Together we make an Impact.

Sometimes you have moments that are God given, and you don't even realize it till quiet sometime later. There are times where a thought will come across our mind, and when that thought is captured there is no limit on what can happen.


The thought came to me about doing something that would make a difference in the lives of women, and would pull a community together. So with that said we began our steps toward our first ever Susan G. Komen 5K. I have been the women's pastor at our church for 3 years and have helped host many events. I set a goal of 50 runners with around $5,000 being our projected goal. In my heart I felt like the goal was so large that I feared that I would be dissapointed in the end.

As time went on excitment spread in our community like wildfire. Within the first hour that the posters went up around town we had 100 runners signed up. I knew in this moment that God was about to blow our mind......

"If ever there comes a time when the women of the world come together purely & simply for the benefit of mankind, it will be a force such as the world has never known."
-Matthew Arnold
19th Century British Poet
(excerpt from Lisa Brevere Lioness Arising)




The morning of October 23rd 2010 I looked out over a crowd of well over 900 people with over $16,487 raised. All because of a thought......One little thought......With a goal of what I thought was impossible of 50 runners and to raise five thousand I had watched grow into something bigger than I could have ever asked. All because of putting one little thought into action.


A thought that brought together people of all backgrounds, denominations, education levels, ages, colors, economic status'. Yet in those moments none of those things mattered. We all stood united behind one cause. I looked over that huge sea of pink, and could feel Jesus smiling down on us in those moments....In those moments we came together to make a difference in a life that we may never meet face to face, but in those moments our heart knew them well.


We are called to something so much bigger than the 9-5 work weeks. Trying to get the biggest best house car and job. We were created to make a difference in the world which we live in. Our potential to play a part in making a difference is directly reflective to how we respond to the time we are given today.


Esther 4:14 You were created for such a time as this and for this very occasion


I hope this inspires you to do something that will make a difference where you are in your community! This is our time chiks lets rise up as one body and make a difference in our world! What do you say?!

For some reason I am having trouble uploading the video so click here to see the all the pictures from our event.

Everything we need....

This morning there were a lot of things weighing on my mind. It felt as though my mind was so cluttered with so many different things pulling for my time, efforts and attention. I woke up before the alarm even went off just thinking about everything.

As I made a pot of coffee wiped the sleep out of my eyes and pulled up my calendar for the next to see what all was on the agenda the next few days this overwhelming feeling of inadequacy came over me. How am I going to be able to do all that I need to do the next few weeks....

I finally got my mind quieted to spend time with Jesus.......

Finally my mind was silent and it was just me and Jesus.....I love moments like these.....

All of a sudden all of that weight from all of the things that were wanting my attention so badly moments before were just an after thought. As I spent this quiet time with nothing going on all of a sudden I got the solutions for everything I needed one by one.

You know the thing we forget so easily is that Jesus really is everything we need. In Colossians it says that ALL the treasures of the Earth lie hidden in Christ. I believe they stay there hidden because we don't seek Christ to ever find the treasures. We go through life trying to obtain our own answers and solutions to problems that we were never made to solve.

Jesus is the perfect parent, spouse, employee, boss, business owner (He is running a pretty big world ya know?), author (His book is a best seller!), counselor, listener, friend and helper. He is literally everything we need. For some reason it is the simple things that we forget in life.

Things have gotten so busy and the first thing I wanted to do was to begin to carry loads I was never made to carry and that is why I was feeling stressed and overwhelmed. After an hour with Jesus....there was nothing different in my schedule, the deadlines were still there, e-mails still piled up, calls waiting to be returned, and yet I came out a hundred times lighter then when I went in.

Isn't it comforting that the solutions to all our problems is that which is inside us and all around us everyday....We just have to be quiet enough and still enough to receive the answer.

I began to think the other day about how each of us are on a pursuit that we our self didn't even really realize that we were on. Something inside of us desires to find that which is lost from a young age we begin doing this without even needing to be told how or what to do you will see a child begin to play hide and go seek. What is it inside of us that desires to reclaim that which we had at one time. It is as though we have this yearning from a young age that there is something missing in our life.

The other Sunday I preached a message called Found. Click here , listen, and realize that the hunt you have been on all your life is over.

Some things are left as mysteries...

