MASKS AND WALLS

Welcome to Women of Valour which is about
YOU

experiencing your freedom in Christ, being set free,

experiencing the love of God, and opening your blinded eyes

Isaiah 61:1

What is the opposite of freedom in Christ? The opposite of freedom is bondage or prison. Masks and walls were my prisons of choice. Why did I put on masks? Because I believed that if people saw or knew the REAL me they would not like me. So, I did whatever to try and please everyone else. But I was dying inside in some places and already dead in others. As long as people were getting what they needed or wanted from me everything was fine. But when I started saying no I can’t or won’t then it became a serious problem.

My favorite go to phrase was: “That’s just the way I am? I can’t change the way I am.” As I was thinking about that phrase and the negative thoughts, I actually believed the way I thought about things were NORMAL. It was NOT normal to be evil and mean ALL the time. I was depressed and angry ALL the time. 

I wore many masks to make it through my days and nights for years. My masks changed depending on who I was around: friends, family, coworkers, boyfriends, etc. I wore many different masks around many different people. It was called being a “people pleaser”. I tried my best to my own detriment to keep everyone around me “fixed/happy”. It took many years before I could understand that I had given myself an impossible task. I had also given away my power. It was unhealthy for me because it led to deep depression.

I even had on a mask for God. I would act like a good Christian by going to church and serving in the church. But I would act like a complete heathen out of church. I had built up walls all around myself because I did not want to be hurt by men or women. I even built up walls against God because I believed HE had hurt me as well. How can God hurt you? By...

·        Not healing a loved one: parent, child, spouse

·        Not intervening in a failing or failed marriage

·        Not giving you the job you thought you deserved

·        Not providing what you thought you needed

·        Not stopping a rape or molestation or even an attempted one

There are many reasons we can be angry and mad with God. My reason was the last one on the list above for many, many years. I just could not understand or wrap my mind around the fact that this God who loved me would allow this to happen. Replaying this thought over and over in my mind kept me in a mental prison for a lllooonnngggg time. This was one of the tallest trees in my mind and the branches from this tree were just as overwhelming. You may be dealing with an issue listed above. REMEMBER: God still loves each of us (John 3:16 and Jeremiah 31:3) even when our mindsets have been warped by wrong thinking.

God used HIS Words to break this concept down to me. Just as a farmer needs tools we do too. Think of your mind as a garden with some or alot of weeds. The weeds are the negative thoughts which may have been growing for a mighty long time. I know my mind was full of weeds. The farmer (you) must first go in and dig up the weeds and get the soil (your mind) ready to plant something new. You have to do the same thing as the farmer. You have to stop speaking (pull up the weeds) the old way and start speaking (planting new seeds) something new. You have to learn and speak a new language. The best scripture that helped me start digging up and plant something new was “Taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ”. (KJV)

II Corinthians 10:5 (NLT)

We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God.

We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.

TESTIMONY: The thought would come "I am ugly". I would say: “No, I take that thought captive to the obedience of Christ." I would replace the thought (weed) with (seed) "I am God’s masterpiece" (Ephesians 2:10). Keep doing until you start to believe it as YOUR TRUTH. I still do the same thing today when negative thoughts come to my mind that are against God's Word for my life. I had to retrain myself to know and understand that the thoughts I was having were NOT good for me but detrimental. You have to retrain your mind as well. It requires work on your part but well worth it to walk in your FREEDOM in Christ. REMEMBER: IT IS FINISHED!!! (John 16:30)

Prayer: Holy Spirit, help me take off the masks I have chosen to put on. Help me love and accept myself for who You have create me to be.

QUESTION:

What mask(s) are you wearing that God wants to help you remove?

I pray something you read touched your heart to walk closer to God. 

Please share a comment or email me privately

Womenofvalour15@gmail.com 

SEEDS - NEGATIVE OR POSITIVE

Welcome to Women of Valour which is about
YOU

experiencing your freedom in Christ, being set free,

experiencing the love of God, and opening your blinded eyes

Isaiah 61:1

God has been dealing with me about seeds. Seeds come in both negative words and positive words. Both can be planted by others and they can be planted by each one of us.

How you may ask? By consistently and continuously thinking and speaking the words. We watch over or cultivate the positive and negative seeds/words in our lives without really realizing it. They will do what they are created to do; which is produce. When a seed is planted it will live or die. If it is watched over it will live. But if it is not watched over it will die. Whatever kind of seeds we prioritize in our lives will grow.

