Lions, and Bears, and Giants....OH MY!!!!

Samuel 17:34-37 (NIV)

34 But David said to Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you."

I've been praying about some things and reflecting on my life a lot over the past 2 weeks. I told my husband recently that I knew a God-shift was about to happen in our lives, because there is this feeling comes along right before the process begins. On January 15 I took on a challenge to stay focused on some key areas in my life and during this time God has revealed a lot to me.

One of the things he has shared during this time of revelation is that we all face lions, bears, and giants. More importantly, we face the lions and bears so that we can handle the giants. And equally as important, the giants that we face, eventually become the lions and bear of our past, as we go onto other giants.

If you are sucking air you are going to be faced with challenges...that is just a part of living. If you are a Christian you are going to be faced with some very trying challenges, that is just part of NOT serving the enemy. If satan has you in his grasps he can take a back seat to your perilous ride, because he really doesn't have anything to fight for. But when you are serving God, satan is now faced with the challenge of trying to get you to see things his way.

My personal testimony is full of lions, bears, and giants and my favorite part is the giants that are now just the lions and bears sprinkled about in the background. The prayers I prayed that I felt like God was simply not listening to. The struggles I faced emotionally, personally, and spiritually. All of the things in my life that create My Story.

But there are those things in our lives that will forever remain a giant, because they will always be that thing you will have to continue to pray through. My former giants are things like battling with depression. My emotions used to get the best of me and when they took a nose dive, I was no good to anyone. Especially when I faced the challenges that came along with being an 18, 19, and 20 year old wife and then throw in the fact that at 19 I moved to Germany (thousands of miles away from my family) . I had to learn some major coping and survival skills. Especially since my husband and I grew up in two totally different environments. I had a spiritual grounding that he didn't have and my family's problems weren't anything too terribly life damaging. My family was...functional (I used to say pretty normal, but if you've ever met them that statement makes you laugh. lol).

My emotional state was a lion or bear, but my husband's spiritual state will forever be a giant in my life. He's spent more years rejecting God, not overtly, but rejecting him nonetheless, than he has doing things his way. Look at my journals from the past 13 years and they pretty much look the same. I prayed for my husband's faith and it remained overall weak. On November 19, 2011 he dedicated his life to Christ, but that is an area of prayer I can never fall back on, because the spiritual demons attached to his personal and family history aren't going to just give up that easy. If I slack, they will do all they can to snatch him back.

My own faith walk has been a giant in my life. Especially my downward spiral in 2008. So many things happened ( I lost one of my cousins who I was very close to suddenly, one of my best friends who is only a few years older than myself was diagnosed with cancer, and a number of events led to financial issues for us, just to name a few). I had to overcome some huge hurdles spiritually and I thank God for the people he strategically placed in my life to pull me back into the right place. The lessons I learned during that struggle have prepared me to ride some bigger waves. Problems don't seem so huge now and when they do I just pray and tell God I will do what I can, but where my "I can" stops, he has to intervene. And, I've become a more joyful person in the process. My pastor once said "happiness is based off of what happens, but joy is in spite of what happens." I've learned to stop letting situations steal my joy. Some of the things that would have been giants in the past are now lions and bears that are preparing me for the day the giants show up.

I've heard people say, you can't have a TESTimony without a TEST. Your lions and bears are just the warmup for your giants (thanks for that husband). Don't miss the lesson, because on the other side of your giants there are amazing victories. The more giants you overcome, the more blessings God can lay before you (not just tangible ones). One of my former lions and bears was how I responded to my husband. I didn't respect him and often I didn't LIKE him (there is never a question of me loving someone, but liking them is what can be difficult). When I opened myself up to God in that area, he made some things happen and conquering that lion and bear has caused God to move in unthinkable ways. Remember my 13 year giant of praying for his faith-walk...that was conquered after God commanded me to make some changes in my life to combat my blatant lack of respect.

Be confident and prayerful about you lions, bears, and giants. They serve a purpose, ultimately for God. The crazy thing is conquering them really has nothing to do with our personal outcome, but how God will be able to use that victory so that others can see what he is capable of. People in close proximity have referred to our story as "out of the ashes experience". One blog is not enough to tell the story, but believe me...I know where the credit is due. God arranged some things so that others could have faith when troubles came their way. They know if God did it for me, he can do it for them too. Lions, and bears, and giants....BRING IT ON!!!!

Taking Control of our Nation

Isaiah 55:11

King James Version (KJV)

¹¹So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

I've been feeling strongly compelled to pray over our nation. My husband and I were talking recently about the condition our country is in and how it seems that the majority of our leaders are more interested in partylines than the true concerns of the country as a whole. There seems to be less and less of a bi-partisan stance and more of a "we will be right or die trying" type of attitude. And the more corrupt individuals that get into power, the more jeopardy we will face. Our politicians are here to serve the people, but the attitude seems to genuinely be service of self. What decision will take "me" further, instead of what decision will take the country further...the people further.

Proverbs 29:2

Amplified Bible (AMP)

²When the [uncompromisingly] righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when the wicked man rules, the people groan and sigh.

Proverbs 29:4

Amplified Bible (AMP)

⁴The king by justice establishes the land, but he who exacts gifts and tribute overthrows it.

However, WE have the power to change all of that and our power doesn't come from what we know, what social circles we run in, or what college we graduated from. Our power comes from speaking words that were written long before our time here. I found some verses that I am going to place in my line of vision in order to speak them out. We don't have to come up with unique words of prayer. God promised his word would not return void, so let's send it back to him, gift wrapped in the sincerity of concern for our nation, it's state of being, and our leaders.

It's easy to feel powerless in little corner of the world, but our words carry a great amount of power and all you need is a mustard seed of faith to make things move.

