Walk Boldly With Jesus

The Fragrance of Christ

2 Corinthians 2:14 “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads in every place the fragrance that comes from knowing him.”

I really liked the imagery of this verse.  The first part says, “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession.”  Can’t you just picture Jesus walking in front of us leading us in a procession?  I can picture us all lined up behind Jesus, we are wearing our very best outfits, with super comfy shoes on, and we are marching behind Jesus.  Our heads are held high and our shoulders are back.  We have such confidence when we are following behind him because we have won, the war is over, God is the victor and we get to bask in that glory.  

What is crazy to me is that God did already win the war.  I know most days it doesn’t seem like it because there is still a battle going on between good and evil.  We seem to still be fighting the enemy for our soul.  However, it is not really a war because in a war we don’t know who will win.  And actually there aren’t really any winners in wars as there is so much devastation on both sides.  However, in the battle of good and evil, God already won our souls when he gave His only Son to die on the cross for our sins.  In that moment, God defeated evil for good.  When Jesus died on that cross He took our sins with Him and that means he cleared the way for us to go to heaven.  

When I say Jesus cleared the way I mean that when He died He took our sins with Him.  He was sinless and yet carried our sins to the cross to free us from sin.  However, that doesn’t mean we are free to do whatever we want here on earth and then get a free pass to heaven.  God still expects us to follow his laws while we are here on earth.  This may seem like an impossible task, especially given the world that we are living in.  However, Jesus didn’t just take our sins with Him to the cross and then leave us alone here on earth.  When Jesus went to sit at the right hand of the Father, He sent us the Holy Spirit to help us here on Earth.  He did not leave us alone.

The devil is still trying to get our souls, however, they belong to God.  The devil can not get our souls unless we let him.  God has defeated evil and the Holy Spirit is within us to help us follow God’s ways and give us the strength to withstand the temptings of the devil.  The devil’s temptings can be strong, and as we have talked about before he is a very good liar.  He can convince us of many things if we let him.  However, they Holy Spirit is much stronger than the enemy.  If we invite the Holy Spirit into our life, into any moment that the enemy is trying to tempt us, we will be victorious.  We will be marching behind Jesus in that triumphal procession.  We don’t have to fear the battle between good and evil because we know God has already won.  All we need to do is to keep inviting the Holy Spirit to come into our every day life and help us fight the daily battle to do what is right.

The second part of the verse says, “Through us spreads in every place the fragrance that comes from knowing him.” I love this idea of spreading the fragrance that comes from knowing him.  What I pictured when I first heard this was being in a room after someone who was wearing a strong perfume or cologne had walked away.  You know how you can still smell their fragrance for a bit after they walk away?  That is how I hope people feel after they talk with me about Christ.  Wouldn’t it be awesome if we just exuded this aroma of Christ so strongly that after we walked away people were still smelling it?  

I have talked a lot over the last year and a half about how we are being called to be the face of Christ.  When people see us, they should see a reflection of Christ looking back at them. This is what we should all aspire too.  We can ask the Holy Spirit to help us with this.  We can ask the Holy Spirit to transform our hearts and minds.  Wouldn’t it be nice if after each interaction we have with other people, we leave them with a greater knowledge of Christ?  This verse seems to be a slightly different way of looking at it.  Maybe we don’t have to leave everyone with a greater knowledge of Christ, maybe we could just leave them with a greater sense of Christ.  

Sometimes we think we need to preach to everyone we meet.  We want everyone to know about Jesus and we feel it is our job to tell them.  If this is you, it is awesome that you are that on fire to share Christ with everyone and this can be the right approach in some situations.  However, not everyone is there yet.  Not everyone is ready to hear all about Jesus.  I do believe everyone is ready and looking for kindness, for love and acceptance.  What if we left every person we met with a greater sense of love and acceptance?  I think this is what the verse above is talking about.  We would be leaving them with the fragrance that comes from knowing Him.  

To know Jesus is to know love.  True love, not human love.  To know Jesus is to know an unconditional love that has no boundaries.  Jesus accepted everyone.  He did not turn anyone away.  What if this was our philosophy?  What if we entered every situation with the determination to love and accept everyone we meet?  How different would our interactions be?  How different would our lives be?  How different would the world be if everyone accepted and loved everyone.  I am not saying we need to accept all they are doing.  Jesus sat and ate with tax collectors and sinners.  He loved them and accepted them and yet he did not condone their behaviors.  He filled them with love and then told them to go and sin no more.  

There may be people you know who are you feel are making bad choices.  You may know people who are acting in a way that is contrary to our beliefs at a Christian.  You may feel like it is your job to correct them.  I have found there is no-one better to change the hearts and minds of people than the Holy Spirit.  He is equipped in ways we are not.  He can bring our sins to us in a loving and non judgmental way.  When God points out our sins, we never feel guilty or bad about them.  Shame never enters in when the Holy Spirit is bringing our sins to our mind.  We just get this sense that we want to change them.  When we point out the sins of others, it almost always sounds judgmental and condemning.  

I get that you feel it is your job to save your loved ones.  The best way to do this is to pray for them, ask the Holy Spirit and all the saints and angels to intercede for you as well.  Then, fill your loved ones with love and acceptance.  Make them feel welcome in your home.  Make them feel loved because I assure you the world is not loving them.  Accepting them in your home does not mean you are condoning the thing you don’t agree with.  Jesus accepted people as they were and yet did not condone their sins.  Shower love on people, there is not enough of it in this world.  Love is free, it has been given freely to you from God and He is asking you to give it freely.  Do not make people earn your love, do not make people pay for your love with this condition or that.  For instance, as a parent sometimes we give the impression we will love you if you get this grade, if you have this haircut, if you play this sport.  Love your children, old or young freely with no conditions.  If we do this, I believe we will be fulfilling this verse.  If we leave people feeling more loved and accepted after we talk with them, then we will be leaving the fragrance of knowing Jesus with them because Jesus is love!

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord we want to leave people with your fragrance.  We want to leave an impression of you on each person we meet. Help us do this Lord.  Please help us to know what that means for each one of us.  Transform our hearts and minds so we can be more and more Christ like with each passing day.  Help us to love others Lord.  Not just love others but shower them with love.  Help us to accept others too Lord.  Help us to leave each person we interact with filled with a sense of you.  We love you Lord, you are the almighty one and the most powerful one.  We adore you, we bless you and we glorify you!  We are so grateful for all you do for us and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus Holy name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow.  Remember, Jesus loves you and so do I.  Have a blessed day!

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Our Thoughts Become Who We Are

John 8:44-47 "You are from your father the devil, and you choose to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.  But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.  Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is from God hears the words of God. The reason you do not hear them is that you are not from God.”

In this Bible verse Jesus is talking to the Jews that are persecuting Him and wanting to kill Him.  He is telling them that they are from the devil and they are working for the devil.  He tells them the are choosing to do the devil’s desires.  I really like how Jesus is describing the devil in these verses.  It leaves not room for interpretation.  The devil is and always has been a murdered.  He is also a liar, actually the father of lies.  He speaks according to his own nature.  

That line reminds me of a quote that I absolutely love because I think it is so true.  Loa Tzu said, "Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character.”  I wish everyone new this quote and took it to heart.  I wish everyone knew how important their thoughts and their words are.  I struggle to get my husband and kids to know how important their words and thoughts are.  When they say things that are unkind and I say something the say things like, “I am not saying it to them, I am just telling you.”  They tell me they know they can’t say those things in school or around other people.  

