Does life feel extra hard right now? Is it difficult to find joy in your day to day living? Do you feel like something is missing? I did. I was struggling with all of it. Life seemed so hard. Then one day I realize what was missing. I needed more Jesus in my life. Our home needed more Jesus. This may be just what you are missing too! This podcast will give you tips on how you can become closer to Jesus. It will talk about scripture and how those stories can relate to your everyday life. It will help you find joy in life again and teach you to be bold with Jesus by your side. If you would like to reach me you can email Catherine@findingtruenorthcoaching.com or go to my website findingtruenorthcoaching.com
Music: "Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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Isaiah 44:22 “I have swept away your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.”
“I am redeemed” is something I think we all need to hear. We tend to live in our mistakes. We tend to think about our transgressions a lot. We look at all we have done over our lifetimes, and we decide that God can’t possibly love us because we are a bad person. We judge ourselves so often. I have discovered this is not something that just a few of us do. It is something that all of us do. The more I pray with people, the more I see that we are all struggling with the same things. We struggle with thinking we are enough. We struggle with thinking people don’t like us. We struggle with thinking we are ugly. We struggle with self-hatred.
You might be surprised how many people hate themselves. I was at a personal development conference once, and the speaker, Rachel Hollis, said she asked the audience at her last conference to raise their hand if they hated their body. Not if they didn’t like one part or another, but if they hated their body. She said that over 90% of the people in the audience raised their hands. If you hate something about yourself, I hope you know that you are not alone.
The problem with hating our body or hating something about ourselves is that God created us. He made us in his likeness and image. He loves us just as we are. He wouldn’t change a thing about us. This is really hard for us to believe. Actually, what just came to my mind is our sin. He would change that, I am sure. I am sure God does not love when we sin. However, that doesn’t mean He doesn’t love us. Have you ever said that to your children? I love you; I just don’t love your behavior. I have said that lots to my kids. It is actually something they have repeated back to me. My sons have told me that they know I will love them no matter what they do.
If we, as humans, can say this to our children, why don’t we believe the same could be true for God? God loves us more than we can imagine. He loves us no matter what we do. It says in Matthew 18:12-14 “What do you think? If a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.”
God doesn’t love when we mess up, but he knows we are going to mess up. He knows everything about us. When we mess us up, God leaves the 99 to come and find us and bring us home. He doesn’t abandon us. He doesn’t give up on us. He just gently comes to find us and bring us home. The verse ends with, “It is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.” I have heard many describe God as an old man sitting in heaven just waiting for us to screw up. I can tell by this passage and so many others that this is not what God is like at all. He is rooting for us. He is rooting for me. He is rooting for you!
Today’s verse says, “I have swept away your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.” In today’s verse, the Lord is calling us back to Him. He is telling us not to worry about all we have done. He has swept away our transgressions like a cloud and our sins like mist. This is a great visual. We can imagine our transgressions, and then we can picture them sitting on top of a cloud and blowing away in the wind. Take a minute, close your eyes, and picture some situation, transgression, or interaction that you are not proud of. Most, if not all, of us have situations or interactions that we look back upon from time to time and wish we would have acted differently. Maybe we wouldn’t have said that thing or done that thing.
Think about those interactions that you have had that you wish you could change. Now, close your eyes and imagine you can put that situation, interaction, or transgression on a cloud and just watch the Lord sweep it away. That seems so peaceful. Do you feel any lighter? Were you able to let those things go? Let’s hand them over to God; they aren’t doing us any good.
Next, the Lord says that our sins turn to mist. This is another great vision. You can picture the sins you have committed. The ones you think could never be forgiven. Those that you confessed at confession and are still holding on to because it is so hard to believe the Lord can forgive you for them. Close your eyes and picture those sins. Then picture them exploding into a very fine mist. It doesn’t have to be a huge explosion. I picture the sin as bubble letters describing the sin, and then I picture the letter popping and turning into a mist. What are you picturing? Are you able to see your sins turn to mist? Why are you struggling to forgive yourself? The Lord has redeemed you. You are no longer your sins.
There is another verse, Galatians 3:13, which also reminds us that we are redeemed! It says, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.” The reason we know we are redeemed is because Christ took our sins with Him to the cross. When we refuse to accept the Lord’s forgiveness for our sins, we are telling the Lord a few things. First, we are telling Him that His son’s sacrifice was not enough. We are essentially saying, “We know Jesus died for our sins, but my sin is too great. His sacrifice is not enough to cover my sins.”
Is this something you believe? Do you believe Jesus’s sacrifice was not enough? If this is not something you believe, then why is it so hard for you to accept His forgiveness? Why do you hold onto your sins and your mistakes when God has already redeemed them? He has already redeemed you! God loves you! He created you. He knew all you would do before He even created you, and yet He still chose to create you. I heard Father Mike say something in a podcast one time that really struck me and it is something I think we all need to hear.
Father Mike is The Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministries in the Diocese of Duluth, Minnesota. He said that he often asks the students in his campus ministry if they know that God loves them. He said they can kind of blow him off or minimize it and say things like, “Yeah, yeah, I know God loves everyone.” Father Mike agrees and affirms that is true and then goes on to say, “But do you know that God loves you individually?” He explains to them that there was a time when God made the conscious decision to make you and to bring you into this world. He decided the world would be a better place with you in it. He didn’t have to create you; He didn’t have to create any of us. Yet He did. He created you just as you are, in his likeness and image. He not only created you, but he redeemed you long before you were even born. You are Redeemed!! No matter how checkered your past is. No matter what you have done, God has redeemed you. You are not your sins. You are not the same person you were. You do not have to live in hatred and shame. You are Redeemed! If you struggle to believe this, write it down on a sticky note somewhere that you will see it often. Then read it every single day, multiple times a day, because it is a truth and a promise that you can stand on. YOU ARE REDEEMED!!
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those who are listening to this episode. I ask that you come into our hearts and help us believe that we are redeemed. Help us to forgive ourselves. Help us to accept your forgiveness. Help us to release anything that is keeping us stuck in our sin and shame. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with our will and with Jesus’s holy name. Amen!!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. If you are enjoying this podcast, please share it with a friend. Also, if you could leave a review, that would help more people find this podcast. I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow. Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!
Today’s Word from the Lord was received in August 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “Trust in my word. Trust that what I say is true, and go about your way and make me known, my children. How many times must I tell you? You can because I send you and because I am your God. I provide the power. Be not afraid to move and do what I tell you.”
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Witness Wednesday #146 Billy V.
Episode 930
Wednesday, February 12, 2025 • Duration 09:28
Today’s witness is my brother-in-law Billy. On Thanksgiving, he did not show up at his mom’s house for dinner. His family was concerned. He lives right next door, so they went to check on him. He wasn’t there. When they still hadn’t heard from him after some time, they went to check if he was at a friend’s house down the street. This is where they found out that he had fallen down the stairs and hit his head.
They called an ambulance, and he was rushed to the hospital. At the hospital, they found out that he had a brain bleed. He had surgery, and they were able to repair the bleeding. However, they said he had been lying there for at least 12 hours before he was found. They were unsure how much damage the bleed had done to his brain. Billy needed to be on a ventilator, and he was in a medically induced coma while the swelling went down. We instantly sent out a request for prayers from everyone we knew. They tried to wake him a few times from the coma, but it didn’t go too well.
