Trust

My Trust in God is Bigger than MY Fear of the Unknown

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Drawing Near to God

Purpose in each season

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Calling

My good plans, or God’s?

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Calling

NADZAM FAMILY UPDATE

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Fear the Lord

Fear the Lord, NOT Man

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Identity

A house that is not shaken

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Your Voice

The prayers of his daughters

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Identity

I Am Good

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Identity

A letter to my 18 year old self (20 YEARS LATER)

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Identity

Celebrating the fruit

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Identity

I am marvelously made!

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Drawing Near to God

Clean hands and a pure heart

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Your Voice

I have a voice!

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VISION

MISSION

TESTIMONY

Identity

I am marvelously made!

Posted on September 11, 2020

This week, I celebrated my 38th birthday. The eve of my birthday, I was praying and had an abundant sense that the heavens were celebrating over my birth and over the plans God had for my life and how they are coming into fruition. In that moment, a sense of God’s delight in me overflowed from my heart and permeated my entire being. It was the best birthday gift I have ever received.

In the morning, when I woke, that sense of joy and God’s delight and celebration in me was still so evident, that I did something I’ve never done quite in this way before. I paused and took time to pray and thank God for making me. I celebrated with Him over my birth and His beautiful design of me. I felt an abundance of joy as I meditated on who He’s designed me to be. My personality, my giftings, the way I look and my physical appearance, and I rejoiced over how each and every year, He’s significantly transformed me to becoming more and more like the daughter of the King that I am designed to be. And so, I celebrated!  It’s been a JOURNEY! 

It’s not that I don’t have flaws. It’s not that I don’t mess up. Of course I do!  But I don’t dwell on my flaws or mistakes anymore. They don’t drag me down. They don’t propel me into a flurry of comparison, insecurity, or shame. And, without a doubt, I know that with any flaw I have, one of two things will happen:  

  • First, if Jesus needs to make a change, I only have to submit to Him and He will bring forth something good in place of the flaw. He’ll bring forth fruit, wisdom, and strength! He will teach me and grow me. He’s done it before and he’ll do it again. He’s not done with me yet! 
  • Second, it may only be my perspective that makes it appear as a flaw.  There are many perspectives I’ve had of my body and my personality over the years that I perceived was flawed in some way, when in fact, it was actually the perspective that was flawed, not my body or my personality!  

I smile with endearment at some of my “flaws” on my physical body now and rejoice that they tell the story of victory in my life!  My faint stretch marks on my belly and cesarean section scar (2x!)  give testimony of victory over years of infertility.  They testify to God’s provision in my life and tell the story of God’s promises fulfilled with the most incredible gift of my two children!  The early evidence of wrinkles around my eyes speak wisdom and experience. I look back on trials and challenges and think to myself, “Well, that’s where that wrinkle came from!”  But I’m proud of my journey and what God has brought me through.  I no longer look at my life and think “I’ve wasted time” or have shame over mistakes, instead I look at victories and promises fulfilled. I look at all that I’ve conquered through Jesus!  I look at my life as a testimony of God’s goodness!  

I think back to my  junior high and high school self, and the insecurity and uncertainty that followed me. At the time, having only a slight understanding of who God really made me to be. I shake my head thinking, “If only my younger self knew how beautiful she was.”  I can’t even imagine how it would have changed things. But more than anything, “If only my younger self had known it was even possible, and how it was possible, through Jesus, to walk in this much confidence!”  If only I had known, that salvation actually meant freedom – freedom to be me. I had loved Jesus, but I had not understood this part of the freedom that salvation through Jesus Christ brings. The freedom to be unapologetically me is actually necessary to accomplish the work He has for me.  

If only I had known, that salvation actually meant freedom – freedom to be me.

Here’s the beauty of it all.  At 38 years old, God has brought me to a place of confidence where I can truly love myself.  And like myself. Why?  Not out of vanity.  Not out of pride.  Out of a place of rejoicing and admiring His handiwork!  I rejoice and admire His handiwork of His creation that surrounds me all the time, and stare with admiration and praise at the beautiful work of His hand.  I gaze at the vibrant changing trees of this fall season, I ponder the creativity behind the stunning harvest moon. I watch my two children explore with wonder at God’s creation and I get to see it through the eyes of children again!  My heart sings and cries out to our incredible God, at the wonder of His work.  Why should I also not celebrate with him and admire his handiwork in creating me?  

Psalm 139:11-16 (MSG) 
Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
    you formed me in my mother’s womb.
I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking!
    Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
    I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
    you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
    how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
    all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
    before I’d even lived one day.

What fascinates me about this passage is this.  First, David the author of this Psalm, acknowledges that, yes, God made him, inside and out!  Then, he worships God and tells Him that He is breathtaking! Next, he says, body and soul, I am marvelously made!  I worship in adoration – what a creation!  He’s acknowledging God and worshipping Him, then admiring God’s handiwork, of himself!  “High God—you’re breathtaking!” He says, and in the next breath, “I am marvelously made!”  How often do you worship and rejoice in God because of his handwork in making you?  Have you ever actually told God, “I am marvelously made?”  

How often do you worship and rejoice in God because of his handwork in making you?  Have you ever actually told God, “I am marvelously made?”  

You see, it’s not about vanity or pride. It’s about confidence in Him. His ability to bring about in you exactly who he designed you to be! It’s about worshipping the God who fashioned us from nothing.  It’s about seeing yourself in how He sees you.  Not the distorted view that many of us see. And, it’s about knowing that this is possible!  It’s also about knowing that there is freedom from whatever is taking away from you being able to see you truly are marvelously made. God made us more beautiful and marvelous than our minds can even fathom.  God does not make mistakes. God does not mess up in his design.  It truly becomes an act of worship to be able to come before God and say, “I am marvelously made!”  

