My Morning Thought

We all have defining moments in our lives. Something that happens that, as a result of that moment, we are forever changed. For some, it’s like a line drawn in the sand or like the difference between day and night. You know, what you used to do, you do no more. Those defining moments cause you to live differently. And others will see it. And we are always remembering why we do what we do. So when...

God is… Whatever you need, God is. And He has made some promises. The question is, do you believe? God has your back!

We can have up to 70,000 thoughts a day and most of them are negative. Our negative thoughts can be a protective mechanism; to keep us safe. But too many negative thoughts without the counter of intentional positive thoughts can cause us to have anxiety and depression. Although we have automatic negative thoughts, we can choose to counter those thoughts with intentional positive thoughts.  Let’s t...

There is nothing you can do or have done that causes God not to love you. He loves you unconditionally. There is also no place you can go or be that He doesn’t want to pull you out.  Sometimes we can take one wrong step that leads to step after step in the wrong direction, but God wants to lift you up. You are never too deep. God wants to reach down and pull you up.

Celebrate Life. Each day is a gift from God. No, each minute. So many wake up each morning and don’t make it through the day. So, celebrate the life God has given to you. Live it for His glory. He has “good works” for you to do.

There is power in obedience. It is better to have the Lord on your side and the world against you than to have the world on your side and the Lord against you. There may be power in numbers, but God is always the majority. Obedience to God yields power.

You are mine. Just take that in and soak it up, from a very healthy perspective, to know you are loved brings happiness and joy. Knowing that you were chosen gives you a sense of security. I heard someone say to another, “You are my responsibility now.” What beautiful words. I’ve repeated them in my head several times.  I have been divorced for 27 years. For 27 years now, I’ve not had the covering...

Think about one of the happiest times in your life. Where were you? What were you doing? Who were you with? Now, hold that thought for a minute.  Are you smiling? You probably are. As you think on fond minutes, your heart gets happy. Now, what I want you to know is that it doesn’t compare to one day in God’s courts. Tell somebody about Jesus. Let them see Him in you, so they too can be drawn to Hi...

You don’t always know the impact you are having on someone. You may not be trying to do anything but being yourself and something you might say or do could negatively or positively impact someone else’s life.  One Sunday I mentioned to Patch Hicks that I was starting a podcast for my birthday and he gave me some encouraging words and said he would listen. His words, although few and just in passin...

Why is it so hard to cast our cares on Christ? He actually tells us to do so. He cares for us and has all the answers and yet we struggle day-to-day trying to do it on our own. Why not do what He says? Now we have to give our cares to Him, not with our own identified expectations of what He will do. We have to trust Him to do what’s best for us.

Have you ever seen something that was unbelievable? You know those things that make you, “I can’t believe it.” Or someone did you something and you just couldn’t wait to tell someone. Or perhaps you have encouraging friends or a spouse in your life and when something good happens to you and can't wait to tell them. Because you wished they had been there with you, when you see or talk with them...

God has something greater for you. Something greater than your circumstances. And although you might be in a hard place right now. And even if it feels like you have been there forever, God is still working. Don’t lose hope and don’t be discouraged. Keep your focus keenly on Christ. If you can always see where you are going, what’s happening at the moment can feel less intense because you know you...

How often do you think, “I wouldn’t have done it that way.”  Now, how often have you thought God should have done things differently? You know, "that something" that you are going through that you feel perhaps you shouldn't be going through? Or maybe you should have accomplished or received “that something” by now. I want to encourage you to trust Him. There is more to it than meets...

We are born into this world and we begin to make it our home. We work hard and amass wealth. We try to live a comfortable life. Don’t get me wrong. I believe we are to grow where we are planted, but as a Christ follower, we are to remember that this world is not our home. We have a home that is prepared for us by Jesus Himself. Live like you want to go home. 

God loves you with an everlasting love. There is nothing you have done or can do that will make Him love you any less. Embrace and accept His love for you and then love others out of the overflow. Draw them with kindness.

We don’t always think of what it means to be chosen. I think we just take being “chosen” for granted. But take a minute to think about what it means. To be chosen means that favor has been given to you. It means you have been singled out. Yes, chosen can have a positive and a negative connotation to it. We can be chosen and singled out for all the wrong reasons, but I want us to consider that we a...

Sometimes we can keep our eyes on the prize, but we have the wrong prize in our sight. The prize has to be the reason Christ took hold of us. We have to keep a heaven bound focus. Now, that doesn’t mean we don’t do the things that are required of us in this life, it just means that that’s always the outer shell. The inner shell; the center, the main reason, has to be Jesus. We must live to bring H...

Trusting God means trusting Him, even when I would have done something differently. I have to trust that His way is better than my way. Now, that should be easy to do right? God’s working with infinite wisdom and I only have the past and the present to go on. But still, I often think with, my limited knowledge, I know better than God. And even with my limited knowledge, I’m generally trying to mak...

We can look at rules and think they are there to punish us. That may be the case in some places. Rules may be made for punishment or for exclusion, but that’s not the case for God. His rules are there to protect us and by keeping them, we are rewarded. So perhaps, our perspective on God’s rules should be, “I get great joy when following the rules, because I know they are for my protection. I know...

Sometimes in the moment, we just see the moment. We can’t see that what lies ahead has a greater purpose than the moment. We can’t see that we need the moment to fulfill the greater purpose. We can’t see that we might have been "sent ahead" for what is greater to come.

Things will come at us sideways sometimes. And we can easily reach into our own bag of resources; our flesh, to handle it. But I want to encourage you to seek God with your everything, as if you are in a desert and there is no water to be seen.

Sometimes things feel so hard, you feel like you can’t go on. It is important to know that you have a God that will uphold you with His righteous right (strong) hand. And then there are other times when you can make it, but you just need a little help. You don’t need to be carried, but you may need to be led or you may just need to know you have someone to lean on. In those moments, God takes your...

Totally surrendering to God means giving up your will for His. It means being the clay in the hands of a potter. It means you don’t get to determine what the potter will make with the clay, but rather you trust that you will be made for a purpose that only you can fulfill.  God HAS made you for a purpose that only you can fulfill. Trust His molding, and even when He puts you in the kiln, the burn...

We live in a broken world. Things can be very difficult. But you have a refuge, a loving God that is your stronghold. So don’t give up. Find your words. Search God’s words for His truths and when the world is screaming lies at you - face them down with truth. “You can do it.” “The world is better because of you.” “You are loved.”  You get it, right? And God gets you.

I don’t want to allow how I feel to dictate how I present. My feelings, whether they are physical or emotional, whether they are about something or someone, will change. Sometimes they can change from moment-to-moment. So I must rely on more than feelings. I must rely on the firm foundation of Christ. For God never changes.