Kase tout chèn- Break every chain

I can't begin to tell you all how excited I am about this next blog post. We have a first on the blog today with my first "guest blogger" and I know you will be blessed by her testimony as I certainly was!!

Several months ago, I received a letter in the mail (I love getting letters in the mail by the way) from my aunt Tami letting me know that she would be going on a mission trip in October to Haiti with her church in Pearland. In late September she was in town visiting and stayed at my house. Through visiting with her during those few days, I had the pleasure of hearing about her preparation for the trip to Haiti and I saw a heart that focused on serving and loving God boldly and faithfully wherever he took her on this trip. I knew then that I wanted to have her share her testimony here on the blog with each of you after she returned.

I hope as you read about her time in Haiti that God would reveal himself to you in a new way and that you would be blessed and changed just like I was. Enjoy….

Kase tout chèn (Break Every Chain)

Mission of Hope: Haiti Crosspoint Church Trip October 2014

In January of this year, God showed me Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us” NLT. I have read this verse many times, but it was very clear to me that I needed to get rid of some baggage and see how God can use me when I grow in healing and renewal. I had no idea how God would move so big this year in my life and guide me through months of preparing my heart for Haiti. Since January, I have faithfully attended Celebrate Recovery. My daughter, Kelsey was baptized in June, and we became members at Crosspoint Church in Pearland in June of this year. I was asked to attend leadership training for a new Celebrate Recovery class at Crosspoint Church. It was in this training that our Missions Minister asked me to consider going on Haiti trip. God sure guided me to where I needed to be in order to truly work this scripture that he put on my heart at the first of 2014.

I knew that I needed to pray about Haiti and ask God if I was ready to take this kind of trip. I had been working so hard this year to get rid of unnecessary baggage, the past failures, that were keeping me stuck. I just wasn’t sure if I was ready. I began to pray emotionally and focused on truly making the right decision, and as God loves to do, He answered in scripture. Psalm 71:7 & 8, “My life is an example to many, because you have been my strength and protection. That is why I can never stop praising you. I declare your glory all day long.” I knew I was to go and show the healthy Christian me to Haiti and in return I would continue to transform my relationship with Christ. I would later that same month, sit down and write my recovery testimony and share it for the first time at Celebrate Recovery.

As I began to pray for Crosspoint Church and every individual that God would put together to form our October 2014 Haiti Team, I began to have a spark of joy and stronger faith as I was in God’s word and praying and studying hard. It felt amazing, and I was craving more scripture and more worship to get so close to my Heavenly Daddy. I was at one of my strongest points in my spiritual walk. That is where Satan loves to work harder to tear us down. Spiritual warfare the week before Haiti was absolutely horrible. Amazing that God has put the most awesome Christian individuals in my life, that in one text to many prayer warriors, and the anxiety and worry were lifted almost as quickly as Satan tried to put them on me. I prayed to God to let me spend some quality time with my son, Wade, after his game the Friday before leaving on trip because we have not had time just the two of us lately. I got my quality time in the ambulance as he got a concussion during the game. I think it was funny how the anxiety and worry over him being okay or if I would make this trip was barely crawling through me when I closed my eyes and prayed for SATAN TO LEAVE ME AND MY FAMILY ALONE! Taking it all to God every day in all you do, makes Satan mad. I love making Satan mad. Wade was doing better by the time he was at the hospital. GOD IS FAITHFUL AND ALMIGHTY. Made it home that night, in time to throw bags in the car and head to Haiti.

I would learn very quickly that God strategically put together our Mission Team, with totally different personalities but all with a common love for the Lord. 16 of us on this trip and I feel so thankful for each one,  because God used each one of them in some way or another to change me and/or work in me to help them. I felt God move me in a direction to be blessed numerous times by placing me where I needed to be to have that life changing experience over and over again on this trip. It was powerful.

Shortly after arriving in Haiti, I had my eyes wide opened to why God sent me here. One of the lessons to prepare for Haiti focuses on Compassion, and Webster defines compassion as “feeling of deep sympathy for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.” I have always felt God blessed me with eyes full of compassion in my life.  In Haiti, my EYES were OPENED WIDE and the COMPASSION was intense. I saw pain and poverty, yet I saw joy and simplicity. I was not in any way prepared for what God would show me and how he would use it to change my life and my focus in Haiti and in Texas. The first sunset, I sat at the top balcony thanking God for bringing me to Haiti and for opening my eyes and heart. I cried and knew that God would draw me so close to Him in every moment of this trip and that I would surrender my all to Him. I can’t remember ever praying that intensely or emotionally in my life. God was going to show me so much and I would feel so deeply through this trip in Haiti.