When I checked in with my sister on December 4th, she said Billy was not worse, but he wasn’t any better either. He was still on the vent. He was still heavily sedated. When the nurses would lighten up the sedation, Billy would respond to cues. They find out that he can move both of his legs and his arms. The next update I had was on December 10th. Billy was still in the coma and still not the vent. However, they were trying to wean him off the vent.
The doctors were predicting that he would be in the hospital for at least a week and then he would be in a nursing home, then after the nursing home, when he was strong enough medically, he would need to go to Rehab to relearn how to walk, talk, possibly even have to relearn how to swallow and eat. The doctors were predicting his road to recovery would take at least 2-3 years, and even they couldn’t promise he would ever be able to leave the nursing home. They did not know how severe the damage was and if he would ever be able to do anything for himself.
I went to the hospital with my sister on December 15th to pray over Billy for healing. When I was there he was awake, but had the breathing tube in, so he could not talk. He was definitely tracking you when you walked in the room. He seemed to be aware of what was going on. He seemed to react to things going on. For instance, the nurse was doing something, and you could tell he didn’t like it. He seemed to be doing better. However, he did look a bit like he was trapped in his body. His eyes seemed to be trying to communicate, but I am not sure what they were saying.
I Am Never Alone (Identity Series)
Episode 929
Tuesday, February 11, 2025 • Duration 09:01
I Am Never Alone (Identity Series)
Genesis 2:18 “Then the Lord God said, 'It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.”
I wholeheartedly agree with this verse. We were not meant to be alone. This doesn’t mean that we all need to be married or have kids. It just means that we are all meant to have people we do life with. I often talk about how important community is to a fulfilling life. There are very few people who are meant to go through life alone. I know there are hermits out there who dedicate their whole lives to being secluded and spending all their time with God. Most of us are not called to this life. Actually, St. Catherine of Sienna wanted to live this life when she was just a little girl. She ran away from home to live alone in the caves outside her town. An angel appeared to her and told her she was meant to be a light in the world, not separate from it. The same is true for most of us.
However, living in the world can be hard because it is often filled with heartache. How we deal with heartache is the key to our success. We need to turn to the Lord for help when we are struggling. It also helps to turn to our friends for support. They can build us up and speak truth and light into the lies and the darkness. However, instead of turning to our friends for support, we tend to separate ourselves from others. We tend to pull away because we don’t want to talk about it or we know others won’t understand.
A while back, my heart was hurting for several struggling ladies I know. Actually, every time I look at Facebook, I see messages from people who are struggling. However, that week specifically, there were two ladies who did not know each other or live near each other who had 15-year-old children who had to go to court. There are two other women who are not able to spend the holidays with their children for one reason or another. Then, I saw a post about a friend who was really hurting because she could not see her oldest child graduate college. While thinking about all the people who are hurting right now, I wish everyone knew, like in the depths of their hearts, that they are never alone. So many of us think we shouldn’t talk about what is happening because no one will understand or no one else is going through the same thing. People think that they will be judged or deserve the bad thing happening to them. This is not true!
I Am Treasured (Identity Series)
Episode 928
Monday, February 10, 2025 • Duration 11:36
I Am Treasured (Identity Series)
Exodus 19:3-6 "As Moses went up to meet God, God called down to him from the mountain: “Speak to the House of Jacob, tell the People of Israel: ‘You have seen what I did to Egypt and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to me. If you will listen obediently to what I say and keep my covenant, out of all peoples you’ll be my special treasure. The whole Earth is mine to choose from, but you’re special: a kingdom of priests, a holy nation.”
One of my friends sent this verse in a Facebook messenger chat. Her mother just had heart surgery, and she is in the hospital with her, waiting for her to recover. Her mom’s levels were all elevated, and she needed to go onto a breathing machine. I am sure my friend was worried for her mom, and I am sure the mom was worried too. I met this woman in my mentoring group. We went on a retreat together. Everyone in our mentoring group picks a word and mantra for the year. This is just a way to help keep us focused on where we want the year to go and help us remember what is important to us throughout the year when things get busy. Life can happen so quickly sometimes that we don’t live it intentionally; we just get swept up in it and almost go on autopilot. There can be so many people or things calling our time, and it can get hard to prioritize if you don’t have a focus and/or you don’t prioritize.
This is why we pick a word and mantra and try to say it every day. I was going to say that we do say it every day, but I am sure we forget sometimes, or at least I know I do, especially on the weekends. However, even if I don’t say it everyday, I know I have one, I have it memorized and so when I have to make a decision about something I can think about that word and mantra in my head and then the decision is easy because usually only one aligns with my focus for the year.
My friend chose the words “Be Still” this year. It’s funny how when we pick a word, God helps us grow into that word over the year. It’s the same with you, even if you didn’t pick a word. If you have a desire in your heart or have prayed for help to grow in a certain area, God will help you. When we pick a word, it not only reminds us of how we want to grow over the year but is also the filter with which we look at the year. Let me explain what I mean. If my friend’s word is Be Still, then her focus is on being still and how she can learn to grow in that. So, when she is reading her Bible in the hospital next to her mom, and she gets the Bible verse above, she then looks at this experience in the hospital as a reminder to be still.
I Am Loved (Identity Series)
Episode 927
Friday, February 7, 2025 • Duration 11:52
I Am Loved (Identity Series)
John 13:23 “One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved,* was reclining at Jesus’ side.”
This scripture verse was given at my prayer group, and the following words of prophecy were given: “You are also the one whom Jesus loves. So, your place is to be listening to his heartbeat when you pray. So, put your head on his chest and listen to his heartbeat. Say I love you and be at peace.” Is there anything more calming than putting your head on someone’s chest and listening to their heartbeat? I pictured when I was little and if I was scared and I went to lie with my parents. Just putting my head on their chest and listening to their heartbeat would make me feel better. It seemed so rhythmic and soothing.
“You are also the one whom Jesus loves.” How many of you believe this? Like truly in the depths of your heart believe this? You are also the one whom Jesus loves. Sometimes, it is easy to say that Jesus is love. It is easy to say that Jesus loves everyone. And yet, even as we are saying it, we are discounting ourselves from that love. We know He loves everyone and yet we don’t believe that he loves us? We don’t feel that love or even understand why He would love us. Who are we to be loved by Jesus?
You are the son or daughter of the one true king. That is who you are. You were made in the likeness and image of God. You are deeply loved by Him. Why do you discount yourself from that love? Or maybe you put a lot of pressure on yourself to be worthy enough of God’s love. Maybe you think if you just do things perfectly, then God will love you. If you attend weekly mass and volunteer for every fundraiser, you will be worthy of God’s love. Are you constantly feeling like you are not good enough for God’s love?
Guess what? None of us are. None of us are worthy of God’s love, yet he lavishes it freely anyway. You do not have to do anything to earn God’s love. Well, as I wrote that, what came to mind was we do have to accept it. God can tell us all day long that he loves us, but if we don’t accept it, then it doesn’t matter. Yesterday, I talked about abiding in God’s love and how abiding means acceptance. Can you accept God’s love? Can you accept that he loves you just as you are, with no strings attached?
