Soul’s Ache

Withstand

Every demand

With your head

In your hand

Feeling scared

Underprepared

If you trust God

Know He cares

Delegations

Uncomfortable situations

Be bold

Keep your ambitions

Jesus to the cross

Shows whose boss

It’s destiny

Not a coin toss

This world is ugly

Deepest black sea

A current

Of hypocrisy

Jesus says

To pray

For everyone

Esp. for your enemy

Trust your faith

The soul’s ache

The map of longing

To never forsake

Praise God in the Good, Bad, and Ugly

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Praise and worship God in all things. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Praise can change a situation and this posture moves the heart of God. Not every situation has a perfect solution. That’s ok. God is teaching you to rely on Him more. Give your burdens to Him today.

Why does God allow praise to change a situation quicker? You may ask. I hear you say: I pleaded with God in the middle of the night, read the Bible and even prayed in tongues and I heard nothing and my situation stayed the same. While I believe God responds to those selfless acts to Him, there is more the answer. He changes a situation quicker when we are more alignment with His wishes for your life. And praise is the quickest way from my experience in telling God, “I don’t know how this situation is going to turn out but I trust You in the midst of it.” Prayer can be that expression unto God but true praise is often voiced without worry, fear or doubt but complete submission to the loving Father’s will. And this enables to Holy Spirit to do His best work as our requests come before the throne room for Him to answer. When the Holy Spirit and God answers He wants you to know that the solution is for your best. And sometimes you have to “wrestle” with God for the best outcome. Jacob wrestled with God for answers but God overcame. (Genesis 32:22-30). God even changed Jacob’s name after this encounter to Israel which means, “May God prevail.”

So how do you get into that head and heart space of praise? Worship and prayer can be vessels into allowing the Holy Spirit to move your heart into praise. But my first advice is to praise God in the good, bad and ugly. Some situations look hopeless and ugly. You may have a health or financial crisis. Or a broken relationship with a friend or family member. Those are the places where you continue to come to God. I know it’s hard though.

You don’t have to have, “joyous mountaintop-praise” singing “Worthy is the Lamb” at the top of your lungs. Those are wonderful experiences to be felt before God. But if it’s an ugly situation: an unfair lawsuit, verbal or sexual assault or the death of a loved one, maybe singing at the top of your lungs it’s on your mind. Feel no shame for your grief and/or lack of high energy. We all have days like this. The enemy of your soul wants you to feel false guilt so your praise will be reduced. Don’t let him win!

My second advice is, “let it rip.” Don’t think too much. One time I struggled through a broken relationship early on in my walk with Christ. I was on the floor, crying, listening to “Beautiful Lord” by Leeland. The lyrics go, “I’m captured by this love I see/Beautiful Lord/Tender and holy/Your mercy brings me to my knees/It’s Your mercy that has made me free/Beautiful Lord.” I stayed in the moment and thought about how others have let me down but God never will. “His mercy has made me free.” I went to that dark place and gave it to God. That is praise, my friend. The good, bad, and ugly.

Let’s allow our pain to create joy and praise unto God. Here is some encouragement:
y and the sin that so easily holds us back.

“Let us look only to Jesus, the One who began our faith and who makes it perfect. He suffered death on the cross. But he accepted the shame as if it were nothing because of the joy that God put before him. And now he is sitting at the right side of God’s throne.” (Hebrews 12:2. NCV).

He finish the good work in us! Amen and “praise” God! 😀

How do you praise God? Any take away from this piece?

I Miss You (Forgotten Joy)

As the trees retire their leaves

The yellow orb only makes me

wish I had more shelter

I miss you

The spur-of-the-moment laughter

The unfiltered words spoken

Gratefulness is taken for granted

It doesn’t matter how many times

the two hands spin around

My garden is full

But you aren’t there

I miss you

My heart keeps ticking

I wonder what kind of activity

is in your heart

I miss you

I see the shape of your head in my mind

Is your heart bigger since you have known me?

Do I have to say it again?

I miss you

A Little TLC Does One Good

Who are we? The question is whether or not we can accept who we are not: and therefore then able to accept who we are. The enemy always whispers in our ears that we are not good enough. We aren’t smart, good-looking, creative enough, etc. How do we silence those intense voices? You may ask.

I don’t have a manual called, “Steps to Silence the Dark Voices in Your Head.” But I do have some encouragement for you. We all make mistakes. We can lust over things we shouldn’t have. We can spend too much money on things or spend so much time on not feeling good enough for God, ourselves or others. We do this because we have a God-shaped hope that only He can feel.

Struggling makes us stronger. Sometimes we have to hit rock button to start looking upwards. We are in this life to learn patience, grace and mercy. We can be a blessing to others or they can be a blessing to us. But sometimes the blessing comes in a package. We don’t know what the contents hold and we get a paper cut looking before it’s ready to be open. But inside is hope, faith, love and opportunity.

I remember a time when I worked at a movie theater. I would do theater checks. And I have seen people asleep after the movie was already over. Or a guy fell down we had to help up. Or a person puked that we had to clean up.

The movie represents our lives. How many times do we sleep during the climax of the movie (or our lives)? Or we get sick and puke during the growing pains of life? Or feel clumsy and slip during a challenging time? There is no judgement. Just smile and realize that you are human and are learning.

One of my favorite quotes is by John Lennon, “Life happens when you are busy making other plans.” How true is this!

Don’t think too much. Don’t smoke too much. Don’t drink too much. But most importantly, don’t stop loving yourself. You aren’t selfish by loving yourself first. The captain of the ship has to make sure he is healthy before he mans the ship. What if he had pneumonia and he decided to still wants to guide a ship? Pneumonia actually can be contagious. So he would risk getting others sick and if the ship was sailing during a storm, would he have enough strength to control that ship?

I have had pneumonia before. You have no energy, which in return causes stress and a cloudy mind. A captain with pneumonia should call in sick that day.

I am not saying any time you are emotional not feeling well you should call in sick. I am not. But similarly to the captain, be patient with yourself and take the necessary measures for balance and peace in your life.

You may skip lunch with a good friend for a little TLC and go walk in the park with your thoughts and God. There’s nothing wrong with this. If you have a true friend, they will understand. But I would do this with caution until you know the person well or they could possibly think that you are blowing them off.

I wish as a society we could tell an acquaintance that we need a little TLC and they would not take it personally. I believe we are growing as a human race with more awareness and compassion in that area.

Stay blessed and loved and don’t forget to take care of yourself first to facilitate wellness and peace in your life.

Do you take enough alone for yourself? Please let me know what you think. Is there a such thing as too much alone time?

~Carly at My Ink Smears~