BIG Life Devotional | Daily Devotional for Women

The enemy has counted you out. He’s sure you’re giving up this time. You won’t get up again. You won’t push through. The darkness will close in.

But girl, get yourself on up today and disappoint the devil! Oh he had crappy plans for this day, but you’re not buying them. He had intended harm coming your way, but you’ve gone and called on the power of God that takes all that harm and uses it for good.

BaBam! That’s what you just did!

Your feet hit the floor and you’re responding to God’s call instead of the devil’s attack. Today, GOD IS CALLING YOU TO BE GREATER. To be greater than the things happening to you. To be greater than your circumstances. To be a greater vessel for his power, and to be a greater disappointment to the enemy. God has been preparing you for a bigger purpose and next level of living, and my sister it’s time to step into it. You can’t stay where you are when God has called you to be greater.

What will you need to be greater? Everything you already have.
What will you need to do to be greater? Everything you can do.

How many times do we miss the answer to our prayers because the answers seem too ordinary? We’re looking for the magical and mysterious answer when God is saying, “here’s 5 rocks … throw them!”

What if it’s really that simple? Seriously, what if you don’t need to buy a single thing off the Amazon to make this work, it’s a matter of throwing the rocks you have. Using what’s here. Doing what you can do. Seeing the power in what God has already provided.

Time and time again, we already have what we need to break through whatever is holding us back, but we miss it because we believe big problems require big solutions. Understand this, big problems require a big God. And look what you already have!

“Hey Johnny, tell her what’s behind that curtain.”

“Well Bob, there’s one great, big, all knowing, all powerful God here for her! But wait, there’s more. This great big powerful God is also on her side! He is for her, not against her! All she has to do is show up!”

JACKPOT BABY!!!!! You just received the answer to your problems.

Deuteronomy 20:4 says “For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.”

Let me tell you, if you didn’t wake up this morning preparing for battle, you darn well should have.

You are in a war. Every day of your life there’s a battle over your potential and your purpose. Every day obstacles are put in your way to detour you from the plan for your life. 1 Peter 5:8 “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

Yes, he’s looking for a life to ruin, a purpose to crush, a heart to trouble, a mind to worry, a dream to spoil, a home to wreck, a family to destroy. He’s looking for a fight to pick, confidence to poke at, doubt to raise, and fear to stir. That is how the enemy attacks. This is how he stops you in your tracks. This is how he steals your God-given potential and causes you to settle for less than you were created for.

Look around, Sis. The roaring lion has been stalking you. He is on the prowl. He is your enemy. Your potential to rise above your problems and become a light bearer of hope and promise is his target. The last thing the devil wants is for you to get through this and come out stronger!

Go ahead and disappoint the devil today! Crush his hopes that you’re giving up here. Shock the crap out of him with your resolve to show up even when you don’t feel like it and start throwing some darn stones!

Yes, right where you’ve been told you’re not good enough … right where you know you are the total underdog and severely outmatched … right where all odds are stacked against you and no one would think it’s possible … Just like little shepherd boy David with his 5 stones, you step on up to the challenge and know God can do miraculous things through you when you refuse to back down!

The devil is totally counting on you to give up now. He’s for sure thinking you’re tapping out over this setback. Yeah, you know that setback you’re dealing with right now… The one that really rocked your world this week… The one that kept you up last night … The one that made you cry yesterday … The devil thought that would sideline you in defeat. He thought for sure this would overwhelm you and discourage you. He thought you wouldn’t even get up again today. Ohhhhh girl, you are about to disappoint him!

Today God is calling you to be greater and that means you can’t stay where you are and keep doing what you’ve been doing. You have to step up. You have to drop the excuses and show up today. God wants to give you victory, but the victory will always be out of reach when you aren’t even reaching for it!

Oh if you could only see what God has available for you if you’ll fight for it. If you could only believe today that God has equipped you with every single thing needed to have your breakthrough and stand in victory.

God is with you today and he is offering you victory. Victory over all that has been holding you back. Victory over those negative thoughts. Victory over those bad habits. Victory over every threat to your future. Won’t you show up for the fight? Won’t you step up and declare to your almighty God that you want it?

Today you become greater! A greater reflection of God’s grace. A greater witness of God’s good plans. A greater vessel for God’s power. And a greater disappointment to the devil, because that girl just won’t give up!

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Why does God allow you to struggle? Why the continual battle, when he could end every conflict with one word? Boom. It could all be over. It could literally disappear just like that. But it doesn’t because he doesn’t. Why is that?

Imagine for one moment the story of Joseph. Imagine it reads like this: Joseph had 11 brothers. Oh how they all loved each other, worked together so well, and never once had a bad day. Their father, Jacob, equally loved all of his sons and there was never conflict in their family. Every day was like a holiday with all of them together.

Borrrrr-innnnnggggg. Nobody would know that story. It would have never been written, it would have never been read, and it would have never had an impact on a single one of us.

Yet, isn’t that the story we want? We want the perfect marriage with our forever best friend, a cute little house that’s always tidy and somehow much bigger on the inside with all it’s big, bright, open rooms, and our 2.5 kids playing in a yard with a white picket fence and grass that’s always green and never needs to be mowed, oh and a lovely dog that never barks, sheds, or digs in the yard. And some tulips … put tulips in the yard. Wait, rocking chairs on the porch … and ferns. Hang ferns too.

Yip, that’s the story. That’s what life is supposed to be. When we get there, we know we have arrived.

Says who? Some 1950’s commercial trying to sell you a cake mix? Some Dick and Jane book you read in Elementary? Well, I read a different book where life seems to go a little different.

In the book I read, there’s a boy named Joseph with 11 brothers who absolutely hated him because his father favored him. There was continual conflict within this family, to the point the brothers took Joseph out one day to kill him, and ended up selling him for 20 pieces of silver. Then Joseph spent 13 years in prison.

That’s the story that made it into the book. So tell me again why you expected your story to be delightfully pleasant 100% of the time?

