Gateways to Joy

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...