I Just Couldn't Take It Anymore

You might want to copy and paste some of these words. Print them out. Email them to yourself. Today's post is something that we all need to hear and be reminded of on a daily basis. I am blessed and humbled to get to wake up each day and do ministry. Yes, I work a business job Monday-Friday, but no matter what, my days are always sprinkled with ministry. I am humbled the most when I get feedback like, "That was awesome!" "I needed that!" "How did you come up with that?" and "You did great!" Most often, what I am able to share in ministering to others is the volume of what the Lord has downloaded into my spirit to minister to me first! The credit always goes to Him, I am just a willing tool, a weapon in His arsenal that He knows he can use anytime. 

This morning, before I left for work, He spoke something powerful into my spirit. I was walking our puppy, Peyton Manning. Yes, I know. We are Giants fans-- but my nephew is named Eli.  I couldn't name the puppy Eli!! Plus PM is awesome. Horrible at commercials, but awesome on the field. Okay, I am getting off track. 

Here is Peyton as a puppy. It was just starting
to snow flurry to begin his first snow!

So I was walking him, admiring the beautiful fall foliage around my home. Just a few moments into the walk, I noticed I had  a little pebble in my boot. Mind you, I had knee high leather boots on. It must have gotten in there somehow before I ever put my boots on. I have no idea how it got in there, but it was there. Each time I took a step, I was stepping on this little rock. I convinced myself I would finish walking him and then remove my boot and the pebble when I got back inside. As the walk went on, he peed and played with the leaves. I continued walking trying to adjust my foot so the impact would be different or better when I stepped. 

"I just couldn't take it anymore!"

As I tried to convince myself, "It's just a tiny little rock!", the Lord spoke clearly into my spirit. "A tiny little rock in your shoe can affect the whole race." Wait, what Lord?  "A tiny little rock in your shoe can affect the whole race." These words resonated in my spirit and I pondered their meaning. I was only walking the puppy with this rock in my boot. Imagine if I had kicks on and had to run a marathon. That tiny little rock would become a huge weapon and would totally affect the outcome of the race. 

How true is this in spiritual context?? Often, we are focused on the big huge "visible" obstacles in our lives when what is really holding us back are little rocks that no one can really see. We harbor little rocks of un-forgiveness, shame, pride, manipulation....the list could go on and on! 

So what does this have to do with you? I encourage you to let the Lord search your heart today. What kind of little rocks do you have in your boot? They may be things that seem small to others, but these small things can affect your whole race. Just like I did this morning, take off your boot and remove the little things that are causing pain or holding you back. Some things your friends and family may be able to point out, but most little rocks are not visible. They are things only you may know. 

1 Peter 5:7 says, "Cast all your cares upon the Lord, because He cares for you." 

Please take time to connect with me. On my website you can:

• Submit a Prayer Request
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• Get Info About Upcoming Webinars I Am Hosting

Be encouraged. Cling closely to Matthew 11:28-30 and ask the Lord to show you the little things you haven't completely taken out of your boot yet!

How Embarrassing!!

So, today I am going to share with you an embarrassing story. Yes, I occasionally get embarrassed. It normally takes a lot for this to happen. However there are days when silly things happen and I am genuinely embarrassed. I hope you can laugh along with me.
So a while back I was having lunch with our children's ministries director at the Cheesecake Factory. Lunch was wrapping up, we hugged, said our goodbyes and headed for our cars. Along the sidewalk at the mall, I made a mental note. "What a great lunch, love that girl!" Second mental note, "Geez, I am going to have to head straight home to use the little girls room!" Third mental note, "Nope, I am going to have to stop in this next restaurant (Brio) and use the little girls room!" "Jesus, help me make it!" I remember thinking how difficult this pit stop would have been if my kids had been in tow asking questions and slowing me down. I was a mama on a mission. I was just praying no one stopped me to ask if I needed a table or anything. I had eaten here before so I knew the restrooms were in the back left corner. I made a b line for them and didn't make eye contact with anyone. I stopped once to let a family cross in front of me. Crucial seconds people. I was about 8 and a half seconds from a wardrobe change. FINALLY!! I made it to the door, I pushed it open and had my capris unbuttoned and unzipped as the door closed behind me. I began my scan for an available stall, hope was restored, I was going to make it. I saw an open door and headed for it. In my mind I already knew if it was clogged, or there was pee on the seat, it didn't matter. As long as there was a bowl there that was the one I was using. With my eyes fixed on the half way open door, I am interrupted by a confused, kind voice. "Excuse me Ma'am, this is the men's room". This kind white gentleman stood staring at me with my pants unbuttoned and ready to be dropped. I thought I was going to die! Oh no, now would I make it? Could I make it across to the hall to the girls room? I apologized to the salt and pepper haired gentleman and jetted across, never stopping to button up. A clean potty met me there and I made it. Praise God.
Now I just had to walk out of the restaurant without giggling. The funny part was that there was no one there to share this embarrassing moment with. No one knew except me and the surprised man who was washing his hands. And we'll, now you :)

I hope you were able smile through my story. There are many more, haha. My blogs normally consist of faith and family. This one was just for fun. Sometimes you just need to smile. So smile today, be encouraged that we serve a God who has a sense of humor. And even pastors wives get embarrassed sometimes.

