I keep trying to go back in days and times to catch up. But every time I try to do that I keep coming up short still. I get this overwhelming feeling like I am still not going to get anything accomplished.  I try to race and do all these things at once. And I still get this nagging thought like …. I missed it.

I missed the moment. I missed the opportunity. I missed the plan. I missed the strategy. I missed the time.

Sometimes I am up at night when everyone has fallen fast asleep and I think to myself…

It feels like my whole life has been a “darkest valley.”

But I know that isn’t true with God.

Feelings and truth are two different things.  I keep hearing this clip by Levi Lusko saying:

“You can’t call it a valley unless it comes in and out. The Word says –I will walk through the valley.  Don’t get comfortable in your valley.  Don’t settle down. Don’t lie down in your valley and die.  Don’t! You’re not going to stay there. A valley has a start. A valley has a end.  A valley has a beginning…. and it’s not a valley anymore. You’re not going to stay in your valley forever. You’re just passing through!”
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js“>July 10th 

So naturally I go to the Word to recap a most loved and often quoted scripture that I have screamed over my life plenty of times and it stays not just the valley–but the darkest valley.  It says… walk…. through….

Walk is movement.

Through is movement.  Just like Levi said it is not going to be forever.

Even the darkest valley was meant to WALK…. THROUGH!

Through means moving in one side and out of the other side of (an opening, channel or location), continuing in time toward completion of (a process or period); to final destination.

It starts and it ends.  Even the darkest valleys.  The ones where I feel like I missed so much in life. To me that is one of my darkest valleys! Again–it’s a feeling + a thought.

Now I apply my faith + the Word to drown that all out.

The Lord is my Shepherd, I lack nothing!
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
He leads me beside still waters,
He refreshes my soul (the emotional realm),
He guides me along the right paths for His Names sake.
Even though I walk THROUGH the darkest valley, I will fear no evil,
For You –ARE–With–me!!!
Your rod & Your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies (haters).
You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows (even when it doesn’t feel like it).
Surely Your goodness and love will follow me ALL THE DAYS OF MY LIFE!!!
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord FOREVER!
Psalm 23

You see my darkest valley is not forever…. the one thing I know that I have forever will be dwelling in the house of the Lord.

It is the place where we will meet everything we missed. ❤

With Love,

Christina

***An Honor To The Life Of Carlos Cruz***

Hello Everyone!!

I am super excited to announce to the general public on the coming of my next book which should be released in just a few short weeks. 

RISE Above Adversity: Where Declaration Becomes Destiny!

This includes a Forward by Femi Adun, a dear spiritual father, mentor, brother & friend.

I am very excited about this piece because it is a dedication to my family. It is a tribute to the legacy of an amazing and unforgettable member of our family that went on to be with the Lord. We miss him dearly, greatly & tremendously. 

Our lives will never be the same.

I invite you to read the synopsis that you will find when you get your copy which will be available in paperback, Amazon or Kindle.

Rise Above Adversity is not just a journey through the life of the author but a legacy journey in dedication and honor to the life of the late Pastor Tony Mendez of Heaven on Earth Church in Florida. As this sudden tragedy shook the lives of his family & friends rendering them completely altered, this also shook the lives of people all over the world that he has impacted.

Like this family, if you are someone that was hit by a sudden tragedy, a change of life that caused you to live differently or went through some form of despair or agony —then this book is for you. Rise Above Adversity speaks to the mind of the believer showing steps they can take in their daily lives to overcome adversity and then go on to achieve the greatest things that God has ordained for them.

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.
Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:34

What a difference a day makes.

Just one day. It makes a HUGE difference!

I get tired and frustrated to quickly.  I was able to walk four miles on my birthday with Thorie –yup just 4 miles.  See the trees, grass, water and breathe in the fresh air.  Scent from the greenery.  Being outside for a non-rushed moment.  It was worth it.

**Collect Moments Not Things***

I walk, I pray, I cry, I reflect, I think, I make calm and calculated decisions.

It’s just nice to be off!

Sometimes the best well planned days are doing nothing.  I just need me with me… and a whole lot of Jesus time.  I get rest, sleep, music in, walks, good food, laughs, fun and some games.  I get to read, write and work on what I need to at a pace good for me.

I want work life balance everywhere.

So this was me –Let’s stay in today…

Just rest. Do nothing for long spurts throughout the day because all I am is busy and I just don’t wanna be that!

I pray for peace and crave for that.  Those moments where things don’t have to be chaotic and restless in dealings from day-to-day. I am going to keep praying for that peace, strength and assurance that He is going to take control.

He listens to me.

He listens to your every thought, sees each tear and cares about what is hidden in your heart. Therefore, do not be afraid or dismayed about what others may or may not think of you. God values you more than the sparrows and they are lovingly cared for by His hand. God wants to fill you with Hope because He cherishes you.
365 Devotions of Hope
Karen Whiting
July day

Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.”
2 Kings 5:10

What an intimate and powerful story in the Bible of a man called Naaman.  A valiant warrior, captain of the hosts and a champion of a soldier! He was a general. A leader. A man that reached the pinnacle of his career. He was successful.  But he was also a man that had leprosy.

What a disease to be suffering with silently and try to keep undetected from peers and other workers.  Yet there was a woman that he did reveal the most private and shameful piece of his life.  There this little maid was as she saw his skin covered and contaminated by sickness.  A woman that had been captured at that.

She knew the cure to his crisis.

When she does point the way in a direction for him to obtain healing it happens to be further into a place of contamination!  When the prophet sends a message to him and advises him to dunk in the polluted Jordan river, Naaman is livid!

But there was something that God was trying to teach Naaman.

There was something that God wanted to wash out of the life of Naaman and it wasn’t just an external sickness that was rotting away on his flesh.  It was something fleshly about his inner nature that he was trying to strip from him and wash him clean.

He didn’t know God like that. He didn’t serve God like that. But here God was leading him to his healing and it was going to be down a road of humility.  The healing was in his humility.  He had the cure to his crisis.  The was a lesson in the leprosy.  In the pollution there was a purpose. He would use the contaminated to fix him of his external contamination and bring of bond of healing to the internal contamination that was hindering him from that everlasting encounter that he needed with the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

SEVEN times.  A number that represents completion.  A complete victory.  A complete fulfillment. A complete washing and cleansing internally and externally.  God was turning this turmoil in the life of Naaman into a true triumph that would last eternal in his soul.

How many times does God ask us to dunk? Especially when we don’t get it the first time.

How many times to we find ourselves in a sick cycle repeating the same errors?

How many times will it take until we really get what God is trying to complete and fulfill in our lives?

SEVEN! Six months already gone by.  What have we accomplished INWARDLY? What have we learned spiritually? What are we doing that will keep us in that place of humility and move from the masses of distraction?

This July–as I search internally in prayer and meditation, I want to rework my day and my time as I am in such a new transition.  I want to give even more when it is even harder to do so. Seven.  A half year already gone by and another one left.

May we take this fast paced time and use it ever so wisely, not only to absorb the life lessons that God has for us but to use every challenge as an opportunity to advance in the assignment that God has specifically ordered for us.

He invites us in–even in the places that look and feel so contaminated.  He uses it as bait to strip us of anything that tries to contaminate our souls. And just like Naaman we will find our healing in the humility he brings us to. We will find an even deeper life of worship to our King and our God.

Amen.

With love,
Christina ❤