Walk Boldly With Jesus

Do you talk about God to others?

Luke 12:11-12 “When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.”

This may seem like a small verse in the grand scheme of things, but this is a very powerful verse.  This is a verse we should all remember.  This verse is so important because it reminds us the Holy Spirit it with us and they Holy spirit will help us when we don’t know what to say.  I think we all use the excuse, we don’t know what to say, a lot when it comes to our task of evangelization.  We cower from talking about God to others because we don’t know what to say and we don’t feel comfortable.  We don’t talk about God to strangers because we live in a culture where we are afraid to offend someone by talking about God and yet it seems like it is perfectly acceptable to offend people about every other thing on the planet.  

We can’t mention God because people might be offended and yet people can use swear words anywhere without worrying about offending someone.  It is a little bit crazy what kinds of things people will say these days, and yet we still worry about talking about God because we don’t want to offend someone or we don’t want to push our belief on others.  Although everyone else in the world doesn’t seem to have a problem pushing their beliefs on others.  If we are in a situation where we want to talk to someone about God but we really don’t know what to say, we can call on the Holy Spirit to help us out.  It is as simple as saying, “Come Holy Spirit.”  

I never used to talk about my faith.  I would talk about God if someone asked, but I didn’t really know a lot about God, so they would be short conversations.  I always felt unsure of what to say and I didn’t really know how to answer questions about my faith.  I feel people always had questions for me because I am Catholic and so they wanted to know what we believe and why we believe those things.  I remember one of the first times meeting my new neighbors when we first got married and moved to Spokane, Washington, they asked what I believed as a Catholic.  What were our core beliefs.  To be honest, I didn’t know how to answer this question.  I was just out of college, I loved my faith, but I wasn’t super strong in it.  I was stumped and I didn’t know at the time the Holy Spirit would give me the answers.  I did remember at the time that Catholics say a prayer at mass each week that lists our core beliefs.  When I am in mass and we get to that prayer, actually to any of the prayers, I have them memorized.  We say the same prayers each week, so I know them by heart.  However, I realized, If I am not at church and I want to recite them, I can’t always remember them.  

This experience with my neighbors, although it felt uncomfortable, was a great thing to have happened.  In that moment, when they asked what I believed and I couldn’t spell it out for them, I knew I never wanted to be in that position again.  I not only wanted to know what I believe, but I wanted to know why I believe those things.  I embarked on my journey to learn about God and my faith, and I haven’t looked back since.  Fast forward to 20 years later,  August of 2020 I went on a road trip with a friend of mine.  We are both Christian and love talking about God.  She is not Catholic and so she had a lot of questions about the Catholic faith.  I am happy to report that I was able to answer most, if not all of her questions.  She said she had never met a Catholic that could answer all her questions or explain what we believe like I did.  I say this not to brag about how much I have learned, but to show you that it is possible to learn about why you believe what you believe.  And also to demonstrate how I learned to listen to the Holy Spirit.  I let Him guide the conversation and I listen for the answers He wants me to give.  The Holy Spirit is really smart and always gives me the correct answer.  

One of the biggest things I feel has helped me to feel more confident in talking about God has been reading the Bible.  I did a read the Bible in 90 days bible study with my friend and her husband when I was in England.  It was great because although it was a lot of reading, when we would meet, once a week I believe,  there would be a video explaining the parts we read.  I loved this.  If you have never done a bible study before, I highly recommend it.  There are people that study the Bible so much more than I do and they are willing to explain all the little things we might miss when we read it.  I truly love learning what is behind the verses, or how the word they originally used in Greek or Hebrew meant something different from that same word in English.  I love when they explain the context of what it would have meant to those hearing the words spoken back in the day.  Bible Studies make the Bible and the people in it come to life.  It is amazing and wonderful.  

This verse is talking about when the apostles would get in trouble for talking about Jesus.  The verse is saying to go out and proudly proclaim the good news of Jesus.  If you happen to be arrested you don’t have to worry about what to say to defend yourself because the Holy Spirit will teach you what to say.  I don’t know about you, but I am not sure I would be able to rely on this Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit was new to them.  He was fresh upon the scene and some of their friends were getting stoned to death for talking about Jesus.  I was just writing, I am sure they were scared, but actually I am not sure they were.  They Holy Spirit is remarkable and in Acts 4:31 it says, “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.”  They spoke the word of God boldly.  So, maybe they weren’t afraid.  Maybe they already knew from past experience that the Holy Spirit would give them the words.  I pray for this Holy Boldness.  Ever since I was at a retreat and I heard this scripture and I heard the speaker mention Holy Boldness, I knew I wanted it.  

I am guessing it was those prayers that lead me to all the Bible studies I have been to, and the home rosary groups, and the Catholic Women’s groups, and my prayer group.  The Holy Spirit lead me to all the different ways I could grow in my faith and showed me what it was like to speak up for the faith.  The Holy Spirit has put incredible people in my life.  I have had so many wonderful examples of what it is like to live my life as an example of my faith.  I am grateful for each and ever person I have met along the way who has helped build my faith up to where it is today.  Today, I am not afraid to talk about God and I have surrounded myself with friends that love to talk about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit with me.  It is so wonderful.  If you currently shy away from talking about God, or your faith, can I suggest you pray for holy boldness.  Would you like to pray for a holy boldness to speak about God and to speak His word from scriptures? Could you step out in faith knowing the Holy Spirit is there to guide the conversations?  Let’s pray for this right now.

Dear heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to the episode right now.  Lord, today we are asking you fill us with a holy boldness, like you did for the apostles.  Lord, we need the Holy Spirit to show us what to say in this crazy, mixed up world.  Christians and our values seemed to be looked down upon more and more these days.  We need that holy boldness to stand up for them and to defend you and our values.  We love you Lord and we are  so very grateful you sent your Advocate to be with us always.  Lord, give us the faith to enter into the hard conversations knowing the Holy Spirit will be there to teach us at that time what to say.  We are so grateful for all you do for us.  Lord, you are the King of Kings and the Lord or Lords.  We love you and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  Tomorrow’s guest is my friend Mary.  I met Mary at one our assignments in the military.  Mary is going to bring us a witness about how God saved her life in a miraculous way.  You will not want to miss this witness.  I look forward to sharing it with you tomorrow.  Have a blessed day!

