Shutting off the world and connecting with my maker is one of my favorite times of the day! Creating an atmosphere that is going to allow me to focus and hear the Holy Spirit is vital to how effective my devotional time is. Light some candles, put your phone away and allow this playlist to play quietly in the background! I hope you enjoy.
The Devotional Playlist
Lauren Diagel: Once and For All
All Sons & Daughters: Great Are You Lord
Sarah Hart Pearsons: Sweet Holy Spirit
Tamela Mann: Take Me to the King
Kim Walker:Smith and Skyler Smith: Christ The Rock
“Establishing, then committing to, and maintaining daily spiritual practices is crucial. They form the painful and truly necessary process of surrendering your life into God’s hands.†–Iyanla Vanzant
Here we are roaring into the third week of August 2015! Here at STRONG we have many things to be excited about and much more to share with you! With only four months left in this year (times flies when you’re fulfilling PURPOSE) have you found yourself feeling like you need an extra boost? Many of us are going into the last quarter of this year with plenty of accomplishments under our belts, but in need of a little more to make it toward the finish line of our 2015 Goals List! If you’re anything like me, sometimes you just need to switch up or add something to your daily routine to get fresh energy flowing! This year, I changed A LOT, but the most beneficial change came from my inner-work to feel stronger and more grounded within.
Recently, I’ve felt the need to strengthen my core and I don’t mean this hidden six-pack! I mean beneath the surface, on a spiritual level. I’ve always felt the need to pray, but as I’ve matured I’ve developed a need to go deeper. I started to find that bowing my head with requests and some thanks a few times a day wasn’t enough to keep me fueled spiritually and prepared to navigate the battles that we all face daily! When you want to make significant changes in life, in order to manifest changes on the outside you must first make changes within. I realized it was time to take my daily spiritual practice to the next level internally so that my life would follow externally.
Think about it, there are so many things that require our time and attention daily, but if we are not properly fortified to handle these issues and circumstances, we can find ourselves struggling through life as we know it. This is truly unnecessary and leads us to operate in a way that doesn’t support our highest good! While attending my alma mater, Central State University, I started journaling my prayers so that I would remember to pray daily. The benefits far exceeded my expectations and over the years I’ve found adding components to my routine has strengthened me in ways I never thought possible! It is my sincere hope and suggestion that you will schedule time daily to strengthen your core- your spirit.
I consider this dedicated act core strengthening, because these steps improve your life from your core outward! I use this time to spend time with God, fill my heart and mind with His Word, and most importantly LISTEN for HIS directions-uninterrupted by my thoughts and desires. Prayer, reading scriptures along with devotionals, and meditation has taken my faith and spiritual endurance to heights that allow me to focus on higher things! (Colossians 3:2) Focusing on the bigger picture and what GOD has for you will give you the strength you need to continue accomplishing GREAT things with the remainder of 2015!
Every day. Literally, every day GOD wakes you up. Stop, and spend dedicated time with Him. Pray. Read scriptures and devotionals. Meditate. This is ALWAYS the FIRST thing on my To Do List every day. If I miss a morning, then I make sure to end my night with this routine. Do you have a daily spiritual practice? If not, I challenge you to try the one outlined above and/or create your own. Commit to maintain this practice for at least 7-days and be sure to let know me how you feel afterwards!
My family loves music. Everyone in my household loves listening to music, and even though we also have our own independent earphone-sets respectively, we still have bi-monthly search parties whenever someone (cough, my younger brother, cough) will ‘accidently’ take someone else’s headphones. Recently, I discovered a DIY project on Pinterest that will not only help me keep my brother’s sticky hands away from my earphones, but also stop them from getting ridiculously tangled!
Using embroidery-floss and technique famously known as the Chinese Staircase, you will be able to differentiate between your earphones and another’s with little-to-no argument needed.
You will need: Embroidery-floss (which can be purchased at your local arts and crafts store), Earphones (of course), Tape, Clear glue, and Scissors.
If you have made a friendship bracelet in elementary school or are familiar with the Chinese Staircase technique, then this project may be a breeze for you. But if you are a bit arts-and-crafts challenged, like myself, or need additional assistance, detailed instructions can be found at: http://teachmemila.blogspot.ca/2012/09/diy-colorful-wrapped-earphones.html?m=1
Hopefully, you will have just as much fun as I did with this neat DIY!
Take pictures and tag your results to @knowyourstrong on Instagram and Twitter!
To any believer of God this would be like pointing out a mole that the person has had on their face since birth. But do you really understand the depth of His love?
Romans 8:37-39 reads, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord,” (ESV).
Romans is saying that there isn’t a mountain high enough to keep us away from the love of God, but come on. There has to be a time when even God gets exasperated by our foolishness. What if my next mistake is the last straw? Then what?
While these fears may seem reasonable and rational, 1 John 4:18 states, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love,” (ESV).
There is no last straw with God.
God’s love is undeniably endless.
Even when lose our faith in Him, He keeps His faith in us.
As any parent would be, He may be disappointed in a decision we make, but God will never leave or forsake us.
You could be the worst sinner out in the world, if one even exists, and God would love you regardless.
In church, you may be told that you’re loved with the love of the Lord and although I am not at all times open to it, to be loved with the love of the Lord is a very powerful thing. Having a love for another person like the love the Lord has for us is loving on a level that is beyond passionate.
