Upon opening the bags of mulch there is a big stink from
the manure that is in the mixture.
Spreading it over the yard leaves a stench for a few weeks, but in time
the smell is gone, leaving all the good nutrients our plants need.
In reality what we are doing is preparing the ground for
spring and new abundant harvests. All
this preparation got me to thinking about life in general as a Christian. I certainly don’t look forward to all the
hard stuff I have to do, but I know I’ll be glad for the experience in the end.
Sometimes life is like that stinky stuff, we experience
things that we wish we didn’t have to encounter, but in reality we need it in
order to grow in faith and favor of God.
Welcome new friends this week from:
See if your city/state/country made the list.
New on DFB – Hanoi, Hà Nội,
Vietnam; Penzance, England, United Kingdom; Lyngdal, Vest-Agder,
Norway; Aruba.
USA – Fairmont, MN; Canal Winchester,
OH; Orange, Groves & Port Neches, TX; Stanley, NC; Cut Off, LA ; Hermitage,
PA; Buffalo, Ashville, Bemus Point & Falconer, NY; Mobile, AL;
Morgantown, WV; Minneapolis, MN; Raleigh, NC; Ozark, AR.
Thank you for your continued support and sharing Believing
Our Belief on Daily Favor. (DFB -
Daily Favor Blog) Living
my life before God and man, by sharing experiences as I walk out my faith.
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the bottom of this week’s post.
Don't miss
out on this week's challenge (below).
When Chocolate Wasn’t So Sweet
In 1990 we had the opportunity for our church youth group
to visit a Christian event being held in Hershey, Pennsylvania at Hershey Park, before the place opened to the public for the season.
I was really looking forward to it based on
my past visits where we got free chocolate samples.
Immediately you can smell the chocolate factory when you
pull into the parking lot and the excitement built from there. We were about to meet with kids from all over the country, tour the
chocolate factory, go on rides, eat until we burst and finally close out the
evening with a Christian concert.
Everyone from the church met in the parking area. Our
group gathered and proceeded toward the gate when our noses notified us that
something was definitely wrong about this sweet setting.
As I expected the grounds were gorgeous, filled with the
most extravagant designs in flower arrangements and bushes. We walked throughout the park, but everywhere
we went we couldn’t escape this certain stinky smell. It was really getting to my throat and I had
to find out what was making that gross fragrance.
What we did know is that it was coming from the
plants. A worker relayed the information
that earlier that week tons and tons of root mulch (which while rotting smells
like the worst manure ever) was put down throughout the entire park. They were getting ready for the season and
fertilizer was all part of the framework for a “better place” to be that year.
I don’t know how we did it, but we were able to put the
smell behind us and press on for the entire day into the evening. The factory tour was great and so was the
experience. What we learned is that when
life hands you something stinky, chocolate can still put a smile on your face!
Triple D
If twenty years ago you asked me what I’d be doing in
life, I can assure you it wouldn’t be what I’m doing presently. My life, according to me, was mapped out with
good things and fun situations. Not once
had I thought about the things I would come to experience these past
years. Except being married to the same
man, nothing resembles what I had wanted for my life. Although things have changed extremely,
nothing has been wasted, and for the most part I can see why things had to
happen the way they did.
You could say that there has been more “stink” than beds
of roses, but every time something has happened I’ve learned more about myself
and the strength of Christ that resides in my heart. Deep down I know that God has something
bigger in store for me … more than I could possibly realize on my own.
What about you? Do you feel like things really stink about
now and that life’s manure has been dumped on you? The truth is that you will
never reach all you can be unless you become “fertilized” in faith, so that God
can work through and in you to reach your potential.
Disappointments, discouragements, downfalls and set-backs
are all a part of life. What we should
realize is that God wouldn’t have allowed it if He wasn’t going to use it for
our good. Our attitude needs to be that
God is preparing me for something greater.
Maybe you have had more than your share of “stinky
stuff.” Be encouraged that you have
plenty of “fertilizer” times where you have overcome and learned, so it puts
you in front of the others when it comes to promotion by God.
If you have stayed in faith, all those “stinky” things
that have happened are leading you to something great God has set apart for
only you. It’s a time to get ready and
prepare for places you’ve never gone. (Think about our preparing for yes challenge –
saying yes to God and prepare for the greater journey!)
Even Kings Experience Stink
Believe it or not, life lessons and the trials of faith
are what God uses to enlarge or increase us along our journey. The Bible documents individuals who have
experienced the hand of God on their lives in difficult times and from these
incidents we can gain insight.
When I think of Kingdoms and the throne, I envision
beautiful buildings, rooms and landscapes where everything smells lovely. The aroma of lavish fragrant gardens and
sweets baking in the palace fill the air.
