And the God of all grace...

Good morning my sisters-

I wrote this passage last week and thought it was important to pass on.  How you think about yourself can and will be used against you.  You must always remember that God thinks your beautiful, your wonderful and your His.  As you read what I wrote, I hope you find one word that you can put into place that is positive and represents how Jesus sees you.  At the end of this journey it doesn't matter what people believed about you, it matters what trials you learned from, what faith you gained in the midst of negativity and in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  I hope you find something in today to be blessed by and find your first word, here's mine.

From last Friday to my trainer:

Words are what knit this world together.  They can be positive or negative with no grey area.  They can inspire or tear down.  They are the center of how people feel.  Whether you are logical or artistic, words paint a picture of the soul.  They define people into categories that often, they cannot break.  Words should be used to build tapestry but instead they are often used to bring about war.

As a little girl, I learned what it meant to be a “bastard, abandoned and unwanted.”  I learned what an ugly duckling was and how librarian, which should have meant something positive, became an absolute negative in my life.  And I learned what fat meant and how fat people were treated and how they thought of themselves.  These were the words that molded a young girl.  And although none of these words are positive, they were all used to make a warrior.

Struggling with body issues, insecurities and not fitting in is where my journey begins.  Where I am today truly started so many years ago.  Women, in general, struggle with many of the same issues I face.  Girls look at movie stars, models and beautifully thin women as their sole role model.  We get desensitized to what we were truly made for and that beauty is only skin deep.  Words somehow penetrated the minds and souls of the innocent to be distorted, ravaged and twisted.  What was started as a solid oak tree ends in sawdust.  But like every strong tree, rooted to the ground, with sunlight and water that tree grows again. It becomes new and learns to weather the toughest storms and in time, becomes stronger and more radiant. Body transformation isn’t just the time you spend in the gym or in your home, it’s the time you take to re-program words that have infiltrated your mind and soul.  Like a great painting the color needs to be layered, swished and infused, with light and dark, to weave a picture of true mastery.

Beginning the journey is the toughest part.  How do I know?  Because I have taken on the challenge at an age when a woman has a hard time losing weight, getting healthy and seeing herself from the inside, out.  As you age, your body begins to show all its wear.  What you have eaten, how much stress you have, what you believe and how you have treated the vessel you were given becomes apparent in blood tests and in how you feel.  You have a choice, just like I do.  You can choose to live in words or you can act and change your course.  You are made for this journey, you just didn’t know it until you got here and either did I.

So today we start with the re-programming of a mind that has been filled with the greatest lies.  These words have penetrated you to your core and part of getting healthy is taking each word, finding different ones and begin living in those words.  The past doesn’t have to define you.  You have a choice to fill your mind with beautiful colors.  It just takes one word to begin to see the truth. 

The word that changed my life happened last year, I chose, “Warrior.”  If an oak tree is 100 years young, isn’t it a warrior? Now, you need to find one word that describes this journey for you and put it into your mind, on your phone, as your saver screen, wherever because it’s about to become part of your journey to healing your mind and body.  As you picture the word, you will begin to push yourself to be the “word” that best describes you today.  We will add on to those words as time goes by but it really starts with the first.

In the end my sisters there is only one true path and where all words come from, our Lord and Savior. Don't believe the lies of the world, look up and find the words that God uses to describe His people.  We are His vines.  We must put on the full armor of God.  We are chosen.  We are His bride.  Do you see any negativity there?  Of course not because we are part of the beautiful tapestry that's been called to spread the word to the nations.  Our inner soul must long for God over words.  We are called to love others, listen to God and to spread the Bible.  Our journey is part of the 100 year vision and somewhere in that you will live and die.  The question is, "What do you want to leave behind?"

I want to leave behind that I fought the good fight and I persevered, just like Paul. Find a Scripture that resonates with you today and find one word that describes your journey with Jesus.

1 Peter 5: 10 NIV

And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered for a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.  To him be the power for ever and ever. AMEN

What if I wake up and I see Jesus....

Good morning my sisters-

This morning I woke up from a disturbing dream.  It took me a minute to realize where I was and that I actually was awake.  It's interesting because I haven't been dreaming that much but I've been in another spiritual battle, so I can only conclude that the dream stems from that.

Whenever we are fighting for good, it seems like something comes in and takes our focus off it.  Do you know what I mean?  All the sudden we are immersed in our own heads thinking about our life, our challenges and our directions.  We become, "I" focused.  Not a good place to be but it just happens and then we sit on it for awhile and it becomes an obsession.  Well, over the last couple of years, I've learned to shake off that kind of thinking.  I'm day by day now and yet, I'm still human so it would be very easy for me to slip into "What about tomorrow?"

Tomorrow always comes, that is, unless you have died and perhaps that truly is the best tomorrow.  While we're here on earth grieving, they are meeting Jesus, where there is no pain, no anxiety, no fear, no disease, no strife, no loss--they're free. So as I woke this morning I went to my daily reading of devotionals and Scripture.  It's become what I call my holy time.  It's me and Jesus, sitting in my office with no distractions.  Oh, and of course,there's coffee too, even if it is decaffeinated with primal greens, its still coffee!  Did I hear an Amen?

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that when I woke today, I didn't meet Jesus face to face.  I didn't get to hear him talk to me about my choices, my sins, my distractions or my journey.  I woke to a confusing dream that drove me to Him, which is the only way I can find Him here and to his non-audible voice, the Bible.  I have to admit, I often worry that I haven't repented for all my sins and how many of those will there be, only He knows.  At the same time, I know He knows my heart and my heart is 100% His. Trials have just been part of my life.  I've lived through them, or maybe, stumbled through them.  And in the end, I have come out of each one a stronger, more faithful Jesus follower.  Maybe I'm like the man that was paralyzed, who had the desire to get into the pool with no one to help him.  That didn't actually hold true though because Jesus came to Him and asked him if he wanted to be well and then healed Him.  Only today will reveal my direction and only today can I pray and walk with the Lord, for tomorrow will bring the next set of challenges.

I'm humble enough to admit that I need Jesus, not just today, but for every hour of today.  I'm needy enough to admit that I want Him to change me and mold me and I'm faithful enough to believe He will do all these things according to His will. So today, I pray for my sisters all over the world that are moving through life with challenges, hurts, strife and horrific circumstances.  I'm praying that our Lord and Savior is walking with them and lifting them up.  I'm praying that the enemy will not destroy the love they have for their God and I'm praying that I am preparing every single day to see Jesus, even if that's 40 years down the road.

