Thursday, May 27, 2010

Everything is Purposeful.........

What exactly does that mean?



If you would have asked me 6 months ago I would have given you some random answer concocted from my limited knowledge which held no meaning or significance…..and I wouldn’t have thought another thing about it. However, in February this phrase took on eternal significance for me and will forever be etched, branded and sewn into the fabric of my spirit and soul.



Have you ever had an event occur that to the natural mind is really no more than a normal occurrence, but spiritually shakes you down to your core? That is what happened to me that February evening….it knocked me off my bearings, turned my world upside down, and made me question everything I knew to be the specific word of God to me.



I remember sitting in my car, my mind reeling, my hands shaking, completely dumbfounded over what had just happened, and not having a clue what the correct course of action was to be in response, and I started talking to God.



“Lord, what just happened?”



“I don’t understand.”



“What am I supposed to do with this?”



And finally ending with…



“You could have stopped this!”



This was the question that prompted His response, and the following conversation pursued:



“I could have.”



“But you didn’t.”



“No.”



Job and Paul came to mind, and I remembered that God allowed things into their lives for a reason….a purpose.



“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” – Romans 8:28 NIV



From this revelation came my defining moment, my paradigm shift, the understanding of eternal perspective in natural things..…



“You didn’t.….Ok, then God, I cannot begin understand or grasp how this could even possibly serve any purpose at all…..but that’s ok, I don’t have to, because You do. I’m handing this situation to You and trusting You to work it together for good.”



From that moment on I have looked for purpose in every single occurrence in my life – the big and the small, the seemingly insignificant and those things which are so big I’m left speechless.



EVERYTHING IS PURPOSEFUL!!



Everything. Everything. Everything. EVERYTHING!



The good and the bad

The pretty and the ugly

The laughter and the tears

The joy and the pain



The ashes…

The brokenness….

The wilderness....

The narrow road…

The fire….



This is what is so amazing about our God. He is all knowing. He is the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last. He knows the beginning from the end, and He knows exactly what things need to happen in my life to mold me, make me and polish me into the woman He created to be. He knows the perfect way to turn my mess into my miracle, my confusion into clarity, my trouble into triumph, my ashes into beauty!



Understanding that everything is purposeful is the very thing that brought me to a final, complete submission to the Lord’s hand in my life. This is were I surrendered everything, where I was no longer afraid of being vulnerable and exposed, where I allowed Him access to those deep, deep places in my heart – to heal, to restore, to make new.



Understanding this is where I finally learned the fullness of His heart, finally got that He is for me, finally accepted His all-consuming love, and finally trusted Him to navigate my life. This is where I surrendered control and moved into the passenger seat of my life. And WOW, what a ride it’s been since then!



I challenge you to change your question when things happen in your life. Stop asking “Why?” and begin asking “What? What are you trying to teach me, sift out of me, reveal to me out of this experience, Lord.” Not one thing is ever wasted. Nothing is in vain. He is a purposeful God living in a purposed and destined you!



P.S. I have seen so many good things, eternal things, amazing things happen from the event that occurred in February. These things could have never been done had that not occurred. It was purposeful and will continue to be!



I pray that you are surrounded and covered by the revelation of the fullness, the greatness, the sovereignty and the amazing love of our beautiful Lord. In Jesus precious name, Amen.



“You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” Psalm 56:8 NLT



“You've kept track of my every toss and turn, through the sleepless nights, each tear entered in your ledger, each ache written in your book.” Psalm 56:8 The Message


~ Manthie

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Change Your Measuring Stick!

What REALLY makes a woman valuable?

This was one of the topics we discussed last night with the ladies at our county jail, and to be honest, I haven’t been able to move on from it. So, let’s talk about it!!

What makes us valuable?

College degrees, great paying jobs, luxury cars, designer clothes, husbands/boyfriends, children?.........now tell the truth, did you just sit there and measure yourself against those things as you read them? Maybe/maybe not….I know this, it wasn’t that long ago that I would have been doing that very thing.

In the past 10 years I could have checked most of those things off the list, and in the last five, I can check none. Does that make me less valuable now than I was before? Don’t think for one second that the accuser doesn’t try to tell me that every day, and for a while I allowed him to convince me of those lies he loves to whisper.

