The joys of life from the passenger seat

If you KNEW with everything in your Being, that there was a perfectly created plan for your life that only YOU could carry out, do you think you could lay down YOUR desires and YOUR plans to follow it? 

That's the journey I'm on and I don't know where it's leading me and I don't know much of what I am doing. 

But I'm learning to follow. 

Pray first. 

Follow. 

Trust. 

My entire world has been turned upside down, everything I thought I had become and everything I thought I had learned has been radically changed right before my eyes. 

All things temporal, all things we can see in the physical are 

Subject to Change. 

When we are in the driver's seat of our life, WE are in control and with control comes worries, cares, difficulties, fears, anxieties and failures. 

I have never been one to handle failure well. 

When I first came across a quote in high school discussing failures, I thought it ridiculous. 

"It's not when are you going to fail? But rather, how are you going to handle your failure, that matters." 

Hmmm. I don't plan on failing....

But, in the real world, you find out rather quickly that you must be prepared for failures. 

If you are human, you WILL fail. 

Some people are extremely comfortable with failing. 

Some people have learned to expect it. 

But with failure comes heartache, disappointment, regret, anger, and resentment. 

So whether we are prepared for failure or not, we cannot always be prepared for the emotions, the aftershock, that it brings. 

What I discovered is this, 

When you lay down YOUR plan for 

The divine plan, 

You must learn to Follow

Not lead. 

You relinquish control. 

When you sit in the passenger seat, 

You listen,

You obey. 

"If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land." Isaiah 1:19

When we relinquish control, 

we don't suffer the aftershock of failures. 

We experience quite the opposite, 

We find Freedom.

We experience joy in tribulation.

And peace in the middle of the storm. 

I've really never known anything quite like it! 

So will we still fail? 

Absolutely. 

But, those cares are no longer ours.  

Those cares are meant to be rolled over to your guide, the one leading, 

"The Father of mercies"

"The God of all comforts"

He is in control. 

When you get in the passenger seat, here's what you'll hear. 

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and 

I will give you rest. 

Take my yoke upon you and 

learn from me, 

for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 

For my yoke is easy and 

my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

We err,

when we try to take back the wheel,

When we stop listening,

When we stop praying,

When we stop following. 

"God is not obligated to defend us in battles He has not initiated. "-Dominigue

But 

when we are fighting the good fight of Faith,

Following his lead,

Trusting in His command, 

He fights our battles for us. 

If you had crossed paths with me just a few years ago and asked me to give up everything to follow my divine plan, I would have said, 

that's impossible. 

But, now I know, 

No-thing is impossible with God. 

And I've found

All things are possible if you will only believe. 

I believed. 

I'm following. 

I'm trusting. 

And the most exhilarating part, I have no idea where I'm going. 

I'm resting. 

I'm in the passenger seat. 

And I am free of the consequences of disappointments, failures, regrets, resentments, anger, fear and anxiety. 

I am free to sit back and relax,

To walk this walk or 

Ride this ride,

knowing at the end, 

I will eat the good of the land. 

What are you fighting for?

"I have a dream..."

Those are all too famous words that we've heard played over and over. Martin Luther had a BIG dream. One He intended to fulfill. 

Was He born with that dream? 

Yes, indeed. 

Were you born with a dream? 

All of us were given A dream, a perfect plan, that only we can bring to pass. 

And all of our dreams were meant to impact the world around us, in the smallest and largest way. 

We are all unique in our passions, desires and talents. 

We were all meant to fill a niche, one that would bring unity, oneness, and strength to our family. 

That's how God sees it. 

But how do we see it? 

We see IT when we're children. 

We were born to dream BIG! 

But then life happens and our imagination goes right out the window. We forget the ideas that kept us up at night, huge ideas on how we might change the world. 

Then with the arrival of the weekend we might decide to hold some sort of fund-raiser, be it a lemonade stand or a small yard sale or even an attempt to sell some toys to our friends. We just knew we needed to begin funding our dreams right then!!

It just couldn't wait. 

Wait?

What happened?

I had BIG dreams, a BIG vision. 

But in my adult life, instead of going after it, I've been hiding from it. 

Why? 

Because it has brought me nothing more than opposition and discourse. It seems the second I feel I'm getting some where, there's a setback. 

My dream has turned into a nightmare. 

Sound familiar?

This dream must not be for me, right? 

WRONG!! 

It is very much for me. In fact, I am the only one who can carry out THiS particular vision. I am an original being with an original plan. It's not MY plan, it's God's plan. 

I always thought walking out God's divine plan for my life would be easy. At least easier than when I was living for myself. 

But what I have learned is quite the opposite. 