He chose your gender.  He chose your height.  He chose your eye color, hair color, skin color.  He fashioned your nose, your mouth, your ears.  He created your personality, and He delights over it!  He doesn’t want you to be like anyone else. That actually grieves His heart when we feel like we need to be like someone else.  All of your giftings have a purpose.  Do not let admiration of someone else’s giftings turn to jealousy or comparison that will rob you of what God wants to do through you.  There is more that He wants to do with your personality and giftings than you can ever imagine.  

I have watched with wonder over the years, as through Jesus the confidence in myself grew and flourished – my body, my personality, my giftings – my circle of influence has increased, and I start to see why God made me the way He did.  The reason is this, He has something that only I, with exactly how he created me to be (personality and giftings), can do!  It’s not vanity, it’s not pride, it’s confidence in the God of creation, who knit me in my mother’s womb (Psalm 139:11) and has such good plans for my life (Jeremiah 29:11) He has the same for you my friend!  

Can you imagine, an army of women standing before God, declaring that, “I am marvelously made?!” How powerful that would be to defeat the work of the enemy and the lies he feeds women! What a mighty act of worship that would be unto God! Psalm 68:11 says, “The Lord gives the word; the women who announce the news are a great host“. Let’s be women who announce the news that we truly are a marvelous creation!

My challenge to you is this.  Allow yourself to believe that it is possible for you to love yourself and celebrate who God made you to be. Will it be a process?  Yes.  But I stand before you, 38 years old, and am so incredibly grateful for how far he’s brought me, but at the same time, also recognize that in another 10 years, he’ll have brought me into a greater dimension and fullness of confidence in who he created me to be that I have yet to imagine is possible!  His work is never complete.  It’s never too late for Him.  Come before Him today and just take one step.  Choose just one thing that you can celebrate about yourself, and stand before God in confidence, worshipping Him, and say, “I am marvelously made!”  

Drawing Near to God

Clean hands and a pure heart

Posted on August 30, 2020

I’ve been soaking myself in the psalms lately. Something about the deep cry of the heart, the honest searching and longing from the depths of the Psalms is entirely where my heart has been. Strangely enough, it’s not a book of the Bible that I’ve spent months dwelling mainly in before. The heart wrenching cries for God, exalting Him, praising Him, these beautiful hymns bring soothing to the heart, as the ancient writings from the 10th to 5th century BC resinate and awaken our souls to the majesty of God and the cry from man for God, that has spanned generations.  Songs of thanksgiving, praise, petitions. Songs of ascent and of the majesty of creation!  

Psalm 24 (ESV), one of my favorites Psalms, is a Psalm of David that says , “Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.  He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.”  

David is giving instruction here that is clearly saying, before you come before God, before you come to worship Him and pray to Him, seek to stand in His holy place, you better make sure your hands and heart are pure. This is also necessary in order to receive blessing from the Lord. 

David is giving instruction here that is clearly saying, before you come before God, before you come to worship Him and pray to Him, seek to stand in His holy place, you better make sure your hands and heart are pure. This is also necessary in order to receive blessing from the Lord. 

Why is it so important to do this?  Because we are in process of being sanctified.  The word Sanctification (Gk. hagiasmos) means to make holy, or morally and spiritually pure, separated from evil and dedicated to God, consecrated. To be sanctified means we have to be separated from sin.  It is a process, that because of Jesus Christ’s victory over death on the cross, we are set free from sin’s power.  He died so that we can be freed by Him, but now we must choose to live in the freedom He provided. (Romans 6:18).  Daily, we have to examine our hearts and cry out to the Holy Spirit to search us, to purify us, and continue this process of sanctification.  

Think of all the interactions and things that happen throughout your day that can start off as a tiny seed in your mind and then take root in your heart.  How many opportunities do we have to take offense or get angry? Someone cut you off while you were driving.  You had to wait in a long line. The cashier was rude to you when you checked out. Someone didn’t return your text or your phone call.  Someone didn’t like your post on facebook. Your spouse didn’t tell you they loved you today. What about relationships at church?  Relationships at work?  Your family? We are balancing so many relationships and interactions that absolutely require the work of the Holy Spirit to continuously empower us to walk in purity and righteousness. 

And this isn’t just about the “big” sins. And I say “big” in quotes because our human minds love to try and measure and judge the level of sins committed.  What I mean is keeping a pure heart isn’t just about the “big” or “obvious” sins of not lying, committing adultery, or murder.  It’s about diligently keeping our hearts pure, especially from the sneaky sins that can hide in our hearts. These types of sins take consistent tending on our part to guard our heart and stay pure!  We have to continually pull those bitter roots out so those weeds don’t spread. They are also the types of sins that the enemy loves, because of how quickly those weeds can spread and wreak havoc in our hearts! 

God is holy.  He is pure.  And we are humans who, because of sin in our lives, need a savior to make a way for us to have access to God.  And it’s only through Jesus Christ that we have the power over sin in our life, which is why we must daily keep our hearts pure.  God made a way through Jesus Christ for us to access Him, to “ascend the hill of the Lord”, but we have to allow the continuation of the Holy Spirit to purify us as we continue up the mountain towards him, or it will allow an opportunity for the devil!  

Paul says to the church in Ephesus in 4:26-27 “…do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.”  Clearly there is some direction here on the necessity for us to examine our hearts DAILY if we are to not let the sun go down upon our anger or we will give opportunity to the devil!  

Also, in 4:31-32, he says, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along will all malice.  Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”  

The MSG translation says it this way, “Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.”

The Passion translation says this, “Lay aside bitter words, temper tantrums, revenge, profanity, and insults.”

