Since before we were born, God has had a unique plan for each of us. It is not a plan of failure, misery, poverty, sickness or disease. God's plan is a good plan, a plan for life and health, happiness, and fulfillment.
It would benefit every one of us if we would say to ourselves several times a day, "God has a good plan for my life." Each of us needs to be firmly convinced of that truth to keep us from being affected by our changing circumstances and emotions.
Just remember that we have an enemy who is out to destroy God's wonderful plan. Satan uses people and circumstances, but they are not our real enemy; Satan is. He finds things and people through whom he can work and delights in watching us fight and war without ever realizing he is the source. We need to know our enemy...not only who he is, but what his character is like.
The Bible encourages us to know the character of God so we can place faith in Him and what He says. Likewise, we should know Satan's character so we do not listen to nor believe his lies.
I too am a character in God's story. At times I'd like to take a break from the drama. Three months off without stress would feel nice. But honestly wouldn't want a permanent break, because the story gives meaning to my life. I'm part of something great, far bigger than myself. And I trust God not only to bring the whole story together, but to do with my part of it what He knows to be best.
Blessings,
Dalinda
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Monday, July 11, 2011
How We Can Enjoy Life's Wild Ride
Roller coasters are designed to take you on a wild ride. One minute you're elated at how high the coaster has climbed. The next your stomach feels as though it's dropping through the floorbaords as you hurtle toward the ground. You can enjoy the experience because you're safe...as long as you remain in your seat.
Remaining in God is what allows you to fully enjoy the roller coaster ride of life. When you try to make life work on your own, it's easy to get hooked on the highs and fall to pieces during the lows. Your happiness ends up being dependent on your present circumstances.
Joy doesn't ride an emotional roller coaster. It helps you delight in God and life, regardless of your circumstances. Choose joy today by remaining in God's seat of safety. God's constant love for us will never let us down, no matter how things appear.
Joy isn't found through favorable circumstances, joy is found by choosing to remain close to God and his love through obedience. When we have joy, we see goodness even in unexpected places, including in persecution and suffering.
"You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, that I might sing praises to you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever!" Psalm 30:11-12
In His love,
Dalinda
Remaining in God is what allows you to fully enjoy the roller coaster ride of life. When you try to make life work on your own, it's easy to get hooked on the highs and fall to pieces during the lows. Your happiness ends up being dependent on your present circumstances.
Joy doesn't ride an emotional roller coaster. It helps you delight in God and life, regardless of your circumstances. Choose joy today by remaining in God's seat of safety. God's constant love for us will never let us down, no matter how things appear.
Joy isn't found through favorable circumstances, joy is found by choosing to remain close to God and his love through obedience. When we have joy, we see goodness even in unexpected places, including in persecution and suffering.
"You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, that I might sing praises to you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever!" Psalm 30:11-12
In His love,
Dalinda
Friday, July 8, 2011
In His Strength
I don't know a woman alive who is completely happy with her body!
I have always struggled with my weight. When I was a child my grandmother had to make my clothes for me. The children in my school would always make fun of me.
I didn't call them my friends, because if they were truly my friends, they wouldn't have made fun of me! I could have gone on a diet it I wanted to. I just wanted the other children to like me.
When I got to the 10th grade I made a decision to change my body. But I did it all for the wrong reasons. I did it so my peers would accept me. I had lost about 40 pounds by the time I was a senior in high school. I maintained my weight throughout college. I still had maintained my weight when I got married. But when I had my first baby, I put those 40 pounds back on.
I have tried many diets in my lifetime! But once I went off of those diets, my weight started creeping back on. It's easier to make excuses than changes! I couldn't eat like a athletic teenager and then complain about my extra layers of fluff.
This wasn't really about the scale or what clothing size I was; it was about this battle that raged in my heart. I turned to food for comfort instead of God.
When my mother was diagnosed with endometrial cancer in August 05' my eyes were opened to the fact that I needed to take better care of myself. In fact, my GYN told me that one of the top leading causes of cancer is being overweight. Being overweight leads to diabetes and both my parents were diabetic. Having diabetes was also one of the top conditions that lead to cancer.
I made my mind up that I was going to lose weight and keep it off so that I would be here to see my kids grow up and have kids, and see their kids have kids.
My mother passed away in December 06' and I was heartbroken! I struggled with losing weight, and not because I wasn't trying, because I truly was. I watched what I ate and I worked out on a regular basis.
