A.T.

“Go for Broke”

Ann — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 01:41:42 +0000

So while driving home tonight I began reflecting on some of the awesome conversations I have been having lately with my friend Kit. We were talking about our struggles, our dreams, our goals, what Gods doing in our life etc. We have also been talking about what the devil has been using/doing to distract us.

Lets get real for a minute. The devil is here to kill,steal, and destroy. It’s that simple. If you are a Christian, he will try to make your life a living hell. If you feel like your life is a living hell, then open your eyes and start assessing the situation.

John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

What has your life been looking like lately? It got me thinking about my own life. What has been distracting me lately from fully pursuing God? It has been my own insecurity and doubt about my future and how God is going to get me to where I know He has called me to be. I have been freaking out and doubting God’s faithfulness and love for me because the devil was able to put a thought in my head and that has been all I can focus on! Shut the front door, I let the devil distract me and spin me into a crazy cycle of doubt and confusion while God has been saying, “Why the HECK are you listening to someone whos sole purpose is to kill, steal, and destroy??”

If you let the devil distract you by placing a thought into your head and then you only seem to focus on that thought/subject/issue and stop listening to what God has to say – then you just need to stop, take a breath and tell the devil to go back to hell where he belongs.

This week in my quiet times I have been realizing how …… I don’t even know how to describe it….. Gods love is. It is so much “more” than I have ever realized. I have been realizing that if the devil can distract me from that love then I can become unfaithful with the small things that God has entrusted me with (reading my bible, pursuing God on more than sunday, reaching out of my comfort zone in faith etc). If I become unfaithful with the small things, then how is God going to trust me with the BIG things He has planned for my life? From a simple distraction, I could let the devil keep me from my future because I am too focused on whatever I might be struggling with. The devil will try to keep you from growing, prospering, living abundantly in Gods love. When you forget how much God loves you, you become apathetic to serving Him. As my brother has tattooed on his calf “Go for broke”. If we aren’t going broke (giving everything we have) for Jesus and living a life for His cause, then we are merely living a life that is pleasing to the enemy. He has distracted us enough to keep us from doing the most important thing while on this earth and that is sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.

John 3:16(NASB)

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

So- Christians:

Hebrews 12 (message)

^1-3Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!

Don’t let the devil distract you. If you are struggling with something in your life, don’t let it consume you so much that you stop running the race. Drop it at the cross and remember that HE is faithful to His promises. His love for you is more than you can ever imagine and I pray that this week you experience it in a whole new way.

“Go for broke”.

Love,

Why it’s more important to do it today.

Ann — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 14:18:58 +0000

Obesity, overweight, out of shape, not healthy – describes a large part of America….

Just a year ago I could never imagine being larger than a size 4 – Almost a year into marriage and I have found myself fully immersed into the weight loss struggle of America. I went from running a half marathon, to getting winded going up the stairs in my house. It was a HUGE wake up call when I realized that I wouldn’t consider myself healthy anymore. It was even a bigger wake up call when I looked at the scale. Time after time I was getting asked if I was pregnant (which I’m not). I wanted to shrivel up inside and cry. Which I have cried and asked myself how I let myself get to this point. Now, some of you who might be reading this might say – I didn’t even notice you gained weight! (you’re too kind! and thank you) Well in the past month 1/2 I have taken my weight and more importantly my LIFE into my own hands and here is why you should too.

My dad passed away from a heart attack when I was 17. He never walked me down the aisle, never danced with me at my wedding, never met my husband. He hasn’t seen my house, he hasn’t seen my photography business grow (he was a photographer as well), he never saw me graduate from high school. He never knew I want to be a teacher, Patrick never got to ask him for my hand in marriage, he won’t be there when I graduate from college. He won’t be there to see his grandchildren. When the special day comes, I won’t be able to call him and tell him that we will bring a child into this world. I can’t call him to tell him I love him. I can’t hug him or kiss him or have him there for the important milestones in my life.

My dad passed away from a heart attack. He had high blood pressure and cholesterol. I don’t remember my dad ever running around with my brother and I outside when we were little. Don’t get me wrong, he is the MOST AMAZING, LOVING, WISE, KIND man I have known, he’s my dad (so he’s the greatest thing since sliced bread). However, I know that if he was healthier, he might have been around a little bit longer to experience this miracle known as life.

