Engaged for Battle

I woke up this morning to a war in my mind and emotions. I was fine yesterday. But several days ago I made a decision to consecrate myself to the Lord....wholly and fresh. To follow hard after Him, to obey with my whole heart, to stop making excuses in my life. I have not been on my knees so much in a very long time. It is a place of surrender. Surrendering my motives, my dreams, my sin, my pride, my selfishness and asking for Him to leave what alone is Him and His purposes.

I felt a literal shift in my spirit this weekend. And it came with making a choice. That's what our life is made up of, making choices. We make an excuse or we find a way as Faytene said this weekend. I have decided to find a way.

SO, I should not have been surprised this morning to the assault that threatened to overwhelm me. Insecurites I have entertained in the past, doubts of who I really am and what God has called me to, lies of the enemy.

This is where we choose. Am I going to stay and camp at this place or am I going to press through? Instead of telling how I feel to a human, I brought every bit of my weakness and tears to the Lord. I am so thankful that He does not get overwhelmed by our need. As I poured out my heart, truth began to invade my heart and mind. What I know to be true rose up inside of me and His word that has been in my heart fought against the lies as I opened my mouth.

I got out my Sword and through tears that seemed unreasonable to me, I spoke the truth of God's word. This is the picture the Lord gave me. You have aligned yourself with My plan and My purpose. You have made a decision to follow hard after Me and not make excuses. You are deciding to walk into the land that I am giving you. You are engaging in a battle that you have been passive in. You have taken your place in the ranks and the enemy does not want you there. Today he is desiring to push you out of your place. He does not want you aligned! As the troops gather and come into position for battle he is in a panic. He will try to dislodge your committment. He will throw lies at you that have worked before. Are you going to let him push you around or are you going to fight back in the spirit with the weapons you've been given. Fellow soldier, we must fight. We must fight to stay aligned.

Yesterday before this specific battle began a song that I have come to love flew out of the speakers and spoke fresh life and revelation to me. I am writing out the lyrics with a prayer that they will encourage you today if you are in a battle. We must fight and lay hold of what Christ has for us. We are in this together but the choice to fight or not is an individual one.

To Live Is Christ
I make a vow
My life will always honor CHrist
WHether I live or die

I belong to Him
He bore my sin
I owe this life to my saving King

Hallelujah
I am not my own
You are in control
Hallelujah

For me to live is Christ
And to die is gain
No matter what price I pay
I choose to give this life away

Only by the cross I am saved
Only by the cross I am saved

A Call to MOTHER

MOTHER'S DAY.....a day to honor and celebrate nurturing, giving life and protecting... Mothers...they pour themselves selflessly into our lives to help us become all we were meant to be. In thinking of this I realize that as a little girl this is what I dreamed of being. I loved to think about what I would name my chidren and what they would look like. Little girls have this within them.

I have witnessed this time and time again in the girls I take care of. They mother very naturally. One little girl I have follows me around daily, correcting the others, reminding me of things forgotten, and pointing out what needs to be done next. She loves to kiss the others owies. Mothering is within her.

To mother is a gift God has placed within women. Our bodies were designed to give birth. We bleed when we give birth and the "bleeding" never stops as we cry to the Lord for our children in prayer and our hearts rise and fall with their triumphs and hurts.

To mother, I believe, is to partner with the Lord in bringing life out of the people around us. It is a holy calling and one not to be taken lightly. It is about seeing who the people around us truly are and calling them to walk this out.

There is a generation crying out to be mothered. This is a cry within the body of Christ. I remember as a young teenager looking up to older teens and young women in my church. Watching them worship, listening to them pray....thinking, one day I want to be like that. I hear this cry consistently...it says would someone please show me HOW! Mentor me. It encourages me because it shows there is a godly generation emerging who wants to do what is right in the eyes of the Lord...they simply need some guidance along the way and someone who believes in them.

This month we celebrate mothers. BUT I want to challenge our thinking about mothers. A MOTHER is more than a woman who has physically birthed a child. We also want to honor women who have chosen to mother children not their own. There are so many who pour their lives out through Sunday School, one-on-one mentoring, home visits and more. Your love and sacrifice do not go unnoticed. These women are constantly giving birth to new life in those around them.

I left home when I was 18 and for 17 years was not geographically near my mom. She mothered me from a distance. She told me something she prayed that I feel is huge. She prayed for other women to come into my life to be spiritual mothers to me to fill in the gaps that she could not fill. And then she looked around for younger women in her church who needed her to do the same for them.

Regardless of where you are, you can be a spiritual mother. Someone needs what you have. You might think you have to be a certain age before you can do this. I watch the young women in our church constantly mentoring the girls who are coming up just behind them. Can I say that no matter our age, as women, we have something to offer?
There is always something to give and also to receive.

Whether you have physically birthed a child or not, God has blessed you as a woman with a gift to mother. It is a gift to speak life into others, to draw life out of them, and to love and inspire those around you to be what they were individually created to be.