“If then I did anything wrong and deserving death, I am not trying to escape death; but if there is nothing to what these men accuse me of, no one can give me up to them. I appeal to Caesar!” (Acts 25:11)

James Bond always seems to exude confidence he usually just says his name all suave “Bond, James Bond.” His name being an entire statement and not just a name. There is always something we can learn from people who are confident they are able to boldly proclaim things and have a self- awareness about their selves. When we are confident, we are standing firm in the truth about ourselves. We know we can have confidence because we are rooted in Jesus.

Confidence involves having courage and humility when we face situations that involve being misunderstood, false accusations, or even mistreatment we can stay honest, humble, and anchored in God’s purpose. Though it can be difficult to be honest and humble when facing tough situations especially when we know we have done nothing wrong and might have to face consequences that are unjust. We too can refuse to be condemned by false accusations and stand firm in truth. We can have faith that true justice will prevail.

True justice only comes from Jesus he sits on the rightful judgment seat. We are held accountable for our actions whether we believe that we are innocent or not, but we can trust God that God’s justice will prevail even when human systems fail us.
 
Heavenly Father, help us to stand firm in your truth even when the outcome does not look good. Help us to believe in the purpose that you have set before each one of us.
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Walking with you,
Stacy Watkins
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"'I said, What should I do, Lord?' The Lord said to me, 'Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything that you have been assigned to do.'" (Acts 22:10)

School assigned projects sometimes are not fun since often teachers assign partners who might not be our friends. Some assigned tasks we might get at work might include administrative taking messages, answering phones, or even operational involving ensuring the work environment is clean and orderly or even supervisory assignments including hiring, training, and supervising tasks. There are tasks that we all must complete. Some are more strenuous than others and some take more energy but no matter how difficult, we must complete the work that is before us.

Often, we do not know what the next step is that we must take. We can ask the question “What shall I do, Lord?”, it marks the beginning of transformation. We stop telling God what we want and ask Him what He wants us to do moving ourselves from control to surrender. We learn to seek out the assigned tasks that he has for us and not just the desires of our hearts. Not all the tasks will be laid out exactly before us and may come one step at a time. It is okay to not know exactly what to do, and you may feel stuck however, continue to ask and seek God for guidance.

You are never alone when you feel stuck and are unsure what to do next. God promises He will never leave us nor forsake us. He also goes before us in all situations. He is always there right beside us. When you are stuck and unsure what to do, pray to God and He will give you direction in what to do next.

Heavenly Father, thank you that we are never alone that you walk beside us. When we are uncertain or plans fall apart, help us to ask what we should do, Lord?

Walking with you,
Stacy Watkins

“After we had been there for several days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. He came to us, took Paul’s belt, tied his own feet and hands, and said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him over to the Gentiles.’” (Acts 21:10-12)
 
“When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” The saying means when things get difficult, strong people continue and do not give up. Often, we might want to give up when facing difficult challenges since, we love things to be easy in life. We love not having to try extremely hard to earn money, at work, or make dinner. A quick-frozen pizza that can be thrown in the oven is always the perfect solution. Some can even mistake “Well, if it’s hard, it is not God’s will for our life.” Believing that everything within God’s will for their life is going to be easy. Learning to obey even when it is hard can be challenging. Not everything in life is easy; believing you can do something after you failed, starting over in life, admitting to others you’ve lost your job. When we face challenges head on, we learn obedience and build strength.

Many of us know what it is like to face tough situations and sometimes the pain is unbearable, and we wish we could just skip it. However, we need to continue to move forward walking in faith knowing that God is with us no matter the circumstance. During strenuous times we can be led by fear causing us to make wrong decisions but choose to be led by faith. Faith in God. Even in the middle of the struggle, God is working continue to obey his voice.
                 
Heavenly Father, help us to continue to obey even in the face of hard decisions.
 
Walking with you,
Stacy Watkins

“But I consider my life of no value to myself; my purpose is to finish my course and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of God’s grace.” (Acts 20:24)
 

Have you ever attempted to run a marathon? Running 26.2 miles does not sound fun although successful marathon runners say it is rewarding. It takes preparation and training for people to be able to finish the race. The training is what makes runners successful in being able to finish the race.

Training for a marathon compared to the Christian life involves the same strategies people to walk alongside the journey with you, the right fuel, and rest. People need to walk alongside the journey with you to encourage, accountability, and prayer. Not only do we need people to walk alongside us but, the right fuel. The right fuel comes from reading scripture and learning from God’s word. God’s word nourishes us and gives us what we need to minister to other individuals. Many beginning runners believe that they should not rest. However, on the rest days is where strength is truly built. We learn not to overload our lives at the expense of staying connected to God. We learn to rely on God’s strength and not our own power.

​A marathon is finished one mile at a time. At first it feels hard with no end in sight but, the training prepared us for every step of the way. How do we finish the task God has given us? One day at a time.
 
Heavenly Father, help us to continue to finish the task that you have given us. May you strengthen us when we feel weak.

Walking with you,
Stacy Watkins