“You are such a failure!”
“No man will ever love you.”
“Who would want to be with you? You have nothing to bring to the table.”
“You could have been so much more.”

I could go on all day! The point is, I was using the wrong measuring stick. I was comparing myself to others, to myself in the past, to what I thought I should be and do and have. I was looking to jobs, possessions, status and a man to give me value….and I was coming up with the same answer every time….”You have no worth.”

So I decided to get a different measuring stick….the Word of God. What does He say about me?

“I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Psalm 139:14

• “I have a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11

• “I am made in His likeness.” Genesis 1:26

• “I am the Righteousness of Christ.” 2 Corinthians 5:21


But let me go even deeper.

I have been bought with a price. (1 Cor. 6:20) Jesus paid the ultimate price for me! I am valuable because He loved me enough to pay for my life with His. I am priceless!


I didn’t choose Him, He chose me! (John 15:16) He CHOSE me! He created me, formed me, made me and chose me. Doesn’t it feel good to be chosen? That one fact, right there, just blows my mind sometimes. He picked me! The Creator of the universe chose me! THAT makes me valuable.

When I change my measuring stick and begin to look at the TRUTH of my Father instead of the LIES of my enemy, my perspective changes, and I begin to see what’s really important. What really makes me valuable....... He does! I have worth and value because He made me, He bought me, He chose me, and He lives in me!! He is all that I am, and I am all that He is. And lemme just tell y’all….there is nothing else that compares to that. No car, no house, no man…..nothing!

It is in this understanding that we stand up straight, shoulders back, head up, eyes ahead, and assume the full position of a woman of God. This is the place where we open ourselves up to the exceedingly, abundantly more of His promises; where we begin to walk into fulfillment, because He has become our total Source. We are hidden in Him, and we are now prepared, equipped and ready to handle the man, the job, the possessions in His perfect timing, without putting them ahead of Him in our lives!

Change your measuring stick, know your value, and allow the Lord to transform you into the woman He created you to be!
You’re gonna love her!!

“For in Him we live, and move, and have our being….” Acts 17:28


~ Manth

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Welcome to my life in words!

Welcome to Blonde Moments and Bubble Baths!  What I hope to be an inspirational, encouraging and helpful blog about the lessons the Lord is teaching me as I try to navigate this journey called my life on the way to my destiny.

I know the first question you may ask.  Why would anyone care about the goings on in the life of a self-confessed ditzy blonde?  And the only way I know to answer that is.....for some reason which defies logic, but defines grace, God has asked me to speak into the lives of women.  Having walked on both sides of that proverbial fence in the life of a Christian - obedience and disobedience - I've decided that doing what He asks of me really does suit me much better than doing my own thing, so as crazy as it seems, I believe Him to do His 'immeasurably more' thing with the meagerness of my efforts.

To be completely honest, I'm not exactly sure what this will look like once it develops, which leads me to one of the latest things God has been teaching me - "Have a vision, but live your today, and let Me lead you to your tomorrow.  Then day by day you will arrive at those things which I have promised you at the perfect time and fully prepared."  Which is really kinda cool for you who will follow this, cause you never know what He's gonna do from one post to another!  Gives ya something to look forward to!

And finally, why Blonde Moments and Bubble Baths? Because I felt the title described me pretty completely in 5 short words. I sometimes feel as if I live from one Blonde Moment to the next in the natural and the spiritual......just a little 'out in space' on occasion, which makes the ability to laugh at yourself a very necessary trait, and takes the appreciation of the grace of the Lord to a whole 'nother level! 

Now on to the Bubble Bath part.  Anyone who knows me knows that I am a Bubble Bath girl.  That's my "Manthie Time" to relax and allow the worries of the day to wash off of me.  As a matter of fact, I just compiled an inspirational book for women titled "Bubble Bath Moments" (see photo).  Feel free to contact me for purchasing information.  All prejudice aside, it really is an amazing book, and it will bless the socks off of ya.

So, I invite you to join me through the struggles, falls, revelations and victories as I journal my process.  Hopefully we all will come to know the Lord in new ways, allow Him to mold and make us into the women He created us to be, and somewhere along the line discover exactly who that is and cheer for each other as we walk in our promised land!

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." - Jeremiah 29:11

Abundant Blessings to you!
Manth