Comfort and Joy

What does it mean to walk in comfort and joy anyway? I have been asking myself this same question.

 

For starters, what is comfort? Comfort means to “soothe, console, or reassure; bring cheer to, to make physically comfortable, to aid; support or encourage”. So looking at the meaning, and hooking it up with scripture, then when we say “Jesus is our comforter,”we are saying that He provides relief in our afflictions (healing), and He gives us peace.

 

I don’t know about you but I have not been walking in a lot of comfort and joy. At least not until recently when I got a breakthrough. You know when you take your eyes off of the one who gives you the comfort and joy and start to focus on all of the circumstances surrounding you that comfort and joy leaves you. You may be able to put on the façade of joy but it does not last long. I should know since I had been doing that for a while.

 

It is important that when thoughts that do not line up with God’s Word are flooding your mind, that you take those thoughts captive. I went to leadership for advice for assistance and was provided a good swift kick in the rear that I needed to help me get back on track. Don’t get me wrong, God had already been dealing with me about the price and the swift kick in the rear was done in love. It was the truth and the truth will set you free if you will listen. I chose to listen, and I have felt more joy and comfort than I have felt in months!

 

My focus has shifted to where it needs to be and not on the circumstances that have tried to infiltrate my mind. Will I have to battle thoughts in the future? I  know I will.

 

Gateway leaders are here to help you overcome all circumstances that has tried to present itself in your life. You just have to be willing to take correction and to change and grow. Showing up for services and ministry opportunities is a vital role in your spiritual growth. At one time it was said that 80% of our victory is just showing up. Spending personal time in the Word for yourself, worshiping and praying are also necessary in order to overcome obstacles and circumstances in your life. Trust in Him and His Word for His Word is His Will. He sent His son to die on the cross for our salvation, healing, comfort, and joy. Embrace the comfort and joy that comes from the love of our Father.

 

Ronda Sullivan

 

Image Credit © Tammy Sanders

Thank You Precious Enemy

Thank you, precious enemy, for all of the good you’ve done.

I’m learning how to judge myself. I want to be more like the son!

My friends would never hurt me. They would never say the things you’ve said.

But thanks to you, dear enemy, this old flesh is dead.

Jesus has so many friends. They love him more than life.

He also had an enemy, full of bitterness and strife.

There had to be that enemy to nail our saviour to a tree.

There has to be someone like you, to crucify me like you do.

I’m finding strength where I’ve been weak.

I’m learning how to think, then speak.

So please, dear enemy, don’t stop yet.

All of my goals have not been met.

I’m striving for a place divine, where Fathers ways are also mine.

 

~Connie Robinson

 

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PLAYERS OR PIECES
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A Rose of Beauty

I recently experienced the most wonderful, unexpected blessing. To my surprise, my rose bush bloomed. I thought the bush was dead since I neglected it for so long. Usually, if I am lucky enough, it will bloom one rose if it blooms at all. This year was different for some reason. It produced several beautiful, orange roses. They were not very big, but I was excited to see them bloom anyway. I really wanted to share their beauty with someone who needed cheering up for the day. “But, who Lord?” I spoke silently to myself. I really had no idea with whom to share it. It wasn’t long after I started to pray that the Lord gave me a name. I did not know anything about the problems this person was experiencing. However, the Lord knew her situation and the love from the rose made her cry. She later told me she felt dead inside, and it was a reminder to her that God was still alive. It was such a simple act and it changed her whole day.

The lesson I learned from that day was humility. I felt so humbled that God could use a person like me to make someone else feel special. It was inspiring to me that the little things I could do, could help change someone’s ashes to beauty. It was a lesson to remind me that even when I am feeling good, there are always others that are feeling sad. We just never know when we can make a difference in someone else’s life.

~Gay Dowdy

Image credit: ORANGE AND RED ROSE
© Cyrus Cornell | Dreamstime.com

Powerful Faith

Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see…It is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to Him must believe that God exists and that He rewards those who sincerely seek Him. ~Hebrews 11: 1/6.

