Tag: Surrender

Reflecting on Your Life and Service

How have you taken the time to reflect on your lives and walk with Christ? We need to consider the direction we are headed. I need to do this in my life, too. Remember how I have lived and loved Christ. While I may lack strength at times, I have chosen to serve Him.

Such reflection will keep us encouraged and energized in our faith. We have been given the amazing opportunity to come and experience our Mighty God through His Gospel! Jesus Christ, our Lord, and Savior, has arrived and will save us. What is stopping us from accepting Him and surrendering our lives?

23Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the LORD, not for human masters, 24since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the LORD as a reward. It is the LORD Christ you are serving.

Colossians 3:23-24, NIV

Image: Cristian Newman (Unsplash)

Soul Filled Rest

Matthew 11:28 says, “Come to Me [Jesus] all you who are weary and heavy burdened and I will give you rest.”

I need His rest, and I imagine so do you!

The world we live in – is so fast paced. Even for those who have another trial, outside of chronic illness, we can struggle to cope with this fast paced life. It’s easy to feel pressured to immediately reply to that email or text. Or to do that for so-and-so right at this very second. We forget that, we too, we need rest.

The other day, I just sat at the word “come”. As I come and surrender everything, I need to lay at His feet and rest. What does such rest look like? I grapple with this a lot. Does it mean no TV while resting? Absolutely not (and I have to remind myself that it’s okay to watch TV).

It’s about making Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior. Giving Him access to the parts of me, that I might not share as well as other parts of me.

I am trying to learn what exactly “come to Me [Jesus]”, looks like for me. On a daily basis. When maybe it’s more than a little bit hard to sit with my Bible and my laptop is being used by someone else. I am just trying to learn how to come. I know I make big mistakes, but it is about continually making an effort to come and sit at His feet.

I hope this may encourage you, especially if you are struggling. And remember I am only a comment away, so if you guys need support… reach out whether its for prayer or to have a like-minded believer to talk with… I am here for you all.

Devotion: Honest, But Desperate

Can I be honest?

If walking out of a doctor’s appointment after 30 seconds wasn’t social Siberia, I would have today. There was just something about this appointment, that made it worse than the rest.

I say all that to say:

I understand having a bad day or the urge to walk out of a difficult situation.

I want to ask you something that my Uber driver asked me on my way home. “What’s next?” Maybe, you aren’t too sure what your next step ought to be in the physical and emotional realm of things.

I want to be that friend who sits and prays with you – as you wait for God’s directive toward what is next.

What’s Next?

” Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God (Romans 12:2).”

After we have grieved our situations with our Amazing God, we need to ask ourselves (or be asked by a loving friend) what is next for us. For myself, the next step(s) are clear. While I would love to run away from my life and ignore all responsibilities, I can’t do that. And, the odds are you cannot either. So instead of living in a fantasy world where I neglect all responsibility, I want to share what is next – for myself.

Your list may be completely different, depending on your circumstances, your relationship, and surrender to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

  1. Make the next appointment with someone new, and keep searching until I find someone who both listens and is compassionate.
  2. Spend the time praying.
  3. Dive into God’s Word – the Bible.
  4. Fellowship with other Christ followers.

Your answer to this question might look differently, I imagine, but this is my written response to such a question. But, I hope you include steps 2-4 in your plan of what’s next.

Choosing God’s Plan Over My Own

We desperately need to hear God’s Plan for what’s next!

Spending time in prayer, His Word, and fellowshipping with like-minded Christians are each important activities, which will help us discern God’s will for our lives!

And I am desperate for God’s direction.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight (Proverbs 3:5-6).”

I have learned enough to stand on God’s promises, because He never leaves my side. He always is acting on my behalf and even working in ways I cannot see or understand. So, I want to remember the essential need to cling to His Word and Will.

Disclaimer: You can now support Gracefully Overcoming through your Amazon purchases. At no cost to you, Amazon will allow you to shop and Gracefully Overcoming get a bit of a benefit from your shopping. It can be any purchase you make. But, I am still quite fond of this title by Charles Swindoll.

In Him,
Stace

Trust Habit #6

Welcome, my friends, to our sixth installment for our “Trust Habits” series!

A trust habit is anything that will build up my trust and intimacy in my relationship with my heavenly Father.

