Walk Boldly With Jesus

Patience Is A VirtueSirach 1:23 “Those who are patient stay calm until the right moment, and then cheerfulness comes back to them.  They hold back their words until the right moment; then the lips of many tell of their good sense.”Have you ever heard people say, Patience is a virtue?  I have heard it frequently, and it is usually said when someone is struggling with patience.  What is a virtue?  According to my quick internet search, virtue has been defined as “conformity of life and conduct with the principles of morality.” The virtues are thus the practical attitudes and habits adopted in obedience to those principles.  It seems there is much discussion online about whether patience is actually a virtue or not.  However, most agree that it is not a virtue. The saying patience is a virtue " shows how important and good having patience is.  Have you ever known someone who seemed to have an unlimited amount of patience? That was my mom.She was the oldest of 10 children growing up, and being the oldest meant that she had to help raise them.  It also meant that if my grandmother was sick, she needed to step in and take care of everyone until she got better.  This happened one time, I forget how old she was, although I know she was still in school.  My grandfather was away as he was in the Navy, and my grandmother got very sick.  My mom had to miss, I think, about 3 months of school so she could take care of the kids while my grandma was sick.  You might think, after being the oldest of 10 kids, she wouldn't want any kids, or maybe she might want one or two, but definitely not too many.  You would be wrong.  My parents got married, wanting 12 children.  Now, I can see how a Catholic couple could have 12 kids, but going into the marriage wanting that many, after having just helped raise 9, is beyond me.  My husband thought I was crazy wanting four kids.  My mom and dad had 11 kids.  Now, you would think that after helping to raise 10 kids and then raising 11 kids of your own, you would be done with children by the time your kids were grown.  You would think my mom would be kinda tired of kids at that point.  Not that kids are bad.  I love children.  I just know how much work it is to raise children, and I have no idea how hard it is to raise 11 children, but I can imagine it is harder than raising 3.  My mom did not take a break.  When my youngest brother was in school, I'm not sure what age, she went to work at a Montessori school for 3-5 year olds.  She was in her glory.  She just really loves children.  The reason I am telling you all of this is that my mom had so much patience.  Now, I am not saying she never lost her cool, because she did, she is human after all. However, she could be faced with immensely difficult situations and stay very calm.  Because we had a lot of kids growing up, we didn't really have a lot of money.  Thankfully, my dad had a very good job; however, it still wasn't enough money most of the time because of the number of kids they had.  My mom would see that we had more bills than money, and she would stay calm.  I am sure it probably stressed her out, but some people get really angry when they get stressed.  She did not.  She remained calm and just called the places and set up payment plans.  I was a child who did not like to get up in the morning, which is funny to me now, as I was up at 4 am this morning.  However, when I was in school, I hated waking up.  Oftentimes, I would not get out of bed until about the 6th time of being woken up.  Yet, I can't remember my mom yelling at me once for it.  Even if I was late to the car, she was just patiently waiting for me.  My siblings, not so patient, but who could blame them?  I wasn't intending this episode to be about my mom, although I am not surprised that is where the Holy Spirit took me, because I have always admired my mom's patience.  I have had to develop a lot of patience over the years.  Well, I guess I didn't have to, but I chose to do that instead of being angry and frustrated all the time.  Do you know that you have a choice?  You can choose to develop more patience.  It is not as if there is a finite amount of patience, and it is not as if you either have it or you don't.  You can work on it, and you can become more patient if you want to.The verse says, “Those who are patient stay calm until the right moment, and then cheerfulness comes back to them.  They hold back their words until the right moment; then the lips of many tell of their good sense.”  There are two parts to this verse.  The first one is “Those who are patient stay calm until the right moment, and then cheerfulness comes back to them.”  This is so true.  Can you picture a time when you stayed calm in a situation? Didn't it feel less stressful?  Were you able to be happy in the difficult situation?  When there is at least one person who is being patient and remaining calm, then it usually helps others to do the same.  We tend to mirror other people's emotions.  This is why they say not to make a big deal when your children are little and they fall down.  If you freak out, they freak out.  If you remain calm, they may remain calm.  The mirror reflects our emotions, especially when we are younger.  Another reason to become more patient is that being impatient never helps a situation.  It usually has the opposite effect.  Have you noticed that when you are in a hurry, everything goes wrong?  You can't find your shoes, your keys, your jacket, whatever it is you need.  Or you walk out of the house and forget things because you were in a hurry.  Also, if you are in a hurry and you are waiting on others, being impatient usually starts a fight, and there definitely aren't those cheerful feelings the verse is talking about.  When we are impatient with those we are trying to get out of the house, they often get angry, and then it slows us down even more.  This was a big lesson that God showed me over and over again when my kids were little.    If we were late, rushing the kids, nagging the kids, and being frustrated with the kids, it was not going to get them out of the house any faster.  I had to learn to remain calm, patient, compassionate, and helpful.  Instead of yelling at them to get their shoes on, I would place their shoes by the door, ask if they needed help putting them on, or sometimes, just put the shoes in the car for them so they could do it in the car.  When I was able to be patient and remain calm, we definitely had a more cheerful car ride.The second part of this verse says, “They hold back their words until the right moment; then the lips of many tell of their good sense.” Have you ever noticed that when we are impatient, we don't always say the nicest things?  Even if they are things that need to be said, we don't say them at the right time if we are not remaining calm.  For instance, it would have been completely appropriate for my mom to sit me down when I was younger and talk with me about how important it was to get up in the mornings and how if I got to the car late, I was making everyone late.  And she might have, I just don't remember.  However, yelling at me in the morning when I am half asleep and when we are trying to get out the door is not the right time.  I know when I was impatient with my kids because we needed to get somewhere and we were late, I would slip into lecture mode.  You have to get up earlier, I told you to make sure you had everything the night before, we are going to be late now because you can't be bothered to hurry, and whatever else I used to say.  Those were definitely not my finest hours.  Although I know we all have those moments as parents.  It would have been appropriate after the fact, not in the moment, to talk about why we were late and what we could do differently next time.  The verse doesn't say they hold back their words forever.  It says they hold their words for the right moment.  This is so important.  There is a time and place to say things, and learning to know when that is will serve you well.There is a challenge that I learned about in my mentoring group.  It is called the Zip It Challenge, and it is based on a best-selling book by Karen Ehman.  You can look it up online, and you will find the book.  I haven't read it, but it looks really good, so I may have to get it.  She said she covers eight major topics: taming our tempers, sarcasm, gossip, gracious speech, sweet and salty language, asking for forgiveness, whether to speak up or remain silent, and how God's word can alter our words. I could use some help in all those areas.  However, the zip-it challenge is when you are more intentional with your words.  It is where you spend the next 40 days, or 20 days, or even just one day, realizing that you don't have to say every thought that comes into your mind.  Before saying something, stop and ask yourself, Does this need to be said?  Will this still matter to me in 5 years?  I have heard of numerous people taking this challenge, and they are reporting that it has really helped their relationships, whether with their kids, spouse, or parents.  There are lots of things we say that just don't really need to be said.  We think we are helping our loved ones, but many times, we are just nagging or telling them something they already know.  Maybe this week, we could all try to be a little more patient and a little more intentional about our words.  Being patient may not be easy, but it will make you happier.  Being intentional with your words is also not easy, but it's really worth it when you see the change in your relationships.  Words are powerful.  Choose them wisely.Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, you are amazing, and we love you.  We ask that you help us grow in patience.  Please help us learn to be calm in difficult situations.  Help us to be patient with our loved ones.  Help us to guard our tongue and to hold back our words until the right moment.  Lord, help us discern what needs to be said and what doesn't.  Help us be more intentional with our words and to think before we speak.  Lord, we are so grateful that you are always with us.  We are also grateful that you are so forgiving, as we mess up a lot.  We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus' holy name, Amen.Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  I look forward to spending time with you tomorrow.  Have a blessed day! www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

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Road TripPsalm 144:7-9 “Stretch out your hand from on high; set me free and rescue me from the mighty waters, from the hand of aliens, whose mouths speak lies, and whose right hands are false. I will sing a new song to you, O God; upon a ten-stringed harp I will play to you.” When I read this verse, I thought it was appropriate as I talked with a friend this morning, and she is going through a difficult time right now.  I wish I could say she was my only friend going through a hard time right now.  I wish I could say that those I know who are suffering right now are in the minority.  Unfortunately, it is hard for me to think of someone that I know who isn't suffering in some way or another right now.  I know so many people who have asked for prayers because they or a loved one has cancer.  It is out of control how many people have cancer right now.  Also, after a year and a half of staying inside, a lot of families are struggling.  Children don't want to be back in school, or they are more anxious or more depressed. I don't want to be all doom and gloom, and I'm not meaning to sound like that.  I just know that there are so many people suffering right now.  I am on a few different prayer lists, and the requests for prayers are non-stop, and those who need them are really suffering.  I long for the days when the worst people have to worry about is whether they will pass their English or Math test at school.  However, I don't know if those days will come.  I think as long as we are on this side of heaven, there will always be tough times, and we will always have struggles.  I do think that we get a break from it.  I don't think the struggle is constant, although I know it can feel that way when we are in it.  I think we just truck along doing life, and sometimes we encounter circumstances that are really difficult, and then sometimes we don't.  I view it as a long road trip.  If you have ever been on a long road trip, you know that some stretches of road are easy.  The traffic is flowing, the road is well taken care of, the weather is nice, and maybe there is nice scenery to look at out the window.  There are some parts of the road trip that you really enjoy.  Then there are some parts that are not great.  There are parts of every long road trip that aren't fun; there might be more traffic than we like, it might be a really long and boring stretch of road without much to see, or you may even have weather that is not great.  Then there are times in a long road trip that can be awful.  You can be stuck in traffic for hours and not move far at all, or you can be stuck in a torrential downpour or a snow blizzard.  Your car could even break down while you are on a road trip.  This is similar to our journey through life.  Sometimes, time is going to go by quickly, and you are going to enjoy the ride and the view.  Other times, life will feel like it is crawling by, and you aren't getting anywhere.  And sometimes nothing great will be happening, and also, nothing bad will be happening.  You will just be coasting through.  Thinking of my journey through life like this has helped me to remember, in the hard times, that they will not last forever.  This is just a season I am in, and brighter days are coming.  I think our attitude and our thoughts play such a huge role in how we feel during the difficult times.  When we are going through a difficult time, we get to choose what we focus on.  We may not know that at the time, but we always get to choose what we focus on.  In every scenario, there are many different things happening, and which you decide to focus on, or what you decide to tell yourself about that situation, will play a huge part in how you feel and your attitude towards it.  For instance, if I am struggling with my boys, there are many things in that struggle that I can focus on.  Let's say I am unhappy that my son got a D in algebra.  I can focus on the fact that he got a D and that he may fail that class for the semester if he doesn't try harder this quarter.  I could focus on the fact that he attended school more this semester than last.  I could focus on the fact that he did really well in his other classes.  I could focus on the fact that last year was really hard and he is doing better this year.  Do you see how there are numerous things that I could focus on?  I get to choose which one I am going to focus on.  I can choose to focus on a negative one that will make me angry and keep me upset, or I can focus on one that is more positive and will help me to see that this one D is not the end of the world.  I am not saying that you can't care about the problem you are facing.  Of course, you can care, and I am also not saying don't think about it.  What I am saying is that if you are going through a hard time, try to find something positive in the situation and focus on that instead of obsessing about the negative things in the circumstance.  This is especially important if you can't do anything about the negative things.  If I chose to focus on my son's D, what would that change?  Would my being angry about it change the grade?  Would my being angry at him make him want to study harder?  I can think of many reasons why focusing on something that makes me angry will hurt me, but I can't see how it will change the situation.  The verse above says, “Stretch out your hand from on high; set me free and rescue me from the mighty waters, from the hand of aliens, whose mouths speak lies, and whose right hands are false. I will sing a new song to you, O God; upon a ten-stringed harp I will play to you,”  This is something that I think we have all been praying for lately.  At least all those that I have been talking to.  They would love for the Lord, our God, to stretch out His hand and rescue them to set them free.  I have several friends who feel like they are sinking in the mighty waters and are waiting and praying for God to save them.  I like how in this verse, immediately after they ask God to stretch out His hand to save them, they then say they will sing a new song to Him, and upon a ten-stringed harp they will play to Him.  Immediately after they ask for help, they start to praise Him.  This is where a lot of us struggle.  We wait for God to help before we praise Him.  We wait to see God show up and fix things before we begin to praise.  What if we began to praise immediately after asking?  What if we thanked God and praised Him for helping us before we saw Him help?  I wonder if anything would be different?  I wonder if we would see help sooner?  I wonder if we would feel any different?  In John 20:29, “Jesus said to him, 'Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”  I wonder if we would strengthen our faith if we not only believed that God would answer our prayers, but we thanked Him and praised Him before we saw any proof that He was going to?  I am going to try this and see what happens.  I invite you to do the same.  Let's join together and thank God and praise Him for answering all the prayers we have asked Him to answer right now, before He has answered them.  Let's not wait until after our prayers are answered to thank the Lord.  Let's show Him that we believe in Him as He believes in us.  Dear Heavenly Father, I pray for all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we ask that you help us to know that we will make it through this difficult time.  Lord, give us a supernatural sense of peace and comfort, knowing that you are here with us always and that you will help us through whatever we are facing.  Lord, we ask that you help us to see that we can choose what we focus on.  Help us to focus on the good and the positive in each situation.  Help us to remember to thank you and to praise you, Lord.  Help us not to wait until we see your answers to our prayers.  Help us to thank you and praise you now, while we are still waiting for those answers, because we trust that you will answer them.  We love you, Lord, and we know that you are amazing.  We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus' holy name, Amen.Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  I look forward to spending time with you tomorrow.  Have a blessed day! www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

God's Mercy Is EndlessPsalm 36:7-9 “How precious is your mercy, O God! The children of men take refuge in the shadow of your wings.  They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights.  For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light.”I love the imagery in this verse.  I love how it talks about God's mercy.  This is something I don't think we talk about enough.  We talk about God's love, but not always His mercy.  I think the reason for this is that we have a hard time believing in His mercy.  We have a hard enough time believing that God loves us. Believing that and believing that he forgives us for our sins, all of our sins, is just too much to believe for some of us.  Why is it so much easier to believe these things about other people than it is to believe them about ourselves?  I can believe that God will forgive my kids for all their sins.  That comes easily to me.  I can believe he loves them with his whole heart, no matter what they do.  I find that easy to believe because I know I love them with my whole heart, no matter what they do.  If I can do it in my broken state, surely God can do it.  I know that God's mercy is endless.  This made me think of a prayer that is part of the Divine Mercy Chaplet.  Here is the prayer, “Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase Your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to Your holy will, which is Love and Mercy itself.”  I think the Holy Spirit brought this to my mind right now because it talks about God's mercy.  Is this something you believe for others, but not yourself?  Is it something that you think you believe, but then when you examine your actions, you realize you are not quite there yet?  This is where I am at most of the time.  I know God is merciful.  I know God loves me and forgives all my sins, and yet at times I act like I am not forgiven.  I strive to do all I can to earn God's love when, in actuality, there is nothing I have to do because I already have all His love.  Do you do this too?The beginning of this verse says, “The children of men take refuge in the shadow of your wings.”  Isn't that a beautiful image?  When I hear that verse, I picture a giant Eagle just standing on the ground, and I am standing next to it.  I am holding on to his little leg, and He has His giant wing wrapped around me in protection.  We can take refuge in the Lord. Did you know that?  There are many places in the Bible where it talks about God being our refuge.  When you need protection, when you need a safe place to rest, rest in the Lord; He will be your refuge.The next line says, “They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights.”  Sometimes we can think of God in terms of giving things up.  We can think that if we want to be a good Christian, then we have to sacrifice all we have.  We think we need to go without.  This is not the case.  God is a God of abundance.  Yes, we are called to give and to sacrifice, but God will not be outdone in generosity.  The more you give, the more God gives to you.  God knows what things you like, He knows the things you need, and He is taking care of them for you.  He is a God of abundance. He is not just taking care of the things you need, but the things you want as well.  It says, You give them drink from the river of your delights. God is so good.  He isn't just in the big things in life, He is in all the little details of your life too.  He shares His delights with you.  This verse ends with, “For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light.” God is our fountain of life.  Everything we have flows through Him.  We would have nothing without Him, and we are nothing without Him.  God is also our light.  He lights the way for us, and He is the light in the world that we see.  What would be great is if we could get to a point where we can shine light for others.  If we got to a place where God's light shone so brightly through us that we could be that light for others.  Now that I am saying that, I think we can be a light for others, even if we aren't quite where we want to be.  I am not sure we will ever be at a place where we think we have finally arrived.  I don't think this life is all about getting to the perfect place in life.  I think this life is more about our journey to become the best versions of ourselves.  I am not sure we ever arrive at that destination while we are here on earth.  I think it is something we can continually work towards.  What came to my mind just after I wrote that we could be a light for others is all the ways we help to spread God's love around this world.  When you are talking about God or Jesus to those you meet, that is spreading God's light.  When you pray for someone, you are being a light to them.  When you do something kind for someone, you are spreading God's light to them.  I know we probably don't think of ourselves as spreading God's light to others.  We don't think of ourselves as being a light to others, and yet, that is exactly what we are doing when we are talking about God, spreading His message, spreading His love.  Sometimes we can spread God's love without even opening our mouths.  There is so much darkness in the world, so much hatred and division.  When we are the opposite of that, when we are love and light, people can't help but notice.  We can be the light to others just by being different, just by being positive and not letting the world take our joy away.  If we can do that, others will notice and they will want what we have.Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Dad, we want you to be our light, we want to drink of the river of your delights. Dad, please help us remember that you are a God of abundance.  Help us not to be afraid that if we give to others, we will be left with nothing.  Help us to remember that you will not be outdone in generosity.  Father, your mercy is endless, and we are so grateful.  Please help us to remember and to believe this in our day-to-day life.  Help us to believe that you truly do forgive our sins and that you love us always.  We love you, Dad, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus' holy name, Amen.  Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  I look forward to spending time with you again tomorrow.  Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day! www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

I Know Waiting Is Hard!Psalm 138:7-8 “Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve me against the wrath of my enemies; you stretch out your hand, and your right hand delivers me. The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.”I read this verse at a prayer group yesterday, and it reminded me of all those I know who are struggling right now. The devil is having a heyday with so many people right now. There are so many I know that are struggling with health issues, money issues, addiction, or a place to live. Those that I know who are struggling with health issues are so tired of struggling. All they want to do is work for the Lord. They want to be able to attend Mass and participate in adoration. They want to be able to evangelize to everyone they meet. Yet, because of their illnesses, they are stuck in bed or in their house. Due to their illnesses, they are unable to attend Mass or participate in adoration. Or, maybe it is not the illness, but they don't have a working car to get to mass.Everyone I talk to these days is struggling with something or another. I believe the Lord is bringing these people into my life so I can pray with them and for them. I think there may also be a lesson in here, as I am really struggling to understand why He is not healing them already. I mean, we said the things you are supposed to say and do, and yet they are still sick. I struggle with the parts in the Bible that say, “Whatever you ask in my name will be given to you,” and then I ask in the name of Jesus, and it is not given to me.The thing the Lord is trying to show me, or at least I think He is, is that just because it is not given to me immediately, it does not mean it will not be given to me. I am discovering that I tend to be a bit impatient when it comes to the Lord answering my prayers, especially if they are prayers for others who are suffering. I want answers now, and I don't want to wait. I realize I probably sound like a child right now, and yet, I doubt I am the only one who thinks this way. You know you want answers to your prayers immediately, too.What the Lord is showing me is that His timing is perfect, and just because I don't understand it does not make it wrong. He is the Lord of the universe. I think He probably knows better than I do. The how and the why are not always for us to know. This morning, the thought that he gave me was that of taking silver or gold out of the fire too early, before it has been fully purified. Well, I have no idea what happens when you do this, so I had to look it up. Here is what I found. “If silver or gold is removed from the fire before it is fully purified, impurities will remain in the metal, affecting its quality and appearance. This can result in a less valuable product that does not shine as brightly or reflect the desired image of the goldsmith.”God does not want us to keep our impurities. He wants us to learn the full lesson so that we can shine as brightly as He made us to shine. We can't have all these impurities messing up our shine. God knows what He is doing. He knows the exact right point to pull us out of the fire. I love the last thing the explanation said. “Or reflect the desired image of the goldsmith.” Guess who is our Goldsmith? Jesus. So, when we accurately reflect Jesus, then God will pull us out of the fire. Trust in His timing. Yes, I am definitely saying that to myself too because I know it is hard, and yet He will give you all you need to wait and trust if you ask Him to.So, while we are all waiting, as I am sure everyone listening is waiting for some prayer to be answered, then we have today's verse to give us comfort and encourage us. “Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve me against the wrath of my enemies; you stretch out your hand, and your right hand delivers me. The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.” God is preserving us against our enemy. God knows we are walking in the midst of trouble, and He is not worried because He is walking right next to you. He knows you are feeling lost, abandoned, ill, tired, frustrated, angry, and so many other things. He knows because He is right there in the middle of this whole mess with you.His right hand will deliver you. It is delivering you. I know you want deliverance now, so do I. I know you want healing now, and I want that for you, too. I don't know why God is not saving you now, why He is not lifting you out of this now, but I do know He has a plan, and it is much better than my plan or your plan. Trust that He is there preserving you from the wrath of your enemies. He has got this. While you wait for Him to save you, ask for all that you need to persevere. Ask Him what you can do to serve Him in the circumstances you are in. He will tell you if you ask.I also don't want you to forget the last part of this verse. “The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.” God will fulfill his purpose for you. If you wonder why you are so sick and yet feel a calling to help others, just know that God will fulfill His purpose for you. Just because you can't do it today doesn't mean you won't be able to do it ever. When I first moved to MA, I asked the Lord why I was the only one in my family who couldn't write. Now I write almost every day. Trust that if the Lord put it in your heart, He has every intention of fulfilling it when you are ready in His timing, not yours.God's steadfast love will endure forever. We talked about this on Monday's episode. God couldn't love you any more than He does right now. He loves you completely and perfectly in every moment of your life. Actually, probably before you were even born and long after you are gone from this world. The verse says His love endures forever. Not just for a little bit, not just when you are doing and saying the right thing, not when you are a good boy or girl, forever. Like forever forever. Like never-ending. It is always there. So, when you feel like He has abandoned you or left you in this mess alone, remind yourself that His love endures forever. He is still loving you through all of this! Keep leaning into Him because He has not abandoned you and He knows the exact right second to pull you up out of this fire.Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening. Lord, help us to be patient and wait for you to heal us. Please help us to continue to trust that a healing is coming. Please help us to believe you will fulfill the purpose you have for our lives. Please help us to feel your love, as sometimes it feels so far away. Please help us to believe that your love endures forever. Please help us, Lord!! We love you and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus's holy name, Amen!!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. Remember to CLICK HERE for all the retreat information. I promise it will be an amazing time, and you will love it. People are always nervous to go on a retreat; however, I have yet to meet a single person who regrets going. The enemy will try to tell you all the reasons why you shouldn't go because he knows how powerful it will be for you. I look forward to seeing everyone on Monday. Remember how much Jesus loves you and so do I! You are loved!! Have a blessed day!Today's Word from the Lord was received in January 2025 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today's Word from the Lord is, “During my greatest trials, the word was all I needed. It defeated the devil. Despite how hungry and thirsty I was, the word rescued me. When you speak it out loud, my angels gear up to come to your aid. Use it in your daily lives. Always speak it. There is power in the word.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Godly Friends Speak Truth, Even When It's HardEphesians 4:15 – “ Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.”On Tuesday, I talked about Godly friendships and how they are faithful. Today I want to talk about another character trait of a Godly friendship. It is Honesty in Love: Godly friends speak truth—even when it's hard. This is something that can be difficult for all of us. Well, maybe not all of us. We all know at least one person who does not have a problem saying that thing that needs to be said. However, for many, it is hard. I can think of at least two ways this could be hard. First, we don't want to hurt someone's feelings, so we refrain from telling them the truth. Second, we do tell them the truth, but we don't do it with love.I struggle with the first one. I don't want to hurt someone, and so I don't always say the thing I know I should say. Even though I am coming from a place of love, this is not helping my friends or my loved ones. For instance, it might be not very comfortable for them if you tell them they have spinach in their teeth. However, how much more embarrassed do you think they will feel if they find out by looking in the mirror at the end of the night?  Also, sometimes we can see things about what others are doing that they can't know because they are too close to the situation.You might not want to tell a friend what you see in the way they are acting, but they might not realize how they are sounding or the effect of what they are doing. Sometimes, we are blind to the impact of our actions. Sometimes we can't see that the job is wrong for us because we are so excited about it. Our emotions can cloud our judgment, and it is helpful if someone who is not emotionally involved can help us see what we can't see.Ephesians 4:15 tells us that we need to speak the truth in love so that we can grow, and our friendships can grow as well. I remember I felt embarrassed to tell a classmate in high school that her period had leaked through her pants. I thought she might be upset with me or I would embarrass her. However, looking back now, I am sure she was much more embarrassed walking through the hallways like that. If I had spoken up, she could have gotten a change of clothes before walking through the hallways, as we were in gym class when I noticed.We do our friends and anyone we interact with a disservice when we are not honest with them. If we want Godly friendships, then we need to be a reflection of Christ to all those we meet. Jesus told people the truth, and yet he did it without judging them or condemning them. I do not think it is our job to go up to everyone we know and tell them when they are doing something God doesn't agree with. I am not someone who believes that nagging our children will get them to do the things we want them to do. This is not what I am talking about.However, if you have Godly friends and you are all trying to point each other to God and help each other be holy, and you see that one of your friends is doing something that could hurt their relationship with God, you can tell them with love. It doesn't have to, and shouldn't be in a way that hurts them or makes them feel shame. It can simply be a gentle shift in another direction.I recall a story my mentor shared about when her friends came to visit. She went to pick them up at the airport and couldn't wait to tell them all about the fight she had gotten into with her husband that morning. She was ready for them to join in and agree that she was right and he was wrong. However, they had a Godly Friendship. Instead of joining in with her in talking badly about her husband and agreeing that she was right and he was the worst. Her friends gently reminded her about her commitment to him and to the Lord. They reminded her of the kind of relationship she wanted to have. They asked her which was more important, her relationship or her need to be right?They were not mean; they were not calling her out or condemning her for talking badly about her husband. They were just reminding her of the person she wanted to be. That is a great example of Godly friends. If you have a close relationship with your friends, then even though they may say something that might sting a bit, you know it is coming from a place of love, and that makes it easier to hear.We all know those people who can't wait to tell you what you are doing wrong. Their goal is not to try to help you get to Heaven. Their goal is to act like they are better than you or to make themselves feel better. If you have people in your life like this, they are not acting like Godly friends. Jesus had every right to act as if He were better than everyone else because He truly was. However, He never did. He washed the feet of his friends. If your friends are acting as if they are better than you, then they are not reflecting Christ to you.I still remember when I was going through a hard time with my husband, I would think about how there were some things I didn't feel I could talk to him about. Or there were some things I would be embarrassed to do in front of him. Then, one day, I got to thinking about it. This is the man that I chose to spend the rest of my life with. He should be the person I trust above all else. I realized that I should be the most confident around him because he chose to spend the rest of his life with me, too. He loved me, and if I couldn't be myself around him, who could I be myself around?These same principles should also apply to your Godly Friendships. You should be able to be yourself around them and know that they will love you anyway. You should be able to tell them the truth and know that even if they don't like it, they will still love you for being honest. They will be grateful that you felt you could be honest with them. Speak the truth, and always do it with love!!Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless all those listening. Lord, please help us to examine our friendships and see if those friendships are honoring you. Please help us identify any friendships that we need to work on and any that we should let go of. Lord, please help us to be a Godly friend. Please help us to be a reflection of you to all we meet. Please help us to show more love and acceptance than judgment. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus's holy name, Amen!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. 7 more weeks until my retreat. It may be the last retreat in this beautiful location. You won't want to miss out! It will be held at the Holy Cross Retreat House in Easton, MA. It is only $200 for one night's accommodations, 5 meals, retreat talks, and fellowship! CLICK HERE to see all the details. I hope you can join us. It will be an amazing weekend!! I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow. Remember how much Jesus loves you, just as you are,and know that I love you too! Have a blessed day!Today's Word from the Lord was received in January 2025 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today's Word from the Lord is, “The devil would bind you if he could. But you all have the power of my word. Use it like I did in the desert.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Today's witnesses are from a website called Ashandpri.com. (CLICK HERE for article) The article where I found these miracles is called 10 Real-Life Miracles in the 21st Century That Will Have You Believing in a Higher Power. The article is written by Annika Stepanov. I put a link to the article in the show notes, and I invite you to check it out.  I hope you enjoy hearing about these miracles as much as I did.In 2003, the city of Los Angeles, California, bore witness to an extraordinary event that left medical professionals astounded and the faithful rejoicing. Dafne Gutierrez, a young girl diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of leukemia, stood at the precipice of a dire prognosis. Her family turned to faith, seeking solace and healing through prayer. However, it was an unexpected visit from none other than Pope John Paul II that would become the catalyst for an astonishing turn of events. After the Pope's visit and a continuation of fervent prayers, Dafne experienced an unexpected and complete remission of her illness. Many regarded this healing as a divine intervention, a testament to the profound impact of faith on the human condition.On October 13, 2010, the world held its breath as the story of thirty-three miners trapped deep underground in the San José Mine in Copiapó, Chile, unfolded. A devastating mine collapse had left them entombed for an astonishing 69 days. As rescuers worked tirelessly to reach the miners, the world watched in collective hope and prayer. When the day of rescue finally arrived, the successful extraction of all thirty-three miners was hailed as nothing short of miraculous. The “Miracle at the San José Mine” not only showcased the resilience of the human spirit but also left many believing that divine intervention played a pivotal role in the miners' survival and ultimate rescue.In 2007, in the Indian city of Aligarh, a heart-wrenching tragedy transformed into a miraculous event that defied medical explanation. A newborn baby, declared lifeless by medical professionals, was prepared for her funeral procession. As the grieving family carried her lifeless body to the cremation ground, an astonishing turn of events occurred. The baby reportedly came back to life, drawing gasps of amazement and disbelief from the mourners. This astounding occurrence left many to consider it a miracle and an affirmation of the mysteries of life and death.In 2009, the city of Palermo in Italy bore witness to a miraculous event intertwined with the fight against organized crime. Lucia Borsellino, the daughter of a prominent anti-Mafia judge, faced a grim diagnosis—she was stricken with a rare and highly aggressive form of cancer. Desperate for a lifeline, her family turned to faith and embarked on a pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint Pio, a revered figure associated with miraculous healings. What followed was nothing short of remarkable—Lucia experienced a miraculous remission, leaving medical experts and the faithful alike awestruck. This event, occurring in the shadow of the fight against the Mafia, was seen by many as a symbol of hope and a divine intervention in the face of darkness.In the year 2005, the city of Aix-en-Provence in France became the backdrop for a miracle that would have profound implications. Sr. Marie Simon-Pierre, a French nun, faced a debilitating and incurable ailment—Parkinson's disease. Her prayers and devotion led her to seek solace and healing through the intercession of Pope John Paul II, who himself had battled Parkinson's. In an extraordinary turn of events, Sr. Marie Simon-Pierre claimed to have been miraculously cured of her ailment. Her healing played a pivotal role in the eventual canonization of Pope John Paul II, sparking discussions about the mysteries of faith and divine intervention.In 2010, the devastating earthquake that struck Port-au-Prince, Haiti, left unimaginable destruction and loss in its wake. Amid the rubble and heartbreak, a remarkable story emerged—one of a young Haitian orphan named Kiki. Trapped for an astonishing eight days under the debris of a collapsed building, Kiki's survival seemed miraculous. Her rescue, against all odds, was hailed as a beacon of hope amidst the tragedy, prompting discussions of divine protection and the resilience of the human spirit. The city of Naples, Italy, is known for its rich history and cultural heritage, but it also became the site of a remarkable healing in 2008. Anna Santaniello, a woman grappling with multiple sclerosis, turned to faith and embarked on a pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint Pio in San Giovanni Rotondo. What followed was an unexpected and dramatic improvement in her condition. Anna Santaniello claimed to have experienced miraculous healing, leaving many to attribute her recovery to divine intervention and underscoring the profound connection between faith and healing.In 2015, the city of Dallas, Texas, became the backdrop for a modern-day miracle that defied the odds of medical science. A couple struggling with infertility faced daunting challenges on their journey to parenthood. They turned to prayer and embarked on a pilgrimage to a religious shrine, seeking divine intervention. Their faith was rewarded with a natural conception, a joyous occurrence that left them and many others believing in the extraordinary power of faith and the miraculous.The city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, witnessed a phenomenon in 2006 that left many contemplating the mysteries of faith and preservation. A fire engulfed a mosque, reducing it to ashes, and the devastation was apparent. However, amid the charred remains, a Quran was discovered remarkably intact and unburned. This event was widely regarded as a miraculous preservation of the holy book, prompting reflections on the sanctity of faith and the unexplained forces that shape our world.In 2019, the lush and challenging wilderness of Maui, Hawaii, became the stage for a modern-day survival tale that captured the world's attention. Amanda Eller, a hiker, went missing in the rugged terrain for an astonishing 17 days. Her disappearance and the subsequent search efforts transfixed a global audience. When Amanda was found alive, despite the harsh conditions and prolonged exposure, many hailed her rescue as a miracle. This remarkable event highlighted the extraordinary resilience of the human spirit and prompted discussions about faith, hope, and the enduring power of the miraculous.I am grateful to the people who run this website and all others who let us know about the miracles that are going on in the world. Many times we can think that miracles happened when Jesus was alive, but they are not happening today, and this is not true. Miracles are happening every day, all around us. We just aren't seeing them. If we look for miracles, we will see them! www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Godly Friends Are FaithfulProverbs 17:17 “Friends love through all kinds of weather, and families stick together in all kinds of trouble.”The theme for this month's mentoring is Godly Friendships. I wanted to share with you that one of the characteristics of a Godly Friend is Faithfulness. Today's scripture states, “Friends love through all kinds of weather, and families stick together in all kinds of trouble.” The main point of this scripture is that true friends remain loyal to you through every season. If you have a Godly Friend, they are faithful. I am guessing that we have all had friends whom we thought were really good friends, and then we found out that they were talking about us when we were not around, or they were there in the good times, but not there when we really needed them.I remember reading this somewhere once, and I thought it was so true. It said that you should be careful about talking with your friends about someone who isn't there, because if they talk about them when they aren't there, then why wouldn't they talk about you when you aren't there?  Additionally, if you are the one initiating the conversation, they may not trust you because they might think you're talking about them when they're not there. Gossip is not good. It destroys friendships; it does not bring people closer. If you have friends who enjoy gossiping, that is not a Godly friendship. Or, that part of it is not Godly anyway. I have some friends who are wonderful people and they do help me become more holy. However, we are also human so we can get sucked into gossiping occasionally. The difference is that we notice it and we remind ourselves that is not who we want to be. That is not who God wants us to be.There is a significant difference between sharing information with people out of concern and wanting them to pray for that person, and gossiping. The main difference is your motive. Why are you saying something about someone? Are you saying it because you care about that person and want to help them, or are you saying something because you want to feel superior to that person, or you want to be the one to contribute some gossip to the group? I have realized that even if you think you are doing a good thing by sharing something with others so that they can pray for that person, sometimes it is better to ask them to pray for a private intention. God knows what the person needs, and it is not your story to tell.Another way to determine if you have Godly friends is to see if they are there for you during all seasons, as the verse suggests. Sometimes we can have friends who love to hang out when things in our lives are going really well. They want to go out and have a good time. They want to go to dinner or drinks and talk about how great things are. However, when things aren't going so well, they don't want to be there to listen. They are not calling you when you are sick or dropping soup off. When things are tough, they hang out with their other friends who are doing well.Also, when things are going well for them, they can't wait to tell you about it. They brag about all the good that is happening in their life while you are suffering in your life. Godly friends will pick you up when you are down. They will continually point you back to God.  Godly friends will meet you where you are at, they will comfort you when you are struggling, and they will love you too much to let you stay there.It is not a Godly friendship to sit and complain about everything together. I am not saying you always have to be positive; there are times when you can lament your situation. However, Godly friends will help pull you out of the negative mindset instead of joining you in it. They will listen to your problems and then remind you of how great our God is. They will pray with you and for you. They will remind you of all that God has done in the past and will do again. God is the same yesterday, today, and always. (Hebrews 13:8) If He did it for those who came before us, He will do it for us too!Godly friends will also help you out when you need something. They will offer you a ride to the airport or to work. They will help out when you are sick by bringing food over or watching the kids so you can go to the hospital. There are many ways that friends can help out when you are in need. Something else that is really nice with Godly friends is that they won't wait for an invitation. They won't wait until you ask them to bring a meal over. They are the first ones to offer. They will also sometimes drop by with it. They won't ask because they know you won't want to be a bother, so you would say no even though you could really use the help.I had a friend when we moved to Germany that we had known from a previous base we were stationed at. My friend was really struggling with the move to Germany. She had so much to do, and her husband had to have a minor surgery right when we got there. It wasn't a bad surgery, but he couldn't do any lifting. This meant she had to do most of the unpacking. She was tired, and her youngest was about 2-3 years old, so they were right in the thick of toddler years.  She was exhausted from the move and from having two young kids. I called one day to see if she wanted to take the kids out somewhere, as I had three little ones at the time, too.She broke down. She was crying and tired and said she couldn't go anywhere because she was so overwhelmed. Luckily, it was a weekend, and Tony was home, so he stayed with our boys, and I went over to her house to watch her kids while she took a nap. We were good friends, so she knew I wasn't going to judge that her house wasn't completely unpacked yet. She knew I wasn't going to judge her for needing a nap. She would have never asked me to do that, and yet she so needed it and was so grateful when she woke up and felt a bit more refreshed.We are called to be a reflection of Christ to our friends, and we are called to find others who will reflect Christ back to us. So, when you are wondering if you are in a Godly friendship, you can ask yourself, “Is this person a reflection of God?” Another great question to ask is, “When I am with this person, am I a reflection of God?” Because sometimes, if it is not a Godly friendship, then they might bring out the worst in you, instead of the best. I have definitely had friendships where they brought out the worst in me. I wanted to join in their conversations, so I needed to have something negative to say about everything. That was not a Godly friendship. Godly friendships always point you back to God!Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode. Lord, help us to find Godly friends. We know you did not create us to be alone, so please help put the right people in our path. Please help us to know whether someone is a Godly friend. Please help us stay away from those who will just hurt us—those who will drag us down instead of lifting us up. Lord, point us to the friends who will help us grow in holiness, and we can help them grow too! We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus's holy name, Amen!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. For more information on Godly Friendships, you can join the mentoring session on Zoom every Tuesday at 8 PM Eastern Time. There is a link in the show notes, check it out! I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day.Today's Word from the Lord was received in January 2025 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today's Word from the Lord is, "I am the master. I know all. I know what is best to give each one of you. I only ask that you open the door of your heart so that you may receive all my goodness, all that is good, all my understanding, but you need only open your heart.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

