New Day... New Year....

Lookin' back on yesterday
There are things that I regret
But I put the past behind me
And I never will forget
You have covered my mistakes
And my broken dreams
Now over the horizon
I see the dawn is drawing near
And I realize the sun did rise
Tomorrow's finally here

Today begins a New Day.. A New year... A New Time... A New Journal... A New Decade... A New Chapter..

As this new year starts I have been seeking God the past few weeks, and fasting social media since I'm addicted to social media (facebook, twitter,ect..):-).. I began to pour my heart out to God, and telling him how I dont understand why things have happened the way they have this year and why I had to go through what I did, that thing from the year before were still haunting me, that I felt everytime I turned around that I was under attack, that I would fast and the day I came off the fast, that the very thing I was fasting over would come back and blow up in my face and I just didnt understand why???.. and that I want this next year to be diffrent that I want the past to stay in the past..

As I began just tell God how I felt he began to show me, that 1. I was holding on to the past and wouldnt let go. and give him full control, once agian he showed me the verse

"Isaiah 43:18-19 (GOD'S WORD Translation)Forget what happened in the past, and DO NOT dwell on events from long ago. I am going to do something new. It is already happening. Don't you recognize it? I will clear a way in the desert. I will make rivers on dry land."

.. As i read that verse, I started to realize that God was moving the whole time, in little ways and changing me in the progress and that yes he was moving in the situation but I was still holding on to some of that and not saying ok God this is yours. I belive many times that's what we do we look at a situation that we may have cause or that somone else cause, and we refuse to let it go. that we choose to hold on to the hurt, and we make the trial harder on ourselves. Instead of saying ok God I cant do this on my own and giving it to him. We hold on to it think about and sit there and dwell on what we cant change.
I did that I held on to what I couldnt change, even when I did everything God told me to, everything that lined up with the word, and instead of releasing it after I did all I could do, I didnt STAND. I didnt say ok I did all I could do its yours God, I dwelled.. We cant dwell on the past and think that tomorrow is going to be better the next year is going to me diffrent. if all we do is think what I could have done diffrent, how I wish I could change the past.. at the end of the day.. month.. year.. you cant change the past.. but you can change your future.

I love the song "oh how he loves us".. because there is a line in the song that sticks out to me it says "I dont have time to maintain these regrets..When I think about the way he loves us" I wish I has relazed it eariler that I dont have time to maintain the regrets of the past that I dont have time to "dwell" on them!.. because when I as God for forgiveness he foregave me out of Love,Mercy and Grace.. that all i had to do is leave the regrets behind and look at what he was doing and seeing that through the trails he was changing me that I've learned from the past so I can move on..It's a New Day....

It's a new day
Oh, it's a new time
And there's a new way
I'm gonna live my life
All the old has, passed away
And the new has come
Thank God, It's a brand new day

So in this new year its going to be diffrent because im leaving the past behind because "the old has passed away & the New has Come". I no longer have time to maintain my regrets.. because God's doing somthing New this year in me.. and Im going to follow.. and move forward... 1 Peter 2:9 says "But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God's instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you" .. We have been choosen and we have been called. Not to dwell in the past.. but to reach the nations. And show people that even we have messed up and have a past.. but God's changed us and we all have a future in him..

Now when I wake up thinkin'
'Bout the things I've done before
Memories I could not escape
Well they can't haunt me anymore
Now I can hold my head up high
'Cause I am not the same
You've changed my whole perspective
And with new eyes I see
I've become a new creation
'Cause of what You've done for me

God Can't Love Me...

Romans 8:31-39 (The Message)

So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God's chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture:

They kill us in cold blood because they hate you.
We're sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.
None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.


So many times I read this scripture growing up,and knew that God is LOVE and that he would always love me no matter what, but that was until I messed up... and Satan had me believing that there was no way that God could love me now...

John 10:10 (NIV)
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy

I’ve learned a huge lesson the past year and a half and it was a hard, and when I say hard I mean HARD lesson that I learned, I was broken and thought that God couldn’t use me, that the thing I had done was unforgivable, and I couldn’t even forgive myself and that there was NO WAY anyone even God could ever love me. Because when you hurt someone you love its hard to even conceive the thought of forgiveness and just being hated even by God. The past year I went though a time where I came to a place where I finally understand GRACE. And I understand that the enemy used everything he had to bring me down and to even, end it all… he knew the right things to say, he knew what to say to just break me to pieces.

"My mistakes are running through my mind and I’ll relive my days, in the middle of the night When I struggle with my pain, wrestle with my pride Sometimes I feel alone, and I cry"

Here I was, believing a lie of God doesn't love me, that no one does, and I didn't even love myself, and that if I couldn't forgive myself that God couldn't either. I went through months of going to church, and trying to break through this but I couldn't. As I tried to worship I'd sit there and beg God for forgiveness, but it was like all I could hear was you really think God could forgive you? that he loves you? after what you did?.

