A Good Woman

A good woman is proud of herself.

She respects herself and others.

She is aware of who she is.

She neither seeks definition from the person she is with, nor does she expect them to read her mind.

She is quite capable of articulating her needs.

A good woman is hopeful.

She is strong enough to make all her dreams come true.

She knows love, therefore she gives love.

She recognizes that her love has great value and must be reciprocated.

If her love is taken for granted, it soon disappears.

A good woman has a dash of inspiration, and a dabble of endurance.

She knows that she will, at times, have to inspire others to reach the potential God gave them.

A good woman knows her past, understands her present and moves toward the future!

A good woman knows God.

She knows that with God the world is her playground, but without God she will just be played.

A good woman does not live in fear of the future because of her past.

Instead, she understands that her life experiences are merely lessons, meant to bring her closer

to self knowledge and unconditional self love.

TRUST

A friend of mine sent these song lyrics to me...how fitting they are for my life!

TRUST ME

Crystal Lewis

close your eyes take a step itʼs ok i know where weʼre going
donʼt fret iʼve
been before through these valleys down these long and dangerous roads yet dark
as they seem
trust me though you canʼt see you can trust me the way may be
steep you can trust me let me lead...trust me
open your eyes but donʼt let
go of my hand let your tears give way to smiles see the joy inside the trial
donʼt worry youʼre safe with me around rest assured iʼm on your side i wonʼt
let you hit the ground but close as it seems..
itʼs true that whatʼs in
front of you isnʼt always clear but you must believe it in your heart that iʼm
here - iʼm here!

Hope Now

So, lately I have been thinking about Hope Now...the song. Here are some of the Lyrics...

If everything comes down to love

Then just what am I afraid of

When I call out Your name

Something inside awakes in my soul

How quickly I forget I'm Yours

(PRE-CHORUS)

I'm not my own

I've been carried by You

All my life

(CHORUS)

Everything rides on hope now

Everything rides on faith somehow

When the world has broken me down

Your love sets me free

That is how I have been feeling here lately, that everything rides on hope now, everything rides on faith somehow....

When everything has been moved away, taken from my grips, my only choice is to ride it on hope and faith, right?

I was thinking about that movie Indecent Proposal, in the beginning of the movie the two characters went and was trying to get funding to build their dream home. Their funding was denied, so they took all of their savings to Vegas and put it all on the table. They placed all their bets on the roulette wheel landing on their color.

Isn't that how we walk in our faith walk sometimes, we go before the Lord and we ask him to grant us this one wish and we were are denied, or even just delayed (for HIS timing) we take our resources and try to turn it into what we want on our own!

But God wants us to place all our bets on Him, put everything we have on HIM!!
All of our hope, rest it into His hands! Honestly, how can he place something in our hands if they are already full of the things we don't want to let go?

So, cast all of your lots on HOPE!!

The Master's Hand

Sometimes I feel as if I am drowning. Everytime I find a solid ground it turns to quick sand. Leaving me grasping for only the Master's Hand.

Years ago I prayed that I would follow the Lord where ever He wanted to take me. I prayed that I would grasp hold of His hand and follow, whether I could see the next stepping stone or not, I would trust Him, blindly! Funny, when our hearts line up with our words He honors those.

So for the last couple of years, I have been following, blindly. Sometimes feeling..well, frankly forsaken.

But I know that I am not forsaken. As I said before everytime I reach for something other than His hand, he removes my "crutches", leaving me with only one option, Him. He is always there! He answers my cry, when I cry out to Him. Being dependent is a very vulnerable feeling, but My Lord, makes me vulnerable to HIM! Which is what makes me STRONG! Doing things on my own doesn't make me STRONG, that makes me resourceful, but real strength comes from letting go!!

He told me once that I would be as a tree planted by the waters, and I would spread out my roots by the river, and although the heat comes, I will continue to bear fruit!
I am not drowning, I am planting, ...these waters that I am treading through are for the strengthing of the roots!