A heart is a fickle thing.  It wants what it wants but we can train it to want Jesus.  Take a moment today, whether that's driving your car, taking a shower, going to work, diapering your baby, whatever your doing, ask Jesus to mold your heart and keep you right in today.  We prepare on this earth to be warriors for a world we can't see and our leader is the Son of God the Father.  We are strong and mighty.  Our hope is not on man but on Him who set us free.  Tell your mind and heart that today and God will lead you into the battle prepared and full of His love.  May you see Him as you wake up today for He's waiting to meet you right where you are. 

I pray all these things for you my sisters, be bold and bright and don't let anything squash the light that lives inside you!

Your power is great, and your glory is seen everywhere in heaven and on earth. You are king of the entire world,

1 Chronicles 29:11

Delving deeper...

Good morning my sisters-

Today I want to talk to you about delving deeper. What do I mean?  I mean delving into our souls, our thoughts and God's truth.  The Word is the source that takes away the old and brings in the new. Are you feeling down?  Do you lack purpose?  Are the stresses of work, marriage and children getting you down?  Maybe you are single and tired, has that made you wish for something different?

Life has a way of getting us down.  We do a great job of that too.  We fill our life with things that take our time, or we sleep, or we run so fast that God can't possibly penetrate our hearts.  All those things won't fill you and they won't help you out of the spot you're in right now.

The only way we can truly find God and ourselves is to delve deeper.  We need to do a self-diagnosis and God has to be our physician. The Bible speaks that the heart is fickle.  It is for sure.  I know that between my heart and mind I can paint a pretty bleak picture.  Most days I can stay positive through any circumstance but a series of events can take me from positive to weary, that is, depending on how I started my day.

I have recognized over the years that the fears and worries I have experienced are directly related to how much I have filled myself with the Word, the Lord and His purpose.  When I don't, that glass gets half empty quickly.  I will question everything and often, it leads to me thinking that I just haven't done enough.  But over the last year, as I spent hours searching the Lord and Scripture;
I found that by filling my soul with the Word, capturing every thought, I could take a bad day and fill it with Jesus.  Delving deeper into my heart has helped me self-diagnose faster and using Scripture for healing has taken me from despair to rejoicing.

Most people are scared to look in.  They think that they will crumble.  That's why so many Christians go from joy at the time they accept Jesus, to great despair.  Jesus is cleansing us from our world views and that's uncomfortable for us.  We don't want to lean on anyone.  We don't need to be dependent.  The world teaches us that we don't need anyone but ourselves but that's a huge lie.  We need a Savior, a purpose and a path.  He calls us by name and He leads us by still waters.

Is life difficult?  Absolutely it is.  Just think if you took that difficulty and gave it to Jesus.  What if you asked the Lord, "What do you want me to learn from this difficult time?"  Why does it have to be bad that we don't feel all warm about our lives?  Maybe that's our first indicator that our Lord is healing us from the inside, out.

These concepts were foreign to me until my journey last year.  I never wanted to be dependent on anyone.  I always wanted to believe that I didn't need people and I didn't believe I held sin in my heart. All of those things were completely inside of me and they were lies.  Those lies kept me from realizing that Jesus is my provider, He makes my path straight, and in all things I must surrender. By living my life that way I was able to come clean.  I recognized my pride, my performance based nature and the fact that I believed it was me that created success.  The realization was difficult and often heart wrenching but by delving deeper in the Word, I saw it, I understood it and I repented of it. The results have been amazing.  I now love delving deeper.  I love seeing what God wants me to work on.  I don't worry as much, I definitely don't fear as much and I have courage. Oh and I give Jesus all the credit.  I will never achieve without Him.  This philosophy varies from my former self and I have walked with Jesus for years.

So here's my challenge to you.  Ask the Holy Spirit what in your heart needs to be addressed.  You may have to give up running and sit still.  You might have to change your belief system in achievement or pride.  You may need to pray for a month before you figure out what's been holding you back but I promise you, spend some time with God and He will reveal it.  Quit being a victim or blaming your spouse.  Don't look at your best friend or others.  Stop running and address your heart, it will be totally worth it and most of all, challenge yourself to fill your cup with Scripture to fight against being part of the world. He's waiting.


Psalm 139:23
Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts

Be well my sisters and delve deeper!

A message of hope...

Good morning all-

I have been up since 4 am thinking about all I need to get done today.  My daughter-in-law will be here in just a couple of hours and I'm excited to spend time with her.  I realized something as I woke up and saw a message from a man that my mother mentored, time is precious.  You see, he reached out to me in April and I just saw the message this week. I had the horrid task of telling him of my numerous losses including my precious mom.  He wrote back, "I've just stopped crying."  It brought back floods of memories and made me relive the moment I walked in the bedroom to see her lifeless body on the floor.  My few words to him brought floods of memories of her loving my boys, baking bread and singing to the birds.  It reminded me of her great painting talent and how she took in strangers but mostly, it reminded me that when you love a person, they never forget.

So as I reflect on the numerous people my mom touched in her life, I think about how many people Jesus has touched, without even being here.  He can't hug us or wipe away our tears.  He can't make us laugh at ourselves when we do stupid things.  He can't give us sound advice when we hurt someone, even if we didn't mean it.  And yet, for thousands of years, He has quietly spoken to hearts and said, "Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden."  He stated from the beginning that He was our shepherd pointing us to His father.  And with His huge sacrifice, we have been touched in a way that no human could touch us.  He has guided millions to the cross, with forgiveness, hope and a future.  He has watched us as we have climbed mountains, fallen into valleys and drown in the sea.  He has been there in our darkest moments, encouraging us to just look up and when He molds us, He restores us more beautiful than before.  He is one of a kind and with His life and death came hope.  Maybe not the way man thinks but nevertheless, He is hope.

Many of us succumb to addiction, low self-esteem, greed, power, hatred, and a gang buster of other things without once looking up.  We have to look up.  All of our hope is stored in that one action.  When things are wrong, not fair, or just darn depressing, we have to look up and remember what Christ did for us.  That's what I did as the raw emotion came from my heart into my head as I wrote this morning how my mom died. I didn't crumble, I looked up!  He is my hope and He was her hope and He is the only hope we have in this evil world.  He holds the nations in His hands, He calms the storms, He provides and He loves.  He, not humans.  We think we do but really there's just not a lot of goodness without Him.  You might disagree with me but I know for a fact that our hearts are fickle and one day we might choose to do the wrong thing and who convicts us?  Jesus does, making us the humans we are.

