Posts

There is Victory in our Thankfulness!

Have you ever had one of those days, where you just woke up on the wrong side of the bed?  You started your day in a foul mood and just couldn’t seem to shake the bad attitude?  I sure have!  I can always tell when I start the day off to a wrong start when I am in a pattern of complaining.  Each complaint takes my day towards a spiral downward in the wrong direction!

It isn’t until I have stopped to acknowledge God for all I am thankful for, that my perspective starts to change.  He gently reminds me that He’s got it and I need not to worry how things are going to work out. I just need to trust in Him.

When I am in a pattern of complaining I am reminded of the Israelites wandering in the desert for all those years.  The Israelite’s were concerned how they would be provided for.  They turned to Moses, who was leading them through the desert, asking him for food and water.  Each time they went to him with their requests, they were provided for by God, in more ways than they even realized.  In all the times they were provided for, not one time did the Israelite’s give thanks to God to all He had given them.  They were in an ugly pattern of complaining and ungratefulness.

Oh, how convicted I am when I read their story.  How many times have I been in this pattern not stopping to thank God all I am thankful for? The conditions in the desert were not the most desirable, but the Israelites were always provided for.  Yes, I am sure it was hot and even uncomfortable wandering around in that desert.  But the Israelites never went hungry, their clothes never became torn or tattered, and they even had water to drink.  They may not have liked their circumstances, but their circumstances became so much worse when they grumbled and complained, leaving them unsatisfied, wanting more.

God was trying to teach the Israelites that He is the provider and maker of all things.  He is the source of anything we could ever need.  God was showing them true happiness isn’t waiting for perfect circumstances to occur but learning to be happy with what you have right now.  

There is Victory in Thankfulness!

It is hard to complain and be thankful at the same time. Thankfulness can turn struggles, troubles and tragedy into hope.  Only God can turn our valleys of troubles into a door of Hope (Hosea 2:15).

There is always something to be thankful for no matter how desperate our circumstances.  Focusing on what we’re THANKFUL for, turns our circumstances in an UPWARD direction back towards God.  It helps us STAY FOCUSED on what He has provided for us.  We may not always have the best of circumstances or even like them, but know God has it all worked out.  He has the best plans ever!

Thankfulness could have not only helped change the Israelites situation but really helped changed their hearts as well.  Focusing on what we don’t have will always leave us unhappy, dissatisfied and wanting more.  Thankfulness turns what we have into enough, a meal into a feast and a stranger into a friend (quote Melody Beattie).

How has thankfulness helped change your perspective?  

When I am thankful it turns my grumbling heart into a happy heart.
When I am thankful it turns my complaining into gratitude.
When I am thankful in my storms, God turns them into something beautiful.

Psalm 118:24 NKJV
“This is the day the Lord has made; 
We will rejoice and be glad in it.”

Trust in God’s provision for you, be thankful for it, it will transform your circumstances and your heart!

'Be joyful, pray continually, Give thanks in all circumstances.' 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIVClick To Tweet

Want to read more about Thankfulness?  Read Psalm 100 and Psalm 145.  

Did you like this blog post?  Please share with others!  If you would like more encouraging messages sent right to your inbox, Subscribe to my blog and receive a weekly Monday Message or like my Author Facebook page to catch the latest posts.  Have a Blessed Week!

I would love to hear from you!  Leave your comments below.  


Subscribe

Receive Daily Encouragement Right to Your Inbox

Finding Victory in Our Messes

I have a confession to make.  There are certain areas of my life that are in a state of continual mess.  My desk is one of them.  I probably shouldn’t admit this, but there is something very comforting about my messy desk.  Maybe because it doesn’t demand me to keep a certain appearance of having it all together all the time.  Or maybe because it doesn’t nag me to clean it up?

Do you have an area of your life that is in a continual messy state?  

