Be An Advertisement of God’s Immense PowerEphesians 1:19-22 “I pray that you will continually experience the immeasurable greatness of God's power made available to you through faith. Then your lives will be an advertisement of this immense power as it works through you! This is the mighty power that was released when God raised Christ from the dead and exalted him to the place of highest honor and supreme authority in the heavenly realm!”I love this verse and the translation. I am really enjoying reading the passion translation. There is so much passion in what is said. I try not to use the same verse more than once as I think there are over 31,000 verses in the Bible, so it will take us a long time to get through them all. However, when I read this translation of this verse, I felt called to use it. This verse might just be my life verse. It is definitely one I will write down on a sticky note and look at often. This verse sums up the goal of this podcast and my life. I want my life to be an advertisement of God’s immense power. I want everyone in the world to know and understand what it means to have the Holy Spirit living inside of them.Can you even imagine if just 10% of the people in the world knew the power they had living inside them? If just 10% of the world’s population knew the power they had living inside of them, that would be 790 million people. Can you imagine that? Now imagine every Christian in the world knew the power they had living inside them. That would be over 2.4 billion people. Can you imagine how much change could happen if we had 2.4 billion people walking around experiencing the immeasurable greatness of God’s power made available through their faith?But we don’t need to start with 2.4 billion people. Let’s start with you. Do you truly understand the power you have residing within you? Do you comprehend that the Holy Spirit dwells within you? The verse states, this is the mighty power that was released when God raised Christ from the dead and exalted him to the place of highest honor and supreme authority in the heavenly realm. If you have been baptized in any Christian denomination, then you have the Holy Spirit within you. If you have doubts, you can read all about it in Acts 2:1-13. When Jesus was preparing to ascend to his Father, He promised to send us a guide.I don’t know if you know this or not because I didn’t know it for the first 40 years or so of my life, but the Holy Spirit that Jesus asked the Father to send to us is the same Holy Spirit that Jesus had inside of Him when He walked the earth. It is the same Holy Spirit that helped Jesus heal all those people. It is the same Holy Spirit that helped Jesus multiply all that food. It is the same Holy Spirit that helped Jesus perform all the miracles He performed. It is also the same Holy Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead.  This verse reminds us of that. It says, “This is the mighty power that was released when God raised Christ from the dead.”Can you believe that? I don’t know about you, but when I first heard that, my brain kept repeating it as I tried to wrap my head around this idea. I found it so hard to believe that I had the same Holy Spirit that Christ had flowing through my body. The same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives inside of me and it lives inside of you too! How amazing is that? The next thing that came to mind is a question I want to invite you all to ask yourself. What am I doing with that power? How am I using the Holy Spirit? Or, I should say, how am I allowing the Holy Spirit to use me? It's a personal responsibility we all have, to utilize this incredible power within us.Have I given the Holy Spirit permission to work in my life? Have I invited the Holy Spirit into my life? Have I asked the Holy Spirit to guide my thoughts and my words? Have I asked Him to guide my actions? God believes so strongly in free will that He won’t push His way into our lives. He waits to be invited, and He comes where He is welcomed. Some of the things we may be blaming God for may be things that happened because we didn’t invite God in. Some things may happen because we thought we could do it all on our own. Or, maybe you didn’t know you needed to invite God in. Either way, I want you to know now so you can ask Him from now on.I said earlier that my goal for my life is to be an advertisement of the immense power of God as it works through me in my life. For me, this means being used by God to heal people, to be His instrument to restore the blind and open deaf ears. To be His instrument to  heal cancer, MS, fibromyalgia, and all sorts of diseases, for there is no cure. I pray the Lord uses me for creative miracles such as growing arms and legs. I pray the Holy Spirit works through me to multiply food, resources, and any other way the power of the Holy Spirit wants to work through me. I pray the Holy Spirit tells me what to do, and I do it.However, this doesn’t have to be everyone’s goal. You can have the power of the Holy Spirit working in your life without a goal of performing all sorts of miracles. We can all aim to be an advertisement of the immeasurable greatness of God’s power without having to go out and pray over people to be healed.Can we all just start by inviting the Holy Spirit into our lives? Can we just give the Holy Spirit permission to work in our lives? This can be a straightforward statement. Holy Spirit, I invite you to work powerfully in my life. I give you permission to guide all my thoughts and actions. Holy Spirit, lead me. We can be an advertisement for the power of the Holy Spirit whenever we show restraint. When we are in traffic and get angry, we can ask the Holy Spirit to come and give us peace. We can ask the Holy Spirit each morning when we get up to protect us from any plans the enemy has for us that day. We can ask the Holy Spirit to help us to see others through His eyes. We can ask the Holy Spirit to help us love the unloveable.  We can ask the Holy Spirit to show us who needs prayers, and we can pray over or with those people.We don’t have to make grand gestures to be advertisements of the greatness of God. We live in a world right now where kindness and love are not the default. We can simply ask the Holy Spirit to help us show kindness and love to the world right now. Our simple acts of kindness will show the world the power of the Lord living inside us. I invite you all to talk with the Holy Spirit this week. Ask Him to show you where you could use more of His power in your life. Ask Him where in your life you have not invited Him into. Ask Him for any situations or circumstances in your life that you have not invited Him into. Invite the Holy Spirit into all aspects of your life and see how your life changes.There is one more thing that just popped into my mind that I didn’t mention. The Holy Spirit comes where He is invited, welcomed, and expected. I talked about the first two, but I didn’t talk about the last one. We need to expect that He will show up when we ask the Holy Spirit to show up. I am sure the Holy Spirit will show up each time I pray with someone. Now, that doesn’t mean I always get the outcome that I want; it doesn’t mean everyone I pray over is healed in the way I want them to when I want them to. God has His plan, and I know it is better than mine. However, the Holy Spirit always shows up and leaves things better than they were. For instance, when people weren’t physically healed the way I wanted, they still felt something, whether it was a partial healing, a peace coming over them, the love of God, or many other things.We need to expect the Holy Spirit to show up. He always comes when invited, so invite Him in and expect changes. Be on the lookout for changes. What is different since you invited Him in? They might be subtle changes at first, but if you are on the lookout, you will see them. Are you more loving towards your family? Are you more patient in traffic or at work? Are you more patient with your kids? Are you more joyful? Do you have more compassion for those in need? Be on the lookout for what changes when you invite the Holy Spirit into your life. Remember, it’s the same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, so yes, He can handle whatever you are going through!Dear Heavenly Father, please bless all those listening to this episode. Lord, we want the Holy Spirit in our lives. We want the power of the Holy Spirit to work through us. Lord, we ask you to help us to see this power at work in our lives. Please help each person listening understand the power of the Holy Spirit and help them to invite that power into their lives. Help us to expect that power to work in our lives. Give us a hunger for more of you and the Holy Spirit in our lives. Give us a hunger to be an advertisement of your power, Lord. We love you so much, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen.Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to meeting you here again on Monday.  Remember, Jesus loves you, just as you are, and so do I! May the grace and favor of our Lord Jesus Christ be upon you! Have a blessed weekend!Today’s Word from the Lord was received in February 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “Many of you say, I want more of you, Lord. And you long for more. But you do not ask for more. Longing and wanting will get you nowhere. Ask, and you shall receive. But then believe that you have received and move on. Don't stay stuck. Move on and believe that I have given you more when you have asked for it. But you must ask. And I wait and long for you to ask. I call you now. Ask, and it shall be given. But believe that it is given.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

I Am The Least Of All The SaintsEphesians 3:7-13 “Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace which was given me by the working of his power.  To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all men see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things; that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places.  This was according to the eternal purpose which he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord,  in whom we have boldness and confidence of access through our faith in him. So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.”It was tough to pick a verse this morning. I have been reading Ephesians, and there are so many good verses in there. I kept reading and re-reading chapters 1 and 2, and so many things were jumping out at me, but I didn’t feel like any of those verses were the ones I was supposed to talk about today. Then I went on to chapter 3, and this verse jumped out at me. I felt the Lord wanted me to speak to you about evangelization today. If you are like me, that word might scare you a bit.When I hear that word, I want to look around and see who else the Lord might be talking to. When I hear that word, I instantly feel inadequate. Why is this? I know several Gospel stories and parables, so it is not as if I don’t know what’s in the Gospel. I know that God is love, which is the most important word to get out there. I know it is essential that people discover the love God has for them. I know these things, so why do I feel so afraid when I hear someone say that we are all called to share the good news with everyone we meet?St. Paul was an extraordinary man and a great evangelizer. He is credited with writing about half of the books in the New Testament. Yet, in this opening verse, it says, “Of this gospel, I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace which was given me by the working of his power.  To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, to preach to the Gentiles.” St. Paul knew he was called to be an evangelist as well. He knew his calling was to spread the word of the Gospel to all he met, but he really didn’t feel qualified.I take comfort in this. I take comfort in knowing I am not the only one who gets nervous when I look at the call the Lord has placed on my life. I also hate to be the bearer of bad news, but God has also put this call on your lives.  We are all called to bring the Gospel to all we meet. Does your stomach feel funny when I say that? Do you get nervous when you realize God calls you to spread His word? If you do, you are not alone. I don’t know anyone who is only excited to go out and share the Gospel. Don’t get me wrong, I know people who are excited to share the Gospel with others; however, they are nervous about doing it and feel inadequate to do it. I don’t know anyone who sets out to evangelize, thinking they know everything and that it will be easy.This is why the next line is so important. It says, “This was according to the eternal purpose which he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord,  in whom we have boldness and confidence of access through our faith in him.” This verse says we have boldness and confidence of access through our faith in him. Jesus can give us the boldness we need. Let me read you this part in the message translation. “I have been made a messenger of this wonderful news by the gift of grace that works through me. Even though I am the least significant of all his holy believers, this grace gift was imparted when the manifestation of His power came upon me. Grace alone empowers me so that I can boldly preach this wonderful message to non-Jewish people, sharing with them the unfading, inexhaustible riches of Christ, which are beyond comprehension.”I love that this translation says, “by the gift of grace that works through me.” Grace is a gift from God. Grace can help us do things we could never do on our own. The verse also says, “Grace alone empowers me so that I can boldly preach this wonderful message.” God is calling us all to share the Gospel with all we meet. This means that He will equip us with all the grace we need to do so. If you feel inadequate to share the Gospel, join the club; we all feel inadequate. However, that doesn’t mean we get to excuse ourselves from doing it. How we feel doesn’t stop us from fulfilling our calling.There is a podcast I used to listen to called “Do It Scared.” This is what we are called to do. We are called to step out in faith even when we don’t think we are the best person for the job. Who are we to question God’s judgment? We are called to step out in faith even when we are scared. We are called to trust that God’s grace is enough to empower us to do what He has called us. We are called to step out with a holy boldness. Sometimes, that boldness won’t come before you step out, but it will help you say what He wants.If you are like me, you may think, “That is great, Catherine. I get that God’s grace is enough. Yet, I still feel inadequate and need something more practical to help me step out in faith on this journey.” If this is you, I have you covered. In one of our Encounter Ministry classes, they gave us a list of declarations that we can say each day to help us begin to believe that we can go out and evangelize. If you say or write these declarations often, they can help build your confidence. They can also replace your negative self-talk around the word evangelization and your ability to do it. Declarations work best if said daily, out loud, and while looking in a mirror. However, if that doesn’t work for you, do what does. I write these declarations most mornings. Writing seems to work well for me, although now that I say that, I will probably start saying them out loud and writing them. Here are the declarations:Everywhere I go, I am overwhelmed by God's love for people, and that motivates me to share the gospel.It is easy and normal for me to articulate the gospel.I have an anointing for evangelization.Today, my mind and spirit will tune in to the people around me and find those who desire to be saved. I will lead those people to Jesus.I am fearless and courageous, and I live with an understanding that people are hungry for Jesus.I am creative in my evangelization and I adapt well to bring powerful God encounters to different kinds of people.I love evangelizing!It is easy to share the gospel with others because they want to know the God that is inside of me.When I feel afraid to share the gospel with someone I will remind myself that on the other side of fear is a testimony.Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless everyone listening to this episode today. Lord, we love you so much. You are amazing. We thank you for giving us the grace we need to fulfill our mission. We are sorry we question you and feel inadequate for all you call us to do. We believe you will equip us, Lord. Help our unbelief. Please help us feel more confident in the call you have given each of us. The call to share your Word and love with everyone we meet.  Help us step out in faith and try to do this Lord. Help each one of us try to let one person today know that Jesus loves them. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen.Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. Can I ask you a favor today? Would you forward this podcast to someone you know today who would be blessed by it? I would really appreciate you helping me spread the Word of God to more people. If you don’t think this would be the right episode to send to someone, they pick your favorite one and send that one to them. Thanks so much! I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! May the grace and favor of our Lord Jesus Christ be upon you. Have a blessed day!Today’s Word from the Lord was received in February 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “I can turn all who oppose you and all your enemies. I can turn their hearts of stone into hearts for me alone, but it is through you, my children, that I choose to use as instruments to turn those hearts.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Witness Wednesday #120 More PopWe StoriesToday’s witnesses are from Matthew West’s website called popwe.org. If you don’t know who Matthew West is, he is a singer, songwriter, and storyteller. This website is for the non-profit that he has with his father, a pastor. Matthew and his father encourage people to share their stories. They have various categories of stories. Today, I chose two testimonies from the Healing Category. I know so many people who are looking for a healing right now and I think these stories will offer some hope and encouragement.  Often, we can hear our own story in someone else’s story. When we listen to others tell their story, it helps us see that we are not alone. When we hear how God worked in their situation, it gives us hope that He will work in ours, too! I pray when you hear these testimonies, you get the faith and hope to believe that miracles and healing can happen in your situation also.Allison:  At the age of 23, I looked back at my life and I couldn’t think of a time when I felt healthy. I had struggled with chronic illness ever since I could remember, and I still didn’t have a name for all the symptoms that I was experiencing. It was years of trying to explain what I was feeling but not getting any answers. I felt alone and misunderstood.At times, I wondered if God even cared about me at all. The summer before I turned 23, things took a turn for the worse. I got into a car accident which left me feeling overwhelmed with guilt as it was my fault. On top of that, my symptoms were getting worse. Fatigue, aching joints, nausea, anxiety, depression, memory loss…the list goes on and on. I didn’t think I was going to make it. In fact, I asked God to just take me home because I didn’t want to endure the pain any longer.I met with one of my pastors for prayer about the car accident a few weeks later, (at least that’s what I intended on discussing.) But God. He had different plans. Somehow the whole meeting ended up being about my health. Towards the end of the meeting, my pastor looked at me and said “Allison, I think you have chronic Lyme Disease.” I would be lying if I said I wasn’t annoyed. I spent years of my life trying to get to the root of my health problems and no doctor could even give me a diagnosis, so how would a pastor know anything about my health? The next day I cried out to God. I asked Him to show me if it was true, and if it was, to lead me to the right doctor.He answered. Loud and clear. Multiple times over the following weeks He confirmed it. Through a stranger, I was given the name of a doctor in my town who specializes in treating Lyme. I had an appointment with him, and it turns out my pastor was right. After years and years of waiting, I had an answer. Today, 6 years later, I am healed. I ended up getting treated by that doctor, and God used him to save my life. I know I wouldn’t be here today if God hadn’t intervened.Through this journey,  God has shown me His faithfulness.  