Be still, and know that I am God!

Psalm 46:10a, New Living Translation

Lately, I have been finding myself positioning toward a “meditation pose”. I have been enjoying it for a few weeks now. It is becoming a more habitual practice in my life, as I walk through difficult things in my family life.

Envision this: legs crossed. palms open and stretched out. Focusing on God and His Biblical truth.

Admittedly

I realize meditation doesn’t have a great reputation in the Christian community. While this is true, it reminds me to pause my life, breathe in and out, and direct my attention to the Lord.

Meditation for me means focusing on my relationship with God and His Biblical truths.

Isn’t that what truth habits are all about?

Gaining intimacy with our sweet Savior Jesus Christ and learning to trust Him right where we are.

Process, Over Product

In Child Development classes, we quickly learned that the process of learning and growing was far more important than a replica of a teacher’s painting. Likewise, our time and relationship with our Savior Jesus is what this time is about.

As long as our time is focused on God and His Biblical truth, that’s all that matters. It isn’t about a perfect twenty minutes of focused meditation, regardless of how much of an achievement that might be.

This idea into meditation helps me to meet with the Lord one-on-one, in the middle of my messy circumstances. It is about bringing my mess into His light – as I choose to focus on Him quietly and remember who the Bible teaches me that God is.

Biblical truths like:

  • God is holy.
  • God is full of love, justice, and power.
  • God is faithful, even when we are not.
  • God invites us into His presence.
  • Sin separates us from God.
  • God sent His Son Jesus Christ to bring salvation to all mankind.

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.

Psalm 19:14

During my time, I am learning to put on worship music.

I have too many things going on in my brain. So the worship music does help me to give my mountain of circumstances to the Lord.

Life is hard. And the Lord God is the only Way that I will make it through this really-really-hard-stuff.

If I can just give my soul a moment to pause, to breathe, and to remember to “Be still and know [He] is God” – then I will be far better off.

Unsplash Photo by Lua Valentia.

In Christ,
Stacey

Trust Habits #4

praying woman inside church

A trust habit is anything that causes us to have greater intimacy and trust in our Lord Jesus Christ.

We will talk a bit more about prayer, as we go through this series. But, I wanted to start today with a prayer journal habit.

Prayer is the vehicle in which we will see our trust in the Lord grow the deepest.

“And we are confident that He hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases Him (1 John 5:14, NLT).”

My Prayer Journal Routine –

As I begun this week, I knew the need for a different approach. It was the perfect opportunity to develop a new routine to stick to “most of the time”.

So when I headed out to the Dollar Tree with my mom, I knew I wanted to “splurge” on one of their notebooks. The reason why I wanted to go out and purchase one is this:

Just as I was intentionally purchasing this prayer journal, I would just as intentionally jot down my prayers.

At the time of writing this, I have successfully used it for six days – which is a victory.

Here are four reasons I will continue to prayer journal.

#1: Intentional

Using a specific journal for our prayers – causes us to intentionally turn to the Lord and sharing our needs with Him. I am bringing not only my needs, but the needs of loved ones.

As I continue to write down my prayers, I am noticing that I am trusting the Lord more – to handle everything!

#2: More Prayerful

When I wake up early in the morning, I am more willing to spend that time in prayer. Talking to my Sweet Savior about loved ones and situations on my heavy heart. The time is becoming a treasure and well spent.

#3: Growth

Having a prayer journal will allow me to see how my prayers have grown. Not only will I see how God has faithfully answered them, I will be able to see the development of my prayer life. Just as a baby goes through stages from holding up its head, sitting up, and crawling, I will be able to take note of how the Lord has grown me in my prayer life.

I will be able to see how I have ran to God in my times of need.

#4: Encouragement

We can find much encouragement through the prayers of others. Our Savior Jesus Christ. Apostle Paul. BarlowGirl. Countless others. Their prayers influenced many.

May we grow deeply in our trusting Jesus, as we write out our prayers.

16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit.17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. – Eph. 3:16-17

Assignment: For seven days, write down a simple prayer each day. Give God access to your heart. What is weighing heavy on your spirit? Share it with our Mighty God, even if it means letting walls come down.

Featured Image: Naassom Azevedo of Unsplash.

In Him,
Stacey