con·quer [kong-ker] 1.to acquire by force of arms; win in war: to conquer a foreignland. 2.to overcome by force; subdue: to conquer an enemy. 3.to gain, win, or obtain by effort, personal appeal, etc.:conquer the hearts of his audience. 4.to gain a victory over; surmount; master; overcome: toconquer disease and poverty; to conquer one’s fear. 5.to be victorious; make conquests; gain the victory: Despite their differences, their love will conquer. You can try conquering the world on your own but you are going to learn very quickly that its impossible. You can try beating a drug addiction, food addiction, pornography, or whatever else you are struggling with on your own, but you will fail. You must be thinking, “Ch. How encouraging…” Well, in a sense it is. Now that you know that you will fail on your own. It is time to find out how you can overcome what you are dealing with. And it all starts with you. I like definition number 5 of “Conquer.” It says, “to be victorious, make conquests; gain the victory…” Do you want to gain victory? Do you want to win the battle of an addiction? Do you want to be free? You can be victorious, but you need help from God. He is truly the only one that can help you push Satan and his demons out. He is the only one that can make the journey worth it. Psalm 18:32-34 says, “It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights. He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.” God is your strength. Period. And if you try to take that strength from Him and do it on your own its not going to work. Sometimes we get frustrated at God because we think He is too slow at answering our prayers. (I know I have been there.) When he does answer our prayer and we see why we waited we understand. Many of us forget that God’s way is truly the best and by forcing His plan makes us just worry and stress more. Let God do his job and let Him take care of you! What can you do in the meantime? FIGHT. You need to fight every single day to win the small battles. Take baby steps to conquering whatever you need to conquer. You will soon realize that those winning battles will soon help you win the war. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” God knows what you are going through is hard, very hard. But He would never make you go through something if He didn’t think you could make it through. He KNOWS you are going to succeed. If you weren’t then He would not have given you what you have. So stop thinking your going to fail. Get your fighting gear on and get out there and WIN. He is there for you and is waiting for you to fight. Let Him take care of the rest! Definition from Dictionary.com For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. -Jeremiah 29:11 After I graduated college I high-tailed it to Kenya, Africa to be an international teacher. When going over, my mindset was that I would be there...well, forever. The school was great. The people I worked with were amazing. The area was nice. Everything was exactly how I wanted it in my eyes. Nonetheless, I eventually found myself back in America, back in my hometown, back in my parent's house, just a year later. MY PLANS were not working out. Things were happening that did not make sense. I was moving places that did not make sense to move to. I was doing things that were not in my initial plans for my life post-graduation. Many of things I did not make sense. To be honest, I whined a lot about them and made known that I did not enjoy them. Little did I know that God was moving. One year after I moved back from Africa I founded Acacia of Hope, got married, and had a baby (As you can probably guess more of my plans got "messed up" later, but that's for another blog post). Acacia of Hope touches the lives of countless people in Kenya, Africa daily. Children are going to school, churches are being built, employees are working, the list goes on. But looking back…I realize that the things I did were exactly what God wanted to happen. There was a reason for every single movement. I wish my eyes were more opened during that time so that I could have embraced the hard times rather than whining about them (a lesson I continue to learn even after 13 years). Without God, I would not be where I am today. Life didn’t make sense for a long time, but it sure does make sense now! ♥ If you are struggling with the direction that your life is taken it is okay. God has a plan. I know it is hard not knowing what God is doing, but this is the time to embrace His will and let Him work. I encourage you to let your life ride the way it is suppose to. Don’t rush it. Don’t hesitate it. Don’t milk it. Enjoy it and all of its quirkiness! Embrace uncertainty. "I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning." - Psalm 130:5-6 Oh, how the words gloriously flow together to make these verses, "my soul waits...." Sometimes I wonder why David would write these verses... Sitting too long in line causes my foot to tap. My little one talking for more than 10 