SELF TALK SERIES: ONE DECISION AWAY

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

Hello BEAUTIFUL Women of Valour,

How are you doing this Christmas season?

Is your Christmas season red and green? 

Filled with good things happening.

Is your Christmas season blue? 

Filled with whoa-as-me moments or feelings of loss/pain/hurt

Or do you fall somewhere in the middle between these two opposites

Well, this post is being written to lift "our" spirits.

This picture is God speaking to us right now in this moment.

Take these words to heart!!!

• You may be contemplating suicide right now. 
• You may be down to your last dime and don't know how you are going to make it into the next day or hour. 
• You may be thinking about how bad your life is right now 
• You may be angry at your present life and scared right now
• You may be fearful of what is going to happen next 
• You may be scared to take the next step even if it is a good thing.
• You may be feeling the loss of a family member or child or friend
• You may be sad right now because of some wrong choices you have made
• You may be angry because of some things that have been done to you
• You may have suffered a loss of a family member/child during this season and brings back feelings of pain or hurt or loss.

But I am here to let you know and remind myself that: We cannot give up it; is not an option. You WILL come through your storm. We are needed and wanted by Someone. God loves us in this moment and He is right there with us. He wants us to reach out to HIM in this moment. He wants to walk and help us through this moment. Now I have to walk out the Self Talk Series in my own life. One decision...

MY TEST and TESTIMONY: This video was done a couple of weeks ago but not shared. But as I was writing this blog I listened to it and it helped me. This blog post is written to help me just as much as it is done to help set the captive free within you. I just found out today that my biological father passed and I do NOT know how to feel about it but there are two things that do I KNOW and UNDERSTAND!!!

1) MY DADDY GOD LOVES ME!!!
2) HE WILL NEVER LEAVE ME!!!

You are 1 decision away from changing your life for the better or the worst.

Link to Video: https://youtu.be/p5i7vU5AaJk 

(In the video, for the English Scholars please forgive me 

for my mistake with contraction versus conjunction of the word 'but'.)

😊😊😊😊😊

Note: Jacob's name means Deceiver. In Chapter 27, Jacob steals his brother's blessing. Jacob had to decide to forgive his brother. We have to decide some things in our lives as well in order to walk out what God has for each one of us. God was watching over Esau just as HE is watching over us. God is NOT surprised by what surprises us.

In verse 40 Isaac tells Esau his firstborn son,

 "You will live by the sword,

and you will serve your brother. 

BUT WHEN YOU DECIDE TO BREAK FREE,

you will shake his yoke from your neck." NLT (emphasis added)

The Message Bible says,

...BUT WHEN YOU CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE

you'll break loose and run free.

We have to decide to break free!

No one can decide for you!

Link to Video: https://youtu.be/Ow4OfW4DP9s

REMEMBER:

You are 1 decision away from changing your life. 

Just one choice can impact your life in a 
positive or negative way. 
But you are NOT alone in the decision process.

BUT GOD LOVES US MORE THAN WE CAN EVER COMPREHEND!!!

******************

PRAYER: Daddy, Open our eyes to see ourselves the way You see us. Give us the strength to move past our snapshots and moments in time that have kept us bound. Help us bring our problems to You instead of trying to figure out and mess things up. Father, set the captives free within us. Show us that our prison doors have already been opened by You through Jesus the Christ. Give us Your wisdom to help us walk out our freedom in Christ is very real and practical ways. Let your Word come alive to and within each one of us like never before. It is Your Word that we need to change our perspective and situations. Show us that we are made wonderfully complex by You! Open our eyes, ears, and heart to see and listen to You. Holy Spirit, help us see the snapshots for what they are and move forward in spite of them. Lord, help us move past the loss/pain/hurt we may feel during this season. Lord, walk us through the grief process and  in to our green pastures since You are our Shepherd. We touch and agree with You, Holy Spirit, for the testimony that we can share concerning the new perspectives You have given us. In Jesus' Name, Amen!!!

QUESTIONS:

Are you willing to make the hard decisions 
to change your life?

What yoke(s) do you need to shake off 
in order to walk in what God has for you?

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

Please share a comment or Email me

SELF TALK SERIES: NEVER GIVE UP

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

In the Dallas Ravens football game tonight, they were in a battle. The Ravens had the upper hand seemingly because they had beat the Cowboys 4 times straight. The Cowboys were in the underdog position because they had lost 4 straight games to this team.

