For Those Struggling and Those Who Doubt

Tonight, Jace spotted a little tree frog in the house. I told that we needed to catch it and put it back outside . I've seen enough frog skeletons in the house to know what happens when frogs aren't rescued.

Tonight, my heart is a little sad. There are so many people right now trapped in addiction. There are people who are struggling with anger and hatred. There are innocent people who are victim to those who are struggling. Every other day I read about a mass shooting. Today it was at a naval base. Last month,there was a shootout in Midland, Texas. A few weeks before that, people were shot up at a WalMart.

It almost seems as if there is no end to people's hatred and anger. I try not to judge harshly. I've been in dark places. I've experienced loss. I know what severe depression can do to a person. I know what it feels like to be hopeless. But, I also know a God who can turn ashes into beauty. I know a God who can turn despair into hope, and sadness into joy.

I know that there are people out there right now who doubt God. Atheism and agnosticism seem to be growing. The Bible says that Jesus will be misrepresented by many people. It also says that many people will have a form of godliness, but that they will deny the power, thereof.
Perhaps, at times, I have been that person. If so, I am sorry.

There have been times when I was much younger that even I doubted God. I didn't understand the concept of how a loving God could burn people in an eternal hell. The truth is that there is still MUCH that I don't understand. However, I do know that Jesus is Real.
I do know that He is good. I do know that He can take our darkness and turn it into light.

I do know that He can heal.
I do know that there is a darkness out there that longs to steal, kill, and destroy. I've experience demons in horrific ways. But through it all, I've learned that God is still good and there is power in His name.

The Bible defines God as spirit and love. So anytime you see  hatred, know that it isn't God.
Anytime, you see Jesus being misrepresented, know that it isn't God.

Whoever you are and whatever you are going through, I am rooting for you.
Whatever darkness you are trapped in, God can get you out.

Talk to Jesus. He hears you. Talk to Him as you would a friend, and don't try to hide anything from Him because He already knows anyway. Be honest, and watch Him work wonders in your life. Watch Him turn your ashes to beauty.


Anyhow, I'm not sure how this relates to the tree frog at the beginning of this blog, except for the fact that there are people out there who need to be rescued. To those people I say,
I love you and I'm praying for you. I'm always here to talk with you, and my door is always open.



Love,
Rachelle

Christmas for the Children at Harbour House

This Christmas I want to do something special for the kids at Harbour House in Lake Charles.

Harbour House is a shelter for ages ten to seventeen. Many of them are homeless. Some are runaways, and others just need a safe environment because of an unstable or abusive situation at home.

I honestly just can't imagine what some of these children have been through.

I want to get them a "Hidden in My Heart" cd, along with a letter telling them that they are loved, they do have a purpose in life, and that there are people out there praying for them and rooting for them. I also want to include chocolates or small things for a gift bag.

A few years ago, I read an article that stated that kids who left Harbor House were at very high risk of suicide. I want to do all that I can to prevent that by planting seeds of love and hope in their hearts.

Today, I called and talked to an administrator who works there. She was estatic that someone wanted to buy them gifts, and said that they are the type of kids who are very grateful for even the smallest of things. There are currently eleven children being  housed there.

I have collected thirty dollars so far for this project. I need at least 100 more.Any amount will help. If you can't help out, I understand. Please be in prayer for these kids. If you can help out, please paypal me and one hundred percent of the proceeds will go towards this project.

My paypal addresss is   paypal.me/RBrister

The Time is Now

I know that right now there are many people praying for revival.  They are hoping that God will move at a future day and time. 

Several years ago, Jesus whispered something into my spirit.  "The Time Is Now."

By praying for God to move at a future time and date, are we missing the people around us in the here and now?

God has already given us everything we need. Through Christ, we have the power to set others free from darkness.  We have a light within us that shouldn't be hidden.  

His plea has always been for us to go into the world and share Him with others. 

If Christ is living in us, then our hearts and minds have ALREADY been renewed.  

We are already revived. There is no waiting period.  It is finished.  The work is complete. 

Jesus, in us, is revival and he is already here.

Today I listened to a podcast about revival by Dr. Stephen Crosby and Bryan Weibold.  They made some excellent points. They spoke of how we often drive hours to revival conferences when many of us don't even know the names of our neighbors. 

I'm going to post the link in the comment section of this post. It may take a few minutes, but it is worth a listen.

Does anyone want to partner with me to visit those in nursing homes? Or love on the homeless? Or to pray for our communities? Christ is already in us. Revival is here and the time is now.

What Jesus Showed Me in a Bathroom at Buckees

This past month has been bittersweet. At times, I have been at complete and total peace. Other times, I have been undergoing spiritual warfare on an intense level. My mind has been assaulted heavily for the past few weeks. I've been fighting feelings of intense anxiety, depression, and self condemnation. I've struggled with nightmares where Satan shows me what he wants to do to my family. I've undergone attacks against my body. It's been mentally and physically exhausting.