One thing about being a pastor is you get to be with people on their most joyful events. Weddings, births of babies, salvation's, healings etc. These are all times that are wonderful to share with people. Moments that impact you and they give such a sense of fulfilment like none other.

When Mrs. Dodie Osteen was at our church a few months ago she used this scripture...

The secret things belong to the Lord

Deut. 29:29

It so stood out to me. Why for some reason we as christians we feel as though we have to have the reasons of why behind everything that happens. It is as though that now that we are believers that we can now tell anyone and everything why things are happening in their life. No one ever calls for counseling to ask why they are falling in love and getting married. No one calls for counsel when the experience the joy of a new baby in their arms. The good things in life we never question. We grab hold of them as though they were always meant to be part of us.

Then there are the parts in life that just make no sense. Let me prelude this with I don't want to hear your "doctrine" or your "theology". If we all got real real we would say there are things that happen in life that don't make sense. They cut us to the very core of our being. We can't wrap our mind around the why and the why not.

These are the challenging parts of being a pastor. When the bad things in life happen the first question is always "why them" or "why me?" This my friends is hard. If all of us got real real in the world we would all say we have been that person on multiple occasions.

Today I found myself going about my daily life when I got some bad news about someone I knew. They were in a life or death situation. Tonight we found out that the outcome to that wasn't good. Everything in me darkened. Sadness loomed where I was. All of a sudden now the breaths I was taken were worth more money then what I have. I all of a sudden had so many questions of why.

Then in a moment I heard Mrs. Dodie Osteen say..."The secret things belong to the Lord. Sometimes we don't have the answers, and we don't have to. We just have to trust God and know one day we will understand."

How faithful God is to give me a word like that months ago that I can now draw upon while I sit on my couch and think about this person's life. That word is life to me right now. I know in the next few days we will be asked a lot of questions as to why this happened. What relief from pressure to know I am not required to give the answer. It isn't because God needed another angel (He has plenty after all He is God). It isn't because this person sinned (we all do don't we). I can just reply that the secret things really do belong to the Lord. This is one of those secret things.....

In a world that always has to have an answer to everything. It is nice to know that to somethings there are no answers. There are no words. There are no explinations. With that I can hang my heart my trust and my whole being upon the Lord and know that He knows the answers in this. I don't have to.

I hope this blessed you. It did me....

Chosen

Have you ever taken a moment to think that of all the people all across the world that could be doing what you are doing that God chose you? Maybe you are not like me, but many people didn't pick me. So often I was the one looked over but in Ephesians 1:4 (amp) says that God actually handpicked me out. I am the one that He picked. I didn't choose Him I was just responding to something that He had already done. I was just catching up to the place where He had been waiting for me all that time. I don't ever want to cease to be amazed that God wanted me. That He loves me right where I am and chose to put a label on me that says...Chosen. That means I am no suprise to God! He knew what he was getting and chose me anyway. That is something that will give you a confidence you have never known.

Every person in the Bible that did anything great for God first had to realize that they had been chosen. Joseph in a dream. David out in a field keeping some sheep. Abraham in a tent. Joshua out where no one even knew where they were God knew and showed up to let him know he was chosen. Rahab in her house before a city was destroyed. Mary at her house laying asleep in her bed when an angel showed up. Saul on the road going to murder some people. God has a way of showing up and putting a label on you of chosen. The moment that you realize that you are chosen is the moment that changes everything from that point forward. Ohhh if the world could only get that they are indeed chosen. That their life is so much more than the 8-5 work schedule. If you could grab hold of a vision that is larger than life that is bigger than where you are that vision would change everything that is now written of you from this point forward.

You see when God shows up you can't stay the same. When He marks you now all of a sudden the life that once seemed boring and just another day, becomes a day of unexplored potential.

Click here to find out how you are chosen

On the way to where you are going....

This morning my kids were in the mood for some chicken nuggets from McDonald's. They were about to go see some friends so as any "good mom" would I picked up happy meals for all the kids that would be where we were going.

(Side note since when did McDonald's stop doing the box for the happy meal? That is like fundamental memory all children should have! Ha! Now back to the blog)

I go up to the first window to pay. The girl working stops what she was doing and tears up looking at me. I think bless her heart she has had a hard day.

She then asks me "Do you speak?"

I am thinking hmmmm do I speak...well I did order four happy meals just a moment ago.

She quickly corrects herself and says "Do you preach?"