It’s not always the BIG things in life that need our faith. Sometimes, it’s the small things. You might look at me and recognize a need for BIG faith…miracle faith…the kind that would totally heal me. See, it was socially and mentally difficult to grow up with facial paralysis, but through it all, I learned how to trust God for the small things that were important to me in my day-to-day life. I knew there was a purpose for everything, even if I couldn’t see it.

When all my friends were dating and doing what teenagers do, I was sitting at home with my parents. I spent many nights in prayer, crying and begging God to send me someone who loved me for who I was; someone who would understand and not judge; someone who would let me love them, and, most importantly, someone to have children with and grow old with.

I wrote God a list of what I wanted in a mate. My heart knew that God already had the perfect person for me, but after a while my head didn’t agree. Time went on. Weeks went by, and nothing. I can’t begin to count the times that I asked, “God, did You forget about me down here? Are You too busy blessing everyone else?”

In my junior year in high school, I added one more request to my prayer: a date for prom. I knew I needed to have a regular date first, but I went ahead and asked Him for a date to the prom. When I was finally asked out on a date, I excitedly spent the entire afternoon getting ready. He was supposed to arrive at seven, but by nine, he still hadn’t shown up. It was supposed to be my very first date, but instead I was stood up. I felt like I was having a total breakdown. Although my heart knew that God was in control, it was like someone else was controlling my mind and emotions.

Not long after that ordeal, a family member set me up on a blind date. This time, I made arrangements to meet him before our date to let him be sure he still wanted to go out with me, and he did! I was finally going out on my first date, and the best part was he had every quality that was on my list to God!

That date was not only my first date, but it was my LAST first date! Not only did he go to the prom with me my junior and senior years (answered prayer #1), but he asked me to marry him! Two months after I graduated, we were married (answered prayer #2). We had our first child a year and a half later, our second child 15 months after that, then six years later we had our third child (answered prayer #3). Our marriage and life together has never been easy, but I know that my husband and three children  are God’s answers to my prayers…those “little” prayers that were important to me as a child.

As we strive to have more faith, let’s not forget the little things in life that we prayed for and had faith for. Nothing is too big or small for our awesome God! All I wanted growing up was a husband and children. That’s all I asked for. That’s where all my faith was pointed. And that’s exactly what I got. He blessed me with the best husband in the world. God sent him right to me at His perfect time. My married life started with a mustard seed of faith when I was much younger and flourished into the beautiful family I have today. Our mustard seeds will build mountains of faith for us, and with these mountains, God can change our world. Without faith, God has nothing to work with. We are not waiting on God; He is waiting on us!

~ By Guest Contributor, Christi Duncan

Eat that Elephant!

I’d love to offer some mysteriously spiritual excuse for why I haven’t been blogging lately, but I don’t have one. I just quit. I was running hard in every area of my life and I hit a wall, bounced backwards a few steps and quit. It took me about a month before I even realized that I had quit, and another month before I started trying to understand why. Once I began to understand what the wall was that I ran into, I started thinking about how to go through it, go around it, dig under it, blow it up… whatever it took to get it out of the way. Because it was so big to me and it had been such a long time since I had any momentum, I just continued to sit there contemplating the situation instead of taking any action.

Until today. Today, pretty much out of the blue, my husband said to me…

“You’ve forgotten.”

“Forgotten what?” I asked.

“How to eat an elephant,” he replied with a gleam in his eye.

And that was it. That’s all it took. A simple little reminder to get me unstuck. I can face this wall in front of me one bite at a time. Interestingly, once I took the first bite, I realized the wall wasn’t really as big as I thought it was. So, here I am… eating my elephant.

By the way… it’s nice to see you all again!

Pocket Surprise

I’m currently doing a student teaching at an Elementary School, and when you work in a school you see just about anything and everything.  Well, during this week I was teaching Math to a class.  I thought the lesson went great, because I knew the material and got a lot of feedback from the kids.  I was pumped up thinking I captured ALL my students’ attention!  When the students were leaving the classroom to go into another class, one of the girls came up to me.  I thought she was going to tell me she learned something new from my most awesome of all awesomeness lesson.  She leaned in close to my ear and whispered, “The girl beside me has a caterpillar in her pocket ,and she was playing with it the whole time during Math class.”  BANG!  I came down from my clouds to a crash landing on the ground.  I stood back and looked at the girl with wide eyes, and then I called the girl over that had the caterpillar in her pocket.  She knew what she was coming up to me for and handed over her Math class joy.  I took the caterpillar outside to set him free from his crowded pocket prison.

