THANK YOU NEW SPRING - I LOVE MY CHURCH!

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Dear Readers,

I feel compelled to share with you the scriptures used during the call for life change at church yesterday because of the strength and freedom that they have provided to one of the girls I am mentoring that truly shows the power of God's Word, prayer, and action. 

I drove one of the girls that I am mentoring in the Ripple of One (www.rippleofone.org) program to the 6 P.M. service yesterday. Her heart is broken and the pain that she is experiencing is almost too much for even me to bear. Her entire life she has never experienced healthy relationships and has endured 20+ years of emotional, physical, sexual, and verbal abuse. She stepped away from the life God designed for her when her child was 2 years old, and got mixed up with a man addicted to methamphetamine. His drug use led to multiple episodes of him beating her profusely to the point where she almost died. Her near death experience became her saving grace as a neighbor nearby witnessed the attack and called the police. Because of her past, her child's father is unwilling to allow her to see her daughter who is now 4 years old. 

As a mom, I can NOT imagine someone limiting my relationship with James and my ability to get to know him and be his momma. I can NOT imagine the emotional pain having to deal with the mistakes that I made that would even lead to such an outcome. I surely can NOT know what it must have been like for her to be beat for so long that she nearly died and was hospitalized incurring over $17,000 in hospital and medical costs. Because of her past, her family does not trust her nor do they believe in the real life change that has happened as she reached out to begin a relationship with Jesus Christ. For the first time in her life, she feels as though she does not need a man to feel valued, rather, she is finding that value in the Lord and the hope and future that He has promised to her. And last Sunday, the Lord brought her right to me out of 100 care room volunteers. We prayed together and met with Stephanie to have her interviewed for the Ripple program. In just one week, I am watching this beautiful young lady give every ounce of her being to trusting the Lord. She has a very long road ahead, but the scriptures provided in the service really brought her a sense of hope, peace, and strength that show that the power to change our lives begins in The Word when we begin a relationship with Jesus Christ. 

Through the ripple program, we are securing her an attorney that can help frame some rights for her as a parent so that she can begin to see her daughter on a regular basis. She is receiving financial coaching and recently received a new job 50-60 hours a week for home health care. I can not wait to see the Lord weave a tapestry of beautiful victory as she becomes the woman that God has called her to be and use the power of her testimony to help others heal and experience the same victory.

The verses that His Word provides are for us all to look to as we Trust Him with our lives - to experience strength and freedom that only come by the Grace in Christ Jesus.  

Romans 10:9

⁹ If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Romans 10:13

¹³ for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”^[a]

Isaiah 43:1-3
Israel’s Only Savior

43 But now, this is what the Lord says—
    he who created you, Jacob,
    he who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
    I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
² When you pass through the waters,
    I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
    they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
    you will not be burned;
    the flames will not set you ablaze.
³ For I am the Lord your God,
    the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I give Egypt for your ransom,
    Cush^[a] and Seba in your stead.

Matthew 16:18

¹⁸ And I tell you that you are Peter,^[a] and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades^[b] will not overcome it.

Ephesians 5:25

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her

1 Peter 3:1
3 Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives,

Ephesians 6:4

⁴ Fathers,^[a] do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

Malachi 3:10

¹⁰ Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.

Proverbs 3:9-10

⁹ Honor the Lord with your wealth,
    with the firstfruits of all your crops;
¹⁰ then your barns will be filled to overflowing,
    and your vats will brim over with new wine.

Ephesians 4:26-27
²⁶ “In your anger do not sin”^[a]: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, ²⁷ and do not give the devil a foothold.

Hebrews 11:6
⁶ And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him..

1 Thessalonians 4:3

³ It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality;

Matthew 11:28

²⁸ “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

James 5:16
¹⁶ Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.