Until next time.

To: You, Love: Jesus

Yay for a quick lunch time blog today! I hope you can take a minute to read through the words to a poem that the Lord downloaded in my spirit today. I don't always share what I write in this forum, but felt lead to do so today. Let our ever-present Abba Father consume your heart as you read.

You are worth it, yes you are.
Every tear and every scar.
Even when you feel so far,
you are worth it, yes you are.

I see your hurt, your pain, your fears.
Let me remind you why you are here.

You are here because you are worth it,
I said yes to the cross.
You are here because I paid the price,
my life was the cost.

So, when you feel unworthy,
and start to doubt yourself.
Don't discount your value,
like an item on a shelf.

Instead, let me remind you
about what I went through.
So I could have the chance
to show your worth to you.

What We Deserve

So, I recently asked for blog topics for my next blog. I got lots of great suggestions as well as some great inbox questions. Looks like I might have to do a blog series so I can cover all these great topics.
This blog will cover pieces of a couple of those topics, but will mainly just be a piece of my heart. My thoughts derive from conversations with others, conversations with God and conversations with myself.
Just a warning, only read ahead if you are okay with truth that is not candy-coated.
So many times in life, we sabotage our friendships, marriages, careers, church experience, relationships and families with these 2 words "I DESERVE". We get to a point in our marriage or our friendship where we stop becoming selfless and start becoming selfish. We decide that we "deserve" better. We start to hold the people around us to a different standard than we hold ourselves. We start to make decisions about our lives based on other peoples faults. Granted, God made us in his image and yes we do deserve the best. But when we start making life decisions based on superficial emotions, we are stabbing holes in our lifeboats! We are often quick to judge a friend or family member, forgetting that we are also not perfect. We expect from our spouses without remembering or making note of our imperfections. We expect a church to be like a hotel or restaurant that we can rate and review. Here is when this mentality becomes dangerous. We start making decisions about life and relationships based on our over-analytic analyses instead of making decisions based on the truth of Gods Word and the rationale of real life. What we deserve? What we deserve? We all deserve to burn in hell forever! Put praise God that because of his mercy, grace and unconditional love, we have the option of escaping that fate. I love when God's Word talks about getting the plank out of your own eye instead of trying to help get the speck of sawdust out of your neighbors eye. I really love the way the Message translation puts it. I think in our "every man for himself" society, the virtue of being humble gets lost.
Part of the problem is that we over-evaluate and find fault in relationships in order to justify pushing people away. We don't want to become vulnerable or exposed in relationships, so we find any reason to push people away. If those people get too close, they might just realize our struggles or our shortcomings. OH NO! Our fear of rejection take over and we reject them first so we don't have to deal with the conflict of it. Remember when we were younger and we used to have fights and disagreements with our best friends and then we would be back to being best friends the next week (or day)?? These days, if friends or family members fight, they may go weeks or years without speaking to each other or resolving things. This is an unhealthy beginning to a very ugly cycle. And this is just the way satan wants it. He wants people to be emotionally shut down. He knows how much easier it is for God to use us if we are not emotionally impaired.    What we deserve? We deserve emotional freedom. We need healthy friendships, healthy family relationships, healthy marriages and our kids deserve for us to teach them how to have the same. If these truths hit home for you, I encourage you to do some self-evaluation. Uncover the ways that the enemy has tried to twist your thinking and your motives. Only you know and only you (with God's help) can change it. Repair relationships, make new friendships, start treating your spouse like royalty, don't judge and over analyze your church. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, with prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, make your requests known unto God (Philippians 4:6). If you have questions or need prayer, feel free to inbox me. I like to make my blogs light and encouraging, but sometimes somebody just needs to share some truth. If you would like to hear some of these truths in a different format, check out this audio download of my recent message at our Faith Church New Milford campus here.

How Are We Doing?

First of all, for everyone who follows me on social media to keep up with our adventure of loving NYC for Jesus...we are doing great. Amazing things are happening every weekend at Faith Church NYC. Since our launch, 180+ people have given their hearts and lives to the Lord. We have a seriously hype team that sets up, so our seriously hype God can show up. Our weekend experience reaches every type of person, with every type of victory and every type of struggle; and we love each of them just the same. My kids love going to the city, trying different restaurants, riding the subway, dancing along to flash mob nonsense in Grand Central Station, buying street food, going shopping and of course helping out at church. Justice tells people he has a job. He is on the set up team for Faith Church NYC. He is so proud. So cute! The kids are both doing great in school. They enjoy doing well and we are so proud to see them excel. I hope that characteristic sticks through their pre-adolescent and adolescent years. Haha. Ashlyn just turned 5 last month and has something to say about EVERYTHING. She is sassy, yet tender-hearted. Justice is a crazy little 6 year old who recently lost his 2 bottom front teeth. Here they are in the car (before losing the teeth).

And my goodness, this child is the messiest eater I have ever seen. Maybe it's his age and his gender. If we have rice for dinner, his place mat looks like a 1 year old just ate there. We are constantly correcting his eating habits, haha. I am sure I am in store for much more fun obstacles with a growing boy and his eating. I have a separate grocery fund already set aside for the teen years :)
 Chris and I are doing well. We enjoyed dinner and pedicures for our Valentine's Day date last month and are excited about celebrating our wedding anniversary this month. Justice asked us where we were going on our honeymoon, haha. He thought you go on a honeymoon for every anniversary-not a bad idea, right??

So to those of you who pray for us, thank you. We are loving our adventure. We are learning and growing everyday. We serve an amazing God who is loving, faithful and completely awesome!

This and That

Look at you! Reading my blog :) I know your time is valuable, so thanks. I wish I could include the 786 topics I have thought about blogging about since I last wrote, but I now can't remember them all. Plus, that would just be too much to read. Plus, I have to get downstairs to finish packing lunches for tomorrow. Now, let's have a moment of silence for anyone who is, or ever has been a "lunch packer". Praise God.
Okay, moving on. So many awesome things have happened since I last posted. A few weekends ago, I had the privilege to speak at the "Walking in Purpose" Faith Church Women's Conference. What an honor. I loved all the great truth that God downloaded in my spirit. And I loved sharing all of it with a really, super- great group of ladies. The weekend and the room were filled with beauty, tears, talent, freedom, and of course, laughter. Nothing can quite replace a room full of giggling women. And by the way, for the ladies that heard me speak, you can look for my book "Comment VS Like" to drop Fall 2013. HAHA.
There are lots of other great things to blame for restraining me from social media lately. On October 7th, we launched the grand opening of Faith Church NYC! If you were there, you know the word epic doesn't quite cut it. God showed up! With electric worship and a "standing room only" crowd, we saw 37 people give their hearts and lives to the Lord. Gives me chills just typing it. Come 'awn somebody!! (I typed that with my southern accent, and hope you read it appropriately.) Go back and read again, out loud. Just to be sure. Ahhh, that was a nice try. So with our NYC campus full steam ahead and family visiting from out of state, we have had full schedules and lots of fun.
For those keeping up from out of state. The kids are doing great in school. Ashlyn is basically a black belt PRE-Ker. She is learning so much and her competitive nature (can't imagine where that came from, must have been very distant relatives from the 1700's), is keeping her at the top of the class. She is growing like a weed (44 inches tall to be exact) and she is winning over new friends everywhere we go with her sweet smile. And of course, even though she is 4 now, it still takes me forever to get through the grocery store if it's a Wednesday (senior citizen discount day) because every elderly person in the entire store stops to compliment and sometimes touch her long beautiful curls. So, for time sake, I shop on Saturdays.
Justice is rocking and rolling in KG. He has a great teacher (they both do), such a blessing. He is reading so well. We can't spell things anymore to keep secrets. He sounds out whatever we spell. Gotta be careful around Christmas this year.
Justice is keeping busy and already winning the hearts of his peers and adults alike. He loves Karate and Gymnastics, but has not yet taken classes for either one. You'd never know it when you see him "practice" though. This kid is so flexible and has the upper body strength of Jet Li. It's amazing. So signing up for karate/ballet/sports is one of the next things on the list now that we are somewhat settled.
Okay, just trying to include update stuff in here. When we first moved, I said to myself, "I'm going to blog like every day..." Haha. Yeah right. Anyhow, I love writing and appreciate when I am able to make time to do it. So, I hope you like reading and keeping up. So....now that you are done reading this, leave me a comment and let me know you rejoiced with me about 37 lives changed at our FC NYC grand opening. Then find another blog of mine to read. Thanks for stopping by. I love and appreciate all the amazing people God puts in my life, close and far away. And keep smiling, you never know who's world you might change.

