mommy4jesus

This year is a big year. It is time to elect a new president. I am going to be honest I am not huge into politics and I don’t know half of the stuff thy talk about but I am paying attention to all of the candidates this year. I have been trying to do research of what they all stand for. 
The one thing that I cannot stand about politics is when the candidates talk bad about one another. I want someone who is honest, a Christian , and someone who is going to do the best job for the people of the United States. It makes me sad to see that politicians think they have to bring out other people’s skeletons or make up lies about one another. Nobody is perfect and we all have skeletons in our closet. If we do not look past those skeletons and forgive those people, we won’t be forgiven for our sins. Jesus died to pay for our sins so that we could live eternal life in heaven. 
Trashing another politician in my eyes does not make you any better than what they did. It makes me not want to vote for anyone. There are so many candidates this year it is hard to say who will be the best one for the job. 
All I hope for is a president who can lower the health insurance, provide better care for the veterans, and end the war oversees. 
We all need to pray a lot. We need to pray for a Christian leader. We need a leader who says it’s alright to pray in school, or in public anywhere. We need someone who will stand up for God! The end is coming soon and this nation is going to be in trouble if we don’t have someone to do these things. It is so important to tell others about the gospel. You could be the only one to save them or share the gospel! You could change the world one person at a time! 

It’s been awhile since I have had the time to blog, which is a great thing. 2015 ended with amazing time with family and friends. It brought the birth of my beautiful baby girl and new opportunities. 2016 is here and already flying by. We are half way through January and I think where has time went already. This year I am blessed to be able to stay home with my baby girl. I am so thankful that my husband has a wonderful job and is such a great provider. I am lucky that I will be able to be there for all of her firsts and I won’t miss out on anything.

2016 is going to be more than just spending time with Joey and Journey, it is going to be about my relationship with God. As I was browsing my social media admiring the women who have such a wonderful relationship with God that it radiates from every aspect of their lives makes me want to join them. I admire the time they put into their relationship with Jesus and all the wonderful ways they serve. I am hoping 2016 will bring me some great opportunities to do the same.

I have learned that the more time you spend with God, the more you feel his presence and the more you want that in your life. It is wonderful to finally have a full heart and be happy with everything in my life. Life can definitely throw curve balls every now and then but we have to remember it makes us stronger and hat He has a plan.

I have been struggling with a lot of anxiety the past couple weeks and I couldn’t figure out why. I think I am such a people pleaser I don’t ever want to upset anyone. The more I prayed about the anxiety the less it became. It is so amazing to know that your prayers are always going to be answered. They may not be answered right away, but he is always listening and knows how He is going to answer that prayer.

I have been so blessed in my life with a wonderful husband, a healthy baby, and great family. I cannot wait for what this year has to bring and I couldn’t be more excited!!

I hope everyone has a blessed and amazing year and may you prosper in your relationship with Jesus and all aspects of your life!!!

 

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well
Psalm 139:14

We are all here for a reason. God has thought out every aspect of our lives even before we were born. He has a specific purpose for all of our lives. How do I know this? It tells us in the bible. God created everything, the earth, animals, the sun, the moon, and the stars. This also includes us. He has made every single one of us for. Very specific reason. God has made you for a reason. Maybe that reason is to help turn someone to Christ who may otherwise never learn about the love of Jesus and what he has done for us.

It is easy to get discourage about our purpose here on earth. I can personally say I have been in that position more than one time. When you don’t have a relationship with Jesus you don’t realiZe all that you are missing out on. Before I got married I was in the position more than one time. I turned to alcohol to solve the problems I had and in actuality it didn’t solve anything, it made them worse. I was trying to suppress the problems I was faced with and the feelings of fear of my future. After Joey and I got married I felt like I had a new purpose in my life. I was to be a wife and his support while he was deployed. But still something was missing.

You can’t fully love someone until you have experienced God’s love. Last year in August I recommitted my life to Christ. I am by no means perfect but I wake up every day hoping to make God proud and to make a difference in someone else’s life. It took me a while to figure out why my purpose may be. I ready a lot of books and just tried to study the bible and pray until o finally decided what God may want from me. I still could be wrong but all I can do is pray every day that he is leading me to my next assignment.

I feel like my purpose is to help share the word with everyone who may never hear it in some way or another. It could be through a status on Facebook, this blog, leaving a gospel tract at the store, or just by simply praising Him and talking about Him whenever o get the chance. I have noticed the more that I talk about God the more people around me seem interested.

Each and every one of us has a purpose. If you ever feel like you want to give up and that you don’t matter you are WRONG. You do matter to one person and that is God. He loves you always and forever. He loves you even when you make a mistake. He loves you even more when you ask him to forgive you. And it makes him happy when you tell people how great his love is and that they can experience it too. God will never leave you. And he will never disappoint you.

