The mind is a working marvel and miracle of complexity, isn’t it? Have you ever just taken a moment to watch a toddler play? Or be amazed at how many brain functions are happening at one moment, ultimately allowing you to perform a certain task? How about the ability to laugh at one moment and minutes later feel sorrow or empathy or anger? It’s astounding. We can give our Creator thanks for this! 

In these past weeks and months I have found myself impacted by topics ranging from health issues to cultural differences, social justice to personal freedom. Our national environment is charged with an enormous amount of issues to process through and formulate understanding, both personally & corporately. For myself this has been a time to do a lot of listening, thinking, praying & reading. I’m taking the time to peel back the layers that define me–what I believe and how I view the world.

If you have had the opportunity in these last few weeks to be on a video conference call with a company that rhymes with “boom,” you might have added a virtual background to your personal screen during the session.  The pre-designed backgrounds, of which there are many, help place you in a setting which conveys part of your personal creativity. It also depicts your longing for somewhere you’d like to be, other than stuck at home. 

One of my greatest joys in life is to be able to use the gift of writing to share lessons from God’s Word. I love to spend time hearing what it is God is saying in His Word & writing to relay to you, the reader, what His message is in this particular moment.  Isn’t it telling of the God we serve, to position men and women who’ve been so gifted to be used to share knowledge we need to be victorious and free?

This past Christmas, my sister gifted me a plain metal bracelet with two words stamped on it: trust GOD. I wear it practically every day and it has been a great at-a-glance reminder to do just that. I have walked some tough roads these past few years, trusting God even when life has been hard. I have trusted Him for healing and deliverance for myself and others and He has shown Himself strong.  Although I’ve grown in faith, there are still instances when I fail to trust Him completely. I too easily choose to ignore the deeper trust He is calling me to. 

Do you ever have times or seasons of your life when you think back over choices or decisions you made or didn’t make, that have changed the entire course of your life?  I’m sure anyone who is reading this can relate.  Our life is a process filled with the ebb and flow of choices–many that created failure, which may affect you this very moment.   And many choices you and I have made have come and gone which brought great blessing to you and others–choices that have proved a catalyst of positive influence to other people.