Encouragement – A Woman Standing

You Never Know

Nearly a year ago, I received a phone call from an old coworker and friend I had not spoken to for several years. It had been so long I was surprised to see their name pop up on my caller ID.

The conversation began lighthearted, with lots of details about all the ways our lives had changed since we last saw one another, but soon the individual began telling me about frustrations and disappointments they had been dealing with, from work to personal life. We ended up talking for over an hour. Eventually, I asked if I could pray for them.

Over the past year we have text back and forth a couple times and had one or two short phone calls. Several days ago they text me asking if we could catch up so we set up a phone call for the following day.

Like any call, we started by just talking about our lives, but the individual soon told me they wanted to talk because they had something to tell me.

“When I called you a year ago, I was in a bad place,” they said. “The Lord put it on my heart to call you,” they paused. “I feel like I can tell you this now since I am in a much better place, but that day I called you I had multiple thoughts of suicide.”

Faith And Delivery

While talking with a friend this morning about faith, words came out of my mouth I had never thought before:

“Faith is like giving birth.”

Even while the words left my lips I thought, “what the heck does that even mean?” God, fortunately, gave me clarity.

Most women, including myself, get to a point in the delivery room when they think, or say out loud in my case, I just can’t do this anymore!

Overwhelming

This morning, I received the link to a sermon of one of my clients preaching at a church near me with a comment on how good the teaching was.

This made me start thinking about my client and all I have seen “firsthand” while working for his ministry as a communications contractor. The more I thought about all I have seen, heard, witnessed, and experienced, the more astounded I became at how much God can do with one individual when that person lets go of all limitations and allows God to truly be all He can be in our lives.

In just 20 years, God took this man from an on the road preacher, visiting small mountain towns and hardly bringing in enough money to pay the bills, to a globally known teacher who gives away millions of dollars every year.

How? The man stopped placing limitations on the Lord.

Casting You Cares

Last night, I became entangled with concerns for my company. One of our clients hasn’t been responding to emails, has missed meetings and hasn’t done a single thing we’ve asked of them in order to properly fulfill our contractual obligations. Payment is due Friday, but we haven’t received a reply to any of the three emails we’ve sent regarding their invoice.

As I thought about this while trying to fall asleep, my mind began to wander to other clients and soon thoughts of “what if” crept in. What if this client isn’t happy with the work we’ve provided, what if that client is frustrated with what we suggested they do, what if they decide not to extend their contract, what if my company falls apart…on and on my mind circled around all the things that could possibly go wrong. Pretty soon I was in such a state of anxiety I was nearly in tears and knew sleep wouldn’t come any time soon.

Right as I was about to reach for the lamp, the Lord said to me, “you aren’t casting your cares on me.”

The Power Of Our Words

Sometimes, God shows us just how powerful our words are and how important it is to cover every aspect of our lives in prayer.

Recently, my husband, who owns his own company, has had an awful experience with one of his sub-contractors. The project his company has been working on since May, one of the biggest projects they’ve done so far, was supposed to be finalized by June 21. Unfortunately, the sub-contractor was unable to provide the promised materials by the agreed upon date, so the project was pushed back 5 days, then 7, 10, 15…finally, the sub-contractor said they will not be able to provide the materials until sometime in August!

Clearly, this has caused stress for my husband, and myself. This project was more than just one single job, it was the beginning of multiple opportunities with the client, a very valuable, and influential, resource in the industry my husband works in. Since my husband is the primary contractor it’s his name on the line and his company is the one suffering and whose name has been tarnished. To be weeks late has truly been devastating.

The Lord Healed Me!

As I have written before, I’m currently pregnant with my first child, a healthy little girl. Although I am overwhelmingly grateful for this blessing and love this baby fully, pregnancy for me has been, for lack of a better word, a challenge.

Instead of getting into all the symptoms I’ve faced and the emotional roller coaster those symptoms have taken me on, I’ll just focus on the most recent one.

For the past four weeks I have been battling some sort of eye infection/allergic reaction/allergy that has resulted in the area around my upper and lower eyelids to be bright red, swollen, itchy and flaky. For weeks I have looked like I’ve just stepped out of a bout in the boxing ring, a bout I clearly lost.

Being a strong proponent of natural remedies, because I truly believe if the devil brought something into this world God has a natural way to heal it, I tried all the therapies I could think of – ice, heat, coconut oil, olive oil, cucumber slices, potatoe slices, honey, stopped eating gluten, stayed away from dairy, changed my makeup, got rid of my pillow, switched toothpastes and deodorant etc, but nothing was making a dent. I am not a fan of western medicine (although I must say I do have several wonderful people in my life who are doctors and nurses), but I finally set up a consultation with a doctor after talking to the nurse at my prenatal clinic.

Simple

We live in a very complex and confusing world. What was once right is now wrong and what was once truth is now purely opinion. Different perspectives and beliefs bombard us on all fronts making it difficult to know what to believe, say, think. This bombardment of false information and new “truths” has complicated things to such a degree it is truly overwhelming.

Lately, I have been faced with frustrations and disappointments, resulting in my attitude not being what it should be. I was shorter than usual and found myself getting annoyed with even the smallest things. I realized something was off but just didn’t know how to deal with it. One morning in prayer, I asked God to help me, for Him to send me to a verse that I could stand on and make my own. I opened my bible and sure enough God took me exactly where I needed to go. I began reading the verses He gave me every day and since then everything has been – simple.

My attitude is lighter, my perspective is cheerful and my overall view on life and all that is happening around me is far more optimistic.

One More Lap

I have had many conversations with different people who are all experiencing the same thing: a frustration with the waiting. Waiting for a career change, waiting for an answered prayer, waiting for their special someone, waiting for the door to open, waiting, waiting, waiting for God to move.

Yesterday, while talking to a friend about this topic, I said something that struck me so much that I have been thinking about it ever since:

Sometimes, God needs us to take another lap around the desert before we are ready to go into our promised land.

You see, God isn’t going to let us walk into a land we are not ready for, even though we may feel like we’ve been ready for a long time. The Israelites had a year long journey from Egypt to Canaan. God had them take a longer route in order to purge them of everything Egypt had tainted them with. When they arrived, Egypt was still very much in them, and they weren’t ready to enter. They felt ready, believed they were ready, wanted to go in and eat of the fruit, but God told them no, therefore they walked around the desert for an additional 40 years.

It Is Finished

[Repost]

The weight of the Lord’s sacrifice does not escape me. I feel it now as I
sit here. He gave everything for us, for me, people He did not yet know but
already loved, loved enough to hand over the most important thing in not only
the world, but in all the universes and all the worlds, in all the ages and all
the eras.

When Adam and Eve fell, God watched the fall from Heaven, His heart falling
alongside them. How could they do it, He probably wondered. I
created them to be above all, yet they desired to be beneath. They want the
world more than they want me. In a moment, He made a plan, for there only
was one way to get humanity out of the problem they created for themselves.

Continue reading “It Is Finished”

Enmity Between Thee

Yesterday, I read a story, which had an accompanying video, of a young female volleyball player who was seriously injured by a male transgender competitor during a volleyball match. The girl suffered, “severe head and neck injuries, resulting in long-term concussion symptoms, including vision problems.” This story hit home seeing as volleyball was a major part of my life for over a decade.

Volleyball, like sports for many people, was everything to me at one point in time. I lived, breathed, dreamed the sport, resulting in a full-ride Division I college scholarship. Post-college, I coached for a Division III University while achieving my master’s degree. To say volleyball was a big part of my life would be an understatement. The sport was a major aspect of my very identity for years.

I once wrote a post about not giving the devil one inch in your life, because when we give the enemy an inch he is never satisfied, he wants more, and more, and more until he controls every aspect of our lives. I believe this is exactly what we are seeing in regards to the devil consistently, and successfully, attacking women.

Identity Crisis

This morning, while listening to a short speech by Italy’s new PM, I realized satan’s recent strategy and all the current madness going on around us can be broken down into one very simple explanation: identity crisis.

What we are witnessing is a full-blown attack on our identities. It is now normalized to question our gender, our ethnicity, our sexual orientation. It’s gotten so bad that children are no longer seeing themselves as human but are now referring to themselves as “furries”, so even our species is in question. We belittle who we are, who were made to be, and accept a new identity based of what those in positions of power tell us to become.

What is now so evident is that this push to question who and what we are is 100% from the enemy.

Truth

It’s been over a year since I wrote anything. So much has happened since the last time I sat down to write in this blog, both in the world and in my own life.

Since my last post, I moved cross country for a job, got engaged, planned a wedding, moved back to DC, got married, started my own company, moved cross country (again), bought a house, and am just beginning to settle down a bit.

Sometimes, life seems to be passing at a pace I can hardly keep up with. My relationship with the Lord has often been put on the backburner throughout the past year. It seems there is just so much, too much, going on for me to know what to say to God when I sit down with Him in the morning.

My primary frustration and what has been increasingly bothering me is the spiritual attack on Truth.

About To Arise

No devil can stop us

No enemy can stand in our way

No weapon can penetrate the armor God has placed upon us

We have been called forth for such a time as this

This day and this season belong to us, belongs to the Remnant

Though the devil may have had a win during the night, our victory is arising with sun

Still Sent The Fire

“Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations; Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way wherein they should go.”

-Nehemiah 9:18-19

While reading this verse, a shock wave seemed to go through me. There is nothing we can do to make God stop perusing us.

The Lord did amazing things for Israel when He delivered them from Egypt. He tried, over and over, to prove His undying love for them. He saved them from slavery, fed them, nurtured them, clothed them, led them through the desert. The pillar of fire at night and cloud by day was, consistently, a physical manifestation of His allegiance to them. He gave them everything He had and did all He could to prove to them He was all they would ever need in order to fulfill their destiny, dreams and desires.

Yet, they denied Him, turned their backs on Him, betrayed Him. They bowed to false idols, claiming other gods as their savior, gave in to every lustful and sinful thought that crossed their minds and permitted themselves to forget, so quickly, all God had done for them.

But, even when they worshipped something other than Him, even when they turned to sin and sickness to fulfill them, even when they allowed satan to take over their camp, God still sent the fire by day and the cloud by night to guide them.

It’s The Law

I’ve been looking for a solid church to go to for nearly a year which is why I was overwhelmed with joy when I learned a Pastor I respect out of Africa has a sister church not far from me. I called their office to ask a question I ask every church I visit since COVID-19 impacted our world.

“Do you all require masks?” I asked the person on the other line.

“Do we require masks? Of course, it’s the law.” Was the response I received.

My heart sank.

I could have said a million things, but the one statement I wish I had responded with was, “whose law are you following?”