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Abide in His Love

Have you ever had a hard time letting something you did go that bothered you? It’s been a week like that for me. I have, over and over, let myself down. I’ve come from a poor attitude. I’ve had a lack mindset. I’ve felt an entitled spirit, on edge about everything, like I just can’t take another disappointment.

It’s cut off many connections, closing off opportunity for relationships to grow, all because I didn’t give the fear over to God before it took root in my spirit. The worst part of it was, I struggled to see it was happening in the moment. Once I did see it, I struggled to let it go. As I’ve felt this way many times in my life; I’ll guess that I’m not the only one who’s experienced this.

The whole be-transformed-by-the-renewal-of-your-mind thing (Romans 12:2) is really hitting home for me right now. I need to be renewed, and I know it. But, I can’t do it on my own; I need God to transform me. We cannot change our hearts by ourselves, we have to lay it all down before God and ask Him to change us by His grace.

I need to be reminded that I am completely reliant on God’s help to have a perspective of love and security in the Father’s love, not fear. In 2020, I wrote a blog called Compassion and Resting in Jesus. In times like this when I struggle, I’m reminded and take comfort in the fact that Jesus’ compassion and forgiveness is far bigger than the struggle. He offers us all a place of peace and compassion. Jesus said, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me” (John 15:4). We are called—even commanded—in this passage to abide in Jesus. Abiding involves letting go of control and trusting Him and His love for us. “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love” (1 John 4:18). We read here that love and fear simply don’t cooperate. Jesus is the only way beyond the grip of the spirit of fear.

Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Jesus also refers to Himself as the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6). Abiding in Him involves staying close to Him, understanding and trusting His heart, will, and character, and relying on Him to lead us in all truth and life.

Despite how much fear or shame may sway us, we have no reason to doubt our identity in Christ, or that we are loved by Him. Jesus said, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love” (John 15:9). Once we abide in Jesus, His love becomes ours. As we abide in Jesus, we can show and share His love, which is the most healing, restorative, and pure love there is. Abiding in Him is the best thing for us—that’s why He commanded it! It allows us to bear fruit; perhaps the most foundational fruit of life is that of love. “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13).

My hope for myself, and for you, my friends, is to abide in Jesus and His love anew today. May we see His incredible love with fresh eyes, and see a little further just how deep and wide it truly goes! His love is far more powerful than even the most deadly spirit that would grind our lives and our love to a halt. His love is the only place of safety, and is the foundation of a fruitful life. May we let the Truth, that we are loved by Jesus and bought by His precious blood, reign in our hearts, minds, and spirits today. Amen.

“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 John 4:15-16)

“Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us” (1 John 3:24).

“These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11).

Thank you for spending some of your time journeying with me. If you haven’t yet, please subscribe to Life with the King, and like & follow the Facebook page; it truly helps me continue writing this blog. Grace and peace.

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He is Risen

Have you ever wondered why Jesus had to rise again? If He lived a perfect life, and died as a sacrificial Lamb so that our sins would be paid for, what is the meaning and significance of Jesus rising from the dead on the first Easter morning (other than the obviously impressive feat)? Didn’t He finish the work that He came to do when He died? None of the Jewish sacrificial lambs that were used for sin offerings were raised back to life, so why did Jesus have to be? 

Would our sins still be covered if He had remained in the grave? 

Jesus rose back to life to cover the penalty of death itself, not just our sinful nature and actions.

Jesus rose again to fulfill God’s covenant (Matthew 5:17-18). Lambs could cover a specific sin or a specific period of time of sin, according to the Law given by God to Moses, but no animal sacrifice could stop death itself. Only Jesus, as the once-and-for-all sacrifice of atonement for our sin was able to stop its penalty, death altogether, crumbling the very foundation of this terrible curse on humankind. He is risen, indeed!

Through faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection, we can enter into the new covenant between God and man. By the new covenant in His blood, Jesus made a way for us, but only after He had fulfilled and accomplished the Law, which Scripture also calls the old covenant (1 Corinthians 3:14).