I struggle to keep my messy desk organized.  One piece of paper out of place leads to a pile, which leads to a mountain of open books, to a point I don’t know where anything is!  My messiness impedes progress to move forward in completing projects.  I get to the point where my desk is so messy I am forced to organize it.  Even though there is a place for everything, somehow in my busyness and distractions my desk becomes messy again.  The time I need to organize and put away things is easily replaced by other activities or commitments.  I have good intentions to keep my desk clean, but somehow the piles seem to always appear!

My desk is a reminder of how my one decision to not put something away, leads to a big mess!

Can you relate?

There lies a constant struggle within all of us, to keep our lives without messes.  Is this a realistic achievement to have a life without messes?  I don’t think so. I think messes are apart of our lives, whether they are physical or spiritual.  I think our messes are apart of our stories in which God has written.

My mess makes me think of Joseph in the Bible when his brothers sold him into slavery.  His brothers did not like Joseph because their father showed favoritism towards him.  Their jealousy took a turn for the worse when they plotted an evil plan to kill him.  Thank goodness one of their brothers had the sense to spare his life.  Instead, they plotted to throw him in a well and sold him to the Ishmaelites traveling to Egypt.  The brothers then decided to deceive their father, making him believe his beloved son was killed and devoured by a wild beast.  They even killed a goat and dipped Joseph’s coat in blood to show their father, to make their whole story seem more believable (Genesis 37:12-36).

What a mess!  Their evil plot to kill turned into a lie, which turned into a conspiracy of deception–selling their brother into slavery!  I can’t imagine how their father felt, thinking his son died, but was really deceived by his own sons and didn’t even know it!

Oh, what God can do with our messes.  

Little did Joseph’s brothers know, what they intended for harm, God intended for good to accomplish His greater plan (Genesis 50:20).   What the brothers thought would be the downfall of Joseph, God used to equip Joseph all for His glory.

Joseph had been a slave in Egypt for about 13 years.  In that time he learned much because he was a servant of Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh.  He gained favor with Pharaoh when he was able to interpret one of Pharaoh’s dreams (Genesis 41).  Joseph’s dream saved Egypt from a great famine that devastated many lands around them.  Unknowingly, Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt looking for food, not knowing their brother Joseph was there, in a place of power.

In Genesis 45, Joseph finally reveals himself to his brothers, letting them know he indeed was still alive and had power in the land of Egypt.  He was able to spare his family from the famine by supplying them with much food, and land for their flocks and herds.

What an amazing surprise for Joseph’s father Jacob, to discover his son Joseph was still alive!  Joseph could have repaid his brother’s with revenge, but instead, he chose to love them despite selling him into slavery.  Even though Joseph’s brother’s intended to harm him, God was at work the whole time.  He turned the brothers’ horrible decision into one of the most glorious plans ever!  

There is Victory in Our Messes!

Can you relate to Joseph’s story?

Have you been in a mess and felt like there was no way out?

I promise you can trust that God is at work in your life.  If God can deliver Joseph from slavery making him a powerful ruler over Egypt he can deliver you from your circumstances.  Stay faithful in prayer, I promise God is listening!  We may not always see what God’s plans hold, but can trust he has something better for us just ahead!  (Jer. 29:11).

Did you like this blog post?  Please share with others!  If you would like more encouraging messages sent right to your inbox, Subscribe to my blog and receive a weekly Monday Message or like my Author Facebook page to catch the latest posts.  Have a Blessed Week!


Subscribe

Receive Daily Encouragement Right to Your Inbox

3 Things You Don’t Need to be Victorious in Jesus

“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;  your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”  Psalm 139:14

I don’t know about you, but there are days where I feel like I have fallen short.  Days where I feel like I have failed.  Days when I can’t seem to get anything right.  Can you relate?  I am so thankful we can find rest in who God says we are, not in what we do on our own.  Because every day I would fall short.  God makes everything beautiful.  He does not make mistakes.

