Is God Happy With Me, Mommy?

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer." Psalm 19:14 "Is God happy with me, Mommy?" asked Canaan (my 3 year old son), as we were driving down the road. The question shocked me and melted my heart at the same time. I wondered what was going on in that precious busy little mind of his that he would ask such a question 'out of the blue'. I asked Canaan, "Do you think God is happy with you?" He said, "Yes Mommy. I love God and He hears me when I say my blessing and my night-night prayers." Tears filled my eyes because God allowed me to see just how profound my son's question and answer really was. I wanted to share my thoughts with you... The Bible tells us with numerous examples how important children are to God. Often, Jesus uses the innocence of children and the simplicity of them to illustrate how easy accepting salvation really is. One might think Jesus' references to children are silly. But after listening to my son share his love for God, I agree with Jesus totally. You see, as adults, we have a tendency to complicate things (that's a shocker!ha!). Or at least, we are so skeptical and distrusting, we are sure there has to be a hidden "catch" to having a relationship with Christ. How could the Almighty God who created the universe actually love me and want to have a relationship with me? That is the beauty of it all! There is nothing hidden. It is all in God's word. He shares from Genesis to Revelation exactly how to begin and maintain a relationship with Him. So why can't we get closer? Why does having this relationship seem to come so hard to us at times? For me, there are so many reasons, I don't have enough time or space to list them all. But for now, I am learning that just like beginning a human relationship, I must care about what makes God happy. I now know that God has emotions. He laughs, He cries, He gets angry, jealous, and the list is virtually endless. As I am getting to know God by spending time with Him, I am learning what He likes and hates. God allowed me to notice that Canaan asked if God was happy with him. All to often I ask God if He is upset with me or if He is angry with me. Seldom do I ask God if He is happy with me. The truth is that I ask out of selfishness because I fear discipline. I want to care enough about God to want Him to be happy. When you truly love someone, you want them to be happy. You do things for them, you spend time with them, you tell them how much they mean to you, and you avoid hurting them at all cost. Why? Because you care about their happiness. How often do I put my happiness before my heavenly Father's. I want to take Psalm 19:14 and live it out loud every day. I want the words I say, my thoughts, and my motives behind those thoughts to make my Redeemer so happy, that He wells up with tears. I hope you will take time to build your relationship with Christ. I hope you desire to make him happy too. "From the lips of children and infants, you have ordained praise..." Psalm 8:2 Love, Corrie My prayer for today: Lord, forgive me for forgetting about your happiness. You gave your son to die for me and I continue to fail you without caring that your heart is broken by me over and over again. I want to have a pure heart so that you will be pleased with your servant...

Thank God for Peter!

Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and caught him. "You of little faith," He said, "why did you doubt?" Matthew 14:31 I guess I have read the story about Jesus walking on the water 100 times from my childhood up until now. But tonight, God has revealed things to me about this passage that I have never noticed before. I am excited to share them with you... One dark and stormy night, the disciples decide to go fishing and Jesus goes to pray. The Bible says that during the fourth watch (about 3:00 a.m.), Jesus goes out to them and tells them not to be afraid. I'm sure all of the disciples were nervous about this figure walking out toward them! But Peter decides that even in his fear, he will call out to Jesus. I think that sometimes, because of pride or fear, I fail to call out to my Lord for help. Yes Peter was impulsive, but he was the only one who tried to get to Jesus. Jesus then tells Peter to come to Him. Peter does well while he's walking on the water and looking toward Jesus. But the moment...the very instant Peter takes his eyes of Christ, he begins to sink and panic. And then, the best part of the story happens: Jesus immediately reached out His hand to help Peter. After all the times I had read that story, I had never noticed the word 'immediately'. Jesus immediately came to Peter's rescue. Why? Because that's who He is. How ashamed I feel for the countless times I have worried that God-Jehovah-is going to forget me or not help me in time! But I realized something else. Peter had to be close to Jesus in order for Jesus to reach out his hand to help him. That to, is often our problem. We want immediate help or God's outstretched hand when we are so very far away from that hand to begin with. Out of the 12 disciples, the one that was always sticking his foot in his mouth, always acting impulsively and saying the right thing at the wrong time, the one who Jesus seemed to always be correcting, is none other than Peter. In the beginning, we find that Jesus changed the name of this famous apostle from Simeon to Peter. Ironically, Peter means "Rock". It seems hard for us to grasp why Jesus would give this great name which meant 'stability' or 'strength' to a man that proved to be the very opposite. But if we look deeper, we find a man who had a passionate love for Christ. Peter was the only one willing to get out of the boat and even try. Peter was always the spokesperson for the disciples and he asked alot of questions. But Peter got to know Jesus. I believe God lets us glimpse into the life of Peter because He wants us to see that we are going to make bad decisions, say the wrong things, and act before we think. But God also shows us a man that was transformed by a relationship with Christ who eventually fit the very name Jesus gave him--Rock. Jesus knew, even when no one else could see, that Peter loved Him. Jesus knew that He had left an impression on the heart of Peter and that Peter would be who He would 'build his church upon'. I thank God for letting me read about Peter's life and transformation. It makes me ask myself the question of 'can God build his church upon me?' Is the relationship that I have with Christ as passionate or as impressionable as Jesus and Peter's? I hope that it will be. As I said, I have learned many things from this passage. But the one thing I have learned that I will always remember is that I must stay close to God. For as long as I keep my eyes on Jesus, I will not be afraid to walk out onto the dangerous waters... Love, Corrie My prayer for today: Lord, praise you for allowing me to see how you want my relationship with you to be. Help me to never take my eyes off you when you call me to come to you. My trust grows for you every day. I also thank you for allowing me to see myself in Peter. Thank you for taking my failures and teaching me how to love you more...

Mount Zion

"Those who trust in the Lord are steady like Mount Zion, unmoved by any circumstance." Psalm 125:1 I am so excited to share with you what God has impressed upon my heart tonight! Wait, let me back up a little. You'll need more info... For the past couple of days, I have been sick with a cold. A regular cold for a "normal person". But for me, the cold turned into a sinus infection. While being sick, I prayed and shared my heart with God, but because I didn't feel well, I spent alot of my time in bed. This left little time for me to be in God's word. In other words, I had been doing alot of talking to God, but left God no opportunity to talk. This gave satan opportunity to come at my mind because I wasn't guarded. Today, satan attacked. He came at me and began to present worries about our finances. Before I knew it, I began to cry and panic. I immediately began to feel God come to my rescue, as He so very lovingly does. But because He does love me, He also reminded me of how I had left myself unguarded. I began to wonder why I was upset. Had God not promised to take care of us financially? Yes. Was there anything too hard for Him? No. Then what in the world was I crying about? This is what I've concluded... Psalm 125:1 refers to the 'steadiness' of a place called Mount Zion. After researching this, I found that Mount Zion is the place on which the City of David was built. Mount Zion was an incredible place. It was considered to be a fortress. David chose it to build his kingdom on because of its solid firmness that would withstand attacks from enemies. I also found that Mount Zion is often referred to in the Bible as a symbol of spiritual steadiness. Faith in God that is so incredible, nothing can shatter it; not even for a moment. Wow! What does this mean for us as God's children? It means that just as Mount Zion cannot be removed, our trust in God should be equally as steadfast. As I thought about my time of tears and panic due to my circumstances, I asked myself, "Is my trust in God steadfast?" I began to cry again but this time, it was because I was so ashamed of how easily I had allowed my trust in God to be "moved". God had pointed out that I needed to fix this area of my walk with Him if I wanted to be closer to Him and experience His will for my life. After all, what kind of relationship with God do we really have without trust? In a commentary by Merrill Unger, he discusses the importance of placing emphasis on God as the object of our trust, rather than the firmness of the trust. This was helpful to me. It is important to keep our eyes on God and learn to know Him rather than to try to just increase our trust in general. Without time spent knowing Him, we have no reason to trust Him. I think we make excuses for ourselves not to trust God. We say things like, "I am only human!" or, "that's just the way I am sometimes." But God doesn't allow us any excuse not to trust Him. Yes, we are sinners and we will fail. But it can never be accepted or condoned. We must strive to learn from our sin and try not to make the very same mistake (sin) again. Psalm 125:1 says that those who trust in God will not be moved by any circumstance; Not just some circumstances, but any. I pray that whatever circumstance you are going through, you will join me in learning how to have a steadfast trust in God. I plan to make Him the object of my trust by getting to know Him better... Love, Corrie My prayer for today: Lord, I beg your forgiveness for allowing myself to waiver in trusting you. You have been so faithful. Tonight, I will remember what you have done for me and how you have blessed me. Thank you for being steadfast in my life. I will learn to focus on you and make my trust like that of Mount Zion.

Cyrus

Isaiah 45:9-"Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker, to him is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, 'what are you making?'Does your work say, 'he has no hands?'..." (V 11) "This is what the Lord says-the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker: Concerning things to come, do you question me about my children, or give orders about the work of my hands? (V 12) It is I who made the earth and created mankind upon it. My own hands stretched out the heavens..." I must tell you, before you read any further, that this is a very powerful word from God. God revealed this to me last night as I began to ask Him for a post to write. God spoke directly to my heart and convicted me of changes that needed to be made within my walk with Him. He has also asked me to share it with you... Chapter 45 in Isaiah is talking about an anointed man of God named Cyrus. Though God had big plans to use Cyrus and plans to bless him, Cyrus did not really know just who God was. God would soon show Cyrus parts of His personality and that He was the One True God and Victorious over all! But...God showed Cyrus this over time. He had to let Cyrus decide for himself and to learn to trust Him. God showed me that this passage of Cyrus was similar to the relationship, or lack there of, that was between God and I for over 20 years. I had accepted Christ into my life at a young age but only began to learn that God wanted a relationship with me when I entered my 20's. I would not know God would call me to begin a ministry until 2003 and would not let me even begin sharing it until 2008. Strange? No. Like Cyrus, I had to learn who God really was. God knew there would be trials. Trials that would force me to trust God rather than to question Him. God is very bold and blunt in verses 9-11. He basically says, 'who are you to question the One who made you?' God refers to a potsherd, which is a fragment of broken pottery. He also makes reference to clay giving input to its potter on how to form it! Sounds alot like me sometimes--arrogant! If we find ourselves often questioning God with alot of whys, it is important to ask our self how well we know The Potter. I am often asked how my spiritual life has changed in the past 5 years. I would have to say that the first 3 years were spent learning God's personality. The next two have been about applying what I have learned and believing God to take care of me, whether I can see around the next corner or not. It is crucial for us to get to the point of trusting God to go where He says to go, do what He says to to, or wait until He says move. We can pray for God to reveal things to us but I do believe we must be willing to trust Him if He doesn't reveal it before He gives the command. I am reminded of my son, Canaan. I can see at three years old, he trusts me completely. He rarely questions me when I tell him to go with me. He knows that no matter where I take him, I will let nothing or no one harm him. I want to get to the place where I have complete trust in My Maker. I want to be willing to go through anything as long as God promises to be there. I know He tells us He only wants the best for us but I must believe it. Perhaps one of my favorite parts is in the beginning of the chapter where God says He will take hold of Cyrus' right hand. We can rest assured that when we follow God's path for us, He will lead us literally by the hand. I have so much more to learn about God and I have so much more doubt to get rid of. But I am thankful that He gives much detail about who He is in this chapter of Isaiah. With a description such as Holy One, Lord, Maker, Lord Almighty, we have no reason to doubt Him...so why do we? Love, Corrie My prayer for today: Lord, you are truly Jehovah! Thank you for taking precious time to show me who you are. Please don't stop. I want to know all I can about you. Forgive me for demanding more information from you before I step out on faith. For faith is all about stepping when I hear you, not for what I can see...

FBC Livingston Youth Retreat

I had a wonderful time at the youth retreat with the young men and women from First Baptist Church, Livingston, Alabama! The retreat was at Shocco Springs Baptist Conference Center and the focus was on finding clues to have an intimate personal relationship with God on a day to day basis. I had the privilege of working with Michael Snider and his family (Amanda and Lilly Beth) who led the youth in praise and worship music. God also allowed me to spend the weekend with my best friend Angel, who is the youth leader of FBC. With an Indiana Jones theme, God showed up and showed up big!!! It was amazing to see Him move and prompt changes in the hearts of all that were there. Love, Corrie

Gold

"But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold." Job 23:10 When I am discouraged, I love to read this verse. It calms me because I feel God saying that there will be an end to my trial. And when, not if, it is over, I will emerge better than I was before the trial started! How? Only if I pass the test, of course. What is the test? I believe it is the testing of my faith and the question God asks me over and over again, "do you really believe I am who I say I am?" While preparing to write this post, I read interesting research by a precious metals broker named Don Stott. In an article, Stott shares that gold was a very important metal in Biblical times. It is the first metal mentioned in the Bible and is used more frequently than any other. Stott explains that David, Solomon, and other Godly men used gold to decorate temples, robes, utensils, and alters. Stott estimates that Solomon's temple could have very easily been valued at over 5o billion dollars! Why did God so often chose gold? Gold has a resistance to oxidation and resists tarnishing. Gold shimmers and as a finished product, can withstand fire. Perhaps this is God's word to us today. God's word is true but it tests my faith daily. If God says that He knows the way I am going, will protect me so that I won't be harmed, and promises that I will come forth shining and of great value, why do I doubt Him? I am reminded of a story that my friend Wendy shared with me. She shared how a man and woman were walking in the woods one day and came up on a small house. They saw fire coming from the chimney and decided to go in. There, stood an old man bent over a large pot over a fire. When the couple asked the man what he was doing, the man replied, "I am making gold." This intrigued the couple and they asked the man about the process. The man shared that he kept the fire very hot and when the impurities came to the top, he would skim them off. The woman asked, "How do you know when you have pure gold?" The man replied, "When I can see my face in it." This story always reminds me of what God is doing in my trials. He will keep the fire hot and my impurities will surface and I will be faced to change them. The way to come forth as gold is to allow Him to see Himself in me. This is taking on the identity of Christ. To be more like Him every day. Philippians 2:5 tells us that our attitude should be like that of Christ Jesus. I must say that is a challenge. I hope this was encouraging to you. To you who are waiting...To you who's fire is so hot that you feel as though you can't stand another day. You will come forth as gold if and only if you begin to allow Him to humble you and be as much like Him as you can. Gold is truly valuable! Love, Corrie My prayer for today: Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you for allowing me to know that I will be protected when I am in the hottest of flames if I depend on you. Forgive me for wavering in my faith. For you have never given me a reason to doubt you...

Mountain View Youth Retreat

How excited I am to share what God is doing! God gave me the privilege to lead the Bible study for the Mountain View Youth retreat at Double Head Resort in Florence, Al. The theme was: The Mystery of God's Treasure and came from Colossians 2:2-3. God's presence was among us and those precious young men and women allowed God to change their hearts and minds. God showed us that some treasures that we chase are only worldly and they never fill the 'gap' that is within us. The Holy Spirit revealed that the true treasure lies within Jesus Christ and is all about having a relationship with Him on a daily basis. It was amazing to watch God make Himself known to those young people. I was honored to be part of such an awesome event! Please keep all of them in your prayers. I think we forget about our youth of today. We forget that they are a rising generation that must be protected from satan's snare. God bless those who are willing to rise up and tell others how they too can know Him.... Love, Corrie