calling Archives - VALLEY OF GRACE

August 29, 2020April 29, 2021

Sweet Weekend

The following post is one that was created a year ago on another website. It seems like it was just yesterday that I wrote it. At the same time, the realization that it was a year ago also helps me to think about the difference in what was happening then: family members were still alive, freedom to go and do things without wearing a mask, less anxiety, fear, and collective trauma, and more predictability. Even with all of this, there is one thing that has remained the same. And that one thing is a good, loving, merciful God. Sometimes it is hard to accept this fact when things are not progressing in the timeline that we’d like. And guess what? He can handle that too.

Here is the post:

Sweet Weekend

This past weekend I got a chance to do some reading, relaxing, doing home projects, watching movies, and embracing some stillness. One of the two movies that I watched was entitled, “Sweet Inspirations”. This movie can be found on Pureflix. I haven’t been asked to review this movie. I found it enjoyable, relatable, and the fact that the movie had an emphasis placed on real-life issues.

You got a chance to peek into the lives of several different movies. There were so many themes highlighted in this movie. I am going to name the ones that stood out to me: relationships, domestic abuse, marital issues, art, our passions, family time, community, and women’s health.

Dissection of Passions, Gifts, Talents

The theme that I will dissect is that of our passions/gifts/talents. When it comes to our passions/gifts/talents, it is so important that we are regularly doing activities that pull them out. If we are not creating/expressing ourselves, it can lead to feeling unfulfilled, purposeless, and depression. God created each of us with unique passions/gifts/talents. No two people have been created alike. When we are creating according to our passions/gifts/talents, we are showing contentment, gratitude, appreciation, and good stewardship over what God has given us.

One of the women in the movie realized that she stopped living and doing what she was created for and passionate about in order to please her husband and participate in his business. It is important to help others. However, we also become the best version of ourselves when we do what we were created to do first. Then, we can use this energy to help others to walk into their passions.

Food for thought:

What have you been created to be passionate about? How easy is it to walk into it? Or, is it more tempting to allow others to force you into their passions, or are we forcing ourselves into theirs?

August 20, 2020April 29, 2021

Pushing for the Calling

How many of you have been told by God that you were destined for a calling? You went through the steps of walking in that calling until Satan started to shame you with your personal struggles, and what your present reality is, rather than God’s truth. That is what has happened to me as well. When life’s disappointments begin to scream at us from every direction known to man, we start to second guess what it is that God already promised us. As a matter of fact, when God spoke your calling over your life, the promise was so strong, that you could feel God’s peace over you.

God is not a liar. His word will not return unto him void. However, we are not in charge of the timing. But, because we don’t see God’s promise coming to fruition right away, we allow the enemy to shame us with doubt and negative views of God. We detach ourselves from seeing his provision, faithfulness, and goodness while we wait.

David was on the run from Saul. He decided to go to the King of Moab and request for his parents to stay with him: “Would you let my father and mother come and stay with you until I learn what God will do for me?” 1 Samuel 22: 3. David was discouraged because of Saul’s pursuit of him. In this discouragement, he started doubting God’s goodness and promise. God had already elected him as king. Somehow his being on the run had caused him to forget that.

“When we push to do the calling God has on our lives, we are rebuking the enemy when he tries to shame us with the weight and reality of our current struggles.”

Katina Horton

We become cynical, forgetting that God is on a different timetable than ours. When we are pushing, we are moving beyond and expanding past the point of our limitations. This can only be done with the help of God. When we push to do the calling God has on our lives, we are rebuking the enemy when he tries to shame us with the weight and reality of our current struggles.

Sometimes pushing means that we ignore other peoples’ comments about our actions being ridiculous when we know what God has promised. Even Jesus had to rebuke Satan when Peter tried to interrupt the process of Jesus going to the cross for our sins. Jesus knew his calling and purpose. Peter just didn’t get with the program. Sometimes when nobody else will, we have to encourage ourselves in the Lord.

Blessings,

Katina

May 17, 2019April 28, 2021

It’s Your Calling

Why are we so afraid to step into our calling? There are various reasons. However, when we see and feel the freedom that it brings, we will wonder why we ever resisted displaying and embracing that irresistible mission.

It’s your Calling

calling, resistance, simple functional grace-filled living, redemption, trauma, ptsd, anxiety, leaving Egypt behind, freedom, thriving — photo by Sarah Pflug

It’s Your Calling, It’s Your Calling.

It’s God Sent.

Why are you stalling?

Your Life’s Traumas will not be wasted.

The end product cannot be hasted.

It’s your calling, It’s your calling.

Leave Egypt behind.

Forget its hauling.

March 26, 2019April 28, 2021

Separated

When we think of separation, it brings up pain and sadness. However, when we are separated for the cause of Christ, it changes everything. For to live is Christ, and to die is gain. We have the Father’s love to guide us as we run our race of endurance.

Separated

I’ve been separated.

It’s been delegated.

For the cause of Christ.

It requires my life.

For I lay it down.

Not for world renown.

It’s been set in stone.

No, I’m not alone.

Blessings,

Katina

Who Can Separate Us?

Little Whispers: Song in My Heart

January 14, 2019April 27, 2021

The Advancer

We have our plans, and then God has his. Three or four people can be doing the exact same thing, and two people may succeed, and the other two may not. Second option: The other two may have to wait for God to release. So, sometimes if you haven’t been released for success yet, it isn’t necessarily that you aren’t do everything right, it may not be your timing yet. God is the advancer, and we are not. Sometimes that realization is difficult to sink in. As individuals, it can be easy to get caught in this type of thinking. It becomes another way to stay stuck in the comparison trap. When we submit to his will, and do our part, he makes it plain. This poem, The Advancer, deals with this aspect in a nutshell. Last week’s poem, Why I Write, can be found here. God bless!

writing, advancer, vision, plain, habakkuk, poetry, poem, poet, podcaster, writer, author, blogger, blogger life, spiritual health, waiting

The Advancer

Writing the Vision.

Making It Plain.

Doing His Calling.

Dancing in Rain.

Waiting on God.

Seeing How He Answers.

Trusting in Him.

The Mighty Advancer.

Meditation Verse

Habakkuk 2: 1-3

I will stand at my guard post and station myself on the ramparts. I will watch to see what He will say to me and how I will answer my reproof. Then the LORD answered me:“Write down this vision and clearly inscribe it on tablets,so that a herald may run with it. For the vision awaits an appointed time; it testifies of the end, and will not lie. Though it lingers, wait for it, since it will surely come and not delay.…