Reminder: We Serve An Unconventional God

Below is a post that I did a while back on how we serve a unique God. Our God is never average or boring. He does everything in a spectacular way!
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We serve an unconventional God. He doesn't do things normally. He likes to be creative. He loves to show off His power and might.

When He wanted to bring forth His chosen people, He selected a previously barren couple who were well into old age. In looking for a leader to help deliver His people, He chose to use a scared young man who only had 300 men to fight with him. God plucked a shepherd boy off the country hills and turned him into a mighty man of valor and Israel's greatest king.

Our God can take nothing and turn it into greatness.

What situation are you facing? What's looking impossible in your world? The very thing you think can never come to pass is the very thing that God may use to show off His spectacular power. Your crazy situation can very well be an amazing testimony in the making.

You serve a God that can do anything with anyone! Plus, He's always looking for opportunities to show off. He's just looking for someone who believes that He can make it happen. All God needs is your faith.

Don't let your circumstances tell you that you've lost. Don't allow your surroundings to say what you can't do or who you can't be. God Almighty is your Father! The King of Kings is your Lord! You can do and be anything.

Verse of the Day: Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. 1 Corinthians 1:27, 28

Throwback: It Doesn't Matter... God's Plan Will Prevail!

Looking back at posts can be refreshing. The post below just encouraged me all over again about the goodness of the Lord. God is faithful!

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This morning in my devotions Psalm 33:11 was my focus scripture: But the Lord’s plans stand firm forever; his intentions can never be shaken. (NLT)


This verse blessed me so much! In spite of how much things appear to be out of order, late, or even non-existent, God's plans for me will continue to stand firm! What He has ordained for me will come to pass! I don't have to be concerned about what is or isn't happening, who is or isn't acting right, or what I do or don't have. The Lord's plans will stand firm.

Whatever you may be going through, hold on to what God has spoken over your life! Don't give up out of frustration or fear! The Lord's plans will override whatever obstacles, interruptions, or detours that hit your path. In fact, the very thing that is frustrating you may be a part of God's omniscient plan.

Take heart and know that the Lord always has the last say. Even if we messed it up ourselves, we cannot stop God's plans from unfolding. If He said it, He will do it!

That just made my week! I can smile both inside and out knowing that God's plans are the ones that will prevail. Hallelujah!

Verse of the Day: Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ... Philippians 1:6

Throwback Thursday: You Can Stay Full of Joy!

So, yesterday I declared I was going to have a happy day. Of course, that didn't work. Happiness is fleeting, and by the afternoon my happiness had flown. Today, I'm going to be a bit wiser and declare that this will be a joyful day! Read the post below to figure out the difference.

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I don't know what it is, but I've been feeling a bit blah lately. Maybe it's the gray clouds in the sky. Maybe it's work. Maybe it's the fact that I really don't understand this new class I've started this semester. It could be a host of other things that aren't that great that are going on in my life.


Yesterday, I had enough of feeling blue. I reminded myself of the fact that the joy of the Lord is my strength. I shook myself and chose to change my mood.

It's easy to allow the occurrences of what's going on around us to affect what's going on inside us. I'm amazed sometimes at how quickly my own mood can change. There I was singing a happy song, feeling great, and something (usually it's a someone) just breezes through and ruins my sun shiny moment.

Sometimes we have to choose to rise above the negativity that would love to pull us down. We must remind ourselves that since we have the Lord, we have His joy. One of the definitions of joy is a source of happiness.* God is a constant source of happiness!

No matter what's going on, no matter what we face, we always have a source of happiness on the inside. It's just up to us to go to God and grab hold of His joy.

Just thinking on His attributes and meditating on His goodness is bound to bring a smile to your lips and a twinkle to your eye. Remembering His bountiful blessings and His renewed mercies is always a way to shift our perspectives and focus.

So, don't allow yourself to wallow in despondency. Don't give in to the frown that's trying to invade your face. As you stand in the midst of adversity, fight to maintain your source of strength. Remember that you have the joy of the Lord.

Verse of the Day: ...neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength. Nehemiah 8:10b

*Dictionary.com

Throwback: Flood!

