Pruning and Purification

Even the most beautiful things you see in nature experience pruning! If you are in a season of deep pruning know that God’s pruning is promotion and will bring forth a fruitful season, if you will just embrace it. I am not saying that it will be comfortable because it won’t be! He didn’t go to the cross to make us comfortable, he went so we would have right standing with Him and as we ascend higher the mountain of God we must surrender even more. If you are being pruned stay in, let Him do within you what you want to see in all those you love. Let Him come close and let Him love you into fullness of life. We love to clap at others that are being promoted but as I grow I realize that you get promoted by pruning and the purification of your heart. So I celebrate all those ahead of me because it shows me that they threw themselves in the process of ascending the mountain of God and they probably had to let go of a lot also! So embrace the closeness of His love and run with Him, my fellow lovers of Jesus. May we ascend the mountain of God with clean hands and pure hearts! Cling to Him In every season!! He really is all we need!!

He is my PRIZE,

Shay

To Whom It May Concern

To whom it may concern,

Don’t get it twisted. There is a reward for your walk of faith!

The cost will seem impossible when you forget your reward and you make it something that it’s not- the cost will still be costly but it will be filled with grace because it’s being walked from a position of love when you realize that your reward is Jesus.

The reward isn’t ministry platforms or marriage. The reward isn’t about money or fame. The reward isn’t about monetary things or happiness. Believing that you get a reward of things or desires of this earth may cause you be left with heart ache and disappointment. It is when we understand that He is enough and He is the reward of those who diligently seek Him and from that anchor within us, we know He will reward us with Himself and the life that will glorify Him the most.

We are called to obey out of love for Him not only obey when we get it our way. Your obedience shouldn’t be contingent on the outcome! Your obedience should come from a place of being so loved by Him that you can trust His will for your life is better than your own control!

Shay

Relationships

Relationships matter. Just like fitness and nutrition. Relationships are essential to the life we live. I know that we all handle relationships in different ways and have our own ways of handling conflict. Creating healthy relationships takes work. Just like trying to get to that goal weight takes time and sacrifice, so do relationships. Vulnerability is costly but it is the currency of healthy relationships. We all are in need of healthy relationships. I used to think that God would just make healthy relationships happen around me and I would just jump into them. As much as I see His hand causing me to meet people and build relationships, it took going through some rough relationships to realize that there comes a cost to having healthy ones. Without a cost, there would be no investment. You have to invest into making relationships healthy. It takes risk to show our full selves to other people. We can become bombarded with the question “what if?” Yet when you throw yourself out there and the response is healthy and out of Godly love, the reward is inexplicably joyful. There is a joy that comes when you know you can be you unashamedly and still be loved. There is something about healthy relationships that carry aspects of God’s heart towards His people. The Word states that we are no longer slaves, but we are friends of God. To have healthy relationships full of unconditional love and abounding grace is to go against the ways of this world and shine as He does!