Choose Faith. Cancel Doubt.

We always have the option to choose how we allow ourselves to be affected by certain circumstances. We can’t keep it from happening, but we can keep ourselves from getting wrapped up in it. I think one of the most rewarding things about having God in my life is the security of knowing regardless of what happens…I’m going to be ok. He’s always looking out for me with my best interest at heart. It becomes a matter of trust. Now, I know majority of my posts are all practically about the same thing, but it’s so important to understand and trust the goodness of God because when we know the characteristics of God, there is no room for doubt.

It doesn’t matter what kind of trials, life-crisis, rebel phase, or stubborn trail you are on. It doesn’t matter how much you love Him or hate Him. It doesn’t matter how angry you are at Him, how long you’ve gone without talking to him, etc. He has and always will love you. No matter what, He’s got you.

Let me just brag a little about how good He really is…

Recently, I was laid off of my job of almost 2 years as an Office Coordinator. I definitely was not expecting it, but with the way the company was going, it made sense. Regardless of it making sense, it was not a great feeling.

My first thought was, “shoot! I was betting on that money for my trip to Europe. They couldn’t wait a few more months??” Immediately my head began thinking of possibilities on how to make up the money. Even though I was upset at the moment, I had a strange sense of understanding and peace that it was all going to be ok, but my doubt kept trying to creep in. After a few conversations with those close to me, I was excited to see what God was up to.

Of course within the first few hours of being told the bad news, I already had friends sharing possible job offers for me which put my mind at ease. Not only that, but instead of being fully laid off, my CEO offered me to work part-time until I left (which I accepted). Within a week, I was already in the process of getting hired for a new temp job that extends until the day I leave! I didn’t even have to turn in my resume to anyone! (So crazy!) So I left the part time (which got me some extra money in the transition phase), got my severance, and a new job that pays the same if not more than my last! To top it all off, I got an unexpected check in the mail!! The amount of love and favor I felt and still feel is amazing. He still continues to provide more than I could ever ask.

And to think I was about to freak out about not getting the money I was betting on. Silly me for limiting what God can do. I am so incredibly thankful for how it all turned out and thankful God doesn’t limit Himself even if we do.  I couldn’t have asked for it to go any smoother. I am going to come out more than ok for my upcoming travels.

All this to say… in every situation we should lean on the faith (no matter how small it is) to guide us. When we magnify our faith, it minimizes the doubt that contradicts what God says about us and our circumstances.

Which voice are you going to listen to? Which thoughts are you going to entertain? Wherever your focus is, that’s what is going to be the lens you view life from. Don’t let fear and doubt dictate it; you’ll never accomplish what your heart is set out to do. All I know is I am so incredibly loved, highly favored, and more than able to conquer what life throws at me. I hope you come to know these things about yourself as well because it’s true about every individual reading this. You won’t regret it 😉

“She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future.”  Proverbs 31:25

Bee the Crazy Goon, Bee the Legend!

Let’s get straight to the point…How many months have passed by and I still find myself longing for something more than what I am currently doing. I am familiar with this feeling as it’s exactly how I felt before I dropped out of college to move up north for ministry school. God is constantly stirring our heart’s desires, but sometimes we’re just too wrapped up in our own twisted priorities to realize it or sometimes we just need that extra sense of confirmation. What am I getting at? Well let me explain…

My dreams and desires to travel is still very evident in my heart and I am currently saving up for it and planning out my destinations. I tend to ride a rollercoaster of emotions every time I think about it. It’s what I’ve been looking forward to and planning on for the past few years and now the time is approaching!

I currently have a job that is with out a doubt, given to me by God because it is all that I could have ever imagined and more. I am extremely grateful for the job that I have as it provides me with the means to make my traveling dreams come true, amazing new friends, helpful life skills, and improvements on my resume.

Most people would say I’m stupid to leave my job.

“Why would you quit such a great job to go travel? Why don’t you just keep it and travel a shorter amount of time?”

Well, something they don’t know is: I knew when I got this job it was going to be temporary. I knew the day I started it was not a long term gig and that I wasn’t supposed to get too comfortable there. I knew in my heart that God gave me this job to save for my travels and I wasn’t meant to stay there forever. I knew I was going to quit and travel once I had the money. I made sure to remind myself every day for the first month, “this is temporary.”

Call me crazy, but I’m still planning to quit despite their comments/questions. I won’t let them make me question God’s will for my life. It’s tough because I know where they’re coming from, but hey! Faith is spelled R-I-S-K. How am I going to say I truly and fully trust God if I don’t take a step out of my comfort zone and a huge leap of faith every once in a while? I’m not saying yours has to be as drastic, but when was the last time you took a leap of faith and had to full rely on God?

Anyways…So recently, since the time for me to go travel is approaching, I began to find myself questioning whether I was indeed making the right decision. I still fully believe God is going to provide, but I let people make me question..”What if it doesn’t work out? What if I don’t even go? What if…?” I was getting a little stressed and discouraged.

BUT THEN….

(Let me just tell you how good our God is)

A couple days after meeting up with my friend for breakfast to catch up on our lives, I’m driving to work and a honey bee lands on my window. I got really excited as this isn’t the first time this has happened. I’ve had a few bees (over time) land on my windshield and stay on there for an impressive amount of time.  I decided to look up the prophetic meaning of bees and declared it a God thing. Oddly enough, on this particular occurrence, I was unable to recall what the prophetic meaning of the bee was and decided to text my pastor to see if he could jog my memory .

I was so amazed! I’m ashamed to admit it, but I almost forgot how God can communicate to us in so many ways. I just felt like it’s been a while since I’ve experience this kind of awe moment. Who knew this little bee would bring me so much peace and confidence? God knew. He knew exactly what I needed to hear in that moment. It was a journey to get to the land of milk and honey and there were those who doubted and were too scared to go because they allowed their reality to blind them from seeing God’s will. Sometimes we just need to adjust the lens we view life with to be able to enjoy the “Promise Land” God intended for us.

Not only that, but I receive a text from my friend I had breakfast with offering me a job at her work that pays about the same as my current job. She even mentioned her boss may work with my travels and everything. I was so happy and honored as it would be ideal to get a position like that where I can continue to save for a place of my own when I get back.

Even though I won’t be able to take her up on the job offer (since I don’t know when exactly I will be back),  it still spoke volumes to me. I knew it was another God thing. He was just reminding me that He always has my back. He knew I needed that extra reassurance and man, did I feel such a sense of joy and peace.

Bottom line is….follow the desires God has put on your heart with full confidence. You know what He has asked you to do. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t make sense to anyone else. I mean, Noah was seen as a crazy goon, but it was because that crazy goon minded his own and continued to follow what God had asked him to do that he was able to provide shelter from the flood.  Everyone knows Noah’s story. He’s a legend! So go on and live out your own story and be the legend you were called to be 🙂

 

Choose Love Always

I’m not saying I have this perfected, but I will say that love looks like something. Words mean a lot to me and it is actually one of the ways I receive love most, but words hold no weight when they are not followed with any action of reassurance.

I was thinking this morning of what it would look like if everyone chose to love people regardless of any previous judgements or past mistakes. How would that make other people feel and ultimately, how would it make you feel. I feel like we all like the idea of loving people where they are at, but not gonna lie, sometimes it’s very hard. Yes, there should be boundaries in place and we do need to guard our heart in certain situations, but what if we chose to just love?

What if we just love on whoever comes our way? I don’t know about you, but I feel convicted when I catch myself making harsh previous judgements of people before even exchanging a word with them. I mean, I’ve gotten a lot better about it, but I still catch myself doing it from time to time. That shouldn’t be how it is! If we really are wanting to love people, we have to fix our lens of which we see them.

Everyone has the right to be loved. Who are we to strip people of such a warming feeling? Who are we to act as if we are any better than anyone else? Everyone is on their own journey and for all you know, that simple smile or greeting from a stranger is exactly what a person needs. Unfortunately, people don’t expect much from people anymore. It’s a pleasant surprise when someone holds the door for others, or even if they initiate friendly conversation when this should be the norm!

We go about our day without the intention to talk to anyone we don’t know. We are consumed by what errands we need to get done, time frames we need to meet, or even just distracted with our phones and we forget to be personable. Beyond that, we give into stereotypes and prejudices to allow us to treat others as less than what they are. Why do we allow these warped views to determine how we treat people? We are all people and we all deserve to be treated accordingly.

So next time you find yourself cowering away from someone based on obscure perspectives, ask yourself why you are acting that way. Look past the stereotypes you have allowed yourself to believe and see people through the lens of love. You never know when that person might need just one friendly smile to believe there is still good in the world.

All I know is that I am going to listen and act more on what Holy Spirit puts in my heart whether it’s making eye contact and smiling, complimenting someone, buying a homeless man a meal, or whatever. Any random act of kindness is speaks volumes to both parties. Try it sometime. Let’s all love and be loved 🙂

No Fear in Love

This has been a constant mandate for me for over the past year. I did not realize how much fear I allowed to alter my day to day decisions. How many of us know that the enemy will do whatever  it takes to make sure you doubt your abilities in advancing the Kingdom of God? Well let me start you off with this:

THE DEVIL IS A LIAR!

I realized the need to overcome my fears during an encounter I had with God. It was during my first year at Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry in Redding, California. I was with 65+ other people in my Revival Group and our pastor instructed us to get into a position of receiving. The moment he said this, I felt Holy Spirit come upon me and I just knew in my heart that this was going to be a pivotal point in my relationship with God. My pastor proceeded to play a spoken word from Grahame Cooke called The Inheritance.  (I suggest you listen to it. Even if you already have, listen again. It’s a beautiful reminder of how God see’s us). As I lay on the ground fully opening my heart to the words that are being spoken, I begin to weep within hearing the first few lines.

There’s nothing you can do to make Him love you more and there is also nothing you can do to make him love you less. He loves you because He loves you, because He loves you, because He loves you, because He loves you, because He loves you…

Graham Cooke continues to narrate the audio speaking in the place of God himself to represent the nature of His love for us. Reiterating God’s love for me over and over again hit me like a ton of bricks. It’s easy to get caught up in Christianity living and begin comparing yourself to others within your church or those who you do life with. You begin to wonder what you can do next to get the approval of others vs. receiving the unconditional love of God. It doesn’t matter what you do or don’t do; He will love you 100%! Whether you decide to live for Him or not. I no longer felt the need to strive or put together some beautiful combination of words to appease those around me. He knows my heart and all He wants is for me to give it to Him. He loves us just as we are in this very moment. While this whole audio is playing, my mind is just going crazy envisioning myself in different countries, loving on children, and all the while holding God’s hand.

My love for you will break every barrier. It will break every wall crashing down. My love damages fear. My love hates fear. My love will fight fear. It will fight fear in you. It will fight fear around you. …My perfect love casts out fear. There is no fear where I am present. 

After hearing this part of the audio, I lost it. I was already crying before, but I started bawling at this point. The truth of my issues with fear we’re revealed and it scared me just thinking about letting down the walls and letting go of my comfortable bubble I’ve placed myself in. In this vision, I was holding God’s hand while going from country to country. “There is no fear where I am present because my perfect love casts out fear.” I never had such deep revelations of what 1 John 4:18-19 meant. There is literally no room  for fear in my heart. If I am full of His love, I should have no fear. By allowing fear into my heart, I am not full of His love. This when I have to address the fear and respond with faith. God showed me that He wants to take me to all these different places,  but I have to let go of my fear.

After the audio finished, one of the leaders began speaking. She told us to imagine ourselves in a hallway and at the end of the hallway is a large mirror. She told us to walk to the mirror and look at ourselves. “Now ask God how He  sees you,” she said.

This image immediately popped up in my head. Moments later, the leader says, “I feel like some of you might have seen a lion in your mirror.” Ummm…what? Mind you there are 65+ people in this place and God told her what I saw. (I knew it was a special day for me). She continues to explain the it represents boldness. “Lions are not tame, and neither is our God. I feel like some of you are on the quiet side and don’t share too much out loud. It’s for you to let out your roar! He wants to roar with you! Let your voices be heard…” This lady was reading my mail! Everything she was saying was resonating hardcore within me! Of course it only made me cry even more (It was not cute). I couldn’t stop crying.

My heart was yearning for those that I saw in my vision amongst the many countries, yet I was terrified of the journey that lies ahead. God kept reminding me of His peace and how He would be with me every step of the way. He always has my best interest at heart and I know that He would not lead me into places where I am not covered by Him. I can be fearless knowing that He is my protector. He sees me as His beloved, royalty, bold, courageous, and strong. This is how He sees me:

From this moment on, I made and continue to make the effort to push past the fear in any situation to overcome it. To prove to the enemy that he no longer has a hold on me. Time and time again, it was confirmed to me that fear is what has been holding me back this whole time. Even though I still forget sometimes, I will always make it a point to kick fear in the face. It won’t hold me back from my dreams to travel the world and love on those who need it most. I won’t let fear keep me from living out the destiny God has called me to.