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Pour Out Your Hearts To Him

Psalm 62:8 “Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.”

I was talking with someone the other day and they are really struggling.  They are struggling because their child is making bad choices and there isn’t anything they can do to stop it.  I asked how she was doing and she said she trusts 100% in the Lord and that He is working in all of this and at the same time, she is crying out to the Lord asking why her child has to go through this.  I wanted to share this with all of you because I want you to know you are not alone.  I also want you to know it is ok to have two competing feelings.  You can be happy about something and also concerned at how it will all work out.  You can be happy you just found out you were pregnant, and also feel worried that you will have another mouth to feed.  You can be sad your loved one passed away and grateful they aren’t in pain anymore.  

When it comes to trusting the Lord, I think we have expectations that are unrealistic.  We tend to think if we trust the Lord, we won’t ever have to struggle again.  All of our needs will be met and life will be great.  I can tell you from experience, this isn’t the case.  God never said we wouldn’t struggle.  Moses trusted God and yet the Israelites struggled.  Moses trusted God would do as He said and yet, I am sure there were times when he was sweating it out waiting for God to answer the prayers.  God will take care of our needs and He will provide.  However, it is not always in our timing and that can cause some stress.

My parents are great at trusting the Lord.  If they didn’t have something they needed they asked the Lord and He provided it.  However, that doesn’t mean they never worried about anything.  I am one of 11 children, so as you can imagine, there was never enough money to go around.  Sometimes, we had more bills than we had money.  Sometimes God would answer prayers by providing extra money is some miraculous way, like when my grandparents would send unexpected money.  Other times God would provide food from neighbors so we didn’t have to spend money on food and could put that money towards the bills.  However, sometimes God would provide by softening the heart of the person my mom called at the electric or heating company and they would let us pay a smaller amount this month or they would agree to wait one more month before shutting the electric or heat off.  God always came through, just not always in the ways we would have chosen.  

You can trust the Lord and also be mad, sad, or upset with Him at the same time.  You can trust that things will work out in the end, or that He will use all this bad for good and also be upset you had to go through the bad.   My friend can trust that things will work out for her son and also be really sad her son has to go through all of this.  She can know God is looking out for Him and still be frustrated that God didn’t protect Him from all of this.  I think the not knowing why is the hardest part.  If we could skip ahead to the end of the story and know the why of what we are going through, I bet things would be easier to endure.  If we knew how God was going to use the hard things for His good, if we understood the why, it might make it easier to make it though the hard times.  For instance, if I knew my son was going to get in trouble with the law, have to spend time in jail, but ultimately he would use that experience to save countless other kids from he same fate, I might find it easier to make it through the time he was in jail.  

My friend said something the other day and I think it's amazing she can look at it like that when she is hurting so much.  She said this is just a blip in her son’s life.  It is so true and yet, when we are living through it, we feel as though it is an eternity.  When our kids are teenagers they make mistakes.  Some teens really struggle, most teens struggle I think.  When they are struggling to fit in and to make it through middle school and high school we worry about them.  We tell them this time won’t last forever and yet it feels like it might.  We as parents worry about their future and what impact these years will have on their future.  We worry about them being successful and to be honest sometimes we worry about them being alive in the future.  If your kids are making bad choices you may worry they will harm themselves intentionally or unintentionally.  

We need to keep going back to God.  This verse says, “Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.”  I think most of us are working on the trust in him at all times part of this verse.  We are probably pretty good at trusting Him with a few things, and are still working on the rest of the things.  I think God understands and He is willing to wait for us.  The thing I think we all don’t realize is we can’t manufacture trust in God ourselves.  This comes from God.  If we want to trust God more we need to ask Him to help us learn to trust more.  The next line tells us to pour out of heart before Him.  I think many of us are afraid to do this.  We are afraid to yell at God, or be sad or mad at God.  We feel angry with Him, but we don’t say it because we feel it is wrong to be upset, mad or sad at God.  

He is telling us right here in this verse to pour out our hearts to Him. God already knows what is in your heart. There is no way of hiding it.  However, when you pour it out to God, when you say it out loud and release all those feelings God can start healing you.  He can start to work on the  pain and hurt you feel.  God is strong.  He can take whatever it is you want to say to Him.  God longs to have a close and intimate relationship with you.  Think of those you have close relationships with.  Would you be as close as you are if you couldn’t share you real feelings with them?  If you lied to them and always told them everything was ok, going good, even when it wasn’t would they still want to be your friend?    Be honest with God.  Tell Him how you feel.  Yell, cry, scream, whatever it is you need to do to let God into your heart.  

The last line says God is a refuge for us.  Refuge means providing shelter from pursuit, danger, or trouble.  God provides us a shelter, a safe place, where we can bring Him all we have.  We don’t have to be afraid of our feelings, God is available to listen to them and to help us figure them out.  God is there for us through everything.  He is someone we can always count on, even if others have let us down.  My hope for each one of you listening is that you feel comfortable pouring your heart out to the Lord.  I hope you trust Him enough to yell and scream when you feel you need to and that you know He will still love you the same after you do.  He might even love you more, if that’s possible.  Or, maybe not love you more, but you may feel closer to Him afterwards.  The more you open up to God the  closer you will feel to Him.  Trust He can take whatever you have to say to Him.  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we love you and we want to trust you, please help us.  We want to know you are there for us and that you will love us just as much if we cry out when we don’t understand.  Help us to have faith your plan is better than our plan.  Help us to trust even when we don’t know what the plan is.  Help us to be honest with you about how we are feeling.  We love you Lord, you are amazing.  You are the Messiah, You are the Lord, You are the Resurrection and the Life.  We are so grateful for all you do for us.  We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus holy name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.  Have a blessed day.  