Witness Wednesday #145 More PopWe Stories (Salvation)
Episode 926
Thursday, February 6, 2025 • Duration 11:49
I realized after posting yesterday’s podcast episode that I missed Witness Wednesday. I was away for the weekend, and coming back on Monday must have thrown me off. However, I didn’t want you to miss out on Witness Wednesday, so I am just doing it a day late this week. Today’s witnesses are from Matthew West’s website called popwe.org. If you don’t know who Matthew West is, he is a singer, songwriter, and storyteller. This website is for the non-profit that he has with his father, a pastor. Matthew and his father encourage people to share their stories. They have various categories of stories. Today, I chose two testimonies from the Salvation Category. Often, we can hear our own story in someone else’s story. When we listen to others tell their story, it helps us see that we are not alone. When we hear how God worked in their situation, it gives us hope that He will work in ours, too! I pray when you hear these testimonies, you get the faith and hope to believe that miracles can happen in your situation, also. I pray you know that God is there with you, and if you invite Him into your situation, He can help. I hope you enjoy these testimonies.
My name is Cyndi. My broken story started before I was even born. I was the last of my bio mom’s seven kids. Unfortunately, she was an alcoholic who drank during her pregnancy, so I have Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.
When I was born in 1971, I weighed about 3 lbs. I was adopted at age 1. Unfortunately, the family I was adopted into was dysfunctional. I suffered all manner of abuse, including sexual abuse. This hurt me so bad that I wanted to die for many years.
I was diagnosed at twenty with Bipolar Disorder. But I didn’t take the medication because I just didn’t want to. I got pregnant at twenty-one. I literally had my son on my twenty second birthday. I married his dad four months later.
But my husband was abusive, mentally, emotionally, and verbally. And because I had never dealt with my previous abuse, I believed his abuse was my fault. Not only did I stay with him and raise my son, but I also had another child, a daughter, when my son was six years old.
Even though I thought our problems were my fault, I still knew how ridiculous that sounded because I knew I didn’t really want to live like that. I separated from him when my daughter was three and tried to take the kids.
I Am Fearfully & Wonderfully Made (Identity Series)
Episode 925
Wednesday, February 5, 2025 • Duration 09:03
I Am Fearfully & Wonderfully Made (Identity Series)
Psalm 139:14 “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.”
The I praise you part first stood out to me in this verse. Praise is one of my favorite things to talk about. I love praising the Lord. Also, I have read a lot of books, and so many of them point out that praising the Lord is a great way to increase your faith, get more answers to your prayers, have more strength when in a difficult situation, and have more joy in your life. I was all set to begin with talking about praise when something, I think the Holy Spirit, told me to pause and read the whole sentence. So I did. “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” I did not see anything jump out at me. So, I decided to see what exactly that means.
I was thinking maybe I wasn’t being moved by the sentence because I didn’t understand what was being said. I was right! That is a very powerful statement if you know what those two words mean. Let’s take the first word, fearfully, first. Fearfully, when translated from Hebrew, means with great reverence, heart-felt interest, and respect. I understand why we would have great reverence for God. He is our Father, and He created us. It makes total sense that we would have great reverence for Him. However, this is talking about us. This sentence is praising God for making us with great reverence, heart-felt interest, and respect. Did you know that’s how you were made? Did you know God put all those things into making you? Do you feel a little bit better about yourself now?
Let's take the next word wonderfully. I bet we all think that we know what that word means. We may also be thinking that although it is a pretty word, it is used so often that when we hear it, we don’t necessarily feel wonderful. The word wonderful, when translated from Hebrew, means unique and set apart. I am sure that it has occurred to everyone before that we are all different from each other. But I wonder if it occurred to you that that means you are unique? You are one of a kind. So, the next time you are trying to judge or compare yourself to someone else, remember that you are unique. There is no one like you on this entire earth. There are people who are going through the same things as you, and there are people who have similar struggles as you, but there is no one exactly like you. You are not alone in your struggle, but you are one of a kind in how you were made. You are also set apart. I like the sound of that. Instead of being lumped in with everyone else, we are set apart. God set us apart from others.
I Am Blessed (Identity Series)
Episode 924
Tuesday, February 4, 2025 • Duration 09:45
I Am Blessed (Identity Series)
Ephesians 1:3-6 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
What beautiful scripture verses! These definitely seem like good ones to write down and re-read any time we are having a bad day. God has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly place. I can’t even imagine how much blessing that is. God must really love us if he is blessing us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly place.
Then, it goes on to say that He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world and that we should be holy and blameless before him. He chose us before the foundation of the world. That seems so crazy to me. It is crazy to me that God knew everything that was going to happen, and yet he still chose to create us. He made us to be holy and blameless in His sight and yet we have failed at this over and over again.
Oftentimes, we say hindsight is 20/20. Meaning we can only see things perfectly when we are through them and looking back at them with he knowledge we gained through the experience. For instance, when we are going through a difficult time, we don’t really understand it, and we make our decisions based on the info that we have at the time. However, when we are through that difficult circumstance, and we know how things ended, then we realize we perhaps should have made a different decision.
It is not the same for God. He knows everything. Nothing is a surprise to Him. I find it remarkable that even though He knew how often we would turn our backs on Him or do the exact opposite of what He wanted us to do, He still went ahead and created us. He not only decided to create us knowing all the times we would mess up, but He also kept forgiving us. Time and time again, we do the things we know we are not supposed to do; God keeps forgiving us.
I Am Holy (Identity Series)
Episode 923
Monday, February 3, 2025 • Duration 08:17
I Am Holy (Identity Series)
Ephesians 1:3-4 “Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm has already been lavished upon us as a love gift from our wonderful heavenly father, the Father of our Lord Jesus—all because he sees us wrapped into Christ. This is why we celebrate him with all our hearts! And in love he chose us before he laid the foundation of the universe! Because of his great love, he ordained us, so that we would be seen as holy in his eyes with and unstained innocence.”
When I read these two verses this morning, I thought they were so beautiful. They begin with “Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm has already been lavished upon us as a love gift from our wonderful heavenly father.” Isn’t that beautiful? Did you know that your heavenly Father is lavishing spiritual blessings on you? The word blessing in this verse is a translation of the Greek word eulogy, which means “to speak well of.” Since God is acting in this verse, we can say that God has spoken good things about us or pronounced good things for our benefit. The good things that God has decreed for us are probably beyond our ability to number.
Can you imagine your heavenly Father showering you with blessings? Did you know that is what He is doing? I know sometimes it doesn’t feel like you are getting any blessings, but this might be because you are in the middle of a hard time. You might not be able to see the blessings because you are so focused on the hard thing that is happening. You might think there is no way God could be blessing you because of all you are going through.
This isn’t true. God can bless us in the middle of a hard time. He can bless us whenever He wants to. You might be wondering what that may look like, what it would look like to have a blessing while in the middle of a hardship. That could look like someone you know checking on you to see if you need anything. It could look like your friends and family bringing you meals when they know you have no time to cook. It could look like you getting a job promotion right when you need it the most! Have any of these ever happened to you? What about when a stranger says something to you out of the blue and it is exactly what you needed to hear?
God is not just blessing us, He is lavishing spiritual blessings upon us. This can go against our picture of God. We all have a picture of God in our head and for some of us, probably a lot of us, it is not a picture of a wonderful heavenly Father. Many of us picture the heavenly Father similar to our dad growing up. So if you had a loving Father growing up the idea that our heavenly Father is loving is easier to grasp. However, if our earthly Father was not outwardly loving and was hard on you, maybe expected a lot out of you, then this is how you might see our heavenly Father too. But God's love is beyond our earthly understanding, and He cherishes each and every one of us.
