What does really matter in life? Would the finish lines make you happy? Are you sprinting through life? Or are you happy that you can run at all?

Never enough time to realize how favored we are. Never enough gratitude to be satisfied. Where is the finish line? When am I done chasing after things? Is gratitude a decision or a feeling? 

I have asked myself these questions over and over these last few weeks and worked quite hard to find my answers to them – but actually it is real simple.

People chase after (their understanding of) love, success, dreams, position, titles, people or even after God. Most of us are burned-out, always stressed, exhausted or depressed.

Now first let me start by saying that there is no need to chase after God, He is there – omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient.

The Bible teaches us that He is there before you, that He knows everything and that before you have even formed your thoughts He already has created the solution or answer to it. He is all-power, as a matter of fact, He is the creator of power. Hence, He has the power and knowledge to provide His children with all that they need to make it through this race or so called “life”.

I think that there is no win in this life, there is no trophies or gold medal here on earth because Jesus has already won the victory, He already won it all and has provided us with all that we need.

We can only lose the win if becoming dead to the Holy Spirit or ignorant of God. Sometimes it actually might feel like you have lost if you do it for the chase only. But if you do it for the love you can not lose because it was love that gave us meaning.

It was the love of Christ!

Gods word tells us:

⁷ So go ahead, eat, drink, and be merry, for it makes no difference to God! ⁸ Wear fine clothes—with a dash of cologne! ⁹ Live happily with the woman you love through the fleeting days of life, for the wife God gives you is your best reward down here for all your earthly toil. ¹⁰ Whatever you do, do well, for in death, where you are going, there is no working or planning, or knowing, or understanding.

¹¹ Again I looked throughout the earth and saw that the swiftest person does not always win the race, nor the strongest man the battle, and that wise men are often poor, and skillful men are not necessarily famous; but it is all by chance, by happening to be at the right place at the right time.(Ecclesiastes 9, TLB)

This to me means that what really matters on earth is to praise and obey God and to thank him for his GRACE, enjoy every day with my spouse and family knowing that it is well and to raise my child after Gods own heart hoping that this new generation will make this world a better place.

The true finish line however, is going home – to be joyfully united with Abba, my Daddy, and walk on streets of gold.

So, enjoy the race homie  V

 

by Romina

inspired by LeCrae

 

It is not that I am jealous of other people blessings. It is not that I am discouraged. It is not that I am angry, afraid or uncomfortable with my life. But I am disappointed. Disappointed in people who I put my trust in, disappointed in a vision which turned out to be so far from reality, disappointed in the principles I was told and chose to live by. Principles that seemed to promise a solid solution for whatever mess I would find myself in.

Who makes these rules? Who makes these principles? Well for one, it is the home we are raised in, than there is the environment we grow up in and the society we live in.

For a rather long time I thought what I got was what I deserved. For earthly merit teaches you, that we get what we deserve, but the Gospel, yes the precious Gospel teaches us the opposite.

There is nothing we can do to upset God.

God would never harm us. He says in Jeremiah 29:11, that He has plans for our good and not for evil. So in everything, in every situation we face God has installed a  plan for our good. Sometimes we do not understand, actually most of the time we do not understand. And it is not our job to understand everything, if we would we would not need God would we?

Our thoughts are not His thoughts and His ways not our ways, all we have to do is to trust and obey.

Let God be your Potter. The One who shapes you and who trims your edges, not your principles. Then, start living in expectation and awareness of who you are and who created you. I know it gets tough at times but if you trust that you are in the Potters hands you know that he might just be trimming some of the edges in your life right now, but he still has got you.

Because you are His!

And He is for you!

by R.

It is so easy to stay in your comfort zone but the truth is you will never know where you would have been if you never try.

In John 5:8, Jesus said “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk”. He does not want you to stay stuck at this place. This place could be a situation or a condition in your life. He want you to break out, to start walking. What is it that is holding you back? What situation do you need to walk away from? Who do you need to pick up in order to walk together?

I find that it is the hardest thing. Sometimes we just became so comfortable in our situations or our conditions, that we refuse to change it. Change is not always easy but you have to brace yourself.

I tell you brace yourself!

The quality of your life is not determined by what happened to you, but by how you react to it. You have the choice to get bitter or to get better! You have the choice to stay in that place or to pick up your mat and walk.

We might not always know where we are headed when we choose to start walking but Proverbs 4:12 says “When you walk, your steps will not be hampered;when you run, you will not stumble.” hold on to this promise. I know, that, as long as I walk with Jesus and in His righteousness I will win.

For the essence of God is love, which means that

God is patient, God is kind, He does not envy, He does not boast, He is not proud. He does not dishonor others, He is not self-seeking, He is not easily angered, He keeps no record of wrongs. God does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.He always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

God never fails! (1 Corinthians 13)

And with this, I know I will not fail for He is with me. What others say or think does simply not matter because I know the truth about myself. I am Gods daughter and THAT… is all it matters!

by R.

Change requires commitment. Change requires sanguinity.  Change requires endurance. Change requires faith. Change requires grief.

Grief for things or people in our life, whom we had to kiss goodbye. Unless we let what is dead be dead we will not see change. It might be a “dead” relationship or a “dead” situation, whatever the “dead” thing in our life might be, we have to kiss it goodbye.

