Paddling through your past.

 

Life is so easy… Said no one ever! 

In todays blog I’d like to give you some advice and also tell a testimony of mine along with a prophetic word from God. 

A few months ago I published a blog named Steady your boat which was completely from God. If you haven’t read it thats fine, I’ll leave the link at the end. If you’ve been following my blog and instagram account you will know I’m struggling with anxiety and depression. 

The overview of the blog was that God had spoke to me and told me that I needed to steady my boat. It was a warning to prepare myself and my church for the journey and changes we where about to face. At this point I did not know that the church pastors where making decisions to move to a bigger venue. The words God spoke to me where about steadying our boats as the journey ahead is going to be on a stormy sea and we have to get past the rocky shores to get to beautiful sands. This was totally prophetic and a little confusing when I first heard it as I had no idea we were moving venue until I messaged my pastor with what had just happened to me, we then got together and I was told about the changes. 

This blog will be a recap of Gods words he spoke to me and it will discuss our past and sailing through to the sands as God doesn’t  want us to stay in the stormy sea he wants us to be happy surrounded with his beauty. 

The theme of today is renewal. What I’ve recently learnt is that if we truly want change, our hearts are ready for the renewal that only God’s spirit can bring to us. 

Acts 3:19 Repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away. 

God promises to give you a fresh start. Which is great as a lot of us would really appreciate a fresh start. He will cleanse you.

Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. 

Recently I’ve prayed for renewal. I prayed for energy to focus more on the Lord. 

I have noticed that the way God renews and revives us, is by inspiration, encouragement, and comforting us through his word. The more I read his word, the more I am comforted and excited to share the word with others. 

I have prayed for strength daily for the past few months as I am physically, mentally and emotionally drained. After being quite angry at God for not saving me from the horrors I have had to endure I am now feeling grateful but confused about my ordeal. I know I am not out of the woods yet but I also know that I am not alone on this journey and The Lord will renew my strength. And that he will guide me along right paths, which will bring honour to his name. - Psalm 23:3 

And even though I am struggling right now, God is showing a picture to me. A picture of myself paddling in the sea, I am in a boat and I am full of strength and I am strong. (Which is not how I feel right now) But I am in this boat paddling through all the waves and litter close to the shore. I have to paddle through the weeds which means having a lot of strength as the weeds are tough. But in this picture, I make it to the shore. I actually make it the shore and I’m singing on the sand. At the top of my lungs. I love it when God shares these pictures or words with me. Prophetic visions are special and I feel very grateful and humbled by this amazing encounter with the spirit. 

I urge you to pray to the Lord with your problems, he is the with you every step of your journey. Have faith in him and he will reveal things to you which you never even thought of before. The Lord is amazing! 

And Remember… 

Hebrews 11:1 Faith is the confidence that we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. 

Thank you reading this little sequel to Steady Your Boat. - Paddling Through Your Past. 

Be blessed. Stay Well. 

God Bless 

Love Jessica Louise Xoxo 

Spiritually Sleepy

Hello my lovelies, I'm sorry that I haven't posted any blogs recently.

I would like to quickly say I that I am going through a really tough time at the moment, I am struggling with depression and anxiety and horrible thoughts. But on the bright side I have God. Unfortunately I don't always think of the bright side.

Recently I have thought to myself;

-Do I really have to go to church?

-Do I really have to get out of bed?

-Why are these people being horrible to me?

-Why is God is putting me through this? 

-Is there any point? 

-Why am I so alone? 

And last night I attended a connect group (study group with some of the church) I really did not feel like going, I had horrible thoughts in my head which I could not stop. People always tell you to smile, it can't be that bad... well the truth is... it's worse. People who haven't been through your circumstances can never understand but the one person who can understand and listen you is Jesus. 

Last night I finally decided to attend the group but I was not even on the same planet as everyone there. I was in my own bubble of pain. I just wanted to break down, cry and lock myself away. I didn't want to attend but when deciding to go I packed my bag which consists of a journal, bible and 2 pens and a highlighter. Which is very organised for me.

During the night I was asked if I had 2 pens to lend to someone for an activity, so I said yes and willingly gave them to people. But when the message was being shared later that night I didn't have the confidence or words to ask for them back. So by me being prepared and bring 2 pens I still ended up with nothing. I couldn't write any notes during the message. I sat in my chair and just stared at my empty paged journal. 

And asked God how am I supposed to equip myself and be prepared by bringing several pens when you knew that I still would not be able to write anything. And I felt God saying, Jessica you were prepared in body but you are not prepared in spirit. You are being unfaithful by not trusting me and letting me provide you with the correct tools in which you need to study the message. I felt God saying talk to me when planning because I am the senior planner and your plans go through me. This made me quite frustrated but I turned my voice recorder on my iPhone and today I listened to the message a friend had shared and I felt little better because I prayed and prepared myself to absorb the word and just open myself up bit more.