Still

Psalms 46:10 Be still and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

Wow, be still? Now there is a concept. I am not a still person. I am constantly in motion, from the time my feet hit the floor until my exhausted body finally falls into the bed. Even when I am in a state of relaxation, my mind is thinking of the 5,000 things just waiting for my attention. So, when I felt the Lord whispering this to me, ok, screaming this at me...I had to take a step back and say Ok, Lord what are you showing me. So, in my quest to know what the Lord is telling me in this time of my life this is what I found.

While be still, means to relax, withdraw...I find it interesting that is also means to let drop, abandon, relax, refrain, forsake and LET GO. Ok, so the Lord is telling me LET GO, honey and know, I am God, I am the True God and I will be exalted, He will be lifted up among the heathen, which means the nations, and all the earth. Ok, so it sounds so simple, right...but yet when you are a single mother with many responsibilities, letting go is not something you do. I think if I am not handling it or thinking about the next plan of action, it simply won't get done. And while there are things I need to take a concern to, God is telling me, Melissa, Let go, relax, rest in me, and KNOW I am your God and I am working this out for you!

Oh the peace of knowing that my God has concerns of every aspect of my life. Not just my life but of those that he calls his. So, whether you are a total control freak like me or whether you struggle with tending to one area of your life, hear the Lord when he says, child Let go, let me.

Now Faith

I was reading this scripture as I often do, because it is a great faith builder, and as often as it is read and quoted , I always see a different meaning hidden in there. This time, as reading it, I placed the emphasis on the NOW part. Using now as an adverb, it changes the whole perspective of the scripture. NOW FAITH...what is NOW faith, well it is the substance of things hope for, the evidence of things not seen.

What is substance...Strong's 5287 says that substance is: a setting or placing under thing put under, substructure, foundation that which has foundation, is firm that which has actual existence a substance, real being the substantial quality, nature, of a person or thing the steadfastness of mind, firmness, courage, resolution confidence, firm trust, assurance
And one step further to the evidence...Strong's 1650 says that evidence is: a proof, that by which a thing is proved or tested conviction

Wow, so now with a deeper understanding of the words used here, we see that Now Faith is the substructure, Firm foundation, actual existence, real being, steadfastness, firmness, assurance of things hoped for, and the proof of things not seen.

Reading on, the chapter discusses our forefathers in the Faith and how their faith was counted unto them as righteousness. I read how Noah, being moved by faith built the ark to save his family from the flood. I realized that Noah had NOW Faith, he believed, even before there was rain, that it was going to fall. He operated his NOW faith with building the ark. Preparing the ark and having everything ready when the rain came down. He began preparing for the evidence of something not seen years before the onset.

So in our faith walk, in our hopes, Let us put into action NOW Faith, preparing our ark, living our hopes as actual existence, with the steadfastness of mind, confidence, firm trust and assurance.

Live NOW for the evidence of things not seen!

Believe

I had a vision of Abraham walking up the hill with his son Isaac to offer him as a sacrifice to the Lord. Isaac, the PROMISE to Abraham from God. (Genesis 17:19) I envisioned Abraham and Isaac walking up the Hill to the mountain, where Abraham was going to offer up his son. When Isaac asked his father where the sacrificial lamb was, Abraham answered, God will provide himself a lamb. (Genesis 22:6-8). All the way to the top of the mountain, Abraham entrusted his son's life to God. He trusted God, with his son's life. Knowing all the way up the hill that God had a plan for Isaac, whether he had to go through with the sacrifice or not. Unwavering trust. He required no confirmation. The Lord didn't send him witnesses all the way up the mountain to remind him that God had a plan. The Lord didn't have to send Abraham dreams to remind him that He had a plan for Isaac. Abraham believed God. NOT just in Him, but believed His Words. So even up to the very last moment, even after Isaac was bound to the altar, and the sword was raised He believed God. Then in God's perfect timing He showed up. (Genesis 22:10-14) Following Abraham's obedience and trust in the Lord, God told Abraham his descendants would be as the stars in the Heaven and as the sands of the shores...and he and his descendants would be blessed beyond measure!!! Because Abraham believed God, God was able to bless him greater than he could ever imagine.. (Genesis 22: 15-18)

My point here is that if you feel the Lord has made you a promise...BELIEVE God, even if he asks you to place it on the sacrificial altar! You don't need 100 confirmations to make the Word of the Lord true...
The Word of the Lord is true

....BELIEVE IT

Stones

Are we storing up stumbling blocks or stepping stones?

