Walk Boldly With Jesus

How Can I Stay On the Right Path?

Psalm 119: 9-11 “How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”

I love this verse because it asks a question and then gives an answer.  I also love it because I am someone who loves to get direction.  I am not someone who likes to cook without a recipe, or someone who does well with recipes that say, “a dash of this,” or “salt to taste.” I like step by step clear instructions.  I suspect that has something to do with me wanting to do everything the right way.  There is a right way and a wrong way to do many things and yet there are also plenty of things that don’t have a right and wrong way to do them.  God has been trying to teach me this lesson for a long time and I am a very slow learner with this lesson.  A lot of the time there is not just one right way to do something and as long as you are getting it done, the how doesn’t matter as much.  

I know this and yet I still want to “do it all the right way.”  I think this comes out most when doing things for the Lord.  I want to get it right.  I want him to be delighted me.  I am always searching for answers on what God is calling me to do, and what God wants from all of us.  So, this verse is great for me because it asks a question, tells us the answer and then reinforces what was just said by repeating it in a different way.  I also like it because it deals with a problem we have probably encountered, how can a young person say on the path of purity?  If we have children then we have asked ourselves and hopefully God this question many times.  We just want our kids to stay on the straight and narrow.  This verse doesn’t just apply to our kids, or the young people in the world, it is for all of us and it is great advice.

Lets look at what it says, “How can a young person stay on the path of purity?  By living according to your word.”  This is great, we have our answer.  We just have to live according to God’s word and we are all set.  Does anyone else hear the answer to that question and just get more questions?  Questions like which words from God, where do we find these words from God?  I often think it would be great if there was a step by step guide to living my life. Just tell me exactly what to do.  God does actually give us direction on how to live our lives. God started way back when Moses led the promised people out of Egypt.  God knew his people had developed some really bad habits while they were living in Egypt so He gave Moses the 10 commandments to help guide them in their day to day lives.  We are lucky enough to have the benefit of these commandments to help guide us in living our lives too!

Another place we can look in the Bible for direction in our lives is the Proverbs.  The Proverbs give us great direction and definitely teach us some things we should do and those we should not do.  For instance Proverbs 29:13 says, “Those who conceal their sins do not prosper, but those who confess and renounce them find mercy.” This instructs us not to conceal our sin.  We should confess our sin and repent and then we will find mercy.  That is a great one as the enemy tries to convince us we are better off if we don’t tell anyone what we have done.  Then the shame sets in and it starts to eat us alive.  The enemy tells us we will never be forgiven.  However, if we listened to this proverb and just came right out and confessed it and repented then we would be forgiven and we would have no need for shame.

Proverbs 1:8 says, “Listen, my son, to your father's instruction and do not forsake your mother's teaching.” This is another great one that many of us realize too late in life.  When we are little we don’t want to  listen to our parents and then when we are teens we decide that our parents don’t know what they are talking about.  They tell us something and we do the opposite because we are sure they don’t know what it is like to be a teen.  We are sure they have never experienced the things we are experiencing.  We see them as adults and forget they needed to pass through the teen years just as we do.  I have heard that when children get to about their mid 20s they start to come around to asking their parents questions or for advice.  We could all save ourselves some heartache if we just listened to this proverb and listened to our mothers and fathers.  They are only trying to protect us.

I asked some questions earlier and I want to make sure to answer them.  Sometimes I ask questions to get us all thinking.  They are questions that only you have the answer too.  However, today’s questions do have answers.  The questions were, “Which words from God and where do we find these words from God?”  Which words from God is an easy question to answer, all of them.  If God said it in the Bible, God meant it.  He did not say anything in the Bible casually.  The Bible was intentionally thought out and written by people who were very close to God and were inspired by the Holy Spirit.  You can stand on every single word of the Bible.  The Bible will not lead you astray.  

The second part of the question was where do we find these words from God.  One place we just talked about and that is the Bible.  There are so many good words in the Bible.  If you haven’t read the Bible I suggest you start with the Gospels or the Psalms.  Both are good.  I also love Acts.  If you want to have someone guide you through reading it, I suggest the Bible in a Year Podcast with Father Mike Schmitz, he is amazing and you learn so much!  Another place to find the word of God is by sitting and listening.   God will speak to you if you give hime the time to listen.  If you aren’t familiar with this idea let me first say that usually when God is speaking to you, it will sound like your voice in your heard.  This is important to realize because if we are expecting a great big booming voice to come from the sky, we will either be greatly disappointed or we will think He is not talking to us because we aren’t hearing any booming voices.  If you need guidance, I mean who among us doesn’t, then you can ask the Lord a question and the sit quietly and He can give you an answer, or some direction anyway.  

When you are sitting there listening, whatever comes into your mind, right after you asked the question is usually from God.  Don’t question it, don’t try and talk yourself out of it, write it down and pray about it.  Listening to God’s word may take some time and some practice as we not to believe that God will talk to us.  I guarantee He wants to talk to you, He is just waiting for you to stop and listen.  Will we give Him a few minutes a day to see what God, our Father in Heaven wants to say to us?  I heard a saying while in my Encounter School of Ministry Boston Campus class and then I heard it again that the School of Prophetic Ministry that we just had.  The saying is, “The value you place on the word you receive, determines the power you receive from it.  In other words, God can tell you something and yet if you don’t believe it, if you don’t stand on that word, it won’t have power in your life.  Don’t just ask God to talk with you and then ignore what He says.  Write it down, go back and read it, remind yourself of it when times are hard.  If you have received something from the Lord, you can stand on that word as a promise.  You can use it as an affirmation or a something you remind yourself of every single day!  

The last line of the verse says, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” I didn’t want to end today without pointing this line out.  I am sure we all wish we didn’t sin.  Sin breaks our relationship with God and who would want that?  This verse gives us the answer to our problem of sinning.  When we have hidden His word in our hearts then we might not sin against Him anymore.  In order to hide His word in our hearts, we first have to know His word.  Get familiar with His word, read it, listen to it, memorize it.  If we want instructions on how to live this crazy, unpredictable life, all we need to do is turn to the Lord’s word and we will find our answers.  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord we want to hear your word, please open our ears, our hearts and our minds.  We want to be able to stand on your Word Lord, please help us, show us how.  Show us that your word is awesome and can be such a beacon of light in our dark times.  Lord, I ask that you speak to each person listening to this episode sometime this week.  I ask that they be able to hear what you say to them and that it blesses them.  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.  My book is for sale on my website right now.  If you buy from my website I will write a personal message and sign it before sending it to you.  Click Here for the book and Click Here for my website in the show notes.  I also want to remind you that I send out a weekly newsletter with one of my podcast episodes, the most popular ones, and also an update on what is going on in my life.  When you sign up you also get an audio training on how to invite Jesus into your everyday life.  Click Here to sign up for the Newsletter! Thank you for all your support, I really appreciate it! I look forward to meeting you hear again tomorrow.  Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I!  Have a blessed weekend!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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I Called To The Lord And Have Been Saved From My Enemies

2 Samuel 22:1-6 “David sang to the Lord the words of this song when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.  He said: “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior— from violent people you save me. “I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and have been saved from my enemies. The waves of death swirled about me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me.”

