Tag Archives: Walking with God

Through It All, My Eyes Stay Fixed

Leave a reply

I have lived through many challenges over the course of my life.  Many of them are from my own decisions and others through circumstances and struggles that come through the result of others.  It’s a mix bag as it is for all of us.  Many of these challenges resulted in my own wounds and sins, some that festered for years and years, although I became good at hiding behind my false self.  Jesus did something in me though.  He brought me to the end of myself.  He brought me to the end of my self-reliance and self-righteousness.  I realized that no matter what I struggle with and what may come in the future, I can stay present in the presence of Jesus Christ and in his holiness and righteousness.  I can now thankfully say that I am dead to myself, to sin, to my flesh, and to the enemy.

Now with that said, we know very well there will be continued strife in this life.  Continued trouble.  Continued bouts with evil, with the flesh, and this world.  There’s a realization I’ve learned and now feel it whenever these things encounter me again, I can stay remained fixed on Jesus and bring all His works over my life.  His life, death, resurrection, and ascension.  His life is the example we have of how to live a life fully fixed on God and for His glory and His glory alone.  His death on the cross is the atonement for all of our sin as He willingly shed His blood for us to bring us forgiveness for our wins.  His resurrection brings us to a new life as Jesus conquered death being raised to a new life and now we are alive to God through Him. His ascension to the Father’s right hand gave Jesus full authority over the heavens and earth and Satan has been cast down so we now can live in the authority of Jesus Christ.

Think about all of those elements.  It is simply amazing and powerful.  Because of all His works, we can now live free from the struggles of this world.  By this I mean, we can now live a life that is fixed on Jesus above all and we can bring Him and all His work over our lives.  So through all the struggles of this world, we can keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and we can live free.  He is the one and only answer for all that we face in this life.  As the song says, in Christ alone, my hope is found.

Augustine stated that, “Nothing whatever pertaining to godliness and real holiness can be accomplished without Grace.”  This is powerful.  We are alive through God’s undeserved Grace.  Paul said in Titus 2:11, “For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people.” It has been revealed through Jesus and all His works.  Without Jesus, we are nothing in this life.  What would the point of anything if we did not have faith of the hope of the grace and love that is anchored in Christ alone.  So many people try to figure out there life and their circumstances on their own and are lost to the hope of in Jesus Christ.  It can’t be done.  Maybe temporary, but in the end, without being fixed on Jesus you will eventually fall right back.

Keeping my eyes fixed on Jesus through everything we encounter now is the only hope I have left in this life and let me tell you; it’s all I need.  Having a God that is willing to walk with me through all of my pains and struggles of this fallen life gives me so much joy and hope.  I know the inheritance that awaits in Jesus and I pray I can cross into eternity be able to hear “well done faithful servant.”  So thankful to have been called into service for the Kingdom and with my heart and eyes on Jesus I am ready to take it on.

I know what it is like to not live my life with eyes on Jesus.  It’s empty.  I have lived there in this life and I never want to go back there again.  Jesus has brought me to life and I can live my life through Him now with the armor and strength to take on the evil of this world and whatever the enemy will try to through my way.

So look to Jesus in your life and through all that you struggle with.  When you learn to let go of yourself and live for Him, it is a game changer.  Choose to be a game changer.  Choose to be different than whatever anyone in this world tells you.  He is all that matters.  All eyes on Jesus.

“Live as though Christ died yesterday, rose from the grave today, and is coming back tomorrow.”  – Theodore Epp

Your Father Is Always There

Leave a reply

I wrote last week before Fathers Day about the problem with fatherlessness and the struggles that many kids today face when their dads checkout emotionally or simply walk out completely.  It’s a cycle that is too common today.  It’s a problem of the heart.  There are many of us that may have experienced this or even lost their dad like I did and left in a state of loss, not knowing where they can turn too.  For many, their life turns to complete self-reliance and thinking they have to trudge through life on their own and figure things out on their own.

The fact is that we were never meant to go through life alone and in fact we are never alone.  You see the main mission of a dad is to raise up their children so that they learn to live a life with a heart for God.  Dads are meant to raise kids up part of the way and teach them to lean to the real Father.  But what happens when this does not happen?  Kids grow with a life fixed on the world, distant from the father and chasing after things of this world.

