If you want to see God, look in the valleys. Look in the deserts. Look in the tough climbs. Look in the impossible journey you believe there’s no way you can continue. There, you will find him. You will find him revealing his power to you in divine timing and supernatural details only he can orchestrate.

The problem is, we spend most of our lives trying to avoid the very circumstances that bring us face to face with God’s power. But Honey, think about it … how are you possibly going to know of his strength to keep going if you don’t first completely run out of your own strength? How will you know of his better plans if your good plans aren’t first cancelled? How will you overcome greater things than you ever imagined possible for you, if you’re not in a situation of having to overcome?

Look around in your struggle. Dig deep in your disappointment. There is more here than meets the eye. God is here revealing himself to you. If you seek him on this climb, you will find he has brought you here for something greater than you originally set out for. Oh Sis, you thought you were just hiking … nope, you were having an encounter with God!

I’m always amazed by how God shows up during our BIG Life Retreats. Without fail, he shows up where I didn’t have him on our schedule, in events I didn’t have planned. And if given the choice, I would have avoided those circumstances at all costs. Circumstances like heat exhaustion and a few hikers pushed beyond their limits. Circumstances like wrong turns and empty water bottles. Circumstances like, do we need a helicopter rescue at this point?

Interestingly enough, group 1 of our Sedona Retreat mistakenly ended up on the hardest trail in Sedona, legit mountain climbing when mountain climbing was not our intention. That’s a story of God’s divine details for another day, and I assure you, there are plenty. But this morning, I tell you about the lesson learned from the hard trail chosen in group 1 which led me to choosing the easier trail for our retreat group 2.

Easier was our intention. Easier was our desire. Easier was not what we received. No, we weren’t mountain climbing on the hardest trail, but we were trudging for over 6 miles in 96 degree direct sun for a meeting with God. Yes, I say meeting with God, because we were about to pray desperate prayers we didn’t plan on praying.

Just when one of our hikers was to the point of collapsing, we realized a mistake had been made and we were on a trail that would add miles and difficulty she could not bare. Turning around was our only option. I assure you, the last thing we wanted to do was turn around. As we did, we began to pray aloud. We prayed for supernatural strength. We prayed for water we didn’t have. We prayed for a way out.

Soon after praying, a jeep with an open seat and the ability to get our hiker out appeared. Now, had we not been on the wrong trail, we could have missed this angelic jeep in the color of pink, and I’m pretty sure we could have spent the night camping right there, when camping was not on our retreat agenda!

But God showed up on that trail for a woman who just 4 hours before had questioned how to see God in her life. I had told her at the beginning of the hike we typically find him in the disappointments and hardships. Little did we know, God had a planned encounter with her on that hike to reveal himself. How? In the hardest hike of her life and at the exact moment she couldn’t continue on.

Look around Sis, God is here in this place you didn’t want to be in. He is here in this struggle you really wanted to avoid. He is here in your wrong turns and dead ends. Will you look for him?

2 Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Feeling weak here, Sister?

God created you with a BIG Life in mind. A BIG Life with a mission. One things stand in the way of your mission … you. You with your doubts and fears. You walking around fully equipped, yet totally questioning your value and worth every step of the way. We like to think we’re being all humble when we play little, but all we’re doing is diminishing the power God has placed within us and delaying the mission we’re here to complete. How can we rise up to be all the almighty created us to be? How can we step into our destiny and overcome our doubts and fears? The story of Moses and a snake gives us 3 lessons to apply to our lives today.

In Exodus chapter 3 we read about God and Moses having an argument. God is giving Moses very clear and detailed instructions on what to do next. How many of us would love for God to show up right now in our house and tell us exactly what to do? We think we would like that, but we would likely do the same exact thing Moses did … argue. God would tell us YOU do this and we would tell him WE can’t and then give him a laundry list of reasons why we’re not good enough, why we’re not ready, why we’re not able. This is exactly what Moses did. God tells Moses to go to Pharoah and lead the Israelites out of Egypt where they had been held captive. That was a big job with a whole lot of risk and Moses quite simply didn’t feel equipped for the job. He’s like “me, little old me? Oh come on God, you know I can’t do this!” So God goes proves his power at work within him.

