Is God Reliable?
Is God Reliable? Well there is a loaded question. One I can answer with a resounding, “Heck ya!” AND most of you know my motto: “If it is not a Heck Ya, than it is a NO!” That simple. This question for me personally is a HECK YA! Why? I would love to share this. Matter of fact I can’t wait to share this!
I was reading my bible this morning and it came to me in a whisper, “Amy, today I want you to write about the first R in suRrender.” I am not kidding either and for those who know me well, I have literally asked my bible study friends, “How do you hear God?” I heard Him! Loud and clear I heard Him! In Jeremiah 33:2-3, which is the chapter I am on in my SOLO online devotional group.
Oddly enough my SOLO girls skipped this chapter, which always throws this recovering Catholic into a bit of a tisy, but this morning it did not. It was clearly just God and me. And I want to share how it went down because I still have chills.
The Verse goes like this from The Message:Bible, “This is God’s Message, the God who made earth, made it livable, and lasting, known everywhere as God. ‘Call to me and I will answer you, I’ll tell you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own.’ “ Jeremiah 33:2-3~
Pretty powerful verse. The way our study goes is you read the verse then you move to the THINK portion of the study. In the think portion of our study it asked me what word or phrase settled deeply in my soul and why? For me it was, “Call to me and I will answer you”….not only will God answer me he will tell me marvelous and wonderful things that I could never figure out on my own. I sat there in that because it was obvious why the verse stood out. Call to me and I will answer you. Like a child who calls to a parent and the parent comes running. Simple right? This verse is a guarantee that God hears me and will answer me. WRONG! Amy Berry’s mind started reeling….what about all those times of pain and suffering and all the bad that has happened to my family lately God? Why death God? Why cancer in kids or cancer in general? Why Covid? Why racism? Why suppression? Why friends against friends due to political hot topics? Why bad cops? Why bad people? Why God? That is where my mind went……and it was not pretty.
Are you there God? What is happening in this world? Can I rely on you? These are real questions he wants to hear from us. Ask him….he is there for you.
What did I do? Did I get angry? Maybe a little, but I did what anyone should do when there are questions. I dug deeper. I asked more questions. I got to the bottom of Jeremiah and what I learned was powerful for me and I hope it is for you too.
Now I am going to assume most of you are like me and have no clue of the context so I will map it out. If you do, bare with me. I keep things real simple for my simple mind. So Jeremiah was a prophet who back in the day was put in prison or went into hiding quite a bit for preaching about God and about sins and what can happen when we sin. Pain, disappointment, destruction, you know bad stuff. A lot of people thought of him as the weeping prophet, but in reality Jeremiah knew God! He knew God had a plan for us, one that we would prosper with no pain only hope and a beautiful future. Jeremiah was hopeful! He was a believer in God and he thought it was a personal matter and that each person had to take responsibility for their own personal relationship with God. Very much like today, but he preached it to the rooftops and was put in prison or was in hiding for it very unlike today. Jeremiah understood this: Religion must be deep within EACH individuals hearts and lived out in their lives. Not a group of people or a building….religion for Jeremiah was personal.
Good stuff huh….I think so, but it dawned on me. Jeremiah was in prison, alone, very much like I have been lately. Only my prison is not bars. Mine is hopelessness like his, doubtful like his, wondering if God forgot me and my family and I am sure like Jeremiah felt. And…..God visited Jeremiah in a vision just like he did me today in my mind. I just did not get the vision, I got it in a thought and a sense of peace. He promised Jeremiah he would answer and he has promised me. Maybe not how I want but, he knows best. Just like a parent with a teenager who asks to do something and we know what is best. Or a child who wants a toy and we say no because we know they don’t need that. God knows what is best. Do I trust that 100 percent. If I am being honest…..No, I do have a little doubt….that is the control freak in me….but I desperately 100 percent want to trust it. That is a start.