As I’ve shared before, when I lost my dad, I was lost.  I didn’t have a heart for God to where I learned to let Him guide my heart and Father me.  I learned this in the years that followed his death. When I did learn this, it completely changed my life and my heart.  I realized that my real Father has always been there.  He was looking to pull me out of that pit whirlwind of bitterness, self-reliance, and world driven.  I was so worried about what I thought I was supposed to do and not on who I am as God’s son allowing Him to take control of my life.  When I figured it out though, just as the prodigal son, the Father was their with open arms ready to bring me back in.

We are his children.  His sons and daughters.  In his book Fathered by God, John Eldredge says, “When a man gives his life to Jesus Christ, when he turns as the prodigal son turned for home and is reconciled to the Father, many remarkable things take place. At the core of them is a coming into true sonship.”  I can testify this to be so true.  Coming into sonship and now asking God to Father me everyday has changed my life so dramatically.  I realized that it is not about me, but about Him, the real hero.  The Father has a place for me and all of us in His story, his larger story.  I learned to stop living in my small story and live for the larger, epic story of God.

The Father is always there for us.  He has always been there.  He waits for us to realize this though.  While his desire is for all of us to turn to Him, He gave us the will to freely choose.  We can choose everyday to live for Him.  We don’t have to live by what this world says we should do.  We don’t have to go through life trying to figure things out on our own, fatherless.  Our Father is there to guide, so walk with us, to counsel us, to heal us through His son Jesus Christ, and to armor us for the spiritual warfare we face everyday.   We don’t have to go alone.  Seek the heart of God and he will restore yours to Him.

Why Christian Counseling?

Leave a reply

So, as of last week, I am now through my first full month back in school.  Talk about a big adjustment to being back in school full time as I pursue a Masters in Professional Counseling.  It’s a big life change, but certainly one I cannot ignore.  I am thankful to have a family that fully supports my pursuits.  It’s a complete gear change.  I have been pursuing that corporate ladder for the last 15+ years and to completely shift gears has been a little nerve wracking but I can certainly say that just after this first month of study I feel more confident in this direction.  I refuse to ignore God’s calling any longer.

With that said, the question comes to mind of why Christian counseling?  It’s interesting to get the reactions of folks who don’t really know the journey God has me on.  You can tell that they think it’s a little odd.  To just go from where I have been, comfortable and with a growing career to completely change gears and direction.  First and foremost, I believe firmly that we are all broken.  This is fact and everyone of us, due to our fallen nature, is broken and has a story of struggle and brokenness and sin in our lives.  We can’t hide from it.  With that said, we have Good News in that Jesus Christ came to heal our brokenness and set us free.  This is the heart of His mission, not only to bring forgiveness us sins, but to truly set us free to find the life that God intended for us to have with our hearts new and focused on Him.

With that said, this year, I came to real terms with my own brokenness on a scale larger than I could have ever imagined.  When I opened to the door of my heart, Jesus came right on in and began a work on my heart that has been absolutely amazing.  Now, I have to continue inviting Him in each day to continue this healing as it can become so easy to fall back if we are not careful.

When this journey began, God put it on my heart, who He sees me as.  He brought me to connect with people.  To not live a life of a lone ranger, but to get in the midst of people and on the front lines.  He put it on my heart that there are many more that need to be able to find the healing of Jesus Christ.  It’s right there for everyone, but so many continue to struggle and just don’t know how to find their way to let Christ in, to let Him counsel them, and the Him heal their hearts.  This is why I am joining the growing masses of Christian counselors.  It’s not about trying to do something for my own self-gratification, but rather to bring glory to the Lord and help lead others to find the healing that Christ offers.

Trust me, I certainly did not have to do this.  I could have been content in my career, but when God calls, you have to go.  He called and I told Him I would go.  At this point, it’s about learning skills and methods that I know will be needed to counsel others from a Biblical point of view and to develop methods for incorporating the 4 Streams of Christ into counseling others to help people find the healing and life that Christ offers.

