About Dena
“First and foremost, I’m a Daughter of the King and a long-time Christ follower. I’m also a dog mom who enjoys reading Christian books, cardio drumming, traveling often, and I’m a bit of a technology geek. My life has seen its fair share of curve-balls and I’ve found that I’ve become closer to Christ in each trial as He’s comforted me and shown me that I can solely put my faith and trust in Him. 2 Corinthians 1:4 NLT says “He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.” I feel thankful and blessed for the messes in my life – as they have brought me closer to God. Through the messes, God has given me a message to share with you.”
#NoMessNoMessage
~Dena
06
Apr '19
Emotional Energy
06
Apr '19
Have you ever been so mentally exhausted that you just didn’t have the emotional energy to be around people, places or things? Just so much going on in life, you just didn’t need ONE MORE THING? I’m not talking about diagnosed depression or anxiety (that’s something entirely different), but just the emotional energy that can get sucked right out of you from time to time.
Recently, a friend that I normally hear from every day kind of dropped off the face of the earth. After a couple of days, I became a little concerned. I had been busy and figured the same for them, but reached out to make sure. Their response – “Hey, been dealing with real
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30
Mar '19
Distractions and Diversions
30
Mar '19
Have you ever had a non-Godly distraction in life that was counter-acted by a literal diversion from God? I experienced something earlier this year that once the smoke cleared, I could undoubtedly see God’s hand at work.
Earlier this year when I began dating again, two new guys unexpectedly entered my life nearly at the same time, but the first guy (in my opinion, when looking back) was definitely a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He was a really nice guy, but the more I got to know of him, the more I realized he was not acting in any way, shape or form like the Christian he professed to be. Maybe he WAS a Christian, I just didn’t see the fruits of his Christianity and his actions were not something that screamed “Christian”, but admittedly I found myself intrigued by his charm. I gave him the benefit of the doubt, but as I did, I found myself getting sucked into the shiny newness, but I could feel and hear God giving me a clear “Red Flag” warning – almost like a finger snap in my ear – to beware. (I must add – it wasn’t a beware as in “safety” for me, it was a beware as
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23
Mar '19
What God Left Out
23
Mar '19
Sometimes we can get so frustrated when we try to do new (or old!) things and it just doesn’t work out for us. I’ve tried skiing – quite a few times – it just doesn’t work out for me. Sure, could I try harder? I suppose I could, but the fear of going down that steep hill just terrifies me too much. How would I ever get over that initial fear so I could eventually go down that big scary hill again? Good question. I don’t know. I’ve done it, and it was terrifying for me. If you have a suggestion, I’m all ears. Until then, unless something miraculous happens, it’s the bunny hill for this girl.
But maybe God just left out “skiing” for Dena. Maybe God thought, “No.. Skiing isn’t going to be your thing, but _________ is”. Is it possible that
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16
Mar '19
Being Happy Where You Are
16
Mar '19
Contentment. Ahhhhhhhh, yes! {Sigh of happiness}. Right? (Hmmmmmmm….)
Sometimes we really have to think about this whole “contentment” thing and what it means to us, and what it means to us with God as our Leader. Admittedly, this has been a hard subject for me at many points in my life. I’ve had many seasons where I’d just so badly want to be content, and would think that once I had or attained something, I would finally find solace, only to find that once I had it, I wasn’t content at all. If anything, I was the exact opposite of content – confusion and grief could’ve been my “motto” in these times where I thought I would be content, when I actually wasn’t.
Was it my fault that I wasn’t content?? Was it someone else’s fault? Or was it God just allowing me to go through a tough season of my life to learn some real lessons to get to a season where I’m finally, really content with life as it is? Period. Not “When I
Sometimes we really have to think about this whole “contentment” thing and what it means to us, and what it means to us with God as our Leader. Admittedly, this has been a hard subject for me at many points in my life. I’ve had many seasons where I’d just so badly want to be content, and would think that once I had or attained something, I would finally find solace, only to find that once I had it, I wasn’t content at all. If anything, I was the exact opposite of content – confusion and grief could’ve been my “motto” in these times where I thought I would be content, when I actually wasn’t.
