Fail.

Pride sings my praises and hides my failures. 

Failure, isn't familiar territory. Failure is something I've been able to avoid...but today it ran over me like a semi. 

I received the results of a speciality certification exam, at the top it read "FAIL." My stomach dropped, my eyes filled with tears, and I stared at the word in shock. 

Let's break it down. 

I failed a test. Is a single test a true indication of my skill? No. Is it an indication of my work ethic? No, I studied 400+ hours. Is it an indication of my professional ability? No. It is an indication that I answered some questions incorrectly. Perhaps a bad test day. But guess what, that's it. It doesn't determine my worth or value because my worth is in Christ and he conquered death (a test all humans have failed ;) 

Pride results in arrogance. Pride tempted me to make excuses and sing of my prior successes. Failure with humility reminds me of my dependence upon my Savior. There is a lot to be learned from failure, I won't waste the opportunity to grow in the unfamiliar and scary territory. God made His decision about me (and you) long ago - He is crazy in love with me (and you)...regardless of my test results! 

Failure is what you make it. It can be a road block, it can stop progress BUT only if you allow it. Failure can be an ignition switch, a match that sets discipline and hard work ablaze. Failure is a choice to wallow or work. 

The Bible reads “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me." 2 Corinthians 12:9 

Lord, teach me to share my weaknesses and not be embarrassed for there is no shame in you. Take my pain and exchange it for wisdom. Amen.

Surrender

I completed the UNC Orthopedic Physical Therapy residency this week, upon this news, my patients, my family, and my friends ask "what's next?" 

What comes next is a big decision.  

Easy decision are mindless, often a clear winner exists - would you rather have a handful of rabbit turds or a handful of chocolate chips - hello, no brainer.  I'm currently deciding between two wonderful opportunities.  They both have their pros and they both have their cons.  There is no clear "best pick."  I'm left feeling indecisive - I'll awake one morning and confidently state "I'm moving west!"  The very next morning I'll away and confidently state "I'm staying in the south!"  To aid my indecisiveness I've made a pro and con list. I've set my professional goals. I've asked for the professional opinion of my colleagues and the personal opinion of my family and friends. With so many opinions it's difficult to distinguish my thoughts from those I've heard.  I've sought council from Godly sources. And I've prayed...a lot...and I've asked for prayer...a lot.

Let's jump back to 2008 when I was applying to graduate school. 

Here is an excerpt pull directly from my prayer journal.  “Lord, you are all knowing, all powerful and perfect.  You know the best plan for me.  You will put me exactly where you want me.  Please help me to trust you completely. Put me where I am supposed to be and help me to be content.  Lord, I want to express my desire; I loved the Regis faculty, campus, students, and program.  It felt like the perfect fit.  Please.  My desire is to go to Regis.”  I couldn’t help but laugh when I read the words I had written.  First, I attempted to “butter” God up with flattery and then I behaved like a selfish child, telling Him what to give me!  My reaction to the rejection, tears and hysteria, was a clear display that I didn’t believe the initial words I wrote.

A journal entry one week later read: “Lord, I composed my own plan – Denver.  I didn’t ask, I told you.  I failed to trust.  Your plan is always best.  I have to stop planning, stop wishing, and allow you to give me the most thrilling plan existing.  Right now I have trouble trusting that your plan is better than my own…take my dreams, come give them wings.  Lord, with you there is nothing that I cannot do.”  (I'm proud of this girl!)

Well The Lord shut the door to Colorado and I ended up at Duke. Was it what I wanted? No...because God knew best, He gave me more than I was asking for by taking away what I thought I wanted. 

I'm a control freak. Type A. I like to know the next step because this allows me to plan ahead.  I find myself packing up my house unsure if I'm moving across town or across the country.  Not knowing is scary.  Actually, it is terrifying.  I like to plan and struggle with control - I like being confident in how things will turn out.  My desire to know is my attempt to not trust.  I'm constantly being reminded that great things take time and the greatest gifts often require an enormous amount of trust and faith - especially when there isn't a clear answer.  But today I choose to trust, to give thanks, to surrender, and to take it one breath at a time.  I will not worry.  I will pray.  I will remind myself of God's faithfulness and believe firmly that the outcome will be above and beyond anything I could imagine in my tiny feeble mind.  Because honestly, God is in the mind-blowing business...he loves to WOW us.