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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Are You Listening?

Ezekiel 12:1-2 (NIV) “The word of the Lord came to me:  “Son of man, you are living among a rebellious people. They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people.”

I thought this was an interesting verse because I can see how it applies to my life.  Have you ever wanted something so much you were blinded by it?  Have you ever been offered an opportunity and it seemed so good you couldn’t really see it for what it really was?  I think this has happened to all of us at one point or another.  We know how God wants us to live.  We know the life He is calling us to live and yet when we look at how we are living our lives it may look like we are blind or deaf to what God is saying to us.  Even though we know the right way to live, so often we choose to live in a way that is in complete opposition to the life we are being called to live.  

I find it easy to judge the Israelites.  I find it easy to wonder how the could be so rebellious.  God literally parted the Red sea for them.  They had God in their presence every single day.  They got to listen to Moses speak and Moses got to talk with God.  They received Manna every single day.  Imagine a miracle every single day when you wake up?  They had God winning wars for them left and right.  They saw so many miraculous things and yet they kept turning away from God.  It is easy for me to look at all they have done wrong and wonder how they could have gotten it so wrong.  How could they keep turning away from the one true God to worship all these other Gods?

It is easy for me to judge until….until I think about all the times I have turned a deaf ear or a blind eye to what God is calling me to do.  I think in my head they were lucky because God was with them every day.  In Exodus 13:21 it says, “By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.”  Yes, they had the presence of God, but so do we.  They had God leading them either as a pillar of cloud or a pillar of fire. Yet, we have God’s true presence in the Eucharist.  I know it is not the same in all parts of the world, but in most parts of America you can go to mass every single day if you want to.  Not only can we be around the presence of the Eucharist, but we can have that presence inside of us.  

I think about how luck they were to see the amazing miracles they got to see.  I wonder how anyone who saw such incredible things could ever turn away.  I mean, if I saw God part the red sea I would like to think I would never stray from Him.  However, I have seen God do incredible miracles and that thought is still not enough to get me to turn off the tv or stop scrolling on social media.  I do not like to judge others.  I have prayed hard for God to help me with this and I have gotten pretty good at remembering we are all going through something and so when someone is having a hard time, I don’t usually judge them.  When someone is acting unkind, I remind myself I don’t know what they have been through.  Maybe they just got some awful news and don’t really know what else to do.  I heard this saying once, and it has always kind of just stayed with me.  The saying was, “Hurt people, hurt people.”  Meaning if someone is being unkind and hurting someone else it probably means they are hurt as well and they are acting out.  That is not an excuse for anyone to hurt someone else.  I am not excusing their behavior, I am just trying to understand it.  Knowing that statement is probably true, allows me to be more forgiving and less judgmental towards other people’s actions.  

It is not our place to judge others.  That right is reserved for God and for God alone, which is actually great.  It is exhausting trying to judge others.  It’s exhausting thinking we need to correct all we see and that we are better than others.  If we spent less time judging and more time focused on what we could be doing better we would be a lot stronger in our faith.  It is easy to read the scriptures and see how God could be saying these things to the Israelites, or to the various people in the Old and New Testament.  However, do we realize God is saying these things to us?  The Bible is a living document.  It is not like any other book.  God is talking to us just as much as He was talking to the people living at the time when it was written.  Can you see how God is talking to you through the scriptures in the Bible?  Did you know these words apply to us as well as to them?  It is easy to see how they apply to the Israelites, but can we see how they apply to us?  

Can you see where in your life you have been turning a blind eye or a deaf ear to the Lord?  Can you find some time today to sit and listen to what God is trying to tell you, or what He is trying to show you?  Even if you don’t know exactly what it is I think each one of us knows God has been trying to tell us something or show us something and we just really didn’t want to hear or see it.  How about you, have you been trying to ignore that feeling you have that God wants you to do something you don’t want to do?  For me, it’s fasting.  God has been calling me to it and although I am not purposely avoiding it, I am letting the enemy talk louder.  I hear God calling me to fast and then I let my perfectionism creep in.  Then I wonder, what day do I fast, how do I fast, just bread and water, just for a few hours, fast from TV, fast from social media, etc and then I get so overwhelmed that I don’t do anything.  So, this is me admitting to all who are listening that I have not been listening to the call of God and I am pledging I will start today.  If God is calling you to do something, He will show you how, He will give you the strength to do it.  What if we all took time today to listen to God and made the commitment to stop turning away from Him?  What if we all agree we will no longer turn a blind eye or a deaf ear to the Lord?  How much more amazing would our life be?  What obstacles would we finally be able to overcome?  What dreams might finally come true?

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we are so grateful you speak to us and we are sorry when we don’t listen.  We are grateful you show us the way and we are sorry when we don’t see.  Lord, please help us to open our eyes and ears to you.  Help us open our hearts fully to you.  Help us to respond to your call.  Help us to resist all the other voices in the world and just listen to yours.  Help give us the strength to follow your call no matter where it leads us.  We love you Lord, you are incredible.  You are the Just One and you are the Great “I AM.”  We are so grateful for all you do and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus holy name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  I look forward to spending time with you on Monday.  Have a blessed weekend!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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But God

Acts 3:15 “You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.”

The message I want to give you today came from a sermon I heard from Paster Steven Furtick at Elevation Church.  He has a podcast and a YouTube channel.  I will put a link to this sermon in the show notes so if you get a chance you can listen to it.  He had such a great message and I am only going to touch on a very small part of it.  I hope you take the time to listen to his whole message.  His sermon was called “What Comes After.”  Pastor Furtick was talking about what comes after a big event in your life.  He said one of the best verses for us to pass along to any new Christian is Acts 3:15.  Then he read the verse from above like this, “You killed the author of life, but God…” And then he repeated “But God.”  I knew in that very moment I wanted you all to hear that message.  

