BIG Life Devotional | Daily Devotional for Women

Have you seen the highly emotional videos of someone who is color blind putting on those magical glasses and seeing color for the first time? Without fail, they erupt in a flood of emotions, moved to tears over the sheer beauty of the world around them in this new dimension of full color. Yesterday I was watching one of these videos showing a man receiving the gift of these special glasses watch here. He put them on, seeing red and green and blue and purple and yellow for the first time in his life and through the tears he said “I’ve been missing so much.” I’ve been missing so much. I see life in full color, but I too have been missing so much. I fail to see life as God sees it. What God sees and what we see is the difference between black and white and full color. And my sister, you’ve been missing so much. The moment you get a glimpse of your life the way God sees it, it will all make sense. It will all be more beautiful than you imagined. And much like those videos that make me cry every darn time, we’ll be in awe over it all. God sees our life from the very beginning with the end in complete view. Proverbs 5:21 says “For your ways are in full view of the Lord, and he examines all your paths.” He not only sees where you’ve been and where you are right now, but God knows exactly where your life is going. He knows the end of the story. Everything is in his full view. Because he knows the end of your story, he can guide you in writing each chapter with a full awareness of how it ends. And not to spoil the story or anything for you sister, but it all works out pretty darn well for you. But today you woke up in the middle of your story where all you see is all you’ve been through and all that exists today. You have a limited view of your life. You do not see what God sees. And so the things that happen, the twists and turns and ups and downs today, this week, this year don’t really make sense to you. But you’re missing so much. If you could only see the full story. You’re seeing in black and white, while God sees it all in full color. It all fits together perfectly in God’s view. It all makes sense when you know the end … but you don’t know the end, you just have to trust it. You just have to trust the dull gray you see today is actually the most brilliant color your eyes will ever behold. You just don’t get to see it quite yet. But even more than your story, God sees YOU different. You don’t see yourself as God sees you. There is this person you think you are. This person who wakes up tired, this person who struggles to stay out of the darn pantry all afternoon long, this person who thinks really random bad thoughts and goes down these crazy rabbit holes in her mind. This person who gets a little wrapped up in her own world, makes a big deal out of stupid crap, and kinda misses the boat with some important stuff. This person who occasionally gets it right and knocks it out of the park, but then wonders what everyone else is thinking. Yes, this is the person you see. But this is NOT who God sees. You think you are this scattered, faulted, struggling person … and then there is the person God knows you are. The person God knows you are is who he sees. This is the person he created you to be. The woman who has reached her full potential in all she can become through Christ Jesus. And this is who God sees when he looks at you. He’s not limited by time or space. You may not be her yet, you may still be licking yesterdays Cheetos stains from your fingers, but you are becoming her. You are evolving into exactly who God created you to be. Yes, he sees where you are, but more importantly he sees where you’re going. He knows your destiny.

God is referred to as the Great I Am. Meaning all things begin and end with him. All power is in him. Mountains crumble and demons run in fear at the name of the Great I Am. All of creation is the result of first the thought and then the word of him. Your entire world is in his mighty hand. And this Great I Am is relentlessly pursuing you, writing the story of your life, paving the way for you, and preparing all eternity for you. He has created you. He has chosen you. His name is I Am. Not I Was. Not I Might Be. Not I May. No, I Am … the Great I Am. In Exodus we read of God choosing Moses for a mission. Moses lacked confidence and had a stuttering problem, so when God told him to go speak to a powerful group of people, this was Moses’ worst fear. Surely God had gotten this wrong, there had to be somebody better than Moses to speak for God. Isn’t that just the way our God works … he chooses to display his power in our weakness. Isn’t this what scripture means when it says “my power is made perfect in weakness.” We try to run away from our areas of struggle, hide our insecurities, and God says NO THIS IS WHERE I WORK BEST. This is exactly where he wants to show himself in your life. In your weakness is where his power is made perfect. So God chose the man who stuttered, whose tongue got tied and words got tangled to deliver his message. Moses, filled with doubt in himself argues with God saying “God, there’s got to be a better choice. Please choose someone else. I’m not your guy.” And God doesn’t back down. No Moses, it is you. I am certain of my choice, it is you. Your inability is not beyond my ability. Your struggle is not beyond my strength. I am not limited by your insecurity. So Moses says well when I get to where you want me to go, and I stand before the people you want me to talk to, what do you want me to say? Who should I say sent me? And God says in Exodus 3:14 “I am who i am. Say this to the people of Israel: I am has sent me to you.” I Am. This is how God names himself and describes himself. I Am. Because what could follow this? God is the beginning and the end. He is the all in all. How do you describe God? And so, in the greatest form of powerful simplicity, God simply says “I Am.” The Great I Am went with Moses on his mission and empowered him to do mighty works. Impossible things were done in the name of the I Am. And understand right here, right now, this same great power is working in you. This same great I Am has chosen you! He has called you out and given you a mission. A mission that likely stares down your struggle and your insecurity and says YOU CAN’T DO THIS, BUT I AM! Why would we ever believe the almighty powerful I Am would be limited in any way by our ability? It is not your ability that limits God, it is your willingness that limits his power you will see at work in you. God gave us each free will. We get to choose how much of his power we see at work in our lives and through our lives, as a result of our willingness. Moses could have chosen not to go. He could have sat in his insecurities, rehearsing all the ways he would surely screw things up and be made fun of. And he would have missed out on the miracles God had planned for him. He would have missed out on his role in destiny. I have to wonder where I have missed out on my role in destiny. Where have I sat it out with my lame excuses and list of insecurities, when God was calling me to more? Where have you played little? Where have you stayed stuck in your head instead of moving forward in your life? God is speaking to me and to you today, and he’s saying I HAVEN’T GIVEN UP ON YOU. I am here again inviting you into the life I have planned for you. Won’t you trust that I AM working? I AM in control.

