#233 - PREPARE for YOUR Victory!

Tailgating! - You can definitely see Trinity!! I'm about 38 weeks pregnant at this game. I ran some bleachers hoping that might help her come on! We're ready to meet her!

Good morning! :) We are excited to welcome Trinity Faith whenever she decides to arrive! Over 38 weeks pregnant, I am READY! Excited to move around without grunting and making noises. Can any of you mom's relate?? It is time! I did want to share a few prego pictures from this last weekend. Tyler & I enjoyed going to a Georgia game! They played Tyler's alma-mater, Coastal Carolina University! You notice Tyler came out supporting GA! The score was 59-0, Georgia! Quite a game! We had a great time and were joined by Tyler's sister & brother-in-law. A beautiful, blue-sky, Georgia day!

Well... let's get into the Word this morning. 

Proverbs 21:31 - The horse is prepared for the day of battle, but deliverance and victory are of the Lord.

Proverbs 31:25 - Strength and dignity are her clothing and her position is strong and secure; she rejoices over the future [the latter day or time to come, knowing that she and her family are in readiness for it]!

Are you in a stage of preparation? Have you been preparing for something big? For your battle? For your victory? This morning, as I got into the Word, the Holy Spirit spoke to me about "preparation." Have you felt like you have been preparing FOREVER? When is the battle going to come? When is YOUR VICTORY going to come? Will I ever get out of this stage of preparation?

Let me share with you some of the insights the Holy Spirit shared with me....

Enjoy the preparation. The period of preparation is longer than the battle. A boxer prepares for a long time, for a fight that lasts but minutes. There is satisfaction in being prepared. Confidence comes with being prepared. And, it is but a season. Can you last the season without give up before the true battle begins? Many quit the preparation period before even getting to "THEIR" battle. They aren't able to experience victory because they gave up too soon. 

Who agrees with me, sometimes the preparation period seems to be a drag?! I know personally, I've found myself thinking, "Come on already! I'm ready to move on! I'm ready to be done with this stage. I'm ready to be done with this season! Can we move on already?!" Like the horse, the boxer, the basketball player, the business owner.... we have one job, preparing. Prepare, Proverbs 21:31 says. Once we are prepared, once that season is over, we can rely on the VICTORY being from the Lord. Once we are prepared, we have done our part. Then, it is GOD's job to step in and bring the victory to pass. What will the season of preparation be? One day? One week? One year? Ten years? Twenty? Whatever the season of preparation is, DON'T GIVE UP before your battle and your VICTORY!

We are called to PREPARE. We are called to get ready. Our season, our time will come when our battle, our fight, our race will be face to face with us. We will be in the midst of the fight and we will be ready! We will be confident because we are prepared!

Don't grow weary, friend, in well doing. Don't grow weary in preparing. Don't grow weary in this season. The preparation period is often longer than the fight. Enjoy this season of preparation. Take the time to soak enjoy the fall weather while you are preparing. Enjoy a roasted marshmallow while you prepare. Enjoy your fall sweatshirt and jeans while you prepare. Take a minute to drink in the changing of the leaves, the crunching under your feet. Enjoy this season of preparation because your VICTORY is coming! Just like the horse is PREPARED for battle, YOU may be preparing too! Get prepared! Anticipate the excitement of VICTORY coming! Not victory that you have manufactured, but a victory that is here to stay! A victory that is from the Lord! Your job is but to get prepared! Don't grow weary friend. Drink in this season. Drink in the smells, sounds, feelings, experiences. Enjoy this season because your victory is right around the corner!

At the UGA vs CCU game. 2nd row! :)

Tyler Jr wanted to say "Cheeeese" too! 

#206 - Sense of Urgency

Good morning! It's a GREAT day! Yes? I worked on my book proposal for almost 2 hours this morning, finishing up my Quiet Time... now writing this.... I'll be getting Junior up in the next few minutes, so we'll jump right into things. Before we get into the Word... could I ask you to please keep me in your prayers for a few things??

1. THIS WEEKEND I will be attending a Writer's Conference. During the weekend, I have 2 scheduled Publisher appointments for the book I recently finished, Fairytales Do Come True. I will also be pitching 2 other book ideas. The Ultimate Woman - an in-depth study of Proverbs 31:10-31 and The Proverbs 31 Woman - 365 Daily Devotions. Could you please pray and agree with me that I have FAVOR! :) Thank you!
2. HOUSE HUNTING! - We have believed God for the perfect house, the perfect size for the perfect price. We would like to move into something that we can grow into and really place roots for awhile. With Trinity coming early October... and we plan on having 2 more kids (Timothy & Taylor), we'd like a place that can fit us all comfortably. Will you please pray and agree with us that God directs us to the PERFECT place & we will also have favor financially with the house. 

OK... let's get into the Word!

Proverbs 19:15 - Slothfulness casts one into a deep sleep, and the idle person shall suffer hunger.

Proverbs 31:27 - She looks well to how things go in her household, and the bread of idleness (gossip, discontent, and self-pity) she will not eat.

I recently was pondering this question. How do you combine 'Sense of Urgency' with Faith? How do the two work together? 

One awesome woman of God answered me with a quote she heard, "It's YOUR life. Take however much time you want." The quote in its origin was intended to have a jab, but it is true. When are you going to loose the weight? When are you going to build the business? When are you going to grow spiritually? When are you going to spend time with your kids? When are you going to have the money to ______________? When are you going to take your family on a vacation?  ALL of these are great questions, and great things to work towards. The answer to my question, "It's YOUR life. Take however much time you want." Kids get older. Opportunities go away. The whole idea is DO IT NOW, PREPARE NOW. Stop delaying.

I thought it was a good answer, BUT I wasn't completely satisfied with it. I felt like there was something still missing in the answer, from a spiritual perspective. As I meditated on this question more, from a spiritual perspective, this was the answer I received.

• How do you combine 'Sense of Urgency' with Faith? How do the two work together? 

- Sense of Urgency has to be associated with listening to the Voice of the Holy Spirit. How fervantly can you listen to the Voice of the Holy Spirit. THAT should be the "SENSE OF URGENCY." As you place a "SENSE OF URGENCY" on LISTENING, you will not MISS anything. You will not miss the opportunities, the business', the vacations. As you focus on "LISTENING" and being obedient, the timing will fall in line with all the other things you desire to accomplish. The Holy Spirit will direct you HOW to build that business. The Holy Spirit will direct you on HOW to loose the weight. The Holy Spirit will tell you HOW to take your family on a vacation. And here's the kicker.... the Holy Spirit will direct you WHEN TO DO IT! Instead of trying to accomplish so many things, maybe good things in the wrong time, the Holy Spirit will direct you WHEN to do it so that your timing is always ON-TIME! We often try to bite off more than we can chew in the name of "being productive" that we get burnt out, and end up failing or disappointing ourselves by goals gone unaccomplished. 

As it talks about in Proverbs 19:15, laziness or slothfulness cause one to sleep, accomplishing nothing. The idle person suffers.

We take a look at the Proverbs 31 woman, and she makes sure not to be idle. Whether it is in speech, actions, or listening.... the word "idle" does not describe our godly friend.

What about you? What is your "Sense of Urgency?" What do you have in life that you want to accomplish? I encourage you.... place your Sense of Urgency on LISTENING. I assure you the Holy Spirit will give you direction on ANY matter that you are working on. As a quote I've heard says this, "There is no question that cannot be solved that sustained thought won't reveal the answer." 


Sustained thought. AKA: Sustained Prayer. Sustained Listening. Sustained time in the presence of the Holy Spirit. ALL answers will be made known to us if we just place ourselves at the throne of Jesus!

Be blessed!

#171 - Cowboy Up!

Good morning! It's going to be a great day because THIS IS THE DAY the LORD has made! Praise the Lord! Do I hear and Amen out there from wherever you are sitting?? Well, good! Amen. Let's get started.

Proverbs 21:31 - The horse is prepared for the day of battle, but deliverance and victory are of the Lord.

I remember reading this verse sometime when I lived at home with my parents. I remember that it stood out to me so, that I wrote it on an index card and pinned it on the wall next to my bedroom door. It's funny, because even today when I go home to visit and sleep in my old room, there it is, still on the wall, still pinned up for me to read. Today, it also jumped out with significance.

As a bit of a continuation from yesterday's devotion, "Endure because You Win!", I'd like to piggy-back off of some of the concepts from yesterday. Something that the Holy Spirit pressed on me heavily yesterday was this, "Press Back In! Press Back IN! PRESS BACK IN!" Have you ever started something with fervor and diligence, with excitement, to only find yourself a month, two months later just going through the "hum-drum" of life, no longer diligent in that area? What you began was a worthy pursuit, but in the process of pursuing you lost your consistency, you lost your drive, you lost your excitement? Well... I have been guilty of that.

Tyler sent me a voice note this morning while he was driving to an appointment. As he usually does, he was listening to a "Self-Improvement/Success" CD. In his message to me, he just reminded me of a couple who had arrived to a place in life where we aspire to be. He said, "Amy, this couple is no better than us, they just more consistently pursued their dream with focus. We can do that." He is right. God is no respecter of persons. If God has done something for one person, He can do it for you! God does not make any junk. You & I are already winners! We fought the odds and came out victorious! Are you trying to think of how you have done that? Well, think back to even the beginning! You are ONE in 300,000,000! That is THREE HUNDRED MILLION! When your parents got together there were 300,000,000 sperm trying to get to that egg! And do you know what? YOU SWAM the FASTEST! You fought the HARDEST! You edged your way in with the most diligence! You WON! You are already a winner. You are no accident! 299,999,999 others lost to you! When you think about it, the odds of winning like you did are probably similar odds to winning the lottery. YOU WON!

What I want to say is this, COWBOY UP! COWGIRL UP! If you, like me, lost some wind out of your sail, lost some diligence along the way, TODAY is the day to get back up! Get back on that horse! The HORSE is made ready for battle, but the VICTORY is of the LORD! What is your responsibility? Your responsibility is to BE PREPARED! BE ON THAT HORSE! Then... the cool thing is this, the "Victory" part is the Lord's responsibility! You just need to be prepared! You need to be in your place. You need to be doing YOUR JOB diligently. What is that? I'm sure you know exactly what it is for you... but here are some possibilities: Do you want to get pregnant? Maybe it's your job to get your body in shape to prepare for carrying a child. Do you want to be a light in your workplace for Jesus? Maybe to do so, you need to have more WORD in you to be prepared to share with people, maybe you need to be more girded up and strengthened by having a regular "Quiet Time" with just you and the Lord? Do you want to be a better mom? Wife? Maybe "COWGIRL UP" means evaluating your calendar and taking some things OFF of it so you can focus time on your family, raising up godly warriors? Learning to say one of the most spiritual words out there, "NO" and not adding more things to your plate, but taking away. Maybe you have a Mary Kay, Pampered Chef, Amway, Premier jewelry business and you've lost your "umph" to add partners to your team, or sell products. Maybe for you it means getting your "handshake on" and reaching out to people. God has the people out there that are looking for what YOU have!

Cowboy up! Get back on that horse! NOW is the time like the Holy Spirit said to me, "PRESS BACK IN! PRESS BACK IN! PRESS BACK IN!"

Give God something to work with! Remember, the VICTORY is HIS responsibility. Your responsibility is to be diligent and prepared! When it's time for battle, to be on YOUR horse, be prepared! Don't leave your horse running into battle by himself! COWBOY UP!

____________________________

Check out our upcoming little blessing! :) 

We are expecting this to be our little "Trin-Trin"! Trinity Faith.  Since I'm around 16 weeks pregnant right now, the Doctor officially tells us around 20 weeks. She'll be a blessing & Tyler Junior will be a GREAT big brother!

"YES YOU! COWBOY UP!" :)
Doesn't he look like a politician in this picture?! HA! Minus the jello on his head! 

#163 - For Such a Time as This

Good morning! Get ready for this. The Word for today is for MANY people. MANY. I'm excited to allow the Holy Spirit to really show out and open eyes through what He has shared with me this morning, and what He is about to reveal to you. It is amazing! Buckle up! Strap on the boot straps & get ready! This is a Word from the Lord!

Proverbs 6:6-8 - Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider her ways and be wise! ⁷ Which, having no chief, overseer, or ruler, ⁸ Provides her food in the summer and gathers her supplies in the harvest.

Esther 2:2b, 12, 13 - Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king. ²Now when the turn of each maiden came to go in to King Ahasuerus, after the regulations for the women had been carried out for twelve months--since this was the regular period for their beauty treatments, six months with oil of myrrh and six months with sweet spices and perfumes and the things for the purifying of the women-- ¹³Then in this way the maiden came to the king: whatever she desired was given her to take with her from the harem into the king's palace. 

Matthew 25:2-4 - ²Five of them were foolish (thoughtless, without forethought) and five were wise (sensible, intelligent, and prudent). ³For when the foolish took their lamps, they did not take any [extra] oil with them; ⁴But the wise took flasks of oil along with them [also] with their lamps. 

Wow! This is good. I was sitting here listening to the Holy Spirit as I journaled some of my thoughts.... and this was one of his opening lines to me: "Amy - just relax your brain. You seem so uptight this morning." Do you ever wake up like that? Even though you may be in quietness and peace, nothing in your brain feels or seems like that. Your brain is going a million miles a minute thinking of a million thoughts, concerns, situations, etc, etc. It's like... how could you have so much going on in your brain so early in the morning. You just woke up! So, I listed out all the things that I had in my brain that was causing a bit of question or even potential stress. The Holy Spirit reminded me that I needed to RE-CAST those cares on Him. I was allowing the baggage of my load to weigh me down, which in turn was hindering my ability to Care Less and be Care Free!

OK... all that was bonus. Let's roll into the Word. Above you read about 3 different accounts. The first one, in Proverbs talks about how the ant is prepared. The ant prepares during harvest and when winter comes is ready. Proverbs tells us to learn from the ant. Let's skip down to the Matthew scripture. Here's an account of the story of the 10 virgins. If you remember, they were waiting for the bridegroom to return so they could enter into the party. 5 of the virgins came prepared with extra oil, not knowing how long into the night they would be waiting, and not wanting to run out of oil. The other 5 came unprepared, and later ran out of oil. When the bridegroom returned they were not there because they had to go get more oil... they missed the opportunity to enter into the party. They were left behind closed doors in the dark. A real picture of heaven & being prepared for the return of Jesus. He is coming back, the question is, will WE be ready?

Esther... the key thing here that I wanted to point out is this... virgins were going before the King so that he could decide who would be the NEW QUEEN to replace Queen Vashti. The King was going to choose. A NEW QUEEN! Someone! A young woman from among the people. It reminds me kind of of the Cinderella movie with Drew Barrymore.... where the women of the region are invited to go to an elaborate ball so that the Prince can choose a wife! Well... that in essence is similar to what's going on with Esther, EXCEPT before going before the King, the women go through a 12 MONTH PREPARATION period! They go through 12 MONTHS of beautification treatments! 12 MONTHS!

How does that affect me? What does that have to do with me? As I was sitting here listening... well, just feverishly writing what the Holy Spirit was telling me... He reminded me of these accounts. To sum it up, He basically said, HEY... even ESTHER had a time of preparation! Her season JUST for the beauty treatments was 12 months before she would go before the King. Her ASSIGNMENT was huge! We all know the "For Such a Time as This" statement. Queen Esther saved an ENTIRE NATION! She saved the Jewish people! BUT she had to go through a preparation period. 


Put your name in here: AMY (Tarra, Kim, Angie, Galen, Renee ___________________) will YOU be patient enough during this season, during this time for me to PREPARE YOU? Great things are on the horizon, but I need to prepare you! You don't have to be in a rush. My timing is perfect. Will you please just continue to let me? Before the fullness of manifestation... before your dreams truly ARE a reality, in the current quietness, will you allow me to get you FULLY grounded so you are FULLY prepared?! You will not lack any good thing! The day and the hour is not important right now, it will come. The important thing right now is that you focus on the time you are in and that is PREPARATION! Will YOU prepare and allow me to prepare you? Continue to draw near to me! This is part of the preparation! I will guide you in what to focus on, what to prepare. Your time is coming, the time that will be famous for you and you will recognize it as: For Such a Time as This! You will know you had been prepared for this moment and for this time. So.... please.... will you just be patient. Will you let me do My work in you? Your time is coming. 


Need I say more? My time, Your time is coming. Will we be faithful in the preparation? Will we be faithful so that at our VICTORY, at the FRUITION of the desires we've been waiting upon... we will be able to say, "I see it now... For Such a Time as This, I have been made ready. I'm so glad that I am prepared!"