I Am Changed (Identity Series)
Episode 922
Friday, January 31, 2025 • Duration 08:54
I Am Changed (Identity Series)
Romans 3:23-24 “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty of our sins.”
We have all done things in the past that we are not proud of, and sometimes, we get stuck thinking about those things. We replay them over and over again in our minds and think about how different our lives would be if we had not done them. Some of us think that the things we did were so bad that there is no way God could ever forgive us or love us. Regret is a terrible thing. It sucks the life out of the present moment if you let it. Our minds are powerful, and we will believe what they tell us. We may know in our hearts that God will always forgive us if we truly repent. We know in our hearts that God will always love us no matter what we do and that we do not have to earn his love. However, sometimes, that little voice inside of us will listen to the enemy, and our brain will believe the lies that he tells us. Romans 3:23 says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” The evil one likes to take this phrase and use it to whisper things in our ears like, “See, no one is good enough,” or “No matter what you do, you will always fall short of God’s standards.” He tells us that we shouldn’t even bother because we are not enough. Do you ever feel that way, like you are not enough? What many of us may not know is what the very next verse, Romans 3:24, says, “Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty of our sins.” Yes, we all sin, but God’s grace “makes us right in his sight.” Another way the enemy likes to get to us is to tell us that we will never change. That we are still the same person who did that thing we regret. If we strive to change, he tells us that we can’t change. He reminds us of the things we have done in the past and whispers that we will do it again. There is a song I heard for the first time on the Big Life Devotional, and it is “Slave to Nothing” by Zach Williams. In this song he says:
You can tell me what I did You can show me who I was before Where I fell short Hang it over my head But I'm not the same anymore One thing's for sure The shackles have fallen So I'm showing shame to the door Make no mistake I'm a slave, to nothing
Billy did finally wake up out of the coma, but he was still on the ventilator. The doctors wanted to take the ventilator tube out and put in a trach. My sister knew from previous talks with Billy over the years that he would not want a trach. She remembered sitting with him and looking at photos of people who had to get a trach because of cancer due to chewing tobacco, and he had said he wouldn’t want that. The doctors were really pushing for it as they said that it is not good to have the breathing tube in that long.
As you can imagine, with any tragedy, the family did not all agree as to how they should proceed. My sister knew what Billy would want as they had been married for over 25 years at this point. However, others were worried that if he didn’t get the trach, he would die, and they, of course, were not ready for that. No one is ever ready for this. My sister was also worried that if they put the trach in, Billy would be alive but not be able to do anything. She did not want him stuck in his own body for the rest of his life; she knew Billy wouldn’t want this either, and the doctors couldn’t tell her the extent of the brain damage. At this point, they did not know if he would ever talk again, get out of bed again, or remember anything. They had no idea of the extent of the damage.
The doctors told my sister they wanted to have a family meeting on December 20th to know whether they could put the trach in or not. My sister knew she didn’t want it and that the rest of the family did. She knew it was going to be a hard meeting and that she was going to be the enemy, the one everyone was mad at. However, she really felt like that is what Billy would want. I called her, and we prayed for clarity and for God to help me make the decision. We prayed for peace in the meeting and for everyone to get along for Billy’s sake. Before the meeting, tensions were high, and people were already fighting and being unkind before even going into the meeting.
However, at the meeting, everyone was able to get along. Tensions were calmed, everyone apologized for the bad blood between them, and they all hugged and prayed at the end of the meeting. My sister agreed to taking the breathing tube out the next day and see if Billy could breathe on his own. If he couldn’t, she would allow him to put the trach in and then reevaluate how he was doing in three weeks. Everyone was on board with this plan.
She went to the hospital the next day, and they took the breathing tube out, and Billy was able to breathe on his own. Hallelujah! Praise God, He is so good! This was on December 20th. Once they took the breathing tube out, Billy was able to talk, and they were able to see how he was doing mentally. For the most part, he seemed to be doing pretty well. He knew who people were when they came to visit. He would be able to have conversations with people. Sometimes, he gets confused as to where he is or gets mixed up in conversations. However, he is returning more and more to his old self.
He is now able to walk. He is unsteady and needs some support, but he can do it! He is able to move around. He is able to eat by himself. He is able to do things for himself that they thought he might not ever be able to do. It is now February 12th, 11 weeks after he was found at the bottom of the stairs, and the doctors are sending him home. They said he does not need to go to a nursing home because he is medically ok. They said he didn’t need to go to rehab because he could do all the things by himself. (walk, talk, feed himself, etc).
Mentally, there are still prayers needed. Although he can do all those things himself, he still gets confused as to where he is and what he is doing. He will need someone to stay with him 24 hours a day to make sure he is safe. He can not drive. However, he has made amazing strides in his health, and I have no doubt that God is going to continue to heal him. I am sure God is not done healing his brain, his memories, and all of his cognitive functioning.
I want to praise God for all he has done so far in this situation. I want to praise God for healing Billy physically and for helping him to go home, as I know how much Billy hates hospitals and hates being away from his home. I am so grateful to God for bringing Billy home to his parents, his sister, and his children and grandchildren. I thank You, Lord, for giving them their son, brother, father, and grandfather back. I thank you for all the healing you have already done, and I pray for more. We pray that you continue to restore his cognitive functioning. We pray you heal him completely. We pray he is able to live on his own again, work again, drive again, and do all the things that he could do before. We love you so much, Lord, and we thank you for this miracle. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen.
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There are 7 ½ billion people in this world. Whatever it is that you are going through, someone else is going through the same thing right now at this same time. There are also people who have gone through it already and can shine a light into your darkness. They can show you one way to get through your situation. They can also give you hope because if they got through it, you can too! Talking about the difficult things you are going through with people you know and trust can be so therapeutic. Sometimes, we don’t want to talk about our problems because we don’t want to bother people, especially if they have their own troubles. Our friends and loved ones want to help us. It is not a bother for them to hear how you are suffering. Sometimes, it can even help them with their troubles as well. You will be amazed how much stronger your relationships can get when you are able to open up and let people in to help. Another reason talking about your struggles can be helpful is that you may be further along in your journey than someone else who has the same struggles. You may be talking with someone with the same issue but are afraid to talk about it. Hearing you talk about it can show them that it is ok to talk about what they are going through. I have seen this happen in numerous Facebook groups. Someone is vulnerable and shares their story; then, someone else reads it and feels the courage to share it.
I truly feel that it is the work of the enemy to make us feel so alone. He is there whispering in our ears all the reasons we should not talk about what is bothering us. He wants us to keep our troubles to ourselves because when we feel alone, we feel hopeless. I am unsure if you have read or seen Harry Potter, but there was a scene where the main character, Harry, was struggling with feeling alone. Every time Harry was with his friends, he would push them away. Harry would tell them they just didn’t understand. They wanted desperately to be there for him, but he would not let them. Harry then went for a walk and ran into another friend. He explained that he felt like he was alone and no one believed him. She said, “I don’t think that is true. Although, I suppose that is how he wants you to feel.” When Harry asked what she meant, she said, “Well, if it's just you all alone, then you aren’t that much of a threat.” I believe it is the same with our enemy. If we are alone and not talking with our family and friends about how we are feeling, then the only voices that we have are the enemy’s whispers. However, if we reach out and tell our story to those who love us, they can speak truth into our darkness. The enemy is the father of lies, and he speaks half-truths and lies into our ears so that we believe there is no one that can help us.