What they don’t understand is that their words become their actions.  The thing is we don’t ever realize it.  I just heard about this study that was done where these researchers went into several classrooms and gave the kids a pretest.  Then they met with the teacher to discuss the results.  They told the teacher that most of the kids in the class did very well.  However, there were these few kids that scored off the charts.  They were truly gifted.  They didn’t want the teachers to change anything about the way they were teaching and they said they would come at the end of the year to retest the children.  At the end of the year the teacher said she did not act any differently than she did before the pretest. The researchers had lied to the teacher.  Everyone in the class scored the pretty much the same on the pretest.  However, on the post test the students who supposedly scored off the charts the first time, scored much better.  

Without knowing she was doing it, the teacher had expected more from these students throughout the year.  She treated them differently than she had because she knew they could do more.  She didn’t consciously change her actions, but her thoughts that they were so gifted, changed the way she talked to them and that changed her behavior towards them.  Do you see how important your thoughts are?  If you think someone is annoying, that will change how you talk to that person, which will change how you act around that person.  Which will start to change your character.

Your thoughts are not just important for how you think, they control how you feel too.  Your thoughts are the filter through which all your emotions go through.  For instance, if you think your son is just being lazy when they say no to helping you will feel and react very differently than if you realize they are really tired because they worked a 12 hour shift every day for the last 10 days.  If you tell yourself that a homeless person is lazy and just doesn’t want to work you will think and act differently than you would if you knew their actual story, whatever that may be.  Most of this is subconscious.  We don’t think we are acting differently, just as those teachers didn’t notice any change in their behavior.

The reason I am talking our thoughts when I am talking about the verse above is because one of Satan’s chief tricks in mental warfare.  He gets in our thoughts and plays havoc on our thoughts.  Actually I recently learned that Satan can’t read our thoughts.  He doesn’t know what we are thinking, but he can give us thoughts.  He can whisper things in our ears and we can take on those thoughts as our own.  The thing is, he is the father of lies.  The things he is telling us are not the truth.  Just like the verse above.  Imagine what the enemy was telling the Jews about Jesus.  He was probably whispering half truths into their ears and they were buying all of it.  That is one of the biggest problems with Satan, he is such a good liar.  He wraps his ugly little lies around a kernel of truth so it implants doubt in our minds.  Once doubt enters our mind it's easier to fall for his line of thinking.

I don’t want to keep talking about the enemy as God is so much more powerful.  I just wanted to demonstrate how important it is that we watch our words and our thoughts.  When we say unkind things, the enemy hears them and then thinks we are open to those types of words/behaviors and so he starts to feed us those types of thoughts.  We need to resist the enemies thoughts.  We need to protect our mind from him.  I have talked about Ephesians 6:13-18 before so I will not explain it again, but I will read it to you because it is a great way to protect against the enemy.  

Ephesians 6:13-18 says, “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.  Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace.  With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints.” If you want to hear the explanation of this verse you can look back to episode #108 Armor of God. I think that is a great verse to meditate on and see how you can apply that verse to your every day life.

Putting on the armor of God daily can be a great way to defend against the enemy.  Another way can be praise and worship.  The enemy is not going to be able to get into your mind when your mind is focused on praising the Lord.  Another way to fight the enemy is to live a life of forgiveness.  Unforgiveness can block healings, it can block grace, it can block a lot of things.  It makes Satan so happy when we hold on to old hurts.  He knows how damaging that can be for our souls.  You don’t have to forgive people on your own, we can’t.  You just have to ask God to come in and help you forgive.  You just have to take that first step and be willing to say, “God, I don’t want to forgive this person, but I know you want me to.  Please help me Lord.  I want you to come in and help me forgive this person.”  

An important thing to remember about forgiveness is that you are doing it for you, not for them.  Also, when you forgive, you are not saying what they did is ok.  When you forgive you are saying, this thing happened, it was not ok, and yet I can’t change that it happened so I am deciding I will no longer let it have a hold over me.  I will no longer let it take up space in my brain.  I will not longer spend valuable time thinking about it.  I heard this analogy a long time about unforgiveness and I think it explains it well.  Holding on to unforgiveness is like drinking a little bit of poison every day and then expecting the other person to die.  I know you feel that person doesn’t deserve your forgiveness and they probably don’t.  But you deserve to forgive them because you deserve to not have that weigh on you anymore.  Forgiveness truly is not about them, it is about you and your peace, your freedom, your soul.  God is going to forgive us in the same way we forgive others.  Think about that thing you are not forgiving.  Is holding on to that more important than having God forgive your sins?  

The enemy corrupted the thoughts of those who wanted Jesus dead.  Do not let the enemy corrupt your thought.  Refuse him entry.  When you start to have negative thoughts, thoughts that clearly did not come from God, notice them and change your thoughts.  Just stop that train of thinking, interrupt it, and change it to something more positive.  For instance if you are thinking something negative about someone you know, stop and try to come up with one positive thing instead.  Remember, "Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character.” Think about your thoughts, words and actions over the last few days.  Would you be happy if your character was based on those thoughts, words and actions?  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this podcast today.  Lord, we ask you to protect our thoughts and our minds.  We ask you to show us where we might have thoughts that aren’t of you shaping our character.  We ask you to help us change those thoughts Lord.  You said whoever is of God can hear the truth of God.  We want to hear the truth to God.  We want to be of God.  Help us Lord, show us, put on our hearts any ways in which our thought, words, actions or character are not of God.  Lord, you are so forgiving and merciful.  Help us to be forgiving and merciful Lord.  I get the sense that someone listening is holding on to unforgiveness Lord, and they may not even know it.  I pray you put that on their heart and that you give them the strength to hand over that unforgiveness to you.  We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will an in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to Walk Boldly With Jesus.  I look forward to meeting you back here on Monday.  Remember, Jesus loves you and so do I.  Have a blessed weekend.  

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God’s Timing

Mark 8:22-26 “They came to Bethsaida. Some people brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch him.  He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village; and when he had put saliva on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Can you see anything?” And the man looked up and said, “I can see people, but they look like trees, walking.” Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he looked intently and his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.  Then he sent him away to his home, saying, “Do not even go into the village.”

I remember hearing someone explain this verse.  I can’t remember who explained it, but they were pointing out things that I wouldn’t have thought of and yet make so much sense.  They pointed out that Jesus took the blind many by the hand and let him out of the village.  One reason He might have done this is to get him away from the crowds.  Not because Jesus didn’t like crowds but because crowds were probably over whelming for the blind man.  He couldn’t see anything but he could hear everyone around him and with the number of people that followed Jesus, that could have been  sensory overload.  Jesus takes him out of this environment and off to where they can be alone.  

Next, Jesus doesn’t command the eyes to see as he has done in the past.   He doesn’t just immediately heal the man’s eyes.  First he put some saliva the eyes and then laid his hands on him.  I wonder what that guys was thinking?  I mean, he is standing there with Jesus, asking for a healing, and Jesus puts spit in his eye.  If he had heard the stories of all these miraculous healings, where Jesus just tells a paralytic to get up and walk and he does, then he probably thought this was strange.  Why did Jesus put saliva on the man’s eyes?  What was the purpose?