Today we reveal the secret of taking what is not enough and making it more than enough. Magnifying what you have to become all you need. Recognize God wants to help you take any area of lack in your life and create an abundance. There’s a story in the bible you’ve likely read dozens of times, which holds the secret of creating an abundance where there is lack. Within this story are personalized instructions for you today. Answers for what to do with what you have which seems not enough, and magnifying to the point it is more than enough. Our story is found in the book of John chapter 6. Jesus was awesome. And what do awesome people do? They do awesome things. That was Jesus, just walking around doing awesome things. As a result he had drawn a large crowd of people who wanted to see and hear him, a crowd of 5,000 men, plus women and children. These people had come from a long distance and now they were hungry. His disciples were kinda stressed out about it. And although Jesus already had a plan, he asked them, “where are we going to get enough money to buy all these people some food?” There wasn’t a Chic-fil-A or Taco Bell on the corner, and even if there were, they didn’t have the money to buy food for this huge crowd. And here’s Jesus who had been raising the dead, healing the sick, giving the blind their sight again, and he’s saying “yo guys, we have a problem here, we don’t have enough food to feed these people.” The disciples were freaking out realizing it would take more than 6 months of wages to buy enough food to feed everyone this one meal. Yes Jesus let them sit in this reality for a moment. He let them see the lack. And he’ll let you see your lack too. God in all his power will allow you to come face to face with your “not enough”. He allows for those moments of reality. Maybe you’re in one of them right now. It’s Christmas and there were extras to buy, now you’re working the budget and you have more month than you have money. You have needs that outweigh your ability. The demand is more than your supply. What is your area of lack? Where are you unable to measure up? Let me assure you, Jesus already has a plan here, but first he’s allowing you to see your need. We miss the miracle when we fail to recognize the inadequacy first. The disciples pointed out all they didn’t have and all they couldn’t do … and nothing happened. But when one disciple spoke up and said “we have this boy over here who has 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish” then Jesus started working. The simple recognition of what you DO HAVE is the beginning of your miracle! It seemed almost ludicrous to consider this boy’s lunch as the starting point for feeding a crowd of 5,000 men plus all the women and children, but God always starts with what there is. Remember he created man out of what there was … dust. Then he created woman out of what there was, the rib of the man. Our God takes what there is, as little as it may be, and creates an abundance. His question to you today is WHAT DO YOU ALREADY HAVE? After you recognize what you do have, as lacking as it may be, you are to do 2 things with it to create your abundance. First, give thanks. Jesus took the 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish and told this huge crowd of thousands of people to sit down. Yes, sit down and prepare to receive from that which still appeared to be so severely inadequate. picking up in John 6, verse 11 it says “Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted.” You see Jesus didn’t touch the bread and make it magically multiply so the crowd would go wild. No one could SEE the abundance at that moment. It still just looked like 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish ve...

In a study called the Legacy Project, 1,200 senior citizens were interviewed and asked about the meaning of life. And get this, the overall theme from people who have lived longer than me are saying as they near the end of their lives they share the same regret. They wish they hadn’t spend much of their lifetime worrying. They wish they wouldn’t have worried so much. That is their biggest regret. Can’t you and I who have life and breath and purpose today learn from their regrets? Their advice was simple and direct: worry is an enormous waste of your precious and limited lifetime. That’s true for all of us, but especially for a girl who loves and trusts Jesus. For someone who is told time and time again in scripture of their value and worth. We look at the birds in the sky who aren’t freaking out because their heavenly father feeds them, and aren’t we much more valuable than the birds? Don’t you think God will take care of you too? Look at how God cares for the wildflowers in the fields dressing them in such beauty, don’t you know he will do the same and more for you? Matthew 6: 34 MSG “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.” A person who went through much more in life than I have said, “Think of the beauty still left around you and be happy.” Who said that? That was Anne Frank. A young girl who’s family lived during the holocaust under the most extreme conditions. if Anne Frank could think of the beauty still left around her and be happy, don’t you believe you can take a look at your world today and see what you have left and choose to be happy too? But instead, what we often do is we look at what we have left and we worry. We worry when that too will fall apart. We worry if it will come to an end. We worry if something will go wrong. And ultimately we miss the beauty still left all around us and instead of being happy, we are worried. Are you spending the precious days of your beautiful life worried? You have a God who loves you wildly. His care for you is unlimited and his power is unfathomable. He has the ability to take care of any situation you are worried about today and he has the care for you personally to actually show up and do it. What are you worried about? Why are you wasting your precious lifetime worrying about these things? Are they guaranteed to happen anyway? Will it even matter in 5 years? Is your worrying making it any better at all? Here’s what God is doing today. He’s showing up right in the middle of your mess, in the middle of your worry and he is saying, HEY GIVE YOUR ATTENTION TO ME TODAY. Look at me. Look at the beauty still left around you, I put it there. I’m doing something in the middle of this mess. I’m working. Won’t you watch me work instead of getting worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. I’ve already gone before you. In Deuteronomy 31:8 we are given a promise, “The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” You don’t know what may or may not happen tomorrow, but you don’t have to worry about it, God has already gone before you. And he will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes. But today God says, look at me, I want your attention. Stop worrying, it’s a waste of the very breath he gave you. Not everyone received this gift of Friday, December 7th, but you did, now don’t waste it. Trust God. Trust what he is doing. Trust he sees it all and he cares about you. The God who has numbered the hairs on your head because of his wild love for you is making a way for you now.

