In the Morning When I Rise

Five Minute Friday is so much fun for me. No pressure! Simply a word prompt on twitter (#fmfparty) on Thursday night and then write. No over thinking or editing. There is a linkup on Friday at http://katemotaung.com where we can read other's five minute free write.

This week's prompt is: Morning

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Satisfy us each morning with your unfailing love, so we may sing for joy to the end of our lives.Psalm 90:14 (NLT)

Are you among the early morning risers club? 

What time is early for you?

We hear all the time to wake up early so we can get quiet time alone with the Lord in the morning before anyone else wakes up.

Not to be too flippant but HA! I really am a morning person but there is no way I’m ever going to get time alone in the morning unless I wake up at the border between one day and the next.

How I Learned to Love my Scars

"Argh, these darn stretch marks itch so bad I'm going to scratch right through my belly!" I hollered across the bed to my husband. He tried to reassure me, "I really don't think that's a possibility."

So I came up with a grand plan...

Faithful Through the Generations

I'm really excited to be sharing over at the Sweet to the Soul - Facebook page today. It is a great community of women who love the Lord and encourage one another with Biblical words of inspiration.

Come on over and check them out!

Have You Done All You Can Do?

I love this passage from Ephesians! So alive and active here.

“Standing” may sound passive but it’s not. We put on God’s armor, resist and brace ourselves to withstand the punches from the enemy. Gloriously, we are not expected or ever instructed to do this in our own power.

I don’t know how you feel about that but it’s a HUGE relief to me. I’ve realized over my life that I’m not nearly as strong as I would like to think. I’m so grateful for that revelation now. Knowing I can simply fall into the strong arms of Jesus and trust His strength, not mine.

Give Up, Give In and Submit

A lot of times we identify with something we think we are or have been told we are, good or bad. Most of my life I was told that I'm stubborn and I lived up to what people called out in me. I took it as a compliment growing up and still believe in some ways it can be. I'm tenacious and I will keep fighting for whatever the Lord puts in front of me. I've also been know to be stubborn to a fault.

Many of us try to hide certain aspects of ourselves that we don't want other people to see. Mine was the internal battle with old wounds. I didn’t want anyone to think they could hurt me again so I was super tough. That's how I identified myself. I wasn't allowing anyone to get through the wall I had placed around myself.

Walking Through the Fire: Immanuel - God with Us

When you pass through the waters,

   I will be with you;

and when you pass through the rivers,

   they will not sweep over you.

When you walk through the fire,

   you will not be burned;

   the flames will not set you ablaze.

For I am the Lord your God,

   the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;

I give Egypt for your ransom,

   Cush and Seba in your stead.

Isaiah 43:2-3 (NIV)

Have you ever been so overtaken by the Holy Spirit you felt completely swept away? Smack in the middle of a crowd of women, a long ways from my safe, little home, the Holy Spirit grabbed hold of me in a powerful way.

While at She Speaks 2015, I sat listening intently as Wendy Blight shared her message of the paralyzing fear that gripped her for years after being sexually assaulted. My mind swirled with memories of my own encounter that I had stuffed down for so long. Everything in me wanted to get up and run.

Run from the past.

Run from the shame.

Run from the pain.

Why would God put me here for this specific message? He knows the dark spaces within my heart. I know He loves me so why in the world would He bring me to such a hard place. I had the secret scars neatly tucked into the deep recesses of my heart. I just wanted to leave them there.

The Holy Spirit wasn’t willing to let me stay in that stagnant pool of shame anymore. He walked me through those hard places. There wasn’t anything pleasant about it in the moment. I physically shook as He dug deep to redeem what had been taken from me.

Yet the Lord reminds us in Isaiah, “When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned.”  The flames sure felt hot in that place but God walked through it with me and I wasn’t burned. The chains were being loosened and I was set free from the captivity of trying to hide my shame.

Free from the past.

Free from the shame.

Free from the pain.

Being present in the hard places leads to redemption.

All the stuffing down, covering up and pretending it never happened can ever come close to the freedom found in Christ’s redeeming power.

Only through Him can we put down our heavy burdens.

God wants to remove the chains we desperately try to loosen on our own. Some try to get rid of them in their own strength while others try to pretend they aren’t really there anymore. Some of us try both in a futile attempt at freedom.

Chains can ONLY be removed by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Honestly, looking back I see how God had been orchestrating my life for just a moment as this. I am redeemed and I want to share the good news that God can set you free too!

Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story – those He redeemed from the hand of the foe. Psalm 107:2 (NIV)

Do you have some hard places in your heart you try to hide from the world, as well as from yourself? Call out to the One who redeems. His unfailing love will help you rise up and walk through those hard places to the redemption waiting for YOU.

If you want to know God, I invite you to check out Wendy Blight's new bible study I Know His Name.

I Know His Name is a Bible study for any woman who wants to move beyond simply knowing about God to really knowing God in a very personal way.

In this five-chapter Bible study book, Wendy implements her practical and approachable style to equip readers to study the Word of God and then apply it to their own lives in practical ways.

I’m so blessed to be a part of the launch team for I Know His Name! For More information please visit Wendy’s page:

Wendy Blight - I Know His Name

I Know His Name Video Trailer