God also began working on me all this year that worship is being in a relationship with God. Like the Igloo Cooler, we drank from the whole week. If we didn’t fill it with good water, then nothing would come out. Our spiritual life is like that, we have to feed our faith through worship, prayer, and study, so that we can pour out to others about what God has done. If we empty ourselves, we will get full.  Blessings are all around us, in Haiti and at home.

As each day was a way not only to minister to others, God helped me dig deep into my heart and soul to invest everything I had and then I saw constantly all around me how He was  blessing me even more abundantly. Every sunset and sunrise during my trip was spent in quiet time with God. 1Thess. 5:17 “Keep on Praying” is what God told me on my second day in Haiti. He was telling me to have a prayerful attitude and be open to all I would learn and experience.

God moved big in my heart every Village Work Day or Witnessing Day. We were in the Village of Turpin. The drive to and from the Village of Turpin was absolutely breathtaking with the gorgeous water and the amazing mountains and valleys, yet all around was poverty. The Haitians were so friendly and made eye contact and greeted us with kindness and love. Our first day was painting a home. We ventured down the mountain with donkeys loaded with 5 gallon paint buckets, and we carried all our supplies and water. We walked for almost two miles through rocks, muddy streams, farming fields, and narrow paths that were way out of my comfort zone. I began to think I would never find my way back, then there was our home. The Monneus family had a sweet little home and we came to give it some good Christian love and a little southern charm. All of our hearts were so completely involved in painting. We listened to Christian music and we even were able to meet the newest Monneus family member, Sophie, just four days old. While painting, I was reminded of how much I complained about everyday life, nagging constantly, and even how much I hated painting. God worked on me so much in that moment, and tears were flowing as God was telling me to enjoy serving Him in life. My life song should be joyful and happiness. While painting a flower on the front of the house and tears flowing, I turned to see a row of beautiful children standing and watching us paint their home. They were all so happy to see their home transpire into a colorful home of love. The oldest young lady caught my eyes with a sweet smile. I blew her a kiss and she caught it and tapped her heart. Our hearts would begin a new journey together at that moment. After painting, we were all trying to decide who was going to carry the supplies and left over paint up the mountain, when the father said his daughters would carry the paint. Seeing these four girls climb this mountain with paint buckets on their head with joy, laughter and ease was a most humbling experience. I kept trying to catch up, saying “I’m Coming.” I wanted to be beside these girls and filled with their joy. Rose Marie, the one that caught my kiss, turned and put her hand on her hip and giggled, “I’m Coming.” She was laughing and smiling and pulling me into her joy. Then she sang “We love Jesus yes we do, we love Jesus how about you.” WOW she impressed me.

That night I thought of that path up and down that mountain and the paths that I have traveled over and over again in my life. Some of those paths, I should not be traveling any more. God told me it was time to make some new paths, and to let those old paths never to be traveled on again. A very humbling day as God brought Rose Marie into my life, and he showed me a child of God in a world that is so lost. Not only have I been on paths in my life, that I should not have been on, but I have also spent it complaining and nagging. God told me today to find new paths that bring honor and praise to Him and to change my Life Song to sing praises of what God is doing in my life.  I also learned a new song “Break Every Chain” (Kase tout chèn) which was a very descriptive song of how God worked in me in all of my Haiti experience. I learned through this that there is power in Jesus name to break every chain. I have spent my life with chains of past hurts and decisions that were hindering my relationship with Christ. It was time to break free and let go and serve God.