It’s never to late to have that relationship with him. All you have to do is ask him. He will answer.

 

What is prayer?  There are many different definitions of prayer. One definition says,
      A solemn request for help or expression of thanks addressed to God or an object of worship.
                      Or
       An earnest hope or wish.

To me, prayer is my relationship with Jesus. Praying is how I talk with him. It can be a long prayer or just a quick” Thank you God.” Praying is when I can hear God speak to me.

Having a strong prayer life can be a challenge. It is easy to get caught up in our daily routines and forget to stop and give thanks for the many blessings in our lives. It is so important to give thanks because without God nothing in our lives would be relevant. We would not exist with God. He knew every detail of how our lives would be before we were even born.

All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.
                                   John 1:3

People will argue that God doesn’t hear our prayers, but they are wrong. God knows everything, your every move. He wants us to pray because he want a to have a close personal relationship with you. He promises that he will hear us and give us what we need. He does provide, he will provide. If you promise to live by his words, he will never leave you.

Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
                       John 14:13-14

We are never alone with our thoughts. I didn’t always pray every day. I have always believed in God, but I never really prayed. I just thought that when you prayed it would have to be long and drawn out and frankly I didn’t know how to pray. The only prayer I really knew was one that I learned when I was a little kid and I would pray it every night. It was, “now I Kay me down to sleep. ..” I would pray this thinking at least I was praying something even if it wasn’t right. But the truth is there really isn’t a” right” way to pray. Prayer is whatever you want it to be. A time to give thanks and a time to just talk with God. Its a time to de-stress and give everything to God. It wasn’t until I went through some tough times in my marriage that I got closer to God. I had no where else to turn and when my entire world had been turned upside down I knew that God was the only one who could fix it.

The more you pray and the more you study the bible,  the more you will feel God’s presence in your life. I always feel the most content and safe when I am talking with God. Pray always. Pray when you wake up, pray when you are driving in your car, pray when you grocery shop. There is never a wrong time to pray. God wants that relationship with you. He wants you to be forgiven for your sins and he is ready to forgive you. He is here to save us all. He sent his only son to die on the cross foe OUR sins. He did that for us!  You can have that eternal relationship with him if you just ask. All you have to do is pray and ask Jesus into your heart and you will be forgiven. It will be the beat thing you have ever done. You will never regret it.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
            Lamentations 3:22-23

November 11th is one of the moat important days of the years. November 11th is a day that we can thank all of the veterans and active duty service members for sacrificing their lives for the
freedom of our country. I have to admit before Joey and I were married, I can’t say I wholeheartedly cared about veterans day. I knew that it was an important day, but I didn’t realize how much these people sacrificed for us.

When Joey deployed to Afghanistan I had no idea how hard it would actually be. 10 months of being thousands of miles away, in completely different times zones, and not knowing if I was even going to get to talk to him that day was the hardest thing I have ever done. He would tell me stories of what they saw and what they had to endure on a daily basis. I could never in my life imagine having to do through any thing him and his fellow soldiers did. They woke up every day thinking, “Today could be my last day alive.” Can you even imagine that? Then I think about all of the men and women who were there who had children at that time. It would be so hard for a child to understand why their parent was gone for so long, and it would be especially hard to understand if they never returned because they had to pay the ultimate sacrifice, death, for this country.

I am so proud of my husband. He made that commitment after high school and he signed that dotted line to be apart of the brotherhood that protects our nation on a daily basis. He is so brave and so courageous. He risked his life so all of us here could do about our daily lives, knowing that half of the people who live in this country don’t even think twice about our service men and women. I have so much respect for him I can’t even put it in to words. He is the strongest man I know. I never brought I would be so lucky to marry such an amazing man, husband, and now daddy. Our little angel is so lucky to have a man like you for her daddy! Her own personal superman!

I love you Joey and am forever thankful for the service you gave to our country. You will forever and always be my hero.

❤ tess & journey

“Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.” Luke 6: 22-23

Everyday on the morning news there is a new story of a Christian being persecuted for standing up for their faith. America is supposed to be the home of the free. We are to have the freedom to practice whatever religion we want. It seems as though that is okay, unless you are a Christian. It seems that Christianity now offends most of America nowadays so if you want to share your faith you are told not to. What about the other religions practiced in America? What if they offend us as Christians? We don’t fuss and cry and persecute those who do not believe the same as us. We are simply trying to share with people why it is so important to have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

One story that has been in the news was a high school football player being kicked out of his game and suspended from the next game for praising God after he made a touchdown. He was told that this was excessive celebration and he was taunting the other players. How is a simple point towards heaven and a prayer to yourself taunting another player?

