Comfort and prosperity have never enriched the world as much as adversity has. – Billy Graham
Change Happens
This is the first post on my new blog. I have never thought of myself as a writer mainly because of my struggles with dyslexia. So as long as all my grammar friend experts can get past the mistakes, this should be fun!
As I start this post, we are a week out from stepping down from a church that we have ministered at for over 14 years. While we are sad to say goodbye to so many friends and memories, we are excited for what our next season in life will be. Almost everyone has asked us, “What’s your next move?” like I (of all people) have a game plan. This is where I answer “We don’t have one”, but follow it up with “we are at peace and know God has us”. Does this seem cliche? Maybe. But I have found that when we step out into the unknown with Jesus we find incredible direction, miracles and a closeness to Him that we didn’t have before. My prayer for you is that the very same thing happens when you decide to step out, take a risk and jump out with Jesus.
The number of times that I’ve wanted the hard season to be over as fast as it came and never to return again is probably higher than I’d like to count. I’ve heard it said that we live in a microwave society. Everything happens so fast: technology at our finger tips, the click of a button and we’re done shopping, Alexa and Siri can answer all the things and the list could go on and on. Life happens fast these days. So when hard times come and they don’t go away very fast, well, that’s just not fun and not how we want things to go.
Impatience can wreak havoc on the soul and the journey can get tiresome because we want our comfort and ease back. In the trying seasons, that’s when the good stuff is formed. Google how pearls come to be…it’s with irritation and pressing and a real nasty process. But as you’ve heard before, the final product, which is the pearl, is beautiful and unique.
So if you’re reading this and your season is hard, afflicting and rubbing you the wrong way, remember God’s promises He’s spoken to you. Go back and read the words spoken over your life, read the journals you wrote ages ago and remember God’s promises for you and to you. If you need to see those promises in black and white, read the Bible and all those promises you read in there are for YOU! Those words will be a healing balm to your soul as you’re in your affliction or your hard season. They will breathe life into you. You can trust God’s processes and His promises, sometimes we just need to be reminded of that!
If you know me you probably know I’m a planner. I like spontaneity too but I like to know where I’m headed and how I’m going to get there. You may or may not also know that I’m a dreamer too. Dreaming has always been a big thing for me and a big part of my life. Dreams keep the vision alive and gives one something to look forward to.
For those of us that are both planners and dreamers, often there is a tension between what is current reality versus what one is dreaming of reality being. It’s like two worlds colliding in an epic battle of tug-of-war. Planners who are also dreamers have to be careful of not falling into the temptation of believing that the next thing, the next move, or the next major life change will make them happy and fulfilled.
At age 14 I had my life planned out with what I knew God wanted and where and how I was going to get there. What I didn’t fully know at that age was all that it would take to make those dreams and plans come to life. Learning even as an adult that life doesn’t always play out how you think it will. I can do my best at planning but sometimes even those plans fail. I can do my best at dreaming and sometimes even dreams can let you down.
So what do you do with failed plans and dreams you didn’t get to see fulfilled? What do you do when life doesn’t go how YOU thought it should go? I have four words to answer that. Let go and trust. That’s it. You have to let go of all you thought would have been, could have been or should have been. And, you have to trust that God is a better author, planner and dream giver of our lives than we ever could be.
So, if today you find yourself caught in a chasm of disappointment because of failed plans, dreams yet to be fulfilled or even failed dreams, give this song a listen. But more than just give this song a listen, let go and trust God. Sometimes what we thought was a casket is really just a carrier of hope. Carrying us into God’s dreams and God‘s plans for us which are far better than what we could have ever come up with ourselves. ❤️
A dealer is someone who sells and specializes in a particular product. In todays message I encourage the Jesus follower to specialize in the heavenly product of “Hope”
Nobody is immune to making mistakes, except maybe my wife… Of course, I am kidding! I can hear my wife reading this out loud, stopping, and saying to me, “Why would you say that?” Mistakes, bad choices, wrong moves – we have all done them and sometimes they’re completely unintentional. However, sometimes they’re wholeheartedly intentional. After all, our sin nature didn’t just start out of nowhere. I often tell people that we don’t need to show a toddler how to throw a fit, and if you want to see where humanity began having conflict, just place “a” toy in an empty room with three toddlers. While this might seem cruel, you will definitely see raw nature at its core. Also, you might just get a taste of why Cain did what he did to his brother.
