Karen Moore's Blog

Human beings are blessed with brilliant minds. Sometimes they even amaze themselves with their inventive ideas and inspiring perspectives. They feel strong and excited as they run toward their possibilities, only to be stopped in their tracks before they ever get to step one. What happens? What gets in the way of the inspiration and confidence they were feeling one minute and the choice to turn back, put the manuscript under the bed, set the invention aside, or stop the presses?

Maybe we’re possibility procrastinators. God gives us an amazing idea and it feels like something we should run with, but then, we hesitate. We decide to ask our spouse or a good friend what they think about our idea. They are mildly supportive, but not enthusiastic. Since they don’t exactly encourage us, we go on and find someone else to share the idea with. We just know someone will see the utter brilliance of it, and suggest ways we should run with it. At least, that’s what we hope for.

Unfortunately, other people put their own life experience and spin on an idea. They look at you and they know your past failures and accomplishments. They remind you that you haven’t been successful in this way before, so why should you be now. They hold up your shortcomings and try to save you from embarrassing yourself by trying something that might be bigger than you are. Of course, they are not remembering that any idea worth its salt needs to be so big it can never come to fruition without God’s help. After all, you’re not the only part of the idea that could make it succeed.

So, what else stops you from growing, changing, trying new things? Why do you believe so much in what other’s say, that you don’t believe in what you say, what you feel God has shared with you? It seems to me this is a common dilemma. Ideas are fragile and humans are even more fragile. We don’t want to fail. We don’t want to appear foolish to the world. When the light of inspiration fails and doubts prevail, we feel more comfortable to put the idea back in a box and simply let it go. It must not have been a God idea after all. 

Okay, so here’s a thought. What if you played with your idea a little bit longer? What if you took one step all by yourself to grow it? What if you thanked those who shared their opinions and then kept praying. After all, if you and God are going to build this idea, it may turn out to be something unstoppable. You can always give up, but maybe that’s not the answer. Maybe you have to step past the naysayers, the practical ones, and choose to open doors they cannot see. Maybe you and God together are a force to be reckoned with!

You can do it!

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Where do I go

  when I don’t know, just what to do?

When I’ve stayed still,

  seeking Your will, without a clue?

 

Where do I go

 when life is so, out of control?

When nothing’s right,

 and there’s no light to fill my soul?

 

Where do I go

  when I’m so low, that I feel blind?

When I’m aware, life seems unfair

 and so unkind?

 

Where do I go

  each time I’m slow, to see the way?

When in my heart, I’ve done my part

  in faith to pray?

 

Where do I go

 when it’s all no, without a yes,

When it’s not clear how you might steer

  me to success?

 

Where do I go?

  I go to You, my life and love,

I go to You, my Savior dear,

  my Lord above.

 

I go to You no matter what

   in life appears,

For only You can see me through

   my web of fears.

 

I go to You because you know

  me inside out,

I go to You because you love me

  without doubt.

 

I go to You because in time,

  we’ll share the story

Of all we witnessed in this life

  that brought You glory.

 

Where do I go when I don’t know

  just what to do?

I set my sight on Your great light,

  to see me through!

 

I pray for all of us to keep setting our sights on the One who loves us more than anything.  My love to you today.

 

 

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Fear is arrogant. It barges into your life and never apologizes for anything. It paints your soul with uncertainty and makes you dread something you can’t even define. It’s deliberate and smug. It imagines you simply can’t get rid of it. Perhaps it helps to face fear head on. Determine its cause. Define it. One writer said, “Fear knocked on the door. Faith answered, but no one was there.” Who is at your door?

The attempt here is not to make light of those things that create fear and anxiety. It’s not to imagine that there are not justified or real fears in the world. It’s only to recognize that many fears simply strive to turn your life upside down, and most fears never come to fruition. The hard part is being willing to step aside from those things that give you shaky knees and a racing heart and decide for yourself what comes next. You can give in to fear, lock the door, never open it again, and hope that your own personal monastery gives you a sense of peace and comfort. That particular idea though, gives all your power away. 

If you imagine you don’t have power over the outside world, you’re forgetting who you are. You’re forgetting that you’re a child of God. You’re a human being with a guiding Spirit, an inspiring Mentor, a Source of power like no other. When you take your basket of fears and hand them over, give them up, challenge their existence, then you are not alone. You have more powerful stories to tell, more exciting experiences up ahead, because God did not give you a spirit of timidity. God assures you that even when you feel weak, He is strong. Even when you hug the past, He goes ahead of you. He knows the future and its full of light and possibility.

