BIG Life Devotional | Daily Devotional for Women Pamela Crim | Daily Devotional for Women

Don’t wait for others to celebrate your life when it’s over, celebrate what God has done in your life TODAY!







This special unscripted episode was hosted live on Facebook (watch here: https://www.facebook.com/1249986681/videos/987406949413043/) as I share my testimony and celebrate all God has done.







Jeremiah 17:14, “O LORD, if you heal me, I will be truly healed; if you save me, I will be truly saved. My praises are for you alone!”







I have been truly healed. I have been truly saved. Now God gets all the praise! HE DID THIS!







Follow Pamela on Instagram – https://instagram.com/headmamapamelaOr Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pamela.crimFind out more about BIG Life – http://biglifehq.com

It’s exhausting trying to keep up the facade of how we want our lives to appear to others. We only choose the filtered photos where we look good. We only present our best days and our best moments. For some reason, we want to look better than everyone else, but why is that, and what is this doing to us?







James 3: 14-16, “But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your heart, don’t boast and deny the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from above but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there is disorder and every evil practice.”







Oh, well, doesn’t that just make sense. We’re so filled with our selfish ambitions and trying to make someone, anyone, envy this presented version of a life we’re living, and it’s caused complete disorder!







The MSG translation says it like this, “It’s the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts. Wherever you’re trying to look better than others, things fall apart.” The way you talk, the way you post, the filtered and fixed up version … is this you trying to look better than someone else? Welp, that’s where things are going to fall apart!







And haven’t we? Haven’t we all been falling apart? We’re not together, we are divided. We are apart. We are in discord and chaos as things continue to fall apart.







So, what should we do? CHECK OURSELVES! Where am I trying to look better than others? Where am I trying to look like my life is better than someone else’s? Like what I’m doing is better?







And where are you doing this?







There’s nothing wrong with dressing up and looking nice, but when it’s to turn all the heads, that’s a problem. There’s nothing wrong with going somewhere beautiful and wanting to share it with others, but when it’s to make others think that where you are is better than where they are, that’s a problem. God is asking WHAT IS THE MOTIVE BEHIND WHAT YOU ARE DOING? The wrong motive will only have things falling apart in your life.







We have become a showy, competitive, obsessed with perfection, selfish people and we are completely falling apart. God’s word says this is earthly, unspiritual and demonic. Well yuck, no wonder we’re having problems, y’all!







But keep reading because we have the solution. James 3: 17-18, “God’s wisdom is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not two faced. You can develop a healthy and robust community that lives right with God and enjoy the results ONLY IF you do the hard work of getting along and treating each other with dignity and honor.”







God knew us getting along with everyone would be hard work, and he asks us to do it any way. Yes, do the hard work of getting along!







How hard are you trying to get along with the people at your work? Really, are you trying? God expects you to try … then try harder. That seems unfair, why should it be up to you to try harder? Well, you are the one hearing this right now, so that means God has chosen YOU to go first! Go out of your way to get along with the one who is so darn hard to get along with. Yes, for real, do it.







You always wonder when God is going to show up and speak directly to you about what he wants you to do. Well there it is! Do the hard work of getting along.







This scripture tells us how. Be gentle and reasonable today. Overflow with mercy and blessings. Don’t be two faced.







Oh, that’s our problem. We are nice to their face,

A woman who reads his word, then applies it to her life. When you read “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger, for human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness.” (James 1: 19&20), a response is expected from you. That’s about YOU. It’s about how you have only been listening to speak. It’s about how you have been speaking before you process that thought. Girl, you can’t just say whatever is on your mind, because some of those thoughts need to be filtered out before they flow out. It’s about how you’ve been leading from frustration instead of love. It applies to you and action is required. God wants you to be a woman of action.







A woman who receives a prompting from his Holy Spirit, and does something about it. You know that little voice inside of you that says, “hey, you should reach out to that person”, or “this isn’t right in your life, it’s time to change it.” That’s God’s Spirit guiding your next steps. Now lift up your foot and step. Stop trying to make sense of it and trust God really does speak to you. He speaks to you because he wants you to be a woman of action.







Will you be the one God knows will go when he says go? Will you be the one who will be available when he prompts? Will you be the one who will respond in faith with actions over words? Or will you be the one who just sits there and talks about it? Will you be the one who complains about how things are today, but doesn’t do a darn thing to make it better in your own house? Will you be the one who is always too busy, always too unsure, and never quite good enough for the job? Hey, that is NOT what God sees in you!







God doesn’t see you as a girl who is stuck without a clear way of overcoming this. He sees you as a girl with the mighty power of his Spirit within her, and if you will start responding to his word in your Bible and his word in your spirit, you won’t spend another day stuck.







I know it sucks starting over. But if you hate starting over so much, how about this time you decide you’re simply not going to stop. This time you keep showing up in the strength God gives you and you push through. This time could be the last time you have to start again. A woman of action will embrace the suck, stop complaining about it, and just do it.







And again, GOD WANTS YOU TO BE A WOMAN OF ACTION.







James 1: 22, “Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” I’ve heard a good sermon, I’ve listened to a powerful podcast, I’ve read an amazing book, and then I’ve done absolutely NOTHING with those words. Those words inspired me, stirred me, gave me great ideas – but without action, they were wasted. Inspiration is like gas, it will pass. You are bloated with inspiration because you keep buying more books, listening to all the podcasts, researching all the ideas, but you’re never doing a darn thing with all that. You’re just bloated. You need to get up and walk that out!!!! Honey, what good is the batter you keep stirring but never put in the oven? Bake this sucker and let’s take a bite!







As this scripture says, you have been deceived. You’ve been deceived into thinking if you just get more inspired you’ll do something about this mess. No you won’t. You know when you’ll do something about this mess? When you actually DO something about this mess.







You’ve been deceived into thinking there’s a perfect diet, and when you find that diet all your problems will go away. You’ve been deceived into thinking there’s a perfect man out there, and he’s not the one you married.

Are you facing a situation right now where you don’t know what to do next? That next step is uncertain because you don’t know where this is leading. You can’t see beyond today … and you’re not supposed to. But if you can’t see tomorrow, how do you know the right next step into that which you cannot see?







There are two kinds of people. The kind of people who take wild leaps just to see what happens when they do … and the kind of people who gather all the details before budging. The kind of people who click and buy because they liked it … and the kind of people who put it in their online cart for days while they research it. I don’t know which one you are, but I sure know which one I tend to be.







Are you the kind of person who just does something, anything, when you aren’t sure what to do? Or are you the kind of person who does nothing at all when you’re unsure? God wants us to be neither of these.







Here’s what God wants us to do … He wants us TO ASK HIM FIRST AND BELIEVE HE WILL GUIDE US.







James 1: 5, “Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God – who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly – and it will be given to him.” Lacking wisdom is a really nice way of putting it. The Message translation of that same verse says it like it really is: “If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father.”







Is that you? You don’t know what the heck you’re doing. You don’t know how to raise these kids. You don’t know how to fix this marriage. You don’t know how to crawl out of this hole. You don’t know how to make this right. You don’t know what to do next. You don’t know how to get from where you are to where you want to be. YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING.







Sometimes I feel like a total imposter. On most days I really don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know how I’m ever going to be good enough to pull off the things I’m attempting to do. I don’t know how I can finish what I’ve started. But, through all of this, I’ve figured out the most important thing … I don’t have to know, I just have to pray!







I’m not posing, I’m praying. I’m not pretending, I’m praying. I’m not an imposter, I’m a pray-er.







I don’t know what I’m doing, so I pray to the Father. I ask him about the next step. I ask him who I need to be. I ask him to show me the way. I ask him to give me the words. Then, all I need to do is BELIEVE he is guiding me. I’ve learned just because I don’t know what I’m doing while I’m showing up to do it doesn’t mean I’m an imposter, it means I’m a vessel!







My sister, you are a vessel when you’re emptied of self and available to be filled! You’re a vessel when you show up with a determination to go wherever you’re prompted to go, and do whatever you’re prompted to do, even when it doesn’t make sense and even when you don’t feel like it. You’re a vessel!







Do you know how many mornings I know precisely what I’m going to share when I sit down to start writing? Practically none. I don’t know. I’m counting on God to guide me.







Do you know how many morning I feel like writing when I start the very first sentence? None. Absolutely none. The first sentence is always almost impossible. It’s like the first step on a journey when I don’t know where I’m going, nor do I know if I have what it will takes to go there, or if I will even like it. That’s a hard first step,

Join us in this special Friday unplugged Bible study and devotional onbringing a little Jesus to others. Psalm 23: 4







Follow Pamela on Instagram – https://instagram.com/headmamapamelaOr Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pamela.crimFind out more about BIG Life – http://biglifehq.com

Throughout the day you are breathing, and you likely never notice your breath. Breathing doesn’t require intentional effort, your body does the work without your consciousness even catching on. Until you can’t breathe … then you know. Your awareness is hyper focused on breathing when it is threatened.







I went over 40 years of my life, breathing without the awareness of the source of my breath. I simply never thought about it. Where does the air you breathe come from? It was a song I sang one Sunday morning in Church several years ago that changed my breathing. This part of the song slayed me and changed me: It’s your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise, pour out our praise. It’s your breath in our lungs so we pour out our praise to you only.







Genesis 2:7 says “Then the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.”







You and I are living at this very moment because of the breath of God. It is his breath that fills our lungs. It is his breath that gives us life. You have the breath of the Almighty within you, filling you, reviving you, bringing you life. And all you have to do is receive it.







Once I became aware of the source of my breath, I realized my habit of shallow breathing. By habit I take in just enough to do the job. Long term shallow breathing affects your health. Your body functions in a state of continual stress, lowering your immunity and lowers your energy.







But even worse, shallow breathing creates shallow living.







Are we just skimming the surface of all that’s truly available to us? Are we never going deeper into the life God is offering us only taking in enough to just get through? Yes, I think so.







When I look at the beauty of creation, I can’t imagine God created all of this for us to just get by. That isn’t his heart. His creation reveals his abundance and fullness and as his most prized and precious creation, he offers this abundance and fullness to us.







Newborn babies breathe deep. Their bellies expand and their chest rises and falls as they take in all life has to offer. We did the same when breath was new. Then we became used to it. We just expect God’s breath to be available and we allow it no special regard.







Each morning before this devotional, I lead the women I mentor in a deep breathing exercise. It’s become part of our morning routine together. It used to be the part of the morning I dreaded, now it’s the part of the morning where I relax my shoulders, turn off everything else, and just allow God to fill me.







Practicing deep breathing creates a whole truckload of benefits:







Natural painkiller.Improves blood flow.Increases energy level.Improves posture.Reduces inflammation.Detoxifies the body.Improves digestion.Relaxes your mind and body.Now think about that … all of these positive results by doing one thing … breathing deeper. And what are we doing when we breathe deeper? We are intentionally receiving MORE of God. It is his breath that fills your lungs so naturally by breathing deeper, you are receiving more of him. And more of him heals us.







As I’ve been practicing deep breathing, I’ve learned a few things.







First, I have a limited capacity. Try taking the biggest, deepest breath you’ve taken all day. Your lungs quickly filled and you don’t notice a tremendous benefit, right? I don’t necessarily feel more energized, relaxed or improved in any way.







It’s like trying to add God into an already packed daily routine.