"Stronghold Self-Storage"

Do you remember the movie " Bruce Almighty"? I'm sure if your a movie buff like myself you have probably seem it numerous times. In the movie there is a scene where Jim Carey is at his wits end, and he cries out to God " Give me a Sign"! Not realizing that all along God had put multiple signs in front of him to show him the way. Jim ( aka Bruce) was a goal oriented anchor man looking to be in the limelight of his career. He had a beautiful girlfriend ( Jennifer Aniston) who loved him despite how much he complained about life, and not getting the big break he deserved.
Who hasn't felt at some point in their life that they were somehow cheated out of that job promotion, or that bigger home, or that perfect spouse. I would even venture to say that some
of us get angry, bitter even fearful that maybe we will never reach our self fulfilled idea of what we think we deserve.
Well I had this exact same experience the other day as I was doing nothing more than running to McDonalds for my mother to pick up breakfast.
I casually pulling out of the drive-thru sifting through the bag to make sure I had everything I ordered and made the wrong turn which put me at a dead end street.
Aggravated I began making a U turn and had to do it slowly as not to run up on the curb.
I looked to my right and a sign on a storage building caught my eye.
Stronghold Self-Storage.. odd name, I thought as I continued to drive away but the more I thought about the name the more I realized this was one of those Ah Ha! moments,
you know, those moments when you have to smile and verbally express "R U Serious"?
I felt like Jim Carey when he realized that he really MESSED UP.. in his belief that the perfect job, the perfect life and the perfect woman would make him happy. I think that we all have Strongholds in our life where we store our junk!
We take all those boxes of disappointment,hurt, betrayal, trials and we store them all nice and neat and close the door and put a big lock on it so no one can get in. And when those seasons of
betrayal, doubt, unhappiness, and fear come around we go to our "Stronghold Self-Storage and sift through our junk to find answers as to what we did or most importantly what we think someone else did to put us in such a place in our lives.
I think once we turn over the KEYS to the locks of our storage units to Jesus we can
allow him to sift through our boxes and remove the junk that we have stored up and
be free from a monthly payment of SELF WORTH! have a blessed Day..
Just Sayin :)

Walking DEAD

The Power of the Cross is in the blood of Christ, given for us all, a spotless sacrifice.
Nothing is missing..nothing is broken... now it finished
his blood has spoken.. I'm redeemed..I'm set free... Iam complete...
by the power of the cross.
This is a personal testimony that has been commanded to be spoken.
I will not deny the words of God put in my mouth to speak life into all who will hear it.
Today I woke up dead..You may ask how is it possible to wake up dead? Believe me when I say it is possible.
This morning I began watching a church service via Internet out of Ormond Beach Florida with a friend of mine. The church is called Calvary Christian Center and I had attended this church while living in Florida several times. But this morning I wasn't in the mood to listen to the church service or any church service for that matter.. I didn't want to hear how good God was or how faithful. I didn't want to be uplifted or encouraged. It was just another church service ( I had been to more than I care to count over my life) and at that moment I just wanted to crawl in a hole and wallow in my mess. You see... for this past year God has been trying to get my attention and I just wasn't listening. I watched as possessions slipped away like sand through my fingers...a pending divorce, no child support at all and I not only lost my car at Christmas but also being threatened to be evicted in less than a week from my apartment.
With no car, not much money and an eviction notice on my door. I was not to enthused to hear what a pastor had to say to my situation. But I began to watch the service non the less and I might add negative from the get go.
The first song began and it was about "Dancing like no one was watching" and " singing like no one was listening" for some reason God reminded me of a time when I was visiting a church and although this church wasn't about dancing during worship I felt led by the Spirit to get up and dance for God in the front of the church. I didn't care who saw me or judged me it was all about God and my love for him. As I reflected on that I began to tell my friend about it and tears started to fall...where did that girl go? I thought to myself. Where did that warrior spirit I once had disappear to?
I was talking to my friend about this girl as if she didn't exist anymore and the tears began to flow even more. Then this guy Richardo Sanchez who I posted his music videos on my wall FYI got up to sing. He was visiting the church today and he began singing " The Power of the Cross" The tears came even more! but then Pastor Raley began to preach. He spoke about the woman that Elijah came up to when he was hungry and said to her "woman what do you have in your house"? She replied " Nothing" my husband is dead and I have no food and no money I can't even feed my sons. The only thing she had was some oil. Elijah said "Go gather every empty jar you can find, take them to your house and fill them with oil" there will be more than enough. The woman did as he said and she filled the empty jars till there were no more and she sold them and there was more than enough. Immediately the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart and said you still have the oil. The enemy has stolen everything and has been repeatedly kicking you but he forgot to take your OIL!! Go fill every vessel with oil and there will be more than enough.
Pastor Raley said something has to die in your life in order to move to the new level God has prepared for you. If you have a dead marriage let it be gone..If you have a dead past let it be gone! If you have unforgiveness let it be gone! Anything that is dead has to go.
I was still at the funeral of all my past. I hadn't moved on to my purpose..
The enemy had lied to me all this time and I believed him and didn't feel worth living I was walking DEAD! I began praying in my prayer language and pacing the kitchen floor and crying out to God " Thank you for allowing me to see my death" And I got in the refrigerator pulled out a piece of bread and grabbed a glass of wine my friend and I had communion right in the kitchen!
It was the best communion I had ever experienced. I will no longer walk among the dead.
Yesterday I laid in a fetal position on the floor of my apartment and prayed to just disappear.. I didn't want to remember anything anymore. The enemy just wanted me to go away...But I'm not going to disappear, I'm not going anywhere not yet! God has a plan for me to fill up a lot of jars and I need to get busy! I'm not sure what you will call my job description but I call it " Official Jar Filler Upper" it's not glamorous (probably a little messy) but it's my job and I'm gonna do it with passion. So if you need your jar filled please email me or call me or FB me.

