Category Archives: Uncategorized

We seek blessing and prosperity. We seek good, contented lives full of health, length and advancement. Yet, amidst the poverty, the corruption, the desolation and the strife, it is easy to feel unsettled, scared and utterly confused, asking,Where is the road map? Where are the rules? What is the rhyme or reason to living in blessing rather than desolation?

The world proposed to know. The world has marketed us products and services, paradigms and mindsets. Some of these worked for a season. We got bigger houses, nicer cars, and lower interest rates. We “made” ourselves, and we felt proud. But, let’s face the music, folks: We have fallen flat on our faces.

Those old ways, those manufactured, merchandised ways to prosperity that swelled in the ’80s… well, those ways just aren’t working anymore. We need help. We need answers to what went wrong and how we get out of this mess. We need solutions. We need God.

The Bible provides answers. It provides solutions that have been tested and proven since the beginning of time across nations, ethnicities and social statuses. So, what does the Bible tell us about prosperous lives? The Bible shows us the way to prosperity.

“True humility and fear of the Lord lead to riches, honor, and long life” (Proverbs 22:4). God tells us, in order to be blessed, we need true humility.

God is God. The Bible tells us again and again that He does not change. He does what He says He will do. His very nature is true and constant. He can’t go back on His Word or His principles. He doesn’t change, but we change, folks. We change, and we need His help to change for the better.

God’s heart’s desire as a dad is to bless us and give us good things. Dads out there, you resonate with this, right? The reason you want blessing, you want answers, you want solutions is because you want to provide your family, your kids, with good things. That’s exactly what God wants for us and even more so, because His very nature is love – all love and no sin – so His love towards His kids, for us, has no limits.

Here is how Jesus describes God’s fatherly love and provision for us: “You fathers—if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him” (Luke 11:11-13).

It is God’s desire to bless us. So He shows us the way to blessing: In order to attain riches, honor and long life, we must have true humility and fear of the Lord.

Therefore, out of His love for us, God does what He needs to do in us, in our lives, by changing the posture of our hearts, to get us where we need to be to attain these blessings. God humbles us to bless us.

When God humbles you, let Him. He is not like man that He would break you out of selfish ambition as humans do. Do not believe He is out to hurt you or to take from you. He humbles us for our gain, to bless us and to give lavishly to us, even by adding to the length and goodness of our days. There is a blessed, prosperous life for us, yet we need to take a journey through humility to get to that blessing.

If you are on the journey of humility, hang on. Don’t let go of God. Cling to your heavenly father. Hold on tight, like a child in the arms of her father wading into the ocean. He won’t let you go of you, and the journey can actually be exhilarating.

Though this process may be filled with tears, it is also full of healing, purification and blessing. I have journeyed through the process of humility towards blessing. And, I want to encourage you in it, in these ways: Thank God for loving you enough to walk you to blessing, and resist the urge to grab for the world’s solutions. (Remember the world’s track record! Yikes.) The Lord’s record of loving and giving is proven.

Humility is a trip worth taking. Once you’ve journeyed through, don’t be surprised to see numerous areas of your life align in your favor, because “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).

tes·ti·mo·ny

• 1.a formal written or spoken statement, especially one given in a court of law. synonyms evidence, declaration, statement

In a court of law, a person’s testimony, their official statement, is paramount. It can mean the difference between imprisonment or freedom, life or death. 

The same is true spiritually. Our statement, our declaration, has the power to imprison us or to make us free. Our proclamation has the power to give us abundant life or to lead us to death. 

You see, the devil is our enemy. He has come to earth to kill, steal and destroy. The Bible calls him “the god of this age” and exposes the evil work he is doing to separate us from God. The Bible warns us, “the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthinians 4:4). The Bible describes him as “the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). 

The enemy is active in the world. It is ridden with sin and darkness. When we go with the grain, with how society operates, tailoring our behaviors and actions to appease and please the loud voices of this world, we can become a victim to darkness. Going along with the ways of this world, we can become an accomplice to sin. 

Through complacency, the enemy blinds people from truth and the route to freedom. His goal is to keep people from seeing the light of Jesus and believing in Him, because the glory of Jesus breaks us FREE! If the enemy is effective at blinding any of us from the glory of Jesus, he can keep us imprisoned, locked in fear, anxiety, shame and people-pleasing, which is the fear of man, forever. We must not go with or give into the ways of the world. And, Christians, we should not be complacent about the enemy blinding those we love from knowing the truth about Jesus and the freedom He brings.

