April | 2018 | Heaven Sent Sentiments

Monthly Archives: April 2018
- No Condemnation Construction Zone
  
  Posted at 3:30 PM by Shanon Crenshaw, on April 27, 2018
  This has been a very hard week for me. I have come face-to-face with insecurities I thought I had worked through. Self-doubt. (Can you really do this?) Perfectionism. (I want to know how to do it all right now and do it well.) Self-judgment. (Assessing my lack in regard to others’ achievement.) At that time, my day-to-day life was comfortable, and I knew what to do when each of those insecurities tried to creep into my mind and derail what I was doing or working on. Also, I learned to avoid situations or set limitations for people who were negative and/or critical. Essentially, I used the tools necessary to become the best version of myself. What I didn’t realize, is that when God calls us to higher expectations, old doubts may surface as well.
  
  God had new plans for my life. I guess you could say I’m under construction, every day striving to be more Christ-like. Getting me out of my “comfort zone” and into the realm of the unknown was the biggest challenge He has given me. It shook the very foundation I was on. Believe me when I say that I did make progress where I was and I did change for the better. But God was taking me to a new place and a new level.
  
  “Just write what the Holy Spirit prompts you to,” I’ve told myself a lot. Got it. I can do that until the enemy steps in, “You? Technology is not your friend, remember? You don’t know your widgets from your…and besides who’s going to follow you?” Lies, lies, lies and for a short time I actually gave some of those thoughts consideration. I’m not going to lie, I got a little defeated and lost the joy God was bringing to my life through writing.
  
  I have heard it all from the enemy this week and I have decided to fight against his condemnation in several ways:
  
  1) I am going to fight with the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. I am committing these particular truths to heart:
  
  Philippians 4:13 “I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (NIV).
  
  Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (NIV).
  
  Colossians 3:23 “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men,” (NIV)
  
  I need to remember Who I am working for: Jesus. As much as I would love to have a broad audience, I have to write for Him first and let Him invite those to the table that He wants to. I need to rely solely on Him and keep Him first in all I do.
  
  2) JOY!! “I’ve got the joy, joy, joy down in my heart, Where? Down in my heart…” (Child bible songs). Do you remember that song? In my prayer time yesterday, God placed it on my heart to meditate on it and I decided to take it one step further. I wrote Joy, in red, on the inside of my left wrist as a daily reminder. Writer’s block? JOY! An indecisive teenager at home? JOY! Widgets and technology problems? JOY! Joy above all circumstances and emotions because joy is a central part of our spiritual salvation and personal relationship with Jesus. Luke writes, in Acts 2:28, “You have made known to me the paths of life; you fill me with joy in your presence” (NIV).
  
  3)Keep on, keeping on. You know what? I do not know it all. My writing will not be perfect. I have so much to learn. I am committing what I do to the Lord every day, seeking Him first and asking the holy spirit to guide me. Also, every day I plan to work on something new and develop the skills necessary to complete what God started in me. 🙂 I love, love this quote from Steve Harvey:
  
  “The higher you climb there’s going to be opposition. New level, new devil. Just keep rolling and pushing through. What God has for you is yours if you don’t quit before the finish line” (Pinterest).
  
  Thank you, thank you for being on this journey with me. We are all learning and growing together, which is why God wants us to share stories and fellowship with each other. Love you guys! It wouldn’t be an awesome ending if I didn’t share a song with you. Casting Crowns, Voice of Truth. Listen here.
  
