I’ve said it before but since it hasn’t changed, I’ll say it again.

I find Psychology extremely fascinating.

Getting to the root of wrong mindsets is the key to living a life of freedom in Christ, in my opinion.

If the mind is the battleground between good and evil, then isn’t it important that we untangle the webs of lies that the devil has planted there?

Have you ever considered that the way you feel, the way you think, the things you believe in general and about yourself might actually be incorrect?

Is it possible that you are viewing the world not as it is, but as your life and the people in it have taught you to view it?

A couple weeks ago, in a class we’re doing, Steven Dasilvo shared part of his testimony…

He was actively involved in his church, served in a lot of positions and was living a passionate Christian life.

Yet, when God challenged him to say that he (Steven) is good, he couldn’t do it.

He literally couldn’t say that he himself was good.

As he wrestled through this, he realized that he thought of himself as good only when he was serving, but when he wasn’t serving (and not doing good) he didn’t think of himself as a good person.

As I listened to his story I thought back to a quote I read earlier this year. ‘Busyness is a false sense of importance.’

This phrase stuck with me and I felt like it applied to me somehow but I wasn’t sure how or why.

Here and now, though, is where the pieces all came together.

#selfrevelation

I love to ‘accomplish things.’

Like market… setting up the showcase with lots of fresh foods on Thursday mornings was so satisfying to me. #Accomplishment.

Cleaning everything up Saturday nights, washing all those pans that were now empty was equally satisfying. #Accomplishment.

Counting money, paying bills on Monday And taking the cash to the bank on Tuesday was also satisfying. #Accomplishment.

I thought of myself as a ‘good’ person when I was accomplishing things.

Can you guess what my biggest challenge is?

Being just a stay at home mom.

Sure it has its moments of accomplishment, like when I actually get the whole house cleaned in one day, or cook an exotic meal or do something fun with the kids.

Overall, though it can be a pretty mundane thing. Projects half finished because of interruptions due the kids having needs. #Unaccomplished.

Ending days feeling like I snapped at them more then I loved. #Unaccomplished.

Unfortunately, my children don’t rant and rave about our great customer service or our delicious food. They do enjoy letting me know though if they disapprove.😬 #Unaccomplished.

Do you see the problem yet?🤨

If I only feel good about myself when I’m accomplishing something, that leaves an awful lot of time when I don’t feel good about myself.

Also, how will I do the things well that do not make me feel accomplished?

In order to solve this problem, I need to be able to see myself as a good person no matter what I’m doing or not doing.

I’ve learned that easiest way to change the strongholds or lies in my thinking, is to get to the root of the problem.

So, over the last two weeks I’ve prayed about this and pondered over why I find my identity, in my doing.

Today it finally clicked.

Growing up, I often felt like I wasn’t good enough. I asked too many questions, I had the wrong personality and it felt no matter how hard I tried I still managed to do it wrong.

I tried so hard to be good, to do the right things, to be the right person, to simply be good.

Can you guess when I managed to feel good about myself?

When I was accomplishing things.

When I was doing laundry, washing dishes, cleaning up or changing diapers. These were the times when I was affirmed and therefore they became the times I felt like a good person.

The devil used this experience to plant the lie in my mind that I am only a good person when I’m accomplishing things.

This lie, followed me into adulthood and has to some degree dictated my actions and I have been absolutely oblivious to it.

I share all that to challenge you to think about the things you do or don’t do simply because of how they make you feel.

What lies do you believe? What is your identity planted in?

Do you feel like you’re not a good person even though you’ve fully surrendered your life to Jesus?

Do you feel like you need to prove yourself to the whole world or maybe it’s just to your family, your friends or just a random Person here or there?

Ask yourself why. Why? Think about it. Think about it alot.

If you are a born again, Jesus following Christian, who is secure in your identity in Christ there won’t be a single person out there who can make you doubt wether or not you’re a good person.

(BTW this is not the same as justifying your sins. If you have things in your life that need repenting of, please do not use this as a way to justify your actions. This isn’t about how others make you feel, this is about taking a good, hard look at yourself.)

Once you’ve identified something you do to feel good about yourself, I challenge you to not stop there. Pray about it, ask God to take you to the root of it.

Don’t stop till you understand why you believe this and what incident in your life allowed this lie to be planted.