I love Jesus Christ and He holds all my esteem. I'm in awe of the things He has done in my life and believe me they were not without growth pains.  I'm glad that I can rest in Him and watch as He fixes the messes I get myself into.  I'm blessed because through all my loss I have gained insight into a good God.  And I know that although I screw things up sometimes, He has a plan for my life and I'm His.  Hope is not just a word, its a truth.  Jesus brought hope and that hope has spread for centuries.  Religion can not hold you but God can.  People can not make you better but God can.  I realize every year how powerful the message of hope is.  Without hope, I just might have drowned.  Think about this, to commit suicide you have to have absolutely no hope, none.  That's the failure of the world but hope is the blessing that Christ freely gives.  Hope in the darkness. So if you're on a path that darkness is closing in, open your eyes, spread out your hands and ask the Savior of the World to penetrate your heart.  He will and then once He has, step forward in forgiveness, hope and love.  He is our portion, given freely.  We don't deserve it but it's ours.  Isn't that amazing?

My sisters we must unite and spread the word of hope.  We have sisters all over the world that need to hear that from us.  We need to be the choir on earth sending prayers to our father for those that feel no hope.  We are a chorus, mighty, strong and full of hope.  Why? Because we chose a mighty Father that provides hope when there's none left in the world.  Do not be afraid to pray for these women.  Do not be afraid to serve Him with your whole heart.  Do not be discouraged, look up and see what others are blinded to, Jesus is waiting for you!

I just got chills writing that. My prayer is that my sisters, those that know Christ and those that don't will hear the call of the One True God.  May our prayers be heard as we sing of the awesome hope we have in Christ.  Be well my sisters and let the love of Christ envelope you.

Pray this and know He is God.

John 17:25-26New International Version (NIV)

²⁵ “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. ²⁶ I have made you^[a] known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.” 

My Psalm to My Savior...

Good morning all-


A couple of days ago I was reading the Psalms and thought about writing my own.  I used to sit and write poetry when I was young, so I wondered, could I write a Psalm?  For me, it's not a confession of weakness, it's a confession of the heart.  A Psalm illustrates a journey with God and each one of us is on that very journey.  Mine is different from yours but each journey is one small light towards  the sun (SON). 

I hope you like my Psalm and if you feel compelled write one and share it here.

In the silence of the night I cried out to you;
I was searching for you in every cranny of my being;
I wondered when you would deliver me and how it would come about;
My mind wandered and it was destructive;
I was weary and full of fear and indecision;
And then, like the sunrise, my faith began to rise and my eyes were open to the supernatural;
Your name was on my tongue day and night;
Even in the midst of despair, I sought you;
Your light was like a beacon and I sought it;
My soul yearned for my Savior and I found hope;
Upon the edge of despair you delivered me and made me a Warrior;
I praise You Lord and give You all the glory!

I wrote this in about 10 minutes.  If you feel inspired, sit down and write to our Lord and Savior. He loves when we cry out to him.  He loves when our hearts yearn for Him.  He loves making weak, broken, lost people into warriors.  How do I know?  Read the Psalm and there you will find my heart.

I'm praying for you my sisters and I hope this Psalm lifts you up and that you find yourself enveloped with Christ's love for you.  He delivers, He loves, He hopes and He directs.  He is light in the darkness and hope in despair.

You Sister In Christ.

Do you pant for God like a deer near water?

Good morning all-

I had a tremendous day yesterday starting with church and ending with a drive home as the sun set and the moon shown as a sliver in the sky.  Kansas sunsets are beautiful, the open roads allow a spectacular view to one of God's most beautiful paintings.

I've been working on getting fit over the last couple of weeks.  Traveling doesn't always allow you to eat right, exercise or do what many can do when they are at home. So I'm working with the best girl ever and she is training me long distance and it's working out so great.  It comes down to mind, body and food.  I think the thing I love about it most is that I think a lot about God, war, peace, love and prosperity.  I am more aware of the birds, the sunrises, the sunsets.  I feel better because instead of working to the bone and then falling apart; I'm off the couch and taking care of the vessel God gave to me.

And when I'm done, I'm very thirsty.  The thirst that I have had in the last years is not a thirst water can quench.  This thirst is powerful its my soul needing to connect to my maker.  So yesterday when we were at church and our pastor was speaking about the soul, it resonated.  I know exactly what he was trying to say to the congregation.  Our hearts and souls search for the quenching of the Holy Spirit.  They both need the tremendous drenching and infusion of God.  And if they aren't fed, they are fickle and will find something else to drench it and often that's something dangerous and destructive.  So when the Psalmist is writing in Psalm 42:1-2 NIV, "As the deer pants for the streams of water, my soul thirsts for God, for the living God," I get it and it depicts exactly what we all know, that we will pant for something and that something has to be the Word of God that flows from the crevices of our mind to our heart and soul.

If you had asked me a couple of years ago, do you pant for God?  My answer might have been different. I had gotten to what I would call coasting, some might call it, apathetic.  I was half-way in and of course I loved God but did I thirst for Him.  I can't say that beyond the year I got saved that I had thirsted for Him.  Over the last couple of years I have found myself thirsting for Him and drenching myself into Scripture.  I have read more devotionals in the last year than in my whole life.  I have needed Him every morning where before I would just jump out of bed and run out the door.  I have spent countless hours reminding myself that I am His and that this is His life I lead, not mine.  These are the things that have kept me seeking, thirsting and immersing myself with anything Jesus.

And as I have sought, I have definitely found.  I don't have it as bad as some of you but I've definitely gone through my own trials.  I have watched God's hand in every circumstance and I've learned to forgive so much more.  I have quit looking at myself as myself and am now doing things for Him.  This fitness challenge isn't about getting into a smaller dress size.  It's really about mind, body and soul.  If God fulfills the vision for my life that I believe comes from Him, I have to have stamina, energy and I need to take care of what He's given me.  That's my real goal.  I need to use the time I've been given for something more than myself.  This preparation time is about getting healthy from my mind to my heart to my soul.  We age and things will age with us, that's just a fact but trusting that God can do anything through us is so important.  And as I write today, He is doing things through me.  He has given me a purpose to care about people, to love those that no one else wants to love, to forgive and forget and to be there for people that are hurt, broken and just a wreck. 

