Redeemed by the Grace of God

I know it has been a while since I blogged, but life has been busy; it's been amazing, but very busy to say the least. This blog will be mostly a testimony, of what God has been doing in me recently, especially the past few weeks.

The past year has been one of the toughest I have had yet...I felt like throwing in the towel on a lot of things and almost allowed satan to deceive me into thinking the grass is greener on the other side, when we all know 9 times out of 10 it isn't. A few weeks back, our Pastor brought forth a word straight from Heaven that literally changed my life forever. He spoke on iniquity and the difference between iniquity and sin and how we need to find the root(s) of iniquity in our lives before we can actually progress in our relationship with God. Iniquity was explained as the drive or desire to sin and once we get rid of that, we will get rid of a lot of sin in our lives. I received such a revelation in that word that God just began revealing things in my own life that was allowing iniquity and sin to take over....I began to see a new Jess starting to shine through...and that was just the beginning.

A few weeks ago, I traveled to Tallahassee, FL with our youth band Judah, who was asked to play at an event called Fire on the Altar, which was 50 hours of non stop worship and meeting face to face with Jesus. Although it was a very long and tiring weekend, there was something about pushing myself and fighting the desire to sleep and worshipping God from 3-5 in the morning, that just brought more breakthrough to my life. I felt the presence of God for the first time in a very long time and experienced a side of God I never had before...which is another great thing...we will never experience every side to God on earth...we will never have enough of Him because there is just so much of Him to be revealed. Needless to say, it was a life changing weekend in His presence and there were more things in my life that God revealed to me that needed change and I began to make those changes.

It wasn't until last week at our annual youth camp in Bradenton, FL that God really revealed more to me and began healing my heart and giving me a brand new mindset of who I am created and called to be! We left Jacksonville for a week and got away from it all and got alone with God. Most of our youth camps are a lot of hype and camp high and encouraging type words but this year was so different. The focus was on building a relationship with God and creating a fear of God. And like our youth Pastor Ty Mustafa says, not to be "scared" of God, but to be "scared" of living a life without God. It was the theme through most of the week and really hit me. I formed a fear for God the last 2 days that I never had before. :) This video was played at the camp and really stuck with me and helped me to realize that I was fearing the wrong things...please take a minute to watch... 

Fear Not Video

During our ladies luncheon at the camp, they spoke about the book of Hosea and how the same way the prophet Hosea married a prostitute and even though she left him over and over he still went back and repurchased her...and they went on to say how God does the same with us. Even when we want nothing to do with Him, he still desires that relationship with us, and he has already repurchased us. Once they were done speaking, they had all of the girls close our eyes and think of one word that we feel describes us that doesn't necessarily line up with the word of God and they wanted us to wait on God and get a word (or new NAME) that God gave us. As I sat there a few words came to me, but the one that stuck was REDEEMED...I have been redeemed by the grace of God and at that moment something shifted in my life. I felt redeemed, I felt different, I had a new mindset and the new Jess was being formed by God. The rest of the week, God just continued dropping things in my spirit and I began writing His opinion of me instead of my own. I want to share with all of you as well because He loves us all just the same! Below is just a small portion of some of the things God just spoke over me last week:

You have been redeemed by grace

You are the righteousness of God

You are worth it all

You do have a purpose

You are not forgotten

You are loved

You are accepted

You are beautiful

You are precious

You can say no to this world

You are strong

You are my princess

You have destiny

You are whole

You are free from your past

You were created for great things

You are created in my image

You are my diamond ring

You are my hands and feet

You will get through any attack victorious

You are a warrior

You are everything I say you are and nothing less

You are forgiven

You are important

You will not grow weary

You are healed and whole

You are an overcomer

You are radiant

I am proud to call you mine

I love you more than you can ever think or conceive

I am well pleased with you

I am your Father and I will never leave you

No matter what anyone says...know that you, my precious jewel, are a daughter of the King and you are forever changed and by my grace will never look behind you, but will keep your gaze on me. I will help you every step of the way and you WILL NOT FAIL!

This is my promise to you sweet woman of God. Don’t ever doubt one word and watch everything in your life be turned around for my good.

Run after me with all of you!!

God told me that I needed to print these out individually and post them in different places at home, work and in the car to remind myself daily of who I am in Him.

When I got home I decided I also wanted to recreate something with my new name (Redeemed) so I could print it and post it at home and work as a constant reminder as well and this is what was created:

I know that this is just the beginning of what God is doing in my life and every day He is going to continue molding me into who He wants me to be. I am growing closer to Him every day and have gotten to a point in my life where I don't want and will not tolerate any distractions. I will keep my eyes on Him and Him only. And whoever doesn't like it, peace out! And those who do, are worth keeping around!

Sorry for the story book, but I hope it was worth the reading! :) I will try to update you all more often on the adventures of the new and improved Jess...Redeemed Jess!

