Have you ever won the wrong race? Climbed the wrong ladder to success? Get back on track...

The journey continues over @ Finding God In The Midst

You can’t plan to be courageous but you can choose to be.

May you live your life with the intention to do whatever God asks, whenever God asks it.

honestly we all need it at some point...

Been rebuked lately? We all need someone to watch our back, who has our best interests at heart, but who also isn't afraid to get into our faces.

So who's got your back?

Welcome home.

Chill-out - enjoy yourselves and stop worrying. Laugh and forgive! There can be no laughter without forgiveness.

When we break it hurts. But enduring years of never being put back together hurts even more. That's why I believe in 2nd chances. Mike Foster

Eyes that see & ears that hear...

We must be open to the possibility of God’s addressing us in whatever way he chooses, or else we may walk right past a burning bush. Dallas Willard

Do It Now!!

I'm waving the White Flag...

James 3:13-16
If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.

But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.

Lord of all things, whose wondrous gifts to us include the shining symbols known as words, grant that I may use their mighty power only for good.

Help me to pass on small fragments of Your wisdom, truth and love. Teach me to touch the unseen, lonely heart with laughter, or the quick release of tears.

Let me portray the courage that endures defiant in the face of pain or death; the kindness and the gentleness of those who fight against the anger of the world; the beauty hidden in the smallest things; the mystery, the wonder of it all...

Open my ears, my eyes, unlock my heart; speak through me, Lord, if it be Your will. Amen.

Are you starving to hear God's voice?

People will drift from one end of the country to the other, roam to the north, wander to the east. They'll go anywhere, listen to anyone, hoping to hear God's Word—but they won't hear it.

Tanks for what you gave...

On the 65th anniversary of D-Day, some words of General Patton on prayer are important in recalling the sacrifice & who actually gave the victory...

"Our glorious march from the Normandy Beach across France to where we stand, before and beyond the Siegfried Line, with the wreckage of the German Army behind us should convince the most skeptical soldier that God has ridden with our banner. Pestilence and famine have not touched us. We have continued in unity of purpose. We have had no quitters; and our leadership has been masterful. The Third Army has no roster of Retreats. None of Defeats. We have no memory of a lost battle to hand on to our children from this great campaign.

But we are not stopping at the Siegfried Line. Tough days may be ahead of us before we eat our rations in the Chancellery of the Deutsches Reich.

... now to intensify our faith in prayer, not alone with ourselves, but with every believing man, Protestant, Catholic, Jew, or Christian in the ranks of the Third United States Army.

Those who pray do more for the world than those who fight; and if the world goes from bad to worse, it is because there are more battles than prayers. 'Hands lifted up,' said Bosuet, 'smash more battalions than hands that strike.' Gideon of Bible fame was least in his father's house. He came from Israel's smallest tribe. But he was a mighty man of valor. His strength lay not in his military might, but in his recognition of God's proper claims upon his life. He reduced his Army from thirty-two thousand to three hundred men lest the people of Israel would think that their valor had saved them. We have no intention to reduce our vast striking force. But we must urge, instruct, and indoctrinate every fighting man to pray as well as fight. In Gideon's day, and in our own, spiritually alert minorities carry the burdens and bring the victories.

Urge all of your men to pray, not alone in church, but everywhere. Pray when driving. Pray when fighting. Pray alone. Pray with others. Pray by night and pray by day. Pray for the cessation of immoderate rains, for good weather for Battle. Pray for the defeat of our wicked enemy whose banner is injustice and whose good is oppression. Pray for victory. Pray for our Army, and Pray for Peace.

We must march together, all out for God. The soldier who 'cracks up' does not need sympathy or comfort as much as he needs strength. We are not trying to make the best of these days. It is our job to make the most of them. Now is not the time to follow God from 'afar off.' This Army needs the assurance and the faith that God is with us. With prayer, we cannot fail.

Be assured that this message on prayer has the approval, the encouragement, and the enthusiastic support of the Third United States Army Commander.

With every good wish to each of you for a very Happy Christmas, and my personal congratulations for your splendid and courageous work since landing on the beach, I am." James H. O'Neill, on behalf of General General George Smith Patton, Third Army Commander

THE JESUS WAY

To follow Jesus implies that we enter into a way of life that is given character and shape and direction by the one who calls us. To follow Jesus means picking up rhythms and ways of doing things that are often unsaid but always derivative from Jesus, formed by the influence of Jesus. To follow Jesus means that we can't separate what Jesus is saying from what Jesus is doing and the way that he is doing it. Eugene Peterson

Grace makes beauty out of ugly things

...regardless of the cost.

I would say that neither manifestation, nor teaching transforms character. Charismatics flail at the dead horse of experience, evangelicals at teaching, but neither leads to transformation spiritually. The only thing that transforms us spiritually is the action of following Christ. You seek to follow, you fail and you learn. But in order to engage in following, you have to have a clear understanding of life in the kingdom of God; that you are accepted by the grace of God in Jesus and that lays the foundation for as much true doctrine as you can manage and as much manifestation of the Spirit as you can stand. Dallas Willard

Matthew 16:24-26
Then Jesus went to work on his disciples. "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for?

Incubate your dreams in the prayer womb

Do you have a sense of profound dependence upon God? What is He up to in your life?

Is life grating on you?

Life is never quite as smooth as we'd like it to be.

What is the first thought & emotion that you experience when things begin to fall apart?

Is it panic?
Or,
'Oh, no, not again!'?
What about,
'I guess I'm really on my own this time! God has forgotten me!'?

What truth does God want you to know in the midst of whatever challenge your're facing?

Be still and know that I am God.
Be still and know that I am.
Be still and know.
Be still.
Be.

Hebrews 13:5-6
God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?"