How do we fight back? It is imperative we confess with our mouths where we stand by saying who we serve. We take a stand against darkness by giving our statement, telling our story, and sharing our testimony that Jesus is the Lord of our lives. We will be saved by our testimony. 

The Bible says, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved” (Romans 10:9-10).  

Our testimony is a weapon. What we speak, the words that come from our mouths are a proclamation of where we stand. If we stand here, we don’t stand there. When we proclaim that we stand for Jesus, we declare that we stand against the enemy and the evil of this age. 

With Jesus, we will never be put to shame. “As Scripture says, ‘Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.^” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’” (Romans 10:11-13). 

With Jesus, we are cared for. “Anyone who goes through me will be cared for—will freely go in and out, and find pasture” (John 10:10a).

With Jesus, we receive abundant life, both here on earth and for eternity. Jesus tells us, “a thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of” (John 10:10b).

Our words declare our stance, and our stance dictates our outcome. There is power in our story. We must share it. We must share the story of our savior, Jesus Christ, how He changed the world and how He changed our lives. This means we share where we were and how far we’ve come, only because of God, only because of the salvation that comes from Jesus. In doing so, we take a spiritual stance and we paint a picture for others, a map, of how they can find freedom too!

Sometimes we don’t want to tell our story. It might bring us back to a painful place, a remembrance that we were weak — that apart from Him, weare weak. While the enemy uses our weaknesses to taunt us, God, in His infinite fatherly love, turns our weaknesses into power in our favor. Paul speaks of this very thing in the Bible, “Each time he said, ‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.’ So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me” (2 Corinthians 12:9). 

God is not repelled by our weaknesses. They activate His supernatural power in our lives to create breakthrough that we can boast about that can draw others to His abundant way of living. In the Kingdom of God, we actually boast about our weaknesses to show the power of Christ at work in our lives! How cool!

There is power in our words. What we say, what we claim, what we declare and what we confess will dictate our outcome. [This reminds me not to waste my words on judging, gossiping about our condemning others! I want to make my words count towards abundance in my life and in the lives of others.]

The book of Revelation reminds us that this is a spiritual and shows us how the enemy, the accuser, is cast out: “They defeated him through the blood of the Lamb and the bold word of their witness” (Revelation 12:11).

Do you sense the presence of evil in our culture? Despite what the enemy has been trying to tell you, you aren’t alone, and you aren’t powerless. I encourage you to grab ahold of the power of God that protects you, and helps others find freedom, by declaring where you stand. Speak out. Share your testimony!

Each of us needs wisdom. It feels like we need an extra measure of it in this climate to wade through fact and fiction, to decipher good from evil. We need wisdom on who to listen to, as well as to know from whom we should protect our hearts and minds.

We need wisdom on how to support the people we love through their difficulties, through uncertainty. We need wisdom on how to plan for our futures and how to get our finances in order. We need wisdom in helping our children navigate these times emotionally, and wisdom on their educations moving forward.

We need help making decisions on things that used to be basic, like if we should leave our house, which store to go to and at what time. We need help getting our businesses and organizations back on track. We need wisdom on how, when and what to communicate, to know when to open our mouths and when to shut them. We need wisdom to know when to activate and when to be still. We need help, and we need wisdom, in every area of our lives from the big to the small.

God has wisdom available for us. The Bible, God’s love letter to us, tells us, “If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and He will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking” (James 1:5).

God does not want us to rely on what we know, what we perceive in our own emotion, or on what we hear from the emotion and hurt of others. He wants us to rely on Him.

Once the Bible encourages us to go to God for wisdom, it is clear about the posture of our hearts, if we want to gain it. “But when you ask Him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind” (James 1:6).

I have a tough assertion, friends: Unless it is clear that it comes from the heart of Jesus, spoken directly out of or alignment with the Bible, you can’t trust the source. It’s tainted by sin. Even the most well-meaning of sources is human with personal biases. Each of us must measure our opinions against what the Bible says. We must also measure what others say against the Word before we imbibe it, before we drink it in.

