Journey4Jesus
Praying Gods Word in all areas of life… The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
GOD, WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE?
Hello my friends, it has been quite awhile since I wrote regularly on my blog. I must be honest and share the difficulties I have had in writing these past months; As I watched our world spin out of control, I was simply at a loss, my journal entries for 2-3 years ago suddenly seemed inappropriate and worse… irrelevant in these times.
How many times I attempted to sit down and write, and I just didn’t sense the Lord was with me nor did I sense He was even remotely speaking through me… so I waited and I prayed. I prayed that God would show me (as He did previously) what I was supposed to do.
If I was to continue to share my Journey with Jesus, what should that look like in light of a very different world? I knew how to write about the things Christ has done In our lives as I could easily see the past and present, but how to I write into a place where we do not know the outcome.
LOOK UP…ALL IS NOT LOST
As we close out the last day of 2021, I thought it would be a good day to post my last prayer journal entry from 2018.
2022 is upon us and our world has changed and continues to change rapidly… God has been so incredibly faithful and despite all of the challenges we will face, I have full assurance that we don’t face them alone…
WHERE WE WERE…
As I travel back three and a half years ago, to when I wrote this prayer below, I was instantly transported back to all of those fears and feelings. Friends, this is me, broken before the Lord…when the floor drops out below you, you are forced to look up.
Fear and worry were my constant companions, and the devil was doing a fantastic job at condemning me. Even to type these words onto this post today came with heartfelt emotion. This was such a difficult time in our lives and it can be very scary to be vulnerable enough to share these innermost thoughts and struggles.
The truth of the matter is, I believe it’s necessary to share the ugly times because through that God shines in the Glory of his redemption.
THE only reliable ROADMAP FOR LIFE…
Where I was…
At the time of this journal entry our life was unravelling. We sold our family home, in hopes of paying off all our business suppliers. We renovated and moved into a condo that we owned, only to have to sell that as well within the coming months, and moved into our RV for the summer while trusting that the Lord would provide a place for us to live come winter.
During all of this, God had placed the word “unencumbered” upon my husbands heart. We had never heard of nor used this word before, so we had to look it up to see what it meant, and one of the definitions definitely got our attention; not impeded, slowed down or retarded; free to move, advance, or go forward.
It was at this point of our lives, as we helplessly watched everything we had and knew implode around us, that God became very very personal to us. He was quite literally the only thing we had left that we could hang onto that could not be taken away from us. I think that the very thing that saved us was that together we made a conscious decision & commitment to trust Gods path for our lives regardless of our understanding or foresight.
We chose to believe that God was allowing us to be “unencumbered”, so that we could serve him better…even if we couldn’t see it at the time.
It was a difficult and painful journey, we watched our debt load soar and our earthly belongings disappear, but even in the midst of it, we had a strong sense of God himself in the midst of it. We have learned that just because we are walking on the path God has for us, the focus is not always clear nor the destination discernible. We could not see how God was answering our prayers from 2018 to prepare us for a time like 2021. Little did we know how rapidly our lives and our world around us, would be changed in the coming three and a half years.
Journal Entry:
Feb 2018
3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. 4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. 6 So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. 7 He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. 8 He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.9 God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ—which is to fulfill his own good plan. 10 And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. 11 Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.12 God’s purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God. 13 And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. 14 The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him. Ephesians 1: 3-14 NLT
Heavenly Father,
Thank you for Your Word. Thank you that EVERY word of scripture is so personal and spoken to me at just the right time, as my own individual yet collective roadmap for life. Thank you Lord, for helping me to see ALL that You have provided for me. Thank you for allowing me to learn; that unlike this world we live in, we don’t need more… shinier… or faster… to impress You.
When You chose us as Your Children, You gave us everything we need to please You. You invited us to share in Your goodness, and be a witness to Your mighty power, so that others might be drawn to You as well.
Thank you Lord God for the most important gift of all… Your Spirit living in me. Giving me the ability to deny the evil desires of my sinful nature and the strength to resist the enemy and his attempts to distract me from Your perfect will and Your plan for my life.
Help me Lord as I continue strengthening my faith in You. Stay close to me as I stay close to You in Your Word, as well in my time with You in worship and in prayer. Help me Lord, to produce the fruits of Your Spirit within me: to be kind and understanding to others who do NOT know You or Your ways. To have self-control and patience, to truly care and Love others as You have loved us.
Forgive my tendencies of selfishness, focusing inward on self, rather than outward on others. Teach me Lord, I pray, to Love others better and thereby show them the depth of Your Love for them.
Lord God, I desperately want my life to be both useful to You and to have a deeper meaning than what this world offers. I want my life to reflect Jesus and to be able to bring others to know You as well. Forgive me Father for the times I forget the HUGE sacrifice You made to forgive my sins, to cleanse me from the past and all the detestable things I did in Your eyes.