With all the rain showers going on in Chicagoland today, I decided to repost an entry I did on flooding early in my blogging days.

Enjoy and stay dry!

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This past weekend, I went down to Tennessee to see a friend graduate from college. Upon my arrival, I was greeted by rising flood waters. I had to switch hotels, missed out on spending some quality time with my friend, and prayed that her graduation would even happen. Thankfully, it did – after switching venues several times, and moving back several hours – and I was able to get through the soaked roads to the venue.


This whole episode got me thinking. So much rain fell that everyone’s set agenda had to change. Everything had to stop to pay homage to the rising flood. No one could do what they wanted to, and we all had to move in response to what the waters dictated.

Sometimes God has to grab our attention in the same way. He has to allow certain catastrophes to occur in order for us to stand still and give Him our undivided eyesight. It’s amazing how an unsolvable problem sends us racing to the altar. It’s also somewhat disconcerting for our greatest spiritual growth to commence in the midst of our greatest sorrows.

I’m kind of embarrassed that I always nuzzle closest to God when I’m the most afraid, worried, or sad. It shouldn’t take tragedies of epic proportions for me to throw myself into the arms of my Heavenly Father. He shouldn’t feel jealous of how I carry on in life giving him some of my time when things are going well. He so obviously deserves more of my time no matter the situations in my life.

Just something to think about as you start your day today. Do you think God is considering allowing the waters to rain in your life just to get your attention? Take some quality time and snuggle in close to your Heavenly Father while everything’s going well. Spend some moments of peaceful deep contentment with the One you love above all others.

And even if you are in the midst of your storm season right now, know that God loves you and will never give you more than you can handle. Stay close to your Father, and He’ll take care of you.

Verse of the Day: In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. I Thessalonians 5:18

Throwback Thursday: Dying Daily

Here's an old post from the first year I started blogging. Enjoy!

Ever been on one of those great spiritual streaks? You know, when your life is so blessed, you're happy, loving on God, feeling His power work through you... The times where you get breakthroughs with every prayer, new insights with every scripture you read... You heart is full of love for your fellow man and nothing fazes you because you are God's child.


You know what always seems to happen to me with those times in my life? Some event, some person, or some situation always finds a way to trip that hairline trigger I have. Suddenly I find myself on the opposite side of committing some kind of sin, a sin I thought I had dealt with, conquered, and buried. Even worse, sometimes it's a new one that I didn't even know was an issue for me.

It doesn't have to be big, but just the fact that I was able to fall back into that sinful nature always sends a blow to my heart. The blessed high that was just enveloping my every moment is quickly lost, replaced by shame, regret, and sadness.

I have to go back to the altar and ask for forgiveness. Praise God that His mercy never runs out!

It's easy to forget that we are all works in progress... especially when we have a period of good behavior. The Bible says to not think more highly of ourselves than we should. The same chapter speaks on presenting ourselves daily as a living sacrifice. (Romans 12) We should willfully give ourselves up to the cleansing fire of the Holy Spirit to purge away all the impurities of sin whether we think it's there or not. Trust me, God will find a way to send anything hidden bubbling up to the surface.

Today's Verse: Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:21

Throwback Thursday: Pull Up Some Joy!

Since I've been talking about joy this week, I decided to post an entry I did on joy a while back. EnJOY!

With all of the chaos that’s going on in the world today, it may be a bit hard to find some joy. It’s so easy to focus on everything that seems to be going wrong: the job you can’t find, the money you don’t have, the inspiration that you’ve lost… How can one find joy in the midst of so much despair?


I love the scripture that where it talks about David encouraging himself in the Lord. (I Samuel 30:6) Often encouragement comes down to us deliberately choosing to look past the problem and see the God that is always there. No matter what we go through, God is always orchestrating things for our good. We just get so caught up in the process that we tend to disregard the positives sometimes.

Don’t let this happen to you. Whenever you feel despair knocking at your door, block it out by remembering the goodness of the Lord. Remember how He helped you overcome obstacles in times past. Remember where He sent unexpected blessings in your time of need. Think of how He sent His mercy when you knew you deserved punishment. Take heart in how he rescued you from destruction.

God is so good! And He is the same God today that He was when He walked you through all of those other valleys of darkness. Don’t lose hope! Reach deep inside and pull up some joy! The joy of the Lord will give you the strength to make it through! (Nehemiah 8:10)

Verse of the Day: We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed. 2 Corinthians 4:8, 9

Today, A Throwback... Tomorrow, I'll Be Back

Today, I'm taking a mini-breather. I've been running far too much, and it has caught up to me! So enjoy this throwback post from a while back. I'll be back sipping Ti with you tomorrow!

Take Advantage of the Quiet Times

After the excitement and bustle of yesterday, I am relishing the relative calm of this morning. I'm actually sitting still and able to collect my thoughts. Right now I can actually focus my thoughts and get my bearings for the day.

The quiet moments provide the best opportunities to hear from God. When God was making Himself known to Elijah, He sent a windstorm, earthquake, and fire. Yet God was not in those occurrences. The Lord came to Elijah in a still, small voice.

It is in the stillness we hear what will carry us through the storms, quakes, and fires of life. When we take advantage of the times of serenity to get before God and hear His voice, we will have what we need when all we hear are the winds whipping around us.

Too often we allow the quietness of life to lull us to sleep, and we miss out on quality time hearing from the mouth of God. If everything is fine around us, we don't press into the Lord's presence as fervently, we don't feel the pull to make sure we hear from Him.

However, when the winds start to blow and the world shakes around us, we are quick to call out His name. In our times of distress, we start to pray more fervently and even go into deep prayer and fasting just to hear an answer from Him about our situation.

Nothing is wrong with crying out to God in our times of need. But wouldn't it be awesome if we already had a word from God that we could hold onto when the storms came? Wouldn't it be a great feeling to have the winds come the day after you spent time conversing with the Father and you have the exact tools to get you through the trial?

Don't let the quiet days keep you from God's company. Continue to go before Him even in the good times.

Verse of the Day: And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him... I Kings 19:11-13a

Throwback Thursday - P.U.S.H.!

Today we're going to look back at a post I did a while back. Since we've been talking about action this week, I felt this post would fit right in. Have a blessed day!

Christians love to use the acronym PUSH – Pray Until Something Happens. Today I’d like to redefine it: Pray, Prepare, and Perform Until Something Happens.


Too often, I feel, saints put all of the responsibility on God to make their visions, aspirations, and dreams come to pass. We pray and look to the skies for our blessings to fall in our lap without any hard work on our part. Yes, God is our Ultimate Help, and His whole mission for having us here is to fulfill His purpose for us. However, God wants us to be an active part of the process in realizing our dreams.

We cannot really appreciate obtaining God’s promises for us if we haven’t put any sweat into the process. If everything just appeared out of the sky, we would take our answered prayers for granted. There is growth in stepping out in faith trusting that God will fulfill His Word. Character is honed and defined when we take initiative and work the process to pave the way for the promise to develop.

How can God send your new job when you haven’t sent out your resume? What financial increase can you obtain if you’re always spending all of your extra money? How do you expect for your husband to find you when you’re running up behind every potential man you see without a wedding ring?

Okay, okay. I’ll leave you alone.

What I’m trying to say is we all have a part to play in causing some prayers to be answered. We have to actively position ourselves to receive the answer. Even if all we can do is speak the Word over our situation, then we must speak the Word! Faith without works is dead, so let’s revive our faith by putting our actions behind our prayers.

Verse of the Day: …I will shew thee my faith by my works. James 2:18b

Throwbacks!

Hey Everyone! Hope you enjoyed your weekend. Right about now, I'm driving back from my trip to Louisiana, so I decided to post some of my favorite old posts for you to enjoy today. One thing that's great about the Word: it never gets old!

Been feeling blah lately? Click here for some JOY!

Trying to get rid of a bad attitude? Click here to learn how to lose it!

Need to turn that dream into a reality? Click here for some motivation!

Been running here, there, and everywhere? Click here to learn why you might wanna slow down!

Still waiting on something God's promised you? Click here to strengthen your patience for the answer!

I'll be back on the post tomorrow.