Her name was Destinee.

Today I went to Walmart for some groceries, while I was checking out I noticed the cashier's name was Destinee, so after paying and loading the bags into the cart I say "your name is Destinee, huh? God sure has a destiny for you" her eyes got big and she said "uh, what was that??" She looked surprised and totally not expecting that, so I told her "yes, God says He's got a plan for you, plans not to harm you but to give you a hope and a future. It says it in Jeremiah 29:11" she said "oh wow, thank you, I got goosebumps, thank you! Where is that again?" I said "Jeremiah 29:11, don't forget! Jeremiah 29:11!" She said "oh I won't! I'ma look it up tonight!" 

Her countenance had changed, she was hopeful, she was smiling. 

Sometimes I hesitate so much on throwing out simple words of encouragement like that, sometimes it's prophecy, but isn't prophecy also to encourage and edify? Sure is. 

Believers "prophecy" more often than they realize...and if not, we sure ought to! I hesitate to notice and say simple things like what I told her, but perhaps she really needed to be encouraged today and know that God does have a destiny for her, a purpose and that she's not forgotten. So many of us could use a daily dose of encouragement, right? Be His voice, His feet, His hands, if not, who else? 

We prophecy negative words way too much, specially over ourselves (like "I hate myself, just look at me!") and our future (like "I'm never gonna get a job! I'm not good at anything!) words of worry, anxiety and fear, it needs to become a habit to speak life and not death. What if we started saying things like "I know I'm not perfect, but I'm beautiful to God so I'm gonna love myself too" or "I am good at many things, I can and will get a job!" Or "I will choose not to fear, but I will speak to that giant to move and it will in Jesus' name!" What if that was the ONLY way we could think and speak? How do you think it would affect our lives?! Our thinking, our attitude and even the people around us, how would it affect the people around us if we could only speak positively about other people as well and never judgmentally? 

Being His hands requires knowing and believing your hands can be used. Being his feet requires knowing and believing He wants to send YOU. Being His voice to your generation requires knowing and believing that He wants to speak through you. It requires FAITH, and it's not for the weak, although He is our strength, He commands us to not be afraid so many times, it requires action from our part, not a passive attitude. 

Have Faith to believe He wants to use YOU today to encourage someone else. 

Will you pray with me? 

Lord, I know I am not perfect, but I know you can use me, please cleanse my heart so that I can be used, cleanse my hands so that I can touch the broken hearted, cleanse my life so that I can be the example I long to be everywhere I go for you. Shine through me. Give me the courage and boldness I need to speak into someone's life today, I want to believe. Thank you for believing in me too!  

Here am I, Lord, send me. 

That's all I want you to know...

Laundry. Piles of laundry in the living room waiting for me to come to the rescue.

Today has been a normal day, a busy-full of kids type of day, you know those types of days, don't you? when it seems like you can't catch your breath or take a break for a minute type of day.

I managed to lower my 9 month old's crib so he doesn't stand there holding on to the rail screaming at me anymore to get him out, clearly he is tired and today, thankfully, he fell asleep 5 minutes after putting him down, I came downstairs and his older brothers were ready to go play outside with their neighbor friend. Then, there was silence, silence?! silence in the living room!! just me and piles of laundry. So I put my playlist on my phone to play while I begin folding the laundry and I think  "Lord, I finally get a break, I'd love to spend time with you right now but I'm busy, I mean, look at all these clothes waiting to be folded, and nobody else is gonna do it but me, sorry, I'm sure you can wait"

Then the right song came up, my favorite song. You know, that song that hits your heart every time, as if it had been played on purpose? "Amazed" by Jared Anderson came up, and there, in the middle of the living room, the unfolded socks fell out of my hands and I broke down in tears, in the middle of the living room, with nobody else to watch, to crawl on me, to rescue from falling over, to ask for a snack or go potty. There, I was hit by God's presence and I could do nothing else but stand and open my arms raised to Him, my mind was racing with all kinds of complaints like "oh God, I'm tired, please give me your heart, let me love the way you do, give me the patience you have, I need you desperately, I fail so many times, I don't even get dates with my husband, I need friends to go out with! I fail in so many areas of my life! I can't rest!" and then He just said:

"I LOVE YOU. I love you, I do. That's all I want you to know right now. I love you"

Jesus swept me off my feet only the way He knows how. He didn't have to make a bunch of promises, I just stood there receiving His love thinking "yeah, the clothes can wait, I'm the one who can't afford to wait to receive from Jesus when I have the chance to"

I want you to know that you are loved. I want you to know you are enough, you are special, you are the apple of His eye. He sees you, every part of you, the loneliness, the flaws, the insecurities, the sin...and He STILL loves you, deeply, every part of you. If I still love my child even when he's a stinker who disobeyed or who just keeps whining all the time (like I can whine to God, those pity parties are awful, aren't they?), how much more the Father loves us! He is the perfect Father, so patient, so loving, so kind and merciful.

Ephesians 3:18-20 says:

I pray that Christ will live in your hearts by faith and that your life will be strong in love and be built on love. And I pray that you and all God’s holy people will have the power to understand the greatness of Christ’s love—how wide and how long and how high and how deep that love is. Christ’s love is greater than anyone can ever know, but I pray that you will be able to know that love. Then you can be filled with the fullness of God. With God’s power working in us, God can do much, much more than anything we can ask or imagine.

