Rise and Shine

Written September 2017

My favorite time of the day starts before the sun has even kissed the clouds. It's the very moment I walk into my daughter's room and say a phrase that my mother said to me growing up "Rise and shine and give God the glory." I say it pretty calmly, but my mom, however, does it in a high-pitched voice that would make me cringe out of my sleep. After I say this phrase to my daughter I sit there and watch her body move from side to side, her little lips scrunch up, her arms stretch out like a kitten and then plop right back down into sleep. Then I say "It's time to wake up" and then she starts to slowly begin to move, but she's still very much asleep. Finally, I reach down and pick her up, wrap her in my arms, and hold her head on my shoulder.

I've had seasons in my life where I felt like I was in a deep slumber. I was lost, confused, bitter, distracted, content, blind, foolish, etc. Time and time again I felt God calling out to me "Rise and Shine and give God the glory," yet I still chose to stay where I was. Why? Because I was comfortable and even if I did not necessarily like where I was in life at that time it was familiar to me. I was "safe" in the midst of complete foolishness not realizing how much I needed God. No matter what I would do, how much I went out and partied, no matter how I consumed my free time, no matter how good I felt there was something missing. I would hear God again saying "Briana, Briana wake up." I had no clue that all God wanted to do was open my eye to whom He called me to be. I didn't know that he would actually pick me up spiritually and hold me close just as I do for my daughter in the morning.

I want to encourage you that no matter where you are in your life you are never too far gone that God no longer wants you.

He is a loving father and He desires you! He loves you!

Whatever struggles you are going through, burdens you carry, and toxic cycles you can't seem to break free from He wants to pick you up and hold you. He wants you to lay your concerns at His feet. He wants to comfort you and carry you to exactly where you need to be.

There is hope....all you have to do is surrender and rise and shine and give God the glory.

John 3:16

For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.