Proverbs 11:14

Amplified Bible (AMP)

¹⁴Where no wise guidance is, the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.

Proverbs 20:28

Amplified Bible (AMP)

²⁸Loving-kindness and mercy, truth and faithfulness, preserve the king, and his throne is upheld by [the people's] loyalty.

Proverbs 21:1

Amplified Bible (AMP)

Proverbs 21

¹THE KING'S heart is in the hand of the Lord, as are the watercourses; He turns it whichever way He wills.

Proverbs 25:5

Amplified Bible (AMP)

⁵Take away the wicked from before the king, and his throne will be established in righteousness (moral and spiritual rectitude in every area and relation).

This kind of prayer is a tall order, not for God, but for us...because it's stretches us to believe beyond our ability to do. And it causes us to pray long...we have to pray over the leaders who will be in power for many years to come, because each set brings on it's own challenges. What the leaders in power do now, will effect what good or bad things are in place for our children later. So we aren't just praying for ourselves, we are praying for our kids.

I ask all of you to pray along with me to bring the change we all want to see and that we all complain about. Be a part of the solution to a nation in need of change.

Childlike Excellence

Originally I was just going to post about the difference between perfection and excellence, but my spirit has been holding strong to the concept of having childlike faith this week. I hadn't really merged the 2 ideas until last night as I was laying in bed.

This week I have been trying to spend some much needed time soaking up God's word. I was watching a DVRed episode of Enjoying Everyday Life and Joyce began preaching about having childlike faith.

Matthew 18:3-4

Amplified Bible (AMP)

³And said, Truly I say to you, unless you repent (change, turn about) and become like little children [trusting, lowly, loving, forgiving], you can never enter the kingdom of heaven [at all].

⁴Whoever will humble himself therefore and become like this little child [trusting, lowly, loving, forgiving] is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

She pointed out that when you tell a child something, they generally take you at your word. Even if you are dead wrong they will hang onto your words like gospel. So we as believers need to adopt their mentality and hang out to THE GOSPEL for what it is. Be doers as well as hearers. Hang on the very word of God and allow him to fulfill his promises.

The Amplified describes children as trusting, lowly, loving, and forgiving. As a mother of 3 I know that this is a pretty accurate description of their nature. My babies believe that if I have told them something, it is the truth and nothing else (which has caused me to have to be mindful even in my joking with them, but that is a topic for another day...it took my son quite some time to figure out that pregnant women did not eat a baby lol). We have to be bold in our proclamation of faith and be decisive that we are going to take God at his word and nothing else. If you don't know what God's promises are or you just need some direction check this page out. It give 10 verses of God's promises. If you want to look up God's promises in a topical fashion, check this page out. Grab your Bible, and a journal or some note cards, and begin to let God speak to you. We are facing a world where our faith can become weak almost instantly if we aren't sure about what God has in store for us.

I think about all the children in the world with little to hope for. They tend to hang on to an ounce of faith that things will become better for them. They hang on to that mustard seed that someone will be there to make things better.

Matthew 17:20

Amplified Bible (AMP)

²⁰He said to them, Because of the littleness of your faith [that is, your lack of ^[a]firmly relying trust]. For truly I say to you, if you have faith [^[b]that is living] like a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, Move from here to yonder place, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.

So even if you don't have much faith, hang on to it with that childlike grip...God can move a mountain with a mustard seed of faith.

This week I also spent some time thinking about the difference between perfection and excellence. I looked them up in The Webster's Dictionary and this is what I discovered.

Excellence: High quality

Perfection: 1. a quality or condition that cannot be improved. 2. The act if improving something so that it has no flaws. 3.Excellence or skill without flaw.

I personally avoid doing a lot of things out of fear of it not being perfect. When I was thinking about it this week Col 3:17 came to mind.

Colossians 3:17

Amplified Bible (AMP)

¹⁷And whatever you do [no matter what it is] in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus and in [dependence upon] His Person, giving praise to God the Father through Him.

God does not require perfection out of me. According to the definition of perfection it is absolutely impossible. We are imperfect people because of sin, so we can't be perfect. The only perfect person was Jesus Christ, his very nature was perfect. Our nature is flawed. Our connection to God is our saving grace from our own humanity. We will dink up things in life because our human nature will often slip through the cracks and mess up God's perfect hand in the situation. Be it big or small...our humanity and sinfulness fights for it's place over God's will and desires.

From a personal perspective, there will always be someone who can do it better, but even their way isn't perfect and perfection is not the goal...excellence is what we need to strive for. I want all that my hand to touch to have a high quality, but my high quality may vary at times. I try to be a friend of excellence, but I will not make anyone happy 100% of the time. I try to mother in excellence, but I have to be okay with making a mistake and learning how to move past it. I desire to be an excellent kids' church leader, but there are days that my 100% of excellence just isn't up to overall standard. With all of the strength I can give to any one area, I will give it all in excellence and leave the being perfect up to God.

I'm challenging myself and anyone who's eyes touch this...be boldly childlike in faith. Trust that God is looking out for you, even if you can't see it in the moment. Silver is made beautiful by fire and purification. The refiner knows the process is complete when he can see his reflection in the silver and he understands that exceeding the necessary degree, even slightly, will injure the silver. Trust God at his very word like our children trust in us. We as parents have to say no or not now, but we can see dangers or outcomes our children can't. God wants what is best for us.

When put our hands at things, stop seeking perfection. You'll fail every time, either by the world's standard or God's. Excellence is the key and keeps us connected to God. Excellence leaves room for God to make improvements in us.

Was this a merged thought? Not really sure! lol But, I hope it touches you in some way.