DAY 15 (2015)

On this journey you will have dark days. But God will always send rays of hope…
(Picture by Lisa R.)

Today this post will simple just a remind that no matter what happens in our day, in our life God loves us. He loves us even when it feels like it is all falling apart He will put us back together again and better than before. Here is a truth, simple and true: Life is hard, but God is… GOOD.

“For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations” (Psalm 100:5).

So what am I thankful for today? A good God.

DAY 14 (2014)

Sometimes the harshest trials paint the most beautiful pictures.

So today it was -2 degrees outside. Isn’t that a non number? The weird thing about Western New York, it that it gets prettier and prettier the colder it gets. When the sun shines on frosted glass it literally looks like little sparkling diamonds. As I was thinking about that I realized that cold weather is harsh, yet this state bears it beautifully. Because the harshness of the season brings out the beauty within. The same is true with us, except unlike the city we have a choice of how to react to harshness and trials. We could like Western New York grow more and more beautiful or we could do the opposite. Today God reminded me that hardships are not meant to break us and make us ugly. Quite the contrary, they are meant to build us up and make us beautiful, if we would, like this city, choose to walk through it. Trials hurt, but they also make us beautiful.

“Blows and wounds scrub away evil, and beatings purge the inmost being” (Psalm 20:30).

So what am I thankful for today? Non numbered weather… 😉

DAY 5 (2015)

 

As we grew each lesson helps us make better choices the next time around… learn the lesson.

Today I woke up to my car door frozen shut. Ice on my windshield and 13 degree temperatures. Yup, it was cold, really, really cold… still is. But I also woke up to clear blue skies, and brisk refreshing air. The fact that God allowed me to wake up at all is a blessing in itself. Today work didn’t go as planned. I am still learning to navigate a system that I have never used before, but today I was better at the job than I was last week. Today I felt more confident in what I was doing than I had previously. Today is when it hit, that life is a lesson and we are all called to learn and grow.  Everyday whatever trials we are going through will get a little easier to bear, a little easier to handle as we learn to navigate better. Who I am today, is not who I was this time last year (and that is a blessing). Today I feel like someone standing at the beginning, surveying the horizon and realizing that I can do and become anything I want as long as God is my guide. Today I am a billion percent thankful for the lessons I have learned and for the hardships I had to go through in order to learn them. Here’s the thing: lessons and hardships will always be there, but we have a choice, learn the lessons so we can grow to the next steps, or, don’t learn and stay right were we are… The choice is ours to make, that’s what free will is all about. Choose wisely.

“But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:15).

So what am I thankful for today? Learning to make wise choices.

DAY 4 (2015)

By faith the seed dies, so the flower can bloom. Each new bud is the realization of the seed of faith.
(Picture by Lisa R.)

Although Buffalo is beautiful, and even though I know 100% it is God’s will for me to be here. Today, I missed my home church, so I grabbed my laptop and joined them online, and I was super happy I did. I knew it was the right choice when Pastor Doug said this, “God can take our brokenness and make it something beautiful”. I needed to be reminded of that. 2014 was hard in many ways, but many times God took those hard and dented times and made them beautiful. Life is never predictable and the roads we travel is filled with twists and turns, road blocks and potholes. But God is the ultimate civil engineer creating pathways for us to travel that are filled with beauty and lessons to learn, but in order for us to get to the smooth roads, we first have to be willing trudge through the bad ones. Today just a reminder that God will take our brokenness and make it something beautiful.

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” (Psalm 147:3).

So what am I thankful for today? Beauty from brokenness.

DAY 314 (2014)

We make our plans, but God directs our path. Let Him be your journey’s guide.
(Picture by Lisa R.)

