intentionally, creatively, perfectly

"everyone who is called by My name,

whom I created for My glory,

whom I formed and made" 

isaiah 43:7

can we all just take a huge sigh of relief on this one together.
ready?
breathe in
and out.

because listen, if you didn't catch the magnitude of that verse. go read it again.

we're called. created for HIS glory, and formed by the same Creator who made the solar system.
hello. that's amazing.

as i was reading, the "created for My glory" really caught my attention. because i got to thinking, about a life where i was focused on just myself. a life, without Jesus. how much time would i spend pumping myself up?

i don't know about you.
but i don't really walk around telling myself how awesome i am. and no, that isn't because i don't think i'm awesome and have self esteem issues. it's because i walk around telling myself i was created by THE most awesome God. i tell myself that yea, "i am woman, hear me roar" because I have God who's "roaring like a lion" in me (ok truth time. i hate that song but it's what came to mind).

God didn't create humans with the intention that we'd end up...well, kind of like how we are now. selfish, completely self absorbed, so worried about what the rest of the world thinks we're doing (or not doing), and always giving ourselves the high five instead of Him.

we were created for His glory. to live lives that point to Him, and not ourselves. to wake up every morning with the intention of doing His will, and not our own.

but somewhere along the lines. things got a bit lost and fuzzy.

and don't get me wrong here. i'm all for girl power and all that jazz. but i just think it's Who we first sing those praises about that's the point.

i was reading a she reads truth plan from a while ago the other day and came upon this:

so good, right?

i think the most important thing, is to live out how we were created.
intentionally.
creatively.
perfectly.

and no. i'm not talking about the perfect 1950's house wife. or the straight a's kid.

i'm talking about living out the perfect love that we were created with, and that lives in us.
living with such intention that every day counts. every day we've spoke the name of Jesus over someone, every day we've taken the time to pray for friends and family. we've looked for opportunities to really be Jesus to others.
creatively. and i'm not just talking about painting a picture or taking a picture. i'm talking about living a life full of color. because grey isn't that flattering of a color anyways.

so what if, we threw out the "me, me me" mentality?
what if we really focused on His glory and not our own?

i think things might be a little different.

missing something

"but you shall receive POWER when the Holy Spirit has come upon you..." acts 1:8

i grew up methodist which meant you were baptized as a baby and that was it.
there's wasn't a lot of talk about being "born again".
so you can assume my thoughts when i met sonny and he started asking if i had been water baptized.
of course i had. the nice man when i was a baby poured water on my head and that was that.

wrong. 

there was so much more.

after sonny and i had started dating my family and i started going to a nondenominational church. you know, the crazies with their hands in the air during worship. the "amen"ers during a sermon. the head nodders. the clappers. it was like someone had picked us up and dropped us off on another planet.
but then things started to click.
we got that there was so much more.

i got water baptized in april of 2010.

"whoever believes and is baptized will be saved" mark 16:16

this was also the day sonny asked my parents to marry me. big day in the steiner house. 

i finally understood that Jesus said i was to believe and then be baptized. 

there was an order there, and for a reason. we don't understand grace and the love Jesus poured out for us as babies. heck, we can't even eat on our own.

but as an adult, or a child, you can understand that grace and love. 

it was a huge decision for me. one i had to make all on my own, one that i spent a lot of time in prayer about. God called and i answered. 

so things were great. amazing in fact. 

i was slowly moving away from the church i had grown up in that seemed full of rules, to understanding that God loves me. and that it is that simple. 

my relationship with God grew and grew. 

but i wanted and needed more. 

i sat listening to people preach, as well as my own husband talk about being baptized in the Holy Spirit. i'd sit and nod my head (a wife thing). acting like i understood. 

but i didn't. 

last week sonny and i talked about it. and i finally told him that i had never been baptized in the Holy Spirit. we talked for a while about it. and he just said, "if you pray for it, God will give it to you".

so i did. 

then.

this past weekend i went with my mom to tampa to see joyce meyers. 

and don't you know that a preacher man came out and started talking about being baptized in the Holy Spirit. 

have you ever had one of those moments where you just have to laugh with God. because He's that good?

the preacher man explained that when we're born again, and baptized by water God has more for us. that until we were baptized in the Holy Spirit, we weren't living in the fullness of His power. 

sometimes when people talked about the power of God in me, i'd get all weird. it was strange to think that the God of the universe's power could be in me. 