In Luke, we read of Jesus’ words to his disciples at the first communion meal during Passover, “And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood‘” (Luke 22:19-20). Jesus’ death and resurrection gives us the promise of life with God, and not just life, but one of enjoyment and fulfillment in His presence. Jesus’ blood sealed the covenant, or binding agreement, of God for all people to enjoy His presence, not just the Jews. Even the curtain in the temple that separated the area reserved for God’s presence from the people was torn when Jesus died (Matthew 27:50-52).

The covenant in Jesus’ blood makes a way, a path, for a life of experiencing God’s presence. Psalm 16:11 says, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” That “path of life” is provided by the new covenant, or promise, that God made through Jesus. In His death and resurrection, Jesus provides the path to experience God’s presence. 

The Holy Spirit is given to us when we trust that Jesus’ covenant applies to us, and He empowers us to walk that path. “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). In our new lives in Christ, we are graciously given the Holy Spirit. In our new lives in Christ, as Paul wrote, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). The Holy Spirit comforts, guides, and gives us peace and wisdom on our path. The Holy Spirit who lives in us, closer to our souls than the breath in our lungs, is the same Spirit Who dwells with Jesus.

In His kindness then, God allows us to share not only in Jesus’ death, but also in His resurrection. “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4). We may live and experience God’s presence when we put our faith in Jesus; through Him we may enter into this new covenant promise. From Scripture, we can see that was His wonderful plan all along.

Without Jesus’ resurrection, we would not have hope of resurrection either. By faith, He allows us to be covered by the blood of His sacrifice on the cross so that the Father will see the purity and righteousness of Jesus when He sees us. As the Passover lamb’s blood over the Jews’ doorposts at the first Passover allowed death to pass over the house, Jesus’ new covenant blood over us allows us to not only avoid spiritual death but conquer it altogether. How amazing is that? “and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (Hebrews 12:24). 

We are alive with Christ Jesus

Jesus is alive today in many, for whom He poured out His blood of the new covenant. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,” (Ephesians 2:4-6). Jesus has made God knowable and present with us, even today. 

As we continue to remember Jesus’ miraculous resurrection from the dead, the One who fulfilled a role we could not, and made the Presence of God available to us, may we rejoice in Him with all we are. I pray we would see Jesus not as a distant figure to be recognized at holiday times, but as our holy, perfect, loving, and ever-present Friend and Lord, who simply wants to be with us, loving and being loved by us. 

He is not as far as we may at times feel or be tempted to think; no, He is here. 

He is risen! Thanks be to God! 

“In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away” (Hebrews 8:13). 

“But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14).

Thank you for spending some of your time journeying with me. If you haven’t yet, please subscribe to Life with the King, and like & follow the Facebook page; it truly helps me continue writing this blog. Grace and peace.

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A Holy Week

What a week I’ve had! It seems no coincidence that today during Holy Week, I am writing a blog post about completing my first full recording of a precious life legacy as part of my new business, Your Life with the King! Holy Week, or the week leading up to Easter, is also is known as the week in which God did great things, and I’m astounded at how God continues to do great things.

This week, being able to witness what God was doing in and through my friend’s life was a great thing. Listening to someone speak about their childhood, their family, their dreams, and their hopes for their children is sacred. It is a privilege and joy to be part of this work, something I could not do unless God was behind it. For perhaps the first time in my life, I can honestly say I love what I do. That’s only because God intervened in my own life and changed the way I was heading. Seeing the fruit of that now feels divine–dare I say, holy.

Jesus’ life was the ultimate legacy; He was the perfect example for us of loving God and loving others, and the One we can all place our hope in for salvation. Jesus is the King! He was celebrated as King at the start of the first Holy Week, what we now celebrate on Palm Sunday. Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey colt, an animal rather distinct from a regal horse which would have been associated with royalty. Yet, the King was prophesied to do exactly that in the prophetic Book of Zechariah: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Zechariah 9:9). This event marked the beginning of Holy Week. He embodied the role of King, and then laid it all down on Good Friday, sacrificing His life for us, His subjects. His servant-hearted leadership in both His life and death displayed His holiness in a very unique way.

