Women are...

I LOVE being a woman!

Women are classy, women are strong, women are sensitive, women are loving, women are influential, women are the staple of the home! Women are captivating. Women have the ability to bring so much joy to a room. Women can be tough AND gentle. Women are beautiful. Women are kind. Women are smart. We are important. Women are courageous. Women are faithful. Women are victorious.

Women have class!

Women are advocates!

Women are confident!

Women are kind, smart & important!

Women are precious!

Women are survivors!

Clothed in STRENGTH

Women are wondrous!

        

                                                                     

Women are fighters!

This is Your Brain on...

FAITH

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. -Hebrews 11:1

Faith-filled minds are knowing that no matter what God has got this!

Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment. -Matthew 15:28

Faith says With God all things are possible!

Repeatedly in God's word it says "your faith has healed you, your faith has made you well, your faith has cleansed you". Such power in Faith!

Faith is an act of obedience! The Lord wants us to trust Him in all things and to have faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. -Hebrews 11:6

Minds on Faith BELIEVE!

Believe God has GOOD for you! Believe God is GOOD! Believe the best is yet to come! Believe in hard times! Believe God holds this world in the palm of his hand.

Believe! Have Faith!

He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord -Acts 11:24

So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me. -Acts 27:25

This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. -Romans 3:22

Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God -Romans 4:20

Faith heals, strengthens us, makes us righteous, speaks volumes to the world, it gives us hope, and makes us humble.

How do we get faith???
Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. -Romans 10:17

For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. -Romans 10:10

Tasty Tuesday (Potato Crusted Salsa Quiche)

 Using left over mashed potatoes, spread evenly in a pie pan to form your crust

Bake at 400 for 8-10 minutes

 whisk 7 eggs

 add about 1/4-1/2 cup of half & half

 add 1/4-1/2 cup of salsa

 1/2 cup of cheese

 salt & pepper

 Pull out your crust

 add egg mixture & bake at 400 for 30-45 minutes depending on your oven

Voila!! It's delicious! Enjoy!

Thursday Thoughts (making the most)

Colossians 4:4-6
Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. -NIV


Pray diligently. Stay alert, with your eyes wide open in gratitude. Don't forget to pray for us, that God will open doors for telling the mystery of Christ, even while I'm locked up in this jail. Pray that every time I open my mouth I'll be able to make Christ plain as day to them. Use your heads as you live and work among outsiders. Don't miss a trick. Make the most of every opportunity. Be gracious in your speech. The goal is to bring out the best in others in a conversation, not put them down, not cut them out. -MSG


Pray that I will be able to preach so everyone can understand. This is the way I should speak. Be wise in the way you live around those who are not Christians. Make good use of your time. Speak with them in such a way they will want to listen to you. Do not let your talk sound foolish. Know how to give the right answer to anyone. -NLV


Ephesians 5:15-16
Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. -NIV


So be very careful how you live. Do not live like those who are not wise, but live wisely. Use every chance you have for doing good, because these are evil times. -NCV


So watch your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times! -MSG

What are you doing to make the most of your every opportunity?

Worship Wednesday (Power of Your Name)

I will live to carry your compassion
To love a world that's broken
To be your hands and feet
I will give with the life that I've been given
And go beyond religion to see the world be changed

Whose Approval?

Most of us have had the feeling or experience of rejection. 


When others reject us for merely being ourselves, our self worth and esteem becomes so deeply bruised it crushes us.


That feeling of not being good enough or never measuring up can be so demeaning and heart-breaking.


As I write this, I am reminded of the Pretty Woman moment, where "Vivian" is shopping and the ladies reject her because of how she looks. They are beyond rude and snotty to her as if their poop doesn't stink just because they "appear" to be better. 
Appearances aren't everything though. 


Surely some of the prettiest people can have the ugliest hearts.


So, Julia Roberts or "Vivian" goes shopping with her sugar daddy & gets this whole new look & major confidence booster. With her new lease on life she walks in to the exact store she was in the day before, she reminds the ladies she was there earlier and is able to go on to say my favorite line in the entire movie!


"BIG mistake, BIG mistake, HUGE!" (at 3:20min)

Oh how I'd love the opportunity at times to tell someone they made a big mistake when they have rejected my family or me! How I'd love to show someone who I really am. To prove haters wrong. To say "You made a huge mistake" or "you were wrong about me". Or to make it known that "dissing me was the stupidest move one has ever made".


Perhaps someone has made you feel less than. Maybe you have been told you aren't good enough, smart enough, pretty enough, fast enough, skinny enough, mature enough, wise enough, etc. Maybe you have been wrongly labeled or pegged something you are not. Or people have narrowed in on only one of your traits and made that all you are about when you are about so much more. Maybe you have felt like you can't do anything right. Maybe people use your past against you, causing you to feel like you can't move on. Maybe you continuously feel rejected or like an outcast.


BUT...


It doesn't matter what people think.


If we are so concerned with the opinion of man, then the base of our self worth has been seriously misguided and is in need of some major redirecting. It's time to live for an audience of one. The One. The only One who matters.


If what you are doing, what you say, how you do it or how you say it, is pleasing to God, then nothing else matters and we can trust Him to have our back. We can trust God to allow all else to fall in to place.


People are going to disappoint us our entire lives. (insert debbie downer music here) People will let you down, because that is man's nature. God is fair. God is just. God doesn't disappoint. Whether you always agree with Him or not. Understand His ways or not. He is good. He is full of favor for those who love him & live for Him. Life is not fair, but God is. Circumstances are not fair, but God is. People are not fair, but God is.


Seek to please God first & foremost and you will be amazed at your new found confidence. Live for an audience of One rather than trying to please everyone on earth.
When we run around trying to appease man we resemble chickens running with their heads cut off. It's impossible. Just as people will let us down, we are going to have our moments as well. We will let others down. But we are to not live for the approval of man. Unless we enjoy the cycle of letting people down & being let down...over, and over, and over again.

Galatians 1:10
Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. NIV


Do you think I speak this strongly in order to manipulate crowds? Or curry favor with God? Or get popular applause? If my goal was popularity, I wouldn't bother being Christ's slave. MSG


Do you think I am trying to make people accept me? No, God is the One I am trying to please. Am I trying to please people? If I still wanted to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. NCV


For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. KJV


Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant. NLT

Restless Monday Morning

It's 4:30 in the morning. I've been up since 3 something. THIS IS RARE. I am so not a morning person. Up until 2 years ago I used to rise early and truly look forward to my time with God in the morning. But with the trauma & tragedy of my brother's accident I somewhere, somehow find myself comfortable with sleep. Is it fear, am I afraid to rise for what the day might bring? I honestly don't know. But it's time to get those mornings back. That precious time with God before beginning my day. It's time to move past the emotional exhaustion of life's troubles. Time to grow & heal. Time to mend & build. Time to chill before the hustle & bustle of my day.


I find myself very restless this morning. I have a lot on my mind from is an espresso bean and a coffee bean essentially the same thing to My nephew Trevor who is in Boot Camp & graduates as a Marine this week!! And then another family member who I desperately want to see the truth and love God with all of his heart, yet I can't understand why it's not happening or what the barrier is. Then I know that its time to step out in pursuit of the call God has on my life personally, the time is here. But where do I exactly go from here?


Regarding the espresso beans, there's no such thing. Thank you Google (Espresso beans vs coffee beans)!


These Lyrics from Need to Breathe are beautiful :
Push the urge away
To wake up feeling just the same as yesterday
Time, it heals the pain
But painful is the angry heart when time remains


I am thinking that I need to push that urge away to sleep my day away. No matter what has happened in my life. I can choose my attitude for the day and refuse to wake up feeling the way I used to. Time does heal pain, but being that time still remains I am not fully healed from a lot of things in life. Because I sweep them to the side and go on with my busy life. Never really taking the time needed to tackle each individual issue. I think we all have so many underlying issues that we never really know about until it's too late and has escalated in to so much more. Little things add up. Tiny, seemingly innocent issues add up.


I'm not talking anything major or earth shattering. It can be the most minuscule situation, problem, issue, or feeling. At least half the time we haven't a clue what we are dealing with.


That's why that personal time with God during the day is so precious and so necessary. Whenever is best for you. For me, I have to do it in the morning. I have to give God my first fruits and I need Him so that I can find my strength for each day IN Him. 


Another great song: Whatever You're Doing 
Whatever you're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos but somehow there's peace
It's time to surrender to what I can't see
I'm giving in to something heavenly


There are a lot of unknowns in this life. We can all get caught up, overwhelmed, or lost in the hustle & bustle of life. In the mass chaos of it all. Taking on far more than God ever intended or desires for us to take on. 


Number 6:25-26 the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace


Psalm 29:11 The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace.


Psalm 55:22 Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.


1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.


Psalm 68:19 Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.


Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
There is a time for everything, 
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

My family member I daily have to give it up to God. I have to surrender him to the Lord continuously, knowing God loves him even more. We, as christians can't magically make anyone believe. We can be examples and love them, but we can't make them believe. 

Pray, pray, pray, pray, pray and TRUST God. 

What is this "time" in your life? 

For me it's a time to heal, mend and a time to build.

I am excited about what the future holds. God is so good. 

I'm done going through life afraid and holding back as a result of fear. I'm going to go on and do it afraid. Surrender my all to my Jesus. My Jesus, my constant companion He walks WITH me. 

No more subconsciously, not even realizing that I am, worrying about what is on the other side of this day, moment, or hour.

God's got this.

No more carrying my burdens.