The Impossible Warriors

Being an Impossibility is exhilarating. So exciting! I can't even describe what a blessing we have in being able to show the world that nothing is impossible for God. But sometimes it's hard to imagine ourselves Impossibilities. Sometimes we look in the mirror and say, "I'm no different. I see nothing to distinguish me from everyone else." And sometimes we just want to give up.


I'm here to tell you two things. 1) You're wrong, you are marked by the Almighty God to do what He has set before you to do. And 2) it's a war that takes faith to fight, a war that we cannot afford to give up.


Psalm 139:13, "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb." Yes, you read that right. The Creator of the universe made you. I don't believe He would knit someone together and leave them without purpose. 


Jeremiah 29:11, "'I know the plans I have for you,' says the Lord. 'Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future.'" I told you so.


Hebrews 11:1, "Now faith is being sure we will get what we hope for. It is being sure of what we cannot see." So you can't see the difference between yourself and everyone else? Have faith.


 We are the generation waiting upon the Lord. We are the teenagers willing to stand up and say, "He is God." We are the ones who look different. Not because we dress differently than anyone else, but because we have faith


Hebrews 11:33-34, "by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign enemies to flight."


I believe that we are the warriors now. We are the Impossibilities, putting on our armor to "conquer kingdoms, perform acts of righteousness, obtain promises, shut the mouths of lions, quench the power of fire, escape the edge of the sword, be made strong in our weakness, become mighty in war, and put foreign enemies to flight."


Psalm 18:34, "He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bronze bow." Impossible, you may say. Don't forget that you are an Impossibility. Therefore you are being trained by God for war and to bend the bronze bow.


Ephesians 6:11-13, "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.  Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. " Our battle isn't physical. We aren't warriors on the earthly battlegrounds. Instead, we take on more dangerous territory. But by faith we become mighty in war.


Romans 13:12, "The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light." When I read this, I read a call. A call to all generations to set aside our worldly desires and put on the armor of light. Darkness may consume us now, but with the armor of light fastened securely to our bodies, with the Son of God inside of us, and with the hand of the Creator upon our every move, we can conquer.


We are the Impossible warriors. We have been called to a time such as this. We are being asked to have faith, to pick up our swords, and to follow the Savior into war. Satan may have won a few battles, but we've already won the war. Victorious, we stand, because Jesus Christ died for our sins and broke the chains of death. Victorious, we stand, because grace has put us in a place of righteousness. Victorious, we stand, because by faith we have conquered all. 


Victorious.


Daddy's Girl

A Survival Guide To True Love: Surviving Through His Love

To wrap up my survival guide to true love short series, I want to end with another visual picture.  I hope it shows you how we survive because of love....




Tears running down her face, she closed her eyes to block out the view of her torn-apart bedroom. She could audibly hear her heart breaking. At first, she had taken the pain out in fits of anger, resulting in the trashed room. But now, with nothing left to break, she could only cry. Sobs wracked her body as the pain took over. She got up and walked across the room. Everything was broken. Everything was meaningless. What else could she do but make this pain physical? Nothing she was doing was rational. But what was rational these days, she asked herself. She picked up the knife and stared at it.

Desperately, she whispered. "If You're there... please... save me..."

She sat back down on her bed, gripping the knife tightly. Another sob escaped her lips and she shut her eyes. When she opened them, she was not longer in her room.

Before her was a cross. Three actually. She was in the midst of a crowd, some jeering and others crying. Hanging from one of the crosses was a middle-aged man. He reminded her of the stained-glass windows she had seen in her mother's old Catholic church. He looks in pain, she thought. She tapped someone's shoulder next to her, "Where am I?"

The person glared at her and said something in another language. She crinkled her face and the person turned away. She returned her eyes to the scene unfolding before her. The middle-aged man was screaming something now. Even though she couldn't understand what he said, she got chills. A few people around her started crying.

She then noticed all the blood. He was bleeding from everywhere. The sight of the blood reminded her of what she was doing before she ended up here. Is that what I would've looked like when I finished what I was doing? she thought. She remembered the pain she had been feeling just moments before. She realized watching this scene that the pain had dissipated. How dare I think about myself right now? That man is dying up there! she reprimanded herself.

