Stay Where God Planted You

After my morning walk, I approached my house and was amazed to see what looked like a sunflower growing in the midst of my rose bush.

We’ve lived here for fourteen years. The spot was once a fish pond. We did away with that about nine years ago. In its place, I’ve planted peonies, a couple of rose bushes, and lilies, but never a sunflower seed.

How cool it was that God planted it there. Whether a weed or a sunflower, it grew not next to the roses, but in the midst of the rose bush.

God’s precious voice reminding me that we need to stay where He has planted us and He will grow us up. We may feel like a sunflower or more like a weed. We may not know why we’re planted in a certain spot, or see what the purpose is until He starts to grow us and we rise among the roses.

Never doubt where God has you or why, just watch for Him, trust Him and He will fulfill His purpose in your life.

Nothing can stop God’s plan for your life. For the Lord Almighty has a purposed, and who can thwart  him? His hand is stretched our, and who can turn it back? Isaiah 14:27

Books by Dana K. Ray

Absolution Book 1 in The Luciano Series  http://a.co/1hRwM7T or https://danakray.com 

A Second Chance http://a.co/baTuF38​ or https://danakray.com 

 

We’ve Been Robbed

 

We’ve been studying the Armor of God in Bible study and have learned that the key to the armor is in Ephesians 6:18-19. Once you put it on you must… with prayer and petition pray at all times…be on the alert will all perseverance…and pray…

Put it on and pray it up. Those are the words from my wise Bible study leader, mentor, accountability partner and dearest friend. It’s been my motto for months.

Since starting the Bible study about the Armor of God, I feel like I’ve been under more intense spiritual attacks.

This past Saturday, April 1, was no different. It was going to be a busy day filled with lots of non-stop things to do, so being woke up at 7:00 am to the words “we’ve been robbed” was shocking. Unfortunately it was not an April’s Fool joke.

I followed my husband outside. All three cars had their doors opened and trunks popped. Inside, the glove boxes were emptied along with the console. The cars were ransacked and things were missing, but nothing was as bad as the empty spot in the driveway where my husband’s Toyota Four Runner used to sit. Yep, they stole his car and all it’s contents.

Talk about one crazy morning. Waiting for the police, hearing our stuff would probably not ever be found, volunteering at the High School, my sons last drumline competition, trying to get my hubby a rental car…it just seemed too much.

When I get overwhelmed, I laugh because it’s better than crying. So I’m laughing, making jokes, trying to see the bright side.  It could’ve been so much worse. The robbers could’ve used the garage door openers inside the cars to walk into the house and take so much more.

I try to be a cheerful person, smile and keep upbeat. Saturday was no different. But within a day or two, the stress does catch up with me. When it does, I usually get hit hard.

Sunday and Monday were overwhelming. If something could go wrong, it did. I found myself throwing off my armor and running to hide. Then I pulled myself up, put each piece back on, prayed it up and continued on the fight.

Today, I am pondering why I took it off in the first place?

I heard God whisper, “Because you thought it’d be easier to hide.”

He was right, as always. I did think it’d be easier to throw a cover over my head and ignore everything, that was going on, but it wasn’t. Hiding drew me into a dark place, consumed by my problems instead of shining His light and watching Him work through all circumstances.

I am still a bit overwhelmed, but there’s no way to get around the hard things that will come up in our lives. To get through it, we have to remember to always put it on and pray it up.

On another bright side, they didn’t take very much out of my car. I’m so thankful because I have a book signing Saturday in Webb City. My car was already packed. They took my box of table decorations and business cards but left my canopy, table, table cloths and books.

So if you come see me in Webb City, MO on Saturday, I have a book to sign for you!

When you feel you can’t move forward, remember to put it on and pray it up! God will always geet you through!

Dana

A Second Chance by Dana K. Ray. If you can’t make it Saturday, you can buy a copy at https://danakray.com or https://amzn.com/1632132605

Let’s Skip Thanksgiving and Go Straight to Christmas

I was blessed today to share at MOPS today. Although starting out shaky (I get SO nervous) I had a lot of fun. I was able to read this to them. I hope it encourages you to dream big but wait on God’s timing!!  Enjoy!!!!

I love to pray with my five year old daughter Lydia. She prays like she talks; very precise, questioning and has no problem telling God exactly how she feels. She is so precious.

Last night she begins her prayers. She prays for her family, the dogs, the man on the motorcycle we saw on the way to Walmart, my horses I had as a child, then, she begins to pray for Christmas. No, nothing religious I could be proud of, but she prays a strange little prayer. She prays, “God, make Christmas come faster. Skip Thanksgiving and all the rest, just bring Christmas.”

