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 

Words are Weapons

Recently I have been through a roller coaster of events from changing my job to my health changes. If you have followed the blog and website from the beginning you will know that I have suffered from depression and anxiety for many years but for the past year and a half I have been free of this illness, until now.

Depression is like the devil it can strike you at any time especially when you let your defences down. Your faith is your defence from evil but sometimes it can tiring and you can feel exhausted from being a ‘good Christian’ I try every day to be a ‘good Christian’ and I know that I can’t be perfect but I am a perfectionist which makes it harder to understand that I can’t be perfect at something which will make me feel down and when I say down I mean rock bottom.

In my life I have been a butterfly when it comes to friends and the reason being is that I would take offence to a lot of things spoke to me and sometimes I ‘overreact’ so I have moved on from friends because of this but I think that this is a great thing as it has gotten me to where I am today. With a strong bunch of friends are fellow Christians who surround me and support me.

Recently I've decided to try not to focus on people’s words as words are really powerful and can tear you down.

In the news this week, I've heard a lot about 'Hate Preachers' and Donald Trump to be exact, and my one question is this, why do we listen. He has no power over any of us. The one who has power and almighty love for us is God. Why do we keep listening to other people who we know are going to poison us with their hate words and hate opinions and evil plans? When we could listen to a higher being who is the definition of love.

That is exactly what they want. When I was as a primary school I was bullied and sadly many of you will be reading this and can agree with me in saying that you were bullied also. And when I was bullied I would be called hurtful names and I would get upset and ask for help from others to solve the problems. And that to me is a lesson. It was prepping us for adult life. We need to ask for help from the one who can help, the one and only Lord Almighty. We need to ask him to help us, and pray for guidance. 

When we grow up we tell ourselves that we can’t be bullied but were wrong. We can be bullied, with social media causing most of the problems in today’s society. Sadly many people try to cope with cyber bullying and people using words as weapons towards them alone, just remember you are never alone, God walks alongside you, and he is always there. So next time you put a photo on twitter or Instagram with a cup of coffee and your bible and the caption states ‘I loves Jesus’. Do not be ashamed, do not feel like you are going to hurt anyone. 

Sometimes you may be ridiculed for taking a stand for Jesus. Sometimes you suffer. Sometimes we will suffer but mainly from other people’s sins, take Adam and Eve for example. Eve took the fruit initially and they both were banished. - Genesis 3:6, 23. 

James 1:3 - When your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 

Also take challenges as opportunities.

Be Christ like and do not follow the crowd. Be the leader. Lead people to the cross. Lead them to salvation. When people are writing mean and hurtful words to you or aiming them at you. Just speak to God. He already knows what’s going on but speak to him for clarity and wisdom. 

Don't listen to hate words, they just poison your mind, when you listen to people speaking hate, or gossip, pray to the lord for redemption and forgiveness. He will purify your mind and give you peace. Instead of listening or speaking hate words, speak words of thanks and praise to God, it is much more productive.

When you listen to words which aren't good for soul, they stir your thoughts and the people around you use your tears as instruments in their band of hate and suffering.

Sometimes we will suffer but mainly from other people’s sins, take Adam and Eve for example. Eve took the fruit initially and they both were banished. - Genesis 3:6, 23. 

I urge you all not to listen to hate preachers and words used as weapons on the news, social media and even from people who surround you. Be Christ like and speak words of truth and love from the heart and the gospel. 

Thank you for reading this blog, I pray this blog helps you in your daily life.

Jessica Louise xoxo 

Founder and Head Writer of the Bible for Women

Standing Together / Steady Your Boat

As many of you know I have a great friend called Brittany Nicole and she is the founder of Stepping on dandelions. She is a young girl who dedicates her time to God and helping others by sharing her life experiences and journeys with her followers. And the other today she emailed me, which we do quite often, and it got me thinking and made me reevaluate my friendships because the bible says we are children of God. And personally I believe we all need to stand together in doing good on this planet. And it doesn't matter how far away your friends are (my friend Brittany is 4,119 miles away but I can honestly say she is one of my closest friends and she is full of faith and supports me on my journey) so when your talking to your friends just be Christlike and others with see that and want to be like you.

1 Thessalonians 5:11- Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 - Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!

I love having friends who are fellow Christians because it's what we need it's good for our minds, and souls and spiritually it's great for our faith as it challenges us and explores our boundaries. We need to stand together in the storm and throughout our difficulties in life and keep our friends close by and just talk to your friends about experiences with the Lord and you will grow in confidence and faith. I know this is hard but it is so rewarding in the long term.

Recently I had a vision while worshiping and it simply was a boat with my church family inside, and we were all balancing the boat, working together to keep the boat, the vessel afloat and while the rocky shores and waves hit the boat we stayed afloat because of us joining and standing together. We worked as a team, as a family and when difficulties and darkness struck we were safe and when we reached the sandy beaches we danced in the sunlight, the light flowed from the people and surroundings because we steadied the boat and came through the other side, the boat represented the family of church and the waves and rocky shores represented the challenges but the sand represented a free place to worship the Lord, a free place of expression where know one is judged or mocked for what and who they believe in. 

And my church family is the church we don't need a building to worship and pray! We need each other and the support and help and guidance from each other, and praying and encouraging one another, well that's all their is, we all joined together for one cause for one creator for one author. Visions are a gift from God, if you ever experience an image or a word or a song or anything which God has given you, do not be afraid, express it , share it, speak about it, and do something about it. Gifts are not to taken granted for, we should be thankful and we should praise him every day for the gifts he has given and gifts he will give us in the future. 

Thank you for reading today's blog on standing together and I urge you to steady your boats because the waves and rocky shores are in the near distance, steady your boat and passengers, and the end result and the view will be spectacular and so worth the challenges. Gods light will flow from you and your surroundings. Stead your boat and get ready for brilliant but bumpy journey ahead.
Thank you & God Bless
Love Jessica Louise Xoxo