She covered her face as the man's head began to sag. She didn't even know who he was, but she was crying. Opening her eyes again, she looked around to find different surroundings. Looking down at herself, she saw she was beaten and bruised, scarred and bleeding. Her clothes were tattered. "So this is my emotions put into reality…" she said to herself.

"This is you without Me," said another voice. It startled her. She looked up and saw the same man who had been on the cross standing in front of her. Her jaw dropped. She was so sure he had been dead. Staring at the man, she stood speechless.

"You called, I answered." He said it so matter-of-factly. Did he think she knew what was going on? Not too long ago she had been in her room, ready to bleed herself to divert the pain. The pain was fresh now. At the cross scene before, the pain had dulled. But it felt now like she was being speared repeatedly, the pain so severe she began hugging herself and crying.

"Oh, it hurts. Please, oh please, it hurts so bad…" she whimpered. Then a small light of understanding flickered in her mind. The desperate prayer she had frantically uttered before came back to the forefront of her mind. "You… answered…." she said, shocked.

The man before her began crying then. She had never seen a grown man cry, besides her father when he was in a drunken stupor. But she didn't count him as a grown man. The man before her stepped forward and gently touched her cheek. At first she flinched, but the warmth that flowed from his hand kept her from pulling back.

In a small voice, she quoted a verse that her mother made her memorize when she was little. "For God so loved the world, He gave His one and only Son…"

He finished the verse for her, his voice thick with emotion. "…that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." He smiled. Her mind reeled. Life? She felt so dead. But he spoke again and she wanted to hear him, so she quieted her thoughts. "Not just life with me, dear. Not just fire-insurance. Life that exudes from every pore in your body even now." Then he stepped back and she looked down at herself.

She was completely whole. Not only that, she was clothed in a beautiful robe, and she was glowing. She looked like life. She felt like life. She glanced back up at the man before her. "Jesus."  Getting inches from her face, he breathed. In any other circumstance, she would have jumped back. But instead she let his breath wash over her. Thoughts overwhelmed her mind, thoughts that made her feel drunk with delight.

She closed her eyes, letting the relief wash over her. When she opened them, she was in the middle of an expansive field. She smiled to herself, taking in the beauty of her new surroundings. She heard birds in the distance. As wind whispered across her face and danced through her hair, she sat down amongst flowers. She directed her eyes to the blue sky above her. It was so peaceful. Her heartbeat within her began to quicken, and the hairs on her neck stood up. She was no longer alone.

Glancing up, she saw an older man. But he didn't look frail like most old men. He looked like a warrior. Silently, he walked towards her. He sat next to her. The chills she had felt back at the cross returned. Letting her mind drift just half an hour back, she remembered the pain she had felt in her bedroom. She was a new person now. The man next to her spoke.

"I will never leave you." His voice held an authoritative air, intermingled with a passion that could bring anyone to their knees. "You are my beloved. And I love you. What was done at the cross was for you, done out of my unending, unhindered love for you. The healing you experienced was my love healing you, because you are mine, and I have called you to me." She started to shake. Did he know? "Your history is history, and your future is me. I see you in your desperation, and again I will heal you. Your pain, your regret, your guilt, is no longer yours. I have cast it all away from you."

She wanted so desperately to say something. But she couldn't. So she stared at him, admiration filling her eyes.

"You survive because of my love."

Daddy's Girl
Romans 8:38-39, "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."





A Survival Guide To True Love: Who?

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. (1 John 4:7)
1 Corinthians 13 talks about what love is. But who is love? and who should we love?

Another one of my favourite passages is 1 John 4:8. "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." (NIV version, bold and italicized font mine)

That answers half our question. God is love. We love, because He first loved us (1 John 4:10). God's love is shown everywhere around us. The way He perfectly created the earth to suit our every needs. The way He sent His only Son for us just to have a relationship with Him. All things created shout His existence, and at the root of that existence is love. Because God is love.

Romans 13:9 answers the second half of our question, who we should love.
The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet,"and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
That's so true! It's all summed up right there, before our eyes. We need to love our neighbors as ourself! But who in the world are our neighbors?

The original Greek word meaning "neighbour" is "πλησίον plēsion". But that doesn't really help, does it? Actually it does. With the original Greek, we can understand the definition of "neighbour" in that verse. In Romans 13:9, it means 'near'. So anyone near you.