Some of you are going through a lot right now.  You are facing things you don’t want to face and things no one should have to face.  Some of you have loved ones that are very sick, some of you are very sick, and some of your children are very sick.  Some of you are dealing with the loss of a loved one and some of you are in the middle of a mess with your spouse or your family.  Some of you are looking at your situation and thinking it looks pretty bleak.  You might be thinking there is no way out of the mess you find yourself in.  You might be wondering how your loved one will get better when the odds are not in their favor.  You might be wondering if you and your spouse will ever be happy again.  You might be wondering when your chronic pain will stop or when you will be healed of this illness you have been carrying for a long time.  When I think of all those situations I think of those two words Pastor Furtick said from this verse, “But God.”

The whole verse says, “You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead.  We are witnesses of this.”  If we were to look at Jesus’ experience while it was happening, without the benefit of knowing, “What comes after,” we wouldn’t look at it in the same way.  The day Jesus died, no one was calling that day Good Friday.  We named it that after we found out what came after.  It didn’t feel like a good day to anyone present at that crucifixion.  No one was celebrating that terrible event at the time and yet so much good has come from it.  We needed Jesus to go through that awful experience so God could redeem us.  The person speaking in this verse is talking to the people responsible for Jesus’ death.  He is telling them that although they tried to stop Jesus from spreading the good news, God brought Him back.  You tried to do evil, But God.  You tried to silence the Good News, But God.  Where do you need to remember But God in your life today?  

Are you thinking, my child is too sick, the doctors are saying she is not going to make it, we need to say goodbye?  Please remember, But God.  But God can fix anything.  He doesn’t have to follow the laws of medicine.  He can do whatever He wants whenever He wants.  Are you wondering how your mom is going to come back from this illness?  Are you wondering how she is going to beat the odds?  Remember, But God.  God has healed lepers, God has brought people back from dead, He can surely cure that cancer, or heal that lack of appetite.  He can give her the strength she needs to be whole again.  Are you thinking your marriage is never going to be the same.  You and your spouse have been through too much, you have grown too far apart?  Maybe that is true, maybe this situation is too big for you and your spouse, But God.  But nothing is too big for God.  Yes, it’s too big for you guys on your own but with God you can do all things.  Our God is the God of the impossible.  He has done so many amazing things in my life and I know He had done some amazing things in your life too.  I know things look bad, But God.  

The other things to remember, besides the fact God can do the impossible is that He can also take something bad and use it for Good.  What happened to Jesus was really bad, and yet God used it for good.  As hard as it is to imagine while your are in the middle of an awful time, it is important to remember that God can redeem any situation.  As I talked about the other day, this doesn’t mean the situation suddenly becomes good.  It is not a good thing you have to go through whatever terrible thing you are struggling with right now.  It still sucks and you will probably never look back on it and say you are happy you went through it.  However, God can use that situation for good.  Maybe you are going through this terrible situation to learn something, or to gain perseverance and resilience?  Maybe you needed to learn a lesson and this was the only way you would learn it?  Sometimes, no matter how many times someone tells us something, we don’t listen until something bad enough happens that we are forced to listen.  Sometimes we are in the terrible situation because of our own actions and that’s ok.  We all make mistakes.  If we were on our own I wouldn’t be saying that’s ok, But God.  But God can redeem us, and all of our mistakes.  He can take our brokenness and make us whole again.  God is that Good!

I know life is difficult for so many right  now.  What if we all looked at our lives and asked ourselves where we need to remember, But God?  What if we all remembered that none of us know what happens after.  Only God has that information and He doesn’t seem to be sharing it.  What if we all took some time to think about all the ways God could use this for our good, for His good?  I know it doesn’t make sense now.  I know it’s confusing, frustrating, sad, overwhelming, and all the other things too.  I know you just want to scream and cry at the same time.  Go ahead, God can take it.  He can take all we have for Him.  He is strong.  It is totally normal to feel all those things you are feeling.  Let yourself feel them.  As you feel them, just remember, But God.  Just remember He is the Way Maker, The Miracle Worker, the God of the Impossible.  I know your situation may look bad, it may look hopeless, but God!  God can turn it all around.  God is amazing and He wants to heal you, heal your loved one, save your marriage.  He wants to do all those things for us, will we let Him?  We will keep hope alive and continue to ask Him for the healing we want?  We will keep reminding ourselves nothing is too big for God?  We will see the brighter days ahead!

Dear heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we love you so much.  We are struggling Lord, and we aren’t sure why.  Our loved ones are hurting and we aren’t sure why or what we can do about it.  Lord, we ask you to come down individually and personally into each and every one of our situations today and we ask you to perform miracles.  We know you want to and we know you are more than capable.  Lord, please show up for us in big ways today.  Help us to keep hope alive and continue to remember you can redeem any situation.  You can redeem any mistakes we have made.  Lord, help us to know deep in our hearts that you can do all things and that you really want to heal us, our spouse, our loved one, and our relationships.  Lord, you are so incredible and we are so grateful for all you do.  We ask all this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  I wanted to let everyone know I have decided to post the audio from these podcasts on YouTube as I know many people who do not listen to podcasts and yet like to watch things on YouTube.  If you know anyone who might enjoy listening to this on YouTube please let them know they can search for Walk Boldly With Jesus and my channel will come up.  Another reason some people might prefer YouTube is because there is a playlist that just has the Witness Wednesday’s on it.  So if they just want to listen to those, they can be found on a separate playlist.  If you are enjoying this podcast can you please share it with at least one new person.  Also, if you could leave a review, that would also help other people find this podcast better. Thank you!  I look forward to spending time with you tomorrow.  Have a blessed day!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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We have all seen God working in our lives, however, we might not all be aware it is God who is working in our lives.  This is why it is so important we start talking about it more.  The more we share our experiences the more people understand how God works and how much He truly loves us.  If you would be willing to share any experience you have had of how God has worked or is working your life, please email me at [email protected] or just click on the link below.  It won’t take up much of your time and your story could be just the story that someone needs to hear today.  Prayerfully consider sharing.  Everyone has a story and the world needs to hear them.  I look forward to spending time with you again tomorrow and I will have another witness for you next Wednesday.  Have a blessed day

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Whoever Walks With The Wise Becomes Wise

Proverbs 13:20 “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools suffers harm.”

Who you hang around with and spend your time with is so important.  I know I have talked about his topic before and yet I feel it is so important for us all to truly to think about so I am going to talk about it again.  I remember several years ago I told Tony that we needed more Catholic friends.  He jokingly made a comment about how we should be accepting of everyone and not limit our circle to Catholic friends.  I say jokingly because he knew I wasn’t saying we can only be friends with people who are Catholic.  I will ask you what I asked him.  If you wan to be a really good tennis player, do you think it would be more helpful to hang out with other tennis players, or to hang out with soccer players?  It would be more helpful to hang out with tennis players because they know what it takes to be good at tennis.  Both groups of people are good people.  You can learn a lot from both soccer players and tennis players.  I am sure soccer players could help you learn discipline, sportsmanship, and lots of other great things.  However, they will not be as much help becoming great at tennis as tennis players would.  Do you see where I am going with this?

I don’t think everyone should surround themselves with people just like them.  I don’t think you should only have one type of friend.  I do think you should surround yourself with people who you look up to.  I think you should spend the most time with those who have the same beliefs as you do.  I think you should hang out with those who have similar values as you do.  Jim Rohn said, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”  Who you spend time with matters.  There is another quote that says, “Show me your friends and I will show you your future.”  They both tell us the same thing, Who we surround ourselves with is an important factor in who we become.  Why is this?  Why is it so important to be intentional about who we spend time with?  

This is so important because we become like those we spend time with.  When you hang out with people for long enough you start to talk like them and you start to act like them.  If you are Christian and all of your friends are not, then you will probably start to compromise your beliefs to fit in.  You may not even do it consciously.  It will probably start off small.  For instance you will not mention something amazing that happened because you don’t want to mention God in front of the others.  Or maybe you do mention something that happened but you don’t attribute it to God, you casually say it was a coincidence or you got lucky.  It seems when we are Christian and our friends are not we go out of our way not to offend anyone.  We don’t want to mention God because that may make them feel uncomfortable.  I am so grateful I have several Christian friends and so I can talk openly about my faith and not have to worry about offending anyone.  However, I also have friends that are not Christian.  I still love to hang out with them, we just keep it neutral when it comes to religion.  

The verse above says, “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools suffers harm.”  Have you ever heard the saying you want to buy the cheapest house in the most expensive neighborhood?  I have heard something similar when it comes to choosing your friends.  I have heard if you are the smartest person in the room you need to find a better room.  We want to be surrounded by people that make us want to be better people.  People who make us want to grow and learn.  We will live up to or down to the expectations given to us.  If we surround ourselves with people who don’t believe in us, we won’t think we can do very much.  If everyone around us is perfectly content with staying where they are and they don’t want to grow, then growth will not be important to us either.  

If you are listening to this podcast it means you want to grow, you want to learn.  That is awesome.  Growth is so important.  By starting your day off listening to me each morning you are inviting me into your circle of influence.  I am so grateful I get to be one of the people you spend time with.  Who else do you spend time with?  Are they helping you reach your goals? Are they helping you grow in your faith or are they pulling you away from it?  God continually told His people in the Old Testament that He set them apart from everyone else.  He set them apart and told them they could not marry people who weren’t not Israelites because God knows how hard it is to be surrounded by people who are different than you and to not join in their ways.  Do you remember Solomon?  He was one of the wisest men in the history of the Bible.  God blessed him with Wisdom so he could rule the country.  God had told his people they must not intermarry because they would surely turn their hearts toward other Gods.  Solomon was very wise and yet He continued to take wives from other religions.  Solomon had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray.  If Solomon who was given an abundance of wisdom straight from God couldn’t resist the pull of his wives, what hope do we have?

If you want to grow in your faith, and you want to challenge yourself, then you need to carefully select who you spend the most time with.  Some of us have family members that challenge our faith, or maybe make us feel we can’t do all we want to do.  If this is the case, I am not saying you can never spend time with those family members.  I do, however, think you should limit your time with anyone who doesn’t bring out the best in you.  While it is true we don’t get to choose family, we do get to choose how much time we spend with them.  We do get to choose how much influence those members of our family have on our lives.  Set some boundaries if you need to.  Protect what you are building.  Protect your beliefs from those who wish to change them. How we live in this world determines how we spend eternity.  Surround yourself with people who will help you live in a way that will help you spend an eternity it the presence of God.  It will be worth it, I promise!

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we ask you to help us surround ourselves with those people who will help us grow in our faith.  Help us to set boundaries for those who wish to change us.  The enemy is always sending people into our lives, please help us to spot them and not let them change our beliefs.  Help us to follow you always.  Help us to be a good influence on those in our lives and help us to help bring others close to Christ.  We love you Lord, you are truly amazing.  We are grateful for all you do for us.  We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  I am not sure who will be giving a witness tomorrow but I am sure the Holy Spirit will make sure we have one.  I look forward to sharing that with you.  Have a blessed day!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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Redeeming The Time

Ephesians 5:15-16 “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”

I really liked this verse and wanted to talk to you about it today because I am not sure we realize how important time is.  It matters how we spend our time.  The first part of this verse talks about how we need to make sure we are walking circumspectly, not as fools but as wise.  Circumspectly is a fancy way to say we need to think carefully before we act.  This is hard for us sometimes.  I feel like I say this a lot but I think it is so important that we all become aware of it.  We go through life on auto pilot.  There is so much of our day we spend just going through the motions.  We aren’t actually making a lot of the decisions as we go through our day.  We have all formed habits, good ones and bad ones, and those habits are what make a lot of the decisions for us.  

It sounds like this is not a new problem.  I think from the beginning of time this was a problem.  We tend to default to whatever we have done in the past.  It is not easy to always walk circumspectly.  It requires us to pause and think before we do something.  This is contrary to how we live out our day to day moments.  Do you stop and think before you eat your breakfast?  Do you stop to think if whatever your are about to eat is actually the best thing for you to eat?  Is it something that will nourish your body or is it something you are just in the habit of eating?  What about how you spend your time in the mornings?  Are you spending this precious time in a way that is going to set your day up for success, or are you looking at your phone and then reacting to whatever you saw on your phone?  

It is important we look at how we are spending our time and try to stop and think before we do anything.  I have been much more aware of how I am spending my time lately.  I am trying to be more focused and stay on task better.  I am trying to spend my time more wisely.  However, I am finding it is very hard.  I find myself slipping into old habits throughout the day.  For instance, I will pick up my phone and check my email so many times throughout the day.  I do not have a ton of important emails coming in all throughout the day.  I could easily spend 15-30 min at the end of the day and go through all my emails and be good for the day.  However, I am in the habit of checking them, so I do.  This is something I am working on changing.  

I read something one time that said we all think our time is our own.  However, it is a gift from God and one day He is going to want us to give a full account of how we spent His gift.  I don’t know about you, but I thought this was pretty powerful.  If you knew one day you would have to answer for how you spent your time, would you spend it differently?  Would you spend as much time on that video game, or watching those facebook or Youtube videos?  Would you still binge watch all 8 seasons of that tv show during work hours if you knew you would have to explain your actions to God someday?  I ask that question in a loving way.  I don’t picture God asking us in a very condemning way.  I can picture Him asking us in a loving way. More of a response to us asking why we didn’t get to do all the things we wanted to do.  God has amazing plans for each one of us an no matter where we are on this journey of life, it is important to take a minute and think about how we are spending this precious time that God has given us.  There is a song I love and it talks about this very topic.  It is called “Spend a Life” By David Dunn.  (Click Here) I highly recommend you take a minute and this to this awesome song.  I am going to take a minute to read you the lyrics, no not sing them, don’t worry.  I think you all need to hear them and I know we are all busy and so most of you probably won’t listen to the song.  

Spend a Life  by David Dunn

Everybody's got a balance

But no one knows how much

There's no way to run the numbers

No way to count it up

And we're pouring out our fortunes

In the moments

Both the big and the small

Yeah we gotta spend it all

All I have is what You gave

Watching seconds turn to days

I was made for more then just to watch it fly

A few more turns around the sun

Could be hundreds, could be one

Show me how to spend the treasure of my time

Show me how to spend a life, yeah

Show me how to spend a life

I have never seen a tombstone

Say I didn't work enough, nah

Nobody ever heard a father say

I held my kids too much

God I wanna run after

What really matters

So remind me when I fall

How a good man spends it all

Don't let me waste it

Don't let lose it

Don't let me steal it for myself

No, no

I know it's precious

I know it's priceless

I know my time is flying by

Show me how to spend a life

'Cause all I have is what You gave

Watching seconds turn to days

I was made for more then just to watch it fly

A few more turns around the sun

Could be hundreds, could be one

Show me how to spend the treasure of my time, yeah

Show me how to spend a life, yeah

Wow, did that hit you like it hit me?  I got teary eyed just thinking about all this song talks about.  None of us know how much time we have.  I love when the song talks about trips around the sun and he says, could be hundreds could be one.  This is so true and as much as I don’t think it is helpful to constantly be thinking about our death, I do think it is healthy to occasionally look at how we are living our lives and ask ourselves, would be proud of how we lived our lives if we were to die tomorrow?  Sometimes we put things off and we say we just need to do x, y, or z and then we will do the things we really want to do.  We know in our hearts we aren’t prioritizing this correctly and yet we tell ourselves we only have to do this for a few more years, just until we get that promotion, just until we make more money, just until…But we aren’t guaranteed anything.  What if we lived our lives with the realization tomorrow is not a given?  What if we woke up each day grateful God blessed us with another day and then lived it as the gift it really is?  What if we thought about how we are spending our time and consciously chose how we wanted to spend it?  What if we realized we only get a finite amount of time and so we live each moment as if it is a precious gift.  What if we stopped putting things off and did them right when we wanted to?  Would your life be any different if you started walking into your days circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise?  How can you redeem the time you have been given?  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, help us to notice how we are spending our time.  Help us to take back control of our time.  Lord, I know I really struggle with wasting time and I know I can’t be the only one that struggles with this, please help us Lord.  We ask the Holy Spirit to nudge us when we are wasting time and help to bring us back on track.  We ask you to help us realize how important our time is.  We ask you to help us realize how finite our time is, but not in an anxious way where we stress out.  We ask you to help us see it in a helpful way so we can take advantage of every minute you have given to us.  Help us to be grateful for each and every precious second you give us Lord.  You are truly amazing and we are so grateful for you.  You are the light of the world and the word made flesh.  You are so kind to give us so many wonderful days, help us appreciate it more.  We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus holy name, Amen.

Thank you for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  I look forward to spending time with you again tomorrow.  Have a blessed day!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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Answering The Call

Isaiah 6:8 “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”

There is a song we sing at church with these words and I just love it.  I was just thinking, or I guess wondering what we would say if God asked us this question?  I would love to say yes, and I honestly think I would and then I wonder what He might be sending me to go and do.  I remember hearing about a woman and her husband who attended a Charismatic Conference in Canada.  I think it was in Toronto.  There was a huge outpouring of the Holy Spirit at this conference.  I am sure I am not going to retell the story perfectly as I heard it several years ago, but I am confident you will get the important parts.  The speaker at this conference asked this woman if she would like to be given a nation to spread the word of God and to spread God’s healing.  He felt the Holy Spirit was telling Him they had a calling to have a healing ministry in another country.  She said yes.  She didn’t even hesitate, she jumped all in.  The country she was called to minister in was Mozambique, which is located in Southeastern Africa.  She felt a calling specifically towards healing the blind and the deaf.  Her and her husband answered this call.  They moved there and started their ministry.  

