Questions and Answers – Session 2

Lots of deep questions this week that really made me think (thank you!) and I wanted to make sure to answer them all. ❤️

Questions and Answers – Session 2

1) I need more time so I can rest. I need to heal from adrenal fatigue, and have more time to homeschool my kids.

So right off the bat, everyone gets the same amount of time. We ALL get 24 hours a day. It’s how we SPEND that time that determines whether or not you have peace.

I remember a time in my life when I was working 80+ hours a week, single mom, just running everything. I never stopped, I didn’t get much sleep at all, I just kept going. I did that for three years and it really took a toll on my body.

I started drinking coffee, because I was exhausted. I had never drank coffee before and within a short period of time, all the sudden, I felt so sick I fainted. Woke up, crawled to my bed. After a few hours, got back up, thinking I was fine, and fainted again. The second time I fainted, I tore a tendon in my foot and had to be in a wheelchair for a good 2 months.

Kept thinking, “This is not good timing. I have so many things going on. I can’t be ‘broken’ right now.” All I could think about was my work and getting it done.

To the point where I was harming myself. Through that experience, I really learned to balance things. 

I started closing out all loose ends. I started learning time management. And I threw out ALL unnecessary things that I “THOUGHT” I had to do or the world would blow up. 😊

The world puts SOOOO much pressure on women to be busy and we really have to step back and live our lives according to what GOD has to say and not what the world tells us is necessary.

If you have adrenal fatigue, it’s going to take your body a good 6 months to heal. A good, natural supplement is Drenamin. It’s what I used to heal my adrenal fatigue. My holistic doctor told me about it.

Take a few of those a day and it’ll help your body rest, but you need rest, until you’re healed. That means sleeping at night a full 7-8 hours. It means closing out all unnecessary stuff. It means saying no to projects and people who want you to do stuff, but you can’t, because you’re already so exhausted. You need a break. You have to learn how to balance your time. 

Do your work, the necessary stuff, but rest. 

As for homeschooling, it depends on the ages of your kids. If they are older, they can do a lot of it themselves. You don’t have to put so much pressure on yourself in homeschooling either. Every state has different rules, so just focus on what you have to do, and make sure you’re resting. Remember that homeschooling is for 15+ years. If you are not full-throttle for a few months, it’s not going to kill the whole thing. ❤️ Be gracious toward yourself. Allow yourself to get more rest.

Learn time management principles so that you can spend your time better, so you have more time for fun stuff. If you’re not having fun, it just makes you depressed and miserable.

Definitely make it a matter of prayer that God help you in your particular situation with specifics, but right now should be a season of rest for you. 🥰

2) Is the GAPS diet sin?

There’s nothing in the Bible that says we shouldn’t diet. There’s nothing in the Bible that talks about the GAPS diet in particular, so on this one, you’re free to do whatever you like. 

There are two Bible verses that come to mind that can help you make a wise decision.

1 Corinthians 10:31 – here we take this literally with whatever you eat or drink, but basically it just means whatever you do in life, do it all for His glory. Will this diet glorify Him? How will it glorify Him?

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 – our bodies are our temple. Will this diet help you treat your body better, in a way that it needs to be treated? Will it starve you of necessary nutrients that your body needs to be healthy? Does this diet line up with treating your body with care, like your temple?

That’s really something that only you can answer, through prayer and seeking His will for your life. ❤️

3) How do you know all this that you are posting on your blog? You’re not a Pastor or elder. Did you go to seminary? Did you have any formal training?

Wow, I’m shocked and incredibly humbled to receive this question. I never saw that one coming. 😊 Especially that it’s coming FROM an elder, someone I greatly respect!

There’s so many things I want to say.

I don’t have any formal training. I’ve always felt uncomfortable with the idea of going to seminary. I believe that men should lead in the church (Pastors, elders, etc.) I can lead on the BLOG, it’s not in the church, and my focus is women. It always has been. I don’t stop men from reading my stuff, but it is and always has been geared toward women (that’s one reason you see pink and multi-colors everywhere!) 😆 I don’t have a problem with men reading my blog, but MY focus is women and the people in general, not specifically teaching men.