Our week in Haiti was life changing, through praying with Haitians, painting homes, planting trees and playing with children. Every moment there, I was completely humbled by all that I saw and experienced. My spiritual journey in Haiti, changed and transformed my daily spiritual walk for me going forward. I needed to break the chains of sin and bad decisions, to allow God to be seen in my heart. God used the Haitians to teach me about simplicity, perseverance, abundant worship, love and changing my life. He put the right people in my path in Haiti to pray for me or for me to pray for all week. He taught me that what he was doing in my life here in Haiti, he could do for me at home. It was about a daily walk with Him, joining Him in his sunrise and all day long being in worship with Him in all I do, and praying with Him in his sunset. I have never felt so close to God as I did in Haiti, and I believe that God opened my eyes to be on mission for Him daily. I experienced moments of total brokenness while my friend prayed over me, In Jesus name asking God to break these chains that have tied me down and kept me from glowing for God. That moment of knowing God chose her to pray so faithfully for me as I was so broken and scared about coming home and not being on fire for God like I was in Haiti. God used her to pray with me and help me to put on God’s Armor. That was a big GOD MOMENT.

The last day in Turpin was emotional to say goodbye to the beautiful faces of all those children in the school yard and to see around us all the people that God put in our path that week. Haitian Missionaries that we prayed together with, Camille who we prayed with and saw later in the week saying God made her well, families with sick children that we prayed with, trees that we planted to bring fruit for families in the coming years, and painting a home for the Monneus family were all part of blessings of our week. 26 people came to know Jesus through our Mission Team in Haiti. THAT IS POWERFUL! Most moving to me all week was Rose Marie. I saw her everyday at school, and our bond grew stronger. I am proud to say that I now am sponsoring her, and I look forward to taking my children to Haiti to meet her. She is forever a part of my family.

Haiti is Life Changing! The power of prayer has transformed me through my experience in Haiti. God used so much this year to prepare me for this trip, and he laid the foundation here at home with a great church family and Celebrate Recovery group to have the love and friendships that would carry me through the spiritual warfare. Galations 2:20 “I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” I close with my vision statement I wrote after returning from Haiti. “to become marked by the cross in every aspect of my life chasing God and breaking every chain that hinders my daily walk with Christ.”  In Jesus Name I Will Never Be The Same.

-Tami

Dear Mean Girl.

Over the last year, I've spent more and more time with middle school and high school girls through various ministry activities. With these girls, I've experienced highs and lows, times of hurt and times of happiness. What I've realized is that through it all, there's always drama. There's always that girl who's being a basement friend and stirring the post.

It doesn't matter the age, there's always at least one mean girl. Whether we're being the one attacked or we're the one attacking, there's always one. I'm 25 and I still deal with times where people choose to manipulate situations in my life and use things against me that they know will cause hurt. For the most at this time in my life, I can take it but lately I've been more convicted about the way I respond to the attack than anything else. I can't challenge my youth girls to respond with Christ love if I'm not willing to do that myself.

I know that no one is innocent but when I feel like my youth girls or those closest to me are being attacked, I often go on the offensive. God's changing my heart to respond in love instead of anger, to see the person instead of the action, to realize that maybe it's less about me than it is that girl. So tonight if I could say one thing to those mean girls it would be this...

Dear Mean Girl ,

I just want you to know that we see you. We see that for whatever reason you've decided to take your anger and hurt out on us. We see that and we want you to know that we forgive you. I think if we're all honest, we'd admit that we've all been in your shoes at some point in life. Whether it was out of pride or jealousy, at some point we've all chosen to put another girl down, to attack when she was already wounded and for that I'd like to say I'm sorry.

Your words and actions have made us question ourselves and our worth. We've questioned if the rumors and hurtful words are true, even if we know they aren't. We've questioned whether everyone else feels the same way you do and if we have any true friends that we can turn to. I wonder, do you ask those same questions about yourself? Do you wonder who you can trust? Do you wonder what's being said about you when you walk out of the room? If we've made you feel that way I'd like to say I'm sorry.

I'll be honest, our first reaction to your attacks and hurtful words is often to respond in anger. I know that we've all responded in that way once or twice and maybe the drama and the war that often ensues in "girl world" is as much our fault as it is yours. Your attacks often cause us to circle the wagons and pull our friends in, even if that means we do everything possible to turn said friends against you and leave you standing alone. For that, I'd like to say I'm sorry.

What I've learned is that girls like you don't ever really go away. Whether we're 15, 25, or 50, you're always there in some way. You're that ever present girl that's never going to like us, regardless of how much we often want you to. So I'm left wondering, if we can't change your presence, how can we respond to the hurt you often bring to our lives?