Next Jesus did something else that was different, he asked the man if he could see anything after Jesus laid His hands on the blind man.  It seems like usually Jesus was the one telling the person that they were healed and yet in this case Jesus asked the man if he was healed.  The man replied he could see people, but they look like trees, walking. Jesus laid his hands on the blind man again and he looked intently and his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.  Why did Jesus heal this man in stages?  

One article I read talks about how this man may not have had as much faith as his friends did.  The verse said ,“some people brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch him.”  The blind man wasn’t doing the begging, the friends were.  It seems like this man had just enough faith to let his friends bring him to see Jesus.  In Mark 10:47 we will see Jesus heal another man and that man was doing all the begging himself.  He knew Jesus could heal him and he wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity.  The blind man here in this passage is not really saying anything.  He is more just letting things unfold as they will.  The blind man did have some faith.  He had enough faith to let Jesus lead him out of town and spit in his eye.  The author of the article I read thinks this is why Jesus healed this particular man in stages.  He was trying to build his faith along the way.  

The article goes on to mention that the gradual restoration of sight of the blind man was meant to symbolize the slowness of the Twelve in attaining spiritual insight.  Their eyes were opened very slowly, similar to this man with his sight.  Jesus is saying, “You started of completely spiritually blind.  Then your eyes were gradually opened to understanding me and God’s kingdom.  Over time you will see and understand clearly.  I know things are spiritually fuzzy for you right now, but all will be made clear.”  Wow, I hadn’t though of that before.  

How many of us feel spiritually fuzzy?  I love that phrase.  I think we all feel that way, at least in some areas.  We might think we have a pretty good idea of some things and then others are a complete mystery.  That is normal.  If Jesus is telling the 12 disciples that their eyes will be opened gradually, and they got to be around Jesus 24 hours a day 7 days a week then I think it is understandable that our eyes would be opened gradually as well.  The more we seek to understand the Lord, the more He will reveal to us.  We must go out and do the seeking though.  We must be the ones to engage first.  We must be the one search for the answers.  God says, when we ask He will answer, when we seek we will find, when we knock the door will be opened.  Have you been seeking lately?  Have you been knocking lately?  Have you been asking lately?

I wonder if this delay in the thing you would like is so that God can build your faith gradually?  I wonder if the delay in the things I want is because God is still building my faith so that when I get the thing I want I am ready for it, I can appreciate it?  I feel that is exactly what God has been telling me lately.  I seem to want to run ahead of God.  When I was at my Encounter Class and the leaders were praying over me, one of the shared the vision she got with me.  She said it was as if I was running down this street just looking for people to heal and God was saying, “Slow down, wait for me!”  I keep hearing God tell me that He knows my dreams, he knows my desires and He is preparing me for them.  I am not ready yet, but when I am he will give them to me.  

Is it the same for you?  Are you still growing, are you still learning?  Are there things you have to learn or believe before your deepest desires can come true?  Maybe you are not stuck, maybe you are gradually gaining all you need.  I know waiting on God’s timing can be tough, believe me I know.  I know sometimes we just want to run when God wants us to walk.  I get it.  Also, God’s timing is better than ours.  We find that hard to believe sometimes because we feel we have timed things our pretty perfectly.  However, God sees all the little things we don’t see and if it hasn’t happened yet, there is a reason for it.  Nothing is arbitrary with God. Every single thing that happens is known to God long before it is known to us!  He has a plan, ask Him for it, seek it out, knock on the door and it will be opened.  God restored this man’s sight, he didn’t leave him partially healed, he fully healed him.  He won’t leave your hopes and dreams partially fulfilled either.  The plans God has for you are greater than you could even dream.  Let Him lead you there just as He led this blind man out of the city and changed his life forever!

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to the podcast today.  Lord, we want to see clearly spiritually.  We want to seek and to knock and to ask, please help us do this.  Lord, help us have the patience to wait on your timing, we know it is the best timing, we just get impatient at times.  Help our belief grow in you and in your ability to make all of our dreams come true.  Open our eyes Lord.  We are so grateful for all you do for us.  You are truly amazing and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  I look forward to meeting you hear again tomorrow.  We got some snow here last night.  If you have snow where you are I hope you are all having fun and staying safely off the roads.  Remember Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!

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This week I want to witness about the awesome stuff we are learning in my class and also how I see the Lord working in other areas of my life.  This quarter in my class we are focusing on physical healing.  This week we learned the 5 step prayer model and then we were asked to practice it.  The teacher asked if there was anyone in the class that had mobility issues.  There were seven people who said yes.  They went to the outside of the church and then the rest of us split up into groups of 3-5 and we went to practice the prayer model and pray over them for healing.  The person we were praying over had pain in her knees.  She also got pain in her back if she stood for too long.  We began praying for her and after a bit she was in pain from standing, so we all sat down.  After the first time we prayed over her she said that she felt more  peace and that she felt warmth flow down her back when one of the other students put her hand on her back.  Since there are three ways to pray over someone in this model they wanted us to try all three, so we prayed at least three times over her.  Each time she said she felt something different happening inside of her.  At one point she said when we prayed for healing in her back the pain moved from one place in her back to another place in her back.  

We were told that if the pain moves around, for instance you have pain in your head and then after prayer that pain goes away but show up immediately elsewhere, then it may be a spirit of affliction.  She remembered this and noticed that her pain moved in her back so we commanded the spirit of affliction to leave immediately.  When we were done going through the different prayer models she had no pain anywhere in her body.  She wasn’t sure if the problem where she gets pain if she stands too long was gone, but she said she would let us know when we see her in class next week.  Praise God, for the pain being gone!

I can also see God working my prayer group.  We have more and more people that are either coming in person or coming online and it is beautiful to see.  Last week we had at least 12 online and we had 7 in person.  Also there are four other ladies from my prayer group that attend the Encounter Ministries class with me and we have started talking about the different ways we can pray over the prayer group members for healing.  We used to have a “prayer room” after the meetings where those who wanted prayer could stay and have 2 of our members lay hands on them and pray for whatever they needed.  However, with Covid we stopped that and have yet to start it back up again.  We also talked about making house calls and just stopping by for 20 min or so to pray over people.  I can see God’s hands all over this.  I have been writing in my dream journal almost daily for several years now that I am part of a healing ministry and now it looks like God is starting to make that a reality for me.  I am so grateful!

I have also been wanting to be a speaker for a number of years now.  I joined Toastmasters in 2020 to help improve my speaking skills.  Toastmaster is a worldwide organization that trains people how to become better at giving speeches.  They have training programs for all different types of speeches.  The clubs usually meet every other week, although that can vary.  One of my clubs meets each week on a Sunday afternoon.  The meeting are usually an hour to an hour an a half long.  They can all vary a bit but the usually consist of three parts.

First, there is a prepared speeches part where 1-3 members give a speech on whatever they want to talk about.  There education program, called Pathways, gives them projects to work on that tells them the type of speech to do, but they get to pick the topic.  While they are giving their speech there is someone taking notes and evaluating their speech.  The second part is called Table Topics.  This is where one person will have a list of questions and they will ask each person one question.  The person is supposed to take 1-2 minutes to answer the question.  This teaches us how to talk off the cuff on something we didn’t know we would be talking about.  It is good preparation for networking events where you have no idea what people might ask you.  It is also good preparation for talk around the dinner table or any other small talk situations where you don’t know the questions ahead of time.  It helps you think on your feet.  The third part of the meeting is formal evaluations. This is where the person taking notes on your speech tells you all the reasons they liked your speech.  They explain all the things you did right and what really worked.  Then they tell you one or two areas or ways you can improve your speech. This is super valuable because you can’t improve and get better if you don’t know what is not working.  

Along with writing in my dream journal that I am part of a healing ministry I have also been writing that I am a speaker and I speak on stages all over the world.  I have participated in the speech competitions for Toastmasters for the last two years.  I have also been teaching at my prayer group for the last four years or so.  Although that is not speaking on a stage, it has given me the opportunity to practice getting up in front of people and talking about God, my favorite subject.  I also have this podcast, which is not getting up and speaking in front of people all over the world, but it is getting the message of God’s love to people in other parts of the world.  There are people living in the United Kingdom, Spain, Singapore, Germany, Canada, Australia, Philippines, Rwanda and Brazil that have heard my podcast.  Isn’t it amazing how God answers are prayers in ways we never would have thought of on our own.  I know He is going to answer my prayer of speaking on stages all over the world.  However, my boys are still in school, they need me home, not traveling all over the world and yet God was still able to help me achieve my dream of spreading his love all over the world through the podcast.  God is so good!!  

During the quarter at Encounter Ministries where we were learning about words of prophecy I was giving a prophecy that God had big plans for me and that they would happen soon, in the first half of this year.  Yesterday I got a call from the organizer of the retreat that I am going to in April.  I had volunteered to be a speaker at it back in September if they needed one but they had already filled the speaker roles.  Yesterday she called back and said someone had to back out at the last minute and they would love it if I could fill that slot.  She said I would be the first speaker the attendees would here.  I would be the one to open the retreat.  I am so excited and so grateful to God for the way He is working in my life and the way He is fulfilling all my dreams.  God is so good!  If you have dreams and you are waiting on God to help you fulfill them keep praying and also, take steps towards those dreams.  I didn’t just write these things in my dream journal, I stepped out and read all the books on healing that I could.  I said yes, when I felt like I should pray over someone, I took this encounter class.  I also took steps towards my speaking career by signing up for toastmasters and said yes when asked if I would be one of the leaders at my prayer group.  

Don’t just sit there and wait for God to do all the work.  Yes, He will answer our prayers and I believe He will fulfill the deepest desires of our hearts, and also, I think He wants to see how much we want it.  How important is it to us?  Are we willing to work for it?  Are we willing to step out in faith?  Are we willing to say yes, even when we might be scared or unsure?  Are we willing to give God our Fiat, our Yes?  What is it that you really want?  What is it that you are waiting on God to do for you?  Can you take one step towards that today?  It doesn’t have to be a big step.  Maybe today that one step is just to think about what it is you want and then to write it down.  Maybe you write it down every day?  This gets your mind thinking about it more and your subconscious starts to figure out how to make it happen.  Also, have you asked God for it?  Have you invited Him into the dream with you?  Do you talk with Him about them?  God loves to be invited into our dreams, our hopes, our wishes, even our day to day activities.  He wants to be a part of all of it and things go so much smoother when He is with us!  I can’t wait to hear about how God is working in you hopes and dreams!

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A New Lenten Journey

1 John 4:19 “We love because he first loved us.”  

Some other versions added the word “him” or “God” to this verse as well.  We love Him because He loved us first.  I chose this verse this morning because I wanted to talk to you about Lent.  Lent can be a time when we sacrifice as a way to show God our love for Him.  Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday and we will begin the Lenten season.  I remember when I started looking at lent in a different light.  When I was growing it up it was always “What are you giving up for lent?”  Most people I knew gave up chocolate, candy, or sweets.  And that is not a bad thing, as that is a real sacrifice from many people.  As I got older, I started to understand that Lent was so much more than just giving up chocolate.  I remember people talking about how lent is a season of conversion.  It is a time to acknowledge the ways we have turned away from God and to find ways that we can turn our hearts and minds back towards God.  

I remember I watched a YouTube video of Father Mike talking about how we prepare for Lent.  (Click Here for video) He talks about how sometimes we give up things that we don’t even like.  For instance, he knows someone who gave up watermelon in the winter in Minnesota.  He talked about how we can sometimes do a twofer.  Where we have been wanting to lose weight, so we decide to give up snacking for Lent.  This is not a bad thing, it's just if that you might be missing the point.  What is the point of Lent?  This is a season of purification and enlightenment.  The purification part is when we ask ourselves, what is still in our lives that we can’t have in our lives if we want to follow Jesus.  The second thing, enlightenment, we ask ourselves, what are the ways in which I need to follow after Jesus and start confirming my life to His?  Do you see how giving up M & M’s might not get us closer to these two things?

Father Mike mentioned that Jesus often talks about Prayer, Fasting & Almsgiving.  He suggests we pick one thing in each of these categories and do that thing, but do it really intentionally.  What is one way you can grow closer to Jesus through prayer this lenten season?  What about listening to the Gospel for 15 minutes a day, or reading it and just sitting with it for 15 minutes? This is a way you could grow closer to the Lord.   Spend a few minutes asking God what He is calling you to for prayer this lenten season.  The next is fasting.  The church is only requiring us to fast Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.  What do you want to fast from during lent?  Your fast doesn’t have to have anything to do with food.  It could be a social media fast, checking your phone all the time, TV, or something else that you can get out of your life to help purify your life.  Ask the Lord to help you decide.  The third thing is Almsgiving.  This doesn’t have to be money.  It could be giving of your time. Father Mike had this great idea of writing a note of encouragement to one person each day during Lent.  I did this one year and the people that received them were very appreciative.  Make the list in advance and then take a few minutes each day to send out that note.  It doesn’t have to be a card in the mail, it could be a nice email or a FaceBook message or a text message. One important thing Father Mike said also was that it doesn’t have to be intense. It doesn’t have to be super hard.  We already talked about how the purpose of Lent is to grow closer to God, not to torture ourselves.  

I also heard two other ideas for lent that I wanted to share with you.  The first one I heard on the Big Life Devotional podcast (episode #540 “Making Space for Jesus”).  (Click Here for podcast) Pamela Crim talked about 40 bags for the 40 days of Lent.  The idea for this is that we make more room in our lives for what God has planned for us by getting rid of our “stuff” that is cluttering up our lives and our houses.  Each day you go through some part of your house and find something to give away or throw away.   It does not have to be a whole bag; it could just be one item.  It could be things you don’t use anymore, but it could also be something you do like and use, but someone you know has mentioned that they also really like it.  God does not want us to be attached to our material possessions.  He tells us in Matthew 6:19-21 (ESV) “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  This would be one way of showing God that you are making space in your life and your home for all he has to offer.  