Bad decisions or “a” bad decision is one of the big reasons we get “stuck”. When you think about it, we are one bad decision away from making a mess of our lives. Before a drug addict became addicted, there was that “first” decision to take the drug. Likewise, nobody intentionally sets out to ruin their finances, but because of some bad choices, or bad investments, it just happened to snowball from there.
But here is a truth you need to know. God is in no way done with you despite the bad choices you might have made! After all, the heroes in the Bible all experienced a bad decision or two (or hundreds for that matter). They say that hindsight is 20/20, which simply means that our past is 100% un-refundable. One of the many conversations I will have in heaven will be with Adam and Eve, and like many of you reading this, I believe we will all ask the same question.
“What the heck were you thinking?”
I have always imagined the answer to be something like this, “I thought more understanding would elevate me in the eyes of the Lord.” However, the response might simply be, “I wasn’t thinking”. As a man, I am living proof that this statement is true. Most of the time, we don’t go into a bad decision with the consequences in mind. We just do what feels right, or what our flesh wants, or base choices off of other bad choices. I have heard the quote a million times in my head from Forrest Gump, “Stupid is, as stupid does,” and boy have I done some stupid stuff.
This is where God likes to show up and show off! Despite human error, corruption, and sin, God chooses the least likely people to work through. To quote one of my favorite authors, “It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.” Following Jesus has been that way for me. I have made thousands of bad decisions, but I made one incredible one – one to surrender my life to the Author and Finisher, the One who has the final word, the One who can take a jacked-up mess like me and actually use me! I love how God works and He has been doing it since the beginning. God takes us beyond our mistakes and uses us for His glory when we surrender to Him.
What decisions have you made that you wish you could push the “do-over” button for?
Can you see God working in this area of your life? If so, what has He done to help reverse the situation? We would love to hear from you. Let us know your response!
In June of this year I started feeling and extremely dizzy. In all my life I have never experienced something like that! I began to develop a light cough, but I had no fever. A test would later confirm that I indeed tested positive for Covid-19… In the video above I share how God TOTALLY healed me from it!
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I was awakened awhile ago from one of those deep, hard sleeps. You know the kind that will leave you feeling fully refreshed the next morning? What awoke me is no stranger to me yet it had been a long while since I’d come face to face with one. About 5 weeks ago it woke me from a deep sleep like it used to in years prior and here we are again, tonight, with the same familiar song and dance.
What is it that woke me? A panic attack. Fear striking in the dead of night. If you’ve never experienced a panic or anxiety attack I pray you never do.
I had a dream in the early part of 2020 that one of the attacks on America this year would be fear. It’s running rampant these days with all that has and is occurring in 2020. I can confidently say that fear is not from God and it’s not God’s plan for you to live in fear. God is not the author of fear and His plans for you are good and full of life and hope.
In the coming days I may share more of my story on my journey with panic attacks. But, if you are reading this and you find yourself dealing with fear in any form, I’m up praying for you. I’m praying you find peace and hope and that you would tangibly know all the good things God has for you. He’s not lost control and He’s not about to lose control. I’m praying for our nation and that peace comes to all the unrest, division and confusion. I’m praying for peace and freedom from fear over you and over the nation. What the enemy meant for evil for me tonight, God is turning it for good because it’s driven me to Jesus and to more prayer. The devil will be sorry he even tried with me tonight.
Here are a few of my favorite verses I want to share with you that may be helpful to you if you’re battling fear…
“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11
“The LORD your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 14:27
God’s not lost His grip on you. Run to Him even in your fear. He can handle your fear and your mess. He will take your fear and replace it with His peace! – Heather
Again the kingdom of heaven is like a man who is a dealer in search of fine and precious pearls, who, on finding a single pearl of great price, went and sold all he had and bought it.” Matthew 13:32, 45-46 AMPC
Had you told me 20 years ago that I should sell everything I owned and bought stock in a little known start up called Amazon with a slow growth plan that wouldn’t turn a profit in at least 4-5 years I would have laughed and said, “Thanks but no thanks.” Oh but if I had…
Get rich quick schemings have always been more appealing than save and sow principles. Are you working hard or hardly working? I think I have heard that said by most of my blue collar coworkers as we often felt like we were always working hard.
