Walk Boldly With Jesus

The Lord Rewards Those Who Seek Him

Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith living within us it would be impossible to please God. For we come to God in faith, knowing that he is real and that he rewards the faith of those who passionately seek him.”

I heard this verse last night, and the Holy Spirit said, that is the one you will use tomorrow for your podcast. I love it when that happens because I know He has something He wants to tell you. The part that stood out to me last night is “He rewards the faith of those who passionately seek him.” This made me think, “Am I passionately seeking the Lord?” That is a good question and one that makes me think. I love the Lord, and I love to spend time with Him. Is that passionately seeking Him? I don’t think so. I think about what I do when I am seeking something. What do you do if you are seeking your keys and don’t know where they are? You search everywhere. You turn things over, look behind something, look through things, and look anywhere and everywhere you think of. Are we doing this in our pursuit of the Lord?

My teacher, Malinda, told us, “If we seek His vision for us, we will see it.” Have you ever stopped to ask the Lord what His vision is for your life? I mean, He made us, and He knows everything there is to know about us. Wouldn’t we want to know His vision for our lives? Wouldn’t it be the best vision as He can see the whole picture and honestly say He knows what is best for us? I ask the Lord what He wants me to do, but I never thought to ask what His vision for my life is. I definitely want to spend some time later today with that question.

The next question Malinda asked us was another great question. She asked, “Do I seek Jesus’ will for my life daily?” Wow, good question. I am not sure I do anything daily. Consistency is not one of my strong suits yet. However, God and I are working on it, and if I seek Him, He will reward me. Malinda told us we could set reminders on our phones. There are so many ways our phones can be distractions to us, yet there are also many ways they can help us grow spiritually. I often set alarms on my phone, then label them with whatever I am supposed to do when it goes off. Did you know you could label your alarms? My 6:30 alarm says, “Wake up, Noah.” My 7:30 alarm says, “Wake up, Ryan,” and my 7:45 alarm says, “Ryan’s bus.”

My early morning alarm used to say, “Spend time with the Lord.” This would remind me when I got up that if I hit snooze, I would delay my time with the Lord. He would be there waiting, but I would not show up. This was pretty effective in helping to stop hitting snooze. I should probably start doing that again. I would also have daily alarms reminding me to do certain things. If we want to set a reminder or an alarm on our phone, we can label it, “Seek Jesus’ will for my life today.” This could be a gentle reminder that we should seek His will for our lives. Malinda used a quote last night, and although I don’t remember who said it, I do remember it. “Don’t ask Jesus to bless what you want to do. Seek to bless what He is already doing.” That is a thought shift for us. Look around and see what Jesus is already doing in our lives. Are we cooperating with what He is doing in our lives, or are we making it harder for Him to work in our lives?

Now that we know how important it is to seek the Lord and that if we seek Him, He will reward us, you might ask yourself, “How do I seek the Lord?” This is a fair question, as we all want to ensure we do what God wants us to do. There are several ways you can seek the Lord. The first one would be to spend time with Him. Spend a certain amount of time with him every single day. I really like it first thing in the morning, but that might not work into your schedule. Whatever works best for you. Also, it doesn’t have to be a long time that you spend. Malinda talked about short conversations with the Lord all throughout the day. She said, “What a gift it would be to have His name be the first word on your lips.” Imagine if you were talking to Him so often throughout the day that His name was never far from your lips. By short conversations, they could be as short as “Good Morning, Lord” or "Let’s have lunch together, Lord.”

Another way to seek the Lord is to be in His Word. Read scripture, meditate on scripture, and seek to understand scripture. The more time we spend with scripture, the more time we spend with Jesus. Jesus is the Word of God. We can learn so much about God when we read His Word. We will find Him in every word that is written. When you get familiar with the scriptures, you are familiar with the Lord. If you are seeking someone, a great thing to do is get to know them.

Another way to seek the Lord is to praise and worship Him. Have you ever just lost yourself in praising the Lord? If not, I recommend finding some great praise music and playing it loudly. If you know the words, I recommend singing as loud as you want to. I recommend dancing or moving around to the music if you don't know the words. Let the words and the melody carry you. Let the Holy Spirit lead, and you follow. This is a great way to seek the Lord because He constantly shows up when we praise and worship Him. God is so good!

As you can see, there isn’t one right way to seek the Lord. Do what feels best for you. The Lord doesn’t care how we seek Him. He only cares that we seek Him. The Lord will reward those who passionately seek Him. Don’t you want to be among those who are rewarded? I know I do!

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we want to seek you. Please help us! Show us how to seek you. Put on our hearts your desire for our life, Lord. Help us to desire what you desire. Help us to bless what you are already doing in our lives. We love you, Lord, 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. Remember, my coaching group starts up one week from today! You won’t want to miss the first week. You can sign up at walkboldlywithjesus.com or click the link in the show notes. I can’t wait to grow closer to the Lord with you!

I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! 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

Am I Falling Asleep Too?

Acts 20:9 “And a young man named Eu′tychus was sitting in the window. He sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer, and being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead.”

I heard a sermon on the Elevation Podcast the other day. This sermon was called I Didn’t Know I Fell Asleep and was preached by a visiting pastor named Robert Madu. He is the pastor of a church in Texas, and he was outstanding. He read a short passage and got so much out of it. Let me read the whole passage so you have some context for the passage I selected above.  

Acts 20:7-12 “On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and he prolonged his speech until midnight.  There were many lights in the upper chamber where we were gathered.  And a young man named Eu′tychus was sitting in the window. He sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer; and being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead.  But Paul went down and bent over him and, embracing him, said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.” And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. And they took the lad away alive and were not a little comforted.”

After hearing that story, I wonder if you have the same question. Why would he sit in an open window? If you have time, I highly recommend you go back and listen to the whole episode on the Elevation podcast. CLICK HERE for the episode. Pastor Madu made many good points; I couldn’t relay them all to you in the next 10 minutes.

I want to focus on the one that hit me the hardest. Pastor Madu said, “Maybe he didn’t know he was falling asleep.” As soon as he said that, I knew where he was going with this because it can be so easy for us to slowly fall asleep regarding our faith. We get busy and don’t realize it has been weeks since we have been to church. We plan to get up and devote the first 10 minutes to God each morning, and then we hit snooze a few times, and we don’t have time to spend with God now, or we will be late for work, school, or whatever we have planned for the day. We want to read the Bible and be in God’s word, yet all these other things keep coming up, and we don’t have the time.

It is so easy to fall asleep. I am not talking about literally falling asleep, although I am sure we have all done that, too. I am sure we have all fallen asleep or nodded off during mass, church service, or at least during our prayers. We are tired, and we are busy, and we do so much. We must be careful when it comes to becoming sleepy and falling asleep in our spiritual life.