The second new idea for lent that I read about on Aleteia.org in an article title “How my Lent of love has created my love of Lent,” by Maria Garabis Davis.  (Click Here for article)In this article, she talks about how she realized that Lent was not so much about what you are sacrificing as it is about who your are sacrificing for.  Giving up your favorite sweet is never easy, but think about how much easier it would be if you were giving it up with the intention of healing your friend’s illness.  She talks about how the notion of the connection between sacrifice and loving others is something that is portrayed over and over again by the saints.  So, at the beginning of lent she makes a list of 40 names and assigns them each one day of lent.  Each day she prays for that person and offers up whatever sacrifices she can for that person.  I just love both these ideas and so I wanted to pass them along in case you were looking for something different to do this Lenten journey.  Whatever it is you decide to do, I hope this Lent brings you closer to God and deepens your relationship with Him.  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we ask you to show up how you want us to spend this Lenten Season.  Reveal to us what we need to give up that is getting in the way of us living the life you want us to live.  What do we need to give up to help purify us Lord?  What is one thing we can add to our day for the next 40 days that will help us grow closer to you?  Lord, we just ask that you put on our hearts what you would like us to do.  We want to partner with you during this lenten season.  We love you Lord and you are amazing.  We hope to take this time to give you back a little of the love you give us.  We are so grateful for 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.  I hope these next 40 days are a blessing for each one on you and that you are able to use this time to grow closer to God. I look forward to bringing you another witness tomorrow.  Remember Jesus loves you, and so do I!  Have a blessed day!

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God’s Power in Varying Degrees

Deuteronomy 32:2 “Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants.”

I received a book from my mother in law for Christmas called “Pray a Word of the Day.”  Each day it had a word and a scripture verse that uses that word.  Then it has a brief little devotional or story about that word.  Today’s word was fall, and the scripture verse was the one I am talking about today.  The devotional talked about these four friends that took a walk to the local park.  Then the rain rolled in and by the time they got back to the house they were drenched.  The next few lines really stood out to me.  It said, “Every corner of the neighborhood was saturated.  Droopy hydrangeas perked up.  The lavender glistened.  The thirsty lawns were revived.”  

What came to my mind when I read this was that something one considers bad, might be good for another.  For instance, I am sure the people who had to run home in the rain, probably weren’t praising God for the rain.  I know when I was on my last road trip, I was not praising God for the rain, especially if it was my turn to drive.  Yet, I am sure the flowers and the lawns were very thankful for the rain. I thought the topic of this podcast would be how some things we complain about other people would be praising God for.  However, when I read this verse, I kept getting stuck on the line, my words descend like dew.  I didn’t really understand what that meant and yet I thought that was ok because I didn’t have to really understand to talk about what I though I was going to talk about.  Then I stopped and remembered the reason I started this podcast.  I started this podcast so we could all understand scripture better.  I think that happens when we can relate scripture to our own lives and make it more personal.  We don’t start to understand scripture better when we skip over the lines we don’t understand.  

When I first read this verse and then that thought above came to me I figured that was what the Holy Spirit wanted me to talk about.  But, then I couldn’t get that question out of my head, “what does my words descend like dew mean?” And maybe you didn’t get stuck on that.  Maybe you already know what this verse is saying.  I am going to review what I learned anyway because I am willing to bet you will learn something you didn’t know or hear it in a different way at least.

The first part says, “Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew.”  For some reason I didn’t understand that this was talking about God’s teachings and God’s words.  When I read an article (click here for article) about this verse it talked about how God blesses us in various ways and in various degrees.  Sometimes His teachings fall on us like rain.  Have you seen grass after it has rained?  It is so green and full of life.  The ground just soaks up the rain.  We can do this with the Lord’s teachings as well.  When God is raining down his teaching on us we can soak it all in and we can use it to live our life more fully.  God’s teachings can make our life more abundant.

When it talks about His words descending like dew what is coming to me is that His words are always there, just like the dew.  The dew is there each morning, and God’s words are always there as well.  Also the dew covers everything and so do God’s word’s.  They can cover us, they can cover everything we are going through and everything we have ever gone through.  The article I read also talked about how amazing Jesus’ words were when He walked the Earth.  People were amazed at the words He spoke.  In John 7 some soldiers were sent to capture Jesus and yet they returned without Him and their only reply was, “Never has anyone spoken like this!” Jesus’ words were powerful and He spoke of things no one else had talked about before.  Not everything He said was easy to hear and yet mosts people took it in and accepted it as truth.  

The verse ends with, “like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants.” The article I read says this part shows us that God blesses the new babe just as much as those who have been faithful for years.  It also talks about how god’s blessing come in various degrees sometimes.  Sometimes it is a light mist of blessings, some times it is showers of rain and other times it is abundant rain.  God gives us blessings based on what we need at the time we are asking for them.  

One thing I liked that the article pointed out is that there is one substance we are talking about.  That is water.  Whether we are talking about falling like rain, descending like dew, showers, or abundant rain, it is all water.  The water in this verse is talking about God’s power.  God’s power comes out in His teachings and in His words.  God’s power comes down like showers at times and like abundant rain at times.  The article also said that in the whole book of Deuteronomy Moses is recounting the Lord’s blessings in a song.  However, this particular chapter Deuteronomy 32 is the climax or highpoint of the entire song.  I did not know this before so I thought at was an interesting point.  I love learning new facts about the Bible!

I really liked how the devotional ended.  It was a great way to relate the Bible verse to our lives.  Here is what Susanna, the writer for today’s devotional, wrote: “Like my parched neighborhood, I need God’s Spirit to fall on me, drenching me with refreshment and hope.  His truth rains down guidance and blessing.  Encouragement and wisdom are found when His words fall, refreshing my thirsty spirit.  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode.  Lord, let your words of wisdom and hope fall on our thirsty souls and revive our spirits.  Lord, we love you and we thank you for all the blessings you have given us.  Whether it is a light rain or a downpour of your blessings Lord, we will take them all.  We know you know what we need and you always give us what we need.  We are grateful that your ways are higher than our ways and you know better than we do.  You do not always give us what we want, but you do always give us what we need.  You are the best!  Thank you for raining down blessings when we are thirsty or when we are in a drought.  Lord you are so amazing 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 would like to ask each of you to consider doing a witness for Witness Wednesday.  I know it may sound intimidating, and you may feel like your life is boring and you have nothing to share.  I assure you it is not.  We have all seen God working in our lives.  If you don’t want to do it for yourself, do it for the person who’s faith will grow just by hearing it.  Please give it some thought.  If you would like to give one but aren’t really sure how, or what you would say, email me [email protected] or (click here) and I can give you some questions to get you started.  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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Are You Doing It Too?

Romans 1:29-32 "They were filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, they are gossips,  slanderers, God-haters, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious toward parents,  foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.  They know God’s decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die—yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practice them.”

This was a tough verse for me to read this morning.  The whole section, called the guilt of humankind, was talking about people forgetting about God and not giving God the proper respect.  Honestly, I was sort of skimming the chapter and thinking in my head that God was not talking about me in this section.  He was talking about all those Godless people who don’t care about God, don’t like God, maybe don’t know God.  I was nodding my head and thinking yes, those people He is talking about are awful, or at least their behaviors are awful.  Good thing He is not talking about me.  Then I came to the end verses above and they really stood out to me.  

The verses above list over 20 different ways to go against God’s decree.  It is easy to look at some of them and know that they are not describing us.  You might look at the verse and say, I am not wicked, I am not evil or full of malice.  I am not full of murder.  I do not invent evil, I am not heartless or ruthless. I think we can all look at the list above and agree that there are several things listed that do not describe us, and that is great.  However, I wonder if any of us can look at that list and say that none of them describe us?  We might read through the list and at first glance think we are exempt from all of them.  I would never do any of those things.  Is this true though, if we are being completely honest?  I am going to go through a few that I know I have done, so you can see how we might be doing these things in our every day life.  

