Things My Mother Used To Say: "Slow & Steady Wins The Race"

I can hear my mother saying, "Baby the race is not given to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but it's to the one that endures to the end!"  

I would also hear her say, "slow and steady wins the race."  I'm like Mommie can you just tell me what you're trying to say without the parable? She would say, "honey it's not how fast you're going, but that you don't give up before the end of the race."  I didn't always understand what she was trying to say, but the older I got it all started to make sense.

I began to think about the scripture in Hebrews 12 that tells us how to run our race, and shows how the pioneers, and more importantly, Jesus blazed the way for us.  The Message translation really breaks down this passage and says: "Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!"

The more I looked at that verse, the more I began to see that starting the race, staying in the race, and finishing the race is not all about me, but about those that are watching and waiting on me to blaze the trail before them.  I believe that's what my mother was trying to say to me!  

Jesus was our perfect example in that He endured the cross and despised the shame for our freedom.

  Where would we be if Jesus would have quit or given up before going to the cross?  He came into the world knowing that the goal was to redeem sinful man, and with everything that He had to endure He never took His eyes off the goal!  WOW!!! What a selfless and loving God!  He gave his only son Jesus, and Jesus said, "no man take my life from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.  I am so glad that He endured the cross for you and me!"

Today I want to encourage you to keep your eyes on Jesus as you continue to run the race that is set before you!  Life has an interesting way of showing up with all kinds of distractions to get us off of our course, and to throw in the towel before we get to the finish line, but we must keep on going!!!  It is our endurance and staying power that will give us the fortitude to not just continue the race and reach our goal, but to Finish Strong! 

Don't forget that fulfilling and completing your God given assignment is not all about you, but those that are divinely connected to you!  What an awesome responsibility and privilege we have to pass the baton, but if we give up before we reach the next runner, we hinder the team from finishing the race.  So again, Don't Give Up! You're Too Close Now!!!

I pray that this song blesses you~



"Focus On the Things That Matter"

Happy Wednesday to everyone!  Whew!!!!!! It has been a while since my last blog! It seems like everything has been moving so fast and I'm just getting a chance to slow down!   Trust me I have been longing and it has been my hearts desire to get back to Heart of Worship Blog!

God has really been blessing and opening doors, which has been keeping me busy!  I thank God for the opportunity to do what I love!  It was the enemies desire to stop me, but I am in pursuit of The One that has apprehended me, and so I am chasing after God with a passion!  At the beginning and the end of the the day my Heart is to Worship God!!!!

Have you ever had a yearning in your heart for the one that you love?  You just had to hear their voice, feel their touch, be in their presence.  Well, that is how I feel about my Father! I have found the one whom I heart and soul longs for, and I don't want to even think about living a day outside of His Presence!  He gives me my reason and purpose for living!

Over the past couple of weeks I have been thinking about several things that I would blog about once I got the moment, but there is one thing I that I can't shake and that is "focusing on the things that matter the most!"  I think once I received my diagnosis and started walking through my process I began to place more value and emphasis on Life, Loving, Living, and Giving!  I began to see where I was allowing the small things to take over and consume my life, or as my mother would say in her sassy way, "sweating the dumb stuff!"  There is always going to be the little foxes that come to destroy the vine, but we must redirect our focus to "the things that matter most."

It is amazing that when I redirect my focus that it always lands me back in the seat of gratitude and thanksgiving!  The little foxes usually come with murmuring, complaining, frustration, and such like!

 But when I begin to shine the light on "the things that matter," like Life, Family, Love, Relationship with God and others, Health, Strength, and such like, my perspective is broadened! I can now see and enjoy all of the beautiful things that have been placed in my life and that surrounds me!  I can see the splendor of God!



Today I encourage you to take a moment to take your focus off of the things that you can't change, and "focus on the things that matter!"

I pray this songs blesses you~

Eucharisteo Always Proceeds Your Miracle~

I never thought that a diagnosis of the "C" word.....cancer, would bring me to a place of gratitude.  I never thought that receiving a diagnosis that the cancer had moved from my liver to my lungs would make me more determined to "LIVE!" I never thought that I would be fully living to the point that I don't waste time living in fear of dying.  I never thought that this life altering thing could drive me to the point of being more intentional about counting gifts!  I never thought that I could take pleasure in a broken life; a life that He would bless and give thanks for.  A life full of grace that has been blessed, to be broken, and given. Shared!

I never thought that I would come to a place that I could find joy.  The true joy that comes from the word Eucharisteo, which means thanksgiving.  I never thought that I could find joy and fulfillment in giving thanks in everything and every situation.  I love where Ann Voskamp says in her book "One Thousand Gifts," "The holy grail of joy is not some exotic location or some emotional mountain peak experience.  The joy wonder could be here!  Here, in the messy, piercing ache of now, joy might be --unbelievably--possible!"

WoW!  The concept and idea that joy could really be found not in some far off exotic place, but right in the middle of my mess!

Yes! Right in the middle of it all, I begin to offer thanksgiving, fully embracing my right now life! My life with all of its complications, mishaps, whatever's. Not realizing that right on the heels of my thanking and giving in thanks, I am literally preparing the way for my miracle!  "Eucharisteo--thanksgiving--always precedes the miracle."  The miracle that comes from a shared life, meaning the more life that I share, the more life I receive!

"Thanksgiving is necessary to our living the well, whole, fullest life."  It is the heart of ingratitude that keeps us in a place of lack: not the lack of money, but the lack of joy, wholeness, peace, and the overflowing full life.  I believe that I have found the key to my salvation, the key to my joy in exchange for sorrow, the key that has unlocked my inner beauty instead of ashes, the key of Thanksgiving and Gratitude!

When something is not habit or way of life I believe you have to be intentional in making changes.  So you may be thinking...... 

***How do I make the great exchange of Gratitude for inGratitude?

***How do I begin preparing for the miracle through giving thanks?

***Where do I begin?

I want to encourage you to begin right where you are!  To begin giving thanks and counting the gifts that you already have.  I hope that you will join me as I begin again........Counting Gifts! 

I am thankful for..........

1. The safety and well being of my children

2. The gift of melody and the ears to hear it

3. The robust laughter of my family

4. The presence of my mother that shows up daily

I pray that this song blesses you~