Dreamers

"You may say I'm a dreamer but I'm not the only one."- John Lennon

Picture in your mind one of those damp and dreary Sunday afternoons.

The rain is gently tapping against the windows.

Your plans for yard work and grilling out are canceled due to the weather and you find yourself snuggled up under your favorite blanket just day dreaming.

What are you thinking about?

What are the thoughts that are so vivid in your mind?

What are your hopes?  

What are your dreams?

Have they passed you by?

Do you feel like they have become no better then childhood games of make believe?

Psalms 37:4 says, "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart." (N.K.J.V.)

Many sermons I have heard preached from this scripture talk about God providing to us the things that we desire.

I agree with that interpretation but this scripture also says to me that if I delight in the Lord, He will place the desires in my heart that He wants for me.  

Through delighting in Him He will cause me to desire his will for my life.

As I grow and mature in Him, the hopes and dreams that I have for my life will match up with the hopes and dreams that He has destined for me.

He places those seeds in our hearts as visions of what can be if we are willing to serve Him; delight in Him.

If you have a dream that lives in your heart and stirs your spirit down deep, no matter how far fetched it might seem, I say to you... 

Dream On, Dreamer!  Keep Believing!

Make God a part of your dreams!

He placed those desires in your heart for a reason.

Lay them before Him and talk about them with your daddy God!

He wants to prosper you.

He wants you to live out the destiny that He has set before you.

Where do you want your life to go?

What is the direction that you would take if life wasn't beating you up around every corner?

Maybe you dream about owning your own business.

Maybe it's a dream of reaching thousands of people for Christ.

Maybe your dream is to be debt free, or to have a vibrant love filled romance with your partner, or maybe it's just to live a healthy life.

No matter what your dreams may be, no matter what the desires are that are in your heart, run after them!  Chase Them Down!

Don't let them lay in the corners of your mind like long forgotten toys of your youth.

No! Pick up those dreams, dust them off, and conquer them!

You are NOT too old!

It is NOT too late!

Your dreams have NOT passed you by!

Stand in the promise that "I can do ALL THINGS through Christ who strengthens me."- Phil 4:13 (N.K.J.V.)

 

Make that promise a part of your thinking.

Say it to yourself every single morning, noon, and night if you have to until you start believing it.

Keeping this promise in mind, take time to sit back and let your mind wander into the future.

Allow yourself to dream with the excitement of knowing that you really can do All Things through Christ.

Then, pray and ask God what steps you should take to make your dreams become realities.

After you have done all that you can do to accomplish your dreams then rely on God and have faith that He will do the rest!

My prayer for you today is that you will press forward with God, through faith, casting off those chains of fear, and accomplish your dreams!

Be a Dreamer!

You really can do All Things through Christ!

As always remember that:

God Loves You!

God Created You!

God Accepts You!

Until next time,

SavedByGrace

nobodies

Hey you!

Yeah, I'm talking to You!

To anyone who is heart broken, to the guy who doesn't fit in, to the woman who's got no money, to the transgendered girl with a lip ring, to ANYONE out there who feels like they don't measure up to today's picture of a "perfect Christian", read this scripture:

1 Cor 1:26-31-  Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don't see many of "the brightest and the best" among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these "nobodies" to expose the hollow pretensions of the "somebodies"? ... Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ. (The Message Bible)

Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror and thought,

"Who am I?  Does God really love me? Does He even know who I am?  I'm just a nobody."

Have you ever felt broken down and worthless?

If we look at life as a seventh grade P.E. class are you constantly the kid who's picked last when others are choosing teams?

Do you not fit the mold of today's "perfect Christian"?

No matter what circumstance has happened in your life I have news for you.....You Are Somebody!

Matthew 21:42 tells us that God uses the "stone that the builder rejected" to build His kingdom. (N.I.V.)

In the above text the "stone that the builder rejected" is not just used as a part of building His Kingdom.

This stone that wasn't good enough for others is so important to God that He uses it as the cornerstone, the foundation!

We serve a God that specializes in taking "nobodies" and making them cornerstones of great ministries!

Once you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, you are no longer too awkward, or too fat, or too skinny, or too poor, or too out of the main stream, or too gay, or too transgendered to be a Christian.

You have the power of the Resurrected Christ living inside of you!

You are a New Creation through Christ!

The same power that opened blinded eyes and raised Jesus from the dead flows through your veins today!

Never forget that!

If you have felt like a "nobody" for any reason before, know this, you are an integral part of the Kingdom of God!

Jesus said in Mark 9:35 that "it is the last who shall be first." (N.K.J)

The next time the enemy starts beating you up in your mind, making you feel like you are good for nothing, like you are a "nobody", remember this post and thank God that in His eyes you are exceptional!

In God's eyes you are destined for great things!

It is the "nobodies" of the world who reach thousands for Christ.

It is those who once felt worthless who press on to pick up the banner of God's Grace, Hope, Mercy, and Unconditional Love and carry it to other "nobodies" that so many churches overlook.

Be excited in who you are because those qualities that set you apart from other people are the exact qualities that God will use to reach those around you!

God created you with a unique purpose.

Only YOU can carry out the plan He has set in motion for your life.

As always remember:

God Loves You!

God Created You!

God Accepts You!

Until next time,

SavedByGrace

Winning through Losing

Sometimes losers win.

You read that right.

While it might not be focused on so much in our society, there are times when you can lose something, even something incredibly important to you, and still come out as a winner.

This coming Sunday is Mother's Day.

As most of my readers know, this will be my first Mother's Day after losing my mom to cancer last year.

What has made this blog relevant since I started it in October is that I write from my own experiences.

As difficult as my mom's death was to me I feel like it should be laid out before you all in this post so that hopefully someone will benefit from this chapter in my life.

God really does give us beauty for our ashes.

My mom was my best friend.

Growing up she was my shoulder to cry on when life punched me in the stomach (literally and figuratively.)

She was my congratulatory hug when I had a personal triumph.

She was my ear that was always open to listen to me in the middle of the night when I felt confused or heart broken.

My mom was my spiritual guide.

She spoke into my life with insight and knowledge that only God could give her.  

If she asked me once, she asked me a thousand times, "Did you pray about that?"

She was an intercessor who spent hours in prayer daily; a minister who spent most of her life loving and reaching out to people; and a teacher who spent countless evenings studying the word.

I can truly say that there was not a single instance in my life when she was not there for me when I needed her; her arms stretching toward me with her unconditional love.

For my mom, to act like a Christian meant to show Christ to others, not judge them or scare them into salvation, but love them as Jesus loves them.

One of my favorite quotes of hers is,"God called us to catch the fish, not clean them."

She truly believed that as long as we reached people for God, He would take care of cleaning up their lives.  

To quote my mom's friend, the late Tammy Faye Bakker, "We as Christians should act like hospitals to people, not court rooms."

My mom went home to be with Jesus on July 9th, 2010.

I should tell you that when I started typing out this post my plan was to show how God has moved in my life mightily through coping with the loss of my mother.

And, that is very true.  

He has certainly given me beauty from my charred ashes of hurt and despair.

He has certainly made me a winner through this personal loss.

However, as poignant as that message is, there is an even better example of "Winning through Losing" that I can share with you.

You see, my mom lost her life, not on July 9th, 2010, but many years before as a teenager when she laid her life down before God and accepted Jesus as her personal savior at Hunter Street Baptist Church.

At that moment, she lost everything.

And at the moment, she won eternal life!

She took on a new master in God, yielding her dreams, her hopes, and losing her very existence to the will of her Heavenly Father.

Through accepting His calling on her life she lost her career of teaching students in a classroom but she won a lifetime of teaching hundreds more about the promises of God!

She lost her plans of taking simple family vacations each summer but she won a ministry that took her to every state in the US as well as 17 countries throughout North America, Europe, and Russia.

She lost much of her free time but she won a close relationship with God that allowed her to just sit in His presence and listen.

The writings that came from those quiet times with God resulted in two books.  

She was even granted permission to present a copy of her first book, "Love, Father" to Pope John Paul II.

To a society that sees success in terms of money, wealth, and fame, my mom was a loser.

To a God who sees success in loving Him with all her might, and loving her neighbors as herself, my mom was a remarkable winner!

On this Mother's day I pay tribute to Dorothy Street, my mom, and her legacy of winning through losing.

I hope that you will join me in surrendering your life to the will of God today!

Imagine the plans that He has for you.

They are so much more then you can comprehend!

Your destiny is yours alone to live and experience.

Lose your life and Win Your Destiny!

One last thing before I wrap up, If you have lost your mom, I am praying for you.  

As I mentioned above I know how difficult it is to face this day.

Surrender that pain to your daddy God so that it can become your testimony, making you a winner through that painful loss.

Please remember that He will give you beauty for your ashes!

As always remember:

God Loves You!

God Created You!

God Accepts You!

Until next time,

SavedByGrace

Ps. Below is my mom's favorite song.  

It gives me peace to know that she now lives every day "Somewhere Over The Rainbow."

Happy Mother's Day Mom. 

I Love You!

Judy Garland - Somewhere Over The Rainbow