God Couldn't Love You Anymore Than He Does Right Now!Titus 3:4-5 “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.”Today I want to share with you a song that I heard this weekend. I was driving home from spending time with some of my family, and this song came on. It stuck with me, and I wanted to share it with you. What I heard from the Lord was that we need to focus on His love. Even after all these podcast episodes and all these years of people sharing their witness on Witness Wednesday, it is still hard for some of us to fathom the love that God has for us. We know He loves us on some level, but thinking about how much he loves us is not something we do.Often, we let negative thoughts overwhelm the positive ones. We can start to let the way the world views love creep into our thoughts about how God loves us. We can begin to think that God's love is based on our performance, because most worldly love is. We can start to believe that God's love is based on our behavior, because we have been taught from an early age that we are loved when we are good and when we are not causing trouble.This song reminds us that God loves us for who we are, not what we do or how we behave. It reminds us that even when we feel unworthy, God still loves us. It reminds us that no matter how crappy we feel or how bad we think we are, or how many times we have messed up, God could not love us any more than He does right now. God loves you fully and completely before you are even born and will always love you perfectly, no matter what you do. It doesn't matter if you feel you deserve it or not. God will still love you perfectly. Always! Let me share the lyrics of the song titled, “Any More” by Cain.1st Verse:You got a voice in your headThe same old guilt and regretYou heard a thousand times beforeAfter the choices you've madeYou're waiting for me to sayI couldn't love you anymoreIs this you? Are you just waiting for the Lord to say that He doesn't love you anymore? Have you been expecting it for a while now? Are you sure that with all you have done, the number of times you have turned away or messed up, He surely has given up on you. He has decided He doesn't love you anymore, it is just too much work loving you. That is something many of us think. It's too hard to love us, we are too much and God has said enough is enough. If this is what you think, listen to the rest of this song.The Pre-Chorus says:The enemy has lied to youBut listen to me, here's the truthChorus:I couldn't love you any moreThan I do right nowThere's nowhere I wouldn't goTo get to you my childTake a look at the crossThen you'll know it for sureI couldn't lovе youI couldn't love you any moreAny moreAny morеThan I do right nowAny moreAny moreThat is pretty amazing, don't you think? If you think this is just a song and it doesn't mean anything, let me remind you of the verse above. “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.” God did not save us because of anything we did or anything we deserved. He saved us because of His love and His mercy. God loves us. He loves you. He loves you more than you can even imagine. He couldn't love you any more than He already does, than He always has. God's love is unchanging. Our human love tends to be fickle. We may love someone more when they are being kind to us, or not love them as much when they are being brats to us. However, God's love is not like our love. God loves us with a perfect love. He loves us with a truly unconditional love that is unchanging, no matter what we do or do not do.The song goes on to say:2 Verse:When the sin and the shameTry to lock you awayMy grace is breaking down the doorYeahYou're the one that I'm running afterYou're mine, and you matterYour life's worth dying forThe Lord is telling us in this song that we don't have to be stuck in sin and shame. God's grace is breaking down the door to sin and shame. We just have to let Him. I love the next line because I think it is something we don't think of often. It says, “You're the one that I'm running after.” It is hard for many of us to believe that God would be running after us. I have heard this in many songs, and I love the imagery. It reminds me of the story of the Prodigal Son from the Bible. The father sees his son when his son is still a long way off, and he goes running to his son. The head of the household back in that day and time would not run. It would not have been proper. Yet, this father did not care. He saw his son, and he ran to him.That is what our Heavenly Father does for us as well. He not only runs to us when He sees us coming, but He runs after us when we are going in the other direction. He runs after us to save us from ourselves and to save us from this world. God never stops loving you. He is always loving you, protecting you, and wanting you to come back home, no matter how far you've strayed or how long you've been gone.The last verse of the song says:3 Verse:The past doesn't own you anymoreThe grave doesn't hold you anymoreYeahI say that you're worth dying forAnd I couldn't love you anymoreThis verse reminds us of three very powerful things. First, it says your past doesn't own you anymore. This is a fact. Jesus died on the cross for our sins, forever defeating the evil in this world. However, we have to live in this truth. We have to believe it. We have to refuse to let the enemy hold us hostage with our past. God has forgiven you; now you have to forgive yourself and move forward, move past it. If your past is full of trauma or if really bad things happened to you, then you may need therapy to help you move past that trauma. I promise you, though, if you put in the work, there is freedom beyond your past. You don't have to let it keep you stuck anymore. Your past doesn't have to own you anymore. There is a way out, and that way is Jesus!Next, it says the grave doesn't hold you anymore. You are not stuck in the grave you have dug. Jesus died so our sins would be forgiven and we would have eternal life. Some of us are walking around as if we have a death sentence on our hands. We are acting as if we are already dead. You are not. God is life, not death. That grave you think you are in is just an illusion. God can save you; He has saved you. You just have to accept his help and then walk right out of that grave.The last important thing that this song reminds us of is that “We are worth dying for.” We often say we are not worthy. However, the creator of the entire universe has sent His only son to die on the cross for you. If God Almighty says that we are worth dying for, who are we to argue? We are not worthy because of anything we did or said. We are worthy because we are made in the image of the one true king and because Jesus made us worthy when he took all of our sins to the cross with him. Believe that and you will start to live with more freedom.I pray you hear this episode today and you allow yourself to take it all in. I pray you allow yourself to feel God's love and believe that He couldn't love you any more than He does right now. You, yes you, are incredibly special to the Lord, and He loves you so much. He knows all you are going through, and He is right there by your side, loving you through it all. Even if you can't see why He would love you, it doesn't change the fact that HE does.Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening. Lord, thank you for loving us so perfectly. Thank you for loving us even though we might not feel like we deserve it. Thank you for hanging in there and loving us in even our worst moments. Thank you for the times when you laughed with us and cried with us. Thank you for believing in us when I don't believe in ourselves. Lord, please help us to feel your love more. Help us to truly believe in our hearts that you love us no matter what. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus's holy name, Amen!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. There are just six more weeks to sign up for my retreat. It is October 11-12, and it is in Easton, MA. The theme is Identity, and it is going to be a great weekend. If you have never gone on a retreat before, I want to encourage you to give it a try. It can be scary to do something you haven't done before, but I promise you will not regret it. It will be so life-giving. It will be that thing that you didn't even know you needed, but you did. CLICK HERE for all the information and to sign up. I look forward to seeing you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!Today's Word from the Lord was received in January 2025 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today's Word from the Lord is, “I knock at the door of your heart, my children. Will you open the door for me? Will you accept the new wine that I am offering you? Will you also be my new skins that will hold my goodness, my joy, my hope, everything that is good? I want you to hold it so that you may share it with the world.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

God's Love For UsEphesians 3:16-19 “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,  and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”I love this verse.  I probably say that about a lot of these verses.  I think when I am reading through the whole Bible, one chapter at a time, I miss a lot of the information that is contained in each verse.  I get the idea of the chapter, and I understand the lesson and the main things I am supposed to learn, and yet even as I write this, I am not sure I do get all the things I am supposed to learn, as it seems like there is so much in each verse.  I am really enjoying taking a look at each verse or a couple of verses individually and trying to see what they are telling us and how they apply to our lives.  I think this verse is particularly special, as I read it today, as I have a friend who is struggling with inner strength.  Her situation is so difficult right now, and she is trying so hard to be the strong one.  She was trying to hold it together for her family.  I bet if you are a parent, you find yourself doing this a lot.  We feel all the weight of the family on our shoulders. No matter if you are a mom or a dad, you feel the weight.  We try to stay strong because we feel that if we fall apart, our family will fall apart.  We stay strong because we want our kids to feel secure and know that we have it all together.  We want them to know we are there for them.  We all do this; you are not alone.  My friend said something today that made me think, if she is feeling this way, maybe others are too.  Then, when I read this verse, I thought it could help me explain why we don't need to feel this way.  My friend said she tries to stay strong because she doesn't want God to be disappointed in her.  I am guessing that she is not the only one of us who feels this way.  It can be tough because we know that we have a lot to be grateful for, and we don't want God to think we are ungrateful for all the things that are going right.  We love God and we want to please Him.  We want to do what we can to make Him happy.  He is our Heavenly Father, and it makes sense that we don't want to disappoint Him.  My first thought was that we can't disappoint Him.  He loves us more than we could even imagine.  However, I don't think that is true.  I think that He is probably disappointed when we sin, especially if it is something that we know better than to do and yet we do it anyway.  We know how He wants us to live, and so if we are continually breaking his commandments, He probably does get disappointed with us.  Short of this, I do not think He gets disappointed with us.  God is the one who made us who we are.  He made us with our unique personalities and all of our feelings.  He knows that we are not perfect.  I don't think that He gets disappointed in us when we feel weak.  God said in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”  God's power is made perfect in our weakness.  It is when we can admit our weakness that God can move in and give us power.  “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.”  This is a powerful statement.  The Holy Spirit lives in each one of us.  And God gives us power through this Spirit in our inner being.  Through this power of the Holy Spirit, Christ dwells in our hearts as well.  Think about that for a minute.  You not only have the power of the Holy Spirit strengthening your inner being, but you also have Christ dwelling in your heart.  You can handle anything that comes your way.  God has you covered.  He is there every step of the way.  This is something that He is repeatedly telling our Prayer Group.  I am there for you, in good times and in bad.  I will lift you up when you fall.  Lean on me in times of trouble.  When we are weak, God is not disappointed; He expects it.  He knows we can't do it all on our own, and He doesn't want us to.  He wants us to lean into Him.  He wants us to ask for help.  His Glory shines when we ask for help.  Think about your children or your pets.  What do you feel inside when they ask for help, or when they are sad?  Are you disappointed or frustrated with them?  No, you love them, and you would do anything to help them.  This makes me think of a verse in Matthew 7:11: "If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”  In this circumstance, it would be more like “If you have compassion on your children when they are sad and feeling weak, how much more compassion would your Heavenly Father have on you?”  He loves you!The second verse from above describes this love.  “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,  and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”  Did you catch it?  It talks about being able to grasp how wide and long and high and deep the love of God is.  I wonder if we are even capable of this?  The Lord is also repeating this message over and over again to our prayer group.  This is a word that was given at one of our meetings, “I love you so much.  You cannot understand the depth of my love.  If I let the power of my love loose and hugged you, I would crush you.  My love for you is that great.  It consumes you.”  Can you imagine this kind of love?  Think of the biggest bear hug you have received from someone, or maybe given to someone.  Now times that by a million.  That is how much God loves us.  I really liked this image.  I think it helps me to imagine how much God loves us.  It also helps me to remember that He loves us more than we are capable of loving others.  You can see examples of God's love all throughout the Bible.  There were so many times when he gave grace to people who didn't deserve it.   When you read about all Jesus' interactions with people, they were full of love.  When I am struggling with thoughts that I might be letting God down, I remember this word and how much He loves me.  I truly believe that He looks down on us and is so proud of us for all of our efforts.  I will leave you with another word that was given at our prayer group.  “My children, you strive hard to follow me.  But I am asking you to simply lean into me.  When doubts assail you and enemies crowd near; when your own thoughts rise in rebellion against my goodness; praise me and watch me work.”Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we ask that you help us to feel your love today. We pray as it said in the verse that we are able to grasp how wide and long and high and deep the love of Christ is.  Heavenly Father, we love you so much, and we know our love is just a fraction of how much you love us. Remind us of this, Lord. When we are struggling and we feel we are letting you down, remind us of your love.  We are grateful, Lord, for all you've given us, and we know that you are with us even in the hard times. Help us lean into you. Help us to praise you, Lord, even when we're sad and even when it's difficult. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will, and in Jesus's holy name, amen www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

God Created Doctors Too!Sirach 38:12-14 “Then give the physician his place, for the Lord created him; do not let him leave you, for you need him. There may come a time when recovery lies in the hands of physicians, for they too pray to the Lord that he grant them success in diagnosis and in healing, for the sake of preserving life.”This week I got the opportunity to go to the beach with a few friends. I don't often go to the beach, especially not in the middle of the week, and it was a really great time. What made this trip to the beach extra special was that we started our day at the beach with some faith sharing. The theme for mentoring this month is Godly Friendships, and so I want to take a minute to thank the Lord for these ladies. Ours truly is a Godly friendship. We pray together, we pray for each other and our families, we build each other up, we encourage each other, and we help each other become more holy. We always point each other back to Jesus.It is so important that we all have people in our lives like this. We all need others to pray for and with us. We need people we can talk to about anything, especially our faith journey. We need people we can be open and honest with about our faith journey. Those who won't judge us, but will encourage us and help us when we are struggling. On that beach, we each took 10 minutes or so and talked about what is going on in our faith journey. We talked about our blessings and our struggles, and then we prayed into those struggles. It really was beautiful.While we were talking, someone mentioned this verse in Sirach. The Lord brought it to my mind this morning during Adoration, and so I thought I would share it with you. I know several people right now who are struggling with physical ailments. They have been to all the doctors, and either the doctors can't figure out what is wrong with them, or they do know, but they haven't come up with a suitable treatment plan. There are also some who know exactly what is wrong, but there is no human cure for it, and so they are waiting for the Lord to miraculously heal them.Today, I want to talk to those of you who are fed up with the doctors and just want to be healed already. I know some of you are so frustrated because you have been praying for the Lord to heal you for a long time now, and you haven't seen any fruit from those prayers. You have been asking for a miraculous healing, and those prayers seem to have gone unanswered. If this is you, then this message is definitely for you today. If you have been praying for someone who has been struggling for a very long time and has not seen answers to prayers, then this is for you, too!The verse above says, “Then give the physician his place, for the Lord created him; do not let him leave you, for you need him. There may come a time when recovery lies in the hands of physicians, for they too pray to the Lord that he grant them success in diagnosis and in healing, for the sake of preserving life.” We would all like to be miraculously and instantaneously healed by Jesus. However, this verse is telling us that the Lord created physicians, and sometimes we need them. The verse tells us that we should not let them leave us because we need them. It says that there may come a time when recovery lies in the hands of the physicians.I know this is not what some of you wanted to hear from the Lord today. I know many of you are frustrated with the physicians you are seeing. You are frustrated with the lack of answers, or you are frustrated with the answers they are giving you. You don't like their plan. Some of you are also scared. You have a long history with doctors or surgeries, and you do not want to try again.If this is you, I am so sorry. I am sorry for all your past trauma with doctors or surgeries. I am sorry for all the current pain you are experiencing or the circumstances you are facing. You may have a good reason to mistrust your doctor. I am not trying to second-guess you. If you need to find a new doctor, pray that the Lord points you to the right one. All I felt like the Lord wanted me to share with you today was that he created everything, including doctors.I like where the verse says, “for they too pray to the Lord that he grant them succession diagnosis and in healing, for the sake of preserving life.” We tend to think we need to be for medicine and doctors or for God. Often, we put them on opposing sides, and we say that if we really believed in God, we wouldn't need to go to the doctor because our faith would heal us. Did you know that two things can be true at the same time? For instance, you can be happy and sad at the same time. I am happy that my son is starting a new year of college. I am happy that he is going to college in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is taking advantage of this wonderful opportunity to travel, grow more independent, and get a good college education. And also I am sad because it means I will not get to see him for 3 and a half months. Both things are true.The same is true with faith and medicine. You can have faith that God will heal you and still take that medicine, still see that doctor, still do the treatments prescribed. You don't have to choose one or the other. I think God is reassuring us of this in Sirach 38. He wants us to know that he created doctors, and he uses doctors to heal people. We will ask others to pray over us for a healing, right? Why do we do that? We ask others to pray over us because we know that God can use anyone to heal us. He can use a priest with the anointing of the sick. He can use your mom, dad, or even a friend. He can use someone from the church or someone who has a healing charism. God can use literally anyone, or no one, to heal you. He could just heal you in your sleep without anyone praying over you. If we have enough faith to believe that God can use anyone to heal us, then why are we sad or disappointed when He uses a doctor?It can still be a miraculous healing even if it was done through a doctor or through medicine. Go back and listen to the Witness Wednesday from yesterday, August 13th, 2025. I believe it is Witness Wednesday #172. There was a man in the article who had stage 4 cancer. It was a particularly treatment-resistant type. The doctor wanted to try a hormonal treatment along with the chemo to shrink the tumor. He took the medicine, and in three months the tumor was gone. That is still a miracle, no matter how you look at it. It doesn't matter that it was through medicine, and it doesn't matter that it was by a doctor. The tumor went away. Hallelujah!! God is so good!I pray that when you hear this episode today, you stop and take a minute to thank God for the doctors and all medical professionals in this world. I pray that you thank him for your doctors, and if you think you need new ones, now is a perfect time to ask Him to bring the right doctors into your life. I also pray you cut yourself some slack and realize that you don't have to do anything to heal yourself. Just keep asking God for what you need, and I promise HE WILL PROVIDE! He always does!!Dear heavenly Father, I ask that you be with all those listening. Lord, please come to the rescue of all those who are suffering. Lord, if you want to heal them through a doctor, please put the right doctor in their path. If you want to heal them miraculously right now, we are good with that, too! Lord, you know the plans you have for us. Please help us hold on until those good, good plans you have for us come into fruition. Lord, we love you so much, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus's holy name, Amen!!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. Reminder: Click here for all the information on my retreat in October. It is going to be a great weekend! I hope you will join me. It won't be the same without you! Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!!Today's Word from the Lord was received in January 2025 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today's Word from the Lord is, “My holy and beloved children. Yes, I call you holy, for that is who you are in my eyes. You are beloved beyond anything you can imagine.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Today's witnesses are from a website called ThoughtCatalog.com. (CLICK HERE for article) It is a list of several miracles that happened to different people. I do not know any of the people who wrote in with these miracles. Dr. Dakota Fox wrote the article. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.1.) My father once was traveling along a country highway. It was early morning and he was at the front of a long line of traffic. Along his way he spotted a hitchhiker with a hiking backpack and being the kind person he was, he stopped for them and lost his place at the front of traffic. The guy seemed really friendly, dad chatted with him about his family and work, told the guy how he wanted to have a kid, the guy was super friendly and nice and supportive.All of a sudden he asked my dad to drop him off. Dad was confused as this was right next to a field in the middle of nowhere. The guy said don't worry about it and got out which weirded my dad out. My dad turned to leave and noticed the guy left his bag and went to let the guy know but he was gone. Nowhere to be seen. Dad says he searched for him but it made no sense where he went or how he could hide. Upon getting back in the car he looked in the bag to find it to be empty. Also weird. He decided to continue on his way and joined back in traffic. He came to the first set of lights eventually and noticed an accident had happened to the car that was behind him in the line of traffic originally and he realized had he not picked this guy up he would've been in that accident. That guy saved him.2 weeks later his wife was pregnant with me. My dad still has the bag and carries it with him in his car at all times hoping to eventually run into the guy and thank him.TLDR: dad was saved by weird guardian angel hitchhiker guy. Still has momento from occasion. Doesn't understand what happened to this day.2.) My wife and I tried having a baby for a couple of years with no luck. Got to the point of IVF, which is what finally worked. We both were excited that it was actually happening, and made it the point where you can see a heartbeat flicker.Shortly after she bled to the point where she passed what looked bigger than a clot and was assumed to be the baby. We went to the doctor and they confirmed no more heartbeat, come back in a couple days to check if all passed or if surgical removal was necessary.Started checking her out and the tech called the doctor in the room, turns out they saw flickering again that they didn't before. Everything appeared to back in order but threatened that a miscarriage could still happen. Fast forward to 30 weeks, wife's blood pressure rises and gets diagnosed with preeclampsia. She wasn't allowed to leave the hospital until the baby was out.After a week and a half they move her to a different floor because she's stable. The morning after the move she has a seizure and an emergency c section is needed. Baby was born and taken to the NICU, which she started out strong. The second or 3rd day her lungs were collapsing and needed chest tubes to expand the lungs. 45 days later after learning to eat from a bottle she came home at 5lbs.Now she's almost 3 and other than being skinny you couldn't tell what she went through other than 2 scars and respiratory colds taking a little more effect on her.3.) My grandfather had a heart attack while driving and crashed into a tree. He was without oxygen to his brain for 25 minutes. The hospital did everything they could to revive him, actually trying to revive him for 3+ hours because it was a veterans hospital and he was a decorated green beret.I was called to this hospital and was told he was brain dead. he was without oxygen for too long. I cried and cried, and all the while my family was around his bedside talking to him. The doctors told them that he might be able to hear them.They were going to take him off of life support that night but my uncle for San Diego missed his flight and couldn't come until morning so they decided to wait. Well, good thing.A few hours later I was next to my grandpa and his hands started twitching. I called the nurse in and she told us that these were just spasms, and that its normal. The twitches kept getting more severe and more frequent.After a while, the doctors started to get a little concerned and checked his vitals, they seemed shocked. After a while, he opened his eyes. We were all in shock. Complete disbelief. They told us he was brain dead and we were going to take him off of life support. He couldn't talk for hours, but asked for a pen and notepad to write something. The first thing he wrote was “energizer” and “bunny”. It took him about 2 days before he could speak and now 4 years later, he is a fully functioning 62 year old man.4.) I was 18 and driving down the 5 (freeway) towards San Diego. I was on the far right lane going about 65 and there was an old chinese driver who was going about the same speed as be on the lane to my left. There was a bunch of other cars around us going at a steady pace. He didn't realize that I was right next to him and tried to merge into my lane, I freaked out and I swerved to my right, my car (96 Accord) broke out and I ended up doing two 360's through 4 lanes and I stopped facing the on coming traffic.There were absolutely no cars around me when it happened and when I stopped the cars were a really good distance from me, it was as if something pushed all of them back when my car broke out. I didn't hit anyone and after I stopped I was shocked, took a second to catch my breath and pulled off to the right lane.Then I bawled like a baby and called my mom.5.) Had cancer that was slow to respond to even Red Devil chemo. The doctor switched me to Ibrance plus a hormonal drug. I took it for three months and the tumor went from being the size of a very large grapefruit to one too small to be measured. The doctors never saw anything like it.After 3 months, I needed a refill on the hormonal drug. I called the oncology nurse, named the drug. She said it was never prescribed for me. The MD prescribed something else.The records indicated the drug I was on was one no one gave me. But it was the combo that tamed the tumor. No one knows where that prescription came from. They were joking that well, there's a blind study we can't discuss.6.) My dad was in a bad car accident around 1994 and had to walk with a cane because of herniated discs. The doctors did back surgery on him and fused part of his spine with titanium rods. He was bed ridden a good amount of the time. I was really little and believed that Jesus would heal him if we would just go to one of those places on TV I saw (Benny Hinn crusades).My mom heard that a local church was bussing people to one of them and she called and got us seats. We were seated in the nose-bleed section and it came to the part of the night where people started walking on stage and reporting that they were healed. I looked at my dad and said “don't you want to be healed? You should go down there.” At that time my little sister said the same thing to him (she was around 5 years old).My dad gave my mom his cane and wobbled out of the row of seats. There were at least 6 flights of stairs to get to the bottom of the arena. My dad took the first step down without his cane and I thought he was going to fall down the stairs. He took the second step and the next thing I remember, we were racing each other down the stairs to the bottom. When we got to the bottom, a lady grabbed my dad by the shoulder and said “God told me to wait for you.”She took his hand and lead us straight to the side of the stage. One of the ushers started asking him what God had done for him and he quickly told him what had happened. The next thing I knew we were on the stage and my dad was running back and forth with no cane (something I hadn't seen my dad do for over 6 years at the time). The rest was a blur.Long story short, my dad has been walking fine ever since, 16+ years. He went back to the doctors afterwards and they couldn't explain what happened. Even though that happened when I was younger, it's hard to not have doubts as an adult that some people are phonies when it comes to those types of church programs. At least for my dad (one confirmed case) it was 100% real. Jesus literally healed my dad and there is real life evidence to show for it. Crazy.After all these years of listening to my dad's homilies about the miracles that have happened in my family and all these years of participating in Witness Wednesdays, I am still surprised by the miraculous ways God works in our lives. I am not sure if I am surprised or just in awe of the miraculous ways He works. I wish everyone knew that he was still working today as He did back in the day of the apostles. If you are in need of a miracle, keep asking, keep believing, and keep hoping! Your miracle could be right around the corner! www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

CLICK HERE FOR 2025 RETREATLive Unashamed of the Gospel of Jesus ChristRomans 1:16-17 “ For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, “The one who is righteous will live by faith.”I first read this verse in the Passion Translation this morning, and it says, “I refuse to be ashamed of the wonderful message of God's liberating power unleashed in us through Christ! For I am thrilled to preach that everyone who believes is saved – the Jew first, and then people everywhere! The gospel unveils a continual revelation of God's righteousness – a perfect righteousness given to us when we believe. And it moves us from receiving life through faith to the power of living by faith. This is what the scripture means when it says: "We are right with God through life-giving faith!”I love how these verses emphasize that God's power is for everyone who believes. The message we are tasked with spreading is not just for the Jewish people, or any group of people. It is for anyone who believes. This is important to remember because at times we can get very selective about who we do and do not give the message too. Sometimes we can avoid sharing the message with some people because they may not fit our idea of what a Christian should be. We might look at them and immediately judge them by what they look like or how they are dressed.We were tasked with bringing the message to every single person in all corners of the earth. It is not up to us to decide who is worthy or not worthy of hearing the word. We never know who needs to hear the Gospel.I recall a story about a group of people in Ireland who were learning to use the evangelization tool called 'Jesus Knocking'. They were taught how to use it, and then they were sent out on the streets to knock on doors and begin telling people about Jesus. These two men, who were particularly shy, knocked on this one guy's door. When the man answered, they could see he was a biker, part of a gang, and he looked kinda scary. The first thing he did was tell them they had to come inside because he couldn't be seen. He had a warrant out for his arrest. They were very nervous to go inside this guy's house, but they did. They were certain that he would not want to hear what they had to say, but they asked him anyway. He said, “Sure, I will listen.” Then, when they got to the part where they asked if he wanted to have a personal encounter with Jesus, he said yes. They were so surprised.It turns out he was very nice and that Jesus was just what he needed in his life. Once he turned his life over to Jesus, everything changed for him. A few weeks later, he happened to be in a car with fellow gang members when the car got stopped. He thought about lying about who he was so that he didn't get arrested because he still had a warrant out for his arrest. Although now that he had found Jesus, he knew he couldn't lie. When they asked what his name was, he told them. They looked him up in the system and said he was free to go. He has no idea what happened to the warrant, but he was so grateful to God for saving him.The verse also says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith.” I love to think about the power of God that we have living inside of us. However, this reminds us that the Gospel is also the power of God. I think we forget how powerful the Gospel can be. I think we can take it for granted sometimes and forget that not everyone knows how great God is. Not everyone has heard that Jesus died on the cross for their sins. Jesus loved them so much they he took every bad thing they ever did and will ever do to the cross with Him.The amazing thing about the Gospel is that even if people have heard it before, they may hear it again, and it hits them in a different way. Maybe something they have gone through in their life has prepared them to hear it differently this time. Maybe life has been rough, and the idea that Jesus loves them and would do anything for them is exactly what they needed to hear that day. Being Catholic, we get to hear the Gospel every Sunday at Mass. The Gospel is not something new to us, and if we are honest, probably not always exciting. We can let it become mundane and ordinary if we are not careful, because we do have ready access to it, and we do hear it all the time at Mass.However, we must never forget the power of the Gospel. When the apostles first started bringing the Gospel to all parts of the world, people were hungry for it. They were baptizing several people everywhere they went. The world is just as hungry for it today. We just don't think to spread it because we live in a culture that seems to be open to everything except Christianity. Nowadays, we are afraid of talking about the Gospels and about Jesus because we don't want to offend someone, or we don't want to be attacked for our beliefs.The time when Jesus lived, the time after he died, when the apostles were spreading the Gospel around the world, it was not a friendly place for Christians either. I mean, we might get rejected, or maybe even yelled at for trying to share the Gospel. However, the apostles were stoned to death or crucified for sharing the Gospel. Over the last 2000 years or so, there have been times when it was dangerous for your life to share the gospel. It still is in some countries.I remember when I lived in England, we went to visit a historic house, and when we took the tour, they showed us the hidden hole in the wall where the Catholic priest would hide if the police came to search the house. In 1559, it became illegal in the United Kingdom to practice mass. It did not become legal again until 1791.We might not live in a particularly friendly culture when it comes to sharing the Gospel, and yet, if the apostles can do it at the risk of being stoned to death, surely we can do it with the risk of rejection? There are people still in this day and age who are risking their lives to bring the Gospel to people in countries that do not allow freedom of religion. I don't think we are all called to do that. I do believe we are all called to be an example of the Gospel to all those we meet.We are all called to live our lives as an example of Christ and His love for us. We are meant to live out the Gospel in our day-to-day lives. You know all those parables found in the Gospels, those are to show us how to live our lives so that others will see how we live, what we have, and they will want it. I don't mean what we have, as in possessions, I mean what we have, as in the love of God, the peace of Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit. How are we doing with this? Are we being brave? Are we asking the Lord for a Holy Boldness so we can live our lives unashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?You all know how much I love a good song. I have had the chorus of a song going through my head this whole time, and yet I couldn't quite make out the words. Has that ever happened to you? You know a song, and yet you can't think of it when you want to. Well, writing that last sentence in that last paragraph finally jogged my memory. The song is called Unashamed, and it is by Matthew West.  I know we are a bit on the longer side today, but I really want you to hear the lyrics.Three brothers in a fireWilling to die for their faithBut You were with them in the fireAnd they walked out the next dayAnd Daniel met a lionBecause he chose to prayBut You shut the mouth of that lionAnd he walked out the next day[Pre-Chorus]So what's gonna be said of me when it's all said and done?Will I stand for my beliefs or will I turn around and run?Well, let the whole world hear me say[Chorus]I'm unashamedOf the gospel of Jesus ChristAnd the truth that changed my lifeFor the name above all namesI'm unashamedAnd I will live my faith out loudTake a stand and stand my groundFor the One who took my shameI'm unashamed[Verse 2]I don't answer to the crowdI answer to a kingSo the louder they shoutOh, the louder I sing, yeah[Pre-Chorus]So what's gonna be said of me when it's all said and done?Will I stand for my beliefs or will I turn around and run?Well, let the whole world hear me say[Chorus]I'm unashamedOf the gospel of Jesus ChristAnd the truth that changed my lifeFor the name above all namesI'm unashamedAnd I will live my faith out loudTake a stand and stand my groundFor the One who took my shameI'm unashamed [Bridge]At the name of JesusEvery knee will bowAnd every tongue confessSo let it start right nowBefore you come back, LordBefore the rocks cry outI will lift my praiseLet it start right now [Chorus]I'm unashamedOf the gospel of Jesus ChristAnd the truth that changed my lifeFor the name above all namesI'm unashamed, yeahAnd I will live my faith out loudTake a stand and stand my groundFor the One who took my shameI'm unashamed(I'm unashamed)Oh, I'm unashamed (I'm unashamed)I want the world to hear me sayI'm unashamed(I'm unashamed)Oh, I'm unashamedFor the One who took my shameI'm unashamed [Outro]Lord, I will stand for YouI tell the world about YouI'm unashamedDear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all of those who are listening to this episode. Lord, you are amazing, and we are so grateful to you for all you have given us. We are grateful for the Gospel. Help us to be bold and to live out the Gospel in our lives. Help us to share the Gospel with all we meet. Please help us to be unashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Let it be said of us one day that we lived as an example of Jesus to all those we met. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus's holy name. Amen!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. There is a link in the show notes for the upcoming retreat in October. Please check out the link and consider joining me. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!Today's Word from the Lord was received in January 2025 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today's Word from the Lord is, “I am your God and I am telling you, I am pouring down my outpouring of love and joy. I am filling you with me.”CLICK HERE FOR 2025 RETREAT www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