So I am about to tell you a God story. as you read the events you are going to think to yourself, “Clearly this girl does not have a good handle on the meaning of God story”. But follow me, I promise I have a point. Yesterday my mom and I went out for a bit. In the middle of our travels a light came on in my car. The light was a warning that my tire pressure was low. I did not have any idea how to put air in my tires (my boyfriend normally takes care of my car issues). I called Sears and they told me they could do it for free. So, today my mom and I went to Sears to have the tire pressure fixed. Since we were out and the weather in Western New York was unseasonably warm we decided to get a couple frosties from Wendy’s. I had a couple free coupons and decided today was as good a day as any to use them. We drove to Wendy’s, I pull out the coupons and begin reading (checking the fine print), at the same time I pull the key out of the ignition and lay it on my console. I then get out of my car,  hit the lock button, them shut my door. The moment the door went CLICK, something in my brain also went CLICK… I quickly started yelling at my mom, “Don’t shut your door! Don’t shut yo…” CLICK! Awww man! Yup, being the genius that I am I had locked the keys in the car. *sigh* . Then I remembered that my boyfriend had given my mom the spare key to the car (even from Florida he knew). However, home was 3 miles away. Yesterday the temperature here in Buffalo was 44 degrees, today the weather was 67 degrees. It was a beautiful day for a walk. So my mom and I made the 3 mile walk home, as we walked we realized what a blessing it was that today was such a gorgeous day. We thanked God for the exercise. We thanked God for the fresh air and the great conversation. Almost forgetting what had started us on this trek in the first place. We reached home retrieved the keys, and made the same trek back to the car (I am always surprised that the return trip always seems shorter). It dawned on us that neither of us were angry about the key in the car. We both thanked God for giving my boyfriend the foresight to give my mom the key to being with. We thanked God for free air in the tires. Once back in the Wendy’s parking lot I opened the door and retrieved my keys. Then we went inside to claim our prize… ice cream never tasted so good 😉 . What’s the point? Today should have been cold, but it was beautiful. Today I enjoyed free ice cream and free tire service. Not to mention I got my 10, 000 steps in. I enjoyed a beautiful day outside with my mother (who loves to walk by the way). The point: God takes care of us even if on this journey we lock our keys in the car of life.

“Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you” (Genesis 28:15).

The Lesson: If life locks you outside. Go for a walk, enjoy the day.

DAY 297 (2014)

Fill in the blank…

Today I saw the coolest sign it said, “I am thankful for _________…” It reminded me of the reason I started this blog. In 2012 life was less than stellar. I spent the majority of 2012 depressed, although you would not have known by looking at me. Years of being the “go to person” had taught me to hide my feelings like a pirate hides his treasure. But even if it didn’t show on the outside, I always knew what was going on, on the inside.  At the lowest point of my year, God spoke to me and told me I needed to develop an attitude of THANKFULNESS. As you can guess, thankful was not how I was not my prevailing feeling. But from that challenge this journey was born. In 2013 everyday for 365 days, I found one thing to be thankful for. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. In those 365 days, some days were easier than others to find a reason to be thankful. That year changed me from the inside out. It taught me to see past the situation I was facing and to see the “what” God was trying to teach me. If we see life the good, bad, and ugly from the perspective of God, then we are able to find a reason to give thanks. As we give thanks, we learn to appreciate what we have, even when it is not always what we want. I learned that thankfulness does not change my situation, but it will change how I view the situation. So today just a little encouragement to be thankful in the midst of whatever you are going through. Life does not always go according to plan, but sometimes plans changing can also be a reason to be a reason to give thanks,

“Thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live” (1 Thessalonians 5:18, The Message).

So what am I thankful for today? I am thankful for God’s gentle reminder.

DAY 295 (2014)

Life is seasonal we change and we grow. We have to go through Winter to get to Spring.
(Picture by Lisa R.)

For all of those who read my DAY posts. I wanted to take this time to say I am sorry that I have not kept up with them. Someone very close to me recently said this, “you need to get back on that (meaning DAY posting) you don’t realize what a difference it makes and how encouraging it is.” The words touched me, but it they also made me realize something… That while, it is awesome that my posts encourages others, God uses them as a way to refresh and restore me as well. He uses them to remind me He has a plan, a purpose, a reason for the things that seem so unreasonable… so to all my readers 정말 죄송해요 (I sincerely apologize). Lately I have been feeling, meh. Nothing bad is happening, but things just feel, well, meh. Which explains the lack of writing. Because I have been so wrapped up in my “feelings”, I wasn’t really noticing the cause of my meh-ness (<–I think I may enter this word in the dictionary 😉 ), which is (and was) trusting, but not accepting. Yup it is as ironic as it sounds. God brought me here, told me He had a plan, confirmed in many ways that this was His direction for my so life, so I trust. But things aren’t falling into place the way I imagined, the road is right, but there are multiple paths and the right one doesn’t always have neon signs. So I am struggling to accept God’s choices. Today God used the change in seasons to re-teach me something I had forgotten. I am going to share it with you:

