We all know the favorite Bible stories of old: Daniel in the lions’ den, Jonah in the whale, Abraham and Isaac… we love how God protected them and kept them safe. But notice closer: God saved Daniel from the lions, but Daniel still had to remain in the pit alllllll night.

God was kind enough to send Jonah a whale, but he was there for 3 long days.

And Abraham had to walk up a mountain, start the kindling, place his son on the altar and raise the knife before the angel of the Lord finally stopped his hand.

Why?

There much be value in the journey of faith. It is not just enough to hear of God’s mighty and merciful deeds. No. God wants us to experience them. To sketch us & grow our small seeds of faith. In real time. Sometimes painfully slowly. But it is here, and only here, you learn who God is, experience His goodness and where your faith builds it’s own legs to stand on.

And it is here that you get to see the miracles. Not from far away in safety, but in the pit of the lions, on an Egyptian shore with an army at your back, and in a furnace of fire.

We might never fully understand why, but There is value in the journey.

Last year I cheated.  I had jumped back on the Eat Right bandwagon after Thanksgiving, but just two weeks in I just couldn’t take it anymore.  Despite the fact that I was eating “right”, my flesh still wanted sugar!  A few days later I was driving when I heard a preacher on the radio say, “Good things sometimes cross over into sin when we begin using them for purposes God never intended.”  The question rang in my head, “What is God’s purpose for food?”

The answer was instant: “To sustain and promote growth and good health.”  My next thought was convicting: “The things I WANT to eat do not promote good health!”  Having an occasional dessert is not a sin, but eating a diet of fatty foods definitely was not using food for God’s original purpose! I realized my lack of joy was not what was going into my mouth, but what my mind was thinking.  I needed a new mindset.

Romans 12:2 says, “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.” (NIV) Applicably speaking, I was being called to “put down the ho-hos and grab a salad” (April Estes version).  The way I was thinking had to change.  I had to renew the way I was looking at food…not through fleshly eyes, but through godly eyes.

So, before every meal, I thought, “This is a chance for me to get as many foods in my system that are going to make me strong, smarter, fight cancer, etc.” I started focusing on the BENEFITS of the healthy eating, instead of the NEGATIVES.  My new mindset made eating the healthy foods seem like a blessing.  It made me focus on the joys of healthy eating.  Over time, I was even able to not only not miss the bad foods, but also see that eating healthy was reaping good things in my life.

This year, I encourage all of us to look at everything in our lives and ask “Am I using (this) for the purposes God intended?” As our eyes are opened, may we – with renewed eyes – put aside the wrong uses and resolve to use things as God intended!

“The thing about warriors who’ve been through battle is they know what the storm holds when the rains start blowing in. They wait – still and watching – to see the direction the storm will take before leaping into action. They observe. They plan. They calculate. But they DO. NOT. FLINCH. Like an Indian breaking a wild stallion, they ride the storm until they are forced to act. The thing about warriors is they do not flinch in times of adversity, but face it head-on, knowing full well the struggle to come.” May you be brave in the face of battle this week, young warrior, and stand. Unflinching. -A. E.

So many times the battle comes not as flaming temptation with a neon sign, but as gentle whispers and doubts. As with Eve, the devil loves to instill doubt.

“Did God REALLY SAY…?”

Satan doesn’t need to go into full battle. He can usually get a foothold and then we do the rest of his work for him, sadly.

It’s important to know what to do during those moments. Interestingly, the victory lies in the surrender. We take captive the doubts that are being hurled our way and we hit a knee and admit, “Lord, this is too much for me. Can you fight this battle for me?” I truly believe that’s when all heaven happily and gleefully springs into action: the frontlines are battling demons we can’t even see.

But we have to ask. Ever the gentleman, God will let us handle our own problems until we do say “I need you Lord!”

Need a victory? Just surrender.

I have a confession. I am not who people think I am. I recently did a Personality test and it came out looking like the capital letter L and my husband was shocked.

“Holy cow babe!” He exclaimed. “Do you know what this means?”

“Noooo,” I hesitantly answered, fearing he was going to say I had a serial killer’s profile.