Thank you that You have removed all of that from me and You do NOT remember them or hold them against me any longer. Help me Father to never forget or minimize what You did for me and how great that sacrifice was.
Finally, I want to Thank you Lord for choosing me , for calling me to You. I will never understand why You chose me and adopted me into Your precious family, but I am so very thankful that You did. I choose Lord, to keep my eyes on You. I pray that You would keep my feet firm on Your path for me Father.
Guide me in this day, and every day You have planned for my life Lord, so that in the end, when You return and I stand before You… I will hear those all important words from You, “Well done, good and faithful servant”.
In Jesus name ❤️ Amen.
Where I am…
Wow… all I can say is Wow, God is so good! It is such a powerful thing to sit down and be reminded of Gods faithfulness to His beloved children. As I read through the passage above from Ephesians in light of where we find ourselves in the world today, I am filled with such comfort. But more about that later…
Three and a half years later (August 2021), we are able to see how that message God gave my husband on being “unencumbered” would become our greatest blessing. If you’ve been tracking with me for awhile, you will know that we took a ministry position 10 hours North of our home to serve people that lost so much in a flood.
Three amazing things that have come out of our being “unencumbered” were;
1) we were actually able to pick up and relocate, after only 72 hours to make a decision.
2) we had empathy for the material losses these folks were feeling, as we too had to go through and grieve those losses as well the prior two years. As well as the most important of all…
3) we knew the Faithfulness of our God to deliver us through the storm with both a Hope and a Future, if this was true for us it would also be true for others that were placing their trust in Him.
When we first arrived, the chaos, fear and confusion of the C19 Pandemic was travelling around our world. The fear in the high density cities was palatable, the news took that fear to new heights ,and out of fear and government orders people isolated themselves from the world around them.
When we were first asked to come North our first thoughts were not, “Yeah God that’s awesome”. In fact, they were quite the opposite as “our” plans had us moving to warmer climates and water in the West… North didn’t even exist on my roadmap.
But it didn’t take us long to see the blessings we received in trusting Gods path and being obedient to His calling rather than our own. The Northern community that God had called us to live in was a God-fearing and God-trusting community. They believed in the commands to “Love thy neighbour”, and they were a very wise and discerning people, that believed trusting in Gods plan was more important that trusting in the plans of the world around them. We had no idea how blessed we would be to be welcomed into a community like this at a time like this.
There are many more stories to share, but those will be for another time… suffice it to say, God is good all the time, even when its painful. In our pain, we chose to seek His face and pray BIG prayers… prayers that He would use us, inspire of our failures and human condition. Prayers that Mike and I could serve Him together in Ministry. God has not only heard those prayers but answered them in abundance… Thank You Father.
My Final Thoughts & Encouragement:
I have so many favourite Bible passages, some stay in the forefront of my mind for a season and then recess back only to be brought forward with a new understanding for our times. The first chapter of the book of Ephesians is one of those passages.
Verses 1-6 are all about God choosing US, His Children to be adopted into His family… the family of God. He did this for HIS pleasure even while knowing our human condition would fail him.
Verses 7-9 are how He redeemed us through Jesus Christ, giving us the greatest gift we could ever receive. and my personal favourite verses for 2021 are smack in the middle of this passage in verse 9-10: here He tells us the “WHY” and the “WHAT” of life.
9 God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ—which is to fulfill his own good plan. 10 And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth.
Verses 11-14 tell us the HOW, that He gave us everything we need in and through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit living in us to navigate the turbulent times we live in.
Folks if this isn’t encouraging in the time we are living in, I don’t know what will be. He is reminding us that His ways are not our ways, but He WILL fulfill the plan He has put into motion. What is that plan? That everything on heaven and earth will come under the authority of Jesus Christ.
Not sure about what you see when you observe the world around you… but I see a world that believes it is under it’s own authority. The world (our educators, scientists, medical specialists and government) has removed Jesus from almost every single aspect of it. The enemy gleefully believes he is winning… but the truth is, It is not so!
We were born at an exact time for a specific purpose that God created us for… at such a time as this!
Jesus came, died & rose again, overcoming death to put God’s plan into action for the world that He had overcome… for such a time as this!
His plan is that finally ALL things on heaven and earth would be put under His authority… friends this is an exciting time to be alive.
Never before in History has everything been put in place, where all the prophesies that foretold of Jesus return, could be fulfilled.
Let me be clear, I am not saying I know when He will return, as no one but the Father himself knows that… what I’m saying is He WILL return… and the way this world is becoming… It could be SOON.
So what do we do with this knowledge? We live our lives in a way that ALL would see Jesus in us. We live in Trust that HIS roadmap or plan is perfectly running on time. We keep doing life, all the while watching the signs, and studying Gods Word for ourselves.
