Gateways to Joy

The Story Behind (in)couragers We’d been praying for new ways to help the women of the (in)courage community connect more deeply with one another online, and the women who meet up here are the answer to that prayer!  We love the idea of conversations continuing way beyond the comments on a blog post and spilling over into deep, meaningful connections. We believe friendship can transcend time zones, cultures and blog comment boxes.  And we want to connect you with friends who get where you’re at and can encourage you along the way. From this vision the (in)couragers were born . Groups of like-minded women doing life together in small online communities began in the fall of 2012 with great excitement. And we continue to be amazed at the remarkable women who connect, encourage and champion one another in so many walks of life. Ladies, I ask you to consider joining my group.  I will, once again, lead Gateway to Joy group and we will go through Holley Armstrong Ge...

So how are y'all doing with identifying those strongholds? Last time we talked about what strongholds are, today let's look at where they start.  Before we do through, I want to recap what strongholds are.   "A stronghold is anything that exalts itself in our minds." Yes.  The battle begins in our minds first.  In Beth's book, she talks about the goal of warfare as laid out in 2 Corinthians 10:5.   The goal is to steal back our thought life and take it captive to Christ instead. The reason Satan wants to attack our minds is because it is the most effective way to influence our behavior and our thinking. HOW DO WE COMBAT THIS? As believers we must learn to use what God has given us:  our weapons, read Ephesians 6:10-18 to learn about the Christian's weapons. Beth says, "When seeking to demolish a specific stronghold, don't just pray through the list of Scriptures once, unless you experience the rarity of immediate release without sensing an...

If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you know that 2014 is my year to "Make It Happen." I want to really put forth some effort in making some of my goals. . . spiritual, family, health, education and so on . . . happen.  Upon meditating last night I realized that a lot of us have strongholds.  Actually I realized this after meditation on the words that I'd read from Beth Moore's book 'Breaking Free.' After sitting back and examining me, I began to think even more.  We can attempt to do all sorts of things, but for the Christian, if we don't examine ourselves and sincerely work at getting ourselves right with God first, we are working in vain. I am not alluding to us being perfect because we aren't and never will be.  Nor am I saying that if we want God to do this then we must do that... .  But what I am saying is that we cannot live any way we want on purpose and expect God to bless us with the desires of our hearts when w...

Serena Woods video is a must watch! Warning though, be sure to have some tissues with you because you will need it. Looks can be so deceiving and I'm shame to say that I was shocked when I heard Serena's testimony! She doesn't look like she's been through anything that she's described.  I know... what does a person who is hurt looks like?  She looks like me and she looks like you. Watching this there was a load of sorrow that over took me for Serena's childhood.  The words that rang so true for me is what she says being so sorry for something that she's done because she knows how God feels about it. Have you ever been there, sister?  Can you relate?  How did you handle it? Have you done something that you're so incredibly sorry for because you know that it has hurt God? xo, Angela blog subscription  | twitter | facebook

I know you can't believe it right?! This is such a blessings!  I've been thinking since January 1, 2014 that I wanted to start the new year off by reading something from Beth Moore, but I didn't know what. I would like to thank eChristianResources for giving Beth Moore followers such a blessing.  There are so many who have financial hardships who may want a book, but simply can't afford it.  So thank you eChristianResources To get your Beth Moore ebooks, you can go to eChristianResources  blog to download them. Follow my blog with Bloglovin xo, Angela blog subscription  | twitter | facebook

Are you good at memorizing Scripture?  I can memorize it, but I've never done it purposefully.  I've always learned it from just reading and re-reading passages of Scripture. For a while now I've been feeling like something was missing.  I knew year is all about me getting out of my comfort zone, that's why I'm doing the 'make it happen' series for myself this year.  I'm pushing myself to use the gifts and abilities that I think God gave me to see what happens.  There were are so many things that I love and am drawn to but because of fear for one reason or another I wouldn't allow myself to give into using all of my gifts and talents. I realize that there are certainly seasons for using them, but even when I realized the season had approached I still let fear tell me, "I wasn't ready." When I read on Ann Voskamp's blog that she was doing this project I instantly knew that this project of memorizing my Heavenly Father word...

What I've been working on!  I had so much pleasure working on this. How are you making it happen in 2014? xo, Angela blog subscription  | twitter | facebook

I must be truthful with you.  I'm not really one who likes to sit down and write goals.  I never really go back to them, and honestly, usually, I have a habit of forgetting that I've written them down.  So usually I set goals mentally {and forget about many of them that way too}. But a shift is taking place with me.  I've made up my mind about many things that I'm just tired about.  I am starting to see that at some point in my life, I have to take control of the part of my life that God is allowing me to control.  I'm tired of having the same outcome year-after-year because I haven't worked on the goals that I have set for myself inwardly. If you understand what I'm talking about here then I invite you to join me.  There are a lot of things that surrounds me that I want to change, but I realize that nothing is ever going to change for me until I make some resolved inwardly.  Therefore, in setting these goals, I want you to think a...