Take off that girdle!

I loathe any garment that squeezes you to death. I know many people who wear girdles or Spanx undergarments everyday of their lives! No wonder they all look "put together"! LOL. I have tried to put this body of mine into one of those form-fitting garments and it just isn't pretty! Oh the noises that I heard coming from the seams of that garment were dreadful...not to mention me panting and out of breath while tugging and pulling ....and then when you finally get it on....you can't even breathe! Not to mention that you can barely sit down, smile or even enjoy yourself.... and God forbid if you need to go to the bathroom!

Have you ever felt squeezed and restrained by the pressures in life? I know I have and many times I had so much anxiety I thought I would die! Sometimes you feel so much pressure to be perfect, to be a certain way or to perform that you just cannot relax and enjoy the moment. The restrictions of life sometimes can be unbearable...but they also can be put on by our own selves.

No one told you to wear a girdle...you just wanted to look skinnier than you are. So you put on the weapon of mass destruction and you go about your day. You put that thing on yourself. Sometimes in life we "put on" things that aren't supposed to be ours to wear. You put on pride, you put on unforgiveness, you choose to wear bitterness. Those things will make you MISERABLE and are just like a girdle...it will suck the life out of you and everyone else around you. You might look great on the outside...but it is what is on the inside that matters.

I tell you to let those things go and be free. Hebrews 12:1 states: "Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles us, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."

I don't know how we are to run this race called life and win it if we are entangled in a mess. Take off those things...you have within you everything needed to be free. You need to undo what is restraining you and let it go. Those things have weighed you down and kept you from being who you are. It has kept you from speaking, going and doing and being what God has called you to. This is not how life is supposed to be spent. Choose to do something about it.

Take a really good look at yourself today and pray that God will help you take off the layers and the things that you chose to put on. God wants you free so that you can be truly happy, victorious and a real testimony of His saving grace.


Adjust that Spanx & Crown

Jonna

 

Just Shine!

 

Lighthouses have always fascinated me. They are so important to ships out at sea to help find their way after dark or in a storm. They aren't loud or over bearing...they just shine brightly and stand tall. They don't announce their presence but are faithful and constant no matter what is going on around them. The peeling pain, worn out brick and rough exterior never take away from the appreciation of a light house...in fact it enhances it. All the stories of stormy nights and ships that made it home are so fascinating and wonderful. It is something that stands in the midst of constant waves and rough terrain. Lighthouses beat the odds. They are a beautiful representation of a life lived through Christ.

A light…not a horn…a great quote from DL Moody. That is how we should be; reflecting God and shining for Jesus! We need to be different than the world. There are enough people shouting and spewing rhetoric and fighting for their "cause"...love overcomes all obstacles! People should be able to count on us to be faithful and constant...that is what will lead them to Jesus in times of trouble. That is our testimony. Our scars, our wounds that shows and proves that we made it through. The stories we share of what we went through and how God showed us the way. This is why we shine so brightly....because of where we have been. We were once lost but now we are found so now we will be that light that will help others find their way.

   Ephesians 5 : 8-10 (NKJV) ~ For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth) finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.

So adjust that crown & shine!

Jonna

I am a great big bundle of Potentiality!

You are not empty-handed with nothing to give! Don't believe that lie. God doesn't want what you "think" you are going to be or what you would even like to be. He wants the YOU that you are today...right now...the work in progress.

I loved the song I used to sing as a child called "I am a promise". In fact, I am unsure why we don't sing it as adults. It goes like this:

"I am a Promise. I am a Possibility. I am a Promise with a capital 'P'. I am a great big bundle of potentiality. And I am learning to hear Gods voice and I am trying to make the right choice. I am a Promise to be, anything God wants me to be. I can go anywhere that He wants me to go. I can be anything that He wants me to be. I can climb the highest mountain, I can cross the wide sea; I am a great big promise you see!"

In actuality we are all growing and learning daily and if God wants us to do something NOW then He equips us to carry it out. The only thing standing in our way is our minds and vivid imaginations.

Consider the acorn. It's a small nut that has the potential of being a great oak tree. No one can dispute that. Although we tend to see the acorn without a thought and only see for what it is now. That does not negate the purpose. Despite the obstacles of being crushed, being carried away by animals; these outside factors only help the potential. It's when the seed is in the right place at the right time that the true growth happens. It has to be in the ground or on soil to sprout so the crushing and the carrying are all experiences that take the acorn to where it was destined to be.

We sometimes blame our negative experiences or the atmosphere we were raised in on the reason we cannot do this or be that. It's in those exact circumstances that you persevered! You are living...and even though a few people crushed your heart and almost killed your spirit...you have legs to get up and get out and not just lie on the ground helpless. You have the mind to rise above the circumstances. So add that to your God-given potential and you have an amazing story of overcoming.

Perhaps you were brought to this place of hard times and in that was the mechanism to propel you to your destiny. So what that you don't think you are good enough, smart enough, have enough money or enough influence...everything you need to be something great is within you. You are a bundle of potentiality...water it, feed it and get out and do something with it. Position yourself to be something great where you are at right now...God created you to be strong, tall and fruitful!


Jer 29:11
Adjust that crown!


Jonna