Whether you're at the grocery store, school, work, at home, the mall, or at the movies, we're called to love everyone around us. Parents, teachers, bullies, bosses, brothers, sisters, children, aunts, uncles, friends, and many, many more.

As 1 John 4:7 says, let us love one another. Because God is love, and as Impossibilities we're striving to be more and more like Him and less and less like the world around.

Learning to love,
Daddy's Girl

Survival Guide To True Love

I'm sure this blog's title threw you off a little. I hope it did, at least. Because this "survival guide" is going to be much different than your typical guide to love. I'm not here to talk about boyfriend/girlfriend love. I'm not here to talk about child/parent love. And I'm not here to talk about Mom/Dad love. No. I'm here to talk about true love. And how we can strive to walk in that with everyone, from strangers to close friends to family members to our enemies.

So here we shall start our journey, together, at what true love is. And to begin, we can look in 
1 Corinthians 13.


If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.  Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.  Love doesn't strut, Doesn't have a swelled head, Doesn't force itself on others, Isn't always "me first," Doesn't fly off the handle,  Doesn't keep score of the sins of others, Doesn't revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always,  Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end. Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled. When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good. We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us! But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.


So that's easy enough, right?  The past week it has been on my heart to start a blog series on love, and that's just what I intend on doing. Love is all of the above and so much more. That's true love. And that's the love I'm going to explore with you over the next few days. Buckle your seat belts, because we're in for a ride. I'm so excited, because God's love, true love, is something we all need!


Excited! Inspired! Thrilled!
Daddy's Girl

Why Idleness Is Our Foe

Christianity can be so comfortably dangerous when we settle into a life of idleness and complacency. We feel like we're subject to a life of mediocrity, not allowing ourselves to dream beyond the self-inflicted boundaries we place in our lives. Where does the impossible come into this picture? It doesn't, unless you realize that idleness is our foe.

I am not saying that we should jump into action to attempt to earn our salvation, our Christianity, or our righteousness. But if we think that we're done after being saved by this miraculous grace, then we don't fully understand the grace that's been given to us. If we believe that this is the extent of what God has planned for us, then we haven't let grace work its full miracle in our lives. It is grace that empowers us to do the impossible.

Satan cringes when people who understand who they are in Christ wake up in the morning. He runs when he sees people who know the fullness of God's love and let it transform their lives. He screams in terror when we let grace empower us to do the impossible. So, he uses his greatest weapon to keep us from doing just that. He uses idleness.

How will I be strong if I'm always on the couch? How will I talk to people if I'm holed up in a home? It isn't possible to accomplish anything through idleness, and yet we believe that we're confined to that lifestyle! It's a lie! And Satan thrives in it. Ouch. I really would rather he doesn't thrive.

So now what?

Here's my encouragement to you. Let your inner-child come out. Your superhero wannabe-ness was placed there for a reason. Your great imagination is in your life to help you achieve the impossible.

There are vast lands of grace and love to explore. There are deep waters of forgiveness and redemption to be consumed by. There are enormous forests full of learning to get lost in. Many of us thrive on adventure, and now is our time to experience it in its fullest capacity. And even then, we'll have only scratched the surface. But with our eyes heavenward, we'll begin this exhilarating trek into unknown territory. Hopefully, we'll lead others as well.

Trust Him, He'll lead you. He knows the plans He has for you, plans to prosper you and never to harm you. Plans that will give you hope and a future. Plans that do not involve idleness. Join me in my adventure. Join me in believing Him. I dare you.

Daddy's Girl

Fear of Flying

Hopes high, dreams large, sights set and ready to go, we're ready to soar. We have dreams, visions, goals. Our hearts have desires, for bigger and better things. Whether we desire to go into a certain vocation or we desire for a better relationship with our Daddy, they're all dreams.

So often though, we let our fear of flying interfere with our dreams. We're afraid that God isn't on our side, that He'll shoot us out of the sky, that our dreams are foolish. But what if those desires were God-inspired? Our fears and our concerns would then get in the way of God's plan. How, then, do we deal with those insecurities?

Two years ago, I had a severe case of scoliosis. That's a fancy word for a strangely curved back. Basically, the part of my spine that was supposed to look straight was curved like an "S". I remember feeling so helpless as I heard about all the things the doctors were talking about doing to fix my back. Surgery, a brace, chiropractic help. The seeds of fear were sown into my life already. Because of my back problem, I suffered numerous headaches, and occasionally back pain. It was not fun. Sitting on my bed one night, my daddy went to pray for healing for my back, and I stopped him and said words I'll never forget nor repeat. "Daddy, what if God wants me to have scoliosis?"

