love – 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.”

Love Like No Other

Six weeks ago, the greatest blessing of my life entered the world; my sweet baby girl.

Everyone tells you the love you have for a child is unlike any other, that the feeling is overwhelming and the emotions uncontrollable, but nothing can prepare you for the reality of experiencing that all-consuming love for the very first time.

In between the diaper changes, feedings, baths, spit ups, wardrobe swaps, and attempted sleep, the thought crossed my mind that I have no idea how God did it-how did He allow His Son, His lovely, perfect, beautiful, and harmless Son to sacrifice Himself for an undeserving world?

Desire For My Daughter

Today, on my birthday, I was told “God’s greatest gift lives within you”. I am currently pregnant with my first child, a baby girl. Although there are many years between us, there are so many things I would like her to know, to experience, to run with through life. So, below are the desires I have for my daughter:

Know you are loved. Not only by your father and me, but by the Creator of the Universe. You were placed on this earth for a purpose, a destiny, a Heavenly call. You are known by the One who spoke the world into existence, who told the mountains to rise, the valleys to go deep, the oceans to wave, the trees to sway, and the sun the shine. Your name is always on His mind.

Know you are worthy. The world may tell you you aren’t “enough”; pretty enough, smart enough, talented enough, but your Father believed you were more than enough for Him to give His most precious gift. He gave it all for you, He sacrificed His heart so you could spend eternity with Him. So, no matter what the world may tell you, know you, simply you, were worth the Son sacrificing Himself so you may live.

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”

Revival?

As someone who would consider themselves a “Charismatic” Christian, I have always had an image of what I thought revival would resemble. In my mind, revival would, of course, include people coming to know the love of the Father and hundreds, thousands, millions, giving their lives to the Lord, but I also always assumed it would include what Charismatics like myself are used to: prophetic words being spoken, supernatural healings taking place, people falling under the weight of the Holy Spirit, new tongues flowing forth…

But, as I watched the Live Steam of the Asbury University Worship this morning, which has been going nonstop for nearly two weeks, a new reality of what revival would look like hit me. Perhaps, revival is simply placing God back in His rightful place as Lord and worshiping Him as our Father, Guide, Guard, Provider and God.

Spiritual Aspect Of “They/Them”

Firstly, God made us to be unique. He knows each of us personally, which is what makes our relationship with Him so beautiful. We are special in His eyes because we are each an important and precious individual.

Secondly, there are only two genders, male or female, she/her, him/his (Matt. 19:4). Anyone who proclaims otherwise has drank a big glass of confusion and manipulation which will ultimately lead to deterioration of one’s life. God is not the author of confusion, so it’s clear He is not the one behind this gender manipulation mess we see taking over our society, infiltrating our schools and perplexing our children.

So, let’s get into the spiritual aspect of the “they/them” conversation.

Society Of Me

On Monday, I was invited to a seminar focused on the disturbing world of sex trafficking. Individuals from primarily South American countries shared their knowledge of the industry and what their organizations are doing to put an end to it.

I listened to a woman discuss the emotional torment she endured due to trafficking and how she still sometimes finds herself depressed about what she went through, but then reminds herself she is fortunate to be part of the 2% of woman who are able to obtain freedom from it.

Someone else told us that 2019 was the most successful year for saving victims from sex trafficking, having rescued 118,000 individuals from traffickers. The number astounded me, until he said there is an estimate of 29.5 million victims in captivity to this industry.

We learned about the negative impact COVID lockdowns had on sex trafficking. That when the rest of the world shut down because of fear, perpetrators doubled down and took more victims than ever before. Hearings against offenders was down 50% in 2020, so as the numbers of victims grew, the numbers of those held accountable dropped rapidly.

Dear Beth Moore

Beth Moore recently tweeted about the dangers of “Trumpism”, stating “I have never seen anything in these United States of America I found more astonishingly seductive & dangerous to the saints of God than Trumpism.”

There’s a lot to unpack here, primarily the fact that she finds “Trumpism” (whatever that is) more seductive and dangerous than false prophets, wayward pastors, the normalization of homosexuality within the church, Christians staying silent regarding abortion…I could go on and on, so, let’s just focus on this: as a fellow Christian and outspoken Trump supporter, I find her comments offensive, inappropriate and juvenile.

This Is Why

This is why I fight, this is why I pray, this is why I will not let go until victory comes.

I work, I fight, to free the underprivileged, the hurt, the abused, the depressed, the victims.

As I sit here, looking at the pictures sent to me of Nigerian orphans, many newly orphaned due to terrorist attacks on their Christian parents, my heart breaks.

I pray for the boys and girls who have lost everything, the women whose husbands vanished while trying to keep them safe, the men whose wives were stolen from them.

My Everything

I find so much completeness is found in the Lord. So much peace, joy, goodness is in Him.

What else could we possibly need when we have Him?

What else could we ask for when we know we belong to Him?

When we give ourselves away completely is when we find ourselves and all we are capable of.

When we turn to Him and turn away from the world is when we learn all we need to know; no more confusion, no more turmoil, no more pain.

The Lord takes all the enemy longs to wrap us in and breaks the power of the lies, of the captivity the world wants us to be lost in.

I am so in love with the Lord, I am obsessed with Him, I am engrossed in His presence.

Love Thy Neighbor

Since day one, I have been very outspoken regarding my views on how the body of Christ, as a whole, has handled COVID. We have not dealt with this situation, the fear, the confusion, the anxiety and the chaos, the way Jesus would have dealt with it, and if anyone disagrees with that, I would be very interested to see what biblical verse they are standing on.

Now, as things somehow continue to become stricter, even as COVID deaths rapidly decline, we are seeing many churches, again, close and lock their doors.

Since nowhere in the Word does it say we should react to fear and pandemics by shutting ourselves off from one another, most pastors are using a verse they feel gives them the authority to close the House of God: “Love thy neighbor” Mark 12:31.

I find it interesting, and a bit hypocritical, this is the verse pastors are standing on in regards to keeping people from congregating and worshiping. Suicide, alcoholism, drug addiction, domestic and child abuse, violence, anger and confusion are at an all-time high, but closing the House of God, the place people typically run to in times of difficulty, is somehow “loving” them.

For The Remnant

At the end of June, while writing to the Lord about the confusion and chaos in the world, which has not left a single person untouched, He gave me a Word for the Remnant.

I am often hesitant to share publicly what He shares with me personally, but with so many weary, downtrodden and confused, I hope and pray the following Word is encouraging.

To all of you who are growing weary in your well doing, hold on just a little while longer, your God is on His way.

VIDEO-Pastors Rise Up

I’m not one for videos and pictures, but some statements are just best given verbally.

Pastors and churches, this one is for you.

“And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.“
-Mark 16:17-18

Our Promised Land Moment

I believe we are stepping into a new season with the Lord. Things we used to get away with will no longer be acceptable. Flippant words we speak without thinking will not be tolerated and saying you follow the Lord will no longer mean you actually know who He is and what He stands for.

I think we have been in a “safe zone” with God. By this I mean He tolerated so much simply because we, His children, didn’t know better. He tolerated our laziness, our unwillingness to submit to His authority. He tolerated our acceptance of “being a Christian” one day a week, of walking with Him a few hours a month and turning from Him far more than turning towards. He allowed us to make mistakes because we were in an innocent dwelling with Him, a place of learning and growing and finding Him in a world that has abandoned Him.

But, I no longer believe we are in the safe zone anymore. Like the Israelites at the outskirts of their land of milk and honey, we have approached new territory and now is the deciding moment where we either walk into the promised land or continue to wander.

Who Do You Belong To?

I belong to the King of kings and the Lord of lords

I belong to the Creator of life

I belong to the Maker of the universe

I belong to the One who spoke worlds into existence

I belong to the Designer who formed light by simply saying let it be

I belong to the Master of the masterpiece I live in