Unshakeable

I have a deep-guarded secret to share with all of you. It is something from which I shield my daughters. It is something that I have had to come to terms with as I notice the habits rearing their ugly heads in my speech.

I am a Recovering Cheerleader.

I thought it was all behind me - the chants, the stunts, the need to cheer people on. But then one day, in a wave it came to me.

Zoe had woken up grumpy - GRUMPY. She was complaining about everything. She didn't want to get dressed. She didn't want to go to Grammy's. She didn't want breakfast. I said to her, "Zoe, you are certainly grumpy today. Jesus doesn't want us to be grumpy and whiney. Jesus calls us to be cheerful and joyful in the Lord and to let our lights shine. So why don't you say this with me:

Step back, Devil
Get away from me.
I'm bought with the Blood,
so I have Victory. YEY GOD."

There it was. The cheerleader was back.

Zoe's attitude immediately changed as she was overcome with giggles. The whole way to Grammy's house, she kept saying, "How did that go again, Mommy? Say it again, Mommy." We repeated it over and over again. It changed both of our attitudes for the day and I rejoiced knowing that in these little ways I was demonstrating my faith to my children. My children, both the biological ones and the non-biological ones, know where I stand with God. The Lord is everything to me and I would be nothing without Him.

I have been encouraged by some of you to turn this blog into a book. I have contacted a few publishers and found that a simple Devotional is not what the publishers are looking for right now. Now if I were Max Lucado or T.D. Jakes, I'd have a deal. But I'm Danielle Scott - a simple woman just trying to walk with the Lord every day.

As I have read over my blogs from the past 18 months, I've been searching for a theme, if you will. Every book needs a theme, right? Every play needs a plot - a protagonist, an antagonist, a climax, a denouement or resolution. Well, this book needs a theme with a beginning, middle and ending.

The one theme that pervades most, if not all of my posts, is Faith. Now Faith has many different meanings and takes many different forms. Faith is a journey that is begun every morning when you wake up. Faith begins the day you accept the Lord as your Savior and grows through weekly fellowship, Baptism, the reception of the Holy Spirit and continues on until something is born out of you - your ministry or ministries. Lessons in Faith come in seasons. I, myself, look back over the past eighteen months and see typically three-month periods where God was hammering a particular point home with me until I knew He was drawing a line in the sand and saying, "Danielle, it is time to step up here."

I'm here to tell you today that I have reached a new plateau of Faith - one that I've desired and yearned for, one that amazes me in the fact that I got here and yet comforts me all at the same time. If I sound like I am boasting, please remember that Paul said we are to boast in the Lord. I did not get to where I am today without Christ working through me, but now that I stand where I stand in my walk with Christ, I desire the same for you.

Today I can say for the first time in my life, "My Faith is Unshakeable." Over the past couple of months I have been bombarded with problems of my own as well as other people's problems. I spoke of some of these problems in my last post. I have friends who are being diagnosed with diseases like Multiple Sclerosis. I have friends who are going through divorce. I have a father who his facing foreclosure on his home because he can't find a job. I have friends whose jobs have either already been taken away or are in jeopardy. My daughter is in the process of being diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder or worse, an Autism Spectrum Disorder. But I'm not flinching. By the power of Jesus Christ, I'm not wavering. I haven't gotten on my knees crying "Woe is me," once. Because I believe God. Period.

I believe God uses all things to bring Him Glory. I said in my last post, "He will bring you to your knees so you get on your knees." In every situation, I have accepted the boldness with which God has infused me and spoken to each of these people. Now you know that's God, because I could never before get myself to speak to someone about God. That's why I created this blog - to say what I needed to say or what God wanted me to say without talking to a person directly or standing in front of a crowd.

God ordains your circumstances. Do you know that? God ordains everything that happens to you until you get rightly related to Him. That's where I come in.

I'm your personal Cheerleader. I can't believe I just said that, but in actuality, I've been examing where I belong in the body of Christ, and more and more, I see myself as a support person. Now I don't know if that means I'm a leg or a foot to stand on, or maybe a hand that reaches out, but I know that right now, I'm not on stage singing or preaching with all eyes on me. I'm suddenly what we would call in Theatre - Stage Crew - behind the scenes, if you will. God is using me and using this blog to reach out to you, speak into your circumstances and to cheer you on. The only things I got shaking are my pom-poms. I got my big megaphone yelling:

"Hey, hey you,
there's nothing you can do
to stop - clap, clap, clap
God's Power - clap, clap
TONIGHT."

Receive it. Accept it. Don't be afraid of it. God loves you. He wants to make a way where there is no way, if you will just let Him. He wants to draw the line in the sand and see you moving to the other side. You have nothing to fear. He is with you and in you and all around you. He is calling to you. Open your ears above the din of the world and HEAR HIM.

I'll be here, cheering you on.