Believe for More in 2013

As humans, God created us in His image. He created us to commune and connect with Him.

John 10:27 says, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them and they follow Me."  

When we walk with Christ—the Messiah of the world—and stop to be still, and ask Him to cleanse us of all the unrighteousness that separates us from Him, we can hear His whispers softly speak to us.

So many people are afraid to trust the voice they hear in their spirits. If what we are sensing in our spirits does not align with the Word of God and its principles, then we can be certain that it must not be from God. But we can rejoice and know that He does speak. Jesus assured us in His own words that His sheep will hear His voice.

In my times of prayer, I often write the words I hear in my spirit in a journal. I love to go back and reread those words for encouragement.

Last spring, I was outside watering flowers and praying when the Lord began speaking softly to me. I was pondering the times when I couldn't imagine how all that had been lost would be restored.

I thought about how I had made a decision to leave doubt behind forever.  It was the season where great expectation replaced the doubtful thoughts. Expectation became reality and breakthrough came because I had chosen to believe Jesus to do the impossible for me.

As I thought about the belief that had replaced the doubt in my life, the Lord tenderly spoke to my heart and I rushed inside to write down the words trickling into my spirit.

These are the worst of times for some and the best of times for others. For the ones focused on the cares of the world, there will be more disappointment. But for those who meditate on Me and My Word, My GLORY will be seen. Believe the truth and you shall be free. Speak those things that are not as if they are. Who are you going to listen to? You can listen to Me or you can listen to the accuser of the brethren. You can believe the lies or you can believe the truth. I have promised to supply all of your needs according to My riches. I rejoice over the ones who trust Me fully. When you walk in My righteousness and place your faith in Me, My power is released in your life. I have good plans for you. So walk away from unbelief forever and trust Me to do the impossible. Trust Me to work out all things for good in your life. I am who I say I am. I am all you need to live a victorious life today and forever. Believe.
  
If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer. Matthew 21:22 (NIV)

Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Hebrews 12:2 (NIV)

Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. John 8:32

As it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations” in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did…Romans 4:17 (NKJV)

And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19 (NIV)

For nothing is impossible with God. Luke 1:17 (NIV)

I have revised this post slightly because I want to be certain that others know that I only share words that I truly believe are from God—words that I hope will encourage others. I hope others will be inspired to believe that Jesus does speak to His sheep and He does have good plans for all of us.

A Prayer 

Lord, we fully surrender our hearts to You today. We ask You to fill our hearts with unwavering faith and belief. Let us walk with assurance in You to do the impossible in our lives. And let us live in victory every day. In the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Live Abundantly!

Amy

The photo above is a graphic design my daughter created in school.

An Unexpected Miracle

A favorite scripture of mine is, James 1: 2-3 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, when you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance." 

It truly is pure joy to face trials and hardships.  I have found that the greatest miracles happen during the most challenging seasons of life when we place our faith in Christ. Suffering is not fun. But joy can come from a season of hardship. It is especially hard to watch a loved one suffer. 

One of my close friends (Lori) has had serious health problems for many years and to make matters worse, her family has been struggling financially in recent years due to the economic crisis. Her husband has worked for a real estate investment firm for over fifteen years. But with the economic crisis, the real estate business is probably the worst to be working for presently.

Circumstances have been very hard for them. Yet, in the midst of her hardships, she is a shining example of the light found in living for Christ. Lori is a Jew by birth, but she found Jesus and I don't know anyone more in love with her Messiah than she is.

Lori's life proves that it's during the trials of life that we get to experience the most amazing miracles. During the past months, their family car has broken down repeatedly. It's a 1993 model and has been on its last leg for a while. Just a few weeks ago, she called to tell me her car had broken down again.

I felt so bad for her. I wanted to let her in on a secret I knew. But I couldn't because I would spoil the BIG surprise.

Just days before her car broke down again; I received an e-mail from a mutual friend letting me know that Lori's family had been chosen to receive a car as a gift from All State and Sterling Auto Body in Decatur. To see Lori's family receiving their new car, click here.

My friend Lori has a very petite stature, but she has the faith of a giant. And in the midst of their major problems she exudes the joy of the Lord.

