How To Overcome Milestones

 When we think about Milestones, we think of the good, happy, and great achievements we can celebrate.

Although here is something that people may not realize, that sometimes there are milestones that we might like to forget, the milestones that are baggage, weight on shoulders, the milestones that can weigh heavy on our hearts, the milestones that weigh us down just as much as we would love to forget the bad milestones, the horrible milestones from past moments whether it be growing up, or whether it be something we struggle to let go of, those are the ones that God wants us to give to Him. Those are the type of milestones that we can't always face alone or on our own. We need to give it to Him and just let go.

Hebrews 11 verse 1, 1 Corinthians 13 verse 1-13, Jeremiah 29 verse 11, 1 Peter 5 verse 10, Philippians 4 verse 6-7, Romans 8 verse 28, John 14 verse 6, John 6 verse 53, Matthew 8 verse 26, Matthew 6 verse 33, Joel 2 verse 32, Romans 12 verse 3, Psalm 23 verse 1-6, 1 John 5 14-15, 2 Peter 3 verse 1-18, Psalm 1 verse 1-6. 

So where's this peace you promised? 'Cause right now it feels like fear, I'm hanging on, but if I'm honest

I can't even feel you near, So won't you come and take this? I'm begging you to take this, Oh, won't you come and take this?, I'm begging you to take this, My life was built on this, This wreckage can't be fixed, They say move on, but I feel, Like I'm bound here, I thought I had his love, Why wasn't I enough?, Tell me you have a plan, 'Cause it's not clear, no, So where's this peace you promised?, 'Cause right now it feels like fear, I'm hanging on, but if I'm honest, I can't even feel you near, So won't you come and take this? I'm begging you to take this, Oh, won't you come and take this?, I'm begging you to take this.

Every second you spend wishing God would take away a struggle is a forfeited opportunity to overcome.

Don't be bound by the past and it's failures. But don't forget it's lessons either.

God uses no one until He first puts them through the storm. The greater your mission, the greater your storm.

In so much of this we see how it's simple enough to celebrate the great milestones in life that we celebrate, but we also see that with God we can see how to overcome the milestones that lead us in a path of are we enough? Are we living for Christ? The answer to that is, yes we are enough and we are living for Him, but we must truly live for Him and pray that He not only helps us celebrate the good milestones in life, but to overcome the milestones that weigh heavy on our hearts, the ones we need to let go, the ones that Enemy would love nothing more than to say don't celebrate good, celebrate sadness, the bad things that happened, we as beloved children will never get to that as long as God is here and near to our hearts and how He shows unconditional love to each and every single one of us.

Benjamin Disraeli says: Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for the truth.

Howard Zinn says: If we remember those times and places and there are so many where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act.

In so much of these last two quotes, we see how sometimes when we believe so much of what the Enemy would love to say to knock us down and to make it feel like we can't overcome the milestones in which we all have our moments of feeling like why did this happen moment, it's then we realize we have become stronger in our relationship and Faith walk with Christ in order to overcome the difficult milestones that aren't always meant to really celebrate but to let go of, so we can celebrate the good.  

How God Shows We Are Not Burdens

 I want to start off with how this study happened. I had been listening to a song called Burden by Citizen Soldier and as I heard the lyrics I realized this is a topic that needed to be shared because so many times we place ourselves in the category of being hard on ourselves, of thinking we need to people please and sometimes we think are we a burden or do we share our burdens of what bugs with others too much? You see as we dive into the scriptures and everything else tonight we are going to see how God shows we are not burdens, but how we don't have to carry that burden, how we are never burdens in the body of Christ.

You can talk, you can talk to me, Even down in your darkest place, Don't ever be ashamed of your needs, You are not a burden to me.

When the night comes, when you’re all alone, When there’s trouble stirring in your soul And if your world is falling apart, Just hold on for the morning break to dawn, Come and lay your burdens down to the place where freedom is found, At the feet, at the feet of Jesus, Come and lay your burdens down.

I've carried a burden, For too long on my own, I wasn't created, To bear it alone, I hear Your invitation, To let it all go, Yeah, I see it now, I'm laying it down And I know that I need You, I run to the Father, I fall into grace, I'm done with the hiding, No reason to wait, My heart needs a surgeon, My soul needs a friend, So I'll run to the Father, Again and again, And again and again, Oh, oh, oh, You saw my condition, Had a plan from the start, Your Son for redemption, The price for my heart, And I don't have a context, For that kind of love, I don't understand, I can't comprehend, All I know is I need You, I run to the Father, I fall into grace, I'm done with the hiding, No reason to wait, My heart needs a surgeon, My soul needs a friend, So I'll run to the Father, Again and again, And again and again.

