Joy and Strength (Christian life and music)

So I told the Lord yesterday that I surrender my life to Him. I have done this before.  I don't recall the earth shaking, or any lightning bolts or fireworks when I surrendered before.  I don't remember anything changing outwardly much at all.   We are to live in daily surrender to the Lord.  This means giving up our will, plans, agendas for His. If we truly believe, "Your will be done," then how does this play out in daily life for us? Are you strong-willed?  This seems to be an admirable trait according to some.  People are wowed by the most idiotic things, aren't they?   Jesus is not wowed one iota by your strong will   Jesus not once exerted His own will when He walked this earth.  Do you respect Jesus for that?  Do you? Why exactly was Jesus so powerful in His earthly ministry?  Precisely because He was surrendered to His Heavenly Father.   Jesus had no agenda of His own.  Jesus was perfectly obedient to God and His ministry was the most powerful ever.  Power

  Hello, friends!  I am so excited to share my latest book with you.  Download it on Amazon today and be blessed!   Download here ❤ Elizabeth

  Hi friends. I am reposting my song for you in case you missed it before.  This received over 1,000 views when I posted it as a Facebook reel.   Please consider making a donation to my ministry. I have been writing this blog for almost three years now. I also release my songs as videos on YouTube. All for free. I have never asked for donations, but lately the Lord has been nudging me to reach out to you all.  A workman is worth her wages.  I ask that you consider making a monthly donation, if you can. I promise the Lord will bless you as you give to my ministry from a grateful heart. Give here and God bless you!  https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=UAZ6EY4AYW5PS Elizabeth 

We know we are struggling with something when we lack inner peace.  This may seem an obvious statement, but yet we struggle. We want control, not contrition. We want our will, not God’s will. We want what will never satisfy, not simplicity. We want to make it about self, not sacrifice. We want outer peace and quiet, not surrender so that we can know inner peace. "Cease striving and know that I am God." When we cease striving, we come to know God better, are found in His peace that passes all understanding. It’s like we can’t know that He is God if we are still striving, struggling after that which does not satisfy. It’s all in Him. Everything we could ever want and need is in Christ. But we tend to complicate things instead. It’s too simple. There must be more to it. There isn’t. When we stop trying so hard, God is there, ready to meet us where we are. He is there ready to comfort and protect us from our greedy selves. Cease striving. There is an order: 1. Cease striving. Jus

Old Testament Joseph is one of my favorite people in the Bible. Joseph was a big dreamer.  He had a dream that his brothers, and even his parents, would one day bow down to him. When God gives you a dream, He doesn’t mess around.  God knows the future.  God has a plan for your life.  God knows where He is sending you and how to get you there.  God has ways of accomplishing things that we could never imagine.   The dream wasn’t about Joseph’s “greatness.”  But that’s how his brothers misinterpreted Joseph’s dream. NOTE: not everyone will understand your God-given dreams. The dream was about how God chose Joseph for a specific role in life, and not just in his family’s life. God sees the big picture.  That is so comforting to me.  That character quality alone makes me want to worship Him.  He is omniscient.   God planted the dream inside of Joseph.  I’m guessing that Joseph might have thought about how he  was going to make that dream come true.  God simply smiled. Do you have a dream?  

You will not find the following words in the Bible: self-care self-love self-worth self-esteem These are man-made words.  So the question that begs to be answered is, why did we come up with these words? Because for most, self is god.  We are obsessed with ourselves. That is at the root of the first sin, isn't it?  Eve thought self knew better than God.  Oh sure, you can say that she was deceived by the serpent - and she was.  But Eve had a choice.  She could have remembered what God commanded her to do and obeyed Him.  She could have taken her eyes off the serpent and herself (her own reasoning).  After all, God blatantly told Adam and Eve to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.   Once Eve put her trust in anyone else other than God, she was doomed.   And so are we. Do not believe for one minute that focusing on yourself more  is the answer in life. Focusing on ourselves less  is where it's at! How can I say these things?  Because it's all in there, in th

Being a Christian is not about "living your best life."  It is not about being your "best self" or becoming the "best version of yourself."  These are the buzz phrases of our day, our culture.  But they are not our Lord's ways. The Lord makes it clear in His Word that apart from Him, we have and are nothing, that no good thing dwells in us apart from Him. So even our "best selves" fall so very short of the glory of God that we must come to the realization that we are lost without Him, that in and of ourselves, we are dead in our sins without Him in our lives. These words may sound extreme or harsh to you if you have been swallowing the lies of the world (sadly, sometimes coming at you through "preachers" these days, too). Jesus is not about making us "better" people by our striving, trying, or manufacturing trying to be "good."   Jesus does not want to merely give us a superficial makeover.  Jesus wants to do a c

Did you know that there is an ultimate, true Reality?  There is also the reality of what we can see, touch, and feel. I have been asking the Lord a lot lately to please reveal more of His Reality to me.  This is because like you, I can get bogged down in the earthly, daily "reality" of life. The Lord tells us to hope in Himself.  When we hope in earthly things, accomplishments, places, people, and things, we miss the mark.  Did you know that that is the literal definition of the word sin?  To miss the mark, as in when we aim an arrow at the target and miss. How to straddle Reality and reality?  After all we are not in heaven quite yet.  We live in these earthen vessels for now with all of their issues and problems.  We do not waft on a cloud of perfect peace most days.  At least I don't. Instead, I welcome anxiety and confusion.  "Come on in!" I say.  But they do not have a place in the life and heart of a Christ-follower.   Christ has promised to give us His pe

Life is a battle. We all long for peace, both within ourselves and in our world.  But truth is, there are battles daily, everywhere, and within everyone. Some battles are more fierce than others.  As Christians, we may grow weary of our fight against our enemy, the devil.  Yes, he is most certainly a defeated foe.  He lost "the" battle when Christ died and rose again. Death is defeated, so the main enemy of life is vanquished!  We will  live forever.  Somewhere. God has written eternity in our hearts.  Death has been around for a long time!  So why would we think that we could ever attain immortality?  How could we even fathom such a thing? Because we were meant to live forever from the start.  Christ, in His mercy, even when sin entered the human race through Adam and Eve, deemed that we would never die.   Of course we know that all bodies die.  You can try to cling to reincarnation, or the possibility of science inventing a way to "freeze" us until they come up wi