Gratitude

Several years ago Max and went on a retreat with some other leaders in our church.  It was led by a ministry couple (who I cannot for the life of me remember their names!).  The thing that most stands out to me about this trip was the day we were told about the gratitude list!  They had a video of a man who had become almost a recluse in his home.  He had isolated himself from the outside world.  I don't remember the whole story, just the gratitude list that he started one day.  He just started writing down on a list the things he was grateful for!  Things like, air to breath.  Flowers, the sun that warms the day, rain that makes things grow, the ability to breath air into his lungs.....and it grew longer each day!  The video they showed us was of him standing before a church congregation reading his gratitude list that went on for I know at least a half an hour!!!  This really made an impression on my heart and I have never forgotten it.

Over the years Max and I have kept gratitude lists' and shared them with each other.  It makes for some really sweet conversations!  We have had our kids make a gratitude list.  Just making the list is awesome but sharing it and hearing what others are grateful for is just inspiring!!!  God is GOOD and worthy to be praised! 

We have so much to be thankful for and when we recognize it and express a pure gratitude for it I believe it causes our relationship with God to deepen and grow in ways that will block the lies of the enemy!

You know the world tries to make us feel unworthy of the goodness that God has for us!  God loves us and when we are not afraid to shout of the good he does for us, the enemy has to shut his mouth!  There are troubles, but God is bigger than ANYTHING the devil can put in my way!  So when the devil starts in with the lies, I just replace them with The Truth and begin to speak of the the things that I am grateful for.  I promise you that it will change your life!  It has changed mine!!!!!!! 

I am praying for YOU today!!!  For the LOVE of God to overflow in you and spill out all over those around you!!!!!!!  

BLESSED TO BE A BLESSING!

Who's to Blame?

One of the issues as a rape survivor is, who's to blame?  For years I blamed myself.  Did the decisions I made lead to my attack?  Did I ask for it?  Was I just to stupid to see it coming?  And the big one; was God trying to get my attention or teach me a lesson?  I struggled with these questions (and many more) for years.  I settled, for a time, on blaming God, but not in a bad way!  I was scared to be mad at God so I just figured He had His reasons and I would just be gracious and accept it and move on.  I even thanked God for choosing me to be sexually assaulted!!! 

 WOW!  I blow my own mind sometimes at the things I believe!  I find it very interesting that I never placed the blame where it belonged.  I never blamed the rapist.  Don't get me wrong, I knew what he did was wrong, and I was hurt on a level that I cannot even express in words, but the emotion that I reserved for the rapist was, wait for it.......sadness!  Yes, I felt sorry for him!  Even before I knew why, I felt sorry for him.  I just could not for the life of me wrap my head around how he could have been so evil.  Why was he so evil?

  It was only after God reveled some TRUTH to me that the blame was to rest on the one responsible for all that evil.  It was Satan!  The ruler of the darkness.  See, God is LIGHT and there is NO darkness in Him!  It is the enemy who comes to kill, steal, and destroy.  God comes to give LIFE and give it in abundance!!!  I was giving God credit for something the devil was responsible for!  My Daddy God is a life GIVER!!!  Satan is a life killer!  I also came to the understanding that my rapist made choices, out of his free will, he allowed himself to be so influenced by the enemy that he was capable of  caring out the unspeakable acts that day.  God didn't give him the ability or instruction to rape me! 

 I do not have ALL the answers but I do know what the Lord has reveled to me and shown me.  Everything else is on a need-to-know basis and when I hit that point I replace my questions with TRUST and FAITH that God is the ultimate winner and I will be delivered to my place at His feet when HE sees fit, NOT when the devil says so!  See, if it were up to Satan, I believe he would have taken me out that day.  BUT GOD!  God was with me then and He has been with me everyday since, and He still has work for me to do in HIS Name! 

 When I share this belief, some have asked me why I think God "allowed" this to happen to me.  Why do bad things happen to good people???  In case you haven't noticed, we live in a fallen world!  All I know is that God is GOD and I trust Him.  He is ABOVE Satan and his demons that roam this earth!  And a day is coming when HE will stand and even the demons will bow down!  I am on HIS side, no matter what!  I have had this vision of the demons bowing and all evil bowing like cowards, and all of GOD'S CHILDREN are standing behind Him peeking around His robe, safe behind DADDY!!!!  At that time we will no longer have to exist in a world filled with evil.  BUT, until that day comes, it is up to us (as Christians) to speak TRUTH into as many lives as we can!  Greater is HE that is living inside of me!  We have the Holy Spirit as our helper, and we are to be a witness to the LOVE and SALVATION of Jesus Christ!  Let's live our lives like we have been changed, and be LIFE CHANGERS!!!!!

BLESSED TO BE A BLESSING!