If I could tell you one thing, it would be that we love you. We love you regardless of the hurt and pain that you've brought to our lives. We  know that maybe the way you're acting says more about how you've been treated by others than it says about you. We know that some times even bad attention is good attention and that maybe you just want someone to realize that you're there. We know that maybe no one has ever shown you a different way of treating people and for that we're sorry.

We want you to know that ultimately, there is one who loves you so much more than we every could. We want you to know there is a God that created you and sent His son to die on a cross for you in order for you to live in eternity with him.  That's a love that surpasses all understanding, and that's the love we want you to know. That's the love that changes our hearts, that's the love that changes our actions and how we respond to you. That's the love that we strive to show in every action and reaction, in every word and thought. That's the love that allows us to tell you that we forgive you for the hurt you've brought to our lives and that we still love you.

We know that life isn't easy and no matter how old we are, we've never really got it figured out. We know that going through life alone is completely miserable and without a trusted friend by our side, it often seems impossible. We know that we might never be best friends, but we want you to know we're choosing not to respond to your attacks in a way that causes more hurt and pain. We're choosing today to respond in a way that lets you know that you are not invisible and the hurt and pain in your life means something to someone.

We want you to know that whether you've started rumors about us, manipulated situations, used our deepest wants and desires against us, or you've just been flat out rude, we forgive you. We want you to know that we're sorry for the times that we've acted the same way to you or other girls and we want you to know that together, we can be different.  This world is crazy enough as it is, we don't need to go around wounding each other any more. 

We want you to know that when it seems like you're only option is be a mean girl, we can take it and we wont hold it against you. We want to be different. We want you to be different. We want you to know that you're loved and you're valued and you can be yourself with us. We want you to know that you are beautiful and you have a unique purpose that only you can fulfill. We want to see you fulfill that.

Lets move forward together right now. Let's decide to put the hurt and pain of the past aside and walk forward together. Lets accept the fact that we'll all have bad days and there will be times we say and do things we later wish we shouldn't. Lets admit that we wont always like each other and we wont always be best friends, but lets decide that we don't have to start another war tomorrow. Lets admit that we wont hold the things you say against you and we certainly wont let it define the way we see you. Lets both remember that regardless of how we've been treated in the past and the hurt we often receive from family, friends, and those closest to us, we're much better off supporting each other than we are  attacking each other.

We see you mean girl, we see you and we love you. We're sorry for the hurt we've caused you in the past and we forgive you for the hurt you've caused us. Now lets move on together because we love you.

Sincerely, Us.  

The storm is coming and plants need water.

I remember several years ago when I was in college, my roommate asked me what my favorite part of nature was. I think I said flowers. There's so many different kinds, each with an array of colors, blooms, smells, leaves, etc. God made each of them and He made them each unique. What my roommate said in regards to her favorite part of nature has always stuck with me and it's something that God's been showing me and reminding me over the last few weeks, she told me her favorite part of nature was the rain because it's  always an indicator of new life.

The more I've thought about it the last few weeks, the more I've realized just how true this is. Rain always always always brings new life. It doesn't matter  how bad the storm is, there is always new vegetation as a result of the rain. It may take some time to see that growth and that new life, but it's always there. Whether in a single blade of grass in a field or abundant growth of vegetation in a garden, there is always growth following the rain. The funny thing is, without rain, without water, the plants can't grow. 

I've been reminded of how true this is in our own lives. The certainty of trials and storms in life is real. The hope through those trials is that new life, new growth is always coming. I am so convinced that nothing comes to us without going through the Father first. He allows things to happen in our lives that at times, seem unfair, harsh, and "not good", but these things are NEVER out of His control.  Romans 8:28 says that "We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."

There have most certainly been times in my life where I was unable to see the good or the purpose in the trial or the situation. There have been times when I wanted nothing more than to know why. Why would a loving God allow things to happen? Why would a loving God allow things to work out the way that they do? Why would a loving God not give me this seemingly "good thing?" What I've learned is that while a very loving God allows things to happen, they are never out of His control and He is working ALL THINGS to His glory. My human mind often longs  to know the earthly why that it was never meant to know. It's in those times when faith and trust in God's plans is my only option that I begin to see the growth that He is doing. I begin to understand the necessity of the rain to bring growth even when it's not comfortable and even when it's not easy. 

