Raising Godly Children....

This is a topic that is really close to my heart.  Ever since I have become a Mother to our two beautiful children, God has put a passion in my heart to raise our children HIS way and not "our" way.  Everyone has the way that they were raised up as children from their childhood and they can pick and choose things that they will do and not do.  Carlos and I dedicated both of our babies to the Lord and made a vow to raise them HIS way and by HIS word.  This blog is going to let people know what we do with our children and maybe it will give other parents tips.  :)  We are in complete agreement as Husband and Wife that we understand that our children have to go to God first instead of their parents.  We want our children to have an intimate relationship with Jesus from a young age and know that they can always go to him because he is always with them and he will never leave them or forsake them.  A great example of this is: If our Son is afraid in the middle of the night, instead of crying and running to Mom and Dad to give comfort and assurance, we are raising him to go to Jesus first and learn that he can rebuke that fear because he has all authority over the earth because of what Jesus did on Calvary.  If then afterwards he wants to run to Mom and Dad then of course we are there for him, but we want him to always go to Jesus first for EVERYTHING!

Many children pick up traits and habits from their childhood.  If parents are anxious and worried, then the child will grow up that way because children model after their parents.  There were particular traits that I had to work out with Jesus because they did not lign up with his word, so I had to give my habits to Jesus and work on walking out his word, so I wouldn't pass them down to our children.  How do you know if you are doing it Gods Way?  Pick up his word and read it for yourself. Seek him and pray to him for wisdom and knowledge. Deuteronomy 11:18-28  You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.  You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied on the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens remain above the earth. For if you are careful to keep all this commandment which I am commanding you to do, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and hold fast to Him, then the Lord will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you.  Every place on which the sold of your foot treads shall be yours, your border will be from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the river, the river Euphrates, as far as the western sea.  No man will be able to stand before you; the Lord your God will lay the dread of you and the fear of you on all the land on which you set as He has spoken to you. See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today; and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, by following other gods which you may not have known.

We know that God has not given us a Spirit of Fear, but of Power, Love, and a Sound Mind (2 Timothy 1:7) So our children will understand that when they feel fear, that it is not from God and they can rebuke it and take full authority over the situation.

We will share our pasts failures and success with our children and be open and honest with them, giving God all of the glory.  I want our children to see that we are not perfect and that it is ALL God and share with them what God has delivered us from and the blessing he had done in our lives.

Each and every night we surround our children in prayer and bless them and protect them.  We pray the Word of God over their lives and pray for their future spouses, friends, and mentors.  We build a hedge of protection around them so the enemy cannot get near them and no weapon formed against them will prosper.  We pray the blood of Jesus around our children and understand what that means.  In the morning they are prayed for and protected for that day.

Carlos and I made an agreement from the very beginning to never have arguments in front of the children.  We do not want our children raised in a household to where there is shouting and arguing.  Children at a young age develop fear and insecurity when they see arguing between their Moms and Dads and actually end up thinking they had something to do with the argument.  If we need to have a discussion about something we wait until the kids are in bed and we go to a quiet place to where we can sit down and have a discussion and work out the issue.  Carlos and I understand that when we argue that there are deeper things going on, and that we cannot allow them to continue in our home.  2 Corinthians 10:4 We use God's mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.  Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  When you can understand that this is what is happening, then it is easier to put Gods word about the flesh.  We will also not go to bed until there is peace in our home.  We understand that we will bring strife into our home if we go to bed angry, and we do not want the enemy walking around in our home around our children.  Ephesians 4:26-27 In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.

Our children will be raised by Gods Word and not what is acceptable to the World.  In our culture today, the "World" has made many things the new "normal" and acceptable and we will only stand on Gods Word and what His Word says!!!!