The first two that stick out to me kind of go hand in hand, covetousness and full of envy.  I would like to say I don’t do these things.  I am happy with what I have and I don’t need what other people have.  Then I look at Facebook and I see the awesome vacation that someone took and envy starts to creep its way in.  I look at Instagram and I see the new house, the new job, the new baby someone just had and envy and covetousness starts to creep in.  Honestly for me I see these creep in even in my Encounter Ministry class.  I see people being slain in the Spirit or exhibiting physical manifestations of the Holy Spirit and envy starts to creep in.  Why did they get to be slain in the Spirit?  Are they holier than I am?  Why are they manifesting the Holy Spirit like that, do they have more of the Holy Spirit than I do?  I see some students using gifts of the Holy Spirit that I don’t have and covetousness creeps in.  

I don’t always realize it in the moment, it’s only when I reflect back on it.  I know when I have thoughts like these it is the enemy coming in and whispering them into my ears.  I reject the thoughts and I replace it with the truth.  I don’t sit in the envy and the covetousness.  I recognize it, dismiss it and move on.  However, it is there even if only briefly.  How about you?  Do you see places in your life where envy and covetousness, which is a strong desire to have something, are creeping in?  Do you wonder why you feel crappy after you spend time on social media?  Are you secretly wanting everything that everyone else has?  Maybe you don’t even realize it, maybe all you know is that if you spend too long on social media you feel less grateful for what you do have and you have this unsettled feeling but you aren’t sure why.  Next time you feel that way stop and ask yourself if you are feeling envy or covetousness? Remind yourself of all the blessings that you have received from God.  Remind yourself that although other people may seem like they have a perfect life on social media, we don’t know what is really going on behind the scenes.  

The next things that stood out to me was the part that says, “They are gossipers, slanderers.” I wish I could say these did not apply to me.  I actually do try very hard not to be a gossiper or a slander, however, I find myself in situations where I am partaking in both.  For instance, if I have a bad experience with someone at a store, I will then tell my friends or family.  I will talk bad about that person instead of just forgiving and moving on.  I will talk bad about drivers on the road.  I would say I am not slandering people all over town and ruining their reputation and yet God still put it on my heart that whenever we are talking bad about people it is not good.  Why is it we will run into several good people throughout the day and yet the only ones we talk about are the ones that weren’t good?  Why not tell people about that woman who held the door for you, or the man behind you in line that gave you that extra penny you needed?  Why not be on the look out for ways that people are doing good in the world instead of focusing on the ones that aren’t?  

Gossiping, this is really harmful and I don’t think we realize how much.  We might think we are just joking around, or just letting off some steam, but gossip can cause division in even the closest groups of friends.  I don’t know if it is gossiping or slander when we are commenting on the annoying this others are doing but I know its not good.  For instance, often times after we do a YouTube workout video we will comment on what the instructor did that we didn’t like, or her outfit, voice, etc.  This is not good.  At least she got out there and did it.  At least she was brave enough to put her video online to help us get into shape.  We might think it is not a big deal, it’s not like she will ever know what we are saying and we are right, she probably won’t.  The problem with this is that it is training our brain to notice what we don’t like instead of what we do like.  What about if after each video we commented on what was good instead of what we didn’t like?  

Gossip can also run rampant in families.  One sibling talks to another sibling who then talks to another sibling and soon there are things being said that aren’t accurate.  Just because we are related to people doesn’t mean we have the right to talk about them when they are not around.  Just because you may not agree with how your sibling is parenting does not mean you have a right to talk about them badly or gossip about them other siblings.  Just because you don’t like something your parents did doesn’t mean you get to gossip about them to your other siblings. Talking about something and gossiping are different and you can tell you are gossiping if you are saying something that you wouldn’t want to get back to them.  If you would be upset, or if they would be upset if they heard what you were saying, then it is gossip and you shouldn’t be saying it.

The line that stood out the most and is actually the reason I chose these verses today is, “They know God’s decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die—yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practice them.” Wow, that is hard to hear, those who practice such things deserve to die.  That is a pretty strong statement.  I think often times, we can minimize what we are doing, even if we know it is wrong.  We sort of rack and stack our sins.  Yes, I know I am doing this one sin but it isn’t as bad as some of the other things other people are doing so I think I am ok.  In the verse above, there is no distinction. It doesn’t say if you are only doing one or two of these things it is ok, but more than that and you deserve to dies.  It doesn’t say that, it combines them all into one long list of things we shouldn’t do.  

If the Bible is telling us it is not ok to do it and that those who do, deserve to die, then why do we think it is ok?  Why do we let ourselves off the hook so easily?  Why do we normalize the things God tells us not to do? Why do we think it is perfectly acceptable to do certain things just because, “everyone is doing them?”  Gossiping is rampant in this country.  It is hard to find people to be around that don’t just want to sit and gossip about other people.  Could me break this cycle?  Could we refuse to take part in any gossiping?  We could either walk away when people start gossiping or change the story.  Maybe say positive things about the person, or change the topic.  Would you be more motivated to change your behaviors if you realized the if we partake in these things we deserve death?  I feel like that is the motivation I needed to hear to try a little harder.  If we know it is wrong, why do we keep doing it?

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, help us to see what behaviors we are doing that go against your decree.  Put on our hearts all the things we are doing that are not ok in your eyes.  Sometimes we are not doing it on purpose, sometimes we are not even aware of what we are doing.  Please reveal it to us Lord, please show us how we can change, how we can worship you and honor you in a better way Lord.  We love you so much and we don’t want to do anything that will hurt you or sadden you.  We are so grateful for you and all you do for us.  We are grateful for all the patience you have for us as we learn to live this one life you have given us.  We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  I look forward to meeting you here again on Monday.  Remember Jesus loves you and so do I! Have a blessed weekend!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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You Are Known

Psalm 139:1-4 "O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely.”

I read a post on Facebook yesterday that pointed me to Psalm 139.  It was about different verse in the psalm, but when I read the whole thing I realized it was a really good one.  They all probably are great.  I have heard if you are going to start reading the Bible for the first time you should start with the Gospels, or with the Psalms.  That must mean they are pretty good.  These verses stood out to me in particular because they talk about how well God knows us.  Being Known is one of the six stages of Attachment developed by psychologist Gordon Neufeld.  His model presents six stages of attachment that create the foundations for virtually every relationship your children will ever have.  Since we are God’s children, This is important to us as well.  I will list the six stages and then will focus on Being Known.  The stages are Proximity, Sameness, Belonging or Loyalty, Significance, Love & Being Known.

Reading through those I think this verse may touch on more than one of them.  However, let’s begin with Being Known and go from there.  Every single one of us longs to be known.  This is why we get upset when our loved ones get us a gift we don’t like.  It is not necessarily the gift that upsets us, it is the fact that they didn’t know us well enough to know we wouldn’t like it.  God isn’t like that.  God is omniscient, which means he has infinite awareness, understanding, and insight.  Another definition is that He possesses universal or complete knowledge.  God knows everything about you.  He can read your thoughts, he knows your actions and He also knows your heart behind your actions.  God knows why you did all the things you did.  

