You Got to Fight

This past week I have been listening to my favorite 80's hard rock while I have been working out and cleaning my house.  It has kept my blood pumping and my body moving. 

You might be thinking, "What you?!?!  The Jesus loving girl is listening to secular music?!?!"  Yes, me and I am bringing Jesus with me.  After all, He lives in me, we are one.  Jesus is not religious, why do we feel we need to be?

God has been ministering to me through my old party music.  Granted, the original artist had a totally different meaning when they wrote the lyrics and that's okay.  God can use whatever He wants to minister to people.  After all He is God.  

I have needed to feel young and alive again.  This music makes me want to dance and enjoy the day.  It makes the boring treadmill fun to be on.  It has a wonderful tempo to get the dishes done faster, at least it seems faster.   

This morning I didn't have time to get on the treadmill as I had too much to do before getting ready to meet a friend for our guild meeting.  As I was doing the dishes after preparing my potluck dish, Twisted Sister's "You Got to Fight" started to play.

As I am headbanging to the beat and singing, "...Oh we're not gonna take it anymore.  We got the right to choose it.  There ain't no way we'll lose it. This is our life, this is our song.  We'll fight the powers that be just don't pick our destiny 'cause you don't know us, you don't belong..."

God was singing back to me..."No, you're not going to take it anymore.  I gave you the right to choose it.  I've already won, no losing for you.  This is your life, this is My song.  You'll fight the enemy as he didn't pick your destiny, that was Me, you belong to me..."

God and I went on, but you get the gist.   He reminded me how familiar I have become with my pain and my physical limitations.  He said, "You got to fight to get rid of it.  It is not yours, it is not a gift from Me.  I have given you authority over the enemy, his lies and schemes.  Stop trying to tolerate the pain.  Stop accepting it.  You got to fight."

I felt like I was Rocky in the corner of the boxing ring with Mickey motivating me before the next round.

When I am in prayer I am full of Godfidence, declaring the word, reminding God of His promises, taking authority from the place of my son-ship knowing who I am.  I am His most beloved child who has child like faith knowing that my Papa God will take care of everything because I believe Him.  

However, once the day goes on and the pain increases I seem to believe that it is just my pain and try to deal with it.  Wow, how soon I forget my warrior's prayer and accept defeat.

The great thing about this life is that we do get to choose.  We can choose to accept it or we can choose to come up with a plan to fight it.   Fight familiarity as it is not our friend.  Let's not become familiar with things that the enemy dumps on us.  The enemy is not our friend either.  He is out to steal, kill and destroy us any way that he can.  He doesn't fight fair, he looks for our weak spots to use to his advantage.  

Stop and think, "If you were the enemy where would you attack you?"  That is where you need covering.  Build up your armor with God.  Be prepared as you got to fight.  

The great thing is that the battle is already won.  

Until next time, God Bless!

Break in the Storm

It has been raining all week and the forecast is for more rain this coming week.  We are experiencing storms that can’t decide if they want to stay in the valley or go elsewhere.

This morning started out with more rain.  We have had so much that our ground is so soggy the water is making little ponds everywhere. 

Rain, rain, and what…more rain.    

When I walked outside and saw that we have some blue skies and sunshine where there was rain clouds a few minutes ago.  Such peace came over me and flooded me so that I am now overflowing in peace.  Thank You Jesus for Your peace!

Isn't that how life is?  One minute you are in the midst of a storm and the next your skies are sunny, clear blue with fluffy white clouds!

I love storms where nature just cuts loose and has its way with the world.  I also love it when it is sunny and 70°.   It is those in-between days that seem to go unappreciated with me.  You know, foggy or overcast days (or worse the opposite – Summer 100°) - I just don't appreciate them.  

However, if it weren't for the in-between days, I would not appreciate the storms nor the sunny 70° days as much as I do.  This break in the storm is just filled with such hope and peace.

Funny, a little earlier a friend sent me a song, "Get Your Hopes Up" by Josh Baldwin on the War is Over album.  And the discussion on hope began.

Some of us were raised to not get our hopes up.  We were to keep our expectations low as to keep from being disappointed or crushed.  We end up building up such serious walls, always expecting the worst.  Expect people to let you down, that way when things went well and people came through, it is a happy surprise!