I have been reading Hosea. Interesting story here. Hosea is a prophet of the Lord. The Lord tells Hosea to take a Harlot for a wife, one that would not be faithful to him. God wants to use Hosea's life as an example to Israel of how they have been like the Harlot to God. (Okay, not the point I am going for) So, as I was thinking about Hosea's life, I began thinking about how I am sure that was not the ideal that Hosea had planned for his life...to take a wife that he would love, but one that would not be faithful to him, one that would go searching for others.

So, then I began thinking about Jacob. Now Jacob had 12 sons. Joseph was the youngest of these twelve and very beloved of Jacob. The 11 older brothers became jealous of Joseph and sold him into slavery. Then returned to their father, with animal blood on Joseph's coat telling Jacob that Joseph had been killed. Not until many years later did Jacob find Joseph alive and in Egypt second to Pharaoh.

Now, these are just two men of faith that I am going to mention, there were many that lived a not so "ideal" life. It dawned on me that these men of faith truly knew what it meant to give your full life for God. To be used ultimately for the Will of God. To set aside their own desires and wishes to fulfill the mighty will of God.

As, I begin to look at these situations, I see men who took these "stones" in their lives and turned them to Stepping Stones, bringing them closer to God...
I think how easy would it have been to take these "stones" and make them stumbling blocks in their lives. That is the key. We have the choice to use the circumstances as a stepping stones or to root them into bitterness and become stumbling blocks.
I think Hosea could have gotten a little bitter that he loved a woman that wouldn't be faithful to him. And as for Jacob, it seems that loosing a son, mourning his loss only to find that your other children SOLD him and he was living the entire time in another country (orphaned) would be enough reason to get a little put out!
BUT these men knew that their lives were but a vapor...They knew their true purpose....

Do we know?


Isaiah 46:9 Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. 10 I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. 11 From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do

Gold Nuggets

Panning Gold was a huge craze in 1849. The process basically consists of placing the material that you want to process into your pan and shaking it in a left to right motion underwater to cause the gold, which is heavy, to work its way down toward the bottom of your pan. At the same time, the lighter materials, which are worthless, are worked up to the surface of the gold pan where they can be swept away. The process of shaking and sweeping is repeated until only the heaviest of materials are left-namely the gold and heaviest black sand.
Sounds like life, doesn't it?
I believe this is the perfect analogy of what life is...panning for gold. Life happens, we all know that...the Bible says it will rain on the just and the unjust. Just because you decide to become a Christian doesn't make you exempt from life...

There is a song that goes, "I beg your pardon I never promised you a rose garden" Well God never said our lives would be a bed of roses.

But I have learned that in every situation in life we are to act as the gold panners. Take the situations, shake them down....let the nasty pass away and hold on the the nugget...plant it and learn from it.

There is a gold nugget in every life experience, we just have to look for it!!!


Zechariah 13:9
I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, 'They are my people,' and they will say, 'The LORD is our God.' "

Prison Gates

Acts 5:19,20But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said,Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.

While I was doing my morning study, I read this passage. The verses before this one tell how the Apostles were taken by the High Priest and those with him and put the Apostles in prison. That got me to thinking about how the "high priests" in our lives what ever they may be for you, imprison us. Sometimes it can be a gripping fear...fear of the unknown, fear to be who you are, fear to speak out for what you believe in, fear of not making your financial ends meet, just fear...
For whatever reason, we have these fears, and they are not limited to what I listed, those are just examples that come to my mind. I find that most of the things that we are bound to, we are bound stemming from some sort of fear.