God Can Send An AngelTobit 3:16-17 “At that very moment, the prayers of both of them were heard in the glorious presence of God. 17 So Raphael was sent to heal both of them: Tobit, by removing the white films from his eyes, so that he might see God's light with his eyes; and Sarah, daughter of Raguel, by giving her in marriage to Tobias, son of Tobit, and by setting her free from the wicked demon Asmodeus. Tobias was entitled to have her before all others who had desired to marry her. At the same time that Tobit returned from the courtyard into his house, Sarah, daughter of Raguel, came down from her upper room.”I decided to start reading Tobit this morning. I thought I had remembered the story, but I wanted to read through it as a good refresher. There are so many little things in the various books of the bible, and you can't remember all of them. This is why it is good to keep reading through it and to keep refreshing your memory, as there are so many good things in the Bible. Today I read about Tobit and how he was a righteous man who did not sin against the Lord, even when those around him were.Tobit was part of a group of God's faithful who were taken into captivity and were forced to go and live in Ninevah among foreigners. Even though Tobit was not in his own land, he still followed the ways of the Lord. He still kept as many traditions as he could. He even took time, at great cost to himself, to bury fellow brethren that the king had killed in a fit of anger. This made the king mad, and at one point, the king ordered Tobit to be put to death, and Tobit had to run, leaving his wife and child behind. The king took all his possessions but did not kill his wife and child.Eventually, that king was killed, and Tobit's nephew was appointed second in command to the new king. He went to bat for Tobit and got his wife and child restored to him. However, one day a Tobit was sitting outside by his wall, and the fresh droppings of a sparrow fell into his eyes, and he became blind. Tobit cried out to the Lord and asked the Lord to “command my spirit to be taken up, that I may be released from the face of the earth and become dust.” At the same time as Tobit was praying this prayer, there was a woman named Sarah who was praying a similar prayer.Sarah had a demon that was in love with her. So, every time she got married, the demon would kill her husband before they could even spend one night together. The rumors were going around that she was killing these men. She wanted to go into her father's upper room and hang herself. However, she was her father's only child, so she didn't. She did cry out to the Lord and say, “Command that I be released from the earth that I hear reproach no more.” Sound familiar. Both Tobit and Sarah wanted the Lord to release them from their situation.Then comes today's verse. “At that very moment, the prayers of both of them were heard in the glorious presence of God. So Raphael was sent to heal both of them: Tobit, by removing the white films from his eyes, so that he might see God's light with his eyes; and Sarah, daughter of Raguel, by giving her in marriage to Tobias, son of Tobit, and by setting her free from the wicked demon Asmodeus. Tobias was entitled to have her before all others who had desired to marry her. At the same time that Tobit returned from the courtyard into his house, Sarah, daughter of Raguel, came down from her upper room.”Raphael is one of the archangels. His name means "God has healed," reflecting his role as a healer and protector. God dispatched Raphael in response to Tobit and Sarah's prayers. How amazing is that? Raphael came down to earth and appeared as a man to help Tobias find and marry Sarah, and then to help heal Tobit of his blindness. Tobit decided to tell Tobias about some money he had left in another land. He wanted Tobias to go and get the money, and he wanted to pay someone to go with Tobias to keep him safe. The archangel Raphael came down to take this job and lead Tobias where he needed to go.Raphael leads Tobias where he needs to go and keeps him safe along the way. At one point, they stopped by a stream and a fish almost swallowed Tobias, but Raphael told him to catch the fish, and he did. Inside of this one fish was the answer to both Sarah's & Tobit's prayers.I thought this was a great verse for today because it serves as a powerful reminder that God hears our prayers. He hears when we cry out to him. He not only hears our prayers but He answers them. God cared so much about Tobit and Sarah that he sent one of his most important angels down to answer their prayers. I think what struck me most about this verse is that if God did this for them, He can do this for you, too!I know several people who are suffering from illnesses right now. They are in pain every day, and this is causing them to become depressed because they want nothing more than to go out and be a servant to God. They want to go out and help others. They want to go and evangelize to everyone. They want to shout from the rooftops about God's love and God's mercy. And yet they can't because they can barely get out of bed in the morning.I can understand how this could be so frustrating. Those I know who are suffering are like Job and Tobit. They are faithful people who love the Lord and are upright and righteous in the eyes of the Lord. So, why do they have to suffer so much? Why aren't they getting the relief they so desperately need? I wish I had the answer to these questions. I wish I understood God's timing and God's plan. I wish I had some words of wisdom for all those I know who are waiting for this miracle that God has promised them. Some of them had talked to the Lord, and He had said they would be healed, and as amazing as that is, I am not sure how much it helps on the days when they wake up in so much pain they can't get out of bed.They need help now, Lord. They need to see your powerful hand in their lives. They need the strength to get up out of bed. They need to feel your love because right now, they feel abandoned. If this is you, if you are suffering with no end in sight, I want to invite you to ask the Lord to send Raphael to answer your prayers. Maybe you already have. If so, keep asking. God likes it when we are persistent. I will ask also. I will join you in your prayers for answers and for healing. We will do this together!Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless each person listening. Lord, we ask that you send down your angels to help all those in need. Lord, there are so many listeners who truly need your healing. There are those listening who have heard your promises and are just waiting for you to follow through on those promises. There are some who are listening who are falling deeper and deeper into a pit while they await their healing. Lord, please help them. Please heal them. Please give them the strength to wait for that healing. Lord, at the very moment you heard Tobit's and Sarah's prayers, you sent Raphael. Lord, we are asking today, at the very moment you hear this prayer, that you dispatch angels to heal Joanne, Suzanne, Danielle, Rosa, Bruce, Peggy, Melissa, and all those who are listening and need a healing. Lord, you are so good. You are a miracle worker, and we know you can do all things. We thank you in advance for all these healings, and we promise to give you all the Glory for these healings. Lord, I look forward to hearing from each and every one of these people about how much better they feel. If you are listening to this episode and you need a healing, I invite you to see if you have been healed. Test it out and try to do something you couldn't do before. Take a moment and evaluate the pain. Is it less than it was before? Sometimes we are healed when we step out in faith and test something. Try to walk when we previously couldn't. Try to see if we previously couldn't. God is going to be working powerfully in your lives over the next few days. Please reach out to me when you receive your healing, as I do believe it is coming. You can reach me at catherine@findingtruenorthcoaching.com or 860-481-0959. I can't wait to hear your testimonies. Thank you, Lord, we love you!! We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus's holy name, amen!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I want to invite all of you to my retreat in October. I know we all live busy lives and this is a chance to get away. It is just two days, one overnight. It is all about our identity in Christ and will be an amazing weekend. You will leave refreshed and more firm in who you are. I hope you will join me. It is from October 11-12th. So exactly two months from today. Check out the link in the show notes or head over to my website Findingtruenorthcoaching.com. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember Jesus loves you, just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!Today's Word from the Lord was received in January 2025 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today's Word from the Lord is, “Be still and know I am your Lord. It is in quietness that you will hear me speak to you. Where I will give you rest, I will give you comfort. I will give you guidance. I will give you peace. It is in quiet that you are to hear me.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Guilty Enough To Go Into The Fiery Hell?Matthew 5:21-22 “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder' and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.'  But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.”Yesterday, the Gospel at mass was the beatitudes found in Matthew 5:1-12. While listening at Mass, I felt I was supposed to teach on those today. However, while reading them this morning, I felt the Holy Spirit nudge me to read further in the chapter. As soon as I got to these verses, I was told I could stop. What struck me about these verses is the importance of what they say and how easy it is for us to do. How easy is it for us to get mad at someone? Frequently, I would say. Mostly, I would say I get angry with people most when I am driving. I am not an angry driver and am usually pretty calm when driving.Lately, I am still calm; however, I have noticed myself commenting on other drivers. It seems that people are driving worse and worse as the days go by. However, it could just be that I am getting old and less patient. I am not sure. However, I have noticed lately when I am driving, and someone cuts me off or drives in and out of the lanes, I think they are driving like an idiot. Sometimes, I might even say they are an idiot. This is exactly what I was thinking of this morning when I read this verse. The verse ends with, “And whoever says,‘You fool' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.”Did you catch that? If we call someone a fool, we will be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. I was talking to my dad one time about heaven and hell. We were discussing how Jesus died for our sins. We were discussing how some religions believe you have to believe that Jesus is our Lord and Savior and you get to go to heaven, and we were talking about how Catholics believe it is not just believing in Jesus, but it is your works as well. I have always believed that you will go to heaven if you are primarily a good person. My dad reminded me of what Mary told the little children of Fatima. She gave them a vision of all the suffering in hell, and she said to them that more people than we know are going there.This concerned me, and I have spent some time thinking about it. Then, when I went to an Unbound training, I heard the story of the priest whose heart stopped. He died for a few minutes, and instead of going to heaven like he thought he would, he went to hell. When he saw Jesus, he was told he went there because he had unforgiveness in his heart. He wished God would punish those who had hurt him. I know we hear often that we must forgive, but I am not sure we understand what is at stake if we don't forgive. The stakes are pretty high. The Our Father prayer says that God will forgive us as we forgive those. I think many of us don't realize what we are saying when we say that prayer.I believe God is highlighting these things for me because I am searching. I want to spend eternity with the Father, and God knows our thoughts. He knows our hearts. If we seek the truth, He will provide it for us. I don't want to be writing about things on this podcast that might be leading you down the wrong path, or that might be false information. Before writing each episode, I pray that the words that come out are the Lord's words for you, not mine. We will gain understanding if we seek to understand the Word of the Lord. The Lord said in Matthew 7:7-8 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”I often think of this phrase when I am asking for something. However, the Lord reminded me of its last part: seek and you will find. Let's start seeking the truth. Let's take our concerns to the Lord. Not just our prayer requests but also our concerns. Concerns such as, am I loving my neighbor? Do I love you, God, with my whole heart, mind and soul? Did you know you can ask the Lord to show you how you are falling short in your life, and He will? He won't show you in a condemning way. He will guide you in a gentle yet convicting way. He also won't show you a hundred things at one time. I believe the Lord will show you one or two things you can work on, and when you prove to be faithful in working on those, He will show you a few more ways.When we make a conscious effort to live the way God calls us to, I believe  God rejoices in heaven. I think it makes Him so happy that we care enough about Him to stop and ask, will this bring me closer to the Lord or further away from Him? A few months ago, I was talking with my mother-in-law about whether we would go to heaven. She had a conversation with a friend, and they discussed what it takes to get into heaven, like my conversation with my dad. Actually that is why I was having the conversations with my dad. He is a deacon in the Catholic Church, so if I have questions on theology or what the Church says, I ask him. I also talked with a friend from Encounter Ministries, and she said she had just had a conversation with God about this the other day. Isn't it funny how we tend to go to books, friends, or religious leaders, and my friend goes straight to the source?She said she felt the Lord told her we were asking the wrong question. The question shouldn't be, “Am I going to Heaven.” The question should be, “Do I love God.” This might seem like an easy question. Of course, I love God. Yet, do our actions show that we love God? If we love God, then we need to love each other. Jesus is inside each one of us. At Bible study this week, someone said they were listening to a talk, I am not sure who the talk was by, and the speaker said there are not two great commandments. There is only one. He said the two listed in the Gospels, Love the Lord your God with your whole heart, mind, and soul and love your neighbor as yourself, are actually one commandment.He went on to explain they are equal to each other. Picture you have a math equation. 2 + 3 = 5 or 4 + 3 = 7. The speaker explained that if we love the Lord our God with our whole heart, mind, and soul, we will also love our neighbor. If we love our neighbor as we love ourselves, we will also love our God. We can't do one without doing the other. If we attempt to do one without the other, we fall short. We are not truly loving God if we are treating His children with hatred and unforgiveness. Think about a sibling or a friend who has children, and you really don't like how the children behave. Maybe you think they are spoiled brats. Are you loving your sibling well when you feel evil thoughts about their child? Are you loving your parents well when you are treating your siblings poorly?I think the Lord is slowly revealing what is most important to Him. I know for sure that forgiveness is so essential, and this keeps getting confirmed the more and more I learn. Now that I know that deep in my soul, I believe he is moving on to the next thing: kindness and how we treat his beloved children. We can't genuinely love Him if we are treating His children poorly. What I love about this verse is that it breaks it down so specifically. I don't love what it says, as it is hard to hear. However, I would rather listen to it now and have the chance to change my ways than not hear it and inadvertently end up in a place I definitely don't want to be for all eternity. Let me leave you with the Lord's words today. I know it is a hard teaching, and it will take time to stop doing it. I also know we can stop doing it if we rely on the Lord to help us. All we need to do is say, Yes, Lord, come in and transform my heart and mind. Lord, I need you. Please give me the strength to stop doing these things. The Lord's power is made perfect in our weakness. We have to humble ourselves and ask for help. Listen to these words and ask the Lord to let these words change your heart.“You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder' and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.'  But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.”Dear Lord, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, thank you for caring so much about us. You are willing to tell us what we don't want to hear. Lord, help us to change our ways. Lord, help us to understand the gravity of our actions. We think it is no big deal to call someone an idiot, and yet you are saying we will be guilty enough to go to hell. Lord, help us change. We want to spend eternity with you. That is all we want, which is most important to us. Help us, Lord. We love you very much and ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus' holy name. Amen!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. My new coaching program starts in just 5 days. Make sure to go to my website and get all the details. www.walkbodlywithjesus.com I hope you will consider joining me so we can all go a little deeper in our relationship with the Lord. I know doing something new can be scary. You don't know what to expect and aren't sure you will like it. What if everyone else is further along on their journey? What if they know more than I do? What if you ask the wrong question? What if you hate it? All of these are everyday thoughts. First of all, we are all on our own spiritual journey. I personally love it when everyone else is further along because I learn so much from them. I have always been nervous about joining a new group, but I can honestly say I have never regretted it. Being surrounded by others who share the same beliefs and have the same desire to grow closer to the Lord is such a fantastic feeling. It is not something I can explain. It is something you have to experience for yourself. If you don't like it, you can quit. Just because you sign up for the first month does not mean you have to stay forever. You can quit at any time. There is no long-term commitment required. You can just come and see what it is all about. If you have any questions or concerns, I am happy to answer them. catherine@findingtruenorthcoaching.com I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day. www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Ask AgainActs 9:1-6  “ Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest  and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.   As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.  “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”If you are not familiar with the story of Saul I suggest you read acts chapter 9:1-19. I did not want to take up too much of your time recounting the whole story but I will summarize it later.  When I was thinking of what to write about I got to thinking about how many people I talk to, that are worried about their children.  They are worried because their children are not attending mass, or are no longer Catholic/Christian.  They worry that they, as parents, are not making a difference in their child's faith, or that their example is not enough.  I have these same thoughts as well.  I thought I would share something that I feel God pointed out to me that has given me a lot of comfort.  People have always told me that if I pray for my children God will answer my prayers.  And that they will come back to the church in His time, not mine.  However, I still worried because I know that God gave us free will.  I always thought that meant that the boys needed to at least be open to him, or maybe the needed to be looking for him in order for them to be saved.  And I wondered if they would be open to Him.  I wondered what would happen if they weren't ever looking for Him.  However, one day God gave me a thought, “What about Saul?”  In Acts 9:1-19, we learn about Saul.  Saul was someone who was persecuting anyone who believed in Jesus.  When he was on his way to another town, with the intent of finding anyone who believed in Jesus and bringing them back to Jerusalem in chains, he was blinded by a vision of Jesus.  Jesus asked him why he was persecuting him.  Saul was instructed to go into town and wait for someone to come and visit him.   When Saul tried to open his eyes, he was blind.  A disciple of God went and cured his blindness, and he was immediately baptized.  This is, of course, the abbreviated version. I suggest you read the full version, as it is a great story.  So, if God can completely convert Saul, who was not open to Jesus, or looking for him, but was murdering and persecuting others who believed in him.  Then just think how easy it will be for God to win our children back when he decides they are ready.  I hope that this can put your mind at ease at least a little.  
A second part to this is that sometimes I think that we get tired of asking for the same thing over and over again.  We assume the answer is no because God hasn't answered our prayer yet.  However, when we read Luke 11:5-8 “And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend to whom he goes at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey and I have nothing to offer him, and he says in reply from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked and my children and I are already in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.  I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence.  I know I have talked to you before about the woman who was persistent in going to the judge and asking for justice. She did not receive it because he was kind; she received it because of her persistence.  We must keep asking.  God will reward our persistence.  If we need to reach out and have someone else ask on our behalf when we are weak, then we should do that.  However, we should not give up asking just because God hasn't answered yet.  He will in his time! I am going to read a piece of writing that beautifully illustrates the “Ask Again” idea.  I first heard this on the Big Life Devotional Podcast, and then I went to Facebook and found it on her page titled Tera's Online Christian Journey.  I will put a link to her page in the show notes.  To visit her Facebook Page, click here. ASK AGAIN By: Tera Elness I know, I know, you've already asked Him a million times. I see those eyes rolling.  But today, ask Him a million and one.  
Yes.   Ask Him AGAIN.   Ask him again for that child to come home.   That marriage needs to be healed.   That mountain to move.   Ask him again for that friendship to mend.   That work to begin.   That end-of-tunnel light is to appear.  
Ask Him again for the one who needs rescue, the one who needs healing, the one who needs new direction, new guidance, new focus.  Yes.   Even if that ‘one' is you.   Ask him again for what you need.   For what you want.  For joy in the sorrow.   Help in the struggle.   A sip of living-water in the heat of your schedule...and the time to just sit at the well, amen?  Ask him again.  Ask Him again to provide springs in your land; and while you're at it, give thanks for that land, no matter how dry it is now, knowing He's given it to you with good purpose.  Yes.
Ask him again.   Ask him again to dig up the soil and plant the seeds.
Ask Him again to stir up and settle, make and remake, pour out His peace that passes all understanding, because frankly, you could use a hefty dose about now.   Yes.  
And Amen.   Ask Him again for all that seems lost and all that seems nowhere, even near the city of possible...and ask Him believing He can.   Yes.  
Ask him again.   Not because you don't think He heard you the first million times, but because you are realizing the longer you {truly} live, that persistence is a pretty strong faith-builder; not to mention how close it keeps you to Him for whom all things are possible and nothing is too hard, and because faith-based strength to persevere and closeness with your Creator is what you REALLY need.   Whew. Yes. Absolutely.  
Ask him again.   With fresh eyes and a renewed spirit and a passionate resolve that He can, and if it's His Will...He will.   And if it's not, you will keep on asking.   You will keep on seeking.   You will keep on believing just like Steve Perry says.   Because persistent faith is where it's at.   It fastens its gaze on hope.  The hope that is always three steps {Father, Son, Holy Spirit} ahead, providing the perfect focal point.  Yes.   And it never disappoints.   Amen.   So today, bow low, look up, and ask Him AGAIN.Dear heavenly father, I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, I ask that you bring peace and comfort to all of us who are worried about our children or nieces and nephews. Lord, we worry because we know how great you are, and we want so badly for our children to know this.  Lord, reassure us that you were in charge and that you have claimed our children and that we don't have to worry about them. Lord, give us the strength and persistence to keep on asking even when we're tired. Lord, if we don't have the strength to keep asking, give us the wisdom to ask her friends to pray with us or for us. We love you, Lord, and we're going to keep asking because we have faith and hope in you every single day of our lives. Heavenly Father, we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus ' holy name, amen.  www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Patty's Website www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Praying in the Spirit, What Does That Even Mean?Jude 20 “But you, my delightfully loved friends, constantly and progressively build yourselves up on the foundation of your most holy faith by praying every moment in the Spirit.”I decided to read through the book of Jude today, as it is a very short book. It is only one chapter. The author of this book begins by stating that he fully intended to write to them about our amazing salvation that we all participate in, but felt the need instead to challenge them to defend and contend for the beliefs that we cherish vigorously. He then warned them against false teachers and the fate of the apostates, and subsequently discussed Enoch's prophecy. He ended with a call to remain faithful.When I read the call to remain faithful, two verses jumped out at me. When I started writing this episode, the verse above immediately caught my attention. I felt that the Holy Spirit wanted me to discuss praying in the Spirit. The translation I used today is the Passion translation. It says that we are delightfully loved friends. It goes on to say that we should constantly and progressively build ourselves on the foundation of our most holy faith by praying in the Spirit at all times.I am sure we all want to build ourselves on the foundation of faith. With a firm foundation, nothing can shake us. Nothing can knock us off course. When our feet are planted on a firm foundation, we know we will be ok, we will feel safe. So how do we get this firm foundation we so desperately want? Today's verse says that we can pray in the Spirit all the time. Some of you may be asking, “Pray in the Spirit, what does that even mean?” Praying in the Spirit is another way to say praying in tongues.Praying in tongues is something that many people have heard of but few people understand. Praying in tongues is when the Holy Spirit is praying through you. It is when you surrender your vocal chords to the Holy Spirit. I know this probably sounds weird to you, and if so, I get it. When I was a high schooler, I accidentally went to one of my dad's charismatic prayer group meetings. I thought I was going to a sweet 16th birthday party, but that was in a different part of the building. When I heard them praising the Lord out loud and speaking in tongues, I thought they were all a little bit crazy. I had never heard anything like it before.Later in life, I heard a speaker talking about how she also thought speaking in tongues was crazy. She said she would pray to God to give her all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, except that one, because that one seemed crazy and she didn't want to be crazy or have people think she was crazy. Then life happened, and she had a really intense experience with a high schooler she was counseling at the time. She realized that she needed all the power of the Holy Spirit. She realized that it was crazy to limit God and not want all that He had to offer. God is only good. He is not going to give you a bad gift. His gifts will only build you up and bring you closer to Him. There are no bad gifts of the Holy Spirit.Let me take a minute to explain the gift of tongues. You can receive the gift when you are baptized in the Holy Spirit, which occurs when you are baptized, when you make your confirmation, and anytime you go through a life in the Spirit seminar. There can be other times as well; these are just the most common. Sometimes you will just be overcome by the Holy Spirit and receive this gift and start speaking in tongues like the apostles on the day of Pentecost. They all started speaking in different languages so that all those in the crowd could hear what they were saying in their native tongue.However, this is not everyone's experience. Many people who participate in a Life in the Spirit Seminar who wish to have the gift of tongues do not receive it right away. They need to practice saying sounds that do not sound like words. This is not easy to do, as most of us are afraid of looking stupid in front of other people.One of the ladies in the prayer group told a story about how she first learned to pray in the Spirit. The leader of her Life in the Spirit seminar had told her to practice in the shower, where no one else could hear, or down in the basement while doing laundry. She said she would go downstairs, and when the laundry was going, she would practice stringing random consonances together. During one life in the Spirit seminar, the leader described it as if you were talking to baby Jesus. You know how when we talk to babies, we always say things like goo goo gaa gaa. This is how you can practice trying to talk in the Spirit. It is not easy, as you have to surrender your voice to the Lord. Also, you have to be ok looking silly while you do it.If you decide to give this a try at home, I want to encourage you to keep trying it even if you feel silly. You don't have to do it all day every day, just a few minutes each day. Go somewhere private and practice saying nonsense words, or talk like a baby. For me, I just said the same thing over and over again. Ta, Ta, Ta, Ta, Ta…. I knew I wasn't speaking in tongues for the longest time, but I was willing to keep practicing. Then, one day I was on a retreat and I told the Lord, I wasn't going to leave the chapel until I was speaking in tongues because He had told me on a walk that He had given me the gift, so it wasn't Him standing in my way, it was me. After saying that word over and over again for a while, something shifted, and I knew it was no longer me saying it but the Holy Spirit praying through me. It was amazing! I was so excited.You might be asking yourself, What is the point of going through all of this just to pray in the Spirit or praying in tongues. Praying in tongues is a powerful kind of prayer. Do you ever struggle with what to say to God or what to ask God? Especially when things are really bad, or you are so far in the darkness you can't see any light? Praying in tongues is great when you don't know what to say. When you are praying in tongues, you don't even know what you are saying. It is a special prayer where the Holy Spirit relays the deepest desires of your heart to the Lord in a perfect way. It is the Holy Spirit speaking directly from your heart to the Lord. Wouldn't it be worth being a little uncomfortable and putting in a bit of work if it meant that you would be able to pray the perfect prayer to the Lord?Romans 8:26-27 says, “ Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.  And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” The Holy Spirit knows what you need; He knows how to pray to God for all your needs. Why not let Him? If speaking in tongues is foreign to you, if you have heard of it but think it is weird, or you think you are not “holy” enough for that gift, I want to encourage you to bring your thoughts and feelings to the Lord. At least have a conversation with him about it. You wouldn't be listening to the podcast if you didn't want me to help you walk more boldly in your faith, and I know this would help exponentially. Most of the gifts are for the building up of the faith of the whole community. This one is for you and your faith journey. It can help others, too, but primarily it is to help you along your faith journey. Just think about it, pray about it, and reach out if you have any other questions.Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, you are amazing, and you bless us with so many gifts. Thank you! Lord, I ask that you speak directly to the hearts and minds of all those who are listening who cannot speak in tongues. I ask that you give them the courage to talk to you about it. I ask that you help them see that they have nothing to lose and everything to gain by asking for this gift.  Lord, I ask that you bless all those who want this gift with it. You are a dad who gives lavishly to your children. You give us so many blessings and gifts, and we are so grateful. We love you so much, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus's holy name, Amen!!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I want to remind everyone that my retreat is just two months away, so CLICK HERE and check out all the details. I look forward to meeting you here tomorrow. I have a special witness tomorrow from Patty Schneier. She is a lifelong Catholic, housewife, and mother of three from the Archdiocese of St. Louis. She and her husband, Larry, are active members of their parish, where Patty serves as a cantor at Sunday Mass. During her 19 years of work in Catholic Radio, Patty hosted weekly radio shows, conducted countless interviews, and produced a daily podcast for Covenant Network Catholic Radio.  She has been a guest on EWTN, Ave Maria Radio, Catholic Answers Live, and numerous radio affiliates across the United States. She was nice enough to share a testimony with us, and I can't wait for you to hear it tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!Today's Word from the Lord was received in January 2025 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today's Word from the Lord is, “Have wisdom for yourselves and for those who hate you. Do not turn away from the words of my mouth. I delivered you. Walk in my wisdom.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Why Self-Control Is So Important! 1 Corinthians 9:25-27 “Every athlete exercises discipline in every way. They do it to win a perishable crown, but we, an imperishable one. Thus, I do not run aimlessly; I do not fight as if I were shadowboxing. No, I drive my body and train it for fear that, after having preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.”Yesterday I was talking about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and I mentioned the book set my mom bought me. I grabbed one of the books to get the list of gifts from it, and later, I noticed I happened to grab the Self-Control book.  I don't think that was an accident, as that is the one I probably see the least in my life.  I opened it up and started reading it and found this really amazing story of self-control in it.  I would like to relay that story to you before I talk about the verse above, although they are all connected. The author Robert Strand wrote the devotion series on the Nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit. I found this story in the Self-Control book.  However, it is originally from Rober Schuller's book Move Ahead with Possibility Thinking. It is about a polio victim who required an iron lung to breathe and learned how to breathe without it, even though every muscle below his Adam's apple is paralyzed. Karl Dewayne Sudekum, through discipline, has learned how to breathe like a frog. Here's the story. In 1953, while Carl was a lieutenant in the US Navy, he contracted polio. For six years, he could breathe only in an iron lung or on a tilt bed. Then he got mad — really angry. He decided he would breathe. He stopped the rocking motion of his bed and remembered how he used to breathe like a frog as a young boy in Nashville, Tennessee. It was a trick almost all kids knew. He would take air with his tongue and force it down his windpipe. When he exhaled, his lungs let out the air like a deflating balloon. He's been breathing this way ever since. "Science doesn't really know how it's done,” he said. "It's a two-cycle pumping action that some people can do and some people can't. Some people can whistle through their teeth, but I never could. It's like that." He could stay away from the iron lung as long as he remained awake. With his first real independence, Sudeckum decided to become an attorney. In 1959 he entered the University of San Diego. His wife, Emerald, drove him to school and wheeled him into class. He couldn't take notes, and a tape recorder was too awkward. He simply listened and remembered. Then he was told he had diabetes. That under control, the doctors discovered an ulcer. For a year, he lived with a mysterious high fever, a reaction to medication. Still, he got his diploma and passed the bar exam.He is practicing now and signs documents, K. D. Sudeckum. It is too much of a task to write his full name with a pen in his teeth. When he talks too long in court, his face gets very red, but it's nothing to worry about. A cold is something else. It could be fatal. So what does he do? "I don't get colds." If he falls asleep or faints while out on his own, frog breathing, he will die unless someone who knows his condition administers artificial respiration. What does he do about that? "I try to think about it as little as possible.”Wow, there are no words to describe this man's self-control. It makes my day seem not so bad anymore.  My challenges with self-control seem so small compared to his. Yet, I still have them, and they are challenging for me.  I am sure your challenges with self-control are hard for you as well.  We need not compare ourselves to each other.  That is not why I told you this story.  I told you this story so you could see what is possible for our self-control.  If he can do it, we can do it.  We just have to figure out what our motivation is.  His started out as anger.  I am not sure if that remained the whole time or if it switched. It doesn't matter too much. However, it is clear that something was motivating him.  This is where I think this verse can be helpful. It can be our motivation if we let it.  I remember the first time this verse had a profound impact on me. Father Mike was talking about it on the Bible in a year podcast, and He was talking about the self-discipline the athletes must have to win an Olympic medal, or for that matter, even to be able to compete in the Olympics. It is an unbelievably hard training schedule. They have to exercise, practice, and watch what they eat and what they drink.  It is a lot, and yet they do it because they love it, hopefully, and also because they want to win the medal. The medal that they win is a big deal.  It is something to be honored and something that not many people can say they have done. The odds of winning a gold medal at the Olympics is 1 in 662,000. Yet they train, and they work hard for it.  The race that we are all running, whether we know it or not, is the one for our salvation. The stakes are so much higher, and yet our efforts are so much lower.  This is not the exact wording of how Father Mike said it, but whatever he did say left me with that thought in my head. I remember thinking about this for days afterward. I wonder if we realize what is at stake. Why aren't we trying to do all we can so that when we get to heaven, God will not say to us, as he said to those in Matthew 7:21-23? “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you who behave lawlessly.”Wow, that is definitely something that I never want to hear. However, am I making time to sit with Jesus every day to talk? Do I have the self-control and the self-discipline to pass up sleeping in on a Sunday morning so I can go to church?  Do I have the self-control to put first things first? Why is it I can muster the self-control to work out regularly at times, and yet the self-discipline to say the rosary daily or write in my prayer journal daily escapes me? I think I need to put this verse up somewhere that I will see it daily. When I read it, my heart is convicted to do something, and yet I quickly get distracted and forget about it.  How about you?  Are you doing all you can do to foster your relationship with God, Jesus, and/or the Holy Spirit? Are you using self-control to help you put first things first?  This is definitely something I will need to take to my prayer time, and I hope you will join me in this.  I hope you will ask the Lord to show you the various ways you are struggling with self-control and then ask Him what you should do about it. He will help you out if you ask Him. I want to train as hard as an athlete does to develop my relationship with my one true King.Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, please help us to develop our self-control.  Help us to put first things first and help us to grow closer to you.  We never want to hear the words, “I never knew you.” Lord, we want to know you. We want to be close to you, please help us. We thank you, Lord, for all the ways you are already helping us and all the time you have spent with us.  We are sorry we don't always put you first and that so often, other things get in the way. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus' holy name, Amen!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. CLICK HERE for retreat info.   I hope you will join me for an amazing weekend.  It will be a time to get filled up and refreshed. If you have any questions, please reach out.  I look forward to meeting you here tomorrow.  Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I. Have a blessed day! www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