  All the glory to God. ~ Shanon
  
  ***
  
  Casting Crowns, “Voice of Truth.” Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwsvqVmFV6Y
  
  “God at work construction tape.” Fun Express.com. https://www.funexpress.com/god-at-work-construction-zone-tape-13743109.html
  
  “I’ve got the Joy in my heart.” Child Bible Songs. http://childbiblesongs.com/song-04-ive-got-the-joy-in-my-heart.shtml
  
  Ministry Quotes. Steve Harvey. Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/235735361719480813/
  
  New International Version (NIV)
  
  Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
  Share this:
  Tweet
  Email
  Print
  More
  Telegram
  Like Loading...
  Posted in God at Work | 8 Comments | Tagged bible, Christian blogger, heaven, Holy Spirit, Jesus, life changing, Made new, obedience, spiritual
- Mercies in Disguise
  
  Posted at 3:30 PM by Shanon Crenshaw, on April 20, 2018
  Crimson, gold, and orange leaves swirled through the tires of my Jeep on a cold November morning as I made my way to church. While listening to the radio, and wrapped in the warmth of my car, God gave me a revelation on answered prayer. What if where we are right now (or where our loved ones are right now) IS the answer to our (your) prayers? In essence, God may be allowing circumstances to happen. This answer may look like many things:
  
  * the stillness and silence of God
  
  * a difficult boss
  
  * a hard teacher
  
  * prison time
  
  * hitting rock bottom in an addiction
  
  We need to rest in God’s timing and know that He is at work. Are we doing what we need to do while we wait? Praying, believing, seeking, praising, having faith. The “difficulty” that is being experienced may be the breakthrough needed for an answer to your prayer. God can and may use trials to build up your faith, answer different prayers, open doors, and perform miracles. Difficult and desperate times also “force” us down on our knees, arms stretched wide, with a willing heart and a need for dependence on God like we have never experienced before. The Apostle Paul spoke of grace through trials in 2 Corinthians 12: 9-10 (NIV):
  
  ⁹But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
  
  ***
  
  This revelation brought to mind a circumstance I have been praying for confidence for my daughter Savannah as she begins her journey in middle school. If I speak of God’s will and I am praying for Savannah to have confidence, then I have to trust God and what He is doing in her life. She is having a difficult time in English right now and “doesn’t like” the format of the class. I can remember feeling the same way in some classes when I was younger, but it was through those teachers and classes that I learned and grew the most. I am really trying hard to step back and see her struggles as an answered prayer from God, to give her confidence in her abilities and the tools to face challenges head-on. It is a fine line to help, for sure– and I admit I have crossed the line and helped in some ways too much. But, now that God has given me this revelation about answered prayers, I am praying for more of His guidance and discernment on how to help, when to help, and when to back off completely. I see that she has always belonged to Him, and He has entrusted me with her. He knows her story and I do not want to alter or change the plan or growth He has for her life.
  
  Moving forward, I believe that God will always answer my prayers (in His time), and I need to see each test, triumph, difficulty, or blessing as a part of God’s plan for all of those He brings into my life. I do not want to take the lesson away. Have faith that God has heard your prayer and believe He is at work. Today.
  
  ***
  
  I would love to share an excerpt from a favorite song of mine, “Blessings” By Laura Story.
  
  What if my greatest disappointments or the aching of this life
  Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
  What if trials of this life
  The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
  Are your mercies in disguise
  
  To hear the whole song by Laura Story, tap the link, Blessings
  
  Love you guys!!! All the GLORY to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
  
  Laura Story. “Blessings.” AZlyrics. https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/laurastory/blessings.html
  
  New International Version (NIV)
  
  Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
  Share this:
  Tweet
  Email
  Print
  More
  Telegram
  Like Loading...
  Posted in A-Ha Moments, Answered Prayers | 0 Comments | Tagged blessings, Christian blogger, heaven, Jesus, Revelation
- Birthday Blessing from Heaven
  
  Posted at 3:30 PM by Shanon Crenshaw, on April 13, 2018
  A birthday cake. Rocky Road ice cream. Red hot candies. These were a few of my mother’s favorite sweets, all lovingly put together by her three daughter’s hands. My mother loved rainbows–and their covenant meaning of God’s promises–so we drew several pictures and taped them to the walls in the dining room. Have you guessed my mom’s favorite color yet? Blue, is the very reason there is a light blue frosted cake on the table. Yum!
  
  A Polaroid (gasp!) picture of my mother’s thirty-first birthday. My sister prominently stands, smiling, next to our marvelously decorated table. Now, I know you may be asking, “Where can I find the brown flowered cups, plates, and bowls beautifully placed on the brown flowered tablecloth?” It is early 80’s chic…and will probably be coming back in style next year. Just wait. Such is the circle of life…and trends.
  