It’s going to be a challenging journey to be sure.  I don’t expect to come out of this making riches.  It’s not about that. I have a real heart to help people through counseling and ministry.  I full trust in God in where He is guiding me on this journey.  He is filling my round table with solid men to help guide and mentor me on this journey, some that have gone through similar journeys of their own to follow God’s calling.  The journey is just beginning and I will continue sharing as I progress.  I look forward to the day of getting in the trenches to help people through real soul care.  Stay tuned as God continues His work in my life.

18 Years: Beautiful Life and Beautiful Love

Leave a reply

Yesterday, my wife, Amber, and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary.  18 Years!  What an incredible journey we have been on so far.  We started out so young back in ’97.  Fresh out of high school, yet we knew that we were meant to spend the rest of our lives together.  When I think back to the time when we married, you could probably count on one hand how many people thought we would even last six months being married so young.  We had a different plan though.  It was the two of us.  We were committed to each other and were going to make it through whatever obstacles that came our way.

Our life together has not been without struggle.  We essentially grew-up together.  I worked 50-60+ hours per week, plus attended college full-time to take care of our family.  Our first son came later that year and we had to figure things out.  We had to learn about each other and adapt to life together.  We lost a lot of friends in the process as everyone drifted to college and their own lives.  Through it all, though, we stuck together and stayed committed to the life we set out to have together, no matter what came our way.

We stand here today, however, 18 years later, even more in love than we were then.  We were united as one just as the Lord calls us when we marry and we have lived our lives that way.  She is my life and my love.  She is the other half of me and I know God destined the two of us to be together for life.  She brings out the best of me being around her.  She has supported me in all my schooling and career and now that God has really taken over our lives she is even more behind where He’s leading us now.  Our lives being committed to the Lord has drawn us even closer together and seeing the light of the Lord shine in her is so beautiful.  She glows with the beauty of a daughter of God.

I’ve been so blessed to have Amber as my wife.  To have a wife that loves me unconditionally is so amazing.  Sure we have our ups and downs, but we our still madly in love and that grows with each passing day, week, month, and year.  I look forward to many, many more years with my bride.  She is a beautiful woman, and beautiful and loving wife, a great mom to our 3 children, and the best part of my day, every single day.  I pray God’s hand in our marriage everyday and that as we grow together in love and faith that our hope in Him shines in our lives and reflects in how we glorify the Lord through our marriage.  It’s a beautiful life!

“Staying married, therefore, is not mainly about staying in love. It is about keeping covenant. “Till death do us part” or “As long as we both shall live” is a sacred covenant promise – the same kind Jesus made with His bride when He died for her.” – John Piper

I’m Alive…Because He Lives!

Leave a reply

I was driving back home from the gym this morning and this song came on in my truck from Matt Maher called “Because He Lives.”  I’ve heard this song numerous times and everyone morning I workout I have worship music or some Christ center hip-hop blaring.  A great way to get motivated, start the day, find clarity, and get the heart and mind focused on Christ for that day.  Can’t just do it Sunday morning.

Anyway, when this song came, it just hit me hard.  I could feel the Holy Spirit fill me and my heart leaped with joy.  The words of this song are a stark reminder of the offer of life that we have in Jesus Christ.  The chorus says…”Amen, Amen, I’m alive, I’m alive because He lives.”  It’s quite amazing how God will use certain things to fill you and remind you even when it’s things that are a little more common in your life.

The words of this song were a stark reminder of that because of Christ we are alive.  This is such an awesome and powerful thing to think about for our lives.  We are alive through Christ.  Paul said in Ephesians 2:5,”He gave us live when he raised Christ from the dead.”  If it were not for God’s love and grace, we were dead.  We would be doomed to our sins.  There would be no life.

Because we have this offer of life, what else do we need to worry about.  Yes, we face struggles, we face difficult, pain, suffering, and heartache.  That’s a part of the evil of this world and our fallen nature.  But with all that, if you know Christ and know that He is victorious and is alive so that we can live, we have much greater things to live for.  What a glorious and awesome thing it is to have a God that loves us so much that He was willing to go to the depths of hell in order to rescue us, and bring us back to the life that we were always meant to have.