You Have Authority!Romans 12:2 “ Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.”Last night I attended the Encounter School of Ministries Summer Intensive at the Boston Campus. If you have never attended an event from Encounter Ministries, I highly recommend checking them out. They are amazing and filled with the Holy Spirit! The summer Intensive is an overview of the curriculum for the first year. There are four quarters in a year of the Encounter School, and there are 8 weeks in each quarter. First, it starts with a quarter on Identity because you need to understand who you are in the Kingdom of God and why you have the authority that you have. The next quarter is on the prophetic word and hearing God's voice. In the third quarter, you learn how to be God's instrument for physical healings. In the fourth quarter, you learn all about inner healing and how to lead people to freedom.The summer intensive is four nights, and it provides an overview of each quarter over those four nights. Last night, we were learning about identity. Who are we in the Kingdom of God? What authority do we have here on earth, and where did we get that authority? Everything we have and everything we are is a gift from God. God gave us life. He formed us, and He brought us into this world. He sent His only Son to die on a cross so that we might be free from our sins and our sinful nature.What I would like to discuss with you today is how we use that authority, and I would like to review some scripture verses that demonstrate our call to a renewal of the mind. Let's look at today's scripture verse. “ Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.” This verse shows us that we need to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. What does that mean, though? How do we renew our minds?God is the only one who can help us have a renewal of mind. God wanted to bring His kingdom down to earth, and he wants to do that through us. He doesn't want us to sit by and watch as He does everything. He also doesn't want us to just pray for the things we want and not do anything about them. Praying is great, and we should all be praying. And also, there are times when we can ask the Lord to allow us to be His instruments here on earth. Wouldn't it be awesome if, instead of asking God to heal someone, you prayed for their healing and he did it through you? Did you know that Jesus gave us the authority to do things like that?If we look at John 14:12, it says, “Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. Jesus went to be with the Father, and when He did, He asked the Father to send us the Holy Spirit to live inside of us. If you are baptized, then you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you. This means you can do the works that Jesus did and even greater works. Jesus did not perform all his miracles using his divine powers. He performed all those miracles using the power of the Holy Spirit. The same Holy Spirit that you have living inside of you.If you don't believe someone could do greater works than Jesus did look at Acts 5:12-15. It says, “Now many signs and wonders were done among the people through the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon's Portico.  None of the rest dared to join them, but the people held them in high esteem. Yet more than ever believers were added to the Lord, great numbers of both men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on cots and mats, in order that Peter's shadow might fall on some of them as he came by.” There is no record in the Bible of people being healed by Jesus's shadow and yet they were healed when Peter's shadow fell upon them. In Acts 19:11-12, “God did extraordinary miracles through Paul,  so that when the handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were brought to the sick, their diseases left them, and the evil spirits came out of them.”God wants to use you too! He wants us to help him bring heaven to earth. During the talk at Encounter they talked about how when Jesus did the miracle of feeding the multitudes, He didn't pray over the bread and fish and suddenly there was this giant mound of bread and fish. The multiplication happened over and over again once the apostles started handing the food out. Jesus wanted them to partake in the miracle as well. When it says in the Bible that those who believe will do even greater works than He did, it is not just talking about the apostles. It would be easier for us if He was because then it would take the responsibility off of us. However, He is sending us all out to help bring heaven to earth. In Matthew 10:1 it says, “Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness.”It is true that Jesus did send the apostles out to go do mighty works in His name. However, we know that Jesus didn't reserve doing these mighty works to the apostles because in Luke 10:1-2 it says, “After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go.  He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore, ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” Those 70 represent all God's faithful. Are you baptized? Do you believe in Jesus. Then you are called to go out and help bring others into the kingdom. You have the power and authority living inside of you to carry out mighty works in Jesus's name!The devil doesn't want you to know this. He wants you to believe that you are powerless. He whispers in your ear that you should leave the mighty works to those more qualified. He says you should leave the miracles up to the priests and religious brothers and sisters. He tells you that others may be able to heal but that you are not worthy. He goes on and on about how you have no power. The devil is a liar. (Side note: if you don't know that song, The Devil is a Liar by Colton Dixon, you should definitely look it up and give it a listen). He knows all about the authority God has given you and yet he hopes that you won't ever realize the power you have living inside of you. He will do all he can to keep you feeling stuck and powerless and unworthy.Don't give the devil that satisfaction of thinking he has won. Fight back. Learn more about the authority you have and then start living in it. As simple way to do this is to spend time in the Acts of the Apostles. If they could do it, so can you. There was nothing special about them other than they believed Jesus when He gave them the authority. They were brave enough to step out, even though they were scared, and give it a try. The other simple way to do this is to start talking to the Holy Spirit living inside of you. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you what authority you have. Ask Him to show you how powerfully God wants to use you.I said earlier that God is the one who renews our minds. Allow Him to do that. Invite Him into your heart and mind and ask Him to renew them for you. You can do all things through Christ Jesus. So ask Jesus to help you become the person He wants you to be. Ask Jesus to show you what He is calling you to and how He wants to use you. Let the Lord know that even though you might be scared, you are willing and available for Him to use you as His instrument. You are more powerful than you think. Don't come into agreement with the lies of the enemy. Live in the authority and power that God has given to you!Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening. Lord, please help us to understand this authority and power that you have given us. Help us understand how to live in that authority and power. Lord, we don't understand, and we need you to teach us and guide us. Please give us the strength to do the things you are calling us to do, even if we do it scared. We love you so much, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus's holy name, Amen!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I will be sending info out in a newsletter about the upcoming retreat. If you are not currently receiving my newsletter, I invite you to sign up below the show notes. It is a great way to keep up to date on any offers I might have as well as some great information.Today's Word from the Lord was received in January 2025 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today's Word from the Lord is, “I am your God. Surrender yourself fully to me so that I can use you in my ways. Only if you are used in my way will you become far more productive.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Today for Witness Wednesday, I am going to share with you what some of the people in my prayer group shared last week about how God is working in their lives. Each week, we save 10 minutes at the end to share how God is working in our lives. Some weeks we don't have too many people sharing, but last week we had quite a few. I wanted to share them with you because they are all different. Some are big and some are small, and yet all show that God knows us, loves us, and knows what we need. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.First up is Anna. God has gently, in the past couple of weeks, shown me a great character flaw that I didn't know I had, but I've had it all my life. But he's so gentle with me, I'm amazed. And of course, I felt really bad. I brought it to him because I knew I couldn't fix it. And I felt badly about it for a couple of weeks. And then the priest, the other day at morning mass, in his sermon, said, Don't focus on the negative, heaven knows we know how to do that. So the Lord lifted my spirit. And now I'm still trying to let it go. But anyway, he's so good. And he's so gentle with me. I hope he's as gentle with the rest of you, too.Next, we have Mark. This was his first time at our meeting. I'd like to share something that happened a couple of weeks ago, if you don't mind. It's brief. I suffer from something called atrial fibrillation. It's a heart arrhythmia, and I go in and out of it sometimes. And they usually have to do something called a cardioversion, which is a procedure where they shock your heart. I went into it about two weeks ago, and I went into the hospital in the emergency room, and I got admitted. And I did the normal things that I've done every other time this has happened. The only thing I did differently was that the priest came and visited me in the morning, anointed me, and brought me communion. And I prayed the rosary and asked God to take me out of it. And the next day, my heart went back to a normal rhythm. On its own, without medical intervention. I've had this happen. I'm 52. This has happened three other times in my life. Every single time it's required medical intervention to fix except this time. And the only thing I did differently was pray and ask for God to help. Praise God. Thank you, Jesus.Next is Nancy. I have a witness. One of the parishioners in our collaborative has leukemia. The good kind, the doctors say, but it still takes a toll. And it is still leukemia. So anyway, he and his wife were on a vacation touring Ireland, and they went to Our Lady of Knox. And they just happened to walk into the meditation chapel. And there was a little teaching by one of the sisters there. And he said that he and his wife were sitting there. And for five seconds, he says, for five seconds, I don't know where I was. It was like, just totally black, everything. I was just nowhere. I was somewhere but nowhere. And then when he came out, he said to his wife, I can't believe how good I feel. I feel 20 years younger. He touched his lymph nodes in his throat. And he said, I can't believe it. These lymph nodes that are swollen with this particular type of leukemia are not swollen. And he touched another part that's usually swollen and it wasnt'. And he knows these parts because the doctor is always touching them. And he goes, My spleen isn't as big as it usually is, either.So anyway, he claimed that healing from the Lord, he came home, he went to his doctor, and his doctor said, I can't believe it. Your lymph nodes aren't swollen, your spleen is down, and your blood count is good. I'd say you're in remission. He says, Well, let me tell you about this experience. And he told the doctor what happened. The doctor said, No, no, no, that can't be. However, this is very unusual; enjoy your remission. And we'll keep watching you. Anyway, He is claiming it as a gift from the Lord. We claim with him. We thank with God. Thank you, Lord.Next up is Agnes. I've probably shared this before, but it just, well, I just brought it to my mind when somebody said, Bring me all your broken, even your broken toys, you know, everything broken, bring to me. Well, my son, when he was in his early teens, I mean, maybe 12. He had a 10-speed bike, and he couldn't get it to work right, I guess. I don't know anything about that. So he came into me crying. Not really crying at that point. But he said, You know, I don't have a father to help me. You've got to help me. His father died when he was five.I said, You do have a father, you have a Holy Father. And he loves you very much. And he'll help you. And he said, How? And I said, Well, we'll just pray. Go out there and pray. And the Holy Father is your father, and he's going to help you. So he went out there, and I said, Oh, my God, what have I done? So I sat down and I prayed at the kitchen table. And I said, God, I trust in you. And I know that you are his father, and that you will help him.And I prayed for a while. And then I just kind of went about whatever I was doing. And I happen to look out a little later, and he's riding the bike around. So, I thought Somebody came by and helped him. Praise the Lord. So when he came in later I asked, Who helped you fix your bike? He said, Oh, no, I did what you told me. I sat down, I put all the pieces around me. And I just asked my heavenly father to help me. And my son said it was as if somebody was picking up the pieces. And he said, I put it together. I didn't have anything left over. And it worked. You know, there's been so many times in my life when I really had the faith to move a mountain. And I think that was one of them. Thank you, Lord.Next up is Carolyn. Once upon a time, when my children were little, and I was doing some teacher aid work, I guess, I took a bath and got ready and got to work, and I noticed the diamond in the middle of my engagement ring, which was a family heirloom on my husband's side, was gone.I got back down in the bath water, but it was never found. And it was never replaced. It wasn't big, it was a quarter carat and had two side diamonds. Well, this past week, I got to the dining room table, and there on my place mat there's a ring that looks about a quarter carat, with two side diamonds are embedded in it. And it was just lying there. It's not the one I lost but looks similar.I picked it up. I thought that it must be some kind of cheap costume jewelry that got lodged in the pillow somewhere. We got secondhand furniture, you know, whatever. I'll just see if it fits. It fits. So I showed it recently to my friend, Terry. Oh, that's definitely a diamond.Agnes then shared another story with us. My daughter, when she was, I don't know how old she was, maybe six or seven. She was quite young. She came home, and she wanted me to get her a wall-to-wall carpet for her bedroom. And we have beautiful hardwood floors because the house was only two years old. But she wanted a wall-to-wall carpet, which I couldn't afford. I mean, I was on a very, very strict budget, being a widow with two little kids.I didn't want to say no, because I had to say no to so many things. Well, I don't know what came over me, but I gave her a yardstick, a piece of paper, and a pencil. I said, Go in and measure your room, knowing she couldn't do it. But I did that anyway. And I said, well, then we'll figure out if we can get it or not. So she went into a room, she wasn't there very long, when she came out, and gave everything back. She said, I'm going to go out and play for a while. So she went out to play. And then later that night, when she was getting ready for bed, she was quiet.And she came running out to me. She said, You'll never believe what just happened. And she said, I knew I had forgotten to do something very important today. And so I asked God to help me to remember. And she had a little Good News for Modern Man, a little book of just the Gospels. She said, I opened it up. And this is what I opened it to. And it was in Revelations. And it said, and the angel took the golden measuring stick to measure the city, the gates, and the walls. She remembered then what she had forgotten, but that was it. She never asked about the carpet again.I hope you enjoyed these as much as I did. God is working in all of our lives. If you aren't seeing how He is working in your life, then you need to look closer. I promise you, He is doing amazing things in your life. Thank you to all of those who shared at the prayer group this week and every week. It is an awesome group of people. If you would like more info on how you can join us on Thursday mornings in person or on Zoom, please email catholiccharismaticprayergroup@gmail.com. Or you can just reach out to me with the link below, and I can send you the Zoom link.  I invite you to join us. You will experience a peace you may not have felt before.  www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Is God Your First Choice or Last Resort?Matthew 8:23-27 “And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. A wind storm arose on the sea, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves, but he was asleep. And they went and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm. They were amazed, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?”This is an interesting story.  Jesus was in the boat with all of his disciples, and there was a windstorm.  The boat was being swamped by waves, and everyone on it was afraid.  Everyone except Jesus was asleep.  When I hear this story, I wonder why Jesus was asleep.  I mean, I am sure He was tired as He was teaching so much.  Everywhere He went, He was swarmed by people who wanted to hear Him teach and wanted Him to heal themselves and their loved ones.  I guess it makes sense that He would be asleep.  I guess I am more wondering how He could sleep through all the craziness of the storm.  I am sure it was probably loud on the boat with the disciples doing all they could to save the boat.  As I wrote that, I felt as though the Holy Spirit said, “And there in lies the problem.”  I was questioning when I first read this verse why Jesus said, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?”  I didn't understand why Jesus would have said they had little faith.  And then, when I just said, the disciples were doing all they could to save the boat it hit me.  They were relying on themselves to fix their problem.  They weren't praying to God and asking Him to help them get out of the situation.  And actually, in their case, it wouldn't even be just praying to God.  They had God right there on the boat with them.  They could have, at the first sign of trouble, asked Jesus to fix the situation.  Why didn't they?This is something we all know a lot about.  We do this all the time.  Or, at least I know I and many people I know do.  We know we have a problem, and instead of turning to the one solution guaranteed to fix it, we try a million solutions on our own.  We try to rely on ourselves to get ourselves out of the situation.  This is a message that God has been trying to get me to see for a long time now.  I have had my fair share of storms over the years.  I have prayed about these storms, and I have asked God to help, but I didn't turn to Him to fix the situation as soon as the storm came.  First, I read a million books on the subject matter, I asked everyone who knew anything about anything what they thought I should do, and I came up with plan after plan to fix the situation on my own.  Does this sound familiar to anyone?  Have you ever had a storm in your life and instead of turning to God, you tried to solve it or fix it on your own?  I know I can't be the only one who has ever done this.  This is probably what the disciples were doing on that boat.  They were probably looking to the fisherman they had with them, or anyone else who knew anything about boats.  They were probably all putting their heads together to come up with a plan to save the boat.  They were relying on their own knowledge and their own abilities.  Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”  I wasn't there, and I am only guessing, but I don't think that they would have thought what they were doing was a demonstration of little faith.  They could have had the best intentions.  Maybe they didn't go to Jesus first because they knew He was tired and they didn't want to bother Him.  I get that.  Jesus worked hard, and I can see wanting to let Him rest and not bother Him unless you had to.  It makes sense in our minds. Maybe this is why God tells us not to rely on our own understanding.  As I write this, I am gaining a new understanding, which I assume is coming from the Holy Spirit.  Even though we may not go to God first because we have good intentions, it still shows Him a lack of faith.  Maybe not a lack of faith that we don't think He can help us, but a lack of faith that He would want to help us.  Perhaps a lack of faith that we are important enough for Him to help.  Also, it shows that we think God can't do all things at the same time.  Our actions are telling God that we think He is too busy to help us.  I was at a conference once, and there was a priest speaking at the conference who was assigned to a college or university.  He mentioned he always said a rosary at the football games, praying that his team would win.  He said they captured a photo of him one week, saying the rosary, and he got a lot of negative comments from people who saw the photo.  They said comments like, “a Catholic priest spending time praying about a football game when there are people dying of cancer.”  I remember he told us that they were upset that he was wasting God's time over a silly football game when there were bigger, more important things that God should be spending His time on.  I remember he said, “My God is bigger than that.”  He explained that we shouldn't feel bad about asking God for all of the things that we need because other people might be worse off than we are.  This priest said that our God can do all the things we are asking for, as well as the things that others need too.  He is not limited by the same things that we are limited by.  Actually, He is not limited by anything.  I remember coming home and writing a sticky note on my fridge that said, “My god is bigger than that.”  It reminds me that God should be the first place I turn to in times of trouble.  It reminds me that I don't have to feel bad asking God to help me out of a problem because He may have other, more important things to do.  This is not true.  God thinks I, and my problems are just as important as anyone else's.  He can help us all.  He has no limitations.  He is the almighty one, creator of all things.  The next time we are in a storm, we should go straight to God.  We don't have to waste time trying to rely on our understanding or our own abilities.  He is there for us.  When the disciples woke Jesus up, He rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a dead calm.  If Jesus can do this to the winds and the sea, what do you think He can do to the storms in your life? I know it is hard, and I am right there with you, trying to solve my problems on my own.  Let's join together and make a decision to turn to God to calm the storms.  Let's not save God for a last resort; let's make him our first line of defense.  When we get in the habit of doing that, I bet we will see the storms calm down a lot quicker.Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, help us to trust in you more.  Help us to turn to you first instead of waiting until you are our last resort.  Lord, help us to believe that you can help everyone and that when we come to you, we are not taking your time away from others.  Help us to see that you have infinite amounts of time for each and every one of us.  Help us not to rely on our own understanding.  Help us to see the bigger picture, Lord.  We are so thankful for all that you do for us.  We are thankful that you are merciful and loving.  We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus' holy name, Amen. www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Am I Just Being Honest or Ungrateful?Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”I was working on my mentoring notes for this week. This month, I am answering commonly asked questions about finding joy in the struggle.  One of the questions I am answering this week is “How do I know if I'm being ungrateful or just honest about my pain?” As I was working on it, I thought it might be something that we are all asking ourselves. I know when I talk to people who are struggling, I often hear them say, “I know others have it so much worse.” I think we need to stop saying this. I know it is true, and yet when we say it, we are minimizing our pain.Our God is a big God. Our struggles don't take away from anyone else's struggles, and I think we all know that. The people we feel comfortable enough opening up to are not thinking that we don't care about others' struggles. They know us. They know we are thinking and praying for others. It is ok to ask for prayers for ourselves, too. It is ok to vent about our struggle, too.I have also heard people say that they shouldn't complain because they have so much to be grateful for. They should be more grateful for what they have and less upset about their struggle. I understand the sentiment behind this thought, and yet I feel that if we don't express how we truly feel and we just keep stuffing down the feelings we are actually having, then we will explode someday. Also, God can handle our real feelings.I don't know who we think we are fooling, but God knows EVERYTHING. He knows your heart, He knows what you are feeling, probably better than you do. So, just be honest and allow yourself to feel all the feelings without judging yourself. You will be able to move through your feelings quickly if you don't judge yourself and allow yourself to feel them all.While researching the answer to this question I found 4 ways that we can discern the difference between being ungrateful or just honest about your pain1. Honesty and Lament Are Not Ingratitude- Scripture is full of faithful people who loved and trusted God deeply—and who also expressed deep sorrow, frustration, and even anger. That's called lament, and it's not only permitted in the Bible—it's modeled.Examples:David in the Psalms weeps, questions, and complains—even while declaring his trust in God.Job curses the day he was born and demands answers—but God says Job spoke rightly.Jeremiah (the "weeping prophet") says things like “You have deceived me, Lord” (Jer. 20:7), and yet he was one of God's most faithful voices.So if you're saying things like:“God, this hurts.”“I don't understand.”“Why aren't You helping?”“I feel alone.”You are not being ungrateful—you are lamenting. And lament is a sacred form of prayer, because it keeps you talking to God rather than shutting Him out.God would rather hear your honest cries than your fake praise. 2. Honesty says, “This hurts.” Ingratitude says, “God isn't good.”The difference is in your posture and direction.Honesty keeps the conversation with God open, even if it's messy. It still clings to some sliver of trust: “I'm hurting, but I know You're still there.”Ingratitude, on the other hand, closes itself off. It often sounds more like accusation or bitterness rooted in resentment: “God doesn't care. He never shows up for me. Why should I trust Him?”Think of it this way:Honesty invites God into your pain.Ingratitude pushes Him out because of your pain.It's okay if you're frustrated, angry, or exhausted—but how you bring that to God makes all the difference.You can be disappointed with God and still devoted to Him. 3. Gratitude and Grief Can CoexistGratitude doesn't mean pretending everything is okay. It means looking for God's presence or goodness even when nothing is okay.You can say:“I'm so tired… but thank You for still being near.”“This hurts more than I can express… but I'm grateful I'm not alone.”“I feel lost… but I'm thankful for this one moment of peace today.”Even the tiniest glimmer of thanks—a sunset, a song, a deep breath—can anchor you in joy while you're still grieving.In hard times, gratitude isn't a feeling—it's a habit of noticing the small ways God hasn't left you.Grief says: “This is painful.”
Gratitude says: “And still, God is here.” 4. God Doesn't Want Perfection—He Wants Your HeartWe often feel like we need to clean ourselves up before coming to God. But that's not how He works. Over and over, the Bible shows us:God meets people right in their mess, questions, and brokenness.David ran to God with his tears.Elijah sat under a tree and asked to die—but God met him with rest and nourishment.Jesus wept at Lazarus's tomb—even though He knew resurrection was coming.God never says, “Come back when you're grateful.”
He says, “Come to Me, weary one. I'll carry this with you.” (Matt. 11:28) We tend to forget this scripture. We tend to want to fix ourselves before coming to God. This is crazy talk. It's like trying to fix a painting before bringing it to the painter. Or trying to fix your car before bringing it in to the mechanic. You may have some ideas of how to fix it, but they are the expert. They know the correct way to fix it and they will fix it so much faster than we will.  Bring your mess to the Lord, let Him help you clean it all up. He is so good at that. He can heal broken hearts. He can heal physical ailments. He can do all things, all we need to do is ask. God is telling us “Come to Me, weary one. I'll carry this with you.” Why are we trying to go at it alone when He is asking us to come to Him?And here's something beautiful: the very act of bringing your pain to God is an expression of faith. If you were truly ungrateful, you wouldn't be turning to Him at all.Final ReminderBeing honest about your pain is not the opposite of faith—it's often the purest form of it. Gratitude and grief can walk hand-in-hand. And your vulnerability is not a failure—it's a prayer.God isn't looking for perfect words—He's looking for your real heart.Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening. Lord, we want to trust you. We want to bring all our struggles to you. Please help us! Please help us open up to you and let you know how we are really feeling. Even if we can't be open with anyone else, Lord, please help us to be open with you. We love you so much, and we want to turn to you in our struggles. Please help us to be gentle with ourselves and to give ourselves grace. Help us to see the difference between being honest with you and being ungrateful. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus's holy name, Amen!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. If you would like more info on finding joy in your struggle, I invite you to check out mentoring on Tuesday nights. It's not too late to get in on this series. If you join now, you will get the replays for all the sessions that you missed in this series. Click on the link below to find our more about mentoring. I look forward to meeting you all here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!Today's Word from the Lord was received in January 2025 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today's Word from the Lord is, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given unto you.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Bless The Lord, O My SoulPsalm 103:1-5 “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits—who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the Pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good as long as you live so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.”Yesterday I couldn't get a song out of my head. It is such a good song. I wanted to share that song with you this morning. The song is called “10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord).” It was written by Matt Redman and Jonas Myrin and is based upon Psalms 103:1-5. It explores how we can never run out of reasons to worship and praise God. On Monday of this week, Episode #1036, we talked about how vital praise and worship are to our faith journey. This song and this Psalm remind us that there are so many reasons we can be grateful to the Lord.Let's first look at these verses. They begin with “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name.” This is exactly what we talked about on Monday. Praising the Lord is so important. Even when we are in a really difficult season of life, there are many reasons we can be grateful to the Lord and we can praise Him.In the verse, it says, “who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the Pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good as long as you live so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.” Those are some pretty amazing things to thank God for. You might not have experienced all of them, but I bet you have experienced some of them. Have you felt God's steadfast mercy and love in your life? Have you experienced His forgiveness? Some of you have even experienced his healing touch. I know some of you have been redeemed from a pit as well. I love the line that says your youth is renewed like the eagles. We could all use our youth to be renewed.Can you see all the amazing things God has done and will do for us? Can you see how there are endless possibilities when it comes to praising the Lord? The song for today also talks about praising the Lord. I invite you to listen to the song sometime today. You can look it up on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Music, wherever you usually listen to music. The reason I would like you to listen to the actual song, instead of just this podcast, is that it is really good. Here are the words to the song.[Chorus]Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soulWorship His holy nameSing like never before, O my soulI'll worship Your holy nameAs you can see this chorus comes almost directly from the Psalm. I love it when artist do this. I love when they use the Bible verses in the songs. It helps get the Lord's word out to more people.Next is Verse 1:    The sun comes up, it's a new day dawningIt's time to sing Your song againWhatever may pass and whatever lies before meLet me be singing when the evening comesThis is something we can always be grateful for: that we got to wake up to a brand new day of life. I love how this verse says, whatever may pass and whatever lies before me, let me be singing when the evening comes. Wouldn't it be great if we could be singing to the Lord at the end of the day, no matter what happens to us throughout the day? How great would it be if we got so used to praising the Lord that we could praise Him no matter the circumstances?Verse 2:You're rich in love and You're slow to angerYour name is great and Your heart is kindFor all Your goodness, I will keep on singingTen thousand reasons for my heart to findWe tend to have a perception of God that he is angry at us all the time. We look at some parts of the Old Testament, and we think God is full of Vengeance and Wrath. This is not what He is constantly telling our prayer group. He always tells us how much He loves us. God is rich in love and slow to anger. Does he get angry? Probably, we all do. However, He loves us so much more than his anger. I love how the verse says, “For all your goodness, I will keep on singing ten thousand reasons for my heart to find. If you are looking, there are always reasons to be thankful to God. Even in your most difficult season there are things you can praise the Lord for, you just have to look for them. Or, as I mentioned on Monday, you can put on praise and worship music and let the artists praise the Lord for you![Verse 3]And on that day when my strength is failingThe end draws near and my time has comeStill, my soul will sing Your praise unendingTen thousand years and then forevermoreForevermoreIt is beautiful to think about praising the Lord when our time on this earth is ending. When we can feel our strength failing. How great would it be to get to the end of our lives and still want to sing the Lord's praises. I like how it says ten thousand years and then forever more. Once we are in heaven, all will make sense. We will understand all the things that we don't understand now. Then we will get to praise the Lord for all eternity.[Chorus]Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soulWorship His holy nameSing like never before, O my soulI'll worship Your holy nameThis song is such a great song to play when you want to worship the Lord. As I listened to it last night at prayer group I knew I would be listening to it, more often. It's a great way to praise the Lord!Dear Heavenly Father, I ask to you bless all those listening to this episode. Lord we love you and we are so grateful for all you do for us. We are sorry we don't always appreciate all you do. We are sorry that we don't always know how to praise you. Please help us with this Lord. Please stir our hearts and help us to learn to praise you more often. We want to always be telling you how much we appreciate you. We ask all this in accordance with your will and in Jesus's holy name, Amen!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I have opened the registration for my retreat, so please CLICK HERE to check out all the details. I hope you can join me! I look forward to meeting you all here again on Monday. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed weekend!Today's Word from the Lord was received in January 2025 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today's Word from the Lord is, “Do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. Bless and care for those who will touch your life today. Today is all you have, and it will require all your love.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Where You Are From Doesn't Dictate Where You Can GoJohn 7:40-41 “ When they heard these words, some in the crowd said, “This is really the prophet.” Others said, “This is the Messiah.” But some asked, “Surely the Messiah does not come from Galilee, does he?”When I was looking for a scripture verse today, I opened my Bible and just started reading. I was reading about how Jesus was telling people if they were thirsty, they could come to Him. He was talking about living waters flowing from the hearts of those who believed in Him. Then I read these two verses. “ When they heard these words, some in the crowd said, 'This is really the prophet.” Others said, “This is the Messiah.” But some asked, “Surely the Messiah does not come from Galilee, does he?” As soon as I read that last line, I felt like the Holy Spirit stopped me and said, “That right there, that is what you need to talk about today.”Have you been feeling called to do something and yet not feeling qualified to do it? Did you know Jesus couldn't perform any miracles in his hometown? Not because He didn't have the ability, but because no one would believe that Jesus, the little boy that grew up in their town, could be the Messiah. The town Jesus grew up in wasn't special, and Jesus was just a carpenter's kid. He wasn't special. There is no way that the Savior of the world could be born in Bethlehem or grow up in Nazareth, a small village in the region of Galilee.What I feel the Holy Spirit putting on my heart is that some of you are letting other people's opinions of you hold you back or keep you down. You know you are made for great things, and yet you are allowing the voices of others to get in your head. You are allowing your family to decide who you are. Your family has always seen you one way, and no matter how much you change, they can't change how they see you, so you stay stuck. The same can be true with your friends or with your work. They know you as one person, and no matter how much you have changed, they still see you as that person.I remember I was doing this to my friend Kath. Not intentionally, but when I knew her, she was Kathleen. Then at some point, she started going by Kath. I knew her as Kathleen, so I called her Kathleen for the longest time. I am not sure if someone said something to me, or if I just came to my senses, but I realized that if she wanted to be Kath now, I should call her Kath. I know this may be a silly example, but it is to demonstrate how we might not be letting those we know change in ways that they want to. Look at those around you. Are you allowing them to change and grow, or are you treating them the same way you did 20 years ago or 10 years ago?Jesus fulfilled so many prophecies. Jesus did all the signs and wonders. People knew just by hearing Him talk that He was the Messiah. Everyone knew there was something different about Jesus. Yet, even with all that evidence, some people couldn't get past the fact of where He grew up. This might happen to you. You might be doing all the things Jesus is asking you to do. You might be giving all the talks or praying over all the people and yet some people might not be able to get past the fact that you are just so and so's son or daughter. They might not be able to get over the fact that you did not come from some spectacular place or that your family wasn't super religious when you were growing up.We live in a world that tends to judge us by arbitrary standards. They want you to have these credentials, or this upbringing, or their socioeconomic class or background. People don't want to listen to you unless you have a doctorate in whatever it is you are talking about. However, if you are called by the Lord to teach on something, then He will give you all the knowledge you need on that subject. When my mind starts to tell me that I am not qualified, which it definitely tries to do, I look to the Saints. When I am telling myself that I need a theology degree to talk about the Bible, I am reminded of St. Catherine of Sienna, who is a doctor of the Catholic Church, and yet she could not read and write for most of her life. She had no formal education, at least not past grade school.She spent time with the Lord, and He told her everything she needed to know. St. Terese of Lisieux is the patron saint of missionaries, even though she was too sickly to ever go on a mission trip. Don't let those negative voices in your head try to convince you that you are a nobody, so God couldn't possibly use you. Don't listen when those around you tell you that you are not special enough to have a calling from God. Imagine how different life would be for us if Jesus had given up when those in his hometown didn't believe in Him. Imagine if he had listened to all those who said nothing good comes from Nazareth.Where you are from does not dictate where you can go. There are endless possibilities as to where you can go and what you can do. Just follow the Lord, and He will take you wherever you want to go. You don't have to know the way. He is a Way Maker. All you have to do is say yes to his calling and then take the next right step. God will guide you to where He wants you. Your job is just to keep listening to the Lord and ignoring all the negative comments and those who wish to slow you down or stop you from fulfilling your mission. Trust the Lord and His plan for you. You are special in His eyes, and He picked this mission specifically for you!Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode. Lord, help us to listen to you and block out those who wish to discourage us or stop us from doing what you are calling us to do. Lord, give us the grace to see ourselves through your eyes. Help us to love ourselves the way you love, unconditionally and without judgment. Please help us to see in ourselves what you see in us, what you put in us. Help us to be strong, persistent, and resilient enough to fulfill our mission. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus's holy name, Amen!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I want to remind everyone of my upcoming retreat in Oct. It is 11 weeks away, which means there is still plenty of time to plan for it and yet it is not so far away that we need to wait forever. In case you missed the discription, here it is again. In a world that constantly tells us who we should be—based on status, appearance, success, or past mistakes—it's easy to lose sight of who we truly are. This retreat is an invitation to step away from the noise and return to the heart of your Creator. Through Scripture-based teaching, worship, journaling, and authentic community, you'll begin to uncover the truth of your identity—not as the world defines it, but as God declares it. You are not your past. You are not your failures. You are not what others have said about you. You are who God says you are: loved, chosen, redeemed, and called for a purpose.
Whether you're seeking healing, clarity, or simply a deeper understanding of your worth in Christ, this retreat is a sacred space to rediscover your God-given identity and walk boldly in it. The retreat is October 11-12th. I hope you can join me. CLICK HERE for all the details. I look forward meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day.Today's Word from the Lord was received in January 2025 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today's Word from the Lord is, “Today is the day the Lord has made. Today is the day the Lord is blessed with his mercy and love. Abide in and live from this mercy and great love.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Today I will be doing the witness. I have been thinking a lot about how God is working in my life and the life of my family. I often tell people to be specific about what they want. I think the more we know what we want the more likely we are to achieve it. The more specific we are with our prayers, the more likely we are to recognize and give God the glory when our prayers are answered. If we pray that things get better, how will we know when that prayer has been answered? It might get better in some ways and not in others and so we might be constantly waiting for God to answer that prayer. However, if we ask for something specific, like please help my son get a job. Then you know exactly when God has answered that prayer and you can give God all the glory.In 2021 I decided to come up with a specific prayer for our family. This way, I would know when the prayers had been answered. A thought just popped into my head so I want to clarify something. I do not think that we need to direct God or tell Him what to do or how to solve our problems. Being specific in our prayers is not about that. God is free to answer our prayers in any way He sees fit as He knows best. The idea of being specific with our prayers is that we can be more intentional with noticing when prayers are answered and therefore more intentional with our praise and giving God all the glory. I hope that makes sense.I decided to go back and look at the specific family prayers I had written in the past few years. I will not read them all to you because some of the stuff may be a bit personal for the boys. However, will share with you the parts that have been answered. First, we can look at a prayer I wrote in 2021. I asked the Lord that each of our boys do well in school that year, as they haven't always in the past, and they did! We were asking for the Lord to line up next steps for Sam for when he came home from Cushing house. We weren't sure what he needed or how we could set him up for success so we didn't ask for anything specific but we did ask for God to open a door for Sam. Before he even left Cushing House he had a job interview with Target and he started the next week after he moved back home.For Noah, we asked that he get out of the house more and experience more of the good things that High School has to offer. Noah ended up getting a job that he really liked and started hanging out with a good group of friends. Mostly, they would play online, but there were a few from our town, and so they would get together and do things, especially after they got their licenses.For Ryan, we asked that he be able to transition out of the Lighthouse school, as that was something he had expressed interest in. However, it wasn't really that motivated to go back in 2021. In 2024, Ryan transitioned out of the Lighthouse School and back into the Groton Dunstable Regional School District. He will finish his last two years of school in our home district. He is very happy to be at that school. It is a lot bigger and was a bit overwhelming at first, but he has settled in and I think he really likes it.We asked for the Lord to give our kids more confidence to venture out and try new things. Noah ended up applying to colleges that were abroad and is currently attending Napier Edinburgh University in Scotland. I am sure that took a lot of confidence not only to apply there but to move to another country for college. Ryan started boxing, which he had no previous experience in, and also got a job at Chick-fil-A. Sam is constantly filling in for people in different areas of Target, even if he was not trained in that area. He does what he is asked to do, even if it is new to him. Sam also started a new day program even though he was nervous and didn't know what to expect. I would say we can give God the glory for answering their prayer of giving the kids more confidence.For Tony and me, we prayed that God would help us to become the parents he created us to be and that our relationship with the boys would grow with love and respect. I believe God is in the process of answering this one. I don't think we will ever arrive at being perfect parents. I believe we will continue to grow and get better at it our whole lives. I believe God is helping us figure it out in this season. We have learned to lean into one another, instead of away from one another. We have learned to pray together when we aren't sure what to do. We have learned to communicate more respectfully with each other and with the boys. My relationship with the boys has definitely grown in love and respect. We communicate much better now and we seem to have much more of a mutual respect than we did before. I make sure to give the boys, at least the ones who are at home, a hug before they go to bed at night. If they are not home, I make sure to send them a text message letting them know that I love them.Last summer, August 2024, I decided to write a new prayer when I looked back and saw that most of our prayers from the first prayer had been answered. I want to also stop and be fully transparent with you. Because some of you might be saying to yourself that these prayers were answered because I am different in some way. I am not any more special than any of you. I promise you God is answering your prayers too. The reason I am seeing the answers more is because I wrote down specifically what I wanted, and so it is easy to see if it was answered or not. Also, I probably prayed this prayer every day for a week or two. That is usually my level of consistency, although it might have been less. I am sure it was not more.  Then I might have prayed it every now and then if I happened to see it or remember it.I did not pray this prayer consistently from 2021-2024. I would be shocked if I even prayed it for 30 days total. I tell you this because sometimes we can hear people say that they did something, and we can think they did it perfectly or that they were so much more consistent. Consistency is great, and also, God can answer your prayer even if you only ask Him once. So don't get caught up in your failure to be consistent or your inability to write an eloquent prayer. My prayer was not eloquent, and I definitely wasn't consistent saying it, yet it was answered. Yours will be too!Back to 2024. I decided we should write a new prayer as our last prayer had worked out pretty well. Not everything was answered, and some answers we received were not the way or how we wanted them to be, but it was time to update our prayer. In this new prayer, we asked that Sam would form meaningful friendships with positive individuals who serve as good role models. He now has a best friend, and although I don't know all that they do, I do know he is encouraging Sam not to drink, and that is great! The other things we were praying for are still in the works. However, one thing was that he would be able to quit smoking. I don't know if he has quit for the long term or not, but there is no smoking where he is. So, for the next 45 days or so, he has quit smoking and vaping all things. These are all prayers answered!For Noah, we prayed he had an amazing time at Edinburgh Napier University. We prayed his roommates all got along and became good friends. We prayed there was no ill will or strife with any of them. We prayed he met amazing friends and stepped out with courage to try new things on his own. We prayed he would have the opportunity to travel and see many different places. Noah did get along with his roommates, and as far as I know, there was no strife. They did go out and do stuff together as well as hang out in the loft. I know he met friends while he was there who were not his flatmates. Noah had the courage to walk all around the city and go on hikes in different parts of the city or surrounding cities. He learned how to take the bus anywhere he wanted to go in the city. He hopped on the train several times to go to concerts in Glasgow. He also got a membership to a rock climbing gym.Noah did have the opportunity to travel and see different places. He flew by himself to Portugal to stay with friends of ours, and he explored their town and surrounding area on his own. That was a big step outside of his comfort zone. He also got to explore Copenhagen with dad and his grandmother. Then Tony flew back out a few weeks later to explore Norway with Noah. He also had some of his friends from high school fly over to visit him in Scotland. I would say all of our prayers for Noah were answered.For Ryan, we prayed that he would meet great people in his new school and that he would meet good friends who live nearby whom he enjoys hanging out with. We prayed he either got back into boxing or found another hobby that he likes. We prayed he did well in his classes and that he is happy in life. Ryan is really enjoying being at his new school. He has met a group of kids that he really likes hanging out with. He has them over to our house often as we have a pool table and video games in the basement. He seems genuinely happy with life right now.Two of his friends have a band, and they have invited Ryan to be a part of it. This is his new hobby. It is a metal band, so he practices singing all the time and is hoping to start voice lessons very soon. He has started writing lyrics and is so excited about this new hobby. I haven't seen him this happy in a very long time. It is so nice to see him having fun with friends and to hear him laughing. It is so nice to see his eyes light up when he talks about his lyrics or shows me a video of him practicing to do the metal screams. Our prayers for Ryan have all pretty much been answered as well.Tony and I prayed that we have more quality time together. We prayed we continued to grow closer to the Lord and closer to each other. We prayed we would continue to love each other more and more each day. We prayed that God helped us to understand each other better and that we would respect and support each other more. We are not perfect at this, but we are in such a good place right now. I am so happy, and I do feel we are growing closer to each other each day. I am so grateful that the Lord brought Tony into my life 27 years ago and that we just celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. Like any relationship, we have had ups and downs, but I am so grateful the Lord helped us stay together through those hard times and get to where we are today!I hope after listening to this witness you sit down and take some time to write a prayer for yourself, your family, or your friends. I pray that you take some time to think about exactly what you want from the Lord this year. Where do you want to be this time next year? Where do you want your family to be this time next year? The Lord doesn't mind when we ask for specific things. That is the best way to make sure He gets all the glory!! It is not telling God what to do; it is just asking for what you want, and like any parent, He can say no if that is not what is best for you. I love all of you listening, and I know the Lord will answer your prayers just as he has done with mine. I would love to hear about any answers to prayer that you have received. Feel free to email me at catherine@findingtruenorthcoaching.com or reach out on Facebook, Catherine Duggan.  www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Jesus Set Us FreeIsaiah 61:1-3 “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.”While searching for verses on joy, I came across Isaiah 61:3. However, upon reading it, I could tell it was missing context. When I started with verse 1, I knew we all needed to hear all three of these verses. Let's start at the beginning. The prophet Isaiah is prophetically speaking for the Messiah, and the Messiah is letting the people know that he is blessed and empowered by the Spirit of the Lord God. I looked up these verses on enduringword.com's commentary page. I am so glad I did because it gives such a deeper understanding of this verse. I didn't know this was talking about Jesus.Reading this verse on its own, I did not remember that this was the verse Jesus read in Luke 4. In Luke 4:16-22, Jesus spoke in the synagogue of Nazareth, His hometown. He opened up the scroll to Isaiah 61 – perhaps an assigned reading, perhaps chosen by Him – and read from the beginning of the chapter through the first line of verse 2. When He sat down, He simply said Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. Jesus is the person described in Isaiah 61:1-3, and He is the one the Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon.The commentary goes on to say that “as Christians under the New Covenant, we also have an anointing: But you have an anointing from the Holy One (1 John 2:20). In the New Testament sense, anointing has the idea of being filled with, and blessed by, the Holy Spirit. This is something that is the common property of all Christians, but something we can and should become more submitted and responsive to.” This is reminding us that we all have the Holy Spirit living inside of us. This means we are all anointed and we have an anointing on our lives. How many of us know this? How many of us are attentive to the Holy Spirit living inside of us? Are you listening to it? Are we responding to it? Are we letting it lead us in our everyday lives?We do not all have the same anointing on our lives. We are all called to do different things. We are all blessed with different talents and different personalities, and God uses us accordingly. However, He sometimes also uses us for things that don't align with our talents or personalities. Like when He asked Moses to lead his people out of Egypt, even though Moses wasn't good at public speaking. If God is calling you to do something, he will equip you with all you need to do it.The next part of these verse is showing us the ministry or mission of the Messiah. Jesus came to:To preach good tidings to the poor. Jesus came to announce that he is hear to heal the damage that sin brings. Sin has done a lot of damage over the many years since Adam and Eve, and so there needs to be a great work of redemption.He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted because sin breaks hearts, when he redeems us he will heal the brokenhearted.To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound. Jesus sets us free from the captivity that we find ourselves in when we sin. Jesus takes that sin to the cross with Him. Freeing us from the chains of the evil one. I had at first written forever freeing us, but then I thought about it. Jesus definitely defeated evil once and for all; however, it may still be a daily battle for us. We still need to choose to live in that freedom. The devil is really good at convincing us not to live in that freedom. He convinces us that we don't deserve that freedom, and when we let the enemy convince us that we don't deserve this freedom, then we live in captivity. We live in the prison that Jesus died on the cross to save us from.To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance of our God. This part I will read right from the commentary as I am learning right along side you. It says, “Significantly, Jesus stopped reading before this sentence. He stopped in the middle of the prophecy, because to proclaim…the day of vengeance of our God is relevant to His Second Coming, not to His first coming. The comma in year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance has stood for almost 2,000 years. This shows us something of the nature of Biblical prophecy: it may “shift gears” and time frames quickly and without warning.ii. We can compare a whole year of grace to a single day of vengeance.”One thing I do want to point out is that this is a Jubilee Year. It talks about how Jesus came to proclaim it an acceptable year to the Lord, or a year of the Lord's favor. Well, the year I am writing this episode has also been declared a Jubilee year. A Jubilee year is a holy year of the forgiveness of sin, conversion, and joyful celebration. Jubilee years typically come around every 25 or 50 years. This is a special year and we are called to participate in it.Here is what the commentary says about this last part. “The extent of the comfort and restoration is beautifully described. Instead of the ashes of mourning, He gives His people beauty. Instead of the mourning itself, He gives His people the oil of joy. Instead of the spirit of heaviness, He gives His people the garment of praise. Why do we sit in the ashes? Why do we mourn? Why do we indulge the spirit of heaviness when Jesus gave us something so much better?The word "beauty" evokes a beautiful crown or head ornament. It is translated exquisite hats in Exodus 39:28 and headdresses in Isaiah 3:20. In mourning, ashes would be cast upon the head (2 Samuel 13:19). Here, the ashes are replaced with a beautiful crown.That they may be called trees of righteousness: The restored place of God's people is glorious. They are as strong, beautiful, and useful as trees – and trees of righteousness at that. Most wonderfully, when people look at the trees, they see they are the planting of the LORD.Well, that certainly wasn't what I thought I would be talking about today. However, I think we all needed this reminder as to why Jesus came to us. It is good to be reminded of what His mission was because we are all tasked with that same mission. What can we do to help carry out His mission? Is there a way we can set someone free today? Is there some way we can remind them that Jesus has already set them free and all they need to do is accept his gift? Can we remind people they are loved and they have already been set free from their sin? They no longer have to be held captive by what they did or didn't do. All they need to do is remind themselves that Jesus's sacrifice was enough to cover all they have done.I love when the commentary asks, “Why do we sit in ashes? Why do we mourn? Why do we sit in the spirit of heaviness when Jesus gave us so much more? I will leave you with these questions to reflect on and pray about today.Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode. Lord, we love you and we ask that you bless us and remind us that you have already saved us. Lord, help us to understand that this is a jubilee year and that we can make the most of it. Lord, help us to accept your forgiveness and to live in the freedom that you won for us. We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus's holy name, Amen!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I think I forgot to add the link to register for my retreat in the show notes yesterday. I will make sure it is there today so you can check out all the details. I hope you can join me. This may be the last year at this location, and it is a great location. I hope you don't miss out. I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!Today's Word from the Lord was received in January 2025 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today's Word from the Lord is, “My word is powerful, life-giving, eternal, changing hearts. It will not return to me void. Spread my word.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Rejoice in the Lord Always!Philippians 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”Rejoicing in the Lord is one of my favorite things to do. Praise and Worship are so critical in our faith journey. This month in mentoring, we're discussing finding joy in the struggle. Rejoicing in the Lord is a great way to foster joy. This is something that I love to use to get me out of a funk or a sad place. This works anywhere and everywhere that you are. It is best if you can listen to music because if you are in a sad, angry, or depressed state, you might have trouble worshiping. You might not be in a place where you feel you have anything positive to say to the Lord, or about the Lord. However, when a song that you love comes on the radio, it is hard not to sing along and get into that song. Or, at least, it is not hard for me, as I love music.I love singing along as loudly as I can in my car and in my shower. I listen to Christian music, which, honestly, I didn't even know existed until 5 years ago. Well, I knew we sang Christian songs in church, but I didn't know they had contemporary Christian music, pop songs, rap songs, and rock songs, among various other genres. I am so in love with all of it. I love upbeat songs. It's like my body wants to dance along to the beat, even when I am out walking or running.If you don't know what I am talking about right now, I invite you to download the KLOVE app on your phone. It is the radio station I listen to all the time now, and it has so many good songs. You might be hesitant at first, but give it 30 days and you will know all the words and love all the songs. You can also go onto the Spotify app on your phone, and I have created a playlist called Walk Boldly With Jesus Favorites, and it has all my favorite upbeat songs. Actually, there may be a few slower songs, but they are all good songs!If you are having a really hard day, put on a playlist of upbeat songs that sing of the glory of God. I am telling you, it is really hard to be sad and to think that God has abandoned you when you hear all these singers reminding you of how great God is and how He has been there for them in their hard times. A real-life example of how powerful music can be is the other day when I was at the courthouse. I had to go there to do something really hard, and I was really sad. I remembered that I had my earbuds in my purse, so I put them in my ears and put on some worship music. I was sitting there feeling sad, and then one of my new favorite songs came on. The song is called My Promised Land and it is sung by Josiah Queen. Here is the beginning verse and chorus:You had me standing on a mountainWalking through barren landsYou took my hand and You saidYou can have this worldBut I won't go with youOh, I won't go with you [Pre-Chorus]But I ran out of placesAnd feelings I was chasingAll I have is You and You aloneAnd I said [Chorus]Hold on, wait a minuteI don't want what You ain't in, andI don't wanna go unless I'm going there with You It's You there, rain or shiningYou're the sun on my horizonsYou are my everythingMy promised land is You! And I know I am probably crying while I am saying it, but the music is so upbeat and I love it! Whenever I hear these songs, it reminds me that God is my everything. If He is not in it, then I don't want it. It reminds me that He is there with me, rain or shine. I like to play my playlist on shuffle, and I like to believe the Holy Spirit is closing the order of my songs. I am sure the Lord knew I needed this song the other day at the courthouse. I honestly considered going outside of the courthouse and dancing my sadness out. However, I didn't want to miss my name when they called it, so I just sang in a whisper voice and imagined myself dancing it out.I can't emphasize enough how critical praise and worship can be in changing your mood and lifting you out of a pit. The enemy gets so confused when we praise the Lord when we are struggling. They don't understand why we would praise God when we are hurting, sad, or angry. Also, the enemy can't stand the name of Jesus. All you have to do is say the name Jesus, and the enemy flees. I heard a speaker once who asked his friend, who is a Catholic priest and exorcist, what the most powerful prayer is when it comes to fighting the evil spirits and demons, and he said the most powerful thing we can say is, “In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” That is pretty simple and yet powerful.If music is not your thing, that is ok, you can still praise the Lord. When I joined the Charismatic Prayer Group, they taught me to praise the Lord out loud by using various names for the Lord. For instance, you can say, “You are Lord of Lords and King of Kings. You are a miracle worker and a way maker. You are the prince of peace and the lion of Judah.” The prayer group gave everyone a piece of paper filled with praise phrases to help us out until we got comfortable coming up with our own. There is no right or wrong way to praise. You can praise the Lord in any way you choose. You can thank Him for all the things in your life, for all the ways He has saved you, and for the desires of your heart. You can praise Him for all he did for his people in the Bible.You do not have to do or say the right thing. The reason I mentioned the praise sheets is that you might not be able to think of good things when you are struggling. You might be looking at your life and believing that God has abandoned you. Your situation might seem like there's nothing to praise God about. If this is the case, I would like to review the praise sheet and simply read what is on it. It doesn't matter if I feel it or not; I just read it, and it helps lift me out of whatever I am feeling. Give it a try! I will put a link for the praise sheet I use in the show notes in case you want to have a cheat sheet like I do.I really want to encourage you to consider making praise and worship a regular part of your daily life if you're having a hard time finding joy. You can add it to something you're already doing, so it won't take up more time each day. For instance, you can listen to praise music while driving. Or, you can praise the Lord out loud in your car while driving. You can put on 20 minutes of praise music in the morning while getting ready, or while having your morning cup of tea or coffee. I invite you to give this a try this week and let me know what you think. You can reach me at Catherine@findingtruenorthcoaching.com. I would love to hear from you about how much praise and worship are changing your life. I would love to hear about your experience, good or bad. Let me know!Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode. Lord, we want to rejoice with you, and we want to rejoice in you. We want to praise you Lord, not just when things are going well but we want to be able to praise you in the struggle as well. Please teach us how, Lord. Please show us how to have joy when we are struggling. We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus's holy name, Amen!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I am so excited to share with you that I have my October retreat site up and running. The retreat will be from October 11-12, 2025, with a possible extra night stay. It will be from Saturday morning to Sunday night. The retreat theme is identity. In a world that constantly tells us who we should be—based on status, appearance, success, or past mistakes—it's easy to lose sight of who we truly are. This retreat is an invitation to step away from the noise and return to the heart of your Creator. Through Scripture-based teaching, worship, journaling, and authentic community, you'll begin to uncover the truth of your identity—not as the world defines it, but as God declares it. You are not your past. You are not your failures. You are not what others have said about you. You are who God says you are: loved, chosen, redeemed, and called for a purpose.
Whether you're seeking healing, clarity, or simply a deeper understanding of your worth in Christ, this retreat is a sacred space to rediscover your God-given identity and walk boldly in it. I hope you will consider joining me. It will be held at the same place as last year, North Easton, MA. Click on the link for more details. I look forward to seeing you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day.Today's Word from the Lord was received in January 2025 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today's Word from the Lord is, “I get this image of a heart that's all stitched up at the seams, and yet it is so full it wants to burst. And I get this overwhelming feeling of love that God has for us.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Can Your Faith Heal You?Mark 10:52 “And Jesus said to him, 'Go your way; your faith has made you well.”  And immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way.”How many of us have the faith of this man that Jesus healed?  He was sitting on the side of the road, and when he heard Jesus was passing by, he called out to him.  The crowd of people told him to be silent, but he kept calling out.  How many of us listen when others tell us to be silent?  Or worse yet, we don't feel like we are worthy to speak up in the first place, or we are too nervous to speak out and ask for help for fear of rejection.  Bartimaeus did not listen when others told him to be quiet.  He kept calling out.  He believed that Jesus could heal him, and he was not going to let the chance pass him by.  Once Jesus heard him calling out, Jesus told him to call him over.  When the crowd told him that Jesus would see him, the bible says, “He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.”  How great is that?  How many of us are jumping up at Jesus' call?  I know it's different.  Jesus was right there, and he got to see him and talk to him.  But we can also talk to Jesus anytime we want to.  Even though we cannot see him, he is calling us to him.  He wants to invite us into a deeper relationship with him.  Do we hear this call?  Do we jump up, throw our cloak aside, and run to him when we are called? I love the faith that Bartimaeus had.  He knew Jesus could heal him.  He did not seem to have any doubt that Jesus could cure his blindness.  He also didn't seem to doubt that Jesus would want to help him or to question whether he was worthy enough.  He saw Jesus walking by and called out to him.  Do we do this?  Jesus is here for us; he wants us to call out and rely on Him.  Are we doing that?  It seems each week at my Prayer Group, God is showing up for us, and he is telling us to come closer.  He keeps telling us to rely on him, that he is our protection and our refuge.  Why are we not calling on him more than?  When Jesus healed Bartimaeus, He said, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.”  How great would it be to hear those words from Jesus?One scripture verse that I think is amazing and that I struggle with is Mark 11:22.  This verse is Jesus' reply to the cursed fig tree.  Jesus said to them in reply, “Have faith in God.  Amen, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it shall be done for him.”  This is the type of faith that I strive for, and yet sometimes wonder if it's possible.  I wonder if there are humans who can have this type of faith?  I know that God can do anything.  I truly believe this.  And yet, when I think of myself commanding a mountain to be lifted up and thrown into he see, I can't seem to wrap my head around that.  I have searched for this type up faith for a very long time now.  Probably since the first time I actually heard this scripture and let it sink in.  The very next verse is Mark 11:23, “Therefore I tell you, all that you ask for in prayer, believe that you will receive it and it shall be yours.”  This again just blows me away.  All that you ask for shall be yours if you believe. That seems like a lot of pressure, and at the same time, a huge promise on God's part.  As I said above, ever since hearing scripture like this, I have searched for this type of faith.  I would love to believe without a shadow of a doubt that God can do all the things that I ask him to do, that he will answer all of my prayers.  I find it a struggle to believe as much as I would like to, and I wonder if this is because I have a human brain and we were trained from an early age not to believe in things that we can't see or prove.  We were mostly taught that there are certain things that can be done and things that can't be done.  I think as humanity grows, we are learning to question that more and more.  But it takes time to overcome years of that type of thinking.  I thought I would give you one way that I have been able to deepen my trust and faith that God can do all he says he can do.  I read books about all the miracles God has done and continues to do.  I love to read books about healing.  God is so amazing and he is performing miracles every single day, and if we would just be on the lookout for them, we would see them.  If we can't see them in our lives, we can read about them in others' lives.  Harold Hill's book, “How to Live Like a King's Kid,” is an excellent example.  If you read all the amazing things that God did in his life, you can't help but start to believe he will do it for you as well.  Harold Hill also talks about his faith journey and how he got to a point where he began to see God do amazing things in his life.  Also, reading any books on healing, Francis McNutt, Randy Clark, Mary Healy, Matthew & Dennis Linn are just a few that I have read that have been really good.  When you read about God's healing of others and how there are people out there today who are calling upon God to heal people every day, then it strengthens your faith that he will answer your prayers as well.  Hebrews 13:8 says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”  We all know that Jesus was performing miracles when he was alive and walking the earth.  He raised people from the dead, he cured so many illnesses, he turned water into wine, he did all the things.  This verse from Hebrews lets us know that these miracles were not just something he did in the past.  “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”  He is still doing these miracles today, and if we struggle to believe this, then we need to search out the testimony of it because it is out there. Another thing I pray often is Mark 9:24: “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.”Dear heavenly Father, I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we ask that you increase our trust in you. Lord, we believe, help our unbelief.  Lord, we need you to show us the way. We would like nothing more than to have the faith to move mountains, and we know that you are the only one who can give us that faith. So we're asking you, Lord, we are asking for the faith to move mountains.  Lord, give us the courage to ask when we need healing or when someone else needs healing.  Help us to turn to you first and ask you to heal them.  Lord, we give you permission to use us as your instruments of healing, as you used countless people before us.  Jesus, you are the great physician, and we ask that you continue that work through us.  There are too many people dying in the world today.  Let us help you help them.  Let us be your hands of healing Lord Jesus.  We love you and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus' holy name, Amen. www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Offer God Your Everyday Ordinary LifeRomans 12:1 “So here is what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life-your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking around life- and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him.”When thinking and praying about what to talk about today I look back at scripture verses God has given to my prayer group recently. The first one that I saw was this one. I went to the Bible app on my phone as I did not bring my Bible with me today. It was set for the message translation and when I read this verse I felt the the Lord confirmed this is what He wanted me to talk about.This verse is likely one that you would recognize in another translation, as it is one that I definitely recognized. However, it seems very different in the message translation. In the New American Bible Revised Edition this verse says, “I urge you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as al living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship.” Does that sound familiar?I have heard many people do talks about this verse and yet the message translation seems to come at it from a bit of a different point of view and that is what I felt the Lord wanted me to focus on today. I felt God wanted me to focus on the part that says, “Take your everyday, ordinary life- your sleeping, eating, going to work, and walking around life and place it before God as an offering.” What struck me with this is the thought that this is probably harder for many of us than to offer many other sacrifices.Many of you listening are wanting to live your lives walking boldly with Jesus. You are trying to pray every day, you may be saying the rosary often, if not daily, you may be fasting or do something other things as a sacrifice to the Lord. Praying isn't always easy, but it is familiar to many of us. Scripted prayers, especially if you are Catholic, are easy because you know all the words, you don't have to think about it, you could say those prayers from mass anywhere. You have them memorized. Sacrificing your time to pray, or to talk about God with others, or even to fast isn't that difficult because you know how to do it. You feel holier, or closer to the Lord when you are doing these things.However, what about the regular, every day parts of your life? Can you offer those to the Lord as an offering? Can you stop before you begin your day and offer your day up to the Lord? Can you invite Him into your day? I saw a YouTube video about this a few years ago and it has always stuck with me. It was a video with Father Mike Schmitz. I will summarize that video for you now. It was called “3 Steps to Unceasing Prayer,” Father Mike Schmitz.  If you google this you can watch the video yourself.  It is just over 5 minutes long.  In the YouTube video, Father Mike Schmitz lists three steps, he learned from St. Francis DeSales, that you could do to transform everything you do into a prayer.Ask God to be present.  Yes, God is always present and attentive to you, but by asking him to be present you are letting him know you will be present too.Offer this moment to God.  Offer him all the joy, the suffering, whatever you may be feeling, offer it to God.  Accept –Resolve to accept whatever comes out of this momentThis will not only transform how you have a relationship with God, it will transform how you live.  This is because when you are asking God to be attentive to you, you are allowing every moment to be a sacrament.  You are inviting God into that moment which makes it a channel of Grace.  Then, when you offer the moment up to him you make each moment a sacrifice. When you choose to accept the outcome you are making every moment a moment of surrender.  For instance you can do this when you are going to bed at night.  God, I ask you to be attentive to me and I am attentive to you.  I offer this night's sleep to you as a sacrifice, as a gift to you and I accept whatever comes out of it.God is not just with us when we are praying or when we are at church. He is not just with us when we are calling upon Him or calling out to Him. God is always with us. He really wants us to know that He is in the ordinary mundane parts of our life as well as the glorious parts where we are praying or participating in mass. He want us to know that He is not judging you for not making the time to pray. He is with you in all that you are doing.Yes, He would love for you to spend time sitting down with him one on one and talking  together. However, He is also happy when you talk with him while you are driving into work or when you are doing the dishes or the laundry. He is not demanding your full attention. He just wants to be with you in all the ways He can. Can you offer your suffering to God? Can you offer your joy to God? Can you offer it all to God? Why is it so hard for us to believe He is with us in the everyday things we do? Why do we strive so hard to Do so much for the Lord when He would much rather we Be with Him? He wants you to know you can invite Him into the simple everyday parts of you life too. He is already there anyway but when you offer it to Him then you are partnering with Him in all these parts of your day. How great would it be to partner with the Lord more throughout your day?Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode. Lord, please help us to invite you into every part of our day. Please help us to remember that you never leave our side. You are with us in everything we do, even the everyday parts of our life. Help us offer our entire day, all that we do to you. Help us to recognize you more as we go throughout our day. We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus's holy name, Amen!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk Boldly with Jesus. I want to remind everyone that I have a newsletter that I send out on a weekly basis that has an article on various topics and then also any updates on things like my retreats or books or any other news. There is a link below the show notes if you are not already getting my newsletter I invite you to sign up now. I look forward to seeing you here again tomorrow. Remember Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!Today's Word from the Lord was received in January 2025 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today's Word from the Lord is, “I can see the Lord, and he's smiling, and he's pouring down. It's almost like a gentle liquid on people, and he's saying, “I am empowering you. There's no reason to say that you can't. I am empowering you. Accept what I am giving with joy and gratitude. I am your Lord. Go and make me known. I have empowered you. This day, I have empowered you.” And it's just falling on certain people, and you have to say yes or no. Some people are saying no, while others are rejoicing.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Today's witnesses are from Matthew West's website, called popwe.org. If you don't know who Matthew West is, he is a singer, songwriter, and storyteller. This website is for the non-profit that he has with his father, a pastor. Matthew and his father encourage people to share their stories. They have various categories of stories. Today, I chose three testimonies from the Healing Category. Often, we can hear our own story in someone else's story. When we listen to others tell their story, it helps us see that we are not alone. When we hear how God worked in their situation, it gives us hope that He will work in ours, too! I pray that when you hear these testimonies, you get the faith and hope to believe that miracles can happen in your situation, too. I pray you know that God is there with you, and if you invite Him into your situation, He can help. I hope you enjoy these testimonies.Christine and Darrell Thank you for your prayers for my bestie, June, who had a four-hour brain surgery on Monday in Omaha, NE. She had no side effects. She came home Thursday afternoon. She has 100 stitches in her head and 20 staples. She is almost 80 years old.The doctors were floored by her fast recovery. I'm not! I thank God so much for popwe and all who prayed for her! She told me she cries often with her thanks to God for all He did for her and is in such gratitude for all who prayed for her. She has such appreciation for all who have shown love, caring, and concern for her.I saw her yesterday, and you would never know she had surgery unless you saw the back of her head. God is still in the miracle business. As Matthew says in his song, Don't Stop Praying, “Mountains move with just a little faith.”We just thank God for giving Juney back to us and for popwe praying!God bless you! My name is Caleb, and I wanted to share my story of healing. In 2017, I had some tests done after I had developed symptoms of lightheadedness, extremely painful headaches and a few other symptoms. One of the tests was a brain scan, where they found an anomaly. My parents and I were kept mostly in the dark with the whole situation. We only found out how serious it was when they rang us and asked for us to send the scans to one of the big hospitals in Sydney, Australia.A few weeks passed with back and forth phone calls and doctors appointments, when we found out what it was. It was a tumor, which the doctors couldn't work out if it was cancer or an abnormal growth of cells. The doctors said that surgery was an option due to the tumor possibly being cancerous. They declared the date for my operation was the 13th of December, 2017. I was 13 at the time, and scared, as I knew the risks and how quickly things could go wrong. While family, friends, and strangers prayed for me and healing, I couldn't work out why God was putting me through this.A week or two before the surgery, my mum had a fight with my nan (her mum), after my nan accused her of having no faith or trust in God. Mum did trust in God and had faith, but she was looking at the other possibility of losing me. I remember turning to mum after my nan left and said ” Yes, we must trust in God for healing, but we also must remember to account for the possibility of me not coming out of the surgery”. I know it's a bit of a grim thought, but I wanted to comfort my mum, just in case.The surgery came and went. I woke up a bit groggy the first day, but by the second, I wanted to get up and run around, go outside and try new things. But the tubes and cables attached to me stopped me. My parents bought me a Lego Technic set to build while I recovered, which was meant to last more than a day, if I rested (which I did not, despite multiple nurses and doctors asking me to). When the day finally came when the results of the tumor came back, we were relieved that it wasn't cancer. The same day the doctor came for the results, he also checked the stitching on where they operated and was astonished to find it had healed faster than he had ever seen. We were given the all clear to go home a few days later.Later that year, I developed symptoms of migraines and epilepsy, which were confirmed. It was hard with new restrictions on what I was allowed to do. I was banned from getting a license to drive, I was banned from rifle shooting with my Grandfather and wasn't to be left alone. I became very depressed, I became angry with God and blamed Him for my misfortune. I turned from God. To be honest, I believe that was the worst thing I did. My life became even darker without His light to guide me. Eventually I had thoughts of ending my own life. I went to see a counselor, but it didn't make a difference.One morning I woke up, in the middle of the first COVID lockdown, extremely depressed and went to attempt to end my life, when something stopped me. It felt like a presence, and like a voice telling me to stop. I felt like I could see again and I realized what I nearly did. I eventually worked through it, opening up more to my family about how I felt. I now pray to God, read the Bible and watch movies about God's miracles. More healing from God came after developing a relationship with Him. I was cleared to drive, and am able to help others in ways I wouldn't have, especially without this experience. During my depression, God showed me a way to create with my hands. He gave me the skills of woodworking. Every time I work with wood, I feel God giving me the wisdom and strength to help create something amazing. I have learnt a few lessons from my past- the biggest is taking one day at a time and trusting God. And I thank God for leading me to music when I needed it the most, especially Matthew West's music and Casting Crowns. Thank you for the music.Savannah: This story isn't about me, but my brother. It was August of 2020 when he was admitted to the hospital with COVID. We were told right from the beginning that it didn't look good. What followed was a long battle for his life. He needed a form of life support that had extremely limited availability. He needed so much blood. His wife and children couldn't come to see him. At one point, his heart stopped for 8.5 minutes. The only thing we could do was pray. It was nearly spring when he finally went home to his family. He's alive, and nobody can deny that a miracle has taken place. We prayed without ceasing, and God has answered our prayers.Thank you all for sharing your stories with us! It is not always easy to be vulnerable and share your story, and yet when you do, it helps so many other people. May God bless you and keep you and your loved ones healthy. www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