The world says you have to be something great to be accepted and loved.  The world says you have to be successful and perfect.  The good news is, we don’t have to wait or rely on the world in order to be loved and accepted.  God loves us just the way we are, right now.  We can rejoice in who He says we are.  In Him, we can always be victorious no matter what our circumstances are.

Here are 3 Things You Don’t Need in Order to Be Victorious in Jesus:

1.  Perfect and Sinless-  “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.”  1 Timothy 1:15 NIV

Myth:  In order for God to love us, we must be perfect and sinless.

Truth:  God’s love is unconditional and loves us despite our imperfections and sin.  God loves sinners. He doesn’t love sin.  But loves us even in our sin.  Truth is God created you.  You were loved even before you are born into this world.

2.  Have it all Together or Achieve Something Great-  “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.”  Romans 15:7 NIV

Myth:  In order for God to accept us, we must have it all together and achieve something great.

Truth:  You are accepted and loved no matter who you are, who you were, who you will be or what you achieve.  Your success and worth are not dependent on what the world says, but in who God says you are.

3.  Do Good Works-  “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast.”  Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV

Myth:  I must accomplish good works to earn God’s love, approval and entry into heaven.

Truth:  You do not ever have to earn God’s love.  It is His free gift He offers to everyone who is willing to accept it.  Your good works do not guarantee you entry into heaven;  your acceptance of Jesus Christ as your Savior does.  No amount of good works will ever be enough to earn God’s love.  When you accept Jesus as your Savior, good works overflow from within you, from Him;  not something you do on your own.  When Christ lives in you, His love is what overflows from you, producing good works.  God receives the glory when good works are done as a result of His love living within us;  not us.  It is through God’s grace and our faith in Him we have been saved, not by something we have done on our own.

You are victorious in who God says you are. There is victory in God's love. Click To Tweet

There is nothing the enemy can do to change what God has already done for you.  There is victory in what God has already done for you.  

How do you live a life that is victorious in Jesus, no matter what your circumstances?

Did you like this blog post?  Please share with others!  If you would like more encouraging messages sent right to your inbox, Subscribe to my blog and receive a weekly Monday Message or like my Author Facebook page to catch the latest posts.  Have a Blessed Week!

I would love to hear from you!  Leave your comments below.  


Subscribe

Receive Daily Encouragement Right to Your Inbox

There is Victory in Celebration!

“Everything has its time.  “To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven:  A time to be born, And a time to die; A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted:  A time to kill, And a time to heal;  A time to break down, And a time to build up:  A time to weep, And a time to laugh;  A time to mourn, And a time to dance;”  Ecclesiastes 3:1-4

It’s Time to Celebrate!  This season we are celebrating…..

  • The Start of a New School Year
  • One year of blogging!
  • A New Bible Study:  “The Victorious Life”

A lot has happened over this past year.  It’s hard to believe it’s been a whole year since I took a step of faith and started blogging on heathergillis.com.  God was calling me to write.  I had no idea what I was doing, no idea how to get started.  But then God stepped in….. He made everything happen.  I only had only had to take one step of faith and God opened the many doors of opportunity.

Our steps of faith are meant to be celebrated.  Our steps of faith lead to God’s greater victory.  

If we never took steps of faith, we would never see all that God can do.  We would never see how all-powerful God really is.  You may be enduring a trial that seems way too much to handle.  Or carrying a burden that seems way too heavy to carry.  You are not meant to go through these trials and burdens alone.  God is with you and will be your strength and your comfort.

There is Victory in our Trials and Burdens.

There is Victory in our Steps of Faith.  

Keep holding onto God’s promises.  His love and truth mends broken hearts, eternally heals, and allows us to be filled with His abundance of everything He has to offer. You can rejoice even in your circumstances because of God’s love for you.  Here are 10 reminders when life has you feeling defeated.  Don’t allow the lies of Satan to keep you defeated.  You are victorious!  Nothing in this world can ever change God’s love for you!

