Acknowledge and Re-focus

Its okay to feel anger, disappointment, and hurt. After all, God created us with emotions. But its how we handle them that makes the difference. Often times we choose to dwell on our anger or our hurt which turns to anger. Here’s what God shared with me: acknowledge your feelings then re-focus. Its like someone telling you not to think about pink elephants. No matter how hard you try, you still think about pink elephants. The only way to not think of them is to refocus your thoughts. Start thinking about what to have for dinner and soon you will find that you are no longer thinking of those elephants.

That same principle works with our emotions. When something angers you, hurts, you, or disappoints you, acknowledge it. Allow yourself to feel that emotion for no more than 3 mins. (Which is actually a long time, just sit still for 3 mins and see how long it feels.) Then start thinking about how God has blessed you, about His greatness, His mercy, His love. Soon you will have gotten past all those ugly feelings. One thing I have discovered since putting this into action is that there is great freedom in allowing yourself to be angry, hurt, upset, etc. And my 3 mins has not lasted more than about 30 seconds.

Learning to Look

God is so good!! And I am a work in progress. Following God's direction, I have been looking for at least one thing that is undoubtedly His work. Some days its just little things like avoiding a near accident or getting work done that seemed impossible to finish. Other days its bigger, like when He changed the time of a presentation I was scheduled to give to a more favorable time.

But no matter what it is, I am learning to look for His hand at work which makes me more aware of His presence. The benefits of listening to God's direction are multifaceted. Not only am I more sensitive to the Spirit, I am more positive. This new awareness will change your entire outlook on life. Each morning brings a new excitement. It makes the proverbial "be joyous in times of trials" become more attainable.

Once I realized God really does have my back and wants the best for me, nothing else seems to matter. Its all a matter of learning to trust. The times I slip back into worry and stress, God reminds me that I switched my focus. Like Peter when was walking on water and took his focus off of Jesus.

I used to think that in order to walk with God you had to be some sort of super spiritual person and walk around saying things like 'praise the Lord", “bless God", etc all the time. Now I know I can just be me.

An Eye Opener

Here is how I got to this point. Things just have not been going well and I was feeling miserable. Last week when I was asking God what the problem was, He told me I didn't trust Him enough. I was taken aback and mentally rattled off various scenarios of how and when I trusted Him. Again He said, "You don't trust me enough, you don't trust me 100%". Wow! He was right! Imagine that! I didn't trust Him 100%. My God Who controls all things, and I don't trust Him. I know that I have built walls around me because of being hurt and feeling scared but I realized that I liked being behind those walls because it was safe. But wouldn't being in God's hands be safer? Agghhh! I know that I need to take that plunge into His arms, into His will.

Its like that time mom or dad took the training wheels off your bicycle. They stood behind you, balancing the bike and encouraged you. The fear of falling scared you but you were determined. As you start to peddle, you glance behind you and they are there, balancing you. You start to feel confident, peddling faster. Suddenly, you realize you are actually riding your bike on your own. What a feeling that was!

That's what I need to do, plunge into the midst of my Father's will. With all that being said, my main prayer now is that He will help me to take that plunge; to tear down the walls and let Him in. And that is exactly what He is doing.

Getting Humbled

God has been telling me that I needed to start a spiritual journal perhaps not on a daily basis but regularly. And me being me have been putting it off and putting it off. He has also been telling me that I need to remove myself from weather, the news, my silly games, etc in the morning until after I spend time with Him. That too, I have been putting off. Until this morning. And to be honest, it was because He forced His hand and made me.

I woke up and read my daily devotional first thing, as always, because that was the promise I made to God when I bought it. Then I went and spent a few minutes with Him and headed out to the internet to read the news and stuff. God was still on me about how I needed to spend more time with Him. My reply was that I would but I needed to start slowly. LOL. Right

At that moment, the power went out and He commanded, not asked or suggested but commanded, that I go and spend that time with Him. I did. What choice did I have at that point?

I can't say I got that 'ooey-gooey' feeling you sometimes get when God is working but He was with me. He took the time to make me spend time with Him, and for that I was heartbroken. That the God of the universe, the Creator, the Almighty, had to MAKE me spend the kind of time with Him that He wanted. Lesson learned.

The Beginning

I am a child of God, hence my pen name, Batia. It is a Hebrew name meaning "daughter of Jehovah". I am embarking on a new adventure. I am starting a website, under what I believe to be God's direction. Like me, this is a work in progress. I don't know where this might go but I'm going to give it a shot. I have taken the first step, the rest God, is up to you.