The Joy of the Lord is Your StrengthNehemiah 8:10 “Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord; and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”The theme for mentoring this month is Joy in the suffering. Several bible verses came up while researching this topic. I had already written at least one episode about most of them. However, I had not covered this verse yet. Right before this verse, Ezra the priest and scribe had gathered all the people together so he, along with the Levites and the governor, Nehemiah, could read the law of the Lord. All the people wept when they heard the words of the law. This is where our verse for today picks up. “Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord; and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”I decided to go to the Enduring Word Bible Commentary as I wasn't quite sure what this verse meant. I wasn't quite sure why the people were crying when they heard the words of the Law. This is what I found on the Enduring Word Bible Commentary page, “All the people wept, when they heard the words of the Law: The word of God was doing its intended work. 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us two things that the word of God is profitable for: reproof and correction. Sometimes it hurts to be reproved and corrected, and these tears were evidence of some of that pain.b. Do not mourn nor weep: Ezra, Nehemiah, and the Levites did not want the people to mourn, even though it is a good thing to be sad under the conviction of the Holy Spirit through the word of God. Yet if the sense of conviction is greater than the sense that God is doing a good and holy work, then tears are not good.Our knowledge of our sin should never be bigger than our knowledge of Jesus as our Savior. We are great sinners, but He is a greater Savior.Therefore, the joy of the Lord is your strength – even when you are being convicted of sin. When we are convicted of sin we know that God is doing a work in us, so we can be glad and take joy.c. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength: The people felt sad because they were aware of their own sin. But they could walk in joy because God was doing a great work. Our emotions are not beyond our control; we can do God's will even when we don't feel like it.They didn't want the people to be sad because even though they may not have been perfect in carrying out the law, it is ok. God is still with them. Those in charge wanted them to know that it is good to stop everything every now and then and remember the law. It is good to stop and examine your behavior and how you are living, and see if it is in accordance with how God wants you to live. However, if it isn't, they didn't want them to be sad and to focus on how much they were messing up. They wanted the people to focus on how great God is and how, no matter how much we mess up, He can still redeem us.The same is true for us. It is important that we examine our behaviors, the way we live our lives, and how we treat others, to see if we are living according to the Lord's will. Are we following His commandments? Are we loving Him above all else? Are we loving our neighbors as we love ourselves? If we aren't, what should we do? We should bring it to the Lord. We can apologize for getting off course again, and then let Him know how sorry we are, and then we can just try again. God does not expect us to be perfect. He knows we will mess up. He knows we won't always get it right. He is ok with that as long as we always repent and turn back to Him!Let's look at the aspect of joy in this verse. This verse said, “For the joy of the Lord is your strength.” How is the joy of the Lord our strength? In this verse we can find joy in the Lord because He always redeems us. I love when it said in the commentary that, “Our knowledge of our sin should never be bigger than our knowledge of Jesus as our Savior. We are great sinners, but He is a greater Savior.” This is such a great reminder that no matter how bad our sin is, our Savior is greater than it. No matter how bad we have messed up, Jesus's sacrifice on the cross still covers it. We can take joy in the fact that there is nothing we can do that is not covered by Jesus's sacrifice. It is ok to be sad that we have hurt our relationship with the Lord. It is ok to be sad that we think we might have let God down. However, we can't stay there. We need to then find the joy that God has given us by sending his son to make up for our sins. God sacrificed His only son so that he could repair the closeness that Adam & Eve lost. This is something we can celebrate. This closeness is something to be joyful over.Another thing I love that the commentary said was, “Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength: The people felt sad because they were aware of their own sin. But they could walk in joy because God was doing a great work. Our emotions are not beyond our control; we can do God's will even when we don't feel like it.” This is something we all need to know. Our emotions are not beyond our control. We get to decide how we feel. In the moment, we can't always control our emotions. For instance if you see something, you might instantly feel something. For instance, when you see someone acting a certain way, you may get upset. That first reaction/emotion, you may not be able to control. However, you can control if you want to keep feeling that emotion or not.You get to decide what emotions you are feeling based on what story you are telling yourself. For instance, I could be sad about what is going on with my son right now, or I could be grateful because he is getting the help that he needs. Or I could be both. I get to decide. The same is true for you with whatever you are going through. You get to decide how you will feel. Will you find your strength in the joy of the Lord, or will you wallow in your misery? Will you turn to the Lord and repent, or will you sit in your shame and let it eat at you? The enemy does not want us to know that we get to decide how we will feel. He wants us to just sit there and listen to all he is whispering in our ears about how things won't ever get better. He wants us to believe that if God wanted us healed, he would have done it already. If God wanted to lift us from this place, He would have. The enemy wants us to believe our case is too far gone.The enemy is a liar. He doesn't know what God's plan is any more than we do. He does not realize the importance of our thoughts. If he can persuade us to spend more time worrying about the “what ifs” rather than focusing on the joy of the Lord and all that God can do, he will have won the war for our hearts and minds. He knows that if we're listening to him, we're letting him steal our joy. Joy in the suffering is possible, but only when our focus is on the Lord and all that good He is doing, even if we can't see it. The joy in the Lord is our strength because we can always find joy in the Lord, even when all seems lost. We won't always be happy, but we can always have joy.Dear heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we love you and we ask you to be with us in this hard time. Lord, please show us how to have joy in the hard times. Please help us to focus on you and all you are doing for us. Please help us to be grateful in the hard times. Please help us to know Jesus's sacrifice was enough to cover all we have done and will ever do. We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus's holy name, Amen!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!Today's Word from the Lord was received in January 2025 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today's Word from the Lord is, “My children, my blessings are with you. I don't give you just human happiness. I give you so much more. My blessings in your joyful moments and when you are in sorrow. My blessings when you struggle and even when you feel lost. I am with you with my blessings.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Calm The WatersPsalm 89:9 “You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them.”There are several instances in the Bible when the sea was raging and God calmed it.  One of the times was when God asked Jonah to go to Ninevah and preach repentance.  Jonah did not want to do this and instead of going to Ninevah he went in the opposite direction and got on a boat going elsewhere.  While they were at sea the waves began to rise up and a great storm came upon them.  They called Jonah to see if he had any ideas as they had all prayed to their gods and nothing had happened.  Jonah told them to throw him over the side of the boat into the sea.  He explained that God was mad at him because he disobeyed God's orders.  Once they threw Jonah off the boat, the seas calmed, and those that were on the boat offered a sacrifice to God and made vows to him.  You can read more about this in the Bible in the book of Jonah.Another time that God calmed the storm is recounted in Matthew 8:23-27.  “Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We're going to drown!”  He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.  The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”The third time I was thinking about was when Jesus was walking on water to get to the boat.  This can be found in Matthew 14:22-33.  “Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd.   After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone,  and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.   Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake.  When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It's a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.  But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid.”   “Lord, if it's you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”   “Come,” he said.  Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.   But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”  Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”   And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down.   Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”I think each of these instances can teach us a lesson about what we should do when we are in a storm and the waves are rising and we need God to come and quiet them.  In the first story, Jonah was trying to avoid doing what God asked him to do.  God gave him a direct order, and he didn't want to do it, so he thought he could run away from the problem.  I am not sure if you know the story of Jonah or not, but running away did not solve his problem.  In fact, as soon as he was thrown overboard he was swallowed whole by a giant fish and there he stayed until he agreed to go to Ninevah.  Has this ever happened to you?  No, I don't mean have you ever been swallowed by a giant fish.  I mean have you ever tried to run from your problems, or responsibilities, only to end up in a worse situation than you could have imagined.  I am not sure exactly what Jonah was running from.  At first I thought he was scared of the people in Ninevah hurting him, as they were terrible people.  Then I read that he was running away because he knew they would repent and he didn't think they deserved forgiveness.  Either way, his situation did not improve by avoiding this responsibility.  Running from our problems don't make them go away.  Jonah still had to go to Ninevah and preach repentance but he ended up first having to get thrown into the sea and spend a really long time all alone in the belly of a giant fish.  Sometimes we are called to do things we don't want to do.  You may feel that you have a completely logical reason for not wanting to do it.  Maybe you feel you aren't qualified for the task or maybe you are afraid, whatever the reason is you don't want to do it.  Running from this task or avoiding it is only prolonging the inevitable.  I think what this first story teaches us is that we should just do the task God is asking us to do.  We may not think we are capable or qualified to do it but God wouldn't ask us to do it if he wasn't going to equip us for the task.  If we are doing what the Lord is asking us to do, we can't fail.  He won't let us.The second story teaches us that we should trust in the Lord.  Jesus was on the boat with them.  He is the son of God.  They could have just asked him to calm the waves and He would have.  They could have prayed to God, and He would have calmed the waves as well.  Every time I hear the words “you of little faith” in the Bible I wince a little.  I wonder how many times God has said this in heaven when he watches me do something, or when he hears my thoughts.  We all find ourselves in situations when we feel like the waters are rising and we can't see a way out.  I think this second story is teaching us to turn to God.  Trust that he will take command of the situation.  This is not easy.  Sometimes the way out seems so impossible and though we know that God can do anything, we have trouble imagining that He would do that.  Also, sometimes we may feel alone as if God is not with us during the storm.  This second story also teaches us that God is always there.  We don't have to be afraid because God is right there in the storm with us.  He knows what we need and is just waiting for us to ask Him for it.I think the third story is maybe a little more subtle.  I think the lesson from the third story can be found when we look at Peter's interactions with Jesus.  Everyone on the boat was afraid of this man walking on water towards them.  They thought he was a ghost.   “Lord, if it's you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”   “Come,” he said.  Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.   But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”  Peter was walking on water, even though he had never done it before, even though it was windy.  Jesus told Him to come and Peter did.  So, what happened?  Peter looked away from Jesus.  He shifted his focus.  Once he looked away and started thinking about something else, other than Jesus, he started to sink.  Isn't this what happens to us?If you look at the storms in your life, the times when you felt like you may not survive, where was your focus?  Was your focus on all of your problems and all of the ways that you felt like you were drowning?  If you are like most of us, yes, that is exactly what you were focused on.  It's so easy to get wrapped up in our problems and spend all of our time trying to come up with a way to get ourselves out of the storm.  This third story teaches us where our focus needs to be.  We need to turn our focus toward Jesus.  He is the solution to all of our problems.  God already has the answers worked out for every problem or situation that you can get yourself into.  We just have to turn to Him and ask Him to save us.  If He can command the waves in the sea to settle down, then he can certainly calm the waves in your life.   If we keep our focus on the Lord, we will walk right through the storms in our lives.  God will calm the storms if we just ask.  Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, I ask that you help us do the things you ask us to do without trying to avoid them. Lord, I ask that you help us not run from my problems, as it never makes the problems go away. Heavenly Father, help us to keep our focus fixed on you. Help us to turn to you when the storm is raging and the waves are rising. Lord, we know you were always there with us in the storm, and we thank you for that. We know that you can fix all of our problems. Please help us remember this when we forget. Lord, help us to be like Peter and jump out of that boat to walk towards you. We thank you so much, Lord, for all you have done in our lives. We love you and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus' holy name,  amen! www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Today's witness is from a news clip I saw on YouTube. It was a segment that aired on CBN. This witness is about a man who got a diagnosis that seemed like it was a life sentence. The doctors said there was nothing they could do to help this man. The family knew even if the doctors couldn't do anything, God could. When you listen to this witness I hope you don't treat it like a nice story. I pray that you hear it and you recognize the power of God working in this story and that you know in your heart that God can do the same in your impossible story story!!When you're going to the doctor and you hear nothing encouraging, that's when your faith is going to have to stand. In November 2020, Gerilyn Baker's husband David started having constant nosebleeds. Doctors removed a polyp from his sinus cavity, but soon after, things got worse.When his face began to swell, his wife thought he had an infection, and she told him they needed to contact the doctor quickly. The results of a CT scan shocked the family. David's brother-in-law, Chuck Denny, was there.They told him he had stage four nasal cavity melanoma. The options they gave him, they said surgery wasn't an option because the facial disfigurement would be too massive. They told us that there was really nothing that they could do.Chemo wasn't for that type that he had. I'd never seen anybody healed of cancer. Every time I heard the word cancer, it was a death sentence.And I felt like unless God moved, David wasn't going to make it. My first thought was that, from my teaching, we need to move into a fast and seek God and see God heal him. David's face rapidly swelled to the point where he couldn't eat or see out of his right eye. Pastor Mark Gilbert remembers the many prayers from multiple church locations and beyond. Both church families were praying for David, and there was a multitude of other people. It wasn't just our churches.David used to be a pastor himself, so there are a lot of people that he knows that was praying for him in different areas of the country, just believing God for the turnaround in his life. Several times a day, we would pray together, and there were times when you felt like you were just lost for words. You felt like you were only repeating yourself because you were worn out.He was worn down from this sickness. His condition just kept getting worse, but the prayers at that point we didn't see much. This was swelling inside of his mouth as fast as it was on the outside, and he couldn't hardly eat.It was just terrible, and we knew that we were facing a horrible storm in life. On Easter morning, Dr. Tom Renfro and his wife Sid were visiting their church for a special prayer service. Remembering her husband's own miraculous healing from cancer, Sid was moved with compassion to pray for David.When I prayed for David, I don't touch people's head. I normally just touch their shoulders, but I did touch his face because I wanted to be very specific and very direct. The wife remembers standing there, and she thought, it's going to come off in her hand because you could feel such a presence of God's Spirit.Sid prayed a prayer that her dad had prayed. By this time tomorrow, this side of your face will look like this side of your face, because that prayer had worked for her dad. The day after Easter, something amazing happened. David said, There's a change in my face. Do you see it? His wife said, I've already seen it. He looked at his wife and I said, I see a change in my face.She said, I do too, but I was afraid to say anything. So they decided to go eat with their family again. They said, well, let's just see what they have to say.And they all saw him, and they said, that thing's shrinking. And it was just a matter of days, it was gone. David's tumor vanished, and doctors later confirmed he is now cancer-free.The Bakers are forever thankful to God for answering their prayers. The wife said, “There are many people who have a diagnosis like David, and  I feel like they saw death. Maybe they prepared for death. But I'd say, don't give up. I'd say, take His Word into your spirit, and I'd say, believe it with everything you've got because that's what we've done.His brother said, “When I witnessed David up close and personal with him, I mean, it just boosted my faith. I mean, I know that God can do anything, big, little. It don't matter.”Sid said, “God can move in anything. I felt jubilant when I saw the picture, and the tumor was gone, and he had a normal face.”Someone else said, “When I see David now, I think about the benevolence of God, the mercy of God, that God in this state of David's life, in his older years, that God has proven His faithfulness to him.Well, I'm thankful that, you know, what happened, that God healed me. I'm thankful for that. I've never doubted what God was capable of doing. I've always believed that He's the healer, that He can heal cancer, He can heal heart attacks, He can heal anything that's affected man. He can take care of it if we'll just believe Him and walk in His Word and not let doubt and unbelief, because that stops the hand of God. But I'm very thankful.Thank you to David, his family, and everyone else who is sharing their story about the miracles in their lives. We need to hear these miracles to be reminded that nothing is too great for God. We need to be reminded that there is always a way, even when we don't see one. This is a great reminder that even cancer is not too big for our God!Click Here for the video www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