10 Victory Bible Verses to Remind you:  You Are Victorious!  1.  “The LORD is my strength and my song; he has given me victory.”  Psalm 118:14 NLT

2.   “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”  1 Corinthians 15:57-58 ESV

3.  “I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it’s your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory.”  1 Peter 1:6-7 MSG

4.  “For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.” Deuteronomy 20:4 NIV

5.  “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

6.  “for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.” 1 John 5:4

7.  “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” 1 Corinthians 15:55 NIV

8.  “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Romans 8:37-39 NIV

9.  For the Lord takes delight in his people;  he crowns the humble with victory. Let his faithful people rejoice in this honor and sing for joy on their beds.  Psalm 149:4-5

10.  “The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the LORD.”  Proverbs 21: 31 ESV

“Fear not, for I am with you, be not dismayed, for I am your God;  I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you, with my victorious right hand.”  (Isaiah 41:10, RSV).  

We are over-comers in our faith.  These trials refine us like pure gold, building our strength, preparing us for greater things to come, which give birth to something new.

When we celebrate what God has done for us;  it leads us from defeated to victorious.  You are meant to live the most victorious ever in Jesus.  No matter what your circumstances are, you can celebrate because of what Jesus has done for you!  It’s time to celebrate!

There is Victory in Celebration.    

Jesus changes everything. In Jesus, we are never defeated! Click To Tweet

What are you celebrating?

Has God called you to take a step of faith?  

How has Jesus changed your life?  

Did you like this blog post?  Please share with others!  If you would like more encouraging messages sent right to your inbox, Subscribe to my blog and receive a weekly Monday Message or like my Author Facebook page to catch the latest posts.  Have a Blessed Week!

I would love to hear from you.  Leave your comments below.

Free Printable Bookmark. Click on the link to download. Victorious Bible Verses-3.  

  


Subscribe

Receive Daily Encouragement Right to Your Inbox

Finding Victory in the Storms

“That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.”  Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat.  There were also other boats with him.  A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat so that it was nearly swamped.  Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion.  The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”  He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be Still!”  then the wind died down and it was completely calm.  He said to his disciples, “Why are you afraid?  Do you still have no faith?”  They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this?  Even the wind and the waves obey him!”  Mark 4:35-41 NIV

Have you ever felt like the disciples before, being caught in a storm and didn’t know what to do?  The storm came upon the boat fast and furious, filling the boat with water.  The disciples’ fears of sinking and drowning were soon going to become a reality if something didn’t happen to change their situation.  The disciples then wake Jesus to ask ‘Don’t you care?’  Jesus responded not to the disciples but to the storm itself and says only three words, ‘Quiet, Be Still!’  

It wasn’t until the disciples turned to Jesus, that their situation was changed.  They could have lingered in the ‘what ifs’ or the sinking of their boat, but that would have never changed their situation and put the trust in themselves.  It wasn’t until they turned to rely on Jesus and asked Him for help, that the storm was calmed.

Jesus then asks the disciples, “Why are you afraid?  Do you not have faith?”  Jesus is basically saying, ‘you silly disciples, haven’t I taught you anything?’  ‘I am right here with you in the same boat you are, why do you fear the storm?  Why are you putting your faith in what you see?’  Up until this point Jesus had already performed many miracles, such as His disciples catching a large amount of fish (Luke 5:3-10), to healing many such as a leper (Luke 5:12-15), a paralyzed man (Luke 5:18-26) and raised a widow’s son from the dead! (Luke 7:11-17).  Jesus is saying, ‘Hello!  What else do I have to do to prove my abilities to you?  I can make all things possible!’   Jesus was trying to teach the disciples, stop relying on your circumstances in which you see and start relying on and depending in Him!

There is Victory when you put our faith in what God can do.  

