Being a New Mom

Motherhood came earlier than planned for me. My water broke at 32 weeks, after two long weeks in the hospital. Promise Sarah Legacy was born at 34 weeks 1 day gestational; on June 21,2016 at 7:19pm.

Being a first time mom no one can really fully prepare you for that moment, especially when it turns into being a first time mom to a preemie. The days and moments leading up to it I was starting to feel scared knowing it wasn't happening as planned. We were starting our days together not in my arms but in the NICU. She is a miracle and an answer to prayer. From day one Promise has been a fighter. She has been our "Super Girl".

Being her mom is the greatest blessing God has ever given me. This is the greatest adventure I have ever taken on, the gift of motherhood.Children are a gift from God, not to be taken lightly (Psalm 127:3). As much as I get to teach and mold this little life that God has trusted me with, Promise teaches me so much everyday.

Promise teaches me what it means to be a fighter, she demonstrates this everyday, especially when her and I would spend our long days together in the NICU. Everyday I look into her eyes I see the love of God in them. Its amazing every time I look at my daughter, I see everything that I prayed for looking back at me. Every feature from her blue eyes, brown hair and clear skin complexion. She shows me to never give up. Promise may only be two months old, with a corrected age of two and half weeks, but in that time has taught me what it means to have strength for the everyday. She gives me so much Joy, even when she has me awake all night.God is the architect of her smile, she brings Joy already to everyone she meets. I have even learned that it't okay to cry. When I look at my daughter I can truly believe and know even more than I did before that God is truly a miracle making God and loves us so uniquely, and loves life and loves to give life. Parenting and being a mom couldn't be done each day without leaning on my prayers and worship music and going for walks and talking with Promise and God on a daily bases.

We are Purposefully made, we are to pour that into our children from the day they are gifted to us. As God rejoiced when we took our first breath, just as we rejoiced and were relieved when our babies took their first breath, how much more Joy does our creator have for that moment. There is nothing accidental about the treasure of the life you are raising.

As moms we need to always remember to not walk into the trap of comparison. We are all fearfully and wonderfully made. We are uniquely loved. We are set apart. We can do all things through Christ who gives us strength. The joy of the Lord is our strength, which we need to pull on daily. I speak and declare these over my daughter Promise everyday. We are to raise up strong sons and daughters who know who they are and know their identity and that they were created as a masterpiece. Raising up the next generation is such a privilege we should never take lightly. Raising up a world changer.

 You are a blessing to your children.

He Chose You

Jesus the true vine. 

John 15

God chooses you. He is a friend that will always choose you. The King of the Universe, calls you his friend. He is a friend that you can always count on, greater than a best friend you have ever had. He loves you so much that he laid his life down for you. 

John 15:13

"There is no greater love than to lay down ones life for ones friends" 

How many of you can truly say you have a friend who will do that? 

God chose you as a your friend before you even chose to be his friend, love him or follow him. 

Our purpose in life and a commandment from God. 

Is to Love God and Love Others. 

John 15:17

This is my command: Love each other. 

Jesus chose and appointed us to bear fruit in our lives. Your calling and destiny is to be fruitful. Jesus chose us to come out of the world and to live for Him and be His light. God calls you, He's looking for a life time impact, a generational impact, and an eternal impact. Abundant, enduring fruitfulness is the mandate on your life. But abundant fruitfulness will only happen Jesus says, if you "remain in" Him. 

Jesus understands everything we feel and go through. You may have or currently feel that you have no friends or that the world hates you. The world hated Jesus and put Him on a cross. He is the ultimate one we can turn to. He wants us to flourish and be fruitful. 

There is a difference between how you were raised and why you were born.

David was raised a shepherd; but he was born to be a KING!

 

Miracle Working God

Your strength and victory comes from God alone. You are fearfully and wonderfully made.

It has been a journey of believing for Gods promise to be fulfilled in our life and not relenting.

