Dear Faithful Followers:

Ok I've decided to go back to Facebook for the pictures and quick posts. So if you want to see that, you'll have to join Facebook if you haven't already. I'll keep blogging the way I always have.

Quick funny story:

The other day in the van Gabe was very upset. He said, "MOMMY!!!" in an alarming sort of way. I said, "What?" not knowing what could possibly be wrong. He said, "I can't find my heart and I've looked EVERYWHERE for it. I looked here (pointing to his knees), I looked here (pointing to his elbow), and I even looked here (pointing to his head)!!!! That was definitely a laugh out loud moment and that's really all I could do.

Thanks for keeping up with my blog and I hope you join me on Facebook. One day my goal is to get my own website with someone else managing it so I can do whatever I want on it and not have the headache of trying to figure this computer stuff out myself.

Angels and Demons

Admittedly I don't know much about angels or demons. I only know a few passages I've read in the Bible, but I do have a story...

One night, Gabe was complaining for the first time about not liking his room so dark. I've never used a night light for them so I was surprised that all of a sudden he noticed how dark his room was. I asked him why, and he said that he was afraid that someone might be in his room, and if they were he couldn't see them (not like he'd be able to protect himself or anything). Thinking I was going to calm his fears, I said that there were angels in his room to protect him. To my total surprise, this scared him even more! So I said, "Oh I just saw him fly out the window." Now he was afraid it would be standing outside of his window all night looking at him. So I pulled back the curtain to show him there was no scary angel there. After talking briefly about angels, he asked me what they look like. I must have been really tired because I kept making the situation worse. I said, "They are huge men with huge wings!" I thought that would bring him comfort. Immediately he starting crying and I quickly said, "Oh no Gabe it's ok, they are invisible!" He was really freaked out by that and now we were back to the original problem of someone being in his room and him not being able to see them!! Somehow I calmed him down and he was able to fall asleep. Maybe I should learn a little more about angels.

Walk in the Light

Jesus said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will NEVER walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." John 8: 12.

If I want to walk in the light it will require being honest. For me, that means not only with my husband and mentors, but everyone I'm in relationship with. When we don't walk in honesty about who we really are, guilt follows us around like B.B.O. (bad body odor). From my own experience, keeping quiet about my sin makes me feel guilty and ashamed. I hate that feeling. Pride keeps me from confessing. Thank God for His mercy that "day and night (His) hand was on me." Ps 32.

Confession, even though I felt bad about it, has always brought me relief.

Celebrate Recovery says, "We are only as sick as our secrets." When we share our secrets, we divide the pain and the shame. The Word of God replaces our wrong self-image (what we think about who we are) with the right one. THEN, we can be all God intended us to be.

Secrets isolate us from each other. They prevent intimacy in all of our important relationships. Confession allows us to accept the blame for our part of the wrong doing and opens the door to restoration.

Confession: Your Doorway to Freedom and Forgiveness

I am trying very hard to figure out how to blog from my phone so you can get a real look into my life and see pictures! Yay! I did everything I was supposed to do and for some reason it's not working!! AAAHHHH! I joined Facebook to be more connected to everyone else's lives, but disabled it a few days later. Three letters - TMI (too much information). So if I can't figure this mobile blogging out, I may have to switch sites. I will do my best to keep my address. Maybe I'll just get my own website?? I know NOTHING of these things.

Anyway, I've been reading a lot on the subject of confession and wanted to share it. It may take a few posts, but it will transform your life if you have the guts to do it.

First I want to start off with a scripture from Proverbs 28:13 "He who conceals his sin does not prosper, but he who confesses and renounces them will find mercy." WOW, this is so true. Is there something in your life that no one knows about? I know confession is so hard. I hate it, yet I love it. It is the doorway to our freedom. I don't understand why, but this is how God chose it. Just like salvation - we confess out of our mouths that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead, and we will be saved - Rom 10:9. It has to come out of our own mouths. Pride keeps our mouths shut. Humbling ourselves saves us from our prisons. It is humbling to confess that Jesus is Lord because we are saying "I am no longer Lord." Our pride wants us to believe that we've got it all together and we can keep it that way. But that is a lie.

In my own life, when I was bound by a sin habit, I thought I had the ability to just stop and no one had to know (major pride). I was bound daily with guilt and insecurity. Stopping never happened and it never would have. It wasn't until I confessed to my mentor (very humbling) that I found forgiveness and mercy and the ability to stop. My pride also told me that I didn't need to be forgiven. But through confession, I realized that I had sinned against God and certain people and I DID need forgiveness. God showed me two practical things to do to get out of my prison. Confession truly has transformed me. Thank God he gives us a way out!