Tag Archives: lessons

Coffees & Chats

I’d love nothing more than to sit face to face with you and have a chat over a coffee, but we will just have to pretend. So grab a coffee, pull up a chair, and let’s chat!

Do you know we can’t catch God off guard? We never stump Him, surprise Him, shock Him. We can’t knock Him off His throne bewildered or flabbergasted. God doesn’t get His “knickers in a twist” nor is He flustered. He isn’t taken aback, perplexed or rattled. These are not His attributes. They never were & they never will be. God isn’t sent reeling by anything. He doesn’t have knee-jerk reactions or roller-coaster emotions. He is God. He is steady. He is the Rock. Never changing. Faithful. Immovable. He knows all, sees all, hears all. He is prepared.

There isn’t anything that He doesn’t already comprehend, although He Himself is incomprehensible. He is not confounded by the wise, yet He confounds the wise. He is not shaken, yet He shakes the heavens & the earth. He is not stumped or left speechless, although He leaves us awe-struck and without words to describe His greatness & His goodness. He is mighty. He is ready. He is prepared.

He is prepared for everything we could throw at Him. Our thoughts, our questions, our expectations, our high & lofty ideas, our discouragement & disappointment. Our passion, our confusion, our temptation, our pride, our insecurities. Every emotion, every feeling. He’s not dazed or repulsed. He can’t be …. Because He is LOVE. His arms are always open. His eyes are always on us. His thoughts are always for us. He is prepared.

He is prepared for us. Waiting. Longing. Searching. Looking. Listening. Full of compassion, righteousness, justice. Pure. True. Merciful. He is prepared for all that lies ahead in life & in death. Today & tomorrow. He never changes. He is prepared.

And He PREPARES: for those who love Him.

•“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him” 1 Corinthians 2:9

•He prepared good works for us to walk in. Ephesians 2:10

•He prepared a kingdom Matthew 25:34

•He prepared a city Hebrews 11:16

•He prepared a table for us, right before our enemies! Psalm 23

•“For we know that if our earthly house, this tent (this body), is destroyed, WE HAVE A BUILDING FROM GOD, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens … Now He who has PREPARED us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.” 2 Corinthians 5:1 & 5

When we begin to understand that God is prepared, our trust, our hope, our faith will increase. It will not be misplaced, put in man, a system, or an organization, but rightly placed in the ONE who is awesome and excellent. The One Who is the great King over all the earth. Who reigns above the nations & sits on His holy throne. Our eyes, our perspective, our focus will begin to shift & We will exalt Him above the noise of this world, the media, the politics, the news, the reports, the statistics, all that is seen & all that is said. He is above it all. when we come into agreement with that truth, then our worry, fears, anxiety, confusion, the noise, will begin to fade into the background. we will stand in the inheritance, the position that He has already prepared for us right here on earth, right NOW ….. a position of faith, of steadiness, of strength, of hope, of courage. He Himself is prepared, He has prepared for us in the eternal & in the here & now. For those who love Him, it is a place of glorious, enriching inheritance. A place of peace. It’s already prepared!

Ignite the Light

I have this phrase running through my head recently …. “IGNITE THE LIGHT”!


A scripture that has helped me in along my journey with the Lord is Psalm 119:105 “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” His Word, His truths, His promises, His message, His Son who is the Word made flesh, is what brings light to my path. It illuminates the road I am called to walk on, each step. It is what leads me in righteousness and holiness. His Word gives direction, wisdom and peace. Through it I am able to take the next step – whether that is towards a deeper relationship with Him, help in a relationship with someone else, with a job, a ministry, finances, freedom, healing, wholeness, understanding, every decision I need to make …. I am encouraged that He will be a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. The whole thing may not be lit up, so I don’t necessarily know what miles down the road looks like, nor what is even around the corner. But it does mean that the next step He is asking me to take, I can trust He will show it to me, and walk it with me. This promise means that as I go to His word, it will illuminate any darkness in my life, any sin that holds me back, any fear that would parlalyze me, and give me just enough light to help me step out into the unknown with even the littlest amount of faith I have.