My joy level is through the roof! When a friend is blessed it is way better than when I am blessed. I am elated. I can't stop thanking God for this unexpected miracle. I pray that He will continue showering my friend with blessings and that He will keep using her life to show that true joy comes through a relationship with Christ.

In every storm of life there is a treasure to be found. If we look toward heaven with a grateful heart, we will most certainly see a magnificent rainbow in the sky.

Live Abundantly!
Amy 

The above photograph was taken at my son's football game when another unexpected miracle happened in the form of a magnificent rainbow.

Living in Victory

As I was finishing my 6.5 mile run  several weeks ago, my heart was overflowing with gladness for all that the Lord has restored in my life. It was the first time I've run this distance in over five years because of some various injuries and other challenges. While I was running, memories of the marathon and half-marathon I did 13 years ago flooded my mind.

The Lord reminded me of some verses in Joel. I meditated on the fact that God is the One who restores.  I felt indescribable joy as I pondered the thoughts of all that the Lord has given back to me after it was stolen from my life.

I am right on schedule for running a half-marathon in 2013. This half-marathon is so much greater than a running event for me. It's a celebration of how the Lord has restored my life. He healed my broken marriage, fixed my broken finances, healed my sick body, and restored my ability to run.

Realizing and believing that God is the Restorer is what I believe ignites the supernatural power of Christ.

Many times I have been on the verge of seeing restoration in an area in my life and just before the breakthrough occurs, something happens out of the blue to thwart the good plans God has for me. Well, I have figured out that these “out of the blue” happenings are not coincidental. 

The Bible reveals a powerful truth in John 10:10. Jesus said, “The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but I have come that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”

The thief has worked overtime to rob from me. But with each effort to sabotage God’s good plans, it backfires and Jesus wins every time. 

Hallelujah!

On Thanksgiving Day, my daughter and I ran eight miles as part of our training regimen for the half-marathon we’re running together in January. It was a victorious day for both of us. My twenty-two year old daughter had never run this distance. And I hadn’t run this distance in probably 10 years. We were elated.

On Monday of this week, just as I was about to begin another training run, I jammed my toe into a piece of furniture accidentally because I had moved it temporarily to get something out from behind it and had forgotten to move it back. My little toe crashed right into the chair leg as I was rushing through my house. I landed onto the floor in pain.

I knew what I had done was bad. The level of pain and the immediate swelling proved to me that it was not just a stubbed toe. My mind immediately went to the place of resigning and accepting a long time of healing.

“Well, there goes my half-marathon race,” I thought to myself.  It was exactly nine weeks until my race.  And with the possibility of a broken toe, I knew I wouldn’t be able to train for weeks.

My next thought was one of faith.

I’ll have to trust God.

As the day went on, my toe hurt worse. I iced it, but by eleven p.m. the bruising had spread in between my toes and onto my actual foot. It was purple, red, and swollen and I could feel a small bump on the side of my toe.  It was so bad that my daughter couldn’t look at it.

I looked up images of broken toes on the Internet and saw that the pictures looked very similar to my toe. Everything I read indicated I had a broken toe. The bad news was that it takes six to eight weeks for a broken toe to heal.

I taped my little toe to the toe next to it and thought, "I am not going to have this accident ruin God's good plans for me. I AM going to run this race." And I prayed for a miracle.

I went to bed with peace and asked the Lord to heal my toe.

When I awoke yesterday morning, my toe was still hurting enough for me to limp, but as the day went on I noticed it was getting better. I never took anything for the pain. I have a very high tolerance for pain. I delivered my son with no epidural or any other pain medication other than local anesthesia for the stitches to be put in place. I honestly didn’t think much about my toe yesterday.

Today (two days after the accident) I have absolutely no pain in my toe. It doesn’t hurt to touch it. It doesn’t hurt to wiggle it. I cut the tape off and was astounded to see that the swelling was completely gone and the bruising is significantly better. By tomorrow, I’m sure the discoloration will be gone altogether.

The Lord healed my toe, just like He has healed me from other things in the past.