My vision of these glorious abodes changed when I visited
some castles abroad. The walls were cracked, they smelled musty,
the windows were tiny, there were dungeons, the kitchen seemed miles away from
any room and spiders are no respecters of dwellings. My house and life were looking pretty good at
the time.
It reminds me of times past when being a royal wasn’t so sweet
in the castle of the King of Israel. When
reading through the adventures of King David, his life always had a measure of
unpleasantness in it. The extraordinary
thing was that the King recognized this and thanked the Heavenly Father that He
enlarged him in time of distress. Doesn’t that seem weird? Who thanks the Lord for bad times?
What I noticed is that times of favor didn’t usually come
to the King during happy times. It is in
the middle of hard times where we learn how strong our faith is and whether or
not we really believe what we say we have believed. David used those difficult situations to draw
closer to the Lord, and each time he did God showed him supernatural, abundant
favor.
Fertilizer Promotes Better Growth
I know it may be hard for you to grasp, but the “stink”
(bad thing happening) you are experiencing at the moment is strengthening you
for a new level. It’s not hurting you
but helping you. Don’t let the bad
things and a little “stinky” dirt stop you from fulfilling your dreams and all
God wants for you. Those hardships and
what looks like disadvantages can be instruments the Lord will use to give you
an amazing future.
Just like fertilizer, if used the right way those obstacles
that have prevented things in the past can be turned around and used in our
favor. God doesn’t waste anything, nor
does He make mistakes.
Everything has a
purpose. Just like the principle of fertilizer for plants, all we experience
can be used for growth when it comes to believing God for a better outcome.
Think of it like this.
Instead of complaining, say, “I’m
being fertilized so better things can grow out of a bad situation.” Retain a positive attitude and don’t be
talked out of your dreams. It’s not too
late. If you remain in faith God will
use those “stinky” things to fertilize your dreams and cause blessings and
favor to come into your life.
No one escapes the stinky things in life. Let them fertilize your faith. Take the
opportunity to grow through it all, knowing that you are getting stronger, more
than able and about to come into your destiny.
God created you to be the overcomer and the victor. You have the DNA of Christ and favor is part
of that bloodline, so start to believe it.
“For whatever
is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the
victory that
has overcome the world – our faith.” (1 John 5:4 NKJV)
That very thing that you don’t like in your life God can use to change your future. If you looked back on your life when was it that you grew closer to the Lord? I can be pretty sure it wasn't during the good times, but more than likely it was in the bad times when things looked impossible.
From Stink to Sweet
Maybe you think you have had more than your share of
stinky situations in life; let God use them to take you to levels beyond your
own thoughts. His ways and thinking are higher than ours. He can turn that stink into something “sweet”
and life changing for our good if we let Him.
“For My
thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,
says the
LORD.” (Isaiah 55:8 NKKJV)
Your faith roots are growing deeper and being fed
valuable nutrients needed for the place you’re about to go with God. He needs you rooted and grounded in Christ to
be able to stay at the level He wants to take you.
“As you
therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built
up in Him and established in the faith,
as you have been taught, abounding in
it with thanksgiving.”
(Colossians 2:6-7 NKJV)
That stinky attitude person that is getting under your
skin at the office, home or church is the *sandpaper you need to help you gain
the skills for that promotion. Getting
angry, quitting or changing jobs isn’t the answer. Hang in there and thank God
you’re learning to walk out the fruit of the Spirit. You’re not going down, but moving up! (Read
Sandpaper Blessings)
People may try to stop you, but God wants to use these
hurtful events to increase you in His favor. There was a man named Joseph in
the Old Testament of the Bible who had tremendous strongholds against him. Reading
thought his journey of faith you can see how everything he experienced didn’t
stop him but strengthened him. Those
hard times prepared him for his destiny taking him from a stinky prisoners pit
to a sweet position in the King’s palace.
If you stay in faith during the hard times and let the
stinky things of life fertilize your faith, God will vindicate you and others
will see it. God has the final say, not your circumstances or situations. Your
story is not over, but it ends in the palace where God’s favor resides.
Don’t get comfortable in the stink pit of your thinking
things will never change. Are you alive to read this? Then you are not at the
end of your story. If things didn’t work
out, it wasn’t a part of your destiny. Keep
going by faith and believe the blossoms are coming. One touch of God’s favor will take you from
the bottom to the top, but you have to let your faith be fertilized in order to
see it happen.
Using Life’s Mess-Ups
I have had my share of mess-ups along the faith journey.