What an awful way to live.  We are told in Ecclesiastes 9:3-5, where there is life, there's hope.  If you are breathing air there is still hope!  

I love that song by the Newboys, "Live Abandon".  I want to live abandoned for God and I want to live abandoned in life.

I want to give my all, in all areas of my life.   If I have walls built up so you don't hurt me, I am not giving you all of me.  

Hope is not a bad word, it is a good word.  The archaic definition (which I love) is a trust, reliance.  The verb...(the action word), is cherish a desire with anticipation: to want something to happen or to be true.  

Hebrews 11:1 tells us "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and all assurance about what we do not see."  

Romans 15:13 "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with HOPE by the Power of the Holy Spirit."

He is the God of Hope and fills us with hope...if He is the God of hope, then hope is of God, so hope is not a bad thing.  Hope is awesome.  

I pray that during your storms you don't lose your hope, the break in the storm is coming.  Get with God, He will fill you will all joy and peace. 

Below is the link to the song, "Get Your Hopes Up" that will remind you.

Until Next Time, God Bless!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6FZzIy6VjA&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR1rAoeq24MzmM9mI0sLJkTAAtY3AUnqgEaNUgQGSbSUihormH_2ypJbRWA

Finding Focus through Patience

I am in the process of un-quilting my current art quilt.  This is not quick nor fun.  I am working from the back of the piece so that I don't mess up the layers of fabric on the front.  Even though from the back everything looks fine, my fingers are feeling all the pucker problems that are taking place on the front.

As I am taking out the stitches, I hear in my spirit that this quilt is going to have to be done differently that my previous pieces due to the size and the different issues that are going on with it.  I hear that I am going to have to focus on an area of the image at a time instead of working on the piece as a whole.  As the guiding words are being said the picture of what to do is going through my head.  

This scene was more than guiding me through my art piece.  God has been trying to teach me patience.  Not a fun thing when you are an over-achieving-get-it-done-now type of person.  Actually, patience is easier said than done.  At least for me.

Believe it or not I always thought I was patient, as least until I thought I have waited long enough then I am done with it.  I have been known to wait 7 months for my husband to do something before I’d pay someone to do it for me.   That was being patient, right?  

I found out that was not what God was referring to.  My over-achieving mentality has me pushing myself to get things done in timelines that I have set for myself.  I am mad at me, that my body is not letting me to things at the pace that I want to go. 

I want to be productive on my days off.  I want to get things done as my projects are stacking up.  I don't want to waste a minute for doing nothing, watching tv or taking naps.  I have things to do.  I have things I want to accomplish.  Monday comes too quickly and then I won't have time to work on what I want to work on.  Time is precious and I don't want to waste it on doing nothing.  I hate doing nothing.  Nothing is boring.  Nothing means to sit still, I am a fidgeter I don't know how to sit still.  My mind doesn't know what to do when I am to do nothing.  It goes faster than my body can keep up with when I am 100% and you want me to do nothing!?!?

After I had pled my case, I sat there defeated.  God let me run out of wind as I had this argument with Him.  Papa God tells me, "I don't want you to do nothing, I want you to have focus.  Have patience and focus.  Yes, you want to do it all, be patience and focus on the moment.  Focus on what you can do.  You need to be patient with you.  Your goals are good goals, but your timelines need work.  By trying to get it all done now, you are not enjoying the process.  Your focus is on the finish line.  Your focus needs to be on the moment.  Slow down.  Patience isn't about doing nothing, patience is about taking it a step at a time.  Enjoy the steps.  Enjoy the process."

That is the problem with the instant gratification of this life.  We want everything now.  We don't want to wait.  These last couple years, I have taken instant gratification into overdrive in several areas of my life.  Each area needs to be addressed and worked on.  It will be a slow process…I guess that is the point though, right?

Okay, breathe and let's take this in.  Today, I will focus on patience with me.  I will not get mad when I can't do everything that I want to accomplish.  Breathe and enjoy the process.  Enjoy the day.

What it is that you need to focus on?  What is it that you need to have patience on?  What process do you need to enjoy?

