Hi Momma's!
I've been wanting to open a private prayer hub on Facebook and I think it is time to open the doors. If you are a Mom who needs prayer for your estranged adult kids, for your relationship with your spouse, financial issues or anything at all, we will begin this private group to pray for each other once a week in the morning. Every Monday morning at 7am Central for now.
Christian Moms Prayer Hub is the name of our new private prayer group.
Here is the link: Facebook Christian Mom's Prayer Hub Group
FYI...You do not have to be a Mom to join us for prayer. Ladies only..
Luke 10:19 Jesus said, Behold I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Matthew 16:19 Jesus said, And I will give you all the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
Prayer is powerful when we use the authority God has given us as believers by faith. Let's get together and pray for our families, communities, churches and our country. Whatever you need prayer for, we will lift it up to heaven for God to move on your behalf. Let's do this together!
The group is relatively new. Currently, we get together for prayer every Monday morning at 7am Central time LIVE on Facebook. Soon we will join for prayer via Zoom in our private membership hub opening on our website very soon! Let's do this together!
Eileen Brigantino
What is spiritual warfare? After living most of my life as a Christian, it wasn't until literally a few months ago that the spiritual attacks were in my face, trying to kick me down into the pit. You know, when you feel the devil trying to disappoint you with horrible thoughts. The lies that come into your mind to try and discourage and destroy your faith?
My deliverance came almost 8 months ago, when I surrendered my alcohol problem to my heavenly Father out of pure desperation and God totally set me free and delivered me from so much heaviness and pain. Now that I am not influenced by alcohol and I can think straight, plus I'm not having pity parties, I can now see the Holy Spirit moving in my life. Of course, the devil will do anything to stop our journey by speaking into our ears with bitterness, lies of who we are and how bad we will continue to be.
In spite of the attacks, I could clearly see God in a whole new light with more faith. I am so much more aware of God's love and mercy. I am praying more and can actually hear the spirit of God speaking to my heart and directing my path.
So, why would we be spiritually attacked? First, when you surrender to God your entire life and allow Him to be in charge, the devil will do all he can to discourage you. But, Guess what? When you surrender, God then will use you for greater things, because you have decided to trust Him with your life and you want to share how much God has done for you. That is exactly what I've been experiencing recently.
That is why I'm writing my story. I want to encourage you if you are going through the same thing now. I've been a mostly healthy person my entire life. I started having pain in my back, for no known reason, about 3 months ago and found out it was Sciatica nerve pain that is truly painful day and night. The funny thing is, I know it is an attack on me because of what I'm doing for God so I laugh at the devil and pray for healing. We had some attacks from a neighbor recently also. That is finished but it was bad when it happened.
The irony of it all, is now I have so much faith that I have never had before so when a spiritual attack begins, I know what it is and I shake it off immediately and tell the devil to get out! In Jesus name, we do have authority over the enemy. When you know that, and you take action against the enemy spiritually, things will never be the same! God is faithful. If you are being called by God to walk a new journey, obey Him and take one step of faith at a time. He will guide you so when you do experience spiritual warfare, you will not allow it to stumble you or get you off track. Praise God and know that He has you!
My Precious Friend,
The night before My death, I want you to understand, it was you that was on my mind. I desired to have a relationship with you, to spend eternity with you in heaven. Yet, sin separated you from Me and My Father. The law required that an acceptable sacrifice of innocent blood was needed for the payment of your sins. I came to fulfill the law so you wouldn't have to. It was the only thing that could be done to pay the price completely so that our relationship could be forever restored.
The hour had come when I was going to be tortured and killed for you. With heaviness of heart, I went out to the garden to pray. In agony of soul, I sweat drops of blood as I cried out, "oh My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt." Matthew 26:39
While I was in the garden the soldiers came to arrest Me even though I was innocent of any crime. They brought Me before Pilate's hall. I stood before My accusers. Then Pilate took Me and had me beaten and whipped. Lacerations cut deeply as I took the beating for you. The soldiers placed a crown of thorns on My head and put Me in a purple robe. Blood flowed down My face. There is no beauty that anyone would desire Me. Then the cheering crowd, shouting, "Crucify Him. Crucify Him!" as I stood there silently, bloody, bruised and beaten. Despised and rejected of men. Pilate sought to release Me but gave in to the pressure of the crowd. "Take Him, and crucify Him for I find no faulty in Him" He said to them. Then he delivered Me to be crucified. You were on my mind when I carried My cross up the lonesome hill to Golgotha. It was My love for you, and to do My Father's Will, that gave Me the strength to bear beneath its heavy load. There, I bore your grief and I carried your sorrows laying down My life so you could have life abundantly with Me. The soldiers sneered giving heavy blows of the hammer driving the n ails deeply into My hands and feet. Love nailed your sins to the cross, never to be death with again. They hoisted Me up and left Me to die. Yet, they did not take My life. I willingly gave it for you. The sky grew black. Even the sun stopped shining. My body wracked with excruciating pain took the weight of your sin and bore its punishment so that the wrath of God could be satisfied and you could be free from guilt. When all things were accomplished, I committed My spirit into My Father's hands, and breathed out my final words, "It is finished."
