Joyful Home

 Recently, Pastor Kent from Regeneration Nashville spoke on your relationship with The Father and what that looks like. When you first become born again, you are all about Jesus because of what He did for you at the Cross. So, you're elated that you are saved so all your efforts and speaking is about how Jesus is amazing. You relationship with Him is established. Then as you move on your walk with Him, you realize you can't do anything without the Spirit of God, Holy spirit, Holy Ghost - however you want to call Him, He's all the same. You rely on Him to get you through the days that are the hardest especially when you are coming out of trials, or testing. He's always present to be your Helper. Finally, you have the Father. He is your Dad, He is your Friend, He is your Papa. Pastor Kent talked about the coming into His presence and how you approach it with your prayer time. He talked about how he would come in and want to know if he is doing a good job, or if God is pro...

The Lord has been highlighting Psalm 23:1 to me: "The Lord is a my Shepherd, I have all that I need." The Lord is your Shepherd! In life we want to take control over every situation. We want our own outcomes and results, and of course, the results are good for our selves or mediocre. We have a hard time allowing someone to lead us. But I'm here to tell you my friend, that when we let Him control and lead, the restraints that we have, fall off. He is saying, "I am a Helper". John 16:7, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.   Allow Him to help. Don't do it by your own strength, it will come up short. I know that we have hard time receiving help, but this is a lie from the enemy. Receive His help and you will see the breakthrough that you so badly desire. Partner with the Holy Ghost, don't resist Him. He is your Friend, no...

 The Lord has been revealing to me that He is restoring women. I know that our culture has been showing such a turn of evil upon what women have been doing or thinking but there is a shift happening. He is healing broken hearts, He is giving understanding where there was misunderstanding. He is healing the wounds that have happened in past relationships and even from childhood. He is shifting the women back to their wombs and back to their husbands. I for one can attest for this. It is a slow process but if we were told everything at once from our Father, I think that we would die under the pressure. But He is making a way.  2 Corinthians 5:17 - This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun.  The word of the Lord came through Pastor Nick Christmas from Regeneration Nashville points to God making a shift:  "I see God turning young women back to their wombs. There will be a revival of marriage and famil...

As I was sitting with the Lord, I heard the Spirit say, "Catapult". So, I looked it up and it means that it was a military engine used by the ancient Greeks and Romans for throwing stones, darts, and arrows upon an enemy. Some of these would throw a stone of a hundred pounds weight. In 2 Kings 13, Elisha has become sick with the illness of which he would die and King Joash of Israel came down to Elisha and wept over his face, and said, "O my father, my father, the chariots of Israel and their horsemen!" The king was distraught that the supernatural "chariots and horsemen of Israel" that Elisha commanded would disappear with him. 2 Kings 2:11, 12 describes the same cry when Elijah was taken up by a whirlwind. Elisha took a hold of his own clothes and tore them into two pieces. Then he took the mantel of Elijah and struck the water and it divided this way and that and Elisha crossed over.  King Joash saw that the chariots and horsemen of Israel were going wi...

When starting something, it always can be a challenge. You have resistance, challenges, old habits all going up against you. Zechariah 4:10, "For who has despised the day of small things?" Zechariah faced an overwhelming task of rebuilding a temple for God on the ruins of the old one.  Can you imagine receiving those marching orders from God and looking at the ruins and thinking to yourself, "How in the world can this ever get accomplished, God?" That is where His power and might comes in. He is able to do exceedingly abundantly all that we ask or think. (Ephesians 3:20).  I took a step of faith and got back on Facebook. We, as a family, bought something new which was a huge thing for us. (My family can attest for us). And I am blogging again which seems to come and go but there is such a desire of mine to blog more, it just seemed like the door wasn't open. We have flipped a page in our life that we sense the Spirit of God is leading us to new heights that we h...

I have been running with the Lord and it has been going super well and challenging. There are times where I think it is okay to involve someone else in the run (i.e. phone calls) but then I'm taught a lesson because I've put someone else before God. I learn, repent and then the pain is gone. You're probably wondering what I am talking about? Well, allow me to explain. When the Lord laid on my heart to start running but only with Him, I was excited but didn't know what that looked like or felt like. I started to do it with Him on the treadmill where there were no interruptions. I found myself getting a little distracted with thoughts and asked God if I could watch YouTube instead while I ran. Now, I understand why God is a jealous God! I ended up with back problems. When I realized that I was involving something else and not just God and I, I repented and allowed Him to change me again and again and again! The pain went away! It was going fairly well, obviously things ar...