I know now that He heard me every time I cried out to Him. He is the God that sees me. He sees you, too!Emily:  Hello, I’m Emily. I’m a 10 time Breast Cancer Survivor. Yes, you read that right, ….TEN.It all began with a stomach ache in 2008. As I went to my doctor for a routine exam, she found the Cancer! Of course, I had to go through an ultrasound and mammogram first, but my doctor had saved my life by detecting this early, I thought.I was 33, had 3 kids, (ages 6, 2, and 8 months) and a full-time job teaching 1st graders at a public school. Cancer? Who has time for Cancer? I was told it is an aggressive form and difficult to treat, because doctors don’t know much about it. I have Triple Negative Breast Cancer. I fought with everything I had through chemo, radiation and a lumpectomy.God and I spent a lot of time talking about how I was going to win this battle and with His help, I did, for 4 1/2 years.The Demon itself returned in March of 2012, just before my 5 year clear mark. I was devastated, scared, angry, frustrated and MAD at God. Why was this happening to me again? Why do I have to go through this again? This isn’t fair! God carried me through the second battle, just as He did the first with just as much grace and comfort.Fast-forward to 2022. I’ve now had TWO double mastectomies, a lumpectomy, ten biopsies, a DIEP flap reconstruction surgery, 3 more rounds of chemo (78 total treatments), 3 different types of radiation (67 total treatments), and Proton therapy (35 treatments) to try and kill this cancer. It has reared its ugly head 10 times and this is going to be the last!!!Just a month and a half ago, I learned about a new drug that people were having success rates with. It was a Godsend and true miracle. An email delivered to my inbox revealed something we’ve been waiting for for 15 years!!!! The product is working and I will have another scan in February to hear that there is NED (No evidence of disease)!!! I am positive after reading the success stories!I tell my story to say this… God is the only reason I am still here!!!! Nobody survives Cancer 10 times without God. Period. ✝️ If you are battling Cancer of any kind, just know that God is on your side and He is the ultimate healer!!!! Without Him and our faith, we are nothing!! I’m still standing AND teaching for 15 years and 10 battles later!God is so good and Matthew West, you’re my favorite!!! Your music inspires me and the children in my class from rough homes every single day!! Our favorite is “How Good Of God!”Thank you both so much for sharing your stories. God is so good and yet if we don’t share our stories with people then they won’t know just how good he is. I thank you for being willing to be vulnerable and share you stories. I know they will bring hope and joy to many. I am so very grateful God brough you both heeling. I pray you have a healthy and full life. I pray all of this in Jesus’s holy name. www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Treasures of RedemptionEphesians 1:7-8 “Since we are now joined to Christ, we have been given the treasures of redemption by his blood—the total cancellation of our sins—all because of the cascading riches of his grace. This superabundant grace is already powerfully working in us, releasing all forms of wisdom and practical understanding.”As soon as I read that verse this morning, I knew it was the one I needed to use, as this is something we all get stuck on. We all know and understand that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, but when we look at our sins, we think they are too bad for Jesus to forgive. I love that the verse says, “Since we are not joined to Christ, we have been given the treasures of redemption by his blood.” I love how it reminds us that redemption is a treasure. It is something of great value, and it wasn’t easy to give that to us. It is important to remember what Christ went through to provide us with our redemption. He had to die on the cross for us to have this treasure of redemption.Next, the verse says, “the total cancellation of our sins-all because of the cascading riches of his grace.” Let me read that last part again for those of us who get stuck here. It says the total cancellation of our sins. It does not say the partial cancellation of our sins. It doesn’t say the cancellation of the sins that aren’t too bad. It doesn’t say the cancellation of some of your sins. No, that is not what it says. It says the total cancellation of our sins. That means even that one sin that you feel like He could never forgive, He already has.When we decide that our sins are too big for God to forgive, we are telling Him that we don’t think Jesus’s sacrifice was big enough to cover our sins. Do you know what a slap in the face that is? Jesus went through agony to provide us with redemption, and we are essentially saying no thank you to that redemption. We are saying we appreciate what you did, but it just wasn’t enough for the gravity of my sins. When we do this, we are letting our pride get in the way of the love that the Lord has for us. Is this what we want?Trusting in the forgiveness of sins requires faith. It requires us to believe the Lord’s Words. It requires us to believe in the Lord’s love for us. Why else would He send His son to die on the cross for us? God’s unconditional love for us cannot be separated from what Jesus did on the cross. If God didn’t care about us so much, if He didn’t love us so much, then there wouldn’t have been a cross. He would have let us deal with the consequences of Adam and Eve. God did not create sin and He certainly didn’t create a world full of sin. God created us to live in Harmony with Him in the garden of Eden. Can you imagine what that would have been like? Eating anything we want except that one tree. Taking a stroll through the garden with God at night. That must have been paradise.I don’t want to forget to talk about the ending of this verse either. It says, “all because of the cascading riches of his grace. This superabundant grace is already powerfully working in us, releasing all forms of wisdom and practical understanding.” Did you know God gives us graces? I love that this translation says, “cascading riches of his grace.” I think this is a great illustration to show how generous our God is. He is not holding back His grace and rationing it out in case He runs out one day. He knows He will never run out and He pours His grace down on those who ask for it. Do you ever wonder why it seems like some people have more favor with the Lord, or some people receive more grace? I believe it is because they ask for it. When is the last time you asked God for some grace in your life? When is the last time you asked God for some favor?God is a good good Father and if we ask He will give it to us, unless we are asking for something that is not good for us. Don’t be afraid to ask the Lord for anything you need. I believe He loves it when we come to Him and make big requests becasue it shows him that we believe He can do it. Sort of like when we need to open a jar. We don’t ask someone to help us unless we think they are strong enough to help us. We ask them because we believe they can open that jar. The same is true with God. We are not going to ask Him to find a way to help us pay our mortgage if we don’t believe that he can do it. So, by asking Him for big things, we are actually showing Him how much we believe in Him and I think He loves that!Now, back to His Superabundant Grace. We all have this grace working powerfully in us. How do you think you do all the hard things that you are able to do. Through God’s grace. I love that it says in the verse that His grace is already releasing all forms of wisdom and practical understanding. I didn’t realize or know until fairly recently that God gave us wisdom or knowledge. I mean I might have read it in the Bible and I might have known it on some level, but I didn’t actually know we could ask God for wisdom and that He would give it to us. That is pretty cool. I also didn’t realize we could ask for practical understanding but I have done this over this past year also and He has always answered. God is amazing! His grace is amazing! I believe God pours His graces out freely over all of us and yet I think if you want more graces, all you need to do is ask and he will give you more. Don’t be afraid to ask God for anything. He loves His children and would do anything for us. Even if you aren’t sure if He can do what you are asking for, just Ask, There isn’t anything He can’t do.Dear Heavenly Father I ask you to bless everyone listening to this episode. Lord, we love you so much. We thank you for the treasures of redemption you have given to us. Lord, we thank you for all you do for us. We thank you for all the graces you shower upon us and we ask for more Lord. We ask for more not because we are greedy but because we are needy. We need you Lord and we know that. We love you and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I hope you will check out the link below to join mentoring. Tonight is week #3 of the Our Emotions series and it will be great! I hope to see you there. I look forward to bringing you a new Witness Wednesday tomorrow. May the grace and favor of our Lord Jesus Christ be upon you.Today’s Word from the Lord was received in February 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “My children, I am the love that binds you all. It is that love that can transform each one of you and remove whatever walls that are in the way. It's love that removes the wall. It removes as you forgive others, the walls gently start falling and it transforms your heart and the hearts of those around you.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Unstained InnocenceEphesians 1:3-4 “Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm has already been lavished upon us as a love gift from our wonderful heavenly father, the Father of our Lord Jesus—all because he sees us wrapped into Christ. This is why we celebrate him with all our hearts! And in love he chose us before he laid the foundation of the universe! Because of his great love, he ordained us, so that we would be seen as holy in his eyes with and unstained innocence.”When I read these two verses this morning, I thought they were so beautiful. They begin with “Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm has already been lavished upon us as a love gift from our wonderful heavenly father.” Isn’t that beautiful? Did you know that your heavenly Father is lavishing spiritual blessings on you? The word blessing in this verse is a translation of the Greek word eulogy, which means “to speak well of.” Since God is acting in this verse, we can say that God has spoken good things about us or pronounced good things for our benefit. The good things that God has decreed for us are probably beyond our ability to number.Can you imagine your heavenly Father showering you with blessings? Did you know that is what He is doing? I know sometimes it doesn’t feel like you are getting any blessings, but this might be because you are in the middle of a hard time. You might not be able to see the blessings because you are so focused on the hard thing that is happening. You might think there is no way God could be blessing you because of all you are going through.This isn’t true. God can bless us in the middle of a hard time. He can bless us whenever He wants to. You might be wondering what that may look like, what it would look like to have a blessing while in the middle of a hardship. That could look like someone you know checking on you to see if you need anything. It could look like your friends and family bringing you meals when they know you have no time to cook. It could look like you getting a job promotion right when you need it the most! Have any of these ever happened to you? What about when a stranger says something to you out of the blue and it is exactly what you needed to hear?God is not just blessing us, He is lavishing spiritual blessings upon us. This can go against our picture of God. We all have a picture of God in our head and for some of us, probably a lot of us, it is not a picture of a wonderful heavenly Father. Many of us picture the heavenly Father similar to our dad growing up. So if you had a loving Father growing up the idea that our heavenly Father is loving is easier to grasp. However, if our earthly Father was not outwardly loving and was hard on you, maybe expected a lot out of you, then this is how you might see our heavenly Father too. But God's love is beyond our earthly understanding, and He cherishes each and every one of us.I know a lot of people who picture the Lord as an old man with a white mustache and beard sitting up in heaven, looking down on us and judging us. They picture God as someone who is just waiting for them to screw up so He can punish them. They are sure they are disappointing Him all of the time. I think this is why I chose these verses and why I like these verses so much.The second verse for today dispels this myth that God is up in heaven just waiting for us to mess up. It says, “And in love he chose us before he laid the foundation of the universe! Because of his great love, he ordained us, so that we would be seen as holy in his eyes with and unstained innocence.” First, it says that God chose us before He laid the foundation of the Universe. God chose you. Let that sink in for a moment. God chose you before He even created the universe. Does that sound like the act of a Father that is sitting up in heaven waiting for you to screw up so He can punish you?Next it says, “Because of His great love, he ordained us, so that we would be seen as holy in his eyes with unstained innocence.” Listen to that last part again, “so that we would be seen as holy in his eyes with unstained innocence.” God doesn’t look at us as if we are a wreck waiting to happen. In His eyes, we have an unstained innocence about us. God doesn’t want us to mess up. He doesn’t want us to sin or to fall away from Him. He loves us. He chose us. He wants us to be right there with Him for all eternity.God loves us. He looks down upon us as a loving Father would. Once we realize this our relationship with the Heavenly Father will become so much closer. If we haven’t really experienced true love in this world, then it might be hard to understand how much our heavenly Father loves us. One thing I am finding that can help with this is to read the scriptures. Read the Psalms, read the New Testament. Last week I read Philippians and this week I am reading Ephesians and they are just beautiful. The Bible is a living document. It is not just a book of words that the Lord told His people back in the day. The Bible is speaking to each one of us right now. When you read the Bible you will realize it is just as relevant to what you are going through today than it was back then. God is so good, His Words are timeless.Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless everyone listening to this episode today. Lord, we ask that you help us to understand your love for us. We ask you to help us understand how loved we are. We ask that you help us to change our hearts and are minds about who you are and what you want from us. We want to see you as you truly are not as we picture you in our minds. We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow. Remember, there is mentoring tomorrow night for anyone who wants to join us. This month's theme is our emotions and how to feel them without letting them control our actions. Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! May the grace and favor of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your Spirit!Today’s Word from the Lord was received in February 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “Do you see me in the downcast, the repulsive, the weak and the needy, the arrogant and the brash? Do you see me in your crosses and afflictions, troubles and conflicts? I am the incarnate one. I am in all things and people, working for the salvation of all. See me, help me, praise and love me in all people and in all ways.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Be Christ-LikePhilippians 1:20 “No matter what, I will continue to hope and passionately cling to Christ so that he will be openly revealed through me before everyone’s eyes. So I will not be ashamed! In my life or in my death, Christ will be magnified in me.”I have really enjoyed reading through Philippians this week. There were so many good verses. I started at the end and worked my way forward. I am not sure why it worked out that way, but it did. I read this verse yesterday and it stuck with me so I wanted to share it with you today. This is something for which we can all aspire. We can all continue to have hope and passionately cling to Christ so that when others see us, they see Him.Paul says, “In life or in my death, Christ will be magnified in me.” How great is that? How great would it be to know that you have helped to bring others to Christ, not only in life but in death, too? This makes me wonder, what am I doing to magnify Christ? When people look at me and how I live my life, do they see Christ?I will always remember what Father Mike said on the podcast Catechism in a Year. He said, take a minute and imagine it is illegal to be Christian. Luckily, this is not the case in America, but pretend it is. He said to imagine now that you are on trial for being a Christian. Besides going to Mass or your church service on the weekend, would they have enough evidence to convict you? I don’t know why this has stuck with me over the past two years, but I think it is a compelling question.Many of us go to church on Sunday. We love God, and we think that is all we really need to do. However, we are all called to be Christlike. We are called to be Jesus's face to all we meet. Jesus said we need to love the Lord our God with our whole heart, mind, and soul, and then He also said we need to love our neighbor as ourselves. I think this is the part that we often forget. I think we all remember to try to love God, although I am unsure if we try to do it with our whole heart, mind and soul. I think we try to love God when it benefits us. We all remember God when times are hard; I hope we remember Him when times are good, too.We often forget to love our neighbors. This doesn’t just mean the person living next to us; it means every single person we interact with. If we had a private investigator following us for a week to look at our behavior and try to gather evidence that we were a Christian, would they find any evidence? Would they see you being compassionate to all those you interact with, whether you know them or not? Would they see you being patient and considerate when you are driving around? Would they see you being kind and helpful to the poor? Would they see you were a Christian when interacting with the various people you met throughout your day? How did you treat that one co-worker who always gets on your nerves? How did you treat that person that cut you off in traffic? How did you treat that person who cut you in line just as you finally reached the front? What about the homeless person who asked you for money?How we treat others matters. We can’t simply focus on our relationship with God and disregard the rest of the world. We can’t claim to love God and then treat others unkindly. Our actions towards others reflect our faith and our commitment to living a Christlike life. When others look at our lives, they should be able to see Christ in all that we do. Jesus addresses this in the Gospels. God would not have ensured this was in the Bible if it didn’t say something we should pay attention to. The following verse shows us how important it is to care for everyone we meet.Matthew 25:31-46 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,[f] you did it to me. “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’  And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”This verse shows us that God requires more of us than just showing up at mass or service on Sunday mornings. It also shows us that we are called to be Christ-like and should view everyone we meet as Christ-like. Instead of seeing a random person you don’t know asking you for money on the street, see Jesus asking you for money on the street. Imagine how different our experiences would be if we pictured Jesus’s face on each person we saw throughout the day. Imagine someone stops you and asks you for help in the grocery store, and you see Jesus in that person. Wouldn’t that be such a gift? What if we tried to be that gift for others? What if we loved Jesus so much that His love and light spilled out from us onto all those we meet? Wouldn’t that be amazing? Isn’t that something worth striving for?Dear Heavenly Father, please bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, please help us to be your face to the world. Help us to be Christ-like in all that we do. Help us to see you in others. Help us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Lord, show us what we need to do to be more Christ-like. Show each one of us where we are struggling with this. Show us where we could be doing better and how. We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen.Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I want to read all of you the description of my upcoming retreat. The retreat is October 11-13th, the same weekend as last year. I will be opening registration soon, however it is not opened yet. I wanted to let you know the theme and the description so you can start praying about if you can attend.Come As You Are Retreat (October 11-13, 2024)Many of us feel we must be perfect before coming to the Lord. We feel as though we are not worthy enough to approach God. We looked at all we’ve done and know God can't possibly love us like this. We think we will go to church, pray, and sit before the Lord once we have changed, once we have cleaned ourselves up, and once things in our lives get a little better. We will come back to the Lord once we feel worthy.This is not what God wants. He wants us to come to him just as we are right now. Matthew 11:28–30 says, "Are you weary, carrying a heavy burden? Come to me. I will refresh your life, for I am your oasis. Simply join your life with mine. Learn my ways, and you’ll discover that I’m gentle, humble, easy to please. You will find refreshment and rest in me. For all that I require of you will be pleasant and easy to bear.” (TPT)This retreat is a safe place to come to the Lord, just as you are. You don't have to be far along on your spiritual journey. You don't have to have it all figured out. You don't have to have any of it figured out. This retreat is a judgment-free zone. All are welcome to come as we are and spend some time talking with our heavenly Father. It will be a time to discover God’s unconditional and unwavering love for you, yes you! It will be a time to finally let go of some of those lies the enemy has been holding over you and replace those lies with the truth of God. My prayer for you for this retreat:You will experience the overwhelming love of God.You will be liberated from the shackles of the lies you have believed for so long.You will go home walking in the confidence of who God says you are.Be more comfortable sitting and having a conversation with your heavenly Father. This is a unique opportunity to deepen your relationship with Him, to feel His presence more strongly in your life.I hope you will consider joining me for this wonderful weekend away. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I. Have a blessed day!Today’s Word from the Lord was received in February 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “Pray for the salvation of souls. Now is the right time for the harvest. Pray for your estranged family members. I see some of you have given up hoping they will find their way. I put them as your family members because I trust in your faithfulness.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

First I just want to apologize. I totally forgot that yesterday was Wednesday so I gave you a regular episode instead of a witness Wednesday. However, I know many of you love to hear the testimonies, so I didn’t want to skip it this week. So today I am bringing you a witness Wednesday, just a day late on a Thursday.  Today’s witnesses are from Matthew West’s website called popwe.org. If you don’t know who Matthew West is, he is a singer, songwriter, and storyteller. This website is for the non-profit that he has with his father, a pastor. Matthew and his father encourage people to share their stories. They have various categories of stories. Today, I chose two testimonies from the Relationship Category. Relationships are hard. I don’t think we are sailing through life full of perfect relationships. Often, we can hear our own story in someone else’s story. When we listen to others tell their story, it helps us see that we are not alone. When we hear how God worked in their relationships, it gives us hope that He will work in ours, too! I pray when you hear these testimonies, you get the faith and hope to believe that miracles and healing can happen in your relationships also.Karina: When I think of my story, I think of pain, grief, overwhelming sadness, hurt, and betrayal. Then I think of hope, redemption, love, grace, miracles, and my salvation in Jesus.Five years ago, my entire world turned upside down. I experienced betrayal in my marriage after 12 years. I was in so much pain. My life seemed to have been one episode after the next of unfortunate events.I was so broken and so alone. I was in severe depression and taking depression and anxiety meds and using alcohol with it. I was doing anything I could to dull the pain I was in.I’m so thankful that God loved me so much that He pursued me in ways I’d never experienced before. I was blessed to become a part of a church. At a time when I was deeply hurting, I was shown the love of Christ over and over again. My pastor would say during his messages (and he still does) that I MATTERED to GOD. Honestly, I didn’t even know that I did. God never left my side and He revealed Himself and His love to me. I had never known love like this before and he poured it out on me in waves and waves. He walked with me through the trials and the storms and he saved me and restored me. Then God led me to become a part of a women’s group that has encouraged me, prayed with me and laughed with me. These women have become my sisters. We’ve shared a bond stronger than any blood relationship I’ve ever had. Words can’t describe the love in my heart that I have for each of them. God has healed me in ways I couldn’t see possible five years ago or even three years ago. He resurrected my dead marriage which is a miracle in a way because there was no way I could see this being restored or if reconciliation was even an option. That’s the God I serve. He is full of compassion, LOVE, mercy, and GRACE… He pursues us even when we turn our backs on Him. He loved me even when I didn’t love myself; He showed me I was His, that I was never forsaken; that I was chosen, a daughter of the One True King. He healed my heart, renewed my mind and made me brand new! The only way I can end this is by saying “Thank You, JESUS” ❤️Trent: Theme songs are an important part of our world. As individuals, I feel that we each have a personal theme song for our life. My name is Trent, and I am 19 years old. By no fault of my own, I was born into a family filled with extreme dysfunction. My earliest years were filled with domestic violence, extreme neglect, and extensive sexual abuse. I truly struggle to find the words to adequately describe the daily pain and suffering that I endured during my earliest years. I was hurt in every way imaginable. My theme song was one of fear.I feared for my safety.
I feared that I would starve.
I feared that I could not protect my younger brother.
I feared that the pain would never end.
I feared that I would never have anyone to love me.After a few traumatic years with those who gave birth to me, I was taken into the foster care system. I spent my early childhood traveling from one foster home to another. My theme song of fear amplified as I cried myself to sleep each night fearing that I would never have a family to call my own.I would like for you to think for just a moment about how difficult it is each time you experience a change in life. Now imagine that you are asked to gather your few pathetic belongings, place them in a trash bag, and get in a car to be taken to the home of a complete and total stranger. This happened to me not once, but 5 times over the course of my first 8 years. Fear was the theme that dominated my existence. Although my foster placements were not exactly ideal, I was introduced to God very early on and was able to cling to the hope that He had a plan for my life. I was young, but I kept hearing about this God who loved me no matter what. I was given a dog tag with Jeremiah 29:11 engraved on the front. There were many times in my early years that I began to doubt that I would ever have a family of my own, but I pressed into God and prayed as I repeated Jeremiah 29:11 as a reminder that He was in control, despite the fact that my theme song of fear resonated loudly.“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”That verse is still my favorite and served as a constant reminder that God was in control despite the fact that my world was filled with uncontrollable chaos and uncertainty. My only hope was found in God as I prayed each night that I would somehow find a family to love me and keep me safe.By the grace of God, my life that had been consumed by fear and uncertainty changed in 2010. My prayers were answered and my younger brother and I were adopted by two amazing people who are now my Mom and Dad in every sense of the word. After being adopted I am so happy to say that my theme song began to change. I no longer spent every day in fear; instead I had HOPE for the first time in my life. If you asked me how those changes came about, I can answer in one single but very powerful word. LOVE. It sounds like such a simple concept, but being in a place where I knew I was loved by my family, and most importantly, by God was the key to healing. My new theme song became one of love.The Lord delivered me to a forever family who never once wavered in their unconditional love and support as they walked my healing journey by my side and led me to the healing that can only be found in God. They cried with me as I mourned the loss of my siblings, held me as I exposed details of my sexual abuse, and allowed me to mourn the loss of my childhood. Over time, I began to trust that they were going to stand by me no matter what. That feeling of safety and security opened the doors to healing. The truth is, early trauma changes who you are and you can either let it take you, or decide to fight… and I was determined to fight. We pressed into the pain as a family unit and asked God each and every day to help heal me from my past trauma. I was not going to allow my traumatic start define my future. My self esteem was restored and I began to realize that God had a purpose for my life. Jeremiah 29:11 repeatedly entered my mind as I watched my life unfold. It may sound crazy, but I thank God for the pain and suffering I endured.Every painful moment provided a learning experience that I can now use to help others. I am not a victim. I am not damaged goods! I am a strong Christian young man who has found his way home to a family who will love me unconditionally. Healing from my past trauma was the most painful experience of my life, but I am now able to see that God used my pain for His purpose. I began sharing my story at the age of 10 and published my autobiography “Shattered No More” at the age of 14. I do not share these accomplishments to boast in any way, but to break misconceptions about those who have experienced trauma. At the age of 17 I started a speaking and support ministry to provide hope to others who have experienced trauma (watchmerise919.org). I have had the true honor of walking this healing journey with others through mentoring, Bible study, support groups, and specialized trainings. In addition, I share my story of hope to others through our Watch Me Rise podcast. I am currently in college and on my way to becoming a licensed Clinical Counselor. Over time I was able to see the beauty that is found in the ashes. The Lord has transformed me and made me new. I strive each day to be more like Jesus and to bring others to the true healing that is only found in Him. I give God all the glory for my journey! That is HIS story.Please reach out through our website if we can encourage you in any way, pray for you, support you in your healing journey or share our story. Thank you to popwe for allowing those who have experienced pain to use our pain for a purpose!Thank you so much to Karina and Trent for sharing your stories. I know it is hard being vulnerable and sharing your story, and yet it helps so many people. I am sure your testimonies are helping others see the possibilities for their own relationships. I am grateful for the miracles you received and I am sure God is so happy you are sharing them with others.  www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

We Are All On Our Own JourneyPhilippians 1:6: “I pray with great faith for you, because I’m fully convinced that the One who began the gracious work in you will faithfully continue the process of maturing you until the unveiling of our Lord Jesus Christ!”I have always really liked the idea that if things aren’t good then God’s not done yet. I have heard this many places, yet I was surprised to see it in the Bible. I think this a great reminder that we are all on a spiritual journey. I was talking to someone last night who was saying we tend to compare ourselves to others often. We tend to look at someone else and want what they have. She was saying we do with our spirituality also and I hadn’t really thought of it like that. Now that I am thinking about it, I can see how that is true.We look at others around us in church and we compare ourselves to them. Whether we mean to do it or not. We look at the person saying the rosary before mass and we think he/she is so much holier than we are. We look at the person who is coming into mass late or leaving early and we think we are definitely holier than they are.  However, we don’t know anyone’s story. That person in church saying the rosary, that might be their first time saying the rosary, or they may have just lost someone or are going through something really difficult and they know they needed something more. The person coming in late or leaving early my have a job nearby and are spending their lunch hour coming to church, but they only have an hour.We can’t compare our journey to someone else’s. We have all been through different things in our lives, and that helps to shape who we are. We have all had different upbringings in the faith, and so we may have different habits, but that doesn’t make one of us more holy than another. God is not calling us all onto the same path. If you look at the saints they all took different paths and yet they all arrived in the same place.Sometimes we can think, or at least I sometimes think, that if I get the formula right I will become a Saint. If I can figure out how many Our Father’s and Hail Mary’s I need to say then I will be set. God is forever telling me this is not the case. He is telling me there is no one way to get to heaven. There is not special formula or checklist of things that we need to do to get there. Jesus said we need to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, and mind and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Jesus said all the law of the prophets hang on these two commandments. Jesus did not tell us how we should love God, just that we should love God. If we want to show Him our love by praying all day, we can do that. If we want to show Him our love by working with the poor, we can do that. If we want to show Him our love by treating our family and loved ones with love, we can do that.Sometimes we can also compare our lives to others and think that people who aren’t struggling must be holier than we are. They must be close with God. In other words, we believe we are struggling because we are not faithful enough, or we don’t trust enough, or we don’t love God enough. This is not true. We don’t have to look any further than Job in the Bible to see this is not true. Job was the most faithful and righteous person on earth and yet Satan gave him a really hard time. Job was miserably sick and lost everything he cared about, except his wife. We don’t have to look further than job and yet the Lord didn’t stop with Job, he points out a few times in the Bible that we are not sick or going through a hard time because we are not faithful.If you look at anyone who is doing the will of God an proclaiming his word in a powerful way, they have all been through some tough times. One way that we build our faith and trust in God is by going through experiences where we have to have faith and trust in God. Faith can be like a muscle. The more you use it the stronger it gets. God doesn’t allow things to happen to us because we aren’t holy enough, He allows things to happen to build us up and to prepare us for whatever He has in store for us.Comparing ourselves to others will not do anything good for us. It will steal our joy and make us feel “not good enough.” This is not what God wants for us. He wants us to remember that we are all on our own journey and that we have no idea what someone else’s journey has been. We can’t know just by looking at someone what they are going through. They may look fine, but their whole world might be falling apart. We just never know. I remind you of this so you can hopefully stop comparing yourself to others. I also tell you this so that when you see someone being unkind, or acting a way you don’t like, remember they could be going through something.I remember a story of a man on a subway. He had several kids and they were acting up and super hyper on the train. They were starting to annoy the people around them and the father wasn’t doing anything about it. The father just sat there in a daze. The person telling the story was thinking to himself, “Why doesn’t this father do anything?” However, instead of saying that, he decided to ask the man if he was ok. He found out that the man was on his way home from the hospital. He has just lost his wife and he was trying to figure out how to tell his children their mom died. You never know what other’s are going through.To get back to the verse from today, “I’m fully convinced that the One who began the gracious work in you will faithfully continue the process of maturing you until the unveiling of our Lord Jesus Christ!” St. Paul was speaking to those in Philippi and he is talking to you too. God will faithfully continue the process of maturing you until the unveiling of our Lord Jesus Christ. Sometimes that process will feel great, and sometimes that process will be painful. Just know it is an ongoing process. There will never be at time on this side of heaven when we can say, we have reached the end. God is finished with me. I am perfected. It is a process, it is a journey and it is one we are on for the long haul. This is meant to be reassuring. This is meant to remind you this is not a sprint, it is a marathon. I know you may feel like you are no where near where you want to be on this journey. That is ok, its a long journey and you have time. Just know that you are where you are supposed to be. You are right where God knew you would be.If you want to be further along, have a conversation with God. Ask Him what He would like you to do. Ask Him how you can grow closer to Him. The Lord is always inviting us into a deeper relationship with Him. He is always inviting us closer, but not in an impatient way. He patiently invites us into a closer relationship with Him and then guides us at the pace we set. God is a gentleman, and He lets us choose our speed. If you aren’t happy with the speed at which you are growing, talk to the Lord about it. He will help you adjust your speed.Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless everyone listening to this episode. Lord, help us to learn not to compare ourselves with others. Help us to remember when we are tempted to judge others that everyone is going through something, and we might not know the whole story. Please help us to give people the benefit of the doubt. Lord, we want what you want for us. If your will differs from our will please help us change our will. We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. If you have been wondering what mentoring is like or have been thinking about checking it out I want you to know I have posted a link to last week’s mentoring, Week #1 of the Emotions series on my personal and work Facebook pages, Catherine Duggan or Finding True North Coaching if you would like to check it out. I will also place a link for it in the show notes. (Click Here to watch the mentoring session) I hope you check it out and then join us for the rest of the series. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! May the grace and favor or our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.Today’s Word from the Lord was received in February 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “I am the potter. You are the clay. You are the clay. Each of you I have made a unique vessel. My favorite vessels are those that are still on my wheel. I kiss them with my own breath as I turn the wheel. They are my babies. I let the wheel stick in one place until I need to pick up again. The pauses are necessary for them to learn and grow in the spot I have left them in. I have not abandoned them.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Don’t Be SelfishPhilippians 2:4-5 “Abandon every display of selfishness. Possess a greater concern for what matters to others instead of your own interests. And consider the example that Jesus, the Anointed One, has set before us. Let his mindset become your motivation.”This week, I have been spending some time in the book of Philippians. I have just been reading one chapter a day, and it is only four chapters. I am not sure how I ended up in Philippians 4 last week, but then I decided to stay in this book and read a chapter a day. There is so much in there that I could probably read less than a chapter a day and then just sit and talk to the Lord about it.Today’s verse I chose has meaning as I feel the Holy Spirit lead me to this verse. This week, our youngest son really wanted to go to a concert, and it was on a day when I had mentoring, so I could not drive him. Tony checked his work schedule and did not have to be in the office. He said he would drive him, but he really didn’t want to. It would mean driving into Boston, sitting in a lot of traffic, dropping him off, and coming home again. Boston is about an hour from us without traffic, and you rarely get there without traffic. Tony would have been driving him right when everyone was trying to get home after work. This would be after Tony had worked a full day. It would not have been a great ending to his day. Instead of relaxing after a long day of work, he would have been sitting in traffic for at least two hours.However, at the time, I didn’t see the situation like this. I just saw that Ryan really wanted to go and that Tony didn’t want to take him. I felt like Tony was being selfish as it was something Ryan really wanted to do. It meant a lot to him, and as I said, I didn’t think about all it would cost Tony. I thought it was just driving him; it’s not a big deal. I wasn’t thinking about how tired Tony might be after working a full day and probably wanting to relax and not sit in traffic.When I went for a walk yesterday and I was listening to the Big Life mentoring Session for July. Pamela Crim was talking about we should enjoy this time we have during the summer. She talked about how she used to think that being too busy meant she was important. Then someone explained that is not the case. Being too busy has nothing to do with whether you are important or not. Being too busy means you have an imbalance somewhere. She told us not to be too busy to do things with our kids or with our spouse this summer. Our kids will be grown up and out of the house before we know it and then we would give anything to have them be little and ask us to play with them. Pamela gave an example of one of the people in Big Life mentoring who just lost her husband and they have young kids. The woman told the group that her husband invited her to do stuff all the time but she always said no. She was too busy cleaning the house, or taking care of the kids, or whatever it was. She told the group she would give anything to just get one more change to go watch her husband play golf.After hearing this mentoring session, the Holy Spirit got me thinking about my life and about the argument I had with Tony over Ryan going to the concert. I got to thinking about how Tony would regret not taking Ryan someday, and the Holy Spirit turned my attention to myself. He is so good at doing that, isn’t He? We want to condemn others and judge others, and the Holy Spirit takes out a mirror and shows us where we may need to change too. The Holy Spirit put on my heart that I needed to stop being busy and saying no because it is not something I want to do.Tony asks if I want to go to concerts with him and Noah pretty often. They tend to go to a lot of concerts. I usually say no because I am only really a fan of concerts if I know every song they are going to sing and can sing along. Otherwise, I find the concerts boring. I am sitting there, not knowing the music, and usually, I am tired. Did you see how many I’s in that statement? I am just thinking about what I want and how I feel. However, each time I said no, I was giving up a chance to hang out with Tony and Noah. Our boys are teens now; well, actually, Sam is already 20. They mostly do their own thing with very little interaction with us. This is somewhat normal teen behavior, but had I said yes to the concerts, I would have gotten to spend more time with Noah, which is especially important this year as he is going away to college in another country soon, and I won’t get to hug him each night before bed.The verse above says, “Abandon every display of selfishness. Possess a greater concern for what matters to others instead of your own interests. And consider the example that Jesus, the Anointed One, has set before us. Let his mindset become your motivation.” I feel as though the Holy Spirit was pointing out that I need to abandon my selfishness and pay more attention to what matters to others. If there is a concert that Tony really wants to go to, I could care more about the time I would get to spend with him than I do about the fact that I don’t typically like concerts. If my kids really want to do something and I don’t want to do it, I could put their needs first and do the thing.The verse tells us to consider the example Jesus set before us. Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice. He went to the cross for us. Any sacrifice we make in our lives pales in comparison to that. When we look to Christ as an example, it is easier to put others first. When we realize what He has sacrificed for us, it is a bit easier to sacrifice for others. It also makes it easier when we realize what we will be gaining. Yes, I may end up doing some things I don’t really like doing, but I will be gaining time with my family, of which there is never enough. By not going, I am letting time pass by with my boys. Every time Tony and Noah go to a concert, they go to dinner first. Even if I didn’t like the concert, I would like dinner with Tony and Noah.What is the Holy Spirit calling you to? In what ways can you possess a greater concern for what matters to others instead of your own interests? How can you abandon every display of selfishness? Deacon Joe, the director of my Encounter School of Ministry class, often says, “Don’t hear what I am not saying.” When he says this, he means, don’t put words in my mouth or don’t misinterpret what I am saying. I feel the Holy Spirit wants me to make it clear that self-care, taking care of yourself, is not selfish. It is a necessity. That is not what this verse is talking about. It’s not saying never to put yourself first; sometimes, you need to do what is right for you. What I am asking you to consider today is where in your life you have been saying no a lot lately. Not because you had to, but because you wanted to? Could you say yes a little more than you have been?Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for everyone listening and I ask you to bless them and their families. Lord, help us to be less selfish. Help us to care more about what others want than what we want. Help us to view each situation as you see them. Help us to put fist things first. Help us to prioritize family and spending time with them above our own wants. We love you so much Lord. Help us to look to Jesus as our example. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name! Amen!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I am going to be opening registration for my fall retreat very soon. I hope you will join me. It will be the weekend of October 11-13th. I believe the theme will be Come As You Are, but I am still working out all the details.  I will let you know as soon as I open registration. Remember, Jesus loves you, just as you are, and so do I! May the grace and favor of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.Tuesday: Today’s Word from the Lord was received in February 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “My heart overflows and is ready to burst from the love and desire you have to come closer to me. I thank you, chosen ones. I love you.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Don’t Limit Your JoyPhilippians 3:1a “My beloved ones, don’t ever limit your joy or fail to rejoice in the wonderful experience of knowing our Lord Jesus!”I like this verse because it is a good reminder. Paul is writing this letter to his friends in Philippi. He wants them not to limit their joy or fail to rejoice in the beautiful experience of knowing Jesus. This can be easy, especially if we are surrounded by other people who don’t know how excellent Jesus is. When Paul wrote this, it was a dangerous time for Christians. You couldn’t freely talk about Jesus or preach the Gospel. It was in Philippi that Paul was arrested for preaching the Gospel. He was thrown into a prison cell and beaten. Paul knew the difficult times they were living in firsthand, yet he still told them not to limit their joy or fail to rejoice in the wonderful experience of our Lord Jesus.We live in a time when we are free to talk about Jesus. Well, at least in America, we are able to speak of Jesus, yet Jesus is not popular in today's culture. Today's culture is tolerant of everything except for Jesus. It can be hard to show our excitement for Jesus when those around us tell us He is not real or who He said he was. We have people who try to steal our joy. We need to be aware of this and fight against it.I know many people who live in homes or have family members who don’t believe the way they do. They are the only Christian in their family or in their friend circle. This can be hard. I believe that we are not meant to do life alone. This doesn’t mean you need to be married and have a bunch of kids. It means that we all need to live in a community with other Christians. This means that we shouldn’t live our lives by ourselves without others around us. We shouldn’t isolate ourselves.I know this can be tempting because the world can be a scary place, and there are some pretty awful people in it. People can be so cruel, and I know it feels easier sometimes to hide away. It feels easier not to share our joy of Jesus with others because we fear rejection. I feel this way, too. I feel prompted by the Holy Spirit to speak up to someone about Jesus, and yet I don’t do it because I am afraid they will be upset or they will reject me.However, what the Lord has been putting on my heart lately is that I should be more concerned about what He thinks of me than what the world thinks of me. I don’t always say what I want to say because I wonder what the person will think of me all the while I am not even thinking about what Jesus is thinking about me. It’s ok if the world rejects me, but it is not ok if Jesus does.Where do we want to spend eternity? Is it with Jesus or is it with the people we meet here on earth? Jesus can fill us with so much joy. Did you know Joy is a fruit of the Spirit? Galatians 5:22 states that these are the fruits of the Holy Spirit, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” So joy in the Lord is something the Holy Spirit can gift to us. However, even if we receive it, it is up to us to share it with others. To display it for all to see.It is our job to bring Christ to others. Do you think people are likely to want to follow Christ if we walk around with an angry look on our face or a sad look on our face. If we walk around all upset and angry they will look at us and think to themselves, “If that is what Christ gives us then no thank you.” People are always watching us, for good or bad, and how we react in situations matters.We are always a representation of Christ. We are called to be “Little Christs” in this world. If people see us gossiping they will think that is what all followers of Christ do. If people see that we are going through a hard time they are going to be watching to see if we have hope in the Lord, if we lean on the Lord, and if we trust in the Lord. Also when good things happen they will be watching to see if we are thankful to the Lord for all He has done. Our focus must always be on Christ.I love that Paul is reminding them and urging them not to ever limit their joy of fail to rejoice about knowing Jesus. It is our joy and our rejoicing that will bring others to Christ. It is our joy and rejoicing that will become contagious and people will want what we have. They will see how full of joy we are and they will want that joy. They will ask what is causing our joy and we will have an opportunity to share Jesus with them. We worry, or at least I do, about going up to strangers and talking to them about Jesus.However, if we walk around so full of joy, people will approach us and ask us what we are so happy about. Why are you smiling so much? How is it that you love so easily? People will come to us to find out what we have that makes us so full of joy. People will want whatever it is that we have. When people see us full of joy in a difficult situation, they will want to know why. When people see that we have hope when the world tells us we should feel hopeless, they will want to know why.I know this world has a way of sucking the joy out of everything, but as St. Paul said in this verse, don’t limit your joy. Don’t let this world get you down. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, and let Him fill you with joy!Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless everyone listening to this episode. Lord, we ask that you fill us with joy and help us display that joy for all to see. Lord, help us stand up to those who wish us harm. Help us guard our joy so that no one can steal it. We thank you so much for all you have done for us. You are amazing! We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. If this podcast has blessed you in any way, please consider sharing it with others and leaving it a review. This helps to ensure other people get to hear it as well. You can also make a donation towards the cost of producing the podcast. This week’s theme for mentoring is Our Emotions. I will post the recording from a week on my Facebook account and have a link in the show notes. If you are curious about what a mentoring session would look like, I invite you to watch the session and see if you are interested in joining. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow. Remember Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! May the grace and favor of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your Spirit! Watch Week #1 of Our Emotions Series in Mentoring Click hereToday’s Word from the Lord was received in February 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “I put my Word In your hearts and mouths. It pierces the darkness, like a mighty trumpet blast. Nothing evil, or any strongholds, can stand before it.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Psalm 104 The Lord’s Majesty (Part 9)Psalm 104:33-35 “I will sing my song to the Lord as long as I live! Every day, I will sing my praises to God. May you be pleased with every sweet thought I have about you, for you are the source of my joy and gladness. Now, let all the sinners be swept from the earth. But I will keep on praising you, my Lord, with all that is within me. My joyous, blissful shouts of “Hallelujah” are all because of you!We have spent the past eight episodes talking about the Lord’s majesty. We talked about all the parts of nature and how amazing God is to have created all of it. We talked about how powerful He is. Today, we are talking about praising the Lord. This is one of my favorite things to discuss and do. Praise is such an essential part of our relationship with the Lord. There have been many times when I have asked the Lord what has helped me grow so much closer to Him, and he always replies, praise, you praise me so often.If we want to grow closer to the Lord, it helps to let Him know how much we appreciate all He has done and continues to do for us. God loves it when we show our appreciation to Him. It is so easy to take Him for granted if we are not careful because there are so many things He does for us that we don’t even see. It is easy to be grateful to the Lord when He saves us from the dangers we know about, the ones we can see. However, what about all the dangers God has prevented from harming us before seeing them?The verse begins with, “I will sing my song to the Lord as long as I live! Every day, I will sing my praises to God.” I hope I can say the same. I hope every day I take time to sing praises to the Lord. He does so much for us. The Lord has protected my family from some pretty scary things. I have had two kids who overdosed on drugs, and yet both are still living with no lasting effects. Our family was falling apart, and the Lord put it back together. I can’t even count the number of times we needed something to work out, and God arranged the solution perfectly. God deserves my praise, and I hope I never forget that!Next, the verse says, “May you be pleased with every sweet thought I have about you, for you are the source of my joy and gladness.” This is expressing a sentiment I think we all have. We all want the Lord to be pleased with us. I also like how the verse reminds us that the Lord is the source of our joy and gladness. This means we can have joy no matter our circumstances. Happiness and joy are two different things. Happiness is usually based on our circumstances. If something good and fun is happening, we are generally happy. However, Joy is different. I love Rick Warren, the author of A Purpose Driven Life's definition of Joy. He says, “Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be alright, and the determined choice to praise God in every situation.”Let’s look at this definition a bit more closely. First, it says joy is the settled assurance that God controls all the details of my life. Can you see how we can have more joy when we realize God controls all the details? Everything is not up to me. I don’t have to be perfect. I don’t have to get it all right. God is in control, not me. Then, it says the quiet confidence that, ultimately, everything will be alright. Can you see how it would be possible to have joy in a difficult situation if you knew that everything would be alright in the end? Things might be crappy right now, but ultimately, eventually, things will be alright, and that makes the joy in the hard times possible. The last part of it ties right in with the verse of the day. It ends with the determined choice to praise God in every situation.Did you know you get to choose whether to praise the Lord? Praising the Lord doesn’t have to be based on your feelings. There may be times when you are in the middle of something really difficult and you don’t feel like praising the Lord, yet you can choose to praise Him anyway. You could be in a period of dryness with prayer or under spiritual attack, and you don’t want to praise the Lord. Yet this is a great time to praise the Lord because it can lift you out of both situations. Praising the Lord when you are under spiritual attack from the enemy is a great way to make the enemy flee. Evil spirits will not stick around when you are proclaiming the name of Jesus Christ. They hate that name. Praising the Lord can bring you joy when you least expect it.Today’s verse ends with, “Now, let all the sinners be swept from the earth. But I will keep on praising you, my Lord, with all that is within me. My joyous, blissful shouts of “Hallelujah” are all because of you!” The person who wrote this Psalm asks for all the sinners to be swept form the earth. This would be nice, except that we are all sinners. I am unsure who wrote this and if they had the extraordinary gift of not being a sinner, but I believe that right is solely reserved for Mary. I can see why the person would want all sinners to be swept from the earth. I am sure it breaks God’s heart when we sin repeatedly. I have indeed wished that all evil could be removed from this world. However, I think removing all evil and removing all sinners are different. Each one of us sins, so we are sinners, yet I don’t think we all need to be wiped off the face of the earth. Who are we to decide who is a sinner and who is not? That is for God to judge. We can only do the best that we can each day.I love how the last thing the verse says is, My joyous, blissful shouts of “Hallelujah” are all because of you!” Let that be true for each of us. Let us all have joyous, blissful shouts of “Hallelujah” because of all God does for us. Let us continue to sing out our praise to the Lord for all our days. Let us show the Lord how much we love and appreciate Him.Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless each listening to this episode. Lord, we want to praise you in all circumstances. Show us how. Lord, we want to understand the difference between happiness and joy. Please help us. Lord, help us to see that you are with us in good times and in bad times. Help us to have joy in all circumstances. We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen.Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. The theme for mentoring this month is emotions. If you wish you had emotional freedom. If you are tired of your emotions running your life, please join me this month in mentoring. Tuesday nights at 8 pm ET on zoom. There is more information if you click the link below or go to walkboldlywithjesus.com and find the mentoring tab. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! May the grace and favor of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your Spirit!Today’s Word from the Lord was received in February 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “The more you're able to live with and in me, the more you're going to be able to set my people free. Because I am the freedom they seek. I am the life they seek. But you are now my eyes, my ears, my mouth, my hands, and my feet walking among my people.”   Psalm 104:33-35 “I will sing my song to the Lord as long as I live! Every day, I will sing my praises to God. May you be pleased with every sweet thought I have about you, for you are the source of my joy and gladness. Now, let all the sinners be swept from the earth. But I will keep on praising you, my Lord, with all that is within me. My joyous, blissful shouts of “Hallelujah” are all because of you!We have spent the past eight episodes talking about the Lord’s majesty. We talked about all the parts of nature and how amazing God is to have created all of it. We talked about how powerful He is. Today, we are talking about praising the Lord. This is one of my favorite things to discuss and do. Praise is such an essential part of our relationship with the Lord. There have been many times when I have asked the Lord what has helped me grow so much closer to Him, and he always replies, praise, you praise me so often.If we want to grow closer to the Lord, it helps to let Him know how much we appreciate all He has done and continues to do for us. God loves it when we show our appreciation to Him. It is so easy to take Him for granted if we are not careful because there are so many things He does for us that we don’t even see. It is easy to be grateful to the Lord when He saves us from the dangers we know about, the ones we can see. However, what about all the dangers God has prevented from harming us before seeing them?The verse begins with, “I will sing my song to the Lord as long as I live! Every day, I will sing my praises to God.” I hope I can say the same. I hope every day I take time to sing praises to the Lord. He does so much for us. The Lord has protected my family from some pretty scary things. I have had two kids who overdosed on drugs, and yet both are still living with no lasting effects. Our family was falling apart, and the Lord put it back together. I can’t even count the number of times we needed something to work out, and God arranged the solution perfectly. God deserves my praise, and I hope I never forget that!Next, the verse says, “May you be pleased with every sweet thought I have about you, for you are the source of my joy and gladness.” This is expressing a sentiment I think we all have. We all want the Lord to be pleased with us. I also like how the verse reminds us that the Lord is the source of our joy and gladness. This means we can have joy no matter our circumstances. Happiness and joy are two different things. Happiness is usually based on our circumstances. If something good and fun is happening, we are generally happy. However, Joy is different. I love Rick Warren, the author of A Purpose Driven Life's definition of Joy. He says, “Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be alright, and the determined choice to praise God in every situation.”Let’s look at this definition a bit more closely. First, it says joy is the settled assurance that God controls all the details of my life. Can you see how we can have more joy when we realize God controls all the details? Everything is not up to me. I don’t have to be perfect. I don’t have to get it all right. God is in control, not me. Then, it says the quiet confidence that, ultimately, everything will be alright. Can you see how it would be possible to have joy in a difficult situation if you knew that everything would be alright in the end? Things might be crappy right now, but ultimately, eventually, things will be alright, and that makes the joy in the hard times possible. The last part of it ties right in with the verse of the day. It ends with the determined choice to praise God in every situation.Did you know you get to choose whether to praise the Lord? Praising the Lord doesn’t have to be based on your feelings. There may be times when you are in the middle of something really difficult and you don’t feel like praising the Lord, yet you can choose to praise Him anyway. You could be in a period of dryness with prayer or under spiritual attack, and you don’t want to praise the Lord. Yet this is a great time to praise the Lord because it can lift you out of both situations. Praising the Lord when you are under spiritual attack from the enemy is a great way to make the enemy flee. Evil spirits will not stick around when you are proclaiming the name of Jesus Christ. They hate that name. Praising the Lord can bring you joy when you least expect it.Today’s verse ends with, “Now, let all the sinners be swept from the earth. But I will keep on praising you, my Lord, with all that is within me. My joyous, blissful shouts of “Hallelujah” are all because of you!” The person who wrote this Psalm asks for all the sinners to be swept form the earth. This would be nice, except that we are all sinners. I am unsure who wrote this and if they had the extraordinary gift of not being a sinner, but I believe that right is solely reserved for Mary. I can see why the person would want all sinners to be swept from the earth. I am sure it breaks God’s heart when we sin repeatedly. I have indeed wished that all evil could be removed from this world. However, I think removing all evil and removing all sinners are different. Each one of us sins, so we are sinners, yet I don’t think we all need to be wiped off the face of the earth. Who are we to decide who is a sinner and who is not? That is for God to judge. We can only do the best that we can each day.I love how the last thing the verse says is, My joyous, blissful shouts of “Hallelujah” are all because of you!” Let that be true for each of us. Let us all have joyous, blissful shouts of “Hallelujah” because of all God does for us. Let us continue to sing out our praise to the Lord for all our days. Let us show the Lord how much we love and appreciate Him.Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless each listening to this episode. Lord, we want to praise you in all circumstances. Show us how. Lord, we want to understand the difference between happiness and joy. Please help us. Lord, help us to see that you are with us in good times and in bad times. Help us to have joy in all circumstances. We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen.Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. The theme for mentoring this month is emotions. If you wish you had emotional freedom. If you are tired of your emotions running your life, please join me this month in mentoring. Tuesday nights at 8 pm ET on zoom. There is more information if you click the link below or go to walkboldlywithjesus.com and find the mentoring tab. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! May the grace and favor of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your Spirit!Today’s Word from the Lord was received in February 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “The more you're able to live with and in me, the more you're going to be able to set my people free. Because I am the freedom they seek. I am the life they seek. But you are now my eyes, my ears, my mouth, my hands, and my feet walking among my people.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Psalm 104 The Lord’s Majesty (Part 8)Psalm 104:31-32 “May God’s glorious splendor endure forever! May the Lord take joy and pleasure in all that he has made. For the earth’s overseer has the power to make it tremble; just a touch of his finger and volcanoes erupt as the earth shakes and melts.Wow, this verse has a lot of powerful language that helps to visualize what the verse is saying. First, it says, “May God’s glorious splendor endure forever!” God’s splendor is displayed so often when we look at nature. When we slow down and take the time to admire nature, there is no way we can deny God’s splendor. Look at the beauty of the sunrise and sunset. Look at all the beautiful flowers and trees. Look at the birds and all the animals. Even if you don’t find some animals beautiful, you must admire how God created them to work together. Each one has its purpose and its place in the world and in the food chain. It is truly remarkable.Next, the verse says, “May the Lord take joy and pleasure in all that he has made.” I hope this is the case. I hope  God looks down on the world and takes pleasure in it. I know we have messed many things up, and He probably is not a fan of all of that. However, I hope He can at least enjoy the parts He made that we have not messed up yet. There is still so much beauty and majesty in the world. I have a friend who is on a cruise right now, and the other day, she visited Iceland and said it was beautiful! There is so much to see in this world, it is impossible to see all of it.Then the verse says, “For the earth’s overseer has the power to make it tremble; just a touch of his finger and volcanoes erupt as the earth shakes and melts.” This part of the verse serves as a stark reminder of the power of our Lord. With just one touch of His finger, He could make volcanoes erupt, and the earth shake. Yet, we know God wouldn’t even have to touch it; He could make anything He wants with His voice. God spoke the whole world into existence. He can certainly speak other things into existence.We can look at this line in the verse in two ways. We can view it as something to worry about. We can read that verse and get scared that God could reach out and touch a volcano, and it would erupt. We could fear that God will get mad at us and do something like this. I mean, if we are honest with ourselves, we have been taking God out of more and more of our lives. We have done our best to take Him out of the school, the government, and most places. That can’t feel good to Him. I can’t imagine He is looking down upon us and thinking we are doing great things right now, especially in this country.It's important to remember that not everyone is turning away from God. Many good people are doing good things, and I am sure that pleases the Lord. There are people fighting to include God more in schools and the government. However, it's also true that many are doing terrible things, not just to God but to one another. Boston held a Satanic Conference this past year, and I doubt that made God happy. However, God promised after the flood with Noah that He would not do that again. This promise of mercy is a source of comfort and reassurance for us all.The second way we can look at this part of the verse is to recognize the power that God has and to apply that to our lives. If God has the power to reach out and touch a volcano, and it erupts, then what could He do in your circumstance? Could he make a way for you to pay your rent and car payments? Could He heal that cancer or that sore back? Could He take care of your tenant who is not paying rent or fix your car that needs to be fixed? We can look at this verse and realize that the power of God has no limits. He can do ANYTHING!Once we realize this, once we truly believe this in the depths of our hearts, then we start praying bigger prayers. Once we realize there is no limit to God’s power, we start to ask for the things we really need. We start to ask for our loved ones to be healed, even though the doctor said there isn’t a way. We ask for a car because ours just died and we need a car to get to work to pay our bills. We ask for supernatural provisions because we know that we do not have enough money in our account to pay our bills or enough food in our cabinets to feed our family.Sometimes, we look at the faith of those who live in other countries, and we are so envious. We wish we could have the faith they have. They trust the Lord so much, and we feel like we would give anything to trust the Lord that much. However, I have discovered that they trust the Lord that much because they truly need Him. They know they can’t feel their family on their own. They know they are powerless without Him. They can’t save their children. They don’t have the medicine we have here in the United States. Their trust in God is necessary because life would be much harder if they didn’t believe.I know my parents love the Lord, and listening to their stories in High School and meeting up each morning so they could do daily mass together, I know they trusted Him even back then. My mom was the oldest of 10 children, so I am sure she had plenty of chances to rely on the Lord. There is never enough time, money, or resources when you have a big family. Like those in other countries, you must learn to lean on the Lord and trust He will help you. When you are looking at your bare cabinets and your ten children, you hit the floor on your knees, and you pray for God to help. When you are looking at your sick child, and you know there is no medicine to save her, then you hit the ground on your knees and pray to the Lord to save her.We say we would give anything for that kind of faith, but would we really? Would we give up the comforts and security of our lives now to see the Lord working in our lives more? People who have to rely on the Lord get to see the Lord working in their lives more because they know they need the Lord. If we have all that we need and feel we can provide for ourselves all that we need, then we generally see God working in our lives less because we are taking care of everything, so we feel we don’t need Him as much.  This doesn’t mean that God is working less in our lives. It just means we have a harder time seeing it because we have learned to rely on ourselves instead of God.Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless everyone listening to this episode today. Lord, we want to see you working in our lives. Please open our eyes to see where and how you work in our lives. We love you so much, and we know we need you. We know we have nothing and can do nothing without you. We believe, Lord. Help our unbelief. Lord, show us where in our lives we can rely on you more. Show us how we can trust you more. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I have exciting news, I have booked the same retreat place as I did last year to hold a retreat that same weekend. It will be the second weekend in October at the Holy Cross Retreat House in North Easton, MA. I pray all of you listening will consider coming to join for a weekend of fun and spiritual growth. The theme for the weekend will be Come As You Are. Most of us feel we must be perfect before approaching the Lord. We need to shed our past, our sins, our bad habits and then we will be worthy to come to God. This is not true. God tells us several place in the Bible that He wants us to come just as we are. Come to Him and He will help us become the person we want to be. More details to come soon. Right now I just pray that you think about coming to this retreat. I know when I first started hearing about retreats I thought I was not holy enough to go to a retreat. That is for really religious people. I couldn’t have been further from the truth. Retreats are for anyone who wants to grow closer to the Lord, no matter where they are on the journey. Once you experience one retreat, you will want to go on another. Even just being around other people who love the Lord is amazing. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, just as you are, and so do I! May the grace and favor of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your Spirit! (Philippians 4:23)Today’s Word from the Lord was received in February 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “Come to me. Come, no matter where you are, no matter how short the time you have, no matter what you feel, come to me. I am your life. I will give you life.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Witness Wednesday #118 More PopWe (Healing)Today’s witnesses are from Matthew West’s website called popwe.org. If you don’t know who Matthew West is, he is a singer, songwriter, and storyteller. This website is for the non-profit that he has with his father, a pastor. Matthew and his father encourage people to share their stories. They have various categories of stories. Today I chose four testimonies from the Healing Category. I know so many people who are praying for a miraculous healing right now. Oftentimes, we can hear our own story in someone else’s story. When we hear others tell their story it helps us to see we are not alone. When we see that others were healed it gives us hope that if God could heal them then He can heal us too! I pray when you hear these testimonies, you get the faith and hope to believe that you and your loved ones could be healed too!Savannah: This story isn’t about me, but my brother. It was August of 2020 when he was admitted to the hospital with COVID. We were told right from the beginning that it didn’t look good. What followed was a long battle for his life. He needed a form of life-support that had extremely limited availability. He needed so much blood. His wife and children couldn’t come to see him. At one point, his heart stopped for 8.5 minutes. The only thing we could do was pray. It was nearly spring when he finally went home to his family. He’s alive, and nobody can deny that a miracle has taken place. We prayed without ceasing, and God has answered our prayers.Deborah:  I grew up in an extremely dysfunctional family. I wasn’t allowed to listen to music, watch animated movies, or basically like any food or activities that my father did not like. I was often told that if I asked for help I was bothering people, that I was stupid, and that a “good guy” would never like me so I would have to settle for a “bad one.”I’ve gone to counseling for awhile and with God’s help, I have begun to heal in many ways. However, there was one thing that I had not been able to do and that was to let myself cry. Crying when I was young was dangerous and was always met with the words, “Jesus doesn’t love you if you cry.”  Intellectually, I knew this wasn’t true and that it was okay to cry but it didn’t feel safe. I had taught myself not to cry for so long that I wasn’t sure if I could. It was as if the tears were broken.Last night, I was at the concert in Gadsden, AL, and I began to feel emotional as I listened to dad jokes and as Matthew West talked about being a girl dad. Memories of my childhood and the things I was told began to pop into my mind. Still I did not cry. I sat on the front row wondering if anyone could tell that I was fighting tears. Then something changed. John 3:16 was read and everyone was told to insert their own name. As I was fighting tears, I was saying the words “God loves me.”Suddenly I didn’t just know that intellectually it is okay to cry, I knew it in my heart. God loves me even when I cry. During the next song, I felt something on my face and I reached up and there was a tear. For the first time in probably thirty years I was letting myself cry and I felt safe while doing it. I am not who my family told me that I am. I am a child of God. I am safe in his arms and loved when I’m happy and smiling and even when I’m sad and crying.Kathleen:  Not the healing I wanted…thank goodness, God knew better what I needed. In late 2016 and 2017 I was suffering from a crippling case of Bi-Polar disorder.My doctor prescribed me several different antidepressants, however, all of them left me with feelings of deep depression and high anxiety. By mid-January, my husband and I agreed to discontinue all medication and look for a more holistic treatment. I was on antidepressants for a total of SIX WEEKS when I began the withdrawal process. By mid-April, I was finally feeling free from the effects of the medication and 30 pounds lighter. My anxiety was greatly reduced and my depression was almost a non-issue. Then a week later, after a nice hot soak in the tub, I started experiencing weird “pins and needles” in my left leg, from the knee to my ankle. I tried rubbing, slapping it, walking around the house-nothing worked and I ended up going to bed hours later with the buzz still going strong.Within a month, the buzz had moved to my entire left side, from the neck down. Another month down the road and it was on my right side also. Trips to my doctor, the neurologist, MRI, CAT scan, EEG, EMG proved fruitless- except now I had a name. Spontaneous Paresthesia. You know when your foot falls asleep and in the “waking up” process you get the feeling of pins and needles? By the middle of June, paresthesia was affecting my entire body. One day, while working around the house with my husband, I became completely unglued when I started feeling my stomach, intestines, internal organs, all buzzing. Everywhere I have nerve endings I felt buzzing. By July, 2017, I felt like I had bugs crawling in my ears, fleas stuck up my nose, lice crawling around my scalp, and the force of buzzing was starting to hurt. Every night before going to bed I only had one prayer, “Jesus, please take me home. I don’t want to wake up in this bed again.”Soon, I was no longer able to sleep at night because of the violent buzzing. I listened exclusively to Christian Radio (KLOVE) and one day I heard a song that spoke to the heart of my fear. Toby Mac’s “MOVE” said it better than I was able to articulate: “I know your heart’s been broke again, I know your prayers ain’t been answered yet. I know you feel like you’ve got nothing left. But just lift your head… It ain’t over yet.”Within a month I would find another neurologist who still didn’t have a clue as to what the cause of my paresthesia was, but he did have medication that might be helpful. –IT WAS! Within a few days I was sleeping again. I could sit down again. I could think clearly again. Paresthesia ceased to be the center of my universe. Do I still have paresthesia? YES. I stopped touching my face long before covid because I hate the numb/tingling feeling I get every time I touch my nose, ears, chin, eyes. Within a year, my prayer each night changed from “Jesus, take me home”  to “Thank you Lord for paresthesia.”My relationship with my God was good, now it’s deep. I am 67 years old and I know…”it ain’t over yet.”  I just got back from my second mission trip to Amman, Jordan where I had the privilege of teaching Iraqi refugee women sewing skills. I didn’t get the healing I wanted- what I got was so much better. I haven’t had another bi-polar incident since January 2017. By experiencing paresthesia, God was giving me a crash course to knowing and trusting Him.Devon: I’m a living, breathing, walking miracle. My friends call me Lazarus!In 2014, I was a single mom to a 6 year-old son. I went to get some blood work done on a Friday afternoon, because I was feeling run down. Monday morning, I got a call saying I needed to get to the nearest emergency room, that my blood levels were critical.I ended up having Acute Myeloid Leukemia, the worst possible case. I was immediately hospitalized and given chemo. After my 2nd round of chemo, all my organs shut down, I had congestive heart failure, and slipped into a coma. My hands and feet turned black in the dying process. The doctors told my parents I had days, possibly hours to live with zero chance of survival. My little boy was brought to my bedside to say goodbye to me. My friends and family surrounded my hospital bed and prayed for a miracle.On the 30th day, I woke up. All my organs went back to normal, and I was able to get a stem cell transplant. This was seven years ago this week. Thank you, Jesus, for healing me.Thank you all for sharing your stories with us. We must share our healing stories because it gives others the hope that they will be healed. It is also important to share healing stories because it ensures that God gets all the glory!! Thank you for being brave enough to share your story so others can see what is possible. www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Psalm 104 The Lord’s Majesty (Part 7)Psalm 104:27-30 “All the creatures wait expectantly for you to give them their food as you determine. You come near and they all gather around, feasting from your open hands, and each is satisfied from your abundant supply. But if you were to withhold from them and turn away, they all would panic. And when you choose to take away their breath, each one dies and returns to the dust When you release your Spirit-Wind, life is created, ready to replenish life upon the earth.”The Psalms are so beautiful. If you have always wanted to start reading the Bible but have no idea where to start, may I suggest the Psalms? In today’s verse, we hear about how the creatures wait expectantly for God to give them their food. It says they all gather around Him and feast from His open hand. Every one of them is satisfied with God’s abundant supply. There are a couple of things just in the first few sentences.First, it says all the creatures wait expectantly for God to give them their food. Are we included in this? I mean, it does say “all the creatures.” Yet, are we waiting expectantly? Do we know for sure that God will provide all that we need? I think sometimes we pray, and yet we don’t expect to see results because we aren’t really sure results are even possible. For instance, Yesterday I prayed over a woman who has breast cancer. She is starting chemo today. I wonder if she expected to be healed when we prayed over here. I wonder if she was expecting big things. I know with cancer it is hard to test out and see if you are healed. You usually won’t notice anything until you go to a doctor's when they do some test. I wonder if that makes it hard to have expectant faith.When I first started praying over people for physical healing, I thought I had expectant faith, yet I was afraid to ask people how they were feeling or if they were feeling any manifestations of the Holy Spirit. I was scared to ask because I wasn’t sure what to do if they said no. Since taking the Encounter Ministries class, I learned that often the miracle doesn’t take place until the person steps out in faith an tests to see if they still have pain or if they could do something now that they couldn’t do before. Like in the story of the man with the withered hand. This story can be found in 3 out of the 4 Gospels. I will read the account from Luke’s Gospel. This takes place in Luke 6:6-11.“ On another sabbath, he entered the synagogue and taught, and there was a man there whose right hand was withered. The scribes and the Pharisees watched him to see whether he would cure on the sabbath so that they might find an accusation against him. 8 Even though he knew what they were thinking, he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come and stand here.” He got up and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to destroy it?”  After looking around at all of them, he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was restored.  But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.”The man’s hand was restored after he stretched it out. He had to have expectant faith to stretch out his hand. Jesus had to have expectant faith to ask the man to stretch out his hand. We need to have expectant faith, too. It is not just about healing, although that is important, it’s about everything. We need to expect that God will provide for us just like He does the other creatures. We need to come to Him believing that He will answer our prayers and He will provide all we need.Next, it says, "They all gather around, feasting from your open hands, and each is satisfied from your abundant supply.” I like this sentence for two reasons. The first is because it says they were feasting from God’s open hand. Can you picture that? Can you picture being so close to the Lord that you are eating out of His open hands? That would be amazing!! I also love when it says that each is satisfied from your abundant supply. We tend to have a scarcity mindset. We think that there is not enough to go around. We worry there won’t be enough money to pay all the bills. We worry there won’t be enough food for all the people. We worry if we ask God for something small He won’t have anything left for something big when it comes along.However, this verse reminds us that God is one of abundance. He has more than enough of everything we need for each one of us. He has more than enough provisions, more than enough love, more than enough grace, more than enough mercy. God has more than enough. Don’t be afraid to come to Him with expectant faith and ask Him for whatever it is. The next part talks about how God has the power to take life away and the power to give life. The verse says that if God were to turn away from the creatures, they would panic. Is this us, too? Do we panic when we think God has turned away from us? God never leaves us. He doesn’t turn away from us, even when we deserve it. He doesn’t turn away from us when we turn away from Him. He waits with open arms waiting for us to turn back to Him. We don’t have to worry about Him turning away from us.It is amazing to think about how He can release His Spirit-Wind, and life is created, ready to replenish life upon the earth. God is so powerful. When I think about this it makes me wonder why we question the abundance of God. This is someone who can speak the whole universe into existence. Surely He can give you whatever it is you need. Can we practice coming to the Lord with expectant faith today?Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless everyone listening to this episode. Lord, we love you and we ask you to help us develop expectant faith. We ask that you help us believe you are a God of abundance and we don’t have to worry that you don’t have enough because you have more than we could ever need. We love you Lord and we thank you for always being there for us. We ask all of this in accordance with our will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. Reminder that we start our new topic for mentoring this evening. July’s topic is our emotions. We are going to look at why all of our emotions can be helpful and also we will learn how to not let our emotions control our lives. I hope you will join us tonight at 8 ET. There is a link to sign up below or you can go to my website walkboldlywithjesus.com. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! May the grace and favor of our Lord Jesus Christs be with your Spirit!Today’s Word from the Lord was received in February 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “Like gentle rain, my mercy falls. It gently falls on each of you. Come, just come and be touched by Him. Allow it to flow on you. Allow it to soften you. Allow it to embrace you. Allow it to transform you. It is my mercy that I give each one of you.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Psalm 104 The Lord’s Majesty (Part 6)Psalm 104:24-26 “O Lord, what an amazing variety of all you have created! Wild and wonderful is this world you have made while wisdom was there at your side. This world is full of so many creatures, yet each belongs to you! And then there is the sea! So vast! So wide and deep—swarming with countless forms of sea life, both small and great. Trading ships glide through the high seas. And look! There are the massive whales bounding upon the waves.”It feels so good to be back! Please explain if you have been wondering where and why I have been doing replays. I tested positive for Covid two weeks ago. I woke up and completed a new episode, but I wasn’t feeling well. I took a COVID at-home test, and it was positive. I went back to bed and slept for most of the following week. After my 10-day quarantine in my room, I went on a family vacation with my parents and many siblings. It was a lot of fun, and I am so thankful to the Lord for getting me better in time to enjoy that! I am happy to be back writing new episodes. This week, we will finish up the series on Psalm 104.I like this verse because it praises the Lord for being so amazing. I believe the Lord loves it when we praise Him. Who doesn’t want a little acknowledgment? It begins with, “O Lord, what an amazing variety of all you have created!” Have you ever thought about that? Have you ever taken the time to slow down and look at all the nature around you? Have you ever really thought about the variety of things the Lord has created? He created humans, all the animals, all the vegetation, all the rock formations, the seas, the skies, the stars. When we take the time to think about it, the variety of things He has created really is amazing.There are 400,000 types of flowering plant species all around the world. Over 1.5 million living animal species have been described, of which around 1.05 million are insects, over 85,000 are molluscs, and around 65,000 are vertebrates. It has been estimated there are as many as 7.77 million animal species on Earth. There are around 1,097 different vegetables around the world. God didn’t need to give us all of that. We don’t need that much variety. Plants provide us with food, oxygen, and energy. However, we don’t need 400,000 different types of flowers. However, God wanted to give us variety. We also don’t need over a million different kinds of animals, but God gave them to us anyway. Let’s take a minute and appreciate all God did for us.The verse says, “Wild and wonderful is this world you have made while wisdom was at your side.” This verse reminds us that God did not accidentally create anything. He knew what He was doing, and each thing He made had a purpose. He thought about everything. He didn’t leave anything out. He made sure that every living thing had something to eat. This includes the plants, the insects, the animals, everything. Take a minute and imagine how much thought it would take to not only create all that God created but also to make sure they had the right environment to live in, the right resources, and the food they needed to survive. It really is remarkable.Next, it says, “This world is full of so many creatures, yet each belongs to you!” Each creature on this earth belongs to the Lord our God. The animals don’t have to worry about where their food will come from. They know they are creatures of God and that He will take care of them. We are also God’s creatures, and He will take care of us too! We don’t have to worry either. Worry is something that comes pretty naturally to most of us, and yet it is not necessary. This morning in Philippians 4:19, I read, “I am convinced that my God will fully satisfy every need you have, for I have seen the abundant riches of glory revealed to me through Jesus Christ. This was Paul talking to the Philippians, but He is speaking to us too! God will take care of all we need. He has abundant riches, and he wants to shower upon us. He has so much glory, grace, love, forgiveness, and mercy. We don’t have any reason to be anxious; God will take care of all of our worries!Next, it says, “And then there is the sea! So vast! So wide and deep—swarming with countless forms of sea life, both small and great.” This is just reiterating the vastness of the Lord’s creation. Think of how many different sea creatures there are. There are known to be more than 260,000 different species living in the seas, and we know that there are many yet to be discovered. Some scientists believe there are more than a million species in the seas. How amazing is that? Each one of them has everything they need to survive. I wonder if it would be helpful to remind ourselves of this when we get anxious. Hundreds of thousands of species live in the seas, including species of plants. There are millions of species of animals, and God provides for all of them. If he can provide for the plants and animals, how much more will he provide for us?The verse ends with, “Trading ships glide through the high seas. And look! There are the massive whales bounding upon the waves.” This reminds us that besides all the creatures in the sea, we also use the sea for trading. It provides fish for us to eat and can also be used for our livelihood. This version says that there are massive whales bounding upon the waves. However, the New Revised Standard Catholic Edition says, "There go the ships and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.” When I looked this up, it said that Leviathan is a sea monster. The commentators said Leviathan was included in this Psalm to show us that even the sea monster is under God’s control.God created all things, and God does not make mistakes. God created all the plants and animals and makes sure they all have what they need to survive. Doesn’t it make sense that if God provides for the plants and animals, He will provide for us, too? We are His children, made in His likeness and image. He made us to be above all plants and animals. He gave us dominion over the plants and animals. So, why are we the only ones worrying about where our next meal will come from or if we will have enough money to pay our bills? God has got us in the palm of His hand. He will provide for us. All we need to do is trust Him!Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless everyone listening to this episode. Lord, we ask you to help us notice all your creations around us. Help us to believe that you provide for all their needs so you will provide for our needs, too. Help us not to be anxious about anything. Lord, help us to appreciate the variety of your creation. Bring our attention to your majesty in this world. We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen!Thank you for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. If you find this podcast helpful, if you are learning and growing from listening to it, then you might want to check out my mentoring group. We meet once a week on Zoom on Tuesday nights at 8:00 P. M. Eastern Time. Each month there is a theme and we dive deep into each theme. There is about 30 minutes of teaching and then some small group time. If you can’t make it on zoom, you can always watch the replay. I also have a private Facebook group that you could join. There is a link below if you would like to check out mentoring. You can also go to walkboldlywithjesus.com and click on the mentoring link. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! May the grace and favor of our Lord Jesus Christs be with your Spirit!Today’s Word from the Lord was received in February 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “Mercy, my mercy, I desire you to show to all those that you meet each day. Let them all know my mercy. ” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

