I don’t normally post recipes, although cooking is a big part of my life. It’s one of my favorite things to do actually. It’s funny that over the years people have made big assumptions that because I am career and business focused I’m not a homemaker or cook. And truth be told I wasn’t until my girls came along. Rachel Ray and Food Network taught me how to cook while I was a stay-at-home mom and I’ve loved it ever since. As the girls got older our pallet just continued to expand and we are now true foodies. Maybe even food snobs. We spend a lot of time talking about good food and trying new recipes. And our oldest two, now adults, are quite the cooks themselves.

My collection of holiday recipes has had the biggest impact on our family traditions, especially Thanksgiving. The girls expect my grandmother’s sweet potatoes, my mom’s homemade yeast rolls, and my lemon-parsley gravy. And my homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast. We eat them while we watch the Macy’s Day Parade. Maybe this will be the year I finally blog our greatest holiday hits.

Over the last several years we’ve worked hard to get processed foods out of our recipes. We traded name-brand flour for organic flour from Sunrise Four Mill. Their flour is much easier on the gut than processed flour. And the biggest change has been trading white and brown sugar for Nova Maple Sugar. You will be shocked at how little flavor difference there is. Our recipes don’t taste like maple at all. Recipes with processed sugar are way too sweet for me now and just taste a bit off.

If you don’t have maple sugar sitting around or don’t want to spring for it (it’s a bit expensive for sure) just use white flour but use 1/2 a cup instead of 1 cup. In most recipes, a 1-to-1 substitution is sufficient but I wanted to put the sweetness in these cookies a bit over the top.

Enjoy! And let me know what you think!

Salted Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 Cup (2 sticks) Unsalted Butter, softened

1 Cup Packed dark brown sugar

1 Cup Maple sugar

2 large Eggs

2 teaspoons Vanilla extract

1 ¼ Cup All Purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon Baking soda

1 teaspoon (1/2 for dough, and 1/2 to sprinkle on top)

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

3 Cups Instant Oats

1 Cup dark chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 325°F.

1. Cream butter, brown sugar and maple sugar in mixer on medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Beat in one egg at a time until combined. Add vanilla.

2. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk flour, baking soda and ½ tsp of fine sea salt and then add to butter and egg mixture and mix until combined.

3. Fold in oats and chocolate chips into entire mix with a wooden spoon until combined.

4. Drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto parchment-lined baking sheet two inches apart. Sprinkle the last of the sea salt with a pinch onto the top of each cookie. Bake for about 12-15 minutes. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

How’s your prayer life? You probably guessed I have some thoughts about an effective prayer life. Prayer that avails much looks nothing like the way we’ve been taught to pray. We’ve been taught to bind and loose the devil even though Jesus already stripped him of all rule, rank, and authority (Col. 2:15). We’ve been taught to beg God to do for us what we can’t do for ourselves even though He gave us the Holy Spirit, wisdom, and the authority of Jesus. We’ve been taught to pray ‘if it be thy will’ instead of ‘thy will be done’. We’ve been taught to pray ‘in Jesus’ name’ even though we have no idea what that means.

To pray ‘in Jesus’ name’ means to pray in alignment with His will. But we’ve been told we can’t possibly know the will of God because who could possibly know the mind of God (1 Cor. 2:11)? We fail to read verses in context and forget we can have the mind of Christ if we want it (1 Cor. 2:16).

To have the mind of Christ and praying effective prayers goes hand-in-hand. To know God’s will and intentions is essential to an effective prayer life.

Because here’s the reality…if you don’t know God’s will you will magnify the problem when you pray. In magnifying the problem you will become more and more desperate for an answer and less and less assured your needs have already been met. Your mountains just become bigger and bigger when you’re begging God over and over again! It’s truly an exhausting process.

Prayer should look a lot more like confession. Confession means to say the same thing. Prayer should look more like saying the same thing God says about your situation until your heart is convinced He has already provided for your solution.

I find these scriptures helpful when I pray about any problem:

Scripture: “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” 1 Peter 1:3
Confession: “Thank you God that I already have everything I need that pertains to life and fulfilling your perfect will. I lack no good thing (Psalm 34:10).”

Scripture: “For as many as are the promises of God, in Him is the "Yes." Therefore also in Him, the "Amen" by us is for glory to God.”
1 Cor. 1:20
Confession: “Thank you God that every promise you ever made to anyone is yes and amen for me too. You never change.”

Scripture: “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.” Psalm 37:25
Confession: “Thank you God that because I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus I will never be left without food, shelter, clothing, or a way out of the temptation to fear or to sin in my fear (1 Cor. 10:13).”

Scripture: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Cor. 5:21
Confession: “Thank you God that I am righteous because of Christ Jesus. Therefore sin no longer has power over me.”

I’m telling you right now—if you will find a scripture that answers your need and confess that scripture over your problem, the problem will become smaller and the solution will present itself. Every solution to every problem you will ever face was solved in the life, burial, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Effective prayer always aligns with God’s will. God’s will always aligns with His heart. And God showed His heart and intentions through the finished work of Jesus.

Join me for this week’s episode of The Getting Life to Work Podcast where we examine the finished work of Jesus. This teaching will help you change the lens through which you see your problem so you can magnify the solution Jesus already provided for you!

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Blog Photo Cred: Priscilla Du Preez

Y’all. FINALLY.

Many have asked me, “Why don’t you have a podcast?” To which I would say, “I will get one done. In my free time.” But that free time never came about until two things happened:

1. I stopped wavering (being double-minded) on this issue and determined I would do it. Decisions in life never come down to “I would if I could”. God-given destinies are “I could if I would”.

2. I became a stay-at-home-mom to a 20-month-old.

I raised a now 22-year-old and 21-year-old. The 20-month-old was so out of the blue there are days I am still in total shock. At a time when I had planned to be pursuing the dreams I had put off until my biological girls were raised I was suddenly a mom to a toddler all over again. I would be lying if I said my emotions up front knew it was all going to work out and I would still live my dreams of full-time ministry, writing, and speaking. Quite the opposite. The truth was I felt like life was over. I knew that wasn’t true in my mind but my emotions tried to tell me differently. I had to build up the belief in my heart and not determine my fate based on circumstances.

This podcast is all about Getting Life to Work. I share my personal journey from the dark night of the soul to taking the limits off God to putting my life back together according to Jesus’ model for a great life.

Take a listen, give me a 5-star rating to help others find it, and share it with a friend!

I have 5 episodes already loaded for you so you can dive right in!

For your heart today…

Colossians 3:1-3 reminds us that, having been raised with Christ, we are hidden in Him.

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”

We can set our minds on things above when we believe the truth in our hearts. When God gives us a promise and a mission nothing can stop the fulfillment other than our unbelief.

“As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.” Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.” (Hebrews 3:15-19)

It is rarely ever God’s timing or God flat-out saying, “No, not now.” that keeps us stuck where we are. These are merely justifications for our unbelief. Our unbelief in God’s willingness to keep His promise no matter how unlikely the circumstances appear leads to fear. Our fear keeps us from obedience. And because “faith without works is dead”(James 2:26) our disobedience keeps us from seeing our desires fulfilled (Prov. 13:12).

But everything is possible to him who believes (Mark 9:23). The key is our belief. It has always been the key. Yes, there are times when man’s free will delays God’s ability to allow us to step into a Divine moment. But we can always be on our way through preparation. Preparation looks like adding necessary skills that will help us fulfill our destiny. It also includes prayers that avail much (James 5:16). In my private mentorship group, I am putting together a study on how to pray effective prayers and activate a faith that moves mountains. Sadly, the way we’ve been taught to pray is exactly the opposite of how Jesus taught us to pray. And we definitely haven’t been trained in operating faith for miracles.

I hope you will join my mentorship group! It is a deeper dive into discipleship and the best way you can support this ministry on a monthly basis. I have learned I cannot do what God sent me to do to the scale He wants to do it without your partnership. All proceeds go to spreading the gospel and feeding a 20-month-old. ;)

So whatever you are facing today know that “God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable”. (Romans 11:29). This means He never takes them back. He doesn’t “give and take away” (Job 1:21). That is something Job said in his arrogance and ignorance and God corrected him for it.

But we can forfeit the gift and the call (fail to activate or receive it, thereby frustrating grace Gal. 2:21) by believing it’s over and our circumstances are insurmountable. Build up your belief today by meditating on the truth that nothing is impossible for you if you would only believe and then obey.

I’ve read the book of Proverbs several times but during this fall-to-winter season, I determined to take a deep dive into it. This transition in my life is like nothing I’ve experienced before so I find myself in great need of wisdom. There are a million ways I could handle this life-altering change. I could run. I could completely freak out. I could willfully bury my head in the sand and let it pass me by. I could repeat old patterns of self-abasement, self-neglect, codependency, or narcissism.

In short, this is an opportunity to really screw up my life or an opportunity to walk in the protection that comes from practicing wisdom.

“The path of life leads upward for the wise.” Proverbs 15:24

The benefits of wisdom are pretty astounding: life, health, length of days, favor, rich rewards, protection, and more. Wisdom has everything I want in this season and it is available to me right now. But what I want most that wisdom provides is life. Real life. Abundant life.

I did a word study on life and I think you’ll find it as desirable as I do. The word life comes from a Hebrew word that goes far behind just existing. It is a word that means welfare and happiness. It is an earthly bliss combined with spiritual blessing. I want me some of that!

When Christians can’t explain the hardship they are experiencing or others around them are experiencing they often say, “Well, God never promised us a good life!” or “God never said it was going to be easy!”

Hmmm…

It’s true we were never promised we wouldn’t experience hardship or persecution. But we were promised wisdom to guide us on a path to always winning. Always winning doesn’t mean other people have to lose to us. It means that in the end, whenever circumstances shake out, we can come out whole or better than before.

Have you ever wondered why Jeremiah 29:11 promises a future and a hope which looks to the future?

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
Jeremiah 29:11

It’s because God is trying to put the path to welfare in our hands but He can’t show us what that future looks like until we choose it for ourselves. It’s not automatic. So often we determine our only possible outcome is evil (lack, limitation, our detriment) instead of looking for the good outcome God promises.

Jesus makes some wild declarations, maybe the wildest being that He came to give us not only life, but abundant life. No matter how you try to translate the definition of abundant it always comes back to being over and above, more than is necessary, more than enough, preeminence and the advantage in every (all-around, continuously) situation, superior, extraordinary, surpassing, uncommon, and more! There are never any exceptions, only the prerequisite… you choose to take hold of it and have faith for it until you see it materialize.

