Learning to Rest

I am learning a valuable life's lesson about trusting God.

This isn't something that is learned overnight, it isn't learned by just one instance in life, it's something we each have to learn by going through life's issues and challenges and paying attention to the outcome.

Most of the challenges we go through are plagued with us trying to do, to fix, to orchestrate the desired out come. We feel the need to be constantly at work to make what we think should happen come about. We need others to know we are trying our hardest to do, be it a job hunt, financial challenge, creating the perfect atmosphere for our home. What ever our challenge we take it upon ourselves to do.

The scriptures referencing waiting on the Lord or Resting in the Lord are fired out of our mouths like bullets, but our actions tell quite a different story.

I am learning not to stress out about life's challenges and set backs. My biggest problem is not believing God will do what He says, it's concern about others thinking I'm not concerned about an issue, or that I'm not doing all I can do to fix the problem.

I'm actually more concerned with what others think than doing what God says to do....Please tell me I'm not alone out here!!

Knowing God has a purpose and a plan (Jer.29:11) and acting like He has the plan for your life is two different things.

In my heart I know God will work everything out better than I had hoped. In my head I'm thinking what do I need to do to make this happen?

I am slowly learning to really trust Him and not worry about what others think of me being in a sublime state of rest during a trial.

It's been a hard lesson to learn and I'm not fully competent in the resting part of my walk, because like you I've been taught to help myself, do it all, work on it, stress about it, worry, worry, worry then maybe, when God sees how hard we are working, stressing, crying, worrying, etc. He in His pity will swoop down and give us a little crumb to work with till the next challenge.

That's not what the Scriptures say at all, that's what man has decided the scriptures say. How sad in all this time of man striving to achieve, God wants us to rest in Him and trust He will bring about the desired results. Striving, straining and worrying won't bring about God's plan for us, but resting in His ability to bring His plan to life will.

Matthew 6:31-33 says, " Do not be anxious then, saying, "What shall we eat?" or "What shall we drink?" or "With what shall we clothe ourselves?" For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you."

Learning to truly believe this scripture takes time and practice. I know God is my provider, but I sometimes still think He needs my help.

So, when plagued with challenges, instead of falling down in a heap of tears, or worrying through a sleepless night, put it in God's capable hands, kick back and rest in His ability to orchestrate His plan and purpose for your life.

Learning to Rest in Him,

Blessings,

Wendy

Are You Missing Someone?

For the past I don't know how many years now I've been estranged from my oldest child. The reason or fault isn't the issue here, but I do have something to share with anyone who is separated from someone they love.

Over the last 10 years I only saw my oldest child on the obligatory holidays and the occasional birthday. My youngest would go 2 or 3 years with out contact with me.

My heart would ache to see them. Even though I had relationships with my 2 middle children I missed the other two and longed for the day God would move on my behalf and bring us together.

Every year I would pray and claim household restoration, but nothing seemed to be happening. I know God is a restoring God, a healing God, a merciful God, I know it was not in His plan for me to be separated from them for ever.

At times I would grow impatient, I would cry, I would complain, I would be angry and jealous of those they chose to be with instead of me.

Last year started out the same as all the others, me claiming something that seemed impossible.

My oldest, her husband, my youngest son and his wife met for brunch on Mother's Day. I have learned to cherish the little time I got to spend with my oldest.

As we sat there eating she announced she was expecting twins in Nov., something in my heart came alive, I couldn't stop crying for joy. I didn't know if I would be a part of their lives, but I know the Holy Spirit was letting me know my wait was coming to an end.

I've been unemployed since March 09, completely unable to find a job. All this time I kept saying I didn't know what God had for me, but I knew He had the perfect job since I had to wait so long!

In July I was asked to be the "Granny Nanny" for the twins. Never in my wildest dreams would I have hoped to ask for this. The perfect job for me.

God, in His infinite wisdom, was answering my prayers from the last 10 years in His perfect time.

The boys were born in Aug., three days later the littlest one went to heaven. We will always miss him and he will always be a part of us.

When my daughter wasn't at the hospital with our precious survivor I was able to sit in his room and just be with him.

Now I am with her helping everyday.

God is restoring what the enemy had stolen from her and me.

Tonight I ran over and had New Year's Eve dinner with them and hung out for a little bit before coming back home to share this with you.

If you are reading this and missing someone please don't ever give up. God is a restoring God and He will restore back to you what the enemy has stolen.

Keep praying, keep fasting, keep believing no matter how many years it takes. Take it from me those years are well worth it when God moves suddenly and brings your loved one back to you.

If you are reading this and want me to stand with you in prayer for restoration leave me a message. I would consider it an honor to pray with you.

Blessings,

Wendy

No Hope? Here's Some of Mine!

