“O DAUGHTER OF LITTLE FAITH, WHAT DO YOU FEAR?”
I love when God talks to me! I was feeling really anxious about some stuff last week and I went to one of my fav places to hear from Him, Tumblr.com, and like usual, He had the perfect message waiting for me in a post there:
“Fear is a greater evil than the evil itself. O daughter of little faith, what do you fear? No, fear not; you walk on the sea, amid the winds and waves, but it is with Jesus. What is there to fear? But if fear seizes you, cry loudly, ‘O Lord, save me.’ He will give you His hand: clasp it tight, and go joyously on. To sum up, do not philosophize about your trouble; do not turn in upon yourself; go straight on. No, God cannot lose you, so long as you live in your resolution not to lose Him. Let the world turn upside down, let everything be in darkness, in smoke, in uproar—God is with us. And if God dwelleth in darkness and on Mount Sinai, all smoking and covered with the thunders, with lightnings and noises, shall we not be well near Him?
— Letter from St. Francis de Sales to St. Jane de Chantal, 6 August 1606 (via catherineaddington)
Did you get that? “But if fear seizes you, cry loudly, ‘O LORD, SAVE ME.’ He will give you His hand: clasp it tight, and go joyously on.”
And that’s exactly what I did, I handed the issue I was worried and fearful about over to God, doing my best with what I needed to take care of and I left the rest with Him. I noticed He’s training me to trust Him more and to let go of so many things I try to control in my little world. Like He’s saying, “Be brave and courageous, my daughter! Come out on this limb with me holding My hand, letting go of fear and live the best life with Me, afraid of nothing!’
This morning I had an extra special moment with Him reading from the new Jesus Calling Morning and Evening,which reinforced this lesson of being courageous:
“COWARDLINESS IS NOT OF MY KINGDOM. When you are feeling overwhelmed by your circumstances, remember who you are—a child of the eternal King! Invite Me into the very circumstances that are intimidating you, and let the Light of my powerful Presence strengthen you. When you choose to live courageously, I am pleased—and I respond by strengthening your heart.
“Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the Lord.” Psalm 31:24 NKJV
KEEP CALM, YOU’RE ROLLING WITH GOD
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MARRIAGE MATTERS
JUST OVERLOOK IT
I’m learning in marriage that you need to overlook lots of stuff if you want a peaceful home. Nobody’s perfect! If you’re looking for the perfect spouse, sorry to break the news to you, but such a spouse doesn’t exist. I love that quote that says when I met you, you were perfect and I loved you. Now I know you’re not perfect and I love you even more. This is where I want us!
We have to accept the good, bad and ugly all together, not picking and choosing the parts about our mates we like. The wiser Nikki has learned to focus on all the positives I love about my hubby and learn to overlook the rest, fixing my eyes on God and what He would have me to do. And a lot of times He’s simply teaching me to overlook and ignore. Life is too short to be anything but happy! Choose your battles wisely, my peeps!
FIGHT FOR YOUR FAMILY
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HEALTH MATTERS
A MAN’S OWN SELF IS HIS FRIEND,
A MAN’S OWN SELF IS HIS FOE.
Which will you be today to yourself? Every decision we make boils down to that – Am I being a friend to myself or a foe? Pushing to myself to exercise when I didn’t feel like it was me being a friend to myself. Drinking my veggie smoothie every day whether I feel like it or not is also being friend to myself. I want us living long, healthy lives. Let’s choose to be best of friends with ourselves!
LET FOOD BE THY MEDICINE AND MEDICINE THY FOOD
Sent from my iPhone
INVITE GOD INTO THE QUARANTINE
I promise you won’t regret it! I said to a friend recently that the best thing that has happened for us is that our husbands are quarantined away from us, and I’m taking it as a huge Godwink, no coincident. God knows what He is doing with each one of us, and He knew that we both needed this time alone with Him to see our spouses in their proper perspectives, as children of God, and NOT our false Gods.
Beauty attached to God is sacrament, cut off from God it becomes an idol. – Frithjof Schuon
This quarantine has been a great time of reflection for me and time for God to work on some areas where I have been getting it totally wrong. I now love my husband the way God would have me to love him:
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” – 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
I’m free from stressing a little bit too much about what my husband is doing or not doing. I’ve freed him to his life, and most importantly, I’ve freed myself to focus on important goals and dreams God has placed on my heart to accomplish. Woohoo! Thanks, God.
