“MOMMY, CAN WE HAVE AN APPOINTMENT WITH GOD, PLEASE?”
Wow! That was my son, Siah, around 10 pm last night. He was upset, feeling extremely anxious over some exams he is taking this week. I tried my best to calm him down, saying I have full confidence that he will do well. That he should just do his best and leave the rest with God! It calmed him for a bit, but minutes later, he asked me for that alone time with God, and momma here was happy to oblige.
I had no phone, and his phone was dead, so I said let’s read from my book, KEEP CALM, YOU’RE ROLLING WITH GOD. I taught him a prayer, “God, what do You have to say to my mom and me right now?’ He randomly opened a page and began reading. We were both sweetly surprised when my very words to him minutes prior showed up in this 366-day devotional:
_““Worry about nothing, instead pray about everything.” In this life, there will always be challenges, trouble, frustrations, but we must not get discouraged. _
_“The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Exodus 33:14 _
_In other words, we roll with God, and He’s working behind the scenes of our lives, protecting us, fighting for us, helping us with our challenges, and therefore we can relax and SIMPLY FOCUS ON DOING OUR BEST WITH WHAT HE WOULD HAVE US TO DO AND LEAVE THE REST WITH HIM (Wink! Wink). _
“Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,” says the Lord Almighty (Zechariah 4:6).”
Siah and I had a joyous hugging session feeling these words showing up was God revealing His invisible Presence with us. He went to bed happy and woke up this morning excited and ready to tackle those exams.
To be very honest, though, I NEEDED THAT GOD WINK!!! Life is a war, and sometimes it can even get to be highly overwhelming, even for me, the God maniac here. I was able to tell Siah to do his best and leave the rest because that’s exactly what God said to me yesterday when I went running to Him (No shame because sometimes it all is just a little bit too much!!).
This God wink began from the day before when I looked at a coffee mug that I stole from my daughter Julie that says, “Don’t stress. Do your best.” The next morning, in trying to come up with a caption for my blog’s photo for the day, I debated for the longest time on using, ‘Don’t stress. Do your best. And leave the rest with God,’ but decided to go with something else. A few hours later, feeling stressed, I ran to God, and of the over 80 pages on our family’s website, look what I randomly read:
“Don’t stress, do your best and leave the rest with God. Got that? Wink! Wink!)”
This was God’s way of having some fun with me! He knows every thought I think, and this was His loving way of letting me know that He is ALWAYS with me. No way I just randomly found those very words from Julie’s mug that I meditated on that morning and the day before. God is familiar with all our ways, and He knew I needed that reminder! (HUGE SMILE)
Our job is to stay focused on Him in every moment, AGAIN DOING OUR BEST WITH WHAT HE WOULD HAVE US TO DO AND THEN LEAVE THE REST WITH HIM!!! GOT THAT?
WEROLLWITHGOD.COM
***
YOUTUBE VIDEO OF THE DAY
WALKING IN GOD’S FAVOR, BABY!!!
https://youtu.be/vUa50XOAsAg
LIVE IN GOD, LIVE IN LOVE
***
HEALTH MATTERS
DAY 108 OF 365 DAYS OF DISCIPLINE!
DISCIPLINE IS THE WAY: “Don’t stress, do your best and leave the rest with God. Got that?
PRACTICE! PRACTICE! AND MORE PRACTICE!!! Replace thoughts of worry with, God, I trust You!
“LET FOOD BE THY MEDICINE AND MEDICINE THY FOOD”
“THAT WAS THE BEST THING THAT HAPPENED!” (REPOST)
That was me to my brother, Kevin, this morning. God is truly amazing how He brings trials into our lives, KNOWING they will end up being so good for us. I can’t get over Him:
“Not only that, 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 through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us. – Romans 5:3-4
Woohoo! Exactly what this SUFFERING did for your girl here. I was begging God to take it away from me, but, incredibly, now I’m THANKING Him. God is too much! He knows precisely what we need to be the people He would have us to be – MATURE, STRONG, NOT LACKING ANYTHING.
God has opened my eyes to such blessings. Not only do I feel more love and commitment to my kids and hubby, I feel this situation has brought me closer to my siblings. For example, my brother almost always picks up my calls or calls me right back with some great advice or solution to any situation that comes up. I was bragging to his son yesterday about his wise dad. Again, he has taught me such crucial lessons such as patience, focusing on the positives of life and not the negatives, STANDING STRONG, enjoying life, and lately, about following God (not asking Him to follow us) and being His angels in the world.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” – Galatians 5:22-23
For this God who is doing so much for us, can we all be His angels in the world? The little crosses He may ask us to carry are nothing compared to the enormous blessings He sends our way on a moment-by-moment basis. (HUGE SMILE)
WEROLLWITHGOD.COM
***
YOUTUBE VIDEO OF THE DAY
GOD HELPS ME WITH MY STRUGGLES
https://youtu.be/abMdQDxawjU
LIVE IN GOD, LIVE IN LOVE
***
HEALTH MATTERS
DAY 107 OF 365 DAYS OF DISCIPLINE!
