What are you choosing to be in awe of today?

Psalm 5:7 Because of your unfailing love, I can enter your house; I will worship at your Temple with deepest awe. 

To be in awe of something means: an emotion variously combining dread, veneration, and wonder that is inspired by authority or by the sacred or sublime. 

As I drove back home from taking my girls to school the rain hit the windshield and the overcast skies gave way to the most beautiful flowers in my yard. It was sunny yesterday and almost 80 degrees and I didn’t notice them. It took the darkness almost for me to notice the beauty.  We often allow the darkness of our circumstances to overshadow the beautiful blooms that are taking place in our lives.  When we are struggling with something our focus consistently seems to stay on the struggle. We miss that God is growing areas of our lives and pulling out the ugly and replacing it with ALL things new.  Yesterday Richard and I went on a walk and we had to stop about every 5 steps for Scrappy to smell and mark his territory literally in everyone’s yard. It was driving us crazy that we finally just started tugging his leash a little to keep him from slowing us down. We would hand the leash back and forth and finally he figured out we were there to walk.  I feel like that’s exactly what the enemy does. As we move forward away from struggles, or areas of our lives that keep us in the dark he wants to keep us there so we can’t see what God is doing around the corner.   Today blooms are around you and some are already in bloom and others are waiting for the perfect time to show themselves. You need to press into the truth of God’s word and soak it up.  His word is the very thing that puts our dreams, our victories into motion.  We tend to cling to Jeremiah 29:11 with the hopes that our hearts desires are met when in reality our desires look nothing like the heart of God.  We have to drop our preferences, drop our “want to” and fully lean in and walk step by step in the direction of where He is taking us. Sometimes your dream has nothing to do with God and everything to do with pride. We have all been there and it’s a place of defeat because you never measure up to the expectation you and others place on yourself.  We crave validation and if your dream isn’t met you immediately run from it or manipulate it in a way you come out on top.  God wants you to walk in the now loving Him fully with all your heart, soul mind and strength and to love His people. Our gifting may not line up with where you are now but in the end God will be glorified and your obedience will reap a harvest that will blow your mind.   We become so consumed with our dreams coming true that we forget to be in love with our Creator.  He did give you a dream I don’t doubt it for a second however I know that when the dream becomes your direction you go off course and everything and everyone is affected.   We can be in awe of a dream, in awe of a circumstance, in awe of a struggle that has numbed, or you can be in awe of the Creator and His power and His sovereignty in your life.  Yesterday started out rocky. I was so locked in on what I didn’t have or what I needed to be doing and as I sat down I wrote in my journal “God you are my provider” and I believed it. Not even 20 minutes later God BLEW MY MIND! I am overwhelmed today and in awe of how BIG my God is.  There is darkness looming and yet I only see the light. We choose to walk in Joy or we choose to walk in defeat. I could list out all the things that are my struggles but where is the hope in that?  So today I want you to know that I am thankful for those who surround me. I am thankful for a husband that leads me well and gives everything he has to point our church and his family to Jesus. I have an incredible job with girls who have been rescued from sex slavery. I get to lead a lifegroup with some incredible ladies whom I adore.  I get to speak about freedom and BIG things are around the corner (more details later).   I could go on and on today and it’s because I believe that when we keep our eyes and hearts locked in on God our eyes see our circumstances completely different. Don’t let the enemy slow you down, or keep you from seeing what’s just around the corner. After the storms comes mighty blooms so be encouraged and SHINE today! (BTW This picture is the flower in my backyard that blew me away )