FireStorm Faith Ranch

Rock bottom.

Some days you think it can’t get any worse, but then life surprises you and pushes you further down into depression, and makes you question everything. What do you do when you’re at your absolute lowest?

Many times when we hit rock bottom questions surface: “why me,” “what did I do to deserve the pain,” “why did I have to lose everything,” “am I not good enough,” “what more do I need to sacrifice?” We focus on the negative and swirl around everything and everyone we lost. But did you ever stop and look at the bigger picture? What if God was teaching you a lesson through this season? What if there was a specific reason for losing everything and everyone who you thought made you who you are?

Sometimes we need to hit rock bottom to see what God was trying to tell us. We venture down a path that doesn’t lead to our greater purpose, and we need a wake up call, because the subtle hints weren’t making enough of an impact. When we lose everything or those we care about the most the pain is unrecognizable and we are certain there is no way to overcome this hurt. But God has you wrapped in His arms. Don’t allow fear to decide who you are or your worth. The lessons you have to navigate and experience have a purpose and will answer all the questions you’ve been worrying through.

Next time when everyone you love is gone, you’re jobless, homeless, etc remember seek God first and I guarantee He’s preparing and molding you for something better. He will not give you more than you can handle. It what’s you do with the heartbreak, depression, and worthlessness that will determine your courage, and strength. Never give up and find the good in everything. Your answer may be telling you it’s time to move on to bigger and better things so your next season can shape you into the person you were born to be.

Love. It is the greatest gift we are given and are able to receive. It holds so many emotions: happiness, peace, heartache, rejection, and even strength. How can one word, and one “emotion” hold so many possibilities?

When you truly love doing something you put your whole heart and soul into it because you the joy you feel encompasses every fiber of your body. If you’re blessed enough to find true love it changes your life because you share memories and words with someone you trust wholeheartedly. Witnessing your child being born and raising them throughout many milestones, opens your eyes to a new form of love so deep that you never knew you were capable of feeling. You see, Love truly is the greatest gift of all no matter what season or circumstance you encounter it in.

But what happens when that beautiful, warm, fulfilling love is taken from you or absent after you’ve harbored it for so many years? We feel broken. Questions surface forcing us to ask ourselves: what did I do wrong, am I not pretty anymore, should I have reached out, why now, am I enough, what changed? Millions of questions race around searching for an answer so we can “fix” what we think we broke. We long to be accepted, to experience different types of love across diverse relationships, and to be loved by those we love the most. The reality is Love is still there, because God never left you! God’s Love is the greatest, most fulfilling Love available on this Earth.

When Love is taken from you or not shown to you from those you care about the most, the pain can be extremely hard to accept. No one wants to feel unloved, empty from a loss of a loved one, or not good enough, but this is the time where we need to focus on God’s Love above all others. Sometimes we may realize that it might be time to let go of those who don’t value us anymore, step away from friendships that are only one sided and move on. Knowing you’re truly loved by God without expectations is what your heart should harbor and embrace daily. Remember, God created you for a purpose. People will come and go throughout your life, but knowing who you are and surrounding yourself with those people who truly value you and love you will allow you to grow as an individual, a friend, and follow in the path God has planned for you.

So, during your dark seasons of rejection, loss, emptiness, and confusion, seek God’s love above all others. In your seasons of bright, warm, and fulfilling emotions embrace the love you’re shown and blessed with. Focus your energy on those people in your life who truly reciprocate the love you show them back to you. God’s Love is unconditional. Therefore Love is the greatest gift of all. Cherish it, because you never know when you might lose it.

Less = greatest!

This is not your typical math problem, and most would agree this is incorrect. But this is a true result in the eyes of God!

In the Bible when the disciples had 5 loaves of bread they ended up feeding 5,000 people with extra left over. This speaks volumes to our lives today, yesterday, and even tomorrow. The ones that have the least end up with the most.

You may ask how is that possible? Why am I asked to struggle when everyone else seems complacent or happy. That’s the answer right there! When we focus on what we don’t have we miss the blessings we do have. God tells us “Thou shall not covet.” When we focus on all the things our friends, family, and strangers have like a huge home with land, expensive car, promotion in our jobs, nice vacation and clothes, our direction is wrong! You’ve heard that those that seem like they have everything together and life is going right for them are struggling far greater than the world can see. Those homes may be broken and divided, their expensive cars may be on the verge of repossession, the job promotion may be short lived because they’re not capable of doing the work, and the vacations/nice clothes may be adding to their insurmountable debt that will haunt them for years or break them forever. You see the “nice” things in life are never what they seem without something lurking in the shadows.

When you feel like you’ve hit rock bottom, you’ve been evicted, lost your job, divorced from your spouse, and have credit card companies harassing you for a severe amount of debt you feel rejected, lost, and unworthy. In reality you’re actually blessed and have more than others; you’re just not seeing it.

What if “Rejection is redirection!” Read that statement 3 times over and truly listen and internalize those 3 words. Wow! 🤩 🤯
Take your losses, your insecurities, your heartache, and use that pain to turn it into the most for your life. God doesn’t want you to hurt or suffer, but sometimes when we are not on a path or in a season where we need to be to be successful, He will remove things that are hindering where you need to go and be. The “things” that you thought meant something to you are actually restricting you from your full worth and purpose in life.

So when you feel the weight of the world on your shoulders, the pain of losing those you love, and a sense of unworthiness, remember that you have more blessings than our human eye can see on the surface. Continue to pray to God and embrace the hurt and rejection as redirection for something bigger and better in your life that He is preparing for you. Sometimes you just need to work through the pain to regain and strengthen what you think you lost into a new blessing from God.

Less = more
Nothing = blessings
Rejection = redirection

Stop 🛑

When you focus all your energy into things that won’t bring you happiness or fulfillment you’re leading yourself further away from God.

Life presents many challenges throughout our lives and the goal is to learn and grow through each of them. God wants you to trust in Him and not worry about things we can’t control. Many times we stray from this advice, because we feel we are strong enough to conquer the battles on our own or think maybe it’s not as bad as it seems or the consequences won’t hurt us.

Allowing anxiety and fear to control your entire life while you pour every ounce of your energy into something that will cause you more harm or has no intention of blessing you gains you nothing. You’ve prayed. You’ve called out to God. You’ve made changes only to realize it’s not enough. The reason you aren’t hearing answers or finding clarity is that what you’re stressing over is only surface matters. These surface matters have no value in God’s kingdom.

Instead of trying to change yourself for things that won’t bring you happiness, instead channel your desire to change and grow closer to God. God is the only one who knows all of you and can help and guide you through any battle or war you will ever experience. By focusing on God, you may be exposed to heartache and pain but trust Him to carry you through and open the doors that will set you on the path that is right for you guided by His hand.

When you pray for others, you will be healed in the process. Read that again. That’s a powerful statement, but it’s true. When you wholeheartedly pray for others, spread kindness and love, and confess your sins to God, He will in turn heal you. From here you are able to channel your energy into serving God, seeing the beauty in life, and all the weight and burdens you’ve been harboring will be released. When this life changing event occurs, you find true peace and joy.

So, stop expending energy on things that are only surface matters and refocus your sights on God. For His Kingdom is the perfect example of Love!

-James 5:16

My life is better because of His love!
-Psalm 94:18-19

Change.

A word we all fear. Fear, uncertainty, and questions are at the forefront of anything new. So how do you know if change is right for you?

Each year we all “change” as individuals. We are meant to grow, learn from past experiences and seek out to build a life with the ones we truly love. If you are blessed to be married to your soul mate, don’t think that happened without God’s intervention. He saw your two souls long before you even knew each other’s name and He had a plan for you both to join as one. During your journey he knew you would both experience highs and lows and would need each other to grow through trials. This is why God created a partner for Adam. When Adam or his partner struggled in times of despair, fear, and uncertainty, they could lean on each other for love and support guiding them through the darkest of valleys.

As we progress in life, the enemy dwells on your happiness and knows how to hit you where you are most vulnerable. Often times we lose sight of God during this time and that’s when we allow the devil to ruin the plan God created for the two souls meant for each other, the person turning down a job out of fear or financial instability, or for the one who is too afraid to step out of their comfort zone. So what happens? How do we fight a war that seems impossible? One simple response: Your faith in God!

Through faith and trust, God tells us to rely on Him, pray to Him, and surrender everything to Him. When jobs force us to leave everything we’ve known behind to pursue uncertainty, we are cautious. We put our faith slightly on hold as we fear if we made the right decision. But God wouldn’t have opened the door for that job at that moment, allowed you to meet the one person He hand selected for you, or given you the power to take a risk if He didn’t see a bigger purpose for you in your life. Life will never be roses all the time. Life will test you far beyond what you think you’re capable of. But when you choose to leave something or someone behind because you’re afraid, it’s too hard to keep going, or it just doesn’t work for you anymore then who are you really giving up on? Yourself for protection, for lifting burdens off your shoulders, for seeking what’s easy without thought or effort, or God because you’re too afraid to trust His path for you and your future.

Change is meant for us to grow and lean on God and our friends and family to support us as we channel our fear into strength while silencing the enemy. Your confusion is natural. Your questions are valid. Your curiosity if you’re good enough is at the forefront of every human in this world. God is the one we should seek as He guided you to the place where everything began. Do you have enough strength to shut the enemy out and fight for confidence in that new job? Can you hear God when He says you’re not done yet? Are you willing to fight past the exhaustion, the worry, the uncertainty and the breakdowns and know that what God planted in your heart and inner drive years ago is ready to conquer the darkness and do His work as you stand up?

Don’t focus on what isn’t anymore and seek change because it’s a breath of fresh air, but rather ask God to give you the tools to fight off the enemy and rekindle what He placed in your heart at the beginning of your story. He’s not done with you yet.

Praise God for today!!
It’s a beautiful day to wake up and see God!

Out of your control.

Many of us have been in situations that we can’t control but are so empowered to try to fix them. We trust God, follow His way, pray and wait for answers. Are you patient? What do you see? Where are you going?

It’s easy to get wrapped up in fixing things, because as humans we don’t like feelings that are broken, stones out of place, or white lies hidden behind “truths.” Our nature is to live in harmony with each other and avoid conflict at all costs.

Have you ever questioned how to trust in God when you know something is not right with the people you love the most? How as humans do we not throw all of our energy into worrying when you know that something is broken? Where do you ignore the worry when emotions arise with your coworkers and you want nothing more than to squash the animosity or the uneasiness? Our first desire is to fix the problem because we feel personally responsible. As humans we don’t like confrontation, we don’t like distance, we crave a feeling of acceptance, being wanted, and most importantly whole heartedly loved 🥰.

Believing in something that you are passionate about brings pure joy. At some point life throws you a curve ball to test your faith. Questions begin to arise and fear swirls around creating confusion. How do you navigate worry now? Doing kind gestures for friends and not receiving help when you truly need a friend leaves you feeling lonely and invisible. 🫥 Why me? What did I do wrong?

God tells us not to waste our energy trying to control things that are out of our control. But as humans we feel obligated to correct what we feel responsible for. Trusting God to lead us down a path and follow Him wherever He leads us takes a lot of faith. This faith does not come easy and is difficult to fully accept. In order to grow in Christ you have to let go of the worry and pray/trust that God can and will fix your problems, heal the wounds, and instill Love and faith back into what you lost.

God knows your path. He will lead you to where you are meant to be. But you have to put your whole heart, mind, and soul into the process, and place the deepest trust in Him! Love never fails. God has blessed us all far beyond what we can see. Truly trust in God, and know what you think you’ve lost forever isn’t gone and you can make it new again.

Listen.
Do you hear Him?
What a privilege!
You, my friend are blessed! 😇