Financial planning teaches us to diversify. Business plans teach us to diversify. In the world, we have learned that it is unwise to put all of our eggs into one basket. However, if we want real, true revelation – the kind that supplies us with the answers we need to make the important decisions at hand – we need our minds, hearts and emotions unified on one thing: Jesus. (The Bible tells us the Word, the Bible, was made flesh through Jesus. The words lept off of the page and dwelled among us in the form of Jesus, here on earth.)

In the book of James, we are told, if we want wisdom, our faith must be in God alone. We can’t step up to the prayer room and cast one vote at the foot of the cross then turn on talk radio, read the CDC guidelines, look at our S And P 100 Stocks, then tune into our emotions to compile our strategy for wise living. We have only one hope: God alone.

If you feel “unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind,” that’s because you have – we have – been putting our hope in a diverse portfolio. If we expect to get the wisdom we desire to make the decisions at hand, big and small, we must put all of our eggs into one basket. We must put our faith in God alone, or we won’t get wisdom. We’ll get tossed around.

I need wisdom. Too many important decisions hang in the balance to diversify my portfolio just because “that’s how I do things.” Nope. It’s time to scrap that way of thinking. Too many people’s lives are impacted by mine. I need real wisdom. I will put my hope in God alone. He is our only chance, our only hope, and His track record is proven!

God, I need wisdom. We need wisdom. You are generous. Your hand is extended to give it freely. I put my faith in you alone. You alone save. I repent for putting any faith in myself. I repent for looking to others to answer my questions or supply my needs when you are in full supply with arms wide open.

Jesus, I confess the only way to the Father, the only way to be saved from this mess of sin, the only truth there is, the only way to live, the way to abundance, is through you. So I come to you. I put my faith in you alone. I need you. We need you!

God, Please help us regulate our emotions. Please help us regulate our attention spans. I desire to turn the dial down on everything else because I want to put my faith only in your words and your ways. You are more than enough for me, Lord. Please help me from being tossed around with the waves of the world but renew my mind, making it more like yours. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Today I am anxious, sea sick from the shifting tides, the crashing waves, the ups and the downs, the ins and the outs. There are so many ins and so many outs. So much changes with each passing moment.

In and out… One day you’re living your life; the next you are locked out.

In and out… “The facts” were in but now they are out.

In and out... In it together? Or, were we not?

In and out… Reentering community? Or again floating out?

In and out... One foot back into your world yet one is still out.

In and out... Summer is in but a summer without.

In and out… A moment in peace, followed by moments without.

In and out… One step towards life and then two steps out.

In and out... Feeling trapped in when we want to be out.

In and out... Breath in through the nose and out through the mouth… In through the nose and out through the mouth…

I simply can’t keep up with the ins and the outs… But there must be another way, a better way, to get by than measuring each breath in and counting to exhale out. I must shift my gaze.

I will look up to find true North, anchoring myself to that which never changes, my compass: Jesus, who is the same yesterday, today and forever. In Him, I can live and I can breathe and I can be.

Yes, even today, we still have choices. We have the same choice as every other day: Will I be in, all in, with Him? Or, will I be out? I choose to be in. I choose to make Jesus the Lord of my life every, single day, regardless of what else is in and what is out. I give Him the reigns. In His care, I am not hostage to blowing winds and waves. In Him, I have a sound mind to make sound decisions.

And, today, as I seek to root myself in Him, I must decide: What else will I let in, and what will I shut out?

I will choose to be in the Word instead of out.

I will choose to be in prayer instead of without.

I will choose internal peace and keep the news out.

I will choose to walk with grace and love and block hate out.

I will choose to be IN Christ but not to shut the world out… After all, the world NEEDS a savior. The world NEEDS unity. I know the savior, the one who brings unity, peace, love, strength, confidence and soundness of mind. Maybe I can help.

Jesus said, when He is in us and we are in Him, we will experience perfect unity (John 17:23). He is in me lavishly pouring His love in. And, as love comes in, I will work to pour love out.

“My dear child, don’t shrug off God’s discipline, but don’t be crushed by it either. It’s the child he loves that he disciplines; the child he embraces, he also corrects” (Hebrews 12:5-6).

When I was 15, my parents grounded me for a full semester. I was confident they hated me. Time to get your driver’s permit? Nope. Sweet sixteen? Nope. Driver’s license? Nope. Sadie Hawkins dance? Nope. Grounded. Stuck right beside my parents, both of whom are coaches. My brother would traipes in and out. Meanwhile, I couldn’t receive phone calls and could only go outside to exercise.