I heard this verse while typing up the minutes for my prayer group yesterday.  I was just going to use the first part, the part that ending with “my refuge and my savior —from violent people you save me.”  That was where I was going to stop and yet I felt the Holy Spirit tell me to include the next few verses too.  The thought came to me, “What if the Lord hasn’t saved them yet.  What if they are still stuck in the rough time.  They will want to hear the next few lines, they will want to see that David knew real dangers.  

I will start at the beginning.  “David sang to the Lord the words of this song when the Lord delivered him from the hand of his enemies and from the hand of Saul.”  If you don’t know the story of David’s life you should read it sometime, he had a truly fascinating life.  Most people know about David and Goliath and maybe that David is the author of many of the psalms, and that’s about it.  If you only know about David and Goliath you might think that David has a pretty great life.  It seems like if he did something that amazing he would be instantly famous.  In today’s day and age he would become and influencer and go all over the world talking about how we can all slay our giants.  However, this wasn’t David’s fate.  

David killed the giant, and then went back home to tend to his dad’s sheep.  One day the prophet Samuel got the word from God that he needed to go and anoint one of Jesse’s sons as the next king.  Samuel saw David’s older brothers and thought for sure they would be the anointed ones because they “looked like kings.”  God told Samuel that He will not judge by outside appearance but by inside appearance, He will judge by what is in there hearts.  David was not home when Samuel first got there to pick a son.  Once the Lord ruled out all the other sons, Samuel asked if Jesse had any other sons and they sent someone to go get David.  David was now anointed with oil to be the next king.  

After being anointed as the next king you would think that David’s life was not going to get really interesting.  Maybe he would go to the palace and learn from the present king.  You might think that he was to become king right away.  Neither of these are what happened.  I believe David went back to taking care of his father’s sheep.  From the time that David was anointed King to when he became king was 15 years.  During that time David went to play the Lyre for the current king, Saul, got banished by Saul, hid in the desert, lived on the run, was forced out of the nation and fought many battles.  This was all in that 15 years before David became king.  I didn’t intend to go into so much detail about David, and yet I think the Holy Spirit wanted to let us know that life is not linear.  It is not that things in life always work out in the timing that we want them too.  It is not always moving forward.  Sometimes you will get great news, like a job promotion is coming and yet that promotion might be three years in the future.  You might pray for God to save you from your current boss and He is, just not yet.  You might take three steps forward and two steps back.  This is how it was for David.  He would have something amazing happen and then nothing.  He would be doing great and then find himself hiding in a cave.

I feel what the Holy Spirit is trying to tell us this morning is that this verse is absolutely true.  The Lord is our rock, our fortress and our deliverer; Our God is our rock, in whom we take refuge, our shield and the horn of our salvation. He is our stronghold, our refuge and our savior. This is all true and on good days, in good times, we know this, we say this, we tell others this.  What about the bad times?  Do you still know this?  Do we still tell others that God is our rock and our savior when we are in the middle of a really hard time?  Do we tell ourselves?  Is there a way to rely on the Lord in these hard times?

You might be thinking when you first hear David’s songs to the Lord, as he has many, that David is different because he was anointed.  Of course he can rely on God, or course he is taken care of by God, he is anointed.  I’ve got news for you my friend, so are you!  You were anointed in your baptism as priest, profit and king.  David was anointed as king, you’ve been anointed for all three.  One thing I really admire about David is that he was never too proud to turn back to God.  If you read about David you can see how much he was loved by God and how much he loved God.  God loved David and anointed him to be king and yet did not spare him from hardships.  David did not have an easy life, he struggled a lot.  Just look at how David describes the hard times in his life, “The waves of death swirled about me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me.”

How many of us know exactly what David is talking about here?  How many of us hear that and are brought right back into a really difficult time in our past, or maybe this describes what we are going through right now?  This is pretty descriptive language and it lets us know exactly how bad things were for David.  It shows us that he did not have an easy life.  God loves us just as much as he loved David and yet he is not going to spare us from trial.  Trials are where we grow, trails are when we turn to God the most.  These trials are what transformed David from a shepherd boy into a king.  The same is true for us, for you and me.  The trials we go through transform us into the person we need to become.

There is one line in the verse that I haven’t talked about yet and I think it is the key to how David was able to persevere for so long without losing his faith in our Lord God and Savior.  “I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and have been saved from my enemies.” David called out to the Lord every single time.  We might thing because David was anointed and because he was so loved by God that he was a really good person and didn’t really mess up too much.  It was easy for David to call on the Lord because the Lord loved him and because he followed the Lord’s ways so of course the Lord would help him.  Yes, David did try to follow the Lord’s ways, just like we do, and yet he messed up a lot, just like we do.  One of David’s biggest mess ups that I know of is when he saw a woman bathing while he was on top of his house and had the woman brought to him.  She was married and he had his way with her anyway.  Then he later found out that she was pregnant and knew that everyone would know it was not her husband’s, because he was a soldier away at war, so he had her husband killed and took her as his wife.  Ok, you may have done some pretty bad things, but do they compare to that?  

We often think we can’t go to the Lord, we can’t call on the Lord because we have sinned and we are not worthy of His help.  This is garbage and it comes straight from the enemy.  The reason God helped David so much was because David asked.  I believe it is that simple.  When David disobeyed the Lord, when he messed up he always repented, said sorry and then went to the Lord to get him out of the situation he found himself in.  David knew he could always go to the Lord.  He knew God wouldn’t always be happy with him, that is why he repented but he trusted that he could always go to Him when needed.  God is there for you too.  There is nothing you can do that would cause God to turn his back on you.  There is nothing you could do that would make you less loved.  There is nothing you can do that would make it so you can’t go to the Father for help.  Go to the Lord, look how much trouble David got out of by simply calling to the God.  

One last thing I want to remind you of is that praise is so important as well.  If you are feeling unworthy, if you are feeling stressed or worried, if you are feeling spiritually empty or dry, praise God through it.  When we praise God the enemy flees.  He can’t stand to hear us worship God.  You don’t have to know the right things to say and you don’t even have to say anything.  You can just put on Christian music and listen to the words, let the words penetrate your heart and mind.  I know you will feel increasingly better the more you praise the Lord in the tough times!

Dear heavenly Father I ask you to bless all those listen to this episode.  Lord, we love you and we praise you.  You are worthy of praise.  We ask you to be our rock and our stronghold.  Lord we ask you to help us turn to you, even when we don’t feel worthy, even when we don’t think we deserve your help. Lord, if we have done something to offend you, please put it on our hearts and please help us to repent.  We thank you Lord for always being there for David and we thank you for always being there for us.  Help us to see how you have been there for us over the years.  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.  My book is for sale on my website right now.  If you buy from my website I will write a personal message and sign it before sending it to you.  Click Here for the book and Click Here for my website in the show notes.  Thank you for all your support, I really appreciate it! I look forward to meeting you hear again on Monday.  Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I!  Have a blessed weekend!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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Set The Captive Free

Isaiah 61:1“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.”  

My teacher from Encounter sent this verse to me yesterday.  His words in the email where, “We need an army of Christians to live Isaiah 61:1-2!” I had know idea what this verse said, so I immediately looked it up and I agree, we need an army of Christians to live out this verse.  The first part of the verse says, “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me.”  This is true for each one of us who is baptized.  If you have been baptized then you have received the Spirit of the Lord.  If you have made your confirmation you have also received the Spirit of the Lord.  Sometimes we think we don’t have the Spirit of the Lord within us because we don’t feel it.  We hear verses like this one and we think it is definitely talking about someone else.  Be honest, when you heard the verse above did you count yourself out? The Spirit of the Lord is upon you, that is a fact.  

The next part of the verse says, “The Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.”  God is not talking to everyone else but you here.  Whether you feel like you are anointed or not, you are.  When we were baptized we were anointed as priest, prophet and king. Being a prophet means it is our job to proclaim good new to the poor.  What good news are we proclaiming, hope and love, are what come to my mind.  Hope that there is something better out there.  Hope that this world is not forever and there is another world that is everlasting happiness.  Hope that just because they are in this circumstance right now, doesn’t mean they will be forever.  Hope that change is possible.  Love, that they are not alone and forgotten, that their heavenly Father sees them and loves them.  

The next part says, “He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness the prisoners.”  That feels like a pretty tall order and yet it really isn’t because we aren’t doing it alone or with our own strength.  How can we bind up the brokenhearted?  Who do you know that is really struggling right now?  Who do you know that is really sad and misguided right now?  What could you do for them?  How could you be there for them in their time of need?  Next it says, proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness the prisoners.  Who do you know that needs a little freedom?  Freedom from worry, freedom from anxiety, freedom from their past mistakes.  Who do you know that needs to be released from the darkness?  The weight of bills pilling up, the darkness of mental illness, the darkness of divorce, separation, feeling alone. Even listing all that my mind keeps telling me I can’t help them.  Who am I to help them?  What can I do, I am just one person?  We are not just one person though, we are one person with the power of the Holy Spirit living inside of us and there is nothing that the Spirit of God can’t do.  

I get it if you heard this verse and counted yourself out.  Who feels qualified to set the captive free and release from darkness the prisoners?  How are we supposed to help the brokenhearted?  It all feels like too much and we don’t feel qualified.  

Even after taking a whole year of classes on the gifts of the Holy Spirit I still don’t feel qualified and yet, I know I am.  I am not qualified because of the year I took at Encounter School of Ministry Boston Campus.  I am not qualified because of my life lessons.  I am not qualified because of my faith.  I am qualified because God gave me His hope and His love and He asked me to share it with the world.  He asked you to do the same too.  We don’t have to know exactly what to say to heal people.  We don’t have to know exactly the right thing to say to help people.  We don’t have to know the right thing to say to pray over people.  We just have to ask the Holy Spirit to come and do it through us.  We can ask the Holy Spirit to give us the words to say to those in need.  We can just listen and not say anything, sometimes that helps more than talking ever could.  People want to be heard, they want to be seen.  They want to know that someone cares about them.  You can be the face of Jesus to all you meet, not by your own power, but by the power of the Holy Spirit and the grace of God.  

Week after week in my prayer group God is asking us to go out and to be His love, His hope, His joy, His peace to others.  If we were doing it, He wouldn’t have to keep asking us.  The world needs more Jesus now more than ever.  I say that although, if you read the lives of the Saints over the years, they always said that.  I am not sure if these times are worse than other times, I do know that these times are bad.  I know that we definitely need more Jesus.  People are starving for His love and His peace. People are also starving for His Word.  They are searching for truth and if we aren’t giving it them, others will.  I was listening to Father Mike’s Catechism in a Year podcast the other day and he was talking about this famous person who is an atheist.  He does not believe in God.  This man was doing a show and he went out into the lobby afterwards to shake hands with the fans and take photos.  One man waited for others to leave and then went up to him and said, “I know you don’t believe in God, but I wanted you to have this,” and gave him a little form of the Bible, maybe just the Gospels and the Psalms or something.  The man took the Bible and was so moved he talked about it later in a live stream or an interview.  He said some people might get really upset that this man gave me this Bible when he knows I don’t believe in God.  However, I am not upset and I don’t think it is rude.  I don’t believe in God.  However, if I did, if I truly believed that there was a heaven and hell wouldn’t I do anything to make sure others knew about it?  Wouldn’t it make sense that I would want to save all those I could from an eternal life in Hell?  What can we do to make sure others know of God’s love, His peace, His joy, and His hope?  Are we spreading His message around?  Are we living our lives as a living testament to Jesus?  When people see us, do they see Jesus?  

I have told you that God is telling us each and every week to be His face to the world.  Here is just one of the many directives we received from Him.  “I have promised, and I have given you my Spirit. I do not renege on my promises or hold back my Spirit from you. Let your light shine for me. There is enough darkness in the world. Let the light that is within you from me shine on others. Be not afraid to speak words of hope, love, and peace. Be my witnesses to the love that I have to give to them.”  God is not asking a lot from us.  He is not asking us to go out and travel the world spreading His love.  He is asking us to be his Love, Light, Hope, Peace & Joy to those around us.  He is asking us to live our lives in a way that others will see us and want what we have.  The peace, love, hope and joy of the Lord is contagious.  If we have it and live in it, others will want it.  When they do, when they come and ask about it, give the glory to the Father.  Point them to the Father.  Show them that they can have what you have if the turn to the Father.  

We can do this.  We can do it together.  We can be there to support each other as we tell those around us that Jesus is awesome.  Also, I feel I need to say, if your immediate loved ones don’t want to hear how amazing Jesus is, that is ok.  Live in His light and it will shine on them too.  It might not be your job to bring them to Jesus.  Maybe God has another plan for them.  All we can do is pray for them and keep shining God’s light on them by letting it shine brightly through us.  Rest assured that God has a plan for them.  Also, believe that if you are out sharing God’s love with those around you, then someone around them, someone they will be able to hear it from, will share God’s love with them too.  I know it may be scary and yet it doesn’t have to be.  All we have to do is say yes to God and He will give us all we need to do anything He is asking us to do.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we ask that you show us where in our lives we can help spread your light, your love, your peace, your hope and your joy.  Show us who in our lives is open to hearing about you.  Show us how we can set the captives free.  Show us how we can bring your light into their darkness.  Show us how we can bring the good news to the poor.  We feel inadequate Lord, please help us.  Please fill us with your strength.  Please remind us that we have the power of the Holy Spirit living inside of us, the same Holy Spirit Jesus had inside him.  Remind us we are not alone, we are not doing this alone.  Remind us you are with us and the Holy Spirit can tell us what to do if we just ask and listen.  We love you Lord, you are amazing.  We thank you for giving us the Holy Spirit.  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.  My book is on sale on my website right now.  If you buy from my website I will write a personal message and sign it before sending it to you.  If you are following me on Facebook, Catherine Duggan, I did a live video yesterday with the link in the comments.  Click Here for the book and Click Here for my website in the show notes.  Thank you for all your support, I really appreciate it! I look forward to meeting you hear again tomorrow.  Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I!  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 here.  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.  Remember Jesus loves you and so do I. Have a blessed day!

This morning when I got up I was not sure what I was going to witness about.  I thought perhaps Tony’s friend who is in the ICU and has had several miracles over the last 20 days.  However, something was holding me back so I prayed about it and I felt like the Lord wanted me to talk about how we have been blessed with so much support over the years.  We had our first child, Sam, 19 years ago in the country of Turkey.  We had been living there just about 2 years and we were moving back to the United States a few weeks after we had Sam.  

