 COMING 2020! Momma, tell me again how I WAS WORTH THE WAIT!
Darius loveS to hear his parents tell the story about how he was worth the wait! I think he has heard it a thousand times but it never gets old to Darius. Darius was in the foster care system as are over 500,000 children in the USA. The couple who adopted Darius walked through a season of having their faith stretched and made a decision to look to God for their desire to have a child of their own. God is faithful and as Darius' Mom says in the story, "he was worth the wait!"  Lord, thank You for Your great and precious promises. Thank You for the promise of Life by Your word, You said in Matthew 4:4 and Luke 4:4 “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out the mouth of God.” Lord, in the old testament in Deuteronomy 8:3, Israel was tested with hunger and then supplied with the manna whereby You, Lord, were teaching them that they will not live by material food alone, but also on spiritual food and Your words were their spiritual food; Your words are our spiritual food. They are my children’s spiritual food.
Lord, I come before You today and thank You for the promise for my children of Life by the Word. My children need physical food to survive but we know Lord this is only half of their need. My children need spiritual food to thrive, to flourish and to blossom as You have called them to. Lord, may I be a parent that makes speaking Your word over my children a priority. May I be a parent who incorporates Your word in our daily living, daily study, and daily disciplines. May my children be fed by Your words. As my children hear Your word, let them think about what Your word is saying. As my children hear Your word, I thank You that their spiritual health and strength are increasing down to the inner person in them. As my children hear Your word, they are being empowered to obey Your will for them. Your word is LIFE, Lord. Your word in ALIVE! Thank You Your words become alive to my children. Thank You, Lord, that my children’s lives are enriched because of Your word. Thank You, Lord, that You are sanctifying my children by Your word. My children will know Your word and know it is truth for their lives (John 17:17). All Your scripture, all Your words, Lord, are breathed by You! Continue to breath those words of life on my children. Your words are useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that children of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:15-17). My children, because of Your word, because they live their life by Your word, are equipped for every task You place before them and I thank You for this, Lord. So today, I thank You my children have the promise of life by Your word. In Jesus’ name, Amen. Praying this over your children is powerful! Their lives will be changed for the better. Believe that! I am praying God's great and precious promises over our children. If you missed any of the prayers, you can find them here.  background picture compliments of Unsplash For today’s promise, Matthew 3:11, I am praying a Spirit Baptism for my children. I am praying by faith. In Hebrews 11:1 the bible says, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." As you pray, pray by faith. You may not see the evidence of your prayer yet but believe it will come forth. I invite you to pray along with me for your children, young and old, or anyone you feel led to pray for.
Spirit baptism is different from water baptism. Matthew 3:11 says, “I (John the Baptist) baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes One who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with THE HOLY SPIRIT and fire.” This is what I am praying for my children today – spirit baptism, baptism with the Holy Spirit! Father, I come before You today to pray the Spirit Baptism promise over each of my children. Your word says in John 7:37, they must thirst for Your spirit. May my child/ren thirst, crave and have a passion from within their soul for a complete union with You and the fullness of the Spirit. Your word says in John 7:37, they must come unto You. May my child/ren come unto You, Lord. May they completely surrender their life to do Your whole will as they receive Your light. I thank You for removing all hindrances and road blocks from them coming to You. Your word in John 3:37 says they will come unto You and drink. I thank You that my child/ren will receive into their soul what strengthens them and nourishes their life. Your word in John 7:38 says, “He that believe in Me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” My child/ren are believers in Christ and out of their belly, out of their innermost being, their seat of intellect, their emotions and desires will flow rivers of living water. This flow is an unlimited power to do the works of Christ. My child/ren will have living water flow through them and bless a thirsty world, Lord! They will have a constant flow from the Spirit without measure. I thank You that a Spirit Baptism is for any person who believes in You. I thank You that the Spirit of God in my children satisfies their inner person and enables them to bear fruit. I thank You that they will place confidence in You, Lord. They will hope and have assurance of things not seen yet. They will fully surrender, have absolute dependence upon the word of God. They will have full surrender, they will yield and will be obedient to all known truth. They will trust wholly and unreservedly in the faithfulness of