 This morning in Sunday school, we discussed Hebrews 6:7-8 which says, "For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned." Much like storms in nature, storms in life can leave a trail of hurt and destruction. And much like those storms in nature, we have a choice whether to rebuild in those places or move on. Whatever the circumstances of the storms in my life, I always have a choice. I have a choice whether to allow God to use those storms to grow my faith and trust in Him, to do His work, and produce new healthy vegetation in my life or I have a choice to allow the thorns and thistles of anger, hate, bitterness, and resentment to grow where love and trust once was planted. 

If we believe what God's word says in Romans 8:28 then we know that even in the midst of the trials, He is working. We know that even in the soaking rain, He is preparing the ground with nourishment and new life for the growth that He is planning. How often though do we allow the driving rain to blind us to the things that He is doing? I think all too often we allow the thorns and the thistles to grow simply because of a lack of faith in the Father's plan and an unawareness of His presence in those situations. Unfortunately what happens when I allow the thorns and the thistles to grow in my life after a storm, is that they begin to take over. Not just in the one area but in the whole. If they aren't stopped, if they aren't pruned, their roots begin to run deep and they begin to take over the life that was once there.

What I've realized is that when I make the choice to allow anger, resentment, and bitterness to grow after the rain, God often has to come in a prune those things out of my life. Because of my choice to allow things that aren't of God to grow  I often face the consequences that come from that pruning. Thankfully, God loves me enough that He's willing to prune those things from my life and if I choose to allow Him to work, those things do not have to overtake me.

When I think of the uprooting nature of storms, I often think of the Moore tornado in 2013 that left a very obvious path of destruction through the town. When I went through Moore a month after the tornado my mind could not fully grasp the power of a storm that could leave so much destruction in it's wake. For three years I had driven through that area almost every day on my way to class and it was completely different. The path of the tornado completely changed the landscape. Where houses once stood, there were empty concrete slabs. Where trees once grew, there were broken branches. Where there were jobs and infrastructure, there broken dreams and businesses gone all because of the storm.

I went through Moore again about a month ago and what I saw this time, was new life. Houses begin built, businesses reopening, people living their lives. You see, they too had a choice. They could have very easily allowed the storm to take all those things away from them. They could have allowed that path to remain as a scar on the town so that everyone passing through would see right where the storm ripped it apart. But what I saw was new life. I saw a choice to rebuild. While the rain was soaking and left destruction in it's wake, it did not choke out the new growth or the life that was there.

There are few things I am certain of in this life, but I am certain of this- there will always be storms. There will also always be new growth following the rain. The presence of a storm does not dictate my response to the rain any more than a trial should dictate my response to the Father. Ultimately I know that rain is rain and it only makes me more aware of my need for an umbrella. In the same way, I know that God is God and the storms of life only make me more aware of my need for Him and the growth that only he can cause following the rain.  No matter how soaking and how destructive the rain may seem, God can and will always use it for His good and for His glory. We each have a choice. We each choose our response to the growth following the storm. We choose whether to allow healthy vegetation and new life to grow or we choose to allow thorns and thistles to remain as a scar, symbolizing the path of destruction in our lives. The rain is coming, but let it be an indicator of the abundant life God has for you today. Choose life, even in the storm. 

I won't make a move.

I've been feeling especially uninspired on the blog lately, most likely over thinking every situation in my life in hopes that God would give me something...anything...for a post. But I got nothing. I feel like the last few weeks have been extremely emotional, tough, and draining on our community and on people personally close to me. The hurt and the pain is real and my human mind cannot fathom or make sense of the way things happen at times. For many of us, I think the NCTC tragedy put a lot of things into perspective, I know it did for me. (I've spent a little less time yelling over postseason baseball this week because it just doesn't really seem to matter as much.)

But through everything the last few weeks, God has remained faithful and His love has remained constant. So I've been searching, hoping, thinking, for anything to share on the blog. Any little bit of hope and of truth about God's love that I could somehow put in to words and share with those who are broken and hurting right now. And like I said, I got nothing.

Tonight I had a conversation about being still and waiting, about holding my position, and about taking care of the things I personally needed to take care of; Then I got in my car, plugged in my iPhone expecting for a specific playlist of music to start playing through the car speakers. Instead of the playlist, my phone picked a random song from my music library and for the 500th time in the last month God told me to be still, to wait on Him, to wait for His leading, and not to make a move without His direction.  Through my tears and the words of the song, I knew God was not only affirming a command He had already given me numerous times, but He was leading me to share this post tonight.

