Day 293: But Wait...There's More!

Ephesians 3:20

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

Malachi 3:20

Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!

Recently I had a realization, that no matter how big I dream, no matter how grand my plan is for myself and my life, God will always top that. It’s mindblowing to think about. Most people who know me know that I’m a dreamer, and I dream big, not only that but somehow someway all of my dreams are going to come to pass. It’s crazy when I sit and think of all the things I want out of life, and I’m reaching for the stars, I get a revelation that even in those moments God is bigger. Meaning He has a bigger vision, and a grander plan. That makes me trust Him even more. It pushes me to lean into His will a little more. God can do far beyond what we can ever think, or ask. That’s just a testament of how great God is compared to us, He expand our dreams, expands our faith, and expands our expectations. Simply because He is that good. I mean we’re talking about the guy who created the entire universe and everything in it.

When God blesses us, He really blesses us. It’s like a proud parent showering their child with gifts. God will go above and beyond for us, because He loves us that much. Sometimes we are waiting for God to move in our lives, waiting on promises, and when they do come to pass God makes the wait so worth. It’s a beautiful thing when we expect things from God. When we are waiting for Him to move miraculously in our lives, because He goes beyond our expectations. Over the summer I was really struggling with how we were going to pay tuition this year. I have struggling with this my entire time in school, and this times it seemed close to impossible. My family was going through so much financially, I couldn’t find a job, no one was willing to give me a loan and no one was willing to cosign. I found one person to co-sign and it got denied. Everything got denied. So I just kept praying and kept trusting God. I did not know how it was going to happen but I knew it was going to happen. But here’s the thing, I was expecting God to provide a loan approval, or enough money to start the payments. I called financial aid to see what they could do and they all told me there was nothing they could do. So I prayed some more and emailed the president of the school. Three days later I got an email saying, they would increase one of my grants. But wait...there’s more, they gave me a scholarship that would cover the rest of my tuition for not one but both semesters! I started screaming and broke out into tears, I was not expecting that but God went beyond my expectations and did something I did not even think of. Then I got offered not one but two jobs. I didn’t know how I was going to take care of myself financially, but I have four on-campus jobs. But wait...there’s more, I didn’t think I would get a refund check, but I went to the financial aid office and they had one there waiting for me, so now I don’t have to worry financially. God just keeps on blessing me, and it’s beyond whatever I could think or imagine.

-Dyamond

I think many times  it depends on our faithfulness, God will bless those who are faithful. He is looking at the ones who are constantly faithful to Him, and obeying Him. God sees that and He rewards the ones whose hearts stay with Him. This is not to say that we should only serve God for a blessing, but that faithfulness definitely pays off. Yes it pays off in eternity but it also pays off while we’re still on earth. We all have something that we want from God, continue to be faithful and wait what He will do. I’m a living testimony of what happens when God is faithful to us and we are faithful to Him.

All this to say, don’t underestimate God. Keep dreaming big and expecting God to move in your life and He will do more than you could ever imagine.

Reflection/Prayer Time

Just take the time to thank God that He is faithful. Take the time to pray and be grateful for who He is and what He does. Reflect on the times where you have seen Him move in your life. Reflect on the times when maybe you weren’t as faithful to God but He remained faithful to you. Take that with you as you pray today and pray however you feel led. Have a conversation with Him, if you need something tell Him, tell Him your greatest hopes and dreams and watch what He does.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 294!

Day 255: The Life You Are Called to Love

1 Corinthians 7:17-19

Each of you should continue to live in whatever situation the Lord has placed you, and remain as you were when God first called you. This is my rule for all the churches. For instance, a man who was circumcised before he became a believer should not try to reverse it. And the man who was uncircumcised when he became a believer should not be circumcised now. For it makes no difference whether or not a man has been circumcised. The important thing is to keep God’s commandments.

Today I want to talk about living the life God has called us to live in a different way than usual. As the body of Christ we are constantly being told that we are one body, one spirit, while that remains true I would like to point out the part of the scripture that says different parts make up one body. We are human, and we all have our earthly heroes, the people we look up to the most or who we aspire to be like. However, God is writing a story for each of us. Each of our stories are uniquely different because that’s how He wrote it. No one story is the same. What I’m getting at here is that we are called to live the life God has chosen for us, not for anyone else. We are called to live our story.

Live the life God has called you to live.  Not the life he has for anyone else or the life that anyone else is trying to make you live. Too often we compare ourselves with one another and try to live to lives we see others live. We see the lifestyle people live, or the career they have and wish we could be just like them. Or we try to mould our lives to look like there’s. There’s a lot of pressure on our generation to have it all together, to have this perfect lifestyle. But the truth is, God is still working on us, and we’re going to get there one day, the time just hasn’t come yet.  However, this idea of luxury and riches, brought strongly through social media is raising a generation of posers, who are not living the life they are called to live. But they are living the life, they are pressured into or expected to live. Whether it be family, friends, or fans. The only person’s expectations you are required to meet, the only person you are to please with your life is God. No one else.

One thing I have come to realize very recently; I am very inspired  by people’s stories or careers their journey that got them where they are, and want my outcome to be the same. However, I have come to the realization that their story is not my story. Even if God wrote theirs similar to mine it's very different. God has something different in store for me than He does for someone else. As an actress the question I get asked a lot is “who do you want to be like?”, while I can name a list of people who I admire, I had to realize that God has something different for me and my career than He did for them. Now I am still very inspired by these people but I will not aspire to be them. We cannot live someone else's life and if we try it's not called it called imitating. More like plagiarizing life. No story is exactly the same. Live the story God is writing for you. I promise it's amazing

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There is a common misconception that being a Christian strips is of who we are. For some reason people think that once you give your life to Christ you fall into this lifestyle like the rest. Where we all think alike, act alike, and don't have individuality. That's not the body of Christ, that's a cult. God made us who we are for a reason. He's not going to strip us of that. He will strip away the things that are not like Him to enhance who we are. He will strip away sin, pain, hurt, false identity. We are not giving up who we are; we are giving up who we thought we were. We are giving up our pride. We are giving up our sinful nature, in exchange for a lifestyle that is eternal. We are exchanging temporary for eternity.

All this to say, live your life. Don’t try to live anyone else’s life because God is writing your story and it is unique to who you are and who He made you to be. Don’t try to take over someone else’s story and pass it off as your own. It won’t work. Don’t feel like to are require to give in to the pressure or unreal expectations people put on you. It’s your life, follow Christ.

Reflection

1. Are you living your story or someone else’s
2. Have you tried to strip away who you are because you are a follower of Christ
3. Live your story.

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer. Talk to God about living the life He has called you to live, ask God to help you with your identity. I pray that you be found in Christ and that you realize and understand just who you are.

I love you, so much and I hope you have an amazing day or evening. Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for day 256!