Speaking Faith

I could complain today about the cold weather or about all the teens at the mall who have no idea any one's around except them. Or I could complain about my hairdresser whom I dearly love but can't seem to get my hair the exact right length every time. There's always something that isn't quite perfect, isn't there? Complaining gets me nowhere ever and I don't believe there's a single verse in the Bible that tells us to whine.

I listened to a preacher from Broken Arrow on TV Sunday morning--a man I've heard many times and whose father founded a church and Bible school on one word. Faith. He reminded me to say Faith words; words that guide my life in the way I want to go because death and life are in the power of the tongue.

The words we speak produce. They produce life and faith or they produce something else; something we may see at the moment but don't want to happen. Mark 11:23,24 was this man's basis for his ministry. Faith words move mountains.

I've got a lot of faith words going on right now in my life, but the one I want to speak today is "the new year will be better than we can imagine."

Starting Today

I like to plan ahead, to know what's going to happen so I can order my schedule and be prepared. I don't think that will ever completely change, but something happened today that is telling me to live a slightly different way.

Many years ago I attended a Bible study in Oklahoma. At the end of the year the teacher suggested we ask God to give us a word for the new year--something especially from Him to us. I did and was surprised when I got something. At the end of that year I looked back and could see what that word meant.

I had another new year's activity that lasted about seven years. A friend and I got together around the beginning of every year and wrote out our goals for the year. Then we went to a movie. After the first year of doing this, we would read last year's goals and determine if we'd met them or not. One year, before going to the movie, we released several balloons with positive sayings attached to them. We hoped these sayings would reach someone in need as well as their being positive thoughts for our own futures. She lives in Georgia now and we talk on the phone but we've given up the goal setting.

I've still done the Word from God for about 20 years now and have always been surprised by what those words have meant to my life. Lately I've begun asking again. Nothing seemed to come until today. What I heard really put me at rest, which is what I need the most right now.

"You may be tired of making goals. Take a break from that whole process. Be like the earth--it keeps turning around, and there's no destination point. the moment is all that matters."

That's what I've been missing--living in the moment. I'm starting today.