The questions you must ask yourself today is: Do you pant like a deer at the stream?  Do you hunger for a God that is mighty?  Do you feel like your empty in your heart?  Does you mind tell you that your just not worthy? Do you destroy the good in your life because you don't feel like you should be happy?  Do your choices weigh you down? 

We can be saved and do all the good things on that question list and all the bad things.  We can hunger for Him and still feel such shame we can't step into a church.  We can yearn for our hearts to be whole and make choices that weigh us down.  We can know what His Word says about forgiveness and not being able to earn it and still hear in our minds, "Girl, your not worthy."  It's nonsense.  We didn't earn Christ's sacrifice on the cross, it was given.  He gave His life so we would have eternal life.  Every journey in this life will have hardship.  No one escapes losing a loved one.  No one escapes needing to be forgiven.  No one escapes moments they regret and no one escapes feeling empty inside.  God leaves a hole in our heart and soul that only he can fill and on top of that, only He gave His life to show all of us that we are forgiven.

Life is a series of choices.  We choose to fill our time with destructive behavior.  We choose to fill our time with television.  We choose to fill our time with work until it beats us to a bloody mess and then what, guess who gets a call and it's always the last call we make, Christ that's who.  Don't let life take you to the brink of destruction.  Stop, drop and kneel to the King of Kings.  Give Him the glory for everything.  Read your Bible, enjoy the birds and the sunsets, take care of the vessel He gave you and reach for the stars.  If you only realize one thing today, realize that we must all pant for water.  We must seek Him and find Him to fulfill our purpose and to give Him the glory He deserves.

Have a great day my sisters and remember, if you don't do anything else today, spend time with God and thank Him for His life, His sacrifice, His council and His love.  There are no regrets at the foot of the cross!

Psalm 42 NIV BibleGateway

For the director of music. A maskil of the Sons of Korah.

¹ As the deer pants for streams of water,
    so my soul pants for you, my God.
² My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
    When can I go and meet with God?
³ My tears have been my food
    day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
    “Where is your God?”
⁴ These things I remember
    as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go to the house of God
    under the protection of the Mighty One^[d]
with shouts of joy and praise
    among the festive throng.

⁵ Why, my soul, are you downcast?
    Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
    for I will yet praise him,
    my Savior and my God.

⁶ My soul is downcast within me;
    therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
    the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.
⁷ Deep calls to deep
    in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
    have swept over me.

⁸ By day the Lord directs his love,
    at night his song is with me—
    a prayer to the God of my life.

⁹ I say to God my Rock,
    “Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
    oppressed by the enemy?”
¹⁰ My bones suffer mortal agony
    as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
    “Where is your God?”

¹¹ Why, my soul, are you downcast?
    Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
    for I will yet praise him,
    my Savior and my God.

If I never win a Pulitzer...

Good morning my sisters-

Do you crave recognition?  Do you want people to know you are talented?  Do you wish to win a race, take a trip around the world, earn riches and fame?  I know that not every human wishes for these things but for those that do, I wonder if somehow we have missed the boat and I mean that literally.

People look at Anne Graham Lotz, Beth Moore and Mother Teresa as these totally wonderful women.  I bet if you asked someone that is Catholic if they would have loved to touch Mother Teresa or even be in her presence the answer would have been, of course.  I know sitting in a huge event center, one of 14,000 people, I wished that I could go back stage and talk with Beth Moore just for a minute.  And often as I read about Anne, I think she would be a wonderful mentor and inspiration to a woman that wants to spread the word of God.  All these women have fame.  They are known for being women of God.  But that doesn't mean that they wished for this or even that they wanted it.  What they most want to do is serve Jesus Christ and therefore, the fame is an add-on, it was never the mission.

Circumstances in life make us yearn for fame.  We want to be liked and if you write a blog, you just hope someone gets on it and is touched by it or learns something.  If you write books, your hoping for someone to want to publish it and then of course, get on the New York Best Sellers list.  Why?  Because we are looking for recognition in all the wrong places.

Mother Teresa lived to serve.  She served in the poorest area tending to the sick and often the rejected.  God put her in that place and she did it well.  She never expected to be a Saint or to be famous, she was following God's own heart.  She was taking care of the destitute and outcast.  She was loving people that weren't ever going to be loved by man and she did it well.

Jesus came, not to be famous, which is why the Jewish people today still don't recognize the gift that was given. They believed He came to save them from all the rulers and enemies around them.  They thought that's what God meant by a Savior.  But in actuality, He meant that Jesus would come and save many from death, which meant that it wasn't about our current lives, it was about our after lives.
God's purpose for Jesus was much larger than mans.  He was to be Savior of the world for all time, not just for a moment.  Anne and Beth are wonderful Bible teachers and long after they leave this earth their writings will live, just like that of all the disciples but their purpose is not to be famous, it's to love God's people and to help light the way.  What's the way, it's Jesus. 

I may never be famous, you may never know who I am.  I may not win a Pulitzer or even publish a book.  If I want fame over service, it will never come.  God's way is different.  He wants us to look at Him as the only way and the only truth.  We fall into the pit of believing that we are important.  That's not to say we aren't important, it just means that our lives are part of a greater plan and it's a plan the world will never fulfill. 

Like many of you, I have my heroes.  You see there names above.  They are women that serve the Lord with all their hearts.  They haven't had easy lives, as a matter of fact, they have gone through troubled times and found Christ in every moment.  I have my heroes in the Bible too and someday I will get to meet them.  I like having heroes but I also like knowing that I was made for this moment.  I was made to serve without any fame or fortune.  I was made to love others and to spread the Word.  I was made to mess up, brush off and get back up again.  I'm like Humpty Dumpty who sat on the wall.  I've fallen and I've gotten back up and yes, I've even cracked my head in the fall.  I've been battered, bruised and broken.  I have been refined by fire and I have been sharpened.  I have lost and I have found and in all those painful, stretching moments, I landed at the foot of the cross.  My fame is that I'm just like you.  I have messed things up to wish for a do-over and I have walked on hot coals, regretting the day but every single time I come back to the same place, right at Jesus' feet.

He is my hero.  There is no fame that can change a heart or pick someone up out of the pit of despair.  There is no fame that loves.  There is no fame in the broken for fame is given to the glorious.  I'm not glorious, as a matter of fact, I'm just me.  It has taken me years just to be okay with me. 

