A New Day is Dawning

All this will flow from the kind and

compassionate mercy of our God.  

A new day is dawning:

the Sunrise from the heavens will break through in our darkness.  

Luke 1:78, The Voice

John, the son of Zacharias and Elizabeth, had just been born.  His father didn't believe what the angel Gabriel said to him about becoming a father, so he had been without the ability to speak up until this day when the baby was named and Zacharias, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, sang a prophetic blessing (Luke 1:18-20,60,67).

John was to the be the one to "prepare the way for the Lord" (Luke 1:76):  A day when people would find freedom, forgiveness of their sins, and will be able to rise and walk in light and peace (1:77,79).  This was a new day.  It was a new day brought about by the kind and compassionate mercy of God (1:78).

Just as John prepared the way for Jesus to enter the world and people's lives, we also can be preparers.  We can pave the way for others to see Jesus, to find forgiveness of their sins and freedom.  Paul tells us that we are ministers of a new covenant (2 Corinthians 3:6).  When Jesus steps on the scene, light will replace darkness (Luke 2:9), He was the Sunrise the blessing described.  After His birth shepherds saw Him and could not help but tell others and "spread the story of what they had experienced" (Luke 2:17).  Just as John, let us prepare the way for the Lord and just like the shepherds, let us not keep quiet about what we have experienced.  God in His kind and compassionate mercy has brought forth a new day.  Today I claim a new day dawning where  darkness will be replaced by His light!

Lord, use me and use others to prepare the way for You.  Send down Your kind and compassionate mercy so that people can find forgiveness of their sins and knowledge of their freedom.  Lord, I claim this and I claim that a new day is dawning!  You Jesus are the Sunrise from the heavens that can break through any darkness!  Those that sit in the shadows of death will be able to rise and walk in light, down a path of peace.  Amen.  (From Luke 1:77-79, The Voice).  

Living Free,
Brandee

I AM

The Proverbs 31 She Speaks conference just took place two weeks ago.  This conference is unlike any other.  It is put on by an amazing group of women who write, speak, and lead ministry and seek to help those of us that feel God's call on that same path.  I have been twice and I am praying about going again next summer, if the Lord leads.  

This post is my story from She Speaks 2011.  Since writing this there have been many changes in my life, but I still know what God spoke in those few days remains true.  He has equipped me and called me into ministry and I am currently pursuing a masters degree in Ministry Education to further what He has placed on my heart.  

Here is my 2011 She Speaks story...

I remember sitting at the laptop back in February and seeing the email come into my inbox. "She Speaks Registration is Open." That day something inside my heart leaped and I knew it was time to go back.

My first experience at She Speaks was three years ago. As a new MOPS Coordinator I was so excited to get to a conference that might give me a little inkling of how in the world to lead a group of women. I set out on a new adventure that year. It was the first time I was doing things alone, without my husband, without friends, without family. Setting out on this adventure, going to a place I knew no one and no one knew me. I came back from that first experience with one very important principal taught by Melanie Chitwood that I have never forgotten and strive to live out in every decision I make.

Whenever you add something on, you always take something away to stay in balance.

At the time that was life changing for me. I was just stepping into Coordinator with my husband's blessing and in the past three years since learning this principal, it has guided me to live out my priorities and learn to submit to his leadership.

This time I was in a better place as I stepped into the unknown:  I had met friends via Facebook and the Internet. I felt like I was not going in knowing no one. I felt pretty confident until the enemy pounced that first night. I was excited to meet up with some friends that had all met via Facebook these months prior to the conference and as I was headed down to dinner to meet up with them I ended up on the elevator with another woman from the conference. She asked me if I was there for She Speaks and I said yes that I was going to dinner and sure enough she was headed to the dinner too. But something seemed off. Here I was in my travel clothes, my flip flops and lugging my big camera. She was dressed in a suit, very professional. As I rounded the corner to where she told me dinner was and I entered the room I knew I was in the wrong place. Editors, business women, professionals. I turned around and made a quick exit, I knew I was not in the right place. This was not my dinner friends!

The uneasiness settled when I did find the right group of women and we began to chat over dinner. The tension broke first when dear Maurissa asked me if I was from the south. I wonder how she could tell (insert big southern drawl!).

Before the conference it was all over Facebook to be praying for that one thing God wants you to see, that one thing He wants you to take home from this conference.

For me it was the confirmation of a calling and that I am going in the right direction.

It did not hit me right away. But as soon as I saw my name on the piece of paper that said "I AM." I knew God was tapping me on the shoulder.

I AM

The name that He revealed to Moses when He called him from out of the desert to go and set His people free.

I AM

The name that He told Moses when Moses told God, "Please, LORD, I have never been eloquent-either in the past or recently or since You have been speaking to Your servant-because I am slow and hesitant in speech" (Exodus 4:10 HCSB).

I AM

The name He revealed to me when I first shared my testimony with my MOPS group three years ago.

Oh I have given God all the same excuses as Moses, but God spoke to me there in that prayer room and said, "Brandee, who made the human mouth? Who makes him [her] mute, or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, Yahweh? Now go! I will help you speak and I will teach you what to say" (Exodus 4:11-12 HCSB). 