I relate to Jeremiah a lot really. He is alone in a prison and I feel alone a lot lately. He is behind bars watching people have fun, go on with life, some sinning and getting away with it and he is suffering and truly believes in God. If I am being honest I have felt this way since 2017. Even before The Storm hit my family. The closer to God I get the more imprisoned I feel, but yet I also feel this peace I have never had. It is so hard to explain. I see myself stuck in this “New Life” while others get to continue doing what they do. Right, wrong, or indifferent this is just how I feel. Maybe it is because I am growing in areas I needed to grow. I know I wanted to heal from pain, from suffering, from disappointment….Oh Lawd the disappointments! Sometimes it feels like one storm after another hits and I am trying desperately to trust and grow and then BOOM! Just like that a morning like this morning happens and I feel God. I hear God. And I relate to someone from biblical times and I know God has a plan. Do I know what it is? No! Do I know what he is working on for me behind the scenes and do I know in my heart of hearts he will answer me when I cry out. Yes and no!
No I don’t know what is happening behind the scenes, but yes I know he wants me to call on him. I know he is RELIABLE and if I SuRrender to him and obey he has a beautiful plan for me and for my family. A plan to prosper me and my family, not harm us, and a plan to give us hope and a future.
This morning God came to me! And I have hope!!!!! Do you? He is RELIABLE! AND YOU ARE WORTHY OF HIS LOVE AND FUTURE HE HAS IN STORE FOR YOU. Do you believe that?
Until Next Time,
XO,
Amy
His Love is an Unlimited Love
What would it really mean to have someone love you unlimitedly? That is not even a word, but today, I, Amy Berry, deem it a word! And let me tell ya, my Aunt Eleanor is rolling around in her grave and my English teacher, Mrs. Morris, is cringing as she reads this, but hey….I am making a point here. God loves me even in my imperfections, transgressions, misgivings, and misspellings! Ha~
I really crack myself up sometimes. Back to my point. My point here is God! God loves you with an unlimited amount of love. Do you know that? I really don’t think I did until later in life. Like really later. Like (again Aunt Elanor is rolling and Mrs. Morris is cringing with all these likes!) but, like 2017-2018ish and I was born in 1970! So you do the math! A LOT LATER IN LIFE!
Do you know, really know, that God’s Love is unlimited. It has no bounds. It will exceed your every expectation! Do you know this? Do you believe this? I did not and I tested Him and I will challenge you now to test Him. Trust me He can handle it and He welcomes it! Don’t believe me? Then do it!
How you might be asking yourself. Well, in 2017 when I was really down in the dumps and questioning God and His existence, my mother in law got me a “God Box”. A God Box can be any kind of box. This one was just a cardboard box and she told me to put all my pain, all my frustrations, all my fears, all my trials, all my questions, anything that was bringing me worry, fear, or doubt, on a piece of paper, date it, and throw it in the box. I did it. She also told me to pray over it. I did not do that because I was really angry with God at that time in my life. Guess what that is OK if you are too! But, if you are further along in your walk then I was, I will challenge you to pray over the box every time you place something in it.
The point in this part of the exercise is you are outwardly saying, “God, I sUrrender, (there is that word of mine for 2020 and that U is capitalized for a reason! U is for Unlimited Love of God), I give this to you Lord, it is yours, do with it what You will. I trust that You love me beyond anything I can imagine and You will bless this or something better will happen. This will resolve how You see fit. THY WILL BE DONE.” And just like that you let it go.
I know, it is not that simple, but doing this exercise is a tiny step in letting it go, surrendering to our Father, and trusting that His will will be done. Again, don’t believe me, try it. You will find that slowly, but surely as you surrender whatever it is to Him, He will prove to you over, and over, and over again how His love has no bounds!
As time goes on and the dust settles on your fears, worries, doubts, situations, take a look in your box and pull out a piece of paper or two. Look at the date. My gut tells me you will see that whatever it was is handled, maybe not how you thought, but everything is OK and if it is not, more than likely it is better and your faith becomes firmer in understanding how truly amazing God’s love is for you .
So today as I think about my word for 2020 and how I have broken it down I will celebrate how great and UNLIMITED our Heavenly Father’s love is for you and for me! You my dear friend are worthy of His love! Even in our unlovable moments We are Worthy and His Love is UNLIMITED!!!!!!
Until Next Time,
XO,
Amy
Are You Seeking Him in the Stillness
Last week I broke down my word for 2020 with you all. If you missed that you can catch that here. The word for 2020 is actually two words, Surrender and Obey. Something I firmly believe God is trying to teach all of us in this unknown time. But, in order to Surrender and Obey Him we have to know Him. Do you know Him? I know who God is, but do I really know Him?
I have been digging deeper and truly seeking Him out. Something I can say I personally think is missing in this world today. We are all so busy and self absorbed that we really don’t have time to seek God and get to know Him. Before Covid, when was the last time you tried to have a REAL relationship with God. Not a, I know who God is relationship, but a I KNOW WHO GOD is relationship.
For me personally it was in 2016 when my Mom was dying, but if I am being honest, before then it was kind of on my own terms or when I felt like it. That is just me being honest. If I am being TRULY honest, the hard truth is that I just relied on the fact that I knew who God was and I got my check in the box every Sunday when I so triumphantly got my family to church. Like I should get a pat on the back or something because I was so good.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am so thankful that I was getting my rear end to church because those seeds were being planted, but I had yet to bring the water to the seed if you know what I mean. It took me losing my mom for me to really hit my knees and cry out. I am a little hard headed and very self absorbed….or at least I was.
Hard times will make you look inward and in the mirror. I did not like what I was seeing. I did not like the rat race I was in of constantly trying to fit in, keep up, perform, look good, and oh the family too…..they had to look good, fit in, perform, and keep up. If all that happened then it would be serendipity and everything would be hunky dory fine! WRONG! I was miserable. Truly miserable, unless of course I was 3 glasses of wine in and losey goosey! But as my Dad always said, “lose lips sink ships.” And he was right!
Looking back I realize now why life was so hard and exhausting. Because God was missing. I mean He was there. He always has been, I just was not desperately looking for Him.
What does it mean to really seek Him? I think it is kind of like this memory I have of when I was a kid. My parents took Paul and I to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus in Dallas. It was intermission and my father took Paul and I to get a souvenir. I knew EXACTLY what I wanted. I wanted the stuffed elephant so we got mine first then we went on a mission looking for Paul a light up something or other. I remember I was petting my little elephant and I looked up and all I could see was people and not just people but STRANGERS! STRANGER DANGER! I did not see my dad anywhere! I remember freaking out and screaming and the next thing I knew I was up in a police officers arms and I was shaking and sobbing. He helped me find my Dad, but I remember I was desperately looking through all the people. All my energy and strength went into finding him. When we did finally find him, I remember the peace that overcame me. I felt so safe and so secure and I had never been so happy to see him. It was in that moment that I first realized my father would always be there for me. A safe place, a loving place, a place where I could gain wisdom and strength. That is what God is for all of us and that is what God wants from us now. He wants us desperately seeking Him out in the crowds and business of the world and the circus it has become.
We are all in the perfect time and space to get to know God more and ourselves to be truly honest. I believe it could be a gift from our heavenly Father. The gift of time. The gift of intermission from the circus. The souvenir is to be still and get to know Him. It is in this stillness that you will find unexplainable peace, unexplainable rest, and unexplainable strength. How do I know this? Because I have been living under His wings since 2018 in some pretty scary times and the strength, peace, and love I have received is something I will never be able to explain other than it has come from God Himself. You have heard the saying, “The peace that passes understanding,” that is the peace I have, but I have it because I seek him daily. And trust me when I say this, the days I do not get my quiet time in, they sometimes can be a little rockier. True story.
So during these times I want to challenge you to get up 15 minutes earlier than you normally do, take some time with our Father in heaven. Get to know Him. Talk to Him. He loves that. I know He does. If you need help I have some books that have helped me along the way and if you want a tribe you can join my Solo group. Message me, but honestly, just spending the first 15 minutes of your day with God talking to Him will produce miracles. Don’t believe me? I dare you to try it for 30 days. Do you accept the dare?
Until Next Time,
XO,
Amy