In our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves, but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a peril, and He will deliver us. On Him we have set our hope that He will continue to deliver us. 2 Cor.1:9

I usually tend to shy away from Paul's writing because to me, he rambles. Now before you decide to have a deliverance session for me let me explain.

Having the tendency to ramble on myself, I can relate to his wordings. But many times I find myself at the end of a sentence forgetting what the beginning was about and I lose the whole thought.

This thought of his really makes sense to me, let me explain.

Many times through out the years I've felt the grip of panic and fear, the darkness of feeling alone, and the inability to breath. The overwhelming feeling that everything is spinning out of control and I surely won't make it another day without some kind of relief.

To me the sentence of death isn't just about dieing a physical death, it's about being in a place of no hope. You feel alone and there is nothing anyone can do to turn the page, so to speak. You just have to sit there in the dark and wait praying for something, anything to happen to get you through this situation.

My old way of handling these moments or days or weeks was to go into a total panic, cry uncontrollably, and hide in a corner out of shear terror of what was to become of me. Not much hope, very little faith.

As I've grown closer to God I'm able to look on these momentary setbacks and know, in time, the sun will shine because none of my situation at hand is a surprise to God. He knew it was coming, He knew it wasn't going to kill me, and He all ready had a plan for my salvation from whatever situation I currently found myself.

During these times of certain "death" I find myself recouping my composure much more quickly than I once did. I find myself reminding God about all the past messes He's seen me through and that, since I am one of His favorite daughters, I just know He has the Master plan to raise me from the "dead" yet again.

No matter what "death scene" I'm experiencing at the moment, I've learned through experience, my loving faithful Father will once again reach down, pick me up and set me on my way. His track record is impeccable, He is always there working in the background on my behalf. And through each scary trial my faith in Him grows.

So now, when the "goblins" come to attack, I refer back to the many times I was rescued and "raised from the dead" and they don't seem so big and scary.

When we are faithful to seek God, He allows us to find Him, He's ever ready to extend His hand of life to us in our most dire situations.

If you are going through a period of "sure death" with unemployment, divorce, betrayal, foreclosure, disease, flood, draught or what ever other plague or plagues are beating your door down, seek Him, cry out to Him and in time you'll be able to breathe again.

Nothing you are going through is a surprise to Him. He all ready has your victory planned out. He just needs you to reach out to Him in faith knowing He'll do what He does best. Then stand on the fact that He will do it. He'll come through, I promise. Maybe not the way or in the time frame you would envision, but His ways are not our ways. Trust me on this, His ways are sooooo much better!

There are so many other scriptures about God being our protector, but I choose to close with this one. After all it is my blog!

"Because she loves me," says the Lord, "I will rescue her; I will protect her, for she acknowledges My name." Ps. 91:14 Yours doesn't say she??? Why not try inserting your name to give this an added bit of reality.

Blessings,

Wendy

Princess

Daughter of the King of Kings

Mother of Princesses and Princes

Grandmother of Royalty

Who is your Daddy?

Come near to God and He will come near to you. James 4:8

Sounds simple enough. So why do we always think we have to have an action plan and a scheme or a list of things we have to do or become?

In March the unemployment office celebrated my one year of unemployment by stopping my benefits!

Previously I had received a letter stating I was approved for a 13 week extension. Now, me being me, I assumed that meant my benefits would be automatically extended 13 weeks since the letter didn't have any fine print telling me otherwise.

On the day my check is normally in my bank account I checked my account and discovered a negative $400 balance. I quickly realized something was wrong, duh!! I must have misunderstood what was going on. After a very quick call to unemployment I was told my benefits had come to an end regardless of what the letter had said and I needed to reapply.

The nice lady on the phone took my info. and submitted my claim again assuring me I was all ready approved for more weeks, but since everything was first come first serve my application was at the bottom of a very large pile to be reviewed, and she had no idea how long it would take to get my checks started again. Reassuring me I would get all the back weeks I missed didn't make me feel better considering the current state of my checking account and the fact that in 2 weeks my rent was going to be due.

Unlike how I used to react to this type of situation, I just said," OK, God this isn't a surprise to you so what do you have planned?"

After calling the bank and a few other places I had done all I could do, the rest was up to God.

I was nudged by the Holy Spirit to Fast. I pulled out my book, "Fasting" by Jentezen Franklin, grabbed my Daniel Fast information from it's folder and started to prepare myself. I knew I was to fast from Monday-Sat before Easter.

On Monday I claimed my unemployment weeks as instructed by the nice lady on the phone, knowing it would probably be at least 6 weeks till I started getting my checks again, that's what I was told the wait was.

Knowing there was no other immediate source of income for me I reminded God He was my provider and rent was coming due, just in case He forgot.

