Oh my Word

This is an update to a previous post. The original post is here.

Almost two years ago, I wrote the previous article. Amy Word is back in the news. Click here to read the latest.

Prayer works, and corruption is being revealed. Continue to pray. She pulled some strings and has been released. Continue to pray….there seems to be deeper corruption going on.

Grooming

I was trying to make a video to upload to my youtube page but no mas. I was having technical issues. So I’m writing this…most likely this is a better medium any way.

Grooming used to be a neutral word. It wasn’t positive or negative really. It meant training or preparing someone for something. For example, “He is being groomed to take over his father’s business.” That said, lately it has taken on a very negative slant. With good reason, people it turns out are evil.

Many people are talking about how Disney has been grooming our kids and there’s been a whole movement to cancel Disney. I’m not opposed to the movement however we haven’t cancelled yet….mainly because we have it free. If we were giving money to them, we would cancel but we aren’t. That said, we do not allow our kids to watch things that we haven’t watched or checked out. A new show came out recently called Moon Knight. Our 13 year old wants to watch it. All of his friends are watching it (are they though??). I watched the preview and the first episode.

After viewing this preview I asked my husband who has read many comic books in his time about it. What is the premise. He said, “This guy is possessed by a god”. Which I translated as “so he’s possessed by a demon”. He said, “basically”. The guy eventually embraces the demon and takes on the demon as his identity. The entire show is about grooming our kids to accept demons as their identity.

My son was at his friend’s house this past weekend and they tried to watch the show. Whatever technology they were trying to watch on wasn’t working. When he came home, we weren’t here so he watched it here at home. He wasn’t home for long by himself and I won’t go into how it all played out. Bottom line, I contacted his friend’s dad who I consider a friend and told him what had happened at his house. This family has similar values to ours. He asked me why I didn’t not want my son watching the show. He wasn’t trying to justify or make me change my mind…..I felt the question was sincere. I told him…. “I feel this show is grooming our kids for demon possession”. He basically said, “fair enough”.

Here’s the deal. This isn’t a Disney thing. The world is trying to groom our kids for all kinds of things. Heck, the world has been “grooming” us forever. I don’t want to beat up or harm everyone who is not the “same” as me or how does not hold the same beliefs as me. Growing up we were taught that if you do not “like” or “accept” certain people then that means you hate them and want to hurt them. This is how they groomed us to accept sin. Those same messages are being conveyed today. If you don’t embrace these people then you must hate them…there is no area where you love the person but do not accept their sin.

This “grooming” stuff is everywhere. This is not limited to Disney. I wouldn’t watch a show with my kids on Hulu for anything right now due to the ads they run…the ads…not my show choices the advertisements.

Being a parent means guarding your child’s eyegate, eagate, heartgate and mindgate. You are the gatekeeper. It’s not an easy task; It’s not a fun task but it’s your job as a parent to spiritually, mentally and physically protect your kids. It’s not for the faint of heart or for the lazy. Just do it.

I also do not allow my son to play first person shooting games. We are very pro-gun. I work in and around guns for my job. That said, I am not training my son to kill people. If we are required to take up arms for some reason, it should not be done lightly nor should it be easy to take life. Some things are meant to be difficult. Taking of human life should never be easy. I recommend every parent read Assassination Generation by Grossman It’s eye opening. We have to protect our kids’ minds.

So mamas and daddys, don’t let your kids bully you into allowing things that do not align with your values. Who cares if they are cool? Who cares if you are cool? Seriously? High school days are over in a flash and real life starts. This is all temporary. I do not want my kids to have to spend 15 years overcoming or getting rewired from things they watched as children. They will have all the time in the world to catch up on the things I made them miss out on.

You’re the mom. You’re the dad. You decide. We are accountable to God for taking care of those He placed in our charge. The next time you are watching a show, ask yourself what it is teaching your kids. (I also hate all those Disney tween shows that paint the parents as idiots…we do not watch those either).

