Look straight ahead…Stay in your lane

Yesterday while taking a walk around my neighborhood I heard some loud music coming from one of the passing vehicles.  I almost broke my neck trying to see who was driving the car.  After catching my balance and making sure that no one had witnessed my stumble, I saw a two door crème Infiniti coupe (I guess that’s what you’d call it) pass by.  Now, this car was clean.  I didn’t even care who was driving the car. I just imagined myself behind the wheel.  My daydream was interrupted by a rock on the edge of the sidewalk.  Again, I avoided stumbling and decided to keep my eyes straight ahead in order to avoid anymore slip ups. 

Now that I think about it, I’ve always been a little clumsy.  I would just be walking and before I knew it BAM! I trip over something.  I never really understood it, but then I realized that my focus was hardly ever on the steps in front of me, but on the steps behind me and the steps of those who passed by along the way.  Had I been paying more attention to where I was going instead of where I had come from or where everybody else was going, I would have avoided a great deal of embarrassing moments. 

My casual stroll reminded me so much of life.  In life we find ourselves focused, determined, and driven towards the assignments that God has for us.  However, somewhere along the way we drift off to the right or veer to the left when we are presented with distractions.  Distractions can come in any shape or form.  My distractions yesterday were loud music and a luxury car.  Your distraction might be a person or people.  I think this is where most of us lose track and forget about the assignments God has placed in front of us. We become overly concerned with the accomplishment or even the shortcomings of others. 

“Yeah, I heard he’s making like six figures now.”   

“She had on a pair of those red bottoms? Do you think that she can afford to be dressing like that?” 

“I heard they went on a vacation overseas somewhere, but you know I don’t get in other people’s business.” 

 

“They just up and decided to get married. If you want my opinion I think they should’ve waited a little while longer. “ 

“Yeah she did that ole Atkins diet.  She looks good, but she’ll probably gain it back by Christmas.” 

“I don’t know why she won’t leave him alone.  She can do much better if you ask me.”

LOL!  I can go on and on, but you get my point.  We spend so much time focusing on what “errbody” (for emphasis) else is doing that we trip, stumble, and lose our balance with the plans that God has for us. 

We must stay in our lane.  We must stay on the path that is in front of us.  We must stay in line [in balance] with God.  We mustn’t allow the things that are happening externally [separate from our relationship with God] to hinder us from reaching our full potential.

My prayer for you and me today is to look straight ahead.  Focus only on the things above instead of the things below [on earth].  That is where we will find perfect peace.  

Be blessed, 

Christy

Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.  Colossians 3:2

Focus on the first step!

As I was heading out to lunch today, I decided to take the stairs instead of taking the elevator from the 3^rd floor to the 1^st floor.  When you think about it, it’s much easier to walk down the stairs then to walk up.  My somewhat small choice of taking the stairs vs. the elevator got me to thinking about life.  It’s much easier for us to go down (sin, fall off the wagon, lust, overeat, lie, cheat, gossip, etc.).  It’s the getting up or going up part (repenting, surrendering, aligning with God, exercising, getting enough sleep, eating right, and living healthy lives) is where we tend to struggle.

It may seem like a difficult task when you look at all the stairs (situations, circumstances) that you have to climb in order to get where you’re going.  But what if you just focused on the first step?  Then after the first step, the second step.  Before you know it you’ll be near the top looking back at how far you’ve come. 

Start with step one! 

Be blessed, 

Christy

PUSH

A woman carries a baby for nine months. During those nine months, she can feel the baby growing inside of her.  She can feel the baby kicking. She can see pictures of her baby through an ultrasound. Her body changes and stretches in preparation for her baby to come into the world. When the time comes for her to deliver, she has a team of people around her, coaching her, and encouraging her to push. However, it is up to her to find the strength from within to push. God gives her that strength. She is motivated by the blessing that she is about to bring into the world. 

There are many of us who are spiritually pregnant.  We have seeds – gifts or dreams – that God has placed inside of us, but our fears keep us from birthing that dream into the world. God gives us visions of our dream. God places people around us to encourage us to see that dream realized. If a baby is born too early there are complications. If a baby is born too late there are complications. It is God’s timing that determines when that new life will come into the world.  If we sit on our gifts, refusing to share them with the world there will be constant barriers for us to cross. If we release those dreams prematurely, there will be hurdles for us to jump over. Instead we must listen and wait for God’s perfect timing. We mustn’t let the fear of failure creep in and rob us of our dream.  We must ask God for strength. It is God’s strength that will push us to our divine assignment.  The longer we avoid pushing the more people we hold up from seeing God’s glory through our dreams.

Dream with your eyes open. Dream as if failure isn’t an option.   Dream as if tomorrow may never come and trust God to be there with you every step of the way.

Be Blessed,
Christy

Don't Hesitate

Don’t hesitate to open the door and place your hand on the small of my back as I pass through.

Don’t hesitate to pump my gas when we’re out cruising together.

Don’t hesitate to buy me flowers, send me a love text, or kiss me on the forehead at the end of the day.

Don’t hesitate to pick the restaurant where we’ll wine and dine the night away.

Don’t hesitate to rub my neck, back, and my feet when I’ve had a rough day.

Don’t hesitate to listen with your eyes twice as much as you listen with your ears.

Don’t hesitate to knock me off my feet just because you think that I deserve it.

Don’t hesitate to make me laugh, since laughing is good for the soul.

Don’t hesitate to say what’s on your mind, just let me know that it’s off the record.

Don’t hesitate to pray until something happens because prayer changes things. 

Don’t hesitate to live everyday as if it were your last for tomorrow is not promised.

Never hesitate to take all of your requests to God for without HIM there would be no us.