Jesus is who we need to give fame to.  Jesus should be loved and not hated.  Jesus should be the reason we get up in the morning.  Jesus is the way, the truth and the light.  Jesus is who lifts my heroes up and makes them strong warriors, not for themselves, but for Him.  He is all I need and if He brings me fame that will be on His shoulders and if not, I still have a massive amount of purpose.  I am His daughter, who can write and publish across the Internet and spread the only message that matters.  Jesus came for you, is here for you now and loves you.  He is your hope, your future and your Savior.  He brings peace to the restless and hope to the destitute.  He doesn't hold your shame, your anger or anything else against you.  He is full of grace and hope of tomorrow.  He is waiting for you to say these words.  "I am a sinner, coming before you Jesus, asking for you to forgive my sins and wash them away."  He is waiting and I promise you won't regret it.  Say these words and right now as I write, I'm praying for one woman to read these words and fall in love with Jesus!

Have a great day and remember your fame is that Jesus loves you, you were chosen for this day and He has a plan for you and what a glorious plan it is.  May you find the peace of our Counselor and the love of the living God.  I pray all this just for you!  In Jesus name.

1 John 5:1 (KJV)
Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.

1Cor 16:24

24My love be with you all in Christ Jesus.

1John 3:23

23 What he commands is that we believe in his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as Christ commanded us.

I am His!

Good morning my sisters-

As you may have noticed, I have taken some time off this blog to reflect, meditate, and immerse myself into God's word and His purpose for my life.  I once read a quote by Beth Moore, and I paraphrase "If you are a writer, you will want to write and no one will stop you from it."  Well day by day that passion to write has come back and before I knew it, I was on the blog today.

I have a lot to be thankful for and I guess I really just wanted to take this opportunity to thank my Heavenly Father for all that He has done for me.  I woke up last night and couldn't sleep because I was thinking about the tremendous blessings that have been bestowed on my life since I jumped in faith, quit my lucrative job  and set out trusting God like I never had before.

A whole year has gone by since an event that changed me for the better.  I have more courage, more trust and more belief in Jesus Christ. I'm not afraid if you hit this blog and don't like it.  I'm not wondering if I've said something to offend.  I simply know in my heart that I am fearfully and wonderfully made and that I have been chosen to talk and spread the Word of God all over the world.

The vision came years ago and I don't have any idea "how" it will happen.  But as I read about Nehemiah, I don't have to know how.  I just have to pray and do what I can on earth until God opens heaven and pushes me into my destiny.  The first step happened over a year ago and the revival and incessant need of being close to God drove me to a powerful renewal of mind and spirit.

I wouldn't give up those hours of painstaking frustration on the edge of deep depression.  I wouldn't give up the hours I spent looking for Christ in every corner of my life.  I wouldn't give up the courage He gave me or the faith he grew.  I wouldn't give up changing from the inside out for a million dollars.

The change in me has been gradual but it is very powerful.  My faith has taken a 180 from a mouth profession to a knowing heart.  Can I cast out demons? Yes.  Can I heal the sick? Yes. Can I move mountains? Yes.  Not because of me or anything I would do.  The only being that can do all that, is Jesus Christ.  He's the only one that can love a screw up.  He's the only one that can right a wrong.  He's the only one that can lift a broken person, brush them off and make them a warrior.

Has it been easy?  No it hasn't or I would have been on this blog every day writing the amazing things that have happened.  What I can tell you is that for every failure comes transformation.  The world defines failure, not God.  What is considered  man's failure is God's opportunity.  And man did he take the opportunity to change this girl.

Looking back gives me vision.  It's easy to have a vision of what you wished would happen.  It's harder to take the vision of the past and learn from it, walk away from it and never look back.  Life is a series of choices and the first and most important choice we could ever make is to be 100% fully His.

He is our vine and we are His branches and those branches are called to tell the world of His love.  We receive His love by doing absolutely nothing but accepting that He existed, that He was the Son of God and that one day, He will return.

I don't have a wall to build like Nehemiah but I have women all over the world that need to hear the truth and call to Jesus.  We don't live in a world that wants us to love, to speak, to share.  We live in a world of greed, independence and shame.  He and only He can remove all of that and give us a peace that far outweighs our understanding.

So as you read this today, know that He is God and that we were formed for this moment.  We are fearfully and wonderfully made.  Take your greed, your anger, your shame, your body image, your hopelessness, your fear and your worry to the cross.  He knows you and He loves you anyway.  That's the lesson I learned last year.  I didn't have to measure up in man's eyes because I have Him who made me.  Man is nothing without Jesus.  We are just floundering fish that think we know the direction to swim in.  Jesus is the lamp unto our feet. He knows the path, sees the future and knows your worth.  Are you going to trust man to tell you that or are you going to let Jesus love you?  I take Jesus, don't you?

Well it feels good to write this morning and to give all the glory to Jesus.  Come one come all to the foot of the cross where all your worldly inadequacy becomes whole, loved and healed.  Be well my sisters and know if this sister can transform, you can too.

Psalm 139:14

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.


Psalm 34: 4-6

I sought the Lord, and he answered me;
    he delivered me from all my fears.
⁵ Those who look to him are radiant;
    their faces are never covered with shame.
⁶ This poor man called, and the Lord heard him;
    he saved him out of all his troubles.

No greater love has ever been shown than Jesus Christ hanging on a cross.  Bring your mind, soul, body to Him and He will light your way!

To Him be the glory!

Good morning my sisters-

I've been a way awhile from this keyboard.  I've taken time to reflect and to pray for my family and others in great need.  I took the time to read and ask forgiveness and I've taken time to reflect on the past and the present.

I don't have any great or monumental things to share today about life or why we must go through difficult times.  I don't have words to express the loss of those that have seen floods, earthquakes or war.  I don't have advice for those whose children are choosing different paths or whose marriages are on a downward spiral.  At least I don't have words the world would understand.

I do, however, know the one that does.  He's silent but ever present.  He's hated throughout the world.  His name makes many angry and if they could crush His name they would.  Wars have been raged over Him, His Father and the Holy Spirit.  Religious men have turned their backs on Him because they were frightened, confused and full of themselves.  And today, many of us sit in our comfortable homes, go to our churches on Sunday and never say one word outside those sanctuaries because we live with fear of being ridiculed, made fun of or ostracized for what we believe.

