Satan can take something good and make it evil; only God can take something evil and make it good.

I was listening to the story of unspeakable horrors from a speaker who went through them as a child. At one point, he even thought he was crazy as his story was so out there evil.

Could his childhood memories be real? His search led him to a forensic specialist, who ran tests to determine if his memories were real or made up. They were extremely disturbingly real. Satan had turned an innocent childhood into a nightmare of unspeakable experiments and experiences.

After surviving all this, he came to faith in Jesus where his journey toward healing and wholeness began. This journey eventually led him to a supernatural forgiveness of the primary perpetrator of his tortured childhood.

Please don’t give me the line that his past made him who he was today. If we follow that line of reasoning, we might as well call all the horrors done to him as normal, which should be done to people everywhere so they could turn out to be the strong and loving man he is today.

No, what was done was out and out evil that no one should ever experience. Evil exists and it does evil things. Only God, however, can turn unspeakable evil around for good. (Romans 8:28 never says that what is done is good and should be repeated. It only says that God can turn a horrific past into something good in the present.)

This man’s story is one of hope. It shows that forgiveness, inner healing and peace is possible for everyone despite the evil done to them. This man passed this kind of forgiveness onto the perpetrator, who came to saving faith in Jesus. This is truly something only God can do.

We don’t praise God for the manure thrown at us. We do, though, praise God for His ability to make a rose bloom and flourish from it.

God wants to use us to bring hope to a world where unspeakable horrors are taking place. So, let God do what only He can do: turn your past mistakes and those caused by others into something beautiful to His glory and praise.

“Trust My ability to reroute you” – Abba.

As someone who likes to get things done, being told to just sit in His lap was a hard thing to do.

Sit in His lap? Yes. Ephesians 2:4-6 states that we are seated in Jesus’ lap, right now. Jesus said that when we see Him, we see the Father. Therefore, in a way, I am sitting in my Father’s lap, right now!

I can lean my head onto My Father’s chest and just be. No performance needed. Just be.

I don’t know why. Correction. I do know why. It’s just not easy to make that choice to rest, to stop bounding my leg or bobbing my foot or to let myself be okay with it.

Yet, the peace Jesus promises comes from letting Him work in and through me instead of me doing something for Him in order to get something out of Him for what I’m doing for Him.

I have all the Father’s attention, right now. I have all His love, right now. I have all the “thata boys” I need from Him, right now…because of Jesus.

I know this in my head, but my heart sure is a distance away. If you are like me, do what I’m doing. Ask, “Lord give me the faith to make the tough choice to be okay with being with You whether or not I’m doing anything.”

The Father wants to make your life better…for others!

I read an article about a doctor who deals with people’s chronic physical pain. And, after much research, decided to work on his own pain through changing his diet.

Guess what? It worked! He saw a significant reduction in his own pain levels.

When asked why he made those changes, he said, “I did it for my patients. I wanted them to see that these changes could work for them as well.”

Wow. He changed for others! Let that sink in. He changed his diet, which meant his lifestyle, all for the sake of others.

Jesus did the exact same thing. He came in human form, quite a change don’t you think? He did that because He believed we were worth His time and effort. He came not to make His own life better, but ours.

Who in your world is worth allowing the Spirit to change your life? You could be the example of how change can also be possible for them and be the springboard they need to move closer to the Father.

By the way, you’ll also benefit from the change. You will get closer to the Father as well.

Transitions bring pain now, gain later.

The book of Samuel is being read in today’s synagogues around the world. A good question arises, “Why another book? I mean, Samuel was the last judge. Why not include him in the book of Judges and Saul and David in the book of Kings?”

When you think about it, Samuel is a transitional book. It is the bridge from one period or phase of Israel’s history to the next phase. Transition.

And it was a messy transition, too. Samuel was a great prophet, but a lousy father. So the country asked for a king. Problem. The king God had in mind, David, was still a boy shepherd who needed more preparation time.

In the meantime, Israel’s first king, Saul, caused all kinds of messes, some that weren’t cleaned up until Esther became a Persian Queen.

Life transitions are never easy. We all go through them. Think about this for a moment. Each step is a transition from one place to another. Isn’t interesting that Scripture talks about our relationship with God as a walk? Transition.

Our walks with Christ were never meant to be stagnant, but dynamic. We can fear these transitions and stay stuck in our old way of thinking/choosing. Or, we can embrace them and allow the Spirit to change in and hope to our lives.

The world is quite possibly entering into another big messy transition with the war in Israel. Will they see hope or fear in our eyes? Prayerfully, it will be hope.

It’s hard to be church without contributing to it.

I can’t count how many times (unless I take my shoes off, of course) when being with the church grew my faith because we gathered together.

It’s either been someone being hospitable, singing or playing a song, sharing a scripture or something they learned from the Word, giving praise, telling how the Lord worked in their life, passing on a word from the Lord, praying, confessing a sin, asking for prayer, or in a multiple of other ways.

The Spirit has used them all to deepen my love for and steepen my faith in Jesus.

Sure, we can be blessed by listening to music, watching a service or listening to a podcast. This makes us a healthy consumer, but not necessarily a healthy believer.

Think about this for a moment. There is no armor of God for your back. So, who has yours? You simply can’t know or see everything. Yes, we have the Spirit; but it is the Spirit who gives gifts that can only be used in another person’s life.

Times are coming when healthy consumerism will fail you. There will be days when meeting face to face will be the main or maybe the only way to maintain a healthy growing faith.

You have something others need and they have something you need to grow in Jesus. The persecuted/contributing church knows this truth. Do you? Be a contributor, not a consumer.