Surprise!

I love how God prompts our Littles to bless us with truths and wisdoms.

There is simple beauty in receiving a needed "word", "out of the mouths of babes".

Yesterday, while sharing with a beloved friend, my daughter, my "answer", whom had been happily coloring beside me, asked me for help. When I gladly obliged, I asked her what color she wanted me to help with specifically to help finish the coloring. She enthusiastically replied, "Surprise me, Mama!", and proceeded to leave and go play. She trusted me to help, and she casted her cares and proceeded with other adventures.

How this speaks to me, and gives me the answer in which I was seeking not only for me, but for my beloved friend.

We must trust God to help. Ask for His help. Ask Him to surprise you. Cast that care and keep moving forward. He is and will answer you, above all You can dare, ask and think!

Psalm 142:5 ~ "I cry to you, LORD; I say, "You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living."

Psalm 30:2 "LORD my God, I called to you for help, and you healed me."

Psalm 28
Common English Bible (CEB)
I cry out to you, Lord.
You are my rock; don’t refuse to hear me.....
6 Bless the Lord
because he has listened to my request for mercy!
7 The Lord is my strength and my shield.
My heart trusts him.
I was helped, my heart rejoiced,
and I thank him with my song.
8 The Lord is his people’s strength;
he is a fortress of protection for his anointed one.
9 Save your people, God!
Bless your possession!
Shepherd them and carry them for all time!

Frozen....A Revelation and Soliloquy

The other day, Disney movie "Frozen" came out on iTunes for purchase....and guess who were one of the first house holds to purchase it?

Of course, our little princess-blessed home was!

Once you watch this film, it's easy to understand how this has been Disney's highest grossing film of all time.

It's title song "Let It Go", sung by Idina Menzel, with it's gripping melody and lyrics, coupled with a stunning musical arrangement is particularly very catchy and heart home-hitting for anyone facing a great going through of the heart, mind and soul.

I am always interested in seeing "making of" and "behind-the-scenes" snippets for these things. I love to research and discover the people and the work that goes into the making and creating of a thing.

I came upon the video of the song writers of the film. They are a mother and father of two young girls, who wrote all of the songs for this film. The time and the hours put into the writing and "discovering" of these songs were countless.

One things that spoke to me particularly was when they said that to even begin writing the songs they spent 18 months for 2 hours a day, on a conference call with the writers of the film, learning about who the characters were that were singing the songs, and getting to know them inside and out.

Once they did this, they than began to write, and there were a lot of songs that reached the chopping block, before they "discovered" "Let It Go" (the signature song), than most of the rest of the songs came from this.

This is strangely peculiar to me.

Recently, God has been calling me to dig deeper with Him. Get to know Him better. I have a lot of hearts desires that I want to fulfill for Him, and my crying out prayers lately have been, "How, God?", and "What, God?" I am trusting Him for the divine favor, anointing and blessing to be able to move forward in these dreams, particularly in writing books and songs that glorify and bless Him and His Kingdom.

Interestingly , in this busy day in age, and lots of pull in all different directions, I conveniently often get my Word "on the go". I listen to sermons, and I read devotionals, and I listen to worship music and praise as often as I can, praying as often as busy life allows. Most of the time, my kitchen is my most favorite everyday tabernacle.

Yet I least often sit and be still and seek Him in His Word, regarding my own particular life relevance. There are a few minutes in the quiet of the early morning before every one wakes up that I journal, but it isn't nearly a searching in the scripture for my personal "rhema" (in my understanding this means "stand out" scripture and guidance from God on particularly relevant things in my life and journey with Him and for Him).

And if I don't get to really know my God and His heart, by pursuing knowing Him in and through His Word, how can I know Him well enough to create my life song for Him!? Wow!

It took a lot of time, effort, and researching and searching within one's anointing to be able to create the beautifully finished work of a timeless creative work such as the movie "Frozen", therefore why wouldn't it be so with a wanted timelessly beautiful life and life work for God?

One other thing that struck me from what the Disney "Frozen" song writers had said was, "You have to write a lot of wrong songs, to find the right song". I love that!

I both love and dislike that failure is inevitable in the journey of maturity in a thing, project or life. But within that failure is the blessing of the keys to rising further, and more greatly to a next level or point in it.

I've been afraid to "go for it" out of the knowing of the inevitable fear of failure. Truthfully, I don't care for the pain and upset failure brings. I've experienced enough hurt and harm in my life from the pain of failure. By my God is greater, and I've failed to embrace this truth! Hence my parilzation in the moving forward in hope and trust in The One Who is Greatest!

So, if I just "Let It Go" and let God (The One who will never leave, fail or forsake me or quit loving me), I will find in my measure of faith, in my willing heart for Him, that He will and can bless me more abundantly above all I dare ask, or think. And use me as the blessing I long to be. No pain is so great that it shadows or even comes close to Jesus' ultimate pain and sacrifice on that cross at calvary.