I was terrified to believe God for healing and get let down. I was afraid that I'd be shot out of the sky, that God would laugh at my pathetic attempts to achieve the dream that I had at the time. That dream was healing. I had a fear of flying.

In October, 2009, I was healed of my scoliosis completely and totally. I decided that I wouldn't let my fear tie me down. God gave us dreams for a reason. He gave you the desire to speak to a multitude because He wants you to be a powerful public speaker. He gave you the dreams of starting orphanages in Nigeria because He wants you to impact lives in Nigeria. He planted the vision in your heart of whatever He may have called you to do for a reason. He wants you to shoot for the stars, don't be afraid to fly.

When we draw near to God, He draws near to us. His DNA becomes our DNA, His desires become our desires, His plans for our lives our put into motion in our lives. God wants to give us the desires of our hearts, and when our hearts look like His because of the time we've spent drawing near to Him, then the plans He has in place are acted out and our dreams, our God-breathed dreams, come to pass. He doesn't want to shoot us out of the sky. He wants us to soar high above the storm.

God wanted me healed. He desired for me to be whole. He didn't like seeing His daughter in pain, hurting not just physically but mentally. He planted the want to be complete and whole in my heart because that IS what He wanted for me. If I had been afraid to put that into action, if I hadn't spread my wings in faith and jumped off the proverbial cliff, I would have never come out with a wonderful testimony of God's healing powers.
With every dream comes a wonderful testimony in the end. Never let your fear stop you from pursuing that dream. Seek God, draw near to Him, let His heart become your heart, may your DNA be like His own, and let your dreams go. Don't let your fear of flying stand in the way. Take that fear captive.

Inside all of us is the potential to achieve amazing things, through Christ who strengthens us. Let's go for it. Let's fly. Let's pursue our dreams.

Choosing to fly,
Daddy's Girl

Mirror, Mirror, On The Wall. Why Do You Always Cause Me to Fall?

Insecurity. It makes me cringe. Especially as a girl, I face insecurity every day. Its like a monster that appears at my door every morning and continues to knock. Insecurity does things to us that make no sense when looking back. It throws a sheet over our eyes and whispers terrible lies in our ears. It puts us in a place of desperation. The term "insecurity" says it all. It takes us out of our safe place and makes us vulnerable.

I know that insecurity isn't just about looks. A person can be insecure about their personality (been there, done that, got the t-shirt, it wasn't fun). Or their family, or their talents, or their lack of talents. It all hurts, no matter how big or how little the circumstance of insecurity is.

When I struggled with my appearance, it was hard for me to find a place of understanding that God created me the way I am, and He likes me this way. God doesn't make anything short of beauty, He's the type of guy who appreciates beauty to its fullest capacity. Just look at the stars at night, they were hand crafted by our awesome God. And so were you and I.

Hollywood, media, and society all have given us an image of what they believe to be real beauty. Too skinny, with lots of plastic surgery done, with perfect skin and great hair. All of it's wrong. God created beauty, He knows best.

So as we all struggle with insecurity, I challenge you to take your eyes off the mirror, and put them on God. If you think that you're too tall, too short, too skinny, too wide, or anything else, remember that God made you that way. Do you really think he would mess up? I don't.

The following video was done by Dove to show us how our view of beauty truly is distorted...



Finding security in His arms,
Daddy's Girl

Inscribed

Standing outside the gates of heaven, I saw God and made a mad dash for His throne room. Running as fast as my legs could take me, I came nearer to Him. But suddenly I was jerked to a stop, and I tripped and fell flat on my face. Feeling sharp pain around my ankle, I looked down to see a shackle binding me to a heavy weight. Not just any weight. This weight was made up of all my sins, all my wrong doings, everything. I picked myself up off the ground, hoping that a few good deeds could take me a little closer. But again as I ran to my Creator, I was rudely jerked to a halt and unable to go any further. This left me outside the gates, with no way to reach Him. "He doesn't want a sinner like me there anyways." Soon, I realized I was not alone. Behind me I saw a man. He picked up my weight, which surprised me. How could an average man pick up such heavy sins? Then I knew, this man was not ordinary.

