Will you join the army?

I began writing a blog this morning about how leaders need to be transparent but had to stop and help my daughter with her research paper she is doing. Before returning to my finish writing my blog I was interrupted with news about our friends in South Sudan.(here is the article http://tinyurl.com/kump3qm ). God often wants to interrupt our lives but do we let Him? I can think of nothing else but our friends and the children that they have in their care. As I try to write, I am brought back to thoughts of them and cant write my original blog. I try to catch up on other news, and find that it is all so trivial in the context of life. Here is a family that have given up their lives to serve our Heavenly Father. To hear of a 16 year old and 23 year old who is willing to stay in the line of fire to bring the love of Jesus to a nation and yet we sit in our warm homes, with full bellies, and complain about what we don't have. Since I first heard about the turmoil in South Sudan I have tried everyday to find current news about the conflict so I could pray specifically for my friends, yet in American media there is very little talk of it. Check out MSN or CNN and it will take you a while to find an article about the fighting in South Sudan but only seconds to hear the latest on Duck Dynasty. Seriously? Has America really become that shallow and self-centered. I can confess that I don't like watching the news anymore, its depressing, but with everything happening in South Sudan and the fact that this hits close to home I have realized how important it is for the body of Christ to be aware of what is happening in our world. We are warriors. God equipped us and armed us with weapons not of this world (2 Cor. 10:4) to help and battle for those who cannot battle for themselves. We are commanded to take care of the widows and the orphans (James 1:27), and that is what my friends in South Sudan are doing. They are on the front lines, but that does not excuse us from the battle. It is time for the church in America to wake up and quit worrying about Duck Dynasty or Miley Cyrus but open their eyes to the broken and hurting world wide. There is a song by Casting Crown with these lyrics -

 "What if the armies of the Lord

 picked up and dusted of their swords

vowed to set the captives free

and not let Satan have one more"

The Bible says in 2 Chronicles 7:14 "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

The church in America needs to humble itself, ask for forgiveness of our selfish ways, throw off the gluttony, the covetousness, the division, and the judgmental attitudes; turn from the distractions and turn toward God.

Our pastor preached a little on this yesterday at http://lifechangeomaha.com/. The world is in turmoil; America is in turmoil, yet we as the church want to remain blind. God desires to heal the nations but it will take an "army of the Lord" to "humble themselves and pray and seek His face" for that to happen. Will you join that army? Are you willing to give whatever it takes to see His will done here on earth as it is in Heaven?

Silent No More

I know it is the Christmas season and everyone is talking good cheer, but something has been bothering me lately and I need to say it. I usually don't talk about what other people are blogging or about what is in the media but there seems to be a trend going on with "truth". Not only the "truth" but how people are so easily offended by the truth. We in the church have become so afraid to offend people that we let sin run rampant in our midst. I guess this is a good time of the year to be bringing this up because Christmas is about birth and it is time for the church to have a rebirth of truth. I have been following another blogger Matt Walsh for a while now and I absolutely love how he speaks truth. Does he offend? Yes, but it's truth and it's not sugar coated. I recently read one of his blogs on a "forbidden" subject and this is what has been bothering me . The church has chosen to remain silent on a major sin that is destroying marriages, families, and lives. God has put human trafficking on my heart and I feel like this is the root of human trafficking. 
Pornography; there I said it; this filthy sin that we choose to keep hush-hush about eats away at the very core of our culture and our lives with out even a light shed on it because too many are too ashamed or embarrassed to talk about it. What ever the reason for the silence, it NEEDS to be talked about. The statistics are appalling.

• the revenue porn brings in is larger than all combined revenues of the professional football, basketball and baseball franchises. ($57 billion worldwide, and $12 billion in the US)
• 12% of all total websites are porn
• porn searches equals 25% of all daily search engine requests
• 35% of all downloads are pornographic.
• 20% of men and 13% of women admit accessing it from work.
• the largest consumer age group for Internet porn - 12 to 17 years of age.
• 90% of youth between the ages of 8-16 years old have viewed porn online
• 15% of youth between the ages of 12-17 years old have done so purposefully.