Did you know that if you put a frog in boiling water, he will jump right out? He does not want to be boiled alive. He has self-preservation skills. However, if you put a frog in cold water and put that pan over a flame, and it slowly gets hotter and hotter, the frog will not jump out. It gets accustomed to the water and does not know it is in trouble until it is too late. The same can be true with us and our faith. We can grow tired on our spiritual journey, and yet it happens so slowly with one decision and then another and then another that we don’t know we are in trouble until it is too late.

Are we slowly boiling ourselves? Are we making bad decisions after bad decisions without even realizing it? Let’s take a moment to do an inventory. Have we fallen asleep in our faith life? When was the last time we spent one-on-one time with the Lord, just me and Him? When was the last time I was in His scripture, and I don’t mean mass on Sunday? Yes, mass is essential, yet that shouldn’t be your only encounter with God’s word each week. When did I last ask the Lord what He thought I should do? When was the last time I sat in the classroom of silence, as Matthew Kelly calls it, and just listened to what the Lord wanted to say to me?

All of these things are essential parts of our spiritual journey. All of these things help us grow closer to the Lord. Every time I look back at my prayer journal, I am amazed at how long it has been since my last journal entry. I love writing in my prayer journal because I usually ask the Lord to write back to me through my pen. I love spending that time with the Lord, yet I allow life to get in the way of spending time with Him. I have signed up for a Bible study to help ensure I am in His Word daily, and I love attending it. Yet, I haven’t done any reading for the study because I am doing other things. I am not even sure what else I am doing. I know I do have a lot going on, and yet I find time to spend on FaceBook or playing a game on my phone.

It’s crazy how easy it is to distract ourselves from the Lord and our relationship with Him. Our relationship with the Lord is similar to that with friends and family. It can be so easy to fall asleep in those relationships as well. What happens if you get so busy you no longer have time to talk with your spouse, kids, or friends? What happens if you get so busy that you no longer have time to listen to them? What if you don’t have time to hang out with them and spend time with them? If you do not put time into your relationships, they fall apart.

Luckily, our God is forgiving and patient and waits for us to return to Him. However, what if we run out of time? The Bible is full of parables that tell us not to fall asleep because we don’t know when our time is coming, when the bridegroom will be coming, and when the master of the house will be coming. We must stay away, we must stay alert, and we must always keep growing. Take a few minutes this morning and see if you might be falling asleep. If so, what can you do about it? I know for me, I am going to try hard to stop hitting snooze and keep my dates with the Lord in the morning. Maybe even move them from my office to the church down the street. It is open 24/7, and the last time I was in the church with just me and Jesus, it was a fantastic feeling. If you have a church near you that is unlocked throughout the day, try it. I think you will be surprised how much closer you feel to the Lord when chatting with Him in a church.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, you are amazing and we would never want to fall asleep in our relationship with you. Yet, we sometimes do. We let life get in the way gradually and then begin to forget to do all the essential things, like spend time with you, listen to you, and be in your Word. We ask that you wake us up gently, Lord. Show us where we are falling asleep and how we can change it. We want to be all in with our relationship with you. We want to be fully awake. Teach us how, Lord! 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 want to take a quick minute to talk with you about how you could join me in a deeper, more personal way on this journey. I will be starting a Walk Boldly with Jesus group coaching program. I will teach on a topic on Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. EST on a Zoom call. The teaching will be about 30 minutes, and then we will have 30 minutes or so of small group discussions. This small group discussion time will be as valuable as the teaching time. This will give everyone a chance to process what was just taught and then figure out how you can apply it to your life over the next week.

The best part is that you will meet with those same people next week, so you can check back in with each other and see how the week went. We will all grow so much quicker if we do not just hear the teaching but apply it immediately in our lives. If you can not make Tuesdays at 8 PM EST, I’ve got you covered too! I will record the teachings so you can watch them when you have time. You won’t have the small group live discussions, but there will be a members-only Facebook group where you can discuss how you will apply it to your lives and check back in to see how it is going. Also, if a few people cannot make it but want to form a small group discussion at another time, I can set up a Zoom call for you to do at a convenient time for those who want to do that. If you have any questions, please let me know. This new coaching program will start in November. However, you can join at any point. If you know a fellow Christian who would like to grow in their relationship with the Lord and have a community alongside them on that journey, please pass along this information. All the info can be found at walkboldlywithjesus.com. Thank you!

I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! 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

Check out WalkboldlywithJesus.com to find all the details on my new coaching group. Here is a brief description. 

Have you ever desired a more personal relationship with the Lord? Have you ever been around people who seem so in love with the Lord and longed for that same relationship? Have you ever wished you knew more about praying, worshiping, praising, and so much more? Why is it that if we want to get better at something, like gardening, painting, or singing, we will seek professional help? However, we rarely do this when it comes to our faith. Yet, this could be the most critical area for improvement. In this coaching program, I will host a weekly group coaching session, and you can attend live or watch the recording.
My teachings will be for about 30 minutes. I will have a brief question and answer session, and then we will break into small groups where you can talk about what you just learned and how you will apply it to your life in the upcoming week. This is an excellent opportunity to create peer partnerships, which will help to create an environment of encouragement and motivation. You can help each stay on track and ensure you aren't just learning these things without applying them to your life. Trust me. It is much easier to grow in your faith when you have a community of people on the journey with you. I will also have a Facebook group where you can post your progress, struggles, questions, and any questions. I honestly believe I am where I am today because I have had a community surrounding me the whole way. So many of us feel alone, and when you join a community like this, you find out you are not alone!

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

God Intended It For Good

Romans 50:20 “Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today.”

I love this verse. I love Joseph. He persevered through so much stuff in his life. He was one of 12 boys in his family. Joseph was loved by his father more than the others because his mother was the woman he had first fallen in love with. His father had given Joseph this nice, colorful coat. Joseph was assigned to go with his brothers one day and tend the sheep. His brothers were tired and envied his favorite child status and the fact that David could interpret dreams, and they decided they wanted to kill him. One of the brothers convinced them to throw him in a ditch instead. Then they see a band of traveling slave traders and decide they might as well make some money, so they sold Joseph to the slave traders.

Joseph is bought by Potiphar, the pharaoh's superintendent of prisons. Potiphar's wife Henet is strongly attracted to Joseph and tries to seduce him. When he refuses, she falsely accuses him of attempting to rape her, and Joseph is imprisoned. Joseph is imprisoned with the Pharaoh's butler and baker, who have fallen out of favor. Dreams have plagued the two, which Joseph interprets correctly. When the Pharaoh has a dream he cannot decipher, his newly reinstated butler suggests he consult Joseph. Joseph interprets the dream to mean that Egypt will enjoy seven years of prosperity, followed by seven years of famine. Joseph suggests setting aside grain from the seven prosperous years in preparation for the famine. Pharaoh accepts the suggestion and appoints Joseph to take charge of the task.

