WE FALL DOWN

I pray that you are all blessed and highly favored of

our Lord Jesus Christ.  And that you are growing spiritually.

Proverbs 24:16, For though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again, but the wicked are brought down by calamity.

I was talking to my oldest son the other day and he told me that when he looks at my life, he is able to be encouraged.  You know sometimes it takes a real person, someone not famous to look at and say to yourself, "I can do that, I can make it". 

You see my oldest son and daughter were with me when I lost my apartment due to drugs.  They were with me when I had to give them to family members because I had to go to rehab center.  They can recall the times that lights were off.  Even though I had a great job, it went to drugs.  They can recall watching me get abused by ex.

When I left Chicago to move to Vegas, I had a servant of the Lord spirit.  I was used to teaching bible study and ministering every other week in church.  But when I got to Vegas, that all went out the window.  I enjoyed those darn slot machines.  I lost sight of my Lord Jesus.  I would say that I had definitely fallen again.

Each time that you fall down, get back up stronger.  Let that fall mean something.  Each time that I fell, it seemed to me that I got stronger and stronger.  The Lord lifted me higher and higher.  The way that you can get stronger is because you grab a hold of Jesus a little bit tighter, just touch the hem of His garment.  The next time you fall down, let that fall mean something, get back even stronger. Put up your dukes and say to the devil, "Is that all you got?"  A just man/woman falls 7 times.  

Jesus is my BFF and I won't unfriend Him and He won't unfriend you. PRAISE GOD!

WRONG TURN

Good Morning, Mighty Woman of God!

 

My prayer for you today is that you are under the umbrella of the Lord's peace.  I pray that you are blessed and highly favored of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

I have noticed that most of you are between the ages of 25-30, so I want to remind you of God's grace and mercy that He will always have towards you, unfailing.

 

When I was in my early twenties, I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior (I was saved).  I thought that since I was saved that I wouldn't do anything else wrong in my life.  That all my sins were washed away.  I didn't think that I would have to participant in the washing of my sins.  When I realized that I had a lot of work to do in my life, things didn't go well for me right away. 

 

Somewhere in my life, I made a wrong turn and I didn't know how to change the circumstances in that wrong turn.  I didn't know how to go back and follow after the Lord.  I thought that I was too far gone.  I got married at a very young age, 19.  After our divorce I met someone else that was very familiar with drugs.  I can't say that he made me do them, because I had a choice and the choice that I made was wrong.  Do you ever feel like everything is going wrong at the same time?  Well that's the way that I felt. I spent rent money and any money that I had on drugs.  I didn't know how to back up and take a different route, the one that the Lord wanted me to take.  The only thing that kept me sane was knowing that the Lord already knew that I would take a wrong turn.  God already knows whatever you are going to do and whatever you won't do before we do it.  Knowing that still didn't get me back on the right road.  I messed up so many times and had broken so many promises to the Lord.  Sometimes I felt like the Lord was sitting up in heaven just shaking His head at me.  The Lord knew them that I would not keep my promise, but I still continuously made them, time after time.

 

Now let me fast forward.  I am 48 years old and I am just now starting to finally get my life together.  I am also able to keep some of my promises to the Lord.  But I thank Him everyday that He is not done with me.  One day I asked my daughter if she was embarrassed by some of the blogs I write when it concerns my past life.  She said, "no mom, I think about it not how you go in, it's how you come out".

 

Woman of God, the reason why I have given you a short testimony of my life is so that you can come to the realization that the Lord knows all about you and every thing that you will do way before you do it.  The Lord's grace and mercy is what we live by.  You don't have to be perfect, you just need to have purpose.  What I mean by that is that you just have to have it in your heart that you will try to do better.  Your main purpose in life is to get to the point where you aren't breaking any promises and if you do, don't be hard on yourself just keep going.  I want you to know that if you make a wrong turn have your heart set on your will to do right, that is what the Lord is looking for.  You will never be perfect but the Lord will accept you striving towards perfection.  As they say in drug rehab, take it one day at a time, keep coming back.  If you keep coming back, taking one day at a time, the Lord can still use you in whatever state that you are in because He knows your heart.  PRAISE THE LORD, AMEN!

If you are interesting in purchasing a copy of my book, "Spiritual Growth for Women - Breaking Shackles",  or "Mighty Woman of God" go to www.amazon.com, God bless you.

THE LIGHTHOUSE

Good Morning, Mighty Woman of God!  I pray that you are well and that you have had a joyous holiday.  I thank God you and continue to pray for you daily.

(Psalms 119:105), Your Word is a lamp unto my feet.