Maybe you have been there before, in a middle of a storm and all you see is your circumstances bringing you down.  Oh, how I have been there many times before, where all I have seen is a hopeless situation.  It is in those hopeless moments, God uses them to display his divine intervention.  God doesn’t want us to put our hope and trust in ourselves, He wants us to put our hope and trust in Him.  We will never know the abilities of God if we don’t let him handle our storms.

If Jesus can quiet a storm by merely saying three words, imagine what he can do in your situation if you just ask Him?

Nothing is impossible for God.  He is capable of all things.  

There is Victory when we allow God to handle our storms. Click To Tweet

Even if we can’t see how it is all going to turn out, it doesn’t matter.  God knows and sees the bigger plan.  Putting our faith in God’s abilities will always lead to a victorious life in Him.  

Where do you find your hope in your storms?

Do you allow God to handle your situation or do you try to handle things on your own?

Did you like this blog post?  Please share with others!  If you would like more encouraging messages sent right to your inbox, Subscribe to my blog and receive a weekly Monday Message or like my Author Facebook page to catch the latest posts.  Have a Blessed Week!

I would love to hear from you!  Leave your comments below.  


Subscribe

Receive Daily Encouragement Right to Your Inbox

The Victory of Your Worth

On one of our family vacations this summer we went to a fishing town in Alaska.  It was a rainy day and I was out walking our dog.  She was a brand new edition to our family of four.  She’s was a super adorable labradoodle puppy and at the time was only 4 months old.  As I was walking, I passed a gentleman who at first glance looked tattered and worn, (in fact he may have been homeless), says to me, “That’s a very nice looking dog you have there, she’s a little raggedy, but a nice looking dog.”  Don’t you love when people give you a roundabout compliment?  The comment struck me as funny because of the same raggedy appearance the man had himself!?!?!

I’ll admit, her wet fur did make her appear ‘a little raggedy,’ BUT if the man even knew how much value she added to our family and the price we paid for her, he would not have described her as raggedy!

But that’s just it.  This story describes many of us.  You may be tattered, worn and a little raggedy, but do you know how valuable you are?  Or do you know the price that was paid for you?  How much more valuable is something when you know the value of it?

It doesn’t matter how torn, tattered or ragged you are, your worth and value is not determined by external appearances.  Our value and worth are not measured by what color hair or eyes we have, not how tall we are, or even how much we weigh.  Our worth is determined by the blood of Jesus who paid the price for us.  What do you see when you look in the mirror?  Someone who has more value and worth than all the rubies and diamonds in the world or …….?  Truth is there is no amount of money that can pay the price for your life because it is priceless and beyond valuable.  This world can never pay a high enough price for the worth of your life.

Your life, your value, your worth, is priceless in the eyes of God. Click To Tweet

You don’t have to find your value in the acceptance and approval in what the world says about you (Rom. 12:2).  The world constantly changes its definition of what makes you valuable and worthy.  There will never be an end to keeping up with what they say makes you worthy.  The good news is God loves you just the way you are and would never have sent Jesus if he didn’t think you were worth it.  God sent Jesus for everyone.

There is victory when you live in who God says you are.Click To Tweet

You don’t have to try to fit into a mold of who the world says you should be.  God wants you to be who you are, how he created you to be, not try to be something your not.

Ephesians 2:8-9
“For it is by grace you have been saved through faith- and not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works so that no one can boast.”

Did you like this blog post?  Please share with others!  If you would like more encouraging messages sent right to your inbox, Subscribe to my blog and receive a weekly Monday Message or like my Author Facebook page to catch the latest posts.  Have a Blessed Week!

I would love to hear from you!  Leave your comments below.


Subscribe

Receive Daily Encouragement Right to Your Inbox

Finding Victory in Our Struggles

Have you ever struggled with something and wondered ‘God where are you?’  Or asked God, ‘Why Me?’ or ‘God do you even care?’  

Have you ever prayed so hard for God to answer a prayer and wondered, ‘God are you even listening?’  

I have been there.  I have asked God all of these questions before.  I don’t have all the answers to why things happen the way they do.  I do know God loves us and desires us to live a victorious life in Him, despite our defeating circumstances.   So how does one go from Defeat to Victory?  

The answer lies at the cross.  

Where do you stand at the cross?

Sides of the Cross:  
Do you stand behind the cross?  You can see the cross, but you can’t see the victory or the suffering of Jesus.  You can’t bring yourself to walk up to the cross because you don’t think the cross can help and can’t see it’s true meaning.  You live in continually defeat of your circumstances, because you put your faith in what you see.  

Do you stand at the side of the cross?  You can see the cross and the suffering, but you can’t bring yourself to walk up to the cross and reach out your hand because you are holding onto your sin.  You have deemed yourself not worthy of the cross.  You live with unforgiveness and can’t seem to let go.  

Do you stand in front of the cross?  You go ahead of God, get in a mess look around and then ask ‘God where are you?’  You can see the cross but it is far out of your reach.  You desire the crown but not the suffering.  You chase what the world considers valuable.  You want to pick and choose the parts of Jesus you want.  You’re surrounded by busyness and distractions.  Temptations are running you’re life drawing you further away from the cross with each choice you make.  The enemy is claiming victory over you keeping you far from God’s truth and out of reach of the cross.   The enemy doesn’t want to let you get too close to experience and see the victory of Jesus.  He doesn’t want you to see the whole Jesus and experience Him in his entirety in his suffering, his mercy, his grace, his richness, his servanthood, or his enduring love.   

Do you stand at the cross?  You partake in everything Jesus has to offer;  the suffering and the crown.  You allow the power of the cross to intercede on your behalf.  You lay your burdens and sin at the cross, you have given everything to God, there is nothing getting in the way of him.  Your life has been completely surrendered to him.  You allow the cross to empower you to live in the victory of Christ!  

OR

Do you even see the cross at all?  You are surrounded by unbelievers.  You have stopped going to church altogether and don’t even know the last time you’ve prayed.  You have fallen far away from God.  Maybe you used to have a relationship with him, but you have been burned, either by a judgmental Christian, a corrupt church, or dead-end circumstances that lead you to know where you want to be.  You have lost your hope and don’t trust God at all.

Jesus didn’t die on the cross for nothing.  He didn’t stay in the grave– He was resurrected.   Our burdens were meant to be left in the grave and never carried beyond the cross.  The power of the cross is nothing without the resurrection.  Satan would like nothing more than to keep us broken inside that empty tomb.  He would like to keep us blinded and whisper lies from the world to keep us from seeing the truth.  We can have all the evidence in front of us, but if we don’t have faith we will miss it altogether. 

Do you live in the power the cross or continual defeat?  Victory lies within the cross, not far away from it, not behind it, not beside it, not ahead of it, but within it.  

There is victory in our struggles.  To experience the entire victory, we must allow Christ to live within us by inviting him in so he can work and within us. 

The victory will never be experienced on the sidelines.  It will never be experienced when the cross is out of our reach.  The victory is something to be done together as a team  (Jesus and us) to be fully engaged in, participating in, not just watching.  The victory is won by actively living out our faith even in our trials, even when we’re persecuted.  Oh, how glorious is the reward of the victory.  It’s all for us to have right now and it’s right in front of us.

Our victory is only one step away.  We are only one step away from surrender.  One step away from forgiveness.  One step away from letting go and letting God.

Where do you stand at the cross?  Are you able to confidently live out your faith to overcome your everyday battles?  You are made to be victorious.  Don’t allow circumstances to conquer and defeat you.  Satan is the defeated one, not you.

Where do you find your victory when you have struggles?

Did you like this blog post?  Please share with others!  If you would like more encouraging messages sent right to your inbox, Subscribe to my blog and receive a FREE e-book “God’s Plan for Victory:  Esther” or like my Author Facebook page to catch the latest posts.  Have a Blessed Week!