Be vulnerable, open up, and share your struggles with someone. You will feel better just saying it out loud. Don’t go through things alone when you don’t have to. Seek out people you can trust to talk to. You may not even know that someone else is experiencing the same thing until you have the courage to raise your hand and admit that you are going through it. If you find yourself in a situation where you honestly feel you don’t have anyone to talk to, you can always talk to God. Ask God to show you someone in your life you could talk to about your situation. Request that God bring someone into your life who can help you through this. Pray for the strength to navigate your current circumstances. Ask God for the courage to address what is bothering you. God hears our prayers; He listens when we ask Him for the things we need. He is always with us, providing strength when we feel we have none.
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, you are truly amazing. Lord, help us to realize we are not alone. Help us to see that you made us to live in a community with others. Help us recognize the enemy's trick to isolate us and speak lies into our hearts and minds. Lord, please put people into our lives who will recognize when we are pulling away and call us back. Help us to open up and share our troubles with others. Help us to hear others when they are trying to speak truth into our darkness. Help us, Lord! We love you, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name. Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. Mentoring is tonight, I hope to see you there. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you and so do I! Have a blessed day!
Today’s Word from the Lord was received in August 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “My children, all I tell you to do know that you can. My spirit empowers you. It puts my words into your mouth so that you can reach the hearts of others. It's not you. It is my spirit empowering you to say what I wish you to say.”
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God is amazing! If we are looking, if our eyes and ears are open, he will give us little signs, and sometimes big signs, that He is right there with us in all of our situations or circumstances. This bible verse in the hospital was a little reminder from God to my friend just to Be Still and know that He was taking of it all for her. If you are aware that God does this, if you are on the lookout for this, you will see that He is doing the same for you. God is not just doing this for some of His children. He is sending us all signs that He is there with them. The problem is that if we don’t know that He is doing this, we don’t notice them when we see them. Let’s start being on the lookout for these messages from God, letting us know He is in it, all of it, with us!
I love how today’s verse begins with God reminding us what He has done for us in the past. It says, “As Moses went up to meet God, God called down to him from the mountain: “Speak to the House of Jacob, tell the People of Israel: ‘You have seen what I did to Egypt and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to me.” This is a great reminder that God is a miracle worker. He saved the Israelites from Egypt in a miraculous way. Also, it wasn’t just one miracle. It was miracle after miracle. He did all those signs to convince Pharaoh to let them go. He parted the Red Sea so they could pass, then He rolled it back to destroy their enemy. He miraculously provided manna for food every single morning. He rained down quail on them when they complained about not having meat to eat. It was miracle after miracle.
When we are struggling, we need to be reminded of all God can do. There are many times when we are in a situation and can’t see a way out. We have $500 worth of bills and $200 in our bank account. That math does not add up, and we know we will be unable to pay our bills. And yet the math also did not add up when Jesus only had five loaves of bread and two fish, and there were over 5,000 people to feed, and yet He fed them all with plenty to spare. When our loved one is in the hospital or on hospice and the doctors tell us there is nothing to do, we need God to remind us of what He has done in the past, so that we can have hope that we don’t have to worry because even if there is nothing the doctors can do, there is ALWAYS something our God can do. I love that God knows we need this reminder, even before we do. He is so good!!
The second half of this verse is, “If you will listen obediently to what I say and keep my covenant, out of all peoples you’ll be my special treasure. The whole Earth is mine to choose from, but you’re special: a kingdom of priests, a holy nation.” This is also great because it reminds us that we are special and we are treasured. God could choose any person on the entire Earth, and yet He is choosing you. If we listen obediently to what He says and keep His commandments, then we will be set aside. We will be His holy nation. How great is that? I love that this translation says we will be His special treasure. What would you give to be God’s special treasure? I feel as though I would give anything to be considered God’s special treasure. God is giving us the instructions, and although they seem easy, they can be harder than they sound.
The first thing it says is to listen obediently. It can be hard to listen if we aren’t hearing Him. This means we need to spend some time listening to what God is telling us. Let’s all stop for a moment and see when we could do this? When could we make time, even if it's just 5 minutes, in our day to sit quietly and listen to God? Could you spend 5 minutes sometime in your day sitting quietly with God if it meant you got to be His special treasure? God is asking us to keep His covenant, which is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and love your neighbor. Can we do that? What is one thing we can do to love others more? God doesn’t just mean your neighbor next door. He means, how can you love everyone, even those you don’t like?
That is something to spend some time pondering. Is this dislike, this hatred I have in my heart for others, worth not being counted as God’s special treasure? If you have a hard time loving others, take that to God. Spend some time talking with God and asking Him to help you through it. God wants us all to be His special treasure. We don’t have to be perfect or follow Him perfectly; we just have to really want to be His special treasure with our whole heart, and then listen to Him, and He will guide us there. He wants it for us more than we want it for ourselves. We just have to give Him permission to work within us and then let Him gently guide us there!
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, I ask you to show each one of us where in our day we can spend some time with you. I ask you to show everyone that we all have the time, even if we are very busy. Show us that you can talk to us anywhere, in the shower, in the car, while they are drinking coffee, while they are doing housework, anytime we are willing to listen, you are willing to talk. Lord, we thank You for always reminding us of all You have done in the past at the perfect time. Lord, we are sorry we always forget and are so grateful when we need to remember that You are there. Lord, thank you for loving us. Thank you for treasuring us. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name. Amen.
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. If you have not signed up for mentoring yet, you can click on the link below or head over to my website, Walkboldlywithjesus.com. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed week!
Today’s Word from the Lord was received in August 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email, “My children, all I tell you to do know that you can. My spirit empowers you. It puts my words into your mouth so that you can reach the hearts of others. It's not you. It is my spirit empowering you to say what I wish you to say.”
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This is a new kind of love for so many. Some people have never had someone in their lives who loved them completely, with no strings attached. Unconditional love is not a thing they even new. If you are struggling to believe that Jesus loves you, just as you are, think about your childhood and your past relationships. What do you think of when you think about love? Did you have to earn love growing up? What did you feel you had to do to be loved? For instance, did you have to get good grades, be a certain weight, be quieter, etc? Did you feel like your parents' love was conditional on your behavior? If so, don’t worry. You are not alone.
We live in a broken world and don’t know how to love each other unconditionally like our heavenly father does. I think everyone is doing the best they can. We can only love others to the extent that we are loved. If your parents do not know unconditional love, they can’t pass it on to you. The good news is, that you can learn to let Jesus’s love in. The good news is that Jesus does love us unconditionally. If we can learn to accept Jesus’s love, then we can learn to pass this love on to others, even if that is not the love we were raised with.
If you struggle with accepting God’s love, I would love to give you some practical tips for how to begin to accept God’s love. I went online to see if others had already written about his subject. I found an article written by Kara J. Lovett called “5 Keys to Accepting God’s Love.” I would highly suggest you read this article. I will put a link for it in the description of this episode, but you can easily find it by googling 5 Keys to Accepting God’s Love. CLICK HERE for the article. In the article she goes into what God says about love and then a section on understanding God’s love.