God has a way to work all things together for the good of those who love Him, are called, and are in pursuit of His purposes. And one of His purposes for you is a great life, life to the fullest!

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10

If you are under pressure today, look for the way out. Every time we are tempted to solve our problems on our own or by our flesh (our five senses) God always has a way out that leads to abundant life. Believe that He has that for you, ask Him to show you the path, then use wisdom to get there. Wisdom is the practical application of knowledge or the truth. And truth alone cannot set you free. Truth has to be applied and acted upon in order to bring you to freedom.

And what is freedom? Well, it probably looks a lot like the life that comes from walking in wisdom—welfare and happiness, earthly bliss combined with spiritual blessing.

And what about the whole easy life thing? Well, circumstances and people in life might not be easy on us, but God’s instructions are easy and light. Yoke up with Him and you’ll walk right into your victory.

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Many would describe grace as God’s unmerited favor, but really that’s more akin to mercy. While favor is certainly a dimension of grace it isn’t a holistic view of grace. Grace is favor but it is a favor that EMPOWERS. It gives us ability beyond our own. It literally empowers us with God’s ability to do what we could never do on our own.

God’s grace working in us is SHEAR. RAW. POWER.

While there are numerous things twisted and wrong about the Supernatural TV series, one thing they did do was provide an excellent picture of grace. In the show, two of the main characters are angels. These angels only had supernatural power when they had their grace. When they lost their grace or if their grace was stolen they were left with mere human ability.

Paul understood the power of grace better than most. Check out these verses:

“I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.” Galatians 2:21 (KJV) The word frustrate means to neutralize. If grace were defined simply as unmerited (unearned, undeserved) favor rather than a favor that bestowed power on us and in us it wouldn’t be something we could just neutralize. We can neutralize grace or keep grace from working in us by operating in our own ability versus God’s ability. When we operate in our own strength Christ becomes of no effect to us and we fall from grace (Gal. 5:4). Falling from grace doesn’t mean losing our salvation experience. It means leaving that realm of God’s ability and choosing instead to operate through our strength.

You can see why grace is so vital to living a successful Christian life. Paul knew that aside from grace he was left to his own weakness. But with grace, even his weakness was strong! Paul described his thorn in the flesh as a “messenger of Satan” buffeting him (2 Cor. 12:5). Because a thorn referred to people in the Old Testament (Joshua 23:13) we see that Paul was referring to the crowds of haters that were constantly trying to cancel him (the original cancel culture) so they could persecute him. God responded to Paul’s plea for the thorns to be removed by saying, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Cor. 12:9. This was not God saying He would put Paul on life-support with a steady drip of grace. This wasn’t God saying, “Paul, I’ve given you unmerited favor. That should be enough for you. Get over yourself.” This was God saying He would empower Paul to triumph! God couldn’t change the free will of the haters but He did give Paul His own grace or ability to be strong in any situation.

God’s ability. Let that sink in.

Jesus had it. We can have it too.

Grace is available to us in abundance. James 4:6 says, “But he giveth more grace.” More grace than what? More grace than the power sin has over us. More grace (His ability and empowerment) than any situation or stronghold has to overpower us. Anywhere that sin abounds, grace abounds more (Rom. 5:20).

So what does this mean? Well, let’s define sin first. There are several Greek and Hebrew words for sin throughout the Bible. If you were to take a zoomed-out look at sin as a whole you would see that sin is not just violating the Ten Commandments. Sin is anytime we are living in a standard that is less than what Jesus died to free us from. Sin is anytime we come short of functioning in our new man, our new nature.

Addiction, depression, fear, unbelief…these are all expressions of sin. But where these abound in us grace ABOUNDS MORE. This means that if we choose to partner with God and lean on His ability to overcome addiction or any pattern of behavior that has held us captive, we can activate His grace which is more powerful and more abundant than the thing we want to overcome!

This takes practice. It could truly be summed up in the only thing God ever told us to strive for…entering into rest.

When we finally rest from trying to white-knuckle it,

grace can take over.

I have a million books in my head. It’s possible the next one could be a grace challenge. I hope you’ll stick with me. Podcasting is coming soon, and more teaching in my Getting Life to Work mentorship group…all designed to help you learn to walk in grace to defeat your addictions, codependencies, and repeated patterns of failure.

Because here’s the thing: many of us came to salvation in Jesus and were immediately set free from a whole slew of destructive behavior patterns. But the reality is, most Christians never overcome their most life-controlling issue, whether it be overeating and yo-yo dieting, pornography, codependency, shame-based thinking, etc. The good news is that it is the same grace working in us at salvation that will work in us to overcome that thing we haven’t been able to defeat!

Photo Cred: @where.mike.at

My Bible teaching centers around one fundamental truth that isn’t very popular. In the Kingdom of Heaven (the realm in which all of God’s resources are available to us), pain is never gain. Pain is pain. Pain comes to steal, kill and destroy. Always. Every time. No exceptions.

And that is why God never uses it to get a desired response from us.

I know. Saying this doesn’t always win me more friends. In fact, it makes a lot of people really mad. But the truth is the truth.

I’ve said over and over that pain has no ability to teach you, train you, or make you a better person. It is only your response to pain that can do that. And that is why God doesn’t use pain to train you.

And He doesn’t even allow it in your life. Man allows it.

Here is where people start freaking out and their heads start blowing up. People will do anything to protect the bad doctrine they’ve used to reconcile the pain that came into their lives.

How can I say God doesn’t allow pain? Because He doesn’t. And those who teach otherwise have to contend with thousands of Bible verses that don’t support their ‘no pain, no gain’ narrative, all of Psalm 121 being just a few of them. Check it out:

“I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
    where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip—
    he who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed, he who watches over Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord watches over you—
    the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day,
    nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from ALL harm—
    he will watch over your life;
the Lord will watch over your coming and going
    both now and forevermore.” Psalm 121

I’m not sure how much clearer the Psalmist can be. God KEEPS you from ALL harm. If we find ourselves suffering it’s the result of a fallen world and/or we didn’t heed God’s warning. It was man’s free will that got us here.

God is only in control of our outcomes to the degree
we choose to take responsibility
and refuse to hold Him accountable for our pain.

If God allowed pain even when He could relieve it, He would be in violation of His own system of justice.

“But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood.” Ezekiel 33:6

“Do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it’s in your power to help them.” Proverbs 3:27

God holds those accountable who see evil coming and do nothing when it is within their power to act. God always sees down the line and it is always within His power to act. Would He not require the same justice of Himself?

The man who is overcome by the sword is overcome because of his own sin. Sin comes in many forms. Sin is not limited to simply violating the 10 commandments. In fact, there are 33 different words for sin in the New Testament. Sin is any form of unbelief in the goodness of God, missing the mark, or living below the standard of the abundant life Jesus modeled for us.

By giving us free will, God has OBLIGATED Himself to hand us over to our desires and beliefs. If we believe He is causing our pain, allowing our pain, or using our pain, we won’t recognize His warning to avoid the pain or take hold of His way out of the pain.

God is always trying to prevent our pain. And when we find ourselves in pain He is always trying to show us how to overcome it. He isn’t using the pain to teach us a lesson. God uses His word and the Holy Spirit to teach and train us. It is a fool that learns through pain alone. It is the wise that heed the warnings of wisdom and learn from instruction.

In my book, Prosperity to Providence, I use Biblical evidence to make the case for the failure of American Christianity, an extrapolated doctrine that taught us to blame God or blame satan for everything that happens in our lives. In all cases, whether we caused our pain, someone else caused it, or Adam’s original sin caused it, we are responsible… we are able to make a response that gets us out of pain. I’ll show you how to get the pain to stop by viewing pain through the lens of the finished work of Jesus. Download a copy today and learn how to get back on the racetrack you were born for!

Think you can’t limit God? Think again. The Israelites were famous for it.

‘“How often they provoked Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert! Yes, again and again they tempted God, And limited the Holy One of Israel.” Psalm 78:41 (NKJV)

What God can do for you is limited to what you are willing to believe about Him and then walk out in obedience. The words hearing and obeying in the original Hebrew language of the Bible are nearly the same words. We only hear what we are willing to obey.

And having ears to hear is synonymous with having eyes to see.

In other words, we only hear what we want to hear and we only see what we want to see.

So what are you willing to see?

We limit God when we decide a positive or miraculous outcome in our situation isn’t possible. We limit God when we decide we will only get the outcome He wants us to have. We limit God when we refuse to see the possibility of an outcome that is in alignment with the finished work of Jesus.

God wants you to have whatever Jesus died to give you. But He can only give you what you are willing to hear and obey.

And here’s the good news: You can know the perfect will of God (His desired outcome) for any circumstance by testing it against what Jesus completed on the cross.

This expert from my book, Prosperity to Providence: Why American Christianity Isn’t Working and How to Get Back on the Racetrack We Were Made For, will help frame this up for us:

God’s preferred outcome for any given circumstance in your life is:

•       You are not poor, destitute, inadequate, or ill-equipped for life.

•       You have a mended heart, where unexplained failures or cycles of self-destruction have ceased. 

•       Your circumstances have zero power to hold you.

•       You are healed from all sickness and disease, in this life, on this side of heaven.

•       You have the faith of God to move your mountains.

•      You are not stuck. Your emotional debt and physical pain have been paid for.

How do I know this? The authority of scripture:

“Surely our sicknesses he hath borne, and our pains -- he hath carried them…” Isaiah 53:4a (Young’s Literal Translation)

“And evening having come, they brought to him many demoniacs, and he did cast out the spirits with a word, and did heal all who were ill, that it might be fulfilled that was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, 'Himself took our infirmities, and the sicknesses he did bear.'” Matthew 8:16-17

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Luke 4:18-19

And by the way, you have all these benefits, today, in this life. Because “…as He is in this world, so are we”. 1 John 4:17

Everything Jesus did, you can do too—and then some!

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do…” John 14:12

The key to getting God’s preferred outcome in your life is to not limit Him by accepting a lower standard of living than what Jesus died to give you.

Your will and your belief are one and the same
and God won’t violate either one.

He cannot give you what you are unwilling to believe He wants to do for you.

I highly recommend studying the scriptures above and testing your circumstance against them. Download my book where I expand more on miraculous outcomes I have personally experienced because I stood on the promise of what Jesus died to give me instead of limiting God to what I could see in the natural or what I was afraid of.

The best outcome is possible for you, but if you limit God you’ll limit His grace (His ability and empowerment) needed to get a miraculous outcome—you’ll be left with only what is possible in your strength.

At a crossroads? Me too. In a world with nearly endless possibilities and paths to take it seems crossroads appear daily. Negative circumstances outside of our control can force us into decision-making time. We might see multiple opportunities to overcome our challenge but are torn as to which one to take.

Do I turn left or right? Do I get on or off? Do I go straight or take the detour? Do I take the quick-fix opportunity or a longer route with greater potential gain? Or should I hold out for a third option?

Can I have my cake and eat it too? Decision-making time. We all face it.

The question I find most helpful in times like these might surprise you. It’s not, “Is this God’s will for my life?” This question is disempowering right out of the gate because what we are really saying is, “If I do this, will God show up for me?” We express and reinforce our lack of belief in God and His character every time we ask this question.

Maybe a better question to ask is, “Will this opportunity bring peace or strain to other areas of my life that I value?”

The Bible says, “The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.” Proverbs 10:22.

“The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.” Proverbs 10:22.

The Hebrew word for rich is ‘ashar. It means to go straight on, advance, to lead on, to set right, righten, to pronounce happy, call blessed, to be advanced, be led on, to be made happy, be blessed.

The path to victory that God chooses for you won’t add sorrow (toil, pain, hurt, or hardship) to other areas of your life. You might want a higher-paying job but it requires 60 hours a week at the expense of your family and your health. But you need the money. So the temptation is to believe it is your only option instead of standing on the promise of Proverbs 10:22.

So maybe the second most important question you should ask is, “What else is possible?” If what looks like my only out is going to remove peace and add toil to other areas of my life that are valuable to me and a priority to God, what else is possible? As soon as you start asking yourself this, your mind will start mapping out other possibilities. Keep asking, keep searching, and keep knocking until you find the solution that fits God’s description of what He calls blessed. This is using your faith in His promise to gather evidence that supports God’s preferred outcome for you.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1 (NKJV)

And trust the process. Give the solution time to come. When you let patience do its work you will find a solution that leaves you whole and complete in all areas and lacking nothing.

“But patience will have a complete work for itself that you would be perfected and complete, and that you would be lacking nothing.” James 1:4 (ABPE)

It will be worth the wait. He promised.

In my quiet time yesterday, I put on a worship song. If I’m honest, worship music that I can bare to listen to is hard to come by these days. So much of our Christian music tends to put our focus on guilt, shame, and inability (the old man) instead of the new man that is already alive in us. I have found that if I continue to reuminate about my failures I forget about my authority.

But that’s a whole other blog post. ;)

A particular line in one song stood out to me. It said, “My anchor holds within the veil.” It comes from this verse in Hebrews: “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil.” Hebrews 6:19 (NKJV)

Every time I think of hope I think of this scripture: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.”

When you put the two verses together they seem to contradict each other. Is hope an anchor or does it make your heart sick? And hope in what? Just hope for the sake of hoping?

God never wanted us to live in the hope deferred condition. He wants us to live with desires fulfilled. The key is putting your hope in the right thing. The answer to what we must put our hope in is found in the verses that precede Hebrews 6:19.

“Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and their oath serves as a confirmation to end all argument. So when God wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of the promise, He guaranteed it with an oath. Thus by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be strongly encouraged.” Hebrews 6:16-18

There are two immutable things to put your hope in:

1. God doesn’t lie.

2. He guaranteed your inheritance of all the resources of the Kingdom of Heaven and sealed it with an oath by the sacrifice of Jesus.

I’m feelin’ like that is a pretty great place to anchor yourself.

Keep renewing your mind in everything Jesus died to give you. I say this all the time because I do it all the time. When I’m overwhelmed, frustrated, scared, sick, in grief, lack, or pain I recount what is already mine; what has already been done for me.

Here’s my list straight outta scripture:

·       I have been given all things that pertain to life and godliness. Everything I need to complete my mission and fill my purpose is already here.

·       Every promise God ever made to anyone is yes and amen for me because I am in Jesus.

·       All things can work together for a victorious outcome if I will allow the Kingdom of Heaven to be my only reality.

·       I can always be the head. I don’t have to be the tail.

·       I can always be above. I don’t have to be beneath.

·       God is always FOR me. He is NEVER against me.

·       I am saved, healed, delivered, prospered, protected, anointed, set apart, holy, and righteous.

·       This isn’t God testing me. He tested Jesus for me.

·       Jesus won the victory and gave me the keys to the same authority over death and decay that He has.

Once you’ve renewed your mind to these realities your heart will begin to anchor itself in the right thing and you will begin to see desires fulfilled.

But if you keep hoping in “maybe God will help me” or “God can do whatever He wants whenever He wants so it’s up to Him what happens to me now” you’ll never have the faith to see what you’re hoping for through to fruition. God exercised His free will to give you authority, dominion, and the right to choose whether to partner with Him for your outcome or partner with chance.

In and of itself, hope has no power to anchor you.

Hope for the sake of hoping is not an anchor for the soul. Hope in the finished work of Jesus is an anchor for the soul.

Hoping with fingers crossed that God will do something will make your heart sick with fear of the unknown, longing, and desperation. But hope in the knowledge that the victory for what you’re facing has already been loosed for you in Heaven will anchor you. It will cause you to be immovable and unwavering about the outcome.

In a word, anchored.

And it’s the one who is anchored, immovable, and unwavering that is able to receive what they need from God.

“But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.” James 1:6-7 (NIV)

A friend told me yesterday her (now ex) pastor said, “You can’t manifest anything.”

Wow.

Maybe he was trying to speak into the “manifesting” fad that is trending on social media and use a shock statement to get attention. Or maybe he wanted people to fear God as the ultimate authority and make man out to be a puppet on His strings. Regardless of the motivation, he was wrong.

Here’s how I know: what one might call manifesting the Bible calls sowing and reaping. To say we can’t manifest anything because God is the ultimate decision maker is to have a very fatalistic view of God and to ignore every scripture that says He gave man authority, dominion, autonomy, and freewill.

Several years ago, when the book The Secret came out, Christians lost their minds. And recently a movie and documentary have come out, with Christians losing their minds all over again.

Meanwhile, non-Christians all over the world are successfully using the law of sowing and reaping that God wrote into the universe and not even knowing they’re doing it. And yet both the Bible and science (particularly quantum physics) back it up. We may not all use the same terminology, and The Secret may get some details wrong here and there, but manifesting is the Bible, whether we want it to be or not.

The truth is, made in the image of God, we are creators (Gen. 1:27, Psalm 82:6). We create futures. Our lives are the sum total of our past and present belief systems. We are daily reaping what we have sown (2 Cor. 9:6, Matt. 18:18). If we sow in fear we will reap more fear. If we sow lack, we will keep coming up short and even what we do have will disappear (Matt. 25:29).

In the same way, if we believe we have everything we need in the present, even when it doesn’t look like it (Luke 9:16, 2 Peter 1:3. Matt. 25:29), even more will come to us.

Some call it the Law of Attraction, others call it the Law of Belief. I personally lean toward the latter. When we believe there is a way out, we will find one (Matt. 7:8). When we believe we have everything we need to solve any problem (2 Peter 1:3) the solution will come, followed by the steps to get there. When we start with the basic belief that God is for us and not against us (Romans 8:31) and that He always provides a way out when we’re under duress (1 Cor. 10:13) we are sowing a seed. We are sowing a seed that begins with the truth and it will reap a harvest.

But as a seed, it only, ever, bears after its own kind (Gen. 1:11). It won’t bear anything else.

God has given you the ability to choose what you will sow and thereby choose what you will reap. All throughout scripture, He puts the responsibility back on man to decide what the outcome of any given situation will be.

Unfortunately, we miss endless possibilities of a great outcome because we think God is in control.

Nope.

He used His authority to give us authority. And He doesn’t lie or change His mind.

God is only in control to the degree that man gives Him control. And history proves time and time again (as does the present and as will the future) that man does a very poor job at giving God control.

BUT this is all incredible news for you today and every day after if you’ll let this sink in and put it to the test!

Here is my personal process of choosing my own outcome:

1. Look at the finished work of Jesus and decide what He died to give me:

   • Abundant life (John 10:10)

   • A healed heart and every wound relieved (Psalm 147:3 and Strong’s 2280, Isaiah 61:1)

   • Salvation from affliction (Isaiah 61:1 and Strong’s 1319)

   • Set free by any stronghold (limiting or lying pattern of thought/belief) holding me captive (Isaiah 61:1, 2 Cor. 10:3-5, Jonah 2:8)

   • An opening when I am trapped, bound, backed into a corner, or surrounded (Isaiah 61:1)

   • Healing from sickness and disease (Isaiah 53:4, Matt. 8:17)

   • A way out when I am tempted to fear or cave, have a fatalistic mindset about my situation, or tempted to sin in any way (1 Cor. 10:13)

   • “Yes” to all the promises above (2 Cor. 1:20)

2. Recognize God won’t violate my freewill (Jonah 2:7-8)

3. Confess (say the same thing) God has already said about my situation (review step #1) until I see His preferred outcome (for His preferred outcome see step #1) materialize in the natural.

There’s your manifesting folks. And it works if we decide to work with God to see it through to fulfillment, no matter how long it takes and no matter how bad things appear in the natural.

So happy manifesting friends!

Image: https://www.iwv.org/campaign/womens-bill-of-rights/

It’s not about whether being transgender is real or not. It’s not about whether identifying as a gender other than that which one is born with is righteous or not.

It’s about protecting women and children.

It’s about safety and privacy for women and girls in public spaces. It’s about protecting the rights and opportunities of women. It’s about not allowing male-bodied athletes to retain spots, playing time, scholarships, and victories that belong to women, both young and old.

And it’s about retaining our sanity as a people.

Have we lost our minds? It seems we have. Right is left, left is right, one plus one equals two (depending on your skin color), good is evil and evil is good. We are in serious trouble.

Margaret Oneal Monteleone, a then-freshman in high school, would have taken first place in her first-ever high school track meet if a biological male had not been allowed to steal her victory.

Selina Soule competed for a qualifying spot at the New England Regional Championships in the 55-meter dash but the first and second spots were taken by two male athletes. The unfair advantage cost Selina the opportunity to compete in front of college scouts.

Chelsea Mitchell, a high school sprinter, was well on her way to state titles and awards until the same two males were allowed to compete, resulting in her loss of four state championship titles.

Both science and common sense agree that men are faster, bigger, and stronger than women. We have fought too long and too hard to lose our equal opportunity all over again. And if losing titles, positions, scholarships, and opportunities isn’t priority enough, our personal safety should, at minimum, take precedence over helping natal males feel included among women. Sadly, that isn’t the case.