About a year after mom's passing I became very depresssed...to the point where I had to take medication for it. I didn't know the person I had become. I missed my mother something awful, and I thought that was the sole reason for my depression. I was desperate! I cried out to God. I couldn't do this any longer in my own strength. I needed help!!!
After many medical tests, I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, which is an auto immune disease in which the thyroid gland is destroyed by a variety of cell and antibody mediated immune processes. In English, this means that my thyroid no longer produced the thyroid hormone that my body needed to function properly. It is the primary gland that keeps your metabolism working normally. So today, I am labeled as being hypothyroid.
Hypothyroidism has many symptoms: depression, trouble losing weight, being tired all the time, hair falling out, etc. There are to many to list them all.
I was depressed about losing my mother, but it was also because of my having hypothyroidism. I was put on Synthroid and was told that it would take a few months before my symptoms would subside.
After about 3 months I started to see a differnce in myself and in my weight. I still struggled some and rightly so, because my metabolism wasn't what it used to be.
I truly believe that God used my thyroid disorder to show me and others His power. I was always overweight and I could have changed that if I wanted to, but didn't. Then all of the sudden I truly tried to lose weight and couldn't. I wasn't doing it to please my peers...I was doing it for my health, for the right reason.
In His strength, I lost 56 pounds and am still maintaining it at 40. I feel and look better than I did when I was in my 20's. I really have to watch what I eat and workout at least 4 times a week to maintain my weight, but it is all worth it to stay healthy and to glorify God.
I'm not on a diet. I'm on a journey with Jesus!
In Him,
Dalinda
I have always struggled with my weight. When I was a child my grandmother had to make my clothes for me. The children in my school would always make fun of me.
I didn't call them my friends, because if they were truly my friends, they wouldn't have made fun of me! I could have gone on a diet it I wanted to. I just wanted the other children to like me.
When I got to the 10th grade I made a decision to change my body. But I did it all for the wrong reasons. I did it so my peers would accept me. I had lost about 40 pounds by the time I was a senior in high school. I maintained my weight throughout college. I still had maintained my weight when I got married. But when I had my first baby, I put those 40 pounds back on.
I have tried many diets in my lifetime! But once I went off of those diets, my weight started creeping back on. It's easier to make excuses than changes! I couldn't eat like a athletic teenager and then complain about my extra layers of fluff.
This wasn't really about the scale or what clothing size I was; it was about this battle that raged in my heart. I turned to food for comfort instead of God.
When my mother was diagnosed with endometrial cancer in August 05' my eyes were opened to the fact that I needed to take better care of myself. In fact, my GYN told me that one of the top leading causes of cancer is being overweight. Being overweight leads to diabetes and both my parents were diabetic. Having diabetes was also one of the top conditions that lead to cancer.
I made my mind up that I was going to lose weight and keep it off so that I would be here to see my kids grow up and have kids, and see their kids have kids.
My mother passed away in December 06' and I was heartbroken! I struggled with losing weight, and not because I wasn't trying, because I truly was. I watched what I ate and I worked out on a regular basis.
About a year after mom's passing I became very depresssed...to the point where I had to take medication for it. I didn't know the person I had become. I missed my mother something awful, and I thought that was the sole reason for my depression. I was desperate! I cried out to God. I couldn't do this any longer in my own strength. I needed help!!!
After many medical tests, I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, which is an auto immune disease in which the thyroid gland is destroyed by a variety of cell and antibody mediated immune processes. In English, this means that my thyroid no longer produced the thyroid hormone that my body needed to function properly. It is the primary gland that keeps your metabolism working normally. So today, I am labeled as being hypothyroid.
Hypothyroidism has many symptoms: depression, trouble losing weight, being tired all the time, hair falling out, etc. There are to many to list them all.
I was depressed about losing my mother, but it was also because of my having hypothyroidism. I was put on Synthroid and was told that it would take a few months before my symptoms would subside.
After about 3 months I started to see a differnce in myself and in my weight. I still struggled some and rightly so, because my metabolism wasn't what it used to be.
I truly believe that God used my thyroid disorder to show me and others His power. I was always overweight and I could have changed that if I wanted to, but didn't. Then all of the sudden I truly tried to lose weight and couldn't. I wasn't doing it to please my peers...I was doing it for my health, for the right reason.
In His strength, I lost 56 pounds and am still maintaining it at 40. I feel and look better than I did when I was in my 20's. I really have to watch what I eat and workout at least 4 times a week to maintain my weight, but it is all worth it to stay healthy and to glorify God.
I'm not on a diet. I'm on a journey with Jesus!
