It’s a Good Life. By Melissa Driggers

Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. (Romans 12:1, MSG) 

I’m single, Valentine’s Day is tomorrow, and my birthday is on Valentine’s Day.

Jesus, please come now.

I mean, come on.  Seriously?

OK, so if I’m being completely honest, I secretly sort of love that my birthday is on Valentine’s Day.  I’m a sappy old-school, gooey romantic-at-heart, so it’s only fitting that I would be born on a romantic holiday.  My Momma planned well, didn’t she? It’s a funny story, really.  No one believed she would deliver on February 14^th.  The doctors said it wasn’t going to happen, because Mom was nowhere near labor on the 13^th.  Well, I guess we showed them.  Nice work, Mom. 

 

I get a bit frustrated when others bitterly and resentfully claim Valentine’s Day as a “Hallmark holiday.”  I would challenge that claim, because it isn’t unlike any other “day of observation” holidays throughout the year.  You aren’t thankful only on Thanksgiving Day, right?  You aren’t proud to be an American only on July 4^th, right?  You don’t love your parents only on Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, right?  Valentine’s Day is simply a day set aside to observe and celebrate love if you choose to do so.  How can celebrating love be a bad thing?   I think it’s beautiful.  And with the right mindset and heart, it can be a powerfully spiritual day for us, because God IS love.  Celebrating our love for one another is celebrating God, and I personally believe He digs that. 

Even so, (and whether single, married, or dating) there can be a paralyzing sense of unmet expectations on this “Love Day” or on your birthday (or on any other day) if our lives aren’t quite where or what we thought they would or should be.  I often approach my “double whammy” V-day birthday with a sense of dread, as if bracing myself for a fall and the inevitable pain that will follow.  Here we go again.  Just another day to be reminded that my life isn’t where I thought it would be.   Never would I have guessed that at forty-something I would be single and childless, or that I would be fighting a chronic disease. 

 

There are certainly days and nights that I cry out to God, Why do you answer the prayers of others, but not mine?  All of my friends are married, and I can’t seem to take a step outside without hearing that someone in my circle of friends or family is pregnant…again.  But I don’t think He’s going to answer my question of “why others and not me” because the answer to that question just isn’t the point.

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. (Romans 12:1, MSG)

 

It’s funny, this verse has just been popping up everywhere in the past few weeks.  When I opened up my planner for 2015, this was the verse on the first page.  In my personal time with God, this verse has been brought before me in a few different devotionals.  One night I couldn’t sleep, turned on the TV and listed to a pastor preach about this verse.  And just earlier this week, at my Bible study, Annie Downs, author and speaker, spoke about the impact of this verse on her life.  As she taught us, her words just pierced my heart.  As Annie shared her own similar journey to contentment, she said, “Even when my prayers aren’t answered, this is a good life.”  

Wow.  In that moment, I realized why God had been sure that I wouldn’t miss this verse.  Because the answer isn’t found in the question of “why others and not me?”  The answer is found in the question, “Do I believe God is good and pours His kindness and faithfulness over me?”

Yes.  I do.  And guess what I figured out?  Y’all, it’s a good life. 

Friends, are you caught up in your unanswered prayers and unmet expectations?  Are you embracing what God has done?  Maybe you’re single, too, and long for a spouse.  Or maybe you’re married, and your marriage isn’t what you thought it would be.  Maybe you’ve gone through a divorce.  Maybe your children are struggling.  Maybe your career or ministry isn’t where you thought it would be. 

I don’t know what your story is, but He does.   Wherever He has you, whatever your life looks like right now, know that He is good.  Know that He is here, in the life you have today.  He has a purpose for you, and plan for you, in this life you have today.  So embrace Him here.  So seek Him here.  Thank Him here.  Love Him here.  

Life is good, because our hope isn’t found in the unanswered prayers.  Our hope is found in the answered ones. 

Life is good, because He is near.  “… The nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord God my refuge…”  (Psalm 73:28, NIV)

Melissa is an itinerant speaker/teacher, blogger and author residing in the South.  She is single (although she prefers the term “unclaimed treasure”) and lives with her two children, Henry and Hannah, who are “technically” canine (ssshhhh… they don’t know they aren’t human).  Her vision and passion for ministry is to shepherd others to the grace, hope, healing, and restoration found only in Jesus Christ!  Through her own life journey, God has transformed her heart, and she has experienced the true meaning of “beauty from ashes”.