An Unexpected HandstandJeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”This is a great scripture verse to memorize or to put up somewhere where you will see it often.  Sometimes it does not feel like God is for us.  Actually sometimes it can seem like He is against us.  We can go through long periods of life where it feels like everything is against us.  This is when it is good to have this scripture verse to look at to remind you that God is for you.  Someone in my prayer group asked for prayers for a friend the other day.  She said this couple is really struggling to see God’s plan in everything that is going on.  The couple has been trying to have a baby for a long time.  The wife has had several miscarriages and is really starting to wonder if she will ever have a baby.  They turned their struggle over to God and they asked Him for help.  They asked what they could do and for God to reveal anything that might be getting in the way of them having a baby.  The other day they found out that she was pregnant and they are very much praying this is the time they get to carry their baby to term.When you are in one of these really difficult stretches of time, it can be really hard sometimes not to lose faith.  You may ask yourself, what is even the point of continuing to believe when it seems like God has forgotten about you.  I promise He is still with you, even in this hard time.  If you continue reading after this passage in Jeremiah 29:12-14 it says, “Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”  The couple that was trying to have a baby, they continued to pray, even though they didn’t understand why this was all happening.  They continued to seek where God was in all of this and they found Him.I know that depending on your situation and how long it has been going on, it may be difficult to pray.  You may want to, but just aren’t sure what to say at this point.  Or, maybe you feel like you have been praying for so long that God is not listening anymore.  I assure you, He is still listening.  He always listens to us and wants good for us.  The Lord is always truthful and always keeps His promises.  So, when He says that His plans for us are to prosper and not for harm, then He means it.  If you are struggling to pray, reach out and ask a friend, co-worker, priest, minister, family member, anyone to pray for you, maybe even to pray with you.  It says in Matthew 18:20 “ For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”There is power in praying with fellow believers.  If you are praying for something and not seeing the results that you wanted to see, ask others to pray with you.  I went to a healing service the other night and instead of having one or two people pray over those wanting healing, the priest had everyone sitting around that person put their hands on the one needing healing and pray for them.  It was very powerful to see all the people that needed healing surrounded by fellow believers praying for them.  God wants good things for you.  He wants you to have a future and to have hope.  So, why don’t we, what gets in our way of seeing this future that God wants us to have?  There are several things that can get in the way.  Sometimes, we get in our own way.  Even though we know how God is calling us to live, we deviate from that because it is really hard or because it is not the norm in society today. Living the way Jesus wants us to live can go against what we are taught in society.  We can look foolish when we follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit.  Have you ever had a still small voice in your head that was telling you to do something that didn’t make sense at the time?  Did you listen to it?The Holy Spirit is inside each of us and He tries to guide us to the right path.  But sometimes we can’t see where He is leading us.  Sometimes He asks us to do things and we don’t because they seem crazy or we don’t understand where it will get us.  I heard a story in a book I read called “The Cross and the Switchblade” by David Wilkerson about a woman who had learned to listen to that voice inside her.  One morning she was heading out to work when she felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to bring her fuzzy socks to work with her.  She thought this was a very strange request, but since she had learned to listen, she went and grabbed her fuzzy socks and threw them in her purse.  When she got to work, there was a prostitute on her front step and she was passed out.  She brought her inside and warmed her up.  They got to talking and this woman asked the prostitute if she could have anything, what would it be.  Do you know what she said?  Fuzzy socks.  The woman was so surprised and gave her fuzzy socks to the prostitute.  The prostitute was so happy and said, “They even match my outfit.”  There is another story I heard from a person in a leadership course I was taking.  They were talking about how a woman in their group at church had made a commitment to the Holy Spirit that she would follow any prompting she received, no matter how crazy it seemed.  One night she was driving home and she felt the Holy Spirit asking her to do a hand stand.  Now, this definitely seemed crazy.  She was no spring chicken and she had not done a hand stand since she was a child.  However, she couldn’t shake this feeling.  She pulled over to a gas station where no one was around and went under the one light, and did a hand stand.  When walking back to her car, the clerk came out of the store and thanked her.  She asked him why he was thanking her and he said they have cameras in the store and he saw her hand stand.  He had been feeling very low and abandoned lately and had wanted to kill himself.  He made a deal with God that if he saw someone do a handstand that day he would not do it.  He never dreamed that he would actually see someone do a handstand and he was so thankful he did.Even when we get in our own way, God can use our mistakes for good.  He is that amazing.  Most of the time when we are in a difficult situation we can’t imagine how any good can come from it.  It is usually many years down the road when we are out of the difficult situation that we can look back and see some good coming out of it.  Often times that good might just be the growth or the strength we gained from the situation.  Sometimes it can be the experience or the knowledge we gained from that situation that enabled us to get the job of our dreams or the relationship we always wanted.  If you are struggling right now I hope Jeremiah 29:11 brings you some comfort.  If you are struggling to pray I urge you to find someone to either pray for you or to pray with you.  God is always with you.  He hears every one of your prayers.  He will carry you through this difficult time and He will bring you out even better on the other side of it.  When you are really struggling remind your self that God has promised good things for you and God never breaks His promises.  Hang in there, I promise amazing things are headed your way if you just keep asking for them.  Dear Heavenly Father, I pray that you are with all those that are struggling right now.  I pray that you give strength to those that find themselves in a really difficult situation.  Lord, I  know so many people are struggling with a lot right now.  I know several ladies that are really hurting.  Lord, I ask that you comfort them and you let them know that you are with them.  I ask that you give the strength to make it through this hard time and the knowledge that you don’t want them to suffer.  I ask that you help them to believe your promise of a future and of hope.  I ask that you help them feel loved and take away any feelings of abandonment that they may have.  Lord I ask that you bless all those that are struggling and all those that are listening to this right now, whether they are struggling or not. I ask that you bless them and strengthen them for all they are facing.  Lord Jesus, we love so you much and we know how much you do for us.  You are truly amazing and we thank you for loving us so much that you make all things for our good.  Lord, we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen. www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

If You Only Knew The Power Living Inside Of You…Matthew 8: 16 “When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick.”I was talking with a friend last night and we got on the topic of the Holy Spirit.  I love to talk about the Holy Spirit because I am still in awe over the whole thing.  I am in awe that God gave us the Holy Spirit. I am in awe that we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us.  I wish each and every single baptized person on planet earth knew how powerful they were with the Holy Spirit living inside of them.  The verse above says, “When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed al the sick.”  Jesus was able to chase away demons with a word.  He was able to heal the sick just by saying be healed.  Actually there are many different ways that Jesus healed people.  If you read the many healing stories in the Bible you will see there wasn’t just one way that Jesus healed the sick.  Sometimes he said “be healed” sometimes he just told them to do something like “take up your mat and go.” Other times he did a physical action like when he put mud on a blind mans eyes or put his fingers in a deaf man’s ears.  I think there was so much variety so that Jesus could show us it is not what we do that heals people, it is who we ask.  We come to God in faith and He does the healings.  I was talking to my friend last night because we were doing an inner healing session.  Part of the process I was using for inner healing was to renounce the lies that we tell ourselves.  I was explaining that we can do that at anytime.  She can do that on her own even when I am not on the phone with her.  When she starts to get anxious she can sit down and ask Jesus to help her figure out what specific lies she is telling herself.  For instance, my car will break down and I won’t be able to get to work.  Something bad will happen to me if I go out on my own.  My children might get hurt if I let them do what they want.  I am not sure what it might be for you.  We all have things we tell ourselves that are not true.  Things like I am unworthy of love, I am unloved, I am stupid, I am a bad driver.  Whatever it is that you are telling yourself, you can renounce that lie once you realize what that lie is.  If you aren’t sure if you are telling yourself any lies, take a minute and think about what that inner voice is saying to you.  Maybe take a minute and ask God to reveal any lies you are telling yourself.  Once you have the lies it is easy to renounce them.  It is a simple sentence, “In the name of Jesus I renounce the lie, and then you state the lie.”  For instance, “In the name of Jesus I renounce the lie that I am not good enough, I am not pretty enough, I am not enough.”  Ideally you would repeat the sentence for each lie.  I just named a few so you would get the idea.  Once you renounce the lie you can ask God to replace that lie with the truth.  It is amazing what you will hear when you ask God what truth He wants to give you in place of that lie.  You will see just how much God loves you.  You will see a tenderness that you probably didn’t know was there.  My friend was saying that although renouncing lies is so simple, she didn’t know she could do that.  I explained that she was not alone!  So many of us don’t know we can do that.  I definitely didn’t before enrolling in the Encounter Ministries class I am taking.  Another part of the inner healing session is to renounce any evil spirits.  For instance, the spirit of anxiety, the spirit of depressions, the spirit of unworthiness.  When Jesus sent the 12 apostles out to spread the word that the Kingdom of God was at hand He gave them the power to do signs and wonders.  When He sent out the 72 He did the same.  Jesus made us all, each one of us part of the great commission.  He tasked us all with spreading the news of Him and all the things that happened in the Gospel.  He wants us to make sure that every person on the planet has had a chance to hear about Him.  To do this He gave us all the Holy Spirit.  With the Holy Spirit we have the power living inside of us to cast out demons in Jesus’ name.  We have the power to heal the sick in Jesus’ name.  Well, we are not healing the sick but God is healing the sick through us when we are brave enough to step our in faith and to ask.  Did you know demons don’t have any power of you unless you give it to them?  It’s true, you have to consent to them being there.  Now, it’s not as if they ask you and you say yes or no.  They find ways in through the sins we commit and often times we didn’t know that we opened a door or that we let them in.  However, whether we knew we were doing it or not, if they find an open door they enter.  However, they can’t stay once you tell them to leave.  You, yes you, have the power to tell them to leave.  If you notice you have a persistent feeling, such as anxiety, depression, worry, anger, irritability, loneliness, unworthiness, etc, this could be a spirit causing this persistent feeling.  If you want to kick that spirit out all you have to stay is, “In the name of Jesus I renounce the spirit of …. and I command it to leave right now in Jesus’ name.”  Once you command it to leave, it must leave.  It cannot stay, it has officially been evicted. God honors our free will and the enemy must do the same.  He just does a good job at making us unaware of the power we have.  I was telling my friend that I think that has been on of the enemies greatest tactics.  I think the enemy has done a good job of either making us forget how much power we have living inside of us, or he has twisted the truth so much in the world that we don’t believe it.  I am not sure what has happened, how he did it, and yet, we don’t seem to know that we have any real power.  Can you imagine how different the world would be if every baptized person was walking around in the full authority that Christ gave them?  Can you imagine how different the world would be if we all knew that Jesus gave us the power to heal the sick, cast our demons, raise the dead and so much more!  It says in John 14:12-14 “ Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”  Do you believe that scripture speaks the truth?  Do you believe that God is honest and keeps His promises?  If so, then you can see why I know that we each have so much power living inside of us.This verse does not say that a select few will do the works that Jesus did.  It does not say that priests and ministers will do the works that Jesus did.  It says, “You, whomever believes in me.” Do you believe in Jesus?  If so, then He is talking to you?  I know it doesn’t feel like you have any power. I know you don’t feel worthy of any power.  I know you probably don’t want any power, because as Aunt May says in Spider Man, “With great power comes great responsibility.”  And yet, if you believe in Jesus you have this power anyway, so why are we wasting it?  Why are we going around with aches and pains and not asking God in Jesus’ name to heal them?  Why are we living under the oppression of spirits when we have the power to demand that they leave?  Because we don’t know or we don’t believe we have this power. I hope after hearing this episode you go to your Bible and you look for the scripture verse John 14:12-14.  I hope you underline it, I hope you write it on an index card and I hope you ask the Lord to show you how this applies in your life.  Ask God to show you what He is calling you to do.  Don’t worry, God is gentle with us.  He will not call us to move to another country when He knows we really don’t want that.  He may call us to ask for healing in our own lives, He may call us to church more, to daily mass, to pray for someone we know, to pray over someone we know if that is something we aren’t too uncomfortable with. Imagine what this world would be like if we all started living in the authority that Jesus gave us.  We are all so worried about what is happening in the world around us and yet we feel so powerless.  That is a trick of the enemy. We are not powerless.  We are more powerful than we know.  He knows how powerful we are when we live into that power, when we realize what it truly means to have the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead living inside of us.  Matthew 17:20 says, “ He replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Did you hear that last line, “NOTHING WILL BE IMPOSSIBLE FOR YOU.”  One main goal of this podcast is to help us all start to believe that a little more.  I know if we started to believe this the world would start to change.  We wouldn’t be as scared all the time because we would know we have the power living inside of us to change things.  We wouldn’t be living in so much pain because we would know we have the power inside of us to set ourselves free and to help set others free.  We wouldn’t just accept the aches and pains we get as a given thing that come with getting older, we would pray for healing because we know the power of God to heal is living inside of us.  I know the world would change, it has already started, if more and more of us realized the power laying dormant inside of us.  The Holy Spirit’s ability to work through us is confined by our free will, by our belief in His power.  If we want to have access to that power, we need to first know and believe that we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us.  We have to learn what that means and the best way to do that is to read the Scriptures.  Read the book of Acts in the Bible. Read all about what the apostles did with the Holy Spirit living inside of them.  It is incredible and if they could do it, so can you because we have the same exact Holy Spirit, there is only one!Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we want to understand the power and authority you have given to us, please help us.  We want to live in that authority.  We want to be able to cast out demons and heal those around us.  Please build our faith, please show us how.  Lord, we thank you for giving us your Son and then when He left you gave us the Holy Spirit.  We are so grateful.  Help bring an awareness in each person listening as to what having the Holy Spirit living inside of us means for us.  We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  I have so exciting news, I have found a place to hold a retreat this fall.  I have been feeling called to host a retreat and everywhere I called was so expensive.  I just wanted to find a place that most people could afford to come if they wanted to.  I was getting discouraged and God is so good and He knew that I just needed to keep calling places.  I finally found one.  I will have more details in the upcoming weeks but I am excited to announce that I will be hosting a retreat in October for anyone who would like to get away for a weekend and spend some time with Jesus.  It will be a weekend full of praise and worship and thanksgiving to God.  It will also be a time when we talk about some ways to develop a more intimate relationship with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  It will be amazing because the Holy Spirit is the one leading the charge on this one.  I hope you will consider joining me! I look forward to meeting you hear again tomorrow.  Remember, Jesus love you, he really does, and so do I!  Have a blessed day! www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Today’s witnesses come from the bethel.com/testimonies website. I found the first testimony because I have a friend who is struggling with Fibromyalgia. I believe that Jesus can heal even chronic diseases that have no human cure and, I know testimonies build faith. I searched specifically for a testimony about a miraculous healing of Fibromyalgia so my friend would know it is possible and hopefully she would keep asking and believing she can be healed too. On that same website I saw the second two witnesses, which are actually the same event just from two different people who were involved. The second witness is about curing of cerebral palsy. If you know anyone who needs a healing pass this witness Wednesday along to them and maybe it will give them the hope they need to believe that God can heal them too!Healing of FibromyalgiaJanuary 5, 2021A woman is healed of the pain and symptoms of fibromyalgia.When I was only 12, I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. I have heard that about 85 % of women with fibromyalgia have had some kind of severe childhood trauma, and that was the case with me.I had it for 17 years. I could hardly walk or stand. My pain level was ten. I was on 16 medications, 86 pills a day for six or seven years. I received very limited help. In those 17 years, I probably received prayer about 700 times. I had seen other healings. I believed in healing.On December 6, 2009, I was at a church service call for prayer, but I wasn’t going to go up. I told the Lord I knew He could heal me, but I didn’t have the energy to hope that He would.A friend said to me, “You are going up for prayer.”I said, “No, I’m not.”My friend added, “Either you are going up yourself, or I’m dragging you up there.”I went up, and they laid hands on me, and I knew 95% of the pain had already gone down. I don’t know if they got two or three words out of their mouth before all the pain left.Before that, I went back to my doctor, who was a Muslim and asked to be taken off all my medications. He was skeptical. I told him I believed in Jesus, and Jesus had healed me.On my medical chart, it says “spontaneous remission.” Those words don’t actually exist for fibromyalgia. Doctors are limited in what they can say because it doesn’t go away for them. There are pressure points for fibromyalgia, and they were not there anymore for me.Two first-year BSSM students experienced a miracle when one prayed for the other, and breakthrough from a lifelong affliction resulted.Karina’s StoryOn December 1, 2022, I went to our activation, Healing and Pastoral Care. The leader, Roy, was talking about The Chosen, a Season 3 episode in which a disciple spoke to Jesus and wanted healing, and Jesus said He wanted to heal him but it would glorify Him more if he stayed with his infirmity. That was uncomfortable for me because I really liked The Chosen and did not want to criticize it, but that scene was disturbing to me, too. As we discussed this in our class, we decided, “Let’s pray the actor gets healed!” He has cerebral palsy, and we thought that maybe they wrote that in the script because of that. We said we did not want to change our theology according to our experience, but to model our theology to fit who God is. We prayed for that actor to be healed so they would have to change the storyline.We came to worship afterward. I usually don’t go to the front, but Payton (my friend) always does. That day, I was in the front with her. I turned around and said to her, “Healing on your body!” Payton said, “Yeah!” She receives so easily. I thought, Maybe I can be a little more intentional. I turned to her and said, “Hey, we just talked about cerebral palsy this morning. And we prayed. Can I pray for you?” I had already prayed for her before because she had told me she had cerebral palsy.I just put my hand on her and prayed for realignment in her body and for every cell to vibrate to the frequency of heaven. I asked her to test it out. To be honest, I was expecting, but not expecting at the same time. She straightened and said, “Oh, my back just cracked.” She held her arms out and said, “Are my arms the same length?” Her right arm was about an inch shorter than her left arm before. She started crying because she realized they were the same length. I started crying, too.I asked her to try out her leg which would always hurt. I understood that her whole life, her foot would spasm every time she stretched it. It would hurt when she stood on it the whole day, and she would drag her foot a little behind her at the end of the day. She took her foot out of her slippers and stretched her leg out, but it did not spasm or hurt. She kept crying. I said, “You have to go up on stage and share!”The next day, I thought, Is she still healed? I was happy I experienced this, but I wanted it to be permanent. I texted her and asked if she was still healed, and she said yes.Her brain is now able to control her right side properly. I was so overwhelmed with joy and so honored to be the one that got to pray for her!Payton’s StoryI was born with cerebral palsy. I had a stroke in the womb that caused a blood clot and scarring on my brain. For the first five years of my life, I would walk on my tiptoes. My biological dad did that, too, so they did not think anything of it at first. I started doing sports, and I would say, “My leg hurts.” It would spasm. So they did an MRI, and it showed cerebral palsy. I started going to PT and wore a cast to correct my foot because my bone structure was off because of how I walked. I had to wear a plastic foot brace when the cast came off to keep my foot trained. I wore that for six months to a year. After that, I could not do sports.You could not tell by looking at me that something was wrong but as I got older, I noticed more things because it progressed. I understood what was happening but did not think about it. I was not concerned about getting healed, and my family are not yet Christians. When I came to BSSM, Karina asked me about my limp. People would say to me, “I’m praying for you.” I did not think I needed healing because it had become part of my life.We got to the worship set in December. When Karina laid hands on me and said, “Be healed,” I felt something right then. I could feel that I did not have pain in my calf from jumping, and I always have pain. Then she prayed for me, and my back was the first thing that I noticed was different. I could crack my back. My arm did not extend normally, so a nerve would pinch if I turned it the wrong way, and pain would shoot down to my thumb. I put my arms out after she prayed because I could feel something had shifted in my leg. The most obvious thing I could think of to test it was to put my arms out. At that moment when someone’s hand was there and my fingers touched it, I heard God say, “It’s done.” I could feel it from my head to my toe. All my fingers had a different feeling. I could now hold a pen correctly. I used to have to hold it like a little kid in my fist. I pointed my foot and that was the craziest thing because it was not uncomfortable. The next couple of days after, I could feel my whole body in a different way.The next morning, I woke up and thought, I hope it’s still there. He’s God, so it should be there. I wrote my name the next morning with my right hand. I told all my roommates. For the next four days, I could feel the weirdest sensation. It was like two wires clicking all over my body. I cracked my back every two seconds because I could not do that before. I could rotate my arm without it clicking. The smallest thing like being able to hold a pen is the biggest joy. It was hard to explain that to my friends growing up.My eyes would droop when I was tired. My muscle function would give out. I did not realize how much I missed until I had it. I went on a walk, and my leg wasn’t tired afterward. If I jumped, I did not have pain in my calf.My mom is a nurse. I told her what happened, and she said, “You need an MRI.” When I went home for Christmas break, I pointed my foot for her. She said, “OK. I don’t know what’s going on, but I am happy.” I went to a youth group that I used to work at. I told a girl with a broken foot, “I am going to release this over you.” In the middle of the service, she stood up and looked at me. Then she jumped on her broken foot, removed her cast and it was healed. I asked her what clicked for her. She said she felt the Lord tell her to close her eyes for a second. She saw the clip of The Chosen when Jesus healed the paralytic. She thought, If Payton was healed, I could be healed! I think it’s ironic that the same show that sparked the discussion that led to my healing God used in her healing as well!Thank you all for sharing your stories. God is amazing, and He is still doing miraculous healing every day. However, we won’t ever know about them if people aren’t brave enough to talk about them. Thank you for being vulnerable and sharing your story so that others can hear your testimony, which can help strengthen their faith. They can hear your testimony and see that if God can heal you, He can heal them, too!  www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Backseat DriverPhil 4:8 “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.”“Peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Peace that transcends all understanding.  Have you ever had this?  Have you ever felt at peace in a situation that was not peaceful?  Have you ever had peace about something that you didn’t understand?  There are so many things to be anxious about, especially in the world today.  However, God can give us a peace that transcends all understanding if we ask him too.  If we trust that he is in control.  We don’t have to worry about everything because we are lucky and we have Him taking care of everything and working all things for our good. Romans 8:28 says, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”  God is working for our good if we just let him work.  If we just rely on him to come through for us.  There are some situations that seem impossible.  I get that.  Some of you may be thinking that God offer’s peace to some, but not to others.  Maybe you haven’t felt that peace before and you are wondering if God has forgotten about you.  I assure you, he has not.  God is offering his peace to all who want it.  The thing is, we need to accept it.  We need to step out in faith and hand our troubles, no matter how big or small they are, to God and let him take the wheel.There is a song by TobyMac called Backseat Driver. It is a really great illustration of how we tend to want to take control back from God.  God wants to go through this life with us and He wants to be the driver.  He wants us to rely on him to get us to where we are going.  There is one part of this song that says: “I'm putting my trust in You, putting my trust in You.  It’s a little bit overdue, but I'm putting my trust in You”  Isn’t this so true!  We put our trust in God, when we have no choice, when we tried everything we could to fix it on our own and nothing has worked. Then, finally, when all else has failed we put our trust in God.  We finally realize that nothing we have done has fixed our situation and so we turn over control to God.  What if we could begin to do this sooner?  What if we did this at the first sign of trouble?  Imagine how great it would be to save all that time that we usually spend trying to fix things ourselves and the countless hours we spend worrying about things?  Imagine how nice it would be if we could turn everything over to God, before we waste that time.  There is another part in the song that says, “Silly me, silly me, aye.  Reverting back to my old ways.  Them got to be in control days.  Jump before I pray, Yo, I am heading out the doorway. But I want Your way, Yahweh.”  Does this sound familiar?  Have you ever found yourself stuck in a situation you didn’t want to be in?  Have you ever found yourself wondering how you got there and promising that the next time you had a decision to make, you would pray about it first?  And you did, at least for awhile, but then things were going good again.  Everything seemed to be working out and you started spending less and less time in prayer?  What if we consulted our heavenly Father before making any of our decisions? What if we took a few minutes at the beginning of our day and asked God what he wanted us to do that day?  Reverting back to our old ways is something that we all do.  I have heard a lot of my mentors say over the years that “it is not a knowing problem, it is a doing problem.”  Usually when we revert back to our old ways it is not because we don’t know better.  We usually know what is best for us and what produces the best results.  However, we tend to slip back into doing what is easiest, or what comes most naturally instead of what is best.  Letting God take the wheel and lead us is the best way to go through life.  He knows what is best for us and can save us so much time and pain.  Often times we think we know what we want in life and we are upset when we don’t get it.  In times like these, as hard as it is, it will help to remember that God is the driver.  His ways are greater than our ways.  Isaiah 55:8-9 says, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”  If a door that you wanted to open, didn’t open, its because your heavenly father has something much better in store for you.  It is not always easy to see that and I know in the moment of disappointment it is hard to remember.  Think about when you were little and you wanted to watch tv, or eat the candy, or do something else that would not have been great for you and your parents wanted more for you.  If you have children, think about how many times you have to say no to them because of something better you have in store.  If we could do this for our children, think of how much more our father in heaven wants for us.  Where in your life have you been taking back control?  Where have you been reverting back to your old ways?  Is there somewhere in your life where you could put your trust back in God?  Are you being a backseat driver?Dear Heavenly Father, please be with us each and every day.  Please help us to turn control back over to you.  Please help us to turn our worries and fears over to you as well.  Lord, we want you to direct our lives.  You want more for us then we could possibly want for ourselves.  We thank you for protecting us from ourselves and from things that we don’t even know about.  We thank your for all of the doors that you have closed for us in order for us to walk through even better doors.  Lord you are truly amazing and we are sorry for all the times we forget to turn our trust over to you.  You are our first choice and we ask that you help us to remember that each and every day.  Lord we love you and we thank you for all that you do. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name. Amen. www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Jesus is bigger than the FactsLuke 8:50 “While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” he said. “Don’t bother the teacher anymore. Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.”Pastor Steven Furtick gave an excellent sermon on this passage a few weeks ago.  If you want to listen to it you can check it our on the Elevation with Steven Furtick Podcast.  The title of the Episode is The Facts aren’t Final.  Steven Furtick explores this passage in a lot more detail then I can do in this short amount of time as his podcast is close to an hour long.  However, I really liked his messages surrounding this verse.  There are usually several messages in his sermons.  They are really good.  The main message for this episode is revealed in the title, Facts are not Final.  This verse is about a man who went to see Jesus because his daughter was dying.  He found Jesus and he fell down on his knees and asked Jesus to come to his house and to save his daughter.  Then in Luke 8:50 it says, “While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader.  “Your daughter is dead,” he said.  “Don’t bother the teacher anymore.  Hearing this Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.”  Can you imagine being in this circumstance?  Have you heard those words before, “Just believe and she, he, they will be healed?”  This can be so hard.  It can be so hard to believe on a good day, but when you are faced with facts that don’t give a lot of room for hope.  This man just received news that his little girl died.  Not that she was sick, but that she had died.  Imagine how hard it was for this man to believe.  It says that Jairus was a synagogue leader.  They synagogue leaders at the time of Jesus did not know what to make of Jesus.  Even in this passage they refer to him as the teacher, no the son of God, not the healer, not the resurrected Christ, the teacher.  Jairus must have wondered if Jesus was a healer because he did go to Jesus and ask Him to save his daughter.  I wonder if he believed that he could heal his daughter or if this was just what some may call a “Hail Mary” attempt.  A “Hail Mary” in case you don’t know is when you try something that you are pretty sure will not work, but you don’t have any other chance so you give it one last shot anyway.  Hail Mary is actually a great name for that type of circumstance because she is definitely someone that we can rely on when all else has failed.  The facts of this case seemed bleak.  Jairus wanted Jesus to save his daughter but according to the facts Jesus did not get there in time and his daughter died.  Jesus was on his way to Jairus’ house when he got stopped by a large crowd of people.  One of those people was the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years and no doctors could help her.  She went up to Jesus in the crowd and touched his cloak and was immediately healed.  Jesus stopped to acknowledge this and while He was still talking to this woman, who’s story is amazing and deserves a whole episode of her own, Jairus got new that his daughter had died.  I don’t know about you, but I feel like I would be super angry at this point.  I feel as the my grief would have over come me and I would have started to yell at Jesus.  I would have told Him my daughters death was all His fault. If he hadn’t have stopped to talk to that lady, my daughter might still be alive.  Can you picture the scene?  It seems when we are angry and hurt we lash out.  It makes us feel better, even if just for a moment, if we can blame someone else.  This is a normal reaction, however, there is no mention of any such reaction from Jairus.  Jesus hears the man from Jairus’ house tell Jairus that his daughter died and Jesus says, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.”  The question is, “How do we believe when we are faced with facts that dispute that faith?”  How does this man believe that his daughter will be ok when he was just told that she was dead?  Do you have a circumstance in your life where the facts don’t leave room for much hope?  Do you have a situation where the facts tell you that there is no way out?  For instance, maybe you have too many bills and not enough money.  Maybe you have a diagnosis and the doctors are saying there is no cure for.  Maybe your child is facing a situation and you don’t see a way out of it for them.  Maybe your marriage is in trouble and your spouse has said there is no way to fix it.  In all of these circumstances, the facts say that your situation is beyond hope.  The facts say that you can’t change they things.  If a doctor says you have a terminal illness, that is a fact.  You can’t dispute that fact on merit, as you do in fact have an illness that there is no human cure for.  If your spouse has made up their mind that divorce is the only way, then it will take divine intervention to save that marriage.  So, how do we have faith when the facts are telling us there is no hope?One great way is to look back at scripture.  This Bible verse is not the only time it looked liked Jesus arrived too late.  In John 11 Jesus’ friend Lazarus got sick and his sisters wrote to Jesus asking him to come home and heal their brother.  Jesus stayed where He was and finished what He was doing and then He went back.  By the time Jesus got back there, Lazarus had been dead and in a tomb for 4 days.  The facts in this chapter would tell us that Lazarus was not coming back.  He had already been dead for 4 days, his body was probably starting to smell and maybe decompose.  However, Jesus came back and raised Lazarus from the dead.  What about the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years?  The facts told her she would never get better, there was no cure.  The doctors couldn’t help her, they only made it worse.   I am sure she had to fight her mind reminding her of these facts the entire way to see Jesus.  She fought through the voices telling her the facts that she would not get better and that there was no hope.  She stepped out in faith, touched His garment, the hem of his garment, and she was cured.  In the story above, the facts said Jairus’ daughter had died.  He no longer had a need for someone to come and heal his daughter.  The facts said it was too late.  However, Jesus said, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.”  And Jairus went with Jesus to see his little girl.  In Luke 8:54-55 it says, “ But he took her by the hand and said, “My child, get up!” Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat.”  The facts said it was too late and Jesus said “Do not be afraid, just believe.”  Where do you need to hear that in your life right now.  The Bible is not just a collection of stories that give us historical data but don’t really pertain to our lives.  The Bible is just as relevant today as it was back in that day.  When Jesus is telling these parables to the people in the Bible, He is also telling them to you.  Where in your life are you struggling with the facts?  Where in your life are the facts not leaving much room for hope?  Where in your life do you need to hear these words, straight from Jesus’ mouth, “Do not be afraid, just believe.”Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, help those that are struggling to believe that the facts aren’t final.  Help those facing some very scary facts.  Lord, we know you are amazing and you are God of the impossible.  Please give us the strength to not be afraid and to believe.  Lord we believe, help our unbelief.  We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.  Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.  Have a blessed day! www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace