Don't Wait A Second Longer!

There are things that we need to wait for in life and they are indeed worth waiting for. But there are some things that God never asks us to wait on.  May the waiting be over when it comes to:

1) Receiving God's forgiveness - let the sulking stop! God's mercies are new every morning. His crazy and overflowing love we will never understand, but all we have to do it is believe it and receive it.  Pray to Him, He is waiting with open arms when his children come running back to him. Remember the story of the Prodigal son? What happened when the son returned? "And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him" (Luke 15:20). The Father was WAITING for his son, so is our Heavenly father waiting for us to return to him.

2) Getting back up - why wait one more day to get back up? Who in their right mind, after falling embarrassingly on their face, and is still able to get back up, stays down on the floor?? Imagine it... "Hmm...I think I'm just gonna chill here...can somebody get me a pillow!" Uh...No! God has designed us so that when we fall our natural response is to get back up. One time I remember I was looking at a university that I was interested in attending. They took us around the whole campus, and a friend of mine stepped on a piece of string at the bottom of my cool jeans...yes...you can imagine what happened next...I fell...on my face...and I indeed froze for a few seconds on that pavement floor, but yes I got back up. I'm not writing this blog from that place where I fell! Can you imagine if I was?? If you have fallen, sinned, made a mistake, failed in your attempt to do the things of God, don't wait anymore, get back up, brush the dust off and keep running.

3) Forgiving others - let me ask you this, what if God waited to pour out his forgiveness upon us? We would all be doomed! Doomed I tell you! Doomed!  Praise the Lord that God is a forgiving God. And His Spirit lives inside of us so we can also forgive with the same divine "promptness" as our wonderful Father.  The person we hurt the most when we don't forgive is ourselves. A lack of forgiveness is poison to the soul; the product is bitterness, resentment, anger, even hatred. So let's forgive, let's not wait to forgive as our Father does not wait to forgive us.

So don't wait any longer! Come to God, ask Him to forgive you and He will! Have you fallen? You can get back up! Nothing is impossible for God. And forgive! Forgive as Jesus forgave you. The Spirit of God will help you to do all of these things if you surrender to Him.  

Love,

KT

The Blog I Will Finish Writing When I'm Married

I wanted to get a head start on this blog that I’m thinking about writing when I am married. It’s just burning in my heart so I will get a head start on it; plus I want to help all my single ladies out there on the subject of singlehood and waiting.  As you probably have concluded, I am not married yet. I am a single woman and happy about it.  But it wasn't always this way. I used to say to God, “Lord, where in the world is he?!” I remember being so frustrated because the clock was ticking and my train was leaving (whatever that means!).  So big was my frustration that I even went as far as thinking that God didn't love me or had forgotten about me. I was overwhelmed at the thought that God wasn't listening to me, that He didn't care enough to give me what I wanted, plus the frustration I felt for even feeling I needed something when God should have been more than enough.  But on this journey, which I am still on, God has spoken to me about certain things that have steadied my heart and have brought so much peace to my soul.

The first thing I have learned is to know that God loves me and to never question it. The moment we begin to think God doesn't care about that area in our lives is the moment we've forgotten who He is. It is a diabolical strategy; its main purpose is to get us away from our beloved Savior.  God loves you, no matter what. Let not what you do not have determine how you see God. God knows, He knows! He hasn't forgotten! He never forgets! He's just too good to forget! :)

Secondly, I learned that all the desire we have to meet that special person is normal and the perfect thing to do with those desires is give them to God. Elisabeth Elliot said, "If the yearnings went away, what would we have to offer up to the Lord? [...] How would we learn to submit to the authority of Christ if we had nothing to submit?" What we do with those feelings is we surrender them to the Lord.  When our desires are in the hands of God, they are under the control of the Spirit, where He can lead us to do His beautiful and perfect will.

I also learned not to initiate anything but to wait upon the Lord.  I think there is a hopeless romantic in each one of us. We want to meet our Prince Charming and have the perfect fairy tale. And because we are so eager to have this story start in our lives we begin to DO things so we can start our own story. Since God is taking His time, we assume He needs a little help from us. So we begin to do things. We begin texting someone that has caught our eye, or we approach them, or we "accidentally" bump into them, but the problem is that we try to "help" the guy notice us! But wait a minute, if this was the guy for you, shouldn't he be noticing you from the get go or approaching you without any help from you!? If you have to "help" the guy, the reality is that he doesn't really like you.  And that's just fine! You deserve a guy who will make the effort to approach you. :D Yes! Yes you do! And when he does, feel free to respond and choose as the Lord leads you.