minutes on the same dream she told me earlier causes my eye to twitch. Giving someone a task and he or she says, "Oh I am sorry I have been busy" causes my face to turn red. I am the worst waiter of them all. Patience has never and probably will never be my virtue, but it is definitely something I can work on. One mindset that has helped me improve in my waiting is understanding that being still can be productive. In the waiting period, I can still impact, still work, and still help. That I am still impacting, still changing, still helping. The long grocery line may allow you to speak with someone briefly about the Lord. Your little one's dream may be prophetic. Providing someone grace on a task may be all they need for a glimmer of hope in their current hardship. Stillness is still impactful. I saw a double rainbow in the middle of winter. Yes, it was December 18, 2015 in Ohio. Yes, Ohio. We are not suppose to have rain with double rainbows in the middle of winter. It just does not happen. On this particular day I felt like “Game Over.” I was driving home from work, child was screaming off the top of her lungs, and I felt defeated. So defeated. I was crying more than just a few tears and telling God I can not do this anymore. It was pouring down rain all day long. As soon as I told God I can’t do it anymore, it stopped raining. Almost instantaneously. And a rainbow began to appear. Before I knew it, there were two rainbows. I kept saying, “This is for me. Thats for me!” I pulled over off the highway and took this picture. In Genesis God tells Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and everything living around you and everyone living after you. I’m putting my rainbow in the clouds, a sign of the covenant between me and the Earth.” In the way, that is what I felt God was telling me. God made this rainbow in the middle of winter to remind me of my covenant with Him: He has never abandoned me. Seeing this is exactly what I needed to press on. God will give what you need when you need it. Even when the storm is too hard to get through, keep pressing on in the dark. You don’t know it, but He is right in front of you making sure you are okay. For those hurting, hang in there. God will give you what you need when you need it. He hasn't left you, I promise. Change is not easy. In fact, sometimes it just sucks. For most of my life I have enjoyed changed. I loving moving around furniture, starting new jobs, or getting a new bed set. External changes. But when it comes to internal changes, it can be rough especially when those changes seem to stripe you everything you were sure of. You see, God does not want us to stay where we are. He loves us too much to keep us comfortable. He wants to strip us of everything that can hinder us now or future, and go under His protection. Isaiah 43:19 says, "See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." God desires us to go along for the ride, allowing Him to do something special in us. To get there we may have to go through some rough currents. It is up to us to do our best to ride the wave while God does His thing. He is our captain and very good at what He does. We just need to trust in Him! Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. -1 Thessalonians 5:16-16 For a long time I struggled with prayer. I have always enjoyed praying aloud for those around me. Others would tell me that my public prayers allowed them to connect with God. But when I was home in the stillness of morning reading God's word, my mind was blank. Sometimes I feel unsure if I am praying “right.” Do I need to spend a certain amount of time every day with God? Should I be on my knees? Does writing in my journal part of prayer? I have always felt so uneasy about if I am doing that area in my life right. To be honest I decided not to dwell on it much. After all, I read my Bible daily and did my best to do what was right. I would tell myself, "That is more than most!" What I realized as I grew in my faith with the Bible that my spirit felt stagnant. Eventually I learned that prayer, as I have known for all these years, is truly a large part of the Christian faith. The Bible is the perfect way to hear from God, but prayer is how we can communicate back to Him. It helps us grow in our wisdom, our discernment, and our love for the Lord. 1 Thessalonians came upon my desk calendar today. It says to “pray continually.” Well, I am pretty sure God knows that most of us have to work, eat, and shower every day. So how we do we “pray continually” on our knees and in quiet if we have obligations? Perhaps prayer was never meant to always be in a quite room on your knees (although, there are plenty of times in life where that is exactly what you need!) Maybe prayer is meant to be a consistent, constant reminder every moment of your day. As you walk to your office, thanking God for nature. As you sift through Facebook, thanking God for friends and family. When you look at your bank statement, asking God to