Her article mentions five was you can accept God’s love. They are as follows: Accepting God’s love with scripture, prayer, grace, and quietness & in unexpected places. Kara says in her article that “by digging deep into Scripture and spending time with God in prayer, I realized that I need to stop striving for love and instead strive to accept God’s love, which He has already graciously bestowed on me.” As I mentioned yesterday, reading the bible is a great way to get to know God’s love. You can see all sorts of examples of God’s love in the bible. 1 John 4:7-10 is a great example of love. It says, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love. In this, the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
The second way she mentions is prayer. When we turn to God and ask for His help, he wants to help us and is just waiting for us to ask. God knows what we are going through and what are struggles are, and yet he loves it when we talk to Him about them. Just sit down with a cup of coffee or tea and talk to God like you are talking to your best friend at the kitchen table. You will be surprised how much closer you get to God when you start having chats with Him regularly. They can be informal chats about your day, your struggles, and your successes. God wants to share in all of that with you.
The third way she mentions is Grace. Learning about grace over these last few years has been huge for me. Learning to be graceful with yourself is so important. Kara says that grace is the free, unearned gift of salvation that God has bestowed upon us. When I looked up the definition online, it said 1a: unmerited divine assistance given to humans for their regeneration or sanctification. b: a virtue coming from God. c: a state of sanctification enjoyed through divine assistance. We are saved and redeemed through God’s grace. It is unmerited, meaning we don’t deserve it; we can’t do anything to earn it; it is just bestowed upon us. How amazing is that? The third definition is a state of sanctification enjoyed through divine assistance. We can’t forget this. We are made holy through divine assistance. God is always there to help us. We can’t do any of this on our own. It is always a partnership. God has so much grace and mercy for us. He doesn’t expect us to be perfect, so cut yourself some slack.
The fourth way to accept God’s love is through quietness. Spend some quiet time with God. There are so many ways that you can do this. Maybe you are someone who likes to meditate every morning. That is wonderful! Maybe you are like me, and every time you try to quiet your mind, all it wants to do is talk to you. That’s fine, too. Maybe your quiet time is spent in nature, going for a walk, or sitting outside listening to the sounds of nature. Maybe your quiet time with God is spent journaling all your thoughts. There is no right way to spend quiet time with God. Your relationship with God is like any other relationship; the more time you spend together, the closer you will be.
The fifth key to accepting God’s love for Kara was letting go of control. Even though we know at some level that we don’t have to earn God’s love, we still try to prove to Him that we love Him. We put all these rules and regulations on ourselves about how we have to do this, and we have to do that. We tend to put a lot of pressure on ourselves. Once Kara was able to let go of control and remember that Jesus already secured our freedom on the cross, she decided to let go of all the pressure she put on herself and just tried to abide in Jesus’s love.
God loves you! He truly does. I hope that if you are not currently able to accept God’s love, you will spend some time working on learning how to. I can’t tell you how amazing it is to know that I am always loved. To know that there is nothing I can do that would make my heavenly father stop loving me. It gives me so much more confidence in life. It brings me so much joy. It breaks my heart when I talk with people who don’t know how much God loves them. I know it is hard to let love in sometimes. I have been there before. It can be hard, it can take a lot of work, and it is so worth it. There is so much more waiting for you once you accept and really come to know God’s love for you. It is there for the taking, free, with no strings attached. All you have to do is say yes and accept it!
Dear Heavenly Father, I am so thankful that you love us unconditionally. You love us so completely. Lord, some of us are struggling to feel this love. We ask you right now to come into our hearts and fill them with your love, perfect love. We ask that you begin to break down any walls that we have put up to keep love out. Lord, we want all the love that you have for us. Lord, I ask that you bless everyone listening to this with a supernatural feeling of love today. That the Holy Spirit descends on all of them and that they can physically feel you giving them a hug today. Lord, you are so amazing. We are in awe of all that you do each and every day. We pray that you help our loved ones to open up and feel your love. Lord, we pray that you shower your love on all the teenagers. Being a teen is so difficult, and many do not feel any love. Please show them how amazing your love is, Lord. We ask all of this in accordance with your holy will and in Jesus’s name, Amen.
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. The reason we can walk boldly with Jesus is because we have the power of the Holy Spirit living inside of us. Join me for mentoring this month as we talk about this power and what we can do with it. Once we discover the power and the authority Jesus gave us when he left this world, we will be so much better equipped for all life has in store for us. I pray you will join me. I look forward to seeing her here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!
Today’s Word from the Lord was received in August 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “The spirit will lead and guide you, teaching you in things that you do not know. You will not always have a complete vision or full understanding, but I will lead you step by step.”
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He used lies and insinuation to get them back. I ended up being divorced and having visitation with my kids. It wasn’t easy, but we managed to survive. You may wonder about my faith throughout all of this. Don’t worry, I’m getting there! I was raised Catholic but got into the Jehovah’s Witnesses in 1996. I stayed that in that group until November of 2022, when I learned it wasn’t what I had been led to believe.
I was a lost soul for a little while but came back to Christianity the next November and have been loving it since. I’m quite happy these days. I do take meds. I have two spectacular kids and a wonderful granddaughter. I’ve been through more therapy than I care to admit and I’m still in it. But I’ve learned that it’s okay to not be okay sometimes.
Because I spent twenty-seven years not doing any holidays or birthdays, I take care to do them all and really celebrate them. I really appreciate and enjoy my friends and family. So, I guess I have a pretty good ending to my broken story.
But it’s all because of Jesus. I do wish that my kids would love Jesus like I do, but they have to get to know him from a different perspective now. Just like I did.
Ben: I grew up in a Christian home going to church every Sunday, being involved in AWANA and Youth Group, and going to Bible camps based on the Bible. The broken chapters of my life started before age 14. I was a Christian then. I believed hard on God, He was my Savior and He loved me. In 2017, when I was in the 6th grade, the garage of my house went up in flames. That was really tough for me and my whole family to go through. I hated God through that. It was about a year of moving around, and not being in my own neighborhood. Further into my life starting around age fourteen is when I fell apart from God. I got introduced into pornography. That was my biggest struggle. A lot of changes happened. I hated God and felt like I didn’t belong with Him. Satan took me over and I felt what he could do to me. Just to be living through that, though, is how I saw God. I became an addict to pornography and that was really harsh. Going though that, plus still going to church was a struggle. I believed that God didn’t want me and that He left me. I hated God for writing my life like this. And yet, I prayed almost every day for Him to bring me out of this hell, out of Satan’s world.
Skipping forward in my life, I am now two months from my 16th birthday. In late February 2021, I moved from my hometown of Naperville, IL to South Nashville, TN. This was the biggest move of my entire life. I was confused and scared of moving so far away, but during this time I was doing better with God. I felt Him closer to me and with me more often. As life moved on during February, I came to realize that God has made my life for a purpose and He has drawn my path. So I just had to trust God that He knew what He was doing in my life. In June 2021, me and my family took a trip back up to my hometown to see friends and family and the community. About halfway through the trip, I was fishing at one of my favorite lakes and started to talk to God. I fished there that day for about 2 1/2 hours and during that time I was having a conversation with God. I felt really close to Him and loved Him. I poured out my fears and thoughts.
During week three of the trip, I was in bed one night thinking of my strong fear of death. It scared me so bad, something happened between me and the Lord that I fell apart again. That time was one of the closest times I came to taking my own life, but I never did because of God. He came into my thoughts and blocked that idea. I was so scared of death, I couldn’t do it.