I would love to hear from you!  Leave your comments below.


Subscribe

Receive Daily Encouragement Right to Your Inbox

3 Things We Can Do When Tragedy Strikes

What a heartbreaking week it has been for the city of Orlando.  For all the victims, their families, the devastation and lives that have been lost.  It’s an unnerving feeling when evil shows it’s face, lurks around in unexpected places and attacks when you least expect it.

It is a face I know oh too well and a face I’d rather not see over and over.  If there is one thing tragedy has taught me is there is a choice to make.  To allow evil to illicit fear and dictate our actions or to choose love and allow love to dictate our actions.  

When love is the choice, evil never has a chance. No amount of evil can ever destroy God's love. Click To Tweet

When love is poured out onto tragedy good things grow from it.  Nothing ever good grows from hate or evil.  The face of evil may change, how they attack, what they target, but God’s love never changes.  It is and always will be bigger.  It will never fail you and is what will keep you anchored in the storm.

No one chooses for tragedy to happen.  But when it does there is something YOU and I can do when tragedy strikes.

3 Things We Can Do When Tragedy Strikes:

1.  Love-  We are called to Love.  God loves sinners.  God does not love sin, he may not always agree with what we do but his love is unconditional.  We are all sinners.  God still loves us even if he doesn’t always agree with what we do.  Just like a parent loves a child.  His love not dependent on what we do or don’t do.  To love someone doesn’t mean you have to agree with them.

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.”  John 13:34-35

God loves broken people and our brokenness.  When we hurt God hurts.  He loves and accepts us for who we are right now.  As Christians what an opportunity to love those who God loves.  To love how Jesus loves.  To choose love despite tragedy.  How will anyone know the love of God if we don’t love them?  

How will anyone ever know
There is Hope in Devastation
There is Order in the Chaos
There is Healing for the Broken Hearted
There is Help for the Hopeless
There is Beauty found in the Pain
There is Peace in Storm

If WE don’t show them?  

'Encourage one another, build each other up.' 1 Thessalonians 5:11Click To Tweet

2.  Pray-  “Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone, be joyful always, pray continually.”  1 Thessalonians 5:15-17 Prayer moves mountains.  It allows God’s divine intervention to intercede on our behalf.  Prayer joins us, connects us unites us.  It is our communication with God.  Prayer is powerful in numbers.  Sometimes prayer not only changes the situation but our hearts as well.  When we pray specific prayers it makes a difference.  

  • We can pray for the victims and their families to be able to get connected to receive the help they need to start their healing process,
  • Pray this will be an opportunity for them to receive God’s love and receive the beautiful message of the gospel, they can find hope and healing in God
  • Pray that Christians and the community would rise up and extend God’s love, mercy, grace and not judge, but love
  • Pray God would reveal to you how you can help and be apart of something bigger than yourself.  

3.  Come alongside those who are hurting-  “He Comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us.”  2 Corinthians 1:4 MSG


Just as God comes alongside us when we go through hard times we can come alongside others who are going through hard times.  Not that you desire tragedy upon anyone, but how comforting is it when you meet someone who has gone through a similar situation?  Our pain is not meant to be wasted but to turn into something good.  In a past blog post, I wrote  How to Come Alongside Others Who Are Going Through Hard Times.  We can always do something.  We can make a meal, pray, offer help and support, our time, just being available in their time of need.

God did not do this.  He does not like evil nor wishes it upon anyone.  Evil is Evil.  Evil does not come from God. Evil comes from the Prince of darkness himself, Satan.  Evil can never change the fact that God already conquered death.  Evil will keep trying to put division among us, turn us away from God making us believe God doesn’t love us, that God is not good.  If God didn’t love us he would have never sent Jesus to die for us.  He loves us more than anything, He sent his own son for us.

'For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ' 1 Thessalonians 5:9Click To Tweet

I do not have all the answers.  We may never know why tragedy happens until we go to heaven one day.  Even if God told us the answer we still may not understand.  Choosing to continually search for the answer to the ‘Why’ will only leave you on a desperate weary chase for more.  Because you will never be satisfied even if you received the answer.  

It all comes down to a matter of faith.  Trusting in God’s plan and his promises.  Please know that he only wants the best for you, He loves us beyond measure and he has the best plans ever.  His word and truth will keep you safe.  God has already fought the battle and won.  Even if evil strikes, when God’s love is the choice it will…..

Turn Terror into Triumph.
Turn Victims into Victors.
Turn a Bad situation into a Blessing.
Turn a Mess into a Message.
Turn your Pain into something Beautiful.

What evil intends for evil God will use for good (paraphrased Genesis 50:20)Click To Tweet

God loves you!  Have a Blessed week!  

I would love to hear from you!  How has God’s love transformed your situation?  Please Share!  Leave Comments below.  

Did you like this blog post?  Please share with others!  If you would like more encouraging messages sent right to your inbox, Subscribe to my blog to receive a weekly Monday Message or like my Author Facebook page to catch the latest posts.  Have a Blessed Week!


Subscribe

Receive Daily Encouragement Right to Your Inbox

The Joy of Less: Becoming More With Less

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched–they must be felt with the heart.”  Quote Hellen Keller

Has God ever asked you to walk away from it all?  To give everything up and walk in a totally different direction?

That is our story.   In fact, God did a complete overhaul and did the impossible, transforming our hearts.  It all started three years ago when God starting working fervently in our hearts.

It started with a prayer.


God, I pray that your desires will be my desires.  I pray my heart will be filled with what you desire for me.  

Be careful what you pray for. That prayer opened the door for God to do something amazing.  It allowed him to orchestrate the impossible.  God asked me a very tough question, “Will you allow me to be the one to fill you with more of what I have planned for you?  Will you trust me to lead you to the best life ever?”  

What God was asking us to do, was a tall order.  He was asking us to walk away from the life we had been working toward, that we had built over the past 10 years.  He had asked us to walk away from our house, our family and friends, our jobs, everything we knew.  Why?  To be filled with the more God desired for us.  

By allowing God to fill us with His desires it opened a door for so much more.  It allowed God to rid of us anything getting in the way of him so he could fill us with his abundance and not the world’s.  To the world we seemed crazy, giving up a life that is considered the ‘American Dream.’  You could say we had it all according to the standard of the world.  But there will always be something more the world is telling you to buy and achieve, this will only leave a person weary and depleted.  

Allowing God to have our struggles, made more room for Him to orchestrate the impossible and re-directed our focus to what mattered most;  God, each other, making memories and serving others.

Clutter, busyness, and distractions will always get in the way of God's plan for us. Click To Tweet

Quote Chicken Soup for the Soul:  The Joy of Less- “Life is focused now on what we are putting into our hearts and not what we are putting into our closets.” ~Heather Gillis  

It is amazing what God can do when we allow Him to have all of our heart, and give Him all of our struggles, trusting Him with the plans he has for us.  


Will you allow God to lead you to the best life ever in Him?Click To Tweet

I promise when you take one step of faith, God will work out the details and open many doors of opportunity. Click To Tweet


Did you like this blog post?  Please share with others!   Want to know more ways to de-clutter, simplify and how we become more with less?  
Read our story published in “Chicken Soup for the Soul:  The Joy of Less,” Click Here. 

When we get rid of the physical clutter it helps to also get rid of clutter in your hearts as well.  Want more encouraging posts? Subscribe to my blog and receive a FREE e-book “Esther:  God’s Plan for Victory” or like my Author Facebook page.  

I would love to hear from you!  Leave your comments below.

What have you cleared from your life to make room for what matters most? 

How do you become more with Less?


Subscribe

Receive Daily Encouragement Right to Your Inbox