 The first picture is what all the trees in Western New York looked like at the beginning of Autumn. The leaves are brightly colored, the air is brisked. You feel as though you are living in a dream world. It makes your heart feel happy and light.  This is what that same tree currently looks like. See the life picture? Is it the same tree? Yes. However, the tree is going through a different season, a different period of its life cycle. It went from brightly colored leaves, to NO leaves at all. The tree is the same, but the season it inhabits is NOT. This does not only happen to trees, it also happens to us. However, our changes are more subtle, they are often times not as easily detectable as those of a tree in Fall, not even to the ones going through the change. Today God whispered this, “I am changing you. Bringing you to a new season in your life. Your leaves need to fall off in order for you to get where I want you to be.” Ahhhh… Life is seasonal, we have our Fall and then our Winter. But we have to go through Winter to get to Spring. And who doesn’t love SPRING?

“The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever” (Isaiah 40:8).

Today I am thankful for seasons and change.

 

Random (hopefully inspired) Thought

I have hidden Thy word in my heart.
(Picture by Lisa R)

Ruth 2. “So she fell on her face, bowed down to the ground, and said to him, ‘Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?’ And Boaz answered and said to her, ‘It has been fully reported to me, all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know before.  The Lord repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge'” (Verses 10-12).  This is a beautiful portion of scripture. It is the blessing of obedience, and a picture of the blessing that comes from keeping your commitment. Let’s change the characters for a moment, let’s makes Boaz, Jesus. make Naomi, the Holy Spirit, and make Ruth, us (human beings looking for their path). Now let’s go back to the story. The Spirit tells us to go, but we cling. Then we meet Jesus, who blesses us for making a choice to follow His Spirit, letting go of our past. See the correlation? See the picture that is being painted with this story? It is the very same offer Christ makes today. His Spirit gives us the choice to follow Christ or stick with what we know. One path leads us to “emptiness” the other path leads to everlasting life and adventure. However, the “empty” path is lively, bright, filled with color and many follow because from the outside it seems better. While the new life and adventure path is dusty, dirty, and hidden in the bushes, you have to seek it, to find it. Orpah chose the easy path of going back to what she knew, and we never hear of her again. Ruth chose to follow the path “less traveled”, and walked right into a blessing. 

Random (hopefully inspired) Thought

I have hidden Thy word in my heart.
(Picture by Lisa R)

Ruth 1. “But Ruth replied, ‘Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.’ When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her” (Verses 16-18). I have always loved the book of Ruth. It is the ultimate Cinderella story with a God twist. It dawned on me that this story may never had happened had Ruth chosen the easy way. Naomi gave both her daughter-in-laws the right to go back home. The freedom to break their pledge with her and return to their families, to find new husbands, to have a chance at a new life. At first both insisted on staying, but Naomi insisted and thus Orpah left. But Ruth clung. I love this because many times that’s all God wants, for us to cling. For His children to hold on to Him and see what He has for them. If you have read the story of Ruth, then you know the blessing that awaits her because she clung, because she held on, because she choose to keep the commitment she had made. I am not saying that Orpah wasn’t blessed. I am not even saying that she made the wrong choice. But there is no story in the bible about her. Ruth clung and her story has been told from generation to generation. Want to leave a legacy, a story worth being told for generations to come… then CLING. See what God has for you. 

Random (hopefully inspired) Thought

I have hidden Thy word in my heart.
(Picture by Lisa R)

Judges 5. “When the princes in Israel take the lead, when the people willingly offer themselves—praise the Lord! So may all your enemies perish, Lord! But may all who love you be like the sun when it rises in its strength” (Verses 1, 31). Praise the Lord when the people WILLINGLY offer themselves. Willingness is all God’s requires. A heart that willingly serves. A life that willingly gives. Many times our service is not willing as much as it is symbiotic, you know, the “you scratch my back I scratch yours” way of service. “Sure I’ll serve God, if He does…” However, that is not service. Service says I will give, even if I don’t get. It is the willingness of the heart that God looks at. This selflessness leads to the destruction of our idols, the tearing down of the wall that separates us from God. It brings us into “real” relationship with Him. And as we walk with Him we see the enemy of our souls perish. Because who can be against us, if God is for us. My prayer for us today: “May all who love God be like the sun when it rises in its strength!”