I will say very clearly and confidently, that I am convinced God has called me to be like Moses, leading a great nation (through this blog) and sharing with them what HE wants them to know (making Himself known to the people). In that way, I become His mouthpiece, so He fills me with His spirit and convicts/leads me what to say.

Honestly, sometimes, as I’m writing, after I’m done, I’ll go back and research it. I didn’t know that! So in a way, I’m learning sometimes too! I do a lot of studying on my own (sermons, reading the Bible and studying it out in-depth, etc.) I do secretly watch Pastors give sermons TO Pastors. 😆 I’m not a Pastor, but I am a shepherd to the people for Christ, so I love to watch that stuff the best. It fulfills my soul the most (don’t give me milk, I WANT MEAT!!!) 😊

One of the things I really have a passion for is teaching the gaps. What I mean by that, is there are a lot of verses that aren’t covered by godly men. I heard a well-known Pastor today during a sermon say, “I don’t know what this verse means. I researched it, no one else knew, and I just don’t know, so I’m going to try my best.” I read the verse and within seconds, I knew exactly what it meant from God’s angle. Not because I’m so awesome or anything, but because God enlightens me. It’s those verses that I really want to teach on, the gaps, so Pastors have a solid resource to help them with their sermons and so that the people (the flock) can learn more and grow together more in Christ. 🥰

The other thing I would say is that for marriage, I was in a one-year discipleship with a Pastor’s wife at one of my churches in Oregon. We met weekly and it was one-on-one, and I learned a lot about how to be a good wife. I had asked her to do this type of training and she agreed, and I’m very thankful for that time with her to teach me. She definitely knew how to be a godly wife and it blessed me greatly. I was in that a long time ago, back when I was married. 

In fact, my ex-husband continually tries to be with me again. He just hit me up again a couple weeks ago. I just ignore him, I never even respond to him. His request is beyond ludacris, but it does go to prove that I wasn’t a bad wife. I was godly. He left because of HIS sin, not mine. Not that I’m perfect, I’m not, but that I have a good handle on marriage and I really love to teach it to others! It’s a passion of mine. 🥰 I would love to, one day, if my future husband is interested (and we’re called to do it), after we’ve been married a while, to maybe start a marriage group and teach that or something in person. I really do enjoy it. 

So I don’t have any formal training, but I do study a lot (doing my part of things), and God speaks through me through the Holy Spirit. 

I remember when He first convicted me He wanted to use me for His purposes in this way, I ran. I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t feel qualified or good enough. I tend to be shy in person and I feel like He wants me to be speaking with my future husband on stage one day somehow and it freaked me out. I’m the girl that stayed home “sick” to get out of speeches in school. I run from the lime light. But He got His way. 😆 You don’t, uh, argue with God. 

The COOLEST thing about being like Moses is really getting to know God more than I used to before. There’s a direct line that is not available to most others. It’s a special type of thing where He speaks through me, as His mouthpiece. So He will explain something to me, He gives me like an instant knowledge of something, like when I read a verse, I’ll just instantly understand it from HIS point of view. 

The trouble I have sometimes, is in my human flesh. I understand Him, He’s done His part perfectly, but then trying to translate GOD to someone else. 

It’s LIKE He speaks in a foreign language. Everything WE understand is worldly, it’s coming from living in the world, seeing the world. That’s NOT where HE lives! He’s coming from a whole different world than we are. So I get to peel back the curtain and kinda see Him (His attributes, what He’s like, things like that, or instant knowledge of verses, etc.), but then translating it to human terms for the world, can be tricky sometimes and that’s where I struggle. Trying to explain God and HIS world, HIS point of view, it’s difficult. His point of view is SOOOOOOO different from ours!!!! It really is like Moses when he says he can’t speak. 

Seeing it from God’s angle and then translating it to the people so they can understand, is challenging at times. So I always would love prayer for that, that I would become better at explaining and translating things because His angle is so vastly different from ours! It’s beautiful. It’s breath-taking, but it’s challenging for a human.

The second thing I’d love prayer for is help on the blog (volunteer work). I have so much that I want to get out of me and onto the blog to help the people, but there’s not enough time to do it all (because each thing is so detailed). I definitely need help. I need Aaron and Hur. 😆 

4) I want to get out of debt so I can help others. What’s the best way to do that?

