Our Stressful World

 The heat in this month of August is always brutal.  It makes us all feel like we have less energy than normal.  And to add to that we have the mandatory mask wearing law, which I'm pretty sure is wearing us all out.  I think the majority of the world is feeling weary and depressed.  It's like we are all just sitting and waiting for the world to end.  We have become apathetic to it and now pretty much expect things to get worse, since they keep getting worse.  But on the bright side, at least things aren't worse then they are now.  The riots have stopped.  It isn't that much trouble to wear a mask when going to Walmart.  It is kind of like playing doctor dress up for an hour.  But I think everyone is wondering what is next?  What measure of control is next?  What will happen next in the U.S. and the world?  

There seems to be a constant feeling of dread in the air.  I have felt God telling me a lot that the rapture of Christians will happen soon.  That would be great!  My focus now mainly is to save as many people as I can before the end comes.  My biggest goal has always been to take as many people to heaven with me as I can.  :)  I hope that is your biggest goal too.  What else is there to live for in life besides serving God and helping him save the lost?  What greater calling or purpose could there be?  I wonder sometimes if that's why God allows the world to be as it is, the constant battle of darkness versus light, because it keeps life interesting.  Sometimes the constant battle of evil versus good is exhausting, but it also keeps life from boring doesn't it?  You never know what will happen next.  You never know what arrows Satan will shoot at you next.  It keeps you on the edge of your seat. 

At times the constant flaming arrows from Satan make you want to take 3 naps a day because the world and life is just too much to face.  Your spirit feels weak and you let it get you depressed.  But sometimes the fight is energizing and you enjoy taking on the battle.  Paul said, "I have fought the good fight."  Every day for any Christian is a fight. A fight in your mind against evil.  A fight to be kind to others when they are mean to you. A fight to forgive others and do everything you know God wants you to do.

People in the world think they are strong, but it doesn't take much strength to do anything Satan wants you to.  But to resist Satan, that takes true strength.  

Every good soldier needs rest.  You fight a battle and then you need to re-group and get re-energized.  My favorite way to do that is with Hillsong worship music and this, writing.  What re-energizes you?  It used to be shopping for me, but that was a bad way to deal with stress because the spending of money only brought more stress.  I encourage you to find good coping skills in this time of high stress in our world.  Buy a kitten.  Dance in your living room.  Journal. Drink some hot tea.  Go for walks.  Don't bottle up all the stress.  You have to unwind and relax sometimes.  

May God bless you!

To My Ex

Here are texts to my ex husband that I was married to for 7 years. We have been separated for a year and he has kept me from seeing my two daughters for a year. They are 4 and 6. I have decided to think of all three of them as though they are dead. My ex in laws essentially stole my ex husband and my two daughters away from me.  I am still dealing with my anger at them for that. Pray for all of us please. Thank you. 

To Ben: “I’m sorry my mom married David (my step dad) and he ended up actually being a creepy guy with kids. I told her Not to marry him but she wouldn’t listen to me. Just like I Told you to stay away from Steven and Craig (the guys that made him go insane with false prophesies) but you Never listened to me on that. Just like I told Josh (another ex) to stop listening to the angry music but he never listened to me on that. Good thing Bryan (my current bf) doesn’t do anything totally stupid. Finally I know a wise person, for once in my life.

I am very happy here in Austin and I know you 5 are happy there in Odessa. You might as well stay there forever. I am planning on not seeing you or the girls again until heaven. I know that's what your parents would prefer and I have decided to let them win.  Don’t tell me you miss me or the girls miss me. I don’t want to hear it. You made your decision. Your mom is essentially your new wife and there is no turning back. I always knew you were Way more in love with your parents then me ever since I met you. Oh well. You just never could let them go and let yourself be free. That’s not my problem anymore. Praise God.

I never should have married you. I could tell you were crazy, or stupid, from day one. I guess that’s why you have always clung to your parents so tightly because you felt you weren’t competent enough to do life on your own. And maybe you are not.”

Yes those are some very harsh words, but sometimes the truth is harsh.  We did have some great times in our 7 years of marriage, so I can't say it was all horrible.  I don't regret marrying him because me, him and our girls did have a lot of fun for those 7 years.  But it was mostly a very rocky and stressful marriage. Honestly my ex could be said to be the victim though.  He did not know how to have a good marriage because his parents have a horrible marriage. But I am happy to be done with all that stress now. Praise God for delivering me from a horrible marriage.  And if you have ever been through a divorce you probably know what I am talking about. :) And if you haven't been divorced, good job.  I pray you and your spouse will be happy with each other forever. :)

May God bless you. :)

Becoming a Rockstar

There is a very bright light in the heart of Williamson county, The Roots bar in downtown Georgetown.  It's my new favorite place!  I almost wish I lived there it's that cool. lol :)  If you are ever in the area, check it out.  They have live music a lot.  Monday nights they have line dancing. Woot woot!  Tuesday nights is karaoke.  I generally work Tuesday nights so I'll miss that.  Sadness....lol.  Wednesday nights is open mic.  You can put your name on a list and you get to sing 3 songs on stage.  My plan this week is to sing Level of Concern, Goodness of God and Can't Help Falling in Love and maybe I'll feel like a rockstar for 5 minutes. :) Thursday, Friday, Saturday night there is live music.  It is the coolest place to be any day, any time for sure!  If you don't know what to order, try the cider beer.  It's great!