Heavy-handed? It certainly sounds like it when you’re hearing my side. (Fortunately, my parents won’t tell you my sins.) Yet, it forced me to focus and to shuffle my priorities around in the right order. It taught me how to relate to others, especially my elders. It taught me to have higher regard for others rather than thinking of my own selfish desires.

When disciplined, we tend to only whine, turning a blind eye to the protection it will provide. Protection is one of the greatest gifts we are given through discipline, yet we take it for granted. After all, through God’s protection, we seldom see the countless collisions we have instigated.

Yet, as a loving father, God cannot allow us to go on living recklessly. That wouldn’t be loving to us or to those around us. He must stop us in our tracks to get our attention. He is not trying to break us. He is training us, preparing us.

“God is educating you; that’s why you must never drop out. He’s treating you as dear children. This trouble you’re in isn’t punishment; it’s training, the normal experience of children. Only irresponsible parents leave children to fend for themselves. Would you prefer an irresponsible God? We respect our own parents for training and not spoiling us, so why not embrace God’s training so we can truly live?”(Hebrews 12:7-9 ). He is teaching us how to live.

“While we were children, our parents did what seemed best to them. But God is doing what is best for us, training us to live God’s holy best.” In grounding me, my parents looked beyond my immediate demands to prepare me for my future. I needed to learn those lessons to understand how to operate and interact to be successful in life. [It also prepared me for the quarantine life.]

It is not loving to let your child run out into the street. It is not loving to allow your child to hurt themself or others. It is not loving to let them hang out with reckless people, no matter how loud they kick and scream. And, God LOVES us! So, when God stops us, He is loving us. God knows when we are living recklessly, and He wants to keep a watchful eye on us until we have learned to operate in safety for our sake and for the sake of others.

Contrary to what some might think, God does not get joy from “grounding” us. He would rather lavish us with abundance. How many of us parents can say, “Grounding is actually more work for me!”? No one gets joy from rebuking and punishing. As parents, we would rather go on fun adventures with our children. (The discipline feels like a punishment to the parent too!) It takes perseverance to parent. Yet, the long-lasting, far-reaching outcomes make the discipline worth it!

God has put me in time-out a couple of times since high school. When He does this, like my parents, He is not pushing me out of His way or placating me to stop my whining. He is drawing me nearer to Him. He knows we need those pauses in life, these time-outs, to slow down, and to calm down to hear from Him. He wants to create a soft space where we reflect on the danger we were veering into so we will operate with greater safety and wisdom moving forward. He does all of this because He deeply, eternally cares.

As I went to bed last night, I found myself reflecting on situations that never happened, catastrophes God spared us of, close calls we didn’t know were present, and pain He spared us of that we never realized lurked around the corner.

Likewise, I thought about the moments when something painful does arise in our lives, at our own hand. Too often, we turn to God to blame Him, not stopping to realize that He paid our mortgage, cooked our meals, set our table, made our bed, bought the clothes on our back, did our homework, wrote our resume and got us our job.

We ask God for protection and provision, so He brings it. He shows us where we are going the wrong way, a dangerous direction, for our protection. Then we doubt Him. Like adolescents, we blame Him.

“It’s the child he loves that he disciplines; the child he embraces, he also corrects” (Hebrews 12:6). As our Heavenly Father, the one who planned us and created us, He loves us. He is doing everything out of His overwhelming love for us, even disciplining us… especially disciplining us. It is all out of love for our own safety and prosperity in life.

(A prayer) Thank you, Lord, for loving me enough to save me from myself. Thank you for protecting my family by disciplining me, by discipling us, that we might live the full, abundant lives you have set out for us. Help me to be a loving mother to my children, as you are a father. Help me to persevere in protecting them by taking the time to lovingly discipline them. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

We all desire to be known and understood. God knows you. He knows you fully. He created you. He loves you. He desires to be known by you too. He longs for a personal relationship with each of us.

The Lord is always speaking to us. He speaks to us in so many ways: Through His Word, through creation, to our hearts through His comfort, and through others. He has something to share with us to encourage us, to guide us, through all of life’s scenarios, even this one.

God’s Word, the Bible, covers it all! (I often go to the back of the Bible, or search my app, for a specific topic I am wrestling with or emotion I am experiencing, to find verses that help me in that particular area.) It shows us who He is and the many things He has done.