It was a dark time where I was tormented with this day in and day out. During this time I'd believe every single lie that Satan would tell me. On days when things seem to get better, all of a sudden I felt like I was being hit from every direction and could find shelter.

"Well the past is playing with my head & failure knocks me down again I’m reminded of the wrong That I have said and done & that devil just wont let me forget"

In late June, I just had a bad day at work and wrote a email to someone and said "UGH!!" on my way home I seen I had a new email on my blackberry, so I opened it and it said " bad thing just follow you". In that moment while I was driving home I yelled at God and said "See God!.. Everyone hates me everyone thinks bad of me!" and it was like Satan was just laughing at me...

When I arrived home, my mom was asleep and I wrote her a note that said "I love you, Going off". I got in the car and begun to drive to Starbucks and while I was driving all I could hear was, "don't you see you'll never be anything that not a person loves you and bad things are always going to follow you around.. you should just end it now you have a gun.. just pull it out, because no one is even going to care your gone" I went through Starbucks ordered my drink and pulled in the parking lot and sat there.

I didn't think I could take much more. So, as I drank my coffee, I opened up my console and pulled out my gun. I sat the coffee down, and placed the gun to my head. I yelled to God and said I guess this is it I have someone who hates me and most of all I know you have to. So in that moment I pulled the trigger.... and the gun clicked.. and all of a sudden a song began to play from my cell phone

" Please lay down your arrows 'Cause they're sure to pierce the skin and water from a broken well will make you thirst again When all things you've acquired are tested by the flames and you can see them melting then will you call His name?..Did you know that you are dearly loved?"

In that moment God said how many times have I told you I loved you?.. and the memories came of when a lady at a conference came up to me and hugged me and said "God said to tell you he loves you".. than again a month later when I was at church a usher walked up to me and hugged me and said "God told me to tell you He loves you".. and I remember shaking my head saying how??? how can you love me??.. and he said I love you no matter what you have done I love you,that it doesn't matter if anyone else in the world loves me or not that he loves me, that he loves me so much he wouldn't let me hurt myself, he reminded me that he wouldn't have sent his son to be beaten beyond recognition for someone he didn't treasure that he didn't think was valuable?.. He showed me that I was worth something that he loved me that much that he did send Jesus to pay for that mistake that mess up.

No matter how much you or I've messed up, no matter the sin, he loves us. Just like the lady who was brought before Jesus, who had committed adultry and all the people were trying to see what he would say since the rule was to stone the person. Instead of condeming her for her sin, he reached down and started drawing in the sand, it was almost like he was saying I'm not afraid to get dirty to save you, i'll reached down and clean your mess how ever many times it takes to show you that I love you, and that I want you in eternity with me, and I love the part where he says the first among you with no sin cast the first stone, and one by one they left. You see no matter what he will to forgive and love you. because he WANTS you. people may not forgive you or love you, but the GOD who created the universe cares for you and loves you more than me or you will ever deserve. and all you have to do is ask for forgivness and he gives it freely.

"Spread wide in the arms of Christ there's a love that covers sin No greater love have I ever known; You considered me a friend Capture my heart again"

Even though the "trail" wasn't over yet for me, That moment changed me, it changed me from being the person I was to being someone who finally understood who there God was, and that he cared for me, and that I don’t have to carry the weight of who I’ve been because I was forgiven. even though it hasn't been a easy road, I know who's hand I'm holding walking down this road.

..Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus...

Haven't you been listening?
God doesn't come and go. God lasts.
He's Creator of all you can see or imagine.
He doesn't get tired out, doesn't pause to catch his breath. And he knows everything, inside and out. He energizes those who get tired, gives fresh strength to dropouts.

For even young people tire and drop out, young folk in
their prime stumble and fall.
But those who wait upon God get fresh strength.
They spread their wings and soar like
eagles

We dont serve a God who is sitting in heaven just looking down at a sea of humanity We serve a God who looks down and see's individulas and he see's you and he knows ur name!. So turn your attention to the one who can give you FRESH strength The one who will pick you up and who will hold up ur arms and will enable you to fly.. turn your eyes upon Jesus he is holding your life, he is holding your heart, he is holding your marriage, he is holding your family, he is holding your problems and He is the soulution and he is holding you in the palms of his hands..

Leave The Past Behind

Stop
dwelling on past events
and brooding over times gone by;
I am doing
something new;
it's springing up - cant' you see it?
I am making a road in
the desert,
rivers in the wasteland.

- Isaiah 43:18-19

Reading this Scripture I knew that God wanted me to understand that He was indeed doing something new in my life. In fact I had heard those verses before and really liked the idea of His doing something new that He would make a way for me where it looked dry and wasted. But this time I knew He wanted me to see verse 18 and that the two verses really did go together. That got me to thinking.