(Psalms 27: 1), The Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the stronghold of my life of whom shall I be afraid?

(John 8:12), When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

Lighthouse - A tall structure topped by a powerful light used as a signal or beacon to aid marine navigation.

 

Navigate - To record, plan or control the position and course of a ship or aircraft. To follow a planned course on, across, or through.

 

Hold on now, I'm going somewhere with this.  I just need to set the stage.  If I were to put those two definitions together, I would say that a lighthouse is a large powerful structure used to keep ships on course.  I can also use those definitions to say, "Jesus Christ is a powerful Light that can keep us on course or guide us to follow the plan that He has for us; before we were born.

 

If I were to describe how my life used to be without Jesus Christ navigating me through the windstorms of my life, I would say that I was lost at sea.  I could not see His beacon of light to put my life back on the planned course.  I couldn't see His powerful Light that eventually guided me through my drug addiction.  I couldn't see the Lord holding back the raging sea of physical abuse (that could have killed me) so that I could passed safely through the waters.

 

I have seen movies where a ship was lost at sea, and it was too dark for the captain to tell how far it was for them to reach land and suddenly there is a powerful beacon of light shining bright enough to navigate the captain to the dock.

 

Woman of God, when you are going through difficult times and your circumstances seem too dark to bare; trust the Lord to navigate, and keep watch over you.  He will guide you to the Light (Himself) safely.  Just because you don't see the Light doesn't mean that He is not there.  Maybe you need to change your course and follow the Lord's  plan.  Maybe you are at the point where the Lord is telling you to stay on course, but you can't see Him.  The Lord's message for you today is to stay on course, follow His plan for your life and you will see His powerful Light that is navigating your through the dark seas.  You see, Jesus Christ's Light is stronger than your darkness.  Amen!

 

Heavenly Father, I thank you for sending Your Son Jesus Christ to be my Light.  My prayer today, Father is that you continue to be my guiding Light.  Everywhere my footstep travel You Lord are with me.  I thank you Lord that through the rough seas of my life, You are with me.  I know Lord that you will never leave nor forsake me through my darkest hours.  I love you Lord, I pray Lord by the power of the Holy Spirit that I walk in a Spirit of Peace right now, in Jesus Name, Amen.

 

Also you can purchase a copy of my book, "Mighty Woman of God", for less than $10 at www.amazon.com.  Thank you and be blessed.

HOW DID I GET HERE?

Good Morning, Mighty Woman of God!

I pray that you have been blessed by "Spiritual Growth for Women Ministry" and the Lord's messages.  I speak peace into your lives and pray that your relationship with the Lord is growing during your spiritual journey.

You were raised in the church.  Your parents went every chance they had the opportunity.  You sang in the choir and went to church revivals.  You have a voice for the Lord and you read your bible faithfully.  You prayed for others and watched as the Lord God did miraculous things in their lives.  The only time you weren't in church was when the doors were locked.  You had a personally relationship with the Lord.  There was no way that you would even think of living your life without His presence.

A woman's downfall always seems to be a man, or significant other.  Satan knows that one by heart.  He doesn't even have to doubt whether or not you will fall when he sends the right person in your direction.  We get blind-sided by love, lust, loneliness, money and other things that will not last in the long run.  You're no longer with the man that used to care about you, when you first met.  Your love for him has not changed but his love for you has turned into emotional and mental abuse.  He moved into your home with you or you and your children and now he just stops by.  You don't know where he is for days, but when he shows up with the perfect story, you are all of a sudden just happy to see him.  You don't want to mention where's he's been and that womans intuition tells you that he is definitely lying about whatever comes out of his mouth.  You don't say anything, in fear that he will leave for a couple of more days again.

He somehow convinces you that you are just a jealous person and are out of your mind.  The truth is, you are out of your mind because you keep going through the same thing over and over again, hoping that things will change.  Things will not change for him, because he's happy.  Things won't change for you, because you have been blinded by the enemy.  You know it, but fear keeps you in that revolving door cycle; in love, out of love, in love, out of love. You have been told that he is the best thing you will ever have, says him.  No one else will treat you better and you will be alone, say him.  For some reason, you have not realized that you are already alone and a good man will never treat you the way that he does. 

All of a sudden, you realize that you don't even know where your bible is and you don't have one gospel song to listen to.  What happened?  How did I get here?  When did I let go of Jesus?  Will Jesus forgive me and accept me back?