With my current decision I've decided to surrender and trust. Our fickle hearts are easily swayed, mine can't be trusted...so in complete surrender I lay my options on the alter and say "God, you pick. You know the desires of my heart, if they aren't in align with yours please close the door. If I'm settling for less than what you want to give, close the door. I don't want to hold onto something that isn't mine.  Time and time again you reveal your faithfulness."

I serve a God of compassion and love. I can trust him to provide no matter where I am. I can trust him to lead me. I must remember, this life isn't about my glory, it's about his. 

Y'all.  I wrote the blog post above yesterday at 5:17pm.

At 5:21pm I received a phone call that I didn't get the job in North Carolina.  This was a job that I had been heavily recruited for, a position that I was told was developed with me in mind, and the day the job was posted I had two higher-ups contact me and ask me to apply.  A job that was created for me...and I didn't get it...y'all - THAT IS THE LORD.  I laid it at his feet and said "If this door opens, I'll walk through it.  If you don't want me here, I need you to close this door."  There isn't a door that man closes that God can't open.  There isn't a door God closes that man can open.  

At 10pm I was contacted by a company in San Diego and offered a job.  Now the decisions start again, but clearly God wants me on the west coast.

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Q.

A Hopeful Single.

There is a negative connotation with the relationship status single.  Society has developed the thought that if you’re single it must mean you’re undesirable.  Patients inform me that my biological clock is ticking.  Acquaintances tell me the pool of men is dwindling and good men don’t exist, “better grab one while you’re young.”  I’ve even encountered friends who tell me they feel bad for me because I’m single.  And Lord knows I’ve heard “always a bridesmaid, never a bride,” more times than I could count.  Everyone has their helpful suggestions too – patients want to introduce me to their sons, the sons of their friends, and their tennis teammate best friend’s younger brother's roommate.  My singleness appears to bothers others more than it bothers me. 

Who I am – my worth, my confidence, my dreams, and my passions – they are not dependent upon my relationship status.  My worth rests in Christ.  I AM ENOUGH.  I wasn’t put on this earth to find my husband, my purpose is to honor and obey God with all that He entrusts me with.  My sole purpose is to bring glory to God; one day that will be with marriage, but for now it is with my singleness.

My favorite blogger, Sara B of Glitter & Grace, wrote “Praising and enjoying singleness is tricky because you're always bordering on the edge of sounding like what you really mean is you love being selfish and only caring about your own needs. But if married people can write status updates like, "MARRIAGE IS SO AWESOME!!" then I should be allowed to claim that "BEING SINGLE IS PRETTY FRICKIN' AWESOME TOO!" Do I always feel that way? Of course not. Am I super excited to be married someday? Absolutely. I am in no way claiming that one stage of life is better than another. I just want to be intentional to love where I'm at, be grateful for every chapter, and not spend my days wishing for ones that lay ahead.”  AMEN, SISSY!

I’ve been invited to over 50 weddings and have been asked to be a bridesmaid 12 times, y’all – I have witnessed God’s faithfulness and provision countless times and that is why I don’t doubt that he is writing my love story.  Marriage is the horizontal representation of a vertical relationship.  The most unique and intimate of all relationships, marriage is to be sacred, founded on forgiveness, grace, and unconditional love.  Marriage vows aren’t a commitment, but rather a covenant – not to be broken.  With something I hold most sacred, I don’t see the need to rush or force.

The Lord is unlimited in creativity, resources, power, and love.  Don’t think for a minute there isn’t a door that man closes that God can’t open and there isn’t a door that man opens that God can’t close.  I want my love story to sing God’s praises; a relationship that develops in such a way that can’t be explained by man and points directly to God.  I don’t want a love story the world can write.  I want a love story authored by the divine creator…and for that I’m willing to wait.

I may not understand God’s timing, but I can’t deny his faithfulness or provision for he has never failed me.  With a God who loves us intimately and knows us completely, we must have faith that He knows how to awaken our hearts and capture our attention.  When my heart needs encouragement to conquer my doubts He puts His creativity and provision upon display through those around me.  I’ve had the honor of witnessing many love stories, I hope the ones that follow fill your hearts with hope as they did mine.

Courtney

"For the longest time, I didn't know what I really meant to the Lord. I didn't quite understand that I was treasured, that I was valued. That I had a purpose. Because of that, I spent years finding my worth in other things.

In college I entered into an unhealthy long distance relationship. For 2 years, I thought this is what "happy" looked like. I had fooled myself entirely. My senior year, I applied to graduate school in Alabama, the state where my boyfriend at the time lived... believing this would lead to a picture perfect ending. When I found out I got into the program I had applied to, I was overjoyed.