I didn't need to ask if I really was dwelling on past events. I was the queen of brooding over times gone by. When the God brought this to my attention there were a few things that I found interesting. First of all, whenever I would start dwelling on past events, on wrongs done to me or on wrongs that I had done to others, I would start to relive the feelings of the past and get angry, depressed, you name it. If I had either forgiven or asked for forgiveness, then I was purposely going back to the filth of those sins and wallowing in them probably not such a good thing to do. Then there's the word "brooding." Now, some folks use that word to mean fuss or fume over something, but this is the same word that the God uses in Genesis when He says that the Spirit of the Lord was brooding over the face of the deep during creation. There is a sense of care and nurturing attached with this word. Was I really caring for and nurturing my feelings of pain and frustration that are attached with those times gone by? You bet I was! Lastly, if I really was dwelling on past events and brooding over times gone by, if my attention was focused there, could I really see the newness that the Lord was bringing to my life? Very simply, it was extremely difficult to do so because my attention was not on the Lord.

God is indeed doing new things in our lives. He wants to bring us to new places of intimacy with Him. He wants to heal us emotionally, physically, and spiritually. But we have to cooperate, let go of what lies in the past, focus our attention on the Lord, and be amazed at what He does for us!

Through the Red Sea..

·

“Tell…[your children]…the mighty things I have done.”

Ex 10:2 NKJV

It’s not enough to escape your past, its power over you must be broken; otherwise it’ll chase you the rest of your life. When you break away from something that keeps trying to recapture you, it’s crucial to get victory over it; otherwise you can’t move forward and enjoy the blessing God has in mind for you. It’s jarring to think something’s over only to find it isn’t. But remember, it was God who permitted Pharaoh to pursue Israel all the way to the Red Sea. Why? For two reasons: (1) “That I may show [you] these signs of Mine” (Ex 10:1 NKJV). God wants you to see that when you put your trust in Him, obstacles and opposition mean nothing. He wants this experience to be a ‘“landmark memory” you draw faith from when you face your next problem. (2) “That you may tell…[your children]…the mighty things I have done.” You don’t have to live under Pharaoh (Satan’s rule) any more. Like the Passover, when the blood of Jesus was applied by faith to the doorposts of your heart, your status changed. You’re no longer a slave but a child of God. The generational curse is broken. Your children can now grow up under God’s blessing. Abuse, alcoholism, anger and abandonment may have been the story of your past, but it’s no longer the truth about your future.

God can solve your problem in different ways, but sometimes He takes you through the Red Sea so that when you get to the other side you can look back and see Pharaoh and his armies “dead on the seashore” (See Ex 14:30) and know the battle is over!

The Place of Power

We all have times when people or circumstances come against us. Times when we feel cheated, mistreated, wronged, or taken advantage of. Maybe you're facing a difficulty today and you're not exactly sure how to handle it. If we look to the Word, we see that Jesus set a powerful example for us to follow. Here He was the King of kings and the Lord of lords in human form. He carried all the power in Heaven and earth inside of Him. Yet, when He was about to go to the cross, when the people were mocking Him, ridiculing Him, persecuting Him, and lying about Him, He didn't try to defend Himself. He didn't try to set the record straight. Do you know what He did? He just rested in the place of peace. He rested in who He was. He stood strong knowing that God, His Father, would deliver Him and He would have victory in the end.

When things aren't going right or you feel like you're being treated unfairly, you can do what Jesus did and stand strong in the place of peace. You can find security knowing that you are a child of the Most High God and He promises to deliver you. Remember this: Jesus said, "Peace be with you." He said, "My peace I leave with you." Hold on to that peace because nothing can take it from you unless you give it away. Don't let offense creep in. Offense is a liar. It will steal from you and drag you down. It will erode your self esteem and rob you of everything that Jesus has already done for you. Instead, find confidence in knowing who you are in Jesus Christ. Because He died, you can live in power. Because of what He bore, you get all the rewards–you get the peace, the power, the strength, and the anointing to overcome every obstacle you will ever face.



So, how do you put on love? It's interesting that with the principles of God, we always have to do something. Wouldn't it be nice if God would just come and put love on us? You know, in the middle of a heated discussion or when someone cuts us off in traffic, if He would just come and drop love right on us, then we would always do and say the right thing. But that's not how it works. We have to choose love. We have to choose to be patient, kind, humble, and giving. We have to choose His Word. We have to decide between what our mind is screaming and what our heart is whispering.

I encourage you today, read what First Corinthians 13 says about love. When you choose to read and meditate on God’s Word, you are "putting on love" and empowering yourself to make the right choices. And, even if you've made some mistakes in the past, today is a new day. Receive God's love and forgiveness. Put on His royal robe of righteousness today and don't forget to put on love!

Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let you heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful (John 14:27, NASB).