Category Archives: Grace

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He brings us out to bring us in…


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Deuteronomy 6:21-23

“We were slaves of pharaoh in Egypt, but The Lord sent signs and wonders-great and terrible-on Egypt and pharaoh and his whole household. But He brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land He promised on oath to our ancestors.”

What are you a slave to? What burdens are you laboring under? What lie has the enemy told you that has caused you to doubt the love and grace of our Father and His Son Jesus the Christ?

I was enslaved in 2010 and the beginning of 2011. I was living, in Pensacola, in an abusive relationship with a man who was not my husband. I had been unemployed for 16 months and the repo man was looking for my only transportation. I was basically estranged from my three children because of the choices I had made. Even though my life was awful I felt like it would be impossible to leave.

Then The Lord began courting me. He began reminding me of my true identity in Him. He quietly but persistently pursued me. I picked up my bible for the first time in years and was reminded of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-24. I was the prodigal, as I looked around I realized I had to find a way to get out of the pig pen I found myself in.

So I packed my stuff in my car and came back to the Spanish Fort area. I was basically homeless and on public assistance but I was out of the pig pen. Then God started restoring me. I got a job and an apartment. I repented to my husband and my children for my behavior. When my car was repossessed God provided me with the funds to pay cash for a vehicle. I was desperately lonely so God lead me to a singles group at Bay Community Church. They loved me back to life.

In the last two years God has done so many miracles in my life it would take a book to recount them all. The most amazing and the one I treasure above all the rest is that my relationships with my children have been restored. But not just restored, they are all better than they were before. I am so thankful to my Abba Father, my Redeemer who has brought me out to bring me in…to an unbelievably blessed life full of peace, joy and hope.

The best part is that if He did it for me He will do it for you! Isn’t that good? He does not play favorites. He loves you just as much as He loves me and wants to bring you out of whatever bad situation you have gotten yourself into so He can bring you in to the life He planned for you before the creation. All you have to do is let Him. He stands at the door and knocks, but He is a gentleman, you must ask for Him to come in and take over.

So what are you waiting for? The best is yet to come if you give your control away to the One who knows you, the One who created you. Go ahead, open the door.

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Slow Fade


Slow fade by Casting Crowns

Be careful little eyes what you see
It’s the second glance that ties your hands as darkness pulls the strings
Be careful little feet where you go for it’s the little feet behind you that are sure to follow
It’s a slow fade when you give yourself away
It’s a slow fade when black and white turn to gray
And thoughts invade
Choices are made
A price will be paid when you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day
it’s a slow fade
It’s a slow fade
Be careful little ears what you hear, when flattery leads to compromise the end is always near
Be careful little lips what you say, for empty words and promises lead broken hearts astray
The journey from your mind to your hand is shorter than your thinking
Be careful if you think you’d stand you just might be sinking
It’s a slow fade when you give yourself away
It’s a slow fade when black and white turn to gray
And thoughts invade
Choices are made
A price will be paid when you give yourself away
Daddies never crumble in a day
Families never crumble in a day
it’s a slow fade
It’s a slow fade
Be careful little eyes what you see
Oh be careful little eyes what you see
For the Father up above is looking down in love, oh be careful little eyes what you see

If you have been reading my blog you might have seen a pattern. It seems like I am a broken record talking about staying close to Jesus. That is because I have experienced the slow fade…away from Him and into a very bad place.
I was saved on Valentines day in 1999. I was on fire! I was in love with The Lord. I had quiet time each morning, listened to Christian radio, went to church every time the doors were open, and was evangelizing my workplace. During one of my morning times with The Lord, He showed me my calling by illuminating the scripture! It was most exciting!

Around 2002 personal events and a church split stopped me from going to church. I still kept in touch with my church friends, for a while. I kept my quiet time up for a while and then that went by the wayside. Since my mind was not focused on Jesus and His word, like it should have been, it began wandering to places it should not have gone. Thoughts gave way to conversations, which gave way to meals, which gave way to an affair. Culminating in me leaving my husband, of 28 years, and 2 teenage children in 2009.