A few days before I graduated from college I was forced to end that relationship. Honestly, in my flesh I didn't want to... But he had betrayed my trust completely, and I knew it was impossible to get back. A few days after graduation, much against the will of my family and close friends, I packed up my car and still moved from San Diego to Alabama to attend graduate school. I knew that even though this was going to be the hardest season I had ever walked through, the Lord still wanted me in Alabama.

I had never experienced such brokenness in my life. Ever. I was thousands of miles away from my family... walking through trial and suffering. But looking back on it now, I wouldn't trade that time for anything. It was raw and real.. I was on my face crying daily, and the Lord started to really show me who I am. He showed me the woman He had always created me to be.

It was during that season I developed a close friendship with my now husband, Paul. He actually was a mentor of my ex-boyfriend... which leads me to believe that God has a sense of humor. Paul knew the details of what had happened during that break up, and was very quick to make sure that I was taken care of when I moved to Alabama. That I had everything I needed.

The first year and a half I was in graduate school, Paul and I grew closer. He showed me what a man of God looked like. He showed me what loyalty and trust looked like. I had never met a man so kind and genuine and compassionate. He emulates Christ in ways I've never seen before.

It was January before my last semester of graduate school when my heart softened towards Paul in a romantic way and he told me how he wanted to pursue a relationship with me. He lived in Birmingham at the time, 2 hours a way from where I was in school. We began long distance during those last few months of graduate school, I moved to Birmingham after graduation, we got engaged 6 months later, and married 3 months after that.

Now, 3 years later, I could not imagine my life with anyone else. He was so worth every minute of the hell I had to walk through to get to him. He is my best friend and my favorite person. Paul and I have been working together the entire time we have been married and we see on a regular basis the Lord's favor and His faithfulness. Our marriage is built on a foundation of trust, love, respect, and honesty. Paul never has to guess what I'm thinking... I just tell him. None of the joy I am experiencing today has happened apart from Christ. None of it.

Sometimes we wonder why tough things happen, but God always has a plan. HE never forgets about us. And He is never late. Ever. His timing is not our timing. Six years ago when I walked through a terrible break-up and the hardest season of my life, I never thought I could be standing with the boldness and confidence I have today. But The Lord did... HE knew exactly where we was taking me. He is asking His children to trust Him constantly. And this joy I have now never would have taken place if I hadn't taken a leap of faith, got in the car, and drove myself across the country to move to the one state that would cause me so much pain. This state, Alabama, is now my favorite place in the world. Our community here is amazing... they encourage us to work hard, try our best, and be Jesus to everyone we come into contact with.

My point is, you never know how the Lord is working... but HE -is- always working. He is always moving behind the scenes in ways we don't realize. Paul is the greatest prize I've ever been given for walking through so much turmoil, and there are no words to accurately describe how truly grateful I am."

Nicole

“A friend of mine persuaded me to exchange my salsa heels for cowgirl boots.  I was skeptical at first, line dancing and two-stepping was unfamiliar territory, but I was willing to learn.  My sasla and hip-hop rhythm somehow meshed well with the line dance routines and it It only took a couple of songs for me to realize I awoken a new passion.  Country dancing at In Cahoots became a part of my Wednesday routine. I became familiar with the dances, the atmosphere and the people. However, there was one cowboy, I nicknamed him “Tim McGraw,” that caught my eye and shook my heart. 

I was smitten from the first time that I saw him.  I’d become giddy every Wednesday just at the thought of seeing him glide around the dance floor. 

I had become a regular at In Choots and this Wednesday night “Tim McGraw” stood nearby.  Another cowboy proceeded to hit on me with the cheesiest of pick-up lines, but a friend of  “Tim McGraw” interrupted to ask me why I was always smiling. I responded with a simple, "Jesus." He then turned to “Tim McGraw” and said, "Look at her Holy Spirit smile." “Tim McGraw” responded with, "I just got back from youth group." I think a big smile took place in both our hearts at that moment, just knowing that the most important part of our lives was in sync with one another. He introduced himself with a simple, “Hi, my name is Ryan." No ridiculous pickup line, just a confident handshake and his name, a name that would soon be mine!  After our brief exchange, he asked me to dance.  You could say he immediately swept me off my feet.