Over the next several years, Joseph's power continued to grow. He marries a woman named Asenath and fends off an attack from the King of Syria. When the famine began, Egypt stored enough grain for itself and some to sell to neighboring nations. When Joseph's family back in Canaan travels to Egypt to buy grain, his brothers fail to recognize him, and Joseph shrewdly uses this to his advantage. He holds his brother Simeon (son of Jacob) hostage and orders the others to bring Jacob and Benjamin. Joseph reveals his identity and forgives his brothers.

That is pretty much the story in a nutshell. If you want to read the whole story, you can find it in Genesis 37-50. Do you see what I mean about having some tough things go on in his life? He was trying to do the right thing by not sleeping with Potiphar’s wife. He liked Potiphar. He treated him well. He also knew God wouldn’t like it. And yet He was thrown in jail for 13 years. Can you imagine being in jail for 13 years for something you didn’t do? Maybe you can. Do you feel like you are paying back time for something you didn’t do in your life? I used to feel that way when my boys were super hard. I used to think it wasn’t fair because I was a reasonably easy kid when I was younger, so why was I having such difficult kids?

Jacob had every reason to be bitter. He had every reason to be angry and resentful, yet he wasn’t. Jacob had been away from his family for 22 years before his brothers showed up on his doorstep looking to buy grain. Twenty-two years is a long time to go without seeing your family. Twenty-two years is enough to sit with resentment and anger and let it stew. However, this is not what Joseph did. Joseph used his position and his power to help his family. He not only gave them grain for free, but he also gave them a place to come and live.

Joseph’s brothers feared him as they knew what they did was terrible. Yet, David wasn’t angry with them. He forgave them and said the verse above, “Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today.” This is incredible. Joseph forgave them and realized that the people of Egypt might not have been saved if he hadn’t been there to interpret Pharoh’s dream. He understands that although his brothers wanted to ruin his life, they wanted him dead. God wanted to use him and his situation for good.

Do you know that God wants to do this in your life too? Do you know God can do this in your life too? I know it feels like you have been in this hard situation for a long time. I know it might even feel as though God has abandoned you. I assure you, he hasn’t! He is there with you in whatever it is you are going through. God did not abandon Joseph; He used him for incredible things. Joseph was in that jail cell so he could interpret the dreams of the Pharaoh’s butler so that the butler could then recommend Joseph to the Pharaoh so that Joseph could save the nation.

I wonder if our suffering would be easier if we knew the result. For instance, would it have been easier for Joseph to sit in jail day after day if he knew after 13 years, he would be the second most important person in Egypt? It would have made it easier to parent my boys when they were younger if I had known that the Lord would work all that for our good. I know that life was much less stressful once I truly learned to accept this. Once I surrendered to the fact that God is in control and can take all the crappy things in our lives and use them for good, I relaxed and let a lot of stuff wash right over me.

When my son was in rehab, I wasn’t worried, and I was able to be there for him because I knew God could work even for his good. I don’t know how he is working that for his good, but I know he has a fantastic future and will be brighter because he has that in his past. Actually, I do know at least one way God used that experience for his good. My son used to think we were the worst parents, like most teens. However, in rehab, he was with people who don’t have parents or have parents but not ones who visit. He was with kids who used drugs with their parents. He was with kids who lived on the streets. Being in rehab gave him a greater appreciation for all that he has.

I am sorry that life is so hard right now. I am sorry you have been in this rough situation for a long time with no end in sight. I am so sorry that you feel alone and maybe even abandoned. I want you to hear me when I say God is there with you. Turn to Him. Ask him for the strength to keep walking forward until things turn around. Ask Him to give you a glimpse into the good that is to come. Ask Him to fill you with love and hope for a future full of amazing things.  I love you, and I know God does too! Keep moving forward one small step at a time, and remember, God can use all things for your good.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, you are incredible, and we are so grateful! We ask you, Lord, to help us to keep walking forward when all seems lost. Help us stay in the fight long enough to see how you will use all this for our good.  Fill us with strength, hope, and peace during tough times. Lord, I know some things people are going through are really hard and have been going on for a long time. Please comfort them in a special way today. We love you, Lord, 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 want to remind you all that I have the details for my new group coaching program on my website. You can find that by going to walkboldlywithjesus.com. It will be live coaching on Tuesday nights at 8 PM EST on Zoom. I will teach on a topic, and then we will have small group sharing time. The cost is $30 a month. I will also send out recordings if you miss the coaching session. I will also have a members-only Facebook group where we can all be a part of a community of people all striving for holiness. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! 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

Today, I am going to recount to you several appearances of the Blessed Mother Mary. It’s interesting because I first decided to do this when I heard about a shocking rosary miracle in Ukraine that happened about a year ago. I researched some other amazing things yesterday, and then today, when I was about to start recording, I found an article that discusses previous Marian apparitions in Ukraine. It appears our blessed Mother has visited them a few times over the years. So, today I will read the article from Desmond Miller,(CLICK HERE for first article) and then I will read the information from CNA on Facebook about the recent miracle Mary provided some people in Ukraine. (CLICK HERE for second article) My hope in sharing this with you is so that you can see how important the rosary can be and also so that you can see miracles are still going on today.

Ukraine as a country has suffered very much and yet has been blessed by apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Kievan Rus – the land of Rus (862-1242 CE), a federation of peoples located in the region of modern-day Belarus, Ukraine, and part of Russia, was the first European state to be dedicated to the Mother of God. This was done by Prince Yaroslav the Wise in 1037.

It is believed that in about 1505, the Blessed Virgin appeared in Hrushiv and that the local people had planted a willow tree at the site. Sometime later, a spring of water appeared beneath the tree.

During a severe cholera epidemic in that area in 1855, a local person dreamed that the Virgin had instructed the residents to clear and reclaim the ancient spring and celebrate Mass. This was done, and not one cholera death was reported thereafter.

The first apparition in modern times occurred two weeks before World War I, on May 12, 1914, in the village of Hrushiv. Twenty-two people, who were mowing fields near the local church of the Holy Trinity, all witnessed an apparition of the Virgin Mary. She said to them,

“There will be a war. Russia will become a godless country. Ukraine, as a nation, will suffer terribly for eighty years – and will have to live through the world wars, but it will be free afterward.”

People gathered from the whole area to see the apparition, which lasted into the next day.

