One day while I was quietly listening to an education presentation, I heard the Lord say to me, “you are not alone.”  It came on the heels of a text from a friend, that said she was supposed to tell me that I was not isolated, and needed to stop hiding myself in a corner.  I’m the best at what I do.  It was a shocking revelation to me.  Sometimes I feel like I am alone.  Like I don’t fully belong to a group.  There is something that keeps me out.  But-it is simply not true.  Im not in a corner.  I am not alone. I have friends and family who deeply love me, and I could not ask for more.  Now, where I could improve, is that I could be more intentional about building relationships.  I have always felt that I am a burden to people, and that I just suck the life out of them.  I don’t want to feel that way.  I want to give life, and share my heart with others.  Satan has been lying to me about my value in friendships, and I am sick of it.  I am connected, loved, and I have something to give.  Something very precious to give.

Also, in my quiet moments, I have realized that all I need to know, is that God is good.  I have lived under a lot of fear in my life.  I feel like in a lot of areas, I have just been waiting for the other foot to drop.  I am too blessed, something has to go wrong.  This is too good to be true.  Something is due to fall apart.  I have just grown up believing these things.  After Dean and I got married, I feared losing him more than I thought possible.  I have mourned him repeatedly because he didn’t answer his phone when I called.  Now, I have grown and received healing, but I still find myself wondering when things are going to break.  But-I don’t have to anymore.  I know, that no matter what, other shoe falling or not, my God is good.  He is going to hold me, love me, protect me, and carry me through anything that comes my way.  I don’t have to live in fear, and have a plan for what might go wrong.  I don’t have to be in control and be afraid and constantly planning what I am going to do for this tragedy or that catastrophe.  I am not only held by the God of the universe, I am seated at his right hand with all his power and authority.  That is good stuff.  I love knowing that.  I love knowing that I am cared for.  I am deeply loved, and when I hurt, my God hurts.  He loves me that much.  I love knowing that he has a plan, and he will take care of me.  He will provide for me.  It brings peace, and joy, and more of a smile to my face, than any fear and plan of my own ever could.

Lastly-

I love to create.  I don’t care what it is, I just love to create.  Dean got me a sewing machine for my birthday a few months ago, and I absolutely love sewing!  I have made burp cloths, a blanket, a baby crib sheet, and am now working on crib bumpers for my sister’s baby that will arrive in December.  Creating makes my heart happy.  Maybe in the future I will have some pictures to post .

Until then, enjoy those random, quiet moments in your life.  Use the little moments to be your big revelations.

Trusting,

Brooke

At the beginning of June this year, I remember thinking to myself that every blog I wrote seemed to be about perfectionism.  They were all good things that I was learning, but it seemed to me that my focus had shifted.  I couldn’t put a finger on why it bothered me.  I was still blogging about what the Lord was doing in my heart.

The third week of June our church had our annual youth camp, Boot Camp.  I was a runner for it this year, and spent most of my week running around making sure things were taken care of.  So, by Wednesday evening, I was dog tired.  I walked into the church kitchen, where the prayer team had just finished praying over the service.  They asked me how I was, and I responded that I was tired.  So, they asked me if they could pray for me, and of course, I delighted in the prospect.  While they were praying over me, one of the prayer team told me they felt like I should listen to the message that night and let it remind me of who I am.  Immediately, I thought I knew what they were talking about.  The message was supposed to be about purity of heart, and I am all about purity.

When it came time for the message, it wasn’t exactly about purity, but something even dearer to my heart.  Value.  Knowing your value.  I am passionate about young girls knowing their value in Christ, so that they don’t feel they need to compromise their purity in any area.  I am passionate about young girls, and women in general knowing that they are valuable, that they are princesses, and that they are free to live from their hearts.  I knew that for me, this message was exactly what I needed to remind me of who I am.  I am a warrior for women’s hearts.  I am a warrior for my own heart.  I am a woman who desires to live from her heart.  A woman who knows that I have value and incredible potential that my enemy fears.  I am a passionate, strong, princess of Christ.

What I realized that night, is that I had let one of my triumphs become more of my value than my true value.  We all have a grid.  After someone recognized a triumph in my life, I took value from that.  Saw that I had value as someone who had overcome something.  Who might have insight into that area.  I put this in my grid, and as a result, saw everything in my life through that grid.  So, everything in my life naturally related to perfectionism.  I am not saying that this is a bad thing altogether.  I learned a lot more throughout this year.  I just let it cross the line, and let being a recovering perfectionist become my identity.