Do you carry a regret from the past? A burden from a choice you made, a wrong turn you took, a sin you pursued? You’ve asked for forgiveness, in fact you’ve prayed that prayer a hundred times. Yet you are still ashamed. Your dirty hands still feel unworthy to be lifted to the holy one. Is that you? Hey, isn’t that most of us? Our past is stained. Maybe your shame is a public one others clearly see. When they look at you, you feel little. It’s as if all they see is your shortcoming. Your story is highlighted with this shame. Or at least that’s the story you tell yourself. What if that story is wrong? What if it is being re-written? Or maybe this is a private hell only you carry within. Others don’t know of your guilt and regret. You’ve kept it hidden, begging God to take it away, yet it’s still there. It still eats at you. You’ll never overcome this stain of your past. It will be there to haunt you as an old woman. Or at least that’s the story you’ve been telling yourself for years. Again, what if the story is wrong? What if it too is being re-written? Sin creates a distance. It drives a wedge that splits and divides. Even a forgiven sin does it’s nasty harm because this is where the enemy plays. He hides out in the darkness of guilt and shame and he picks at scabs. You see, if he can’t keep you in your sin, he will at least remind you of it and make you feel worthless. So it’s time for some truth to be unleashed into this darkness. Psalm 103:12 says “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” God has separated you from your sin. Your wrongdoing is not attached to you. The enemy tries to hang every single thing you’ve ever done around your neck like a noose, but may I remind you of your truth … God has removed it from you. Don’t go looking to pick it back up again. Our human minds can’t conceive this. We struggle with imagining a God who sees it all and knows it all, and still loves us endlessly because we can’t even forgive ourselves. But remember, condemnation does not come from God. Romans 8: 1 tells us “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”, meaning the thoughts and feelings that tell you what you’ve done will always mark your life ARE NOT YOURS TO CARRY. That is not your truth. Recognize feelings of unworthiness and shame for what they are … they are desperate pleas of darkness from a defeated enemy who wants company. Don’t give him yours. Every time your past is brought up, it’s an invitation from your defeated enemy to come play little in life. You don’t have time for that! You have been separated from your transgressions. Every offense, every sin, every wrongdoing, every failure and misstep has been removed from you. Climb a mountain and stand on the top with a greater perspective of the vastness of this world. Look to the east, over there are your sins. Now look to the west, you’re all the way over here. You’re not even in the same view. Separated as far as possible from that which has held you back. If your sin was a black stain, understand Jesus has made you white as snow. He gave his life, so I could have mine. My life was bought with his. Your life was bought with his. All your wrongs were made right in this transaction. An exchange that covers you in grace every day of your existence. Don’t fight this exchange. The transaction is complete, why would you keep going back to the store to see if there was a recall? Why keep checking the receipt? You are fully forgiven. Understand every time you bring up this same offense to God, layered with years of guilt and shame, God aches for you. He hurts wondering why his daughter whom he paid the ultimate price to set free is still playing with chains.

Psalm 42:7 – Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. Deep calls to deep. Understand this, God is calling you out into the deep. Out of shallow living. He calls you out to a life where you can’t touch the bottom, where it’s sink or swim and only he can equip you to swim. Out in the deep is where you experience life on a whole new level. Where the once impossible is now part of your daily life. Think about it, you are likely already living in deeper waters than you once were. You have come a long way. There’s something in your life that was once impossible, but as you followed God into deeper waters he equipped you. Now that impossible is your possible and you do it every day. Don’t miss that. Now, the deep is calling you out deeper. Deeper, where you trust fully in God for your every move and he meets you right where you are and continues to carry you out deeper. The spirit of God wants to reach deep into the spirit of his children and take us deeper. Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders. Let me walk upon the waters, wherever you may call me. Take me deeper than my feet have ever wandered, and my faith will be made stronger in the presence of my savior. Oh yes, those are the words of one of my all-time favorite songs, “Oceans” by Hillsong. Listen to what comes next: Your grace abounds in deepest waters Your sovereign hand Will be my guide Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me You’ve never failed and You won’t start now Imagine if you could see things through God’s perspective. If you could understand how all things work together and see the end from the beginning. This is the deeper living God desires for us. To become more and more like him. To see situations and circumstances as he sees them. What does that mean? To be able to not completely flip out when the car breaks down or the pipes burst or someone gets sick or the boss calls you in. But to know this too shall pass and when it does it will be used for good. All of it. Yes, everything in your entire life can be used for good. And this is how God sees it. Even your biggest mistake and most shameful failure can be used for something good out here in the deep. But not in the shallow. In the shallow, when life happens it is all we see. In the shallow we get overwhelmed by the circumstances of life and we’re drowned in our problems. It’s hard to hold on to our joy in the shallow. But in the deep, we see life is bigger and in comparison, the same problems simply aren’t as big. In the deep is where we demand our spirit align with the joy God has offered us because out here we know joy is uncircumstancial happiness. And God is calling us out into the deep where life is more. More than our circumstances. More than bills and 5 pound fluctuations on the scale. More than the very circumstance you woke up worried about this morning. If you want more, you must be willing to go out into the deep. This is where God is calling you. This is where you belong. And in the deep is where his waves sweep over you. And listen to me, that’s not a bad thing. Remember God is for you, not against you. These waves are God’s love. His love in wave after wave crashes over you. You are covered in God’s love. Sometimes we can see the waves all wrong. We see it as one thing after another happening to us and we miss that God is working FOR us. Your world’s not falling apart, it’s falling into place. And these waves are His love crashing into you in the moments you need it most. We are literally swept away in his love, taken from all that which worries and overwhelms us and simply surrounded by his care. These are the moments of that “peace that passeth understanding” which scripture talks about.