Fear:Strong's Concordance #1272 says the origin is from a primary phebomai (to be put in fear). The definition being: fear, dread, terror (that which strikes terror)
The enemy of our souls wants to keeps us "imprisoned" to our fears. To have us believe that we don't deserve the goodness of God. That we don't deserve to live as "others" might deserve to. But these are all lies from the enemy, these are just "scare" tactics, pardon the pun, to keep us from reaching our full potential in Christ. If he can keep us imprisoned in FEAR, then the Lord cannot perform the miracles in our lives. The Bible speaks of this fear as being the first thing that can send a soul to hell.
Revelations 21: 8But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
BUT
The good news is is that God sent the Angel to open the prison gates, so the Apostles can go on with their calling from the Lord. So, today, know that God sent His only begotten Son to die for our sins, to open the prison gates in our lives and deliver us from fear, sin and condemnation.
Romans 8:15 for ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

So...Let's have a Prison Breaking experience, so that we can tell the people all the words of this life

Potential

How many times have you heard the phrase..."But they have so much Potential".... We all have potential, but some of us choose to carry it in a little napsack and others choose to actually use it!
Abraham was considered the Father of Faith. God came to Abraham and told him he would make a covenant with him. (Genesis 17) Abraham was 99 years old when the Lord told him he would bring him Isaac...

Genesis 17:
16 And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.
17 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?
18 And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!
19And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.
20And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.
21But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.

I believe in verse 18, Abraham said...Lord look we already have Ishmael, can't you just use him. Can't we just take all the "potential" that he has and make HIM the promised one of you. It seems so logical...I mean here is a man and woman that are 100 years old...But God says in verse 21, No, I have ONE that I have chosen and with HIM I will deliver you your promise.
I think just like Abraham we try to work things out for God. We get weary in our travels. The Lord has given each of us promises in our lives. Sometimes in our "waiting" we, like Abraham, try to fulfill the promises for God.

I personally, have been believing the Lord to send me a God fearing mate. The one the Lord has picked out for me. During this 8 years of waiting, I have tried to give God a hand. Just like Abraham..."Look Lord here he stands and he carries so much Potential....can't we just use him to fulfill your promise...The Lord just reminds me..."HE may carry the potential BUT he is not the ONE I have chosen for you...he is NOT the promise I have given you"

So, in your waiting keep your FAITH...because it is FAITH that is counted towards Righteousness...

Romans 4:13 For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.14 For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect: 15 Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. 16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, 17 (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. 18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. 19 And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb: 20 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; 21 And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. 22 And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.

Splinter

Sometimes, no most of the time, we fight our flesh to keep God's will in our lives. I am pleased to say, I just nailed the last nail in the coffin, so to speak, in a 6-month fight with my flesh! Although this last nail was a hurtful one, I know with out a shadow of doubt the Lord was trying to move certain things from my heart.

The lord gave me the following metaphor for me to see what he was doing with me.

Sometimes our flesh can get into our hearts like a splinter. A splinter often times is ½ in the flesh and ½ out. My mother used to tell me, let me get that out of you now, if not your skin will grow over it and it will have to surface out on its own. So, spiritually speaking what I did was allowing this splinter to stay in my heart. I allowed the flesh to grow over it. The Lord had to show me that in order for him to remove this from me, He would have to work this splinter out of my heart. He also showed me that since I allowed my FLESH to grow over it and remain, he would have to cut my flesh…and this would hurt. But My God loves me enough to circumcise the flesh in my heart so that he can move me onward in HIS plans for my life. So, that I might be a useable vessel for His Will, not mine.

So, when you find yourselves in places where you have allowed a splinter to enter your heart, I encourage you to resist your flesh and pluck it, BEFORE the flesh takes over…

Galatians 5:16-17
This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

Refined

Recently, I have felt like anything that could pierce my heart, has. Anything that could make me uncomfortable in my personal life, in my financial life as well has my professional life, has. Then today...the pennacle of that hurt, I READ this email. Funny thing about this email, it sat in my in box since December 14, 2006...That was 5 days ago. The Lord's timing is perfect. I was settleing down to write a blog on a broken vessel, which I still endeavor to do, but I felt this word was better fitting. I hope it touches some of you the way it did me.


