Category: Car

Dear New Driver

Sheri YatesLeave a comment

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Dear New Driver,

As much as Disney and Pixar want you to think your car has a personality, I hate to tell you this, but it doesn’t. You can name it. You can put eyelashes on it. You can put a girdle in front of it or decorate it with a tail on the back. You can call it by a name all day long, but your car does not have a personality. I’m so sorry. I apologize from the bottom of my heart that you have a friend you think is real and legit; it’s not.

Let me tell you this: since your car does not have a personality, it takes on your character. When you hop in the car, if you are happy, your car will be happy. If you are sad, your vehicle is going to be sad. If you are angry, your car is going to be angry. It will be blasting through traffic, flying around people, thoroughly annoyed. If you are in a hurry, your car will be fast. It didn’t turn into a sports car overnight. It’s not a Camaro. But you put that pedal to the metal and press it down because you need to get somewhere on time.

Just because you’re a new driver who can drive does not mean you have to. When you are in a hurry or distracted, asking your parents to drive you where you need to go is okay. Tell them, “I’m in a really big hurry, and I don’t want my car to be in a hurry,” or “I’m very upset right now. I’m afraid I won’t be able to drive through my tears,” or “I won’t be able to drive without anger.”

If you recognize that your car takes on your personality, you can stop it. You can say, “It’s not okay to drive an angry car around town because that could hurt people.” There are consequences to driving your car when you are emotional. When your vehicle is angry, you can end up in a wreck by hitting another car or someone walking on the sidewalk. Wouldn’t that be awful? That is horrible. You would have to live with it.

We don’t want to do that. We want to ensure we realize our car does not have a personality—but it takes on ours.

Being Obedient to God

Sheri YatesLeave a comment
This is a dangerous statement because our society today tells us, “Just be you. Be who you are. You know who you are. Do what your heart desires. Fulfill your desires.”

I’ve learned the hard way to be careful about sharing this because it only exists for those people who are searching the heart of God in all of their ways—not some of their ways, not only in church on Sunday morning, but in all of their ways. They acknowledge God in all of their ways.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV) 

That word ‘acknowledge’ there means to know God relationally. In everything you do, be in communion with God. That’s really what it means.


If you go out and do what you want to do, and that includes sleeping around and making immoral choices, then you are not acknowledging God in all of your ways. He is not a God of sin. This message is not designed for people who are trying to fulfill their fantasies or their sinful desires.

This is for people who are truly seeking God with all of their heart, soul, mind, and strength. They are seeking to know Him. They read the Word. They are falling in love with God more every day. Those people can do this. God gives them the desires of their hearts.

When you’re not really seeking Him, when He is not your first priority and you are not pursuing Him with everything you have because He is good and you want to know Him, then the desires of your heart may not be purely His. They may be your desires for the old things your flesh used to want—you know, bigger house, nicer car, better body, somebody to love you, somebody to fill your void. 

Well, God is your void filler. He is your house. You are His house. You have everything you need in Him, and there is nothing that you lack. Lack is not your portion when you are in Him. I think it takes a while after we begin seeking God for the desires of our heart to transfer from our old, worldly desires to His desires.

But once you are seeking Him and you really know who you are as His child, He puts His desires in your heart. He puts in you the desire to take care of orphans and widows. He gives you the desire to help people. He gives you the desire not to honk the horn and be mad at somebody who road raged you or drove you off the road. He gives you the desire to offer freedom and forgiveness. He gives you the desires of your heart because He is placing His desires in your heart.

The more you seek Him, the more you find Him and the more He gives you His desires. When that happens, you’ll know. If the desire in your heart is to go out and smoke and drink, that’s not it, okay? You’ll know when it’s God’s desire. If you’re walking and you see someone and think, “I feel like I should give this person twenty bucks,” that’s probably God’s desire in your heart. He is going to provide the twenty bucks, and He is going to want you to give the twenty bucks away.

You can trust that when you are seeking God with all of your heart, you are hearing from Him and He is putting His desires in your heart. When you are first learning to distinguish between God’s desires and the desires of your flesh, what you want to do is check His Word. See whether the desire in your heart lines up with how God teaches us to live in Scripture. If it doesn’t and it’s sinful, then you don’t want to follow that desire.

You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more. (Psalm 10:17-18 NIV)

One of the things I do is let the peace of Christ rule in me. I wake up with God on my heart, and I want to be with Him all of the time. I am with Him all of the time, and He is with me. Before I do anything, I stop and wait for the peace of God to run over me. I ask, “Is this the peace of God?” There’s a difference between man’s direction and God’s, and God’s is always surrounded by tremendous peace.

Being Obedient to God

Sheri YatesLeave a comment
This is a dangerous statement because our society today tells us, “Just be you. Be who you are. You know who you are. Do what your heart desires. Fulfill your desires.”

I’ve learned the hard way to be careful about sharing this because it only exists for those people who are searching the heart of God in all of their ways—not some of their ways, not only in church on Sunday morning, but in all of their ways. They acknowledge God in all of their ways.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV) 

That word ‘acknowledge’ there means to know God relationally. In everything you do, be in communion with God. That’s really what it means.


If you go out and do what you want to do, and that includes sleeping around and making immoral choices, then you are not acknowledging God in all of your ways. He is not a God of sin. This message is not designed for people who are trying to fulfill their fantasies or their sinful desires.

This is for people who are truly seeking God with all of their heart, soul, mind, and strength. They are seeking to know Him. They read the Word. They are falling in love with God more every day. Those people can do this. God gives them the desires of their hearts.

When you’re not really seeking Him, when He is not your first priority and you are not pursuing Him with everything you have because He is good and you want to know Him, then the desires of your heart may not be purely His. They may be your desires for the old things your flesh used to want—you know, bigger house, nicer car, better body, somebody to love you, somebody to fill your void. 

Well, God is your void filler. He is your house. You are His house. You have everything you need in Him, and there is nothing that you lack. Lack is not your portion when you are in Him. I think it takes a while after we begin seeking God for the desires of our heart to transfer from our old, worldly desires to His desires.

But once you are seeking Him and you really know who you are as His child, He puts His desires in your heart. He puts in you the desire to take care of orphans and widows. He gives you the desire to help people. He gives you the desire not to honk the horn and be mad at somebody who road raged you or drove you off the road. He gives you the desire to offer freedom and forgiveness. He gives you the desires of your heart because He is placing His desires in your heart.

The more you seek Him, the more you find Him and the more He gives you His desires. When that happens, you’ll know. If the desire in your heart is to go out and smoke and drink, that’s not it, okay? You’ll know when it’s God’s desire. If you’re walking and you see someone and think, “I feel like I should give this person twenty bucks,” that’s probably God’s desire in your heart. He is going to provide the twenty bucks, and He is going to want you to give the twenty bucks away.

You can trust that when you are seeking God with all of your heart, you are hearing from Him and He is putting His desires in your heart. When you are first learning to distinguish between God’s desires and the desires of your flesh, what you want to do is check His Word. See whether the desire in your heart lines up with how God teaches us to live in Scripture. If it doesn’t and it’s sinful, then you don’t want to follow that desire.

You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more. (Psalm 10:17-18 NIV)

One of the things I do is let the peace of Christ rule in me. I wake up with God on my heart, and I want to be with Him all of the time. I am with Him all of the time, and He is with me. Before I do anything, I stop and wait for the peace of God to run over me. I ask, “Is this the peace of God?” There’s a difference between man’s direction and God’s, and God’s is always surrounded by tremendous peace.

Being Obedient to God!

Sheri YatesLeave a comment
This is a dangerous statement because our society today, in our world—that’s what they say. “Just be you. Be who you are. Just be. You know who you are. Just do what your heart’s desire. Fulfill it.”

I’ve learned the hard way to be careful of sharing this because really, it only exists for those people who are searching the heart of God in all of their ways—not some of their ways, not only on church on Sunday morning—but in all of their ways. They’re acknowledging God in all of their ways.

Proverbs 3, 5 and 6 says, “Acknowledge God in all of your ways and he will make your path straight.” That word acknowledge there means to relationally know God. So in everything you do, relationally, just be in communion with God—that’s really what it means—in all of your ways.

If you go out and do what you wanna do, and that includes sleeping around and being immoral and making immoral choices, then you are not acknowledging God in all of your ways. He is not a God of sin. So this message is not for you. This is not designed for someone who is just trying to fulfill their fantasies or the desires of their heart.

This is for the person who is really seeking God with all their hearts, soul, mind, strength. They’re seeking to know him. They’re reading the word. They’re in the word. They’re falling in love with God more every day. Those people, they can really do this. God gives us the desires of our heart.

When you’re not really seeking him, and he’s not your first priority, and you’re not pursuing him with everything you have and chasing after him because he’s good and you just wanna know him, then that the desires of your heart may not be purely his. They may still be yours or for the old things that your flesh used to desire. You know, bigger house, nicer car, better body, somebody to love you, somebody to fill your void. Well God is your void filler. He is your house. You’re his house. You have everything you need in him and there’s nothing that you’re lacking. There is no lack. Lack is not your portion when you’re in him. I think that it takes a while after seeking God for desires of our heart to transfer from our old, worldly desires to his desires.

But once you’re seeking him and you’re really knowing who you are and you’re his child, you know what, he’s gonna put his desires in your heart. He’s gonna put the desire to take care of orphans and widows. He’s gonna give you the desire to help people. He give you the desire to not honk the horn and be mad at somebody because they road raged you or drove you off the road. He’s gonna give you the desire to offer freedom and forgiveness. He’s gonna give you the desire of your heart because he’s placing his desires in your heart.

The more you seek him, the more you find him; the more that you find him, the more that he just gives you his desires. When that happens, you’ll know. The desire in your heart is to go out and smoke and drink—that’s not it, okay? That’s not what it is. But you’ll know when it’s God’s desire. If you’re walking and you see someone and you think, “Gosh, I feel like I should give them 20 bucks,” you know what, that’s probably God’s desire in your heart. You know, you can sit there and say, “Well is this God or is this me? I don’t know. Is this God telling me to give him 20 bucks?” I mean, honestly, it’s probably God. You can trust that. You can trust that he’s putting his desires n you and they’re becoming your desires. He’s gonna give you the desires of your heart. He’s gonna provide the 20 bucks and he’s gonna want you to give the 20 bucks away.

So you can trust that when you’re seeking God with all of your heart, that you’re hearing from him and he’s putting his desires on your heart. What you wanna do is make sure you know that what he asked you to do lines up with the scripture. If it doesn’t and it’s sinful then that’s when you don’t want to listen.

So when you’re just first learning to just follow the desires of your heart because you know God put them there, just check them against the word of God.

Psalms 10:17 basically—if you read that and dissect it, which would be great with your walk with Christ, it’s another scripture to show you how God is putting his desires in your heart.

For me, one of the things that I do is I let the peace of Christ rule in me. I wake up with God on my heart and I want to be with him all the time. I am with him all the time. He’s with me. I just stop and let the peace of God run over me and I just kinda wait for it before I do anything. I’m like, “Is this the peace of God?” There’s a difference and man’s direction and God’s is always surrounded by tremendous peace.