From Me...

From my heart to yours...

We are in the middle of the month of July and I've already been on too many roller coaster rides.  Roller coasters are fun because we are prepared for the dips, twists and turns.  We get excited and we look forward to them.  In life, however, we like a steady stream that is conditioned to go in one direction with the same amount of light pressure all of the time.  We all know that we want the stream but most of the time we experience the roller coaster.

I must admit that I wasn't prepared, with all of the signs and warnings, I simply wasn't ready because I didn't want to be ready.  Who wants troubles to come?  Well, while I avoided all of the signs, my life became one train wreck after another...all.month.long, (at least the all of the 1st half of this month).

I kept thinking to myself, "how do I encourage other people to fight depression while I'm struggling not to fall into one myself?".  My problems and my thoughts caused me to isolate myself.  It wasn't until I felt what seemed like the biggest defeat that God allowed a friend of mine to ask me a question, she asked, "What are you declaring?".  The question was like someone turned the light on in your bedroom at 3AM.  Her question woke me out of my slumber.  I was speaking defeat and I needed to speak victory.

How do you speak victory when every fiber of your being already feels like you've lost? There was so much to take in.  When did I stop being a warrior?  When did I stop fighting?  When did I give up?  When did I stop going to God for help?  I had to do some searching and I'm still searching.  I'm searching for the place where I dropped my baton and in the meantime I'm falling back in line.

My heart grieves for our nation, my heart is grieving for my family.  I know that God is near to those who are broken-hearted.  I know that He is near to me and has never left my side.  It's amazing that He's been standing there waiting for me to invite Him to take care of me and all of the problems (1 Peter 5:7).  He's been waiting for me to see the steady stream that He alone leads me to (Psalm 23:2). 

I'm declaring that His (God's) desires for me are to be successful and prosperous (3 John 1:2) 

I will continue looking to God for my help (Psalm 121:1).  As long as I look to Him I can endure the roller coasters of life.  It's time to get excited about life again!