Then I thought about how many times things that are so small get me distracted in everyday life.  I mean, think about it… there are people you talk to, issues you have to deal with, places that you have to go, and things you have to do.  But, these things we make such a BIG deal about are so small in comparison to what we should be doing, and the sad thing is we don’t see it because we are so focused on what we’re doing.  I was focusing on my lesson and the little girl, her caterpillar.  These things seem to be more important to us because we are focusing more on them.

Sometimes my focus gets distracted from where my focus should be.  Sometimes I am that little girl with the caterpillar in her pocket who is not paying attention as God is trying to teach me something. God is like, “Elyse!  Hello!  I’m trying to teach you something important that will help you.  You need to know this.  FOCUS!”  But, I’m so caught up with my little joy that my attention is taken away from Him and what’s important.  We need to turn loose of those caterpillars in our pockets and put our focus back on the things that ARE important.

A Hairy Situation

I was riding in the car with my fiancé last Sunday night, and we were talking about that night’s service. As we chatted, he told me he was noticing how long my hair was getting. That made me feel good because I knew he liked long hair, but then he went on to tell me that I did nothing with it. Ouch! Talk about hurt! I suddenly tried to defend myself saying, “I thought you liked my long hair!” He told me that he did, but he also liked it when I fixed it in different styles.

I thought back on all my hairstyles from the past and realized he was right. I used to do a lot with my hair, but because it had gotten so long, I got tired of coming up with new things to do with it. Instead of being something fun to do, it had become a chore and a hassle. It was no fun for me anymore so I went into maintenance mode: wash, condition, dry, and straighten. Boring!

Then I began relating my hair to different areas of my life that had become a chore or a hassle to me, such as making an effort to hang out with friends, spending time with the people I care about, and doing the things I really enjoy. Where and when did my life become something that was a chore to maintain?

Then another scary thought came to mind: When did it become a hassle to spend time praying and spending time with God? When did becoming a Christian become a chore? It’s sad when we, as Christians, kick into a maintenance mode where God is concerned. We suddenly find no time for reading the bible, praying, worshiping, and praising. We may not be aware of it, but He certainly is paying attention to everything we do. He notices when we change and stop putting forth an effort, becoming lazy and slack.

God, I just want to thank You for the people You put into my life to help me become aware of things I cannot see for myself. Thank You for using the people in my life to bring light to a dark situation. Now God, I’m going to put forth more effort into getting to know You and discovering the things that please You. First thing I’m going to do is get creative with my hair! The next thing I’m going to do is spend some quality time with You!

~Elyse Brannen

Clearing the Briar Patch, part 2

Yesterday, I shared my testimony of how God delivered me from the hate I had carried concerning my mother’s death. The reason for sharing my testimony was to provide you with a context for what God is doing during this time of seeking. For you see, God has proclaimed that He is healing and restoring the land of our hearts, removing the briars and the weeds (much like He did in the vision of my testimony). So I began wondering, what is the purpose of briars, what do they do?

When I was a kid, my sisters and I use to love going out into the woods to play. However, there were some areas of the woods to which we were denied access. Why? There was a hedge of briars that had grown up. And quite frankly, the pain of trying to get through that hedge simply wasn’t worth it. We just accepted that there were some parts of the woods in which we just couldn’t play.

Sometimes we allow the spiritual briars in the gardens of our hearts to grow out of control until it’s no longer just a briar bush but a briar hedge. An impenetrable wall of pain that keeps us from going deeper into the forest of God’s love. But God has begun a new thing in this time of seeking! He has released His fire on the lands of His people and consumed the briar hedges of pain and sin that have been denying us access to the deeper things of God.