Of all of the wonderful attributes that describe God’s character, time and again, the Bible reminds us He is strong, and that His strength is put to work for our protection: “God is our refuge and strength (mighty and impenetrable), a very present and well-proved help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear though the earth should change” (Psalm 46:1-2).

God is showing us, over and over in His Word and throughout our lives, that when we put our trust in Him – in His strength, not our own, we no longer need to worry. We can leave the God-sized work to God and employ peace in our everyday lives.

Yes, it can be a process to hand our burdens over, but it is one that is so far beyond worth it, in order to access the peace God has for us. The question is, “How do you hand over burden and trade it for peace?”

I don’t know everything, but I can share what I have personally experienced in my life:

• Recognize you don’t “have this.” (I used to self-talk myself with, “I’ve got this,” when I clearly didn’t.) Face the reality that you are not strong enough to handle this on your own.
• Acknowledge you are drowning, your way out hasn’t cut it, and you need help!
• Begin a conversation with God. It can be this simple, “Hi God, I need your help!”
• Ask Him for forgiveness. This is an acknowledgement you were wrong – you are not in control. (You will feel better, really! He is so forgiving! You will be relieved.)
• Ask the Lord to show you what is creating worry in your life. Ask Him to show you what needs to go:
  An unhealthy relationship?
  A habit that is perpetuating fear?
  Negative influences, like dramatic shows or downer music?
  I don’t know, and I’m not judging. Ask Him! He will help clarify what is at the root of your worry.
• Replace the yuck with life-giving relationships, life-giving habits and positive input and influences.

For me, I recognized music that made me melancholy; shows that overstimulate my mind and adrenaline, robbing me of sleep; relationships that drain me; and needless tasks that oversaturate my day, stealing my energy.

When we talk to God, ask Him to take the worry, and to give us His strength, He does. He gives us peace supernaturally through His Holy Spirit. He also points us to practical steps that lead us to peace. Being the mess I am, and seeing the Lord bring about healing and help in my life, I know He can change things around for the positive in anyone’s situation – even yours, no matter what you are facing.

The Lord reminds us all today, “Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations! I will exalted in the earth” (Psalms 46:10).

To my friends in business and leadership, whose hearts cry out, “Take my side, God — I’m getting kicked around, stomped on every day. Not a day goes by but somebody beats me up; they make it their duty to beat me up” (King David, Psalm 56:1).

To my friends in business and leadership, whose thoughts, forever running, tears and sweat pouring out, crying out, “There are kids… These are parents… There are families depending on me, on my decisions, on our success, our profit… for income, to thrive, to eat, to receive an education for their futures…”

Crying out, “There are workers, people – real people, who have invested in this business, this organization, trusting for a fruitful outcome one day, to get their kids through college, to one day retire from their labor… And, oh, how we have worked – how they have worked… I have worked and worked and worked, hour after hour, investing time, finances, years – maybe even forfeited years of my life – to see a fruitful outcome one day.”

Crying out, “…But, here and now, the statements pile up, the expense bleeds without profit to account for it, without profit to shore it up, to even it out, let alone advance. Oh, God, what do we do?!”

As King David did, so can we: “When I get really afraid, I come to you in trust. I’m proud to praise God; fearless now, I trust in God. What can mere mortals do? …You’ve kept track of my every toss and turn through sleepless nights, each tear entered in your ledger, each ache written in your book” (King David, Psalm 56:1-8).

When we get really afraid, we trust in God.

Go to the Lord. Lay your burdens at His feet. You cannot bear this burden on your own. It is true: You do not have the answers to make the best decisions on your own, or the means to provide for your team or your family on your own. But, God has the answers in full supply! He is working behind the scenes on your behalf, on your team’s behalf, for you.

You have been crying out, “Oh, God, what do we do?!” Lean on Him. Lean into Him. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

You feel fear because you cannot trust yourself to make the right decisions. Release this fear. Set it free. Don’t talk yourself into why you can be trusted. Instead, acknowledge it is true: You cannot trust yourself. But, you can trust the Lord!

When we submit to the Lord, He makes our paths straight. Our submission has a holy, positive impact on those around us, as well. They see God through us, instead of seeing us.