Between these three translations, this is a pretty thorough list!  And it’s all summed up at the end, forgive one another as God in Christ forgave you.  We have to make a choice to forgive.  It’s not a feeling, it’s not an emotion, it’s a choice.  And only once we make that choice can our healing begin. How can we be followers of Christ and be burdened and imprisoned by unforgiveness?  It’s the very trap the enemy wants you to get in so he can chain you to the bitterness that will grow rampant in your heart.  How can you ascend the hill of the Lord when you are chained to bitterness, anger, and unforgiveness in your heart?  

In Psalm 51:10, David writes, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. 

Somehow, it seems, even though the Psalms are quoted and used immeasurably, the cry to “create in me a clean heart” and “wash me thoroughly from my iniquity” (Psalm 51:2) aren’t quite on the top of the list. I don’t see many magnets or posters with Psalm 51:2 on them! Interestingly enough though, the words “iniquity” and “iniquities” are actually listed almost 60 times in the Psalms!  Iniquity is just another word for sin.  So that list from Ephesians 4:31-32 is Paul warning us from allowing iniquity in our lives. He says, “put it away” from us. 

We love to gravitate towards the majestic Psalms, or the Psalms that speak of God rescuing us and being our help, such as Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd…” or Psalm 121:1 “I lift up my eyes to the hills.  From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”, which are beautiful and stunning, but we forget the importance of recognizing iniquity in our lives on a daily basis so we can become more like the very one in whom we stand in awe of, that the Psalms so beautifully glorifies, the creator of the heavens and the earth!  

…we forget the importance of recognizing iniquity in our lives on a daily basis so we can become more like the very one in whom we stand in awe of, that the Psalms so beautifully glorifies, the creator of the heavens and the earth!  

David was said to be a Man after God’s own heart, so I would suggest if we want any chance at seeking the heart of God, it would be good for us to heed his advice and recognize the importance of clean hands and pure hearts. 

“Prove me, oh Lord, and try me; test my heart for integrity …” is David’s cry in Psalm 26. 

One of the greatest acts of worship you can do before the Lord is to forgive those who have trespassed against you and to submit your heart before Him to be purified and cleansed. Do away with unforgiveness, resentment, anger, bitterness, wrath, jealousy and slander.    

In Matthew 5:8 Jesus says during the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”  

Perhaps you’ve wondered why you haven’t seen your breakthrough or have felt stuck in moving forward.  It very well may be that the Lord is calling you to cleanse your heart. If you daily do away with iniquities in your heart and keep your heart pure before the Lord, you will make a way for His blessing in your life!  

Pray with me.  Father God, search me and know me. Examine my heart, I submit to you to make known to me any iniquity, any unforgiveness, wrath, anger, resentment, jealousy…anything that is unclean. I lay it down before you.  Let me be one who will ascend your hill and see your glory come through me! 

Hearing God

My sheep hear my voice

Posted on July 21, 2020

Lately I’ve been thinking about how many of God’s daughters go around listening to the voice of the enemy because it’s a familiar voice to us.  Lies that have been whispered into our being for a very long time, that have become so innate to our minds and our ways.  Lies that we’ve started to think are just our thoughts, they’ve just become what’s normal for us. 

The reason I recognize this is because I’ve been there!  I’ve had patterns and thoughts that were so normal for me that I didn’t even realize I was doing it.  Thoughts of insecurity and feelings of anxiety were norms for me.  Because of this I sought, for many years, to find things to cover up these feelings.  The problem is, there is nothing that can cover up the lies and feelings. No matter how hard you try to cover them up, they are still there.

How I learned to overcame this was by learning to run to Jesus’ voice and to flee from the voice of the enemy. As I learned what Jesus’ voice sounded like, I craved it!  It was the voice of peace, the voice of love!  The voice of restoration and freedom! I then began to recognize that the thoughts and feelings I’d lived with for so long, were not of him!  It takes practice, diligence, and effort on your part to run to Jesus.  You can’t sit complacent.  You can’t sit as a victim.  You have to actively run towards Jesus. By doing this, you flee from the enemy and when those lies try to chase you down, you take them captive and bring them into obedience to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:5) 

You have to actively run towards Jesus. By doing this, you flee from the enemy and when those lies try to chase you down, you take them captive and bring them into obedience to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:5) 

My question for you is this, do you recognize the lies of the enemy in your life?  Or have you grown so used to hearing his voice that you allow the whispers to permeate your mind?  Familiar thought patterns, familiar feelings.  Anxiety, shame, inferiority, failure, insecurity, self doubt, anger, resentment.  Do any of these sound familiar to you?  

Hearing the Voice of Jesus
The Bible says that Jesus is our shepherd and we are his sheep.  That means that he protects us and watches over us.  He guides us and speaks to us to tell us where to go, tells us what is safe and what is not.  

John 10:27 AMP says, “The sheep that are My own hear My voice and listen to Me; I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they will never, ever [by any means] perish; and no one will ever snatch them out of My hand.”

I love the picture here of the good shepherd. Jesus says, “The sheep that are My own…”  So first, he is saying, the sheep that are mine hear my voice.  Once we choose to follow Jesus, to make him our Lord and Savior, he says that you are his and that you hear him! If we hear him, that means he’s speaking to us. Isn’t that amazing?  Jesus is speaking to us all the time, and he wants us to listen to him!  

So the question for you is, are you only listening to the voice of Jesus, the good shepherd? The one who leads us out of danger and leads you in peace?  Or are you still listening to the familiar voice of the enemy that feeds lies?

Being Born Again and Becoming Spiritual Babes
I have two children, ages 5 and 2.  What amazed me when they were born is knowing that they could recognize my voice!  Studies show that babies start to recognize their mother’s voice around month 8 or 9 in the womb!  So even before they are born, they recognize the sound of their mother’s voice. That is such an incredible design that God designed to happen so naturally.  Of course the security and love that a mother’s voice brings is only further established once they are born.  By the time a baby’s separation anxiety kicks in around 8 months old, they have completely established that my mother is a safe place. If I hear her voice, I am safe and I will run towards it – or technically crawl, but you get the picture!