I Will Be Joyful In God My SaviorHabakkuk 3:17-19 "Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.”The theme for mentoring this month is Finding Joy in the Struggle. I was looking through some scripture verses that had to do with finding joy in the struggle this morning, and this verse came up. This verse is a favorite of mine because there is a lot going wrong for the people in this verse, and yet they chose to find joy in the Lord anyway.  The things mentioned here are not small things.  It might not seem like a big deal to us, as how many of us eat figs anyway?  However, it was a big deal at the time.  The people who wrote this depended on those crops not just for food, but also for their livelihood.  If they did not have figs, grapes, or olives, what would they sell at the market to get the other things they needed?  The verse says the fields produced no food.  What could they eat if they had no fruits or vegetables?  Normally, I would say at least they have animals to eat.  However, the verse also says, no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls.  I can't even imagine what I would do if I were in their circumstances.  This verse is basically saying that they had nothing.  They had no food, they had no animals, and if they didn't have any of that, then they didn't have anything to trade with to get the other things that they needed.  I know that we often think our situation can't really get any worse; however, for these guys, I would say that it really couldn't get much worse.  How did they react to these dire circumstances?  Did they yell and scream at God?  Did they question Him and ask Him how dare He take it all away?  Did they turn away from God? No, they didn't do any of those things.  In that very same sentence, they said, “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.”Wow, that is incredible.  Don't you wish you had their strength?  Don't you wish you felt the same way on your worst days?  I will rejoice in the Lord.  Not, I will trust the Lord, not I will be ok with the Lord, I will rejoice in the Lord.  What did they have to rejoice about?  Then it goes on to say I will be joyful in God my Savior.  I was about to ask you what they had to be joyful about, and then the words “in God my Savior” rattled around in my head.  They weren't joyful because of their circumstances; they were joyful because of God, their Savior.  They knew God was going to save them.  They didn't know when and they didn't know how, but they relied on the fact that God was their savior and if He saved them before, He would do it again.  Why is it so hard for us to remember this?  What came to mind was, maybe we haven't seen Him save us before.  What if we have never needed saving before, and so we don't know that He will save us this time.  If this is what you are thinking, rest assured that whatever God has done to those who have come before us, He will do to us.  If He has saved His people in the Bible, then He will save us.  Those are our people.  Remember Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”  Because Jesus saved His people in the Bible over and over again, we know He will save us.  We also know that because of His promise in Jeremiah 29:11, which says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  God will use all things for our good.  The problem is, we don't want to wait for it.  We want things to happen when we are ready, or when we think we are ready.  When are we going to come around to the fact that God's timing is perfect?  If things are going wrong for us, God's got a plan.  He might not have planned for you to get yourself into this trouble, but as soon as He saw you headed there, He came up with a plan to fix it. That is what He does.  We mess up, and He fixes it.  I truly hope He doesn't get tired of doing that.  We would be lost without Him.  Let's say that we are able to come to grips with our situation.  We acknowledge that God is doing His thing, and although we don't know how it will work out, we know it will work out. Then what do we do?  We still need to figure out a way to lessen our pain so we can live to make it through to the other side.  The people in this verse decided that, although these terrible things were happening, they were going to rejoice in the Lord.  Do you think you could persevere in this difficult time?  Do you think you could not only keep hope in the Lord, but also rejoice in the Lord?I am currently reading a new book titled Built Through Courage by Dave Hollis. In this book, Dave talked about something that I thought was a really cool idea to help us get through some really difficult times.  I know some of you are either really struggling, or you have loved ones who are.  Dave was talking about how he and Rachel, his wife at the time, had a couple that mentored them at the beginning of their relationship. This couple had a very strong faith.  The wife in this couple had a massive stroke after just having a baby. She survived it but was now confined to a wheelchair.  Dave asked her how they could still have so much faith after something so tragic had happened.  They said they relied on a scripture verse.  That scripture verse is the same as today's verse, Habakkuk 3:17-19.  This woman, who was now struggling with so much, took this verse and made it her own.  Here is what her version of the verse said:“Though I cannot walk, and I am confined to a wheelchair.  Though my face is paralyzed, I cannot smile.  Though I am extremely impaired and cannot take care of my own baby boy, yet I will rejoice in the Lord.  I will be joyful in God my savior.”The author of the book I am reading, Dave Hollis, had not heard this scripture before.  When he heard this story, he was in the middle of a divorce he did not ask for and was transitioning out of a company he ran with his ex-wife.  Everything he knew to be true about his identity was changing, and he didn't know what to do about it.  Dave decided to also adopt this verse and make it his own.  Here is Dave's verse:“Though my marriage has come to an end, and my future looks different than I thought it would.  Though this blank paper I have been handed to imagine what's next fills me with equal parts fear and excitement.  Though my identity both at home and at work is shifting under my feet, yet I will rejoice in the Lord.  I will be joyful in God my savior.”What is it that you are going through?  Whatever it is, would it help you to write your own version of this verse?  Would it help you to read that verse daily to remind yourself that God is your Savior?  Let's not forget that important part of the verse.  I will be joyful in God, my savior.  Reading this every day can give you a reminder that you are not alone and that you are not in charge of fixing everything yourself.  God is your savior.  Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless all those listening to your episode today.  Lord, we thank you that we have food and the things we need to get through the day.  Lord, we thank you for these beautiful verses, and I hope we all get to rewrite them to fit our own lives.  You are our Savior, Lord God, please help us to remember!  Lord, help us to rejoice in you during the hard times.  Help us lean into you and not turn away from you.  We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus' holy name, Amen.  Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  I look forward to spending time with you again tomorrow.  Remember, Jesus loves you, just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!Today's Word from the Lord was received in January 2025 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today's Word from the Lord is, “I had a prophetic image of us being in a great flood of his divine mercy, being carried forward into this new year, and just surrounded by this great rising tide of his glory and his grace going forward.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Discipline Yourselves 1 Peter 1:13-16 “Therefore, prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed. Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance.  Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; for it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”I really like the first line of the verse.  It says to prepare our minds for action.  This can be hard for some of us.  We can have a lot of ideas, but then we get stuck wanting them to be perfect, and so we spend a lot of time thinking about them and how we should do them, but then we don't do them because we aren't quite sure how.  Does this sound familiar?  I know I can't be the only person who does this.  I can't be the only one who wants to do things perfectly, and so I get stuck and don't end up doing as much as I know I could be doing.I want to follow the Lord's will and I want to follow His commandments, and yet sometimes I don't do something because I am not sure exactly how He wants me to do it.  The thing is, most of the time, I don't think He cares how we do it, as long as we are doing it with the right frame of mind and with our heart.  If we let the Holy Spirit guide us, then we can't go wrong.  Why do we worry so much, then?  I think it is because we love the Lord so much that we want to be perfect for Him.  I think it is because we struggle to believe that He truly loves us just as we are.  We are used to human love, which is fallible and conditional at times.  We feel as though we must earn the Lord's love, and so we want to do things perfectly for Him.  I don't think we even realize we are doing this.  I know I wasn't aware.  I was talking to my spiritual advisor about how I felt like I needed to do all these things, and she pointed out that I was feeling like I needed to earn God's love. We don't need to earn God's love!  He loves us more than anything, and He has loved us long before we were born, and He will love us long after we die.  I know I have probably said this a lot, and I will keep saying it because we struggle to believe it.  We do not have to earn God's love; He gives it freely and abundantly.The next two words are words that we don't always like: discipline yourselves.  This is not easy.  This is one thing that we get to work on during Lent.  We get a chance to discipline ourselves by fasting from things that are important to us, or doing things that we don't normally do.  During Lent, we get to step outside of our comfort zone and stretch ourselves in the area of discipline.  I remember watching a YouTube video of Father Mike talking about why we fast during Lent.  He explained it in a way that made me enjoy fasting a little more.  He discussed how fasting is a way of demonstrating our love for.  Fasting is an act of love.  It's kind of like that question, what do you get the guy that has everything?  Well, God has everything; He doesn't need anything.  He loves us completely, and one way to show Him our love is to fast, or give something up, or start doing something we normally don't do.  The thing is, it isn't really an act of love if we complain and grumble the whole time.  If we go through the motions and we do it just because we have to, then that is showing obedience, but it is not showing love.  How can you show God your love?  What can you fast from? What can you start doing?    The next line says, “set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed.” To be honest, I almost skipped over this line.  I was not really sure what it meant or how to explain it.  Then I figured if I didn't know, maybe you don't either.  Also, the point of this podcast is for us to grow on the journey and for us to understand scripture a little more and figure out how we can apply it to our lives, so I looked up the meaning of this line to see if anyone else had already explained it.  The consensus seems to be that we are to hope in the grace that Jesus will bring us, instead of hoping in things of this world, like money, material objects, or even people.  I think we have a tendency to hope in the things of this world instead of looking towards Jesus.  I found an article titled, Two Ways to Fix Your Hope on Future Grace by Jen Wilkin. (Click Here for Article)   It is definitely worth reading.  She talks about how we need to place our hope in the day that Christ is coming because the days we are currently in may be filled with trial and sorrow.  The two ways she talks about in the article to fix our hope on future grace are to prepare our minds and be sober-minded.  It is a very good article, and I would do it a disservice to try to summarize it for you in a few short lines.  I recommend you take a look at the article if you wish to get a better understanding of this verse and how you can put it into practice in your own life.The next line says, “Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance.”  This is an interesting line.  God is often telling us to be like children, or to have a childlike faith.  It doesn't just say to not give in to your desires.  It says not to conform to the desires you formerly had in ignorance.  If you are listening to this podcast, then you are trying to grow in your faith.  You are trying to learn more about the Lord and His Word.  As you grow, you will gain a better understanding of what the Lord is calling us to.  What His commandments are and what He expects from us.  As you grow, you may learn that some things you are doing are not in alignment with what God expects from you or how he is calling you to live.  This part of the verse is telling us that it is not ok to continue to do these things because now we know they are wrong.  Once you know, if you continue to do that, then you are choosing that thing over the Lord.  One of the conditions of something being a sin is that you have to know it was wrong.  You have to have freely chosen to do it.  Once you know something is wrong, God is calling us to no longer do it.  Being completely honest with you, I have hesitated on my journey to grow before because of this very reason.  In the past, I have stopped to think, “Maybe I don't want to learn more, because when we learn more, we are held to a higher standard.”  If I don't know something is wrong and I am doing it, God is not holding it against me.  However, once I know it is wrong, then He is.  Maybe you have never thought about this, but in case you have, I have two things to share.  First, growing closer to the Lord is worth any hardship you may perceive by learning what He expects from us.  As you grow closer to the Lord, you find you don't want to do anything that might get in the way of your relationship.  You find yourself wanting to please Him more than you want to do those things you used to do. Second, God is calling us to all grow closer to Him.  The very next line in this verse is “ Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; for it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.”  We have a responsibility to learn about God's Word and what He is calling us to do.  We are all called to Holiness.  God is not ok with us just living in ignorance of His ways and continuing to do whatever we like.  He is calling us to read His Word, study His Word, and live in a way that is in alignment with this Word.  If we purposely refuse to learn because we don't want to have to live as He is calling us to live, then that is not ok, and I don't think we can claim ignorance.  We all have a choice to make.  God is calling us all to holiness.  That may mean something different to each of us.  I think if you want to know what God is calling you to, then all you need to do is ask Him.  He will tell you.  I think the one thing that is the same for all of us is that He is calling us to read and study His Word, and also to love Him and love our neighbors.  Will you accept His call? Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this podcast today.  Lord, we love you and we want to live in alignment with you.  Help us, show us how.  Lord, help us to set our hopes in Jesus and the graces He will bring when He is revealed.  Lord, I ask that you give us a better understanding of the verse.  Please speak to us this week and help us understand it better.  Help us to set our minds towards action and help us to discipline ourselves.  Lord, we love you so very much.  You are amazing, and we are grateful for all you do for us each and every day.  Help us to show you that gratitude with our actions.  We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus' holy name, Amen.   www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

The Peace of GodPhilippians 4:6-7 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”The other night was very hard. I knew it was going to be a long night, and so I decided, while it was quiet, I would write a devotional. I only got as far as asking the Lord for a scripture verse that would get me through the night. One that was just what I needed for the situation I was in. When I have done this before, I have had my Bible with me, and I would ask the Lord a question, then ask Him to show me the answer in His Word. Then I would randomly open the Bible and read the pages until I found my answer.Tonight I didn't have my Bible. I mean, I could have gone upstairs to get it, but honestly, I didn't really have the energy to move. So, I wondered how I could randomly search an online Bible, as I did have my computer. I decided to type into the search bar “A scripture verse to help me make it through the night.” And I told the Lord that He knew my exact circumstances, and I asked if He could give me the verse I needed to read or hear.Today's verse is the one that appeared in the search results. "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” I laughed at first because I thought that was a pretty tall order. Not to be anxious in this situation was definitely difficult, as one of my sons was making poor choices, and there wasn't much we could do about it. However, when I really thought about it, I realized I wasn't anxious. I was mad and I was sad, but I wasn't anxious.This reminded me of a conversation I was having with a friend the day before. When I told her all that was happening, she asked how I was dealing with it all. She asked how I was getting out of bed in the morning. I stopped and thought about it, and the answer was through the grace of God. This is not just something I was saying because I didn't know what else to say. I truly mean it. I can look at the situation and know that God's grace is helping me through it. I can see His hands all over this situation and that makes it easier for me to turn it over to Him.I could absolutely be worrying about my son all day, every day. I could be trying to fix it and trying to make sure all goes smoothly, and I may be doing that more than I need to. I could let this get to me so much that I stay in bed with fear of what might happen or sadness of what has already happened. Yet I am not, and I know that is because God prepared me for this moment. He prepared me for difficult times. There have been so many really hard things that have happened in the last 21 years, and I know that they were all preparation for this moment.I know God will get me through this hard time because He has gotten me through so many other hard times.I know that this addiction will not destroy my son because God has promised me that it won't, and I can trust in His promises. I can wait for God's timing on this because I have waited a really long time for things in the past, and although the wait was never easy, it was always worth it in the end. I always say that I don't know how I developed a deep trust in the Lord. I don't know why I am not more worried about my son. I think this is because we all expect it to be complicated. We expect some difficult formula to show us how to trust in the Lord. I think it is actually so simple that we don't want to believe it. Kind of like the story of Naaman in 2 Kings 5.Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy. He found out about a prophet in Samaria who could cure him. Long story short Naaman came to Elisha's house.  Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.” But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, “I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy!  Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?” He turned and went away in a rage. But his servants approached and said to him, “Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, ‘Wash, and be clean'?”  So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.We think it must be complicated to follow the Lord. It must be complicated to hear his voice and to know what He wants us to do. It must be complicated to figure out how to hand things over to him and how we can get Him to answer our prayers. We search for the perfect formula or what to do and what to say to make God happy. We search and search for the next thing we can do to earn his love. And yet, it is not complicated. God tells us so simply what to do and yet we don't listen. Jesus told in Matthew 22:37-40, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Love is the answer.I say it is simple, but I don't think it is easy. Loving others is hard, I get that. I know that, trust me, I do. I have loved some people who were doing some pretty terrible things for a very long time. However, the breakthrough didn't happen when I followed all the steps laid out to me in all the various books that I read. A breakthrough also didn't happen when I did all the things the experts and counselors said I needed to do. The breakthrough happened when I did what Jesus said to do, and I poured so much more love into the situation.This verse gives us a formula for peace, and yet I think many of us dismiss it because it isn't more complicated. Let's review the verse again, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” In every situation where you are struggling right now, are you doing all that this verse tells us to do? Are you praying to God about it? Have you asked God for exactly what you need? Have you talked with Him about it? Yes, God knows what you need, and yet He also wants us to turn to Him and ask. What about the Thanksgiving part of it? Have you been grateful in this situation? Not necessarily appreciative of the problem, but while going through hard times, there is always something for which we can be thankful. Then it says to present your requests to God. Don't be afraid to ask God for help. Your request is neither too big nor too small. Bring it to Him!The verse ends with “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” This is how I get out of bed in the morning. This is how I can watch my kids struggle and yet not let it take over every thought in my mind. This is how I can make it through hard times. That doesn't mean I don't have hard days. That doesn't mean I didn't spend a week watching TV recently, just to take my mind off the situation. I am not doing this perfectly, I know that. Yet, I firmly believe with 100% of my being that this will not be forever. This addiction will not get the best of my son. There is a whole, amazingly bright future for him, and God's timing is better than mine. So by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, I will present my requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard my heart and mind in Christ Jesus.Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all of us today. Lord, help us to come to you with prayer and petition. Help us to know that you are the creator of the universe, so whatever our problem is, you can handle it! Help us to obey your simple commandments to love God and Love one another. Help us to open our ears, minds, and hearts to you and to truly hear what you are saying to us. Help us not dismiss it because it is too easy. Help us be obedient, Lord. We love you and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus' holy name, Amen!!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. I pray you all have an amazing Fourth of July tomorrow for those of you who live in America! Remember, Jesus loves you, just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day.Today's Word from the Lord was received in January 2025 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today's Word from the Lord is, “Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day approaching.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Today's witnesses are from Matthew West's website, popwe.org. If you don't know who Matthew West is, he is a singer, songwriter, and storyteller. This website is for the non-profit that he has with his father, a pastor. Matthew and his father encourage people to share their stories. They have various categories of stories. Today, I chose a few testimonies from the Addictions and Deliverance Category. Often, we can hear our own story in someone else's story. When we listen to others tell their story, it helps us see that we are not alone. When we hear how God worked in their situation, it gives us hope that He will work in ours, too! I pray that when you hear these testimonies, you get the faith and hope to believe that miracles can happen in your situation, also. I pray you know that God is there with you, and if you invite Him into your situation, He can help. I hope you enjoy these testimonies. We have all seen God working in our lives. However, we might not all be aware it is God working in our lives. This is why it is so important we start talking about it more. The more we share our experiences, the more people understand how God works and how much He truly loves us. If you would be willing to share any experience of how God has worked or is working in your life, please email me at catherine@findingtruenorthcoaching.com or click here. It won't take up much of your time, and your story could be just the story that someone needs to hear today. Prayerfully consider sharing. Everyone has a story, and the world needs to hear them. Music:"Adding the Sun"fine us. It is not fun, Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com CLICK HERE TO DONATE CLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring  CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emails CLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily life CLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

