Category Archives: Spiritual

Let’s go Deeper!

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A few weeks back, my family and I met with some friends at the beach. The day was absolutely gorgeous!  We had our tent up, sand castle toys we’re scattered everywhere, and the water was crystal clear! 

While our friend was taking our kids out, one at time, on the jet ski, I was hanging back with his daughter. She is 4 years old and this was only the second time I had seen her. The first time we met she was only an infant, so of course she didn’t remember me. 

As we waded in the water with her mom and baby brother, she began to feel more comfortable with me. After ten minutes or so, I asked if she wanted to walk further into the water. There wasn’t much action in the ankle deep water, plus she had a life jacket on and I could tell that she was an adventurous little girl.

She took my hand slowly and cautiously and we walked out deeper into the ocean. I showed her, while she held my hand tightly, how to jump up right before the wave reached us. By keeping her hand clasped in mine, the wave had no power to knock her under. 

However, there were also monstrous waves that she would never be able to jump over in her own strength, so when they approached I would grab her and lift her little body over my head. After another ten minutes or so her wall of hesitation towards me had crumbled. She was no longer waiting on me to ask if she wanted to venture out further, she was telling me, “let’s go deeper!” Her trust in me had developed and she knew I wouldn’t let anything happen to her. 

This precious moment reminds me of my personal relationship with God. Time and time again, He has carried me over some pretty massive waves, which has produced deep roots of trust and faith in Him. Spiritual growth is not formed under the tent, in a beach chair, sipping ice cold lemonade. It is quite the contrary. Spiritual growth transpires when we venture out into the deep. Where our toes can barely touch the sandy bottom. It’s right at the moment when you see a mammoth wave coming towards you and feel completely vulnerable, but instead of buckling, you leap up and God grabs you thrusting you over the roaring waters. 

We live in a fallen world and waves are inevitable. The swells of life do not declare the absence of Jesus. No, He is always there in the midst of the raging seas with His hand open and available to grasp. Now leap up and trust Him. Allow Jesus to carry you over the rushing waves of life. Then observe how your Faith and Trust grows deeper!

“The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him,” ~Nahum 1:7

Anxiety and Community

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Anxiety is a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome.

In the world of Christianity, you will most often hear, just give it to God. You will also hear, these scriptures 1 Peter 5:7 “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” and Psalm 55:22 “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.” Here’s one more many recite in times of crisis, it’s found in Matthew 6:34, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Although, these scriptures will give you peace (when you receive them) for all your concerns, they can also come across cold and churchy at times too.

My anxiety level for the past four months has been all over the place between trying to sell our house in Georgia, looking for a home church here in Florida, having one vehicle for our family of six, and wondering where in the world we are going to live.

It’s a weird place to be. If there was such a place as purgatory that is where I feel I’m at. Everything is on hold and I’m just sitting here waiting.

Cast means, to throw (something) forcefully in a specified direction. Yes, I’ve done this and peace comes, but after a week or so when I see no movement and no answers anxiety creeps in again!

I’ve learned when the feelings of anxiety overtake me I turn on worship music and pray. When the music isn’t penetrating my thoughts like I need it to I send out a S.O.S. to a few of my family members.

Don’t try to battle anxiety on your own! God did not create us to walk alone. He desires us to hold each other up when our brother or sister is too weak to stand.

My mama sent me this story a couple months back. It really shows the power of support.

When a mama elephant is giving birth, all the other female elephants in the herd back around her in formation. They close ranks so the delivering mama cannot even be seen in the middle. They stomp and kick up dirt and soil to throw attackers off the scent and basically act like a pack of fierce bodyguards.

They surround the mama and incoming baby in protection, sending a clear signal to predators that if they want to attack their friend while she is vulnerable, they’ll have to get through forty tons of female aggression first.

When the baby elephant is delivered, the sister elephants do two things: they kick sand or dirt over the newborn to protect its fragile skin from the sun, and then they all start trumpeting, a female celebration of new life, of sisterhood, of something beautiful being born in a harsh, wild world despite enemies and attackers and predators and odds.

Wow, what a visually….and in the subject line of my Mama’s email, “I’ve got you Sissy.” Talk about the water works flowing!

God knew I didn’t need another scripture, I already knew His promises, but they weren’t piercing through my thick scull. Instead, I just needed to know someone was going to battle for me when I was down and too weak to fight for myself.

I’m sharing all of this to say, the next time someone shares their fears and worries with you, don’t be quick to blurt out a scripture. Instead, pause a moment. Only God knows what that person needs. Yes, it could be a Bible verse or it might just be open ears, closed lips, and a tight embrace.