I remembered that morning she had asked me how many days until Christmas. I’m curious, so after the prayer, I ask. “Why do you want Christmas to come so fast?”

“I want to see grandma and grandpa and get presents.”

I tucked her blond hair behind her ears. “If Christmas comes first, you’ll miss out on Thanksgiving. You get to see grandma and grandpa then and they always bring you a present.”

“I don’t care.”

“But you’ll miss your Thanksgiving and Christmas parties at school.”

“I don’t care.”

“You’ll miss out on so much if God moved up Christmas. You’d miss Thanksgiving break, birthday parties, all the stuff you learn at school.”

“I don’t care.”

I nodded. It’s usually useless to argue with a five-year-old.

As I walked from her room, I realized I just had the same conversation with my daughter that I often have with God.

Many times in prayer, we ask God to hurry up with an answer. We may be impatient or plainly hurting but the request is the same: answer us, now. We don’t even realize the blessings we might be missing out on if He did.

My daily prayer calendar said one day last week that “patience is not the ability to wait, but the ability to keep a good attitude while we are waiting.”

As I look back over the years, I have a few, personal, long standing prayers. One of them is writing.

I’ve wanted to give up, but every day had a purpose. I don’t always see it or understand it, but like I told my daughter about Christmas, if it comes too fast, we miss out on the blessings in between.

Our prayers may be simple enough that God shows Himself immediately or they may take years for Him to bring it to pass, but wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the LORD. Psalm 27:14

Pray on warriors!

Dana

Don’t forget to check out my webpage at www.danakray.com

If you’re looking for a Christmas gift or a good book to read, pic up A Second Chance!! danakray.com or Amazon

Prayers Answered Check out DanaKRay.com

Hi all you faithful followers! God has answered so many prayers over the last few months so I want you to jump over to my NEW blog at DanaKRay.com 

I had my first book published at the end of May and would love for you to check it out! You can purchase an autographed copy on DanaKRay.com or download on kindle or purchase a copy at https://amzn.com/1632132605

Subscribe to my BLOG on DanaKRay.com so you can keep updated on my crazy life and see all the things God’s doing in it!!

Love ALL you readers out there!! 🙂

Dana

Flat Tire

The other day I approached an intersection and heard a loud flapping sound. I pulled up next to a six-wheeled pickup truck that had a tire cage in the bed and was hauling new tires. I looked over at the truck and noticed one of his inside tires was blown and the rubber was pounding against the pavement.

We continued down the road. I found it amusing that this truck had a blown tire and he’s hauling around a hundred tires in the back of his truck. He had everything he needed to fix the flat, but never stopped to use it. He drove on because he could. He still had five good tires, but no doubt the ride wasn’t as smooth, enjoyable or efficient.

Often times, we walk around this earth hurt, unfulfilled, attacked or spiritually drained. God has given us everything we need only we never tap into it. We continue on because we can, only we aren’t happy or content.

Do you have a tire blown and you just keep driving using the other five wheels. This leads to a mediocre life. Pull over. Change it. Look up and use the tools God has given us. His Word. Pray. Believe. Trust in Him. He came so we may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance. John 10:10

Check out my new webpage danakray.com and sign up for email updates on my upcoming books and blog posts.

How Big is Your Brave

I was recently at a meeting with a lot of senior ministers, children’s ministers, youth ministers, and music ministers. My feelings of inadequacy began to rise. Thoughts invaded my head. I’m not smart enough. I don’t know the Bible as well as them. I’m not spiritual enough. Those thoughts and feelings make me sit quietly even when I feel the spirit prompting me to speak.

I left the first day of the two day meeting frustrated with myself. I’ve prayed about this feeling of inadequacy for years. As I drove home, I cried out to God, “When am I going to have a breakthrough. Am I always going to feel this way? When will I get over it? Why does this continue to haunt me? Will I always walk around with this not good enough feeling?”

I asked over and over again when my breakthrough was going to happen but heard no answer. I decided I needed some music so I flipped on the radio. The first words I heard were…Say what you wanna say and let the words fall out. Honestly, I wanna see you be brave. I just wanna see you, I just wanna see you, I just wanna see you be brave. (Brave by Sara Bareilles) I realize the song is talking about something totally different but it was as if the words were coming directly from God’s mouth. Everybody’s been there, everybody’s been stared down by the enemy, fallen for the fear and done some disappearing…bow down to the Mighty, don’t run…I just wanna see you be brave.

