Doing battle God's way and paying attention

It's been quite a month. It's consisted of hours sitting before the Lord which has been good but it's involved some hard work. It's been about healing and fighting the Enemy. It's been nerve wracking and at times exhilarating.

The problem is I spent most of September exhausted. I went into October exhausted. Satan always attacks when we are most tired and vulnerable. He attacks via our mind many times at least he does to me. And my mind can go crazy on me when I give in to it. He's crafty and creative but he doesn't have to be when we fall for the same things. We make his job easy at times. He attacks at our  points of weakness but also at our points of strength because we don't always pray over those areas enough. And nothing with him ever makes sense but somehow he can make it so that it makes perfect sense. Does that make sense?!

For me walking through some of this  God has shown me that whether I'm right about something or not, I need to pay attention to red flags. He's shown me that He's in complete control. As Satan continues mind games with me, God continues drawing me closer to Himself. God uses it to build my faith and reclaim my focus. He uses all that Satan throws at me to hurl me into a pit, to bring good by showing me things I needed to be aware of and pay attention to. He was turning it for good before I ever realized the attack was on. Satan will never warn us. He's out to destroy us. He sets traps. God waves the red flag to warn us and we had better pay attention. 

God was constantly asking me, "do you seriously think there's anything I can't handle?"  I knew there wasn't. 

It took fasting for 2 and 1/2 days, hours with my face in the Word, praying and journaling to just begin to feel like my head was above the water. One day I told Him, "I'm not moving until I get some peace". 3 and 1/2 hours later I got up. I was back the next morning for another 3 hours. It took blocking out all other voices to lean in and just listen for His. Every morning I still get up and have to put on that helmet of salvation to guard my mind. Some mornings I still get up with the elephant on my chest and I have to seek out those new mercies. God is never absent. He shows up every morning. He's working to draw us in, to empower us, to show us His faithfulness. It's always worth doing the work with Him. Satan wants us to give in, to quit. I'm still fighting or rather letting God continue to fight him on my behalf. 

I'm so thankful for Jeremiah 5:22. It says, "I made the sand a boundary for the sea, an everlasting barrier it cannot cross. The waves may roll, but they cannot prevail; they may roar, but they cannnot cross it."

If you feel like I did and at times still do, and you think the waves are about to take you under, know that He will never let them prevail no matter how loud they seem to roar in your head! He is faithful!! 

Monday Morning Perspective

I never fail to be amazed at how God works. When Jesus is lifted up, He really does draw people unto Himself. Hearing how He uses my husband's message every week, is a highlight of ministry. To know that lives are being changed and hungry people are being fed and many are striving to live out their faith is exciting. 

Eddie brought an amazing message from James 2 as we continued our series from James, Live It! He challenged us to not have a dead faith or a demonic faith but a dynamic faith. We need to be difference makers in our community to the continents! And I would agree with the one who said it was one of the greatest gospel presentations/invitations at the end! We just need to be a people who are meeting and engaging with the lost and bring them to church so they can hear the good news and experience the life change that a relationship with Jesus brings! Don't be silent! Talk up Jesus! He will never disappoint you or make you sorry that you pointed others to Him!

FAVORite things for fall

 I have had about 3 weeks of feeling buried under some heavy stuff and today I need to lift my head for a bit and have some fun. So if you'll oblige me a moment just to share a few of my FAVORite, that's for you Favor girls, things for the fall. 

First of all I love pumpkins so these are across my dining room table...

I love to decorate with these but do not like to eat them. However, my dad and Justin love them so I decorate with them and they eat them...

I bought this candle warmer and love the smell of pumpkin pie burning! 

What has become my most FAVORite the last few mornings is my dining room fireplace. It's been so cold so when I sit there to study it gets things pretty toasty! 

I would show you a pic of my fave creamer for that morning coffee but I finished it this morn...pumpkin spice. 

The next two aren't really fall but I discovered them this fall so here they are...

These are fave drug store buys at the moment. 

The fall has brought lots of fun as my gorgeous man and I got to go to the mountains for a getaway. That was a blast. Our Saturdays have been filled with football games and tailgating food most of which we got to share with the whole fam so having the house full all fall has been great!  