Galatians 6 verse 2, Matthew 11 verse 28-30, Psalm 55 verse 22, John 16 verse 33, Matthew 23 verse 4, Psalm 46 verse 1, Philippians 4 verse 6-7, Galatians 6 verse 5, Jeremiah 23 verse 36, John 14 verse 6, Psalm 68 verse 19, Psalm 138 verse 7, Romans 8 verse 18, John 7:17.

In all of this, we see how God is merciful and how God shows us we are not a burden or burdens to Him. We see how we are not even a burden or burden to others that enter our life.

In fact, we can always leave our burdens at the foot of the cross and know things will be ok.

Sometimes on this journey, I get lost in my mistakes, What looks to me like weakness is a canvas for Your strength, And my story isn't over, my story's just begun, And failure won't define me 'cause that's what my Father does, Yeah, failure won't define me 'cause that's what my Father does, Ooh, lay your burdens down, Ooh, here in the Father's house, Check your shame at the door (ooh), 'Cause it ain't welcome anymore (ooh), Ooh, you're in the Father's house, Arrival's not the end game, the journey's where You are, You never wanted perfect, You just wanted my heart And the story isn't over, if the story isn't good, A failure's never final when the Father is in the room, And failure's never final when the Father is in the room, Ooh, lay your burdens down, Ooh, here in the Father's house, Check your shame at the door (ooh), 'Cause it ain't welcome anymore (ooh), Ooh, you're in the Father's house, yeah. 

Don't carry burdens that God never meant for you to carry.

In this we see how God gives us not a spirit of fear but of a sound mind.

We see how God will always carry us through any storm or trial that we face in life.

At other times we also see that we are never a burden or burdens to others or to Christ.

We don't walk this Faith journey alone and we are not about to start doing that now.

Let us keep hoping for the best, let us remember that we are not a burden or burdens.

Let us take with us that we can do all things through Him that gives us the strength.

In all circumstances let us also try our best to be the best version of ourselves and have the mindset in place of thinking how we could be a burden or burdens, and have the mindset that we are not that but how we are children of God who are deeply loved and cared for.

Take your burdens to the Lord and leave it there. 

Knowing we will be with Christ forever far outweighs our burdens today. Keep your eyes on eternity.

It is my hope and my prayer each and every single time out with all of you that we can apply what we have learned and put it into action and place it into action for others as well.

I also hope and pray that we remember that as a child of God we are never going to be burdens or a burden because God takes those burdens and baggage and lifts it off our shoulders and so that we don't ever have to carry any of that and we can just live for Him.

Finally, let us remember that Christ lives in us always and no matter what He'll help us.

Living For Christ

 We Know It In Our Heads But Do We Really Own It? Is Jesus Christ Really Who We Are Living For?

Do we live for Jesus? Have we continued to live our life as Jesus would want us to live?

What are we doing to live for Him? How are we making Jesus happy in how we are living for Him?

Where do we see ourselves in living for Christ? Is there something we can do that honors Him?

Romans 12 verse 2, Matthew 22 verse 37, Galatians 1 verse 10, Romans 8 verse 28, 2 Corinthians 5 verse 17, Romans 14 verse 8, 1 John 1 verse 9, James 1 verse 2-4, Hebrews 4 verse 12, John 14 verse 6, 1 John 5 verse 20, Luke 11 verse 28, John 6 verse 57, 2 Timothy 3 verse 16-17, John 3 verse 16-17, John 7 verse 38, Jeremiah 29 verse 11, Philippians 4 verse 13, John 8 verse 12, Isaiah 41 verse 10, John 4 verse 24, Psalm 33 verse 4, Mark 16 verse 15, Hebrews 11 verse 6, Deuteronomy 8 verse 3, Psalm 119 verse 7.

In everything we see in scripture we see how it can be important to Live for God. We see how when we go through trials in Faith, how we go through storms in life, how we handle things that can overwhelm us, is where God reminds in the scriptures we read tonight that when we let go and let Him handle it, we are at a peace of understanding. A peace that gives us that hope to overcome, and a peace that allows us to be still.

Sometimes it can be hard to be still. Although with God, we don't have to be afraid. We can overcome.

No matter what we go through, God has us in the palm of His Hands. He holds us close to Him. He reminds us that we are loved and cherished. Remember the quote, and the questions I asked earlier?

Well, when we think about it and we really think about it, we know about God, we know about our Faith but are we really owning and living for Him? Are we really doing the best that we can to do so?

