I’m writing this on a rainy day from my back porch. Water is streaming off the gutters while little pools are forming in the garden soil around flower buds. This day seems like a reprieve from the spring spark, those early weeks of the new season where we all become as busy as bees sprung from their hives to flit around outside to do yard work, clean up our homes, and find restaurants to eat at with picnic tables.
The spring weather in the Carolinas flip flops. We experience almost summer-like weather. Then, bam! In will come a cool breeze, drop in the temperature, and a ton of rain. After living in the Carolinas most of my life, I’m prepared for this seasonal swing. The winter coats don’t go up in the attic until May. Rain boots stay by the front door for our entire family so the kids aren’t tempted to ruin their shoes in a mud puddle. A ball cap stays ready on my dresser when the humidity suddenly threatens to grow my hair into a frizz ball. Even if you don’t live in a climate that experiences weekly weather surprises in the spring, we have all experienced shocking change. Besides death (and taxes, ha!), change is one of the only things that are inevitable in life. It’s not these continual shifts in seasons that tend to rock us. What’s hard is when we aren’t prepared for them. When a huge life problem, financial hardship, or a soul wrenching senario slams into our lives like an unexpected April shower, it’s miserable. We are caught in a spring rain without a coat. About six months ago and seemingly out of nowhere, anxiety attacks and insomnia began to wreak havoc on my life. I was shocked and scared. I didn’t know what to do or how to find reprieve from the storm. Through that experience, here are a few ways I learned that we can always spiritually stay prepared for whatever life may throw at us…
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A few weekends ago, I scattered seeds in the planter boxes in my backyard. I’m a rudimentary gardener at best but I do put whatever skill that I have to work in a small garden our family has out back. Daily, the kids and I have checked the dirt for any signs that the seeds have sprung to life and this week they finally have! Tiny bright green leaves are promisingly breaking through the soil and opening toward the sun, budding into zinnias, herbs, squash, cucumbers, peppers, and tomato plants.
It’s so exciting to watch a garden grow but it also requires a ton of time and continuous effort. Yet, I plant and harvest again and again, year after year, because I don’t think God has used anything to teach me more about life. With my hands in the loam, He reveals to me His principals, character, and technique for allowing His creation to thrive. So, as we dive into April, I felt like this was the opportune time for us to talk about three of these lessons God has taught me on my knees before Him tending to a plant… 
Join us as we hear an on-the-go devotional today from therapist, business owner and pastor’s wife, Kemi Huntley.
In a world that often measures our worth by accomplishments, appearance, or approval from others, it’s easy to forget the truth: You are already deeply loved and valued by God. Let’s take the next few moments with Kemi to unpack our identity. Here’s what she has to say…  This is not something I’m proud of…
But I tend to choose grumbling over gratitude. Instead of asking “What’s the best thing that could happen?” I find myself catastrophizing and wondering what the worst could be in this situation. I can point out a negative over a positive in a second. In times of stress, my world becomes black and white— here’s what’s working and here’s what’s not. There is no in between. As I’ve aged, I’ve also become more self-aware and have worked on this over the years. Here’s the main thing I’ve learned: Gratitude and grumbling cannot co-exist. Possibly this is why 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” The “all circumstances” part is the hardest, right? It’s easier to wish for or whine about the greener grass rather than put in the work to cultivate the land we've been given. When we long for healing, it’s incredibly hard to give thanks to the Healer who hasn’t come through yet. At times it can seem safer to uproot instead of sink your roots deep into something and make it grow. It’s our human default to want more rather than make the most of it. However, the secret to contentment is living life as one great big thank you note to God. It's not wanting more but making more of our moments. It's being present enough to soak up the potential in the place we're in-- the dry and weary land or the celebrated promised one. If you find yourself grumbling today, try gratitude instead. Just try it. You may find that your passive aggressive comments turn into praise, anxiety gives way to peace, and notice the beautiful things in the broken place. Here’s how to start… 
This past week has been a rollercoaster. If you’ve followed me for any amount of time, you may know that I’ve struggled with anxiety and waves of insomnia for years. As that resurfaced for me recently, I’ve had to go back to old writings and reels to give myself a pep talk and remind me of the fact that I’ve come through before. What God has already done, He can do again.
Suffering, despite how incredibly painful or uncomfortable it may be, is often our best teacher. It is there in the fire that we, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, become aware of, drawn to and dependent upon another in the midst of the blaze, sustaining us through. When the heat dies down and we are finally delivered, we see that Jesus was with us even in the messy middle, held our hand when our struggles have threatened to take us out, and allowed us to step out without even the smell of smoke so that He may get the glory. People too notice how we suffered and came through to the other side They see that the miracles and hope we bear witness to in the impossible circumstances can only be attributed to a great God. While we hate our pain, both attacks from the enemy and self-inflicting wounds, God always gives it purpose. In seasons of suffering, our thanksgiving is a “sacrifice of praise” (Hebrews 13:15). When my hallelujah is worn out, here are three things I have been so grateful for that carry me through until a strong song of praise is back on my lips… 
In one of the most polarizing elections in America’s history, we the people have elected Donald Trump to be our next president of the United States of America. Some are thrilled and others are brokenhearted. Many are celebrating while others are rocked with fear or disbelief. Due to social media and those with concrete opinions blasting their stances, we can forget that there is also an entire population who feel neither red nor blue, but gray. They didn't know who to vote for or chose a third party candidate and are watching the sea of voices and news headlines roll in and wondering how the tide will wash out.