P.S. So my husband went ahead and watched the show. I asked him how it turned out. SPOILER ALERT…if this is something you are into and want to watch, stop reading…he said the main character basically “self-delivers”….it is also revealed he has a mental illness. None of this changes my thinking about the series. There is no “self-deliverance”…you may be able to replace addictions or habits on your own but that’s not the same as deliverance.

Momlog 2021: Eggs and Lies

To my faithful readers…I wish I had more time to write, it is one of my favorite things…writing and storytelling. I went back and reviewed some of my previous Momlogs and had some good laughs. Some things I had not remembered. I am very happy that I recorded so many of my day-to-day events when the Boy, Nic was little. He is a month away a aaammmfrom being a teenager. He’s a delight and a smart ass (yes, I said it…I love him).

Today I’m going to tell you about the eggs.

My family loves eggs. We have been following a program called Whole30 that is basically very clean eating and for some reason, seems to involve lots of eggs. I have a dear friend who often brings me fresh eggs from her ranch (we call all rural areas “ranch” out here in west Texas). Eggs are always in good supply at my house.

One day, I was going to make some tuna salad because both kids love it and it’s on my plan (I keep it simple….tuna, boiled eggs, pickles, mayo, mustard and some salt and pepper). I boiled the eggs around 2:45 or so, right before I had to head to school to pick up on the kids. On my way to pick them up, I saw that there was a blood drive in town. I had been considering giving blood so I could find out if I have had the Covid. I picked the kids up and dropped them at the house and headed out to give blood. Since they are a little older, we leave them at home for short periods of time by themselves.

What I forgot, until I was laying down in the mobile donation RV/bus was I had forgotten to eat breakfast earlier…and lunch, in fact, all I had consumed all day was a cup of coffee. Once I finished donating, I found that all the snacks they offered were processed crap food so I drank some water and ate a box of rasins (the only time that was gluten-free and had no added sugar). I felt fine and after 15 minutes they gave me, some paperwork and a t-shirt and sent me on my way.

When I got home, I rested a bit and didn’t think any more about it. Later, I began prepping for dinner and asked the Girl to peel the eggs for me so I could make tuna for their lunches the next day. She was complaining about it a little but was working away. She gets to the fourth egg out of five and brings it to me telling me something is wrong with it. The previous three eggs had been hard boiled eggs…what you would expect after boiling an egg for 10 minutes. This egg was raw.

As children OFTEN cause parents to do, I questioned everythingI new about eggs for about 22 seconds. I thought…”What? did I not cook those long enough? No, the others are boiled…” It was 22 seconds of challenging everything I know about how boiling eggs work. Kids cause us to question our sanity. I quickly realize that someone had taken a boiled egg and replaced it with a raw egg.

So I asked the Girl (I KNEW it was her because the Boy would have thought a little bit ahead to the possible outcome), “Did you eat an egg and replace it with one from the fridge?” (After all these years, WHY do I still ask the questions like this? I knew she did it.). She said, “No I didn’t eat an egg.” So I asked the Boy. He too responded with, “No, mama.” Now all my “Law and Order” training kicked in and I was about to start forensic testing….the interrogation began. I looked at my daughter and told her, “You have about 30 seconds to tell me the truth.” I wasn’t really upset about the egg but being lied to….well, (this is where being an “old” mom isn’t so great) I felt my blood pressure shoot up. The not eating and donating the blood hit me all at once. I started getting dizzy. I was literally holding on to the back of a chair. Then I said, “I do not care so much about the egg but the lying to me is going to get you into big trouble.”. My dear daughter finally fessed up, “I did it.” I happen to have an extra boiled egg in the fridge, I took the extra one out to use in my recipe. I see her discretely take the remaining unpeeled egg and put it back in the refrigerator. My little attorney daughter didn’t eat “an” egg and replace it, she ate two eggs and replaced them. (insert emoji of me slapping my forehead). (I asked the wrong question).

I had replaced one of the eggs she had eaten earlier only to turn back around to see her eating the replacement egg. Oh, that girl. I told her to stop eating my eggs and then I went to find the paperwork they had given me at the blood donation RV because I knew it said something about what to do if you feel like you are going to pass out. I had to lie down and put my legs in the air for about twenty minutes before I could go finish the tuna salad and dinner.