I'm so glad my bf and I found this place. We were randomly walking around the square downtown and heard the live music playing and went in.  The music was superb!  It is fun to see so much awesome talent in one place.  Any of the live musicians will for sure inspire you.  After we were there for open mic night Wednesday, my bf and I decided to start doing street singing.  We have made $2 in tips so far. lol :) Whether we make money or not, it's tons of fun.  We sing a mix of songs sitting on a park bench by the coffee shop downtown, some secular and some Christian.  I was almost going to sing random karaoke from my phone on that bench by myself today but decided not to. lol.  But God is moving.  I feel he called me to Georgetown, back to Georgetown, to be a light there and hopefully God is really touching people. 

It is funny the bread crumbs that seem to have been laid out.  I went to my mom's house a month ago to get two folding tables for a store I wanted to open up.  I was considering office space in my town, Jarrell, but the rent was very high.  I found a place for cheaper rent on Williams Drive.  I have a cute craft shop open now across from The Pit BBQ.  Check it out if you like.  My hours of being there are random though since I work at Papa John's too.  Then a lady came in my shop on July 4th and told me about her church, Faith Impact, a block away from my new shop.  It is a more spirit filled church, meaning you can feel the Holy Spirit a lot more there then other churches, and it's very exciting.  From there my bf and I discovered the bar downtown after their Wednesday church service.  And now we are doing street singing. All that wouldn't have happened if I hadn't wanted to open a shop. 

I think I was getting really tired of "staying at home" as we have all been told to do for what seems like forever now. :(  But I have been staying home for the past 8 years.  I was a stay at home mom for 7 years.  Mostly I appreciated getting to relax at home, but it sure is nice to get out more around other people now.  My two daughters who are 4 and 6 now live with my ex husband and his parents in Odessa.  That is the best set up for now, but I do miss them.  Pray for them please.  I know they are being well taken care of but please pray they don't miss me to much.  My ex husband went legitimately crazy so that is why we are now divorced.

As more time passes it has gotten easier and I have essentially forgotten now that I am or was a mom.  I have finally forgotten about my ex and I don't miss him anymore.  Things happen in life that we can't do anything about, but God works all things together for our good.  If I still had my daughters I wouldn't have been able to open my shop or work at Papa John's, which I love, or become a street rockstar. lol.  At least I somewhat consider myself a street rockstar now.  But it is important to serve others in some way.  If you aren't a parent, find a way that God would have you serve and bless your community.  I used to make bracelets a lot and give them away for free.  Now I'm trying to sell my bracelets but am singing for free, except the $2 I made in tips the other day. :) But let God use you. 

Whatever gift you were born with, use it to glorify God, and he will bless you.  Don't waste your gifts.  Don't waste your life.  Whatever God calls you to do, just do it. :) Don't be scared.  He will give you the courage to do it, and the provision and protection you need.  Step out on the water, because staying in the boat is boring.  Seize the day.  Capture every moment you can.  This life is short.  Jesus really might be coming back soon.  So do all you can for God every single day.  Don't waste one hour.  And keep that oil in your lamp, meaning stay filled always with the Holy Spirit. :) The more you serve God, the more filled with his Holy Spirit you will be.  May God bless you!

My First Store

I will be opening up my own Christian fashion and clothing store soon.  I'm so excited!  It will be on the busiest street on the city next to my small town.  I found a very affordable rent space.  It will be awesome!  I have about 60 shirts that I have painted on or did iron on letters on and about 60 bracelets.  I have been making my Christian bracelets for the past 6 years.  I have been somewhat obsessed with making them actually lol.  I have just given them away for free for 6 years but just a few weeks ago there were some on my table and I had the casual thought, "I wish I could actually sell those."  Then I started hunting all over my town and the next city for open office space.  And I found the perfect home away from home place for me!  I can't wait to set up my shop this weekend!  I got so much cute stuff for it like a cute pink rug and American flag decor for the front window.  It's going to look so great!  I have it all visualized how it will look.  I plan to process payments with the Square app on my phone.  They keep 7% of every dollar with that.  But that's ok. :)

I thought about painting on shirts again to have something else to sell besides my bracelets.  And then I saw those flameless candles at Walmart.  So I'm putting small letter stickers on them with phrases like "Be a Light" or "Angels are Here."  They look Super cute! :) I also decorated some picture frames to sell.  I might paint chairs also and sell chairs that have crosses on them.  How cool would that be? :) There are endless things that I can make and sell really. 

