Keeping My Face in the Sunshine

"Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow" - Hellen Keller

Photo Credit

Pastor Ramsey is finishing up his series on changing your attitude about life. I haven't physically been in church in over a month - epic fail, I know. But I have been streaming in, and yesterday little Nate and I actually went. Even when I end up down in the toddler play room, I still walk out blessed. After my exams, I was feeling quite defeated and everyone has been telling me to put things into perspective - i.e. the hubs and my mom. So Sunday just reinforced everything that was already said to me (the fact that I needed to snap out of it).

The following are some of my notes from the series:

• "You are what you THINK" - your attitude projects your future.  

• Anger and bitterness are sins too, and God will judge you based on that.  

• You have to see that if your attitude is off, it may be sinful.  

• You may not be able to change where you work (*cough* or what grade you get on your exam despite how hard you think you studied) but you can change your attitude.   

• Your attitude will either lift your to the next level or prevent you from getting your promise. 

•  You do not live your life based on the script that you wrote. You live it based on the script that HE wrote. 

•  Don't claim God's promise if you can't trust God's process.  

•  Real faith involves trust, and trust involves being at peace.

•  Let the peace of God rule in your heart. YOUR peace is YOUR decision! 

•  When you submit yourself to God's peace, you can't be frustrated.   

• Bitter, angry, and disappointed people push the very people away that can help them to change their situation - bitterness clouds our eyes. 

•  Frustration hinders your ability to be thankful. (THIS.)

•  A relationship with God will restore my identity. 

Happy Monday! Be blessed and encouraged! Even the best of us get the wrong attitude at times, but we can't stay there...

I heard once that God isn't going to do things for us that He gave us the power to do ourselves - so I'm taking responsibility for my attitude.

Gotta Have Faith...

"Both faith and fear require you to believe something that you cannot see. I choose faith. " - The Purpose Driven Life

I talk about my church a lot because I get a lot of relevant and practical application from it for my life. Right now, it seems like everyone (my pastor and my TV pastors included...lol) are all talking about the mechanics of faith.

On Sunday, Pastor Ramsey talked about not getting discouraged in the storm. Here are some of the highlights:

• Faith still requires active participation from you - you are believing God for something, and you give it to Him, but then you have to take steps towards realizing your dreams and goals (because faith without works is dead).
• A sign that you have faith is that you are PREPARING for what you are believing for (ex: believing to own a house? Then start seriously saving for it); God can only give you what you have faith to believe for.
• When God created the world, He first SPOKE what he wanted. It is important to remember that our words and confession have so much power.
• Faith is more than just blind positive thinking. Faith does not ignore what it sees, but it is not AFFECTED by what it sees. For example, when God said "Let there be light", He was not denying the fact that there was darkness, but He was denying darkness the opportunity to affect what He knew would come to pass.
• We are all "pregnant with potential", and we can either trust God, or go at it alone.
• When the storm comes, it does not change what you know about God, and what His word says about you.

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Have a great faith-filled day!

xoxo

Happy Mother's Day!

Today, Pastor Ramsey talked about not only what it means to be a woman who is fearfully and wonderfully made but, also, what it means to be a great mother. He focused on Deborah in the book of Judges (Chapters 4-5) and how "she had it going on" because she exemplified a good mother:

1. She settles differences - all mothers know (especially those of more than one child) that being able to settle differences is important. Deborah knew the Word of the Lord and judged based upon what lined up with God's plan for His people.

2. She challenges those around her to be better than they are.

3. She encourages others to trust in the Lord.

4. She reproaches the slackers.

5. She lets others get credit for things that she may have done behind the scenes - this is because she realizes that she does not do things for man, but unto the Lord

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If you haven't done so already, make sure you take the time out to tell the mother or mother figure(s) in your life how much they mean to you. And keep those who may have lost their mothers in your thoughts and prayers too...

Happy Mother's Day!!! xoxo

Sunday

So this weekend went nothing at all how I thought it would, but that's okay because I still have plenty to be thankful for...

Church was on point today (per usual). Our new church home has really been a blessing since I started going back in October (we just joined in June)...The children's church has been on break during all of July, but now Pumpkin can go run around, play, and be as loud as he wants to, and we can stay in the sanctuary again :-)

He talked about the power of a positive confession. Growing up and over the years I have always been taught that our words have power, but he brought a lot of great new insight to it today. He said that faith is not a denial of your situation, but instead an attitude we choose to have DESPITE our situation because we know what is fact - God's word. Example: You may not have any money right now, BUT God's word says he will supply ALL needs exceedingly above all we could ask or think. He talked about how Jesus brought a woman's son back to life while the funeral processional was going on and they were about to bury him. Just like that woman, God can still work a miracle in our lives despite the fact that we have given up and are just about to "bury" our problem.

He also told this story: There was a man, and all he owned was a donkey. Well one day he was walking with his donkey behind him and he looked back and the donkey was gone, but there was a big hole. He looks down in the hole and sure enough, the donkey is in the hole unable to get out. The man is discouraged because he has nothing left besides the donkey so he goes away sad. The next day he decides to bury the donkey because he can't just watch it die. So he starts digging and throwing dirt on the donkey. After a while, he notices that he can see the donkey's ears above the hole. So he looks in the hole and realizes that every time he throws dirt on the donkey, he shakes it off, pats it down, and goes to a new level...so when the devil thinks he is getting ready to bury you, God says just shake it off, pat it down, and He will take you to a new level.

So on point...I can apply this principle to so many things in my life right now, and I am so excited to see God move :-D