Was it my fault that I wasn’t content?? Was it someone else’s fault? Or was it God just allowing me to go through a tough season of my life to learn some real lessons to get to a season where I’m finally, really content with life as it is? Period. Not “When I
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09
Mar '19
The Domino Effect
09
Mar '19
I recently saw a quote/post online that said “Someone somewhere is depending on you to do what God has called you to do”. I’m not sure where this quote originated, but it was on a ShineFM post. As I read it, I thought how true this is. It’s so easy to read things and just scroll by and not give them another thought, but sometimes, if you think on it, it opens up a whole new set of ideas and thoughts.
“SOMEONE SOMEWHERE IS DEPENDING ON YOU TO DO WHAT GOD HAS CALLED YOU TO DO”.
Of course, many things could be taken from this quote, but what came to mind when I read this was how important it is for us to listen to God and His calling on our lives. Have we ever thought on how something we need to be doing for God could possibly affect someone else? If we do what God has called us to do, it will in turn, have an effect on not only us, but also others. When
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02
Mar '19
When We Pray
02
Mar '19
My heart gets tired sometimes. Discouraged. Sometimes I just feel like I continue to pray for something and it’s just not happening. It’s not that I don’t believe that God will come through, or that God won’t provide – it’s not that at all. I know His promises are true and I know He wants to give me His best. I even know His best is coming, and I don’t doubt that for a second. I just think I get impatient as I wait, which makes me question sometimes if what I’m praying for is maybe the wrong thing.
We are told to “be specific” when we pray. Oh man! Have I ever been specific! Maybe God laughs at me sometimes with how specific I sometimes can be, but at times I find it difficult to discern if what I am
We are told to “be specific” when we pray. Oh man! Have I ever been specific! Maybe God laughs at me sometimes with how specific I sometimes can be, but at times I find it difficult to discern if what I am
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23
Feb '19
Our God Given Purpose
23
Feb '19
I have Rick Warren’s “The Purpose Driven Life” book, and it’s been sitting on an end table in my living room for over a year. Every time I start to read it, I’m reminded that it’s recommended you read a small bit each day. Well, things tend to happen where there’s a day I can’t get to it, and then it falls by the wayside. When I read a book, I typically like to read it cover to cover as quickly as possible. I don’t like to read for 10 minutes and then set it down for a day and do it again the next – it’s just not my recommended way to read.
Lately, however, I’ve been pondering my purpose in life; wishing I’d have gotten through that Rick Warren book at least once so far. So, I decided to resort to YouTube to see what other people were saying about a “Godly Purpose”. The theme that kept coming up that these people
Lately, however, I’ve been pondering my purpose in life; wishing I’d have gotten through that Rick Warren book at least once so far. So, I decided to resort to YouTube to see what other people were saying about a “Godly Purpose”. The theme that kept coming up that these people
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16
Feb '19
Breakthroughs
16
Feb '19
I was listening to a podcast many months ago where the pastor was talking about breakthroughs. At the time, I felt like he was talking right to me, and now months later, I’m feeling the real peace that I believe comes before a breakthrough. I’m not sure when this breakthrough is going to happen, and I surely have ZERO idea what it looks like in my life, but whatever it looks like, I know it’s God’s plan. “Let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting Him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been
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09
Feb '19
Dating with Purpose
09
Feb '19
Any of you who know me, know that I’m a single girl. Well, this middle-aged single girl has recently started dating again. I thought maybe it would be hard getting myself back out there – after a long term relationship failure, a bit of fear can creep in. Getting to know someone again, I thought would be daunting – but I’m finding that it’s actually really fun learning about and getting to know new people. I just need to stay focused so I have the right motives going into things, and as a Christian girl, I have some things that are necessary, right up front, when it comes to dating. Even though I’ve been a Christian since the age of 15, many times in my
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02
Feb '19
Attitude
02
Feb '19
Attitude is something I’ve struggled with in the past. No, I don’t mean that I’ve had a “bad attitude” with people, but attitude in general, I’m learning, makes a huge difference in how we move forward (or backward) in life.
So, we know that God wants to give us His best. We know that God knows our tomorrows. We know that God made us perfect – in His image. So, why do we doubt things about our future? Why do we worry?
I’ve had a few things in my life happen lately that in the past, before I was this close to God, I’d have completely broken down. I’m finding it pretty cool that once I’ve allowed God to infiltrate my life the way I have, instead of looking at something as
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