This is the place, where you now have the ability to change that wrong mindset.

1. Renounce the lie. Do it verbally. Declare the words out loud: ‘I am a good person because I’ve been washed in the blood of the lamb. I am not defined by the things I accomplish.’ (Use your own words though, whatever it is you struggle with.)🙃 Declaring something verbally breaks the chains holding you captive,
2. Confess it. Bring it into the light. Tell someone. James 5:16 says: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. Confessing to someone else and having them pray with you also breaks the chains holding you captive. Keeping silent on something gives the devil power, but he loses that power when you bring it into the light.
3. Change the way you think. 2 Corinthians 10:5 says: We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God,^(A)and we take captive every thought to make it obedient^(B) to Christ. Do this literally. When those old thought patterns surface, silence them immediately and allow only the things that God says to be true to have a place in your mind. ‘I am a good person because I’ve been washed in the blood of the lamb…

It’s amazing really. Our life experiences teach us to believe things that aren’t always true.

However, through the power of Holy Spirit all things can be made new. God can and will change all your wrong mindsets if you simply bring them to him.

Carrying these strongholds of the mind is more exhausting then we realize, and digging back through your past in order to get rid of them can be a painful process, but on the other side of the pain, the scars and the ugliness lies a freedom of mind that is exhilarating!

Again, I’m challenging you today to not be content with mediocre freedom. Because Jesus didn’t die on the cross to set us kinda free.

He died to set us fully, completely and totally free!

Why would we reject this gift he has so freely given to us?

Today is a good day to start pursuing the complete freedom he has made available to us.

Be blessed and be free!

If you haven’t yet, you might want to read part 1 to this, that way it will make more sense.🙂

After we established that moving to California Is something that we are going to do, we started making plans.

Me, I’m a list maker. My brain works better when everything is organized and planned. Things make more sense that way.

So, I made a couple lists. Things to do before our house is ready to sell. Things that need to happen to start a life in CA.

This list consisted of:

1. Find a job for Checkers.
2. Find a house.
3. Find a school for Kenzie.
4. Plan a trip to CA to iron out the details of the first 3.
5. There was more, like setting up a bank account, switching over our drivers’ license, vehicle registration etc. but those first 3 looked the most daunting.

How does one find a job, a house or a school when you know no one and nothing about the area?😳

A quote I love: ‘When God brings you to it, he will also bring you through it.’

We decided to start with a house, because if we don’t have a house, the job and school are pointless right?

Guys, there is lots of online resources to finding a house. Plus, there’s this thing called realtors.

Finding a house should be a breeze, even if it’s on the other side of the country. Right?

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Here’s the thing: We still don’t have a house!!!🤦‍♀️

I read a couple of Dave Ramsey’s books a couple years ago, so I knew that he has ELPS (Endorsed local providers.) Basically if a realtor meets certain standards they can become an ELP and you know they’re seasoned, experienced realtors or they wouldn’t be on the list.

So, we went to Dave Ramsey’s website and filled out the form requesting a real estate agent in Redding CA.

Not much later, Checkers’ phone rang and he ended up talking with this realtor for 25 minutes. He learned that this guy and his family attend Bethel church. He also said he would text Checkers some numbers of construction people that might be hiring.

Guys, these things don’t just happen. This was one of those moments when God showed us that if we follow him, he will always make the impossible, possible.

Our realtor supplied Checkers with three numbers to call for job opportunities.

Construction guy one said, “Not hiring right now.’

Construction guy two said, “We’ll, I am hiring BUT I’m kinda looking for someone with experience.”

Checkers, “Oh, well I have 16 years experience in construction.”

Construction guy two with great excitement, “You’re hired!”

He did end up getting some references to call from Checkers but he pretty much had the job at that point.

Side note: Checkers’ boss also goes to Bethel. (Not that everyone we associate needs to go to Bethel church but like I said 👆 thes things don’t just happen.)

Find a job.✅

Enrollment for Bethel school opened March 1st, (I think) we got Kenzie’s application and submitted it ASAP. However Bethel fills up fast and she did not get in.

Bethel administration was extremely helpful though and recommended a couple of schools for us to look into.