At the time we were in Turkey you could either have your child at a Turkish hospital or you could do something called Stork Nesting, where you would go to Landstuhl in Germany at about 36 weeks and stay there so you could deliver your baby at an American hospital since they didn’t have one at our base in Turkey.  I did not want to leave Tony while I was 36 weeks pregnant and go to Germany so we decided to have our first baby at a Turkish hospital.  We had taken a tour and it looked like a good hospital.  We knew several people who had babies there and had a good experience.  

My water broke exactly on Sam’s due date in the middle of the night.  However, I wasn’t having any contractions, so we went to Tony’s work and called people back in the states to let them know that today was the day.  We went back home and got ready to go to the hospital.  We had a nurse friend who told us by 7 am to go to the hospital even though I wasn’t having contractions.  We went to the hospital and the doctor started me on petocin to get the labor started.  Once it was time they took me into to the room to have the baby and Sam wouldn’t come out.  They had to do a c-section after trying a few different things.  Sam was born and he was beautiful.  

The next hurdle was to figure out breast feeding.  I had read in books that there will be people at the hospital to help you if you have trouble.  My nurse at the hospital was a 19 year old girl who had no idea about breast feeding.  Luckily the base had a breast feeding counselor and once I got home she was able to come and help me figure it out.  The military has a tradition of brining meals to a family if they have just had a baby, or someone is in the hospital, or if one of the parents is away for a while.  It was so nice to not have to worry about cooking and trying to take care of this little baby.  

God was so good to send the perfect people into our lives over the years.  We happened to be really good friends with a nurse and had two other nurses next door to us.  One day when they were visiting they said Sam’s eye looked like it had too much gunk in it.  We were told his eye might be goopy, so we didn’t think anything of it.  However, when they saw it they told us to take him in to be seen.  Sure enough he had some infection in his eye and needed ointment.  Tony and I were both first time parents, we were so nervous as he was just a little baby and the doctor told us we would need to pull down the bottom part of his eye and put a thin line of ointment.  Tony and I both shouted “Not it.” at the same time.  The doctor looked at us and said, “you know one of you has to be it, right?” We explained we were just nervous and so he was so kind and demonstrated it for us.  Sam didn’t cry at all and we saw that it was super easy.  

We were in NJ when we had our second child, Noah.  Well, I was in NJ, Tony happened to be in Colorado for a class.  He was coming back in a few days.  When I was thinking about writing about Noah’s birth I wasn’t even thinking about how God orchestrated the events leading up the birth so that I wasn’t alone in the operating room.  We had a planned c-section with Noah.  He was going to be born on All Saints Day, November 1st.  That was one week before he was due and they like to schedule c-sectioned earlier than your due date.  

Tony had a class he had to go to in Colorado and he had made sure we had a back up person to help out in case he was gone.  The only thing is that she was busy from October 14-19th because she was away on a retreat.  My sister Elizabeth and her husband and young daughter, along with my older sister Dianne decided to come visit for a few days.  They were only coming down for three days, they were visiting from October 17-20th. They were supposed to get there on Monday afternoon and yet hit traffic and came in Monday night.  I had an event that night on base so I say a brief hi to them and then went to my event on base.  That night we hung out and watched TV together.  

I couldn’t sleep that night I was having some sort of pain.  I thought it was gas pain but in the morning I decided to go to my doctor’s office just to have it checked out.  Tony happened to call when I was there and the doctor told him I was fine.  I wasn’t having any contractions and all was good.  Then she did an exam and noticed I was a bit more dilated than she thought so she sent me to the hospital just to be checked out.  She told me she was sure I wasn’t having the baby today.  Luckily my sister Dianne had driven me to the doctor’s office.  By the time we got to the hospital, which was about 5 minutes away, my contractions were so strong I couldn’t walk into the hospital.  

The doctor came in and told me I was having this baby today.  I wanted to wait for Tony but he was in Colorado and wouldn’t make it in time.  My sister Dianne agreed to come in the OR with me for the c-section so I wouldn’t be in there alone.  Dianne did not want to have any children of her own, so it was neat that she got to be in the OR with me while I gave birth.  She got to be the first person to hold our son Noah and that was really special.  I was still recovering from the C-section and waiting for the sedation to wear off so I didn’t get to hold him right away.  Next thing we know he is under the warming lights and the nurse said he was breathing different.  They took him to the NICU and I didn’t get to see him for over 24 hours.  

Tony came in that night and went to see Noah.  We didn’t have a name at that point because we were deciding between Noah Alexander and Patrick Holden.  I didn’t know what he looked like, I only saw him briefly.  The next day I tried to go visit Noah but when I stood up I felt dizzy so the nurse wouldn’t let me go.  I think I tried twice before I was able to go see him.  He was so sweet.  He was not really gaining weight and they wanted to put a feeding tube in but we asked them to hold off and I fed him.  He was eating but it was talking him a long time.  We decided to do breastfeeding every other meal and bottle feeding on the alternates meals. This way he could get more rest after he bottle fed.  

It was hard to see Noah in the NICU and yet we knew God was with us.  At one point they said if he didn’t gain a certain amount of weight by a certain time then they would put in a feeding tube, and he did gain the weight.  We were able to avoid the feeding tube.  God was there every step of the way with Noah.  Every test he had to pass in the NICU he passed with flying colors.  I believe he was in the NICU for 9 days.  Those were very long days and yet we were blessed because he wasn’t very sick and we knew he would be ok.  The same is not true for every baby in the NICU.  God was there with us and also sent people to help take care of us and take care of Sam.  My mom and dad came down to keep an eye on Sam when Tony and I were in the hospital.  We would both sleep at the hospital for the first several days.  When we went to every other feeding we went home to sleep as there was another couple who needed the room we were using.  Our friends brought meals again so we didn’t have to worry about food and my parents didn’t either.  

The birth of our third son was a planned c-section and my parents were in town to help watch Sam and Noah while we were in the hospital.  This birth went off without a hitch.  Everything went as planned and we stayed in the hospital just a few days to recuperate from the C-section and then headed home.  Our family was complete.  

God is so good.  He has been with us throughout each of the pregnancies and through all of the births.  I know they all worked out as they were supposed to and God sent so many good people to be there for us and to help us when we needed it.  Sometimes we don’t realize that our friends, family and co-workers are a gift from God.  We don’t realize that not everyone has that support.  I think this is why I try so hard to check in with people who I know are struggling.  Why I check up after people I know have a procedure.  This is why I text and check  in to see how those I know are doing.  I have been blessed, even though we moved around a lot, to have a great support network.  I know that is a blessing and a grace that not everyone has.  I also know I take it for granted sometimes and I am grateful for days like today when God reminds me how lucky I am.  If you are lucky enough to have a support network, people who look out for you and help you, then I ask you to be that for someone else who might not have that.  Who is one person you know that could use a friend, or even just a helping hand, or even just an ear to talk to.  Kindness and checking in on people is more important than you think.  After writing this I went on a quick run and I heard a song that goes perfectly with Witness Wednesday.  I will put the lyrics in the show notes along with a link so you can listen to the song if you have time.  The words are so great, if you have time, check it out and maybe think about how we can be more impressed throughout the day with God’s miracles.  

Blown Away By Josh Wilson (Click Here to listen)

Yea She's dancing like a crazy fool From the kitchen to the dining room

And she tells me, 'Baby, life is way too short to be too cool.'

She says, ‘

When did we get so serious? Can we just all stop acting unimpressed?'

There's a hundred million miracles in front of us passing by God open my eyes

I wanna be blown away! By your extraordinary grace every ordinary day

Blown away! By your great big love in every little place

I wanna slow down look around God please show me how to stop and be amazed

I wanna be blown away! Blown away!

I want to see a sunset And have to stop and catch my breath

O I never want to forget How you take a dead heart and bring back to life again

Oh! When did we get so serious? Can we just all stop acting unimpressed?'

There's a hundred million miracles in front of us passing by God open my eyes

I wanna be blown away! By your extraordinary grace every ordinary day

Blown away! By your great big love in every little place

I wanna slow down look around God please show me how to stop and be amazed

I wanna be blown away! Blown away!

The Earth is full of heaven 'Cause you're always breaking through

Put the wonder back inside these eyes God, I don't want to miss you

When did we get so serious? Can we just all stop acting unimpressed?'

There's a hundred million miracles in front of us passing by God open my eyes

I wanna be blown away! By your extraordinary grace every ordinary day

Blown away! By your great big love in every little place

I wanna slow down look around God please show me how to stop and be amazed

I wanna be blown away! Blown away!

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I Am Doing A New Thing!

Isaiah 43:18-19 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”

I chose this verse because it made with think of the Chosen and it also made me think about what we talked about a lot in Encounter Ministries, which is a Renewal of the mind.  In the Chosen people are always saying Jesus is doing things in a new way.  It’s like He is teaching similar stuff to what they already know and yet He is saying it in a completely new way.  There are shirts with sayings on them from the Chosen and two of them are “We are not what we were,” and “Get used to different.” These shirts show us that after you have encountered Jesus, truly encountered Him, you are not the same, and that is a good thing.  

I wanted to look up the meaning of this verse just so my thoughts on the verse didn’t override what the verse was actually saying.  I am glad I did because I was focusing mostly on the words, “I am doing a new thing!”  This was what made me choose this verse because Jesus was doing a new thing during his 3 years of ministry.  He was doing and saying things that people hadn’t done or said before.  He was not afraid to speak the truth, the harsh realities to everyone and yet he spoke them with love.  He spoke them in a way they could actually hear them and be changed by them.  Do we let the words we read in the Bible change us?  I was thinking this type of renewal of mind is what God was talking about in this verse.  However, after reading more about this verse, I think it is about a renewal, but maybe not exactly what I was thinking.

The first part of the verse is saying, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.”  God does not want His people to focus on their past.  Sometimes we can get stuck focusing on our past and where we have been instead of looking ahead to where we are going.  I don’t think it was just about the problems they had in the past, I don’t think God wanted them to think about how He had helped them in the past either.  The next verse says, “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” God is telling them He is going to help them in a different way than He has helped them in the past.  Do you know why it is important to tell them this?

Have you ever been expecting things to look a certain way and when they don’t you dismiss them?  What if you were so sure God was going to save you in the same way He did last time, that you missed the help He sent this time?  There is a parable of a drowning man that I think illustrates this idea.  A fellow was stuck on his rooftop in a flood. He was praying to God for help. Soon a man in a rowboat came by and the fellow shouted to the man on the roof, “Jump in, I can save you.”The stranded fellow shouted back, “No, it’s OK, I’m praying to God and he is going to save me.” So the rowboat went on. Then a motorboat came by. “The fellow in the motorboat shouted, “Jump in, I can save you.” To this the stranded man said, “No thanks, I’m praying to God and he is going to save me. I have faith.” So the motorboat went on. Then a helicopter came by and the pilot shouted down, “Grab this rope and I will lift you to safety.” To this the stranded man again replied, “No thanks, I’m praying to God and he is going to save me. I have faith.” So the helicopter reluctantly flew away. Soon the water rose above the rooftop and the man drowned. He went to Heaven. He finally got his chance to discuss this whole situation with God, at which point he exclaimed, “I had faith in you but you didn’t save me, you let me drown. I don’t understand why!” To this God replied, “I sent you a rowboat, a motorboat and a helicopter, what more did you expect?”

This might be a silly parable and yet I think there is some truth to how we think or behave at times. Sometimes we think we will know how God will save us, or how He will give us help.  Sometimes we are so sure we are right that we might miss out on what He really wants to do for us.  In one of the witness Wednesdays I talked about how Tony had been wanting to get out of the military for awhile and yet nothing was panning out for him.  Then out of the blue he needed to get out of the air force and the perfect civilian job opened up for him.  It didn’t look like the answer he was looking for and actually, he had stopped looking for any answer.  He had decided to stay in and was ok with that idea.  However, God knew where his heart was and although the method God took was not ideal in Tony’s eyes, the outcome was greater than we could have imagined.  

This verse is for each one of us.  “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” God does not want us dwelling in the past.  It is ok to briefly look back at the past to see how far you have come and to make sure you don’t make the same mistakes again, and yet we aren’t meant to stay there.  Our focus should be on where we are going?  How will we ever get there if we are always looking back and never looking forward?  Also, hear God when He says, “I am doing a new thing!”  He is speaking this to you and to me.  He wants to do a new think in your life, let Him.  Be on the lookout for this new thing.  If you are looking, you will find it.  

The last sentence in the verse is for some of you in particular today.  You need to hear this today and although I thought I chose this verse for all the reasons I already listed the Holy Spirit is telling me He chose this verse so you could hear this today.  “I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” God is wanting you to know that He is making a way in the wilderness for you.  He is making streams in the wasteland.  I know if feels like there is no way forward, I have been there.  I know if feels impossible to see how you will get out of this situation.  I have been there too.  The answer is, God is making a way.  It is ok that we can’t see the way because God doesn’t have to follow a path, He can make a path.  He can do miraculous things to get us out of the completely ordinary and normal trouble we find ourselves in.  He loves us that much!! He loves you that much!  If you are in the middle of the wastelands right now, if you feel like you are in the wilderness, know that the Holy Spirit picked this verse just for you and He wants you to know God is making a way through it all!

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we want to see you in our everyday.  We thank you for doing something new and we ask you open our hearts and minds to see the new thing you are doing. Lord, we thank you for making a way where there isn’t one.  We ask you to help us to keep believing that this is possible and that you will get us through this.  Also, Lord, please take away this worry and this stress.  Help us to focus on you instead of our problems. Lord, we love you and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.

Thank you all for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I wanted to let you all know that I am running a special on my book.  If you order from my website, findingtruenorthcoaching.com or you CLICK HERE, then I will write a personal message and sign the copy before I send it to your house.  If you didn’t know I wrote a book, it is a book that explains the various ways that I grew my trust in God to a point where I now know when I am in trouble, He will take care of it for me.  I worry so much less about things because I know He is in control.  If you would like the same, check out my book.  It’s called Total Trust in God’s Safe Embrace.  I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow.  Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I!  Have a blessed day!

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Is He Crazy?

Hebrews 11:30 “By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days.”

The story of Joshua and the walls of Jericho always makes me laugh because I wonder what the army must have thought about his plan.  You can read about it in Joshua 6.  I will read you the beginning part where God was talking to Joshua 6:1-5, “Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men.  March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets.  When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.”

I think about how sometimes I feel the Holy Spirit prompting me to go pray over someone and yet I don’t because I am afraid of what they will think and yet Joshua walked up to his army and the priests and told them they were going to walk around the walled city for seven days and then the walls were just going to fall down.  Can you imagine how that must have sounded to those who were listening?  What kind of battle strategy is that?  I wonder if he was nervous telling the people what God told him?  I know they lived in a time when God’s presence was with them more visibly.  However, the people going into Jericho were not the same people that crossed the red sea on dry ground.  They are their descendants, so I am sure they heard the story of what happened but none of them, except Joshua and one other man were there when it happened.  I wonder if God prepared the people’s hearts and minds to hear this plan?  

I guess I didn’t really think of that before.  The fact that if God is asking us to do something, then he probably prepared the hearts and minds of those involved.  If God is asking me to pray over someone, that person probably won’t say no.  God probably wouldn’t send me into a situation where they would say no, unless maybe if He was trying to teach me humility.  Joshua’s faith is the fourth kind of faith I wanted to talk to you about today.  Joshua had faith to do what God told him to do even when it seemed crazy.  It doesn’t say in the Bible that Joshua argued with God.  It doesn’t say that He hesitated to do what God told him to do.  It just says what God told him to do and then he did it.  He did it even though he didn’t understand it.  He did it even though I am sure many people thought he was crazy.  

What is God calling us to do that we are avoiding, or arguing or hesitating to do because it doesn’t make sense and it makes us look crazy?  Often times God will have you step outside of your comfort zone.  Have you watched the series “The Chosen?”  If not, you should, it is so good!  In this show, the apostles are constantly being asked to do things they don’t know how to do.  They are being asked to do things they feel foolish doing.  People didn’t just go around talking about God and healing people.  Until Jesus, that wasn’t something that was seen.  However, when Jesus came along it was ok if he was healing people as he was the Messiah.  Then Jesus sent his 12 apostles out 2 by 2 to go out and talk about God and to perform signs and wonders.  They had no idea what they were doing and I am sure they felt as if people would look at them funny.  There is something called imposture syndrome.  It is when you are doing something and yet your inner voice, your inner critic asks who you think you are to be doing this things.  Your inner critic tells you that you aren’t good enough to do what you are doing.  It tries to cast doubt on you and your abilities.  I am not sure they knew what imposture syndrome was back then, but I am sure the apostles had it.  

I am sure they felt like they were not qualified to do the things Jesus was asking them to do.  If the apostles on the show are any indication of how the real apostles felt, they definitely felt insecure.  They definitely felt like, “Who are we to do God’s work?”  You may be feeling like this too.  Who am I to be called by God?  Who am I to pray over someone?  Who am I think God is asking me to do this crazy thing?  Who you are is a child of God.  God asks us to be obedient, even when He is asking us to do something out of the ordinary.  Many of the Saints were asked to do things that made them look crazy.  People told them they were crazy or they were imaging things, especially the people that had apparitions of Mary.  Many people told them they were crazy and they didn’t really see what they knew they saw.

If you feel as though God is calling you to do something, step out in faith and do it.  If you want to be obedient and yet you really aren’t sure it what you are hearing is from God or not, ask a friend to discern it with you.  Ask them to pray about it and see if they get a confirmation.  You can also talk about it with a priest or a spiritual director.  God does call us out of our comfort zone and yet He also gives us all we need to do the thing He is asking us to do.  If you feel you need confirmation, He will give you confirmation.

What is God calling you to do that you are afraid to do? What is He calling you to do that you think seems foolish?  What if you did that thing anyway?  What if you did it scared?  What if you did it looking like a fool?  What if Joshua had been too afraid to look like a fool in front of the Army?  What if he decided to try to take the city his own way?  Do you think it would have worked?  Do you think it would have been as easy as marching around the wall for 7 days?  God’s way is always the best way.  Even if we feel foolish doing it.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we want to follow you, we want to be obedient to your calls, help us.  We want to do as you ask, even if we will look foolish.  We want to trust that what we hear is from you, help us.  Help us to have the faith of Joshua and to step forward in trust.  We love you Lord, you are truly 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 just want to give you a head’s up that next week I will be selling autographed copies of my book.  I will write a personal message to each person that buys a copy from me and I will mail it to your house.  It will be $13 for the autographed copy and then $4.00 for shipping and handling.  I will put a link for this in the show notes starting next week.  I just wanted to let everyone know what was coming.  I look forward to meeting you here again on Monday!  Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed weekend!

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God Will Provide

Hebrews 11:17-18 “By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”

This morning I saw something that I hadn’t seen before.  Almost every paragraph in Hebrews 11 begins with two words, “by faith.”  I also didn’t realize how many different people the chapter talks about.  I am not sure I will cover all of them, but I will do a few more.  I also discovered, when reading most of the chapter this morning, that the chapter begins with a definition of faith.  I thought this would be a good thing to share with you as well.  The definition can be found in Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” I think this is particularly important when we talk about today’s verse.  

God asked Abraham to offer Isaac, his only son, the one that God promised Abraham and Sarah they would conceive, even though Abraham was about 100 and Sarah was about 90.  God had said to Abraham, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” Yet, God is asking Abraham to sacrifice Isaac now.  This must have been confusing to Abraham.  Let me read you Genesis 22:1-19 “Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”  Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.  He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together,  Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together. When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.  But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.  So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.” The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time  and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,  I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies,  and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”  Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba.”

I know that was a lot to read and yet I thought it was important for everyone to know the story of how Abraham was tested because we might all have times when we are tested.  Has God ever asked you to do something and you really didn’t understand why?  Has He asked you to do something which seemed to contradict something else He already told you?  God told Abraham that he was going to use Isaac to build a nation of Abraham’s descendants and then God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac.  That must have been confusing, and yet as you see above in Genesis 22:8 Abraham says to Isaac, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”  Abraham had faith that God would provide a lamb for the burn offering.  He had faith even though God told him his son was to be the burnt offering.  He had faith even though he didn’t have any idea what was going to happen on top of that mountain.  Abraham had faith that He and Isaac would both be coming back down that mountain and yet he wasn’t sure what he was going to experience on  that mountain.  He told the servants in Genesis 22:5 “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” He didn’t say I will come back to you, he said we will come back to you.  

I think this is amazing.  I wonder how Abraham could be so sure that God was not going to take his son.  Then when I think about it I realize that Abraham was able to have that trust in God because of two reasons.  First, he knew God.  I mean really knew God.  He was close with God, and he knew the kind of God he is.  Abraham knew that God was against child sacrifice.  He knew he did not agree with other god’s requiring child sacrifice.  Second, Abraham knew that God always keeps his promises.  He knew that if God said that through Isaac his offspring would be reckoned then it would happen just as God said. This must have been how Abraham knew they would both come back down the mountain.  However, that doesn’t mean that Abraham knew he wouldn’t have to sacrifice his son.  He might have thought he had to sacrifice him and then God would bring Isaac back to him.  We don’t know what Abraham was thinking from moment to moment.  

