Daily Bread: Embrace Your Weakness

I have been doing a lot of thinking about strength lately.  More specifically, I've been thinking a lot about this phrase coming from Exodus 13:14, "By strength of hand, the LORD brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage."  And I've been plagued by this thought:  What exactly is God's strength of hand? 

I mean I know what my strength of hand is.  I know how to push, pull, lift, and support with my hands.  To snatch something away quickly, to offer a hand to stabilize my toddler, to reach out my hand to stop my 4 year old from doing something she shouldn't do.  But what exactly is God's strength of hand? 

It must be so much more than my concept of strength.  I mean, God is my strength.  God is strength.  God is so much more than strength.  And thinking about God's strength, just makes me think about how weak I really am. 

Over the past 6 months, watching my mother struggle with the effects of diabetes really hammered home for me just how frail the human body is.  For anyone who has tried to open a jar and couldn't, or lift something that was too heavy, or do something that your strength just wouldn't allow you to do... the feeling you have is something akin to impotence and to powerlessness.  And if your day to day life is plagued with those feelings of weakness and lack of strength, you could get lost in the abyss of negative emotions (doubt, sadness, depression).  But o troubled soul there is a God.

Thinking about my own weaknesses makes me feel sad and inferior.  I'm not the smartest, not the wittiest, not the funniest.  But you know what... I have decided to embrace those things.  I embrace my weaknesses because they make me humble.  They remind me that my strength does not come from me.  My strength comes from God.  My weaknesses remind me that without God I would be nothing; that I would be able to accomplish nothing; that my life would be worth nothing.  As a child of the Most High God, I have enjoyed success that I did not earn, blessings that I did not deserve, happiness that should not have been mine.  And since I know my own limitations, since I know my own weakness, I know for myself that these things were not created by my strength of hand.  But rather, by strength of hand, the LORD brought me out. 

--Lady S.

Daily Bread: Prosperity

The children of Israel, all 70 of them, came to Egypt to escape the famine in the land of
Canaan. (Exodus 1:5). Joseph, as you’ll recall was already there. (Exodus 1:5). In any
event, as time went on the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and
multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was full of them. (Exodus 1:7).

Pharaoh, this king which knew not Joseph, was uncomfortable with their number. (Exodus
1:8). He worried that if there was a war; that the children of Israel might side with the
enemy against Egypt. (Exodus 1:10). So he says, “Come on, let us deal wisely with them.”
(Exodus 1:10).

You know what happens next. The Egyptians set up taskmasters over the children of Israel
to afflict them with their burdens. (Exodus 1:11). But still the children of Israel continued
to multiply. (Exodus 1:12). So Pharaoh recruited the midwives to get rid of the male
children when they were born (Exodus 1:15-16). But the midwives, because they feared
God, would not cooperate. (Exodus 1:17). And the children of Israel continued to multiply
and waxed mighty. (Exodus 1:20).

A few thoughts about this:

1. The children of Israel, who were basically refugees, were prospering in the land of
Egypt. When you prosper people start to notice. Not everyone who notices your
prosperity will have your best interest at heart. They will try to devise schemes to
bring you down. They will try to deal wisely with you to make themselves feel more
comfortable with your success.

2. Multiplying was a blessing given to the children of Israel by God. God tells Abraham in
Genesis 12:3, “I will make of thee a great nation” and in Genesis 17:2 “And I will make
my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.” God tells Isaac
in Genesis 26:24, “fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed
for my servant Abraham’s sake”. God tells Jacob in Genesis 28:14, “And thy seed shall
be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east,
and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the
earth be blessed”. The point is that the children of Israel were fulfilling their blessing.
No wise dealings can stop, block, or undo a blessing that God intends for you. It doesn’t
matter who is uncomfortable with your prosperity. It doesn’t matter how they try
to limit your success. If God has promised it to you and you hold up your end of the
bargain, you will inherit your blessing.

3. When I read Exodus 1:10 “Come on, let us deal wisely with them…”, I could help but
think of Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together saith the Lord of Hosts..”.
The ability to think wisely and reason well is a powerful tool and can be used to achieve
both good and bad results. Pharaoh reasoned with bad intentions and the end result
was that, in spite of his “wise thinking” he could not overcome the blessing God had
bestowed upon the children of Israel. Compare that with what happens when you
reason together with God. When you use your rational mind with the intention of being
who and what God called you to be, when you infuse His word, His commandments, the
guidance He has given us for daily living, the result is salvific: though your sins be as
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.

Final Thought: Don’t be ashamed of your prosperity. Be determined and confident in
the blessings you have been given. Adversity will only serve to test and strengthen your
determination. So it doesn’t matter who is trying to deal wisely with you, as long as you are
reasoning together with God.

--Lady S.

Curly Nikki | Natural Hair Styles and Curly Hair Care: Self-Concept Thursday

Curly Nikki | Natural Hair Styles and Curly Hair Care: Self-Concept Thursday: Affirmations for Letting it Go by GG of PeaceLovenadPrettyThings It doesn't seem fair when he cheated on you and now he's happily marrie...