Now, when I am going to make tuna, I just boil a whole bunch of eggs so she can have all the eggs…except those five I use for the tuna. The blood people keep sending me messages and text about going back to donate…bunch of vampires trying to get my good blood. They did tell me my blood pressure was a little high (probably from the salt I put on the eggs we keep eating)…not shocking after the egg incident.

Call to Prayer

During different seasons of life, I have felt different calls to prayer. For a few years we focused on spiritual healing because that is what God was walking us through and because free people, cannot help but to free others. (Free people, free people). Lately, I have been feeling that it is time to go back to teaching on prayer again. It is as though there is a generation that the “prayer gene” kind of skipped. ALL believers need the prayer gene.

What do you, my readers think? Would training on prayer be something worth investing my time in?

America, It’s time for a shout

Numbers 23:19-22

God is not a man, that he should lie,
       nor a son of man, that he should change his mind.
       Does he speak and then not act?
       Does he promise and not fulfill?

 I have received a command to bless;
       he has blessed, and I cannot change it.

“No misfortune is seen in Jacob,
       no misery observed in Israel. 

       The LORD their God is with them;
       the shout of the King is among them.

Here’s the back story. Balaam was hired by a heathen king, Balak to curse Israel. Every time Balaam opened his mouth to curse, he prophecies BLESSINGS over Israel. When Balak asked him about it he basically said, “They have the shout (worship) of a King (Jesus) among them and they cannot be cursed”. The cool thing about this (this is serious, Old Testament) is Balaam was prophesying the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus is the King!

America, how about today, instead of praying about this election situation we raised a Halalujah to the King. How about today we SHOUT OUT, CRY OUT and CALL OUT to JESUS, our KING? How about today, we call on the name of the Lord? What if today, there is the SHOUT OF THE KING among us?

I believe, this what needs to happen to break the curse of those speaking against our nation; a nation whose foundation and roots are FREEDOM to WORSHIP. So many curses have been spoken against the United States of America. Many curses have fallen upon us because our leaders have embraced sin….not just allowed it but have openly married our government to it. It has caused us to fall under a curse. Our own self-reliance has also brought us under a curse. Today is the day to fall back into the arms of Jesus.

Shout a praise to the King of kings today.

Praise His holy name.

There is the shout of the King among us and we cannot be cursed.

Waves

God speaks to each of us in the most individual ways. Over the years, I’ve had dreams, often involving water. When I say dreams, these are vivid prophetic dreams in which God reveals things to me.

In my 20s, I had a dream that guided my prayers. I was in at a beach and there was this large roped off area. It was like the Gulf Coast, the waves were pretty gentle (not like West coast waves that knock you down or the ice cold waves of the East coast). The beach was roped off, the ropes extended out into the water to were the water was deeper. The ropes formed a large rectangle. People where in the safety of the ropes. I wanted to swim out to were I couldn’t see land. I wanted freedom beyond the ropes. I wanted to explore. I had several dreams previous to this that involved water and I understood that the water represented to Holy Spirit or the Spirit of God. I wanted to swim in Him. My strange prayer was, “God, help me to breath in your Spirit…have the ability to breath underwater or under-Spirit.” To some degree that is still my prayer…modified slightly or maybe my understanding changed. I want to swim in the Spirit in every part of my life.

During the quarantine, I had another dream involving waves. This time, the spirit involved wasn’t the Holy Spirit. It was demonic. God showed me the plan of the enemy is to bombard people with waves of fear. These waves are hitting the just and the unjust…believers and non-believers.

Have you noticed that anxiety is out of control lately….this isn’t a non-Christian thing, anxiety is ramped in all areas of society right now.

Here’s the deal with FEAR. Fear is reveals. One of the best messages I had the opportunity to hear (that is it stuck with me) was from Craig Groeschel. He said this… “Fear reveals two things. It reveals what we love most and where we trust God the least.”.