In this time, especially, I urge you to remember: You are not your employee’s provider. You are not your family’s sole provider. God is their provider. He will work to perform His Word. And, when He does, it will become clear that it was Him. It will be clear that He performed the work, that He provided the provision, the miracle. It will be clear that He caused the impossible to become possible; and, He will receive all of the glory. (He does not need to share His glory with us! It’s so embarrassing to think of the times I wanted some glory. Yuck!)

Take this time to surrender to the Lord. Lay this all at His feet. Rest in Him as He accomplishes the God-sized work that only God can work! And be ready to give Him the glory and the praise for His wondrous works!

We praise you, Lord! Your ear is not deaf to our cries, nor is your arm too short to save. We put our total trust in you, Creator, Provider, Sovereign God.

I am praying for you, leaders – for rest in your minds and in your bodies, peace on your nervous systems, and for calming on your adrenaline. Rest. Here is a wonderful Psalm to meditate on, to cast our burdens on the Lord, as we refocus our gaze onto Him:

Psalm 40: 1-5

“I waited patiently for the Lord;
    he turned to me and heard my cry.
He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
    out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
    and gave me a firm place to stand.
He put a new song in my mouth,
    a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear the Lord
    and put their trust in him.
Blessed is the one
    who trusts in the Lord,
who does not look to the proud,
    to those who turn aside to false gods.
 Many, Lord my God,
    are the wonders you have done,
    the things you planned for us.
None can compare with you;
    were I to speak and tell of your deeds,
    they would be too many to declare.”

It doesn’t matter your job title, the brand of car you drive, your pedigree, education, tax bracket or the level of your beauty. This is an equal inopportunity virus and situation. No one person is better than the other or immune to hardship. The regular rules of American society matter not in this pandemic, this national crisis. Everyone hurts in some way. In one way or another, it’s injury in the first-degree for everyone.

Please, I beg us, as a society to please put off pretense or pride. Let’s shed the strange social games that dictate to whom we say, “hello,” in the grocery store, who we choose to share our smile with or who we thank for a kind gesture. We have a commonality called “the human condition.” Unfortunately, we have found it hard to just be human for some time. I sincerely hope we have learned through this. Let us never again position our noses at a certain angle based on the size of our house.

Hopefully, we are all learning that it is by the grace of God that we have anything. Like with Jonah, God can even take away our shade if He likes. The sooner we learn that we are all beggars, the better our country will be for all. 

Lord, Give us eyes to see, ears to hear and hearts to feel the love you have for us and for others. Help us lavish others with love and kindness, as you do, never again shrewdly withholding it out of pride… in Jesus’ Name.

Have you ever been in the back seat of a car on a winding road? If you’re like me, you came out green, rattled, undone, and gasping for breath. My husband loves, what I call, “athletic” cars. They aren’t the most expensive sports cars on the market, but they certainly aren’t the weakest. His car flaunts its horsepower and blows from 30 to 50 on the curves, rather than powering down.

As a result, I have taken to driving, or serving as front seat passenger, in my respectable, family vehicle on these trips. Closer to the helm, the center of the car, I move with the sturdiness of the car rather than jostling to my detriment. As a result, I feel fine — not rattled, green and gasping for breath.

In this time of turbulence, respected pastors have described it as a time of “shaking.” From Haggai 2:6-8, “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty.”

God is shaking the earth. And many of us, who have been found on our own agendas, going at our own speeds, trying to blow past and breaking the rules, find ourselves feeling rattled, undone and gasping for breath. And, let’s face it: One way or another, we have all been found on our agendas, fixed on idols, speeding ahead on our own.

When our respect for and our focus has wavered away from the Lord God Almighty, creator of the universe, we find ourselves in risky situations that come with consequences. It simply has not worked for us. Yet, how blessed we are that we are still here. We can change our ways. We can stop our reckless behavior now. We must. And, by refocusing our gaze to be on Him, instead of on our own advancement, we can find solid ground.

Psalm 16:4 -8 says, “Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more. I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods or take up their names on my lips. Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.”

As we see, the jig is up. Living recklessly, speeding ahead, and blowing past all of the rules doesn’t work anymore. There are consequences for our behaviors: The earth is being shook.

But, by setting the Lord ahead of us and beside us, forsaking idols – including ourselves – we will not jostle with the shaking. When we remain beside the Lord, we will move along the sturdy hand of God; and, we will not be shaken.

