* Have you Seen God Lately?

→Have you ever looked for something and thought you knew where it was but still couldn’t find it? I'm known for losing my keys, sunglasses, driver license....okay....just about anything that is important! I never mean to misplace things...I just put them in REALLY good places for safe-keeping! It can be frustrating to look for something and not be able to locate it; especially after destroying the house and everything in your path in the process. There is one thing thankfully in my world that is easy to find....God is always right there right when I need Him and always within arm's reach.

You never have to call God into your situation. You never have to wonder where He is. You never have to fear when things become too difficult, or wonder if He will abandon you. He goes before you; He walks beside you; He comes behind you. He protects you securely. Just as He sees every sparrow and knows every hair that is on your head, so His gaze is constantly upon you (Luke 12:6–7). He comforts you with His strong presence in times of sorrow and grief. He leads you through the valley of the shadow of death. You never need to fear evil.....as intimidating as evil can be, there is nothing you will ever face that intimidates your Shepherd. He has seen it all and soundly defeated every form of wickedness. Evil never catches Him by surprise. He is always prepared and knows exactly when and where you will experience difficulty. Place your absolute trust in your God because He will protect you and demonstrate His love for you through what you feel is your hardest times.

And the really awesome thing is that no matter how careless you might have been about spending time or praying or even thinking about God.....He is always one prayer away from comforting you and helping you and NEVER has forgotten just where you are at.


Adjust your Crown!

--Jonna

You are So Beautiful to Me

A good friend of mine posted a status on Facebook recently about a question regarding beauty. She asked for her friends to respond in 3 words or less 'what beautiful means to them'. There were various answers to her question and noteably no one put that they thought they were beautiful. Of course none of us would blatantly go around and say that we are "stunning" or "gorgeous' but deep down we all really strive and want to be beautiful!

 I have seen models before and I was left in total jealousy of their "perfectness" but I don't want to have anything to do with the hard work they are involved in! All the days at the gym, eating less than a bird, keeping their skin tanned, waxed and with no breakouts along with keeping perfect hair at ALL times. OH my...that is just craziness! Can you imagine having to do that everyday to please people and conform to what is the current definition of beauty and acceptance? People love to be loved and admired and most will go to great lengths and costs to attain it. 

"How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news..."Romans 10:15

God loves us and when he looks at us he sees our HEART...not our new accessories or new hair do!  Thankfully God also has the ability to see what we can become and not so much where we are at in the present. We are God's children (John 1:12) and just like any parent He is proud of his kids and wants us on display. We have a hope and a future in Christ and He only has plans for us that is good. (Jer 29:11.)  Romans 10:5 says that God states our FEET are beatuiful! Wow...I haven't had a pedicure in ages...he might want to reconsider! ha. The thing that most feel are the dirtiest part of the body is what God calls beautiful...I think that is AMAZING! We are all fashioned in His image and I believe there is not one person on this planet that is ugly. We just compare what society says is to be the criteria for beauty and we tend to forget that God's ways are not the world's ways....NO creation of my God's is sub-standard!

"...for the LORD sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart"         1 Samuel 16:7

We have been given worth....we cost something.  Jesus gave his life and died a horrendous death just for us.  Our beauty flows out of our value and we are likened to a very rare jewel.....priceless. When we let go of our past, as well as our sin, we can begin to see ourselves as God sees us -– beautiful. We are not inadequate and we are definitely not lacking in any thing. We are not limited in any way, shape or form. We are made whole in Christ and nothing can strip us of God’s unfailing love. We are God’s masterpieces! We are wanted...and sometimes it seems hard to believe God chose us! 

 So if you haven't been told lately.....God wants me to tell you that....YOU are BEAUTIFUL!

Sweet Expectations

There once was a man who was walking in the jungle. As he got farther and farther in he became somewhat disoriented and unfortunately got lost. The man tried not to panic but the ever-present danger of wild, aggressive and hungry animals lurking in the jungle made him very nervous. As he was trying to find his way out, he began to hear the frightening roar of a tiger.

He started paying very close attention to how far or how close that roar sounded in his ear. Carefully he continued through the jungle trying to zig zag through the brush to try to cover his scent but the sound of the tiger got eerily closer and closer. Hairs stood up on the back of his neck as he felt the wild animal right on his heels. He began to frantically run and scared half-to-death ended up stumbling and falling over the edge of a cliff. As he was falling down the side of the cliff, his hands clawed along the rocks in a desperate attempt to save himself. He managed to barely catch hold of a very small, precarious bush. He grasped on to that bush with both hands and for dear life.

As he held on, he became very concerned as he noticed the fragile roots of the small bush starting to feel the strain of his weight. Above him lurked the tiger that was chasing him and it was drooling with hungry anticipation. With a slight glimmer of hope, he quickly looked below to formulate an escape plan. But just when he thought things couldn't get any worse he noticed another tiger below patiently waiting for the inevitable.

There he was, caught in the middle between the tiger above him and the tiger below him, desperately hanging on to this little shrub that was pulling out at the roots. In the middle of this very scary ordeal, right about eye level, he happened to notice a small indentation on the side of the rocky cliff. Inside that little space, he noticed – to his wide-eyed amazement – a wild strawberry was growing....it was a perfectly formed, juicy, red, and ripe. Letting go with one of his hands while barely hanging on to the bush he hungrily reached out and picked the berry and ate it.

I suspect that many of us come to church and also live our Christian lives by holding on precariously between the past and future; both of them roaring at us, demanding our attention. We can feel hopeless about moments that we experienced from long ago that we may never encounter again or fearing what the future may or may not bring us. If we give all our attention to these two tigers, we can miss the gift of the present moment, the delicious strawberry before our eyes.

Mercy Gate Church I believe is going to encounter things from Heaven that no one has ever seen, done or imagined before. God himself is going to be doing a NEW thing in and through His people. As we go about our busy lives I pray that we watch with anticipation the supernatural provision and opportunities that is being laid before us. In the moments and places that we least expect is when God will lavish us with something so wonderful and extraordinary that it will cause us to laugh in the face of our enemies and believe in the impossible....living life in sweet victory and taking as many people along with us.

'Be alert, be present. I'm about to do something brand-new. It's bursting out! Don't you see it? There it is! I'm making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands.'

Isaiah 43:19 MSG

--Jonna