I proceeded with my fast Monday and Tuesday knowing God had a plan, trusting Him to fulfill His plan. I was feeling very much like a little girl trusting her Daddy was going to provide somehow. I didn't know how and I really didn't care how I just knew He was up to something.

Wednesday came and I thought I'd take a peek at my negative balanced bank account just for kicks. I almost fell off my chair when rather than a negative balance I was back in the black!!

Not only did God move on the State of Florida to get me to the top of that long list, but the first week that's normally held back was in there too!!

What could I do but praise and thank Him! There was some serious happy dancing going on in my home that morning!!!

Along with all that, as if that wasn't enough, God, my Daddy, decided to bless me with some groceries just to put a little icing on the cake.

He is such a good Dad, if we would just let Him what He wants to be to us. He doesn't need our instructions, our lists, our plans. All He needs is for us, His beloved Children to draw close to Him.

If we take one tiny, feeble, infant step toward Him, the creator of the Universe runs to us to fill in the pot holes, level the mountains, fill up our bank accounts and throw in a few groceries for good measure!

How can we not love and praise Him? How can we not trust Him to take care of us? He has chosen to have a loving family relationship with us, He's not going to hurt us, He wants to be our Daddy.

Even if there was no loving family relationship in our life to draw on for an example, even if there wasn't a Daddy figure in our childhood, He wants to fill in that loss. He wants to be your Daddy. He will never leave us or forsake us and He's not a man that he would lie to us. You can trust Him when maybe your earthly father wasn't so trustworthy or loving.

Having what the world would call crazy faith in God is not politically correct or socially acceptable, but I'll continue strive to raise my level of crazy faith in my Father.

In the end, He's the only one who will take care of His own by lavishing us with all the blessings He has stored up for us.

He's waiting on us to take that step toward Him in love and obedience so He can start overwhelming us with His love, comfort, healing, and provision.

Let Him be your Daddy.

Blessings,

Princess, Daughter of the King of Kings

Mother of Princesses and Princes

Grandmother of Royalty

Now you see Him, now you don't

A few weeks ago my friend, Elizabeth and I went to the Orlando Science Center to see the sky through the huge telescope they have.

I'm not much of a student of the stars, planets and such but it sounded like an interesting evening.

We climbed up into the little tower where the telescope was then at the right moment we each got to climb a ladder to look at Jupiter.

I wasn't too happy about climbing a ladder when I'm all ready at the tippy top of the building. But I figured I was there and didn't want to look like a chicken so I took a DEEP breath, acted like everything was super duper and climbed up. The ladder did have hand rails and I was hoping no one noticed I was grasping the rails like they were my sole link to life.

Focusing in on the telescope I saw Jupiter and it's moons. Cool, how fast can I get down this ladder and down the circular stair way to a safe place??

Once safely on the top of the building we could see Jupiter on our own. It was a very bright light, not too impressive unless you're into that kind of thing.

Then the clouds started to roll in and I stood there and watched as Jupiter slowly faded away.

I knew it was still right where it was before the cloud cover, but I couldn't see it. All I could see with my eyes was darkness. I kept watching the spot like I was going to get some kind of sign that Jupiter knew I was rooting for it to be uncovered so we could see it again.

Standing there in the darkness staring at the sky that once had a pretty light for me to focus on I realized how cool it was for God to provide me with a little visual of Him and me.

I was so excited when I realized all this, I started talking as fast as I could trying to explain what I was seeing to Elizabeth, who by now knows me well enough to just hold on for the ride till I'm done with my "revelating".

This was amazing...I saw Jupiter, I knew it was there because I saw it. After the clouds covered it and I couldn't see it anymore, was I sure it was still there? Of course, because I knew it didn't fall out of the sky it was just behind a cloud cover. I had faith to believe it was there, behind the clouds.

When God is bright and shinning, preforming miracles on our behalf, bringing our household into salvation, raining down financial blessings, healing our illnesses, and all the other great stuff He does we all can see Him with our eyes and marvel at the beautiful light.

We are so excited knowing He's shinning just for us we can't help pointing Him out for others to see.

But what happens when the clouds roll in?

Are we still looking?

Are we still excited?

Are we still pointing Him out to others?

Are we still able to "see" Him behind the clouds?

Are we strong enough in our faith walk that we don't need to "see" Him constantly to know He's there?

When we can't see him because of a cloud cover what do we do? Worry that maybe He's left and forgotten us or Praise Him because we know He's always there?

Matthew 28:20 promises, "I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

It doesn't matter where we are in our journey, or what inconvenience we're facing today, He promises He's right there with us.

It's our choice to believe Him.

It's our choice to exercise our faith and thank Him for being our covering, our protection, our everything, even if we can't see Him.

We can have faith that He's behind the cloud taking care of our business.

Blessings,

Princess, Daughter of the King of Kings

Mother of Princesses and Princes

Grandmother of Royalty