Shana Strange

Breaking the Mold

2011-12-13T14:07:00.000-08:00

Something about cookie cutter molds turns me against their usefulness. I understand the concept.....I understand the need.....I even understand how economical they can prove to be when used for mass production purposes. Cookie cutter molds work great when used in the context of a factory, but not so great in the life of a Christian. Therein lies my dis-satisfaction with the whole concept. They can be so misleading when used to determine ones identity. I've seen it time and time again......no actually I've been a victim to it's demanding clutches on numerous occasions.

O the pain we endure when we try to be anything other than what we were created to be. The truth is none of us can help HOW we were wired. We cannot spend our lives wishing we were a BMW if we were created a Chevy Tahoe (both are really great cars that I've owned by the way and pardon my expression of equating cars to human beings). All my life I have pursued music, feeling the need to express myself through music alone. Desperately striving to fit into the mold of a Christian music artist. To be successful meant millions of best selling albums and constant #1 hits. So much pressure....... I thought music to be completely my sole calling and any other pursuit would be in vain. That is until the Lord stripped all of that away from me to show me who I really was. Even as I'm writing this I am intrigued by this revelation. That I would ever settle for so much less than what He made me to be is intolerable.

Great treasures are always hidden and must be sought after and mined. Only God knows what that treasure is and how to discover it. That is why scripture says our lives our hidden in Christ. Oftentimes the mold must be broken to accomplish this task. He knows exactly how to lead you to that treasure that is deep inside of you, placed there by Christ. He desires us all to have the enjoyment of purpose and discovering that treasure inside of you is discovering your purpose. We all have it but to find it will necessitate the work of patience on our life. The following lines were taken from a song I penned a couple of years ago and I think it adequately expresses this feeling:

Let patience have her perfect work
Don't you rush the hand of the Lord
Strengthen those tired and weary knees
He will come to you with peace

Sometimes it's thru the lens of darkness that light is best displayed. We cannot always see the truth until we are in the darkness. That is a truth that I believe to be universally acknowledged yet so often misunderstood. Our God is a God that is not afraid of darkness and is not diminished by its power. He is able to keep you in perfect peace even though sometimes it is necessary to walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Even death has no hold physically or spiritually in the life of a believer. He can take what has been dark in your your life to propel you into His purpose for you.

Take heart dear brother, dear sister! Your God has not forgotten His purposes for you. He has not forgotten the destiny with which He has assigned you before the foundations of the world. All hope is not lost.......despair is not to be your companion. You were created as an expression of His handiwork and His expertise.

I love the book of Zechariah. The name alone "Zechariah" means "the Lord remembers." Indeed He remembered His promise to the exiles of Israel and was faithful to bring them home and rebuild the temple and wall even though decades had passed. I believe the Lord to be doing something great like this for all of us..........maybe some molds just need to broken first. Some wrong identities need to be forgotten, some bad habits replaced, and new character established.

Above all, our God is faithful and He always remembers!

Dreamer pt 2-The Development Years

2011-09-07T09:54:00.000-07:00

I left off in my last blog sharing some things about how incredibly long this journey has been. It has been a serious endeavor of mine for 12 years. And let me stress, 12 REALLY long years! If you know anything about the music industry, you can appreciate that struggle. In the music industry, an artist is considered 'over the hill' in terms of getting their big break about the age of 25! That age might actually be a little too high because in all honesty it's probably closer to the 22 age mark now. So, if you are over 30, it literally takes a miracle to get you through the door. But, as many of you know, God is not so much concerned about age as he is spiritual maturity. And let me just put it this way, I had a lot of growing up to do before God would allow me to step into this calling.