If you question your value, your worth or your ability to show up and do what needs to be done in your life, this is for you!

So we pick up in Exodus chapter 4, verses 1-4

But Moses protested again, “What if they won’t believe me or listen to me? What if they say, ‘The Lord never appeared to you’?”

2 Then the Lord asked him, “What is that in your hand?”

“A shepherd’s staff,” Moses replied.

3 “Throw it down on the ground,” the Lord told him. So Moses threw down the staff, and it turned into a snake! Moses jumped back.

4 Then the Lord told him, “Reach out and grab its tail.” So Moses reached out and grabbed it, and it turned back into a shepherd’s staff in his hand.

Understand what was happening here was God was preparing Moses to do things he himself couldn’t do. He was proving his power to him. He was giving him a taste of the miraculous things he would do through him to complete this mission he had been given.

Now, let’s spend some time unpacking this lesson and apply it to our lives today. In my journal, I have 3 lessons on this small portion of Moses’ story.

First, why was Moses arguing with God? Well, he was full of what if’s – God, you want me to go talk to these people, but what if they won’t believe me? What if they won’t listen to me?

Have you ever had a strong case of the what if’s? What if they don’t accept me? What if no one likes me? Let me tell you what your what if’s are – they are simply a reflection of your own feelings about you. You fear others not accepting you because somewhere deep down YOU don’t accept you. You assume people won’t like you because there are parts of you that YOU don’t like. And let me tell you something, God doesn’t like this one bit. He looks at you and sees your full potential still inside you untapped. He sees you as the complete creation he made you to be from the very beginning and he’s willing to push you and stretch you until you finally overcome all your what if’s. And the only way to overcome a what if is to be faced with the very thing you fear and then find you can overcome it.

You’re entirely too powerful, too beautiful, too special to go through another day of your life questioning who you are.

When God created you, he had the BEST in mind for you. He placed all the potential in the world inside of you, made a space for his Holy Spirit to dwell within you, then went about dreaming of the life you could live and the impact you could make. He imagined the partnership of you trusting him and him guiding you. Oh the life he has for you. If you could only see it, my sister you would never settle again. You would never let fear talk you down again. You would never stray from the best.

Why do we stray from God’s best? Why do we settle into a life far short of what’s available to us? Why do we wake up one day disappointed in where we are and who we’ve become?

Our answer is found in a story Jesus tells. A story we often dismiss ourselves from because we “haven’t messed up that bad.” And yet, it’s still our story.

The story of the prodigal son tells of a son who betrayed his family, left home and got on the wrong path. Greed got the best of him. Wild living got the best of him. Maybe you can relate, but you probably can’t. Unless you’re one of the fortunate few who has royally screwed up their life then found their way back, then this story is for someone else.

You – well you haven’t ever made that huge, epic bad decision that made the 10 o’clock news. Maybe you’ve never been the disgrace of your family. You’ve never landed yourself face down in a pig pen like the prodigal son. And it’s about this time we get all puffed up in our pride and self-righteouness and declare we’re doing pretty darn good with our lives.

Ahhhhh, but wait. Isn’t the story of the prodigal son also about a child who strayed from the best? Isn’t this a story about someone who opted for instant gratification and paid a high price later. Oh yes, this is a story about us!

The story of you and I, the ones who have strayed from the best is found in Luke chapter 15, verses 11-32. Reading from The Message translation Jesus says:

“There was once a man who had two sons. The younger said to his father, ‘Father, I want right now what’s coming to me. So the father divided the property between them. It wasn’t long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had.”

And stop right there. I totally see me in this story. Do you see you? What gets us in trouble here is the “I want RIGHT NOW!” I want what I want and I want it right now. But typically what we can have right now is just a cheap imitation or a slighted version of what would be available to us later if we stuck with it.

You can have it all, but you can’t have it all at once. How many times have you traded the greatness you could have in future for the taste of goodness you could have right now? And for many of us, it’s literally the TASTE we can have right now. So many of us have goals to be healthy. And it’s no big mystery, we know what we should and shouldn’t be doing. Oh we know, but we see what we want right now and we’re shoving our face in a bowl of something that goes directly against our goals. And then what happens … we regret it.

