Devotions for the Journey
Well, the temperatures are changing, the football games are happening, but what other changes are you making? I have to ask the question do you feel the Spirit nudging you to step out in faith? I don't know if it is the time of year with September 11 showing up with the ten year anniversary or just the country situation, but I feel like God is calling all of us to STEP UP! Yes, Step up and Out!
Have you felt Him asking you to perhaps help in a new ministry? Start a new ministry? Or perhaps to help a friend? Is He calling you to something that you don't think you might can handle? Well, you probably can't, but HE CAN! Constantly, He tells me – Debbie it isn't you…it's me and I just take you along for the journey! I take you along to grow you! I take you along Debbie to open your eyes to things you need to change! Yes, He is constantly telling me that I need to change and sometimes I don't like it! Sometimes, I want to stay where I am and not keep stepping out in trust. Sometimes I want to be like the little girl that boldly says NO, daddy I will not go! You know I did once stand up in the middle of the couch and shake my finger at my dad and say nope…he told me I was about two and he knew he really needed to spank me, but that I was just too cute to spank at that point! Of course, that didn't take long to change. I guess I grew out of cute with that shaking finger…Do you think God thinks we aren't so cute sometimes; when we refuse to answer His call?
I know that God is calling all of us to help change this world that we are living in! I was watching Somebody's Got Talent last night and Piers Morgan made a very profound statement about America…one of the acts was beautiful and was doing in silhouette "an act" about our country. Reminding us how we were made and what we stand for about believing! Do you remember that the pilgrims came here about Religion? Well, in our country today the less we mention God the better after all it's not politically correct to talk about God! Well, God create this world, He created all of us, so how can we not put Him first and shout it gladly? When we formed America and on our money it always said these words "In God We Trust" would these words be said today?
Step Out in Faith and Trust God with what exactly He is calling you to do! Take His Hand for the adventure of a lifetime and let's change this world one person at a time! It only takes one – look at the Bible! One person time after time changed the world! Let's be one of those people!
Sweet blessings,
Debbie
New International Version (NIV)
25 The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."
26 Then Jesus declared, "I, the one speaking to you—I am he."
Lately, I've been spending a lot of time looking at the story in John 4. We all know the story of the woman at the well; we've probably all felt a little like this woman at some point in our journey. Oh, maybe not the many husbands part, but perhaps the outcast, lonely, scarred, needy, woman that just needs someone to notice her. Perhaps you have approached a group of women and felt the judgment, the unworthiness that this woman felt as she approached this well on the outskirts of town that needed something so desperately, but you just weren't quite sure what that fix was or how to get it.
Anybody been there?
Recently, while looking at this text something jumped off the page at me. WE all need the Messiah right? Have you ever noticed that the first four letters of Messiah spell MESS? Are we not all a mess at some point in our journey? Have we not made a decision that totally messed up your plans? Have you ever felt a mess? Is it not fitting that the only thing that will clean up our mess and make it okay is Christ, the Messiah?
God wants to use your mess to build His Kingdom so He sent His Son, - The Messiah; to use our mess to allow His glory to shine all through the cracks, the holes, the scars and for us all to be made whole anew and so much better! He uses our mess, so that His Glory Shines!
Don't you love it that God cleans up our mess through His Son?
We approach the wells in our life filled with unworthy feelings, scarred, but the Messiah awaits us at the well ready to clean up our mess. Jesus waits by the well with His open arms, His knowing smile, His forgiveness and love waiting for us to leave all of this with Him at the well and go out into the world and share exactly Who He is and What He has done for us by cleaning up our mess!
Cleaned Up,
Debbie
How many of us have our little list of things to do? Is yours a neatly marked list with a box to check or perhaps it is just a listing where you love to scribble each item off? The last one is the type of woman I am! I love to be able to mark through each item and just scribble through a day's task accomplished and achieved.
Perhaps you are also like me that, if you list more items (in case someone glances at it they will realize just how busy you are?) I know it is terrible! We women like to appear busy, whether we are or not. I know just ask today how are you and most of us will answer ~ busy!