You say, "I'm a Christian, those statistics are for the unsaved". Argue with this then.

• 53% of Promise Keeper men have viewed it
• 47% Christians said it was a problem in their homes
• 50% of Christian men and 20% of Christian women admitted to being addicted to porn.
• 55% of pastors admitted to visiting a pornographic site.
• 57% of pastors say that porn addiction is the most sexually damaging issue to the congregation.

It is a problem in the church. It is a problem in your church? I guarantee it. We think that because it is never mentioned, it's not there. It's like a child who cleans there room by shoving everything in the closet, but when you open the closet all the garbage falls out. The garbage has never been cleaned out, it is still there and it's dirty and filthy and making lives miserable. Here is a link to the blog that I mentioned earlier, he says it better than me. ( http://themattwalshblog.com/2013/11/25/married-men-your-porn-habit-is-an-adultery-habit/). 

 It's a dirty little secret and we can't seem to talk about it. Husbands and wives need to be honest and open. Pastors and Christians need to start talking about it and opening up conversations. People are broken and hurting; families are being torn apart. When we keep silent we let "shame" and "condemnation" win. We all sin and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). The Bible also says "bear with each other and forgive one another" (Colossians 3:13). Is it coincidence that this passage is preceded by "put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry (Col.3:5)? I don't think so. We are called to hold each other accountable but we can't do that when we don't know what each other is struggling with. I know I have friends that are struggling with this, whether they themselves have an addiction or their spouse, yet they remain silent and try to battle alone, because everyone is scared to talk about it. It is time to break the silence and openly start a discussion. "oh", you say, "we don't want our kids to hear this kind of talk". Did you pay attention to the statistics? Look again. here are a  couple more for you.

• roughly 67% of young men and 49% of young women agree that viewing pornography is acceptable.
• 5% of all 12 year-olds; 10% of 13 year-olds; and 20% of 14 year-olds are sexually active.

Over half of our young people think it o.k! THAT'S NOT OK! They think that way because we are silent. We are letting the media and the social networks shape the next generation while we remain silent. Pornography is a sin. It is cheating if you are married, it is cheating on your future spouse if your not. For my friends and family who have been affected by this or who struggle with this, please don't take this as an attack. I love you but I come against the spirit of sexual immorality and I choose to no longer remain silent. We need to discuss pornography for what it is, unacceptable. We need to battle and stand against it together. If I am speaking to you I encourage you to speak out. Don't be ashamed because you fell, bring the sin into the light and ask others to partner with you to combat it. 

sources for statistics:
 http://unitedfamiliesinternational.wordpress.com/2010/06/02/14-shocking-pornography-statistics/
https://wsr.byu.edu/pornographystats
http://www.internetsafety101.org/Pornographystatistics.htm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/online-porn-statistics
http://www.mind-armor.com/staggering-statistics
http://www.citizenlink.com/2010/06/17/teen-sexual-behavior-quick-facts/?skip_splash=1

Lay It Down

I have all these ideas of what God is calling us to in the futures, yet I desire to hold on to none of them. As Christmas and the New Year approaches, many, including myself, reflect on the past year and contemplate the year to come. I don't want to make resolutions because they only hinder the work of the Lord. Jason and I have dreams; we feel pulled to help victims of sex trafficking, yet we must wait on God's guidance and timing. He brought my niece to us to give us a taste of what we will need and to open connections (even though she wasn't involved in that to our knowledge she was in a bad situation). He has shown us through her that there will be some that do not want to, or are not ready to be reached. We can sow the seeds, yet we have no control over what type of soil they fall on. 
When I reflect on the birth of Christ, I realize again how much God loves us. He took off His heavenly robes to be born of mankind in the humility of a stable. He left behind all He had in Heaven to join us, in all of our filth, here on earth, to live as we live, to demonstrate to us all that is available to us as children of God. He bore all of our sins on the cross so that we could be adopted. But He didn't stop there; He continually pursues us with a passionate love. So as I look ahead, I am excited about what God is going to do through those who lay it down. Lay down the presents, lay down the jobs, lay down the hustle and bustle, lay down the decorations, lay down the dreams; laying it all down to be available, ready to be interrupted for the coming of the Kingdom.
"Tarry not for a convenient time. The movings of the Spirit are never convenient to the interests of the flesh, and I shall engineer your circumstances to conform to My plan and my will. You will glorify Me, for My plan for you excels all other ways, and in the center of My will is a perpetual fountain of Glory." - Come Away My Beloved by Frances J. Roberts 

Desires

Romans 8:5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.

It's not about what we want or what we want to do. As we grow in our relationship with Christ, our devotion to Him leads us to a point where our desires are nothing. I only want His desires to shine through! Are there still things that I desire? Do I have to give up the desires of my heart? No, I don't think so, but when my desires interfere with His desires then yes, I must give them up. I have a "Daddy" who loves to "give good gifts to his children" (Matthew 7:11), including the desires of my heart (Psalm 37:4). First and foremost, though, must be His desires, His will. If I align my life with His desires, soon they actually become my desires. I would love to see the world and travel. It used to be because I wanted to see all the beauty that He created, but not anymore. Now the thought of going somewhere without it being for His glory makes me actually cringe. I desire to be His hands and feet and that's all that matters. Whether I'm traveling to another city,state, or country; or whether I'm going to the grocery store or picking the kids up from school I want it to be in service to my Beloved.

Aligning Our Will to His

I have been trying for several weeks now to find the words to describe what God is doing in our lives. I was reading my devotions this morning out of My Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers and he put it into the perfect words.
Joshua 24:15 "...Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve..."
"A person's will is embodied in the actions of the whole person. I cannot give up my will - I must exercise it, putting it into action. I must will to obey, and must will to receive God's Spirit. When God gives me a vision of truth, there is never a question of what He will do, but only of what I will do.
The Lord has been placing in front of each of us some big proposals and plans... Recall the moment when you were saved, or first recognized Jesus, or realized some truth. It was easy then to yield your allegiance to God. Immediately recall those moments each time the Spirit of God brings some new proposal before you. '...Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve....' Your choice must be a deliberate determination- it is not something into which you automatically drift. Everything else in your life will be help in temporary suspension until you make a decision. The proposal is between you and God - do not 'confer with flesh and blood' about it (Gal. 1:6). With every new proposal, the people around us seem to become more and more isolated, and that is where the tension develops. God allows the opinion of His other saints to matter to you, and yet you become less and less certain that others really understand the step yo are taking. You have no business trying to find out where God is leading - the only thing God will explain to you is Himself.
Openly declare to Him, 'I will be faithful.' But remember that as soon as you choose to be faithful to Jesus Christ, 'you are witnesses against yourselves...' (Joshua 24:22). Don;t consult with other Christians, but simply and freely declare before Him, 'I WILL SERVE YOU!' Will to be faithful - and give other people credit for being faithful too."
God has definitely been bringing new proposals to Jason and me. Not only that, but He is opening doors for us to complete His will. In doing so, we are going against all common sense and most of those around us do not understand what we are doing. We are boldly saying to God, "WE WILL SERVE YOU!" He has called us to something greater; to something different, and we may not know what it fully is yet but if He has called us and we will go. We are putting our trust and our lives into His hands for Him to be our provider, our protector, and our deliverer. He is going before us, making the footsteps in which we are to follow. We may not see where they lead, but we will place our lives in His one step at a time, aligning our will to His.

Stop Trying

I read this from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers this morning

 “Our calling is not primarily to be Holy men and women, but to be proclaimers of the Gospel of God. The one all-important thing is that the Gospel of God should be recognized as THE abiding reality. Reality is not human goodness, or holiness, or heaven, or hell- it is redemption. The need to perceive this is the most vital need of the Christian worker today. As workers, we have to get the revelation that redemption is the one reality. Personal holiness is an effect of redemption, not the cause of it. If we place our faith in human goodness we will go under when testing comes.

            Paul did not say that he separated himself, but ‘when it pleased God, who separated me…’ (Gal. 1:15). Paul was not overly interested in his own character. And as long as our eyes are focused on our own personal holiness, we will never even get close to the full reality of redemption. Christian workers fail because they place their desire for their own holiness above their desire to know God. ‘Don’t ask me to be confronted with the strong reality of redemption on behalf of the filth of human life surrounding me today; what I want is anything God can do for me to make me more desirable in my own eyes.’ To talk this way is a sign that the reality of the Gospel has not begun to touch me. There is no reckless abandon to God in that. God cannot deliver me while my interest is merely in my own character. Paul was not conscious of himself. He was recklessly abandoned, totally surrendered, and separated by God for one purpose- to proclaim the Gospel of God (see Romans 3:9).”

Christ paid the price for us to be able to turn; to be delivered from our sin. When we accept Jesus into our hearts, truly accept him, it is an allowing of the Holy Spirit to reveal to us what we need to repent and it is through the power of the Holy Spirit that we can turn away from our old selves and become new creations (2 Cor. 5:17). 

We spend too much time focused on ourselves, we don’t feel good about ourselves so we “try” to do better. We say to ourselves “I’m trying to spend more time with God” or “I’m trying to go to church every Sunday”, when we do this “trying” we offend Him and diminish the work on the cross. His desire isn't for us to “try” so we will feel better; it is to “do” out of love for Him. A life truly, recklessly abandoned for God is not always going to make us “feel” good. He wants us totally surrendered to do His will with His power. Col.1:29(NASB) says “for this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.” The work is hard and it takes sacrifice but it comes from His strength not our own. (Phil. 4:13)

1 Corinthians 1: 26-30 ...think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of the world and the despised things- and the things that are not- to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him. It is because  of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God- that is our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 

Spending Ourselves

Isaiah 58 says so much to me. It begins with a bold statement, "Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise you voice like a trumpet. Declare to My people their rebellion." It doesn't speaks softly and carefully as not to offend anyone, no, it says "SHOUT IT" Hold nothing back. Be honest.

These verses are hard verses for the Church, and if I'm being totally honest with myself, they are hard for me too. In this chapter the church is asking God why their prayers are not being answered. How many times have we come before God and cried out,"God where are you?", yet we never ask ourselves, "what have I done to cause Your Presence to pull back from me?"

Verses 1-5 reek of lukewarmness. The church is putting on a show; their hearts are selfish and full of themselves. "What can You do for me, God?" or "what do I get out of this walk with you?" But God shows us in this chapter of Isaiah how wrong that attitude is and what He truly expects of us in verses 6-14.

He desires sacrifice to "loose the chains of injustice and untie the chords of the yoke to set the oppressed free", to feed the hungry, give clothes to the poor and needy; those things must cost us something. Verse 10 says, "and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness..." Being a "light" in this world has nothing to do with going to church and being a "good" Christian. It's about spending ourselves, being uncomfortable ourselves to provide comfort to someone else,travailing in prayer and feeling the pain to provide someone else peace, and laying ourselves down for the will of God. My prayer for myself and for my church is that we don't grow comfortable. Let us lay it down daily and spend ourselves for the sake of the Kingdom, then and only then will we be a light breaking through the darkness.

Making Room For God to Become the Air You Breathe

"Making room for God to do as He pleases and then cooperating with Him is the greatest thing we can do to see an increase in signs and wonders" - Bill Johnson.

The song "I Need You More" has the lyrics "I need You more... more than the air I breathe, more than the song I sing, more than my next heartbeat, more than anything.:"

God desires for us to hunger after Him. He wants us to put Him above all else in our lives. I have learned on my journey with Him that He MUST come first. He IS the air I breathe and the water I thirst for. Without air and water we die. When I begin to let other things take me away from my daily time with Him I feel like I am dying. When I look to Him as the Air I breathe and the Water I drink it makes it easy for me to put aside the things of the world and spend time with Him. But that's not even enough. We don't stop what we are doing to  breathe we breathe as we are doing. I want to be so immersed in His presence that a minute doesn't go by without Him being acknowledged. I want my actions to permeate with His love and presence.

In Luke 5:1-11 Jesus had just finished a night of miraculous signs and when He told Simon Peter, James and John to cast out their nets after not catching anything all night they obeyed. Out of their obedience, when they were tired form working all night, they themselves were granted a miraculous catch that almost sunk two boats. Jesus then gave them the invitation to leave everything and follow Him. What is it in our lives that keeps us from dropping everything to follow Him? I believe it's the same thing that the disciples struggled with - fear and unworthiness. Jesus wouldn't call us if  HE believed us to be unworthy, so are we going to call Him a liar and agree with the enemy?

2 Corinthians 5:21 says,"God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him, we might become the righteousness of God". If you have accepted Christ as your savior, you have become the righteousness of God making you worthy of all that He has for you.

As for fear; 2 Timothy 1:7 says,"For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love and of sound mind.

It is time for the Church, the Bride of Christ, to step into our true inheritance  To lay our lives down for Christ. Invite Him to be the air you breathe, and as you go about your day breathing Him in He will permeate your life till those around you begin to see and feel the love of God. Invite Him to partner with you in all you do; at work, at home, at school, and at play. Wherever God has placed you on this earth let Him reign right there.

Sticking to the Promises and Taking a Risk

I recently read a book called Risk Factor and in it they were talking about the heroes of faith in Hebrew 1 and said this, "Certainly they had assessed the potential downside to their risk venture, but in their analysis, the reward for holding onto their promise outweighed the potential fall-out of failure. They made way for the impossible because they invested in the promise with acts of risk."  I also just finished reading Cindy Jacob's book Power of Persistent Prayer which has a chapter on Praying the Word; looking for promises in God's Word that pertains to what you are praying for and persistently praying it until there is breakthrough.
Our marriage has been a testimony to this process. God gave me Joel 2:25 at a time when I didn't have a lot of hope or faith that our marriage was going to last, but God promised me  He would "restore the years the locust have eaten". I had to take the risk of having my heart hurt time and time again but in the process I discovered that when God restores, He doesn't just take it back to the original, He makes it new and better than what it was before. But God didn't just stop at our marriage, He is continually showing me other things that have been desolated by "locusts" and need restored. Things like the church, or people who have strayed from God, or those caught up in human trafficking. Joel 2:25 applies to them as well and I will continue to stand in the gap until I see breakthrough.
There are many promises in His Word that pertain to many different circumstances, all we have to do is look at our situation, find a promise, pray it in, and start walking by faith or a taking a risk that the promise will come to pass. This last step is the one key that I have learned over the years. We can pray the promises as much as we want  but we also must step out in that promise and claim it as complete.
If it is a promise for someone'e salvation, then start pouring into that person and love them as Jesus would if He were face to face with them. Depending on the person you can even give them nuggets from God's Word. Some non-believers have so much pain the first mention of God shuts them down. In those instances we become His hands and feet and heart to them and just love them where they are. Love is the most useful tool we have to win the lost or those who have never been found.
If you are praying for restoration in a marriage, you have to begin to walk out the marriage you desire even when the other person isn't. Again, it comes down to loving like Jesus. When God has given you a promise that He will restore your marriage, He means it. We must step out in faith and recognize the true enemy and begin to pray for our spouse. A lot of times there is a lot of pain and many walls, we must give the pain to Him and let Him begin to heal and then trust Him to protect your heart as you begin to let the walls down to let your spouse in. He will not forsake you. (on a side note, if you are in a relationship where you are being physically or emotionally abused I am by no means suggesting you stay in a dangerous environment. But it does not mean you have to give up on praying if you leave to be safe. I have seen abusive relationships turn when the abuser comes to Christ and lets the Holy Spirit begin to change him or her)
If you are contending for the Church to wake up and revival to come, then start walking in it. If you feel you are on the verge of revival then let it come, even if it is only to you. Don't stop the Holy Spirit just because those around you don't get it, they will. God hungers for His Kingdom to come, for His will to be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. If we are the only ones walking that out for a time then so be it. If people think I am crazy because I radically love a God who can do all things, then let them think it. I am crazy; I am crazy in love with Jesus.
I have seen many answers to the promises I pray when I take the risk to love with that kind of crazy, radical love that only comes from God moving in me and through me to touch the lives of those around me. It is worth any "fallout" or "risk" I must take. It is not about my comfort but it's about living out the love of Christ.

Cultivating Your Life for My Presence

Cultivate is a verb, it takes action. It is not sitting around waiting for something to happen. We also cannot cultivate our lives only once a week, it is a continual action. Yesterday at church the Holy Spirit's presence was evident, so does that mean I go back to business as usual the minute I leave church? I want to take it with me, not for me, but so others can experience it. It is great to have such an experience but He never meant for us to keep it to ourselves. We need His presence to manifest in our daily lives so that others will see. To get that, we have to cultivate an environment that is holy and pleasing to Him (Romans 12:1), it takes effort and choices on our end.  Behind the scenes a church will cultivate with prayer, preparing an atmosphere of worship with the right music and lighting and setting aside specific times for service. WE are His church as an individual and we need to prepare an atmosphere in our daily lives. In my quiet time on Saturday this is what the Lord impressed on me.
Do not be concerned with the cares of this world. I am setting aside a season in your life for you to passionately seek me. It is a time of learning who I am and preparing for what is to come. As you seek Me I will pour into you what you will need for the purpose I have for you. Do not worry when things do not get done because you are seeking Me. Whatever is undone is not important in My plans for your life. They will eventually be done but in My timing, not yours. Focus on My will, focus on ME, let my hand write out your days and wait and see the work I am ready to do.
2 Peter 1:3-11
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very good and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. 
For this reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you posses these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins. 
Therefore my brothers(and sisters), be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things you will never fail, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 
2 Peter 1:16 
We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitness of His majesty.
I desire to be an eyewitness to His majesty and glory but to do that I must cultivate my life to be a life open to be used by Him, for Him to manifest His glory to me and through me, so that my life may be a living testimony to the glory, mercy, and grace of God. 

Fishers of Men (By Jason)

Matthew 4:19 (KJ)

And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

When Jesus calls us, he calls us to be the fishers of men, but we are not the ones holding the pole or in biblical times the nets.  We are the bait that the world see’s.  When they see Jesus through us in our: actions, words, giving and desires.  If we don’t walk the path that is written in God’s Word then how can others believe?  That does not mean we never fall, but when we fall we get back up and get right with God; pressing forward. Philippians 3:14 (NLT) I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

The problem with fishing is free will of the fish.  You don’t control how the fish will approach the bait; it can be a nibble, a half-hearted strike or it can be aggressive.  Nibbling will result in a superficial relationship, while a half-hearted strike results in a hook in which is easily pulled out.  If they dive aggressively head first and swallow the bait so no one can release the hook.  We must swallow the hook fully to go deep with God; there is no choice if you want to be near the Kingdom while on Earth.

How does this relate to us in our walk?

When I was learning about Christ I chose to be a nibbler and was dissatisfied.  It wasn’t what I expected or had seen in others.  I have since learned that God gives in measure to what we give to Him.  Over the last 13 years I have deepened my relationship.  Walking through a half-hearted relationship with Him believing you are saved just because of a prayer, but not digging deeper to have a true relationship with Him.  I have since learned that you must swallow the bait fully to become one with the Fisherman.

Arise and Rend Your Hearts to God.

God has taken our marriage from the brink of divorce and is "restoring the years the locusts have eaten" - Joel 2:25. I began sharing our story in September 2010 to offer encouragement and hope to those who were walking where I have walked. Now God is taking us on a new journey of restoration, one not just for us but for His Kingdom here on earth.
For too long the Church has been asleep. We have gone through the motions and thought we were doing good, but the Church in America has become luke warm. Years have been stolen from us while were were unaware. Now is the time to ARISE. We have been devoured by the things of this world and we have not been able to advance His Kingdom. He is calling His people to "rend their hearts not their garments." It is not about going to church on Sundays, attending a Bible study, serving, singing songs and putting a little money in the plate; though all are good things they mean nothing with out us rendering our heart to God. When we turn our gaze, steadfast to Him and love Him with ALL OUR HEARTS, He promises to restore the years.  Joel 2:13-32