Once I was Blind, But Now I See!

This week, I’m doing something I occasionally do and that’s promote a movie with a message that everyone needs to see and hear. I’m talking about the movie The Blind in theaters this week. Dave and I went to see it on 9/29 and even though I knew most of the story of Duck Dynasty’s Phil and Kay Robertson, I really didn’t know how bad it was before Jesus came into their life.

Decades before “Duck Dynasty,” Phil and Kay Robertson suffered a stormy early period of ten years in their marriage marred by Phil’s alcohol abuse and infidelity. “The Blind” captures their story of struggle, redemption, and hope.

When we were finding our seats at the theater, I saw a young teenage couple and asked if they knew what the story was about. They smiled and said they did. I told them how happy I was to see them there and that this film was reaching the next generation. After the movie, Dave and I started talking to a couple sitting next to us and discovered we had the same conservative faith beliefs and burden to protect children in our state’s schools and libraries. We were blessed to make new like-minded friends.

Let me backtrack a bit. Dave and I enjoyed watching the Robertson family with their four married sons’ families and Phil’s brother Uncle Si in their Duck Dynasty reality show adventures. That sparked our interest in learning more about them since the whole family was obviously Christian and they weren’t afraid to talk about their faith, Jesus, and family.

After Duck Dynasty ended, many in the Robertson family branched out with other shows, podcasts, books, and ministries.

Dave and I have a remote connection to the Robertson family. Their third son Willie Robertson’s wife Korie is the daughter of John and Chrys Howard owners of the former Howard Publishing that published my first two books, Dear God, They Say It’s Cancer: A Companion Guide for Women on the Breast Cancer Journey and Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter: Hope, Help, & Encouragement for Hurting Parents. The Howards later sold their publishing company to Simon & Schuster, which still publishes those two books.

I never personally met Miss Kay [as she’s fondly called] or Phil Robertson, but they spoke several years ago in Nampa, Idaho and Dave and I attended. Phil is a bold evangelist and speaks freely about his life before Christ and the change accepting Jesus as his Savior made in his life, his marriage, and his family.

Recently, we heard Phil and Miss Kay interviewed by Kirk Cameron on his TBN program Takeaways. They said that their children felt the couple’s early tumultuous marriage years needed telling to share the miraculous transformation Jesus made in Phil’s life and Kay’s belief in him when he was haunted by the demons of alcohol, infidelity, and childhood memories. I don’t want to give away any spoilers because you need to see the movie, but to quote Phil, “You’ve got to come to the end of yourself to find the beginning of God.”

It’s one thing to read and even hear Phil and Miss Kay’s testimony, but to see it visually in this film is indescribable and inspirational. The portrayal of Kay and Phil is raw, open, and vulnerable. They hold nothing back of how bad things were and how good God is. In the Kirk Cameron interview, Phil revealed something I hadn’t heard before that he had learned of fathering a now 45-year-old daughter during his time of infidelity. She’s welcomed into the Robertson clan.

Their son, Willie Robertson, said in an interview with USA Today Network about The Blind, “It’s the early years of their marriage, so it’s gutting and raw. It’s definitely not ‘Duck Dynasty.'”

 “It tackles big issues – mental illness, depression, alcohol abuse,” Willie said.

Willie and his wife Korie Robertson produced the movie with their Tread Lively production company.

“Mom and dad have been very public about their early struggles, but seeing it up there on the screen really made it real for all of us,” Willie said. “It’s tough for them to open up that part of their life, but they’ve been willing to do it to try to reach others who are struggling. People see the family and ‘Duck Dynasty’ and think, ‘They have everything,’ but this story illustrates we had hard times like everyone else,” said Willie, who was 2 when his parents separated for a time.

“It’s powerful,” Willie said. “It’s a story of hope and redemption that shows you’re never too far gone to be saved.”

“In this movie, ‘The Blind,’ we let go of everything. We’re telling it,” Miss Kay says.

The 10-year span in The Blind depicts what Phil Robertson himself describes as his wild rebellious years of substance abuse and cheating before turning to God and building the clan’s Duck Commander duck-call manufacturing business into an empire in rural West Monroe.

Why would the Robertson’s be so open, vulnerable, and transparent about such a dark time in their life? Because they care more about saving lives than saving their reputation. Their testimony is one of redemption, love, and forgiveness. A wife who didn’t give up hope for her husband and a Jesus who can save even the most despicable wayward person. A testimony shared to bring others to Jesus.

It’s not about how bad you were, it’s about how good God is! He goes after the one that was lost even though 99 are saved. Which gives each of us hope for those we think will never change their life. If God could turn heathen Phil into an evangelist, he can and will save anyone who surrenders his or her life to Jesus Christ and seeks forgiveness for their sins.

“What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13 And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. Matt. 18:12-13

Why Share Our Testimony?

And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. —1 John 5:11-12

But as for me, how good it is to be near God!  I have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter, And I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do.Ps. 73:28 NLT

There’s no greater witness to God’s goodness than sharing what He’s done in your life. No one can question your testimony because it’s your personal experience. As we mature spiritually, we move beyond just remembering God’s goodness for our own benefit and start retelling our testimony to help others just like Phil and Kay have done.

We all have varied life testimonies in addition to our salvation testimony. Some of you have heard my “Feed my Sheep” testimony. If not, you can read a little here. I never tire of telling my story as History.

You may not think you have a testimony if you’ve been a Christian most of your life and life has gone smoothly. You can’t relate to Kay and Phil’s story or maybe even mine. God has been walking beside you guiding your life every step of the way. But that’s your testimony to others who worry about losing something by turning their lives over to God. You’re a living example of how good God really is!

Maybe you’re stumbling under the burden of a hidden past you’ve been too embarrassed to talk about and hope will never be revealed. Now may be the time to deal with those buried hurts and hang-ups. Like Phil and me, once they’re out in the open, Satan can’t use them against you anymore.

When I felt God leading me to write Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter, I had to ask my daughter if she was okay with me revealing the prodigal time in her life before she accepted Christ as her Savior. I assured her that I would also be sharing how I was a prodigal raising a prodigal.

I write her response in the Acknowledgments: “My dearest Kim, you will always be my “baby. To share our story, to bare our souls, is no little thing. I admire and celebrate the beautiful, humble, and courageous Christian woman you have become. When I shared my vision for this book, you were on board and willing to let me expose our lives on these pages, all for the glory of God. That’s no small concession, since our life together has had many twists and turns—some we regret and others we celebrate. I thank God for making both our paths straight. We were lost and now we’re found. I love you baby.”

Kim told me, “Mom, if we can help one daughter and her parents, we need to share our story.” Kim also writes in the book what she was feeling and thinking during her prodigal years.

God redeems your story by surrounding you with people who need to hear your past so it doesn’t become their future. Like Phil and Kay’s testimony and Kim’s and mine, it’s the opportunity to give purpose to a crisis.

You might not make a movie, write a book, or tell your testimony from a stage, but God will bring people across your path and the Holy Spirit will prompt you to share. Every day, you encounter opportunities to share your testimony, and every time you tell it, you’ll remember how good God has been to you.

Revealing is the first step to healing!

Just like Phil’s spiraling down and my backsliding years, our testimony isn’t about how bad we were. Our message is the redemption and forgiveness available through our initial salvation or a rededication to Jesus Christ.

When people ask me how I made it through life’s difficulties, the best answer is, “I couldn’t have done it without God.” That’s your best answer too. It opens the door to share your story. By the way, your story doesn’t have to have a “happy ending” like the Robertson’s or mine for you to share it.

Your story becomes your testimony when the focus is on God, not on you. It’s not a time to tell someone else’s story. Stick to details that pertain to you and those willing to let you include them in your story.

When anyone tells me about an encounter with God, or a memorable circumstance in his or her life, I always ask if they’re writing it down because God is going to use it as a life-experience testimony. My ministry tagline is “Sharing Life Experiences and God’s Faithfulness.”

I’m reminded of the Apostle Paul [formerly Saul], a persecutor of Christians before he was struck blind by the Lord on the road to Damascus in Acts 9:1:1-18.

 So Ananias went and found Saul. He laid his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Instantly something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized.

Later in Acts 22:1-16, Paul told his testimony of transformation from being an enemy and persecutor of Christians to an evangelist sharing the Gospel.

As I watched in The Blind, Phil Robertson’s retreat into the forest almost living like an animal during his darkest times, I was reminded of the story of King Nebuchadnezzar’s testimony of living like a wild animal until he also surrendered to God (Daniel 4:1-37).

At the closing of The Blind movie, they showed comments on the screen. One was what Miss Kay said to the former pastor of the West Monroe White’s Ferry Church of Christ who visited Phil in Junction City during his darkest hour, planting a seed that eventually sprouted. Kay said to the pastor, “If you can help save Phil, he will go on to help save thousands.” Which Phil certainly has done!

While many may know of Phil’s tenaciously outspoken faith now, they may not know the hard and twisting road he walked before surrendering to Jesus. The title “The Blind is a play on words and refers both to, “I was blind, but now I see” (John 9:25), and to a shelter that conceals duck hunters called “the blind.

