Are you blameless?  Are you without fault?  Can you honestly say yes, when I ask you this question…

Are you giving God your best?

A short time ago, the Lord asked me this exact question.  “Are you giving Me your best Abby?  Is this really all you can give me?”  I knew in my heart that I wasn’t truly giving God my very best.  I was making excuses and justifying my efforts.  Now before we go any further, this is not a time to be hard on yourself or to bring about a lot of guilt.  This is a time to really evaluate if you feel in your heart, you are giving God your best.  Be honest with yourself. Think about the list below and ask yourself, am I giving God my best…

• with the gifts and talents He has given me to be used for His glory.
• in the way I respond to my spouse, children, parents, boss, co workers, etc.
• in my attitude about my job He has blessed me with
• in submitting to my husband
• in raising my children
• in my marriage
• in my tithes and offering
• as a disciple for Christ
• to Be Love & Give Love to all I see

This list could go on and on.  I am understanding more and more that my job is to give God my very best and leave the rest up to Him.  I encourage you to watch this short powerful video.  I pray that as you watch, the Holy Spirit will move into your heart and ignite something in you that only He can.  Let’s commit to giving God our very best.

The Death Crawl Scene in the movie Facing the Giants

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Be Love, Give Love

Abby

To forgive and to be forgiven

Please allow me to share part of my journey when God truly began to reveal to me the importance of forgiving myself, asking for forgiveness and forgiving others.

My Journey

Once I recognized the destruction in my life, I knew that I didn’t want to be a hurt person hurting people anymore. I wanted to be free! I cried out to God for help, and in the quietness of my spirit I heard . . . forgiveness. From that moment, I began to learn the power and freedom of forgiveness. When I realized that God promises to forgive us for our destructive thoughts, attitudes, words and behaviors, I asked for His forgiveness of all of mine. Though I knew that He would forgive me, I struggled with forgiving myself for all the ways I had brought destruction into my life and relationships. I was so burdened by all of the unintended consequences of my harmful choices that I was unable to let go of my shame.

During my times of stillness, God urged me over and over to forgive myself. He reminded me that He had already forgiven me, and that my holding on to the burden of my guilt would never set me free. I couldn’t just know that He would forgive me; I had to accept that His forgiveness had already washed me clean. Eventually, I was able to truly accept the gracious gift of God’s forgiveness—I finally released the burden of my guilt and forgave myself.

With this decision, I was walking toward greater freedom, but God had more to teach me about forgiveness. He showed me that accepting His forgiveness is not just about releasing my own guilt. Accepting His forgiveness requires seeking forgiveness from those we’ve hurt and choosing to forgive those who have hurt us. Choosing forgiveness is not always easy and does not always “feel” right, but it is a necessary choice for our freedom: “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (Matthew 6:14-15). Gradually, I chose to forgive those who had hurt me, and with a wash of healing tears, I felt the heavy burden of unforgiveness lift. I felt whole; I felt free.

God also began to prompt me to seek forgiveness from various people I had hurt. These promptings were not all at once; in fact, some were even years after I began my journey out of my dark valley. But each time I responded in obedience to God’s leading, I experienced the gift of forgiveness from that person. I encourage you to examine your heart to see if there are any remnants of unforgiveness toward those who have hurt you, or if you need to seek forgiveness from someone else. If so, press into God, and He will give you the strength and courage you need to experience forgiveness in your relationships. It is a choice worth making—forgiveness leads to freedom.

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Be Love, Give Love

Abby

Join me on my first adventure with video blogging, aka vlogging, as I introduce to you “Living Still”.

Is everything within your spirit, mind and body…calm, peaceful and still?  Do you think it is possible to live this way?  Join me and be inspired as I share my heart with you on “Living Still”.

I would love to hear your thoughts, so please leave a comment if you feel lead to.

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Related Posts:

• Is God Enough
• Refined by God
• Listen to the Still Small Voice

BE LOVE, GIVE LOVE
Abby Lewis

BE LOVE, GIVE LOVE
Abby Lewis

Do you have any burdens that you have been carrying?  Have you ever prayed for God to take a burden from you, but you still felt the weight of it?  Are you desperate for deliverance from those burdens, for instruction on how to get out from under them?

I know everyone wants to give God their burdens and I have learned that many just don’t know how to.

What I am about to share with you could change your life….it did mine.  I feel strongly that the exercise in chapter 6 of my book, Blossoming out of the Valley, will truly help you release the burdens you have been carrying once and for all.  This exercise is by far one of the most powerful exercises I have ever done.  I have also seen amazing things take place in the lives of many others, just by doing this exercise and receiving what is in chapter 6….actually not just chapter 6 but the entire book has been changing lives in a powerful way.

My true heart’s desire is to help and encourage you to find peace and stillness with God.  So as a gift to you, I would like to give you Chapter 6 of my book, Blossoming out of the Valley, entitled Laying the Burdens Down.

