The Spacious Room

A cupbearer was a high-ranking official whose job it was to taste the wine that was going to be served to the royal table just incase it was poisoned. This is the one little moment we can so easily skip when reading the story of Nehemiah, found in the Old Testament. This minor detail that so often gets overlooked is important to remember because before he became a rebuilder and restorer of walls, Nehemiah was the cupbearer to a king. A different kind of person who was willing to lay down his life for another.    Trust, confidence, influence. Not normally the tools we associate with builders.    

Someone once said, “I can no longer go on basing my faith on what’s right for others or what feels good. I must find out once and for all what God’s truth is for me in my own life. But how do I go about that?”   I believe this is where I had gone wrong for so many years. Because I had been basing my faith on what was right for others for so long, comparing how much sunlight, how much water and what soil they were planted in, I found the leaves of my own faith start to shrivel up and curl.  My cluster of buds could no longer flower because I was so busy looking for God’s truth in other people’s pots, so desperate to flower like they did, that I realised that if I wanted to bloom in my own pot, I was going to need God’s grace. So, how do we tap into this grace and bloom where we find ourselves planted?

Have you ever had an “aha” moment when you look back and you remember that it wasn’t necessarily always the big, grand decisions you made that led to where you are now, but the small decisions, the ones you intentionally, deliberately, and wilfully made every day that brought the greatest gain and changed the narrative of your story?   We all have turning points scattered throughout our lives, intersections that shape our journey. But what if I told you as you stand at this crossroads there is a cross in the road that can become your turning point?

Have you stopped trusting God with your future? To be completely honest with you, I had stopped trusting God the other week. I found myself questioning what I was doing and wondering whether God was going to be with me in every step I was taking. I found my train of thought that had run along the tracks of my faith for so long, now had come to a grinding halt, and I thought to myself, "Is this sudden stop necessary?"  Are sudden stops necessary in your faith journey? They are if you've stopped trusting God with your future.  

Can you believe that the creativity of our mighty God saw us in His mind's eye even before He created us from the dust of the ground and the rib from Adam's side?  And as He formed and fashioned us in our mother's womb, He placed creativity in every one of us. Still not convinced you're creative? Well, let me help you our a little... 

I today's episode, I share the story of Samson and how he positioned himself before God, even though he had no strength, even though he couldn't (literally) see, he became an overcomer of his circumstances. Each day we get an opportunity to focus on the purposes of God in our lives even though we can feel as though our strength has gone and we cannot see how it's all going to work out. Like Samson, regardless of how many obstacles the enemy puts in our way we can still trust God to help us through our circumstances and bring about the purpose for our life even when we cannot see. 

In today's episode, I share two epic stories found in the Old Testament that started out quietly. Each story involves the volume of a courageous women who was a quiet achiever. Two wounded women with not much to offer understood that no loud achievement birthed from their own strength was going to get God's attention. Turning the volume up on their faith required silent, heartfelt prayers that moved God with compassion. Sometimes to see our breakthrough, we don't need to get louder to get God's attention we just need to become quiet to see the miracles happen. 

Endless quotes on Pinterest tell us to, “Be true to yourself” but what does that mean? In Genesis 1:27 we are reminded that we are created in God’s image. He made man in His image, so we reflected Him. However, Adam and Eve were deceived and ate the fruit that the serpent enticed them with, causing a chasm, a broken relationship with God. Man, who bears His image, now looks in a fragmented mirror that distorts his reflection. And as we look into the mirror, we try to recapture those true self moments when man felt close to God and walked with Him in the garden. We reflect when we enjoyed His connection when we longed for His communion. In this episode discover that connection again.

Welcome to my 100th episode! You are invited... And in this week's special 100th celebration episode I share the power of an invitation.  Invitation's make us feel valued, seen and loved. They let you know that someone wants to share a special moment or event with you. In John chapter 4 we read about a women at Jacob's well who has possibly forgotten what it feels like to receive an invitation because she carries her shameful past to the well along with her water pot. However, Jesus offers her an invitation that stirs something more than the water inside the well, His invitation stirs the Samaritan woman's heart until she accepts Jesus' offer of living water.     

So, you've decided this year you're going to throw caution to the wind. say to hell with fear and follow God with the plan for your life? Wonderful!  However, you're making sure you include a clause in the contract with God before you sign on the dotted line because you're no fool, right? You want a second plan if you don't mind, a plan "B" thank you very much, just in case the first plan doesn't quite work out.