Natasha’s Daily Scripture, Prayer, and Reflection for 2.28.18

This message hit home for me, so I share it with all of you.

~Natasha

In His Hand

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

“Fear not [there is nothing to fear], for I am with you…I will help you; yes, I will hold you up and retain you with My [victorious] right hand…”

(Isaiah 41:10, AMP)

TODAY’S WORD from Joel and Victoria

We all face situations in life that feel out of control. During times like these, it’s easy to get discouraged and allow fear to creep in. But instead, why don’t you focus on the fact that God is holding you in the palm of His hand. There is nothing too difficult for Him; nothing is impossible, nothing is beyond His ability. When God holds you in His hand, you are safe. You are cared for. In His hand, there is victory. In His hand, there is strength. In His hand, there is provision. In His hand is everything you need!

No matter what you may be going through today, you can trust that God is for you. Instead of getting down and depressed over your circumstances, look up and get a vision of God turning that situation around. Let faith arise in your heart and focus on His favor, promotion and blessing. See yourself in the palm of His hand, and see the victory and blessing He has prepared for you!

A PRAYER FOR TODAY

Father, thank You for helping me and holding me in Your victorious right hand. I choose to trust You even when things don’t make sense, even when things seem beyond my control. I release my cares to You knowing that You work all things together for my good in Jesus’ name. Amen.

— Joel & Victoria Osteen

Natasha’s Questions of the Day

1.What issues do you need God’s help with?

2. What issues are you ready to fully release to God?

3. What trust issues do you have with God that prevents you from fully surrendering your problems and fears to Him?

4. Does reading today’s post help you to see that you aren’t in this situation alone, and that your problems aren’t uniquely yours?

Feel free to share your answers, prayers, comments, and reflections in the comment section below. You can also send me an email at: breakingbreadwithnatasha@gmail.com

Please also feel free to share this post with others. We’re never quite sure who needs to hear and see what, and when! It would be awesome if whenever you run across a prayer, message, or scripture that moves you, you would kindly share it with the rest of us. You can post it on this blog or send me an email.

Love always,

Natasha

Note: This message was originally posted on June 5, 2014.

Copyright 2014-2018. Natasha Foreman Bryant. Some Rights Reserved. All Prayers and Reflections are Copyright Protected by Natasha Foreman Bryant, unless otherwise noted. Prior posts from 2009-2013 are copyrighted under the name Natasha L. Foreman. breakingbreadwithnatasha.com

Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible,

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission.(www.Lockman.org)

Scripture taken from the Common English Bible®, CEB® Copyright © 2010, 2011 by Common English Bible.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. The “CEB” and “Common English Bible” trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Common English Bible. Use of either trademark requires the permission of Common English Bible.

Scripture quotations marked HCSB are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Holman CSB®, and HCSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers

Natasha’s Daily Scripture, Prayer, and Reflection for 2.27.18

Scripture

Romans 12:6-8 HCSB

Prayer

Father thank You for the gift of today. Thank You for the talents that You have blessed me with. I pray to always share those talents with others, doing so in Your name and with honor, and may my sharing always have a positive and lasting impact. Amen.

Reflection

We’re not all made to possess the identical gifts and talents as the person next to us. God made us uniquely individual, but as direct reflections of Him. We all possess traits and characteristics of God that show and magnify differently depending on the person. Strength unfolds differently for each person. But it doesn’t minimize or negate the fact that it is strength, as it is a quality reflected from God.

There are certain things that you are good, great, excellent, and genius at yet you’re either barely scratching the surface or not making any attempts to show and share these gifts. It’s not about the fanfare, and it shouldn’t be. You should be sharing those gifts God gave to you in honor of Him, as a thank You to Him, as a testimony to how great, loving, generous, and forgiving He is!

God has given you gifts. Pay it forward by sharing those gifts and talents with others. Don’t complain about what you don’t receive in your giving. You don’t see God complaining about your poor, pitiful efforts to honor and obey Him. He’s not having a temper tantrum every time you fail to thank Him for something that He’s done. You don’t see Him snatching back His gifts.