If you’re having trouble turning your fears over to God, then think back over the past several weeks or months and review how fear has treated you. Did it cause you anxiety? Did it make you feel small and incapable of making a difference? Did it lie to you and take away any trust you had in the good that also exists in the world? If it did any of those things, then this is your day. This is your day to give it up. Slam the door in the face of fear and tell it to move on, because that’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to move on in hope. You’re going to remind yourself of all the amazing times God has shown up for you, helped you, and given you strength you didn’t even know you had. This is the day to let faith answer the door.

After all, you and God are friends. He calls you by name. Invite Him in for dessert. 

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I just had a birthday. I share that because it was one of those milestone birthdays, the kind that may have escaped your notice when you were waiting to turn 21, or maybe even 30. It was a birthday that greeting card companies handle with age gags that are amusing, but not necessarily funny. It was a birthday set for reflection and honesty. What do I really think? What do I really believe? What can I do even now to make a difference? Each birthday is an opportunity. Each one is God’s way of saying you’re not done yet. Getting older might not sound like a gift you want to unwrap, but in truth. it is the absolute gold of your existence. 

Remember when you thought you knew your life direction, what you’d be, what you’d do? Chances are good your early ambitions gave you a great start, but once you started moving, they couldn’t keep up with you. Your path may have seemed certain, but your steps changed along the way. With time, you discovered what was important, what mattered. You mastered a few specific skills that provided opportunities and options, but even they were not hitting the gold, the place in you that could be all God intended. You had to have more birthdays to acquire heartaches, and skills that allowed you to reinvent yourself. You had to recognize truth and honesty and the joy of simply knowing life was always about giving, receiving, learning, and believing.

Birthday candles are beautiful things because they reflect the light of every moment of grace, and beauty, kindness and love you’ve ever shared. They celebrate your wisdom and courage to continue on despite set backs and challenges. They honor the person you have become, the best, brightest, boldest version of you that exists. You’re the gold standard of positive energy and delight, because you know that God has blessed you, kept you safe, provided for you and cared for you since the day you were born. You know that each day is in His hands, and that His grace will keep you moving forward into a future He designed for you before you ever blew out a single birthday candle.

It’s time to boldly celebrate the candles that keep lighting up your life, reminding others that you are wise and brave and truly content to be right where you are. 

Make a wish and step into a fabulous new year. You’ve still got things to do!

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Power is a multi-faceted word. It may describe aspects of nature, or those in authority, or the energy that gets you through the day. When nature is serving up stormy seas or quaking the earth, it seems to hold all the power. Those in authority are often defined by the ways they use or misuse power, misusing the trust that was assigned to them. When you can no longer lift your head off the pillow because everything around you challenges your very existence, you might be suffering from a power outage. You need to get refueled, refortified, and recharged so you can move ahead.

From a spiritual view, we are witnesses, servants, recipients of the power God gives us through His Spirit. We discover that when we tap into God’s power, seek His direction for our lives, and are intentional about getting to know Him, that we often see His hand at work in ways we may not have noticed before. We recall what He has done to help us get through past challenges. We remember who we are as children of a God who creates, sustains, provides and reveals Himself to us in a variety of ways. We may experience a power outage at any given time, but God never does. He never suffers from a lack of power, from an inability to reign and be in control of any situation. He observes our human frailty, and sighs that we know so little of how to make the world a better place.

God’s Spirit is all powerful. It has no end and never grows weary. He doesn’t give up on His creation despite our poor choices, our arrogance, or our sense that we hold some kind of power in our own hands. God’s power is the only one worth tapping into. It’s the only way to recognize truth and genuine authority. It’s the only way to calm the stormy challenges of life, and rise refreshed with each morning light. Jesus talked about the power of faith, the mustard seed of possibility. He suggested that humans have more power than they realize, that is, power to enact miracles, and power for good. He suggested that when we tap into the Source of all power we will never experience an outage. We will never be so depleted we cannot go on. 

When your heart is full of the Spirit of God’s possibilities, you will shine brighter than ever and be a force for amazing good in the world. Thank God for His enormous energy and power, the kind He makes available to you every day. If you’re struggling to keep God’s light on, plug into the only Power that truly matters.

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My devotional book, What a Great Word, takes common words in Scripture and strives to redefine the words we imagine we know well.  A word I keep relearning is “forgiveness”. More often than not, it comes about when I realize I have fallen short of what I hope to be, disappointed someone I care about, and find myself in need of forgiveness.

Matthew 18:21-22 says, “Lord, when my fellow believer sins against me, how many times must I forgive him? Should I forgive him as many as seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, you must forgive him more than seven times. You must forgive him even if he wrongs you seventy times seven.” 

Wait a minute! Could that be right? Could it be true that if someone intentionally hurts you, you need to forgive them, not just once, but 490 times? You probably don’t keep a count of how many times you’ve forgiven someone, even if they are a repeat offender.  In fact, you may have replayed the offense so many times in your head that you can’t actually remember what really happened. The problem is that you stopped counting, but you also stopped forgiving in the same moment. Friends, family, and other human beings are accountable for every thoughtless action from rude behavior to despicable behavior, but forgiveness is still worth considering.

At some point, we must move past the hurt, past the event that grieves our spirit and consider forgiveness. Maybe it helps to look at our personal relationship with God. Could we imagine we may have offended God by our actions at least once? Twice? Maybe even 490 times?  If you’ve been on this planet more than 490 days, chances are good you’ve offended God by sins of omission or commission. God’s love is so enormous though, He does not count our offenses. He does not keep a chart of the wrongs we have done. Once we ask Him to forgive us, He forgives us. He does not replay the scene over and over, or tell the sad story to anyone who will listen. He simply forgives! Imagine that! He doesn’t think about what we did to slight Him ever again. He truly forgives and forgets.

Forgiveness is not just for the offender. It’s for the one who can’t let it go. Past hurts can weigh us down for years, but we don’t have to replay them in our minds. We have God’s permission to move beyond what was and discover what’s next. Imagine what it would mean if we could truly forgive others as God forgives us. Perhaps we would seek more of the good things we can share with one another. Perhaps we would even realize perfection isn’t necessary. Love, kindness, goodness, and forgiveness are the things that cause us to thrive and allow us to move forward. 

As I ponder the idea of true forgiveness, I am beyond grateful that God renews us with His love every morning. He knows we’re fragile. He knows we need softer hearts, but He never gives up on us. He only counts the things we do for Him so someday He may remind us of a few of those shining moments. For today though, let’s all choose to move on to forgiveness.  After all, we each know how often God forgives us, and I suspect we may have to admit its somewhere way over 490 times.

Let’s always choose to be forgiving.

 

 

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For the next few days, I’ll be sharing some thoughts from my book, It’s Still Possible. I think the messages are timely and important for any of us who wonder whether it’s too late to try again, too crazy to still pursue a dream, or simply too difficult for life to turn around. I hope you find some of these reminders helpful.

Perhaps you think your life is such a mess you can’t possibly get back on the right track. After all, you’ve disappointed yourself, your friends and family, and even God. You feel stuck, almost certain nothing can change. Victor Hugo wrote: “Great blunders are often made, like large ropes, of a multitude of fibers.” If you’ve been gathering the fibers of your mistakes for some time, you may have created a cord that feels unbreakable. No matter how strong that cord is though, it’s not stronger than God’s ability to unravel it. 

God is more interested in a contrite heart than He is about counting your mistakes. He knows you are human. He knows you need His direction and a clean slate, He comes running when you’re ready to talk with Him. He receives your humble desire for forgiveness and in return, He gives you exactly what you need to start again, to direct your steps, and help you become the person you were meant to be. As we read in 1 John 1:9, when we confess our sins, our messes, and our poor choices to God, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins so we can build new possibilities.

Chances are you had some scraped knees as a kid, and you had to learn to pick yourself up and start over. These days, you have Divine possibility because God will pick you up wherever you are and help you find your way again. He’s ready to give you a second chance to discover more of your purpose. You can turn those old ropes into bridges and step lively into the future you were meant to have. God is with you and you will never be in the presence of greater possibility than what He has to offer. His divine eraser is much bigger than your mess!

It’s still possible to have a richer and more fulfilling life!

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As fans of the Mission: Impossible movies, we’ve watched Ethan Hunt go through one death-defying cliff-hanger after another. In the newest film, The Final Reckoning, Hunt even hangs upside down from a plane, which means actor Tom Cruise, had to get comfortable with the idea of the impossible. No matter how scary things get, Cruise’s character manages to pull off his task. We might envy the world of film making, because in the real world, even our everyday missions can feel impossible. Our dramas may not be quite so intense, but they’re still heart-thumping for us. As believers, we know some things might not be possible for us, but with God, the sky’s the limit. With God, Your Mission Is Still PossibleAs a believer, you’ve been equipped with unique talents to pull off the job you’re intended to do. You aren’t likely to have to stop a nuclear explosion, or an AI takeover,but your mission is every bit as important and it’s a matter of life and death. You are meant to hold up the light, to shine in the darkness, and make a difference, so others realize God is there.The adversary in your mission is real, and is more deadly than anything Ethan Hunt will ever face.You may wonder if you can really make a difference in a world where human beings fail miserably and villains boast of their victories. You may wonder if anyone still has ears to hear and eyes to see. If it was all up to you, you’d have reason to wonder, but it’s not all in your hands. You are just one, but you are not alone. God has lights that are shining all over the world and that light will prevail. That light will never be blown out because anyone tied to God quickly becomes a majority.So what is still possible for you?  Perhaps you imagine God no longer needs your skills and talents. When you signed up for God’s team though, it was the commitment of a lifetime. Like Ethan Hunt, you’ve been in training for years, and you’re ready for the next mission. The enemy is cringing in the darkness, hoping you won’t show up. Ethan Hunt’s team may disavow his actions if he’s caught, but your team will always be right there with you. Your call will not self-destruct in five seconds.It’s the work of eternity and nothing can stop your light from shining.With God, all things are possible, and yes, He uses ordinary people like you and me to get His work done!

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Sometimes life catches you off guard. You think you know where you’re headed, what your next steps will be, and then you hit an obstacle that rises up out of nowhere. You don’t know how it got there, or why, but suddenly you’re thrown off course, uncertain of anything. Our most recent obstacle was called chronic heart disease, and until a month ago, we didn’t even know it was there. My husband and I moved to Ohio last summer and so we needed a new primary care physician. Once the doctor reviewed my husband’s previous four surgeries, he decided to set up meetings with various specialists Bruce might need in the future. Little did we know, the future was about to show up. A visit to a cardiologist, set up to give Bruce someone to call, you know, someday, turned into a request for a stress test, then a heart catheterization. Within days we were seeing a heart surgeon to discuss blocked arteries and an enormous aneurysm. After four previous surgeries, no one had discovered blocked arteries. It was a surprise, but here’s what else it was.

It was an opportunity to see God’s hand at work, to know that God knew what was coming, what we would need before we ever left Florida. It was clear to us that our favorite phrase, “God’s got this!” was absolutely true. Here are some of the reasons we believe this. For the first time, we live near family, people who can be there with us, and our family was there every step of the way. For the first time, we have a primary care physician who is a man of prayer, and took Bruce’s history seriously, and recommended actions that probably saved his life. We had the comfort of prayer warriors all around the country, holding us up, supporting our journey, keeping us confident and strong at times we didn’t feel any of those things for ourselves. We had a hospital system that wasn’t afraid to say who they are, with a motto that is posted in every room, “This room and those who serve in it are dedicated to prayer for the ministry of healing.”

We may have been lost for words, but God knew this day was coming, and He had orchestrated everything. An enormous aortic aneurysm and 100% blocked arteries did not get in the way of what God can do. Perhaps this is why our job in every circumstance is to pray, and then stand back, and let God get to work. To God be the glory!

We are beyond grateful to the doctors, the care teams, and the beautiful people of prayer who supported us. Thankfully, Bruce is healing and getting stronger every day.

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Some days, no matter how much you want your faith to sustain you, fear still plants itself in your path. You try to remember that God is with you, that you’ve been doing your best to be faithful, but nothing comforts your soul. You might feel like the disciples in the boat with Jesus, the guy they’ve been walking with and following, and learning from for quite a while, but then a storm shakes their world. They are trying to adjust their sails, trying to bail out the water that’s threatening to sink the ship, but their efforts are puny. Finally, they do what they might have considered doing first. They go to Jesus and ask for His help. He’s been with them the whole time, but in their minds, he’s been sleeping, not participating in their plight.

It’s no different for you and me. We feel the winds blow, we sense that disaster could be up ahead, and we imagine we have to somehow control the waves, the rocking feeling in our stomachs, and the sense that we are in peril. In our case, as it probably was in the biblical story, Jesus is always there, always awake to our needs and our circumstances. He knows what we need more than we do and He knows how to calm our fears.

These days, it often feels like we have no control over those issues that threaten our well-being. We can’t stop a tsunami of unrest, of senseless chaos, of overwhelming uncertainty. We can’t stop those things, but if God has taught us anything throughout history and through our personal stories, it’s to let us know He sees us. He knows how shaky things are and He hasn’t forgotten us. If you wonder how to know this, just look at your own life story, at those times when God showed up for you in remarkable and sometimes, unexplainable ways. He provided encouragement, sustained your finances and gave you wisdom just when you needed it. He saw you through the storm of a difficult medical diagnosis, comforted you through grief, and filled you with hope to start again. He was never asleep on the job.

Things can be scary. Times can feel threatening. As you face the waves of discontent and uncertainty, wake up to the Presence of Jesus. He knows the circumstances you face and He will not leave you without hope and possibility. Put your shaky little hand in His and hold on!

Calmer seas are up ahead.

 

Note: I want to thank FeedSpot for sharing my blogs on Top 100 Christian Women Bloggers

 

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