In Matthew 13 Jesus gives us examples of how valuable heaven is. If we could only comprehend the investment opportunity we have when we invest into eternity. Jesus said in so many words, “If you only knew how amazing heaven is you would gladly give it ALL up to attain it.”
Attaining heaven starts with a choice to believe in Jesus, but it also takes a life lived for Him (work) to walk into heaven’s fullness. In fact Jesus Himself warns believers in John 3:36 that “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”
I recently saw a meme asking, “If you could say one thing to your 15 year old self, what would it be?” I wonder if my 15 year old self would receive instruction on selling everything, working hard, and investing in Amazon stock. Knowing myself I probably would invest a little and keep the rest. Just enough to see if it works but not enough to step into the “fullness” of the return.
Today, heaven is available for you through believing in Jesus! But it’s fullness is only available through selling out to Jesus. Trust me, being sold out for Him will be worth it!
From the Grace + Nothing = Everything message by Dustin Williams
What is Grace?
Grace: is unconditional love toward a person who does not deserve it.
Unconditional means: Without condition
Grace is something that can’t be earned. It is something that is given. The best analogy that I have for this is my own experiences with our countries judicial system. People, its about to get real! This pastor has stood before the judge on more than one occasion. In high school, The last day of my Freshman year I decided that I wanted to celebrate a little. Because I was in year around school the 4th of July had come and gone and I had some left over treasures, so I made the choice to take some to school for the walk home. Let’s face it, most young men love to play with fireworks and I am no exception. What I didn’t count on was the kids in my class seeing them and taking them when I got up to use the restroom. Let’s just say art class was extremely expressive that day! Though I had not let off any fireworks, I was tagged as the “supplier” by my fellow students which lead to an escort to the principles office, a police officer, and the most terrifying of all… my mom.
My Charge? Bringing explosives to school (snap pops 🙄). The punishment? Possible expulsion or suspension for the following school year, possible Juvenal detention, enrollment in a scared strait program, and a one way ticket to stand before the DA, aka the judge. I was scared, in trouble, and perceived as a delinquent.
I was eventually shown mercy and given grace after the DA saw and heard how very sorry and broken I was about everything… I received so much grace that I had to do none of the suggested punishments.
The problem with our world is that it shapes our perception when it comes to grace, justice, right and wrong. What’s acceptable and what’s not acceptable.
Many of us think about how “good” do you have to be in order to receive God’s grace? Now I am certain that most of you said in your head that there is nothing I can do in order to be good enough for God. Yet, some of us continue to funnel justice through the lens of the world and our own perception.
Galatians 2:16 “…knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.”
There is no amount of good deeds you can do that will make you just before God.
Galatians 2:21 “I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”
There is also nothing you can do that disqualifies you from receiving the Grace of God.
As the church in Galatia began believing in the deity of Christ, some of the Jewish converts began to conform back to the jewish teachings and laws for purification. So Paul had to bring some correction to their perception of justification through Christ.
One of those things was circumcision…
Old law – set apart for the Lord
New – Surrender to Christ, marked by grace.
Galatians 5:6 “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.”
Keys to walking in God’s Grace:
Through Forgiveness
The Apostle Paul reminds us, “He who began a good work in you, will bring it to completion on the day of Jesus Christ.” Trust God’s Grace by receiving forgiveness. Forgive yourself. See yourself as God’s dear child who He’s remodeling daily. Let Grace overpower your past and create in you a clean conscience.
2. Love Others
The Graciousness of God empowers us to love boldly and live robustly. Start loving others and start grasping the heart of God
3. Give Grace Away
Because God has forgiven us, we can forgive others. Because He has a forgiving heart we can have a forgiving heart. Extend the gift of grace to others and remember that God’s powerful grace is made perfect in our weakness. Some people require extra grace…
Remember It’s God’s Idea
Max Lucado says, “To discover grace is to discover God’s utter devotion to you, His stubborn resolve to give you a cleansing, healing, purging love that lifts the wounded back to their feet.”