Friends, did you know that out of ALL 66 books of the Bible, only 1 comes with a specific blessing on reading and learning from it? This is the often ignored Last book of the entire Bible… the book of Revelation… but don’t take it from me, read the promise for yourself…
“Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near. ” Revelation 1:3 NIV
Blessings, Janet ❤️
Do you know Jesus?. I’d love to tell you about him… just click the clink and it will redirect you to another page.
LORD, WHAT IS TRUTH? … Does it still exist?
Where We’ve Been…
If you’ve been tracking with me for awhile now, you will know that we were living in a season of massive change in our lives. Our business could no longer sustain itself and the four adults trying to live off its revenues. We had fallen further and further into debt, hoping and praying we would just get over the next hump, when God finally made it very clear to us… He was not going to take us out of the hardships as we had hoped, we would have to learn how to hold onto Him as we traversed through them.
At this time, three and a half years ago, I was struggling to keep my feet on solid ground, the pit kept feeling like it was slipping farther and farther down, dragging me with it. The enemy was my constant companion as he tormented me with doubt and fear, and if our business situation wasn’t bad enough, he used personal attacks within my family and friends that would try to tear me down to the worlds standards in my faith.
The world was no longer accepting absolutes about anything, black and white had just become muted shades of grey, and if I didn’t accept the status quo I was hostile and Intolerant… what kind of a Christian was I?
How were we as believers called to live in times like these? What was the Church standing on, and where their truths still absolute? Sadly, as I watched our world in turmoil, I saw more and more Christians and Churches choosing to water down the Scriptures. The Gospel of grace was also becoming the gospel of Inclusion and tolerance, and those of us who believed the Bible to be absolute Truth were now considered not only unloving but hateful. How was one to come to terms with these so called new norms, and how can we live in this world be not be of it?
Journal Entry:
Feb, 2018
Heavenly Father,
Thank you Lord for Your Word. Thank you that you have provided it to us to teach us wisdom and discernment, as well as calls of warning that we are to pay attention to. Your Word teaches us that You will return to earth in the end times and You will bring judgement to those who reject You.
Lord God, my heart breaks as I hear all the people today mocking you, using Your name in vain and blaming you for the calamities of this world, even calling you narcissistic and evil as they listen to the lies of the enemy.
This world also mocks us, Your children Lord, for placing our trust and faith in You. They call good evil and evil good. This world has maligned You so badly that all that matters to them is “self”…what’s good for them… how things affect others has no bearing.
Lord God, this false gospel of self has even crept into Your Churches, watering down the Scriptures so that they can continue living within their selfish desires. Forgive me Lord, if I have even watered down a single thing in order to justify my ways. Teach me Lord, through Your Holy Spirit, to discern Your Truths taught to us through Your Word.
Thank You for Your promised gift of Eternal Life. Thank You for saving me from the natural desires and sinfulness of this world. Continue teaching me how to live IN this world but NOT part of it. Thank You for redeeming me from my sinfulness and creating in me a desire to know You better.
Lord Jesus, give me eyes to see those of Your children who are doubting their faith and feeling lost, give me words to say by Your Spirit that would redirect them back to Your path and Your voice… protect them from the onslaught of the enemy in these times.
Help me to show mercy and love to the unbelievers, that they might see you in me through my actions, I pray this especially for those within my family and sphere of influence Lord, draw them to You I pray.
Protect me Lord from the attacks of the enemy, who would use them and their bondage to sin to pull me away from You. Help me to Love the sinner and still hate the sin, this world tells us that in order to love the sinner we must also accept their sin… This is not in line with Your Truth Lord, teach me how to Love like Jesus loved, as these are Your dearly loved children and You desire every one of them to come to You.
All Glory to God for saving me, a sinner who was lost but now has been found. Who took the filthy rags of my life and exchanged them for a life lived for You and Your glory. Thank you for completely wiping my sins away, so that I can come before You pure and clean.
You Father, are worthy of All our praise from before time began through to eternity. Continue to use me Lord, for Your Glory and my growth.
In Jesus Name ❤️ Amen.
Where we Are…
As I read through this journal entry I am once again amazed at how God can speak through different situations in our past in one way, yet show us something even deeper down the road. Here we are mid-way through 2021, we have been living with a world of lock downs, masking and social distancing. Businesses are shut down, many of them to never re-open. I can empathize with their distress and fears… as I lived through these losses as well. Thank you Lord that I can be an ear to listen when needed.
The division in our world is even driving a stake between families and friends. Thoughts and understanding on everyday issues have become so totally polarized that its becoming increasingly difficult to have debate, discussions or disagreements anymore. Anyone not on the same page is wrong, they are either selfish or foolish depending which camp you are part of, and should therefore not be tolerated.