Let’s not waste this quarantine away, invite God in! Make Him a priority! At first, let me tell ya, I wasn’t finding this separation funny and I needed LOTS of appointments with God. Not one moment of those alone times were wasted. It’s like He took out my old heart and replaced it with a new, better, and even more loving one. Amazing!
“Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’” – Isaiah 41:10…“Our lack of intimacy with God causes a void that we try to fill with the frailest of substitutes.” What’s taking you away from a closer relationship with God?
WEROLLWITHGOD.COM
“I AM THE GOD WHO MAKES YOU STRONG”
That was my God wink shopping in BJ’s the other day for foodstuff. I had randomly opened one of my fav meditations books, ‘Jesus Always,’ to see what He had to say to me, and with EVERYTHING I have going on right now, trust me, I NEEDED THAT REMINDER. “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” The book continued:
“Thank Me for your insufficiency that helps you depending on Me. Rejoice in My infinite sufficiency! I am the One who makes your pathway safe. This includes protection from worry and excessive planning. Instead of gazing into the unknown future, try to be mindful of Me as you journey through this day. Remain in communication with Me, letting my guiding Presence keep you on course. I will go before you as well as beside you – clearing away obstacles on the path up ahead. Trust Me to make conditions on your pathway the very best for you.”
“He is the God who makes me strong, who makes my pathway safe.” – Psalm 18:32
Heehaw! And this is precisely what my experience has been with God. He goes ahead of me and beside me as I take on whatever challenges that come my way making the very best pathway for me where the solutions to problems come, people to assist me magically show up, and moment by moment guidance of what steps to take from Him. I’m even getting to the point of enjoying, not enduring trials because of the sweetness of God’s Presence with me. The sweet life with God, baby!
We can, therefore, calmly, joyfully, and confidently tackle anything that comes our way knowing we are never alone and that God is always with us fighting battles on our behalf in the spiritual realm. We can then focus on working with Him, doing our best in the physical realm working as if we work FOR and WITH God Himself doing our best with whatever He would have us to do.
I loved some special winks from Him yesterday, where I watched an old video of myself where I quoted from a meditation book where God said to me, “I bless and keep you. I make my face shine upon you.” Minutes later He confirmed this message in that same meditation book:
“The Lord make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you.” – Numbers 6:25
Later that night, the message showed up in an appointment with my daughter, Julie, and sweetly in the middle of the night when I couldn’t sleep, I listened to a sermon from Devon Franklin feeling like he had a direct message from God to me. Right after the address from Devon, Joel Osteen takes over and says a prayer, which I pray for us all:
“May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord show you His favor and have mercy on you. May the Lord watch over you and give you His peace.”
Amen! Another one of my God winks where everything lines up a little bit too perfect to be a regular coincident. It was God sweetly reminding me that entire day and night that His Presence is always with me, and with you as well.
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MARRIAGE AND SINGLE MATTERS
Check out that Devon Franklyn Youtube video for today:
LIVE IN GOD, LIVE IN LOVE
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HEALTH MATTERS
TIME TO MAKE THE SMOOTHIE!
I make big bathces and keep refrigerated or frozen for about a week at a time. It’s my medicine every day to stay as healthy as possible. Its blended with lots of greeens like spianch, kale, romaine lettuce, celery, cucumbers, carrots and whatever fruit I have on hand like apples, pears, pineapple and frozen berries. Take care of your body and it will take care of you!
“Let food be thy medicine!”
GOD IS MY SANITY ???
Going from negative to positive, baby ???
Taking Life One Moment At a Time With God ???
FEELING LIKE GOD’S BAD BITCH
So, I went out on a long run with Him today to discuss whether or not to continue my postings with my videos and blogs, given everything I have going on right now. Almost at the end of the run, feeling all hyped up and strong, I said to Him, ‘I’m telling everyone that I’m the definition of a BAD BITCH, so what the heck, the videos, and blog continue. AT THAT VERY MOMENT (no lie!), I was listening to the song Ballin, and the lyrics unbelievably says, “Got a BAD BITCH.” Wink! Wink! And I took it, of course, as one of my God winks where everything lines up a little bit too perfect to be a regular coincident, it was God Himself confirming, ‘Yes, Nik, you are My bad bitch!’