Why? I think we want to know we are achieving something. We are being productive, useful women and we want know that our work matters to someone. (Even if it is just ourselves) Is it not a daily struggle to know in our own hearts that we make a difference in this world. How? Well, our little list of things might not be done without us! After all, who else wants to wash our spouse's or children's underclothes? Who wants to clean up after our dogs? Who needs to hear your voice and only your voice?
I'm guessing that we all struggle with daily issues. Right? It doesn't matter what our list might look like, many of us are overwhelmed with the art of being fulfilled through our daily list. We each face demands on our time that call for our attention. We get through our list daily, go to bed, and begin again! Waking up to the exhaustion of proceeding through the list once again!
How do we do it? We aren't Wonder Woman or Super Mom, we are everyday women going through each day with the hope that someone will help us with each step! A spouse, a friend, or a family member and all along we all have what it takes to get through our busy days - GOD!
Perhaps this scripture is new to you or it might be one of your favorites, but either way hold it close and know that God will strengthen you, so that you will be able to check your items off your list!
Isaiah 40:28-31
New International Version (NIV)
28 Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31 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.
Sweet blessings,
Debbie Covington
"People with integrity walk safely, but those who follow crooked paths will slip and fall." Proverbs 10:9 (NLT)
Do the rest of you enjoy facebook as much as I do? I love the photos of everyone's families. I love the updates of what is happening in everyone's journey.
None of us have the time anymore to talk on the phone and catch up like people use to do or to sit down and actually write a long letter updating people with what is happening in each other's life. So, facebook makes this easier. I feel like I have talked to everyone whether I have in years or not. All I have to do is click on their page and see what's happening.
I've recently read where this social activity is breaking up more homes than any other activity. How? People are connecting with old loves. People are walking away from something that has been working for years ~ back into something that didn't work the first time around. Imagine, remember your old relationship and why it didn't work the first time? Same issues are still there. People have just forgotten the old problems with the old people and remembering the fresh, hard everyday life problems which are fresh and forefront in the mind. We remember the hurtful words shouted at us on the way out the door. We remember the forgotten special day. We remember that they forgot to call and tell us something they told everybody else and assume they told us…Please friend remember that we do the same hurtful things on our end too…We are human. We are flawed…and so are the people the devil is trying to draw you to….
How the devil works amazes me! He is so tricky and manipulative. It seems harmless enough to say hi and one thing leads to another and then another and just like Proverbs warns us above we slip and fall!
It's okay to look at pictures, it's okay to be friends, but don't think that it's okay to share the hard times that life might be giving you with your marriage. The devil will weave a web that convinces you it's okay, but it's not. Life is hard and some days you may want to throw in the towel and step back in time, but we just can't step back…we must move forward holding God's hand and not the evil one's!
So enjoy the photos and updates, but keep safe! Keep your head above water with God's life vest wrapped safely around you swimming through the rough waves, even the times you feel like you are going to drown know that God's got you and cling to that and when you get back to shore continue to walk with integrity!!!! If you have fallen on that crooked path, get back up and grab God's Hand! Don't let another moment go by without taking His hand and asking forgiveness and know that He loves you and it's His love that will fill you up!!!
2 I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God's mysterious plan, which is Christ himself.
No, it's not the same email. It is our devotion for the week!
All of us are able to encourage the people that surround us and even those we might just pass on the street. A smile is able to encourage someone that God sees them, we don't know what someone might have prayed a moment ago that God let them know He sees them and He uses you!
Are you knit together with love?
Are you knit together with frustration?
Are you knit together with unforgiveness?
Are you knit together with anger?
We are able to make a choice, the choice of love! Choose love and change the world.
We are surrounded daily by people that need a loving word, a touch of friendship, a reminder that they matter and you might be the one to make a difference in someone's dark world! Show Christ light today!
Do you know someone that has been down? Call them invite them to lunch.
Do you know someone that just needs to know that someone cares? Send them a card.
Do you know someone that just needs to know they matter? Call them.
Just a moment is all it takes to take Colossians 2:2 to heart and be a Sister in Christ to someone in the world today!