As I read through this passage above from Jude, I could see it once again in an entirely new light. He writes that these people who make fun of God, would eventually turn us against each other as well. This is happening like never before. Those whose only interests are ‘self’, will promote themselves so much and do whatever it takes to get what they want.
So how do we as saved Children of God, navigate a world like the one we find ourselves in today? A world where evil is accepted as good, and good is seen as evil, is fraught with minefields for Christians trying to stand true to their faith.
How we do this, is to get into the Word… The whole Word… The absolute truthful, Inspired Word of God. This is the only Truth we can trust or stand on, as everything else is sinking sand. In our world today, we need Gods Truth more than ever. Just as the passage in Jude tells us how to respond… how to love others… and how to keep ourselves safe.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 leave us with these important reminders; All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.
My Final Thoughts & Encouragement:
Where do you find yourself in this upside down world my friend? Are you facing divisions within your family & friends? Are you being pressured to ‘water down’ the scriptures so as to justify the things this world teaches as right and good? Is the enemy throwing more at you than you can handle?
If so, I would encourage you to step back… breath deeply… and seek Gods way in the Scriptures.
As I sank into my pit those three and a half years ago, the only solid foundation I could hold onto was the Word of God. I asked the Lord to teach me His Truths, to help me understand how deep, how high and how wide his Love for me was.
Even when it was hard, He gave me strength to persevere, He gave me a rekindled Love for His Word and it started to fuel a fire within me. I am so thankful today for those dark and difficult days, because it was then I experienced His Love and tender mercies the most.
When I felt the most unlovable… He would remind me that He knew me before I was even born.
When I felt the pain of accusations for standing true to His Word… He would whisper to me that He was standing with me.
When I didn’t understand… He revealed knowledge to me and taught me to discern based on what His Word was saying to me.
Friends, this world is dying and our time is short. I believe we are living in those last days that Judah was warning us about, so I encourage you to ‘Armour up’ and take that only offensive weapon God gave us, which is the Word of God, and stand firm together as beloved Children of God, saved by grace through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
Hallelujah, the Lord is coming back.
Blessings, Janet ❤️
(TT) LET ME LEARN MORE ABOUT YOUR LOVE…
Where we were…
Welcome to Throwback Thursday. I strongly believe that the lessons we learn in life continue to grow, much like a ripple in the water. At first all we see is the entry point of the stone that was tossed, but as we wait we see that ripple grow wider and wider.
Life is like that , we think we have learned our lessons but when we look back again we see the effect of the growth and more often than not, with time on our side, we also see the outcome of those troublesome situations.
Jump back with me to January of 2017, our business and consequently our financial life was in a mess: we were on a vacation that we had booked and paid for months earlier, but in all reality could no longer afford to be on. Yet in this time of apparent dichotomies, we were given the gift of time to quiet our hearts and seek Gods face. We had no idea what was in our future, and the only word that kept coming to my mind was …Surrender.
Why do things feel hopeless?
Here I am, the day after breaking my toe. I was feeling pretty optimistic yesterday that things would continue moving forward albeit at a much slower pace, then reality kicked in. My toe really was broken… very swollen, black & blue, and extremely difficult to walk.
But it wasn’t just the toe that was making me feel helpless, I looked into what I could make of our future and suddenly everything seemed bleak. Sure, we were escaping our reality at the moment, but what was going to happen when we got home. Round and round inside my head the thoughts swirled, until I was so entangled in stress and fear, that hopelessness settled in.
God in His faithfulness met me there, It shouldn’t surprise me, but He always shows up exactly when I need Him most. He showed me that it is when we are down that’s when the enemy likes to give us an extra hard kick. Verses. 3-4 said it so perfectly; “ For the enemy has persecuted my soul; He has crushed my life to the ground; He as made me dwell in darkness, Like those who have long been dead. Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me; My heart within me is distressed.”
I realized that I had a choice to could make, I could stay wallowing in the pit I was creating or I could heed His word. “Revive me, O Lord, for Your name’s sake! For Your righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble.” Psalm 143:11. I opened my eyes and once again I could see the beauty that was surrounding me… Thank you Jesus for new perspectives.
Journal Entry #6
Please hurry Lord, and answer my prayers. I feel hopeless. Don’t turn away and leave me here to die. Each morning let me learn more about your love because I trust you. I come to you in prayer, asking for your guidance. Psalm 143: 7-8
Lord Jesus,
Thank you! Thank you that even though I don’t see your answers, I trust in you and trust in your plans. I may be lost and confused right now, but in your time, according to your mercies I will one day see clearly. Thank you for the senses you have placed within me; to see you in the waves, to feel you in the winds, to smell your presence in the salty air.