“I think maybe if these people watch the movie and see how I was, and then they look at me now and see how I operate, [it will give them hope],” Mr. Robertson said. “You got to remember all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God so I’m not the only person that has sinned. The way out is faith in Jesus Christ.”

“I would have never dreamed I would be out there preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ when I was back there getting drunk as a skunk,” he continued. “But when that happened and I was freed from it, [everything changed]. That’s why I’ve been saying ever since that happened and I came to Jesus [what God can do].”

“Our prayer is that people will see the movie and know there’s hope. It’s never too late to be saved.”

“Jesus—that one sacrifice—has made perfect, forever, those who come to Him. If you just think about it, His blood gives us the opportunity to move beyond our sinful self,” Mr. Robertson said. “What do you get when He shows up, when you come to Him by faith? Love, joy, peace, patience…. It’s well worth the effort to follow Jesus faithfully.”

Amen!

If you didn’t receive my September newsletter, here’s the link. I would encourage you to read it.

Some of the “Why Share Your Testimony” discussion above is from my book Forsaken God? Remembering the Goodness of God Our Culture Has Forgotten.

Please leave a comment here. I reply to all comments.

Return to top of page

Truth is Love! Not Sharing Truth is Hate!

Christians know that God and His Word is our ultimate source of truth, victory, justice, and freedom! When we remain close to Him, we operate out of each of those realms, but when we distance ourselves from God, even as Christians, we falter.

Sadly, we’re living in a country with a culture that is determined to distance actions, accountability, laws, behavior, and morals as far away from God’s Truth as possible causing us all to suffer the consequences, even in the church.

To silence Christians, Satan is using the tactic of calling the speaking of truth hate speech and yet sharing the Truth of the Gospel is the most loving thing anyone can do to help someone experience eternal life and not eternal hell.

Sadly, many pastors today are afraid of the truth and so avoid even talking about the downfall of our culture that is being imposed on congregants as well as innocent children. They’ve forgotten that their role is to speak truth to power and protect their congregation from falling into the trap of accepting sinful lifestyles as normal. Speaking the truth is not hate, it’s love and every pastor’s assignment from God.

11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Eph. 4:11-13

I find it interesting and a little disconcerting that some politicians and grassroots activists’ groups are more willing to speak the truth than many pastors.

Kirk Cameron, actor and Christian children’s book author, spoke the truth that what the transgender activists did at the White House is not brave — in contrast to the words of the President, who characterized it as such. “That’s an abomination,” said Cameron, and a “disservice and disrespectful to the brave men and women [who fought] on the beaches of Normandy [June 6, 1944,]” he added, including his own grandfather — who was a Navy corpsman during World War II. “Bravery is a call to courage to do the right thing, not to violate morality and undermine the very foundations of America.”

Following are others who spoke out against the pornographic display of promiscuity and sexual perversion entertained by the President at the White House during a “Pride” event last week where the gay flag was displayed prominently, in breach of the US Flag Code, between two American flags and Biden said that men dressing up as women were the bravest people he’s ever known?! The military, police officers, fire fighters, first responders, and even his own Secret Service aren’t the bravest people he knows. No, in his deceived mind and soul he gives that distinction to depraved men sexually cavorting and flashing on the White House lawn.

 “I’m livid and incensed by this White House, not only for the kids present at this event, but the message this sends to children across the country. Biden’s disregard for commonsense and protocol is deeply troubling. This obscenity is never acceptable, let alone at the White House that belongs to the people.” Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C.

“This is yet another example of the radical left shoving trans propaganda in the face of the American people. In our schools, at the White House, where does it end? The fact that this happened on White House grounds makes Biden look like the real boob.” Conservative radio host and former California gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder

Following is one of my favorite quotes because it states the truth so clearly and lovingly!

When someone says they’re trans, it usually means something else is badly wrong in their life. Confirming the confusion isn’t compassion, it’s cruelty. Joe Biden is celebrating that cruelty. Let’s abandon the farce that the ‘humane’ thing to do is to affirm their confusion, rather than to actually help. It’s inhumane.” Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, Republican Presidential candidate

After the White House agreed that topless trans activists were “inappropriate and disrespectful” and would not be invited back to the White House, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis also asked why anyone would want to have that kind of curriculum “jammed into a second-grader’s classroom?”

Quotes above are from GOP candidates condemn Biden for illicit mishap during White House Pride event: ‘Very revealing’

Here’s What Parents’ Rights Groups are Saying!

“I agree with Gov. DeSantis in his analogy to his parental rights bill,” Sheri Few, president and founder of United States Parents Involved in Education said. “If it is inappropriate for adults, why then is it OK for children? The same can be said for the pornographic and vulgar books in government schools that are being objected to by parents across the country. I believe Pride celebrations, with their lascivious and drunken displays, are a true reflection of the mental health issues that accompany this often promiscuous lifestyle. Attempting to make ‘LGBTQ Pride’ palatable for children is merely another way to indoctrinate children with the Leftist agenda.”

Parents’ Rights In Education Executive Director Suzanne Gallagher said, “Public display of nudity at the national capital, and elsewhere by extreme far left LGBTQAI+ activists is an extension of their larger agenda. It is the goal of the far left to change the culture, by removing all sexual moral stigma. They are doing so by using public schools and mandating K-12 comprehensive – every child, every grade, every subject – sexuality education.”

“The nationwide response we are receiving regarding this trend, promoting and demanding acceptance of all sexual behaviors at any age with anyone, is negative,” Gallagher added. “Most people want higher, not lower, moral standards for themselves and their kids.”

“Parents and allies are tired of seeing and hearing it everywhere, every day,” she added. “Students are done with it in their schools, too. Polls show the net effect is less, rather than more, respect for those demanding it.”

CEO of American Family Association Action, Walker Wildmon said, “Our nation was built on a respect for biblical morality and decency with immoral behavior discouraged and even outlawed in many cases. It is sad that what was once deemed indecent behavior that brought about shame is now being flaunted by the president and other leaders in our government. Our nation must return to a biblical ethic of family where we promote that which is truly good and acceptable.”

Amen!

Quotes above are from Parents’ rights groups slam WH over topless trans activists at Pride event: ‘I agree with Gov. DeSantis’ The White House acknowledged topless transgender activists at the Pride event were ‘inappropriate’

What Are You Hearing in Your Churches?

Did you hear any of the above condemnations of the “Pride” or left agenda from the pulpit on Sunday? I hope so because weak pulpits create weak Christians who allow and maybe even justify elicit behavior from our White House to our classrooms. I’m here to tell you that is NOT what God wants or Jesus would tolerate. That is NOT love!

I know your grief when family or friends are influenced by this, or any, evil agenda. But just because they’re our loved ones doesn’t make their sinful confused choices or skewed definition of truth or love acceptable or any less sinful.

Love doesn’t affirm lies or deprecate truth.

Love doesn’t compromise the truth because sin destroys.  Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it. 1 Peter 3:15 NLT

Love corrects. For the Lord corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights. Pr. 3:12 NLT

Maybe you’ve heard the argument, like I did, of using Matthew 19:12 to justify gay or trans lifestyles. “For there are eunuchs who were born that way,” insinuating I guess that some are born as gay or trans. But eunuch here refers to being born impotent, not sexual preference.

It’s important to look at the rest of the verse as we can never take Scripture out of context, “and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others . . .” Sadly, that’s the evil happening today with children being castrated either with drugs or surgery.

Eunuchs were often male servants castrated in biblical times by those in power over them, so the men couldn’t have sex with the women in their household or royal entourage. It didn’t mean it was a good or justified mutilation just because it’s in the Bible. The Bible exposes many evil practices.

The remainder of the verse continues, “and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.” That meant those choosing to live in celibacy, maybe like Catholic priests and nuns today, or even those who are tempted to be gay but stay celibate and don’t give in to their sinful lustful temptations.

Interestingly, Jesus’s timing right after Matthew 19:12 are the following verses titled “The Little Children and Jesus.” 13 Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” 15 When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there. Matt. 19:13-15

Here’s my point: Just because someone we love is living a sinful lifestyle doesn’t make it right. Believe me, I understand because I’ve been there. My daughter and I wrote about this in Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter; Hope, Help & Encouragement for Hurting Parents. Because we love our child, relative, or friend, we pray their eyes will open to the truth and they’ll no longer be blinded by Satan’s lies. Gay or trans was not the issue I prayed daily from Scripture for my daughter, although there are stories in the book of other mother’s praying against that sinful lifestyle.

I loved my daughter enough to NOT want her spending eternity in hell but instead to be in heaven with me someday. I wanted her to know Jesus personally and how He wanted her to live. So, I loved her unconditionally, but never condoned her living with her boyfriend. Today, that would seem like a minor sin, but as we know, there’s no minor sins. Even though living together unmarried has become normalized by culture, and even some churches, it’s still a sin in God’s eyes.

We’ve watched how far culture has fallen as to what’s ‘acceptable.’ Now we’re all exposed to a federally imposed month dedicated to celebrating perverted sexual sin from the streets, schools, and the Peoples’ House, the White House. Children are literally taught about sexual perversion as early as kindergarten!!