Aligning the Heart and Mind

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The Boy family is moving back to Florida, so this Father’s Day weekend we went house hunting around the New Tampa, Brandon, and Welsey Chapel area, with palm trees galore.  How exciting, right? No!

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It hasn’t even been a year since we moved to Georgia and we only closed on our current house seven months ago!

Needless to say, I’m not looking forward to all the paper work of relocating and starting over again.

When my husband first told me about his job opportunity, we took a week to pray about it before making the decision. Mentally, I knew the right decision was for my husband to take the offer, but my heart was not in agreement.

I personally had no desire to move back to Florida. My husband’s company relocated us to North Georgia in July and I fell in love! Here we have seasons. Fall isn’t just a word you describe to your kids and show them pictures online of how the leaves change, but you are able to experience it firsthand. The leaves actually turn gorgeous shades of caramel, strawberry red, and a golden yellow. Beyond the seasons, our entire family is plugged into an amazing church. The girls have had opportunities to sing on a worship team and be a part of a Christmas production.  We also found a beautiful homeschool group where the kids have found sweet friends to hang out with weekly. Does God really want us to move?

Well, I was expecting a stir of excitement when we went down to Florida, but that didn’t happen, at all! For three days we looked at pretty houses and nice lots, but nothing inside me said, “yay!” To be totally honest I felt a sense of depression at times, numb, speechless, and could care less!

My wonderful husband was taking my “vibes” (if you want to say), personally. He wanted me to be happy and he could see I wasn’t.

Last night he prayed about our move and our future. He then wrapped me up tight and prayed for me personally. After he stepped away, the tears streamed down my cheeks and I heard God say, “It’s time to move!” Not once, but three times, I heard God speak directly to my heart, “It’s time to move!” He knows I’ve been stubborn in this area and He didn’t want to leave room for me to question. For the first time, I felt peace, I felt my heart let go.

Afterwards, a memory came to mind of when I was little playing with my cousins, at my Mema’s house, and my Dad would stand up and say, “It’s time to go!” I automatically knew, I wouldn’t get another five minutes to play even if I asked. When my dad said it’s time to go, he meant it and I knew it! There was no room for doubt or pity parties. My mind, heart, and emotions would snap into place and I would leave my Mema’s house with my head up and a smile on my face. I can now say the same about Georgia, my mind, heart, and emotions have snapped into place, my head is high, and there’s a smile on my face because Father God said, “It’s time to Move!”

Thank you, God, for giving me peace about this new adventure. I pray for all my sweet friends out there that may be facing difficult times or big changes and their hearts are not in agreement. I pray you soften their hearts to hear your voice and I pray that you will give them peace today.  In Jesus name, Amen.

Is your purse empty? 

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Last week my husband brought home a wonderful surprise for me, a Kate Spade gift set. The set included a sleek, black, leather wallet and a chevron print phone cover. I quickly asked, “how much was it?” You see I don’t like for people to spend money on me. My sweet husband explained to me there was a promotion going on at work and he got it for free. Wow! I don’t know who Kate Spade is, but I love free gifts. Later I realized Kate Spade is actually a well known designer. Well, I need a new purse to go with my fancy wallet now, you see this wallet won’t fit in my current purse, plus if I was going carry around a Kate Spade wallet now, I need to have a name brand purse to go with it. So the following day I went shopping. I found a MK tote from TJ Maxx, it wasn’t full price, but it wasn’t cheap either. After a few days of carrying it around, I felt guilty. We are in the process of buying a new house and we need to be wise with our money, also, there are tons of other things I could spend that money on, so I returned it. 

The day after returning it, I went out looking for a purse again, I was on a mission. I spent an hour and a half between three different stores. Looking up and down the aisle, pushing purses left and right to see what was behind them. Even taking pictures with name brand purses like MK and Kate Spade, so I could send them to my mom and get her opinion. After searching and looking for what seemed like hours (my poor kids), I left! This was ridiculous! As I drove off toward my next errand, I felt like a spoiled brat, I was frustrated and pouty because I couldn’t find “the purse” I wanted one.

That night after cleaning up from dinner I got on the computer and started looking again, yes again! I was trying to find deals, but the prices were still in the hundreds! Finally, something said look at H&M. I found the perfect solid black purse, under $30 (after my discount)! Now that’s something I can buy!