Their first recommendation was Redding Christian School, so we found their website and were excited to learn that they have elementary and high school, unlike Bethel who just has elementary. They also offer a variety of sports, music etc. options that Bethel does not. So in many ways this was actually a step up!

Again, God brought us exactly what we were looking for before we even knew what we were looking for.

Finding a school for Kenzie.✅

If you want to read the story on selling our house and finding a house out here to buy, read my blog ‘California Bound.’

Long story short… we put our house on the market and it sold less then a week later for over asking price.

After this, a lady from our church came up to us and said: “I was praying for you guys and God said to tell you that you are on the right track! No matter what happens, your plans are not to change! You are on the right track!”

I’m thinking, ‘oh shoot, what is going to go wrong? I mean everything has nicely fallen into place so far and I haven’t doubted even once that this might not be the right move… so…”😳

Well guys, Covid happened.

Need I say more?🤨

Our house sale fell through, because the lady could no longer get her financing.

However, God was one step ahead of it all and I can honestly say we never doubted our decision. Because when God so clearly makes a way and has a hand in the tiniest of details it’s pretty easy to keep your eyes on the end goal even if the road there, takes a few unexpected detours.

I’m not saying it was easy though. I am a planner, therefore I like to make plans and then execute them perfectly.😎

But when God tells you that this is going to be a journey of faith in ways that you have never yet experienced…

Well, let’s just say, you probably should not take it lightly because he will teach you how to follow him even when it doesn’t make sense and you don’t know why he’s taking you in seemingly the wrong direction.

Through our journey this summer, God moved a lot of my head knowledge to heart knowledge.

If you know something with your head you might not fully believe it, but if you experience something, you will know it with your heart and this is the information that no person, no words and no circumstance can take away from you.

One thing that became heart knowledge for me was this: ‘If God closes one door, it’s because he’s opening a better door.’

Not an easier door, a nicer door or more fun door but a better one. A door that will prune away your rough edges, a door that will mold you more perfectly for the path he has set for you, a door that will lead you in the direction he has called you to and a door that will meet your needs better then you could have planned for yourself.

I have faith like never before that he knows what I want and need better then I do. So why fight it when he changes my plans?

He has challenged me so often this summer with these words: “You can go after what you want and you can have it, it’s your choice, or you can wait for what I have and know that it will fit your needs even better.”

It isn’t always easy but there is peace in knowing that I don’t have to figure everything out perfectly because if I let it in his hands he will set the perfect plan before us.

Summer 2020 was not an easy one for us. It often felt like we got stuck in the transition phase. When churches shut down we followed Bethel online (our future) then Threshold opened back up in a different building (we were in a school before) and it didn’t feel right or normal anymore plus it was hard to get started there again since we were leaving soon anyway. Yet, we hadn’t left yet and didn’t even know when we would for sure…

It wasn’t all that much fun to be honest but every time my frustration threatened to take over God would remind me that he has something for me to learn in every season. So, I have the option of pressing into him and letting this season refine me or I can simply endure it and miss so much of what God has for me.

And if we press into him he is there and he sends these little bits of encouragement along the way.

We had so many people speak life into our journey as they shared words of what they felt God saying about our journey here.

Most times it isn’t that God is silent, it’s that we aren’t listening.

There you have it. The story of how God made a way for us to move to CA.

The closing of one chapter, however, is also the start of a new one and we are excited to see what God has for us in this next season of life.

Moving across the country, Covid-19 and all the other things this crazy year of 2020 has thrown at us is not the end but the beginning of new things.

I read this meme recently: ‘Anyone else nervous about the 2020 finality?’🙃

Awhile ago I wrote a blog titled ‘California Bound.’ That was basically the steps we took to get here while this blog is focused more on the part God played in all of it.

Summer of 2018. I had this insatiable desire to know God on a deeper level. I spent hours listening to audio Bible, podcasts, YouTube sermons and I read an insane amount of books.

This is when I found Kris Valloton on YouTube and I listened to almost every message he has on there. And there’s a lot, guys, like a lot a lot!🙃

He was and is one of my favorite speakers because I can relate to so much of what he says. He teaches a lot on the spiritual realm and it’s a subject that causes a lot of people to raise their brows with a look that says, “Uh, I think you’re taking this too far.”

But it’s real guys, I know this as surely as I know my name. I can’t always explain it, but I can feel it and I know for sure that the spiritual realm is much closer then we think. It is effecting our life in ways that are hard to comprehend and even harder to explain.

