As Only Your Mama Can…….

December 22, 2013 

Dearest Daughter,

I am no different than most individuals, as I head into a New Year, I dream of growing into a more Godly, more focused, more intentional woman.  I hope toward greater health, greater spirituality and greater personal fortitude.

I hope for change…

I read yesterday about how difficult it is to make changes in your life…how letting go of bad habits and drawing on new ones was almost impossible, about how seriously hard it is to change….and, to remain changed for the better. 

How challenging, trying, demanding, arduous, tough, tiring, strenuous, grueling….if not impossible it is to become different…to grow holy.  And, how there is really only one way to have any hope of being a more disciplined, focused, self-controlled person….

And, that is to stay close to HIM…..

The author offered a truth I had not thought of for a while…and, that is that “self-control” is a fruit of the spirit…it’s not that I had forgotten that truth, it’s that I have not studied it in so long that I have removed it from the forefront of my thinking…but, if you truly want to change, you need a spirit within you which is active and alive and working and you need to be seeking growth in the fruits of the spirit….

And, I know this to be true because in my 51 years, those in which I put God first every day were the ones which enabled me to be disciplined and self-controlled (even in the darkest storms of life)……

There is a Holy fortitude within you when you are armor-ing up each and every day…starting before your toes hit the floor in the morning until your head hits the pillow at night….there is a peace which endures and feeds your heart, there is a calm disposition which comes over your mindset and a joy which fills your soul….

“As Only He Can”

What stands in the way of my changing, growing, developing into the woman He calls me to be and that I wish to be?

My failure to be His….

Moment by little moment, day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year…

As I reflect on my life, I see hills and valleys where I have been strong in Him and happy…and valleys where I have been weak in Him and ultimately sad.

The one truth I find consistent as I look over the pages of my life is clear…

I am never truly happy when I am not fully “God’s girl”….

And, when I am God’s girl, while I may still have life challenges which bring me to my knees, even then, I have found a Holy peace and joy which was not possible if not for Him…

So, as I head toward this New Year, I seek a re-newed focus….back to the basics

Really, back to the BASIC

Him

Because when you start and end with God as your focus…you start and end with God as your life…..

And, in that, there is no greater peace….

You are able to lay down those things in this life which will weigh you down to sinking….you are able to let go of your past and move ahead to the future, you are able to forgive others….and, yourself.  You are able to find joy in the days of your life….both in the seasons of richness and as well, in the seasons of human poverty.

 And, the more you come to know Him, the better you come to know the you He has fashioned for this season you are here on this earth…the more you come to know the gifts you have been given and how to use them for His glory…the better you are able to stand against the things of this world which would harm you and embrace those things which would grow you into the woman He means for you to be…

But the fruit of the Spirit is…

Love

Joy

Peace

Patience

Kindness

Goodness

Faithfulness

Gentleness

Self-control

“Christian character is produced by the Holy Spirit, not by the mere moral discipline of trying to live by law.  (It is) the indwelling Holy Spirit which produces Christian virtues in the believer’s life.”

I want to say this to you…I don’t believe we can become who we are to by human effort….I don’t. 

I think it requires constant and faithful pursuing of God’s heart and will for our lives…and, there is only one way to do that.

Give over your life to Him….daily

If we work as doggedly at trying to come to know Him as we do at the things this world will offer to us as substitute, we will most certainly be changed…

And, not just changed…

But, changed in real and true and authentic ways which give meaning and purpose and focus for our lives.

So that our lives are not just scribbles on the journals of our life, but so that they are our Holy commitment to a loving God who fashioned us for a purpose….

It is only He who can complete us…and only by coming to know Him can we come to love and know ourselves….

So, my prayer for you is that you keep it simple in 2014…..

In fact, I challenge you to have but ONE New Year’s Resolution…..

Come to know Him

And, you will…..

And, in that knowing, your life will find all that you are seeking……

ILYAOYMC,

Mama

“I love those who love me, and those who seek find me.” Proverbs 17