The Quiet Place

 I was reading a devotional today and it mentioned the verse below in it. As I read it, it definitely tugged at my heart. This verse reminded me that when we give God our heart he removes the heart of stone and gives us a heart that is shaped by him and called to follow his ways. God is the potter of our heart, every day he is shaping it to be more like his. Isaiah 64:8 says, "Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand." Just as the verse says, we are all the work of his hand and even through our struggles God is continually shaping us into the godly people that he longs for us to be. He takes that lump of clay and shapes it into something beautiful and reminds us that we are precious in his sight. so i encourage you to let  God mold your heart into one that is more like his. God is the potter, and we are the clay--rest in this truth as you go throughout your week and let God mold you into the godly person that he want...

Jeremiah 29:12-13  "Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart." So Today I want to talk to you about God's faithfulness, simply because this verse and Jeremiah 33:2 have been on my heart this week. Jeremiah 33:2-3 says,  "This is what the Lord says, he who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it---the Lord is his name: Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know" God is telling us in this verse  and the verse above that if we seek him in prayer we will find him and he will meet us right where we are at no matter the situation.  In those times when we feel abandoned or alone he's right there with us letting us know that we are safe with him. Jeremiah 29:12-13 and Jeremiah 33:2-3 tug at my heart strings as I think about the many ways that God has been faithful in my life, i remember when I ...

 Today I want to talk to you about Freedom in Christ, throughout the bible God tells us that through him we have freedom. Just as 2 Corinthians 3:17 tells us that where the spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. This verse reminds us that we don't have to live entangled in the sins of this world, but God provides the freedom for us to live in the spirit. When we live in the spirit we are living lives pleasing to the one that created us. Galatians 5:1 says ---"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." This verse reminds us that we are to stand firm in the fact that Christ has set us free from our sin and that in him we find our freedom. Rest in the truth that Galatians 5:1 provides as you go throughout the rest of your week.  2 Corinthians 3:17  "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is,there is freedom". Galatians 5:1 "It is for freedom ...

All around us the world is telling us to find our worth in  the "things" that it offers, when in reality we should be finding our worth in God. In Isaiah 43 God tells us that we are precious in his sight, and that he will give people in exchange for us and nations in exchange for our life because he loves us. To him we are worth it, even when we lose sight of what he has planned for us, even when we mess up, we are still worth it because he loves us more than we can even imagine. Titus 3:5 tells us that he saved us not because of things we have done but because of his mercy. He gives us grace every single day, no matter what the cost. He  takes our brokenness and turns it into something beautiful. He makes beautiful things out of brokenness. Through the grace that he provides he lets us know that we are worth it, no matter what the world is telling us, in his eyes we are worth it all. So you see, our worth is not in the things of this world but it's in the one who created...

Here is a challenge for you that I borrowed from a friend of mine. It's called Give a Little Grace. Write a compliment note to yourself from God's perspective. Then, put it in a place where you can read it every day, perhaps on your mirror. Then every time you read it remember that God loves you for exactly who you are. So remember not to beat yourself up when you don't get things right. Read the note and give yourself a little grace. Romans 5:19-21 "For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. 20  The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21  so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."     2 Corinthians 12:8-10 "Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9  B...

If you haven't noticed by now, God's heart is pretty big. In fact, God " is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us " - Eph 3:20. Lately I have been asking God to satisfy my heart with his love. To fill me up and let him be enough for me. Then the other night he showed me Psalm 37:4 "Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." The fact is God knows exactly what my desires are and exactly what I need. He has the ability to satisfy my heart and I am working on letting that be enough. Psalm 37 really helped me with this. Take encouragement that God knows the desires of your heart and that he has the ability to fulfill them because he created those very longings within you.    Psalm 37 Do not fret because of those who are evil      or be envious of those who do wrong; 2  for like the grass they will soon wither,      like green pla...

Today I want to talk to you about God's love, sometimes we forget just how much he loves us. C.S. Lewis says this about love-- "To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.” To love anyone, we must be vulnerable. When you love someone you put your  heart on the line and give it to that person with the chance that it could be broken and also with the chance that they might not love us back. But when we give our heart to God, he loves us no matter what, no matter who we are. God doesn't change, Malachi 3...

Today the church sermon was about breaking Bondage . Bondage is the "state of being bound by or subjected to some external power or control." Therefore, if someone is in a spiritual bondage, they are subjected to their sinful nature. In Romans 8 it says, " Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. .. Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it.   For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. " To break bondage, Christ must ...

I was reading a devotional tonight that was talking about the verses below in Philippians. Paul tells us here that no matter what he is going through, he can do it all by the strength that God gives him. Paul reminds us in verses 11-12 that whatever circumstances God hands us, whether they are easy or rough, or don't feel right, or make us want to cry. God is right there in the midst of it all, giving us the strength that we need to get through it. Paul pulls at my heart strings in verses sixteen to eighteen  when he says--"for when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid more than once when I was in need. Not that at I desire your gifts; what I desire is that more be credited to your account. I have received full payment and have more than enough". He reminds us here that he has more than enough and that God will take care of all of his needs, no matter what. Paul wraps it up in verse nineteen--"And my God will meet all  your needs according to his glorious riches in...