Today, I wanted you to know that Christ sees you and remind you that He loves each of you more than any of us are able to comprehend! Talk to Him today and be reminded of just how much He loves you!
Sweet blessings,
Debbie
I read the most beautiful quote that Picasso said about an artist that I want to share with you; "An artist paints not to ask a question, but because he has found something, and he wants to share-he cannot help it-what he has found."
Don't you love this quote? I did and it is exactly how I feel about my faith walk! I can't help sharing about what God is doing and how He changed me. It's not because of any other reason other than I want everyone to feel the exact same way! I want everyone to want to share and we just can't help it!
Would this not be the coolest? Instead, of oh no here she comes again. It would be; what did you discover new about God or what did He do now that you just can't wait to share!
We could rock this world! We could change this world! Instead, of fear of sharing it would be a matter of you just can't help sharing!
The quote that Picasso shared is about his passion for art. He loved it and he couldn't wait to paint and share with others. Where is your passion? What is it that you can't wait to share with others? Hopefully, it is God's Light shining on a path that you just can't help sharing with others!
Sweet Blessings,
Debbie
I was playing catch up this morning with my reading from yesterday and today in the Chronological Bible and these words jumped off the page at me ~ Your intentions are good, but you are not the one to do it. It got me right between the eyes, my intentions are good, but… Have you been there? Are you there right now perhaps?
Lately, I have met myself coming and going and I know that I'm not alone. We say yes and we feel like we are drowning with all of our commitments. Anybody else? I feel so strongly that God is calling me to minister to hurting women and there are soooooooooooo many! I try to help, I try to I do, but sometimes I fail! Reading this it was like God told me you can't do it all. Yes, there are hurting people surrounding all of us, but we cannot do it all! We must really search where specifically God is calling each of us to serve and help others. Is it children? Is it the homeless? Is it the abused? Is it someone just needing to be reminded that God sees them? We must ask God to show us exactly where He wants us! Yes, we are told in Jeremiah that He knows the plans He has for us. Ponder it for a moment! God knows the plans He has for us, but do we? Do we think we know and we make our path all to realize this wasn't it at all? You are wondering how do you know? If it is difficult, if it is hard then it is not God's plan! It will be a peace that you haven't felt before. A moment that in your heart you know without a doubt you are where you are suppose to be at this moment!
Often times our intentions are good, but we are not the one to do it! We cannot do it all, so we must pray about what it is that we are suppose to do. I know that God called me to minister to women and I am to focus on getting women into His Word! I am to share how God has given me a love for His story and each of us finding our place in His Story! How His story will heal each of us, if we allow it to really get into our hearts! I know where I am called, but sometimes it is so hard to remember that though my intentions are good, I'm not the one to do it!
Sweet blessings,
Debbie
30-33"If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, and God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.
I love this passage from the Message bible!
It speaks so to my heart and the journey I am on right now with God! Ten years ago, probably five years ago never would I have had the peace of stepping into such unchartered waters. I plan. I know what will happen next and truthfully I didn't allow God much room to sail my ship. Until I allowed Him to chart my path!
Do you spend your life constantly worrying? Do you reside in fear? Do you truly believe that when you die you are going to heaven?
I do! It wasn't that long ago that I would have answered the question when you die do you believe you are going to heaven with – I hope so. I think so. I believe it with all my heart! When I truly began to believe this with my heart the worry went away. I believe God's Word and know that Jesus died for me and my sins! The peace of not having worried being such a huge part of my life is fantastic!
My nephew, Blake lost his baseball coach yesterday. His coach was a man that had so many friends and everyone loved him. I only met him a few times, but he was special. He spent his off hours coaching fourth grade boys about life through the game of baseball. He spent time with them and they knew he loved them. Today, they are grieving for a man they loved, but today he is in his new body in heaven! He is no longer hurting in his earthly body and as I shared with my sister, Pam yesterday heaven truly is a much better place! Words people don't want to hear at that moment, because of their own loss not the person that is experiencing heaven!
