Journal of Faith: Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling Philippians 2:12

The church talks a lot about trusting God "in the midnight hour." By this they mean when it is darkest in your life. There are going to be midnight hours in all of our journey's of faith. There will be times when it seems like nothing is going right, and there will be times when you feel like there is nothing right with you.  There will be times when you wonder if you have taken a wrong turn, and there will be times when you will be unsure about which way to go.  In those times pray and trust God, but there is another way of seeing "the midnight hour" The midnight hour means the first hour of a new day.  12 AM is when it is officially a new day.  In my desire to be a better manager of my time and realizing that I wasn't giving God enough priority in  my life, I used to get up, or stay up, at midnight to pray and quietly spend time with God.  I told God that I would literally give God the first of my day.  For the years that I did that I asked God to ...

I love how God made people so different. If you believe the Bible, it clearly states that we were created in the image (likeness) of God. That means that every nation was created in his image. God is diverse, and I love that about him. He placed his image on every nation, every culture, every person from the youngest to the oldest. To deny any nation's value is to deny the image of God. We are all his creations created in his image. All of us have gotten far away from who God made us to be, but he has not denied any of us his love.  This is why there is no room for racism, classicism, or any other type of ...isms in the Kingdom of God.   One of the things that I love to do is see how different cultures worship God. Worship is a very personal thing even when groups gather.  Some people are loud and some are quiet, some stand, sit, kneel, or lay. There are many ways to worship God, and the only stipulation that the Bible gives concerning worship to my knowledge is that tho...

     All of my life, people have ridiculed me for being so "good", " "innocent", or "naive".  It was as if being these things made me somehow weak or less than those who were bad, guilty, or bitter.  As I looked around I saw that it wasn't just me who was attacked with this lie, but every single child who tried to do what they learned was right. I know now that it was an attack not by people but by evil in an attempt to keep all of us from fulfilling the word of God; to keep us from proving that the wisdom of the word of God is profitable for correction, reproof, instruction in righteousness.    So, what did these misguided people offer me as an alternative to Godly wisdom...nothing.  They pretended to be my friends, but laughed and planned behind my back. They tried to get me to do wrong at every turn and laughed at every failure. They basically told me my life was a lie and I was a fool.  They accused me of thinking that I was better...

My journey of faith has taken quite a turn since last year. I was given a year off ministry to have a baby and regroup after one of the most public moments of ministry I have ever experienced. That year is up now, and I have a husband and new baby to show for it. This has been my pattern now for a while. I push very hard in ministry and experience life changing tests personally. My new marriage and status as a mother of two is both a blessing and a test. I have stepped onto new territory in this journey of faith, and my resolve has been challenged over and over again. Almost immediately after getting married life hit my husband and I very hard. My husband got very sick, and stayed that way for two months while doctors came in and out just to see the anomaly that was something they knew almost nothing about. They didn't know what he had or how to treat it. He had just started a new job, and this meant his first impression was that of a sickly man. I was unable to work because of ...

              Happy Columbus Day!  It has been soooo long since I wrote anything, and I felt it was about time that I began writing again. I have been blessed to be allowed to get married this summer, and so my journey of faith has taken a turn.  Along with this change I have an undeserved blessing on the way in the form of a baby boy.  God's yes is never ambiguous.   I had begun to think that I wouldn't be able to have any more children.  While I was making my peace with being a mother of one, God chose differently.                 As I cry tears of joy (and a little sorrow) at each little movement of my son, I can't help but reflect on the first time I became a mother.  I was young, in college, single, and six hours away from my family with no car or license.  When I think about how I made it through that situa...

Around this times several years ago a young wife was rushed into a Cleveland hospital to have her first born child. She did the best that she could to stay healthy and prepare herself for her new role as a mother. Her husband worked hard to try to provide for his wife and baby to come. Life wasn't easy, but they had the support of two churches and two families. As the hours went by it became clear that a natural birth was impossible. She was prepped for surgery to the dismay of all who loved them. Her skin darkened and her body swelled to dangerous proportions. The diagnosis was toximia. With two congregations in a packed waiting room the saints prayed, and the husband was asked who to save. He said his wife. His logic was that they could ha e more children, but his wife was one of a kind. The young wife went in and out of consciousness, and at o.e point had a vision of a character in the distance. Was it an angel; was it Jesus? It gave her a vision of what might come if she chose ...

This event is going to be so much Godly fun!  If you don't know I am a part of DPW Disciples of Promise a business inside of a ministry!  So excited to be able to speak about this event. Click to get your tickets for the   Fashion and Style Show