Loving with the love of the Lord would cause a person to cross the line and become obsessive in the unhealthiest form.
No one can love you in the way the Lord loves you.
Loving someone the way God loves you would be like loving your partner for better or worse times a thousand.
Could you forgive your partner for cheating on you?
Could you forgive your partner for committing murder purposefully?
With repentance, God forgives us for things without a second thought. As humans, it’s more than just a little difficult to turn an eye unbattingly at things like that.
It’s for that no one can truly love with the Lord.
To love with the love of the Lord would be to accept every flaw that a person wears when you meet them, and accept every flaw that forms after. It means that you must be willing to sit with a person and listen to them cry for hours on end about their issues. It means that you be open to effortlessly forgive someone for acts that they commit before you know them and every day after.
God’s love is unconditional to the point that if He were a person, He’d probably be diagnosed as undoubtedly insane.
For these reasons, the love of the Lord is not achievable by anyone but the Lord himself.
Maeve Binchy once said, “The great thing about getting older is that you become more mellow. Things aren’t as black and white, and you become much more tolerant. You can see the good in things much more easily rather than getting enraged as you used to do when you were young.”
The song “Eternal Sunshine” by Jhene Aiko is the epitome of this quote.
Despite the singer being 27-years old, she starts the song off by crooning, “Is it strange for me to say that/ If I were to die today/There’s not a thing that I would change/I’ve lived well.”
She goes on to acknowledge that she has made mistakes and been hurt, but still claims that her life has been “well”. She also recognizes that in reflection of her life, she is only able to “recall all of the good things” that occurred.
The pre-hook and hook of the song is what really mirrors the ideology of the quote by Binchy. Aiko sings about how the more she experiences, the more knowledgeable she becomes. Besides this revelation, the song and quote also acknowledge that with age, comes a sense of euphoria.
You begin to hone in on the good things in your life.
What makes you happy?
Who makes you smile?
For those reasons this song inspires me to be a good person so that I can reflect on my life with the same appreciation that Maeve Binchy and Jhene Aiko have about there’s. Listening to this song, you may have a similar revelation or a different epiphany entirely.
God has made everything beautiful in its time. Ecclesiastes 3:11
Time. A four-letter word that means everything in life. Time is defined as, “an appointed, fixed, or customary moment or hour for something to happen, begin, or end.”(Merriam-Webster, 2015) In life, there is truly a time for everything, and I have come to learn that whether we are prepared or not, when that moment arrives there’s nothing that can stop what’s meant to happen at that moment. Time is truly a gift, when utilized properly it allows the opportunity to prepare for what’s to come. It is often the defining factor in whether endeavors succeed or fail. Especially, when we don’t allow ourselves to embrace the process that is vital to the maturation of our dreams, goals, purpose, and plans.
“God has made everything beautiful in its time.” There is an appointed time for all things to happen, begin, or end and when we allow God to prepare us for that time, we will see the results that we desire. We will see things happen in the way they were meant to unfold. How often have you have allowed yourself to move before it was time? What were your results and were they favorable to your desired outcome? Consider what would happen if you were to move your car into traffic before you had the right-of-way, before the light changed, and gave you the signal that it was time to safely proceed. In the same way that you wouldn’t move your car into the danger of bustling traffic, you should exercise the same caution when pursuing various endeavors in life. Timing is everything!
Fear. A different four-letter word that can have profound effects on the very trajectory of your life. It can derail your plans and hold you back from your goals, dreams, visions, and greatest aspirations…if you allow it. I know, because for many years, honestly for as long as I can remember, I allowed some element of fear to control me. I realized that it was the element of the unknown and my desire to control outlying factors that grounded me. That weight held me down and kept me from fully pursuing ALL that God had for me. Then one day, I read a quote by T.D. Jakes that I’ve since started to see everywhere in some variation or another. “Feel the fear and do it anyway!” That day, life changed forever. I realized the time had come for me to face my fears and do what was necessary to fulfill my purpose; in spite of the fear I felt.
When you allow yourself to feel the emotions necessary to fuel your dreams and plans you can truly be unstoppable. In the same respect, when you allow an emotion as daunting as fear to hinder you, you can disfigure your life in ways that some never recover from. Time is fleeting, and with every passing minute you have the opportunity and responsibility to defeat fear. Take it! Every single chance you get.
Believe in the unknown. Not because you fear it, but because you EMBRACE it! Believe there are many good things specifically set aside for you-even if you can’t physically see them yet. Everything won’t always be a fight or a struggle, but know that you are prepared to deal with either. Have some confidence, good things can and will happen for you; furthermore, understand that these things will come to you in the time they are meant to, and not a moment before. These things are for your advancement and your purpose to show you that there’s beauty beyond pain, beyond failure, and beyond mistakes! The lessons that you are yet learning are for your good. It’s neverabout what you’ve “lost” and ALWAYS what you GAIN, because what’s meant for you will ALWAYS find a way! Never stop picking up jewels along your journey. Wisdom and discernment are granted to those in a position to handle them. Rather you believe it or not, you had to experience it to truly learn from it! So, believe in the lessons, believe in yourself, but most importantly believe GOD! With your whole heart, trust that you are ready for a time such as this.
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