Have you ever needed confirmation from God that you were moving in the right direction.  That what you were feeling lead to do was truly what he wanted.  I received my confirmation this morning in my bible and prayer time.

You see I felt lead to start this blog weeks ago and I kept saying God I can’t do that.  I am not smart enough and I haven’t been a Christian long enough to be able to help anyone.  I said Lord no one is going to want to read it and I am going to only embarrass myself and fail you Lord.  Honestly, I didn’t even know what a blog was nor had I ever read a blog but my spirit kept telling me to start it.  Before I could even start any research on blogs, I opened Pinterest one morning and my feed was full of articles on Christian blogs.  At this point, I had not searched anything on blogs especially a Christian Blog.  I didn’t really know that they existed.  Crazy me said this has to be a coincidence it can’t be God telling me to do this.  I finally go the nerve to mention the idea of starting a blog to someone I work with last Friday and she seemed so positive about it and thought I should do it.  I told her I have no idea how to start one but she continued to encourage me to do it.  That night me and my husband were coming back from dinner and I all of sudden blurted out ” I want to start a Christian blog” I thought to myself, he will be honest with me and tell me I am crazy and shouldn’t do this but instead he pulls out his cell phone as I am driving and looks up how to start a blog and begins to read this to me on the way home.  It sounded so easy and I remember I started praying in the car, God it can’t be this easy and why me of all people.  I don’t have anything to say that people haven’t already heard.

I continued to pray until I fell asleep that night and when I woke up Saturday morning the blog was the first thing on my mind.  I thought okay, I surrender.  I said God if this is what you want then okay, I may embarrass us both but here goes nothing.  I was amazed at how easy it was to set it up and write my first post, but I did it.  Yesterday, I did another short post over something that God has dealt with me on so I decided to share it.  But last night I was reviewing the Stats of my post and had 84 people review it on Saturday and only 17 people yesterday so I began to doubt myself.  I prayed yesterday afternoon Lord, maybe this is wrong, maybe I misunderstood you.  I said Lord if this is not what you want me to do please let me know but Lord most of all if it is something you want me to do, I need you to let me know.  I was feeling very defeated yesterday and was so full of doubt.  I ended my prayers last night with God, I only want to do your will so please lead me in the direction that you want.  I woke up this morning and grabbed my phone and the first thing I see is a notification on Facebook from my daughter.  I opened it and it was a comment on my blog that she shared that said ” So proud of you!! Love You!  I got up and started praying as I fixed my coffee for guidance and I opened my bible and it opened to I Timothy Chapter 4 and as I went to turn it, because this is not where I am currently reading, I glanced at the verses I had highlighted at some point in the past year and it was verse 15-16 in NKJV.  It says “Meditate on these things: give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all.  Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine.  Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.”  I just sat and cried, as I believe that was my confirmation from God to continue.

So today, if God is working on you or trying to tell you something just stop and listen.  If you have doubts just ask him for confirmation.  He doesn’t want us going in the wrong direction so he will let you know if you are following his will.  Just trust and believe in him.

Thank you Jesus for ALL you do and for loving each and everyone one of us!!

As Christians why do we compartmentalize God in our lives then expect him to take care of every aspect of lives when we are in trouble?  We set limits or shut God out of certain areas of our lives.  Proverbs says to trust the Lord with ALL of our hearts and lean not on your own understanding.  God doesn’t want to just be a part of our church life or have weekend visitations with us.  He wants to be a part of our day to day life.  That includes  our relationships, our job, our finances, our bodies, and our family.  If we truly trust God then we need to  give him access to our entire life.  Imagine what he could accomplish in all of these areas, if we allowed him in.  We try to handle things on our own and that was never his plan.

Starting today, let’s open all the areas of our lives to God.  We serve an Awesome God and there is nothing he can’t handle.  If you are struggling in certain areas of your life today pray for God to help you in those areas.  Pray for his strength and wisdom to guide you in your day to day life.  I promise you, if you do this, not only will God show up but he will show out!

When I was first saved in September of 2016 everything in me changed.  There were some changes that were instant and other changes came as I began to spend time in prayer and in the word of God.  However, the changes that happened instantly I was not prepared for and I became a misfit in my own life at 44 years old.  I felt out of place at home, at work, with my friends and yes even at my church.

Before I was saved, I thought I had my whole life figured out.  I was happy and content with my life just as it was.  I had a great marriage, 2 wonderful daughters, 3 beautiful grandchildren, and a job I enjoyed.  I was perfectly content with my life.

I grew up in church but I had never had a personal relationship with God but all that changed on that Sunday in September.  Until then I had never asked Jesus Christ into my heart.  I had never truly acknowledged that he died for ME on that cross or asked him to forgive me of my sins.  When God got a hold on me that day, I had no idea he would change me so drastically.  I began to pray to him  to forgive me of all my sins and to dwell in me forever.  I begged him to save me on that day, to make me into the woman he created me to be.  I asked him to remove all the darkness, hate, bitterness and filth that was in my heart, mind, and soul.  I asked him to fill me with his light so that other could see him in me.  I can tell you the person I was when I started praying that prayer was not the same person that ended that prayer.   Yes, there have been changes that would come over time as I grew in my relationship with God but other changes were instant.  There were things that I used to enjoy doing that I immediately did not want any part of.  My thoughts about success, money, and people changed immediately.  My goals and dreams in life changed in an instant.  My friends and family were not used to this Tressie and had to get to know her.  My conversations changed and the words I used changed.  They would tell me you have changed, you are different, and I knew I was different but I could not totally explain it to anyone.   They love me and have been great.  I am very blessed to have the family and friends that I do.  My husband still adores me and I still adore him even if I am not the same person he married almost 29 years ago.  I thank God every day for him.

God led me to a great church.  You can feel and see their love for God and that they want to serve him.  I knew the moment I walked in that I belonged there.  Still, I would look around and feel that everyone there had it all figured out.  They knew where they were in God and they knew where they were going in God.  I felt they knew their purpose and where they fit in the church and I didn’t know where I fit in anywhere.  However, I couldn’t wait to get to Church each week because I was so hungry for the word of God.  I felt that all the services ended way too soon and I would leave looking forward to the next service.  Everyone there showed me so much love and made me feel so welcome.  My church family will never know how much I needed them then or how much I still need them.

In the beginning of my Christian journey, the only time everything felt normal was when I was praying and reading my bible.  My one on one time with God was where I truly fit in.    It has truly been a great year and I have never felt such peace and love in my spirit as I do after accepting Christ as my Savior.  I still don’t have it all figured out and God is still working on me but I love him more today than I did the day I was saved.  I would not trade this journey with Christ for anything in this world.

I think it is during this “Misfit” phase that we can lose new Christians back to the world.  It is easy to turn back to your old ways because that is familiar and comfortable for you.  Satan comes after you hard during this phase trying to convince you that you can’t do this, you are not good enough to do this, and everyone is going to laugh at you when you fail at this.  Just remember those are all Satan’s lies.   If you are going through this phase just continue walking by faith.  God is always there and he will continue to grow you in him.

If you have grown in Christ and you are beyond this phase then please do the following for the new Christians:

• Make new Christians aware of this phase and prepare them for it.  We need to be there for them. We need to spend time with them and pray with them.
• Lift them up in your daily prayers to God.  Ask that he guard and protect them from Satan and all of his lies.  Pray that they keep their eyes on Jesus and stay close to him.
• But most of all we need to continue to show them love and show them our love for God.  Teach them how to worship, pray and read the word of God.  Let them know that you will be there for them, even if they mess up.