If you have kids and are out of shape, over weight, can’t run around with them…. here is a wakeup call. Get in shape for your kids because you’re only thinking about you. I would give anything to have my dad here. Your kids want you around to experience the huge milestones that happen in their life. Death comes a lot earlier if you aren’t taking care of your body. If you aren’t feeding your body right, taking the proper maintenance of it then what do you expect if it isn’t working properly. Your body is just like a car – if you ignore when the gears aren’t shifting right or don’t take it to get the oil changed or ignore all the maintenance that it needs – eventually it will stop working.

Since I have taken my life into my own hands and have started taking care of my body again I can see a huge difference. I have gone down a pant size, can run again, and feel GREAT. I WILL BE AROUND TO MEET MY GRANDCHILDREN.

I’m going to be the mom who can ride bikes with her kids or run around the playground and not just sit on the bench. I will be the mom who takes time out of the day to exercise because 30 mins to an hour of “me time” will give my children a lot more years of having me around. I will NOT let myself give up on my weight or health because that means I’m only thinking about me. Me only thinking about me results in my kids and grand kids not having me around. I want to live my life to the fullest – so when i’m 80 years old I still want to be functioning. I don’t want to be confined to a wheel chair or on a million medications.

So, stop thinking only about you. Get in shape, get healthy and stick around so one day you’ll get to enjoy your grand kids. Do it for yourself. Do it for your spouse. Do it for your kids. Do it so you can enjoy life to the fullest.

I got everything I could ever want in a man.

Ann — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 15:36:01 +0000

I snapped this picture today through the blinds and window of my living room. It makes my heart melt knowing that I am married to an amazing man of God. Ladies, if you aren’t married – DON’T SETTLE!

I am so blessed to know my husband. He is gentle, kind, wise, handsome, funny, energetic, smart, witty, loving, and the list goes on. Our paths crossed back in 2008 and it has been an amazing journey every day since. The above picture is exactly why I fell in love with my husband. His love for God, wisdom, and knowledge. If you are married or soon to be married or want to be married one day, remember; no one is perfect but as long as we keep pursuing God, learn to compromise, are quick to forgive and Ephesians 5:33 then we are destined to succeed. <3

Basically I just wanted to share with you how amazing my husband is. He doesn’t get credit nearly enough for his amazing-ness (in everything he does). So Patrick, thank you for being an AMAZING man of God and leading our family in the right direction. So glad on November 27th 2010, we started this wonderful life together. Excited for what the next 120 years hold.

Love, Your wife.

Morning QT.

Ann — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 13:24:16 +0000

My quiet time was so refreshing this morning. The past couple of weeks I have had this constant “I don’t know what I’m going to do or what path I’m suppose to go down” type of thought (most with school/work related things. Yes I still want to teach, the question is which program to choose to get there). I have several paths I can go down and each one leads to the same outcome but a different way of getting there. Do you ever feel like you are standing on one foot and the other one has no idea on which direction to take the first step in? Yea, well I feel like I have been standing on one foot in certain areas for a long time. Well this morning while writing in my journal, I began to write down what I was concerned about. You wanna know what I felt like God was saying back? “Well this is the first time you have brought the issue’s to me and trusted me to lead you down the right path. Remember, my plans are for you to prosper not to harm”. Dang. So true!!! I have trusted in myself with the decisions when I should have brought my concerns a long time ago to the One who already knows the outcome! oops. Praise God that He is patient and loving because sometimes I really need that.

So, my challenge for you (and myself) is to make sure you are laying all your decisions, thoughts, feelings, worries, stress, everything at His feet and let HIM sort through it and guide you in the right direction. It would be like playing the lottery and not taking answers from someone who already knows the winning numbers. It would be crazy!

Love,

Jeremiah 29:11

New King James Version (NKJV)

¹¹ For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

4 down.

Ann — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 01:12:57 +0000

So, here is my update.

So far I have been faithful to my gym promise! I have been everyday for AT LEAST 30 minutes. Tuesday I forced myself to wake up at 5 to make sure I could get it in. I arrived at the gym at 5:30 in the morning and was locked out because my hand print was not opening the door (everything was resolved and a member let me in). My struggle is the third day of going to the gym. I always try to reason with myself that my body needs a break (which it doesn’t). I worked through it though and tomorrow will mark day 5. Woo hoo for getting back into shape!

