He is Our Storm Chaser

Most of my posts come from my own personal life experiences with the sincere hope that what I share will encourage and even open your eyes to our great Storm Chaser. I learned some very difficult lessons the hard way so my goal is to pass along the wisdom from those lessons to give you shortcuts to your prayers being answered and your faith increased.

It's our human nature to have the mindset: "I've got to figure this out on my own!" Many times, seeking God for the answer is the last thing we do to escape our storms. "I've tried everything else. I might as well, as a last resort ask God for help! Instead of asking "God, can't you see how great my storms are", we should be saying "Storms, can't you see how big my God is?"

The disciples passed their lessons learned onto us. We can learn a lot from their mistakes if we would not go the way of their lack of faith. They knew Jesus was on land and they discounted that He was the authentic, unparalleled STORM CHASER and PEACE MAKER. They toiled and feared, but Christ was praying on the shore for them. He saw the storm come up. HE SAW. He knew. And He sees and knows the storms we're going through. They are no surprise to Him. In fact, they are part of His plan to build our faith and trust in Him more. He is hearing our prayers in the midst of OUR storms and He will carry us safely to the other side.

We can know this: There is no difficulty in life that is stronger than Jesus. We can face our difficult times with courage because He promised to ALWAYS be with us! I love knowing that His peace is ours in the midst of our storms....and how reassuring to know that right behind this storm is a rainbow of blessing! He promised it, and I've come to count on it! Since we know our circumstances are no surprise to Him, let’s surprise Him with our trust in Him – in all circumstances and in all seasons.

The calm and quiet nature of Christ is what calms the storms in our life and in others. By sharing the presence of Christ within us, we introduce the nature of Christ. He is our Storm Chaser. He pursues us to let us know that we can trust Him. He calms our storms when we ask Him.

Dear Lord, we come to you and ask you to increase our faith. We acknowledge that one of the best ways to grow in faith is to experience storms in our life. For only in those times, can we exercise and experience trust, so that we may receive true peace and increase our confidence in You. By growing in our trust, we receive the calm and quiet nature of Your presence. May people be attracted to my soul that expresses calm in any and every situation. I invite you into my boat and ask you to take control. Amen.

Shovel-fulls or Spoon-fulls

Day 151 of Photo Inspirations -- Shovel-fulls or Spoon-fulls
I heard such a beautiful message Sunday about "The Man in the Mirror".  We all remember this song as one of Michael Jackson's best.  It spoke of the person we need to be in order to make the world a better place.  The chorus went like this:  "I'm starting with the man in the mirror.
I'm asking him to change his ways.
And no message could have been any clearer.
If you want to make the world a better place,
Take a look at yourself, and then make a change".

And the pastor took that message even further when he said what we should see in the mirror is how God sees us, and what He says to us.  He says:
1.  I love you.
2.  I'm grateful for you.
3.  You're a rare and beautiful treasure.
4.  I forgive you.
5.  I'll hold you to high standards with appropriate amounts of grace & mercy.
6.  You have a special calling.
7.  I'm cheering for you, and I believe in you.

God lavishes all of His goodness, love, grace, compassion and mercy on us, by the shovel-fulls. He is a shoveler.   He didn't meet us half-way; He came all the way to us from heaven.  He relentlessly pursues us.  And, when we know that's true, it will be shown in how we interact with others.  We really love to celebrate the shovel-fulls we get, but we usually dispense to others in spoon-fulls.  And, the question is......what do we do with all that love; all that grace; all that mercy; all that goodness in return?  Are we dispensing shovel-fulls to others around us....or are we dispensing spoon-fulls?  How can we say to others, "I'll think about forgiving you"?   "I'll think about helping you" when we have been so forgiven and so helped with the shovel-full.  If we consider the outrageous, indescribable love of God to us, then how could we give less than our best to others.

Perhaps.....it's not spoon-fulls OR shovel-fulls -- it should be dump-truck full of blessings to others if, in fact, we desire to be like Him Who gives and gives and gives to us FAR more than we could ever ask or think.