Overcoming Fear

I know it has been a couple of weeks but lots has been going on for me, but I wanted to take some time tonight to write about some things God has been doing in my life. He has really taken me to another level when it comes to trusting in Him and having faith that He works all things together for my good! 

To give a bit of a background, last Friday, my boss came to me with an opportunity that one, not many people my age get and two, an opportunity that I never thought I would accept even if it was given to me. It was an opportunity to learn a new product but the catch was that I had to pack my bags and leave that Sunday for 2 weeks. For those that know me, I did not like to be alone without my husband and I was terrified of flying. They were both on the top 5 of my biggest fears...but as my boss presented me with the opportunity and I had about 15 minutes to decide, I felt such an overwhelming peace from God that not only was this going to be a great experience for me, but that He was going to free me from some of my biggest fears and I was going to grow closer to Him and get new vision for my life. This was also confirmed the day that I left by my best friend. 

The Sunday came when it was time to leave my life, my husband and my friends and go to New Jersey for 2 weeks...a city I've never been to and all by myself...not knowing a soul. I went to church that morning with bags packed and ready to go and I had such a wonderful support system, as always, from my husband, friends and church family. I was very fearful, but I knew I was doing what God was challenging me to do and it was going to be great. I lost it a few times and broke down in tears form the fear, but I still had such a peace on the inside of me and knew God would bring me through it. 

I arrived in New Jersey last week Sunday and had a very busy week...I got to experience GREAT food, meet some great people and learn a great new product for work and I was successful at it all! I was able to fly home this past weekend just for a day and a half to see my husband and friends...it wasn't long enough and I was sad to say goodbye, but I knew that this week was just starting the next chapter in this new process God was taking me through. I am so proud of myself for stepping out of my comfort zone and doing something I once NEVER thought I would do...and most importantly overcoming my biggest fears! It feels good to let go and let God do what He wants...I feel so close to Him at this very moment and am so excited to see how He will use me this next week that I am here and even more excited to spend time alone with Him, getting to know His heart for my life and getting to know who He has called me to be. I realized that I really never gave myself much of a chance to get alone and just spend time on "me" and my relationship with God, and it has so far been amazing....it has been hard, but every tough moment, I remind myself that I am not alone...I am never alone and that this is just a part of God molding me and making me into who He wants me to be! 

Tonight, I was the saddest of all nights and felt very alone...so I decided to embrace the moment and treat myself to room service, a nice dinner/dessert and a warm relaxing bath to get quiet and alone with Him (pics below). I then got out my prayer book that my Pastor and spiritual mother loaned to me and reminded myself of a scripture that God brought me right to, the moment my first plane ride alone took flight. It was Mark 5:36 "Don't be afraid; just trust me"...as my plane took off, I just kept reading this scripture over and over and each time, felt God's arms wrap around me tighter and tighter! Wow, still reading that gives me chills and overwhelms me with God's love and peace. :) I am so thankful for every moment in my life and for every experience I go through and I am so blessed with the most amazing husband, family, friends and support system anyone could ask for....and above all, I have Jesus with me, holding my hand the whole way! I am so excited for more testimonies to come! Hopefully I made up for slacking the past couple of weeks! 

At the end of the day, remember...God tells us not to fear over 365 times in the Bible...that is once for every day of the year...so anytime Satan tries to bring fear into your heart and mind, remind Him that you serve the prince of peace! :)

NY Style Cheesecake

Filet Mignon, red potatoes, asparagus and carrots

A nice warm bath with my very own bath robe...I felt like royalty :)

New Season!

So, I am ready to start my own blog! I want to have something to look back on other than Facebook or Twitter to remind myself of all the fun and good times in life. It's sometimes so easy to forget! I don't know how often I'll actually make myself sit down and take the time to write, but I want to start this to help capture some of the many great memories in life! Whoever reads this, I hope you enjoy! :)

For my first blog, I want to write about a new season in my life. My husband and I are celebrating our 3 year anniversary in June of this year and we have been through more than a lot of married couples will hopefully ever have to go through, but God kept us together and made us stronger and we are moving into a new season in our marriage and I'm so excited! A season of falling in love all over again, a season of restoration and reminding each other why we fell in love in the first place! Marriage isn't easy, but it is a gift from God that sometimes we tend to take advantage of....so, to celebrate our new season, we are starting the 40 Day Love Dare tomorrow and I'm so excited to see what God does with this! Day 1 is:

Resolve to say nothing negative about your spouse today.

Ephesians 4:2 “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,”

I also have a coupon book that I keep forgetting to use and we decided we are going to start redeeming the coupons on our weekly/bi-weekly date nights! :) The one I am redeeming tonight is for:

One Quiet Evening at Home - Just the two of us

So, for now, I'm signing off to redeem this coupon! :)