When you are living to carry out God's will, the divine plan is beyond human comprehension, it's reach exceeds the physical realm. It's meant to make waves in the spiritual realm. 

In the past few years as I have been striving to walk out the Lord's plan for my life, I have felt as if I am always swimming up river, always going against the grain, at times it feels as if I'm pushing my shoulder into an impenetrable wall. 

It's exhausting. 

The second I get a moment of peace, something else comes along to rock my boat. 

I have never been slandered so much in all my life. 

The funny thing is, this is the only time I haven't deserved it! 

When I was living for 

MY self, 

MY dreams, I was living rather selfishly and probably most comments or criticisms would have been accurate. 

But when you are living self-LESSly for God, criticisms tend to penetrate deeper. In fact, that's what they are meant to do. 

This divine plan is spiritual and can only be manifested in the physical realm, so obstacles and opposition are spiritual and will come against us in the physical realm through people and words. 

The enemy will try anything to knock us off course. 

It is our position to NOT get offended and remain in a place of forgiveness. 

The only thing that stands between 

you 

and God's destiny for your life is 

YOU. 

You have the power to stay on course or be distracted. 

You have the power to walk in love or 

get offended. 

You have the power to forgive or 

hold a grudge. 

You determine if your dream gets fulfilled or falls by the wayside. 

We have to remember that we "wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world,against spiritual wickedness in high places." Ephesians 6:12

I was reminded of this while reading "Pearls of the King" by Lee Dominique. He says," Tests do not build character, it's how you respond to the test that builds character."

Charles Swindoll said it this way, "Life is 10% of what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it."

We must not view opposition as a negative force. We should understand that "Anything significant that will promote the message of Christ is going to encounter the resistance of Satan." -Dominque

Paul gloried in his tribulations. He knew that  "we, too, should glory in tribulations, knowing that

tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and 

character, hope. 

Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God 

has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Romans 5:3-5 NKJV)

We must not give up. 

We must look up. 

Victory is at hand. 

I'm going in for the fight. 

The final round. 

I will not quit. 

I will not give up. 

I don't know how long I'll have to fight, I just have to remember it's worth it! 

Instead of cowering down from afflictions I am going to learn to embrace them, for "they are a signpost for victory coming my way." - Pearls of the King 

May God's Will be done on this earth (through me and you) as it is in Heaven!

Manifested Love

                Only believe and yield and yield, until all the vision is fulfilled. -Wigglesworth

Grace.
Grace is Love.
We live by Grace.
Therefore, we live by Love.

"We are living in the inheritance of faith because of the grace of God, saved for eternity by the operation of the Spirit bringing forth unto God. A substance of divine proposition and attainment,

Bringing heaven to earth

Until God quickens all things into beauty, manifesting His power in living witnesses." Wigglesworth
 

God alive in us

For a world, THE world,

That THE world may be blessed. 

Power to lay hold of omnipotence and 

Impart to others the Word of LIFE. 

There is a 

New epoch,

New vision,

New power.
 

Christ alive in us

Is greater than we know.
 

All things are possible if you dare believe.
 

The treasure is in earthen vessels that Jesus may be glorified.

It's time we become the earthen vessels for His kingdom to come so that His will be done on this earth as it is in heaven!
 

We must decrease so that God can increase. 

There is not room for 2 kinds of life in one body.
 

Death for life, the price to pay for the manifested power of God through us.
 

As you die to human desire,

There comes a fellowship within, 

Perfected cooperation. 

You ceasing.

God increasing.  

His will be done on THIS earth as it is in heaven.

 

A one woman army

 

I opened my eyes again and to my surprise, I was still underneath the roaring waves. As I struggled peacefully, my life flashed before my eyes. I watched all of my favorite memories reel before me like a silent movie.
 

"But, this isn't how I go? 

Surely, I wasn't going to drown? Not this young? What about college? My career? I have a whole life to live!!"
 

Death and bad decisions wait for no man. 

But I didn't drown.

I was DRAWN.
I was drawn right out of that lonely, dark hole.

There was a Power, a God, drawing me from death back into life.
There was a force that cannot be naturally explained and it pulled me out of that  deep hole underneathe the roar of the river. 

There is only One who has overcome death 

and the power of that victory was being made manifest in my life at that moment.

And on that day, it reached into the depths of that river and pried the fingers of death from my ankle and I surfaced for the 3rd time only to see a man and a boat reaching for me. 

 "Grab the boat. Don't let go!" He shouted.
Of course I couldn't hear, the rapids were overpowering any sound
but I could see...I could see him, his boat and his lips moving.
 

I clung to that lifeline and didn't look back. 

Third time's the charm, right?

No, not quite. 