There are no strings attached to this free gift to you.  Just click on the link below and the gift is yours.  I pray that God will use this chapter to truly bless you and free you.

Chapter 6 Laying the Burdens Down

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Related Posts:

• Is God Enough
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• Listen to the Still Small Voice

Be Love, Give Love

Abby

If you lost everything, would God be enough?

I remember the day when God spoke to my heart several years ago and asked me, “If you lost everything, would I be enough for you?” I really had to ponder it for awhile. I didn’t want to think about not having my family, friends, home, car, career, clients, money, etc.

But there I sat…saddened…not because of the thoughts of losing everything, but because at that moment I had to be honest and say to God, “No, you wouldn’t be enough for me.” In that moment I became aware that I did not trust God deeply in life and that my relationship with Him was not where it needed to be. I desired greatly to get to a point in my life where I could say, “God you are enough and I trust you deeply with the plans you have for me and the lives of the ones I love.”

Over the years the Lord has taken me on a journey…a journey of finding true peace and stillness with Him…a journey of discovering a deep and meaningful relationship with my Father in Heaven. I can now say, “Father, you are enough. I might not understand your plans but I trust you with all my heart.”

Now I’m asking you…

Is God enough for you?

I desire to help you get to a place in your life where you can say, “Father, you are enough.”

In my book, Blossoming out of the Valley, I share my journey with you on finding peace and stillness with God. I encourage you to get a copy and start your journey to stillness today.

BE LOVE, GIVE LOVE
Abby Lewis

The refining process is never easy but the process is beautiful and so worth it.

Keep moving forward my friends, letting go and trusting God in the midst of the molding and the shaping….the refining process.

Enjoy this video…a beautiful story about a Teacup being refined, that will encourage and bless you.

Be Love, Give Love

Abby

Do you remember the birth of your child?  Do you remember the transition part of the labor, the part just before you get ready to push?  If you had a natural childbirth like I did, then you can remember the transition in great detail.

Doctors and Midwives say that the transition is the hardest part of the entire delivery process.  So why is that?

Looking back on my son‘s delivery, during the transition time, I thought to myself:  there is no way I am going to be able to make it through this, to finish, to get to the end and I remember saying out loud,  “I can‘t do this anymore.”  My midwife and nurse had prepared me before hand that once I hit that moment where I say I can’t do this anymore, then I should take comfort in knowing that I am almost there…almost finish….that I have just a little bit further to go and before I know it I will be holding my precious child.

Tim and I are in a transition season of life right now.  God has been doing a work within us the last two years and we know the birth…the fruit of our labor is just right around the corner.  Right now we are persevering like never before, pushing through what seems to be the hardest part.  At times we become weary, frustrated and we think it is never going to end…that all the work we have had to do the last two years is for nothing.

But we regain focus.  We know what God told us and even when all things seem to be working against us…we are certain we are on the right track.  So despite it all, we choose to stay focused on God, we choose to stand up under the pressure, we choose to press on while holding tight to one another and we continue onward…trusting and hoping in God‘s plan for us.  We know it is just around the corner, the birth of the baby, the fruit of our labor.

BE LOVE, GIVE LOVE

Abby

What word would you use to describe YOU?

Ponder this:

If you could use only one word to describe yourself during this time in your life what would it be?  I want you to be honest with yourself.  Don’t describe yourself as others see you.  Describe yourself as you see you.  Take off the mask for a moment and look within.  What do you see?  How do you feel?

For years I lived with a mask on.  It was too painful to look underneath my mask, so I kept it secured tightly…until, I hit rock bottom 10 years ago.  The word I would use to describe myself  back then would have been chaos.  Now, 10 years later, the word I would use is blessed.  I have a powerful testimony of how God healed me from all the chaos and I share it in great detail in my book Blossoming out of the Valley.

So think about the word you used to describe yourself….peaceful, chaos, fear, love, depressed, noise, hurt, pain, joy, beauty, transformed, trapped, lonely, free, blessed….what word did you used?  Are you happy where you are?  Do you want to move forward?

It is time to take the next step so you too can Blossom out of Valley.

Be Love, Give Love
Abby Lewis

As the year comes to a close, I am always intrigued to know what is in store for me for the next year.  For the last several years I have made a point to sit with God and just ask him this question.  So instead of sitting and making “my” new year’s resolutions, I take some time to be with God and listen to what He has to say about the upcoming year.  He always manages to share with me something that will cause me to grow and step out of my comfort zone.  Each year, as I follow His leading, I am molded and shaped to be more like Him.  What a blessing it is to begin a new year with Him.

I encourage you to take a few moments right now and ask God this question….What do you have in store for me in 2012?

May you have a blessed and fruitful year!

Be Love, Give Love
Abby Lewis

Photo By: Chiaralily’s Photostream