You must have Faith.

Faith

#Love365 is making a difference! If you are participating in the #Love365 movement and have positive reports to tell...do share! I would love to hear some of the ways in which you are showing love EVERY day.

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The topic for this blog is Faith.  I'm sure many of you have some amazing stories of how you prayed...and God answered! There is nothing like sending a prayer from your mouth to Gods ears and having it answered. Not only answered but things work out in such a way that you KNOW it's only God because of how smooth and effortless things just fall into place! 

Prayer must be backed up by faith. Once you send your request or petition to God you have to believe by faith that if that request is indeed in His will...it SHALL be answered. You can't doubt. You have to stand firm and believe that it will all work out for your good. You have to have faith that despite what you see God knows all and will come to your rescue. 

What do I mean by that? Let me give you my testimony: I recently encountered several things that seemed to be coming at me all at once! Things that I could not do myself and things that I know only God could resolve or make happen. For those of you who know me...you know I am a work in progress when it comes to worry. But hey, who isn't. *smile* I knew that the only way things would work out was if God himself did it. No money, scheme, resource or person could do it. I worried, I cried, I lost sleep, I was feeling down and it all just consumed me. Then one day in service it hit me..."Wait, I don't have to worry when I can pray." It really was that simple once I came to my senses. I wrote the items on a piece of paper. I prayed and told God I could not fix any of them on my own. I threw the pieces of paper in the trash on my way out of church promising that I would NOT take them back home! I would not worry or lose anymore sleep over things I had NO control over. It felt so liberating to cast my situations on God and not worry. I slept so well that night and we had a wonderful day after church. I'm not saying they never crossed my mind from time to time but when they did, I prayed and let them go. Within a few weeks God had answered my prayers! Thank you JESUS!

Lesson Learned: Sometimes in life things will happen that you cannot handle or control on your own. As humans we always want to fix things on our own. I believe God lets certain things come to us to show us that we must depend on Him. People say, "God won't put more on you than you can handle." I don't believe that! I think He DOES...because it's in THOSE times that we realize we are not God! We must depend on Him and he knows exactly what situations to use to show us that. Life will put your back against the wall and you have no place else to turn BUT to God. He does that so when He does move there is NO way you can explain it away to anything or anyone else. Those tests are faith builders. You have to trust that if God did it before He can and will do it again! 

What are you praying for? Do you have the faith to back up your prayer? Try it and see just how amazing God is! I am a living testimony of how prayer AND faith WORKS!

Have a super day! Love you all.

Chanel-

Love. Life. Joy.

Love. Life. Joy

Happy Valentine's Day 2012!

Love: A powerful motivator. Love will make you feel on top of the world...or down in the dumps. Love is something everyone desires. Love must be nurtured and cherished each and every day. Make the commitment to "Love 365" days a year. That is the key to really experiencing the fullness that love has to offer. I call it Love in the bank. Making deposits to your Love account on sunny days so when the storms come you can borrow a little sunshine to get you through. Love with no expectations. Love when it's unexpected. Love like the person will not be here from one moment to the next. Love unconditional. I've dedicated to the "Love 365 Challenge." I will do something everyday to show my love and dedication. Just little things…nothing big or grand. Simply small gestures of love to cherish each and every day you are blessed to have it. Paint her fingernails, leave a love note in his/her lunch bag, sing a song, write a poem...the simple small things to show them love. I challenge you all to do the same. So, Get Busy "Loving!"

Life: Has a funny way of happening when we are trying to figure it all out. It constantly does what it is intended to do....go on. Life is unique in that it has already been scripted. We are just mere cast members in the ever evolving production. Life is precious. Life is filled with ups and downs. Life can bring you to your knees and produce blows that can literally take your breath away. Life can bring you so much happiness, excitement, and some of the BEST moments you've ever experienced. Life is unpredictable. One minute you have not a care in the world...the next all hell has broken loose! The one thing we all know is that we only get ONE life to live so we must make the best of it.

Joy: The biggest of them all. And purpose of this blog. As we celebrate Valentine's Day we must keep love and life in perspective. Humanly love may come and go. You may have the perfect Valentine or none at all. Love may have you on top of the world today! Love may also have you cringing at the sight of a red balloon or flowers. Love and Life may have you in a place where you really will just be glad when February 14th is OVER. As unpredictable and fickle as life and love are...there is nothing like Joy. Joy comes from within. Joy is the peace within even when love and life aren't a bed of roses. Joy is knowing that no matter what's going on around you there is inner peace. 

God gives Joy. External circumstances and people give you happiness. Joy is something God promised to give us and NEVER take away regardless of how we act, what we do or what decisions we make. Happiness is temporary. It is contingent upon people, life and circumstances. We have money...we are happy. We have love...we are happy. We have great heath...we are happy. Everything is going according to our plans...we are happy.

You have JOY no matter what. Strive to embrace Joy in everything. Joy is priceless. It will make the difference in your attitude, outlook and responses. I hope this helps someone. I know it helped me :)

Enjoy your Valentine's day!

(I love you Sweetpea)

Chanel-

Transparency Series #1

I wanted to do something different.

This Blog isn't my typical entry.


I decided to do a blog entry just to get my thoughts recorded. I will call it my "Transparency Series." I realize that blogs are more authentic when people get to read/see vulnerability in the writer. So much has happened in the past two weeks. Some really wonderful things and some things I wish would just go away! I can say that my faith has increased here lately because for the first time in my life I realize I cannot do this thing called life without handing things over to God. I would literally worry myself into an early grave. It's like, when something goes wrong I obsess over it. Worrying about how I'm going to "fix" it..what will the outcome be? Things like that. I had to stop and say. "If I keep down this road...I'm going to cause all kinds of health problems and probably not live a authentic life." So, I decided to release control. I do what I can...and I make sure I'm living the best life I can...but other than that..I release the need to fix problems, my future or anything therein. I just can't do it. I know this is exactly where God wanted me to be all along. I just had to get tired of being tired. I must add...I have peace with it all and I like this feeling :)
For the first time in my life I'm seriously considering hanging up my school career. I have my AS and my BS degree. I am 30 credits into my MS. I'm an "A" student and school comes easy for me. But..I'm tired. My attention span at 35 is NOT the same as it was at 25. These late night 11pm classes are killing me! Especially since I've been up since 6am and had to put in 8 hours at my full-time job! It's just too much at this point. I'm going to be married soon and prayerfully having my first kid this year. School just doesn't fit into the picture anymore. I know people will say.."you're SO close to finishing!" But, they are not the ones literally waking up after a long night in school wanting to cry when it's time to get up for work the next morning. If it's meant for me to go back at some point in my life, I will. For now...I'm really just feeling like that season is over for me.
I have faith that things will work out for EVERYTHING I'm facing in this season. The baby, job, school, house, finances, health...everything. Faith is not a feeling. It's believing that despite what you see...you believe that somehow, some way...God will make a way and come through on your behalf. As He's done SO many times before.

Tired.
Expecting The Great.