Hear me ROAR! Not because Katy Perry says so….

….”Do not focus on the world and what the enemy is doing, but tell all about my goodness.” That’s what the Lord said to me a year ago. Now here I am, a year later, and all his promises to me came to pass. I look back and think about his strength through me and I am amazed. My dad always taught me to never listen to the world, to be independent and strong. He taught me to stand up for what is right, to stand up for what I believe in and to love everyone no matter what….even if they couldn’t be trusted. He is a good ole country boy who is all about God, Family and Country. Thank God for daddy’s like him who instill these values into their girls! I was thinking about that this week and was reflecting on my youth. I was a hardcore feminist, never listened to anyone, stood up for what was right and loved the idea of being a “feminist-anarchist.” I laugh because if it wasn’t for my rough self, I would have never been able to survive all that the world threw at me. I was a fighter indeed. Don’t get me wrong….there were many mistakes in my life because I listened to MYSELF and no one else. After 13 years of listening to myself and thinking that my decisions made life perfect, I still had emptiness and everything was wrong. Yes I had GOD in my life, but did he have a say in what I wanted to do? I didn’t listen to the world, thank GOD for that but listening to just myself was not right either. It was then that My heavenly Father grabbed me and said, “Do not listen to the world, do not listen to yourself, but let ME take over. I AM THE I AM.” I was 33 at the time and 2010 was the best liberating year of my life. I realized that the desires that were in my heart were from him. He placed them there for the good, not to harm me but for my good. I always pushed those thoughts and desires aside and sought other things in the world like having a prestigious career. That was never his will for my life but he still was able to use those experiences as stepping stones to get me back where I needed to be: IN HIS WILL. Last year, at the New Years Celebration at Redemption Outreach Center in Greenville, SC the Lord spoke to my heart and said that the year 2013 was going to be a year of shaking, shifting, moving and alignment. It was a year of clear division and restoration in ALL areas of my life. My home, my job, my finances…my family. I will never forget what Ron Carpenter prophesied when I felt the words over my life saying, “I don’t know how God is going to do it but HE WILL restore all that the enemy has stolen in your life! ALL of your LOVE and TIME will be restored!” It was then that I realized, “Hey you know this Satan dude really did rob me didn’t he???” I didn’t understand at the time when HE kept telling me there would be a former rain and a latter rain. But I agreed that I would do whatever he commanded me to do. In March of 2013, the former rain, he commanded me to quit my career and open up the blu butterfly in downtown Easley. In September of 2013, the latter rain, he commanded me to sell my house, my car and move from all that I have ever known, from the land, from my forefathers land. And I haven’t looked back since. I still get some funny comments and questions about what I did and some people say “OMG! YOU ARE CRAZY! You quit your job? You sold your house? YOU GAVE UP YOUR CAR?” I have even heard clients and customers say “You are brave opening up a business in THIS economy.” or “Good luck in EASLEY.” LOL! That’s all I can do is LAUGH OUT LOUD because my GOD is bigger than that. All I can do is laugh because they don’t know my GOD and what he has brought me through. My GOD said that he was going into the storehouse and send me NEW grain, NEW wine, and NEW oil….enough to satisfy me fully that never again will he make me an object of scorn to the nations. (Joel 2:24-Spoken through Ron Carpenter) I love to look back at 2013 and call it my year of EXODUS! Bob Marley’s EXODUS song was my theme song for the year LOL! I was in the wilderness for a minute but I am gaining territory in the PROMISED LAND like Joshua did without fear, without looking behind me, but fighting all the way through it. When my daddy taught me to be a fighter, he knew what he was doing. And my heavenly father taught me to fight for the right thing: HIS KINGDOM!