My goal now to focus on daily is to be spiritually awake and to be faithful by trusting in what god has promised me and trust that he will prepare me for the journey ahead which I know is going to be worse than this. 

I urge to today to read the following scriptures and meditate them in your own bibles. Be awake. Don't be fast asleep in your own judgement. 

1 Peter 1:13  Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 5:14 For anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

2 Thessalonians 3:3 But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one. 

Colossians 4:2 Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.

Have a blessed week 

Be Well

Jessica Louise 

Founder & Head Writer of BFW

Bag Baggage

Hello my lovelies, todays message will be on baggage, and not just any baggage but bad baggage. Today I will not be sharing a blog about baggage on a trip on this world, but on our spiritual world. 

I may not make sense at times but just stay with me, recently I took a trip and long story short compared to other people in the airport, I travelled light and didn’t have a lot of bags and when walking through the airport I felt free and happy. I felt a joy and peace about how I could enjoy the trip because I wasn’t being weighed down by anything. 

And this is the same in our spirit, we need to let go of the baggage holding and weighing us down, we need to pack lightly and enjoy the journey.

So as we travel through the new year, let go of the bad baggage which you don’t need which is getting in the way of your relationship with the Lord, leave the anxiety, leave the depression, the grief, the loss, the jealousy, the greed, the illness, don’t accept your baggage, your baggage isn’t permanent, the only thing permanent on this planet is Jesus and he is not baggage, he is love, life, and liberation. 

1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on Him because he cares for you.

Today I urge you all to write a list of your baggage, whether it be emotional, physical, or mental, just write it down, and then meditate on them, and give them to God. Give your baggage to God he’s waiting, he waiting to carry all your bags willingly. Hand them to him and let him heal you. Our God is a God who heals and doesn’t want you to be inflicted with negativity and things which bring you down. 

• Write a list of baggage
• Meditate on them
• Give them to God
• Leave them with God
• Be liberated, be free, be well.

Have a blessed day! 

Love Jessica Louise Xoxo 

Broken

Hey everyone today I want to share with you a little advice and a little testimony.  

Basically I've had depression, I've had panic anxiety attacks I've been through it all, triggered by loss and grief. But after I recovered from the dark times, I had a great few years, I found Christ! It wasn't easy I still had sad lonely days but doesn't everyone?
But today I am here to tell you that even though I am healed by the Lord, I still have days where I feel broken, where I feel like nothing and know one can help me, I feel hopeless and alone. And I'm here to tell you instead of saying I'm broken say I'm okay! Because you are! We are! We were not created to be broken in our faith, therefore we have to plant ourselves deeper in the Lord and just reply on him and his word. 

To be broken is not your calling and it's definitely not your status in life. 
We are called for so much more and trust me when I say this, it's not easy to defeat depression, I know because I recovered 2 years ago and I know it's trying to make a comeback, but I am strong in my faith and I know it's the devil knocking on my door but he has already stirred my relationships up and I'm loosing important people to me, and I say no more! I rebuke the devil in the name of Jesus. Today rebuke him! Tell him I am child of the Lord and you can't steal that relationship from me, you aren't stealing anything from me, my joy, my peace, my security, my life. No it's not going to happen! 

I woke up today feeling low and had an argument with someone very close to me and I honestly felt so alone and so broken but I went out tried to keep my head up and when I got home I slumped back down and while crying I realised and asked myself why am I crying? This is a lesson Jesus is going to use in the future for others, he will use my sad and dark days to help others so here I am aiming to give you guidance and help on standing firm in your faith through the depression, through the anxiety, through the failed relationships, whatever happens in your life, remember the one who loves you so much he sacrificed his one and only son for you. 

Remember to be grateful were far to blessed to be stressed and trust me I know how hard it is to not be stressed, stress is a huge part of my life I literally stress at everything until I remember I'm far to blessed for this to even bother me. 
Thanks for reading girls if you want to speak more to me about this topic email me on jessica@bibleforwomen.co.uk  

Love Jessica Louise Xoxo  

Under Attack

Hey everyone, this week has been very busy, I feel like I am constantly busy, and that's great we all should be busy with whatever life throws at us but sometimes I sometimes feel like I would like to just escape from it all. And today I would like to ask you all, are you suffering? are you alone? do you feel like theirs no hope? Do you feel like ending it all? If you answered yes to any of these I would like to just take a moment to tell you that I pray over these blogs and I pray for the reader to receive whatever healing you are in need of.

I'm going to break this blog into parts to make it easier to process and dissect. 

Part 1 // When we are going through a dark place and you feel you need to escape from your circumstances and you feel like theirs nothing you can do. Well your wrong. When you feel alone in your circumstances whatever they may be turn to The Lord. 

Psalm 32:7 You are my hiding place; protect me from trouble. You surround me with songs of victory.

When you feel like things are getting on top of your, and you can't cope anymore and you need to escape from it all. Escape by running into the arms of your loving and protective Lord and Savior. 

Recently I've started new and exciting journeys within my church and when things where starting to pile up and get on top of me, I ran to him. I sprinted and didn't look back. I know my place is with him and surrounded by the Holy Spirit. 

A few weeks ago I felt like I wasn't coping very well at all with anything, just walking down the street would bring anxiety and dread. I honestly felt alone and down in my faith, but while I down and saddened God came to me in a thought and gave me his idea. This idea was a mad idea and something that I took from a simple but wild idea and turned it into an action. Sometimes God places ideas and thoughts in you and it will help you escape from the darkness into the light. 

I feel much better now for running to him, and just giving him all my worries and burdens. 

Part 2 // God doesn't just provide us with ideas and thoughts on how to escape when were under attack from the devil. He can provide physical and literal ways to escape. 

I was thinking about ways God uses to help us escape from our situations and Noah came to mind. I love Noah! What a Godly man! #RelationshipGoals. 

Genesis 7:6-10 Noah was 600 years old when the floodwater covered the Earth. Noah and his wife and sons and their wives boarded the ship to escape the flood. Clean and unclean animals, birds, and all the crawling creatures came in pairs to Noah and to the ship, male and female, just as God had commanded Noah. In seven days the floodwaters came.

11-12 It was the six-hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month that it happened: all the underground springs erupted and all the windows of Heaven were thrown open. Rain poured for forty days and forty nights.

13-16 That’s the day Noah and his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, accompanied by his wife and his sons’ wives, boarded the ship. And with them every kind of wild and domestic animal, right down to all the kinds of creatures that crawl and all kinds of birds and anything that flies. They came to Noah and to the ship in pairs—everything and anything that had the breath of life in it, male and female of every creature came just as God had commanded Noah. Then God shut the door behind him.

I love this scripture - My interpretation of this relating to escaping is that when your in a bad situation God will send you help whether it be instructions to build a boat or a thought on how to get out of the situation maybe strength and courage to help you along the way. And when your out of the situation and your safe away from your situation - the floods, God shuts the door he stops the floods from harming you. God guides you, if you simply just ask him. Pray to him. Talk to him, speak aloud, speak in your heart, just communicate with him and he will always be their for you. 

So next time you are lost and don't have any idea on how to escape your problems, just think of Noah and how brave he was trusting in the Lord and how amazing God is for guiding Noah away from the terror of the world, he gave him and his family a fresh start. A new beginning of life. 

Part 3 // Temptation is a huge topic for this blog. Because when you are tempted in whatever way God helps you escape from temptation so you can live a free and pleasing life. 

1 Corinthians 10:13 God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure. 

Next time you are tempted, just tell yourself, God knows your limits and he knows how strong you are and whatever attempts to tempt you you are stronger that this and you can just simply walk away from it in because God wouldn't let anything you couldn't handle come your way. You are his children and you are protected. 

People think because your a Christian or Christ follower you life is easy and you live in happy land and we don't sin. Which is all false!! Life is never easy! We struggle, we have hopeless days, but you know one thing, Gods love lasts forever and whatever problem we face we can turn to him for guidance and he will help us escape from whatever situation we have gotten in. We need to face reality just because we are Christians doesn't mean we are happy every single day, our twitters and instagram might show us smiling and posing with out friends but only God knows our hearts and he knows how we truly feel inside, we might be frightened we might be thinking about ending it all, but God sees that and he will put in place an escape route you just need to turn to him and trust him, he is a faithful God.

So today girls I pray that you will escape from your floods and keep safe and just pray for an escape route because God has one for everyone and every situation all you need to do is ask. 

Thank you for reading, have a blessed week everyone. 

Love Jessica Louise xoxo 

Anxiety and Depression Awareness Week.

Anxiety and Depression Awareness Week.
12th- 18th May 2014

Hello lovelies, just a short blog today to help everyone become more aware of anxiety and depression.
Please visit www.anxietyunited.co.uk 

For more information on the illnesses and how you can help support the cause. It’s a mental health problem what can so easily be fixed in time with the right funding and information. 

Personally I have been freed from them and I am now happy, and living happily with family and friends around me, yes I still have my problems but everyone does, where not perfect. 

But if you’re in crisis the website above will tell you your options and give you contact details of different people and organisations who can help.

I hope this information helps you if need help and guidance. 

Thank you and God Bless

Love Jessica Louise Xoxo

Don't forget to check out the new 3 part series too- Part 1&2 are up and running now! 

www.bibleforwomen.co.uk