"for john baptized with water, but not many days from now you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit" acts 1:5 

but then. 

i got it. 

the preacher man prayed with us and baptized us in the Holy Spirit. 

and HOLY COW. can i just tell you how awesome life is. 

there really, really, reallllly is more. 

"...suddenly there came a sound from heaven like a rushing of a violent tempest blast, and it filled the whole house in which they were sitting...and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit..." acts 2:2,4

i gatta tell ya that life is good. 

"God never meant for us to live weak, powerless lives-always running on fumes, and barely getting by. His will for us is to be "more than conquerors" (romans 8:37). He wants to provide us with the strength and ability we need to succeed in life and be powerful witnesses for Him." - joyce meyer

it's little things like all the stress i had about certain things before is gone. i've really given it up to God. and then it's big things like really feeling His presence in my prayer time. it's soaking up the Word like i've never read it before. 

there is power, friends. in the name of Jesus. 

i haven't spoken in tongues yet (i get asked that a lot). to be honest that used to be one of those things that weirded me out. but now i know it's real. i'm praying for it, and know that God will make it happen when He plans on it. 

i didn't think my faith in God could get any better but it is. 

if you've been water baptized and haven't been baptized by the Holy Spirit, i'm praying for you! and go talk to your pastor! 

"as we stay filled with the Spirit, we will live above our circumstances and have His joy, peace, hope and resurrection life. we will live our daily lives with a new energy and become powerful witnesses for Jesus Christ." - joyce meyer

life lately.

hi friends!
ok so yes. i've done a terrible job at the #write31. at first i was all worked up about it. because honestly, i wasn't into it. i thought the whole football thing would be awesome. but every time i sat down to write after the first day it felt like a chore.
so i stopped.

and now i'm giving my self some grace and saying it's ok.
because it really is.

life has been a roller coaster lately.
turns out, i pulled a huge muscle in my back and have to get physical therapy for it. so i've been moving around like a 90 year old woman lately. i have been thanking Jesus for giving me the husband He did because i have no idea what i would be doing without him. thanks hubby.
i've had some serious stuff go down with my business lately that has wrecked me. i've felt the enemy knocking on my door with a hammer lately. getting louder and louder every day.

but God.

but God has so much planned for me.
but God has me in His arms.
but God has heard my prayers.
but God is bigger and greater than any of my circumstances.

this past weekend, despite this back pain, i hopped in the car and drove to tampa to join my mom for a joyce meyers conference. who, if you've never seen i highly recommend. she's awesome. and so funny.

anyways. it filled me up. God met me right where i was. met me and even took me further. He met me and wrapped me up in His arms and told me over and over again that everything is going to be ok. because it really is going to be.

God is good, ya'll.
really, really good.

i'm not sure if you've been having a rough couple of weeks like i have. but rest in the fact that God is working. really hard in our lives. for our good.

even when we can't feel it or see it.
God is working.

"[Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while [a]effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure andsatisfaction and [b]delight."

Philippians 2:13 AMP

say a little prayer for me

i don't think i'm great at prayer.

it's one of those things growing up that wasn't really talked about.
you knew the Lord's prayer. and the bed time prayer.
and that was it.

prayer, was just that nice thing you told people you'd do for them. it might have been the thing you did when you reaaaally needed something from God.

it certainly wasn't a daily activity.
it wasn't a conversation with God.
it wasn't a time to believe in HIS name that things would happen.

i don't think i'm great at prayer because i'm just figuring out what it really is.

it's all those things i thought it wasn't.
it's quiet time.
seriously quiet time, with zero distractions.
it's coming to God with everything. the big things. the little things.
it's talking to God. it's expecting from God. it's listening to God.

i've had some serious prayers answered lately. big ones. and even little ones. but answered. in a mighty way.
and i'm always blown away.
which is how i always want to be.

i also don't ever want to pray and just know that God will do it.
i expect God to answer my prayers, but i also know that sometimes He'll do it when, and how He wants to do it. which may not be when or how i had asked for.

sometimes i get intimidated by women when i hear or read about their serious encounters with the Lord during prayer time. because i immediately think i'm doing it wrong.

which is the thought process that has to stop.

because here's what Jesus says about prayer:

"and when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others.

truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. but when you pray, 

go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. 