For those cynics who would say, “God takes back gifts,” I would say, “No, God gives you free will to use or squander your gifts. Those gifts aren’t gone, they are still there like rusty equipment in a shed. The longer you let it sit there and get eaten away by the elements, you will find its use is minimizing. God didn’t take them away. You stopped using them.”

Now I could also say that abuse of gifts is reason for God to remove them from your abusive hands. I’ve witnessed someone abuse a gift, lose it, redeem themselves, and regain it or regain another amazing gift in its place. As the saying goes, “use it or lose it“.

Our relationship with God is not one-sided. Your efforts, faith without sight, obedience on His terms, and thankful praise are ways that we give back in small amounts to our Creator.

What talents do you possess that you aren’t using fully or joyfully and sharing with others?

~Natasha

Copyright 2018. Natasha Foreman Bryant. Some Rights Reserved.

Natasha’s Daily Scripture, Prayer, and Reflection for 2.26.18

Scripture

Psalms 23:1 HCSB

Prayer

Father, today I opened my eyes and took a breath because of You. I am humbly thankful for I know there weren’t any actions or words that can guarantee that I will receive this gift each day.

Everything that I’ve ever had and that I currently have are only because of You. Thank You Father. Everything that I want and need can only be provided by You. My eyes can wander for other sources. My mind can be tricked into believing that I am the source. But my heart knows the truth; it feels the connected pulse shared with You, my Creator—and the truth is that until I align my mind, heart and spirit to seek only You as my provider, I will continue to struggle facing the uncertainty of highs and lows.

You are the source of all that I’ve ever wanted and needed, and that will never change. I turn to You Father in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Reflection

We torment ourselves each day seeking solutions through all of the wrong sources. We feel insecure and inferior when we can can’t achieve the things we want, when we can’t attain the things that we pursue. That’s because there is no security in trying to do this alone, and it’s because we are indeed inferior—because all of our strength, knowledge, and wisdom can never add up to the level of the One who created us.

We’re trying to climb the steepest, sharpest, most intense mountain sides with bare hands and feet, and without equipment and sustenance. It’s what one would call a “suicide mission” yet most of us who attempt it don’t even realize it. We’re so busy focused on ourselves and pumping up on self-affirmations, that we don’t see how we misaligned our lives and the natural order of life. Our center should be God not self. We should be turning to Him for guidance, confidence, tools and resources, strength, and anything else that we need.

Every step forward and every step back we should be pausing our thoughts to say “thank You Father”, for even in stepping back we grow mature enough to see the lesson and see the misstep, so that we learn and move past.

Most often in our rush to get somewhere fast we miss the details around us. Think about how many times you have taken a route but overlooked your surroundings because you’re too focused on getting where you need to go. It’s only when you’re casually driving or riding through the area, looking around and observing do you see details that you never noticed before. That’s when you ask, “wow when was that put there?” and then shock sets in when the answer returns with “for quite some time now”. How is it that you never noticed? It’s because you had on blinders. It’s because you were moving too fast to care.

Now there’s nothing wrong with having sharpened focus; it prevents you from being distracted and deterred. What I’m referring to is having a type of tunnel vision that prevents you from seeing the other tools and resources that God has along the path that can best serve you now and in the future. You don’t have to stop your forward progression to take note.

Some of us are going out of our way to get to resources, or being deprived of access, simply because we’re not looking around us, and that’s only possible when you let God navigate.

You can make all of the excuses that you want but they will still be excuses. Even piled up they have no value.

I’m in a slump in my life right now because of excuses, because I didn’t let God guide me, and I didn’t look around at the nearby tools and resources that could assist me. Those are facts. When we’re in pain we have a tendency to close our eyes and close out everything and everyone around us, including God—even while crying out to Him we still somehow close Him out. If He wasn’t closed out we could see clearly those things and people that He’s placed around us to help us through our situation. But being closed off and focused on self we cannot see or hear anything but self.

There are times that life spirals out of control to remind you that you are not in control, God is; He’s just waiting on you to let go of the wheel so He can steer you where you need to be.

When we do this then we are truly embracing and living the life of God as the shepherd; and there aren’t any unfulfilled wants or needs because He is the Provider.

