This Means WAR!

One of the most POWERFUL 💪🏻things we can do, is take what the enemy meant to break and destroy us with and use it AGAINST him to SHINE ☀️God’s incredible power!! 
I am an incredibly broken and sinful person and have lived a FAR from perfect life. 
I was 19 and pregnant outside of marriage, I’ve cursed out God, hated my life, been a hurtful, terrible wife and mom at times. I’ve been greedy, jealous and spiteful of others. I’ve judged, lusted, been ungrateful and wished hurtful things on others and secretly rejoiced when something did happen. I’ve begged God to take my life because I just didn’t want to face another day, said mean things, gossiped and the list goes on and on....
So WHY am I not afraid to hide all of that and live in SHAME for all those things?!?!? 🤔
Because I know THAT is exactly what the enemy wants me to do BUT God calls the broken, the hurting and the weak so that we can see HIS incredible power through the healing, forgiveness and unending love He has for us!!
If I chose to live in secret and pretend I had a perfect life...I would then be saying I do not need a Savior, I would make others feel less of themselves and to think I am better than anyone else is foolish.
We are all sinners which is why God gave us Jesus, so let’s take our brokenness and use it to help INSPIRE others and give them HOPE instead of allowing Satan to make us feel broken and alone! 

Sometimes It is God You Need To Forgive

This may seem SHOCKING to some, but it is something that I struggled with personally for along time and I didn't even know how angry I truly was at God.
For some of you, you maybe thinking, "How can you be mad at God?" or maybe "Are you even allowed to be mad at God?" Lol
Well...I was and I think there are many out there as well that don't really realize it either.
There are many things in our life that we can control and if we mess it up or someone else messes it up we can forgive ourselves or that other person, but who gets the blame for those BIGGER things? For me, it was God....
When my brother Jesse was killed by a drunk driver, I was able to forgive that man, but I didn't realize that I was angry at God for not stopping it from happening. Then, when my Dad was diagnosed with cancer and passed away just 4 years after my brother, I was SO ANGRY at God. He could have stopped it. He could have made it better. He could have saved both of them, but he didn't....
It affected my relationship with him in so many ways. I had been a joyful person and that was gone, I quit going to church, I quit listening to my Jesus music, I quit praying and slowly avoided him more and more and this whole time I was telling myself lies and excuses about why I was not doing those things anymore.
It's just too sad to listen to that music, I just don't have time, the memories are too hard at that church, He didn't answer those prayers...he's not going to answer these ones.
Everything in my life seemed to be going wrong and ultimately, I was trying to do it all on my own and it wasn't working...I wanted to have that JOY back in my life again, but was I ready to TRUST God with that after I felt he had let me down in so many ways??
I screamed and yelled at Him, I cried and yes...even swore at Him for all the hurt he had caused me (He is a big man...he can take it ;) ) and after that, I chose to forgive him. I had to release all that pain and call it what it was and face those feelings I tried so long to just push down inside of me. After that, I gave it all to him and started trusting that he would help me heal and find that joy again and he has done just that and SO much more.
I began to rebuild our relationship! I found a church that I love, began praying throughout every day and dusted off my Bible and got in his Word!
We often forget that he doesn't promise an easy life, but instead a life of struggles. What he does promise is that he will be with us every step of the way and that through our struggles and times of waiting he is strengthening us, teaching us and growing our character.
I had to break down that wall that was dividing us, just like any wall that divides people when they need to forgive someone. We avoid them at all costs because we don't want to deal with it.
Maybe you have those feelings you have been stuffing deep down inside of you. Maybe you are angry at him for a loss, miscarriage, failed marriage, infertility, illness, bad childhood or something else that you just can't seem to understand.
Today, I challenge you to BRING IT TO HIM!! The anger, the sadness, the frustration, the disappointment....ALL OF IT and let him have it. Scream, cry, be angry....get it all out and then see what he will do for you.

Are You Judgmental?!?!

GOODNESS...It can be SO easy to judge others and half the time I don't even think we realize that we do. 
From things we think about others while driving (they probably are not a moron! LOL) , the parent with the out of control child, the one who dresses differently, has a lot of money or none at all, has different beliefs than you, has different thoughts or ideas, your own spouse and kids at times....How and What do you think or say these days?!? 

God says in Romans 2:1 "You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgement on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things."

I am FAR from perfect & this is NOT easy and it is a daily struggle for myself, but as I become AWARE of it...only then can I begin to change it! Let's battle this together!