Real Comfort Food

In the perfect world, I would get up every morning excited about the day that lies ahead, especially on Tuesday when it’s time to release my blog post. The truth is, although I’m grateful for every day that God blesses me with, I’m not always all that thrilled about what the day brings. For the past few weeks, I’ve had quite a few down moments. Moments when I wish I was under an invisible cloak so that I wouldn’t have to deal with anyone or anything until I could get it together. Of course, that wish never came true and when I thought I was about to completely lose it, I retreated to the Word. It’s a shame to admit that much of what I was going through was because I was focusing on all the things that were not going in my favor. Instead of praying, I was worrying… and worrying a lot. Eventually I stilled my mind long enough to disappear into the pages that redefine the meaning of comfort food.

I started with Psalm 16 and read until chapter 18. At Psalm 18:20-24 I stopped and meditated on every word.

God made my life complete 
when I placed all the pieces before him.
When I got my act together, 
he gave me a fresh start.
Now I'm alert to God's ways;
I try not to miss a trick.
I feel put back together,
and I'm watching my step.
God rewrote the text of my life
when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes.

Powerful words! If this doesn’t make your heart jump, I’m not sure what will! Here’s what jumped out at me from this passage. We make one big decision when we accept Him as Savior over our lives. Still, throughout life we must continue to make decisions. We must continue to choose Him in even the smallest areas of our lives. Yes, we have choices in life and we’re not His puppets. Life isn’t smooth sailing after we make the big decision. We have so many pieces to our puzzle and every piece belongs to him. So many times we say without really saying out loud, “God I trust you with that over there but I’m not ready to let this go.” It’s a process. Relationships of all types require trust and that’s something that has to be built over time. Every time we leave it in His hands, we win and I have scripture to prove it in Psalm 18:30:

What a God! His road
stretches straight and smooth.
Every God-direction is road tested.
Everyone who runs toward him
Makes it.

This one right here! It’s something that you should know and never need to be reminded of but I do! The struggle is real and there’s so many things that are designed to throw you off but having this in your spirit makes all the difference. I’ve vowed to meditate on this for the remainder of the year as I embark on new territory and make leaps of faith like never before. I have to believe this or I won’t make it… and so do you!

I suggest we all study the entire chapter of both Psalm 18-19 (MSG). And not just read it, study it. Get it in your heart so when you feel like you can’t push any further, the words echo in your spirit and cause you to have renewed faith and energy to sustain you.

Before I sign out, I have to share one last scripture that confirmed in my heart what my eyes have yet to witness. I found it in Matt 13:10-15 where Jesus responds to why he tells so many stories.

...Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, 
the insights and understandings flow freely. But if
there is no readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears.
That's why I tell stories: to create readiness, to nudge the people 
toward receptive insight. In their present state they can stare till doomsday 
and not see it, listen till they're blue in the face
and not get it...

Writing, film, and music are all forms of storytelling. It’s a beautiful thing when people use their gifts in all different art forms to draw in people closer to God. Those of us who have been given the gift of storytelling have a calling on our lives and it’s far greater than we imagine. We aren’t in the pulpits, we aren’t “preaching,” and we’re not baptizing . We are sharing stories that touch the heart and soften it to allow God to reach them. We’re vessels and the beauty of our gift is that it is designed to reach people who may not attend church service or even own a Bible. I truly thank God for restoring me over the week and getting me to focus on His promise instead of my problems. I can’t say that I’ve mastered my emotions but at least I’ve found the type of comfort food that never disappoints!

I hope this gives someone joy today! Happy Tuesday!

Love, Bianca