Where's Your Added Value?!

I was talking with a friend and she said something poignant. It’s a lesson that she tries to teach her kids by demonstrating it in her own life; and I liked the way she put it. She said she was appreciative of the value her friends added to her life and always tells them that the people you surround yourself with should bring added value.

Her words stuck with me longer than our conversation as I began to reflect on the upcoming new year. I’ve seen many posts on Facebook and Twitter talking about getting rid of this or that type of unproductive person in your life. I’ve heard the sermons (particularly towards singles) on getting rid of zeros to make room for heroes. We live in a selfish world that is often taking on that old Janet Jackson adage of ‘what have you done for me lately?’ and rarely the other way around. But today my thoughts were not on the other person. 

Today, I began thinking of 2012 as The Year of Added Value. Put simply, I want to bring added value to the life of anyone I come in contact with. It’s easy to point to the other person and say who isn’t doing enough for us, but what if we are the ones who are short-changing others? Are you sitting on gifts and talents that God has been trying to get you to use? Are you praying when God says pray for someone? Are you forgiving when God says ‘humble yourself’? Do you bring positivity or negativity to every situation you are in? Are you stale seasoning or do you bring that added zest? As much as we want to tell others to hit the road, this is the time to assess for ourselves: If I am not added value, then perhaps I’m the one who needs to make a move.

As you ask yourself those questions, know that, if you fall short, grace abounds and that you too can decide to make 2012 the year of added value. Won’t you join me?

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, 

how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing 

but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men." 

Matthew 5:13

The Curtain Will Go Up!

"Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge." Psalm 19:2

I don't know about you, but 2011 has been a challenging year. I thought 2010 was pretty difficult and was glad to see the new year come in. However, what I didn't expect was that the transition out of the difficult was going to be almost as bad if not simply fully of more questions than answers. I'm not sure if that makes sense to you who are reading. I can only liken it to being in a theater before the show starts. It took a lot of energy to buy the tickets, brave traffic, find parking, wait in lines, locate your seat, have people cross over you and step on your toes to get to theirs and you finally get settled...THAT was 2010. Then what happens? The lights go out just as the show is about to start...THAT has been 2011. In that darkness, you sit anticipating the lights coming up to reveal great things. You are excited about the prospect of being entertained and having an enjoyable experience. But that dark moment can be nerve-wracking if something goes wrong behind the scenes and it is prolonged for any reason. The darkness then becomes a bit daunting and anxiety can even set in. You know something good is coming but that brief extra moment of night is seemingly endless and a bit nerve-wracking.

As we started 2011, the Lord told me that this would be the year of redemption and the year of transition from places of bondage in our lives. I believe that Word to be true and have watched it come to pass in my life and others. But the PROCESS that transition takes has been trying and tiring. Much of the year I have found myself in those moments of darkness before the show and simply wondering (with hope and expectation), what is on the other side of this night season. But what I have found in the darkness has been an unexpected blessing. I have gotten to know myself better. I've gotten to know others better. I have been able to lean on God more fully. I have been challenged with trusting him implicitly.I am reminded that time for God is not as time is for us. And though that moment of darkness has seemed unending at times and nerve-wracking, for God it has been only a momentary lapse in time and the curtains are about to go up.

Today, I want to encourage you with that fact that revelation comes during the darkest of times. Sometimes you'll get it while you're in the dark and sometimes it will come after. But one thing is for sure, the curtain does eventually go up!

Be encouraged and encourage someone else today.

Visible Faith

“When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic,

Son, your sins are forgiven you.”

Mark 2:5

So often, Christians buy into the whole idea that our religion should be not seen and barely heard. We want to be politically correct. We don’t want to alienate those that we know and love who may not know Christ. So we change Christmas to holidays and say we had “family time” on Sunday instead of testifying about our experience at church. I know that the definition of faith is about those things that you cannot see, but I was struck this week by a verse in the Bible where it says that Jesus saw their faith. They broke through the ceiling…light pouring in as they pressed towards getting to Jesus. A man was healed because of the faith Jesus saw in these men. So this week, the question that keeps ringing in my ears is pretty simple: Can God see my faith? Maybe it's just me, but it's the type of demonstration of faith that makes me pray this prayer for you and me: Lord, help us to serve you with boldness so you (and others) can see our faith. 

Confident of Better Things

"But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you..."

(Hebrews 6:9a)

I always think of the book of Hebrews as the book on faith. That’s always what sticks out in my mind—the definition of faith in Hebrews 11 that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (vs. 1). But in my current study of Hebrews this small verse long before that popular one jumped out at me. You see, I was having one of those weeks wondering what’s the point and crying out to God for clarity on why things are the way they are. I was feeling as though no one was listening and wondering why I continued to talk. I was feeling inefficient, ineffective, and unfruitful. So as I read the words in chapter 6, I felt as though God was whispering to me on saying to be ‘confident of better things for me’. No matter what my circumstances look like today, better things are coming my way as a result of my relationship with Christ. And, what’s more, vs 10 begins by saying that God is not unjust and won’t forget what we do in labor for Him.

What a gracious reminder from our loving Father! Perhaps you are feeling inefficient, ineffective and unfruitful too. Perhaps you’re wondering why you are where you are and trying to see the forest for the trees. I want to encourage you today from the Word of God that I am confident of better things coming your way. Hang in there.

Be encouraged!

Blessings,

Andrea

P.S. Don’t forget to share this with another…you never know who is in need of a Hebrews 6:9 Word.

Do Something Good Today

This morning in my prayer time, I realized that I didn’t have a long request of God. My mind had been in overdrive all week long around the issues of love, relationships, finances, ministry, and more. But at prayer time…just one simple thought came to mind: “Lord, let me do something good today.” There's nothing earth-shattering about this devotional. I simply get tickled thinking about the prospect that, maybe…just maybe…today someone’s life will be better because I did, said, prayed something that was in line with God’s will and encouraging to their soul and spirit. Sometimes we overcomplicate the will of God to do good to others, but it's really just that simple. So today, I extend that prayer to you: “Lord, let <INSERT YOUR NAME HERE> do something good today. In Jesus Name. Amen.”

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, 

but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.  

(Philippians 2:3)

 Be encouraged,

Andrea

How'd You Find THAT Button?! (Sigh)

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal

but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,

2 Corinthians 10:3-4

I am like so many people who have experienced the loss and strain of relationships in my life. It’s hard when you invest time and energy and your heart into situations that turns into what could best be described as soured milk. It’s not a fun space at all. In fact I often find myself in a surrendered place reaching after God when my tears and/or anger overwhelm me beyond what I am able to handle…MOST of the time. I hate to admit it, but there are times when my buttons are pushed and the Lord is the furthest thing from my mind. There are times when anger and resentment and hurt take hold. There are moments when God isn’t my first thought but the AFTERthought once all of the cussing and fussing has subsided.

It seems to take me by surprise. I’ll think that everything is smooth sailing. My praises will be high. Life will seem like a bowl of cherries. I’ll know that I’m healed from daddy issues or old hurts or new hurts and then “BAM!” someone will magically push one of those very buttons and unleash a world of anguish that no one expected to see. I'll find myself throwing up my hands, shaking my head and muttering "How'd You Find THAT Button?! (Sigh)"

So after this happened for the millionth time recently, I figured a prayer was in order. “Lord, please help me to handle the buttons being pushed with YOUR grace and a sincere mercy. Help me to turn the other cheek and/or walk away, when all I want to do is stand and fight.” And in the midst of this moment of despair, the Lord reminded me that He has already won the war and that this right here was nothing but trick of the enemy to derail me from my focus on Him.

So this week, in your prayers, I want to remind you to see God with that same eye—asking for HIS focus on how to handle those buttons. Some of you just had a button pushed and some will close this devotional and see a finger hovering over a button in your life. Today is that opportunity to remember that this is not a battle that you even have to fight. This is a spiritual war that has already been won by Jesus. In the midst of that anguish, unleash a world of prayer instead of a world of hurt…unleash a world of praise instead of a world of heat.

Be encouraged!

Blessings,

Andrea

P.S. Don’t forget to pass this along and “pray it forward” (I read that on a Facebook post and loved it). You never know who is trying to deal with buttons being pushed and this may be just the word they need to refocus.

Peace Costs

“You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever for in Yah, the Lord, is everlasting strength.” 

Isaiah 26:3-4

I have often prayed that prayer that God would bless me or another with that “perfect peace”. As Christians, we strive for that greatest level of “peace that surpasses understanding” just like the Bible tells us in Philippians 4:7. We lay our petitions before the Lord and hope that what comes after will be peace. But what we fail to remember is that peace comes at a cost.

The cost of peace is TRUST.

The Lord is wanting to bless you with that promised peace but he needs you to trust Him implicitly. Today is your chance to do just that—to demonstrate you trust for God and receive the peace he has for you. It’s easier said than done but it takes a commitment to leave your situations and burdens on the altar of prayer and not pick them back up. Someone once preached that we must treat those things like they are FedEx/UPS packages coming to our doors and remember that we have the power to say to those distractions and burdens that “we are not signing for that”.

Make that your goal on today!

Blessings,

Andrea

Right Time. Small Wings.

Have you ever watched a butterfly fly come into this world? Knowing that a caterpillar went through a process to emerge as a perfect butterfly is mind-boggling. To think that God takes this thing that was on the bottom of the bottom and raises it up to the point where it’s beautiful and is able to soar to heights far beyond what I will ever see with such little equipment always amazes me. A sign at a nature observatory once explained it further for me saying:

It takes just a few minutes for the adult butterfly to emerge from its chrysalis when the time is right. The butterfly first emerges with very small wings.

I thought about how often we go through our own seasons of being in that cocoon with life’s changes, processes and trials. Sometimes we come out slow but we do come out! We’ve graduated from schools, gone through trainings, survived issues in our marriages, transitioned from singleness to marriage, finally gotten pregnant after years of trying, conquered an illness…all great and wonderful things. But while you are in the cocoon, you have no real idea of the butterfly experience that is about to come your way. I can imagine that the darkness of our situations mimics the darkness in that hard shell. We wait with anticipation laced with a bit of doubt that we will ever make it out. However, Acts 27:25 encouraged me beyond that doubt this week. Paul, in the midst of a storm when everyone else had given up hope, says “…take heart, men, for I believe God that it will be just as it was told me.”

It may take time to emerge from the cocoon of your situation. You may have to break through some things to see the light, but just know that you can take heart. God’s promise to bring you out was not a lie. His promise to enlarge take you flying to higher heights was not your imagination. You may come out with very small wings initially, but you will come out when the time is right! I believe that God will do just as He told you!

Be encouraged!

A New Day For Prayer Points

I AM SO EXCITED! 

Many of you have followed my prayer points for years now. They began as a wonderful gift of discipleship from a friend, Tamara Hunter, in 1996 and have grown ever since. It has been a pleasure to serve you and I do hope that you'll continue to share in this faith journey with me with this new (hopefully more user-friendly and accessible) format. As the times change, I'm trying to change with them. It is my hope that as Lifted Hands Ministries (my new outreach nonprofit organization) grows, these weekly devotionals will grow along with it.

Thank you for making the jump from Yahoo! to here with me. 

Many blessings,
Andrea