Category: General

I don’t ever remember a time in my life when I didn’t believe in Jesus, when I didn’t believe he died for me, or when I didn’t trust Him with my heart. I was probably less than a month old the first time I attended Sunday School, and growing up, I was blessed to hear Bible stories that taught me about having faith in God. I was ten years old when I gave my life to Christ, and His love has brought me through many years.

Even though I have been a believer basically my entire life, there have been a few times when my faith has been questioned. When a prayer wasn’t answered the way I prayed, I let doubt set in. When sin became greater than my faith, I found myself doubting my walk with Christ. When healing didn’t take place, could I honestly say I still believed? When finances weren’t working, when crops were hailed out, when… (you can fill in the blank). There have been times in my life when my faith wasn’t as strong as it should’ve been. 

Can I be very vulnerable with you for a second? Even recently, I was beginning to question lots of things. As hard as this is to write, I want to be honest. I was asking lots of questions such as: Why does God let bad things happen to good people? Why do church leaders let us down? If God is really real, why is our world looking the way it looks? 

Oh, in my heart, I still trusted God, and I knew what I knew from my years of walking with Him. But I was letting doubt creep in.

So what did I do to get my faith back up and running? I prayed. I asked God to give me glimpses of His goodness. I asked God to reveal to me the times of His faithfulness and love toward me. I read His Word. Romans 10:17 says, “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” A large part of your faith comes from learning, believing, listening, and acting out the words in the Bible. The deeper you dive into the word of God, the deeper your faith will grow.

Then I started saying these things out loud:

I believe in Jesus.

I am a child of God.

I believe that God has a purpose and a plan for my life.

I know that He is good, and He is for me.

And guess what? My faith returned. 

I know, without a doubt, that my God loves you, has a purpose for your life, and wants what is good for you too. Begin to speak truth out loud into your heart. Spend time in His word. Meditate on His goodness. Your faith might start off in the littlest of ways, but it will grow as you spend more and more time with God. Matthew 17:20 says, “I assure you that if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Go from here to there,’ and it will go. There will be nothing that you can’t do.’” 

I haven’t moved any mountains lately, but my faith is stronger, and I know yours can be too.

We want to thank Vickie Young for sharing this post.

In September, a year will have passed since my mom went to her heavenly home. Not everyone knows the circumstances that went on behind the scenes. My mom lived a long and fulfilling life. However, it was her last year of life that would bring many challenges. Those challenges would bring me to my knees with a heart that searched for God.

The last year was filled with physical pain for my mom. Weak and brittle bones, her spine collapsing on itself, pinched nerves, and a diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease. That physical pain eventually led to mental pain and heartache, not only for her but for me as well.

Many prayers were said for us. As time passed, it seemed as if those prayers were going unanswered. As pain increased and earthly help seemed nonexistent, I began to question why a good God was not responding to cries for help. As her problems began to mount up, it became overwhelming. Through this, I learned something. It’s the Lord’s will, not ours. Sometimes God uses the darkness to lead us to the light, death to bring new life. Through deep disappointments and lots of anxiety, anger, and heartache, all I could do was hold onto Jesus and allow Him to hold me.

Micah 7:7 says, “But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.” 

During this time God began to reveal where all those prayers went. Instead of God changing His plans for my wants, He began changing my wants for His plans.Everyone wants to be on the mountaintop, but it’s in the valley where faith grows. He showed me how deep disappointment and heartache can turn into a deep relationship with Him. He began to reveal how worry can turn into confidence, sadness into joy, anger into peace, and bad into good.

Jeremiah 29:11-13 says, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.’”  

Through afflictions you come to know Jesus more intimately. That relationship is more valuable than anything you can find here on Earth. It takes faith. God can take disappointments and turn it into a heartfelt satisfaction.

As you stare death in the face, you begin to see the big picture. You get to see that our comfort on this Earth is not what it’s all about. It’s about a relationship with the living God. What seemed like a year in hell was really a year of God preparing my heart and placing the appropriate people into my life at the exact time that they were needed. God is never early, and He is never late. God is always right on time.

My mom was ready to go. However, I wasn’t ready to let go. Unfortunately, we allow life to get hard because we try to do it in our own strength. When we are holding on to the end of the rope is when we start searching for hope and the promises Jesus has given us. Let me tell you, don’t wait until you are at the end of your rope to start searching. He wants to give all of that to you on your good days as well. While you’re on that mountaintop, savor every moment with Him. When you store up hope, goodness, and promises on your good days is when you have something to fall back on during your bad days.

