Good morning everyone! What a blessed and glorious Christmas morning!

Yesterday’s blog talked about fear and how we can’t let fear dictate our lives and take us away from the blessed life that God has for us. The action steps for each of us at the end of the blog were to write down 3-5 of those fears that are impacting our lives. We are to then look at each of them and ask ourselves why we haven’t truly given them over to God. Have you taken those steps? If not, let’s do it! Let’s take the steps necessary to take the power away from those fears.

Today the devotional by Rick Warren focused on us never doubting the character of God and the love He has for us. This is an important tool for us in conquering the fear that can try and take control of our lives. Looking back on the things that God has already done in our lives and the truths he has promised is something we should do each and every day. This builds that confidence we need to have so we know that no matter what the circumstance or situation, He can bring us through because He has done it before.

I can look through many times in my life when I have doubted the plan God has for my life because of the situation I was in. When I was going through my divorce and that difficult time in my life I wasn’t sure where God was taking me. During that very difficult time, which made me have to look at myself in a totally different light and face up to many of my own failures and shortcomings, I had to turn completely to Him. It was a dark time for me personally as I tried to forgive myself for past mistakes and become a better person. It was then that God showed me first, He had already forgiven me and second, He still had a tremendous plan for my life. Once I reflected back on what He had already done for me, even though I may not have been following Him the way I should have, it gave me great confidence. It helped me not to fear and I realized that my current circumstance did not have to control me and my actions. God still had great things in store for my life so I had to stop beating myself up, I had to grab hold of the life He was putting in front of me, and I had to make the changes necessary within myself to become the man He called me to be. I am so in awe of where He has taken me from that time until now. I cannot imagine how different the story would have been if I had let the circumstance control me and kept my focus on my problems instead of God’s promises.

So what circumstances are you dealing with right now that you have let dictate your life. Yes there are many tough circumstances that we go through and they can bring us much pain and agony. But we don’t have to stay in that circumstance feeling like there is no hope that we will ever get out, that things will never change. We have a God that loves us tremendously and cares about us and wants to bring us through this circumstance. Read His word and see the many promises He has made to us, promises to prosper us. Lean on these promises and what He has already done in each of our lives to provide the support you need to push through this tough circumstance. Stuck in a difficult situation is not where our loving God wants us to be.

I love this quote from today’s devotional by Raymond Edman, one of Billy Graham’s mentors, “Never doubt in the dark what God told you in the light.”

Truth in Love!! ~ Chuck