LUCKY

I haven't been on here in a long time and today I felt compelled to share.....

It's funny how often I hear from people how "lucky" I am.  I get it and completely understand where they are coming from.  I do look lucky.  I have a great husband that I've been with for almost 20 years, we actually really like each other, we have 5 healthy, happy kids, we live in a beautiful house with a ton of animals....we do look pretty lucky!  And often times I will respond to that comment with the famous last line of the Christian...."Yes, I'm very blessed!"  The fact is, I am blessed.  No doubt about that.  I know it and I thank God every day for the life he's given me.  But I must say, LUCK has nothing to do with it.  And as I was listening to a message today from Joyce Meyer it really struck me to share my thoughts on this.

Proverbs 23:7 says "As a man thinks in his heart, so does he become".  Let that sink in.  Most of us THINK we are thinking the right thoughts.  Maybe you are.  I know for a fact that it took me a LONG time to think about my life in a way that God would like me to.  But I also know that very early on in my life I started "wishing" for greatness.  I wouldn't necessarily say that I was always prayerful but I was wishing for the life I have today.  And some of those thoughts were VERY specific in nature and have come to life.  It sounds crazy, I know, but as I look back over the past 25 or so years I realize that I have been "blessed" with many of my heart's desires.

When I was 16 years old someone asked me how many kids I wanted.  It was placed on my heart the desire to have a large family after being an only child myself.  My response was "I'm going to have 5 kids".  Lord only knows how CLUELESS and naive I was in nonchalantly mentioning that ;) Around that same time I went to a NFL camp here in San Diego that some friends were helping out with.  I remember thinking how fun it would be to marry a football player.  Why??  I don't know but it looked like it would be fun!  It sounds stupid but I thought it and actually told one of my best friends.  When my grandmother passed away several years later,  I watched "A Star is Born" with a friend of mine after her wake.  I actually said OUT LOUD, "Isn't Kristofferson a cool name.  Becky Kristofferson??!"  God got the spelling wrong but he had the right plan.  My grandmother was a twin and I used to tell her that someday I was going to have twins too. Every one of those things and many more have come to pass in my life.  Wow....how LUCKY, right?!?!

These things might sound silly or even superstitious to some but I believe that as a girl thinks in her heart, so she will become.  God loves us and he wants us to have the desires of our hearts.  Sometimes we don't BELIEVE that we can have those things so we stop speaking them or even dreaming them.  Especially when real life takes over and we come upon the obstacles that this life can bring.  That happened to me as well.

My story may sound like a fairy tale.  Fortunately, you don't know or need to know ALL of the details.  I will say that I came (like most of us) from a family filled with brokenness and heartache.  I also made A LOT of bad choices and had to deal with the consequences of those choices.  I spent a lot of time doing the wrong things and making the wrong choices and STILL found my way.  This was also a time in my life that I believed that being a Christian meant accepting Christ, praying, going to church, etc and for many years that is just how I was doing it.  Those weren't the years that I was feeling fulfilled and at peace.  I guess that is true in someways.  You can be a Christian and just do those things but in order to have victory in my life, I had to make some changes.

Romans 12:2 says, "Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of the mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect".  It took me a long time to see that living in God's will is the only way that I find true happiness and peace.  Since the bible says it, I'm pretty sure it's the same for all of us ;)  I had to make changes in the way I acted, the way I thought about things, the way I treated people.  I was and still am making mistakes along the way.  That's part of it.  It wasn't until I really changed and made an effort to "walk the walk" that I started experiencing the overwhelming peace and fulfillment that God was offering me.

I'm sure many people out there aren't where they want to be.  In fact, I know they aren't.  And I know many of you are blaming God for your circumstances.  We've all done that!  It's easy to do!! We have faith in God and wonder why HE'S letting us down.  He isn't and never will.  Hebrews 13:5 says that he will never leave us or forsake us.  That is the truth. God is all  about redemption but we do have to believe.  That is what FAITH is.  Hebrews 11:1 says that "Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see".

The bible also says in Proverbs 18:21 that the power of life and death is in the tongue. As Joyce said today, "If you do not learn to think like God thinks and say what God says, you will not have victory in your life".  It's not his fault....we have to guard our hearts, minds, actions, etc.  We have to have Faith and know that we are also responsible for our own decisions.   If you want to be in the will of God, seek first His Kingdom and his righteousness and those things will be given to you (Matthew 6:33)  Be willing to make changes in your life and speak OVER your life your TRUE HEARTS DESIRES!  Don't be afraid to dream big.  He wants us to have immeasurably more than we could hope for or imagine (Ephesians 3:20).  When you are in the will of God, you will no doubt feel LUCKY too!  God Bless.....