I said last week in Why The Serpent Is Still Going After Women, that Satan knows NO boundaries. God is giving us a glimpse of what the tribulation will look like after the rapture. He continues to provide more time for the church and Christians to care and love enough to share the Truth with everyone we know who has not committed their entire life to Jesus or is living in willful sin. Because as bad as it is now, it will be like this on steroids during the tribulation and who would want a loved one living through that hell on earth?!

Who do you love enough to share the Truth with today? Don’t wait for your pastor to give you the marching orders, Jesus already has. Remember: Truth is Love; Not Sharing the Truth is Hate.

22 And you must show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. 23 Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Show mercy to still others, but do so with great caution, hating the sins that contaminate their lives. Jude 22-23 NLT

31 Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. 32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32 NLT

But Romans 1:18-32 plainly states the fate of those who will encounter God’s wrath if they continue living a perverted sexual or sinful lifestyle.  24 So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. 25 They traded the truth about God for a lie.”

Do you love someone enough to pray daily for them to avoid this fate? I hope so. I’m so glad I never stopped praying for my daughter, and she’s glad too!

PS: After I had already written this blog, a friend sent me the link to a sermon by Pastor Gary Hamrick of Cornerstone Chapel, Leesburg, VA, titled “A Biblical Response to the ‘Transing of America–Romans 1:18-28.” Pastor Hamrick boldly, bravely, and lovingly says so much of what I wrote above and in previous blogs. This is a pastor not afraid to share the truth with his flock! I hope you’ll listen to Pastor Hamrick, who tells a very interesting and revealing story of a trans man visiting his church.

“It is not loving to affirm a lie.” Pastor Gary Hamrick

If you received this blog by email, please leave a comment on the website here. I reply to all comments. While scrolling Facebook, I saw this meme that summarizes everything I just said in this blog pretty well.


Return to top of page

Christians, You Each Have Your Own Jesus Revolution Testimony to Tell!

11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. 1 John 5:11-12

I’m sure by now you’ve seen the movie Jesus Revolution, plan on seeing it, or heard about it. If you haven’t seen it, I encourage you to go now, or if that’s not possible, read the interviews and reviews people are sharing on social media and watch a trailer. Without a doubt one of the most professional Christian movies I’ve seen told with raw vulnerable frankness. A true story of a generation who had tried everything from sexual promiscuity to LSD and was still searching for “truth” and fulfillment. Their desperate quest eventually led them to find truth in Christ alone.

The movie tells how Pastor Chuck Smith and Greg Laurie meet during the “Jesus freaks” movement initially led by hippie Lonnie Frisbee in the late sixties and early seventies in Orange County, California that spread across the United States and changed the world. “Jesus Revolution” graced the cover of Time Magazine five years after their cover asked, “Is God Dead?”

Pastor Chuck, as he was fondly known, was pastoring a dry failing church until he opened his heart and his church doors to a generation hungry to know Jesus. A revival and revolution blew open the doors of his church as the congregation overflowed into a tent to accommodate not just the hippies but everyone eager to hear about the saving grace of Jesus through His sacrifice for them.

A seventeen-year old Greg Laurie with an alcoholic mother married seven times but never to his father, tried escaping his painful home life in the drug culture where he meets his girlfriend Cathe. Both were searching for “truth” in all the wrong places. When they watched Cathe’s sister almost die from drugs, Cathe convinces Greg that maybe they should investigate what this Jesus movement says about truth.

When you see evangelist Pastor Greg Laurie today leading Harvest Church and Ministries you might never expect to hear the life he led before accepting Jesus as his Savior. Like so many of us with sordid backgrounds, he shares his testimony openly and honestly to give hope to others who might think they could never be forgiven for their past or used by God.

Pastor Greg says today, “I hope my story can inspire young people in difficult circumstances to know that God can intervene in their life and change their story. We don’t determine what hand we are dealt in life — but we do determine how we will react to it.”

How Dave and My Life Intersected with Pastor Chuck and Pastor Greg!

If you’ve read my book Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter: Hope, Help & Encouragement for Hurting Parents, you know I had my prodigal backsliding years after divorcing my daughter’s father. For seventeen years, I was a prodigal raising a prodigal. I became a Christian after the murder of my CHP father when I was ten. I lived out my faith until I went into the world as a successful businesswoman and single mom. I continued going to church and taking my daughter, but I wasn’t living the Christian life or being a good role model for her.

When she turned sixteen, it became apparent I needed to change because she was following my wayward choices. I also told God I wouldn’t date another man I didn’t think was from Him and I joined a small group at church. There I met Dave and we started dating, but I soon broke up with him because I thought he might be too good for me.

He was persistent and kept asking me out, so finally I went to a Harvest Crusade in Anaheim Stadium with him. This was now 1992 and Pastor Greg Laurie was fulfilling the prophecy that Lennie Frisbee had made over him in the early 70’s that one day Greg would be speaking to thousands! Dave and I attended the third Harvest Crusade and Pastor Greg was indeed speaking to a stadium that holds 50,000 people when Pastor Greg asked the audience, “If you died tonight, are you ready?”

I knew I wasn’t! As Crystal Lewis sang “Come Just As You Are,” I went down with hundreds on the stadium floor rededicating my life to the Lord and telling Him this prodigal had returned. I would go where He led. I had no idea the plans the Lord had for me to become a Christian author and start a Woman to Woman Ministry that is still blessing women today. Praise God, He never gave up on me!

That night Dave and I sat in the parking lot until it emptied talking about our relationship when I heard God say to me, “You asked for this godly man and I gave him to you. Now rededicate yourself to this relationship.”

I did and we were married five months later, December 19, 1992! I had heard on the radio that Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel was hosting a Caribbean cruise and I suggested to Dave we go on the trip for our honeymoon. We had asked God to help us meet other Christian couples, and even though this wasn’t our home church, we were open to wherever the Lord led us. It was so fun because we were the “honeymooners” on the cruise!

Soon two of Dave’s kids came to live with us and we would go to the Monday night meetings at Calvary Chapel depicted in the Jesus Revolution movie that were still continuing all those years later. Dave and I also went each year to the Harvest Crusades as counsellors to those surrendering or re-surrendering their life to Christ. It was such a joy when Pastor Laurie brought Harvest Crusade to Boise, Idaho last year and our church took a bus down from our mountain community.

There’s Power in Letting God Use Your Testimony!

“Your mess can be turned into a message and your test into a testimony.” Greg Laurie

While waiting to enter the theater to see Jesus Revolution, Dave and I started chatting with a group of three women. They didn’t know anything about Pastors Chuck or Greg, so I shared some of our story with them. When I asked what church they attended locally, only one answered. When the movie was over, I saw the woman who had said she went to church on her knees in front of one of her friends who was crying. I knew she had just given her heart to Jesus because of the powerful testimonies in the movie of real-life searches for truth found only in Jesus. Salvation offered not just during a movie or revival, but available to each of us in our personal lives.

I started to walk by them, but the Holy Spirit prompted me to stop and give them a group hug. Then the Lord led me to make the following statement: “Because the movie takes place in Orange County California where Dave and I both lived for many years, it brought back such memories seeing all the beautiful places and beaches we knew so well.” Then I said, “This movie gives me such hope for California. If God did this once, He could do it again!” They agreed.                        

There’s no greater witness to God’s goodness than sharing what He’s done in your life. No one can question your testimony because it’s your personal Jesus Revolution experience. Once I was lost, but now I’m found by the saving grace of Jesus my Lord and Savior. A revival or a revolution can start with one person. The joy and peace found in Jesus is contagious.

In Forsaken God? Remembering the Goodness of God Our Culture Has Forgotten, I share two biblical testimonies of King Nebuchadnezzar from the Old Testament and the apostle Paul from the New Testament. Both of their testimonies are recorded in the Bible and they each humbly shared their story publicly to influence others to trust in God’s goodness available to all sinners.

King Nebuchadnezzar tells of his prideful attitude thinking he was greater than God in Daniel 4. Paul shares his testimony in Acts 22:1-16 that he was formerly a Jewish religious zealot persecuting Christians until he met God on the road to Damascus. King Nebuchadnezzar’s and the apostle Paul’s testimonies are examples and encouragement that God can change anyone’s heart: once I was prideful, now I am humble. Once I was blind, now I see!

As we mature spiritually, we move beyond just remembering God’s goodness for our own benefit and start retelling our testimony to help others. We all have varied testimonies in our life in addition to our salvation testimony.

I never tire of telling my story as HIStory.

You may not think you have a testimony if you’ve been a Christian most of your life and life has gone smoothly, but God has been walking beside you guiding your life every step of the way. That’s your testimony to others who worry about losing something by turning their lives over to God. You’re a living example of how good God really is!

Maybe you have a hidden past you’ve been too embarrassed to talk about, but now is the time to deal with those buried hurts and hang-ups.

Like Pastor Greg and me, God redeems your spiritual revival story by surrounding you with people who need to hear your past, so it doesn’t become their future.

It’s the opportunity to give purpose to a crisis.

God will bring people across your path and the Holy Spirit will prompt you to share, just like He did with me and the ladies in the theater.