Regret is a high price to pay for that little piece of immediate gratification.

How many times have you bought something and regretted it? Our impusles get us in trouble, and in debt. The average American is in over their head in credit card debt, and you know what got them there … $20 here and $20 there. After one year we couldn’t even tell you what we bought, but we have a maxed out credit card with a minimum payment that’s eating us alive.

Hello … prodigal daughter here! I want right now what’s coming to me. I want right now to feel happy and all three of these cookies right here in my hand will make me happy.

God is more interested in changing your mind than your circumstances. Within your mind are thoughts that control your life. Your thoughts are either propelling you toward your destiny in Christ Jesus, or your thoughts are holding you back in a little life far short of what you were created for.

Which is true for you?

Are you being propelled forward towards more, or are you being held back into less? It’s all according to what you’re thinking about. And this is why God is far more interested in your mind than your circumstances. This is why God will allow you to stumble right into some messy circumstances and in the middle of that mess is where he does his finest work on your mind, changing the way you think.

Every bad decision you have ever made is a result of a bad thought. Think about that and you’ll find it’s absolutely true. Every bad decision you ever made was first a bad thought that you acted on. There is a war within you for your thoughts. Your mind is the battleground.

So could today be radically changed by a shift in your thoughts? Could changing your mind change your life?

Is it a trendy new age thing to stand in the mirror and speak affirmations? Is it biblical to memorize your goals, envision your success, and harness your energy?

Let me tell you, God hard wired you to become what you think about.

Proverbs 23:7 says For as he thinketh, so is he.

Your life becomes what you think about.

Did you know God created you with a super power? Oh he sure did. It’s called your Reticular Activator. If I’ve been your mentor for very long, you likely know exactly what I’m going to say. Or maybe you’ve gone your whole life without knowing you had one of these powerful little things inside of you, but none the less, it has been working in your life. Your Reticular Activator is a network of neurons located in the brain stem, that serves as the gate-keeper to you mind. It determines what you become consciously aware of and what remains as outside noise, never making it fully into your awareness.

Your reticular activator keeps you sane. If you truly noticed every one of the 400 billion sights, sounds, scents and sensations flying at you at any given second, you would go straight up crazy. So, you block out the overwhelming majority of that which is around you and only see, hear, feel, smell and notice a tiny fraction of what actually there is. In fact, you’re not even consciously aware of 99.999% of all that is flying at you in this moment, it’s all just background noise. If you’re in your kitchen, you didn’t even notice the sound of your refrigerator, until now. If you’re outside, you didn’t even hear the birds until I just mentioned it. Wow. They were there. If you’re sitting in a chair, you didn’t even notice the feeling of your butt in that chair … but you do now! How did all of this happen? Suddenly my mention of these ordinarily dismissed things alerted your reticular activator that it was important to you, and allowed it into your awareness. It was always there, you just weren’t aware of it.

Well, doesn’t that leave you to wonder what you’re missing? Now, what is responsible for determining what you become aware of and what you never even notice – your reticular activator.

And it’s not by accident. It was given to you by your creator by great design. And you can use it for your benefit. You are in charge of setting your reticular activator. How do you set your reticular activator? With your thoughts.

Today, if you decide you want to think about things that make you happy, your reticular activator will be fine tuned to seek out those very things and bring them into your awareness. Suddenly you’re surrounded by things that make you happy. They were always there, now you just notice them.

Do you ever feel like the odds are stacked against you and honestly you don’t have a shot at coming out on top? Do you feel dismissed, and discounted, sometimes unworthy and unqualified, so you settle for a ‘lesser than’ position in life? Less than you really hoped for. Less than your heart desires. Less than you once believed possible, but now you see you really just don’t have what it takes.

What if you don’t make the cut? What if you weren’t good enough? What if there are others so much better than you, and everyone knows it? Well, it sounds like the makings of a Kentucky Derby winner to me!

On Saturday, only the best, fastest, most well trained horses competed in the Kentucky Derby. Well … all but one. One horse made it into the race by default. He wasn’t supposed to be there. He was out of his league, unknown, and never even given a chance. But, there’s no stopping what destiny has already aligned.

Only the top 20 horses are selected for this world famous horse race which has been running for 147 years. On the morning before the race, one horse was scratched, opening a spot for horse #21. But get this, the horse that was scratched, was already the replacement for a horse that was better than him for the final spot. Two crazy scratches and drops made it possible for a totally unlikely horse to get to run that day. He was a backup for the backup. Yes, the one that wasn’t good enough. The one that was never meant to be there.

That horse was Rich Strike. His entry was submitted 30 SECONDS before the deadline, and he was in! Now, what happened next, no one saw coming. Rich Strike’s odds of winning were 80 to 1. To put that into a percentage, there was only a 1.23% chance for Rich Strike to win. And, that 1.23% only happened because the two horses deemed better than him weren’t able to race. He had a 98.77% chance of losing the race. Betting on him would be basically a total waste of your money. NOT GONNA HAPPEN. No horse in the race was counted out more than him.

The majority of the 2 minute 6 second race, he spent in the the very back of the pack, in position 17 out of 20. In the final turn, he moved from the back, building speed, building confidence, building hunger, and in the final 4 seconds, he passed the lead and won the race, making this the greatest longshot upset of the race since 1913!

The horse that started the race LAST, finished FIRST.

Jesus had a little something to say about that, didn’t he? Matthew 20:16 ““So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

The very things you said were too far gone, Jesus says, NOT too far gone. The ones you counted completely out and never gave a chance … yeah, those are the ones you never see coming and come from last place to finish first. How? Well, frankly, however God has to work it to make it happen, then it shall happen!

A crazy, unexpected, last minute change that opens the door for you … The time you show up and no one thinks you have a chance, but you take the chance you’ve been given and dare to see exactly what God has really placed inside of you. And what you find is potential you didn’t even know you had!

No one looked at little David out in the pasture with his sheep and thought, “wow, that boy has the potential to take down this giant who has been threatening us.” BUT HE DID! That potential was in him because God declared ‘this one you counted as last is going to be first through my power that works in him.’

No one would have picked Moses as the leader of the Israelites. He stuttered and lacked confidence. But when God says, “you’re it … then you are undoubtedly IT!”

No one would have imagined Saul, the guy on the hunt for Christians to take their heads off (literally), would be chosen by God as the one to write the majority of o...

There’s an ending to the story you struggle your way through today, but it’s an ending you do not know yet. You can’t see what’s ahead, but God has already aligned it for you.

Here’s the problem … the opportunities to step into alignment with God’s story for your struggle don’t quite look the way you would imagine good things to look. You’re looking for God’s good plans in today’s great news, but you likely won’t find it there. God’s good plans are typically tucked away in today’s ordinary next steps.

I assure you, David had no idea his chore of taking lunch to his brothers that day would lead him to his legendary defeat of the giant Goliath. He was just the teenage boy delivering lunch before Uber Eats came along. But, no doubt, his faithfulness to this little chore brought his opportunity for his big move that changed everything.

1 Samuel 17:17 “One day Jesse said to David, “Take this basket of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread, and carry them quickly to your brothers. It was just one day. One day like all the other days. Super unimpressive chore David must not have been overly excited to do. But this chore was an opportunity. An opportunity to change the trajectory of his whole life.

Before you today are little chores. Little chores you didn’t wake up excited to do. But, Sis, it is your faithfulness in these little chores that aligns you with opportunities for the big things you dream about.

God never gives us a countdown to big opportunities. He doesn’t inform us ahead of time so we know without a doubt this next step is THE STEP. Nope, he hides the extraordinary in the ordinary. You’re not going to know when your faithfulness with the ordinary will unlock the extraordinary in your life, you’re just going to have to keep showing up for the chores of today and treat them like they’re opportunities. Opportunities for promotion. Opportunities for next level living. Opportunities for divine encounters and split second perfect timing.

I know, today just looks like an ordinary Tuesday where you’re doing the same thing you always do on Tuesdays … but remember the day David took lunch to his brothers sure looked ordinary too. It sure seemed insignificant. Not only insignificant, but honestly demeaning. Here boy, you’re not good enough to go to battle like your brothers, so you just go take them a sandwich. But his faithfulness with a sandwich led him to a smackdown we’re still talking about over 3,000 years later!

What if today held an opportunity for you that would impact generations to come for 3,000 years? And what if it was yours to either seize or skip? What if it was so ordinary you were actually put off by having to be the one to do it because no one else will? But what if, in God’s divine wisdom, he has aligned the motherload of good plans to follow your faithfulness with today’s opportunities?

It’s easy to read the famous stories in the Bible and not see how they apply to your life. It’s easy to know the end of the story and miss the faithfulness with the ordinary it required.

Noah built the ark for somewhere between 50 and 100 years. That’s our entire lifetime of the same work building the same boat, all during a drought! Every day required the same work. He received no awards and no recognition. In fact, he was mocked. People thought he was cray-cray. But one day, it started to rain. And that rain didn’t stop. Noah’s faithfulness in ordinary, every day work saved his entire family and every living species of animal on the land at that time.

Genesis 6:14, Noah receives his instructions from God, and it begins with, “Make yourself an ark of gopher wood.” Think about this, the ark would require 1,500 gopher trees.

If God did it before, he can do it again. Did you know God didn’t just part the Red Sea for the Israelites, but he did it for them AGAIN when they came upon the Jordan River! No one talks about the second time God did the impossible for them. Honey, God has done impossible things for you in the past, whether you realize it or not … but he’s not done yet. He’s been leading you to this place where he is going to do the impossible for you again!

It’s important to study these two shiftings of the water under the command of the Almighty, to understand the journey God has you on as well.

First, when God parted the Red Sea through the staff of Moses, he was bringing the Israelites OUT of captivity. This was the ticket out of what had been holding them back for 400 years. He made a way where there was no way, and he did it for them personally.

Remember when God made a way to get you out? Remember when he did the impossible for you personally? Remember when you were set free from the very thing that had been holding you back for all those years? Never forget that Sis, it’s vitally important, but God’s not stopping there. He’s not done. He brought you out, now what’s next?

He’s preparing to bring you IN.

After the miraculous parting of the Red Sea to get them out of Egypt, the Israelites had been wandering around in the desert for 40 years. They were free, but they were not fully living in the good plans God had for them. Remember why they were stuck in the desert for 40 years … they had grown ungrateful and began complaining against God for the hardship of the journey. Beware of this my sister, don’t let this be you. God has good plans for you, but there will be hard days on the journey to those good plans. Journey through this with faith knowing there is so much more for you.

The parting of the Red Sea had brought them OUT of Egypt, but this desert was not the intended destination forever. God wanted to bring them IN to their Promised Land. To get IN, they would have to cross the water again. This time, the Jordan River.

Check out what God does for them in Joshua 3: 15-17 “Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, while the water flowing down to the Dead Sea was completely cut off … The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.”

Do you understand what God was doing? He literally created a dam in the river. (I wanted to title this episode “Oh Dam” but I have a really busy schedule today and I don’t have time for the complaints.) But, out of nowhere there was a dam! Boom. God stopped the flow upstream, and when the water in front of them continued to flow out to the sea, it became dry ground from them to cross. An entire nation crossed a roaring river on dry ground. This time they weren’t only getting OUT of something, they were stepping IN to something.

Out of the desert where they had been stuck, by their own doing, and into the Promised Land that had been destined for the generation before, but forfeited. Girl, do you understand you can walk into blessings that weren’t even originally designed for you, but they become yours when they were forfeited by those before you? Do you understand your obedience can take you through impossible situations into promises you can’t even wrap your head around?

What I really love is verse 15 where it says “Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest … YET …” Do you understand why this is important?

Why are you holding back? Why are you assuming you aren’t good enough or could never do this? Have you forgotten the power which dwells within you? Do you not realize what is inside of you, Sister?

Paul wrote to the Corinthians and asked a question. Now this question is for you today. 2 Corinthians 13:5 “Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you?”

Seriously. Do you not realize Jesus is in YOU? Do you not realize you won’t be stepping into this alone? Do you not realize you have been equipped by the Almighty and assigned good plans before your first breath? Honey, God’s good plans for you predated your very first good deeds. You didn’t earn these good plans because you have proven yourself good enough. You were chosen as good enough first. And get this, God’s good plans for you were never, and could never be, withdrawn because of any of your less than stellar deeds. So you were stupid. Cool. Goodness still awaits you. Goodness specially designed with you in mind. Now, get yourself in the middle of it, Sis!

Christ is in YOU and he wants to do awesome things WITH you today! Your life can’t be lived in the same old way. You are different. You can’t shelf this. You can’t save it up until you have more time, more money, or more confidence. NOW. Living your life on purpose NOW is your call.

1 Thessalonians 1:8 “Your life is echoing the Master’s Word.”

The Master’s Word. We’re not just talking about memorized scriptures that you’re walking around with. We’re talking about the power that created the entire Universe. It was God’s WORD that made the heavens and the Earth. It was God’s word that created every living creature. Now, you’re echoing that power with your life!

Do you not understand the power you carry within you? Power to create. Power to move. Power to change. Power to heal. Power to restore. Power to overcome. Power to set free. Your life ECHOS the power of God. You and I are to live in such a way that causes an echo of what God can, and does, do.

God has chosen you as the vessel that will carry his Word and his Son. Knowing this, you can’t just live today in some boring, unimpressive, unremarkable, ordinary way. When you know you carry this treasured power within, you live with courage. You wake up with passion. You walk in purpose.

What will you do with your life because you know the Power of God dwells within you? What will you do with your days because you are beginning to understand who Jesus makes you?

Really, who does Jesus make you? Who are you in Christ? Are you dismissed? Are you incapable? Are you unworthy? Are you less than? Are you lacking? Are you stuck? Are you hopeless? Are you too far gone? Are you too late?

Jesus has never, for one second, been any of those things, and you better believe he will never be any of those things in you! God’s word has never been outmatched by the circumstances. He looked into the void where there was only darkness, and he said “let there be light.” And guess what, girlfriend, THERE WAS LIGHT. By what power? The power of his word. Now, that power echos in your life.

A power that says no creation is impossible. No change is too hard. No distance is too far. This is all possible with one word from God. Now you walk around with that same word echoing in your life.

Who are you to decide this can’t happen? Who are you to declare this is too late? Who are you to dismiss yourself, or anyone else, from all that is under the power of the Master’s command? Girl, get yourself in alignment with the power God has entrusted you with.

You’ve been entrusted to echo his words. His words that made something out of nothing. His words that spoke your very life into existence. Now how about you echo his words and declare YOU’RE GOING TO MAKE IT!

There’s one way to go through what you’re going through, and not completely stress yourself out. There’s one way to walk this uncertain path before you, and not make yourself sick with worry. One way. Only one.

Is this timely for you? Do you find yourself in the middle of such uncertainty that you’re struggling to sleep, struggling to focus, struggling to find any bit of joy in this journey? Perfect. You’re meant to be listening today! There are many ways to go through this, but only one that will bring you peace and joy.

Jesus is teaching in Matthew 6, and he talks to us about the things of life we worry about. All the uncertainty, all that is still unknown, and all that is out of our control. And he says in verse 33: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

You’re likely meeting me here today with problems you don’t have answers for, and needing directions to an unknown destination because you’re really lost right now.

How do you get there?

How will it all work out?

What are you supposed to do about this now?

What is the next right step?

What we need to know is Jesus’ words then are still true today, and they are specifically for your situation. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

This is how you go through what you’re going through without all the stress. This is how you walk this uncertain path and not worry over your next step. This is how you show up today and do what you gotta do. Seek first his kingdom and righteousness.

Let’s break that down into an action plan for today.

Seek. How do you seek? Well you actively look.

When my 3 kids were small, they went through a stage of wanting to play hide-and-seek nearly every night. Their favorite was when Daddy hid. They would run through the house, squealing and giggling, searching everywhere for their Daddy. Never once did they stop in the middle of their hunt to have a snack. Never once did they get distracted and forget who they were looking for. No, they looked until they found him. Expectantly.

Jesus tells us to SEEK first his KINGDOM and RIGHTEOUSNESS when we’re going through times of uncertainty and hardship. LOOK for it. And don’t you quit until you find it. Don’t get distracted. Don’t get discouraged. What you’re looking for is near and it is to be found.