DISCIPLINE IS THE WAY: HAPPINESS IS A CHOICE WE MAKE. KEEP CHOOSING TO DWELL ON THE POSITIVES OF LIFE, NOT THE NEGATIVES!
PRACTICE! PRACTICE! AND MORE PRACTICE!!!
“LET FOOD BE THY MEDICINE AND MEDICINE THY FOOD”
GOD IS PRETTY TALKATIVE!!!
LET ME TELL YOU! I woke up in the middle of the night, and because I couldn’t sleep, I looked for my phone to play my usual podcasts, but I couldn’t find it. I ended up using my son’s Siah’s, and when I noticed that a Joel Osteen sermon oddly downloaded itself, I said I better listen because it might be a message from God for me. After beating myself up so much lately, and asking God what’s wrong with me, He lovingly answered. Turns out, it was a specific communication through Victoria Osteen to the crazy lady over here:
“As long as we live, we’re going to have to guard our hearts from taking in offense. All through our life, people are going to hurt us, unfair things are going to happen, we’ll be disappointed, people may say something that’s not true. These are all the types of offense that we can’t allow to take residency in our heart. We can’t allow those things to become part of our lives…They only bring heartache, resentment, bitterness, unforgiveness. That’s what offense does when it gets into our heart… That’s why we have to make sure that we don’t allow what happens to us to get in us.” (Exactly me! I take the disappointments to heart, and I continually allow them to knock me down.)
Victoria continued: “I believe that God wants us to understand that we are secure in Him. We talk about identity. We talk about what we identify with. If you identify with your job and your job goes away, then your identity is gone away. If you identify with a person and that person makes you important. If that person happens to leave, or that person happens to disappoint you or say something to hurt you. Guess what? Your identity has been crushed (Sadly, me!!!). We are to identify with Jesus Christ (God). We are to find our security in Him. We have to know that He is for us and not against us. He is the one who is going to take care of us. When we identify with the wrong thing, and the wrong thing happens to us, guess what? We feel wronged.”
And can you believe God even went as far as confirming this was indeed a message from Him? Shortly after reading that and ten minutes past the hour, I went to page ten of our family’s website, and look at the old post that astonishingly showed up that I wrote some months ago about this very issue Victoria discussed:
“But the real deal of what happened last year is that my identity was too much tied to being his wife. When I felt that was possibly being taken away from me, I was completely crushed (the exact word Victoria used!). But God stood with me, and He taught me that my identity should not be tied to anyone, it should be tied to Him FIRST AND FOREMOST – GOD’S GIRL!!! I don’t even wear a wedding band because every time I would try, I would feel irritated by it in my spirit. God wants to be our first love!!!”
For me to go to this post of all the posts I’ve written in the last 10 years of writing them after listening to that sermon from Victoria, was God’s loving way of correcting me: ‘Nik, your security and identity has to rest in Me, not your husband. I’m to be your first love, not him. I will never leave you or abandon you. Rest in Me and Me alone.’ Ok, Boss! I’ll do better!
Victoria has some great advice in regards to tackling these offenses:
“Let it go. GET GOOD AT LETTING IT GO. In fact, what I want to say to us today is that we have to GET GOOD AT FORGIVING AND COVERING THEIR OFFENSES…You can either take that offense or drop that offense. No, I’m going to forgive them. I will cover this offense. Listen to what it says in Proverbs 17:9: He who covers and forgives an offense seeks love.”
The love lessons (sometimes messy!) continue, but with God’s love backing us, we can learn to overlook, ignore and cover the offenses of others, all for His glory. Heehaw!!!
WEROLLWITHGOD.CO
***
YOUTUBE VIDEO OF THE DAY
GOD HELPS ME WITH MY STRUGGLES
https://youtu.be/abMdQDxawjU
LIVE IN GOD, LIVE IN LOVE
***
HEALTH MATTERS
DAY 106 OF 365 DAYS OF DISCIPLINE!
DISCIPLINE IS THE WAY: The love lessons (sometimes messy!) continue, but with God’s love backing us, we can learn to overlook, ignore and cover the offenses of others, all for His glory. Heehaw!!!
PRACTICE! PRACTICE! AND MORE PRACTICE!!!