I am in LOVE

In my usual blogging style, this entry is two-fold :) The first entry is geared toward marriage.Don't stop reading here, it's good stuff, I promise. Let it be known that not only do I love my best friend and husband, I am IN LOVE with him. There is a reason for that, let me explain. When we got married, we made our vows very aware of the culture our marriage would have to survive in. We drove away to our honeymoon with an un-waivable determination in our minds and hearts to not be included in the 51% of couples in our culture who do not make it. It was giggles, romance and lots of great memories for those honeymoon days. And every day since then has been WORK. That's right, I said work! It's true, lets not hide it. A great marriage doesn't come because the planets align and you fall in love and tie the knot. It comes as a result of a mixture of many ingredients, just one being DAILY WORK. Part of the problem is that my generation, and the one before and after, do not know the value of work. This makes the concept a little more difficult to grasp. You reap what you sew is hard to grasp for a generation who reaps things they didn't sew and has an instant gratification complex. But this blog is meant to be equipping and encouraging, so let me go on. I want to lay out a few of the key ingredients here that make up the success of our marriage and mix together to make Chris and I IN LOVE with each other. Some of these are scriptural, some personal preference and some the result of wisdom imparted to me by women of God who have been married 50+ years. I won't overwhelm you, I will share a few basics now and blog on some others later. *Disclaimer* This blog isn't to talk down to anyone who has gone through a D situation (our first rule, that word isn't allowed in our vocabulary). I am not better than you and I pray that God continues to heal your heart and restore you. This is for anyone who is married or every plans to marry (or marry again).
So, I dare you to start implementing some of these that you don't currently do. Email me and update soon and let me know how it's going.

• Hug/kiss 2-3 (or more) times every day, including a kiss goodnight, every night
• Go to church together (take your family to church)
• Tithe together (lay hands on that envelope/debit card-if you tithe online), believe together for your finances
• Find a Financial Peace University class near you and complete it (daveramsey.com)
• Take the tv out of your bedroom (yikes!) (the only womans face he should see in your bedroom is yours, tv or not. even if it is just Olivia from SVU)
• www.5lovelanguages.com  find each others and speak it
• Read "Love and Respect" and "Men Are Like Waffles, Women Are Like Spaghetti" (both books)
• Have young kids? (get on a 2 week plan to get your kids sleeping in their own bed!!!; be persistent, your marriage is worth it
• Put your spouse first, put your kids second (that's a hard one)
• Never get this order mixed up: God--Family--Work--Church (email me with ??'s)
• Schedule intimate time (hey, you make time for everything else, don't give me that look)
• Wives, you home should be a safe haven for your man to come home to. Manage your time wisely, get off facebook and tidy up! (Hey, you want the truth or not?)
• Take care of your man! Feed him, rub his back, be romantic with him.

Okay, so these are starters. I told you it was work. It takes discipline, people. But invest into your marriage and take off your "D" parachute. If we can do it, so can you. We are not super heroes, we are regular people just like you who decided that we will NOT settle or compromise. If anyone knows how it is to be busy with the demands of kids (ours are 4 and 5), work, church and the list goes on.....we know. You can do it, make one change at a time and watch how God honors your efforts and watch your marriage grow and blossom.

Oh, so I said this entry was two fold and I promise I won't leave you hanging. So, what else am I in love with?? New York City! Oh my goodness!! Our Faith Church NYC launch is approaching this Sunday and I am so excited. We had a trial set up this past week and it was awesome. Of course there was the scurry of everyone finding out where everyone and everything goes, but I loved every minute. We have a launch team that has such a passion for serving. God is going to do some amazing things at Faith Church NYC. What an awesome God we serve and what an awesome team we have. I am so in love with NYC. I have been since I was 15 years old. As I was driving out of the city last Sunday night, God just supercharged the passion I already have for this city and these people. I can't wait to love on our FC team and love on New York. We will be meeting in the AMC Empire 25 just off Times Square and just riding up the escalators and looking out the huge glass windows at the masses of tired, hurried, burdened people in the streets ignites this ministry adrenaline cocktail inside me that breathes hope, change and love. I am honored to be His hands and feet to this city. I can't wait to see God show up. God's not dead, He's surely alive and He's living on the inside, roaring like a lion! 

Okay, well it's getting late. So many more things I would like to blog about. They will have to wait until next time. Oh and by the way.....I found a Chick-fil-A on the NYU campus in New York!! Hey now! Delight yourself in the Lord and he WILL give you the desires of your <3 div="div" nbsp="nbsp">