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Is God In Your Scrapbook?
June 20, 2024 · 29 min
June 20, 2024 · 29 min
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Teacher | Writer | Coach | Author
Founder of Create Your Now TV & Daily Podcast
Walk daily with you to be who God has called you to become.
"Walk with the wise and become wise." ~ Proverbs 13:20
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0:26 Welcome home. How are you? Where have you been on my days? Oh my goodness. I have missed you so much. I pray that you are having a wonderful time in the season of life that you're in. And maybe you're just wondering,0:38 well, what season of life am I in? Well, why not go on location? We were actually standing here in the middle of this gorgeous, beautiful waterfall. Now you're probably saying, Christine, I0:50 don't see any water. Yeah. That becomes a problem actually because, you know, waterfalls, you expect the water, well, sometimes that goes with life too. You know, sometimes it flows, sometimes it doesn't, sometimes it1:00 gushes. And I pray right now that it will not gush because if so, we might go viral on that. But we'll leave that for another episode. But seriously, how are you doing? I am so delighted of your presence and1:12 glad that you're here at create your now dot com. You know, our time is very short. And if you're 1 who's saying, I wanna spend more time with you, come on over to our home at create your now dot1:24 com. Also, can find us on social media. And don't forget, connect at creature now dot com. I love hearing from you. Also, we are on pray dot com, which by the1:36 way, there are a lot of other influencers, leaders there for you to also learn. So head on over to pray dot com too. You know, there is so much happening at create your now dot com. We're revamping the1:47 website. You know, AIM is coming up too, and we've got a few surprises up our sleeve. If you're 1 who doesn't like social media like me, then you're gonna wanna stay tuned because we've got1:59 some great information around the corner. But let's just put all that aside. What are you doing in life right now? You know, for us, personally, we've gone through 3 graduations. Count them. 1,2:11 2, 3. That's a lot of graduations, and it's a lot of books to fill up. Oh, yes. Remember back in the olden days when we call this our scrapbook? Yeah. Do you remember sitting2:23 down? Okay. Maybe that's dating a little bit. But you would sit down and you would open it up and you would fill it with pictures. What are you feeling in your scrapbook? In fact, is God in your2:35 scrapbook? You know, isn't it interesting how we make make time for our memories? You know, the places that we go, the people that we've seen, the best things in life are the2:46 people we love, the places we've been, and the memories we've made along the way. What memories have you made along the way? What things show up in your scrapbook? Have you ever made a scrapbook2:58 about what God has given you? And I know sometimes people would say, Christine, that's kind of a weird question, is it not? I don't know. If you look into the Bible, I'm reminded of the woman at the3:10 well when she was met there by Jesus, and she reminded him where this well came from. And in that moment, it didn't3:22 happen just like 70 years ago. It was hundreds of years ago that that well was built and she was 1 who said this is a gift to me. That was a gift from God. Do3:33 you think it might have shown up in her scrapbook? I don't know what's in your scrapbook. I mean, I look at mine, this is 1 that my mom made for me. She put in some memory pictures that I didn't3:45 have when I was little. But you know what? When I was born, I'm originally from Hawaii, you can tell that I always liked stuffed animals. In fact, very early on, I had a big stuffed3:57 animal. Yes, I did. And to this day, I love stuffed animals. And I think if we were to fill our scrapbooks up with what God has given us, would our life look4:09 different? Would we show up as a different person? I was watching a show, I don't remember what the show is, doesn't matter. But you see, as we're out here in nature, right, I think about God as our4:20 creator. Right? He created the heavens and the earth. He created this incredible waterfall. Well, technically the rocks because technically this waterfall is man made, believe it or not. But they had to4:32 bring in all the rocks. They had to place it in a certain position. Did you know God places every detail in your life in a certain position? Do you know that he has a scrapbook for you4:44 that's already done? But is he in your scrapbook? You know, as I just sit around sometimes wondering these things because 3 graduations