  Now, back to birthdays. Birthdays are significant to me. Share your birthday with me and a hug, high-five, or some type of card/gift will surely come your way. When someone whom you know dies young, birthdays are personified by like a thousand! “Do not resent growing old. Many are denied the privilege.” Once I read that Irish proverb, I’ve always taken it to heart. It’s NOT because I am 23% Irish–as discovered by my ancestory.com results–it’s because it is true. What an awesome blessing LIFE is! Another day, another year to live the life God created us to have for His purpose.
  
  ***
  
                  Every once in a while I have had a birthday that was discouraging. The thirty-second year of my life started rainy and gloomy, very much like my feelings that day. Depressed and discouraged, I made my way to my bedroom closet, a place of refuge and prayer for me. Lying on floor, in a position of complete surrender, I cried out to Jesus in desperation. I missed my mother especially on this birthday, it was as though her absence was magnified a thousand times that day. I have no idea why. I asked God, in complete faith, for encouragement from her. What He did for me, that evening was nothing short of a miracle.
  
  My dad came home from work that evening and handed me a birthday card. He said, “I don’t know how I ended up with this card, but here it is.” All pink and white it said, “WITH LOVE, Daughter, FROM MOM. (By the way, if you look really closely, you can see where my dad wrote in “& DAD.”) Can you believe that?!? God heard my prayer for encouragement from my mom and blessed me with a card “from” her in heaven! I write all of God’s answered prayers and blessings down, and I encourage you to, as well! Here is what I wrote, that day, on the inside of the card:
  
  This card is very special to me. The Lord truly loves you and does use people/situations to encourage you. I was having a very sad, depressed day. It was my birthday and I was missing my mother so much. I was praying to the Lord and asking for encouragement, something from my mom to encourage me on my birthday. My dad came home with this card (not his first choice) and said, “I don’t know how I ended up with this card, but here it is.” It was not a mistake, the Lord used my dad in a way to edify me, he was the giver of hope that day by way of the Lord. I am so thankful for my dad and the Lord– He truly listens and hears His children.
  
  Amen Praise the Lord!
  
  ***
  
                  I am now forty-six years old and I remember that birthday as though it were yesterday. It helps me to recall fondly my mom’s thirty-second birthday with rainbow drawings, a blue-frosted cake, and the reminder of God’s promises for us. Luke 11: 9-13 (NIV) says:
  
        ⁹“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ¹⁰For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
  
  ¹¹“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for^[a] a fish, will give him a snake instead? ¹²Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? ¹³If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
  
  I encourage you, as I shared last week, to pray and seek God daily. Look through the eyes of faith and see what He will do. Commit the prayer to your heart and rest in the power of God. Be sensitive and listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit; He may not only answer your prayers, but He may use YOU to be the answer to someone else’s!! 🙂 From the heart of Dr Maya Angelou: “Be the rainbow to someone else’s cloud.”
  
  Inside view’s of the card:
  
  
  
  New International Version (NIV)
  
  Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
  
  Angelou, Dr. Maya. “Be the rainbow to someone else’s cloud.” https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/30/maya-angelou-oprah-rainbow_n_5413544.html
  Share this:
  Tweet
  Email
  Print
  More
  Telegram
  Like Loading...
  Posted in Answered Prayers | 8 Comments | Tagged birthday, blessing, cake, Christian blogger, heaven, Jesus
- Ordained Days
  
  Posted at 3:30 PM by Shanon Crenshaw, on April 6, 2018
  Anger, despair, and deep pain once overtook the eighteenth year of my life. I would love to tell you that those feelings were only directed at myself, but they weren’t. Those arrows of deep affliction were pointed at my mom because I was scared and helpless to “save” her from cancer overtaking her body and to the God I loved for not healing her. Three months after my mother was diagnosed with cancer she died, at the young age of thirty-nine years old.
  
  Her death was so hard for me and it hurt very badly. I carried those feelings around with me for a while, along with a lukewarm relationship with God–going back and forth in prayer and sin. I was a mess and I knew I desperately needed God. I remember speaking out loud to God one day, “Why didn’t you heal her?” In a soft whisper to my heart, God spoke to me, “I did. She’s here with me.” The soft-spoken words of my Savior that day started my path to healing.
  
  All that time I had prayed for God to heal her and He did, just not in the manner I had hoped. That life-changing moment with God opened my eyes and heart to a faith in Him that continues to grow. What I realized that day is, as hard as it was, that was God’s will for my mother’s life. God could have kept her on earth and healed her body, but it was her time to go Home. On November 7, 1990, she met Jesus face to face. The picture I imagine of my mom’s homecoming to Jesus is reminiscent of a picture I have in my house. Jesus’ arms were securely and tightly wrapped around my mom in an embrace unlike any that she had ever had. Pure love and light.
  
  Psalm 139:16 has encouraged me the most in regard to losing loved ones. “… your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” (NIV). God does heal, and miracles do happen, but what God taught through this hardship is that He is always with me through all the hurt, pain, and brokenness I experience in this sinful world. He can teach us through the eyes of faith.
  
  What we see as hardships, God sees as opportunities to heal, redeem, restore, and grow through His grace, in His time. I encourage you, when you are in the deepest pain or despair, to reach out to Jesus. Talk to Him, He longs to hear your voice and all you have in your heart. Rest in Him. Pray for God’s power and provision to be released into your life through the Holy Spirit.
  
  “Do not let any set circumstances intimidate you. The more challenging your day, the more of My power I place at your disposal. I know what each of your days will contain, and I empower you accordingly. Look to me for all that you need, and watch to see what I will do. As your day, so shall your strength be” (Young, 330, emphasis mine).
  
  What are you waiting for?! Pray. Seek God. Look through the eyes of faith and see what He will do!! I took that prayer to heart and rested in the power of God. He answered in a mighty way! Next Friday, I share how God gave me a birthday card, from my mom, for my 32nd birthday. Stay tuned!!
  
  Fire Bible: Global Study Edition. New International Version, Life Publishers International, 2009.
  
  Young, Sarah. “Jesus Calling: Enjoying Peace in His Presence.” Thomas Nelson Publishing. 2004.
  Share this:
  Tweet
  Email
  Print
  More
  Telegram
  Like Loading...
  Posted in Healing | 2 Comments | Tagged Christian blogger, healing prayer, Jesus, life changing, ordained, pain

Follow Heaven Sent Sentiments on WordPress.com
Shanon Crenshaw

God is first and foremost in my life. I LOVE: my husband Steve, daughters Suzanne and Savannah, my AMAZING family and friends, the majestic beauty of the Pacific Northwest, traveling and camping, a GREAT cup of coffee with my morning devotionals, and my Sumner Family Church family. :)

View Full Profile →
Archives
Categories
Categories
Translate

Top Posts & Pages
Follow Blog via Email

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Email Address:

	Ellen Delgado on Fear Not
	Shanon Crenshaw on Mom’s Homecoming with…
	Shanon Crenshaw on Mom’s Homecoming with…
	Anonymous on Mom’s Homecoming with…
	Lifetime Chicago on Mom’s Homecoming with…

Heaven Sent Sentiments

Monthly Archives: April 2018

No Condemnation Construction Zone

Posted at 3:30 PM by Shanon Crenshaw, on April 27, 2018

Share this:

Mercies in Disguise

Posted at 3:30 PM by Shanon Crenshaw, on April 20, 2018

***

Share this:

Birthday Blessing from Heaven

Posted at 3:30 PM by Shanon Crenshaw, on April 13, 2018

Share this:

Ordained Days

Posted at 3:30 PM by Shanon Crenshaw, on April 6, 2018

Share this:

Shanon Crenshaw

Archives

Categories

Translate

Recent Comments

Top Posts & Pages

Follow Blog via Email