You, Lord. They will give one’s self over to a new way of life, joyful faith in and the acceptance of Christ as the substitute for sin and our Savior whereby one receives salvation, access into grace, fulfillment of the promises, the Holy Spirit, righteousness, sonship, healing, eternal life, and answers to every prayer. I thank You that the Spirit is giving my child/ren a new birth, He's a life-giver, imparter of power, eternal comforter, eternal helper, teacher of truth, reminder of all truth, guide into all truth, revealer of Christ, revealer of events, glorifier of Christ, witness for Christ. Through the baptism of the Holy Spirit my child/ren will receive the gifts of the Spirit: tongues, prophecy, word of knowledge, word of wisdom, miracles, healings, discernment, faith, and they will manifest the fruit of the spirit because of a spirit-filled life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. They will be earnest and united in faith and prayer with other believers. They will walk in the Spirit this day forward, they will be led by the Spirit this day forward, they will crucify the flesh of wrong affections and lust. My child/ren will live in the Spirit. Thank You, Lord, they will continue in Christ all the days of their life, be patient in hope, and continue in faith. I thank You for Your spirit, the spirit of truth. I thank You my child/ren have received the fullness of You: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name Amen. If you just prayed this over your child or any other family member or friend, please know you have just given them the greatest gift you can give them – PRAYER and INTERCESSION! God will answer these prayers for them. Just believe!  As a Mom to eight children, six adopted and two birthed, I can tell you story after story of countless moments in the past 14 years of Motherhood of how I looked at the circumstances in front of me, the hard experiences of raising and loving children that we adopted at 9, 13, and 15 years old, raising and loving children who had immense needs that seemed impossible to meet and thought, “I must have heard God wrong.”
I have always been a passionate person as far back as I can remember; however, my passions before giving my whole life to Christ were directed to worldly pleasures and full of self-focused desires. The day I gave my whole life to Him, my passions turned towards His Kingdom, towards the ways of my Lord. It’s beautiful what God does. Once we give our life over to Him on this side of heaven, God takes what the devil meant to further his dark, hate-filled agenda and turns it into a powerful tool to further God’s Kingdom, to bring hope to a truly dying world. My passion before salvation was a tool for the enemy. My passion after salvation is a weapon towards the enemy! One of the greatest pieces of this world are the eight children God has given to my husband and me. These are the gifts that are the most valuable to us. These are the gifts that are most valuable to Him….. His children! The enemy would love nothing more than for Moms and Dads to bow down to depression, to bow down to giving up, to bow down to indifference and spinelessness. The times of “hard” during the parenting years are the exact times to dig your feet deep and let determination rise in you. These are the very times to grab hold of staying power and be determined to endure through the tough and the hard days of parenting. As I look back and remember the moments of thinking I don’t see how any of this is going to change. I don’t see how my daughter is going stop hating me for adopting her. I don’t see how my son is going to heal from years of abuse in an orphanage. I don’t see how to balance the joys of motherhood with the hurt and frustration I feel during motherhood. As I think about these moments, I see how one decision early on to war in prayer for our children, for our family, has no doubt changed the future of our children; changed the atmosphere in our home. The bible is filled with His great and precious promises for His children; for us, for our children, we just only need to pick it up and speak it forth. God’s word says in Isaiah 55:11, “So is my word that goes out from my mouth: it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” For the remainder of the year, I am going to write on the promises God has for our children. I hope you will join me in praying these promises over your children as well! One of the greatest treasures you can give children is the gift of God’s word being spoken over them! 2 Peter 1:4, “And because of His glory and excellence, He has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share His divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.” So I invite you to come back as I post about praying His great and precious promises from His word over our children! Be blessed today! In Christ, Aimee' 
On June 27th, I was honored to be a part of the Rejuvenate Women's Gathering at Cornerstone Church in Vidalia, Louisiana. It was apparent that God had already begun touching the women in the Miss-Lou community and I credit Calley Reed who, along with her husband Danny, pastor Cornerstone Church. God laid it on Calley's heart to have a gathering event for the women of the Miss-Lou area that reached past the walls of their church. Around 1oo women attended the four Mondays in June and each Monday night God's presence was felt. Again, it was an honor to be one of the speakers at this event. Thank you, Calley!