I keep hearing in the Spirit, "My grace is sufficient enough." I didn't understand until a couple days later, that it meant that I have grace in being a mom. A mom isn't just a woman that makes sure your kids are fed, bathed and put to sleep. It involves tasks that are daunting: cleaning up the messes, discipling, and making sure you still have enough energy by the end of the day to pour out to your husband. Mom is a tough calling by God! I know!  I was so empty this week. I had a chance to be by myself for a few hours because I needed a break. I felt distant on everything. I needed to draw near to the Lord I just didn't know how since all my time was absorbed by helping the girls, the home, and my husband. Because I am home all the time, I am with the girls all the time which is amazing, but just felt burnout.  Matthew 11:28-30 " Come to Me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gent...

  Good evening folks. It has been a while and I'm not exactly sure why... I've been doing the year bible with Pastor Jasmine from Regeneration Nashville and it has brought up some old Born Again feelings that I'm falling in love with again - reading the word all over the place.  What do I mean by that? One of the bibles that I own has footnotes and sometimes it gives a detailed description of what you're reading and other times it lists other verses that is similar to meaning or subject. I would jump all over the word of God and then feel such closeness with Him. He is bubbling this back up in me. I'm not sure why I stopped!  I've been reading Esther for the last month or so and asked my dad to come along with me and read it, too. We have been reading a chapter a day! Chapter 1 we concluded that King Xerxes is pompous, capricious, and prideful. He led his kingdom with such pride by showing off all his wealth and such. But what grabbed my attention was the fact t...

I am sure you know the verse, "Your Word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path," Psalm 119:105. Well today the Lord shed some light on it! (No pun-intended, laughing at myself).  Since I stopped the Hal Higdon training, I was off a few days from running because my family needed some help getting some wood split. That right there is a workout in itself, so I decided to take it a little easy on my body and quite frankly, I wasn't hearing from the Lord or a nudge to run. So I laid low.  This morning I was feeling a nudge from the Lord to run and to my excitement I felt like I needed to run to Hadley (4 miles)! I was excited and was careful to not block myself from this success by self-talking myself down. So I made sure that I was super close to the Father before the run, during the run, and after by praising Him. Sometimes He will place a song on my heart and I'll sing it the whole time and other times He will have me praying for people. This time, He was r...

There I was minding my own business when I started to get this excitement to get back into marathon training. It has been a desire of mine for some time now, but it wasn't the right timing. I could tell. Recently I have been trying 1 mile here and 1 mile there, then I tried 2.5 miles and I thought, "okay, I can do this." Although it is at a slow pace, but who cares, it is me and Jesus! I ended up running a 3.2 mile and I was so elated that when I came in from the run, I was smiling so big and said to Caleb, "I DID IT! I RAN 3 MILE WITH NOT STOPPING!" And I had absolutely no issues with my body and the breathing was easy! I asked the Lord if He could still be a part of this... then I brought it up to some friends that I was going to train for a marathon! I took myself off guard, not them! I was like, "Whoa, God are we doing this!?"  I went for an afternoon run later that week and saw a stick and two leaves that were smiling at me as I ran past it and th...

I just finished the Attributes of God study from The Daily Grace Co. and it was an incredible study of getting to know the Lord. Afterall, He knows me, right? I knew some of the attributes but not all of them. It was fun to get into a deeper dive on omnipresence. What a beautiful opportunity He has given me to be able to sit in His presence. I am in a relationship with the Lord and I need to get to know Him so that I can understand what it is He likes, desires, and expects from me. It's been a beautiful journey. My dreams have been indicating that I am scaling rocks and jumping from one cliff to another with skill. At first I was scared, but my inner-man (Ephesians 3:16) had confidence and told my mind that I can do it with ease. So the second dream, I was scaling smoothly. In my awake life, I did a little research and found that I am under the shelter of Christ. I'm in hiding and the perfect example of this is from my favorite passage of scripture - Moses and God in the crevic...

God has been showing me a different view about fall recently and it's been a super amazing experience. Usually there has been such a push to celebrate Halloween and that's fall. However, this year has been different for me. I forgot and quite honestly, didn't realize how beautiful fall was until I went for an early morning run and saw some townhomes entryway full of leaf decorations, scarecrows that were PRETTY not scary, some pumpkins in their natural state, and corn stalks. It was sweet and immediately made me smile. I thanked the Lord for that visual and the reminder/revelation of what fall really is! This isn't just from my standpoint, but I believe there are others that are starting to see the true value of Harvest! It was meant to be beautiful, cozy, calm, loving, read-a-book-snuggle, fires and s'mores. Evil has changed it to dark and death. They have twisted so much of God's creative seasons. For instance, the witch hat. Did you knooooow that the witch ha...

Exodus 33:13-14 - Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people." And He said, "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." That is my prayer for my life and yours; that we allow God to show us His way, that we come to know Him intimately (not surface level anymore), and that we would find grace with Him. All of this prayer is wrapped up in one bow - His presence will be with us and we will find rest! Psalm 32:8 - I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.  When I spent my quiet time with the Lord, I noticed that there were several things that were holding me back due to fear. Fear of the enemy coming after me because of my past. But there was a revelation that I was taught from the Word of God that said that when Jesus resurrected and came back to fellowsh...

 Whoa!  1 Corinthians 13:12 - For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. The 13th Chapter of 1 Corinthians is about love. The greatest gift is love and the greatest and first commandment is to love one another. God is love. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind' and 'your neighbor as yourself (Luke 10:27). We are such a society that is self-motivated. "How can I take care of myself? Or, how can this be about me?" Satan has deceived us so much into thinking it's about ourselves that it explains why we don't know our spouses anymore, children and even our neighbors. We have lost that touch completely. We are blasted all the time with constant ads showing us that love is lustful, sexual, boastful, parading itself around like a prostitute. It isn't thinking about the other person and what they may be going t...

 Galatians 5:16-23 (NLT) So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the Law of Moses. When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality (adultery), impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery (witchcraft), hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in ou...

If you are looking for a fun place to learn and explore with your kiddos, this is a fun place to go! Oakdale Nature Preserve  https://ci.oakdale.mn.us/Facilities/Facility/Details/Oakdale-Nature-Preserve-26 It has a clean and nicely paved asphalt paths where you can walk, run, bike, and play! There are random workout stations that you can utilize. A park near a neighborhood with a picnic gazebo where you can have lunch. Sweet darling benches in the right places where you are able to take in the scenery. And finally, a nice building full of activities and fun learning things for your kiddos!  We did that today. It was a bit cold and cloudy but the leaves were spectacular on this fall crisp MN morning! We went to the play area in the building and were able to play with all types of sensory things! They have some awesome taxidermy animals that you are able to learn from and look at. It was a great experience for the girls to explore while the seasons start to change. This is a per...

I am getting a ton of extra carrots and apples lately and I asked the Lord to help me get creative with all the blessings. He reminded me of the juicer that I have! So I made some tonight. The girls absolutely loved it! Although it took some time, it was fun! I took 1 pound of carrots, stripped the outer layer, and juiced it. Then I took 6-7 green apples (I can't remember how many) and cut them up in strips and juiced it! It is super delicious with the green apples! I am not a fan of just plan green apples but they are good for juice! Stella absolutely devoured it. Emma was super delighted to have it and walked around the house with her little waddle and bottle! Huge hit at the house!  

 While I am knitting, I am worshiping and just enjoying Him!  Song - Shane And Shane https://open.spotify.com/track/2G83Bi2pnml8ZEskoheM0Y?si=56b18b064d204a20  I am having so much fun putting together this scarf! It is a beautiful burnt orange and I am not one that usually does this color! It is totally growing on me! I can't wait to see the final result. I am catching on nicely! Self-taught knitting can be done! :) Joyful Home Welcomes You! Hi* :)

 Song - Wait by Phil Wickham  https://open.spotify.com/track/4fCgTrpGm0IXflQXdhB9xc?si=d16731860cf04c1d Do you ever look at your financial situation and just want to give up? Cry? Or panic? Yes! God has been bringing me through a journey since I quit my job several years ago. Everyone (including myself) thought it was crazy. Going down to one income is a total trust in the Lord that He will provide.  You see, I depended on God's Word that says that if I put my trust in the Lord and "seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give me everything I need" (Matthew 6:33). And so, I stopped everything and sought His kingdom first. Everything has been added onto me but I have had to train my flesh to get in line with my Lord. There were several times that I cried when bills would pile or something broke in the house: water heater, fridge, freezer, toilet, you name it! I was being put to the test. If I am a tither, then God will be tested in this ar...

 Song - Give Me Jesus, by UPPERROOM, Abbie Gamboa ( https://open.spotify.com/track/0PKyLZzVgzjhNMKXekDpSi?si=edca154357c84fd7 ) 1 Corinthians 1:20-25 says that God in His wisdom saw to it the world would never know Him through human wisdom. Wisdom of this world is foolish. Those called by God to salvation, Christ is the power of God and wisdom of God. Wisdom comes from looking to the cross and Jesus. It doesn't make sense to the world, but Jesus and the cross is the wisdom of God on display.  If you are in a situation that seems like you can't get through, look to the cross and ask the Lord for wisdom and He will give it freely. He doesn't rebuke your ask. (James 1:5). The wisdom that comes from above is manifested through Jesus, made available through the Holy Spirit, written in the Word, and delivered in a steady flow from God to you. It enables us as His children to lay a solid foundation for all life. God desires for all His people to come to the knowledge of Him and tr...