Then, on April 26, 1987, seventy-three years later and exactly one year after the Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster, a bright light covered the church of the Holy Trinity and the surrounding area. From within this, the Virgin Mary appeared and floated above the cupola of the church. Marina Kizyn, a twelve-year-old girl, was the first to see this apparition. She immediately called her mother and some neighbors; all came and witnessed the apparition. Soon, hundreds and then thousands came from all over Russia to see the apparition, which continued daily until August 15, 1987. It is estimated that a total of 500,000 people had seen her by the time these apparitions ended. The Virgin Mary was even seen by the KGB agents! Many priests (from underground Catholic churches) came and provided as many as ten Holy Masses each day in front of the church. Many messages were documented:

“I have come on purpose to thank the Ukrainian people because you have suffered most for the church of Christ in the last 70 years. I have come to comfort you and to tell you that your suffering will soon come to an end. Ukraine will become an independent state.”

“Teach the children to pray. Teach them to live in truth and live yourselves in truth. Say the Rosary. It is the weapon against Satan. He fears the Rosary. Recite the Rosary at any gathering of people.”

“I have come to comfort you and to tell you that your suffering will end soon. I shall protect you for the glory and the future of God’s kingdom on earth, which will last for a thousand years. The Kingdom of Heaven and Earth is close at hand. It will come only through penance and the repentance of sins.”

“The Eternal God is calling you. This is why I have been sent to you. You in the Ukraine were the first [European] nation to be entrusted to me. Throughout your long persecution you have not lost faith, hope, or love. I always pray for you, my dear children, wherever you are.”

“Oppression and wars continue to occupy the minds and hearts of many people. Russia, despite everything, continues to deny my Son. Russia rejects real life and continues to live in darkness. If there is not a return to Christianity in Russia, there will be a Third World War; the whole world will face ruin.”

Ukraine had its declaration of independence ratified in Kiev on August 24, 1991 – some 77 years after Blessed Mary’s prediction in 1914!

Now we are witnessing the Russian invasion of the Ukraine beginning on 24 Feb. 2022 with yet more suffering and the potential for the start of a third world war.

I believe that God allows this to happen as a form of chastisement, a purification, a call to turn again to God. We are to repent, to praise and thank Him in every situation.

LATEST SHOCKING ROSARY MIRACLE IN UKRAINE      

BLESSED VIRGIN MARY MANIFESTED HER GREAT POWER IN UKRAINE | RUSSIA WAR

"For 18 Days, 45 of us trapped Underground  By Russian Missile Strikes came out safe  through a Diamond Lady that Kept Us Alive and Nourished Us." 

Beloved Souls and great Lovers of the Most Holy Rosary of our Lady, I wish to bring this edifying Rosary MIRACLE to strengthen your faith and love towards It. 

As the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, remains under bombardment with missile strikes and rockets crashing into a residential building, Cathedrals, Churches, etc.

The Ukrainian aid workers rescued 45 civilians, mostly women, children, and the aged. We were trapped in the debris of about 2,000 feet underground for 18 days!

The rescue of these people who had been feared dead has been described as, I personally believe is an inspiring miracle of the Consecration of Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary,  Queen of Ukraine, Our Lady of Ransom, Our Lady of Good Remedy, Queen of the Holy Rosary. 

          HERE IS THE TESTIMONY 

            OF THE RESCUED PERSONS.

"As we were underground, it was dark and suffocating. Somehow, I accidentally touched my pockets and remembered my Rosary was in it. The moment I pulled it out and recited the first Hail Mary, a woman as shining like a diamond appeared. The moment She appeared, the entire under-earth was filled with light and oxygen. The moment she left, we all felt nourished, well-fed, and our thirst for water quenched. Each time we said our Angelus and Rosary, The Diamond woman would appear to bless us, supply us, leave us with Magnificent Light and Oxygen that accompanies Her Majestic presence."

It was so glorious for the victims that when the Ukrainian aid workers, with the use of the latest technology - unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), discovered that human beings were trapped there, and action was taken to rescue them. At the point of the rescue, most of the victims were reluctant to come out. In fact, one of them said, 

*"I can never come out from here, so I don't miss the company of the Diamond Lady. She is so kind."*

It took the Miraculous appearance of our Lady to get her out of the rubbles, who now assured the young girl that She, the Queen of the Holy Rosary, would always be with all of them. *

Our Lady then advised them to tell the world that She is the Queen of Peace and can bring Peace to our troubled world if enough of us can pick up our Rosaries and pray to God. For the Rosary is the only weapon through which God has promised to bring peace and save the world.”

VICTORIOUS WE OF HEAVEN,  SHOW US THY POWER.

As you can see, Mary has a special place in her heart for the people of Ukraine. It is incredible how she not only appeared to provide comfort in the latest miracle but also provided light, oxygen, and nourishment. In all or at least most of her apparitions, she is appealing to us to say the rosary.  It must be important or she wouldn’t keep saying it. It only takes 20-30 minutes a day and you can say it anywhere. I like to say it when I am driving in the car. There are apps you can download as well so you don’t have to feel as though you are saying it alone.  Also, they are helpful if you aren’t sure how to say it or you don’t know all the words to all the prayers. If you truly don’t have 20-30 minutes a day, or if that commitment seems too overwhelming for you, try just one decade a day. That only takes five minutes or so and by the end of 5 days you will have completed a whole rosary. Think about it, pray, and see where the rosary fits into your life.

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

Do Our Prayers Even Matter?

Ezekiel 22:30 “And I sought for anyone among them who would repair the wall and stand in the breach before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one.”

We spent last night in class talking about prophetic intercession. I have discussed intercessory prayer before on various episodes as I think it is essential. Here, we have the Lord telling us the same thing. Intercessory prayer is when you pray on behalf of someone else. For instance my family was interceding for my dad last week as he was in the hospital for a bit. Whenever anyone asks you to pray for someone, you are interceding on their behalf. Catholics do this same thing when we ask the Saints to pray for us. We are not asking them for a miracle. We ask them to intercede for us just as we would our family and friends.

General intercession is when someone asks you to pray for someone, and you do. The way they described it in class is that we are interceding from earth to heaven. Someone on earth asks us to pray for them or a loved one, and we send our prayers to heaven for them. Last night, we learned about prophetic intercession, which sounds fancy, and yet I bet we have all experienced it to some degree at one time or another. Prophetic intercession is praying from heaven to earth. Have you ever felt like you were supposed to pray for someone out of the blue? That would be prophetic intercession. God will sometimes put on our hearts something or someone to pray for, and then we must follow through with that prayer.