I think we see this a lot in our world.  I am the girl who broke up with her bad boyfriend.  I am a recovering alcoholic.  I beat pride.  I am free from this, or free from that.  We let our triumphs dictate where we find at least a portion of our value, our identity, instead of letting all of our value and identity be dictated by Christ and his word.  He is, after all, the one that gave us the triumph.  It was his word, and His love, most of the time speaking to our hearts about the value that we have, that has given us these triumphs.

So, I hope that in the future my blog will be more true to it’s title: release my heart.

Look back at the things you have overcome.  Rejoice that part of who you have been made in Christ is more than a conquerer.  But always remember that you are more than that.  Ladies, remember that you are princesses.  You have a king that fights for you.  Remember that we are all warriors for our hearts.  Remember that you are valuable with or without victories.  Because in reality, the victory rests with the Lord.  Remember that most of all, you are loved beyond measure.  You have value beyond measure to the king of kings.

You are more than your victories.

A free heart once again,

Brooke

A few months back, I posted a blog titled don’t speak.  I realized that I was afraid to speak.  Afraid to voice my opinion because I was afraid that I would be wrong, or thought badly of.  Well, in my new battle to make myself speak whether I am wrong or not, I have come across a new battle.  Communication.  We say that communication is the key to marriage, and winning volleyball games, but I never knew that it was also important in my battle to actually speak, and share my heart.  Since I have posted the blog don’t speak, I have come across several situations where communication lines have gotten crossed, and there were misunderstandings.  In short, something went wrong.  Nothing major, and it took probably about four instances for me to realize that it was actually bothering me.  What I realized, is that communication is not perfect.  Wow.  Knowing that, you all now know how I really feel about it.

And so, this lie that I have long believed that I need to be perfect, is what has made me withdraw into myself, and not only not speak, but not rely on others.  Not rely on my communication with others.  I am not a big fan of delegation, which I am sure is not a big surprise.  Now, do I have to delegate?  Yes.  I delegate a lot of different jobs in my classroom to students, but even then, I am very concerned that it is getting done right.  And, unfortunately, if the job is done wrong once, I have a very hard time delegating that particular job again.  Ever.

Now, a lot of things in my life that have gone wrong, I feel there was something I could have done to do it better.  To fix the problem.  With communication, it really doesn’t work that way.  With communicating with others, both parties normally feel that they did their best job getting across what they wanted to get across.  And still, somehow, things got mixed up.  A genuine mistake.  That is why communication errors bother me so.  I can do nothing to fix them.  I can do nothing to make them better.  Most of the time, there is just a genuine misunderstanding.  Both, or all parties did their best when sharing, and there was just a mix-up.

So, where it leaves me, is that no matter how hard I try, communication is not perfect.  I misunderstand, you misunderstand, we all misunderstand.  It happens all the time.  The only reason that it bothers me, is because I want to be perfect.  And in all these little spots inside of me, I am realizing what a burden that is.  I am also realizing, that this is just one more area where I have to trust, and lean on my savior.  I have to lean into the grace that he gives, and trust that he will make things right.  Trust that he will cover.  He always does.  He is a great and miraculous God, and I feel that there are many times he intercedes before we even realize there was a miscommunication.  He covers over so many things before we know they need to be covered.  He is just that good.  That amazing.  I don’t have to work to be perfect, I already am.  I am already covered.  And I don’t have to worry about mistakes, or misunderstandings of any kind.  They are covered.  They will be made right.  They are not the end of the world.

And they are not the end of the world because I have a God who loves me.  Dearly.  Preciously.  Abundantly.  Thank you Jesus.

