Tag: God is Good

Waiting Around

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“But God’s not finished. He’s waiting around to be gracious to you. He’s gathering strength to show mercy to you. God takes the time to do everything right—everything.  Those who wait around for him are the lucky ones.”
Isaiah 30:18

When the boys were in elementary school they got out at 2:20 pm and I would try to get to the school at the latest by 2:00 pm so I could get a good spot in the pickup line. If you have ever experienced the stress of picking your child up in the craziness that is the end of an Elementary school day, you know how important this is.

One day I had to pick them up early from school and as we walked from classrooms to the car, Kyle looked at all the cars waiting in line and said: “Oh, they are already here?” Then he said, “I thought you just got here right when school is out”. I said, “Nope, if I waited until then I’d be way in the back of the line, so I get here early so I can be right on time for you.”

As I pulled in to wait in the pickup line the next day, I thought about Kyle’s perception, “I thought you just got here right when school was out.”

We forget that most things are not always as they seem but only as we see them. Just as I made a point to be at the school early so that I could be “on time” for the boys, so God is working in ways we can’t see and don’t know about in our lives.

The verse above was fulfilled through Jesus and through Jesus God’s will can be fulfilled in your life. 

God is not finished with you.

He is going ahead of you and preparing the way for you.

His grace and power are ready to be right on time when you need it.

The Impossible Dream

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Monday

By faith, barren Sarah was able to become pregnant, old woman as she was at the time, because she believed the One who made a promise would do what he said.  Hebrews 11:11 MSG

We are born dreamers.

As children, we see that world around us and dream about being a part of it. We dream about what our place in the world will be, what we will do, and who we might become.

The dreams revolve around us and what it will mean for us if those dreams come true.

As we grow up, there are some dreams that hold onto us more than we hold onto them.

It is those dreams that feel devastating when they shatter and remain unfulfilled.

We put them in the realm of impossible.

When the Lord told Abraham that Sarah would give birth, she overheard it and laughed (Genesis 18:11).  She laughed not because she thought it was funny but because she thought it ludicrous. The dream of having children probably died when she was in her 60s or 70s.  She had accepted her barrenness.

My friend, God often challenges what you have already accepted.

He will speak a word to you that seems impossible.

Something that seems ludicrous.

Something that you gave up on and now He is asking you to pick up again.

He is asking you to dream again but this time to dream it differently.

How? By placing your hope not in what the dream will do for you but in what God wants to do through you.

God asked Sarah to dream again. She knew she could not make it happen, she already tried. But somewhere deep inside she chose to trust God to do the impossible.

My friend, put your hope in God today.

And when He calls you to dream again, say yes.

 

Attitude

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“Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.”

Psalm 116:7 NIV

Don’t let a bad attitude rob you of an opportunity to be used by God today.

The very best way to to change your attitude is reminding yourself who God is and who you are in Christ.

When the world crowds you and makes you feel claustrophobic with all the “things needed ASAP”, it is good to take a moment and remind yourself that God is good and has been good to you.

It resets your perspective and returns your internal state from “fret” to “rest”.

God has called you to be a change maker where you are.

He will give you everything you need to do it including reminding you to get out of the way.

Let go of all the things you can’t control today and reset the one thing you can- your attitude.

What are you tired of carrying today?

What kind of attitude does that lead to?

What does “resting” in Jesus look like for you today?

More Than Just A Minute for your Weekend Reading 

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 This week I was blessed to write a blog longer than a minute for the Bayside of Citrus Heights website. The title of it is “Who Does God Think You Are” and it delves more into my personal story.

You can read it here, if you have more than a minute to spare today.

Have a good weekend and I’ll see you on Monday with a new J.A.M.

– Cindy G 

Talking to Myself

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I am going to laundry today. It is not my gift.
I don’t want to do the laundry but if I don’t my boys will not have socks tomorrow (why are there never enough socks?). 

My strongest gift is words. That being said, talking about the laundry doesn’t get it done. Talking to the laundry doesn’t get it done either. 
But talking to myself might, if the words are right. 

If I remind myself that doing the laundry for my family makes them feel loved (even more than my words do). If I remind myself how less stressful the mornings are without shouts of “Mom, I can’t find my socks”or without my replies of “Strewn all over the house where you left them”, and  “We have hampers in your room FOR A REASON”. If I remind myself how much I enjoy the laundry being done, then it might get done.

If I remind myself that while doing the laundry is not in my gift set, it is a gift that I give my family. It is a gift of service and a little bit of sacrifice because I don’t like doing it. But I like them. I love them. I want to take care of them and I want them the know it. They say actions speak louder than words because it is true but if I don’t get my inner monologue on board with that truth, the actions might never happen. Or worse, it might get done but I’ll be in “angry mom syndrome” and no one benefits from that.

Life is full of things that are not in your God given gift set but that doesn’t mean that they don’t have to get done. The key is to take the biggest and best gift God has given you, Himself, and ask for some help. He is good at helping. 

He is also good at showing you how to use the gifts He has given you. He gave them to you for a purpose. He would like you to use them.

For me, that purpose has been to talk my attitude around from begrudgingly overwhelmed to thankful I get to do it. Wow, God is good. 

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

May you be radiantly lit up with love of Jesus today and let that love spill over to all who come near. Especially if it involves dirty socks. 

Stick Around

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But me, I’m not giving up. I’m sticking around to see what GOD will do. I’m waiting for God to make things right. I’m counting on God to listen to me. (‭Micah‬ ‭7‬:‭7‬ MSG)

You are tempted to give up when:

– you have done all you can and nothing has changed.

– when you feel helpless to make things right.

-when you feel ignored.

But your hope is not based on what you can do, it is based on what God can do.

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭3:20-21‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Stick around.

When you realize there is nothing more you can do, you make room for God to do all He can.

Choose Joy

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“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4 NIV)

Rejoice is the theme of the book of Philippians, even though the circumstances with which it was written hold no reason for such a sentiment- Paul was in prison.

And that is the point.

Don’t rejoice because life is good, rejoice because God is good.

Don’t rejoice only when good things happen- God works thru all things.

Set your heart to celebrate Him and your mind to delight in Him everyday.

When you do, “your life and your things” look different to you even though they have not changed.

Rejoicing when there is nothing to rejoice about is a divine gift that will transform you. Take the gift and throw a party.

Choose joy.

Everything Good

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Peter was bold and brash.
He was a rebel and a leader.
He was loyal and a visionary.

He was a failure.
He resorted to violence in the garden.
He denied his identity around the fire.

He went back to his old life when it looked like his new life following Jesus had ended in heartbreak.

He questioned everything he believed in.

He did not give up.
He did not leave his friends.

He ran to the tomb to see for himself.

He saw the risen Lord with his own eyes in the locked upper room.

He believed when Jesus came to the shore to restore the relationship.

A relationship not based on Peter’s works (or failures) but based on Christ’s work (and victory). A relationship based on God’s restoration and redemption.

“I, Peter, am an apostle on assignment by Jesus, the Messiah, writing to exiles scattered to the four winds.

Not one is missing, not one forgotten.

God the Father has his eye on each of you, and has determined by the work of the Spirit to keep you obedient through the sacrifice of Jesus.

May everything good from God be yours!” (‭1 Peter‬ ‭1‬:‭1-2‬ MSG)

If you doubt God’s power to fully restore, empower, and equip you for the assignment He has redeemed you for, listen to Peter, he knows.

He knows that no matter how scattered you feel or how invisible you may be to the world around you- God has His eye on you and His Spirit in you.

May you stop analyzing all the reasons why you are not good enough and begin to be captivated in why God is.

May everything good in God be yours today.