We have a real enemy in this life, and that enemy looks to stir up trouble, ruin good plans, and bring harm to every single one of us. He does a pretty darn good job with all of that, but even more, we’ve unknowingly partnered with him and stir up trouble ourselves. We step in and completely ruin good plans. We show up and we bring the harm. Every single one of us do it. We do it with our greed, our jealousy, our competitive nature, and our sinful desire to be on top. For us to be on top, others have to be on bottom, so we start knocking people down and justifying why we should be chosen, why we should be favored, why we should get more.

Oh you don’t do that?

Why did she get that new car when you’re still having to drive your hunk of junk? How come they get to live over there while you’re stuck living here? Why can’t your butt look like that in those leggings off the TikTok? You bought them too and it’s unfair you don’t look the same. Now what’s up with that? You’re on the same dang diet, he loses 20 pounds and you gain 3? You work at the same company doing the same job, and they make more money than you? Whatttttttt?

Maybe you’re not competitive, but does it make you shrink back a little? You look around at all they are and all they do with all they have, and it makes you feel less. It makes you feel a little less whole, a little less chosen, a little less called. You start telling yourself a story of being not good enough, always over-looked, weak, stuck and overwhelmed. Recognize that story? Have you been telling yourself that one?

And the enemy sits back and twiddles his thumbs because you just did his job for him. His objective was to sideline you from living the life you were created to live, and dang his intended harm wasn’t even necessary to take you out. You looked around so much you overlooked your own life and stopped living it.

We’re the modern day 12 sons of Jacob just taking our own selves out of the family. That one’s jealous. That one’s bitter. That one’s discouraged. That one’s pitiful. That one’s angry. That one’s exhausted. That one’s selfish. That one’s prideful. That one’s distracted. That one quit trying. That one’s busy. That one’s still comparing. Which one are you?

What causes us to be this way? It’s the story we tell ourselves that it’s supposed to be easy. It’s supposed to be fair. It’s suppose to all work just like this, and when it doesn’t we spin out of control.

YOUR LIFE ISN’T GOING TO BE EASY.
THINGS AREN’T ALWAYS GOING TO BE FAIR.
THIS ISN’T ALWAYS GOING TO BE FUN.
YOU WON’T ALWAYS UNDERSTAND.

SO WHY HAVE YOU ALLOWED THIS TO STEAL YOUR PEACE?

Jesus said in John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Jesus warned us of the realities of this life and the truths of his power. If you cling to that, you will have peace. Trouble will come, but your peace will not be shaken when you remember that Jesus has already overcome every single trouble you will ever face.

Misery is optional. Why would you ever choose it? Why choose to dwell on how bad this trouble sucks? Why wallow in the unfairness of this muddy mess? There’s no peace found in that. You can’t be shocked and shaken by the twists and turns of your story, EVERY STORY has trouble, otherwise it’s not a story.

And God never wastes a single chapter of a good story. He is always present in all these seemingly random, sometimes questionable, often unfavorable and undesirable details of our lives, working them together for good. My favorite scripture, Genesis 50:20 “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”

Guess who said it? That would be Joseph. Guess who he said it to? Yip, the very brothers who sold him when he was 17. It has been 22 years since the betrayal, 13 of which Joseph had spent in prison. But God wasted absolutely NOTHING. He used every detail to bring Joseph to a position of power where 22 years later he would stand face to face with the brothers who betrayed him and be able to save their lives during a famine. And that’s exactly what he did. All that intended harm was turned for good and used to save the lives of many.

Now THAT is a story!

We all love it. We’re inspired by it. And it would have never been told if it would have went the way we would have written it. Big happy families sitting around peaceful tables in perfect homes without a problem in the world for all their days … where’s God’s power at work against intended harm there?

Check your story.

Jesus offers us peace in the middle of the problem. God promised to show up with his power in the middle of that problem.

That’s the story. That’s your story and my story. We don’t have to be miserable on any chapter.

If you have trouble, you are just in the middle of a good story and you can trust the author of your life to use all of this for good that will save many!

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Sometimes the goodness in our lives is partnered with guilt. Guilt that I have what you don’t. Guilt that my circumstances are better than yours.

Have your blessings made you feel bad? Is there guilt attached to your gift?

What do you do when your prayers are answered with a yes, and someone else’s prayers are answered with a no? What do you do when you get the long end of the stick and someone else continually gets the short end? Oh we never talk about that, do we? We only speak up when we are shorted, so it’s almost uncharted territory to confess when we are actually the lucky ones.

Have you ever struggled because everything is so right in your world, while things in someone else’s world are so wrong? Have you ever been embarrassed to admit your blessings and chosen to hide the goodness of your reality because it doesn’t seem fair in comparison?

ME TOO! All the time. And I believe God has something to say about this.

I travel for a living. I legit have the dream job. This month I’m in Hawaii, next month I’m in Bali, and the month after that is Italy. I chase warmth and sunshine while so many of my friends are stuck in the freezing cold lingering winter. That doesn’t seem fair now does it?

And let me tell you what happens sometimes. My joy gets replaced by guilt. Why am I so blessed when others aren’t? Isn’t it wrong of me to enjoy all of this when you have received the bitter cold? Would it make you feel better if I didn’t enjoy it?

But what do you have that I don’t? Do you have small children at home? Did you get to wake those babies up this morning? Maybe you even found one of them in your bed this morning. Did you get to hear their footsteps run through the kitchen?

Do you know what I would do to rewind time and have that again for today? Or how about the woman longing to have children, what would she give to have your ordinary Wednesday morning? Your mundane is her dream. You have it every single day and she’s never had it for one day. What will your response be? Guilt because you are blessed? Shame because you have an abundance of what others have none of?

Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

I know I am no longer guilty of my past sin. I have been forgiven. I can easily accept that as truth. But what about my current blessings? Am I condemned by what I DO have in comparison to what other’s do not?

NO. THERE IS NO CONDEMNATION.