Thank you for growing me,

Princess Brooke

For probably about six weeks now, I have noticed a theme in the things that God is speaking to my heart.  He is saying to me, “its not about you.”  The first place that I was able to put words to what I was feeling was when I was listening to the Daily Prayer found in Captivating as I would get ready in the mornings.  There is a place in there, where John Eldredge says, “its not about me, its about you.”  It shocked me into realization that that is exactly what I was learning.  It’s not about me.  I would notice that if I felt lacking, or incapable, I would say, “well I am doing the best I can.”  This in itself is a great stretch and change for my perfectionist self, who would normally believe that there was more I could have been doing than what I was doing.  I could do better somehow.  However, it still is not about me.  It’s not even my best.  It is the fruit of what God has blessed me with every morning as I rise and every second during the day.  Everything I have, everything I give, all of my strengths and all of my weaknesses, are about Jesus.  Everything I do is for His glory, and not my own.  Somehow, in my teaching, in my blogging, in my perfectionism, I believed that even the works the Lord was doing in me, were all about me.  How he wanted me to be better.  How he wanted me to grow.  I believed that teaching showed only my strengths, and my weaknesses, and had nothing to do with any other factors in my student’s lives.  I believed that even my blogging was about what I was learning and what I was sharing.  And yes, these things are about my life, but my life is not even my own.  My life is Christ’s.  I have the pleasure and the great responsibility of living for Him.  Being his hands and his feet in the earth.  Being a tangible representation of his heart to those that are lost and hurting.  And that, is not about me.  Everything that I do, reaches far beyond my own circle of influence.  It reaches everyone he wants it to reach.  It brings him glory.  No matter how many views or comments I get on this, I know that as I sat down to finally write it, the Lord’s will was accomplished somehow.  I got to be the one to do the typing, but it is all his plan, his glory, his will.  It is about him, much more than it will ever be about me.

As a perfectionist, I have a strong belief that more than anything, my mistakes are about me.  Me and me alone.  But, I have come to realize that even my mistakes are not about me.  Knowing that I am not the center of everyone’s thoughts, everyone’s judgement, everyone’s criticism, or even their praise, has peeled another layer of the perfectionism off of me.  Because my strengths, and my weaknesses, are not about me.  My strengths are for the community, the body of Christ, and my weaknesses are what draw me into community.  I can’t do life alone, and my weaknesses allow a space for someone else to offer their strength.  A place for the Lord to draw his children together and share life with each other.

So, if life is not about me, what is my life about?  Who is my life for?  I believe that we were created for community, and for the glory of God.  That is what my life is about.  God’s plan, God’s will, God’s desire, and being a part of a community of believers that does life together in order to bring glory to their Father.  Even the day that I sat down to write my notes for this blog, a month ago next Saturday, was a day that I took for myself, but it wasn’t even about me.  It was about what the Lord wanted to do in me through refreshing me.  It was about what he wanted to say to his community through me.  A day that I took for my own refreshing, was not about me.  I can’t share the love of God if I am drained and weary.  It was about a plan that God had for his children.  More than just one child.  What if, even for a few minutes a day, we stopped, and thought about how our lives related to the lives of others?  What if we stopped and spent a few minutes wondering how God was using our trials and triumphs for the good of the whole body, and lived for a brief moment outside of our little world?  How would this change not only our outlook on our lives, but also our sense of value in the body?  How would it change what we believe about ourselves, and then give us more to share?  What if we thought about how our actions effected others?  Or how God wanted our lessons to bless others?  I think that if we begin to think about being part of a body, and how that works, it is going to change our whole outlook on life.  It has started to change mine.  I am not saying that I am completely transformed in this area, because it is a renewing of the mind and of the heart.  It is changing the pathways in our brain, digging new ruts and filling in the old ones with truth.  It will take time, but when I remember to think outside of myself, immediately I can see how the Lord is using my ordinary day for someone else within his Kingdom, or even possibly that is not in it yet.  What if we stopped and thought about how our actions represented His glory and not ours?  I think this would be a total transformation for some of us.  It is for me.

Another benefit of thinking this way is that we are going to reach outside of ourselves.  We are going to reach out to others.  When we reach outside of ourselves, it brings relationship, and it brings trust.  Aren’t these two things the Lord desires for his children to foster amongst themselves?

Lastly, I want to say that we make messes.  And I have recently learned, that even our biggest messes are not about us.  God takes our messes and turns them into beauty.  I recently wrecked my car, and thought it was a pretty big mess.  However, through this mess, the Lord introduced our whole family to some people we might have not otherwise known, and given us a chance to bless them.  He has given me a chance to grow, and maybe someday I will be able to share my lessons with others in this area.  Even my biggest mess, was not about me.  The Lord took it and made it work for his good.  And it has turned into a beautiful situation.  Thank God for his goodness and his grace.

Our lives are not about us.  They are about Him.

Thinking broader,

Brooke

In Captivating, there is a scene where it talks about three women at a retreat, and the lies that they have believed.  They are asked to go back to their rooms to journal about what the Lord is speaking to them, and it is here that the Lord breaks all three of their lies.  One was don’t ask.  One was don’t offer.  One was don’t speak.

Strangely, I believe all of these myself.

It has taken lots to realize each lie seperately, and I have come to realize that I am valuable.  I can ask.  I have something valuable to give.  I can offer.  So I am left alone, with don’t speak.

For those of you who have known me less than three to four years, I know you don’t believe this.  And looking back in retrospect, is where I find this lie.  Where I see what Jesus has been trying to reveal to me all this time.

When I was in school, even into college, I never raised my hand in class.  I never offered answers.  I was too afraid that I would be considered stupid, or that I might be found out that I was smart, and relied upon to answer all the questions from that point on.  In life, I kept my mouth shut.  I never offered an opinion, never spoke up.  I would have rather been trampled than vulnerable.  Even with my friends, I never spoke.  I was considered shy and quiet.  The truth, is that I was afraid.

Why is this such a shame?

First, the Kingdom of God is voice activated.  From the first time that we proclaim him as Lord of our lives with our mouths, to the very words that we speak over our lives.  Everything that we say and speak outloud, activates the kingdom of God.  All of the power that we have been given, all of the authority, is brought about by speaking the promises in His word.  So if we want to live the powerful and abundant life for which Christ died for us to have, we will speak.

Also, I have always felt that I was blessed with a gift of words.  I feel that those words can be spoken or written.  I think that part of the reason that don’t speak was such a deep rooted lie in my mind, is because that is a lie that would hurt me, and would harm my ministry to others as well.  Because I believe that I can’t speak, that I don’t have anything good to say, I will often put off that blog, (or not write it at all), or hold back a word of encouragement because I am afraid that it could possibly offend.  I will not share what God has done in my life, because I am afraid that I will be thought stupid, unworthy, or that my testimony won’t be scripturally sound.  I will not speak because of my fear.  This hurts those that I am supposed to minister to, and not just me.  It hurts the plan that God has for my life.  It inhibits the plans that my precious Jesus has for me.

So this is me combatting the lie.  This is me speaking.  This is me writing the blog I have put off.  This is me breaking free.

I have a God who deserves to be worshipped with every breath.  I have a God who deserves to be spoken of, who deserves, and longs to be shared.  I have a God who deserves to be praised.  A God who deserves to be honored with a life dedicated to him, and shared with others, through words.  Written words or spoken words.  A God who has given me a gift and wants me to use it. 

Thank you Jesus for this gift.  Thank you for this truth that has set me free.  You are my freedom.  You are the reason that I speak.

Breaking Free,

Princess Brooke

I would like to suggest: nothing.

I believe, that a true woman, is one who is true to herself.  One that is true to her heart.  One that is true to her God.

God did not want all of us to be the same.  That would be boring, and one only has to look at the difference in the sunrise from one morning to the next to know that God does not do boring.  God made women.  And while there are certain things that define us as women, and many things that we have in common, I don’t know that we can compare ourselves to one another and say who is the better, or truer woman.  I have been meditating on a statement that the Lord spoke to me for a while now, and I keep finding that I need it for my own good.  ”It is not about who is best, but who is called.”

Sometimes, I look at other women, and think that they are doing a better job of being a woman.  They cook dinner for their husbands more than once a week.  They have a cleaner house.  They are mothers.  They wear more jewelry.  Look more put together.  Have cuter clothing.  Have more mercy and sympathy on others.  Are more encouraging.  I become discouraged at all of these thoughts.  And truly, I do not think God meant for me to be discouraged when looking at His creation.  I identify with a sense of lack when I look at others and long.  And this is not to say that I shouldn’t cook more often for Dean.  This is not to say that we are to stay exactly where we are and cease growing because we are who we are.  Not even close.  It is to say that perhaps I should be more interested in what God desires for me, the desires he has put in MY heart, than what others are doing with their lives.

I have been on the quest to become a “woman” for several years now.  In the beginning, I had a hard heart, which I do not believe is in God’s plan for any of his children.  Especially not his daughters.  Because women are to have open hearts.  It is one of the things which belong to all of us.  Step up and claim it.  The Lord had to create a tender heart in me.  One that was teachable, open to Him.  He had to break down the walls that I had built up around me to protect me.  He had to break mindsets, and even muscles.  My precious Jesus had to teach me to be tender and vulnerable.  It was my lesson to be learned, and sometimes I still have to learn it.

Recently, he had to teach me to rely on others.  To rely on Him.  To sit back, and let him fight my battles.  To let my God do the work, and just sit at his feet.  It was a hard lesson to learn, because I have always been a do-it-yourself kind of girl.  But, it was good for me to learn.  Good to learn to trust my God to provide, and to protect me.  Without my assistance.

Somewhere along this journey, I became aware of the fact that I am supposed to be tender hearted.  Kind, gentle, and tender.  This is true.  True for me, and for every woman.  It is part of the heart of God that we speak to others.  But, along the way, I forgot about a different part of who I am.  A part of me that is equally as woman as the tender part.  A part of me that is just as equally if not even more necessary.  The part of me that is a warrior.

There is something fierce in the heart of a woman.  Something that knows how to fight, and will fight to the death for those that she loves.  In my journey I forgot about that part, and was not then being true to myself.  Not a true woman.  I was learning what it was to wear flowers in my hair, and to share my heart with others without fear of them hurting me.  I was learning to be vulnerable, and kind.  Tender and gentle.  But I forgot about the part of my heart that needed to fight.  That was needed for others.  For my husband.  For my students.  For myself.  For my ministry.  I would find myself lying down, and wanting to give up.  Something in me jumped at it, and wanted to do something, but a wonderful truth had been distorted.  ”I am a woman” I would tell myself.  I need to be tender and gentle.  And there is a time for that.  But there is also a time to stand and fight.  There is a Princess Warrior within each of us, and the world desperately needs that part of us.  We are needed.  Full armor on, we are needed ladies!  All of us.  Not a part.  Not a portion and not the bare minimum.  Every ounce of our hearts is needed.

We may not fight as we think we ought to.  We fight differently because we are women.  We fight lies with encouragement.  We fight depression with a gentle touch of love.  We fight the enemy with our prayers and with our praises to the Most High.  We fight every day.  We fight to keep our hearts so that we can continue to be gentle and tender.  We fight lies of our own through surrender and through vulnerability.  And yes, there are times when we are fighting in a severely fierce way that does actually look like battle.  But through it all, we feel.  We are tender and gentle, but we are fighting.  We are warriors.  The only ones who can battle the way that we can.

So what is a true woman?

It does not have anything to do with our outward appearance, and whether or not we prefer jeans or skirts.

It does not have to do with our hobbies and whether we choose hiking or cooking.

It has nothing to do with who the world tells us to be and what we ought to “strive” for.

It has everything to do with our hearts.

It is a woman who remembers who she is.  In Jesus.

A woman who rests in this knowledge.

A woman that remembers who her God is.

One that loves herself because of this truth.

One that loves Jesus.

Again, it is all about Him anyway.

Released to be,

Brooke

In Love,

Brooke

I have been out of my classroom for 1 and a half days this week for various reasons such as professional development, meetings etc.  My kids miss me and I miss them.  They told me yesterday that it wasn’t fair that I had to leave again.  I felt the same way.  On top of this, teaching new content, being tired, working on things outside of school, and just giving my all to those kids who really need me.  Well, this morning, I really needed a much larger flower to wear to school than I have ever seen made, because flowers encourage me and make me feel better.  So I settled for glitter on my headband and zebra print shoes.  It helped a little.  By ten am, I was in tears.  Just frustrated, and overwhelmed, basically feeling helpless, and hopeless.  Nothing that bad had even really happened, minor things really, but the enemy of my heart, which was refreshed just last night, was after me.  He wanted to steal my day.  And I, was going to give in and let him.  But, the author of my days, the lover or my soul, my protector had different plans.

My new magnetic white board came in, and if you are a teacher, you know exactly how cool that is, and I was able to calm down a little bit in the hour before lunch.  Breathe a little.  I left the building with a friend at lunch to get some fresh air.  I texted my husband and told him that I needed something positive for today, and then forgot about it.  I knew he wouldn’t respond, and really, who else texts a teacher during the day?  No one.  But, then, I looked down and my phone was blinking.  An email for sure I thought.  But it wasn’t.  It was my best friend, the one who takes all the beautiful, stunning, amazing pictures of my husband and I.  And she told me, that our pictures were being featured on Southern Weddings Magazine daily blog today!! I have been waiting for this day, because she knew that it was going to happen, and told me, but, for it to be today, of all days?!?!? THAT WAS JESUS!!  He knew that I needed a reminder that I have value, I have beauty, I have romance, I have adventure, and I am making a difference.  I have something to offer the world that no one else can offer.  Just like I tell my kids, “without you, we all miss out!”  Without me, the world misses out!  And Jesus knew that I needed that today, and had the wedding magazine editor wait until the day that I needed Jesus, to post those pictures.  Incredible.  God, is so good.  He is the greatest.  Beyond description.

Then, as an added bonus, the writer put my story on the blog.  My words.  More proof, that I go much deeper than a pretty face.  What I have to offer comes from the heart.  It comes from Jesus.  And as soon as I broke down, and admitted to someone that I didn’t have it altogether, and needed someone else, the Lord came through for me.  The timing of Casey’s text message.  The timing of mine to Dean.  All of it was too perfect to have been anything but Jesus.

Thank you Jesus for loving me so dearly.  thank you for loving me so tenderly, and so patiently.  Thank you for protecting me, when the enemy of my soul is after me.

Thank you.

I know it could never be enough, but thank you.

You alone, can pursue me this way.  I love you Jesus.

Relieved and Reminded,

Princess Brooke

Last week at life group, somehow we got on the subject of the first time that one of the ladies in my group met me.  Her thoughts were, “I cannot be in the same room with that girl!”  Now, understand, this was when we were working in the nursery, which is in my opinion, one of my best times.  And to tell the truth, I was shocked.  So, she told me when the first time she worked with me was, and that she had seen me pick up a small child, and discipline him, and thought that I was kind of rough, and not good with kids.  She did not know, that the child was my godson, and that he knew me, and I knew how to handle him.  She also proceeded to say that now, she does like me very much, which must have been God working in her heart.  Saving my reputation.  But, it opened my eyes.  It made me think, that we just assume everyone around us knows our intentions, and knows our hearts behind the actions that we take.  But, sometimes they don’t.  Sometimes they don’t know the story.  They don’t know who we really are.  What we really believe.  The lady in line behind me at the grocery store doesn’t know that I love to dance, and laugh, and smile and sing.  All she sees is the me that is so tired I’m ready to drop.  The look on my face may not appear tired though.  It may appear angry.  Or grumpy.  The lady behind me doesn’t know that I am working out the many challenges of teaching in my head as I await my turn, and not griping out the clerk silently.  She doesn’t know these things.  People don’t always know us like we think they do.  We walk around, acting like everyone in the world knows who we are, and what we stand for.  We act like we shouldn’t have to live it, people already know.  But, that is not the case.  So we do need to be aware, be cognizant, of what it is that we are representing.  Who it is that we are representing.  A person can know that you are a christian, and that is about all, but see something that may confuse them.  Now, I am not saying that we need to be perfect, or that we need to be totally concerned with what others think of us.  Believe me, those are two traps that are hard to get out of.  I just want us to think.  There are people out in the world, who don’t know us.  People who don’t know Jesus.  How are they ever going to meet him, if we aren’t aware of who and what we are sharing with the world?

The other half of this, is the Lord’s name.  Clearly, reputation is important to Jesus, if he goes before us, and makes ours for us.  There is a song we have been singing at church, that talks about the name of the Lord.  Every time we sing it, I am just reminded of my blog on reputation, and how much that matters to Christ.  I am reminded that He has such an incredible reputation.  In the Bible, it says that the demons flee at the mention of his name.  Christ and his presence don’t even have to be there, and yet just saying his name causes His greatest enemies to flee!! That, is a powerful reputation!!  Just the mention of the name of Jesus, and things fall away.  I know that after a long hard day yesterday, I didn’t even want to go to church.  I wanted to get in bed at five and sleep until this morning.  But, I went.  And as soon as I started singing the name of Jesus, my bad day fell away.  All that mattered was Jesus.  And what he has done for me.  Just his name, was enough to knock back all that I was dealing with.  All that had me down, and overwhelmed.  It was amazing.  And all that power was just in his name.  But, the good news doesn’t stop there.  Although just the name of the Lord is enough, I get the whole God!  I get the whole creator of the universe, the lover of my soul, the savior of my life.  The God that died for me.  I get all of Him.  There is so much power and wisdom and knowledge that is available to me, simply because I am his.  It was an incredible revalation.  An amazing experience, just to think about all of the blessings that are available to me, because the Lord doesn’t stop by giving just his name.  He gave his life, so that I can have life abundant.  I get so much more than His name, when I receive Jesus as my savior.

So, how do these relate?

The name of the Lord is a powerful thing, that we proclaim, and share.  He has an amazing reputation.  How are you affecting his reputation?  Are you showing the world who you truly are, and thus furthering the name of Christ?  Or, do you hide your heart, and let the world get you down?  We all do this sometimes, but I want us to be more aware.  Are you accurately representing the one who saved your soul?

In His Name,

Princess Brooke