It's time for the ceiling to become the floor, and to let great grace be our fuel to go to a deeper level with our Father and Friend. Search for Him and You will find Him, and most of all yourself, and "what (and Who) you are made of".

If there ever was a time to "Let It Go", it is now, for such a time as this, Beautiful Children of God and pioneers of faith for Our Great and Mighty King!

Love you All! Thanks for reading through this lengthy post! Praying it has blessed and encouraged you!

In His Love and By His Grace ~ 

Amy O

Stuffing My Face (Celery or Prayer?)

Personal Revelation Share...

May be an encouragement to someone out there, so I thought I'd share...

Ever since I was a kid, I've had a really big problem with binging, overeating and self-destructive eating tendencies.

It always starts the same. Either I'm procrastinating in making a decision on something, or I'm worried about someone or something, and I get up and go straight to the cabinets.

I'd stuff my face, but to be honest, my mind never got calm or received the peace in which I was longing for, nor did my appetite ever get squelched, or quenched, nor did my hips ever lie! 

I had recently heard Joyce Meyer's testimony about quitting smoking. She said that she would be driving down the highway, puffing on cigarettes saying out loud "I hate smoking. I don't like to smoke.!" The testimony ends with her desire to smoke, completely leaving her within a short time.

So I took a queue from this spiritual Mama and started declaring about 2 weeks ago "I hate overeating. I hate binging and stress eating. I hate eating unhealthily".

And this was great, although, it was only one step of the journey. I needed to not stop doing the bad habit, but start doing the better habit. So I had begun to pray instead.

Every time those familiar tendencies arose, I would begin to pray, and not just for myself to stop, but for all the people, and things that I could think of that needed prayer covering. I began to speak life, and use the very instrument (and weapon) that the enemy was trying to keep "stuffed" and "full" with food and unnecessary things, to combat him and this hell tool.

Our words are containers of power. There is no greater weapon than the trust-filled, worship-giving power of prayer.

If you struggle with this same issue, please, even if it's a whisper, PRAY! You don't have to be loud for your prayers to be heard!

I've noticed a big difference since this new revelation, and I pray that it encourages and blesses you too!

Here are some relevant quotes and scripture...

"When you move in a negative emotion or thought, you are empowering the enemy against yourself. Everything the enemy seeks to bring against us we can turn it around by moving in the opposite spirit and afflicting him instead."~ G Cooke

1 Corinthians 6:12 declaration:
"'I have the right to do anything,' you say—but not everything is beneficial. 'I have the right to do anything'—but I will not be mastered by anything."

The enemy is terrified of every woman who studies God's Word, prays with power, loves with grace and serves with joy. C Caine

“The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:5b-7)

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
English Standard Version (ESV)
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

God Bless you! Here's to breakthrough and better habits embrace and blessings!

In His Love and Grace,
Amy O

My Epic Gym Failure...

It was just a matter of time.  

I could only pass by the newly opened gym touting the $10 per month fee sign, before signing up. 

Tight budget, small condo = next to no budget room, nor physical space for a cardio machine. And it was long past due for me to start incorporating regular cardio into my fitness routine. I had plateaued, and my weight loss stopped, yet I still have 10 more pounds before my goal weight is reached. 

So off I went. I wasn't sure what to expect.  I'd joined a gym before, years earlier, and felt really out of place, and under-educated. However, this time around, having done Lisa Lynn workouts (http://lynfit.com/collections/fitness-nutrition) for about 1 year, feeling pretty fit, and about thirty pounds down, I felt I could give it a more confident try.  

Then it happened...about 3 days in, I began pushing myself very hard.  Almost everyone at the gym seemed so much more fit and better looking than I, and truthfully, I got caught up with the hype of the fitness beast. And frustratingly, sadly, unnecessarily, I injured my back very badly about 2 weeks in.

Here's the point: After 1 year of working out with Lisa, I never got injured. 

Lisa's (http://lynfit.com/collections/fitness-nutrition) metabolic workouts were designed to boost your heart rate, and jump start your metabolism, as well as keep it working strong all day; without all the torque and insanity of other main stream workouts, or killing yourself at the gym. 

Bottom line: You don't need to kill yourself at a gym in order to get results. In fact, you may be doing more damage than good.  

Lisa recommends 30 - 45 minutes a day cross-training cardio and working out with one of her DVD workouts 3 times a week.  Since I've healed, and really began to follow her experiential wisdom, I've found the pressure's off, and no more injuries, yet the results still keep coming, and I'm more motivated to continue with this journey. I'm down 5 more pounds this week, and feel more strong and fit than ever. 

Hope you can learn a lesson from my testimony.  All the best in your fitness journey in 2014!  

In His Love and By His Grace ~ Amy O