I’m going to keep this short today, but this is all so simple.  We are alive in Christ!  We are alive because He lives!  When we recognize this and learn that we can now live for the life that Christ has for us and live a life with our hearts full turned to God, what else matters.  Let’s live the life that Christ offered.  He offers life and life abundantly (John 10:10).  It’s right there for us.  We have to chose to accept that offer, stop living for this world, living a life that self-reliant and self-driven.  Live today.

Do I Need Special Training?

Leave a reply

As I begin my journey into school and the pursuit of professional counseling licensing, the thought often comes to mind of the type of training needed to be able to counsel and provide the soul care to people.  For many who pursue specialized areas in ministry and discipleship work, there is often the need for schooling and training.  For me, there is a requirement by my state to meet certain qualifications in order to be licensed to practice as a Christian counselor.  A lot of hoops, but a necessary part of the journey.

Now, the question often comes for individuals of what they need in order to talk about the Good News, to disciple and share about Christ.  Do we need special training to do so?  The answer to its core, is no.  Once we have received Christ, repent of our sins, and receive the Holy Spirit, that is all you need to begin to share.  We all have a story.  We all have a testimony that is a powerful part of God’s larger story and can be powerful examples of where Christ is working in our lives.  This part does not take schooling to do so.

A little over a year ago, feeling called to do so, I made a video that is now posted to this site that shared a bit of my testimony in coming to faith in Jesus.  I shared some of the darkness I had gone through, especially the sudden loss of my Dad, the confusion I dealt with in religious practices and denominations, and never living a life fully surrendered.  This was just a surface look into my life, but this is a big part of what we stand on.  We don’t need special training to share about Jesus and the work He does in our lives.

I look to Acts 4:13 when it talk about the council observing Peter and John and noticing they were just ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures.  This is significant to us now.  Peter and John and the rest of the Apostles received their power to teach from the Holy Spirit and through Jesus training them while He was here for those that walked with Him on earth.  These were ragamuffins.  They were a ragtag bunch of fishermen, tax collectors, and more.  Ordinary, fallen men and women.  The Scriptures are full of people who were ordinary who were called to do the extraordinary.

Just think about this in your life if you question your own abilities to share and disciple.  Jesus commissioned us all to share the Good News.  We don’t need special training to do so.  Yes, there are certain fields that may need some additional specialized training, but your testimony is the basis of it all.  Stand on the Truth and what Jesus has done in your life and let Him do the rest.  He will lead you and guide your words if you surrender to Him.  Don’t feel like you are to insignificant to do so.  Know that you are enough and that your faith in Christ is enough.

My God Never Ceases To Amaze Me

Leave a reply

This week my family and I took a trip down to one of our favorite places down on the emerald coast.  It’s one of those trips we like to take when possible to get away from the norms of our daily hectic lives.  Sure we get may get a little crispy, but this whole time is so valuable to just slow down for a few days, take in the beauty and the power of the ocean before us and relax.  This trip down was a little different because I actually had to bring my school with me.  Been there before, but the first day or so, I had the hardest time relaxing and just letting go.  I spent part of that first day writing papers and taking quizes to close out the week for my classes.

It’s hard to get out of the mindframe of everyday life when you have things constantly rolling through your head and stresses about what is to come and what has been.  When I finished my work, went down to the beach to join my family.  Still not fully unplugged, I tried my best to just chill and enjoy sitting in the sand and playing in what has been a rough surf this week.  This helped.  Then my poor wife was not feeling the greatest, so I was worried about her that evening when we came back upstairs.

Then the next morning came.  I got up early as usual hit the gym for my normal Monday workout.  Always a good time to clear the brain as I have my music plugged in and getting moving and lifting.  Afterwards, I went out on the beach on my own and just set there on the edge of the water.  As I sat there taking in all in I could sense God’s presence around me and before me in the wind and waves.  I could sense Him trying to calm me down.  Trying to get me to that place where I was surrendered to Him and just let go for the stresses that I have had.  It was an amazing feeling to feel Him and hear Him.  After that time, I went back upstairs with the family to have breakfast and I just felt free again.  He was essentially telling me that it is okay to let go.

