Heaven’s Blueprint

  Stop Putting  You  on Hold This year—it’s personal. So this morning, as I sat down to eat my post-workout breakfast (yes, a wealthy, protein-filled breakfast), I had a moment of clarity. For years—okay,  years —I carried around this self-sabotaging belief that I had to  wait  to go after my goals. Wait until: The kids were raised My husband was healed I was healed We had the money The bills were caught up And the list goes on. But here’s what I’m realizing now: I wasted precious years. Years I  could  have been setting an example for my kids—showing them what it looks like to go after your goals. Because I  truly  believe that more is  caught  than  taught . And instead, I caved. I put my desires and dreams on hold “for the good of my family”—or so I thought. See, when you’re stuck in a broken mindset… When you’re trapped in a lack or poverty mentality… You don’t see clearly. Everything is filtered through survival. Ever...

Time to Cry Look, I don’t know how it started—but somewhere along the way, God began helping me heal by giving me permission to cry. Weird, right? Yep, 100% weird. And it took me a while to recognize what was happening. No matter what kind of day I was having—good, bad, or in-between—there would come this overwhelming need to cry. Maybe it’s because for so many years, I  couldn’t  cry. I was stuck in survival mode, buried in chaos and constant upheaval. Crying wasn’t an option. I didn’t have the time, and I definitely didn’t want to face whatever was underneath the surface. So I shut down emotionally. Except for anger. That one snuck past the shutdown and came out at the worst possible moments. And because I hadn’t allowed God to heal me, I said things in those moments—things I wish I could take back. Words I regret speaking to my kids, my husband... really, to everyone. So when God began inviting me into healing— through crying , no less—it felt strange. I didn’t like it at f...

  What Do You Do When You Can’t Fix It? So many times in life, we’re faced with situations completely out of our control. It might be a marriage where your spouse is making choices you don’t agree with. It might be a child making decisions you know will lead to pain. It might be a job where leadership is going in a direction you just can’t support. You get the idea—life has a way of handing us people, moments, and messes that we didn’t sign up for. So what do we do? Do we ignore it? Do we jump in and try to fix it? Do we walk away from the relationship, the job, or the situation altogether? Honestly… probably none of those. Most of the time, we need to  choose  a strategy to walk through it. Because here’s the truth: life  will  continue to hand us things we aren’t ready for and don’t like. Scripture doesn’t shy away from that. It tells us that  troubled times are guaranteed —but how we handle them is where the real growth happens. The goal is to  coun...

  Shutting Doors and Shifting Seasons Last week, we  literally  closed a door in our lives. When Mom passed away, we moved into her house. At the time, we had more kids than bedrooms, plus all of her stuff  and  all of ours. So, like many people do, we rented a storage unit—just for “a few months,” or so we thought. But life happened. One thing after another kept us from dealing with it. The truth is, we didn’t really  need  that stuff. We just never made the time to sort through it and shut the door on that season—and on that unnecessary expense. Eight years later, after paying nearly  $10,000  on that unit, I did a quick  girl math  moment and realized… we could have bought a car with that money! That realization hit me hard. So, I made up my mind last week:  It’s time to get it done. No more dragging it out. No more paying for something we don’t need. And wouldn’t you know, life didn’t exactly roll out the red carpet. The on...

  Be Still Sounds simple, right? But have you ever asked a toddler to be still? Or a dog? Or tried to be still while waiting on something that matters deeply to you? It turns out that something so  simple  isn’t always  easy . When God asks us to “be still,” He’s not just talking about folding our hands in our lap or sitting criss-cross applesauce. Yes, sometimes He does call us to physical stillness. But more often, He’s inviting us into a deeper stillness—one that takes place in our spirit. He’s saying: stop striving. Stop spinning your wheels in the mud. Stop trying to fix what only He can heal. This kind of stillness can show up in every area of life. You might be worn out trying to save your marriage, doing everything you can to be the “perfect” spouse—and God is simply saying:  be still . Yes, still serve. Still show up. But surrender the pressure to fix it all. You might be trying to hustle your way out of a financial hole, micromanaging your kids' future...

  Why Not Quit? Discouragement is a powerful force.  For me, it's often the quickest way to derail my progress.  When God reveals something to me, I believe it wholeheartedly and expect it to manifest immediately.   But often, His timing is different.   He shows me glimpses of the future, and the fulfillment comes in its perfect time—not mine. When I share these visions and they don't materialize right away, discouragement sets in.   Negative self-talk creeps in: "You did it again. You jumped ahead. Nobody wants to do this. It's probably just a stupid idea." I wish I could say that in those moments, I immediately turn to God.   But more often than not, I find myself wrestling with doubt and frustration. I get it. Waiting is hard. Trusting the process is hard. Believing that what God has shown you will come to pass is hard. But remember, He doesn't show us things to tease us.   If He has revealed something to you and you're sure about it, first see...

  Turning the Page  There was a time when I thought that if I didn’t hold it all together—every conversation, every crisis, every outcome—then everything would fall apart. And to be honest, sometimes it  did . But not in the way I feared. You see, I spent years trying to manage the chaos in my family, convincing myself it was love. I enabled out of fear. I controlled out of trauma. I over-functioned because I didn’t want anyone to feel abandoned. But what I didn’t realize is that in trying to be everyone’s safety net, I was standing in the way of what only God could do. Letting go was not an easy lesson for me. It felt like failure at first—like quitting. But in reality, it was obedience. It was surrender. It was trusting that God’s plan didn’t need my manipulation—it needed my  faith . And here’s what I learned:  letting go and change are not inherently traumatic.  We’ve just been conditioned to brace for impact when seasons shift. But sometimes, the most ...