“LET FOOD BE THY MEDICINE AND MEDICINE THY FOOD”
“WHY DIDN’T YOU GO TO WORK YESTERDAY?”
My super son, Emmie, asked me this morning! I explained that God had some things He wanted to hash out with me. Like me struggling all the time with my sad, overwhelming, and anxious thoughts that get his momma down too often. No shame, though. I prayed and asked God for His help. ‘God, what is wrong with me?’ I cried out to Him. He lovingly came to sit and talk with me.
Like this love thing! Super difficult loving others and ourselves the way God would have us to. But He put it like this: “We love because he first loved us” – 1 John 4:19. God shows me such deep, deep, deep love that everything I do, I want to do it for His glory. So, when he says, ‘Nik, I want you to go overboard in love, forgiveness, gentleness, and patience.’ I can happily say, ‘God, ANYTHING FOR YOU!’ I love my meditation book, Yes, Father that said:
“He that loveth God, loveth also his brother. We must not be angry or crude or harsh. This is not always easy for us.”
Tell me about it! I say I fall a million times, but God helps me to get up a million and one. In fact, these falls are what push me even closer to God (Go figure). Yesterday, a friend and I had one of our sacred conversations, and I said to her that my daughter and her son have great “SYNERGY.” After feeling a bit “weak” from the fasting I’m doing with the Muslims for Ramadan, I decided to just chill and have some time alone with God reading my meditation book, Jesus Always. And of all words to show up, look what sweet message God had for me there in that weak moment (written as if He is speaking to me):
“LEARN TO LEAN ON ME more and more. I know the full extent of your weakness, and that is where My powerful Presence meets you! My strength and your weakness fit together perfectly—in a wonderful SYNERGY (Wink! Wink!) designed long before your birth. Actually, My Power is most effective in weakness. This is counterintuitive and mysterious, yet it is true.
It is important to lean on Me when you’re feeling inadequate or overwhelmed. Remind yourself that you and I together are more than adequate. To sense my nearness, try closing your hand as if you’re holding on to Mine. For I take hold of your right hand and say to you, “Do not fear; I will help you.”
That word “SYNERGY” appearing there minutes after I used it in the conversation with my friend was no coincidence. It was just a little glimmer of God’s invisible Presence there with me. It was His fun way of saying, ‘Nik, I am familiar with all your ways, and I am with you always.’ He turned that weak moment into such a priceless gift with me crucially reminded that He is my Strength and Help as I journey through this rugged and rough world, holding His hand super tight, no matter the pressures that try to get the best of me (HUGE SMILE). That’s FAITH, baby!
““Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9
WEROLLWITHGOD.COM
***
YOUTUBE VIDEO OF THE DAY
GOD SINGS TO ME!!!
https://youtu.be/Oq6jgXv2tTs
LIVE IN GOD, LIVE IN LOVE
***
HEALTH MATTERS
DAY 105 OF 365 DAYS OF DISCIPLINE!
DISCIPLINE IS THE WAY: God wants to remove the weeds from our hearts like bitterness, envy, jealousy, hate, greed, selfishness, temptations, evil thoughts, anger, doing and saying hurtful things and replace them with mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and PATIENCE bearing with and forgiving each other, clothing ourselves ALWAYS in love.
“LET FOOD BE THY MEDICINE AND MEDICINE THY FOOD”
‘OK, GOD, I GET IT’
That was me to Him this morning! He has a way of changing my perspective on EVERYTHING. I’m still struggling with this patience thing my brother, Kevin, tried to teach me last year. I want to act all crazy, but waking my son, Siah, this morning for school, I had like a glory moment, ‘WOW, GOD, YOU HAVE BLESSED ME INDEED! I’LL DO ANYTHING FOR YOU! Patience You want from me? No problem, I got You! I will be going the extra mile in love, loyalty, and patience, all for your glory.’ Let me tell ya, God is pretty talkative, and He said to me yesterday in an alone time with Him, “Be patient. Sometimes you have to go through the worst to get to the best!” Aye, Aye Captain! Just call me PATIENCE from now on! LOL!
This is where I want us all, doing everything from a God perspective! I know life gets tough, messy, complex, and it can all feel pretty overwhelming at times (exactly me, lately!), but that’s where God beautifully comes in. He is our peace amid the strongest storms knowing He is always with us, protecting us and guiding us on the best paths for our lives. When we keep moving confidently forward, continually asking, ‘God, what would You have me to do here?’ the battles belong to Him.
Everything is between God and us, not between us and anyone else. When the crazy lady wants to come out telling me to be upset, worried, and frustrated, I have to say, ‘Go away! I’m sticking with God!’ Super hard sometimes, and it’s a constant struggle to be the person God is calling me to be. Still, when I put it in perspective of all the extraordinary things God has done and is doing for me, I submit and humble myself to Him because He HAS NEVER FAILED ME YET.