I’m not sure exactly what you do now to serve; you may already help others and you want to help MORE, but you don’t have to be out of debt to help others. 💯 Helping others isn’t always about money. It can be time, you can run a food drive for a homeless shelter, you can run a gifting group. There’s just a ton of things you can do that don’t cost anything at all. 

I don’t think that God expects you to help where you’re not able to. We can help according to what we have. With that said, we should desire to get out of debt, spend God’s money that He gives us to steward properly, for many reasons, one being to be able to help and serve others like you mentioned. 

Debt is like having a monkey on your back. It’s horrible! You definitely don’t want to be in debt. The Bible says we are a slave to the lender (Proverbs 22:7), and it’s so true.

It’s a great desire that you want to get out of debt, but don’t limit yourself to the heaven rewards you could be receiving for good works you do NOW…while in debt. 😊

With that said, the best way to get out of debt is to live beneath your means. That may mean selling some furniture or kids toys you don’t need and put all that money on debt. Getting a smaller house, moving, if you’re able to, while you get out of debt. But you want to have a good $500-$1,000/month left over in income that’s not spent, in order to put on debt. 

Getting there can be difficult, but not impossible. Start with a goal of having $100/month left over, then $300/month, then $500/month and so on. Just keep climbing and trying to improve your finances. 

Another thing you can do is transfer debt. Maybe you can take out a loan or increase another one that has a smaller interest rate and close out 3 bills with higher interest rates, transferring them over. Having the lowest interest rate you can is always a good idea. 

Definitely don’t pay for anything. Here’s a great post to check out that will really help. Join a gifting group to get things free. If you don’t have a good Facebook group in your area, start one. You can glean what your needs are and gift everything else. Close out all unnecessary bills. Take a look at your automatic payments. Are there any that you don’t need?

Just try to do whatever you can to get that cushion to pay on debt. Make it a goal to make extra payments on your debt each month. There’s a lot of saving money posts on this site, definitely check them out. Look at ways to save money (build $1k in savings before you start paying on any debt, because things always come up and you want to be prepared), then look at ways to make money. Start with saving money and then move into making more money.

You should be able to slowly start climbing out of debt as you begin to do these things. 

5) What’s your favorite verse in the Bible?

I have two. My #1 favorite passage is Isaiah 40-65. It’s about comfort and being done with a massive trial. 😊 In chapter 61, is my God-given mission statement for this blog. 

God had laid the verses on my heart (Isaiah 61:1-3) as being my mission statement and without telling anyone about it, already knowing it was from the Lord, I had two DIFFERENT people come to me within the span of a month and tell me that God convicted them to tell me those verses! 😆

He’s made it plenty clear that, that’s His will for this blog and for me in my life. To give people hope, to show them comfort, to help them line up with His will, to show them that He’s there for them, hasn’t forgotten them. That’s my mission statement to all of you. ❤️

My second favorite verse is Psalm 37:23. There’s so many jewels wrapped up in that verse. First, that God orders our steps. They’re numbered. We can’t fast-forward or skip ahead, as much as we want to. We have to go through all the steps one at a time, like He’s the playwright and we act out the play. It’s all sequential and necessary.

The second part of that verse says WHEN we delight in His way. We only do things right and are on His path, when we delight in Him. When we delight in Him, it’s like He gives us the script of the play.

Without the script, we don’t know what to do. We need the script in order to live life pleasing to Him, and finding delight in Him and His ways, is pretty easy the more you get to know Him. He is VERY loveable! 😍

6) Why do those who give their all seem to fall behind those who give little or none? How long does it last?

Idk the exact details of what you’re struggling with, but I think that you have to stop looking around at what others are doing. You can’t compare what you’re doing to what they’re doing. You kinda have to put blinders on and just put your head down and really focus on the path YOU’RE taking and not even look out of the side of your eyes at what anyone else is doing.

Because if you do, it’ll lead to frustration and a sense of feeling like things aren’t fair. 

God never promises us life will be fair. There’s sin. The rain falls on the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45). 

What He DOES promise is to make everything right in the end. When you get to Heaven, you would get more heaven rewards than say someone who’s lazy. Sometimes things DO work out on earth (His justice and fairness), but it’s not promised and we can’t expect it because it’s all in His hands.

