Dad Talks, Pt. 1

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother,’ which is the first commandment with promise: ‘that it may be well with you and you may live long on earth.’” Ephesians 6:1-3 [NKJV]

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. “ Ephesians 6:10-13 [NKJV]

I’d like to start this off by saying how grateful I am to have such a wise Dad. My story of coming to Christ is not one of sunshine and rainbows or people loving me into Christ’s arms. It’s actually the opposite. I was a broken young girl, feeling like the world and my family had abandoned me. The backstory is a long one but we will skip to the part where my Dad comes into my life. He is technically my Step-Dad but I refer to him as my Dad because the scars he has, which earned him that title, are many. I had a long history of men walking in and out of my life when he came into the picture. So you can imagine the wrath he endured assuming a father figure role to a 14 year old hormonal young lady who had two previous fathers walk out on her. There were many years of fights, rebellion, disobedience, and disrespect coupled by an immense amount of tears and prayer. Needless to say, the closest thing I’ve ever known in comparison to God’s unconditional love is the love this man has shown me throughout the years. It brings me to tears even writing about it. Is he perfect? No, but he himself will tell you that. In fact, that’s one thing I love about him. He will allow himself to be knocked off the pride horse and humble himself by apologizing to those he believes he’s wronged while on the saddle. Not realizing that in these moments, he is setting the example of how to be a godly man and father. Not pretending that he didn’t get caught up in himself, as I believe we all do (and if you disagree, well enjoy your time on the saddle while it lasts), but humbling himself not only before God but before others as well. Being a parent myself in my adult life, it gives me an example to follow when I make mistakes in front of my son and what repentance looks like. We are in a world that is all about self acceptance. Our culture is on a slippery slope and going downhill fast, so when the world encourages people to get on their self righteous high horse, it’s empowering to watch your own father take the narrow path and allow himself to be bucked off that high horse (Matthew 7:14). 

Okay so now that I have laid a small foundation of what an amazing man my Dad is, you can understand why I called him this morning seeking prayer for something and ended up spilling the sin in my heart and being rebuked by the Lord over a 2 1/2 hour phone call. To sum it up for you, I got into an argument with my mother last night, as us women sometimes do with our moms, and I lashed out hanging up on her because I felt “neglected.” It sounds extremely dramatic and over the top now that I’m writing about it but to be honest, this is the downside of my “extra” character trait. It was every bit as dramatic as you could imagine and led me into a crying scene, listening to sad music in the bath and crying myself to sleep at 8pm. I know, as I said, extremely dramatic. And my anger quickly turned into me “rebuilding my wall of resentment” that God has been painfully helping me tear down. My wise father, who allowed himself to be used by God today, relayed to me that the Bible does not tell us to “honor our father and mother” when, because, or if they deserve it. It doesn’t say we can do it when we’re in the mood, or that we get a free pass if we’re having a bad day. It doesn’t say you get to stop doing this when you’re an adult either. In fact it tells us that we “may live long on the earth” if we keep that promise (Ephesians 6:3). We also spoke of my responsibility to my own son, how children gain their traits more by what they see than what they hear. And I sure do not want my child to treat me the way I have treated my own mother at times. My Dad spoke about many things, continuing to fight through the self centered state of emotion I was in, and it all came back to forgiveness not only forgiveness of her actions within my own heart, but ASKING for forgiveness for my actions in return. Talk about how difficult swallowing that large pill of humility is. Needless to say, after a lot of kicking and screaming, tears and saying the words “Me” and “I” too often, God bucked me off my own high horse and hitting the ground hurt. I find it extremely interesting that Paul talks about honoring your parents and putting on the full armor of God in the same chapter, just verses apart. I don’t think it’s a coincidence. I believe my Dad and I are of like mind when we say that some of the most hurtful attacks come from the ones we love the most. And what an eye opener when we allow ourselves to be used to derail someone we say we love instead of building them up (another brilliant insight from my Dad). It is so important for us to put on the whole armor of God, that we may be successful in honoring our mother and father, and be a joy to them instead of a deterrent. I am grateful that God has given me a guide on earth to show me what humbling myself looks like, so that I can first make myself right with Him, and then my mother.

“Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for ‘God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.’ Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,” 1 Peter 5:5-6 [NKJV].

I don’t often add to posts after I’ve written them, but the Lord is leading me to throw in a few things as I edit and publish this one (almost two months after writing it). Ladies, it is so easy for us to get caught up in our emotions and react instead of respond. This post is a reminder, as we are in some very uncertain and frustrating times right now, that the enemy wants to provoke us into reacting negatively to those around us when we feel “triggered.” But remember that Paul calls us to abound in love to one another and all (1 Thessalonians 3:12). I have seen the enemy at work harder than ever lately. Let us pray for our family, our friends, and ourselves that we would all be putting on the full armor of God and lifting those around us up in all we do. May God bless and keep each one of you as we begin this new week!

