God's New Years Resolution For You

Today is New Years Day. The close of 2012  has come and a new year has begun. Today countless people around the world will begin their annual ritual of creating their new years resolutions. People will take a little time to reflect on their lives and make determinations on what they'd like to change or accomplish. The process is different for everybody, some take it very seriously while others take a more laid back, wishful approach.

Statistics show an overwhelming majority of the people making their new years resolutions will not follow through in completing them. The majority will not see the complete change they envisioned when their goal setting began and will give up within the first 2 weeks. Yikes! Not very encouraging is it?! Still, it is the opportunity of a fresh new year to set the proverbial reset button so to speak and start afresh that entices even the most complacent individual to become a dreamy goal-setter!

Something I learned long ago was the importance of getting myself before God and allowing Him to impart His vision for my next season. I could spend time plotting out my own resolutions, projects and plans, but since God in His infinite wisdom has 'pre-pared' some things for me for 2013, I'm much
better off asking Him and letting Him download those things to my heart. You see God would actually like to plot out your new year with you!

Proverbs 29:18 says "Where there is no vision, the people perish..."
When you don't know where you're going you'll never go anywhere.  If you don't have a vision for your life you won't really complete much of anything.  But when you do have that vision from heaven, you can then see your path and move out. With a charted course, you have a destination of arrival, without it a lot of time is wasted wandering aimlessly.

Having a vision for your life is incredibly significant and important. When you get before God and allow His vision to permeate your decision making, you'll be able to complete any task set before you.  When obstacles or hindrances come you'll have an extreme vigor and tenacity about you because of the vision God has placed in your heart.

When I get before God, hear His vision for my life, and accept that vision as my own I am positioned for success.  I believe that's where passages like Psalm 91 truly take hold.  When we walk down that road that God has set before us we are unstoppable!

As we move forward in this New Year I encourage you to get alone with God and ask Him afresh for His vision for your life for 2013.  Once you have that vision, don't take it for granted. That plan is specifically created for you. You are chosen and set apart for His specific purpose to use your life to help and bless others in a unique way.

Walk in that strength and remember, that you don’t have to see the whole picture just take the step that’s in front of you and keep going!

Thank you for taking time to read this blog. I pray you're encouraged and inspired to press for the best!

I call you blessed,

~ Jen

A Christmas Risk

So much to do and so little time! Have you felt like this lately? The busyness of the holiday season is upon us as we move closer and closer to Christmas day.  December 25th,  it's the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. 

The point of this entire holiday is to pause and celebrate the Savior of the world being born. Born in a stable and wrapped in swaddling clothes. The humility of Jesus is so inspiring. Here we find the King of all kings. The One creation had been waiting for. The One who deserved to be born in a palace with the finest doctors and nurses taking care of Him, with the finest linens and the most luxurious baby bed, was instead born in a barn.   

But I want to take a moment to look at the people like you and me who had to respond to God’s directives and seemingly risk it all in order for Jesus to come. Maybe you have heard this story a hundred times but I encourage you to take just a moment to read on and consider this scenario afresh. You may just find the inspiration you need to take that next step of faith that is waiting on you! 

Mary proves as a real-life example of what a strong godly, faith woman looks like. Just a  teenager when she became pregnant with Jesus, she was engaged to be married to Joseph, a local carpenter in their village.

One night as she was sleeping, Mary experienced a visitation from Gabriel, the angel.  Gabriel is an arch angel and he is used as God's messenger at various times throughout the bible.  In this visitation, Gabriel told Mary that she would become pregnant with a baby conceived by the Holy Spirit and that this child would be the Savior of the world.  It is Mary's response to all this that gives such inspiration.  Luke 1:38 says" And Mary responded, 'I am the Lord's servant, and I am willing to accept whatever He wants.  May everything you have said come true." What a response of faith and real gut-level trust! 

When God promises something it doesn't matter what the risks are. When you know Him, you know everything will come out better than before!