"I'll walk beside you as you lead me through still waters for my soul, I place my hope in all You are. And I know you'll guide me to places where there's beauty to behold, there's no other place I'd rather be. I've been down the other road where fear and doubt, they take control, and I won't go there anymore. And I won't make a move without you. I won't make a move without you right by my side. So I will wait for you to lead me to any place where you need, I won't make a move without you."

For months God has laid Exodus 14:14 on my heart over and over and over again. (I even read it in a novel earlier today) I have thought about that scripture and I have prayed that scripture over my life and over the lives of other people and I have clung to it, knowing that God was telling me to be still in numerous situations in my life. And then life happens and I get caught up in the moment, I get caught up in the hurt and the pain and the injustices going on around me and I want to run headstrong into battle, never even remembering God's command to stay still, to stand firm, and wait where I am. 

I think so often this is our response. Life happens, things don't go the way we have planned, people who we thought cared about us stab us in the back, parents split up, kids fail, people make mistakes, we miss out on a promotion at work, and the list goes on; Suddenly we think we have to fix everything in life and we never even stop to acknowledge the work that God is doing around us.

What I love about this passage in Exodus is that God was about to take what seemed like and impossible situation and He was getting ready to do something huge in the lives of the Israelites. He had just brought them out of Egypt, out of Pharaoh's hand, and out of slavery but immediately they begin to question His works. In the midst of their complaining and their crying out against God, Moses did not hesitate- "Do NOT be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. The Lord will fight you; you need only to be still." God was getting ready to dump the entire Egyptian army into the sea so that His name would be glorified and so that the Israelites would see deliverance from His hand yet they were ready to run back up the hill towards the approaching army and surrender themselves as slaves. Part of me can't understand how they could be so stupid. Another part of me is embarrassed to admit my own unwillingness to wait on God, to be still, and to allow Him to work in and through my life.

Situation after situation in life has taught me that things don't always go my way. They don't always work out the way I want them to or when I want them to (hence not being married at age 25) but that does NOT negate the work of God in my life or the lives of those around me. To the Israelites, death or slavery seemed imminent but what they couldn't see was the hand of God working in their lives. All they had to do was wait and they were about to get a first hand encounter  of the power and work of almighty God in their lives, to preserve their lives.

I don’t know what's going on in your life. I don’t know what situations seem hopeless. I don't know where fear, and hurt, and pain has set in, but God does! Praise Jesus! He knows and He cares and He's working. His word  tells us that He will NOT abandon the works of His hands. He did not bring you to this situation to leave you there any more than He brought the Israelites to the desert to abandon them at the shores of the sea. He is working and He is fighting for you so that His name may be glorified and so that He can draw you to Him. I don't know what he's trying to teach you or reveal to you through all this, but I know what He's telling me in my life right now and that's to BE STILL. He's telling me to take a deep breath, to quiet my spirit, to focus my eyes on Him and to trust that even in the most hopeless of situations, He is hope, and NOTHING is out of His control.

Tonight, I am resting in the hope that comes from faith in my Savior. A faith that says "No matter what...I will go where you lead and I will not make a move until you tell me." I will trust in the work of the Father and I will rest in the fact that the battle is not mine. Maybe God is telling some of you tonight to be still. Maybe you're like me and you've gotten so caught up in the things going on around you that you have ignored the Holy Spirit's command in your life to be still. God has given me passions and desires, people and situations, dreams and causes, that I am ready to run into battle for but it has to be in His timing, and tonight  He is telling me to Be Still. The thing is, just because He's telling me to Be Still tonight does not mean that I've abandoned the battle or the passions that He's placed on my life. But right now, I have to be obedient and I have to Be Still. I have to trust that the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, creator of the Universe is a much much better warrior than I am. I have to trust that He is working even when I can't see it, even when the pain, hurt, brokenness, and sin seems to be running rampant in the situation, HE IS STILL WORKING.

He has not forgotten about you friends. He has not called you to stand still in the battle to allow it to over take you. No matter what you're going through tonight, He has not abandoned you in the middle of the desert. Maybe, just maybe, He's getting ready to part the seas in your life and lead you across dry ground. Don't give up. Don't listen to the lies of the evil one, and don't run back up the hill towards the chains of slavery in your life. BE STILL. And don't make a move until he tells you to.