This can be scary for some people because they feel they don’t want God to know everything about them.  They feel they are not worthy of being known.  Some people might worry that God knows all they have done because they have done some things they are not proud of.  This is all of us actually.  I am sure there is not a single person who has gone through their whole life without doing some things they are not proud of.  We all say the wrong thing sometimes.  We all do the wrong thing sometimes.  We all hurt people intentionally or unintentionally.  The thing to remember is that God is not surprised by our behavior.  He has searched us and He knows us.  This means He knows all of us.  He doesn’t just look at the things we did that we wish we hadn’t done.  He looks at everything we have done.  He knows our motives behind all we have done.  He looks straight into our heart.  

This is a good thing because He sees what we can’t see.  He knows that when we acted out and yelled that we hated our parents, we didn’t really hate them.  He knows that when we yelled at our spouse or our friend it was really because we were hurting inside, or because we had an awful day at work and needed a safe space to let off steam.  He knows that when we yelled at our children when we caught them doing drugs or something else dangerous it was because we were really scared.  He knows that when we were unkind to the person in line it was because of all the stress and pressure at work.  God Knows Everything!  He gets it.  He understands that our actions aren’t who we are.  
He knows that, but do we know that?  Do we give ourselves the grace of examining our behavior after the fact?  Do we allow ourselves forgiveness when we factor in our motives?  I am not saying the things I listed above are good reasons to do those things.  I don’t think we should take our frustrations out on our spouse, friends, or kids.  I am not excusing the behaviors, I am explaining them though.  If your friend was super stressed at work and then you called and asked a question and they yelled at you, would you be angry with them?  Would you want to stop being friends with that person?  Would you realize that was out of character and try to find out what was wrong with your friend?  We tend to have so much grace for other people and yet not very much for ourselves.  I would love it if we could change that.  I would love it if we could all start to see ourselves a little more through the Lord’s eyes.  

The next line says, “You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely.”  God knows all your ways.  He knows that you are grumpy before coffee in the morning.  He knows you don’t like change.  He knows you don’t like to stay up late.  He knows you are irritable if you get hungry.  He also knows you are a great mom, dad, friend.  He knows you are a great employee,  He knows you are a great spouse or partner.  He knows the good, the bad and the ugly and you know what, He still loves you.  He loves you not despite all of it, but because of all of it.  

The verse says He knows our words even before we say them. I wish sometimes He would guard my mouth and prevent me from saying some of them.  How about you?  Have you ever wished you hadn’t say something?  Have you ever just blurted something out that felt right in the moment and yet you instantly regretted it?  I know I have.  God knows our thoughts and He knows our words.  Again, he knows the thoughts and feelings behind our words.  He knows the feelings that we might not even know.  Sometimes we may feel angry and yet we are just worried or anxious.  God knows this.  God knows our heart, even when we don’t.  

We are known and loved by God.  We are accepted and loved by God.  God knows us better than anyone we have ever known and He loves us.  I need everyone single one of you to hear that on an individual level today.  You are known by God.  God knows your inner most thoughts and desires.  God knows the why behind your actions.  God sees through all the BS that we put up to protect ourselves and He sees you, the real you.  God loves you!  He loves you right this very second, right as you are.  He isn’t waiting for you to become something else, He isn’t waiting until to you do this or that, He isn’t waiting for you to be perfect.  He knows you and loves you just as you are.  He loves all you imperfections, He loves all the ways you spread His love and His light.  Yes you do, you spread His love and His light just by being you!  God loves you, all of you!!

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today!  Lord, I ask you to open everyone’s hearts and minds so they can really hear this message today.  Help each and every listener hear how much you know them and how much you love them.  Help them to feel it down to their core Lord.  We ask you to guard our thoughts and our words.  We pray that our thoughts conform to your thoughts.  Lord you are so amazing.  You know everything about us and you still love us.  Help us to do the same. Help us to know ourselves and still love ourselves.  Soften our hearts o Lord!  We love you and we ask all of this in accordance with you will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus!  I look forward to spending time with you 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!

Open Doors

I was talking with God this morning about what I should witness about today and I felt like He said open doors.  He reminded me on the time leading up to our wedding.  Tony was in the Air Force and he was assigned at Fairchild AFB near Spokane, WA.  He was coming home a few days before the wedding and then we were going to drive cross country for our honeymoon.  We were getting married at his parent’s church in Hartford and then our reception was going to be at a VFW not too far from there.  Tony’s parents had bought land and built a house in Pomfret, CT, which is only 10 minutes or so from my parents house.  I went to visit them often before the wedding.  One night was I going over for dinner and they had very serious looks on their faces.  I could tell something was wrong.  They told me I should have a seat.  I thought they were going to tell me something had happened to Tony.  Luckily, Tony was fine.  Instead they told me that the roof had blown off of the VFW during the last storm we had and it wouldn’t be repaired in time for our wedding.  I believe this was the beginning of June and our wedding was July 1st.  I had no idea what we were going to do.  I called Tony to let him know and also because he is a great problem solver.  He talked to his dad and between the two of them they had a new place picked out that night.  His dad played cards at the Polish American Club in Newington and they didn't have anything planned for that day so they said we could use it.  It was amazing how quickly God opened all of those doors.  It turned out it was actually  a much better place to have the reception because it had air conditioning and the other place did not.  It was so hot that day that the cake frosting was melting on the way to decorate the reception hall and we got there around 8 A. M.  

The next memory God brought to mind about opening doors was my Master’s Degree program.  I had gotten my bachelor’s degree in psychology because in CT you couldn’t get a degree in education, you had to get a different degree and then be accepted into the education program there.  That would have been an extra year of schooling and I didn’t get accepted.  Which again was a blessing because Tony and I would have been separated that whole year since he was already in Washington at his new job.  It is amazing how God works in all these little details.  Sometimes we feel awful or we feel sad or angry that something didn’t work out and then we find out later the reason it didn’t work out and it all makes sense.  

Since I didn’t get into the education program while getting my undergraduate degree I started to look at Master’s Degree programs near where we lived.  I found a program in Special Education that was a one year accelerated program.  That meant you went to school five quarters, summer, fall, winter, spring, summer and then you got your Master’s Degree of Education in Special Education.  This program only accepted 10 students at a time as it was a couple that ran the program and they couldn’t oversea too many people’s thesis’.  It’s funny again, looking back how God is in the details.  This was a one year accelerated program, but what we didn’t know at the time, but God did, was that Tony was going to get orders to move in the spring and that if it had been a traditional 2 year program I wouldn’t have been able to finish it, or I would have had to stay in WA for a year while my husband was in Turkey.  Wow, I am just realizing how crazy it is that it worked out like that.  

That timing isn’t even the thing about the program  I was planning to witness about.  It was just revealed to me as I was typing.  Another extraordinary thing that happened with my program is that I got a call about a week before school was going to start.  It was from one of the two advisors for this program.  She said she noticed my undergraduate degree was in psychology and was wondering if I wanted to intern for her and her husband while I was in the program.  She said it would just be 10-20 hours a week and it would be gather data for them and doing research reviews.  For instance if they were doing a study the other girl and I would go to the library and research all the articles that pertained to the topic.  We would look through them and give my advisors any that were good and talked about exactly what they needed.  We also went to some schools and evaluated their direct interaction classes they had going on.  She said if I wanted to do this, they would pay for my tuition and give me a weekly stipend.  I was so surprised!  She wanted to pay for me to get my Master’s Degree and then also pay me a paycheck each week.  God is so good!  