I pray that the Holy Spirit spoke to you from this blog post and the things that we shared from our family, will help you to start doing it with your family.  We need to remember that God blessed us with our children and that our children are HIS.  They are not our own!!  God created them and placed them in our belly and we have a duty and purpose that we are responsible for to raise up for HIS glory and HIS purpose.  Our children are not our own, and they need to be given back to God.  We need to take our hands off of our children and lift them up to God and say "Here, Your Will be done!!"

Happy Mother's Day 2014!!!

I had to post my Mother's Day and share it with everyone!!! First and foremost, I would like to wish a every Mother a Happy Mother's Day!!!  Mother's have such an important role in the lives of their children.  We are responsible for shaping these little lives and pour into them. I pray that each and every Mother has the most blessed day and feel absolutely special today!!  

This morning I had the privilege of having my Son crawl into bed with me and wish me a Happy Mother's Day.  My Husband then went and got my present that he had made for me and gave it to me.  I am going to share details of the present below because it literally blew me away.  There were lot's of tears from me because it was so beautiful.  Here is a picture below of me reading my present. :)

It is a GIANT custom made card.  On the front reads " A Mother's Journey"  "Everyday you shine bright but today, you are at your brightest!"  He then had two pictures of me on the front.  

The inside then had the entire Bible Verse: Proverbs 31:20-31  on the left side of the page.  On the right side had two pictures side by side of our children.  Then had the names and birth date of our children and special pictures from when they were first born.

On the back of the card it read "Happy Mother's Day!"  It then followed up with more beautiful pictures of me and the kids!!

This present absolutely blew me away!! There was so much planning and preparation in this gift and I felt so special after receiving this beautiful present. This by far has been the best Mother's Day for me!! I received a beautiful handmade necklace from Gabe along with a present he made at school.  I received a beautiful card and present from my Mother.  Then at church I received a beautiful card and flowers from a dear friend!!

We then headed off to church to spend the morning praising Jesus!!!

Happy Mother's Day from us to you!!!!!!!

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Yes, I am an Honest Mom......

I am proud to say that I am an "Honest" mom!! We absolutely love the Honest products line and we are proud to say that we receive their products every month. We have everything delivered right to our front door :) We first discovered The Honest Brand when our daughter kept breaking out in rashes and our doctor suggested that she could be allergic to diapers. I started to explore my options and found "The Honest Company!" I did the free trial and fell in love with the cute designs and love the fact that there were no harsh chemicals or dyes in the diapers. The wipes are super thick and good quality and we prefer them over any other wipes. We use the Face and Body Lotion on our children and it makes their skin fresh and clean. I was inspired to write this blog today because I just received my monthly shipment today and had to share pictures with everyone. I even got a cute present for Mothers Day from them :) I highly recommend and give 2 thumbs up and 2 feet up for "The Honest Company!" :)

God Is Preparing Me....

I wanted to write this blog and let everyone know that God is preparing my heart and leading me in a certain direction to where I am supposed to submerse myself in a specific topic in the Bible.  The topic is "Blood Covenant."  I was introduced to the Blood Covenant recently and realized how much I did not know about it.  I then realized that MANY believers do not know anything about it as well.  This is an area that EVERY believer needs to be well aware of, so they can walk in the full authority of Jesus Christ. This needs to be addressed, explained in detail, and then applied to the lives of each believer.  I have started an in depth study on this topic because I know God wants me to do this, so I can have the knowledge and wisdom in this particular area so I am able to share it with others.  I am going to dedicate myself to this topic and seek God in deep prayer about it.  I feel that God will use me in the future in this area to teach a class on this very subject and be able to properly equip believers so they no longer struggle with the day to day struggles.  There are too many Christians walking around weary and broken.  There are too many Christians settling for the "normal life."  There are too many Christians walking around in bondage.  It is time to properly educate believers on the Blood Covenant!!  Stay tuned to my blog posts and details in the future on a Bible Study on this topic.

