One year ago today, I held my long-awaited promise in my arms for the first time-Kaleb William Briggs Sciscoe. God had promised Jason and I that we would have a son more than fifteen years before. God ALWAYS keeps His promises; He just doesn’t always work on our timetable.

My favorite bumper sticker so far is: You Want to Make God Laugh? Tell Him Your plans.

This year has brought such awe and wonder and happiness. Promises that seemed forgotten suddenly took on life and moved from promise to provision. We went from dreaming about the promises to actually receiving the promises.

Ever notice how God is like that? It seems like nothing is happening, nothing is happening and then BANG! It all happens at once.

2012 was such a year for us. Not only did we hold our promised son in our arms, but God fulfilled another huge promise four weeks later. He sent us to a church family that we were to serve and lead. This was our “Big Bang” moment. We welcomed a newborn and new church family. Now that’s a reality check. It’s been a fast-moving machine ever since.

We have been pastoring in Houston, Texas now for ten months. They have been the most rewarding ten months of our lives. We are content and happy—right in the center of His will.

Kaleb is always smiling. At 30 pounds, he is one big bundle of joy! Kaleb is surrounded by people that love him at home and church; no wonder he stays happy.
One thing I’ve learned about the timetable of God is that when you’re waiting on His promise, things move slow, but once the promise get’s here it seems like you move 100 mph. So, if you’re in one of those waiting seasons, get your rest now. God may just be about to move you into the fast track.

At 36 weeks expecting, you could say I’ve had my fair share of practicing patience these last nine months. Every day I wake up literally “expecting” and my focus has been on this growing potential and promise I hold in my womb.

God has also been using this time to teach me about this loaded verse in James 1:4:

“But let patience have her perfect (complete) work, that ye may be perfect (complete) and entire, wanting nothing.”

I must admit, this verse sounds like a magic formula to getting everything you want…and in a way it is. But there are some hefty principles laid out in this verse.

First, it says to “let” patience have her perfect work in us. This means we can let it or we can choose not to let it. It’s the same word found in the verse that says, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.” We must daily make the choice not to let our hearts be troubled, just like we must choose to let patience have her perfect work in us­.

I’ll admit; it’s a job, not a cakewalk. Waiting for things to happen isn’t my strong suit. I like to make things happen.

All of us have promises we’re holding on to. God’s Word does NOT fail. Oftentimes we must wait to see His promises turn into provision. What we know, though, is that waiting for His best is always worth the wait.

This soon-coming son Jason and I are expecting is a promise we’ve held on to for more than fifteen years. God does not lie.

The promises He makes to you will come to pass. Let patience have her perfect work in YOU, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If you can wait for it, you can have it.

The thunderous booms jolted me out of sleep. The walls danced furiously with purple light. I sat up in bed, stunned. It continued for over an hour. The thunder seemed to shake even the foundations of our house. The lightning display nearly took my breath away. I could not sleep; I was in awe. My God was putting on a show of His majesty and power.

My mind raced to the words of one of my favorite songs growing up.

There is thunder in His footsteps and lightning in His fist. Our God is an awesome God!

The porch swing outside my bedroom window rocked against the house. I was tempted to go sit on the swing—my favorite morning Bible-reading spot—but decided this morning, I may just be too close to the power.

I contrasted the different ways God speaks to us. Most often, He speaks to us in that still, small voice that Elijah referenced in 1 Kings. But today, He spoke to me with His omnipotent voice—it was loud, clear, and full of power. He said, “I am in control of all things. This lightning is but a tool in my hand. I am gentle, yet fierce. I am meek, yet mighty! Nothing is too hard for me—nothing. Ask what you will.”

“He fills his hands with lightning bolts and hurls each at its target” (Job 36:32).

I had this incredible sense that answering my petitions was half of an eye blink to God. It was as if He was reminding me of who He was. He rules from the heavens and holds the earth in His hands. My faith was ignited after witnessing His majestic display. I was filled with thankfulness that the same voice that rules in the heavens could also rule in my heart.

The awesome wonder of it all is that someday we will have the opportunity to take His hand as the bride of Christ and rule and reign with Him on high. Wow!