If I had resigned to the pain I would not be doing my race in January.  As followers of Christ, we can live in victory.

I've seen many fake miracles on T.V. over the years. The Bible clearly tells us that there are counterfeit miracles. 

“The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs, and wonders.” 2 Thessalonians 2:9 (NAS)

But the Bible also tells us that in Jesus Christ there are many real miracles.

And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people. Act 6:8 (NAS)

God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will. Hebrews 2:4 (NAS)

They did not remember His power, the day when He redeemed them from the adversary…Psalm 78:42 (NAS)

So Jesus said to him, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe." John 4:48 (NAS)

 

They performed His wondrous acts among them, And miracles in the land of Ham. Psalm 105:27 (NAS)

God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul… Acts 19:11 (NAS)

…In the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit; so that from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. Romans 15:19 (NAS)

A large crowd followed Him, because they saw the signs which He was performing on those who were sick. John 6:2 (NAS)

 
And the disciples went everywhere and preached, and the Lord worked through them, confirming what they said by many miraculous signs. Mark 16:20 (NLT)

Most importantly Jesus said, we would do even greater things than He did.

"I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father." John 14:12 (NIV)

I've never been one to attend healing conferences and miracle services. I've been the one who has stayed at home seeking to know God better through studying my Bible and praying as often as possible. But the closer I get to Christ, the more I see miracles in my life.

When we step up and live the Gospel of Jesus Christ then the non-believers will see the power of Christ working through and in us.

We are called to be the salt and light of the world. Let us go forth as disciples of Christ and walk in faith performing miracles in His name. Let us live in victory so that the doubters will watch and see that Jesus is the Messiah of the world.

Live Abundantly!

Amy

Beauty for Ashes

It was a clear, winter day and I was sitting on the family room floor making valentines. I was 8 years old and didn’t have a care in the world. I was enjoying the moment I was in and safe in the comfort of my home with my mom close by in the kitchen.

That’s the last thing I remember before I heard my mother’s panicked voice hollering out, “It’s a fire!” 

I looked up and there I saw the kitchen curtains engulfed in flames. My mom tried putting the fire out, but her main concern was my safety.

We ran outside to get away from the smoke. A gentleman who had seen the smoke from the post office next door ran over to our house, grabbed a hose, busted a window and put the fire out.

Later on that day, we went back inside to assess the damage. In a matter of minutes, the flames had completely destroyed our kitchen, and the smoke had damaged most of our house. 

We never stayed in that house another day. We packed up our salvageable items and moved in with my grandparents for a few months. My parents made the decision to build a new house a few miles away. It was months before our beautiful, new home was completed.           

My life had been turned upside down by the rampant flames that raged through my house on that winter day. It was difficult to have my life so shaken up, but knowing a beautiful home was being built for my family helped to ease the difficulties. I remember visiting the new home often to see the progress that was being made.

I’ll always remember the day I first saw my completed bedroom with the brand new carpet I picked out myself. It was breathtaking—nothing like my young heart had ever experienced. It was almost more than I could take in at once. It was amazing. After losing my old home and many of the things I had been attached to, the new home was sweetness to my soul.

The new life Christ has given me is much like the new home I moved into after the fire during my childhood. Before I fully surrendered my life to Christ's purposes for me, fiery trials swept through my life and destroyed many things that were important to me. After surrendering everything to Jesus, He rebuilt my life and turned the ashes of my past into a beautiful display of splendor.

I remember times when I wondered if I would ever have beauty in my life again. The stress of a struggling marriage relationship, the tension from strained finances, and not being physically well—it seemed impossible. 

As I wrestled to believe, my faith won and things began turning around for me. Step by step, Christ renewed my marriage, restored our finances, and taught me ways to improve my health. 

When we believe things are hopeless, then we will have a hopeless life. When we teeter on the fence of disbelief, we miss out on the miracles the Bible promises we will see. 

In 2009, I made a commitment to stop doubting God forever. Whenever a doubtful thought taunts me, I meditate on the scriptures to bring life to a worn out and weary spirit. Doubt cannot penetrate a heart that is fixated on the truth of God’s Word.

