Little did I know, last November when we left our first Advocare meeting that my world was going to be rocked....nutritionally, well that was expected with the world class products we had our hands on. But Spiritually?!?! Never thought. Had you told me at that meeting that the company I was about to get involved with would transform me, once again, spiritually, as I had been a few years back going through marriage struggles, I would have laughed in your face, quite honestly.
24-Day Challenges and 21 Days of Commanding my Morning - what's with all the numbers, yeesh!
But, as Isaiah says, Isaiah 55:9
“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."
God knew what we needed. And his plan was all-encompassing, unbeknown to us. Se we begin our journey in Advocare in November 2011 and dove in, met some very supportive and encouraging friends and headed to Fort Worth, TX January 2012 for our very first Success School. Advocare's training school for all it's distributors. And I heard a couple, Brian and Robbie Page, and they spoke of foreclosure on their home and living out of their two cars and being at the bottom and feeling helpless and then of the transformation God did in the marriage and with their finances and with their family. And I was just drawn to this woman, Robbie Page. I came home and looked her up on facebook to find she has a ministry, unrelated and not connected to Advocare in any way, out of their home, called oneand2. One means it's not about me and 2 means I don't have to be right.
And I knew I wanted to hear what she had to say about faith and her God, which sounded a lot like the God I also knew and served. So I began watching her online bible studies on Wednesday nights. And I felt so filled up. Fed. Growing. My Advocare journey had taken a turn and it was not at all about vitamins and health, but had become all about personal growth, spiritual growth and leadership. And I saw this vehicle of Advocare, supported by thousands of people with servant hearts and servant minds, including the leaders of the company themselves, that has a very strong undertone of God and Faith that cannot be denied. It's not the company itself, but the people that make up the company and are leading it that have a heart and desire for serving our Father.
So last night, like every Wednesday night, I sat down to watch the bible study. And it was a recorded one but one I hadn't seen before. ( I must have missed a night!) So I eagerly watched. And it was called, 'sweatin' the small stuff'. i've heard Robbie mention this many times but didn't truly understand what all the 'small stuff' was so I was happy to be watching this one last night for some insight.
As I watched, my heart began to rip apart. For years, we have been suffocating our family, our kids in so many ways in which I had no idea. We had been growing so close to the Lord, but we lacked knowledge. Hosea put it so well, 'Without knowledge, my people with perish." We were living but perishing, for lack of knowledge and truth straight from scripture.
We had begun a slow process to rid ourselves of the world. We don't carry a lot of material possessions. None of our closets or cabinets are full by any means. We don't own a lot, we don't have multiples of items, clothing, shoes, etc. We are very limited in material possessions. Order in the house keeps order in the mind and order in the mind allows for things to get accomplished. But we did need to purge of things that were not God-inspired, life-giving, increase types of things - for instance, ungodly movies and music, toys, games, clothing, etc. And so we thought we were on our to way moving out from under any opression we might have been living under, any spirits of poverty, etc, keeping us in the struggling state we were in.
After a few months of that purging and spiritual growth, Robbie introduced Commanding your Morning. A book by Cindy Trimm that explains the scriptural basis for praying, calling down blessings that are assigned to you, calling down protection from the heavenly realms, praying for satan and his cohorts to flee in Jesus name, daily. I felt led that this was important for us, and things began to make a turn. Blessing began to pour down - an unexpected financial sum in the mail, clients at our gym, success in our businesses, opportunities, etc. And yesterday was no exception. I had been praying that God would lead a friend of ours to get in touch with us. He had a bought with the devil, where the devil won and he had to spend some time in jail. but then he got transferred to a halfway house and I really wanted to contact him and share another great book Robbie shared with us, but had no way to get ahold of him. But God heard that prayer and while the kids and I were on a walk, he called our house. I returned home to hear the great news that he had gotten in touch with us, after 4 months of no communication (my fault). Praise you, God!
So it was a special day, just like they'd all been since I began commanding my morning 15 days ago. And then the bible study. The small things. What are they? Weren't we already growing so much and on the right track? What could I possibly be messing up now?
But there it was, laid out for me. The final conclusion - I was making my kids to be what our finances dictated they should be. Dreams, don't bother, because we can't afford whatever it is you want to do. Ride a horse, horse riding lessons, camping trips, pottery classes, seeing the world, visiting family, playdates, bounce-house parties, sports teams....we can't do it, we don't have the money.