Thank you Jesus for the gift of this trip, thank you for providing a way for me to draw close to you. Help me Lord when I get home to continue this discipline of time. Help me not to return to putting self before you. I pray that your Spirit would call to me daily and that I will hear and come to You. your word says, “that the sheep hear your voice and come to you when you call”, thank you Jesus.
Open my heart to what you would have me learn today Lord, teach me your ways and give guidance and wisdom to us for our future. Continue to give us rest, rejuvenation and healing to our souls as our vacation winds down. I pray that You would be glorified through us Jesus. Help us to Love others as you would, help us to not judge and give us eyes to see when others are in need.
In Jesus name❤️ Amen
Where we are
Jump ahead to August 2021 and let me share the some of the life-lessons those ripples created for me… In my Christian immaturity, I used to think that Psalm 23 was just about death, and I always found it depressing. Yet, it is often the Truths within these passages, that the Lord uses to eventually open my eyes.
I have since come to learn that Psalm 23 is one of the MOST encouraging passages in the Scriptures, when you read it with eyes wide open. For myself difficult circumstances tend to open my eyes to look deeper into the Scriptures and try to understand more.
vs.1 “The Lord is my Shepard I have ALL that I NEED” ( maybe not all that I want but definitely all that I need, time would teach us needs vs. wants in our own life) vs.2 & 3 “He lets me rest and leads me according to His direction” (rather than ours, Remember friends… His ways are always better than ours), and “He renews my strength” (when life is hard, we don’t feel very strong, this is a promise worth hanging onto) vs. 4 “Even when I walk through the DARKEST VALLEY, ( those places we can’t even imagine yet eventually find ourselves there) “He is close beside me” (we are never travelling alone…His promise) vs.5 “He will prepare a feast in the midst of our enemies” ( I never could truly understand this verse until very recently, when He reminded me that we will always have troubles, and the enemy is always stalking and ready to pounce… yet right there in the midst of all of this, He will sit at the table with us and nourish us so we do not need to be afraid)… Thank you Jesus!!
My final thoughts and encouragement…
Do you find yourself at a this point in life: feeling like the enemy has kicked you in the gut? Do you feel like curling up in a ball and sinking into the pit that promises to take it all away… yet deep inside you know its a lie from the pit of hell?
Let me encourage you my friends, to recognize the enemies tactics… he is stalking you, waiting to pounce on you in your moment of weakness, and this is the exact moments that the lies will start. Those familiar lies… “did God really say that?”... “you know you’re not strong enough for this”…. “you’re so tired, just give up”. Pull out your Bible and open it up to Psalm 23 … read the promises that are filled within this passage, and by the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God… reclaim these promises for yourself and send the enemy packing. I can promise you that the Lord wants to sit at the table with you and fill you with nourishment, He has plans for you that are far beyond what you can think or imagine right now.
I have learned to Surrender the things of this world to the Lord, not to hold onto things too tightly as these things may not be part of His plan for us… He has brought us 10 hours North for what we thought was a year (now extended minimum 2 more). He has faithfully provided for our EVERY need, and opened new doors in our lives to serve Him… as I said, His paths are better than ours and we are so very grateful.
Blessings, Janet ❤️
Do You know Jesus? If not I encourage you to click the link and discover who He is for your life…
{ If this benefited you in any way, I’d love to hear from you and I would be thrilled if you would share or invite more people to be encouraged. }
with God all things are possible…
How far we’ve come…
Time gives us the incredible gift of 20/20 vision, the ability to look back through the review mirror to see where we were as well as where we are now. As I type from my journal entry written 3 years ago, I am completely and utterly humbled at Gods faithful hand in our life… the extent of His Love.. and the lavishness of His provision.
As I re-wrote these words below, I can remember and feel the tightness in my chest as I prayed those words. I am reminded of the tears that ran down my face as I simply couldn’t see past the moment. But most importantly, I remember the attack of the enemy; the constant barrage of thoughts he whispered to me: “God doesn’t really care about you…you’ve been wasting your time, don’t wait on him to help you…did the Bible really say that he would be there for you? (maybe others but certainly not you) look what you’ve done with your life…”
It was these constant voices that caused that tightness in my chest. These voices that worked so hard to keep my eyes focused on the impossibilities rather than the God abilities. The enemy gains strength in our weakness, he is both crafty and relentless in his attacks… but he is a LIAR.
The absolute only thing that saved me from the onslaught, was the Word of God. Whenever these crushing doubts arose I would seek the face of my Father in His Word, and every single time He met me there. Sometimes, it was just a calm that came across my body. Other times it was the beauty of nature, reminding me my creator was there…and still other times, it was the words themselves but no matter how, He was always faithful.
