Christina Speaks

It’s so easy to trust God when the facts are clear, and it looks like everything will be okay, isn’t it? But what about when everything we see tells us it’s time to freak out and take matters into our own hands? Almost six years ago, as I watched my son die in an emergency room, I chose to trust God. I had always felt he would die, but that night when Isaiah’s neurosurgeon told us in at least three different ways that Isaiah could die on an operating table, it became real.  In my heart, I believed he would die, but I begged God to save him anyway. I begged God to change His mind. I had no idea if He would honor my request, but I trusted Him. I trusted Him to take care of me, my marriage, and my family even if we lost Isaiah.  I’ve been asked many times, how I was able to place that kind of trust in God. The only thing I know is that I made a decision to trust Him. I knew I had no control over our situation, so my best option was to hand it over to my Creator. I trusted Him so ...

The other day I was with a dear friend, sitting in a quiet sterile room. The wall was green, the floor tiles were ugly. There were various chairs, like medical chaise lounge chairs all over the room. Some along walls and windows, some across the interior of the room. Most of them had a person sitting in them. Some were old, some were young, some were in between. Some of them were alone and some were with companions.  They were all hooked up to lines pumping some form of medication into a port in their chest or arm. As we talked, she revealed the depth of sadness she felt each time she entered that room. Everyone there was sick and scared. She didn’t want to belong there. Yet, she is fighting cancer just like they are.  I looked around at the various men and women and smiled.  At that moment I believed God revealed a different view to me. I reminded her that there are things going on in that room that we couldn’t see (Ephesians 6:12). Not one of those people was alone. E...

But even if it does, remember the Lord will be with you.     “Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.” (Deuteronomy 31:3) Have you ever heard the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the Bible? They refused to follow the decree to worship a golden statue King Nebuchadnezzar built. The punishment was death by fiery furnace. Because the men remained strong in their conviction, the king instructed his servants to heat it to seven times its usual temperature.   Guess what their response was?  “ If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (Daniel 3:17-18)  When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were tied up, and cast in...

I don’t usually pay much attention to stories having to do with celebrities, much less find a spiritual application for them, but this one jumped out at me as I logged onto Facebook yesterday. This man, Michael Costello said that he is not okay and may never be okay, but he’s choosing to speak his truth.  When I read that, I said out loud, “No! You will be okay. You will not let her do that to you!”    Let me first say that bullies exist in the world. They should be called out and corrected. Whatever Chrissy Teigen did or said to hurt him is not okay, and it is necessary and important for Michael to speak his “truth” about it. The problem I have with this situation is that he’s given her such power over his life (to the point he would end it) and needs to take that back!    What we’ve got to understand about mean people (or people who act mean sometimes) is that they are broken. They’ve got wounds they are trying to heal by inflicting the pain they feel upon oth...

I’d like to share some thoughts again that I shared one year ago. As we continue living through a time of uncertainty, pain, confusion, and fear, we are all responding differently.   Most of us carry some kind of pain, or experience some kind of suffering in our lives.  It may be that one of the reasons it may be difficult to deal with some of what’s happening in this country. Observing the pain and anger of others, (maybe unconsciously) may remind each of us of our own unexpressed or even expressed pain. Last year, an old friend cried out in anger, publicly expressing her pain. It was the first time many of us were made aware of the depth of that pain due to abuse, loss, and betrayal. She could see the pain of black people, yet struggled with seeing so many act on that pain in destructive ways. She doesn’t do that. There were a few things she expressed that I didn’t agree with, but I made the choice to look past her opinions, and focus on what really mattered. She was angry. ...

“God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?” ‭‭Numbers‬ ‭23:19‬  We are emotional people. We often make decisions completely based on how we feel. And If we don’t know what the truth is, then all we will ever do is make decisions based on our feelings, and feelings lie. One thing we need to remember is that everything we think is not true.  There have been times when I wholeheartedly believed that someone had done something to me, or thought something about me, then reacted emotionally to that belief, just to find out that I was completely wrong. I ended up doing or saying the wrong thing or wasting precious time because I acted on my feelings instead of the truth. God did give us feelings for a reason, but we can’t always count on them.  Have you ever felt that things would never get better- that you were going to remain in a difficult situat...

Last week we talked about matters of mental health and what God has to say.  If you are a Christ-follower and struggle with mental health, please understand that doesn’t mean you are not strong in your faith. That doesn’t mean you are not strong. This world isn’t as God intended it to be. When sin entered the world, everything changed. The evil one declared war on the hearts and minds of God’s people. We still fight that battle each day. One of the weapons we use to fight is self-care. Caring for our mental, emotional, and physical health is not selfish. It’s necessary.  Jesus gave us examples of self care. ‭‭Luke‬ ‭5:16 says, “But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”  True self-care brings us back to God. He is the one who fulfills us and brings us to a place of peace. In order to get to that place, there are sometimes things we need to do first. Self-care means different things for different people. It means to rest. It means to go away somewhere. Spend ti...