belief

Your Value

Published on January 13, 2024January 12, 2024 by amylinnea3 Comments

Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. Ephesians 1:4

You are capable. You are confident. You belong here.

Recently shared those words with a loved one, who was questioning her abilities.

When she repeated them, a smile broke out across her face.

She was reminded of her value.

When walking into a new situation, lack of confidence is normal.

You can begin to question if you’re even capable.

If you actually belong.

When we lose the belief in ourself, our outward actions tend to mirror our timidity.

We become shy. We fumble around, grasping at straws. We actually don’t belong when acting like so.

Do you believe who God says you are?

Because that’s where your confidence ultimately rests.

It’s where your words of belonging were born.

Before God made this world, He thought of us.

It’s like God smiled when you entered His mind, before anything on earth existed.

You are that important.

Knowing this, you can live from this truth.

You are capable. You are confident. You belong here.

Now it’s your turn to smile.

Photos by Brendan Beale, Madison Oren, Bethany Laird, & Ben White on Unsplash

Gardens

Published on June 25, 2022June 24, 2022 by amylinnea2 Comments

I’m so excited. We have a garden!

Ever plant one?

I’ve always loved planting flowers, but I’m talking food.

Growing your own food. Like actually growing literal food.

We grew some tomatoes and jalapeño peppers last year.

While that was fun, this year’s garden is even funner. 😉

We have acorn squash trying to spread their vines over everything else.

Carrot seeds looking lovely, their soft green tops reaching high above the soil.

Watermelon, pumpkins, cucumbers, herbs, and a whole box of flower seeds!

Tomato plants sprouting up from throwing old tomatoes into the garden soil last fall.

We won’t discuss our sad strawberry plants, yielding a total of 3 strawberries so far.

You get the point. We have 96 square feet of growing goodness. I can’t wait.

How’s your garden? Need to yank some weeds? Redirect your plans back to God?

We all have seeds cast our direction, that with the right ingredients, can take root.

Believing a lie, confirming it with situations, watering it with self-pity. That root would be hard to yank.

Yet, immediately refusing a lie planted in your head, would remove it instantly.

Fertilizing your garden with God’s truth and wisdom would then create a garden where sin’s seeds fail to take root. Or would at least take more effort.

Is your garden full of God’s truth? Are you able to yank these weeds easily?

Gardens like that regularly see fruit. Sometimes there’s a drought, but it’s not because the soil is ugly.

Or is your garden soil so full of weeds, truth can hardly begin to grow?

Squash and cucumber vines love to grasp anything they can, clinging to the next plant in their path.

We must be diligent to shape the vines, freeing the plants they wish to cling.

Like those vines, we must be careful to keep our garden free from not only weeds, but things in our life that want to choke out everything else. Even the good things.

Time to put on your gardening gloves, tie that sun hat around your neck, and dig into the dirt.

Gardens only flourish with purpose. And your garden, hidden within your heart, will only flourish with God.

Photos by Kelly Neil, Kenan Kitchen, Bonnie Kittle, Markus Spiske, & Zoe Schaeffer on Unsplash

Published on August 31, 2019June 9, 2023 by amylinneaLeave a comment

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in Me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. John 14:12

How high is your belief?

Belief in God.

Belief in His goodness.

Belief in His faithfulness.

Belief in your God-given gifts.

How much do you believe?

How deep?

I can say things until I’m blue in the face.

Others can share God’s truth over and over.

But unless you take His words into your heart, they mean nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

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We all have our own choices.

To believe God or not.

To believe Him when things are rolling along nicely.

But to also believe Him when you’re plodding along in a deep dark forest.

How deep is your belief?

Even when you cannot feel His hand, do you know He’s still there?

Even when you’re disappointed yet again, do you look instead to His faithfulness?

It’s normal to flip a bit.

To flip on belief when a doubt enters your brain.

A thought pops into your head, planting a doubt, and you respond like you almost agree.

Instead, when little doubts land on your arm, slap them like a mosquito, killing them on the spot.

Ain’t nobody got time for that.

Doubt that is.

Why?

Because doubt always leads to something else.

If you don’t immediately slap that doubt away, it stays in the corner of your mind, coming to the surface every so often.

Something else a few minutes or hours later will try to confirm that doubt.

Now you’ve got a bigger problem.

That “confirmed” doubt has doubled.

Folks, it only gets worse from there.

Doubts are believed when belief in ourselves overtakes our belief in God.

When we determine it’s up to us to be happy.

It’s up to us to solve our moments.

Our belief in God is the cornerstone of everything.

If we don’t believe He is enough, we search.

If we don’t believe He is faithful, we doubt.

If we don’t believe He is here, we panic.

Keep your belief deep, so your roots are well watered when the ground above is parched.

When life is cracked and dry, you will still thrive because your roots are well-watered.

Choose to deeply believe, because life is very real.

Photos by Liam Pozz, Jeremy Bishop, & Christopher Paul High on Unsplash

Belief

Published on December 1, 2018December 1, 2018 by amylinneaLeave a comment

Believe Me.