A friend asked me yesterday what was going to make people believe and I responded, "When we start sharing and living our faith."  It's a fact.

I am grateful that God gave me a talent and that I can use it for His glory.  I am grateful that I've taken time to reflect, to ask forgiveness and to find Him in every moment of my life.  Life is uncertain and full of adventures, peaks, valleys and the unknown.  For today, I will prepare to worship my King, to love Him with my whole heart and to proclaim Him to the nations.  I will be glad in this day because today is all I can be assured and it is today I offer the only advice that really matters.  Jesus is the Lord and the one true Son of God.  There is a holy trinity and all you have to do is call on the name of Jesus and you will be welcomed into the family.  It's this family that provides a hope and a future.  You can chase for peace and you can read about how to make your life full of joy.  You can be a good person but if you don't cry out to Jesus, you will never see eternal life.  You may not even think that far but think about this, "What if Jesus is the Son of God and you never chose to ask Him to live inside of you?" 

May the Lord bring you to this page. May He alone come into your life.  He is worth it, I promise.  He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.  John 3:16 is the truth and if you merely ask you will find peace, joy and love!  Praying that you read John so that you can find what I have, a God that loves me even in my humanness.

Please read John 3:16 NIV and find what you've been looking for.

Listen to His voice...

Good morning all-

So I just made my first cup of coffee, unfortunately with no caffeine but it still tastes like a warm summer breeze and is my very first joy every morning.  Do you know that feeling?  A feeling of comfort, of normalcy.  For me that's thinking about God and drinking my first cup of coffee. And every morning I get that same joy in my heart.

Like so many, I have things in my life that bring me joy.  Simple things, things that remind me that I'm alive and God is here.  The quiet of the morning, the doves cooing on my roof, the song of birds at the bird feeder and the rising of the sun.  All these things remind  me that God is good and that He is ever present.

So today as I opened my devotional, I saw a Scripture I don't recall.  It's in Deuteronomy and that's what got me thinking about this post.  It says and I paraphrase, listen to His voice.  That got me to thinking about how hard it is to listen to His voice when my mind is spinning on thoughts of what I have to do, who I have to do it for and well you know, everything our little super highways can think about.  It doesn't take a woman long to spin her mind into 100 different directions with no output, am I right?

In my mind, there isn't always a place for Him.  Wow!  I said that out loud and unfortunately it's true.  The organization of my thoughts are based on priorities, not on peace.  That's what's been so refreshing over the last few months because as my little mind decides to speed on the superhighway, all of the sudden a feeling comes over me and says stop slowly, look both ways and listen.  In order for me to do that I have to stop and say God I'm ready to listen.

Listening is what I do naturally but listening in my mind is a whole other thing. Up until a few months ago my mind was racing, trying to fix things with no solution and if not for God and listening, I'm not sure I would have found peace.  But I did.  I trusted more, had greater faith and worked up an endurance where I tested every thought, captured it and gave it to Christ.  My reward was to find Him in a deeper way.  I can't say I've heard Him audibly but through Scripture and through prayer, I found peace, wisdom and direction.  Listening for Him and His word is the  most important thing we should do every day.

Recently, I blogged about praying for our young men.  That came from reading Scripture and realizing that God can help our young men.  He can give them courage, wisdom and direction.  He can protect them from evil thoughts of destruction.  He can build them up to have great reliance on Him and not on the world and He can make them men that guide their families.  God has all the answers if we just listen.

So as I close today, I'm once again asking my readers to pray for young men in every part of the world.  Pray for them to have dreams, visions and holy guidance.  Pray for them to see the face of Christ and not turn away.  Give them a direction full of Christ.  Listen to the spirit and pray for whatever He puts on your heart.  It's our duty as Godly women to hear, pray and believe.  This is our time.  The Holy Spirit is guiding us to guide them toward Him.  Just like when Jesus died and the women went to the tomb.  Who went to the men to direct them that Jesus had risen?  The women.  Please take some time today to listen to the Holy Spirit, to pray for our men and most importantly to spend time with Christ.  Every minute we do, we find Him and He is pleased.  Just like our parents, God wants us to come to Him for comfort, for advice and for direction.

Deuteronomy 5:27 New International Version

Go near and listen to all that the LORD our God says. Then tell us whatever the LORD our God tells you. We will listen and obey."

Deuteronomy 30:20New International Version (NIV)

²⁰ and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Lord Jesus You are Mighty, Powerful, Caring and full of Grace!!!! We want You to come into our hearts, stir them with a mighty spoon and pour out your love and mercy.  We want to be women that pray for our men, who will stand by them through the tough times and who will believe that You will steer their course.  We want to be faithful servants who love and respect a God who speaks to us through our hearts.  We want to slow down, stop and hear the whisper of Your voice.  We want men and women from every country to know Your name and to know the grace You have for us.  We are Your children and more than anything we want to hear from You.  We are Your servants waiting for our Savior to send His peace on earth, wisdom to our  men and our children.  We believe in Your mighty ways.  As we pray this prayer I am praying that the Holy Spirit will come on the unsaved, the confused, the lost and the lonely.  I am praying that Christ will be seen from the US to the far reaches of the earth.  I am praying for Godly wisdom and for those that bow down to other religions to see the holy hands of Christ that are full of forgiveness and hope.  Give Your people hope that You are present in a world that is so lost.  We thank You for Your love and kindness but most of all, we thank  you for your sacrifice.  In Jesus Name I pray and the chorus of angels sings Praise to our King!

God is good...

Good morning my sisters-

Have you ever thought to yourself, why is God punishing me?  It is so easy for us to ask that question.  We are all like little children waiting for Him to strike us dead because of our sin.  But in fact, any correction we get shows we are loved.  How do I know?  Because I spent a year and a half trying to find myself and through the whole trial, He was right beside me.  The trial had to happen.  I had to depend on Him for everything but I can't say that I didn't cry out in frustration and ask "Why?"

But as I matured in Him, I began to thank Him for the unknown.  I began to thank Him  moment by moment, and in turn,  He lead me and loved me.  I can't say every moment was full of faith, hope and joy but I can tell you that I am a different person today than I was then.  I capture every thought more easily, I rely on Him more deeply and I thank Him for every morning and every evening.
How did I get there?  I prayed, I read and I trusted that God would get me through somehow. And today, I have the ability to forgive more deeply. Not just others but myself.  I don't believe that my talent, my wisdom or my faith brought me to this place because I know it was my Father leading me down the path of righteousness, not for me but for Him.

