Encouragement Prevails

Matthew 5:3 NIV Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. GW Blessed are those who recognize they are spiritually helpless. Have you ever been really experienced at something and still found yourself going back to “step one”. I definitely find myself doing this in my faith. Recognizing that we CAN’T do it all. That we ourselves are not equipped. That we are broken and sinful. That we fall short constantly, of our own standards and especially God’s. Humbling ourselves and recognizing just how much we need Jesus. Admitting that we are spiritually helpless, poor in spirit is “step one.” AND YET God loves us, cares for us, fights for us despite all of that. Remembering and believing in this “step two”. Romans 5:10 But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Hebrews 2:17 For if, when we were enemies of God, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, s...

I remember the day growing up when my favorite color changed. I stuck with the same color throughout most of my childhood and even though I knew I didn’t like it anymore, I had a hard time letting go.I had let it become a part of my identity. It’s easy to let things slip in and become a basis of who we believe we are. Recently I have had two instances of this. I have been exhausted a lot more often than not with 2 little ones and a desire to stay up late. With that I started to lose my memory. I have taken pride in being able to recall things very well and remember details better than most. It was part of my identity. With that slipping away I felt like I was losing a part of who I was. One morning I had set an alarm to wake up and I had quickly shut it off so as to not wake anyone else….and I fell back asleep. Resulting in me being incredibly late to where I had to be. This wasn’t a scenario I was used to. This wasn’t “me”. Both times I felt God whisper to me “That’s who y...

Exodus 1:15-16 Then the king of Egypt told the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, “When you help the Hebrew women in childbirth, look at the child when you deliver it. If it’s a boy, kill it, but if it’s a girl, let it live.” However, the midwives feared God and didn’t obey the king of Egypt's orders. They let the boys live. WOW! I personally didn’t remember the midwives as part of Moses’ story. In my mind it went straight to his mother hiding him for a while and then putting him in the river as the beginning of his story. Yet here are these 2 forgotten women who helped bring him into the world. Who out of fear of God didn’t kill him or any of the other little boys that they assisted in delivering. Now the fear that they had wasn’t “We better not do this or God is going to smight us and burn us to dust.” It was a fear out of reverence, honour, respect. They knew God wouldn’t want them to and their reverence for Him outweighed the possibility of death itself...