They moved to Africa faithful to this calling they felt on their life.  They moved their with the belief they were going to change people’s lives.  Healing people that could not see or hear.  They were so excited.  Their names were Rolland and Heidi Baker.  I will post a link to their website in the show notes as I just read the History of their ministry and it is truly amazing.  What I remember from the book I read is that they prayed over every person they saw with vision issues or hearing issues and they didn’t have any results for the first year.  Can you imagine that?  Can you imagine being faithful in asking people to pray over them day in and day out and not having any healings?  I imagine I would have given up.  I would hope I would have stuck with it, but I honestly can’t say for sure I would have.  It is hard to step out in faith and ask someone if you can pray over them.  You are putting yourself in a vulnerable position every time you ask someone.  What if they say no?  What if they don’t get healed.  I admire their courage to continue to follow their calling even in the absence of confirmation.  They did eventually get confirmation on their calling. They have seen incredible healings ever since.  

I often wonder if I would have the strength to follow a calling like they did.  What just came to my mind is that they Holy Spirit knows us.  He comes to us and meets us where we are at.  When I read the History of this couple, they had been going on missions for years before they moved to Africa.  They had already lived in other countries as well.  They had been preparing for this assignment for several years, even if they didn’t know that was what they were preparing for.  I was going to say God isn’t just going to call someone who has never been overseas to start a ministry overseas.  However, He might.  He called Moses to speak to Pharoh and to speak to the Israelite people and He didn’t feel comfortable with public speaking at all.  He had a stutter and he are argued with God to send someone else.  I think God prepares us for our calling.  I think He knows what we like and don’t like.  I think He may call us out of our comfort zone and challenge us to achieve bigger and greater things in His name.  However, He will also give us whatever we need to answer that call.  

I read something and I can’t remember where I read it but the author said she always prays for God to give her the strength she needs for whatever he is calling her to do.  She said she was nervous because she was asked to go on a mission trip to Africa.  She has a weak stomach and was worried she wouldn’t be able to eat the food she was offered.  She said she knew it was a sign of disrespect to not eat something if you are offered it and she also knew where she was going they ate some things that aren’t something we would normally eat.  She said she just prayed for God to give her the strength to handle any situations she encountered, and He always did.  

I remember hearing a phrase at the first retreat I went to for the Military Council of Catholic Women.  I had just moved to Germany, I had three little boys ages 1-5 and when the opportunity for a retreat came up, I jumped on it. While I was there I heard this phrase over and over again.  “God doesn’t call the equipped, He equips the called.”  The idea behind this phrase is that all God needs is your yes.  All He needs it you to be willing to do something and He will equip you with all you need.  I instantly loved this idea.  Some ladies didn’t like it.  They thought it was absurd to think God didn’t take into account our talents when He was calling us to do something.  I was the opposite.  I heard this phrase and I felt like a whole new world opened up.  I don’t think the phrase means God doesn’t take our talents into account.  I think what it means is we don’t have to think we are qualified for the job to say yes.

As I said earlier, God sometimes, often times, calls us out of our comfort zone.  We can’t grow when we are in our comfort zone.  It isn’t until we push ourselves, we challenge ourselves that we grow.  This is true in all areas in our lives.  If we always do the same thing, if we always do what we know how to do and never try something new, we may be comfortable, but we will not be growing.  This phrase opened a whole new world for me because I feel it gave me permission to say yes to things even when I didn’t feel qualified.  It gave me the confidence to step forward in faith to try new things.  It gave me the courage to say yes when I might not have said yes before.  I have also heard a lot of people say we are born with everything we need to fulfill our calling.  It is already inside of us.  I think this is 100% true as God made us, He knew us before we were even a thought in our parents mind.  I absolutely believe He put everything in us we would need to live out our purpose.  

I think these two ideas go together because even though we may have all we need, we don’t always know it.  For instance, when God called me to write a book, I had no idea I had that ability.  I said yes, because I believe that God doesn’t call the equipped He equips the called. Aso if God calls me to do something, He is not going to leave me alone to do it on my own.  He is always with us giving us all we need to answer His call.  My hope for you today is that you will answer the call you feel in your heart.  We all have a different call.  My call for a long time was to be a mom and a wife.  Your call does not have to be go out and start a ministry in a new country.  God is calling each one of us to more.  He is calling us to something and we can only know what that is if we spend time with Him and listen.  I know you probably don’t feel ready for what you are being called to do.  Nobody does when they first hear the call.  God is looking for our trust.  He is looking for our yes, even if we are unsure.  Even if we don’t understand what He wants and even if we think we are unqualified.  He is looking for our yes and then He will provide the rest, I promise.  It will not always be easy, but the more we say yes, the more He will show us He is there with us.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we want to answer your call, please help us.  Help us to understand you would never leave us alone and you would never call us to something we couldn’t do.  Lord, we ask you help each and every person listening to this episode hear what you are calling them to.  No matter how big or how small it is, help them to say yes to this call Lord.  Help give us the courage and strength we need.  Help us to know it is ok to say yes, even when, especially when, we don’t feel we are qualified.  This is an even greater sacrifice because we are relying solely on you and your power to help us answer that call.  We love you Lord.  You are so incredible.  You have helped countless others answer their call.  We are so very grateful.  We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus holy name, Amen.

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  I look forward to spending time with you on Monday.  Have a blessed weekend!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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The Clay Vessel

2 Corinthians 4:7-10 “But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies.”

I looked up the meaning of this verse and the answer I found is very interesting so I am going to read it to you.  I will also put a link to the explanation in the show notes so you can check it out too if you want to. CLICK HERE for explanation.