Life is a journey.  Journeys are meant to be enjoyed.  I pray that we all find our patience.  I pray that we all focus on the moment and that we enjoy it every step of the way. 

Until Next Time, God Bless!

Breaking Out of Conformation

My plans for the day didn't conform to my will.  I planned on spending the day working on my current art quilt.  Nothing was cooperating and when that happens you just have to walk away.  I turned on a movie that, to my knowledge, I hadn't seen before..."Mona Lisa Smile".

At first I was thrilled that this professor at a women's college in the 50's was teaching about art.  What a great substitute for when your art doesn't cooperate, watch a movie about it.  This movie wrecked me in more ways than I can wrap my head around.

As a woman who didn't get to attend college, part of me was jealous at all these young girls who got to go.  However, part of me was outraged that it had been drilled into them that the objective was not a career, but to become the perfect wife/mother.  Goal: get married and be a stay at home wife.  There was no striving for both.  Really???

No one cares if you are really happy just as long as you appear to be, that is what mattered.  I understand it was the 50's and it was a different time... But is it really all that different from today?

Think about it with me for a moment if you will.  What do we portray to the world?  What do we post on social media?  What do we blog about?  What exposure do we allow?

These last few years God has really been breaking me out of my box that was pretty darn comfortable.  He started exposing me to different ways of looking at things.  We will use my art for example because that is a safe topic...lol.

I prayed for God to give me the abilities to be an artist like my friend.  My friend was doing more with her art and being so creative that I literally had holy jealousy.  I prayed hard for God to unlock my creativity.  When I say I prayed I hard, I mean HARD!  So hard that I cried from the deepest depths of the very core of my being.

Warning my friend, when you ask Papa God for a gift, you are going to get it.  It just might not come the way that you imagined.

My creativity had rules and boundaries.  I followed patterns and only deviated in what I thought was acceptable to the confines of the pattern.  Everything was perfect, uniform, geometric, and things had to coordinate.  Patterns that don't coordinate next to each other...WHAT?? You want me to lose my every-loving mind?  I was very rigid and to top it off, I was my own worst critic.   

I remember the day that I was watching "Quilting Arts" on PBS.  I always watched it just in case they taught a technique I didn't know as their modern quilting was not for me.  This particular show had a lady that made these off the wall, abstract quilted portraits.  This lady and her uninhibited art quilts spoke to my spirit.  I heard God tell me, "You can do that.  I want you to make your own portrait."

That was the day that God awoke something in me and helped to bring me out of my box.  I made my own abstract portrait quilt and through that obedience, unlocked a treasure chest of creativity.  Nothing that I was used to, nothing that I would allow myself to think was art before was now my passion!  

Before I knew it God was talking to me and showing me pictures that He wanted me to make in fabric.  What?  Fabric?  My friend drew or painted her pictures from God and here I was to make them out of fabric.  Uh, okay God, let's do this.

I got excited about what I call "Prophecy in Fabric"...my art quilts.  

In the Bible, Romans 12:2 tells us not to be conformed by this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  In school I am learning about my Heavenly Identity and how renewing our mind is seeing yourself the way God does.  Victory and freedom are available just by changing your thoughts about yourself.  Huge revelation when you renew what you think about who you are and what you can do.

As I sat there after that movie thinking about all the different ways, we let folks tells us how to be or what we should be...I started thinking about how much influence we have on ourselves.  I put myself in that box.  I put my creativity in that box.  I am the one that trained me that I had to strive for perfection.  I am the one that set those stupid rules that I insisted I follow.  I am the one that said that what I created was not art.  I am the one that told me what I was to conform to.  

Well I got news for me.  What I create is art.  It is fabric art and I am a fabric artist.  I can't believe how much fun I have now that I have removed the so-called rules.

Whose lies are you believing?  Who are you conforming to?  Do you feel trapped in your box?  I have a secret to tell you, that there is no box, it is not there.  Push those walls down!  Be and do what your heart desires!  

Ask God to help you make those dreams come true.  He will help you, especially if you let Him co-create with you.  That is when the real you will be revealed.  Break out and be the real you.  Be transformed into who God created you to be. 

Until Next Time, God Bless!

Lord You Humble Me