But through it all, Jesus has whispered in my spirit, "Trust in Me." Through it all, Jesus has shown me that he hears my prayers for loved ones. Through it all, He has given me peace during the times when I just wanted to give up.

A few nights ago, I felt compelled to watch a Youtube video about fear. The Bible defines fear as a spirit. There is even a verse that says, He has not given us a Spirit of Fear, but rather a Spirit of Power, of Love, and of a Sound Mind. As someone who has dealt with the demonic, I know that when there is a heavy darkness over me, certain thoughts enter my mind. Dark thoughts. Thoughts that have often sent me down rabbit holes of panic and tears.

The Word tells us that if we resist the enemy, then he will flee from us. It also tells us that the weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the world and that we must take our thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ.

In the Youtube video, Doug Perry explains that our thoughts are often like a train. We start off with a few negative thoughts and then they easily gain momentum up to the point that they are hard to stop.

He said by taking our fearful, or worrisome thoughts captive (or any thought that doesn't align with Christ) we cut them off at the root. He also gave some highly interesting stories about people who were set free from very specific fears. It is worth a watch. I'm posting the video below. I highly recommend anyone who struggles with anxiety or depression to watch it.

Video about how to be free from FEAR. IT's Profound!

Anyhow, after watching the video, I started practicing rebuking the spirits of fear and taking my thoughts captive and I have felt at peace. It works!

Now, for the Buckees part of this blog. 

Sometimes, I pray to feel God's love for others. There have been times when Jesus has shown me other people through His eyes. Every single time, I have felt my eyes tear up because I become overwhelmed with mercy and compassion. Yesterday, we drove home from Midland, Texas. We stopped for a restroom break at Buckees. I asked Jesus to show me someone through His eyes. I went to the restroom, and I looked up in the mirror, and it hit me like a lightning bolt. 

There I was. Me. In the mirror. It was unmistakeable. Jesus was showing me his great love for me. My eyes filled with tears as I realized that Jesus loves me. It's one thing to realize his love and mercy and compassion for others, but it is something beautiful and profound to be able to feel it for yourself.

He loves us.

Don't listen to the lies of Satan who longs to kill, steal, and destroy you and those around you.

Listen to voice of Jesus who is our healer, our protector, our provider, and who longs to bring us restoration. Take every thought captive. 

Here is what the voice of Jesus sounds like, "For I know the plans that I have for you says the Lord. Plans to prosper you and NOT TO HARM you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jerimiah 29:11

"The weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the world. Instead, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We tear down arguments, and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God; and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." 2 Corinthians 10:5

Here is a powerful prayer of protection for you and your family. I have felt demons flee when I pray this prayer. 

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High

will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.a

2I will say to the LORD, “You are my refuge and my fortress,

my God, in whom I trust.”

3Surely He will deliver you

from the snare of the fowler,

and from the deadly plague.

4He will cover you with His feathers;

under His wings you will find refuge;

His faithfulness is a shield and rampart.

5You will not fear the terror of the night,

nor the arrow that flies by day,

6nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,

nor the calamity that destroys at noon.

7Though a thousand may fall at your side,

and ten thousand at your right hand,

no harm will come near you.

8You will only see it with your eyes

and witness the punishment of the wicked.

9Because you have made the LORD your dwelling—

my refuge, the Most High—

10no evil will befall you,

no plague will approach your tent.

11For He will command His angels concerning you

to guard you in all your ways.

12They will lift you up in their hands,

so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.b

13You will tread on the lion and cobra;

you will trample the young lion and serpent.

14“Because he loves Me, I will deliver him;

because he knows My name, I will protect him.

15When he calls out to Me,

I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble.

I will deliver and honor him.

16With long life I will satisfy him

and show him My salvation.”

PSALMS 91

Jesus Loves Divorced People and Fasting and Prayer

Yesterday was a really bad day for me. Yesterday a random stranger emailed me to criticize my walk with God, and my marriage. They used the Bible to beat me over the head, pointing out scriptures that say how I'm in error because my husband is divorced from his first wife.

There was once a time years ago when I was separated from my husband. But, I KNOW that God led me back to him. When I wanted to hate, God pushed me to love. When I wanted to throw in the towel, I didn't. God wouldn't have condemned me if I did. But, I felt like God was calling me to reconciliation. I felt as if Jesus was showing me restoration. Ya'll my husband is a different person than he was years ago. He is an AMAZING father. He cooks for us. He is our provider. He puts our needs and wants above his own. There are no secrets between us .We are happy and drama free He gave up things that he had to give up in order to love his family. God DOES heal. GOD does restore.
.

God can use your love and forgiveness to completely change another person. Are we perfect?
No. But, I know that God is still working in our hearts, and that is a beautiful thing.

