BRING ON THE NEW!

SOMETHING NEW IS IN STORE FOR YOU THIS YEAR!

IN THE BEGINNING GOD......

I am thrilled to kick off the NEW YEAR with my friends and family very soon!
IN THE BEGINNING of 2012 God wants to CREATE and FORM NEW things for your life!

God has a perfect plan for our lives and never intended for us to be void, dark and without form! His spirit is moving and He is just waiting for you to join Him!

I will be reading through the bible in one year and I hope that you will join me! I try to blog daily and the daily bible reading is located on the side of my blog page. I will follow that days reading with a Daily Devo.
I hope that you will go for a walk with me in 2012.
Lets share dreams together while encouraging one another throughout the year. I am always encouraged and motivated to change for the better through my blog friends. Thanks for all your support and help as I make mistakes and desire to grow just like you!
I am not perfect but God has showed up and continued to bring form into my life, that I am ever grateful!

In Genesis GOD SAID, GOD CALLED, GOD MADE, GOD BLESSED, GOD CREATED, GOD FORMED and GOD SAW exactly how He wanted everything formed so that it was GOOD!

Do you believe that just as God formed the heavens and the earth, He is wanting to bless, create, form, make and call things He sees perfect and good into your life for 2012?

When God created the heavens and the earth in the very beginning He divided somethings to make it better and gathered things together to make it better. God has signs and blessings for each of us each season and day of 2012.

God set up your life in the very BEGINNING for something bigger and better!

Everyday this year God has something to ADD to your life and dreams.

He desires to walk each day with you. I certainly DO NOT WANT TO MISS WHAT HE IS ADDING TO MY DREAMS or THE DREAMS OF MY CHILDREN in 2012.

However, the enemy wants to slither in every chance he gets and DESTROY Gods dreams for your life. He is sneaky and will deceive you from all the GOOD God has planned for you!

The enemy will make things pleasant to the eyes and desirable to the mindset. His number one goal is to get you to the place in which you feel naked and want to hide.

Friend do you want to hide behind a closed door all of 2012? In shame, guilt and fear?

If so...2012 will remain unbearable.
Sometimes we do have to "go through the pain of life" BUT in the beginning God created us to walk with Him!
I pray you will open the door of your heart, soul and spirit to God in 2012.

If you CHOOSE to make a commitment to walk alongside Christ this year, I promise you will not miss the greatness of God in your life and family.

If you CHOOSE to do life on your own then the enemy will trip you and make you fall to the ground. Without God the ground is filled with thorns and thistles.

Anxiety, fear, temptation, fatigue, insomnia, depression and darkness will pick at your life and the thorns will destroy your heart.

God said that we should know good and know evil BUT we need to CHOOSE to follow only HIS ways! I need to get better in this area in 2012 so I have made a list of changes.

What do you desire to change?

That is a 2012 commitment for me my friends, to know that His ways lead me into a life that is abundant.

Friends and family....I want you to experience God in 2012.
Like I said, He wants to bring FORM to your dreams.

The hardest thing for me is to OBEY....But I know the difference of living my own life and then CHOOSING to live life with God.

A BIG DIFFERENCE INDEED!

I have seen my marriage fall apart, I have watched myself fall into temptation and I KNOW the enemy is after my CHILDREN. So again... I ask GOD to help me walk with HIM and make the right choices.

God wants to change your life in 2012!

Let God BRING IN THE BIG for you and yours this year.

Join me daily as we walk through the word in 2012. I pray God opens your eyes to see what He is doing all around you even on the most difficult days. I pray He alters your mind to see HIS DREAMS for your life.

Anticipating the New Year with you~
Blessings

Heather

UNWRAP YOUR DREAM THIS CHRISTMAS

Christmas time is the appropriate season for suspense and anticipation, again that is what ADVENT means.

ADVENT=A sense of ADVENTURE

I love unwrapping presents and being surprised on Christmas morning. How about you? The suspense is already killing me with a few interesting boxes under the tree. 