He took my sins, released me from my shackles, and came to speak with me. "Your sins are forgiven. Go, run, He's waiting for you." The significance of what he said hit me full force. I could now enter the gates. I could find the embrace of my Creator. I began walking again, and turned back to the man who had taken my burden from me. "Do you do this for everyone?" I asked. 
"I offer to do this for everyone," he replied with sad eyes. 
"You just offer? Does not everyone take this awesome opportunity to be freed and come running Home?" And so he launched into an explanation that blew my mind...

"Not everyone accepts the liberty I have to give. Some people don't realize their burden at all, and others don't believe that my Father or I exist. Some go from day to day believing life is nothing more than an accident." He took a deep breath. "Others believe that their good deeds will pull stronger than the sins that hold them back. But their good deeds are no where close to perfection. That's where I step in. By removing the burden, by taking away the sin, you're free now to see my Father in all His glory, and you too are made righteous through me."

I absently wiped at the tears running down my face. Not only were my sins forgiven, but I was now qualified to sit in the presence of the Most High God. Quietly, I asked the question pressing on my heart and mind. "Why?" A soft smile spread across his face. I thought he found the question funny, and decided to reword it. "Why would such a powerful God want a rebel, a sinner, a broken person, like me? Why would He go through so much trouble?"

"You're no longer a sinner, you're no longer a rebel. And baby girl, you're no longer broken. Love conquers all. And God's love is greater than any force in the universe. Because of His grace, given through me, your sins are gone. Because of that forgiveness, your rebellion has been erased. And because of my sacrifice, your brokeness is now whole. His love helped me overcome death. His love breaks the bondages that keep you from Him. His love heals the deepest wounds that so many believe they need to carry."

The thought overwhelmed me, so I walked in silence until we came to the outside of God's throne room. "Can I go in there?" 
"Boldly," he replied. The joy on his face gave me the reassurance I needed.

When I entered into His courts, my heart was saturated with thanksgiving, and my soul was lost in praise. Though I knew I had messed up, I also knew that the burden was now gone. I belonged here. When I neared God, I picked up my pace. "Beloved," was all I heard as I got closer. The distance between us was soon gone and I was at the feet of my Lord. Comforting thoughts, full of love and compassion, continued to float through my mind. He loved me. He really truly loved me. Then I saw His palms, and my heart skipped a beat.

Inscribed on the palms of His hands were the names of all His children, all His created, from the beginning to the end of time. I couldn't read them all, some were in foreign writings, but I knew in my heart that these were the names of every person that had come into existence. When I found my name, my heart swelled with joy.

"I never forgot you. I always loved you. I planned your days before you were in your mother's womb. You are Mine." The words came as a surprise to me. The old feeling of guilt and shame crept in, but God knew this and addressed it. "You are fully forgiven, righteous in My sight. Never put the shackles back on. I want you, here with Me, free from your guilt. That's what I've given to you. Don't let go."

And here I understood, here I knew, that inscribed on the palms of His hands were people He loved undeniably. People He longed for. People He sent His son for. People He designed, created, called, ordained. People He forgave.

People like you and me.

Inscribed in the palm of His hand,
Daddy's Girl

Isaiah 49:16
 "See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;
      Your walls are continually before Me."
 

Lost In The Night

Some seasons in my life feel like prolonged darkness...or nighttime. Pain filled, tear filled, lonely, angry, the list could go on. I feel like I get lost in the night, and I don't know where to go. Basically, I can't find a way out because I'm too stubborn to let the Light in.

When seasons like that come my way, I don't know what to do. Like I said in my March 1st post, I had a bad week last week. It was definitely a week of "nighttime". I stumbled upon a verse that I'm determined to write on my heart to keep me from such long, cold nights again. Psalms 30:5, "For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning."

Sure, nights may come. Darkness may engulf. But I'm not going to get lost in the night anymore. I don't want to refuse the Light to bring morning. Being lost in the night is a terrible place to be. So often we become comfortable with the night's darkness and pain and suffering that we fear if we let the sun rise again we won't know what to do. But I'd rather endure the night as quickly as possible and know that soon the night will be over.

My night is over, my sun will rise again, my tears will dry away, my heart will stop weeping. God's joy will be my strength, even in my sorrow. And like Psalm 30:11 states ("You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness"), I'll dance with the sunrise.