I know that for me, I have already been set free from a hedge of rejection in my life during this seeking time! However, now the hard part comes. God has supernaturally provided us with complete access to all He is by obliterating the briar hedges of our hearts. Now we must be bold and courageous as we allow the Master Gardener access to the roots of those hedges. For you see, now we have to allow the Healer to heal the land of our heart with His love.

Consider what Ephesians 3:16-19 says. “…That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, BEING ROOTED AND GROUNDED IN LOVE, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

God doesn’t just want to clear the briar patches of your life, He wants to restore the precious ground of your heart! So be strong and of good courage. Allow God access to the roots of the briars. As you do, you too will experience the miracle of love, healing, and restoration that can only come from the pierced hands of the Master Gardner.

Wanted

What does it mean to be wanted? As babies, we all need love and support in order to grow, right? Well, in today’s society that’s a rare occurrence. I say that because most of us don’t know what real love is. We’ve all experienced someone telling us they ‘loved’ us only to disappear when things get hard. Real love is constant through the good times and bad. Love is a bridge over all of the hurt and pain in your life.

Kids often struggle with feeling wanted. They often try to change themselves to fit in with a certain group. Since I had a disability, I sometimes felt like kids couldn’t relate to me. Even family members had a hard time dealing with my disability. They would avoid being around me because they couldn’t deal with seeing me hurting. It was hard for them to cope with many of the things that go along with having a disabled child. What they didn’t realize was that all I ever wanted was for them to accept me.

Now that I’m older, I’ve realized that God loved me from the moment I was conceived in my mother’s womb. He intricately formed my features and loved me unconditionally before I ever breathed my first breath. In fact, I was actually a perfectly healthy baby in the womb, but because my brother and I were born so prematurely, I was put on a ventilator that caused a brain bleed and led to cerebral palsy. The CP, however, couldn’t take away from me the love or the plan that God has for my life. I know that He wants me and needs me to be a part of His kingdom, just as I am.

I’m so glad he loves me even when the world doesn’t understand me. I’m so glad He saved my life when I was a tiny baby. I’m so glad He is able to look past my wheelchair, my unsteady walk, and my scars. I’m so glad He wants me.

And you know what? God wants you, too!

~Madison Sanders

Read more from Madison : Making my Mark

The Whole Truth

As you read this great piece by one of our new writers, think about this: poison is about 99% good for the rat. It’s the 1% that kills him. ~The Celebration

“Did you clean your room Christe?” Every week these words would echo through the house. Each time my answer would be yes. A lot of time, that answer was enough. But every now and then, Mom would come do inspections to see if I was telling the truth.

Scolding usually preceded the inspection as my mother felt compelled to remind me that I was told to clean my room, not move things around. And my room did seem clean at first glance, but if the closet door was opened or if a finger was wiped across the dresser…you get the picture.

I didn’t lie when I told my mom the room was clean, because part of the room really was clean. After all, if I tell part of the truth, isn’t that good enough? Like most kids, I found out the hard way that adding to or taking away from truth changes it to a lie.

Lately, we have been talking about different religions with the teenagers in our youth group. In researching some, I have found they all share a common thread of partial truth. Each one has a part of the truth but not the whole truth.

Looking at other religions, we can see how millions of people have believed lies. What about the lies we have believed? What partial truth have we accepted as whole truth?

Taking a look over my life, it saddens me to see just how many lies I have accepted. I thought my heavenly father would treat me like my earthly father…lies. I thought I had to do a lot of good things to earn God’s love…lies. I thought His love was conditional… lies. I felt that I was unworthy…lies. The list goes on. Those lies cost me my peace, joy, and ultimately my freedom.

John 8:32 tells us, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Lies bring bondage, but truth brings us the freedom that we seek. Apostle David has a saying; “We want the truth, no matter what the truth is.”

As a seeker of truth, we become a knower of truth. My mom was able to scold me about my room because she knew the truth; therefore she was able to recognize the lie or partial truth. Knowing truth enables us to recognize a lie. So, what lies have you accepted? What partial truth have you taken as whole truth?

Freedom in truth awaits…

~by Christe Grzehowiak