Luke 8:43-48 New International Version (NIV)

And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped. “Who touched me?” Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.” But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.” Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”

The woman with the issue of blood had been struggling for years and then she was instantly healed by Jesus. I wonder how much she had changed because of the bleeding in her body? How did the illness change her psychologically, emotionally, socially, spiritually, and physically? What behaviors  and mindset had she become acquainted with because of her illness? Did the bleeding prevent her from going in public? Did she have friends? How did she feel about herself? Did she believe she was fearfully and wonderfully made?

One day she hears Jesus is coming. She is desperate, she pushes through the crowd, she reaches out to touch Him and she is healed immediately. She was shifted and changed in that very moment. What she was physically experiencing in her body for twelve years was over but what about all the other stuff that came along with her issue? She was healed but what about the habits, mindset, and insecurities she adopted because of her illness. Over this period of time she learned how to cope and function, in dysfunction. She learned how to be alone and ostracized. Then one day Jesus comes along, He touches her, He heals her, and now she has to learn how to walk in her healing. She has to learn how to walk in the newness of life.

So many of us are learning to walk in our healing after being rescued from shattered, dysfunctional, and broken lives. It is interesting that Jesus says, “Your faith has healed you. Go in peace.” See, her faith activated her healing, now she had to learn to walk in the peace that comes along with her healing.

Teach us Lord how to walk in your healing and peace. Teach us how to walk in the newness of life.

I had the opportunity to participate in a life/career coaching training and learned many valuable lessons as I was working with people around their goals and aspirations. During the training, the trainer made a suggestion that resonated with me. She suggested to never tell people what to do when you work with them. The reason for this is you never want people to come back and blame you for the decisions they make!

Recently I’ve been in situations with people that needed to make their mind up about their lives. The scripture that continued to come to mind is found in Romans 14:5 (KJV) that says, ^“One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.”

In my life there has been so many instances where I have wanted to control a situation or people. I’ve stepped over the boundaries by telling people what they should do but people have to be fully persuaded in their own mind. As the gospel of Jesus is shared with others, our responsibility is to do just that, share it. People can choose and decide what they want to do with the Gospel once they hear it.

Revelation 3:20 (KJV) “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” God will continue to knock because He loves us. He wants to give us life and life more abundantly. He will use all kinds of things to speak to us to get our attention, but ultimately we will have to let Him in, we have to open the door of our hearts. He is not going to break down the door!

John 14:6 (ESV) Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  Let us share the good news, Jesus, as the way and allow people to accept Him as their truth.

Psalms 30:8 – 12 To you, Lord, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy: “What is gained if I am silenced, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness? Hear, Lord, and be merciful to me; Lord, be my help.” You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent. Lord my God, I will praise you forever.

The other morning I read these verses and what stood out to me was the writer’s act of worship. The psalmist worshiped God from a place of gratitude and shared his testimony of God’s restoration. I began to think about the outward displays of praise and worship like singing, dancing, honoring God with our lips, and raised hands. As this imagery was playing in my head another scripture came to mind, Matthew 15:8 says, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” I told the Lord that I never want to be in this place. I don’t just want to honor God with my lips, but I want my heart to be close and in tune with God. God was giving me a heart check up!

One of my favorite scriptures is Proverbs 4:23 “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” This scripture says everything we do is a result of the condition of our heart. I’m often reminded of this scripture when I need to evaluate my heart. When my actions and thinking are off. When negative emotions consume me. When I’m short tempered, anxious, and critical of others. When I think about things that are unlovely way too long.  The bible says in Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Our actions bear fruit to what is going on in our hearts. I don’t want to just give God lip service. I don’t want to just say the right things outwardly, but inwardly my heart is far from God. As I was reading these scriptures, God was reminding me of the importance of doing a heart check.