Christ has good plans to give every person a future filled with hope (Jeremiah 29:11). He is the redeemer and restorer of broken lives.

Are you struggling to believe God for good things? Leave fear and doubt behind and begin believing that Christ is the author of beauty. Surrender it all to Him and watch as He rebuilds and recreates the beautiful life He longs to give all His children. 

Trust Him to give you beauty to replace the pain of your past. He will bestow on you a crown of beauty instead of ashes and He will give you the oil of gladness instead of mourning. He will plant you firmly in His promises to be displayed as a glorious vessel of His magnificent splendor.

"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor." Isaiah 61: 1-3

Live Abundantly!

Amy 

This post has been revised from a piece originally written several years ago. The above picture is one of me at the Biltmore House gardens. 

Rainbow Flowers and Small Miracles

 

If there were a magic solution to life’s problems and I could be delivered from all hardship, I would choose to hold onto the problems. As I look back over my life, there are countless blessings that have come to me as a direct result of the difficulties in my life. Would I really want to give up all of life’s blessings to bypass the hardships? I don’t think so. I would choose the hard road any day.

My life has had a number of disappointments, hurt, heartbreak and undesirable circumstances. But it has been while walking through the hard places that I have found true happiness. I've heard the statement, “When people experience hardship, they either get bitter or they get better.” I chose the latter. I have gotten better through adversity.  I decided to let go of self-pity and began seeking to know Christ better. As my heart turned toward Jesus and prayer,  my life began changing. My circumstances didn't change at first, but I found unspeakable joy in the midst of the trials. 

I remember a day when I felt pure bliss while experiencing hardship. My husband had been laid off from his job for several months and was busy seeking employment. I had recently begun working for a catering company on the weekends and I was also doing a few other things trying to make ends meet in ways that would allow me to keep my role as a mother my highest priority. Our cars were very old, our 22 year old house was falling apart in many ways. Yet, I can honestly say that I was the happiest I had ever been. My heart was at rest,  I had found a passion and love for life. To put it in a nutshell, I found pure gold in my relationship with God, our Creator, the One who gives us breath. He lifts us up in ways that nothing else can.

It was in 2008. I was sitting at my dining room table with a list of bills, wondering how we were going to squeak by that month. I spent thirty minutes talking to a representative with my mortgage company about payment options during my husband’s unemployment. After this conversation, I began jotting down some ideas. I realized how close we were to staying afloat. I had the thought, “If we could get some help with our groceries, we would be able to pay the remaining balance of the mortgage payment.” Simultaneously, as I was having this thought, the doorbell rang. I answered the door and it was my daughter’s friend, Emily and her mother, Kimberly. They were standing there with a beautiful bouquet of rainbow-colored flowers and a shopping bag full of food. With a huge smile on her face, Kimberly said, “The ‘Rainbow Buddies’ are here!” Instantly, I felt the tears welling up in my eyes, and like many times before, I was in awe of God’s perfect timing. This sweet woman that I barely knew had brought exactly what I needed at precisely the moment I needed it. What an amazing symbol of Christ’s love this was for me! My heart was rejoicing over this miracle from God.

It's easy to fall into the trap of believing that God allows hardship in our lives to punish us. I have discovered that it is really quite the opposite. God allows pain and sorrow in the lives of His children so that He'll have the opportunity to shower us with His love and bring glory to His name. Through adversity, we get to experience God’s love in the most miraculous ways. 

This reminds me of what God did for Noah thousands of years ago. Up until the flood waters receded, Noah must have really questioned God. But when the water receded and the rainbow appeared, I can only imagine how Noah’s heart was rejoicing over the miracle he saw God perform. He saw that God is real, He is love, and He keeps His promises.

I haven’t experienced the miracle that Noah did. But I have seen the realness of God. I feel His love encompassing my heart. I continually rejoice over the way He comforts me, the way He encourages me, and the way He showers me with His love by sending rainbow flowers and small miracles!

Genesis 9:13  "I have set a rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth."

Genesis 9:16  " Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds , I will remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on earth."

This article has been revised from a piece originally written in March, 2008.

Live Abundantly!

Amy