Top Her Couture

The bottom line is that life change begins with a teachable heart.  It requires a heart that willingly receives the Lord’s instruction. It requires a humble heart It requires a willing heart It requires a surrendered heart. It requires discipline and sacrifice. We must be willing to bare our heart and soul and ask God as David did in Psalm 139.

"And Jesus answered them, "Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' it will happen.  And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith."  Matthew 21:21-22 Fig tree?  Well in Matthew 21:18-20 it talks about how Jesus curses a fig tree for not bearing fruit and it withers.  This is hardly a literal reference and a major symbolical climax.  Bearing fruit in our lives is a metaphor for faith and not just any kind of fruit; fruit that is loving, joyful, kind, patient, faithful, and houses self control.  One of the ways we eat of this fruit is through prayer. “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep, but are really wolves that will tear you apart. You can detect them by the way they act, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit. You don’t pick grapes from thorn bush...

"You never can measure what God will do through you. . . . Keep your relationship right with Him, then whatever circumstances you are in, and whoever you meet day by day, He is pouring rivers of living water through you." ~Oswald Chambers The key is not getting what you want but wanting what you are given.  The first stepping stone to living is having a relationship with Him and soon we will see the ability to develop other relationships and open closed doors.  We are given an abundance from Him each and every day.  Time is short, waste it wisely!

"Faith, lived out consistently, may turn some doubting hearts to the Savior.  Then instead of being horrified by their wrong judgment, they too, will share the blessing when every knee bows to Jesus.  We who once deseved condemnation have seen it turned aside for mercy.  Let's share that with as many as we can."

"Without God's help I could never have completed an extraordinarily difficult task He honored me with.  Alone, the work He ordained would have turned into a thankless chore.  But the eternally faithful One combined the task with so many unexpected joys that thankfulness never became a problem.  Despite a host of troubles, I received all I needed." With much of life, we find ourselves being so focused on a task, situation, or chore that when it does not go our way; we tend to not see the joys in the journey.  We rarely see troubles as a teacher.  We rarely see our fall as a need.  What we should try to comprehend is we are only one small piece of the puzzle to a larger picture.  Each stumble, triumph, tear, and joy is for something greater than our ego.

"When we are told that God, who is our dwelling place, is also our fortress, it can mean one thing, and that is, that if we will but live in our dwelling place, we shall be perfectly safe and secure." Finding a sense of security seems to get harder with every waking era.  We are constantly bombarded by devistating news of robbery, terrorism, affairs, etc. even having experienced many heart shattering situations ourselves.  We then begin fighting against ourselves. . .me against myself!  We dwell in a fortress of anger, resentment, bitterness, and hate to name a few.  This fortress' halls usually lead down halls of desperation, addiction, busyness. . .a never ending path of destruction keeping us housed in a glass building which could shatter at any moment.  There is hope! Have confidence in changing the sins of yesterday for the faith of today.  Anyone has the choice to change evil and vicious cycles.  Building a fortress of stone with grace, fai...

"May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind always be at your back, the sun shine warm upon your face. . .and until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand."

"From far beyond our world of trouble and care and change, our Lord shines with undimmed light, a radiant, guiding Star to all who will follow Him. . . ."  ~Charles E. Hurlburt & T.C. Horton The closer we come to Him, the closer we are to ourselves.  There is a cohesive bond which grows stronger, more enlightened, and more selfless as we walk with Him instead of against Him.  Let us not be in the dark wandering aimlessly and will selfish patterns.  Recognize the essence and power we each hold when we allow the universe to guide and offer us new teachings with every joy, pain, laugh, tear, etc .

"Caught up in their own independence, unbelievers have missed out on the truth that they aren't really free at all: They can't seem to do good.  They'll never know otherwise unless they see someone who is free indeed.  Who knows what simple act could help another understand your freedom to do right, not just do what you want?" Free will is a delusion society has created to help us find a way to ease our human brain.  It is hard for humans to comprehend we have no control of our life.  Our ego often wins the battle by giving in to addictions, temptations, and doing whatever it takes to get to the top no matter who we hurt.  Often we hear, "Do what makes you happy."  The problem in doing what makes you happy often lacks conviction, effort, sacrifice, or the task of doing good-only doing for ourselves.  The vicious cycle only continues to push us farther from God and true freedom.  Accepting our fate and looking at each situation as a...

"Everything which relates to God is infinite.  We must therefore, while we keep our hearts humble, keep our aims high.  Our highest sevices are indeed but finite, imperfect.  But as God is unlimited in goodness, He should have our unlimited love."  ~Hannah More Being human also means being imperfect.  This is no excuse to continue down pathes of temptation, sin, and destruction.  It is no excuse to stop our growth, close our inner most doors, or feed a vicious cycle.  Instead, through humble love and imperfections, we should seek growth, open new doors, and feed our souls-see every situation and person as a teacher.  We should hold the key of unconditional love & respect as it opens the boundaries of our wounds to allow us to heal.

"A great many people do everything but trust.  As if to attempt to fly with one wing, they try vigorously and wonder why it is that they do not mount up, never dreaming that it is because all the while the wing of trust is hanging idle by their sides." Trust is delicate in nature.  It can take a life time to build and can be broken in an instant.  Trust often requires taking a risk. . .a leap of faith if you will!  It is one of life's greatest efforts and selfless acts.  It forces us to open our wings to vulnerability and lead us to other great efforts like love, honesty, faith, God, and loyalty to name a few.  Are you ready to soar?