Imagine a driving school instructor who steers and controls the brake and throttle at the same time as the student. The car is jerking, stalling, malfunctioning, and it isn’t making progress. That is an example of our life. God guides us and tells us when to brake, turn, slow down and speed up, reverse, and park. When we listen the ride is smooth and we reach our destination on time. When we don’t listen…well you get the drift (pun intended).

So every time you speak or think in the context of self, be sure that it leads, ends and is reinforced by the Source. For you are, you have, and you can be, only through and by Him.

~Natasha

Copyright 2018. Natasha Foreman Bryant. Some Rights Reserved.

Natasha’s Daily Scripture, Prayer, and Reflection for 2.23.18

Scripture

Philippians 2:14-15 NLT

Prayer

Father thank You for today. Thank You for awakening me to a functioning body, to the blessings that only You can provide, and for opportunities that if I do not embrace I will lose. May I do work in Your name without complaint or arguing. I pray that I am obedient to You and not resistant to anyone that You send to lead, guide, direct, or motivate me at any point on my journey.

Help me to identify those areas where I am weak, exposed, vulnerable to attack, so that I may pray to You and praise You now for protecting, providing, and strengthening me.

May my praise even during moments of pain, despair, and confusion serve as constant testimony of Your constant love. I humbly thank You as a believer and follower of Christ. To You I give all of the glory. Amen.

Reflection

When doing work in honor of God there should never be complaint or arguing. We should gladly perform our duties as His servants. Our work helps to provide dignity and sustenance to others, which results in praise and gratitude for Him.

Our complaints and arguments say that we have issue with the assignment, we feel above the level of work given to us, we have an expectation for more and greater.

Now, if in the context of complaining to and arguing with a person about our job, we should turn that over to God. At work if you’re labeled the complainer, the resistor, the rebel, guess what your manager or boss will be quick to do? Terminate you from the job. There’s a difference between speaking up about working conditions, morale, and other key factors that impact productivity, etc. and then there’s the approach of the person who complains whenever they have to exert energy beyond the level that they desire.

You know this person. It may be you. The constant complainer who whines about everything. They take on a “do we have to?” mindset that becomes an “I don’t feel like it” attitude. The range is from almost lazy, sometimes lazy, to blatant laziness. We must remember that God takes issue with the lazy. All must work and contribute in His eyes.

I had a college student in one of my classes that complained every week and seemed to attempt to start an argument by challenging other classmates and even me. He quickly was labeled by the class. Students eyes would roll each time he would interrupt me or a classmate to interject with his opinions, arguments, or complaints.

He was always trying to be the outlier in every instance. When we discussed dreams and goals in class he claimed he didn’t have any. I knew that this student was determined to cause havoc, but I had already taught his “kind” before in previous semesters. I was prepared for the nonsense he was storing up to unleash. I also knew he would soon withdraw from my class after he made a comment one week that “Professor Bryant I don’t think I’m gonna last in your class. You have it that we have to read and do work in here, like real work, each week. That’s just too much…” I smiled and replied, “yes this is a class where I teach, you work, and through your work you learn and apply what I teach you to life inside and outside of this classroom…”

There are some people who don’t want to work, and if they do they don’t want to work as hard or harder than anyone else, they want to dictate the level, intensity, and frequency of their workload and their participation. This is laziness and it is offensive to God and to the vast majority of His creations.

Lazy animals and insects die, either from starvation or from being devoured by a predator. Think about that. Let that resonate for a moment. Then think about man. Think about yourself. Think about the children around you that you’re nurturing, raising, mentoring.

Our levels of struggle prepare us for our next level of promotion. If you cannot handle what is presented to you how can you possibly handle greater at the next level? You complain about your job, the workload, the this and the that. Well what you’re telling God is that you don’t want your job. So don’t be surprised when you’re fired or laid off.

You pray to God for that better paying job, but it has greater demands than the one you currently have (or the one you used to have before becoming unemployed). If you’re constantly complaining and arguing with coworkers and managers in this current job (or the last) then how can you possibly handle greater workloads and pressures of the new job?

Higher pay won’t eliminate the intensity. It also won’t eliminate your tendency to complain.

We assume that the increase in pay will afford us other luxuries when the reality may be that although you may be able to pay more bills, you will probably have to work longer and harder which also means you don’t get to enjoy that home and car you pay for each month, you still can’t take that vacation, you may spend less time with the children that you now pay more for as you opted for a school with higher tuition. Those things will now be your newest complaints and will result in even greater arguments.

Show God what you can handle right now. Do it with a sense of gratitude. Workplace factors such as legal issues and morale can and should of course be addressed, but before bringing forth your grievance to man be sure to turn things over to God, that way when He touches your heart you are mindful that when you bring your grievance to your manager, boss or HR, that you do so with a light that magnifies God and casts you in a way that doesn’t label you a troublemaker—bound to be without a job—but rather an asset that understands the importance of safe workplaces and high morale—as both increase productivity and positively impact the bottom line. You’re mindful to speak with respect and honor as a child of God, never lowering yourself to speak or behave in a way that would dishonor Him.

Today’s message has given you different ways to see this Bible passage and see yourself through multiple lenses. Now it’s up to you to decide how you will walk, speak, and think.

~Natasha

Copyright 2018. Natasha Foreman Bryant. All Rights Reserved.

Natasha’s Daily Scripture, Prayer, and Reflection for 2.22.18

Scripture

Philippians 2:13

Prayer

Father thank You for not stopping. Thank You for another day to experience, demonstrate, embrace, reflect, uphold, celebrate, praise, learn, teach, see and show. Thank You for Your loving grace and mercy. Amen.

Reflection

Throughout the day say “thank You” to your Creator, Protector, Provider, Molder, Guide, Healer, Father-Mother. Every day is a gift to embrace and celebrate. Don’t waste it.

~Natasha

Copyright 2018. Natasha Foreman Bryant. All Rights Reserved.

Natasha’s Daily Scripture, Prayer, and Reflection for 2.21.18

Scripture

1 Timothy 1:15-16 NLT

Prayer

Thank You Father for loving me, for Your grace and mercy that rose me another day— fully functional, and ready to learn and experience all that I need to be a better child, servant, follower, believer, and student.

Thank You for the constant reminders of the power of faith, optimism, and God-confidence.

I thank You for all that You have done, all that You’re currently doing, and all that You will do. In Jesus’ name I praise You. Amen.

Reflection

If one of the worst of sinners had his heart and mind turned to be one of the most loyal, faithful, and committed servants then there’s hope for all of us.

His testimony proves that God can change any person, heal the most difficult, raise the most stubborn, and realign the broken. Our minor does not compare to his major, and look what God did for him. Imagine what God has devised for you.

Be inspired and optimistic for what awaits you. While you wait continue to serve others in service of our Heavenly Father, as our Savior Jesus Christ led through example.

As you humbly bless others, without concern for recognition and praise, God will bless you with abundance to keep your cup full with reserves and running over for immediate embrace.

~Natasha

Copyright 2018. Natasha Foreman Bryant. All Rights Reserved.

Natasha’s Daily Scripture, Prayer, and Reflection for 2.20.18

Scripture

1 Timothy 1:12-13

Prayer

Father thank You for Your love, for my life and my family, and for the opportunities that You provide. Thank You for Your loving patience that waits for me each time I stray, stumble, fall, hesitate, disobey, and make mistakes. Thank You for forgiving me even when I can’t yet forgive myself and others.

Thank You for showing me love even when I only show anger to myself and others. Thank You for showing me mercy even though I haven’t always shown mercy to others. I praise You through the great, the good, the not-so-good, and the bad. In Jesus’ name I give you all the glory. Amen.

Reflection

Imagine the shock of knowing that all of the years you spent bad-mouthing God, the name of Christ, persecuting God’s children, that you were still shown mercy and chosen to serve. That was Paul’s reality. Paul wrote a series of letters, the first to be listed in the Bible is 1 Timothy. It is his testimony.

At a point in his life Paul was beyond a jerk, he was cruel—some would call him evil. No one then or now would believe that a man who did and said some of the most hateful and hurtful things could ever be forgiven, shown mercy, trusted, and moved to walk as a servant of God instead of a puppet of the enemy.

But he was. We must remember that God knew us and knew every step we would take, every word we would speak, every thought that we would have long before we were physically born. He is our creator. We are His creations. He knew Paul and knew the man that he was born to be, and how faithfully he would serve after he walked through some valleys and struggled up the steepest of mountains.

Paul’s life is proof that in our minor of offenses that we too have what it takes to be better versions of ourselves, and each day we are given the opportunity to open ourselves so that we might be changed. We’re all clay being molded. Some of us just need more water and molding. But what always happens when we give in and surrender to change, is we are molded into the perfect image by God’s Hands.

God knows your heart. Keep your eyes on Him. He already has you covered.

~Natasha

Copyright 2018. Natasha Foreman Bryant. All Rights Reserved.

Natasha’s Daily Scripture, Prayer, and Reflection for 2.19.18

Scripture

Proverbs 3:5-6

Prayer

Thank You Father for another day of life and lessons. Thank You for Your love, patience, guidance, protection, and correction.

May my confidence always be in You and not man, in You and not me. For Your creations are clueless and it is only through You may we see, hear, feel, speak, and know anything.

I keep trying to remind myself of this but keep failing. Thank You Father for loving me enough to patiently wait for me and for lovingly redirecting me. To You I give all of the glory. Only through You are all things are possible. Amen.

Reflection

This happens to be one of my favorite passages in the Bible. Ironically, I struggle daily with letting go and letting God. Ironically, I continue to rely on self-confidence, self-achievement, self…self…self.

Do you see the problem?

I’m supposed to be turning to God for all things, small and big. I’m supposed to allow things to be His will, not mine. No self-recourse. Only His intervention. No retaliation. Only His judgment.

My confidence wanes and wanders. God’s is steady and eternal. My abilities are limited. His are endless.

So why do I keep relying on my limit resources when I could depend solely on God’s overflowing abundance?

It’s simple. I’m ignorant and foolish. The “know-it-all” inside of me keeps thinking that certain things God just wants me to handle. But the servant in me knows that God makes clear His intentions and His directives. It is my fear that stirs my impatience, that triggers my reaction to things, people, and circumstances. And God waits patiently for me to spiral through the mess I created, to then look me in my eyes to say “let go, hold My Hand, and let Me“.

I see my journey with God like a child walking down the street or through a shopping center with their parent. At first you’re holding hands, obediently walking by your parent’s side. Then something catches your attention—and your hands disconnect. Now you’re no longer side-by-side. You’re so consumed with this distraction that you’re no longer focused on obediently holding your parent’s hand, and walking where they instructed.

Your parent now has to stop their forward progress to call your name and wait for you to stop what you’re doing and catch up. Or they have to turn around, walk backwards to where you are, ask for your hand (or grab it), and escort you back to the place on the path where you last stood.

God is the patient Parent who continuously stops and lovingly waits for us to get back on the path, holding His Hand. Even through His interventions to redirect us, He does so with love.

No human could do this consistently, especially not with multiple children. Our frustration would get the best of us and a meltdown would ultimately occur resulting in us losing control, making a scene, and bringing the attention of everyone who is near to see.

This example that I just shared is a lesson in not only being an obedient and respectful child, but it’s a lesson in parenting. Can you see both?

Oh we have so much to learn and experience. Praise God for his love, patience, guidance, protection, and correction. It’s our best example. We’re all works in progress—clay being molded!

~Natasha

Copyright 2018. Natasha Foreman Bryant. All Rights Reserved.

Natasha’s Daily Scripture, Prayer, and Reflection for 2.16.18

Scripture

Hebrews 10:36

Prayer

Father thank You for another day. I’m grateful for my life, for the abundance of blessings that You have given me, and for the family that You made mine. Most importantly I’m grateful for Your love, guidance, support, and protection. Thank You for always being here for me, for even when I’m alone I know that I never am.

I pray that each day I give not for myself and not because I’m hoping for something from You or anyone else, but that I give because it is the paying forward of what You have consistently given me.

I love You Father and I know You love me, for I feel and see it each day. Thank You for my smile, may I touch someone else’s life today that they too may smile and hopefully praise You for it. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Reflection

It is evident that we abuse the Word as written in the holy text we call the Bible. It is clear that most who recite words or references have never fully read, studied, dissected, and analyzed the text from a spiritual standpoint.

Why do I say this?

Because people are quick to take what was meant to be literal (like don’t murder people and don’t commit adultery) and opted to see it in the figurative, and those things that had spiritual connotations have been manipulated to mean the literal sense. Additionally, there are Christians who publicly claim that they “only follow” specific portions of the Bible, such as the New Testament—because that’s “when Jesus comes on the scene”. But how can you only read and study the New Testament when Jesus recited Old Testament, and His mission is guided by the very prophecy outlined in the Old Testament?

Then there’s the foolish statement of following only the New Testament because “the Old Testament was about the Jews and the New Testament is about the Christians”. This is foolish because Jesus was and is Jewish, and once again, He recites the Old Testament. If it was meant to be separated then when the first Bible was assembled they would’ve left out the Old Testament. They’re together for a reason. But since many New Testament “students” have never studied the Old Testament, they are blind to this.

We’ve butchered the Word. The fact that there are hundreds of versions of text that was already edited thousands of years ago, let’s you know that we aren’t getting the lesson.

Put on your spiritual lens and consider walking through life as one who loves, forgives, heals, helps all people—not some, all. Jesus did it. He also proved that there is life after we leave these temporary shells. It’s how we live here that determines how we will live in our next level of existence. Whether you believe in physical places called heaven or hell, one thing is clear—you can’t earn a pass into heaven. It’s your walk through life, not a specific event or type of career, that will “get you in”. It’s how you live your life when you’re not “doing” for self or for others with a focus on self-gain.

Your gift to the community should not be aimed at hopefully one day being rewarded for your efforts. You should give because you want to help, because you want others to be lifted up and feeling God’s full embrace.

Jesus and other greats that we read about in the Bible all gave in ways that magnified God not them. It is man who has chosen to place greater credit on the students than the Teacher. When you truly read, study, dissect, and analyze the Bible from cover to cover—look at how the chosen opened themselves up and allowed God in to use them for His purpose.

Moses knew he would see the edges of the Promised Land from afar but he knew that God told him he would never go there. He would instead delegate that honored task to others. Moses put up with a lot of nonsense from the Israelites knowing that where they would go he would never venture. He focused passionately on helping his people so that they could embrace the new life God had for them. He made it about God, not himself.

Can you say that you could and would do the same?

We all have a lot of spiritual work to do, starting first with ourselves. Our wires are crossed and we need to invest the time in untangling them and realigning them based on God’s guidance not our twisted perception.

God created every living creature in His spiritual image. Every creation reflects Him. He makes no mistakes. He allows each creation to grow, change, morph, adjust as needed.

All creations. All people. Everything God created and He said to love, respect, and protect His creations. Jesus said to love others as you would love yourself. Sadly, many of us don’t truly and fully love ourselves so we don’t know how to genuinely love others. We don’t know how not to judge others for we’re constantly judging ourselves. We don’t know how to forgive others because we don’t know how to forgive ourselves.

We have a lot of work to do. Today let’s work on detoxing our mind, heart, spirit, and soul. We must force out the poison that slowly kills us. It is the only way for us to live with and on purpose as followers of Christ, servants of God, and soldiers protecting the creations that have no voice or ability to fight.

~Natasha

Copyright 2018. Natasha Foreman Bryant. All Rights Reserved.

Natasha’s Daily Scripture, Prayer, and Reflection for 2.15.18

Scripture

1 Corinthians 10:12-13 NLT

Prayer

Father I want to thank You for this day, another day of life, health, wealth, and an abundance of blessings.

Even when I don’t see how awesome my life is I know that it is, because even if in my mind I can visualize it being “better” I can also see clearly how bad and horrific it could be.

That is why I choose to put my trust in You to always guide and guard me from my foolishness and from the temptations that would lead me to believe that I can have “better” at a faster pace than what You’re providing for me. My Foundation should always be You and Your Son Jesus should always be the Cornerstone of that Foundation.

I want to celebrate each and every day. I want to awake and praise You before I do anything else. I want to remember to thank You throughout the day for not just the big things but the small things, like when I’m looking for something and I find it—I want to pause and say “thank You Father“.

Today and every day I will love You Father. In Jesus’ name I humbly pray and give thanks. Amen.

Reflection

Earlier this morning I inadvertently published the outline of today’s message. I wouldn’t call it an accident because as my paternal grandmother, Dorrisene, used to say, “there are no accidents“. It was meant for me to publish the outline for it:

1. reminded me to slow down
2. reminded me that it’s been too long since I last posted
3. showed my viewers the early steps of how my posts are written, and
4. helped to frame today’s message, as I wasn’t sure what I was going to write.

Yesterday morning as I babysat my nephew Logan, I was watching the TBN channel and I can recall clearly a message that said our days should begin with God—not checking and replying to text messages, emails, social media, etc. If we want God’s guidance throughout our day then shouldn’t we honor and respect Him by beginning our day aligned with Him?

You don’t know how many of my Breaking Bread messages are created in my bathroom. Yes, you read that correctly. What I’ve discovered over the years is that the bathroom is the one place in your home that for the most part you’re left alone. That’s not to say you don’t have children, pets, and maybe even your significant other waiting on the other side of the door—but no one is inside the bathroom with you pulling at you for immediate attention.

So I enter, close the door, and while I temporarily disconnect from the world, I tune in and fully connect to God. He doesn’t care that I’m in the bathroom. He just wants to know I’m locked in and ready and willing to talk.

When I selected today’s scripture I decided to include a visual, and of the images that I found the waterfall was the most moving in my opinion. Why? Because imagine being on a lazy river or even one with rapids, what you can see around you and ahead begins to compute in your mind your confidence to handle these things.

It’s the waterfall that we don’t plan for.

We haven’t a clue where it is, how steep it is, what’s at the bottom, and if we can survive the fall.

That is life.

My life for many years was a river, sometimes a smooth ride and then there were moments of roaring rapids. Then in 2017 I found myself approaching a waterfall. I didn’t plan for the waterfall. I didn’t see how close it was until I was already nearing the edge.

That waterfall was my divorce.

No matter how hard I tried to swim in the opposite direction or swim to the banks of the river, the powerful water dragged me to that waterfall—and over the edge I tumbled.

I didn’t know how steep the fall would be, what was at the bottom of the fall, if the water was shallow or deep, or if I would survive the entry into this pool below. I had a piece of debris that I clung to as I tried to keep my head above water. My eyes grew bigger and bigger as I approached the waterfall. I was so focused on my ability or inability to swim, but quickly I had to remind myself that it’s less about me and more about God.

I had to put my confidence in God because I know that although I’m a decent swimmer, I’m only capable of doing what I do because of Him, and I can only get better through and by Him. I also know that when I panic my only thought is how to get to safety and out of the water, and I’m sure that in my panic I make the process more difficult because I’m focused on self, not on God.

God brings calm. He brings clarity. He brings strength and determination. God makes a way out of no way.

I went over the edge of the waterfall and although fearful I’m confident that God will always protect me. I’m confident that all of the bumps and bruises in life can and will be healed by God. I’m confident that He has greatness waiting for me and all I have to do is remain connected and faithful.

It’s important to try and ignore the temptations that lure us from God. But understand and believe that God’s Hands are still upon you and can save you from those temptations—He will show you a way out. It is always our choice to take the way out or remain in the snare.

So as you journey on your river are you solely relying upon your abilities and self-confidence, or are you secure with God-confidence (or as my friend Marshawn Daniels calls it, “Godfidence“)?

You will know for sure when you approach the waterfall.

Love your sister in Christ,

Natasha

Copyright 2018. Natasha Foreman Bryant. All Rights Reserved.

Accidental Posting 🤦🏽‍♀️

Good morning Breaking Bread family!

Those of you who subscribe to this site just received an update from me that was incomplete. I was just beginning my Breaking Bread message, laying out the sections to begin writing my prayer and reflection for the scripture that I selected.

Well, I inadvertently pressed “publish” and BAM…the message was sent. So ignore that post, or if you want you can look at it and see how I start my messages to you. Yes, it’s really me outlining and typing in these messages when I post.

Stay tuned…because within the hour I will have today’s message typed and published. I still don’t know what I’m going to say yet—which is always the case when I create a Breaking Bread message. I’m simply going to do what I always do—let God guide me and speak through me.

Hmmm maybe that is what my message should focus on today. We’ll see….

Love,

Natasha

Copyright 2018. Natasha Foreman Bryant. All Rights Reserved.