As I laid down that night I started thinking about how much people feed the “brand” name, just hashtag brand names on Instagram! They also spend hundreds of dollars on the outward appearance from clothes to makeup and hours grooming themselves from manicures to hair treatment. But how much time do we spend investing on the inner self? I spent hours looking for a stupid purse that had the outer appearance altogether…it was cute, expensive, trendy, and had the hashtag liketoknow.it all over it, but none of that matters if the purse is empty inside because you invested all your money on the outward appearance. Who cares what clothes you wear, handbags you carry, and shoes you strut, if you have nothing inside that’s worth any kind of substance? 

Don’t get me wrong, if you have the money and you want to give me a name brand purse, I will gladly take it…lol. No, really if you have the money, fine. Also, I’m not saying there is anything wrong with getting your hair colored and your nails painted, I actually have an appointment on Thursday to get my roots done! I just want to encourage you to not get wrapped up in the outward appearance. For in 1 Samuel 16:7 it says, “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Yeah, you might look real cute for your Instagram pic, but is your purse empty? 

Prayer: Lord, may our character speak louder than our wardrobes. Help us Father, to focus our attention on what pleases you, rather than be concerned about how many followers and likes we have on social media. Search our hearts and guide us in your truth. In Jesus Name, Amen

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

Christianity Is Not About Rules

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If I was asked to sum up Christianity in one word, what would it be? Well, I would choose a four letter word, L-O-V-E, LOVE.

People, the church and religion has complicated Jesus!

I have four beautiful kids. Each time I gave birth, the nurse would put my sweet baby in my right arm and a large rule book in the other arm…no, not really. The nurse didn’t need to give me a rule book of do’s and don’t’s.

You see, when she placed my baby girls and my baby boy in my arms, I instantly felt LOVE. I wanted to be the best mom possible for them.  As I looked in their eyes, the love was so strong, at that moment I knew my life wasn’t my own. From that point on, my life was their’s! I was there to protect and guide them.

Is it required to have a rule book to be a parent? NO, but I now wanted all the information I could get my hands on to help me raise my children! Why, because I love them. Parents that truly love their children are constantly asking advice from doctors, other moms, and family members. They spend time reading books and blogs on parenting, terrible twos, potty training, teenage years, etc…that’s because when we love, we give our best to those we love.

How many of us take our kids to sports practice, dance class, piano lessons etc. multiple times a week or even drive an hour or two to their event every weekend? Why do we do it?  We do it because we love them, we will go the distance for those we love.

That goes the same for our relationship with God. When we ask Jesus into our life, we are instantaneously filled with LOVE. We quickly realize our life is not our own, but God’s. We don’t need a church to give us a list of do’s and don’t’s, but because we love Jesus with all our heart we want to read all we can about Him. When we love Him, we long to spend time with Him in prayer, talking to Him. You desire to build a close relationship with Him and when you deeply love Him, you never want to leave Him. You will possibly find yourself driving 40 to 50 minutes to church, three to four times a week…why, because you love Him.

To be a Christian is not complicated at all. Love God with all your heart, soul, and mind and the rest will follow.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ~Deuteronomy 6:5

 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. ~Matthew 22:37

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. ~Mark 12:30

He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind..’ ~Luke 10:27

 

 

 

Perfection is Not the Answer!

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FTH_1151Hi, my name is Moses. No, not really, but at times I feel like him. I am not eloquent with my words and grammar is my second worse subject (History is my first, I just can’t remember all those dead people and the dates they died!). But even so, I feel God’s call on my life, so strong at times, to speak, write, pray, and encourage others that I can’t silence it.

Exodus chapter 4 tells us about Moses. He was not a confiedent man. He was an insecure human that stuttered, and lacked his self worth.  He questioned and doubted God over and over in this chapter. Finally, the Lord has had enough when he tells him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”

God doesn’t need a perfect man or woman to use. He receives no glory for the one that has it all together! He takes us as we are, does the impossible, and then he receives all the praise!

Friend, don’t let your weaknesses handicap you. Stop making excuses. There are people needing to be set free! They are enslaved in this world and the devil has pulled the wool over their eyes. Believe me if God is pulling at your heart strings, He will strengthen you to do the task ahead.

Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. ~2 Corn. 3: 4-5 
I can do all this through him who gives me strength. ~Phil 4:13 

 

Faith to Move

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Faith is put into practice when you step away from the familiar. 

For almost twenty years we’ve been comfortable in our church. It’s where my husband was saved, where I rededicated my life, it’s also where I met and married my husband, then our kids were dedicated and baptized there too.  We didn’t just attend church, we were the church, we were leaders and volunteers!