Greater love hath no man than this: that a man lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13
This is what I did because I desired so much for you to come into my love.
I have done everything I possibly could to demonstrate my love for you. I have washed you clean, ransomed you back, redeemed you, sanctified you, forgave you, and healed you. Now I extend my nail pierced hand and say, come follow me.
I love you...
Jesus
Marriage is not 50/50. It should always be 100/100. In the beginning, you may not want to and will test your spouse or wait for them to do 100% first and if they don’t, you will step back and do less also. Big, huge mistake. True love in marriage is committed to 100%. You give 100% from day 1 and you will be surprised at how grateful they are and will not hesitate to return 100%. When we first realize that we are falling love, it could be a bit scary at first but with God in your relationship, take a step of faith, one day at time. Imagine how amazing your marriage could be if you both just loved one another and gave your all. Apologizing when you screwed up. Giving your all to your spouses kids as well as your own. It is possible.
I noticed when we were first were married 23 years ago, my husband was somewhat hesitant and I could tell. I knew he loved me but there was some holding back at first. I gave him all and was there for him and after a small amount of time he began just giving more and more of himself to our relationship. We both came from a previous marriage that did not end well and beginning a new one could have been more difficult. Just remember to be sure you are both ready to dive in and dedicate everything to one another when you decide to get married.
It’s not always easy. Beginning a new marriage with your kids and your spouse. Moving in together and getting to know one another. Understanding each other, building relationships with all the kids in order to maintain peace and joy in your home. Outside influences are mixed in at a certain level also. It will take time to build a new foundation of trust.
First things first. God and your relationship with HIM is always priority. Then, You and your spouse need to put each other first in your marriage. Support each other. Then the kids come next, whether they are yours or your spouses. In this order, you will both know instinctively how important all the kids are because they are your spouses kids and yours, period. Meaning, you love God who brought you together and wants you to love your spouse. You love your spouse so you naturally want to love and care for their kids in the best way you know how.
Take one day at a time. Be patient with each other and the kids. Pray together often. Trust God to bring you through the tough times and the enjoy the good days.
Just as we have a heavenly Father who we are to honor, God created family with parents that we are commanded to honor. Ephesians 6:2-3
Why wouldn’t we? After all, even though all parents are imperfect, God designed us to honor them. I grew up with a beautiful mom who became a Christian when I was about 10 years old. I started going to church with her and gave my heart to Jesus at the age of 12. Right around that time, my Dad, who was not a believer struggled to stay with my mom and left us.
This was a difficult time for us as a family. My father has since then apologized to me and my siblings and even my Mom for leaving. Eventually he did end up getting remarried to another woman and had 2 more kids. He knows he made a mistake many years ago. I still remember watching him walk out of the house with his suitcase and leaving us. I remember feeling so so sad and empty because I loved Dad and couldn’t understand how he could walk away. Even though we all went through painful times back then, we forgave him and understand now, as adults, how things can fall apart just because we are broken people. All of humanity is broken and many of us grow up in hurtful situations due to our parents growing up in hurtful situations. That is life.
Now that I’m in my late 50’s, I understand this even more. God knows this better than we do and still wants us to honor our parents. It’s His first commandment with promise. Of course, we will never be in total agreement with everything our parents do. We are all different, even as we grow in our faith, we naturally have different opinions about many things. God still knows that having children and raising them the best we know how will still have us fall short yet He expects us to honor and respect our parents.
So, what does it mean to Honor our parents? Remember, God does not say honor them if they do everything right. He says, honor your parents regardless because they chose to bring you into the world and raise you. For example, many of us honor the military for their sacrifice and dedication to our country. They are not perfect but they are doing something super amazing in my view. Really, having some consideration and respect while in your parent’s home or having conversation is simple and not that complicated. It takes time, resources, commitment and unconditional love to care for our kids. It takes true sacrifice to be a good parent. Life is all about giving and building a strong family foundation so our kids will learn and grow up to do better than we did. That is what most parents want and strive for. A better life and legacy that we can pass on to our kids.
