Gateways to Joy

Hi dear friends, So many of you still write to me asking about Elisabeth Elliot.  She passed away this morning.  Here are a few links that talk about her passing. http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2015/june/died-elisabeth-elliot-missionary-author-gates-of-splendor.html http://www.relevantmagazine.com/slices/elisabeth-elliot-influential-missionary-and-author-died-morning http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/06/15/elisabeth-elliot-has-died-heres-what-the-wife-of-a-martyred-missionary-meant-for-thousands-of-women-like-me/ xo, Angela blog subscription  | twitter | facebook

"Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." ~ Matt 18:3 NRSV I read this verse and thought, "Hm. What does become like a little child mean?" Depend on God?  Depending on God isn't easy.  Sometimes in certain situations it's even easier to say then do. Today when you're going about your day, working, cooking, cleaning, resting, laughing, remember to be like the little child Jesus talks about in Matthew 18:3, and remember no matter how scary the place is where you find yourself today: "God is with you.  God is for you regardless of how many times you've messed up & more importantly, God loves you." Have a great day! xo, Angela blog subscription  | twitter | facebook

Hi this is to let many of you know that I have started a new blog. I plan on starting to write about my devotions here soon, and the things that God is teaching me. I have moved over to www.angelaambroise.com because I talk about a lot more of my passions. I don't post everyday anymore because I have been working hard on making wood signs for my shop, but I do talk about the things I like. So if you get a chance stop on by I would love to hear from you. www.angelaambroise.com xo ~ Angela

Oh it has been a minute or two since we've come together.  I miss you desperately.  These days it seems that I can barely keep my thoughts straight let alone put them down on paper. I hope this post finds all of you doing well.  I am doing so-so, still having problems with my mouth.   Still working at my God-sized dream . For the past few weeks I've been diligently working with my 17 year-old son who has had a lot of questions about the Bible even questioning parts of it. This broke my heart because I felt like I'd fell as a mother--as his mother. " What?!... wait?! Where is all of this coming from Lord?"  I cried out. My son is such a deep thinker.  He thinks of things that have never entered my mind.  He looks at things and reasons in way that are Greek to me.  God is growing me with this child. For the past three weeks we stay up way past 2'o clock reading Chuck Swindoll's study guide, Hope in Hurtful Times !  I can't tell...

I feel so proud to show this to you! Why?  Because normally I would be too afraid to share my work with anyone, but I am conquering my fears! This one is for sale!  If you're interested in buying it email me at: gatewaystojoy@gmail.com, and put "art work" in the subject line. I'm taking custom orders too! So how are you doing with your art work? Are you conquering your fears?

I don't.  I don't feel worthy of my dreams or anything else today. I hate those days when I let someone else dictate my mood.  That's what I'm fighting through right now. I'm not worried though because I know it will pass.  I just hate letting myself get here in the first place.  When I think about it long and hard, the reason, the real reason someone was able to change my demeanor so drastically is because I am feeling unworthy. "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed for His compassions never fail.  They are new every morning.  Great is Your faithfulness." Lamentations 3: 22-23 Regardless of how I feel, God reassures me in my head that I am worthy, thanks to the blood of Jesus and me accepting Him. Friends, no matter what mistakes I make, no matter how many times I fall down, I will get back up and serve God forever.  Hopefully, you will too. Are you feeling unworthy today? I s that fear of unworthiness holding you back...

The last time we were together we talked about fear as a stronghold of us back for going after our God-size dream.  We also said that fear of failure is often the stumbling block to trying. I know for me a lot of times the reason I am scared of failing is because I feel like my skill level is inadequate.  I always end up finding someone who does things that I am trying to do "better than me," and I start to feel inadequate.  Fear by comparison is lethal. Many of you have written me and told me your stories.  I see where you are creative women, mothers-- no different from me, who have put your art on hold in order to care for your family. However, as we are learning, it is hard to squash the want and desire to create for too long when God has gifted you in that area. I've decided to do a couple of breif {15-20 min} tutorials explaining to you to set up a free blog and design a free blog. Many people will tell you to get your own domain.  ...

Right before I got ready to publish this post, I received an email from another blogger, Angela England, whose post I subscribe to.  What caught my attention about this particular post was her title, 'The Power of Exposing Your Dreams.' I opened the email and this was her introduction: "Did you know that a dormant seed is so well protected it can survive for years in a dead-but-not dead, alive-but-not alive state? In fact, kernels of wheat found buried in ancient Egyptian tombs were able to be germinated. The wheat survived for centuries, yet never served its true purpose." We do that with our dreams, don't we?  We keep them safely tucked away and protected in the shell of our minds and hearts in a state of dead, but not dead, alive, but not alive, and no one benefits.  Why do we do this?   Because we're fearful.  Fearful of the unknown, fear of failure. After you read the blog post today, please take time to listen to Alma Loveland and Melani...

"Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others as faithful stewards of God's grace in various forms." 1 Peter 4:10 Are you sharing the gift that you received from God with others friends? Today is a fun post!  I want to share my son's, my youngest boy, art work with you all today. He did this all on his own when he was 8.  He did it at the same time I was learning Photoshop.  Everyday for at least an hour they have to work on something creatively and this is what he did. Sadly I had put it on my computer and didn't find it until two years later {today}.  So he's 10 now. Anyway, I want this to be a place where you can share your dreams, talents, gifts, fears... whatever it is. At the end of this post would you so kindly share in the comments below what you believe your gift to be?  It doesn't have to be anything artsy, and then share your story.  Are you using your gift?  If you are in what way?  If you ar...

Do you still dream?  Seriously. What are they? Have you attempted any of them, even one? Do you plan on pursuing any of your dreams? For weeks, I've been sharing with you how I've finally started, back {after 20 years},thinking about my art, and having my own business.  I put myself out here big time, calling myself an artist, because normally when I think about art I think about those people who can really draw.  I can't draw.  After reading Emily Freeman's book I decided to embrace the talent of art that I feel that God has blessed me with. Even though I was publicly embracing who I was, there was still another problem that I faced.  I've always had aspirations of being an entrepreneur and I still loved writing. Trying to figure out what to pursue and how to pursue it my heart became overwhelmed so I started hitting and missing with writing, blogging, painting, doing my wood signs, graphic designing, and even what I was called to do for my fami...

Are strongholds keeping you in a life of sin and bondage?  Are they holding you back, stopping you from being all that God wants you to be and needs you to be in order to build His kingdom? If you answered yes to these questions, I want to tell you that you already have what you need to resist their calls, lures and temptations.  That is, of course, if you are a child of God. Remember how good you felt when you first accepted Christ? I certainly do.  I was going to be God's favorite girl!  I was going to spend all of my life seeking to please Him.  I felt invincible. {image courtesy of: beginningandend.com} However, after some years, I found myself doing things that I never thought I would do, or doing things that I had left behind years ago.  I was devastated with myself and wondered, "How could this be?"  I was doing that which I didn't want to do. No one, not even Jesus, is exempted from the calls, lures and temptations of sin and b...

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...

How much does mental strength play in your day-to-day activities? Do you believe mental strength is important?  Even more importantly, do you believe mental strength is just as important as physical strength and health? I came across Cheryl Conners coloumn, that was taken from Amy Morin, a licensed clinical social worker and writer, who wrote an article, "Mentally Strong People: the 13 things they avoid." This article really spoke to me because I am finding myself having to put a lot of these actions into play in my own life in order for my business to get off the ground, and for me to be sure I'm grounded just as a human being. There have been many times when I've wanted to cry and give up with my new endeavor, but crying and giving up will only get in the way, set me back, and get me off my goal so I am having to fight with everything in me to stay the course, look fear in the face and tell it to move over.  I'm having to tune out the naysayers and tho...