Below is the video of the entire fourth Monday night. Paula gives her amazing testimony first and then I come up to speak a message about Woman, take the wheel. A message about Rahab and Ruth and how they steered to God's path and not only changed the course of their life but their whole family as well. To view the first three Monday night speakers, search youtube keywords Rejuvenate Women's Gathering Week One, Week Two, Week Three.  Balance. What does it mean to get balance? The definition of balance is an even distribution of weight enabling someone or something to remain upright and steady, keep or put (something) in a steady position so that it does not fall.
When we get balance we remain upright when a storm approaches, when instability comes our way. We stay in a steady position and we do not fall; but how do we get “balance” in a busy life with the many hats we wear as a wife, as a mother? Can we really and truly get balance? For the woman who is a single Mom, can she get balance when her children are raised with two parents who have total opposite ways they parent? Can she get balance while in custody battles? Can she get balance when her bills are behind and the next month bills are in the mail? For the woman married, can she get balance as she tries to meet the needs of her husband, children, and the home responsibilities? What about the woman who is fostering or has adopted, can she get balance in raising children who need lots of love and discipline to undo what was taught or not taught to them? Getting balance goes beyond having our meals prepared, our home tidied up, and our routines in place. We can have a meal prepared and ready for our family, home spotless, the laundry caught up, and routines written on the wall but these will provide temporary balance; balance for the moment. Storms still come and sometimes we find ourselves overwhelmed with being unbalanced even though our world looks balanced. Right? But God wants you to experience balance when your world shakes, when instability steps in. When we look at The Parable of the Sower of the Seed in Matthew 13:3-9, Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.” Matthew 13: 18-23, “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” Jesus mentions four kinds of grounds a seed can get planted in. The Hard path: it’s a worn out path, a packed down hard, tough, firm path. It’s a path with unfenced fields. There are no signs of growth on this path, no plants, no flowers, nothing too pretty on this hard dirt path. If seeds fall they can get eaten by birds. The Rocky ground: you don’t see much dirt here. There are some plants that can grow on rocks but they don’t live too long. Plants must have roots down in the soil to grow and flourish but the rocks block the roots. If seeds root it’s shallow and quickly get scorched by the sun and die. The Thorny ground: Now the thorny ground has soil but as the seeds grow into plants along with the thorns the thorns eventually take over and choke the plants. This is true for weeds as well. Because there is soil, the weeds are also able to root in the soil and grow along as the seeds grow into plants but eventually the weeds take over and smother the plants. So this is a place seeds can grow but they grow with stuff that can eventually choke and smother them. The GOOD ground: this is the fertile ground, the rich, abundant soil. It’s a place a seed can grow, flourish, mature. In this parable, the good ground/soil represents the condition of our heart and how we receive the word of God which is represented by the seed. For this teaching, we are going to see the seed as our children and the ground/soil as the heart of our homes. The principle is the same. The answer to getting balance in our busy lives lies is the last of the four soils….. GOOD GROUND. We develop and create this beautiful raised garden bed in our home if we want to get real balance in our busy lives. Not the hard dirt path, the one where there are no fences, the one we trample about our home but don’t really pay any attention to what we are doing. We just do life and we do it hard. We go about our day on auto pilot. We know what we have to get done and we do that and move on. The home with the hard dirt path is really not a “home” atmosphere. It’s just a place where we eat, drink, sleep, pass each other up in the hall with not much communication. Not many memories being made. Just people getting through the day. We will not get balance with rocky or thorny ground in our home. A small amount of soil exists. A small amount of bible knowledge exists. Just enough knowledge of a small portion of what God has said because church is not a priority, God’s word is not a priority, we may go to church but only a few times a year like Easter or Christmas or maybe we heard about Jesus but don’t know He is the Savior of the world, that He died for our sins, rose and conquered death so that sin cannot take dominion over us. We have possibly heard of Jesus but old habits continue, bad behaviors persist, rebellious attitudes direct their steps, anger and frustration lives on the rocky, thorny ground. Bitterness dominates us. Pain follows us wherever we go. You will not get balance with this type of ground in your home. What do you notice about the picture of the raised garden bed above? It’s beautiful with no hard dirt, rocks, thorns, or weeds. Its plants have room to grow and flower. It has a frame around it; it has boundaries. If GOOD ground is how to get balance in our busy life, then how do we create good ground in our home? First, we have to PREPARE. We have to prepare our hearts by going before the Lord in prayer. We can bow our knee to Him and say “Search me, O God, and know my heart; know my ways; test my thoughts. Show me where I am not creating good ground. Lead me along the path you have for me.” We prepare our home. We need to take the bible off the shelf and not just place it on the table to see it every day, but to open it and read it. Second, we START BUILDING. We establish boundaries; dividing lines that protect and keep our children and us safe. We cannot do that unless we know God’s boundaries and where He tells us to draw the line. This is where we make the tough parenting decisions to limit tv shows and certain songs, establish limits in relationships with others for our families. Third, we PLOW. We start digging deep, turning over the dirt with each dig. This has to be done before sowing. This is where we prepare the soil for planting. The biggest mistake you can make is thinking that once the frame is up you can now plant the seeds in your raise garden bed. Not yet. Take the time to plow that soil right. Take scriptures and speak it over your home. God’s word goes forth to accomplish what it is supposed to accomplish. It does not return void. How can His word do this if we are not speaking forth His word? How can we speak forth His word if we are not opening up the bible to see what His word says? Part of getting that rich soil is mixing in God’s word. And for most of us, as we plow we will uproot some old thorns and weeds, old mindsets and behaviors, and maybe uncover some rocks, some hard stubborn attitudes . Just go ahead and pull them up and get rid of them. They have no place in your raised garden bed. Fourth, we PLANT those seeds. But some of you might be saying, “my children are a little older. They are already planted in rocky, thorny ground.” That’s ok you’ll just need to transplant them into the GOOD ground you are creating. You know how transplanted plants are at first? They are taken from where they were and placed in rich fertile soil and at first they droop a little almost like they don’t like this new rich fertile soil but over a little while they start to perk up because their little roots have started to go down into this rich soil. Their little leaves start to stretch out. The top of their little head starts to rise up. They realize the sun and the soil and the water is life to them. This is our God and His word for us! This is where balance is starting to happen, the plant is steady and upright. His/her roots are slowly going deeper so when a storm or instability comes this little plant will not fall because he/she is planted in GOOD ground. It’s where your children have strong roots going deep. It’s where they do not fall when storms come, when instability comes their way. Fifth, we TEND TO IT. Sometimes we are excited to start a new project. We have lots of energy and enthusiasm. But when the project looks more like work many give up. Can I encourage you not to give up with this part of the process, with the “the tend to it” because your rewards will be great! This IS where relationships are strengthened. This is where we renew our mind with the word continually. We learn to rest and stop spinning all the unnecessary plates in our life. The enemy would love nothing more than for you to have lots of plates to keep spinning instead of tending to what’s the most important: your family. Take time to pause, take moments to observe your raised garden bed. Use these times to also give attention to your husband and children. Those moments on the couch, those moments before bedtime, these are times to pour into our children making sure no rocks or thorns have come in, and if we see they have we ask God how to remove them and then remove them immediately before they take root in our raised garden bed. After we have prepared, built, plowed, planted and tended to our raised bed garden, tended to the ground in our home, we then witness true balance when we see our children making the right decisions when the parents are not around. We witness true balance when a storm does come and try to shake us but our family doesn’t fall apart because we are upright and in a steady position. Because we are balanced the way God intended for us to be balanced. What if the ground in your home is one of the other grounds and not the GOOD GROUND? Be encouraged, it is never too late to change the ground in your home. God is a loving Father. His voice is gentle. He will not yell at you to get you to change or condemn you for starting now. His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, meets you where you are and gently takes your hand and guides you and leads you. With Him, the ground in your home can change. You can experience true balance in your busy life! In the meantime, g0t a good crockpot recipe? I need a meal for tomorrow ;) 
Over the years I have been blessed to meet many amazing women who inspire me. No, you want hear about these beautiful remarkable women on the evening news because in the world’s eyes they are just ordinary women: moms, sisters, and daughters; but they are all around us. Their beauty radiates in the way they live their life, the way they have eyes to see good in others, the way they grab hold of God’s call on their life and march on. Do you know a woman like this?
