I found this community of people that have 1 word that describes their vision for their year. Forget this giant to-do list, long list of detailed plans, I have 1 word. It describes everything about this year for me.

My one word is FREEDOM.

This is what I learned last year….Being free isn’t the absence of something, or some bad habit, but the overwhelming presence and power of the God of the universe living and breathing through us. The irony is in complete surrender to Christ, we are truly free.

Galations 5:1 says, It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

How many of us belong to Christ but choose pain, hurt, anger, and our pasts to dominate our Christian life? He says to not let ourselves be burdened. We need to travel light. So this last year I dug deep. And I allowed God to take my heap of ashes and turn them something of beauty. And with the power of the Holy Spirit, I began shedding my life of hurts, anger, frustration, lies of the enemy and strongholds.

It was an incredibly painful journey of self examination last year, but this year the harvest is coming. I have already seen it. The rewards of planting good seed. It’s amazing how light we feel when we get rid of all that baggage.

So this year is about freedom. Choosing life, love, liberty.  Sharing my story. So hopefully you can be free too.

What are you holding onto that prevents you from being free?

I was reading Luke 11 about where the disciples ask Jesus about how to pray.

So after the Lord’s prayer he teaches them one more thing about prayer. And he uses a story for the example.

He uses this story…You go to a friends house in the middle of the night and knock on the door. You ask for bread because you have an unexpected guest and have nothing to feed them. The neighbor says, we are all in bed, don’t bother me. And Jesus says but if you keep on knocking he will eventually get up and give you anything you want because of your shameless persistence (NLT version).

Shameless persistence.

My children have this. They will ask for what they need over and over, louder and louder until I hear them. Until I pay attention and give them what they need. And as a parent its easy to get annoyed by this. But if you think about it, when they are thirsty or hungry who else are they suppose to go to. We are their parents and they are suppose to come to us to meet their needs.

And God asks us to be like our children here. He says pray to me with shameless persistence. Keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. Sometimes we stop short and just give up on God, when the answers don’t come right away.

And so many times we stop being persistent, give up right when break through is within reach. Sometimes we just need to wait on God.

So let’s keep praying, keep knocking, keep seeking with shameless persistence. Because God says he will never forsake those who seek Him.

Cheryl

I woke up this morning tired, groggy, unorganized. It had been a long week. It was one of those mornings I would loved to have slept until 9 am. (Like I ever really get to do this being mom).

So I take the kids to school go to work, forget to make coffee this morning. My first stop after I get to work is starbucks. They had the pumpkin spice latte. It’s my favorite. And I noticed the shift. The attitude shift. It wasn’t that I had to have coffee. It was that they had my favorite coffee this morning and for that I was grateful. And then as I walked back to the office, I began to just speak out loud all the other things I was grateful for.

Thank you God for the cool weather.
Thank you God for providing beautiful new floors in our home. (after the A/C drain overflowed)
Thank you God for my kids.
For my husband
For my church
For giving me new friends
For my job
For the incredible people I work with

And all of a sudden, my step got a little bit lighter. The negative attitudes, and negative thoughts they weigh us down more than we think. The cure to that is a grateful heart. To fix our thoughts on what is right and good.

Phillipians 4:8
And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. 9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.

When we begin to pour into our heart all that we are grateful for, the negative attitude begins to fade. There just isn’t room for it anymore.

So now its your turn.

Thank you God for …..

The smart person recognizes their limitations.

Yesterday for instance is a good example.

Someone at work challenged me that in order to do my job effectively I had to be just like every other male on the team and be able to lift a computer device that weights in at 110lbs. The device is shipped in a box between 2×4′s so that the box won’t break and has to be lifted by a fork lift.

Wow….

There are so many things wrong with this scenario but we will focus on the limitation.

First of all I recognize my limitation. I know I can’t lift that and I’d be a fool to try on my own.

And then I began to think about all those bible heroes I’m reading about as I’m reading through the bible. When we recognize our limitations we learn a few things.

1. We learn humility. The prideful person doesn’t admit limitations or fault.  The person that I think of here is Moses. Very well aware of his limitations, he brings them to God. He was considered the most humble man on the earth. And God chose him to lead over a million people through the desert and to the promised land.

2. We learn to ask for help. This is really hard for some people (me included).  We think asking for help shows a sign of weakness when I actually think it shows a sign of wisdom. I just got finished reading the story of David. David enlisted help from those closest to him to avoid being captured by Saul. Jonathan’s devotion and willingness to help David probably saved his life. Samson asked for God’s help for strength. Moses enlisted Aaron to help lead the people to the promised land.

3. We see that we aren’t perfect. We begin to see our imperfections and flaws so clearly and recognize our desperate need for redemption. And to be redeemed, to be made right and holy, it requires that blood be poured out from that which is perfect and holy. Jesus did that for us so that one day we would no longer have any limitations.

4. We learn to recognize our strengths. When you recognize your limitations, it gives way to seeing what your strengths are. Then you can focus and build on your strengths. That old saying you can do anything you put your mind to is really not truth. You should be focusing in and using your strengths. God gave you specific gifts and wants you to quit focusing on trying to improve your weaknesses and building on your natural strengths. (It’s too bad the corporate marketplace hasn’t caught up to this idea yet. They would have way happier and more productive employees)

4. We learn to embrace the strength of others. Instead of being envious of others abilities we learn to embrace them. We begin to see others strengths and want to put them in the forefront. We begin to see so clearly the picture of the body of Christ.

What do you think? What are your limitations? What are your strengths?

Cheryl

God said these words to Moses. Yes. Moses.

The one whom God spoke to like a friend. One of the greatest leaders of his time.

After parting the Red Sea, and making water spring from a rock, raining down manna from heaven and revealing himself by fire at mount sinai, even Moses had a moment of doubt.

Lets take a look at Numbers ch 11. So the people start complaining again. This time they were tired of manna and wanted meat. And Moses goes to God with the request.

In reply, God said He would feed them meat not for a day but for a whole month. And here is Moses reply:

21 But Moses said, “Here I am among six hundred thousand men on foot, and you say, ‘I will give them meat to eat for a whole month!’22 Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?”

23 The Lord answered Moses, “Is the Lord’s arm too short? Now you will see whether or not what I say will come true for you.”

And what God said was true. He pulled through even when Moses wasn’t so sure.

But the story doesn’t stop there. This is what is interesting.

Moses has NO idea how God is going to do this but in the next verse, he tells the people what God said. And not too long from that moment a wind blew in and blew quail in from everywhere.

Sometimes we are going to have a moment of doubt. God has given a vision or a dream. He has given us an assignment. And we will come to God just like Moses and say how? How are you going to do this? And God will reply, is my arm too short? Has my power somehow been diminished?

And hopefully like Moses we will stop and simply trust Him. And we will still move forward. Trusting in what is unseen. And tell the people what God said. And we will trust Him at his Word to do everything he promised.

God, may we never underestimate your power. And even when we doubt, that we will not let that doubt over take up. But we will simply trust you. And rise up in faith and believe in the impossible. And then move forward, knowing you will do everything you promised.

What areas of your life do you doubt that God will move?

Cheryl

Last week I was on-call for the first time. It changes your life. You have to be prepared for anything. You get inconvenienced at the most inconvenient time. Sometimes you get woken up. You sacrifice sleep.

Why do we do this? Because the job needs to be done.

And if you have a job where you are on-call you are so glad when its over. And then you go about your normal, mundane, everyday ordinary life. Where life is predictable and just how you want it.

I think we treat the Christian life like the on-call rotation. We become super Christian when it suits us but don’t bother me when I’m not on-call. Don’t bother my apathetic, mundane, routine existence called life.  Where I fight just for mere survival. And then we have the audacity to whine and complain to God that nothing incredible is happening in our life. We want revival without the cost.

The disciples dropped everything to follow Jesus. And they were inconvenienced. They understood that there was a cost to doing great things for the kingdom. They knew there was a job to do and they would do anything to see the kingdom of God advanced.

We need to always be on-call to God. We need to know that there is a cost to achieving great things for the kingdom. It requires sacrifice. It requires our time. It sometimes requires our financial resources. It requires being available to God and allowing God to interrupt our plans even when its inconvenient. It requires surrender of our heart.

God is ready to do the extraordinary right in the middle of your ordinary. There are people all around you waiting. Waiting for you to hear the whisper of God to intervene in their life.

Cheryl

Last December I found myself thinking about that next year. About my life, my dreams and all the plans I had for this life and wondering through all my failures and life not going as planned, would God still use me.

And I really needed something. I didn’t know what. But I was in the desert. I felt dry and thirsty. And I checked out someones blog and they had a banner about the bible in 90 days and I knew that’s what I would do in January.

It was an oasis in the desert. Like a cascading waterfall pouring through my soul. Being consumed by the pure word of God. It was like pouring gasoline on a flame and igniting a fire in my heart. And a passion for God that I have never known – even as a long time Christian.

Instead of studying bits and pieces you see the whole story. From creation. The fall. Our sin. And our redemption. You see it so clearly when you read through in 90 days.

Is it hard? Yes. It takes discipline.

Was it worth it? Yes. So much so I’m doing it again starting July 11.

Won’t you join me? http://www.momstoolbox.com/blog/2011/06/21/bible-in-90-days-sign-up/

The sermon this weekend at Gateway just hit home. We are in the series “From Dream to Destiny” and studying the 10 tests Joseph went through to reach his Destiny.

This week was the pardon test. That we must learn to forgive in order to reach the destiny in which God has for us. And I think its really easy for anyone to relate to this test. How easy it is to think of someone who has wronged us. The question is how do we know that we have really forgiven someone.

What I realized that through this message that unresolved unforgiveness rears its ugly head in several ways. If you have resentment, or if you get frustrated really easy or have a temper that is sometimes difficult to control, or you just can’t let it go, I think this all stems from unresolved unforgiveness.

Romans 12:19 says – Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.

I think God tells us this for 2 reasons. One, is that only the one that is truly just can bring about justice. And we are not just – not on our own. We are only made just, made righteous through the sacrifice on the cross.  Second, when we try to avenge the wrong we are never at rest or peace. We are resentful, angry, frustrated, seeking vengeance and all of this leads to bitterness. And if you get to this point, it bleeds into every area of your life. The pastor said that bitterness is like drinking poison hoping it will injure the other person, when it only hurts us.

If we are to live by the spirit that has its roots grounded in love, peace, patience, kindness, self-control, we must let it go. We must release that person from the wrong in order to live the life God has called us to. How do we do that? By understanding fully and receiving fully what Christ did for us.

Did you know that God is so holy that he can’t even look on sin. And we are sinful. Sin completely separates us from our heavenly father. And God sent his perfect, just, holy Son to become sin for us. His Son became sin. Remember God is so holy he can’t even look on sin and he became sin for us. That’s how much he loved us. And he bore our sin and sacrificed himself. And he removed our sin. All of it. Past, present, future.

As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:12

Once and for all. And he offers forgiveness to us as a free gift. But we must receive it. Accept it. I think we can already have accepted Christ but not yet allowed ourselves to fully accept his forgiveness. When we fully receive this gift of forgiveness, we will see ourselves so differently. We won’t see our past, our failures, our deficiencies, our unworthiness. We will see ourselves pure and holy as God is holy.  We will see ourselves made right and free. Not because of anything we have done but because of our gracious God.

Do you recognize signs in your own life that could eventually lead to bitterness. Do you harbor resentment towards someone? Do you have frustration and anger that seem to come out of nowhere? Ask God to reveal to you specific people to come to mind. Maybe that person you are needing to forgive is yourself.

Cheryl

I was offended, let down by someone recently. And I was disappointed. It’s so difficult when we trust others and they betray that trust. Or even worse that they question our motives and integrity.

And being human, my initial instinct is to retaliate or to defend my position or integrity. But here’s the truth. If you have prayed about a situation and you know that you are following God’s lead, and He has confirmed that through His word and by other trusted spiritual leaders then your integrity doesn’t need defending.

And instead of getting angry, or defensive, we need to just step back.  Ask God what the real issue is and how we should appropriately respond. And I think we must in this moment allow the holy spirit to invade our hearts and thoughts and to intercede on our behalf. And we must allow grace and mercy to flow through us just as it was extended to us through the cross.

I think this is my #1 issue to overcome (a work in progress). Being failed, hurt, betrayed and rejected by people.  Not just any people. When we were in ministry, we were treated awful by people in several churches. Rejected. Talked about. Lied about. Betrayed. And I was suppose to LOVE those people…….The answer is yes.

When we left ministry, my faith in God was shaken and my faith in people destroyed. And it showed. I was quick to react, quick to judge, quick to look for motive. And I had a brick wall around my heart a mile thick. Nobody was getting in. That is bondage. And that’s just as much sin as what those people did. God doesn’t want us to live in bondage. He also doesn’t want us to live in isolation.

We must allow Him in to heal our wounded hearts.

We must be willing to forgive even what seems unforgivable.

We must trust him to tear down that wall and restore it.

Jesus was rejected and betrayed. By many. Not just acquaintances, but also very close friends.  And I am sure that it hurt, deeply. And yet even in knowing what would happen, he extended grace that wasn’t deserved. Love that I can’t fully understand, but I want to know.

People will disappoint us. They will hurt us. They will fail us.

The question is…how will you and I respond?

Cheryl

Last night my husband and I both took the Strength Finder 2.0 test to see what our top 5 strengths were. To my surprise my husband and I didn’t share any of the same top 5 strengths. Coincidence? Probably not.

Check out this verse in Romans 1:11-12 For I long to visit you so I can bring you some spiritual gift that will help you grow strong in the Lord. ¹² When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours.

And 1 Peter 4:10 – God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.