Between the Bahamas (cruise) then Aruba then eating all the leftover candy from our wedding…. it added up. I am determined. Focused. Ready to achieve my goals.

Challenge | 25 days.

Ann — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 23:31:46 +0000

I just finished with my summer classes and wow, I feel like I can breathe again! The past two weeks I have completely ignored the gym and my physical health. So now that I am class free, I am setting up a personal challenge for myself. I have 25 days of no classes and I want to rock that time out in the gym.

So here is my challenge.

Monday through Friday I will be in the gym.

Saturdays will be optional.

I will blog about my experience, it will be that simple.

Love,

Pray. Ask. Believe.

Ann — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 15:28:38 +0000

That is exactly what I’m doing. I’m speaking the word of God over my life and believing that it will come to pass.

Ok the last picture if the back of my office door with my goals, wants, dreams, desires, etc written on sticky notes. They have dates on the back of them of when they went up there. When I see them come to pass, I will take it down, and tape it into the journal you see above the door picture with the date of when it came to pass and how it came to pass.

How am I going to see it come to pass?

Speaking the word of God over my life
Believing it will happen no matter how long it might take
Speaking the Will
Shouting before the victory
Setting my thermostat (Joel Osteen reference)
Praying
Do what I can do in the natural to help it come to pass
Already rejoicing because I KNOW it will happen.

So throughout my life, sticky notes will go up and they might come down quickly while other go up and they might stay for awhile. However, at the end of it all, I’ll have a journal full of praise reports and testimonies of how God moved in my life and provided time after time after time.

I got this idea about 2 weeks ago and today I finally put them up. I have already been able to put 2 sticky notes in the journal. PRAISE GOD!

I pray you make your dreams, goals, desires, as clear as day and do everything you can to see them come to pass. What you can’t do, God can. So don’t worry. You’re not in this alone.

Love,

Habakkuk 2:2

^-3And then God answered: “Write this.
Write what you see.
Write it out in big block letters
so that it can be read on the run.
This vision-message is a witness
pointing to what’s coming.
It aches for the coming—it can hardly wait!
And it doesn’t lie.
If it seems slow in coming, wait.
It’s on its way. It will come right on time.

Cement.

Ann — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 13:28:40 +0000

This is going to be fairly short and sweet. Just wanted to share a little bit of my heart on here.

Sunday. I love my church. I love our worship team. I love my God. I love worshiping Him. I love how amazing, how faithful, how powerful, how loving, how merciful He is. I could keep going on for forever.

Well often I say, “I stand firm on the word of God. My feet are planted. I can not be shaken from the truth”

Well on sunday while one of my favorite songs were going on, (awakening) I sat down in my seat, put my head in my hands and just let the music minister.

I had a vision or whatever you would like to call it. There were two empty buckets and I had one foot in each one. I was standing and then cement was poured to cover my feet. I was cemented in. God whispered, you aren’t standing firm on the word, you are cemented in. Tears began to come into my eyes and for those who know me, you know how much of a cryer I am.

These past couple of months the word of God has been so alive and powerful in my life. Speaking over my life, believing for God to move in big ways, and seeing His power, love, faithfulness move freely in my life. It has been so wonderful.

There are parts of this song that are so powerful.

“In our hearts, Lord, in this nation
Awakening
Holy Spirit, we desire
Awakening

For You and You alone
Awake my soul, awake my soul and sing
For the world You love
Your will be done, let Your will be done in me

In Your presence, in Your power
Awakening
For this moment, for this hour
Awakening

For You and You alone
Awake my soul, awake my soul and sing
For the world You love
Your will be done, let Your will be done in me”

So I pray for an awakening in all of our lives. Every single day. I pray you are cemented into the word of God. I pray that God is showing Himself to you in powerful ways so that in return you can go out in the world and help with the much needed awakening this country needs.

Love,

Grace.

Ann — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 02:02:30 +0000

חסד

That is the word grace in Hebrew.