Next time disappointments or trials come knocking at your door, remember that God is sovereign and has a purpose for each of our lives. This is a broken world, but He can use all of our afflictions. All Jesus wants is a personal relationship with you. He wants to be the problem solver and burden carrier. Until we are ready to relinquish control, He will sit back and wait. Don’t wait until you are paralyzed and can’t do anything. God is ready to teach us everything we need for the season we are in. All He is asking for is an open heart and mind with the willingness to put aside our agenda and lean into Him.

We want to thank Kathy Jones for sharing this post.

One of the most freeing things I can think that God has granted us since the beginning of time is freedom of CHOICE. We first see this in the Garden of Eden, and though the right choice wasn’t made, and many more wrong choices follow that first wrong decision, freedom to choose was granted to us all because of His love for us. Though many wrong choices may have been made, so have many great choices, but for all the freedom we have of choice, we also have consequences. 

Consequence can sometimes seem like such a harsh word. I know growing up, I would equate my wrong doings with the consequences I would receive for them. It made me question the goodness of God when it came to freedom of choice because “why would a good God set me up for failure by allowing my flesh to make bad decisions?” Because God wants us to be free people. He wants us to fully receive all the blessings he has for us and the gifting He has given us. He has life and prosperity for us. 

“See, today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and adversity. For I am commanding you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, statutes, and ordinances, so that you may live and multiply, and the Lord your God may bless you in the land you are entering to possess.”

Deuteronomy 30:15-16 CSB

Consequence was not meant to be a shameful word. It wasn’t meant to replace what condemnation is. Because what freedom of choice leads to is the freedom of the Lord’s blessings and promises. The freedom to have the consequences of choosing His path for your life. So, when you freely choose to do the work set for you even when it seems mundane, you freely receive the consequence of blessing. And when you freely choose to walk in peace in a  nonpeaceful situation, you receive the consequence of abundant life and peace. Or, when you make a bad decision and steer in the wrong direction, you freely receive the consequence of His direction, a direction given from a loving God who always leads you to prosperity and life. 

God has goodness for you in the freedom of choice. He has goodness for you in his forgiveness as well. We trust in God because His freedom is the sweetest and his prosperity is the greatest. Choose to let his freedom reign. 

We want to thank Sarah Perry for sharing this post.

Everything I’ve learned about walking in freedom, I learned from my mom. I would like to share an excerpt from her journal, and I believe it will bring you as much freedom as it did me. Here’s the woman that was set free from her infirmity…she was made whole.

Unclean Woman

There was this certain woman in the bible, which had suffered for many years with an issue of blood. She had seen many physicians, spent all she had, and wouldn’t get better but rather grew worse.  When she heard of Jesus, she came and weaved through the crowd to reach him. She believed and said, If I may only touch his garment, I shall be made whole (Mark 5:25-27).

Straightway the issue of her blood stopped, and she was healed. (v. 29). Jesus felt virtue had gone out of him. He turned and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” And his disciples said to him, “Master you see all the crowd and you ask who has touched you?” (v. 30-31). Do we come to church just to be the crowd? Or do we come to church focused on our needs to be met by Jesus like this certain woman?  

The woman, fearing and trembling, knowing that she had been healed, came and fell down before Him and told him everything that had gone on for 12 years (confessed openly of her uncleanness). And He said unto her, “Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace and be whole of thy uncleanness.” (v. 33-34)

According to the Old Testament (the Mosaic Law), anyone who would touch a woman during her menstruation would be unclean until the evening. According to GRACE any unclean man or woman will be made whole through Jesus our Lord and Savior.  If we come before Him through the crowd (in public), looking for whatever needs we have, HE is faithful and just to supply our needs.

Let’s do as this woman, who was not held by her sickness, to go by faith to meet Jesus where He was and had faith that if she would only touch the hem of His garment, she would be healed.

– Linda Helen Bernal

What is your need today?

We want to thank Jerika Longoria for sharing this excerpt from her mom.

The enemy likes to flaunt our past mistakes often in an effort to make us feel unworthy of God’s love. It used to be an effective method to grip my soul in fear of God’s wrath and judgement, knowing I could never measure up. But God.

One of the first times I felt the Lord wooing my spirit was in the early days of high school. I believed in him, but mostly I believed the lies that he was a vengeful and scary God that I had to walk on pins and needles to obey. I never could. As I pleaded with this far-off being out of fear, he distinctly told me to read Joshua 1:9. “Haven’t I commanded you: be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” That was confusing, but I clung to that scripture through college, hoping that it was true, that I could trust him just as he asked the Israelites to trust him. But no matter how many steps forward in trying to obey I would take, I would fall again in my efforts to people please and maintain a state of perfectionism. I believed the lie that I wasn’t, and would never, be good enough for God’s best so I needed to take matters into my own hands since my life was going to remain in this perpetual cycle of bondage. But God.