Every day you encounter opportunities to share your Jesus Revolution testimony, and every time you tell it, you’ll remember how good God has been to you and offer hope to others!

REVEALING IS THE FIRST STEP TO HEALING.

Your story doesn’t have to have a “happy ending” for you to share it. Someone might need to hear that even though things didn’t go like you hoped, God has been faithful and He will be in their life too.

When people ask me how I’ve made it through life’s difficulties, the best answer is, “I couldn’t have done it without God.” That’s your best answer too. It opens the door to share your story . . . your testimony.

YOUR STORY BECOMES YOUR TESTIMONY WHEN THE FOCUS IS ON GOD, NOT ON YOU.

It’s not a “tell all” and it’s not a time to tell someone else’s story. Stick to details that pertain to you.

Don’t dramatize how bad you were; characterize how good God is!

When anyone tells me about an encounter with God, or a memorable circumstance in his or her life, I always ask if he or she is writing it down because God is going to use it as a life-experience revival testimony.

Pray for God to give you the opportunity to share your testimony often and authentically.

“I would hope people realize that God is still in the business of changing lives. What happened to us some 50 years ago can still happen for people today.” –Greg Laurie

But as for me, how good it is to be near God! I have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter, and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do. —Ps. 73:28 NLT

If you received this blog by email, please leave a comment here. I’d love to hear your Jesus revolution story.

Return to top of page

What Our Culture Doesn’t Understand about Christ’s Love!

My first career was as a Registered Dietitian. I went to college for four years at Cal Poly University and then another year of internship at the VA Hospital and UCLA in Santa Monica. I had grandiose visions of being the Florence Nightingale of dietetics! I would devote myself to helping people learn how to experience a healthy nutritional way of life. Maybe even save lives by teaching them how to eliminate foods contributing to their illnesses and replace them with foods that their body needed to heal and stay well. In my altruistic vision, they would be so grateful that I was part of their medical team working to restore their health and help them remain in good health.

Then I went out into the real world of hospital dietetics and my idealistic aspirations met resistance reality. Instead of welcoming my guidance in food restrictions and replacements that could possibly save their life, they would rather take a pill and hope for the best. How could I expect them to sacrifice their favorite foods they “loved,” almost more than life?! They were angry, disgruntled, or dismissed me for even thinking they would make lifestyle changes to give them a better quality of life.

When I tried to engage wives to help their husbands, they also resisted that I was asking them to remove foods he “loved”! I could see in her eyes as she shook her head that she wasn’t about to tackle changing her husband’s diet. It wasn’t worth the battle and often her way of showing love was to make all the foods he loved. I literally watched wives love their husbands to death rather than love them enough to learn how to nutritiously lengthen their lives by changing their diet.

I wasn’t trying to ruin these people’s lives; I was trying to save their lives. I didn’t hate them. I loved my fellow men and women enough to help them fight for their life, often as I watched the same patients return with the same health and diet-related issues.

Eventually, the rejection and frustration became more than I could envision for the rest of my life, and I changed careers. But once a Dietitian, always a Dietitian and I practice good eating habits for my family and myself. I try to get my husband to limit his intake of “junk food” and keep his weight down, not because I hate him, but because I love him!

I want my husband to be healthy and live a long life. There are certain foods I know will harm him. I want him putting into his God-given body foods that will build him up and not tear him down. I’m not always successful in convincing him, but I love him enough to keep trying.

This is exactly the same love that Christ shows to us! He doesn’t tell us to avoid sinful actions and thoughts that will harm us because he hates us; it’s because He loves us! He wants the best for us. God sent His only Son to die on the cross to give us an opportunity to turn from our sinful ways not to revel in them.

16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. 18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. 19 And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. John 3:16-19 NLT

There’s a false argument that lovers of sin try to use against Christians: “God loves me just like I am.” That’s Satan’s lie. Jesus never said that. Jesus does love everyone, and He accepts us where He finds us, BUT he loves us so much, He doesn’t want to leave us how He found us . . . sinning. Like the woman at the well, He tells us to go and sin no more!

Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. Gal. 6:7-8 NLT

There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.” Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again,[a] you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” John 3:1-3 NLT

Paul cautioned the church in Corinth:

18 Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. 19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body. 1 Cor. 6:18-20 NLT

Paul didn’t hate the Corinthians or any of the churches when he told them that homosexuality and sexual immorality was an abomination to God and detrimental to their own bodies. Paul loved them and that’s why he was warning them to repent from their sins.

Peter told those who repented of their sins and asked God’s forgiveness that they would receive the Holy Spirit to help them live a life pleasing to God.

Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:38

The World’s Futile Attempt to Redefine “Love”!

Today’s culture has tried to twist the truth into attacks on anyone who doesn’t go along with abortion, LGBQT, sexual immorality, transgenderism, or now the next level of perversion is brainwashing young children into believing God made them wrong and they can be whatever gender they choose.

Liberals or “progressives” try to bully us calling us haters or not good Christians when we don’t agree to their lifestyle choices, but it’s the exact opposite. It’s out of love and wanting people to experience eternity someday and God’s plan for their life while they’re here on earth that we refuse to agree with sin or be pressured into the world’s decadent mold.

Often, they try and use God’s Word against us, especially this verse: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31. What they don’t realize is Christians are experiencing the joy and peace of repenting from our sins and receiving the forgiving love of Jesus in our life and we want it for them too. That’s truly loving your neighbor.

Parents who love their children try to protect them from harm and now the culture is even attacking parents who will not acquiesce to the world’s perversion. Schools used to be a safe and trusted place, now every day we see videos of liberal school boards and teachers trying to confuse and indoctrinate young children with harmful evil beliefs and values.

Parents tell children “No” often as they’re growing up and sometimes the children resist and might even yell, “I hate you.” That’s hard to hear as a parent, but we know it’s a childish reaction when we’re stopping them from doing something harmful or sinful. They may later thank us for loving them enough to protect them from harm or evil.

Parents who are championing or tolerating their children’s waywardness are not helping them. That’s not love, especially when we know it will lead to heartache and maybe even a separation from God. Defending evil just because our children might be indulging in it is the furthest thing from love. As I wrote in Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter, we love our children unconditionally, but it doesn’t mean we love everything they do or try to justify wrongful behavior, just because our child is doing it.

God doesn’t rewrite the 10 Commandments when His children break them. He doesn’t change His views on sexual immorality, even when a government wrongfully legalizes it. He doesn’t decide that He made a mistake creating a little girl or a little boy or that He shouldn’t have designed sex and marriage to be between a woman and a man.

No matter how distorted our culture becomes God always stays the same. The Bible is His timeless guide for life until He returns to rescue us because He loves us and wants everyone to be with Him in heaven.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Heb. 13:8

It’s God’s will and His ways that should guide our life and that we should relentlessly defend regardless of those who bully us, call us names, or try to intimidate us. Our response should always be that we didn’t make up how God wants us to live our lives, God did, and He wrote it all down in the Bible.

I was so impressed with the Philadelphia Flyers hockey defenseman Ivan Provorov, who stood firm by his Russian Orthodox faith, and declined to participate in a “gay pride” event where the players wore gay pride jerseys with gay flags wrapped around their hockey sticks. The media went crazy and bullied him, many saying he was “hiding behind his religion.” He wasn’t hiding; he was staying steadfastly true to his beliefs.

Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov recently infuriated sports journalists when he refused to wear a rainbow jersey for warmups during “Pride Night,” citing his Russian Orthodox faith. “I respect everybody and I respect everybody’s choices. My choice is to stay true to myself and my religion.”

I wonder how many Christian players succumbed to pressure and chose culture over Christ.

We’ll all have to answer to God for our actions someday and there will be no excuses or any people we acquiesce to now present then to defend us.

Jesus said Christians should be glad when we’re tormented and called names for our beliefs because the world hated Him, and they’ll hate us for being His followers. In today’s world, we should wear it as a badge of honor.

Not agreeing with someone’s sin does not mean we hate them; we love them enough to want them to turn to Jesus and not the world. Those calling us “haters” are actually haters of Jesus.

16 You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other.

The World’s Hatred

18 “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. 19 The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. 20 . . . Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you. 21 They will do all this to you because of me, for they have rejected the one who sent me. 22 They would not be guilty if I had not come and spoken to them. But now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Anyone who hates me also hates my Father. 24 If I hadn’t done such miraculous signs among them that no one else could do, they would not be guilty. But as it is, they have seen everything I did, yet they still hate me and my Father. 25 This fulfills what is written in their Scriptures[a]: ‘They hated me without cause.’ John 15:16-25

I often say that being an evangelist is a lot like being a Dietitian. God does have a sense of humor since He didn’t let me get away from sharing a message that isn’t always popular or appreciated. But now God is asking me to help people have a healthy spiritual life and relationship with Jesus that will lead to eternal life in heaven instead of eternal life in hell. That’s what love does, and that’s what I’ll do as long as I have breath. I hope many of you will join me. The eternal life of someone dear to you could depend on it!