I was drowning in that swollen river. Two surfaces before there wasn't a person in sight. Everyone had rushed downriver after my boat. No one knew where I was. At least no one in the natural.
But in the supernatural, you are NEVER alone.
 

I had given up. I had surrendered my will to live.
I guess I deserved it...

My lack of experience and fearlessness had landed me upside down in a larger than life rapid and instantly I was vacuumed into a "rather" peaceful black hole. 

 

It's true what you've heard, drowning is peaceful. And before death, your life does flash before your eyes. 

But just when I thought it was over, just when I accepted what I deserved, my Savior granted me a gift. 

MERCY.

 

I have come to understand, Mercy can be defined as 

NOT getting 

what you do deserve. 

 

And that day, I didn't get what I deserved. I made a poor and careless decision and it ALMOST cost me my life. 

But, Thank God for Mercy! 

And that wasn't my last close call with death or my last poor or careless decision. 

Come on, I'm human! 

I make mistakes!

Some of us just don't learn. 

 

Or do we?

 

I needed to know and only later would I understand, what kept me alive? 

What I have found is this: 

There is POWER through PRAYER!

"If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you." John 15:7

I wasn't abiding in Him, not then.
But another was.
Another was praying for ME.

 

I traced the power through prayer that day, back to my mother. At the exact instant, during those minutes where I watched my life reel before my eyes in what felt like hours, my mom was PRAYING. 

Praying until death released its grip!

 

So where did she learn to pray like that? 

 

My grandmother. 

And where did my grandmother learn to pray like that?

The Holy Spirit:
"And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don't know what God wants us to pray for, but the Holy Spirit prays FOR us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words." Romans 8:26

Prayer isn't just for US.

It is for the WHOLE world.
It is for anyone who needs it.
It is the Mercy for others to draw from.
It isn't always for us to know.
We just have to make ourselves available.
 

My grandmother was always available. She was a one woman and army and that was enough.
God only needs one.

One woman. 

One man. 

One child. 

Praying. 
Prayer isn't selfish. It's selfless.
Prayer allows the Almighty God, the creator of heaven and earth to flow through His earthen vessels so that His will may be fulfilled on the earth.
Praying manifests His mercies that are NEW every morning.
Praying manifests His love which is unconditional and knows no bounds.

A praying life is a surrendered life. 
It is:

A life that chooses to be in close communion with the Almighty God. 

A life that practices listening to His still small voice - The Holy Spirit. 

A life that learns to fall on its knees, knowing that prayer crosses the span of the earth, reaches the deepest of waters and climbs the highest mountains. 

It embraces a heart when there's not another in sight. 

It lifts up a spirit cast into despair. 

It brings healing to the sick, wealth to the poor and freedom to the captive. 

And in it, is Victory over death! 

But during these fast paced times, 

Who's Praying?

If there ever was a time that we NEED prayer, it is NOW.

But who's praying?

Living in these miraculous end days, we must understand prayer is going to be the
ONLY way,
the only weapon, the only answer, the only blessing.
It is our holy communion with our God.

We need to be careful not to put so many things before it. 

 

In the early 1900's Robert McCheyne said it this way, "I ought to spend the best hours in communion with God. It is my noblest and most fruitful employment, and it is not to be thrust into a corner!"

Praying is more important than our employment. 

During this time that we live in, nothing is guaranteed.

Nothing. 

But PRAYER. 

Start now. 

All God needs is...

One woman. 

One man. 

One child. 

To make a difference. 

To bring heaven to earth. 

His will be done on this earth as it is in heaven. 

Making a list, checking it twice.

Lord teach us to pray!

Knowing we learn by example, Jesus was sent to be a living example for all mankind. He spent time teaching his disciples to pray.

When asked, He gave them The Model Prayer that we all know today, Matthew 6:9-13 

I didn't understand the importance of it as a child, but now as an adult, I see this prayer puts us in a place of thanksgiving, it instructs us to lean on and trust our Heavenly Father for ALL our needs, to forgive others of any debts and my favorite part is of course, praying to bring heaven to earth. 

"Thy will be done on this earth as it is in heaven." 

While praying this prayer I like to think about all that heaven encompasses; no sadness, depression, fear, anxiety, poverty, sickness and most importantly NO death. 

Just the other day I was reminded of my grandmother praying this prayer. 

My grandmother was a mighty prayer warrior. 

She was the kind of prayer warrior that put up a fight! 
She was one of those elderly women that Satan was afraid of. 

When she prayed all hell shook and angels awaited her orders. 

But her prayers were never for herself, she lived her life for others. 

Always, my memories will be my grandmother sitting at the small wooden kitchen table as a beam of sunlight reflected off her silver hair and the old, worn-out pages of HER Bible.
She always had HER Bible within reach. 
And, she always had her prayer list of friends, family and anyone in need. Her beautiful cursive handwriting is still imprinted in my memory. 