Through this experience I have come to learn more about the tactics of the enemy, but also so much more about the Love of our Heavenly Father. The enemy is limited in his power and ability, he uses what he knows about you; your weaknesses…your regrets…un-forgiveness in your life…your areas of un-repented sin…In short, he knows how to make you squirm and those are the strings he pulls.
God on the other hand; He never condemns, he lovingly opens our eyes to acknowledge our sins and failings, He offers forgiveness and cleansing for every one of them. The enemy places our sins on a scale from bad to worse…making us believe we could never be good enough. Our Lord does not, to him sin is sin and ALL must be cleansed by Him, and the best part…cleansed and forgotten, remembered no more.
So when you are being attacked by the condemnation of past sin, you can know beyond a shadow of a doubt, where that condemnation is coming from. You can put your hand in front of you and state with authority, “Get behind me Satan, you have no power here”.
As I sit here writing in 2021, I am overcome with emotion as to how much more the Lord provided for us, more then we could have ever dreamed or expected. I am so thankful that we waited to follow His path, rather than speeding off on our own once again (did that far too many times to count).
This verse became one of our life verses these last 3 years, and we have experienced the truth in these words…When we are faced with choices, stand don’t run blindly forward in your own will…seek Gods way, pray for direction… then walk forward in that. In doing this you will truly find rest for your souls.
When we are faithful to follow the plan He has for us, He will lavishly provide far more than we could ever dream… He did this with us and I am 100% certain that He wants to do it with you as well…my soul has found rest, and it’s a beautiful thing my friends.
Journal Entry: (Where we were…)
July 12, 2-18
Heavenly Father,
Thank you for your Word from this Psalm. Thank you for reminding me that the Psalmist too suffered and felt alone in his suffering… He felt as if Your ear was turned away. Forgive my lack of faith Lord, as I struggle with these same feelings.
I know who You are Lord, I believe in the power of Your name, I know that there is nothing You cannot do, and I understand, that even now You are at work preparing us…even when I cannot see or feel anything. So as the Psalmist wrote; “I will keep hoping for your help; and I will praise you more and more.”
I recognize that it is a choice to praise You, and You are worthy to be praised in ALL seasons of our life. Not only when things are calm and easy, but also in the times of trial and hardships. Send Your Spirit Lord, to minister to us…to bring peace and assurance that You are with us in this.
Thank you for whispering my name to others, who reach out with encouragement, help me to continue to be there for others as well, and not get lost within my own problems and situations.
Open our eyes Lord, that we might see. Show us the path that You have for us; where do we go from here? where & how do we work, serve & live? What purpose and plan do You have for us Lord?
I am so incredibly grateful for this beautiful peaceful spot You have provided for our trailer Lord, I can see You all around; I hear You in the birds, and witness Your creation with the visits of muskrats and moose. I have always felt closest to You in nature Lord, so I am very thankful that this is where You have placed us for such a time as this.
Lord Jesus, would You provide something today for both Mike and I to experience You, and be reminded of Your faithful presence, encouraging us that You have not turned Your ear from us nor forgotten us. I wait in expectation of something from You.
In Jesus name ❤️ Amen
My Final Thoughts & Encouragement:
First of all I would like to thank you, my friends, for joining me on this journey. That’s what life is, it’s a journey of growing; growing as a person, growing in our relationships, growing in godly righteousness. It can be a lonely journey if we travel it alone… so I want to encourage you to keep travelling together. I would love to hear from you, so that I can encourage you on your own journey as well.
Friends, I don’t know what your particular journey looks like today; where you’ve been and how far you’ve come. Maybe you are in the process of coming out the other side, you’ve learned important lessons that others might need… I encourage you to share those lessons, be the encouragement that someone else needs.
Maybe you are still stuck in the middle, totally uncertain as to how things will play out for you, and you are feeling alone and discouraged. Hopefully if that’s you, you already know Jesus… I encourage you to lean in to Him. Don’t listen to the lies of the enemy who only wants to derail the plan God has for you. Seek the face and heart of Jesus in His Word… read the book of John and be reminded of how very much He Loves you.
Maybe you are in this place, but you don’t know Jesus at all, or at the very least on a personal level. Maybe all your life you have been told that He isn’t real, even a fairy tale for those that aren’t strong enough in life. I am here to assure you that He is very real. He has promised that if you “seek you will find him”. Open your eyes to the world around you and see His hand of creation, and believe that He created you in His image, and knew you before you were even born.
He desperately wants to be your strength and refuge in times of trouble, he even allows difficulties to draw us closer to him, to recognize our need to depend on him rather than ourselves. If this is you, go to my “Do “You Know Jesus” page to learn more. Get a Bible and seek for yourself, if you are seeking in Truth.. you will most certainly find…
Blessings, Janet ❤️
THY WILL NOT MY WILL…
As I read from my prayer journal, almost three years to the day, I have so many memories flooding through my mind. I can read those Bible verses and be transported back to the constant fear that would wash over me…fear of the unknown… fear of not understanding …fear of the loss of control. That faithful mantra that I repeated hundreds of times…”Faith over fear”, rolled over and over in my minds eye.