This story of Abraham and Isaac is the third type of faith I wanted to talk to you about this week.  This is a faith that God will find a way through even when you don’t see one.  I am sure Abraham did not understand how he could sacrifice Isaac and yet Isaac would still be alive to have all these offspring.  He didn’t see a way and yet he trusted their was one.  The same can be true for us.  We don’t have to understand how it will happen.  We don’t have to know the plan, we just have to be obedient to what God is calling us to do and God will work the rest out.  I feel it is important to remember that God may test us.  He asked something of Abraham that was big and required a lot of faith.  Maybe he is doing the same to you.  

What if we looked at each challenge in our lives as a test of faith?  How would you look at things differently if you thought like this?  Would it change how you viewed the situation?  For instance, if you have a loved one in the hospital, or at home and yet they are very sick.  Would it change how you prayed if you looked at the situation as a test.  Remember the definition of faith is “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” I love this definition.  Can we be confident in what we hope for even when we don’t see a way to get it?  Can we be assured it will happen when we don’t see how it will happen?  I have been told that hope is not as easy as I think it is.  I know hope is not easy and yet, what is the alternative?  Do we just give up on our dreams so that we don’t get disappointed?  Do we stop believing it will happen because it hasn’t yet, because it seems hopeless, because it hurts less to not hope?  I don’t know, only you can answer that.  For me, I am going to have hope.  I am going to keep hoping even when it hurts because what if this is the test?  What if God just needed me to have hope for one more day and I gave up a day too early?  I don’t know if that is a thing, but what if Abraham had said no.  What if he had hope and faith until he got up on that mountain and then when it was time to put Issac on the wood he said no?  We don’t know what would have happened, only God knows that.  We don’t know because Abraham didn’t say that.  He kept the faith the whole time.  You can too.  

I know it is painful when we hope for things and they don’t happen, and I don’t have an answer for that.  I hoped, I had faith, I prayed for my friend Iris to be cured of cancer while she was here on earth and yet God healed her in heaven instead.  I prayed, I hoped, I had faith that God would raise my friend’s husband after he passed and He didn’t.  I know it can hurt to have faith and hope and then not get what we hoped for.  I also know so many more instances where I had confidence in what I hoped for and assurance in what I could not see and God did come through.  I had hope, even though it was hard, and God worked his miracles in ways I will never understand.  When you are struggling to have hope, look to Abraham.  When things don’t make any sense, when you are confused, when things look impossible, look to Abraham and have faith in God anyway.  God is for you, not against you.  He can find a way, He can make a way.  Nothing is impossible for God.  Move forward In Faith!

Dear Heavenly Father I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we want to have faith, please help us.  Help us to have the faith of Abraham.  Help us to know you in the deep and intimate way that Abraham knew you.  Help us to trust the lives of our loved ones in your hands just as Abraham did.  Give us the strength, the courage and the faith to say yes when you ask us to do things that don’t make any sense to us.  We love you Lord, we know you are good.  We know you are for us and not against us.  Help us to say yes more often.  Help us to have hope, even when its hard.  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 for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow.  Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! 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 here.  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.  Remember Jesus loves you and so do I. Have a blessed day!

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He Said Yes Even Though He Didn’t Have All The Details

Hebrews 11:8 “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going."

Abraham is the second person I want to talk to you about this week.  He is the second example of faith.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with Abraham you can read about him in Genesis 12. I will read you a brief part from Genesis 12:1-3, “The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”  Man, wouldn’t you love to have a conversation like that with God?  God makes some pretty great promises to Abraham in this verse.  “I will make you a great nation and I will bless you.” That is a pretty good deal.  However, Abraham had to do something in order to have these things that God promised him.  He had to leave everything and everyone he knew.

I bet all of us would want this blessing and yet I am not sure any of us would want to do what Abraham had to do.  How many of us would want to leave everything and everyone we knew to head out to an undisclosed location?  God told Abraham he was going to “the land I will show you.”  He didn’t show him ahead of time.  God would show him when he got there. This means, as the verse above says, “By faith, Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he didn’t know where he was going.”  Would you like to head out on a journey not knowing where you are going?  

My husband Tony retired from the Air Force.  For the first 15 years of our lives together we moved around every few years.  The Air Force tends to move their officer’s every 2-3 years.  The hardest part about the move is the not knowing. There are a few months when you know you are up for an assignment and you even get some idea of what places are available for you to move to.  However, you don’t know which one you are moving to until about 2 months before you have to move.  That part where you know you are leaving and you don’t know where you are going is the hardest.  Once you know you kick into moving mode and you are busy learning about where you are going, when you are going, and then your packing and moving.  Before you know where you are going you are stuck in limbo.  You can’t really be excited about going because you don’t know where you are going and yet you can’t really act like nothing is changing as you are sad you are leaving your friends.  

I think in any situation, the hardest part is the unknown.  Even if we aren’t talking about moving.  If you have a sick loved one, or if you are sick, the hardest part is the not knowing what is next, or if you will get better, or how long the sickness, the pain, the discomfort will continue.  Abraham did not know where he was going and he said yes any way.  God asked him to leave everything for this promise of a better life and Abraham said yes, with no other details.  I wonder how many of us would do the same?  I wonder how many of us would head out to an undisclosed location?  He had to not only leave his father’s house, not only leave his country, but leave his people too.  Abraham was married at the time he left.  I wonder how his wife felt about leaving everything before they knew where they were going?  I wonder if it was hard to persuade her to go?  I wonder if she understood what was going on?

Sometimes when we feel God asking us to do something, our family doesn’t understand.  They didn’t hear the same thing we heard from God.  This can be really hard at times.  I said earlier, “wouldn’t it be great to have a conversation like that with God.”  God is wanting to have these conversations with us, it is us that is not listening.  We are the ones that are not entering into these conversations.  When we do enter in, God calls us to do something and we want to have all the details before we move.  We want to know every detail about what we need to do and what will happen when we do.  God wants to give us the first step and we don’t take it unless we know the next 20 steps that come after it.  Don’t feel bad if you are listening and you are feeling as if I am talking to you.  I am talking to myself as well.  

I feel as though God has asked me to plan a retreat this summer and I have so many questions for Him.  He keeps telling me He will give me more info once a book the place and I keep asking for the other details now.  Abraham did not have the details ahead of time.  Although it doesn’t say if he asked God for more details.  It doesn’t say if he sat with the request for a while getting up the courage to go.  It just says that God told him to go and he went, by faith.  

Abraham is definitely one to look up to if we are struggling with faith.  God told him if he went great things would happen and so he went.  God is telling us the same thing, we just aren’t listening.  God is trying to tell us that if we take that step He is asking us to take, greater things will happen for us.  God is calling us to greater things and yet we need to step out in faith.  What step is God calling you to take that you are afraid to take?  What step is God calling you to take and yet you keep asking for more information before you take that steps?  

I have a friend who has really been growing in her ability to listen to the Lord.  She had a dream in December that was so vivid and she knew God was calling her to be a substitute teacher at the local school.  She always said you couldn’t pay her enough to teach other people’s children and so she laughed when she had this dream.  However, she was obedient and signed up to teach. She knew this job was only until the summer and then didn’t know what she would do next.  Now God is calling her to move to Nebraska and help out at a retreat center and a different Encounter Ministry Campus.  She does not know much more than that and yet she said yes.  She doesn’t know the timing, she doesn’t know where she will live, she doesn’t have all the details and yet she is trusting that God will give her that information when she needs to know, what a beautiful example of faith.  

