’t tapped into yet.
You may have climbed the ladder in 2015, but the gifts you were given last season aren’t the same as what’s coming to you in the next. You were designed to grow into new opportunities and talents over time. So although you may be satisfied with where you are, God has new levels for you beyond this point.
“The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” – Frederick Buechner
You may have to give up contentment to get a little uncomfortable so that God can cultivate his gifting. As long as you keep honoring God and developing your talent, the oil that belongs to you will not flow to anybody else. God will get you to where you are supposed to be.
David spent his days in the shepherd’s field slinging stones with the sheep until a moment came when God put this small, seemingly useless hobby to work defeating a giant. This victory let David to the throne of Israel. (1 Samuel 16 – 17)
Maybe you know what God wants you to do but your talent has gone dormant because you haven’t been disciplined to develop it any further. You might be stuck in an overwhelmed schedule or intimidated by fear that you’re not good enough. Doubt that you’ll be able to stick with it and end up reverting back to your routine after a while.
Failure says ‘what if… what if… what if…’
Faith says, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life…” (Psalm 23:6)
Sometimes we see heroes of faith and think they have it all figured out. But God asks us to do things afraid so that we will lean into Him on faith. If we had all the confidence, courage and strength to do it on your own, we wouldn’t run to Him as the source.
The Father’s gifts were never meant to pressure you. When you’re tempted to ‘wait for the perfect time’ to get out of your comfort zone, lean into the resistance and remind yourself this is an excuse. There is no perfect time. Daring to take the first step is difficult for a reason. Pressing against resistance makes you grow.
God has invested gifts in you and He’s expecting a return on that investment. Like the servants with the master’s money, God is looking for the willing to carry out his plan. (Matthew 25:14-30)
Keep using what God is giving to you and He’ll continue to pour out more through you.
So start the stirring now by praying for this dwelling passion to grow. Stretch your imagination and reframe those intimidations into inspiration. It’s time to turn down the distractions, stop discounting this gift and get focused. It’s time to fan the flame of your blessing.
God has a hedge of protection around you and your future that cannot be penetrated without permission. You don’t have to live worried.
Heavenly Father, develop in us this gift with your grace, your favor, your wisdom, and your strength. Stir up a storm of passion for your blessing and equip us with the courage to get out of our comfort zone this year. To You be all the glory and honor as your work is being revealed. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Understanding trust gives us words to say, ‘here’s my struggle and why I can’t rely on you’. Trust is a huge word with tons of weight around it.
There are common, quiet thoughts in our mind about trust that often go unspoken because we’re not really sure on how to sort through the vowels and verbs to make any sense of it. Researcher Brene Brown has a gift with dissecting and then organizing human connection. (Her bestsellers are worth buying; you’ll want to highlight, dog ear and pull these pages from the shelf to share.) Recently, she spliced open the anatomy of trust. Here are a few notes I’ve taken on the way we trust.
Trust is built in small, seemingly insignificant moments. It’s built when we ask for help and someone is there to lend a hand. Anytime we’re scared, there’s an opportunity for someone to build trust with us.
These same moments available for trust building are also available for betrayal. When we choose *not* to connect when the opportunity is there, this silent trust turns into betrayal.
Dr. Brown says that trust is really ‘braving’ connection with people.
B.R.A.V.I.N.G.
Here’s how she breaks down the acronym.
Boundaries: Trust is built when you are clear about your boundaries and you hold to them. I must also be clear about my own and expect you to respect them.
Reliability: Trust is built when you do what you say you are going to do. And not just once. We need to do what we say we are going to do over and over and over again. That’s what builds trust.
We also have to be clear on our limitations so we don’t take on so much that we come up short and can’t deliver on our commitments. Acceptance of these limitations from you and me is vital to trust.
Accountability: Trust is built when you make a mistake and are able to own it, apologize for it and make amends. When I make a mistake, trust is built when I am able to own it, apologize for it and make amends for it.
Vault: Trust is built when what I share with you, you hold in confidence. And what you share with me, I hold in confidence. We both need to see that confidentiality with others is acknowledged in our conversations with each other.
You cannot share things that are not yours to share as a way to hot-wire connection with a friend. Your closeness cannot be built on talking bad about other people. Common enemy intimacy is built on hating the same people. That’s counterfeit trust. That’s not real.
Integrity: Act from a place of integrity and encourage me to do the same thing. This builds trust. Choosing courage over comfort. What’s right over what’s fun, fast or easy. Practicing your values, and not just professing them.
Non-judgment: Trust is built when I can fall apart and struggle and ask for help without being judged by you. And conversely, you can fall apart and struggle and ask for help without being judged by me.
We are generally better at helping people than asking for help. Yet, if you can’t ask for help and I cannot ask, then this is not a trusting relationship. There’s a temptation to assign value to your help. You may determine your worth based on how you’re helping someone. Or perhaps you think less of yourself if you need the help. However, if you think less of yourself for needing help, then when you offer to help someone else, you will think less of them too. We cannot get value from being a helper in a relationship. This is not your worth.