In his wonderful patience, God placed Spirit filled women along my course that waited in obedience until I was at my lowest and finally would allow him to come near. They led me to the feet of Jesus, and He healed all my broken pieces and showed me the many lies I had believed about myself and him. All the chains the enemy had been so faithfully piling on my limbs, the Lord stripped away. As I sat writing out my testimony one day, I looked back and saw all the ways he had drastically changed my life. I was amazed and realized I am no longer a slave to fear!

You, daughter of the King, were created to live in His freedom. 2 Corinthians 3:17 says, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” When you allow Holy Spirit to move in your spirit, you find freedom. You have freedom to celebrate. You have freedom to grieve. You have freedom to dance. You have freedom to rest. You have freedom to do whatever he is calling you to do. Sometimes that is uncomfortable, but it is always worth the step of faith. When he whispers to you, “Trust me, daughter,” you can look back at your testimony and see his faithfulness. When the enemy circles back around in difficult seasons, you can declare the Lord’s faithfulness.“For you, Lord, have delivered me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living.”

Psalms 116:8-9. 

The Lord is with you, he is for you, and you are no longer a slave to fear.

We want to thank Christian Greer for sharing this post.

I had a crazy childhood. Not in the way most would think, but even so, it felt crazy.  My sister and I were conjoined twins. Crazy right?! We were born connected. We were separated when we were 1 and had surgeries throughout our early childhood as a result. 

Looking back, I learned to see where the enemy took things that God meant for blessings in our situation and fed me lies. God gave me a sister to walk through those crazy unrelatable circumstances. He BLESSED me with a friend and sibling to walk through those times with; to have someone to relate and talk with.  However, the enemy snuck in and fed lies to make us feel uniquely alone in those moments.

I remember a situation in school when I was in track. I was not good at all at running (because of, you know, the conjoined twin thing), like not even clearing the second curve of the track while everyone else was finished, getting the pitiful “you’ve got this” clap! As I was sucking air back in my lungs, my coach so graciously offered me the manager position because I would be “good at it”. (FYI this coach was amazing and had a lot of compassion).  That story makes me laugh but it is such a kind, merciful story. God placed a community around my sister and I to be a blessing, a cushion, to have understanding and grace for us. 

BUT. The enemy took those stories and fed lies. People would tell us things like: “You are a miracle.” The enemy’s lie: “Wow, you shouldn’t even be here.” People would say: “Oh my, your poor parents.”  The enemy’s lie: “Wow, what a burden you must be.” 

Fast forward to growing up, I struggled with doubt and unbelief. Of course, I did. I was living off lies about who God was and what He said about me. The truth was that God was a merciful God who wanted to be glorified in our crazy situation, to provide us blessings for His glory, but I was seeing God through the lens of what the enemy was saying about God, and Me!  This made life feel heavy, like a burden, like I was walking through mud. It affected relationships, my desire to overachieve to prove myself, my worth. Walking through life through the lens of the enemy was heavy. 

God slowly began to work on me, helping me through His word, friends, through my husband. Constant reminders of truth, of who GOD is and who HE says I am. I got to a point where I laid it all out to God, praying, “Show me who YOU are. Heal my unbelief. Heal my critical heart, my performance heart.”  I laid all false beliefs, all beliefs from what man had taught me, and went to the Source. I began reading Gods word (the Bible) diligently. God so faithfully showed me exactly who He is, who HIS character is. And what He says about ME. The Freedom that has come through understanding God through HIS word has been undeniable. 

I get this picture of walking through mud, but with rose colored glasses, not knowing why things feel heavy, not knowing you’re in the mud. And when we take the glasses off, we can realize the mud, the lies we are viewing life through, and start walking on the road with God, in the truth of what God says, through His Word. 

We must KNOW God to walk with God. We need to understand HIS truth to hold it up to the enemy’s schemes, to the lies we are believing. 

James 1:25 says, “But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.”

Galatians 5:1 says: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”

If you are feeling the heaviness or burden of life, look to the truth. God has given us his Word through the Bible. It is alive and living. When I began studying God’s word diligently, my understanding of who God is and who He says I am changed. It has allowed me to walk in the freedom of Christ. I encourage you to use the community God has surrounded you with but ultimately, we must know the truth of what God says as our standard to walk in freedom.

We want to thank Lori Johnson for sharing this post.