You are loved.

Valuable.

Unequaled.

Perfectly formed.

Made in My image.

Believe me.

I am here for you.

Always.

Continually by your side.

You are never forsaken by Me.

Ever.

Believe Me.

I have ordained your steps.

Your life is safe with me.

I know your every move.

Your going out and your coming in.

Nothing is hidden from Me.

Believe Me.

Because I believe in you.

Love, God

Photos by Matthew Smith, Thomas Quaritsch, & Elijah Hail on Unsplash

Posters

Published on March 3, 2018June 8, 2023 by amylinneaLeave a comment

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2

Satan loves to tell us lies.

The lies are not only whispered into our heads, but held up as posters.

The posters are so large, we cannot help but see the words that pull us into believing.

You are so ridiculous.

You are not loved.

Nobody cares.

You are such a disappointment.

Why does Satan love to feed us lies?

So we feel defeated.

Walking around ineffective.

Useless to the cause of Christ.

The posters he shows us are lies.

Why does he keep going, trying to change our course?

Because he’s scared.

He knows WHOSE we are.

He knows we KNOW the truth.

But will we act on it?

Will we act on the truth deep down we know is right?

Or will we succumb to his lies?

Will we succumb to the lies from the pit that were made to render us lifeless?

The ultimate choice is yours.

Are you going to make the evil one win with you today?

Or will you rise up and tear the posters in half, declaring, “Not today, Satan!”

Declaring to all instead, “It is well!”

Photos by Victoria Palacios, Mitchel Lensink, & Corinne Kutz on Unsplash

Beautiful Life

Published on February 3, 2018June 8, 2023 by amylinnea2 Comments

Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:18-19

God is waiting to walk you into your beautiful life.

Already there?

That’s awesome.

Truly a gift.

Some of us aren’t.

We want to, but we can’t.

Why?

Because we are holding onto remnants of the past.

Ashes.

Broken pieces we cannot seem to drop.

These burdens from the past beg us to cling to our old ways of thinking, of acting.

We cling because they are familiar.

Painful, but familiar.

Why is that comforting?

Because it’s the known vs the unknown.

Do you trust me?

God is asking that of us this day.

Do you really trust me?

Because if you do, you’ll give Him those ashes.

The deepest darkest places in your heart.

You’ll grab every last drop of darkness and pour it out into God’s open hands.

He wants your sadness.

He wants your burdens.

He wants your cares.

But do you trust Him?

Does He really have your back?

Has He planned the best for your future?

Yes.

Don’t believe me?

That’s ok.

Look to your details- your blessings in your life.

God is there, was there, and is here yet today.

Oh, and He’s in your future.

Whether it’s job loss, broken relationships, yearnings of your heart, recovery from surgery or anything else, God is waiting to take the worry from you.

He can see far beyond your vision.

Place it all into His hands.

Lean back, and trust Him.

And allow your precious smile to brighten your stunning face.

Welcome to your beautiful life.

Photos by Victoriano Izquierdo & Peter Hershey on Unsplash

Belief in the Garden

Published on January 6, 2018June 8, 2023 by amylinneaLeave a comment

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26

I have a question.

Why would Eve believe Satan over God?

Back in the garden.

At the very beginning of life.

Satan asked Eve if God had really said they could eat from every tree in the garden, except one.

He questioned Eve.

And Eve properly responded.

She relayed God’s message which included the warning not to eat from that special tree – or they would die.

You know the tree.

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

She told Satan God had said not to touch only that one tree.

But all the other trees were just fine!

Satan responded by merely stating the opposite of what God had said.

Satan declared Eve and Adam would not die.

In fact, he then proceeded to say they would become wise like God AND not die.

He played to her ego.

Who doesn’t want to be wise like God and know all things?

I know sometimes we act like we are that wise, but truth is, we are so not compared to Him!

Anyway, Satan asked Eve a question.

Eve answered with God’s truth.

Satan responded with a lie, which contradicted everything God had spoken over them.

God himself had spoken to Eve and Adam.

Literally spoken to them.

God regularly and literally spoke to them every day.

Seriously, wow!

Yet, somehow, Eve immediately believed Satan when he questioned God.

When Satan turned the words of God around, upside down, and inside out, Eve’s flesh demanded to be fed.

She instantly turned her back on her Creator and believed instead the pitiful snake.

I just wonder why.

We probably would have done the same thing.

But why?

Is it because she had wanted to eat from that tree and merely needed an excuse to do so?

Permission perhaps?

Had she thought about it before and was looking for her opportunity?

Why would she question God?

What had He done to betray her trust?

God had provided Eve everything she could possibly need.

And Adam, too.

But that was not enough.

When you are certain of the path God wants you to travel, keep walking.

Don’t stop and listen to the one who wishes death on everything you have and are.

Don’t let him whisper lies into your head, turning you from God’s truth you know is correct.

Trust instead in the Lord to keep His promises.

It’s all up to you.

What will you decide?

Photos by Studio Dekorasyon, Johann Siemens, Marius Masalar, & Yavor Punchev on Unsplash

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