God's Heart is Not Hesitant—It's JoyfulLuke 15:10 “There is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”We are closing out out month on Repentance in mentoring and I think this verse is an important one for us all to know about. God's Heart is Not Hesitant—It's JoyfulWhen we think about coming back to God after failure or sin, we often imagine Him standing at a distance—arms crossed, disappointed, waiting for us to prove we're really sorry. But that is not the God of the Bible. God doesn't forgive reluctantly. He doesn't roll His eyes when we repent. He rejoices. He celebrates. He runs to meet us.Repentance isn't just about our sorrow. It's about God's joy.1. Heaven Celebrates When We ReturnLuke 15:7 “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”This verse is from the parable of the lost sheep, part of a trio of parables Jesus tells in Luke 15: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son (or prodigal son). In each story, something precious is lost, then found—and each time, there's celebration. Jesus wants us to know that repentance isn't the end of joy—it's the beginning of it. God is not waiting to shame us. He's waiting to rejoice over us. He loves us and wants us to come home. He is so happy when we come home. He is not thinking about what we did when we went away, He is happy that we made the decision to turn back to Him and to come home.2. The Father Doesn't Just Accept the Prodigal—He RunsLuke 15:20 “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.”In the culture Jesus was speaking to, fathers didn't run. Running was undignified. But here, the father represents God Himself, and He breaks cultural norms to embrace His child who is coming home. The verse says that while he was still a long way off…God doesn't wait for us to do all the hard work and then come to us. He sees us trying and making the effort, even if that effort is very small, and He comes running!! He sees us turn to Him, even if it is just the slightest turn, and He comes running. The father doesn't wait for the son to finish his apology speech. He sees his heart, and that's enough.We might think we must explain ourselves and jump through hoops to be accepted back into the family. We, like the prodigal, don't even think we are worthy to be let back into the family. So we come up with a whole justification of why we are asking for forgiveness and explaining why it is ok if we aren't fully forgiven. It is ok if our loved ones want to keep us at a distant.eGod's joy is not based on how perfect your repentance is, but on your desire to return. He knows the moment your heart turns toward Him—and He moves first.3. God's Joy is Greater Than Your GuiltMany people struggle to believe God can be happy to see them after what they've done. They may think: “Sure, He'll forgive me—but He won't be happy about it.”But Scripture paints a different picture.Zephaniah 3:17 “The Lord your God is with you… He will take great delight in you; in His love He will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”God delights in you. He doesn't just tolerate you. He doesn't forgive you because He has to—He does it because He wants to. His joy is rooted in love. And repentance restores that relationship, which is cause for celebration.4. God's Kindness is What Draws Us to RepentRomans 2:4 “Do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness, forbearance, and patience, not realizing that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?”God's mercy is not weakness—it's a strategy of love.
He's not trying to trap you in guilt. He's trying to lead you back with compassion, knowing His joy will become your healing.5. Joy Is Mutual: God Rejoices, and So Do WeWhen we repent, God rejoices—but we're invited into joy, too.Psalm 51:12 “Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”True repentance leads to freedom, not fear. The weight of sin is lifted. Relationship is restored. Joy is revived. God's joy becomes your joy.What Does This Mean for Us Today?If you've wandered, God is not angry—He's waiting with joy.If you feel ashamed, know that God's delight is greater than your past.If someone else is returning to God, don't question their worthiness—celebrate with heaven.If you're leading others, reflect God's posture: compassion, welcome, and joy over repentance.Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless each one of us today. Lord, we want to believe that you rejoice when we repent. Please help us. Please soften our hearts towards you and allow us to see you as the loving father instead of the angry judge. Help us to turn to you when we mess up. Help us come back to you every time. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus's holy name, Amen!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I want to thank you also for your patience as I navigate this difficult season we are in right now with one of our sons. Things are stressful and unpredictable, and I appreciate your patience if I need to replay an episode instead of recording a new one or if I miss a day here and there due to all that is going on. I am doing my best to release new episodes, and when I'm unable to do so, I use ones from when the podcast first came out, as many of you weren't listening back then. Hopefully, they are still new to you. I also wanted to mention my annual retreat in October. It will be at the same place we had it for the last two years. It will be the same weekend, the second weekend in October. However, this year it will be from Saturday morning until Sunday night. Just one overnight. People hit a lot of traffic coming in Friday night last year so this year we will hopefully avoid all that traffic. I will get the registration site up and running soon so you can check out all the details. I will let you know when it is ready! I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day.Today's Word from the Lord was received in November / December 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today's Word from the Lord is, “There are lights everywhere, but I ask you to be my light, to share me with others. Tell them how much I mean to you. ” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

What's Your Story?Psalm 28:7 “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.  My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.”The Lord is my strength and my shield.  This is something that I am not sure we always realize.  I think most of the time, we know that the Lord is our strength.  Or, at least we know that we can ask Him for strength and He will give it to us.  I think when we think of the Lord, we most often think of Him as our strength vs. our shield.  But, did you know that He is your shield as well.  This is the part of the job that probably goes most unseen and most unrecognized.  If we are weak and God gives us strength, we can usually tell.  We are usually aware that He is helping us.  But, what about the times when He shields us from things that we didn't even know about?  This is when we don't know how to thank Him because we didn't even know that He did anything.  I think about this when I get stuck in traffic or hit a red light when I am running late.  I wonder what God is protecting me from.  I wonder what would have happened if I had left 5 minutes earlier that day.  I'm not saying that every time you get stuck in traffic, God is shielding you from something, but sometimes He might be.  Have you ever had a morning when no matter what you did, you could not leave the house on time?  Have you ever had a series of strange things happen that caused you to switch up your routine?These could be times when God is shielding you from something.  The next time that you have an experience where everything seems to be going wrong and you don't know why, try thanking God for it.  I know that may sound weird, but you will be surprised how much better you feel.  Having a day or even just part of a day when everything is going wrong is very frustrating.  We can get into a really bad mood, dwelling on the fact that nothing is going right for us. Our mood can start to spiral downward quickly.  However, if you view this terrible start to the day as a gift from God, your mood will change.  Instead of thinking that everything is going wrong and the world is conspiring against you, you can thank God for protecting you from something worse happening.You probably will never know whether God was protecting you from something or not.  However, the mindset change will be great. Most of the time, our mindset is based on our view of things.  There is a saying that we view things not as they are, but as we are.  This means that we view everything through our own lens.  This lens is made up of our past experiences.  Everything that you have been through up until this point is what makes up how you view the world.  Two people with different experiences in life can go through the same experience and yet view it very differently.  My husband and I often encounter that.  We have different views on life and different experiences.  We can both be experiencing something at the same time, and yet we feel very differently towards it.  For instance, we can both be in the same car, stuck in traffic.  He can be angry and frustrated, and I can be happy and grateful, same situation, different mindset.  Also, we can both be sitting at the same football game, and he can be happy and cheerful, and I can be bored and frustrated.  What we are feeling in any given situation is based on the thoughts that we are telling ourselves about that situation. I am not sure what you think of all of this.  Maybe it makes sense to you, and maybe it doesn't.  I know when I learned about it, I was slow to believe it.  However, the more I read about it, the more it made sense.  Also, the more I read, the more I paid attention to my feelings and my thoughts.  I played around with my thoughts and observed whether they affected my feelings or not.  How about you give it a try and see what you think.  Think about a circumstance where you recently got upset.  Think about why you were upset.  What were the thoughts in your head when you were upset?  Can you remember the story you were telling yourself?  Let's use the example of traffic for me to try to explain what I would like you to do.  I would think about the last time I was upset.  It would be when I was stuck in traffic.  I was upset because I was going to be late for work.  The thoughts in my head were: I should have left earlier.  I shouldn't have taken that extra-long shower.  My boss is going to be so mad at me.  How stupid I am for leaving late for work.  I might get fired for being late.  I think you can get the gist of my thoughts.  The story I was telling myself was that I was wrong for taking a long shower, and now I was going to lose my job.  Can you tell how this story was driving my feelings?  Can you see how these thoughts would inevitably lead to upset feelings?Now, what about if I changed my thoughts?  What if, when I saw traffic, I told myself a different story?  What if I told myself that this was the perfect time to get caught up on that podcast I loved?  What if I told myself that the traffic was a small price to pay for the happiness that a longer shower brought me?  What if I reminded myself that I am always on time to work and that being late one day is not the end of the world?  I could change my story to one where I give myself grace for being late and enjoying a longer shower.  Do you think this story and these thoughts would make me feel differently towards the traffic? What about your situation that made you upset recently?  Can you change those thoughts and that story to feel better about it?  The thing about the stories we tell ourselves is that we make them up, and we have control over them.  Most of the time, these stories are not something we are consciously thinking about.  Our stories tend to default to whatever we are used to thinking or what our past experiences have taught us about a certain circumstance.  However, when you become aware that your stories are controlling your emotions, then you can pay attention and consciously choose to change your stories.  It is not easy, but it is so great when you are able to do this.  One reason knowing this is so powerful is that a lot of times, we can't change our circumstances.  When you are stuck in traffic, you can't change that. Most of the time, you can't do anything about the traffic except wait it out.  Your attitude and emotions while you wait it out can make all the difference in the world.  If you had a choice, would you rather wait in traffic, be upset, or be happy?  Would you rather spend the time thinking about how much you hate traffic or how much you love the song on the radio?   Once you realize that your emotions are a choice, a whole new life opens up to you.  One where you are in charge of your emotions instead of your emotions being in charge of you.  It is an awesome feeling!!I was not intending to talk about this when I started writing this episode.  I thought this episode was going to be about Joy, which I love talking about.  However, it's funny what happens when you let the Holy Spirit take over.  I will address the second half of this verse in tomorrow's episode.  For today, take some time and think about your emotions, the story you are telling yourself, and how you can change that story to one that better serves you.Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless everyone listening to this episode today. I ask that you fill us with love today. We ask that you help us to recognize the stories we are telling ourselves that are unhelpful and not serving us. Lord, we ask that you help us replace those stories with better stories. We ask that you help us change our mindset and outlook on life. Help us to see the ways in which you are our strength and our shield. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the million ways that you protect us every single day that we don't even know about. Lord, we know that you are amazing, and we're so very thankful for all that you do for us. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus ' holy name, amen. www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Today's witness is from the Encounter Ministries Website. Patrick Reis and Father Mathias Thelen of the Diocese of Lansing, Michigan, founded Encounter Ministries (www.encounterministries.us). They say the ministry's purpose is “to unleash the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in the world through teaching, equipping, and activating disciples to demonstrate the love of God through the power of the Holy Spirit.” Its work has been endorsed by many bishops in the U.S. and elsewhere. The ministry offers a two-year training program, the Encounter School of Ministry (www.encounterschool.org). I graduated from this program in May of 2024. It was an amazing 2 years of life. The people teaching my class and my classmates were amazing. I learned so much in two years and have been able to put what I learned into practice. That is one of the most amazing things about the Encounter School of Ministry: they teach you something new each week, but then you immediately put it into practice with something they call activations.Encounter Ministries' healing services are like nothing I have ever been to before. They start with praise and worship for a good hour before the service. Then they have a Gospel teaching about healing and give some real-life examples. Next, they have the team come up and give words of knowledge. This means that the team asks the Lord for what He wants to heal that night, and anyone who hears something goes up and shares it. Oftentimes, people are healed just by the word of knowledge. They hear that God wants to heal them, and they are healed. It can be that simple. Next, they do corporate healing. This means that the leader names a part of the body, and anyone suffering from that raises their hand. Those sitting around this person pray over the person. The leader tells them what to say, and the whole audience repeats it. There are so many healings that occur during this section of the healing service, which is amazing because it is just regular, everyday people praying over them. It is not people with special training, it is not people who are super holy and pray all the time. It is just whoever happened to sit next to that person for the service. It is such a good reminder that we are not the ones doing the healing; the Lord is. It is also a good reminder that God can use anyone.The healing services usually end with individual prayer for those who were not healed earlier in the service. These healing services are so powerful, and they even host them on Zoom sometimes. The witness for today, Gabriella, is from their website. Gabby suffered from Lupus, Endometriosis, and Ulcerative Colitis. She happened to be attending an Encounter Conference online when she heard Father call out the words of knowledge for her particular body parts that she was struggling with, and she knew she would be cured. Here is her story. I will put a link to the original testimony in the show notes. Click Here to watch the orignial video of Gabby's testimony.  www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

The Lord Rejoices When You Repent!Luke 15:7 “Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”The topic for tonight's mentoring session is God's joy over repentance. This verse is an excellent example of how much God loves us and how happy He is when we repent. Many of us think God is just waiting for us to mess up so he can say, “I told you so,” and then punish us. The truth is that God is waiting there for us with open arms, just waiting for us to repent. When we do, He rejoices.The verse says there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. I think it is essential to know this because we tend to put righteous people on a pedestal. We look at people who seem to be doing it all right and think that God likes them more than us. We believe they are highly favored, and we are not. We could never compare to them, so why bother trying to be as good as they are?This verse is telling us that this is not true. It tells us that God rejoices more over us sinners who repent and turn back to Him than He does over the 99 that didn't need to repent. God loves you in the middle of all of your mess. He loves you even when you mess up. He loves you even when you don't feel lovable. He loves you even when you are sure you finally did it this time. You finally did something that is so bad, He will never be able to forgive you. He loves you even then and is just waiting for you to repent so he can forgive you, pick you up in His arms, and give you a big hug. God loves all of his children, even those of us who mess up and sin. Even if we mess up and sin a lot, He still loves us.This is such an important thing for us all to know. Actually, not just know, but to fully embrace. The enemy loves to take up space in our heads. Did you know another name for the devil is the accuser? Revelations 12:10 says, “Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night.” Satan is constantly telling God how bad we are and accusing us of all the things he thinks are so terrible that God shouldn't forgive us. Even satan doesn't understand the Lord. He doesn't understand why the Lord would forgive us. It makes no sense to him. And I kinda get it. I mean, we can be pretty awful to the Lord sometimes. We can say and do some pretty mean things, especially when we are mad.I mean, think about how we feel when our kids do unkind things to us. My sister and I were just talking yesterday about how we don't understand how kids can go from being so sweet one minute to saying the most cruel things the next. This can be us with God sometimes. When things aren't going our way, when we are stressed out, when we are frustrated, or when we feel like we are at the bottom of a deep, dark pit, we may lash out at the Lord and say very unkind things. We don't usually mean them, but in that moment, we say them anyway.We can also hurt the Lord when things are going well. We do this by taking credit for all the good in our lives. We do this by thinking we can do things by ourselves and that we don't need God. We only call upon him when we need him and forget about Him when things are going good. I am sure this is also painful to the Lord. I know it is painful to me when my kids only come to me when they need something. He wants to be there celebrating with us in the good times, too. He wants to give us a revelation about how we got to where we are, but we need to go to seek Him. We need to look back at where we were and where we are and see all that God has done to get us where we are today.God is so good and so faithful. He patiently waits for us to see the error of our ways and repent and turn back to Him. And when we do, he rejoices, and so does the rest of heaven!Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening today. Lord, we are grateful that you love us and that you forgive us. We are sorry that we offend you so often and are grateful that you never give up on us. We are grateful you keep patiently waiting for us to get it together and repent and turn back to you. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus's holy name, Amen!Today's Word from the Lord was received in November / December 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today's Word from the Lord is, “I am here with my joy, my children. Come and have your fill. Let the rhythm of my joy spread to one and all. Announce to the world that the Lord has come.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

There is Light, Even In The Darkness!Isaiah 9:2 “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them light has shined.”This verse was received at my prayer group on Thursday. I thought it would be a good one because several of you have felt like you are in the dark lately. You feel like the waves keep coming, and you can't seem to get your head above water. I know many of you are suffering from illness and are waiting on the Lord to fix them. You have done all you can do, and now it is up to the Lord. You know He is capable of healing you, and so you are trying to hold on to the hope that He will. Yet, each day that goes by without the healing, you find it harder and harder to hold onto that hope.I know some of you listening are struggling financially. You are praying that you will be able to pay your bills at the end of the month. You are worried because someone is coming out to repossess your car any day now. I am sure that is a really scary feeling and one that you don't want to have anymore. I know growing up, my parents struggled financially. I remember my mom calling the water company and the electric company and letting them know that she wanted to pay her bills, but she just didn't have the money. The best she could do was send them $20 now and pay the rest at a later date. I am sure there were times when my mom felt like she was in the dark because they went so long without having any money.Others are not struggling financially or medically, but you have loved ones who are, and that is really tough too. This is where I am at right now. One of my sons is really struggling, and I am working hard to figure out how to help him without enabling him. I am trying to find my boundaries and still be there for him with all that he needs. You may be taking care of a spouse, a child, or a parent. Caring for aging parents can be really tough.  I wish I knew what to say to you to make your situation easier. I wish I knew what to say to heal you or your loved one. I wish I could say some magic words and you would instantly have all the provisions and money you needed for the month.  I do not know what to say. However, I do know what this verse says and what it promises us. The verse for today says, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them light has shined.” You may be walking in darkness, but you have a light shining on you. God is shining a light on you. You may feel like it is too dark to see that light, but it is there. God is always right there with you, trying to light your way. We just need to be looking for His light.This light doesn't have to literally be a bright shining light, although for some it might be. I have a friend, Bruce, who has gone blind slowly over the last 10 years. He had a conversation with the Lord back in August. He cried out to God and told Gold that he was so tired of being in the dark all the time. He just couldn't take it anymore. Guess what God did next? He did not heal him of his blindness, but he did provide him with a light in that darkness. It was truly remarkable. If you have some time, you can go back and listen to his testimony on episode #836. You won't be sorry you listened. It is a great witness to how good our God is and shows what can happen if we are brave enough to ask.For some of you, the bright light might be feeling good enough to get out of bed today. It might be getting a chance to sit outside and feel the sun on your face. It might be feeling good enough to eat something or to sit up and watch TV. Your bright light might be different than my bright light. However, the verse says that the people who have walked in darkness have seen a great light. So, what does your great light look like? Where can you see light in your darkness? If you don't know what that great light is, that is ok. You are not alone. There are many of us who can only see the dark, especially if we have been in it for a long time.One way to start to see some light is to look for things you can be grateful for each day. It's ok to just start with one thing. If all you see is the bad stuff all around you, then try to take a moment each day to intentionally find something good around you. It doesn't have to be something good about your situation, it could just be that you are grateful for the sun shining, for a good cup of coffee or tea. You could be grateful for a nice text message from a friend or the perfect song coming on the radio when you needed it the most. Gratitude is a great way to start to bring a little light into your situation.The verse also says, “those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them light has shined.” If you are feeling like you are living in the land of deep darkness, the verse says that a light has shone on you, too. There is light in every situation. God is light, and He never leaves your side. No matter how dark you feel your situation is, God is promising us that there is light in it. It is not pitch black. There is always some light because God is right there with you. Sometimes the light is hard to see, and that is why I suggested the habit of looking for things to be grateful for each day. The more you look, the more you will see. It can be easy to tell ourselves that we have nothing to be grateful for. However, the more we look for things to be grateful for, the more we will see, and then the more light we will see in our situation. There is light in every situation, we just have to look for it and we will find it!Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless each person listening to this episode. Lord, so many of us feel we are in the dark, please help us! Please help those who are in the dark find even just a glimmer of your light, Lord! We know you are in every situation, and yet sometimes it is so hard to see you. Please help us see you in every situation. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus's holy name, Amen!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!Today's Word from the Lord was received in November / December 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today's Word from the Lord is, “Surrender all the worries, anxieties, tests, and demands of this world during this season to Me. The most important thing you can do is surrender to Me, my sacred heart. This is the most important gift to Me, to yourselves, and to others.”  www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Find The Gold In PeopleRomans 2:1-4 “You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth.  So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment?  Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?”We spent a lot of time in class discussing this topic of judging others and calling out other people's sins last night, and it was such a great conversation.  I wanted to share the idea with all of you as well.  We all know we shouldn't judge others.  Did you know the extent to which you judge others is the extent to which God will judge you?  For me, finding that our, taking a minute to let that sink in, was a game changer for me.  If I expect perfection from others and don't cut anyone any slack, will God do the same?  I don't know if that is precisely how it works, but that was enough for me to double down on my efforts not to judge.  I know I am not perfect.  I know I have many flaws.  I know I need God to be very gracious with me, which means I must be gracious with others.  To me, that seems like a small trade-off.  If I am gracious with others here on earth, how does that hurt me?  It may be inconvenient.  I may have to be nice to those I don't like, and I may have to put up with annoyances.  I may have to watch them make bad choices and not judge them for it.  However, if you compare that to the alternative, it doesn't compare.  If you compare those inconveniences to what might happen if God judged me the way I was judging others, I would suffer a lot more than inconveniences after I leave Earth.  I want to spend eternity with my heavenly father.  Our time in this world is limited when we compare it to eternity.  Romans 8:18 says, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”  Is it hard not to judge others? Yes.  It is worth it in the end, absolutely.  When I talk about judging others, most of you are probably thinking about how we judge strangers.  How we judge those we see on the streets, or in the grocery stores, maybe even those at work.  Those we judge when there is really no reason to judge.  We might judge someone's outfit or their decisions, but they don't affect us.  Our judgment does not really affect them.  However, what about when we view our judgment as necessary?  For instance, we all want our children, siblings, or family members to be successful.  We want them to have a good life.  When we worry they are headed down the wrong path, we feel it is our job to correct their course.  We are only trying to help them be more responsible, be healthier, be whatever it is we think they should be.  Sometimes, if our children, our loved ones, or our friends are doing something that we know is a sin, we feel as though it is our duty to tell them.  We feel we are helping them to their salvation if we call out their sin.  We are only trying to help.  I get it, and yet, are we really helping?In class, we took a look at how Jesus dealt with sin in the Bible.  Sometimes, he did call it out, but only if needed and only with love.  For instance, the woman at the well, He let her know that she was living with a man who was not her husband, but he never once made her feel ashamed for it.  He was letting her know that He saw her, He knew her, all of her, and yet still loved her.  The woman caught in adultery, he didn't scold her, he didn't tell her she needed to get her life together, he didn't lecture her on why what she was doing was wrong.  He showed her kindness, He saved her life, and he told her to sin no more.  What about Luke 19:1-10?  Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector who wanted to see Jesus.  Jesus called out to Zacchaeus and said, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.”  The scripture says others around were muttering that the Lord would dare to eat with a sinner.  Jesus never called out all Zacchaaeus' sins.  He called him by his name, showing that He knew him, and then He showed love for Zacchaeus by going to his house for lunch.  Then in Luke 19:8 it says, “But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, 'Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”  Why did Zacchaeus have a change of heart?  Why did he change his ways?  Why did the woman at the well change her ways?  Both of them had a renewal of the mind through an encounter with the love of Jesus.  Our goal in life, all of us, should be to lead people to encounter the transforming love of God.  I know we worry about our families and friends.  I know we love them, and we just want what is best for them.  I also know that God loves them more than we ever could.  God wants more for them than we could ever imagine.  So, why do we think it is up to us and us alone to set them on the right path?  Why do we think it is our job to call out their sins?  Have you ever met someone or had someone in your life who pointed out all you did that was wrong?  Have you ever been around someone who made you feel like nothing you did was ever good enough?  How did that make you feel?  Did it make you want to work really hard to get that person's respect?  Did it make you want to not even bother to try because there was no way they would be happy?  Did you feel any love from that person?  The reason for the title of this episode is that our teacher kept saying we needed to look for the gold in people.  When you are mining for gold, you don't always find gold.  Sometimes you pull up rocks, mud, sludge, or whatever else, mixed in with the gold.  However, you don't keep that stuff.  You sift through all the junk and you only keep the good stuff.  What if we did that with all we meet?  Yes, we see all the junk, the uncleanliness, the immature decisions, the sinfulness, and much more.  However, what if we were to sift that stuff out and just look for the gold?  Look for that one thing they are doing right, that one thing they have going for them, that one thing we can be proud of.  I think we definitely underestimate the power of our words and, more importantly, the power of positive words.  Fear is gripping this society today.  There is so much fear, worry, and anxiety.  We must fight it.  We must believe that our God is bigger than anything this world has to throw at Him.  We must believe that God has the power to change our loved ones, to change us.  If there is one thing God has told me so many times over the years, it is to be patient with the process.  He continues to tell me, because it takes multiple times, that the change I am looking for is coming, but it is not coming through my nagging.  My nagging only slows God's plan down.  My nagging only closes the hearts and minds of those I want the best for.  God continues to tell me I just need to love the people, and He will do the rest.  Sometimes this is counterintuitive.  I know you don't see how affirming a person when they are making terrible choices can help the situation, but it can.  We need to come alongside our loved ones.  Instead of acting like we have it all figured out, we can sympathize with their situation.  We can let them know we love them right where they are.  They don't need to change for us to love them.  They don't need to be a certain person, so we can love them.  We already love them and we are here to help when they are ready for help.  Every single person in this world, whether they know it or not, is just looking to be loved, respected, and accepted.  We are called to be like Jesus.  We are called to act like Jesus.  We are called to think like Jesus.  We can't do this on our own, but with Jesus, we can do all things!  What if we put our worry aside for a moment and just lead with love?  What if we sifted through all the crap and called out that one thing they were doing right?  What if we just met people where they were and led them to an encounter with God's transforming love?  I promise you, if you lead with love, you will be surprised at the changes you will see.  St. Augustine said, “Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.”  I think this applies to finding the gold in others.  You may have 101 reasons why this won't work, why focusing on the positive won't change anything, why your correcting them is necessary.  I get it, and yet I am asking you to have faith.  Have faith that God can change the situation, change the person, change you.  Have faith that love is what is needed.  You will be surprised how different people act when they know they are loved and they don't have to fight for love.  How about we all commit to trying this for the rest of the month?  Can you spend the next 10 days leading with love?  Can you stop the criticizing, judging, and nagging for the next 10 days and try to find the gold in all those you meet?  Not just find it, but point it out and celebrate it.  God's love is the most powerful tool for change!Dear heavenly Father, please bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, forgive us for judging others; we don't mean to.  Forgive us for nagging our loved ones; we only want the best for them.  Forgive us for making others feel unloved or unwanted; that was not our intent.  Lord, show us how to lead with love.  Jesus did it so perfectly, show us how to imitate Jesus.  We just want our loved ones to be successful and happy, whatever that looks like for them.  If this means we need to change or renew our minds to see them in a different light, then we give you permission to change us, too, Lord.  Mold us and transform us to your likeness and image, Lord.  We love you, Lord, you are truly amazing.  We are grateful you love our loved ones more than we ever could.  We are grateful you are in charge, and we are sorry we keep forgetting that.  You are amazing, Lord.  You are the almighty one, the prince of peace.  We bless you, we adore you, and we glorify you.  We love you and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus' holy name. Amen!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldy with Jesus.  I look forward to meeting you here on Monday. I have finalized the details for my retreat this year. Here is the description for this years retreat. In a world that constantly tells us who we should be—based on status, appearance, success, or past mistakes—it's easy to lose sight of who we truly are. This retreat is an invitation to step away from the noise and return to the heart of your Creator.Through Scripture-based teaching, worship, journaling, and authentic community, you'll begin to uncover the truth of your identity—not as the world defines it, but as God declares it. You are not your past. You are not your failures. You are not what others have said about you. You are who God says you are: loved, chosen, redeemed, and called for a purpose.Whether you're seeking healing, clarity, or simply a deeper understanding of your worth in Christ, this retreat is a sacred space to rediscover your God-given identity and walk boldly in it.Come ready to shed the labels the world has placed on you and embrace the truth of who you are in Him. The retreat will be Oct 11- Oct 12th. This year, it will just be one overnight. In the days to come, I will put a link for more information. I pray you will consider joining me for that weekend. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! I pray you have a blessed day!Today's Word from the Lord was received in November / December 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today's Word from the Lord is, “I feel the Lord is saying to us, be ready for the unexpected grace.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Are You Living Up To Your Potential?Jeremiah 29:11  “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”The Lord has planned out your life.  Before you were even formed, He had a plan for your life.  Isn't that crazy to think about?  His plans for your life are good plans.  He tells us directly, we don't even have to guess, “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you.”  If we know that God has plans for us to prosper, then why do we sometimes run away from these plans?  God's plans are to give us hope and a future, so why do we question these plans?  Why is it so hard for us to believe that God has plans for us?I have been doing a lot of personal development, and I am in a Christian mentoring group called Big Life Mentoring.  In all of the personal development books, as well as the mentoring, they talk about how we have a God-given potential.  They talk about how we were all created to live an exceptional life.  God wants nothing but the best for us.  Does this mean that we will never have challenges? Nope.  It does mean that He will be with us in those challenges and He will use those challenges for our good, not for our harm.  I have talked with numerous people over the last several years about my belief that God created us all to live a big life.  It is usually met with some opposition.  I have been told that some people were created for a big, amazing life, and some people were not.  Some people were created to have an “ok” life.  Where they just go about their day, and nothing special happens.  They were not created to do great things.I disagree with this.  I do not think that God created any of us to just go through our days, day in and day out, just existing.  I do not believe He wants that for any of us.  I am also not saying that every person was created to be a movie star or make some huge impact on the whole world.  I do think that we all have the same potential for doing great things with our lives.  How we use that potential could look very different for everyone.  Someone could use that potential to be a movie star, a priest, a mom, a lawyer, a doctor, anything you desire. I don't think it's the career you choose or the role you play that defines you.  I think it is more about how you are showing up in that career/role.  You do not have to go on a mission trip to another country to change people's lives.  If you are a parent, you are impacting lives every day with your parenting.  People are always watching you, and you could be changing lives in the grocery store when someone watches you handle a complaint respectfully.  There are many ways that you could have a positive impact on the world.  The opposite of this is true as well.  If you are walking through life angry and taking it out on all that you see, this will also be observed by others and could be changing lives, but not for the better.  If that is you, that is not the life that God has planned for you. I wonder sometimes how many of us are actually living up to our potential.  Are you living up to the potential that God has placed within you?  A lot of people that I talk to are settling for mediocrity.  They are not truly happy with their life, and they think that is just how life is.  They don't seek to change anything because they don't feel they deserve more, or maybe they don't think there is anything better out there, or perhaps they don't feel they're capable of having more.  I want to tell you right now that if you are unhappy with where you are in life, there is more.  God has more planned for you.  Where you are now does not have to be a final destination.  It could be a resting place until you are ready for the more that God has planned for you. What is it that you really want to do?  What is it that makes your heart light up when you talk about it?  This could be something big, like start a non-profit, write a book, change careers, or it could also be as simple as seeing my grandkids more, being in nature, going to daily mass, or spending more time in prayer.  Whatever it is deep inside that you're longing for, go get it.  God has given you the potential to achieve all your dreams.  Are you living up to your potential?  Is there more you could be doing?  You may be listening to this and thinking that I am wrong, that not everyone was made for an extraordinary life.  That you were made for an ordinary life and nothing more.  I would argue that your outlook might be the difference between an ordinary life and an extraordinary life.  Two people may have very similar lives, as far as marriage, kids, career, income, etc.  Yet one may be living an extraordinary life, and one may be living an ordinary life. What is the difference?  The one living an extraordinary life has a positive outlook on their life.  They are on the lookout for the miracles that occur every day and are willing to acknowledge them.  They are also looking for ways that they can excel in the roles that they have.  They are looking for opportunities to improve the life they have.  The one living an ordinary life is on the lookout for all the ways his/her life is ordinary, and so that is all they see.  They do not see opportunities to improve their life and assume that what they have is the best it is going to get.  God wants amazing things for you and your family.  It is not too late.  You are not too young.  You are not too old.  You have not been out of the game too long.  You are not too inexperienced.  You are strong enough.  You are smart enough.  You have so much potential.  That thing that you have always wanted to do, it is not too late.  Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”  You can do all things through Christ.  Do that thing, that thing you have been putting off, that thing that you have been too scared to do, that thing that you are convinced you can't do.  Why do you think you have that desire deep inside of you?  Who do you think put that desire there?  And if God put that desire there, don't you think he will equip you with all you need to achieve it?  Are you living up to your potential?  Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless everyone listening to this episode today. Lord Jesus, we ask that you help us live up to our potential. We thank you for putting these desires in our hearts and for equipping us to achieve them. Lord, we ask that you give us the motivation and strength we need to live the life you want us to live. Lord, if we are not living the life you want us to live or if we're not living up to our potential, we ask that you shine a light on this and convict our hearts on what you want us to do. Lord, we want all that you have to offer, and we willingly accept it.  You are amazing, Lord, and we are so very thankful for all that you do.  We love you very much and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus' holy name, Amen.Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow. Have a blessed day! www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Today's witnesses are from Matthew West's website, called popwe.org. If you don't know who Matthew West is, he is a singer, songwriter, and storyteller. This website is for the non-profit that he has with his father, a pastor. Matthew and his father encourage people to share their stories. They have various categories of stories. Today, I chose three testimonies from the God Stories Category. Often, we can hear our own story in someone else's story. When we listen to others tell their story, it helps us see that we are not alone. Hearing how God worked in their situation gives us hope that He will work in ours, too! I pray that when you hear this testimony, you get the faith and hope to believe that miracles can happen in your situation, too. I pray you know that God is there with you, and if you invite Him into your situation, He can help. I hope you enjoy these testimonies.First is Diane: I run a Christian camp for people who have developmental and physical disabilities, or as I like to say, “diversabilities.” Because isn't that who we all are? We experienced great tragedy in September of 2020 when we lost many of our physical buildings, including our activity spaces, bunkhouses, and gymnasium, in a fire. Many of which had been built in the 1940s.Our campers were devastated. Many have been coming to camp for over 40 years, but without indoor facilities and bunkhouses to serve and host our campers, the future looked bleak. That said, we dutifully signed up for FEMA support to rebuild and began the process of determining eligibility in early 2021.After much prayer and consideration, we made a commitment to continue serving campers someway, somehow. And we were overwhelmed by the blessing of grants, private donations and many volunteers. We cleared our 18-acre property of fire debris, established and activity meadow, purchased 18 beautiful bell tents and opened our gates to 10 campers a week for 6 weeks. We had only a few doors left after the fires and that first year, all activities and meals were outside. Before the fires and COVID we were serving 25 campers a week, but we promised we would do what we could, and God provided everything we needed!Fast forward 4 ½ years and here we are, still providing camp with temporary facilities. We continue to work with FEMA and have only just begun to receive money to begin the process of rebuilding.We were gifted a master plan through the assistance of the Christian Camp and Conference Association (CCCA) in 2021, and now we are working with an incredible architecture and design firm of which 90% is being paid for through FEMA funds. For us 10% is a significant funding gap, but we trust our Father in heaven to pave a way for us to continue moving forward with rebuilding. If all goes well, we anticipate breaking ground on our new buildings later this year.And finally, to the reason for this long explanation. Our campers love those VBS songs you mention in some of your devos, and I like to re-introduce a few of them every year, so when I read your post this morning, I knew it was time to bring this old chestnut back to our campfire songs, “This little light of mine.” As we rebuild Upward Bound Camp we stand on the firm foundation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, sharing and rejoicing in His love for all of us!Second is Heather: My story is about meeting my husband at the warehouse we where we worked, marrying him and then losing him to cancer after twelve life changing years of marriage and seven kids later.He came to me one day asking, “is this a pimple?” I said,” No love, you should get that checked.” He wasted no time, and the test came back as Melanoma. Within a year of that diagnosis, he went to be with Jesus.He fought really hard and had a heart of gold the whole way through. He said these words to me towards the end” I am at peace with this.”Those words will stay in my heart always. He loved Jesus so much and trusted him. I believed before I met Doug, but I honestly believe that he was put on this earth to prepare me and the kids spiritually for what was ahead. For things we did not know were going to happen.He served God in many ways, but if not for him I believe our lives would have taken a much different path. With him rooting me in the Catholic faith and me coming to truly believe it, allowed me to have the strength to carry on and keep the kids rooted in their faith.He was an amazing man. I thank you God for blessing us with him if even for a short time. We love you Daddy/ Douglas.Third is Roy: Last night, my family and I were at your concert here in Lincoln. What a beautiful evening of worship! Seeing my family laugh, sing, and worship together was a powerful reminder of God's faithfulness and goodness.Matthew, we met about 15 years ago at a Parenting Simulcast. I was the parenting manager running point that day. It was such a joy to work with you during that event, and I still treasure the memories of that experience.I'm reaching out to tell you how deeply your song, The God Who Stays, has impacted my life. It became an Ebenezer for me during one of the most broken seasons I've ever experienced.In 2014, I left that organization due to downsizing and took over a struggling Bible and youth camp in New England. After six difficult years of ministry, the camp had to close during COVID, and the board dissolved it. I was devastated.It felt like I had failed everyone—including God. After closing the doors and letting the staff go, my wife took our kids away for a weekend and told me, “You need to do business with God.”I went to a place we called “One Tree Hill,” a beautiful hillside at the base of Mount Monadnock, and I listened to The God Who Stays on repeat. I cried like I've never cried before. It was there, in my brokenness, that I encountered Christ in such a profound way.I felt His warmth and embrace, even in the midst of my pain and failure. I was ready to give up leadership entirely, but in that moment, Christ whispered to me: I am not done with you yet. I have been preparing you for what's next.Within 48 hours of that encounter, I connected with the ministry I serve today.  This January, I will celebrate four years stewarding this organization, which serves vulnerable families through foster care, family preservation, and ministry to families impacted by incarceration.These last four years have brought so much healing and restoration. Not only in my ministry but in my marriage and family. My wife and kids (25, 21, and 17) have endured so much over the past 15 years, through four major moves and countless challenges. But God has been faithful. To sit together last night in worship reminded me how far He has carried us. Thank you, Matthew, for allowing God to use your music to minister to so many, including me. The God Who Stays will forever be a reminder of His steadfast love and presence in my life.Thank you all so much for being brave enough to share your stories. I know these stories are going to touch the lives of so many people. www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Evidence of True RepentanceMatthew 3:8 “ Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.”Repentance is the theme for mentoring this month. This week, we are focusing on Evidence of true repentance. When researching this, I came across this verse. I dismissed it as a very short verse, and I didn't think it said too much. However, it kept coming up, so I sat with it and asked the Lord what He wanted to share with you about this verse. Repentance is not about just saying sorry. It is about truly being sorry, returning to the Lord, and changing our ways. If we go to confession one day and then return to living our lives the same way we had before, then is that really repentance?I know there are some sins we struggle with, sins we might confess week after week or month after month. We can be genuinely sorry for something and yet struggle to change it. However, we do need to be trying to change it. God is very patient, and He knows our hearts. He will help change our hearts, habits, or whatever we need to change, as long as we invite him into that struggle.The verse above says to produce fruit in keeping with repentance. Matthew 17:15-20 says, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore, by their fruits you will know them.” It says twice in these verses, you will know them by their fruit. What does your fruit look like?Is everything going wrong in your life right now? Is it one bad day after another? Do you feel a lot of anger, unforgiveness, and anxiety? Have you repented lately? Have you turned away from sin and back to God? God does not cause bad things to happen in our lives. I am not saying that God is causing these bad things because you have not repented. What I am saying is that our choices can definitely cause bad things to happen in our lives. Our choices can make us miserable, and sometimes we can end up blaming God for the bad results of our choices instead of taking responsibility for them and examining our lives to see where we might need to repent and turn back to the Lord.We ask the Lord why we are so unhappy, and then we decide to drink all night because we are so sad. Then we wake up the next day feeling like crap and so we are unhappy that day too. This cycle repeats over and over again until we stop, repent, and turn back to the Lord. We ask the Lord why our family is falling apart, yet we choose to watch TV and numb our feelings instead of hitting our knees and praying about the situation. We are turning everywhere for answers except for God, who has all the answers.One of the people in mentoring gave an example last week of a sin she had been struggling with. She repeatedly confessed this sin each week during confession. She desperately wanted to get rid of this sin in her life, and yet she continued to struggle with it. She felt so embarrassed and so ashamed every time she had to go and confess this same sin, week after week. However, she continued to bring it to the Lord and confess it. Because she continued to repent of this sin and tried to change it, and invited God in to help her change it, she no longer suffers from this sin. He has healed her of it. God changed her heart and her mind. He is so good. He can do this for you, too! But first, you have to bring it to Him. First, you need to repent and invite Him into it.If things are particularly hard in your life right now, take some time, sit with the Lord, and ask Him if there is any unrepented sin in your life. Ask God to show you where you might need repentance. This can be hard to do, as we might be afraid God might tell us to change something we don't want to change. God has our best interests at heart. He knows what is best for us, even when we can't see it. He knows the whole picture, even the things we can't see.Think about all you did when you were a kid. Did you always know what was best for you? Did you always do what was best for you? I am sure in the moment you thought you were doing what was best, but really, you were doing what felt best. What feels good in the moment isn't always what is best for you. I am struggling with this with my boys. They think some of the things they are doing are not that bad. Everyone does them, and it's no big deal. What they can't see is the long-term effects or the long-term damage. Yes, smoking probably feels really good in the moment, yet how good do you think lung cancer will feel when you are older? They can't see the future, but God can.The same is true for us. We can't see the results of everything we are doing now. Just because something feels good in the moment doesn't mean that it is good for us in the long run. This is why it is important to take time to examine our life, our actions, and ask the Lord to show us anywhere that we might need to repent. God knows more than we do. God sees more than we do. God knows our hearts, and He doesn't want to lose a single one of his children. He can't help us if we don't let Him. He can't help us if we don't ask for help. If we don't search our own hearts, lives, and actions and see where we might be sinning. Where we might need to repent.I read something this morning that said real repentance shows up in your lifestyle: humility, growth, peace, love, and ongoing transformation. Look at these things in your life. Are you growing in humility, or are you very prideful? Are you growing in your relationships, life, job, etc, or are you stuck where you have always been? Are you growing in peace, or are you anxious, worried, angry, fearful, always? Are you growing in love, or are you closed off, refusing to trust, or let others in? Is there an ongoing transformation where you are constantly evolving and trying to be more holy, trying to live more and more like God is calling you to live?Can people look at us and tell by our lifestyle that we have real repentance? The verse from Matthew 17 said, “You will know them by their fruits.” What do the fruits of our lives say about us?Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening today. Lord, help us to repent of our sins. Please help us to know how to repent. Help us see our sins, not so we can feel shame or regret, but so that we can bring them to you and help us repent and turn back to you. Please show us the ways we have turned away from you. Please show us the ways we need to repent. Lord, help us to look at the fruit of our lives and see where we need to make changes. Help us to see where we can grow more in humility, growth, peace, love, and ongoing transformation. Please help us to invite you into all of it, Lord! Help us to invite you into the mess because that is the only way things will change. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus's holy name, Amen!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I am looking forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!Today's Word from the Lord was received in November / December 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today's Word from the Lord is, “I am your strength of every day. I am your hope. I am all that you will ever need. The more you trust, the more you will grow in my ways, for I am the Lord your God who loves you till the very end. Take my hand and never let it go. Come to me, for I love you so.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Submit Yourselves to God (Replay)James 4:7-8 “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”This is another one of those things that sounds much easier to do than it actually is.  Submit ourselves to God.  That doesn't sound too hard, right?  It doesn't sound hard, but have you tried it?  It is not easy to submit to God.  What does it even mean to submit ourselves to God?  Google's dictionary defines submission as "the action or fact of accepting or yielding to a superior force or to the will or authority of another person.”  I think there are two parts to this.  First, the action of accepting or yielding to a superior force.  This means that we would accept that God is in control.  We would do as He tells us to do because He is our superior force.  He created all things, and He gives us a set of rules to live by, so we must live by them.  The second part of this definition is accepting or yielding to the will or authority of another person.  Submitting to God would be accepting His will as our will.  It would mean that we accept His will for our lives.  There are times when this is very easy.  When we get the job we really want, it is easy to accept it as God's will.  When we meet the love of our life, we can accept that it is God's will for us to be with this person.  However, what about when things aren't going our way?  What about when God's will differs from our will?  What about if we don't get a job because He has something better in mind for us?  Can you think of a time when you really wanted something to happen and it didn't?  What about when you didn't want something to happen and it did?  How easy was it for you to submit to the Lord's will?  This verse tells us to submit ourselves to God.  If we want to do this, we need to figure out where we are struggling and then ask God for help.  We can ask Him to help us submit.  He will always help when we ask.  If we are struggling to see how God wants us to submit to Him, then we can always just ask Him.  My spiritual director told me one time to model St. Teresa of Lisieux and explain to God that I am just a little child and I need Him to show me the way.  I need Him to show me or tell me what He wants me to do.  I want to follow His will, I just need directions, just as a child would. This really spoke to me.  I sometimes, oftentimes, if I am being honest, I think I need to know what God wants from me.  I think I am just supposed to know.  It seems like everyone else knows, but why don't I know?  So, I try to guess, I try to listen, and I try to do all the things just in case that is what He was wanting.  However, what I try to do now is to ask the Lord to help me understand.  I ask Him to explain it to me as though I were a child.  I ask Him to make it clear to me and to give me the courage and strength for whatever He wants me to do.  We are all just little children in the eyes of the Lord.  In Matthew 18:3, Jesus said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” God wants us to become like children.  I think he wants us to be like children because there is something so pure about a child's faith.  Children don't get caught up in understanding every little detail.  They don't ask all the questions.  Miracles are miracles because there is no explanation.  If there were an explanation as to exactly how it happened, it wouldn't be a miracle.  Adults don't really like to believe in things that they can't see.  Children, on the other hand, love to play make-believe.  They have no problem believing in things they can't see.  If you are struggling to submit to God, ask Him to show you how.  He has assured us that if we ask, He will answer, so let's ask.  The next part of this verse says to resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  Again, something that sounds so easy and yet is so difficult.  I would love to say I resist the devil.  The problem is, the devil is always disguised as something else.  For instance, he will be disguised as temptation.  You know that you should spend time in prayer or in silence, and suddenly your favorite TV show is having a marathon and showing episodes all day.  You decide to give up sweets for Lent, and someone drops cookies off at your house.  You decide you are going to start running, and it rains for a week straight.  Do you see how it is hard to resist the devil in these circumstances because you don't know it is the enemy attacking you?  Another way the enemy might show up is through distractions.  You decide you want to spend more time with your children, and suddenly everyone in the family has something else to do, or your work suddenly gets really busy.  You may want to spend more time with your parents, but something comes up to prevent you from spending more time with them.  We find it hard to resist the other things that are getting in our way, and so family time gets put off or pushed aside.  The enemy might also show up as anger.  We want to be peaceful and to not get upset over little things.  Then the enemy comes along and presents one little thing after another until you can't take it anymore and get angry and you lose it.  The enemy doesn't want us to grow in holiness.  He will do whatever it takes to prevent this from happening.  He certainly does not want to flee.  If we want the devil to flee, we have to figure out a way to resist him, all his temptations and lies.  How do we resist something that we don't know is there?  One way we can resist the devil is to keep turning our eyes to the Lord.  We can keep asking Him what He wants us to do and asking Him to help us do it.  We can ask the Lord to open our eyes to see the devil and all his tricks.  We can try to be on the lookout for different ways the enemy may be interfering in our lives.  If things are not going well and you are not acting like you want to, the devil is probably involved.  If you feel you are growing further from the Lord, the devil is probably involved.Another way to resist the devil is to do what the verse above says, “Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”  In my prayer group every week, the Lord calls us closer to Him.  He is calling all of us closer to Him.  If we come closer to God, He will come closer to you.  Then the verse says, Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.  I wasn't sure what double-minded in this verse meant.  When I looked it up, it meant that our heart is split between God and the things of this world.  This is the devil's way in.  This is his back door.  If we love the things of this world as much or even more than we love God, then that is all the devil needs to attack us.  The more we release our attachment to the things of this world, the less of a hold the devil has over us.  If we want to resist the devil, we can ask God to help us, we can turn to Him and grow closer to Him, and we can try to release our attachment to the things of this world.  Releasing our attachment to things of this world is not easy.  We all have our favorite TV shows or our favorite foods we like to eat, and that is ok.  I am not saying that you can't like anything that is of this world.  I am saying that our priorities should be God first and then everything else.  If anything is getting in the way of us doing the things we know we need to do, then that is the devil at work, and we need to resist.  I have been attacked by the spirit of distraction lately.  I will have time to write this book I am writing, or work on my podcast, and the spirit of distraction will come and show me all these other more fun things to do.  I must resist.  Did you know, in a weird way, when the devil attacks you, it is sort of a compliment.  It is confirmation that you are walking on the right path.  The reason I say this is because the devil doesn't mess around with the lukewarm; he doesn't mess around with those who are already headed to see him.  He only concerns himself with those who are headed to see the Lord, those who are favored and are trying to walk the right path.  If you are feeling like the devil is attacking you, take comfort in the fact that you are doing something right, or he wouldn't bother with you.  Then turn to the Lord and keep trying to do the next right thing.  God is on your side, and He will be your refuge and your shield if you ask Him to.  Come in close to the Lord, and He will come in close to you.  He will put his arm around you and protect you from all harm.Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we want to resist the devil, and we want him to flee. Please help us.  Please protect us, Lord, and shield us from all harm.  Help open our eyes to see the devil and all of his tricks in our lives.  Lord, we want to put you first, help us to see what is getting in our way.  Open our eyes to anything that is preventing us from growing closer to you.  Help us to know what you want us to do and help us to become like children.  Lord, you are amazing, and we love you so very much.  We are grateful that you are our God and that you take such good care of us.  We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus' holy name, Amen.Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  I look forward to spending time with you again tomorrow.  Have a blessed day! www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

The Holy Spirit Lives In YouActs 2:38 “Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins.  And you will receive the Holy Spirit.”I think when most of us read this, we focus on the repent and be baptized part of this verse.  Repentance is so important, and it is something that we can read about all throughout the Bible.  God is always calling His people to repentance, and sometimes they repented and other times they did not.  In the case of Sodom and Gomorrah, they were a wicked people and they refused to repent.  God sent fire down to destroy the towns.  However, when God sent Jonah to Ninevah to tell them they needed to repent, they did, and God saved them.  Did you know that Jonah was angry at God for saving Nineveh?  We read in Jonah 4:1-2, “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.  And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is it not this what I have said when I was yet in my country?  That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.”  Jonah ran from the Lord when the Lord asked him to go to Ninevah.  I had always thought he ran from the Lord because he was afraid of the people in Ninevah.  However, this verse says that he ran because he knew God would have mercy on them, and he didn't want them to be saved.This is a somewhat common thing for us to do.  Maybe not running from the Lord, but definitely wishing people get what they deserve.  Have you ever wished that someone got what they deserved?  Have you ever seen a car speed by you, or weave in and out of traffic, and think to yourself, “I hope there is a cop ahead.” Or do you see someone cut in line and hope that someone notices and that they get kicked out of the line?  Why do we do this?  Why do we wish ill on other people?  Maybe you are thinking that you are justified in thinking that you want the driver to get pulled over because you want them to learn their lesson and drive better.  But, what if they did get pulled over and they just got a warning, would you be ok with that?Sometimes we can do this with our kids as well.  Jonah felt that these people needed to be punished, and he knew that God would have mercy on them.  Sometimes we can default to the thinking that when our children do something wrong, they need to be punished, and maybe that is true sometimes.  But do we take the time to think about the situation first?  Do we even consider giving them mercy?  Sometimes our children need our mercy.  Sometimes they messed up, did something they weren't supposed to do, and they know it was wrong.  They are truly sorry, and they learned a lesson from it.  Times like these are times when we should consider mercy.  Sometimes we think our kids will only learn if we punish them; however, I think they can learn a lot from mercy as well.As I said earlier, we tend to focus on the first part of this verse, Repent and be baptized.  However, I wonder how many of you also think of the ending of the verse?  How many of you truly know what it means?  The verse ends with “and you will receive the Holy Spirit.”  I am not sure that everyone, or even most people, knows how powerful a statement that is.  Did you know that the power of the Holy Spirit is what raised Jesus from the dead?  Did you know that the same power resides in you?  Romans 8:11 "If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”When you are baptized, you are baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. This means that when you are baptized, you receive the Holy Spirit.  If you are Catholic, then you receive the Holy Spirit again when you are confirmed.  This is all amazing to me.  The power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in me.  I just can't get over that.  I think if we all knew the power that we had through the Holy Spirit, and then used that power for good, the world wouldn't know what was going on.  Jesus said in John 14:12-14, “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father. And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.”Did you catch that?  Jesus said we will do greater works than He if we believe.  This is only possible because of the Holy Spirit.  We have the Holy Spirit inside of us; we just need to call on Him.   We need to believe in Jesus and believe when He tells us that He sent us the Holy Spirit to guide us.  The Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead.  That same spirit lives in you.  What are you going to do with it?  Are you going to just sit around and let all that power pass you by, or are you going to use your newfound power for good?  Who do you know that could use some extra blessings?  I am sure that I have talked before about how important repentance is, and yet this will likely not be the last time you hear me talk about it.  Repentance is so important for so many reasons.  This verse just mentions one of the many: if you repent and are baptized, you will receive the Holy Spirit.  Now, after talking for a bit about how awesome the Holy Spirit is, wouldn't you do anything to be close to Him?Most, if not all, of you listening already have the Holy Spirit inside of you.  Call upon Him and you will see how powerful He is.  Don't be afraid to talk with Him and ask Him for things.  That is why God sent Him to us, to help us.  Anything that happens as a result of the Holy Spirit glorifies God.  Jesus is with the Father, so when we ask God for things in Jesus' name, the Holy Spirit comes through for us, and the results glorify the Lord.  It is a win-win for everyone.  One of the easiest prayers to remember, and yet one of the most powerful, is, “Come, Holy Spirit, come.”  When you ask, God answers.  Anytime you are in need of a little assistance, or even a lot of assistance, pray, “Come, Holy Spirit, come.”  I truly feel you will be surprised at all the ways He comes through for you.  Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, I ask that you send the Holy Spirit to everyone listening to this podcast. Lord, we ask that you open our eyes to how the Holy Spirit is working in our lives. Lord, we ask that you remind us to call on the Holy Spirit when we forget. Lord, we are so very thankful that you sent down the Holy Spirit to guide us in your ways.  Lord, help us to see the places in our lives where we need to repent, and then give us the courage to do so. We want to receive the Holy Spirit, Lord Jesus, we are open to it. Lord God, you are amazing. We are so very thankful for all you do for us.  We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will, and in Jesus' holy name, amen.Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I want to let you know that there may be more replays in the upcoming weeks. A few things are going on in our family that are requiring more of my time. However, I don't want to not post something for you, and many of you were not listening at the very beginning. So, hopefully it will still be new to you! I will still post a new one when I can, and a replay when I don't have the time. I appreciate your patience and your support during these next few weeks. I also appreciate your support in listening to this podcast. I am honored you listened. I look forward to meeting you here again on Monday! Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!Today's Word from the Lord was received in November / December 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today's Word from the Lord is, “Today is a new day, my people. Today is the day I renew all my mercies and my graces, and I pour them out freely on each one of you, on your families and your friends and your co-workers and your churches and all the world. Today is a day in which you need to praise and worship me from your heart for the many gifts that I have given you so that I can continue to pour out on you grace upon grace upon gift upon gift, that you may be my ambassadors, that you may be the signs to the world that I am alive, that resurrection is real, that it is a grace that I give to each one of you. All you need to do is call upon my name. Call upon the name of Jesus, the Lamb of God who gave his very life, that you might have life forever and ever. My greatest desire is to love you forever. Listen to me, my people. Listen to me and share that good news with those you meet. I love you. My heart is always yours, and you are always mine.” www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

You Are Loved By JesusJohn 13:23 “One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved,* was reclining at Jesus' side.”This scripture verse was given at my prayer group, and the following words of prophecy were given:  “You are also the one whom Jesus loves.  So, your place is to be listening to his heartbeat when you pray. So, put your head on his chest and listen to his heartbeat.  Say I love you and be at peace.”  Is there anything more calming than putting your head on someone's chest and listening to their heartbeat?  I pictured when I was little and if I was scared and I went to lie with my parents.  Just putting my head on their chest and listening to their heartbeat would make me feel better. It seemed so rhythmic and soothing.“You are also the one whom Jesus loves.”  How many of you believe this?  Like truly in the depths of your heart believe this?  You are also the one whom Jesus loves.  Sometimes, it is easy to say that Jesus is love.  It is easy to say that Jesus loves everyone.  And yet, even as we are saying it, we are discounting ourselves from that love.  We know He loves everyone and yet we don't believe that he loves us?  We don't feel that love or even understand why He would love us.  Who are we to be loved by Jesus?You are the son or daughter of the one true king. That is who you are.  You were made in the likeness and image of God.  You are deeply loved by Him.  Why do you discount yourself from that love?  Or maybe you put a lot of pressure on yourself to be worthy enough of God's love.  Maybe you think if you just do things perfectly, then God will love you.  If you attend weekly mass and volunteer for every fundraiser, you will be worthy of God's love.  Are you constantly feeling like you are not good enough for God's love?Guess what? None of us are.  None of us are worthy of God's love, yet he lavishes it freely anyway.  You do not have to do anything to earn God's love.  Well, as I wrote that, what came to mind was we do have to accept it.  God can tell us all day long that he loves us, but if we don't accept it, then it doesn't matter.  Yesterday, I talked about abiding in God's love and how abiding means acceptance.  Can you accept God's love?  Can you accept that he loves you just as you are, with no strings attached?This is a new kind of love for so many.  Some people have never had someone in their lives who loved them completely, with no strings attached.  Unconditional love is not a thing they even new.  If you are struggling to believe that Jesus loves you, just as you are, think about your childhood and your past relationships.  What do you think of when you think about love?  Did you have to earn love growing up?  What did you feel you had to do to be loved?  For instance, did you have to get good grades,  be a certain weight, be quieter, etc?  Did you feel like your parents' love was conditional on your behavior?  If so, don't worry. You are not alone.  We live in a broken world and don't know how to love each other unconditionally like our heavenly father does.  I think everyone is doing the best they can.  We can only love others to the extent that we are loved.  If your parents do not know unconditional love, they can't pass it on to you.  The good news is, that you can learn to let Jesus's love in.  The good news is that Jesus does love us unconditionally.  If we can learn to accept Jesus's love, then we can learn to pass this love on to others, even if that is not the love we were raised with.If you struggle with accepting God's love, I would love to give you some practical tips for how to begin to accept God's love.  I went online to see if others had already written about his subject.  I found an article written by Kara J. Lovett called “5 Keys to Accepting God's Love.”  I would highly suggest you read this article.  I will put a link for it in the description of this episode, but you can easily find it by googling 5 Keys to Accepting God's Love.  https://karajlovett.com/5-keys-to-accepting-gods-love/  In the article she goes into what God says about love and then a section on understanding God's love.  Her article mentions five was you can accept God's love.  They are as follows: Accepting God's love with scripture, prayer, grace, and quietness & in unexpected places. Kara says in her article that “by digging deep into Scripture and spending time with God in prayer, I realized that I need to stop striving for love and instead strive to accept God's love, which He has already graciously bestowed on me.”  As I mentioned yesterday, reading the bible is a great way to get to know God's love. You can see all sorts of examples of God's love in the bible.  1 John 4:7-10 is a great example of love.  It says, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love. In this, the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”The second way she mentions is prayer.  When we turn to God and ask for His help, he wants to help us and is just waiting for us to ask.  God knows what we are going through and what are struggles are, and yet he loves it when we talk to Him about them.  Just sit down with a cup of coffee or tea and talk to God like you are talking to your best friend at the kitchen table.  You will be surprised how much closer you get to God when you start having chats with Him regularly.  They can be informal chats about your day, your struggles, and your successes.  God wants to share in all of that with you.The third way she mentions is Grace.  Learning about grace over these last few years has been huge for me.  Learning to be graceful with yourself is so important.  Kara says that grace is the free, unearned gift of salvation that God has bestowed upon us.  When I looked up the definition online, it said 1a: unmerited divine assistance given to humans for their regeneration or sanctification. b: a virtue coming from God. c: a state of sanctification enjoyed through divine assistance.  We are saved and redeemed through God's grace.  It is unmerited, meaning we don't deserve it; we can't do anything to earn it; it is just bestowed upon us.  How amazing is that?  The third definition is a state of sanctification enjoyed through divine assistance.  We can't forget this.  We are made holy through divine assistance.  God is always there to help us.  We can't do any of this on our own.  It is always a partnership.  God has so much grace and mercy for us.  He doesn't expect us to be perfect, so cut yourself some slack.The fourth way to accept God's love is through quietness.  Spend some quiet time with God.  There are so many ways that you can do this.  Maybe you are someone who likes to meditate every morning.  That is wonderful! Maybe you are like me, and every time you try to quiet your mind, all it wants to do is talk to you.  That's fine, too.  Maybe your quiet time is spent in nature, going for a walk, or sitting outside listening to the sounds of nature.  Maybe your quiet time with God is spent journaling all your thoughts.  There is no right way to spend quiet time with God.  Your relationship with God is like any other relationship; the more time you spend together, the closer you will be.  The fifth key to accepting God's love for Kara was letting go of control.  Even though we know at some level that we don't have to earn God's love, we still try to prove to Him that we love Him.  We put all these rules and regulations on ourselves about how we have to do this, and we have to do that.  We tend to put a lot of pressure on ourselves.  Once Kara was able to let go of control and remember that Jesus already secured our freedom on the cross, she decided to let go of all the pressure she put on herself and just tried to abide in Jesus's love.  God loves you!  He truly does.  I hope that if you are not currently able to accept God's love, you will spend some time working on learning how to.  I can't tell you how amazing it is to know that I am always loved.  To know that there is nothing I can do that would make my heavenly father stop loving me.  It gives me so much more confidence in life.  It brings me so much joy.  It breaks my heart when I talk with people who don't know how much God loves them.  I know it is hard to let love in sometimes.  I have been there before.  It can be hard,  it can take a lot of work, and it is so worth it.  There is so much more waiting for you once you accept and really come to know God's love for you.  It is there for the taking, free, with no strings attached.  All you have to do is say yes and accept it!Dear Heavenly Father, I am so thankful that you love us unconditionally.  You love us so completely.  Lord, some of us are struggling to feel this love.  We ask you right now to come into our hearts and fill them with your love, perfect love.  We ask that you begin to break down any walls that we have put up to keep love out.  Lord, we want all the love that you have for us.  Lord, I ask that you bless everyone listening to this with a supernatural feeling of love today.  That the Holy Spirit descends on all of them and that they can physically feel you giving them a hug today.  Lord, you are so amazing.  We are in awe of all that you do each and every day.  We pray that you help our loved ones to open up and feel your love.  Lord, we pray that you shower your love on all the teenagers.  Being a teen is so difficult, and many do not feel any love.  Please show them how amazing your love is, Lord.  We ask all of this in accordance with your holy will and in Jesus's name, Amen.  Thank you for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  If you are enjoying this podcast, please share it with a friend. If you would like to subscribe or leave a review, that would be great also. I look forward to spending time with you tomorrow.  Have a blessed day! www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

 Today's witness is from my friend Bruce. Bruce reached out to me randomly back in November. He found my podcast and wanted to send in his testimony for witness wednesday. His testimony was about how he went to a healing service and regained his sight and then lost it again when he woke up. I offered to pray with Him, and he agreed. We have prayed together three times now. Bruce has not regained his sight, but something amazing happened each time we prayed together. You can find the testimony from the last two times we prayed together on the Witness Wednesday playlist on YouTube. You can also find them on whatever podcast app you are listening to right now. Today's witness is about when Bruce and his lovely wife Alice came from Canada to visit Gloucester, MA, and my friend and I got to pray with them in person instead of over the phone. It was a great time, and I am so grateful the Lord brought Bruce, Alice, and me together. I know you will enjoy this witness as much as I enjoyed it. God is working in such miraculous ways!Dear Catherine,It is two months from today that we met with you and Nancy in Rockport. In the meantime, you have been to Scotland and back and I have had a new experience which I will tell you about. You may use it in your Witness Wednesday if you would like to. On July 23rd, my wife Alice and I had the pleasure of meeting with Catherine and her friend Nancy for lunch. This vacation had been planned well in advance before we met Catherine. It turned out that Nancy's home was just down the road from where we were staying. Sitting outside by the ocean, the four of us chatted and also prayed together for healing. There was no major change in my eyesight at that time, but I realized that the floaters and shifting debris that I normally saw, were gone. It felt like I had more life in my eyes - just a feeling. This visit was a real blessing and encouragement for us before heading for home a couple of days later.For some time I had been without any sight in my left eye and was able to see light and shadows in my right eye. After this recent change my right eye went completely dark but the movement of floaters was gone. I couldn't tell the difference between day or night. I couldn't see if there were any lights on in the house. Things were the same whether my eyes were open or shut. I had to make an adjustment to this. I found the darkness heavy and depressing. I also felt spiritually let down and more isolated. I heard someone talking about God's light of the world and I thought, we often ask the Lord to shine His face upon us in the Benediction. It was a Monday in August and I told the Lord how I felt. I wanted to somehow have more communication with Him. I didn't want to be in the dark anymore, and would He please shine His light upon me. The next day, Tuesday, I listened to Catherine's podcast which was about Jesus the Light of the world. This felt like my prayer was going somewhere and I became vigilant. That night I went to bed about 1:00 a.m. I was laying on my back in the dark. A small white light appeared in my head space. It seemed to sparkle and it began moving. It became brighter and larger and closer, shining with the brightness of lightning. I felt the light overtake me and I put my face in the pillow. The light was still there and I realized it was within me. It was beautiful and exciting. I began thanking and praising the Lord for this joyful experience. This light would move and pulse brighter then lower going on for an hour and a half until I fell asleep. I wanted to wake Alice but I didn't want to interrupt her sleep or the light. When I awoke in the morning, the light was gone. I figured this was a one time experience. Later that morning, I began telling Alice about it. I stopped and said, It's happening again right now. There was an arch of brilliant white light before me. Beautiful as ever. It stayed with me for a couple of hours, coming and going into the night. This continued daily much to my joy. I noticed whenever I sat at the table it would appear. Whenever I listen to my audio Bible or even thought about the Lord or spiritual matters, it would appear. I found myself talking with the Lord in this light. If I was praying it would appear. It was always with me when I went to sleep. I soon realized I could call on it by asking it to appear. I was quite amazed by the way this all happened, by the communication which took place , and the overwhelming feeling of God's love. There was nothing to do but simply enjoy the moment with the Lord and His light. As I write this, the Lord still shines his light upon me, every day and every night. This has been an unexpected and thrilling blessing for me, far better than I hoped for. I can't help but feel this is leading me somewhere good. My hope and faith has never been more confident than it is now. It is so easy for me to trust the Lord to love me and walk me where He wants to take me. He really is my guiding light. I have in the past had close encounters with Jesus which have been marvelous. But this encounter in His light seems to never end. How wonderful is this. It lifts my heart to look back and see how God works in our lives. Alice and I had planned our trip to Glouchester long before we knew Catherine. Her podcast came out of the blue one night on my google home and caught my attention. Her faithfulness and prayer support is so appreciated. Through Catherine and the prayer group she attends, I have also met Nancy and talked with Robert and learned that they have also prayed for me. These friends in prayer and support have inspired me and I am privileged to know them. My visit in July was meant to be some sort of breakthrough. That's what I had prayed for. As often is the case, I felt things didn't go as I had hoped. As it turned out, I received a blessing I never expected along with new found faith and hope. A few years ago I heard a story told by an Anglican minister in England. He was known for his healing ministry. He told the story of a women who had lost her sight in both eyes. The women related how she started seeing a white light. This light would come and go from time to time and would vary in intensity. She said this went on for some time. One day she heard about a special healing ministry near her. The light continued to be with her. She made her way to the healing service in Blackpool. After preaching the gospel of Jesus, the minister invited people to come forward for healing prayer. Many people went forward and she waited in her seat where she was healed.I thank the Lord every time I see his light. I thank the Lord for my friends in Massachusetts.May the Lord bless you Catherine and your ministry.Bruce and AliceThank you so much for sharing your testimony with us and for allowing me to share it on my Witness Wednesday. I know your story will give hope to so many others out there who are also waiting for some pretty big answers to some pretty big prayers. Your faithfulness will help them trust in the Lord more. Thank you again for sharing and we can't wait to hear your testimony when your sight is fully restored for good this time! www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace