When life is not going the way you planned…  When the unexpected has happened…  AGAIN!  When you are not sure how things are going to work out…  When you are furious at what life is throwing your way…  

Remember these Words from God to you:  
As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand…Jeremiah 18:6

A word of encouragement from me to you:  God’s got this 🙌🏽  (whatever ‘this’ is for you.)  

Be Strengthened and Encouraged in HIM!

Father, 
As I pen this I have just had yet another surgery in a quest to regain my hearing again.  I most certainly don’t understand why me?  I was hearing great and then I wasn’t.   Then I find out there has been a recall.  Really, LORD?

​This is the beginnings of a personal prayer I penned to God.  On this day (the day I wrote it), I didn’t want to talk about my hopes and dreams.  Well, yes,  I sort of did.  I wanted God to know how disappointed and frustrated I was because things were not working out the way I had hoped.  The way I had prayed.  The way I had believed.  I was struggling with anger and frustration and…you get the picture.  

So, after I voiced my frustration and disappointments and all that I was struggling with kinda’ stuff, I concluded with this.

… But as I walked through this period, yet again, of near deafening silence, I made a decision.  I made a decision based on what I know about You.  I know that You are good.  I know that You are orchestrating my life.  I know that every day is purposefully preparing me for my destiny.  It may not look like it at all.  But I will keep my eyes on You.  I choose to live my life knowing every day is full of purpose.  Every day I am moving closer and closer to destiny.  Help me, Father, when my mind begins to go awry.  I thank you and praise you and love you.  In Jesus Name, Amen.

So, although I started off voicing my discontent, I ended up acknowledging Who God is in my life.  I ended up putting my faith in Him.  I recognized ‘things’ may be uncertain but God is not.  I can trust Him with my life.  

You know, there was a time when I believed faith was never admitting my frustrations, fears, and disappointments.  I believed that if I expressed them, especially in prayer, then I doubted God.  I doubted His sovereignty.  So not true.  Today, I know better.  Today, I talk through it all with the One I can trust with it all. 

My hope for me, and you, is that as we journey through 2021, we will be more transparent with God.   After all, there is nothing in our hearts that He doesn’t already know.  💜

Be Strengthened and Encouraged in HIM!

2020.  What a year!  Can I get a recall?  Just kidding.  Hmmm. Maybe not. 🤔

I was thinking about the 2020 year.   This is how I summed it up.

To me, it felt like I was playing cards.  I was just dealt a hand that I did not want but I couldn’t change.   I had a choice to make.  Do I fold and give in?  Do I quit? Do I throw a tantrum and start throwing my cards all over the place?  Y’all know people like that, too 🤣 Or do I play and make the best of it?

Like cards, throughout the 2020 year, I did have choices to make.  But unlike cards, my choices had nothing to do with chance.    One choice I made, and still am making, is to remain persistent. 

Purposeful.  Purposefully doing what I need to do to stay fit physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.   Like keeping a healthy, daily morning routine.   Most days ☺️.   Or like doing my hair 🙅🏽‍♀️ as if I am going somewhere.  

2020 was a year of the unforeseen.  Again, I say, what a year!  But, guess what family?   We made it through.  👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽   Yes, nevertheless, we endured. 

Happy New Year 2021! 🥳💜😷

​I pray you continue to be Strengthened and Encouraged in HIM throughout 2021,
Liz 
​

Less than two weeks to go and we will be closing out the 2020 year. Can you believe it? Me, I just want to take a moment to “Thank You”.   I pray that you have been blessed by the posts this year.   Again, thanks for all the love and support shown throughout the year thus far.  Y’all are awesome.  👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

​

Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers.  And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward.  And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.  Now the spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the LORD tormented him.  1 Samuel 16:13&14 ESV

Yes, the LORD sent the torment.

And one of David’s initial assignments, after being anointed, was to soothe Saul who was being tormented.  Saul.  A man saddled with outburst of anger.  A man with jealous tendencies which caused him to react in haste, and lend himself to making poor decisions. A man, who at times, behaved as if he might be just a tad bit imbalanced.  🤷🏽‍♀️ Imagine that assignment! 

David’s journey was definitely filled with the most unusual tests, traveling in unusual paths, yet tied to the plan and purpose of God for David’s life. 

I was thinking, sometimes, the things that happen in our lives are just a set up by God.  Yeah. That’s it.  Our path to purpose, I might even call it Our unusual path to purpose, is just a set up by God.

