My Makers Daughter

From the moment that I awake I should be satisfied. From the very beginning of each and every day I should be satisfied in the Lord. If I am being completely honest, I often forget to come before the Lord the second I wake up, before I even get out of bed. I often forget to ask the Lord for my desires to match His desires for my life, let alone that specific day. I often find myself lacking joy, lacking wisdom, lacking the Lord in my day. It is then that I realize I am lacking those things because I never came before the Lord and asked Him to fill me with His joy. I never came before Him that day to ask him for His wisdom. Looking at the word awake in another sense, we are never to be asleep in the Lord. We should be constantly moving forward, constantly seeking to be at the foot of the cross waiting for Him to speak into our lives. The Lord warns us, multiple times in 1st Thessalonians 5:2, 1st Peter 3:10, Revelation 16:15, etc. that He will be coming like a thief in the night. No...

Paul is stating here how He learned to be content. when we learn something, a new skill for example, the knowledge isn't freely given to us. It isn't a one step process where at the end the Lord gives us the knowledge the second we end our prayer with Amen. Learning is constant, we never stop learning. Learning is defined as “the acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience.” The Lord will give us those experiences to teach us, to give us that learning process. He will have us go through trailing times in which we can chose to grow in our faith and the comfort that we find in the truth of His word. If I fast forward to Philippians 4:13 Paul states “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” If I am in the Lords will and if His desires are my desires, He will not fail to give me the strength to fulfill His will or plan for my life. He will give me the strength to go through season in which I will learn not only to be content but to be wise, to love with Godly...

“Lord why am I here? Why have you called me here and left me? Why have you taken me from home and pulled me here just to cease talking to me?” Things that I have been asking the Lord over and over again for, well the entire time that I have been here? To my surprise I received an answer. He answered me in a way that I wasn't expecting. He came back to me with another question. “Okay, Val, answer this. If you are so upset about leaving him, what is back there for you that is so important? What is back there for you that you are able to find contentment in?” In those simple questions, I found my answer. My answer wasn't what I wanted to hear, my answer was painful. Back home my contentment was found in temporary things, temporary people, and temporary situations. My contentment was worldly. Now, the Lord is calling me to be content here, in Antigua Guatemala, to grow where I am planted. The Lord hasn't failed to keep confirming this to me…He hasn't failed to confirm the ...

Being in a state of contentment where I can make it through most of the day without being discontent is far from my comprehension, let alone living in that contentment. Sitting at the Lord’s feet waiting PATIENTLY for my next instruction, if I'm being honest, blows my mind. How much stuff do I own that I don't even need? How many things did I buy just to buy? Endless. There are currently about 20 boxes sitting in my room at my parents house filled with stuff that I had in my old apartment. Things that I didn't need but bought for the sake of buying them. When packing my things to come here to Guatemala, about .5% of that stuff came with me. About .5% of that stuff I actually found useful in my day to day life. It has taken me a long time to realize that contentment isn't found in worldly items nor anything else of the world. It is something that I have to keep giving to the Lord every day. I have to allow myself to shift my focus and find my contentment in His love and...

Contentment, a state of happiness and satisfaction. The Lord tells us in these verses to be content in Him. All that we could possibly NEED besides the Lord is food and clothing. How often do I make the mistake of thinking that I need something other than the Lord, too often. I often find myself thinking about when I will be content in life. I will be content when I have this job, I will be content when I get married, I will be content when I have this, that, or the other thing. But what a great reality it is to realize that we can not possibly take anything out of this world with us. We can carry no friendship, no relationship, no job, nor any item into eternity with us yet I find myself looking all around me for temporary satisfactions. These temporary satisfactions will only lead me to a place in which I am deceiving myself, in a place farther from the Lord than I should be. If I’m being honest, I often become frustrated with the Lord when I don’t see what I want coming in the near...

In this verse the Lord is calling us to a life of being alert. He is calling us to imitate others seeking the Lord through their faith and their patience. In order to imitate those around us we must first bring ourselves to a place in which we can be fead. Surrounding ourselves with others who're seeking the same things, becoming more like the Lord, is an extremely important thing. We can’t possibly do this on our own in a world such as this. The world in which we live in is corrupt. The things in which the world focuses on are completely based on self and what the individual wants, but here is a huge secret, it doesn't matter what the individual wants, it’s all about what the Lord wants. I understand completely that it must be hard to accept that for an unbeliever, trust me, I was there. But what happens when everyone comes to a place in which they demand exactly what they want and what they desire? Chaos, a whole lot of chaos. When we surround ourselves with worldly people t...

Here John is introducing himself to the seven churches in Revelations as their brother and their partner. This speaks volumes on his character showing how humble he is saying how he is one of them. That he is just another follower of the Lord. John is saying how he is a brother and partner in the great tribulation, the kingdom, and the patient endurance. The Lord calls us to endure for His sake, He calls us to stick out the tribulations and you know what is so amazing? We will be welcomed into the kingdom of God for doing so. My life is but a pencil mark compared to the length of eternity. But one crazy thing about this pencil mark is that our eternity depends on what we do here. So when looking at the grand scheme of things how can we not patiently endure for His names sake? How can we not aim to love the Lord with all that we are? The Lord promises us great and wonderful things in the Kingdom of God. We need only to endure the hardships and tribulations. How sweet will it be when th...

Once you decide to accept the Lord into your heart He doesn't fail to give you strength when you ask for it. The Lord has an endless abundance of strength and power that can be accessed via the Holy Spirit when the Lord allows.The Lord allows for us to do things in His strength due to the fact that it allows us to fulfill the plans in which He has. These plans that He strengthens us for will not fail to glorify His name in the end, no matter how long it takes.The Lord’s purpose for our lives is this, that He will show His endless power and glory. The crazy part about this is the fact that He doesn't need us to do anything, but because He loves us He uses us. He uses the broken to show just how amazing His love and mercy is. The Lord calls us to have patience and endurance for His sake. Our flesh, by nature, is not born with either of those qualities. Speaking more specifically about myself, I have zero strength in my own power. I lack both patience and endurance, but becaus...

When it comes to loving the Lord, endurance is key. When we are enduring something we are sticking it out though the good times and the bad times. Following the Lord isn't a promised easy life, but it is promised to be worth it.  The Lord actually promises that hard times and temptation will come our way, it’s not a big secret. If we look a little bit further back in this chapter of Luke we actually see that Jesus is telling them that a famine will come their way, earthquakes will take place, and great diseases will come. Then in verse 21:19 the Lord promises that it will be worth is to stand by Him, and because the Lord is outside of time He knows what will come. He knows the things that are going to take place, that is why He is able to tell them and warn them. He isn't telling them this because God Himself is going to bring these horrible things upon them but because He knows the enemy will. This verse really makes me think of the story of Job. (I would suggest that if...

Something that a lot of people fail to realize is the fact that the enemy doesn't attack the dead. The enemy attacks what it is threatened by. Satan wont go out of his way seeking to bring bad things and hard times to those who are not interested in the Lord. If we are not rooting ourselves in the Lord the enemy can come out of nowhere, cause us to stumble, and cause us to take steps back in our walk with the Lord. Honestly, I was that way for years. I stood on the rock that is God but I wasn't held down and whenever hard times came I turned from the Lord. I turned because I was angry and bitter towards the one who loves me the most. I was mistaking the hard times as coming from God when in reality it wasn’t Him at all. If you're argument for not taking root in the Lord because you enjoy your life the way it is then think about it this way. If you place a frog in a boiling pot of water it will jump out immediately, but if you place it in cold water and gradually warm it th...