If you are struggling to love and honor your parents, I pray that God will give you a desire to forgive them and see them differently even if they hurt you in the past. Forgiving does not mean you agree with what they did to hurt you. You are not suggesting that by forgiving them, they are right. Forgiveness is always for our emotional and spiritual benefit because then you will have peace in life. Holding a grudge and being bitter about how someone hurt you is not going to make things better. It only hurts you. Pray for those who hurt you, including your parents. Remember that you are not perfect and have made mistakes also. The same way God gives us mercy and grace every single day, we need to have a heart of forgiveness and grace toward others, especially our parents and family members.
How many times in your walk with Jesus, have you questioned the events that have happened in your day to day living? I can’t even count how many. I’m in my late 50’s and have been a believer since I was 12. There are too many to count for me but as much as I know that my God exists, and I’ve seen God answer the most seemingly impossible prayer requests over my lifetime, there are still questions that do arise.
What is most important is knowing that you know. Like a small 5 year old that will believe anything their parent tells them because they know that their Mom or Dad is smart and loves them. They don’t understand the meaning of love and trust, but their inner being and their heart knows better. God created us to be able to trust Him with faith. Believing that He knows better than we could ever know because He knows the future and He wants the best for us. He does not force us to believe though. He created us to decide what we wanted to do and never wanted to force someone to love or trust Him. That is what faith is all about. When we can’t see the future, or understand what in the world is going on in our life, we will know that God will work it out.
An unbeliever will not see things the same way. They usually will question why God would allow people to suffer. “If God is so good, how could he allow bad things to happen?” is usually the big question. This is a crazy world with evil in it. God created us knowing that Adam would sin but then God would send His only son Jesus Christ, to pay for our sin on the cross. In the mean time, there is still evil because not everyone in the world chooses to do good. We, as believers, fall everyday too. I still believe that God is good and He planned it so we would be able to choose Him and want to be close to Him. Life is not perfect and just because we believe in God doesn’t mean we will never go through difficult times. It means we will have HIM to comfort and support while we go through our trials.
Think about it…. as a believer who has gone through some trials in life, haven’t you learned from them? Did you grow spiritually in your understanding of what God was trying to teach you? I did. I do every single time. Even now, while I’m in the trial of my life, I have learned to trust God, knowing that His Grace is sufficient for me and the more I pray and seek Him, He reveals Himself in the most amazing ways. God always has a plan who knows the future, knows how many hairs are on our head and loves us unconditionally. Trusting God comes from going through difficult and pain full times coming out on the other end victoriously.
Read Philippians 4:6-7
There are no perfect parents, but most of us truly love our kids unconditionally and always want the best for them. Yet, we make mistakes because we, ourselves, grow up with pain from our parents too, who also grew up in imperfect homes. There is a spiritual battle going on that we need to recognize, as believers.
The only way to really move on is to realize this fact, that nobody is raised in a perfect environment. God’s grace is new every morning. His command to forgive 70 times 7 toward each offense is not unrealistic but sometimes difficult depending on the situation.
Add onto this, the trauma of a divorce with kids in our mix. We need to take a breath…. and know that we are not the only ones that go through it and need to learn from it.
I was married at the age of 18 while pregnant. I went to a Christian high school and grew up in the church with a heart after God but after graduation, I went on my merry way and moved out to move to NYC with my cousins. They were good to me but I fell away from Jesus and my faith as a young adult. I met a neighbor of my cousin in the Bronx and we started messing around. I never fell in love with him but decided to get married anyway. I don’t regret my decision because my kids are such a blessing to me and I would never want to change the fact they are mine. I just was not fully there, mentally or emotionally, as a mom being so young. I loved them but I just wasn’t ready to pay attention.
After 14 years of marriage and 4 kids, we began going to counseling which led our counselor to suggest that we separate temporarily. He refused to leave, so I went to stay with my sister. I told him I would come back to the house daily to make sure the kids were ok while he was at work. One day, while the kids were in school, I came to the house and my neighbor told me she saw him take my clothes from the closet into his car. I checked the closet and all my clothes were gone along with a check from our tenant who was renting our first home in Philly. My ex took that check for himself and did not pay the mortgage. He didn’t use the money to feed his kids or make sure the electric was on. We lost that house to foreclosure.
I decided I needed to come back and I changed the locks on the front door. He broke the window while I was at work, so I then had to file court order for him not to come back without me knowing. He left for his Mom’s house but didn’t tell me. We then lost our main home to foreclosure shortly after that. I had apply for child support and we moved to an apartment in NJ where my new job was. My kids went through much trauma at that time due to all the craziness they saw. I wish it didn’t happen that way, but he just was not doing the right thing at the time.
It’s a sad story but a year and a half later, I met my now husband, Eric and I have been together since 2001. Married over 23 years to an amazing man that I am so grateful for.