“This means every thing that you do in life is opposite of what you really are,” he said.

“How so?” I asked.

“Well, you know how you perform on stage and are extroverted in public?”

“Yeah?”

“That’s not really you.”

The moment he said that everything clicked. He was exactly right. No one would ever believe that I am really an introverted, shy person but I always have been. When my dad one time heard about a little girl who waited by the door or five hours until her mom used to come pick her up at daycare he was shocked to hear that was me! That actually explains a lot of the exhaustion I feel after teaching children, playing on stage, and just simply going to church. As a matter of fact even though my husband Cuts multi million dollar deals at work every day, it is I who he chooses to haggle when buying cars. It is not my comfort zone. It is not not what I want to do, yet we always walk away with at least $1000 off asking price and usually a new set of tires LOL. Why? Because walking in this world best requires denying my (true, shy, introverted) self.

This seems counter culture in a world that always tells us to be authentic and be ourselves but it’s actually biblical. In Luke 9:23, Jesus tells us to deny ourselves and follow him. Jesus, ever the preacher of love and truth, admits that following him is not easy. Denying our flesh and selfish ambitions is not natural. But neither was dying on a cross.

Today, if you’re struggling to “be totally authentic” that’s ok. Instead, try being BETTER than you. Deny yourself and live the way HE leads.

I remember my first writer’s conference. It was actually songwriter’s conference and I was scared to death. They had times where we could present our songs to Nashville VIP’s & I knew I was over my head. I’d only been writing songs about a year and was “low man on the totem pole” after listening to the other “novices” around me. Most were musicians and singers, as well as writers, and had performed and written all their lives. There were only 3 spots that would be selected to meet one-on-one with the music producers and there were 8 of us in the room. Sometime During the tryouts, I went to the restroom and had a good cry. What was I doing?? Me, a middle aged mom of 4 – trying to run with the big dogs? I was filled with self doubt and resolved to go home and save myself the shame.

But, just as I was waiting for the elevator to arrive, I heard a voice whisper from deep within, “If you’re not gonna make it, you’re not gonna make it. But don’t make it be at your own hand.” I turned back to head for the critique room, to be told by an attendee, “Hey, they’ve been looking for you. One girl (the talented one) stormed out angry & the two other guys got a scheduling conflict so they wanna see me and you and Fish tomorrow.” Who’ve thought?! All the wise lessons my dad and grandpa taught me about doing your best no matter what came flooding back. You might not be the best, or even most worthy, but JUST SHOW UP. You never know! (Oh, and I got 2 second places, one 3rd & an Honorable Mention that year. Whoop!)

I write songs occasionally, and I have been amazed at the number of times I have written a song & then, in the future, it fits someone’s life perfectly, mirroring what they are going through. Every time, they will tearfully share how the song helped them. Strangely, in almost every case, those songs were the ones I didn’t “get”…didn’t really like where the song was going because it was “too heavy” or “too sad” or “not radio friendly”. There’s a term with artists called The Muse. All artists have a love/hate relationship with The Muse because it has them create something beautiful, but usually sends them off the path they had in mind. We are taught to respect the Muse, however, and follow where it leads.

The same can be said of the Holy Spirit. Many times his urges and hints and whispers can seem odd, make us uncomfortable – because we cannot see what is ahead. Following Him is like walking in the dark – on blind faith. But the outcomes are always beautiful!

I had a song inspiration once about a boy with cancer, the chorus being “You can’t fix everything”. Very heart tugging but I recorded it anyway. THREE YEARS LATER it perfectly mirrored the life of a friend whose boy had cancer. The song ministered to her tremendously! But God is funny like that: He is not constrained by time. Let us all resolve to listen to that still, small voice that doesn’t make sense or seems inconvenient…it just might be exactly what someone needs – now, or in the future.

Tenacity. The word brings up opposite emotions. On one hand, tenacity can be viewed as a good trait. In other situations, it is implied a bad one.

If Jacob were to be given a new name, Tenacity would be the perfect one. Webster defines “tenacity” as “the quality of being able to grip something firmly” – and Jacob was literally gripping from the time he exited the womb, gripping his brother’s heel. Then he gripped his brother’s inheritance. And then his brother’s blessing. Today, we would say he had the tenacity to do such things with a tisk and an eye roll.

But it was this same tenacity that caused him to work first seven, then seven more years for Leah’s hand in marriage. And later, this tenacity allowed him to literally wrestle God! Who has the tenacity to wrestle God?! Jacob did. And he wasn’t blessed in spite of the fact he wrestled God, but BECAUSE of it!

Tenacity, like many things, is neither good nor bad – but how we use it. Will we use our stubborn will to hold fast to God’s truths or use it to hold grudges? Will we use our tenacity to go boldly where God leads or merely do as we wish? May we use our tenacity in service to the One wrestles and blesses us!

In addition to writing, I enjoy photography. For a few years, I did wedding photography while living in Atlanta. As a photographer, scenes/images will “jump out” at you. Sweet scenes like a Grandmother holding hands with her granddaughter bride in prayer, or wedding rings on a family Bible – these images jump out and demand to be captured. For writers, the same is true for words. At songwriter conventions, someone will be talking and all of a sudden everyone around them grabs their phones and will begin typing – they are all typing the same words the speaker just said that inspire The Muse. It’s as if the special words FLASH through the air, like a lightbulb. As such, there have always been words that make an impression on me. “Undaunted” is one of them. “Undaunted” conjures up images of a brave warrior heading into battle with his head held high, despite the fear within him (think, “Brave” movie). It signifies courage, confidence and pressing forward without hesitation or a second thought. It is a word displayed in Genesis 22:5.

Genesis 22 is the account of Abraham going to sacrifice his son, Isaac, at God’s command. If you know the story of Abraham, and how long he had to wait for the promised son, it is a gut-wrenching scene. While rereading the story, one word jumped out at me: After he had cut enough word for the burnt offering, Abraham said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then WE will return.” WE. Wait a minute. Didn’t Abraham know what a sacrifice was? Didn’t he know that God required him to KILL his son? Yes, he did. But Abraham also knew the God he served. He knew the promise God had made to make a great nation from his son. He knew the nature of God, and how God cannot lie. He also knew God could resurrect his son from the dead, if need be, to fulfill his promise. And so, he continued up the mountain, firewood in hand and Isaac beside him. UNDAUNTED.

UNDAUNTED by the task before him and the doubts hurled at him. UNDAUNTED by reason and fear. UNDAUNTED at what the future might, or might not, hold – he carried on.

That’s the kind of faith I want. Faith that presses on courageously. That does not listen to doubt. Faith that stand in the fire and beside the lions without trembling – not because of my own strength, but because of the knowledge and assurance of what my God can do and the promises He’s made. To walk aright, firm and sure – UNDAUNTED.

In the course of four years, I had to do 6 rounds of chemo, a leg surgery & 25 radiations for cancer, our son was having unexplainable tummy pains and no where near the growth chart in addition to dyslexia & dysgraphia, our middle child had severe scoliosis and had to wear a backbrace 18 hrs a day & then suffered a gangrenous, burst appendix after my radiation. And did i mention the lice episode that arrived in the middle of all that?!?! My husband said his christian co-workers soon showed up at his door and regularly prayed over him at work because, as they said, we were being sifted.

Have you ever been sifted? It’s trials on espresso. You can’t find your footing for so long you finally give up trying. The Bible talks about it. Jesus even told Peter that the devil had sought permission to sift him as wheat. But why?

In Romans 5 We are told to “glory in our sufferings because sufferings produce perseverance & perseverance produces character. And character? Hope.” And in the Old Testament we are told the Isrealites were allowed to suffer so they “would remember their God and sin not”

Glory in our sufferings.

If you’ve ever been sifted, you know the word glory is the last word on your mind. And hope? It seems to taunt, not comfort. So, hope for what??

Things not of this world. The more we are pressed down and persecuted, the more we long and pine for heaven. It is one of God’s most precious gifts. It is through trials that we “share in His suffering”. Are you sifted and being put through the ringer? There is hope to come!