It doesn’t matter if we feel inadequate. The question is, do we trust God to equip us to do the job He has called us to do? When we’re weak, He is strong. Do it afraid. He just wants us to be brave. He wants to see it. Show Me how big your brave is.

My Amazing Daughter

Last Friday my oldest daughter fell at college and broke her ankle really bad. I mean, really bad. Two broken bones, plus two fractures in the fibula, and dislocated it.  Because it happened Friday afternoon, they told us she would have to wait until the morning for surgery.

We got her admitted to the hospital and waited for the doctor to approve pain meds. She was in a lot of pain.  I think it was more painful because it was dislocated. After a horribly painful night mixed with tears and morphine, the nurse came in and explained how the Ortho Surgeon planned his day. He would rate the breaks and then do surgery accordingly, worse goes first and so on. We didn’t want my daughters to be the worst but we sure wanted her in there getting operated on first.

The PA came in, checked things out, explained how it would work then left.  The nurse came back in and asked if he told us the order of the surgeries.  Since he didn’t, she explained that the surgeon was going to do a hip replacement first. Then it was she wasn’t sure who was next.  It was between my daughter and a little girl next door who had a pretty bad brake on her elbow.

My daughter, although still in excruciating pain, looked up at the nurse and she said, “You know, you can give me more pain meds and go ahead and let the little girl go first.”

Tears filled my eyes.  I couldn’t believe that she was willing to sacrifice, to lay in excruciating pain longer so this little girl, this total stranger, could go into surgery first.  I wanted to scream no, take my baby first but I didn’t. Instead I stood by, a proud mom.

They took my daughter next. Doctors go by worse case not sacrifice.  But my daughter showed what true sacrifice it.  Her willingness to endure more pain to help a total stranger reminded me of Jesus and His ultimate sacrifice.

He knew the pain He was going to go through on the cross, yet, He was willing to do it anyway. Jesus knew us, my daughter didn’t know this little girl, but she was willing to take the pain longer so this little girl didn’t have to suffer anymore.  Amazing.

As we go through our daily lives, let’s keep our eyes open and see who we can be Jesus to others.

Who Do You Listen To?

I am a football fan and I must admit it was pretty cool to watch my son play.  When he was nine, actually nine years ago, I wrote this:

The High School football coach was the umpire and the dad’s volunteered for the chain gang, which meant he moved the chains for the yardage, which gave him a front row, center seat to watch the game.

My son made some good yards and some good tackles.  He played the entire game on both offense and defense.  He and two other kids, the two coaches kids, were the only ones never rotated out.  They won, 12-0.  They scored a total of five touchdowns but because of penalties the other three didn’t count.

Later that night we were talking about the game.  My son had had a blast even though he said he was disappointed because he didn’t score.  He did some great fakes and blocks so his teammates could score.  I said to him, “Instead of running down the middle of the field, maybe you should run around the defenders and run down the sideline then you wouldn’t get tackled as much and could maybe score.”

My son said, “Mom, don’t do this.  The coach said I’m a big kid with power.  I’m supposed to run right through the defenders.”  He went on to say, “Like Priest Holmes on the Chiefs, he sometimes breaks through and makes the big plays but every yard counts and the coach says that five or six yards a play is just as important as a break away.”

Who was I to give advice?  I am just a mother and a fan.  My son knew he was supposed to listen to his coach.

Through my son’s simple statement God spoke wonders to my heart.

He said, “Dana, who do you listen to?  The fans or the Coach?  Yes, others may love you dearly but they are fallible.  Listen to Me.  Read My word.  Follow My instructions.”

Then He went on to say, “Some of us are destined for the break away plays but it’s the steady five or six yards we gain daily that will, in the end, win us the game.”

Black Friday

After an amazing Thanksgiving Day with family I threw around the idea of whether or not to do any black Friday shopping. I had studied ads for a week and there was only one thing I really wanted at a major retail store. The sale started at 10 pm Thursday night. I’m not a stand in line kind of person so I laid on the couch trying to decide if I should go or not. Finally at 10:15 pm I thought I’d go. If I didn’t get the item it didn’t matter but it might be kind of fun to see all the people.

I took my daughter and we drove to the store. We found a parking space and as we walked through the parking lot we saw a lady struggling to get a 40 inch TV into her small car. I immediately wanted to help her so I asked her, assuring her that we weren’t there to steal her TV.