Another story in the news that I think is outrageous is the Washington State high school football coach who has been put on paid administrative leave for the remainder of the year for praying at the end of every football game. According the ABC news, the coach has prayed after every game since 2008. It started with him kneeling and saying a prayer to himself about his players at the end of every game. Then some of the players who were Christians joined in. He does not force his players to pray with him, they join him on their own free will. What I want to know is if he has been doing this after every game for the past 7 years, why is it just now an issue? Why should he be suspended for doing something that we are given the freedom to do in this country?

but whoever denies me before men, I will also deny before my Father who is in Heaven.   Matthew 10:33

We as Christians must stand up for ourselves and what we believe in. We should be able to pray anywhere that we want without being told that we are offending someone. We must try to change the way our society sees things. We should be out there spreading the gospel and teaching people how they can gain eternal life in heaven. I think most of us are scared to have a conversation about God because we are scared what people might think of us. We cannot be scared. We can’t just sit back and let our friends and family be lost in the cruel world that we live in. Think of everyone in your life; how many of them believe in God? If they were to die tomorrow how many would spend eternity in hell?

Be not wide in you own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil. He will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. Proverbs 3:7-8

We should be scared for our friends and family. God has put us in their lives to help guide them on the right path and lead them to a relationship with Jesus. I have to say I was once scared to share my faith with people because I was scared that I would lose the friends that I had. As I grew closer to God I realized that it doesn’t matter what those people think. God’s love is so amazing you want to share it with others. I have learned that if you slowly implement God into any conversation with friends and family they begin to change their views. I have seen many positive changes in people in my life by just telling them about what God has done in my life. They get curious and then they realize that they want those feelings and relationship in their lives as well. We must take a stand for God and for ourselves. We are here to serve Him and it is serve Him that we must do. Never be scared to stand up for you faith. It is all worth it in the end. It is never too late to have a relationship with God. He will forgive you for all that you have done wrong and your life will be forever great.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31

Love. What is love exactly? Most people in our lives think they have love all figured out. The definition of love says that it is an intense feeling of deep affection. This may be the love we feel for our spouse, friends, or family members. But what causes us to “love” or feel these strong feelings? How do we truly “love” someone?

When my husband and I started dating I knew right away that this was the man I was going to spend the rest of my life with. I felt a feeling that I had never felt before.Everything about him was everything I wanted. He was smart, funny, kind, caring, and was pretty easy on the eyes. Finding someone will all of those qualities that I liked hadn’t been any easy task in my past. I was excited to finally find someone who I knew was the “ONE”.  It was very strong and I couldn’t ignore it. It wasn’t long before we both decided to get married, 2 months to be exact. Some people thought that we were crazy to get married that soon but we didn’t care. We knew it was destiny.

Shortly after we were married my husband deployed to Afghanistan. This was the single most difficult thing I think I have ever had to endure. 10 months of our first year of marriage was spent thousands of miles apart. We both woke up each day not knowing if that was going to be the last time we could say I love you to each other. The day he returned home was one of the best days of my life. All those feelings of “love” that I felt when I decided I would spend my life with him were multiplied times a thousand. My life was complete again. Little did I know I was wrong?

When you get married they never tell you how hard it really can be. Since our first year of marriage was put to the ultimate test and we spent it apart, once we were together for the second year we had some major struggles. It wasn’t until I moved back home to Missouri, alone, that I realized what I really needed in my life. I grew up in church and was baptized when I was 9 years old. I still remember that like it was yesterday, but I had strayed away from God in my teenage years and had never gotten back on the right path. I had lost the love in my heart that God provides us with.

I think as Christians we get caught up in the way our society is and we forget the amazing things Jesus does for us. He died for our sins, not his. He gave his life so that we could live eternal lives in Heaven, and he did it because that is what His father told him to do. He obeyed that command. Until you accept Jesus in your heart you truly cannot experience “love” in its entirety. It says in 1 John 4:19,

We love because he first loved us.

Without his love we wouldn’t know what love was. Once I had his love in my heart I knew I could fully love my husband again and I was able to put everything we had went through in the past. I am a stronger woman today because of the hardships I have endured. Our love is stronger than it has ever been. We recently were blessed with our first child and it has made us love even stronger than we did before. Having a child is the most rewarding thing there is in life.

It also says in 1 John 4:8,

Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Once you have accepted Christ as your redeemer, your salvation, and your father you will never experience the rich and vast love that can be given to you. It fills your heart and soul and it will never leave you. It makes everything else in your life better because you always have him on your side. All it takes to experience His love is for you to repent of your sins and ask him for forgiveness. You have to make the decision to change your life. It will be the best thing you will ever do.

We have come to know and believe the love God has for us. God is love. If you live in love, you live by the help of God and God lives in you.  1 John 4:16