Because the daily temps are well into the 100's here in Phoenix, AZ where I live, my hiking schedule in the summer has my alarm going off at 4:30 am so that I can be on the trail by 5am. Three days during the week, I meet a friend at the trail head so I have to be on time, but then there are days like today....

Today, the alarm went off, no one was waiting for me and I hit the snooze button about four times before I mustered enough energy to get out of bed. Finally, around 5:30am, I got up, got moving and was on the trail at 6am.

By the grace of God my husband and I own (ok, lease) two new cars. One for him and one for me...... and by me, I mean, the three other adult drivers (my babies) in my house who eat my food, have jobs they need to get to (so that they can pay for college), have weekly servant events, go to mid week worship and love to socialize.

What does that mean for me, a stay at home mom who works from home? It means I'M STUCK AT HOME WITH NO CAR. My new car ..... I can't even remember the last time I filled it up with gas. I do however know that it is being filled every few days as evidenced by my bank records.

I'm stuck.... at home..... ALL THE TIME. I have to submit in advance and work around others schedules if I want to use a car or even take my son to the ER. It all requires strategic planning. Thankfully, my husband, Bob, has a Doctorate in "Family Logistics." All requests and scheduling go through him. He's amazing, what can I say!

Today, as I made breakfast for my son, who tends to also be confined to the house due to transportation issues, I prayed this as we sat down together... "Dear Lord help us today as we remain in this home, to be lights in all we do. Help us, even in are stuck-ness, to do your will and your work. May being stuck not stop us from being a light and bringing glory to your name. Amen"

After I prayed this, it dawned on me that there IS so much I can do in my stuck-ness that I couldn't do if I were out and about. So much!!

So today, I re-dedicate my time bound in this house to love, to serve, to clean, prepare meals (we are having pot roast tonight), to plan, to pray and to give glory to God in all I do. May this offering be an act of worship, may I be a living sacrifice right where I am.

Wherever you are, even if you feel like you are stuck..in that job, in the kitchen, wherever you are, remember that God is sovereign, He is in control and He cares about where you are and what you are doing.

May you fix your eyes on Him, the author and perfector of your faith and run a good race right where you are even if that means doing laps around the kitchen. Give glory to him in what you are being called to do today in preparation for what He may call you to do tomorrow.

"So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."  1 Corinthians 10:31

Bloom where you are planted!
~Mia

My father would always find the positive in any situation and so I try and model that example in my life. Sometimes it is harder than at other times, but today this is what I gleaned from a week of struggling with depression. For those that don't know, I have struggled most of my life with depression, sometimes needing medication, but in the last decade it has been completely manageable without. The bouts are shorter and the lows (for this bi-polar chick) are not as great as in years past-Praise God!

Positive #1 I lost 5 pounds. Hey I'll take. I am not advocating depression as a form of weight loss, but simply stating the fact that I lost 5 pounds which I have been trying to do for the last month through healthy food choices and exercise with no luck. Now if you know me you will know that I say this while LOL with a smile.


The real joy that I saw is that, through this emotionally tough week that was filled with sadness, much weariness, trouble getting out of bed, more sleeping that normal and a great of amount of just being lethargic with many tears, is this, God is Good ALWAYS and in the midst of the struggle God still uses me to do His work, to glorify Him, to worship Him to give Him praise and to remind me that He is my only source for strength, hope, love and forgiveness.

My time in the Word was powerful, His ability to work through me in my writing, recording and ministering to others does not stop because I feel a certain way. This week I was finalizing some writings that I was working on and in it, I discussed how often times we feel disqualified. There was a time in my life where I would allow my depression to disqualify me from pressing on, praising Him and getting out of bed.

But today, through the brokenness, through sadness, through tears........ God's will be done. For that, I thank Him. He is my strength, my light, my hope. So today as I travel to go and minister to people through music, I know that even though there is a heaviness that I can't shake, my God is Good, My God is faithful, always present, close to the brokenhearted and so in love with me.

May God work through you in any season of your life and in any situation. May glory always be given to Him the lover and comforter of our soul.

Be blessed, friends.

This is what the heart of David sang during his trouble. May it bless you.
Psalm 6
O Lord, Deliver My Life
1 O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger,
nor discipline me in your wrath.

2 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing;
heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled.

3 My soul also is greatly troubled.
But you, O Lord—how long?

4 Turn, O Lord, deliver my life;
save me for the sake of your steadfast love.

5 For in death there is no remembrance of you;
in Sheol who will give you praise?

6 I am weary with my moaning;
every night I flood my bed with tears;
I drench my couch with my weeping.

7 My eye wastes away because of grief;
it grows weak because of all my foes.

8 Depart from me, all you workers of evil,
for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.

9 The Lord has heard my plea;
the Lord accepts my prayer.

10 All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled;
they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment.

So these are a few of the titles that I carry, Worship Leader/Singer Songwriter/Public Speaker, and honestly I have very little clue about how to do any of them except that I know God has called me to glorify Him through these means.

My husband and I had a wonderful night sharing our testimony of God's healing in our marriage. I loved leading worship with my Celebrate Recovery family. I loved sharing a song of encouragement that I wrote and I loved standing next to my husband and telling our story. It all went well....really well....And I am always in shock when that happens. Let me explain that.....

As my husband and I talked on the way home, we both marveled at how there is really nothing that special about us, there is nothing extraordinary about my worship leading or our presentation when we give our testimony. Nothing, but the fact that we ask God to strip ourselves away and help us to present what we have without expectation and sit back and watch God's spirit move among His people.

As a worship leader and speaker there is, at times, a pressure to be on, having to be so spectacular and dynamic that you move people into an amazing experience of worship. What I KNOW to be true is that I have none of that.... all I have, by God's grace, is the ability to simply go before the Lord (with a microphone in hand and people watching me) and present what I have, as simple as it is, and leave it at that. Worship leading, singing, writing and speaking is simply an offering of being present, being honest, being transparent before the Lord SO THAT He can do what He does so perfectly.....Move the hearts of his people.

John the baptist had nothing great to offer physically (in fact, I'm sure people thought he was insane...and coincidentally there are times when people think I'm crazy too, but that's a different story), but He was present, submitting to the Father, testifying of the promise to come and the Spirit moved through him to prepare hearts.

The apostle Paul  was spoken of like this.."For some say, 'His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing.'" To which the apostles Paul says "such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present." II Corinthians 10:10

There was nothing spectacular about the Apostle Paul, yet I don't think anyone will argue the impact He had on the world and spreading the gospel.....so that had to be the power of God working through a humbled man present to be used by God.

This is what was said of Jesus..."He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire him." Isaiah 53:2. Jesus was simply present in the most powerful way. He, the perfect example of being present and submitting to the Father's will.

My encouragement from Christ is this. I don't have to be concerned with being spectacular, having the worlds best set, a full band, wearing just the right outfit to speak or worship lead in or a fog machine with amazing lighting (ok, the fog machine does hide wrinkles, just sayin...but, I'm not concerned). My concern is that I am humbly present before God, worshiping Him alone, speaking boldly the truth that He shares in His Word, trusting that as I put out my best and honest worship, that HE WILL show up and move the hearts of His people, because I am not the Holy Spirit, nor do I want to be.

Friends, I am NOTHING and I am happy with that. My prayer this night was that God would strip away everything that I am and the only thing left was only what resembled Christ.

God is faithful, God is amazing and He is amazing in and through us. That's the only reason people can look at us and say we are amazing, because of who is in us. "Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world" I John 4:4

May you be encouraged that God can and will use you no matter what. Come before Him and lay it all out and watch what He does with your offering and sacrifice. Sometimes you may be blessed to witness it, other times you may be blessed trusting that God is doing something EVEN IF you don't get to see it on this side of heaven.

What vocation are you in? 
Jesus at His baptism entered the vocation of "Bearing away the sins of the World." 

May we be encouraged in our calling knowing that Christ has equipped us with all that we need because of the vocation that He filled flawlessly. 

Live the Life~Live it Loud

Share what God has called you to do and how He is equipping you.
I would love to hear!