EXAMPLE: Love and hatred starts with seeds or words. A child is born and grows up in a home filled with love; while another child is born and grows up in an abusive home. Seeds/Words were planted/spoken in both homes. If nothing changes one grows up feeling loved while the other grows up very defensive and possibly continues the cycle. How can the child who grew up in the abusive home change the seeds of negative words? It is going to require replacing the negative seeds with positive seeds. The only positive seeds that will last is God's Words.

The negative words are like big boulders which overwhelm and help you believe the lies:

• This is just the way I am
• Nothing will ever change
• I will ALWAYS be or feel this way
• I will never accomplish anything
• There is no hope for me
• You don't really know me

NOTE: These are called pity parties and they are not helpful but harmful to bringing about a solution. They were designed to keep you and I rehearsing the hurt/problem instead of finding a solution to our problem. They require us to look at our own logic instead of God's Truth which can only be found in God's Word.

I believed these same lies for a VERY long time. I am talking many, many years. These lies started with seeds. They could be your parents or someone else words to you. They could be your own words to yourself. God showed me that the only seeds that matter and are true are God's Words to us. But the seeds are no good if they are not planted in soil which are our hearts and minds. They must be watched over as well.

The seeds are the Words of God. When you or someone else speaks God’s Words; they are seeds that go into the heart and mind. You have a responsibility to watch over the seed that was spoken/planted. How do you watch over the seed? You water it by going over the Word for yourself. You speak life over your own situation and circumstance. After a while, you will see the seed break open and produce in your own life.

TESTIMONY: This was the major issue in my own life. I would hear God's Words spoken but I did not watch over the Word spoken to me. I did not keep speaking it or thinking about it. I did not water it by seeking out other verses that spoke about God's Love, peace, or joy for me. Meanwhile, I was mean, evil, and beating myself up with my negative words/seeds about myself and other peoples  negative words/seeds about me. This is what I watched over and prioritized which grew and produced in massive quantities. I could not really hear the positive seeds people or God was speaking.

BUT GOD...Here are some seeds/words I have believed which God has already and still is helping me overcome with HIS Words:

• the man leaving me for someone else
• not getting the job I interviewed for
• a friend betraying me
• a failed marriage
• a miscarriage
• being unattractive and unlovable 
• being lonely
• not being a good Christian
• Not being good enough or unworthy (still in progress)
• procrastination (still in progress)

TESTIMONY: I am still dealing with inadequacy and procrastination because I have not watched over the seeds that God’s Words has said to me in these areas. I have in other areas but not in these. So I am still letting the negative seeds/thoughts and feeling hinder what God has for me. It is up to me to plant and water but my God will truly make it grow. (I Corinthians 3:7) When I start planting and watering the seeds, it is a picture of me coming closer to God who promised HE will come closer to me. (James 4:8a) In researching, I found out that inadequacy is rooted in fear. So I have to water the seeds of faith instead of fear.

HOW to water and watch over the seeds?

1. Go to the https://www.bible.com/
2. Download the YouVersion App
3. Search for verses that deal with the seed you want to conquer (Love, Peace, Joy, etc)
4. Read, think about, and speak those verses over yourself continuously and consistently. (Keep thinking and speaking even when the negative seeds speak against the TRUTH.)
5. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you believe God's Words about you

This requires work on our part. It is not a magic formula but it is a plan that will work if you work it with the Holy Spirit. My prayer is that you read something that God can use to move you closer to Him and walking in our FREEDOM IN CHRIST which is the direction HE wants all of us to be going.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, lead and guide me as I start this journey to replacing the negative seeds that have been planted with the true seeds of God's Words about me.

Question:

What positive seeds do you need to plant in order to

kill the negative seeds that have been planted in your life? 

 I would love to hear from you about your triumphs and/or struggles with seeds!!

Please share with a comment or via my email

Womenofvalour15@gmail.com

           

IT STARTS WITH LOVE

Welcome to Women of Valour which is about
YOU

experiencing your freedom in Christ, being set free,

experiencing the love of God, and opening your blinded eyes

Isaiah 61:1

 

I have watched the "God's Chisel" video a couple of times now by myself. It ministers to me every time. I believe and understand now:

• I am God's masterpiece
• I am accepted by God.
• Sometimes that I am good enough and other times not.
• Sometimes that I am worthy because of Jesus Christ other times NOT worthy because of my past mistakes.

As I thought about the lies, I have believed I asked God, “What started the chain reaction to bring about the prison doors being opened for me. What happened to allow me to start walking in my freedom in Christ?”

