Category: love

His Blood Runs Through My Veins

4) just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5) having predestined us to adoption as sons, by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6) to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. (Eph. 1:4-6)

I am no longer defined by my own humanity, but by the life, holiness, and victory of Jesus Christ. I have the adoption of divine nature, transformed by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Greek word for this kind of love is: agape, which is by choice or one’s will, not just a sentimental feeling. Predestined us: this is not fate, but rather a loving choice on God’s part. The Beloved: Jesus Christ. Jesus is not simply one among others who God loves, He is the Beloved Son. And through Him we have redemption; I have been bought back into relationship with the Father through the blood of Jesus Christ. I am a child of God! Glory! Halleluiah! Praise be to the King of Kings! Amen. This spiritual adoption brings righteousness, inheritance, and a new relationship with God as Father. I love how God already chose to adopt me before the foundation of the world, out of love. I always dreamed of my life being a love story, well here it is. And for His pleasure; He wants to spend time with me, He doesn’t just love me, He finds me valuable enough to want to hang out with me. Okay y’all, I’m about to preach myself happy about now. This IS AMAZING LOVE! I now get to call God “Abba Father” through the Holy Spirit. I am ever so grateful to be set free from the debt of my old sinful nature most of all, and you can be to. Thank You Jesus! Come Be a Part of the Family, you are WELCOME here.

Living On A Prayer, Just Not Mine

The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. (James 5:16b)

This is me when I was a baby. I don’t know who was the first to begin praying for me, whether before I was born, after or even now I don’t know everyone that prays for me. What I do know is there has always been someone praying for me. I also know my life would have turned out very differently had they not been. There is real purpose in prayer, if that were not true why would God tell us to pray for each other? Here are a few reasons why we pray for others: Protection, strength when they are weak, to know God’s will and to grow in wisdom, for boldness to share the Gospel. I just received a message today from a friend, asking me to pray just that for her. She wanted me to pray for opportunities as well as boldness & clarity as she entered the streets to spread the Gospel, we call it “Street-ministry.” The Word says in, (Colossians 4:3-4) “At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison-that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.” That scripture makes it clear to me, I had a responsibility to pray the prayer of agreement in that area for her. We should also pray for missionaries and church leaders, our government official’s, our President, all who have been given charge over us. The Bible calls this kind of prayer intercession -a responsibility, a command, and an act of love. I can say now, I was loved from the beginning of time, my time that is. First, God loved me enough that He thought it was necessary for me to be born. Side note to self, “I have purpose.” Then He gave charge or the responsibility of those who loved me to intercede on my behalf. My life was not a fairy tale by no means. I was not a planned pregnancy and to hear my mother tell me how I was conceived was very sad. I would have liked to believe my life began as a love story, but not so. I have heard both sides of the story from both my parents and neither side is one anyone would want. There were attacks on my life right from the start, beginning with a tumor that they were having trouble diagnosing, praise be to God for discernment on the doctors part that determined what it was and surgery was a win for me. I lived through some really tough times as a child of an extremely young mother and a stepfather that was rather hateful towards me most of my childhood, which I will not go into details, but I will say, I ended up in foster care for a period of time. My biofather was sexually abusive to me so that caused a whole other set of issues for me then, as well as later in life. By 15, I was trying to end my life. Obviously someone was praying, someone or someones had been praying all along. So, you see even though people are praying for you, doesn’t mean you won’t go through things in life. What it does mean, God is hearing those petitioning Him on your behalf and He is making a way for you to get through it. This is important, I believe, in my sharing of my childhood; when I was 12 I received Jesus into my heart, obviously I did not know Him then like I do now, but He was with me everyday from that day forward. I have heard, 12 is the age of accountability, so it looks like my first right choice in life had been made. Meanwhile this I do know, my step-grandfather was the first person to my knowing that was praying for me, that is considered an act of love; and a responsibility, being he was a Minister of a Church, which by the way I was spending the week with him and my grandmother for Vacation Bible School when I gave my life to Jesus. Quick summary of the next 20 years; after attempted suicide, I got hooked on drugs and alcohol. I’d be here all day if I went into all the places in life that took me, but I will share more of that at a later time. “People are praying!” Fast forward, I’m now 32 and about to rededicate my life to the Lord. See He never left me, not one minute in those 20 years, He was closer than a brother, I just wasn’t aware of that, though I’m about to be. Next, I’m Thirty-three, I’m down on my knees surrendering ALL not knowing how I made it this far, when I am reminded by an aunt, all the days before this, that my family had been praying for me. Today I am 63 years old and I pray for everyone. I have come to know the importance of prayer in a persons life first hand. Prayer is a powerful tool and like I said before, an act of love. If you love someone pray for them, If someone you love hurt you, pray for them, there is power in that prayer. You will open the door for restoration, deliverance, reconciliation, so many other things through fervent/heartfelt prayer. Food for thought: Imitate Christ, who is continually interceding for us who believe, and carry each other’s burdens through prayer.