I have been taking the Beth Moore study on Revelation and it is fantastic! We studied this week about the living waters that the Shepherd will take us to, not the still waters like Psalms. No heaven is a joyful, vibrant, and beautiful destination that we all need to know will one day be our home! No longer any worries, no longer any tears because in Revelation 7:7 we are told:
For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
Wow, this sounds super to me! Beth told us in one of our sessions that people envision sitting around listening to violin music and it being very quiet and boring, but after studying this book we definitely realize that this isn't so! Read Revelation 21 and know in your heart how glorious it will be! No worries, no tears, no grieve, no loss because God indeed will make everything new!
Sweet blessings,
Debbie
So the LORD sparked the enthusiasm…(yesterday)
But now the LORD says: Be strong, Zerubbabel, Be strong, Jeshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people still left in the land. And now get to work, for I am with you, says the LORD of Heaven's Armies. My Spirit remains with you…
The Lord sparks our enthusiasm. I was studying yesterday getting ready for a retreat and was reminded that we are to have a childlike attitude to get into heaven. Do you remember the zest for life, the sparkle when you discovered something new? I do. Well, God wants us to have a spark, a twinkle, a awe moment about our walk with Him. He wants us filled with wonder and awe about HIM.
At times, we(Christians) forget we are what others look to about Christ. Do we sparkle or are we dull? When they look at us to we shine and they wonder what it is about us or do we appear down and dark and they don't want any part of that? Shine today…
And now go out and accomplish, make, fashion something to happen for the LORD. After all the LORD is with us, in fact the original meaning was the LORD abides, remains, and endures with us! It sounds better to say the LORD abides with us, doesn't it? I don't want it to sound like we are so dull that the LORD endures being with us. The LORD is in the midst of us and He helps us to shine! He nudges us and we remember…
Today, ask questions. Remember when you were little and all you could do was ask questions to learn. Ask and learn. Just because we are big, little girls doesn't mean we aren't allowed to be curious, to learn, and play with childlike qualities after all, don't we want to go to heaven?
Sweet blessings, Debbie
"Don't be afraid," he said, "for you are very precious to God. Peace! Be encouraged ! Be strong!
Today, I want you to play fill in the blanks. _________________, you are very precious to God. Place your name in the blank and say it over and over again. Remember it! It is true!
The picture today fits this scripture so beautifully. God formed us and made us and gave us to our families. We are a gift for a period of time to the people in our journey, but we are His. We are precious to Him.
The next word that was so very special from this scripture today was Peace! The original word meant be complete, sound, and safe. In God we are complete, sound and safe He gives us all of this because we are precious to Him!
So, today and everyday fill in the blank! __________________, you are very precious to GOD! To whom? GOD
Sweet blessings from one that is precious to God to another, Debbie
Be Still and Know that I am God… Over the past week, God continually has given me the verse above. I know that He is very strongly telling me to slow down and spend time with Him. So, I have begun this process of slowing down and spending time with Him.
It always amazes me how quickly the devil gets to work trying to keep this from happening. He uses people you would never dream of to keep this from happening. He uses situations to touch your spots that are vulnerable. He is just the devil with a distinct purpose of interrupting our alone time with God. I've vowed that he will just have to get behind me, because this was one of those messages that without a doubt God was sending it.
Do you know how I know? Well, first off it was the Spirit through writing the blog on Sunday, then it was through bible study and then it was through a radio station. Very obvious use of Psalm 46:10 each time with me through 3 different areas of my life. What about you? How do you know? Do you pay attention? Do you mark it off as a coincidence? DON'T! I believe with all my heart that they are God Winks, God Moments, Divine Appointments and we miss them way too often. We don't give God credit and we miss out on HIM because we chalk it up to something simple and not something huge…Think about it. God used three different areas of my life to use the same scripture and get my attention. It would be easy enough to ignore all three, but instead I see God's Mighty Hand at work in my life. I know something very important HE SEES ME, HE LOVES ME, and HE IS AT WORK IN MY LIFE.
Today, look for God in your life. Think about something you might think is a coincidence and consider the possibility that it is something way more important! If you do share one of these moments, don't keep it to yourself - SHARE IT! Pass along the cool things that God is doing in your journey right now with others. People need HOPE and God is HOPE!
Believe it, Debbie
|
|
|