God had seen the misery of His people and He sent Moses. Moses did not want to accept the call at first because of His own insecurities. God has seen the hurts and pain so many women around me are living in and He is calling me. I have to let go of my insecurities and do what He is asking.

Am I jumping head first into this thing? No. Honestly I don't even know what this is going to look like. I know He has given me a message to share, one that stemmed from pain and healing in my own life and that has stemmed from seeing the pain of a very close friend. This message is one that needs to be shared, needs to be written and I know God has called me to work on this. The ins and outs, whens and wheres, only He knows. My part is to pray and seek Him for each next step along the way.

So many other "God-taps" happened that weekend:

• Meeting and connecting with an amazing group of women to share this journey with.

• Hearing how Karen Ehman started by speaking to MOPS groups (which is what I will be doing this December and have done several times before).
• Seeing the word SIMPLIFY- my word of 2011 beside my name in the prayer room.
• God rewriting my 5 minute talk the day before I was to give it and it being the message of my heart.
• Hearing Amy Carrol whisper to me as we were leaving, "You are gifted."
• Meeting some of the Proverbs 31 staff I had only talked to via Internet.
• Seeing Micca over the summer, we had met already this year in a weekly Bible study in TN.

As I process through all that happened I keep seeking God for each next step. Prayer is the key and taking those daily steps of obedience with Him. Yes, I want to jump into things and yes, I am excited and yes, I want to give my blog a face lift. But the most important thing is hearing His voice. Hearing the direction He wants me to take to grow my character. To let Him chisel me as I go through this process (which has already begun by the way and I will share that next week!).

I take my steps daily to lay down my staff as Moses did and trust God that He is "I AM."

I AM has called me to SIMPLIFY my life to do His will.

That is my life's purpose in whatever He places in my path.

Living Free,
Brandee

Walking Worthy, Dents and All

This blog post originally ran on September 14, 2011.  As I re-read it, it was a good reminder to me that marriage is a calling...

My day started off in a grand way [NOT]. I was backing out of the garage to take my son to school and I hear a S-C-R-A-P-Eing noise.

"Oh no, had I just done what I thought I had just done?"

Yes, I had. I backed my car into the side of my husband's truck that was sitting in the driveway. I tried blaming it on him in my mind, "he pulled the car into the garage too close to the truck last night," but I knew that was just an excuse. I did it, not him. I went forward, adjusted, backed out again and down the road my son and I went. It was quiet at first, then the morning routine of spelling words and memory verse review. Then it came:

"Mommy, Daddy is going to be so mad at you!"

Ugh, I had that dreaded feeling knowing I was going to have to call my husband and tell him what had happened.

Later on that morning I was having my quiet time and came across these verses:

...walk worthy of the calling you have received, with all humility and
gentleness, with patience, accepting one another in love, diligently keeping
the unity of the Spirit with the peace that binds.
Ephesians 4:1-3

It hit me, isn't my marriage a high calling from God? So many times I think of my "calling" as what God has placed on my heart as far as ministry is concerned, but isn't our marriage, our motherhood, our friendships, all callings as well?

Day in and day out I needed to walk worthy of that high calling of marriage. Paul says later in that same book of Ephesians that our marriage is a picture of Christ and His church. My marriage is a big deal. It is a high calling that needs attention. I need to walk in humility and gentleness; I need to be patient and accepting of him in love, not impatient and critical; I need to keep unity with him and live in peace. If I did these things, wouldn't we be bound together as one as God designed from the beginning? Wouldn't we look more like the picture Paul describes?

Living out this high calling is not easy. I had to make that phone call and humble myself and say I was sorry and tell him what I had done to his truck and my car. He extended grace, he was patient and I am so thankful.

He has dents...



I have scratches...


We both need humility, gentleness, patience and acceptance. When we realize this we will walk in unity, we will walk in peace and those dents we see really are not that noticeable because they are seen through the eyes of love, through the eyes of Christ.

Living Free,
Brandee

Rainstorms and Rainbows

I don't like driving in the rain. It makes me nervous. When I was first learning to drive, I avoided being on the road in the rain at all costs. I had not yet learned about the defrost button that would clear the fog off the windshield. I would drive around with fogged up windows trying to use the windshield wipers but that was pointless, the fog always came right back.

Driving home from the airport after returning from the She Speaks conference two summers ago, I ran into another rain storm. As I pulled onto the Interstate the dark clouds began to darken the sky, but I was hoping for a light shower and I would be able to get home quickly to my family I had been missing since I left four days earlier.

As I was pulling onto the Interstate it started raining. It began slowly, but then it changed into rain so thick I could barely see.  My windshield wipers could not push the rain away fast enough, the defrost was not helping. The rain was so heavy I could not even see the hood of my car. For some reason, it did not seem to bother the other drivers the way it was me. They were speeding on past as if it was just a little rain shower on a summer afternoon. They were going along fine; I almost wrecked. My tires were hydroplaning; they were going the speed limit.

I decided to stop and pull off at a Waffle House and call my husband and tell him about the rain and that I would be a little later than I had expected. I wanted to race on home to see him and my son, but the downpour was impassable at the moment, at least for me, and I had to stop until it let up and I could see clearly to drive the rest of the way home.

Just like that rainstorm on that summer evening, life can throw us some rainstorms as well. We can be driving along and everything seems to be going good and all of a sudden you get caught in a downpour that seems impassable; the rain is so heavy you can not see right in front of you. Others seem to be living their lives as if nothing is happening, going along on their way, while you can't see to take your next step.

A loved one dies
A job loss
A marriage ending
A diagnosis
A miscarriage
A realization of the sin in your life and need for Jesus
A change of church homes
Others decisions that affect your life
The loss of a ministry or a closed door

Rainstorms so heavy they force us to pull off the road of life and stop.

Oswald Chambers writes in My Utmost for His Highest,
"In the Bible clouds are always associated with God. Clouds are the sorrows, sufferings, or providential circumstances, within or without our personal lives, which actually seem to contradict the sovereignty of God. Yet it is through these very clouds that the Spirit of God is teaching us how to walk by faith. If there were never any clouds in our lives, we would have no faith. They are a sign that God is there. ...God cannot come near us without clouds."

While sitting in my car waiting to get back on the road and home to my family, I looked up at the sky and through the rain you could still see the sun shining. Even through all the rain, the sun was still there shining.

Just like the sun was still there that Sunday afternoon, The Son is there in the midst of life's rainstorms. Jesus promises that He will never leave us or forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6).

When the rain eased up enough I could see, I pulled back on the road and before I knew it the rain had stopped and the sun was shining bright. I looked in my rear view mirror and there was a huge rainbow in the sky, God's promise that He was with me. When we pull back onto life's road it might not always be easy. When I got back on the road that afternoon it was still raining, but I decided I needed to get through the storm so I could be with my family I had not seen in four days. We have to take the time to pull over in those storms of life, but there comes a time we need to get back on the road. Through the clouds the SON is still there and just a little ways up the road you will look back and see the symbol of God's beauty, His rainbow. On this side of heaven we may never understand some of the rainstorms that come into our lives, but we can know that Jesus is in them with us.

Living Free,
Brandee

Some repeats

For several years I blogged on a site called Rebuilding Ancient Ruins.  For the past year and a half I took down that blog due to a very difficult and painful season in my life.  Words would not come and thoughts were only cohesive for my private journal between God and myself.   

I praise Him today for the season, for out of it came growth and a deeper realization of purpose and where my heart needs to focus.  Over the coarse of the next week I will be re-posting some of my favorite thoughts from that blog onto this new one and rewriting and updating my testimony.

Our God truly is an amazing God and nothing we ever go through is in vain.  He can use it all if we give it to Him.  Even the hardest things can be used for His glory and in the painful circumstances and trials He is never far away.  He walks with us in the midst of the storm, and I praise Him that He loves us enough to allow us to ask why when we don't understand.  Life can throw us some curve balls that we don't expect; we think we have everything all planned out, but really we are here only to fulfill His plan.

He reminds us,

A man's heart plans his way, but the LORD determines his steps.  

Proverbs 16:9, HCSB

I am choosing His path, even when I don't understand, because on the other side of hard circumstances and trials there is glory!  I look forward to sharing some of my favorite thoughts with you in the upcoming days. 

Living Free,
Brandee

The Relaunch

Through life's day to day journey we go through many changes:  Changes that God uses for His glory and for His purposes.  On my own journey with the Lord He has taken me through seasons of intense healing, growth and seeking Him for my place of ministry in His kingdom.  That journey has led me to several blogs with several names, all in the purpose of seeking where my voice fits into His plan.  God's path is never a straight one, it can have many twists and turns and bends in the road, but when we are looking to Him for our direction, we can trust where He leads. 

Commit your path to the Eternal; let Him direct You.  Put Your confidence in Him, and He will follow through with you.  

Psalm 37:5, The Voice

Place Your trust in the Eternal; rely on Him completely; never depend upon your own ideas and inventions.  Give Him the credit for everything you accomplish, and He will smooth out and straighten the road that lies ahead.  

Proverbs 3:5-6, The Voice

Today I relaunch my blog with a new name and a new look.  One thing God has spoken to my heart over and over again is it is not the numbers but it is about the people; it is about those specific hearts that might need to hear my story, or more accurately, God's story which He displayed through my life.  We can hear things many times in many different ways from different people, but sometimes it is that ONE that God uses to change our heart or to bring hope or healing.

This is my journey with God.  My journey of living free.  It is about seeking God first in all I do each and every day.  It is a journey that takes me daily into the pages of scripture, one that leads me to have a passion for women's ministry and Bible study, one that leads me to teach children's Sunday school and one that I use creativity to plan parties, crafts and help make daily life more special.   

This blog will contain all of these things and more.  Come join me on the journey...the journey to  being all God made us to be and make each day count for His kingdom!

Living Free,
Brandee