In the span of six months after returning to a company that I thoroughly enjoyed working for during my undergrad in Orlando, I found myself the recipient of a stellar promotion. In retrospect and even now, all I can think about is the increased amount of responsibility and humility that this promotion will require. But today I want to focus on the topic of promotions, and how they affect our spiritual lives.

I can’t even count how many people have congratulated me and followed up with “God is so good!” OR “You are so blessed. That is awesome.”

While the bible teaches us that every good and perfect thing comes from God (James 1:17). Not every promotion that we are offered is considered to be a “good and perfect” thing. To be clear, I feel peace about the promotion that I was offered, and I know that in this role of managing and assisting others I will continue to be molded and shifted in to the woman and leader that the Lord has called me to be.

Lets take it back to my senior year of College. I had the very same opportunity, with the same company just in a different state. My schedule was packed with 18 credit hours. I was serving in 2-3 ministries at church on Wednesdays and Sundays and I still found time to babysit occasionally on the weekends. I was stretched pretty thin and I know without the shadow of a doubt that God gave me crazy grace to pass all of my courses. I was also able to stay connected to the church and work responsibilities. Had I accepted this position years ago, I imagine that things would have gone downhill quickly. All of my free time to fellowship and serve would have been eaten up with this new responsibility and studying (which was already a rare occasion for me) would have been nearly impossible.

Just thinking about what a nightmare that would have been in that season of my life makes me think of 1 John 2:16: “For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world.”

Twenty year old Amber wanted to have it all. The lofty new position and pay, to serve diligently at church, to ace all her classes and to feel like somebody. The truth of the matter is, that we are all somebody. In spite of promotion, titles, and money, we are ALL somebody in Christ. If we continue to chase after every promotion available, we will lose sight of what God is trying to do in our lives. We will continue to crave more and more and we will never be satiated.

Just think of all the lost souls in the world who make work their life. Up checking emails at 4AM, no time to entertain their spouses or their families. People like that will drive themselves to an early grave and have nothing to show for it when they meet Jesus. The enemy’s plan is to distract us from the will of God and if all it takes is a promotion, many of us are already in trouble.

Be led by the spirit in the promotions and positions that you accept. This new role that I will eventually be operating in, is not something that I will be able to do on my own. It’s going to take a lot of surrender and a lot of the Holy Spirit.

I’m totally excited and ready, but all the more vigilant to protect the quality of not only my work ethic, but my relationship with Christ.

Love y’all,

Amber

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Have you ever been in the middle of a test and realized that you can’t afford to miss your opportunity to be like Christ? It’s like Holy Spirit is giving you this weird outer body experience where you’re in the moment yet removed enough from your feelings to do the right thing. Oh what sweet grace God gives!

I remember having a confrontation with someone recently. It was very mild mannered and civil, though the subject matter was a bit uncomfortable to admit and address. When it was all said and done they asked if I would forgive them and my immediate answer was yes and only yes. In that moment I had the opportunity to further drag out tension and discord. I had the opportunity to be butt hurt and unchanged by the offered apology. I had the opportunity to dismiss myself from the conversation and behave as if it never happened. 

Instead I realized that this was probably the only opportunity I would have to show my new friend that I am not only able to forgive, but to forgive and treat you just the same if not even better than I did before. I’ve learned such grace from my Abba father.

Imagine if God caught an attitude, punished us, or gave us the silent treatment every time we did something he didn’t agree with? The majority of us would be half dead if not already in the ground!

How many of us have silently killed relationships because we were unable to forgive? Unable to move forward? Unable to mimic the grace we experience daily with Christ? I definitely have. I’ve allowed for difference of opinion and time to drive a wedge in relationships that I’ve cherished and enjoyed. I’ve allowed pride and my own sensitivity to influence my thoughts and actions. Sure there are things that the other party may have been responsible for, but at the end of the day, the only thing that I can control is myself.

So be mindful today! Show others the gracious gift of forgiveness and be intentional. Sometimes it may feel uncomfortable, but the more you allow yourself to function in forgiveness, the easier it will be. 

Love you lots!

Amber D.

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Have you ever wondered how those who don’t have much to give, go about giving cheerfully? We hear all the time in church, especially during offering time that “God loves a cheerful giver.” I’ve also heard on numerous occasions that the church should expand so much further than the four walls that we visit once or twice a week.

Now I don’t want you to think of this blog as an excuse to get out of paying your tithes and offering. I believe that if you call yourself a member at a church that is doing great things and you’re partaking in the use of their facilities and events that you should give back to them. If God has blessed you with enough money to bless your local ministry without inconveniencing your livelihood than you most definitely should.

This blog can be utilized for those who are genuinely interested in ways that they can give and bring glory to God outside of the traditional tithes and offering collected at church.

One way that I’ve started exercising my right to be a cheerful giver is by volunteering my time. I’ve recently jumped at a couple of opportunities to help a local company film a few things for their brand. These jobs have often taken up a healthy portion of my time and talents but it has been so rewarding and fun! To be able to give cheerfully of my time and work as unto the Lord has been really cool to experience. If you have the opportunity to do something that you love for others free of charge or without expecting to receive anything in return I would do it! As believers we are able to take care of each other in this way, and the Lord who knows our hearts and intentions will always take notice of our efforts.

Another way that I’ve practiced being a cheerful giver is by investing in others monetarily. Whether someone’s birthday is coming up and you want to honor them with something special, or you know of a couple of people transitioning in life after marriage, graduation or having a baby I would take the opportunity to sow a seed into their lives. I also think by giving in this way it conditions our hearts to give with excitement and cheer. And I want to emphasize again the importance of not inconveniencing yourself to give to others. The Bible is very clear about giving a measure of what we have and not giving what we don’t honestly have to contribute to someone else’s life. I will also note that sometimes God will require us to sacrifice in our giving to him so that he knows we trust more in him than in the money he has allowed us to make on our jobs. We always want to be led by the Holy Spirit in our giving. Tell him of your plans before emptying out you bank account. All we have to do is seek him and he’ll point us in the direction that we need to go concerning situations that we may be unsure.

The last way, and potentially the most challenging way to give cheerfully of your time is emotionally. Sometimes merely sitting down and being a listening ear for someone who says you’re easy to talk to is a way to cheerfully give. Or maybe you have a friend who reaches out often saying that they enjoy your company or would like to spend some time with you. I would look at those opportunities as a chance to consult the Holy Spirit to make sure that your time spent together is fruitful. And that could be as simple as asking, “Lord I pray that my friend and I have a great time together today. I pray our interaction will be honest and kind and that by spending time with me they may be brought closer to you.” Or your prayer may sound a little something like, “Lord I pray that you will lead me in my time with my friend. I pray that I’m able to offer a biblical world view of things that will shed light on their current life situation.” Or “Lord help me to be the kind, listening ear that my friend may need most in this moment.”

I honestly believe outside of giving traditionally in a church setting that giving of your time, money and emotional support are other ways in which we can cheerfully give unto the Lord in service to others around us.

Take some time to sit with the Holy Spirit this week. Review your talents and hobbies with him and ask him to help you dream up ideas to cheerfully give. Maybe you love kids and art and would like to paint faces at your towns local fair. Maybe there is a friend that you haven’t seen in a little while and would like to check in on them and see how they’re doing. Maybe there is a retirement home that you can volunteer with, having conversations with those who aren’t able get up and go like they use to or with those who have lived awhile and their spouses are no longer with us.

The possibilities are endless and the Lord will honor you if you honor him!

I hope you have a great day!

Love,

Amber

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I remember walking to one of my evening classes at UCF, which was rare for me. I always avoided evening classes if I could. They always ran way too long and I always grew tired during long winded and bland power point presentations.

But I remember getting a pamphlet on the gospel and forgiveness. Being new to the faith, receiving little booklets on the gospel were the highlight of my day. I was so greedy to learn and getting those little pamphlets on campus every now and then were a treat.

I remember the booklet saying something to the effect of confessing our sins to God so that we could be forgiven. And I thought, “well I’ve sinned a whole lot in the last 20 years. How am I suppose to remember everything to ask forgiveness for?”

Sure big things like lying or stealing erasers in the 1st grade I remember, but what about all of the things that I didn’t remember?

I decided to ask God to bring to my remembrance anything that I may have forgotten so that I may be forgiven for it. How crazy does that sound?

To be honest I felt defeated and deflated as soon as I asked. I had no hope that I would remember everything and surely I was going straight to hell if I had any sin that I hadn’t asked forgiveness for. I couldn’t enter the pearly gates with spots and wrinkles and blemishes.

