Live Loud

Happy Tuesday, Sisters!! This week is what we call Holy Week. From Palm Sunday to resurrection Sunday, we reflect on Jesus’ journey to the cross, a day of waiting, and on the third day when He rose again.

Palm Sunday is the day we reflect on Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. He didn’t come like many thought the Messiah would. They expected Him to come in as a mighty man, on a white horse, ready for battle. Instead, He came in as flesh, as one of us, experiencing what we experience and feeling what we feel. When Jesus entered Jerusalem, His followers greeted Him in the streets waving Palm branches. The palm branch is a symbol of victory, peace, triumph, and eternal life. Jesus may not have come in the form they thought He would, but make no mistake, He is most definitely mighty-the most mighty of all.

What you have asked for may not come in the package you want it, but God doesn’t make mistakes. He has a perfect plan and nothing can stop His plan for you, not even your unbelief. He is the God of peace. He is triumphant. He is the only One True King who is alive today. His journey to the cross guarantees that you are victorious.

Your situation may not look like you want it to and your salvation may not come like you expect. But if you trust in the One who bore all of your sin, guilt, and shame on the cross, victory is your inheritance.

Take some time this week to reflect what Holy Week means. There is no one on this Earth who will do what Jesus did for you. There is no one who never stops working behind the scenes on your behalf. His is at work for your victory.

I love you, my sisters!!

Happy Thursday, Sisters!!!

Exodus 14:14 tells us that the Lord will fight for us but we are to hold our peace.

We are to HOLD our peace.

Our peace is a gift from the Lord. He tells us that if we keep our mind on Him that He will keep us in perfect peace. Keeping our mind on Him when circumstances are raging around us requires trusting the One who fights for us.

Before you speak whatever is on your chest, hold your peace.

Whenever negative thoughts enter your mind telling you the worst will happen in your situation, hold your peace.

When your kids are acting like they’ve lost their mind and the atmosphere in your home is producing everything but peace, hold on to the Lord’s peace at work in you.

When your job is in chaos and your boss or coworkers are unfair, hold your peace.

God’s mercies are new every morning. He gives enough to sustain us for the day and renews what we need for the day each morning. You won’t run out, but you DO have to decide to tap in to the peace God has made available to you.

I love you, my sisters! 💕

You are not defined by your circumstance. You are not defined by what has happened to you or the way you were raised, abuse you have suffered or what anyone has said about you or how anyone has made you feel.

Take some time this week to write down how you have defined yourself, no matter how bad or raw, and counteract it with what God says about you instead.

How God feels about you can be found in His word. A quick search on Google will give you scripture after scripture. Write those scriptures down and carry them around with you in your purse, so that when the devil tries to speak those lies to you to attack your identity, all you have to do is pull those cards out and speak the word of what God says about you.

You are beautiful.
You are loved.
You are chosen.
You are forgiven.
You are worthy.

God is smitten by you and He believes in you!! And, so do I, my Sisters!!!

I love you all!!💕

Going LIVE in 15 minutes for Made to Crave Session 4!!

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Happy St Patrick’s Day, Sisters!!

As a preschool teacher, there are often times I learn a few things myself when preparing their curriculum. Today is no different. I learned that St Patrick, from which we celebrate this day, was kidnapped my Irish pirates and became a slave. He was held in captivity for 6 years. His Christian faith grew during this time since he held strong to prayer that he would be able to escape. One day, he felt the Lord told him to go to port where he found a ship that he was able to board and be taken back to England. He felt led to become a missionary to Ireland, dispite being held captive there.

I don’t know about you, but it would have to be God to return to a place I was held captive in to spread the gospel and bring Christianity there. But, St Patrick grew to love the Irish people. He actually was able to lead his former master to Christ, who then helped to supply aid to further his missionary work to save the Irish people.

We often find ourselves in situations that are hard and uncomfortable. We don’t want to be in those places but God uses the hard to bring good, if you are willing. God always provides a way to turn things around for His glory and for our good.

St. Patrick was enslaved in a country without Jesus but God found him there, protected Him and brought Him to freedom. You are never too lost or too far hidden that God can’t reach you and bring comfort to you and use you despite your circumstances.

This also goes to show us that prayer is powerful. All St. Patrick had was prayer. He didn’t have Christian people around him to draw strength from or even a Bible to read. He had prayer and that was all he needed.

With that, I will leave you with this Irish prayer and blessing.

May good luck be with you,
wherever you go.
And your blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow.
May your days be many and your troubles be few.
May all God's blessings descend upon you.
May peace be within you.
May your heart be strong.
May you find what you're seeking, wherever you roam.

I love you, my sisters!! ❤️☘️

Happy Friday, Sisters!!

Last night, I was listening to the Joyce Myer podcast breaking down Psalm 23. The very first verse says, “The Lord is my Shepherd.” I love the analogy of God being our shepherd and us being His sheep. Even though we may not feel like sheep in our own selves because they are known to be pretty weak and not very smart, it’s the comfort to know that the Shepherd is there to protect the sheep and the sheep know His voice.

The Lord calls us His. He says that we are HIS sheep, but there comes a point in our relationship with Christ that we have to make the decision and distinguish that He is OURS. The Lord is MY Shepherd. It shows that we acknowledge that He is ours and we have determined that we will give Him is rightful place in our lives.

Scripture tells us that He stands at the door and knocks. He doesn’t force His way in. It’s our decision to open the door and invite Him in to our lives and into our heart. He is a gentleman. He gives us free will, which means we are free to allow Him in or keep Him shut out.

Sometimes we are human and it’s hard to open the door and allow God into certain places in our lives. It may be areas we feel guilt or shame or even anger. Those areas we don’t open up have a way of gaining control over us and taunting us with reoccurring thoughts. Those places in our lives never seem to fully let us go and we don’t have peace there. But, the only way we can receive freedom from those areas is by opening wide the door and asking God to come in acknowledging that He is OUR Shepherd.

It’s about coming to the place that we realize that we are already fully known and fully loved by our Shepherd. Our Shepherd fully knows His sheep and we know His voice. It’s His voice that leads us to peace and healing so we can fully surrender to Him and allow Him to be God of every single area of our life. And, it’s where we arrive at the place of

The Lord is my shepherd,
I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk
through the darkest valley
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love(N) will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen. Psalm 23 NIV

He is our good Shepherd. Invite Him in.

I love you, my sisters!❤️

From Monday:

Happy Monday, Sisters!!

My day didn’t start happy, I hate to admit. I didn’t sleep well last night, then I made a phone call about a work situation this morning to find out I’ve been denied two weeks of state pay for daycare kids over something that wasn’t my fault. All while I’m waiting on the results of the random food program audit, I spent 3 days on last week and expecting the state lady for license inspection any day. Yeah, you could say I’m overwhelmed and hanging on by a thin piece of rope!

The definition of overwhelmed means buried underneath a big pile of something. A big pile of stress…that sounds about right! I’m sure I’m not the only one dealing with a stressful situation I’d love to run from. Thankfully God recommends we run. Not from our stresses of life though, but to Him and His word that gives us comfort and strength.

“From the ends of the earth, I cry to you for help when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the towering rock of safety.” Psalm 61:2

We’ve also heard Psalm 61:2 translated as “the rock that is higher than I.” ESV

A rock is firm, sure, safe, the very foundation we can stand on. It’s a place of safety we can climb up on so the flooding waters of life can’t over take us.

God is the rock of our salvation. Because He is higher than we are, He lifts us out of our overwhelmed state and places us in His strong hands. He reminds us that He is our ever present help (Psalm 46:1.) He is our refuge (Psalm 61:3) and our strength (Isaiah 41:10.) And, He’s the one who fights for us (Deuteronomy 3:22.)

We may not be able to change everything that feels too big for us to handle. But, what feels bigger than we are is not bigger than our God, the rock who is higher than we are!

We can have peace knowing that God will help us work it out in the way that is best for us and He’ll provide everything we need in the process.

I love you, my sisters! 💕