So, what does this have to do with following Jesus? Well, in John chapter 3, Jesus tells Nicodemus, who was a leader among the Pharisees, that you can not see the kingdom of God, unless you are born again.  We become spiritual babes.  We start as spiritual infants who for the first time, our eyes are opened to who Jesus is, the good shepherd, that voice of peace and safety.  And our EARS opened up to hear this voice. Remember, he says in John 10:27 that his sheep that are his own hear his voice and listen!  

Just like babies know their mother is the safe place to be, they have learned to recognize her voice and stay near her, we, as children of God, need to learn to recognize his voice. The mistake many of us make is, unlike our physical children who learn by 8 months their mother is the safe place, many of us have heard the voice of the enemy for so long that it becomes background noise, and we don’t flee from it!  We start to hear and recognize the voice of Jesus when we are born again, but many of us allow the voice of the enemy to remain. 

This creates a vicious cycle of thoughts and patterns, where we continually allow the voice of the enemy into our minds – in the disguise of familiarity. He easily makes it feel like this is “normal” or just “our own thoughts”.  He is a deceiver and disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). One way he does this by making us believe our negative thoughts that he actually feeds us are perfectly normal and acceptable. This is extremely dangerous because we can’t grow in spiritual maturity if we continually allow the voice of the enemy in and don’t learn how to take authority over it!

Just like babies know their mother is the safe place to be, they have learned to recognize her voice and stay near her, we, as children of God,
need to learn to recognize his voice.

What if our physical children didn’t learn the difference between the voice of their mother (or father) and a stranger?  There would not be trust developed to allow them to grow spiritually in the confidence of a son or daughter. There is an assurance and trust in the relationship between a baby and its parents which is necessary for the child to grow in confidence and hear the voice that will encourage, affirm, speak identity, and also guide the child. It’s the same way for us, as children of God.  If we don’t learn to stop listening to the voice of the enemy and learn to only listen to the voice of Jesus, we remain spiritually stunted.  

Moving towards Jesus 
Jesus also says in John 10:27 that we follow him. If we follow him, that requires movement!  Repenting is a part of receiving salvation, and when we repent we turn away from our old ways of doing things and we run and move towards Jesus. That means we have to move from the voice of the enemy, the voice that even though it was not a voice of peace, it was familiar to us, and we need to run to the voice of Jesus.  The voice that brings peace, healing, freedom, and our true identity as a daughter of the king.  

The goal of the enemy is that we don’t move closer to Jesus, and that he drowns out the voice of Jesus, who is the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE (John 14:6).  We become stuck in a place in between the voice of Jesus and the voice of the enemy.  He paralyzes us from moving forward in all that God has planned for our life.  How devastating! If we can not learn to recognize and stop the voice of the enemy, we become paralyzed and miss out on so much that God has for us!  So much freedom comes from taking authority over that voice of fear!

Far too many of God’s daughters are stuck in either a place of victimhood or complacency.  When you’re being a victim, you blame your situation on others’ wrongs, and there’s not a whole lot you feel motivated to do because you always blame others.  Also, equally dangerous is getting stuck in a place of complacency, with no motivation to take active part in the authority you have over the enemy!  Listen, we are in an active spiritual battle, there is no room for complacency or victimhood!  

Listen, we are in an active spiritual battle,
there is no room for complacency or victimhood!  

What do we do?
It takes practice to learn to recognize the patterns our minds have become trapped in.  The thoughts that have become a familiar and worn path.  It’s personally taken me years to overcome and make NEW PATHS, but Jesus has given us the power and authority to do this!  

2 Corinthians 10:5 says, We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.  

So how do we do this?  When we learn Jesus’ voice, it teaches us what his voice is not.  Then we take it captive and say no more!  I will only listen to Jesus and what he says. We have to take thoughts captive to obey Christ.  To his truth!  We need to make a decision to move towards and only listen to the voice of truth! 

When we learn Jesus’ voice, it teaches us what his voice is not. 

Listening to the truth of Jesus means you stand on the Word of God!  Once you recognize the lie for what it is, you must find scriptures that declare the truth. When those thoughts come, you stop them and start declaring truth over yourself. This is the process of bringing lies into obedience to Christ!  This is running to Jesus!  

Friend, you are more than a conqueror through Christ Jesus (Romans 8:37)!  The cross is all the power you need to bring those thoughts captive and stand as a beautiful conqueror in freedom, moving towards Jesus and your beautiful destiny that he has for your life! 

I challenge you to ask Jesus to reveal to you when the thoughts you’re partnering with are not of him. Pay attention to thoughts that don’t bring peace and bring instead – anxiety, fear, comparison, inferiority, shame, anger, resentment. Don’t ever come into agreement and partner with those lies. You are not an anxious person, you don’t have to live believing “it’s just who you are”!  Far too many of God’s daughters walk around believing the lies of the enemy and that it’s “just who they are”. There is freedom available by the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. It’s time to RUN towards Jesus.  

Pray with me .
Jesus, teach me to recognize when I am listening to a voice that is not of you. I want to live my life like John 10:27 says.  I want to be a sheep that hears your voice and runs to you.  Teach me to take authority over thoughts that don’t bring your truth and to bring them captive to obey you.  Amen! 

Calling

God delights in qualifying you!

Posted on July 11, 2020

One of my five year old son’s favorite movies is Disney’s Cars.  And not only is there one Cars movie, there are three!  I have to admit, it’s one of my favorite Disney movies.  It’s the story of Lightning McQueen,  a young and fast rookie race car who learns the hard lesson that having friends and being kind are more important than winning a race.  Cars 2 takes Lightning McQueen on an adventure to races in Tokyo, Japan and Italy, and England.  Then in Cars 3, we see a much older Lightning McQueen.  He’s had a long and successful career, but isn’t ready to retire yet. There is a younger, newer and faster race car named Jackson Storm, and Lightning realizes he needs help to prepare for a race against him. He gets matched up with a young race trainer named Cruz Ramirez. 

Cruz and Lightning don’t see eye to eye at first, Lightning isn’t very fond of Cruz’s new high tech methods of training.  Over time we see a friendship develop, and over time it becomes evident that Cruz is actually supposed to be a racer, not a trainer.  She never planned to just sit on the sidelines and be a trainer for other cars, she used to dream to race!

Then, the unimaginable happens!  During a practice race, Cruz beats Lightning!  Lightning is a little taken back by this at first, but he soon realizes that this Cruz truly is a race car.  It’s just that she’s been told her whole life that she isn’t, even though she had always dreamed of being a race car.  She’s also been placed in a position that is below her calling.  

Cruz has started to believe lies.  She was built and designed to be a race car.  It’s her destiny and her calling so to speak (in a car world of course)  Somewhere along the way though, her true identity, that she was built and designed to be a race car, was compromised.  She started believing the lies being spoken to her.  She was never meant to stay in the position of race car trainer.  

The Mighty Call on Your Life
I’m so strongly gripped with how often this happens to God’s daughters.  Every single one of you has a mighty, mighty calling.  And when I say mighty, I don’t necessarily mean the most visible calling.  I mean a mighty calling that is powerful because he that is in you is greater than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4).  It’s mighty because of the confidence we are meant to have in God’s calling, God’s placement, and God’s destiny in our lives.  It is a unique position, that God designed for you, from the moment of conception!  Just like Cruz was built to be a race car, God has built you for your destiny and purpose, from your mother’s womb (Psalm 139:16), he created you to be a racer.  To run your race.  

The author of Hebrews (AMP) says it this way in chapter 12:1-3…
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [who by faith have testified to the truth of God’s absolute faithfulness], stripping off every unnecessary weight and the sin which so easily and cleverly entangles us, let us run with endurance and active persistence the race that is set before us, [looking away from all that will distract us and] focusing our eyes on Jesus, who is the Author and Perfecter of faith [the first incentive for our belief and the One who brings our faith to maturity], who for the joy [of accomplishing the goal] set before Him endured the cross, disregarding the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God [revealing His deity, His authority, and the completion of His work].

Just consider and meditate on Him who endured from sinners such bitter hostility against Himself [consider it all in comparison with your trials], so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

What is so key in this verse is where it says, ‘stripping off every unnecessary weight and the sin which so easily and cleverly entangles us’, and ‘looking away from all that will distract us’.  Many of us set out to run our race and have our eyes set on Jesus, to ‘consider and meditate on Him’.  But we forget that the Bible tells us that during our race, we have to actively be stripping off every unnecessary weight and sin which so easily and cleverly entangles us.  Wow.  So EASILY and CLEVERLY entangles us!  And, we are told to look away from all that will distract us.  

The Great Accuser
The enemy is the great accuser and a great liar.  He knows if he can distract you from who God made you to be, a mighty daughter of the king who is equipped and prepared to run the race set before you, that you will shrink back and take your eyes off of Jesus.  Watch from the side lines. Watch everyone else running their race and think things like this, “Those dreams I used to have must not have been from God,  I just don’t see how this could possibly happen.” Or “Wow, I thought I was called to (insert your dream here) but I’ll never be as qualified as that person is!”  By declaring those lies and believing those things of yourself, you’ve just come into agreement with Satan’s accusations against you.  

To understand how Satan works against God’s people, you must understand how he operates.  Revelation 12:10 states the following:

“Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.” 

Ladies, hear this.  The enemy is an accuser that will accuse you and disqualify you, even before you begin. It says he accuses us day and night!  He doesn’t stop, which means we always have to be on guard of the fiery darts of lies he is sending our way. He entangles us by entangling our mind with his lies.  If we bite into his lies and take our eyes off of Jesus and the authority and victory we have as daughters of the king and joint heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17), then we began to watch the race from the sidelines.  We don’t think we are qualified to join in the race.  But if we recognize that the lie the enemy is feeding us are intentionally trying to get us to stay out of the race, we can learn to take those thoughts captive to Jesus!  (2 Corinthians 10:5)

Colossians 2:15 says, “And having disarmed the powers and authorities [Satan’s whole evil kingdom], he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”  

Jesus disarmed the powers and authorities of Satan’s whole evil kingdom, his lies have no power over us if we take them captive and make them come into obedience with the power and victory of the cross!  

Who are you?
You must instead align your mind with the truth of the word of God, who does he say you are?  You are more than a conqueror (Romans 8:37)!  You are chosen (1 Peter 2:9)!  You are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17)!  You are his workmanship (Ephesians 2:10)!  You are a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19)!  You are a daughter of God (Romans 8:14)!   

It is he that qualifies you for the race, not yourself.  Don’t let the lies of the enemy disqualify you from even beginning the race he has set before you! It’s not by your own power that you are qualified, it’s his power (the Holy Spirit) through you (Zechariah 4:6).  If you disqualify yourself you are saying his power isn’t enough to work through you. Do you really want to stand before Jesus and say that you didn’t believe his power was strong enough to work through you to bring forth your destiny?  

Do you really want to stand before Jesus and say that you didn’t believe his power was strong enough to work through you to bring forth your destiny?  

Seasons of Training
What’s interesting and very important about Cruz Ramirez is that it’s not a bad thing that she was placed in a position as a trainer – for a season.  We are to walk in our calling in confidence and humility (but not false humility), which means we need to go through seasons of training.  But these seasons of training are not meant to restrain us, they are meant to train us! 

Cruz had fallen into the trap that because she was placed as a trainer, that that was her identity.  You see, she had forgotten the identity that her maker had given her.  She was a car designed and built to be a racer, not a trainer.  But instead, she lost sight of what her maker said, and she believed what everyone else said.  She missed the opportunity of her assignment that was meant to prepare her. So the very assignment that was supposed to train her into strength so she would have victory and success when her opportune time came to race, tricked her into believing for much less than the ultimate destiny she was meant to have.  

These seasons of training are not meant to restrain us,
they are meant to train us! 

You see, Cruz was strategically placed around successful race cars to help them achieve their destiny, and to learn what it was like to be a race car.  She needed to be around the track so to speak.  We see this many times in the Bible, the most obvious one is King David.  He had literally been anointed as the next King of Israel, but it was unbeknownst to the current king of Israel, King Saul.  Once anointed to be the next king, David is then positioned to serve the current king and play music for him.  While doing this he “learns the ropes” and he gets an inside perspective of the life of a king. 

It was training! Strengthening! David grew in strength and wisdom, but only because he submitted himself to the process. If David would have doubted God’s anointing in his life and taken his eyes off of his race, the training would have been wasted and he may have missed it and never become king. Instead, he placed his trust in God, trusted that he was called, he was positioned, and he was anointed to be the next king of Israel, no matter what his current circumstances seemed to appear in the natural!  That was David’s race that was set before him! Cruz, on the other hand, had let the views and opinions of others who didn’t see her as a racer to become her identity, and she took her eyes off of her race and she believed that all she would ever be was a trainer.  

The Real Reason Satan Tries to Distract You
The good news for Cruz is that she crossed paths with Lightning McQueen.  Lightning saw in that moment of a practice race that Cruz was really a racer, not a trainer.  He recognized her true identity and purpose.  When it comes time for Lightning’s race against Jackson Storm, he gets part way through the race, then he knows what he has to do, he puts Cruz in to race for him!  

At first Cruz is a little uncertain, makes a few wild moves, but with Lightning’s coaching from the pit, she soon catches up to Jackson Storm.  This is the key moment, she is neck and neck with him!  She is racing her race!  Then the unthinkable happens.  Exactly what Hebrews 12:1-3 says, Jackson Storm feeds her lies that easily and cleverly entangle her mind and she is distracted. 

Jackson Storm pulls up next to her, “Hey costume girl. You look the part, can’t have everyone thinking you don’t deserve to be here.  They don’t need to know what you and I already do. That you can play dress up all you want, but you’ll never be one of us.”  

Cruz, obviously distraught and feeling insecure, slows down.  Quickly, Lightning responds from the pit, “Cruz, did you see what happened there?”  “Yeah,” she replies, “he’s in my head.”  “NO!” Lightning says.  “Listen to me.  You’ve gotten into his head.  Don’t you understand?!  He would never have done that if you didn’t scare him!  He sees something in you that you don’t see in yourself! You made me believe it, now you got to believe it too!  You are a racer!  Use that!”

What is it that Lightning is telling Cruz to use?  If Jackson didn’t think Cruz was a threat, he wouldn’t be wasting his time trying to tell her lies.  If Satan didn’t think YOU were a threat, that your destiny was a threat, he wouldn’t waste time trying to tell YOU lies! 

If Satan didn’t think YOU were a threat, that your destiny was a threat,
he wouldn’t waste time trying to tell YOU lies! 

Cruz realizes what Lightning says is true, and she pulls ahead, right behind Jackson, she sees her move to win the race and she pulls next to him.  He responds by quickly pinning her to the wall.  “You don’t belong on this track!” Jackson yells at her.  Cruz, finally in full confidence, complete identity as a race car, shouts out, “YES I DO!” as she flips out from the wall and over Jackson, lands on the track, and wins the race.  

Do you realize, that like Cruz, the enemy feeds you lies because you are a threat to him, and you have a mighty calling to advance the kingdom of God – to run your race set before you? You are not called to sit on the side lines!

Here is my prayer for you.  That you would be so confident with your calling to run the race set before you that every time Satan tries to tell you that you don’t belong on the track, you shout out “YES I DO!”  and use the sword of truth to declare who you are in Christ!  Are you ready to step in?  Are you ready to silence the lies, once and for all?  Let me be the Lightning McQueen in your life.  You, beautiful daughter.  You belong in this race!

Pray with me. 
Father God, I don’t want to sit on the sidelines, I want to run the race you set before me!  Draw me close to you and teach me to recognize the lies of the enemy.  Help me recognize what isn’t your truth. Bring your living Word to life within my being, may it permeate my heart and my mind.  In Jesus’ mighty name.  Amen!

Your Voice

I have a voice!

Posted on July 7, 2020

A couple years ago, I was in church.  My infant daughter and I were in the “Mother’s Nursing Room”, which was really just a storage room off of the gymnasium where our church was meeting at the time.  I had just nursed her, and I was cradling her and bouncing her in her carrier.  I had the door cracked so I could hear what was going on in the service.  Our pastor was challenging our congregation to ask God where he was calling us, “Is there a nation God is putting on your heart?”  

I waited and listened for God to speak.  You see, I have a heart for the nations.  A burning heart.  Ever since I was a young girl, I remember the sponsor children my mom would have up on our fridge.  I remember donating many of my toys to send to children overseas.  “Are you sure you want to give all of these?”  My mom asked me, making sure I knew what I was doing, but at the same time I’m sure she was proud of my generosity.  I nodded reassuringly, “Yes.”  I knew there were many children who didn’t have anything, and I was happy to give what I had to help them. 