It would be incredibly easy this week to hop over to a favorite social media outlet to vent, seek solace from a comment section, or leave something nasty in the feed of an outspoken individual with a view that opposes our own. There, take that! But, what if we didn’t? What if we allowed this month that is blanketed in the theme of gratitude to actually inspire us to unity instead?  As I was flipping through an old book a few days ago, a paper bookmark fell out and skidded across the floor. I strolled over to its landing place and picked it up. Instantly, I noticed the title of the writing inscribed across the paper placeholder, “Prayer for Local and National Elections.” It was a prayer from Derek Prince Ministries that dated back to October of 1980. While it was written forty-four years ago during the Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter presidential race, it couldn’t have been more timely for us today.
Rather than me try to reach for words, I think God wanted us to find this paper so we can again borrow this prayer as we head into election week 2024:  A gracious friend offered me their old desk. It’s a beautiful, white set up complete with a bookcase. Excitedly, I began to pull my Bible study books I had been keeping in our family bookshelf into my own work desk. Next I reached for my old Bibles and devotional books, anything really I knew I’d be pulling from for writing projects in the future. Out of all my nerdy treasures, I stumbled across a devotional book I had read through in college and tumbling out from the worn pages were some old prayer cards. Unable to resist combing back over the over-a-decade-old cries of my heart, I scanned the lists. There were names and specifics for what I was asking God for. There were sins I was struggling with. Tears began to pool up in my eyes as I realized that so much of what I had prayed for then, God had answered. It was wild!
There were requests like to “bless my future husband and family” while I now am married with three beautiful girls. I saw where I asked that God would allow me to “write a book someday for young girls” and to “let my music and writing reach many ears and eyes for the Gospel” while I simultaneously stared at copies of my books, have my next ghostwriting project in the works, and am planning worship sets and packing up my guitar for a women’s retreat this weekend. I don’t tell you this so you think, “Wow, good for you Kaley.” I’m sharing because I am ashamed that I had forgotten. As the years have passed so also has it slipped from my mind that God has fulfilled so much. I am walking everyday present day on the foundations of a past answered prayer. Instead of living in gratitude for that, I have been grumbling to God about my recent anxiety and insomnia flareups. My mind has been consumed with worry instead of praise. Do you ever find yourself in a state of grumbling instead of gratitude too? Aren’t we all prone to forget what the Lord has done? This is probably why the word “remember” is one of the most frequently used words in the Bible. And why there are verses like Ephesians 5:20 that command us to “always give thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We as humans are naturally bent toward negativity and, if we aren’t intentional about reconfiguring our mind to dwell on the goodness of God, we will find ourselves missing our blessings for our burdens. 1 Samuel 12:14 instructs us to “be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you.” Here are two quick ways we can shift from grumbling to gratitude…  As I was sitting in worship yesterday, we were singing “I will lay my crowns down at your feet. You are holy, holy.” It’s a beautiful worship song called “Crowns Down” sung originally by Josh Baldwin and Bethel Music. Over and over, as if the title of this song was in neon letters blinking in my brain, I kept feeling God say— Crowns down. Crowns down.
My mind was jogged to Deuteronomy 12. In this Chapter, God warns the Israelites that the new land they are claiming has high places that the people who went before them used as places for idol worship. Here’s what God asks them to do: “These are the decrees and laws you must be careful to follow in the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given you to possess—as long as you live in the land. Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains, on the hills and under every spreading tree, where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places.” (Deuteronomy 12: 1-3, NIV) Break down the altars. Burn down the pillars. Cut down the idols. All of these thoughts came together in that moment of worship to lead me to ask this question: What high places and crowns must come down?  You’re FREE ebook is at the end of this blog!
We’ve all heard the phrase “New year, New Me” about one thousand times. But here’s the deal, we don’t really need a new “us.” Why? Because we start things and don’t finish them. We make New Year’s resolutions and forget what they are by February. When the pressure is on us to fix us, we’re fail every time, right? What we’ve been doing isn’t working! That’s why we don’t need a “new me,” we need a new strategy. Here’s what I’ve been doing each new year and I’m tossing this plan in the trash. I’ve been adding things onto my life thinking these new additions will make my life more fulfilling, that I’ll even experience greater growth in my walk with Christ. More healthy food and exercise… More quiet time with God… Achieve more goals… Make more money… More date nights with my husband… Be more intentional with my kids… Gosh, just thinking of “more” makes my chest start to tighten. Is it doing that to you too? Because I know I need “more” of these things but life already feels full to the brim. If I throw on “more” I’m going to explode. I can’t handle more. I need less. And that is exactly how do we do more of what we know God is calling us into next year…. |