Honey, stop feeling guilty for what you have been given. It is a work of the enemy to bring guilt to your blessings. You have been set free from your sins, but now held captive by your blessings? Are you playing little, not enjoying all you have been given because you feel guilty over it? I know that sounds insane, but it’s a game we play.

And if we play that game, we will forever be in a tailspin of what we have that others don’t and the guilt we feel over it.

I pray daily for a dear friend of mine going through a horrible divorce. It makes me for guilty sitting on a beach with my husband where everything is good and right. How can I be happy when she is hurting so terribly? I decided to tone down my happy.

I have a friend battling cancer. This disease has turned her world upside down and she’s fighting to do the simplest things her healthy body once did without a thought. How is it fair that I woke up feeling so good? How can I joyfully carry on with my day doing a workout with a strong, healthy body when hers is fighting to even breathe? I will tone down my abilities.

I am condemned by my blessings. I am held captive by all that is good and right because the same is not true for others.

Who is this helping?

Who is this serving?

Psalm 22:3 tells us God is holy and enthroned on our praises. Your praise is where God dwells. When your guilt drowns out your praise, then honey, you are taking God off his throne in your life.

Doesn’t he deserve your praise? And in light of the reality of others, doesn’t he REALLY deserve your SPECIFIC praise?

Of course the enemy would prefer you to sulk in your guilt and shame over all your goodness instead of praising the Almighty and unleashing his power in your life. If God is enthroned on your praises, wouldn’t it make sense the enemy is enthroned on your pity?

Really play this out and tell me if this makes sense … I have something you do not have. I feel bad because you don’t have it and I do. So, I’ve decided not to enjoy what I have to honor you.

I’m a daddy’s girl. Always have been, always will be. That man was one of my greatest blessings in my life, and I know that. Yet, I felt guilty for it often. I have a friend who grew up in the same small town as me and her home was a nightmare while mine was a fairytale. The man she called dad abused her. How is that fair? It’s not. She didn’t deserve that.

My Daddy died a few years ago. I don’t get to call him anymore and laugh. I don’t get to roadtrip home to sit on his lap.

What about you … do you still have your Dad? Is he a good man? Could you call him today? Do you have time with him still? Do you feel guilty for what you have that I don’t? Would it make things better for me if you wouldn’t enjoy what you have because I no longer have it?

ABSOLUTELY NOT. If you have your Daddy, then there is nothing I would want more than for you to enjoy every moment you still have. If you have children at home, I would want you to stop every darn thing and just soak them in right now. If you have a young adult out finding their way in the world doing well who still wants to talk to you on the phone every day, then darn it I would want you to savor every second of that conversation!

I’m in paradise today with big waves, blue skies and swaying palm trees. On behalf of all those who woke up somewhere they don’t love, I want you to know I won’t waste this day in guilt. I will enjoy it all that much more because I know you would want me to.

Would you do the same for me? For every family who so desperately wants what you have? Would you drop the guilt over your blessings, and praise God for every detail of your reality that is so darn good?

There is no condemnation for you in Christ Jesus. That means for all you have done wrong in your life, and all that is so right in your life. No guilt here. Enjoy what you have been given and praise God for it!

Have you been given health today? Oh girl, what will you do with it?!!!!

Have you been given family today? Oh tell me you will make today special with them!!!!

Do you have sunshine today? Sister, soak it up.

Do you have a job you love? Do you have a car that runs? Do you have a warm shower? Oh it’s all so good. Look at all you have!

James 1:17 “Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father.”

Your gift may be different than mine. Please don’t spend your time feeling guilty over your gift, and I won’t waste mine comparing to yours. Whatever is good and perfect today is a gift, let’s receive it, be grateful for it, and enjoy exactly what we have been given.

The enemy doesn’t get to attach his guilt to my gift. Make sure you’re protecting your gift too my sister. No guilt in the goodness you have received. We’re happy for you!

Whatever you have, I’m so happy for you. Now enjoy it with no guilt. Send up your praises to the giver of that gift. Remember, your praise is his throne. It’s where he sits and dwells. Don’t take that from him!

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How do you get from where you are to where you want to be, when the journey there is so dang hard? How do you overcome everything that has happened? How do you get through what you’re going through right now?

The answer is simple, and the answer is the same for each of us regardless of what it is we are going through. JESUS. You get through this with Jesus. You overcome this with Jesus. You move forward with Jesus.

Without him, you will always struggle to find the strength, the wisdom, and the grace for your next step. If you’re struggling, wouldn’t it be good to pause and ask if maybe you’ve been trying to do some of this without Jesus?

Anytime things aren’t working in my life, I check to see if I’ve been trying to do it without Jesus. The key is, if I’m doing this thing without him, I have no peace and everything feels scary, overwhelming and potentially disastrous. But when I’m doing this with Jesus, even when it’s not working the way I want it to, I feel peace. Peace that doesn’t make sense. Peace that seems totally out of place given the circumstances.

That’s what Jesus does for his people … he makes things work, and when it’s not yet time for things to work, then he gives us ridiculous peace knowing somehow, someway, it will work.

This is how Jesus gets us through things we never imaged we could go through.

He is the gate. The gate, the entry into the impossible. Without the gate, you don’t get through. With the gate, a way has been made to the other side.

Jesus said in John 10:9 “Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures.”

When you’re standing in front of a large fence enclosure, you must look for the gate to gain entry. The gate allows access to that which is otherwise closed off to you. And we know Jesus is the gate to our eternal entrance into Heaven. He is the opening making it possible to gain access to paradise after this life. It was impossible for us to live a life worthy of God’s presence, so Jesus came as a sacrifice to make it possible for each of us.

This gate makes the impossible possible for us. He is how we get through.

But not only how we get through to heaven. Of course that’s the ultimate access he gives us, but there’s so much more. This gate is here for today on this side of eternity too. He is the gate to the life we were created to live here on Earth. He is the impossible made possible for this lifetime, for this year, this month, this week, this day. You have access available to you today to step into what only Jesus could do for you.