Generosity: It’s only a trusting relationship if you can assume the most generous positive thoughts about what my intentions and behaviors are doing and what my words are saying, and then check in with me. So if I screw up and say something or forget something, you will make a generous, positive assumption. As opposed to guarding your heart from me or ignoring my calls or efforts.
Here’s the catch to trust. We cannot trust others if we don’t first trust ourselves.
One of the biggest casualties with heartbreak, disappointment and failure is is not the loss of trust with other people but the loss of self-trust.
In my own life (Trisha speaking here), Brown’s definitions have breathed new life into my ‘brave’. Past breakups and frustrations have kept my decisions locked in a cage of self reflection and doubt that I could trust myself anymore to make better choices.
If braving relationships with other people is braving connection, then braving self-trust is braving self-love and self-respect.
If you can’t count on yourself, you can’t ask other people to give you what you don’t have. You have to start with self-trust.
Maya Angelou puts it this way, ‘I do not trust people who don’t love themselves and yet tell me ‘I love you’. There’s an African proverb that says, ‘Be careful when a naked person offers you a shirt’.
If you struggle with trust, examine first your own self-trust and how you treat yourself. You can’t ask people to give to you what you don’t believe you’re worthy of receiving. You will know you are worthy of receiving trust when you trust yourself above everyone else.
Want to know where your time went? Examine your focus. From your focus comes the overflow of a soul.
Society has taken a celebration of the birth of Christ and made this joyful event an overwhelming season. Stores flash more signs and sales, while bank accounts dress in red during this time of year.
We become stretched for time with longer lists; parties, presents, people to see, place to go. Distracted from the root reason for all the ribbons and lights, our heart begins to harden. Our spirit craves being still but lacks the self-control to say ‘no’.
This isn’t an ‘us’ against ‘them’ phenomenon. We’ve contributed to the chaos over the years and now here we are wanting to step out.
It’s tough to celebrate when others are suffering. Sometimes the best way we can help those who hurt is simply by not forgetting.
The holidays bring out the busy in most of us and it’s hard to stop in these moments to reflect, remember and pray for other people.
A beacon for the City of Lights hovers over Hope on my tree. It’s my reminder to pray. Though fear wins a battle, Love and Hope win the war.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. (Martin Luther King, Jr.)
Then life happens and you learn how to fear moments, people, and perhaps most of all when there is ‘nothing’ happening at all. 
Many of you will be surrounded with family in a few days. There may be dread over a repeat of last Thanksgiving’s debacle. Or perhaps you’ll be alone this year and even that has you anxious. And sad.
We all hold the power of choice. I pray the choice in your words and actions this year reflect the hopes you have for your family and the dreams you have for yourself.
Did you know despite its gift of leaping high and long – the impala can easily be contained in a zoo behind a three-foot-high wall?
Across the African reservations, impalas run freely, jumping farther than thirty feet and clearing over ten feet high. So how does a short wall stop the impala from taking the leap?
Because the impala won’t make the jump into what it cannot see. The animal remains trapped in self-imposed limitations simply because of its inability to take a leap of faith.
Faith is kinda like that. Because we lack faith, we stay stuck behind walls of fear, doubt, insecurity, and self-preservation. Faith isn’t functional until it’s an action. It involves your feet, not your feelings.
Faith is acting like God is telling the truth. We run, jump and freefall when we hear His word without having to see it first to know it is true.
This past week, I wrapped up a CASA case on eight of nine kids I’ve celebrated holidays and shared a shoulder with. It was an assignment the court passed down more than a year ago.
What began as one abused child, DCS investigations revealed was more of a family ordeal.
Would you be willing to accept all nine? The Judge wanted to know. Do you have the volunteer time?
How can one deliberate over what we can do, when the need is right there staring back at you? These little ones ranged in age, from 15 to two and their curious little minds wanted to know, ‘would you leave us too’?
The children had been whisked away from school in these wrinkled up clothes and tattered shoes. No one could question if neglect was happening; these allegations appeared uncomfortably true.
I caught a glimpse of the eighteen little eyes, peanut butter smeared on their chins. My heart couldn’t say ‘no’, instead I asked, ‘where do we begin’?
This is a proud moment, indeed, and yet I also struggle with questions of my own neglect to the neighbors around me. Sometimes it’s easier to serve ‘there’ instead of right ‘here’. It’s more fun to fly away or be where my friends are, than it is to stare out of the window-framed picture on my wall and see a neighborhood in need. I have more questions than answers, like ‘where in the world begin’?
And then I sit with the steam coming off my coffee cup and peer into the sweet soul of such kind hearts. Sometimes they remain more comfortable staying at the surface of their story when the moment is still too tender to unearth the truth. And that’s okay, as long as I am present to hear the beginning and see the end.
Sometimes we fail to serve ‘here’ because we want to be ‘there’. Yet, if you truly believe the Almighty God put your hands and heart ‘here’, on the block you call home, in your cubicle where most of a day is spent, and with this specific circle of friends for His glory to be revealed, then you have no use looking over ‘there’. That’s what I’m learning.