Life is going to let us down.  Things won't always go our way.  We will get frustrated, we will sin and we will let someone else down.  We will not make the right decisions and we might fall into gossip.  We won't always be able to not judge someone and we are not perfect.  However, Christ gives us something that people that don't have Him are lacking, He gives us grace.  Grace is given without us having to do one thing to get it.  We can't earn our Father's love because it's given.  We are blessed not because we are the most beautiful or talented, we are blessed because we are His.

Remember God is good always and we are blessed because we are His! If you are seeking peace then you must run to Jesus.  You can seek grace in the face of humans or you can stop, drop, and meet Jesus.  You can't run or hide from your problems, you must face them like David did with confidence that Jesus is the only way to Heaven and that although we don't have Heaven on earth, we have a Father that truly loves us.  He is fighting for us on levels we don't even understand and although it sometimes looks like evil is winning, it won't.  God is good. He was faithful to Abraham, Isaac, Paul and  many more. They did not die in vain.  They died living a life that glorified Him.  At the end of the day, we have two choices, to love Him with all our heart or to die never seeing Him.  It's your choice.  You can keep blaming God and saying that He's not present, the world is falling apart or you can say, "God if you are truly real, show yourself."  I guarantee He will!

In my devotions over the last couple of days, the Lord has given me some great Scripture so I will leave you with Psalm 20:7 NIV today.  Think about it and ask yourself, "What do I count on, who do I trust and can I afford not to know Christ?"

Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.


He is our ABBA Father.  There is no one like Him.  He is trustworthy and has remained so for centuries.  The world is evil there is no doubt but there is a God waiting for you to say, "Here I am, take me into your arms and forgive me."  It's time.  You didn't hit this site by chance, you came here with God's full intention of winning your heart.

May the Lord of my life rain down on all those doubters who are looking for answers and never finding them because what they're looking for is Him.  In Jesus name I pray.

Loving others above yourself....

Good morning all-

I started writing a blog on Sunday and couldn't finish it in the wake of the Orlando shooting.  I still wake up thinking about the mothers and fathers of those precious lives taken and parents that are left with empty arms and feelings of loss, loneliness and the question of, "Why?"  Hate is a powerful emotion and some take sin as hate, when in essence forgiveness and repentance is love.  Hate is what happened on Saturday and Sunday in Orlando.  A young girls life was taken on Friday and then a massacre happened early Sunday morning all stemming from evil thoughts and hate.

Hate is a word that all of us have experienced.  Anyone that says they've never hated is lying.  Hate comes from a deep seated need to be right against all odds.  Hate comes from fear. Hate is evil.  How do we combat it?  We love.  We love human life.  We love spreading the gospel so that no one ends up in the dark.  We take the victims last moments and we remember them so that we proclaim love and Jesus so much stronger.  You may not agree with a lifestyle, a choice, a financial decision but all of that is your opinion.  We have been told in Scripture to correct with love and to spread the gospel with love. Love bears all things, believes all things, love never ends.  Hate lasts for a moment and this weekend it was moments of terror.  How do I know?  Because a 20 year old is reading the texts of those that were in the bathroom.  He is asking me why no one did anything.  He actually cares about men that loved other men.  He is asking all the right questions and wondering why no one stepped up to save the lives of innocent people.

Questions, answers and meditation, that's what my son was doing.  He was questioning why? He cares.  His first words to me about the incident was, "Mom did you know that tons of people were in the bathroom?"  He's questioning and so is his generation and what are we doing?  My answer to that is prayer.  Like many in the Christian sector, we are praying for evil to be overcome by love.  Hundreds stood in line to give blood on Sunday and Monday.  Many chose to work on Sunday to give food to those giving blood and all over the world people heard of love out of tragedy.  We don't need to be asking why the gunman did it anymore, we need to be asking for our Lord and Savior to turn evil into love.

Compassion is dying and apathy is growing.  There has been no time in history where people could hear so much, know so much and care so little.  Even I find myself turning away from events but lately I have felt called to be on my knees.  I know I must be praying and giving thanks for all the lives that weren't lost and for the brave people who risked their lives to save others.  I want my sons to be those kinds of men.  To react in the face of danger, to be unafraid of evil and to be men of God.

If you walked away from the news this week, I implore you to take a different stance and pray that many that were in that club, that worked that incident, or that were bystanders would know the love of Jesus.  Many died without knowing, that's where our sorrow should be.  Let's pray that in our compassion and fervent prayer for strangers the light of Jesus would cover Orlando and that in the wake of much tragedy will be much love.

1 Corinthians 1-12 NIV

13 If I speak in the tongues^[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

Worry, what does it get you?

Good morning all-

I went for a beautiful walk today and thanked God for everything.  The sun was rising, the clouds surrounded it like a halo, the birds were sitting on electrical wires, a buffalo was laying in the hay and a symphony of sounds came from everywhere.  And I felt peace.  That's what the Lord Almighty gives to us, His peace. 

Have you ever felt so worried you couldn't sleep, you couldn't think and you wondered, how in the world am I going to take another step?  That's uncontrollable worry and fear.  Shamefully, I experience that far too often.  I can feel it welling up and then overtaking all sense of the Almighty.  For me that's truly a bad day.  In just moments, I have separated myself from my God and darkness, fear and anxiety well up.  I think we are feeling creatures by nature and that's not totally bad.  The bad part is when we let those feelings take over our belief that God is with us, He's before us and He's definitely behind us.  God calls us not to worry and not to fear, to take the full armor of God and put it on and yet, we still worry, why?

I believe it's part of the fall.  Eve and Adam never feared walking in the garden with God before they ate the apple.  They didn't even know they were naked before that delicious bite but immediately upon their sin, all was revealed and life changed for all of us.

That's not the end of the story though , we have choices daily and we will be tested daily.  Maybe not in a year long test but in short intervals of choices, faith and repentance.  If we worry, we should repent.  Why?  Because our worry indicates we are our own masters and that's just not true.  God is our master, our counselor, our father and our God.  He bears the weight and walks with us.  He knows the plan, we're only anxious because our plan is not going to plan, right?

So take heed today and every time you worry, capture the thought, give it to God and say out loud, I trust you far more than I trust me.  Take a physical count, write it down and track it over the week, I bet you begin to worry less and see Jesus more. So this challenge is not just for you, its definitely for me too.  Be well my sisters and fear not for you are the instrument in which Christ will spread His word to all nations.

