Sometimes life happens. Sometimes we get ourselves in trouble and sometimes trouble follows us around. That’s life. Life isn’t always good, but God is. And one of the best things I ever started doing was journaling. I write down my prayers and my thoughts as often as I can, and I try to take notes when I listen to podcasts or sermons. My personal favorite to listen to is Elevation Church, so I am sure that many of the things that I am going to share from this post are from Paster Steven’s sermons.
And that’s the beauty of writing down the moments in which God speaks to you. How quickly do we forget what God gives us on the mountain? How easy is it to spiral in our own thoughts and feelings? Being able to flip through the pages of my spiritual life and see how many times God has brought me through the valleys of life, my own mind, confusion, pain, and even good times and much-needed growth is humbling and leaves me in awe every time.
So I wanted to share some of the things that I’ve written down over the years:
The world rejected perfection (Jesus) because it didn’t know what it looked like. It wasn’t rich and flashy, it was humble and kind. Jesus was rejected. What do we think that we will never be?
Accepting Jesus was easy for me, it only took a moment. Accepting Katie has taken 27 years. I get sick of myself sometimes.
Your life is your own personal lego set. You can only build with your pieces. You can’t take someone else’s pieces to build your life. They weren’t meant for you.
Don’t compare your transformation to someone else’s timelapse.
No one naturally drifts towards God, we have to make the choice every day. Like the current pulling you down the shoreline, we have to make the conscious choice to come back to God daily. When we don’t read, listen, and study in order to hear from God – it’s like going to the grocery store without a list. You’ll make it up as you go. You’ll convince yourself that you know everything the Bible said, and you won’t always be accurate.
Just because God feels slow doesn’t mean he’s late. In your waiting, what do you go back to?
Guard your heart, because everything from your life flows from it.
Be careful what you think, your life is shaped through your thoughts.
Guard my heart. Hold my tongue. Soften my thoughts.
Are my answers really just excuses rooted in insecurity or are the responses grounded in truth?
When you give equal weight to two voices you will always feel conflicted.
Your current situation isn’t in charge of your future destination. It’s time to raise your expectation.
Faith and expectation come with a level of frustration. Frustration isn’t a curse, it’s a gift. If it bothers you that much then maybe it’s what you’re called to solve. Frustration is about progress, trying to close the gap. You must learn to manage your frustration while not trying to attain perfection.
The enemy doesn’t care about your past, you do! The enemy only cares about your future. But the enemy will bring up your past to destroy your future. The only thing more important than who you are today is who you are becoming for tomorrow.
We don’t always have the words, but the Holy Spirit does and He will speak for us. You don’t just need the Holy Spirit to get to Heaven, you need Him to get through TODAY.
The Spirit doesn’t make me better than you, the Spirit makes me better than ME.
We all have weaknesses and we don’t need to be afraid of them, but we need to be aware of them.
Choose courage over worry. Courage isn’t the absence of fear, it’s the ability to place more weight in God’s hands than in the mountain that you’re facing. The emotion doesn’t disappear. You aren’t a robot with no emotions, but your faith can be stronger than your emotions.
The devil knows your usual taunts. Your fear is justified, but living in it isn’t.
Don’t miss out on your miracle just because you don’t like the instructions.
Faith creates a new “ridiculous” outlook. David and Saul saw the same giant. Same problem, but different things. Faith changes how you see the storm. Goliath is an opportunity, not a death sentence. The word Goliath in Hebrew means “to uncover” or “to reveal.” The giant you are facing is revealing something to you.
What if instead of bringing God our problems (which is still okay)… what if e brought God our thoughts at every moment. How many times do we plead for God to remove us from situations where we took it upon ourselves to make an agreement with the enemy?
Your mind needs guidance. You can’t bring God into your problems and not your process.
What do you want to be filled with? You can’t do what the world does and get what the Word says.
Be careful what you copy. Copy what God gives you directly on the mountain. Don’t copy a copy of a copy from what someone else said.
Is the way of life I’m choosing going to produce the outcome that I desire?
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of the world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.
How do you want to feel at the end of today? Reverse engineer it with your decisions.
Don’t copy crazy. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
The Lord told me “I want you to stop indulging in your insecurities because it gives you self pity and you are using that to numb the pain of pressure in your life.”
All of my success is based upon how God situated me. The Lord opened those doors for me.
I refuse to let unforgiveness in my heart block me from what God has for me. Don’t miss the opportunity because you can’t let go of the offense. The enemy will attack your mind to the point where you can’t even focus enough to sit down and pray.
Give when you don’t feel like giving and love when you don’t feel like loving.
“You are the light of the world – like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will priase your heavenly Father.”
Thank you for making me strong when I am weak.
Thanks for reading and I hope it touched you in some way!
Until next time,
Katie