My God never ceases to amaze me.  Even when I get so caught up in the worries and pressures that comes with this life, with schooling, and everything else, He always finds a way to pull me back.  That’s part of what solitude does, just getting time alone with Him.  I felt that in Coloraod last winter and when I get away to places like here, it can feel Him again doing the same thing.  Just getting me to let go.  I don’t have to be everything to everyone all the time.  I can let go and just be in His presence.

It’s no wonder that I have grown to simply love my God more and more.  He loves me enough to pull me back into His precense.  He loves me enough to save me from myself and this world.  He loves me and all of us more than we could ever hope for.  I’m grateful to live a life that is fixed on Him everyday so that I can be drawn back away from the chaos.  A few years ago, I would never been like this, but now that I know Him and know His love, life is never going to be the same, because I am now alive in Him.  I may get caught in the craziness of life sometimes, but knowing God, helps me to pull back and remember what is important.  He is just amazing!  It’s seems so simple, yet so awesome!

The Joys of Being A Dad – For My Children

Leave a reply

Today’s post is a little different from things I normally write about.  As some of you may know we have a lot of things going on with our kids.  My oldest is involved in and outdoor adventures crew and the DECA organization at his high school where he is officer.  My middle son is a high school freshman and has a lifelong passion for baseball with dreams of playing professional one day. My daughter is an awesome singer, singing with chorus, and a highly competitive softball player.  My wife, Amber and I are so proud of these three for the young men and women they are, the things they do, and how humble they are in all they do.  Whether they excel or not, they stay humble through it all, which is so cool to watch.  So here, I’m going to brag a little about each of them in things they’ve accomplished just this year.  Amber and I don’t do this much.  We’ve always taken the stance that we let their actions speak for them.  Seeing how they’ve grown through it all is amazing.

So starting with Shawn.  He is my oldest and will be a high school senior next year.  So crazy how time has flown since we brought him home from the hospital.  A very reserved and quiet young man, we’ve seen him grow up in so many way this year.  First, spiritually, he has such a growing heart for God.  You can see him light up and the way he is eager to learn about God and grow spiritually in his faith.  From his involvement with FCA and Bible studies at school to small groups at our church, I love seeing him grow.  In addition, this year, we’ve seen him breakout of the shell as he got involved in an outdoors adventure crew where he gets to go out camping, hiking, and then this summer will take a 250 mile bike ride across Maryland into DC.  So cool.  In school, he is high involved as an officer in the marketing and business club DECA.  Competing in competitions, he took 1st in the region, 3rd in state, and for the 2nd year earned  trip to the international competition held in Orlando this year.  Now as he moves into his senior year he’s planning college to study wildlife management and eventually would love to do outdoors ministry.  So excited to see where God takes him.

On to Brandon.  He is my second and going to be a sophomore in high school this fall.  Like Shawn, Brandon has grown to have such an awesome heart for God.  Seeing him light up in worship and in his learning about God and then watching him get into worship music when we’re home and in the car is awesome.  You can see God working on his heart as well. In addition, Brandon is very involved as baseball player.  He has dreams of playing professionally one day.  He has played competitive travel baseball for several years and as a freshman split time with JV as a starting catcher and Varsity as the bullpen catcher.  What’s been cool to watch is his growth and humility in his role on the Varsity squad.  While not on the field, he plays a valuable role in the bullpen and earning his way through the system.  He’s been an intricate part of that squad.  What’s also cool, is that tomorrow his team competes for the state baseball title for the first time in school history and him getting to be a part of that run with such a hardworking and humble group of young men has been an awesome growing experience for him.  Can’t wait to see where the Lord takes him.

Now to my baby girl, Ashley, Sweetface.  Such a precious, sweet, and beautiful young lady.  Ashley will be going into the 8th grade this fall, which again just floors me.  You want to talk a bout a little girl that had me wrapped around her finger from day one.  Watching her grow and mature, just like her brothers, she has such a beautiful heart for God.  It reflects in her worship and also in her quest to learn more about God in our conversations.  She has had to deal with some drama with friends as many teenagers do, and seeing how she loves her friends through their troubles even when friends say they lost faith, the love of God just shines through her as she continues to love on them and them know God loves them.  In addition, Ashley is a chorus singer at school.  An amazing singer and she loves to entertain.  In addition, she is an awesome writer.  I think she takes after me in her love for writing and unlike me, she has a real knack for story telling.  Ashley is also a very competitive softball player.  Playing travel softball and with her school team as a catcher and 3rd baseman like her brother.  She has dreams of playing college softball one day as well.  I’m so  excited about her future and where God will lead her.

God truly blessed Amber and me with some awesome kids.  As our home has grown spiritually it’s awesome to see it reflect in their lives.  Through all their accomplishments, through all their hard work, they stay so humble.  They have a love for God and know that He is going to lead them.  They’ve grown to understand that things aren’t always easy, they know God will love them and lead then through it all.  As Jesus teaches in Luke 14, “Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” I believe my children reflect this.  They delight in their accomplishments, but they don’t let it define them as they know that comes from God first, not their own doing.  Once again, I’m so excited to see where God leads them as they grown in Him into adulthood.  I can only take them so far as their Dad, but we share a Father in God who will take them the rest of the way. I can only hope that I do what I can to continue leading them to Him and to seek Him everyday.

Kids_Fall2014_2

Feeling Overwhelmed

Leave a reply

One week in.  It’s been quite a ride already as I get used to being back in school and learning the ropes of the classes and figuring out the best way to balance everything to ensure I don’t neglect family and work, but also to maximize the learning experience.  I’ve been down this road before, but it certainly takes getting used to once you’ve been established in routines.  It’s disruptive to the norm.  Many people are scared of disruption and what it does to their organization and routines.  I used to hate disruption.  I was a man of routine and like the way things role.  Now I welcome the disruption.  It gives me opportunity to reassess priorities and take stock of where I am and where I am going.  It gives me an opportunity to talk to God and see what he’s up to in my life.

As I ended the first week of classes yesterday and finalized the first week’s assignments, I found myself almost stressed.  I got a little frustrated with a quiz I working on even though this was the first week, I felt a little bit overwhelmed for a bit.  After the quiz, I picked up one of my books and started reading a bit more to recap some of the week. This is the book, “Competent Christian Counseling” by Dr. Tim Clinton (no relation) and Dr. George Ohlschlager.  A great introductory book into the field of Christian Counseling.  The first page I turned to was amazing as with the frustration that I just felt, these were the first words I read.  “The information is overwhelming; the challenge is daunting. However, when you come to believe that God is able – that He will shape and guide you and will walk with you through your growth and development as a Christian counselor – you will learn to relax.”  I tell you what, seeing those words in front of me right at that point exactly what I needed.    I knew God was telling me to just relax son.  As He has told me before, just trust in Him.  I know He is able.  I know He will guide me and walk with me.  I know it will seem overwhelming at times throughout the process. There’s a great deal involved with becoming a professional counselor.  It’s a process that necessary and if I put my trust in God, He will lead me through it all.

I have thought about those words many times since yesterday.  With all of my schooling, I’ve never thought in that sense.  I’ve never thought to allow God to guide and Father me through the process of where I was going.  I was very self-reliant and self-driven in the goals I was laying out before me.  It’s a very different feeling when I step out of myself, having shed the old man in me and let God take all of that.  Leave my fears and anxieties nailed to the cross of Jesus Christ and let the restoration that Christ has given me shine through knowing that I can go wherever God leads and be willing to take that risk and follow.

I read daily reading bits from Ransomed Heart Ministries that come across tablet through their app.  Their daily excerpts from one of their many books.  In another twist of how God was talking to me yesterday, that days bit came from the book “Fathered by God.”  This book was almost the next step up from Wild at Heart.  A very good read if you haven’t picked it up.  The title was “We Need a Guide.”  As part of our initiation in the masculine journey for men, “we need a process, a journey, an epic story of many experience woven together, building upon one another in a progression. We need initiation. And, we need a guide.”  A guide is exactly what God is on our journey.  This true for the masculine for me and the feminine journey for women.  We all need a guide on our journey and God wants to be that guide if we will let Him.  He is laying out the path for us to initiate us bring us into closer connection with Him.  We have to be willing to let go, not let the things in our small story keep us down.  Understand the larger epic story of God and let Him lead us through it.  Trust in Him.

This is where we need to be on our journey.  Walk with God and let Him come into our lives and lead us.  God is able and our faith Him means that through Him we are able to do whatever He says we can.  We just have to get out of our own way.  Don’t let the world or the enemy tell us we can’t either.  Trust in Him where nothing is impossible.

Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust Him, and He will help you. – Psalm 37:5

Today Is The Day!

3 Replies

I have been counting down to this day for the last few months.  Hard to believe it’s already here, but I can’t tell you how excited I am to be starting my work to on my Masters in Professional Counseling.  It’s a journey into the unknown that I never thought I would have the courage to do.  I knew, however, that once I was fully surrendered to the Lord, and knew where He was calling me, there was absolutely no way I was going to turn away not do it.  It’s a wild feeling.  I am excited about the possibilities, yet at the same time, as I write this, I am literally shaking on the inside as the nerves about the unknown set in.

It’s all a risk.  I could be perfectly content spending the next 25 years finishing my career in the corporate world.  I could just enjoy the salary and benefits of that world and live out there.  I could spend my life under the radar and just cruise along going with the flow.  But now that I am all in, there is no way I can do that now.  God has been calling me in my writing for the last several years.  I just didn’t listen enough until now.  So now, I am making a leap of complete faith and Trusting to where my God is leading me.

It’s all about trust and faith.  God told me something back in January and has told me this a few times since then when I have questioned what I’m doing.  He has said to trust Him and to just let go.  That’s what I have to do now.  I have to trust fully in the Lord.  I have to let go of my own self-reliance and self-centered ways and allow Him to work in my life.  Trust is the key to it all.  Do we trust in the works of God and the finished works of Jesus Christ?  Do we believe in His unfailing love and unending pursuit of our hearts and our lives?  Do we trust in Him with our lives?

I used to often doubt myself.  I would just go along thinking that it was easier to just get along with the world and not rock the boat.  To hide all my junk, all my sin, all my wounds, and the emptiness in my life to just let the world dictate my decisions.  When I would get a little courage to step forward, something would pull me back or I would doubt myself again and life would return to what it was.  I would sometimes here the enemy putting in my heart that those were just silly ideas.  That I needed to just get along.  Live a secure life with steady and secure income and all that.  Don’t rock the boat.  Don’t venture off the smooth path.  What was it old school preachers used to say, the smooth and wide, gold filled path of the devil.  Never understood that until recently.

I look to Scripture also when thinking about trusting in the Lord.  Romans 10:11 says, “Anyone who trusts in Him will never be disgraced.”  That gives me great confidence in knowing that if I just my full trust in where He is leading, that I can’t go wrong.  How can any of us go wrong if we are trusting Him.  It doesn’t mean the way will always be easy, because it won’t.  There will be difficulties.  There will be times where we are pushed to our limits and I know I will be in this too.  But disgrace will never fall if I trust in Him.

Look to the Psalms too.  David said in Psalm 31:14, “I am trusting you, O Lord, saying, You are my God! My future is in your hands.”  I am praying for the same level of trust with my life and that I just let God take control fully and trust my future to His hands.  That’s what we all need to do.  Trust in the Lord with all that we are.  Love Him, Trust Him, and Worship Him.

George McDonald said, “Few delights can equal the presence of one whom we trust utterly.”  That tells me that if there is nothing in the world that can be more satisfying that having God’s presence in my life and trusting Him with my life.  How could I possibly let anything else steer me away from that.  Augustine said, “Trust the past to God’s mercy, the present to God’s love and the future to God’s providence.”  Now that I have dealt with my past junk and surrendered that to the Cross of Jesus Christ, I can let God love me in the present now where I trust in Him and then allow His will to unfold in my life.

It’s going to an exciting journey.  Going to be busy and I know there will be days where I won’t want to write a single thing.  But I will keep updates rolling on my progress as the journey to be a Christian Counselor begins to unfold.  I definite seek prayers in this journey as well.