Evan and I talked about having a family before getting married. We both grew up around kids in our lives in our different ways. I have been working in children’s ministry with my parents for as long as I can remember, its such a passion that God has put into my heart. Evan grew up in a big family with lots of siblings. We had a strong desire about being parents and raising the next generation.

So about 4 years ago and only 3 or 4 months into our marriage, we were put into a position to practice our vows in the part of being there for each other in sickness and health. I happened to have gotten really sick, and was 8 or so weeks pregnant and I didn’t know. On February 1,2012 I woke up in a lot of pain and loosing lots of blood, after enduring lots of pain and later that day talking to my mom on the phone I decided to get checked out. I then went to the hospital with my sister and had Evan meet us there since he was at work in Stirling. When getting to the hospital and seeing the Dr. it was a shock for me to hear him ask me “how many times have you been pregnant?” When I didn’t know I was pregnant. At this point my sister left to go to youth, and Evan wasn’t there yet. And I was getting prepped for emergency surgery, I had what was called an ectopic pregnancy. While being prepped the nurse was informing that if I had waited any longer, I might not have woken up the next day. Me being scared and hearing all this, right away asked for a phone to call my mom and had her get a hold of Evan and they both came down to the hospital. After 5 days in the hospital in that time I have had 2 emergency surgeries and a blood transfusion.

Very early in our marriage we had a big learning curve where the devil tried to take us out literally. Later that year after healing up from this experience we talked and we decided to start trying for our family to begin. Well a year went buy and still nothing was happening I then went back to our family Dr. Being fertility wasn’t his specialty he was going to try and refer me to someone where that is there specialty. That was also an emotional time because not very many doctors in the area were willing to take on our case. I finally got a call from Dr. Kovacs, I was then told by a family friend that he was the best in fertility in the area. So another God ordained moment. Even Dr. Kovacas had a hard time even figuring out what was wrong and why my body wasn’t working. I even was asked if I have ever had sexual diseases because he couldn’t come up with an answer. I had been experiencing in this time some very bad abdomen pains that they were trying to find the answers for as well. Evan and I were both sent in for some tests. I was then booked for surgery in October 2014, where they discovered I had endometriosis. They cleaned me out in surgery of the endometriosis as much as they could without removing my uterus.

 At the end of that November I went back to the Dr. I was at this point still experiencing the pains. This Dr. appointment I happened to have gone alone, since Evan was working, and the news the Dr. had told me wasn’t easy, the next words that came out of his mouth were “he didn’t think I would ever conceive naturally”. He then started talking to me about my options with invitro. I was referred to a clinic in Kingston. In May 2015 Evan and I went to hear about our options. After the doctors in Kingston talked to us, and we saw the costs Evan and I talked and knew in our hearts to continue trusting God and not to go forward with the invitro process.

I had also gone into 2015 believing this was going to be our year for conception. We had many people praying and believing with us and speaking words over our family.

Looking back God has really worked some miracles in my life and ours through our marriage.

4 years ago I was on my death bed, with an ectopic pregnancy.

3 years ago our marriage was a little rocky

2 years ago a Doctor said we wouldn’t conceive.

1 year ago seen a fertility Doctor and knew it wasn’t the path for us.

Now this our miracle baby is due to arrive this summer, and God has worked wonders in our marriage.

And the bible says how God created my body and how its suppose to line up with his word. “I am Fruitful”, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made” I had declared this over my life for over a year alongside the prayer warriors in mine and Evans’s life.

My life and this life I am carrying is proof that God answers prayers. Yes, its been a journey of believing and waiting.      

Don't loose faith and never stop standing to see Gods goodness. 

I will pray for you

I know it has been a couple months since the last blog post. I had an accident in the summer where I shattered my elbow.
Well now to my post of something that has been on my heart.

I have been thinking about this statement "I will pray for you". I have been thinking about how many people when they say these words actually take the minute to pray? Or is it just that it has become the right thing to say to people or situations. When someone is hurt, ill, wants to pass an exam....
Will you actually take that moment to pray for them.

How many of you have put those thoughts or negative comments in to your prayers. Let's turn our complaints into action packed prayers.

With all that is going on in Paris and around the world and the hashtag #Pray4Paris started trending. How many of us stopped to pray when we tweeted or retweeeted?

God called us to prayer, and called us to be people of our word.

Word Give, Word Kept.
Bring action to our faith.

We are to be the light of the world, not just say what's right or follow what's trending but doers of the word. Being light in the world is about showing people how to live with Jesus as King.

Matthew 18:20
For where two or more are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them.

If we were all to stop with God fearing pursuit, full faith no doubt pray for what's going on in the world, pray for our enemies and love our neighbours; just imagine what God can do.

Light outweighs the Darkness!

Let's be the radical prayer warriors we were called to be, the light of the world. Take that moment to mean the words we say or type and pray for those around us before it becomes empty words with no meaning.

Community

God created us to partner and live with him. He empowers us so much when we allow ourselves to be adopted into his kingdom. He created us to live in community. You are a Princess in Gods Kingdom.

A quote from Ps. Brian Houston:

" There is no "I" in Team - There's no "My" in partnership - There's no "me" in unity- There's no "mine" in ours. 

We need to be unified as the of body of christ in order to function properly. We were created to be in community with God and with others. He has reached out to us that we might know who were are and whose we are. 

You were bought at a price at the cross. You belong to the one who created you. He moved heaven and earth to make known to you this steadfast truth :

You Are Wanted

Community defined: is often people who have a common cultural and historical heritage. 

God is our heritage! Nothing has changed about God or his word. Jesus calls you friend and the he will be with you to the end of the earth. God blesses us with friends and family to walk life together. We were created from community. We thrive in community. We have to open our eyes to see it. God wants to spend time with you, just as you spend time on Facebook, or with friends and family. He wants to be your number 1 choice. God wants to spend time with you, he wants you to talk with him about your struggles. Choose God to vent to over social media. He wants to rejoice when you do; and rejoice with you! He wants all of you. God is crazy about you. He created you. 

John 15:15

I have called you friends - Jesus

We have this longing to feel wanted, that's why it hurts so much when someone rejects us. We seek to have the most Facebook friends (are they really all your friends), most Instagram and Twitter followers. When really all this time God has been seeking us, he wants to have a relationship with you. We were created to be in a dependent relationship with God and to rely on him for everything. 

We have been called  out of this world and its value system and invited to live in community in God's eternal kingdom. 

John 17:23

I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me! 

We were created to live unified in community of the body of christ in his Kingdom. We are wanted by God. Community is beautiful, and everyone needs it, without community we will sink. The only way to have true community is to be transparent, to encourage, listen, pray for and speak truth to. You aren't meant to do life alone; community is God's idea, and he wants that for you too. A place to be set apart for him yet belong to others. God is faithful if you pray and ask God he will bring the right people in your life. 

Empowered

We can't take what God has done in us and Empower the world until we start within. We must Empower "our" world and our sphere of influence, then take that from there with God we then can Empower the world.

The definition of Empower: 

* to give someone the authority or power to do something

* make (someone) stronger and more confident, especially in controlling their life and claiming rights 

- movements to Empower the poor

God has Empowered you with His Love, Mercy and Grace. 

His Love releases Power! 

Proverbs 31:25

She is clothed with strength and dignity and laughs without fear of the future!

When He alone is our anchor, we are Empowered with His power and authority, 

Those who trust in the Lord will be joyful. 

If we allow God to come and Empower us with Love and Mercy, we will be able to see change in our circumstances, our marriage, our jobs, our homes, schools and the list could go on. There is so much power and strength we can draw from the cross. God wants to empower us with his Joy, Love and Strength. When we walk in our destiny with God in what He has empowered us with we can move mountains everywhere we Go! 

When we seek first His Kingdom and Righteousness, we can see marriages restored, generations restored, government restored, families restored. When we seek Him, He Empowers us with confidence and unexplainable heavenly JOY! 

Proverbs 21:21

Whoever pursues righteousness and unfailing love will find life, righteousness, and honour. 

When we pursue Him first above all else He will give us a the power to be have the confidence in ourselves, we will be empowered to have influence in "our" own worlds. 

Dream Big

Dream Big

Never give up on your dreams and goals. God put them in your heart for a reason. Never let anyone put down your dreams as well. Make some mini attainable goals to help reach your goals.

Goal: is a desired result a person, a system envisions, palms and commits to achieve a personal or organizational desired end point. Many people endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines.

A goal can be long term or short term.

Dream: images, thoughts or emotions passing through the mind during sleep or an involuntary vision occurring to a person when awake.
 
When I was younger focusing on my relationship with God and my dreams is what got me through. In grades 7 and 8 I was bullied a lot. I would pray every night that God would give me friends and also for a new school. I did get to go to a different high school than the kids I went to school with and I can honestly say God put some great role models in my life in those though years, and I now have some amazing friends I can count on.

Over the years I never gave up praying or gave up on my dreams! The devil will put obstacles in your way for you to give up. But whatever the dream it won't be denied. Don't stop till it comes to pass. In those tough years I discovered something that I enjoyed that was all my own. That was my love for horses. If I didn't go through that who knows what I would have discovered. God always has a plan. I've met some amazing people since entering the world of horses. With giving my dreams over to God and having the faith, I am now a horse owner at 25 years old. Don't get nervous about handing your dream over to God.
God really does care about the things that matter to us. Our dreams are important to him. Always pray and dream new big dreams. Something that will stretch your faith. Without a dream, you miss out on the adventure of trusting God and giving your faith a chance to work.

John 5:14-15
This is the confidence we have approaching God; that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask- we know that we have what we asked of him.

The world is full of haters, disappointments and mistakes, but don't let these things keep us from going after our dreams or from reaching our potential. Sometimes people say or do mean things to us and sometimes circumstances just don't go our way, but we have to push those things aside and keep pushing forward.

I believe God made us to be creative and innovative. - Christine Caine

Proverbs 31:25
She is clothed with strength and dignity and she laughs without fear of the future.

You were born to stand out and be a leader and not a follower. We have Christ in us. We were not meant to be on the side lines just pleasing people. We were designed to please God our creator. God put our dreams in our hearts. He knows our every desire. When we please man we stretch ourselves thin. People pleasing robs us of our Joy and has us wanting what others want; and we then are blinded with what god has blessed us with.

Proverbs 29:5
To flatter friends is to lay a trap for their feet.

God has so much planned for us beyond our wildest dreams.

Never stop dreaming big. Our dreams is another way God communicates with us. You don't have a dream that is too small or too big for God. You are a daughter of king, who loves you very much. You are in the same blood line as the creator of the universe. He is the ultimate artist and the ultimate dreamer. So it's time to wake up from our slump, and start dreaming big again.
Let's go beyond the Facebook and Instagram goals and posts we see everyday, let's step out bold in faith.

Queen Esther in the bible saved her people and she was young when she became queen. David was just a young boy tending to his sheep when he stepped out in faith. Everyone doubted him, and he brought the war to and end and slayed the giant with three stones and a sling shot. Joseph in the bible had dreams from God all the time and his brothers doubted him and he didn't let that stop him.
You are never too young or to old, don't let the nah sayers bring doubt into your heart.

If we step out in faith, God will lead the way.

Why wish upon a star when you can pray to the one who created them. He created the heavens and the earth, he has so much more in store for you.

What are your hidden dreams?

Only real champions (win or loose) and people of character and strength keep going past the point of wanting to give up.