Author: mackel1

I am a Christian woman who is a nurse by trade. I am married and have two sons; ages 17 years and 4 years. I have practiced nursing for over 20 years but most important I have walked with the Lord for over 30 years. I served for over 10 years as Director of Women's Ministry in my small community. My heart is eager to serve the Almighty's Kingdom through this blog. By the leading of the Holy Spirit, I will discuss various topics and share my experiences and lessons learned in hopes that my Lord may be Glorified!

Out of the Wilderness

Revelation is defined as an act of revealing or communicating divine truth. If we go even further, divine truth is an inspiration proceeding directly from God.
Why do we wander in our own wildernesses? Do we have the power or even the strength to find a way out?
It seems that often times we do not even realize we are in the wilderness! Furthermore, we are often the ones that keep us aimlessly wandering in our own wilderness instead of seeking and finding our way out!
Wilderness is defined as an empty or pathless area or region. Your wilderness can be a number of desert places: Habitual sin; financial overload; being a workaholic; depression; ignoring that health problem; lack of self disciple; a complacent marriage, or the never ending diet. The list goes on and on. Wilderness wandering seems to bring some of its own revelations: lack of motivation; loss of joy in everyday life; resentment in your career or marriage; or being consumed with the bitterness of your own created misery. Does any of these things mentioned sound familiar? Only you can decide if you are in a wilderness. How? The bible states that you have not because you ask not. Prayer is where you start. Ask the father to reveal if you are wandering in your own pathless region! Is there an endeavor or goal you have been striving for but seem to be no closer the longer you work!
You are growing extremely tired and your motivation and will power are nearly nonexistent. Cry out to the Lord on your knees and confess that you need him to help you to finally walk out of your wilderness and to start living in your promise land. There is something extremely powerful in verbally making your requests known to the Father! Of course he already knows every intricate detail of you and your life, so why cry it out loud? For your own clarification! It becomes tangible when it is made verbal. When you outwardly confess what your wilderness is and that you are ready to walk out with his help, you will be absolutely amazed the burden that is lifted from you; physically and spiritually.
Let us learn from the Israelites! They wandered and wandered and did not take the promised land due to fear and lack of faith.
Fear is a powerful emotion that can prevent you from doing and receiving all that God has in store for you. You conquer fear with faith and faith is strengthened the more it is used. Trust in the Lord and his promises!
So in 2019, walk our of your wilderness and into the promise land that God has designed for you!
I can say that this revelation was revealed to me over the past couple of months and I am finally, with the help of the Holy Spirit, walking out of my wilderness. I will leave you with this thought, your time in the wilderness may be to shape and prune you into someone that is ready to fully accept and appreciate your promise land. Trust in the Lord and with his guidance and deliverance your land of milk and honey can be right around the corner!

Happy New Year
Until next time

Why the Valleys?

As the season of Thanksgiving draws near, maybe you and those around you will take a moment to thank the Lord for your blessings. I certainly believe that the Lord takes pleasure in our praise, but can we truly comprehend the extent of grace and mercy the Lord extends to us? I believe that this truth will be revealed in its fullness when we get to glory!

It is easy to thank the Lord if everything seems to be going our way; when we are experiencing life from the mountain top if you will. While you are looking at the landscape from a mountain overlook, everything seems to be “right” with the world. There is a sense of clarity and majestic reverence! The air is refreshing and the trees seem to dance!

For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace; The mountains and the hills Shall break forth into singing before you, And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Isaiah 55:12 NKJV

Then all of a sudden you feel closed in and you can not breathe. Out of nowhere, you realize you are in a valley and you have no idea how you got there. A sense of hopelessness sets in and you have no clue on how or when you will get out! Anxiety takes over and your defense mechanisms become engaged.
Is it ok to ask God why? Absolutely! He is my Father and I can ask him anything!

Since you are now God’s children, he has sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts. The Spirit cries out, “Abba, Father.” Galatians 4:6 ERV

How do we live life in the valleys? For some of us, the valley can seem to be our home for entirely too long! Every time that you think you are about to climb out, you get knocked or pulled back down! For example, in a four year span, I have dealt with a child that stayed sick more than well , I failed two clinical exams that has turned my two year nursing degree into a four year degree, experienced such loss through a natural disaster and walked through a season of depression and hopelessness with my teenager. How can I sit here tonight and give all praise to my God? You see we can become strong in the valley or we can wander in wilderness of self pity.
If we allow Christ to be our strength when we are weak, his power is revealed in us! It is his mercy and grace that keeps us upright when the valley seems endless.

But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me. So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, catastrophes, persecutions, and in pressures, because of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 HCSB

You literally have to submit everyday to him and ask him to be your strength where you are weak. Then when you have surrendered control, you are able to give him all praise and glory for your endurance! The focus is shifted from you to Christ. Then in turn you can help someone else in their valley.

Praise be to the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Father who is full of mercy, the God of all comfort. He comforts us every time we have trouble so that when others have trouble, we can comfort them with the same comfort God gives us. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

I leave you with this song.

Until next time

He looks at the Heart

I am very thankful for grace! As I sit with the Lord and pray, I am overwhelmed by the grace he extends to me everyday! Some days I feel that I am so unworthy to approach the throne of God. If we are not careful, this misleading thought process can take root and overpower us. What can we use to overcome? The word of God of course!

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. 2 Timothy 3:16 NKJV

In our secular world, we have so many opinions from different outlets stimulating our minds with the solution to any and all dilemmas of this journey we call “life”. So first things first, you must either put your faith in man’s opinion on how to live life or in the word of God. The Holy Bible is the true inspired word from the God of the heavens; our instruction book on life, if you will. Although there are many great men and women of God that have studied theology in depth, in the end what ever they publish or speak can be seen as subjective. It comes down to being opinions of “man” and their interpretation of the word of God. I read and meditate on the word for myself and let The Lord speak to me through his word. The word is living and has power! I prefer to put my hope and faith in the Holy One whose word has never been disproven! Validations of His word are revealed everyday! He has never failed me!

Faith- something that is believed especially with strong conviction.

Why is it so hard to put your faith in something you can not see or touch? Let’s go even deeper, can you ever press your trust in anything or anyone once you have lost trust in mankind? Absolutely! How?
Take that step of faith! We seem to try all sorts of things to “get us through” the day; medication, coffee, alcohol, therapy or even food. What is wrong with giving something a try that is positive and will never be a temporary fix?

let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. Hebrews 10:22 NLT

Wow! He sees me through the blood of his son as pure and clean! If I stop and thank the Lord for seeing me as righteous and not the way I see myself, I can approach the throne boldly and confidently! Is that not amazing? He sees my heart as pure and clean and I can abide in his presence! I can worship, praise, repent and bring my petitions to the mighty throne room!

So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. Hebrews 4:16
NLT

For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through faith. 1 John 5:4 NLT

Until next time;
I leave you with this song.

The Long Way

Has anyone ever told you that you were strong willed? I have! I know now that having a “strong personality” helped to guide me to the path of rest and healing under the shadow of The Most High; even though I took the “long way” around.
You see, it was the realization of my utter brokenness that preceded my total submission to God! I, like my parents, tried to numb the pain of my scars with drugs and alcohol. Funny I know!; I resented them for the same thing that I was doing? Why?
When you live in an unhealthy and abusive environment for an extended period of time, you seem to develop an “emotional” attachment, no matter if it is an unhealthy one. You become “comfortable” in your uncomfortable!
I want to tell you that my time in the wilderness of self destruction was short but I can not. I was attracted to broken people with baggage of their own. It felt “normal” being around those type of people but something deep inside me kept me from losing total control. It was the Holy Spirit and he spoke loudly when I was in my kitchen one night throwing every dish from my cabinet against the wall! He posed a question that was so clear; “Is this who you want to be?”
I spent years trying to “do life” my way! I insisted upon taking the long and winding road to the cross. I truly believe that I have a deeper sense of appreciation for my salvation today because it came “to life” through complete brokenness. If you are willing to step out in faith, then your Father in heaven can give you a new start!

The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand. Psalms 37:23-24.

Wow, what a promise! Did you read the part about you never falling? How awesome is that?
Shortly after I discovered that I had to deal with my pain head on, I got on my knees and told God that I was broken and my life was so messed up! (Like he did not already know!). You see, the decision to live my life for God was an act of obedience. In the past, I let my emotions rule my decisions no matter how unhealthy. If your decisions are based on how you “feel”, then you will never mature in your walk with Christ. It is a choice! He gives you free will; Yes or no! One thing I have learned is blessing follows obedience!

Even though Jesus was God’s son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered. In this way, God qualified him as High Priest, and he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him. Hebrews 5:8-9

If you truly want to break your pattern of misguided choices and their consequences, then make a choice to surrender to the only one that can truly heal your wounds and use your brokenness for His Glory! You can heal through serving others.

I again leave you with a song that speaks volumes about the faithfulness of God!

Until next time!

How do I know there is a God?

This blog will be a little different from the ones to come. I truly believe in order to establish and maintain a relationship with God, there has to be a certain degree of transparency revealed within yourself. In my future posts, we will discuss certain disciplines, topics, and experiences of life. We will explore the power to put one footstep in front of the other in order to endure or even overcome certain trials and tribulations of this life.
How do I know there is a God?
That is the only explanation of me being functional today! As we begin this pilgrimage together, I will give you a little of my testimony on how I know that God Almighty lives and that He walks with me daily!
To say that my childhood was dysfunctional is certainly an understatement. My mother was a bipolar schizophrenic. Instead of seeking professional help, she self medicated with alcohol, prescription pain pills and even misused over the counter medications. She died by her own hand at the age of 54 when she took a handful of pain pills for the last time. I was 26 years old. She seemed to be so engulfed in her sicknesses that she never stop to take a look at the impacts impressed on me. I experienced years of mental, emotional, and sexual abuse in an environment that was supposed to be safe and loving. It was anything but.
My biological father was a Vietnam veteran that also had a bipolar disorder. In addition, he suffered extreme PTSD. I guess that is why he literally drank himself to death! Needless to say, I have lasting effects, some positive and some negative.
In our journey to come, I will elaborate on certain portions of my testimony as it relates with our discussions. Unfortunately most of my relationships in my life were unhealthy as the people involved seemed to take instead of give!
How do I know that the Lord is real?
By the world’s standard, I should be bitter, hard hearted, and blame all my struggles on my abuse. BUT NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH! I have a heart for my fellow man! I have been on mission for my God for over 20 years and continue being on mission daily. My forgiveness of ones that hurt me and the realization that my trials of this life have made me strong comes from the Holy Spirit living in me!

“But I will send you the Advocate-the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will testify about me (John 15:26).
It is Christ who is my strength where I am weak! He can also be your strength!

Our time together will always end with a link to a song that speaks to my soul and I hope you find comfort as well.

I am looking forward to our journey together! Until next time!