What is the treasure Paul describes in this verse? From the previous verse, we know that it is the "light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). Paul described God as shining His light into Paul's heart, penetrating the darkness of Paul's unbelief and revealing His glory to Paul through faith in Christ. Paul finally saw with spiritual eyes what he had never seen in all of his years of religious practice. In fact, Paul's phrasing in the prior verse incorporates the values of many different cultures—light, knowledge, and glory—and expresses them in the form of a person which is Jesus Christ.

To know God in this way, to see God's glory and to be given the opportunity to share in that glory forever, is the greatest of all treasures. Paul writes now that this great treasure is not kept under lock and key in a museum or a bank vault. Instead, God keeps this treasure of the light of His glory in Christ in fragile jars of clay. Clay jars were included in nearly every aspect of life in Paul's day. They were efficient containers, but also prone to breaking easily. Modern people tend to think of glass jars as "fragile," but glass was considered an improvement over clay.

The point being made is that God has deliberately chosen something fragile and unimpressive. Why would God keep this great treasure in such vulnerable containers? Paul says God wants to show that the power of His glory is from Him. He leaves no room to suggest that power comes from Paul or any other human being. The power of the gospel is so overwhelming that it is not limited by the quality of its container. God displays His limitless power and glory by distributing it through limited and common human vessels.

Wow, that last paragraph is pretty powerful.  Especially where it says, “The power of the gospel is so overwhelming that it is not limited by the quality of its container.  Then it goes on to say God displays His limitless power and glory by distributing it through limited and common human vessels.  Do you ever feel like you are not good enough to spread the Word of God.  Maybe it’s not that you don’t feel good enough, but you don’t feel smart enough, holy enough, or some other version of enough.  Often times we don’t feel like we are enough and so we don’t try.  We count ourselves out of the game before it even starts.  We tell ourselves that God doesn’t want us to spread the word.  He wants those that are more qualified to do it.  That last paragraph is speaking directly to those of us who feel this way.  “The power of the Gospel is so overwhelming that it is not limited by the quality of the container.”

Even though we aren’t perfect, we can still spread the good news of the Gospel.  Maybe it’s true and we don’t know enough, we aren’t good enough, we aren’t holy enough, that doesn’t matter.  It doesn’t matter because we aren’t doing anything through our own strength.  All of our power comes from God and He can do anything.  That is the point He was making by talking about clay pots.  Clay pots were normal, ordinary and boring back in the day.  They were very common as they were used for everything.  God will fill us with His power as well.  No matter how common or fragile we may feel.

I really liked this verse because it shows us that God does allow us to suffer, but not be completely broken.  It says we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed.  Do you ever feel like this?  Do you ever feel like every single thing in your life is going wrong and wonder how you are still standing?  Somehow you have not been crushed by the weight of it all. The power of God is what is keeping us from being crushed under the weight of it all.  He does allow us to be afflicted but He is right there with us the whole time.  He is giving us the strength we need to get through it all.  

The next line says, perplexed but not driven to despair.  We don’t always understand what is going on.  Sometimes something bad happens, something really hard for us to understand.  For instance, when we lose a loved one suddenly.  When this happens we probably are filled with a lot of questions.  Even though we have questions, we are not driven to despair.  My devotional this morning touched on the subject of our perplexity.  This is what it said in Jesus Calling for August 7th.  “Understanding will never bring you Peace.  That’s why I have instructed you to trust in Me, not in your understanding.  Human beings have a voracious appetite for trying to figure things out in order to gain a sense of mastery over their lives.  But the world presents you with an endless series of problems.  As soon as you master one set, another pops up to challenge you.  The relief you had anticipated is short-lived.  Soon your mind is gearing up again: searching for understanding (mastery) instead of seeking Me (your Master). If we don’t want to be driven to despair when feel perplexed then we need to search for God before we seek understanding.  Sometimes we have to trust God knows what He is doing, even when we don’t understand why He is doing it.  

The next part says we are persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.  Again, this is because of the power of God.  Sometimes if might feel like we are destroyed.  We may feel as though things couldn’t get any lower.  If you are in a season like this then I want to encourage you to adopt this verse.  To know that you maybe be knocked down, but you will not be destroyed.  God will not allow it.  He is with you on this journey, even if you can’t see Him or feel Him.  I like this verse because it provides encouragement and shows us that no matter how bad it gets God can still redeem us and redeem the situation we find ourselves in.  There is nothing more powerful than God, and I find that so comforting.  

The final part of the verse says, “ always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies.” God is calling us to be His light in the world.  He wants others to look at us and see Jesus.  Are we working on this? This is something that will take a lifetime to perfect and something we can work on every single day.  We don’t have to wait until we feel we are enough.  Remember the power of the Gospel is not limited to the quality of the vessel.  God’s power will not be limited by us.  It doesn’t matter if we are enough, we will never be enough, but God’s power can still flow through us to others.  We can be His light in the world, even with all or our imperfections.  All we need to do is ask God to lead the way.  We have to accept the challenge, say yes, and then the power of God can work through us.  Will you accept the challenge today?

Dear Heavenly Father I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord we thank you for not letting us get crushed by the way of our problems. Thank you for not letting us be driven to despair by our perplexity. We thank you that when we are knockdown we are not destroyed.  We thank you for using us as your vessel.  We are grateful you are there for us through everything.  We love you so much Lord, you are so amazing! We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  I look forward to spending time with you tomorrow.  Have a blessed day!

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We have all seen God working in our lives, however, we might not all be aware it is God who is working in our lives.  This is why it is so important we start talking about it more.  The more we share our experiences the more people understand how God works and how much He truly loves us.  If you would be willing to share any experience you have had of how God has worked or is working your life, please email me at [email protected] or just click on the link below.  It won’t take up much of your time and your story could be just the story that someone needs to hear today.  Prayerfully consider sharing.  Everyone has a story and the world needs to hear them.  I look forward to spending time with you again tomorrow and I will have another witness for you next Wednesday.  Have a blessed day!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

CLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring 

CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emails

CLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily life

CLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace