Walk Boldly With Jesus

God Shows No Partiality

Acts 10:34 “Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality,  but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.”

I was at a Super Bowl party last night and I was talking with another woman who was there.  I am not really into football so I was in the kitchen with the food most of the night.  I am not sure if she is into football and was just being nice, but she visited with me for at least the first half of the game.  We were talking and she mentioned that her favorite Bible story was about Cornelieus.  I have to admit when she first said it I was not sure who she was talking about.  Then when she mentioned Peter visiting him, I remembered the story.  I will recap it for you briefly in case you, like me, do not remember that story.  

 In Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of the Italian Cohort, as it was called.  He was a devout man who feared God with all his household; he gave alms generously to the people and prayed constantly to God.  One afternoon at about three o’clock he had a vision in which he clearly saw an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius.”  He stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” He answered, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God.  Now send men to Joppa for a certain Simon who is called Peter;  he is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the seaside.”  When the angel who spoke to him had left, he called two of his slaves and a devout soldier from the ranks of those who served him,  and after telling them everything, he sent them to Joppa.

 About noon the next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray.  He became hungry and wanted something to eat; and while it was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw the heaven opened and something like a large sheet coming down, being lowered to the ground by its four corners.  In it were all kinds of four-footed creatures and reptiles and birds of the air.  Then he heard a voice saying, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.”  But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is profane or unclean.”  The voice said to him again, a second time, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.”  This happened three times, and the thing was suddenly taken up to heaven.”

Right after this dream Cornelius’ mean reached the gate and asked for Peter.  Peter went with the down to meet Cornelius and asked why they sent for him.  Cornelius explained about the Angel and that is when Peter said to them, “You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean.”  “Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality,  but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.”  Peter began to preach to Cornelius and all who were present that day and the Holy Spirit came down and fell upon all of them.  

What my new friend loved most about this story is that the angel appeared to the Roman soldier and told him that God saw his deeds and they were good.  A Roman soldier, did good deeds.  The romans were not good to the Israelites, they were persecuting them. You would think God would want nothing to do with them and yet He sends and angel to tell Cornelius that his prayers are being heard.  She said she grew up being taught that our actions can’t be good because we are nothing compared to God.  Jesus is so pure and our actions can never be pure or clean compared to his.  She loves this verse because if a Roman soldier can be told his actions are pleasing to the Lord, then surely our actions can be pleasing too.  

I liked this verse above because Peter says, “I truly understand that God shows no partiality,  but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.”  I love this because I think we all tend to forget this.  We look at some people, or some groups of people and we count them out of God’s plan.  We think because of this reason or that reason they can’t be saved, they can’t be God fearing individuals.  Do you know what I mean?  You might look at someone that is dressed in goth type clothes.  They wear all black and they have their nose pierced and they wear a choke collar and we think they can’t possibly believe in God.  But it says right here that God shows no partiality.  He does not care what you are wearing or what you look like.  He does not care what your job is or what country you come from.  

What God cares about is if you are following HIs laws.  Are you loving others and yourself?  Are you putting Him above all else?  When Jesus walked the Earth Gentiles and Jews did not associate.  Jesus broke this mold and talked to anyone He wanted to.  However, Peter needed that dream he had as well as witnessing the Holy Spirit descend on these Gentiles in order to understand that God did not care who you were or where you came from.  He cares what is in your heart and if you love Him or not.  

It saddens me to think we are 2,000 years later and we are still judging others and deciding who we think is able to worship God.  I wonder when we will learn to accept that God is the only judge.  We only see what is on the outside and God sees what is on the inside.  We see how people act out in the world and God sees how they act all time.  It reminds me of when Samuel went to anoint David as future king.  Samuel was told to take the anointing oil and go to anoint one of Jesse’s sons as the next king.  Samuel saw several of Jesse’s sons and they looked like King material.  Each time the Lord told Samuel in 1 Samuel 16:7 “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

Here we are 2,000 years later, actually we are well past 2,000 years if we are going way back to when Samuel lived and we are still looking at appearances instead of looking on the inside.  We may have our ideas of who we think is capable of getting in to heaven and who isn’t but what we think doesn’t really matter.  It is not up to us, we don’t get a say in it and that is awesome.  It is awesome that God doesn’t rely on us to help Him decide who gets in and who doesn’t because we are flawed and many of us tend to see the worst in people.  We have all of our history, all of our baggage, all that we have been through that clouds are judgement.  We look at everyone through a filter that was created from all we have experienced over the years.  God doesn’t have this filter.  He can see with crystal clear vision into our hearts and instantly knows our true motives.  

The next time we are tempted to judge someone we should remember that God is judging us in the same way we judge others.  It would be great if we could all stop judging because it is the right thing to do.  However, if you are not there yet, if you feel like your job is to judge others and you don’t want to stop just because it is the right thing to do, then maybe you can stop if you remember that God is judging you in that same way.  When you come to your final day here are Earth and you head up to talk to God about your time here on earth do you want God to judge you on your appearance, your financial status, your job title, your skin color or any other characteristics that you are judging others for here on Earth?  I doubt it.  I doubt anyone wants that.  Peter said, “I truly understand that God shows no partiality.”  If God shows no partiality, then why do we?

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, help us to stop judging others.  Help us to stop feeling like our actions aren’t good enough.  Help us to understand that you are not partial to one race or another.  You aren’t partial to one religion or another.  You aren’t so rigid that whole groups of people are excluded from your kingdom. You view each one of us on an individual basis and we are so grateful for that. Help us do the same Lord.  Help us see others through your eyes, not our own.  Lord, you are amazing, you are so powerful and we are so grateful for all you do.  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.  If you would be willing to share a story or a testimony of how Jesus is working in your life please reach out and let me know.  My email is [email protected] or you can CLICK HERE.  I look forward to spending time with you tomorrow.  Remember Jesus loves you and so do I.  Have a blessed day!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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We Were So Utterly, Unbearably Crushed

2 Corinthians 1:8-11 "We do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of the affliction we experienced in Asia; for we were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself.  Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death so that we would rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He who rescued us from so deadly a peril will continue to rescue us; on him we have set our hope that he will rescue us again,  as you also join in helping us by your prayers, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many."