Talking to my friend about her life thus far with the King, Jesus, was humbling; it spoke to me of the holiness of Jesus and His intimate work in people’s hearts. Her faith in God carried her through many challenges. Her belief and trust in God gave her peace in unpeaceful circumstances. The miracle of God’s work in her life was apparent and so beautiful as she told her story.

The work of drawing out and recording stories lets me go directly to the source. I get to ask directly about what they’ve witnessed and what they’ve experienced. In the past I’d be more inclined to skirt around the subject, careful not to make anyone uncomfortable. But stepping into this work, I felt like God gave me a green light to be bold and walk in the work He gave me to do. In this life legacy work I’ve just begun, I’m not skirting around anything anymore. I get to ask the deep questions, draw out the gems from memories, and linger on the stories of God changing the trajectory of people’s lives, just like He did in mine.

Every person’s life story is holy. We are all set apart, uniquely gifted, and called by God. I am loving this new, holy work of stewarding people’s life stories. They never cease being powerful. Life stories are reminders of Truth. They all point back to the Author of all Life, our Holy King Jesus. This Holy Week, let’s be bold to tell our stories.

May we contemplate the holiness of Jesus, and celebrate all that God has done.

Amen.

“And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’ they were indignant, and they said to him, ‘Do you hear what these are saying? And Jesus said to them, ‘Yes; have you never read, “Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise?‘” (Matthew 21:14-16).

“For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm! God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne” (Psalm 47:7-8).

‘…”He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.’ So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples” (Matthew 28:6-8).

Thank you for spending some of your time journeying with me. If you haven’t yet, please subscribe to Life with the King, and like & follow the Facebook page; it truly helps me continue writing this blog. Grace and peace.

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Fervent in Spirit

What does it look like to be fervent in spirit? The word fervency is one of my favorite words and has a special place in my heart. When I hear it, I think of conviction, assurance, and steadfastness. I love the term “fervency” because for me it doesn’t mean passion for passion’s sake, but implies a solid grounding in God’s Truth or calling, on which a passionate conviction is based. Two people in Scripture come to mind when I think about people who were fervent in spirit.

In Acts, a Jew named Apollos knew the truth of Scripture. Based on his actions, I would bet that Apollos wholeheartedly believed God’s character was faithful and loving to provide the Christ to save His people from careful study of God’s Word. When God empowered Apollos with fervency in spirit, Apollos spoke truth and became instrumental in spreading the gospel in the apostle Paul’s time of ministry. “Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John” (Acts 18:25). In reading about Apollos this week, I am struck by the fact that though he knew the truth, he waited until the right time from the Lord to speak about it. It led to his message being clarified by Pricilla and Aquila, and helping the new believers in Ephesus (Acts 18:27). I need to be reminded every day to wait for the Lord’s timing and for His empowerment to accomplish what He has given me to do.

Paul too knew the value and necessity of being fervent in spirit. In fact, he lists it among other marks of Christianity in his letter to the Romans, “Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer” (Romans 12:11-12). Fervency for the Lord and His Truth is so important, but yet can be so easy to drift away from. I’ve felt a drifting of heart as this season of spring has brought many things to do and opportunities opening up. All good things, but if I’m not intentional every day to be fervent in spirit for the Lord and His will, I can lose sight of Truth. I can depend on myself instead of God. I can drift in my relationship with Him.