Potential Ravens Perspective: This is going to be an easy win because we have beat them 4 times in the past. (1st snapshot below)

Potential Cowboys Perspective: We can just fold because we CANNOT beat this team. Then their mindset would be a self-fulfilling prophesy. (2nd snapshot below)

Reality check for both teams: We are in a brand new battle and this is a new game. We (either team) cannot take this lightly. 

This is the same way we have to face our battles in life. We face challenges each and every day. We are beat up by our challenges many times but WE CAN"T GIVE UP!!! 

What is your perspective concerning your situation?

What is your reality check?

                               
In this video, I speak about "snapshots' and "pictures of a moment in time".

Link to Video: https://youtu.be/zP0zOxvMq_8

You need the HOLY SPIRIT!!!YOU CANNOT DO THIS ALONE!!! 

If you do, it is called behavior modification and it will NOT last. 

I have tried it many times.

I LOVE YOU, LADIES
BUT GOD LOVES YOU MORE THAN YOU CAN EVER COMPREHEND!!!

******************

PRAYER: Daddy, Open our eyes to see ourselves the way You see us. Give us the strength to move past our snapshots and moments in time that have kept us bound. Help us bring our problems to You instead of trying to figure out and mess things up. Father, set the captives free within us. Show us that our prison doors have already been opened by You through Jesus the Christ. Give us Your wisdom to help us walk out our freedom in Christ is very real and practical ways. Let your Word come alive to and within each one of us like never before. It is Your Word that we need to change our perspective and situations. Show us that we are made wonderfully complex by You! Open our eyes, ears, and heart to see and listen to You. Holy Spirit, help us see the snapshots for what they are and move forward from them. We touch and agree with You, Holy Spirit, for the testimony that we can share concerning the new perspectives You have given us. In Jesus' Name, Amen!!!

QUESTIONS:

What is your snapshot or moment is time?

Are you willing to move past your snapshot today?

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

Please share a comment or Email me

SELF TALK SERIES: TRASH TO TREASURE (PART 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

The thing that we believe will kill us 

is the VERY thing that makes us stronger and 

who we are meant to be. 

The Holy Spirit hit me with this thought: God takes our Trash and turns it into Treasure. As I looked up pictures and images about trash to treasure I saw that the title of this blog post is the motto for recycling. God takes the things about us that we know and believe are jacked up and HE transforms them into something that He can use for HIS glory and our good.

You may ask: 'What Trash?' The trash of our 'stinking thinking' as Joyce Meyer says. It is also our attitudes, motives, and actions toward ourselves and life.

YOUR thought processes/mindsets matters the most. 

(Proverbs 23:7)

God Himself gave life to us through Jesus Christ. (John 10:10) People can speak life to us. They can lay hands on us and pray for us. They can even cast out demonic forces. But, we can:

•  choose to go back into the same mess 
•  choose not to believe or receive what the Holy Spirit says or has done within us
•  then nothing changes and we stay the same: miserable and disgusted within ourselves 

I know because I lived there for years. Altar call after alter call, many hands laid upon my head, many conferences, many attended Bible studies but still no changes because I just wanted the transformation without my participation. (Can anyone identify?)

TESTIMONY: I was asked to take out two bags of trash which I did. When I did, I saw the plastic green trash can sitting beside our building full of trash. So, I rolled it over to the dumpster. When I fully opened it; there were baby diapers in a trash bag which had been torn. The stench was _________________. Let's just say it was NASTY!!! So, I had to maneuver the bags until all of them were in the dumpster. The more bags I lifted the nastier the smell became. I came to realize that the bags as well as the trash can itself was filthy. The trash can could NOT empty itself; it needed help. It had to be brought to the dumpster and emptied. It was a willing participant. (Read on we are going somewhere with this.)

God brought that picture to me of emptying the trash as I started writing this blog. Our sins are NASTY to God. If you know how a diaper hamper smells it was worse than that. God wants to clean us out but HE has given us free will as HIS children to ask for HIS help and choose. When you ask HE is going to do EXCEEDINGLY MORE.

We have three options:
1) We can either sit there and complain while still being full of trash.
2) We can be close to dumping the trash in our mindsets but never fully get there without some help.
3) We can choose to participate in the process of God's transformation process within our lives.

Where does our help come from?

 It comes from 

OUR Father, 

HIS Word, 

Us speaking, and

people speaking into our lives 

the truth about who we really are.

You may ask, How do I participate? You participate by asking the Holy Spirit to help you.

• You can read a devotional like Our Daily Bread which references the Bible. (This is something simple that will go a long way if you start practicing it.)
• You can Google things in the Bible that you are dealing with like shame, depression, unloved, hopeless, etc. 
• You can download the You Version Bible App to read the Bible. (Phone, Tablet,or Computer)
• You can start speaking what you are reading in the Bible about love, hope, peace, joy, etc. about you. 
• You can start coming against the lies you have believed by speaking the truth.
• You can find a church and Bible Study in your area. 
• You can get around other like minded people. (The ones that you can fellowship with to help build you up instead of keep/hold you down. 

You have been holding you down for far too long and allowing the enemy, satan, to do the same.

You need the HOLY SPIRIT!!!YOU CANNOT DO THIS ALONE!!! 

If you do, it is called behavior modification and it will NOT last. 

I have tried it many times.

When I thought about the trash can, it did not resist going to the dumpster. I thought about how many times I have resisted. My sinful self does not want to be transformed but my spiritual self does. Therefore, I have learned and understand that we can resist God's transforming power in our lives. It is called freewill.

Let's start with my attitude. My attitude was nasty toward God, people, and life in general. My thinking and I was nasty just like the trash can. I was torn and the deeper I dug the nastier I became. BUT Jesus came in and started cleaning up this trash can/house/temple. HE started with the torn parts of me and then continued to dig until the mess was gone. I am not telling you something I read in a book but what I have lived through and now have the victory.

God wants to clean out the torn parts of you and dig into the depths of the hurt/shame/painful parts of you. Many times it will hurt and bring about more hurt as HE walks you through the messes of your NASTY attitudes and thoughts to discover the answers to:

• Why am I seeing myself as worthless?
• Why am I mad at the world?
• Why am I disgusted with me?
• Why am I holding everyone else accountable/blaming everyone but me?
• Why am I blaming only myself and no one else?
• Why am I still in the relationship I know is going no where?
• Why am I still holding onto grudges from a year, 5 years, 10 years ago?
• Why am I still blaming myself/God for things not going right in my life?

I played ALL of these mental games and they led me to build up walls around myself that I honestly believed were protecting me. Self protection is not protection. The Holy Spirit has since taught me that the ONLY One who can actually protect me is My Daddy, God. HE is also the ONLY One who can protect you.

Can I tell you that there is a new aroma. I WAS MEAN and NASTY. People that know me now say they cannot imagine that. This means that the change was NOT orchestrated by Andrea but by JESUS the Christ. I can change my behavior for a time but true transformation can ONLY come from and through Christ Jesus. HE is my new aroma. But I had to participate in the process and so do you.

How do you see yourself? When you look in the mirror, Do you see a Treasure or do you see Trash? You may not say, "I am trash." But your thought processes are trash if you say to yourself:

• You will never do or be ____________________.
• No one will ever love me.
• I can't lose the weight
• I will always have this problem
• I will always be overweight
• I will always be unlovable 
• I will never own my own home
• I will never get married (again)
• I will never have children
• I will always be on the outside looking in 
• I will never be apart 
• I will never fit in
• I will always be an outsider
• I will always blame God for taking my Mother, Father, child, etc
• I will always be alone or lonely
• I will always be ugly
• I will never conquer this addiction

Never and Always statements followed by a negative statement is never good. I can tell you that I have experience in most of these lies.

Stop allowing fear to stop you 

from showing the world 

who you actually are!!!
-Andrea Monroe

I LOVE YOU, LADIES
BUT GOD LOVES YOU MORE THAN YOU CAN EVER COMPREHEND!!!

******************

PRAYER: Daddy, Open our eyes to see ourselves the way You see us. Give us the strength to bring our problems to You instead of trying to figure out and mess things up. Father, we cannot solve our problems. We need You and Your wisdom to help us. Let your Word come alive to and within each one of us like never before. It is Your Word that we need to change our perspective and situations. Show us that we are made wonderfully complex by You! Open our eyes, ears, and heart to see and listen to You. Holy Spirit, heal the broken, painful, and dark places inside of us. We touch and agree with You, Holy Spirit, for the testimony that we can share concerning the new perspectives You have given us. In Jesus' Name, Amen!!!

QUESTIONS:

Are you willing to participate in your own transformation?

How will you start today? 

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

Please share a comment or Email me

SELF TALK SERIES: TRASH TO TREASURE (PART 1)

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

2 Corinthians 4:7

Women of Valour,

This post is designed to encourage, uplift, empower, and equip you with truth. GOD LOVES YOU!!!