Malachi 3:3 says: "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."
This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.
One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.
That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining Silver.
As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.
The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver." She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.
The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.
The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?" He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it."

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.

PUSH

PUSH an acrynom used for Pray Until Something Happens...
For me, it is Praise Until Something Happens.

Sometimes in our walk of faith we encounter trials that leave us broken...broken hearted, broken spirited and with broken dreams.

I recently went through a trial like this. I was left holding pieces of my heart & dreams in my hand. I would enter my prayer closet and let the Lord know just how hurt I was...then I would pick up my hurt and go on. How can the Lord mend your brokenness if you don't leave it for him?

About a month later after many many attempts to put the pieces back together myself, i determined I would go into my prayer closet and I would Praise the Lord. I would praise Him until I was restored...and I did. When I left that room, I left my brokenness at the Altar of Exchange so that he could restore my heart, dreams and my spirit.

David says in Psalms..
Ps 34:1
I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth...
He doesn't say...I will bless the LORD when things are good...BUT it says at all times!
Even when it is not easy to Praise...We must praise through our circumstances....The Bible says he takes the foolish things of this world...

So, I encourage you to ~PUSH~

Measurements

We compare everything in terms of measurements. We measure how much time we have in a day. We measure our successes and failures. We even measure our self worth. But what scale are we using to measure this. How many of us measure our SELF WORTH and who we are to Cosmo...or other magazines on the newstand?
Are we getting true results?
Our self worth should be measured through the eyes of God, our savior. His Word says he knows our hearts. That means that he looks on our hearts and not our physical. He is not concerned with our physical measurements..ha ha..or what style jeans we wear or if we 'measure' up to the women in Hollywood.
His concern is how do we measure up to the woman God talks about in Proverbs?
31:10
Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.
31:11
The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.
31:12
She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.
31:13
She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands.
31:14
She is like the merchants ' ships; she bringeth her food from afar.
31:15
She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.
31:16
She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.
31:17
She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms.
31:18
She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night.
31:19
She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff.
31:20
She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.
31:21
She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet.
31:22
She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple.
31:23
Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land.
31:24
She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant.
31:25 Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.
31:26
She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.
31:27
She looketh well to the ways * of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.
31:28
Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.
31:29 Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.
31:30 Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.
It took me a long time to understand this concept: My self worth is not measured by what men of this world think of me. My self worth is measured through the eyes of God. He has made ME in His image. I am perfectly and wonderfully made.
I encourage us all to reexamine the scales in which we weigh ourselves on!!
How do we look through the eyes of God?

Strongholds

After a short whirlwind of a relationship, I found myself pondering on strongholds. There are many people in this world that are bound to something.
What is a stronghold?
Webster's describes it this way:
Main Entry: strong·hold Pronunciation: 'stro[ng]-"hOldFunction: noun1 : a fortified place2 a : a place of security or survival b : a place dominated by a particular group or marked by a particular characteristic

I found the second description to be quite interesting. A place of security. Isn't that what it is exactly. If we have a stronghold in our lives such as drugs, alcohol, money, people or even food...we find security in these places. A place of refuge.
I was discussing this with a friend of mine and she said that we must take these strongholds of the physical world and turn them into strongholds of righteousness....
What a concept? I saw in my mind's eye a sort of a dock, pier perhaps...and tied from this pier were different ropes each attached to different things of this world that I cling to...find security in. I saw me releasing these into the waters of the unknown. I began to wonder who was going to take care of these things that I so carefully clung to for so long. That is when I heard the Lord tell me to let these things go, that he will take care of them. So, my focus then turned to these ropes now flapping in the wind. I began to tie those up towards heaven. Turning my strongholds of this world to the strongholds of Righteouness...finding my security and my safe place in the shadows of the Almighty.
We do not have to walk in this life with "things" binding us to this world. We can set them off into the blue........