James 1:2-3 TPT “My fellow believers, when it seems as though you are facing nothing but difficulties, see it as an invaluable opportunity to experience the greatest joy that you can! For you know that when your faith is tested it stirs up power within you to endure all things.”

The Joy of the Lord – what an amazing gift! And that’s just what it is: a gift. In January of this year I had my daughter, Stevie Joy. We gave her the middle name Joy because we felt like joy would completely describe her personality and her life. Stevie means “crowned one” and we spoke over her that she would live a life crowned with joy! I have been on a rollercoaster ride with joy in my life, and I wanted to definitively proclaim that Stevie would not have to battle for joy like I did. She would live it! 

In April of 2016, my dad died suddenly. My whole family was shaken, as he was definitely the rock and spiritual leader of the family. He was a mighty man of God that lived a life proclaiming the gospel always. While others in my family dealt with their pain by going to the Lord, I struggled with this. I ran from the Lord for a while, because getting quiet with God was painful. It just brought up the hurt I was going through, and feelings of abandonment and anger. Even though I knew the truth of His word, and that only by drawing close to Him would I be able to heal from this experience, I pushed Him away for a while. I chose to cope by other means of distractions that would keep me from addressing my pain. I entered into some patterns of sin that were distracting from the real pain I was feeling. But these actions also caused me to feel shame because I knew a better way! Therefore, drawing close to God became even harder because I felt dirty and unworthy of His love, grace, and the healing that He was offering me. 

In 2018, my mom invited me to go on a Walk to Emmaus with her. I agreed, but hesitantly. I knew this would be a weekend where I would encounter God in the way I needed but wasn’t quite ready for. That weekend, there was a man on the leadership team that allowed me to talk with him as if I was talking with my dad. I was able to share with him some of the painful parts of everything I had been feeling and thinking since my dad had passed. I spent time weeping, and pouring out my emotions of anger, abandonment, hurt, and pain. Being able to verbalize those feelings allowed me to hand them over to God and begin to receive healing for them. I received love, grace, forgiveness, and healing that weekend from the Lord. God was and always is tender-hearted towards us, and I felt that that weekend. After recognizing my feelings, and repenting for my sin, I could receive healing. The Lord also spoke to me that weekend that it was time for Him to restore my joy. The day my dad died I remember saying the words “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to feel happy again.” But God reminded me that joy is a gift, and one that we can choose to receive and walk in, even if our circumstances are not joyful. So that weekend I chose to let God restore my joy that the enemy had stolen. 

Now of course I still had hard days even after that weekend. But God was and is faithful to continue to restore my joy! Joy is a gift! And it’s a gift that we can choose to live in, even when going through something that is not joyful. Choosing joy is possible through the power of the Holy Spirit, and us allowing Him to have free reign in every aspect of our lives. When we have His eyes, ears, and heart, then we can view every circumstance through the lens of supernatural joy. My prayer for you would be that no matter what you’re going through, you could lean into the Lord and choose to partake in His gift of Joy! 

We want to thank Joanna Capps for sharing this post.

Galatians 5:22 (NLT) But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things.   

The fruits of the Spirit are a package deal – it is not like a beautifully displayed fruit tray where you pick your favorite and leave the rest. Can we express love without the rest of the fruits? Can we really be gentle if we don’t maintain self-control? Can we show kindness if we have no patience or peace? How can we live in the joy of the Lord if the other fruits are absent? If we find ourselves lacking in one of the fruits…chances are we are deficient in them all. For the sake of desiring our lives to flourish as a healthy orchard, let’s look at the fruits of the Spirit as a whole package. 

My mother-in-law loved fruit trees and had a yard filled with several kinds, but her favorite were her peach trees. She took great care to make sure they had all they needed to produce the best peaches. She watered, fertilized, pruned, and picked the ripe peaches at just the right time. It was a full-time job to keep the trees healthy and producing. At times the task was just too much for her alone and she had to ask for help. Her family and friends reaped the benefits every year as she shared the delicious fruit. Not only did she share her fresh peaches but she would make pies and cobblers to freeze, can the peaches, dehydrate the peaches, and store them with care to last her family until time for the next harvest.  

In contrast to the trees of my mother-in-law, let’s think of three other situations we have all seen with fruit trees….

• A fruit tree that fails to produce any fruit at all.
• A tree that produces fruit but it doesn’t make it to the ripened stage. 
• A tree that produces good fruit but it’s fruit rots on the branches.  

This is the truth with our spiritual fruit as well.  

• We can be Christians and not produce fruit.
• We may be producing some fruit but it isn’t making it to the ripened stage. 
• The fruit is there but we are not sharing it with others – therefore it rots and isn’t beneficial for the Kingdom.  

If we want our lives to produce healthy and beneficial fruit, we have to put in the work. We must be willing to tend to our hearts in order for the fruits of the Spirit to grow and ripen and be useful for the Kingdom. 

• Watering our hearts with prayer can strengthen the roots of our faith to get the nutrients we need to produce the fruits of the Spirit.  
• Applying God’s Word to our lives as fertilizer is the added boost of promises and assurances we can rely on when the storms of life come.  
• Allowing the Holy Spirit to prune away the things that can cause us to stumble will leave room for healthy fruit to flourish. 
• Asking for help! There will be times that this walk is too much for us to bear alone. Look for healthy Christians that are producing fruit like you would like to see in your own life and ask them for help.  
• Sharing our fruit with those around us is the key to building the Kingdom of God. IT IS FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE WE WERE CREATED!

We want to thank Jill Winders for sharing this post.

“The Lord is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving.” Psalms 28:7

The source of joy is the Lord. The Bible tells us in Philippians 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice.” An important way to rejoice in the Lord and take delight in Him is to spend time with Him. When I spend time reading the Bible, praying and listening to God I am more focused on Him, and reminded of His love and faithfulness. Time in God’s presence allows Him to speak to us, encourage us, and pour His joy into us. I have learned this time with God is so important for me and sets the tone for my day. I notice my joy is affected when I have neglected to spend time with God. One of my favorite verses is Deuteronomy 31:6 that states “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” This verse brings me great joy and peace. How can we not have joy knowing that God is always with us and never leaves us? 

I know that I have more joy when I have a heart filled with gratitude. Being grateful makes you joyful. When I intentionally recognize and appreciate God and His blessings, I can’t help but be filled with joy. It’s important to notice and appreciate the small, simple, things that we might take for granted. It’s not the possessions or circumstances that bring joy but praising God that leads to joy. When we look for God and His blessings we will find him. Sometimes having gratitude is a struggle for me and I have to intentionally change my thoughts to focus on the positive instead of the negative. I am reminded of these verses in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17 that state “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” I have learned that gratefulness changes my perspective and leads to joy.

When our focus is on God and his goodness we are bound to have joy.

We want to thank Bailey Adams for sharing this post.

You did it: you changed wild lament into whirling dance;

You ripped off my black mourning band and decked me with wildflowers.

I’m about to burst with song; I can’t keep quiet about you.

God, my God, I can’t thank you enough. 

Psalm 30:11-12

Life rarely turns out the way we dream it would, but that doesn’t mean it has to affect our joy. We may have been dealt, what we perceive, as an unfair hand. We may struggle in our marriage, maybe our relationship with our children isn’t what we dreamed it would be or we’re not satisfied in our work. Are there health issues that you struggle with? How can we have joy in the midst of life’s struggles and sufferings?

In 2005, after several  trips to the Emergency Room with debilitating headaches, I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Going on 18 years, the headaches continue. I have headaches more days than not. I made a choice the day my doctor diagnosed me to remain joyful and even celebrate this path. I continue to remember that nothing takes God by surprise. I was and still am right in the center of His perfect will! So, is there a secret to having joy in the midst of our struggles?

Hebrews 12:2 starts out by saying, “We look away from the natural realm and we focus our attention and expectation onto Jesus who birthed faith within us and who leads us forward into faith’s perfection”.

We will never achieve joy or peace if we keep our eyes on the world, our situation, our suffering. We must focus our attention and expectation onto Jesus. We must let go of every wound that has pierced us and the sin we so easily fall into. (Hebrews 12:1) We can’t let unforgiveness, bitterness, or resentment keep us from being joyful.

Continuing on in Hebrews 12:2, “He was willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy He knew would be His afterwards.” We can be willing, as Jesus was, to have joy in our suffering.

“Everyone that rejoices in their suffering are doing it for the sake of the Gospel and are bringing their souls closer to Jesus.” 2 Timothy 2:10

If our identity is anchored in Christ then our suffering will drive us deeper into our source of joy.

        -unknown

In her book, Defiant Joy, Stasi Eldridge states, “Suffering is an essential part of all our lives. And it is when we are in the midst of it that God reminds us that the absence of suffering is not our good. And knowing His presence in the pain is the sweetest gift of all.”

Ladies, whatever you are going through today, make it a priority to keep your eyes on Jesus and not your situation. Forgive, let go, praise and dance like nobody is watching!

We want to thank Kerri Harper for sharing this post.