Focus

And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:13)

I have often spent hours and at times days looking for God. “Where are You, Lord?” “I can’t see you anywhere” “Have you left me? Do you not care what I’m going through?” That is some of the questions I would find myself saying, all the while knowing He is there, He hears me, He loves me, He cares what I am going through. But I really wasn’t focused on finding Him, I was in panic mode. At times I would be looking at my problems like that needle in the haystack, they were so BIG that was all I could see. Instead of looking at God, who is even BIGGER than that. That scripture in Jeremiah speaks that to me; when I search for Him with all my heart, I’ll find Him. Not when I’m so focused on my problem or situation I’m going through, NO, when I am whole-heartedly seeking after Him, FOCUSED on finding Him! God is always waiting on us to cry out to Him, but with our whole heart, trusting Him, not just hoping He will hear us or show up. I can’t tell you how many times over my life span, I’ve worried about finances. Before I was a believer well of course I was my own god, so I’d just try to figure it all out and if it worked great; if not I’d try something else, but when I became a believer in Christ, that made the real change. Not saying I didn’t get off kilter at times, but I now knew who was my source and who to go searching for over my finances. Can I just say, EVERY time I have searched with my whole heart, God has shown up. I’m not saying every time my finances where in dire straight did He bail me out immediately, but He did give me direction as to what to do and what not to do anymore, if I didn’t want to go through that again. Ya know, He’s a Daddy, just tak’n care of His girl, daddy’s have to do a little correcting at times. So, God is not a needle in the haystack, if He were He’d be like the one in the picture above. God is accessible, he desires to be found, and a rewarder of those who diligently seek His presence, strength and righteousness. Here are just a few other scriptures you can refer too; (Deut. 4:29): “But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul. (Hebrews 11:6): …he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him”. and one more I’ll share, (Matt. 7:7-8): :Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will opened to you.” So remember, it is your “whole heart” He is after and if you will search for Him with that, you will find Him.

A Worshiping Warrior

Are you going through some tough stuff right now, feeling all the pressures of life? Let me let you in on a little secret. If you become a worshiping warrior, you will find yourself thriving under those pressures, it’s called a “holy boldness” praising God even during the trials. Honestly, I never saw myself waring in worship. I thought that worship was just a time of singing praises to the Lord not realizing that I was actually doing warfare right then. Recently I have found myself in a number of situations that I felt the fight or flight coming on. I also have found a better way to fight those battles. Worship is the way; it takes the load off me and right on Him. That whole flight thing is NEVER a win, unless it is removing yourself from the situation temporarily to allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you regarding your circumstance. Also, I should let you know, EVERYTHING happens in God’s time, so be a patient worshipper. First, you are going to need to have a surrendered heart. A true warrior for God is first a worshiper acting out of obedience, humility and submission, something God has been working on in me for the past couple years in a really BIG way. Worship, praise and obedience are our main weapons to achieve victory. Which means we are going to need to stand firm in faith, endure some hardships and trust God to fight the battles on our behalf. After all, God is the ultimate warrior. He’s the One fighting our battles, we simply are worshipping Him in the process. (Exodus 15:3) says, The LORD is a man of war; The LORD is His name. (The battle has been won, and the praise belongs to the Victor.) In verse 6 of chapter 15 of Exodus, we can see God’s active and powerful presence among His people. God is active and He is all powerful and He will fight each of our battles, nothing is too big for our God. That is a God to be WORSHIPPED! If you will practice worshipping God, you can actually get so engrossed in worship you will not even remember what it was that had you upset to begin with. The Holy Spirit is just good like that. (Speaking from experience). Of course, no one gets up and leaves the house before getting fully dressed, well you might, so let me say it this way. When a warrior gets up for battle, he/she puts on their full armor. In the spiritual realm that is called “the whole armor of God.”