Sometimes, we will find out later why we were asked to pray. For instance, God urged my teacher to pray the rosary for his wife’s cousin. It was precisely 7 PM when he felt this placed on his heart. He started the rosary right away. The next day, his wife called him at work to let him know her cousin had died. She was in an accident at 7 the night before. When we get these feelings to pray, it is essential to obey. Our teacher told us about another time when he heard a fellow deacon was sick. He had not met this man before because he was away when the man came to talk to his diaconate class. He happened to be by his house and thought he would stop by, meet, and pray with him. On the way to the man’s house, he felt called to do the divine mercy chaplet. He completed the chaplet just as he arrived at the man’s house. He went and knocked on the door and found out the man had just passed away one minute before he knocked.

This is what is stated in St. Faustina’s Diary about saying the Divine Mercy Chaplet for someone who is dying: “At the hour of their death, I defend as My own glory every soul that will say this chaplet; or when others say it for a dying person, the pardon is the same. When this chaplet is said by the bedside of a dying person, God’s anger is placated, unfathomable mercy envelops the soul, and the very depths of My tender mercy are moved for the sake of the sorrowful Passion of My Son. (811) My teacher had no idea this man was close to death. He just knew he was sick. God knew, though, and God used my teacher to pray this important prayer. God may be using you too!

Another time, God urged my teacher to do a Jericho walk around the flag pole. This is when you walk around the flag seven times, silently praying, and after the seventh time, you pray and praise the Lord out loud. The burdens of the nation were put on his heart, and this is how the Lord wanted Him to pray for them. Our teacher had so many examples; I believe that is because He always tries to listen to the Lord and then act when he hears something.

I was so excited to share this with you this morning because it reinforces that we are not helpless. This world is crazy right now, and with the news as it is, we can often get overwhelmed by all that is happening. We often feel helpless as it seems like the problems are more significant than any one person, which is true. They are more significant than any one person. They are not bigger than God, though. Knowing that our prayers can make a difference is important.

Another excellent example of the importance of our prayers is what I talked about in the witness Wednesday last week. There was a man who saw a woman being put in an ambulance and knew he couldn’t really help her as he was not a doctor. So, as he ran by her house, he said one hail Mary for her recovery. Jesus appeared to this woman in the hospital and told her that she was dying and that this man’s prayer saved her.  He held up his palm, and the face of the man running by was on Jesus’ hand. He said one Hail Mary prayer. One Hail Mary that only takes a few seconds to say.

We often say, “All I can do is pray,” as if we are out of options. Prayer is the best and most powerful thing we can do. Prophetic intercession is even more powerful because we are listening to what God wants us to do and then doing it. If you ever feel God is putting a person or a cause on your heart, take a minute and ask the Lord how He would like you to pray for that person—the how could make all the difference. Saint Faustina Kowalska was a nun in Poland. She received a vision that an angel was sent by God to chastise a certain city. She immediately began to pray for mercy, but no matter how much she prayed for mercy, she could not save the city. Then, she saw the Holy Trinity and felt the power of Jesus’ grace within her. At the same time, she found herself praying words that she heard internally, “Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world; for the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us.” (Saint Faustina’s Diary, 475) As she continued saying this inspired prayer, the angel became helpless and could not carry out the deserved punishment (see 474)

This example from St. Faustina is why this verse is so important. The verse above says, “And I sought for anyone among them who would repair the wall and stand in the breach before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one.” Is God calling you to stand in the breach? Is He calling you to help repair the wall? Instead of worrying about all that is going on in the world, we can pray about all that is going on. We often think our prayers aren’t doing much. We are just one person. St. Faustina is just one person, yet her prayers prevented the angel from chastising a city. If the prayers from one person are that powerful, imagine how powerful the prayers of millions of people would be. Pray, Pray, Pray. Pray for our loved ones and friends. Pray for all nations, church leaders, and leaders everywhere. If you feel the prompting to pray for someone out of the blue, take a minute and press in. Ask the Lord how He wants you to pray for that person. The prayer they taught us last night in class is: “God let me think like you think and feel what you feel.” If you can feel what He feels and think what He thinks, your prayers will be better because you will understand what you are praying for more.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless each and every person listening to this episode today. Lord, we want to stand in that breach. Please let us help you. Use us, Lord. Show us how to listen to your voice. Show us how to obey when you call us. Give us the grace and the strength we need to follow your call.  Open our ears to hear your call and open our hearts to interceding for others. We love you, Lord, 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 have updated my website, walkboldlywithjesus.com, with the information about my new upcoming coaching program. I am very excited to offer this group coaching opportunity as I know one-on-one coaching is not for everyone. Yet we can all use some help along our spiritual journey. Also, I am excited to see friendships develop as they have in my mentoring group. There is something so special about having others alongside you on your faith journey. I really feel the small group discussions are going to be very fruitful. Time talking with other Christian women is always a great time. The coaching sessions will be Tuesday nights on Zoom at 8 PM EST.

I look forward to meeting you all here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! 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

Jesus In My Presence

Song of Songs 8:1 "If only I could show everyone this passionate desire I have for you. If only I could express it fully, no matter who was watching me, without shame or embarrassment.”

This is another verse from the Passion Translation of Song of Songs. As I read and re-read this translation, I notice how I am beginning to see Jesus differently. I was reading our required reading book for this quarter last night.“Personal Prayer: A Guide for Receiving the Father’s Love.” The authors of this book were talking about how to relate to God, and they said, “The key is that we need to be sure we do not let God be or remain abstract when we pray. Sometimes, we mistakenly think of Him as far away, off in the heavens somewhere. This seemed to hit home with me and really made me think.

When I think about it, I can tell the difference in my prayers when I think of God as sitting right there with me and praying to my Father in heaven. When I go to Eucharistic Adoration, I sometimes picture Jesus sitting on the altar. Not the Eucharist form of Jesus, but the actual man, Jesus. My prayers differ when picturing Jesus in my presence or even feeling the Lord in my presence. They are more personal. They are more intimate. The book says later in the chapter, “If we treat Him like a stranger, He will remain a stranger to us. If we only share ourselves with Him at a superficial level, the relationship will remain superficial. If we only spend time with Him sporadically, the relationship will remain at the level of acquaintances. If we bring our whole lives to Him and share our fears, our hopes, our wounds, our failures, and our love, then we will see that the relationship opens up more and, because He is God, becomes infinitely deep.”

The author is not saying anything complex here, but I needed to hear it. It’s like it is common sense, and yet, it was something I had never thought of before. Who wouldn’t want a deep relationship with the Lord? Why would anyone choose to keep it superficial or the Lord as a stranger? I am going to guess that most people aren’t consciously choosing to stay distant from the Lord. I don’t think they are thinking in their mind, “I think I will keep my distance.” Although now that I write that, I could see how some people might be saying that. If they have been hurt in the past, they might be reluctant to let anyone in, even the Lord. Others don’t realize they are keeping the Lord at a distance. The author says, “In fact, there is no limit to how deep our relationship can be with Him; it is limited only by our own willingness to trust Him and be vulnerable with Him.