About 5 years ago I was actually into sewing dresses.  I was making matching mother daughter dresses and had a ton of fun with that.  I loved picking out new fabrics on Amazon. My favorite was a matching mother daughter set with zebra fabric. I also made matching shirts for me and my two girls from an awesome Hawaiian fabric.  It was super fun!

I was even making purses back then.  I tried about 10 different ways to make purses; glue guns and iron glue tape and then sewing them.  That was tons of fun.  I might do that again too. :)

Mainly I plan to do custom T-shirts.  I will ask whoever comes in, "What is your dream shirt?  What would your dream shirt say?"  Or something like that. :) Or "What word do you want on a bracelet?"  And I could make a shirt or bracelet exactly how they want it.  And then if they want matching family shirts I would just ask what color and the sizes.  My store will be a block away from Walmart so that will be convenient for getting shirts. :)  It's a good thing I Love walking around Walmart because I will probably be there a lot. lol.

So pray for me please, that good people will come in my store.  Please pray I will sell a lot every day I'm open and that it will be fun.  I plan to be open every day but Sunday from about 2 to 10pm. 

And if you have a dream of doing something, just do it, as Nike says. :)  Don't think about it too much.  Just make it happen.  You will be glad you did.  :)

May God bless you!

Pregnancy

One reason why my ex husband and I are divorcing was because he wanted a third baby and I wasn't sure that I did.  It was an odd time for him to try to get me pregnant when he was loosing his mind.  He thought cars were following him everywhere he went and his paranoia was at an all time high.  He was always slightly paranoid but it was getting pretty bad.  So needless to say I wasn't all that excited at that time to have a third kid with him, which hurt his feelings I guess and he thought I didn't love him anymore.  It wasn't that I didn't love him.  I just knew it wasn't a wise move for us to try to have a third kid at that time.

Our first two kids were girls and he was quite disappointed both times that they weren't boys.  I was perfectly happy to have had two girls.  I always had a fear of having a son.  I think mainly because my older brother put my mom through hell almost his whole life.  He was difficult from day one not wanting to eat much and then in his teens he got into trouble in almost any way he could.  Of course he had our dad for a dad so that was a huge disadvantage.  This was cool though, in his 20's he enrolled in the National Guard which I was very proud of him for.  He also got saved when he was 24.  Although it didn't seem to stick, sadly.  He has wavered all over the place in his faith.

But in all my jobs with kids from when I was 15 to 32 I had a hard time with the boys.  They always had SO much energy and it was hard to contain them and make them focus.  Every boy really could be said to have ADD.  I realized that's why most boys struggle in school, because most teachers are women, and women just don't get boys. Back in the day, before school, girls would be home with their moms and help with cooking and cleaning and boys would go to work with their dads and learn the family trade from a young age.  I wish we still did things that way.  It's almost like we are trying to train all kids now to become teachers.  There isn't much else you can learn from going to school, other then how to become a teacher.  I realized the other day that I don't really remember anything I learned in school.  That's probably why so many boys don't pay attention in school because they know their future is probably building houses or driving a truck, both being things that you don't really learn about in school.

So boys can be hard to raise and hard to teach.  Anyways, overall I'm very glad we didn't have a third child, since my ex-husband seemed to have changed into a totally different person.

Before you consider having a baby with anyone, consider the cost, money wise but also emotionally, mentally and physically.  You will for sure grow spiritually when you have kids, because you never need God as much as you do when you are raising kids.  Which can be good, overall. But realize it will be very, very hard work.  It's very key that you and your spouse are both sane, patient, competent and hard workers.  And make sure you pray a Lot together when you become parents, because you will Need to. :)

God bless!

Telepathy

I seem to have acquired a new spiritual gift, telepathy.  I am choosing to classify it for myself as the spiritual gift of "the word of knowledge."  I was studying the spiritual gifts and I realized a word of wisdom is a word we get from God, and a word of knowledge is something we get from people.  I have always known the gift of a word of knowledge is when you know something about another person that you wouldn't naturally know.  Either God tells you something about them, or in the case of my current gift, they tell me themselves, telepathically.

The reason for the gift of a word of knowledge is so that we can best know how to pray for others. It also helps in building closer friendships and relationships with others.

Over the past 3 weeks I have been able to telepathically communicate with various people.  As in, I don't verbally speak to these people but our minds communicate.  I heard once that this is how angels communicate.  Their minds talk to each other but their mouth doesn't move.