At the time I had the dream, I felt the fear of pandemic. What if my family dies? I obviously do not want to to lose any of my family members but I know who I belong to. I know they will go to heaven and if I die…it would almost be a relief to go be with Jesus. So that wave washed over. Then there was the wave of “What is going to happen to our economy?” What if we lose our house? What if we lose our jobs? God takes care of us. If we lose a job, we will live, we will be okay. It’s just stuff. Next wave, “What if we or our family are attacked in the riots?” (CLEARLY, I NEEDED TO TURN OFF MAIN STREAM MEDIA….media is the enemy’s handmaiden). At first, I bought more ammo (We live in Texas) then I started praying about it and I know My God protects me. There have been so many waves of fear that have washed over the world. This isn’t an American problem. It’s a world problem.

Two days before the election, I watched some of Fox News….huge mistake. The media for the most part are fear mongers. They are cultivating a level of fear in the country that can only be labeled as DEMONIC. I am generally not an anxious person. I have friends who live with anxiety (I have some opinions about that and I am willing to help them), I cannot imagine living with anxiety all the time. There is a wave of anxiety that has pounded this country like a tidal wave. I am sorry for ever minimizing the paralyzing effects of anxiety….I was useless on Tuesday.

This past month has been difficult. My job isn’t going how I want it to go and there are some strained relationships at work. I don’t like it. It has caused me fear on several levels…personal levels. I know that if I am being attacked so are most other people. Sure the enemy wants to take us out, take us down…really he just wants to make God smaller in our eyes. The enemy’s plan is for us to focus on the fear and not our HOPE. (Our presidential candidate is NOT our HOPE….stop idolizing men…and yes, I have clear opinions about who should be our president, this isn’t about that)

God is bigger than all of these circumstances. Exalt the Lord means you make Him bigger in your eyes. God is bigger than kings or presidents.

Once we identify the lie, WHAT IS THE TRUTH? The truth is, God is good. He is for us and not against us (His people). His side is truth, justice, and righteousness. He is always working. I heard a quote once that said this…God is at any time working on 10,000 things IN MY LIFE and I only see two or three of them. He is good. He is bigger than this election. He is bigger than America. And God is NOT finished. What glory would it be to God if everything was easy. This is America’s call back to prayer. It is our call back to leaning on His everlasting arms. It is our call back to relying on God!

It is November. Begin now writing down all the things your are thankful to God for. It will change your perspective. It will make Him bigger. Jesus is real. God is on the throne. He is not shocked or surprised by anything going on.

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

Psalm 57

Save our Children from Adults like this….

There are many ways to save our children these days, most of us are just posting articles online or sharing posts; Not that effective. Maybe this post will help one situation.

Here is the thing…. Saving our Children has to start at home. It has to start locally. President Trump cannot “save” our children. We have to start standing up for things that are right.

This is the kind of thing I am talking about; there is a local school board election in Evansville, Indiana. We must start standing up for what is true and right on the local level before we will see changes happen in our states or in our nation.

Click here is a link with a run down of the candidates.

This woman, Amy Word, is running for school board and has the endorsement of some of the teacher associations. Her Facebook page indicates this is her first foray into politics but she has political ambitions to become the mayor of Evansville.

This picture is a little risqué…if you check out her Instagram account, there are pictures posted of her laying on a bed in a black lace thing. She looks like someone I want influencing my daughter (sense the sarcasm) ….I wouldn’t allow my 12 year old son to see this photo much less her Instagram. Listen, I get it, I am extremely “busty” myself, but this is beyond cleavage. It is not appropriate, but let’s put her on our school board.

Amy endorsed an event that featured men is drag at a bar she owns in Evansville. She called it “kid-friendly”. Scantily clothed men, dressed as women performing in a club is not kid-friendly. People consuming copious amounts of liquor is not “kid-friendly” for most people.

A local woman, standing up for what she believes in posted this:

As you can see, Amy Ward’s response was to repost with the comment “And another. Internet do your thing”. Then she adds a disclaimer about bigotry and homophobia and being kind.

At no point did the poster say anything bigoted (Intolerance toward those who have a differing opinion) or homophobic (nothing was said about homosexuality at any point). She pointed out that this type of event is not kid-friendly. She was not hateful. She did not shame anyone. She simply stood up for her opinion. She did not insight people to harass Amy Word. She did encourage those who agree with her to NOT support Amy Word being elected.

