Faith – Meghan E White

Don’t Be Afraid, God’s Here to Help

January 28, 2023 meghanewhite

Fear is a powerful force that can bring us to our knees, and strike terror in our hearts and minds. Fear can also draw us to our Heavenly Father as we ask for His help. And He delights in helping us. What an awesome God who loves us so very much!

Are you stressed out, afraid, anxious? Welcome to the club. There’s no shortage of things to be afraid of in this dark world. But……..there is hope! We do not have to stay in a fearful place. God is ready and always available to reach out and rescue us. We just need to ask.

This scripture was part of a devotion in the YouVersion Bible app a few years ago. We can never get enough encouragement. I pray you are encouraged today.

Do not be afraid! God is here to help you. He’s got your back, and your front. Keep trusting God.

Love you all,

Meghan

Lord,

Thank You for for grace and mercy, and for helping us when we are afraid. Bless every person who is reading this, and afraid. Give them peace, hope, and comfort. Take them by the hand and make a way for them. Change their perspective as they take their eyes off of their problems and look to You. We love You, Lord!

In Jesus name,

Amen

Faith

Look at the Butterflies

January 3, 2022 meghanewhite

Living in a warm climate has its advantages. We still have flowers blooming, and butterflies are still showing up to eat nectar. Monarch butterflies swarmed our garden in early November during their migration to Mexico. There were dozens of monarch’s all over our Mexican sunflowers. It was amazing!

There is something so peaceful and beautiful about butterflies. I love nature. I love being outside. I see God everywhere I look. The sky, flowers, birds, insects, trees, and all of it. He made everything. There is no denying a Creator when you stand in His creation.

Here is a short video of the butterflies that were in the garden on Saturday, January 1, 2022.

What an incredible way to start off the new year. Butterflies happily feeding on my sunflowers in the middle of winter. It makes me smile. Those butterflies have not a single concern. They do exactly what they were designed to do. Eat nectar, and get to Mexico for the winter. Sounds pretty good to me.

God takes care of the butterflies. He provides flowers with nectar for them. He also gave monarch’s the instinct to migrate south for the winter. Monarch’s use environmental cues to know when it’s time to make the migration to Mexico and California. Amazing! If God cares for butterflies, then He is definitely going to care for us too.

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Matthew 6:26, NIV

You are much more valuable than a butterfly, or a bird. God loves you. He loves caring for you. Take a deep breath in, and know God is watching over you. Trust Him. Now get outside, if it’s not too cold, and watch how He cares for all of creation. You are worth more than that. He’s got you.

Love you all,

Meghan

If you need prayer leave your request in the comments, or send it to meghanewhiteauthor@gmail.com

Faith

Shake It Off

November 19, 2021 meghanewhite

Over the summer I was at the right place at the right time to capture this bee and butterfly. I’m always on the lookout for butterflies when I’m working in the garden. This scene got my attention in a different way. The beautiful monarch was eating nectar, and the bees would not leave it alone. Bees kept landing on the butterfly’s wings. The monarch was undeterred as it would shake it’s wings and get right back to business.

This pattern kept repeating. Happy monarch eating nectar, busy bees landing on it’s wings. The monarch would flutter it’s wings every time a bee landed on them. This was one determined butterfly. Nothing was going to stop the butterfly from it’s purpose of gathering nectar, not even some very stubborn bees.

We get distracted from our purpose. The enemy loves to get us off course, and stop us dead in our tracks from our Kingdom purposes. He dive bombs us every day with all sorts of things to take our eyes off of Jesus. That’s the last place he wants us looking. Oh no, we can’t have our focus on Christ. Buzz, buzz, buzz.

Some days the distractions are small, and some days the distractions are big. So big that they take our joy away, and steal our hope. We get weighed down, and get hurt. Then we are so busy focusing on the pain and annoyances in life that we have completely forgotten about our victory in Jesus Christ.

But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:57, NIV

Those of us who have placed our faith in Jesus Christ as Savior have victory over death and sin. Sin has no hold on us. Death has no sting. The same Jesus who took our sin away also gives us victory over every challenge and problem in this life. We don’t always win every battle, and we will take some losses along the way, but we are winners in the end through Jesus. He already took care of it for us.

Those bees will keep coming. They will try their hardest to land on our wings, and stop us. We will keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. And when we get stung, He will help us, and heal us, and we will start again.

Shake off the distractions. Eyes on Jesus. We have victory through Him.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:2, Berean Study Bible

Love you all,

Meghan

Father God,

Thank you for your perfect love and grace. Thank you for Jesus. Help us to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. When we get distracted, help get our focus back on the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords. Thank you for the victory we have in Jesus in every circumstance, and every trial. We belong to You, and You always take care of your children.

Amen

Faith, Trials

Jesus Will Get You Through Your Storm

February 6, 2021 meghanewhite

stormy ocean with big wave

“I’m scared Lord,” I whispered as I fell asleep.

I had a vivid dream that night. I was standing on the shore of a stormy sea. The water was choppy with big waves and wind. The sky was filled with gray clouds. Jesus stood next to me. He stepped out to the stormy sea, and I took a step with Him. We walked through the storm together on top of the waves. Jesus was by my side the whole time.

In my dream Jesus did not calm the storm, and He did not part the waters. Jesus took me through the storm. I woke up with a sense of peace and comfort. Jesus spoke to me in a dream without saying a word. He was going to get me through my storm, and He did.

Jesus will get you through your storm.

Sometimes God will calm the storm. Sometimes God will part the sea. And sometimes God will calm you, and walk you through the storm.

I prefer “calm the storm”, not “walk through the storm”. But God knows what is best for each of us, and He is always concerned with our heart and our faith. He sees the entire story, we only see the storm, and we want it to stop.

When we walk through the storms in life with Jesus our faith grows. We learn to trust Him and follow Him. If we go ahead of Him and take our eyes off of Jesus, we will begin to sink. There is good news. Jesus is a rescuer. Peter learned this lesson.

25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

29 “Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

Matthew 14:25-31, NIV

As soon as Peter took his eyes off of Jesus and saw the wind he was scared and began to sink. Wind is scary. Big waves and storms are powerful forces. They cause a lot of damage. But Jesus is bigger.

Jesus rescued Peter without hesitation. He knew that Peter was doubting. We all have doubts at times. Is God really going to help me? Can He? The answer is yes.

Peter walking on water is a miracle. Just imagine what miracles God can do in your storm. Our faith grows in hard times. You and I can walk on water with Jesus, not on our own.

The key to getting through the storm is to follow Jesus. We must keep our eyes on Him. The moment we look at the wind we will begin to sink.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. Hebrews 12:2a, NIV

God can fix any problem with a snap of His fingers. When He does not immediately calm our storms, He is doing something much deeper in each of us. We are being refined to be more like Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. This is never easy, but Jesus will help us.

Storms are opportunities for our faith to grow. We are not alone in the storms. Jesus will help us to make it to the other side. Trust Him and keep your eyes fixed on Him. And when you start to sink, cry out to Jesus. He will rescue you.

Love you all,

Meghan

Father God,

Thank you for always hearing our prayers and cries for help. Thank you for Jesus our Savior. Thank you for making a way through the storms. For all those in storms right now, give them peace, comfort, and provision. You will make a way through. Keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. He is everything.

In Jesus name,

Amen

Photo by Kammeran Gonzalez-Keola on Pexels.com

Faith, God

God Will Rescue You

September 4, 2020September 4, 2020 meghanewhite

I love to sit on the patio and read my Bible in the morning. I feel a little closer to God when I’m outside. The other day, something on the pool noodle caught my eye. It was a medium size brown spot that I thought was a butterfly. A closer looked revealed this adorable tiny frog.

This little guy looked so happy just chilling on the pool noodle. I had to get a picture. I followed the flow of the water, and I think I scared him. Mr. Frog, that’s his name now, jumped from the pool noodle and quickly swam away. He tried to climb the tile with no success. He kept clawing, and grabbing the side, but he couldn’t get out of the pool.

As I watched Mr. Frog struggling, I recognized myself. I have gone in waters I should not have. Flailing, sinking, and trying to claw my way out of situations that I put myself in. If only I had just listened to God.

Have you ever ignored something God told you NOT to do? Do not go to that place. Or, do not get involved with that person, or do not get involved in that deal. Or, do not spend that money, or a million other things. We want what we want.

We tell God, I’m fine on this fake log. I’m just relaxing in this calm water. Nothing is going to happen. What we are really saying to God is, I know better than you do. I really want this and I deserve this.

Then the water changes, and the foam log flips. We are sinking fast, so we swim like crazy to the side of the pool, but our efforts are in vain. We just keep slipping deeper. Every attempt we make to fix our problem makes it worse. We are stuck.

God is our rescuer. He is not watching us from the side shaking His head, or pointing a finger at us. God is in the rescue business. He is waiting with open arms, and an extended hand to help us. We just need to reach out and ask for His help. God will never turn us away.

He will respond to the prayer of the destitute;

he will not despise their plea.

Psalm 102:17 NIV

It does not matter if we made the bad choice. God’s love for us is beyond any mistake. God’s not going to give up on us, or turn us away. He knows our heart, and He knows what we need. Yes, there will be natural consequences from our choices, but God will walk us through whatever we have to face. He will make a way.

So we say with confidence,

“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.

What can mere mortals do to me?”

Hebrews 13:6 NIV

Do you need God to rescue you? Are you in a jam? A pickle? Up against a wall? God does some of His best work in impossible situations. Just ask Him to help you. Be patient. Trust His timing and trust His answer. God is faithful.

Love you all,

Meghan

If you need prayer please go to my contact page.

P.S. I rescued Mr. Frog. No frogs were harmed in the writing of this post.