I was half-assing my life...

I was making all the excuses, I still find myself going back to old habits and if I'm not careful I can end up going down the rabbit hole at any given moment...then I pray.

People that don't know God or have Him in their heart think it's a ridiculous notion, oh, just PRAY and things will change? To a non-believer it sounds ludacris! Honestly, sometimes the prayers I've prayed have seemed ridiculous... then they come true and my faith strengthens. Two MAJOR prayers in my life have been answered in the past three years, THAT is how I know there's power...what are they? Well, I'm about to tell ya.

1. Mitch got SOBER! BRO, Mitch is my dad and most of my life he was non-existent, he ruined every vacation my grandparents took us on, I dreaded going to his house at all and after one very unfortunate night when I was 14 mom let me write a letter to the judge so I didn't have to go back for the dreaded, every other weekend crap.

March 7, 2018 I got laid off...don't feel sorry for me, it was a blessing. I worked for a bunch of Mennonite men who didn't like me or appreciate what I was doing for them, I had severe anxiety working there and I'm pretty sure the office I worked in was full of asbestos or something... maybe they tried to poison me, I don't know! lol....CHUST kidding! But it was bad, three weeks after getting laid off my 18 year old brother got shot by his drunk parents so I had to go to Florida and face Mitch, this man who I'd not spoken words to in over eight years...if my anxiety hadn't been high before, by golly it was then!

Then I saw him. Broken. Sorrowful. Even though he didn't pull the trigger he takes the blame... because he was to blame but also because humility and shame. My pastor helped me find a faith based rehab in Northern Florida and Mitch not only got sober, he GOT SAVED! He and my brother are closer than ever, it's a freaking miracle ya'll!

#2. Miracle; My neighbor.... For YEARS I prayed for a God-loving man. I'd had a hysterectomy and lived a life of drunkenness and debauchery for the better part of two decades. But I'd come back to God, ready to live for Him. I'd done the online dating thing off and on for a few years and decided I'd rather be single... if you've ever done it, you KNOW what I mean. My beautiful friend Sarah met her hunky hubs online dating but besides them, I'm not too sure how many successes are actually out there... anyway, I live in a one-stop light town where everyone is either my cousin...or has dated my cousin. No joke, 2 years ago there was a new guy at church, about 8 pews up, tall, dark, handsome, I was totally checking him out... we turned to go up the aisle for communion... OH MY GOSHHHH IT WAS MY FREAKING COUSIN!!!!!!!! Ga-ROSS!

Anyway, my neighbor. He moved in exactly one year ago... I was recovering from my hysterectomy so a lot of couch time listening to the birds was happening in my house. Spring was Springing, I was working as much as I could watching his family not social distance and his friends play corn hole, drinking beer and I could LEGIT hear him burping while he was out back grilling. Water carries EVERYTHING! We live on a lake, so yea, I heard him burp... often.

We finally met in April, hung out on the boat a bit. And in July we decided we were in love. God is FUNNNNNNY ya'll! Fu-unny.

I always cried at Father of the Bride thinking my dad would never walk me down the aisle..... if I could even find someone who would put up with my bossy, want it my way, sass and lack of uterus...but God answered BOTH of my prayers, my BIG prayers.. My family is WHOLE and HEALTHY and full of God.

I pray big. I pray for HIS will to be done, but I still go big. I want to do big things for the Kingdom and as our pastor said in our last sermon series, TEST GOD. Do it, test Him. Let Him SHOW YOU what He can and WANTS to do for your life.

Keith Callahan, a God-loving Beachbody Coach and 7-figure a year earner says; "The questions isn't can you, we know that 'I can do ALL things through Christ who gives me strength,' it's WILL YOU DO WHAT IT TAKES to live the life you want to? And only YOU can decide to take ACTION.

Pray big prayers. Let God go to work in your life. Lay down CONTROL, you don't have any anyway and understand that no one actually buys the excuses you make as to why you're not living the way you could, we're just all fighting our own battles, praying our own prayers.