What stood out to me in this verse was the part where it says, “We were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself.” It just made me think of how so many people are feeling that right now.  There are so many that are struggling and I would say many of them feel they are utterly and unbearably crushed by the weight of their problems, or the circumstances.  I have also been asked to pray for a staggering number of teenagers that feel like they don’t want to live anymore.  Life is really hard these days for so many people.

This verse talks about how God saved them from their despair.  They felt like they had received the death sentence so they would rely on God instead of themselves.  Have you ever been in a position when you had no other choice but to rely on God?  Have things been so bad that you couldn’t see any way out?  You had to surrender it to God because you had tried everything you could do on your own and you were still struggling.  I think sometimes we need these type of circumstances so we can remember that we were aren’t in control and we never were.  God has always been the one in control.

Trying to rely on ourselves is normal, we all do it.  I remember when I was on a retreat once and I really felt like God told me that I was turning to everyone else but Him.  I didn’t understand because I did ask God for help often.  He revealed to me that although I do ask Him for help, I don’t sit and wait for an answer.  When I wanted to know how to be a better mom, a better, wife, a better Catholic, I would turn to books.  I have read so many books about parenting and relationships.  I have read books on prayer and the lives of the Saints.  I have done a lot of reading and I don’t think that is a bad thing.  I think reading is really good.  I think was God was telling me though is that I asked Him for help and the proceeded as if I didn’t need it.  I was acting like I had to fix it all on my own.  

Don’t get me wrong, God does want us to take action sometimes.  I do not think He wanted me to sit back and do nothing.  What I think He was calling me to, was time with Him.  He wanted me to not only ask Him for help, but then to spend the time listening to Him and doing what He wanted me to do.  If we ask God questions He will answer, it says so write in the Bible.  It says in Matthew 7:7-8 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”  If we ask God what we should do, He will answer us.  However, we can’t hear that answer if we are not listening.  I was not listening.  I was using God more as a sounding board.  I would talk at Him, or maybe to Him, I am not sure, but I wouldn’t talk with Him.   It was not an exchange of information.  When we talk to God, it is more fruitful if we do it with the expectation that He will talk back with us.  It probably won’t be audible words, but He can make His point clear without words.  

The next part of the verse says, “He who rescued us from so deadly a peril will continue to rescue us; on him we have set our hope that he will rescue us again.”  This is a great reminder that God has rescued us in the past and He will do it again.  God will continue to rescue us as we continue to go through the ups and downs of life.  We need to set our hope in Him just as they did. We need to keep reminding ourselves that God will continue to rescue us.  If we can’t think of a time in our past that God has rescued us we can look back to Scripture and see all the stories where God has rescued His people.  When we see these stories they can build our faith as well.  God is the same yesterday, today and forever.  If He was rescuing people back in the Old Testament, and he rescued people in the New Testament, and He has been rescuing people all throughout History, then He will rescue us too. We can rest our hope in that truth.  

The verse ends with, “as you also join in helping us by your prayers, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.” I like this ending because it tells us that blessings are granted through the prayers of many.  It also shows that even the disciples asked others for prayers.  My spiritual mentor was just saying the other day that we don’t realize the power of intercessory prayer.  When we pray for someone, whether they asked us to or not, we are adding our prayers with their prayers.  When a lot of people are all praying for the same thing, it is more powerful.  This is why people ask us to pray.  When we say we will pray for someone, we should take that seriously.  If you can stop and pray with the right then, that is even better.  If not, write it down so you do not forget to pray for the persons.  The concept of intercessory prayer is mentioned 80 times in the Bible.

One of the greatest examples of intercession took place when Moses stood before God on behalf of Israel. In Exodus 32:10, God said, “Leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them [the Israelites] and that I may destroy them.” But Moses did not give up. And because God had a relationship with Moses, He allowed Moses to state the case on behalf of the people. In Exodus 32:14, we read that “the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.” God listens to our prayers.  Our prayers are important.  Your prayers are important.  Keep praying for people, we have no idea the importance of those prayers.  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we ask you to rescue us from any circumstances that make us feel crushed.  We ask you to be with everyone who feels they can’t live any longer.  We ask you to send your angels to all those who feel they don’t want to go on with life.  We ask you to protect them and not to let them take their lives.  Lord, we pray in a special way for the kids in the world today.  Life is so hard for them and depression and anxiety are on the rise.  We ask you to help them to feel loved.  We ask you to help the crave your love instead of the broken love of this world.  Lord, we ask you to help us be great intercessors for those around us.  Help us to take our job as a prayer warrior seriously.  Lord, you are amazing.  You do so much for us and we are so grateful.  We love you and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldy with Jesus.  Can I ask you for a favor this Friday morning?  If you have read my book, Total Trust In God’s Safe Embrace, could you please go to Amazon and leave a review?  People really do read those.  Also, if you have not done a review on the podcast, would you consider doing that also?  And then the one last thing is would you share this podcast with one other person?  Who do you know that could benefit from spending time with scripture each day? Thank you my friends I truly appreciate it!  I look forward to seeing you here again on Monday. Remember Jesus loves you and so do I.  Have a Blessed weekend!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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The Laborers Are Few

Luke 10:1-2 “After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go.  He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

We talked about this verse in class this week because our program is all about how to become activated in the gifts of the Holy Spirit so we can go out and be God’s light to others. It is about how we can learn to use the gifts to minister to others.  There are so many people hurting in this world right now.  If there was ever a time when the verse above was true, it is now.  There is such a great need for people who are willing to talk about God and His love for others.  There are plenty of people to spread hate around.  There are plenty of people in the world to judge you and to make you feel bad about yourself.  However, it seems there is a shortage of people who can love people for who they are, right where they are.  

Jesus had an amazing way of doing just that.  When I read the Gospels and I read all about Jesus’ life and His ministry I can’t help but want to be one of His laborers.  Every where He went people just felt loved.  That is not to say all He said was feel good stuff.  He taught some pretty tough stuff.  He taught things that no-one had said before and people weren’t sure if they liked.  For instance, love your neighbor but also love your enemy?  Pray for those who persecute you?  These were not things that were easy to hear and yet once you heard Jesus speak, you were never the same again.  Jesus left people feeling better than they did before His interaction with Him.  I wonder if we can say the same?  Wouldn’t this be a great goal for each and every one of us?  

What if we all decided that our goal with every interaction was to leave the other person, or people feeling better than they did before your interaction?  Imagine what the world would look like if everyone’s goal was to bring out the best in others.  I am in a coaching program called Growth Day and this is the theme for the month, How to Bring Out the Best in Others.  The coaches yesterday were saying that you will not have fulfillment in life if you are just worrying about yourself.  God made us as social creatures.  We need to be with community, we need to be giving to other people in order to feel fulfilled.  We were made this way by design.  God wanted us to rely on each other, He made woman as a companion for man.  He did not want us to be alone.  

Jesus was sending these seventy others out to prepare the way for Him.  He sent them to every town and place where He himself intended to go.  In Luke 10:9 Jesus told them to “ cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.”  Jesus is sending us out to prepare the way for Him as well.  The world needs more Jesus in it.  The world needs more love and less hate.  The world needs more people who are willing to talk about God and Jesus.  God needs more laborers in His vineyard.  Will you be one of them? The verse in Luke says that Jesus told them to cure the sick and tell them the kingdom of God has come near to you.  This might seem impossible for us.  We might hear that and think there is no way we could cure the sick, that is not something that is happening in this day and age.  Or we might know that healings are happening today and yet we are sure they are reserved for the super holy people like priests and nuns, or people that are extra close to God.  

If this is what you are thinking you are not alone.  Many people, probably most people feel this way.  We can get on board with the fact that the disciples were healing people because Jesus gave them that power.  Jesus specifically sent them out to do these things and He would not send them out without equipping them with this power.  We can believe all of this without any problem.  Where the problem comes in is when we are told that we have this same calling and we have this same power.  When we hear this we do not believe it.  We don’t see how that is possible.  Who are we and why would we be important enough to help God in this amazing calling? What did we do that would make us special enough to heal the sick, cast out demons, or spread the good news of the Gospel?  Those are good questions and yet I will answer with a question.  What made the disciples so special?  They were all of different walks of life, some were fishermen, or task collectors, there was a doctor, and a zealot.  They were all just ordinary people who didn’t really bring any extraordinary gifts to the table.  So, what makes them so special?  Jesus, Jesus made them extraordinary and He can do the same for us.

In Mark 16:15-18 Jesus says, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned.  And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” It says right here in this verse that signs will accompany those who believe.  Jesus says those who believe will cast out demons and speak a new tongue.  They can drink a deadly thing and it won’t hurt them, they will lay hand on the sick and they will recover.  Do you believe?

I am not asking if you believe you can do signs and wonders, I am asking if you believe in Jesus?  Do you believe that the scripture is the Word of God and is truth?  If so, then whether you believe in your ability to do signs and wonders or not, it is fact.  Jesus said signs will accompany those who believe.  In the verse above it is talking about there are not enough laborers.  Will you be a laborer for Christ?  I am not asking you to go out and lay hands on people as that may be way outside of your comfort zone, I know it was for me until more recently.  What I am asking you to do is to look at your sphere of influence, look at your life and those who surround you.  What is one thing you can do to spread the word of God, or to spread the good news of Jesus?  Maybe you don’t even mention Jesus, especially if you family is particularly against Jesus right now.  Maybe you just start by demonstrating His love to them, loving them like Jesus loves them.  That means you accept them for who they are and love them through whatever they are going through.  

I know for many of you listening, the idea that we have the power to heal others is way outside of your comfort zone.  You can see how some people can maybe do it, but definitely not you and definitely not “regular” people like you and I.  I am hoping this podcast will change your thinking.  Not this episode, but over time I am hoping I can show you enough evidence in the Bible that you will begin to see that when God gave us the Holy Spirit, He gave us more power than we could ever imagine.  He gave us a supernatural power to do signs and wonders because those glorify God.  We live in a world where people need to see before they believe and signs and wonders help with that.  I know it take a renewal of the mind and that takes time.  I am not asking you to believe that today. Today I am asking everyone listening to ask themselves, “How can I be a laborer in God’s vineyard?”  What is one thing I can do this week to spread God’s love and light to others?  How can I leave people feeling better than they did before our interaction?

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode today?  Lord, we are so grateful you gave us the Holy Spirit.  We are so grateful you gave us Jesus.  We are grateful you are calling us to be your laborers and we are sorry if we haven’t been doing our job of that lately.  This world we live in makes it hard to talk about Jesus.  It even makes it hard to spread you love, as love is not a super popular thing and people don’t really know what love really is these days.  Lord, help us to grow in this area.  We ask the Holy Spirit to put on our hearts how you want us to grow in this area.  I ask that you reveal one way to each of us that you want us to spread your love, peace and light to others.  We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!

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

Today I want to witness about how God is working in the little ways of our lives.  I know recently I have been talking more about the miracles I've been seeing God doing and I think that's awesome. I am so grateful God is still working miracles today. I am grateful in this crazy world that God is still showing up and still showing us how much he loves us even when the world is not loving him back. I also think that not everybody is seeing miracles. I think there are a lot of people suffering and I think there are a lot of people that are struggling right now. I know there is a lot of fear and a lot of anxiety in the world and sometimes that can make people lean into God more. However sometimes it can just make people feel more alone. Maybe you're listening to the witness Wednesdays and thinking that's great that she's seeing miracles but what about me? How is God working in my life? I'm not seeing him heal people. Where is God showing up for me? This is a question that we all think at one time or another.  Sometimes it can seem like God is working in everyone else’s life, but we can’t see Him working in our lives.  My prayer is that these Witness Wednesdays will help us all start to recognize God working in our lives more often.

Today I want to witness to how God has been in all the little details, not just the big things.  In 2019 I found a podcast called the Big Life Podcast.  I am sure it was God that helped me find this podcast.  I listened to the podcast for quite some time and loved how it talked about scripture every day and also tied it into how to live the big life God created us to live.  After awhile of listening to the podcast, I joined Big Life mentoring which is run by the creator of the podcast, Pamela Crim.  I decided to join in February of 2020.  God was in this detail as well because I had just started my own business, I had my whole marketing plan, I was ready to go.  Then March 2020 is when everything shut down.  We weren’t really allowed to leave our houses, kids were home, Tony was home, I was home.  