Ephesians 2:8-10 (New King James Version)

⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not of works, lest anyone should boast. ¹⁰ For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2:8-10 (Amplified Bible)

⁸For it is by free grace (God’s unmerited favor) that you are saved (^[a]delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation) through [your] faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [of your own doing, it came not through your own striving], but it is the gift of God;

⁹Not because of works [not the fulfillment of the Law's demands], lest any man should boast. [It is not the result of what anyone can possibly do, so no one can pride himself in it or take glory to himself.]

¹⁰For we are God’s [own] handiwork (His workmanship), ^[b]recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live].

When I first became a Christian, my “salvation song” was “Grace like Rain” by Todd Agnew. Great song! Here are some of the lyrics.

“Hallelujah, grace like rain falls down on me

Hallelujah, all my stains are washed away, washed away

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear

And grace my fears relieved

How precious did that grace appear

the hour I first believed. “

Grace is something we concentrate on when we first become Christians but sometimes we forget about the power of it. It is by grace (God’s favor that I didn’t deserve) that I am saved. Wow! Such a powerful statement.

Psalms 103: 8,12

⁸The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy and loving-kindness.^(B)

¹²As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.

I am in awe of His grace for me. His love for me. His mercy for me.

Imagine this. A guy breaks into a house, steals everything, trashes the place and then gets caught by the police. He is standing before the judge and is told that the punishment for his crime requires a minimum of two years in jail. HOWEVER, instead of sentencing the man to two years, he is only ordered to do community service. That is a perfect example of Mercy. Not getting what you deserve.

Imagine the same scenario except the judge dismisses the case simply because the man said he was sorry. He asked for forgiveness. That is a perfect example of Grace. Getting something you don’t deserve.

God’s mercy for us. Not getting what you deserve. What do we deserve?

Romans 6:23 (New American Standard Bible)

²³ For the wages of ^(A)sin is death, but the free gift of God is ^(B)eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God’s grace for us. Getting something you don’t deserve. What don’t we deserve?

Romans 6:23 (New American Standard Bible)

²³ For the wages of ^(A)sin is death, but the free gift of God is ^(B)eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I pray you remember how powerful of a gift His grace is and have a thankful heart for His mercy.

Love,

Listen.

Ann — Tue, 31 May 2011 02:58:31 +0000

Where is your absolute favorite place to go? Where do your worries get put on hold? For me, I can easily say my favorite place to go is the beach. Whenever my dad died, the only place I wanted to go was the beach and I didn’t even care that it was the dead of winter. There is something about the beach that is extremely therapeutic for me. All hell can be breaking loose around me and as soon as I know I am taking a trip to the beach, nothing seems to matter – at least for the day or the few hours that I am there.

Well today Patrick and I packed everything up and headed to the beach. It was a much needed daycation and fun getaway from reality. With summer classes starting to get into full swing and everything else in my life that is going on, I just needed it. If you pack your lunch and dinner then honestly all it costs is parking and gas. So we could have gone down there for 40 dollars and then 5 dollars for parking. However, we treated ourselves to a wonderful dinner at a local seafood place.

As I was laying on my beach towel, soaking up some sun and listening to the constant rhythm of the waves – I was able to stop and listen. We talk to God all the time, but I think as Christians we have a serious listening issue. We tell God our needs and wants and desires and send up our prayers but how often do we listen to His replies and the divine romance He gently calls us to enter into. We can pray all day and everyday but unless we stop and listen to God’s response and answers to our prayers, in some ways, it is kind of pointless. (at least when it comes to our own personal growth)

Proverbs 19:27 (New King James Version)

²⁷ Cease listening to instruction, my son,
And you will stray from the words of knowledge.

It is absolutely essential to listen to God on a daily basis. Sometimes you have to get away from the hustle and bustle of life to get it quiet enough or sometimes you hear God loud and clearly in a crowded room. I have my quiet space in my house where I can escape everything that is going on. It might be your bedroom, your office, a spare room or outside on the porch. Wherever it may be – get alone with God and listen to what He is trying to say. I can’t always run away to the beach to hear God or stop all the stress in my life but I can go into my office, shut the door and just sit and listen. Sometimes we miss God saying the most powerful things because our lives are too chaotic and the things in them are too loud. Make sure God is the loudest voice in your life. Quiet your surroundings and listen. You will be surprised at the things you haven’t been hearing simply because God is not the loudest voice in your life.

So I pray that God is the loudest voice in your life and that you can hear His gentle whispers even in the midst of the chaos.

Love,