Lastly, I learned to be careful with creating false hopes.  Our minds can create unreasonable expectations and imagine what is not there. A guy may approach us just for friendship, but because we are so eager to see our fairy tale come true, our minds are already imagining the guy at the altar! Unbeknownst to the guy, we are already seeing ourselves in our wedding gown, with our hand wrapped around his arm! Unfortunately we end up disappointed when we see that it didn't work out. Of course it didn't work out! All this time we had been expecting something that our minds created when we should have based our expectations on reality. As Elisabeth Elliot puts it, "Don't expect anything until the declaration is clear and forthright." In other words, do not have any expectations until he has expressed and shown his commitment to you. And if you are a guy and you're reading this, if you don't like a girl, don't give her false hopes! If a girl is starting to fall for you, and you don't like her like that, make sure you don't feed her false expectations! Come on guys!!!! Don't be cruel! (And all the ladies said AMEN!).

I will finish writing this blog when I have met my Prince Charming (It will be part 2!) :)  But I didn't want to wait until then to show you the things I am learning now as a single woman. The same points I have mentioned also apply to all the single guys out there. So to all my single friends, (1) God loves you and cares about that area of your life, never doubt it!, (2) Surrender your feelings to Him, (3) Know your role as the one who makes the first move (men) or the one who responds (women), and (4) Be careful with false and unreasonable expectations.

With love,

KT

To All Pastors' Kids Out There

A beloved pastor has passed on to be with the Lord: Ps. Fulton Buntain, an incredible man of God who committed his life to building God's kingdom on earth. It was hard not to smile when you saw him! The anointing of God surrounded him and it was noticeable. Today, our church staff welcomed his family into the church offices with hugs and love. My sister and I hugged Michelle Cox, one of his beautiful daughters. We couldn't contain our tears as we heard her say, "We love our dads." Yes, indeed we do :)

Being a Pastor's Kid is not easy, but it is wonderful. There was never a moment in my life when I wished I wasn't a Pastor's Kid. It was who I was. It is who I am. As a pastor's kid we get to see the good, the bad, and the ugly in ministry. We hear things, we know things, yet we cannot act upon our knowledge; instead, with love and patience, we must wait for the Lord to bring wisdom and direction, all in His time. And as we struggle waiting for something to happen, or for the "ugly" things to subside, our dads who are also our pastors help us see beyond them.  Our dads show us that not only is there "good" in ministry, there is also "glorious."

We pastor's kids get to see this "glorious" every day...people receiving Jesus, the sick finding healing, families coming back together, young people leaving their addictions, disciples committing themselves to the work of the Lord, radical men and women who choose to open their houses to start a small group, and the list goes on.

So if you are a pastor's kid, don't let the "ugly" things overshadow the "glorious" things. No matter what satan says, no matter what you see around you, no matter how you feel, there is always more GLORY than ugly.  Lately I have been thinking about buying a hybrid car, and no joke...all I see out on the road now are hybrid cars!!!! What I'm trying to get at, is that the more you want to see something, the more you will see it. So my dear PK's, if you are longing to see the glory of God, that is ALL YOU WILL SEE, and the ugly things will be in the distant, where God's wisdom and direction will turn them beautiful.

To all the daddies who are also pastors: THANK YOU for helping us see the GLORY in ministry. And to all the PK's out there, may the longing to see God's glory be ever growing in your hearts :)

Love,

A proud PK

One of the most important lessons I learned in Ministry

If you are serving or will serve in any ministry at church, this blog was written specifically for you. I wanted to share with you one of the most important lessons I learned in ministry, and in this way, spare you the painful seasons I had to go through!  What I have learned is as simple as this: GOD IS THE ONE WHO PROMOTES US.   There are many people who serve in the ministry and have great dreams for the ministry, but until they understand this principle, they will be forever miserable.  People who don’t understand this important lesson expect people to give them a position or something that is aligned with their dreams; however, in doing so, they depend on people to promote them. But people are not perfect.  People make mistakes. When we depend on people for our dreams to come true, we will be disappointed. We will live frustrated because what we desire to see in our ministry isn’t happening. And that is the worst place to be in!

But let me tell you this, if God has given you a dream, and you are living in obedience to Him, there is NOTHING and NO ONE that will stop that dream from coming true.  God does not depend on people to do His Will; He uses people, but does not depend on them. He is not sitting on his throne waiting for people to finally get a clue. He makes his move so clearly. And when he wants something, he will do it, because He is God.  When God wants something for you, believe me, it will happen.  Looking at the example of Joseph in the bible we realize that it was because of God that Joseph ended up as the second most important man on the planet.  If the fulfillment of Joseph's dreams would have depended on people, Joseph would have died a slave.  If the realization of David's calling had depended on people, the bad reputation his father gave him would have stopped his ministry as king of Israel.

So let me spare you the frustration that comes from expecting promotion from people  If it is INDEED a God given dream, and he has placed that desire in you, HE WILL make it happen. HE WILL promote you. HE WILL “bestow glory on [you] and lift up [your] head” (Psalm 3:3). And you will give him all the glory, because you will see that it was GOD, it was GOD WHO DID IT! :)

The Hulk Within

Ever been at a point in your life when you feel like you are the worst person on the planet? When you realize that the person at fault is not those around you, it is not the circumstances you're in, it is not even the devil! It's just you! And there you sit, baffled at the conclusion that the problem here lies within you. What do you do then? What do you do when you realize that there is a hulk inside of you? A green monster that has forgotten to love, to forgive, to have faith, to believe in God's promises!

If you have ever felt this way, you're on your way, because the first thing to do is to ADMIT YOU'RE WRONG. This takes guts. The easy road takes us to blame others, to blame the world, to even blame God; but the courageous way, the bravest thing to do is to admit that the problem is us. Yes, it's my fault. Yes, it was me. Yes, I knew and I still did it. Yes. Yes. Yes. And after admitting comes confessing. We can run to Jesus, we can tell him everything we've done, and ask him to forgive us. Jesus died for that moment. What can wash away our sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus! It says in Romans 5:20

But sin didn't, and doesn't, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it's sin versus grace, grace wins hands down.

You see? We don't have to stay hulk-like.  We can run to Jesus, and because of His grace, He forgives us and makes us new.  And it is only through an intimate relationship with Him, that His Spirit gives us the strength to walk hulk-free.  We can walk in freedom. No more hiding. No more fighting. No more fear. No more doubt. No more, no more! His truth sets us free.  And it is in this relationship with Jesus and the Spirit's work in us that we can finally live the life that we were meant to live.

Welcome to hulklessness. Welcome to freedom! Only through Jesus Christ.

All I Want for My Birthday...is You!

Every year when the day of my birth arrives I like to ask my beautiful Heavenly Father for one special present :) He has already given me so much, but I use my birthday as an excuse to ask Him for more! Gasp! The audacity! But I'm grateful that He wants me to ask! For He says, "Ask, Seek, Knock!"  I especially like what He says on Psalm 116, 

"I love the Lord  because he hears my voice and my prayer for mercy. Because he bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!" 

Two or three years ago I asked Him to give me a song for His beautiful church to sing, and He gave me "Heme Aqui." But today I have one special request...The one thing I want the most with all my heart is to love Him.  Nothing more and nothing less. To love Him like never before. When God is all I love, everything in my life falls right into place. I am able to love those around me more, I am able to love the lost more passionately, I am able to love in my service and in my ministry. When I love God, when He is all I desire, He adds on everything else. I am complete. I am whole. So that is my petition to my God. That His gift to me will be beautifully wrapped up in His mercy, and that inside the perfect little box, I'll find gallons of love for Him :)

Liar Liar Pants on Fire!

My dad is the worst liar on the face of the earth! Whenever we're playing and joking together he'll say something like, "It wasn't me," with a huge grin on his face. His words say he didn't do it but his expression says, "Did you see what I did there!?" Gotto love a man who can't lie! But it's all in good fun! He jokes with us and we tickle him till he cries! It's true! Ok, on a more serious note, I wanted to share something along those lines but in a more serious sense. Something MIND-BOGGLING!

The other day I was going about my day when all of a sudden I had a frightening thought! It was a discouraging and terrible thought, about myself, about my future, about everything! It was for a few moments that I began to ponder this thought and I was greatly discouraged. But then I came to this amazing discovery: IT WAS A LIE. The thoughts that I was having, believing, even "living" for those moments were all LIES! The sad thing was that I believed them! And because believing something leads you to act upon it, I was already living in total defeat, in total failure, for no reason at all, for a lie, a vanishing cloud without substance!

No doubt you have also been in this position. You're going about your day when out of nowhere it hits you! A lie! A lie that distorts who you are, who God is, what your future holds. The sad thing is that it leads us to act in failure; we can't do our devotional the same way, we can't pray the same way, we can't worship God as we used to! Because the LIE HAS BECOME ACTIVE in our hearts!  So what to do when this happens?

#1. Know where it comes from! It comes from the devil. The father of all lies. He is such a liar that indeed his pants are on fire!! Anything that brings conflict and discouragement to your heart is a lie from the devil. Anything that wants to destroy your peace and separate you from God is a lie! Usually he will try to tell you who you are, who people are or think about you, who God is and what he won't do or can't do in your life. But they're all lies! Learn to detect them! Detecting them is key!

#2. Tell that lie to GET A LIFE! That's right! After you have detected the lie, defy it, forbid it, challenge it, don't accept it. Don't let it settle in your spirit. Don't let it get acquainted with your life! Don't let it rent the room of your heart! Don't even let it be a "guest"! You have to stand against it and refuse to believe it!

#3. Cling to what is TRUE! All truth comes from God and His truth is found in His Word. Read it! Believe it! Live it! Challenge every lie with His Word. If the lie is about who you are, declare who you are in Christ! If it's about your future, declare God's promises for your life. If it's about God's love, remember that Christ died for you and declares His love for you over and over in His Word.

After discovering they were all lies, I decided to stop them.  I decided I was not going to let my life be based on lies. I am who God says I am! I can do what God says I can do! I will be who God says I will be! I will see the things He says I will see!  My prayer for you is that you will do the same; that you will stop any lie that comes your way, that you will take a stand against them, and that you will live in the truth that sets us free! :)