I tell her "Yes I do". I must say at this point I am totally puzzled as to where this is going exactly.

She then tells me how she was one of the girls that was at the school when I came and preached at the High School this year. She began to talk about how it changed her life. She talks about how she is going to school in the fall and working at McDonald's for the summer to save up money.....

I began to think about how some of the best blessings in life come on the way to where you are going....

I remember the first time I preached at the school to a group of about 50 teenage girls that looked at me like I was crazy the whole time while I poured my heart out about the love that Jesus has for them. They sat there straight faced the whole time. I was wondering should I even have come? Then at the end there was much weeping and ministry where girls lives were changed. Through the last 4 years I have gotten to go to various schools and minister to teens of all ages amongst other women events.

I was talking to a girl a few months ago that wants to start preaching to women. I asked her if she had stepped out and spoke at any ladies events yet. She said "Well you see the only offers I have received are ones to minister to groups of 20 people or so. So I have turned them all down. God has called me to preach to thousands."

I must say my heart broke as I heard those words come out of her mouth. She turned down a chance to change 20 people's lives because it was too small. What if Jesus would have said "12 disciples really God? I am called to save the world and you only give me 12 to minister to?"

As I pulled out of McDonald's I was overwhelmed with emotion as I thought of how one girl's life was changed because someone wasn't more caught up in the size of a crowd or the response of the people. I was just willing to go through a door God opened. Do I believe that I will one day preach to crowds of thousands...Yes I have seen it in my heart.

Although I don't know that will be the day I receive the blessings from God...Some of the biggest things God has done is right now....On the way to where I am going.....

Look out Jesus is in the Kitchen!

I always tell people it isn't the big things in life that take us out. It is the sum of all the little things added together that run us down. It is the loads of laundry that have to be folded ironed and hung up. The vacuuming and sweeping that at times seems as though it is never going to go away. The dishes that always need to be washed even when a load is already done. The homework to help kids with that you are thinking I am not qualified to be helping with these kind of things. Then there is the everyday work and just life....With all these things it is easy to say that being a woman in today's world is a lot of work!

If only it was as simple as the Leave it to Beaver shows made it seem in the "good ole days". Where each day was easy and all people were full of joy. Where the daily tasks got done with ease and everything is always in place!

Colassians 3:17

And whatever you do no matter what it is in word or deed do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus and in dependence upon His Person, giving praise to God the Father through Him.

You see this says that everything we do we are to do in dependence upon Jesus. Why is it that we take this verse and never apply it to the dishes and the daily life? We think that it has to be some "holy" situation to use the word of God. I have news for you chiks. God wants to be a part of every area of your life.....from the scrubbing of the toilets, to pulling weeds, to cleaning out the refrigerator....Jesus desires to help you in everything.....The problem is we think we can try to do it on our own....

Question: How is that working for you?

I have found that when I try to do life out my own strength and ability it makes me always feel like I missed the mark and came up short. When I start looking to Jesus as the author and the finisher of everything I do then all of a sudden things get easier then what they are.

Psalm 34:1-2

I will bless the Lord at all times His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My LIFE makes its boast in the Lord....

In this is a scripture that we love to skip over that word is the smallest word yet the most powerful....ALL. This doesn't mean your praise Jesus comes on when you pull in a church parking lot or see your Pastor....No! This means in your everyday normal regular nothing spiritual about it life you are to be thanking Jesus praising Him for how good He is. When is the last time you did this?

It says here in the second verse that your LIFE will make it's boast in the Lord. You see when you live a life of praise you don't have to tell people about the goodness of God they will just see the goodness of God. When is the last time someone saw you and recognized the goodness of God? I am getting all personal with you aren't I?

Life wasn't made to trudge thru and barely get by! Life was made to enjoy and to be lived with our amazing Jesus! I have news for you chiks Jesus is in the kitchen and that my friends changes everything! That makes the normal boring life become exciting and full of joy. That is the kind of outlook that will change your life when you grab ahold of it!

I think if Jesus drove a car he would drive a UHAUL. For real I don't think that He would drive a Suburban or a Mercedes sports car or even a Lexus. I believe He would be driving a UHAUL.

Jesus was always on the move in His ministry He never stayed in one place for long and off He would go to a new place for a new thing.

I find it funny that the one thing that we as people hate is a UHAUL truck! It symbolizes everything we don't like

*work

*change

*transition

*leaving things behind

Just to say the words "We are moving". Brings instant sigh from the person you are telling then followed with "Bless your heart".

Why is that?

Everyone knows who Abraham is from the Bible. Abraham had a father whose name was Terah. Terah too was called out of the land he was at. He was called to load his UHAUL with all his stuff and head out to a new place. In Genesis 11:2 as they journeyed eastward, they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they settled and dwelt there.

He found a plain place. Can I put it this way. Most Americans find a "plain" place in life. One that is comfortable and not challenging where they can live there life with no real obstacle. All along Terah was headed to a place where he was called to and that was his destiny, but he settled.

How many of us in the journey to where we are going do we find a place that is comfortable. An easy place and we decide that we have gone far enough and we decide to settle.

At the end of Genesis 11 we see that where Terah settled he died. He compromised he stopped pressing forward. As people we desire a place to set up camp in our life a place to get comfortable and get settled in. Can I say this where you settle is where you will die. No one made Terah stop pressing forward. It was a choice that he made to stop going forward. That where he was, was "good enough".

You see Jesus never stopped moving forward in life. I believe that He doesn't want us to stop moving forward either. He wants us to constantly pressing forward. Paul said that this one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind I press on! You are made to press on! Worst thing you can do is unload a UHAUL in your life and decide that this is good enough. Don't ever quit!!

Have you come to a place in life where you have settled?

Are you still moving forward in life?

In my life I have been forced to ask the question.

"God what do you do when you have given me everything I have asked for?"

As a young girl growing up I just wanted a happy family. A wonderful hubby that would love me take care of me. I wanted to be a mom and stay at home with my babies. I wanted parents that served the Lord with a passionate heart. I look over each Sunday morning and cry each time as I see them hands raised praising Jesus. As I got older I developed a passion to preach the Gospel of Jesus. My husband and I took over a youth group of literally on a good night 2 kids and now in that youth group we have 100+. I live in a wonderful home. All my needs are met. So what do you do when God gives you everything?

This is such a good picture to show where I am standing right now in my life...

Looking out at vast amounts of uncharted waters not knowing what is to come yet at the same time knowing that the possibilities are just like the sky is endless...It is time to take the next step...Steps that will lead to new places and new things.

God is always calling us deeper. Always wanting to stretch us into new uncharted areas of our faith.

Luke 5:4-6

When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking.

Simon here had to make a decision to be happy with what he had or to go out to the place where Jesus was taking him.

Jesus is always calling us to go out to deeper waters. He desires us to ask and believe for things that are bigger than we are. Jesus wants nothing more then for you to step out into a place where when He moves you will know it was Him, because you were so over your head there is no way you could take credit.

Notice here Jesus said that they would get "a catch". Then when you read on they caught a great number of fish and their net was breaking. Jesus had promised them they would catch some. As Bryan says Jesus' "some" is more than you can handle!!

So here I am. Standing looking over vast opportunities. Not knowing what may be out there. I know God is about big things and that He who began a good work in me will be faithful to complete it...

So I leave with this as where to go from here:

Luke 1:38

Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.”

Summer how I have missed you!

It has been a summer full of days spent at the swimming pool till our cheeks turn red. Lots of splashing and laughing. Mornings spent in pj's till 11 o'clock. Having brownies every now and then for breakfast.

A trip to Sea World that the kids loved. Feeding dolphins, watching seals, & amazed at killer whales. It was a fun trip all the way around. One week of no work just loving on the greatest accomplishments we have had in our life.....Our sweet babies.
(our son hates pictures thus the sad face in the above picture)

(this one I did a sneak attack for a picture so I got a smile)
Movies that makes us all laugh and giggle. Especially the way we looked with those glasses on!

Funny how you forget how much you love summer until it comes and then you remember how wonderful it is to have fun with your babies and not have to try and balance school, ministry and home life. June is coming to a close soon and July will be full of conferences and youth camp. July life will quickly go from slow and peaceful back to busy and a different kind of wonderful. For right now I am thinking of how wonderful it is not to have something going on everyday. How great it is to just have time to breath. Most of all how thankful I am for the two babies we have in our life....

Barbie Dreamhouse

Every girl no matter what age you are can say that at some point you dreamed of having a Barbie dream house. A wonderful home that Barbie can have everything she needs.