Fall of 2018: Our life felt crazy busy, plus there was life problems to walk through that we had no idea how to navigate.

Life felt rather overwhelming.

Me: “Let’s move to California and go to Bethel Church.” (This is the church where Kris Valloton, Bill Johnson, Sean Feucht and more people that I found through my Youtube searches attend.)

Checkers was all in. It’s funny, really, I’m always the one to come up with the crazy ideas, like doing a DTS, foster care and moving to California but it’s Checkers that makes it happen. I would probably spend the rest of my life thinking about it, but he has a game plan in action before the words are even fully out of my mouth. (Ok, that might be stretched a little. Just a little tho!)

We talked about it for awhile but in the end we decided not to. We had a life in PA: market, Checkers had a good job, we owned a house, Kenzie loved her school and there were many more pros to staying where we were.

Summer of 2019: Life was still too busy, life’s problems we’re still unresolved. We felt trapped in the cycle of work and payments with little time for our family. Religion, strongholds and little acceptance for the choices we made felt like a noose around our necks.

We longed to break free, to live life to the fullest, to live the life we feel called to live, to have time for ministry, to be free from the judgement, to pursue more out of life then making money and paying the bills.

We revisited the dream of moving to California. We started praying about it.

Guys, it was crazy how quickly and completely God confirmed that moving across the country is the right move for us.

1. In music class Kenzie was learning the song ‘Burn the Ships’ by King and Country. Every time it was her turn to pick the song for Worship she picked this song. After Checkers and me listened to the lyrics repeatedly, we finally googled it so we could read the words. Guys. It is crazy how much the words fit our feelings and emotions at that time, despite the fact that it’s actually talking about addiction.

Burn the Ships…

How did we get here?
All castaway on a lonely shore
I can see in your eyes, dear
It’s hard to take for a moment more
We’ve got toBurn the ships, cut the ties
Send a flare into the night
Say a prayer, turn the tide
Dry your tears and wave goodbye
Step into a new day
We can rise up from the dust and walk away
We can dance upon our heartache, yeah
So light a match, leave the past, burn the ships
And don’t you look back

Don’t let it arrest you
This fear is fear of fallin’ again
And if you need a refuge
I will be right here until the end
Oh, it’s time toBurn the ships, cut the ties
Send a flare into the night
Say a prayer, turn the tide
Dry your tears and wave goodbye
Step into a new day
We can rise up from the dust and walk away
We can dance upon our heartache, yeah… 

It’s time to burn the ships, cut the ties, dry your tears and wave good bye.

Confirmation from God, from an unexpected source (our 6 year old) doesn’t get much more specific then that.

2. A mentor of mine told me: “Life is harder when you stay in what’s familiar to you.”

This made so much sense to me but I’m not sure if I can accurately explain it. I’ll try tho.

You see, different regions have different strongholds. Different spirits that are ruling the area.

The spirits controlling the realm you grew up in, the ones you’re familiar with, will effect you more then those you’ve never experienced.

Therefore they will have more power over you and it will be harder to live the life you’ve been called to live, in that region. (Note: it’s harder but not impossible.)

3. This verse was highlighted to me over this time. Mark 6:4 And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.”

Nope, I am not proclaiming to be a prophet but I think there’s truth in this verse for every person, prophet or not. Our families and closest friends know the ugly details of our pasts. They know it all, the good, the bad and the in between.

How often do we hold people to those memories instead of giving them grace to change, to grow and to become who God has called them to be?

However, in a new region a person is often free to be who they are called to be without the hindrance of people keeping them tied to their past.

Again, you can be free anywhere, not everyone is called to move across the country. But for us, this was all confirmation that moving to California was the right move.

Those were the main signs of confirmation that we had but there was also many small, almost insignificant things, such as a random quote on FB, scripture verses that stood out that we never noticed before, different sermons and so much more that confirmed this to be the right move.

At this point we had already tentatively started moving forward with plans to move to CA. We laid out a basic plan and timeline.

To be continued…

America’s conservative people are suddenly shocked at the moral decay we see all over our country right now.

They are outraged, and they should be.

But I can’t help but ask…

Where have we been? Why did it take something extreme like Covid-19 to wake us up?

Everything that’s going on right now… this isn’t new guys. This agenda has been promoted for years. The spirits at work now are the same ones that have been controlling our media, entertainment and government for a really long time.

And yes, they’ve been slowly taking over the church too.

Why didn’t we see it before?

Why did we wait till our freedom and our children’s lives were at risk to stop turning a blind eye to the evil that has been infiltrating our country, our government, our entertainment, media and sports?

We made no effort to stop it until it permeated every inch of our society. Why?

The even bigger why that I have is this… Why are some Christians still trying to turn a blind eye to it? To the point where we shame other Christians for taking a stand.

(Sean Feucht says the online trolling is coming from mostly Christians.)

Seriously guys, Why?

Netflix is being cancelled by many conservatives right now and they should be.

But guys… Netflix should have been canceled a long time ago.

Yes, they took it to the next level with the ‘cuties’ movie but the majority of their shows before this weren’t exactly Christian material either.

Do we realize that if conservatives had banded together before and took a stand against Netflix, we probably wouldn’t be here now?

Do we realize that our government has been playing us for years?

Covid isn’t the first political scam that they have used to farther their agenda.

If you take a good look at the cold, hard facts of 9/11, it is blindingly obvious that it was not a terrorist attack but probably an inside job.

Where were we?

I’m not entirely sure what my point is here…

Maybe it’s this: Our country and our freedom is being threatened by people with evil intentions.

That is the facts.

I don’t know what exactly their end goal is but I do know that it isn’t what God has in mind for America.

A lot has been exposed this year but I don’t think we’ve yet seen just how deeply this evil agenda runs.

I think ‘cuties’ is mild compared to what these people are capable of.

So, the question is: ‘Are we going to see it, or are we going to continue to ignore it?’

It is time for Christians to take a stand. It is time for Christians to get involved in politics, entertainment and it’s high time we highjack the media and start using their platforms to promote truth.

We have seen the influence that these platforms have. They have people wearing masks and social distancing over a virus that isn’t much worse then the average flu. If it’s even worse at all.

Can you imagine how far we could spread the gospel and how many lives could be impacted positively if we had Christians running these platforms?

It’s time for us to step up and be the voices that are being heard. It’s time to drown out the hopelessness and be the voices of hope.

Sean Feucht’s massive ‘Let us Worship’ events have proven that people are desperate for hope, for worship and for Jesus.

It is time to stop following the world’s ideas and focus on what God is doing in this season.

It is time to be ‘the light of the world.’

I believe with all my heart that God isn’t done with America yet. I believe that what looks like evil taking over is actually revival being ushered in.

Here’s the problem tho…

How will we respond if revival doesn’t look like we think it should?

How will we respond if God does things differently then we expect?

How will we respond when God uses people like Donald Trump, Kanye West and Justen Bieber to bring revival to our land?

I don’t know who God plans on using but I do know that if you read through the Old Testament he often choose people who were far from perfect.

God isn’t looking for perfect people, he’s looking for those who (like David) are ‘men after his own heart.’

Did you know that the Jews were expecting and waiting for a Messiah?

Did you know that many of those same people rejected Jesus?

Why?

I think there’s two main reasons:

1. God didn’t send the Messiah in the way they expected.
2. The Messiah challenged their beliefs and their systems.
   

I believe this is where we are right now.

I believe that revival is coming but it doesn’t look like we expect it too.

I believe that we are seeing the end of church as we know it.

Because when Jesus came to earth, he didn’t come to applaud them on their organization skills or their perfect, smooth flowing systems.

He came to separate good and evil. He came to bring light, deliverance, healing and hope.

Matthew 10:34. “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send [or bring] peace, but a sword.”

Considering how long the church has not only tolerated but also participated in the evil in our land, I don’t think God is going to applaud our man made systems either.

I think he’s going to bring the church back to his design. A people that is focused more on the heart of the father then on creating a perfect system.

A church that cares more about laying down our lives and about true repentance, then we do about keeping everyone happy.

The question is: are we going to get on board With what God is doing?

Are we willing to lay down our ideas, our wants and our wishes for his will?

Are we willing to be moldable, to be fully surrendered to his plan?

Are we willing to let go of everything we hold dear, for the better life of complete and total surrender to the gospel?