The other thing I would say is to really consider WHAT you’re working on. So often we work on things that we THINK are important, but they’re not. We work on the wrong things. So be sure you’re prioritizing according to God’s will, and don’t look around, be content with whatever portion God gives you and work hard for the things that you want, and continue to do so until you reach your goals. ❤️

Here’s a couple verses to deep dive study out that will help you: 

• 1 Timothy 6:6-8
• Ecclesiastes 6:9
• Galatians 6:4-5
• Romans 8:18

It will be difficult at first, but not looking around will make you the happiest. If it’s someone like your husband, you can’t exactly not look around, he lives with you. But let’s say he’s not saved and you are and you’re frustrated because you’re working so hard and he’s lazy and yet, he seems to excel too, so you get upset about that. 

There’s a verse (1 Corinthians 7:14) that basically says that he will be blessed because he lives with you and you’re Christian. The jist of it is this…God doesn’t want to hurt YOU, so he won’t hurt your husband. Your being God’s child protects your whole house. Otherwise, let’s say he loses all his income and gets what he deserves for being so lazy, that would hurt YOU. Then YOU’D have to work harder, possibly lose your home, etc. So because God loves YOU, all those around you (in near proximity) are blessed because of YOU!

He is holy before God because of that, not that your husband in this example, IS holy, but that when God looks upon him, he turns away his wrath because you are covering him (1 Peter 4:8). 

It’s a really great treasure to study out in depth sometime just for fun. How we, just by being a Christian, can help those around us. How we are a blessing to them and most of the time they don’t ever know it, but we do. 😊 And this applies to anyone in your household – your husband, your kids, etc.

I know several families who the husband is saved and the wife is not and the wife thinks she is, but she’s not. But they are BOTH blessed (financially, etc.) because he’s godly and doing what he’s supposed to and that blessing falls on her as well.

You see it also in the story of Noah. God saved Noah, right, with the ark. Were all his children believers??? We don’t know, but, common sense says at least one wouldn’t be, especially since God said, none are righteous, no not one (Romans 3:11). And yet, all his children got to go on the ark with him also because God was protecting Noah.

It’s really a beautiful picture of God’s love, concern, and care for us as His children. You should really study it out; it’s fantastic! 💎

7) What is your favorite thing to do outside of blogging?

I love to do so many things really. 🥰

Spend time talking to God (drinking Living Water, those deeper fellowship times), listening to sermons/watching Ray Vander Laan videos, reading my Bible, praying. 

Create printables, do graphic design, and of course blogging. I really like working in the Adobe Illustrator program. So many cool things you can do in there. I have a drawing pad so I can draw and create fonts and stuff like that too. 

Here’s a couple of fonts I’ve created in the past…

Travel, LOVE the ocean (obsessed).

Try new foods, go to restaurants, love watching movies, like listening to Christian music and also romantic music. Music is a big part of my life. I’m constantly listening to something while I work, create printables, etc. 

Spend time one-on-one with someone (my future husband) and get to know them. I love getting to know people at a deeper level and just hanging out investing in them and spending time.

Also, spending time with his parents. I never had parents really. My mom was always gone. When she was home, she was beating me. My dad took off when he found out my mom was pregnant. So I long to have parents. Idk what it’s like to have a parent that loves you and I’ve always dreamed of having that. My ex-husband’s mom liked me, but when we divorced, she stopped talking to me and it broke my heart. So having those relationships would be awesome! Same with siblings. 

Play video games (I have a Wii and a Switch; my favorite games are Super Mario but not the elephant one; that one is dumb!) 😆

Doing the gifting group (but it’s closed now). It’s a LOT of fun! 

Hanging out at church is fun. Getting to know people, being in God’s house.

Cooking is fun. My recipes are pretty popular, both in person and online. I would love to cook with someone (my future husband).

Messing around with different voices. Like a voice actor. I like to sing. I like to mimic different sounds. I can do a baby cry super legit. I can purr and hiss just like a cat, so realistic, some cats get confused! Like wait, this is a human. It’s hilarious. I can do a teen valley girl voice so realistic it used to annoy my kids. 😆 Just things like that. 

