The Road Not Taken

One of my favorite poems is “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost. It is basically a metaphor for our journey through life and the paths we choose. In the poem, the walker comes upon a fork in the road, and must decide which way he will go. He chooses the road less traveled, which to me is the more individual and unusual, but better!

I have often thought about my own journey, and the paths I have been on. Did I choose wisely? What if I had gone the other direction? It is easy to get caught up in what ifs- what if I had done things differently? What if I had not taken the road I did? What if I had made different decisions? 

The LORD guides us in the way we should go and protects those who please him. ~Psalm 37:23 Good News Translation

God does not want us to feel regretful, He wants us to repent and learn from our experiences. Just like when I get lost on a walk, and then find my way back. I remember which way to go after that! When we learn, and apply what we learn, we don't keep making the same mistakes. We know the way better.

I have learned that the walk of a Christian is a difficult one, and is most definitely the less traveled. But oh, what I would miss if I went the other, seemingly easier way!

Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

This path is long and winding, sometimes it’s hard to see. Some parts of it haven't been navigated before. But I am never alone. It may be unmapped, but God knows exactly where He’s taking me. When I have gotten off course, nothing works out! But then when I am back on the path, everything aligns once more. Isn't it amazing that we can know which way God wants us to go so easily? All we have to do is open our eyes and see the signs.

So what about the times when it is dark ahead and the road seems to end? The most obvious and easiest answer would be to go back and get on a different road wouldn't it? Do you think that is what God would want us to do? I have done that before because I got scared. Now, I try to stop and pray. I reach for Him and look for His light. I take a step at a time, and feel my way when I have to. What about you?

This is what the LORD says--your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is good for you and leads you along the paths you should follow. ~Isaiah 48:17 NLT

Do you trust God to pave a path before you? Do you trust Him to make a way where there is none? Has He ever done this for you before? Do you believe He will do it again?

Remember God is a God of the impossible. He is a God of so much more than what we can imagine and what we can see. Let Him set your path and make the way and He will lead and guide you to the places He wants you to go. Ultimately He will lead you all the way home to where you belong.

With this message: People of Israel, I am the holy LORD God, the one who rescues you. For your own good, I teach you, and I lead you along the right path. ~ Proverbs 3:5-6

Make The Most Of Your Time

So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. ~ Psalm 90:12

                                                                                

Me and my youngest grandson as a baby

It just amazes me when I think about how my children are all in their thirties now. It seems like just yesterday that they were young children running around my house. Now I have grandchildren that do the same thing. Time marches on and the older we get, the more quickly it marches. 

I now have more friends and family who have passed away. I now have multiple chronic diseases. But the realization has come upon me that there are people I have known that seem to have nine lives. And there are others who were doing very great and hit suddenly with fatal injury or illness. 

Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. ~ Ephesians 5:15-16

None of us know how much time we have or what tomorrow will bring. The truth is only God knows. There is much that is beyond our control, but our God loves us so much that He has the perfect plan for each of us. So, we can stress about what we have no control over, and grieve over what we no longer have or we can make the most of each day.
                                                                                                                          Only God knows so just let go, relax and don't miss the special moments... they only come to you once. 

Each day is a gift, and there are many blessings that we take for granted. The truth is each day we make our memories for tomorrow. What kind of memories do you want to have? I think back to the times I wasted worrying and fretting about the future and the past as the time just went by, time I can’t get back. 

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. ~ Psalm 118:24

So what I try to do now is make the best of each day and savor the special moments. Living with chronic disease is hard, but God is good. One of the most humbling but rewarding things I’ve been learning is instead of being independent, to be dependent on God. He is teaching me to let go of my past regrets and losses, and my future worries and anxieties. When I focus on Him and stay in the moment life just looks so much better, and that’s how I want to experience it and remember it! 

Just One Thing I Want You To Know

I am always with you- even to the very end of the age.
~Matthew 28:20

When the rains come             
When the storms move in
When the winds blow
And your faith wears thin
There’s just one thing
 I want you to know
 I will shelter you

When it’s so dark
When it’s hard to move
When you can’t see
Feeling your way through
There’s just one thing                                     

There will be a shelter to give shade from the heat by day and
protection from the storm and the rain. ~ Isaiah 4:6

I want you to know
I will be with you

When you’re scared you feel so alone
But I am always here
Though you can’t always see me
I’ll be the comfort in your fear

When it’s so hard
When no way seems right
When you don’t know
And no answer’s in sight
There’s just one thing
I’ll always come back

And I will answer you     
                                                       
The son will shine                                         
No matter what you do
Trust me and wait
I’ll help you breakthrough
There’s just one thing
I want you to do
Believe in me, I will

©Kimberly Burnette

Beautiful

How we look is so important to us, it’s what we’re taught from the time we are little. Being the right weight, conforming, being on-trend, having the right make up and clothes, looking like the characters in the stories we were read or in the movies we watched or the tv shows we followed. It has become so important in our culture that Photoshop “corrects” what isn’t acceptable in stars on magazine covers, leaving everyone with false ideas of what normal is.

The secular definition of beauty and the heavenly definition of beauty are quite different. I’ll tell you, I think the most beautiful women I know are my Christian friends. It has nothing to do with their body shape. It’s about an inner beauty from the heart and spirit that radiate from within. It shines in the depths of their eyes and on their faces; it makes them radiant. There is nothing quite like it. It is a beauty that will not fade with time, but I suspect will become all the more lovely.

When we go through the illnesses we have and as our bodies get older, we go through a lot of changes. It makes it all the more difficult to look in the mirror. But each one of us is made in the image of God, and He created us to be who we are, as we are. When I was growing up, I was one of the different ones. You know, everyone has the girls in class who have the same look. In my case, it was the girls with blond hair and blue eyes, with long hair parted down the middle, tight, bell bottom jeans that became indecent when they sat down. They all wore basically the same things, and if you saw them from behind, they looked the same. But everyone wanted to be them. Yet, there were many people who thought I was a pretty little girl. I never saw it. I was tall and skinny, with dark hair and eyes. I wanted to have more of a shape, yet others wanted to be skinny like me. None of us see ourselves as others see us.


Do we really want to be like everyone else? What defines you? Is it how your body looks, how well dressed you are, how many wrinkles you can cover? Or is it about who you are and whose you are? What do you want people to see when they look at you? A pretty woman who has a good figure, or a woman, or man, who radiates the love of God?

Lord, I pray that I become the woman that radiates the love of God. When I get caught up in my appearance, please help me to remember what true beauty looks like. Help me to remember who I want people to see when they look at me. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

A Love Such As This

How many of you have self-esteem issues? I've had them my entire life. It's hard not to living in today's world, where standards get higher and higher and many people have unrealistic expectations. I grew up being performance based. I just really thought if I could do things well, or appear a certain way, that I would be accepted and loved. I thought I had to earn it. It's what the world teaches isn't it? Reality hits again and again, for me it started rather young. And my God was always there, before I could even understand in what ways He was there.

I remember a movie that was quite a hit in the 70's called "Love Story." The famous line from Love Story was "Love means never having to say you're sorry." Well in real life that's not true. But, when you are loved with an Agape love, that only God himself can succeed at loving you with, that can be true.

You see my friend, there is nothing, absolutely nothing you will ever find like the love of God. It is unconditional, everlasting, eternal, nothing can separate you from His love. It is so huge it extends to the ends of the earth literally, it is beyond compare. "Agape" love is a Greek term that means charitable, sacrificial love. It is generous, it never thinks of itself. What kind of love would sacrifice a part of it's own self to save an ungrateful, miserable people from themselves, so they could spend eternity with a perfect Father? He sent His own son, made of flesh and blood to suffer for us, to take all of our horrible sin, past, present, future onto himself. Have you ever really thought about that, what it must have been like for the Father, for the Son?

This is a love that is not performance based; we do not have to measure up. When we fail, He is there to comfort us and give us strength to get back up and try again, and to redirect us. He never looks down on us, He sees us as we will one day be, not as we are right now. He sees the beauty in us that we cannot.

He knows our frail, weak humanity, He made us this way. God wants us to reach out to Him for what we need. He is happy to help us, and loves for us to acknowledge all that He does. He is my hope and my joy, everyday. Some days He is more my hope and others more my joy. It gives me such peace to know that I have Him always and that what He is preparing for me and for us, is beyond our imaginations. His love in unlike any love any of us has ever experienced. I pray that you will give yourself over to Him fully, and truly know the incredible love He has for you.

There may be people and circumstances in this world that challenge your perception of yourself, but know that you have God and He loves you more than you could imagine loving anyone. He would do anything for you. If you don't believe me, read it in the Bible, it says so!