Anyhow, back to yesterday. I started listening the lies. Anxiety kicked in. I started worrying about so many things. I could feel the darkness all around me in a very tangible way.  I went in the bathroom and cried. I asked Jesus to help me. Jesus reminded me about the power of fasting and prayer.
So, today I fasted and I prayed.

ALL I can say is that today was a day of a peace that was so deep that it was almost surreal.

If anyone is going through any kind of warfare, depression, anxiety, spiritual confusion, etc, or if you just want to grow in your walk with Jesus, I HIGHLY encourage you to fast and pray.


Fasting is present all throughout the Bible. Jesus fasted. The disciples fasted. Jesus instructed us how to fast on the Sermon on the Mount.

The Bible says that God resists the proud, but gives strength to the humble. Fasting is a way of humbling ourselves before God. It is an extremely powerful tool. I could tell story after story of how fasting helped me in my walk with Jesus.

This blog is kindof all over the place, but I will say this. If you are divorced, God doesn't condemn you. His grace is sufficient for you. He loves you.

And if you are hurting from a divorce, Jesus can be your healing. He can be your restoration. He can turn your ashes to beauty.Trust in Him. He loves you.

Today, I woke up and saw an old year book picture. The picture was of a girl I used to know from school and church. In the pic, she was happy. She was smiling and radiant. There was a look of youthful innocence on her face. In the pic, she looked to be about 12 years old. I broke down when I saw it. She passed away a few years ago. Truthfully, I wasn't really close to this girl, but her death still hit me harder than I expected. I had followed her on facebook for a while until she unfriended me for some reason.

What did her life look like? Was she happy? Was she whole? Did anyone ever really show her the love of Jesus? Was anyone merciful to her? I think she was atheist or agnostic. Did she turn away from Jesus because of Christians who raised their stones instead of showing a good and loving Jesus? Did she have joy and peace?

My heart broke as these thoughts swirled around in my head. You see, I believe in a merciful Jesus. I believe that Jesus will be a good judge of our lives when we stand before Him. The Word also tells us that there will an ENORMOUS amount of people in Heaven. We are told in Revelation (   ) that there will be multitudes of people in Heaven that reach farther than the eyes can see. I can't even tell you how much hope this gives me.

But now for the sobering part of this message.

A few years ago I had a dream. I dreamt of an hourglass. The hourglass was separated into two parts; The spiritual realm and the natural realm. As we pursue the Lord, seek His will, and follow Him, we will begin to walk in the fruits of His Spirit, which are peace, joy, love, gentleness, kindness, patience, etc.  Our relationship with God will be living and active. He will speak to us, and become extremely REAL to us. I could tell countless Jesus stories of times when I was actively walking in the spirit. Even though I don't understand a lot of the Old Testament, I can tell you of times in my life when the Word of God became alive to me. I could tell you stories of dealing with demonic torment, but learning the power of Jesus and feeling demons FLEE at the very mention of His name. All of these experiences have sealed my faith. I believe because I have experienced Him.

And then there is the natural realm..the everyday world where we often allow ourselves to get distracted and often push Jesus to the side and replace a walk with Him with dead religion works that don't really help or heal or set anyone free.

In the dream, the sands of the hourglass were pouring out. The message from the dream is that TIME IS RUNNING OUT. I honestly don't know if there was some mystical message to the dream. I do, however, know this...

People are dying. Our days are numbered. At some point, we are all going to stand before our Father for judgement. He judges our words. Do our words lift others up or tear them down? Do we gossip? Do we talk bad about others? Are we encouraging others and speaking life into their lives?
He will judge our deeds. Are we hurting others?Are we abusive? Do we walk in the fruits of the flesh? Lust, anger, greed, hatred, malice, etc?

Jesus wants us to hear Him. He wants us to seek Him. He wants us to go to the people who need help and be a light to them. Are we doing that? He longs for us to be close to Him. He wants us to Hear His Voice, and actually listen and not fear.

If Jesus tells you to hug the lady in the grocery store, then HUG her. Don't be afraid. You aren't a shrinking violent. You are a WARRIOR. You CARRY LIGHT, and that lady NEEDS a hug!

If He tells you to tell the bank clerk that Jesus loves him, then just do it. Don't worry about sounding silly. If He tells you to something, there is a deep reason behind it.

Every day, people are dying. They are killing themselves. We live in a broken world with broken and oppressed people. Get on your knees, seek the face of the Lord, ask Him to fill your cup and give you what you need. ASK Him to speak to you and then listen to what He says.

I'm far from perfect, but everyday I am learning. YOU are a disciple. So, put on the boots of peace and Go!



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emIE6KzYFOA


Above is a link to a YouTube video that I made about this subject.

For The Broken

Tonight I pray for those who feel unloved and broken.

May the Lord hold you in His arms and mend your brokenness. I pray you become whole. I pray for your restoration.


For the LORD your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs. Zephaniah 3:17

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11