If I don’t write things down, I will often forget.
Whether it’s what I need at Walmart, the things I need to accomplish at work, or the bill that needs to be paid by tomorrow.
It’s easy, right?
We have so much happening in our lives that keeping track of it all can be challenging. They say when we write things down we actually start accomplishing more of what we set out to do.
In other words, we become intentional.
I have found this to be true whether I’m using an app on my phone or physically writing what I want/need to accomplish on paper. Otherwise I can loose sight of all manner of things, not just my weekly “to-do” list.
What about the words of encouragement spoken by a friend, last Sunday’s sermon that caused a stirring in our hearts, or even the things we use to pray about that have somehow drifted off our list.
We can get so caught up in all that is happening or what hasn’t happened, that we slip into settling for what is and not even realize the side road we’ve opted to travel.
Just because it is, does not mean it has to be.
I don’t know what you are no longer praying for.
I don’t know what is so deeply buried in your heart that you are forgetting to believe for it again.
I don’t know the “normal” you are accepting, that God is tenderly reminding you to have faith “for the MORE” once again.
Maybe we need to write this down, “God is the God of miracles,” so we don’t forget. I have laid in bed at night preaching this truth to my own heart when problems have threatened to steal my sleep.
Even for the deep places of longing that we have buried, or what we have intentionally laid aside to preserve our hearts from being disappointed once again.
Even for the rocky ground that seems hard and unresponsive to the Father’s touch, in our own life, in life’s unchanging circumstances, or in the heart and mind of someone we know and love.
Even for the things that look impossible or unchangeable. God is the God who performs miracles and NOTHING is impossible for Him!
Appearances are deceiving from our limited human perspective.
May God reveal to us all what we’ve lost sight of or purposely let go of believing for that He desires to resurrect in our lives.
May He let even the tiniest spec of faith begin to rise up in our souls once again and transform our perspective. We serve a God that specializes in bringing life to what appears lost, unresponsive, impossible, or dead.
It’s because He is, that we can have HOPE.
“You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples” (Psalm 77:14).
Let’s not forget.
Whether He answers our prayers in our timing or His, or in the way we are expecting, or not. Or maybe it appears as though He’s not answering our prayers at all-never stop hoping and believing my beautiful friend, God is on your side!
God knows what we’ve forgotten and lost sight of, or what we’ve chosen to lay aside just to survive.
He knows right where our hope needs reviving.
He has a way of causing us to notice what the piled up rubble of our lives has tried to smother out. God loves nothing more than to breathe the breath of abundant LIFE back into us again!
It means so much to me that God loves to send us little “love notes” or “winks” letting us know that He is at work and that we can trust Him.
God works through all kinds of measures in our lives, even road trips to Ikea.
We were in the process of making over my daughter’s room to look more “grown up” and Ikea was where she’d been wanting to purchase a few things for her room. So we took a spur of the moment three hour trip to Memphis, Tn to visit Ikea.
I turned Madelyn’s iPhone apps off for quite a while as we all talked, played the alphabet game, laughed and enjoyed time together on the drive there.
My daughter’s spirit lightened as we traveled.
I think we may have all needed this break from reality and a surprise change of scenery.
God is all about giving us “breaks,” or “whispers of His love” for us too.
None of us knew then that it would be our last road trip for a while. We didn’t understand the complexities of COVID-19 yet, or how our world was about to change.
God knew.
I love how God knows and even cares about a short get-a-way, a teenagers bedroom, and the break our family needed from the normal routine.
We can miss the nudging of God if we don’t stop, listen and take notice.
Let’s begin to see God for who He is!
He holds our relationships, our dreams, and the things that we hold dear in His hands. If it’s important to us, it’s important to Him.
If the pressure is mounting and no relief is coming our way, God knows! He’s not caught by surprise, or trying to slowly kill us off, or bury us under the devastation we go through. The enemy is, but God is not!
God works through the very circumstances we are facing to sift us, shape us, and sometimes shift us into what’s next. A new season, where He will do something new in our lives.
Let’s dare to believe God for it before we see it!
“For Abraham is the father of all who believe. That is what the scriptures mean when God told him, “I have made you the father of many nations.” This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who brings into existence what didn’t exist before” (Romans 4:17).
Fear can hold us back from the gifts God has for us. Let’s use fear as a tool, not a master. Fear can alert us, but it doesn’t have to control us.
Healthy fear is actually a gift from God when it’s used as a signal to keep us safe in unsafe situations.
The enemy distorts fear and uses it to keep us bound from moving forward in God’s best for us.
May we remain open to ALL God has for us and follow His leading in our lives.
God loves to rebuild, restore, and replenish.
Maybe you and I need to hear these very words spoken over us today.
He delights in giving us the desires of our hearts.
It’s okay to believe again.
God’s got you!
I’m in it with you friend, and cheering you on!
With much love and grace,
Joelle Povolni
P.S. If this speaks to you today, you may be encouraged by this post, The Lord Is.