In fact, He shows me such intimate love and attention. I walked in on someone yesterday, and they were reading a small book. They stopped and spoke to me for a moment, and then they handed me the book to read precisely on the page where they were and asked me to take it and read it. When I finally settled down to read it, on that same page was the verse Isaiah 41:10 that has carried me through so many challenges in the past. So much so that I even made it my phone’s screensaver a few days ago when it appeared in my appointment with God:
‘Do not fear [anything], for I am with you;
_ Do not be afraid, for I am your God.
_ I will strengthen you, BE ASSURED I WILL HELP YOU;
_ I will certainly take hold of you with My righteous right hand [a hand of justice, of power, of victory, of salvation].’_
For me to walk in on this person as they read this specific page and for that verse of all verses in the entire Bible to show up there, the same one on my screensaver, was no coincidence. It was a special confirmation from God that He will help me like He has always done so many times in the past. Phew! Let’s keep our eyes on God! HE IS IN THE FIRES WITH US. HE IS IN THE STORMS WITH US. THE BATTLES BELONG TO HIM!!! HEE HAW!
WEROLLWITHGOD.COM
***
YOUTUBE VIDEO OF THE DAY
DO NOT FEAR ANYTHING!!!
https://youtu.be/2mgAD59n0c0
LIVE IN GOD, LIVE IN LOVE
***
HEALTH MATTERS
DAY 105 OF 365 DAYS OF DISCIPLINE!
DISCIPLINE IS THE WAY: God wants to remove the weeds from our hearts like bitterness, envy, jealousy, hate, greed, selfishness, temptations, evil thoughts, anger, doing and saying hurtful things and replace them with mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and PATIENCE bearing with and forgiving each other, clothing ourselves ALWAYS in love.
“LET FOOD BE THY MEDICINE AND MEDICINE THY FOOD”
‘GOD THIS IS HARD!!!’ (REPOST)
That has been me to God a lot lately. But God has such a great sense of humor because, in one of my appointments with Him, He took me back to this old post from January when I sent this text to my daughters after running for two and a half miles to Starbucks:
“Made it. Let’s do HARD THINGS this year for God.”
And now that the hard things are here for me to do, I’m like, ‘God, what is this?!? I didn’t want it to be this hard!’ LOL! But, I love how I have this relationship with Him where we can have fun with each other. I say no problem, God, when the going gets tough, the tough (ME!!!) gets going. I got this handled! I know that this difficult and sometimes overwhelming stuff I have to deal with is God’s way of challenging me to be better, training me as an athlete to be stronger (mentally, physically, spiritually, and emotionally). God, let’s do this! I’m a soldier in God’s army, baby!
I know I will come through it happier, more mature, more disciplined, more focused, and more at peace. You can’t beat God’s school of HARD LESSONS! It’s a constant struggle and a strong fight to be this person who I know He is calling me to be, but that’s the challenge for us all: For God to be the Guide of our hearts and to make some super tough decisions from His GOD IS LOVE perspective. He wants to remove the weeds from our hearts like bitterness, envy, jealousy, hate, greed, selfishness, temptations, evil thoughts, anger, doing and saying hurtful things and replace them with mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience bearing with and forgiving each other, clothing ourselves ALWAYS in love. Phew! Did you get all of that?
SUPER HARD, I KNOW!!! But that’s where the PRACTICE, PRACTICE, and more PRACTICE come in. Looking to God in every moment and seeking to please Him. With all the training from Him, we’ll have a heart and mind filled with His love, joy, and Presence knowing He is our intimate life Partner and Guide.
Everything is between God and us, not between us and anyone else – His BLESSINGS amaze me. A strong run today with my daughters had me going crazy over His love. Those who hope in God will not be disappointed! AMEN!!! Hard stuff here, but we can do all things through Him who strengthens us! Amen.
WEROLLWITHGOD.COM
***
YOUTUBE VIDEO OF THE DAY
DO NOT FEAR ANYTHING!!!
https://youtu.be/2mgAD59n0c0
LIVE IN GOD, LIVE IN LOVE
***
HEALTH MATTERS
DAY 100 OF 365 DAYS OF DISCIPLINE!
DISCIPLINE IS THE WAY: God wants to remove the weeds from our hearts like bitterness, envy, jealousy, hate, greed, selfishness, temptations, evil thoughts, anger, doing and saying hurtful things and replace them with mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience bearing with and forgiving each other, clothing ourselves ALWAYS in love.
