We just finished our study group of my book I AM HEALED. I love these study groups. We grow so much together as a group! Healings happen… physical and spiritual. Hearts are healed, emotions are healed, and minds are set free!
We are starting a new study group in a couple of weeks on IT IS FINISHED. We have two time slots during the week: Monday 5pm PST and Tuesday 10am PST. If you’re interested message me and we’ll add you to the zoom link
Here is the zoom from our final class on chapter 20 – PRAISE SILENCES THE ENEMY.
My heart has been so heavy for the past two days. It’s been tough to shake. And so what do I do? How do I process all that my heart is feeling? By writing and pouring out my heart on paper or actually on my MacBook. I try not to think too much and just write what my heart feels. And maybe it’s how some of you feel, and it will also help you. Fair warning, though, if you’re reading this… I am unapologetically 100% pro-life.
Most of the time, I live in my own world, and my world is quite different than the one we see on a daily basis. I can get so caught up in my writing and studying that my entire world perception is FINISHED!! And VERY GOOD!! And often, I spend hours every day doing that. But every once in a while, I come up for air and take a look around. And I don’t recognize the world that I see. That is what happened two days ago, and I logged on to Facebook in the morning and saw the most beautiful, glorious post I’ve read in a while….. Roe vs. Wade overturned!!! WOW!! Fifty years later, it’s overturned! What an unforgettable, historic moment for our country! It’s a time to celebrate! So, of course, I post that our nation chose life today!! And another that said life won!! But I wasn’t prepared for the negative comments that came from some. Or for the posts I read throughout the day that were negative about Roe being overturned. Now I do realize that some would be upset about it. Those who do not know God, sons and daughters who haven’t awakened to who they are IN Christ. But I was unprepared for the negative responses from believers. I was blown away by how many profess to love God and be believers but are pro-choice! Naive on my part? Probably.
The problem is an identity crisis. We are lacking absolutes and grabbing for anything. Aman can become a woman and vice versa; you can choose which pronoun defines you (he, she, it, they, etc.), you can be homosexual, bisexual, pansexual, non-gender, transgender, asexual, etc., etc., etc.And when I come up for air from my creative bubble, from my world perspective of VERY GOOD!! My first response can sometimes be, “what is wrong with this world!?” The truth is, nothing is wrong with this world. We don’t live in a fallen world!
However, we live in a society marked by an identity crisis. And it’s not just people who don’t know God. Some in the radical grace circles are just as confused about who they are and who God is. They have “deconstructed” to the point where they no longer have absolutes, and they reach out to grab anything that sounds UNRELIGIOUS! But without understanding who God is, we can’t know who we are.
So what are we to do? Are we to agree with most that anything goes in life and you can just be anyone or anything you want, or do whatever feels good for you? No, I don’t think so. I love that my dad raised me to think about others. He told me that we are not islands unto ourselves and that EVERYTHING we do affects someone else. I do believe we need to be brave and speak life. These identity crisis issues of gender and sexuality often stem from trauma. That’s not freedom. It’s bondage. And we need to be free from our own identity crises’ if we are going to help others experience freedom. Abortion isn’t freedom; it’s a bondage that results in trauma for the mother and those around her. And it stole a life God had created for a purpose here on earth. But what about extenuating circumstances, like rape, incest, or the endangering of the mother’s life? I don’t know. But places like Planned Parenthood make their money convincing women that they have no other options… that’s bondage! There’s always an option. God always makes a way when there seems to be no way.
Pro-Life is not popular in the world today. It is viewed as religious and controlling and anti-women’s rights. I am pro-life. But I am neither religious, controlling, nor anti-women’s rights. I am for LIFE and FREEDOM for all people. I am pro-life for not only the baby but also for women! Liberty is not doing whatever we feel like doing in life with no thought for anyone else. Abundant life and freedom is not our “right” to every thought, feeling, desire, and emotion at the cost of others. Life and freedom are only defined by HIM, who is Life and Freedom. I hear people saying, “All we need is love.” And while it’s true that we definitely need love, if we don’t know the One who is Love, we won’t know what love looks like. And then we won’t know how to minister Love and Life to a hurting world who have no idea who they are or who God is.
I hope you heard my heart in this post. There is zero judgment for anyone struggling in their identity, who have had abortions, who are pro-choice, etc. I have nothing but love for them and see them as complete, whole, and fully embraced by Abba!!
First of all, Happy Father’s Day to anyone reading this post who is a father; you are all amazing men!
But I really wanted to write this post to all the young women (or even not so young) reading it who aren’t married yet but would love to meet the right man and be married. Today is Father’s Day, and I spent the day with my husband. I fixed him a fantastic lunch, and we just spent time together, talking about our life, our children, our dreams, etc. All 4 of our children are grown, and they all called him to say Happy Father’s Day, but they don’t live with us anymore. And he doesn’t have a dad to call anymore since he passed away seven years ago. I call my dad and take a gift over, but I’ve found the last few years (since he’s lost both parents) that Father’s Day has become about spending time loving on this man who is the amazing father of our children. Ladies, find a good man, a godly man, a man who puts others before himself. At the end of the day, it’s not about how much money he has or how handsome or charming he is. You want a man who can confidently say, “I’ve got this!” What is ‘this?’ Anything that life throws at you. My husband, the father of our four children, is this man, and I am so thankful for him. I know no matter what comes in life, he’s got it.
This picture on this blog is one of my favorites. It’s the day of our daughter’s wedding, and he accidentally ran into her while she was taking pictures, which is why he is in a rain jacket, board shorts, and boots. He was working hard to make her day special for her. And when he saw her, he was utterly overcome with emotion and in tears… she was an absolute vision of beauty. But, what you can’t see in the picture is that he was dirty from working in the mud and was afraid to touch her because he didn’t want to mess up her dress.
We had every detail of the wedding worked out. But sometimes, life throws curve balls. One week before the wedding, his mom died. But we had a wedding to throw and didn’t have time to grieve. And then the morning of the wedding, we woke up to a forecast of 100% rain… not sprinkles, or occasional showers (like it had predicted!) BUT buckets and buckets of rain! Since we had only planned for an outdoor wedding under a canopy of beautiful fairy lights (which, by the way, the wind completely tore apart the night before!), we had to make a major adjustment fast. So, at 4:30 in the morning, my husband, who had barely slept all night, told me that we would have to have the reception in the house! My question… whose house!?! OURS! Can we even fit 80-90 people inside my house!?! Originally the count had been close to 200, but covid happened, and we had cancelation after cancelation that week. Steve told me we could move out all the furniture and have the reception in the house, and it would be great. Really!?! But then again, he’s always able to say with absolute confidence, “I’ve got this!”
So, we moved all of the furniture out of the main rooms of our house… and when I say all, I mean ALL (even the drapes needed to come down)! Steve, our sons, all of the bridesmaids, and my two day-of-coordinators moved it all to our bedrooms! Then everyone moved all of the reception things into our house!! We had to scratch all of our plans and literally wing it the rest of the night! BUT amid all the chaos, this wedding was, as I said, the most beautiful wedding I’ve ever been to! The buckets of rain held just long enough to have the ceremony in the orchard just like my daughter wanted. And all of the raindrops and umbrellas made for stunning pictures.
My husband truly is amazing! He selflessly poured his heart into making this a beautiful day for Nicole & Zach! For him, this day was all about making her dreams come true. He was working outside, getting things ready even while guests were arriving. In fact, he took a shower 20 minutes before she was due to walk down the aisle. Every precious minute before that was spent not only telling his girl, “I’ve got this!” but being a living, tangible picture of “I’ve got this!” The wedding was stunning, the food excellent, and the love from everyone for us and our daughter and new son (❤) was overwhelming!! Nothing went according to plan at this wedding. And yet, everything went so much better than planned. Love and joy were contagious and felt by everyone there. And really, when you strip away all the outer packaging of the wedding that we planned…the decor, the food, the drinks, etc….that was all we truly wanted!!
Steve loves his family so well! We are all better versions of ourselves because of his selfless love. So ladies, find a selfless man. A man who will say, “I’ve got this,” and will focus on making your dreams come true. He’s a rare man for sure! I do realize how blessed I am. I know men like him don’t come along every day. But honestly, he’s worth the wait. My love and admiration for this man continues to grow and grow.
Is writing your passion? Do you know you have books in you? If so, you’ll want to take my class this summer – Writing and Publishing. I want to empower you and pull a book out of you!
The class is scheduled for August and space is limited. I’m working on the course outline now. I will give you tips and resources for writing, editing, designing and formatting, publishing, and branding and marketing. We will have weekly writing challenges to help you.
The cost for this weekly zoom class is $79 and it will run 12 weeks.
ALL of it …. The Law, death, and sin died on the cross and stayed in the grave. ALL mankind rose up with Christ as a NEW creation…. with a NEW identity.
Paul begins 1 Corinthians 15 discussing the resurrection of Christ.
In verse 12 he says that some are saying there is no resurrection of the dead. And in verse 13 and 14 he says if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ is raised. And if Christ isn’t raised than our preaching AND your faith is futile.
And then he takes his argument farther saying in verse 15 that if that’s true, then we are exposed as false witnesses. Why? Because we said that God raised Him from the dead, but He in fact did not raise Him IF there is no resurrection of the dead.
And in verse 17 he says IF Christ was not raised from the dead you are still in your sins and those who died in Christ have perished (v. 18). And finally he says in verse 19 if our hope for Christ is in this life alone we are to be pitied more than all men.
And just when they might start feeling like all is hopeless, he begins verse 20 with BUT!!! Don’t you just love those kind of good news verses! Paul says BUT Christ was indeed raised from the dead.
The rest of chapter 15 is difficult for us because we have been taught that there is to be a future resurrection. But is Paul saying that SOMEDAY we will be raised with Christ?
NO… ɪɴ Cᴏʟᴏssɪᴀɴs 3:1 ʜᴇ sᴀʏs SINCE ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ʙᴇᴇɴ ʀᴀɪsᴇᴅ ᴡɪᴛʜ Cʜʀɪsᴛ. The verb raised is in the aorist indicative tense – meaning it was a FINISHED action at a specific point in time. When was that point in time? When He was raised we were raised! ONE glorious co-resurrection.
And so, in 1 Corinthians 15 they begin asking Paul what does a resurrected body look like?
What’s Paul saying? The co-resurrected man now bears the image of the heavenly Man! He’s telling them at one time they bore the image of the man of dust, Adam, but NO LONGER! They NOW bear the image of the Last Adam! All of the first Adam died at the cross. The heavenly man, the Last Adam rose up out of the grave, and ALL mankind rose up in that image and likeness.
Mankind no longer resembles the first Adam! We were co-resurrected with Christ Jesus as image and likeness of the Last Adam.
The word appear isn’t referring to a 2nd coming of Christ. It means to make manifest, to make known, to become graspable. The root is light. The same word is used in the last part of the verse we will also appear
What’s Paul saying? Christ IS our life! When that becomes known or graspable to us, when the light of who He is as our life shines in us, THEN we are able to grasp and know who we are. We will grasp and know who we are IN glory… in dokeo (the root of doxa). The light will go on in us and we will grasp and know who we are as the view and opinion of God (we are who He says we are!) as well as being the tangible manifestation of Him on the earth!
Paul says in Galatians 2 that his life now in the physical body IS the life of Christ. His life IN our physical body, is there anything more glorious!?! What is true of Him is equally true of us… sinless, full dominion over death, divine health, glorified, etc.
My seminary occasionally has a zoom meeting with a guest speaker. Last night that was me. They invited me to speak on Writing and Publishing… tools and resources I’ve learned over the previous two years. It was so much fun sharing what I’ve learned and encouraging others to write the book that is in their heart… to be brave, pick up the pen, and write! I love writing, and I also LOVE teaching others! So, what better way to combine those than to teach a writing course.
This summer, I will be offering a course on writing and publishing, giving you tools and resources I use through a weekly zoom teaching. But I don’t just want to provide you with information… I want to pull a book out of you! The zoom meetings will consist of a 30-40 minute teaching, Q&A time, writing challenge, and lots and lots of encouragement and motivation to write your book. I don’t just want to give you information. I want to grow together with you as writers… I want to build a thriving community of passionate grace-based writers!
It will be a 10-12 week course (length of time TBD soon) for $79. What will the course cover? Information on writing, editing, formatting/styling, publishing, and marketing/branding. We will also have a writing challenge, which will help you improve your writing skills, create a habit of daily writing, and possibly end up with a book at the end! That’s how I wrote my book I AM HEALED!! It was through a three-month writing challenge!
What held me back from writing my first book was the fact that I didn’t know how to start! I didn’t know how to write a book, and even if I figured out how, I didn’t know what to do with the rough draft when I finished it. If that’s you, this course is perfect for you! I wish I had these tips and resources when I started.
Updates on the course regarding the start date and length of time will come soon…
Monday on our zoom I was asked about the power of our imagination. It is true that our imagination is a powerful gift from God! The ability to SEE apart from our natural vision, WOW! Only God could put such a remarkable gift and ability IN us. But how did God intend for us to use this beautiful gift?
As kids we used our imagination all the time. When we read a book our imagination takes us to these faraway places and worlds and we get wonderfully lost in it. But specifically in regards to the FINISHED work, how can we draw from it the maximum benefit?
The word imagination in the Webster’s dictionary says: the faculty or action of forming new ideas, or images or concepts of external objects not present to the senses; it is the ability of the mind to be creative or resourceful.
I think we get a better idea of imagination when we look at it in the Hebrew…
In Hebrew there are two words for imagination… yatsar and deemyon. The word yatsar is to form, fashion, and purpose. It is to squeeze into shape as a potter does with clay. The word deemyon means resemblance, likeness, similarity. The root of the word is damah which we see in Genesis 1:27 – we were created in His image and also according to His likeness (damah).
The ability of our mind to be creative and resourceful, to form images, and concepts not present to the senses is an amazing gift of God IN us! But what does that look like when it comes to imagining this FINISHED life? Are we to imagine things such as cars, houses, discounts, wealth, being healed of sickness and disease, etc., and then wait for them to manifest? Or is there a better use of our imagination that instead of imagining things, uses our imagination to form images, concepts, and new ideas in regards to our identity? Because once that happens, we no longer wait for a manifestation but rather rest in the KNOWING that we have been given (already!) ALL things pertaining to life and godliness… that we lack nothing!! The more our imagination operates in that area (of identity), the more we simply rest and abide in what is already ours… no longer striving to SEE a manifestation.
I believe we are to use our imagination using the mind of Christ and SEEING (or imagining) in us what He sees. And our mind renews as it co-imagines with Him, and like a potter, we begin to form (yatsar) images, ideas, and concepts by SEEING Him and as a result, SEEING who we really are as image and likeness (damah) of Him. He is whole and complete… therefore we are whole and complete. He is co-seated and we are co-seated. And our mind’s eye (our imagination) begins to SEE these truths about our identity.
In this use of our imagination, we are no longer seeing from a place of lack. In other words, we are no longer seeing that we are sick and IF we can just imagine good health, or imagine Jesus healing us, THEN we will manifest healing. NO….. we see His image and know we are the same image. There is no sickness because His image is whole so therefore we are whole! We are not seeing that we are struggling financially and IF we can imagine being wealthy, getting a new job, receiving a check in the mail, etc., THEN we will manifest these things. NO… the real power of imagination is seeing His image… He is abundant and prosperous in ALL things… therefore we are abundant and prosperous in ALL things!
The powerful ability of imagination is not IF and THEN language! This becomes striving and works. It’s all about us and our ability.
The key to imagination is: HE is and THEREFORE I am language! This is rest! It’s all about HIm and what He has done for us, and as us. And from that place of rest the manifestation of our FULL, FINISHED inheritance is effortless.
ALL of it …. The Law, death, and sin died on the cross and stayed in the grave. ALL mankind rose up with Christ as a NEW creation…. with a NEW identity.
It Is Finished 
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