Happy New Year 2017!

I want to kick this year off celebrating God and His faithfulness.

For those who have been traveling alongside me for sometime now, you know a little of My History .(Click “My History” for the link to this blogs Welcome! page )

This is the beginning of my 10th year of freedom!

I used to ask God why I had to keep remembering who I was since I was made new in HIM.  I pictured HIM kindly taking me by the chin, looking me in the eyes and saying,

“In remembering the past, you are celebrating ME and My faithfulness, not crucifying, or shaming yourself.

My servant Paul gave you an example of sharing his testimony repeatedly, in order to glorify ME. I transformed him from christian killer to Christ follower.  When his eyes were opened to the TRUTH, nothing could keep him quiet about ME.  His testimony offered hope.  Paul called himself the worst of the worst when it came to sin; therefore, he told everyone who would listen that if God could redeem and remake him, HE could and would redeem and remake them as well.

Listen sweet girl of Mine, I was crucified once and for all, to make the dead ALIVE. In remembering who you were in light of where you are now, you will see

Who I am,

in light of where I am now,

“…The mystery in a nutshell is just this:

Christ is in you,

so therefore you can look forward to sharing in God’s glory.

It’s that simple…” Col. 1:27 MSG

Remembering no longer brings shame.

Remembering is a celebration of The Name above all Names!

“39 Meanwhile, because one woman shared with her neighbors how Jesus exposed her past and present, the village of Sychar was transformed—many Samaritans heard and believed. …42 They began their faith journey because of the testimony of the woman beside the well; but when they heard for themselves, they were convinced the One they were hearing was and is God’s Anointed, the Liberating King, sent to rescue the entire world.” John 4:39, 42 VOICE 

I remember and share at the beginning of each new year, in order to leave a legacy like my sister at the WELL!

The short version of my freedom song began December 7, 2007.  I was saved at the early age of 8 at a Billy Graham Crusade in Memphis, Tennessee and I was baptized at an FCA Camp when I was 16.

Oh how I wish I could say I started my freedom march that day.

I did not.

I marched off of an FCA bus into a self-sabotaging, saved, but shackled, shadow dance.  The enemy of my soul knew he couldn’t steal my blood-bought, sign, sealed soul; so he was hellbent (pun-intended) on killing my witness and destroying my hope, peace and joy.

I spent the next 20 years looking like the world on the outside, while wrestling inside, knowing I was not living like the daughter-of-the-King that I was in Christ. I was decorating a dungeon, one with the door wide-open, yet the exit sign eluded me.

December 7, 2007 was the day God sent one of His other daughters

to remind me of His love, grace and mercy

and

to usher me

out of a dungeon

and

into my God-given destiny!

I have included a brief description and link to a book that helped give me words for the Jesus journey I have been on.  If salvation was completion for each of us,  HE would take each of us home at that salvation moment.

But,

if we are saved and still here, we are still here for a God-given reason.

God intends for us

to sing our FREEDOM SONG,

discover our purpose

and

make a Kingdom difference in our world.

Four Cups: God’s Timeless Promises for a Life of Fulfillment by Chris Hodges

What if God has had a plan for your life since the very beginning? Not just the beginning of your life, but from the foundations of faith itself? In Four Cups, pastor and New York Times best-selling author Chris Hodges shares an astonishing truth: The key to your spiritual fulfillment is found in four promises that God first spoke to His people in the Old Testament, and that are still at the core of his heart and his plans for you today. God wants to rescue you; to deliver you from whatever holds you back; for you to live out His plan for your life; and for you to be part of a family that is making a difference. Steeped in Jewish history and tradition, yet breathing the transforming hope of Christ on every page, Four Cups will help you move forward on your spiritual journey. You’ll understand the four stages of faith, believe the promises of God for your life . . . and discover what it means to be truly fulfilled.

New Year’s Eve is my birthday.

New Year’s Eve 2007 was my 38th birthday.

 When I began my freedom march on December 7, 2007 I began reading my Bible daily, as part of my victory dance, a practice I continue to this day and will continue until the day The Word (Jesus) and I are face to face.

As I continued to immerse myself in God’s word, I also simultaneously fell back into some destructive behaviors from Christmas 2007 to New Year’s Eve 2007.

Can you relate to the miserable tension of knowing what you should do, but not doing it?

There was an ugly tug of war going on inside me that final week of 2007.

**Spoiler alert: God won the tug of war!

December 31, 2007 my reading JUST HAPPENED to be John 5.

“…One man had been an invalid there for 38 YEARS,  When Jesus saw him stretched out by the pool and knew how long he had been there, he said, “Do you want to get well?”

7 The sick man said, “Sir, when the water is stirred, I don’t have anybody to put me in the pool. By the time I get there, somebody else is already in.”

8-9 Jesus said, “Get up, take your bedroll, start walking.” The man was healed on the spot. He picked up his bedroll and walked off…

14 A little later Jesus found him in the Temple and said, “You look wonderful! You’re well! Don’t return to a sinning life or something worse might happen.” John 5 MSG

Do you see it?

38

God gave me a very sweet, personal message.  It was the supernatural salve that removed some vices I’d been battling for years from my life forever!

 I had to have the WILL (make a choice) and actually do the WORK (make a move)

but GOD

provided:

the whisper,

the way

and

the why!

Do you hear God whispering something to you?

Lean in.

Listen.

Do it!

Our personal WHISPERS may be different but THE WAY and THE WHY are the same:

THE WAY:

Hold the hand of Jesus, follow HIM, for HE knows the way and HE is THE WAY!

THE WHY:

To bring God Glory!

God spoke to me then and HE has never stopped, nor will HE.

He is speaking to you too.

Welcome to my 10th year of freedom!

I look forward to doing a VICTORY DANCE alongside each of you!