This ability started with my co-workers at my pizza work place.  Then it expanded to me being able to pray for people I had just delivered a pizza to and they could literally hear me praying for them.  We could then converse in our minds for a bit after I took a pizza to them.  They always ask me, "How are we able to communicate this way?" And I just say, "It's a spiritual gift that God recently gave me." And then we have a short, light hearted conversation about life, my life and their life. :)

I realize most people reading this will think I've gone crazy but I promise you I haven't.  I am still sleeping very well and eating normally.  I have not missed a day of work since I started working again.  I'm not schizophrenic. :) The people I'm talking to in my mind are actual people, not demons, so that is good. :)

I think what it is, is that God has opened this gift up for me to share the gospel more and to help people more.  The Bible says, "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart."  My greatest desire has always, always been to help people.  I think it makes sense for God to give me this gift because I am generally shy and don't talk a whole lot, except on here and my social media like my Twitter.  Look me up on there.  I am listed as Prophet Lisa. :)

I generally don't open up to people very much, but with this new gift, it's like I can be more open and share thoughts honestly and other people can share their most honest thoughts with me. It is a beautiful thing.  Although sometimes you wish people didn't know every thought that comes in your head, so that can be interesting too. :)

I saw this concept of telepathy in the movie Phenomenon as a kid and I was always intrigued by it.  I also very much loved the movie "What Women Want" in my 20's.  I watched that movie several times.  In that movie Mel Gibson can read the minds of women, as in he literally could hear their thoughts.  In the movie every single woman he walked by, he could hear what they were thinking.  Recently a movie came out, and it's on Amazon Prime, called "What Men Want."  In that movie the main female character can hear every thought of the men around her.

I don't have the ability to read people's thoughts all the time.  It is only with certain people in certain situations.  It is mainly just an ability that I have while working.  I suppose this gift could also be in the category of the gift of miraculous powers listed in Corinthians.

I realize you reading this that you might be skeptical.  I wasn't sure it was real at first either. But I feel like God keeps telling me, "According to your faith it will be done to you."  We often fear what we don't understand.  I don't entirely know why God gave me this gift, except that it has enabled me to help others more.  God knows that is my greatest desire, so it makes sense that he would give me this gift.

And now here are my thoughts on the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit:

I remember wondering in most of my church upbringing WHY most churches never talk about the Holy Spirit.  Why are the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit never mentioned?  So many "Christians" want to say the supernatural gifts ceased with the canonization of the Bible, but that is a false theology.  I realized the truth is that it is because most "Christians" are actually scared of the Holy Spirit.  They are scared to death of the supernatural.  They prefer to just stay in the shallow waters with God and not go into the deep waters with God.  They want some of the Holy Spirit but not All of him.  They want to stay comfortable.  They want some power from God but not too much.  They want fire from God the size of a match for example, but for God to put a bonfire in their heart seems too scary for them.  So they cower down in fear.  They let fear paralyze them and hinder them from the full life they Could have in God.

I generally have never been afraid of anything.  I have never been easily embarrassed.  I have always taken the bull by the horns in life.  I have almost always been very courageous and stepped out when God wanted me to.  I have always been willing to go for God where no one has gone before.  When I was 14 I went to Calcutta, India with a team for God on a missions trip.  I'm not afraid of where God will take me.  I think God knows this, and that is why he gave me this gift.  So praise God. :)

"Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders.  Let me walk upon the waters wherever you would call me. Take me deeper then my feet could ever wander." :)

God loves you all! Don't be afraid of the supernatural.  Don't be afraid of the power of God.

God bless!

Testimonies

This is great! I’m so proud of my ex husband for writing all this out. :) “In my youth I was rebellious and listened to heavy metal music and partied a lot and one day I failed a drug test for a promising job at the age of 19. God put his people across my path and I began to go to church and read the Bible. I was baptized at 19 and left the party life behind. I married too young and that marriage failed. In that time of suffering I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit which I was previously not open too. Then I began struggling a year later in 2008 for several years with anxiety depression and paranoia. I prayed and prayed for my healing and for over a decade it seemed no healing would come. I re married in that time and we had two beautiful wonderful little girls and then six years into my marriage everything came to a head with my mental health through some very unfortunate events out of my control. I reached out for help and got treatment and I made a full recovery of my mental health through medicine.” Praise God :)

My testimony in a few sentences. 😀 “Before I came to know Jesus fully I was a liar, shoplifter, disrespectful to my mom, a risk taker, overly bold in a bad way, unconcerned with consequences for my actions and I cared about no one but myself. After making Jesus my best friend I now love God and everyone so much! 😍” woot! Praise God!

Another great testimony: “Mine would be I was a great guy that everyone wanted to be around and then because of peer pressure and getting caught up in the world that was turned by the weight of the world, not only by sex addiction and alcohol, but also trying to please everyone. I came in contact with trying to figure out who I really am and what did I want out of life. I think it wasn't until here in Austin recently that I have discovered more to life than just trying to please people, but to please God.“ woot!