Everything Will Be Okay =] !

by Mary Southerland

Isaiah 43:2 (NLT) "When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown! When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you."

When we focus only on what we can see and understand or explain, we will worry. Fear and doubt will become familiar companions if we live each day against the backdrop of this broken world. Our only hope is God. And it is not enough to just know about Him. We must know Him. A personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ assures us that no matter what the world throws our way, it's all going to be okay.

The Cost - by Lysa TerKeurst

"...in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes."

2 Corinthians 2:11(NIV)

How I wish we could see the cost of each of our choices as clearly as a price tag on items in a store. If I know how much something is going to cost me, I make such wiser choices. But we have an enemy who schemes against us to keep the cost of dumb decisions concealed until it's too late.

Satan wants to defeat, discourage, and destroy our families. His attacks are not just willy-nilly attempts to trip us up or knock us down. He wants to take us out. That's why, as parents, we've got to boldly fight for our families. We must get intentional with teaching our kids to think through their choices. And we must get intentional about modeling good choices as well.

Do you know why Satan's tactics are called schemes in 2 Corinthians 2:10-11? A scheme is a plan, design, or program of action. Satan's schemes are well thought through plans specifically targeted to do three things:

1. To increase your desire for something outside the will of God.

2. To make you think giving in to a weakness is no big deal.

3. To minimize your ability to think through the consequences of falling to this temptation.

Satan is a master of keeping that cost hidden until it's too late.

Sweet sisters, I think this is something worth thinking about. And I think it is something worth talking to our kids about. Think of age appropriate examples of how costly wrong choices can be. Be real and raw and bold as you walk them through different scenarios of temptations they will face.

=> Thank You for the warning Daddy =] <3>

The Abundant Life

Life is not built upon dreams. There is no use of worrying of what it could have been, what it should have been, what should have been said and not said, for all has been done and all has been a part of the past. There is no point of looking back towards the past for in the future lies the promises and the hope. The past may bring you memories that are sweet or in turn brings with it a debilitating feeling. Whatever feeling it is, we shall not linger upon it for too long. This feeling shall not get us caught in the moment and worse, imprisoned us.

These hurt that fills our past may sometimes feel awfully painful that it stretches our endurance level to the maximum point. But God sometimes needs to break us down to put a halt of us destroying ourselves even further. These hurt stops a bigger disaster that is to come. Although it may have originated from our mistakes or others' mistakes in our lives, God loves us too much to keep us going the way we were. He doesn’t want us to be left broken and lost. He wants to reach out to us and get us back from a thorny path.

God wants to offer us life, that life comes with it victory and abundance. No matter how much we have been hurt in the past. Those past should not take control of our current situation to the point that we are unable to move forward. Those past shall stay in the past for we have been set free in Him. Those past shall remain in the past for we have been restored and saved by the power of His grace. He wants us to come out of that season victoriously. He wants us to display His great power in our lives. He wants us to come out as His children of lightJ ! Display His remarkable touch on your lives and believe in the future full of hope, light and promises that He will never break.

Trust that we are forever safe in His loving arms. Men might bring you a tonne of disappointments and hurt. But hey, they were part of a plan. Part of His big plan that He allows these things to penetrate into our lives to consume the sinful characteristics within us.

What makes it hard though? More often than not, the devil would try to break us down at every way they can. The devil will try and attack us in every single area of our weaknesses. Most regularly, the father of all lies and deceits would send negative thoughts into our head. This is part of his evil plan for us to act upon those thoughts and consequently participate on his scheme to destroy us and ultimately draw us away from God’s master plan.

To that I am saying NO. I am rejecting all lies from the devil that tries to ruin me and steals me away from Him. I am choosing life. I am choosing the life full of freedom that Jesus gave me. I don’t want to give in to the devil’s scheme. I don’t want to believe to the evil whispers that are trying to remind me of my past and to act upon it so as to justify myself.

I believe that God’s master plan is much greater and finer for our lives. The devil’s scheme may seem easier and reasonable at first. It may offer us what seems to be acceptable in today’s society. But we are different; we have been made different in Him that we shall not lower ourselves to what this fallen world has to offer. I believe God wants us to be so much more than another average person walking aimlessly. I believe God has called us to set a new standard, His standard. He wants us who has been saved by the mercy of His grace to restore those standards that He has once set before Adam sinned.

Our God doesn’t offer us just an easy way out. In this He wants us to persevere and test our faith that He will deliver something great. That He will turn things around. At the end of it, His beautiful masterpiece would definitely surpass that of a devil’s scheme. That is the greatness of our God, His plans remain victoriously absolute =] <3! style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">"To God be the glory for ever and ever, Amen." (Phil 4:20)

James 1:2-4

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” [NIV]

John 10:10

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. [ESV]

Think Outside the Box ...

Sometimes we think that it’s better for us to just settle with what is visible to our ways. Simply because we don’t want to wait and see what might be coming. It’s far too risky. We like the easy way, the thing that is easier for us to accept with our logic. That our world is simply closed to just that. But God has a different thought for us.

Isaiah 55:8-9
“for My ways are higher than your ways, for My thoughts are higher than your thoughts.”

His plans for our lives are way bigger than we can imagine. We are so restricted to what we have see and where we have been that most of the time our minds are rejecting new concepts since we’ve gotten so comfortable with where we were. That when we are forced to go out of that comfort zone, we go frantic.

We constantly cling on to what we may comprehend, what seems to be logical to us to happen at the time. We forgot that our lives are in His hands. We forgot that He is a Creator of great things, that He NEVER makes mistakes and that He only creates masterpieces =].

His ways are perfect, His will are full of purpose from the start till the end and that is why I am learning to surrender ALL of me.

I am surrendering my every single step with faith that I AM walking towards a bigger picture. That I am going through a process, a much bigger plan than what my minuscule mind is able to conceive.

I am waiting to see and to truly say “How GREAT is Thou ART in my life =] <3 !”

Thank You Daddy, and I will be faithful because You are faithful. In Jesus name, Amen !

Spin spin spin it around =D

LOL somehow i just felt the urge of naming this entry as 'spin spin spin :p'..
quite random and childish i think.. haha

anyways.. i just felt like God has taken my life in a spin :)..
everything has happened so fast.. Within a year i've manage to go through a LOt A LOT of things !! A mountain of problems but a flood of miracles =] !

Funny how when we are faced by a tonne of problems, we tend to forget that He is BIGGER MUCH BIGGER than all of it combine?
We would become so narrow minded and be so focused to it as if there is no way out.

Truth is sometimes, there is no way out... But hey, Who is the God that we serve?
He is our El Shaddai !! He is God Almighty !! With Him nothing is impossible, nothing is too difficult for Him =] !!

I have learned not to be the way i was anymore, i have stopped becoming that worryward :p... When i had a car crash, an argument with a good friend, failed grades all at once, I broke down crying. It was as if the world was all against me. It was as though everything around me had collapsed and fell on top of me with a BANG..

Surely, that is not how God had planned it to be in my life. It was more of a wake up call to me. He wants me to start taking things really2 seriously. He wants me to stop just 'doing' things. But He wants me to really be driven with a purpose when im doing my daily activities, even if it's just going out shopping for groceries. He wants me to start taking my life to a bigger level.

Funny how it took me a car crash to stop me being the way I was and changing my direction. But i'm glad that it happened :). at least nobody got hurt, except for my bank account :p..

All the more, I learned something else as well from these unfortunate happenings..
I have managed to not be as worried as i had been before. What I used to do if these things had happened was that I would immediately call every single one of my friends that I knew could help me somehow. But NO. I went straight into my room, knelt down on my knees, cried heavily and calling out unto Him =]...

>Acts 2:21
"And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved."


i cried for a good hour, tissues are everywhere and i looked definitely terrible. But what comforts me is that God is there. He was really there, I could just feel His presence. It was a warm fuzzy feeling that He gave me every time I cried unto Him. I am comforted just knowing that He IS listening =] !! I am comforted knowing that with His right hand, He is upholding me. That there is nothing that I should fear since I am so close and wrapped in His arms.

Isaiah 41:10
So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand

This time, I know that He is in control =]. I know that in all things He is working for my good (Romans 8:28). I trust in Him that I am walking in His path and all these unfortunate events that is happening around me are nothing too big for Him to handle. But that does not mean that I didnt cry about it for a few times. I certainly did. But in my prayers, I always say thank You for everything that You have done in my life. I trust in You Daddy, I trust in all of Your ways, I trust that soon all of this will be over. Please make it quick, please deliver me from all of these soon. Strengthen my heart to go through all of this. I am waiting to see the works of Your hand upon this Daddy. in Jesus name, Amen.

Well what will be in your prayers? It can be anything right ? For the Father wants you to cast ALL your anxieties to Him for He cares for You (1 Peter 5:7). Whether its anger, sadness, bitterness, envy, anything.. cast it all upon Him for He cares for You.

Matthew 11:28
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest

I am writing this blog, to give u a piece of my walk with Him. To give you an insight of how His love has captured my life and that He managed to turn everything around and made it even better than I had imagined or wished it to be =].

I am free in His love, I am joyful and thankful for where His mercy and grace had brought me to. Believe that He is listening to our every prayers, Believe that He cares and LOVES us so much. Ask Him to reveal more of His love in Your life, ask Him to help You turn things around for He IS MORE than ABLE =] !

I love my God, I love Him with all my heart and I want more and more of Him in my life ! I am praying that each one of us will be His living testimony, that there are just a numerous things that He has done in our lives. We are unable to ever repay Him coz we are simply unable to. Because He is God and we are just humans, that would be silly to ever think that we could repay Him. BUT we could simply share to one another of His love, make it known to others of His love, that this is simply our way to thank Him. To show Him how grateful we are towards His works. To share our testimonies would bring honour and glory to Him. To share about Him would delight Him. And that is what I would Love to do with every day of my life as His one beloved daughter.

"To our God and Father be the glory for ever and ever. Amen:"
Philippians 4:20

=] <3 !

"Draw near to Me and I will draw near to you.."

From today's devotion at 'SheSeeks':

Jeremiah 29:13-14 says, "Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart."

God is in the business of listening to and answering prayers, sometimes in ways that we least expect it. In a moment when I felt abandoned and alone, He was there.

Have you ever had a moment where you clearly saw God's faithfulness? Can you recall a time when He gave you "a God moment" to sustain you? I love that he is waiting. He is waiting to hear from you. I am convinced he loves to reveal Himself to His children. Wait and see.

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Embrace me, soak me and surround me with Your everlasting Love... =] Thank You Abba !

Roy Blade's Prophecy - 17th Oct 2010

You said that I was getting bogged down in this muddy path and i was trying to get out but I was constantly getting bogged down. You wanted me to watch where I step since You've created a straight path for me yet I was still constantly getting bogged down :(.

Lord I think I know what You are talking about, but if I get it wrong then please direct me to the right path for all I want is to walk with You.