Romans 12: 1-2 MSG “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. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out.” We’re going to break this scripture down line by line, so if possible have the text in front of you so you can follow along. “Take your everyday, ordinary life …” Today is probably an ordinary day for you. It’s Tuesday. Just a normal work day. Same old routine. But today we’re going to intentionally live this day as an OFFERING to God. How we live this day is our gift in return to the one who gave it to us. I always imagined God as one of those “impossible to buy for” fellas. He kinda already has everything. And what could I possibly give him that he doesn’t already have or just create himself. And today’s scripture so clearly points it out. HOW I LIVE THIS ORDINARY TUESDAY – How I eat, how I go to work, how I walk around, all of this can be my GIFT TO GOD TODAY. And it can be yours too. Let’s continue breaking down this scripture piece by piece. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. What has God done for you today? Really, what has he done? He has given you a day of life. Now in return what we should do with this day is embrace it. That means hold it close with affection. Don’t let this day just pass you by. Grab it. Seize the day. Carpe diem my friend. How about a hearty “I LOVE THIS DAY OF LIFE GOD … oh, it’s a good one.” It’s a great day to go to work, to show up, to eat well, to breathe, to live. Then this scripture says “don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking.” You likely know a different translation “do not conform to the patterns of this world.” And here’s where our challenge comes in for the day. What are the patterns of this world? They’ve certainly changed over the generations, but without a doubt the pattern of today’s world is to be so constantly connected that in truth you’re totally DISCONNECTED. Do you too feel the pull of social media? Here’s a test – how hard is it for you to sit and wait for an appointment, or wait for food to be delivered, or put your makeup on, or ride in a car WITHOUT being on your phone? Darn near impossible? And it’s so sad. But it’s oh so normal. It’s just normal. It is the pattern of the world today. And unfortunately, it’s become our pattern and we have done exactly what this scripture warns us about – we have fit into the pattern of the world without even thinking. I wonder how much of our day is spent not even thinking? We’re not being intentional. We’re just living out our habits of being constantly fed noise, nonsense and distractions and we claim our lives are “busy.” Wow – we’re busy. Are we really busy if we’re watching 2 hours of news every day? Are we really busy if we have time for trash tv? Are we really busy if we’re reading hundreds of status updates and viewing countless photos … many from people we don’t even know. How much of our lives are we exchanging for watching others live their lives? No doubt, it is the pattern of today’s world … and we shouldn’t conform to it, but instead we should be transformed by the renewing of our mind. And this is what we are seeking today. Lord, as we commit to living this day as an offering to you, as we embrace all you have done for us and resist the patterns of the world we live in, we will be TRANSFORMED by the renewing of our minds. How do you renew your mind? You do something different. You break out of the patterns of your normal routine. You breathe in life deeper. You live more intentionally. You replace the habit of picking up that cell phone,