The Son

I took this picture with my son and thought this was a great way to show how Gods Son is always with us.  In this picture you can see the son between us shining brightly and you can see how beautiful it is.  We are NEVER alone!! We have our blood covenant partner that will never leave us or forsake us. Enjoy today knowing that the Son is with you!!

What People Do Not Like To Talk About.....

This blog post is going to be for a topic that is not popular with Christians.  When you are a devoted follower of Christ, some can get the "terms" wrong on what that exactly means.  Many people tend to get too "religious" and slowly start to set themselves above others and look down on others who struggle and start to think that they are better.  This thought process does not happen over night, it slowly builds when you start to have a noticeable change in your lifestyle.  Some can also think that they are supposed to be "perfect" and make no mistakes or have any slip-ups.  They believe that they will get this "Christian Walk" right and that they will be able to stick to it.  Many that are in their faith walk for years struggle with private/secret sin to where they feel if they admit it to their Pastors or leadership, that they will be turned away because of their "rank" in the church.

I wanted to cover a few different areas that people tend to mix up in their faith walk.  I can honestly tell you that when I first started my walk with Jesus, it did not happen overnight.  I knew I was blowing it on my own and that I have done it "my" way long enough and knew that I needed something different.  I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior during one of my darkest times, and I did bear a small amount of fruit after I accepted Jesus into my heart, but I still struggled with other areas of Sin.  I was doing good for awhile, and then I would make a mistake and then punish myself and feel like the worst person in the world.  I would get angry at myself for doing so good and then messing up my progress.  I would go back and forth and this lasted for awhile.  The best way I can describe it, is like a Battle between two sides and I could feel the fighting between both.  It was a constant struggle!!!  I would look around at others and see that they had such peace, and it seemed like others had it all "figured" out and I felt like I was alone with this struggle.  It wasn't until I started seeking God desperately and "on purpose" made sure I went to as many Bible Studies as I could and Church Services.  It made the difference to find a Christian Church that opened the Bible and actually go through Gods Word to where you can follow and ask questions when confused.  In the Bible Studies I would sit quietly and this is where people started to break down their walls and share struggles.  I started to see that I wasn't the only one, and it actually made me feel part of a family.  I could relate with what people were saying because it was describing my exact struggle.  I got so much peace from this because the enemy had me deceived into thinking that I was the only one struggling with my faith walk.

I now understand my authority in Jesus Christ and that I can overcome ANYTHING through him!!  I can stand strong and tall IN Christ.  I no longer get kicked around by the world or by the enemy.  I can now identify when the enemy is attacking, and I get angry to where I stand up and say "No More!!!"  Just recently I had someone close to me say to someone else " Here Katy says she is a Christian and she was doing this type of sin and she is acting like she is all about Jesus."  This is one of the BIGGEST misconceptions about Christians.  Christians are NOT going to have the PERFECT faith walk.  It is going to be flawed!!! Did you hear what I just said?  Your faith walk IS going to be flawed.  The topic this person was referring to was when my husband and I were engaged we were intimate before we got married and I actually got pregnant.  Yes I had Jesus as my Lord and Savior, Yes I was going to Church and knew the Word.  This was an area that I was in battle with and it needed to be worked out.  When you can openly accept that things are going to happen in your faith walk, then you can take the unrealistic expectations off of yourself.  When things happen you truly repent and turn from your ways and do it Gods Way!!!  There will be people trying to remind you of who you were or the things you have done, but the truth is that we are ALL SINNERS!!!!  The only difference is JESUS.  Some have Jesus and some do not!!!  When you are saved, you understand that you are a new creation!!! you have a new name!!!!  I can see people from my past and they can see the "old me" but I know in my Fathers eyes I am a new creation and that I am blessed.  I do not have to prove to anyone that I am different because I have fruit that remains.  I have been changed from the inside out, and I am learning how to rise against my flesh and put Gods Word above my own.

I pray that you have had revelation from this post, and I know it is not a popular topic with Christians, but the Holy Spirit put it on my heart to share!! Be Blessed!!