But God

 When we are wear and broken hearted

When we are facing storms and attacks

When the struggle is to great, the burdens to heavy,

 the temptations to great. 

When we have little or maybe nothing left. 

Were in a battle we cant win, but God can

But God.

The truth of these two simple words will change you. Will lift your head and heart high with hope. Wherever you are in life, whatever your facing start with those two words. But God.

Lord I cant see through this storm! But God can.

Lord I can't carry this pain anymore! But God can.

Lord I can't keep fighting this battle! But God can. 

Whatever life has it might seem to much 

 

But God is your comforter

But God is your warrior

But God is the light that guides you,

But God is the peace giver

But God is the King and the Victor.

But God can, He has, He is.

Wrestle

Wrestle until your breakthrough happens.

Wrestle through the night, through the pain, through the tears.

Wrestle until you realize why you're wrestling the first place. 

Wrestle until daybreak, when you can see clearly what you couldn't at night, 

wrestle until things look differently.

Wrestle until you understand for sure just who you are wrestling with. 

Wrestle when you feel you've reached the end and just can't take even one more thing.

Wrestle until you have broken, than wrestle until you break some more. 

Wrestle until not just your situation has changed, wrestle until YOU have changed.

Wrestle until you are ready for the good that is coming next. 

WRESTLE!

And wrestle well. Daybreak is coming, coming with a blessing.

Impossible

Child. I see. I see your diligence and faith. Hear me when I say WELL DONE. KEEP GOING my faithful servant.  

You have served, you have trusted, you have surrendered, you have persevered, you have believed. See My pride and joy in you little one. 

But

Child I also see that burden you insist upon carrying. I see the chain and ball you are determined to drag behind you. I see the prison walls you have built around yourself and for my heart is breaking!

WHY? WHY!

These burdens and chains of heartbreak and anger, these prison walls of misery are  not what I mean for you. Do not you understand that I, YOUR GOD am the God of the IMPOSSIBLE? 

Where you are limited, I AM limitless!

Where you drain to empty and end I AM endless!

Where you are weak and weary I AM strong!

Where you are lost and wandering, I AM the guiding light!

Where you require faith and belief I AM!

I AM the God of heaven and earth, of mountains and oceans, I AM your God and I do the impossible for it is Mine to command!  I AM your God and I AM the God of the impossible.

When Heaven Doesn't Seem Wonderful.

Most times when we think of heaven we think of
                               Beauty.
                Perfection.
Wonderful.

MORE than that. Heaven is beyond every thing good and and lovely we can imagine.  When we think of heaven we think of a place that is free of pain, free of tears and sorrow. It is a place we long for, a place we deeply desire, a place BETTER than here. Heaven is a thought that stirs feelings of joy, excitement and hope!

But what happens when its NOT?
Because the truth is sometimes heaven doesn't seem so wonderful. When you wake up on a perfectly average morning and in one simple text, a few simple words your entire world flips upside down and crumbles. When without warning or preamble your father is gone, heaven doesn't feel wonderful!
When you're putting the six year old to bed and you need to be working on funeral plans but you can't leave because this tiny child is sobbing in a way no little girl should ever be, and you're trying to explain to this innocent six year old what death is and how her daddy is in a better place heaven doesn't seem wonderful. Because she is six she doesn't care about heaven or how it is free of pain and tears because she is in unimaginable pain and she just wants her daddy back and her suddenly confusing and scary world to be normal again and no, heaven isn't feeling wonderful!
When cancer withers the most vibrant person you know and you are forced to watch them suffer and slowly die and take with them a  light and joy that right now you'd prefer over heaven, heaven doesn't seem wonderful.
When in a moment of kindness a little girl looses her life in a senseless  moment of darkness and a mother is left to bury her daughter in a casket that shouldn't be that small, and somehow a teacher must explain tragedy and death to his third grade class heaven doesn't seem wonderful. Two men are reeling because they sobered up and now must face the terrifying reality that they are murderers. Police and paramedics have jobs to do but like the rest of the community they are spiraling. Only they have pictures in their minds that haunt them.  Heaven doesn't always seem wonderful.
When you're forced to say goodbye to someone you love because their body betrayed them, its failing. Your brother is dying and you know he's not ready, know what happens when he's gone, and understand you are powerless to change it or stop it, heaven doesn't seem wonderful.

Heaven doesn't always feel so wonderful, it feels like a thief! Taking your protector, your lover, your baby, your friend and confident and with them every good and beautiful thing in life.
It feels like heaven kills. Kills your joy, a piece of your soul, because they might be ok, free of pain and tears but you are not. You are in more pain than you knew it was possible to feel you've cried so many tears you could literally fill a river. The idea of heaven just isn't comforting or leaving you hopeful for a someday reunion. You just hurt.
Sometimes heaven doesn't feel all that wonderful, and that's ok.
Its ok because someday it will. It's ok because Jesus sees you. He see's your hurt and feels your pain as though it's His own. He will hold your tears and carry you through the pain, through the confusion and grief. When heaven doesn't seem wonderful, He'll be there. Heaven doesn't seem wonderful to our human hearts sometimes and that's ok. We don't understand and that's ok. We just need to hold on to the God who created our hearts, who does understand, whose already there. 

I Am

I Am

his face was kind, his looks appealing,

his very self intoxicating.

so entranced i could not see

his ways were suffocating. 

the velvet words of his promises seemed to alluring.

his tender nature so obliging,

but what it really was is blinding.

the emotions he created were animating,

the reaction all together stimulating.

i didn't see he was confiscating my time,

violating my values,

populating my thoughts with all things vile.

when i began questioning,

he began fabricating.

his every lie was obligating,

no longer were his words comforting.

his ways were not accommodating,

the hole i found myself in was always plunging.

But then i heard a voice calling.

He reached down and said, "I AM."

"My heart is illuminating," 

and he showed me the way out

"My love is emancipating," 

and He freed me from my chains.

"My love is everlasting." 

and he never stopped loving me.

"My grace is sufficient for you," 

and he covered all my mistakes.

"My life is yours."

And he laid it down for me. 

In a whisper strong as thunder he tenderly declared to me, 

"Child, I AM"