And this is my same prayer for you today, and for me too! that we would know how much He loves us, not just in our heads because the Bible says so, but deep in our hearts and spirits, how deep is His love for us and that the rest doesn't really matter! Receive the pouring of His love today, a glass of fresh water in the midst of your desert, at any chance you may get, in the middle of the day while folding laundry, in the morning with your coffee, at night before bed, at any time, He is there, ALWAYS present.

And guess what? the baby slept, the kids played outside, the laundry got done and I even had time to come share it with you. Someone out there needs this, I know someone does!

Sometimes, knowing God loves you is all you need to know. 

I hear my kids...baby is awake now, the kids just came running in, perfect timing and time for me to go! :)

Fruity. Who, me?

It's kind of hard to start writing what's in your head and allow it to make sense, it's something that I need to practice, it's an art. My husband is the writer, the professional one, and he's really good, he'd probably read my first post ever and might tell me I need to add this, change that or delete something over there. I'm not a blogger, maybe I'll become a really good one, who knows?! at this point in life, I hope this not only becomes inspiring to many but relaxing to me, with 3 small children under 5, who's got time to sit down with a cup of tea and blog? I might not write often, but hopefully keep it up with posts short and sweet, just what busy moms may need, right? a daily boost of something sweet, chocolate anyone?...see how easily I get distracted?!

On to the fruity deal. I wanted to start out telling you why I picked this name: The fruitful mama. What comes to mind? Does a Church-ey lady followed by 12 kids come to mind? :)

According to Dictionary.com, the definition of Fruitful is:
adjective 1.producing good results; beneficial; profitable: fruitful investigations. 2. abounding in fruit, as trees or other plants; 3. bearing fruit abundantly producing an abundant growth, as of fruit: fruitful soil; fruitful rain.
The google search of the word even brings out "fertile"

The Merriam-Webster defines Fruity as someone strange or crazy. Thought I'd throw that in there for ya!

Now, what does Jesus say about being Fruitful? well, there are so many verses we could share and I'm sure you know several, but I will give you two of the most popular ones:

Genesis 1:28
God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply (or increase in number); fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

In John 15:5, Jesus says:
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

The Bible also tells us that we will know people by their fruits. What is He talking about?

Galatians 5:22 says: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.


Are we supposed to have the fruit of the Spirit of God in our lives? I believe so! if not, it would simply show where are hearts are at, and that could mean full blown chaos and a mess, wouldn't it? an unsettled, anxious, bitter, jealous, angry, unforgiving heart, etc.etc, who wants that? surely, no mom wants to model that for her children either.

Why did I choose this name then? well, because in this season I am in right now, God has been speaking to my heart about the high calling of motherhood and how I am like a tree that is to bear fruit, not only children as that is His will for my life and He delights in women having children, but to bear fruit of His Spirit in my home, to grow like a strong tree planted firmly on His Word under the protection of the head of my home, my husband, and covering my children with my deep thick leaves, unmovable and strong, a tree that is not moved by any waters or winds of this world and a tree my sons can hold on to when they are weak, a tree they can run to for shade and rest, a tree where they can sit under and learn from the Creator. I want to be that fruitful mama, I strive to be loving and not spiteful, full of joy and not full of anger, peaceful and not anxious and worried all the time about everything, patient and not stressed about the smallest things, kind and not mean, good and not evil, faithful and not impure, gentle and not harsh, self-controlled and not a glutton. I want to be that mom, and if that means that sometimes I will have to be fruity, crazy and strange, running the race against all the patterns and beliefs of this unstable world, then so be it. I will be fruity!

I can only pray and hope that along this journey of a young mother, you'd be encouraged too and that we could grow together in the Spirit towards a very fruitful life, pursuing God and all that He has for us, whatever it may be, wherever He may take us. I know that in the last few years of my life, God has truly changed my heart in so many ways, I am making life changing decisions that I never thought I'd be taking, but I know that He knows what is best not only for me but for my little ones. It has been hard living out a dream that wasn't necessarily mine but His, I am living a life that I didn't dream of, but I wouldn't change a thing! how little do we know and how silly we can be. It's been a hard road of dying to self and to the dreams I had and thought were best for me, me, me; but it was never about me, it's about Him, and I want to obey him. He has taken me down a path that I didn't think I'd be on, but if I was allowed to go back and choose again, I would choose this one without any doubts!

Becoming a wife and mother in today's society holds little value, and now I know deep inside it's not true, that God thinks of mothers so so highly and tells us we are not just simple moms who can birth kids, we are Kingdom warriors, soul winners and disciple teachers. We have been entrusted with little souls who one day, with our help, be molded into the arrows they were meant to be, arrows who have a target, warriors who know how to fight and destroy the enemy, little women who know their worth and value and become mothers themselves. Serving at home IS important, let no one tell you otherwise!

I know that God loves it when we bear much fruit for His glory, when we multiply what small strength and love we might have, and mama, He delights even in the smallest details of motherhood, like changing diapers and every nose wiped, I KNOW some days are harder than others and sometimes we are plain tired and grumpy and want to run out the door to be alone, but we can always run to the Father who's joy is our strength! He absolutely loves how he made women and our purpose. To be fruitful and multiply!

In which ways would you be more encouraged on a daily basis to pursue fruitfulness?