Thrive Around The Table | Just Stick It Out EP.2

As I shared in a previous post, we started a podcast! And, one thing I wasn’t expecting was to be on an episode! Episode number two! As you listen and read through this post you will see why this was so difficult for me but also necessary. Facing my fears head on and fighting through the lies.

A couple of years ago I started praying for friends. Three years ago things got hard for me. I couldn’t do it all myself anymore. Life, I couldn’t do life alone anymore. Yes, I have an incredible husband and three fabulous children. We get along well and have a great relationship. However, I had no community. I didn’t have my person. I didn’t have a girlfriend I could call when something exciting happened. I had no one to sit for hours and laugh with or when something happened in my life that hurt me to tears, I had no shoulder to cry on and I didn’t have anyone crying on my shoulder either. Well, except MY babies. And even then, when life seemed so overwhelming, I had no one to walk through those moments with.

I didn’t realize when I was praying for friends that God would lead me to my preacher’s wife and to the woman that grew up in church. And, to top it all off, within just a few weeks of meeting them God sent us all in to starting a women’s ministry! That was pretty extreme. Everything I feared, being around women that had more biblical knowledge than me, and everything I prayed for, community that could teach me and show me how to live more like Jesus, was right in front of me! It was time to set my fears aside and walk in the path the Lord was laying down for me. Deep breath and one step at a time.

Everything I feared, being around women that had more biblical knowledge than me, and everything I prayed for, community that could teach me and show me how to live more like Jesus, was right in front of me!

That sounds so great, doesn’t it? I prayed, the Lord answered my prayers and that was it! Nope. Mentally it wasn’t pretty for me. It was actually so stressful that I was ready to quit. Quit everything. Quit those friendships and quit the amazing women’s ministry we had all just started. I was so focused on the wrong things. My insecurities told me, “You’re not good enough!”, “You don’t belong!”, “There is someone better that can take your place here”, “You don’t know enough about scripture.” These ladies never made me feel this way. They never said anything or acted any certain way that made me feel this way. It was all Satan telling me lies and I was eating them up.

One summer day I was out with a friend. We had taken our children to the zoo and while we were sitting on a bench, I explained to her my feelings. I told her that I felt so different from these new friends. That I felt like I didn’t belong and that I wanted to give up. She responded so plainly with, “Just stick it out!” God had put it on my heart to “just stick it out!” I just needed to hear it! And, thankfully, as loving as God is, he let this stubborn girl hear it!!

So, instead of fighting against where God had led me, I decided to start fighting for it. It was time to stop all the nonsense I was filling my head with and start filling it was His TRUE Word!

Y’all go listen to the podcast! We will have new episodes up soon!

God is my Shepherd.

From all the tears that built up in my eyes and poured down my face, I wasn’t sure that any of these images would be in focus! Today was an incredible day for my sweet nephew, Taylor, and for our family, too. Today he showed the world that he has committed his life to Christ Jesus! Today we watched God answer our prayers!!

Nathan, our pastor, read Taylor’s testimony. Taylor laid it all down! He poured out his heart. . .

“What’s up everyone? My name is Taylor Robbins and I’m going public with my belief in the one true God today. Although my story isn’t pretty, it’s proof that God can save you no matter what. So, I grew up in church and I’d been baptized before when I was younger but didn’t really understand what it meant and never really had a relationship with Him. I stopped believing because someone that I was close to and that was teaching me about him passed away abruptly and then when my great grandfather passed it felt like that was the nail in the casket for my relationship with God. But it’s crazy how he works and brings you back to Him. You see after I stopped believing I was living a life full of sex, drugs, and alcohol. Basically just partying all the time looking for something to fill the void in my heart. But thanks to my family who I feel like have been praying for me for a long time, I found my way back to the light. I got invited to church one day by my little cousin and I made just about every excuse not to go but I woke up the next morning and I couldn’t fall back asleep so I was like ok I’ll go for her. I went and it felt like God was speaking right threw Nathan straight to me! It was everything I needed to hear and I could feel Him tugging on my heart. After that I went to Roots (college ministry) twice and after the second time me and Dillon had a very long talk outside. I asked Jesus to come into my heart and be apart of my life again. So I just want to say thank you to my family for not giving up hope and helping me find my way back. I was lost and now I’m found.”

We have been prayer warriors for my nephew for many, many years. We have watched him live a life of sin and we have watched him lose his faith in Jesus. A few months ago, when Taylor showed up at our home with a pillow, a blanket, his book bag and his xbox, we had no idea what to expect. Except, I could hear God telling us we needed to let him stay with us. We had no plan. We had no idea how long he would sleep on our couch. We just knew this was the right thing. This is what God needed us to do for Taylor.