Come to me as a child

There is nothing more precious than a new life.. So helpless and fragile. You hold that baby for the first time and can't help for a moment to feel everything is right in the world. You are blessed with this perfect little bundle to mold and shape into what you hope one day with be a productive loving adult. Giving them knowledge and structure and love and support. They are helpless and don't know how to express pain or fear or hunger or thirst except only to cry out. And you drop everything your doing to tend to that cry. You want to reassure your child that you will always be there no matter what happens. You accept that responsibility without question and no matter how old that child gets you will always remain mom or dad. The one they have grown to depend on and trust. I remember being so excited everytime one of my children did something new. I would record it in their baby book so I could capture the memories.
I can't help but feel that this is exactly how my Father in heaven feels about us.
He wants us to come to him as a child goes to a parent for love and support. He want to pick us up and hold us when we are scared and in pain. He feeds us when we are hungry. He doesn't want us to worry about anything because we have him to love us unconditionally. He hears our cry and drops everything to help us. I think he has a baby book with our name on it and pulls it out to reflect on our lives with him. The day we began to walk ( but with him) the day we began to speak ( but about him) the day we began to eat ( drinking milk of his word) and the day we began eating solid food ( the meat of his word) I know he has picked me up when I fell down and I know he corrects me when I get off track. I can clearly see how precious his little children are to him and why he asks us to come to him as a child. So next time you question where is God when you need him remember he is right there wanting for you to cry out so he can step in and be Dad.

What do Men want anyway?

Okay.. So women this is a very interesting blog and men I think you will enjoy it as well, because this past year or so I have gained some insight by life experiences that will help you in a relationship. What exactly do men want?
Well I thought being in a marriage for 19 years I would have done it all right but found out differently and it started the day I finally walked out.
I remember that day well, it is forever ingrained in my mind. But that being said it was time to start over AGAIN!
In starting over I knew that I didn't want to be alone but also that I didn't want to make the same mistakes again but what exactly were my mistakes? What made my relationship fail?
I recall seeing my ex at a baseball tournament some months after our separation and as I looked at him it dawned on me " I never knew this man" he looked like a perfect stranger to me.
I knew I spent years with him,I knew he fathered my children, I knew we went on vacations together but...I didn't know this man! I was amazed and somewhat sad and a little scared to realize I spent years with someone I didn't even know!
It's no wonder our marriage failed! This was huge revelation to my life.
I began to recall what made up my marriage. There was no TRUTH in it! I thought that keeping a neat clean house would help but that wasn't truth. I thought being the best mother and wife was the answer but that wasn't truth. I thought taking care of the bills and running the kids & working hard would do it but that wasn't the truth either. The truth was there was no truth!
We were playing out a life with no connection no relationship. We thought if we had the best house and the nice cars and the vacations and the money that we would be happy. But again No TRUTH. All those things sustained us but didn't complete us. Then after years of being together it just fell into a pattern of abuse.
We weren't serving each other we were using each other to survive.
It became about pride and appearance. I found that early in our marriage that I became very codependent, that my day was based on his happiness and that of my children. I felt that if I just took care of everything he might love me somehow. That's not the way to live folks thats the way to die.
You die to yourself in order to please others and then you get angry with them because they don't appreciate your selfless sacrifice. It's a vicious cycle of the blame game!
I wasn't helping him by doing for him I was setting him up for failure in our relationship. There were no consequences for his actions in relationship to me. I didn't require anything from him I could do it all myself. But when I needed attention when I needed support he didn't know how to give it to me. Girls don't make the same mistakes I did. You deserve a man who stops and listens,who takes time to share what he is feeling and allow him to own those feelings don't try to justify things for him. Let him mess up sometimes it's good for him to learn from his mistakes.
Don't try to be everything in every situation without him by your side willing to accept his part of success or failure in it. don't surround your day with his happiness and then get mad at him for not returning the favor. There's nothing wrong with serving your mate just don't become a slave to the relationship. Guys... do me a favor? Love harder than you want to be loved and you will see huge return for your efforts. If you love show it, If you hurt show that too we aren't mind readers. It's all about giving and receiving. When one person is constantly giving and the other receiving it will drain the other of all they have to give and then it turns into resentment.
Small things can be huge things to a woman...take out the garbage without asking, tell her she is pretty during the course of your day, or just a phone call to say you miss her. Woman... don't self sacrifice to please! Men love a strong woman to stand by him not behind him bitching him out and complaining, you don't look very pretty to him that way. If you do something for each other for God sake do it because you love them not because you have to. If you have to work to hard to achieve a feel good moment do something for yourself that feels good. Don't expect him to make or break your day and then blame him for it. Get a life for yourself... Stop the madness!! You will be much happier and the truth of the matter is so will he.

Truth or Consequences

Only the young at heart probably remember the game show

" Truth or Consequences". It was a fun program where you had to answer silly questions before the buzzer sounded and if wrong had to perform some kind of off the wall stunt. but also sometimes contestants got to be reunited with family members they hadn't seen in awhile. Silly as it sounds I relate to the very name of the show and it's concept. THINK ABOUT IT...

We all at some point in our lives have to eventually come face to face with truth...It can be revelatory, or maybe painful..It can sometimes bring relief or burden...even conviction. we may get the answers to lifes questions right or totally get them wrong and we find ourselves jumping through hoops and performing for people to make it fit some how when in fact we are living a total lie. There was a girl I once knew who lived most of her life in a lie.. Trying to answer all the questions right but somehow just couldn't beat that dang BUZZER!!

She had excepted the consequences for her life and decisions she made. But as jesus said, " The truth will set you free". If you find yourself performing maybe you should ask yourself the question...Is this truth? Who knows you just might beat that BUZZER.

P.S. And who knows what relationships can be mended (what family member may show up unexpectantly) during this game called LIFE.

Live or Memorex

Wouldn't it be nice to just hit the pause button and stop the recorded messages that have been played over and over in your head? "I think therefore Iam" wow... but what exactly is it we are thinking? I'm not good enough or smart enough or rich enough or loved enough ?
self doubt accusation etc... I must have done something wrong or I failed.
Well as Dr. Phil says " How's that workin for ya"?
How many times in our course of the day do we relate to failing somewhere? I would like to think that in whatever situation I'm in there is a lesson to be learned. my father always said...
" is your cup half empty or half full"? The truth of the matter is... If I chose to operate in a negative place I find myself stuck playing negative recordings. but if I chose to operate in victory and success I will gain victory and be successful. I don't know about you but I chose the latter.
So my suggestion is... Stop the recordings throw out the old 8 track tapes and download some new CD's. You'll be much happier