I continued to read more in Psalm 119, the absolute longest Psalm in the Bible, but so full of treasure and wisdom and hope. Verse 30 grabbed my heart. “The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.” This comes with an invitation. The invitation is to you and to me, to open the door. To give entrance to His Word. To give it room in our lives. We have the power to open the door of our hearts and let His Word flood in. It is our free will to choose, and the choice is powerful The choice is critical. Yet the choice is simple once you have tasted the Word and promises of the Lord and His faithfulness. It is like honey to the lips. A wellspring to the soul. And truly a light that brings hope, security, and blessing. The beautiful thing is that it also brings understanding, just the right amount that we need for that moment, for that decision, for that next step.

We must IGNITE THE LIGHT. Go to the Word. Get in His Word. Even if it’s one verse at a time. Write it out. Speak it out. Sing it out. Shout it out. Put it on your bathroom mirror. Put it on your fridge. Put it on your dashboard. Put it on your screensaver. Now is the time. The Word is our sword. Our most powerful weapon that we have been given. It gives light. It gives strength. It gives understanding. It gives hope. It gives courage. The Word of God.

Because He is the Word, it represents who He is …. Active. Powerful. Living. Truth. It exudes love because He is LOVE. It exudes hope, because He is HOPE. It exudes Light, because He is LIGHT. Let Him in. Give HIs Word entrance to your heart. Activate it. Ignite it. IGINITE the LIGHT!

His Joy Becomes Mine

The Path of Joy

When life gets hard
When I am feeling down
When the wrestle is real
When my shoulders feel heavy
When my knees are feeble
When I’m feeling unsteady
When joy is hard to find

I look to my Savior.
I don’t have to strive
I don’t have to pretend
I don’t have to muster up strength
I don’t have to put on an act
I can be real with where I’m at

Because
It’s HIS JOY that STRENGTHENS ME
It’s HIS JOY that CARRIES ME
It’s HIS JOY that LIFTS ME
It’s HIS JOY that wins the wrestle, lifts the load, relieves the heaviness, clears the fog, and steadies my feet on the path.


THE JOY OF THE LORD IS MY STRENGTH.
He has plenty of it. And as I focus on this truth, I am reminded that I AM THE JOY THAT WAS SET BEFORE HIM AS HE ENDURED THE CROSS. WE ARE HIS JOY.

And then, I begin to feel His delight, His joy over me. It covers me. His love covers me. And we walk down the path, towards wholeness & healing together, hand in hand – Me being real and Him pouring out His very REAL LOVE & STRENGTH.
He leads. I follow. Down the pathway to JOY.

No Plan, No problem

May His footsteps be your pathway

Jesus said “Follow me.”
He didn’t ask the disciples for a five year plan. He didn’t even give them a plan. He didn’t hold tryouts. He didn’t campaign. He didn’t give a job description. He didn’t lay out His vision. But boy did He have a vision!
•••••••••
There were no blueprints or graphs or flowcharts. There were no steps 1, 2, or 3, only that first step they took when He said, “FOLLOW ME.” No timelines or time clocks. He gave no agenda, no mission statement, no to do list, no lesson plan. But Jesus had a plan …. It was to do exactly what His Father told Him to do and to lead & teach those who chose to follow, in the same way. For He was The Way.
•••••••••
He still is TODAY. He is still calling, beckoning, inviting each of us daily, saying, “FOLLOW ME”!
It’s okay to not see the whole picture or know the whole plan, He does. And it’s bigger and better than we can imagine. A great one. One that gives you a future and a hope. His vision is set on eternity and He wants you to be there with Him. He can show you. One step at a time.
•••••••••••
“Righteousness will go before Him, And shall make His footsteps our pathway.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭85:13‬