I never dreamed I could have a love like this.  I share our love story to provide hope, may it inspire and encourage others to pray (a lot!) for their future spouse, because I can truly say - God will honor those prayers! To those who are married, I urge you to continue to pray for one another and with each other. I've learned being married is about serving one another, putting each other first, and through this sacrificial relationship you will experience Jesus more fully.  I encourage others to never settle, but to hold out for God's blessings.  As nice as it is to be with someone or have a constant companion, you must trust that God's timing is truly perfect.  Allow him to prepare you and when you are seasoned and ready for His fruitfulness will you experience His faithfulness in full.  I've learned it tastes a whole lot SWEETER when the timing is ripe and ready!"

Emily

The summer between my junior and senior year the Lord opened the doors for me to go to France and work with the children's ministry. May of 2006 I flew to France and moved into a tiny, lavender-colored studio out in the middle of the vineyard covered countryside. When I walked into my little studio I saw a french-press, a tea pot and a bus map that had been set out for me. As I began to live my life in Aix that summer, I met many new and amazing friends who all started making comments about how this guy "Sean" and I should have met... saying that we were "the same person and that we wanted to do the same things in life".  I was once out to coffee with a friend who stopped me mid-sentence and said, "what you just said to me, this guy Sean just said to me last week!". Sean had left an incredible impression on the people in Aix. Fast forward 6 months and I was back in San Diego finishing my senior year of college when I received an email from an unknown name "Sean Naus" - it was entitled "Out of Nowhere!". I couldn't believe THAT guy who I'd heard about all summer was writing me! :) We wrote very long emails for about a month and then started talking on the phone from SD to OZ. We talked for hours all about who we were, how we knew and loved God and what we felt God was calling us to do with our lives... I fell in love with him... without ever seeing him face to face.  After 6 months of hearing about each other and 6 months of a long distance relationship... we FINALLY met! On March 2, 2007 I met Sean at the international airport in Honolulu where my friend Linsi dropped me off and yelled out the window "These are the moments we live for!!” When Sean finally walked out of the terminal with his suitcase and guitar, he walked up to me, shaking, and gave me a hug, saying, "you're real." We held hands, but could barely stand to look at each other. It was the most bizarre feeling - my heart said, "you know this person and you love this person," but I had never seen him before. It took the next 5 days with my friends in Hawaii to let the happy reality of it all sink in. We were finally together and all the we had loved and hoped for in each other was better than we had ever imagined. And so, my God is the God who loves to do more than I could ever ask or imagine - His ways are SO good!

Courtney

"Growing up I believed in praying for my husband and I believed if I waited for the right one God would deliver. After going through college with no true prospects and watching all my other friends who didn't pray much for a guy or really wait on The Lord start marrying off I felt defeated. Why should they get what I so patiently was waiting for? Well we always have the clearest vision in retrospect. I needed the years of singleness to develop personally in my faith and as an individual one day looking to be a helpmate to another. And, most my friends who married off quick, I truly don't think they reaped the benefit of fruit from a long toil. You value what you wait patiently for and seek earnestly. The story Josh and I have is truly unexplainable apart from the hand of God. It is way too random to just coincidently happen and then work out! I don't have much in the way of finances but somehow God provided sufficient funds for me to move here! It's crazy! All of those years of praying, I see the fruit of them in the smallest ways.  The world does and sees things differently! But if we patiently wait on The Lord, and seek His will, we will find He knocks it outta the park with love stories. You are not forgotten. If anything, because of your faithfulness, God has his full attention on you, and says wait daughter, wait and watch what I will do. For I WILL do it!"

Love,

Quinn

Princess in Waiting

The inspiration for this post developed from a conversation with a dear friend, she said, “I’m tired of waiting; I’m growing impatient.” My friend was referring to waiting for her future husband, but this concept of waiting is something we all encounter - relationally, professionally, academically, etc.

I combatted her sassy statement with this analogy. 

A little girl approaches her father “Daddy, will you please take me to Disneyland tomorrow?”

Daddy is wise, he knows how special this day is for his daughter, he also knows tomorrow is supposed to be a thunder storm, and although he could afford to purchase a ticket (and only that) he recognizes that the experience would fall short of what his daughter has dreamt of. 

He replies, “My precious girl, yes, I’ll take you.  I’d be thrilled to take you, but you’re going to have to wait.”

Upon hearing the word “wait” she hangs her head, sniffles holding back tears, and shuffles away to hide in her room.

