Anchored In Grace Fellowship

Our words are a creative force, and the Bible tells us we speak life and death with the tongue. What are you speaking over your life and who are you talking to? Do you speak God’s word, or do you allow negative things to be spoken over your life?

As we approach the Christmas Holiday, I find myself reflecting on the things I cherish most in life. My relationship with God and my family are my top priority. As I look around my home, I take moments to pause and thank God for all he his has given me. Each day goes by so quickly, and the time I share with my loved ones is precious. Through the good and the bad, through loss and new beginnings, I look to my help which comes from above, and I give thanks for my blessings. Through all we’ve endured I am grateful for my God’s word and his peace. No matter the circumstance, his words remain the same and he gives us direction on how to respond to every situation in life. In my home, there is a presence of love and peace. It’s cultivated through continuous prayers and the beauty of its decor which my mother is responsible for. My mom loves to decorate and during the Holiday season, she enjoys putting her hands to work displaying her talent for creating beautiful center pieces and other decorative items, throughout our home. For her grandchildren, and those who are kids at heart, we all enjoy seeing these works displayed and remembering the years of Christmas before. For me, I enjoy this part of the Holidays so much because I see the joy it brings. My mother spends this time setting up our home to welcome in others and enjoy what God has given us. Each of my parents strive to provide a place that welcomes all and when you enter our home, you become part of the family. We enjoy having others over to fellowship, laugh and talk about life. These simple acts of love are what I seek to continue to provide for my daughter as well. When I have the privilege of purchasing my first home, I want to abide there with this same peace. Without peace, it won’t feel like home and peace may seem to be a simple thing, but it has the greatest impact in life. As a mother, I take great pleasure in watching my child grow and seeing the goodness of God in her life. Children are filled with so much purity and honest love from God, and this is something I treasure. I don’t just treasure it, but I also take time to continue to teach my daughter of what it means to love and be kind. We don’t always get along with others, but we should show love and kindness. When my daughter tells me about her day, she often expresses frustration over some of the other children’s actions. I remind her, no matter how you are treated, always show love and kindness. I let her know it’s not okay to allow others to hurt or misuse you. I tell her to stand up for herself and remind her it matters how you respond to a situation. We all are works in progress and even though we may mess up by responding the wrong way, we can try to do better the next time and strive to show God’s love. This time of the year is a great reminder of just that. This Holiday season, my mission is to continue walking in love and peace. As the end of this year approaches, it is truly a good time to reflect on our relationship with God. We know this season is to celebrate the birth of Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. The best way to honor him is to draw near to him and his word. I look forward to stepping into a new year with an attitude of gratefulness. I know the plans and works God has for my life are greater than anything I can imagine. Ending this year only means the beginning of another. As I think about this, I am reminded of this scripture, Philippians 3:13-14, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” With this, I am taking time to thank my God for living and dwelling in me. Without Him, I am no one and with Him I am everything! I don’t know what tomorrow brings and I understand tomorrow is not promised to any of us. For this reason, I live each day asking my God to dwell in me and I read His word. As I renew my mind through His word, I am strengthened to walk as child of God, and everything set before me is in His hands. This gives me great hope for my future and days yet to come. I am stirred in my spirit because I feel my God calling me to move closer to Him. This world is ever changing and the evil we see will not cease until His return. It is up to use to press in and look to our God for direction in all we do. We cannot remain the same, but we must grow in God and allow him to set up his perfect love in our lives. In doing this, we make our steps as his righteous children and separate ourselves from the ways of this world. As he pours into our hearts a new hope, we use his word to tell others of the good news and keep ourselves covered in His presence, walking victoriously throughout the rest of our lives. As I write this, I am overwhelmed by his goodness and mercy, that he would yet again look down on me and give me words to speak! I cannot explain how it feels to know God is moving in your heart. It is a feeling of joy, love, and peace. I am excited for what God is doing in my life and I urge you to press in so you can tap into his presence! For each of you reading this I wish you love and great peace. As you spend this time with family and friends, remember our Lord and make time to give Him thanks. As for me, I am confident in this, I am blessed beyond measure because I seek the one who has it all! I know where my help comes from and because of this I can walk in hope. When I think about his good and all he's done for me, this joy that I feel is hard to contain!

When you read God's word and spend time meditating and praying you ignite a spark!

For years, I have been striving, fighting, wanting to control, fixing, and overstressed. I have recently had some deep setbacks that have made me take this saying “Be Still” seriously. Can you relate to this?

T rying to fix people’s problems. Even at a young age, this seemed to be the thing I did. It seems to be in my blood, and while there is nothing wrong with supporting and helping, there are bumps that come along the way if you’re not keeping emotional boundaries in check.

The other day I had the greatest time spending some quality time with my brother and sister-in-law. Since my parents’ death, we have had to make decisions and gather documentation to get the insurance policy processed, and the list goes on and on. From this experience, my family has learned how important a will is to have and how true the saying “don’t put off tomorrow what you can do today” means. Over the last few months of 2020, we buried both my mother and father within weeks of each other. Our grief process has been filled with jumping from one task to another. Not having a will in place by either my mom or dad left us to filing for affidavit of heirships, hiring a lawyer to get an estate set up, and so much more.

Fear is an emotion that builds up in intensity. When you think about intensity, what comes to mind? Exercise, spicy levels when eating something hot, or a roller coaster ride at a theme park? I think of a very intense ride at the coolest theme park filled with mini-parks full of the most insane rides you can imagine. Let me give you a visual so think about this…  You are at the ticket line to ride a series of rides in the Fear Monster Park. The Ticketmaster is waiting to explain that the rides will go to how your fear will intensify.

It has been 8 days since we buried my mom and the last time to see her alive 21 days. There are many valleys these days and a void that cannot be replaced. There are moments where I am happy for her because she is in a heavenly place and there are moments I feel selfish wanting her back here with the family. There are days where I feel like the grief is so much I can’t catch my breath and the hurt is like a knife cut.  It’s interesting when you lose someone and maybe it has just been my experience. After losing my mom, I was out and about. At the first stop, I was in the store and a song came on about heaven and loss I fought hard to hold the tears back as the cashier asked me if I was ok. I explained I had just lost my mom and she said “you have been initiated into the grief club”. Then, as I was driving I drove past Hobby Lobby. This is when the tears were uncontrollable. My mom’s first outing after being home (with exceptions of doctor appointments) was Hobby Lobby. Let me tell you, this store has taken on a whole new meaning and to be honest very hard to go into. Last week, I was at HEB and I went past the cans of popcorn. I begin to cry over a can of popcorn because it was one of her requests the week she was put back into the hospital-sadly we could not find the popcorn at the time. Today, I had an appointment at the genetics center in Temple, and let me tell this was by far the hardest. Why? I had to go get bloodwork at the lab being the place I visited many times with my mom during her cancer journey. My anxiety was off the chart and I have to be honest a simple task to get blood taken seems like the hardest task.

Side Note: This was written only a few hours before my dad told me it was time to put my mom in comfort care.  At this time in my life, I am on a rocky road of watching my mom dwindle from her battle with cancer and everything else medically. The hardest thing at this time is seeing my mom struggling and not knowing the hour or day that she will not have to struggle anymore. There have been so many before me that have walked this path with their loved ones and so many after me that will walk the same path. These troubles that trouble us are all around. In these trouble times we can experience many emotions but let us focus on – GRIEF. We don’t know when the grief monster is going to come and the troubles we face don’t always give us a letter of notification. Sitting there yesterday with my mom holding her hand, I thought about all the troubles that have come my way like bullets these last couple of weeks. I received no notification that the journey I am walking now was going to come with a visit from the Grief monster.