What God Can Do With A Sock?

Last weekend, I was up at Hartland Christian Camp to lead a seminar on Saturday during their weekend Women's Retreat.  I always look forward to the experience because I get to meet and hang out with a lot of great people.  Hartland always has fun activities and games amongst the prayer time, worship, and Bible teachings.  

As we were leaving the service the first night, it was announced that there would be ladies in the back handing out socks.  You were to take one sock, then find the woman that had your sock mate.  When you did, you were to talk until you found something you shared in common.  You could then bring your pair of socks back to the ladies with the baskets.  This exercise would earn you a ticket in the drawings they had going during our time together (I won a great succulent arrangement). 

 I grabbed a brightly colored, striped ankle sock, placed it over my hand like a mitten and began to walk around the room with my hand in the air.  After some time of finding no mate amongst the women, I headed back to the ladies with the baskets and looked inside; my match had yet to be taken out of the basket.  There it lay waiting for someone to grab it.  

I decided to camp out by the basket so that when it was nabbed, I could easily connect with the women who grabbed my match.  After a bit of a time, a women took my sock mate.  Then she spoke and I inwardly screamed like an excited teenage girl, because she had an Australian accent.  Even though I have seen a great part of the world, Australia is my number one desired location to one day experience.  As we began to talk we each went down our list of places we had travelled trying to find something we had in common.  Then it came up - India!  

India, while not my number one lifetime desired destination, is the place God has put on my heart to go to for the last three years or so.  My youth group has a map of India displayed on the wall where we meet so that we might pray for a city each time we meet, or choose a city that starts with our name initial to pray over the next week.  It has deepened my heart for this country.  

Lo and behold, my new friend, Janine, travels to India each year to two different regions in a mission effort to widows and orphans.  That is a people group I have a deep love towards in a region where I want to go, where I do not have a ministry connection; could this be a better match?  

We exchanged our socks for a ticket and got more than a chance to win a prize, we exchanged information and hope to connect later to discuss India and maybe even get to know each other better as sisters in Christ.  Who knew God could use a sock to do all that?! Okay, so I knew he could, but its still fun to experience. Thank you, God!

Spiritual Life - God is like Amazon

I've known what Amazon is for a long time, but didn't become the frequent buyer I am today, until I had my little boy. Kids and shopping can be a pain and being able to click and have it shipped in 2 days is a huge blessing. I've gotten some bad product and have had the privilege to see Amazon does really well with returns. They are a good company and I have come to trust and rely on them. So how may you ask is God like Amazon?

Well, I am glad you asked. A couple of years ago, I did a workshop at the Hartland Women's Conference on the "Power of Praise." The Bible seems really clear about the role of praise in our lives. We are to be thankful in all circumstances (I Thessalonians 5:18), we are told the Lord inhabits the praises of his people (Psalm 22:3) and we need to have faith in the victory before we see the results (I Corinthians 15:57).

So, as I processed this recently with some current situations, I thought, God is like Amazon. I know I have bought something when I pay for it, not when I receive it. I have faith that my package will come. It is mine the moment I confirm the purchase. Our answers to prayer happen when Jesus died on the cross. He made it possible that we could be his. He made it possible for sin and death to have no hold on us (Romans 6:14), should we decided to turn our lives over to him (Romans 8). So when I ask for things with faith (James 1:5-8) and ask according to his will (I John5:14-15). I can have confidence in his power to overcome what I face. When I praise him for that I am making the path available for his work (Psalm50:14)when we praise, it releases the power and glory of God into our lives. We often wait to praise when the work is completed, but the work is completed before we see it, just like our packages with Amazon.

We look at circumstances and think God is absent or just doesn't care, but we aren't looking at it from his perspective. He sees what we cannot (2 Peter 3:9) and doesn't just want us happy or physically healed. He wants our spirit healed first and foremost. Not only is his priority our spiritual walk, but we can block his work that belongs to us with negative or anti-faith words (James 1:5-8).

Next time you go before the throne of God, remember God is like Amazon and what you ask for in his will is yours when you ask, not when you see the answer. Walk in faith and make way for the Lord in your life. But be aware: when you allow God to move, he will, and you will never be the same!

Spirtual Life - Fear verses Faith

This past weekend, I was at Hartland Christian Camp doing a workshop for their women's conference. I was excited for a great conference and weekend but also a little anxious about being away from my son for 2 nights straight (that may sound silly, but I've never done it). Of course he and I were fine and I did have a great weekend. Because I've done a seminar for them for the past 6 years or so, I have come to know some of the women that regularly attend. So they are my Hartland friends and its nice to see them!

But the weekend presented me with a little more than I'd anticipated. The speaker, Rhea Briscoe, said some things that really puzzle pieced with stuff God has been using to speak to my heart. A few things she said really resonated with me and I had a few light bulb moments. She made reference to Matthew 28:18 which begins the Great Commission and tells us that God has all the power in heaven and earth. Then she asked, "So if God has all the power, how much power does Satan have?" The answer: an obvious zero! He has no real power. He controls me at times with no power, that's crazy right?!

So how does he control us without power? By lying! Yep, he tells us things that aren't true through our inner voice, other people in our lives, the internet, television, movies, music and a lot of other media formats. We in turn, believe the lies, begin to walk in them and in fear and boom (wow, just had a flashback to the movie Couples Retreat), we are in bondage.

In seeing this cycle I realized a few areas of my life where I am walking in fear. I had believed lies of the enemy and was walking that instead of faith and freedom in Christ. I need Jesus and need to bathe in his truth more than I do. I need to stop listening to the enemy and standing up because Matthew 28 goes on to tell us that as believers all his power has been given to us! Hallelujah and Amen!

Somewhere deep inside I feel I should shout, "I'm not Josie Grossie anymore," but I will refrain :). It makes since though right, because God is truth and in him who is also love, there is no fear. He sacrificed his life for us on the cross and we have live in freedom because of his great love. Fear comes from lies. So if you are walking in fear, you are believing lies.

I really have to hand it to Satan for being so crafty. I mean he's really taken us to a new level of fear and lies and has made his job easier by the invention of the internet and cable television. He no longer has to lie to individuals and hope those around them perpetuate it, but he lies in mass production. However, with that said, I am taking my power back and telling him, "no thank you." No more! I am standing on the promises of God and walking by faith. I am dedicating more consistent time to prayer and praise and Bible Study.

One of the things that God has impressed on me in the last month is the importance of praise (I will talk about this in another entry, but the result of all of this is a new step I am taking in my life. In the morning before the day starts and we begin to get going, we sit and use you tube videos with lyrics to sing praises to God. Our own musical worship moment to praise the Lord and invite him into our day. This has been awesome and I'm so glad I'm doing it.

So I leave you with a question: Are you walking in faith of the promises of scripture in God's word or are you living in fear from the lies you believe to be true? Cut the lies out of your life, replace them with the truth of the Bible, stop walking in fear and begin walking by faith! Don't let insults get you down, they are lies. You are beautiful, wonderful and made with purpose :).

Give God entry into all areas of your life! 2 Corinthians 3:17 tells us where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom!

"I'm not Josie Grossie anymore!" (Never Been Kissed)