Tag Archives: freedom

Truth or Dare!

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Reflecting today on an amazing night at our first Truth or Dare event.  I’m so grateful for all who helped pull off such a great evening. And am amazed by the 806 women who were there! It’s so fun when all campuses come together. Praying for God to continue to speak truth and minister His grace to all who attended.

Overwhelmed by our Sovereign God who created us Male and Female and gave us specific roles to fill so that we would reflect His glory.  I love hanging out with women and watching God at work.

Here are some things etched in my mind from last night:

  • Hundreds of women flooding into that room when the doors opened.
  • The chatter of that many women!
  • Women who took dares to stuff marshmallows in their mouth and sing, put on make-up blindfolded, eat lemons and smile, spin around while looking up at the baseball bat they were holding above their heads (Pics to follow)
  • Funny stories of women who chose to share a truth about themselves!
  • Testimonies from women Jesus has healed!
  • Truths shared from a panel of wise and funny women.
  • Worshiping with 800 women.
  • Favorite thing: Women being set FREE! Continue reading →

Coffee & Chocolate

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As a woman there are two things that will never leave my diet. And I mean never. Coffee and Chocolate.

Coffee keeps me awake and Chocolate keeps me sane. I feel almost certain that most of you will agree with these sentiments and I’ll excuse those of you who are currently cutting caffeine and sugar. I have confidence that these two friends will eventually make it back into your daily intake.

That being said, have you ever considered the cost that comes with these two items? The ninety-nine cent Milky Way you love so much may have cost someone his or her childhood. Your morning cup of Joe? Someone’s freedom.

Child labor in India

Human traffickers lure children into slavery by making false promises. Many children are simply abducted. These children are sold to Cocoa plantations where they are enslaved and mistreated.  The children toil daily, engaging in heavy manual labor. A U.S. government-backed study by Tulane University revealed, in March 2011, that more than 1.8 million children in West Africa continue to be involved in cultivating cocoa. You can view the report here.

Child labor

Coffee is another product that is harvested using child slave labor. Continue reading →

Want Not

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Buzzing in and out of stores today with my beautiful mother, reminded me of one haunting thing: the buying of stuff is addicting and at the very least dangerous. As a friend said the other day, “shopping begets shopping.” Scripture says it another way in Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. I think there’s an “elementary principle” at play when it comes to materialism. The more you give in to want the more you want. Perhaps that is why the Psalmist said, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” The Lord is my Shepherd…I have all I need. The Lord is my Shepherd...He gives all I need. The Lord is my Shepherd…The Lord is precisely what I want.

A singular desire for Jesus is hard to cultivate in a culture bent on telling you what you “need.” It couches it in terms of what you “need” lest you realize that greed is getting a grip and you’re about to slip straight into sin’s stronghold. I felt that pull today. I got one thing, ah, but it wasn’t enough. My eyes saw something else. My heart nearly choked to have it. I well imagine, in America, we all know what that feels like. I had to look at that temptation and propensity to sin and tell myself the truth. Continue reading →

Ongoing Preparation

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When we look at a person, we don’t always see  the place from where that person came from or the journey they have walked.  I am one who has come from a place where God has done a beautiful work that only He can get the credit for! Therefore, I boast in our God and the amazing work He has done!  1 Corinthians 1:31 says, “Therefore, as it is written, ‘Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”

I always pray for a teachable spirit because I have been unteachable at times.  This work in my life will continue until I meet God – face to face.  The first thing I had to learn was to make Christ the Lord of my life.  At Joelton First Baptist, I saw myself for the first time through the eyes of Christ and not my own.  WHAT A SHOCK and what great PAIN! This was the first time I did not like myself. I had been hiding many things from people, and most of all from myself.  But God saw me and knew all that was in my heart.  Psalm 139:7 says it beautifully: “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? ” I had lived a life of worrying about what everyone else might think about me and not “What does my Savior think?” It didn’t matter what others thought; all that mattered was what my Savior thought about me.

You see, I had an addition to alcohol. These addictive behaviors were seen in my heritage. I had been going to church and learning a new thought process.  It all began the day I gave my life to Christ.  My daughter’s youth minister’s wife said to me, “Oh, Jeanie we been praying for you.” I knew her well and knew she really had been praying for me.  At that moment I understood the POWER of PRAYER. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 commands us to “pray continually.” I knew my daughter had told her about my addiction. When we have these kinds of deep secrets, they aren’t intended to be told. However, hiding these secrets of the family encourages sin. I knew my daughter walked with the Lord. I had watched her live it out.  She had time alone with the Lord and was never in a wrong spirit with me, but, rather, she had a quite spirit that radiated a great love for God. I knew she prayed and she had honored me as her mother.

At that time, I was not living an honorable life. My daughter, however, submitted to Gods covering for her life and to me as her mother.  She was living the example of Jesus in the spirit of the Lord.  The first place I needed to be cleansed in my life was my addiction to alcohol. The new thought process I was learning was to first submit to God’s covering and protection over my life.  In my time alone with God and through His word, He gave me many beautiful Scriptures. The one I clung to as dearly as I clung to God was Philippians 4:13; “I can do all things through him who gives me strength.”  The pages of His Word were being written on my heart. I stood on His truth and prayed His Words back to Him, telling him His Word was truth for my life.  This was nothing I could do; only He could do a work like this.

Jesus was our very own example in how to use prayer and Scripture to battle Satan. As the saliva would fill my mouth and the thought of a drink, just as it does at the smell of good cooking, I would pray and call back God’s Word to my mind and that He is faithful! This was not a quick drive thru prayer, but a continual, persistent, and expectant calling to the Lord. This is the reason I boasted in Him and will also boast in Him!

It is now twenty-two years later, and I would not be a fool to think that Satan is not going to try to attack and bring this addiction back to mind! I always say, “Lord, YOU have my mind!” I am never justifying my actions, just simply running to the Strong Tower. Provers 18:10 declares that “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.”

Safe in the Lord. What a wonderful place of rest that is. Thank you, Jesus!

By the grace of God,

Jeanie