I am a social person and God knows this.  I truly believe it was his plan for me to join mentoring so I would not feel so alone during the pandemic.  As I said I joined mentoring in February, however, I didn’t really get close with anyone until April when Pamela decided to form small work our groups.  By the end of April everyone was getting tired of being in isolation, and finding reasons to get out of bed in the morning, when we couldn’t leave our homes, was getting harder.  So, Pamela formed work out groups of 8 people.  The leader of the group would start a facebook call at whatever time you signed up for and we would all talk for a few minutes and say good morning to each other.  Then we would do a workout from YouTube together.  They were short 10-20 minutes but they got us up and moving and we had that daily contact with other humans.  It was so great!  The leader of my group, Kim, agreed to keep doing the call every morning and so 2 years later, actually almost 3 years later, we are still working out together and checking in with each other.  

What I find amazing is how God put together this group of 8 random strangers and we are such a perfect fit for each other. The first thing I think is interesting is our names.  We have two Catherine’s spelled exactly the same way, Kathleen, Kim, Kimberly, Kelly, Ashley & Natalie.  Each one of us either owns our own business or wants to.  Three of our group members have studied nutrition and exercise.  Two of our group members are trained to be massage therapists.  At lest two of the members in our group have children that are very difficult in very similar ways.  Several of the ladies in the group love Disney.  Most of the ladies in the group like to run.  All of the ladies in the group love Jesus!  We all love setting goals and keeping them.  I finally found people who get just as excited about a new planner and a new year as I do!

If you have always had friends that love Jesus, you might not know what a rare find that is.  Looking back, I actually have had friends that I can talk about God and Jesus to for a long time because I join women’s groups.  However, I haven’t had a group of ladies that I talk to daily that talk about prayer and God.  We don’t sit around and gossip and complain about our husbands.  We do talk about what is going on and what we are struggling with and then we try to help each other overcome those struggles.  It has been a breath of fresh air and we were able to keep in touch during the whole pandemic.  We even got together and ran a half marathon down in Gulf Shores Alabama.  

I remember the first time I met any of them in person was when I signed up for a big life retreat in Tennessee. Two other group members were going, Kimberly and Kelly.  Kimberly is from Maine and she was driving down so we decided to drive together.  When we decided to drive together we had been talking in the mornings for about four months.  We thought we knew each other and then when we were in the car for two days driving we really got to know each other even better.  This was when we found out how similar our situation with our children was.  Well, the situation was different, but the similarities with the way our children acted was so similar.  It was great because Kimberly thought it was just her going through it.  She felt alone and like no one understood.  We talked the whole way to Tennessee and the whole way home.  We talked about parenting, our jobs, our religions, our beliefs, it was great.  We both definitely needed that trip and that time together.  Then we met up with Kelly at the retreat and got to know her better as well.  

It has been almost three years together and we have all been through a lot.  We have all needed to lean in and rely on the group for support over these last 3 years.  It was not all at the same time, and we were able to be there for each person as they needed support.  I know these last three years would have been hard for each of us if were weren’t checking in on each other and having that support of knowing that the ladies in that group would do anything for us.  We all get down, we all have rough days, who do you have checking in on you and making sure you don’t stay down? This is super important and I know God knew we would each need each other over the last 3 years.  I am so grateful to God, and Pamela, for putting together this group or exceptional women!

You might be looking at this witness and not really seeing how God played a role in it.  However, there were multiple different workout groups and they met at all different times throughout the day. What are the chances that these 8 people, who were so perfectly matched would wind up in the same group?  And I don’t mean perfectly matched like we are all the same.  We are very different in personalities and family make up and such.  But what is so perfect is that we all compliment each other so well.  Our personalities mix together well and make a great group.  God was definitely in the making of this group.  That is the reason I wanted to witness about it today.  Look in your life and see what situations, what jobs, what friend groups might God have arranged for you?  If you are struggling to see God working in your life, start thinking about the things that have happened that seem too good to be true.  Like this group of women from all over the country that have only met in person a few times and yet would do anything for each other.  God is so good!  He is working in these quiet, unseen ways in your life too.  

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Who Am I?

Judges 6:12-16 “The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty warrior.” Gideon answered him, “But sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our ancestors recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has cast us off, and given us into the hand of Midian.”  Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian; I hereby commission you.” He responded, “But sir, how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” The Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike down the Midianites, every one of them.”

I really like this story because it is one most of us can relate too.  Well, not the first verse probably.  I doubt too many of us have been visited by an angel.  The verse starts off by telling us that an angel appeared to Gideon and told him the Lord was with him and then called him a mighty warrior.  I find it interesting how Gideon answered the angel.  I feel as though I would be in shock and probably speechless if the angel of God spoke to me.  If he told me that God was with me I think I would say thank you or I would just be in awe.  Gideon is not speechless and it doesn’t sound like he is in awe.  He questions the angel.  He says, “But sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our ancestors recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has cast us off, and given us into the hand of Midian.”  

Those are some pretty gutsy things to say to an angel.  The angel said the Lord is with you and Gideon basically said, “oh yeah, how?  We don’t see it. What has He done for us lately?” With this being written text, we don’t know the tone or volume this was said with.  I picture Gideon being angry and almost yelling it at the angel.  However, I could be wrong, he could have mater of factly stated it to him.  Either way Gideon did not believe what the angel said and he wanted an explanation, or some sort of proof that God was for them.

Next the angel says, “Go in this might of yours and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian; I hereby commission you.” The angel does not answer his question as to where God has been.  The angel looks at Gideon and then tells him to go and lead the fight with Midian to deliver his people.  Gideon’s response is a response that I think most of us have when God commissions us for a task.  We question it, we tell Him we aren’t ready, we aren’t good enough, we don’t know how, we aren’t strong enough.  We question God as if He, the one who created us, did not know all these things about us when he commissioned us for that task.   When Gideon was told that he was commissioned to defeat  Midian he said, “But sir, how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”

Gideon was counting himself out before he even got started.  He looked at his family and his place in that family and judged his abilities on that.  He felt God must have made a mistake.  How could he be a mighty warrior when his family was the weakest and he was the least in his family?  Does this sound familiar?  Do you ever count yourself out of things because of your family or your history with your family?  I can understand a bit of what Gideon was feeling.  I am from a large family and we didn’t have a lot of money growing up.  When I was  in school, if there was a big field trip I immediately counted myself out.  There was not way my parents could afford the cost of trip when they can barely afford their bills.  In seventh grade my french class was taking a trip to Quebec for a few days.  I think the cost was $450 or something like that.  I knew I wouldn’t be able to go.  I am not even sure if I asked my parents or if I just counted myself out.  One day after school the french teacher talked with me and asked if I wanted to go on the trip.  I explained I did but my parents couldn’t afford it.  She said there was a scholarship, and so if my parents could  afford some of it, the school could pay the rest.  Somehow my parents were able to pay whatever part they had to pay and I was able to go.  

Another way I can relate to Gideon is when he said he was the least of his family.  I don’t think I was the least of my family, and yet, having a large family, you are bound to be compared to your sibblings. Others are bound to compare you as well.  I remember one Christmas Eve party at my aunts house one of my uncles saw me and was trying to figure out which child I was.  My mom is one of 10 children so you can imagine how many kids were at this Christmas Eve party.  He said oh, you are the smart one that is going to Yale right?  Nope, that is Virginia.  Oh, you are the one that just got that cheerleading award, nope, that is Elizabeth.  Got it, you are the one that is having open heart surgery, nope that is Theresa,  Oh, who are you then he said.  I wasn’t really sure how to respond to that one.  I didn’t know which distinguishing characteristic might have been used to describe me.  

We can all get stuck thinking we are who our family says we are.  We can get stuck thinking we can’t do certain things because of our past history.  We know God is calling us to something and yet we don’t answer that call because we don’t think we can do it.  Instead of giving God our whole hearted yes, we give Him a list of reasons why we are not the right person for the job.  The very beginning of this verse the angel of God address Gideon as a mighty warrior, and yet he questions that.  What name is God calling you that you are dismissing.  Is it son/daughter of the one true King?  Is it Beloved?  Is it Mighty Warrior?  Is it Gifted Healer? Is it Disciple?  Is it Preacher/Teacher?  Is it Worthy or Enough? What name do you hear God calling you and yet you struggle to accept?  God does not make mistakes.  He is the Lord God Almighty.  If He calls you something it is because that is your name to Him.  That is who you are in His eyes!

What task is God commissioning you for that you are resisting?  Is there something you feel called to do and instead of telling God yes, you are giving him a whole host of reasons why you can do it?  Is He asking you to do something and you are explaining to him why anyone else would be better for the job?  I get it, I do the same and yet God is telling us here in this story of Gideon that we need to believe what the Lord says about it and just go out and do it.  Stop trying to tell God who you are, He knows who you are better than you do.  Stop trying to find all these excuses why you can’t do the thing God is telling you to do.  Start trying to figure out how to do the thing God is leading you to do.  Stop and ask God, what would you like me to do today?  If you don’t know how to do what He is calling you to do then ask Him how He would like you to do it.  Our God is a wonderful God and He will answer us when we ask.  Answer the call God is placing on your life today with a resounding Yes!  Trust if He gave it to you He will help you fulfill it!

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode.  Lord we are so grateful that you know us better than we know ourselves.  Thank you for loving us so much and being the best dad out there.  Thank you for calling us by our true identity even when we struggle to see it.  Lord, help us to see ourselves and the world through your eyes.  Father, thank you for commissioning us to certain tasks.  We are sorry we don’t always say yes.  It is not because we don’t want to, it is because we are afraid.  Please replace that fear with courage and strength.  Make us bold so we can say yes to whatever you ask.  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.  If you would be willing to give a witness as to how God is working in your life, please let me know.  I know those listening would love to hear it!  I look forward to bringing you a witness tomorrow.  Remember, Jesus loves you and so do I! Have a blessed day!

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Act of Faith

John 5:5-9 “One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”  The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.”  Jesus said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.”  At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.’”  

I love this story because it is such a short story and yet I have come to learn there a lot of lessons in it.  That is why I love studying scripture, especially doing Bible studies where they go into depth on what each story in the Bible means.  There are a lot of parables, there are a lot of hidden meanings, the Bible is a living text and it can be so simple at times and so complex other times.  I love every time I learn some deeper meaning to a story.  When I first heard this story I thought it was a great testament to Jesus’ healing power, and it is.  I didn’t realize how much more there was to it.

First let me explain what is going on in this story in case you haven’t heard it before.  The man in this story has been laying at the pool of Bethesda for over 30 years.  The story with this particular pool is that there are certain seasons or times when it was believed an angel would stir the water.  When this happened if you could be the first one in the water you would be healed.  This man couldn’t walk so each time the pool was stirred up, he would have to pull his body with his arms down to the pool.  There were always people that would get in front of him and get in the pool first.  I am not sure how often the pool was stirred, but I can imagine that was a long 30 something years for this man who was trying to get into a pool he can not reach.  

Is that you?  Have you been trying to do something for a very long time and you are not having any luck?  Maybe you have been sick with something for a long time and you keep praying for a healing and yet you have not received one.  Maybe you have been struggling with issues in your family for a long time and you have been praying and yet you have not seen any answers to those prayers.  Maybe you have been trying to get further in your career and you keep praying and asking God to help and yet, so far no answers.  If this is the case, keep praying, keep asking, keep searching.  This man was ill for 38 years before he was healed.  I don’t know if he was at the pool of Bethesda the whole time, but I am sure he was hoping for a healing the whole time.

The first thing I learned about this verse that I didn’t really pay much attention to when I heard it is that Jesus asks the man, “Do you want to be made well?”  Jesus puts the ball in the man’s court.  He asks him if he wants to be healed.  This may seem silly to you.  He has been waiting at a pool for a healing for over 30 years not, of course he wants to be healed.  However, not everyone does want to be healed.  Some people are afraid to be healed because their sickness is all they have known.  They are afraid of what their life will be like without it?  They are worried because their identity is wrapped up in this illness.  So, instead of just healing this man Jesus asks if he wants to be healed. I find it interesting that the man did not answer the questions with an answer, he started explaining why he had not been healed before now.  

Doesn’t that sound like something we would all do?  When asked if we want something we come up with all the excuses or reasons that we haven’t gotten it yet.  We want people to know we tried and yet we just couldn’t do it.  We explain how unfair the world is and that we are victims of that unfairness.  This man was telling Jesus about why he hadn’t been healed yet, instead of just answering his question and saying, “yes, I want to be healed.”  Why is that so hard for us to admit sometimes?  Why can’t we just ask for what we need?  Why is it so hard to ask God to heal us, or provide for us?  It makes him so happy when we rely on Him?

The next thing I learned about this verse that I didn’t pay much attention to is when Jesus says, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” Jesus did not do anything outwardly to heal this man.  He didn’t lay hands on him, He didn’t tell him he was healed, he just told him to stand and take up his mat and walk.  By doing this, Jesus is requiring this man to take make an act of faith.  He is asking a man who has not walked in 38 years to stand up and walk.  I wonder what was going through that man’s mind when he heard Jesus say that.  I wonder if he jumped right up, or if he hesitated wondering what this man was talking about?  I wonder if his brain was flooded with negative thoughts such as, “Why is he telling you to get up, doesn’t he know you can’t walk?”  “I can’t get up and walk, I haven’t walked for 38 years.” “If I try to stand up I will fall down again.”  

We don’t know whether this man had any negative thoughts or not.  What we do know is that he was able to stand up, take up his mat and walk away.  Even if he did have those thoughts, he was able to overcome them and to make that act of faith.  He tried to stand up when asked to and therefore he was healed.  I am wondering if some of what is keeping us stuck from moving forward, or stuck from getting our breakthrough is that we are failing to act in faith?  Are we getting in our own way?  Are we listening to all those negative voices in our head?  Is Jesus asking us to make an act of faith and we are too scared because of all the years we have been waiting for it, or all the drama while we wait.  What if we didn’t listen to those voices? What if we just stepped out in faith that God will do what He said He would do.  What is one thing you can do today to make an act of faith?  

Dear Heavenly Father, I pray you bless all those listening to this episode today.  Thank you for all you teach us through your scriptures.  Thank you for all the times that you heal us, not just from physical wounds, but also emotional ones as well.  Lord, you are truly amazing and we are so grateful we know you! We ask that you give us the strength and courage to make that act of faith when you ask us to make it.  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 boldy with Jesus.  I look forward to spending time with you again tomorrow.  Remember Jesus loves you and so do I!  Have a blessed day!

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Believing Without Seeing

1 Peter 1:8-9 “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,  for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

I asked my friend to choose a verse for me while I was at retreat.  She chose this one. I am not sure I knew this one and yet I love it.  I know, I say that a lot.  It is true, God is so good and there are countless verses from the Bible that I love.  I love this one because it ends with the salvation of our souls and who wouldn’t love that. As much as I love this verse I have been stuck on what to say about it.  I think one of the hardest parts of faith is believing in things we can’t see.  Having that faith that what God says is true even when you don’t see any proof of it.  

This reminds me of what I talked about yesterday.  Abraham and Sarah trusted that God was going to make him the father of nations even though he didn’t have any children at the time.  They trusted for a long time before they saw any proof that God would keep His word.  Well that is not completely true, God had given them proof over the years that he would keep His word, maybe not about this specific thing but about many other things.  God had been providing for Abraham and also talking with him for most of his life I think.  

God told Abraham to leave his home but did not tell him where he was going and Abraham listened and God always provided for him.  Wherever Abraham went he was prosperous.  He listened to God, he trusted God and he was rewarded by God.  Did Abraham always do it perfectly, nope.  When they got tired of waiting for God to give Sarah a baby, Abraham slept with Sarah’s handmaid so that Abraham would have a baby. That did not turn out well.  When Abraham and Sarah had to go into Egypt to evade a famine Abraham was concerned they might kill him and take Sarah as their wife, so he told her to lie and say she was his sister.  This did not end well either.  

Every time we try to take things into our own hands, or force our own timing onto God’s plans things do not end well.  When Abraham and Sarah were able to believe in God’s word while they weren’t seeing proof of it, then things went better and they were rewarded for their patience and their faith.  The same is true for us.  We are being called to have faith in things that we cannot. We may be able to see God’s faithfulness in our lives, but we might not be able to see proof for that specific promise.

I think this is where I am getting stuck with this passage.  It says, “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.”  I guess I am struggling because I think we do see God in our lives.  I get that we don’t see him physically, and maybe that is what they mean, but we do see him, right?  Or maybe not everyone does see Him in their lives. God is working in our lives every single day.  If we are looking for it, we will see it.  When we start looking we will begin to see Him in the big things and the little things. So, I guess my question is do I love Him even though I haven’t seen Him, or do I love him because I have seen Him working in my life?  It sounds like today might not be one of those days where you end this podcast feeling you know the meaning of the scripture verse any better than you did before you started it.  Which I think is ok, I hope is ok.  Our goal here is to walk boldly with Jesus.  My goal is to explore the scripture with you and to learn together.  Today I feel this is a scripture we can pray on and ask God to reveal the meaning of it and how we can use it to make our lives better.

I did look up the meaning of this scripture as I was lost as to how to start or what to say.  There are many commentaries that will give you a more in depth look into this scripture.  I felt the Holy spirit was leading me to talk about where we see God in our lives instead of talking about where we don’t see Him.  I think God gives us plenty of chances to have faith in things when we can’t see the proof.  For me, this is easier to do the more I look at all the places I have seen God in my life.  When I look back and see all the places He has shown up and kept His promises, then it is easier for me to believe He will take care of this too.  

God is working in my life and He is working in your life to.  The question is did we know it was God when we saw Him?  Did we know that kind person who paid for our coffee was the face of God?  Did we know the person that held the door of the elevator was the face of God?  Did we know the person who was in line in front of us at the store was the face of God?  Did we know the stranger that said a kind word, was the face of God?  Did we know the breakthrough we received at work was a gift from God?  Did we know it was God who helped us through that last difficult season?  Did we know it was God who made that awesome thing happen?  

I am blessed to have had parents who saw God working in everything they did!  I am blessed to have parents who saw God everywhere they went.  They knew without a shadow of a doubt that God loved them and they loved Him.  They did an awesome job of passing this down to me and so I also know without a shadow of a doubt that I am loved by God.  I love God very much and I don’t know if that is because I haven’t seen him or because I have.  I don’t think it matters.  What I feel the Holy Spirit is revealing to me, to share with you, is that if we want to be able to trust in things we can’t see, then we need to first start trying to see God in our lives.  Where can we see Him? Where has He helped us in the past?  What blessings has He already given us?  If we want to have faith that God will keep this promise we can look back to see what promises He has already kept for us.  