Psalm 139:23-24 reads, “Search me, God, and know my heart test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” One way God leads and helps us navigate and understand the condition of our hearts is through His word, the Bible. “I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you,” Psalm 119. As we read God’s word, it illuminates our thinking, actions, and words. It reveals the contents of our heart. Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” We need God’s word to keep our hearts in the right place. God’s word provides a blueprint for living. Psalm 119:105 reads, “Your word is a lamp unto our feet and a light for our path.”

Is it time to do a heart check up? God’s word will illuminate and provide the path for living a life that not only honors Him with our lips, but a heart that pleases Him too. We want to worship God in spirit and truth. My prayer today is Lord, create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me!

In the fall of last year my husband and I decided we were going to update our staircase. Our home is over 100 years old and we had only made minor touch ups and repairs over the course of the 15 years we lived in our home.

To get prepped for the project, we had to prepare the house for “construction”. Tarps and drop cloths were affixed to the walls to reduce dust from getting all over the house. Materials had to be purchased and we had to come up with a plan for getting up and down the stairs while the project was going on. The process went something like this: stripper applied to each stair, scraping up the stripper, stain and varnish (a mess), each stair examined to hammer down exposed nails, sanding each stair several times, vacuuming each stair, did a say vacuuming stairs, a couple coats of stain and varnish, several coats of paint, and touch ups to cover mistakes.

One day I was sitting on the couch staring at this mess of a staircase, dust, paint cans, stuff was just everywhere. It wasn’t a pretty sight. As I was sitting there, wanting things to be back to normal, the Lord gently spoke to me “I’m stripping you to rebuild you.” During this time God was drawing me closer to Himself. God was showing me some things about myself that needed to change, areas He wanted to heal. He showed me how, overtime, I built walls to protect myself from people because I didn’t trust Him to heal me WHEN I would get hurt by others (yes, you will get hurt by people). He showed me that while I knew I was supposed to walk in complete love, not partial, I wasn’t because I was struggling with unforgiveness. These are layers. I was being stripped because God has purpose for my life, but the layers I’d added over the years was making it difficult for me to walk in my purpose. God was removing the layers and transforming me by the renewing of my mind through the word of God, Romans 12:2 (NIV) “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Layer by layer God was healing the rejection, hurt, disappointment, fear, and other things. God reminded me that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come, 2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV). I had to repent and ask God to help me live a life more pleasing to Him.

After the stairs were complete, guests came to our home and one person compared the update to a HGTV renovated project! God wants to come in and renovate our lives and transform us from the inside out and it is a process! Just like we don’t get the layers overnight, the stripping process takes time too. As God strips those parts that hinders us and begin to remove the layers, He rebuilds and makes us new. He will strip the layers and give us the strength and power to put on love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

God is ready to tackle the project we just got to say yes to the process!

Bible reference: Mark 5:1-42

In Mark 5:1 – 42, we read about Jesus encounter with a man possessed by evil spirits. The man lived among the tombs, a place for the dead, and he could no longer be subdued. At one time he was shackled by chains, but the chains could no longer restrain him. He would cry out night and day cutting himself with stones. He is living among the dead, isolated, and self-destructive. He needs help. The man sees Jesus from a distance and he leaves the tombs to meet Him. When the man encounters Jesus he falls to his knees. The spirits didn’t want to leave the man, yet the man was drawn to Jesus.  After Jesus cast out the demonic spirits the bible says the man was sitting and was in his right mind. After his deliverance the man wanted to follow Jesus, but Jesus told him to go and tell his own people what the Lord had done for him.

Jesus draws people. John 12:32 (NIV) says, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” People will leave a dead place and self-destructing habits when they encounter Jesus. Although Jesus is no longer physically walking the Earth, the people that have accepted Him as their Savior are Christ’s representatives. Galatians 2:20 (NIV) says, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.“ When people see us, they should see Christ’s reflection in us.

The question I have been asking myself is: “What do people see when they encounter me?” My prayer is that they will see Jesus.