12 Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. 13 Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world. 14 If you are insulted because you bear the name of Christ, you will be blessed, for the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you. 1 Peter 4:12-14 NLT

13 Now, who will want to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14 But even if you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it. So don’t worry or be afraid of their threats. 15 Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it. 1 Peter 3:13-15 NLT

You’re going to find that there will be times when people will have no stomach for solid teaching, but will fill up on spiritual junk food—catchy opinions that tickle their fancy. They’ll turn their backs on truth and chase mirages. But you—keep your eye on what you’re doing; accept the hard times along with the good; keep the Message alive; do a thorough job as God’s servant. 2 Tim. 4:3-5 The Message

If you received this blog by email, please leave a comment here.

Return to top of page

When Did Bible-Believing Christians Start Being Labeled “Right Wing”?

The title of my September AHW Ministries newsletter’s opening article is “Lord, Bring Our Prodigals Home!” I wrote that article because of the recent interest and activity around a book I wrote almost fifteen years ago as a memoir of being a prodigal mom raising a prodigal daughter, Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter: Hope, Help & Encouragement for Hurting Parents. My daughter Kim shares her journey during that time too and each chapter also includes the story of other moms with a prodigal daughter and some of those daughters share their story.

The key to praying for my prodigal I discovered was praying and personalizing Scripture. Praying God’s Word back to Him for my daughter. Instead of just praying my will, I prayed for His will in her life. The back of the book has a section 40 Days of Praying Scripture for Your Daughter and this can also be applied to prodigal sons or grandchildren.

In the past few months, the Lord has brought Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter to my attention in a variety of ways. One of the contributing mothers in the book sent me a praise for her daughter’s return to the Lord and to her family after 10 years of praying. A few days later, another mother emailed me that she had just read the book and it was helping her in communicating with her daughter. Sales on the book have suddenly increased noticeably. A couple who has a podcast, “It’s Not How You Start But How You Finish,” contacted me for an interview on the book, which you can listen to here.

Again, I hope you’ll read the full article in my AHW Ministries newsletter of what God is doing with this book and listen to the podcast because I don’t want to repeat it all here for those of you who already read my newsletter. If you don’t receive my newsletter, you can sign up on my website or let me know and we’ll sign you up.

But here’s what I do want to talk about in this blog. Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter has been out since January 2008, so I hadn’t looked for a long time at the comments on Amazon. I’m not an author that is always checking my reviews because I’m usually on to writing the next book or article, but with all the activity lately, I decided to take a look. God wanted me to see a comment which was right on top.

At first, I chuckled, but then I was sad for the mother. It was the best “worst” review I’d ever had.

The reviewer returned the book, gave me only 1 star, and headed her comment “This book is for the deeply and devoted right wing Christians.” This was startling since it was my first time being referred to as a “right-wing” Christian. I’m always clear that I’m a Bible-believing Christian and in today’s culture that can set you apart because anyone can say they’re a Christian, but fewer and fewer people are connecting Christianity with the Bible and that’s a real travesty.

Here’s the first paragraph of the reader’s comment. I would encourage you to go to the page on Amazon if you want to read the remainder because it makes it even clearer why she thought my book was only for the deeply devout Christian and yet I ask: how can you be a Christian and not be devout?

“I have no judgment for the author or the tone of this book. For Christians who are devoted to God and extreme in their beliefs, this book is for them. My own struggles with my prodigal daughter led me to buy the book with hope to help guide me through my pain. However, the book is not so much about daughters coming home to their family as it is daughters coming home to Jesus. Over and over again, the dilemma was about the prodigal daughter coming back to Jesus and religion.”

I was elated that she got my point in the book that the answer to any prodigal’s life-changing return is first their return to Jesus! But I was deflated that she rejected this truth as too “right wing.” She added the term “religion,” but I talk about a relationship with Jesus NOT a religion.

My Thoughts on Being Called Right-Wing Christians

I don’t receive or acknowledge “right wing” as an acceptable term for Christians. I find it offensive to make it sound like we’re eccentric or on the edge to be extremely in love with Jesus and the inerrant Word of God, the Bible!

I don’t accept “Cultural Christian” or “Progressive Christian” as a description for any Christian because you’re either with the culture or with Christ. There’s no in between. The Bible is clear that we will have to be in the world while we’re alive, but we must not become of the world. Christ came to change the culture and turn people away from sin, not embrace sin as acceptable because it makes them feel good.

Christ came to make us holy NOT happy! What so many don’t understand is that when you let go of the secular culture and grab the hand of Jesus, you will be happy for eternity.

14 I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. 15 I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. 16 They do not belong to this world any more than I do. 17 Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. John 17:14-17 NLT

I had a Facebook “conversation” where someone told me God did not create her or the climate. So I asked well then who did? She said that I needed to study biology instead of the Bible, which she referred to as “fantasy.” I said, well one thing the Bible and biology both agree on is that we’re all going to die and I know where I’m going to spend eternity. Do you know where you’re going when you die? The conversation ended.

The Bible tells us this world is but a bleep in the big picture of our life. Attempting to be a Christian who thinks that Jesus died on the Cross so that we could keep on sinning because He loves us so much or that the Bible doesn’t apply to today’s world is left-wing, wrong-wing, believing Satan-infused-demonic wing progressive lies and rationalizations.

Every Christian must make the decision to remain Christ-like and be a Bible-Believer no matter what names they call you. In fact, if someone isn’t calling you a name in today’s culture, you might not be wearing Jesus on your sleeve, and I’m not talking about a t-shirt.

Christians are not left wing or right wing, we’re under Jesus’s wing!

He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection. Ps. 91:4 NLT

In Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter, my daughter, Kim, came to the realization that being a Christian cannot be inherited or passed down through your family. Living in a Christian family doesn’t make you a Christian. It educates you and certainly wraps you in Christian love, but choosing Christ as your Lord and Savior is an individual decision only you can make.

Kim wrote about an experience she had in the Bible-based premarital course Dave and I gave her and Toby as an engagement gift, which they didn’t appreciate, but that is where they were both saved!

“Pastor Pete made it clear we couldn’t get to heaven on our parents’ faith—something I had been counting on—it had to be our own personal decision and relationships with Christ. That really got us thinking. I know that because we committed our lives to Christ, God has blessed our marriage.”

You’re either Holy Spirit-filled, or you’re not. I think God is putting the pressure on currently for the true Bible-believing Christians to step forward. The words I wrote in Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter, still ring true today because they were based on the premise that Jesus is the Only way, a truth that never changes.

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. Phil. 1:9-11

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8

Note: Dave and I saw the movie SuperSpreader about worship leader Sean Feucht’s journey in starting the ministry Let Us Worship during a time when Covid was closing churches and not allowing people to sing in church. A powerful movie only in theaters until 10/6 so I hope you’ll find out where it’s playing in your area. Sean lives out Isaiah 6:8

Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?”

I said, “Here I am. Send me.” (NLT)

My book Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter is also available on my website signed and personalized.

If you received this blog by email, please leave a comment here.

I apologize if you receive an email of this blog twice, but we’re having problems with MailChimp our delivery mechanism and it didn’t send out the blog to the majority of our mailing list the day it posted so we’re reposting it again.

Return to top of page

God Is Up to Something Big!

I’m back! For those of you who follow my Monday Morning Blog, I announced at the beginning of March that I would be taking a brief sabbatical while my hubby had his second knee replacement surgery. I know some of you have been praying for us and we’re so grateful for all the prayers and the help we received from family, our church family, and friends.

It’s a difficult surgery, as any of you who’ve experienced it knows; you practically need to learn to walk again with a new prosthetic knee. I’m happy to report that Dave’s doing well, progressing with physical therapy, and diligently doing his exercises and recumbent bike riding at home.

So much has been taking place in the world, it’s been hard for me not to chime in, but I’ve been in a season of caregiving for hubby and praying for our country’s leaders who are being led by the devil and not by the Lord!!

Your Testimony is Your Best Witness

On April 24, I celebrated a milestone moment in my own testimony. I want to share a bit of it with you here to confirm what God can and will do for anyone who truly surrenders his or her life to God.

In the summer of 1992, I rededicated my life to the Lord at a Harvest Crusade led by Pastor Greg Laurie at the then Anaheim Stadium, in Anaheim California. I’d been a Christian since I was eleven but backslid horribly in my thirties and early forties as a single parent for seventeen years. At that life-altering crusade, Pastor Laurie asked, “Are you ready to die tonight?”

I knew I wasn’t and when he gave the invitation for those who wanted to give their life to Christ or rededicate their life I joined hundreds down on the stadium field. I told the Lord, “This prodigal is returning to you completely. I surrender all of my life to you Lord. No turning back!” I had no idea how seriously the Lord would take my words, or what would be ahead of me, but I was ready to follow Jesus with my entire life, heart, and soul.

On December 19,1992, just a few months after the Harvest Crusade, I married my godly husband Dave, who I had just broken up with prior to the Crusade; but I heard the Lord say to me that night, “You asked for a godly man and I gave him to you, now rededicate yourself to him too!”