I keep this wardrobe list on my refrigerator, so when I get up in the morning and grab that first cup of coffee, I am reminded what I will be wearing for the day. Another side note: remember we are fighting spiritual battles not physical, totally different attire. We are not worshipping ourselves because we are strong and mighty fighters, we are worshipping God the Creator of the universe who fights spiritual beings we cannot see. I want to talk a little more about praise. In the Old Testament the tribe of Judah, meaning “praise,” was instructed to go first into battle, demonstrating that worship precedes victory. And in (Acts 16:25) Paul & Silas exemplified praise being used to break chains and overcome obstacles. If God is fighting our battles and He is victorious in all things, why wouldn’t we worship Him? Why would we want to wear ourselves out physically, mentally, emotionally even spiritually trying to do it any other way? When & where to worship? For me, it’s in the morning before my day even starts. I praise Him for waking me up, breath in my lungs, opportunities that He is placing in my path for the day, etc. etc. Later in the day it may be a phone call from a friend facing something and I simply stop for a moment and thank God in remembrance of one of His many promises to meet that need. At the end of the day, it may be a moment of silence just reflecting on His goodness, even when I didn’t see anything, I know He is on it. Before bed if there is anything else still lingering in my mind, it’s letting go and thanking Him for the rest I am about to receive once my eyes close because every battle is His, He fights for me.

Happy Valentine’s Day

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

We humans really cannot comprehend the extent of God’s sacrifice, this type of love that He has for ALL humanity. God’s love is not restricted to any one type of person either, He wants EVERYONE to have eternal life with Him, that’s LOVE!

Valentine’s Day for many goes unnoticed, uncelebrated, undeserved or forgotten altogether. For some it may be missed because their love is no longer with them or maybe their marriage/relationship is on rocky grounds these days. Whatever the case, know that you are loved and being celebrated by the One who died for you. He has not forgotten you. If your love is no longer here on this side of paradise, He is here to comfort you. If you have been made to feel unworthy of being celebrated or undeserving, He says you are valuable, deeply loved, and redeemed, regardless of your past, mistakes, or feelings. God’s love is unconditional, everlasting, and not based on performance or deservingness. He cherishes you. You are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalms 139:14). I have loved you with an everlasting love (Jer. 31:3) He loved us while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8) Except His grace today and see yourself as He sees you. Know that you truly are His Valentine.

Grateful

I will praise the name of God with a song, And I will magnify Him with thanksgiving (Psalms 69:30)

Sunday morning the last song we sang was, “God I’m Just Grateful” by, Elevation Worship. Doing a little reflecting right now about some of the things that were going through my mind as I sang those words.

There was no way until You made one Grace upon grace, hallelujah Even though I don’t deserve it, You did it Even though I couldn’t earn it, You give it Who am I that You keep me on Your mind? God, I’m just grateful for You God, I’m just grateful for You All my life, You’ve been right here by my side God, I’m just grateful for You God, I’m just grateful for You Holy, holy, there’s only one I give You glory for all that You’ve done Even though I don’t deserve it, You did it Even though I couldn’t earn it, You give it Who am I that You keep me on Your mind? God, I’m just grateful for You God, I’m just grateful for You (who am I?) All my life, You’ve been right here by my side God, I’m just grateful for You God, I’m just grateful for You Whoa, You kept me all my life Been here with me all this time And I, I’m lifting both my hands You gave me chance after chance, after chance And I, I’m giving all that I am ‘Cause You gave me chance after chance, after chance Who am I that You keep me on Your mind? God, I’m just grateful for You God, I’m just grateful for You All my life, You’ve been right there by my side God, I’m just grateful for You God, I’m just grateful for You (who am I) Who am I that You keep me on Your mind? God, I’m just grateful for You God, I’m just grateful for You All my life, You’ve been right there by my side God, I’m just grateful for You God, I’m just grateful for You (I survived) I survived and I am here to testify God, I’m just grateful for You God, I’m just grateful for You I’m alright if they say I’m outta my mind God, I’m just grateful for You God, I’m just grateful for you

