God is Our Enough

There is purpose, there is peace, Christ does not keep us in fear by the mystery of His will.
He provides grace and strength in revealing to us who He is
in all we do, in all we love, in our earthly actions and responsibilities.

All things work together for those who love God.
God can be found in all things,
if we would only open our eyes and seek Him out.

We are not constantly waiting--
we are continually living out His purpose!
We fight for more, desire more, crave more,
but God is our enough.

Do Nothing in Fear

We are to do all things in Christ, we are to fear the Lord, and it is in fearing the Lord that all doubts and anxieties wash away; because it is the Lord who has conquered the world.
"In this world you will have troubles but do not fear for I have overcome the world."
There is Freedom In Christ!
There is no fear or condemnation in Christ Jesus. His blessings are new every morning!

To fear the Lord is not to have anxiety in Him but to have such a deep and profound respect that the world is not the focus. Our eyes are focused completely on Him and it is in Him that He guides our steps and reveals the path to our lives.It's an excitement in Christ, it's a fear in that

we don't know it all but that we know the one who does!
There is freedom in Christ!

Answered Prayers of Today

My whole life I've been a planner, I've had goals, I've aimed to succeed, I kept myself in constant motion because I'd rather error on the side of working to hard than not enough.

I saw a movie the other weekend and they said, there is a difference between laziness and waiting.
Waiting is an action of choosing to be still,
being prepared and making the most of the opportunity ahead.

You can't plan everything, there are areas in life that have to be discovered in the process and journey of waiting for God to reveal those things to you. How often have I tried to force God's hand, be busy for the sake of busyness; when actually I was taking away from the blessings God had spent developing and growing for me to enjoy this very day!

Life is not about tomorrow--Life is Today--it's a sequence of yesterdays that God directed and led to this moment. This very moment is an answer to a prayer you prayed for in the past. God is continually answering your prayers, showing us His grace and mercy, and allowing us to live in His love, but we are always focused on tomorrow, praying for tomorrow's blessings.

God calls us to action, but he also calls us to wait--waiting is not being lazy.
Waiting on God is actively listening, pursuing Him, and embracing today's gifts and blessings. It is being ready for when He calls us to action. Waiting requires a mindset of purpose, while action alone requires only motion.

I hope to actively wait on the Lord
and continually praise Him for answered prayers of yesterday that consistently come true each and every day!

Seasons of Hope

There are moments when the past brings clarity to the present and where the present brings closure to the past.

God gives us seasons in our lives. We know of spring, summer, fall, and winter but I think God provided that visual to help us understand that there is beauty in every opportunity and in every path that our lives follow along.

We always find hope in the newness of the seasons, the first robin out in the yard, the first crunchy leaf below our foot, the longer days of summer, and the first snowfall that signifies a season of hibernation. At the end of each season; however, we anxiously anticipate the next--we are ready for newness, freshness, to put the past behind.

Our lives mirror the seasons of change--the excitement and anticipation and then also the frustration and desperation for newness. Would the fist green bud on a tree mean as much though without the death and decay that winter brings? It takes all seasons to provide the circle of emotion and understanding to what we see, feel, and experience.

As scripture states (paraphrased) When times are good rejoice and when times are bad consider because it is God that provides both.

The paths of our lives are hard to navigate, to foresee, to look back behind us, but when God is leading we know that every destination, twist, turn, and view has a purpose and is for His purpose.

Look back at the seasons of your life--see how far you've come and how far God has yet to lead you in this journey. Always remember that seasons are for hope.

The Heart of an Athlete

Its difficult and takes an enormous amount of strength to climb the mountain of faith, to everyday stand by your virtue and your convictions, and to take responsibility for your actions and face and work through your inner demons. "Fun" more often then not is a mask for denial and its important to understand the intent and purpose behind why you take the actions you do and what fills your time and your mind on a daily basis.

Everybody wants to live life on the edge, to amp up their bodies, cars--to take them to the extreme. People use the reasoning that they want to feel alive, they want to experience life, and to better understand their place within it. When will it ever be enough? How fast does your life need to go in order to feel you have purpose? This recklessness is an escape from the truth that our purpose has nothing to do with our own pace, but everything to do with Gods!
You can never out run God, but you can run yourself out of others lives!

Athletes set out to conquer and dominate the impossible--to push themselves beyond that of another. There are those players that are just naturally gifted, the ones everyone loves to hate, who can just show up to any game and dominate the field, but have you noticed that those players never last very long? Their window of impact and consistency is short lived and their ego's most often get the best of them and they become their own worst enemy. Life is a marathon and not a sprint. If you go running out of the gate full speed, you will pass hundreds of people but it will be those same people that pass you in the end as they finish their race with strength, stability, and pride. People don't like the work it takes to be consistent, to be disciplined, and to have to push themselves beyond what they think they are capable of, but it is in the practice, the day-to-day strength building, conditioning, and mental exercises that build the level of dedication, commitment, and skill that is needed to reach greatness and to ultimately conquer the prize.

Practice isn't always fun, nobody wants to feel weak or feel that they always have something more to live up to, our pride so easily gets in the way. Conditioning at times seems to break us more then build us as our muscles cramp and spasm and as our breath gets stuck in our throats and we gasp for air. The adventure in life, the pushing yourself to the limit, comes in these moments of wanting to give up but choosing instead to rise above. These are the moments that show what you are made of, who you are, and what you are capable of. These, however, are not the televised moments, not the moments you read about in magazines, or the pictures you see on stadiums. Hard work is not glamorous. A person's true character, ability, and talent is not proven on the field or the court, but in the day to day conditioning that brings him to that point.

It's not enough to be physically strong--one has to be emotionally and mentally strong as well--you have to dedicate ALL of yourself to the ultimate goal. You devote all of yourself in training, to your passion, and when any part of you suffers, whether it be emotionally, mentally, or physically, they all suffer and cause you to slip from your goal.

Life isn't boring--its grueling--and its the practicing of our faith that prepares us for the Spiritual Battles we will all face. I know when the day comes that God calls me to fight for Him--I do not want to realize that I wasted my days of conditioning and am unable to be strong and courageous for Him. People often think Christian's live their lives on the sidelines or on the benches of life but is THIS life your ultimate purpose? I will not waste my days in this life, I will live them to there fullest; however, my aim, and my goal is not in this life. I condition, I train, I focus my body, soul, and mind on being ready for when Christ asks me to stand for Him.

Romans 5:3-5

Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.