The sympathetic heart of her father breaks when he sees her devastated look, BUT in his wisdom he know that waiting will provide her with more than she could have imagined.  If he ignored his wisdom and took her tomorrow, she'd surely be disappointed and soaking wet.  If he told her of his grand plans he'd ruin the element of surprise.  Her father's word "wait" is a promise of great things to come.  Her father sees her Disney request as an opportunity to spoil his sweet girl, to show her how great his love is for her; if the day was just about fulfilling a request he could hand her a ticket and drop her off at the gates, but he wants to make it a day she remembers forever.  He wants to be able to afford to take all of her friends, to buy her a princess dress and a tiara, provide her with VIP access to all the lines, have all meals shared with her favorite princesses, afford any treat she desires, have her ride on the princess float in the parade, and have her name written in the sky during the fireworks show.  He wants to surprise her, he wants to bless her, he wants to provide her with the very best, he wants to partake in her joyful squeals, he wants to do all this because he is HER daddy and he loves her so.

Doesn’t our anticipation while waiting increase our appreciation upon receiving?  When you are forced to wait, your desire intensifies, when that desires is satisfied you are overwhelmed with thanksgiving and treasure it even more.

“MGBYAKYAMHLSUY.  ILYM.”  That gibberish is a regular text message I receive from my dad (yes, I understand the entire abbreviation).  “ILYM = I love you most,” he constantly tells me how much he loves me, but greater than his words are his actions.  When I was in the 3^rd grade I was adamant that I was to be Princess Jasmine for Halloween, the costume wasn’t available in stores, so my father sewed one for me (refer to the right for photo evidence).  My sister and I wanted a playhouse, my father built us the sickest playhouse in all the neighborhood – 20 feet in the air, switch back stairs leading to the entrance, electricity, carpet, the works.  My father loves to make his children feel special; I awoke one morning to white ice skates by the door…and a homemade ice skating rink in the back yard.  He is my #1 fan/cheerleader, this man flew to Kentucky six times throughout my collegiate athletic career, never missed a National race.  He has lost countless hours of sleep editing my papers the night before they are to be submitted – my poor time management cost him sleep so that I could sleep.  My National Physical Therapy board exam was 4 hours in length – my father spent 4 hours on his knees praying for me!  I’m 28 and I still call my dad when I encounter a problem – October 2013, I felt overwhelmed with life, I was training for my first figure competition, packing to move out of my apartment, but hadn’t found a new place, and due to work and other commitments I was waking at 6am and returning home after 9pm.  I was completely exhausted – y’all know those days when you’re certain you’d cry over spilt milk – it was one of those.  I called Dad to ask for guidance and during our conversation I said, “it is times such as these I wish I lived closer to my family.”  Dad replied “I wish that too, but go to bed sweetie, things will be better in the morning.”  I cried “No things won’t be better, because I still won’t be packed.”  I awoke the next morning and much to my surprise a flight itinerary sat in my e-mail inbox with a note from my father “pick me up tomorrow night.”  Y’all, my father flew out for a week to pack my entire apartment and help complete my entire to-do list.  No doubt about it, my daddy loves me!

It is difficult for me to comprehend a greater love than what I’ve received from my parents, but God’s word claims He loves me most.   I am content to wait for what he has planned because I know, just like my daddy, He is going to WOW me.  “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.” (Ephesians 3:20)

Sparkle while you wait,

Q.

Here is a little encouragement for those finding themselves in a period of waiting.  I recommend reading this poem aloud – yes, Dr. Seuss style.

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried: 

Quietly, patiently, lovingly God replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate,
and the Master so gently said, "Child, you must wait".

"Wait? You say, wait!," my indignant reply.
"Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!
Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?
By Faith, I have asked, and am claiming your Word.

My future and all to which I can relate,
hangs in the balance, and YOU tell me to WAIT?
I'm needing a 'yes', a go-ahead sign,
or even a 'no' to which I can resign.

And Lord, You promised that if we believe
we need but to ask, and we shall receive.
Lord, I've been asking, and this is my cry:
I'm weary of asking! I need a reply!"

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate,
As my Master replied once again, "You must wait."
So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut,
and grumbled to God, "So, I'm waiting...for what?"

He seemed, then, to kneel, and His eyes wept with mine,
and He tenderly said, "I could give you a sign.
I could shake the heavens, and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead, and cause mountains to run.

All you seek I could give, and pleased you would be.
You would have what you want - But, you wouldn't know Me."
"You'd not know the depth of My love for each saint;
You'd not know the power that I give to the faint;

You'd not learn to see through the clouds of despair;
You'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there;
You'd not know the joy of resting in Me
When darkness and silence were all you could see."