In week 4 of June, my family and I made our way to Gull Lake Ministries, in Hickory Corners, Michigan. The Friday of that week, I was out on the fishing dock at night about 10:30pm and was listening to my Christian music playlist and the song ‘Way Maker’ came on. I poured out my heart to The Lord Jesus Christ asking for forgiveness. After that night, I asked God to come back to my heart. I prayed and I cried happy tears knowing I had been saved.
The week before school started, I joined my school’s marching band…lots of hard work balancing that with my studies and with God. A month later, I was greatly in line with God. A month after that I met this girl who was in my instrument section for marching band. She is a very strong believer and a true Christian. She is one of the main people that brought me back to Christ. We prayed together and we both shared music, verses and Bible plans to know Jesus more. Finding a church is one of the harder struggles along with finding a youth group that can be of fit for me to be more connected. One week, she invited me to her youth group and I liked it. I was able to become closer to the Lord and know that community.
Two days later, the thought of killing myself and hurting myself came back. I fell apart from God again. I talked to my friend about this, and she seemed really worried. She tried to talk me out of it. She talked to her parents and gave me music and Bible verses about how God wants me, loves me, and knows me. This lasted about two weeks which is the longest I have had in my life yet. The struggle with the aftermath –going through that was the hardest. Reconnecting myself with God, I found this song by Matthew West called ‘The God Who Stays.’ I put this song on repeat and listened to it about 100+ times. The lyrics of the song are really powerful and meaningful. After about a week, I grew closer to Christ, and during worship in a church service, I poured my heart out to the Lord. I felt him right next to me and knew that He was with me. Over the last couple months, I have been in line with Jesus, asking for forgiveness, talking openly to friends about Him, and being involved with church leaders. Now I see and consider myself a Christian, after three years of on/off with God. I am back.
I got baptized on February 18, 2022. I love Jesus and I never want to lose Him again. Amen!
Thank you so much to both of you for sharing your stories. You have both had such a hard journey. I appreciate you being vulnerable and sharing your story so that others know they are not alone. It also shows them that if God got you through it, he will get them through it too! Thank you so much for sharing!
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Does knowing this change the way you think about yourself? Does it help you fight off that voice inside of you that tells you that you are not enough or that you are not loved? Think about how amazing God must think you are to have made you with great reverence, heart-felt interest, and respect. Did you know that God had reverence for you? Did you know that He respected you? Maybe this is not news to you; maybe you knew this all along. This is the first time that I slowed down long enough with this passage to ask myself what that even means.
This is one of the things that I love about doing this podcast. I am not reading whole chunks of the Bible at a time. I am reading a verse or two. When you break it down into bite-size pieces like this, you get to examine those pieces more carefully. I have also discovered that I am not the only person who does not know what those two words mean. I think sometimes we don’t ask questions because we assume that we are the only ones who don’t know the answer. Then we start to tell ourselves that if everyone else knows it, then there must be something wrong with us because we don’t, and then we don’t ask because we don’t want to feel stupid. Come on, you know you have done this before. I can’t be the only person this has happened to. Anyway, it turns out that the Bible's language is confusing for many people. In the course of writing the episodes for this podcast, I have searched for many answers, and I have always found them.
If I were the only person who was confused, someone else wouldn’t have taken the time to research my question and put the answer on the internet. The internet is also an amazing thing. I am not sure how many of you use it to answer your questions, but I highly recommend it. First, you can ask it anything. You don’t have to remember where you can find something in the Bible because you can type it into the search bar, and the internet will find it for you. You can type part of a verse into the search bar, and the internet tells you where you can find it in the Bible. What I do is type my question exactly how I would ask a person, and I always come up with great answers. I don’t just put a word or two. I put the whole sentence in the search bar. Second, you don’t have to feel silly asking a question that you’re sure you are the only person who doesn’t know the answer to because no one knows you are asking the question. You are asking for the computer, and it is not going to tell anyone. It doesn’t talk, so it won’t make you feel silly.
When reading through the Bible, asking questions is great. It was written a very long time ago in a different language and to a people living in a different time and a different culture. There are things in it that are not going to make sense to us. However, if we ask questions when we have them, we realize that even though they were written so long ago to very different people, they are still just as relevant today. It is still talking to us today; when we just read through it and gloss over the parts or pass over the parts we don’t understand, we miss an opportunity to know what God is trying to tell us. This verse above is well written and has beautiful language, but if I hadn’t asked, “What does fearfully and wonderfully made mean?” I wouldn’t have learned that this verse is so much deeper than it seemed. Ask your questions! You deserve to know the answers.
Dear Heavenly Father, I pray you bless everyone listening to this episode today. Lord, we thank you that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. You are so gracious, and we love you. Lord, we ask that you help us to understand the Bible when we read it. We ask that you give us the courage to ask questions when we don’t know what something means. Lord, we ask that you help us take in the meaning of the words fearfully and wonderfully made. We ask that you let those words sink into our hearts and help us to know how special we are. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name. Amen.
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I would like to invite you to another journey. The journey of mentoring. This month, I am teaching all about the Power of God Within Us! We all have power living inside of us, and the more we learn about the power and authority we have inside of us, the stronger we will be in this crazy world. I pray you will join me and learn about the power you have because Christ died for us and send us the Holy Spirit. Remember, Jesus loves you so much, just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!
Today’s Word from the Lord was received in August 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “I am your God. My light will shine brightly in you because you have been with me.”
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I wonder if we would do the same? Many people say that they learned a lot after going through something really difficult. However, I wonder, even knowing all that we learned or gained from the difficult experience, how many of us would choose to go through it all over again. Think about a really difficult time in your life. Think about how hard or how painful it was. Then, think about what you learned from it or gained from it.
Everything that we go through teaches us something if we are open to seeing it. We can find a lesson in every experience. For instance, going through a really hard time in a relationship can teach you resilience, and/or how to be persistent and to work hard at something. It can also teach you to be stronger. If the relationship ends, it can be difficult, and you can learn something from that, too. It can teach you what to look for and what to avoid in your next relationship. Do you see how there is always something you can learn?
However, even knowing all the benefits you have gained from this experience, I wonder how many of us would choose to do it again. What about a friendship that ended badly? Imagine you had a really good friend for several years, and then something happened, and that friendship ended. You felt really hurt when it was over. Do you wish that you had never met that person? If you could go back in time to when you met that person, would you go meet them? Would you spend all those years building up good memories if it meant that you had to go through the pain of losing that friendship again?
I think that many of us would choose not to go through difficult times if we could. We would choose to stay in our comfort zone and not venture out of it. Not try new things because we could get hurt or we could fail. We would and often times we do tend to play it safe. The thing is, we do not grow when we are in our comfort zone. We do not grow without challenges. Do those challenges often bring difficult times? Yes. Do we grow immensely in those difficult times? Yes. Well, if we allow ourselves to grow, then we do. This is what God wants for us. He wants us to grow and become stronger. He wants us to lean into Him when things get hard and to be open to growth during these times.
God chose to go through all the pain just for us. He knew all the things we would do, He knew all the ways that we would hurt Him, and yet He still chose us. He still chooses us every single day. Is that not incredible to you? I honestly find it difficult to believe some days with the way the world seems to be going. It seems as though the world as a whole is trying to remove God from more and more things. And yet, He keeps hanging in there. He keeps performing miracles and blessing His children.