When we’d only been married a year and I still had a fulltime career, I started attending Fuller Theological Seminary obtaining a Masters of Arts in Christian Leadership, with an emphasis on equipping the laity. Within three years after I rededicated my life to Christ, I left my business career and started the Woman to Woman Mentoring Ministry, which is still a vibrant biblically based ministry in many churches today and new churches are continually starting the ministry with the resources I wrote twenty-five years ago!

Five years after the Harvest Crusade, I began a writing ministry and speaking ministry, “About His Work Ministries. I had NEVER written a book before, but God has since used me to write twenty-one books and Bible studies for His glory!

So when I heard that Greg Laurie was bringing Harvest Crusade to Boise, fairly near where we now live in Idaho, that was exciting. The first attempt at the Boise Crusade was in 2020 but it was canceled because of Covid. Now in April 2022 Pastor Greg and Harvest Crusade was coming to Boise!

As I reminisced about my first Harvest Crusade in 1992, I realized that Dave and I would be celebrating our thirtieth anniversary this December so the 2022 Harvest Crusade in Boise would also be my 30-year anniversary of rededicating my life to Jesus. I knew I had to attend. Dave wasn’t up to it yet, but our church was taking a bus since we’re about 1 ½ hours from the Crusade, so I took the bus and met my daughter and son-in-law there.

I wasn’t disappointed. I was encouraged and inspired yet again! When Greg came to the point in the program that touched my heart 30 years ago where he invited people who wanted to make Jesus their Lord and Savior, people were up out of their seats and flooding the auditorium floor. There were so many people coming down the second night, the fire marshal had them stop coming but they stood in the aisles. Here are the glorious responses from that weekend. Praise God revival is happening in Boise and I got to see it firsthand.

God is Springing Up Revival Throughout Our Country!

On the Thursday and Friday nights prior to the Saturday and Sunday Boise Crusade, Flashpoint Live held an event at the Mabee Center in Tulsa Oklahoma. If you’re not familiar with Flashpoint on the Victory channel on Tuesday and Thursday nights, here’s a link to check it out. Dave and I watch this program to get a Christian perspective on today’s news and to give us hope when it feels like our country is hopeless.

But the point I want to make is that Flashpoint experienced the same overflow of attendance of 10,000 people and 1650 responding to make a first-time decision or recommitment for a Christ-centered life. Again, just like in Boise, the stands started emptying as people poured down to the floor, which became so full some had to remain standing in the aisles.

Two seemingly unrelated events and yet so related in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

People are hungry for something to provide peace and purpose in their life as we watch the world crumble all around us. Only Jesus has that power! Only Jesus has the answers! Not the government flailing in the dark as they become more and more the minions of the Devil. Their evil deeds are unveiled daily, but never fear. God sees it all and will react at the perfect time.

Our job is to continue sharing the light of the Gospel by telling whoever will listen what God has done in our own life. You don’t have to be an evangelist like Greg Laurie or Mario Murillo or Franklin Graham. You just need to live boldly and bravely for Christ in all your actions, deeds, and words.

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Matt. 9:37

I love this quote from Mario Murillo in his blog To Save Freedom: “You are constantly hearing the religious empty suits telling you to stay out of the political arena. But if we lose freedom, you will rue the day that you ever listened to their fake morality. You are not a “Christian Nationalist.” You are a sincere Christian who opposes evil, no matter what camouflage it wears or how it rebrands itself.”

So when was the last time you shared your testimony, or what God is doing in your life now, with someone who needs encouragement and hope? Maybe you need to remember it for your own encouragement! Let’s join God in taking revival to the nation!

Billy Graham said in his book Till Armageddon, “The will of God will never take us where the grace of God cannot sustain us!”

Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous. Psalm 112:4

You can read more of my story of being a prodigal raising a prodigal in my book Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter: Hope, Help & Encouragement for Hurting Parents.

If you received this blog by email, please leave a comment here.

Return to top of page

Don’t Just Go to Church, Be the Church

We’ve just come through a period we never thought could happen in America: the government shut down churches. In the beginning of Covid, everyone was still trying to figure it all out. But soon it became obvious that the closures were indiscriminate as large box stores like COSTCO and Home Depot and liquor stores were still allowed to remain open. They were considered essential and churches were not. I wrote blogs during that period encouraging churches not to acquiesce, but sadly, many did. Some closed their doors for over a year and many went online giving the government a taste of success in ruling over churches.

Praise God, many bold and brave pastors recognized the tyranny and fought against it to keep meeting. Some at great peril but they understood the church needed to be together to pray, worship, fellowship, encourage each other, and be available to those who were fearful and wanted to know more about the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Even saying the church is family didn’t impact the draconian “rules” because families were being told not to meet together!

You’ve heard it said that freedoms lost or surrendered are usually never regained. But thankfully, most churches have reconvened meeting again in person, and even with the continuing new variants, churches are staying open. Unfortunately, many Christians have not returned because they’re out of the habit or routine or they’re still living in fear. And that’s the enemy’s plan!

The media would have you think that surveys are proving the Christian population is diminishing, but you know better than to believe everything you read and hear. We live in an era where liberals are intent on demoralizing, demeaning, and denouncing Christians and everything we stand for and believe. Marxism/Socialism/Communism is anti-religion. Their cowardly tactic is shame and bullying. Trying to use the power of words, name-calling, and cancel culture to threaten and intimidate us into backing down from our faith and God’s Word. But those who live for Christ alone won’t be fooled or shaken!

I hope you stand with me in not being daunted by the enemy. But instead using this tumultuous time as an opportunity to be a vocal voice for the power of Jesus Christ to overcome evil in our world and in our life! As the apostle Paul told his mentee Timothy: “So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God.” 2 Timothy 1:8

Vine’s definition of ashamed is: “A strong feeling of shame preventing a person from doing something.” Is there something preventing you from doing what you know the Lord is asking of you to do?

If God wants us to do something and the Holy Spirit prompts us—regardless of how “politically incorrect” or unpopular it might be, we need to proudly declare the name of Jesus and follow the Great Commission He left for us to live out. We must unite together against the pressures of this world—no matter how many names they call us, laws they pass to quiet us, or how unpopular we become personally … our job as Christians is to speak and live the Gospel joyfully and fervently.

The True Christian World is Not Shrinking

Reality is that the true Christian population is not shrinking—Christians who would never back down in the face of adversity are actually increasing. What is shrinking is the gap between those who call themselves “Christian” hoping for a free ticket to heaven while following the world’s ways, and those who identify with Christ and are willing to follow Him wherever He leads, even if it means suffering for the Gospel, as Paul did.

Both Jesus and Paul were rivals to the accepted culture of their day and everything they did upset the social order. Why would we think it so strange when we encounter the same reaction and persecution?

Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. John 15:20

The pseudo-Christians are looking for a gospel they’ll never find: one that allows them to not make waves and keep their faith “private.” As that becomes more impossible, their faith becomes weaker and they fall away. Those “so called” Christians become lesser in number.

But to those who have the courage to be unpopular for Christ no matter what—their faith becomes stronger and their stance against the wrongs of this world becomes bolder. Yes, praise God, the true Christian population is increasing. Again, just like Paul tells Timothy, these Christians will:

 With the strength God gives you, be ready to suffer with me for the sake of the Good News. For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus. 10 And now he has made all of this plain to us by the appearing of Christ Jesus, our Savior. He broke the power of death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the Good News.—2 Timothy 1:8-10

There’s Only One Kind of Christian

God shields every Christian who believes in living out the Bible—and only the Bible. A new term has caught my attention: “Bible-believing Christian.” I shake my head every time I hear it because there is no other kind of Christian. If you don’t believe the Bible is the inerrant Word of God, call yourself anything you want, but don’t call yourself a Christian because that’s blasphemy and heresy.

God ordains the steps of every Christian who has surrendered their life to Jesus and is born-again. We need to be using what He has given us in the time that we have here on Earth. God had a reason for saving us. So when we speak up for God, He gives our words power and He infuses us with courage. Holy God-fearing people love God and others and tell the truth about God to everyone, even when the audience is hostile.

Liberals and nonbelievers try to taunt us with the argument that Jesus loved everyone so Christians should love everyone’s sins. But they’re twisting the word “love” to mean what they want it to mean. To use “love” to justify sin is the exact opposite of what Jesus taught and why He went to the cross.

God loves His creations so much He sent His only Son Jesus to die for them to repent of their sins.

 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

It’s true that Jesus loved the world and that’s why He died for everyone to have freedom from sin—sins that God hates. Jesus didn’t go to the cross so we could keep on sinning, but so that we could live a life free from sin. That’s the true loving Gospel. Sharing the love of Christ and the Gospel with someone is the most loving thing you could do.

As Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery: “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” 12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:11-12

Sin is Sin Even When Our Family is Doing It

I know firsthand that one of the hardest things as a parent is to watch our children or grandchildren choose to sin. I wrote a book about Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter so I know the heartbreak of feeling like you can’t do anything to stop them. But you can love them and pray for them. The worst thing you can do is enable them by overlooking their sin, indulging their sin, or trying to convince yourself that their sin isn’t really that bad.