Again, I'm challenging you to believe God, even in your darkness. Because the Son has risen, therefore the night is over! Trust Him, it's worth it.

Rejoicing in the morning,
Daddy's Girl

No, We Don't Stone People. We Just Verbally Assassinate Them Now.

Like a square trying to fit where only a triangle belongs, Christians choosing to walk the God-walk aren't meant to fit in the world's mold. Sometimes, that's really frustrating. Especially when we have friends who fit in the world's mold, even though they've given their hearts to Christ.

Of course we're going to have the occasional desire to give in. And we're working on that. But the thing that can be found most difficult for any of us is when our own friends ask us to set aside our standards and just "let our hair down". Our hair is down, thank you very much. We have fun all the time, without compromising. People don't toss stones at us anymore. No, instead they verbally assasinate us.

We have boundaries to protect. We have God to please. We have morals to preserve. It's not that we don't like saying no. It's that we all hate feeling rejected. Which is silly, because we're the ones "rejecting" them to a certain degree. See how illogically we begin to think when fear rules? Ahhnn.

It's always smart to surround ourselves with Godly friends, but we're going to have friends who aren't. And that's fine.

I've learned after two years of walking out the rejection side of things, it isn't that bad. Jesus warned us that we'd be persecuted too. Most of my friends know my boundaries, and they know better than to try to push them. But we all still need to work on our self-esteem. We're supposed to be impossibiltes, so we don't want to give in to what the world so desperately wants to see us do.

So people can stare all they want. They can mock us, tell us we're not preachers so stop preaching, make fun of us, ignore us, spit in our faces, whatever. If God is for us, who can be against us? Persecution is normal. At least we know now that if we're being persecuted, we're not fitting in with the ones we'd rather not stink like.

So as I dared you to believe God, I'm daring you now to believe specifically that "even though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death (dealing with persecution, temptation, and rejection), you will fear no evil. For God is with you, His rod and His staff, they comfort you." Seriously. I dare you. For the rest of March, decide to take a stand. I will too. Collectively as a group we'll become impossibilities that make people do a double take. Join me?

Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will NOT hurt me. I'm a child of the King, and persecution is fine by me.
Daddy's Girl

Is He In A Different Time Zone?

God timing. Ahh it's crazy sometimes. I've shaken my fist at God before, asking Him why He hasn't showed up yet. And every time I've done so, a miracle tends to come along that was at the most perfect timing. My time zone is obviously much different than His, seeing as He doesn't actually have a time zone, He just has a plan for everything. So when He shows up "late" on my terms, I've learned that He's not late, I'm just being impatient. His timing is the best timing. So I figure I'll give you an example.

I don't remember what day it was, but my mom, my brother, and I were driving home from some event or outing. As we came closer to home, we saw a tow truck backing up to our little green Miata. My mom mumbled something under her breath and kept driving. I was slightly in the dark, but I knew a storm was brewing and I was curious as to what was actually going on. After circling the block, we pulled into the driveway, and we found out what had happened. Unknown to me, we had a loan on our small green convertible.
A private loan.
A loan we never even made a payment on.
Our financial situation at the time was in a bad state. The loaner nor the loanee (my father) never made contact. Thus resulting in a mess. A mess that took a car from us. A mess that made me livid. Not with my father, not with the loaner, not even with Satan.
With God.

Most of us are familiar with anger towards God at some point in our lives. No, its not right. Yes, it is common. Again, though, it is not right. Upon realizing why exactly we were down to one car, (and that one car in and of itself was a miracle) I went to my bedroom. I slammed my door, which is extremely uncommon for me, and I cried. Not self-pity tears, not sorrowful tears. Angry tears. I wasn't sure exactly who I was mad at until my mom came in and asked me if I was ok. I told her I was mad. "At who?" she asked. The thought didn't even enter my mind until the words exited my mouth! "God." I replied. My family handled everything alright, they all kept on trusting in God, but I was mad. Yet again, I let flesh rule, and Satan had his way, unfortunately.

When I'm truly angry, I purse my lips. I'm not certain where I caught that habit, but I do. I looked like I had just eaten a lemon, my lips were so pursed. I didn't say much about it the rest of the night, until I coincidentally (No, I don't believe in coincidences, I believe everything is God-ordained) landed upon a verse. Actually, a story. About Lazareth and his sisters. And how one of the sisters said Jesus showed up too late.