The result of the post….the bulling began to flow. Amy and her friends posted mocking, hateful things. They began harassing the poster.

IT DIDN’T STOP THERE.

Some of Amy’s supporters attempted to confront the woman who posted AT THE GROCERY STORE. They are stalking her.

Amy Word and her “goons” performed a virtual crucifixion. It was nothing more than bulling, mocking and intimidations. They “reported her” to Facebook as hate speech. Facebook responded to the post saying it was NOT “hate speech”. They called her a bigot and a homophobe….Which does not seem at all to be the case.

Maybe Christians in Evansville, Indiana don’t mind that a woman making decisions for their children’s education and future, believes children should hang out in bars with performances of scantily clad men dressed as women while people have pitchers of hard liquor….maybe they don’t care. Or maybe they too are afraid of Amy’s “goons”.

When you are running for public office stick to the facts; stick to what makes you best candidate. What does make Amy Word a good candidate?What qualifies Amy Word to run for the school board? From 1997 to 2003 she taught middle school. Almost 20 years ago, she was a teacher. She was never employed as an administrator or worked with city or school budgets (that research shows). This is the first time she has run for public office. Her Facebook posts indicate she views this as a “first step” to holding public office. There is much more to leadership than presenting well on social media or advertising and running a couple of small businesses. There is much more to being a leader than being “liked” by people.

Amy says, “She’s running on a three-pronged platform of proven leadership, accountability and transparency.” (according to Courier and Press). Let’s talk about accountably. Clearly, Amy Word does not respect people with beliefs that differ from her beliefs. She thinks people of faith are stupid and groups them all together as homophobic and bigots. Let’s hold Amy accountable for her words, actions and her “leadership” in this situation.

Amy Word also posted this:

Amy Word promoting online bullying says more about her character than any thing else she has said. How will Amy Word stop students from online bullying if she is promoting it?

Several of her own constitutes posted comments that pointed out this was bullying; that Word was promoting bullying. Her response? Check it out below.

Amy believes if you do not like what someone else believes, it is okay to bully them.

I hope that there is some kind of silent majority of Christians is Evansville Indiana that vote. I hope there are some praying people in the Evansville community. I hope those people stand up for what is right and righteous.

Say a prayer for the school board election in Evansville. If you know anyone in the region, please share this post with them. If you live in the region, there are several other options to fill these two seats on the school board…GO VOTE.

Waves

Hey y’all. I have been wondering about all my readers. All 7 of y’all. I have had thousands over the years but everyone has started watching videos instead of writing.

I have made a few videos myself…in between fussing at my kids to do their school work.

We are in a crazy season. Waves upon waves of fear have been released. Perfect loves cast out fear. It’s time to ride the waves of the love of Jesus! Those are the waves we are designed for….

How did we get here?

Not too long ago, I had many faithful subscribers.  Life got busy (super busy….I got a job…accidently got a job. It has been a God-send and it fell into my lap).  Because of this, I haven’t been writing, at all unless you count salesforce reporting.

I have setup a YouTube channel with some video posts of thought.  Click here to check those out.

Most of my writing is me meandering though a topic and trying not to be preachy.  Haha. Or it’s about my amazing kids. This is more on the path of meandering thoughts.

I’m not sure when it happened.  I think most long-time Christians will understand and follow this.  Somewhere, while I was teaching kids, working on church stuff, serving in my community…Christianity became something so different than what it has been in the past.  I know with my mind that as God brings things into balance.

True Christianity isn’t about what we “do” but about who we are…in Christ.  Christianity is not about ritual it is about relationship with Jesus.  For years, we have focused on our works instead of God’s goodness.  Our works do not redeem us. Only Jesus can save and redeem us.

As with so many things in God’s kingdom as come into balance, the pendulum that swung so far out of balance must swing back in the other direction in order to come back to balance.

In this instance, balance is understanding and living in the place between having that intimate relationship with God and doing the things that reflect that relationship. 