I always wanted one as a child. My parents unfortunately didn't have the money to buy such an expensive item for my birthday. My grandpa built a wooden shelves that held dolls with different small compartments. I would stack books and other random objects to make these wood shelves a "home" for my Barbie.

My daughter just turned 5 and has decided that she LOVES all things Barbie which is the best news under the sun for me. I am so excited to play dolls with her. Something that is so coming of age to dress and primp your Barbies just says you are no longer little but that you are more mature (this coming from a 26yr old mom that is giddy over her daughter liking Barbie so much). One thing that Brailey Kay wanted for her birthday was a Barbie dream house.

We were able to get it for her thanks to her amazing grandparents that jumped on the opportunity of having the hands down hit gift of the party.

As we assembled it I began to think of the hours spent playing with those wooden shelves when I was younger. I began to remember how I would wish I had a Barbie dream house.... There I am 26yrs. old sitting on the living room floor.

I began to think of all that God has done in my life in the last 10 years. Barbie's dream house comes with all things wonderful....

Beautiful furniture, chandeliers, bubble bath, fully stocked kitchen, bedding, and a cute closet. I remember thinking as a child if I had a place of my own stocked with all those beautiful things how it would make life great.

Barbie's Dream house is just an empty shell. The beauty is all in there. It is waiting for the dolls that it was created for to come and play inside.

Made me think of life. I have everything I have always wanted. Not because I live in a nice home with nice cars and a great closet full of wonderful clothes (and shoes). But the wonderful thing about my home is the people in it. My amazing husband and beautiful children. They are what makes my home into a dream home. It's the laughs we share, the cuddle time spent on a Saturday morning, dinners with family that we love around the dinning room table, and the hallway filled with the sound of running feet in a game of chase....That is what makes my home a dream home.

I looked around and thought about the wooden shelves and how many amazing memories I have of playing with my dolls in those old shelves. Sure I always wanted the fancy home, but the memories made with my brother and sister weren't based on what that home looked like. It was based off of the laughter and the love we shared as we played. It was still fun even though it wasn't the marketed DREAM HOME by Barbie. It was our dream home and we loved it. I wish I still had those shelves....

Do you see your life as your dream home? Or do you see it just as wooden shelves?

Maybe the dream home you have been asking for is what you already have...you just are looking at it in the wrong light.

Then life happens.....

How much of our life do we spend trying to make things happen? I think that most of our life we try to chase down opportunities and open doors. We try to make a connection with someone who will help us out.... We try to impress people and make them like us when they could care less about who and what we are. Yet we spend all our time and resources trying to prove our self to them.... We spend countless hours trying to think of how there is some way to make something happen.... Why do we spend our life trying to make life happen?

I was reading the Bible the other day (good idea huh? Ha!) in the book of Ruth. In Ruth Chapter 2 verse 3 it is says this:

Then she left, and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.

So here in the story Ruth and Naomi are at the end of there rope they have no money resources and what is even more sad no hope from all that has gone on in their life. So Ruth sets out just to try and get enough to survive from what falls from the people reaping in the fields....when she happens on the field of Boaz. Her whole life changed from this happening.

You see all the time you spend in trying to make things happen will never come up with anything then one day God will line things up to happen and all of a sudden everything you want and dream about all begins to fall into line. So much time we waste in life worrying about what is going to happen to get us to our destiny when the God things in life happen.

Job put it best at the end of his life in Chapter 42:2

I know that You can do all things, and that no thought or purpose of Yours can be restrained or thwarted.

God's plans in your life will be brought to pass. You don't have to make them happen. Your job is to just be faithful, and keep growing in the things of God. Luke 16:10 says if you are faithful in little you will be faithful in much. God is looking at what you are doing in your small situation to determine what BIG things are to come.

Ruth was faithful. She was dedicated to Naomi when she could have walked away. She kept on doing what she knew to do. That is why things begin to happen in her life.

What are you doing where you are?

Are you being faithful?

If the answer is yes....I have to tell you something.....Life is about to happen for you!

Successful Ministry

One thing that has been standing out to me lately is ministering out of the abundance within us.

In Romans 15:29 (amp) I know that when I do come to you, I shall come in the abundant blessing of the Gospel of Christ.

Paul had a confidence that when he came to them that he wasn't just come just him as a person, but that he would come in the ABUNDANT BLESSING. Abundant means: Present in great quantity; more than adequate; over sufficient 2. well supplied; abounding 3. richly supplied. So Paul knew that when he came that there would be a great quantity of blessings coming with him. That it would be more than adequate to meet the needs of who he would come in contact with.

How do you enter into your everyday life? With abundance of blessings or just barely enough to get you by in what you have going in your day?

We had my hero Mrs. Dodie Osteen at our church recently. She was in a room full of people she did not get to talk to every person. Yet every person I talked to said that they felt as though she had personally ministered to them. Wow! Think about that!!!

That so challenged me. She had such an abundance on her life that when she came into a room everyone felt the abundance of love, grace, mercy etc. then without her even speaking to them personally they felt ministered to. That I believe is some of what Paul was talking about in this verse. Being so full of the goodness of God that just coming into a room he would have enough that the room would be filled with what he had.

Ministry and life is won through having this kind of abundance I believe. I think that our spiritual self is a lot like our natural bank account. There needs to be deposits in it to keep the bank account functioning. I believe the problem with the church in general today is that we have people stepping into pulpits that are spiritually just struggling to keep themselves afloat...never mind having a fullness to pass on to others. No deposits have been made.

Frank Demazio said it best. "You should have enough joy, happiness, faith to fill a room no matter what wherever you go".

I think of Benny Perez. When he steps on the platform and ministers the room is filled with faith and an excitement. That which is in him spreads throughout the room. He comes into a service as Paul did with an abundance of blessings. That is why people leave healed, encouraged, and set free.

What a challenge to live a life that you have so much deposits of the word inside of you that you can give deposits of joy etc. into anyone and you don't miss it because you are carrying so much of it. Just like in our natural account you can't write a check if there is no money backing it the check will only come back as a hot check. Same with spiritual things. If you don't have the deposits inside of you through time in the word prayer etc. then when you lay hands to minister you are ministering out of your soul and not the spirit.

All means all....

In the English language one of the smallest words yet the most powerful is all. Where does all begin and where does it end? It means so much yet it is one word that we usually look over when we are reading our Bible.

Casting the whole of your care (all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all) on Him for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully. -1Peter 5:7

All.....

All means all. You were never made to worry about life and what is happening in our world today. With our government economy and society the way it is today you can watch the news for just a short time and begin to worry about where the world is headed. There is a statistic that says around 50-60% of people laying in hospitals everywhere are there because of worry.

For some reason we get in our head that through us worrying and thinking about something constantly that we will somehow use our will to change something. You can spend days trying to make something happen through your thoughts and actions that God can change in one instant.

Sometimes our mind will go endlessly around a problem trying to find a solution. When you begin to feel stress and frustration you have taken the situation out of God's hands and you are now trying to fix it on your own. If God knows all then He knows your beginning and your end. Then that means He knows your middle too! You are no surprise to God. He knows all there is to know about you. He knows the number of hairs on your head. Then He also knows the problems you are facing and can conquer them!

We say that we give God control of all our life, but in actuality we only give him the areas we feel as though are going good. The areas in our life like children, marriage, finances, etc. we spend countless hours stressing about.

I wonder sometimes how many hours we waste on worrying about things. Each hour is one that we can never get back one that is a gift from God that we can do anything we want with. Why waste it stressing over your problems. Who is bigger God or your problems? If God is bigger meditate on His word about your situation instead of replaying the problem through your head.

Inside of you is the greatest power that ever existed. The same power that raised Christ from the dead dwells inside of you and you are worried about an electric bill being paid? Think about it....

Jesus didn't give us power to just shout a Hallelujah in church and go about our day. You have power inside of you to make the impossible possible, or there is the other alternative you can just keep trying to fix it on your own....

All means all....Do you give Jesus your all? It is easier said then done. However it is the one thing we do that will bring forth the most fruit.

Let your WE rise up!

I was reading my Bible in John 3 1-21 this morning. This is the story about Jesus and Nicodemus talking about being born of the spirit. For those of you that don't know Nicodemus is trying to understand spiritual things with his natural mind which is impossible to do this. He is trying to comprehend how one can truly be borne again.

verse 11 is what spoke to me:

I assure you most solemnly I tell you, we speak only of what we know (we know absolutely what we are talking about); we have actually seen what we are testifying to (we were eyewitnesses of it). And still you do not receive our testimony (you reject and refuse our evidence-that of myself and of all those who are born of the Spirit).

Think about Jesus goes from talking about what He thought up until this point, and the rest of the text Jesus only talks about Himself as singular. This one verse He speaks of Himself plural....

The Holy Spirit began to speak to me....Nicodemus was going through his life singular all a lone trying to figure things out by himself. All he had is what he could see touch, feel, and what the facts were that were given to him from his education. A lot of people go through life living a singular you life. They think they are going through things and that God put them down here to figure it out on there own.

The Holy Spirit spoke in my heart when you become a believer you are no longer a you---you become a WE. There becomes a WE that is inside of you that is bigger than any obstacle, trail, death, job loss, death or any thing that can come your way. That no matter what the outside situation says the inside WE in you changes you from a singular being that was once left to figure things out on your own to something that is so powerful. So powerful that the WE inside of you can conquer anything any YOU can send our way any day of the week.

You see as Jesus spoke to Nicodemus here He said "we know absolutely what we are talking about we have actually seen what we are testifying to''. All this time Jesus was telling Nicodemus His point of view, until the WE inside of Him had to speak up and let Nicodemus know that the WE knew that God was so real.

You see you may have problems today. Things may be so hard and you might be at the end of your rope wondering how you can make it another day. Jesus wants you to know something. That the voice that spoke the world into existence is inside of you. The power that opened blind eyes is inside of you. The healer of the broken hearted is within you. The one who parted the Red Sea and brought manna is right in you this moment. The WE inside of you needs to rise up!!!!

You are no longer just a you (singular) everywhere you go---you have been made a WE(plural). Never again do you have to fight life a lone! Greater is HE that is inside of YOU then he that is in the world!!!!

Today......

Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Today is the day you take charge of your life and decide it will be great! Today is the day that you stop waiting for other people to make you happy and lean on them to decide what your day will hold....

Today is the day you say "this is MY LIFE and I am going to make it a great day".

Today is the day you notice people around you that are hurting and reach out to them for once instead of ignoring them because you are "busy". Today is the day you help someone in need. Today is the day you quit just thinking about your needs and you instead fill a need. Today is the day you give a hug just because. Only to find that is all that that person really wanted.

Today is the day you smile no matter what the devil throws your way. Knowing that though things may not be what you want them to be right now you know that the promises of God are eternal. That the calling of God on your life is without repentance. That He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. Today is the day you stop holding grudges and instead you let forgiveness rule in your heart. Today is the day you stop trying to measure up to others expectations and realize that God has already approved of you as you already are.

Today is the day you have been waiting for all your life. A day that is filled with laughter and tears of joy. A day that you spend living in the moment and not living for what is to come. Today is the day you are present everywhere you go. Not just present in body and absent in mind.

Today you will find that the dishes will always be there.....laundry will pile up by the days end....the pressing things that you once thought were pressing now just don't seem as important as the people that eat off of those plates...the people that fill those clothes...Instead of giving all your attention to things you will give attention to people instead.

Today is the day that when you lay down you won't feel like it is another day wasted. Today will be the day that you lay down knowing that you impacted a life only to realize the one you impacted the most was your own.......

Today is the first day of the rest of your life.....What are you going to do with it?

What work are you doing?

I read this the other day and it resounded in my spirit. Jesus was about to be crucified he is praying to God in John 17:4 I have finished the work that you have given me to do.

Something inside me just resounded....the work that God the Father gave Jesus to do...that is what He finished....

How much of our life do we spend working on things that everyone else wants us to do?

How much time do we spend doing things that in all reality we don't like at all trying to make other people happy?

How much time to do we waste on things that in all actuality don't matter at all?

Think about the above questions. I think all of us can say that at some point that we have had one if not all of them apply to our life. Funny how quickly that happens that we get caught up in what others want us to do and somehow get lost in the most important thing of all....what God our Father wants us to do.

My daughter is in pre-k. At the beginning of the year her teacher asked me to be the room mom. I declined the position and told her that I had a lot going thanks but no thanks. She said ok. Only to ask me again the next week with me saying no again. Finally on the last week she asked and I finally agreed to do the job.