Just last year a Virginia juvenile court judge ruled that a male teenager sexually assaulted a female student in a Loudoun County high school restroom. He was wearing a skirt. The school’s response? While still under investigation he was transferred to another school where he allegedly assaulted another female student. Not surprisingly, this took place in a state where democrats voted to end school administration reporting of sexual battery to law enforcement.

Something has to be done. And Republicans are doing something. Something BIG. On May 19, 2022, House Republicans, led by Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., introduced the Women’s Bill of Rights Congressional Resolution to codify our common definition of the words ‘female,’ ‘woman,’ and ‘sex’ before Leftism erases it completely. While the same activists who organize the Women’s March wearing masks that say“Feminist as F***” work to eliminate biological sex categories, the Women’s Independent Voice brought bi-partisan voices together to double down on protecting women’s freedom.

Check it out:

WOMEN’S BILL OF RIGHTS

“Whereas, males and females possess unique and immutable biological differences that manifest prior to birth and increase as they age and experience puberty;

Whereas, biological differences between the sexes mean that only females are able to get pregnant, give birth, and breastfeed children;

Whereas, biological differences between the sexes mean that males are, on average, bigger, stronger, and faster than females;

Whereas, biological differences between the sexes leave females more physically vulnerable than males to specific forms of violence, including sexual violence;

Whereas, females have historically suffered from discrimination in education, athletics, and employment;

Whereas, biological differences between the sexes are enduring and may, in some circumstances, warrant the creation of separate social, educational, athletic, or other spaces in order to ensure safety and/or to allow members of each sex to succeed and thrive;

Whereas, inconsistencies in court rulings and policy initiatives with respect to the definitions of ‘sex,’ ‘male,’ ‘female,’ ‘man,’ and ‘woman’ have led to endangerment of single-sex spaces and resources, thereby necessitating clarification of certain terms,

We affirm that:

For purposes of state/federal law, a person’s ‘sex’ is defined as his or her biological sex (either male or female) at birth;

For purposes of state/federal law, a ‘female’ is an individual whose biological reproductive system is developed to produce ova; a ‘male’ is an individual whose biological reproductive system is developed to fertilize the ova of a female;

For purposes of state/federal law, ‘woman’ and ‘girl’ refer to human females, and the terms ‘man’ and ‘boy’ refer to human males;

For purposes of state/federal law, the word ‘mother’ is defined as a parent of the female sex and ‘father’ is defined as a parent of the male sex;

When it comes to sex, ‘equal’ does not mean ‘same’ or ‘identical’;

When it comes to sex, separate is not inherently unequal;

There are legitimate reasons to distinguish between the sexes with respect to athletics, prisons or other detention facilities, domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centers, locker rooms, restrooms, and other areas where biology, safety, and/or privacy are implicated;

Policies and laws that distinguish between the sexes are subject to intermediate constitutional scrutiny, which forbids unfair discrimination against similarly-situated males and females but allows the law to distinguish between the sexes where such distinctions are substantially related to important governmental objectives;

Any public school or school district and any federal/state/local agency, department, or office that collects vital statistics for the purpose of complying with anti-discrimination laws or for the purpose of gathering accurate public health, crime, economic, or other data shall identify each individual who is part of the collected data set as either male or female at birth.”

—https://www.iwv.org/campaign/womens-bill-of-rights/

Nailed it.

After all our progress as women, it’s hard to imagine we are even having this conversation at all; even more difficult to imagine it happening in America. And yet here we are.

I hope you will join me in signing the Women’s Bill of Rights to protect the definition of a woman and (hopefully) restore some sanity to our nation. Click here to sign.

So I am totally geeking out about this. Like, in a BIG way.

Can we all at least admit that nothing has been built back better since this last election? If everything rises and falls on leadership, and I believe it does, America is in big trouble.

But we don’t have to sit and be silent about it. We can educate ourselves on hot-button issues while building lasting bonds and looking for ways to take local action. And that is what the Independent Women’s Network seeks to do.

IWN is the latest arm of the Independent Women’s Forum, the leading national women’s organization dedicated to developing and advancing policies that are more than just well-intended, but actually enhance people’s freedom, opportunities, and well-being. They use their platform and voice to educate and advocate for women.

And I am soooo on board with everything they are doing.

I didn’t have much if any, interest in politics or public policy growing up. When I married my husband almost 25 years ago the Democrat versus Republican conversation never came up. I grew up in a conservative household but didn’t know it until I was well into adulthood when my dad gave me a copy of Dennis Prager’s book, Still the Best Hope. I discovered two things while reading this book: being a conservative means possessing common sense and turns out my husband was and always has been a conservative. A brown, immigrant, conservative. He’s one of The View’s favorite oxymorons.

Then came the 2016 election. When I heard President Trump announce his candidacy something in my spirit leaped. I knew we had the wrecking ball our government desperately needed. I was a fan.

As a former evangelical church staffer for over 10 years and a lifelong committed follower of Jesus Christ, I came out as a MAGA fan. And I could not believe the backlash! I mean, I expected some for sure. I’m not completely naive. But nothing prepares you for Believers trying to preach political sides to you while literally denying the system of justice God laid out for us in scripture (which most have never read). When challenged with the Word and sent a personal invitation to discuss over coffee… crickets.

Even pastors and their wives. It was quite literally sickening.

I asked for feedback from people I didn’t agree with. All it did was prove their agenda was not to walk in love. Note to self: never ask for feedback from people who do not genuinely love you. And NEVER ask for feedback from those who are motivated by reparations, victim mentalities, or who look to define racism in places it doesn’t exist.

I lost friends and followers. Good riddance.

And then the great divide we all witnessed… church leaders who stood in support of Trump at complete odds with those who opposed him. Oh, the irony! The irony was two-fold. The irony that some of our most prominent male and female Christian* leaders were dreadfully offended at Trump’s pride and arrogance was astonishing because I’ve literally never met a person who accused someone of pride that did not themselves walk in pride.

AND…

The current state of America is due IN FULL to the failure of church leaders who have gone before us. Full stop. They brainwashed us in religion (yes, the evangelical churches too) and failed to stand up to government overreach for YEARS. Then, when the going got tough they buckled. The reality is this: anyone who voted for anyone other than Trump was gravely deceived and unlike the Sons of Isaachar, they didn’t understand the times (1 Chronicles 12:32).

It’s amazing how these worldwide traumatic events have caused a long walk through the institutions. We see how fragile the church is, how sick the educational system is, how corrupt both the Left and the Right truly are, and how passive the average American is.

But no more. We are waking up and fighting back. A grassroots tribe of conservative thinkers is on the move and the Independent Women’s Network is a leading part of this movement. If you are in the greater Phoenix area, contact me here for more information. If you are in another state be sure to check the IWN website for local chapters you can join or maybe even start your own!

Here’s the thing: when you know the truth you don’t have to be afraid. When you have a group of like-minded women who are for you and who get you, your confidence will build exponentially. We can’t run the race alone and we certainly cannot be among those who sat back and complained while the world literally fell apart around us and we lost all our freedoms.

I refuse to answer to God for that.

There is no doubt things have changed drastically in the last 20+ years, but I also see some things remain the same, especially when it comes to child-rearing. Parenting and family is something I rarely write about, if ever. I think I’ve always avoided it because I wonder how you really know when you’ve succeeded and can claim to be an expert. What is the marker of success in raising kids? Christians would say it’s when you’ve raised fully devoted followers of Christ.

Then there’s the AA song by Walker Hayes…

“I'm just tryna keep my daughters off the pole
And my sons out of jail
Tryna get to church so I don't go to hell
I'm just tryna keep my wife from figuring out
That I married up and she married way, way down
…Hey, I'm just tryna stay out of AA”

Maybe success is somewhere in between? I have no idea where the line is, but after raising a 22 and 21-year-old, and recently becoming the guardian of a 15-month-old, I feel confident I have some timeless advice to offer when it comes to parenting. After looking back at what worked with my oldest two and what is working now with Charlie, here are my best tips for creating parenting years you can actually enjoy!

#1 - SCHEDULE, SCHEDULE, SCHEDULE!!

When my oldest two were little, the biggest controversy in parenting was whether you should use attachment parenting or sleep training. Attachment parenting promoted co-sleeping at night. Sleep training was quite the opposite. It meant helping your child learn to put themselves to sleep by allowing them to naturally fall into a schedule. You wouldn’t believe (or maybe you would) the backlash I got for choosing sleep training and boundaries with my kids. My own parents didn’t understand what I was doing by not rocking the girls to sleep with a bottle. I would put them to bed while awake but sleepy and they would simply fall asleep… no crying, no fits, and no waking up in the middle of the night after just six weeks old.

True story.

And over the years I can attest that women who were hell-bent on co-sleeping (baby in bed with mom and dad) paid a steep price for it in their marriages and overall sanity. (I want to be sensitive and acknowledge here that some parents with children born with medical or special needs that require around-the-clock attention are in a completely different category here. Co-sleeping can happen out of the child’s specific needs in these situations.) I will never understand why parents don’t see the damage they do by rocking babies to sleep and then putting them down. The minute the child realizes they are alone they are filled with terror, almost like time-travel movies where people suddenly wake up and find themselves alone in a totally different century and country. This is what happens to infants when they are consistently rocked to sleep and wake up alone. They are absolutely petrified. And as they grow, the fear eventually becomes habit and reflex. And worse… they come to understand that screaming gets them whatever they want.

Parents… please. Use your heads here. I know you love rocking and holding and snuggling. Do yourself a favor and save it for when they are awake or sick or just the occasional nap time. Come to grips with the fact that you are making that about you, not them. Use smart systems that cause them to naturally fall into their own sleep schedule and you’ll keep hundreds of sleepless nights from ever happening. The peace in your home and the happy little smiles when they wake up in the morning will be a great reward. Most tantrums and poor behavior are completely avoided with proper, REM sleep habits. I recommend the classic On Becoming Babywise by Gary Ezzo and Robert Bucknam. You can read the stories of Babywise moms on Valerie Plowman’s blog, www.BabywiseMom.com. You’ll find sample schedules and testimonies by moms who are constantly told their babies are happy and their toddlers are well-behaved.

Scheduling has worked for three out of three for me so far and I have yet to find a real-life pediatrician or counselor who doesn’t agree.

#2 - TANTRUMS DON’T NEED HUGS, THEY NEED “NO”!