You see, when God directs us to do something, no matter what the potential risks are, we really aren't taking any risks at all.  We can be assured that when He tells us what to do, it will be the best possible thing for our lives.

Consider the blessing that Jesus was to Mary.  This humble virgin, a God- honoring teenager, who's engaged to be married, risked everything she had.  Mary risked her entire life to trust and listen to God's promise for her.  Her reward?  She gave birth to Jesus, the Savior of the world, the Prince of peace, the King of kings, Immanuel. What a beautiful picture.   

Joseph was a strong father and man of God himself and he stuck by Mary's side through it all. But Mary had to take that first step. She was a strong woman of God who was trusting, strong, courageous, brave and fearless of what people might think of her. This is the woman that gave birth to Jesus and raised Him and gives us such a great example. Both man and woman are made in the image of God according to the book of Genesis. Through our ferocious ability to trust and follow God, we have the power to change history for His glory. 

We have the ability to be THIS generation's Ruths, Marys, Elizabeths and Esthers!!

I encourage you this Christmas season to embrace God's promises for your life and walk in those promises, knowing that what He said He will do, and though it may not be what you expected, it will always be better than you could have ever dreamed! 

I call you blessed,

Jen ~ 

Never Give a Crisis Your Respect

I learned a long time ago that if you give a crisis your respect you'll become a slave to it. That crisis will control everything including you!

"Your immediate reaction to circumstances will make a big in determining the outcome."  

Bad news always makes a play for your emotions and attempts to knock the wind out of you. Whether those emotions be sadness, anger, disappointment, or anxiety, all of it has the potential to take the wind out of your sails and knock you off course.

So what do I mean by not giving a crisis your respect? Simply put - don't respect it with your response! Your best defense against a crisis is to not allow your emotions to go haywire.  Not always easy granted, it takes a steel core on the inside, but remember that as a believer, circumstances don't have the last word, you have do. 

I can either agree with the how it looks/sounds and resign myself to that outcome or I can hold myself in a place of trust in God and His Word that I have hid in my heart feed what my response will be. Why is this so important?  Because when you speak the Word of God and hold yourself in a place of faith, it releases the power of His Word to go to work for you!

"When you speak the Word of God and hold yourself in a place of faith it releases the power of His Word to go to work for you." 

Let your response to crisis be a wise response. Yes, bad news may present itself abruptly but it has no more authority over you than the authority you relinquish to it.  This is why the Word says, ".... and let the peace of God rule your heart and mind."  Col 3:15. Let the peace of God call the shots in your life.

I could tell you countless stories in my own life where this principle has brought nothing short of miraculous results in the face of certain devastation. I chose instead to take God at His Word and spoke it in faith and that Word went to work for me. 

We all remember the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  They were standing in the kings court and he gave them an ultimatum with life or death consequences....   Daniel 3:15 (NIV) 

"If you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?"

These men replied exactly the way I am talking to you about. Their answer was one of confidence and faith that God would without a doubt bring them out of their trouble.

Verse 16 - 18 says... 

"O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.  "If it be so..."  wait lets stop right there! If what be so?  Well, they are answering the king's ultimatum of, 'if you do not worship you will be thrown in the fiery furnace', so  obviously they are replying to his threat of throwing them in that fire. 

"If it be so, ( if you do throw us in that fire) our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, ( even if you don't throw us in that fire) be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."

You see obviously it makes no sense to tell someone, "if you throw me in a fiery furnace I am STILL not going to bow to your idol" ... Well duh... you'd be dead!  

No, they were saying of a surety they knew God would deliver them, but if the king chose not to throw them in that furnace, be it known to you o king,  we are still not going to bow and worship that idol! Their faith in God was rock-solid. These men knew their God. They knew He was faithful and He always came through and they were not giving that crisis, not even a blazing fiery furnace, their respect. They were giving God and His track record their respect instead.

So, next time you are up against a wall, remember this is not your time to play the martyr.  You rise up and react from peace and come through with grace and with courage, knowing that God has your back and He is a pro at crisis-management!

I call you blessed, 

                - Jen