The common thread I see with these women is they believe the time is NOW. Now is the time to embrace life to the fullest and walk in His ways with a passion for Him; get up no matter how many times she falls – oh, the beauty of a NOW woman. She is nourished by His word. God’s word is literally nourishment to her each day. She draws from His word daily and looks to Him to guide her, love her, teach her, help her, and strengthen her. She pauses in her day, prays in her day, speaks forth in her day and worships in her day. She knows she needs Him. She sometimes misses the mark but she does not let this stop her! She regroups, prays, changes and overcomes! She does not give up. She does not rehearse the past and fret over the future. She believes God cares about every detail of her life {Psalm 37:23}. She remembers His benefits {Psalm 103:1-5}: God forgives all her sins, heals all her diseases, redeems her life from the pit and crowns her with love and compassion, her desires are satisfied with good things so that her youth is renewed like the eagle’s. She is an overcomer. She has encountered hard bumps and bruises along the way but with God’s help she has learned to break through barriers and prevail over ridicules from the enemy. She quickly realizes the hard times made her stronger than she thought she could be. Her scars from these past moments no longer trigger pain and heartache but instead she sees the scars as victory markers where God intervened, where God reached in and saved her. Her scars are now her beauty marks. She knows she is more than a conqueror {Romans 8:37}. She confidently trusts God with her call as she focuses on the season she is in. She knows she has been given authority in Jesus Christ over the enemy {Luke 10:19}. She knows her fight is not against people but against spiritual forces of evil {Ephesians 6:1}). She is worthy. She chooses to believe her worth to God even when she feels unworthy. She chooses to believe that the faithful love of the Lord never ends. That His tender compassions fail not. That His faithfulness is great and His mercies begin new every morning {Lamentations 3:22-23}. She embraces the season God has her in now {1 Peter 2:9}. She believes she is God’s child, His masterpiece, His very own possession {Romans 8:16, Ephesians 2:10}. She knows condemnation is from the enemy. She knows she is forgiven {Isaiah 43:25} and she knows the importance of forgiving others {Matthew 6:14-16}. She knows she is fearfully and wonderfully made {Psalm 139:14}. She is a woman who is patient with others as they grow in Christ. Maybe you are reading this and thinking I would love to be this woman. Can I interrupt your thinking right now? Can you walk with me to your bathroom sink? Go ahead. Are you there yet? Are you looking at your bathroom sink? Ok. Now raise your chin. Yep. There she is. She's right there at your bathroom sink….. a NOW woman. A woman who will not give up. A woman who will press in to all God is calling her to be. That woman at the bathroom sink knows the woman she just read about above did not become a NOW woman overnight but through growth to become she became. She knows she has to start somewhere so why not at the bathroom sink. I love you, my NOW woman friend ;) Now go be the awesome woman you are! |
Hello and Welcome!
Wife, Mother, Christian woman who loves God's word and teaching others what God teaches me, Adoption Advocate, Writer, Illustrator.Who am I? Galatians 2:20 does a great job of summing up who I am. My life is His, the One who loves me and gave Himself for me . In return, I want to be all He wants me to be and do all He wants me to do on this side of Heaven. 
Books for children in
Foster Care 
Recipient of the Angels in Adoption Award 2016. A program of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute in Washington D.C.
Categories
All
Archives
October 2021
 
|
RSS Feed