By the way, this wasn’t easy for me. I pushed back against God. Even though He made it so clear to me what we needed to do, I was having a hard time with accepting it. We are living in a very small rental home as a family of five with three dogs and two cats, on a very tight budget as we are trying to restore our new home (the Broken House). How in the world could be take on another person? GOD!! That is how! God put me at ease! He provided Taylor a job with our company and God provided His income too!!

God put Taylor back in our lives and has worked through our family! He has restored our hearts and his too and given us an even stronger faith and our relationship with our Father has never been stronger. Through our surrender to Him, He has worked miracles!!

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.
- Psalm 23:1

I had so much anxiety right before church today. Anxiety about whether or not my nephew knew what he was committing to today in front of our family and church. Anxiety about how we will be able to afford to finish the restoration of our home. Anxiety about how much longer we will have before we get to move in. Will we make it in our home before Thanksgiving, before I host my Christmas mini sessions? How will we afford this and that????? I was just SO anxious this morning! And then, during service, God was speaking so clearly through Nathan! He said,

“If I’m in want, then the LORD is NOT my shepherd.”

As soon as he said those words, I felt all of the anxiety leave me! Satan was attacking me and God made me aware of it. And, because I was aware, I immediately prayed. . .

“Father, please forgive me for putting things before You. You are my Shepherd! I delight in You and find peace and fulfillment in Your love. Please don’t let me be shepherded by Your blessings but instead let me be shepherded by You, Jesus. Make me aware of what I am idolizing and teach me how to pray so that I can push Satan back to hell through You, Jesus! In your name, Amen.”

Who is your shepherd?

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk though the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever. Psalm 23:1-6

A Night of Worship and Prayer | Piedmont Newton

Smacking myself in the head right now!!! P-H-I-L-I-P-P-I-A-N-S!!! Two P’s, not one!! I drove all over town with a misspelled word on my car! Nooooooo! Can’t even handle it y’all!!

Today, as I prepared to attend this event, my emotions got the best of me! I had to phone my friend Cassie! For one, y’all, I got to put something on my schedule!! That was insanely exciting! Secondly, I knew I was going to see lots of my friends (6 feet a part!) AND get to worship and pray with them over the hospital staff and patients!!

This past Sunday during our online service, pastor Russ, spoke about how when Paul was in prison he was STILL praising his Savior! He was in the worst place ever and had a death sentence on his head. Yet, Paul CHOSE not to be anxious but pray, sharing how thankful he was to the Lord. Paul tells us in Philippians 4:4,

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.”

Is that speaking to you right now in this moment of time? We have a choice! We can choose to be miserable where we are OR we can choose to praise God even in this storm, finding whatever is lovely and PRAISE Him and THANK Him for it!

This is hard! Yes, it is. But, Paul did it and he was in a much worse place than we are. We can do this y’all!

CONFESSION TIME: Even tonight I found myself grumbling about the number of people that showed up to pray over the hospital. My focus was on the negative. Thankfully a friend of mine shared something so exciting. She texted me to let me know, during our prayer and worship night, her and her husband prayed TOGETHER. That was something very exciting for them to experience together! I know her heart was filled with so much joy! Also, I got to see so many of my friends, one of which was having a really bad day. With tears in our eyes she was able to share some of her burdens, giving us the opportunity to carry some of the weight for her! If we wouldn’t have met tonight, NONE of this would have happened!! And, we don’t even know what was happening inside that hospital! I have no doubt God was doing something even more magnificent.

I’m so thankful my gracious Father intervened and redirected my thoughts. I then asked for His forgiveness, CHOSE to see the joy and praise HIM for it - all of it!! He is so good and He is moving even when we don’t see His good works right away.

Let’s choose joy!

A New Life

I have happy tears streaming down my face as I’m writing this. My friends, Lan and Chelsea, their sweet little guy, Landon, gave his life to our Lord and Savior. Along with our entire congregation we witnessed Landon show the world that he is saved!

Lan, Landon’s dad, was the one to baptize his son. Seeing Landon look up to his daddy, his hero, the man that is showing him what it looks like to walk in faith and serve Jesus. . .it was so beautiful! Lan and Chelsea, I am so proud of you guys. You are raising your babies so beautifully! It’s inspiring to me and so many others too!

RyAnne, our oldest daughter, recently gave her life to the Lord too. I came across a scripture that I call her’s. In 1 Timothy 4:11-12 is reads:

Command and teach these things. Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.

It’s our job as parents to teach our babies what it looks like to walk in faith. If you are struggling with how to do this, Google it. No, I’m not joking with you. Just as you would Google search for the latest and greatest new gadgets and the reviews that go with them, you can do the same thing in regards to more information about how to walk with Jesus.

An even deeper level, would be to find a community! One that will SHOW you how this looks, one that will hold you accountable and keep you on track.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:24-25

Landon, I love watching you grow closer to the Lord and share your love of Jesus with others!