"Into our lives, in many simple, familiar, homely ways, God infuses the element of joy from the surprises of life, which unexpectedly brighten our days, and fill our eyes with light."   ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow It all comes down to taking time to notice even the smallest delights in life.  God always finds a way to bring you home no matter the chaos going on.  Listen-sometimes the softest whisper is the most profound.

"As we look at God's greatness and experience His love, awe fills our beings.  Our scant ability to appreciate His personality and power lay bare our own smallness.  Yet when the Creator points out our frailities, He's not belitting us.  He reminds us that He wants to share all He has and all He is with us." Our vulnerability is the key to becoming closer to God.  Our troubles usually force us to grow our relationship with Him-through prayer, hope, faith, and trust.  Our wounds can only be touched by His grace.

"We might like to think Christianity has more hours of sitting on our laurels than of battle.  None of us prefers hard work to the blessings of peace, yet we can't have one without the other.  God's sanctification is worked out in our lives with effort, and no one achieves spiritual growth only singing psalms.  That restful part of our lives blesses us between the battles that put sin in its proper place behind us." Just like any relationship, God needs our time.  He needs us to fight for Him each and every day.  This takes a lot of effort and battling for what is right.  It is important to lead our hearts not follow them as following can be deceiving.  The relationships and people we are willing to battle for and with are those that are truely precious.

"Everything that is new or uncommon raises a pleasure in the imagination because it fills the soul with an agreeable surprise, gratifies its curiosity, and gives it an idea of which it was not before possessed."   Joseph Addison Many of us are held back by uncertainty and fear.  We tend to shy away from risk and end up missing out on some of life's most prized adventures.  Satisfy your curiosity by doing the uncommon-what scares us most.  We might just find what it is we are missing!

"All [God's] glory and beauty comes from within, and there He delights to dwell.  His visits there are frequent, His conversations sweet, His comforts refreshing, His peace passing all understanding."   Thomas A Kempis One of my favorite quotes from Eat, Love, Pray is "God dwells in us as us."  This quote is so profound and relayed in the above quote.  We find ourselves being in a very fast-paced, egotistical society where many of us find it hard to get back to our center.  We sucume to temptations, addictions, and other sins easier without questioning why.  Many times it is because we are so far from ourselves which means we are so far from God.  Take a stand for yourself and notice your worth!

"Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants.  I will proclaim the name of the LORD.  Oh, praise the greatness of our God!  He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just.  A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he."   Deuteronomy 32:2-4 We all need a relationship with Him.  We need His tenderness and love to grow and develop into something profound.  He does not care what you call Him or how you praise Him as long as you are doing it with your whole heart.  He yearns for us just as much as we yearn for Him.

"Your eyes have never seen, your ears have never heard, you cannot imagine (you have never dreamed) the greatness and wonders God has in store for you."  1 Corinthians 2:9 Adapted Dreams are our hopes and expectations of ourselves and of others.  There are times in life when our dreams are crushed and instead of perhaps seeing it as God's way of diverting us on to the path He needs us to be; we continuely fight.  This usually leads to more heart ache, disappointments, and misery.  It is important to be grateful for the experience as it is what builds character.  There is nothing wrong with being a dreamer or having dreams nor pushing other people to want to be better.  Do not opt for the easy button and always be aware, we all have a part to play in this story and usually we are not the main character.  Life will always work itself out. . . "Commitment in the face of conflict builds character." Questions to consider: What are your expectati...

Smiling is infectious; you catch it like the flu, when someone smiled at me today, I started smiling too.  I passed around the corner and someone saw my grin when he smiled I realized I’d passed it on to him.  I thought about that smile then I realized its worth, a single smile, just like mine could travel around the earth.  So, if you feel a smile begin, don’t leave it undetected, let’s start an epidemic quick, and get the world infected! Your smile, your good deeds don’t just go around the corner, they travel through all eternity! Life is not always easy.  Sometimes we laugh; sometimes we cry; but when times get hard, the best medicine is laughter.  It is one of the things in life that never has a price tag.  You can take as little or as much as you want.  So today or whenever life starts to get at you,  look in the mirror and make a face at yourself, tell a joke, read a funny story, etc. ". . .why you always covering up your smi...

Let's face it!  We all have self-doubt(s).  There are situations where it rears its ugly head worse than others.  Here are five helpful tips to pull you out of the hole self-doubt and self-pity can tend to pull you into. 1. Ground Yourself If you find yourself being pulled into negative thoughts stemming from past experiences or comments from others, staying present is key to being able to focus on the positive. Sometimes it’s as simple as getting outside in nature. For others, meditating may help. I love walking meditations out in nature where I notice the details of my surroundings without judgment. 2. Balance the Negative If you find that voices of the critical gremlins (both inner and outer) are way too loud, drown them out (or at least balance them) with your own chants of self-praise. This can be hard when you’re in a real funk and find it difficult to access encouraging words for your self. To counter these voices you may find it helpful to write down 5 to 10 po...