There are many levels of disappointments. If you order food and something is wrong with it, you can be disappointed. If you set a goal to lose a few pounds and find it difficult to stay on your diet and lose the weight, you may be disappointed in yourself right? Then there are major, painful disappointments that do happen between trusted family or friends and yourself by their actions. Sometimes, there is so much pain in it and you are not sure if your relationship will ever be the same again.
That is what I want to write about today. The painful stuff doesn’t happen very often and it doesn’t always last forever but it can be so catastrophic that you aren’t sure how to deal with it. Maybe you did something they didn’t agree with or like and they reacted wrong, or vice versa. Done by someone you love, like your adult kids.
Whoever is a fault, we know that God wants us to always be forgiving. Forgiving is the easy part for me. I am not a judgmental type person. I’ve always been that person who tries to understand other’s actions before I would get upset, but always have a forgiving heart for them. Not easy. I just know that is the heart of God. His love is so deep for us, merciful and forgiving. He wants us to be the same so I try my best to do as God wants because I need forgiveness from God every single day!
If you are going through some sort of deep disappointment with family or a loved one, I want to offer a FREE Prayer Devotional Download to you so we could go through it together or you can do it on your own. It’s up to you. Remember, all the pain journeys and trials we endure are meant to draw us closer to our God and to learn that He is always with us during the darkest times. I pray that God will bring peace and hope for you and your relationships. Click on the link below to sign up and it will bring you to the landing page to subscribe to our weekly emails and have access to new free downloads. God bless yo
In one of my recent videos, I spoke about feeling distant with your spouse. One of the reasons is due to your communication, or lack there of. Actually, not speaking is a form of communication, and not a very fruitful one. Sometimes, out of frustration or hurt, you back away from your spouse. If that is happening, you definitely want to turn that around. Not sure how? Well, I always remind myself why I love him. No spouse is perfect but we should remind ourselves of the positive traits they have and choose to encourage and support them on a daily basis.
When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I do after I turn on my coffee maker, is begin praying. I thank God for all of His blessings. I thank God for my husband and family, our health, our income, our home, and all the opportunities that will come our way during the day for us to bless another in some way. Being full of gratitude really does make a difference. Focusing on the good has always been my goal and it definitely helps my mental and emotional awareness.
If we have a disagreement about something, we both try to discuss why we have different views on that situation. I first try to see things from his perspective and not just insist that my way or view is better. Trying to understand each other takes effort. Take a breath and listen while they are speaking. Look at their heart. Communicating each other’s true feelings about something and understanding how each other got to that view, even if we don’t fully agree is so important for your relationship. Giving in and not being stubborn about everything will open up your relationship to more deep conversation which builds trust over time. Learn to give and not always take. Learning to receive from your spouse is also a good thing. Growing your relationship for a lifetime requires commitment and true love.
Blissfulness is basically reaching a state of perfect happiness. Even though we may be so grateful for who God sent to us to live a happy married life with, no marriage is ever without disagreements and faults. Marriage bliss is possible but life itself is always going to have troubles, ups and downs, stress, etc. I wanted to encourage you both to appreciate and support one another always. Blended or not, marriage itself can, and should be, a life long commitment to each other.
Eric and I have been married for 22 years now. We both were married before briefly and had kids with our previous spouses, thus the name, Blended! Things did not work out the first time in our previous marriage but it is absolutely working out now. I am forever grateful to God who brought my husband into my life. God knew exactly what I needed. That is why God is so good. He knew before he created us in our mother’s womb, that we would be imperfect. Before the foundation of the world, God’s plan was to send HIS son into the world to suffer and die on the cross for our imperfections and sin. He did it because He loves us unconditionally and eternally. With all that said, we all make our own choices and we all must live with the consequences of our mistakes but His Grace is sufficient for us all.
Before you make that life long commitment to one another, pray and ask God if this is the one. You many know already, after getting to know that person over time. Sometimes, it could be questionable. Only the two of you will really know.
With Eric and I, we were together for a little over a year when I was working in a nail salon. One day, A nice woman came in to get her nails done. We chit chatted for a few minutes while I began her manicure and then she asked me if she could share a Word that she believed God wanted me to hear. I responded, “Wow! of course you can! I am a believer and would love to hear it!” She proceeded to tell me that God brought my boyfriend into my life and to get married. She didn’t tell me anything that was a surprise but it was a confirmation. I was excited and on the way home after work, I stopped at Eric’s job to tell him the good news. He was excited too. We decided to get married about 3 months later. That was December 7th, 2002. The best day of our lives.
Has it been blissful ever day since then? Nope. But we learned to understand each other and support each other in all situations. Trust God every single day, even when life gets tough, painful and even confusing.