It started with LOVE. I had to accept the fact that God loves me. His love for me is a gift that HE had and has given to each one of us. What do you do when someone gives you a gift? You receive it, open it, and tell others, especially,if it is a REALLY good gift. This was VERY hard for me because I believed no one REALLY loved me. It was a lie. You may be struggling with the same lie or other lies. Apply God’s Word to the lie as you would ointment to a wound and redress it.

The lie I believed was Jesus died on the cross for my sins but NOT because of GOD'S LOVE for me. Jesus represented a way out of hell’s fire and brimstone. I have since learned that the foundation of the Christian walk is LOVE. God is Love. I must admit I struggled with this one because it was a foreign concept to me. I had to ask the question: “Why did You do this for me? God’s reply: “I love you unconditionally." I had to apply HIS Words over and over and over and over again.

I JOHN 4:7-10

⁷ Dear friends (Andrea), let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone (Andrea) who loves is a child of God and knows God. ⁸ But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. ⁹ God showed how much he loved us (Andrea) by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we (Andrea) might have eternal life through him. ¹⁰ This is real love—not that we (Andrea) loved God, but that he loved us (Andrea) and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our (Andrea) sins.

1)      HE LOVES ME UNCONDITIONALLY

2)      HE GAVE ME ETERNAL LIFE

3)      HE TOOK AWAY ALL MY SINS (Past, Present, and Future sins forgiven)

Don’t get me wrong the broken Body of Jesus is the reason for God’s Love, eternal life, and sins being forgiven, as stated above. But God knows me and HE dealt with me like a child. So he gave me another picture which brings a smile to my face and allows my heart to soar every time I think about it. It was used by God and me to help battle the lie “nobody really loved me.”

TESTIMONY: The Cross with Jesus being crucified represented pain and death to me not LOVE. For a lllloooonnnnggggg time it would bring me down to a low because I knew I was continually sinning and my sins sent Jesus to the cross. The Holy Spirit explained: It was not my sins that held Jesus on the cross. It was My Father's Love for you and I that kept Jesus on the cross. God had to change my mindset where the Cross of Christ was concerned. This picture is what I see when I read or see Jesus being nailed to the cross. I now see a beautiful heart surrounding the Cross instead of the broken body of Jesus. It reminds me just how much MY FATHER and GOD LOVES ME.

REMEMBER:

God loves me because Jesus died for me and

I AM MY FATHER’S CHILD

I love the fact that God, My Father’s Love is NOT dependent on how well I act, feel, or pretend. HIS Love is only based on HIM and the gift of HIS Son. You and I don’t have to try and earn HIS Love it has been freely given to each one of us. Since HIS Love is shown for us, we can choose to show HIS love to others.  Our love without Christ is VERY selfish.

I have found that music helps to open the prison doors as well. It can allow the Holy Spirit to teach us TRUTH and open our blinded eyes.

The words in this song are VERY POWERFUL!!! Once you listen to it, the words get stuck in your mind and you can remember that Jesus Loves ME!!!

 

Prayer: Holy Spirit, make the Love of God real in my life. I choose to believe it even when I don't feel like God loves me.

Question: How have you viewed the Cross and

God’s Love for you?



YOU PROVED IT

Welcome to Women of Valour which is about
YOU

experiencing your freedom in Christ, being set free,

experiencing the love of God, and opening your blinded eyes

Isaiah 61:1

I shared this poem/reflection called "YOU PROVED IT" at Guiding Star United Holy Church in Manson, NC yesterday. As I reflected back on the words this evening, the Lord laid it on my heart that HE IS REAL and still alive. HE reminded me that this used to be my #1 request: "Lord, prove it to me that You are REAL".  If this is or has been your request keep reading.

I am reading through the Bible in a year. As I started reading Acts Chapter 1, a couple of weeks ago, verse 3 hit me. The thought hit me that even though Jesus had been crucified and died for me. HE has already and is currently still proving to me that HE is  still alive and REAL. He has been proving it all along but I could not and did not see it as Jesus proving Himself to me.

Acts 1:3 (NLT)
“During the forty days after YOU (Jesus) suffered and died, YOU appeared to the disciples from time to time, and YOU proved to them in many ways that YOU was actually alive. And YOU talked to them about the Kingdom of God.” (I changed the "HE" to "YOU" because that was the way the Lord hit me with it.)

You Proved It

By Andrea Monroe

You proved it when the car accidents did not kill me. 

You proved it when I felt ugly inside and out; You showed me I am fearfully and wonderfully made. 

You proved it when I did not have a job but You still provided. 

You proved it when I felt unlovable but you still loved me. 

You proved it when I did not feel like I belonged but you said I fit with You. 

You proved it when I felt lonely but You comforted me. 