 

I have asked myself those same questions.  The only answer I could come up with was that Jesus would forgive me and take me back if I ask Him. I have to run and not walk to Him, begging Jesus to have mercy on me.  Pleading with Him to help me out of the relationship with a man that will take me to hell with him, if I don't find my way back.  I no longer asked myself, how did I get here, I just wanted to know if I could make it back.  I stopped looking for a man to make me me happy, I had to wait for God to send me a man of God.

Sometimes you can go through this life so fast, that you will forget what is really important.  God has a purpose for you, way before you were conceived and the enemy has a way of taking you for the detour of you life. God's purpose and perfect will for your life will ultimately get the victory if you have started and the right place, you won't have to ask yourself, "how did I get here?"  Just know that you don't have to stay there.  GOD BLESS YOU!

Heavenly Father, forgive me, I have strayed.  I did not stay on the course that YOU set before me, I trusted man and not YOU.  Forgive me Lord Jesus for not accepting your love for me. I pray now Lord Jesus that I accept Your love for me.  I will take one step at a time and always keep You in my heart, in Jesus name, Amen.

FAIRIES & FAIRYTALES

Mighty Woman of God, I pray that you are blessed and highly favored of our Lord Jesus Christ and that you prosper both spiritually and financially.

Today's message may hurt a little bit as it also did for me.  I try very hard to allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you through me, so I know that you will be blessed by the message.

Lamentations 1:2, Bitterly she weeps at night, tears are upon her cheeks.  Among all her lovers there is none to comfort her. All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies.

I saw something on television once where the commentator asked a little girl that was about four years old what she wanted to be when she grew up.  The little girls eyes lite up and she yelled out, "I'm going to be a 'fairy princess'.  While the audience laughed that little girls had no reason to think that she couldn't be a fairy princess.

As little girls, life seems to us very simple.  We don't fix in our minds or hearts that we want to grow up we want to marry a man that will hit, kick and shove us.  We don't yell out we want to marry a man that will not respect us by cheating on us.  We don't shout out that we want to be put out of our home because we are hooked on drugs or trying to numb the pain of a bad relationship with drugs and alcohol.

When I was a little girl, I was very loud and didn't tolerate anybody mistreating me.  I was not the kind of girl that would let you get away with putting your hands on me in a bad manner.  I was what my family and friends called 'bad', I mean I fought everybody, missed curfew and didn't care.

I don't know what is inside us women that allows a man to mistreat us in any way.  I do know this when my friends were talking about their relationships I said nothing.  I always said that besides homosexuals, battered women are definitely in their own little closet.  You can't just spot us from looking at us at first sight.  You might not even spot us when we are in a circle of friends.  What makes us stay in that type of relationship when weren't raised in that type of household?  What makes us love an abusive man more than we love ourselves? I can't tell you how many times I changed door locks only to give him the key.  Countless nights looking out the window waiting for him to come home that night, but he didn't come home for day.  Countless lies that I knew were lies but to me I justify it by accepting the lie, I will feel less stupid.

I don't have the answers to those questions but I do know that God, our Heavenly Father, did not create woman to be a man's punching bag.  I do know that God says, "In the time of trouble He shall hide me". When I got out of my 10 years of domestic abuse, I said to my ex-husband, "Maybe you do love me, the best way that you know how, and right now that's not good enough".  You see they may love you the best way they know how.  They don't know any other way to let out what makes them less of a man.  I've heard this saying before, "hurt people, hurt people".

There are no fairies, unicorns, prince that will swipe you off your feet.  There's no Cinderella.  When you decide to leave, if it is not your decision, but family or friends, you will go back and the cycle will continue until you're mentally strong enough.  Don't think about all the stuff you're going to lose, think about the soul (yours) that you will gain. 

Heavenly Father, I pray right now for my sister's that may be going through a bad situation in their homes.  Father I pray that you guide and protect them, send your warring angels to cover them, keep them safe and their children, Father.  I pray for healing in their hearts and mind, in Jesus name, Amen!

TOO FAR GONE



Good morning, Mighty Woman of God!  I pray that you are all safe, blessed and highly favored by our Lord Jesus Christ.

"There is no way she has done half the things that I've done; God will not look at me the same"

"God did it for me, He will do it for you"

You've either heard that or you thought that phrase in your mind.  I can remember while at the lowest point of my life hearing a woman preaching and saying, "God did it for me and He will do it for you".  I'm shouting and praising God for my deliverance, my relief and my release but in the back of my mind, I'm thinking, "No God will not do it for me.  My case is totally different.  I'm sure you've never been where I've been.  I have literally sat with the devil on occasions, nope my case is different.  I'm just at this retreat hoping and not really believing".