Daily Bread: World AIDS Day

2 Corinthians 13:11 "Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you."

My father died from complications related to AIDS.  So on World AIDS Day, just like my father's birthday, father's day, and the anniversary of his death, I think about him and all the things that he is missing.  He never got a chance to meet his grandchildren.  What a lively bunch they are!  He would have gotten such a huge kick out of them.  I also think about how much I miss him being around.  He had such a great sense of humor and he could make anything and everything fun.  In fact, at his funeral, my sisters and I joked through most of it in his honor.  Sounds weird, but that is exactly how he would have wanted it to be.  My father was also an eloquent public speaker.  He could talk about anything and make you believe it.  I never got to say goodbye to him, but I imagine that his farewell advice to me would be something along the lines of the scripture above.  He'd want me to be perfect, well he'd want me to aim for perfection in all areas of my life:  with my husband, with my kids, with my mom and my sisters, with my friends, with my church family, on my job.  That's because he wanted the best for me.  He'd want me to be of good comfort, knowing that even though my earthly father was going away that I still serve a Heavenly Father that is just and true, who blesses and heals and redeems and saves.  He'd want me to be of one mind, be like-minded and on the same page with my sisters about what is important in this life.  And mostly he'd want me to live in peace.  He wouldn't want me walking around stressed out, anxious and frustrated.  He wouldn't want to see me living a life full of anger.  Neither do I want any of those things for myself.  I desire to live in peace so that the God of love and peace will be with me.  And I desire the same thing for each of you.  Live in peace so that the God of love and peace will be with you.  --Lady S.

Visit www.worldaidsday.org for more information.

Domestic Diva Corner: Bedtime

OK... its confession time.  Bedtime in my house is... an experience.  My daughter is, in her own words, "never tired".  And in her 3 years of life, she has proven that she can easily stay up until midnight if given the opportunity.  Bedtime makes me want to pull my hair out, mostly because I'm so tired, and I can't understand how or why my beautiful girl doesn't angelically float to her bed, lay down, and drift peacefully off to sleep.  I started to think it was only me.  Especially after my cousin recently disclosed that his daughter is in the bed at 7:30 every night with no exceptions.  And then I read this post over at Inspired to Action and breathed a heavy sigh of relief.  I'm not the only one.  And what was even more beautiful was that it lead me to this post from I Take Joy.  In a nutshell, the writer talks about how she prioritized bedtime with her children, made it a special time, and closed every day with a blessing.  The post is so beautiful and inspiring.  It just really moved me, and I hope it will move you too.  --Lady S.

Daily Bread: Sacrifices of Joy

"And now mine head shall be lifted above, mine enemies round about me.  Therefore will offer in his tabernacle, sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord."  Psalm 27:6

How can you sacrifice joy?  A sacrifice is the offering of food, objects or lives as an act of worship.  It is the surrender or destruction of something prized, important, or desirable for the sake of something considered as having a higher value or greater importance.  So how do you sacrifice joy?  How do you offer joy as an act of worship? How can you surrender or give up joy for something higher?

Joy is an emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying.  It is a state of happiness or felicity.  Can you imagine anything higher than joy?  Joy is elation, bliss, delight, rapture, and wonder.  What could possibly be higher than that?

 Nehemiah 8:10 says "for the joy of the Lord is your strength."  Psalm 16:11, "Your presence is the fullness of joy."  Psalm 35:9, "And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord: it shall rejoice in His salvation."

My joy is the joy that comes from doing well at work, or making my children smile, or passing a test, or making my mother happy.  Those things are great, but they can't compare to the joy of the Lord.  My joy comes from thinking about how good God has been to me, what He brought me through.  My testimony is my joy.  But the joy of the Lord is even higher than that.  I lay down my joy to enter into the joy of the Lord.

Does sacrificing my joy mean that I walk around with a frown on my face?  No, because my joy is replaced by the joy of the Lord.  The joy of the Lord is greater than elation, greater than delight, and greater than bliss.  The joy of the Lord is greater than being joyful because of what God has done .  The joy of the Lord is being joyful simply because God is, God was, and God always will be.  The joy of the Lord does not wax or wane, it does not change, it is a constant joy.  Once you have it, it never goes away.  I will sing, yea I will sing praises unto the Lord, not because of what He's done.  I've sacrificed that kind of joy.  I will sing praises unto the Lord, not because of what He's allowed me to accomplish.  I've sacrificed that kind of joy.  I will sing praises unto the Lord because of who He is.  --Lady S.  

Daily Bread: Nehemiah

I was cleaning up my house and uncovered a page that was torn out of a notebook and was dated July 30th.  Now, I'm guessing that because these were notes that I'd obviously taken in church, they must be from 2007 before I had kids!  Since having kids, the times that I've been able to actually take notes in church have been few and far between.  

Anyway, in these notes the preacher was talking about Nehemiah, the man given the task of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem.  My notes say, "God wants us to use our lives for a specific purpose.  We are placed on this earth with gifts and talents that are waiting to be used for a divine purpose and until we accomplish that purpose we will find emptiness."  

Now what came next really hit me hard.  "Nothing can prevent you from doing the work that is required to fill your purpose.  But it won't necessarily be easy.  Struggle is necessary.  When you have to struggle you appreciate your purpose more.  Struggle gauges your level of commitment.  Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives because struggle qualifies you to help others.  When you've stood your ground and weathered the storm you are a help to others.  Thank God for the struggle.  There is not testimony without a test.  There is no victory without a battle."   

Given my last post of Dry Bones, I think maybe God is trying to tell me something.  --Lady S.