Whoa, What a Dream!

Good Morning ladies. The Lord woke me fairly early this morning and taught me a lesson through a dream. That's right, a dream. The Lord speaks to us several of ways and mine was through a dream this morning. Actually I had been awake off and on since 3 a.m. for some odd reason, and one of the times I fell back asleep between then and 4:30 is when I had this life lesson dream. Well, let me just say that I really don't even remember or know the whole dream. The only part I remember is the "important" part. It may sound crazy, but it was God's "crazy" way of talking to me. The part of the dream that I remember was: I was on some kind of train, roller coaster, or something of that sort. I remember the beginning being a train but by the time I got to the "lesson" part, I'm not sure what it was. But I was laying on this traveling ride and 2 snakes were on there. I was laying stomach down on the top side and the 2 snakes were laying stomach down on the bottom side. Well, the closer they got to me, one of them started slithering over the other one. To begin with their heads were away from mine, but at this time the one had gotten turned around and was facing me head on. At this time he was on the top where i was and was moving his head back and forth like he was getting ready to strike and attack. Well we were on this "ride" on a track with no where to go, so I had to stand up to the serpent and fight him while trying to hold on at the same time! Well then I woke up (in a panic of course) LOL! But needless to say, when I woke up trying to figure out where that dream came from is when God spoke to me the most.

Please take the time to watch this scene from the Passion of Christ before reading on:

After I just watched it again before posting, I am completely amazed at the serpent in the video. The snakes in my dream were yellow and white and i didn't realize until now that the one in the video look just like the ones in my dream! Satan even tried to deceive Jesus but he relied on his Father as we should today!

Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden'? 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die'. 4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 

 We face these "serpents" every day in our lives. And they are just like what happened in my dream. They sit back with their head held high waiting on the right time to strike and attack. A lot of times with us women, they are in our head and brain waiting to strike with those thoughts that hurt us the most. You know how the men always say that women have snakes in their head?? Well, I'm going to be honest with you this morning ladies, we do have them. And they are what causes the most trouble in our daily lives and relationships with God, friends, family, etc. But as in my dream, I had to fight the serpent with no where to go. We have to do that in our daily walk. We have to trust in God to battle the "serpent" with us. We can't just run from them all the time. We have to face those giants and let God help us. As I was thinking about this lesson from God this morning, 2 things kept coming to mind and they were:

Facing the Giants (movie)

 

The story of David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17 

 They reminded me so much of my dream and having to face the "serpent".  We go through "facing the giants" everyday. We can choose to be like David and think positive and believe or we can choose to let the giants get the best of us!

As I was studying this morning I come across these scriptures:

But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. —2 Corinthians 11:3

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.—1 Peter 5:8-9

 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever —Revelation 20:10 

This shows us that Satan is going to be following us at all times. He started at the beginning of the bible and was there all the way to the end in Revelation. And it clearly says that Satan will be destroyed in the end. But it is up to us to decide if we are going to let Satan defeat us and us be destroyed with him or if we are going to trust in God and allow him to help us stand up to and defeat Satan.

Facing the Giants,
Rebecca

Oh me, Oh my!!!

Well, it have been quite sometime since I have blogged last. Just let me be honest with you, I haven't blogged because (first of all) I haven't taken the time to focus and sharing what God has been doing and teaching me in my life, and (2nd of all) I have felt a little jealous of others writings and felt that I couldn't measure up to their post, blogs, writings, etc. so it would be of no use for me to even blog or write! That is just a confession of mine that I had to make to a dear sister and friend of mine yesterday and felt the need to confess to you as well! I am a Christian girl and I strive and desire to be as much like Christ as possible, but I am still human and have faults and failures! This is one of my BIG struggles! Feeling like I don't measure up with others and that I am "lower" than others. I know that according to God, this is not true. We are all the same according to him no matter what or where we are in our life or our walk with him. I found this verse as I was searching for answers from God!

Romans 2:11-"For one man is not different from another before God"

As humans, and even christians, there are going to be those people that treat you differently or make you feel "lower" than they are, but it doesn't matter how they treat you or how they make you feel.  The only one that we are to please and worry about is God! He tells up in scripture that no man is different than the other and he shows no favoritism! So, I have learned (just in the last day or so) just let those that do be held accountable for their actions, and for me to continue to love (no matter how i'm treated or feel) as Jesus loves'.

Well, just as I was feeling this way yesterday I get to work this morning to open up my e-mail and receive an e-mail from a fellow blogger that reminded me so much of myself! Please jump over and read Lessons from a Frog! This blog (every time she blogs) makes me feel like I am living inside of her. I am so thankful for how God uses her in my life. Isn't it just funny how God uses people that you have never even met or even know to minister to you and speak directly to you??? This blog was actually about not feeling loved by people. This blog is exactly how I feel. You (or anyone) can ask me why I feel like this, but I wouldn't really be able to tell you. I have friends, family, and co-workers that I know love me dearly. But still all the time I feel that I am not love by my friends, husband, it even goes down to me feeling like my daughter doesn't love me at times. Crazy I know. I know that God loves me and that is the only one that I should worry about, but I don't. I always worry about everyone else and if they love me or what they think of me. I feel like I need to measure up to them or be able to do and say the things that they do. I shouldn't feel like this because we are all uniqely made by Christ according to his will for our life. And my key verse that I cling to so much is Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans for hope and future" This one verse sums it all up and we can refer to this verse with anything we are going through. God knows the plan that he has for my life, and I know that his plan is for me to just be me and not who I think I should be according to everyone else. I know God loves me just as I am. He doesn't care how i look, write, speak, etc. He doesn't care that i'm short, he doesn't care that my hair may not be perfect, he doesn't care that my teeth may not be perfect, he doesn't care about any of it. All he cares about is our love and faith in him and our walk with him. He wants us just like we are! This is a major concept that I have to grasp and take hold of. This is a major struggle of this christian girl that God is leading me through and teaching me a lot about right now! I may not like it while I am going through it, but I praise God and thank him for the lessons that we learn through the things that we go through!

Here are a few videos to remind us of God's love for us! Please watch and be encouraged!

Love letter from Jesus

God's Love Letter!

Beautiful

So, if you are having these same struggles, just remember that you are not alone and God is always with us and he loves us just as we are.

Pushing to conquer this struggle!

Love your sister in Christ,
Rebecca

 

Why, oh why???

This is the question that I have been asking all morning (or week) to be honest. This weekend we had our annual ladies' retreat with the theme of "Beyond The Masquerade". It was awesome and a big blessing to me. God showed up and showed out. I felt his presence all weekend! I even stepped out of my comfort zone and gave a talk to all of the ladies' at a bonfire that we had. I didn't want to get up there and talk, but out of my obedience to the Lord (and my sister-in-law) I did. I didn't feel like i done good, actually I thought it was terrible after I got finished, but everyone who I talked to afterwards said I done a great job and they enjoyed it. I really hope they did. LOL

When I got home Sunday, I took a much needed nap then got up for church on Sunday night. Well it was when I woke up, that I realized that I had so many negative feelings and emotions about the weekend and even just myself. I had some of these feelings Saturday, but God came in and took control and renewed my spirit! I have this problem so much. Our retreat theme was about removing our mask that we wear to try to hide everything that goes on in our life. It was a lesson of being transparent with God and other Godly women in our lives. I have a very hard time doing this. Not because I don't want them to know what's going on, but because I don't want them to judge or look at me differently. Since I have been home, I have had a terrible feeling of soooo much that God intends for us not to have. I know that it's Satan and him trying to overwhelm me and fill me with many lies and things that aren't true. I have been through this so much in the last 3 years in my commitment to Christ. I have tried to overcome it and I have wore the mask for everyone to think that I was fine or have overcome it. I know that I can be so much more in Christ if I would quit allowing all of the lies from Satan to interfere. I try to quit believing them and I try to block them out, but for some reason it keeps coming back. Harder and harder every time. I have been reading a book by Renee Swope called "A Confident Heart". It has been a very good book and fits me perfectly. I am a little behind right now. I keep asking myself and God "why, oh why do I keep going through this?" I want to be the happy and joyful person that God calls me to me and that I can be through him!

This is not what I intended on writing when I decided to write today, but I know God has a plan and purpose for me writing it. If you ever think that you are the only person going through something or having some issues that christian women shouldn't have, then you are wrong. We just always tend to wear our "masks" to hide it and cover it up. I have been fully committed to Christ for almost 4 years now. I have had some great blessings and times, but I have also had some bad times. But I know that God never said it would be easy to follow and trust him but it will be worth it.

Our key verse for the retreat this weekend was Psalm 34:5 "Those who look to him are radiant, their faces are never covered with shame". If you ever feel that you're to ashamed to talk or share how you're feeling or what you're going through, just remember this verse.

Trying to be transparent for God,
Rebecca