Today I just want to give you some tips about how to walk through those long, sometimes lonely, development years. First of all, Jesus said in Luke 14:28 that we should count the costs before we decide to build something. I meet and teach a lot of teens that know they want to do music for the rest of their lives and they have huge dreams just like I did. I don't want to discourage them the way that I was but I do want them to have a healthy view of what their dream is and what it isn't. They should know up front that it is going to be a long, difficult road to travel but not impossible. It will take hard work and consistency and repeatedly getting out of your comfort zones. The fulfillment of the dream may look different that what was first envisioned. It probably won't be red carpet and limo's awaiting you at your gigs. Sometimes you will have to stand on your own two feet without others helping you. It's not easy, but if the dream is truly God-inspired, it is possible through God's power. So remember to count the costs before you dive in head first to your dream. It will cost you something, actually it will probably cost you everything. I put all of my resources into my dream to get me where I am today. It didn't just cost money, it cost time and lots of energy.

Secondly, take as much time as necessary to develop your gifts, talents and abilities. Don't mistakenly assume that you already know everything about what you are good at. I'm telling you, for every 'great' singer out there singing, there are probably thousands of 'good' ones. So what does that mean exactly? It means that our aim is to be great at something, not just good. People respect greatness and appreciate the time it took you to get there, and they are willing to pay you for your services. It's not a competition, but you owe it to yourself, the Lord and the audiences that you will be performing for to give them your absolute best. I invested thousands of dollars in vocal lessons, some guitar lessons, songwriting conferences and countless hours writing and rehearsing those songs.

Lastly, don't get in a hurry! That's hard not to do in our fast food, microwave society. We get mad if we have to wait at a red light more than 2 minutes or if the waiter isn't at our table within a few minutes of being seated, right? But the truth is, God has a season for everything and waiting serves its purpose in developing our character. Not only do our physical abilities and talents have to be developed but our spiritual walk must be as well. We have to be ready and able to handle the life that comes along with the dream God has given us. The character must be strong enough to withstand the constant pressure. Enjoy your life, right where you are. God will provide the opportunities that you are ready for and as you grow, the opportunities will as well.

Dreamer Pt 1

2011-08-29T08:58:00.000-07:00

All of my life I have been dreamer. At the age of 3 I had already determined that I wanted to be a singer. I drove my parents crazy with my constant singing all of the time. I was a microphone hog for sure. The love for music and singing was there before I even knew Jesus. I dreamed of singing as "what I wanted to do when I grew up" often. When adults would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up I would often tell them, "I want to be a singer." To which they would reply, "O that's nice but what do you REALLY want to be?" as if my choice wasn't a legitimate choice. Of course these adults knew something I didn't, it takes a lot of time, patience and consistency to walk out a dream like that AND to get paid to do it is a whole other story. That desire never left me, even as I grew older. I was very involved at my church singing as much as possible and at school events. As I got older I played trumpet and eventually become Drum Major at my school. I couldn't seem to separate myself from music. I remember sharing with a teacher of mine during my Junior year in High School that I wanted to be a singer and he laughed. In very straight forward terms he told me that is was pretty much impossible because singing wasn't a real career. I heard this from other very well-intentioned adults so I came to the conclusion that maybe I should come back to reality and find a more practical career that paid better.

And settle I did. I decided my senior year in high school to go to school for business. I thought it was a safe career to land on and could pretty much be used for anything really. It paid pretty well I suppose. As life would have it, because I got married so young, I wasn't able to finish college at that time in my life. My husband and I needed the income so I went to work at a bank. At the same time I continued to take a few night classes toward my business degree. I did well in those classes and seemed to fit in well in the banking industry. However, after about 2 years of being there, I began to get really anxious. The Lord began to wake me up in the middle of the night with songs. I would hear melodies and lyrics in my head so I would go to a piano and work the songs out. As I keep working this passion for music and songwriting kept getting stronger and stronger as it kept coming to the surface more frequently.

Soon after, I picked up a guitar and learned how to play and my songwriting abilities kept growing. I began performing in my community and at my church. The desire to play music and write songs had gotten so strong that I began to despise my day job. I had to force myself to work. While at work I would find myself writing songs on scratch pads at my desk and day dreaming about my next 'gig'. Things kept escalating and I formed my first band. Our platform began to grow and it seemed like I was on my way to doing this full-time. I began to really develop myself as a singer and songwriter. I didn't realize that this would take some 10 years to accomplish!