Writing comes naturally to me, so writing blog posts, writing poetry, things like that are super easy for me and I enjoy it. 

Doing hand lettering is fun. Doing that and coloring relaxes me and makes me peaceful. I’ll create pages for myself to color, and have cool Tombow pens so it’s fun.

That’s the basics of some things I like to do. 😊

8) How do I handle different situations in a godly way?

It’s so awesome that you want to be biblical and handle things in a manner worthy of Christ. So cool! 

The first thing I would say is to seek first the kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33). When we are seeking His highest glory, we will tend to walk in the spirit and do the right things. When our focus is planted deeply on Him and not ourselves, doing and knowing what He wants us to do becomes a lot easier.

Secondly, the Bible. The Bible is the answer to everything.

Within the Bible, you can find the answers. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us that. Knowing the Bible inside and out is our goal as believers. We want to know our God, we want to know how to please Him, we want to know how to be more godly and line our lives up to His glory.

Studying out the Bible on a regular (daily) basis, will really help know what to do. God will bring you to the passages He wants you to see if you’re immersing yourself in it. He’ll light the way.

Third, seeking His will. Some good questions to ask yourself to help you decide are…

• Will this glorify God?
• Will it be spiritually profitable? 
• Will it cultivate godliness?
• Will it harm my brother or sister in Christ?
• Can it be done for the Lord?
• Will it build me up in spiritual maturity?
• Will it slow me down in the race for God?
• Is this decision what I’d want my children or my best friend to do?
• Will it please God?
• Will this give an overall appearance of evil or good? Will it hypocritically cover my sin?
• Will it bring me into bondage? Does it have the potential to make me its slave?
• Will this express that I love God?
• Do you have any doubts? Ask God to give you peace.
• Will this lead to my downfall?
• Will it violate the Lordship of Christ in my life?
• Could doing this become my master (idolatry)?
• Will this harm the temple of God, me, or my neighbor?
• Will it help other Christians by its example?
• Will it lead others to Christ?
• Is it consistent with Christ-likeness?
• Have you sought the counsel of trusted, godly people in your life regarding this situation?

Make everything you do a matter of prayer. 

I remember, a long time ago being married, and my ex-husband wasn’t a believer and he was making fun of me. He said to me one day, “You have to pray about everything. You can’t even go to the bathroom without praying about it.”

What he meant as a diss, I took it as the highest compliment.

Thank you! I DO pray a lot. Not to go to the bathroom 😆 but yeah, I pray a lot. I’m not ashamed of that. I love God, wanna do what He wants me to do.

Be an avid prayer warrior. James 5:16. 

Doing those things consistently will help guide you in the right direction and help you know what to do. He will lead you! 

9) Do you have any idols (I’m referring this post– #10). 

I don’t at the moment. I’m walking pretty consistently in the spirit, but that doesn’t mean that I haven’t in the past or that I won’t stumble and fall and have idols in the future.

Everyone has them. We all get so wrapped up in things from time to time.

But it IS something that I tend to try to take notice, on a weekly-ish basis. To take stock of my life and make sure there’s nothing there that I love more than Him.

I’m a writer. An avid note-taker and so whenever I do have something in my life that I just can’t shake, I can’t seem to give it up in my heart (give it up for His will and not seeking my own will in the matter), a trick I’ve found that really helps ME is that I’ll write whatever it is on a piece of paper. 

Then I look at the piece of paper. I understand it says whatever it is written on there and then I tear it up. I tear up that paper. You could burn it. You could throw it in the trash. Whatever works for you. 

But somehow SEEING that paper being destroyed, helps me to give up whatever was written on that paper. So that’s a trick that might help someone if they are struggling to give up their will for His.

10) Do you still have your newsletter list? I love to follow you and don’t want to miss a thing.

That’s so sweet of you; I’m so glad you like to follow along. 🥰

I don’t have a newsletter list at the moment. I’m sorry. Currently, I am praying about it, as to whether to start one up again or not. I’m still divided on it, so don’t want to start one until I’m fully convinced that I should. ❤️

In the meantime, you can just check the blog every day or weekly or something. I post every day (except holidays; I’ll take tomorrow off, but I will post something on Facebook). 😊 Not as convenient as a newsletter, but that’s where I’m at right now (still praying about it).