Happy 5th Blogiversary!

How in the world has private me been blogging for five straight years? Only God could do that!

I still remember how hard it was to launch this blog. There were tons of reasons why I shouldn’t have started blogging.

I have a master’s degree in journalism from New York University and have written for various publications including The New York Times, but I wasn’t used to writing publicly about my faith. I was trained to tell other people’s stories. But the more I started to share some of my insights and life lessons I’ve learned, the more positive reaction I got from readers.

I’m not techie by any stretch of the imagination. I remember spending hours reading and watching videos about the technical side of starting a blog. I made tons of calls to the support lines for help the weekend I launched my site. I still marvel that this site ever went live.

I was also going through a very rough time in my life. I was in tears most of the time I launched this blog. This blog easily could have been one big rant, but I was determined to create something beautiful and to write words that would inspire and uplift readers.

All my fears and concerns could have stopped me from publishing my first post, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that God wanted me to start this blog and that it was time to honor Him with my writing gift. What a journey it’s been!

I was worried that I might quickly run out of things to say, but God has been faithful to give me ideas for what to share here. As I poured out my thoughts on the screen, God filled me with fresh ideas (or manna) to help others on their faith journey.

I’ve written on good days and not-so-good days. I’m grateful that this blog has been a safe place for me to share my writing, photos, videos and designs.

By God’s grace, I’m still here. And you’re still here, too! I pray you have been encouraged by my posts!

I’m delighted that I’ve written three books during these years of blogging, and I’m thrilled that Book 4 is with my early readers. I plan to share parts of my testimony and some blog posts in my new book so stay tuned!

This year I also plan to have my second women’s conference. I will be sharing more info shortly.

In the meantime, I hope you will enjoy the Miraculous and Lovely moments in your life! God really is closer than you think, and He desires to spend precious time with you! Blessings to you on your faith journey!

“Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!” (Luke 1:45)

Did this post encourage you? Get my weekly blog posts emailed to you for free by clicking here or the image below. When you sign up, you’ll also get access to the new “7 Journal Writing Prompts to Help You Wait on God Well” PDF as a free gift.

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For more encouragement, read my books Crossing Your Jordan River: How to Possess and Prosper in Your Promised Land, Waiting on God Well: How to Prevent Breaking Down on Your Way to Your Breakthrough and Abounding Faith: 30 Bible Heroes Who Will Inspire You to Believe God for the Impossible! To learn how I can come alongside of you as your Life Coach or to invite me to speak at your event, visit my website www.aboundingfaith.com. Check out Abounding Faith’s online store here. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest.

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Happy New Year & My One Word

Welcome to 2018! I pray you’re filled with God’s love, peace and joy in this new year! I pray that you will know Jesus in a deeper way and that you will dare to live your God-given dreams and SOAR!

As I’ve been praying and thinking about my “One Word” for this year, the word that keeps coming to mind is beauty. I will seek to see God’s beauty in my everyday life. Yes, I will rejoice in the Miraculous Lovely moments throughout the year.

God’s beauty is all around us. We just need to stop and cherish those moments.

I had plenty of time to soak in God’s splendor during my recent trip back to the Caribbean. The sunrises and sunsets on the ocean were truly breathtaking!

I’d like to start this year off by sharing some of those photos with you. I pray they will inspire you. God is so creative!

 

I’ll be sharing more pics this week on Abounding Faith’s Instagram page.

Many blessings to you this year, and remember that God promises to give us beauty for ashes.

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.” (Isaiah 61:1-3)

Did this post encourage you? Get my weekly blog posts emailed to you for free by clicking here or the image below. When you sign up, you’ll also get access to the new “7 Journal Writing Prompts to Help You Wait on God Well” PDF as a free gift.

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For more encouragement, read my books Crossing Your Jordan River: How to Possess and Prosper in Your Promised Land, Waiting on God Well: How to Prevent Breaking Down on Your Way to Your Breakthrough and Abounding Faith: 30 Bible Heroes Who Will Inspire You to Believe God for the Impossible! To learn how I can come alongside of you as your Life Coach or to invite me to speak at your event, visit my website www.aboundingfaith.com. Check out Abounding Faith’s online store here. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest.

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Chapel in the City at Nyack College

I have felt drawn to Nyack College for a few years now. The Lord saw it fit for me to speak at the chapel service on Tuesday evening. What a blessing! It was truly another God-given dream that came to pass in His perfect timing. All glory to God!

What a sweet surprise to see the announcement on the screen pictured above! I had to snap a pic.

I’m so grateful to the staff and students at Nyack who made me feel so welcome.

I don’t normally go out on Halloween evening, but this was worth it.  And since the attack in Tribeca was just blocks away from where we were, I’m glad we got to pray for New York during chapel time.

It was a privilege and honor to get to encourage these students who are seeking after God’s plan for their life at such a young age. Here are just some of the students that were in chapel Tuesday evening.

Speaking at Nyack College ranks right up there with speaking to the group of Christians working at the United Nations and giving my brief testimony at Times Square Church. I am delighted with the doors the Lord is opening for me in this season. I’m so grateful that God opens doors that no man can shut!

Honestly, it’s an honor to get to speak about the Lord out on the street, in the subway, on the mission field,  in nursing homes and shelters, as well as one-on-one with strangers and friends.

We’re called to let our light shine! “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Mathew 5:16)

Who will you share the gospel with today or this week at work, home, school or in your neighborhood? We all have a testimony to share about God’s amazing love and His faithfulness! You don’t need a microphone, pulpit or stage. Just pray and ask God to give you the right words to say with love.

Blessings to you as you go about doing the good works that God has ordained for you to do! And thanks for your prayers and encouragement! I look forward to walking through many more doors that God opens for me. Thanks for staying on this journey with me!

If you’d like to invite me to speak at your church, school, conference, retreat, or outreach event, you can learn more by clicking here.

As you pursue your God-given dreams, I hope you’ll Pray, Dream, Do and Repeat!  I hope these designs from Abounding Faith’s online store inspire you!

For more encouragement, follow Abounding Faith on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Blessings!

Did this post encourage you? Get my weekly blog posts emailed to you for free by clicking here or the image below. When you sign up, you’ll also get access to the new “7 Journal Writing Prompts to Help You Wait on God Well” PDF as a free gift.

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For more encouragement, read my books Crossing Your Jordan River: How to Possess and Prosper in Your Promised Land, Waiting on God Well: How to Prevent Breaking Down on Your Way to Your Breakthrough and Abounding Faith: 30 Bible Heroes Who Will Inspire You to Believe God for the Impossible! To learn how I can come alongside of you as your Life Coach or to invite me to speak at your event, visit my website www.aboundingfaith.com. Check out Abounding Faith’s online store here. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest.

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Roctober 2017 Reflections

What a blessing this Roctober has been! There have been some ups and downs, but overall it was another rocking October, thank God!

I’m so grateful to my family and friends who help to make this month so special! This month included a trip back to my birthday castle as well as flowers, a ferry ride around Manhattan, mariachi singers, cake and the non-alcoholic pina colada pictured above.

I also got to go back and lead the service at Central Delaware Trinity Covenant. It was sweet seeing my friends there and getting to do everything from choosing the bulletin cover, to choosing the songs, preaching the sermon and greeting folks on the way out. It’s still surreal to see my name outside one of their church buildings. God is Good!

Although this was my third time visiting this congregation, it was my first time at this particular church building so I was thrilled to see horses right across the street! This city girl loves horses! It was another special birthday gift from the Lord.

We also wrapped up the study of Crossing Your Jordan River. It’s been such a blessing to see and hear how the book encouraged this group. We celebrated with yummy food and this beautiful birthday fruit tart!

Amid the celebrations, I’ve also had some really productive meetings throughout the month and still have one very important speaking engagement. I look forward to sharing more about that soon.

In the meantime, thank you for your prayers and encouragement. I pray you are seeing God’s fingerprints in your life! If you’d like more encouragement in between blog posts, please make sure to follow Abounding Faith on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

If you’d like another look at the “God’s Princess Diaries” series that I shot during my first visit to my birthday castle, you can find the short and encouraging videos on Abounding Faith’s YouTube channel by clicking here.

Blessings!

“Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.” (Psalm 34:8)

Did this post encourage you? Get my weekly blog posts emailed to you for free by clicking here or the image below. When you sign up, you’ll also get access to the new “7 Journal Writing Prompts to Help You Wait on God Well” PDF as a free gift.

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For more encouragement, read my books Crossing Your Jordan River: How to Possess and Prosper in Your Promised Land, Waiting on God Well: How to Prevent Breaking Down on Your Way to Your Breakthrough and Abounding Faith: 30 Bible Heroes Who Will Inspire You to Believe God for the Impossible! To learn how I can come alongside of you as your Life Coach or to invite me to speak at your event, visit my website www.aboundingfaith.com. Check out Abounding Faith’s online store here. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest.

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

If a Picture is Worth a Thousand Words (Part 7)

I’d like to let these quotes from Waiting on God Well do the talking this week. I pray they encourage you.

To find more images like these, follow Abounding Faith on InstagramFacebookTwitter, or Pinterest. Blessings!

 

Did this post encourage you? Get my weekly blog posts emailed to you for free by clicking here or the image below. When you sign up, you’ll also get access to the new “7 Journal Writing Prompts to Help You Wait on God Well” PDF as a free gift.

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For more encouragement, read my books Crossing Your Jordan River: How to Possess and Prosper in Your Promised Land, Waiting on God Well: How to Prevent Breaking Down on Your Way to Your Breakthrough and Abounding Faith: 30 Bible Heroes Who Will Inspire You to Believe God for the Impossible! To learn how I can come alongside of you as your Life Coach or to invite me to speak at your event, visit my website www.aboundingfaith.com. Check out Abounding Faith’s online store here. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest.

3 Bible Verses About Patience!


I’m continuing my series based on the Fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

I have to admit that patience, or forbearance, is still not my favorite Fruit of the Spirit. I’ve gotten much better with waiting on God over the years, but it can still be struggle.

How about you? Are you waiting for a breakthrough in your finances, health, or personal life?

We’re all waiting on God for something, so it’s important how we wait.

I’m grateful for the Holy Spirit’s supernatural patience that helps us as we wait with expectancy for God to move in our lives and to fulfill His promises to us.

In my book Waiting on God Well: How to Prevent Breaking Down on Your Way to Your Breakthrough I share insights I’ve learned while waiting as well as encouraging Bible verses, actions steps, and reflection questions to help you during your season of waiting.

Here are just 3 Bible verses to help you during your waiting season:

  • “I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” (Psalm 27:13-14)
  • “He says, ‘Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.'” (Psalm 46:10)
  • “And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.” (Hebrews 6:15)

There’s no short cut to becoming a patient person. It comes with much prayer, surrender to God’s timing, much practice with having patience with people, and with trusting that God is faithful and that He will see you through!

Waiting on God isn’t easy, but it is worth it! Blessings to you as you patiently wait in faith for God to move in your life as He has promised in the Bible and to your heart!

Did this post encourage you? Get my weekly blog posts emailed to you for free by clicking here or the image below. When you sign up, you’ll also get access to the new “7 Journal Writing Prompts to Help You Wait on God Well” PDF as a free gift.

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For more encouragement, read my books Waiting on God Well: How to Prevent Breaking Down on Your Way to Your Breakthrough and Abounding Faith: 30 Bible Heroes Who Will Inspire You to Believe God for the Impossible! To learn how I can come alongside of you as your Life Coach or to invite me to speak at your event, visit my website www.aboundingfaith.com. Check out Abounding Faith’s online store here. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest.

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

3 Bible Verses About Love!

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I’m launching a new series this month based on the Fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

Each month, I’ll pick a fruit and share a few thoughts and verses about it.

I’m starting with the fruit of love. There are so many verses to choose from especially since the Bible is God’s love letter to us!

I’d like to share verses that talk about three important aspects of love:

God’s love for us! But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

Our love for God! “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:5)

Our love for others! “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13: 34-35)

Amid all the chocolate and flowers that are bought and given this month, it’s good to stop and think about these aspects of love. Allow me to ask you a few questions based on the above verses:

How are you doing with rejoicing in God’s unconditional love for you? Are you taking the time to bask in and to thank God for His matchless love? Everything we do should flow from that knowledge that God is love and that He loves us!

How are you doing with loving God? Are you taking the time to worship and praise God simply for who He is? That shouldn’t be reserved just for Sunday morning service or only for when you get good news.

How are you doing with loving others? It’s not about the car you drive, the neighborhood you live in, the clothes you wear, or your job title and salary. That’s not what sets you apart as a child of God. Jesus said people would know you are His disciple by how you love others. He told His disciples to love each other as He loved them.

If all this is a little overwhelming to you, I’d like to remind you that everything we do flows out of God’s love for us. The more you mediate on Bible verses about God’s amazing love for you and reflect on His perfect love, the more you’ll love Him back and be able to love others.

I pray God will give you a fresh revelation of His supernatural love for you! Embrace it! Celebrate it! And then share it with others!

Blessings!

Did this encourage you? Get my weekly blog posts emailed to you for free by clicking here or the image below. When you sign up, you’ll also get access to the new “7 Journal Writing Prompts to Help You Wait on God Well” PDF as a free gift.

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For more encouragement, read my books Waiting on God Well: How to Prevent Breaking Down on Your Way to Your Breakthrough and Abounding Faith: 30 Bible Heroes Who Will Inspire You to Believe God for the Impossible! To learn how I can come alongside of you as your Life Coach or to invite me to speak at your event, visit my website www.aboundingfaith.com. Check out Abounding Faith’s online store here. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest.

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Birthday Blessings to My Mom!

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I’m celebrating my Mom’s birthday this month! In honor of my incredible Mom, I’m linking to two posts I’ve written about her in the past and a guest post she wrote a few years back. I pray you’re blessed and encouraged by re-visiting these posts!

“Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.” (Proverbs 31:30-31)

Did this encourage you? Get my weekly blog posts emailed to you for free by clicking here or the image below. When you sign up, you’ll also get access to the new “7 Journal Writing Prompts to Help You Wait on God Well” PDF as a free gift.

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For more encouragement, read my books Waiting on God Well: How to Prevent Breaking Down on Your Way to Your Breakthrough and Abounding Faith: 30 Bible Heroes Who Will Inspire You to Believe God for the Impossible! To learn how I can come alongside of you as your Life Coach or to invite me to speak at your event, visit my website www.aboundingfaith.com. Check out Abounding Faith’s online store here. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest.
THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Happy 4th Blogversary!

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I can hardly believe that my 4th Blogversary is here. How in the world haven’t I run out of lessons, musings, adventures, and news to share with you?

As I’ve said in the past, I will continue to write and speak as long as the Lord keeps giving me something to say.

I’m grateful that you continue to show up and read my posts. Quite a few of you have been with me since my very first posts. How lovely! Thank you!

I’m also thankful to those of you who took a moment to fill out my recent Reader Survey. I’m touched to hear that you are being blessed by my blog and my books.

A reader comment that stood out to me was:

Waiting on God Well gave me time to address a deep prayer request of my heart I had sort of ‘buried.” I took your book on a plane trip, underlined and prayed my way thru, even journaling some. Thank you for your encouragement!”

This kind of feedback helps to encourage me to keep writing and sharing parts of my faith journey with you.

I plan to continue encouraging you as you wait on God and believe Him for the impossible.

I want to encourage you to live your God-given dreams! I plan to do so right here on my blog and through my upcoming book and events. Please stay tuned!

There’s a lot going on at Abounding Faith! Don’t miss a thing!

I hope you’ll connect with Abounding Faith on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest.

If you’d like to get my blog posts emailed to you weekly for free, I hope you’ll subscribe right here. When you subscribe, you’ll get the NEW “7 Journal Writing Prompts to Help You Wait on God Well” PDF that I’ve created just for you!

Many blessing to you and thanks for being on this faith journey with me!

Do my blog posts encourage you? Click the image below to get your free PDF and to get my blog posts emailed to you for free!

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For more encouragement, read my books Waiting on God Well: How to Prevent Breaking Down on Your Way to Your Breakthrough and Abounding Faith: 30 Bible Heroes Who Will Inspire You to Believe God for the Impossible! To learn how I can come alongside of you as your Life Coach or to invite me to speak at your event, visit my website www.aboundingfaith.com. Check out Abounding Faith’s online store here. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest.

7 Bible Verses to Boost Your Hope!

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Are you struggling to wait on God to fulfill His promises in your life? Are you afraid that you’ll never see a breakthrough in your finances, personal life, or ministry work?  If so, I’d like to encourage you not to give up! God is Faithful and will move in your life in His perfect timing and in His perfect way!

Here are a few Bible verses to help you be a prisoner of hope and weather whatever storm you are facing:

  1. “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13)
  2. “Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.”  (Psalm 62:5-8)
  3. “But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” (Romans 8:24b-25)
  4. “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” (Romans 4:18)
  5. “Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you.” (Zechariah 9:12)
  6. “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.” (Romans 15:4)
  7. “May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.” (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17)

God will not let you down. Trust Him to work out your situation for your good as He promises to do in Romans 8:28!  God specializes in parting seas, raising the dead, healing the sick, and saving the lost. 

Be encouraged! “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8)

Which Bible verses help to fill your heart with hope? Feel free to leave them in the comments below. Blessings!

Did this encourage you? Don’t forget to sign up below to have my weekly encouraging blog posts emailed straight to you for free. When you subscribe below, you’ll also receive the free “12 Journal Writing Prompts” PDF I created to help inspire you as you write/journal.

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For more encouragement, read my books Waiting on God Well: How to Prevent Breaking Down on Your Way to Your Breakthrough and Abounding Faith: 30 Bible Heroes Who Will Inspire You to Believe God for the Impossible! To learn how I can come alongside of you as your Life Coach or to invite me to speak at your event, visit my website www.aboundingfaith.com. Check out Abounding Faith’s online store here. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest.

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.