Today, I want you to grasp that your dreams are much like a present.


The NEW YEAR is right around the corner and it leaves me with the feeling of suspense and anticipation as I begin to unwrap new surprises along the way in 2012.

God has your dreams wrapped up perfectly and He will allow you to unwrap a little at a time if you desire to walk with Him in 2012.

Your destiny and reason for living are wrapped up tightly in your dreams and desires, like the genetic information inside a seed. That dream in your heart contains your spiritual "DNA," the very blueprint for who you are.

Your dream is that idea, that vision for your life that burns inside of you--something you can't ignore for long. It keeps coming back to your mind because it is part of who you are; it will never leave you alone.



A dream doesn't drive you; it draws you. It is like a big magnet that pulls you toward itself. I don't believe that there is a man or woman without a dream, because God designed every member of the human race to have dreams. Without a dream, a person will be frustrated in the present and will miss his or her future.


Your dream did not even originate with you. It resides within you, but God put it there. He is the source of your dream. When people dream without God, they find it hollow and unsatisfying. Every person must come to Jesus for his or her dream to make sense. In fact, without Jesus, you might follow a dream for your life that God never put in your heart.


 God so badly wants to fulfill our expectations and dreams in 2012. Allow Him to teach you about your dream.

 What a great challenge for 2012!


God wants us to see our life so badly through His eyes that He extends so much grace in our natural disasters.
I have to admit...I caused all my BIG DISASTERS and was so stubborn and head strong that it still was not enough to turn me to God. My disasters always came from my shortcuts that I designed into my life.


My personal shortcuts always appeared to be a way of speeding up DREAMS and EXPECTATIONS.
 Many times a roadblock would appear in my life and quench the spark of my dreams and expectations.


Did you ever feel like a vision or dream has been abandoned or blocked?


The past two years God has placed me on a fence and helped me gain NEW PERSPECTIVE.

 He wanted me to put some dreams on hold.

Sometimes we can become so dream focused that we chase after it so hard and end up in places HE FORBIDS!

God wants you to step into the New Year with anticipation and great expectation. However, we have to Return to Him and deny all our shortcuts. I was so focused on Dreams at one point that I was unaware of how I was abandoning God.


 When we return everything to God, He will bring a fresh perspective and NEW chances.
If God has birthed that vision in your heart, chance are you have already began exploring.

 But in order to:
 END UP IN THE RIGHT PLACE ON PURPOSE,
 we have to maintain our relationship with GOD first.

He feeds the quality and destiny of the vision.
If we move ahead the vision will again evaporate and we will be left in another natural disaster.


I pray that you walk into 2012 with a heart of anticipation and expectation to Grow in your love for God.

This may mean you will be surrendering more, getting involved in more and stepping out your comfort zone.

When God moves its more POWERFUL then any shortcut.


Your dream is fragile, so thank God for the NEW CHANCES and CHANGES HE will bring in 2012!


Two years ago today, Goded asked me to lay down and surrender many things.
 It has been two years of God changing and rearranging my life.

New friends
New church
New opportunities
New possibilities
Fresh perspective on dreams
New schools for kids
New ministry opportunities

The connections and supernatural ways of God moved in so many amazing directions.
He will row the boat and then ask you to step out when the timing is right and lines up with His vision for your life. 


Will you allow God to row your boat in 2012?


I encourage you to STAY in THE BOAT, until He says "STEP OUT."


Enjoy the anticipation and expectation of this Christmas season.... BUT I challenge you to EXPECT and ANTICIPATE fresh vision for 2012.


Merry Christmas

HOW CAN THIS BE?

ADVENT DEVOTION:
We have been talking  as a family this past week about the importance of the Holy Spirit, the POWER OF THE MOST HIGH. A very key component in the conception and birth of Jesus.

How is this same Power active in our lives? 
Is this component part of your life?

NO DREAM IS ACHIEVABLE APART FROM THE MOST HIGH! 


15 years ago I sat in the balcony of a church for the first time because I had a deep, dark hurt and a reality bigger then me that kept me saying,

 "How can this be?"

My marriage was struggling and my parents where freshly divorced after 27 years of marriage.
I felt lost, hurt and hopeless.
My parents both figuring out their paths in life and my husband left to go down his self centered path.

I remember so vividly that day when I anxiously made my way through the doors of a big white church. I sat pregnant at 34 weeks crying while asking God, "How could this be?


My reality was so Big, I could not even wrap my mind around any good possibilities that could come out of this. I was troubled, confused and scared. Scared that I would be delivering my second baby with no man at my side. 

This morning as sat reflecting over our past weeks advent devotions. This particular devotion stoof out and could change your life!  

I would love for you to travel with me to LUKE 1:26-35.
Please take a moment to read and wrap your heart around what was happening in that moment to Mary.

God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called[a] the Son of God.


This story pointed my family to a very important truth for this Christmas. I want to share with all my family and friends in hope it blesses you and then encourages you to be a "GABRIEL" angel in someones life this season.

Mary heard the news from the angel that she was Highly favored and blessed among women.

However,
She was troubled from the start with the angels greeting. The angel Gabriel continued saying to Mary... "Do not be afraid, for you have found favor with God. And behold you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus!


Mary troubled and confused with this BIG reality exclaimed..

"HOW CAN THIS BE, SINCE I HAVE NOT BEEN WITH A MAN?"


The angel then answered her with something so POWERFUL that I would love for you to grasp this Christmas.


"The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the highest will overshadow The angel then answered her with something so POWERFUL that I would love for you to grasp this Christmas.



KEY PROMISE:
"The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the highest will overshadow you."


MARY'S RESPONSE:
Mary took her eyes off the reality and placed her life with Trust in God. She just knew with Gabriel's encouragement that God was getting ready to BIRTH A POSSIBILITY IN HER REALITY!

Mary also did not try to ESCAPE her reality. She stood firm and let nothing move her. (1 Corinthians 15:58)


She allowed God to work through her reality to bring true JOY to the world.


Did you ever consider that your trouble will birth a possibility in an other's life? God will use you as He overshadows you and comforts you.


God cares about your "HOW CAN THIS BE?"

Allow Him to Birth a miracle!


I know the moment I asked God to Come into my heart, He began to show me the path of life and in His presence I found FULLNESS OF JOY (Psalm 16:11)

Do not allow your reality to steal the joy from your life. God can overshadow your "How can this be?"


The loss of a loved one
A broken marriage
Sickness
Loss of home
Loss of a job
Financial struggles
Ministry problems
Lost dreams
Sinful consequences

All these realities... the MOST HIGH can take over.

He brought HOPE and DESTINY back to my marriage!

My friend, I want to be your Gabriel today and encourage you with these words...
"Do not be afraid, for with God nothing will be impossible."

 You my friend are HIGHLY FAVORED!

SHEDDING SOME LIGHT...
Have you ever been asked to do something that didn't make sense?
Have you ever been asked to believe something unbelievable?
This takes a great amount of truth and faith.
In today's devo we see that God tells Mary she will do something that won't make sense and will have to believe the unbelievable.
Mary trusts His word and power. She allows God to shaper her life according to His plan.

What part of the Christmas season NOW brings you hope and joy?

Joy to the world,

ADVENT=LETS BREAK BREAD TOGETHER

LETS BREAK BREAD

OUR ADVENT WREATH!

AND YES WE LIKE TO DRINK OUT OF JARS!

OUR MANGER

Advent is an active waiting. 

 Christmas comes to those who wait for the whisper, who look for the little, who seek the small signs of the every-where presence of God.


The only way to see the Savior this Advent is to see the small and wise men find ways to slow the season down.

I want to share another friends Blogpost with you today. She does not put Christmas presents under the tree for the family. Wow, this amazed me a bit.
 
 Her post title stated this:
"When Christmas Gets Radical: Whose Birthday Is It Really?"It’s been over ten years of nothing under the Christmas tree here.

I will be honest, I struggled with this and felt like a terrible christian compared to her to be brutally honest.
Take time to read this post today and then stand amazed and maybe a little convicted over the culture of  Christmas.
I sit today pondering the our families personal Christmas and ask God how I can CHANGE our Christmas each year to bring in more of HIM. I am sad at how selfish I have become.

Click below to read the post, she is an amazing author!

Anne Voskamp 


Last night our family Advent devotions was focused on this verse:

"shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him…” Isaiah 11: 1-2

JESUS HAD ROOTS AND WE CAN TRACE THEM ALL THE WAY BACK IN THE OLD TESTAMENT FROM THE STUMP OF JESSE.

Out of the broken off and impossible, a shoot sprouts.

The beginning of my roots with Christ came from a broken, amputated season in my life.  My roots do not go way back into past generations but truly started when me and my husband accepted Christ. We pray to pass our faith along.

God buds from the impossible.

Our Savior comes as a sprout from a stump.

Our salvation comes by way off the small, breaking through the dead ends.


Last night around our advent wreath we talked about the roots of Jesus and His family tree. We read together Isaiah 11:1-3 and then discussed our family tree and the importance of the future family members and their roots.


Trust me, as cute and nice as this devotional time sounds we are still 100% normal. The kids got in an argument, dad had to raise his voice, mom was trying to keep everyones attention and my youngest started to cry over something.   YIKES!


But my point is...we still got the devotion in and managed to have some great discussions. We all walked away understanding God is wanting to do great things with our family tree and roots. We need to anticipate the coming of Gods presence in our family. That is the spirit of advent.


What are your families Christian roots?
What would that family tree look like?
What Christian traditions do you celebrate at Christmas to make Jesus the reason for the season?


God always can make a shoot from a stump. It is never to late, God wants you to grow strong branches and bear much fruit.


MAKE THIS YOUR PRAYER TODAY:
Dear God, when we find our hearts distracted by the busy-ness of this Christmas season, enamor us with the glory and joy of your presence. Let us understand why the birth of Jesus was "good news and great joy." Help us to find our roots in you. allow us to nourish our roots by the watering of your word so we may grow strong personally and grow the faith of our families.

BE REFRESHED FRIENDS,

ADVENT= ADVENTURES WITH GOD

TODAY'S READING

I  chose to zoom in on this passage out of today's daily reading!

Daniel 2:22, "He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness and light dwells with him.

God wants to speak to us throughout the day.

We just have a hard time slowing down long enough to listen.
That's why QUICK daily devotions are perfect to incorporate more of God's Word into our busy schedules.
The devo's here are short enough to fit into those few extra minutes here or there, but powerful enough to help put our focus back on God and what's really important - the "Big Picture."

God's word will begin to reveal mysteries going on in your personal lives. God wants to bring about the deep and hidden things.


I cannot count how many times the WORD of God has helped my husband and I make many life directing and altering decisions. 

The word will speak to you personally and reveal many mysteries in the middle of your financial bondage, broken marriage, sickness, relationships and just daily regular events.

I will honestly admit that if I was not reading the word and discovering the mysteries in my small groups and sunday sermons, I would not be married today. The Word saved my marriage! 

I encourage you to gather your heart around the Word this holiday season.

One  great way to put Christ in the middle of your Christmas is with some advent devotions.

ADVENT means the anticipation of the coming of Christ!

Check out this LINK for a great family or personal devotion to help you walk through the promises and mysteries of Christ birth.

I made a quick, cheap advent wreath and as a family we light the candles at dinner and read a devotion for that day. Each devotion ushers us into Christmas morning.
( I will post pictures of our wreath this week)

This is a great way to keep everything in the right perspective.I know its way to easy for me to loose focus that is why I like to create an opportunity with my family and bring focus to why really celebrate Christmas.

And don't miss those "God moments" when God is using a seemingly unimportant occurance to draw you into a special time with Him. Such times can become special.

God is more than willing to reveal His mysteries to us, if we would simply spend time learning from Him.

If we could easily figure everything out, there would be no need for learning. He gave us amazing things to learn about so that throughout generations of time, people would always have something to search for, always have something to learn.



My family loves ALL that comes with Christmas... the gifts, food, celebrations and more. I want them to also have memories and traditions of wrapping their heart around the mysteries of the gospel during this exciting season.

God came to this world to breath purpose and life into our lives. Let's to learn to seek Him like the wise men did in scripture.

Yes, we can hear from God in a personal, intimate way. The depth of our personal relationship with God is based on intimate communication with Him. He speaks to us so that we are guided, refreshed, restored, and renewed regularly.

Make this your prayer today:
Wonderfully Wise God, we admit your ways are higher than ours and we fail in our ability to understand your great miracles and mysteries. Give us ears to hear and eyes to see that we can marvel with Mary at the wonders of your son Jesus' birth. Do not let the familiarity of the story limit our amazement. Let us pause, consider and be utterly astonished at what you did! Give us faith to believe what you can do--- in us, in others and in the world!
Amen

Blessings,

WHAT IS JOY?

Hello blogging friends! I am so VERY glad to be back!


I took 8 weeks off to write lessons and speak on the book of Nehemiah. I was given a great opportunity to teach at my home church NORTHRIDGE IN PLYMOUTH, MICHIGAN. This was an amazing time with many great women and I thank God for the incredible opportunity to speak the word into so many lives!


With 2012 around the corner, I can only dream big at the greater opportunities God will be providing us all with. I hope to take this journey with you as we read the word daily and begin to watch, hear and touch the greatness of God!
I promise my blogs and inspirations will MOVE you in the direction of Gods goodness for your life!     
Will you join me in the journey?


Something was made so clear to me this morning...


If I have personally HEARD from God, been TOUCHED by Him in my life and SEEN Him with my own eyes working things for the good then my JOY should be FULL, no matter what life has dealt you that week.


I have seen the word JOY everywhere the past month with the Christmas season in the air.


We sing about being joyful and proclaim we have joy.


But the reality is...some live in a personal darkness that is stealing the Joy from their lives.
Christmas can become the most stressful season.
I heard on the news today that Christmas Stress is causing CHRONIC PAIN in so many lives. Doctor visits and medication increases by 80% during the Holiday season.


This makes my heart so sad....

Jesus Christ came to us Christmas morning to DECLARE LIFE and manifest himself to us is real ways. He wants to personally touch our lives and hurts. Christ came that our JOY would increase and be full.


CHRIST came to bring us CHRISTMAS.


I ponder the song that was sang in the Grinch movie called...Where are you Christmas?
the little girl goes on to say "Why can't I find you?" "Why have you gone away?", "Why can't I hear you?". Her world is changing and rearranging she wonders if that means Christmas changes.


Our life is always going to change and rearrange but "Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever!" Hebrews 13:8

In 1 John 1-4 it tells us that fellowship with
God expresses the most intimate kind of relationship.
Joy would increase and our lives would be touched if we only knew Him better. He wants to be included in every activity, every conversation, every problem, and every thought.


A very merry and joyful Christmas is built by sharing your life with God.
A Joyful Christmas does not just show up on Christmas morning wrapped in a package or a greatly decorated home.


God wants to show up and bring you Christmas all year round.
Today's reading declares that we can hear, see and be touched by Christ!

Don't allow the realities of this world to rob your JOY.
Sickness is real, divorce and separation is happening daily, finances are low and jobs are lost. This is a reality for families all around. I want to speak to those friends today...

PRESS into Christ this Christmas and He will make your Joy full.

You cannot be JOYFUL until He makes your JOY FULL!


Point to Ponder: God is real, no matter how I feel


Question to Consider: How can I press into Christ and focus on His presence this Christmas?


Verse: 1 John 1:4 "Truly our fellowship is with is with the father and with His son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your JOY MAY BE FULL."


May your Joy be Full,