Don't Cry For Me Argentina

During a conversation recently, someone asked me the following question... How do you feel about not having a family yet? 

(What a loaded question right?)

Then this person said that there desire to have a family causes them to think of my journey to have one and literally makes them cry. 

Today I woke up with the song "don't cry for me Argentina in my mind". No I don't think I'm Eva Peron and it may seem odd but I know it was God. 

So don't cry for me please and here's why...

I've learned many lessons since that day we found out about our angel being promoted to heaven. 

Here are just a few: 

Let me premise this with this; I used to tell my husband that I couldn't wait to start a family and he would always stop me and say, "we're already a family"! Wow!!! So it took losing what in my mind was the definition of a "family" in order to really become a "family with him. So, God redefined my definition of family! 

Here we go...

1. Hold on to the promise. If you have a prophetic word, bind it to your heart like the Word so that you never forget it. That promise becomes a beacon of light in the darkness of fear and doubt. 

2. Declare the word: The word is what sustains the promise and the hope that you will see it come to pass.

3. Testimony: connect with others that have lived what you are living. There journey inspires faith and hope throughout your own journey. For me that's people like singers Natalie Grant, Chril Quilala and writer Christa Black Gifford.

4. Release: Find people that will encourage you when you are triggered emotionally in that area. Share with them and release that internal battle so that others can pray with and support you. You don't have to go through it alone. 

5. Celebrate! 

True freedom is when you can celebrate others that have what you are waiting to have for yourself. So you have to go to that baby shower, that birthday party, that wedding...

Time has helped me to be able to recognize much quicker when I am triggered so that I can begin to apply these to my life. And in that way I avoid boughts of depression. 

So say it with me... Don't cry for me Argentina!!!

 

Reserves or Overflow?

When you are saturated by the Holy Spirit what flows out of you comes from the overflow. There have been times that I have known that I have ministered from my spiritual reserves. That's the water that is stored up for times of drought. 

My question for you today is, are you in a season of spiritual drought? When was the last time you spent alone time in the presence of God. The type of alone time where he replenishes your sprit with fresh living waters? 

When you minister you give of what is in your spiritual tank. So, what is flowing from you? Is it fresh, or is it stagnant waters? 

Stagnant waters have been proven to contain bacteria and parasites that can be life threatening! Don't allow poison to dwell in you any longer!!! 

Today the Holy Spirit calls you to draw near to him for a time of refreshing. Allow him to come replenish your spiritual wells and his life will flow in you once again!!! 

~Heidi Lugo~

Take That Step of Faith

Yesterday I had to look for something in the attic of the church. The attic has an old wood ladder that goes up towards where our steeple is. The ladder is very high and very old, two things that shouldn't be paired together. 

I didn't have a problem climbing the ladder, I had a problem coming down it. Why? 

Because the ladder being on such a vertical angle didn't allow me to see the first step! 

As I tried to take the first step I felt my body begin to tremble in fear. Once I realized that I would have to come down without seeing the step I crouched down to just get it over with.

As I began to take first step I felt God say, "That's a what a step of faith is!" Once I took the first one he said, "If it doesn't scare you, it's not faith! Once you take the step I'll always be there!" 

The bible says...

For we walk by faith [we regulate our lives and conduct ourselves by our conviction or belief respecting man's relationship to God and divine things, with trust and holy fervor; thus we walk] not by sight or appearance. (2 Corinthians 5:7 KJV)

Martin Luther King Jr said, "Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole ladder!"

Today God challenges us to begin walking in faith. Don't fear because he'll be there and you won't fall. So take that step of Faith that God has been telling you to take! 

Your Time of Harvest Has Arrived!

Sometimes it feels as if a mass exodus is happening all around us. People we once loved and trusted all of a sudden turn there backs on us, co-laborers in the ministry leave without warning & suddenly our world shifts. Why does this happen? 

Jesus explained it this way... 

He told another story. “God’s kingdom is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. That night, while his hired men were asleep, his enemy sowed thistles all through the wheat and slipped away before dawn. When the first green shoots appeared and the grain began to form, the thistles showed up, too.

“The farmhands came to the farmer and said, ‘Master, that was clean seed you planted, wasn’t it? Where did these thistles come from?’ “He answered, ‘Some enemy did this.’ “The farmhands asked, ‘Should we weed out the thistles?’ “He said, ‘No, if you weed the thistles, you’ll pull up the wheat, too. Let them grow together until harvest time. Then I’ll instruct the harvesters to pull up the thistles and tie them in bundles for the fire, then gather the wheat and put it in the barn.’” (Matthew 13:24-30 MSG)

This is what I call the math of God. When God subtracts from your life he then doesn't just add, he multiplies things in your life. 

Put it this way, without those people you wouldn't be where you are today. Had God removed them from the start you might have died in the process as the wheat would die if the weed is pulled too soon. Yes it hurts to have the weeds of your life pulled out, but that grooming that God does is the signal that harvest time has arrived!

So next time you feel betrayed, abandoned or used by those that leave you, wait because that just means your time of Harvest has arrived!!! 

~Heidi Lugo~

3 Things the Righteousness of God Does

Three things the rightousness judge does: 

God is a righteous judge, a God who displays his wrath every day. If he does not relent, he will sharpen his sword; he will bend and string his bow. He has prepared his deadly weapons; he makes ready his flaming arrows. (Psalm 7:11-13 NIV)

 

1. Whoever is pregnant with evil conceives trouble and gives birth to disillusionment. 

Psalm 7: 14

2. Whoever digs a hole and scoops it out falls into the pit they have made. 

Psalm 7:15

3.  The trouble they cause recoils on them; their violence comes down on their own heads. 

Psalm 7:15

So rejoice when others plot against you because the righteousness of God will go before you!!! 

Have you Plateaued?

I was stuck at a specific weight for two weeks. I was so frustrated but I stuck to the plan and kept going. Everyone told me not to weigh myself for a week and when I finally did I had broken through the plateau and lost 3 pounds.

I think that happens to us in life. We come to Christ and our lives begin to change then all of a sudden things just plateau. So we have a choice to make... Either we give up and go back or we keep moving forward no matter what the "scale" may say.

I learned this about the body;

When you are about to reach your ideal weight it becomes harder to lose the last of it. That's when you need to eat less calories and do more exercise. 

So if you are at a plateau in life right now, get to work. Push a little harder. Shedding that weight (your past, different struggles, addictions) may seem impossible but your break through is coming!!!