In that moment, I understood two things. First, that I was angry because I thought God had shown up late. Second, I was being irrational because God never shows up late. Immediately after reading the verse, I told my mom. I'm sure she was relieved to hear that I was done giving God the cold shoulder. In that verse, even after Jesus was yelled at for not showing up on time, He prayed to God and gave Him the glory for it. Then, He raised Lazareth from the dead.

Three days after I shook my fist at God, we got some amazing news. A truck was being given to us. My daddy's always wanted a truck.
Maybe I'm bias, but that is a beautiful truck. It slightly embarasses me when I think of the events leading up to it, because I wasn't fair to God at all. He's amazing, and He's constantly working in the miracle business. My point in all of this is simple. God doesn't work on our watches. And He is never too late. True faith in God is believing that regardless of what circumstances are thrown at you, you know He is working on your behalf to make your circumstances line up with His promises for us. Because He's going to show up, He always will. Have faith in God. So as an impossible generation, I dare you to believe Him. Care to take the challenge?



Daddy's Girl

My Bitter Defeat, My Sweet Surrender, His Great Victory

I haven't posted a blog in a few weeks. While I have been busy, I probably could have easily typed something up last week. But if I had done that, delivered to you may have been some harsh words about life's unfairness and some anger towards the people around me. Last week, I met my bitter defeat.

I'm not a defeatist, I'm actually quite a stubborn girl, but somehow last week I let my flesh rule. It was a miserable experience for not only myself, but also the people around me. The ripple effect, as my mother would call it. I was a terrible big sister, tossing mean words at my brother. I was an unpleasant daughter, with emotions going all over the place. And I was the perfect example of how not to act as a Christian. Sure, we all have our off days, and that's exactly why I'm blogging about this, because I now know how to defeat the "defeat".

My sweet surrender came on Friday. I had my ups and downs all week (mostly downs, being that my flesh was ruling and I was an emotional wreck), but Friday I was doing all right. Friday afternoon I took a Francine Rivers' book that I'd been reading out to my backyard near the pond where I planned on reading it. I never opened the book. My "secret place" is definitely the backyard. Without a shadow of a doubt, that is where I run when I need my Saviour. Sitting in my chair, I looked at a fish flopping around in the water. It kept jumping out then diving back in. Like usual, my mind began to wonder. And then I was met with a beautful whisper. I know that sounds very fairytale like, but God is truly that "still, small voice." And when I calm down and stop rushing around with the world, I hear it just like you can. "Beloved." That's all I heard. "Beloved." I had been reading in Songs of Solomon a few days previous and my mom and I have also been reading a book talking about how we are God's beloved. But I never fully grasped that until Friday. I watched birds dance and fish jump and turtles swim and leaves blow and I knew that I had not been mistaken in hearing His voice. My mind shouted, "This is lunacy!!!" But my heart knew that it was time for me to surrender. And oh, what a sweet surrender.

My soul was fully alert at this small whisper. I wanted more. I was so hungry for more. When I walk in the flesh, my carnal desires feast on things of this world. Pride, anger, disrespect, bitterness, saracasm, the list could go on. But when I stepped out of my flesh, surrendered my selfish desires, and decided it was time to let God run the show again, the hunger for the things of Him shouted inside me. Gradually more whispers came, and verses with those. I was overwhelmed to the point of tears, but they were joyful tears. God once again was victorious in winning my heart back to Him.

The revelation I got as I sat there listening, talking, and crying was phenomenal. I'm sure it's one that's going to greatly change my life. I'm wanted, I'm cherished, I'm loved, I'm beautiful. I'm His beloved. There is a great difference between knowing something in your head, and knowing something in your heart. I now know in my heart that I belong to the wonderful Bridegroom.

I could dance, I could sing, I could shout, I could weep, but all I know to do right now is, "Be still and know I am God." Heart fully His again, I feel like a new person from who I was last week. The things He said, the understanding He gave me, the love I feel, it's absolutely wonderful.

So though I was bitterly defeated, I know that through my sweet surrender, I can defeat the "defeat", and God can come out victorious. Again.

Fully His, even when it seems impossible,
Daddy's Girl