That goes for us all! I know it’s a scary time, but we have to see ourselves as unafraid, bold, heroic, brave, courageous, tough, strong, unflinching, confident, fierce, handling our business kind of people KNOWING GOD HIMSELF IS BACKING US UP. No time for playing weak, poor old me, victims, no, we’re soldiers for God doing our thing for our families, communities, and our world. Amen!
But at the same time, we’re also soft:
“God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” – 1 John 4:16
Which is sometimes the hardest part, let me tell ya. That’s when the real badness comes out when we can let go of the hurts, disappointments, distresses, failures, mistakes, and pain and be the heroic, staying on the high road, loving, forgiving, nonjudgmental, gentle, faithful, and humble bad people God asks us to be. Not conforming to the world or what anyone else expects of us but simply keeping our lives intertwined with God constantly asking Him, “What would You have me to do here?”
“Don’t lose your grip on Love and Loyalty.
Tie them around your neck; carve their initials on your heart.
Earn a reputation for living well
in God’s eyes and the eyes of the people.
Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
he’s the one who will keep you on track.” – Proverbs 3:3-6
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MARRIAGE AND SINGLE MATTERS
Check out my Youtube video for today:
LIVE IN GOD, LIVE IN LOVE
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HEALTH MATTERS
No sweets for three weeks!
Starting tomorrow! Care to join me and my sister, Patrice, on our journey of never ending self improvement? Coming out of the quaratined better people, all for God’s glory!
“Let food be thy medicine!”
“YOU WILL THANK ME ONCE YOU DO THIS”
That’s was me to a friend recently. She replied, “No, Nikki, why does it have to be me. I’m standing my ground. I’m NOT doing it.” I asked her, “What would make God happy here? He is the one protecting our families during this Coronavirus situation. Can you do this for Him? Everything is between Him and us, remember.” But, just like me, my friend is pretty stubborn, and again she said, “Nikki, no. Not this time.” Fast forward a day later, she calls me so happy saying, “Nikki, thank you for the advice. I finally did what you said.”
And that’s my experience with God. When I operate from the perspective of, ‘God, what would You have me to do here?’ things work out so much better than I can imagine. God has been my awesome Guide. (SMILE)
It hasn’t been easy, though. The crazy lady wants to make an appearance, but I’ve learned to catch myself and go to God when these negative emotions want to get the best of me. He lovingly says, ‘Take out all your frustrations on Me. Tell Me everything that is upsetting you, and let’s discuss the best way forward TOGETHER.’ I open up my meditation books, read some old posts or watch one of my terrible videos (from a saner Nikki) and I then know what God would have me to do: Nik, shine bright. Reflect Me to a watching world going the extra mile in love and faith in Me.
God again showed up for me yesterday when I shared these verses with my daughter, Julie:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.” – Proverbs 3:5-6_
Right after that I did a video repeating the verses. Then fast forward a few hours when I was feeling overwhelmed, they showed up again in an alone time with God. Minutes later, I asked (more like forced!) my daughter, Ember, to have an appointment with God with me, she picked Day 94 of 366 devotionals from my book that incredibly began:
“IN ALL YOUR WAYS ACKNOWLEDGE HIM”
I’m in love with these Bible verses: _
“Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6).”
Wink! Wink! I gave Ember the biggest hug feeling she picked the very number God Himself wanted me to read and let me know that His invisble Presence is always with me. Forget about it! I’m inviting Him into every moment of my life. Even the messy, difficult, and challenging ones always asking, ‘God, what would You have me to do here?’ That’s how He guides me to a joyful, peaceful, and successful life as I trust in Him. Amen.
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MARRIAGE AND SINGLE MATTERS
GOD TURNED MY WEEPING TO JOY
LIVE IN GOD, LIVE IN LOVE
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HEALTH MATTERS
I’m thanking God for my runs every day with Him. No alcohol, no drugs, but lots of God helped me through this one!
“Let food be thy medicine!”