"You'd never experience that fullness of love
as the peace of My Spirit descends like a dove;
You'd know that I give and I save...(for a start),
But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

"The glow of My comfort late into the night,
The faith that I give when you walk without sight.
The depth that's beyond getting just what you asked
of an infinite God, who makes what you have LAST."

"You'd never know, should your pain quickly flee,
What it means that "My grace is sufficient for Thee."
"Yes, your dreams for your loved one overnight would come true.
But, oh, the loss! If I lost what I'm doing in you!

So, be silent, My Child, and in time you will see,
that the greatest of gifts is to get to know Me."
"And though often My answers seem terribly late.
My most precious answer of all is still, 'WAIT'."

Author: Russell Kelfer

Protected, Not Rejected

To reject:

a :  to refuse to accept, consider, submit to, take for some purpose, or use 

b :  to refuse to hear, receive, or admit 

c :  to refuse as lover or spouse

Have you ever-encountered rejection?  Rejection by a crush, a job, a school …I’m raising my hand to all three. 

Rejection hurts, no one likes to realize they weren’t the ideal candidate [to date, for the job, to represent their desired school].  BUT rejection doesn’t alter your worth, no truly, it doesn’t!  Someone choosing not to accept you doesn’t mean you’re any less beautiful, any less intelligent, or any less worthy.  Rejection by man is acceptance of faith that God will provide greater than you were attempting to settle for. 

When approaching dating one of my dear friends encouraged me to pray, “Lord, I want the blessings you've created for me.  I want the relationship you have for me, if this relationship isn’t of you, I ask that you guard my heart, give me wisdom, and direct my heart (and his too!).  I want the man you have for me, I will wait upon you.  I want your blessings, I pick your desires over my own.”  I promise you – God is SO faithful because I have stories about guys in hot pursuit, asking me out, me praying the prayer above, and never hearing from them.  BUT I don’t view this as rejection, I see this is PROTECTION!!  I prayed for God to guard my heart, I prayed for protection, but that doesn’t mean I got to select the warfare.  Wouldn’t it be nice if we always got to be the one to say no or the one to initiate the break up?  Rejection stings less when you understand that the God of the universe can open any door, close any door, sees the future, knows me completely, knows exactly what I need, has unlimited resources to meet my needs, always provides, and loves to bless me.  

The difference in approaching rejection with hope and eager anticipation of a greater gift compared to tears and sorrow, this altered perspective lies within your foundation.  What you build your life around will determine how you deal with rejection; self worth based upon other’s thoughts of you will lead to heartbreak because humans are fickle; look to fashion and diet trends and you’ll be unable to argue otherwise.  Every day is a reminder of change; the sun rises, our bodies age/grown, the seasons change, society transforms, the sun sets.  In an ever-changing world I seek a solid foundation; the ONLY constant in my life is Christ.

• "Whatever is good and perfect comes to us from God above, who created all heaven's lights. Unlike them, He NEVER CHANGES like shifting shadows" (James 1:17).
• "The Lord's plans stand firm forever; His intentions can never be shaken" (Psalm 33:11).
• "The grass withers, and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever" (Isaiah 40:8).
• "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).

Have y’all heard the parable of the man who built his house on the sand?  Let me sing it to you Sunday School style because that is how I remember it:

The wise man built his house upon the rock, The wise man built his house upon the rock, The wise man built his house upon the rock, And the rain came tumbling down.

And the rain came down and the floods came up, The rain came down and the floods came up, The rain came down and the floods came up, And the house on the rock stood firm.

The foolish man built his house upon the sand, The foolish man built his house upon the sand, The foolish man built his house upon the sand, And the rain came tumbling down.

And the rain came down and the floods came up, The rain came down and the floods came up, The rain came down and the floods came up, And the house on the sand fell flat.

Rock = solid = constant = God.  Sand = flimsy = ever changing based upon an exterior force.  A foundation on Christ teaches me that regardless of what happens I know I am loved, I know I am treasured, I know I am protected, I know provision awaits, I know He is in control, but above all I know my Lord is victorious. This knowledge provides me constant peace.

• Better in His perfect hands, than with my imperfection.
• Better to be transformed thru pain.
• Better to trust His character
• Better to cry for a week than tears for years.
• Better rejected to be protected.
• Better a greater man with the greatest plan.
• Better a bruise to my pride than a break to my heart.
• Better pain today for thankfulness tomorrow.
• Better a lesson learned with one that wasn’t meant for me.
• Better a prepared heart waiting with wisdom.
• Better to trust His promises than my flawed perspective.

Shining in His light. Q.