May we walk together in one mind for the good of every nation!

Matthew 6:25-34 [Full Chapter]

[ Do Not Worry ] “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? ...

What it means to serve...

Good morning all-

I had an experience yesterday that melted my heart and made me once again realize why it is so important to lift our men in prayer.  Yesterday, my husband and I went to buy a small trailer that could haul things to the dump and basically act as a truck for us.  We had a hitch, so we thought it would be as simple as buying the trailer at Lowes and going home.

Well, simple wasn't exactly what I would call it.  It was more like a simple project gone bad.  After we bought the trailer, the manager asked us if we had a 1 7/8" trailer hitch.  If we had, this episode would have gone down much differently, however ours was 2".  So my husband went back into Lowes to buy the right one.  While I was standing out guarding our new trailer, I watched a man come up to an older man and ask him if he needed help.  The gentleman accepted and my heart soared at the kindness I saw in the parking lot.  Well, that wasn't the only act of kindness.  Another man saw me standing out there and asked if I needed help.  When I told him my husband went in to buy something else, he said okay and walked away.  Shortly after, my husband came back out with the tool we thought we would need but the ball of the hitch would not move.  It had been on there forever, we had never used it and our vehicle is a 2007.  So, he went back in.

Meanwhile, there was another man who wouldn't take that answer.  He brought over a socket that fit that specific bolt and the next thing I knew he was working away.  My husband came back out and together they couldn't remove the nut.  We thanked the man and asked if he would like some money for all of his time.  He said no.  It made my heart happy that I live in an area where men do care and that they want to help women in distress.  They were servants for Jesus even if they weren't Christians.  I will never know the names of these men but I'm inspired.  I'm inspired whenever I see men serve others.  I'm inspired when our prayers count!

So I leave you with  my little story and a question, "When was the last time you lifted men up in prayer?"  Today, is the day!  Please take a moment to lift them in prayer and to ask God to cover them and provide wisdom to lead the next generations.

Wishing you a beautiful day!  In Christ Jesus, we all say AMEN!

Hope, Faith and Love...

Good morning my sisters-

I really don't have a lot to say today.  I just wanted to remind you all that hope, faith and love are what makes the world go round.  If we have no hope then we are lost.  If there is no faith, God will turn away and if we don't love, we are not fulfilling the most important commandment.

We must love to change the hearts of the weary, desperate, broken and lost.  My prayer today is that you give up your envy, your jealousy, your need to be needed and just give from the heart the love God has infused into it.  When you see a stranger in a bathroom on the floor, you stop.  When you go by a homeless person, you don't just walk on by.  When you see someone needing help in any form, you say, "Can I help you?" 

We are losing the most vital parts of human nature and that's to  love with all our hearts.  When in all of human kind did we get so jaded?  I think we are now what God expressed not to become and that was selfish without care of others.

Take some time to look around you today.  In every corner, in every city and even in our own homes we must love so that the people we are with are full of hope and faith.

Be well my sisters and remember that our God loves us and holds in his right hand enough hope and faith for the world!

Isaiah 41:13

"For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you."

We must do the same for someone else.  Remember we are all children of God.

A Time to render our hearts....

Good morning all-

Can you remember a time of great sorrow?  What did you do?  Were you weary, hurt, full of fear?  More than likely you do remember a time and you were weary and full of fear.  That is the nature of being human.  We fall down, we grow weary and nothing seems to pick us back up, that is until we seek Christ in His entirety.

Today, during my quiet time,  I happened upon Samuel telling Saul what he needed to do after he was anointed by God.  Samuel gave him explicit instructions on what to retrieve and where.  I flipped over to Lamentations and read how they cried out because of the destruction and finally prayed for God to return to them.  That made me flip over to Matthew, where Jesus instructed us to forgive our brothers and sisters from the heart.  It was a whirlwind of repentance, forgiveness and God's grace and it made me think about rendering our hearts to God.

Anne Graham Lotz has been very vocal about the Daniel prayer.  She has said that we must turn our hearts back to Christ with the rendering of all we believe in.  We must move away from sin, forgive each other and claim Christ as king.  I believe it.  We are losing a generation to video games, laziness and drugs. 

Many would give up or judge others because of what they believe in but that's not God's way. We believe we are religious enough but God never asked for religion, He wanted relationship and today, thousands of years later, He is calling us to that relationship.

Relationships are hard and have many moments of frustration, wrong doing and lack of faith in others.  But as we pray, repent and turn toward God, He restores our hearts and minds.  And that's where we are today.  We must pray.  We must pray for our nation, for world leaders and for the next generations.  We must ask God to come back and yet, we must be very careful not to judge but to love.

Now is the time that we as women have a huge stake in where the world will go.  We can unite and stand in the gap!!!  So as I write this, I am asking God to call women to stand in the gap, to love unconditionally, to not fear the future but to pray about the sin, confusion and lack of wisdom.  It's our time to stand in the gap, the way other women did before us. I'm sure Mary Magdalene prayed often for the sin of her people and so must we.

Don't turn and run when you hear bad news.  Pray it away!  That's what I'm going to do.  I'm going to run toward Jesus through prayer and petition. He is faithful, man is not.  Ask God to heal our teenagers, to give our leaders wisdom and to protect our nations from terrorists and the evil one.  The time is now.

Have  a great day and believe that God has anointed you for such a time as this.

Lamentations 5: 1-22 NIV

1Remember, Lord, what has happened to us; look, and see our disgrace. 2Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners. 3We have become fatherless, our mothers are widows. 4We must buy the water we drink; our wood can be had only at a price. 5Those who pursue us are at our heels; we are weary and find no rest. 6We submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread. 7Our ancestors sinned and are no more, and we bear their punishment. 8Slaves rule over us, and there is no one to free us from their hands. 9We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the desert. 10Our skin is hot as an oven, feverish from hunger. 11Women have been violated in Zion, and virgins in the towns of Judah. 12Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders are shown no respect. 13Young men toil at the millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood. 14The elders are gone from the city gate; the young men have stopped their music. 15Joy is gone from our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning. 16The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned! 17Because of this our hearts are faint, because of these things our eyes grow dim 18for Mount Zion, which lies desolate, with jackals prowling over it. 19You, Lord, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation. 20Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long? 21Restore us to yourself, Lord, that we may return; renew our days as of old 22unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure.