Happy Sunday!  I'm here in Branson, Missouri sitting at Starbucks!  Truly grateful for the Mocha Frapp & the jazz music in the background.  I didn't get posted yesterday because I was helping my Dad Bush-hog - Hot sweaty work & I love it.  So my Scripture this month has everything to do with fully believing in who God truly is and how that leads to a life of worship.  Psalm 116:1-2 AMP says, "I love the LORD, because He hears [and continues to hear] my voice and my supplications (my pleas, my cries, my specific needs). Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call on Him as long as I live. 

Do you truly believe that He hears you?  I think that one of the reasons most people are unsure is because  it's easy to do one of two things.  First, you can literally just not "see" how and where God is working.  This is easily remedied by first truly wanting to be aware and then of course, asking God to open your eyes to recognize where He is working.  The second, which is "expectation", I personally think is much more dangerous.  How do I know?  It was me.   Based on our limited viewpoint of any given situation, we have already worked out in our head exactly how we think God will and should answer us and the reality is this... we are NOT God.  We do not know the in's and out's of everything, nor does our way always lead to where God wants us to go.  The funny thing about expectation is that it usually spins our emotions WAY out of control.  So much so, that we are literally blinded to what is actually happening.  We place so many expectations on people, places and things that when things fail to live up to our expectations, it can truly stunt spiritual growth or worse yet - lead you farther away from God.  What can you have expectation of?  HIM!  His faithfulness.  His love.  His plan.  When you trust God fully, regardless of what you see, hear, think and feel, life becomes so much more livable.  
 
He hears you.
​~ C

OK, my deepest apologies for just now getting to my laptop - but I've literally not sat in front of it since Friday.  It wasn't until midnight of the 1st that I realized it was posting day.  I had "saved" a few Scriptures throughout my study time and truthfully - there were two that fully called my name - but one just seemed to say what I felt like God wanted me to "get" over the next 2 weeks.  

So where are you on this journey?  Have you experience God?  His love, His mercy, His grace?  If there was one thing that I would want to impart to you it is this... God knows YOU.  Every hair on your head, your personality, your likes, your dislikes, your struggles, your strengths, your purpose and so much more.  I need you to remember that it is not about your age and wondering am I too young or am I too old. 

You see, in August of 2010 I was 44 years old - here I was, finally at a place where I desperately wanted to be who God called me to be and I faced this huge obstacle of shame and regret - Not just about my sin, but about the time wasted... wondering what could God have done if I had just stopped running and truly sought Him when I was 18.  Do I think that God would have possibly preferred me to surrender earlier? Yes, but He also showed me something else - He showed me that where I was- right then and there-was where He would use me and continue to use me.  It's not too late.  It's not too early.  It is wholly possible to follow God and be all in at 18 and it is wholly possible to follow God and be all in at 80.  Look at what Jesus accomplished between the ages of 30-33.  We just don't know what God is going to do with the rest of our life.  But, don't you want to know?  I do.

With that, here is my verse today:
Cheryl M, Peoria, AZ  Isaiah 26:3 "You (God) will keep in perfect and constant peace the one whose mind is steadfast [that is, committed and focused on YOU - in both inclination and character] because he trust and takes refuge in YOU [with hope and confident expectation]."