Walking out my dream didn't happen overnight. But I can say, it is happening for me now. After 12 years of writing songs, ministering those songs, developing the gifts and letting God change my character I am finally at a point of reaping my harvest. It's been an incredibly hard journey, full of lots of breaks, bumps and bruises but God has been faithful to pick me up every time, even the times that I gave up for a season. I want to encourage you today not to give up on the dream God has put inside of you, no matter how far away it may seem. Your dream is not just for you, but others as well. The dream inside of you was put there by God as a solution for someone else's pain.

I will be sharing more on this in the weeks to come.

Be Blessed and keep dreaming!

Hi ya'll :-)

2011-03-03T17:08:00.000-08:00

I thought I would just write a "what's going on with us" blog this time. Nothing super-spiritual, just information and for those of you that pray for our ministry I will give you some specific things to pray for. So, with that said I will dive right in!

After 6 years of owning our own business, my husband and I felt the Lord leading us to close that down to go into full time ministry. We took that leap of faith on January 1 of this year. What a wild ride that has been but the Lord continues to provide for us in such unexpected ways. I wish I could say that I have so many concerts and ministry events to cover the monthly income we need, but that's not the case. We are staying fairly busy with ministry, but of course not as busy as we'd like to be. We are learning what it means to truly live by faith. Without a consistent income you learn how to rely on God for all of your needs.

We have been mainly focused on Texas but we are about to expand our reach to a National level. We greatly desire your prayers for favor and financial provision as we set out to complete the great task ahead of us. For those of you that don't know my husband, Cameron, is preacher so we work as a team. God has recently been opening many doors for us to work together and this has been very rewarding. Our daughter is also a part of our ministry serving beside me many times to sing and pray for those in need. We are excited to begin really touring this summer, possibly with the Extreme Tour. I am currently being considered to partner with this tour this summer for nation-wide events.

We are also gearing up for a missions trip this summer to Liberia. This is a country that was torn by civil war for many years but is currently experiencing peace. Many young people were damaged by the effects of this war so we are going to encourage them as well as help build a mid-wife clinic, community outreach, ministry and of course music! We will be donating instruments to leave for the musicians there to play as they currently do not have any. If you would like to partner with us, we would love that!! We need to raise $18,000 to take our entire team to Liberia this July. You can donate here on my site with a simple, fast and convenient method.

Please keep us in your prayers!!

God Bless

Dealing with Disappointment

2011-01-04T15:01:00.000-08:00

Disappointment- A feeling of dissatisfaction that results when your expectations are not realized. wordnetweb.com

Unfortunately, many of us will find ourselves in a place of disappointment from time to time. It's inevitable, but ever so painful. What do you do when you have misplaced your hopes or have mismatched your hopes? By mismatching I mean putting your hopes in something that cannot within itself produce the desired result. Yes I admit I am as guilty as the next person about putting my hopes into things, ideas or plans that more than likely will fail. I don't think we should deny the effects of disappointment or teach people that they should NEVER be disappointed. I mean disappointment can have a positive effect. Take for example the fact that Thomas Edison was disappointed 9,999 times before developing the light bulb. But instead of yielding to the discouragement he only let the failures teach him what he was doing wrong. So, with each failed attempt he was accurately assessing what DID NOT work.

Isn't that how life can be sometimes? It seems like everyday we get to add another mark on our 'failure' list. Another failed relationship, financial flop, or ministry catastrophe. Sometimes it would be so easy to call it quits. That's exactly what our enemy wants us to do. Give up. Quit. Who cares? What difference are we making anyway, right? I am sure Joseph felt that way when he had all but taken up residence in prison because he had been falsely accused. Or maybe David felt that way when, for the 100th time, Saul was yet again chasing him, seeking to destroy the very life of his most loyal subject. What about Paul-I am sure he thoroughly enjoyed being beaten, flogged, stoned etc, and all by the people he was trying to help. I wonder how many times all of these Biblical figures felt like everything they had done was in vain and they were a complete failure. They were people just like us.......full of faith AND fear. Doing their very best with what little information they had been given.

Sometimes the only word we receive from the Lord is, "Go", or "Do" but we don't exactly know how or when. The only way we can achieve it is by taking small steps day by day in the direction He said to move. Phillipians 2:13 says, "for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure."

Might I suggest the following steps on dealing with disappointment:

1) Listen for the voice of God. Jesus said His sheep would hear and know His voice. If the words you are hearing are not from God, then they are either your flesh talking or the enemy. If they are your flesh, you may just need some rest or a break. If it's the voice of the enemy...well you know what to do

2) Ask yourself, "What could I learn or take from this situation that can help me next time around?" That may not be the approach you want to take, but if you will de-personalize the situation and realize that there could be something the Lord wants you to learn, it can make the experience less painful.

3) Realize YOU can't make it happen! We are not the miracle workers, Christ is!! Don't stress out over things you cannot control. The stress can be blocking the answer. Pray about it in faith, not fear, and leave it at Christ's feet to deal with.

4) Have faith! Seriously, it's that simple. Our fight is the Fight of Faith. Our job is not to win the battle, Jesus already did that. We are to stand on His victory and wait for His direction in our lives.

If you are experiencing disappointment, it may be that you have given up to soon to see the dream fulfilled. There is nothing more tragic than that.......it's almost like a still born baby! All of that time developing, growing, laboring only to quit too soon! Thomas Edison was asked after 9000 failed attempts with the electric light bulb whether felt like a failure. However, it was the 10,000th attempt that was a success!! Praise God He didn't give up.

Dazed and Confused??

2010-11-18T14:40:00.000-08:00

What a pathetic excuse for a blogger I am these days! I think it's been an entire month since I last blogged. Anyway, it's been a crazy last month or so. Last weekend we played at 4 events over the course of a day and half. Needless to say we were all pretty exhausted but thankful for the opportunity! God has been doing some incredible things in our ministry that we are really excited about. But don't worry, I'm not posting an entire blog about it, just wanted to throw that out there.

I have been encountering some pretty incredible mental attacks recently and just wanted to encourage anyone else out there that might be going through some things right now that you don't understand. First of all, Hebrews 11:1 says faith comes by hearing, and hearing the word of God. For many people, that is probably the source of their frustrations. Their lack of hearing God's voice is giving way to feelings of confusion and doubt. We were made to be in constant fellowship with the Father. We crave it, long for and will practically do anything to fill that void. How can you hear God's word? Of course you can read it for yourself, which most people obviously know. However, we cannot be detached from the Body of Christ and think that we are ok and don't need that fellowship. Jesus uses His body, the church, to minister to itself. Just think about it: If one part of your body is hurting, another part of your body will come to the aid of it. Every part of the body has a function that benefits the rest of the body. Don't rob yourself of the blessings that could be yours by choosing not to get involved in a body of believers. You aren't just robbing yourself but you are robbing others of blessings.

Secondly, Lean on Jesus, don't try to be self-sufficient! I love the scripture I read this morning " Who is this coming up from the wilderness leaning on her beloved?" Song of Solomon 8:5. The Lord reminded me that I can do nothing apart from Him (John 15) but I want to so desperately sometimes. You know to feel that I can do something on my own would be such an accomplishment right? That's the wold's logic....be strong be independent. That philosophy is highly overrated and incredibly exhausting! Who can keep up with that? Even Superman would fall behind at some time or another! I am tired of trying to be self-sufficient........leaning on Jesus for everything is so much easier. He carries the burden. He provides the solutions. He fixes everything that I can't. He gives the strength and the resolve. He gives.......we receive. It's almost too good to be true!

Finally, enjoy where you are right now! A dear friend of mine who as gone on to be with the Lord used to always say,"Things are always subject to change." I would pour my heart out to her about how awful my life was at the moment and she would always remind me that at any moment things could change. However, change doesn't always bring happiness, I later found out. Happiness is determined by our perspective. Honestly, we would be happy no matter what was going on if we trusted the Lord. Faith leads to trusting, trusting leads to complete and total joy because we don't have the responsibility of having all of the answers or fixing the situation. We just let our daddy do it!

Seriously, if we knew how much we are loved by God, all of this wouldn't matter. Nothing can EVER separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus!!

Be Blessed!

"Undone" Shana Strange

2010-10-26T09:38:00.000-07:00

The Power of Forgiveness

2010-10-18T15:06:00.000-07:00

No one can truly and accurately place a value on forgiveness. Its value cannot be truly accounted for or measured. Think about it, without God's forgiveness in your life where would you be right now? Or more importantly, who would you be? Forgiveness was our pathway to freedom and every good and perfect thing from God that we enjoy right now. Christ was the atonement and the passover lamb so that we could be forgiven and enjoy a beautiful life.

Jesus said we should forgive others their trespasses just as our Father in Heaven has forgiven ours. Sometimes we focus too much on the fact that we need to forgive somebody instead of remembering that we were forgiven first by God. When we remember that He extended forgiveness to us first, we are reminded of just how human and flawed we are. Imagine this, a perfect God, completely sinless and all-knowing forgave you. He has never trespassed against you or harbored jealousy, anger, envy, or hatred in His heart against you. He has never done anything wrong toward you. His thoughts for you are for your good, not for your destruction. Now see yourself, all of your flaws, mess ups, sinful behaviors and lack of righteousness. Visually see God extend forgiveness to You, something you did not deserve and probably didn't think you needed, all because He wanted to bless you and give you a wonderful life! Wow, what an image! It really brings into perspective the power of forgiveness. Forgiveness releases inherent blessings into our life that multiply and cause us to live the kind of life we were created to have.

The reverse is also true. Un-forgiveness leads to bitterness. Bitterness is toxic and produces all kinds of negative bi-products in our life. It will stop the flow of God's blessings into our lives. This is why the Lord is so adamant about us forgiving others, so that we can continue to enjoy His blessings. Forgiveness is for our benefit. It also important to note the quickness with which un-forgiveness leads to bitterness. Hebrews 12:15 says,"See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble." Roots of bitterness have a supernatural rate at which they "spring" forth in our lives. Unhealthy root growth can be compared to the analogy that bad news spreads faster than good news. If bitterness is to be stopped it must be stopped quickly before it has time to produce rotten fruit in our lives. What is this rotten fruit? The fruit of bitterness yields strife, contentions, a toxic thought life which can even lead to health related problems, and misery. In the end, you lose because you are being held captive, chained to unforgiveness and bitterness is your only companion. The truth is you have been snared by satan and robbed of peace, health and joy all because you refuse to forgive someone else. It's not worth it!

You can turn it all around today by remembering how much you have been forgiven and then extending that forgiveness to others. When you do, the blessings of God will overtake you.

The Power of Perfect Love

2010-09-27T10:08:00.000-07:00

Is there anything worse than being misunderstood? What a slap in the face it is to have someone completely misunderstand your actions....especially when they were pure and for the benefit of others. What do you do when you have followed God's will and instead of everything working out for all parties involved you are utterly thrust into a really sticky situation full of raw human emotions and pain? What you thought would bring joy and blessings seems to have brought pain and discouragement.

Today I read Isaiah 53: 8,"But He(Jesus) was struck down for the rebellion of my people." and vs 12, "He was counted among the rebels. He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels." I was drawn to the word 'rebel' and "rebellion." I couldn't escape the word or get it out of my mind. I read the entire chapter a couple of times to get a better meaning........finally I saw where the Lord was taking me. He was taking me to the garden of Gethsemane.....that lonely place that no one wants to go but every christ follower will be called to sooner or later. It's the place of the battle of our will. What will we choose.....God's will or ours? Whom will we serve, ourselves or God? What cause will we fight for, ours or the cause of Christ? Jesus had to answer these questions too....and they weren't exactly easy for Him either. Especially in light of the fact that He was completely misunderstood and not just by His enemies, but those closest to Him (Matt. 16:21-23)

Pain inevitably follows misunderstandings and for whatever reason we always feel the need to make things "right" and be the peacemaker. However, Jesus didn't opt for this peacemaker mentality in this particular situation. He responded to Peter's chastisement with ,"Get behind me, satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's." Wow what a blow to Peter, or so it would seem. However, if you re-examine the text, Jesus never spoke to Peter, He spoke to Satan! Jesus' problem was not with Peter, but with Satan whom had deceived Peter. Jesus addressed His response to the real problem at hand. And so it should be with us. When misunderstandings happen, and they will, remember to speak with love to the parties involved but refuse to allow Satan any access into the situation. In your prayer times, remember to put him in his place and still love the person. Intercede for the person, pray for them, and don't act out of pain or let your response do even more damage to the situation. Remember that deception is probably involved at some level in the situation.

Perfect love casts out fear (I John 4:18), or love that has reached full maturity. A person that has reached "perfect" love is a person who is mature in their understanding of God's love and is allowing that love to operate through them. Sometimes perfect love is holding your tongue instead of defending yourself, praying more and talking to others less, or thinking right thoughts instead of wrong ones. Perfect or mature love, is the only thing that can turn a really bad situation into something beautiful. Want proof? Just read about Peter's life AFTER the crucifixion.......he drastically changed for the better and became one of the pillars of our faith! If Jesus would have caved into Peter's fear and misunderstanding or anyone else's for that matter, you and I wouldn't be part of this great family of believers! Choose love over fear today :)

The Power of Weakness

2010-09-22T10:28:00.000-07:00

   I have issues. I see them everyday when I look in the mirror. I am reminded of them every time I fail at a task or a relationship. I sometimes feel a bit overwhelmed by everything I'm not! However, the older I get the more I seem to grasp the concept of God's power perfected through my weakness. Rest assured I don't fully walk in unbridled truth in this area, but I am definitely progressing to a place of self forgiveness and freedom in this area.

   In fact, as I search the Bible, I see others before me that also struggled with this incredible monster. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 12: 7, "....to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me-to keep me from exalting myself!" But why was it necessary-this harsh precautionary measure taken against Paul's FLESH? Remember, Paul said it was a thorn in his flesh? He also referred to it as a messenger of satan! Wow, not just one or the other but both! Not only was this some kind of a physical issue (unless he was just speaking figuratively) but it also seemed to be a mental struggle. Whatever this was, it had caused tremendous pain in the life of Paul! Pain that seemed so acute that he cried out to God 3 times, actually the word he uses here is 'implore' which means to ask, beseech or entreat. The word takes on a more serious note than just a casual request made to the Lord. Paul was in serious discomfort and was very inconvenienced.

   Have you ever felt that way? Maybe you are doing what the Lord has called you to do, but you are being attacked physically, persecuted, oppressed, or are just weary and exhausted. Paul was doing exactly what the Lord had called Him to do. Why didn't God "clear the way" for him-you know give him favor and a problem free life so he could focus on his calling? Shouldn't God do that for you? Just snap His fingers and take away all of your problems in one instant. No more financial worries, relationship struggles or health issues? Oh to be free of such things seems to be the answer right? Of course it would be if we lived in a perfect world without sin! But we don't. We were born into sin and have to CHOOSE to get out of it! Paul goes on to say in vs 9 that the Lord told him, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." The sufficiency of God's grace is something we may never understand. Our pride gets in the way so many times. We want to have all the answers for everything, be our own saviour, and hero of our world! We want to do the impossible just so we can have the applause of men and the fame that we so desperately crave! The attention makes us feel important and needed. However, if we walk out that flawed philosophy of life, we will find ourselves still starving at the end of our life. We would eventually realize that the acceptance we were really longing for was from a perfect God that isn't looking for perfection from us! He loves us just because He is love. He can't help Himself! We can't impress Him with our perfect lives filled with success and incredible accomplishments! Our lofty prayers don't alter His impression of us. He is moved by our honesty with Him, by our outright cry for mercy and grace! Psalm 51: 6 says, "You desire truth in the innermost being." Honest and earnest prayer always finds the ear of God!