Life is freaking hard. Just in my small circle of people I’m connected with, I know of a woman who just lost her husband, a family with a 5 year old little boy just diagnosed with Leukemia, a young woman struggling with serious health issues and now unable to work, a mother who watched her 16 year old daughter die, a father who has lost his job, a wife who discovered her husband has been unfaithful, a beautiful little family who has lost their baby girl, families facing impossible situations with little hope being offered. It’s real y’all. This is life, and if life hasn’t come knocking on your door yet, one day it will. One day you will face impossible situations that make you feel like you can’t get out of bed and face reality.

But there is a gate. This gate is what allows you to get through.

My sister, for this, you have Jesus.

He is here to guide you through this. He is here to show you the way through your hardest of times and lead you into peace that won’t make sense until you’re standing in the middle of it.

Have you ever been there? Standing in the middle of peace when it makes absolutely zero sense to have peace? Yip, that’s Jesus!

Philippians 4: 7 “Because you belong to Christ Jesus, God will bless you with peace that no one can completely understand. And this peace will control the way you think and feel.”

Peace that controls the way you think and feel. That’s how you’re going to get through this! How do you gain access to that kind of peace? The gate that is Jesus.

Have you ever been caught outside in a wild storm? You’re worried about the soaking rain hitting your face so hard you can’t see. You’re concerned about lightening hitting you. You’re even wondering if those winds are going to blow you away. But the second you get inside to shelter, your thoughts change. You’re not worried about the rain in your face because you are covered. You’re not feeling the wind because you made it inside. The lightening won’t hurt you in here, so you feel safe.

This is what Jesus offers us in the storms of life. He doesn’t keep the storms from coming, but he offers you shelter in the storm. He makes it possible to get through it. Here, in the shelter of Jesus, you receive peace that controls the way you think and feel. And anytime your thoughts start running wild and your feelings drift off to those dark corners of hopelessness, then girl you better get yourself back into the arms of Jesus!

Yes, he is the gate. He is the way to get through this. He is the only way through this honey. He is the source of peace when absolutely nothing makes sense. He is the only way to control your thoughts and feelings when crap like this happens.

Jesus, I’m looking to you to get through this. And Jesus says “I am the gate, come in through me. Receive my peace.”

He has made a way for you, my troubled sister. He has made the impossible possible, worried one. He is offering peace here, broken one. He will strengthen you here, weary one. He will guide you now, lost one. Just look for the gate.

He doesn’t always make it all go away, but he makes a way through it. The gate. That’s Jesus, the way through. He is the gate, the entry into the impossible. Without the gate, you don’t get through. With the gate, a way has been made to the other side.

Aren’t you glad you have Jesus for this? You can’t get through it without him.

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Sometimes it feels like we don’t have enough. There’s not enough time. Not enough money. Not enough help. Sometimes we feel like we’re not enough. We’re not good enough. Not smart enough. Not pretty enough. Not anything enough.

So, we walk around looking at our life as if nothing is enough. We’re always lacking. Always in need. Always coming up short. Always feeling if we had more of this or more of that we would be better and do better, but we don’t.

So we don’t.

God designed your entire life around a relationship with him. If you have an abundance of everything, guess what … you no longer need the Almighty. Your daily need actually creates a daily relationship with your Creator. Your need and his faithful provision forms a level of trust you wouldn’t know otherwise.

Remember when the Israelites were in the desert, starving because they had run out of food? Do you remember how God provided for them? A miraculous dewy substance covered the ground each morning. When they worked it, it was like a dough for bread to bake. They called it manna from Heaven. That’s how God provided. The key was, it was just for that day.

Exodus 16: 4-5 “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.”

Yes, God gave them enough for the day only. Enough. Just for one day. Why? To build their trust and test their faith.

Maybe that’s where you are today. You have enough, but it’s only enough for today. You have no idea how you’re going to make it through tomorrow. You don’t see tomorrow’s provisions here today. And what are you going to do next month? How the heck is this going to work next year? What you have certainly doesn’t look like enough and the truth is you’re freaking out a little. But maybe, just maybe, in this season God is building your trust and testing your faith.

Will you trust his provision is here for today and see that it is enough? Will you have faith he will do the same for you tomorrow too?

What happened when the Israelites didn’t trust for God’s provision the next day and gathered extra manna just in case? Verse 19, “Moses told them, ‘Do not keep any of it until morning.’ But some of them didn’t listen and kept some of it until morning. But by then it was full of maggots and had a terrible smell. Moses was very angry with them.”

This break in trust and lack of faith created a rot in their provision. It went bad. And sister, the same exact thing happens to us now. When we start thinking God is not trustworthy for our tomorrow, we create a rot in what we do have. Things go rotten for us.

What has grown rotten in your life? What has gone bad? Could it be because you tried to do this thing on your own? Could it be because deep down, you really didn’t trust God was going to show up and do anything for you? Could it be because you needed to know exactly what you would have tomorrow, and this need for security and certainty just turned everything bad?

God wants us to depend on him daily. Honey if you have this whole thing figured out with your fool proof 10 year plan, why would you need God? Eventually you would stop seeking his hand because your hands are already full. So, he fills your hands, but he fills them with only enough for today.

And that is enough. Yes, this is enough. Say it … I HAVE ENOUGH.

Why does God work this way? So you keep coming back tomorrow. A daily relationship. A daily trust. A daily connection.

I may not be comfortable with the unknown. I may not see how in the world this is going to work out. I may not understand how God is going to show up tomorrow, next week, next month and next year. But, I know today he has given me enough. I have enough. So do you.

The Israelites soon became ungrateful for their daily supply of enough and started grumbling and complaining. Whining and wallowing. As a result, they sacrificed where God was leading them and settled in the desert for the rest of their lives. Their potential was unmet. Their Promise Land was unattained. All because what was enough for the day was not enough for their happiness.

Read that again. What was enough for the day was not enough for their happiness.

Oh sis, don’t let that be us. Don’t let us be spoiled brats complaining over the miraculous provision of God each day.