Our willingness to trust the Lord and be vulnerable with Him can vary significantly from person to person and depend on our past experiences. If we have been hurt and let down repeatedly, we may find it very hard to trust the Lord and be vulnerable with Him. If we lose a loved one, we might be so angry we don’t know how to trust Him again. We can work on our openness to the Lord, yet many of us don’t know there is a block there. We don’t know that there is more love to be had. We don’t know anything other than our relationship with the Lord, the one we already have.

As a teenager, I longed for more with the Lord. I didn’t know it at the time. The Lord just reminded me of it now. When I was going through confirmation prep, and they asked why I wanted to make my confirmation, I said because I wanted more. I wanted to be as much a part of the church as possible. The Holy Spirit is putting on my heart now that what I really wanted was more God. I wanted to know Him more intimately, yet I didn’t know it then. I wonder how different my life would be if I had started to read scripture back then if I had been journaling and talking to the Lord. I wonder how different it would have been if I knew God was right there with me. Not just in an abstract way but right there next to me. He was so close I could sit and talk with Him. I wish I had known back then that I could ask Him questions, and if I sat and listened, He would answer them. I am grateful I know this now, and I pray you know it, too!

Yes, I know I have not talked about my chosen verse. I know someone needed to hear all that because it was firmly on my heart. The verse above says, "If only I could show everyone this passionate desire I have for you. If only I could express it fully, no matter who was watching me, without shame or embarrassment.” This verse goes along with all that I said above because if we want to have a passionate desire for the Lord, we need to spend time with Him. We need to remember that He is not distant. He is right next to us at all times. I like this verse so much for two reasons. The first I talked about the other day. I wish I could tell the world about my love for the Lord. I wish I could tell every single person on the planet about God’s love and how much He loves them. I honestly would shout it from the rooftops if I could.

This brings me to the second reason I like this verse so much: It says, “If only I could express it fully, no matter who was watching me, without shame or embarrassment.” This is definitely one of my top 5 wishes of all time. I wish I weren’t hindered by what others might think of me or my fear of rejection. I wish when I felt prompted by the Holy Spirit, I could act and not hesitate, not chicken out. I wish I could worship like David did. I wish I could get up and dance like no one was watching.  I am getting better at this and will keep practicing and trying. I am grateful to my Encounter Ministries group because they encourage us to get up and express ourselves freely while worshiping, and there is no judgment.

It is not just while worshiping, though. I know I missed many opportunities to pray for people because I was afraid to ask them. Honestly, I don't know what I am afraid of. What is the worst that can happen? I know in my head the worst that can happen is that they say no, which is not the end of the world. Yet, for me, I get in my head. What if they say no? Then I will cry and feel dumb for crying, so I will cry more. Okay, even if this were all true, which has happened before, so what? So what if I cry and they think I am dumb? The alternative is that I don’t ask someone if they need prayer, and what if they really need prayer? What if they were going to say yes? Our teacher told us once that if the Holy Spirit is prompting you to pray for someone or to say something to someone, He has already prepared their heart for it.

I miss out on many opportunities to share my love of the Lord with others due to fear. This is why this podcast is called Walk Boldly with Jesus. That is my mission and my goal. I want to walk boldly with Jesus. I want to be able to talk about Him to anyone I meet. I want to worship Him in any way I want to. I want to ask everyone I meet if they need prayer. I want to do all of this without fear, even if it is not possible, despite fear. I want to shout from the rooftops all around the world that the Lord is Love and that He loves us so much. I want everyone to know that God loves them just as they are. They don’t have to change anything for God to love and accept them.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we want to have a deep relationship with you. Please help us to realize you are not some distant God in some faraway place. You are our Father, right next to us each step of the way. Help us understand we can talk with you and that you will talk back to us if we give You time and if we listen. Lord, help us think about what was said in that book. Help us to realize the ways we might be keeping you as a stranger or ways we might be keeping our relationship with you superficial. Lord, help us to open up; help us to be vulnerable. We love you, Lord, 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. As promised, I have details of my new group coaching program that starts in November. Here is the description from my website. Have you ever desired a more personal relationship with the Lord? How great would it be to incorporate your spirituality into your daily routines? Have you ever been around people who seem so in love with the Lord and longed for that same relationship? Have you ever wished you knew more about praying, worshiping, praising, and so much more? Why is it that if we want to get better at something, like gardening, painting, or singing, we will seek professional help? However, we rarely do this when it comes to our faith. Yet, this could be the most critical area for improvement. The coaching sessions will be on Tuesday nights at 8 PM EST. My teachings will be for about 20-30 minutes. I will have a brief question and answer session, and then we will break into small groups where you can talk about what you just learned and how you will apply it to your life in the upcoming week. This is an excellent opportunity to create peer partnerships, which will help to create an environment of encouragement and motivation. You can help each stay on track and ensure you aren't just learning these things without applying them to your life. It is much easier to grow in your faith when you have a community of people on the journey with you. I will also have a Facebook group where you can post your progress, struggles, and questions. I honestly believe I am where I am today because I had a community surrounding me the whole way. So many of us feel alone, and when you join a community like this, you find out you are not alone! Please consider going deeper with me on this journey. I will discuss this for the next two weeks as I prepare for the launch. However, if you have questions, please feel free to reach out by email or social media. I hope to answer those questions here because others probably have the same questions. One person already asked if it would be strictly Catholic. The answer is no. I am Catholic, and so some things I say will be Catholic. However, this coaching program is not about religion. It is about how we can all grow closer to the Lord. It will not be a lot of theology as I am not a theologian. It will be more about how we get to know the Lord more. We will talk about prayer and incorporating Jesus into our everyday life. We will cover things like forgiveness, humility, trust, and whatever you might be struggling with. I want to help those in the group, so the topics I teach will depend on what those in the group need.

I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow.  Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! 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

Redeeming Love

Song of Songs 7:10-12 “Now I know that I am for my beloved and all his desires are fulfilled in me. Come away, my lover. Come with me to the faraway fields. We will run away together to the forgotten places and show them redeeming love. Let us arise and run to the vineyards of your people and see if the budding vines of love are now in full bloom. We will discover if their passion is awakened. There, I will display my love for you.”

I chose these verses for a few reasons. The first one was that I really like how it says all his desires are fulfilled in me. I have heard oftentimes that God will fulfill the desires of your heart. This is something I genuinely believe. This verse isn’t saying that, though. It is saying that God’s desires are fulfilled in me. Thinking that my life fulfills God’s desires is a nice thought. Thinking that I could contribute to the happiness of God in some small way feels pretty good. I believe I am doing that if His desires are fulfilled in me.