Sometimes we all struggle in that, but then again no one is perfect, we won't always get it right.

We will sometimes fall down, but God is the one that picks us back up again and turns it around.

If we all were the same, if we all had the same testimony, where would any of us be currently?

How would we go about living if we were all the same, and had the same story?

I know these are a lot of reflection questions but here's something I want to get across.

Nothing can separate us from God's Love. Nothing can take us away from how we live our life. Nothing can take us away from how we walk by Faith and not by Sight. The one thing that remains in all of this is Jesus. Now, if there's anything I know it's we all have different walks in our life but all of us are still believers in Christ, we are all living for Him, and it's up to us to share Him and His Word with others who may not be a believer and we just have to keep trusting and hoping in Christ Jesus.

God will always help us amongst what we go through, God will always be our refuge and strength.

He won't ever leave us and because of that, no matter how we are living for Him, let's do it in Love.

Let's do it in Faith, Hope, Perseverance, Strength, Humility, Kindness, Compassion, Hope, and Joy.

Love

Inspire

Vessel

Inspired

Noble

Grace

Faith

Onward

Respect

Compassionate

Hopeful

Risen

Saved

Truth

We Love and Inspire with our words and within our heart. We are a living and breathing vessel that is inspired to do great things through Christ. We are Noble in Grace and Faith, and we move onward in our walk with Respect. We are compassionate in our words and hopeful to share how Christ has Risen and how we are Saved because He brought His Son to die on the Cross so that we could be forgiven. We know this is truth and that we are doing our best every day as His Child to live for Him daily.

The Key To Who We Are In Christ

 I remember watching a Pureflix movie where it was talking about how the Bible is and was the only road map we would need in life. 

1 Peter 2 verse 2-3, 2 Timothy 2 verse 15, Ephesians 4 verse 12, Luke 21 verse 28, Philippians 4 verse 6, Psalm 122 verse 6, 2 Peter 1 verse 2, 2 Peter 3 verse 9, Luke 1 verse 37, Proverbs 3 verse 5-6, 1 Chronicles 9 verse 27, Acts 14 verse 27, John 3 verse 16-17, Matthew 7 verse 7-8, Colossians 1 verse 10.

 I'm using my Bible for a road map, Then Commandments they tell me what to do, The twelve disciples are my road signs, And Jesus will take me safely through, There'll be no detours in heaven, No rough roads along the way, I'm using my Bible for a road map, My last stop is heaven some sweet day,

I'm using my Bible for a road map, The children of Israel used it too, They crossed the Red Sea of Destruction, For God was there to see them through.

There'll be no detours in heaven, No rough roads along the way, I'm using my Bible for a roadmap, My last stop is heaven some sweet day.

In a lot of this we see how the scriptures and lyrics can bring us to the map we need to guide our life. We see how the key points of scripture remind us that the map we need, the compass we need, the time we need to cherish is with God.

Faith does not eliminate questions. But Faith knows where to take them.

What the world neglects, The Lord accepts.

God uses no one until He firsts put them through the storm. The greater your mission, the greater your storm.

All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on to your destination.

God's Word is a map you can safely follow as you travel through life.

God Has Called You So Decisively That He Prepared A Road Map For Your Life Even Before The World Was Created. 

So in everything, we see the key points in all of this that if we don't have God being the road map in our life, in our journey of Faith, and in our Relationship with Him, we open the door to allow the Enemy to try to steal, kill, and destroy not only our joy but our happiness and peace. We allow the Enemy to make us feel like we need to be hard on ourselves, go back to our past, because that's what the road map and key points would be for the Enemy, cause the Enemy would like nothing more than to knock us down and not follow the road map of who Christ is but who Christ wants us to be and has called us to be.

We are God's Children, we have the choice to choose between the key points to who Christ has called us to be and follow the road map to Eternal Life, or we can choose to follow the key points toward the Enemy and follow the map to sadness, despair, hurt, our past, past hurts, deceit, dishonesty, being hard on ourselves, and not have any joy or peace in our hearts.

I am always going to choose the key points to who Christ has called not only us to be, and follow the road map to Eternal Life but we as followers of our Savior need to stand strong in our Relationship and Faith Walk with God, now more than ever because if we don't we can go down a dangerous path. A path that leads us to the other road map and key points of following the Enemy.

We don't want to do that, we want to keep on trusting God and following Him.

Because Following Him is the best thing any of us can do and what we should continue to do each and every single day to help others come to know Him.

God As Our Traffic Light

 Be My Traffic Light Jesus, Tell Me When To Stop, Tell Me When To Go, Tell Me When To Slow Down.

We often wonder how can God be our traffic light? What does that even begin to mean for us? 

Well, for me it begins to mean that we are His Children who shine a light to the world where God gives us that room to be a light into the world He created to show us that where we go, we will follow, where we need to stop to take a look around us and see that everyone whose come into our life is because God brought them there to begin with is when we show gratitude and when we need to slow down and realize that we don't ever belong to what the Enemy thinks of us, but we belong to what God says about us.

Sometimes we rush, sometimes we don't slow down and stop and we go but we then fall down.

Now, do we just stay on the ground after we fall? No, we get back up. We try again, we don't stop or quit. We go and occasionally pace ourselves to slow down to have a rhythm of hope in knowing God's got us.

In any time we see how God is our traffic light in many ways, He's our traffic light when we are in a car, a bus, train, plane, riding a bike, walking, running, jogging, swimming, everywhere we are He's our Light.

So many times we think we have it figured out, that we don't need God's Way as our Traffic Light because we have a way that we want it to go, that we want it to stop, that we want it to slow down in our own time. Although, that's not what God wants for our lives, that's the complete opposite of what He wants for us.

He wants us to give Him the pen, to let go, to stop, to slow down and let Him keep unveiling His Plan.

Psalm 32 verse 8, Psalm 119 verse 105, Isaiah 30 verse 21, Proverbs 3 verse 5-6, John 16 verse 13, Psalm 90 verse 12, Isaiah 6 verse 8, James 1 verse 22, James 1 verse 19, 1 John 5 verse 14. 2 Peter 3 verse 8-9, Psalm 46 verse 10, 1 Peter 5 verse 6-7, Matthew 11 verse 28, 1 John 2 verse 17.

In all of these scriptures we see how God helps us to remember everything we seek on a daily basis of wanting to when we need to go and share His Word with Others, when we need to stop and listen to know sometimes we just need to pray for those who have unspoken requests or don't even believe and then when to slow down, take a step back and breathe and know sometimes a situation we find ourselves in and trying to help be a light or guide and give encouragement might be more than we can give but when we have put our whole Faith and Trust in God to be our Traffic Light and to be our Counselor and Friend and He directs us to slow down and take a little bit of space in the backseat of any transportation or not, then we see how God is continuously at work in the lives of those around us and in the lives of people we may not have met but know just like us we all go through something but we are never alone in what we go through. Why? Well, because without God we would have nothing but with God we have everything and because we have everything we need with God, we will never be Alone. You may ask yourself, well how do I stop myself from feeling like I am Alone at times? Well, just remember this as you go about your week in how God is and will always be our Traffic Light.

Grace

Open

Delight

Inspire

Shine

Onward

Understanding

Respected

Trusting

Rise

Amazing

Faith

Faithful

Inspired

Caring

Love

Inspires

Goodness

Hope

True

This Acronym that I spelled out of God Is Our Traffic Light is something I wanted to leave and end on because when you think about it, God gives us Grace to trust the things we cannot see, we can be open with Him, we can have delight in knowing He will never leave us nor forsake us, we can inspire others to shine onward with an understanding that in a respected manor God loves us for who we are, we can show them that trusting in God is the best thing to do as we rise every morning when we wake up, we can begin to see how amazing that is with a strong Faith and how we as children of God can remain Faithful in Him and be inspired to be caring toward others in Love, so that it inspires us even further to share His Goodness and Hope for the best because this we know is True. 

Letting Go Of Hurt

 In Isaiah 43:18-19, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”

Job 11:13-16 “Put your heart right, reach out to God… then face the world again, firm and courageous. Then all your troubles will fade from your memory, like floods that are past and remembered no more.” First – “Put your heart right.” That means you forgive those who've hurt you.

Philippians 3 verse 13-14: Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4 verse 6-7, Proverbs 3 verse 5-6, Matthew 6 verse 14, Romans 12 verses 19, Matthew 5 verse 44,  1 Peter 5 verse 6-7, Matthew 11 verse 28-30, Psalm 46 verse 10, Proverbs 19 verse 11, 2 Peter 3 verse 9, Proverbs 17 verse 17, John 3 verse 16-17, Micah 6 verse 8, John 14 verse 1, Romans 8:17, Deuteronomy 31:6.

Is there a time that you can think of where your mind sometimes can get in a little mindset of going back to past hurts? Well, for me sometimes it can be hard to not go back to some of those things, it can be hard at times to let go, forget it happened, and it can be hard when it sometimes creeps back up at random, but then God shows us, and we see in His Word that we can let go of the hurts, we can let go of all the hurt and give Him our fears, our anxieties, our sadness that then turns into gladness because God amongst our hurt that we go through at times, shows us how Beloved we are as a child of God, shows us we are worth something, shows how you and I don't have to worry or believe in the enemy who tries to deceive us by putting lies into our heart, our mind, and tries to show us that we are not enough, and He will try to knock us down daily, but with God He shows us that we are enough, that we are loved and we don't have to be afraid in what the Enemy says, because God will continue to fight every single battle we go through.

In the midst of our hurt, God shows us that we are Strong Enough. God shows us that we are Loved, and God shows us how we continue to own our Belovedness.

So many times we think we may fail, let people down, and whatever else that troubles you in your hurt from what the Enemy put on your heart to believe.

Although, God reminds us that we have not done any of these things, and just the opposite of that because God reminds us that in our hurt or brokenness, we are loved and while we are loved by Him, there's no greater love than this, and when we realize that and we start to see that, then we remember our God is Faithful.

No matter what we go through, God is in the midst of every trial and we are not alone. We know that all things work together for the Glory of God and work together for the good and those called according to His Purpose. You see, God has a purpose and plan for our lives and a plan greater than we can imagine.

Our God shows us that when we trust in His Plan, we can let go of all the hurt, and even if we hold onto hurt at times, we don't have to carry the weight or baggage.

We can let go of the weight on our shoulders and we can let go of the baggage.

It's time to let go and forget of all the hurts that trouble us, and let God do something great in our life, to bring us and pull us through for a greater testimony.

So, we can either let go of hurt, or we can keep holding onto the hurt.

The choice is up to us, but just remember this: if we still sometimes hold onto it, God will help break us apart from it, if we hold on, others will help us let it go.

Now that we know and have learned about all of this, I just want to leave you with this because I feel it's important to end on this quote with everyone on tonight.

Let Go and Trust God.

Never Alone

 John 14 verse 27,  Genesis 2 verse 18, Psalm 48 verse 14, Psalm 23 verse 1-6, 2 Timothy 4 verse 16-17, John 16 verse 33, Psalm 38 verse 9, 1 John 4 verse 18, John 15 verse 12, John 10 verse 27, Matthew 4:4.

When I walk through deep waters, I know that you will be with me, When I'm standing in the fire, I will not be overcome, Through the valley of the shadow, I will not fear, I am not alone, I am not alone, You will go before me, You will never leave me, I am not alone, I am not alone, You will go before me, You will never leave me, In the midst of deep sorrow, I see your light is breaking through, The dark of night will not overtake me, I am pressing into you, Lord, you fight my every battle, And I will not fear, I am not alone, I am not alone, You will go before me, You will never leave me, I am not alone, I am not alone, You will go before me, You will never leave me.

You are never left alone when you are alone with God.

You may feel lost and alone but God knows where you are and has a good plan for your future.

Give God your weakness and He will give you His Strength.

In everything we see how we are never alone, how we can overcome, how we don't have to feel afraid.

We see that in every circumstance that God is giving us hope for today, hope for tomorrow, and always.

All we see in everything we have been learning on in how we will never be alone is where God will continue to meet us right where we are. He will always pick us back up if we fall.

I heard from one of my best friends that has become family that it's not about how many times you fall but how many times you get back up.

You see, if we feel lonely, if we stay in the place of feeling alone, we are going to then start to believe the Enemy's lies and that it is the Enemy showing us that is all we will ever have in life.

Although, God shows us that we are never alone, not by a long shot. We have Him, we have Faith, our Relationship with Him, our relationships with our own families, and with people who are best friends that also become our family because when God brings the right people to do life with forever, how can you ever really feel alone? Sometimes God has to bring us out of the places where we feel lonely, to bring us to a place where we can overcome the trials that put us back in the place of We Are Not Alone.

So, in everything we learned let us remember that the next time we start to feel this way, know that there is so many around us that will hold us close, that will start to help us see we don't have to hold onto hurt, we don't have to go back to ever feeling lonely, we don't have to go back to feeling alone.

Why? Well, because we are never alone when it comes to our families, our best friends, and more importantly we are never alone when it comes to God always being there in the midst of all troubles.

I pray that as we leave from this, that it is my hope we take away that loneliness and feeling alone is what the enemy would want but what God wants for all us children is to not feel alone when we are at the heart of the home in which God has brought us to, to do life with the people He has placed in our life and shows us that nothing can withstand or withhold the times we all have felt that way, but now we can become stronger and grow further and deeper into seeing how God is an everlasting God who is faithful and will show us that we will always have a friend in Him and that we are truly never alone.