I used to become discouraged about this fact, but now I am able to see how it can actually be helpful to deeply understand this human weakness. It highlights our deep, great need for God in every way; our flesh that aches to be replaced with His Spirit. Our need for God is always constant. We never reach a point in life when we need Him more or less; we need Him in every way, all the time. There is nothing we can do and no point in our lives that makes us need God less desperately or completely. It is humbling, but in it there is great freedom! We are perfectly held, carried, and sustained by God, and we never are expected to do anything on our own apart from Him. We have Him to guide us, as our Good Shepherd, through every moment of our lives (Psalm 23).

What freedom can come with accepting our need for God! It is only when I rely on God that I can truly enjoy the journey of life. In Christ Jesus, we can live free of trying to do and make things happen on our own. It seems harder for me as the year starts becoming busier and as the calendar gets full, but yet He makes the Way to rely on Him through each day. In the moments I feel overwhelmed, I can trust that God has all the details, and can ask Him to guide my next step. In the moments I am overbooked, I can stop blaming and shaming myself for the mistake and instead ask God to lead me in what He would have me do; even when that means disappointing someone else—or everyone else. What He would have us do is always best. We can live free when we rely on God.

I’ve noticed that when fervency in my own heart starts to falter, it stems from thinking in ways that aren’t true. When I second guess whether God really is reliable for this one thing and believing I need to rely on myself. Fervency runs dry when I forget that God is true to His character and can be fully trusted, even when doing His will can feel scary. And the amazing, good news of Jesus is that even in the moments I feel far from God and fervency feels like a distant memory, I can rely on the Truth of Scripture, that nothing will be able to separate me from God (Romans 8:38-29), even my own sin. I can trust, whether I second guess it or not, that He will never leave or forsake me (Hebrews 13:5).

Friends, keep fervent for the Lord! Be fervently after his own heart, like the Psalmist David (1 Samuel 13:14, Acts 13:22). Be fervently seeking Him in Scripture. Be fervent in bringing everything to Him, instead of holding onto it or hoarding it away to try to deal with on your own. Fervently bring everything before God, and watch how beautiful a free life in and through Him can be. May we have fervency of spirit used for His glory. Amen.

“Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the Lord our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as at this day” (1 Kings 8:61).

“Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord! Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways! You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes!” (Psalm 119:2-5).

Thank you for spending some of your time journeying with me. If you haven’t yet, please subscribe to Life with the King, and like & follow the Facebook page; it truly helps me continue writing this blog. Grace and peace.

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Basics of God’s Character

I don’t know if you’ve ever had the experience of being afraid to read a book of the Bible, but when I came to Job a couple of months ago, I was definitely anxious.

I’d read Job before years ago, and simply didn’t get it. I felt it was confusing to read because of seemingly unreliable narrators and multiple points of view. The utter devastation Job went through seemed cruel. The ending seemed simplistic and rather dismissive of the trauma. It was a difficult book to read at a surface level, which is what I did about 12 years ago.

So when I sat down to give it another go recently, it was with careful attention and prayer. I didn’t want to have the same puzzling experience, dissatisfied with the conclusion and confused about God’s character. I wanted to discover something I hadn’t before.

I had to go back to the basics of reading Scripture to read Job again. I read with an eye of never having understood the text before. Thankfully, what I found in the pages was refreshing and relieving. But if I hadn’t gone back to basics to see Job with fresh eyes and a willing heart to receive something new, I might have let my previous impressions color the text, and introduced confusion about the character of God.

It is worth taking care in how we approach Scripture. It is always a good idea to pray for understanding from the Holy Spirit about what we read. Without the Holy Spirit’s wisdom guiding our perception, we can easily fail to recognize His Voice and what He wants us to know about Himself.

My past self would often let skeptical and critical interpretations of Scripture color my perception before I started. I would at times even read with a chip on my shoulder, as if daring the text to prove its critics wrong. I later learned that it was my approach that was all wrong. Without an openness to the Holy Spirit, and reading with a spirit of nonjudgment, it is very difficult to see God’s character clearly in Scripture. For me, I would get caught up in my own thoughts and questions and then give up in searching for an answer, or waiting for a Truth to touch my heart. An assurance of God’s character is something that I’ve repeatedly been so comforted by when reading the Bible, and part of me was afraid that Job would be the exception.

When I finished Job this week, I remembered all the confusion and the bewilderment of Job’s suffering I’d experienced the first time around. The major difference I noticed was that I have a different level of understanding of who God is than I did 12 years ago. The suffering and pain he went through didn’t absolve Job from the consequences of misunderstanding God’s character. I understood why I had felt lost in Job, but thankfully I now see it with a deep peace and certainty of God’s goodness, and Job’s need of God’s mercy toward him, too. I would encourage everyone to read Job at a meditative pace with prayerful posture. It is a masterpiece on faith in God and relationship with God. I now, like many others, see it as a foundational book in understanding mature faith.

May we all ask for and receive understanding from the Holy Spirit, as we read Scripture and allow God to minister to our hearts through it.

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Psalm 23:6).

Thank you for spending some of your time journeying with me. If you haven’t yet, please subscribe to Life with the King, and like & follow the Facebook page; it truly helps me continue writing this blog. Grace and peace.

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More Abundantly

For me, this is the verse that’s summed up this week: “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,” (Ephesians 3:20). At this time last year, I was just starting to feel like myself again after many months. At this time last year, I wasn’t writing at all. Around this time last year, God planted the seed of an idea which is now a business, Your Life with the King. God has done far more abundantly than all that I could ever ask or think!

Soul Crushing

In my journey prior to this, I would describe my soul as having been crushed, as much as I had tried to avoid it. I was living in a way that I felt trapped; my energy was never replenished, and I spent my time working on things I didn’t care about. I didn’t see a way out of it, and my inspiration to write or make art was gone. I had taken big hits spiritually and emotionally and became physically sick. Something had to change. It took time to become clear how, but God gave me a way to walk toward the life He had for me. He never leaves us trapped.

Transformation doesn’t often come without being crushed. We may call it different things, like being broken, being poured out, or being at rock bottom. But God is able to use it for our ultimate good because in our crushed state we are open enough to let Him into our hearts. Jesus Himself was “crushed for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5); yet it was for all of our ultimate good. “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). In our brokenness, we are open to receive the love that Jesus poured out for us and our healing.

Yes, being crushed is painful. But God’s healing comes in the transformation and we are offered freedom in Jesus. Being crushed isn’t easy but it is worth it, I can now say from the other side. We can trust that no matter how painful this life gets, God has it all, sees us fully, and cares for each one of us more than we could imagine. God is a Good Father who is excited to do more in our lives by way of freedom, abundant blessing, and grace. The crushing is often a necessary part of the journey there.

Expect Good Things

When we are discouraged from being crushed in life, it can be hard to expect God’s goodness to follow. Knowing God’s character and pressing into relationship with Him and what He promises in Scripture is a lifeline in these times of brokenness. “It is he who remembered us in our low estate, for his steadfast love endures forever; (Psalm 136:23). God’s love endures, even and especially into the “low estate” times in our lives.

I can struggle with expecting the worst outcome, even though God has shown me the opposite is True, over and over. God wants us to expect His goodness to show up in our lives, to “believe that [we] shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” (Psalm 27:13)! I am encouraging myself as I encourage you to expect good things, and to expect that God will fulfill His promises to you. Even when I get in my own way of accepting God’s amazing abundance in life, He is bigger than that too; “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). God is Truly for us, more than we are for ourselves.

Paul wrote from prison, “. . . it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death” (Philippians 1:20). Even when our present circumstances seem anything but good, we can expect God to reveal His goodness and fulfill His promises. We can expect God is trustworthy and True.

He is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, and we can expect that He will. To God be all the glory! Amen.


“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

“And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:2).

Thank you for spending some of your time journeying with me. If you haven’t yet, please subscribe to Life with the King, and like & follow the Facebook page; it truly helps me continue writing this blog. Grace and peace.

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Introducing: Your Life with the King

I am so excited to officially announce a new branch of the Life with the King family, Your Life with the King. It is finally ready to share with you, after many months of prayer and preparation. I’m starting a business that helps people tell their life story. More on that in a moment.

Now looking back, Your Life with the King seems like the natural progression from what this blog originally started as back in 2019, a way to tell my own story in hopes that it would help others. But it wasn’t so clear to me at first. It started with a request from a longtime friend. Would I help her to video record her story for her kids to watch one day? Something special happened when I considered it; I experienced a sense of knowing and peace and energy. Ideas came flying into my mind as if they’d been placed there, in fact, much like the feeling I got when I knew I needed to start this blog. I knew I had to write it all down. This didn’t seem like a passing fantasy but instead, something God was telling me to follow Him into.

Still, it took months for me to make sure it wasn’t from me. I needed to be sure God wanted me to see the idea through. I prayed and thought about it. I tried to ignore it for a while to see what would happen. The idea came back, over and over. I talked to my sister about it, and she told me to keep seeking the Lord. If He was behind it, she was all in. Wait on the Lord. So I waited. Maybe this was something I was only supposed to consider for my friend.

Meanwhile, I felt more and more strongly over the months that I needed to create something new in the world. I didn’t want to try to align myself with an agenda or a vision statement created by someone else. I knew I needed to do something that aligned with what God gifted me in, something with writing, something that helps people, and something with meaning. Anything else, and it’d just be a fleeting dream that I’d abandon. I got a nagging feeling that I had wide gaps in resources. Then, without much effort on my part at all, I found a helpful class, and a webinar, and then a seminar. Suddenly I went from no support to all the support I needed in every area. I began to be reassured by the Lord. I began to have peace. The ideas aligned with the resources I now had. I soon felt a readiness, a drive forward. God gave me the green light.

So I bought the domain, I registered with the state, set up the accounts, and today I am thrilled to announce Your Life with the King is open for business!

When I couldn’t go on in my 9-5 anymore in 2024, I knew I had a long way to go. It would take a huge change to start living in a way I could thrive. I had no idea what that would look like at that time, as I wrote about in my blog post, Jesus’ Kingdom vs. my kingdom. I didn’t feel like there was a way out. But God. God always provides. He provides us with what we need to live fully and freely; to bring our gifts and talents to the people that need and appreciate them. I just had to be willing to take the leap. So today, I’m leaping.

About the business side of things, Your Life with the King provides a way for me to help you, your family, and friends, to record your legacy on video. In my mind, video is the next iteration of the book; video is the medium that future generations will gravitate to to hear stories. The Lord commands us as followers, “Write down for the coming generation what the Lord has done, so that people not yet born will praise Him” (Psalm 102:18 GNT). Your Life with the King makes that easy for you, and for the next generation as well. Each one of our stories is important and worth telling and knowing; I’m excited to help people do that! If you’re an entrepreneur, I want to help you record the story of the purpose behind your business and what drives you. If you’re a parent, I want to help you record your experiences, background, and faith stories for your family. If you’re a person who hasn’t told your life story yet, I’d love to help you do that.

As an academic at heart, I thoroughly research people, events, and experiences in people’s lives as a interviewer. I’ll then thoughtfully choose questions to help your stories shine. As a client of mine, you won’t have to perfectly choose every word as if you were writing the stories all on your own. I’ll expertly guide you through the process, using oral history research guidelines, previous podcast production experience, and the care of a compassionate listener. My interviews and the way I prepare and set you up will allow you to feel safe and supported as you speak about your life and experiences.

Now I can confidently say that I have been through many experiences in my life, and trust that I can draw out the best of my clients during conversations with empathy and safety. There is no story too scandalous, no person too broken. I welcome all to tell their stories. We need them. The next generations need them. We need to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Your Life with the King is an avenue that the Lord has given me to help see that vision through. It’s also the way that I now feel led by God to obey the command to “write down for the coming generation what the Lord has done” (Psalm 102:18).

I’ve written what God has done in my own life on the Life with the King blog for nearly 7 years. Now it’s your turn. Come over the Your Life with the King and share your story.

Grace and Peace.

Thank you for spending some of your time journeying with me. If you haven’t yet, please subscribe to Life with the King, and like & follow the Facebook page; it truly helps me continue writing this blog.

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All About Trust

Especially in this new season of big changes for the better, I’m running into a continued, daily confrontation: trusting God. I’ve touched on trust in Connection to Jesus and Do You Still Trust Me?, but I want to dive even deeper today. The side effects of not fully trusting God for safety, acceptance, or power to fend for myself if/when needed got me into the biggest rut yet in my life. It got to the point where I wasn’t able to be present or enjoy anything because I was constantly on alert for the next threatening thing. Without actively trusting God, I chronically expected to have to defend myself at all times. It left me paralyzed, sometimes literally.

Being in this state of mind is not healthy for any human being. I wouldn’t want anyone to experience such an underlying sense of fear. I can say from experience that the only thing that Truly, with a capital “T,” counteracts that fear is trusting Jesus. Not just saying we trust, but actively turning from the direction we’re heading, and trusting Jesus.

We are commanded, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6). God doesn’t demand this because He wants dominance, but because it is actually the best thing for our well-being. While He is Sovereign and does have power over us, He wants real, loving relationship with us. Only God can strike that balance well with us because He will never use His power to our detriment. God is worthy of our trust.

The topic of trust is timely for me once again because I’m about to embark on a new adventure in my life, which I’ll be announcing here at midnight next Thursday. (Don’t miss it!) God is doing big things! But in being given and entrusted with new things to steward, God is now requiring a new level of trust in Him from me. There’s no way I can do what I’ve been given if I can’t trust Him well.

Trusting God well is something I simply couldn’t do until very recently. In these last 2.5 years, God has used difficulties to transform my heart. I now see that I needed to be broken in new ways in order to give the Lord room to make way for deeper trust in Him. I needed to be transformed before I could be entrusted with what the Lord wanted to give me; what He’s now given me. He didn’t force the change, He patiently waited until the right time and gave me an ability to trust Him in ways I hadn’t before. “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). His timing is always perfect!

Part of my battle with control was wanting things to happen NOW, to be done now, to be realized now. I spent a lot of time and energy trying to make things happen that I now can see I wasn’t ready for. I couldn’t handle the things I wanted if I couldn’t trust God well.

God is a Good Father, and He doesn’t lay unfit burdens on us (Matthew 11:29). He knows us fully and intimately, He knows what He’s made us for and what we are ready for. Rest assured friends, He is working in you and that whatever He has for you to do next, He will bring it about at the right time.

When we trust Him with our lives, He’ll make sure we’re ready for whatever may come. May we trust the Lord, today and every day. Amen.

“but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31).

Thank you for spending some of your time journeying with me. If you haven’t yet, please subscribe to Life with the King, and like & follow the Facebook page; it truly helps me continue writing this blog. Grace and peace.

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Best Valentine’s Ever

Ten years ago this weekend, I had no idea that my journey with Jesus was about to take a meaningful turn. In 2016, on Friday the 13th right before Valentine’s Day, I was on a 4-hour drive to a concert with my sister and our friend.

That weekend, I drove through snow, even though I didn’t want to. I shared a room with other people, even though I didn’t want to. I prayed out loud, even though I didn’t want to. But I’m getting ahead of the story. It felt like I was starting a new life. Turns out, I really was.

We arrived safely through the snow to our hotel, and met with three of my sister’s friends, who I’d never met before. We all had tickets to see the Christian band, Kings Kaleidoscope, play later that evening. We did our nails together, got dressed in our concert best, and headed to the venue. After an amazing show and really a time of corporate worship where we got to stand right up front near the stage, we got back to the hotel and someone started prayer.

For the next hour or more, I was part of a prayer circle like nothing I had ever experienced before. There were heavy things being felt and carried by individuals in the group, many of those things were unknown to everyone, but each girl was prayed for uniquely in the Spirit with so much love. It was a night I don’t think I could ever forget. There was so much encouragement and a feeling of God’s Presence and Him carrying our burdens that it felt like I could be free in a way I hadn’t experienced before. Being supported in a community of women like that who were devoted to Jesus made a big impression on me, right at the time when I was starting to trust Jesus for myself again.

I experienced God’s love that Valentine’s weekend in community. That prayer circle was the church for me at a time when I wasn’t sure about attending to a church again. Those women set me on a trajectory of prayer that I’ll always be grateful for. Every single one was younger than me and had so much passion and wisdom in the Spirit as they sought Jesus. It put me in a state of awe and I was humbled to be a part of it. They gave me courage to pray aloud, to encourage them in return, and to love people in a way that I had been afraid to. It opened me up to a new realm of possibility in my faith and role in community.

Here at the ten year anniversary of that beautiful weekend, I am so grateful that God gave me that experience with other believers at that time in my faith journey, and allowed me to know beyond a doubt that He was present among us. I experienced in the most potent way, maybe to this day, the truth of the verse: “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (Matthew 18:20).

So friends, let’s seek the Lord for our friends in the faith. For me, the love shown to me in that community of women was and is more precious than anything of this world. Let’s pray with our friends, not just for them. Being the church outside its walls stands the test of time. Ten years and counting.

“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).

Thank you for spending some of your time journeying with me. If you haven’t yet, please subscribe to Life with the King, and like & follow the Facebook page; it truly helps me continue writing this blog. Grace and peace.

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More than Conquerors

Have you ever found it wild that God has already told us the end of the story? Each of our lives is an amazing story and testimony in and of itself, and all are part of God’s story, but have you considered that the ending to that story has been completely spoiled?

Spoiler alert: Jesus conquers the enemy of our souls.

We feel the effects of the enemy in our world today, and Jesus warned that “the love of many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). We constantly encounter darkness and see the great need for it to be defeated, both in the world and in our own hearts. Try as we might, we as people don’t have the capacity to defeat the enemy on our own. We need Jesus. In the prophetic Book of Revelation, John writes, “And one of the elders said to me, ‘Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals’” (Revelation 5:5). In the end, Jesus conquers! And not only that, but He allows us to share in that victory.

What’s fascinating to me is that Jesus refers to those who believe in Him as conquerors as well, later in Revelation: “And he said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son” (Revelation 21:6-7). Not only do we share in Jesus’ victory, but we are welcomed into His family. What is His becomes ours too. Best. Ending. Ever.

So what do we do now, in the middle of the story, when Jesus has yet to come again? How do we look ahead to Jesus’ victory and rely on His sacrifice and victory over death? One of my favorite verses in Revelation says, “And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death” (Revelation 12:11). We can conquer even now over the enemy by relying on Jesus’ blood sacrifice to cover our sin, and also by unashamedly, courageously, and passionately telling our stories about His work in our own lives.

The good news is that even with the love in the world growing cold, and with darkness seemingly closing in, we don’t have to let it defeat us in the here and now. The story has been spoiled for us in the best possible way! I believe the story was spoiled to give us hope in the fact that the future for us is free and victorious in Jesus. Not only that, Jesus walks with us through every single green pasture AND valley along the way until that time. Even now, we are able to share in His victory already had and the victory yet to come.

May we walk in our identity as more than conquerors with Christ, and share “the word of our testimony” in the spirit of God’s love. May we encourage others as we all walk out our stories toward the best ending ever written. Amen.

 “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death’” (Revelation 2:11).

Thank you for spending some of your time journeying with me. If you haven’t yet, please subscribe to Life with the King, and like & follow the Facebook page; it truly helps me continue writing this blog. Grace and peace.

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