God has turned some around for my good and others He hasn’t. Oh, it’s not that He wasn’t willing to grant
me favor to change a situation; I didn’t ask, made the wrong decisions or
worried myself out of the blessing.
Sometimes my faith was weak and sometimes my thinking was way too small
for what God had in mind for me.
On the other side, when I did believe what God said in
His Word, those were the times when favor kept coming and coming. Blessings weren’t only on little things, but
also came to me in greater amounts when I began to think like Jesus. Christ never doubted or failed to expect God
to act on His Word. When we do the same, the favor that was given to Jesus will
also be given to us, even if we mess-up!
Those poor choices and unfair situations will change if
you see them as God’s fertilizer for your faith. Those things aren’t pushing you down, but are
becoming steps to a higher level. Stop
listening to satan the accuser who is whispering in your ear that you blew it
and lost your chance. He isn’t the
author and *finisher of faith, Jesus is.
Listen to the Lord and believe what He says about you and receive
forgiveness. (*Hebrews 12:2)
From Mess to Message
How many times have you heard, seen or read a story about
a sad situation that turned out good?
Most ministries were born out of the stinky stuff in their lives and God
used it as fertilizer to grow a ministry for Him. God’s grace and favor gave
them a new beginning. If He did it for them, He can do it for you.
An example of God doing such a thing can be found in chapter
four of the book of John. We are reminded
how God can bring good into something that seemed unforgivable. John shares the account of a Samaritan woman
who had led an ungodly life. You can
read about the details on your own, but this is something I’d like you to
remember.
It was during her encounter with Jesus that the mess of
her past was forgiven and God turned it into the message of her future. The woman of Samaria would leave that place
of visitation with a new hope and a change of career.
What an eye-opener … the first person who Jesus told He
was the Messiah was the woman at the well.
He took her wicked past and turned it into good by making her the first
evangelist for Christ (a woman at that).
The past that worked against her God turned around and used it to work
for her.
God can take your mess and turn it into your message!
Tragedy to Triumph
If you think God has stopped turning around situations,
think again. Time has no bearing on God’s goodness or favor. He is good all the time and all the time God
is good.
Joan Koonce is a modern day witness of what God can do
for those who stay in faith during the dark valleys of life. She shares her story of “tragedy to triumph” in
the book “Integrity in a Box of Chocolates” of how she learned that despite the
hardships of life, a box of chocolates can still be sweet (meaning there is
something good happening in the midst of the tragedy for those who choose to
see it).
Friends, we don’t have a testimony without a test. All those things that come into our lives to
tear us down, God wants to use to build us up in faith. What the devil and enemy means to use to
defeat us God will use to give us victory.
God can take the waste, the broken dreams and mistakes
and turn them into something wonderful.
Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. Bad breaks, discouragement or injustice can’t
stop what God has in store for you. It may smell bad right now, but remember
your faith is being fertilized to your advantage. You’re about to come into God’s favor in
fullness, because you stayed in faith and believed.
“You are of
God, little children, and have overcome them,
because He who is in you is
greater than he (satan) who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4 NKJV)
This Week’s Challenge:
Appreciate the Fertilizer
Over the years I’ve come to appreciate what fertilizer
can do for my yard and plants. It’s
coming to terms with all the components that go in that process that is hard to
deal with at times.
This is where our challenge takes us this week – coming
to appreciate the “fertilizer” the stinky events, situations and circumstances
that come into our life to strengthen us.
It’s time to cover our noses and thank the Lord for the
stinky things that are fertilizing our faith for the bigger favor of God. Stay in faith believing that God will be
faithful to His Word and show His hand mighty on our behalf.
Trust Him to see you through it all and remember this ...
When life hands you something stinky, eat some chocolate
and wait for God to turn the situation into something sweet!
Until next
time, expect the sweet favor of God.
“I overcame the stink of the cross for your faith.”
Jesus Christ
Note:
The words satan or devil are not capitalized deliberately, because we give him
no place in our lives.
Disclaimer:
Article information is not meant to be used as treatment for mental or physical
issues, but geared toward spiritual awareness.
What’s New This
Week: Click on book links below.
Hiding Place CD by Selah (Includes Through It All)
Buy it on Amazon or Christian Book
Maybe you don’t know the Living God that I
know, but would like to have this kind of favor in your life also. Click on the above tab “Tell Me” for more
information on becoming a child of the Savior.
Content and Image Copyright from Favored1. Do not copy.
Scripture
reference was taken from the New King James Bible Version provided by Bible Gateway.Image credit: Google Images or Dreamstime Creative Common License if not specified.
Image: Hershey Park
Disclaimer Notes: Results may vary due to lack of belief.