What if we stopped fighting with God, stopped questioning God and just said yes?  What if we stopped waiting until we had all the answers and just moved forward in faith?  What if I said yes, I will plan that retreat, and just found a place, not knowing all the details?  What if you said yes to what He is asking you to do?  I know it might be scary to say yes without all the details, but if God is calling you to do it, He is going to give you all you need to accomplish it.  He will never leave you alone!  He will never abandon you!  I got a word of prophecy last night and I think God meant it not only for me but for all of you too!  The word given to me was that God is always with us.  He goes before us, He comes after us, He is right beside us.  We are covered in His protection and no one can hurt us because we are His.  Trust that He is there with you and that He will be there every step of the way.  Step out in faith, knowing He is right beside you.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we love you and we thank you for speaking to us, even when we don’t listen.  We thank you for being patient with us and for continuing to ask us to do things even when we are afraid to take that step.  You are such a patient and loving God and we are so grateful.  Lord, we ask for an increase in faith and trust so we can take that step without having all the details.  Please help us to grow in our ability to hear you and our ability to do as you ask.  Help us give you our “Yes" 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.  Today is our 500th episode together and I am so happy I am not on this journey alone.  I am happy we are learning and praying together.  Everything is more fun when we get to do it with friends! I look forward to meeting you here tomorrow for another witness Wednesday.  Remember Jesus loves you and so do I!  Have a blessed day!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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Things Not Yet Seen

Hebrews 11:7 “By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family.  By faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.”

My friend Louise was leading prayer group on Thursday and she did a teaching on Hebrews 11.  As she was talking I felt like the Holy Spirit was showing me several different things in this chapter.  I felt like this would be a good chapter to spend some time in as it shows several different examples of faith in several different circumstances.  Each day this week I will take a different verse from this chapter and we will look at the circumstances the people find themselves in and how their faith grows because of these circumstances.  

In today’s verse we have Noah.  In case you are listening to this and you don’t know the story of Noah, let me take a minute to explain.  The people who lived when Noah lived were not a God fearing people.  They worshipped other gods, they participated in child sacrifice and were a perverse nation.  God wanted to destroy the earth and start over again.  However, there was one righteous family.  Noah &  his wife and they had a few sons.  God asked Noah to build an arc that would keep his family safe from the flood that he intended to send.  He gave his very specific directions and dimensions for this arc.  He wanted Noah to build an arc that would not only keep his family safe, but he wanted him to also bring on board at least one female and one male of every land animal on earth.  

At the time that God told Noah this, the place where Noah lived had not gotten rain in a very long time.  There was no earthly reason why Noah would need to build an arc.  It definitely didn’t make sense to him or to his family.  However, Noah built the arc and saved his family and all the animals.  The verse above says, “By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family.”  That first part is the first kind of example I want to talk to you about this week.  It says, “By faith, when warned about things not yet seen.”  When have you been asked to have this type of faith?  When has God warned you about something that was coming but you didn’t see it yet? When has he asked you to do something and yet you really don’t understand why?  Has this happened to you before?  Have you felt like God wanted you to do something and yet it didn’t seem to make any sense to you?  

This can happen to us in big ways and small ways.  You might feel like God is asking you to call someone or pray for someone and yet you don’t understand why.  You might be asked to give someone money, or loan them your car and yet they didn’t even ask you for it.  You might feel God is asking you to quit your job and move back home, and yet it doesn’t make sense to you. You don’t understand it because this request came out of left field.  In all of these circumstances you feel God is asking you to do something before you see the need for it.  It would be easier to understand if you saw the need.  It would be easier to understand  if you saw the why first.  If you had someone come and ask you for money then it would be easier for you to understand why God was asking you to give them money.  If you saw that someone was without a car then you could understand why you felt led to let them borrow your car.  And yet, that isn’t how God works sometimes.  

What just occurred to me, thank you Holy Spirit, is that sometimes God does it this way because then the Glory is His.  If we walk up to someone and ask them if they need a car, when they do, but we had no way of knowing that, then it points them to God.  When someone needs $50 for gas and someone else gives the  exactly $50  without them even asking, it points them to God.  If they asked if we had money and we gave them money, that would be nice of us and it would be a good thing, and yet it wouldn’t necessarily point them to God.  Even with them getting exactly what they needed  without asking, sometimes it doesn’t point them to God.  Sometimes they chalk it up to a coincidence.  However, if they get enough coincidences, they will start to look for something bigger behind it all and they will find God.  

Back to Noah, he can be a great example of how to live out this kind of faith.  He didn’t understand, it didn’t make any sense from an earthly view and yet he did it anyway.  The verse says he built the arc out of a holy fear.  This doesn’t mean that he was so scared of God that he built this arc because he didn’t feel like he had any other choice.  It doesn’t mean that he built he arc out of fear of consequences from God for him or his family.  Holy fear is a fear that comes from love.  It is less of a fear and more of an awe or reverence toward God.  Noah was in awe of God and I am sure he was grateful that God was willing to spare him and his family.  That is a pretty big honor, especially since they were the only family saved.  

I know it can seem like God is asking more from you than you are capable of doing. I know that you feel like God maybe has a little too much faith in you at times.  They say God will never give us more than we can handle and we wonder if God over estimates us at times.  I heard someone say that quote a bit differently.  They said, “God never gives us more than He can handle.”  That feels a bit more accurate at times because there is nothing God can’t handle.  When you feel overwhelmed, when you feel like God has asked you to do more than you can handle, take a moment to think of all that God asked Noah to do.

God asked Noah, when he was 500 years old to build and arc and it took over 100 years to build this arc.  I have trouble finding the energy to wash my dishes some days and Noah was over 450 years older than I am.  After building this arc, he needed to fill it with at least one female and one male animal of each kind.  I cannot imagine it was easy to get all those animals on the arc with out them eating each other.  Imagine taking care of all those animals for 150 days while the earth was flooded.  I mean, how do you clean out the stalls of lions?  

God asked a lot of Noah when he asked him to build this arc.  He asked a lot of Noah and his whole family when he gave them the task of repopulating the entire world.  God asked a lot from them and yet he didn’t leave them alone.  He gave them the strength they needed to accomplish all he set before them and He will do the same for you. All God needed from Noah was his “yes” and God can do the rest.  All God needs from you is your “yes” too! He is asking for your yes, even when you don’t understand.  He is asking for your yes, even when it doesn’t make sense.  He is asking for your yes even when others might say you are crazy.  He is asking for your yes even when you feel it is too much.  All He needs is your yes and he will give you all you need to accomplish all He has asked you to do.  Will you say yes?  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, please help us to say yes even when we don’t understand why.  Help us to act even when you are asking us to prepare for things not yet seen.  Help us to have faith in you Lord.  Help us to trust that if you are asking there is a good reason.  Give us the strength and the grace to say yes even if we don’t feel we are good enough. Help us to say yes even when we feel we can’t do it.  Lord, we love you and we thank you for trusting us even though we don’t deserve it. Thank you for using us in your plan even though we aren’t worthy!  We are so grateful and 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 meeting you here again tomorrow.  Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I.  Have a blessed day!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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