Women are so catty especially when it comes to their kids. The majority of moms have been wonderful. Well more than a majority just one mom has been difficult. She has not been so pleasant....

Things have really been a struggle with this mom and I. Balancing doing it "all " and getting it "all" done has been so much at times. Finding the balance with another ball in the air has been rather stressful. I was before the Lord praying about the situation....The Lord spoke this in my heart "When things feel difficult you are doing things that I haven't graced you to do."

Then I remembered the text I quoted in the beginning of this blog.....What work has God placed me here for. When you feel stressed, frustrated, angry even you are trying to do things that God has not graced you to do. Jesus said my yoke is easy my burden is light. That means you aren't going to battle those kind of feelings like you will when you are outside of grace.

I am here to be the best wife I can be, my kids mom, minister to hurting people, encourage this generation to be all they can be....That is the work that the Father has given me to do. How easy it is to get caught up in all of the other things that come our way and forget what it is that we are here to do.

What are your things that are pulling away from your time that aren't what you are here for? Are you doing the work man has made for you or the work God has given to you?

What makes a house a home

Well we have been ripping up carpet, tearing out toilets, painting the walls and doing all kinds of things around the house. It is looking so much better yet so much worse. Right now as I type this I am sitting on the carpet in my living room as some of our youth helped us move all the furniture out this evening because this carpet too is going bye bye in the morning.

It is funny though how a house doesn't feel like "home" without all the little mementos. You know your kids first pictures in frames that you bought when you were pregnant with them. The little stuff people pick up that reminded them of you. All the little things that make your house a home. The pillows on the couch the mirrors on the wall. Funny how welcoming all the little details are in your home....So what makes a house a home?

What makes your house a home? I can think of things that make each person's house their "home". For nana it is the sweet little old stove by the back door. The times spent out shooting guns with the boys, or the apple pies that are made at her counter. It is dominoes played at the table with Aunt Gay, Nana and Misty till wee hours of the night.

At Mimi's house it is time spent outside in her beautiful yard just enjoying all the beautiful surroundings. It is cookouts with yummy grilled food in the summer. Grass between my toes as we play baseball with the kids in the yard.

At my Grandpa's it is breakfast meals eaten at the bar with memories of him reading the newspaper sports section. While grandma does her crossword puzzle. Each memory special and unique in it's own way. Each makes you go back to that moment in time when you think about it.So sitting here on the floor looking around I begin to think about all those little mementos....all those things that seem like they are what make my house feel like home. When you think about it....those little mementos aren't what makes our house a home it is the people in our house. It is the tickle fights that happen on the living room floor. The fact that our dinning room table is always full with people we love. The backyard filled with the noise of laughter as the kids swing. All the decor is nice. I enjoy them....but the best memories I have of home is the people that are in my home. How thankful I am for my amazing family!

Chapter two

Sometimes life gets hard. It is so easy to let your circumstances determine your joy or lack there of. The good news is that in Hebrews 13:8 God is the same yesterday today and forever. God is so faithful in our life. He is always there reaching out to us. He never gives up on us no matter what may come He is forever there with open arms. That is something that will forever change your life when you come to the full realization. God is ready to turn your circumstances into joy.

I preached a message out of Habakuk the other night at Unleashed....Listen to it......Today is time for your Chapter two.

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Confidence level=Life happiness level

Hebrews 10:35-36 Therefore do not cast away your confidence which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.

I was reading this the other day. It tells us not to cast away what? Our confidence....Why not because it is the determiner of our great reward.....hmmmmmmmm

So you mean it isn't me being "good" or "perfect". It is my confidence in God to bring to pass what He said He would do. That really rocks everything you thought about obtaining your goals huh? Being confident in the things of God is for sure the number one thing I watch people slip up in and then everything else starts falling in around them. I never quiet understood why it works like that until I read this. Our confidence in God has everything to do with us receiving the promises of God. So I must ask....where is your confidence?

Out of our confidence comes our endurance is what it talks about in verse 16. The devil wants to attack your confidence in God through attacking your children, finances, health, situations, job etc. These things will make people waiver in their confidence which then makes them loose the endurance to finish their race. In the message translation verse 16 finishes by saying it is our promised completion. God promises our finish you determine weather you have the endurance to get there.

So how is your confidence in the things of God in your life. Are you led by your circumstances or by the word....That my friends is a question that only you can answer.