So much has happened in these three years and yes we have seen God be faithful and true to this very prayer in our lives, but it wasn’t quick and it wasn’t easy. Just to recap some of the things I have shared in previous posts: God had “unencumbered” us from pretty much ALL of our earthly possessions. We sold our house to pay off business debt, and were living in our RV trailer.
On one fall day as the weather was about to turn very ugly, God suddenly provided us a place to move into for 3 months. A home belonging to complete strangers who were currently living in the USA until Christmas. We moved our few belongings out of the RV and into the house mere hours before the snow fell… and did it fall, about 2ft accumulated on that early fall day. God is so good…
Shortly after moving into this strangers home, a friend contacted us about a place we could move into at a fair price that would carry us through the winter. Just prior to Christmas when our hosts would be returning to Canada, we moved into this other home, located out of town on a beautiful acreage. Once again, God was faithful…
Through this process God was teaching us His faithfulness. He was teaching us to Trust that He had a plan and we simply needed to submit our lives to Him and His plan rather than our own. This was not easy, we discovered how much we like to be in control of our lives and know how they should turn out. The enemy battled us hard in this area. Once again, God was good… He taught us to draw close and dig into His Word for answers, strength and encouragement.
The following April, I received a phone call that my Mother was dying. Her cardiovascular system was collapsing and it was suspected to be a matter of days. Here again, God provided for our needs: We were not prepared for this nor did we have the funds for me to get a flight to be with her, yet God was already at work, prompting the hearts of special people who purchased my ticket and arranged for a hotel stay.
Mom was in Hospice for 7 weeks (slightly longer than the days we were given…) and I am thankful for each day we had with her as I spent those 7 weeks beside her bed…God continued to be faithful to us and. although it was painful to say good-bye, He gave me such a gift of precious time, that I will always be grateful for.
There were so many other ways that God provided during those times; from a place to park the RV while we were there… to construction jobs for Mike which provided us with finances…and numerous other treasures along the way that we have been so blessed by.
Now jump forward with me to June of 2020: As the world was struggling to manage life in a pandemic world, God brought Mike & myself to a small community in Northern Alberta. It would be in this place that the prayer below was fulfilled.
When we were first offered the opportunity to take a one year contract and move 10 hours north… we were a HARD no!! Our plans consisted of moving 8 hours West to beaches and sun, as this had always been our dream… MOST DEFINITELY NOT NORTH.
Yet over the course of 72 hours, God opened our “eyes to see and our ears to hear”. He reminded us of our prayers to “serve together in unity” and that, although “we can make plans, His way will prevail”. We had prayed, “Not my will, by thy will” far too many times for us to ignore what was happening before us.
Jump forward one more time with me to the present time of July 2021.
We have been in this community for an entire year, which went unbelievably fast. God has gifted us with incredible friendships with so many amazing people. He has taught us the art of hospitality, an art that is quickly fading but needs to stay, there are so many values in time and relationship with others.
God has continued to provide for our EVERY need, and He has used us; along with the gifts and talents that He has been preparing in us our entire lives, to serve Him in such a time and place as this. As this year and our contact has come to a close, we have been asked to extend another 2 years in this place, as the work is still needed and the workers are few.
Without any hesitation we said Yes! We knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God has been and continues to be IN this. For the first time in our lives we have learned what it means to surrender our Will and Trust in Gods plans rather than our own, and most importantly we get to live out 1Corinthians 15:10a every single day… walking in and trusting the Grace of God in our lives.
Journal Entry:
Dated: July 2018
Heavenly Father,
Thank you for Your Word, and thank you for the Psalms that fill me with such hope. Hope that encourages me to continue to search for You, even when I cannot understand. Psalm 25:4-5 says: “show me Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truths and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day.”
This passage sums up exactly my prayer to you Lord, Thank you for opening my eyes to it today. Show me – Lead me – Teach me – Your will and Your ways Father.
You know that the desire of my heart is to be living within Your will, and living out the purpose You created me for. I pray that You would Lead – Show – and Teach – Mike and I, both individually and collectively, that we might be unified in Your leading and be certain we are following Your plans rather than filling our minds with plans of our own making.
Your Word tells that “good advice lies deep within our hearts, so give us the wise understanding to bring it out Lord. Your Word tells us that “You give us eyes to see and ears to hear”… help us Lord to see what You are showing us and to hear what You are telling us, Give us the discernment to know what is from You Father, and what comes from our own desires.