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Vengeance is Mine

“Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.” Romans 13:1-7 [NKJV]

“Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord. Therefore ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:17-21 [NKJV]

I believe God specifically mapped out how to treat those who practice evil right before discussing how we should handle our corrupt leaders. Reading Romans 13 is extremely difficult for me as I watch the leaders of our country come after our God and way of life. They are attempting to destroy the family, our children, and everything beautiful God has made. I don’t think I’m alone in wanting to stand up and fight back, take up my sword and go conquer the evil ones. And God knowing our spirit, that we want to avenge Him and take judgment into our own hands, warns so heavily against this. Not only does he remind us that He is in control, despite who our current “ruler” is, but also that vengeance is His. If we attempt to take it from Him, we will then bring the same judgment He is to inflict upon them upon us. WOW. Talk about something that makes you come to a screeching halt. I know for myself, I immediately begin justifying my good intentions and my desire to defend God and His commandments. But He reminds us that He has it all under control. He goes before us in all things and knows what tomorrow holds. I find myself reacting that way out of fear, wanting to protect myself and my family. However, instead of trying to take on my enemies, I should be focusing on the Lord and He will guide me into the battles HE chooses for me to fight. I have been reminded in almost every study over the past few weeks, that we are to be found blameless before the Lord. And in wanting to condemn the leaders I deem to be evil, I poison my own heart. The Bible tells us in Romans 12:14 to “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.” And just like that, all the coal fueling the vengeance train goes cold. God is faithful to correct His children if we have “ears to hear” as he instructs us (Mark 4:23). We are also told in the Bible that His ways are not ours and thank goodness for that (Isaiah 55:8). Imagine if we went avenging all those who we thought had wronged us or God? There would be no souls left to save, and woe is me as I was once one of those lost souls. God is merciful, His plans are deeper and more complex than we could ever comprehend this side of heaven, and His love is reckless. He will stop at almost nothing to save us even in the midst of our sin. So instead of taking up arms and storming the enemy, we should fight the battle on our knees in prayer. We should be praying for our leadership, those who are lost, and the ones on the wrong side of the spiritual battle. We should also be praying for ourselves, that God would give us His heart for ALL people and that we would see them through His eyes and not our own. As hard as it is to watch the story unfold, we have to remind ourselves, that He has already won.

Missing the Message

“Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Consider your ways! You have sown much, and bring in little; You eat, but do not have enough; You drink, but you are not filled with drink; You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; And he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes.” Haggai 1:5-6 [NKJV]

“‘You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?’ Says the Lord of hosts. ‘Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house.’” Haggai 1:9 [NKJV]

“‘And now, carefully consider from this day forward: from before stone was laid upon stone in the temple of the Lord- since those days, when one came to a heap of twenty ephahs, there were but ten; when one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty baths from the press, there were but twenty. I struck you with blight and mildew and hail in all the labors of your hands; yet you did not turn to Me,’ says the Lord. ‘Consider now from this day forward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from the day that the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid- consider it: Is the seed still in the barn? As yet the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have not yielded fruit. But from this day I will bless you.’” Haggai 2:15-19 [NKJV]

Wow. First of all, I don’t know why this book isn’t spoken of more often in church. I am ashamed to say how extremely convicted I am reading the short book of Haggai; Only two chapters long but the weight they hold is heavy. Imagine being rebuked by God in this way. He explains to the people that He has been trying to get their attention and they looked for answers everywhere but to Him. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? I think about how often I have watched everything go wrong in my life and tried every which way to fix it on my own. Then, when nothing panned out how I wanted, just called it a loss and accepted the failure. HELLO! We are children of the Most High! We have unlimited, direct access to the One who created the Heavens and the Earth yet we go about our days so often as if we got this all on our own. Then, when it turns out we can’t do it ourselves, we count it as lost. I love how God shows them how He tried to correct them and give them a chance to look to Him for help and guidance. Yet every opportunity went right over their heads. As if that wasn’t a big enough letdown in and of itself, He then calls them out for leaving His temple in ruins while they went to the comfort of their own homes. I know we so often hate talking about our selfish nature but there is a reason why Jesus calls us to deny ourselves and follow Him (Matthew 16:24). It is because Satan wants to convince us that we got this all on our own, whether we willingly deny God’s help or simply deny it out of ignorance. I don’t believe the people were intentionally avoiding God’s counsel. In my opinion, if that were the case, they wouldn’t have begun rebuilding the Lord’s temple as He commanded them to. If they were anything like me, they allowed their problems to distract them from the God they serve. As believers, God tells us over and over again to cast our cares upon Him and 1 Peter 5:7 elaborates as to why by telling us it’s because He cares for us. As I grow stronger in my faith and closer to God, I see that when things seem to be going wrong and there’s no logical reason why it’s usually because He is trying to get my attention. And when I do finally look to Him, He shows me an area in my life that requires some construction. The beautiful thing is, He doesn’t want us to do it alone, nor does he ask us to labor in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58). I may still be young in my faith, but I have yet to find a place in the Bible where God called someone to move and there was not a blessing waiting for them at the end of it. And I doubt that I ever will because God is not a God of slavery, He is the One who frees you from it (Galatians 5:1). However, He can only be as close to us as we allow; which is why the work of rebuilding the temple was left to the people. It was their choice whether they wanted God to dwell upon them and receive the abundance of prosperity He wanted to bless them with or not. God never pushes Himself upon us, it is always a choice and one so simple but so heavy as well. I love that in Haggai 1:12 it specifically mentions that they obeyed the voice of the Lord and how they feared His presence. And in return, the Lord told them He was with them. How forgiving and loving is our God, even in the Old Testament. It brings to mind the lyrics in a song that talks about how reckless God’s love is. He will go to the extreme, move mountains, part the seas, send His people cross-country just to get to us. He gives us reminders and corrections and as we look to Him for guidance, grabs our hand and tells us that He is with us. Thank you, Lord, that You do not leave us the way You found us and that You never give up on us. May we keep our eyes on You and keep Your house in order before our own…

Welcome!

Hello ladies! I hope that you have found your way to this blog in good health and spirits. My name is Kelsey and I am a sinner saved by grace and the blood of Jesus Christ, our Lord, and Savior. On that note, let’s start this off by lifting Him up and dedicating this page to Him.
“Lord, thank you for the gift of fellowship. Thank you for the beautiful First Amendment in this country, allowing us to freely speak about You and fellowship in You together as a body. I pray You always remain the focus of this page and dwell at the center of it. I pray that You bring us closer to You and help us to come together and encourage one another in Your word and in Your love. May we grow stronger as a body as You refine us daily. May we never stop receiving correction from You and never cease to grow in our relationship with You. I pray for every person visiting this site, Your children who know You and the ones who may not yet, that you would shower them with Your love and grace. Show Yourself to them in a mighty way that they may enter into Your kingdom and be found blameless before You. Give them the strength to go into the world and share the good news and bind the enemy from them as they go forth. May each and every one of us have a heart of compassion for all and uplift one another in Your truth and love. Be with us Lord and please go before us. In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.”

I am so glad you are here and I hope the Lord leads you to stay awhile. I would like to start by introducing myself, telling a very small piece of my story, and then sharing my desire for this blog as God has put it on my heart.

I can’t express how excited and terrified I am to share a piece of my heart with you. I am a born-again Christian, who accepted Jesus into my heart when I was about 16 years old, then spent the following 13 years running from Him. I have had some tremendous highs and epic lows in that time, each one of them slowly but surely leading me to my downfall. I was a typical “wild child” doing my best to live fast and die young. I will admit, I am responsible for the majority of the grey hairs that have taken residence on my mother’s beautiful head. And each one tells a story, most I’m not proud of. As we go through the devotionals and journals I’ll post, I will share more about my past as the Lord instructs me and what finally brought me to my knees. But for now, we will focus on why we’re here. I hope God is already active in your everyday life. I pray He is at the center of it, guiding and leading you through the afflictions and into blessings. If He is not, I hope that changes, and know that I am praying for you no matter where you are in life. I think we can all agree that the world is extremely wonky right now. I, Myself, get extremely frustrated and overwhelmed with Social Media and this judgmental atmosphere that women have adopted, only being able to post the “highlights” of our lives. I don’t know about you, but the majority of my life has been a hot mess, even in being reborn in the Lord, I struggle just to get through every day without messing it all up. So for me, it is extremely difficult to get on the different media apps and find the filtered, edited versions of people’s lives that make it look like God rains gummy bears over them from the sky. So welcome to “From Mess to Miracle.” A page that shows how imperfect my life is, how imperfect I am, how difficult life is at times, how I can’t do it on my own and what a mess it is when I try to, how my life seemed like a lost cause until God found me in the pit of darkness, how even after changing so drastically I still make mistakes every single day, but how no matter where you are in life that God can take what you see as a mess and turn it into a miracle. The God of the Bible and His Son Jesus Christ are bigger than your biggest problem but never too big for even your smallest one, they will meet you exactly where you are whether it’s on top of the mountain or at the lowest point of the valley and every space in-between that. God loves you despite everything you have done and He knows it ALL. My hope and prayer for every woman coming across this site is that God showers you with His love and that you would see yourself more and more each day the way that He sees you. So let’s dive in! Let’s share God’s word, our struggles, our successes, our positive hobbies and interests, our family life, what being a Godly woman looks like, and let’s glorify Him together. I look forward to growing alongside each and every one of you.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 [NKJV]

With Love and Gratitude,

K 🤍