In Him,
Dalinda
Thursday, July 7, 2011
God Is Good...All The Time
Sometimes God's acts of goodness may appear harsh or even cruel. Sometimes He may be hard to understand.
In our world today, God's children need a reminder to trust Him when we don't undersatnd and nothing seems to make sence. God is bigger than our suffering. We can have hope as we place out trust in Him...in His faithfulness and His ability to work out in our lives His purposes that will be for our ultimate good and His eternal glory.
I want to share an analogy with you about a three-year-old boy who swallows poison. The father calls poison control, and they say, "You have to get him to the hospital. And whatever you do, don't let him fall asleep. If he falls asleep, he'll die."
It was a cold winter night. His father rushes the boy to the car, sits beside him in the front seat, and rolls all the windows down. The boy's head starts to drop. His father slaps him in the face. The boy cries. His head starts to nod again. The father slaps him again and again, all the way to the hospital.
Can the child understand why his father is slapping him in the face? Of course not. He's only three years old. His father, through his tears, says, "I love you, son." But if this is love, the boy doesn't want any more of it.
Even though the child does not understand, the father is acting in his son's best interests. The father is doing good. What the child considers cruelty is actually kindness. Is it possible that God shows his love for us in the midst of human suffering and like that three-year-old, we sometimes don't understand?
God can be good in the midst of chaos; He can be loving without bowing to our every wish or desire.
To say that God is good is not to say God will always appear to be good, or that when He is good we will always like Him for it. We just have to TRUST and BELIEVE that GOD IS GOOD...ALL THE TIME.
Blessings,
Dalinda
In our world today, God's children need a reminder to trust Him when we don't undersatnd and nothing seems to make sence. God is bigger than our suffering. We can have hope as we place out trust in Him...in His faithfulness and His ability to work out in our lives His purposes that will be for our ultimate good and His eternal glory.
I want to share an analogy with you about a three-year-old boy who swallows poison. The father calls poison control, and they say, "You have to get him to the hospital. And whatever you do, don't let him fall asleep. If he falls asleep, he'll die."
It was a cold winter night. His father rushes the boy to the car, sits beside him in the front seat, and rolls all the windows down. The boy's head starts to drop. His father slaps him in the face. The boy cries. His head starts to nod again. The father slaps him again and again, all the way to the hospital.
Can the child understand why his father is slapping him in the face? Of course not. He's only three years old. His father, through his tears, says, "I love you, son." But if this is love, the boy doesn't want any more of it.
Even though the child does not understand, the father is acting in his son's best interests. The father is doing good. What the child considers cruelty is actually kindness. Is it possible that God shows his love for us in the midst of human suffering and like that three-year-old, we sometimes don't understand?
God can be good in the midst of chaos; He can be loving without bowing to our every wish or desire.
To say that God is good is not to say God will always appear to be good, or that when He is good we will always like Him for it. We just have to TRUST and BELIEVE that GOD IS GOOD...ALL THE TIME.
Blessings,
Dalinda
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
You Were Made To Be A Blessing
We were created by God to be a blessing.
Every time you think anything good about anyone, verbalize it. People cannot read your mind. Your words can really lift them up and encourage them. All people need affirmation, especially those who are discouraged or hurting. We have more power than we realize we do! We can help people! Right words spoken at the right time have the power to heal. Proverbs 15:23 says, "A man has joy in making an apt answer, and a word spoken at the right moment--how good it is!"
Encouragement is a POWERFUL thing!
We experience joy in building others up. We are blessed in being a blessing!
In Him,
Dalinda
Every time you think anything good about anyone, verbalize it. People cannot read your mind. Your words can really lift them up and encourage them. All people need affirmation, especially those who are discouraged or hurting. We have more power than we realize we do! We can help people! Right words spoken at the right time have the power to heal. Proverbs 15:23 says, "A man has joy in making an apt answer, and a word spoken at the right moment--how good it is!"
Encouragement is a POWERFUL thing!
We experience joy in building others up. We are blessed in being a blessing!
In Him,
Dalinda
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Hope
Our suffering can be a source of hope to others.
By no means are we a substitute for God, but we do serve as his ambassadors. A Christian counselor David Powlison once said, " Although God alone is the blazing sun, we can be a 3-watt night light." In darkness even a tiny light can bring hope.
The fact that we've come through suffering may comfort those who don't even know us; indeed, it may help someone long after we've died. Who is being, and will be, touched by your suffering that you won't know about until eternity?