TESTIMONY: As I watched this video it blessed me. God used it to showed me even more where HE has brought me from. God does NOT have favorites. HE wants to do the same for each one of us. It is my prayer that something you hear will bless you as well.

WOV, You are a treasure 
because 
Jesus Christ GAVE HIS LIFE just for you!!!
(John 3:16)

Click for Video: https://youtu.be/3e2R-wOM8Mk 

Links given in video: 

• Self Inflicted Words

• Remember Who You Are (Poem)

Stop allowing fear to stop you 

from showing the world 

who you actually are!!!
-Andrea Monroe

I LOVE YOU, LADIES
BUT GOD LOVES YOU MORE THAN YOU CAN EVER COMPREHEND!!!

******************

PRAYER: Daddy, Open our eyes to see ourselves the way You see us. Give us the strength to bring our own and other people's problems to You instead of allowing the words to fester inside of us. Father, we cannot solve their problems we cannot even solve our own. We need You and Your wisdom to help us. Let your Word come alive to and within each one of us like never before. It is Your Word that we need to change our perspective and situations. Show us that we are made wonderfully complex by You! Open our eyes, ears, and heart to see and listen to You. Holy Spirit, heal the broken, painful, and dark places inside of us. We touch and agree with You, Holy Spirit, for the testimony that we can share concerning the new perspectives You have given us. In Jesus' Name, Amen!!!

QUESTIONS:

What are you thinking, believing, and saying to you?

Who are you allowing to dump their trash on and into you? 

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

Please share a comment or Email me

"CAMOUFLAGE: BECAUSE I WEAR A SMILE"

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

WOV,
GOD HAS CREATED AND
CALLED US TO BE VICTORS NOT VICTIMS

Hello WOV,

WOW, WOW, WOW!!! Have you ever heard or watched a program or movie and just could not wait to share it? Well, this is where I find myself tonight. God has met me this night. I was invited by Cryss, one of the hosts  of No-Tea with Chrita and Cryss to listen in on their show. These two ladies are phenomenal in their own right. But they had some women on the show that were equally phenomenal.

These women have been through hell. These women were speaking LIFE out of their death situations about being held captive and how Jesus set them free. Their stories are ones of Victim to Victor. They discussed overcoming being physically abused, molestation, homelessness, working for an escort service, prisoners in their own minds, etc. I guarantee you will find yourself or someone you know in their stories and lives.

This is the write-up for the show:

No Tea with Chrita and Cryss are elated to have join us the Author, and Screenplay Writer, Tammy Jurnett-Lewis, and the THIRTEEN amazing Co-Authors of the anthology, "Camouflage: Because I Wear a Smile... 14 Stories of Courage and Triumph". Each Author's stories of triumph, and the selflessness of their transparency, will educate, empower and encourage.

The book was authored, and compiled by Mrs. Lewis, with a Forward, by Cheryl Wood and Co-Authored by Eliza Hawkins, Adrienne Dawkins, Melody Stewart, Latrice Masssey, DeAndria Lewis, Asanta Michelle Brooks, Chelle Yancy, Ahna White, Kimberly McGee, Ryan Elizabeth Williams, Karyn Smith-Davis, C. Genice Midgett, and LaTonya Renee.

Please join us, as these ladies share their collectively woven experiences, that have come together to form this narrative of victory, and survival.

Have a pen and paper ready for taking notes. Here is the link to the podcast:

No-Tea With Chrita and Cryss

This is my write-up after the show:

Can you say POWERFUL and POWER PACKED show!!! WOV, You have to, have to, have to listen to the podcast of this show. God will meet you exactly where you are. God will confirm where HE has brought you from. HE will strip any excuses you may have for NOT walking in your freedom. These women have been through it ALL and God brought them out TRIUMPH!!! Please listen!!! Click the link above.


This is the book that they were talking about on the radio program. I bought my copy which was the BEST $1.05 I ever spent.

Click to view and purchase book

It is my prayer that you will not just read my words but you will actually listen to the podcast and purchase the book as well.

Love you ladies and God loves you even more than you can comprehend. 

Please share what you glean from these Phenomenal Ladies even if your comment is just WOW like mine. Email me. Also, please share the podcast with other ladies. They will be blessed as well. You can also listen live on Monday nights 7 - 9 pm EST in America. There are also AMAZING podcasts from previous shows.

PRAYER: Holy Spirit, Open our eyes to see YOU through the ladies words. Open our ears to hear Your voice clearly. Open our hearts and minds to understand what you are saying to each one of us. In Jesus' Name!!!