You Can Walk on Water

I am so glad I'm not who I used to be. I'm not perfect but I'm better then I was. I'm not unflawed but I have learned and grown from flaws that I have had. I've been through things that would have broken a lot of people but instead learned who God is to us through the hard things that I have faced. I learned how to be strong in Jesus Christ when things were impossible for me to do on my own. You don't know what you can overcome and accomplish in spite of everything that's stacked against you until you've leaned how to walk on water. By that I mean do those things through Christ that are impossible for you to do on your own. You can do all things through Christ. It is true. Move you out of the way, look at Him and see Him instead of the problems you are facing. Just to name a few, 1. My cervical spine. There was so much damage, so many problems in my cervical spine that a doctor thought my MRI couldn't possibly be mine because I appeared so strong and unphased by it. I shared with the neurosurgeon what God was doing for me and he did his own test which showed there was more wrong then the MRI showed. God can and will keep you and your body functioning, going, doing the things you need and want to do. He will sustain your body and your strength. I thank God for sustaining me and not allowing me to have to physically and emotionally contend with the full brunt of the damage to my cervical spine. I very minimally experienced the consequences of the extreme damage but only enough to say I had... But God. 2. Memory loss. I was on disability for my memory. I thank God for completely healing me. God healed me and I went on to college to get a Bachelor's of Science in Leadership Communications with a GPA of 3.4. Would have been better but between COVID, a hurricane that dislocated me my family, and college algebra (thank God for tutors) I had some challenges. 3. Mental abuse, sexual molestation and rape. I have overcome the emotional and mental ramifications of mental abuse, child molestation and rape. God cares about us as a whole person and he came to give us life, an abundant life. And he heals us as a whole person; mentally, physically, psychologically, spiritually and emotionally. There's nothing that God can't do. These are only a few of the mountains that I've faced and overcome. There are more. I have so many praise reports. Some ask, where is God when bad things happen? Why does he let things happen? I say, he's right by your side. He's going through it with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. 4. Controversy. At times I haven't had it easy being a Christian; living it and acting Christ-like due to daily controversy with a dad and a spouse who didn't is tough. Having grown up with a mentally abusive dad who was an alcoholic and then being married to a mentally abusive alcoholic I was always on the defense. Deciding to put God first and serving God while living with someone who does not and is constantly putting you down and giving you grief is probably the hardest thing I've ever learned how to do. 5. Smoking, alcohol and addictive behavior. God also helped me overcome addiction and addictive behavior. I quit smoking and drinking cold turkey without any withdraw or side effects, to God be all the glory, honor and praise. I had smoked for 29 years, usually a pack to two packs a day. Alcohol was a part of all of my childhood and adult life in some shape, form or fashion except for a few years my husband and I didn't drink. When we were dating and decided we would get married, we put God first and vowed to keep him first and not let alcohol be a part of our lives or the lives of the children we would have. Unfortunately for us and our children that didn't last. We let alcohol become a part of our lives. No one sets out to be an addict or alcoholic. Alcohol and drugs are often used by people trying to cope with something. Maybe drink this or smoke that to relax. It progressively grows into a problem little by little. A better way to cope is learning how to use what God gives us to cope. Learning to depend on God for everything including to make you feel calm inside when ordinarily you would reach for a cigarette or drink or whatever you use is not only possible, it is awesome. I can pray, 'God please make me feel calm inside, please envelop me in your peace', and he does. He cares about and is attentive to all of our needs. He is always present. Self-control is promised to us. You can do it. Besides no longer depending on alcohol and cigarettes I had to learn how to not react when I was verbally attacked. Due to daily controversy I had to defend my faith, and fight urges to argue and fight back with my words. Bitterness and anger so quickly welled up inside of me. Praise God this too is now part of my past. Praise God for teaching us how to bear the fruit of holy spirit and how eventually it becomes part of our nature and who we are. Peace can become a part of your nature. Peace is promised to us. Praise God we can live in and experience peace and joy even while living in controversy, heartache, under pressure, facing complications in life, and dealing with sickness, injury or disease. I could go on and on with more things I've faced and overcome, to God be all the praise, but then this post would never end. God is my everything and everyone to me and he will be to you also. You don't have to do anything to be in God's grace or to receive his promises and divine favor except believe what Jesus accomplished for us on the cross and worship God. That's all. Faith and worship. That's where you'll see God's power transform your life. Believe you are righteous through Christ and receive God's blessings. Sounds easy but a lot of of us have to overcome strongholds from our past before we are truly set free to experience the goodness of God not because it's not there, but because we can't see it. People resist God because they can't visualize a life without pain, heartache, loss, loneliness, sickness, where they don't deserve to be treated badly, drugs, alcohol, promiscuous sex, control (control is an illusion), legalism, or anything that keeps them from feeling close to God. Put yourself in godly situations. Put yourself in places you can experience and grow in your faith. Pray. Read the Bible. Listen to preaching. Listen to Christian music. Go to church. Make friends with other Christians. Serve in your church. Replace habits that have a negative impact on you and your life with habits that have a positive influence on you and your life. Make praying at a certain time every day a habit. Make reading a devotional a certain time each day a habit. Make reading the Bible a certain time each day a habit. If you had all the food you would eat in your lifetime in a room you'd be completely overwhelmed. It's better to eat a little at a time to sustain your health. Eat a little at a time in your daily feedings of prayer and reading the Bible. A song here, a teaching there. It all adds up fast. Stop all the stinking thinking and dwell on godly, holy things. 

Written by

Lisa C