When life is hard, obstacles seems overwhelming, you can’t see past the current struggle or situation–take heart! God is greater and more powerful than we can imagine.
One of my newest favorite recording artists is Blanca, and her words ring in my ears of her song Greater Is He. (<– click the link to listen)
Greater is He living in me
Than he who is in the world
Whatever may come, His strength is enough
My heart is at peace, for greater is He…
And in His name, giants will fall
And in His name, oceans will part
And in His name, there’s nothing we won’t overcome
This is our God, this is our God
Such a beautiful message of hope, peace and assurance that no matter our circumstances, no matter our current struggle or obstacles, God is bigger than them all.
>>Final thought: Are you at peace amidst your concerns? Are you resting in His name? Or have you given in to the fear that God won’t help, can’t help and you’re alone to fight this battle? “For my yolk is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:30
Choose to take off the heavy burden and leave it at feet of Jesus. It takes faith and courage, but you can do it. Ask God to envelope you’re in His peace while you weather the storm knowing He is ultimately in control.
Your sister in Christ,
~Dr. Melody
P.S. I wish you a beautiful Father’s Day tomorrow, and encourage you to view this day not only for honoring your earthly father, but appreciating, reflecting and praising God for being the ultimate example of a loving father. Perhaps take a few quiet minutes to read through the Psalms or Genesis 1 about the beauty, strength and power of our Almighty Father, who has adopted us into his kingdom by the blood of His son Jesus. The most perfect sacrifice given for us, His children. Amen.
George Michael’s catchy tune popped into my head today and I couldn’t shake it! Lol
Even though in his song he’s not specifically talking about a religious faith, it’s faith nonetheless. And something we all need.
It takes faith if we ever intend to reach higher, achieve bigger dreams and make any sort of leap or change in our lives. Just the faith that things can change, or that we can change or that circumstances can change, all take faith. The belief, without the accompanying evidence, that something will happen.
I want to encourage you today to take a quick self examination–What obstacles are in your path or circumstances that are not what you would like them to be, that you’re needing to have more faith that not only will you make it through, but that you will actually improve and grow because of them?
If it’s hard to imagine a beneficial outcome, you know you’ve gotta up the faith factor.
It is your faith in the unseen that God is looking for and encouraging you to have.
He’s got your back. He sees your current obstacles, but also your future on the other side.
>> Final thought: Do you trust He will see you through? How strong are your faith-muscles today?
Your sister in Christ,
~Dr. Melody
P.S. Want more encouragement or inspiration to grow in your faith-walk with God? Head on over to the Fit+Faith blog and I’ve got a whole section for your reading pleasure.
Have a beautiful day. If you have any prayer requests you’d like prayer for, just comment on this blog post and we can chat. It would be my honor to pray for you.
It’s so easy to get caught up in the coming holiday season that we forget the importance of taking time for ourselves, let alone quality time with God.
I wrapped up a personal 30 day self-improvement challenge almost 2 weeks ago. My goal was not only weight loss (Goal: lose 10 pound;. Result: 9.5 pounds lost!) but also a commitment to developing personal habits for a morning routine as well as an eating cleanse to break my sugar addiction.
It was very successful and I posted daily videos to my Facebook page documenting daily exercises, tips or insights as I went through that journey. (Btw I share ongoing encouragement, tips and discussion in my free Facebook community, Worthy to Be Me. I’d love you to be a part of it and join here).
What I learned is how important it is for our personal well being to have habits and routines in place that regularly allow for the nurturing of our spirits and psyche, but also regular intentional daily time with God. Being a Christian I actively talk to God and pray all throughout the day, but I had not set in place regular time for reflection, quiet time and dialoguing with God without multi-tasking or other distractions.
In the few weeks that have followed I’ve found that if that daily time is no longer nurtured or attended to daily, I feel more disconnected and ungrounded. I feel as though something is missing, and I’m glad I feel this way because it means my goals for the 30 day personal challenge worked. They’re successfully created a routine that fed my soul, spirit, dreams and provided an outlet for intentional “me” time outside the hustle and bustle of everyday life…let alone the craziness that is on it’s way the closer we get to Christmas.
Currently I’ve just taken a 2 day road trip from California to New Mexico and am thrilled for almost 10 days of family time! But in just the few days of schedules being different, not having my regular snacks and healthy meals lined up, sleeping in different beds, time zone changes etc. I’ve really been more affected from this shift in my “new normal” I had just created only 2 weeks prior, and the effects were surprisingly challenging.
Not just challenging to continue to carve out the time for my newly created routines and habits, but challenging on an emotional level of how I felt internally from not having that precious time of cultivating my thoughts, productivity and intentional quiet time with God.
I was journaling yesterday after at least 3 days of missing it, and the realization came to me that not only was I missing the emotional and energetic outlet to feel my best, or at least to feel more like myself while in a different environment, but I realized that no matter what life brings us we MUST have our identity in Christ.
This is a MUST that if we do not realize how God views us and his unending love and admiration for us as His children, we will NEVER be satisfied in this life. We will always be looking for acceptance in the eyes of our peers, family, friends, co-workers, society and the like. This ultimately leads to feeling inadequate, lonely, unwanted, invaluable and leads us in a never-ending quest for perfection and acceptance that we will never fully gain.
In the eyes of our Savior, Jesus, we are already enough. We are already beautiful, loved, talented, gifted, treasured and precious. No matter what we do, say, create or become, we will never be more valuable, more loveable, more worthy of God’s love. He already loves us to the highest degree imaginable….exactly as we are!
Right now. This moment. Yesterday. Before you were born! As we begin to realize the immensity of our value in the eyes of God, we truly are “more than conquerors” as the apostle Paul writes.
Praise be to God who loves us more than we can imagine and nothing we can say or do can make Him love us more! So stop trying to please Him, others or yourself in a quest for perfection that is unnecessary to obtain. Yes it’s good to feel good about ourselves, both inside and out, and to treat ourselves and others with respect, but even before you pursue that, God already loves you.
Let that sink in and encourage you. God’s love already proves how amazing you are. <3
~Melody
P.S. On a side note, I want to make sure you don’t miss out on an upcoming Healthy Holiday Domination 31 Day Challenge, kicking off December 1st! Learn how to join here.
