Some things just don't need a explanation!

Proverbs 3:5-6 - He Will Direct Your Path!

And He will make straight your path! And He will make straight your path?

I have been a Christian since the age of five. I have trusted God and worked for Him almost my whole life. I have been what I would call a faithful servant. I love ministry and I know He called me into it. I have never questioned that, but I have struggled from time to time when to change my paths. Some things I have done have been just seasons and letting go of those seasons have been tough, what I’m suppose to do next even tougher to know.

Moving to Georgia has been an amazing journey but has left me in the wilderness. Everything I knew had changed! Where I live, people I know, my church, my surrounding and the list goes on. At the same time there were changes going on in how I was doing in ministry. What I found was, I was lost. It was almost like what I think people with children feel when their children leave home. I think they call it empty nest feelings.  I was in such a panic to figure out my life that I did what I do best. I kicked in. I started working at how to move forward, how to make things happen and find what God wanted for me. God as given me a desire and that desire sometimes overflows and doesn't always lead to the best directions for my life. Not that they are situations that are good or bad, but just maybe more waste of my time kind of things.

I am not a waiter! I don't wait to make things happen! That has always made me who I am and it has always opened doors for me. God didn't design me to wait.  That honestly isn't something I really understand and can annoy me. If I asked someone to do something, I'm not asking people to do it tomorrow. That is why I just do it myself.  You can ask my hubby, the poor guy totally understands the waiting thing and he's married to a person who is NOT a waiter.  He knows when I ask him to do something I'm probably not meaning when he finds time, or when he sees fit. I mean for him to do it now. He has no concept of time. He needs deadlines; I am more of a self-motivator. That's what makes us work well together believe it or not.

But then, a few months ago as things began to unravel in my ministries with the move, with a women's group I had and with my own personal ministry, a couple of artist friends I have said during a conversation. "Why don't you just wait to see what God might have for you?  See where He leads? Don't do anything and see if he directs your path."  WHAT? I mean that's all well and good for other people but that's not how God designed me. Had they completely forgot whom they were talking to?  He leads me through my hard work. LOL! I'm a huge believer that God expects us to show up and that we don't just stand around waiting for Him to make things happen. I know how waiting on God to make the first move works, and that doesn't get too many people in ministry very far.   Anyhow, I gave a half OK; I might do that but wasn't really committing to it.  Then somewhere after the move I just gave up. I thought OK, maybe I am supposed to wait, maybe I'm washed up and this road is now the end. So I did it, I waited and waited and waited. I also found out looking back that God was putting things, people and opportunities in front of me as I was waiting that didn't connect to anything and I wasn't really moving forward with. But over time they would begin to connect.

God began connecting me with people. Some people I didn't really know I was supposed to connect with. We had a musical connection but I just didn't see that God wanted us to connect beyond that. Not for any reason really other than I wasn't paying attention. And maybe I wasn't supposed to pay attention. I think He needed to work at this for a few months, in small steps so I could put it all together, you know let me work it out in my brain. Before I knew it, I was back in ministry. Not that I was out by all means but as the pun is used, "We're Back in Business".  God had connected me to people, ministries, and organizations and I did nothing but watch till it was time for me to engage. He carved my path as I was sitting back and trusting Him and not leaning on my own understandings. He also allowed me to look back and see that He had worked things out for the good of me. I didn't work it out but the He did. I needed to see that.

How many times have you taken a situation, a feeling or a direction into your own hands rather than just praying and waiting on God to step in for you? Proverbs 3:5-6 clearly says Trust and Acknowledge Him. Those two things will lead us down the right path. Those two things aren't that easy to apply in a heat of a moment or when changing a direction. So, this week try to apply Trusting in the Lord with ALL your heart and wait, then acknowledge Him, let Him direct your path. Life is so much easier when God is in control rather than when I am in control. He saves me from heartache, time and um, a few failures.  But most of all, waiting teaches me that I'm not all that! I need God, His leading, His strength, and His guidance. It's not always the right thing for me to be in control if I'm not allowing Him to take the wheel. We are in ministry together and together we shall work. When He says wait, I will wait!

Just thought I would pass along my personal lesson for the week. :)

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Happy Friday Everyone!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

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Smile When It's Raining!

Don't we all? I mean no one likes to be around someone that's just negative all the time. It's easy to be negative. I see that all the time on Facebook. Some people only post when they are mad, hurt, angry or aggressive. Sometimes I think Facebook has just become an outlet for people to vent.  I also think that Christianity shows up on Facebook as finding fault, adding failure, looking for hope and whining. There I said it, Whining! If God is all we need, is bigger than any problem or care we might have then why are we whining all the time? I hate to even write this because my first paragraph is negative. But, hold on. There is a point!

For those of you on my Facebook page, you know that I moved to the Atlanta, GA area about a year ago. It almost seemed like we moved over night. We left a house in Ohio to be sold and we really thought that God would make that house sale overnight. I mean we were 100% sure that this was God's direction for our life so he would make it easy on us by selling the house quickly. NOT! I can't tell you how many times over the last year I have said... We just need to get this house sold. Everyone's always asking me and I always have the same answer. Every night it's the same prayer and every day goes by and we still own a house. This house is not allowing us to let go of where we were. It's not making life down here easy. It's not helping us make plans for our future. It's made me question our direction and honestly God at times. I think we all get to the WHY place from time to time and I certainly have been there with this house. This house as become my thorn in my flesh. I just don't get all the why's but I'm also not going to allow satan to bring me down. I have chosen to "Smile in my Rain".

Lately the theme that keeps coming back to me is...I am a positive person and I'd like to think that I am. I have a lot of reason why I'm like that. I'm not positive because I don't have struggles, or don't hurt. I have all those things, but I've always been the bounce back girl.  I don't wallow in misery. I kick in, find answers, move forward and get the job down. I draw closer to the one who will walk me through it, God. If I have to work harder I will. I'm not going to post how life stinks for me right now. (Haha, I might write a song about it though) God just didn't design me that way. If I believe in a God that knows all, then I'm going to do my best to smile in my rain because I know He sees it and He'll get me through it.

This last year has been an amazing time of seeing God show up. Seriously, if you only knew what we have been through and some of the stories of how God brought us through some situations that were just out of our control. It's really been a time of Smiling in my Rain.  God brought us to Georgia and for whatever reason our house hasn't sold. It would be easy to focus on that one thing but life isn't about my house selling. Writing that is just as a reminder to me as it is an encouragement to others. Timing is everything and God's timing is perfect. I don't want to wake up every day with a negative attitude because of a house that hasn't sold. I want to smile in my rain and bring humor, support and hope to those that might need it. I want a joyful life filled with enjoyable moments.

So, I guess my question for you is... are you smiling in your rain? Do you need to turn your negative into a better outlook? I'm not saying we need to plaster on a smile all the time and not face what we are going through. I'm just saying we need to give our rain to God so we can do His work and have a joyful life inspite of what the world hands us. Negativity is a tool satan can use to spoil anything. Positivity shuts the door for satan to creep in and steal our life.

Here's hoping we all find our happy place today!

Well, here we go! I've worked on my new blog look all day. I thought about removing some of my past writings but then thought, no they are what they are. So, I'll apologize now for the uterus. LOL! Don't bother looking any further if you get grossed out easy but it was a huge part of something I went through. My blogging is going to be a lot like how you know me. Simple, funny, challenging and I guess you can say...Who I Really Am. So, I can't wait to get started. Nothing is going to be forced. No writing every single day, just when I get inspired. So, if you stopped by, let me know! I'm not good at writing to myself. LOL! Tell your friends! The more the merrier!

Leah