I cannot stress this enough!
You must stay connected with The Lord!
It takes intentionality and it will be well worth all your efforts.

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Our unchanging God


Not only does He not change (Numbers 23:19) neither does His plan for our lives….

We can go back to Abraham to see that His plan to make Abraham a great nation never changed. Even after Abraham listened to Sarah and conceived a child with Hagar, Sarah’s servant. That was one of the biggest blunders made by mankind thinking they needed to help God. You can read all about it in Genesis. Don’t miss the part where they probably delayed the promise by thinking they needed to help God.

Then there was Moses, who definitely had a call on his life. Saved as an infant, when they were killing all the Hebrew boys of his age. Raised in the palace alongside the king he would later confront. After killing one of the Hebrews’ taskmasters he runs out into the desert, surviving against all odds. He carves out a life, marries a local girl, and while he is performing his job, one day, gets the “call” from God to go get His people, the Hebrews, out of bondage. He argues with God, explaining to Him that he didn’t speak well and wouldn’t God rather choose someone else. Can you just see it? The scene is set. The bush is burning. There is the booming voice from heaven saying, take off your shoes because you are on Holy ground. Then God tells him His plan. And Moses argues with God. All because he was insecure. I do feel like I should give Moses a little break here because he didn’t know much about God. He hadn’t been brought up being told the stories of the Hebrew heritage. He had been brought up in the palace being taught customs and heritage of the pharaohs. As far as how he was brought up goes, he was used to the Hebrews being around doing all the work and there were at least hundreds of thousands of them. He had to be thinking that pharaoh was NEVER GOING TO LET THEM GO! If he did, who would do all the work in Egypt? I think it was partly insecurity and partly knowing his adversary and what he was up against.

But I digress.

The point of today’s blog is…God and His plan NEVER changes.
The words He has spoken to us over the years NEVER change.
The visions He has given us are still in effect.
The plans He has for us haven’t changed.
The promises He has made to us haven’t changed.

So go back and remember the things He has told you and be reassured. He hasn’t forgotten you or His plans for you. Hold on to them with your whole heart and know that your God WILL bring them to pass. Don’t go out and try to make it happen on your own. You know you don’t want your own “Ishmael” situation.
Wait, wait, wait for The Lord! And while you wait praise Him for the plans He has for you and for what a good, loving, faithful Father He is to us! His timing is perfect! If you are still breathing you haven’t completed His plans for you!

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God’s priorities


2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

Matthew 9:37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.

Sometimes I get frustrated because I don’t feel like I have enough time to spend with God.
I know He wants me to make Him a priority not because the bible, or my pastor, or my peers say that I should. But because it’s the best thing for me. When I am close to Him He leads me to the best choices for my life. One step at a time. So when I have time how do I choose the best way to spend it.
I know God is into relationships. Not only does He want to have an intimate relationship with me, but He wants me to have intimate, loving, caring relationships with believers so that we can encourage each other. Even further He wants me to have loving, caring, relationships with non-believers so that I can witness, through the way I live my life, to help draw them to the light that shines through me. My Jesus.
So, back to my original question. How to spend my time? I believe that 2 Peter is true and that it’s not Gods will that “any should perish but that all should come to repentance” so it must be pretty important to God that we, believers, do everything we can to draw people to the saving knowledge of our lord Jesus Christ. How? Well, since I can’t see into people’s hearts I need to stay close to the One who can. He will show me how to talk to a person. He will show me who to talk to. He will show me what they need from me so I can minister to them in the way that will soften their hearts and help them be more receptive to His love and grace.
So I guess the answer to my question is as I get closer to Jesus, He will show me how to spend my time. He is ever present in our lives. He shows us just enough for our next step (Psalms 119:105). He will guide us as we choose the next thing we should do in any circumstance (Isaiah 30:21).
We are so blessed in all that we do if we will just tune our ears in to His still small voice and become sensitive to His will. He will never lead us wrong.

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Who is like The Lord?


Exodus 15:11 “Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, Fearful in praises, doing wonders?
Deuteronomy 3:24 ‘O Lord God, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your mighty hand, for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do anything like Your works and Your mighty deeds?

Sometimes I wonder if we are too familiar with the way we speak to and/or about the Trinity. I know that things changed when Jesus died for our sins.
When He shed His most precious and completely Holy blood for us on the cross.
When He bridged the gap between mankind and God.
When Jesus made a way for us to enter into the holy of holies and approach the throne of the Most High God.
When He BECAME sin in our place.

But let’s go back to the beginning. Let’s go back to the 6th day of creation when mankind was created.
(Genesis 1:26-27 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.)

I think, of course, it was a joint decision. I believe mans body was fashioned, but before the breath of life was breathed into man I think God turned to Jesus and said, “Are you sure you want to do this? You know they are going to sin against Us, you know they are going to break Our hearts…they will seek after everything under the sun to satisfy that longing deep in their hearts. You know You will have to be born as one of them, live an uncomfortable life, be ridiculed by them, die a horrible death, be buried and resurrected, and then walk among them in Your glorified body to prove Who You are. He waited for Jesus’ answer and all of heaven stood holding their breath. Then came Jesus answer “I love them. I will do whatever it takes for the fleeting moments of joyous fellowship and communion. I wait anxiously for my beautiful, spotless bride and the day she comes to me in fine linen made ready for our union and the marriage supper.” There was a collective exhale as all of heaven breathed.

Thank you Jesus for loving us so much and wanting an intimate relationship with each of us.

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Love…actually.


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God loves me. It’s true He does. I’ve known it for a long time but I’ve never really acknowledged it. God loves me. Jesus loves me. Just like the children’s song…you know it…we have all sang it as children growing up in church.
“Jesus loves me this I know. For the bible tells me so. Little ones in Him belong. We are weak but He is strong…”
How is it that you can know something and not “KNOW” something? Like knowing water is wet, fire burns, and you don’t lick a metal pole when it’s below freezing outside. I knew God loved me. It was just something that IS. Did I feel loved… Did I act loved… Did I reciprocate… Not often and definitely not consistently. You would think that if the Creator of everything that is loves me and I know it I would take better care of myself. Not be so cavalier with myself. Not be so self destructive.Not only does He love me, He has a plan for my life. It has been told me in a variety of ways in the last 14 years. I am to preach and teach. Ok so if God loves me, Jesus loves me, and They have a specific plan for my life aren’t I special. To Them I am. So if I’m special to them shouldn’t I, at least be special to myself? I don’t treat myself special. I have a hard time forgiving myself. I don’t take care of myself. I don’t monitor what I eat very well therefore I have gained 30 pounds in the last year. I don’t get enough rest. I don’t spend enough time with the One Who loves me unconditionally. There are specific things Debbie, my counselor, has told me I need to do to get better. Why am I not doing them? All I can figure is that I’m not ready to be well. Is that true? If that is true it has to change today! I can’t continue this life the way I’m going.It is like the man by the pool that Jesus asked “do you want to be healed?” Well, Marianne, do you want to be healed? Do you want to be set free to accomplish that which the Creator of everything has set for you to do? Yes I do. I want to be happy, healthy, whole. I want everything that God has for me. So what do I do now? Well, I guess I should start by doing the things that Debbie says will make me better. I am physically getting better after the cancer. Now its time I start taking better care of myself. Lord, I know you love me so please help me to recognize things that I do that are harmful to me. And once I recognize them help me to act according to Your will for my life. I realize that I can’t do this on my own but I also know that I’m not on my own. You are with me. You never leave me or forsake me. You are unchanging.  And Your love is unconditional.

thank your Lord.