In my teen years I had the opportunity to travel on month long mission trips to Panama and the Philippines, then traveled to Bangladesh after college.  Each trip burned in my heart God’s love for the nations and my call to do something about it.  I had plans and dreams to become a missionary some day.

Then I had had a season late in high school and college where I struggled with identity, and in that season some of the vision and dreams God had placed inside of me had felt far away. But God is so faithful, and as he restored and healed my heart, he renewed the fire within me for my calling at the same time.  I started carrying many “spiritual babies”, that I held on to and nourished for a long season. Some of you know what I’m talking about, “spiritual babies” are like spiritual dreams and destiny that God puts inside of you to care for and believe in until the right opportunity where he releases or births those “spiritual babies”.  

So, here I was, in the storage room, bouncing and cradling my physical baby, Grace, in her carrier as she fussed, walking in circles and straining to hear in the service.  “Is there a nation that God is putting on your heart?”  I paused and listened, because I knew God had already instilled in me a heart for the nations, from such a young age, and he’d been renewing that desire in my heart for many years now, so I wouldn’t have been surprised if he had whispered a nation to my heart that day. So I listened and waited. Then I heard the sweet voice of the Holy Spirit whisper to my heart.  “Save my daughters.”  I nodded my head as I started feeling the familiar feeling of the burning fire of the Holy Spirit within my gut. I heard it again, and this time my heart beat faster still and the fire within me grew hotter. “Save my daughters.”  I knew this obviously wasn’t a nation, but it was clearly the answer God had for me and I knew with complete certainty that it was the Holy Spirit. I nodded as tears streamed down my cheeks and landed on Grace’s dark full head of wavy hair.  “Yes Lord. Yes, I will!”.  

As I said yes, I saw women flash through my mind.  Women in nations overseas, women in our own nation, women young and women old.  Women who were being kept in bondage and restricted. Lost. Alone.  Women who had been physically and sexually abused, women who had been emotionally abused, and also women who had been deceived for far too long by lies of the enemy.  I saw God’s daughters who had been restricted and held back from the call that God had on their lives.  Women who had been limited from their destiny, their ability to use their giftings, and from their calling.  “Jami, I need to release my daughters.”

Now, I want to be clear, this wasn’t a new revelation for me.  As God had been taking me through that season of healing and restoration after I had struggled with identity during my college years, he had begun to reveal some of my calling to me, specifically, he’d been putting on my heart his daughters.  I had been receiving great revelation of his heart for his daughters. That was one of those “spiritual babies” I had carried with me for a long time. I’d been sensing it for a number of years at this point,  but in this exact moment I couldn’t deny the clarity of his voice.  

The Voice of His Daughter’s Being Stolen
As I’ve gone through my own personal healing journey, one of the most significant things God has done for me has been to restore my voice.  For many years I had felt like it had been stolen from me and like I didn’t have much of a voice left.  But God has brought forth my voice again, through his breath of life.  Without it, I would not be able to walk out God’s destiny for my life. 

As God restored my voice, I began to realize that God’s daughter’s voices being stolen from them is not at all uncommon.  As I began to allow God open up my eyes to his heart for the issue, it became so evident. Do you realize how common it is for women to walk in insecurity, comparison, feelings of inferiority or inadequacy?  Be honest with yourself, are those issues you deal with? How about how many women are told they don’t have a place to use their voice? Some are not allowed to teach or lead. Or how many women are trapped in bondage, either through emotional or abusive relationships, or literally held in bondage, or in sex slavery, as many women are around the world and in our own nation?  Women are being silenced. Their voices are being stolen.

The problem with the enemy stealing the voices of God’s daughters is that God needs his daughters to use their voices to bring his glory!  That was his design from the very beginning! He has very specific assignments for his daughters, and he needs them to be released to do it!

Lee Grady, founder of an organization called, “The Mordecai Project”, that since 2003 has been confronting the abuse of women and girls globally, said this at a conference I attended recently.  “There are certain things that will not change until women step into battle.”  Why is that?  Well, because God tells us to pray for his kingdom to come.  Matthew 6:9-10 says we are to pray like this, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (emphasis added)

If we are to pray for his kingdom to come and be vessels in which he does it, we all must be able to walk forth in this! Women are created in the image of God, we are designed to be vessels that his love flows out of to reflect him!  His love!  His love that he purposed to flow through the beautiful vessels that women are.  So if women aren’t released or willing to be walking in their part to bring forth God’s kingdom on earth, then there are some things that won’t be fixed.  It’s that simple. Because we need the fullness of who God is to restore the earth.  We have work to do!  

What is beautiful about God’s design of male and female, is that when they come together, in unity, we see the fullness of God’s glory on earth! We are both designed so beautifully in his image, reflecting his character in different ways. Why else would we see the enemy attack, so strategically, the very union God had designed for men and women to come together to reflect the fullness of God himself, in the holy covenant of marriage? Divorce rates have skyrocketed due to selfish convenience, and the very godly design of marriage has been attacked so heavily in this season! Satan knows, if he can break marriages up, or redefine marriage, he is attacking the fullness of the image of God that it is intended to portray.

Additionally, he hates when men and women, as a whole, come together in unity to bring forth the kingdom of God! So he pivots women against men in anger and blame, and men against women. Each thinking the other is the problem. So he creates division. Creates strife. Creates victimhood. Creates ideology of superiority (for either gender). Listen, daughters of God, contrary to what the world may tell you, the enemy is not men. They are our partners! The Bible makes it very clear that the enemy is not flesh in blood! (Ephesians 6:12)

Instead of walking in anger, division, or victimhood, we are called to look to Jesus Christ to bring forth unity, and to trust him alone to bring forth our voices to bring him glory! This can only be done by his power through us! (Zechariah 4:6) We need to stand up against the enemy’s attack on women which tries to keep them from moving into position, from using their voice, from having unity with men in their marriages, in the church and in all areas! You must remember who the enemy is! (1 Peter 5:8)

God’s Heart Breaks for His Daughters
God loves his daughters and he sees the way at which the enemy is strategically attacking them. He’s looking for those of us who will have his eyes to see and recognize this. You also must remember this very important detail, the devil wouldn’t attack women so strategically if he didn’t realize what a threat we are to him. Your voice is a mighty tool!

  • Today, in India, girls and women are discriminated against and murdered, just because they are female. More girls and women have been discriminated against and killed in the past century than any other modern-day genocide. (Invisible Girl Project)
  • 1 in 5 women is a victim of rape or attempted rape in her lifetime (U.N. Development Fund for Women)
  • On average, one girl is aborted in India, every minute, just because she is a girl. (Invisible Girl Project)
  • Infanticide is so widely practiced in India, that little girls in India are 75% more likely to die than little boys. When a daughter is born, family members may kill the baby girl, just because she is a girl.
  • The average age a teen enters the sex trade in the US is 12 to 14 years old. Many victims are runaway girls who were sexually abused as children. (DoSomething.org)
  • According to UNICEF’s June 2019 report, 12 million girls are married before they turn 18 every year, and, and in the developing world, one in nine girls is married before they turn 15. Around the world, 650 million girls and women alive today were married before they were 18.
  • Each year, millions of girls in poverty are kept out of school. Instead, many are forced to stay home and work, while others are made to marry and bear children before they are physically or emotionally ready. (https://www.wvi.org/1000-girls)
  • It is estimated that more than 200 million girls and women alive today have undergone female genital mutilation in the countries where the practice is concentrated. It can cause severe bleeding and problems urinating, and later cysts, infections, as well as complications in childbirth and increased risk of newborn deaths. (World Health Organization)

I understand this list is painful to read.  It’s just a very small fraction of the many difficulties that God’s daughters face. But it’s necessary to see what’s happening. To his beautiful image bearers.  So, when God told me that Sunday morning, as I paced that storage room while bouncing my daughter Grace, my salty tears streaming down my face, that he wants me to “save his daughters”, and he needs to, “release his daughters”, honestly I didn’t and still don’t fully know what this encompasses and what it looks like.  But I know that he needs those of us who are willing to be used, to stand up and lead the charge to bring forth change and bring forth a mighty army of women.  Women who are confident in knowing who they are, knowing they are daughters of the king, and that they have a purpose, a destiny and a calling.  Women who are not afraid to speak, and women who are not afraid to do what it takes to have their voice restored through the fullness and power of the Holy Spirit.  

Lord, I want to be your voice!
So here is my question to you, dear sisters.  Are you willing to stand up and say, “Lord, use me!  I want to be your vessel, I want to be your voice!”?  God has such destiny and amazing plans for each of you (Jeremiah 29:11). 

2 Chronicles 16:9 says this, “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.” Did you know God is searching throughout the earth to actually show strong support to those who seek him with their whole hearts?  Who are willing to say, “Use me Lord!”  no matter the risk?  Those who are willing to go through the process of healing and restoration, so that they can have a voice that can be used to bring him glory?!!  And when he finds those precious ones, he will show strong support and favor upon them.  Don’t you long to be one!? One he bestows favor and strong support upon?

Don’t you long to be one!? One he bestows favor and strong support upon?

He has a destiny waiting for you and your voice. He had one from your mother’s womb. (Psalm 139:13-16) You have your own unique calling.  Different from mine.  If you were asked that same question that I was asked on that Sunday morning, maybe God would have whispered a nation into your heart.  Maybe he would have whispered your city’s name, or a different city he wants to send you to.  Maybe he would have whispered your career – some of you have great callings in your career and God wants to use you in mighty ways.  Maybe he would have said it’s being a mom and a wife in this season.  Maybe he would have called you to fight one of those horrific attacks against women on the list I shared with you.

Honestly, the possibilities are endless.  Our callings span as wide as the vastness of his kingdom.  All unique, all intended to have their own place in his mighty army. And each calling has different seasons and assignments within it.  But it’s your calling.  No one else has a calling quite like yours, and no one else has a voice that was designed to say the things God needs you to say in exactly the way you need to say them. In your voice. In your tone.  Don’t let the enemy steal your calling. Don’t let him steal your voice.

No one else has a calling quite like yours, and no one else has a voice
that was designed to say the things God needs you to say
in exactly the way you need to say them.

Loren Cunningham, founder of “Youth with a Mission”, says this in his book, Why Not Women, “Your greatest satisfaction will come as you submit to God and fulfill the purpose you were created for.  God has gifted you to do what He has called you to do.  He’s not unjust.  He would never ask you to do something without giving you the ability to accomplish it, nor would He give you a gift and then tell you to never use it.”  

Here’s my prayer for you today. I pray that you’ll be brave enough to go to him for healing and restoration. In your being, in your marriage, in your family. His power is big enough for all areas of your life. And, that you’ll be brave enough to dream the dreams that he has whispered in your heart.  That you’ll be brave enough to stand up and say, “I have a voice!!”.  Because, beautiful daughter, YOU DO!  The enemy knows it’s only a matter of time before the ones God has called will rise up and not give to the lies any more. The time is now for God to release restoration and healing to the voices of his daughters.  He has work waiting for you.

Pray with me. 
“Father God, I want to stand bravely before you and say, use me!  Do what you need to do to bring healing to my voice.  I want to feel your Holy Spirit breath your breath of life back into my being and bring forth my purpose, my voice, and my destiny.  Search me and know me oh Lord, let me be one whose heart is blameless towards you.”