Category: storm

attitude, be real, change, changes, character, choice, complete surrender, control, convictions, difficulties, discernment, Doer of the Word, Doing good, draw near, facebook page, Faith, fear, feelings, focusing on God, freedom, God focused, God's standards, God's Word, Godly wisdom, growth, hard truths, heart change, JESUS, Letting go, Life, Listening to God, live in the present, Love, not about me, Peace, Peace in the storm, perspective, Power of Words, prayer, praying, Real Life, reflect, remember, repent, scripture, sinful nature, storm, strength, suffering, testimony, think before you speak, tired, transparent, TRUST, Truth, verses, wisdom, words, YouVersion Bible

Bitter or Better

by Heather Guest DawkinsLeave a Comment on Bitter or Better
Bitter or Better

•Moment of transparency•

There are many areas in life that I could apply this verse to. Many areas where I need to apply this verse. Here is what I’ve learned and finding this verse is a result of looking for an answer in His Word.

In life there are seasons and not just seasons of people. There are people that come and go and seasons that are high and low. There are people who stay. There are those who hurt us and who we hurt. Some accidentally, some on purpose. You learn that you can only fix you and you can only change your heart.

There are those who are like sandpaper and those who we mesh with. But we don’t get to choose who we should be kind hearted to… even when they hurt us. Then there are those who are oblivious to the fact that they pour salt in our wounds over and over. But we can’t live in a bitter state and rise above at the same time.

Bitter or Better. I remember Granny Shiver saying: “You can let it make you bitter or better.” when sharing about life issues. It’s always stuck with me. In the back of my mind. And praise God that His Word is always available to me. When I want to wallow and try to figure out why… I can just turn to the Word and find “why not” or why to not wallow in my feelings. Sometimes it takes longer than others. Sometimes it’s my last resort instead of first instinct. That’s real life.

There’s more to this thought of mine that I’ll be sharing here on my blog. Until then, maybe you needed this reminder, too.

People will let us down, but God NEVER will. Grace. He gives it to us abundantly.

The seasons and people in our life can grow us, if we choose to let them make us better and not bitter. I’m working on becoming better. It’s only possible with God.

Seeking Him,

attitude, believers, bible, Bible study, choice, Christ, Christian, Creator, determination, difficulties, discipline, Doer of the Word, Doing good, facebook page, Faith, fear, feelings, focus, focusing on God, Glory, God, God focused, God's will, Heaven, help in troubled times, Holy Spirit, hurt, impatient, inspired, JESUS, Jesus Others Yourself, Joy, longsuffering, making it through, meet your needs, needs, pain, past, Peace, Peace in the storm, prayer, purpose, rejoicing, relationship, repentance, Savior, scripture, selfless, servant, shine, short and sweet, short and sweet saturdays, short and sweet simple truths, SImple Truths blog page, slave to Christ, storm, storms of life, strength, suffering, testimony, thorn, tired, trouble, TRUST, Truth, twitter

Some Days are Hard

by Heather Guest Dawkins4 Comments on Some Days are Hard

SHORT and SWEET SIMPLE TRUTHS

 

Some days ARE harder than others. Harder to choose joy. Harder to be patient. Harder to believe that things will get better.

ROMANS 12:12 ~ Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

I don’t know about you, but on those days, I’m even more heaven ready.

That’s where the “joyful in hope” comes in.

There is a peace that comes with knowing that this earth is not my permanent dwelling place. That HEAVEN is my permanent home and that is only because I know my Jesus and my Jesus knows me.

Do you have that assurance? That joy that only comes through knowing Jesus as your personal Savior and Lord.

Here’s the thing… What separates the men from the boys and the ladies from the girls… How well we shine Jesus when the days are hard.

What makes us think that we are so special? What makes us think that we should be exempt from the HARD DAYS? Jesus wasn’t.

The term “CHRISTIAN” means little Christs.. Like Christ.

Let me ask you this…

Did Jesus suffer?

Did Jesus have some HARD DAYS?

You better believe HE DID.

Way more than any of us. And.. Here’s the kicker, HE SUFFERED ON PURPOSE and FOR A PURPOSE.

Isaiah 53 tells us of the suffering and the glory of Jesus. Please take a moment and read the whole chapter..it’s only 12 verses.

Isaiah 53:3 ~ He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Isaiah 53:5 ~ But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

 

So… When Some Days are Hard... I’m going to remind myself that any of my seemingly tough times don’t even compare to what Jesus willingly suffered for me.

 

Until Next Time,

banner[1] (3)

attitude, change, changes, choice, Christian, clarity, complete surrender, facebook page, Glory, God, God focused, God's will, Good, grace, He is enough, intentional, JESUS, Life, live for HIM, live fully, live in the present, scripture, shine, short and sweet, short and sweet saturdays, short and sweet simple truths, SImple Truths blog page, sin, sinful nature, sinners, slave to Christ, slave to sin, storm, storms of life, testimony, thanks, Truth, twitter, verses

Looking In The Rear View

by Heather Guest DawkinsLeave a Comment on Looking In The Rear View

~ Short and Sweet Simple Truths ~

I have a question for you.

Are you living life looking in the rear view mirror ALL.THE.TIME. ?

We really can’t truly LIVE in two or more places at the same time. I mean LIVE. Not just survive. But, LIVE, in a way that is pleasing to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Our past mistakes and failures should be remembered.. But never dwelt on.
Dwelling means what? To dwell.. To LIVE there. Dwelling on the past means living there. Is it even possible?

If we are constantly looking in a rear view mirror, we miss the view in front of us. Have you ever just really focused on all the beauty that can be found right in front of your face? You will miss it, if you aren’t living in the present.

photo: HDawkins copyright 2013
photo: HDawkins
copyright 2013

Our past is an important part in our testimony. Our testimony should only point to God and how HE changed us. So, it is important to REMEMBER who we were…. and then press on.

Philippians 3:13,14 (ESV) ~ Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Blessings my friends!
banner[1] (3)

 

AMAZING, attitude, Authentic, awesome, believers, bible, Bible study, blessing, blessings, bold, change, changes, choice, Christian, comfort, comfort zone, communication, complete surrender, control, convictions, discernment, Doer of the Word, draw near, equip, facebook page, Faith, fear, feelings, fishers of men, focusing on God, Glory, God, God focused, God's standards, God's timing, God's will, God's Word, Godly wisdom, Good, growth, hear His voice, heart, heart change, heart for Jesus, Holy Spirit, humble, inspired, intentional, obedience, Peace, perspective, plan, positive, powerful, pray, prayer, praying, putting God first, saved, Savior, scripture, servant, slave to Christ, slave to sin, spiritual exercise, spiritual walk, spiritually fit, storm, storms of life, testimony, time, tired, verses, what really matters

You Know It’s Time

by Heather Guest Dawkins4 Comments on You Know It’s Time

996578_10201790254704033_364623879_n

Walking closely with Jesus, listening for his voice, and then knowing that you’ve just got to take that step and obey.

But…..

Is that MY voice I am hearing?

Is that HIS voice?

Is it because I. Am. Tired. ?

Is it because It. Is. Right. ?

How do you know what to do…where to go..which answer is right?

Walking closely with God. Training your ears to listen…your eyes to see…your spirit to feel.

That’s part of it…. And, praying…praying…praying.

Your heart feels when it’s right.

You have a nervous feeling in your stomach maybe.

You take that step. You obey.

Because…. the alternative is disobedience. Obedience leads to life. Disobedience leads to death.

Romans 6:16 (NLT) ~ Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.

Because bringing glory to GOD is what we are CALLED TO DO.

In every little thing. BRING HIM GLORY. It all matters. It’s ALL that matters.

YOU JUST KNOW IT’S TIME.

Time to move forward. Growth isn’t an OPTION when you are truly FOLLOWING GOD. Standing still and following are two entirely different things.

You can’t stay a seed forever. You’ll rot if you do. Seeds that aren’t watered obviously don’t grow. The seed has to grow. That is the NEXT STEP.

Growth is not optional in the TRUE CHRISTIAN’S life. 

SO.… even when it seems scary. And it probably will.  Even when we aren’t quite sure of the next step. Other than the fact that we MUST MOVE FORWARD… Then we just obey. We keep growing. We keep glorifying the ONE who is causing the growth in us. We help others to grow. We just obey.

Maybe you have been wondering if it was your voice or God’s voice that was talking. I’ve found that God is so awesome in that HE often repeats HIS message to me in different ways. Through messages, texts, songs, emails, signs…etc.  He uses HIS obedient children to give us messages sometimes.

Sometimes. We are TOO loud to hear HIM. Sometimes, we are TOO busy. Sometimes others are TOO loud around us. Those are all called DISTRACTIONS. We have to be intentional about listening and creating times that we don’t have distractions.

AND, when YOU KNOW IT’S TIME... whether it be time to step out of your comfortable little spot, or time to dig even deeper in HIS Word, or time to take a huge leap of faith… may YOU JUST OBEY.

 

Look at Noah… 

Genesis 6:22 ~ So Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him.

 

People probably ..no, definitely… thought he was nuts. Building a HUGE ship with 3 decks and for what? They had never seen rain. All of the vegetation was watered from below the ground until the flood. Noah just obeyed. The rest of the story…the whole story can be found in Genesis 6-9…  Noah wasn’t perfect, but he did obey God and he did have faith. AND he was protected because of that faith and obedience.

Obedience to God always leads to blessings. That’s a fact.

             Until Next Time,

banner[1] (3)