And to wrap it up, here I am with my FAVORite person not just for the fall but for every season every year...

Feel free to share your fall FAVORites!

Monday Morning Perspective

One of those blogging moments I wish my vocabulary was much larger than it is. I just don't know the words to share that I felt as my husband was preaching that message. I felt an all encompassing presence of the Holy Spirit. I was convicted. I was challenged. I was motivated. I felt burdened and at the same time full of hope. That word from our pastor on James 2:1-13 was one we all need to hear. I can't imagine anyone not being motivated in some way to look deep within and feel God put His finger tenderly on a spot within us and be grateful for His grace! 

Eddie was right when he said too often favoritism happens in the church. We look at the rich man and see how he can help us. We look at the poor man and see that he may need our help. Favoritism is always inconsistent with the life and teachings of Jesus, it's inconsistent with the character of God and with the royal law. 

I love Eddie's emphasis on greeters and ushers and the important role they play in the church. My favorite part today happened after the service. We had probably 3 families and 1 lady who have been visiting that told us how well they have been treated at Fairview every week that they've visited. One told us they were probably spoken to 20 times from the parking lot to the worship center. THAT is how we love people together, ALL people! And visitors keep coming back! 

Monday Morning Perspective

I have to say one of my favorite things to hear is when people say that the message from Sunday was for them. Or they say how timely it was and helped them through that week with situations and circumstances they faced. That tells me it's taking affect and having an affect. That people are trying to live out what they've been taught through the message is where it's at. That's exciting and that's why those of us in ministry do what we do. It's encouraging and gives us the strength to persevere. 

Yesterday's message was what the book of James really is all about. It's about living it out. We were asked to reflect on whether we truly welcome the Word into our life. It's like a mirror that reveals adjustments that we need to make. Many do away with the Word because it reveals things that need to be changed and we don't like that. A problem with our quiet time is that we rush trough and just glance at the Word and then we forget.  We so often think that Christian maturity is how much knowledge we have when in fact character is. Robes, rites, and rituals are not the important things. Caring for people in the church and community is what's important. Love His Word. Learn His Word. Live His Word. My husband nailed it...again!!

Monday Morning Perspective

Powerful message yesterday by my husband on temptation! We looked at verses 13-15 in James chapter 1. Eddie pointed out how, being a people who love to pass the buck and blame others, we do that with our sin instead of taking responsibility. However, it's our own evil desires that lead us astray. 

I love how Eddie pointed out that enticed means to bait a hook and the purpose of the bait is to appeal to our appetite and to hide the hook. Satan knows what tempts us. He studies us. and as he pointed out, for some of us, any old worm will do but for others he has to be more sophisticated. We must learn to see the hook behind the bait. We must learn to see the consequences to our choices and the direction that sin will lead us. Learn to look past the bait!! 

Eddie encouraged us by sharing some of his own story and showing us how we can overcome temptation. Every time we overcome we gain one on the devil. We become stronger. We learn when we fail too but too often there are consequences that we must pay for a very long time. 

Great word! Great day in His house with His people! Now it's Monday and time to be the church wherever He has planted us for this season. 

Favor Our City

I wanted to take a sec and give you a brief look into last Thursday evening as many of our Favor girls ventured out on the town to 6 different restaurants. The purpose of all events is to reach out to others and sweet fellowship is just the byproduct and there was lots of both that night. Some at our restaurant brought friends and the manager asked what this was all about so we had the opportunity to share some favor with him. We also gave gifts, along with a great tip of course, to our waitresses. Some waitresses at other restaurants shared some prayer needs. God placed some off the most perfect women at those places who were going through the exact same thing so some ministering took place that only God Himself could have orchestrated. 

Getting outside the walls and doing things outside the box is what Favor is about. Being out in our community and hearing hurts and struggles from people gives us hearts of compassion and opportunities to share with them where we find our source of hope. Again He takes ordinary things that we plan and He raises the bar to a whole new level! 

If you weren't able to be with us I sure hope you can be the next time. I heard from some that they hadn't had a girls night out in a long long time. As women it's just hard to make that time for ourselves. Believe me, it will happen again and you do not want to miss it. 

Here's just a few pics I had from the night. Enjoy...