Remember, every murderer is someone’s child, but that doesn’t make murder OK. Every alcoholic is someone’s child, but alcoholism is wrong. Every thief has parents, but stealing is a sin. If your child is indulging in alternate lifestyles, having sex outside of marriage, or experimenting with “transgenderism” or homosexuality—it’s all sin. God doesn’t make any mistakes. He made girls as girls and boys as boys and he created girls to fall in love with boys, get married, and then enjoy sex as they come together as one.

The most loving thing you can do for your sinning child, or anyone, is to pray for him or her to seek Jesus, ask for forgiveness, change their sinful ways, and live a righteous life. It’s painful and it takes courage, but my daughter is so glad I never gave up praying for her and today that’s our testimony together.

Christianity is the Only All-Inclusive Faith

When the world says that Christians are “exclusive” that only shows their ignorance of Christianity, the most “inclusive” religion in the world. Jesus is available to everyone. He died for everyone, but sadly, not everyone will accept His loving free invitation to eternal life with Him.

Hell is real and when Jesus returns, those who do not believe in Him will experience that reality.

 I leave you with a scenario that depicts this tragedy:

A young boyfriend and girlfriend were in a tragic accident and died. They’re looking down on the scene:

Girl to boy: “I have to leave you now.”
Boy: “I want to go with you wherever you’re going.”
Girl: “I’m going to be with God, but you didn’t accept him so you can’t come with me.”

Boy: “Did you know this?”

Girl: “Yes …”

Boy: “Then why didn’t you tell me?”
Girl: “I was afraid I would lose you.”

Who are you so afraid of losing here on Earth that you’ll have to say goodbye to them forever in eternity? Don’t be ashamed or fearful to share the Gospel. Someone’s eternal life depends on it.

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6

“When God sees you, for those of us in Christ, he sees his Son, Jesus. And when we get a glimpse of how beautiful he is and how beautiful he becomes in us, we want to join him in beautifying this world!” [A quote from Saddleback Church newsletter “Three important things to believe about Jesus”]

If you don’t receive my monthly newsletter, here is a link to January’s edition and you can sign up on my website to receive it monthly. The opening article is: Are You Ready?

In case you didn’t read last week’s blog I encourage you to read it today as we watch the horrific war on our police officers! Police Officers Have Our Backs; Let’s Have Theirs!

If you received this blog by email, please leave a comment here.

The opening picture was created by Joshua Lutz, reppnforChrist.com. I saw it and knew immediately what the title of my blog should be. Originally, my title was Christianity Under Refining Fire! which also is a good one to describe the article don’t you think.

Return to top of page

Do You Need a Pardon?

Do you need a pardon?

Pardons were in the news last week as President Trump pardoned and commuted sentences of several prisoners. Speaking at a graduation ceremony for Hope for Prisoners, President Trump said that he “loves” finding those treated unfairly by the criminal justice system and offering them pardons.

The discussion of pardons started me thinking about how God has pardoned every Christian. Since Romans 3:23 reminds us that, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Christians are the recipients of unmerited grace and mercy.

In my Bible Study Face-to-Face with Euodia and Syntyche: From Conflict to Community, I describe it this way:

  • Justice is getting what you deserve.
  • Mercy is not getting everything you deserve.
  • Grace is getting what you don’t deserve.

Mercy is showing more love and kindness to a person than he or she expects or deserves. Undeserved pardon! Grace is undeserved forgiveness.

It’s so easy to look at the transgressions of others and say they deserved the punishment rendered, and often they do. But what about Christians who had their debt pardoned and paid for by Jesus who unjustly endured the brutal cross for us? He took the punishment that we deserved. That’s mercy! That’s grace!

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. Ephesians 2:1-5

All we had to do for a pardon was confess our sins to Jesus, ask for forgiveness, and repent! Our dark sins became white as snow. Erased! The Bible says that God has forgiven and forgotten and will never bring them up to us again.

“Come now, let us settle the matter,”
says the Lord.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool
. Isaiah 1:18

Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away. Acts 3:19 (NLT)

15 And the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so. For he says,

16 “This is the new covenant I will make
with my people on that day,[
a] says the Lord:
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds.”[
b]

17 Then he says,

“I will never again remember
their sins and lawless deeds.”
Hebrews 10:15-17 (NLT)

What a gift! How did we deserve such a pardon? We didn’t! Yet, how often do we take our pardon for granted. Almost like we did deserve it. How often do we remember the price and penalty that Jesus paid for our release from the punishment due us? I would suggest, not often enough.

We may not have been in a cold, dark, prison cell, but we were in a cold, dark spiritual hellhole. Satan had us shackled to him in sin and shame. Then Jesus entered into our life and set us free. But Satan never gives up. He’s always trying to lure us back. We can never forget the cost of our pardon.

“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” 1 Peter 2:24

Sin Has Consequences

Just like with all pardoned prisoners, there will always be consequences of our sins that we will have to bear ourselves and assume the responsibility. God told the Israelites who refused to follow His lead, “You will bear the consequences of your sin . . .” (Numbers 14:34 HCSB)

As Christians, we must ask for Jesus’ help and strength to make restitution for our sinful behavior when possible. If we broke the civic law, or God’s law, we’ll pay the penalty. The scars will be with us, and possibly with others, for life. Often our actions negatively affected someone else. That’s on us. Jesus forgives us when we repent of our sins, but we may need to forgive others or seek their forgiveness and they might not grant it. The hurt is too deep. The debt too high.

But President Trump also told the crowd of 29 graduates from Hope for Prisoners, “the best part of your life is just beginning.” “Today we declare that you are made by God for a great and noble purpose. You are valued members of our American family and we are determined to help you succeed,” the president said.

And that’s what the Lord says to us too:

Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. Micah 7:18

My Second Pardon

Do you need a pardon?

In Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter, I share my testimony of accepting Jesus into my life at eleven, but as an adult I backslid into a sinful life for seventeen years while raising my daughter. I was a prodigal raising a prodigal. I can’t change those years, but when I rededicated my life back to Christ, He gave me another pardon I did not deserve. Praise God, He is the God of endless pardons. I was a changed person—a new creation in Christ.

Like President Trump told the released prisoners, God did have a great and noble purpose for my life as He used me to start the Woman to Woman Mentoring Ministry and write and speak for Him.

But there were consequences to my wayward years. I had to ask my daughter for forgiveness, and while she didn’t understand what that meant at the time, she does now. I prayed and begged God daily to open her eyes to the life she could have with Christ. After six years of a mother’s prayers, she accepted Christ as her Savior.

No matter what you’ve done in your past, or are currently doing, Jesus waits eagerly to mercifully forgive you and restore your life for a great and noble purpose. All you need to do is ask Him for a pardon.

Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. Isaiah 55:7

________________________

God has put on my heart that my next writing project will focus on the loneliness epidemic in our culture. If you have a story of seasons of loneliness, or you’ve helped someone through their loneliness, I would love to hear your story. Please contact me or email at [email protected].

Return to top of page

Why I Have Hope for Katy Perry

My book Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter: Hope, Help & Encouragement for Hurting Parents, is about a prodigal, aka me, raising a prodigal. As I’ve read about Katy Perry’s recent public confessions of why she turned away from her childhood Christian faith, I saw a certain parallel to my life. No, I never became a multimillion dollar, outrageously popular pop star, but I did turn my back on my Christian faith after my divorce and became a very successful businesswoman living a worldly life while raising my prodigal.

Katy’s father is a pastor and her childhood home was faith-filled. In her public therapy session aired on Viceland, she went by her birth name Katheryn Hudson. Faithwire wrote an article from this session, Why Kathy Perry’s Rejection of Her Childhood Faith Should Concern Every Bible-Believing Christian. They quoted Hudson as saying, “I grew up with a lot of born-again Christian beliefs around me, and so I had people around me — like-minded people — and I would say it was a bit of a bubble,” Hudson explained. “I was a very curious person, and the curiosity — sometimes it wasn’t allowed because you had to have faith.”

The article goes on to say that Hudson explained she was “curious about what was going on in the rest of the world, and how they lived, and what they saw as they were living . . . I felt like I was missing out.” She decided to explore her singing career further to “pop [her] own bubble, to get out of [her] own situation.”

“I guess I was just trying to get out of one way of thinking. It was like ‘do as I say, no ifs, ands, or buts. It was based on my religious upbringing… I have so many questions. I ask all the questions in the world, and all the questions in the world have gotten me to where I am at now.” [To read the whole article]

There is so much in that last statement about finding answers in the world, which made her rich and famous, but spiritually bankrupt denouncing her faith and  singing songs with provocative, shocking lyrics and movements that many young girls listen to and imitate.

[Tweet “Why did Katy Perry turn to the world for answers to her questions?”]

Why did she turn to the world for answers? Because she couldn’t find answers to her questions in the church. She was raised around born-again Christians, but never actually says she was born-again.

In Forsaken God?: Remembering the Goodness of God Our Culture Has Forgotten, I challenge the church with that same thought: “If we don’t teach our children to follow Christ, the world will teach them not to. Not encumber them with rules easily broken, but guide them toward a relationship they wouldn’t forfeit or jeopardize for anything.” I ask the question: “How many are making sure their children and grandchildren understand, accept, and embrace the Christian lifestyle? How many know, for certain, their children have a personal relationship with Jesus?”

[Tweet “How many parents know, for certain, their children have a personal relationship with Jesus?””]

Again I warn in Forsaken God?: “The church failed to reach out to the next generation with a message relevant to the world they live in today, but the secular world was ready and waiting for them. . . .Today, even children from Bible-believing homes may not have the tools or fortitude to equip them to face a liberal world drifting away from the God of the Bible.”

I stress exactly what Katy Perry said she couldn’t get from the Christian “bubble.”

They need mentors and parents to have the tough, honest discussion about abortion, sexuality, sexual exploitation, marriage, same-sex attraction, transgenderism, radical Islam, cults, drugs, alcohol, suicide . . . whatever they’re facing in their world.

My “Katy Perry” Story

When I left my good-girl Christian lifestyle, even though I was a born-again Christian since age eleven, I felt just like Katy that I was missing something “out in the world.” Satan makes sin seem fun and enticing. And there were plenty of people ready to teach me the “world’s ways.” I was naïve enough not to understand how quickly I was being sucked into that lifestyle.

[Tweet ” Satan makes sin seem fun and enticing.”]

I wasn’t raised in a Christian home like Katy was, but I did have a very devout grandmother who planted the seeds of faith in me. My mother would drop me off at church, but I was on my own. I loved everything about church and did find mentors and “spiritual mothers” to answer my questions until I went away to college and there was no one guiding me not to marry an unbeliever or pray with me about my choices.

What Brought Me Back to the Lord?

After seventeen years of backsliding, I was invited to a Harvest Crusade where Pastor Greg Laurie asked the crowd if they were ready to die that night? The Lord had gradually been bringing me back to Him through attending Pastor Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church, and I knew the answer to Pastor Laurie’s question was, no. I rededicated my life to the Lord that night and God has been using me About His Work ever since.

[Tweet “Do you know where you’re going if you die tonight?”]

I think Katy Perry, Katherine Hudson’s, public “therapy” session is her cry for help. I know she feels God on her shoulder calling her back with every provocative move, word, and action she uses to try to separate from Him.

[Tweet “I think Kathy Perry’s public “therapy” session Katy Perry is her cry for help”]

What Can We Do?

Katy Perry’s mother, a minister’s wife, author, and a mentor to many Christian women, has some advice that she shared in an interview by J. Lee Grady, Charisma News, “How Katy Perry’s Mother Praises God Through the Pain.” Grady asks: How does a Christian mother handle it when she sees her daughter drifting so far from the values she taught her?

“The devil definitely tries to steal my joy,” Mary told me. “I sometimes have to fight depression.” A few years ago, Mary anchored her soul to Psalm 113:9, which says, “He gives the barren woman a dwelling, making her the joyful mother of children. Praise the Lord!”

“That verse inspired her to write her 2015 book, Joyful Parent, Happy Home. Mary believes if you want your children to live for God, “You have to get happy and stay in the ‘God zone.’ Mary’s close friends also support her unconditionally. And she asks new friends to agree with her in prayer for a miracle turnaround for her daughter . . . Mary believes parents of prodigals must focus on others rather than wallowing in their own pain. For the past 11 years she has poured her life into women who attend her Arise conferences.” The full interview is at CharismaNews.

[Tweet “Katy Perry’s mother encourages parents of prodigals to focus on others rather than wallowing in their own pain”]

Mary also mentioned something important that I share in Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter: show unconditional love to your prodigal, and as much as it is up to you, keep the lines of communication open.

Praise God, both my daughter and I enjoy a wonderful relationship with God and each other. I now have precious grandchildren to help pour into spiritually. I want to make sure I’m not just telling them what to believe, but helping them come to their own conclusions. To feel free to ask us questions and to help them solve their faith problems without giving them the answers we think they should arrive at. To help them develop problem-solving techniques and know where and how to go to the Bible when they question something happening in the world.

When they ask if I know that Katy Perry “used to be a Christian,” we talk about the fact that if she did give her heart to Jesus as a child, she still is a Christian, but she’s not living like one, so let’s pray for her.

The 6/26/17 issue of Time Magazine, quoted Katy’s apology for “criticized acts of cultural appropriation”: “I didn’t know that I did it wrong until I heard people saying I did it wrong. And sometimes that’s what it takes.” Let’s pray Katy hears from God that she’s been doing wrong and apologizes to Him. Someday, Katy could have an amazing testimony and God will use it for good. Pray it’s soon before she influences more young girls and women for the world.

[Tweet ” Someday, Katy could have an amazing testimony and God will use it for good.”]

Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it. Proverbs 22:6

If you received this by email, please leave a comment here.

PS I just realized this is the end of June already and should be Love Your Body Monday, but this post was on my heart so I’ll post a Love Your Body blog for the 4th of July week!

Return to top of page

Are You The Woman Today You Want Your Daughter to Become?

If you’ve followed me for awhile, you know I’ve been writing, editing, and proofing a new book, Mentoring for All Seasons: Sharing Life Experiences and God’s Faithfulness. Last week, I turned in my final proof edit to the publishers, Leafwood Publisher, as I anticipate it’s September 12, 2017 release. Then I learned the exciting news that this book is now on Amazon ready for preorders! You can order now, and as soon as it’s in stock at Amazon, you’ll receive your pre-release copies. The more preorders, the more they bring in stock. Will you help me get this book into the hands of mentors and mentees, those wanting to know how to be a mentor or mentee, and Women’s Ministry Directors to guide women in all seasons of their life.

This book will guide and equip women from tweens to twilight seasons in how to biblically mentor or be a mentee! I think it’s the first book of it’s kind written for both M&M’S! One endorser has already said every Women’s Ministry Director needs this book in her library. As the summer goes on, I’ll share more tidbits about this book for all women.  So drum roll please . . . I’m unveiling the cover!

The Mothering Season

[Tweet “When I speak to woman about mentoring, I tell them that their first mentoring responsibility is to their daughters if they have daughters or nieces. “]

When I speak to women about mentoring, I tell them that their first mentoring responsibility is to their daughters if they have daughters or nieces. They’re the role model for these young girls and they’re mentoring to them what it looks like to be a woman today: either a woman of the world or a woman of the Word. And then, I ask the question: Are you the woman today you want your daughters to become because they’re watching you, and as much as they don’t want to be like you, they will probably become just like you at sometime in their life.

In Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter, I share how during my backsliding years, my daughter wanted to be just like me. I realized some of the poor choices she was making were a reflection of the poor choices she was watching me make.

That was a huge revelation to me that I needed to make some changes in my life. When I did rededicate my life to the Lord and start living a godly life, she didn’t want any part of it. She liked the way we were living more by the world’s standards than by God’s ways. And that’s the story I talk about in Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter. I went down on my knees and prayed Scripture for her daily for six years; all the time showing and role modeling for her the blessings of being a rededicated woman of faith.

[Tweet “I went down on my knees and prayed Scripture for my daughter daily role modeling a woman of faith.”]

I’m happy to say our story took a happy turn and Kim did eventually give her heart to Jesus, and she has done a much better job than I did raising her three children in a Christian household. She’s mentored them in character qualities that her two daughters and son are obviously noticing. For a school project, 3rd grader Sienna was to write why her mom should be in People Magazine. I must admit, I was troubled by this teacher’s choice of a magazine that 3rd graders had no business knowing about or writing an article for, so I was relieved when Sienna said she had no idea what People Magazine was, anyway!

[Tweet “Would your children see these character qualities in you?”]

But what did impress me were the character qualities Sienna wrote that she saw in her mom. My daughter is a fitness instructor with a fabulous figure, she’s gorgeous, dresses stylishly, and always looks beautiful. So when Sienna decided to write about why her mom should be on the cover of People Magazine, she easily could have talked about these superficial, outward qualities, but at eight-years old this is what she wrote, exactly how she wrote it, no edits from Grammie:

My mom should be on the cover of the People magazine. My mom’s name is Kim Mancini. My mom is medium height, has brown hair, and her eyes are brown. There are so many reasons why my mom should be on the cover of the People Magazine.

One of the amazing things about my mom is that she is trustworthy. My mom trusts me all the time. My mom does not lie. My mom is trustworthy with my whole family. Now you know why my mom is trustworthy.

My mom is the most honest person in the world. She is honest with me. She once said, “Do not be scared that’s not real.” My mom is honest with my grandparents. There is no doubt, my mom should be on the People Magazine because she is so honest.

My mom is so helpful. My mom helps me when I am hurt. My mom helps me with my homework. She helps me get ready for school. My mom should win an award for being the best mom ever. My mom is the best mom in the world.

By Sienna

“The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7

Sienna’s mom, is trustworthy, honest, and helpful. Later she wished she had included hardworking. Isn’t that what every mom wants all her children, not just her daughters, to say about her?! Good job Kim.

What would your kids write why you should be on the cover of People Magazine?

The Mancini family. Sienna is next to her brother

If you received this blog by email, please leave a comment here.

Return to top of page
Return to top of page · Copyright © 2024 Crown Laid Down Designs All Rights Reserved · Our Privacy Policy