What exactly are you looking for? His kingdom and righteousness. Oh, well what exactly does that look like? Don’t just skim by that because it sounds good. No, Sis, dig into it. What does his kingdom and righteousness mean?

A kingdom is a territory ruled by a king. God’s kingdom is the spiritual realm around us where God reigns. It is where he is working. Where he is moving. Where his power is being unleashed. His righteousness is all the wrong that God is making right. It is the bad he is working together to be used for good. It is his good plans for your life that are still in effect, even through all of this. It is all that is for a greater purpose than you can imagine, intended for an eternal impact.

This is what you’re looking for. Yes, here in this mess you only want to go away, you’re supposed to be looking for where God is working. You’re supposed to be looking for greater purpose. You’re supposed to be looking for God’s power over the very things you just want to dismiss.

Where do you find this? Well, where did you find it last time? Seriously, think back to how God has worked in your life before. Think back to how he made a way through impossible circumstances in the past. Where was he then? You should look for him there again!

In our family games of hide-and-seek, Daddy had an epic hiding place he would use over and over again.

Do you realize all of this has been training? Training that will prepare you for greater opportunities. Training that will allow you to live bigger. Training by the Master to follow his commands, and then you can be trusted with off-leash adventures.

Any good dog left untrained becomes a bad dog. An untrained dog cannot be trusted. An untrained dog will wreck your house in 5 minutes. An untrained dog will run away and good luck ever finding them again. So, from the time they’re a puppy, you begin training them. And what do you start with? Simple commands. Come. Sit. Stay.

Ahhhhh girl, don’t you see, that’s what the Master has been trying to teach you? Come. Sit. Now stay. Come further. Stayyyyyy.

Our dog Tank is about the best thing you will ever encounter. He is 130 pounds of pure love and joy. He has the ability to wreck havoc and destroy everything in his path, but he doesn’t. He has two goals in life, please his Master, and chase squirrels. For many years, the secondary desire took control and he lost all ability to listen to his Master when a squirrel was on scene. More training was required. Training of come. Training of sit. Training of stay. And a whole lot of, “No, I didn’t tell you to go. Get back here. Listen. Let’s do this right.”

Now, he is trusted with everything we have. He is trusted inside and outside. He is allowed off leash. We will literally seek out opportunities and plan entire trips around destinations where he can run off leash and have an adventure. Why? Because he knows how to come, he knows when to sit, he knows how to stay, and his Master is pleased. When the Master is pleased, his life gets a whole lot better.

Oh, but it wasn’t always this way. Tank’s first trip to the beach pulled his Master’s shoulder out of place when he was chasing those beach squirrels we call seagulls. A shorter leash was required and a lot more training. Living on the ranch, we would let Tank out for a quick potty break, and it would turn into a 5 hour hunt to find him 2 miles away. That always earned him less freedom and more training.

Understand, God’s desire for you is to live off leash, Sis. He wants you to be free! But when your freedom causes you to get lost, he searches for you, brings you back home, and puts you back in training. Can you see how you got a little lost in your freedom? Can you see how you went wild with that, and maybe pulled God’s shoulder out of place with that one? Can you see now that he wasn’t trying to limit you, he was trying to train you for MORE. There were wide open fields, trails along the river, and new unexplored beaches all in your future, but you weren’t ready for them quite yet.

Come.

Sit.

Stay.

How are you doing with those commands now? Are you learning to start you days by seeking his guidance? Are you learning to look to him before running off in a new direction? Are you learning to stay close to him, knowing good things come from his hand?

Training a 130 pound dog involves a whole lot of treats. We call them candies. Tank will wake up from a dead sleep if you say candies. He will stop smelling butts, he will cease his game of chase, he will drop every ball, just say candies. Candies brings him to my side because he knows, good things come from my hand.

Have you learned that good things come from your Master’s hand? The BEST things. In fact, I’ve learned, if it doesn’t come from God, I really don’t even want it. Only the best comes from him, and as you get a little older, you learn it’s a waste of energy to go chasing that other crap. We want quality, and quality comes from the Master. Come. Sit. Stay. This is where the best of life is.

Jesus tells the story of a Father who had two sons. The younger son decides he wants his inheritance early and he proceeds to wreck his life.