Lord God, Please forgive us. We, as individuals and as a country, have been on our own agendas, going at our own speeds and blowing past your rules. I repent for the recklessness I have created through my actions. I repent for the idols, the things I have put before you, including myself. I thank you for your love… that we are still here, and that you are still here. Your Word tells us to draw near to you and you will draw near to us. So, I draw near to you. I trust you, Lord. I know that, when we are beside you, neither my family nor I will be shaken. Rather, the boundary lines fall in pleasant places for us.

Lord, I hand over my control. I hand over any survival mentality I have that makes me clutch to opportunities. Instead, I look to you, knowing you will provide everything we need. You are more than enough for me. I love you, Lord! Amen.

There were a handful of years I would get up at 3:30 in the morning, start my work, get ready, head to the office and run seven-to-10 very focused, back-to-back meetings every, single day. To take a deep breath, I would have to step into the bathroom. Even then, someone might knock on the door with a question or for a signature.

I smiled and did my work, happy to have work, but my nervous system and adrenal glands were completely taxed. I wondered how many years I was shaving off of my life, not out of dramatic thinking but from actually alarming symptoms.

Some of you have been running the same type of back-to-back, intense, highly-pressured schedules for years too. Though smiling, you cannot fool your body. It knows you are taking advantage of it, and it needs rest to heal.

There came a time when my body, my nervous system, and my soul, demanded that rest from me, and it was imperative I took it. I didn’t want to become dependent on medications, simply to feed my schedule. So I didn’t. I had to take a step back for myself and my family, and to hear the voice of God speaking.

I know everyone wants to get back to work and get back to the grind. That is motivated by a desire to connect but also to provide and to have a platform to exercise your giftings.

For some of you, you are freaking out until you do – either because you are beginning to feel desperate or because your identity is so deeply connected to what you do, and you feel your time – something you greatly value – is being rendered useless. You may be feeling worthless, pulled from the game.

For those of you, especially, I would like to assert that this time is not a waste, nor is it futile for you. This is time that your body needs to regenerate and to heal. Healing is a highly valuable use of your time and something you need, if you don’t want to be pulled from the game of life prematurely.

I had to learn, though I often enjoyed what I was doing – perhaps just telling myself that, at times, to push through – you cannot fool your body. Adrenal glands are real. Hormones and chemicals are real. Cortisol is real. And, they can get out of whack, disorienting your entire system, when you run for years without a break. This takes a literal toll on your body and your actual life.

The point of this message is to communicate with the achievers, the business owners, those of you with double-A personalities, who are anxious because you feel trapped or that time is being wasted: This time does not have to be wasted. This time can be a gift used for one of the most valuable investments you could ever make: an investment in your physical healing, through rest, to rejuvenate and restore your body, which impacts your quality of life and your life span.

This time is not a waste. Turn your brain off for awhile. Though it feels oxymoronic, turning your brain off and letting your body turn down, is actually one of the most valuable uses of your time. When that brain of yours does just want to think, consider what tools or exercises you can carry into your daily life and routine after this – once the work starts up at it’s usual pace – to respect your body and to maintain your healing.

I’ve said it before: “Success” nearly took me out. The good news is, when God helped press pause for me, making Himself abundantly known, the healing and rejuvenation I needed took place. Yet, you have to start by acknowledging the physical exhaustion you are experiencing and ask God to show you a new way to take care of your temple.

For some of you, you could not press pause on your own. It took an act of God for you to step back to rest and to heal. The good thing is, you have that opportunity now. And, your body will thank you for it. I think of two particular Bible verses, at this time, that serve as a reminder and an encouragement:

1. How we treat our bodies matters to God:
   “Do you know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own…” (1 Corinthians 6:19).
   
2. If you find yourself weak, as I did, this is a wonderful verse to say out loud and to meditate on:
   “Praise the Lord, o my soul, all my inmost being, praise His holy name. Who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagles” (Psalm 103:5).

I truly felt 35 years older than I was; but, through rest, and becoming more aware of my limitations and aware of my value past producing, I de-aged. And, you can too! Now is your opportunity to do so.

Though your natural fall back in “down” times might be worry, please consider this when you go there: Thinking you can solve all of the issues at hand is your ego. I encourage you to find peace in knowing that you can’t solve every problem at hand, but God does not slumber or sleep. He is still God. He is still on His throne. He knows what you need, and He is working on your behalf right now.

Just rest.