After getting the TV in her car, we went inside and of course, it was insanely crazy. Our mission was to keep a smile on our faces and to be nice to the clerks, to be courteous in everything we did. I didn’t get the item I wanted because the in stock was sold out but I did get a guarantee card that assured me they would ship the item, with the bonus 75.00 gift card, and it would arrive before Christmas. We stood in the long line to purchase the card.

When it was my turn at the register, the lady at the register next to ours had the same exact card and it shut down both registers. You can only imagine how the people behind us began to rant as we waited for managers. I kept a smile on my face and told the clerk it was fine, there was no rush even though the hundred people behind us thought there was.

We finally made our purchase and left. I told my daughters it was neat to be nice to others and show Jesus in a very hectic situation. We got home and I had to register my purchase online so they would ship it to the store. Don’t you know the website was down. In the morning when I could get online, I logged in only for it to tell me that I didn’t have enough money on the card to complete the purchase.

The clerk, in the rush of things, had given me the $75 off and said I could forgo the gift card. It didn’t work that way. I was told by customer service that I had to go back into the super store, load the $75.00 back on it then go back home and register it on line, which would then give me the $75.00 back.

I prayed quite a bit before I went back to the super store because it was irritating that I stood in line the night before and the clerk did it wrong which made me have to drive back to the store to fix it. My gas, my time. When I felt prepared, I went.

Thankfully, there was not a big crowd at customer service. I was happy, smiling, nice. I explained that the clerk was busy last night, it was no big deal. I got money loaded back on the card and headed home. I did great at the store. I was proud. I patted myself on the back. As soon as you do something right and feel good about it, Satan throws you a curve.

I stopped at our local fast food drive-thru for a diet Coke for myself, and 2 drinks for my kids. I ordered. I paid and pulled to the window to get my drinks. They asked me to pull ahead and wait.

Now I’m all for fast service but to pull ahead for three drinks when the drink dispenser is right there is ridiculous. The longer I waited the more irritated I got. By the time the lady came out to hand me my three drinks I couldn’t even look at her. When she said have a nice day I ignored her. I knew whatever was going to come out of my mouth was not going to be nice.

As I tried to cool down I knew the Holy Spirit was convicting me of my attitude. I asked myself this question; Why was I so prepared to be nice at the craziness of the super store yet totally lost it at the drive-thru?

I thought about the other disciples at the Transfiguration. Jesus had taken Peter, John and James up the mountain and left the others below. They were brought the demon possessed boy but couldn’t drive the demon out.

After Jesus came down and drove the demon out the other disciples asked why they couldn’t do it? Jesus mentions in Matthew it was lack of faith, Mark recorded that they needed to pray more and John doesn’t mention the question but proceeds to tell us the disciples began to argue about who would be the greatest. Lack of faith, need of prayer, who is the greatest? Jesus was not the center. He wasn’t even in their site.

When I walked into that store I was focused on Christ, ready for the battle, showing Him to others. When I walked out, I was proud. I started to pat myself on the back thinking that I did so well and as those thoughts ran through my head, my eyes went off Jesus and were on me which made the drive-thru a disaster.

We have to make sure to always keep Jesus first no matter what situation we are in or where we are. Whether it’s something as big as a crowded Black Friday sale or something as small as getting a diet Coke at a drive-thru. Show Jesus to everyone.

The Day After

I woke up this morning with the song Your Love Never Fails by Jesus Culture going through my head even though my heart was very heavy. The heaviness wasn’t so much because of who won or lost the election but because there is still so much hatred and un-unification in our country. I purposefully didn’t turn on the TV this morning because I didn’t want to be inundated with all the talk of the elections. As a mother, I strived very hard to teach my children to be gracious winners and graceful losers.  I just couldn’t see the TV commentators doing either.

I did, however, check out Facebook and was horrified with some of the posts. The most shocking against our military. Someone posted that their husband and about 1000 other military people in another country didn’t get absentee ballots in time to vote. If this is true, that, in itself, is sad, but the comment of the next person brought me to my knees. He said he thought it was crazy that we would think our military should put down their guns to vote. Does he not understand that that is the very freedom our military fights for?

Whether you’re a Republican, Democrat, or Independent, whether you wanted Obama or Romney, the task at hand is to set it all aside and unite in loving Jesus and loving people? Let’s focus our energy on showing Christ’s love to others regardless of our political stand then sit back and watch God bless this country.

2 Chronicles 7:14 says, If my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and heal their land.

The key is to do the four things to receive the three.  Humble yourself, pray, seek His face, and turn from your wicked ways THEN He will hear us, forgive us and heal our land!