Saturday, April 30, 2011

Ah-mazed!

"The Lord is righteous in all His ways and faithful in all He does" Psalm 145:17

So I blogged earlier about stepping out in faith. Part of the beauty, and the most challenging part, is for something to really be faith you don't know the outcome. You know that God is going to take care of it, but you know that His plan may not be yours.

That being said sometimes God shows up BIG! And this time He did that for ME! I am incredibly humbled that God used me to show His might! My husband and I made a decision to invest in my company believing that God would provide. This investment meant emptying our savings. SCARY TO THE MAX! However we both had a peace about it.

The next day Ryan was doing the next month's budget and realized somehow our bills were WAY less than normal, our $$ was miraculously s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g. Then later that day we had a "back payment" of more than $400!!!! WHAT?! We ended up not taking ANY money out of savings to invest. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!

God showed up... He showed His sovereignty, His power and His GRACE! He didn't have to supply this need and I would still have been grateful for the opportunity.

No matter what always know that God will look out for His children, He is the great provider!

Friday, April 29, 2011

Where the Rubber Meets the Road

"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen". Hebrews 11:1KJV
“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:3 (NIV)
I have always thought I had great faith.

After high school I moved away from my family for college, I was the first one to do that. I moved to a small east Texas college where I knew nobody. Big step of faith right? Nope. I was running, running from who I was in high school. I thought a new start would give me the ability to change who I was, to no longer be loud, annoying, too much.

After college I got an apartment in a town 5 hours away from my family. I had no job but now had bills, surely this was faith. Wrong again! I was chasing a boy. I thought for sure that if we lived closer together we could work out our issues and get our happily ever after.

I see now my reasons for doing things were not God's. He put me at ETBU to meet some amazing women and help me grow and develop. He let me move to Arlington to meet Ryan so I could have my happily ever after- well at least as "fairy tale" as real life can be. :)

But I guess I have never REALLY had to step out in faith, until last night. I had to make a big sacrifice to wrap up my pre-qualifications for DIQ. I had to really search and see if I had the faith it would take to do this. If I trusted that if I "call to God that he will answer and grant me great and unsearchable things." Hmmmm... I could use a big heaping dose of great and unsearchable things right now.

We go through our lives saying we have faith but when the rubber meets the road, when it's do or die time it's not an easy task. But I am jumping in; knowing that my Abba Father placed a dream in my heart and He desires to see it come true. I have some growth to do before He places me in a leadership role, I have a lot of learning and molding to do. So I know this journey is about developing me, my faith and most importantly my relationship with Him.

I challenge you today to think about faith- our assurance of things hoped for. What do you hope for? Are you willing to step out in faith TODAY to chase after it believing that God is for you! He is dear one, He desires to give you the cries of heart! You are chosen, you are loved by the King of Kings, you are protected by the mighty fortress! The God who can hold the sun still holds you. Have faith in that!

Thursday, April 28, 2011

The Waiting Game

“Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.” Psalm 27:14 (NIV)

This was one of my verses today from my devotion. Wait. Ever notice how God commands us to do things and we take them more as a suggestion. For example my first instinct with the verse is to say "yeah but..." and then give a list of reasons why it could not possible be a command for ME! I am such a Casey-centered person. But I have learned that when I get over myself and say "ok Lord, show me Your plan" that that is where the blessings are. Not when I pray and pray and pray for something, but take no action to make it happen, follow no commands and have no faith. When I put myself aside, follow His commands, trust His timing and do the work He has laid out before me, I find myself in a season on harvest.

Waiting is a hard command. It is not something I do well. Those who know me best know I go 100 mph with no breaks pretty much 24/7. It's what I do. I know no slow, no stop, no wait. However here it is, that silly little word again...wait. Geeze!

I have recently learned a lesson in waiting I would like to share. When I decided to start my MK business I made a list of girls who I thought would be on my team. Then I made of list of people who loved me enough to hold a "dumb party" for me. One of my best friends was on the party list, not the team list. She agreed to hold a party for me, and also agreed that is was just a "dumb party". But God did something amazing, He drew her toward MK. She signed and decided to jump in. She worked hard, and she had a BIG need, God blessed her and she became a sales director 2 months ago. Yay for her.... not. Well at least that was my heart then.

Don't get me wrong, I love her like one of my sisters, and I am so happy for her; but deep in my heart I cried "Why not me Lord? Why not me?" But God said "Wait." SERIOUSLY?! That was my initial reaction but now I realize God was developing my character, my will, my faith before he put me on my path. I praise God that I am on my path to becoming a director, but I praise God that more importantly it is on HIS time.

I am now more equipped, more determined, and have more integrity to point others to Christ during this time.

So dear friend I don't know what you are praying for, what the secret desire of your heart is, but know God desires to give you the deepest desire of your heart but he may be saying "Wait" no matter how hard know that His timing is perfect.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

cry of my heart

When I was a senior in high school everyone asked the DREADED question... "What do you wanna be when you 'grow up'?" I knew it then! I knew I wanted to be a motivational speaker. I wanted to be the next Beth Moore. But as college happened and I pursued that dream I got bogged down in the "that's not practical" and "well what are you gonna do till then?" I also had a very broken relationship. I don't blame him, we were both like two run away trains on a collision course, but inevitably we were drawn to each other and it was tough to break, but we did. That also took me further and further from my dream. I decided I needed to take a more reasonable path and as I did I met my AMAZING hubby.

But now my soul longs for more. I know I am created for more. I am here declaring that I will be chasing after my dream. I know that it will be tough, but I know it's God's calling for me.

I am found an amazing vehicle to pursue my dream through Mary Kay and I know I am destined for being an amazing motivator. I know I can draw people to Christ, and move them to more. Not me, but Christ through me.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Welcome

I have always wanted to be writer. I have tried many times to start a "topic" blog and failed so now I am just writing. Mostly for me. To remember, to reflect, to learn, but you are more than welcome to come on the journey with me.

Today in my devo I was reading about God making the sun stand still for Joshua and the writer challenged me by asking if I really surrender the order of my day to God or do I just worry about getting through my checklist. WOW! Powerful thought for me. I am always complaining that I need more time in my day when maybe what I need is less me in my day and more God. Now let me be clear I by no means think that what I "have" to get done is so important that God is going to freeze the sun in the sky like He did for Joshua, but maybe if I allow God to prioritize for me I will get the important things done before the insignificant. Sometimes I fail to realize the importance of a task. For example yesterday was my 3 year anniversary, and I had some errands to run before going home to my hubby. Like any wife I wanted to get home and see my man, especially yesterday! I had a strong feeling however that I should text a girlfriend and check in though. So I did, she wanted to go tanning, I was going to do this anyway, but picking her up, driving back to the tanning bed and dropping her off would add an extra 20 minutes to my day. Dang! But I truly love her so I did it, I really felt I needed to. After I picked her up she started telling me about her day and a battle she is going through and I realized maybe God had me spend time with her to not only lift her up but also to make me realize even more on that day how lucky I am to be married to a man like Ryan, who treats me with love, respect, and patience. I also decided that maybe we should stop in a little boutique next to the tanning bed and lucky for me I made a contact to do a Mary Kay event there! YAY!

Sometimes the task I think can be put off are the most important. God help me to seek your timing today. Put your prioritization in place, not mine. Bless my efforts, use me. Amen