Another reason I chose these verses is because of the phrase “redeeming love.” It says in the verses above, “We will run away together to the forgotten places and show them redeeming love.” I love this idea. I love the idea of going to the forgotten places and the forgotten people and showing them the redeeming love of Christ. That phrase, redeeming love, is powerful. It shows us that God’s love is not passive. It is not like our love. It is an active love. It is a love that changes people. It is a love that is powerful.

I like that phrase because it reinforces that we don’t have to do anything to redeem ourselves. It reminds us that we don’t have to say the right thing to be redeemed. It reminds us that we don't have to do the right thing to be redeemed. It is not a secret formula we need to figure out. We don’t have to be a specific person to be redeemed. We don’t have to fix our lives and change everything about ourselves to be redeemed. God’s love is what redeems us. God loves us so much that He sent His only son to die on the cross for us. Jesus was the one who earned our redemption for us. The work has already been done. All we need to do is accept this love and allow it to come into our hearts and change us. I love that!

Another reason I chose these verses is because I love the idea of reaching the people in the forgotten places. There are so many people who have been forgotten. Forgotten by their families, forgotten by their friends, even forgotten by the church. There are so many people who feel so alone. It’s crazy because billions of people are in this world, yet so many feel alone. There are more ways than ever for people to keep in touch. There is Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok, which are just the ways I know about. There are so many ways to keep in touch, yet teens feel more alone than ever.  My biggest desire is to be able to help every single person in this world discover God’s love. I wish they all knew about this redeeming love. I wish I could go with Jesus to all the forgotten places and share His redeeming love with everyone.

The last part of these verses says, “Let us arise and run to the vineyards of your people and see if the budding vines of love are now in full bloom. We will discover if their passion is awakened. There, I will display my love for you.” What came to my mind when I read this was that this is precisely how you feel when you fall in love with Jesus. I must admit that I struggle with using the word lover when referring to Jesus or God. It is a pretty intimate term, and I didn’t really understand how it applied. However, reading this passion translation of this book of the Bible, I understand it a bit better.

I understand how we can fall entirely in love with Jesus and want to share that love with others. I feel like I am the woman speaking in these verses. I want to run around to all the people in the world and see if their passion is awakened. I want to help them to awaken their passion for Him. I want them to love Him as much as I do and to know he loves them. Actually, that last part is probably more important than the first part. Yes, I want them to love Jesus, and yet I think it may be more important that they know they are loved by him first.  

I understand better now how much the Lord is pursuing us. I understand how much our yes means to Him. I can also understand a bit more why some people say no to Him. Sometimes, His love can be overwhelming, and we aren’t used to that type of love in this world. We can think we don’t deserve that type of love. We can let fear get in the way of accepting His love. On Father Mike’s Catechism in a Year podcast, he talked about a young woman he was teaching RCIA to several years ago. She went through the whole program but decided not to do it when it came time to become a member of the Catholic Church. She said she could not, in good faith, commit to going to mass every Sunday. That felt too overwhelming for her, and she did not want to become a member of the Church if she could not fulfill all the requirements, for lack of a better term. He talked with her, but she couldn’t do it. He prayed for her over the years, and recently, she wrote him a letter explaining that after all these years, she realized that she was letting fear get in her way of the call she knew God was placing on her heart. She was afraid of not being able to measure up. She was afraid of letting the Lord down.

Many of us feel this way. We feel God is calling us to do something, yet we don’t answer that call because we feel we won’t be able to do whatever He calls us to do. If God is calling us, He will equip us. He will give us the grace we need to follow through. God doesn’t want our perfection. He wants our yes. God doesn’t need us to have everything all figured out. He needs us to trust that He will lead the way and be there to guide us and provide us with all we need to do what He called us to do. If you have been reluctant to say yes, I feel the Holy Spirit prompting me to encourage you to take that leap of faith and say yes. You will be surprised how God blesses you when you say yes to your call. You will also be surprised how much better you feel. There is a joy I can’t explain. You have to feel it to understand.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we want to answer your call. Please give us the grace to say yes. Lord, we want to have an intimate relationship with you. Please show us how. We want to feel like this Shulamite woman feels about her Bridegroom King. Please show us how. Lord, we love you and want to bring your love to others. We want to bring your redeeming love to the forgotten places. Please help us. You are unique, Lord. You are King of Kings and Lord of Lords. You are the almighty one, a waymaker, and a promise keeper. Thank you, Lord, for being you. 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. Next week, I will bring you details on my new group coaching program that will help you discover how to walk more boldly with Jesus in your journey. I am so excited to share this journey with you! I look forward to meeting you here again on Monday. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! 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

Why Would You Seek Me?

Song of Solomon 6:13b “The Shulamite Bride: Why would you seek a mere Shulamite like me? Why would you want to see my dance of love? The Bridegroom-King: Because you dance so gracefully, as though you danced with angels!”

I wanted to stick with the Song of Solomon Book, also known as the Song of Songs. I am in love with the passion translation of this book. Let me explain quickly for those of you who, like me, don’t know much about the Song of Songs. The Song of Songs is a love story between a Schulamite Bride, the Bridegroom King, and the brides-to-be, representing our interactions with the world. The passion translation tells you who is talking in each verse, so you don’t have to guess. It is easy to understand, and it can be read like a play. It is so beautiful. If you want to read this translation for free, you can go to bible.com and search it. I will also link a Word document where I copied this translation so you can read it. You can CLICK HERE and download it if you would like. Once you read it, you will be just as in love with it as I am. Remember, this is meant to be our story, too. This is how much our Lord is pursuing us, too!

While reading through the book this morning, two things in particular stood out to me. I will talk about one today and one tomorrow. Limiting the verses to one or two is difficult, as this book has many good things. I love the whole thing. However, the point of this podcast is to go deeper into the verses, so I will do my best to select a few verses to talk about. Today is just one verse but a conversation between the Shulamite Bride and her Bridegroom King. The Shulamite woman is asking a question we all ask at some point. Why me? Have you ever asked yourself this question when talking to the Lord? Why would you pick me? Why would you want to work through me? Why would you want to use me? I know I have.

This was the exact question I asked the Lord when trying to figure out why I had been baptized in the Holy Spirit and yet could not speak/pray in tongues. I heard/felt the Lord very clearly say, “Why not you?” He is saying that to you, too. The Lord is so amazing. When we look at ourselves, all we see are our flaws. All we see are our mistakes. That is not what the Lord sees. When He looks at us, He sees the person He created us to be. When He looks at us, He sees His child. If you have children or nieces and nephews, consider how you look at them. Do you see their mistakes and flaws, or do you see the good in them?

