another year older...and wiser

I've always loved birthdays. Not just my own but celebrating others too. There's something really special to me about the day God chose for us to enter the world. I like to think about how in that moment all that was great about you already resided there. God knew our potential before we would even know what a birthday was & it was good. I don't believe anyone is destined for anything less than God's best but somehow life gets in the way. I want to share what's on my heart & mind this, the night of my 34th birthday.

1. I never imagined a life abandoned to Christ could somehow become fuller than I ever imagined when I was in the process of "losing" myself to find Him.

2. I honestly look back 5 years ago and had very few "friends" I could count on & like the faithful God He is, has sent an abundance of legit people who I know are for me. They support me & believe in me and frankly it blows my mind just thinking about it.

3. My husband & I have journeyed through tough times & I look at him and can't help but smile because God has given me my best friend. Someone who stretches me to dig deeper to be a better person, who without thinking twice backs me & supports my dreams. This man isn't a fairy tale, he's made of flesh like anyone else but he gets me and I'm his helpmeet! What a gift I've been given in him.

4. My boys light up my world. They think I'm the prettiest, most smart, and talented mom in the world. And they love my cooking so much that I know when they grow up & get married, they'll come home just to eat! (Whatever it takes lol)

5. My faith is solid & built on the Rock! He has carried me through my darkest hours & built me in the process to make me stronger.

6. Opportunities continue to present themselves. I'm just walking where He directs me to go....

7. My vision & heart for Coffee & Jesus is more than I can understand or contain right now...Oh boy it's exciting!!


I could go on for hours about the goodness of God to walk us through life's uncertainties. It hasn't been all roses but the fragrance lingered...pure sweetness. There has always been a glimmer of His grace. A touch to remind me He's near. A subtle reminder that life is not just good but it's beautiful too!  I've decided to take the nudge from my heavenly Father to live...really live. And I pray in seeing that you begin to live too! To be unashamed of being full of joy and peace. To let your light shine in a dark world. To be unapologetic for loving life & the One who gave it to you! Friends we get one shot. I'm wasting no time!!!

God sized needs on a man sized back...

This past Saturday at Coffee & Jesus we discussed respecting our husbands. We discussed Ephesians 5 & 1 Peter 3. I personally have walked through my own version of the popular book The Respect Dare over the last few years & have thought more than once that experience was a tough teacher. What I left C&J with swirling in my mind is something that one of our girls Janey brought up. She is so neat & has a way of relaying what she has learned in the Bible in a way you won't soon forget. While she was telling the story of it being Eve that feel for the deception in the Garden & not Adam I was struck with this. Eve was to be Adam's helpmeet. Not his mom, not his Holy Spirit, or His boss. His helpmeet ladies! This was so deep I had to search more. What I found was so clear. God knew how much our men would need our support, our words of encouragement, our gentle touch to help show we believe in them and you know what the enemy turned into motion that day? The nature of a woman to be persuaded by emotion & then to attempt to persuade her husband. I don't know about you all but control was something I was persistent & talented in. I learned early on in life how to get my way, even if it took the gift of persuasion or in many instances manipulation. I know first hand what it's like to feel justified in behaving this way after all, it had been up to many for much of my adult life to get things done (bills paid, kids cared for, dr appt, school, etc.) What I discovered back then was that my behavior towards my spouse didn't look much like a helper, much less a companion. I think many times women just naturally keep things together & that's all fine and well until we cross the line like Eve and start making executive decisions without consulting our husbands, start telling our husbands what their gonna do & tear them down with our words or loud voices when they don't. What did it cost Eve to listen to the tempter? It cost them a life of pleasure & ease in the Garden of Eden. I'm thankful God delivered me from that behavior & I'm thankful He opened my eyes to my destructiveness. I finally stopped looking at my husband as someone who had to fill all these longings inside me and began to see him as the man God created(this is a continued process that requires fully depending on God) The neat thing is when we treat our husbands as God has commanded we free up the Holy Spirit to freely move in our homes & in the life of our husbands. Changing the way I spoke to my husband completely changed our marriage. I took the God sized need & let God meet it instead of continuously placing my needs on my husbands man sized back. He felt respected therefore easily offered up the love I needed from him. I no longer told him what to do but instead asked if he could help me & he gladly did. I try not to have a hateful tone when I speak to him even when I'm tired or have had a bad day. I ask him his opinion & then value it enough to trust him to make our decisions as a couple & for our family. I know some of you may be thinking "Well, you don't know my husband?" and chances are I don't. I want to remind us all that God didn't call us to treat our husband's according to their behavior. He called wives in 1 Peter 3:1 to this specifically: "In the same way, you wives must accept the authority of your husbands. Then, even if some refuse to obey the Good News, your godly lives will speak to them without any words. They will be won over by observing your pure and reverent lives." There it is, crystal clear, without words by example of our own lives. I'm not addressing the men here because that’s another place & another time and I don't feel like that's my goal. I want women to be able to live free inside & joyfully follow what Christ has set before us. Not based on men but based on our love for God & our desire to please Him above any of our fleshly desires. There truly isn't a way to know for sure if this works unless you try it for yourself. It may be met with opposition & potential adversity because guess what when we make a stand to live for Christ we can expect resistance from the enemy. He was in the garden, he'll rear his ugly head now too. But we are victorious & Jesus already paved the way for us to live lives that pleased God. Respecting & honoring our husbands is a choice. Let's choose what we know to be TRUTH!

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 And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.~Genesis 2:18-24

Leibster Award!

I was humbled when my blogger friend ThistleAshD at Sweetly Worn nominated me for the Leibster Award for blogs with less than 200 followers. Goodness I have less than 30 does that even count?! lol Seriously I'm honored & humbled at the same time. My blog was simply a place of relief & started when I needed a place to document what the Holy Spirit was showing me on my journey to a life lost in Jesus! 

The Rules 

     1.  Post 11 random facts about yourself.

     2.  Answer the questions the nominator came up with.

     

Random Facts about ME!

1.I make the best homemade cinnamon rolls you will ever taste.

2. I bring my own creamer to Starbucks & just order the Pike Roast. Shoooot! Ghetto Fabulous!

3.I LOVE coffee mugs, the more meaning behind them the better!

4. I'm so picky about who cuts my hair! Help! lol

5. I'm 6ft & refuse to wear heels!

6.I'm extremely compassionate & raw. I just tell it the way God has revealed it to me.

7. Mother of ALL boys...Lord help sometimes I just need a female in the house but that's why God sent me such fantastic friends! They totally get me & still adore me!

8. Very loyal & look for it in all my closest friends.

9. I'm constantly thinking about scripture, conversing with the Holy Spirit, or thinking of a way to inspire or encourage others to love on them for Jesus. #handsandfeet

10. Coffee & Jesus is a large part of my purpose on this earth..I long to see women set free & living God purposed lives!!

11. I've been called to write a book...it's a work in process. 

Random Questions Asked of Me

     1.  What is your favorite book and why? Well, book would be Bible because it's my guide to life & the encouragement that gets me through the day. But also Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers, the most beautiful reflection of Christ continuous pursuit for His bride...
     2.  If you could change something about the world, what would it be? Hearts that knew to whom they belong.
     3.  What does your perfect day look like? High 70s with a gentle breeze, green trees & grass. Newly blooming flowers with snow capped mountains visible in the distance.
     4.  What is your greatest strength? My love for people. 
     5.  What is one thing you wish you did better? Not cared about people's negative opinions
     6.  Aside from your parents, who has had the biggest impact on your life? Kitty McGregor
     7.  What is your favorite movie and why? Savannah Smiles from the 80s, makes me feel like a little girl again.
     8.  If you could describe yourself in one word, what would it be? Passionate
     9.  What was your favorite thing about high school or college? My oldest two boys were born.
     10.  Favorite childhood memory? My daddy coming home from work every night...best times ever!
     11.  What is your favorite attribute of God? Faithfulness

He knows...

“God, who foresaw your tribulation, has specially armed you to go through it, not without pain but without stain.”~C.S. Lewis

God knows. He knows your heart, your fears, your weaknesses, your needs & your wants. He knows what makes you smile, cry, and what upsets you. He knows exactly what you need before it comes to your mind. The question is that through it all will we trust that He knows & that He has a perfect plan. Will we trust that no matter how hard the circumstance that He knows & He cares. The thing I love most about God is that He is always there. Every tear shed, every heart break, every celebration, every victory! The choice is ours will we take matters in to our own hands our surrender our thoughts & actions to the One who knows us best.

Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all.~Psalm 139:4

Coffee & Jesus...update!

It's been a minute since I've talked about Coffee & Jesus(check out this link for our history). We started meeting September 2012 & have done nothing but flourish since. I could sit & talk for hours about the powerful meetings we have & the way God speaks to me through the variety of different women who share with us what they are learning. I love stirring others to seek Him out. I love even more when they find Him. That made me smile just imagining that thought. The gift of reconciling women back to God has been the single most rewarding thing in my ministry aside from watching God actively move in my husband's life & bringing Him to Christ. This gift wasn't just given to me it was given to us all. That's what I pray Coffee & Jesus is to the world. A ministry that with all heart & soul lovingly reconciles the lost & broken back to Christ. Women who lay aside what the world has taught them about being women & abandon themselves to what God says a women is. Women of all backgrounds, hurts, and worlds put together & binded together with love...God's LOVE. It's a pure love. One that is accepting, non-judgmental, caring, loyal, concerned, one that reaches out to comfort, one that wants to be an active participant in the others life. This love is what consumes me & has consumed this group. There hasn't been a meeting yet that I didn't become a giddy school girl the days leading up to it. I tell you & I don't say it lightly I'm committed to carrying God's love with me & so are the women who join this group. If you're looking for more of Jesus then you've found your home. Come be welcomed amongst God's daughters. We are sisters. We need one another. More than ever. The God that heals, restores, transforms, and adores is transforming lives and I could NOT be more excited!!!!

Fab Five Friday...

Every Friday the girls at Upward Not Inward host Fab Five Friday! It's fun & a way to share little pieces of your week!

This week I'm thankful for: Goodness where do I start? First, answered prayer, we sold our SUV without a glitch & to a sweet family. Second, I jumped on board to start selling Origami Owl jewelry! Find me at http://katieramirez.origamiowl.com You are bound to find something cute!

This week I enjoyed: Having the chance to openly minister & share Jesus, His love and the power it has to transform us with like minded believers I encountered at my job.

This week I learned: How to overcome my fear of what appears to be too much & to pace myself. Posted my first book review & am still figuring out all of the in's & out's of a darn blasted computer (Yes! I am a little overwhelmed with all the little things I should know how to do via computer such as blogging, fancying my blog to make it look more appealing, saving information, etc., etc., etc.!

This week I accomplished: Posting my first ever book review. {Here} &&& Paying off some debt! Woo Hoo!! Thank you Jesus!


I am looking forward to: Should this even be asked because if you know me at all you already know it's Coffee & Jesus time tomorrow! Duhhh! lol Really though it is the best time & I walk away refreshed & filling fulfilled in my purpose when we are done! Plus I have a lot to say about tomorrow's topic & it's going to be at my house! F-U-N!!

31 Days of Forgiveness & Blog Post giveaway!

I got the privilege to read 31 days of Forgiveness {through the eyes of grace} as a part of my very first book review thanks to Tracie Stier-Johnson. What a great Jesus lovin' gal! Plus she dresses so darn cute y'all! I'm not really sure how I found her on Instagram but I'm pretty sure it was a God-thing which has become common place in my life as of late. I read this book & thought it was absolutely brilliant because she not only gives life examples about forgiveness but it is packed with the richness of scripture…count me in! Who can argue with the Word of God?! What beauty is found when we find forgiveness through the eyes of God's grace! If you struggle at all with forgiveness (we all have at some point in time) or even if you haven't, you will not regret putting this 31 day challenge to the test! 
31forgiveness will be FREE on amazon until Saturday morning {12:00 am est} so very early saturday morning. So get over there & snatch it up! Share this with your friends!

Now here's the fun part! In honor of kicking off the release of her book Tracie would like  to give out goodies! All you have to do to enter is leave a message on this post! You will be entered to win one of the three prizes below! 
A cute set of notepads from Dayspring.com a hard copy of Tracie's book--->> 31 days of Forgiveness {through the eyes of grace} an adorable owl pillow from buttonbirddesigns.com

All proceeds will go directly to the seedcompany.org

The seed company enables you to support local Bible translators as they make God's message available in the language of their people. Check out the website for more valuable information!