“For as the lightning flashes in the east and shines to the west, so it will be when the Son of Man comes” (Matthew 24:27).

If you’re like me, by now, your original lofty New Years resolution list has been downsized to a, shall we say, more user-friendly set of goals.

As I entered February, I began my reassessment of why it is that I seem to discard the same resolutions year after year. Before too much guilt set in, the Holy Spirit nudged me to not let go of one particular goal I had set: to be consciously thankful every day. I don’t mean a casual “Thank You, Lord” when I remembered to say it, but I felt challenged in my spirit to express daily thanks—to speak thankfulness and act thankful. Less complaining, more thankfulness.

So often we start and end our day with a “need mentality.” I need to go here, do this, I need to call her, email them, I need to pick this up, and I need to drop this off. I need to finish this project and they need me, my love, time, and attention. Oh, and I need money to pay these bills and did I mention, I really, really need rest.

Again, thankfulness gets crowded out as the pressing needs take over. And we miss the blessings thankfulness can bring our way. Virtue is restored when we are thankful. Perspective is clearer when thankfulness is present. Our needs seem small when compared to all we have to be thankful for.

I began to study scriptures on thankfulness and was amazed at how often thankfulness is connected to prayers. I was even more surprised to see the relationship between thankfulness and peace, something we all need. God is very vocal about His desire for us to be thankful. Consider the following scriptures.

“Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving” (Colossians 4:2).

“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).

“Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name” (Psalm 100:4).

“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (I Thessalonians 5:18).

“It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High” (Psalm 92:1).

“And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful” (Colossians 3:15).

Wow! We are to enter with thanksgiving, watch and continue in thanksgiving, supplicate with thanksgiving and give thanks in all things. I think this pretty much says “lifestyle thanksgiving.”

And what do we get in return? A promise that money can’t buy and the gym can’t produce. The beautiful promise that the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Now, about that list. Why don’t you make 2011 a year of thankfulness? You have nothing to lose, and answered prayers and peace to gain.

The past few mornings I have been reading Hebrews, one of my favorite books of the Bible. Today, Hebrews 13:5 jumped out at me. “Let your conversation (translated behavior in Hebrew) be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”

What struck me was the oversimplified parallel between contentment and having Jesus. Jesus is helping us to prioritize. He is saying we should be content for one reason and one reason only—He promised never to leave us or forsake us. He wants us to be satisfied with Him.

How often is our conversation laced with words of planning for “stuff” in the future? I feel Him calling us to simplicity in Him. Jesus knows that true contentment comes when we realize that if He is with us, we have all that we need.

I intend to begin monitoring my heart, behaviors, and conversations to make sure they are saying, “Jesus is enough for me.”

“I want to hold both of your hands,” Julianna exclaimed as Jason and I walked her through the doors of her new school. It was a rite of passage for all three of us, and she could feel it.

Excitement filled the air. As we entered her classroom, camaraderie met us. Each of her classmates also had both parents there, hovering, smiling, and sighing. After a few moments of picture taking, the principal sweetly escorted all the parents to a “Boo-Hoo Breakfast.” The social gathering was a very polite attempt to remove us from the classroom and forestall our tears.

After school, Julianna kept us spellbound as she raved about the events of the day. She loved it! When I asked her about her lunch and if she ate it, she said (and I quote), “Well, Momma, I ate a little bit, but really this was my only time to make new friends. We had been learning so much all day that I decided to use this time to introduce myself to people. I made a new friend, Berlynn. “ Jason looked over at me and whispered, “That would be your child.”

I asked Julianna why she chose Berlynn. She smiled and said, “She had a pretty face (my heart sank for a moment) and I watched the way she acted and she looked like she might have a good heart.” Whew, my first five years with her were not in vain.

Every day is a new adventure. We’ve laughed as Julianna told how funny it was when Mrs. Bailey tried to teach with the hiccups, and we’ve prayed for the kids who had gotten in trouble. Each day when we drop her off, we pray that she will be a little ambassador for Him. I think I’m going to like my new job as a kindergartner’s mom. I’m learning a lot.

Today we pause to celebrate all the men, the dads who have made a difference in our lives. This week Julianna came bouncing in our room to show me the picture she had made for daddy. Her title caught my attention, To Daddy of God.

I asked her what she meant by “Daddy of God”. She said, “You know, mommy, because daddy has a heart like Jesus.”

She didn’t see the tears of thankfulness that welled up in my eyes. I just smiled and said, “You are absolutely right.”

As a daughter, I know the importance of a strong, godly father who shaped me at a very early age. His love for the Word of God came through in our bedtime stories, our family devotions, our discipline, our mealtime conversations and our after church discussions.

It was my father who took me out on my first date when I was 16 and taught me how a real gentleman would treat me. It was my father who constantly affirmed me and was my biggest fan. It was my father who told me, “Kimberly, you can do anything you set your mind to.” It was my father who lived out the Word of God and taught me the way of salvation. It was my father who was the hands and feet of Jesus in our house. He was a “Daddy of God.”

To all of you “Daddies of God” and future “Daddies of God”, never forget that you represent Jesus. When you have a heart like His, it touches all of us.

Most often the best gifts cost love and not money. The things that make us go “Ahhh” come from the heart and not the store.

I had such one of these “Ahh” moments this Mother’s Day week.

I was tucking Julianna in bed. Our stories had been read and our prayers had been said. We were finishing our last of the last hugs when she gave me a tight squeeze and with all the drama she possesses said, “Ahhh, I remember the first time we met. I will never forget that day mom.”

I burst out laughing and then realized she was serious when she replied, “What’s so funny?” I held her tight and described the first time I saw and held her. It was an “Ahh moment” I will treasure forever.

Today is a new day for you. Who in your life needs an “Ahh moment” from you? It doesn’t cost much but its value is priceless.

Regrets, failures, let them go. Clean, new, white as snow.

I awakened to streams of unusually bright light sneaking out from behind the curtain in our bedroom of the lodge where we are staying. Stronger than the smell of firewood and fresh bacon and louder than the squeals of children enjoying their new toys, was this white light. It beckoned to me to jump up and see what was behind this bright start to my day.

As I opened the curtain I saw it. Thick white blankets of snow covered everything: the lodge, the lake, trees, fences, and the ground. There was no sign of dirt or debris, just fresh, white and clean scenes. Every direction I looked was decorated by God Himself. I was mesmerized.

Then I heard Him speak, “This is what I offer to you every morning.”

“It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning…” (Lamentations 3:22, 23).

“Saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18).

As long as you walk forward in the snow, it remains beautiful, uncluttered and pure. The moment you begin to retrace your steps in the snow, dirt and mud make their way into the scene. If you continue walking over the same path, the mud overtakes the snow and the beauty is soon destroyed.

This is much how it is in our life when we refuse to let go of the past. We spend our time retracing the same steps over and over, until there is little left but dirt and regret.

God paid the ultimate price for you to enjoy His new mercies every morning. He daily offers you your own winter retreat—a place to bury your past, your sins, and your failures.

So, in the last few days of 2009, why don’t you take advantage of this winter retreat and bury your past once and for all? God has some new paths for you to take in 2010. They wait for you.

Transitions are exciting and challenging; yet, if we’re honest, at times they can be downright frightening. Transitions are the opposite of comfortable. They require moving; and not just of your body. Your mind, your feelings, your emotions, your ideas all have to make the “jump” if you are going to have a fulfilling transition.

This week as I dreamed about our next transition and imagined how wonderful it is going to be, God arrested my thoughts with these words: “Kimberly, you must give Me your expectations in order to be fulfilled by My expectations.”

“What?” I answered. “Well, I thought they were the same, God.” And so began my conversation with Him. In a few moments, His Spirit gently showed me that when I have expectations that are founded in my own desires (even though they are tied to good motives) they actually hinder the progress of transition.

In meditation, Psalm 37:4 came back to me. “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart” (NIV). Delighting in the Lord actually means spending time with Him in ways that make Him Lord over every part of me. It is an ideal state of alignment. When I am aligned perfectly, I begin to want what He wants for me. Then He can give me the desires of my heart because my desires are His desires.

So, I’m learning that this pause in the transition is not me waiting on God; He is waiting on me. Some of my expectations need to be traded out. This won’t be easy, but I want to grow so I can go. I have some work to do. What about you?