count them 1, 2, 3, that's a lot of4:56 graduations to go through. And we're not talking about high school, we're talking about college and master's degrees. It's kinda crazy. And I just shake my head as a mom of 5 and I 5 children and then we've got 25:06 grandbabies and oh my goodness, our family just keeps growing and growing and I love that. Right? God's family keeps growing and growing. In fact, you're a part of his family. You're a part of our family. But when I5:18 think about all that has happened in this season of life, going back and looking over their life, all the memories that have been made along the way,5:30 what's showing up at the scrapbook? I mean, because if we would think back to gosh, when was the first time that I accepted Jesus Christ? And notice I said the first time. Because usually5:42 somebody comes back and says, haven't been a good enough Christian. I need to re accept Jesus Christ. Well, let me just tell you this right now, my sweet friend, that once when you accept Jesus Christ into your heart,5:52 you don't have to it again and again and again. Now you can recommit yourself and you can say, you know what? I've strayed a little bit. Yes. We'll get into that later. But would that show up in your scrapbook? Is that a6:03 pivotal moment in your life? Is that a biomarker that would stand the test of time for you? In fact, have you ever shared that with someone? You know, as I look at my scrapbook,6:16 first time I came to know Christ, the only time I came to know Christ was when I was 5 years old. I can remember sitting in the kitchen. Oh, yes. It was a beautiful6:27 kitchen. It was a kitchen that was orange and yellow. Yeah. Back in those days, and yellow was big. Imagine that. I'm orange and a little bit of yellow. Who would have thought? No. I really didn't think about that, by6:38 the way. And it's 1 of those things where I remember sitting there and I remember asking my mom and dad, what does it mean to accept Jesus Christ Christ into your heart? What does it mean to6:50 have him a part of you? What does it mean to say I love him? To let him be the leader of your life? At 5 years old, I was asking some deep questions. When was it for7:01 you? Maybe it's today. Maybe you're like, Christiana, I haven't accepted Jesus Christ into my heart. I'm getting to know him through you, through other people, through podcasts, through writings that come me, blogs7:13 that I read. You know what my friend, what's awesome is God's already created your scrapbook whether you've accepted him or not. He wants to be in the7:25 every detail detail of your every day. And that's my point, is God in your scrapbook? You know, it amazes me how high7:37 God will have you climb. And sometimes 1 of those things where it's like, Lord, I can't make the climb. In fact, sometimes I feel like I'm always down in the ditch, but you know what? It's relative, is it not?7:49 This could be the ditch right here that I'm at. Pretty beautiful ditch if I say so myself. But you know what? There's still a long way up to climb too. And we don't always get or understand what God is saying because,8:00 you know, quite frankly, we don't look back. We don't look back at what God has given us. You know, we've got this thing called where is it? Oh, yes. The phone. The wonderful cell phone. And it's great. Have you ever8:12 turned into your photos and just kinda picked a picture that said, wow. You know what? This is beautiful. And it reminds me8:24 of, it's part of my photo album, this is actually my great grandma's and great grandpa's grave. And my family went and decorated there over the memorial weekend.8:36 And it's a beautiful thing, but it's on my phone. I don't see it all the time. And sometimes life then comes at us and it8:48 just kinda gets buried in what? All the other pictures. Is what really matters buried in your pictures? Are you 19:00 who says, you know what? Maybe I feel more like a rock or maybe I feel more like this dirt and I just feel like a lot of crumble. And all I am is doing nothing9:12 but this. I'm just barely surviving. I don't feel like I'm climbing anywhere. I'm in the ditch of life. I'm hanging out with the best of the best. My friend, God's God's got9:23 something more in store for you. And it's 1 of those things where we've got to look back in order to move forward. We've gotta understand and see his blessings that he's given us.9:35 We've gotta see God in our scrapbook, in our everyday. Because let me tell you, he is present with you today.9:49 John 3 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his 1 and only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.10:01 You know, my friend, I don't know what you're going through right now. And that's a fun thing about kinda going on location, honestly, is I get to be real with you. I get to kinda let it all hang out.10:14 I get to get comfortable and I get to get dirty. Meaning, sometimes life is messy. Sometimes we're stuck here in the middle of CRAP.10:25 The challenges, the rejections, the adversities, and the problems. Sometimes we're so far down in the ditch that we don't think we can even climb out. And quite frankly, I'm10:37 not even sure what's down there that I really wanna go down there, but sometimes we have no choice because we're tossed down here. And we get down here and it gets a little bit kinda scary,10:50 quite frankly. And sometimes we find ourselves down here more than anything. And when I look up to this huge man made waterfall with11:02 all of these boulders, praise the Lord, the water's not falling on me. But you know what? Sometimes the water comes gushing anyway when you're all the way down here and you're like, there's no way I can survive.11:16 My friend, is that in your scrapbook? Because you see, when you come above the water, God washes you11:28 clean. He's there with you every step of the way through the moss, through the dirt, through the mosquitoes. Mosquitoes. Oh my goodness. He's with you. But11:41 we forget because we don't have the God moments, the God winks in life. We don't put him in our scrapbook. Oh, we'll put everything else. Oh, we'll get our where did I even put my phone? We get our phone11:53 out and we're like, you know what? I'm gonna take a selfie right now. Oh, this is awesome. Here we go. And I'm gonna take a selfie of me doing this. How awesome is that? Wait. Better yet, I'm gonna do this selfie. Here12:04 we go. Oh, yes. You're gonna see my cameraman here behind me. Yeah. It's called real life. And we'll take that, but we won't pause. Pause.12:16 We won't pause to put God in our own scrapbook. Is God in your scrapbook? My friends, what pictures12:28 do you want in your life to stand out? Out? What blessings do you want to see that comes from, well, sometimes being in the dark? You can have the12:40 blessings every day regardless of what comes your way. Now, no. Life isn't perfect. You're gonna make mistakes. You're gonna have mishaps. You're gonna have failures more than you will have success. But12:52 let me tell you, when you have God on your side, every day is a day to be smiling. Every day is a day to have joy in your heart because your joy in your heart is not dependent upon13:04 your circumstances. So let me go back. What is in your scrapbook? Is God there? Or is it just a few pictures here and there of your kids growing up? Is it pictures of you13:16 growing up? Is it pictures of Christmas time and actually taking every single picture of every present that you gave? I know, been there, done that. Oh, we back in the day let me just tell you the story. Back in the13:28 day, this is when we had the big cameras and you would set it on the tripod and we push record. We would put long play on and it was a cassette.13:40 Yeah. Called the VHS. I know I'm dating myself. We would put it in and we would let it run and run and run and then we had to make sure that it was plugged in, number 1. Number 2, because the batteries won't last long13:51 enough and we would take 3 or 4 hours to open up gifts. We would pause every once in a while. We would eat, have some brunch, and then maybe finish, and then we would have dinner eventually. It was an all day14:02 affair. But it quite frankly, how many times did you ever go back to look at those? Maybe more than what you think or maybe not enough.14:14 You see, what you look at frequently is what matters and that becomes solidified in your heart. Are you looking at the blessings from God's perspective? From the14:26 heavenly perspective? What if you were to look at a scrapbook differently? What if you were to open it up and actually see what God has given you? Actually see the blessings.14:38 Right? Are you married? Was your wedding day the most beautiful day? Who was there with you? Now you might name everybody. Was God present to?14:50 Have you ever written anything about the blessings that he gave you on that wedding day? What about the birth of your child? You know, my granddaughter just turned 7 months old. Oh my goodness.15:02 It's amazing. She just keeps getting older. She keeps growing. Her face and everything's changing. She's in things that are new. But you see every single time that I look at that and I see her15:14 growth, guess what I imagine? Guess what I know? That God, the creators of heaven and the earth has given that beauty to me as a gift here on15:25 earth. It's not about just going and saying, you know what? Yeah, this granddaughter, I've worked so hard for her. Not really. I did raise her mom. She was the first of 5.15:38 But otherwise, I didn't really do anything. Right? But yet she's a blessing. And when my daughter sends me pictures and she FaceTimes us,15:51 I thank God for the blessing of my granddaughter. Because you see, he was involved in that. Not just my daughter, not just my son-in-law, but16:04 God was. What if you were to write down all the pictures throughout your entire life and wrote the way God saw your story?16:17 How would that change? Would that show up differently? Would you see things differently? Would you take the dirt and the moss like these leaves? Would you take this pot? And16:29 would this dirt be something totally different than what you saw it before? Imagine. Imagine what that would do and how that would change16:40 your life. Is God in your scrapbook? You know, as I sit here on location or technically, I guess I'm standing on location,16:52 I'm just amazed by the magnificence of this waterfall. I'm amazed at what man can do. But you know what amazes me more? Is what17:04 God can do. My friend, God has so many blessings for you and he's given you so much already. And I know maybe you feel like you've moved more boulders than this whole17:16 thing here. Maybe you've picked up a few. You know, some of them have been just little things like this. Not really a big deal, but just kinda like little things that can be tossed aside. But17:28 sometimes, they're so big and so heavy. Oh, that to pick it up weighs a ton. And then to go and bring it over and to place17:39 it somewhere else. You think it's light but it really isn't. And then you wonder, what was this all17:51 for? What did I gain from this? But then you take a step back and you look at everything in perspective and you're like, this was18:03 nothing. Lord, thank you. So I'd really wanna encourage you. You know, as as I sit here, I just I mean, it amazes me. Mean, look at18:15 these little little plants that are growing from the moss out of rock. There's nothing here to support it. There's no dirt. I mean, there's some a little bit from the stuff but I mean they're18:26 growing even this boulder that I'm moving and look this little little I mean there's 5 leaves on here. Maybe it's a weed but who cares? Who cares? It's growth.18:39 And sometimes we have to look at things in perspective. Sometimes we have to see the blessings in the messes. Sometimes we have to know that God is in our scrapbook18:51 even when we don't know. That God has already orchestrated every single detail of your life. But yeah, maybe it's mossy and dirty and you're like, well, if I just keep brushing it off, eventually it will fall off.19:02 Really, maybe some of it will, but a lot of other will stick. And maybe you think that, oh, if I just take this boulder in my life, this was just this this, you know, this boulder, let it represent19:14 something. Let it represent that season of of guilt, of shame, of doubts, of failures. Maybe it was a failed marriage for you. Maybe it was a failed relationship with19:26 your brother, your sister. Maybe it was a failed relationship in your own job and your colleagues. Maybe it was just simply failure. A failure to yourself19:37 where if there was water here, which thank the Lord it's not right now because you would see me running very fast, but that reflection. Maybe you had a hard time loving yourself. Maybe19:49 you didn't like who you saw in the mirror. Maybe it was your reflection of, gosh, am I am I not tall enough? Right? God and I always had this conversation, Lord, why did you not make me a half an inch to20:01 an inch taller? Just why, Lord? And he said, because I made you perfect just the way you are. I've given you everything that you need. But you see for me that's of older that I had to get through20:13 day in and day out. Maybe you're looking at yourself in the mirror going, do you see that wrinkle? Do you see the crow's feet here? Do you see where you've sipped on straws so much you're getting wrinkles in20:25 your lips? Do you see that 5 kids later gotta suck it in a little bit more? Maybe you don't like the weight that you carry on your shoulders and your hips.20:37 And maybe you think that the boulders that you've carried throughout your life that you should just forget about, but for some reason, you just pick them up and you're like, oh, no. I gotta take them with me.20:49 I gotta keep moving and I gotta take them back and I gotta go back and I gotta place them right where they were. My friend the awesome thing21:01 is God takes all your boulders. The good, the bad, the ugly, and he gives you beauty. Beauty in the ashes. So that21:13 when you look back in God's scrapbook, guess what he sees? A redeemed, beautiful individual inside and out. So21:26 let me ask you this, what scrapbook are you building for God? Are you building 1 of complaints, of confusion, of congestion, of21:38 saying, Lord, why can't you give me more of what I want? Or are you building a scrapbook of blessings the way he sees21:50 you? Because remember, for God so loved the world that he gave his 1 and only begotten son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. That's why he sent22:02 Jesus Christ here on earth, to be sacrificed for you so that you may have eternal life and live with him.22:14 This is not about you being all perfect. This is not about you having all the answers. This is about you being redeemed because God22:25 loved you first. So that scrapbook, maybe you need to look at it a little little differently. Maybe you need to go in those pages22:37 again and see where God shows up in your scrapbook called life. So what are your pages of your22:48 scrapbook? Are you ready to see your life differently? Are you ready to pick it up and say, you know what, as much as I love looking at myself when I was a little girl, which I gotta tell you, was a really cute baby.23:01 I wanna see what God sees. I wanna see his heart shine through me. It's his light, not my light, that wants to shine and that needs to shine.23:13 That's what we are called to do. We are called to impact the world that we touch. So why not? On the empty blank23:24 pages of your scrapbook. Fill it with the blessings. How God sees your life. How he is writing your story. And yes,23:37 that might mean that you pick up this and you say, you know what? This is pretty cool. I love going through this. But you know what? What I really23:48 wanna see is I wanna take that selfie right here on this man made waterfall and remember that all the boulders behind me24:00 signify what I've been through. But you know what? They're glorious because when I look up, I'm amazed. I'm amazed at what God has done in all of24:12 his glory. It's not of my doing, it's of his. What is God doing in your life? What is God doing in this season of your life? Maybe you're cutting some moss. Maybe you're cutting24:24 some who knows? Maybe you think the waterfall's gonna turn on, which I'm sure it's going to just hopefully not right this moment. But you know, regardless, whether the24:35 water's flowing up or down, God's always with you. My friend, he loved you first. And when you recognize the blessings and the messes,24:47 you'll begin to understand that God is present with you always. So I wanna leave you with this thought. What do you need to do to see God in your everyday?25:00 What are you willing to do to stop and pause and say, you know what? My home is our happy place. It's mine and it's25:11 God's. Let's join together and see what God has in store for us. So when we open up our scrapbook years later, we see his magnificence, not our25:23 own. Go in peace, be present, be incredible, be you. For those of you who are25:35 interested, go to create your now dot com where you can learn more about resources that will help you in your walk with God every single day. I look forward to seeing you here at pray dot com and also25:47 on our website at create your now dot com.26:07 Happy, happy day. I just wanted to pop in here real quick and just tell you how much I miss you, how much I'm grateful for you. I pray that you are building your scrapbook with26:18 God. I pray that you are seeing his blessings every day. Maybe you're going grocery shopping and you're talking to him about dinner. Maybe you're sitting there working with the dinner dishes and dogs and you're like, oh26:28 my goodness, like my life is just if you only knew, Christiane. I know. Been there, done that, still do that. But you know what? What's cool is when God shows up in the little moments. When he shows26:40 up while you're making coffee, when he shows up at the grocery store, when he shows up at work, when he shows up with you, not even at church. But maybe you just went to the park and you're hanging out26:52 on the bridge of life. Maybe you just need to connect with him today. I wanna encourage you. I wanna encourage you to chat with God. I want you to feel his presence because you know27:03 what? He loves you so much. And I love you, my friend. And I pray this is adding a little sparkle in your life, and maybe we'll just go on location more often. Who knows where this will take27:15 us? But you know what? We're gonna go back in deep with the fruit of the spirit. We've already done love. We've already done joy. And now, let's see. I believe it's peace. So go in peace, my friend. I'm praying for27:27 you. I love you. Talk to you soon. Bye bye.
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