Then an opportunity came, a promotion to be exact! It wasn’t a surprise to us, I had been praying about moving for a couple years now. I knew it was coming and I wasn’t happy about it. I’m a family person, I love being around family, and making memories with them! One early morning, on my way home from the gym, I was praying. I spoke the words, “I pray Javi walks in your will….”, and as soon as the words left my tongue peace came over me. I heard God say, “You’ve been praying this over and over, I’ve heard your prayers, do you not think He’s in my will? He’s in my will because you have prayed for it.” At that moment my heart was ready to go wherever God opened the door.

Five or six months later my husband was promoted and we were moving to Georgia! Now we had to have faith for God to sell our house, help us to find a new house in a good location, and a new church!

Again, I faced a time of doubt. I was flat out miserable because I was doubting God. It was like I was in a depression state, a needy loaf, constantly asking my husband for reassurance. Day after day I continued to worry about our house not selling. Then one Sunday morning on the way to church, I heard God speak to my heart. “When you are ready to stop all of this, I’m here,” so out loud I said, “Enough! I’m done worrying and fretting, this is in God’s hands and I’m done trying to be God!” Again, within seconds I felt peace and a calmness that can only come from Him.

I would love to tell you that our house has sold, but it hasn’t! Now ask me how are you doing? Well, I’m doing fabulous, thanks for asking! Yes, I can confidently say I’m doing great because I don’t just know who is in charge, but I believe it!

We have visited four churches, in all different areas of Georgia, since moving up here last month. If our house would have sold a month ago we would be at one of those churches. I believe it wasn’t meant for us to attend there, not because it’s a bad church, but it wasn’t the church for us. I choose to look at our house not selling as God’s hands moving in our favor. When He closes one door, He will open another. We are on an amazing adventure and our faith is growing as we lean fully on His direction and wisdom.

But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. James 1:6

Receive It

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This morning, while driving home from the gym, I started praying over big decisions that could affect our near future. Words like peace, guidance, wisdom and direction rolled off my tongue. That’s when I felt it! This was not a new prayer, these were not foreign words from my mouth, but this prayer I have prayed over my husband daily! In that very moment I felt His peace. It was there the whole time, waiting for me to just receive it. I felt God say to my heart, he’s already walking in my wisdom and my will because you seeked me way before the decision arose!” 

Friend, if we aren’t careful, our prayers can become redundant. Like a child shivering every night in his bed. His parents have already provided him with a blanket, all he has to do is WAKE UP and get it! 

God is standing at your feet with peace, wisdom, guidance, love…your answered prayer, if only you’ll WAKE UP from the motions of redundancy and receive it! 

Be Still…

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Guilty as charged! I noticed this week feeling irritable, but ignoring it like everything was okay. To be honest, I tried filling that grumpiness with Iced Caramel Macchiatos and large chocolate bars! Yes, I’ve had cravings out of this world and no, I’m NOT pregnant! 

You see the problem with ignoring red flags is, eventually you will run off a cliff! The Holy Spirit has a subtle way of saying, “hey you aren’t acting nice, maybe you should take a break and spend sometime with me?” If we don’t listen, our family or friends could step in and they aren’t as gracious as God. 

I like how Courtney Joseph explains it in Women Living Well…Remember how the crowds pressed in on Jesus everywhere He went? Everywhere He turned, there was a need unmet, and though there was so much to do . . . He withdrew to rest. Luke 5:16 says, “But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.” If Jesus needed alone time with God, then certainly we do. Just think of the wisdom He wants to impart to you, the strength and the peace you may be missing out on. Give yourself permission not to have your to-do list all checked off in order for you to rest and get alone with God.

We must make it a priority to rest and spend some alone time with God or there will be ugly consequences. 

Happy Pl

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My heart smiles as I watch them run and play. In these moments I feel alive and peace rains down! No screaming, no attitudes, no tattle telling, just giggles and hair blowing in the wind. I store this picture in my heart, then when chaos erupts, I close my eyes and visualize our happy place.

The funny thing about this “happy place” is, the lack of growth. We rarely grow in times of peace, but rather in times of struggles. Friend, don’t rush to always be at your “happy place”, learn to grow and thrive in the chaos. Accept the chiseling, the chipping away of bad, that God is performing on your life and make a choice to persevere. It took over 15 years for Leonardo da Vinci to paint the Mona Lisa and he wasn’t even working with her heart or soul. We are God’s masterpiece, a continually work in progress, and the fire is what releases the impurities of our heart. When you feel the heat today, take a moment to exhale and know He’s creating His Mona Lisa or Sally Sue or Maria Gonzales (you get the point) in you.