Don’t let us complain over the job we hate while we’re not doing a darn thing to change it.

Don’t let us worry over the stresses of tomorrow when tomorrow hasn’t even shown up yet and today is going unlived.

Don’t let us waste what we have been given today with an arrogant assumption there will always be more. More time, more opportunities, more blessings. What we have is for today. You can’t save this time for tomorrow.

You can’t hold back these opportunities for when you feel more ready. You can’t store up these blessings and hope to pull them out in the future. It’s here for today.

Girl you have enough. Enough for today. Receive it with gratitude, don’t waste it, and trust that tomorrow will come with tomorrow’s provision. Enough.

This is enough. It is enough for me to be happy. It is enough for me to be grateful. It is enough for me to work with. It is enough for me to trust God.

This is a test. A test of trusting God on the daily. How are you doing with that test?

Now, are you ready for a little spin on this to really spark that fire inside you? If you trust God enough to believe he is enough, will you dare to believe he has made you enough? Really, if God is your Creator, and he made you, equipped you, and now dwells within you, doesn’t that make you enough?

This is enough. You are enough.

God will never put you in a situation he will not make you enough for. You may not currently be equipped for the future, but girl when you get there God will have equipped you for it, trained you up, prepared you properly, and you will be made enough by him.

Because of your God, YOU ARE ENOUGH. He is enough, he has given you enough, and he has made you enough.

So, ENOUGH.

Enough of that worrying. Enough of that complaining. Enough of that negative role play you’ve got going on in your mind telling stories of future failure and misery. Enough of that waste. Enough! That ends now.

Look around, God has given you everything you need for today. You have enough. You are enough. Now gather up what God has given you and use it today because this stuff can’t be saved for tomorrow!

You’ve got some living to do here and you have just enough to live today!

Follow Pamela on Instagram – https://instagram.com/headmamapamela
Or Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pamela.crim
Find out more about BIG Life – http://biglifehq.com

If you’re willing to be uncomfortable, you get to see what you’re capable of. If you’re willing to be faithful, you get to see what God is capable of.

Everything you think you can’t do, everything you think it’s too late for, everything you’ve assumed is out of your reach, everything you’ve written off as too hard, is within the realm of possibility when you and God are partners.

Jesus said in Matthew 19:26 “With God all things are possible.”

What have you dismissed as impossible? What have you given up on? Who have you given up on? God wants you to know it’s still possible because he’s still working.

Two things are needed here in your partnership with God: Your willingness to be uncomfortable and your continued faith.

If all you’re seeking is ease and comfort, you will miss what God has given you the power to do. Just how much of God’s awesome plans for your life are you willing to miss while you seek immediate gratification?

What if the plan is for you to have and be, and go and do all those things you dream of, but you won’t be healthy enough because you can’t give up the freaking potato chips and Dr. Pepper?

You won’t hear the promptings of God to guide you in the next step to get there because you won’t give him 5 minutes of your day to just be still and listen.

\You will miss the connection with the person God has aligned to open those doors for you because you were too afraid they might reject you.

What are you missing in your comfort? Sure you’re avoiding rejection, but could you also be avoiding your breakthrough?

Sure you’re always entertained with the noise and the scrolling, but could it be so loud you’re missing that still small voice of the Almighty?

Sure you’re satisfied in the moment eating according to your cravings, but could the cravings of your soul be starved in the process?

You are dismissing yourself from the very life available to you. Girl, you have no idea what you’re truly capable of because you’ve never pushed yourself to get there.

Comfortable living builds tall walls for comfort zones. Yes, those walls keep out everything that may be uncomfortable, isolating you from immediate threats, but they also keep you from ever experiencing anything greater, isolating you from all God has available for you. You were created for a BIG Life, but have you settled for a little life? Comfort is not your friend, it is a tremendous threat to your potential.

Here’s a truth bomb: God created you for more than you’re comfortable with.

Are you seeking his plan, or are you seeking what comes easy today? If you could only see what is within the realm of possibility for you, I couldn’t hold you back from taking the next step. If you only understood the Almighty has made a way and he just needs 5 minutes of your day to show you the way, your phone wouldn’t stand a chance in the competition for your attention.

Today, an invitation into a life changing partnership is being offered. Will you partner with God? Because WITH God, ALL things are possible. Without him, not so much.

Right here, if you’re willing to be faithful, you get to see what God is capable of.

You’ve been giving up on him. You’ve been turning away before he’s done. You’ve been quitting before he’s done. You’ve backed out when it got tough. Your faithfulness is required now to see God’s unlimited power here.

Remember the story in John 11 of Lazarus being sick and Jesus showing up late? By the time Jesus showed up, he was already dead. It was too late. Jesus meets with Lazarus’ sisters as they are mourning and he says “Your brother will rise again.”

Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe …”

Lazarus’ sisters were faithful. They believed even in the midst of impossible that it was possible if Jesus said it would be. Now, because of their faith, they were able to see what God was capable of. Their brother Lazarus who had been dead for 4 days was given life again!

What is it too late for in your life? What is too far gone? Who is beyond hope? What have you given up on? What if your faith in God’s resurrection power is all that is needed here?

Can God do it … you bet your butt he can!!!!!

Will he … I don’t know. But I know this, he will do what is best. His plans are better than my plans. His ways are higher than my ways. I just know I want to get out of his way and clear the path of any of my unbelief so I get to see what he’s truly capable of in my life.

Continue to be faithful here. Yes, in the face of all that has gone wrong. In the midst of this colossal mess. Be faithful here. This is how you will see what God is capable of.

He can make right now the perfect time for doors that closed a long time ago. He can bring back that which was already too far gone. He can change things that could never be changed in the past.

WITH GOD, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE.

With him.

This is a partnership. Your willingness to be uncomfortable and your continued faithfulness are required here.

So whatcha say? Are you in?