I’ve tried to find the words that will convey my heart appropriately in response to the events happening in our nation today. Some moments there’s so much I feel I want to say and most other moments words evade me. I know nothing that I will say can take away the pain and hurt so many of my friends have experienced. Some of those experiences have come from first-hand encounters in being treated poorly either verbally, physically, socially or otherwise. Other experiences have been re-told and then re-lived because the harsh reality of mistreatment has been shared down through the ages. The older generations having to tell the younger generations of the hateful mistreatment they and their ancestors had to live through. These are stories and experiences that no one ever wanted to have to retell. From what I’ve come to understand in recent days, these stories had to be shared to ensure survival in a harsh world. To those of you that have been hurt and have experienced pain because of the color of your skin, I am sorry. For those of you that have been hurt and have experienced trauma because of any other lines that divide, I am sorry. I ask your forgiveness for not seeing your pain before now. I ask your forgiveness for not having the hard conversations sooner.
The reality of this moment in time is this: the human race as a whole is standing at a fork in the road. There are many things trying to divide and pull us apart from one another. With every conflict comes an opportunity and today is the day that we get to decide how our nation is going to move forward. The choices we make today affect the tomorrow our children will grow up in. How we come together in our differences speaks more about us than how we are able to do life with people that are just like us. Honestly, let’s face it, doing life with like-minded people is a lot easier than doing life with people that are different from us. Every day we are being presented with an incredible opportunity to see the people in front of us and around us. I don’t mean to simply see them to know how different they are from us but to see people as they were always meant to be seen and that is through the eyes of love and honor. If we all took a moment to love, honor and respect the people we encounter every single day things would change. If we approached our relationships and encounters with people wanting to understand each other instead of fight each other, our kids would be growing up in a much different, better and kinder world right now.
In recent days I have found myself initiating conversations that I never have before. The days and times we are living in call for these conversations to take place. Hard conversations are not only good to have but they are worth having. I encourage you to have them and not avoid them. Have these conversations (and every conversation) to listen, not only to be heard. Let’s let our end goal in these conversations be love and mutual understanding, not hate and mutual agreement. You can love and honor someone even when you disagree with them. The current state of affairs have shown me that I can do better and because of that I will choose each day to do better. The future is worth protecting and it starts with me. It’s starts with you. It’s starts with us leading by example. Let’s rise to the occasion and let this time make us better, not worse. The lines that divide I pray will get thinner as our love, honor and respect for one other only gets deeper and wider. We can do this. We can do better. We are better together.
My whole life I have been taught to think outside the box. As a creative person I love to think outside of normal thought processes and perimeters. I was the kid that tried to think of how to fit the square peg into a round whole not because I didn’t get it or understand it but to prove I could. Maybe you can relate or maybe you’re the type that just accepts gravity as gravity, which is where I’m going with this thought of mine.
You see I believe we serve a God who is “outside the box.” But when it comes to certain things in regards to God moving or doing certain supernatural miracles I have found that I have put God in a box. I hope you’re following me and I promise I’m getting there.
In the Bible, God did remarkable things. My personal error in putting God in a box is the “did” part. I mean we see the sun standing still or literally time stopping so Israel could win a battle (Joshua 10:9). We see 3 young men made fireproof (Daniel 3). We also see God transport Philip (Acts 8) in order to reach an Ethiopian and then the people in Azotus instantly (about 35 miles). I have known these stories, but when did I stop believing that these types of miracles were only for the past? When did I minimize God to being less than God?
The people who look at God as the same yesterday, today and forever are the ones who pray boldly. They accept that God is in the box and beyond the box!
My thinking was challenged by one of my wife’s spiritual mentors, Patricia King, as we were talking about the tight window of time that we had to get back to Utah from Arizona because of appointments and a scheduling issue. She looked at me and said, “Well let’s ask the Author of Time for more time.” More time? Can we do that? Not only can we, but we absolutely should.
When we don’t have enough food should we ask the God of multiplication for more? When we are walking through fiery trials why not believe to become fireproof? When we need an extra hour to pray and we only have 5 minutes shouldn’t we ask for the sun to stand still so we can get the victory?
In case you’re wondering, the answers to all of those questions are, “Yes, yes, and yes!” Can I get an amen? Join me in praying bold prayers this week. Join me in believing that the God we pray to is the same yesterday, today and forever. I have no doubt that God will answer these bold prayers and when He does, I’d love to hear about it!
Dustin & Heather 