Free from Frustration

God sure is funny. Some times he teaches us things we knew we needed to know but didn't realize we would be learning. That make sense?? Let me explain - hopefully. I recently downloaded a sermon on Supernatural Childbirth. The bible says faith comes by hearing the word; I'm believing for babies, so I figured it was a good idea to listen to sermons on the subject, right? Anywho, as I was listening, the woman preaching was talking about how we have been redeemed from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13). She said everyone likes reading the first part of Deuteronomy 28, the part of the chapter that lists the blessings, but she said it's also a good idea to read the "curses" part of that chapter, keeping in mind those are all the things we have been redeemed from.

So, the other night, I took her advice and read the second part of Deuteronomy 28, and then I came upon verse 20 - "The Lord himself will send on you curses, confusion and frustration in everything you do ..." Something immediately went off in my spirit. A little insight into Whitney (my husband can attest to this) - I am amazingly high strung. It doesn't take much to get me frustrated, upset or fired up. I constantly go home from CrossFit down on myself and frustrated because people beat me or lifted more than me when I felt like I should've done better.

What frustrates you? Just remember, God doesn't send frustration; Satan does. Notice how being frustrated puts you or those around you in a bad mood. My husband in turn gets upset with me because I'm frustrated; it can drive a wedge between us. Now is that second sentence making more sense? God used that sermon on childbirth to show me I have to deal with my frustration because it's part of the curse. This applies during workouts or anything that you're believing God for. If you're frustrated, your faith is being attacked. You have to remember that you have been redeemed from the curse of frustration.

I know God showed me this because of the way CrossFit frustrates me but also to help strengthen my faith as we continue to believe for babies. Faith doesn't get frustrated because faith continues to believe God is going to do what he promised. Frustration isn't just something that can raise your stress level or blood pressure; it's part of the curse and if you're a child of God, you have been redeemed!! Read through Deuteronomy 28 to see what else you have been redeemed from.

This blog is based on Psalm 139:13-16: 
"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous-how well I know it.
You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of 
the womb.
You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. 
Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed."

You were created for a purpose, and God made you exactly the way you are on purpose! You truly were created to be fabulous!

No Rules, Just Righteousness

For whatever reason many people in the world have this idea that being a Christian is just a long list of things you can and cannot do. A whole lot of "Thou shalt" and "Thou shalt not". Maybe this perception comes from the fact that some people have portrayed the church in this light hoping to appear more pious or saintly; or perhaps it's because so many Christians have taken on a judgmental attitude, which makes people feel unworthy. I'm really not sure, but if you read the bible, it's not following a list of rules that makes you a Christian, it's simply believing in Jesus.

Throughout his writings, Paul hammers home the point that it's not following the law, but faith in Jesus that makes us right with God. Galatians 2:16 says "Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law ... For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law." How freeing is that?? You do not have to earn anything; God's grace and mercy is an absolutely FREE gift!!!! Romans 6:14 tells us sin is no longer our master, for we no longer live under the requirements of the law, instead we live under the freedom of God's grace.

Being a child of God is not a list of no-no's; it's an unbelievable freedom of knowing that I could never on my own be good enough, but simply because God loved me so much, I am now his child. We have all sinned because we are human, but if you choose to simply accept a free gift, you can be made right with God and become a child of his.

For whatever reason this morning while reading, this thought really struck me. I know I've had days where I've felt like I royally screwed up and like I would never be good enough. But I can take comfort in the fact that I never have to earn God's love or my place in his kingdom. Jesus dying on the cross and being raised from the dead already did that. I can just bask in that freedom and love each and every day.

This blog is based on Psalm 139:13-16: 
"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous-how well I know it.
You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of 
the womb.
You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. 
Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed."

You were created for a purpose, and God made you exactly the way you are on purpose! You truly were created to be fabulous!

Pouring a Little Oil

This past weekend James River Assembly held their Designed for Life conference, a women's conference. It is an amazing weekend where God works through the lives of girls from all over the country. One of the speakers, Donna Crouch, spoke Sunday morning, and the message she delivered is the reason this blog is back after a very long hiatus.

Her text was 2 Kings 4:1-8, the story of the widow who was about to have her sons sold to pay her debts (as of Sunday night, the message wasn't up, but I encourage you to check www.jamesriver.org and listen to the entire message as soon as it comes up!). Elisha instructed her to take the olive oil she had in her house and begin pouring it into jars. Donna's point was that Elisha didn't treat her like a victim, instead he took what she had and put it to use. She challenged everyone to look at their lives and see where they could start "pouring some oil." And that's when I got that urging. I really tried to ignore it, giving the usual excuses - "No one wants to read what I write", "I don't have any formal training", "What if I say something wrong." But as we all know, God isn't into arguing. He told me to get out the bottle of oil.

I really don't have any formal training, and I will probably never have some breakthrough revelation - although, maybe I will. This blog is God's, and I hope that he will use me to speak encouragement into people's lives. Sometimes we really don't need some deep revelation, we just need a little reminder of something we've known for a very long time. Today's reminder? God is bigger than your problems, and he can use those circumstances to help you have a positive impact on someone's life.

This blog is based on Psalm 139:13-16: 
"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous-how well I know it.
You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of 
the womb.
You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. 
Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed."

You were created for a purpose, and God made you exactly the way you are on purpose! You truly were created to be fabulous!

Monday 3/25/13

As I was driving home from church yesterday, enjoying the beautiful snow and jamming along with the radio, a song came on that brought a thought to my mind. The song is called "What If?" and after I listened to the chorus, the Holy Spirit brought this question up in me: "What if God never did another thing for you? Would you still serve him?" Basically, what is your motivation for believing in and serving God? Do you worship and serve him because he is the creator everything or because you need something from him?

This was not exactly a question I wanted to have to answer. This is one of those uncomfortable questions God asks you, and you know he might be asking because he knows the answer. Of course, I want to say that if God never answered another prayer or sent me another blessing that I would continue to praise him and live for him. But would I? Shouldn't it be enough that He gave his only Son to die for me so that our relationship could be restored? I mean, I'm the one who sinned and yet He's the one who did all the work so that I could be forgiven. It's very easy to think about God a lot, but only really let him in or get serious when life is falling apart. Even non-christians will hit their knees when the going gets tough. You hear it all the time; people who you know do not have a relationship with God, who will ask you to pray or say they have to pray because something terrible has happened. I know about you, but that frustrates me; but if I'm only serving God because of what he can do for me, am I any better?

This isn't exactly a light, fun subject for a Monday, but with Good Friday and Easter approaching, I think it's fitting. I am going to focus this week on just praising God for who he is, not what he can do for me. I need to get back to the basics of loving him and praising him because he is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords; because he is the Most High, who has already given me so much more than I deserve.

This blog is based on Psalm 139:13-16: 
"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous-how well I know it.
You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of 
the womb.
You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. 
Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed."

You were created for a purpose, and God made you exactly the way you are on purpose! You truly were created to be fabulous!

Friday 3/22/13

CrossFit is a funny thing, even funnier when you workout with your spouse. We are in the midst of the CrossFit Open, which is basically the playoffs to determine who advances to the CrossFit Games in July. Hundreds of thousands of people participate in the open, the vast majority knowing they won't even make it to regionals, but they do it to push themselves and see how much progress they're making. A new workout is announced each Wednesday and each athlete has until Sunday to perform that workout and post their score.

The biggest difference between this and our every day WODs is each Open workout must be validated by a Level 1 CrossFit coach. This is where the real point of this blog beings. This morning, I was counting my husband, Justin, through this week's workout. He was doing so well! He flew through his wall balls, then on to probably his biggest strength - double unders. His goal was to have five minutes to do as many muscles as he could (this week it's a 12-minute workout overall). He reached his goal; he had exactly five minutes to do his muscle ups. It's hard to watch him workout because he pushes himself so hard and has a look of pain on his face, and I absolutely hate to see it. I know he's getting better and that he loves it, but I don't want him to hurt! Anywho, it wasn't his best muscle up day. He gave it all he had, but they weren't flowing like he wanted them to; and it was absolutely breaking my heart. I was staring at him, in my head chanting 'You can do this'; almost trying to silently will him the strength to get up and locked out on those rings (just to let you know, I can't do muscle ups, but I believe I have the ability to will him the ability to do them - that make sense?). It was so hard to watch him struggle.

Then it hit me; that's exactly how God is. When he sees us trying to do things on our own and struggle, it breaks his heart. He wants to help us so bad, but we have to let him. I'm sure Justin would have let me help him on muscle ups if I could, but unlike that situation, God can help us in anything we encounter. We just have to ask and then let him help. It's not enough to ask and then continue trying to do it our way. Ask him to help and then allow yourself to be led; God may have a better way to accomplish your goal. No matter what you're facing, you don't have to go through it alone. God has promised that he will never leave us nor forsake  us.

This blog is based on Psalm 139:13-16: 
"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous-how well I know it.
You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of 
the womb.
You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. 
Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed."

You were created for a purpose, and God made you exactly the way you are on purpose! You truly were created to be fabulous!

Wednesday 3/20/13

"Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping—believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, “That’s how many descendants you will have!” And Abraham’s faith did not weaken, even though, at about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead—and so was Sarah’s womb. Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises."

These verses absolutely floor me while at the same time give me incredible encouragement every time I read them. The above passage is Romans 4:18-21. How many times have you felt there was "no reason for hope"? Abraham had hoped for a son for many, many years and still did not have one. Despite that, he kept believing and all because of one reason: He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises.

Sarah was 90 years old; Abraham was 100. How many couples like that do you know that are having children? In the natural, there was absolutely no reason to think they would ever have a child, but they knew God had promised and that he is faithful. What are you believing God for? Does it seem like there is just no possible way? I'll admit, my faith wavers; and then I remember this verse. Do I truly believe God is able to do whatever he promises? If I truly, truly do, then why am I worried? He God, for crying out loud!! He's the one who made the heavens and the earth; he's the one who causes the sun to rise each morning and the stars to come out at night. He's the God who brought down the wall of Jericho, kept the lions from eating Daniel and protected Shadrach, Meshach and Abednedo in the fiery furnace!!!!! Ask yourself, is your problem bigger than that? Is your problem bigger than God?? NO!! His is the name that is above every name in heaven and earth and under the earth. He has defeated Satan; the battle has already been won. 

So whatever you are believing for, get touch, take a stand and remember that God is faithful. Do not waver. Your God, your Heavenly Father, is bigger than any circumstance that comes you way; and the best part is, he wants to take care of all of it for you. Just trust him and be ready to be obedient. Then sit back and watch God do amazing things in your life.

This blog is based on Psalm 139:13-16: 
"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous-how well I know it.
You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of 
the womb.
You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. 
Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed."

You were created for a purpose, and God made you exactly the way you are on purpose! You truly were created to be fabulous!

Tuesday 3/19/13

While they're all really good, I really think Romans may be my favorite book of the bible. Yesterday God really laid it on my heart to start reading Romans again (didn't take much convincing!) and now there are so many things running around in my mind. It's hard to decide exactly what to write about! So, I'll try not to ramble!

Paul spends much of the first part of the book trying to help people understand that we have all sinned and that obeying the law is not what gets us to heaven. It's faith in Jesus and his saving grace, not works, that get a person to heaven. That seems like a very simple concept, but really stop and think about that. There is NOTHING you can do to earn your salvation. While some people may think that is scary, what an absolutely freeing thought! The work has already been done; Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave. He did all the work; all you have to do it believe in him. I don't have to spend my days trying to earn my way to heaven. I can spend my days worshiping God and doing my best to be an example for him, knowing if I do slip up, I can go to him and humbly ask for forgiveness. He still loves me and will wrap his arms around me because I am his daughter.

In Paul's day, the Jews were very strict about ceremonies and the law, most notably circumcision. Paul talks many times about how basically if your heart isn't right with God, it doesn't matter whether you are circumcised or not, which is an idea that probably didn't sit well with many Jewish leaders in that day. So let me ask you, are there time where you get caught up in going through the motions? Listening to christian music, going to church or reading your bible because that's just "what you do"? I have to watch myself because it's easy to fall into a routine. Some times we really need to stop, read bible verses we've read a million times a little slower and take the time to simply worship God because of who he is.


This blog is based on Psalm 139:13-16: 
"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous-how well I know it.
You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of 
the womb.
You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. 
Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed."

You were created for a purpose, and God made you exactly the way you are on purpose! You truly were created to be fabulous!