Of course, there was a couple lines repeated that I’d purposely did not add for time’s sake, but I think you got it. When I was in that moment of worship, my life began flashing before me. I remembered times when I was a very young child and certain people had violated me and hurt me very badly, times when I was a teenager doing worldly things and feeling like my life really had no meaning and no one loved me, battling feelings of why I should even be alive. I remembered broken relationships; car accidents do to drug & alcohol addictions. Unforgiveness and bitterness that I had held onto many times for way too long. The longer we sang that song to the Lord, I began to dance and at one point I believe I was actually shouting out the words of how “grateful” I was. The thought that I am ALWAYS on His mind made me feel important, loved and valued. I was in awe of the many, many chances He had given me to change my ways, turn my life in the other direction, get on the right path, the one that leads me to Him. How God had taken this mess and is allowing me to turn it into a message. A message of His goodness, His grace, His unconditional love for us. How He is always right there by my/our side. And even though I/we never deserved it, He gives it. I never in a million years could have earned what He has given me. Grace, upon grace. After church was over, I was mingling in the lobby, there was an extremely excited feeling inside of me, one that made me just want to love on everyone I came into contact with. Actually, I think I was one of the last to leave before the next service was about to begin. I was thinking to myself, maybe I should just stay, so I could enter back into that song of gratitude one more time.

It Was the Night Before

“If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well.” (Matt. 9:21)

My story of the over-flowing of the Holy Spirit actually started the night before. Much like the woman in the Bible who we do not know her name, what we do know is she had a twelve-year affliction. She was in a dire situation; this affliction caused her physical pain as well as emotional isolation. She spent all the money she had with Dr’s, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. (Mark 5:26). Much like this woman I found myself afflicted in deep depression. I had just gone through the death of a child/adult, non the less a child to us. He had suffered two years with AML and when reaching his final days here on earth he wanted to do hospice at home with us. Which he had been living with us a good portion of the two years already, naturally we wanted the same. Before we knew he was not going to be able to get the bone marrow transplant, which we were believing and standing in faith for complete healing and he did finally receive his complete, total healing from the top of his head to the soles of his feet, just not here on earth. That is a whole other story, maybe one day I will share that because God did some preparation in him, us, his siblings and others for his eternal homecoming. Glory be to God for that. At the same time this was going on, a few months before he got really sick, I decided to breed my Doodle for the very first time and she had 15 puppies. I had to deliver the first 3 all by myself, this turned into a very LONG night, but it gets even worse. My husband was driving a coach bus for a company that required him to be out of town a LOT, this was one of those times. Our son was very sick just before the birth of the puppies and he needed to go to the hospital for a blood transfusion and that required him to stay in the hospital for a few days. When he came back home, he tried to help me out with the puppies, but he didn’t have the strength and I was not eating, or sleeping, I had lost 15 pounds in two weeks. Six weeks after much hard and I mean hard work, keeping 15 puppies alive and healthy, by myself, it was time to take the puppies to the veterinarian for their first series of shots, where they contracted parvo. I immediately went back to my vet, got the necessary meds, hydration bags, needles, etc. to come back home and build a quarantine area for sick, still nursing puppies. Thank God my husband was home for that week, or I think I might just be up there in Paradise with our son. We lost the first sick puppy, then we lost 2 more here at home, but praise God, He gave us the strength and everything else we needed to save these little guys & gals. Now my husband is back on the road again, and our son takes a turn for the worse. He immediately meets me at the hospital and that’s when we find out it’s time for him to come home on hospice. Everything happened so fast, I was literally living and moving on adrenaline only. The pain had gotten to be too much the last 24 hours for him, so we went to the hospital for those last hours. Then we had a funeral service to prepare for. Again, I am leaving so much out because I am trying to stay focused on the message I am trying to deliver here today. Honestly, I could write a series of books if given the time for most of these blogs. Now, back to the night before I received the mighty encounter with the Holy Spirit. Like the woman in the Bible, she spent so many years full of dead ends, helpless and hopeless, but she heard the reports about Jesus and that was all it took for this disheartened woman to move forward, there was this tiny seed of hope in her heart, that gave her the courage to take a BIG risk. That’s when she reached out to touch His cloak, with faith believing for her healing. She had to be bold as well, because she was out in the crowd with all the people and Jesus, she wasn’t even supposed to leave her home. When she made her way to Jesus, as soon as she touched the edge of His garment the bleeding, her affliction had stopped (Luke 8:44). Mark says, “Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering” (Mark 5:29) But her story is not over. Later, when Jesus wants to know who touched Him, Jesus didn’t humiliate her in front of the crowd, instead you hear Him calling her “Daughter” and tells her, “Your faith has made you well.” All because she dared to reach out to Him for help when every earthly avenue had ended in nothing but loss and despair. Back again to the night before. I was all alone again, after burying puppies, saying my goodbyes to our son, and watching my husband leave again for another lengthy road trip. It was around six in the evening, and I decided to take what little energy I had and get in the shower. I cried out to Jesus with everything I had inside of me. I needed a miracle, I needed change in my life, I needed strength, I needed someone to love and care for me, right now, this very moment or take me out of here, yes that is exactly what I said to Him. I think I was crying harder than the water was coming out of the shower head and of course my voice was as load as a train coming down the track. I needed Jesus to hear me! Then, suddenly, I heard Him. He was comforting me, telling me He had me and everything was going to be alright. He instructed me to go to this Woman’s conference the next morning. I really did not want to go there; I didn’t feel I fit in with the women there and I was already feeling all sorts of negatives inside me. Fear had been playing a huge role in my life at that time as well. Satan loves to use fear as one of his tactics to keep us from our destination. Well, let me tell you, that next morning I got up early, mustered up all the courage I could and I went! I didn’t just go, I sat on the first row, end seat, and when the worship music began, I jumped up and went to that alter with all the bravery and boldness I had in me. That’s where I released EVERYTHING and I mean EVERYTHNG. Fear was gone! By the time the conference was over, I felt equal to any woman there. I had been delivered, set free from my afflictions! and I could hear Him call me Daughter. Then, comes morning. Feel free to read the blog, titled, “Where You lead, I Will Follow” if you haven’t already.

Being Intentional

Brothers I do not consider that I have made it my own but one thing I do forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upper call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippines 4:13-14)

January 1, 2026, the Lord placed a word in my heart, “Intentional” my husband was given the word “Revelation”, so we combined the two and began really listening to what the Lord was saying to each of us. There is much to be said about being one flesh in a marriage, God truly had engrafted us together. The revelations that he was receiving and the intentional mindset that I now had allowed us to move to much higher levels than we have ever been before. Our marriage was the beginning of this new heighten. We spoke new vows that day to each other, then began to watch the power of God do what only He can do.

VOW’S: “My New Year’s commitment to you for our marriage is to commit to a healthy marriage-to overcome obstacles, show you more love, grant you more grace & mercy and give you forgiveness & respect. I want you to know that you matter and your opinions are important. I commit to create a space for you to be yourself, and I will not belittle your weaknesses. I commit to be a listening ear and an understanding heart, even when you are upset. When things are down, I commit to work as a team and do the best I can. When things are up, I commit to cherish every moment and not take any of our time for granted. I will celebrate you when you are strong and humbly console you when you are sad. I will pray for you, smile and laugh with you, and hug you tighter. I will be there whenever you need me, and I promise to help make this year one of our best years yet.” This is what INTENTIONAL looks like.