As well, Your Word constantly tells me that “the Lord directs our steps”… help me to trust in that direction that comes from You, forgive me in my need to know… which simply speaks of my lack of faith in these areas and my persistent battle to be in control. Help me to lean in and trust that You are in fact directing our steps.
Finally, the verse that keeps going through my head from 1Corinthians; “But by the Grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not without effect.” There are no adequate words to express my thankfulness for Your gift of Grace Lord Jesus. Thank You for the changes that You have produced in me, I give You ALL the praise and glory.
Thank you for the many ways You have used me… the talents and giftings You have given to me… the opportunities I’ve had to serve You in unique and wonderful ways Lord, and thank you for the many ways that I will continue to be used by You in the future… whatever that might look like.
Let Your Light shine through me Father, that those I encounter would see You. Release me from anything that may be preventing my service to You. Reveal to me, my hidden sins Lord that I may turn away from them. Free me from anything that continues to enslave me Lord, so that I might be fully free to serve You and produce good fruit.
Thank you for Loving me and choosing me O Lord.
In Jesus name ❤️ Amen
My Final Thoughts & Encouragement…
As you read these Bible passages and get a peak at the journey Jesus has had us on, what do you feel? Have you been in that place of darkness and fear? Do you struggle with the battle of control over the direction of your life?
Maybe, you are in that place right now… where the words “refuge” and “safety” feel like another language because they simply are not part of your current reality or vocabulary. How do you not be “afraid” or feel “dread” when everything is upside-down?
My friend, let me encourage you. If you know the Jesus of the Bible, If you have a personal relationship with Him, the Saviour of the world. You can KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt that He is for you. He Loves you and wants you to follow Him. You were designed with a purpose and a plan specifically chosen by God.
One of the major lessons I have learned that I would like to share with you and hopefully encourage you with is that; it’s much easier to follow Jesus with our spare time… and much harder to follow him with our every minute … every detail time. Although this might sound a little discouraging, let me assure you it’s not.
The battle is won, once we recognize that we have been pawns our entire lives; lied to by the enemy, that ‘we can be like God’. This is exactly what he told himself and then proceeded to convince Eve… all through history, mankind has sought our own path… our own way. The enemy has cunningly convinced us that our path is better, for who could know better as to what’s good for us than us?
This is where the encouragement should hopefully come… Gods way is ALWAYS better, because only God knows what our future could hold. Had we not followed His path to come North, we would have missed out on Blessings completely unknown to us. We would have completely missed out on seeing Him at work IN and THROUGH us.
By choosing to surrender our will to Him, we are experiencing a deeper relationship with the Father and honestly I wouldn’t trade a single moment of it. There are so many more blessings that He has provided for us in our new home and ministry… but I will save those for another day and another post. We are serving together, being the Light of Jesus in a hurting community and through His work… we are being blessed!
Wherever you might find yourself on this journey we call life, may you find peace in the knowledge that God is at work, His timing does not follow our time patterns and His ways may not follow ours. Remember that it took three long years, and a direction completely opposite of our will, for this prayer above to be answered (at least in a way that I could finally see it) Yet, I fully believe that God was in the details every single day… All we had to do was say Yes, when He said “Follow me”…
Blessings, Janet ❤️
The Winds of Change…
Have you ever found yourself in that place of life, where the storm clouds are descending and you can just sense that you are in for a storm that is going to shake things up around you? The type that is not going to lift quickly and will keep you tossing in the wind even as the world around you appears to remain still. This is the place I was in three years ago when I wrote this journal entry in my prayer journal.
We had sold our home and any other properties and all of our business inventory, so that we could pay off any outstanding bills etc.after watching our business crumble. We were living in our camper trailer on a lovely piece of property loaned to us by people from our Church. This place was a sanctuary to us in the storm, and we praise the Lord for it.
Yet, we were utterly and desperately lost as to what we were going to do with our lives going forward. We prayed regularly together, we dug into the scriptures like never before and we surrendered our lives to Jesus on a daily basis, believing and hoping that He had a plan for us.
Life According to Him or the Gospel according to me?
Life is a lot like the waves in the ocean, you know the ones… the ones that are so fun to play in. They pick you up and move you forward, dropping you down for a moment only to return and repeat. This has been such an adequate description of my life for majority of it…rolling along with the tides.
On a sunny calm day everything was easy & beautiful, but then the storms would come which would roll me around oftentimes unable to catch my breath…yet life lay mainly in the middle, soft rolling waves with a large one hitting unexpected.
I share this with you my friends in hopes that this visual would potentially be something you recognize as well. You see, it took me many years of repeating things over and over again, that I realized I could break away from the tide.. I could get off the hamster wheel and choose to follow a different path.
Journey4Jesus 