Follow Pamela on Instagram – https://instagram.com/headmamapamela
Or Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pamela.crim
Find out more about BIG Life – http://biglifehq.com

Some people are detail oriented, and some people are like me. I jump out of the plane and then consider if the parachute was buckled tight. I start driving, then think about which direction I should go … It’s often the other way. Just this past weekend while on a snorkel boat here in Hawaii, the captain spotted a school of Hammerhead sharks. The snorkel guide quickly jumped in the water to swim with them … and so did I! After jumping in, and seeing 12 sharks swimming in those deep blue waters right by us, I remembered I had cut my knee on coral earlier and I was bleeding. (True story – check my Facebook for the video today!)

The details make a difference. A minute turn in the direction of an airplane is the difference between landing in New York versus Florida.

It’s said the devil is in the details, meaning a small glitch can cause huge problems. The tiniest of overlooked steps can create a colossal mess. Have you ever tried to put together a piece of furniture from IKEA? One bookshelf includes a 17 page instructional guide for assembly. Ask me if step 32 was important when the dang screw holes won’t match up on the final piece. Yes, yes it was. Details. The devil is in the details.

But let me assure you, GOD IS IN THE DETAILS. Every single detail of your life has been considered by God. Nothing has been overlooked or passed over. Nothing has slipped through the cracks or squeezed on by God. Every thing concerning you has been on the mind of God. Every thing that has touched your life has first passed through the hands of God.

Now that may leave you saying, hold up a hot minute there sister, are you saying God brought this disaster? Are you saying he is responsible for this catastrophe? He orchestrated this mess? No, although he is not the originator of everything that crosses your path and touches your life, he allows it so he can use it.

Maybe sometimes God says “Huh, well I didn’t set that up, but I can use it so I’m going to allow it.”

Can you imagine how absolutely frustrated the evil one must be? He conspires his evil plans and plots his destruction. Satan shows up with his most wicked works, attacks us where we are weak, then God steps in and uses it all for something good instead. Dang he must be frustrated. He meant to take you out a long time ago. His intentions were to sideline you, but then God stepped in and used that personal attack on you for goodness. Devil, you should give up already … you are outmatched!

Some things happening in your life right now are still in the messy stages of progress, and God is allowing the mess because he knows how he’s going to work it all together for something so much better in your future. Are you willing to let God work those details? Are you willing to lean into him in the middle of the unknowing, trusting he actually DOES know what he’s doing?

Listen to this amazing story of God’s details. One summer day, friends of mine were floating on a river. They ended up at an unintended stop along the river where they didn’t want to be. But God was in the details of having them exactly where he wanted them to be for a divine purpose. A 15 year old girl was hung under a branch, stuck underwater. And there was this family at this random spot at that exact moment to save her. And it couldn’t have just been anyone, it had to be one beastly young man who was the only one big and strong enough to break the entire tree that had her pinned. It had to be another young man who was trained as a paramedic to revive her lifeless body.

Against all odds, 3 days later, this beautiful blonde hair 15 year old girl woke up in the hospital fully functioning with one heck of a story to tell. All made possible by a family who just happened to be on the same river that day, stopped in a spot they had not intended. What are the odds of that? GOD IS IN THE DETAILS.

Psalm 147: 4-5 “He counts the stars and calls them all by name. How great is our Lord! His power is absolute! His understanding is beyond comprehension!”

Astronomers estimate there are there are 2 trillion galaxies, and each of those galaxies has about 100 billion stars. That’s 200 billion trillion stars that we THINK we might be out there, but God’s word says he counts them and he calls them ALL by name! His understanding is truly beyond comprehension.

Acknowledging his divine wisdom over every detail concerning your is life changing. And here’s the thing you need to know about this awesomely all-knowing God of ours, HE IS FOR YOU. Honey, he is not against you. He is for you more than anyone has ever been for you in your life. He is for you more than your mama was for you. He is for you more than you are for you. He will move heaven and earth for you, and whether you realize it or not, HE HAS.

Psalm 37:23 “The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.”

God knew you would be exactly where you are today from the very beginning of time. He knew right here, right now is what he could best use to take you where he has for you next. He knew this detail of your journey is the perfect preparation for the next. He looks at you with great care, and he directs the details of your life with great power.

Isn’t it reassuring to know his great care comes with great power? He CAN make it happen for you. He CAN bring exactly what you need floating down the river right to you at exactly the right time.

And here’s what I love most about our God. God didn’t just use this family to save this girl in the river, he’s using this girl in the river to save this family. He’s working in most beautiful and mysterious ways to redeem that which had been stolen. To restore that which had been threatened.

He is directing you. He is taking great delight in every detail of your life. Lean into him today and trust where he’s taking you. Right here is exactly where you’re supposed to be. Maybe it’s because right here is what God always had planned for you, or maybe it’s because God said ‘well, that’s not what I had planned, but I like it and I can use it’, so here you are!

May you open your eyes wide to the details of your life today, and see God at work in every one of them. Because he is. Oh, he is!

Follow Pamela on Instagram – https://instagram.com/headmamapamela
Or Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pamela.crim
Find out more about BIG Life – http://biglifehq.com

God created this great big beautiful world, then he plopped you right in the middle of it with the intentions of you enjoying all he has made. The colors of the sky tell you of his love. The majesty of the mountains speak of his power. And here we are, his prized creation, his greatest masterpiece, with an invitation to have the adventure of a lifetime.

I assure you our God is not boring. He is not some gray haired wizard sitting on a throne with a stern face and clinched fist. He is daring and he is adventurous. He is creative and he is passionate. And today he says ‘my girl, get out there and enjoy all I have made for you.’

In some of my Daddy’s final moments of life, the veil between heaven and earth grew so very thin and he was able to see what awaited him in eternity. At one point he began laughing deep belly laughs and he said ‘Jesus is so funny! Everyone is so happy here.’

Have we forgotten that Jesus is funny and full of joy? Have we forgotten to follow him means to be full of joy as well? Have we forgotten that our totally NOT boring God has set us in the middle of all his beauty and told us to NOT BE BORING either.

Hmmmm, where’s that scripture?

In Matthew 5 Jesus tells us we are the salt of the earth. Salt brings out the best in food. We are to bring out the best in everything and everyone. And honey, you can’t do that by being boring! No one finds themselves inspired by boring dullness. Are you living your life in such a way that says ‘hey, I’ve got something special … you might want to know what it is!’ Really, that’s what we’re here to do. We’re here to show Jesus in such a way that attracts others.

Will you forever be that girl who gets ridiculously excited over a bright colored sky? Will you forever be that girl who says yes to life’s offerings and tastes it at it’s fullest? Will you forever be that girl who is so grateful for the gift of a new day of life you actually welcome the alarm so you can wake up and live it?

You can be.

At our BIG Life Retreats, I get to watch women step out of their comfort zones and do things they never imagined they could do. They overcome fears. They tap into their faith. Then they stand on the other side of that fear and see how God perfectly provided everything they needed to overcome it.

Just this past weekend, a woman terrified of swimming in deep waters not only swam in the depths of the ocean, but she did it at NIGHT with manatee and a very unexpected surprise vistor, the white tip shark which just happens to be the most aggressive shark in the ocean. She told me she would do it again! She went home with more confidence.

Another woman stood on top of a tall platform on top of a crazy tall cliff and she jumped. Then she flew! She we went home with new strength.

I bet there’s something you’re terrified of but really want to experience. Honey, do it afraid.

You have been given this one life to live in this amazing world your creator designed, what a shame it would be if you spend your precious days afraid of what’s out there.

When Jesus said in John 10:10 “I have come that you may have life, and have it to the full.”, he meant for both eternity and here and now. He is extending an invitation to live BIG. Will you accept?

Have you resigned to a boring life of predictability and pattern? That’s not what you were created for! That’s not what you were given this day of life for. You have been given this day in this lifetime to LIVE. Why not go for it?

Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 6: 11-13 (MSG): “I can’t tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life. We didn’t fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren’t small, but you’re living them in a small way. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!”

Your life isn’t little my sister, but maybe you’ve been living it little. If you’ve been letting things hold you back from living openly and expansively, know that God is inviting you in to a BIGGER life today. That’s why you’re hearing this.

Boring is not your color. Predictability does not come in your size. Comfort is not your friend. Your great big amazing, loving, powerful God has an adventure for you and oh how he hopes you will accept.

Follow Pamela on Instagram – https://instagram.com/headmamapamela
Or Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pamela.crim
Find out more about BIG Life – http://biglifehq.com

Before God made you, he imagined all you could become. He had a clear imagine of you at your fullest potential, then he went about forming you individually, equipping you with every strength, gift, talent, attribute, trait, and passion to one day become all he imagined.

Genesis 1:27 “So God created human beings in his own image.”

God created us with his imagination. He had an IMAGE of all we could be and then he formed us. Here’s the kicker, he didn’t use your image of you, he used HIS image of you. Maybe those two images are a world apart. I wonder what’s different about God’s image of you? What does God see in you that you don’t see in you?

Think about it. Before an artist creates, they have an image of what they want to form. An architect first has an image of what he wants to build. It is the image that first begins the creation.

And before God made you, he had an image of the woman you could become. Scripture says he knew you before he knit you in your mother’s womb. Before you even existed he knew you. How’s that possible? HE KNEW YOUR POTENTIAL. And it is your potential he saw when he began forming you.

Every detail of you was first imagined by God. God had an image of you, the BEST you, then he went about creating you in his own image.

Not your image of you. You see, you likely view yourself as a watered down version of who God sees. Isn’t it a good thing God didn’t create us based on our image of ourselves. No, he created us based on his own image.

What is God’s image of you? What does he see when he looks at you?

Contrary to the voice in your head which tells you you’re not good enough, God looks at you and sees his creation in progress. He sees his masterpiece forming. He’s using every circumstance and situation to form you into the person he had in mind all along. He’s knocking off the lumps here and there to reveal the real you, the true you, the image of you he had from the beginning.

He’s shaping and forming you from the inside out and we all know the process of being shaped and formed doesn’t always feel good. It feels more like being squeezed into tight spaces, forced into uncomfortable positions, chunks of you breaking off, pieces of you crushed. But if we could only see for a moment what God sees.

If we could only see how every single thing, I mean EVERY THING works together for good. God uses it all. Even the very things orchestrated in the pits of Hell sent to harm us, intended to set us back, God uses those things for a set up. And when God uses a set back as a set up, there’s only one thing we need to do … we need to step up. Step up and be who God created you to be. Begin living up to your potential.

I’m here to remind you this morning that there’s a whole lot more in you. There’s power in you that you’ve never tapped into yet. There’s strength within you that you didn’t know existed. There’s potential in you that only God knows about and if you were to get a full picture of that potential right now it would scare the crap out of you. And this is why life is only revealed one day at a time. You can’t handle the truth of all that remains in you currently untapped.

God creates with his imagination. Look at his creation. Sometimes I watch those Planet Earth shows and I’m mesmerized by the sheer beauty and creativity of our God. Over the past 5 days I’ve been hosting the BIG Life Retreat on the Big Island of Hawaii. Here, we’ve been living in a real life Planet Earth episode.

The waterfalls. Wow, 3 layers of waterfalls cascading through the most lush and tropical landscape. We flew over those waterfalls on a zipline, then we swam in those waterfalls and had a baptism. God made those waterfalls. He imagined their beauty and designed them with expertise.

The fish. My favorite fish was the Parrotfish. Irridescent colors of turquoise and pink as if God was feeling extra colorful on the day he designed it. By far the most colorful and beautiful fish in the reef. And then to find out the white sand beaches we all love are simply a result of the Parrotfish poop. FOR REAL! Did you know that? White sand is Parrotfish poop from all the coral they eat. How absolutely magical … and all by God’s great design.

But let me tell you about the manta ray. Last night, we swam with these magnificent creatures in the wild. Measuring 14 feet across, they brushed up against us as if to dance and show off their beauty and grace. GOD MADE THAT! And, no doubt, he made it happen. He made it happen in a way that the professional guides said is NOT NORMAL. And of course God did that because he wanted to show his girls the magnificence of his design and creation.

Sometimes I think God simply shows off for those who are seeking and those who will give him credit as the designer, creator and orchestrator. GOD, WE SAW YOU!

Romans 1: 19-20, “They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.”
God’s showing off in his creation. And somewhere in between the waterfalls, the exotic fish, the white sand beaches and the manta ray … is you.

You. He sat and pondered you. He considered what he wanted your life to be. The impact you could make in this world. He imagined all you could do and become. And with that image of potential in mind, he began forming you.

And he’s not done yet. You’re still being formed. Today you’re being shaped in preparation to meet your full potential.

You were made in his own image. His imagination created you. And he imagined you perfectly. You are his masterpiece. Girl, he’s just not done with you yet.

Follow Pamela on Instagram – https://instagram.com/headmamapamela
Or Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pamela.crim
Find out more about BIG Life – http://biglifehq.com

Today we’re going way back to the best days … the days of the 80’s. The days of big hair, and neon leg warmers. And no doubt, the days of the best music ever. I’ll start the song, and I know you can sing it.

1988. The big hair band Poison.

Every rose has its thorn.
Just like every night has it’s dawn.
Just like every cowboy sings a sad, sad song.
Every rose has its thorn.
Yeah it does.

But why? Why does every rose have its thorn? Have you ever thought about that? Why did God create beautiful, delicious smelling roses to have pesky thorns?

Thorns are there to protect the rose! This is the rose’s God-given protection from being eaten by all the predators attracted to its sweet fragrance. Because it is so sweet and so beautiful, it must be protected from danger, thus the thorns.

So yes indeed, every rose really does have its thorn. And these thorns are a good thing.

What is your thorn? What purpose does it serve?

Paul was God’s chosen messenger who wrote the majority of the New Testament Bible. He was anointed and gifted. He was created for a divine purpose and set apart to walk in his purpose as God had designed. Yet, all the while, Paul had a problem. A problem that just wouldn’t go away.

Do you know what this problem was called? A thorn.

2 Corinthians 12:7-9, “I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.
Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.”

Paul struggled with a problem. We don’t know exactly what this problem was, perhaps a physical ailment, a mental challenge, or an internal battle, but whatever it was we know it tormented him. It was his torn. Nearly every translation of the bible refers to Paul’s problem as a thorn. Que the music, Poison, “every rose has its thorn …”

Why? Why does every rose have its thorn? Not to punish it, to protect it!

Paul’s thorn wasn’t a punishment, it was his protection! Verse 7 “So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.”

The danger to Paul was in becoming proud. He has great revelations from God. What he heard and what he had to share was magnificent. Countless people gathered to listen to him. He was a mega influencer!

And that was dangerous. Pauls gifting and calling made him vulnerable to becoming conceited and self-empowered. God, in all of his wisdom, knew Paul was capable of great and mighty things, but he also knew the dangers of him becoming all puffed up in his own greatness. God knew Paul being conceited would hurt the purpose for which he was created. So, to protect him and all the goodness he had within, he was given a problem that continually humbled him.
And although Paul genuinely wanted to be made well, and asked God 3 times, God said no. Not as a punishment, but as a protection. This torn protected Paul from the greater danger of being conceited. So, he was humbled.

Could the problem you’re dealing with right now be for the same purposes? Purposes of protection? This isn’t a punishment, this is to protect the potential God has placed within you.

What you have is precious. What you can do is powerful. But understand it is constantly under attack.

Why wouldn’t God just let you be wildly successful and make this look easy? Oh honey, haven’t you seen the enemy wreck havoc in lives that seem to have absolutely everything? Haven’t you seen the damage he can do in success? Haven’t you seen the touch of his darkness in the spotlight?

When you understand sometimes continual setbacks and struggles, failures and frustrations, are actually thorns that protect you from the dangers of your predator, then you can receive God’s grace that is indeed sufficient for you.

For the first 8 years of building BIG Life, I fought and failed. I tried everything to grow this dream God had placed within my soul to encourage others. It was the worst tango ever with 1 step forward and 2 steps back, and everything always in the red. On year 8, 2017, I officially gave up. I mean full on surrender, on my face, shameful disgrace quit. I canceled all future retreats. I had written and hosted my last devotional. I was ready to give refunds to everyone I was mentoring. God wasn’t removing this thorn, and I felt I couldn’t continue on with it blocking me. I was constantly hurt by what others said, failed more than I succeeded, and never felt good enough.

And in this time of giving up, God showed me his power. Yes, that same power Paul spoke about through his thorn in 2 Corinthians 12. Verses 8-10 say, “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

If you’re in this place that I once was, this place of feeling like you just can’t go on if God doesn’t remove this struggle, I pray you too can see the perfection in God’s power at work right now. HIS GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU IN THIS. HIS PROTECTION IS PERFECT FOR YOU.

Without this problem, would you be listening today? If everything were easy, would you be here seeking God’s direction today? Or would you be proud .. proud of all you can do on your own and conceited in thinking you’ve always got what it takes?

That’s not who you are because honey, just like Paul, and just like me, you’ve got yourself a thorn. A thorn that humbles you. A thorn that makes things hard. A thorn that continually reminds you of your struggles. And although it doesn’t always look or feel like it, that thorn is God’s protection of all he has placed inside of you.

Every rose has its thorn, and every daughter of the King created to walk in a great purpose has her problem. Within that problem is God’s power at work. Within that problem is a humbling effect to keep us from running off with wild success into the pit of our enemy who prowls around like a lion looking for someone to devour.

God protects his girls! Today, let’s take a moment to thank him for the thorns in our lives that protect us from the intended harm our predator had planned. We are His precious rose, and we are protected!!!!!

Follow Pamela on Instagram – https://instagram.com/headmamapamela
Or Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pamela.crim
Find out more about BIG Life – http://biglifehq.com