People hear the gospel best when it comes from those who have known difficulty. In 1 Corinthians 9:22, Paul says, "To the weak I became weak, to win the weak" Our suffering makes Jesus visible to the world. Our faithful suffering gives others courage to speak up for Jesus.
Suffering creates a sphere of influence for Christ that we couldn't otherwise have. E. Stanley Jones wrote, "Don't bear trouble, use it. Take whatever happens--justice and injustice, pleasure and pain, compliment and criticism...take it up into purpose of your life and make something out of it. Turn it into testimony."
Suffering gives us a way to credibily demonstrate the love of Christ. Larry Waters says, "How the believer deals with undeserved suffering may be the primary witness of God's goodness, justice, grace and love not only to the sufferer, but to a nonbelieving world."
Suffering gives family and friends who become caregivers an opportunity for character growth. In some cases it's not the sufferers but those around them who benefit most.
When I consider how both my parents' deteriorated at the end of their lives, I might argue that it wasn't worth it. Although at times I saw a clear spiritual impact in each situation. Through my parents' weakness, I grew in character, compassion, and love. Suppose I could ask my parents now, in the presence of Christ, "Were your suffering and your final years of indignity worth the character growth it brought about in you, me, and your grandsons and friends, and worth your and your family's spiritual impact on others, including caregivers? I can picture them, on the streets of gold, smiling and nodding emphatically.
A Romanian pastor Josef Tson once said, "The gospel will never be spread without someone suffering."
While it would be nice if our suffering would cease, we know God is more concerned with our souls and character than our comfort and happiness.
Blessings,
Dalinda
By no means are we a substitute for God, but we do serve as his ambassadors. A Christian counselor David Powlison once said, " Although God alone is the blazing sun, we can be a 3-watt night light." In darkness even a tiny light can bring hope.
The fact that we've come through suffering may comfort those who don't even know us; indeed, it may help someone long after we've died. Who is being, and will be, touched by your suffering that you won't know about until eternity?
People hear the gospel best when it comes from those who have known difficulty. In 1 Corinthians 9:22, Paul says, "To the weak I became weak, to win the weak" Our suffering makes Jesus visible to the world. Our faithful suffering gives others courage to speak up for Jesus.
Suffering creates a sphere of influence for Christ that we couldn't otherwise have. E. Stanley Jones wrote, "Don't bear trouble, use it. Take whatever happens--justice and injustice, pleasure and pain, compliment and criticism...take it up into purpose of your life and make something out of it. Turn it into testimony."
Suffering gives us a way to credibily demonstrate the love of Christ. Larry Waters says, "How the believer deals with undeserved suffering may be the primary witness of God's goodness, justice, grace and love not only to the sufferer, but to a nonbelieving world."
Suffering gives family and friends who become caregivers an opportunity for character growth. In some cases it's not the sufferers but those around them who benefit most.
When I consider how both my parents' deteriorated at the end of their lives, I might argue that it wasn't worth it. Although at times I saw a clear spiritual impact in each situation. Through my parents' weakness, I grew in character, compassion, and love. Suppose I could ask my parents now, in the presence of Christ, "Were your suffering and your final years of indignity worth the character growth it brought about in you, me, and your grandsons and friends, and worth your and your family's spiritual impact on others, including caregivers? I can picture them, on the streets of gold, smiling and nodding emphatically.
A Romanian pastor Josef Tson once said, "The gospel will never be spread without someone suffering."
While it would be nice if our suffering would cease, we know God is more concerned with our souls and character than our comfort and happiness.
Blessings,
Dalinda
Friday, July 1, 2011
God Is In Control
God is truly in control and if we believe it, we have nothing to fear.
When we spend our time worrying, we are spending our time saying that God isn't there, that He can't handle our problems...and that's just not true. Our will may not be His, but His is always better.
If we could only grasp that....God is in control, not your husband. God is in control, not your children or parents. God is in control, not your doctor. God is in control, not your boss. God is in control, not a terrorist.
No matter what is going on in your life right now, God loves you and He is in control, so you don't have to be!
Have a Happy 4th everyone!
In Him,
Dalinda
When we spend our time worrying, we are spending our time saying that God isn't there, that He can't handle our problems...and that's just not true. Our will may not be His, but His is always better.
If we could only grasp that....God is in control, not your husband. God is in control, not your children or parents. God is in control, not your doctor. God is in control, not your boss. God is in control, not a terrorist.
No matter what is going on in your life right now, God loves you and He is in control, so you don't have to be!
Have a Happy 4th everyone!
In Him,
Dalinda
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