I am not sure if this episode actually explained the verse above or if it left you more confused. Hopefully, at the very least it gave you something to think about and something to take to prayer.  I hope it also encouraged you to take a look at your life and try to see God in the day to day of life.  Also look back and see if you can tell where God was in your past.  What difficult season did He help you out of?  What bad decision did He use for your good?  If we look for Him, we will see Him.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, I ask you to help clear up any confusion I might have caused.  Lord, I ask you to shine a light on all the places you are showing up in our lives.  Help us to see you every single day.  Help us to love you even when we don’t see you.  Help us to believe in what we don’t see.  Lord, I pray that you speak to each one of individually.  I pray that each person who listens to this episode and every episode hears exactly what they need to hear.  Lord, you are amazing and we love you so much.  We are so grateful that you are showing up for us.  We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!

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

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God Reveals One Step At A Time

Hebrews 11:1-2 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.  For by it the men of old received divine approval.”

For the past two years I have done the Bible in a Year podcast with Father Mike.  This year he is doing the Catechism of the Catholic Church in  a Year.  The Catechism aims to summarize in book form the main beliefs of the Catholic Church.  I have owned this book for several years now and yet have never read the whole thing.  I did find some things highlighted today when looking through it, so I have looked through it, but never read through it all.  I was excited about this new podcast Father Mike is doing because I think it is important to be able to understand your faith completely and also to be able to explain it to others when asked.  And people tend to have a lot of questions as to why Catholics believe the things they believe.  

The other day when I was listening, Father Mike touched on something that I thought was important to share with you because it is something that we have all run into many times in our lives.  The Catechism was talking about how God sometimes reveals things to people in order to invite them into His own company.  The adequate response to this invitation is faith.  It goes on to say in paragraph 144 that Sacred Scripture calls this human response to God, the author of revelation, “the obedience to faith.”  It says to obey in faith is to submit freely to the word that has been heard, because its truth is guaranteed by God, who is Truth itself.  Abraham is the model of such obedience offered us by Sacred Scripture.  The Virgin Mary is its most perfect embodiment.  Paragraph 145 says The Letter to the Hebrews, in its great eulogy of the faith of Israel’s ancestors lays special emphasis on Abraham’s faith; “By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place which he was to receive as an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where to go.” By faith, he lived as a stranger and pilgrim in the promised land.  By faith, Sarah was given to conceive the son of the promise.  And by faith Abraham offered his only son in sacrifice.

What Father Mike pointed out is that all three people mentioned here, Abraham, Sarah and Mary acted in faith.  This was not the part that surprised me as I have heard the story of Abraham and Sarah many times and I know everyone knows that Mary acted in faith when she said yes to carrying the Son of God.  What Father Mike said that make sense when you think about it, but I guess I never really thought about it before, was that God didn’t give these three people all the information before they answered in faith.  He didn’t lay out every step they were going to take. He didn’t tell them every bump in the road they were going to run into.  He didn’t give them a five year plan or a 10 year plan.  He didn’t even give them a one year plan.  He gave them the initial invitation with very little detail.  Abraham knew he couldn’t stay where he was and that God was inviting him to  leave his homeland.  He said yes without knowing where he was going and how would all turn out.  

Sarah knew she was going to conceive a son but was not given any other information about when or how, since she was advanced in age.  Mary was invited to conceive the son of God and she asked one clarifying question, how that was possible when she had not known man.  She was told the Holy Spirit would overshadow her and she would conceive the son of God.  However, that was about all the information she got.  She also was not told everything she would go through.  She wasn’t told she would leave him in Jerusalem when he was 12 and she would be worried he was lost for 3 days.  She wasn’t told about his suffering and crucifixion.  She was told about just that first step.

This is the part that I think we can all relate to.  God is calling us all to something and He calls us to it without giving us all the details.  He shines just enough light on our situation so we can see the next right step.  This can be scary for us.  We tend to want to know what is coming next.  We want to make sure we will be safe and secure.  But what if we knew everything we were going to go through and then were scared we couldn’t do it.  Everything we go through in life prepares us for the next thing we will go through.  If you knew it all in advance you might not say yes.  It is believed that Mary was very young when she got married and had Jesus.  Do you think a teenager could have said yes having a child that was going to be tortured and killed?  Do you think she would have had that kind of strength as a teen?  I think Mary was able to be with Christ through all of that because of all the things that came before that.  Every thing we go through good or bad prepares us for the rest of our lives.  

What about Abraham and Sarah?  Do you think they would have been all excited about having a child if they knew they were going to having to offer him up in a sacrifice?  Probably not, but God had been so faithful to His word that Abraham knew if God was asking him to do it, then He had a plan of how to make it right again.  Has God been faithful in our lives?  Can we look back and see where He has been with us the whole way?  Can we look back and see how things that didn’t make sense at the time now make sense with the benefit of hindsight?  Has God gotten you through some pretty tough spots?  Do you have things that you have done and looking back you can honestly say you wouldn’t have done them if you had known all they would entail?  God is so good.  He knows human nature.  He knows that we get scared easily.  He knows we tend to chose the easy route and we try to avoid pain and discomfort at all costs.  

God’s ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts higher than our thoughts.  He knows if we knew the whole picture we might not accept the call He is calling us to.  Can we say yes if faith, like Abraham, Mary and Sarah did?  Can we say yes to whatever new thing God is calling us into without knowing all the details?  Can we trust that God has the details worked out and if we are faithful and take the next right step he will shine a light forward to the next right step?  I feel prompted to also mention that God’s timing is not our timing.  God told Abraham he would have a child and then I believe they waited 25 years for that to happen.  They did not wait perfectly, they tried to make it happen on their own, but in the end God was faithful.  I guess I felt prompted to mention that because I know some of you are waiting for your answered prayers.  I know some of you have been waiting a long time.  I want to encourage you and let you know you are in good company.  Sometimes we can think God doesn’t like us as much if we kept waiting. Almost like God is taking care of those more important to Him before He gets to us.  This is not the case.  God promised Abraham everything and yet he had to wait a long time also.

Have faith to take that next step, even when you can’t see where that step is leading you.  Take that step even if you don’t know the final outcome or you don’t know all the details.  Take a step towards wherever God is calling you knowing that if He called you there He will be there to shine a light on each step until you get there.  Going back to the verse, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”  St. Augustine said, ““Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.” God rewards us when we step out in faith.  Where can you trust God and step out in faith today?

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we ask that you help us to know what you are calling us to.  We ask that you help us to have the faith to step out in that call even though we don’t have all the details, even though we don’t know what will come next, or when it will come.  Lord, give us the perseverance we need to wait for your call and to not try and manufacture it on our own.  We love you Lord, you are amazing.  You know what is best for us and we pray that we can listen to you and wait for your plan.  We are so grateful you have a plan for each of us and that you light our steps so we can follow your plan.  We are sorry for all the times we didn’t follow your plan, we are trying Dad.  We love you and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  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.  Have a blessed day!

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You Are A Saint That Sins Sometimes

Hebrews 8:12 “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

Anytime I get together with a group of women and we start talking I sense a pattern.  I am speaking about women as that is who I tend to hang around with, although I think men struggle with this as well.  I think they struggle to talk about it though.  Whenever I have been around women and they feel as though they can really open up and be honest and vulnerable they often talk about how they are feel like they are not enough.  This feeling of not being enough often brings up shame as well.  We regret the choices we made in the past, even when we didn’t feel like we had a choice.  

On some level we know that we were doing the best we could and yet we feel guilty for the things we did anyway.  For instance, once our children are older and we get the benefit of hindsight we can see that we weren’t always the best parent.  We didn’t always react in the best way and we didn’t always do what was best for the children.  However, we did always do the best we could in that moment.  We did the best we could with what we had in that moment.  We know that, and yet we still let shame and guilt eat us up inside.  And as if our own shame and guilt were not enough, we also receive the shame and guilt that our teenagers feel the need to pile on.  It’s as if it is a right of passage for them to tell us all the ways we failed them.  

I know one day they will have a much better understanding of why we did what we did, but while they are teens they will not understand.  Today I saw a post of Facebook and it made me remember about how we talked about in my class how God doesn’t remember our sins.  I wasn’t sure if I did an episode on it and then when I looked back, I realized I did.  It was not this same verse from the Bible however, and I really felt like the Holy Spirit wanted me to talk about it again, so I will listen and do just that.  I think hearing that we are not a sum of our past mistakes is something we can’t really hear enough.  It is something we need to keep hearing over and over again because the enemy wants us to forget it and as soon as we hear it he starts to tell us why that may be true for others, but it isn’t true for us.  

This verse is telling us that God will forgive our wickedness and remember our sins no more.  Why is it so hard for us to hear that and believe it?  Why is it so much easier for us to believe the negative stuff the enemy tells us than the positive stuff our heavenly Father tells us?  God knows all that we have done over the years, however, when we repent for our sins he forgives and forgets.  This may be hard for us to comprehend because we stuggle with forgiving and forgetting.  We tend to think if we forget then that person who did something to us is somehow getting away with something.  We also struggle to forgive and forget what we have done because we struggle with thinking we are worthy of forgiveness and we don’t want to let ourselves off the hook too easily.  The thing is, if Jesus says we are forgiven, who are we to hold onto it?  If Jesus has already forgotten what we did, why are we still clinging to it?  Why are we clinging to our old identity instead of clinging to the identity that Jesus has given to us?  

I know I explained this in another episode #355 (click here for episode) if you want to go back and listen to it, but I thought it was really powerful when I heard it and I think it could be repeated a million times and we would still struggle to remember it.   Jesus died on a cross for our sins.  I think that is something that is easy to conceptualize as we can look at a cross and see his sacrifice.  However, do we believe He did it for our sins, yours and mine?  That is harder to believe.  It is harder to think of his sacrifice as something He did for me personally and yet that is exactly who He did if for.  He gave His life for you, individually, and for each one of us as an individual, not as a whole.  It talks about how when Jesus was in the garden, asking His Father to let this cup pass from Him, he was thinking about all of our sins.  Yours and mine included  He willingly took them to the cross with Him, so when are were going to release them?  

I want to touch on something it says in Romans 6:11 is says, “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Do you consider yourself dead to sin?  I wasn’t sure what to say when asked this question.  I wasn’t sure what this question even meant.  Then we were asked another question that gave us a little more clarity.  Do you consider yourself a sinner who does the right thing now and then, or do you consider yourself a saint that sins sometimes.  This is all about a mindset.  We have to live into our baptism promises.  We need to believe that Jesus died for our sins and when he did he removed our sinful nature.  Our identity matters.  You may think this is a little thing and it doesn’t really matter.  You may think the above question is just a matter of semantics.  I assure you it isn’t.  What you tell yourself matters.  

We are saints who sin sometimes.  It is important that we understand this because the enemy wants us to focus on our sins.  He wants us to think we are unredeemable.  He wants us to feel like we are our sins.  The enemy wants us to take on our sins as if they are our identity.  For instance, I lied to someone therefor I am a liar.  I stole a piece of candy from a friend, therefore I am a thief.  You are not your actions, you are not your sins.  You are a redeemed child of God, that is your identity.  Your sins are things you do and they can be forgiven and forgotten.  

I am not sure why the Holy Spirit wanted me to repeat those two paragraphs from an earlier episode.  I felt strongly that the Lord wants us to know He is not holding on to our sins and so we shouldn’t either.  I really feel like He is asking us to give them over to Him once and for all.  I feel like the Lord is calling us to forgive ourselves, because He already has.  Maybe that is something we could all give up for Lent this year?  Maybe we could give up carrying around the guilt we feel over things God has already forgiven and forgotten.  How much lighter would you feel if you finally released that guilt and shame to God?  What if you made 2023 the year you turned it over to God and didn’t take it back?  What if this year was the year you released it for good? Remember your identity, You are a saint that sins sometimes, not a sinner that gets it right sometimes.  You are a child of the one true God.  He loves you!

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord you are amazing and we are so grateful you don’t remember our sins.  Please help us to forget as well.  Please help us to turn them over to you.  Help us to put them down and not pick them back up again.  Help us to finally, once and for all release those things you have already forgiven and forgotten.  If there is anything we are holding onto that we haven’t repented for please put that on our heart and help us take that to you and turn that over to you as well Lord.  You are so amazing and the way you just forget our sins says so much about you.  You are the best Father ever!!  We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name Amen.

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  I can’t wait to share my witness with you tomorrow about all the healing I saw happen on the retreat last weekend.  God was showing off big time I am so very grateful I got to be a small part of it.  Remember, Jesus loves you and so do I.  Have a blessed day!

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