then your Father who sees what is done in secret, 

will reward you. 

and when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need

before you ask Him." matthew 6: 5-8

quiet. alone. just me and God.
check, and check.

i started about a year ago getting up and reading the Word in the morning and praying. some days i miss it. mostly the weekends. but i'm a work in progress. some days, it's an hour. other days, it's ten minutes.
the biggest thing, is that we have to stop thinking there's a right and a wrong way to do this.

your head and your heart have to open to the Lord.
that's how this all works.

i'm refusing to keep thinking that there's a right way and a wrong way. as long as i stick to His words. i'm good. there may be some tried and true formulas people have. but those might not work for me.

God works for me.
mornings work for me.
being honest works for me.

whatever your time of day is.
whatever your method might be (mines writing btw. if i don't write my prayers out, my brain goes from asking God for healing, to who i think will with the amazing race in 5 seconds).
whatever works for you.
do it.

via.

mean girls

here's the thing.

no one likes a mean girl. 

(unless we're talking about the movie which has, in my opinion, some of the best one liners. is butter a carb?)

but in real life?

no one likes a mean girl.

the older i get, the more i realize that no matter what age you are. there will always be the mean girl. and i hate it.

i hate it so much because there's this better alternative.
being nice.

i think the internet has a big role to play here.
we're a generation used to typing away our thoughts (good or bad) and hitting send.
whether it's a keyboard, or a cell phone, we tend to hide behind that screen.

and i just can't help but wonder why?

i've encountered one of these mean girls, and just recently. and everything said and done just reminded me of high school. all. over. again.

and it hurt.

the words said hurt my feelings. they weren't necessary. and they didn't have any weight, other than to tear me down.

so let's try something new. let's be kind humans. instead of expressing our opinion in an "i'm better than you" attitude, let's just be nice.

because when you're nice. people remember you.
but when you're mean. people really, really, really remember you.

proverbs 16:24

engraving grace

if you don't read the she reads truth plans, you need to. in fact. stop reading this and head on over to start a plan right now.

if you're still here, awesome.

the current plan is through hebrews. which, if we're being honest. gets a bit heavy. not like heavy spiritually, but heavy like "i'm reading this but i have no idea what's going on". chapter seven starts getting into priests and then there's melchizedek the priest. a name i have no idea how to pronounce. when i first read it, i sang that hawaiian christmas song from christmas vacation.

you're welcome.

anyways. there's a lot being talked about. specifically...covenants.

"the former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God."
hebrews 7:18

i have to think every once in a while about what it would be like to live in the OT days. everything had a law. there were sacrifices to be burned. prayers to be prayed. things you could, and could clearly not do. is anyone else as exhausted as i am thinking about all of this?

but here's the good news.

Jesus.

"but this is the new covenant i will make with the people of Israel after those days," says the Lord, "i will put my instructions deep within them, and i will write them on their hearts. i will be their God, and they will be my people."
jeremiah 31:33

this new covenant is grace.

at the end of todays post, this question was asked:
how is God engraving grace on your heart today?

and to be totally honest. i sat for a minute and didn't have an answer.

my first one was, "um, giving me life?"

i felt silly. and like i was a baby christian again, not fully understanding what God's love and grace meant. that i obviously didn't understand what this new covenant meant.

but that's just not true.

my answer is good. maybe it isn't top of the class good, but it's good for me.
i realized that the grace for me, today. is life. is the breath i get to take. the life He has given me.
my grace from Him today, is His giving.

i became overwhelmed with gratitude thinking about all the giving He does.
i get cranky when i feel like i keep giving to someone and they don't give anything back. you've heard someone say it before, "i just feel like i give, and give, and give".

God gives. and just asks that we place our hope and trust in Him.

God never complains.
because, oh my gosh could you imagine if He did.

"i give and give to megan. a life that's eternal. a husband. the worlds cutest dog. her dream job. and yet there are a lot of days when she doesn't even say thank you."

if there was a cave to crawl in right now. i would.
i'm beyond words when it comes to thankfulness to God and all that He gives me.

i'm thankful that instead of having to follow a bunch of rules, or thinking i have to go to a priest to get to God, i have a direct line right to Him.

my answer may have been the obvious one. and maybe wasn't as mature as other answers. but it's mine. and i'm thankful God doesn't mind my answer.

via