I didn't understand it as much then, but as I'm growing and learning, I am beginning to SEE.
See, that I shouldn't be here. I should have died about 10 near-death experiences ago. In fact, no one in our family would still be here, if it weren't for my grandmother's prayers.
We often stand in awe of the hedge of protection that she prayed around us to keep us safe. 

And we're not the only ones...

Any ONE and I mean Any ONE that came in contact with my grandmother has not NOR will not taste death until they come to know the kingdom of God. 

Just the other day I bumped into her neighbor, an old family friend. A hardened man, a man who refuses to give God a thought and even curses His name if you mention it. This man will tell you he is damned! He even brags about it. 

We all thought that would change when he was diagnosed with lung cancer but even as he lay lifeless, emaciated and  just a bag of bones with no one left to love him, we thought for sure he would soften. But he didn't. With hardly a breath left, He cursed God and laughed. 

Oh this made me furious. I thought to myself, "who does he think he is? 

This man deserves to die all alone, miserable, wasting away!!!"

But my grandmother knew something so many of us don't understand, 

NO man deserves hell. 

So when I unexpectedly crossed his path again, I was amazed. He was out of bed, gaining weight, completely recovering from a miraculous remission of lung cancer. His life was a miracle! 

But how? why? As I stood there looking into his hardened face, the skin of leather stretched across his cheek bones, I saw my grandmother! 

And it all came back to me. All the prayers she prayed for his soul! All the laboring she did was NOT in vain. 

Who was I to not finish her work? 

Who was I to make a judgment on this man? 

It was not her concern if he cursed God or not. She always had an open heart, the most forgiving heart I've ever known. 

She knew the importance of her role and she took it very seriously. 

The prayer warrior must never get offended. 

The prayer warrior must be heavenly minded, praying always for eternity. 

The prayer warrior canNOT judge. 

The prayer warrior must always forgive!

I cried out, "Lord, teach me to love like my grandmother. Teach me to put others before myself. Teach me to show the compassion of Christ, for every one is your creation."

The prayer warrior only plants a seed, The Lord  is the only one who can make it grow. 

His timing is never our timing. 

As I came back to my thoughts, I just laughed. In fact, I stretched my arm out, and patted this man on his shoulder, and thought, Oh Lord, how great it will be when that grumpy old neighbor walks up to my grandmother in eternity and says, "I knew not what I was doing, but you did!!"

How can this possible? 

All things are possible, if we'll only believe. 

My grandmother believed and she knew and understood that she could hold The Lord to His Word. 
She knew that His Word would NOT return to Him void. 
She knew that she would see God's promises come to pass. The promise that He would keep all of her family and friends safe for generations to come. 

So many people put emphasis on Faith. But you can't have faith if you don't believe. Faith comes from believing and trusting in God and His Word. 

God is not a man that He should or could lie. Numbers 23:19

So if He said it, then it's true. 

And He said, "ALL things are possible if you only believe!" Mark 9:23

He also said, "Have faith in God!" Mark 11:22

Now if He said it, we should do it. 

That's all my grandmother did. And I am a living testimony that what she did worked!
She did her part and God did His. 

Jesus was her example. Just as He asked of His Father, She asked of hers:

"During my time here, I protected them by the power of the name you gave me. I guarded them so that not one was lost.."(John 17:12 NLT)

There are no words to describe my gratefulness for her prayers. I can never explain how her prayers held me up in my darkest hour, even years after she left this life to begin anew in heaven. 

So I ask you again:
In this dark and dying world, 

who is praying?
For those in need, the fatherless, the widows, the poor, 

who is praying? 
For the neighbor, best friend, sister, brother, uncle, aunt, mother, father, who is praying? 

Do you have a list? 
If not, make one. 
If so, keep it always before you.
Guard it with your life. 
Those are Your sheep. 
Protect them by the power of the only name that can, Jesus Christ.

Oh, if we could all pray as my grandmother did. 
If we could practice the selfless act of putting others' needs before our own. 
Then, we could bring heaven to earth. 

The Lord gave a word to Kenneth Copeland on October 28,2010. It exemplifies my grandmother's life.

"For all of you who will take My Word and stand on it," saith the Lord, "the kingdom is for you, the angels are for you, all of heaven's reserves are at your call. Rise up and be counted among those who carry faith, live by faith, walk in Love and declare that God so loved the world that He gave. Relax and rest and rejoice because everything is going to be ALL-right!"
Yes, everything is going to be ALL- RIGHT. 

Dear Heavenly Father, may Your WILL be done (through us) on this earth AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.