I am learning this for myself. A very important person in my life said to me the other day, as we were speaking of the “dead thing” in my life, that I am in an endless cycle. And it is true. Unless you let the dead be dead, you will not get out of the cycle.

Now, I understand that we sometimes are so paralyzed with the fear of change, therefore we choose to stay in conversant pain, in toxic conditions or environments, we stay in the to us familiar situation, we stay around the “dead thing”.

It hurts to let go. It hurts deeply. Always wondering when did it die?

But all questions should not matter thus it can not revive.

God told me to be strong and courageous for He will be with me. He will be with me through the change. He will help me to bury the dead relationships or/and the dead situations in my life.

I am so afraid. I know He told me not to be but I am. Moving forward letting go of the past, not knowing what is ahead, wondering if your heart desire will ever become reality, all of this frightens me.Yet God is a promise keeping God. No matter how afraid I might be, I am moving into a new season, a better season and I have to trust God with the fact that what lays ahead of me will be better than what died.

Luckily I know that He promised to work ALL things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to purpose. Also, all things are possible through Christ who strengthens me.

And often times the “good thing”, the new season, the blessing, is right in front of us but we can not see it, we are consumed with what we are trying to resuscitate and the very blessing God has waiting to be released into our lifes can not get to us, unless we kiss the “dead thing” goodbye.

Goodbye my “dead thing” I thank you for the time we had but know it is time to finally bury you and start into a season of renewal.

by R.

 

 

 

I am not who I was designed to be. I am my own enemy.

I hurt the people around me and myself. I am dysfunctional, damaged and lost. My constant companion guilt, shame and pain. The aim was to give and receive love, but this is a mess. A mess with more than two loser. Everyone involved got hurt, that is the consequence of sin.

And now that I am standing here, facing my failure, I realize that I have to let go of my stubborn heart. I realize that I hit rock bottom and I can not get out of this mess on my own. We all tried to hide our brokenness behind each other, but running away wont free us. I feel completely defenseless and naked as I confess my sin, almost like everybody is watching me and pointing at me.

I am so sorry. Sorry for disappointing the one I love, sorry for hurting the one I care for, but worse yet, sorry for disappointing God. 

And as I am repenting and hurting people while turning my back on sin I feel like maybe I am doing the wrong thing. Maybe this sin is not sin but God makes an exception for me. Truth is, God does not change and neither does His Word. Sin is sin and we ought to let it go!

Now I am standing in this awkward space of forgiveness and for the first time of my life I experience real mercy. The truth brings freedom. I stand in awe of Gods mercy. I do not deserve it but He made me worthy of it.

As I get on the passenger seat, I am letting God back on the driver seat, for I know that He is a much better driver than me. All I do is get into accidents, get injured, hurt others and accumulate trauma and mental scars. I am done driving.

I am my own enemy but Gods Grace is sufficient to deliver me of this captivity. No longer must I carry around the guilt, shame and pain. My Failures doesn’t determine my destination!

There is no condemnation in Jesus Christ, thus the opinion of human do not define my character. No longer must I hide behind men for if God is for me, who can be against me?

by R.

I never thought I would be the one.

How can it be that we love someone one day and than someone totally different the next day?

How can it be that couples fall out of love with one another when love is suppose to be everlasting?

After all the pain, with all this brokenness, could it be that this is not love?

Looking for a quick fix to numb the pain. Searching for any way to just not face the fact that I need help, to just not admit that it is my heart that needs surgery. At least I am not alone, at least I am loved. I take anything, all that matters is I am loved by someone. But, it is  love?

“I love you”, I feel like we misused these words so much to the point where they actually lost their meaning. Think about it, how many times have you told someone that you love them without thinking about the actual meaning of love?

I heard it so many times, that my heart seems to be immune to believing it. I mean I question it all the time when someone tells me that they love me. Sometimes I even ask myself if my child loves me.

It is mind-blowing to see how many people use this term as a tool of manipulation. Just to get who they want, what they want, when they want it. But after you had it, you still feel empty. You continue trying to fill the void within you but it just will not work. Mistaking infatuation, lust or co-dependency for love. But at least I am not alone. At least I am loved by someone.

Look at Jesus on the cross, he laid down His life for us! He says He loves me. And although I know he died, I struggle to believe that there is a love so unconditional that anyone would die for ME. I mean for ME? The answer is- yes even for ME.

I am not saying commit suicide as to prove your love for someone, I am just saying let us respect the word “love”, let us be more sensitive in the way we use it. I do not want to feel compelled to saying it because someone said it first, nor do I want to be manipulated with it. Some of us differentiate between “fake love” and “real love” when it should be “just” love and love alone.

I am still healing and maybe even trying to fill the void sometimes but the truth is, since I walk with God I am getting better, I am getting well. For once it is not just a quick fix but the only fix there is. His word teaches me that I am worthy and loved. No matter how burnt I am and how many scars I have. He loves me without trying to get something out of me. He loves me so deep that he forgives me, no matter how many times I have cheated on him, but I realized that I love Him so much that I do not want to cheat on Him anymore.

He will never cheat on me, never betray me nor leave me. He loves me regardless of my condition. He loves me when I look my best and still loves me when I did not feel like getting all dressed up. He loves me whether I wear a snapback or a miniskirt.

And I am falling deeper and deeper in love with Him!

by R.