11. Afraid? Turn to God

It was brought to my attention last week that the owner of the catering company might be taking a hiatus from the catering side of her business for a bit, so I finished out my last couple of days last week.  I have had time to reflect and look to the lord for answers as to where my next step is to be.  The lord has provided enough to take care of my portion of my son's daycare and rent for the beginning of the month.  The funny thing is as I look upon this situation I am not worried, fearful, scared, or upset.  In the past I would have said, "Why me?", and become focused on the wrong thing.  Listening to James MacDonald during one of his sermons he made the point of "love the promiser, not the promise."  I know the lord will provide for His plans are to not only prosper me but every one of us so long as we turn to Him for guidance, forgiveness, and provision.  It has not yet, at this point, been revealed to me what I should do in regards for a job, or finances but what I do have is the Lord's promise.  This trial may have just begun but the same God that led me in will lead me out and he will provide me my own promised land.  For the Lord's word is truth and therefore trustworthy.  I thank the Lord for this opportunity he has given me to be able to grow closer to Him through the trials I am given, his word, and the teaching of his word.

Should you find yourself in a situation similar to this look to the Lord, pray for answers and guidance.  The one thing we need to remember is if we ask it shall be given so long as what we are asking for does not go against God.  God is not a hypocrite and He will never give anything that hurts us.  Also when we ask we may be given an answer that as human's we don't like.  If it is an answer from God it is good, it is true, and it is to be acted on whether or not we can see the end result.  Where the Lord goes we should follow, and where the Lord stays we should stay.  Ask and it will be given, just have the faith and believe that the Lord will provide.  

10. Our Mistakes Don't Define Who We Are

About a week ago I attempted to bake for the first time since I had left culinary school.  Now the one thing I can say is this, cooking is easy and baking is a practice.  Needless to say I was disappointed in the end results.  This isn't to say the bread was burned, or inedible but I had made one mistake during the mixing process so the bread turned out denser than I would have liked.  I brought one loaf to my brother and his family and shared it with them during a family meal, there was none left afterwards but I was still disappointed in what I had produced.  A couple of  days later my girlfriend came over and as we were preparing dinner I had mention the bread and how I didn't know what to do with it since it wasn't "good" without having seen, or tasted the product she mentions "why not make bruschetta?".  Now I have to say this woman amazes me to no end.  Later on that evening she tried some of the bread and instead of critiquing it herself she allowed me to troubleshoot and figure out what I had done wrong.  One mistake was all that was made and I was ready to never attempt to make this bread again.  This is the story of my life and probably everyone's life to some degree or another.  The lord often uses other people to get his point across, for the better portion of my life all it took was one mistake to trip me up, bring out my negativity, and walk away from any other attempt at trying.  She made the point that first of all there are many people in the world that can't even attempt to look a recipe let alone take it from start to finish, I had not thrown the bread so on some level I was proud of what I had done, and out of this one this I could make at least a half a dozen other dishes.  

There are many verses in the Bible that talk about mistakes but they all sum up to one thing and this is the same thing I was told by the lord through my girlfriend "Your mistakes do not define you."  To use a quote from scripture "I am a new creation.  The old is gone and the new has come." 2 Corinthians 5:17.  I have allowed my mistakes to define me for most of my life and it is time to be made new.  The next day my brother and I talked for some length about our dreams, inspirations, life in general.  For the first time that I can remember my brother and I had a conversation without wanting to kill each other afterwards.  There were a couple of reasons as to why one: I was open to hear what was being said and two: my brother wasn't on the attack trying to force his opinion.  I have always said I couldn't work with my brother but after he and I conversed with each other as adults, peers, and brothers my mind was changed.  Yeah we still have a long way to go but the first step has been taken.  That night during practice at church I am given a bass guitar to learn.  I had not mentioned learning this instrument to the group for quite some time and our lead pianist had one lying around not being used.  So after all of this, all of my mistakes, and my resignation to no longer let my mistakes define, I am given an instrument I have always wanted to learn.  There is no way I can't make mistakes on this instrument but I'll have to work through them, and my brother plays the guitar therefore to get started I have to work with him since I can't afford lessons so we will have to continue working together.  The lord works in amazing ways and with the Lord guiding me, and teaching me I know I can overcome this obstacle/test.

9. Follower or Believer

In the recent months I have started listening to Christian radio stations such as Family Life Radio.  While listening to this station in particular I was exposed to preachers such as Dr. Charles Stanley, Chuck Swindoll, and James MacDonald.  I personally enjoy hearing the messages that are shared by these men as they have opened my eyes to new concepts of faith and direction on how to live and walk with our Lord.  One sermon in particular that caught my attention was from Dr. Charles Stanley.  In his sermon he was talking about the difference between a follower and a believer in Christ.  He uses the passage from Luke 9:57-62.  This passage describes the "cost" of following Jesus.  It is easy for us to say we believe in Jesus as our Savior but when we are called to follow do we drop our "nets" as the disciples did or do we create excuses and look back at our past using what we were as a way out as the men in the passage of Luke did.  I can honestly say I am a believer of Jesus but do I have what it takes to follow the Lord?  Today I think we as believers should take time to pray to the Lord for the strength and courage to become the followers the Lord has called us to be.  A song that has inspired me and on multiple occasions reminded me that the Lord will be with us is "Strong Enough to Save" by Tenth Ave North.