provide. Perhaps that is how prayer is meant to be. Praying in this new way has allowed me to communicate in a way that is real and authentic. Praying on me knees nightly is just not me. But sitting in my favorite chair doodling, talking to God as if he is beside me is. Find what works for you and focus on growing deeper. You will soon see your life as God-inspired. There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind. - C.S. Lewis Many times our past can overtake our present. Our hearts are heavy as we remember a broken relationship, a difficult job, or broken boundaries from a family member, the list can go on. Those difficulties can permeate our present, affecting how we think, respond, and act with our children and those around us. Sometimes we cannot see beyond our past and keep hope for better days ahead. Romans 12:12 reminds us to, "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer." When our minds begin to wonder to our past, we can take these actions: 1. Choose joy in the midst of sadness. 2. Take 3 deep breathes, understanding that life is a marathon. 3. Spend time in prayer with the one who already has your life planned. Do not allow your past to overtake the joys of today. Battle them with prayer. The BEST is yet to come! Pain is enviable, suffering is optional. Pain. Everyone goes through it. Not one person in this world does not experience pain of some sort. Some experience a divorce, a miscarriage, a betrayal of a friend, abuse, or hurt brought upon others. The list can go on. In this world, there will be pain. But it is up to us to not allow that pain to break us, but to build us up. Trust me, this is harder said that done. Throughout my years as a single mother I have found that when my daughter is acting out or makes a not so good choice I think about the negatives of being a mother on my own. It can be easy to dwell on hardships rather than focus on little blessings that come along. For me, I have learned that I need a constant reminder and renewal of my mind on a daily basis in order to keep me focused on growing from the pain rather than decomposing from it. Isaiah 40:31 says, “but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Everything happens for a reason. Everything, including the crappy stuff. One day we will look back at our pain and see how much stronger it has made us. Keep the faith. Keep the hope. Keep focused on getting stronger, even if it means reminding yourself on a daily basis. Let us look away from the negatives and focus on our Sovereign Lord, who has a purpose and place for you in this world. There is a reason for all things. Hang in there. The single mom life is anything, but certain. We do our best to stick to a routine, to a daily plan for our little family, but somehow it never ends up going how we thought. With all of our stress and fears, it ca be easy to just throw our hands up and give up on today when something unexpected comes our way. If you are anything like me, I tend to not just give up on today, but start second guessing my entire life. The pressure of singlemotherhood can do that to us, pull us down further, but only if we allow it.
For many years I thought uncertainty was something negative, but what if we embraced uncertainty? What if we made it something positive? What if we chose to praise God in our uncertainty? This most certainly is not an easy task, but if we make this a holy habit we will soon find that not only do we have less stress, but we will find the good within our lives. God is all we have in this world. We need to trust that He knows what He is doing. After all, He knows our plans for today, tomorrow, and on. Don't allow this time of the unknown pull you from the good things God wants to show you during this time. He needs you alert and ready for the next big thing He has planned for you. Be ready! Love ... for many of us that word is scary. We gave our heart to someone that we trusted only for trust to be broken. Some of us have dated again with the same results. I remember the first date I had after my divorce. I was so scared of even feeling something good for someone new, afraid that history would repeat itself. I sat there in a small fresh squeeze juice bar, wondering if I should stay or dart out. It is easier to close our hearts off and not take the chance of anything or anyone in. Despite our broken hearts we need to take time to process and heal. Paul reminds us, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs." (1 Corinthians 13: 4-6) Push past your fears and let go of your hurtful past, choosing to love yourself and accepting His love for you. Not only is it needed to move forward, but you deserve it. P.S. After a few dates we realized we were better of friends, but I met an amazing person who is now my friend. |
AuthorMelissa Brown is a strong momma who lives in Wapakoneta, Ohio. She enjoys spending time with her daughter, Zoey, and taking long naps. Posts
May 2024
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