One last witness for today as to how much smarter God is than we are was how He helped me select a college.  I knew I wanted to be a teacher and I knew Eastern Connecticut State University had a great education program.  However, the boy I was dating in High School was going to Seton Hall University in New Jersey, so naturally I wanted to follow him to New Jersey.  I applied to two schools in New Jersey and I got accepted to both of them.  I even received a large financial aid package as my parents still have 4 kids living at home and one other one in college already.  Even though I got a large financial aid package, the school was out of state so it would have been $20,000 a year, which today probably seems like nothing.  I had received $14,000 in financial aid with pell grants and work study.  This would mean I would need to pay $6,000.  That might not seem like a lot, especially with how expensive schools are right now, but there was no way I or my parents could pay $6,000.  My guidance counselor at school said I had received a $2,000 scholarship that would help with some of that $6,000.  But still I didn’t have the $4,000.  I was disappointed but then I got the financial aid packet from ECSU and I would not have to pay anything out of pocket, I would just need to take the standard subsidized loans each year.  I was able to get my undergraduate degree with only having about ten to fifteen thousand total in student loans and as I mentioned above my Master’s degree was free.  God is so good.  

Another reason this is a witness to how God’s ways are higher than our ways is because my high school boyfriend and I broke up.  We were together for four years so of course at that age you think you will get married.  However, God knew what He had planned for me.  My roommate at ECSU was in ROTC and they had bring a friend night.  This is where i met Tony.  If I had gone to school in New Jersey I might not have met him.  Although with his parents moving close to my parents I am sure if I had messed up God’s plan and gone to New Jersey than He would have found another way for us to meet.  He is that good.  There is no messing up God’s plan, there is just delaying it.

Well, I really enjoyed walking down memory lane with you this morning.  I keep thinking I will run out of things to witness about and God keeps showing me new ways that He was there and I didn’t realize it at the time.  He is so good like that!  God is in the details of your life too.  There is a reason you didn’t get that job or that relationship didn’t work out.  There is a reason your plan didn’t work out.  God’s ways are higher than our ways.  He knows so much more than we do and He can look into the future and help us make decisions today that set us up for a better tomorrow.  My challenge to you today is to think back to a time where you were disappointed with how something turned out and then try and see if you can see why it happened.  Does it make more sense now with the benefit of hindsight?  I hope you all have an amazing week!

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Jesus’ Boldness & Confidence

Luke 4:18-19 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

After Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, and the Holy Spirit came upon Him, He went into the wilderness for 40 days where he was tempted by the devil.  This verse takes place just after His return from the wilderness.  It says in Luke 4:16-21, “When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read,  and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”  And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

When I heard this scripture last night what stood out to me was Jesus’ bravery or boldness and His confidence in who He was and what He had been sent to do.  I say bravery or boldness because Jesus stood up in font of all those in the synagogue and said He was the fulfillment of that scripture.  I would say that take some boldness or some bravery. I believe Nazareth would be considered a small town at the time.  I am from a small town and standing up in front of people that have known you your whole life and declaring something this amazing would be difficult.  When you grow up with people it is hard to see them differently than you remember them.  It can be hard to picture them as this famous person, or this person that is exceptional at something if that is not who they were when they were growing up.  Imagine standing up in front of everyone you graduated 8th grade with and telling them that you are the fulfillment of an old testament prophecy.  That would not be easy for me.  

I also admired Jesus’ confidence in who He was and what He was sent here to do.  Jesus read the scroll that was handed to him and read what it said and announced that the prophecy had been fulfilled.  He didn’t read it, go home and think about it for a few days, and then claim it.  He stepped right into his destiny and I admire that.  I believe it is rare to have someone so sure of His calling.  I know, He is fully God, so of course He knows what God called Him to do, and yet He was also fully human.  He had all the human emotions that we have, or at least most of them.  Think about when Jesus was praying to God in the garden.  He knew all the reasons He needed to die on that cross, He knew it was going to happen, and yet He asked His Father to not let it happen.  He was fully human also.  Even though He was fully human He didn’t seem to doubt His identity at all.

Doubting our identity as a child of God is pretty common.  Often times, we believe in God, we love God and we know God is there for us.  However, we don’t identify as a child of God.  We wouldn’t necessarily call ourselves children of God because that seems reserved for someone closer to God, someone holier than we are.  We don’t doubt God’s goodness or His ability to love, we doubt our worthiness of that love.  We also doubt our calling.  I think many of us know or at least have a pretty good feeling as to what God is calling us to and yet we question it because we don’t really feel equipped for it.  For instance many years ago I got this desire in my heart to be involved in a healing ministry.  I didn’t pay much attention to it because I “knew” that was for people far holier than I was.  I counted myself out of something that God had placed on my heart.  Have you ever done that?  Have you ever had the desire to do something or the feeling that God was calling you to do something, and then proceeded to tell God all the reasons why you weren’t right for that calling?  Yep, me too.  Why do we do that?  Why do we think we know better than God?  

I wonder if Jesus ever felt like that?  I wonder if He questioned God as He grew up?  I wonder how old He was when God revealed the whole of the plan?  I wonder if He had conversations with God the same as we do?  I wonder if He questioned God like we do?  I can just picture Jesus talking to His dad and saying things like, “Really, you want me to go there?  I think it would make more sense if I went here and then there.”  There is so much I wonder about Jesus and I can’t wait to ask Him all my questions when I get to meet Him one day.  For now, I will just ponder.

This verse says that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jesus because He was anointed to bring good news to the poor. He was sent to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” God did not send Jesus on His mission without first equipping Him with the Holy Spirit.  When Jesus was baptized the Heavens opened up and they never closed again.  Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit and so He had the power to go forth and to complete His mission.  The Holy Spirit was all that Jesus needed to do all that He was sent here to do.

I know many of you are questioning your purpose, or your mission.  Many of you are questioning your call.  You have a desire in your heart and you don’t know if it is from God.  Or maybe you do feel it is from God but you also feel like He may have made a mistake because you can’t possibly do what He is calling you to do.  All of this is normal.  It is normal to wonder if your desires were put there by God. It is normal to feel you are not equipped for the call you are pretty sure God has given you.  It is normal to question.  The one thing I think is important to remember is that we were equipped at our baptism with the same Holy Spirit that Jesus was equipped with.  This means we were anointed as well.     I know you don’t feel equipped to do all you are being called to do, do it anyway.  You will be pleasantly surprised that you actually do have all you need inside of you already.  God does not make mistakes.  If He called you to something it is because you are the perfect person for that thing.  Trust Him and that He knows what He is doing.  Jesus stepped forward confidently into His role and into His mission after He was filled with the Holy Spirit.  I wonder if we can do the same?  Can we trust God knows what He is doing and that since we were filled with the Holy Spirit at baptism we too are equipped and anointed?  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, it is amazing the way you align our heart with your heart.  Lord, help us to answer the call you have placed on our lives. Help us to trust you even if we don’t trust in ourselves.  Help us to believe that we are filled with the Holy Spirit and that means we are ready for any challenge you give us.  Lord, since today is St. Valentine’s Day, I ask that you be with all those who are broken hearted.  Please wrap all those who need a little extra love in your arms today Lord.  Help them to feel loved today and every day.  You are so good to us and we are so grateful.  We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  I hope you all have an amazing Valentine’s Day! I look forward to brining you a Witness tomorrow for Witness Wednesday.  Remember Jesus loves you and so do I! Have a blessed day.

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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