   Something incredible will begin to transpire as we begin to let God alter our perception of weakness. At first, it's an incredible inconvenience that we despise and pray for it's demise. However, the longer we walk with God, we see that our weakness continually drive us back to His cross. Back to our knees, prayer closets, humility and a place of total dependence on God. It's in this weakness that God's power begins to manifest. His power begins to work through us transforming us from the inside out. We begin to realize the journey of pain that we are on is just as important as the destination we are trying to reach. Our weakness is a tool that the Lord uses to remind us just how much we need Him. The best thing we can do is just accept it! When we are weak He is strong :)

Born for adversity

2010-06-30T20:14:00.000-07:00

Who wrote the manual that said life should be easy? That it should ebb and flow with the tide of our choosing, we should be the artist controlling each stroke or shading. Maybe before the fall adversity and difficulties did not exist. Neither did time as far as we are concerned. Oh to be free from the constraints of constantly rubbing against the friction of this life......what joyful bliss......pain-free living to be sure. However, our creator in His infinite wisdom, saw our need to have free choice and here we now sit in our predicament of pain prefacing glory. Our choices have costs us so much that our Savior had to give His life to redeem us to our former state of sonship.

In walks adversity, taking it's cue and finding it's seat. Romans 8:29 states, "For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren," The high calling of every christian is to be conformed to the image of God's son. So exactly how is it that the Lord conforms us to His image? Adversity was created by God, as much as we are reluctant to admit it. Are we ridiculous enough to believe that God made a mistake when He created satan? Of course not, even satan has a purpose that God is using and has been using to this day. So if we believe God created adversity then we can easily see that it is used by God to shape us into the glorious image of Jesus Christ.

Yes it's true.......we were born for adversity. I have come to this conclusion, without adversity hero's would never be born or developed. There would simply be no need for them. We would never change, grow, develop, mature without constant challenge. But oh how we dread it, we shudder beneath it's weight, find ways to bypass it if at all possible! And we beg and plead with God to remove our "thorn" so that we could fully devote our lives to Him without any hinderance. Usually these highly emotional outbursts we make are followed by periods of silence as our creator waits for us to remember just how sufficient He is.

But what if, just what if, we welcomed adversity. Maybe saw it as a friend stopping by for a few minutes instead of an intruder we must attack and destroy. What if for a moment we saw our difficult circumstances, situations, etc. as a tool God is using to shape us, not destroy us. What if we be-friended adversity so to speak, maybe even give it a name and a place in our life?

That is something to think about for sure.

Today

2010-06-18T08:54:00.001-07:00

What could you do today that would promote positive self worth in your life? What activities could you participate in that would boost your self esteem instead of destroy it?

The activities that you partake in daily reveal the way the you truly feel about yourself. Some of us might spend the day making bad choices that will result in feeling even worse about ourselves. This type of behavior is a downward spiral that eventually will lead to inactivity in our lives or such a damaged perception of ourselves that we become stale. The bottom line is this: how you see yourself determines how you treat yourself!

So I suggest:

1) Learn through scripture how God sees you- find scriptures that reveal God's thoughts about you. Some of my favorite are Psalm 139, Ecclesiastes 3:11, and Ephesians 2:10. Post them everywhere around you and say them several times a day until you believe them.

2) Connect with other people that have overcome low self esteem- This network is a great place for that (www.thepinkdress.ning)

3) Put your faith into action- Faith without works is dead, likewise works apart from faith are ineffective, thus the reason you must put the word in your heart first. Once you believe you are who God says you are, you can begin to reach toward those dreams that God has put in your heart! However, as long as you don't believe that you can do anything you see things through tunnel vision. If you can begin to believe that you are who God says you are, you can accomplish the impossible with His help.

What can you do right now to start this process?