In past, we had to look and act a certain way in order to be accepted in Christian community to the detriment of truth. In the 80s there was a saying, “Fake it, til you make it” or “Dress for the job you want” (both of these were said in regard to success).  The church’s take on this was to look righteous even if you weren’t living righteous.  But “faking it” doesn’t work with God because He knows our inward parts, He knit them together.  (Psalm 139)

In the last 50 years there has been a move toward spirituality.  In the last 10 years or so the church has embraced a move toward the love of Christ to the extreme of nothing being required of us.  We were saved unto good works.  James 2 says if faith doesn’t have works it is dead.  We show our faith by our works.  The pendulum has swung and we have gone from fakery to no outward display of faith….everyone has faith but there is outward indicators.

One of my friends was sharing (on Facebook) about this train wreck of a show on Netflix called “Love is Blind” (I think that’s the name).   Netflix and Amazon video are kind of the devil…they show everything unfit for broadcast television.  There are no filters any more.  (I started watching Designated Survivor when it came out and it was pretty good…then Netflix started making it and every other word f*&*…I had to stop watching.  It’s a bummer).  The premise of the show is you go on all these “faux” dates where you need see the person until they ask you to marry them, you get to see each other, then you meet each other’s families, move in together and get married within a month or something.  It’s a train wreck and like most wrecks, it’s hard NOT to watch.

I watched about two episodes.  One thing caught my attention.  A young woman reveals (and why is it as singles we have to “reveal” our faith? Pretty good indicator that all I’m writing is accurate) that she is a Christian.  The young man she is talking to, says “F*&$ yes, I’m a Christian too.  I have a tattoo on my stomach that says ‘Psalm 19:14’.”

Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.    Psalm 19:14

THIS IS WHAT I CALL “IRONIC”.

I know sometimes I do and say things that aren’t acceptable in God’s sight…I know this because the Bible outlines what is good and acceptable.  We do not have to be like the world to win them.  The goodness of God draws people in.  When we lift Jesus up, He draws all men unto Him.

We don’t have to relate to the world in that way to win the world.

We do have to passionately pursue God in every area of our lives.

I do not have any tattoos of scriptures or crosses or anything.  That doesn’t mean I’m not a believer. I also don’t have to “reveal” my faith to new people.  This doesn’t make me better probably means I’m getting old and I don’t care what people think.  I’m going to be “me”. and if you don’t like it, that’s okay.

My hope is, that you will know that I believe by the Holy Spirit that I carry.  That I accept that you are on your journey and that God has a plan for you.  I don’t condemn your use of inappropriate language or inappropriate/crude talk.  (If you do it in front of my kids, I will say speak up because that’s not okay with me).  I hope that my love speaks loudest and that my works follow the love I carry.

Freedom doesn’t mean anything goes. Freedom means, you can be who God says you are.   Having a standard that you live by isn’t confining…it’s freeing.

Earlier the Psalm 19 passage it says it this way (Passion translation):

Every one of the Lord’s commands is right; following them brings cheer.  Nothing He says ever needs to be changed.  The rarest treasures of life are found in His truth.  That is why I prize God’s word like others prize the finest gold.  Nothing brings the soul such sweetness as seeking His living words. (9-10)

God’s standards of living bring sweetness in our soul.  Isn’t that what we all want; What we are all seeking…sweetness in our soul? It’s kind of a trick, we seek the sweetness, the peace, the love and the answer is Jesus. He’s all of those things and once His Spirit infiltrates us, we enjoy the sweetness.

Seek His word for the standards you should live by.  Seek Him about it.  If there is anything you are having trouble following…ask Him about it.  His ways are easy and His burdens are lite.  If something is hard or troubling, seek healing in that area.  God is good…more than anything He wants to show you; reveal to you the depth of His goodness.

How do You Trust Him?

Life has entered turbo speed with kids in school and church planting and working…haven’t written as much as I have wanted to.

This past week, I was driving over to Abilene (about 2 hours away from us) and as is my habit, I was listening to podcasts on my way.  I follow Shawn Bolz’s podcast and I have listened to every one.  Basically, he interviews inspiring people asking them about their “God journey”.  Every episode is inspirational.  This particular episode was with Harmony “Dust” Grillo.  Click here to listen.