All this time, I had thought we were doing right by God; being good stewards of our money by not living beyond our means. If we don't have the money to pay for it, that's all we can control and it is what it is, it's our lot in life. "God must not want us to have more. Maybe he thinks we can't handle more financial abundance. Maybe we just weren't meant to enjoy this life."
WRONG!!!! We had taken God completely out of it. Competely. We loved God, we know he's in control fo all things, but what we failed to realize is that our spirit of poverty, our self-depricating talk, our no's and 'we can't afford it and that's just our lot in life' attitude was creating the suffocating world we were living in. We saw no way out and, like so many, had succombed to the worldy view, to the worldy lingo - staycations, save with coupons, second-hand stores, bartering, cutting back, go meatless, cancel memberships to the gym...believe you me, we are NOT an extravagent family by any means. There isn't a whole lot more to cut.
It was then that I realized, there are two ways to look at parents - 1) you want your kids to have the world, but aren't willing to put the stress of debt on your family to do that, so instead, your kids are robbed of joy, happiness, fun experience, being kids to save you from the stress of creditors.
-2) you give your kids what they want and don't worry about the debt because it's all about your kids and they deserve to be happy and travel and experience and eat pizza and ice cream when they want and have birhday parties.....at the tune of major CC debt for your family.
Either way, it's not looking good and life is not FUN. God did not put us on this earth to suffer. He has plans, from the time we were pre-conceived, to prosper us: Jeremiah 29:11 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."
It is not our lot in life to suffer. So I am here to tell you, in case you haven't ever been told - GOD has more for you than the life of struggle and suffering and barely making it by, saying no, looking for free activities cause that's all you can do....No, No, No. There is a balance. But there is ONLY a balance when God is at the center.
See God holds the keys to the blessings and you have to ask for them. There are blessings with your name on them, but if you don't ask for them, they will remain out there in the spirit realm unclaimed. Believe me, i've experienced this first hand. As soon as we began commanding our morning, the list keeps going on and on with the blessings God is releasing to us. And when God is at the center of your life, your family and your blessings, then spoiling won't be an issue because the foundational truth has already been laid.
And one of the biggest blessings, the way out of this financial struggle, so that we don't have to say No anymore had been the gift of Advocare. Without it, there would not be a way for us to quickly and simply increase our income while serving God's purpose of expanding his kingdom. Because Advocare is like a redistribution of the financial abundance of the world, but currently many people in the world do not use their finances to honor God. In Advocare, the culture is such that giving and expanding God's kingdom IS a priority and it's not for show. So God continues to us Advocare to bless his children who are calling down their blessings and showing him their faith, so that they in turn can redistribute the wealth of the world for his Kingdom cause & ministry. And as it says in scripture, when you can be trusted with little you can be trusted with much!!Luke 16:10 “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.
And for us that means - the daughter and son God created and gave us to steward, they will now get to be the children with the character and development he meant for them to have, NOT the children with the character and development that our limited finances made them because we couldn't afford to allow them to dream and devop into what they were made to be. We can make what's important to them important to us because we will not have to worry about the cost, and when we make our kids feel important and validated that develops them into what they feel led to become. It makes them confident and it creates a solid foundation of hope and joy and confidence that can be fed with the fire of the Holy Spirit and ignited for kingdom work. It can be powerful when truth and a willing spirit collide!!!
So, if this 'sweatin' the small stuff' sounds like something you want to know about - go to www.oneand2.com and go to Shop - find the CD and buy it. Commanding your Morning is there as well, along with lots of other awesome resources.
And if you want to know if this Advocare thing could help you to stop suffocating your kids and give you options - leave a comment and I'll get ahold of you. It doesn't mean its right for you; but at least you'll have the information about it to decide for yourself if it's what your family needs to unstrap the grip of satan and his many suffocating tactics on your family and your life. And then you can begin transforming the world around you, one family at a time.
Just like we can't take Christ out of us, as we are in Christ and Christ is in us, we can't take Advocare out of us, it's way to powerful in changing the world, one family at a time and it goes hand in hand. Faith, God, Advocare - it's a powerful combination for a better today and more hopeful tomorrow, for anyone!
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