You can connect with Melissa through her web site, at www.infieldsofgrace.com.

Courage By Melissa Driggers

My sweet boy, Henry, with our vacuum

Be strong. Take courage. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t give them a second thought because God, your God, is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; He won’t leave you. (Deut 31:6, MSG)

 

Well, here we are.  The last day of 2014.  The days can seem long, but the years sure do go by fast, don’t they?

About 5 years ago, God gave me a single “word” for 2010.  The word was “Breakthrough”.  For years prior to that, I’d been like most folks, making the obligatory resolutions each year to lose weight, or to manage my time better.  Not that those things are bad things…but making lists of these half-hearted resolutions never worked for me.  I knew I was “supposed” to do them, but my heart just was never in it…so they didn’t happen.  Can you relate?

So that year (in 2010), I changed things up a little.  I asked God to give me HIS goals for the new year, in a language that I could understand.  A language that would empassion me to actually…act.  I expected God to provide detailed explanations to my seeking heart and prepared myself to listen and decipher. But instead, he spoke one single word…”breakthrough”.  And so it began, this new tradition of allowing God to set my goals, and for each year since, He has lovingly wrapped them into a one-word theme that represents what He sees when He searches my heart.  He knows what I need.

 

“Breakthrough”, “Dream”, “Praise” and “Gratitude” have been my one-word themes overarching the past 4 years, respectively.  You can click on each word to read prior posts written about each.

 

2014’s word was “Gratitude” and I look forward to spending time today reading each of the 300+ “favorite part of the day” cards I wrote almost every day this past year.  I have much to be grateful for.  And I believe that this year of focusing on gratitude has prepared me for what lies ahead in 2015.

I gotta admit, the word for this new year scares me a little.

 

Courage.

Y’all that’s a big word.  I understand why God gave it to me for such a time as this.  Because I need to work on it.  I need to embrace it.  I need to trust in the healing that He has done in my body and in my heart, and to live more courageously.

All through Scripture, God shows us that His heroes were and are the most unlikely.  He chose fisherman, nerds, doubters, whiners, the sick, outcasts, and misfits to show unimaginable courage in the face of adversity and to become heroes in His plan.  So I suppose I’m in good company with these unlikely courage-bearers.  I find some comfort in that! 

 

I will be going into this new year with some plans for change.  Intentional acts that I know will stretch me and make me uncomfortable, but that will cultivate more courage in my often “fraidy-cat” heart.  I have some things planned already, but I’ve also left room and margin for Him to guide me where He knows I need to go.  I’m squirming just thinking about it.  Yikes.

 

Have you considered what goals God is leading you to set for this New Year?  I promise you, that if you will ask Him what His “one word” is for you, He will tell you.  And then as you pray over that Word, He will reveal to you the actions you need to take in order to pursue it … and to pursue Him.  It is powerful.   I have found that one word is so much easier to focus on and truly immerse myself in than a long list of wordy goals.  (This is what I mean about God speaking to us in our own language – He knows what is in our capacity to understand.  In my case, he apparently knows that I can only handle one word!)

For me, my great “acts of courage” this year may look different than someone else’s because they are Spirit-driven and touch directly on areas of weakness for me personally.  What is courageous for me may be easy-peasy to someone else.  The same is true for you.  Whatever your “one word” is, don’t benchmark your goals against someone else’s and perceive them to be lesser.  God has spoken them uniquely and specifically for you, in your language.  And that makes them perfect for you.

So friends, we would love for you to share your “one word” for 2015, as God speaks it to you.  We can pray for one another and lift each other up as we enter this New Year full of promise and hope found in our amazing God who relentlessly pursues our hearts.

May we celebrate what God has done in 2014, and may each of you be richly blessed in 2015!

Melissa is an itinerant speaker/teacher, blogger and author residing in the South.  She is single (although she prefers the term “unclaimed treasure”) and lives with her two children, Henry and Hannah, who are “technically” canine (ssshhhh… they don’t know they aren’t human).  Her vision and passion for ministry is to shepherd others to the grace, hope, healing, and restoration found only in Jesus Christ!  Through her own life journey, God has transformed her heart, and she has experienced the true meaning of “beauty from ashes”.

You can connect with Melissa through her web site, at www.infieldsofgrace.com.