The next part of the verses listed above says, “In love, He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ.” He predestined, that just verifies that He knew all that was going to happen and yet had a backup plan. He knew we would need saving and yet still predestined our adoption through His son, Jesus Christ. He loved us so much that He sent his son to be crucified for our sins.
One thing that we may not often think about is the fact that God not only knew all we were going to do, but He knows how our story ends. He knows how all of this ends. By sending His son to be crucified on the cross for our sins, He has already redeemed us and granted us salvation if we choose to accept it. It says in 1 Corinthians 15:57, “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” God has already won this fight for us. We don’t have to worry about how things will turn out. Romans 8:28 tells us, “ and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose.”
God has predetermined that we would be his adopted children. Because of this we know that He will work all things for our good. He knows the mistakes we will make, and he loves us anyway. Yes, you heard that correctly, and yes, I am talking to you. God loves you and accepts you for who you are, flaws in all. God knew you were going to do that thing that you keep thinking about, and he made you in His likeness and image anyway. Remember the beginning of this episode: God has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. God has blessed you with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. What an amazing Father we have!
Dear heavenly father, I ask that you bless everyone listening to this episode today. Lord, we thank you for blessing us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. I am sure we can't even imagine how many blessings that is. Lord, we love you so very much. It is crazy for us to think about how you knew all the ways we were going to mess up, and yet you decided to create us anyway. Lord, we can never thank you enough for sending down your son to die on the cross for our sins. Lord, we thank you for taking us in as your sons and daughters. We thank you for using all things for our good and for helping us be victorious in the end. Lord, we thank you for being patient with us while we make these mistakes and for always forgiving us when we ask. Lord, you are amazing. We ask all of these things in accordance with your will and in Jesus's holy name, amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. Today, we kick off our new February Series for Mentoring. This month’s series will be “The Power of God Within Us.” I hope you will join us to learn all about the power of God that you have living inside of you all the time. You are more powerful than you know, and once you learn about that power, you can begin to use that power to help you wherever you need help. I pray you will join us this evening. There is a link below with all the details. If you email me, I can also send you the link to see what it is like before you join. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!
Today’s Word from the Lord was received in August 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “I will shower you with blessings, with my love, my comfort, my strength, my peace. Then you will be able to go out in the world and share it with others."
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I know a lot of people who picture the Lord as an old man with a white mustache and beard sitting up in heaven, looking down on us and judging us. They picture God as someone who is just waiting for them to screw up so He can punish them. They are sure they are disappointing Him all of the time. I think this is why I chose these verses and why I like these verses so much.
The second verse for today dispels this myth that God is up in heaven just waiting for us to mess up. It says, “And in love he chose us before he laid the foundation of the universe! Because of his great love, he ordained us, so that we would be seen as holy in his eyes with and unstained innocence.” First, it says that God chose us before He laid the foundation of the Universe. God chose you. Let that sink in for a moment. God chose you before He even created the universe. Does that sound like the act of a Father that is sitting up in heaven waiting for you to screw up so He can punish you?
Next it says, “Because of His great love, he ordained us, so that we would be seen as holy in his eyes with unstained innocence.” Listen to that last part again, “so that we would be seen as holy in his eyes with unstained innocence.” God doesn’t look at us as if we are a wreck waiting to happen. In His eyes, we have an unstained innocence about us. God doesn’t want us to mess up. He doesn’t want us to sin or to fall away from Him. He loves us. He chose us. He wants us to be right there with Him for all eternity.
God loves us. He looks down upon us as a loving Father would. Once we realize this our relationship with the Heavenly Father will become so much closer. If we haven’t really experienced true love in this world, then it might be hard to understand how much our heavenly Father loves us. One thing I am finding that can help with this is to read the scriptures. Read the Psalms, read the New Testament. Last week I read Philippians and this week I am reading Ephesians and they are just beautiful. The Bible is a living document. It is not just a book of words that the Lord told His people back in the day. The Bible is speaking to each one of us right now. When you read the Bible you will realize it is just as relevant to what you are going through today than it was back then. God is so good, His Words are timeless.
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless everyone listening to this episode today. Lord, we ask that you help us to understand your love for us. We ask you to help us understand how loved we are. We ask that you help us to change our hearts and are minds about who you are and what you want from us. We want to see you as you truly are not as we picture you in our minds. We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! May the grace and favor of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your Spirit!
Today’s Word from the Lord was received in August 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email, “I use all things for good. Trust in me. I am directing your life. Every change, every movement in your life is set on me, and I pull you, pull you towards me.”
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If you get a chance to listen to this song, I highly recommend it. click here
Just because you have acted a certain way in the past does not mean that you have to act that way forever. You can decide to repent and change your ways at any point in time, and God will be there to forgive you and welcome you in with open arms. Think about the many saints that have had beginnings that were not so great. One of the most illustrious saints, I think, is St. Augustine of Hippo. He was a man who was known for having not one but two mistresses. He ran around for years before having a change of heart and settling down at 31. St. Augustine went on to become a Doctor of the Church. Then there is also Saint Mary of Egypt, who ran away from home at 12 and spent a dozen years living on the street as a seductress. According to Craughwell in an article in Live Science, “Nothing made her happier than corrupting innocent young Christian men.” Saint Mary went to Jerusalem looking for young Christian boys to seduce. At the doors to the church, she felt a strange force repulsing her, and she immediately changed her ways. There was also Saint Camillus de Lellis, a priest from Italy that founded one of the first healthcare organizations for the needy. He started out as a cardsharp, con man, and mercenary.
There are also lots of modern-day examples of people who had a rough start. Jennifer Aniston, who is one of the most famous actors because of her role in the sitcom Friends, had 4 failed sitcoms in a row before she landed the role on Friends. Tim Allen, who starred in Home Improvement, is now starring in Last Man Standing and was also the voice of Buzz Lightyear in the Toy Story Movies. In 1979, he was caught with many illegal substances and went to jail for over 2 years. Then he got his life together and became the actor we know and love today. Oprah Winfrey grew up in poverty and did not have the best childhood. She was molested during her childhood and early teens and became pregnant at 14; her son was born too early and died in infancy. Can you imagine the things the enemy was trying to tell her? What was he trying to tell all of these people? What if these people would have believed the lies that they could not become anything different? If they believed that the version of themselves that was not enough or prone to sinning was all they could ever be? What if they stopped reaching for more because they believed they could never achieve more?
What lies do you believe? How much more could you accomplish or become if you stopped believing the lies? You may have made mistakes in the past. You may wish that you could change certain things. Do not let those things hold you back from being who you are today. Do not believe the lies that you are not enough, lazy, selfish, greedy, etc. Just because you may have been those things in the past does not mean that you have to be those things in the future. You can be whoever you want to be because God has redeemed you with his grace!
~ The blog this week was inspired by The Big Life Devotional by Pamela Crim. If you have time to listen to the original episode that inspired me, I highly recommend it. You can reach that episode by clicking here. The episode was called A Slave To Nothing.
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, you are amazing, and we love you. We ask you to help us guard our minds and help us not to believe the enemy’s lies. We ask that you help us believe we can change and that we are not who we once were. Change is possible. We ask all this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to meeting you here again on Monday. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed weekend!
Today’s Word from the Lord was received in August 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “Be not afraid to go out and share my love, my light, my hope, my joy. All that I share with you, I keep saying, share it with the world so that they may know me and get to love me.”