You’ll need Gary and Robert for the pre-toddler and toddler years as well to survive tantrums. Be sure to read book two, Parenting Your Five-to-Twelve-Month-Old Through the Baby Transitions, and book three, From Baby to Toddlerhood, Parenting Your Twelve to Eighteen Month Old. Read these BEFORE you get to these phases. It will literally give you an action plan for every situation your toddler throws at you.

Most of the time, redirecting a pre-toddler is all you need to do, but a child needs to also learn how to handle a firm “no” without throwing themselves on the floor and screaming. If you tell them they can’t have something they want (a hot plate, your important documents, your laptop) and they throw a fit so you give them something else they like you’ve just reinforced a lesson. You’ve taught them that screaming and tantrums produce rewards. You think you’ve told them no. You think they can handle no. But you’ve literally just taught them the opposite.

I fully expected all of my girls to handle being told no without throwing a tantrum. If they did, they are separated from my personal space. They are not allowed to stand in my space and wreck my peace. They are moved to a playpen or another room (wherever it is safe but separated from the family) so they learn one of the most important lessons in life: self-awareness and how to behave in public. If you want to raise teens and adults who don’t throw fits and scream when they don’t get what they want, don’t raise toddlers or kids who do.

I love what one counselor I read years ago wrote about the goal of raising kids (when I remember his name I’ll share the link ;)). He said

“the goal is to raise kids who are a blessing to people around them.”

I would say that’s a pretty good marker for parenting success. My girls aren’t perfect, and I wasn’t perfect, but people do truly enjoy their company. When I raised my first two I studied and read book after book so I went in prepared for the hard stuff. I recommend pretty much anything Dr. Kevin Leman wrote, especially Making Children Mind without Losing Yours and Have a New Kid By Friday.

#3 - SLUMBER PARTY DAYS ARE OVER… AND HAVE BEEN FOR YEARS

I should have listened to Dr. Dobson but I didn’t. He was telling us to ditch slumber parties back in the 80’s. I confess. I didn’t want my kids to be “those kids” that never got to have sleepovers. You know those kids. We all do. They were always treated as teh weird outcasts and rarely had any friends.

But I paid a price for allowing sleepovers and I you will too.

You would be SHOCKED at what your child will be exposed to and by whom at the average sleepover. I thought I was careful. Slumber parties and sleepovers were at the houses of fellow church staffers Rimmel and I were tight friends but the kids watched horror flicks at five and six years old! I should have stopped sleepovers then and there. You would think I would have learned.

But I didn’t.

Years later, a teacher’s daughter passed porn around her fifth-grade slumber party.

My heart was destroyed on both counts. I didn’t do the hard thing. I wasn’t brave enough. I cared more about them fitting in than preserving their innocence. I was the one people knew as Mama Bear over her babies and these gross influences STILL got by me.

NO MORE SLEEPOVERS. Not with family either. In the majority of cases, abusers are family members. Be brave. Be smart. Set the boundary now so your babies don’t pay a steep price later.

Their self-esteem and sense of belonging ultimately come from you anyway. And do you really want your child to fit in with the popular crowd in most schools? Your child needs better friends.

#4 - LEARN TO HEAR GOD IN YOUR HEART. IT WILL SAVE YOUR CHILD’S LIFE. LITERALLY.

Rimmel and I will never forget it. Madison wanted to use our 7-passenger Jeep Commander to fit all her friends for their night on the town. Something in me said no.

“Madison, it’s not because I don’t trust you with it. Something is telling me no in my heart. I’m sorry but you need to take your car tonight.”

Her car was carefully selected by Rimmel. It was a 2005 Mazda 6. Low to the ground with a wide-wheel base. He knew that in a serious accident this would be her best chance.

And he was right.

She was on the freeway going about 70 when she wanted to switch lanes. She didn’t see the black SUV in her blind spot at first. When she did see it, she over-corrected getting back into her lane and the car did three 360’s and a 180, landing her in the Y of an off-ramp facing the oncoming traffic. Five cars piled up behind her. She and her friends were scared for sure but completely unharmed and her car didn’t hit anyone or anything. Had they been in the SUV they would have rolled multiple times and God only knows whether they would have lived or lived with serious injuries.

God is always trying to help prevent danger in our lives. Most of us recall a moment before a tragedy that we had a knowing in our knower. I have had a knowing in my knower when it comes to my girls more times than I can count. Learning to lean into the still small voice of God will help you more than anything else in your parenting.

#5 - APOLOGIZE. OFTEN.

Here’s what I know: parents take too much credit when their children do the right thing and don’t take enough responsibility when they do the wrong thing. We get puffed up with pride when our kids are shining examples of the best parts of humanity but we deflect and make excuses when they embarrass us.

Don’t be that parent. Be the parent who can acknowledge when you mess up. And when you mess up, apologize to your kids. Verbally. Not with a shopping trip or fun outing.

Use your words.

Nothing sealed the bond between me and my girls more than when I messed up, acknowledged it, and asked them for forgiveness. It helped them understand how important it is to be honest in relationships. It helped them see adults are often in the wrong and shouldn’t be trusted just because they are older. It helped them be honest in their relationships and own their own mistakes.

But most importantly, it kept bitterness from growing between us.

When you mess up, your kids see it… often more easily than you do. They feel pain when you yell at them, talk about them negatively to others, or give them a punishment that doesn’t fit the crime. They respect you when you are humble enough to admit your shortcomings.

Parenting is hard. It’s scary, exhausting, and frustrating. It’s also incredible and fun. But you don’t have to fly by the seat of your pants doing it. Be a student. Read lots of books. Read them out loud with your spouse or buy audiobooks. I used to read parenting books out loud while Rimmel worked on a project of some kind. Do whatever it takes to get on the same page and do it early, long before the common problems are known to occur.

And remember to breathe. It sounds cliche but it might be the most important advice you will ever receive.

“And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore.”
1 Kings 4:29 (KJV)

“Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.” Isaiah 60:5 (KVJ)

Enlarged: רָחַב | rachab: to be widened, enlarged, relieved, and expanded with joy (BDB)

“Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10b (NKJV)

I recently shared with my private Facebook group, Getting Life to Work, that I am in the research and study phase for a future book to be called Profile(d). The book will break down the misconceptions in character profiles of some major players in the Bible and reveal how, through our misunderstanding of their lives, God Himself has been mischaracterized or profiled throughout the centuries as a result.

One of the key Bible characters this book will cover is King Solomon. We have this great misconception that God miraculously made King Solomon the wisest man who ever lived. Like, “Poof Solomon! You get to be wise but everyone else who asks for wisdom has to learn the hard way.”

Praise God that’s not quite the case.

When Solomon asked God for wisdom, God responded by showing King Solomon he already possessed the very thing he desired most… a foundation for the Spirit of Wisdom to be the guiding factor in his life.

“Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.” 1 Kings 3:12 (KJV)

The Hebrew word for “behold” is “hinneh”. It means look, after all, lo, here, or indeed. It’s the same word God used in Job when He acknowledged that Job had already handed his own life over to the scrutiny of the enemy. When God says behold He is saying, “Take a look! This is already so.”

At the young age of twelve, King Solomon had already been trained in wisdom by his father, King David, whom he saw make both good and bad decisions. Solomon’s love for God and wisdom to rule is the reason he was chosen to be king. He already had the foundation required to rule justly, he simply needed to set his intention to continually grow in wisdom.

Because to him who has, even more will be given. (Matthew 25:29)

And even Jesus had to grow in wisdom and stature.

Because Solomon feared and loved God, he had the capacity to receive more and more supernatural wisdom. To fear God is to fear doing anything that would break the heart of God. In addition to having the capacity to contain wisdom and understanding, Solomon had the ability to have the boundaries of his heart enlarged. The word enlarged not only means to have the thickness of the walls of the heart enlarged but to have a heart that is specifically enlarged by joy.

How does joy enlarge the heart? When the joy of the Lord is your strength, your heart expands in its capacity to walk in faith-righteousness.

Nehemiah, in an attempt to encourage God’s chosen people after they failed to follow God and their city came to ruins as a result, said to them, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10 (NIV)

I’ve met many a Christian who tried to muster up enough joy in difficult circumstances in order to gain more strength. That’s hard to do when life has knocked the wind out of you. Especially if you believe God was the one who orchestrated your difficult circumstances. Even worse are the times we come to realize we were our own undoing.

We are told to just sing worship songs until we feel the joy of the Lord. We convince ourselves if we’ll just get excited about God we will have all the strength we need.

But that’s not what Nehemiah was getting at. Nehemiah is telling the people to allow themselves to call to mind the limitless joy and sheer pleasure God takes in them to receive strength. It is the knowledge of this pleasure apart from performance God takes in you that has the power to strengthen you from the inside out, if you do not allow your own heart to condemn you (1 John 3:20), creating boundaries and barriers of false beliefs you can never break through.

Both King Solomon and Nehemiah had incredibly high leadership lids. Everything they put their hands to came to fruition and the people they led flourished in their work for God! Rather than look at their lack (lack of years of experience, lack of resources, etc.) they looked to a God who took exceedingly GREAT JOY in them. They meditated on the joy of the Lord rather than on their shortcomings.

SO!!! Let the knowledge that God takes GREAT PLEASURE in you strengthen you for whatever you’re facing today! Mediate on that pleasure until it becomes real inside you and all self-condemnation melts away. THEN you’ll be able to receive the wisdom of King Solomon and the leadership ability of Nehemiah.

I had the privilege of hearing one of the best Easter sermons I’ve heard. Like… ever. It was a perfect combination of resurrection realities and hope for a new beginning.

Pastors Tyrone and Amy Rinta of Rivers Church in Phoenix, AZ have been friends of ours for several years now. One of the things I love about their ministry is they place equal weight on emotional maturity and spiritual maturity, or God’s responsibility and personal responsibility. Per Peter Scazzero, the pioneer for emotional health in the church, “Emotional health and spiritual maturity are inseparable. It is not possible to be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature.” And per my longtime family counselor, the lack of focus on self-awareness and emotional IQ has rendered pastors some of the most emotionally (and thereby spiritually) immature people on the planet. And I believe he is one-hundred percent correct. I certainly spent the bulk of my ministry life with a low emotional IQ and caused a lot of pain along the way.

After the Easter message, Tyrone and Amy prayed for me. It was so timely and fitting, given that I was taking vigorous notes throughout the entire sermon. Thoughts about Jesus suffering and overcoming a Roman crucifixion, showing us what a human filled with the Holy Spirit is capable of doing if they’ll use the authority of the Kingdom of Heaven. And thoughts about Jesus reconnecting Peter to his purpose even after he denied Christ three times.

What most of us miss about the power behind Peter’s purpose is that each of the disciples knew what they were signing up for. They understood the cost and chose to face a marytr’s death if it meant ushering in a new Kingdom power. Jesus found Peter returning to his life before the call, fishing day in and day out while his purpose went unfulfilled. I can identify with Peter. Over and over again in the face of fear and loss, I’ve denied my calling. And like Peter, I consistently experience Jesus telling me to get back up rather than condemning my failure.

Pastor Tyrone prayed that a spirit of heaviness be lifted from me. I felt that one. Heaviness like I’ve only experienced once before crept in over the last almost two months. I’m grieving the sudden, unexpected loss of one of my best friends of nearly twenty-five years, coupled with the shock of becoming the guardian of her one-year-old daughter after raising my first two daughters who are now 22 and 20 years old! While children are a gift from the Lord versus a mere responsibility, I would be lying if I said I’m not feeling the temptation to quit my calling as the reality of diapers and toddler tantrums sets in.

Yet oddly enough, the reality that our time is short and Jesus is coming for His bride stirs at a deeper level inside me than ever before. Rimmel and I have had hours of conversation over these events, trying to sort out the shock and find the path forward.

But the most telling conversation we’ve had went like this:

Me: “I don’t understand any of this, but one thing I know for certain is that all of this makes me want to do one thing and one thing only – plant a church.”

Rimmel: “THAT’S what I’ve been waiting to hear!”  

God: “Do all that [is] in your heart; turn for yourself; behold, I [am] with you, as your own heart.” 1 Samuel 14:7

When God puts desires in your heart, they are His desires too. In other words, you share a heart with Him.

And if becoming parents to a one-year-old after 24-1/2 years of marriage makes you want to spread the gospel even more in the second half of your life, then you’re probably called to spread the gospel even more in the second half of your life. ;)

I decided to study the spirit of heaviness further. Leave it to Christian blogs to offer the worst advice on the planet.

The phrase comes from the book of Isaiah:

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.” Isaiah 61:1-3

Every blog out there gave a prescription for the spirit of heaviness—dead works. Pray more, sing more worship songs, attend more church, make more Christian friends, fast more, be more grateful, be more humble, bind the devil, scream at the devil, give more money… on and on it goes. While none of these are wrong in and of themselves (although screaming at the devil is a waste of energy), they become dead works when done for the express purpose of getting God to do something He already did through Jesus. Jesus already gave us a garment of praise for a spirit of heaviness. And the garment of praise isn’t something we have to do in order to be released of heaviness. Praising God is not the prescription of what to do in this verse. The garment of praise is a gift we received at the time of salvation.

A garment is a wrap or mantle. It signifies purpose and authority. Praise comes from the Hebrew root word halal and can mean renown, fame, or glory. In this context, it is a mantle of renown, a splendid garment, or a garment of remembrance.

To break free from a spirit of heaviness is to remember who you are and the authority you have.

Remember…

·       You have been given all things that pertain to life and godliness. Everything you need to complete your mission and fill your purpose is already here.

·       Every promise God ever made to anyone is yes and amen for you because of Jesus.

·       All things can work together for a victorious outcome if you’ll allow the Kingdom of Heaven to be your reality.

·       You can always be the head. You don’t have to be the tail.

·       You can always be above. You don’t ever have to be beneath.

·       God is always FOR you. He is NEVER against you.

·       You are saved, healed, delivered, prospered, protected, anointed, set apart, holy, and righteous.

·       This isn’t God testing you. He tested Jesus for you.

·       Jesus won the victory and gave you the keys to the same authority over death and decay that He has.

A spirit of heaviness comes when the problem overwhelms us to the point of despair so we feel like giving up, or we have convinced ourselves there is no path forward. Heaviness comes with the belief that in light of the current circumstances we can’t or won’t get what we want or need out of life.

Heaviness is lifted when we trade our reality for the reality of the cross. Heaviness is lifted when we trade the yoke of despair for the light and easy burden of our authority over circumstances.

Heaviness is never lifted by becoming more for God. It is only lifted by REMEMBERING who you are already are in Jesus.

If heaviness has taken over, the last thing you need anyone to say to you is praise more, sing more, pray more, have more faith… AKA religion.

Because sometimes heaviness is so heavy you can’t do any of those things. And how can you offer a sacrifice of praise when life has literally knocked the breath out of you and there is nothing left to sacrifice?

The Good News of the gospel is this: you do not have to do more or sacrifice more or become more. You just need to remember, to call to mind who and Whose you already are.

My latest writing project, the Prosperity to Providence eBook, is quite a wonder as I reflect on it. In so many ways it is more than just information about the two most widely accepted doctrines in Christianity. It is more of a declaration of where I stand with Jesus after over 20 years of intensely studying scripture and applying it to my life in practical, tactical, and supernatural ways. It is how I have come to make sense out of pain, trauma, and grief. It is how I have come to understand grace and a faith that actually gets results. It is how I’ve come to understand the universe, how it works, and God’s intention with it.

It is how I understand LIFE, my purpose, your purpose, and our future.

After spending much of my life in ministry, I have questioned God’s existence and His providence more than a few times. Knowing God came easy to me as a daughter of lay ministers. Believing God came easy too.

But trusting He wouldn’t hurt me… that was different.

One thing every victim of trauma or abuse knows is this: you cannot trust someone you think will hurt you. And the only way to give God a free pass on this is to accept a doctrine that makes God out to be a vengeful, tyrannical, God.

Over and over again in scripture, when describing Himself, God emphasized this: “I am Holy.”

Holy means “uncommon”. Why would God see fit to constantly remind those who needed His divine intervention that He was holy? Most translators and theologians agree it’s because He won’t do anything on our behalf unless we puff Him up with reminders of how awesome He is. But the truth is, He was trying to help them understand that as an uncommon God, He wasn’t like any other gods they were familiar with. From Greek gods to Baal and Gilgamesh, His people were bombarded with stories of fearful, vengeful demigods who would smite you if you messed up.

But He wasn’t like that. He didn’t desire blood sacrifices, penance, and ugly crying at the alter. He desired relationship. And in the context of relationship, as we use our freewill to believe the truth about Him, He is at the ready to provide supernaturally what we could never provide for ourselves.

I spent years under the weight of “angry God theology”. I was told God wanted to do incredible things with my life, but I had to go through my period of testing first. If I skipped the testing, I would not be worthy of, or capable of standing up to, the position God had for me.

This is the most tragic message you could ever communicate to a future pastor. Because whatever happens after you say that is God’s fault.

God does not badger us through endless, merciless testing! The trials we go through while on our way to building our dream has more to do with us letting go of all the limiting beliefs and mindsets of lack that keep us from reaching our destination. It’s not God doing the testing. It’s us letting go of seriously bad programming.

And the problem with blaming the trials and testing on God is that if a person faces trials that literally leave them shattered in broken-heartedness, they now have to reconcile their faithful service to a tyrannical God. Very few can survive this. This is why the church has countless burned out and brokenhearted ministers in its wake.

This book was written to restore any breach of trust or sense of betrayal between the brokenhearted and the Creator of the Universe. It was written to awaken you to the miraculous probabilities that exist this side of Heaven. It was written to restore a proper view of a God who is ravished by you.

“Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.” Song of Solomon 4:9

The word ravished in Hebrew is לבבתני or livabethini. Livabethini is a picture of a tree that has lost its tree bark.

With just one look at you, His heart is like a tree that has been stripped of its bark. God literally allowed Himself to be TAKEN by you, ravished by you. He is thoroughly brokenhearted apart from a relationship with you, His heart ripped open and laid bare.

Only abusers seek their own glory by causing you pain.

God allowed His own heart to be stripped bare when He created you. No wonder your freedom from pain was worth trading His life for. I’m a mama. I totally get where He was coming from. With one look at my daughters I am ravished by their beauty—both internal and external. And I would quickly and without question give my life for theirs.

How much more when God looks at you?

Download your copy of Prosperity to Providence here: https://www.christynarsi.com/latest-ebook

You are so, so loved.
Christy

Okay. Deep breath. This is a bit of a first for me, but as my friend Dubb Alexander says, “This could be God, or it could be me. But it’s probably God.” When you are learning to disciple a nation (which is the mandate on all Believers) there is stretching and growing, practicing and learning. For over a year now I have been seeking God on behalf of our nation, asking questions like, “What in the world is going on?”, “Where are we on the end times timeline?”, and “How much worse is this going to get?” I know I am not alone in these weighty questions. You have likely asked yourself some of the same.

I find that God answers in the same way He answers questions about my personal life. I sense Him guiding me to a portion of scripture and somehow it shoots straight to the heart of the matter. When God gives me clarity over life’s biggest issues, I write it down and use meditative prayer to see it through to completion. As I’ve sought Him on national and global issues, I’ve done the same. But rather than be super public about what I discerned Him saying, I have held it in my heart and observed other seasoned prophetic voices to see if there is agreement or if I am out of my mind. In studying, listening, and waiting for confirmation, I have recently gained enough confidence to begin sharing what I am hearing with you.

So here goes!

I truly believe a time of peace is coming over America. It’s hard to believe that could be true, with the way things seem to be getting worse by the minute, but a time of peace is coming. But only for a time.

This message is to the remnant.

And here is what you need to know about Biblical remnants: remnants are always governance engaged. Remnants are like the Sons of Issachar (1 Chron. 12:32) who “understood the times and knew what Israel ought to do”. You cannot understand the times if you do not understand current world powers and government agendas. I love the term SAGE Cons. SAGE Cons are Spiritually-Aware, Governance-Engaged Conservatives. While I do not advocate having the “party spirit” that the Bible warns us against, we do have to acknowledge that the Left, by virtue of their own written platform, has removed God from their party entirely. When God is removed, there is no standard for rights endowed by the Creator.

I heard God say this to my heart for the remnant:

“The shepherds deserted the flock in the hour of need, but I am gathering the remnant from where I sent them for protection. They will gather and become a flock and increase in number. I will appoint responsible shepherds over them and they will increase in strength and not be afraid.

Strengthen the remnant!!! For they will surely create their own flocks too. They will take others with them! They will break out, they will break up the hard ground and the obstacles so others can go ahead. Your breakers have broken out of the womb, after months of darkness, being in the cave where you met their spiritual needs, and other weary travelers found them.”

God is telling us that He saw how many pastors and leaders scattered at the first sight of conflict in the nation, or stood in solidarity with evil, and millions of local flocks were spiritually abandoned. Over the last decade, God asked many of you to separate yourself from your church or ministry and go into hiding. You may not have understood it at the time, but it wasn’t a cave that was meant to break you. It was meant to shelter and preserve you, the way King David was sheltered and preserved in the Cave of Adullam. It was in the cave that King David’s devoted warriors gathered and David was strengthened to take back the Kingdom!

“Now they are breaking out! The sheep are breaking out, with shepherds—trustworthy shepherds go before them, with Me at their head. Those who were once lame will become a remnant. I will reign over the afflicted in Mount Zion. Your former dominion (what you already carried and the places you’ve leveled-up in) is before you! Why do you let agony and fear grip you? I say, birth now! Let it come forth! For now you will leave the cave and move into the city. You’ll dwell in wide open fields and you will take Babylon. You will be redeemed from the hand of your enemy.

Many have assembled against you: the machinery of government and the offices of the elites with their great followings. But they do not know My thoughts! They do not understand My purpose—that I have shined a light to expose them. I have gathered them up too—rounded them up for exposure!

Arise, Daughter of Zion, Daughter of Deborah! Arise and take your place! I will fortify you in iron and bronze. My new flock will pulverize regimes that stood against you. You will plunder Goliath and devote his unjust gain to Me, and his wealth to Me, the Lord of all the Earth.

Watch expectantly for Me, for I am the God of your salvation. I hear you. Though you dwell in darkness, I am your light. I have brought you out to the light, and you will see My righteousness. Your enemy will see My righteousness too and be covered in shame. It is a day of building your walls in safety as all your boundaries are being extended. And all those in need who doubted and persecuted you will come to you for favor, for a blessing.

Christy, America is not done yet. I still have purpose for her. Her enemies will be silenced, though not forever. The remnant will push the enemy line back as far as possible. She will rear her head again, not as a credible threat, but as the voice of shame and indignation that she is. She will use fear to control and shame to manipulate. She will be part church, part government.

But you will have years of victory over her. My Word still stands, and you must stand on My Word. It is time to come out so I can fill your net—enough to pay off debts, enough to supply and enough to invest.”

I believe God is saying we are coming into a time of victory over the new world order. But she will rear her ugly head again. In this coming moment of peace, those who remain steadfast will take MAJOR ground. God will restore the remnant so that what was once worldly gain by the enemy is turned over and used for God’s purposes throughout the earth.

If you’ve been in a cave, I believe God is saying, “You did the right thing in your cave…you searched for Me with all your heart and I have been found by you. I am so proud of you. But it’s time to come out of hiding.”

I am so encouraged by this Word! I hope you feel empowered, prospered, and protected in the days and weeks to come. I hope you’ll meditate on this and begin looking for its fulfillment. The thing about prophesy it that it is God revealing to us what His preferred and perfect will is, but that doesn’t mean it is always happens. We still have our freewill in tact. We have to use our freewill to enforce on Earth that which He has already approved in Heaven.

For further reading, see these scriptures from which God confirmed this Word: Jeremiah 23:2-4, Micah 2:12-13, Micah 4:6-13, Micah 7:7-12

Isaiah 1:11 and the Flying Shoes

“As I slept last night, I was given a vision in bright bold letters that read, “Isaiah 1:11”. Next, I saw a pair of shoes stored in a wooden box. The box was about 24 inches wide, 18 inches deep, and 18 inches long. A voice in the dream explained that when someone put the shoes on, they are given the ability to fly. After every flight, the shoes had to be recharged by putting them back in the box. Strangely, the box was filled with ash. There was something special about this ash that gave the shoes their power. The words “righteous indignation” rang in my ears throughout the night.” Rimmel

Isaiah 1:11 reads, “The multitude of your sacrifices—what are they to me?” says the Lord. “I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.” (NIV)

Clearly this is God’s righteous indignation toward Israel, just like Jesus’ righteous indignation when He turned the money tables over in the temple. The nation of Israel approached the sacrifices as something they just did because of ritual and tradition. It had become a habit, not a heart position. They were just going through the motions to appease God so He wouldn’t smite them. Not only was Israel a sinful nation as a whole, but their corruption ran deep, especially in their judicial system (sounding familiar?). Israel had digressed into a sickened people. They were weak, soft, and desperate need of a cure. God was not pleased with their actions. They were making dutiful sacrifices while remaining equally dutiful to their sins.

Isaiah gets their attention with strong language from God; he addresses them not as Israel but as Sodom and Gomorrah! If God addressed my heart as Sodom and Gomorrah…well…YIKES.

Through Isaiah, God tells the people their sacrifices are no good without a repentant heart and a will to turn away from evil. Their sacrifices were nothing more than wasted energy, a bunch of burned up, meaningless matter. God was willing and able to provide them victory over their enemies and protect their land, but it wasn’t their sacrifices that would move Him; it was the condition of their hearts.

When you read the full chapter of Isaiah 1, you learn the nation looked very much like the church today. We have rebellious kings and their princes who claim to be part of the body of Christ but make friends of thieves to abuse power and wealth (Isaiah 1:23). Unjust inflation is on nearly every good that is bought and sold. The nation of Israel was suffering from a similar problem; their silver had become worthless, and their wine was watered down prior to sale at market (Isaiah 1:22).

Is our US Dollar any different today?

God promised to restore Israel’s judges and counsellors just as in their days of old (Isaiah 1:26). Like Israel, the corruption in our judicial system runs DEEP. People committing violent crimes get away with a hand slap or by cutting a deal, while others who committed non-violent offenses are indefinitely held in prison without the right to legal counsel.

“Israel is an exact representation of what a nation in a moral freefall looks like, and we are no different. We go to church and sing our songs, but we don’t seek transformation. We place some money in the offering bucket just to check it off the “spiritual to-do” list. We drown our faith with the newest TV show while our children wonder aimlessly. I could go on, but the point is this: is the church today so different from the people of Israel?” Rimmel

God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. That’s a good thing.

Our today is the same as Israel’s yesterday. That’s a bad thing.

We are facing a moment of decision: we can make a course correction and receive the promises God gave to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and realize our traditions will do no good in this hour. What will do us good is a repentant heart and a will to understand the God of the Bible, because clearly, we aren’t getting Him. The result of our humility (teachable spirit) will be the victory the church desperately needs. 

What does any of this have to do with flying shoes that are recharged by ashes? We are so glad you asked. ;) Sacrifices do not empower Believers, just as they did not empower Israel. Sacrifices have no power to force the hand of God to move on our behalf. God was, and is, in no need of our sacrifices or traditions. The sacrifices were made to benefit the one bringing the offering, not the other way around. The one bringing the sacrifice needed a regular and tangible reminder that it was not their own power, might, or strength that would save them.

Ashes symbolize death and repentance. Ashes serve as a reminder of Christ’s death and our subsequent death of the old nature with Him. Our fuel, the thing that makes us soar, is Christ in us, the hope of glory. Our bodies were made from the dust (Genesis 3:19) but because of Jesus, we no longer return to dust. Dust (death) has been conquered and has become the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven for us. Talk about leveraging the enemy!

We have leverage over the evil in our lives and our nation, if we are willing to remember Who gave us that leverage and if we will regularly recharge ourselves with reminders of the reality of Christ in us, the hope of glory.

BIGGEST LITTLE SMALL TOWN

It has been a year since we started prepping our Phoenix house to sell. In a previous post I talked a bit about how God spoke to us it was time to "sell everything you have and come follow me". I wanted to dive a little further into that story, as I'm sensing it might be helpful to your own journey of learning how God moves us. Also, I can't wait to introduce you to the biggest small town I've ever seen.

I had a very vivid dream in April 2020. I was with my girlfriend in what appeared to be a game show. There was a reader board that would flip and ding with the survey answer. Think Steve Harvey and Family Fued. My girlfriend and I watched as the board flipped with a loud ding. “GLAMPER”. At the sound of the ding, my entire body felt a giant pulse and I woke up. The crazy part was the giant pulse wasn't part of the dream. I could literally feel electricity in my veins. When I fell back to sleep, it happened again. “GLAMPER”, followed by another electric shock. I woke up again. Then fell back to sleep. Then it happened a third time. Now the Lord had my attention.

In the Bible, when something happens three times, it's a pretty big deal. A prophet or rabbi would be asked three times if they were certain they wanted to take up their calling and follow God, no matter what the cost. The third letter of the Hebrew alphabet is the Gimmel - ג. The Gimmel is often associated with God Himself. It has three parts, a head, body, and foot. It is said that the three parts represent bestows, grows, and sustains. This means a person grows to bestow kindness and nourishment to his neighbors. In other words, when one grows and is ready, he can answer the call to minister others.*

The next day my close friend and mentor, who is gifted in dream interpretation, called me. I was on her heart. And she was definitely on mine. She said God was giving me a jolt. Three times meant it was confirmed. A jolt to notify me that the time was near when He would send us on the mission we had prayed about for 20-something years. Noted.

A short while later, when the world started falling apart (COVID, George Flloyd, rioting, looting, stolen election... all the things) Rimmel and I were chatting with my parents about the real estate market. The market in Phoenix, like many other places in the nation, had become an aggressive seller's market. There were plenty of buyers but historically low inventory, making it a great time to sell. Prices were at an all-time, post 2007 market crash, high. It was no doubt the best time to sell. I said, "If we sell, we're moving to Texas. Surely they will be the first to secedes this madness and I can keep my guns." But I am not a fan of major humidity, so my follow up statement was, "Where in Texas does it not feel like hell?" Because, you know, it's not like Phoenix ever feels like hell. Whenever people say, "Yeah, but it's a dry heat." I respond flatly with, "So is a forest fire." It's amazing that I made it eighteen years in Arizona, after being raised in Washington state. The only time I ever enjoyed the heat was from June to July, during the four short years we had a pool. Once your body has adjusted to dessert living, you don't get in the pool until it's been consistently over 105-110 degrees. Otherwise the water is too cold. But by August the water is too hot and feels more like a sauna, and who wants a sauna in the dessert? Mom grew up in Texas and she knows a few things. She immediately said, "Well, that's Amarillo.". Again, noted.

The next morning came instruction directly from God’s word to "sell everything and follow Him". I don't recall if it was just after this or just before, but one morning, Rimmel woke up with an impression in his heart. I was having my coffee and quiet time when he announced, "We need to move to a small town. We need to serve a small town that is seeking to grow.” Rimmel sensed that if we found a town that was showing a desire towards economic growth, we could take our knowledge of real estate markets, business trends, and population patterns to contribute in a meaningful way.

“How small?” she said. “No more than 40,000 people.” He said. “Hi, I'm Christy.” she said. “Have we met?”

I really didn't think I “did” small towns. I love uptowns. I had built my real estate marketing and interior design business around uptown living. (Check out my Pinterest to see inside my brain, Everyday Uptown) Although I have watched every season of Gilmore Girls all the way through, three times, so I suppose that means something. But inspiration from God is inspiration from God. So I Googled "small towns near Amarillo". And the most magical, adorable little city popped up.

I am pleased to introduce to you Canyon, Texas. It's called Canyon because it has a canyon. The canyon in Canyon, TX is the first canyon I’ve ever seen. Believe it or not, I lived in Arizona for eighteen years and to this day have never seen the Grand Canyon.

Canyon received the designation of a Main Street Town by the Texas Historical Commission. The program is hosted by the National Trust for Historic Preservation are there are currently more than 40 states that participate. It is founded on community involvement and public-private partnerships to preserve a town’s uniqueness and create an inviting atmosphere. It focuses on economic development within the context of historic preservation. The mission statement of the Canyon Main Street 501(c)(3) is "To improve quality of life for the citizens of Canyon and the benefit of the overall community, through the enhancement and promotion of historic preservation, restoration, business vitality, tourism, cultural and arts awareness." ** And they are doing an amazing job! These historical buildings are all centered around the original 1908 court house in town square.

Rimmel has determined that one day, he will get permission to re-enact the clock tower scene from Back to the Future here. This courthouse has been sitting in the middle of town square since 1910. The exterior was recently renovated. The town council hopes to renovate the interior soon.

The Johnston Do-it Best Hardware store and Rockin' Zebra Soda Shop are too stinkin' cute for words.

Palace Coffee is where it’s at. Local college students, business professionals, moms, and ministers hang out. The friendly atmosphere is just as addicting as the caffeine. And the original brick streets? Gorgeous!

You cannot visit Canyon without stopping by the Creek House Honey Farm. The owners, George and Paige
Nester, ordered two bee hives to pollinate their plants. Those two hives eventually became the honey farm!

Meet Tex Randall! Tex was constructed in 1959 by industrial arts teacher Harry Wheeler. According to CanyonMainStreet.org, “the original purpose was to advertise Wheeler’s Western Store. The last restoration effort for the statue was in 1989 when a truck crashed into Tex’s left boot.” The 47-foot cowboy was officially restored again in 2016 through a town fundraising effort.

Maybe this should have been two posts. Almost done showing you all the amazing things in this little gem of a town! The Bar Z Wines is a local tasting room that overlooks the canyon! All of their wines are made with Texas grapes grown in the Texas High Plains AVA (American Viticultural Area). They host live bands and a food truck every Saturday night and they are dog friendly!

And the frozen sangria…to DIE for. It’s a red frozen sangria with a white frozen sangria. You MUST, MUST, MUST visit the Canyon, even if just for the sangria.

And last but not least, the canyon. If the Grand Canyon had a baby, this would be it! Very few people know there is another canyon in the United States. We had no idea until we started researching small towns in the Texas panhandle. The Palo Duro Canyon has a descent of 800 feet. There is 16 miles of paved road that makes for a gorgeous drive. You can camp, visit the gift shop, and even zipline over the canyon!

The canyon also has an hosts the annual Texas Outdoor Musical. We haven’t had a chance to see it yet but we hear it is incredible! The show brings to life the struggles and triumphs Texas Panhandle settler’s in the 1800's. The Pioneer Amphitheater is carved out the natural basin of the canyon.

I hope you enjoyed this tour of the biggest-little-small-town I have ever come across. We had an opportunity to meet some of the city planners and staff. It is clear the locals are incredibly proud of their city, many having lived here for generations. The city plans to ‘grow right’ and has made strategic moves to support local business growth. You can read all about their incredibly successful schools, economic growth plans and more here.

*Bentorah, Chaim. Learning God's Love Language. 2018.

**https://canyonmainstreet.org/about/

GLAMPER 2.0 REVEAL

Drum. Roll. PLEASE. We need it. We need some celebration here. This thang is finally DONE. Our "just a two-week lipstick reno" became a five-month gut job. We've flipped enough houses to know better. Why must we still be so optimistic and kid ourselves? I guess hope is just in our blood. And that's a good thing.

We are calling this Glamper 2.0 because this isn't our first rodeo. This is our second trailer renovation. You can see pics of the first reno here.

We took some design risks that paid off for us...big time! Glampers get to be over-the-top if they want to be. It's a right of passage. Mine has all the kelly green green and glam that loops in my dreams. :)

There are two things we know for sure after renovating two glampers: RV’s are not built to live in and they are not built with quality building materials. RV's of any kind are made to move, not last. So you might as well forget about timeless design (what's going to be in style 20 years from now) and go big or go home when it comes to styling them out! Because you’ll be doing it all over again in ten years or so. Ten years if you’re lucky and the roof holds out.

When our oldest daughter, Madison, first saw the kitchen she said, "Holy Wicked Witch of the East's lair!" lol What can I say? Clearly she was green with envy. I laughed so hard I nearly cried. She often has that effect on me.

My personal style could be described as uptown glam meets modern. The glam is found in the gold faucet and drawer/door pulls, geometric backsplash (peel-and-stick from Amazon), and kelly green cabinets. The modern is seen in the white appliances and marble-look countertops. I kept the mirrored inserts in the upper cabinets because they had an art nouveau look to them, which I predict (hope) will come back soon!

The kitchen cart came from Target.com. It came in gray which made a good primer for our green. We spray-painted the drawer pulls in gold and added the fruit and veggie bins (from Target as well) by using super-strong velcro. The cart has locking wheels. During travel is it rolled into the office space on the slide-out. The large drawer on the bottom stores our pots and pans. This rolling island has probably been the single biggest lifesaver we added. It allows us to have two people cooking. One can cook at the stove while the other stands behind the cart and preps food.

The dining space had some huge wins!! We found the banquet on OfferUp for $125.00. The original floorplan had a table and chairs, but we wanted more storage and a more built-in look. The very nice man we purchased the dinette set from pulled it out of a 2019 bumper-pull. It was barely used, upholstery and all! This was a giant win, considering that we didn't have to fabricate an aluminum frame (lightweight for the slide-out), sew cushions, or build drawers. It literally saved days of work! We found the table on Target.com. It was two drop-leaves, making it larger than nearly any RV table we've seen. We wanted enough room for four dinner plates, while still having enough space to serve food family style.

The curtains came from Target.com as well. I purchased two panels in extra-long length, giving me just enough fabric to cover each window. We added roll down shades to help keep the heat out.

Next to the banquette is an office space with appliance storage. Rimmel custom built the cabinet to house a mini fridge, wine cooler, and printer. This was a genious design on his part. The mini fridge stores water bottles and other drinks (if you haven't tried Spindrift's yet you don't know what you're missing!) and extra freezer space. The countertop provides extra workspace, as well as a spot for Abe Lincoln to keep watch. He reminds us why we do what we do.

This next space is the reason we flew to North Carolina to buy this rig. Through all our months of searching we had not come across a floorplan like this. Rather than a bunkhouse, this 40' fifth wheel has a living room. The previous owners had bunk beds in it. We were excited to see a flexible space that could become a second bedroom if one of our girls needed to bounce back or wanted to come visit. This is our office/living room/ guest room. And Rimmel got his 60" TV to boot! With two slide-outs, the viewing distance is perfect.

The pink couch was something we had in the house we sold. It was an OfferUp find that started in my home office and ended in our living room. It is actually a futon that folds down to make a double-size bed. It barely fit after a really good shove. The long drapes came from the same home office and I was able to make the shorter drapes with leftover fabric I had kept. I lined all the drapes with blackout fabric and wow, am I glad I did, not only for heat control but for TV viewing as well. The footstools were a super exciting find at the At Home store! I didn't even have the cover them! The cheetah throw pillows were a random but super exciting find at Michael's, of all places. Who knew? They really do have a great home decor selection.

The C tables are from Wayfair. We had them in our previous home and man, they are just AWESOME in here. We can move them around as needed and tuck them away when not in use. The desk was another Amazon find. And the boss-gun coffee mug? A birthday gift from my oldest daughter. How did she know??? It's perfect. The child knows her mom so well. ;) The desk gets turned long-way for travel. The office chair is from OfficeMax, but spray-painted gold of course.

The cube storage under the TV is an old Ikea piece we've had for years. Ikea really is a great space to shop for RV's because of the lightweight (cheap) construction. ;)

A roll of paper for dreaming, planning, and brainstorming. It has already received a ton of use, especially when we are planning our copyright campaigns for a new product launch. The double sliding doors make this a perfect guest room for my girls!!

The stairs leading up to the master suite double as storage. I absolutely love this transition area, especially the library. It's a way for me to visualize and pray for my big dream, a keeping room in our new home. If you don't have a keeping room, get one. ;) Mine will be complete with a library and a fireplace, in Jesus' name.

I just adore this painting that Madison's friend did for us. She took a family photo of ours and made this for us. It's absolutely precious to me.

At the opposite end of the flex room is the master suite. We had some more fun in here. It's bold in some spaces but relaxing where it needs to be.

It goes without saying that functionality is a must for full-time RV life. We found this drying rack on Amazon . While we still use a stand-alone drying rack for larger loads, this has been incredibly handy for small, delicate loads.

The bed is another source of super functionality. The head tilts up for TV watching, or the entire bed can do into zero-gravity position (both head and foot go up) for sleeping. The platform has USB ports, so we made little shelves to keep our phones close by, should our girls need us.

The bathroom is so fun! The original shower was just too small. I had to sit outside of it and put my legs in to shave... not ideal for long-term. So out with the old and in with a new shower pan, showerhead, walls, etc. We are so glad we did this. The little footstool for shaving was another Amazon find.

And the toilet closet. This was another must have in the floorplan. ;) I wanted it to look like the inside of a jewelry box. I LOVE IT!!!!!! It's bold and fun and just ridiculously... us. I love how the wallpaper and flooring come together for a retro look. The artwork is something my daughter created a couple years ago. It was about to go in storage when I realized I had the perfect home for it.

So there you go! A 40' fifth wheel renovation! We are thrilled, exhausted, and thrilled some more. We are so grateful for how God led us through the process of finding the right trailer to call home. Even as I sit here in the flex room, writing to you, I am amazed that God cares about the details of our lives. He knows what inspires us and what causes us to dream. Getting the head space to write is so much easier when my space is clean, new, and feels like home. We are beyond blessed in America, are we not?