He Is My Strength: Morning Encouragement

Once again I have to start off by saying...God does His thing when it comes to getting points across. I woke up this morning with a heavy heart. I felt weak, tired, and I felt like anything whether it physically or spiritually could come beat my behind. We have all had a morning/day like that. Wanting to curl back up in the bed, and go to sleep to avoid all the blahness of the day. It wasn't until a few passing moments of me wallowing in pointless misery had gone by that I realized a song from my childhood had come on, speaking directly to my current situations. John P. Kee and New Life Community choir were belting out some melodious encouragement.

"He gives me... Strength to make it, Strength to take it. I've got the strength to know that everything will work out fine. Strength to suffer, Strength to conquer. I've got the strength to know the blessings of the Lord are mine. Be strong in the Lord, in the power of His might. Know in your heart every battle He will fight. My strength. Strength in my darkest hour. He is my strong tower. Strength to know you're coming soon. I know your strength can be renewed. Be strong, you be strong. I was strengthened in my spirit when He spoke to me. No more fear, I have peace. Who the Son sets free, I know clearly is free indeed. I can win a soul, I can reach my goal, I can keep the victory, For the oil of God is on me, If He tells me to wait I can do it, I've got the strength to obey."

Sighed, grabbed my Bible, cracked that baby open, and the last few passages of Philippians was smack dab in my face. It talked of how we should always rejoice. If we lack something, rejoice. If we have enough of what we need, rejoice. Having a good day? rejoice. Bad days...? Rejoice still. He will give us the strength to not simply endure through things that come our way, but to thrive. To be content!! That's the kinda strength I needed this morning.
 Philippians 4:13 says "I can do everything through Him who gives me strength." (NIV) For a second it left me wondering, how could I do everything when I can barely get through a day of mere somethings without being tired? The realization that I'm not called to be some Wonder Woman hit me like a ton of bricks. God never called me to do it all. My mission isn't to to save the world because Jesus has already done that. My mission isn't to be a mirror image of the women at church, in the Bible, and definitely not the ones on television. What I had to realize, before I could ask for this strength, is that I'm either living out my mission or the mission of someone else. When we are connected to God, we can do what He has called us to do and be who He has called us to be. When we get that confused with trying to be what our society wants, we get crappy caffeine craving mornings. The world tells us we have to do it all to be adequate; Jesus reminds us that we are here for a unique purpose. When we are strengthened "through Him" we can not only recognize our God-given strength, but we can also respect out limitations. And when we get to that point, the power He placed in us can exceed anything in our life.
Remember, life can be hectic-crazy, confusing, and hard. Those moments come when you feel as if you're stuck in the middle, moving at a snails pace. Let me tell you girl, being a brave, beautiful, strong woman of God isn't easy, and moving at a snails pace is better than not moving at all. Not everyone can do what you can or handle what you can. When you wonder "Am I really doing ok?" there are folks in awe of what He does through you. His strength is ALWAYS present, and sometimes we all need to be reminded of that. This morning was my day.
 Lord, thank You for the strength that is only mine through You. I need that help to overcome my flesh so I can do Your will today, especially in these current situations. We know we can do all things through You with our faith in You. Let it be constantly known that You are constant. No leery feelings, no bad days, no unfavorable news can change what You are to us...our rock, our joy, and our strength. We're thankful for those provisions.
 In Christ, Allie J

Love Each Other!!

Most important of all, you must sincerely love each other, because love wipes away many sins.
1 Peter 4:8 [CEV]

New Worship Song: Giving All of Me by Marilyn Tran

Check out my friends new song Giving all of me on Sound Cloud. She played every instrument, did all vocals, and layered them all herself. True talent and a great worship song.

I'm Good by Trip Lee feat Lecrae

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Just because somebody doesn't love you the way you want them to, doesn't mean they don't love you with all they have! ~Duncan Phillips

The drummer from Newsboys followed me on Twitter (fan girl moment...ok) and while checking out his tweets, I came across this. That statement is so true.
For a very long time now, I have always held this bar with how I wanted a certain close family member to treat me. The expectations I had because of their role, and how I truly desire to be treated, caused me to give myself this weird ultimatum. Either they loved me...or they didn't. There was no such thing as an in between.
This person doesn't treat me how I believe I should be treated. They don't act the way I feel they should, and therefore they don't care about me.
His statement makes much sense in this situation. Maybe this person is dealing with something that limits their trust, their willingness to emote, and show affection. They could be guarded, they could be hurting from the lack of love somewhere else. So they give me what they can, in their situation. Not that they don't love me...they love me sure enough. It's just not to the point where I would like it to be.
Sometimes we really have to look outside of ourselves and see that others act off of what they're feeling. Same as us. We can't forget that someone may be ignoring us, not because they don't like us, but because they're hurting.
At this point, we pray.
We pray, we love, we encourage, and most of we listen to what the Father instructs us to do.

I'm finding that God has certainly placed a higher tolerance in me. Some things that would make me lash out, no longer do so. Things that would push me to actually fight people, don't have power over me anymore.
Although I have come a long way, there is still much needed improvement, because now I let things roll off...but they pile up at my feet. When one too many things pile up, I trip over them, and I get very upset.
It's hard to not do so. Especially when you're surrounded by the things that truly rub you the wrong way. For some reason, I'm surrounded by them. He has a plan and He also has grace, strength, mercy, love, joy, and so much more to rain down onto me.

For that reason alone, I know that He will allow me to make it, and in the way that He feels is proper.

Episode 1

Episode 1 of Say That

LISTEN!!

Advice of the Century lol

Was talking to someone I kinda consider a mentor in my walk of faith and he basically gave me some of the best advice. He said:

There are times when the Lord calls you to boldly step out and take hold of your destiny, and there are times when God is calling you to hold ground. Right now, He’s calling you to hold ground. Why? Because His way of preparing us for the plans He has for us, is to put us in over our head and teach us to depend on Him, just to hold on and maintain.

You’re doing exactly what you’re supposed to do, and you’re succeeding. All this is preparing you. Take that from someone who grew up in a very messed up family. God will use it all, you can’t be faded.

Ephesians 6:13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

That just blew my mind. The best advice I've recieved in a veeeery long time. You may not be going through the exact same thing as me, but those were very encouraging words. God can and will lead you to what you need to hear/read even if it isn't something you've put out in the public.
Be encouraged :)

In Christ, Allie J


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It's so beautiful how Nala is more than often an illustration from God to me..

Like just now for instance, she woke up, sidled up under my arm, and went right back to sleep. Whenever I move, she scoots closer. Her contented little sighs sound so pleasurable because she truly does love being under me. When we sleep she curls her body around my arm. When I’m reading she does the same, and even when I’m walking around the house, she’s not too far behind. Nala loves me, and I’m positive she knows I love her back. Even if I’ve only been gone for a few minutes, she runs to me with her entire little body shaking from her tail wagging so hard. She finds comfort in my arms. It has been five years since she was rescued and not a day passes that she doesn’t show me how much she cares for me.

Right after thinking of all this, God said to me that how she is, is how I should be. He rescued me from sin, so why am I not constantly joyful with Him? He brings me comfort, so why do I sometimes lash out at Him? He is the source of my joy, my strength, my redemption, and all that I have…so why does my body not shake, dance, jump around, and be moved with these uncontrollable movements because I am full of excitement just to be in His presence every single day?

Time to change some things.

For quite some time I have been really thinking about what my gift is spiritually. There's the obvious stuff of being able to relate to younger people (why I wanted to do youth ministry) and being able to effectively communicate with strangers...but I'm not 100% sure where God wants me. That's something I'm gonna have to pray about a lot more.
Wanna be where He wants me to be.