My prayer, God, is that you would help me to be like David.  Help me to keep my eyes on You.  In every situation.  Remind me, often, of the unusual path that David traveled from shepherd boy to king.  Help me to know that you are working everything out in my favor.  Even when it’s hard to discern.  Help me to keep my heart right,  do what is right, stay focused, and wait for You to work, as I journey on my path to purpose.   In Jesus Name, Amen.

Be Strengthened and Encouraged in HIM!

So, what do we know about David prior to him reigning as king over Judah and Israel?

We know he was the shepherd boy tending his father’s sheep.  

We know his father didn’t even invite him to the sacrifice held by Samuel.

We know he was a song writer and worshipper and lover of the Lord.  

We also know that David had a heart for God. 

We know he was a warrior.

Oh, and how can we forget, he spent time being hunted down like a criminal by Saul.

Just a short list of what we know about David prior to becoming king.

And every assignment, every day for that matter, was used to prepare David for his purpose.   His purpose of being king.  

We are no different.  God uses life experiences to prepare us for our purpose, too.  All kinds of experiences.  Not just the good.

So, today, let us choose to live life knowing every day is purposefully preparing us for destiny. 

Be Strengthened and Encouraged in HIM!

And the king said to the guard who stood about him, “Turn and kill the priests of the LORD, because their hand also is with David, and they knew that he fled and did not disclose it to me.” 1 Samuel 22:17 ESV

Imagine being the guard and posed with this question:  Should I disobey the king or do I fear God?  

Imagine the thought process.  Okay, so, if I disobey the king I am dead.  He is either going to kill me or he will surely make my life a living hell.  But if I dishonor God I might as well be dead. 
But I know God and my faith and trust is in Him.  This might mean I suffer, but, oh well, ultimately, I honor God.  

In the end, this guard did not obey Saul.   The text doesn’t say what happened to him but honestly that’s not the point.  This man had, to me, a life-altering decision to make and he chose to honor God.

So, that is my takeaway:  With every decision I must choose to honor God. 

Yes, we must choose to honor God in every decision we make in our lives.

Be Strengthened and Encouraged in HIM!

Okay. Let’s go back.  Back to when God sent Samuel to anoint David as the next king.  

So, David is anointed.  

Then David lived a number of years waiting for God’s purpose to be fulfilled.  At one point it looked as if it would never happen.  

Samuel knew David’s destiny was to be king.  Even Saul knew David was destined to be king.  

But, yet, sometimes we have to wait.  Many times there is a wait.  David had to wait.  David had to trust God in the wait.

Maybe there is something you know you are called to do, but it just seems like it’s taking much longer to come to fruition than you ever anticipated. 

Tick tock.  Tick tock. So, what do you do?  Trust God in the wait.  Simple, but yet sometimes so hard to do.  Trust God in the wait. 

​Be Strengthened and Encouraged in HIM!

So, David is living in enemy territory now (see 1 Samuel Chapter 27).   A day comes when the Philistines are going to war against the Israelites.  And picture this: David is marching right along with the Philistines (the enemy) to fight his own people.   

​I suspect David doesn’t know who the Philistines are going to fight.  

At one point the princes of the Philistines decide that David cannot come with them.  

When David is told that he cannot come he is upset.  He wants an explanation.  (See 1 Samuel Chapter 29)

I have to laugh at this.   I thought about all the times I have questioned why?  Why can’t I go? What have I done?

Imagine if David went to war against his own people, the people he was anointed to reign over as king.  I am thinking, when the time came for him to reign they might be reluctant to loyally serve him.  🤔

You know what I find so amazing, though.  God used the Philistine lords (the enemy) to protect David, and God also used the Philistines, in this same battle, to disarm Saul.  

David never realized what was about to unfold.  David did not see the bigger picture.  See, shortly thereafter, David started his reign as king.

Sometimes, things don’t go the way we think they should.  In those times we need to trust that God knows what He is doing.   I know.  I know.  So much easier to say than to do ☺️ 

Be Strengthened and Encouraged in HIM!

As I pondered on the not so heroic chapters written on David’s life, and in the life of others throughout the Word of God, this is what I penned:

It is when we allow ourselves to be vulnerable, exposed, and share our not so heroic stories, we encourage others and give them the strength to press on. 

Be Strengthened and Encouraged in HIM!