If you knew without a doubt everything you needed to live out your wildest dreams was on it’s way, would you wake up a little different this morning? You bet you would! If you knew every detail was taken care of and you were getting ready to step into your destiny, there’s nothing that could keep you in that bed! Nothing could hold you back. There would be no struggle with your attitude, no battle with laziness, no delay in your action if you knew all you want is now barreling towards you. And I’m proposing it is! Right now, in this very moment, everything you need to fulfill the desires of your heart and step into your destiny is barreling towards you. It’s all in a beeline heading straight for you, you just don’t see it. You don’t see the connections God has aligned ahead of you. BUT THEY’RE THERE. You don’t see how every closed door is pushing you towards the right door. BUT IT IS. You don’t see how God has already gone before you and arranged to make it happen. BUT HE HAS. What if you’re already on the right path and you ARE doing the right thing? What if you’re not that far off at all? What if you’re one turn away from seeing the full, beautiful picture, and it’s exactly what you had wanted all along? Wouldn’t you find the energy to keep moving forward today? We’re so quick to give up at the slightest hint of delay or difficulty, when God is trying to instill within us perseverance and patience. KEEP SHOWING UP. God is reminding you this morning that you’re closer than you think! YOU ARE CLOSER THAN YOU THINK. All that feels like a delay has actually served the purpose of propelling you forward. Remember, an arrow can only be shot forward by first pulling it back. If you’re currently being dragged back with difficulties, perhaps you’re being prepared to launch into greatness! Now is not the time to give up on that which God has whispered to your soul. There’s a fire within you. That fire is a purpose for which you were created for. A desire to do something with your life. You may not be able to put words to it and define exactly what that purpose is, but you feel it. That feeling of longing for more, that feeling of desperate restlessness, that’s a holy stirring of that which God has placed within you. Pay attention to it. Give it breath and fan that flame. God is guiding you at this very moment to position you exactly where you need to be. It’s not too late for you. The enemy tells you your opportunity has already come and gone, but it hasn’t. The enemy tells you you’re lacking, but you’re not. The enemy tells you you’ll never be good enough, but he’s a liar from hell and he only whispers his worthless lies out of fear because he knows exactly what is in you. He knows that which God has whispered to your soul, and he knows you’re just the girl to fulfill her purpose and step into her destiny. So of course he fights you. He makes you believe the struggles are too hard, the mountains are too high, and the wait is too long. But what he doesn’t want you to know is, this is your time. THIS IS YOUR TIME. Read the story of Esther in the Bible. It was her time to do exactly what she was created to do. To step up and be who she was created to be. Esther chapter 4:14 says “Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?” Hey sister, listen to me … PERHAPS THIS IS THE MOMENT FOR WHICH YOU HAVE BEEN CREATED! Here it is. Today. It’s all coming together. This is your time. Although you feel unsure, you are doing the right thing. You’re seeking God for guidance and direction and as a result he is taking even that which you’re doing wrong, and he’s making it right! Don’t you know that’s what God can do with a heart seeking him?

Isaiah 40:12 MSG – “Who has scooped up the ocean in his two hands, or measured the sky between his thumb and little finger?” I’m just amazed by the creation which surrounds us. Yesterday I challenged the women I get to mentor in BIG Life Mentoring to practice what I call “Gosh Living”. To have fresh eyes and view everything in awe. We are surrounded by astounding miracles and unexplainable beauty every day of our lives, yet we’re so accustom to it, even bored by it, on most days we never even take notice. But when we intentionally choose to live in awe, we are left saying “gosh, that is beautiful. Gosh that is remarkable. Gosh this is priceless.” That is GOSH Living and it’s a special way to live our days in awe. I’ve shared the story of our family moving nearly every year. Not just to a new home, but we typically move to a new state and a totally new environment. We have two reasons for moving so much, and no neither of them are because we sell drugs or we’re on the run. (We get that a lot.) We move one, because this world is big and beautiful and we simply want to see more of it. And two, because we never want to stop living in awe. It’s harder to have fresh eyes when you’ve lived in the same house for 20 years. So we move and I constantly live in awe. One of our homes for a season was on a 200 acre ranch in Arkansas. It was a hunting ranch set up for wealthy city folks who wanted to get away, spend time on the river, hunt deer and bear, and just be in God’s country. We found this ranch online on one of those vacation rental websites, and we moved in for a year. It was fun and exciting and a totally different pace of life for us. We settled down and got a dog, the legendary BIG Life Puppy you see in all my yoga photos, and I tried my hand at raising chickens. I won’t go into details, but we’ll just say that didn’t work out so well. The ranch house set high on a bluff overlooking a river and the fields below. Living there helped me understand how big this world is. As far as the eye could see, for hundreds of miles were fields and hills, ponds and barns and cows. But my favorite time was early in the morning before the sun came up. In the dark, it seemed even bigger. The bluff just dropped off into pure darkness. It’s big when I can see it. But wow, when I can’t see it, it’s even bigger. There’s so much more of this world that we can’t see. My mind can’t even grasp how big God’s creation is. This beautiful ball of green and blue which we live on is just a speck of sand compared to the universe we live in. If you have 3 minutes today, go to YouTube and watch the video titled “Mind Blowing, the Earth Compared to the Rest of the Universe” https://youtu.be/1Eh5BpSnBBw And understand this mind blowingly huge universe is what is being referred to in today’s scripture when it says God measured the sky between his thumb and little finger. Stretch out your hand right now and look at it. Look at the distance between your outstretched thumb and little finger. When God stretches out his hand like that, it measures the entire world. And he holds it all in the palm of his hand. Why is this important to us today? OUR GOD IS BIG. Don’t forget that. He is big and he is powerful. He is bigger than any problem you may be facing. What is your personal “impossible” in your world right now? It seems big and overwhelming to you doesn’t it? Big problems are NOTHING to our BIG God. We’ve put God in a little box and minimized him. He is uncontainable. His palms are big enough to hold the entire world. God is BIG. Say that with me – God is BIG. He’s bigger than my problems. He’s bigger than my worries. We know that God is omnipresent, meaning he is everywhere at all times. Well of course he is. Once you understand how big his hands are,

There’s a story of a young woman diagnosed with terminal cancer who began planning her own funeral. She met with her pastor and selected the scripture and the songs. One final detail as their meeting came to a close, she asked to be buried with a fork in her right hand. The pastor was puzzled. Why a fork? The young woman shared how growing up she would go to church with her grandmother. It was a good ol’ country church where once a month they would have a potluck dinner. All the best homemade dishes would be served. After eating her grandmother would lean over and say, “keep your fork.” That was her favorite part because she knew this meant the best was yet to come. Dessert was on it’s way and it was going to be marvelous. Weeks passed and the young woman died. At her funeral it was standing room only filled with friends and family. One by one as they paid their final condolences to a life well lived, they asked, “what’s up with the fork”? Then the pastor preached the best sermon of his life sharing how this woman knew the best was yet to come. After this life was an eternity of the best darn dessert you could ever have. Hey sister, keep your fork. We have heaven awaiting us. AND IT’S GOING TO BLOW YOUR MIND!!!! 1 Corinthians 2:9 says “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” You simply can’t imagine what God has prepared for you on the other side of this life. Everything you’ve gone through, everything you’ve endured, all the hard days will be overwhelmingly and totally worth it when you spend your first moment in eternity. You’ll want your fork for this. It’s gonna be really, really good. But I encourage you today to not only keep your fork for heaven, but keep your fork for what’s coming next in this life. You have opportunities ahead of you on your journey to live bigger, be bolder, create epic memories, and share priceless adventures. The best is yet to come right here for you too! A few years ago I read “Awaken the Giant Within” by Tony Robbins. It’s a giant of a book that should be more like a year long project to read and complete the assignments, but I tried to rush through it in 2 months. One particular assignment stopped me in my tracks and opened my eyes to a deep seeded belief I held within. It was a journaling exercise in writing, not necessarily thinking. You read the question, then you just begin writing and let it flow. One question was “what negative beliefs about my future do I have?” I sat in a bubble bath and journaled my answers, just trying to rush through it so I could get to the next page and complete this humongous book and move on to the next one. Once I got out of the bath, I sat and reviewed what I had written, and there in my own handwriting was a confession I didn’t even realize I needed to make. It said “I believe my best has come and gone. I have already peaked.” Years before I had reached all my goals. I had slayed everything I had set out to do. I had experienced that perfect season in life where my kids still wanted to be with me, but didn’t need me for sheer survival. And it was over. The kids grew up and there were more important things for them to do on Saturday night than play a family game with their mama. The marathon had been run. The big house had been sold. The one year beach adventure was over. I was growing grayer, wrinklier and saggier and my best days had come and gone. And honestly, I was sad. And then it was like God shook me and said “girl, snap out of it!!!!! I have so much more for you. Keep your fork.” The next year I set out to make it my new peak year. I intentionally created more adventures and memories than ever before. I worked to become my very best again.

When my 3 kids were small we started a tradition that continues today, our Christmas Countdown Mittens. It was a year when finances were tight and Christmas was going to be slim, that I got creative. I needed to stretch the little we would be able to buy and make it seem bigger. So instead of waiting until Christmas morning for a stocking stuffed with presents, I decided to spread out those little presents throughout December. I bought a bundle of those tiny little stretchy gloves and glued felt numbers on them, beginning at 25 and counting down to 1. On the final day of November the countdown begins, 25 days until Christmas. Mitten #25 is filled with a stocking stuffer, typically bought from the Dollar Store, and carefully hidden in the house. The kids were always so excited to wake up and start the hunt for the hidden mitten and the tiny treasure that awaited them. (You’ll find photos of our Christmas Countdown Mittens and how I made them on my personal Facebook under Pamela Crim.) Every year the most prized treasure in the mittens were the $1 worth of glow sticks. It was the single gift my son and my daughters all 3 loved. It was also the gift Daddy and I loved. The day of the glow stick treasure turned into the night of glow in the dark hide and seek and late night dance parties. However, finding the glow sticks that morning required they wait until night to break them. In the day they are just a flimsy piece of plastic, but in the dark once broken, they are a full on disco party in your hand. Their power is released in the breaking. HIS POWER IS RELEASED IN THE BREAKING. Could this be why God has allowed hardship to touch your life? The lost job, the diagnosis, the accident, the disappointment. Could the breaking be for your benefit? I don’t believe everything we encounter in life is from the hand of God. God gave us free will and using that free will we can create our own messes. Combine that free will with the fact that we have an enemy in this world who is actively pursuing each of us and of course we have potential for disaster. But here’s what our God does, he takes everything concerning us and uses it for good. Every bad ending he uses for a new beginning. Every setback he turns into a setup. Every bit of brokenness he uses to unleash his power in our lives. Most of us spend our days avoiding the breaking. We try to build comfortable, safe lives insulated from the pain of breaking. And we’re pretty successful at it. We can get our adventure from TV. We can live vicariously through the lives of others on social media. We can satisfy our immediate cravings with food from a bag. Take a pill to make you feel this way and not that way. We can stay inside the walls of of comfort zone and believe safety is the answer. But recognize an unbroken, safe life is so darn unfulfilling! The glow stick only reaches it’s potential through the breaking. It’s purpose is fulfilled after the breaking. Don’t you want to reach your potential? Don’t you want to fulfill your purpose? BE WILLING TO BE BROKEN. The bible is filled with stories of broken people whom God chose to use for his mission. He worked through their impossible. He used their dark past to create a future for not only them, but for countless generations to come. Just think of some of those stories: Elijah – Was suicidal. Joseph – Was abused. Job – Went bankrupt. Moses – Had a speech problem. Gideon – Was afraid. Samson – Was a womanizer. Rahab – Was a prostitute. The Samaritan Woman – Was divorced. Noah – Was a Drunk. Jacob – Was a cheater. David – Was a murderer. Jonah – Ran from God. Naomi – Was a widow. Peter – Was impulsive. Martha – Worried about everything.

Your problem is big. God is bigger. Your faults are great. God is greater. It seems impossible. God does the impossible. Have you forgotten the power which resides within you? You are HIS creation. His spirit lives within you. Through him you ARE capable and you will be MORE THAN a CONQUEROR. What problem are you facing on this Tuesday morning? What impossible is knocking on your door? It’s time to boldly proclaim “IT’S GOING DOWN.” Rise up warrior. It’s time to fight for the life you want and the life you were created for. Tap into the inner strength which comes from your God and move forward. This morning I want to remind you of of the words of our great big God tucked in Jeremiah 32:27 – “I am the Lord … is anything too hard for me?” Nothing is too hard for our God. Nothing is beyond his scope. Your impossible is 100% possible with God. Why? Because God sees it all. He sees your faults. He sees your struggles. He sees your problem. He sees your impossible. AND HE LOVES YOU TOO MUCH TO LEAVE YOU ALONE. So what will your response be to this amazing, loving God of yours? What will you do with your problems today? Oh there are many options. You can pile up your problems and take inventory. You can talk about them. You can wallow in them. You can magnify them. Those are always popular options. Or maybe you’re more like me and you tend to do the opposite. You ignore your problems. You try your best to pretend they’re not there, as if your avoidance of the truth will somehow change it. And so the problem grows bigger as we bury our head in the sand and life spirals out of control. Life is not perfect … let us not live in la la land. Nor is it hopeless … let us not live in doom and gloom. Within you is creativity, wisdom and strength and it’s EXACTLY WHAT YOU NEED TODAY. You can do ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS YOU. Whatever it is you need to do today, you CAN do it. Here’s what we’re going to bank on today. A promise from God in Jeremiah 33:3 “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” I don’t know about you, but I have some problems that I don’t know how to navigate through. I’m not sure of the next right move. But God has promised me if I call to him HE WILL tell me great things I do not know. So here’s our action plan this morning girls. CALL TO HIM. Could it be that simple? Oh yes, it could be and it really is. The answers you seek are already in you. When you call out to God for help it releases all the creativity, wisdom and strength you need for the next step. Then it’s a matter of REPEAT. Call out again and receive for the step after that. You don’t have to be discouraged today. You don’t have to be filled with fear. God is ready, willing and able to HELP YOU. Oh how he loves you. His love can move mountains … yes, your mountain. What’s your impossible today – We boldy proclaim “it’s going down!” Rise up warrior. Feet on the floor. You’ve got some marching to do today.

Every morning for nearly 2 years, I drink bulletproof coffee. What a brilliant name … coffee that will make you bulletproof. And I gotta be honest with you, I’m pretty sure it kinda does. The classic trademarks of this coffee is its added fat. Traditionally this fat comes in the form of butter and coconut oil. I know I know, in the beginning that seems really counterproductive to be intentionally adding fat to your morning cup of coffee. However, this fat feeds your brain and I can attest to it’s magical powers of creating clarity and focus. Instead of butter, I use coconut milk as part of my clean keto plan. (Hang with me, I’m going somewhere with this!) My can of coconut milk has a little problem. It’s hard on top and all the liquid is at the bottom. It’s a messy process stirring it all up to the creamy consistency of healthy fat I desire. But once stirred up, it is deliciousness for my morning cup of joe. Not only delicious, but serving a purpose of making it bulletproof. I wonder what’s inside of us that has settled. Where do we need to be stirred up? Paul says in 2 Timothy 1: 6 & 7: “Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you … For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and self-discipline.” God, stir us up!!!!! We have been given the gift of power and love and self-discipline by God. It’s within us. The power to change anything you wish to change about your life is within you. The love to conquer any obstacle is within you. The self-discipline to follow through and do what you know you need to do is within you. Perhaps it has just settled. Your fears have floated to the top creating a solid layer of why you can’t and how you won’t. So the question is, is this how you want to live your life? Letting your gifts go unused? Power untapped? Love untouched? Self-discipline under utilized? Will you allow the fears which are naturally part of life to control your life and steel your God given potential from you? Will you? Are you? Here’s the problem, we’ve been fed a lie by the enemy that one day when we’re no longer afraid, things will change for us. He’s a peddler of delayed hope. And we buy this delayed hope and we waste precious days of this one life we have been given, waiting to wake up one day and no longer feel fear. And when we do, watch out world, we’re going to do something great. When we’re no longer too afraid to try, we’re really going to do something. But let’s do a quick fear check … fear, are you still here? Yip, there it is … at the top. I’m still afraid of failure and judgment and criticism and the myriad of things that could go horribly wrong, so today isn’t the day for me to take the next step. But maybe next month I’ll get started. Or next year. Oh yes, next year is coming up and that will be the fresh start I’ve been waiting for. Come January I will be more confident and determined. That’s when it will happen. That all sounds nice and pretty, but rip off those fake plastic flowers sister … that’s delayed hope peddled by your enemy. His purpose is to delay you from yours. His power is found in robbing you of yours. You see, he has nothing he doesn’t take from you. You’ve been giving him his purpose and his power in your delays and excuses. Your fear has been feeding him. The potential of failure will not just magically go away come January. The mob of naysayers and loud crowd of the “uh-ohhh squad” will still be standing outside of your door come the new year pointing out why you can’t change and why you’ll always be stuck where you are. And even worse than standing outside of your door, they’ll be screaming inside of your head every fear you’ve eve...

Genesis 1: 26-27 God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us.” So God created human beings in his own image. Who is God talking to here? Let US make human beings in OUR image? Understand this was a “conversation” of God the Father with God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. The trinity. It took me a really long time to wrap my mind around this. God is 3 in one. Reading the book “The Shack”, then watching the movie helped me understand how God is saying “let US make human beings in OUR image.” They were having a conversation about YOU. They were deciding how to create you and form you. And they decided to make you like them. Don’t you understand that you were made in the likeness of your creator. God designed you to be like him, the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit. Have you forgotten this is what you’re made of? This is who you really are? Fashioned to be in his likeness. You have greatness in you. You have power in you. You were made for MORE because you have MORE IN YOU. Where have you been living below the standard of what has been placed within you? Struggling to get up out of bed simply can’t be your normal. No, not when you were created in the image of the almighty God. Being moody and all grouchy butt cannot be your attitude. It just can’t be. Not when you were made in the likeness of Jesus himself. You can’t walk around angry, bitter, pessimistic and suspicious. That cannot be you. Not when you were hand crafted with the Holy Spirit in mind. Are you acting like what you’re made of? You were made in the image of your creator to be like him, now don’t you believe you best be acting like it? There are some things in your life right now that you need to honestly examine and say “I’m better than this.” I’m better than living like this. I’m better than struggling with the same old things that God has already given me victory over. I’m better than these patterns and habits that no longer serve me. I’m better than this because I have better in me. Now that’s a true Champion. I’m talking about a girl who knows who she is, what she has in her and who she was created to be. Your whole life the enemy will try to keep you from this truth. He will try to keep you playing little, thinking little and doing little. But that simply can’t be you. Not when you were created for a BIG Life. Today, let us act like what we’re made of. Let us reflect the image of the one we were created in the likeness of. Let us remember we have greatness in us. Let us tap into the power we have. You are better than giving up again. You are better than sleeping this day away. You are better than stooping to a lower level and accepting the invitation to every fight you’re invited to. You are better than even defending yourself over nonsense. Say nothing, God will fight that battle for you. What a shame it would be for us to waste one more day of our life not living up to who God created us to be. Ephesians 4:24 says you were created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Now that you know that, there’s only one thing left to do …. act like it!

Welcome to the gathering of the wildly rich and ridiculously blessed. Oh yes, you belong here. You are part of this club of the wildly rich and ridiculously blessed. Perhaps you just forgot. If you have food in your fridge, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep you are richer than 75% of the world. If you have any amount of money in the bank and some spare change, you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy. That’s you isn’t it!!!!! I knew it! You are wildly rich and ridiculously blessed. You and I have so much to be thankful for, and today is the day designated for our gratitude. Happy Thanksgiving my friends. Today’s devotional is titled “Bring ‘Em Together” It’s a day of togetherness … Thanksgiving! One of my favorite days of the entire year. Today families will likely be coming together. What happens when families come together? Heads butt. Why? Because we’re different. So your mother-in-law is different than you. So your sister is a little weird. So your aunt is annoying. Hey, love them! Bring them together. It’s not about you. It’s not about what you want to do. Make some sacrifices. It doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you’re together. Hebrews 10:24 & 25 “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another.” This is the ultimate scripture used on all of us as a guilt church to go to church. Hey, I believe in Church. I take my family to church every week. But what if about it’s more than just Sunday? What if it’s about today too? What if it’s about more than the padded seat you fill in the building you call church. What if this is about the seat you fill around your dinner table? Listen to this scripture again and think about the people you love …”And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another.” We live in a day and time where we simply don’t have direct human contact with people. We don’t come together much anymore do we? We work from home, we order our groceries online, we have minimal contact with the real world … and we like it that way! But what does that cost us? Why does God want us to be together? Because alone we are vulnerable. Ecclesiastes 4:12 says “a person standing alone can be attacked and defeated but two can stand back to back and conquer. Three are even better for a triple braided cord is not easily broken.” We’ve all seen the nature shows where a herd is under attack and then one member of the herd shoots off in another direction. They are separated. What happens? Alone they stand no chance and they are attacked. Every single day we are under attack and we need each other. We can’t sit hiding behind our screens, we must come together. Is there a member of your family who is growing distant? Are they spending more time in their room than their family? They’re closed off and pushing everyone away. You love them don’t you? They are part of your herd. Maybe it’s your spouse, or maybe it’s your child, or maybe it’s you. Listen to me, they are in danger. You are in danger. Remember the herd – when one veers off alone they are most vulnerable. Get your herd together! Today is the day for family dinner and everyone sits together. If you’re married, tonight is the night you go to bed together if at all possible. BE TOGETHER. Remember what our scripture says, let us not give up coming together as some are in the habit of doing” … maybe you’ve just gotten into the habit of meals being scattered instead of plann...