At the time, I knew what Christ had done on the cross for me, but I didn’t understand what his death and resurrection meant in regards to my life, sin and forgiveness.

When Jesus obeyed God and allowed himself to be tortured and crucified, it was because there needed to be a perfect sacrifice to atone for all of our sins. When Jesus died, our Father (God) made sure that his death would atone for every single sin that we have ever committed and will ever commit in our lives. How amazing is that?

I will admit that when I first got saved I was very hard on myself and If I’m being honest perfectionism still tries to get the best of me sometimes. So before I understood what Christ’s death and resurrection really meant for me as a believer, I felt like I was never going to be good enough. I would never remember all my sins and because I am human I would probably add more sins to the list.

And you know what? I was right. I would never be good enough and I would never remember all of my sins, but God in all of his awesome power is GOOD and through Christ’s death on the cross I can stand before God without spot, wrinkle or blemish.

He knew that I would never remember all of my sins as he was tortured and he knew that I would never be perfect when he died. And that’s why he died. But things get even sweeter for us who believe. Jesus rose again in three days time and returned to live in the kingdom of Heaven at the right hand of God. And what do you think he’s doing there now?

Interceding on our behalves! Jesus is pleading with the father, taking up for us and making sure that the reconciliation that his death created between us and God is alive and well.

Not only is he sitting in the highest place of honor interceding on our behalves, but as we live our lives here on earth we are not obligated to sin anymore or struggle with doing the right thing. The Holy Spirit is living on the inside of us, prompting us to make godly decisions, helping us navigate through life and comforting us in times of need.

God literally thought of everything and has truly set us up for success in this life so that we may celebrate in eternity over his son Jesus and his goodness, mercy and grace toward us.

Looking back now, maybe the pamphlet was meant for someone with more of an understanding of the gospel. Just because Jesus has died for all of our sins, doesn’t mean that we are not to repent and and ask for forgiveness when we’ve done something that we knew would cause us to sin against God.

It’s almost like adding insult to injury. Deeply hurting someone and then pretending as if it didn’t happen or trying to continue your relationship without asking their forgiveness or making amends is detrimental. We don’t want to take advantage of those in our lives who care about us and we most certainly don’t want to take advantage of God’s mercy and grace covering our lives.

So be encouraged!

Know that God loves you and desires for you to be with him in heaven for all of eternity when your life is over on this earth. He has sent the Holy Spirit for us to have as an intimate guide through life and he and his son Jesus are always here for us as well!

Have a great day!

I love you!

Amber

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I’ve given myself plenty of deadlines in the past, hoping that with the addition of prayer and being a good girl that I would get exactly what I wanted.

I remember saying that I would be married by the tinder age of twenty-two. I even had an entire Tumblr following (about 20,000 or so people) following my wedding Tumblr. It is still filled with images of what I thought would be mine years ago.

I’ve since learned that just because I want something in a certain time frame doesn’t mean that God is just going to instantly agree because I prayed really hard about it.

It reminds me of a time when I had four potential people excited to sign leases at the community that I work for. They had expressed interest, were very excited and told me that they planned to sign up. I followed up for weeks and could not figure out why they hadn’t signed yet. I remember thinking of how great it would be to finally get them signed and have them added to our group of residents ASAP.

There always seemed to be something stopping them from signing their leases. “Oh we’re really busy with school.” “I have to get my dad to take a look at everything.” “Yes, we are still interested in signing, but maybe sometime next week.”

I was beginning to think that they wouldn’t sign and that my efforts to showcase why our community is the best community were being thwarted. I continued to diligently follow up, but inwardly my enthusiasm had dwindled.

Fast forward a few more weeks and all four people were ready to sign their leases. Not only that, but they were finally ready to sign during a time where my bonus for signing leases had doubled. My co-workers and I were being incentivized for signing as many people as possible and the four leases that I had been working on were all ready to go!

I was really excited to say the least. Now imagine if I had gotten exactly what I wanted weeks ago. Sure I would have had a few more leases, but I would not have been able to reap the benefits of the incentives that were going on later.

It makes me wonder how many times we’ve thought that God has given up on us, or has ignored our requests in prayer? How many times have we grown impatient and sabotaged the great plans that he had lined up for a later time in our lives?

I know for a fact that had I known they would sign during a time when incentives were crazy, I would have been on cloud nine during that waiting period. But since I didn’t know, I was given the opportunity to continue following up with them and make the best of the situation.

I’ve decided that I don’t want to look up one day and realize that I’ve complained and mumbled and grumbled through every transition that God has set up in my life.

God has shown me on countless occasions that though a situation may not look like it is for me, things tend to turn out for my good. I want to place an emphasis on things not looking like they’re going my way. Sometimes we will experience a level of extreme doubt in our life and we have to confidently be able to say that it is well with our soul. In spite of what things make look like I know that God is working things out for my good because I love him and have been called according to his purpose for me. (Romans 8:28)

I’ve had to remind myself of this, though it is always tucked away in my heart. I know that my love for God is real and he will provide for every single need that I have. (2 Corinthians 9:8) And even some of my wants, too!

So be encouraged and stay encouraged! Things may not look like they’re going your way, and they may not be, but Gods plans for us are always so much better and often involve bringing us closer to him in the long run!

Love you!

Amber

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I am not a fan of clutter. Like, at all. I’m one of the firm believers in the studies that show stress levels are heightened in more of a messy environment than in an environment that is well kept, organized and put together.

I find that even during my earliest shifts at work that I have to clean up a little bit and organize before being able to get started on everything else. At home I’m the same way. I force myself to fold the laundry right after I take it out of the dryer instead of piling it up on my bed and sleeping with it for a few nights. (Yes, I’ve done that before.) Or I will make sure the dishes are done the same day that I use them and not a week later (after being rinsed off of course.)

I just like for everything to be in order so that it doesn’t distract me from being productive. I take pride in having nice things and making sure that they look good, but am I taking the same care with my soul?

I wondered the other day, how often we believers fight to be seen in a certain light, all the while not really taking the time or effort to make sure that what appears to be, really is.

Are we lifting our hands outwardly in worship on an emotional Sunday only to retreat back to our busy lives ignoring God for the rest of the week? Are we championing purity while entertaining ungodly texts, DM’s, pictures and fantasy’s about the opposite sex?

The time has come for us to live the authentic lives that we portray in pictures of our bibles on social media #Blessed #QuietTime #LoveThisPlace, or the purity that we showcase with our celibacy rings, and bracelets and reminders. We’ve got to stop being so worried about how we look on the outside that we’re ignoring the spiritual needs of our soul.

I remember when I first got saved I told the Lord that I was going to give up my make up for a season. I love make up and I think it enhances the God given beauty that all women have. I feel as though it polishes my appearance and shows that I care about putting my best face forward, literally.

For three joyous months I could just breeze out of the house after ironing my clothes and quickly doing my hair, I could blubber and cry during worship at church without fear of mascara streaking down my face, and I grew much more confident in knowing that I didn’t need to wear make up to feel comfortable. I was enjoying who God made me all on his own. Though my love of make up was still there, my love for God grew stronger when I realized that he thinks every face is my best face, make up or not.

What are some areas of your life that may look great externally but need a little help internally? Are you an outwardly content single, secretly pining away for your marriage season to come? Are you addicted to porn and masturbation, while preaching purity and honor to your peers? Do you struggle with actually studying your bible after you’ve taken creative pictures of your quiet time for social media? Give all of your struggles to God, for “his yolk is easy and his burden is light.” The Bible actually says to cast your cares onto Christ. So vent to God. Tell him exactly where you are and be brutally honest. Genuinely express your need for help and then take action. Delete social media apps where you can’t completely control what you see on your feed (stay away from Instagram’s explore page) Stop watching television shows and movies and listening to music that arouses your flesh to do things that you will regret later. Change your number, block hindering people on social media, spend more time reading your word and studying it to show yourself approved.

For the rest of my life I’m devoted to the sanctification process. Becoming like Jesus is not some magical experience that happens overnight, it takes time. It takes a steady accumulation of saying yes to God and no to our flesh daily, and even then life never stops, through Christ we just manage to handle it better.

Don’t be afraid to be an outcast or to be different, or unrelatable. I’ve actually heard all of these words used to describe myself and I know that the Lord will continue to mold me into the woman that he desires me to be in spite of everyone else’s opinions. Jesus’ life one was big ole season of being unrelatable, but God used him to relate the gospel to others and to make eleven really great friends along the way.

Be yourself, be honest, and trust God to partner with your repentance in creating a true change in your heart!

Love,

Amber D.

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