Let me start this by sharing a little of a testimony.  Many moons ago, I met a girl (we eventually became friends) through my sisters who was a stripper.  She attended high school with my sisters. This is a few years after we all graduated high school.  I’m not clear on the details of how she came to our church.  I think she was hanging out with some church guys (they were not yet men but they should have been…seems to be the way things go these days) who weren’t really on a Christian journey at that time but they all grew up attending church and were close friends.  Again, I am not sure about all the details but it was shady.  Yes, I said it.  They were going places and doing things they shouldn’t have been doing.  She came to church and as we are prone to do,  the sisters adopted her and tried to “fix” her.  We loved her (our heart was in the right place). I still love this woman.  She is smart, funny, charismatic…someone I like hanging out with.  At that time, we knew about deliverance but we knew very little about inner healing.  In hindsight, God had been walking me through so much inner healing but I didn’t have the tools to make it simple for others.  My answer was simple, “pray more, pray often, pray harder”.  God does answer prayer so it’s isn’t a bad method it just doesn’t work with that well with unchurched people because they do not understand what that means. After a few months, we told our friend she had to stop stripping and get rid of all her stripper stuff and start dressing more appropriately, etc…all the “church girl” answers.  She did what we suggested.  She tried.  She got baptized.  She attended church regularly and hung out with us.  She was involved.  I’m not sure it stuck.  I am still in touch with her but I’m not sure if she attends church.  I always want to know why the “God relationship” sticks for some people and not for others.  If I am involved in helping others, I want to know “how I can help others in a better way in the future?”.

Back to Ms. Grillo’s story.  She has a background as a stripper and “call girl” (I haven’t read her book and I may be using these terms loosely).  I do not want to tell her whole story because you should listen tot the podcast. How she came to the Lord is funny and sweet.  She wanted to get a boob job.  She was scheduled to get new, bigger boobies.  One of her coworkers (also a stripper) told her not to do it.  The co-worker told her that she got them, attended a ballet class, felt ridiculous and had them removed.  She canceled her boob job and joined a ballet class.  This woman had been molested and used by men her entire life…she didn’t go into details but ran away from home at age 13 because her mom’s boyfriend was molesting her.  At the ballet class, she met a young Christian woman who became her friend.  The young lady did invite her to church but the friendship was never contingent on her attending church.  She started attending church on Sundays….even changed her stripper schedule to be off on Sundays.  BUT SHE DIDN’T STOP STRIPPING.  The church welcomed her and loved her on her JOURNEY.  She said she actually began practicing abstinence while she was still stripping.  Eventually, she describes a moment of walking into work and feeling naked for the first time (the Holy Spirit).

As a pastor, I want to reach these desperate women who have fallen into a lifestyle that is killing their souls.  I want to reach people who have lost all their self-value.

I know in this scenery, I’m the church girl. They probably believe I have no way of relating to their lives.  We all lose sight of our value at times.  I may not have fallen into the sex industry….but for the grace of God.

Shawn Bolz added to the conversation describing some ministry he did when he and his friends went to the streets and how he met some high school friends walking the streets.

Both of them talked about letting people go on their journey with God.

I wondered about my friend.  Did I love her well? Did she know God’s love through us? Did she understand how much God loves her and how He wants to be known by her?  Does she know?

The thought crossed my mind….wow, we really have to trust God to be the Holy Spirit to these people.  We have to trust that God is working even when we do not see with our eyes what is going on.  We have to TRUST HIM.

Here’s the shortage.  It’s hard to TRUST HIM with others when we are not TRUSTING HIM in our own journeys. We have to TRUST HIM with our spiritual walk; with our finances; with our kids; with our marriage; with our situations….

Our lack  of trust in winning people who are far from God is an indicator of where our trust level is in our own lives.

If we want to win others, if we want to see the lost saved and changed then we have to increase  in our faith and our trust in God.

TRUST HIM.  He is for you.  Oh, and that friend you think is soooo lost…pray for them, sto trying to control them; pray and trust God.  He’s big enough to handle them and their situation.