You proved it when I was sick and You healed my body and my mind.

You proved it when the children were acting up but You turned the situation around.

You proved it when You changed my hard heart from stone back to flesh.

You proved it when You tore down my walls of protection and gave me Your love, joy, and peace.

You proved it when I was feeling inadequate; You showed me that I am more than a conqueror in Christ.

You proved it when I was blind; You opened my eyes to see myself as You see me.

You proved it when I was deaf; You opened my ears to hear Your voice.

You proved it when You showed me how to forgive myself and others just as You have forgiven me.

You proved it when you showed me how to love myself, my husband, family, and even my enemies.

You proved it when you showed me how to look at the positive side of things instead of always seeing the negatives.

You proved it when You were beaten for any sickness that may attack my body.

You proved it when You were crucified for all of my sins.

If we think about it, Jesus has already proved that HE IS REAL and still alive to each one of us. He has done it on many, many, many occasions.

So we have to continuously remember and believe that Jesus will prove it again to each one of us in our current situation or circumstance.

Prayer: Jesus thank YOU for proving to me that YOU ARE REAL and still alive in my life!

Question:

What are some "HE PROVED IT" moments in your life?

(You may or not have recognized it

 as JESUS proving Himself as REAL to you.)

Please share in a comment

GOD'S MASTERPIECE

Welcome to Women of Valour which is about
YOU

experiencing your freedom in Christ, being set free,

experiencing the love of God, and opening your blinded eyes

Isaiah 61:1

I have posted a video which was shown by Pastor Jeff and it REALLY spoke to me. It speaks about how we are God's masterpiece. It is a very real life example of us in this Christian walk. It deals with the prisons/lies that Jesus Christ died to set you and I free from. God loves each of us because HE CREATED US!!!







Prayer: Father, show me that I am Your original masterpiece. Help me fight the lies I have believed about myself.

Questions:

1. What lies have you believed about who God created you to be?
2. What truth did you hear God speak to you though this video?

LIES VERSUS THE TRUTH #2

Welcome to Women of Valour
which is about
YOU

experiencing your freedom in Christ, being set free,

experiencing the love of God, and opening your blinded eyes

Isaiah 61:1

 

As I read back over my last blog post, I thought about how I used to and sometimes still do handle the lies I believed about myself. I would have a pity party. I would dig a hole and sit in it for days or even weeks. I have had too many pity parties over the years.

A pity party is when you feel sorry for yourself and you rehearse something that has happened to you. It can be something you caused so you blame yourself. It can be something that someone did to you so you blame them. You rehearse whatever it is over and over again. This can lead to feelings of depression. I lived most of my life depressed but did not realize it as depression.

I was famous for the pity party where I was to blame. Everything was always my fault. The list goes on and on and on but here are a few of them. I have had pity parties for:

• the man leaving me for someone else
• not getting the job I interviewed for
• a friend betraying me
• a failed marriage
• a miscarriage
• not being good enough or unworthy
• procrastination
• being unattractive and unlovable 
• being lonely
• not being a good Christian

TESTIMONY: I was having a pity party just last month (July) dealing with feelings of inadequacy (less than). It was in relationship to this ministry. I just did not measure up to other Christians. I was not worthy of the vision God has given me for this ministry. I did not feel that God could use me based upon my background and past.

In the midst of that pity party God showed me that a pity party is NOT helpful but harmful to bringing about a solution. It is designed to keep me rehearsing my hurt/problem instead of looking to the SOLUTION to the problem. A pity party requires me to focus on me versus God’s Truth about me which can only be found in God’s Words.

I KNOW from experience that this concept is easier said than done. The thoughts may be hitting you that God could NEVER love, accept, forgive, or use you because of your past. You have to choose to refocus on the truth of God’s Words instead of the lies you have always believed.

When you accept Jesus Christ as Your personal Savior GREAT things happen to you immediately. You have to choose to believe they have happened no matter what your thoughts or feelings say to you.  

• I am immediately loved (John 3:16 NLT)
• I am immediately forgiven (Romans 4:7-8 NLT)
• I am immediately accepted (Ephesians 1:6 NKJV)
• I am immediately made into a new person (II Corinthians 5:15-17 NLT)

You are in a battle for your own mind. Keep reading and speaking GOD's Words to you until they manifest to you.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, I choose today to believe what God's Words say about me. I am forgiven now. I am loved now. I am accepted now. I am a new person now.

QUESTIONS: What pity parties have you thrown for yourself?

Who did you blame: yourself or others?

Please share via comment or

email me privately at

womenofvalour15@gmail.com