So, for those of you that are new to this ministry and for those that I need to remind, I am going to throw myself under the bus again to give you my testimony.  You are never 'too far gone' if you keep that glimmer of hope open.  Don't close that window.  Each time

Each day I loaded my body with drugs (cocaine, marijuana) and alcohol, being very specific each day I still prayed.  I was not taking advantage of God's grace and His mercy, I was accepting it.  I never just viewed God as just being God, I viewed Him as my Heavenly Father.  And I mean Father in every aspect of that word, His love.  I did so much cocaine in my late 20's early 30's that I should be or could have been dead.  I put cocaine on my weed and put it in my cigarettes. 

I'm telling you about me, who I was.  So don't ever look at me as some super-saint or a woman who hasn't been through some rough and tough times.  I will never forget where I came from because it's my testimony.  Where I came from is a part of who I am.  I am choosing to make that good.

So I'm not special.  God has blessed me with spiritual gifts that I need for you.  To bring you out of darkness, to carry you, to teach you, comfort you and pray for you and with you.  You are never too far gone.  God saw what I didn't see.  God sees what you don't see.  God doesn't love me anymore than He does you.  The difference may be having a relationship with Him.  If your mother and father found out that you were addicted to drugs, prescription meds or whatever, they would not disown you.  God will not disown you and His love for you is more than your mother and father.

I'm not special, no more than you, I just kept praying even when I was addicted.  I left that window open, even if it was just cracked, it was open.  My sister, woman of God, no matter what, leave that window open, you'll find your way back, I promise.

Heavenly Father I pray right now that your message is received as a blessing a glimmer of hope for your people.  I pray Father that you cover them, keep them safe as they go through life.  Father I pray that you blessed them where they are Lord whatever chapter of life they may be, blessed them Father and send your angels to encamp around them, in Jesus name, Amen.

YOUR ARE POWERFUL, YOUR ARE BLESSED

Good Morning, Mighty Woman of God!  I thank God for you always and Spiritual Growth for Women Ministry.  I pray often for you and your families.  My prayer for you today is that you allow the Lord to use you for his glory.

(Proverbs 8:32-36) Now then, my sons (daughters), listen to me; blessed are those who keep my ways.  Listen to my instruction and be wise; do not ignore it.  Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway.  For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the Lord.  But whoever fails to find me harms himself; all who hate me love death."

We are so powerful when we are in church.  Do you ever notice how happy you are when you are in church worshipping and praising God?  You are so elated and you feel like you can take on the world.  You feel the troubles of the day, slightly lifting off your shoulders.  It is always a good feeling when you hear the choir sing your favorite song and you began to feel deliverance through your tears.  You are so happy for 2 hours of worship services and sometimes you wish you could stay in the church all day.  You know that as soon as you leave the church, the mean world is waiting for you right outside those doors.

Now that service is over, you try so hard to follow God's instructions. Your try your best to live righteous before the Lord.  But then here comes the old habits and old nature.  You messed up again and now you feel so bad that you think that God will not bless you.  You think that you wasted your time going to church.  You think that you have blown all your blessings.  God knows all your shortcomings and He knows what pitfalls you are facing.  As long as you keep trying, God will always be there for you.  I don't care how many times you mess up right after church, God already knew you would face whatever dilemma you are facing.  Just keep your faith in God, knowing that He has made provisions for you and your mistakes.

Woman of God, let the above scripture be a word of encouragement for you.  God clearly states that you will be blessed as long as you listen to Him and keep His ways.  As long as you are searching for Him, He will always be there for you.  Keep going straight and don't let the devil make you doubt whether or not God will bless you.  God is true to His word, always.  God is not a man that He should lie.  The devil is the father of lies.  If you work on the days that services are held, find some time in your day to spend alone with God.  If you have Tuesdays off of work, then God will accept your Tuesdays as your day to worship and praise Him.  Don't get caught up in what day everyone else go to church.  Church is just a building and if you decide to have church in your bedroom then now that's church to you.  Don't let the enemy trick you into thinking that you have to wait until  Sunday to have your worship experience with God.  God is not concerned about what day it is.  LET US PRAY! 

If you are in need of prayer, someone to talk to or just touch and agree with, the prayers of the righteous avails much, two are better than one.

 

Heavenly Father, I thank you that you are with me through all my shortcomings.  Lord, I pray that you forgive me for my sins.  Forgive me Lord for the things that I can not seem to get right for you.  Lord, I am asking that you have mercy on me as I am growing more in you.  Lord, I thank you for your blessing and thank you Lord that you keep blessing me.  I will keep seeking after you, in Jesus name, Amen.