So many kids, my nieces and nephews, my boys, and their friends, don’t like how they look or don’t like anything about themselves. They don’t feel comfortable in their own skin. I wish, more than anything, that they could see themselves through my eyes. I wish they could see how amazing they are. I could tell them, and I do, but they don’t hear me. They don’t believe me. I imagine this is how God feels. I imagine how we talk about ourselves and see ourselves breaks His heart. I imagine He wishes we could see ourselves through His eyes, too.

Did you know this is something you can pray for? I have prayed for this for a long time, and while I am sure I don’t see myself exactly like God sees me, I do see myself better than I used to. I know I am a beloved child of God. I know God loves me, and although I may still question why he would want to use me or if He is using me, I don’t question if He loves or likes me. I know He does. I used to think the disciple John was a bit prideful or arrogant, referring to himself as “the beloved disciple, or the one who Jesus loved. Now I know that He wasn’t. He could see himself a bit more through Jesus’ eyes. He was able to believe what Jesus said about him. Jesus didn’t just say it about him, though. He said it about all of us. John was just able to believe it a bit more than we are.

In the verse above, the Shulamite Bride asks, “Why would you seek a mere Shulamite like me? Why would you want to see my dance of love?” and the Bridegroom-King says, “Because you dance so gracefully, as though you danced with angels!” Do you see how differently the Lord sees us? Do you see the kind of gentle, loving answer we get when we ask Him to show us how He sees us or why He would pick us?  He doesn’t stop there, either. He goes on for almost another chapter, saying how wonderful she is.

God loves you! He really does. If you doubt this or think God couldn’t possibly love you after all you have done or all that has been done to you, I assure you, He can, and He does. If you have ever wondered what it feels like to be loved or pursued by the Lord, read this book in the Bible, and you will begin to understand what it feels like. When you read this book, resist the urge to discount yourself. When you read this book, fight the feelings you will have to say that God is not talking to you. This can be so easy for us to do. We can easily believe that God loves others but not us. We can believe that God forgives others but not us. God loves you! God forgives you!

Read this book and picture Jesus saying these things to you. Try to take them in and sit with them. Maybe you just read one chapter at a time and sit with it. Maybe you just read one paragraph and sit with it. Imagine the Lord saying these things to you. Imagine feeling these things about the Lord. If we want an intimate relationship with the Lord, reading this book might be a good start. Understanding the depths of His love for me becomes a bit more achievable when I read this translation of this book in the Bible. I hope it helps you as well.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, help us see your incredible love for us. Help us to believe you could be saying these things to us. Help us put ourselves in the Schulamite woman’s place. Help us truly take in how much you love us, pursue us, and long for us. We love you, Lord. We want to feel this way about you. We want to long for you. We want to pursue you. We want to turn over our lives to you. We need your help, Lord. We can do all things through you and nothing without you. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name. Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! 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

Today I want to witness about the power of prayer. I saw a random YouTube Video. I will put a link in the show notes for the video. One of my Facebook friends posted it on her page, so I clicked. In the video, a priest talks about his friend John Petravitch, who was running through his neighborhood and saw an ambulance. He is a nice guy, so he wondered if he should stop and check if everything was okay. He thought, I don’t know the lady, and I am not a doctor, so he kept running. He decided to pray one Hail Mary while he was running. He didn’t stop and fold his hands in a prayer position. He didn’t kneel. He just prayed one Hail Mary while running. He didn’t think anything of it. A week later, he is jogging around the same neighborhood and hears this woman call out from her porch, “Hey you, sir.” He kept running as he didn’t know anyone from that neighborhood. Then she said, “No, you, the runner.” He stopped and looked at her and said, “Me?” And she said yes, and then, “You saved my life.” He said, “I’m sorry, Ma’am, I don’t think we know each other.” She said, “No, I recognize your face.” And here is the story. She explained, “Last week, I got sick and was rushed to the hospital. I was in the hospital dying, and Jesus appeared to me. He held out His hand, and your face was in the palm of His hand. Jesus told me you were going to die, but because of this man's prayer, you will live. That is the power of praying one Hail Mary. Can you imagine the power of praying the whole rosary? That would be 53 Hail Mary’s. If you have never said the rosary before, try it. If you are saying it sporadically, try saying it daily for the rest of the month. That is the challenge the priest in the video is giving us. St. Pius said, “If you want to save the world, say the rosary.” If there were ever a time when the world needed saving, it would be now.

The Holy Spirit brought to mind when Tony and I said the miraculous Rosary Novena together. The miraculous rosary novena is a 54-day novena, so basically, 6 novenas as a novena is typically 9 days of prayer. This rosary was promised anything you ask when you say it will be granted. You pray 3 novenas, 27 days in petition for the thing, and then 27 days in thanksgiving, even though you have not received it yet. We prayed for our neighbor, who is two years younger than our youngest and had cancer in her thigh. They thought she might have to lose her leg. We prayed that she would be cured of the cancer and not lose her leg. She did have surgery, and I think they removed part of the muscle or something, but she did not lose her leg, and she is cancer-free. Praise God. I felt like the Holy Spirit revealed to me this morning that although we were praying for someone else and not ourselves, we needed prayers as we struggled in our marriage. While God was working on our neighbor’s cancer, He was also working on our marriage. We grew so much closer together, and I believe the Holy Spirit showed me that it was saying the rosary together that helped that happen.

Isn’t it amazing how God does that? He can heal something broken even when you aren’t praying for that. I have heard a saying, “God won’t be outdone in generosity.” We were praying for someone else, and God healed us. When we give to those in need, we don’t have to be worried about our needs because God will provide. My parents always said yes, even if they didn’t have the money, because they knew God would provide. I remember once my parents talked about wanting to join Amway to make more money. They did not have the money to do so. They quickly prayed to the Lord, asking Him what they should do. They decided they would only join Amway if they got the start-up fee from somewhere. They knew they didn’t have the money through my dad’s regular paychecks. They prayed, and then they just waited to see.

Sometime that week, my parents received a check from my grandfather. I forget why he was sending them a check, but it was not for the amount they expected. He had written in a note with the check that he felt the Holy Spirit prompted him to add a certain amount to the check. He was not sure why. My grandpa added the amount they needed for a start-up fee to join Amway. However, my parents hadn’t told him they wanted to join Amway or how much it would cost them to join. God is so good! He hears our prayers. He is so generous.

My parents also talked about how they did a novena when they struggled to get pregnant. Each time they finished the novena, my mom was pregnant shortly after that. Thank you, Lord, you are so good! I hope these examples of our prayers' importance will inspire you to lean on prayer more often. I hope the first story, about the man who said the one Hail Mary, will inspire you to say a Hail Mary when you see someone in need. I also hope you will consider saying the rosary more often. Even if you say one decade a day, that will only take about 5 minutes, but you will be saying a full rosary at least once a week. It will change your life.

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