Helping you become the person God wants you to be
Happy March and happy #cerebralpalsyawarenessnonth
This journey for me has been a physical and emotional rollercoaster, but because of God’s grace, I have remained healthy in my adult life and gained the ability to do things many people said were impossible
God also has led me to have a change of heart about having friends who look like me and have been down a similar road as me. The woman I am now is sitting and standing in gratefulness #imagreebgirl and proud of it.
1. Samson didn’t ruin his life all at once. He ruined it one step at a time.
One day Samson went to the Philistine town of Gaza and spent the night with a prostitute. Word soon spread that Samson was there, so the men of Gaza gathered together and waited all night at the town gates. They kept quiet during the night, saying to themselves, “When the light of morning comes, we will kill him.”
Judges 16:1-2 NLT
1. He taunted the enemy
But Samson stayed in bed only until midnight. Then he got up, took hold of the doors of the town gate, including the two posts, and lifted them up, bar and all. He put them on his shoulders and carried them all the way to the top of the hill across from Hebron.
Judges 16:3 NLT
Some time later Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in the valley of Sorek.
Judges 16:4 NLT
2. He rationalized the same old sin.
The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, “Entice Samson to tell you what makes him so strong and how he can be overpowered and tied up securely. Then each of us will give you 1,100 pieces of silver.”
Judges 16:5 NLT,
Finally, Samson shared his secret with her. “My hair has never been cut,” he confessed, “for I was dedicated to God as a Nazirite from birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as anyone else.” Delilah realized he had finally told her the truth, so she sent for the Philistine rulers. “Come back one more time,” she said, “for he has finally told me his secret.” So the Philistine rulers returned with the money in their hands. Delilah lulled Samson to sleep with his head in her lap, and then she called in a man to shave off the seven locks of his hair. In this way she began to bring him down, and his strength left him. Then she cried out, “Samson! The Philistines have come to capture you!” When he woke up, he thought, “I will do as before and shake myself free.” But he didn’t realize the Lord had left him. So the Philistines captured him and gouged out his eyes. They took him to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze chains and forced to grind grain in the prison.
Judges 16:17-21 NLT
Because the sentence against evil deeds is so long in coming, people in general think they can get by with murder.
Ecclesiastes 8:11 MSG
So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!
1 Corinthians 10:12 NIV
Here are three practical ways I keep my Faith
Samson was an incredibly strong man with a dangerously weak will.
He was:
1. Samson was emotionally driven not sprit led.
So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.
Galatians 5:16-17 NIV
1. Anger
So before sunset of the seventh day, the men of the town came to Samson with their answer: “What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?” Samson replied, “If you hadn’t plowed with my heifer, you wouldn’t have solved my riddle!” Then the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him. He went down to the town of Ashkelon, killed thirty men, took their belongings, and gave their clothing to the men who had solved his riddle. But Samson was furious about what had happened, and he went back home to live with his father and mother. So his wife was given in marriage to the man who had been Samson’s best man at the wedding.
Judges 14:18-20 NLT
2. Samson was filled with Pride
Then he found the jawbone of a recently killed donkey. He picked it up and killed 1,000 Philistines with it. Then Samson said, “With the jawbone of a donkey, I’ve piled them in heaps! With the jawbone of a donkey, I’ve killed a thousand men!”
Judges 15:15-16 NLT
1. He rejected Godly counsel
2. He refused to honor his comments
3. He relied on his strength instead of God’s spirit
This is what the Lord says: “Don’t let the wise boast in their wisdom, or the powerful boast in their power, or the rich boast in their riches. But those who wish to boast should boast in this alone: that they truly know me and understand that I am the Lord who demonstrates unfailing love and who brings justice and righteousness to the earth, and that I delight in these things. I, the Lord, have spoken!
Jeremiah 9:23-24 NLT
Hey, I hope you’re having a beautiful day. What are you doing today? Right now, I’m finishing breakfast. As a #boundlessbabe, we are asked to take on a chosen goal. My goal. Is to keep up my independence by using my wallet basket.
I’ve had this goal before, and I have fallen away from it. What will make it’s time different is that I have good friends to check in with.
Samson was an incredibly strong man, with a desperately weak will.
His Great potential: Samson was Selected by God, Set apart by God, and Strengthened by God
His Fatal Flaw: Samson was a man of faith, but he wasn’t a faithful man
1. Lust: I want it
Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman. When he returned, he said to his father and mother, “I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.”
Judges 14:1-2 NIV
2. Entitlement: I deserve it.
Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion’s carcass, and in it he saw a swarm of bees and some honey. He scooped out the honey with his hands and ate as he went along. When he rejoined his parents, he gave them some, and they too ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion’s carcass.
Judges 14:8-9 NIV
Pride: I can handle it.
Now his father went down to see the woman. And there Samson held a feast, as was customary for young men.
Judges 14:10 NIV
But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.
Luke 12:48 NIV
It’s taken so long for me to get to mentally to the place I am in now. I used to think that hanging out with. people who looked like me was weird. If you’ve been around me for a while, you know that I was once asked
Are you going to get any better?
You also know that I threw myself into.physical therapy, because I thought walking would make me normal.
In 2021 I decided to let that attitude go, and I was ready to make friends with women who look like me and share similar experiences. I chose to throw myself headfirst into signing up for Rollettes 2021. I attended virtually. This year I am looking forward to attending in person.
I have already paid for my tuition and room, but the coordinates of the event need assistance for the event. Rollettes Experience is much more than a dance camp. It is a time of women’s empowerment for women who are wheelchair users.
It’s time for women like myself to be looked at as someone who can take over the world.with her abilities and not pitied for her perceived disability
Please consider donating to this epic event
One day a young woman named Nikki visited her new school Shiz University. She was a lover of performing arts and was a member of her church choir, and she loved cheering on her professional performer friends at small venues in her town. Nikki also loved gushing about her friends on her podcast Encouragement Notes.
One day, before class Nikki noticed a young woman sitting by herself. Being the extrovert she is, Nikki strolled up to the woman and introduced herself.
Hey, I’m Nikki! I’m new here; what’s your Name?
The shy woman smiled and said,
Hi,
I’m Nessa Rose
Nice to meet you, Nessa. How long have you been coming here?
My sister Elphaba and I have been students here for a year; I’m waiting for her to get out of her sorcery seminar.
After a few minutes of silence, Nessa got the courage to ask,
Nikki, why do you use a chair with wheels? I don’t like being in one; it makes me feel weird.
First of all, Nessa, I get it; I’ve been through times when I thought I was weird too.
At the last school, I was at, someone came up to me and asked if I would get any better. I went into shock and didn’t say anything.
I’ve also heard the question, how do we describe you? People who don’t know me often think I’m strange, and I used to agree with them and believe that I needed to be fixed somehow, but this past year has been life-changing for me! All of the ideas I had about myself have been challenged in a good way because I met a group of women who look like me. They are members of a group called the Rollettes members of their dance classes. You ought to look into the classes.
As Nikki finishes gushing about the team, Elphaba comes up to Nikki and Nessa; she’s pretty but Nikki could tell that people had considered her strange as well because she was green.
Hi Elphaba! This is my new friend Nikki; she’s been telling me all about her life and the people she has met. I think I want to try one of the dance classes she goes to. They meet on Tuesday. I want to go check it out. It sounds like fun!
1. Hope is the confident expectation that God will do what he says he will do
2. Hope shines brightest in Darkness and is not based on our mood or circumstances
But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.
1 Corinthians 13:13 MSG
But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.
1 Thessalonians 5:8 NIV
3. Hope is a form of resistance
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.
Romans 5:1-2 NIV
4. Christian Hope is not in going to heaven when we die but in all of creation being renewed and filled with God’s Glory
1. Pray for hope, as God to renew your hope daily
2. Practice Hope, it’s a muscle that you have to exercise
3. Gard your hope, when things look bad remember that God is in control and when people and circumstances are negative, keep on talking to God through prayer and reading his word.
1. Comes to Jesus with it’s doubts
But Thomas, sometimes called the Twin, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples told him, “We saw the Master.” But he said, “Unless I see the nail holes in his hands, put my finger in the nail holes, and stick my hand in his side, I won’t believe it.” Eight days later, his disciples were again in the room. This time Thomas was with them. Jesus came through the locked doors, stood among them, and said, “Peace to you.” Then he focused his attention on Thomas. “Take your finger and examine my hands. Take your hand and stick it in my side. Don’t be unbelieving. Believe.” Thomas said, “My Master! My God!” Jesus said, “So, you believe because you’ve seen with your own eyes. Even better blessings are in store for those who believe without seeing.”
John 20:24-29 MSG
He asked the boy’s father, “How long has this been going on?” “Ever since he was a little boy. Many times it pitches him into fire or the river to do away with him. If you can do anything, do it. Have a heart and help us!” Jesus said, “If? There are no ‘ifs’ among believers. Anything can happen.” No sooner were the words out of his mouth than the father cried, “Then I believe. Help me with my doubts!”
Mark 9:21-24 MSG
2. Looks at Trials with an Eternal Perspective.
So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 MSG
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33 NIV
3. Relies on others during difficult times
A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
Mark 2:1-12 NIV
Encouragement Notes Podcast 